Honoring the Whole: A Journey of Integration and Presence

Today, I’m inviting you to join me on a journey, one that, in many ways, feels like the journey of a lifetime.

In just two weeks, I’ll be stepping into the Costa Rican jungle to embark on a profound experience with the Shipibo healers. This isn’t a typical trip. The path to get there requires leaving behind the conveniences of a rental car and paved roads, journeying on foot through a river to reach a remote retreat space. It’s an experience that, at first, felt so far removed from what I would have ever planned for myself. I was in unfamiliar territory long before I even allowed myself to fully acknowledge what I had signed up for. But as the journey came closer, something shifted, and the excitement was replaced with something far deeper: reverence.

The timing was strange. In the months leading up to this, I had been working on figuring out a completely new space and handling the transitions that new beginnings require. But as I learned more about this journey, I realized this was more than a journey or an experiece. This was a calling. It felt as though I was being asked to honor something much larger, to step fully into a space where I would truly be with myself, my parts, and my purpose. I realized that I wasn’t just attending this retreat. I was entering into a rite of passage.

And that’s when I knew this was my version of the journey every man must take at some point in life. The journey into the unknown, not to find himself, but to embrace himself entirely. I allowed myself to let go of planning, to let go of expectations, and to trust in the reverence of the experience. I was ready.

If you’ve followed my story, you know that it wasn’t despair or rock bottom that brought me here. It was the inability to feel the happiness that surrounded me every day, the beautiful life that somehow felt just out of reach. In those moments, I realized I wasn’t broken, I was just disconnected. I was missing my life. I was locked in cycles I couldn’t escape alone. And that’s what drove me to plant medicine, Internal Family Systems therapy, and to honor the parts of myself I once thought I had to battle.

Today, I invite you to honor your own journey. The one that asks you to pause, reflect, and feel deeply into what life has given you. This week’s blog, “Honoring the Whole: A Journey of Integration and Presence,” goes deeper into the steps that brought me here, into this moment of stepping into the jungle, ready to be fully present with all that I am. 

This is more than a newsletter. It’s a space for depth, for truth, and for embracing the journeys that transform us. Thank you for being part of it, for walking with me, and for holding space for the stories that connect us all.

With gratitude and presence,

Scott