Happy Sacred Sunday!
When my middle son, Justin, decided to go back to his old school for his sophomore year, one of the first things that came to my mind was: maybe I could go to Warrior Week.
Warrior Week is a week-long retreat held the week before the first day of school for the high schoolers at the school my kids attend. Parents are allowed to apply to volunteer.
I’ve heard many parents talk about what an incredible experience it is to attend this retreat. “It’s a lot of work, but it is very fulfilling,” my friend told me.
I had never applied to go, but this year is Orly’s senior year and Justin’s first time, and it is the only time they will go together. It felt like the best year for me to experience it. And so I submitted my application. But I only got word that I was in a couple of weeks ago.
These weeks have been hectic. So many moving parts and logistics to handle. To name a few, I have a full roster of coaching clients, a group coaching program, three kids to help transition back to school, and some home repairs that have required my immediate attention.
My word for August is simplify, and I chuckle at how complicated it can feel to simplify life!
I even caught myself asking a friend of mine if I would have down time during Warrior Week to get some work done. And then I realized something. I was trying to continue squeezing as much work as I could into every pocket of free time I had, because the energy I’ve been in is go, go, go.
That initial desire of going to Warrior Week was replaced with all the “maybe it would be better if I stay so I can not drop any balls” thoughts.
I got caught in a loop of whizzing by life instead of living it.
That’s drifting.
When you spend so much time focused on being productive, you stop giving yourself time to be present.
As soon as I noticed the trap I had fallen into, I decided to shift the energy. That’s the power of Notice. Name. Nurture. It doesn’t mean you don’t drift. But there is always an anchor to bring you back to what matters most.
So this is my intention this week:
I’m choosing Warrior Week as time to be where my feet are planted. I am going there to serve, in whatever capacity is needed of me. I want to truly experience this place, not manage it within my busy schedule.
So I’m going off the grid. I will disconnect as best I can from social media, technology, and to do’s, trusting that it all can wait until I get back.
Unfortunately, this trip conflicts with my youngest son’s first day of 8th grade and I will miss his first day back to school and our School Year’s Eve tradition. Every year, the night before school starts, we do a five finger reflection together as a family. Missing it this year was a really hard trade off. But it also serves as a reminder that life can be messy and beautiful at the same time. That nothing is perfect, but you can make everything meaningful and purposeful.
I have a deep feeling that this trip is going to be very meaningful for me, and I’m showing up fully for it. I will see you right here in your inbox next week, sharing whatever nuggets of wisdom I gained along the way.
Sending you so much love today and always,
Intentional living
Happy Sacred Sunday!
And Happy August! I don’t know about you but every time I step into a new month I feel stunned that time passed so quickly. How could it be that we are almost done with summer of 2026? My son is entering his senior year of high school this year. How is that possible?
I remember when he was born I had this feeling that time had slowed down. Between the sleepless nights, midday naps, and around the clock breastfeeding, I lost sense of the calendar. It was a time of being, adapting, and total devotion to that season of life. I was wise enough then to understand that one day it would feel like that time flew by. I knew to savor it and I did my very best not to take it for granted.
That experience taught me that you can stretch time in the present moment, even though in hindsight you will realize how quickly it flew by.
Future you will always feel like time went too quickly. But it is also the reason present you must be so intentional about slowing down right now. Otherwise, you end up living in a blur, and that is when you miss the magic altogether.
So how do you intentionally slow down time?
Living with intention. Honoring your rhythms. Creating rituals. Documenting the sparks so you can find them again later. These are the practices that romanticize your life, so that 18 years from now you can be both stunned that time passed and grateful that it stood still when it mattered most.
On this week’s episode of Bliss’n Up, we are reviewing last month, naming our intentions for August, talking about intention stacking, and sitting with one of my favorite distinctions: the difference between being finished and being complete.
I think today is the perfect day to listen.
[https://carolinedeposada.com/
May this practice support you in slowing down today long enough to create memories you can hold on to tomorrow.
