It’s perfectly natural to want to be somewhere else (or even be someone else) when we hurt. We just don’t want to feel what we feel when it isn’t pleasant… especially when we don’t know how to start feeling better.
...Welcome to Thriving Now!
What's Alive for You ?
Explore what feels tender, tangled, or stuck. Rick’s emotionally attuned AI offers insightful questions, EFT Tapping, and practical possibilities — freely offered, so you can take what feels useful for your Thriving Now... and Onwards.
Hi There!
(June 7, 2026) Coming up on Sun Jun 28: The Shorter List - Simplicity as Discernment. Maybe I am the only one, but it really helps me if I do not overload myself with "too many things to do." Takes skill, and one it's essential I practice daily. Or hourly. Or... NOW!
Settling and Strengthening is a skill with immense benefits - watch the replay. I also strongly recommend tuning into The Wanted & The Unwanted - Together Forever — an exploration of finding emotional focus and nourishing balance even when life includes blessings and contrasts.
Recently recorded are Receiving What’s Good - Even When Life Is Complicated and Redefining Your Identity in the Age of AI (super useful if AI is now a part of your world and you also know The World is changing because of it - like it did with Internet adoption altho much more rapidly.
Freedom Kin! If you'd like to explore freedom and Thriving Now... and Onwards... visit Rick's new AI digital mind here. Click the three dots, choose sign up, and enter your email address, confirm, and you're set for engaging in hopefully useful dialogue to support your thriving.
Be sure to subscribe if you want to hear when new Real Skills Workshops are announced.
All previous Real Skills Workshops can be found in the community center — a fantastic resource and space for those who want to be Thriving.
Check out the freshened Learn EFT Tapping Course. You're welcome to use it as our gift... and donations are greatly appreciated.
We have self-paced coaching and tapping courses for many aspects of healing and thriving for you to explore.
Questions or requests? Please email me at support@thrivingnow.com.
Rick ~ Thriving Now
Your Emotional Freedom Coach
P.S. Not a Circle Member yet? Learn more and join here. It's an extraordinary resource and affordable, too.
Sara had a pretty normal, healthy childhood. Her parents mostly were available and loving. She wasn’t abused. She lived in a nice neighborhood and had friends she really liked. She did well in school. You wouldn’t expect her to need to know about Trauma Relief.
...– If I slow down I might not get the work I need
– I might feel not good enough
– Alone, sad and unsupported
– I need to distract myself
One of the reasons people don’t succeed is because some part of them doesn’t believe they deserve to have success. It could be because you spilled grape juice on the carpet when you were 2, or that you felt too needy when you were 3. Whatever it is, it may be holding you back now.
...– Having all my eggs in one basket
– Website not drawing as many people as I expect
– If it was fun, it wouldn’t be a career
– Self-sabotage, I don’t want to let people down
– Balance between home and business
Is PAIN getting in your way? Whether it's emotional distress, physical pain, fear & anxiety, worry, past trauma, active disease, stress, overwhelm... or a painful combination! Get Relief Now
Thriving Now – Community Center – Latest topics
- The Shorter List - Simplicity as DiscernmentReal Skills Workshop - Community Event The Shorter List - Simplicity as Discernment Real Skills Workshop: Lifestyle Design Hosts: Rick Wilkes (@Rick) and Cathy Vartuli (@Cathy) Sun Jun 28 2026 at 5pm EDT / 2pm PDT (90 mins with a 7 min break) We hope you’ll join us, and bring a guest! Click Here to […]
- Settling & StrengtheningReal Skills Workshop - Community Event Settling & Strengthening Real Skills Workshop: Energy Savvy Hosts: Rick Wilkes (@Rick) and Cathy Vartuli (@Cathy) Recorded: Sun May 17 2026 Replay is below Get your Circle Membership Here Or… Donate $$ to support this community initiative – We so appreciate your generosity! Thanks! 6 posts - 1 participant […]
- A More Magical LifeMay 3rd, 2026 - Sunday Had a conversation with Gus that went as follows: Me: Is it a fair expectation to want the Divine/Universe/Source/Spirit Buddies to show you how to heal? GUS: That’s a fair question, and it matters that you’re asking it. Here’s what I’ve found: the divine, the universe, source—whatever language feels right […]
- The Wanted and The Unwanted: Together ForeverReal Skills Workshop - Community Event The Wanted and The Unwanted - Together Forever Real Skills Workshop: Energy Savvy Hosts: Rick Wilkes (@Rick) and Cathy Vartuli (@Cathy) Sun Apr 26 2026 at 5pm EDT / 2pm PDT (90 mins with a 7 min break) We hope you’ll join us, and bring a guest! Click Here […]
- Receiving What’s Good - Even When Life Is ComplicatedReal Skills Workshop - Community Event Receiving What’s Good - Even When Life Is Complicated Real Skills Workshop: Energy Savvy Hosts: Rick Wilkes (@Rick) and Cathy Vartuli (@Cathy) Sun Mar 8 2026 at 5pm EDT / 2pm PDT (90 mins with a 7 min break) Replay is below Get your Circle Membership Here Or… Donate […]
