Live Your Best Life!

Before digging in…let’s just call out the fact that for many of us, building new, positive habits is just plain hard, and falling back into old, negative habits is just plain easy. With that said, that does not mean that you should not actively work to build new habits that support health, career, relationships, personal growth, or any other area of your life. Building new habits is a crucial aspect of positive change, however, this does not mean that it is smooth or easy. Think about it, if it was…we would all be engaging in positive, healthy habits all of the time.

I believe that when behavior change is hard, understanding why it is hard is more than half the battle. 

This is because when you understand what the obstacles are, and why they are happening, you are much more likely to be successful in managing them. In addition, and just as important, it is easier to be kind to yourself and acknowledge that what you are trying to do is hard,...

The changing of seasons has an impact on your life, from the way you dress, to the food you eat, to the activities you engage in, to the way you decorate the exterior and interior of your home. If you are like me, the scent of your soap and candles reflects the season you are in too! In addition to impacting all of these things, the change of seasons can also have a significant influence on your mood and emotional health. In this blog, I will explore ways in which your emotional health can be impacted by the change of seasons, as well as offer some tips for navigating these changes effectively.

If you have heard about how a change of season can impact your mood, it is likely related to cooler seasons. As the days get shorter and the temperatures get cooler, many people experience Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), or “The Winter Blues”. This is a type of depression that typically occurs during the fall and winter months. The reduced exposure to sunlight during...

It is likely that you have heard talk about the positive impact a morning routine can have on your life. I have many clients who talk about hearing about morning routines but who don’t really understand why they can be so important, or what their morning routine should include. The good news is that there is no “right way” or “wrong way” to do a morning routine and morning routines do not need to take a long time or be complicated.  

I think one of the biggest benefits of a morning routine is that it is an opportunity to intentionally start your day off in a way that feels good.

It allows you time to focus on yourself, and allows you to set the tone for your day. Like so many people, I have fallen victim to waking up in the morning and immediately picking up my phone and consuming text messages, emails, and social media. For me, and for many of my clients, the problem in doing this is that I was losing control of my day before it even...

The Compound Effect is the principle that small actions or decisions, when applied consistently over time, can lead to significant results. This is because there is a cumulative effect that happens when you do something on a consistent basis, even if you are not recognizing any immediate results. Understanding this and reminding yourself of this can be helpful when you are not seeing the immediate changes you want, resulting in you wanting to quit or give up. 

One thing that is important to know about the compound effect is that it is always in play and can bring about positive results, or negative results for you. 

Consider, for example, that you are making small changes to eat healthier but are not looking or feeling any different…until one day you do. You won’t see any immediate results but there will be a day when you wake up with more energy, or you notice your clothes fitting a little better, or your joints hurting a little less. Living in...

I see people struggle with anxiety related to their volume of work on almost a daily basis so if you experience this, you are not alone. Does it feel like there are many things to get done and not enough time to get to them all? Does it feel like you could literally work from the time you get out of bed until the time you go to bed, and then maybe also on the weekends? 

If so, there are some things you can do to reduce your anxiety. First off, know that you are likely experiencing anxiety because you care about doing a good job, which is a good thing. When you care about doing a good job, you can sometimes start to think of everything you have to do as being at the same level of importance. When you think like this, you may experience a sense of urgency all day long, which can result in excessive stress and anxiety. 

The reality is, there are probably some things that are more urgent than others, and some things that can take a back seat on any given day or week....

One of the most powerful tools you have, and I would argue it is THE most powerful tool, is your brain. In addition to running all of your bodily functions, it is responsible for how you view yourself, others, and the world around you. That is a pretty big job.

What can become problematic, however, is when you accept all of your thoughts as true, especially if you tend to focus on the negative side of situations. For example, let’s assume you texted someone and they did not text you back for a day. You may think something like, “They are mad at me and I don’t know why”, which would create certain emotions which could include anxiety, stress, worry, sadness, or loneliness to name a few. The reality of the situation, however, is that you texted a friend and they did not text you back for a day. That is the circumstance or the facts that everyone would agree on. Your thought that your friend is mad at you and you don’t know why is a thought, not a...

Have you ever heard the phrase, “I’ll believe it when I see it”? If you use this phrase it means you are skeptical of something. You are not sure it will happen so you sit back and wait for evidence to appear that will help you believe it. While this may be a good way of thinking if someone has made empty promises to you in the past so that you don’t get your hopes up, in general, this is not a good way of thinking when you are talking about your goals or what you want in your future. When thinking about these things, you should flip this phrase upside down and tell yourself, “I’ll see it when I believe it”.

Visualization, also known as mental imagery, can be a powerful tool for achieving success in all areas of your life. Whether you have personal, professional, or academic goals, creating a mental image of achieving your desired outcome and imagining yourself performing the steps that will get you there will help pull you forward...

Unfortunately everyone experiences stress at some point in their lives. We tend to think that things like work, relationships, health, or finances cause our stress, however, that is not the case. It is what we are thinking about things like work, relationships, health, or finances that cause our stress. While some thoughts that create stress can be motivating and help you perform better, too much stress can be harmful to  your physical and mental health. 

There are strategies that will help you manage your stress by helping  you slow down your nervous system, release tension, and take care of yourself physically, however, it is also important to learn how to manage your thoughts that are ultimately creating your stress.  

I am going to share 10 strategies for managing stress with the last one being the one I encourage you to practice over and over since it is the one that relates to your thinking patterns that can increase or decrease your...

There is a good chance you have heard that it is important to have a gratitude practice...but why? When I work with clients, if I recommend a strategy for them to try, I am always sure that they understand why it is recommended and how it is designed to impact the wiring of their brain, their automatic thought patterns, and/or their nervous system. Before breaking down ways of having a gratitude practice, I want to be sure to share with you why having a gratitude practice is often a recommendation for individuals who are experiencing low mood, anxiety, stress, worry, and negative thinking patterns. 

Because we cannot possibly pay attention to everything happening around us each day, our brains are conditioned to detect and “filter in” certain things in our surroundings, while filtering other things out that it does not consider as important to pay attention to. The default mode of the unconscious brain is to look for negative things, challenging things, dangerous...

Do you have days where you are feeling energized and on fire, and then have other days where you can’t seem to muster up the energy to get anything done? Or maybe you have days where you are feeling really good about your life in general and other days where all you can see and think about are negative things. This is not an uncommon human experience and it is also not something that is completely outside of your control. 

Your energy and whether you are feeling positive or negative overall is tied to your thoughts and your mindset. Often we think these things are tied to situations happening around us, or to what other people are doing to us, however, this is never the case. Things happening around you can spark thoughts, but it is always your thoughts that create your feelings. This is important to note because this means that if you change what you are thinking, you can change how you are feeling. When you are intentional about this, you can create habits around...