Over this past week, I’ve decided to release the sense of urgency I’ve placed on myself to get my ideas out on this blog. No one has put this urgency onto me—except me. I realize that this urgency comes from a place within me that has been conditioned by our American culture to produce, be productive, and contribute in some way. Right now, this blog is one way I am contributing to our world, and for some reason, I was feeling rushed. I’ve now acknowledged that feeling, accepted it, and I’m releasing it.
I’m learning to let go of internalized pressure to produce or share content constantly. Allowing space between posts has given me mental clarity and a deeper sense of flow. This is part of my evolving relationship with time, creativity, and my own voice.
Today’s Focus
Today’s focus is the thread I’ve found between flow, masculine and feminine energies, acceptance and approval, women and female relationships/friendships, conditioning, and raising boys. I also release the need I put on myself to research everything. I don’t have the bandwidth for that right now—so these are just my ideas. But I will link different podcasts, books, and songs that have inspired me and sparked my curiosity on these topics.
Merging the Mystical, Practical, and Scientific
I’ve always been interested in the overlap and connections between the practical and the mystical—spirituality, psychology, and even quantum physics. I feel passionate about bridging the seen and unseen, the tangible and the intuitive, the mind and the soul… in my own unique way. These reflections are invitations—not conclusions. Perhaps they ping a curiosity inside of you to dig deeper or learn more about whatever it is that lights you up!
Curiosity as a Guiding Force
I want to take a minute to dive into curiosity and what it means to me. I believe that curiosity is more valuable than having answers. It is a natural resting place that falls in the “in-between.” It doesn’t follow any rules or the binary of good/bad, right/wrong—and I think it allows us to flow through life if we acknowledge it. This blog seems to be an unfolding of many of my own curiosities, and I’m releasing the pressure to always have a tidy takeaway—for you all, or for me. Instead, I’m leaning into the value of questioning, wondering, and exploring. To me, curiosity leads us toward our purpose and fulfillment—as well as toward understanding one another and the world around us.
The Connection
Acceptance vs. Approval
When I thought about these two ideas some more, a few realizations came to me. Acceptance is different for everyone and for every situation. There have been times in my life when I simply could not accept something. Sometimes it took months to reach acceptance—sometimes it literally took years. To me, there is no definitive timeline for acceptance. I just now know the very visceral feeling that comes with it. It is a peace and calm that I can feel in my bones. I now know that when I get to acceptance, I am no longer in anxiety, confusion, or rumination. I am at peace.
Another thought I had about approval is how gendered it can feel. I’m not an expert on gender roles, but based on my lived experience as a woman—and observing the men in my life—women often seem more likely to seek approval from outside themselves, while men generally don’t. That got me thinking about how we’re taught to behave and think a certain way depending on our gender. It feels rigid. Limiting. Binary. And I don’t believe gender is binary. From birth, we’re assigned a sex—which is often conflated with gender—and placed in a set of expectations we didn’t choose.
This led me to consider how acceptance and approval mirror the feminine and masculine energies within all of us. Acceptance, to me, feels like feminine energy—soft, surrendered, peaceful, and open. Approval feels more aligned with masculine energy—shaped by systems of achievement, validation, and patriarchy. These systems are being questioned and dismantled more than ever, but the unlearning is still unfolding.
So how do we shift this? How do we reclaim balance and integrate both energies without tying them to gender? Maybe this is where the mystical enters—reminding us that we are more than the roles we've been taught to play….we are all both masculine and feminine regardless of how we identify or the labels placed upon us.
Flow Through Masculine & Feminine Energies
When I wrote about flow previously, I described what it feels like when I’m in flow—and when I’m not. As I reflect more deeply on flow in relation to acceptance and approval, I realize that life requires embracing both masculine and feminine energies within ourselves.
Flow isn’t about rigidly leaning into one or the other—but about balancing and recognizing both energies within ourselves and others. It’s about embracing both the ability to accept and the ability to approve of ourselves.
Astrology and the Earth reflect these masculine and feminine energies to us each day through the sun and the moon. In many ancient spiritual practices and beliefs, the sun represents the masculine, and the moon represents the feminine. We cannot escape our daily exposure to both—just as we cannot escape the natural masculine and feminine energies that flow through all of us, no matter our gender. It’s just a matter of awareness, acceptance and softening.
There’s still so much to explore—so much I’m curious about and eager to understand. But for now, this is what I know: the connection between the awe-inspiring sun and moon, the masculine and feminine energies within us, our ability to accept, and our release of the need for approval—all of it shapes how we move and flow through life. And because the masculine has long taken center stage, I believe it’s time to reclaim the much-needed beauty, softness, and strength of the feminine—in all of us. That’s how we move toward wholeness—and toward the deeper, richer relationships we’re meant for.
