Stepping Up for the Working Mom

What does it really mean to live in the present moment?

It makes a great social media quote, but how do we live it every day? It's not easy, and it takes practice. Living in the present moment means understanding that you are here right now, taking in whatever is going on around you without distractions. Enjoying moments with your kids, conversations with family and friends, putting down your phone to truly be there.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Alexandra Elle - Instagram @alex_elle

Katherine Winter-Sellery is the CEO of the Conscious Parenting Revolution and co-creator of the Guidance Approach to Parenting, a program that applies conflict-resolution skills to communicating more effectively with children and adults.

Through her popular training, she has taught thousands of parents, educators, and other professionals in a half dozen countries how to minimize misunderstandings and melt-downs, and to communicate with more collaboration, cooperation and consideration.

She is the host of 3 TEDx talks on listening for unmet needs, unconscious communication, and speaking out, and she is the co-author of three books on conscious parenting.

We talk about raising kids during a pandemic, being aware of our own emotions to help our children, and how to encourage self-motivation in children.

Katherine is offering a discount for her program, Guidance Approach to Parenting, to all listners of the Stepping Up Podcast.
Register at https://www.consciousparentingrevolution.com/courses/guidance-approach-to-parenting and use code SUWM20. 

Being triggered by other people's emotions is real and it's hard to distinguish sometimes between your own emotions and someone else's. 

We don't want someone else telling us that our emotions are wrong or not real, so why would anyone else want us to say or think the same thing about their feelings, especially anger. 

I don't do well around anger or confrontation, for most of my life I've avoided it all costs. When those around me would get angry, I'd walk away or not want to be a part of the conversation. I would tell them to calm down, or relax, or say "I don't know why you're so upset, just think a different thought." By doing this I was showing them that their feelings weren't validated. 

Then when it overtly happened to me, I started to see something different. I had to look within myself and do a lot of work around allowing others to feel their emotions, while also keeping mine in check. 

Here is my experience and how I recently started to see that the work I've done is paying off. 

When I started meditating over 3 years ago it was a struggle for me. I had no idea what to do or how to get started. 

There were 2 things holding me back:

1) I couldn't figure out how to keep my brain free of thought, and
2) meditating felt like a lot of work. 

Then I realized you're not supposed to shut your brain off, that's impossible and it can be easy. 

On this podcast I'm debunking the myths that meditation is about clearing out your thoughts and that meditation is hard. Once I got passed these 2 things, meditation was able to change my life!!! 

School's out and now it's time to shift into summer mode!!!! 

While exciting, it's also daunting because we are still in lock-down. Daycares are starting to open, and we're still working part-time from home. So what is this summer going to look like? 

As we move into this next phase there are 3 things I'm focusing on:

1) Creating/readjusting routines.
2) Taking time off - both before we begin the transition and during the summer. 
3) Self-care for my mind and my body - meditation, journaling, exercise, healthy eating

------------------------------------------------------------
Join the Mindfulness and Meditation Challenge by emailing Nikki @[email protected] 

It feels like we do so much more than our husbands or partners, now the statistics show that we do. Especially during quarantine! 

A study done at the UCL Institute of Eduation and Institute of Fiscal Studies showed that 47% of mothers hours doing paid work are split between that and other activities (like childcare and housework). 

The proof is there that our attention is split. Our brains are trying to focus on work and on kids. But we can't do all that. Our brains don't function that way. We might like to say we can multi-task, but honestly when we try to multi-task something falls short. Either our parenting or our work. 

Mama, you are not alone in this. Your overwhlem, your anxiety, your burnout is all justified. We are doing more and expected to do more right now. We also can't sit by and allow this to just be. We have to ask for help, speak up for ourselves and let our feelings be known. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Join the Mindfulness and Meditation Challenge by emailing Nikki @[email protected] by June 7, 2020. 

 

Anger is not a fun emotion to have and in quarantine I'm experiencing a lot of anger. So I decided it was something I wanted to work on.

I'm sharing my personal story of how anger manifests for me (i.e. yelling) and how I'm working to make changes to control and channel my anger differently.

It's real and it's true. It's also not always pretty, but the process is always worth it!
----------------------------------------------------------
Looking for tools and tips to help you work from home and not lose your $hit. Check out my free 3-part video mini-series at training.nikkigingrich.com/work. 

This was certainly a different kind of Mother's Day for all of us. I spent the morning journaling and really thinking about what it is I wanted for Mother's Day.

It wasn't what you might think...no massage, or pedicure, or breakfast in bed. It was something much bigger. Bigger than my own life and my own family.

Listen in on to see what it is I'm wishing for right now...

----------------------------------------------------------
Looking for additional tools and tips to help you work from home and not lose your $hit. Check out my free 3-part video mini-series at training.nikkigingrich.com/work. 

Feeling overwhelmed? Too much to do and have no idea where to start? 

Then this podcast is for you!!! 

I found myself in this exact position and was able to move through by doing these things: 

1) Stopping
2) Putting down all electronics and turning all screens off 
3) Going outside 

What can you do when you are feeling overwhelmed and burnt out? Even when we typically think we should push through and conquer our to-do list, I explain why doing the exact opposite is the best thing to do! I give additional tips that I've used at other times when I find myself overwhelmed. 

In this episode I'm sharing with you what I'm doing and not doing quarantine. I can easily focus on all the things going wrong (which btw I have done), but I'm working to continue focusing on the positive things I'm doing during quarantine.

I provide you with a great exercise you can do to shift your focus from what's wrong to what's right. When you do this you will notice a change in your attitude and how you're feeling about how you're handling quarantine.

This isn't about doing anything different, but instead looking at what is actually going on.
----------------------------------------------------------
Looking for additional tools and tips to help you work from home and not lose your $hit. Check out my free 3-part video mini-series at training.nikkigingrich.com/work.