Ashley Strong Smith : Intentional Living Coach, Podcast Host and Author

Ashley Strong Smith : Intentional Living Coach, Podcast Host and Author Heart-Led Intentional Living Coach, Podcast Host, Author + Photographer

09/09/2026

I almost didn’t go. 🌲

I felt guilty leaving my family for a few hours on the weekend, even though something in me was quietly nudging me toward the forest.

So I listened.

And as I walked, I felt so much gratitude for this space just minutes from my home. For the time to be alone with myself. For a place that always seems to give me something I didn’t know I needed.

I came home feeling lighter.
Energized.
Inspired.

And reminded that sometimes, the things we feel a little guilty for choosing are exactly the things that help us come back to ourselves.

Maybe you’ve had a nudge lately, too.
Have you been listening?

THE HEARTBEAT BEHIND THIS WORK ✨This space is for the woman finding her way back to herself.The woman who has spent year...
09/08/2026

THE HEARTBEAT BEHIND THIS WORK ✨

This space is for the woman finding her way back to herself.

The woman who has spent years caring for everyone around her. Showing up. Holding things together. Being the one people can count on.

The woman who has created a life filled with people and responsibilities she loves—and is beginning to hear a quiet longing within herself.
A longing to slow down.
To listen.
To reconnect.
To remember.

To ask:
What feels true?
What matters most?
What kind of life do I want to create?

For me, those questions changed everything.

After years of living according to the shoulds and supposed tos, I began living with greater intention—returning, again and again, to what felt true and what mattered most.

And along the way, I discovered something beautiful:
When one person remembers who they are, it doesn’t just change their life.

It changes the way they love.
The way they lead.
The way they parent.
The way they show up in every relationship, every community, and every space they touch.
That’s why this work exists.

Because I believe we’re here to remember one another.

I exist because you exist.
I belong because you belong.
When you rise, I rise.

I believe we all belong.
I believe we all deserve lives that feel deeply aligned, meaningful, and our own.
And I believe that when one of us chooses to live from the heart, we quietly give others permission to do the same.

So if you’re here, perhaps this space can be a place to pause.
To listen inward.
To reconnect with yourself.
And to take the next intentional step toward the life that is waiting to be lived through you.

What might become possible if you trusted yourself enough to begin? ✨

WAYS WE CAN CONNECT 🪴There are so many different ways our paths can cross.A Sunday reflection.A photograph.A weekend awa...
09/07/2026

WAYS WE CAN CONNECT 🪴

There are so many different ways our paths can cross.
A Sunday reflection.
A photograph.
A weekend away.
A cup of cacao shared in community.
A planner that helps you live with greater intention.
A conversation that helps you hear yourself more clearly.

While my work may look different from the outside, every offering comes back to the same intention:
Creating space to pause, connect, listen, and remember what matters.

Here are a few ways we can connect through the rest of 2026:

💛Sunday from the Soul — weekly reflections + intentional living delivered to your inbox each Sunday, with more throughout the week on Instagram.

📸 Fall Mini Sessions — November 8 + 14 in Lake Arrowhead.

📔 The 2027 Planner — pre-orders open October 1, with an early sneak peek + pre-order available now.

🌿 Intentional Living Weekend Immersion — October 9–11 in Lake Arrowhead. Doors close September 13.

🍫 Coming Home: A Cacao Ceremony — November 14, 3:30–5:30 PM.

🌱 1:1 Coaching — personalized support for where you are and what is calling you forward.

Whatever brings you here, I hope it brings you closer to yourself.

Sometimes through a conversation.
Sometimes through a photograph.
Sometimes through stillness.
Sometimes through gathering in community.

However our paths cross, there is space for you here.

P.S. All links can be found here - https://www.ashleystrongsmith.com 💕

09/03/2026

There’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately...

How often we say we need space.
We need rest.
We need time away.
We need to reconnect with ourselves.

And yet, when the opportunity comes to actually give ourselves that space...
We hesitate.
We tell ourselves we’ll do it later.
When life slows down.
When the timing is better.
When everyone else needs a little less from us.

