My dear friend Mara Glatzel is back on the podcast, and this time we dive deep into community care, building (local) friendships and connections in midlife and navigating conflict and negative feedback in those spaces, as well as how we build resilient social skills for now and the future.

Mara is very active in her local community and talks passionately about her involvement in local politics, navigating people who may think differently, and what it’s like to truly be of service in your local community without forgetting about your own needs. We talk about building a level of self trust, managing overwhelm in being of service, as well as a sense of enoughness - especially in low-capacity seasons in life. We also discuss what it’s like to build new, local friendships and a sense of community, how this may require courage and patience, and how to make sure you don’t censor yourself in the process - even if it triggers rupture or conflict.

Mara invites us all to not only become more involved in our local communities, but to do it in our own way, at our own level of capacity, and for that to ultimately also inspire our sense of satisfiability: because if you're asking yourself whether you’re doing enough, you most likely are.

Resources + Links

• Find Mara Glatzel and her work here:
  • The ‘To Do List Makeover’ Workshop on Saturday November 7th 2026
  • Website: maraglatzel.com
  • Instagram: @maraglatzel
• Previous episodes of the Belonging podcast with Mara:
  • #66: Radically Claiming Your Needs
  • #112: Embracing Your Needs Unapologetically
  • #141: How I Marked My 40th as a Rite of Passage
• We also mention Carmen Spagnola’s work
• Join the Circle Craft open house on November 5th 2026
• Subscribe to my newsletter
• My book, Root and Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect to Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self
• Connect with me on Instagram @beccapiastrelli

Timestamps

[0:00] Introduction
[09:06] What do we need to be well, and how can we organise ourselves around that?
[13:45] Overwhelm, enoughness and commitment within community care
[25:30] Cultivating friendship and self trust in midlife
[35:52] Friendships as the bedrock of community resources
[42:47] Uniting people amidst disagreement and conflict
[49:22] Embracing self trust in navigating negative feedback
[56:41] Satisfiability and enoughness are an inside job
[1:05:51] The to-do list makeover workshop

If this conversation stirs something about gathering people in your own life in a more sacred and held way, come to The Real Thing, my free virtual open house on November 5th at 1pm ET. ​[Save your spot →]

For this episode I am joined by author, writer and dear friend Sophie Strand, who invited me into her home to have this wonderful conversation on romantasy as an antidote to doom - and so much more. In her work and life, Sophie focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology, but it would probably be more authentic to call her a troubadour animist with a propensity to spin yarns that inevitably turn into love stories. And love stories is exactly what we talk about in this conversation: from the early crushes we had as children, and our first memories of love stories, to romantasy being responsible for the honeymoon mind and how all of this brings us in relation to the world around us and activates an optimistic attitude in a time of despair and collapse. We weave together this idea of the erotic life force, what that’s being inspired by and how it is informing the way we move in the world.

We explore how crushes can force us to be our best self - and how that can help heal the world - as well as the expectations romantasy may have put on our relationships and the dating world. In this light, we talk about the power of the written narrative and how that often shapes our lived experience. We touch on the concept of species traitors and holding people accountable, as well as being apocoloptimists and holding hope in our bodies. Plus, we celebrate Sophie’s upcoming book ‘Make Me Good Soil’, from which she shares one of her ecological love poems with us.

Resources + Links

• Find Sophie Strand & her work here:
  • Pre-order her new book ‘Make Me Good Soil’
  • Read her Substack Make Me Good Soil
  • Her website https://sophiestrand.com
  • Her Instagram @cosmogyny
• Subscribe to my newsletter
• My book, Root and Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect to Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self
• Connect with me on Instagram @beccapiastrelli

Timestamps

[0:00] Introduction

[15:09] The Power of Story Telling and Shaping Society’s Narratives

[27:36] The Importance of Crush Energy

[33:45] Men Written by Women & Romantasy’s Effect on Expectations within Relationships

[43:12] Sophie’s New Book ‘Make Me Good Soil’ and the Power of Writing Practices

[54:03] The Ownership of Ideas and the Golden Thread That Keeps You Going

If this conversation stirs something about gathering people in your own life in a more sacred and held way, come to The Real Thing, my free virtual open house on November 5th at 1pm ET. ​[Save your spot →]

In today’s episode, I am joined by Isha Vela to talk about what it means to move money matriarchally and how we rebalance the ecosystem of money and wealth. Isha Vela is a somatic psychologist, financial strategist, matriarchal wealth activist and founder of the Wealth Ecology Institute, where she teaches women to steward money in service of land, lineage, and legacy.

We dive deep into what it means to heal intergenerational narratives around money and ancestral scarcity. We call in the idea of money stewardship and the matriarchal responsibility this brings. Isha shares her approach on this work: sustainability over extraction, capacity over speed, circulation over hoarding and enoughness over endless expansion. We explore what this could mean within the classic system of philanthropy , and how a matriarchal approach decentralises this idea of power and centres life, instead. And when we center life, we may approach money - and other resources - like water: it all gets to nourish the ecosystem, as long as it can flow. In that light, Isha brings in the concept of saving circles, and how alive they are and can feel. We also talk openly about building community trust in this context and normalising friction and repair in relationships - especially when money is the culprit.

This conversation captures what money and wealth could also be, and become, outside of the existing structures, systems and power dynamics. It celebrates matriarchal energy and will empower you to call this in for yourself and the resources you have available to you.

Resources + Links

• Find Isha Vela:
  • on her website www.ishavela.com
  • and through her work www.wealthecologyinstitute.com
  • her mini matriarchal wealth masterclass FLOW: Move Money Like a Matriarch
  • Youtube: @wealthecologyinstitute
  • Instagram: @wakingup_wealthy
  • Podcast: Waking up Wealthy with Isha Vela
• Subscribe to my newsletter
• My book, Root and Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect to Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self
• Connect with me on Instagram @beccapiastrelli

Timestamps
[0:00] Introduction
[6:55] Ecological Wealth Systems
[13:22] Definitions of Wealth
[19:49] Moving Money Matriarchally
[31:12] Performative Philanthropy and Embodied Giving
[40:20] The Feminism of Saving Circles
[46:54] Building Community Trust
[57:45] Governance and Repair

If this conversation stirs something about gathering people in your own life in a more sacred and held way, come to The Real Thing, my free virtual open house on November 5th at 1pm ET. ​[Save your spot →]