From Quantity to Clarity: My 2026 Approach to Friendships, Business, and Art

January 27, 2026 | The Solar Rhythm 🌞 | Cosmic Love Letters Archive
In this issue: Inner desire as magnetism; building a decolonial year; approach to community

Cosmic Cariño,

I gotta say, I never aspired or desired to be a Decolonial anything.

Being from the Dominican Republic but mostly removed from it in my teens and twenties, the word "colonial" was familiar. I knew what it meant intellectually.

But it wasn't until 2021 that the Universe planted seeds for understanding it spiritually. I celebrated my 35th birthday in DR, after being gone for 7 years.

As the first colonial city, Santo Domingo is the capital and home to the first university of the New World. The same one my father—the first in his family to become a doctor— graduated from. I was quite literally, back on ancestral land.

It was there on the water that I saw my first synchronicity: a small graffiti on a pillar, with the words, "what are dreams for if not for making them reality."

And what's wild, is that I had the audacity to follow it...

Inner Desire as Magnetism

I can say with near certainty that I have always known what I wanted in my life.

And I can say with equal certainty that I've largely doubted myself and my ability to realize what I wanted. Despite the PhD and world travels, I was not a leader.

—Aht, aht, like I tell my unruly dog—THAT is the original colonial thought.

To be a leader is to have vision, strategy, and an unshakeble trust in realizing that vision. No matter what happens, you believe that you will persevere. 

The thing is, as a Dominican Latina coexisting with both an immigrant and assimilation wound, and like many others who share these and other identities, I was not exposed to the idea that people like me could be pioneers. Who was I, after all?

But I had tried damn near all the paths to success that others touted, the ones that you could back out of. The degree, the career, the travels, the money—emptiness. I was miserable, and I didn't want to have to take medication just to numb my soul.

So when I saw that graffiti the day after my birthday in 2021—and hours before I would see my next synchronicity, a family of lightning storms—for the first time I felt the permission. Permission to actually live the life that I   wanted to live. 

Since that day, and every day since, I have been actively working on both releasing everything from my life that diminishes my happiness and exploring that which adds.

You'll see in the next section how I'll design my life's desires into my time this year.

Building a Decolonial Year

Five years ago, I read The Desire Map and learned for the first time how to focus on what I wanted to feel in my life, AND what I wanted across all areas. They were:

JOY CONNECTED GROUNDED PEACE AFFLUENT LOVE OPEN CALM INSPIRED PASSIONATE CREATIVE CURIOUS PRESENT FULL

The reasoning behind the book was to consider that the feelings you want more of should come before you define what you want. Because the truth is, most of our desires are conditioned by what society dictates.

But how often do we question why we want what we want?

In my experience? Not often. When we build vision boards, we may put things like travel, time with friends, more money (always, more money), health, better eating, a partner if we don't have one, and a better relationship if we do.

And we may travel, and hang out with friends, and work out, and eat well, but until we've stopped to consider what aspects of life are and aren't aligned, you're following someone else's instructions on how to live your life.

When I asked myself what kind of life I'd live if I trusted my desires, it didn't look anything like what I had. Not even close.

I wanted new friends. New routines. New relationship with money. New relationship with my body. New creative practices. New everything.

But first, I had to release the old.

That's what the last few years have been, but this year, it's about rebuilding. Last newsletter I shared that my word was Sovereign, but the way I'm activating that is unlike anything I've ever witnessed or done before. Starting February 2026, I will...

My Approach to Community

I have met thousands of new people in the last several years.

Virtual, online, in the US, in other countries, in professional / spiritual / artistic / fitness / coaching settings; EVERYWHERE.

I thought the best way to build my business and my social life was just a numbers game. The more people I met, the better. And I was up for the task then.

I was so desperate to connect, to be seen, to be validated in these shaky moments of me leaving the known path behind, that I focused on quantity.

I've had many beautiful memories, love, and friendships, but I've also had a lot of shitty experiences. My need to belong and be accepted led me to overgive, to the point of depletion. I was always willing to "hold space" for others, but found myself silent when I needed it. People thought I was so strong, they left me be.

My reunion with my García family and my deepening relationships with mami, my doggo son Ralphie, and my ancestors shifted that void within me. 

And that clarity (it's always clarity that drives your magnetism) is what made me start energetically withdrawing from multiple depleting friendships. I end all my relationships consciously, so a conversation and closing was involved in them all.

That's the wisddom that's driving how I will be designing this year. In pursuit of my dreams, I decided to pay myself a year's salary while I focus on my creations.

My business will take a backseat with 1/3 of my time, while I focus the other 2/3 on resting, and the pursuit of the arts (writing, painting, piano, embodied dancing) . I'm currently in the throes of designing a full curriculum to learn the fundamentals, theory, and practice.

It's going to be a mix of virtual and in-person classes from the community, as I take advantage of the city's resources on my decolonial path.

In the last picture below, you'll see a picture of my first collage, a sovereign piece on how I visually see colonization's impact on freedom.

Upcoming Events and Offerings

For those of you in the Dallas area ready to design your own lives, join me...

The snowstorm shifted the Latina Voices Institute kickoff to January 31st, now virtual. This is the first year I'll be collaborating with Dra. MMC as a guide for the Doctora Experience (an experience for Latina doctoras) coming up March 27th!

Tickets are still available for the vision boarding session with Aho Studios on January 31st @ 6 PM. Come for the guidance on decolonizing your own year.

This is the last call for Creative Liberation class through the four elements at the Creative Arts Center.  We kick off with this indigenous wisdom February 6th, 2 PM.

2026 is my year of creative sovereignty. I'm building it in public—come witness, come create, come reclaim, rise, and reign with me.

Con cariño y soberanía,

Dra. CarolLaine M García, Ph.D.
Queen Mindset Leadership® Thought Leader