leaning into your life
Writer, Speaker, Explorer. Sharing the insights of my spiritual journey.
I want to live a life that is deliberate and purposeful. I want to lean into my life. Follow my journey as I explore learning, changing, and challenges.
About the Author: Gary Merel
Writer, Speaker, Explorer
I’ve lived many lives in one lifetime, husband, father, householder, healer, seeker. I spent years living in a yoga ashram, immersed in disciplined spiritual practice, and later studied with shamans and indigenous healers throughout South America. My path has never been casual. It has been a series of deep commitments to growth, service, and awakening.
For 25 years, I practiced as a functional medicine practitioner at Ann Arbor Holistic Health while also working as a certified life coach. In 2022, I stepped away from clinical work to focus fully on transformation, helping others live with clarity, intention, and alignment. My work is grounded, practical, and informed by decades of lived experience.
Now, in what I see as the last third of my life, I feel the urgency and privilege of being fully engaged. It’s easy to drift into the inertia of aging, to settle into comfort. I’m not interested in that. I’m drawn to the edge where allowing and achieving meet—the place where surrender and vision create something larger than either alone.
This chapter is an exploration: of what I’ve lived, what I’m learning, and what still calls me forward. As a cancer survivor, I no longer take time for granted. Life is uncertain and precious. I’m here to lean in fully—and to invite others to do the same.
Recent Posts
- I Versus We
Most people begin life focused on one thing: survival. As children, that is exactly what we are supposed to do. We need attention, affection, safety, encouragement, food, guidance, and reassurance that we matter. Healthy development begins… Read more: I Versus We - Can Your Really Trust Your Gut?
There comes a moment in life when what once worked no longer fits. The pressure builds quietly at first. A career that drains rather than inspires. Financial stress that never quite lets you rest. A marriage… Read more: Can Your Really Trust Your Gut? - Life Is Lived Forward But Understood Backwards
Life rarely unfolds the way we imagined it would. We make decisions based on the information, beliefs, and conditioning we carry at the time. Education, marriage, career, money, family, religion, politics — most of it is… Read more: Life Is Lived Forward But Understood Backwards - The Cost of Being Right
There’s a quiet cost to being right, and most people never calculate it. You win the argument, prove the point, stand firm in your position… and slowly, almost invisibly, lose connection. The mind is brilliant at… Read more: The Cost of Being Right - I Shot Myself In The Foot
Deflection is subtle. It hides behind humor, intellect, and clever wordplay. A question about a sacred trip to India becomes a joke. A moment of vulnerability gets redirected into wit. It looks harmless, almost impressive, but… Read more: I Shot Myself In The Foot - Your Death Will Not Announce Itself
Your death will not announce itself with ceremony. It will arrive on an ordinary day, emails unanswered, plans half-built, conversations left hanging. The world will keep moving. That reality isn’t meant to depress you; it’s meant… Read more: Your Death Will Not Announce Itself - My Mood Is Not In Charge
Here’s the rule most people avoid because it cuts through every excuse: never let your mood dictate what you do. Your mood is unreliable, it shifts with comfort, distraction, and habit. If you follow it, you… Read more: My Mood Is Not In Charge - Giving Up The Need to Know: Stop Waiting, Start Evolving
Personal growth is not comfortable, it never has been. Your nervous system is wired to resist change, to cling to the familiar, even when the familiar is what’s keeping you stuck. Stress is not the problem;… Read more: Giving Up The Need to Know: Stop Waiting, Start Evolving - Destiny or Choice: Where Your Responsibility Begins
Is your life already written, or do you actually have free will? That question sounds deep, but for most people, it’s a distraction. You’re not really confused about destiny. You’re avoiding the harder question: where does… Read more: Destiny or Choice: Where Your Responsibility Begins