Episodes

I have three moms sharing a few minutes each about their experience of motherhood as being a Type 1 on the Enneagram. As part of a series I am doing on all the nine enneagram types called Enneagram + Motherhood Type 1s are also called the Perfectionist or Reformer. I am explaining a bit more details about Type 1s and taking referencing information taught in the Wisdom of the Enneagram by Riso and Hudson Books recommended here may include referral links to Amazon. If you click through and take ...

One tool I use in my life coaching is the Enneagram. It is a self-discovery tool that brings more awareness to your stress habits, your strengths, your behaviour patterns and it is all based on your MOTIVES – why you are doing something, what you are avoiding or moving towards. Books recommended here may include referral links to Amazon. If you click through and take action I will be compensated at no additional cost to you. I have been working on a series of episodes that feature moms sharing ...

What if I need it one day? Ask this question can leave you holding onto a lot of items that you really don’t ‘need’ in your life. From old magazines, to old chargers, to clothes, to kitchen gadgets. This is a fear-based question that gives us some anxiety and then we make our decisions from this anxious place rather than from a place of abundance and the desire to fill our home with LIFE-GIVING things. In this episode, I will walk you through how this question has held me back and how I have ...

Welcome to the New Year friends! This is the time we feel this resolution to make things new, as we flip over the calendar. There is a lot of thought given to resolutions, goals and habits to make. And all of that is good – when it is in line with your LIFE ON PURPOSE Life on Purpose is turning off the autopilot – being reactive, just living on default. When we do the things we have always done, thing what we have always thought we will keep getting more of the same. Do you like where you autop...

One thing I hear moms tell me they want is to be MORE PRESENT. We know that in our daily life we have a lot of distractions pulling our attention away. And this is a problem when we are being pulled away from the tasks and people that are meaningful to us. Being a present parent allows us to engage, pour into and ENJOY our kids – and this has been a struggle of mine over the years – and a struggle I coach other moms through I polled my Facebook community on what keeps them from slowing down an...

‘How are things going?’ ‘Oh, they are busy’. How often are you talking about how BUSY you are? How often do you find yourself thinking you wish you had more time for other things. How often do you end your day feeling drained and worn and maybe resentful. Busyness might be a cycle you are spinning in. And it is a common cycle for moms to be on – because we have a culture that tells how busy is a badge of honour while simultaneously throwing memes of frazzled moms in our face. In this episode w...

Empathy with other adults can feel differently than it does between us and kids. This is often because our emotions are used as currency, as power. And also because we are raised to stigmatize negative and uncomfortable emotions. So why should we make an effort to master empathy? How can it really improve our connections in our marriage and friendships? The full transcript is at the end of this post. In this podcast episode I’m sharing: Why empathy is hard in a marriage When both partners ar...

I have been coaching women who shy away from empathy in their motherhood and relationships. Sometimes this is because they can’t see it as a part of a solution, maybe it doesn’t come naturally to them. Most often we don’t bring empathy into parenting because we don’t want to enable our kids or express any permissiveness of their poor behaviour. I want to unpack what empathy is, the two types of it, and how to bring it into your parenting without using it as a way to enable poor behaviour. Empa...

Hey friends! Let’s have a momfriend coffee date – grab a warm drink and sit with me, Your Nerdy Girlfriend and Life Coach. Well this, is a coffee date for all friends really – mom or not. Because I want to have some lady chat about things I am trying, loving, watching and enjoying. Plus I have some special encouragement for you on feeling like you are behind, or you are not where you should be. The full episode transcript is at the end of this post. THE CURRENTLY LIST! This list has a lot o...

This Christmas won’t be like the ones you have curated and cherished. This is a holiday during a pandemic and we are having a universal experience of learning what that can look like. As moms, we do most of the Christmas planning. We have gifts lists, treats, parties planned, gatherings set up. This job is often an exhausting one but one that we go through every year because we are always longing for those special moments of joy, hope and connectedness that are possible. Christmas during covid...

I see a theme in the women I life coach. When I ask them what they want in their life, their homes, their motherhood, their relationships, peace (calm, serenity, harmony) is a common answer. Peace is something we crave, but we often trade it in for relief. The problem is that peace and relief can look similar. Because the pain lessens for a bit. But relief is not peace. Relief is a temporary reduction/removal of the pain. Peace is finding calm amongst the pain and stressors. *this is an affi...

When we decide we want to turn off the autopilot and take control of our lives, we might be really excited. It is fun to think about the goals and dreams we have, where we want to go with our lives. But the hard work of showing up for it every day isn’t something people really talk about. Intentional living is a journey I started about six years ago and I thought it would be so much easier, and come naturally, and everything would ‘click’. When it wasn’t quite like that I realized that there is...