But sometimes...
Life doesn’t create the space for us.
Sometimes, we have to choose it.

And maybe that’s what this is really about.
Choosing to step away from the noise.
Choosing to breathe a little deeper.
To move a little slower.
To listen to the parts of yourself you haven’t been able to hear in the middle of everyday life.

Not because you have all the answers.
But because sometimes we have to create enough space to finally hear the questions.

So if your heart has been asking for space...
Maybe this is your invitation to give it to yourself.

Join us for the Intentional Living Weekend Immersion in Lake Arrowhead, California from October 9th -11th!

Doors close September 13 ✨

If your heart is being called towards this, reach out!

💛Hosted by Ashley ✨Intentional Living Facilitator
☕️Cacao + sound bath Ashley Bennett | Live Life Reiki Studio
🥗Private chef Lynda Catterall Turner
🧘‍♀️Yoga bianca nicole whaley 🌙

ALL THE DEETS + MORE - https://www.ashleystrongsmith.com/retreats.html

Hi, I’m Ashley🤗! There have been a lot of changes in this space over the years, and as I step into this new season, it f...
09/03/2026

Hi, I’m Ashley🤗!

There have been a lot of changes in this space over the years, and as I step into this new season, it feels like the right time to introduce myself again.

If we were meeting in person, I’d probably welcome you with a hug, invite you to take a deep breath, and remind you of something simple:
You are here.
You are enough.
And everything you’re seeking begins within.

Because this space has always been about coming home to yourself.

About slowing down long enough to listen inward and remembering who you are beneath all of the noise, expectations, and ideas about who you think you’re supposed to be.

I’ve spent nearly twenty years following one question:
What becomes possible when we begin living with intention?

That question has taken me across countries and careers, through seasons of uncertainty, growth, adventure, and becoming—and eventually led me here.

My journey began in service and the nonprofit world before building a business as a photographer. Over time, my work evolved into something bigger: creating spaces where people can slow down, reconnect with themselves, and create lives rooted in truth, intention, and wholehearted living.

Today, I wear a lot of hats—photographer, coach, retreat host, workshop facilitator, author, and cacao facilitator.

And while they may look different from the outside, they are all connected by the same purpose: To help people come home to themselves.

When I’m not working, you’ll find me living in the mountains of Lake Arrowhead with my South African husband (who I met while traveling in Tanzania), our daughter, two oversized puppies, a cat, a kitten, five chickens + a guinea pig.

It’s a full, beautiful, sometimes chaotic life—and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Above all, I believe we’re never finished becoming. Every season gives us another opportunity to pause, listen, and return to ourselves.
And I believe the life we’re longing for isn’t found by becoming someone else.

It’s created one intentional step at a time, by becoming more fully ourselves.

So whether you’ve been here for years or you’re just finding your way here...
I’m really glad you’re here!

💛Let’s connect deeper!

09/02/2026

September is here, and with it, the quiet beginning of a new season. 🍂

Summer gave us moments to live, to wander, to rest, and to remember what matters.

And now, before rushing into what’s next, maybe this is an invitation to pause.
To check in.
To honor where you’ve been.
To notice what feels light.
What feels heavy.
What you’ve been longing for.

There is something about the changing of a season that invites us to pay attention—not to rush ahead, but to pause long enough to reflect on the life we’ve been living.

Before moving into what’s next, have you given yourself the space to truly listen to where you are right now?

August ☀️🦦A whole month away from this little corner of the internet.And honestly?I knew I needed it.I needed to step aw...
08/30/2026

August ☀️🦦

A whole month away from this little corner of the internet.

And honestly?
I knew I needed it.

I needed to step away.
To get quiet.
To stop documenting.
To stop sharing.
To let my soul rest.

And for the first time in a long time, my soul actually got to do just that.
To rest.
To be.
To simply live.

And what a beautiful, messy, full, fluid month it has been.

Slow mornings.
Paddle boards and lake days.
Boat rides and sunsets.
Dinner dates with my husband and my best friend.
Deep conversations.
Deep laughter.
Deep, deep love and connection.

