Intentional Motherhood: Nervous system regulation, Mindfulness, Aligned Energy for peace, presence, spirituality, & personal growth

When was the last time you did something just for you, not because you earned it, not because everything else was done first, but just because you wanted to?

If you had to think about that for more than two seconds, this episode is for you.

Host Kelsey Redd sits down with Erin Gray, strategic advisor to seven figure female founders, former certified financial planner, and recovering people pleaser, who spent over a decade helping run a multimillion dollar family construction business before finally asking herself the question that changed everything: is this actually the life I want?

What followed was a complete rebuilding, from walking away from the family business to moving her family across the Pacific to Maui, to landing in Boise and building a coaching practice that helps women run wildly successful businesses without sacrificing the lives they actually want to live.

This conversation goes way beyond business strategy. This one is for every mom who is running on pressure, guilt, and a very long list of things she thinks she has to do before she gets to rest.

In this episode you will learn:

• How to know when you are living a life built on obligation instead of desire, and what to do about it
• Why your nervous system is calibrated to rush and pressure and how that is quietly running your life
• The real reason you cannot receive, whether it is a compliment, help from your husband, or money, and how to change it
• What luxury actually means and why you do not have to spend a dime to start practicing it
• The three stages of awareness that every woman goes through when she starts putting herself first
• Why stop saying you do not have enough time is actually the most practical advice you will hear all day
• How to have the conversations with your husband you have been avoiding that would actually give you more space
• Why the dishes can wait and what actually cannot

Plus Erin gives every single listener an official permission slip to stop earning their rest and start living like they actually matter, because they do.

Connect with Erin Gray: 

Listen to her podcast, Your Money, Your Rules

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@yourmoneyyourrulespodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theeringray

Subscribe now, share this show with a mom friend, and join the conversation! 

Want to be in the know? Get on the email list 

Find more resources at www.creatingintentionalmothers.com/resources

Connect with Kelsey @creating.intentional.mothers

There’s a vision you have for your life. Let’s create it with a 3 or 6-month Dream Activation Private Mentorship.

Learn more about the STOP THE SPIRAL Mini-Course here. 

Grab your 4 Part Apology Poster here!

Get your FREE Self-Care Planner here

Get your Purposeful Living Journal HERE.

Click here for 50% off your 4 Week Nature Reset to start spending more time in nature in a practical way!

When you hear the word luxury, what happens in your body? A little cringe? A little guilt? That voice that says that is for other people, not for me?

In this solo episode, host Kelsey Redd shares a sweet story about a stubborn seven year old, a shower battle, and a few forgotten shower steamers that completely reframed the way she thinks about luxury as a mom. And the lesson might be simpler and more accessible than you think.

Spoiler: luxury is not a designer bag. It is not a spa day you cannot afford. And it does not require a single dollar if you do not have one to spare.

Drawing on a concept from her new favorite podcast Your Money Your Rules with Erin Gray, Kelsey unpacks what luxury actually means for real moms living real lives, and why so many of us are hoarding our good stuff for a special occasion that never quite comes.

In this episode you will learn:

• Why so many moms feel guilt, shame, or tension at even the thought of doing something just for themselves
• How one small shift turned a power struggle at bedtime into a moment of connection and calm
• What Erin Gray taught Kelsey about redefining luxury as comfort, convenience, and space
• Why saving your shower steamers, your good candle, your favorite mug for a special occasion is quietly robbing you of joy
• How the nervous system gets trained to associate rest with guilt and how to start retraining it
• Simple zero dollar ways to create luxury in your everyday life starting this week
• Why you are allowed to spend a little money on yourself and what that might look like

This episode is your permission slip to stop waiting for a good enough reason to take care of yourself. A regular Thursday when you have had a hard day is reason enough.

Next week Erin Gray joins the show for a full interview. Do not miss it.

Connect with Erin Gray: 

Listen to her podcast, Your Money, Your Rules

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@yourmoneyyourrulespodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theeringray

Subscribe now, share this show with a mom friend, and join the conversation! 

Want to be in the know? Get on the email list 

Find more resources at www.creatingintentionalmothers.com/resources

Connect with Kelsey @creating.intentional.mothers

There’s a vision you have for your life. Let’s create it with a 3 or 6-month Dream Activation Private Mentorship.

