The shortest days of the year can sharpen our sense of what’s sacred. We lean into that seasonal stillness to tease apart religion as a set of rules and spirituality as a living, breathing experience, then explore how stories shape who we become. Our guest, spiritual guide and facilitator Kristen Swan, shares how a childhood of opposites—chaos and structure, permissive adventure and reserved expectations—sparked a lifelong curiosity about identity, control, and creative freedom. Together we look at why so many women carry invisible labor, over-function in relationships, and deflect simple compliments, and how those reflexes keep us small.

From there, we introduce a grounded practice: the spiritual autobiography. Think of it as a living document that traces where you’ve brushed up against the more-than-self, written not to impress but to be true. Kristan walks us through defining key words on our own terms—spirit, prayer, sin, hope—so we can swap borrowed scripts for felt meaning. Through memory prompts and group sharing, this process turns snapshots of life into a map, revealing patterns, resilience, and the places where purpose actually lives. We call it “mapping hope,” the moment you recognize you’re still here after every twist and break, and your story is still unfolding.