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
- 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 - Stop Looking For What’s Wrong!
Lean Into Your Life: Life Coaching Stop always looking for what’s wrong with you. It sounds almost too simple, which is exactly why most people ignore it. Instead, they scan themselves daily for flaws, gaps, weaknesses,… Read more: Stop Looking For What’s Wrong! - You Can’t Always Know Why!
The mind craves explanation. Why did this happen? Why can’t I change this? Why does my life look like this right now? The search for answers can feel intelligent, even responsible. But often it becomes a… Read more: You Can’t Always Know Why! - Lost In My Head
I was out doing a fairly challenging bike ride. Breathing hard, feeling fully in my body. I stopped at an intersection, and in a blink of an eye a bird drops from the sky, precise and… Read more: Lost In My Head - The Need For Self Reflection
Many personal development professionals suggest that seventy-five percent of people lack the capacity for self-reflection. Whether the exact number is debatable isn’t the point. The point is this: most people think all day long, but rarely… Read more: The Need For Self Reflection - Stress is Often the Fertilizer of Growth
There is no growth without stress. That isn’t motivational fluff, it’s biology. Your nervous system is wired to prefer the familiar, even when the familiar is keeping you small. So when you choose change new standards,… Read more: Stress is Often the Fertilizer of Growth - Your Boundaries Illuminate Your Center
You will not find your center by staying comfortable. You find it by testing your edges. By stepping into conversations you’d rather avoid. By taking risks that expose your fear. By noticing what triggers you instead… Read more: Your Boundaries Illuminate Your Center