Helping You Create Your Extraordinary Life
Have you ever felt stress as a fluttery, uneasy feeling in your belly? Thatâs not your imaginationâitâs your bodyâs internal messaging system at work. And believe it or not, your gut might have more to do with your mood and overall wellness than you think.
Thereâs a reason scientists call the gut your âsecond brainâ. Itâs powered by something called the enteric nervous system, a complex network of over 100 million nerve cells lining your digestive tract, from your esophagus to your rectum. And itâs constantly talking to the brain in your head through a pathway known as the gut-brain axis.
Hereâs where it gets fascinating: 90% of the communication along the gut-brain axis flows from your gut to your brain, not the other way around!
This means whatâs happening in your digestive systemâwhat you eat, how stressed you are, how well your gut bacteria are functioningâcan have a huge influence on how you feel both physically and emotion...
Last night I was out at a relatively small music venue listening to my favorite Scottish band, Old Blind Dogs. Iâve been trying to prioritize socialising more, so we invited some friends and had a great time. During the evening, my friend and I started chatting about sleep. Namely, how horrible she had been sleeping lately.Â
The quality of my sleep has drastically improved this past year after I started hormone therapy. My friend, on the other hand, doesnât have that option because she had breast cancer in the past. it got me thinking: sleep struggles can come from so many different places. Hormones, yesâbut also:
Hereâs the part most people miss: Sleep isnât just about what happens at night; it's a mirror of your day. If your day is packed with skipping meals, constant stimulation, zero downtime, and never-ending to-do lists⌠your brain doesnât magically kno...
Have you ever noticed how one âoff dayâ quickly turns into two, and then before you know it, a week (or two!) has passed and your routine is nowhere to be found? It happens to the best of us, especially during the summer months.
Maybe itâs a spontaneous trip, a change in your schedule, or simply a few too many âIâll get back to it tomorrowâ days. Life becomes a little unpredictable, and thatâs okay!
But hereâs the thing: we all want to stay consistent, even when our routines are a bit all over the place. The trick isâhow do we stay on track when everything feels out of rhythm?
Hereâs what I always remind my clients (and myself): You donât need to do EVERYTHING to stay on track. In fact, just one small habit can make all the difference.
So, whatâs an anchor habit? An anchor habit is that one small action that helps bring you back to baselineâeven when everything else feels chaotic. Itâs your foundation, the thing that keeps you grounded and helps you get back...
 Here in the Northern Hemisphere, weâre just shy of the longest day of the yearâand I have to admit, this is my favorite time. The long days bring a sense of possibility, and I find myself energized and ready to do all the things.
But just like money, Iâve learned to treat my energy as a finite resource. You can spend it, save it, invest it, or waste it. And most of us donât even realize where itâs going.
Every Friday, I meet with a small group to reflect on our weekâthe wins and the lessons (we donât call them failures!). In our last meeting, an expert in the differences between how women and men operate reminded us that women are not designed to be âonâ all the time. We need intentional breaks throughout the day to replenish ourselves. The problem is, many of the things we call âbreaksâ arenât actually helping us. For example:
On my to-do list right now is to enjoy having my daughter home, work on my book, and keep biking. I have another bike event this weekend, so Iâve been preparing for that. I was nervous that being away for my daughterâs graduation and not riding would affect my abilities, but I was pleasantly surprised when I rode last week. I felt stronger, and recognized that the hills I struggled to get up not that long ago werenât as hard as I remembered. Sometimes a little break can be beneficial.
Thatâs because you canât always see your progress while youâre in the thick of things.Â
Iâm trying to help my son with his mindset when heâs not getting better as fast as heâd like to. I donât blame him for being frustrated - it is frustrating when you arenât getting the results as fast as you like, but Iâve learned that health is a lifelong journey.Â
Unfortunately, sometimes that journey looks a lot like climbing a mountain, the kind that makes your legs and lungs burn⌠and makes yo...