Learn more about the STOP THE SPIRAL Mini-Course here. 

Grab your 4 Part Apology Poster here!

Get your FREE Self-Care Planner here

Get your Purposeful Living Journal HERE.

Click here for 50% off your 4 Week Nature Reset to start spending more time in nature in a practical way!

What if the way you shop, scroll, and spend your time is quietly keeping you from the life and wealth you actually want?

In this episode, host Kelsey Redd breaks down one of the most powerful mindset shifts she's been exploring on her journey into real estate and investing: the difference between a consumer mindset and an ownership mindset — and why it affects far more than just your finances.

We live in a world designed to keep us consuming. Billions of dollars are spent every year to make sure we keep buying, binging, and chasing the next dopamine hit. But what happens when you flip the script and start asking: why am I only a customer when I could be a part owner?

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why the consumer vs. owner mindset affects every area of your life — not just money
• How to do a simple "brand audit" of your daily life and turn your spending habits into investment opportunities
• Kelsey's personal goal of buying one share of Costco stock every time she shops there — and why it's a game changer
• How the biblical Parable of the Talents connects directly to wealth creation and legacy building
• Why sustainable happiness comes from creating and owning — not consuming and reacting
• How to apply the ownership mindset to motherhood, your household, and how you spend your time and energy

Whether you're ready to open a brokerage account and start picking stocks or you're just beginning to think differently about where your money and attention go, this episode will challenge you to stop waiting for life to happen and start building something that outlasts you.

The way you do anything is the way you do everything — and it starts with this shift.

Perfect for: moms interested in financial independence, beginner investors, women building legacy wealth, real estate investing beginners, intentional living, Christian women and stewardship

Subscribe now, share this show with a mom friend, and join the conversation! 

Want to be in the know? Get on the email list 

Find more resources at www.creatingintentionalmothers.com/resources

Connect with Kelsey @creating.intentional.mothers

Let’s build the life you’re dreaming of with a 3 or 6-month Dream Activation Private Mentorship.

Get your FREE Self-Care Planner here

Click here for 50% off your 4 Week Nature Reset to start spending more time in nature in a practical way!

Learn more about the STOP THE SPIRAL Mini-Course here. 

Invite you into deeper reflection through her new Purposeful Living Journal HERE.

Get the FREE 3 Step Infographic to Discover God’s Purpose for Your Life. 

Happy Labor Day! But before you fire up the grill, do you actually know why we have this holiday? The origin story is equal parts fascinating, infuriating, and honestly a little too familiar, especially as we near the anniversary of Charlie Kirk's assassination. 

In this episode, host Kelsey Redd digs into the surprisingly dramatic history behind Labor Day, from the Pullman railroad strike of 1894 where workers literally died fighting for fair wages, to a panicked president who passed a holiday in days to calm public outrage without actually fixing a single thing the workers were protesting.

Sound familiar?

And if those early industrial workers who fought so hard for the eight hour workday could see us now, responding to work emails at nine at night, taking calls on vacation, half present at the dinner table while our kids compete with our smartphones for our attention, they would probably wonder why we handed it all back.

In this episode Kelsey covers:

• The wild true story behind the origin of Labor Day and why it was really created
• How Henry Ford actually changed the workday, not out of kindness but because of genius capitalism
• Why the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 took forty four years to actually protect workers
• How the always on culture and smartphones created an invisible leash that followed us home
• What continuous partial attention is doing to your family, your marriage and your kids
• Why other countries have laws protecting the right to disconnect after work and we do not
• How to start setting your own digital boundaries to protect your family time right now

This is not just a history lesson. It is a reminder that presence is not a luxury. Play is not optional. And doing nothing is not lazy. It is necessary.

This Labor Day, honor the people who fought for your free time by actually using it.

Subscribe now, share this show with a mom friend, and join the conversation! 

Want to be in the know? Get on the email list 

Find more resources at www.creatingintentionalmothers.com/resources

Connect with Kelsey @creating.intentional.mothers

There’s a vision you have for your life. Let’s create it with a 3 or 6-month Dream Activation Private Mentorship.

