Monday, August 27, 2018

Getting Through Days Filled With Overwhelm

Hey there gorgeous happy Monday!  I’m so grateful to have you here with me, your awesome and also can I say that I am very grateful that you spend valuable time out of your day to read this blog every week.  It means so very much to me, this truly is a labor of love for me.  I enjoy the hell out of writing and especially writing about real life stuff we can all relate too.  My goal some day in the future is to grow this blog into a community, a support group almost and in order to do that I am working on growing my reader base, then I will change my platform that I’m using now from blogger to a platform that I can expand and grow into more sufficiently.  So if you know anyone that may benefit or enjoy Love Your Light blog please send them a link to check it out.  Lets grow, expand and be the best we can be together.

Yesterday was one of those days for me where just about everything that was coming up throughout the course of the day was overwhelming the shit out of me.  It made no sense.  Chad, Bella and I had a good day, it was a Sunday that we enjoyed for the most part, yet for some reason instead of staying fully engaged and present in the moment my mind was running rampant.  It felt like my brain was on crack running a marathon thinking at lightning speed about all that was to come and of course all the “what ifs” that the future holds.  So there was that and since I feel like I “know better” that almost made it worse I think.  Because then I was giving myself a mental ‘talking to’ that sort of went like this, “Come on Brittany, seriously you know better then to waste this precious time you could be fully engaged with your family yet here you are worrying about some shit that may not even happen.  By worrying or getting overwhelmed your robbing yourself of this present moment and your not giving Chad and Bella your undivided attention that they deserve.”  That didn’t help.

It didn’t help because I knew all of that, yes, but giving myself a mental guilt trip was not the answer. If anything it added to my feelings of overwhelm because now I felt like a jerk mom and wife.  Not cool.  So I am happy to say that I eventually got my wits about me by the second half of the day yesterday by going somewhere quiet and getting a nice meditation in and all I could think about was how I’ve got to write a post about this.  There are days when I can deal and manage feelings of overwhelm quite well and I attribute that to certain steps I’ve learned to take.  Although yesterday most of those steps went out the window (I want to blame it on the full moon we had yesterday) though I will own my own actions like an adult, (dammit) and share with you how I deal with overwhelm on my good days.

I’ve learned to ask for help.  (Now remember I said these are my good days.). Yes, I have learned to ask for help and not feel guilty about it.  I’ve embraced that asking for help is not a sign of weakness of that I am not competent of capable, we simply all can use an extra hand every now and again to get things done more efficiently while keeping our sanity.
I’ve learned to make a tasks list.  Prioritize from most significant and important and start at most important and work down the list focusing only on the one task I am on at a time.  I try not to multi task all the time, I try to literally focus on one thing at a time so as to not get feelings of overwhelm and then half ass my projects.
I’ve learned to stop and breathe.  If I am starting to feel a bit manic because I’ve had a day where I’m so busy I’ve been going like a crazy person I must stop and take a breather.  Maybe go do a meditation, maybe just go sit down, maybe take a short walk, the goal is to slow down long enough to remember that my health and well being is of the utmost importance before anything else, especially these tasks.
Lastly I’ve learned that the feeling of overwhelm is a feeling that a lot of times I have created for myself.  I’ve added too much to my agenda that day.  I haven’t asked for any help.  I haven’t taken anytime to pause and take a breath.  I’m not declaring that all reason for overwhelm is self created because that is definitely not always the case.  For me though, a lot of times it is.  So I own it.  I learn from it.  I decide not to try to cram that much in a day again and I don’t.  I don’t want to live in a state of constant overwhelm again.  I’ve been down that scary insane road before and I sure as hell don’t want to go back again.
So today my sweet I thought I would share this with you because I know a lot of us are living with a whole lot of overwhelm on the daily.  We can find so much more peace and happiness if we learn how to manage it best for our own unique individuality.  I hope there is some info, some sort of tidbit in this post that speaks to you and if it does please comment and tell me what it was you got out of this topic today.  I’d love to hear from you!

Remember in your core that you are made of love and light!  The world is ready and waiting for you to shine your brightness onto the rest of us!  Have a great day friends! MUAH!!!

Monday, August 20, 2018

5 Tips: How to Return to the Present Moment and find Joy

Hey there good lookin! How you doin? I’m praying all is well in your world today!  I am in utter disbelief and slight (or major) denial that my baby girl is now a 4th grader as of today. I can’t. Seriously she just had diapers on like last month it feels like.  As I walked her into school this morning my head started to spiral.  All I could think is, ‘Have I been doing a good job at this mom thing, is my baby prepared for the mean girl phase that is inevitably approaching, am I empowering her enough?’  On and on it went, I didn’t sign up for that roller coaster ride in my mind there in the elementary school hallway, I did fully embark on it when it came rolling through though.