Feeling rushed, overwhelmed, unproductive can all be signs you are living your life on autopilot. That is, living life by default, without intention. The outcome is an inner sense of lack, but we might not notice it. BECAUSE Our life might look ‘nice’ enough on the surface, and we have done all the things that people told us would make us successful and happy – but we really don’t feel it. So we think something is wrong with us, and with our lives. Autopilot living leaves you feeling ineffecti...

Do small things has changed my whole life. Today I’m sharing how motherhood really brought me face to face with my own neediness and limiting beliefs that everything and everyone else was causing me problems. Becoming self-aware of how I had brought myself to this point in my own life made me realize I can’t be my own solution. I needed God. I met God in my neediness and he showed me some hard truths on what needed changing. Because I didn’t want to stay where I was, on autopilot. There was ...

We all hear about the Sabbath and as moms, we are like, “Sure! When will we find this magical day of rest from our lives??” Because rest sounds good, but there are still kids here asking me for snacks and to play with them! This past weekend I had one of the most restful days I’ve ever had. It inspired me to share this episode (as I hit record planning to talk about something totally different) and tell you the ways that rest has refreshed me and why I encourage you to do it too! To me, this d...

I used to be a big skeptic of limiting mindsets. I mean, how would I have a thought I’m not even aware of? And how would this thought somehow keep me stuck? Since I have learned more about the science behind it and how our thought life is really running the show I can see this everywhere. I can see how our mindsets limit our motherhood experience, our relationships, our drive, really – everything. FULL TRANSCRIPT IS AVAILABLE AT THE END OF THIS POST Here are the main things I have learned tha...

Have you heard of hygge? It is the Danish word that embodies the sentiments of being cozy, connected and content. If you look it up on Pinterest you will see a lot of cozy spaces full of things like flickering candles, a lovely throw, some fuzzy socks. These all make a space feel cozier, but it takes more than that to experience hygge. I want to share three mindsets that will help you shift right into hygge and have that cozy, connected and content experience in your daily life. You may have ...

When you are at home with a baby, or a toddler and a baby your whole world can feel boring and relentless. There are countless demands on your time, energy and body and it can be so overwhelming to show up every day in motherhood when you just want a hot minute alone! You aren’t alone. I have been there (hello three kids under four!). And I get how exhausting and draining motherhood can be. Like how are people even making dinner!?! And what is life like without Paw Patrol?? As my kids have got...

As the kids get older I find myself watching moms with babies and toddlers and remember what a hot mess it felt like. I can look back on those early years with all of their demands on my time, my body, my energy and notice how I really fought it and how I probably made it harder than it needed to be. Hindsight is easier from the plateau than it is in the thick of the valley. I can see a lot of mindset shifts that would have helped me to show up better. I want to share them with you if you are a ...

One question I get so often is “how to get my husband to get rid of all his crap?” I don’t have a magical formula to convince him to give up the ill-fitting company leather jacket from twenty years ago, or the questionable ‘comedy’ VHS from the 1990s – but I do have seven tips to help you navigate the conversations and process of decluttering with someone else in your home. When most of us decide to become a minimalist we have laser eyes for everything that has got to go – and a lot of it is O...

The other day I let my kids do whatever they wanted for a whole day. I called it Abundance Day. It was a day of me saying yes instead of no. . . because I am a mom who is saying NO a lot. I was solo parenting for a week and spent the first day being a parent who says yes, a step towards more abundant parenting. Parenting from a place of abundance rather than withholding. Not that there is anything wrong with limits and withholding in the sake of teaching them skills and growing them into people...

Whenever we know where we WANT to go, but getting there, doing the work can meet a lot of hurdles. One big hurdle is this desire we have to ‘get good’ at the thing. What do you want to get good at? Meal planning, parenting, waking up early, a hobby, building a business . . . What will it take for you to get good at it? It isn’t just about mastering the skill/the thing itself – it is about the things we can do that help us master the skill itself – the stepping stones that get us there. Here are...

Will a clear and simple house bring me peace? There is a lot of evidence out there that decluttered, clutter-free home is a peaceful home. There are a lot of studies about the mental burden of clutter. There’s research to tell us that an ordered home helps us to FEEL calmer. And I believe this is true. A clear home CAN bring you peace. But will it? I coach moms on this. Especially moms who label themselves as perfectionists. They have standards and expectations about how their home should be. Th...

We all have a relationship with food. It can go from one extreme of food is simply fuel we need to survive, all the way to food is a constant way to experience a pleasure. In my life, I think I have swung to both sides of this spectrum. I have been paying attention to my relationship with food. What I eat, why I eat, how I feel when I eat and how I feel after. I am learning a lot, and I know I have more to learn. Paying attention leads us to the subject of MINDFUL EATING. This is something I’...