Learn more about the STOP THE SPIRAL Mini-Course here. 

Grab your 4 Part Apology Poster here!

Get your FREE Self-Care Planner here

Get your Purposeful Living Journal HERE.

Click here for 50% off your 4 Week Nature Reset to start spending more time in nature in a practical way!

If you have ever felt scattered, disconnected, or like different parts of you are pulling in different directions, this episode is going to help you come back to yourself.

This is Part 2 of our conversation with meditation guide and nervous system expert Mary Armendarez. In Part 1, Mary shared the science and spirituality behind why so many of us feel fragmented and how to create safety and regulation through meditation. Now she is leading us through the actual experience.

In this guided meditation, Mary walks you through a beautiful visualization that reconnects and integrates your four bodies: the mental body, the emotional body, the physical body, and the spiritual body. Using color, intention, and the power of God and His angels, she guides each body into alignment one by one until all four are fully integrated into one whole, connected, regulated you.

You do not need any meditation experience for this. Just find a comfortable place, close your eyes, and follow along. Most listeners report feeling a noticeable shift by the end.

If you feel like you are running on empty, reacting instead of responding, or just completely out of sync with yourself, press play and let Mary bring you back into alignment.

Connect with Mary:
https://www.instagram.com/m.marmendarez
https://www.tiktok.com/@maryarmendarez

Free Gift: Free Nervous System Reset Meditation
https://maryarmendarez.com

Purchase Mary’s book on Amazon, The Return to Your Soul

Subscribe now, share this show with a mom friend, and join the conversation! 

Want to be in the know? Get on the email list 

Find more resources at www.creatingintentionalmothers.com/resources

Connect with Kelsey @creating.intentional.mothers

There’s a vision you have for your life. Let’s create it with a 3 or 6-month Dream Activation Private Mentorship.

Get your FREE Self-Care Planner here

Click here for 50% off your 4 Week Nature Reset to start spending more time in nature in a practical way!

Learn more about the STOP THE SPIRAL Mini-Course here. 

Invite you into deeper reflection through her new Purposeful Living Journal HERE.

Get the FREE 3 Step Infographic to Discover God’s Purpose for Your Life. 

If you have spent years putting everyone else first and somewhere along the way completely lost yourself, this episode is going to feel like someone finally put words to everything you have been carrying.

Host Kelsey Redd sits down with Mary Armendarez, author of The Return to Your Soul, speaker, meditation guide, and creator of transformational programs for women who are done surviving and ready to actually live. Mary's story starts at 16, kicked out of her home and thrust into survival mode, and she spent decades giving her power away to everyone around her before a crisis with her husband's health brought her to her knees and ultimately to her greatest transformation.

In this conversation Mary and Kelsey talk about the signs that your nervous system is completely shot, why you keep snapping at your kids even when you desperately do not want to, and the embarrassingly simple practices that can start shifting everything, including one that happens before you even get off the toilet in the morning.

In this episode you will learn:

• The signs your nervous system is out of balance and you are stuck in survival mode
• Why your most triggering child is actually showing you your own unhealed wounds
• How the violet fire technique instantly neutralizes conflict with your kids and your partner
• Why feeling safe is the foundation of everything, including abundance, self worth, and receiving
• The two minute breath practice that brings you back into alignment instantly
• Why you keep people pleasing and how saying no is actually an act of self respect
• How what is happening inside of you is creating a ripple effect in your children whether you realize it or not

This is not about adding more to your plate. This is about shifting how you use the energy you already have so you can stop reacting and start responding, to your kids, your partner, and your own life.

Part 2 drops in just a few days and Mary leads us through a full guided meditation to integrate your four bodies. Make sure you subscribe so you do not miss it.

Connect with Mary:
https://www.instagram.com/m.marmendarez
https://www.tiktok.com/@maryarmendarez

Free Gift: Free Nervous System Reset Meditation
https://maryarmendarez.com

Purchase Mary’s book on Amazon, The Return to Your Soul

Subscribe now, share this show with a mom friend, and join the conversation! 