If we’re not careful and well aware of the thoughts that we are indulging in we can be swept away by self doubt, anxiety and even self sabotage.  That’s exactly why I decided to write this post today on returning to the present moment.  Not only do we lose precious time in the here and now when we dwell on the past or get anxious about the future but we also rob ourselves of true joy and happiness.  Those emotions are only possible when we are fully engaged right here, right now.  They are absolutely not going to come to us when we’re stuck in our heads thinking back or forward, none of that actually exists.  Only Now.  I’ve come up with 5 tips on how to return to the present moment, I know mama here surely needed this reminder this morning!

1-Go for a walk.  Get outside, turn your phone on airplane mode or do not disturb. Consciously use your senses.  As you walk down the street, trail or path what do you see?  Is it green lush grass, is it a blue bird, is it street signs or kids playing? Be present, witness and take note in your mind of everything you see along your walk.  What do you smell?  (Hopefully its not animal poo or anything gross like that).   What do you hear? Do you hear birds singing a beautiful bird song, do you hear cars?  How does the air feel?  Is it thick and humid, is it crispy and chilly, is it windy?  Maintain your mindful awareness throughout the entirety of your walk and gently keep coming back to your senses when your mind starts to wonder and it certainly will, that’s ok.

2-Play a board game.  When was the last time you did that? They can be really fun! If you don’t have someone to play with its cool, put together a puzzle. If you don’t have a puzzle or puzzles aren’t your jam, play cards.  Solitaire is a game you can play by yourself and it is something that can help bring you back to the present moment and out of your head.  The goal here is to pick something that does not allow you to multi-task. You must focus only on what is right in front of you.  This will make it very difficult for your head to take you on a roller coaster ride that you are not down with today!

3-My favorite-meditate.  Meditation has so many amazing, incredible benefits and most importantly it helps you live more fully in the present moment vs. staying stuck in the past with feelings like shame, guilt or regret.  It helps you to move more towards loving and accepting your whole self exactly as you are.  You can meditate with some relaxing music at home or out in nature by yourself simply by being still with your eyes closed for a certain period of time or you can do a guided meditation.  I’ll share with you a few awesome apps I have used that has totally changed my meditation game for the best!  The app called Calm is great!  They have some free meditation options or you can pay a subscription fee and unlock a whole lot of awesomeness!  The app called 1 Giant Mind is a free app and it is great for beginners!  You can meditate anywhere from 10 minutes all the way up to 30 minutes, your choice.  Also there is an app called breethe it’s awesome!  They have tons and tons of meditations, some you can do that helps you sleep, some helps you focus, some that help you with specific goals.  You can’t go wrong meditating in order to return to the present moment.

4-Write or read.  Some people find it very therapeutic to write down their thoughts and emotions in order to get it out onto the paper and out of their head.  Sometimes that can be all it takes to move past something that was holding you hostage in your head in order to return back to the now.  If that’s not how you roll, cool, try reading.  Usually reading in general helps you to focus on the words vs. focusing on your thoughts.  Specifically if you read something with intrigue, mystery or drama!  You’ll be wondering what’s next in the book instead of worrying what’s next in your life!

5-Write a gratitude list.  When you sit down and really write out all of the things that you
have in your life to be grateful for it can be hella humbling.  Believe me, I know.  If I am in a shitty mood for no good reason I’ve done this before and it can sometimes be almost jarring.  I have soooo much to be grateful for, a beautiful home, a healthy daughter, a loving husband, a car that runs, a cute chiahuahua and a warm bed to sleep in!  We can all count our blessings every once and a while to bring things in life back to focus and back to appreciating the here and now.

I hope that this post finds you doing well today and I really hope that you can take something away from this and enjoy your day to the absolute fullest!  I know for me this post was totally ny therapy for the day!  I feel so much more present and joyous just having shared this with you and using this as a reminder for myself!  So instead of spiraling out today about what kind of mama I am and freaking out at how big my girl is getting I will enjoy her.  I will be present with her.
So remember in your core that you are made of light and love!  The world is ready and waiting for you to shine your brightness onto the rest of us!  Have a great day friends! MUAH!!!


Monday, August 13, 2018

Embrace the ‘Lull’