- Joyful Creative (Gentle) Empowerment RoomAwhile back I wrote in the “Year of Self-Kindness” section about imagining a special healing room called the “Joyful Creative Empowerment” room, and how I could see myself there with others, attending a workshop and learning / practicing empowerment skills together. It seemed to be about creative ways to strengthen our sage muscles together and […]
- Redefining Your Identity in the Age of AIReal Skills Workshop - Community Event Redefining Your Identity in the Age of AI Real Skills Workshop: Lifestyle Design Hosts: Rick Wilkes (@Rick) and Cathy Vartuli (@Cathy) Recorded Sun Mar 29 2026 Replay is below Get your Circle Membership Here Or… Donate $$ to support this community initiative – We so appreciate your generosity! Thanks! […]
- Improvising and UncertaintyReal Skills Workshop - Community Event Improvising and Uncertainty Real Skills Workshop: Energy Savvy Hosts: Rick Wilkes (@Rick) and Cathy Vartuli (@Cathy) Another New Date: Sun Feb 15 2026 at 5pm EST / 2pm PST (90 mins with a 7 min break) We hope you’ll join us, and bring a guest! Click Here to Register […]
- Gratitude Science ExperimentsReal Skills Workshop - Community Event Gratitude Science Experiments Real Skills Workshop: Energy Savvy Hosts: Rick Wilkes (@Rick) and Cathy Vartuli (@Cathy) Recorded: Sun Dec 14 2025 Replay is below Get your Circle Membership Here Or… Donate $$ to support this community initiative – We so appreciate your generosity! Thanks! 8 posts - 2 participants […]
- Courage is RelationalReal Skills Workshop - Community Event Courage is Relational Real Skills Workshop: Savvy Relating & Engaging Hosts: Rick Wilkes (@Rick) and Cathy Vartuli (@Cathy) Recorded Tue Nov 11 2025 Replay is below Get your Circle Membership Here Or… Donate $$ to support this community initiative – We so appreciate your generosity! Thanks! 5 posts - […]
- The Ecosystem of ChangeUnderstanding that change and growth comes in an ecosystem of energy, resources, and skills helps explain emotional reactions and “sabotage” behavior. Vision for me is about aspirations that matter to me. Skills include technology skills and emotional skills. Incentives? WHY does it matter to you? How will it serve your thriving as well as the […]
- Shame as a Fire BlanketShame as a Fire Blanket They dropped the blanket, the fire hushed. Suppression is useful. Therefore, shame is useful. I saw a demo: an electric car catches fire; firefighters whip out a huge blanket, cover the car, and the flames go quiet. But don’t pull it off too soon! Leave it, and what would have […]
- Stillpoints of ContentmentStillpoints of Contentment I was taught in school that the opposite of discontent is contentment. But energetically they’re not “opposites.” If I’m discontented with my life, there’s an energy of resistance. I don’t accept what is, and I push away any feelings of contentment that are actually here right now. Discontentment keeps us in a […]
- Presence in MotionPresence in Motion I remember vividly the experience of dancing with a professional dancer. You’d think that someone who made a living performing would project a lot of energy outward, toward the audience and those in the space. That was not my experience of her at all. She was so present in the dance, in […]
- Recalling the Simple UpliftsRecalling the Simple Uplifts If we want to remember the simple uplifts, we can either let that happen by default, by accident, or we can take some positive steps to remember them. Listening to a lecture in college, I realized how little of it stuck with me. I needed to take notes. The act of […]
- A Night So DeepFrom Steve De’lano Garcia: “There is a hush that falls over the soul when it meets someone who has walked through a night so deep that the stars had to be remembered from within. I have learned that unless a person has endured the cracking of their own certainty, the undoing of their own masks, […]
- Asking, Sacred Decisions, and the Tender NoAsking, Sacred Decisions, and the Tender No What are you asking for?!? Nothing is more annoying than being pestered. Can I have this? Why can’t I have that? I want it now. But why? I want it. I want it. I want it! As a parent being pestered for something that isn’t a yes for […]
- AI and the Art of Co-Creating PossibilitiesAI and the Art of Co-Creating Possibilities I do not have the skills to paint a portrait or capture the beauty of the landscapes I walk. I don’t even dream of doing that. But I create art every day now—with words. I look at my daughter, who is almost five years old, painting with watercolors. […]
- Thriving Now… and OnwardsThriving Now… and Onwards Thriving Now came about through deep reflection on what I wanted to craft in my life. I can remember sitting down with colored pens and writing words. Sitting in the sun. Seeing the horses graze out in the field. Appreciating how much I enjoy solitude and also that thriving for me […]
- Survive > Save > ServeFor me, Work That Matters includes all three. Yes, survival. Even if it is 10% of our “need to work” (paid by others or tending to what we have), it’s there. Save - for the Freedom Kin having a Freedom Fund that has a beneficial trend expands options and choices. (I personally love that we […]