Working on Amazing

It's not easy to get things done when you are overwhelmed. We tend to put things off when we're sad or down. But the reality is life doesn't stop when we're struggling and there are some adulting tasks that have to be taken care of regardless of how upset we are. Time management for the overwhelmed heart offers gentle, simple solutions for getting the necessary things done. 

It's easy to remember when things were different. It doesn't take much to remember the past when the Thanksgiving table was full and laughter was in the air. In a society that celebrates more - we can feel like a failure when we have less. Let's shift our focus this Thanksgiving - instead of looking back on the way things used to be or comparing ourselves to others - let's focus on what we DO have - what we have really is enough. Do you have enough food to eat? Do you have someone who cares? Do you have enough strength to get through the day? We have enough and when we focus on enough we find contentment.

Do you view your body as a project - something to be fixed? Or do you view it as something to be loved and cared for? Changing our mindset on how we view ourselves and our bodies is a major key to not only a healthier lifestyle but also to emotional healing. Today I talk about practical ways to truly nurture your body.

Christmas and Thanksgiving are such a wonderful time of year. That is unless you are in the middle of change - in the middle of loss - in the middle of a truly difficult season. Then the holidays are just a painful reminder of they way things used to be. Knowing that the upcoming weeks and months can be an emotional minefield - lets talk about how to navigate it. How to handle the changes. Let's talk about new traditions - about what to focus on to keep us grounded and about what NOT to focus on.  The new normal is here. How are we going to walk through it?

What we focus on matters. If we focus on the negative things that have happened we end up in a negative mood. If we focus on positive things like gratitude our mood shifts in a more forward direction. We have to make the conscious choice - we have to choose what we are going to focus on. Let's stop ruminating on the negative events of our past - let's redirect our thoughts to something we choose - something better.

Negative things happen. Sometimes big, horrible, traumatic things. It can be hard to move past them. How do we rebuild an amazing life when something so big and so negative is right there in our past? How do we begin to change the negative thing that happened into something positive? Is that even possible? I have 6 tips to get you started.

It's time to start thinking about your Christmas budget. And not just the numbers - what about the emotional side to why we are drawn to spend more? Today we talk about giving gifts of real value - not necessarily high cost. 

Your brain creates chemicals that help regulate your mood, your happiness and over all sense of well being. It's helpful to know not only which chemicals do what, but more importantly what we can do to help our brains produce more of these chemicals. Some people might call it a happiness hack. But it's really just the science of how your brain works. Small simple steps can make a big difference over time. 

Have you ever caught yourself in a mental loop, replaying a negative conversation or event? Sometimes we relive harsh comments or bad experiences and the result isn't positive - as a matter of fact we feel worse for it. It's pretty common, we tend to hold on to negative things. However, if we look at these events through the analogy of clutter it's easy to see we don't need them and start the work of cleaning up our mental space.

Some times life gets tough. Bad things happen and we shift to survival mode. Once the noise and chaos has cleared and we look up often times we find that we are alone. Friendships have drifted - life has moved on. When this happens how do you meet new people, how do you find friends in adulthood? Today I brainstorm a few ideas for places to start when you want to meet new people.