Personal Reflections and Connections
Last week on a walk, I listened to the latest episode from Signal on female friendships, and it helped me connect all these concepts. These ideas were swirling in my brain, but the episode brought them together. They talked about the magic and uniqueness of female friendships for many women. The part that pinged in me was when they discussed social conditioning and how many men don’t have these kinds of deep friendships because it requires tapping into feminine energy.
There is a closeness that happens between friends when we are raw, honest, and vulnerable—these are expressions of feminine energy. You’ll have to listen to the podcast, but it made me think of my sons. They already have incredible friendships—and I see an emotional openness in them, both with me, with Kevin, and with their friends, that feels different. It’s not something I remember being as visible in boys when I was growing up. It feels like a shift—one my generation, and definitely my parents’ generation, didn’t always feel safe or comfortable leaning into.
As a mother of two boys, I’m becoming more aware of how female friendship and motherhood tap into both masculine and feminine energies—especially as Kevin and I raise sons who must navigate masculine norms. Norms they may not even be consciously aware of, yet are already being poured into them from so many directions.
The balance between nurturing (feminine) and guiding (masculine) shows up daily in parenting and relationships. I believe our role as adults and parents is to cultivate both energies within ourselves—and model that for our boys. They need to see us living in that balance to understand and absorb it. We must be a safe place where they can soften, express, and feel—because the world will constantly urge them to lead with the masculine. That’s the energy society still tends to reward and approve of more readily.
We see it everywhere: in school, boys are often praised for being tough, competitive, and logical, while emotional expression is labeled as weakness. In sports, they’re encouraged to push through pain rather than listen to their bodies. In media and pop culture, men are admired for being assertive, dominant, and in control, while tenderness is rarely highlighted. Even in professional settings, qualities like ambition, independence, and stoicism are valued more than collaboration, intuition, or emotional intelligence. These messages are subtle, but powerful—and our boys absorb them early.
But I do believe these patterns are beginning to shift. More and more, I see people interrupting these old narratives—showing up in both their feminine and masculine energy, and everything in between. I see this up close every day, living with Kevin.
Kevin is changing, growing, and evolving—and it’s beautiful to witness. Cancer has awakened something within him. I see him opening up, softening, sharing parts of himself he once learned to keep hidden—both in real life and on social media. He’s having honest, hard, loving conversations with the people in his life. He’s still himself, but there’s more vulnerability, more truth, more soul. It’s powerful. And it’s a gift—not just to me, but to all of us. Especially to our boys.
Symbols of Wholeness
Being a whole human is living in both our feminine and masculine. It’s allowing those energies to flow through us without the need for approval from anyone but ourselves. It allows us to accept and soften, to make space for new people, new experiences, and a general openness.
We all contain both the sun (doing/masculine) and moon (being/feminine)—and integrating them brings us closer to wholeness. Astrology is one of the lenses I use to interpret this truth. It’s not about gender—it’s about energy and embodiment.
Becoming “whole” means recognizing and expressing both sides in our own unique way. It’s not about being good or bad. There’s no room for binary thinking in wholeness. And I choose to try to live there—and to raise my boys to sense their wholeness and love all parts of themselves without needing to perform in any gendered way.
The Universe Speaks Through Symbols (and Songs)
As I wrapped up my walk this morning, I was thinking about all of these ideas…the swirling and explosive energy that happens to me before I write…and I asked the universe for some help. In my mind, I asked the universe to send me the next song as a message for this post. The song they sent? Dancing in the Moonlight. It perfectly encapsulated the theme of this post.
This song always brings up a warm memory (which I describe in the video above), making the moment feel like a gift from the universe. How appropriate—the joy of dancing and moonlight, wrapped up in one song. The timing and lyrics reinforced my belief that life is full of threads and through lines—sometimes subtle, sometimes loud.
Today’s Through Line
I love how ideas connect and come together. It's fun and magical…and when it happens I try to be present and grateful. So, what’s the takeaway? Maybe it’s this:
Flow and balance live in the in-between. Between doing and being. Between the sun and the moon. Between the urge to push forward and the permission to pause.
Maybe we don’t need to force clarity or chase meaning. Maybe the point is to stay curious. To notice the quiet signs, the universal nudges, the song that suddenly plays when you ask for one. To soften into the moment, even if we don’t fully understand it.
Because when we stop demanding answers and start paying attention to the wonder around us—the warmth of a memory, the shift in a loved one, the rising moon—we begin to live not just from the mind, but from the soul.
And that? That’s where wholeness lives.
Until next time,
Lauren
Some links if you’re curious 😉
On Our Best Behavior (book)
Female Friendships (podcast)
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