My dear friends asked me what I wanted to do to celebrate my 35th birthday this year and I immediately reverted into my punk rock/rastafari teenage self (cue Bob Marley music and purple-tipped hair here) and said “oh, let's create vision boards.”
I went straight back to my fifteen-year-old self when every single one of my school binders was covered in magazine collages highlighting my celebrity crushes (hi Brandon Boyd from Incubus), words that inspired me, places I wanted to travel to, and more.
This summer, I made a conscious decision to better nurture myself in the morning. I was so used to waking up and diving headfirst into the hustle and bustle that by the time 9 AM rolled around, I was already feeling depleted. I partnered with MegaFood® to bring you 5 quick and effective ways to make sure you are making time for self-care in the morning.
The mantra, “Sometimes the body takes a back seat while the heart is busy” came during a thirteen hour work day. My partner and I were preparing a pitch deck for a potential investor that wanted to see our plans to bring The Mindful Mamas Club to life in the form of a self-care and mindfulness app for mothers and mothers-to-be. We had been working tirelessly and during a quick stretching break, we were laughing about how tight and stiff our bodies felt.
Today, I am sharing ways to incorporate mindfulness into our reading practice. I’m excited to be featuring Dr. Seuss’ book Oh, The Places You'll Go! as it’s about exploring and dreaming with our purest intentions and goals—a journey into mindfulness.
Oh, the Places You’ll Go! was given to both Winter and Lennon as baby shower gifts. My hope is to bring the book along on our journey with the children, as they grow, learn and evolve. I was given the sweetest advice by another mama, to have each of my children’s teachers sign the book at the end of each school year, and to continue this tradition all the way to their high school graduation, where Perry and I give it to them as a graduation gift. This allows them to see the places they have been, each person who has had an impact in their lives along the way and to bring a renewed excitement for the places they will go.
I have been thinking LONG and hard about this. I will be the first to admit…because my work is in social media, this is a topic that I continue to come back to time and time again. I am constantly “checking” myself and asking Perry to help keep me accountable when it comes to my social media intake and habits.
Let’s be real here for a moment: I am a 34-year-old adult and there are moments when social media affects my self-esteem and self-worth. I fall victim to comparing my creative work to others, wondering why I don’t have as many likes or followers as so and so and really begin to question what my purpose is on this space.
I have so much to say about my journey thus far with Young Living essential oils. I can’t seem to articulate it all on stories so I figured I would type it out here.
And I am so eager to get this post up as soon as possible because from September 12-14th, you can get 10% off the Premium Starter Kit. That’s 11 oils and a diffuser for 10% off!
I feel like I have waited an eternity to be able to write this post.
Today I would like to introduce to The Mindful Mamas Club, an online membership site dedicated to teaching mothers mindfulness tools, practices, and techniques.
Click below to check it out!
Last week, I announced an exciting new project that I have been pouring my time, energy, money and resources to, The Mindful Mamas Club. It's an online membership site that will teach Moms across the globe how to do mindfulness tools and practices to enrich their lives. With a membership, you also get access to a closed Facebook group where we will be diving into deeper themes and topics. Members get access to videos, guided meditations, mini pauses (1-5 minute mindful activities to do throughout the day to reset), breathing techniques and more. It's something I am so proud of, and I hope to see you all there!
I am a firm believer that if a person has an idea and isn't ready to receive it, bring it to life, or run with it, the idea will be transferred to someone else. This is an idea that I could not risk slipping through my fingers as it is one that pulling at every heartstring that I own.
But with starting a new business endeavor, I am challenged with long hours, stress and emotions surrounding the launch of this project. Up until now, I feel like I have been "keeping my head in the game" so to speak. I wake up every single day and balance family life, building this business and maintaining the blog. I have had minor moments of panic and thoughts like, "What am I doing? Is anyone even going to want to join my membership site or interested in learning mindfulness? And can I do this?"
I have opened up a bit in stories regarding some anxiety I am experiencing. The first time I experienced anxiety during this pregnancy the feelings came on extremely strong complete with heart palpitations, shortness of breath and a full-blown panic attack.