Want to be in the know? Get on the email list 

Find more resources at www.creatingintentionalmothers.com/resources

Connect with Kelsey @creating.intentional.mothers

There’s a vision you have for your life. Let’s create it with a 3 or 6-month Dream Activation Private Mentorship.

Get your FREE Self-Care Planner here

Click here for 50% off your 4 Week Nature Reset to start spending more time in nature in a practical way!

Learn more about the STOP THE SPIRAL Mini-Course here. 

Invite you into deeper reflection through her new Purposeful Living Journal HERE.

Get the FREE 3 Step Infographic to Discover God’s Purpose for Your Life. 

Short on time but desperately need to reset? This episode is a quick, guided breathing meditation designed to bring your nervous system back to calm in just five minutes.

Building on the science of nervous system regulation introduced in Episode 79, host Kelsey Redd walks you through a simple but powerful breathwork exercise that activates your parasympathetic nervous system, lowers your heart rate, releases physical tension, and brings you back to a grounded, clear-headed state so you can show up as the mom and woman you actually want to be.

All you need is five minutes and a comfortable place to sit or lie down.

This meditation will help you:

• Release tension stored in your body from daily stress
• Slow your heart rate and calm your nervous system in real time
• Learn the belly breathing technique with a longer exhale than inhale
• Come back to a regulated, calm state before responding to your family, your to-do list, or anything else the day throws at you

No experience necessary. No app required. Just your breath.

Pair this episode with Episode 79: Nervous System Regulation, Truth or Trend for the full science behind why this works.

Perfect for: overwhelmed moms, anxious women, morning routine, before bed wind down, midday reset, breathwork beginners, mindful motherhood

Subscribe now, share this show with a mom friend, and join the conversation! 

Want to be in the know? Get on the email list 

Find more resources at www.creatingintentionalmothers.com/resources

Connect with Kelsey @creating.intentional.mothers

There’s a vision you have for your life. Let’s create it with a 3 or 6-month Dream Activation Private Mentorship.

Get your FREE Self-Care Planner here

Click here for 50% off your 4 Week Nature Reset to start spending more time in nature in a practical way!

Learn more about the STOP THE SPIRAL Mini-Course here. 

Invite you into deeper reflection through her new Purposeful Living Journal HERE.

Get the FREE 3 Step Infographic to Discover God’s Purpose for Your Life. 

If you've ever felt like you were one more thing away from completely losing it, the dishes, the kids, the business, the marriage, this episode is for you.

In this raw and relatable episode, host Kelsey Redd opens up about hitting her breaking point this past summer while simultaneously studying for her real estate license, managing investment properties, and raising her kids. She was so stressed she was on the verge of breaking out in hives and she knew something had to change.

What got her through it wasn't a vacation or a perfect morning routine. It was understanding her nervous system, and learning how to actually reset it in real time.

In this episode you'll learn:

• What nervous system dysregulation actually feels like in your body (and why so many moms are stuck there)
• The difference between your sympathetic nervous system (fight, flight, freeze) and your parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest); and why it explains everything from your parenting to your marriage to your finances
• Why you keep snapping at your kids even when you don't want to, and what's actually happening in your brain
• Why cold plunges work (and why Kelsey is jumping in a river multiple times a week)
• The one tool that's always available to you, completely free, that can shift your nervous system in under 60 seconds
• A guided breathing exercise you can do right now — no app, no equipment, no experience needed

This isn't just woo-woo wellness talk. There's real science behind why a regulated nervous system leads to better relationships, better decisions, better parenting, and even better financial outcomes.

If you feel like you're always in survival mode, this episode will help you understand why, and give you something you can actually do about it today.

Subscribe now, share this show with a mom friend, and join the conversation! 

Want to be in the know? Get on the email list 

Find more resources at www.creatingintentionalmothers.com/resources

Connect with Kelsey @creating.intentional.mothers

There’s a vision you have for your life. Let’s create it with a 3 or 6-month Dream Activation Private Mentorship.

Get your FREE Self-Care Planner here

Click here for 50% off your 4 Week Nature Reset to start spending more time in nature in a practical way!

Learn more about the STOP THE SPIRAL Mini-Course here. 

Invite you into deeper reflection through her new Purposeful Living Journal HERE.

