While the kids take a break from their studies this week, it's an important opportunity to SEE THEM, HEAR THEM, and BELIEVE THEM. When they're around, they can certainly stretch our capacities, grow our boundaries, and force reflection that is often uncomfortable...BE GENTLE in response to this please. They are doing their job...let's do ours.

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Especially as we shift schedules and events around this holiday season, think about what some of the most supportive actions you can maintain this season. Pick just a few to commit to and you'll be amazed how that commitment will ripple into the others often fall into place too.

Think about when you wash the dishes; is that ALL you do? Almost never. You add a few things, right? Maybe you wipe the counters and stove, clean off the table, sweep the floor or even scrub the sink.The intention of that 1 thing results in choices that also support the result you were looking for.

By shrinking the overall picture, by making a habit of intentional choices this season, increasing commitment to just a handful of things that will support your family's well being this season,you can change the stress levels in your body...increasing your joy and Peace...and isn't THAT what we want to create in our homes?

So think about it, determine what few things are ones you can commit to? Make your menu and start with only selecting 1 or 2...others will happen. You can trust the process.

In a brainstorming session, set a timer for 5 minutes (maybe even with your family?) to think about the most supportive actions you take to stay WELL.

Your list might look something like this with specifics (quantity and frequency) added:

• Intention hydration habits (critical for feeling and functioning well)
• Appointments with your chiropractor(you have one, right?)
• Clear bedtimes(do you know what happens when you sleep?)
• Food basics (what are staples for you? shakes? supplements? fermented foods?)
• Pausing to breath (set an alarm to remind you?)
• Stretch (know some yoga poses?)
• Exercise (what feeds your soul? get active as a family?)
• Collaborate and share responsibilities with family members (even little ones can be in charge of parts of the day)

What else have you leveraged for YOUR wellbeing?
Brainstorm a little more...what else surfaces?

Now, just for THIS week, what can you commit to? The list you make isn't your to do list, it's your menu, your choices, YOUR CHOICES. You don't "have to". Too often, our perception of "have to" leaves us disempowered...not feeling stronger and ready for action, but rather beaten and less strong. Let's create habits that support us, empower our family towards optimal expression. What supports you and yours?

Imagine a world with less stressed out people. Let's live it. 

OptiMOM Coaching is here to support if you'd like some help strategizing the process. 

The things that others say our holidays "should" have and hold are blurring what we value and far too often, making the season an emotional mess. Even the most well intentioned teachings can put pressure to what the "holiday season" could / should look and feel like. Mix in the retail messages and cultural materialism, add to it the stress our own mothers felt for their own reasons (now our internal programming) and you've got a fine recipe for a season of stress and difficulty. Top the dish with the ways we shy from our healthy habits and dip deeper into indulgences, both weakening our adaptive reserves, and we're prone to feeling / being LESS than capable of "handling" what is wanted / needed.

Let's shift that. Let's look at what's right. Can you see what you DO have, CAN create, WILL experience?

Here's the thing...it doesn't have to be full of stress and pressure when your goals are motivated by YOUR desires and tied to YOUR VALUES. When we function from THAT space, THAT perspective,what matters to us, we are empowered to create the season that is Life giving and full of the holiday Spirit we long to encounter.

Let's learn to own our own visions of what would make this season awesome. You get to explore that...it's yours...and nobody else knows what it is except you. 

The group call will be far less intimate than an unmuted small group session or a private session, but WILL walk you through the process so that you can begin to act in accordance to what is IN your heart for your season.

Live that vision...for your sake, your family's sake...and for the rest of us who share this world with you.

​Please ... and thank you.

A template for the call is HERE. It's NOT necessary to have on hand, but helpful. I hope you can join us. Let's make this an OptiMOM Holiday Season!

Here's the thing - WE INFLUENCE, good or bad, IT HAPPENS! The hope, of course, is that our kids are going to be a little more balanced, a little more Peaceful, have more opportunities than we did, or simply not be any worse an effect on the world, right? In order to us to influence WELL, we need to BE more well. 

Not too long ago, as a mom friend and I chatted about her daughter's behavior, we reflected on the fact that her daughter was behaving in ways the mom had modeled for YEARS.  Now (with coaching and accepting personal responsibility for the desired changes she wants in her life) that mom has learned and practiced many new and healthier ways to cope with stress and challenge. HER experience has radically changed, her Peace increased, her effectiveness, efficiency and productivity all more satisfying, BUT the new behaviors hadn't yet been experienced enough by the now teenage daughter to also be learned and practiced as a way to live. 

We concluded that the daughter will likely act from the "programmed" behaviors seen as a small child, especially when she is stressed. Though she WILL REMEMBER her mother's behaviors NOW...and will have the opportunity to also choose to learn healthier ways of engaging to experience HER ideal and optimal life. 

Gratefully, the mom keeps the invitation open for daughter to "come play" and learn with her and little by little, the influence toward a healthier world, especially THEIR world, increases.

...it's not too late.