2026 is the Year of Alignment: What to Release, What to Plant, What to Move Forward
This week, with my scratchy “sultry sick-day voice” (as Monique called it), we dove into something I’ve been swirling in lately: decision-making. Not the big glamorous kind—marriage, jobs, cities—but the quieter ones that shape our internal landscape. The ones we postpone because they feel too tangled, too emotional, or too easy to get wrong.
And as we sat together, I realized how much of my own life has been shaped by the moments I avoided choosing. The four years I stayed in a relationship I couldn’t fully commit to. The way clarity finally met me the moment I decided to let go. And the way, on the other side of every choice, there’s this incredible lightness—like opening the door that was waiting for me the whole time.
Monique echoed it beautifully: decision-making isn’t just a moment. It’s a skill. A process. A relationship with your intuition. And sometimes, the most powerful thing we can do is say out loud, “I decide.”
“Design your own life instead of letting your life be designed for you.”
In this episode, we cover:
00:00 - Happy New Year + “Hello, future you”
02:24 - Numerology: 9-year cycles + why 2026 is a “Year One”
04:12 - Snake → Horse energy: shedding, then movement and alignment
05:52 - Mariah’s ChatGPT birth chart deep dive (and why it felt so seen)
11:54 - The pressure of New Year’s + the practice of “begin again”
15:32 - Why quarterly reflections (90 days) actually work
26:19 - Intentions: “I want to feel juicy” + less scarcity, less drama
37:00 - Co-creation + getting back in the driver’s seat
Hey Heart and Soul Collective!
Have you ever felt that weird pressure at the start of a new year—like you’re supposed to wake up on January 1st and suddenly be a brand-new person? Because Monique and I are here at the very beginning of 2026 to lovingly call BS on that… and to offer a way better option: choose again.
This is our first episode of 2026, and honestly, it felt so good to be back in the studio together after the holiday swirl. We’ve been doing this podcast for almost three years now (wild), and every time we sit down, it feels like coming home—to ourselves, to each other, and to the bigger conversations we know women need.
So today, we wanted to kick off the year by sharing a handful of rituals and reflection tools that we actually use—things that help us lift our heads up, look around, and ask: Am I awake at the wheel of my own life… or am I running on autopilot?
We talk numerology (hello, nine-year cycles), astrology (Year of the Snake → Year of the Horse energy), and the surprisingly deep way ChatGPT can help you reflect when you prompt it with intention. But mostly? We talk about what it means to actively participate in your life—not just react to it.
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All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
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