Welcome to Another Way To Live, a letter offering thoughts on how you might nourish your soul in this discombobulating world, for greater peace, meaning and compassion.
It’s for people who value depth and sensitivity, reflection and seeking meaning, and sensing the sacred in everyday life.
It offers inspiration to tend to your soul’s whispers and longings even through personal pain and the cultural and environmental challenges we’re collectively navigating.
Here you’ll be gently guided to explore another way to live: one rooted in reverence of your own cyclic nature, the seasons of life and compassion for yourself and all living things.
Why ‘another way to live’?
The ‘other way to live’ I propose is one that is centred around soul and connection and compassion for all living beings.
I believe we urgently need to learn to tend to the soul because the world can seem so relentless, harsh and painful.
I believe when we to tend to and honour that which feels meaningful, we can see beyond the everyday grind and grievances and become better humans.
And isn’t the world crying out for more humanity: for greater compassion and wise action?
So here I’m sharing thoughtful perspectives, reflection prompts, practices and other helpful resources to gently guide you to greater self-understanding, inner peace and purpose.
They’re based on my own lived experience and cultural observations.
🔥🌀💞Articles are grouped around the topics of living cycle wise, midlife and being kinder to yourself.
They’re from my existing books, books in progress and new pieces written here for Substack.
(And of course, you can explore my books if you’d like to go deeper…)
With each letter I’ll offer you down-to-earth, warm and compassionate words about the challenges, complexities and joys of being human, inspired by the wisdom of nature and the whispers of the soul, so that you might feel less alone in this challenging yet liberating journey that is a human life.
Subscribe to get each letter direct to your inbox…
With love & wishing you the blessings of fierce + tender self-compassion,
Stella x
P.S. This Substack has had a few versions, so in the archive you’ll find reference to The Midlife Spirit and Simple Soulful Words.
A bit about me
I’m Stella Tomlinson (she/her). I’m a self-help writer, poet, artist and spiritual connection guide sharing about cycles, seasons, spiritual connection and self-compassion.
My offerings are based on almost 25 years’ experience in personal and spiritual development through meditation, yoga, mindfulness, energy healing, menstrual cycle awareness, Goddess and nature spirituality, and positive neuroplasticity. I’ve been teaching and writing in these fields since 2011.
My work is suffused with compassion, honesty and grounded practicality + a potent dose of feminist soul fire.
My dearest wish is that you might feel less alone in this challenging yet liberating journey that is a human life.
EXPLORE ANOTHER WAY TO LIVE…
One rooted in reverence of your own cyclic nature, the seasons of life and compassion for yourself and all living things…
Even more about me & my journey so far
I’ve always been fascinated by the mysteries of nature and life.
A dreamy child, I’d spend hours watching the clouds, gazing at the stars and communing with flowers.
But that all went underground once I had to engage with the ‘adult’ world of education and finding a career. I rather lost myself during my twenties.
My spiritual (re)awakening
But aged 31 I experienced a spiritual reawakening.
On a yoga retreat in the English countryside I had a silent conversation with a tree.
I felt my whole perspective on the natural world fundamentally shift as I realized all the leaves on this Birch Tree I was looking at were looking back at me.
In that moment I realized that all things are alive with their own essence of the Oneness and that Mother Nature is the source of all of life and creativity and is around me and within me, always, holding me in Her love.
My soul awakening
And then in 2015, aged 40, the alchemical process that has been my midlife awakening began…
Because since turning 40 my life has changed quite profoundly (though I should also give honourable mention to the 15 years of yoga, meditation and mindfulness practice I’d undertaken by that point.)
In 2015, aged 40, I read two books which changed my life.
The first was The Highly Sensitive Person by Dr Elaine N. Aron. HSPs like me have a nervous system which is more sensitive and responsive to your surroundings and external and internal stimuli.
Reading the book, I felt this explained so much of my life – the feeling of not fitting in, of needing to withdraw and have quiet-time. It helped me reframe my experience and accept my differences.
In 2015 I also read Code Red by Lisa Lister and discovered the power of my menstrual cycle. As she puts it: “know your flow, unlock your monthly superpowers and create a bloody amazing life. Period.” Great advice indeed!
Then, aged 42, I heard the Goddess calling to me … to become Her Priestess of Brighid.
I also started ‘receiving’ and writing poetry around this period (well, Brighid is patron of the Bards you know).
And a matter of months later, at Imbolc 2018 and my 43rd birthday, I began a two-year Priestess of Brighid training.
Burning down the house
In 2019 I got the ‘burn down the house’* feeling which called me to stop teaching yoga.
So, after seven years of hard work in building them up – and much soul-searching – I stopped teaching most of my classes, courses and workshops.
March 2020 saw me lighting the match and throwing it over my shoulder when I stopped my final classes and wrote two articles about yoga, white privilege and cultural appropriation.
*(Credit to Alexandra Pope & Sjanie Hugo-Wurlitzer of Red School for coining this phrase for this common calling in peri/menopause).
And now?
I’m in my late-forties and I’m experiencing the hormonal AND soul-level shifts and changes that this period of our lives can bring.
Since turning 40 I’ve experienced many changes in my career, family relationships and health as well as my relationship with my body and soul. I also achieved my dream of being a published author – indeed, I’ve published four books already. With many more to come…
I’ve been exploring spiritual practices and perspectives for well over twenty years now and I’m finding that my spiritual connection practices are helping me find my centre amidst the changes, confusion, inner chaos and commotion of midlife and peri/menopause.
While my specific spiritual practices have slowly evolved and changed through this time, the gentle power of showing up to connect has sustained me through the challenges and motivated me to walk the path my soul is calling me to.
This is the perspective from which I share then: one of sensing the sacred and the nurturing the numinous in all things, and in your own being too, for all is connected in a delicate, mysterious, ineffable yet powerful web of life.
I share simple ways to help us to connect to the wisdom of the life’s cycles and seasons, the earth beneath your feet and the other-than-human beings with whom we share this planet, as well as the wisdom and compassion in your own heart.
And, as cultivating and deepening this connection is something which is so dear to my heart (not to mention sanity-saving), I’d like to share some of this with you and all those sensitive, soulful beings who feel called to cultivate their spiritual side - particularly through the changes of midlife.
I don’t have all the answers. But I have much experience, many questions and, yes, a fair bit of wisdom to share.
So, dear kindred spirit, let’s go on this journey together.