This is a really fun episode where we very openly talk about the intimate relationships in our lives. Dalia shares and answers vulnerable questions about her marriage and her experience and thoughts on waiting till marriage to be sexually intimate. She also shares tools that have really helped nurture a healthy and loving marriage the last 10 years. Dina opens up about dating, and how she is implementing and practicing what she has learned along her journey having been married and divorced in her 20’s. We hope you enjoy listening to this one as much as we did recording it. We got a little carried away so its a longer episode but since it’s our last one of the season we felt like it was needed. (;

We tried to be honest and respectful with this conversation and hope that you feel that in our words. Here are a few of the other things that we shared in this episode:

    •    Dalia references this podcast episode from Faith Matters called The God Who Waits. (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/faith-matters/id1307757928?i=1000757998475) - “To love is to be inherently vulnerable.”

    •    Here are some links to the books shared in this episode That We Might Have Joy (https://a.co/d/0iKEgWWk) by Jennifer Finlayson-Fife (JFF), Gift From the Sea (https://a.co/d/02Ta8SRp) by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 8 Rules of Love (https://a.co/d/04e1zytU) by Jay Shetty.

    •    Here is a link to our episode on Spotify about how we nurture and navigate female friendships in our lives:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/48tthhsvkbKEy6j858yP0T?si=UAWyh748SZeTXR3ezggzHA

    •    The note Dalia read at the end of the episode to summarize the episode inspired by the work of JFF: “When two people are willing to grow, tell the truth, and stay present with each other, marriage/relationships become one of the most powerful places for joy, intimacy, and spiritual growth.”

    •    The quote shared from a video (https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8gLyvax/) Dalia saw by Maddi Castellano:

“Remember to marry a man who wants to be a husband and a father, not have someone who wants a wife and kids.”

We hope you have a gorgeous day and we will see you next season!! <3

Sending love always,

Dalia and Dina <3

We share some personal news like Dalia’s upcoming move, and the beginning of a new chapter, and reflect on how transitions can bring both excitement and vulnerability. Along the way, we explore the psychology of faith and hope, the power of trusting your life has meaning and how believing that things can work out can actually support resilience in our minds and nervous systems.

We also reflect on a passage from Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet about living the questions, and what it means to allow life to unfold without needing to know every answer.

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books written in a very foreign tongue.

Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given to you because you would not be able to live them.

And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now.

Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”

As we talked, we found ourselves getting a little emotional about this big change. <3 But we also noticed something wonderful as we reflected on how our faith has evolved. Instead of fear being our knee-jerk reaction, we felt a deeper sense of peace, trust, and hope for the future. That realization felt incredibly comforting, and it’s something we’re genuinely proud of.

A takeaway from our conversation in Episode 9 that Dalia prepared. We felt like it really captured the theme of this episode:

“Fear tries to convince us that the unknown is dangerous. But every meaningful chapter of our lives began in the unknown.

Maybe surrender isn’t about giving up control, maybe it’s about trusting that the unfolding of our lives may be wiser than our fear.”

Sending our love to you always,

Dalia and Dina (:

All throughout the episode we reference this apology languages quiz (https://5lovelanguages.com/quizzes/apology-language) that Dalia first learned about a couple of years ago when she heard it in this wonderful Faith Matters podcast episode. (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/faith-matters/id1307757928?i=1000672841882)

Also in the spirit of the Spring officially starting (YAY) - Dalia attended her last Women’s Spring Equinox Day Retreat on Sunday with the gorgeous women of the yoga community that she has gotten to know and love deeply the last 4 years here in Orange County. We wanted to share this beautiful poem that was read during Savasana that felt like such a gentle reminder of the energy that is available to us all this time of year…maybe what wants to be born in you is: to repair with the people you love most? <3

What Wants to be Born In You Beloved?

I have become grateful for the moments when I remember to stop

In order to listen to what the earth has to tell me.

This morning it was a flower who took me by surprise and shared her secrets with me.

She told me of her journey.

How it began in darkness, in the quiet, cool embrace of the quiet, generous earth.

She told me how the light called to her, and how, slowly but solidly,

She began to unfold towards the simple inevitability of her calling.

She told me of the exquisite cracking-open of all she knew herself to be;

The opening that felt like death until she realized it was her birth.

And then, with her open petals,

She asked me in the way

Only a full-bloomed flower can ask,

‘What wants to be born in you, beloved?’

What does the light want to call into being

From the quiet, generous earth

That waits patiently

In the cave of your heart?

