Love As a Practice

The words I ask myself when I don't know what to do

Photo by Jamez Picard on Unsplash

Hello Love,

I want to tell you about a woman I met at a retreat this past winter.

We were sitting together, the way you do at retreats, in that kind of openness that happens when you are away from your regular life and your guard comes down a little. She mentioned that she was in AA. And then she mentioned, almost in the same breath, that she was an atheist.

I was curious. It was my understanding that AA has a lot of God in it. The steps, the language, the whole framework leans heavily on a higher power. So I asked her how people responded to that and if it was an issue.

She didn’t hesitate.

“My religion is Love,” she said.

I felt something shift in my chest. One of those before and after moments where you know, even as it’s happening, that something just landed differently than anything has in a long time.

My religion is Love.

I have been thinking about those four words ever since.

Here is the honest truth about me and religion. I went to Sunday school as a kid. Looking back, I am fairly certain that was less about my spiritual formation and more about my mother giving herself a well deserved break on a Sunday morning. And honestly, good for her.

As an adult I never found a religion that fully spoke to me. Not because I don’t believe in something bigger than myself — I absolutely do. But every time I tried to fit myself into a specific framework, something didn’t quite line up. A rule that felt wrong. A doctrine that left someone out.

So for a long time I just quietly held this undefined something. I believed. I just couldn’t name it cleanly.

And then this woman, at a winter retreat, in four words, named it for me.

As I have grown into this work (the mindfulness, the coaching, the writing, the retreats) I have become more and more aware that soul health is not separate from the rest of it. It is not a bonus category or a nice addition to the mind and body conversation. In my CARE framework, the R stands for Release — connecting to something bigger than yourself. God, spirit, the universe, nature, hope, faith. Whatever that looks like for you. I included it because I know from my own experience and from the women I work with that when we neglect the soul, we feel it everywhere. Something goes flat. Something feels like it’s missing even when everything else looks fine from the outside.

For me, that something is Love.

Not romantic love. Not the love that needs something in return. The love that is a force. A practice. A choice you make before you even know how the day is going to go.

I believe Love is the most powerful thing that exists.

I believe it is the answer to every hard thing I have ever faced. When I have been lost, Love found me. When I have been angry, Love eventually softened me. When I have not known what to do, Love has pointed me in a direction. Not always quickly. Not always comfortably. But always.

So this is my spiritual practice. Not a building I go to on a specific morning. Not a set of rules I follow to earn something. Just Love. As a daily, active, sometimes inconvenient, always worthwhile practice.

It looks like choosing to see the person in front of me as someone doing their best, even when their best is frustrating. It looks like loving myself enough to rest, to say no, to tend to my own soul before I pour into everyone else’s. It looks like believing that there is something larger than my individual worry holding all of this together. It looks like five minutes outside in the Adirondacks where I live, standing under the kind of sky that makes your smallness feel like relief instead of loss.

It looks like what I whispered to myself just last week when a situation felt impossible: What would Love do here?

That question has never failed me.

And I want to be honest about the other side of this too. Because I am not always operating from Love. There are days I am dysregulated, overwhelmed, running on empty, and it shows. When I am not operating from Love I am operating from fear. And fear in me looks ugly. It looks like being judgmental. It looks like saying things about people that I would not say to their faces. It looks like gossip and smallness and a version of myself that I do not like very much. I know it when it’s happening because of how I feel.

There is this discomfort that settles in when I am not living in alignment with what I actually believe. It is my soul’s way of tapping me on the shoulder and saying, hey. Come back. This is not who you are.

Love is not just my spiritual practice when things are going well. It is the thing I have to choose to return to when I have wandered off. And I wander off more than I would like to admit.

I don’t know where you land on all of this. Maybe you have a faith that fits you perfectly and it is the anchor of your life, and that is beautiful. Maybe you are like me and have spent years in the in-between, believing but not quite finding the container. Maybe you have walked away from religion entirely and the word spiritual makes you roll your eyes a little.

Wherever you are is okay. I just want to offer you what that woman offered me on a winter afternoon at a retreat.

Try asking yourself the next time you don’t know what to do: What would Love do here?

And see what happens.

You deserve a beautiful life, and it’s yours to create. I am here to help!

With love and deep gratitude that you took the time to read this,

Jodie

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Here's what I want to know: what does love tell you?

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Let’s get together!

✨ Wiawaka Retreat on Lake George - August 10-11! Two full days of rest, restoration, and mindfulness at the North Country’s best-kept secret. All-inclusive sanctuary time for your nervous system. Link to book coming soon—spaces are limited!

✨ Reclaiming You! Retreat in the Azores - July 2027! The ultimate rest and recalibration experience on the gorgeous island of Terceira. Think of it as the most productive thing you’ll do all year—add yourself to your to-do list. Small group, big transformation.

Breakfast with a view! This is where we will share meals at the Xhale Resort in the Azores, July 2027

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Have you read my book Mindful Humaning yet? It has helped many people live more present and peaceful lives. Here is one review. . .

Kim

5.0 out of 5 stars Great easy and impactful read

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2026

Jodie is an incredible author who knows how to hold space for others and find solutions alongside them. Her book “Mindful Humaning” was an incredible read and I’m so glad she is working in education with our young future adults. Sooo appreciate the work you do Jodie and the beautiful human being you are.

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