by Tina Games | Mar 24, 2021 | Acceptance, Authenticity, Healing, Journal Writing, Life Journey, Personal Growth, Self-Care
A year ago, as the mother of a high school senior – and as a certified journal writing facilitator, I found myself pulling out every personal writing tool I had in my repertoire. My daughter was struggling with what was quickly becoming an upsetting end to her 13 years in public school.
Since kindergarten, she had looked forward to her high school graduation and had already assembled her cheering section, consisting of close friends, teammates, family members, and mentors. In her mind’s eye, she already knew what graduation day would look like – until a global pandemic changed everything.
Even before the coronavirus hit, my daughter and her high school friends, along with other teens and young adults, were already facing intense mental health challenges like academic stress, relationship challenges, eating disorders, anxiety, and depression — just to name a few.
And when you add in tough pandemic realities like virtual learning, social distance from family and friends, and the loss of employment opportunities many are facing, it’s no wonder that many of today’s young people are feeling more isolated, afraid, and stressed than ever before.
The new book, “Be You, Only Better: Real-Life Self-Care for Young Adults (And Everyone Else)” – recently published by New World Library, introduces young people to simple, yet powerful day-to-day practices that promote mind and body wellness. With simple, straightforward tactics like journaling, mindfulness, healthy sleep, and sound nutrition, author Kristi Hugstad empowers young and old alike to take charge of their own wellness.
The book came to me at just the right time – and has now made its way to my daughter, who is in her first year at college, and is being circulated among her friends. It’s making an impact, so much so that I asked Kristi to join me on my blog today to touch on a few key topics addressed in the book.
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by Tina Games | Feb 19, 2015 | Authenticity, Connection, Self-Care, Self-Love, The Ripple Effect, Time Management
In my work as a Possibility Artist and Life Alchemy Coach, I work with highly-creative and spiritually-minded women who desire a life filled with authenticity, passion, meaningful connection, and creative self expression. When all of these dots are connected, they’re capable of creating massive ripples of positive influence in the world that can show up in the most interesting of ways.
But what happens when a woman over-extends herself in the giving to others? Is the ripple as effective as it would be if she was prioritizing her own needs in the way she prioritizes the needs of others? Is it possible to over-provide?
I’ve asked author and self-care expert, Jennifer Loudon to join me on my blog today to share her thoughts about over-providing.
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by Tina Games | Oct 21, 2013 | Authenticity, Creativity, Fulfillment, Inner Goddess, Journal Writing, Life Purpose, Life Story, Moon Phases, Motherhood, Personal Growth, Self-Care, Self-Love, Spiritual Growth
The Journaling by the Moonlight (JBTM) brand is expanding!
Come join a dynamic team of JBTM facilitators and add a rich, life-changing process to your menu of client services by offering workshops, retreats, and coaching programs based on the Journaling by the Moonlight process.
Originally created for mothers, this unique process is ideal for creative and spiritually-minded individuals who yearn for a deeper connection to self, and who are ready to tap into their inner light – what I call the “full moon within” – and claim their authentic self, both personally and professionally. Based on the phases of the moon, Journaling by the Moonlight gently guides individuals from darkness to light as they create an authentic vision filled with purpose, passion and creative expression.
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by Tina Games | Jun 21, 2013 | Fulfillment, Motherhood, Self-Care
As a life purpose intuitive and creativity coach who works primarily with mothers – and as a mom myself, I know the value of “summer time management.” With our kids in school for a good part of the year, the summer tends to bring a schedule that’s very different than the one we’ve grown accustomed to. Things get a bit topsy-turvy with summer camp schedules, family vacations, and a bit more free time with our kids (where they’re expecting us to come up with fun things to do).
So how do we work in time for our own self-care? How do we maintain a client schedule? How do we give ourselves a bit more flexibility during the summer season?
Today, I’ve invited my good friend and fellow colleague Jamie Willett, co-creator and co-publisher of Moms Growing with Goals Magazine to share some of her best tips for “Managing the Summer with Your Kids While Still Having Time for Yourself.”
Here’s what she had to say:
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Summer can bring lots of mixed emotions as a Mom. It’s a time of year with no homework and school activities. However, summer can also bring days filled with activities of its own and often your own self-care gets missed. Without consideration for YOU, it’s easy to find yourself on the back burner and as a result you (and your entire family) can suffer.
