Healing the control freak in me
Getting stuck, on purpose
In January of 2021, I flew to Costa Rica with my dog Lucy, thinking I'd stay a couple of months while the world figured itself out. My cousin Sharon had a house sitting empty. "Wanna move in?" she asked, the way people do when they have no idea they're about to change the entire shape of someone's life.
Within weeks, the rules shifted. No dogs allowed on flights home. Airlines pulling routes. As long as I wanted to leave with Lucy, I wasn't leaving. I was stuck, in the most literal sense, in a small beach town where, as the locals liked to joke, bad roads lead to good places.
After three months and when I had to extend my stay again, my cousins’ place was already booked so I had to find somewhere new.What followed wasn't smooth. A rental scam. A flood in my house. A landlord situation that fell apart overnight and sent me scrambling for a new place with almost no notice. It was the kind of chaos that, in any other season of my life, would have sent me straight into control mode, fixing, planning, gripping the wheel. Instead, I let it move me. I didn't have a plan for Costa Rica. I had a dog, a deadline that kept getting extended by the universe, and a willingness to stay open to wherever I landed next.
Following the signs
Long before Costa Rica, I had been practicing this.
It started in a university philosophy class with a book called The Celestine Prophecy — a strange story about a man who follows a series of synchronistic events to a hidden manuscript in Peru. I was enthralled with the story and it shifted how I saw everything. Suddenly things didn't seem so random. A door closing wasn't just a loss, it was a redirection. A rejection wasn't a verdict, it was a reassignment.
I started paying attention differently. To the small things, the nudges, the coincidences that stopped feeling like coincidences. And I started saying yes to them — to the past life regression session that sounded strange and unfamiliar, to the hypnotherapist I met in a bar in Venice Beach, to the business I wanted to start and everyone told me I shouldn’t.
Each yes built something. Slowly. One small act of self-trust at a time.
By the time I landed in Costa Rica with no plan and the rules shifting around me, I already had over a decade of evidence. The signs had always led somewhere. Usually somewhere better than what I had planned.
The vision takes shape
During those same pandemic years, my brother Tal and his family followed me here. They found a piece of property, ocean on one side, jungle on the other. Having them as neighbours became one of the greatest unexpected gifts of my life. We walked the beach together in the mornings, laughed about the unique challenges of living in a small jungle town, and ate Friday night dinners while the jungle rains bucketed down around us. My cousins, whose vacation rental home I moved into when I first arrived, visited so frequently that I saw them here more than I did when we all lived in the city.
We threw Tal’s 50th birthday party at the gorgeous property that he and his beautiful family so perfectly built — almost a hundred people, a stunning pool, perfect weather, and a Costa Rican band called Palu Santo playing as the sun set. That night is when it all clicked into focus. One conversation led to another, and a new vision formed.
All signs led to here
For years, I hosted international impact retreats through my Canadian foundation, Artbound — bringing people somewhere new in the world and watching what happens when they step outside everything familiar.
As I fell in love with Nosara, I couldn't help but do the same here. In the years since moving to Costa Rica, I've hosted a handful of retreats and watched people arrive one way and leave another — quieter inside themselves, closer to something they'd been looking for.
I always knew I wanted a place of my own to host from. The fortune teller had told me as much. I just assumed it was a ten-years-from-now kind of thing.
It isn't. So here’s the news:
This November, my family and will be opening the doors to a new retreat space in this incredible corner of the world — a sanctuary for wellness seekers, sports enthusiasts, and those who know that the more we give to ourselves, the more we have to give. The beautiful home that Tal and his family built and the surrounding property around it will become a luxury wellness space eventually boasting 18 rooms, a sunrise yoga deck and wellness + recovery spaces, and more. I can’t wait to take you along for the ride as we make this a reality!
THIS WEEK’S PRACTICE:
Follow the signs
Self-trust didn't arrive as a feeling. It arrived through experience — a series of breadcrumbs I decided to follow, and keep following. It required the courage to take a step without knowing where it would lead, and trust that I would figure it out along the way.
It started with noticing the connection and synchronicity between all things and an understanding that signs don't announce themselves. They can show up quietly: the thought that returns, the name that keeps coming up, the thing you keep seeing.
This practice: pause long enough to notice.
Pick one sign and give it a meaning that feels good. For example: every time I see a sand dollar, I take it as a reminder that I am abundant. Every time I see a rainbow, I feel supported. Choose yours. Let it be simple.
Notice when it shows up. Once you've chosen your sign and its meaning, pay attention. You'll be surprised how often it appears — and how good it feels each time it does.
Enjoy it. This is an exercise in focus. What we focus on expands. When we let the universe speak to us through signs, and let those signs remind us to feel good, that feeling expands too.