-Hollie Holden

Co-regulation: “Is the process through which a calm adult helps a child’s nervous system return to balance during moments of big emotion. Young children’s brains are still developing. Especially the prefrontal cortex, the part responsible for impulse control, reasoning, and emotional regulation. When a child becomes overwhelmed, that thinking part of the brain temporarily goes offline and their nervous system shifts into a survival state. In those moments, children cannot access logic or lessons. What they need first is a calm, regulated adult presence. Through tone of voice, body language, and connection, the adult’s nervous system helps signal safety to the child’s nervous system. Once the child feels safe and their body settles, the brain can come back online and learning can happen. Over time, children internalize this process. What begins as co-regulation with a caregiver gradually becomes the foundation for self-regulation.”

Some resources that we mentioned in the episode that have helped us:

Good Inside with Dr. Becky (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-inside-with-dr-becky/id1561689671)

Big Little Feelings (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/after-bedtime-with-big-little-feelings/id1705286339)

To Be Magnetic (TBM) (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/expanded-podcast-by-to-be-magnetic/id1419732648)

There are sooo many more out there, these are just ones that we have personally used!

Sending love to you all,

Dalia and Dina <3

#chooseloveanyway #coregulation #birthday #willpower #growthjourney

Growing up in a Russian family, March 8th was always one of the most special holidays in our home. It was a day when women were celebrated with flowers, gratitude, and love. As we’ve grown older, we’ve learned that the history behind International Women’s Day is actually rooted in women standing up for their rights, their dignity, and their voices. Today we wanted to reflect not only on the history of this day, but on the women who have shaped us, challenged us, and taught us what it means to choose love anyway.

#chooseloveanyway #internationalwomensday #empowerment #friendships #selftrust

We can’t believe that we are already releasing episode 5 of our podcast!!! This has been such a special thing to create and put out together…We feel so grateful for all of the love and support! Thank you to all who submitted questions for this episode!

In this conversation we share more about how we have navigated difficult times in our relationship and the tools we use to have a healthy connection between us - which is now grounded in love, respect and honesty. We hope this episode offers some advice and hope in navigating sensitive conversations and relationships that mean a lot to you. We are learning that there is so much beauty in being authentic and honest and choosing to have those hard conversations in order to grow in deeper connection with the people we love…<3

We are sending you all love and wishing you safety and peace.

Love always,

Dalia and Dina <3

#chooseloveanyway #q&a #authenticity #disagreements #growthmindset

We hope you are having a beautiful week and staying safe and warm! We are sending love to you wherever you are. We are excited to release episode four of this series and share about what has been on our minds this week. As we begin this conversation we start by sharing some of the research and a little background on the topics that we cover…anxiety, the unknown and move into discussing how we have found that curiosity has become the antidote for us. Dalia also interviewed Dina for part of the episode and Dina has a fun “aha” moment that was sweet to witness. Dina is coming down with something in this episode so she is more low energy but very happy to be here and grateful that you are listening.

The theme that is weaved throughout this episode is:

“What if the unknown isn’t something to solve, but something to experience?”

Dina is also very vulnerable in this episode and shares about her experience with suicidal thoughts during one of the hardest times in her life…if this topic is hard for you to listen to we completely understand and hope you will do what is best for you. If you choose to listen to this episode the time to skip over would be between the 22 -23 minute mark. )

As part of our discussion we talk about the amazing episode we listened to this weekend from Faith Matters (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/faith-matters/id1307757928), we will link the episode here (https://substack.com/@daliamontgomery/note/c-218646271?r=s24vf&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action) if you would like to listen…We have all probably heard the things that were discussed in this episode but as Dalia described ~ it feels like she heard it here in a new way and the truths went a layer deeper and her ability to understand them grew.

Thank you again for listening and sharing your thoughts with us…we would love to answer some of your questions in our next episode so send them to us in the way that feels easiest for you! You can comment on this post here on Substack, on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/chooseloveanyway?igsh=Y2V0NzZoYnYzYmF6&utm_source=qr), YouTube (https://m.youtube.com/@chooseloveanyway), and TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@chooseloveanyway?_r=1&_t=ZP-94EAeWWsuf0).

We are sending our love always!

Dalia and Dina <3

#chooseloveanyway #predictability #curiosity #selftrust #embracinguncertainty

We hope that you had a beautiful Valentine’s Day and enjoyed the long holiday weekend. Episode 3 of Choose Love Anyway will be out today on all platforms. This is an episode where we share how we move through days when accessing our tools feels hard or when we are faced with disappointment… We want to invite you into how we move through life moment to moment and find gentle ways to accept the reality we are in.

Dalia is feeling under the weather in this episode, so we move at our own pace and try to be honest with you, as we are both in a phase of life where pretending doesn’t feel as accessible anymore… We hope that you will hear something that feeds your soul today - and maybe send it to someone you love who you desire to talk about some of the ideas we cover in this episode with. (:

We have also been soaking up the joy that this piece has been showering over us as we’ve gotten to read and reread this work of art by Vidya that she released as a gift for Valentine’s Day. We shared an excerpt from her writing in our last episode and want to share the rest of the piece for you to read and enjoy too…We’re looking forward to hearing what this piece and the episode inspire in you.

