Trigger warning: I make mention of a suicide attempt.

One of my labels is storyteller, and what follows is my story, in brief. I love stories because they’re beautiful vessels for fostering relatability and inspiring transformation in others. As Brené Brown puts it – “One day you will tell your story of how you overcame what you went through and it will be someone else’s survival guide.”

So, here goes. My journey down this path began in 1996, a few months after I nearly died by suicide. I was miserable and had just received the most dismal prognosis from my psychiatrist:

“Keep taking your meds [a cocktail of mood stabilizers] forever and you can continue to live a somewhat normal life.”

That moment was my ultimate rock-bottom. I felt a great sense of despair, as I was without options. I had neither the energy to continue living such a miserable life – one that had consumed me for literally 10 years – nor to end it. I was absolutely defeated and had no clue what to do. 

Shortly thereafter, something in me surrendered and I heard a voice say: “You are responsible for your own happiness.” Whoa.

That moment changed my life and propelled me down the path of personal accountability and later, deep spiritual exploration. 

Then in 1999, the path I was on diverged, thanks to the teachings of the late Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti.

To the right was the path of all things I’d been working so hard to achieve over the past three years. To the left was – in the spirit of my mentor Martha Beck – what I’ll call the Wayfinder’s path. 

The path of the unknown, the uncertain. The path of the heart, the soul. The path of purpose and intention. The path of love and compassion. The path of spirit and sacredness. The path of integrity and truth. The path of awakening to a higher level of consciousness.

At the fork, I chose left. 

And that’s when my journey got really interesting. 

It’s where I spent a chunk of two years living in various stages of homelessness. 

It’s where I was invited into sacred Diné and Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota sweat lodges and pipe ceremonies. 

It’s where I chose to get arrested to bring awareness to a cultural genocide occurring within the US.

It’s where I did things like hop freight trains, hitchhike, and become a salt (union spy).

It’s where I got knocked up, raised my daughter mostly on my own, and went back to college.

It’s where I graduated at the top of my class in economics, completed extensive postgraduate study in applied economics, and earned a masters in public administration and nonprofit management.

It’s where I got recruited by the CIA.

It’s where I gave up a fantastic, highly-coveted job in the Governor of Montana’s Budget Office to move to the Chicago area so that my daughter could live closer to her father.

It’s where I got sued for custody of my daughter and then – after hitting another rock-bottom – chose the path of integrity (with my soul) and forgiveness over resentment and bitterness.

It’s where I lost two jobs due to “economic conditions,” filed for bankruptcy, and got divorced…all within 14 months.

It’s where I got a fantastic corporate job reporting to executive leadership, where I was well-compensated and working in my “zone of excellence” (a Gay Hendricks reference).

It’s where – despite my successes – I found myself miserable once again.

I wasn’t living my purpose. Somewhere along the way, I’d veered off track.

And now, I had financial responsibilities…I couldn’t just drop out of my current life circumstances like I did back in 1999.  

I didn’t know what my purpose was, but it was critically important to me that I figure it out. So, I enrolled in my second yoga teacher training program – this one steeped in the most ancient yogic lineage – in the hopes of getting closer to the answers I so desperately sought.  

Yoga teacher training didn’t offer the ever-elusive answer to my existential question, but it did bring me to my yoga mentor Adi Shakti’s podcast, and that led me to work with Danish spiritual business coach Maria Saraphina. And while Maria didn’t explicitly lead me to my purpose either, our work together set the stage for me to finally uncover it.

The answer hit me upside the head at some point during my life coach training with Martha Beck (yeah, I did that, too!). 

It turns out that my purpose had been in plain sight all along, but I’d failed to recognize it because I was searching for what was effectively a job title.

My purpose is to BE that love, that light that the world so desperately needs. My heart, my soul knew this on some level when I was studying Jiddu Krishnamurti’s teachings back in 1999.

What I’d spent more than 20 years looking for was the expression of my purpose. Until recently, I didn’t consciously realize that the two differed!

It’s now clear to me that my purpose is the same as it was in 1999 and even before that. And, I’ve decided to currently express my purpose through – what to me is sacred – Wayfinding, BEing the change, and facilitating Sacred Sister Circles. 

