Masterful Mindsets

"Your life is a journey of learning to love yourself first and then extending that love to others in every encounter."  ~Oprah

Last week I challenged you to double down on your goodness to others. Because quite honestly, our world needs to reconnect and embrace loving kindness as a consistent practice in order to begin to heal. But if you don’t love yourself or your life, it can be difficult to extend love to others. Think about it, those people in the world that are so hateful and mean… do you think they actually love themselves or their life? I’m guessing, no.  

Loving yourself plays an important part in how you show up in the world. Once you love and respect yourself, you can give to others from a heart full of love, respect, generosity and kindness. But if you don't have enough love for yourself or your life, then a couple things can happen.

Either you find you give what little you do have to others with no regard for yourself. This is what I call...

"Sometimes it’s okay if the only thing you did today was breathe." ~Yumi Sakugawa

The holidays can be emotional for many people, especially if you’re going through a difficult time. We each fight our own unseen battles everyday no matter how big or small, and the holidays can bring about a lot of additional stress which in turn can cause emotions to escalate.

Whether you are grieving the loss of a loved one or struggling through another hardship like a broken relationship, a lack of direction, a failed business, an illness, a family quarrel or even grieving the dreams for your future hopes that did not come to pass this year, I want you to know that’s it’s okay to honor your grief and sadness. But I don’t want you to get stuck in it.

So today, just breathe... as I share some caring tips for coping with grief, depression or other strong negative emotions throughout the holidays this year.

If you are struggling this holiday season for any reason, please...

“The freedom to be yourself is a gift only you can give yourself. But once you do, no one can take it away.” – Doe Zantamata

“People with purpose and goals have no time for drama. They invest their energy in things that will add value to their life and others.” ~Unknown

We all know that there are those common bad habits like not getting enough sleep, not eating healthy, poor stress management, etc. that can steal your energy. And yes, sadly even though we know we could be doing better, by improving those habits, common sense isn’t always common practice. So many people find they don’t have the energy they need to be as happy and productive as they’d like.

But what about those sneaky little bad habits that maybe you don’t even realize are draining your energy? That’s what I’ll be talking about today as we finish up this month’s series on Energy.

Take a look at the list below and think about how often you engage in these bad habits. Odds are, like with most habits, you do them without even thinking about what you are doing. They may be reactive...

"The very fact that you worry about being a good mom means that you already are one." ~ Jodi Picoult

Mother’s Day is this weekend. A time to honor moms for all they do throughout the year. But for many moms, there’s an internal struggle that occurs between accepting and enjoying that recognition and the ever-so-strong mom guilt that tells them they don’t deserve all the love and praise because they don’t do enough. If you’ve ever experienced a similar guilt, you’re not alone.

These feelings are normal – I don’t know a mom (or dad) who doesn’t experience them from time to time. Even if you aren’t a parent, odds are high you’ve experienced a form of this guilt at some point in your life. (Just replace parenting children with what’s at the root of your own guilt – i.e., family, friends, business, school, work, etc.) But in honor of the upcoming holiday, I’ll be focusing on mom guilt here. So if your...

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” ~Maya Angelou

By now most schools are back in session and autumn is starting to whisper, “I’m on my way…” So as the smell of sunscreen is being overtaken by the scent of pumpkin spice, so too are our carefree feelings being overtaken by a sense of overwhelming tension.

It’s been over 18 months since most of us first learned of COVID. And with each new milestone of time that approaches, we anticipate the end of the madness, only to be faced with new challenges at every turn. I don’t think I need to tell you that the weight of all the “heaviness” our world is currently facing, is becoming a lot for many people to manage on their own.  

Combine all these emotions with the usual feelings that most people face as the last quarter of the year comes tumbling in and it’s no...