I’m so excited to share this topic on future focus, why I love it and why I think you will too. It came up for me this last weekend, I was able to spend a beautiful getaway with my husband at the very same place we spent our honeymoon thirty one years ago, the same spot on the beach on the Oregon Coast. We had time to talk and laugh, and reminisce, we enjoyed lots of  fresh seafood at our favorite restaurants, we saw whales just off the coast and that was exciting, we stopped at our favorite candy shoppe and picked out our favorite salt water taffy flavors, he loves peppermint, and I love orange cream and cinnamon, and we took time to reflect on the ups and downs we’ve been through. My husband asked me, he said, “what kind of thoughts do you have today when you think about us and our future versus how you thought about our future on our honeymoon?” And I was like, woah!! That’s such a great question.

So when we talk about Future Focus, this can be...

I know for creative folks, sometimes our lives can feel a little flat, we have so many great ideas and big dreams, but it can be so difficult to actually make our dreams come true for ourselves. 

I don’t think it’s supposed to be easy to be creative. I think we are working with a lot of resistance and with this thing called ‘entropy’ in the world - have you heard of that word before? Entropy?

It’s important to understand what Entropy is and how to work with it.

What Is Entropy? Generally, entropy is defined as randomness or disorder of a system. This concept was introduced by a German physicist named Rudolf Clausius back in the year 1850.  

When we engage in creative work, we enter into a different, altered state from life as we know it. For me, I have to go through a little bit of a withdrawal. 

Julia Cameron in her book, ‘The Artist’s Way,’ describes this withdrawal state as a detachment or...

I want to teach to this idea that your life is a work of art. You already are an artist, and you might not even know it yet. Did you know that? And my intention right now in the series is to teach what Julia Cameron teaches in her book, The Artist’s Way - which is a book that changed my life. I highly recommend this book to my clients who are musicians, to my young-adults clients who are in music programs in college. 

And Julia Cameron is very open about sharing her ideas to whoever will listen, she ascribes to the principle, “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” And that’s what I’m hoping to facilitate, helping you give yourself permission to allow your inner artist to come alive again. 

I say again, because Children are natural at allowing their inner artist to lead the way. The reason we label childhood so magical is because we know it is a time when we are allowed to be free with our imaginations, and to explore new...

My son has a rare disease called Usher Syndrome - he is gradually going deaf and blind - it’s been hard to see his hearing and his eyesight decline in his adolescence, and he’s been struggling socially, since friendships with his friends from younger years have shifted as he’s entered high school, he doesn’t feel like he can keep up in normal conversations, how fast paced they are, he often has to ask people to repeat themselves.

And I’m giving some context here because he’s found online gaming as a fun way to use his headphones and talk and laugh and hear everything people say. Plus he’s good at it.

I spend a lot of time actively praying for my children and asking and listening for guidance. I’ve talked about prayer on the podcast before, but with Joseph, I knew I needed to let Joseph keep his love of video games, but guide him, but not be too controlling about it. And it went against everything I had previously thought about video...

Making room for grace, the concept I’m teaching applies to anything you are going after, whether it’s a goal, a dream, or something you want to turn around and make improvements on in your life, something you might be worried about. Making room for grace is a beautiful way to approach the possibility of change for the future. 

So, on to what I want to talk about today, which is about making room for grace. When I make room for grace in my parenting, it’s easier to help my kids own their own results versus trying to control my kids because I’m worried about their choices. And this is something I have been thinking about for a LONG time, especially because I think I’ve told you before, I have some head-strong kids. So I had to learn early on how to enjoy parenting more. It all felt so out of my control. I didn’t like how that felt when my kids were little. I felt at the mercy of their choices. If they made good choices, then life was peaceful...

Have you ever wondered, when you see another person upset, “what the heck do I say right now?” or “this is so awkward!” Do you wonder how to draw a quiet, withdrawn teenager out of their shell and get them to talk to you more, to open up to you if there’s distance in the relationship? Do you wonder “why doesn't my child listen to me?”

When your partner is upset or hurting - and you want to help but you’re so worried about the problem you don’t even know what to say and everything you DO say seems to be the wrong thing? 

Or what about when your spouse is having a hard time, say it’s a problem at work, and you know the solution, but the more you offer suggestions, the more frustrating the conversation becomes? 

The #1 reason even the most “well-intended” conversations can fall flat - and it has to do with the role we are taking on in the moment we are witnessing a loved one having a hard time.

...

Every mom I work with has her own version of Mom Guilt, being all too aware of what we wish we did better in parenting.

The goal of this post is to help you Escape the Mom Guilt Trap, and it will be really good for empty-nesters to read.

It’s going to be good for moms of kids of all ages, but some of you have been asking me, are there specific ways I recommend to stop worrying about the things I did wrong as a mom, I know I did the best I could with what I had, but I seem to still feel guilty and what am I supposed to do with that? 

And the reason I say this is a good one is because I actually wrote it specifically with a few friends in mind who are empty nesters, who I have the privilege of coaching, and we’ve cultivated the Three truths I’m sharing with you today. They are powerful truths. And honestly, I wish I would have known them sooner. So I’m excited to share them with you. 

Before I do, I want to make sure that you know that as we near...

Do you consider yourself someone who knows how to receive answers to your prayers? And to take it a step further, do you want to teach your children how to build confidence in their ability to pray? Then this post is for you. . .

I’ve been teaching my  19 year old son who is on a mission and experienced a lot of illness. My daughter who is away at college in a very competitive music Arts program. And my youngest son who is figuring out how to plan his future, he’s a junior in high school and he has a difficult health diagnosis. 

And I’m serious here. I want my kids to know how to pray in a way that accesses the powers of heaven. I believe the powers of heaven are real, and that we’ve been given everything we need to access those powers, if we have the faith to do so. 

I also believe that God is bound to answer a prayer of faith, that God operates through spiritual laws that are scientific principles that govern the...

Gratitude for my Mentors

I want to speak to the power of having gratitude for good Mentors in your life.  The impact of a good mentor can be a real game-changer for the trajectory of the path you take.

Today, I’m going to speak to five lessons I learned from five mentors who’ve given me some amazing gifts. I’m hoping that these gifts, these lessons, will inspire you to identify your mentors, and to think of ways you too can be a mentor for the people in your life. Also, to keep looking and learning from new mentors along the way. We are never too old for learning from people. 

1.  You can do anything you put your mind to

This lesson came from my grandmother.  We were really close growing up. She had a gift for always seeing the good in people, and I have her to thank for seeing the good in me – even when I made mistakes – and I made some pretty big ones while growing up. Even through the mistakes, she loved me the best anyway....

Lately, under the Quarantine circumstances, I’ve been helping clients feel better, and it has led me to think of how I can help my readers get better at feeling their feelings without judgement.

Many of my clients are saying things like, “I shouldn’t feel this way because I’m so blessed,” or “I don’t want to feel so worried about everything, but I can’t help it.”

I help them see that they are resisting uncomfortable emotions. But this isn’t the answer to feeling better.

It is not an easy skill to do, to get good at feeling your feelings while they are happening.

It is common for us to hide our emotions from other people while they are happening, because often times, it is inconvenient to express them in certain circumstances and can be inappropriate. But what tends to happen is we become really good at suppressing and avoiding our feelings as a habit, which can cause problems, the main one being,...