Last year at this time, I took an extended summer break.

Not the conservative American kind that lasts just a week or two. Not the wonderful European kind that lasts six weeks. But the glorious childhood kind that runs all summer long! 

What inspired this break was a mantra that kept dropping into my mind each time I opened my laptop.

“Less is more,” I kept hearing, signaling that it was time to shut down for a bit.

So, in a blog article titled “A Heart-to-Heart Discussion,” I announced I was taking a summer break from writing my weekly articles.   

“I want to see if ‘less’ is really ‘more,’” I told everyone, and I was pleasantly surprised when some of you decided to join me in that effort in your own respective ways.

The summer started off slowly. Doing less was very uncomfortable and required a lot more discipline than I’d imagined it would. But I stayed committed to the process and trusted that if I could learn to open more space both inside and outside of myself, something new and meaningful would eventually drop in.

It wasn’t too long before it did.

One random weekday, I found myself thinking, I will write an article for The New York Times’ “Modern Love” column.

Even though I knew being selected was a long shot, I also knew it’d be an even longer shot if I never tried. So, with the “less is more” philosophy at the forefront of my mind, I gave myself the entire summer to write and submit an essay—spending far fewer hours on my laptop than I had in years.

After submitting my essay for The New York Times’ consideration, new space naturally opened up for another idea to drop in:

I will conduct my very own Joe Dispenza Experiment.

I was a fan of Joe Dispenza. His book Becoming Supernatural had been a great help to me on my healing journey, and I was suddenly curious to see how this well-known teacher’s “manifestation” techniques might benefit me.

So, I told myself: I will listen to one of Dr. Joe’s “manifesting” meditations every day and see if this helps me get my “Modern Love” article published.

To kick off this effort, I started going on long summer walks and listening to his guided walking meditation called “Stepping into Your Future.” Step after step, hill after hill, I envisioned my article being published and how I’d feel when it was.

On days when my feet were tired or I just needed a change, I would light a candle and do one of Dr. Joe’s quiet meditations like “Tuning into New Potentials.” 

My only rule for this incredibly unscientific experiment was that I would do one of Dr. Joe’s manifesting meditations every day, no matter how short or long, until I got a response from The New York Times.  

I knew I was fortunate to be able to prioritize my “less is more” experiment that summer and then follow it up in the fall with my Joe Dispenza experiment. But I was also aware that healing from loss was still a daily practice for me, and that when I treated it like the most important job of my life, I simply felt better.  

Prioritizing my healing is not a luxury, I kept reminding myself. It is a necessity.

And finding new ways to heal and transform has become my idea of fun.

Well… three months later, after more than a hundred consecutive Joe Dispenza meditations, I was notified that my “Modern Love” article had been selected and would indeed be published the following month.

My heart received a jolt of pure joy—which was like a shot of medicine for my soul. 

Maybe my article was that good. Maybe Dr. Joe’s meditations provided the magic touch. Or maybe Tommy Mark’s spirit was behind it all. All I know for sure is that my summer experiment was a great investment and I was thrilled with the results.

After my article “My Son Is Gone. Our Conversation Lives On.” was published, I promptly forgot all about my experiment. Winter was just around the corner, and I was now back into my typical mode of “doing.”  

Until two weeks ago, when I was driving around Los Angeles and a new mantra suddenly dropped into my mind out of nowhere.

It was such a mouthful that I thought it was a joke.

But then I realized, summer’s almost here.

So, I tuned into the mantra that was circling around in my head and began repeating it out loud:

“The more space I give and the less busy I am, the more connected I feel, and the more people, opportunities, and abundance I attract to fulfill my dreams with love, peace, pleasure, and ease.”

After tweaking a few words, I decided to go for it.

I have achieved so much of what I set out to do when I first started this blog. My heart has healed exponentially from writing and sharing all I have learned. My website has become a living, breathing resource helping others heal their hearts too. And my community has grown around the world in ways I never could have imagined and deeply cherish.   

But less is still more—at least for me. And apparently, this is a skill I need to keep practicing.

With that said, I am signing off for a while. I might recycle some old articles you may have missed along the way. Or I might go completely silent for a bit. Or I may suddenly check in from time to time with something I think is meaningful.

It’s impossible to know what will happen when I get out of my routine and do less to make space for more—but if you want to conduct your own experiment this summer alongside mine, please join me!

I’m assuming Dr. Joe’s meditations can help us manifest whatever we want… and I can only imagine what we might all be able to manifest if we do it together.

P.S. For those of you who were interested in but missed my Instagram Live discussion about Ancestral Cleansing with Diviner Michelle Metz, you can find the video recap below!

You can also connect with Michelle directly by sending her a DM on Instagram (@michellereneemetz or @dagara.ancestral.knowledge).

P.P.S. Below is a new video The TM23 Foundation created announcing our next Tommy’s Field. We love how this turned out and hope you do too! Click HERE if you would like to be a part of it!