Joyful Living

I’m sooo excited to share this incredible episode of the Joyful Living Podcast with you today! My good friend and health coach, Casey Sollock, joins us on the show to share how to experience greater joy in life and in your health with fun, simple, and practical strategies. Casey has been vital support in my recovery over the past year from adrenal fatigue and is continually inspiring me in so many other ways as well.

One of the reasons why I love Casey so much is she takes such a soul-filled approach to life and health. Rather than daily exercise, she encourages “daily play.” She also recommends “getting cozy with God” as being a fundamental practice for living lives filled with joy, purpose, and meaning.

Casey Sollock is a natural health speaker, author, and coach. She is the resident health expert for the 90.9 KCBI morning drive-time radio show in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Casey’s most recent book, The Kingdom-Driven Entrepreneur’s Guide to Holistic Health, was released at the end of July.

Her mission is to inspire women everywhere to reclaim their health, through natural solutions, so they can live their purpose with passion and energy. She teaches health for life purpose, and her philosophy is to “add in” the good stuff, which crowds out the bad. She hates diets, calorie counting, and restriction. She loves dark chocolate, leafy greens, essential oils, PLAYtime, and connecting mind/body/spirit for total wellness.

Casey’s degree is in psychology, and she’s a former personal trainer. She quit law school to follow her passion for holistic wellness. She graduated from the highly acclaimed Institute for Integrative Nutrition and is a certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. Casey shares the goodness of greens, the beauty of essential oils, and the simplicity of smoothies with everyone she meets. (Watch out…you’re next!)

She leads natural health workshops, offers keynote presentations, and works one-on-one with private health coaching clients. She is also well known for her life-changing 10-Day Eat Clean Challenges (online) where she works with participants from all over the world.

If you’d like to connect with Casey more (& I HIGHLY recommend that you do), head over to her website: SheShinesWellness.com.

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Not sure I’ve ever been THIS excited to share an episode of the Joyful Living Podcast, but truly, this show is so special. My friends, the talented and brilliant Matthew & Avasa Love, join me to talk about finding joy and harmony in life. As singer/songwriters in an industry that can be tough to remain humble, authentic, and true to your heart, the Loves offered some beautiful and profound truths about joyful living that I’m still pondering and treasuring. 

One of the powerful themes that kept coming up during the show was how to experience deeper joy in our relationships, especially our marriages. The Loves shared their insights on what humility looks like and why it’s so important for joy. They also shared how being involved in service has filled their lives with deep joy.

Best of all, Matthew & Avasa gave us the special gift of hearing them sing together. This song literally brought tears to my eyes. It’s so richly humble and powerful. I can’t wait for you to experience it! The song they sang is called “Work” and it is from their new AWESOME album, The Road, which is available on iTunes.

Also, the new beautiful intro and outro music for the Joyful Living Podcast is from their song, “Let the Sun Shine Through” from their album Love is King Love is Queen. Enjoy a free preview of all of their inspired music HERE.

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Whenever I start to feel burnt out, exhausted or overwhelmed by life, I now look to one major aspect of my life: speed. I start to ask questions like: “why I’m doing all I’m doing? And why does it all need to be done right now?” We live in a culture of speed, ever-racing towards having more, doing more, and even being more. This can lead us to unconsciously join in the race and miss out on LIFE, especially the everyday joys. This episode is a call to return to the tempo that is right for you, the tempo set by your own heart. Rather than looking outward, it’s time to look inward to set your life’s pace and goals.

Listen in to hear powerful questions to ask yourself to help you get back to the pace of life that best fits you. Return to living more in alignment with seasons to open up the flow and let go of the force in your everyday living.

Powerful quotes that support this episode:

* “There is more to life than increasing its speed.” – Gandhi

* “He who has set his heart exclusively upon the pursuit of worldly welfare is always in a hurry, for he has but limited time at his disposal to reach, to grasp, and to enjoy it.” – Alexis de Tocqueville (1830)

* “That analysis rings even more true today, when all the world is a store, and all the men and women merely shoppers. Tempted and titillated at every turn, we seek to cram in as much consumption and as many experiences as possible. As well as glittering careers, we want to take art courses, work out at the gym, read the newspaper and every book on the bestseller list, eat out with friends, go clubbing, play sports, watch hours or television, listen to music, spend time with the family, buy all the newest fashions and gadgets, go to the cinema, enjoy intimacy and great sex with our partners, holiday in far-flung locations and maybe even do some meaningful volunteer work. The result is a gnawing disconnect between what we want from life and what we can realistically have, which feeds the sense that there is never enough time.“ – Carl Honore, In Praise of Stillness

Wanting understand our cultural need for speed and where it all began in history so you can unravel any attachments to speed in your own life? Check out the book In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed by Carl Honore.

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It seems like so many of us women struggle with having healthy relationships with food, our bodies and life itself. All of these struggles block and inhibit our joy. One of the very first women who showed me what true joy in all of these areas could look like was Melissa Chappell. It blew my mind that anyone could bring so much love and joy to food and the everyday adventure of life itself!

Listen in to this powerful show where Melissa shares her heartfelt insights on how to create healthy, thriving relationships with food and our bodies to open us up to greater everyday JOY. 

During this episode Melissa mentioned this darling photo posted on Instagram of her daughter:

Melissa Chappell loves cooking delicious, nutritious gourmet desserts that just happen to be good for you. She is also the author of several cookbooks. Melissa is a doula and will soon have her midwifery training complete. She is co-owner of the Community School of Midwifery and serves on the boards of several humanitarian organizations, including “Naturopaths without Borders.” Melissa is also a single mother of 4 children, ranging from ages 3-20.