Get the FREE 3 Step Infographic to Discover God’s Purpose for Your Life. 

Have you ever struggled to truly feel in your bones that God loves you? Not just know it in your head, but actually feel it?

This guided visualization takes you on a journey through the paradox we explored in our last episode: how to hold both truths at once. That we are nothing without God and completely dependent on Him for everything, and that we are also everything to Him, His greatest joy, the whole reason He created any of it.

Host Kelsey Redd leads you through an immersive visualization experience that begins in your favorite peaceful natural setting and slowly expands your perspective outward into the cosmos, all the way into the presence of God Himself, so you can experience in a new and profound way just how deeply, completely, and personally you are loved.

In this meditation you will:

• Ground yourself in a peaceful natural setting using all five senses
• Zoom out from a single leaf or seashell all the way to the edge of the universe
• Experience the presence of a loving Heavenly Father who looks at you the way you look at something breathtakingly beautiful
• Understand at a soul level that you are the pinnacle of God's creation, not an afterthought
• Return to your everyday life with a renewed sense of gratitude, worthiness, and purpose

This is not just a relaxation exercise. It is a perspective shift that will change the way you see yourself, your circumstances, and every gift God has placed in your life.

Pair this episode with the previous episode on the paradox of worthiness and abundance for the full context.

This episode is perfect for: women of faith, LDS women, Christian meditation, morning devotional, quiet time with God, guided visualization for moms, spiritual growth, abundance mindset for believers

Subscribe now, share this show with a mom friend, and join the conversation! 

Want to be in the know? Get on the email list 

Find more resources at www.creatingintentionalmothers.com/resources

Connect with Kelsey @creating.intentional.mothers

There’s a vision you have for your life. Let’s create it with a 3 or 6-month Dream Activation Private Mentorship.

Get your FREE Self-Care Planner here

Click here for 50% off your 4 Week Nature Reset to start spending more time in nature in a practical way!

Learn more about the STOP THE SPIRAL Mini-Course here. 

Invite you into deeper reflection through her new Purposeful Living Journal HERE.

Get the FREE 3 Step Infographic to Discover God’s Purpose for Your Life. 

Have you ever moved into a new home, received an unexpected gift, or finally gotten something you'd prayed for, and then felt guilty about it? Like somehow you didn't quite deserve it?

In this episode, host Kelsey Redd tackles one of the trickiest tensions in faith and abundance: the paradox of worthiness. How do we hold both truths at once, that we are nothing compared to God's infinite greatness, and yet we are everything to Him?

Inspired by a conversation with a friend who couldn't stop saying "I don't even deserve this house," Kelsey unpacks why so many women of faith struggle to receive God's blessings with joy, and what gratitude has to do with resolving the whole tension.

In this episode, you'll explore:

• Why worthiness is not the same as earning — and why that distinction changes everything
• The difference between healthy humility and the guilt that keeps you from receiving good things
• How reformed theology and prosperity gospel both get it partially right — and where each misses the mark
• Why a gift stops being a gift the moment you think you've earned it
• How gratitude holds the entire paradox together — humility and joy, meekness and praise, all at once
• A powerful quote from Apostle Dieter F. Uchtdorf that perfectly captures the paradox of man's relationship with God

Kelsey also shares her own experience with moving into a new home, her years of infertility, and why she believes gratitude is the one frequency that raises every situation — no matter what you're walking through.

The answer to "do I deserve this?" isn't yes or no. It's thank you.

Subscribe now, share this show with a mom friend, and join the conversation! 

Want to be in the know? Get on the email list 

Find more resources at www.creatingintentionalmothers.com/resources

Connect with Kelsey @creating.intentional.mothers

There’s a vision you have for your life. Let’s create it with a 3 or 6-month Dream Activation Private Mentorship.

Get your FREE Self-Care Planner here

Click here for 50% off your 4 Week Nature Reset to start spending more time in nature in a practical way!

Learn more about the STOP THE SPIRAL Mini-Course here. 

Invite you into deeper reflection through her new Purposeful Living Journal HERE.

Get the FREE 3 Step Infographic to Discover God’s Purpose for Your Life.