I am gearing up towards something huge and I cannot wait to share it with you (hint: it has to do with mindfulness). But, with new ideas or initiatives can also come self-doubt and worry. I can feel the negative self-talk turn on and I am trying to build myself up anyway that I can so I can continue to trust that inner voice inside of me that says I can do this.
I met a beautiful stranger at Panera Bread the other night. He was a regional manager who was training a young teenager on the cash register, and I happened to be the young boy's first customer. The manager was so sweet and ended up giving me a gift card for my next visit. We somehow ended up talking for 15 minutes about family and careers. He had adopted his brother's son at three months old (now five years old). He explained that when he got his son, he quit his six-figure job to focus on his new role. He conveyed that he hadn't known how honestly stressed he was and how his career was killing him slowly until he quit. I could relate in so many ways, and I was so thankful to be in his presence. He was a true example of selflessness and love.
There is a new technique that I have been trying in the mornings with Winter that I wanted to share with you. It's called 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and it's as simple as the name!
Sometime during the day take two minutes to tap into all five senses and observe what is going on around you. I find the most simple moments for this meditation technique is when I am getting my daughter ready for the day, heating up my morning coffee or when I am doing the laundry. Here's how it works:
A few weeks ago we were honored to be asked to create a video for one of my favorite apps called Calm. Calm is a mindfulness and meditation app that has several guided sessions to help you live a more mindful, present life. I had received a few questions about the video shoot so I thought I would take you all behind the scenes and answer some of those questions.
There has been quite a lot of talk surrounding New Year's resolutions. Last year, I wrote about how my only resolution was to manage my difficult feelings in a healthier way (here). This year, I want to continue this path of emotional growth and management but do it in a way that is more compatible with what I need right now, which is kindness.
This weekend turned out to be a downward spiraling mess. If you saw my Instagram stories yesterday, then you know that I have 7 campaigns to shoot THIS weekend. We couldn't shoot in the house yesterday like I had planned because it was snowing and there was absolutely no natural light (meaning that it was too dark to get quality photos). Due to bad lighting, we tried to change the game plan and head to a local Christmas Tree nursery. The first place we went to was the furthest thing from a Christmas tree lot. It was more like a big dirt pile with planted fruit trees without leaves. Once we determined that it was not going to work to shoot there, our choices were to either turn around and go back home and say forget it or try to get to another place. The next spot that we knew about was another 30 minutes away. We had already been in the car for 20 minutes and my gut told me that it was going to be too far for Winter and that she would get carsick. But, I also knew that the deadlines were piling up and that we had to at least try to knock some stuff off our list.
So a few days ago, I decided to take a break from all the fertility stuff such as ovulation strip testing, temperature taking, and app tracking. Instead of doing those things first thing in the morning, I took a vow to write in my gratitude journal. I have been doing it for a few days. It takes literally 30 seconds and I write the first thing that comes to my mind. This is the journal I got to write in. It's only $14 and peppered throughout it are little quotes and insightful prompts.
Because Thanksgiving is around the corner, I wanted to expand on this list that I started and blog the top 10 things that I am thankful for. I encourage you to join me.
hese past few weeks, I have noticed myself become so intensely in tune with how I spend my time with my daughter. I already get emotional when I think how one day she won't be the only child that has stolen my heart (and I am not even pregnant yet). I want to breathe in as many moments with her before our family size does grow. One of my most favorite times of the day with Winter is before bed---it's my time to practice mindfulness with her, wind down from the day by stretching and to spend uninterrupted time with my girl.
Weekends may as well be the best invention in the whole wide world. It's a way to slow down, enjoy ignoring the to-do list and spend quality time with family. I have been doing a ton of reading on how I can bring mindful living into my everyday life as a working mother. I have noticed that mindfulness has helped me to stay centered, calm and grateful for the here and now. I am less reactive and a whole lot more patient. I feel less overwhelmed by the demands of motherhood and I notice myself having thoughts of gratitude.