Happy Monday beautiful friends!  This week I wanted to bring up the topic of inactivity or a lull period of time in our life.  I believe we all have them in one way, shape or form.  How do you deal with them when they arise?  Do you embrace having down time?  Do you get bored?  Do you think you’re not doing something right because you’re not super insane crazy busy like most of us Americans feel we should operate on any given day?  Unfortunately I usually fall in the category of the ladder.  
The dictionary states that the definition of lull is: a temporary interval of quiet or lack of activity.
Synonyms include: pause, respite, interval, break, hiatus, suspension, interlude, breathing space...
Ok...
That all sounds amazing!! To have a nice respite, a time where I can have a bit of breathing space and down time could do me some good!  So why the hell do I feel the need to fill up this blessing of inactivity with busyness?
Can you relate to this?  If you can’t I seriously need some tips and tricks on how you embrace your lull, Fo Real.  In the mean time I have added time onto my meditation in the mornings by 5 minutes so I am now up to 15 minutes and that has been great!  When I first started meditating I could only sit 5 minutes and even that felt almost like torture.  I’ve always been a busy body, can’t sit still, leg swinging as I sit, fidgeting with something in my hand, my body simply feels the need to be in constant motion.  My meditation practice has positively impacted my life in ways I never thought possible and my goal is to one day be able to sit for 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evening.  I’m not there yet. 
I get up from my cushion in the morning and off I go.  I have gotten so used to having my days full of tasks, work, goals and chores that when there is a ‘lull’ or some breathing space I can start to feel unproductive.  Don’t get me wrong I am still working, writing, being a wife and mama but still my brain demands more.  
This post is a reminder.  A reminder that I know I need very much right now.  I am praying that you get something from this that you may have needed a little reminding of today too love bug.  When we have these times of respite that will ebb and flow throughout our lives these are the exact times that we need to rest, recharge and rejuvenate.  Our creative juices are being filled back up.  We have space to breath and look inside to feel into our next move, our next goal.  Even though my cray cray brain says “don’t stop moving, you must keep going” my heart knows, its OK to slow down, its OK to take this mini interlude, its OK.  
Stillness gives us a chance to become fully present, and what a wonderful gift that is!  I mean seriously that for me is one of my biggest goals in life is to become more fully present in every single situation in my life.  While I’m writing here with you, while I’m playing with Bella, while I’m hanging with my boo thang Chad, while I’m with a client at work, I want to be fully present and giving that task or that person my all.  When our schedules are bursting at the seams and we’re running around like a chicken with their head cut off that may be a bit hard, don’t ya think? 
Yes I think so...
So thank you for being here and reading what I feel was more of a diary entry today, lol!
I truly hope this post finds you happy and healthy on this beautiful Monday my loves.
Remember in your core that you are made of love and light!  The world is ready and waiting for you to shine your brightness onto the rest of us!  Have a great day friends! MUAH!!! 


Monday, August 6, 2018

How do you Make Yourself Proud?

There were many years of my life where I held myself in very low regard.  My thoughts inside about myself were very nasty, hella mean and as damaging as one could do to oneself.  The concept of doing anything at all to make myself proud was completely and helplessly foreign.  At my lowest point it was all about survival and getting through the day, so how I felt about myself and the idea of doing something I felt proud for was on the very furthest end of the spectrum from how I was living my daily life.  You see I had to get to the point where my life had fallen to the very lowest of lows in order to find the courage and the unrelenting desire to fight tooth and nail to dig my way out of the hole and start anew.
That low was almost losing Bella.  My baby is my angel, my saving grace, she is where my courage comes from and she gave me my iron clad conviction for a better life.  I’ll do whatever it takes to be the example for her for a better future, a brighter life and a present and loving mommy like I never could have given her before.
No one’s wake up call is the same, and certainly not everyone needs to go through events as traumatic and cray cray as mine but as an addict my rock bottom had to be of the harshest degree.  When I finally awoke to life and reality as it really was I was willing to do whatever it took to make the biggest changes and the most positive impact on my life, Bella’s life and Chad’s life.  We fought to create this life that we are so utterly in love with now.  I wake up and feel gratitude everyday for where we are on this beautiful journey of life.
One of the biggest tools I’ve found that I really wanted to share with you here today is that you’ve got to celebrate all the wins.  You have got to celebrate all the steps along the way and all of the growth you’ve made moving forward in your life.  I don’t care how little you might think it is, if you are moving forward and not backwards you are making progress!  You are moving in the right direction, and you my beautiful one have got to pause, take a beat and feel proud deep down, feel into that growth and know that you are doing a great job!
Loved ones and those around you can tell you until their blue in the face that your rocking it, but if you don’t feel that way deep down then you don’t take that in as truth.  When you don’t take these milestones seriously (no matter how big or small) and take a moment to congratulate yourself then it starts to feel like an uphill battle.  Like you’ll never get to that ‘finish line.’
So wherever you are on your journey today please take a moment to pat yourself on the back and celebrate all the little wins and victories you have conquered as of late.  If nothing comes to mind I’d love for you to make a goal.  Think of something you’ve been putting off, or something you’d love to try or you’d love to do.  It doesn’t have to be anything earth shattering of big, just a goal that you feel is tangible to hit by next Monday.  I would be freaking elated to hear by next Monday what that goal is and how you kicked ass and reached it by next Monday!  You can let me know by leaving a comment below.
I am absolutely loving sharing with you guys here on this blog and I hope to create a community of supporting and like minded individuals, so hearing your comments and feedback really mean a lot to me.  Thank you so much for showing up and being here with me this week.
So remember in your core that you are made of love and light!  The world is ready and waiting for you to shine your brightness onto the rest of us!  Have a great day friends! MUAH!!!

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