Tomorrow, I may express my purpose differently. The most important thing for now in relation to my purpose is that I keep – as my mentor Martha Beck puts it – both my eagle and mouse vision engaged.

Eagle vision is the BIG picture, the seemingly impossible goal. It reflects the most magnificent expression of my purpose; of BEing the love and beauty and light in a way that will ultimately bring some healing to our world.

Mouse vision is the right-in-front-of-my-face picture; it’s taking the next step that shows up on my doorstep. Today, mouse vision may call me to call a Sister Circle, build a kick-ass website, or Wayfind with a client. Tomorrow it may mean spending my day leaning up against my favorite pine tree.

So this is a very condensed portion of my story. Now, I have a question for you: What is your story? 

What is your purpose – your dharma – and how will you ultimately express it (eagle vision)? And, what are you being called to do right now (mouse vision)? To be clear, this absolutely isn’t about “finding the one and only thing you were meant to do with your life.” [For the record, I don’t subscribe to this mentality at all and believe that it keeps us stuck more than anything else.

Whatever’s calling you, you can go it alone. Or you can amplify your results and achieve them much quicker by working with a guide. If you feel that working with a trained Wayfinder Coach might serve you, I invite you to apply.

That is all.

During a vino-infused moment around my fire pit in 2022, I got this inkling to call a women’s circle. When I sobered up (side note: I 100% ditched the vino later that year), I realized that I’d better figure out how to facilitate a circle for the women - all strangers! - who’d responded to my Facebook post!

There’s way more backstory to this, but the gist is that on the full moon of May 2022, I began holding monthly (and sometimes more frequent) circles for the women in my community. In the spring of 2024, I began offering a membership circle to encourage deeper connections and continuity amongst circlers. Eventually, I scaled back my other circle offerings so that most of my energies are devoted to these membership circles.

When we gather in sacred circle, we show up as our true Selves. We get vulnerable. We hold space for each other. We are seen, witnessed, and heard. We share what’s on our minds and hearts, without anyone offering us commentary or advice. THESE CIRCLES ARE POWERFUL. The sisterhood, the community, the support, the love.

In 2023 I began offering an on-demand masterclass/tiny course on how to facilitate Sacred Circles, as I kept fielding questions from sisters who wanted to begin calling their own but didn’t know where to start.

Women are hungry AF for circles like these! Virtual or in-person, one-off or on-going…If you feel called to join a circle or facilitate circles in your own community, I hope you explore my offerings and resources!

I’m typing this on February 22, 2025, as the fuckery being doled out by the powers-that-be is creating unprecedented chaos in the US and as its reverberations are being felt throughout the world.

As crazy as it seems, my soul’s been waiting for this moment. Perhaps yours has, too. For humanity’s been on death spiral for a long while now, and we’ve been sleepily going along for the ride. I’ve always known that it wasn’t going to be Democratic (or Socialist or Communist) institutions that were going to save us. I mean, the fact of the matter is that we’ve been destroying the home that gives us life through our unsustainable consumption and the industries that profit from it.

The problem isn’t you (or your business) or me or money or any of that. The problems are many, but the greatest of them all stems from capitalism and the golden calf known as property rights.* This sentiment comes from someone who both studied applied economics in graduate school and lived in varying states of homelessness with a bunch of anarchists of various persuasions.

I’m not a philosopher, nor do I subscribe to any particular ideology (other than being anti-capitalist). Of course, I live in a capitalist nation that makes it illegal to not adopt its capitalist policies, which is why I currently charge my clients money. But my soul’s dream is to live in community with my brothers and sisters and other siblings the world over in a way that is regenerative and brings healing to humanity and Mama Earth.

I’m sure I’ll expand on this at some point, but this is all I have for now.

*Inextricably mixed with capitalism is colonialism and white supremacy. I intend to expand on this once I have a better understanding of my own complicity and what being a true ally looks like. I am in the process of educating myself now. If you have resources to share with me, I invite them! You can email me at kristi@kristiamdahl.com. Thank you.