Hey there, Jen here, and this is a happy bit. So the title of this happy bit is why I like the idea of joining a commune.

My friend Gina and my friend Beth and Kim and Courtney and Michelle and Natalie, the original Vibrant Happy Six who were at the retreat with me in February of last year,

we joke about forming a commune together. Why? Well, you know, we take everything we feel like

is wrong with society or our world and our commune would fix it, right? So we would eat

healthy food and everyone in the commune would get to do the thing that they love.

Maybe someone is cooking. Someone loves children. She's doing the teaching. Maybe my husband,

who is smart, would be teaching all the math and science. I don't know. It just sounds kind of fun.

And the cool thing is, you could set things up the way you want. So how would I set things up?

I would want my kids to have a structured but free flowing environment where they could just

learn and discover the things they want to do without the distraction of a smartphone that

tethers them to their friends continuously. And we are still

working on alternate ways to deal with that without forming a commune. But still, in my dream world,

my kids would have ample opportunities to discover the things they want to discover hands on,

to create things, to learn about nature, and just to

explore in their own way and be who they want to be. Also, healthier food, less screen time,

but especially way less stuff that distracts us from truly feeding our souls and doing the

things that really light us up. When we spend

most of our time managing all our stuff, laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, and cleaning and mowing the

lawn, it doesn't leave a lot of time for those things that feed our souls. So, granted, a commune,

you probably still have to mow some grass

and grocery shop. But I have this idea that everyone could do the thing that they love. Now,

some of you are probably laughing. I know it's totally wishful thinking and probably crazy.

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