As summer gets underway, consider one or more of these tips to help you not just manage this time of year with your kids but THRIVE!
1. Child Care Swap – This is a wonderful way to give and receive support! Find one or more of your friends who have children of similar ages to swap childcare with. Agree to watch each other’s kids throughout the summer. It can be a set time each week or on an “as needed” basis. I belonged to a group such as this for 10 years and it truly helped me stay sane. This babysitting program is based on a “point basis”, no money is exchanged. Read more about this type of system at www.babysittingcoop.com. Set up something similar with one or as many Moms as you’d like. It’s a great system.
2. Start or end each day with meditation – I’ve found meditating to be very relaxing. I didn’t used to think it I could meditate because I thought it was impossible to “quiet my mind”, but if I can do it so can you! If you can manage to meditate first thing in the morning before the kids need you, this can set your day on a much happier note. If the thought of this stresses you out, make time at the end of your day to meditate, when your kids are most likely asleep and do not need your attention.
3. Recruit your own helpers – YUP, enroll your kids to be your little helpers. Now, the idea of this may just stress you out but this can really benefit you and create learning experiences too. If your kids are younger, let them know they can help out in smaller ways like picking their own clothes out of the laundry and putting away or do some light dusting. If they are older, they can do more involved chores like unloading dishwasher, cleaning up bathroom and vacuuming. This may take a bit more of your time at first as you teach them how to do a chore, but it will be a time saver in the end and free you up to do something for yourself.
4. Date Night – This can look a couple ways. You can schedule a date night with your spouse (and have a friend to babysit for the kids as suggested in tip #1) or have a ‘Girls Night Out’ with your girlfriends. I recommend filling your summer calendar with both of these options at the beginning of the summer. They are great ways to deepen your relationships and fill yourself up too.
5. Create a small goal for yourself – Decide on a smaller goal for the summer. This can be as simple as completing a house project or perhaps releasing 5 pounds. Then break that goal into small action steps and do something each week (or several times a week) to move you towards completing your goal. It’s super fulfilling and creates opportunities for self-care at the same time.
And here’s a BONUS tip: Take several opportunities to read something that inspires you! I am honored to be the co-creator of a motivational magazine for Moms which has articles provided by wonderful contributors like Tina Games. The best part is this magazine it totally free so give yourself a self-care boost and subscribe today at www.MomsGrowingWithGoals.com/mag
I hope you decide to choose one or more of these tips to THRIVE throughout the Summer!
Jamie Willett is happily married and lives on the Seacoast of NH. She is a Mom of 3 beautiful kids and continues to learn from them daily. Jamie is a graduate of Klemmer & Associates, a Premier Leadership Seminar Development company, training bold ethical leaders who will create a world that works for everyone with no one left out. She is excited to fulfill her purpose in life by helping Moms be inspired, enjoy self-care and discover their passion.
by Tina Games | Mar 15, 2013 | Authenticity, Inner Goddess, Inner Peace, Self-Care
As a creativity coach and life purpose intuitive, I attract mothers who desire a more spiritual and authentic approach to life, one that’s filled with purpose, passion and creative expression.
In our work together, whether it’s through private or group coaching – or in a workshop or at a weekend retreat – I gently guide moms on a journey of self-discovery by inviting them to explore the areas of their life that feel out of balance. This invites deeper questioning around the concept of “wholeness” – and what emotional, spiritual, and practical shifts may be needed to bring life more into balance.
In order to attract and manifest a more fulfilling lifestyle, it’s important that mothers connect with their own sense of what it means to feel grounded, at peace – and more complete. This is what opens the door to a deeper relationship with self – and a more authentic connection to the external world.
Today, I’ve invited Renee Peterson Trudeau, author of Nurturing the Soul of Your Family to share a few words of wisdom about reconnecting and finding peace in every day life.
Here’s what she had to say as it relates to Five Ways to Nourish and Renew Your Spirit:
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It’s 1976, and my mom and dad are sitting quietly with their eyes closed, hands resting upward — thumb and index finger touching — while my younger siblings crawl on their backs and shoulders. My older two brothers and I sit nearby, holding our own meditation poses, bored, rolling our eyes and counting the minutes until this ritual will end.
At least once a week or whenever things got stressful, my parents would pull all five of their children — ranging in age from ten to one — into our library for a family meditation. As much as I complained, a part of me yearned for this spiritual practice.