Sending you so much love today and always,
Happy Sacred Sunday!
I’m writing this to you on Saturday night instead of Sunday morning because Sunday morning I’ll be walking with my friend, Bruce.
I’m at NSA this weekend. National Speakers Association. Today we had a fellow speaker and friend, Ross, deliver a keynote on the main stage about 5 things he’s learned about the speaking business since he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
He got up there and delivered a heartwarming talk, sharing his behind the scenes of being a speaker while fighting cancer and going through chemotherapy.
When he was diagnosed, exactly one year ago this weekend, he immediately thought his business was over. Meeting planners don’t want a risk when planning an event, and a speaker with cancer is definitely a risk.
But in spite of this possibility, he was honest about it. He told everyone, kept showing up, and refused to let cancer define him.
He still managed to deliver 80 speeches this year, which is a ridiculous amount of traveling and working, FYI.
This was a stark contrast from my father’s approach to his cancer journey.
My dad, too, had the fear that a cancer diagnosis could cost him his career. Because of this, he chose to keep the diagnosis private until he was near the end. Not a word to almost anyone, for years.
He, too, was resilient. He, too, never allowed cancer to define him. He, too, continued speaking, traveling, and living to the fullest. But unlike Ross, he didn’t have the community rallying for him in support and sending him love.
After Ross’ speech, someone asked me if his talk triggered me. It didn’t. But it did make me think about how incredible it is that two men, with similar circumstances, designed their life so differently during that time.
I wonder how I would design my life given these circumstances. I’m not sure, to be honest, because you never know how you’ll react unless you’ve walked in their shoes. I think I’d lean toward Ross’ approach, because I have witnessed the blessing of community and support during difficult times.
As we wrap up the month of Design July, I’m noticing how important it is to consider that your choices lead to a life design. That’s why it is important to choose intentionally.
Now I’d love to know. If you were in my dad or Ross’ shoes, which one would you choose?
To tell or not to tell.
Hit reply and let me know.
Sending you love today and always,
Happy Sacred Sunday!
They say that when it comes to writing, you must sit your butt in a chair every day at the same time so the muse knows where to find you.
Well, I’ve had my butt in the chair all morning like I do every Sunday morning, but today the muse hasn’t shown up. And yet, the other side to that coin is that if you are committed to your craft, then you must carry on, with or without the muse.
This week on the podcast I’m talking about the difference between designing your life, surrendering to it, or drifting within it. As I sit here feeling kind of stuck, it occurred to me that I have designed my life to write to you every Sunday.
But there are Sundays when the words don’t come.
To me, drifting would be having AI write the email for me so I can just check the box. Not that there’s anything wrong with using AI to get a task done faster. I do it all the time. But I know this letter is more than a task. It’s a calling.
Drifting would be writing only when I feel inspired and skipping the weeks I don’t. Drifting would allow every vacation, late night, or “special” circumstance become the reason I couldn’t send the letter.
But then there’s the third thing. The surrender. It’s the part where I push past the excuses because I’m committed to the design. Where I’m willing to sit in the discomfort and go beyond the task to look for the significance, the meaning, the direction.
Surrender is about trusting the process, and noticing where the process is pointing you.
Maybe I’m sitting here with a thousand thoughts and no letter because what you need to hear is on the podcast.
Maybe design and surrender go hand in hand…
So take a listen and reply to me to let me know what landed with you.
[Listen here]
Sending love today and always,
Happy Sacred Sunday!
A couple of years before my father died, my husband and I were sitting in our living room having a “date night” while our three toddlers slept upstairs. We got to talking about my dad, and my husband confessed he didn’t understand our relationship. “You two are so close and yet it seems like your dad wasn’t around too much when you were growing up. I just don’t get it.”
That’s when I decided to show him the box.
The box I had kept with me all of my life, tucked on a shelf in a closet, no matter where I lived. It was the box of postcards my dad sent me from all over the world.
