The Physical Body

The Autumn is finally here. I don’t know about you, but this was a crazy summer. Crazy-busy and crazy-short. I was lucky-enough to be able to go to Kauai with my family, and it was a-mazing. But honestly? The Fall is my very-favorite time of year. For some reason, it’s a season of resetting. Grounding. And renewed optimism about life. As the weather grows cooler, it’s a great time to come inside. Indoors, with a cozy fireplace, something warm to drink and to reflect on the year, on hope, optimism and the upcoming gatherings with friends and families. It’s also…

If you’re wishing you had unshakable self-confidence, it may help to know that no one survives adolescence with confidence intact. As a child, you have tons of confidence. This is because the Conscious, judging mind isn’t fully formed until the age of about eight. Before that, the Unconscious Mind is wide-open to all the sensory and emotional input from everyone on the outside. Because of this, the years before eight are critical to the formation of positive belief systems about yourself and your environment. Kids who grow up  in supportive and loving homes are more likely to hold positive aspirations…

Challenging times can be completely overwhelming and it can feel like you’re being sucked into a vortex of toxicity and rage. Whether it’s the current political climate, a family crisis or just coping with balancing the facets of work, family and life—keeping your cool can seem impossible. Many women turn to pharmaceuticals for help. More than one in five women are taking antidepressants, and self-reported well-being is at an all-time low. While coping with challenges in a sane matter may seem out of reach, here are 5 simple ways you can start down the path to well-being. It’s not forever When you’re…

I’ve been actively using affirmations in my life for the last 21 years. If you’re not already using affirmations, they can be incredibly useful in bringing your best life to fruition, and it’s important that you use them properly, or you can bring the opposite of what you’re wanting. Affirmations are short statements that help your Unconscious Mind to feel safe, secure, and  shift negative, internal dialogue. I’m sure at some point, and maybe even often, you’ve experienced lack, self criticism or even self loathing. The Conscious, thinking, judging Mind is 100% responsible for these thoughts—and that’s just what they…

You might be asking what on sweet Earth is a Self-Care practice? Let me tell you. Our Western culture has taught us to be polite and to put others needs before our own. Selflessness is heroic. Especially as women, historically we’ve been tasked as care-givers. It’s burned into our psyche. While selflessness might be good and honorable, if we completely neglect our own care—or worse, if we hand it over to someone else, bad things happen. Resentment, exhaustion, anger and even illness can result. A Self-Care practice is simply a way of being in the world that factors win / win into…

Practicing Gratitude is a sure-fire way to create your best life right now. While it might seem counter-intuitive—especially when you’re not where you’d like to be in your life—being thankful for what you do have is super-important.  Why? The main reason has to do with the Law of Attraction. When you are feeling lack, or frustration, you’re attracting more lack, and more to feel frustrated about. Feelings are sticky, and like attracts like—it’s just law. There is no discrimination. When you practice Gratitude, the same law applies, and those appreciative and happy feelings magnetically stick to more of the same—more to appreciate and…

The first step to gaining Personal Power is Radical Forgiveness. While Forgiveness can be a touchy subject, and one many aspire to practicing, it can also seem downright impossible. When someone has harmed us, we might wonder why we should do the Forgiving—especially in a situation where the other person is unwilling or unable to apologize. Interestingly, the Aramaic word for Forgiveness (shbag) literally means to untie. How bound up do we feel when we hold onto resentment, shame, blame or anger? This bound-up state keeps us imprisoned, in our own negative, and sometimes even toxic emotional state. There is a better…

Why is making a decision sometimes so difficult? I used to be the worst at making decisions. I would labor for days over a major decision, talking it over with everyone I could in hopes of gaining insight and resolution—basically driving my friends and family (and myself!) crazy. If only there was a built-in mechanism for making the right decision every time—wait—there is! It’s the Unconscious Mind. The Unconscious Mind never shouts, she speaks in whispers. The Unconscious Mind’s primary objective is to run and preserve the body. It also takes in and processes up to 20 million bits of information per…

If you have trouble sleeping—even occasionally—you’re not alone. It turns out, 30-40% of people have reported sleep disturbances of one kind or another, and more women have this issue than men. Insomnia is defined as the inability to fall asleep, waking up in the middle of the night, or waking too early in the morning. It can be acute (lasting one to several nights) or chronic (lasting weeks to years). However long it lasts, insomnia can be extremely frustrating, and even interfere with health and well being. Here are 7 simple ways to get a better night’s rest. 1. Limit or eliminate food…

Perhaps the longest running and most comprehensive study of adults is ongoing at Harvard University. It began in 1938, and followed two groups of men to identify the psychosocial predictors of healthy aging. The Grant study group is made up of 268 Harvard graduates and the Glueck study group is comprised of 456 men who grew up in the inner city neighborhoods of Boston, MA. The study has been conducted over decades by generations of researchers. Through blood tests, questionnaires, brain scans and doctor’s visits, researchers used a wide range of tools used to follow these men through their traumas,…