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Of all the episodes of the Joyful Living Podcast that I’ve ever done, this one is the most exciting and powerful to share. In “Letting Go” we discuss how the spiral of painful thoughts actually occurs, as well root causes for why we’re even going there in the first place. Most importantly, I share my own daily Letting Go Meditation that I use to bring more peace, clarity, and presence into my world. THIS IS HUGE and SO, SO POWERFUL. It’s been completely life-changing in my experience. 

If you’re struggling with how to get out of your mind and more into the present moment, you’ll love this meditation. If you’re feeling like there’s a continual current of anxiety/depression bubbling under the surface of your daily life, this meditation will help calm the waters and return you back to peace, presence, and love.

From my heart to yours, I pray this episode will bless your life as the concepts and meditation have blessed mine so deeply. MUCH love to you and please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.

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It can feel CRAZY to simply just survive each day, especially while juggling so many good priorities. Through it all, however, our days end up becoming our lives and the memories we and our family share together (for good or for worse). In this powerful episode, my brilliant friend and special guest, Emily Hill, shared her experiences and insights on making more time for creating and finding joy for ourselves, our families, and our friends. 

Emily and I talked in depth about the reality of what our joy (or sometimes utter lack of) and relationships (too often more surface and shallow) can look like in our social media/plugged-in/texting society. We may be more “connected” than ever before, but there’s also soooo much loneliness and disconnect happening in the midst of this.

Emily shared some really powerful ways to open our lives up to more joy by making time and space for greater depth and meaning in our relationships.

The good news: these are such SIMPLE + REWARDING ways to let in more JOY! *phew*

Also, here are the exact quotes that Emily shared in the episode:

“Don’t say you don’t have any time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein.” – H. Jackson Brown

“You will never ‘find’ time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.”

And here’s a lovely little bit about Emily Hill:

Emily Hill is a Social media-loving, Diet Coke-drinking, dessert-eating, yoga-addicted mother of four. (And she does most of it in heels.) When she’s not duct taping kids to the ceiling, stepping on yet another LEGO or hiding (unsuccessfully) in her closet, she entertains—and tempts—readers at Is This Really My Life. Emily currently works as the Director of Education for Snap. In her spare time she’s a freelance copywriter and editor. Diet Coke and chocolate make it all possible.

Have you subscribed to the Joyful Living Podcast yet? Click here for the links to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, and SoundCloud.

Lately I’ve been learning some truly transformational lessons in life about the importance of caring for my most precious resource: my energy. I want to create BIG + BEAUTIFUL relationships, art, experiences, and health in the world, yet I’m recognizing just how crucial it really is to be a wise steward of my daily energy in order to do any of this. In watching my mompreneur friends struggle similarly, I knew this wasn’t just something I’m dealing with. As I’ve pondered about it more, I think this is really a fundamental struggle of life: how to be a good steward of our daily energy.

In Episode 15 of the Joyful Living Podcast we look at what the common energy drains are for moms and mompreneurs and how we so easily can get caught off guard with them. We dive into just what it requires to bring our best to our daily lives and endeavors. We also clearly outline just how to make sure you’re living your life less drained and more FULLY ALIVE, in more full expression of your innate beauty and brilliance.

Joy can be EASY to find when life is going smoothly and everything is rockin’ your way. However, what about joy in the tough times? In our Joyful Living private FB group, so many of you mentioned how there have been lot of difficult struggles in your world lately and it’s been harder than normal to find the joy. 

During this episode of the Joyful Living Podcast we covered many powerful nuggets that can support you in finding more joy in difficult moments & seasons. I also shared the simple + powerful 3 questions I ask myself when I am overly stressed and emotionally charged by what’s happening in my life or the people around me. These 3 questions are a gateway back to creative problem solving (so you can be a force for positive growth and change in your life) and thus also back to JOY.

Would love to hear your insights and experiences with Episode 14 in the Joyful Living group!

The other name I wrestled with for this episode of Joyful Living was “Lessons from my 8 year old’s Day of Temper Tantrum Freak Outs,” for this is truly where the insights came from that changed the trajectory of my day and even my life. Tonight I truly feel like I’ve been through a full day of “school” here in the throes of motherhood. I have learned SO MUCH. However, none of this would have happened if not for a miracle chat today with my dear friend, Ashlee Miller, who taught me a CRAZY-POWERFUL concept that has shifted how I view flow, peace, + joy. 

Listen in to this episode as I share what Ashlee taught me, as well as some vital lessons learned in teaching our children deeper gratitude, greater respect, and so much more.

I didn’t always see the value of sisterhood and for the past 5+ years of my business life I convinced myself I didn’t have time for much of it at all. Truthfully, relationships with other women can be pretty intense and stressful for any woman. However, with this year’s intention being JOY, my heart has been yearning for deep, meaningful relationships with other soul sisters. Through much vulnerability and time, some INCREDIBLE soul sister relationships have blossomed in my life this year. However, this past weekend I received a powerful lesson in a frequently overlooked reason why these relationships are so needed and so paramount for our joy. 

“This is no doubt the other gift of women’s jokings and shared laughter. It all becomes medicine for the tough times, a strengthener for later. …And whatever causes healing laughter is sacred as well. When laughter helps without doing harm, when laughter lightens, realigns, reorders, reasserts power and strength, this is the laughter that causes health. When the laughter makes people glad they are alive, happy to be here, more conscious of love, heightened with eros, when it lifts their sadness and severs them from anger, that is sacred. When they are made bigger, made better, more generous, more sensitive, that is sacred.” – Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Listen to this episode for some POWERFUL ideas to support you experiencing more of this healing + sacred moments of healing laughter with your soul sisters.