Why Inner Peace Is a Radical Act in Today’s World: A Personal Update with a Powerful Lesson

I hope this finds you well.

It’s been a few weeks since I last wrote to you, in part because my life has shifted in a way I didn’t expect.

For the last six months — maybe longer — I’ve been deeply committed to cultivating inner peace. Every morning at 5:45am, almost without fail, I sit for 20 minutes of meditation.

When my mind wanders, I bring it back to a mantra I created:

Let go.
Be peace.
Be love.
Be abundance.
Here now.

I breathe it in.
I breathe it out.
I become it.

And with this consistent practice, something has been unraveling inside me.

I’ve realized that much of my life, I’ve been addicted to the grind. Addicted to struggle. Addicted to equating my worth with how hard I work and how much adversity I can overcome, and trauma I can heal from.

I stopped eating animals at the age of seven and became vegan at 15 because I was so connected to the suffering of animals.

And I think, subconsciously, something in me believed:

If I allow myself to feel peace…
If I allow myself to feel joy…
I’m somehow betraying those who are still suffering.

That if I’m happy, I’m not fighting hard enough for the most vulnerable among us.

But here’s what I realized:

Peace is not a betrayal.
Joy is not abandonment.
Inner stillness is not apathy.

In fact, the embodiment of peace and joy may be among the most powerful contributions we can make.

This world is heavy right now. The division. The hatred. The “isms.” The violence. The fear.

It’s heartbreaking.

And I think about how Ram Dass taught that “bearing the unbearable” is the deepest root of compassion, transforming the witness when they stop protecting themselves from suffering. By keeping the heart open in “hell” and accepting what is, one moves beyond ego-based empathy into being an instrument of love.

That all said, I have manifested something extraordinary in my own life.

I recently stepped into a new role — a full-service, deeply integrated health and wellness position with one client.

It has simplified my life, opened the door for more travel, and brought a level of peace and focus that feels deeply aligned.

I get to draw from every layer of my experience — coaching, fitness, plant-forward nutrition, mindset work, and creative strategies for staying healthy while traveling — to help this client elevate not just his health, but his life.

And I trust that the ripple effect of this work — even if I can’t yet see its full reach — will extend far beyond one person.

Here are a few pics, meal prepping in Miami, and grilling and taking a break to handstand on the latest trip…

And as I thought about writing this newsletter I had this moment of discomfort — how do I share the good when there is so much suffering in the world?

But maybe the answer is this:

The energy we cultivate within ourselves is not separate from the world. It is a microcosm of it.

When we become more peaceful, more grounded, more embodied — we ripple that outward.

Compassion is my religion.

And compassion includes ourselves.

So I will keep meditating.

I will keep choosing being over grinding.

I will keep training — yes, I got my muscle-up at Muscle Beach 🙌 — and now I’m setting my sights on the human flag for 2026.

I will keep practicing Tai Chi and Kung Fu. (I even taught my first class in the park when Fred had a conflict… my big debut was a success!)

I will keep tending to my body with care instead of force.

I will keep evolving.

Not because I am broken.

But because I am whole.

And that’s the piece I want to leave you with:

You are not a self-improvement project.
You are not something to optimize into worthiness.
You are not behind some imaginary timeline.

We are whole, complete, and worthy — exactly as we are.

Growth is not about proving our worth.
It’s about expressing it.

We can be whole and still evolve.
We can be peaceful and still care deeply.
We can shine our lights without dimming it out of guilt.

I also believe that hope, in times that may feel almost hopeless, matters.

As Jane Goodall has said, “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

And here’s my promise to you….

I’ll keep sharing what may be inspiring.
I’ll keep showing up in ways that feel aligned.
I’ll keep choosing fierce compassion — for myself, for animals, other people, and this world.

Let go.
Be peace.
Be love.
Be abundance.
Here. Now.

With fierce compassion,
Ella

P.S. Fiona is rockin’ it… Made it through the cold spell with her fleece hoodie (we got into the 30’s in Miami, which I realize sounds almost warm to some of you reading this!).