Nicole Bensen

Personal

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Are you feeling as steamrolled as I am right now? With all the end-of-school-year stuff and summer chaos layered on top of real life, I’ve been feeling stretched way too thin. Teacher gifts, graduations, birthday parties, snack duty, travel planning—not to mention democracy being at stake and doing my best to run a one-woman business—it’s […]

ā€œWait…did we sit on the wrong side?ā€ā€œDo we move? Is it rude to move?!ā€ I whispered to my husband. We were at a wedding this past weekend in beautiful Napa, California, as guests of the bride, a dear friend of mine. So…we sat on the left, following the seating style we’d used at our own […]

We were all huddled around Phyllis’ desk—analysts, admins, and loan officers—leaning in as she described her opulent dinner at a fine dining restaurant called The French Laundry. I’d never heard of it. Another thing I’d never heard of? Sweetbreads. But the way she talked about it made it very clear they were neither sweet nor bread. […]

Today’s my birthday! I’m one of those people who turns a birthDAY into a celebration WEEK, and I kicked off this year’s festivities with a girls’ weekend at the lovely, lakesideĀ Woodmark Hotel and Spa. Two friends flew in from California, and we had pasta and cocktails, spa time, and chats next to the fire pit […]

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As we kick off 2025, you’re probably seeing a lot of “New Year, New You” hype. Maybe you’re setting resolutions, choosing a word of the year, or maybe even creating a vision board. You know I’m a big fan of vision boards, right?! This is me leading a vision board workshop last week: But have […]

As we enter 2025, ask not ā€œWhat more can I do?ā€ but ā€œWhat can I let go of?ā€ Release the burdens of others’ expectations, constant availability, and comparison. Growth begins with the courage to let go. Here’s to less pressure and more you.

We all want to be happy. We all want our families to be healthy and well. We all agree that children’s lives should be protected. We all deserve to feel safe walking around our cities at night. We’d all like lower taxes. We all want freedom of speech and to make choices about our own lives.

Discover how thoughts, visualization, and emotions shape your reality through neuroplasticity and the science behind manifestation.

I went to a 4-hour ā€œUrban Sketchingā€ class with Steven Reddy on Saturday, and it was challenging, but not because of the most obvious reason, that I’m not an artist. It was difficult because Steven’s style of drawing is that there are no mistakes; you don’t sketch a draft in pencil first, then refine before […]