As we sat there reading the postcards, laughing and even crying a few times, my husband shared an idea.
“What if you two wrote a book about how to be there even when you’re not? You could teach divorced dads or working moms how to create meaningful relationships with their kids even if they’re not physically present.”
We presented this idea to my dad and eventually got him excited about it.
We hired a ghostwriter, put a book proposal together, and even came up with a title. Love, Dad.
But my father got too sick too fast, and our dream of writing this book took a back seat to managing his care.
One day my dad said to me, “About the book my love, whether you publish it or don’t publish it, it doesn’t matter. Our story is already written. That’s what really matters.”
After he died, I set out to finish the book, but I couldn’t pull it together. The format we had chosen didn’t work without him, and even though I was sharing our story in keynote speeches and writing about him … something about the book felt like it wasn’t mine.
One time I gave a speech and a friend of mine listened to it. She called me afterward and said, “I have to tell you something that is hard to say.”
“Go for it.” I braced myself.
“I think you talk too much about your dad in your speech. It’s like you’re telling his story, not yours. And you have so much value to give on your own. It’s like you’re trying to stay in his shadow because you don’t want anyone to forget him. But if this is going to be your career, you need to carve your own path.”
I sat with her advice and ran it by a couple of my mentors. They told me she was right. And I knew it, too, deep down inside.
It was then that I finally put the Love, Dad manuscript away.
I’ve spent the last few years developing my own work and carving my own path.
But lately our story has been resurfacing, and although the story hasn’t changed, the narrator has.
I don’t share this story anymore as a little girl grieving her dad and making sure no one forgets him. I share it as a woman whose life was built on that story, and who can see it now from a different perspective.
You have a story like this. A story you’ve told the same way for years. A story you think defines who you are now, or a story you’ve been trying to forget.
Maybe it’s a dream, a goal, or a project you put away, and you’ve never let yourself ask whether it was actually finished or just abandoned.Here’
s what I want you to notice. The story isn’t the problem. It’s the identity you held on to through that story.
Because when the narrator changes, the story becomes useful, too. It stops being the thing that explains you and starts being the thing you’ve built on.
This week on the podcast I’m sharing what my dad taught me about designing a life. The Bliss’n Up theme for July is Design July, and these postcards turned out to be more relevant than I expected.
If I’ve been in your inbox for a while, you may know about the postcards. But I’ve never shared the insights that I talked about on this episode anywhere before.
Love, Dad was not the book I was meant to write. But it was the foundation for the stories I tell today.
You don’t always get to decide what happens to you, but you can always choose what you make it mean. And design around that.
By the way, I’d love to know if you picked your theme for July? Did you adopt the collective Design theme, or did you name your own?
Hit reply and tell me.
Sending you so much love today and always,
Happy Sacred Sunday!
It’s the first Sacred Sunday of July, and if you’re in the United States, it’s the Fourth of July weekend. I hope you’ve spent the holiday relaxing and enjoying time with friends and family, celebrating our country’s 250th birthday.
Today is also an important day for our Bliss’n Up community, because it’s the day we name our intention for the month.
If you’re new here, every month we carve out a little time to:
Notice: Our successes of the past month. What worked? What didn’t? What do we want to carry into the next month? What do we want to release and leave behind?
Name: Our theme and intention for the upcoming month. What do we want to focus on? What energy or identity do we want to step into? What’s one thing we can focus on this month that supports our word of the year?
This exercise sets us up perfectly for the most important part of our living with intention framework, which is:
Nurture: Using our thoughts, habits, and actions to nurture the intention we set each month, get off autopilot, and align our lives with our dreams and desires.
Just recently I was walking with a client who joined my Well community in 2025 and has spent the last year following this framework. Let’s call her Suzy. Suzy has so much fire within her. She has more ideas, desires, goals, and dreams than she knows what to do with. Her potential is limitless, but for years she struggled with clarity, distraction, and limiting beliefs.
