Let’s quiet that mind!!!!! Right?!!! Aren’t you sick of circular, negative self-talk? It does nothing for you. It stops your growth and your progress and defeats the whole purpose of being here! Take that risk, do something you have wanted to do your whole life . . . we are given some time here, no guarantee how long. So, I want to encourage everyone to get out of their head and into their life; physically, mentally and spiritually. Let’s do it. 
   So, what can you do when you feel that crazy self-talk bubbling up? Here are 3 things to try: 

• Stop what you are doing and go for a walk. Really, get out of the physical space you are in and break it up. If you can go outside do it. Walk around the block. See, really see what is around you. Name what you see, if you need that for your mind -- car, tree, kid on a bike, the ground, leaves. As you do this, observe when the shift occurs and you are in the present moment. You are actually just thinking about right where you are. No circular thoughts, no monkey mind. Stay with this even if it takes a little time. Once you are present to the walk, focus then on your breath, long and deep, through your nose if you can. When you feel shifted then go back and start again, doing what it was you were doing before the break. This is a mental muscle we must build. I promise you, it will get faster and faster, the clearing of the mental junk. 
• Put your feet on the floor if you are in a chair, close your eyes, put your hand on your lower belly and breath consciously. Inhale 4, hold 4, exhale 4, all in slow, even breaths. Keep going until you feel that mental shift. 
• Jump up and down. Do 15 jumping jacks. Feel the shift? If not do 15 more!

   Let me know which one works best for you. We are all different and different things get in our way. Let’s build this mental muscle of being kind and supportive of ourselves. 
 
Happy Tuesday 

   This week my daughter turns 19!!!! Wowowowow. So happy for her and her college adventures. It is also a birthing anniversary. So I say happy birthing day too. To all the mamas. This was a big day for you. You birthed a human being. You brought this soul onto the planet and into this human experience. It was a transformation for you, too, mama.

​You changed from that moment on. And wow, have you grown. Every birthday for that little one was a birthing of your growth and development and change and evolution. The tiny being comes out 100% dependent on us to help them survive and thrive. We give, we nurture, we teach, we love, love, love and slowly we have to start to let go. Little by little our heart may be ready but sometimes it aches for the connection with the little one, who needed us that much. It is ok mama to feel that. As Mr. Rogers says, “it is ok to feel two feelings at the same time”.
    The loss of the little one and pure joy for the grown one. Mama, I see you and I am here for you. It is big and it is real. Our heart grows and expands and cracks and breaks and keeps on growing; pain and joy are sometimes intertwined in mothering. Mothering teaches us that change is a constant and something that is guaranteed. Every stage and age is ever moving.
   Just when you learned to love that age and stage, it is over, without warning, just gone. Being present is one of the most important lessons too, otherwise, you miss the smooth, simple stage that is filled with ease and then BAM thrown into a challenging, crazy making, button pushing stage. But “this too shall pass” becomes a mantra and it does – pass. When you look back it is an amazing ride. Guiding a person to their calling, launching them onto their own road and wishing it all lasted a little longer.
 
So, to all the mamas out there: Happy birthing day . . . you are amazing, it is a miracle, you are miraculous you are. 

​   Here we go . . . 2020 . . . new decade. Wow, it is fun to make that mean something big and grandiose. However, it is really another day, like any other. Within it is the total potential for all things or not, depending on you and what you want to do with it.
   The cool thing is that every day and every minute and every second is an opportunity to start over, to start fresh, to recreate and reinvent! If you slept in and didn’t do your morning plan . . . well do it tomorrow. If you ate some food you didn’t want to eat . . . well make a different choice the next time you are presented with the choice. If you stopped what you were doing to do a common task for someone else (OPP, other people’s priorities) . . . then take note and SEE that this is happening so you can make a different decision about it next time this arises.
   Seriously it is that simple. We spend sooooooooooo much time beating ourselves up for the “fail”. THAT is what really costs us days, years, health, well-being, mental sanity, etc. The actual skipped this or that that we didn’t do, if we acknowledge it and then correct the course, then BAM we are back on track.
   When I am teaching yoga, I always remind my students that the practice is yours not the person next to you or behind you or me in the front. It is yours. It is your body, your mind, your injuries, your stress, your focus, Do what you can and feel good about it. Not do what you can and feel less than, not flexible enough, not thin enough, not this or that.
   So much of the time we make a “mistake” and then throw our hands up and say well, it will never work, I can’t do this, and so on. What if you could see it for what it is, take the responsibility and then get back on track . . . right away! That would be a life changer, game changer, time saver. I think that is why so many intentions, goals, or resolutions do not get done. We all or nothing it. That is a monkey mind situation that totally holds us back. We are trying something new, we slip back to old ways, we see that, get up, dust off and get back to it! Period.
   No hassling ourselves. If a child tried to ride a bike and fell and fell and fell and then RODE it . . . and then fell. Would you say, that is it, you aren’t going to be able to do this? Obviously NO. So, don’t do that to yourself. Don’t wallow in your misstep just get back to it ASAP. Period. 
   We can do this!!! Are you willing in 2020 to do this? When you make a mistake or revert to old ways or forget your new plan, are you willing to acknowledge that and then BAM get back on track?
   When you revert or forget or don’t do what you wanted to do, please just SEE it, acknowledge it and then get back on the bike….deal? Deal!!!!