A place for women to find the inspiration, structure, and community to finally move toward what’s been calling them

If you’ve taken courses, had inspiring conversations with colleagues, friends, and family, and/or spent hours thinking about and trying to do more of that thing you love—the thing that lights your soul up, you might find what you need here.

Hi there, I’m Diane. This place is focused on what I myself wrestled with for years, which is: “How can move forward and do this thing I love, the thing I feel called to do? How??”

I used to think it was a me-problem, that something was wrong with me because I couldn’t seem to figure out how. And I’ve since met and worked with hundreds of smart, amazing, accomplished women who have felt the same way.

They’ve wanted to write, to paint, to act, to start a business, to build a retreat center—to do something meaningful to them—for a very long time , and yet for all their trying, it’s still been difficult to make time for the thing they really want to be doing.

Maybe you relate to some of these things:

• you’ve been feeling this draw toward offering something creative or different to the world for a long time, maybe even for your whole life, and for whatever reason, you’ve been having trouble making space for it; you’ve been pushing it aside for other things, other people, other obligations and so on

• this idea, even if its vague, is a small flame inside that will not leave you alone

• you feel a longing to express yourself through your creative work in the world; you have a feeling that doing so will unlock something inside and that you’ll feel more at home

• you may have been feeling this way for a long time and now are starting to panic, like time is running out

• you might be doing some work in this area, but you’re looking for something more; more space, inspiration, or community around it. It’s hard going on your own and you find you frequently question yourself or get stalled out

• you look around the world today, at all that’s happening, and you understand that the more voices that are being silenced, the more we must speak out; and you’re looking for your way of doing that that feels like you’re at home in yourself

Is it you? I don’t think so.

You might think you’re lacking something – discipline, desire, focus, organization, money – something. If you only had it, you’d be able to do this thing you love.

It’s possible you might need help learning a few skills or gaining some knowledge or clarity. But, there’s more to the story than that. Much more.

Doing the thing you love just because you love doing it, and for no other reason whatsoever, is about claiming your voice—your right to be and want and do exactly what you want to in this world, no matter what.

And that’s a dangerous thing for the status quo.

It requires claiming your voice.

The problem is that as women we’ve been socialized to do exactly the opposite.

In a thousand different ways women have been taught to keep quiet. We’ve been told to make ourselves smaller (metaphorically and literally,) to stop being difficult, to calm down.

We’ve been compelled to earn acceptance by being good, by making it perfect, by being “nice.”

We’ve been kept busy and exhausted as we continue to have to shoulder the weight of caring for our homes and our children, for our elders and the earth.

We’ve been bound by a set of rules that serves the status quo, not us and not that world we want to see.

When we start to question those rules and instead begin to follow what’s inside us, recognizing a greater reality and our role in bringing about the world we long for, we bring about change.

Hi, I’m Diane, and for years, I wanted to write.

I have this really clear distinct memory of living in Morocco well over two decades ago now. One day the realization I want to be a writer came in so clear and so true, it was if the skies had just opened and unleashed rain and thunder on this otherwise arid, sapphire day.

I felt electric with this sense of knowing, able to put everything together in an instant.

Yes, this! I knew wanting to write to be true like nothing really ever since.

I remember picking up a pen, the paper scratchy, the ballpoint pen stiff in hand, and I wrote and wrote and wrote.

At some future point though, I no longer remember when or how, I forgot. Long days started to pass with no writing, no stories, no notes. I’d lose myself in the marketplaces, with learning how to peel a tomato, with trying to learn Moroccan Arabic.

Then a morning might arrive, and I’d awaken with this visceral ache to be writing. And I’d remember, yes, I want to be a writer. And I would pick up my pen, fold back the notebook, and begin again. I’d marvel that I’d ever forgotten, it felt so right.

But then I’d forget again. There was so much forgetting and then remembering.

Notebooks were addled with beginnings and trailings off. There was so much longing, and even more trying to write consistently

Over the years, I tried seemingly everything - books, workshops, retreats, coaching, energy work, scheduling hacks, and so on. Still, I struggled to make time to do the thing I felt I wanted to do, the thing I wanted to bring to the world.

For a long time, I thought something was wrong with me. Now I know that what I really needed was permission and a chance to experiment. I also needed stillness, nourishment and community. All that and a bigger understanding about claiming my voice.

I created Diane’s Place as part of finding my own way back home.

I continue to work at remembering who I was before culture, conformity, and capitalism told me who I was supposed to be. The work I do with other women on finding self-expression, purpose and power is part of my own sacred coming home.

In these times of increasing chaos and crisis, what I know for sure is that when women begin to gather and step into their own power—through self-discovery, shedding the lies they’ve been told, and offering their gifts to the world—this world, bathed in both brokenness and beauty, becomes an infinitely better place.

Learn more about me and my background here.

Your longing is a key to a better world.

Moving toward the thing you’ve been yearning toward means you’re moving more and more toward being your true self.

Being your real self is a radical rejection of the social norm, and being yourself means you get to do the thing you love most, sharing your gifts and talents in a way that lets you feel most at home and, at the same time, serves the greatest good.

I believe giving voice to and sharing our gifts is one of the ways we change the world.

Explore the Rooms in Diane’s Place

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