But suddenly I’ve seen a shift. A sense of direction. Momentum. Execution.
I see her following through on projects she only used to dream about. She has stopped waiting for the perfect plan, or “clarity,” and instead is taking action on things that excite her. She is having fun instead of questioning herself.
During the walk, we were doing some success filing and she said, “Caro, I noticed that the thing that made the biggest difference this year for me was the NNN framework. As I looked through my journal recently, I realized that having that container to come back to each week and realign, remember, and nurture one intention at a time changed everything. It held me accountable and kept me focused on small progress instead of the overwhelming big picture that is too vague and intangible.”
I’ve witnessed this change in my clients many times, and I have to tell you, it is the most fulfilling and rewarding part of my work
Because I know that big lives are built one day at a time, one decision after another, compounding over time until the momentum generates a quantum leap.
So on this Sacred Sunday, I invite you to participate in this exercise. Tune into this week’s episode and let’s do it together.
And if you already named your theme for the month (during our Well call last week, in your 1:1 session with me, or on your own time), I invite you to spend a little time today reflecting on how the theme you chose is expanding its meaning and taking on a life of its own.
That’s what I’m doing today. Next week I want to share something personal I’ve been sitting with, about this month’s theme and my own life.
Sending you so much love, today and always,
P.S. If you’re ready to go deeper into this rhythm and do this work by my side, I invite you to learn more about The Well. It’s a one-year program that will take you through each week, month, and season as you discover the power of living with intention. If you saw yourself in Suzy’s story, this program is for you.
Happy Sacred Sunday!
There was a recurring question being asked in my family this weekend, and I thought it was important to bring it to you.
“Was this worth it?”
The question was in regards to a trip we took to Seaside, Florida.
My husband, two younger boys, and I flew up to Pensacola on Wednesday night, rented a car to drive to Santa Rosa, stayed at an airbnb for 2 nights, met up with our oldest son there, and then the 5 of us drove back to Pensacola and flew back on Saturday.
From a logistics perspective, none of our boys thought the trip was worth taking. The trip seemed a bit pointless to them. It felt like a weekend getaway to the keys but tacking on an extra long commute.
There wasn’t anything particularly special about the trip. The time there was too short to settle into the area. We didn’t get beach weather. And we gave Orly the space to stay with his friends until we headed back.
Justin argued that we could have done the same things we did there, at home. And he’s not wrong.
But could do is not will do. So here’s what we did do:
All that time we spent commuting we spent it together.
Then in the two days we were there, we were out of the routine together.
I got to take long bike rides with Ryan.
Orlando got to play golf with Ryan and Justin. I tagged along on the golf cart to enjoy the most nature-filled, peaceful golf course.
We got to have dinner with Orly, his friends, and their parents.
We got to hang out and watch some of our favorite tv shows at the airbnb together.
We made memories … together.
Orlando and I realize that our boys are growing fast and the time we have as “The Five Fingers” is quickly changing.
As they grow, their interests change, their independence blossoms and their schedules start to depend on different factors, we don’t know what life will look like as a family.
That’s why Orlando and I are looking for as many micro moments as possible.
So was the trip worth it?
Hell, yes.
Because it was never about the trip. It was about the intention of creating as much together time as possible with these boys.
My husband and I have very clear intentions and we nurture them unapologetically.
Whether they realize it or not today, one day our boys will look back and all these little random moments will turn into a collection that suddenly makes a lot of sense.
Today is father’s day and I have to say that I feel so grateful for the man I chose to be the father of my kids. His devotion to our family is unparalleled and he has modeled for me what a life of intention is all about.
It is also the Summer Solstice – officially the first day of summer and the longest day of the year. A new season.
And in a way, that’s what this trip was. A practice run at the new season that’s coming.
Orly has one more year with us before he leaves to pursue his acting career, and the signs are already here. He spent most of these days with his friends and met us at the end. So we did something different. The four of us went, he joined us there, and he came home with us.
