Julia Stege, Curator and Co-Author

I created The Moment I Said Yes because I wanted to gather stories from people who had followed the call of their souls—sometimes before they fully understood where that YES would lead—and whose lives became an expression of purpose because of it. My own chapter, “Awakening to the New Renaissance,” (p. 9) traces the long road from being told I had to choose just one thing, to finally realizing that being an artist, writer, philosopher, entrepreneur, activist, designer and coach wasn’t a problem to solve. It was who I was meant to be. It’s the story of how I came to understand that our many gifts belong together—and how saying YES to my whole Renaissance self became the foundation for helping other multi-passionate, soul-led people do the same.

Download Your Yes Reflection Journal.

Created by Julia Stege, anthology curator, this companion journal to The Moment I Said Yes will help you uncover the yesses that have shaped your life and imagine the ones still ahead.

Through three guided sections, reflect on a past yes and what it taught you, explore a decision you're weighing right now, and dream into the possibilities you're not quite ready to act on yet. With open, spacious pages designed for real reflection, this journal is a place to return to again and again... because every new yes can open a whole new chapter.

Is Your Yes Killing You? Interview with Elaine Correia

In this interview, Julia and Elaine explore:

✨ Why saying yes is rarely a one-time decision

✨ The difference between choices that support us and choices that drain us

✨ How the body can guide us toward the life our spirit is asking us to live

✨ Finding the hidden gift inside difficult experiences

✨ The courage it takes for women to choose themselves

✨ How life’s challenges may be part of a larger soul journey  

In “The Body Speaks, A Spirit Unbound,” (p. 24) Elaine Correia tells the story of what happens when a lifetime of swallowing your needs, pleasing others, and abandoning yourself finally becomes impossible to carry. 

Through childhood trauma, caregiving, illness, and a spiritual reckoning, Elaine comes to understand that her body was not betraying her—it was sounding the alarm. Her chapter is a moving journey of reclaiming her voice, setting boundaries, and choosing herself after years of self-sacrifice, ultimately discovering that the body can become one of our most honest guides back to spirit.

Your Body Knows Your Purpose: Interview with Fawn Christianson

In this interview, Julia and Fawn explore:

✨ Listening to your inner authority when outside voices are strong

✨ Recognizing the hidden current that has guided your life all along

✨ How the body helps us access truth beyond the thinking mind

✨ Returning to childhood experiences to uncover the roots of our gifts

✨ Honoring a mentor while allowing your own work to evolve

✨ Moving beyond certifications and modalities into your unique contribution

✨ Why calming the nervous system helps us hear our deeper knowing

In “The Absolute Authority of Yes: The Golden Flow Was Preparing Me Long Before I Had a Name for It,” (p. 39) Fawn Christianson shares a deeply personal journey through grief, trauma, healing, spiritual awakening, and learning to trust the wisdom of her own body. 

From the loss of her brother and a violent attack in Kauai to cancer, broken bones, and profound experiences of spiritual presence, Fawn’s life repeatedly brought her back to one essential truth: her deepest knowing had to become the highest authority in the room. Her chapter is a powerful exploration of what happens when we stop handing our authority over to fear, conditioning, and outside voices—and begin living from the inner current she calls the Golden Flow.

Harriet Tubman Wright

In “The Moment I Said Yes to Freedom, Community, and the Wisdom of My Soul,” (p. 56) Harriet Tubman Wright shares a lifetime of saying yes to liberation, cultural connection, spiritual wisdom, creativity, and community.

Drawing on her experiences across Africa, the African Diaspora, expressive arts, sacred ritual, and decades of guiding women through transition, Harriet invites us to remember that we are not meant to navigate change alone. Her chapter is ultimately a call to bring our gifts, stories, wisdom, and willingness to the table—and help co-create a future where generations can truly thrive.

Visit Harriet's Site to Schedule a Complimentary Liberation Journey Session

The Magic We Were Never Meant to Forget: Interview with Dr. Iva 

In this interview Iva and Julia explore:

✨The pressure to divide ourselves into separate identities

✨ What it means to step out of the “spiritual closet”

✨ Reclaiming the intuitive and rebellious parts of ourselves

✨ Becoming a bridge between science, creativity, and spirituality

✨ Why we don’t need to finish our own healing before serving others

✨ How guiding others can reveal gifts we have not yet recognized in ourselves

✨ The courage to move from observer to active participant in life.

In “The Magic We Were Never Meant to Forget,” (p. 69) Dr. Iva Bajic-Hajdukovic shares her journey from skeptical academic to someone who learned to trust the deeper knowing she had spent years trying to explain away.

Beginning with a life-changing experience during the bombing of Belgrade and weaving through grief, anthropology, mediumship, and healing, Iva explores how we are conditioned to distrust our intuition—and what becomes possible when we reclaim it. Her chapter is an invitation to bring intellect and intuition, achievement and magic, back together and trust the wisdom that has been within us all along.