Here is another little sneak peek into her gorgeous writing that feels fitting to share with this episode:

✨✨✨✨✨

“When you know this body will not last forever, you treat it more gently. Or you should. You feed it beautiful things. You let it rest when it asks. You stop punishing it for not being what it was ten years ago and start thanking it for everything it still does.

When you know this particular phase of life will pass, you stop rushing through it to get to the next one. You let yourself be where you are. You stop treating every stage as preparation for some better version coming later. Impermanence teaches presence. It teaches gratitude. It teaches us to stop saving our lives for later and start living them now.”

✨✨✨✨

Sending our love to you always,

Dalia and Dina <3

#chooseloveanyway #acceptingreality #growth #healingjourney #hardmoments

Happy Valentine’s Day and our 21 year Anniversary of living in America! <3 We hope you’ve had the most beautiful day and have felt and shared all the love with the people around you…As promised here is a little Valentine’s Day gift from us to you…this is a meditation by Dalia where she will guide you through a visualization that she created last year for a Galentine’s event where she led a group of women through this beautiful journey to meet with their inner child specifically a 5 to 9 year old version of themselves. She starts this meditation by sharing about that experience and some things that inspired her. Part of the evening was writing a letter to yourself from love or from that younger version of yourself. Here is the writing Dalia shared in this meditation by Elizabeth Gilbert about this practice:

“I believe there is an ocean of warm, affectionate, outrageously unconditional love available to us all — and that it is conveniently accessible from within. I don’t believe anyone is excluded from this ocean of love. It is only a question of learning how to hear it, how to feel it, and how to trust it.

For over a quarter of a century I have written daily letters to myself from love and it has been the most transformative spiritual practice of my life.”

Elizabeth Gilbert

This is the first time we are releasing a meditation on our podcast, and this is the first time Dalia is recording this way and so the quality of the audio isn’t as perfect as we hope for it to be one day. But we are trying to continue to stay true to the spirit in which we released this podcast into the world, and sharing the love we have to offer no matter how imperfect it is…Thank you for continuing to be gentle and loving with us as we keep learning and refining our process. Listening with headphones on and turning down the volume is helpful for a softer listening experience.

#chooseloveanyway #selflove #innerchild #spirituality #meditation #visualization

We hope you’ve had a beautiful week and have some special plans for the Valentine’s weekend coming up.

Our second episode of Choose Love Anyway is out now! In our first episode we shared about why we are starting this podcast and why we chose the name that we did.

In this episode we go deeper and try to share a bit of our journey starting with where we were born, our childhood, and where we are in the present. We also share about why our journey has empowered and inspired us to choose love anyway, moment to moment.

In the spirit of honesty and being fully transparent we had to record this episode a few times. We didn’t realize how tender we still were until we started to share, and so we chose to set some boundaries for ourselves in this episode and not include some parts of our journey. So that we could honor our own safety and give ourselves space to ease into this experience of sharing more about ourselves online.

We are so grateful for the love and encouragement we have received from our dear friends and family. It means the world to us as you are all a part of our story and have shaped the people that we are today. We are so grateful for this life and that we get to experience all that it has to offer…even the heart break and painful moments. One of our beautiful friends once reminded us “That even the pain is holy…”

This episode could have been hours and hours long and so we tried not to dive too deep into the details. If you are interested in hearing more about any part of our journey, please feel free to message us and we would be happy to record an episode answering your specific questions.

As always we are sending love to all of you and thank you for listening to our podcast and supporting us!

Dalia and Dina <3

#chooseloveanyway #newepisode #aboutus #growth #healingjourney

We hope you are having a beautiful start to your year! This is such an exciting Thursday for us as we release our first episode of a series we have been working on together as sisters. We have dreamed of putting out a podcast together and the time is here!! We have put much love and intention into this, and we are also releasing a lot of control as we are learning how to do all of this for the first time. It is taking lots of courage to do this, and so we ask for gentleness and love as we figure out our voice here and iron out any technical parts of this journey.

Choose Love Anyway is a reminder that every moment offers a choice, love or fear. When we choose love, especially for ourselves, we cultivate the compassion, courage, and grace needed to extend that love to others. You can expect to hear conversations about embracing vulnerability, healing from within, and allowing the love we nurture in ourselves to ripple outward, transforming how we show up in the world.

We are sooo grateful for your support and love, and also want you to know that as our favorite yoga teacher always reminds us this is just an invitation not an obligation to listen. Please let us know what topics you are looking to hear us discuss and parts of this episode that resonated with you. We plan to release 1 episode every Thursday for the next 8-10 weeks as part of the first season of this podcast.

Sending our love always,

Dalia and Dina <3