Family gathered from South Africa, New Zealand, the UK, Scotland, and the United States.
And one final camping trip of the summer, all together in Kernville.

Somewhere in the midst of all that living, I realized how much this summer has asked me to shed.

Routines.
Expectations.
Parts of my identity.
The ending of my podcast.
A broken foot that asked me to let go of so much of the movement I love.

And I’ve found myself asking... Who am I now?

The truth?
I’m still me.

A mom.
A wife.
A daughter.
A friend.
A coach.
A photographer.
A dreamer.
A lover.

Some parts of me are dormant.
Others are loud.

I am tired.
I am vulnerable.
I am open.
I am curious.

Maybe this is the work.
Not rushing to fill the empty spaces.
Not immediately replacing what has fallen away.
Not needing to know exactly who we’re becoming next.

Just allowing ourselves to be here.
My skin will grow back.
My layers will become what they are meant to become.

But for now, I’m honoring what—and who—I am.

And mostly?
I’ve been living.

What have you been living lately?

I bid you farewell, both July and social media. July has been a month of so much love, adventure, joy, celebration, and ...
07/31/2026

I bid you farewell, both July and social media.

July has been a month of so much love, adventure, joy, celebration, and honoring.

My girl turned seven.
I turned 39.
My best friend got married.
I celebrated friendship, family, love, and so many of the people who make this life so beautiful.

And somehow, I’m now standing in the final year of my 30s — the last chapter of a decade that has shaped me, stretched me, softened me, and brought me home to myself in so many unexpected ways.

It has been full.
Beautifully, overwhelmingly full.
And simultaneously, it has been a month where my tank has gotten so empty that my feet can barely seem to find the ground.

And I know what that means.
It’s time to release.
To let go.
To let in.

So I’m saying goodbye to social media and to this community for the next month or so.

Not because I don’t love being here, but because I do.
Because I want to keep living what I share as my truth — with intention, authenticity, groundedness, and unapologetic honesty.

And right now, that means creating space to go inward.

August is the last month of summer, and I want to be deeply, fully here for it.
Here with my girl.
Here with so much of our family coming from South Africa and New Zealand.
Here for the slow mornings, the adventures, the ordinary moments, the laughter, the connection, and all of the little things that make up this season of life.

I want to create the space to truly close out this chapter of summer before stepping into whatever comes next.
To not rush the ending.
To actually be in it.

So, goodbye July.
And goodbye, for now, social media.

I’m going inward, getting grounded, and making room for what matters most.
I’ll see you in the next season.

So much love 💕,
Ashley

It’s that time again... One of my favorite seasons of the year has officially begun.The 2027 Planner is in its very earl...
07/30/2026

It’s that time again...

One of my favorite seasons of the year has officially begun.

The 2027 Planner is in its very earliest stages, and this year I’m doing something a little differently.

Instead of releasing three cover options like I have in the past, there will be just ONE!

And before I make that decision, I’d love to invite you into the creative process. 🥰

If you’ve used one of my planners before (or have always been curious about them), I’d be so grateful for your honest feedback.
✨ Which cover speaks to you most?
✨ What do you absolutely love about the planner?
✨ Is there anything that didn’t feel as supportive as it could have?
✨ If you could change one thing, what would it be?

Every year, this planner becomes better because of this community. So many of the features inside these pages exist because someone took the time to share an idea, a need, or a thoughtful piece of feedback.

This planner has always been more than a planner to me.

It’s a love letter to intentional living.
A place to dream.
Reflect.
Plan.
Celebrate.
Begin again.

And I want the 2027 edition to be the most meaningful one yet.

If you’d like to follow along behind the scenes, get first looks, sneak peeks, early access, and pre-order information, I’ve also opened The Planner Insider List.

I’d love to have you there as we bring this next planner to life together.

✨ Vote in the comments.
✨ DM your feedback.
✨ Join the Insider List - https://planner.myflodesk.com/theplannerinsiderlist

I truly can’t wait to create this one with you.

Address

Running Springs, CA
92352

Telephone

+17605002829

Website

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