I gotta be honest… this photo, taken about a year ago, now makes me #cringe a little. There's no denying that my relationship with Sedona has been complicated by an exploration into cult dynamics and recovery. In today’s release and the last solo episode before an exciting guest line-up, I share about the supreme ambivalence that I feel living so close to all the new-age action… what I feel (or rather, what I don’t feel) while...
The Frog Cup is one of my most beloved childhood possessions, and I tell its origin story in Ep.39 of the podcast. (p.s. I love you, Mom) “When I was a little girl, I really hated cow's milk. But my mom, she loved the stuff. The creamier the better. And she'd been brought up learning about the food pyramid, had been persuaded by the dairy industry's clever Milk It Does A Body Good marketing schtick that drinking milk was absolutely essential...
Today is typically podcast rollout day, but I’m on a break! In part because I have another big project that requires my attention, but also because… I made a promise to myself 3 years ago, that when I catch myself getting lost in the hustle, I will no longer power forward. I’m gonna press pause & regroup. Even if it means letting people down, risking momentum and engagement and all the capitalist other-things that pretend to make the...
We planned our trip to Boulder six months ago having no idea how perfectly timed it would be. It’s surreal being here, especially on the other side of sharing my ‘cult’ure journey publicly for the first time - a bittersweet fustercluck that began within a three mile radius of where I sit right now, typing these words. The studio where I danced and sweat six days a week… the no-longer-a-dojo where I first learned to meditate… the sushi...
2006, just as I was coming out of my daze in the Org. Have you ever been totally enamored with a person, teaching, or way of life? Captivated (as in held captive) by potential or a promise? Unable to to walk way despite the downright-ugly dysfunction, because saying aw-hell-no means stepping away from a sure thing or a path that feels as though it was carved out specially for you? Yeah. Me, neither. 🙃 But for those who CAN relate (are you...
Ep.36 has dropped! 🎧⛈⚡️ Candice opens up the episode from her bedroom closet where she’s riding out a monsoon thunderstorm. The metaphor is a timely one, as she speaks candidly about a humbling week that put her face to face with her number one challenge — speaking hard truths & disappointing people. This leads directly into the third and final segment of the conversation she had with Tracy Stamper back in March of this year....
This is me 'power posturing' at age 26. 🤨 I've since learned to stop imitating power-over 'cult'ural dynamics. "I told myself that my silence was self preservation and that it was in service to taking the high road, you know, all of that stuff. Which was true... but only somewhat. I had kept my story close because I was still afraid of the goddamn bear. Don't poke the bear, because if you do, he'll puff himself up in anger and assume control...
When I was nine and ten years old, we lived in SoCal. The summer days were long and hot & I refused to wear shoes. I’d run through the asphalt roads of our trailer park on leather-skinned feet. After more than one trip to the doctor to have plantar warts removed, my mother finally insisted that I start wearing my ‘jellies’ while playing outside. I eventually gave in, but not before defiantly announcing: “Fine! But you just wait and...
She lifted the pages and waved them in the space between us before she spoke. “Candice, the writing is good. But I can't seem to find you on the page. It's like you're reporting events from somewhere outside of yourself. I just keep wondering, where are YOU in this story?” Her words struck a chord deep inside me, & I had no idea how to answer her. I felt like I'd been using my writing to try to claw back into the center of myself since...
The wait is finally over. This is me doing a final pass on the first episode in a new series that rolls out tonight at midnight. 😬🙌🏽 I’ll be deep breathing for this entire series, because it helps AND because it kinda-sorta fits the theme. We’re gonna unpack what puts the ‘cult’ in culture (yeah, I said it) and how&why it is we sometimes lose ourselves in our relationships, workplaces, and spiritual communities. I’ll be...