We’re starting to step into the next season while we still hold tight to the one we love. Trusting that the foundation we’re building now will be solid enough to keep us close when they all have lives of their own.
And that’s exactly what I get into on this week’s episode: entering new seasons and identities even before the calendar says they have arrived. Listen here.
Today I invite you to reflect on the choices you are making.
What you spend your money on. How you spend your time.
Who you prioritize.
What your intentions are.
How you’re nurturing them.
And then ask yourself, is this worth it?
Whatever the answer, make your next choice from there. That’s how you find your way back to alignment.
With love,
Happy Sacred Sunday!
I woke up on Monday morning of this week drowning in anxiety. It was one of those mornings where I felt like “everything” was wrong, like “my whole life” was chaos, and like I was “never” going to get it together. Do you ever have mornings (or days) like this?
Now you may be surprised to learn that I experience anxiety. Most people assume that I don’t have these feelings. I remember my brother once telling me that I couldn’t possibly understand how he felt because what he had was anxiety.
That’s when I explained to him that for some people anxiety becomes their identity, but because of the tools I’ve been learning since I was seven years old (growing up as my father’s apprentice in personal development), I don’t attach anxiety to my identity. Instead, I remember it’s only a feeling that passes through me.
Back to Monday morning, the moment my eyes opened, anxiety had rushed in, flooding my brain with extreme language, a racing heartbeat, and that sense of not knowing where to begin to feel better.
I sat down with my journal and a pen in hand. And I wrote down the things that were weighing heaviest on my heart. I noticed three things that were renting space in my head.
Three.
Not “everything.”
Not my “whole life.”
Three open loops.
They had felt enormous because they were unnamed. Swirling together into one big blur of “everything is wrong.” The moment I named them, they shrank to their actual size.
Then I set the intention to simplify.
Simplify my thoughts. Simplify my language. Simplify my actions.
By the end of Monday, I had made decisions, and tackled 2 out of the 3 main tasks. By Tuesday, the third was mostly handled as well.
I still have a million things to do.
I’m a wife, mom, business woman, and I suspect I’ll have a million things to do for the rest of my life!
And yet, I refuse to drift into the identity of an anxious woman who has more on her plate than she can handle. Some days it’s easier than others. This Monday required intentional re-alignment.
I share this with you because I want you to remember that you’re not alone when the world feels too heavy on your shoulders. And you don’t need to wear that weight like an identity, either.
Speaking of not being alone, one thing I love to do is learn how other people navigate their big lives. Even when they’re vastly different than mine. I find that different doors lead into the same room.
That’s why this week on the podcast, I interviewed a man I have admired for more than 20 years. His name is Mario Murgado. In our conversation, I learned how he, too, was an apprentice for many years before he became the owner of the car dealerships he now has. He tracks his progress with KPIs, and he simplifies relentlessly to focus on what matters most, to the exclusion of everything else.
As I relistened to the interview, I noticed that’s exactly what I did on Monday morning with my journal, even though his life is so different than mine.
Tune in here to listen to our conversation.
And if you catch yourself drowning in your emotions the way I was on Monday, try sitting down and naming what’s actually renting space in your head. It’s rarely as big as it feels, and you quickly grab your power back. That’s the pause. That’s where the clarity lives.
Sending you so much love, today and always,
Happy Sacred Sunday!
Welcome to the last Sacred Sunday of May. Before my eyes opened this morning, I had a thought:
Today is the day to interrupt the run-on sentence.
Life can easily become a run-on sentence. Some like to refer to this as Groundhog Day. It’s when each day blends into the other mindlessly because you are living on autopilot.
Life gets faster. Days become blurrier. And you slowly start drifting from dreams that were once important, habits that you know are essential, and the sparks of bliss that appear when you’re in flow.
But today is the day to interrupt this pattern.
And it’s quite simple to do.
