The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. This is exactly what I did over the past 5 months during my hiatus from the podcast. By clearing away that which was no longer serving me physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually ~ I was left with a "bare room". I then only allowed back in the elements of my life that I felt fully in tune with. In this episode, I discuss the benefits of creating "bare rooms" in your life. When you are clear and open to see what really matters in your life and what is worth keeping you will naturally evolve and grow into a more peaceful version of yourself. 

With the current pandemic, everyone around the world is taking a collective pause currently. It is up to each of us on how we want to use this time of pause. What does that look like for you?

Some are not getting a pause, like the healthcare workers on the frontlines….and other essential workers. But for the majority of us we are getting a pause. Some are finding relief in this pause, where others are struggling as their busy life had become a buffer from really looking at their own life. Some are relishing in the pause where others are wanting to rush back to normal, But I want you to analyze what part of normal is worth rushing back to. 

We are all going to globally be faced with a new normal, what is your new normal going to look like? What if you took this time and looked for the deeper lessons and decided how your new normal is going to look. What have you discovered about yourself in this time? And if you have been in consumption mode of the news...how can you now start to take this time to learn more about how you want to live your life. 

Back from a podcast break, in this episode I discuss the recent world event of the Coronavirus Pandemic and how to cope with the feelings of anxiety and fear that seem to be taking over for everyone. I offer suggestions on how to navigate this time in our society and really get back to basics of what really matters in our lives. Let's all hold the space for each other during this time and collectively do what we can to stay grounded and present, releasing our attachments to how things "should" be. 

The best relationship to work on is the one with yourself. We often focus so much on relationships with other people but neglect the true core one that counts the most. How do you truly think and feel about yourself? What determines your self worth? Is it something that occurred isn't the past, other people's opinions, accomplishments and failures? For this Valentines Day, shift the focus to yourself and learn what is needed to love yourself more. 

When struggling with a health condition, are you being your own health advocate? For this episode, I interview Shannan Bowers who details her journey back to health after suffering from Lyme Disease. She describes how she truly found her answers in doing her own research on how to reduce the toxic load in her life, which ultimately led her to heal and thrive. 

Beautycounter

https://www.beautycounter.com/shannanbowers

Cleaner, Safer, Higher Performing beauty products that actually work! Feel free to reach out to Shannan at [email protected] for product questions!

The best clean cleaning product

Branch Basics: For $10 first order use link below

http://branchbasics.refr.cc/shannanbowers

Water Filter

https://theberkey.com/

A great place for dry organic food is Thrive Market. I buy a ton here and save so much! The prices are so much cheaper than my local grocery store. Here is a link for 25% off your first order!

Thrive Market

http://thrv.me/JqTQQg

 Follow Shannan for more clean living tips!

https://www.instagram.com/shannan_bowers/?hl=en

For this episode I discuss the difference between clean pain and dirty pain when faced with difficult life situations such as a death of a loved one, breakups or witnessing others close to you struggle either with mental illness or addiction.  When we allow clean pain to pass through us, it can be pure and therapeutic, but what so often happens is that we move into dirty pain where our mind spins with thoughts about what happened and therefore is the reason we really suffer when faced with certain circumstances. 

What you will learn in this episode:

• The difference between clean and dirty pain with examples of what it looks like in relation to specific life circumstances
• How to lean into clean pain and to avoid moving into dirty pain
• The 4 step method on how to process emotional pain 
• How to move on from past circumstances that have left you stuck in dirty pain for years

"If you expect life to be easy, challenges will seem difficult. If you accept that challenges may occur, life will be easier." For this episode I wanted to time it around the time of the New Year where most people have a setback in the new goals they created for themselves which tends to be 3 weeks after New Years Day.  

I discuss how one of the most important skills we can develop is our tolerance to failure or experiencing setbacks. Once we realize that this is just part of the process, we allow ourselves to learn from the setback vs beating ourselves up about it or giving up all together.

We are then able to continue moving forward each day towards our goals and giving ourselves however long it takes to get there. Strengthening the mindset of curiosity of why something is not working vs shaming ourselves about it. The true magic lies in who you become along the way towards reaching your goals. 

Buffering is when we use external things to change how we feel emotionally. It's something we do to keep from fully experiencing our lives, to hide from reality, to procrastinate, to not feel certain emotions...etc. We don't want to face the truth of our lives because we don't want to experience any type of negative emotion. 

In this episode I describe what buffering is and describe the different type of buffers and what the consequences that tend to follow with each one. 

• Unacceptable Buffers
• Numbing Out Buffers Accepted By Society
• Unconscious Buffers

I talk about how the first step in eliminating buffers is to just be aware of what yours are. Take a listen and then examine your life to see what your buffers are and then decided which ones you are wanting to work on eliminating or lessening. 

When you stop buffering, you start living the truth of your life. You start seeing exactly what's going on in your mind and in your emotions and your actions, it is the best way to live your most honest life. 

For this podcast I cover how important it is as you start this New Year to make the resolution to see yourself the most clear that you can. Use 2020 vision to create the year you want for yourself outside of societal expectations and the shame expectations you place on yourself. 

• New Year's resolutions tend to be how to make ourselves more acceptable and tend to be built out of shame for something we perceive as a shortcoming. 
• In this episode I  discuss the pitfalls of starting off your New Year already feeling less than. I cover how instead of creating resolutions that you think will make you a more acceptable and valued human - dive into how you are already full of valued characteristics now. 

You are already an amazing individual possessing something that someone else wishes they had. You each have something that is uniquely you that is already incredibly valuable.

Embrace that and then expand on it to create your resolutions from a place of love, self compassion and worth vs lack, shame and fear. 

Instead of rushing to create new resolutions for 2020...how can you take this space we have between Christmas and New Year's Day to reflect on the past year. So often we will want to erase the past year in our minds in anticipation for the "fresh beginnings" of the New Year.  In this episode I encourage you to look back on 2019 and embrace the "good and bad" and to look for the lessons in all that happened and allow yourself to have full closure of the year before moving forward. 

This time of the year is one of my favorites as when all the holiday rush tends to slow down, it allows the quiet space for true reflection.