Spiritual renewal is essential to our emotional well-being. It helps us nurture our essence, feel centered, build inner strength, live in integrity, and trust life. It allows us to experience a connection to a higher power, feel a sense of purpose, and experience meaning in our lives.
There are many different ways we explore and nurture our spiritual lives. For some this includes spending time in nature, yoga, prayer and meditation, or musical or artistic expression. Some of the daily practices that provide me spiritual nourishment include:
Creating Ritual
We all crave sacredness and ritual in our everyday lives — not just around birthdays and weddings. Rituals can be both carefully planned events and casual but regular remembrances such as voicing gratitude before a meal or creating dedicated space in your day for contemplation.
When we mark important transitions or milestones in our lives — whether it’s your daughter’s first period or your son starting kindergarten — we connect to the sacredness of everyday life. We remember that life is mysterious and we’re more than our to-do lists!
Cultivating Stillness
Stillness, whether experienced through prayer, meditation, or reflection, is our time to be alone and connect to our inner wisdom or our higher power — what I call our internal GPS system. It’s essential for all of us to carve out time for quiet reflection each and every day.
One of the biggest gifts I’ve received from a daily meditation practice is the ability to live more comfortably with what is–whether that’s my husband’s recent layoff or a car accident. Life is like the weather in Texas — constantly changing. Meditation has helped anchor me, so that despite this impermanence and turmoil, I’ve learned how to be still and find my center in the face of it all.
Practicing Service to Others
Mother Teresa says, “The fruit of love is service.”
We are all interconnected. The more we reach out and are present to one another’s pain and suffering, the stronger we become and the easier it is to embrace the esoteric idea that we’re all one. I believe huge shifts in consciousness can occur when we reach out and help one another navigate this sometimes scary, often isolating and perplexing, but beautiful world. Sometime that might look like serving soup at your local homeless shelter and other times, it’s helping out your neighbor who just lost her husband.
Living in the Present
Many great spiritual teachers believe the answer to everything is to just “be here now,” and that our suffering and emotional distress would end if we simply stopped resisting the present moment.
One weekend as I sat on the couch with a full-body cold: a splitting headache, body chills and a nonstop runny nose, I thought about this principle. And, as I watched the things I was missing fly out the window — my friend’s birthday party, my son’s piano recital — I connected to my breath and felt myself arrive in the present moment. I sensed my resistance begin to dissipate and a feeling of peace slowly settled over me. I temporarily suspended my desire for things to be different and I embraced that on the couch, with a cold, was exactly where I was supposed to be.
Choosing Happiness
Three of my immediate family members died unexpectedly between my twenty-sixth and thirty-fourth birthdays. For years I let those losses dictate how much and how often, I could experience joy. Anytime I started to feel light, free, or happy, the old feeling of “waiting for the other shoe to drop” would creep in.
Can you only be happy if things are going your way and all the stars are aligned in your favor?
I believe we’re born with the innate capacity to experience emotional well-being and joy; it’s our birthright to feel good. Happiness comes from within; we’re wired for it. We just have to remember to choose this moment to moment.
It’s easy to forget who we really are. To lose sight of what really matters. To fall asleep and not remember how interconnected we all are and that we’re fully human and, at the same time, divine.
A regular spiritual practice — whether that’s daily prayer or meditation, being in a spiritual community, or singing— serves to anchor us. It grounds us and helps us navigate the challenges we face from just being human. It helps us stay awake.
So ultimately, we can begin to let go, trust the rhythm and flow of life and relax into the beauty of our true nature.
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Life balance coach/speaker Renée Peterson Trudeau is the author of the new book Nurturing the Soul of Your Family. Thousands of women in ten countries are participating in Personal Renewal Groups based on her first book, the award-winning The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal. Visit her online at www.ReneeTrudeau.com
Based on the new book Nurturing the Soul of Your Family ©2013 Renée Peterson Trudeau. Published with permission of New World Library http://www.newworldlibrary.com
by Tina Games | Dec 6, 2012 | Inner Goddess, Personal Growth, Self-Care, Self-Love
As a creativity coach and life purpose intuitive, I attract highly-creative women who are looking for more meaning in their lives, both personally and professionally. They want to feel more alive by being fully present in each and every moment.
This mere act requires a woman to be completely in-tune with what’s going on within her body and with what’s going on outside of her. And while she’s “tuning in” – it’s not uncommon for a woman to connect with her emotions on a deeper level.
