Many years ago, I was reading Dragonspell to my oldest son, when I ran across the perfect line. A line that I thought was so true I was inspired to blog on it. The line said "I'm changing so much on the inside. I keep learning things that seem to me I should have known all along."

How true this is? When you are in a self-transformation, the changes are happening in places no one can see, but everyone around you can feel. We are discovering things about ourselves and the world in a whole new way. Often, this new awareness and knowledge feel like things we should have known all along. Probably because we do know it, we just chose to keep it hidden until we were ready to remember.

Here are a few ideas for parents and non-parents alike to get you thinking of fun and interesting ways to begin a new career you can do from home.

There are different ways to manage your stress and ensure your body gets sufficient rest to recharge for more tasks. If you look to be more efficient and boost your productivity, you need to care for your physical and mental health. Here are a few tips to get started:

The guidance I have received of “if you are not contributing love to it, you shouldn't put energy into it” can be challenging for me at times. They mean everything! In this fear-riddled world, with the media, the chaos, the intensity, sometimes love is challenging to offer.

Don’t be diminished by those around

Start by not diminishing others around you. Even if they are engaging in the shame, blame and judgment as a way to motivate you, don’t play. Go beyond those techniques of manipulation and control and start lifting yourself and other’s up.

If you struggle to do this, that is okay. Start somewhere. Notice that by just setting the mention to drop the need to be right all of the time, shifts your relationships and your life.

Not only do we tell our stories to others, but the stories we tell ourselves are the ones we can get most duped by. First, because we generally don't share our full stories with others we don't get called out on how false they are. Second, the voice we hear loudest is our own. Whatever the story is we tell ourselves, is the story we believe, defend and create in our lives.

What is healing anyway? Our relationship with the state of being unwell is often so uncomfortable that we can’t accept it. We criticize and blame ourselves and/or our conditions for making us unwell and focus all of our energy on understanding the problem.  As we focus on the problem, we expand it.  This expansion actually clarifies our desires through the reflection of what we don’t want.  Sometimes we get stuck there. So how can we heal?

While staying home may have felt relaxing at first, prolonged self-isolation can become stressful. When tensions rise at home, whether between partners or family members of all ages, finding relief is challenging. Try these methods to help ease tension while sticking it out with quarantine protocol.

Emotions are seemingly the easiest things to share amongst friends; it's almost like a virus. One person feels happy and passes it on to the next and the next and so on. That is ideal... but not always how it goes.

More often, one person in line is angry and yelling at the cashier which puts you in a "what is wrong with people?" mood. This, in turn, may lead to you going home and yelling at your kids, which makes them mad at each other and so on. Emotions are contagious and the sooner we learn to recognize the difference between our emotions and the people we are with, the easier time we will have in knowing ourselves.

Alana Fairchild’s book The Kuan Yin Transmission, book review. This book introduces you to the various versions of Kuan Yin. The book describes Kuan Yin as “an ancient divine being and an enlightened spiritual guardian.” The author asserts you can use her power in combination with your religion or if you have no religion at all.

This book would make a great gift for a new, open-minded parent. I could definitely find myself giving this as a gift at a baby shower or even suggesting it to a friend who is struggling with parenting. It is playful and gives a much needed reframe on the child-parent relationship and approach to parenting.

This book does require that you to shift your focus from being the one in charge to the idea that you and your child are equal in the lessons you have for each other. It is such an easy read and light-hearted, so it is and enjoyable read, if you let it be. 

I liked the little notes that she wrote in as if the child was talking. It breaks up the flow and is really sweet to think of your child saying to you these things. 

The bank determines your creditworthiness via your credit score. Likewise, your BMI can put your overall health into perspective. A number between 18 and 25 means that, weight-wise, you’re in pretty good shape. Higher than that and you fall into the overweight range. Once your body mass index hits 30, you are officially considered obese. But you don’t have to let those numbers continue to climb—or scare you. Through a combination of wellness-focused activities, you can take control of your overall health and wellness and beat the scale into submission. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Tap into yourself! Let your wisdom run deep and wide. Notice which parts of yourself you labeling as "bad" or "useless". Does it make sense that you are labeling it that way? What are you telling yourself is the reason for doing so? Look into those reasons. Can you play devils advocate and debunk them?

Try and see if you can open yourself up to a different perspective. Go through the energy centers this way and see if you can have them both at the same time, fully and completely, or does one get sacrificed for the other?

The book, 365 Days of Happiness by Jacqueline Pirtle is filled with conversations, visualizations hints, tricks and fun little playtimes to have with your energy. If you have forgotten to have fun, this book can help you remember.

People get falsely lured into thinking that if you just know what is coming next, you will be okay and things will go well. Even if we can see the tidal waves coming, we can't always escape being swept away by them. In fact, if you can see them, the chances are you are going to get swept away by them.

Let me tell you quite bluntly, the fear of the unknown is holding you back. You don't have to wait for all things to be clear to trust your gut. You don't have to ask yourself what will be, you just have to look around and see what is.

There is a huge pot of energy we are all drawing on at any given time and it is infinite and abundant. We just have to remember to open up how we receive things and not be so focused on one particular place or person because we think we have “earned it.”

Have you been feeling the onset of professional burn out, wondering where all those 50-hour work weeks and personal sacrifice are getting you? Maybe you’re a team player but you’re just not sure if this is really what you want. A lot of people respond to this uncertainty by jumping ship and heading off to another employer in the same industry, perhaps making more money but failing to resolve their career angst. If this sounds like you, there may be another option, and you may not need to fine-tune the resume and hit the job trail.

If you can, think about pressing the “pause button” and take a career break by going on sabbatical for an extended period. It’s not for everyone, of course, but if you approach it in the right way, it can be life-changing. Also, don’t overlook the psychological and self-care benefits of getting away and resetting your perspective.

According to Oxford Living Dictionaries, it means “relating to or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.” Addressing this part of who you are is essential to moving forward in life with a full heart and freedom from doubt.
You don’t have to flee into the mountains to live in a cave while pondering the meaning of the universe, thank goodness. That sounds very unpleasant, and your family would never allow it, anyway. There’s an easier way: by making adjustments to your physical and mental health efforts to gain deeper insight into your connection with the world while nurturing your soul. Here are a few ideas that will help you on this important journey.

The term “self-care” is often misunderstood as being synonymous with selfishness. Many hardworking people who are no stranger to self-sacrifice find it hard to see where they could fit self-care into their lives while they’re trying to provide for others. But the truth is, not taking the time to take care of ourselves can lead to exhaustion and high amounts of stress, and it can strain our relationships. In other words, taking care of yourself helps you take care of others. Here are four self-care tips that will help you be the best version of yourself—both for yourself and for others.

You have heard it a thousand times from me and other self-help guidance counselors to "think positive" or "love yourself first." Of course you know that is what you are supposed to do. So why aren't you doing it?

Did you know I published a book?