Simple on Purpose | Intentional Living and Parenting

‘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...

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 e...

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...

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 a...

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 alw...

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...

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 ea...

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 reall...

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...

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 somethi...

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 –...

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...

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.&...

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...

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 i...

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. No...

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 itsel...

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 thi...

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...

Motherhood is hard, but sometimes we make it harder than it needs to be by becoming a Mom Martyr.  I would know, I was one.  I was knee-deep in the work and struggles of motherhood and I needed everyone to know it. However, the way I was showing up and handling life and motherhood was actually making my life harder (cue the marriage counselling!) Reflecting back on where I was at, what I...

Should we be happy all the time? What does it mean if you aren’t happy? What are you doing in an effort to get happy and stay happy? This podcast episode has been on my heart for a while.  I knew I wanted to talk about what I call THE HUSTLE FOR HAPPINESS. This has been one of my harder lessons in life – a lesson that came to me through parenting and feeling like I was losing the race f...

Why have toys if your kids aren’t playing with them? Sure an option is to declutter the toys they don’t enjoy or seem to use. We can declutter the excess. But still, our kids aren’t always interested in playing with their toys. At least not as interested as they are in following us around the house whining that they are bored.  Do you feel like your kids have a lot of toys b...

Restlessness, we all have felt it in our lives and especially motherhood. Because it is this weird mix of waiting, mundane chores, and mental chatter around relaxing. I asked the Facebook community what we should work on as a challenge for the month of July and there were great ideas around this general uplifting in our lives. As I talked with my besties, Sophie and Rae, about it they told me they...

We know there is power in enjoying the simple components that make up our day to day life. When we can enjoy these simple things, we have so much more ability to enjoy our actual life. But often the ‘shine wears off’ and the things/people/experiences we wanted and enjoyed fall flat. That happiness we experienced is gone. From a life coaching point of view, it is because we still bring...

Today’s bonus episode comes after I showed pictures of my pantry on Instagram and mentioned love languages and got a lot of comments about it.    While we’re in isolation, my wonderful husband, when he’s home from work for the week, has been doing the grocery shopping and the meal prep while I work. But when he puts away the groceries, he does not appreciate my pantry system...