This always raises the question, “How well connected am I with myself? Is there a genuine love and appreciation for ME?”
Today, I’ve invited Christine Arylo, author of Madly in Love with ME to share a few words of wisdom as it relates to the self-love that’s required in becoming our own best friend.
Here’s what she had to say as it relates to Three Simple but Mighty Self-Love Practices for Being Your Own Best Friend:
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Be kind to others. Show up and be supportive. Be there unconditionally and without judgment when your friends are having a hard time. Tell your friend the truth, even when it’s hard. Remember to celebrate you friends. Cheerlead for them. Inspire them to go for their dreams. Respect you friends, honor them, appreciate them, be compassionate – in other words love them.
These are the rules of being a good friend. And while you may not be perfect at always showing up as a good friend for others, you know how to love others well. And when you do show up as a good friend, you feel good about yourself. Proud. Like you are doing a good thing, being a good person. Because you inherently know that giving love to others is a good thing.
But take that love and friendship and apply it to yourself and something different happens. Suddenly you feel guilty for taking care of yourself, selfish for choosing yourself first, and shy about tooting your own horn. Giving love to yourself in the forms you need it most – compassion, appreciation, nurturing, pleasure, etc. – feels wrong, weird and uncomfortable. In situations where you’d have no problem telling a friend to take a break, stop working, leave a relationship, or go for her dreams, you find yourself totally unable to give yourself permission to do what you really need. Until now.
Today, I invite you to take a stand for the most important relationship in your life – the one with yourself – by saying YES! to becoming a really good friend – maybe even a best friend – to yourself, and start giving yourself the love you need, no matter what. There’s nothing selfish about that. For the better friend you are to yourself, the more you fill yourself up with love, the more you will be able to give to others. You will be both a giver and receiver of love!
3 Simple but Mighty Self-Love Practices for Being Your Own B.F.F.
One of the biggest reasons we fail to be good friends to ourselves is because we don’t know how to give ourselves permission to take the actions we know would be best for us. Ask yourself these simple questions on a regular basis, or whenever you feel overwhelmed, lonely or out of sorts. Be honest. And if the answer to the question is “No” take the love prescription and daring act of love listed to get yourself the love you need in the form you need it in.
Am I happy?
If the answer is no, you are likely starving for joy. You need self-pleasure. Take this Daring Act of Love: Make a JOY Portrait, by filling up one piece of paper with all the things that make you happy – big and small. Then choose three, and turn then into “acts of joy” – actions you can take to create joy for yourself. Enjoy them within 24 hours, no matter what you have going on.
Am I taking care of myself, as well as everything and everyone else?
If the answer is no, your energy tank is likely depleted. You need self-care. Take this Daring Act of Love: Give yourself what you need, pronto. Close your eyes, put your hand on your heart, take a deep breath, and say to yourself, “What do I need right now to take care of me?” Then be quiet and see what your Inner Wisdom says. Whatever guidance you receive, do that one thing, no matter what.
Am I willing to disappoint another to not disappoint myself?
If the answer to this is no, you are putting others needs in front of your own, to the determinant to yourself. You need self-honor. Take this Daring Act of Love: Love-line a friend, and ask them to give you permission to do what’s best for you. If you are really stubborn, ask them tell you why it’s okay to give yourself permission to disappoint another not to disappoint yourself, and then you repeat back what they say. Often, when we can’t be a good friend to ourselves, we need to elicit the help of others who can be a good friend. This is how we learn to be better friends to ourselves.
Imagine what your life would be like from this day forward if in the moments when your inner critic wanted to tear you down, in the times you got scared to go for your dreams, or in the instances when you felt exhausted and needed a rest, you were able to wrap your arms around yourself, and give yourself permission to do exactly what you needed – without guilt, fear or judgment. This is what is possible when you make the choice to love yourself unconditionally and as a result choose to show up as a best friend, no matter what. A daring adventure indeed, but the only way really to live – in love, with yourself.
Christine Arylo is the author of Madly in Love with Me and Choosing ME Before WE. She is an internationally recognized speaker and transformational teacher for women and girls, and the founder of the international day of self-love (Feb 13). Visit her online at http://www.ChristineArylo.com and http://www.ChooseSelfLove.com
*Based on the new book Madly in Love with ME ©2012 by Christine Arylo. Published with permission of New World Library http://www.newworldlibrary.com