The Light That Has No Shadow Interview with Rev. Janice Thomas

In this interview, Julia and Janice explore:

✨ What it means to become a “light leader”

✨ Moving beyond judgment and right-versus-wrong thinking

✨ Finding a shared intention amid radically different viewpoints

✨ How love and neutrality can create space beyond conflict

✨ Following spiritual guidance without knowing where it will lead

✨ Choosing hope during divided and uncertain times

In “The Light That Has No Shadow,” (p. 80) Rev. Janice Thomas shares a lifetime of learning to trust spiritual guidance, move beyond judgment, and live from what she calls Infinite Unconditional Love. 

Through stories of unexpected synchronicities, healing work, interfaith experiences, family conflict, and moments that challenged her deepest assumptions, Janice explores what it means to rise above polarity and recognize the divine essence in others. Her chapter is ultimately an invitation to say yes to the guidance that leads us toward greater love, peace, unity, and a deeper remembrance of who we really are.

Janice is providing 2 gifts to those who are inspired by her chapter. The first is A Journaling Exercise Creating your own vignettes based on the principles of the Chapter. The second is a 30 minute meditative audio recording Lifting You Towards “The Light That Has No Shadow”. The button below will lead you to a form where you will leave your name and email to access the gifts. 

Stalling About the Calling: An Interview with Lynn Himmelman

In this interview, Julia and Lynn explore:

✨ Why some of our most important choices make no sense at the time

✨ The small yeses that prepare us for a much larger calling

✨ How fear, doubt, and waiting for the “right time” can keep us stuck

✨ The physical consequences of holding ourselves back

✨ Recognizing higher guidance in retrospect

✨ How telling one story can unlock an entire book

✨ The courage to move forward after years of delay

In “Stalling About the Calling,” (p. 93) Lynn Himmelman shares the story of how fear, grief, and attachment kept her delaying a life-changing decision she already knew she needed to make. 

As she wrestled with leaving behind a beloved career teaching music to answer a new calling in healing work, her body quite literally stopped her in her tracks. Lynn’s chapter is a moving exploration of how unresolved emotion can show up physically—and how saying yes to the path we know is ours can release what has been holding us back.

The Reluctant Mystic Interview with Marilyn Edwards

In this interview, Julia and Marilyn explore:

✨ Finding courage by doing something that scares you
✨ Why the world may need more wonder and magic
✨ Holding both a scientific mind and a mystical perspective
✨ Marilyn’s extraordinary experiences of hearing plants communicate with her—and having their information validated
✨ The difference between what we do and the consciousness we bring to it
✨ How creativity can help us move beyond trying to control outcomes
✨ Coming through extraordinarily difficult periods and discovering they no longer have the power they once held

In “The Reluctant Mystic,” (p. 104) Marilyn Edwards shares the winding path of a woman who spent years hiding her sensitivity, intuition, and spiritual gifts before finally learning to trust them. 

Her story moves through profound grief, a career on commercial boats, trauma stored in the body, healing work, and a powerful series of mystical experiences that helped her reclaim the creative feminine energy she had buried for decades. Marilyn’s chapter is ultimately about remembering who you are beneath the armor—and discovering that even the darkest parts of your story can become part of the gift you are here to bring.

Marilyn's gifts include her Imagine If… introductory journal and a beautiful companion song! It's a reminder to honor the body, use other ways besides words to express yourself, and allow yourself not to work so hard at figuring everything out. These gifts are designed to give you hope, help you shift your perspective, connect you with your deeper knowing, and nourish your creative self, heart, and body. The world needs your love and gifts, but first you need to feel filled up.

God Showed Up in Fur: Interview with Dr. Tricia Working

In this interview, Julia and Dr. Tricia explore:

✨ How animals can serve as protectors, healers, teachers, and spiritual companions

✨ Moving from domination over animals toward kinship and sacred partnership

✨ The spiritual contracts that may exist between humans and animals

✨ Why there is no single right path to spiritual truth

✨ Recognizing what is already sacred in the life surrounding you

In “Held by Heaven: How to See the Sacred in Your Everyday Life,” (p. 119) Dr. Tricia Working shares how animals became the bridge through which she finally learned to recognize and trust God’s love. 

Through childhood trauma, profound bonds with dogs and cats, spiritual awakening, loss, and years of work with animals as healers and teachers, Tricia comes to understand that the sacred had been reaching for her all along—just not in the form she had expected. Her chapter is a moving invitation to stop demanding that the Divine appear a certain way and begin noticing the love, guidance, and connection already present in the ordinary, intimate places of our lives.

Visit Dr. Tricia's website for her many free furry resources.

Live Happily to 150+, Interview with Robin Lee

In this interview, Robin and Julia discuss:

✨ Why a longer life also requires a vision for what makes life worth living

✨ The connection Robin sees between emotional trauma, physical stress, and long-term health

✨ Creating purpose, contribution, and meaningful relationships across generations

✨ Why it is never too late to increase your quality of life

In “The Moment I Knew: My Body’s Reactions were Messages, not Interruptions” (p. 146) Susan Gwynne Timothy shares a lifelong journey of learning to trust the wisdom carried in her body, in the land, and in her ancestral lineage. 

Through mystical experiences, nervous system healing, encounters with historically charged places, and discoveries about her family’s past, Susan comes to see that what once felt confusing or overwhelming was often a form of deep knowing trying to get her attention. Her chapter is a thoughtful exploration of belonging, intergenerational healing, and what becomes possible when we stop overriding our inner signals and finally learn to listen.