All you have to do is take a few minutes to pause and reflect.
Notice: what was this month about? What worked? What didn’t work? What were your successes? What were your lessons?
Then make a decision.
Name: What energy do you want to step into for June? What do you need to prioritize and focus on? What will you release? What word or phrase captures that intention? That’s your theme for the month.
This simple process is like adding punctuation marks to your sentences, pressing enter to start new paragraphs, or turning the page to begin new chapters.
The best part is that it then begins a flow of intentional action for the rest of the month.
Nurture: Every choice, decision, thought, and habit you form intentionally nurtures the theme you’ve established.
This is your monthly reset. And if you can’t get to it today, you can get to it tomorrow, or the next day — because this isn’t about rules, it’s about creating rhythms.
I have made reflection a lifestyle, and it is the only thing that slows down the clock just a bit so that I don’t miss my life in the chaos of living it.
Today on the podcast I’m sharing the theme I chose to nurture this June. It’s inspiring a new, fresh energy and I’m excited about it. I’m wondering what yours will be this month?
Hit reply to this email and let me know. I love getting to be a part of your rhythm.
Sending you love today and always,
Happy Sacred Sunday!
Sending you this love note from the beautiful beaches of Marco Island today. My girlfriends and I go on an annual family beach vacation together every year. The location and length of time has changed, but the trip has survived for 13 years. This trip got me thinking about the power of rituals, and how much I value anchoring into them. My favorite part about this vacation is that my friend, Frances, and I get up every morning to exercise together. Some years we’ve run on the beach. Other years we’ve done workouts with friends. The last few years we’ve simply walked. Regardless, you’ll find us together in the early morning, moving our bodies before everyone else wakes up. | |
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And then, depending on the trip, we stack on other little rituals each year. This year, after our walk, we meet the rest of our friends for a lovely (and incredibly long) breakfast at the hotel restaurant. At a certain time, I step out to go wake up my new morning friend, Ryan, so he can join us. Little by little, the other husbands and children trickle into the restaurant, and then the day has officially begun. Even though the circumstances change, we establish a little rhythm the day we arrive and we keep that rhythm going for the rest of the trip. This is how I establish routine when I’m out of my routine. And I’ve noticed I do it in other settings too. The last few times my sister has been hospitalized, I’ve anchored into mini rituals around my visits. When she was in South Miami, I arrived every morning at 5:30 am, so I was always with her first thing in the morning. One day, the nurse came in a little earlier to draw blood and when my sister looked at the time it was around 5:26 am. She said to the nurse, “Oh, you’re going to meet my sister soon. I bet she’ll be here any minute.” A couple of minutes later I walked through the door. She smiled and said, “See, she’s like clockwork.” I couldn’t carry the same schedule while she was at UM, but I found my rhythm there too. We are walking paradoxes. We need certainty and uncertainty. Adventure and safety. Comfort and discomfort. We thrive when we have both the yin and the yang. In the face of change, creating ritual is one of the most powerful things you can do for your wellbeing. I didn’t realize I was doing this until I began practicing the art of noticing, naming, and nurturing an intentional life. This framework gives language to things that may otherwise go unnoticed. Things that are already working. Things that could add joy and harmony to your life even during stressful times. Anchoring into rituals has stopped me from drifting in my wellness habits, added stability in disruptive times, and created core memories that make life a little more romantic in hindsight. Now that you have a name for this practice, I invite you to notice: what rituals are you anchored into? And are they the ones you actually want? Some will be carrying you. Some will be carrying you in a direction you didn’t choose. The work is to know the difference. I gotta hop off so I can go back to the beach with my friends. But I couldn’t do that until I finished my ritual of sending you this love letter. Sending you so much love, today and always. |
P.S. This week on the podcast, I share the sign that came back into my life after 15 years — and how I knew exactly what to do with it. If you’ve ever wondered whether something is a coincidence or a message meant for you, this episode is for you. [Listen here.]