Iâm getting ready to travel across the country to my daughterâs graduation and weâre really excited to celebrate with her. Of course she is excited too, but the last few weeks have also been full of anxiety, questioning, and self-doubt on her part. Like achieving any big goal, thereâs the âwhatâs next?â part of it. While my daughter is so proud of herself, making the decision of what to do after college isnât easy. Â
It reminds me of the podcast/blog I did almost four years ago about demonstrating courage. In part of it, I shared the story of my daughterâs friend moving to London to go to college. It had been her goal all through high school, but when it came time to stay in a country far away from her friends and family, it was really, really hard. Iâm now seeing that the resulting next âbig stepâ of graduating from college can be just as scary! Â
So what can we do when weâre faced with the happiness of achievement and the uncertainty of not having that next big goal?
Sometimes, th...
My husband just had a birthday and even though it wasnât a big one, we did a lot of celebrating. We celebrated with food, social time, and a little less sleep than usual.
I made four big, cheesy, mushroom lasagnas and somehow all that cooking didnât tip him off that I was having a surprise party for him. He also didnât notice the big, chocolate, gluten-free cake my son picked up from the bakery.
I donât normally eat such rich foods, and I know that some people might even feel guilty about indulging so much. However, because I know of a special âruleâ about life, I enjoyed myself fully - down to every last cheesy bite!Â
Itâs called the Pareto Principle (aka the 80/20 Rule) -- and it says that 80% of your results come from just 20% of your efforts. Here are some ways it appears in life:
Iâm trying to reset my morning routine, which has been off-kilter since Covid. I was going to tell you about how moving your morning coffee around in your schedule can help you avoid energy crashers⌠but since Iâm not willing to wait an hour for my own morning coffee, Iâll save that for later. Instead, Iâve got three simple tips that will take you just three minutes in the morning and will have you starting your day refreshed rather than rushed.Â
âď¸The 3-Minute Morning Reset âď¸
Tomorrow morning, instead of reaching for your phone or walking like a zombie to get your first coffee, try this instead.Â
When you wake up tomorrow, try the following and see how you feel:
1ď¸âŁ Breathe (60 seconds). Before reaching for your phone, take 5 deep belly breaths to signal to your brain that itâs time to wake up. This reduces stress and gives you some oxygen to boost your focus.
2ď¸âŁ Move (60 seconds). Gently stretch, roll your shoulders, or do a few body weight movements (like air squats or arm ci...
Lately, it seems like my husband is always hungry and always eating! Based on what I learned from a book called âThe Glucose Revolutionâ, Iâm thinking it might be a blood sugar thing. Which means it could be a âcarb thingâ... Is he eating too many carbs? Not enough? Itâs tough to know with all the wild advice out there. Hereâs the truth.Â
First, carbs arenât bad, theyâre actually your bodyâs preferred energy source.That means when it comes to your energy levels, it all depends on how you use them.
If youâre not eating enough of the right carbohydrates, you might notice:
I see this all the time when my clients first come to me (and with my husband). They think they need to go low-carb to lose weight, but instead, they just end up feeling drained and struggling to get through the day.Â
How to fix it: If youâre dragging, try addi...
Do you feel wound too tight all the time? I know Iâve been feeling a lot more anxious and unsettled lately. I can try blaming it on my sonâs struggle with his health, on trying to help my daughter figure out whatâs next in her life path, or especially on the craziness happening here in the US. The fact is, a lot of us are stuck in âgo modeâ all the timeâeven when we donât want to be.Â
You donât just wake up one day suddenly stressed. Itâs something that usually builds up over time. As women, we can give a lot of ourselves without taking the much-needed recovery time our own bodies need. When your body is stressed day in and day out, it can affect your energy, metabolism, digestion, and even your weight. Thatâs because in times of high-stress, cortisol (your stress hormone) stays high, making you crave sugar, store more fat, and feel totally drained.
This is why real recovery matters. Itâs not just about getting through the dayâitâs about actually feeling go...
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What if you approached self care as a gift, because you know you deserve the very best?
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