Image: watercolor painting of a soft woman with green wafting hair on a pink and blue cloud, a bright yellow background.

I used watercolor for the first time in years to make this piece, and it was a good teacher of soft power.

It reminded me that soft power is messy. Staying tidy and rigid takes a lot of force - softening means messiness.

As I wrote this I thought, "That's a cute analogy, but one I really struggle with." I want to complicate how I look at myself so I can have more compassion for others. No more tidy victim/villain stories - soft power means messily taking responsibility.

We are not static, we are not our mistakes. This is a neutral statement that applies to everyone. I’m asking myself, how can that statement shift my perspective?

Often, we're taught force as a tool. It's harvest season, and as I planned my August workshop, I asked Spirit how we can release the urgency for quality and quantity in our harvest, and lean into sustainability and pleasure.

Beyond farming, how can we look gently at what we've done so far this year, and what we want to do, to make the second half of the year softer than the first?