“Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.” ― Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
On my way out to California
November 9th, 2026
📍House of Loto—Salida, Colorado, USA 🇺🇸
Greetings from the wilderness!
Two years ago, when I left my marriage and my stationary life in Denver, I also left my church home. In many ways, I was leaving behind an entire understanding of what it meant to belong.
After years of healing from burnout, I was recognizing how much of myself I'd learned to make smaller to meet others' expectations. My intensity, creativity, leadership, sensuality, and desire for freedom didn't always fit comfortably within those spaces. And as my beliefs expanded beyond the colonized religious worldview I'd inherited, I began questioning why belonging so often seemed to require conformity.
The big horn sheep I made friends with in Colorado National Monument
I wanted the freedom to be fully myself in relationship with others. To belong somewhere the fullness of me wasn't merely tolerated, but welcomed. Where my Light could shine without anyone needing to dim theirs in response.
Leaving the church, like leaving my marriage, created a familial hole in my heart. I deeply cherished the relationships and sense of spiritual family I'd found there, and today, some of those connections remain among the most meaningful in my life (you know who you are, and I love you so much).
Two friends from that community recently shared how much they'd missed the communal aspect of church since they left. Both eventually found more inclusive, affirming congregations, and I'm genuinely happy they've found spiritual homes where they belong.
I understood their longing. Leaving a religious institution doesn't mean abandoning our longing for spiritual community. We still want people with whom we can question, pray, celebrate, grieve, and grow.
But what if spiritual community isn't about becoming more alike? What if unity is something we create through the loving embrace of the fullness of our differences?
Colorado National Monument
I've spent much of my life bringing people together, from small groups and parachurch ministries to my nonprofit work with trauma survivors. But something about the community I'm helping WEave through Loto feels different.
We don't need to share a religious creed, cultural background, political views, traumatic events, or spiritual practices.
We arrive with different stories and ways of experiencing the Sacred, united by a commitment to Love, curiosity, and consent. We honor one another's boundaries, celebrate our differences, and make room for each person to be fully themselves.
Somewhere in Utah
I felt that truth in my whole body at the Healing Water retreat in California.
Last week, I wrote about embodied freedom and what it felt like to soften and receive in a group of strangers. What I haven't shared is how often I felt sought out, too. People wanted to know me as much as I wanted to know them. Conversations flowed between sessions, over meals, and into the water.
A handful of us women even slipped away between sessions to share a joint and wonderfully unguarded conversations. A community within a community, where we could be fully ourselves. At one point, I felt so profoundly known, seen, loved, and accepted that I excused myself from lunch, went down to my truck, and began drumming and singing at the top of my lungs. I needed somewhere for all that joy to go!
For so long, it felt like belonging required me to dim my Light. But there, just as I experience in our Loto community, The Collective, I felt free to shine.
Now I'm back in snowy Salida, preparing for my return to Mexico. My roots run deep here in Colorado, but my heart is reaching toward the chosen family waiting for me there. Our monthly Mothers WEavings have kept us connected across the borders, but I can't wait to be together again.
The longer I walk this path, the more I believe that healing isn't only about rediscovering who we are, but finding people with whom we can practice being fully ourselves.
We are already worthy of being known, seen, and loved. Community helps our bodies remember what our souls have always known.
If you've been longing for that kind of belonging, I invite you to join us around the well through a retreat or in an online circle. There's room for your questions, your differences, and your whole Self.
With love, unconditionally—
Jennifer
P.S.—Denver area friends, I will be setting up a bon voyage meetup somewhere in Denver the week of the 16th to say goodbye before I head off. Check for details on my personal Facebook page. I’d love to see you and give you a hug before I leave.
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“Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.” ― Brené Brown, Daring Greatly