Faith, Curiosity, and the Courage to Grow

I don’t believe we’re required to subscribe to a single belief system in order to live with integrity. I was raised Catholic, and I genuinely appreciate the values I was taught - love, compassion, integrity, accountability. I will forever try to live by them. Over time, though, I’ve come to understand myself as more spiritual than strictly religious. Not in opposition to Christianity, but beside it. Faith and spirituality aren’t competing ideas to me. They coexist. 

When we’re willing to open our minds, we begin to see how various belief systems and symbolic frameworks (religious, philosophical, cultural) often rest on the same foundations: act with love, do no harm, be present, seek wisdom, walk humbly. Different languages. Similar truths.

Across centuries and cultures, humans have relied on belief systems to help us understand meaning and morality, used symbolic frameworks to reflect on growth and change, and observational systems (like weather tracking and astrology) to help people recognize patterns in nature for survival. Before modern science, people depended on the sky, sea, and land to anticipate shifts and plan accordingly. You don’t have to believe the stars control your life to appreciate that humans have always looked for signals, external and internal, to help guide them.

A Lesson In The Dark

The winter solstice marks the shortest day and longest night of the year. It marks the turning point when darkness peaks and the light slowly begins to return. Cultures around the world have honored this moment with stillness and resting in the dark long enough to understand what it has been shaping. It’s a time to remind us the importance of letting go before moving forward. It’s a reminder that light returns naturally. 

Finding Alignment

Over the past few months, I participated in a restorative yoga and reflection series inspired by Andean traditions. It wasn’t about flexibility or performance. It was about integration. The series centered on the three human powers:

• Llank’ay – the power of body and action

• Munay – the power of heart and love

• Yachay – the power of mind and wisdom

  
  

The teaching suggested most of us lean too heavily on one of these and neglect the others which results in living in misalignment. Some of us think without feeling, act without listening, and love without boundaries. We rested in various fully supported postures and were guided to give form to what we were ready to release or call forward. There’s real power in naming what you’ve been carrying and then choosing what comes next.

2025: The Year of the Snake

At our final restorative yoga session, our facilitator reminded us about this being the Year of the Snake. In case you’re not familiar, the idea of animal years comes from the Chinese zodiac, a system that’s been used for thousands of years. While it originates as a traditional belief system, I relate to it more as a symbolic framework, one that reflects patterns many of us recognize in hindsight. Each animal represents patterns of energy, behavior, and growth that tend to show up in human life.

The Snake is associated with discernment, shedding, and internal transformation. Change tends to happen quietly, beneath the surface.

 For many of us, Snake energy shows up as:

• Outgrowing relationships or roles

• Questioning old beliefs

• Sitting with discomfort instead of reacting

• Learning restraint, boundaries, and discernment

  
  

2026: The Year of the Horse

If the Snake teaches us wisdom through shedding, the Horse is about what we do with that wisdom. The Year of the Horse represents forward motion fueled by clarity and conviction—not rushed, but intentional.

Horse energy often looks like:

• Speaking more clearly

• Acting with confidence instead of overthinking

• Choosing direction over perfection

• Letting your energy be seen

  
  

2025: Internal clarity

2026: External expression

It’s Not Either/Or

You don’t have to choose between faith and curiosity. You don't have to choose between religion and spirituality. You don't have to choose between one framework and another. They’re all trying to teach similar values and ideas—just in different dialects.

None of this feels woo to me. As the light begins to return, I continue to shed what no longer fits and move forward by living my life proudly with an open mind, in a way that reflects who I’ve become. Not because I’ve abandoned my roots, but because I’ve allowed them to grow and expand.