So many of you ask how you get started in living a more mindful life. While I don't think it takes much to learn how to practice mindfulness, I always like to encourage others to create a space that will inspire them to meditate.
The other day I had the privilege of creating and delivering a professional development presentation to my entire school staff on mindfulness and how trauma effects the brain. I was blown away with how well it was received and I am hopeful that my staff will not only begin to use it themselves, but use it with their students as well.
I have so many photos from our time in Paia, Hawaii. I think that this post will be more of a visual depiction of the depth that I felt while I was there in lei of my words. But to set up this post, I have to write a little bit about my experience, because lets be real...I ALWAYS have something to say.
After completing a 10 week course in mindfulness last fall, I have been trying out different apps to make sure I keep up with my practice. Mindfulness is just like working out: If you don't use it, you lose it so to speak. It's important to make a concerted effort to practice on a daily basis to reap the benefits. It doesn't have to be a huge chunk of time. I typically aim for at least 10 minutes a day and can tell a difference when I don't get it in.
In December 2016, I decided to take Love & LaRock on with full steam. I post to Instagram at least six days per week, put a blog post up twice per week, and shoot content every Friday. I have noticed that while Insta-Blogging brings so much joy and has connected me to many wonderful people and brands from all over the world, it’s also had some negative ramifications on my mental state.
I have always been quite the worrywart. It’s probably my least favorite personality trait of mine. I have always heard that worrying can become even more in the forefront of your life once you have kids and that has undoubtedly been proved to be my experience thus far. I have been working very hard to squash the worry bug because I while I think some fear serves purpose, letting it dictate your daily thoughts is not a way that I want to live.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how and what I eat. I think we all have moments in our lives when our relationship with food becomes somewhat detached and we forget to stop and really think about where our food is coming from and what it tastes like. Do you remember your last meal? What did it smell like, taste like, look like? As I am typing this, I realized that I just inhaled a cold bagel with cream cheese while simultaneously petting my dog with my foot and pausing to check the ding on my phone. Ugh, that was definitely not a satisfying experience. It makes me think of the many times I have been at work and I have just shoved food in my mouth while walking from one meeting to the next or while typing up reports and answering emails. I think in a culture that views multitasking as efficient and busy as good, we are perpetually living in a state of doing and chaos, which leaves us feeling run down, exhausted and always feeling like we should be accomplishing more.
Perry and I have had our fair share of stressors when it comes to raising Winter. She has breath-holding spells (read more about our experience, here), she has already entered into the tantruming phase of her life, and recently, we ended up completely stuck and lost on a bus in the middle of the redwood forest with a very car sick,puking child without cell reception. I know when difficult parenting situations arise, the panic, pressure and chaos can easily take over, and it’s hard to keep your cool whether you are alone or with your partner.
I get asked about my mindfulness practice on a daily basis. I think one of the biggest misconceptions about living a mindful life is that you have to set aside 30 minutes a day or longer to do it. This is simply not true. In fact, I practice being mindful several times throughout the day. I have noticed that by doing even these simple techniques, I am less reactive, more attentive, feel more grounded and am able to manage stress with more ease.
The following is a list of my favorite ways to take one minute to be mindful. Note: You don’t have to do them all in a day to reap the benefits. Just pick one or two from each category and mix them up.
When I am having a bad day, I feel consumed by negativity. Unfortunately, this makes a lot of sense from a psychological perspective. Our brains respond to negative information three to five times more than they do to positive input. In the old days, this was crucial to survival. It wouldn’t have been wise for our brains to notice the beautiful scenery when we had to be attuned to natural threats such as predators. Even though we aren’t faced with the same threats today, our brain is still wired the same, which is a major bummer if you ask me.
It’s no surprise that parents like us are getting creative when it comes to juggling our kids, work, and “me” time. I am often asked how I am able to fit in my meditation practice while I have both young kids at home in quarantine. Simple answer: I include them. Today I am partnering with Brilli, to show you three easy ways to set up your mindfulness space with kids (even if it’s in the middle of the kitchen).