Photo taken in Spring 2025 at the Bellagio during our time in Las Vegas for the Anthropology of Consciousness annual meeting.
From the BuJo of Dr. Ivi:
The Year in Review
2025 was a Renaissance year for the Courageous Being team. A year of healing and realignment across work, relationships, and resources, so that what we offer continues to rest on a solid foundation.
In practice, this meant living full lives while staying committed to the work. Health journeys, caregiving, travel, and meaningful milestones unfolded alongside conferences, publications, podcasts, exams, workshops, retreats, and 1:1 sessions. We kept our commitments to our daily practice. Art and writing every week. Inner work, consistently.
We are sharing this recap because if you are navigating growth while living a real life, these reflections may help orient you, too.
Photo taken at Skamania Lodge during the Rest and Receive retreat. We are both relieved here that I am feeling okay and back at it again!
1st Quarter: Reclaiming Vitality
The first quarter of the year was about listening to the body and taking her seriously.
January required courage and patience as I began healing from Uterine Fibroid Embolization, super uncomfortable but utterly necessary. So grateful to the outstanding Dr. Mary Costantino for the expertise and humanity. Other health moments occurred too, requiring lots of slow time. This sharpened my understanding of stress, recovery, and the power of support.
February tested my patience further as regaining strength took longer than I expected. Relief came through shared relaxation: the team hosted a Rest and Receive retreat, Magnolia Midday, thanks to our sponsor Karen Zander with J.P. Morgan! I was reminded that vitality returns faster in good company. By month’s end, my energy was building up again.
March carried that energy outward as we hosted a 3-day Rest and Receive retreat for Couples at Skamania Lodge. The experience was refreshing, grounding, connecting. We bonded as a group profoundly. I asked the couples what they thought the secret was to happy relationship. Answers varied but they all revolved around a focus on a joint sense of Us. Deep gratitude to our partner Stephanie O’Donnell-Peters for co-creating the gathering.
Photos taken in Portland, as Kristin Anderson and I unboxed the Courage Cards!
2nd Quarter: Meaningful Movement
The second quarter marked a return to motion. Travel resumed, guided by clarity and thorough planning. Ideas moved from concept to contact, on and off the stage.
April brought the Courage Cards, tangible after a couple years in the works! I shared them for the first time on a public stage at the Anthropology of Consciousness conference in Vegas. Nick Demos helped me prepare to present them as part of my immigrant story (auto-ethnography), another first.
May continued the outward movement, with more teaching, presenting and learning. I met new friends like Paul Draper, who showed me it's possible to successfully mix and match art and science (Paul is both a magician and an anthropologist)! Back in Oregon, time with family anchored the pace. Liam and I enjoyed an online writer's workshop with Cheryl Strayed. I started wearing a tracking ring as a commitment to better sleep (since achieved!)
June widened the journey, from Oregon coast to the Adriatic sea in Croatia. I was blessed to speak at Women in Finance Forum and meet or reconnect with many strong women from across professions, like Sara Bajlo, brave mom and president of Croatian Rare Diseases Association or Monika Herceg author and activist (another awesome mom). Interacting with their goodness reminded me that caring conversations are a key form of nourishment.
Photo taken from our vacay apartment on Lastovo. No filters, no kidding!
3rd Quarter: Rest and Replenish
The third quarter was deliberately spacious at the onset.
July was set aside for deep rest, with the team and our closest loved ones taking a sabbatical on the Croatian island of Lastovo. We stepped away from screens, slowed the pace, and let time in nature restore our nervous systems. I've been wanting to do a sabbatical for years and am planning to turn it into annual practice.
August unfolded across a few locations. The team worked together in Colorado, I caught up on individual and couples client sessions, and Scott and I welcomed our dear friends Ali Noorani and Toya Gavin who visited us in Oregon (check out their respective writing on Substack, beautiful and well-worth reads).
September sent the energy outward again. We formed new and deepened existing relationships, working on the board of Zana Africa Foundation and as an Executive Committee member of LEAP women's organization. I bonded with Celeste Mergens, whose work affirmed why conscious leadership for women+ sits at the heart of what we do. We partnered with Holly Lorincz of Cloud & Leaf Bookstore, moderated a panel for the Women’s Million Dollar Collective founded by Alice Tang, and then returned to Croatia, this time in direct service of the work.
Photo taken during our main stage session at Cetera Connect2Impact Conference
4th Quarter: Fruitful Integration
The fourth quarter brought everything together.
October was rich and dynamic. We hosted an international Rest and Receive destination retreat for women in Croatia, a spectacular reminder of what becomes possible when women prioritize self-care. Grateful to all of our attendees, our yoga leader (more below), with a special thanks to my brother Pavle Polonijo for operational support and loving logistics and Soul Sister Duga Mavrinac for guest appearance. The month also included the start of partnership with the Financial Transitionist Institute (FTI) and Susan Bradley speaking on transitions at the inspiring Cetera Connect2Impact conference guided by the theme United in Curiosity, Growing Together.
November carried depth and meaning. We launched our workshop series Worth, Wealth & Wellness: The Human Side of Success for Men in Finance, grateful for our collaboration with CB Center Expert JR Kuo. Seeing Malala Yousafzai on stage in Portland felt especially significant. Her words about telling one’s story are a guiding principle of Courageous Being. We also spoke at the FTI annual conference which successfully pivoted to virtual, and at American Anthropological Association conference in New Orleans, then returned home for a very relaxed Thanksgiving.
December closed the year with connection across continents. I traveled to Croatia again to celebrate the wedding of our team member Lada Dvornik, who did an incredible job this year leading Rest & Receive participants through yoga practices and guided meditations. In Croatia I also continued anthropological conversations with local professionals. And spent a lot of meaningful time with my parents. The team has been deeply grateful for the ability to conduct work online that allowed sessions, teaching, training, and podcast recording to continue no matter where we were location-wise! We completed two years of the Step Into the Pivot with Theresa Conti, and wrapped up the year with our amazing clients who are part of the Daily Practice Community series where we taught the full CB Medallion program for the first time!
Photo taken at home.
How We Did This Review and How You Can Too
We did this review the simplest way we know. Liam and I have a favorite restaurant on the river, where we sit down over fish and chips and talk things through. First, we talked about the lows, the highs, what stood out, what stayed with us.
Then I sat down on my own and moved through our photos, month by month.
I was surprised by how much I had forgotten, and how clearly patterns emerged once I slowed down and considered the images. The hard moments made more sense and the good ones felt well earned.
I started to inventory what this year showed us as a lived experience:
1. The body most definitely keeps the score. When health is compromised, everything else suffers.
2. Pushing myself only delays healing. Receiving support is so good for us.
3. Momentum and growth come from taking actions that are planned yet flexible and purposeful.
4. Rest helps make the work better, for sure. Whenever I step away, with discernment, whether for Clarity Break, weekly Digital Detox or annual sabbatical, I return with restored focus and sharpened creativity.
5. Everything meaningful involves people. Healing happens faster in good company. Work deepens through partnership. We do what we do to make life better for people we know and don't know.
6. Simple daily practices hold the year together. Inner work, art, writing, and reflection set the rhythm and tone for everything that unfolds.
7. Looking back changes how we understand the year. Photos reveal patterns that point to what we want to stop doing, what we want to start doing and what we want to keep and improve.
If you want to try this yourself, start simple. Look at your photos and move through them in order. Notice what your body remembers before your mind starts to explain it.
You can do this quickly, but if you give it a couple of hours, it becomes something far more profound.
What themes can you pick up on? Clarity has a way of showing up when you give it time and space.
Happy 2026, with deep love, care and gratitude.