I was driving, grumbling at traffic, when I heard extreme screaming from the backseat. 

Being a mom, I took this pretty much in stride and only almost rear-ended the car in front of me instead of actually crashing. 

Luckily, nobody was being murdered; my daughter had just spilled a bottle of water on herself. Her shorts and the seat were soaked.

I thought things would be fine.  

They were not fine.

This was Defcon-245, red-alert, serious emergency time. WET SHORTS. Worst thing ever. Lots of crying.

I get it; wet shorts suck. Especially if you have to wear them in your fun parkour class for an hour. 

However, I also know that life is going to dish out some serious discomfort for my girl over the next many years. There’s no getting around it. 

So, I gave her a choice. 1. Go to parkour class and have fun, but with wet shorts. 2. No fun parkour class, but we go home and get dry shorts. 

Then I told her I really thought she could handle the wet...

Do you want mental and emotional support as we navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic, the shutdowns, and the economic shifts?

My being and my business are feeling the call to serve at this time.

The mind-body tools I use with my clients are made for crises, and I am here to help you wade through the emotions, the fears, and the stress so that you can find bits of respite in the chaos.

Join me on Friday, March 20 for a free online videoconference event I’m calling The Sacred Spirit Circle.

During The Sacred Spirit Circle event, I’ll share mind-body tools for tough times, take you into a healing and relaxing guided meditation, and also coach and support as many people as possible.

This is a safe, sacred space to feel emotions, be heard, allow things to flow, and connect with others in a kind, warm atmosphere. 

Bring your fears, stresses, and concerns and we’ll tackle them with the big guns; mind-body tools that really help your body...

Let’s face it; sometimes, life throws curveballs. 

That hit you in the face. Knock you flat on your back. Fun times!

I’ve had a few (as in a LOT) of those in my life. That’s exactly why I created Slacker Magic. 

When shit hits the fan, Slacker Magic will carry you forward. It will be the ground under your feet in groundless times. It will help you navigate both the best and the worst of times. 

Recently, an acquaintance was asking me what I do. I told him about Slacker Magic. 

He said, “Oh yes! I’ve had to learn how to live like that because of serious illness.” Yep.

When hard times hit, you can’t afford to add self-pressure, pushing, and over-efforting into the mix. Everything that adds extra stress has to be stripped away so that you can survive. 

You need your inner wisdom guidance there, waiting, ready to show you the next step forward. And the next. And the next. 

During major upheavals,...

Recently, I had a classic Monday. 

The new phone I’d just purchased arrived broken. My daughter needed something urgently for her school function the next day. Technology taunted me mercilessly all day. 

Also, I felt super tired. Overwhelmed. Grumpy. 

In my line of work, Mondays are often really exciting. I love coaching. I love exploring where my business would like to go next. I love working from home. 

So, I was annoyed that this Monday was being such a…Monday. 

I went into action mode, engaging my habitual self-pressure thinking machine in order to override my emotions and get stuff done. This caused an instant heart-racing, choked feeling in my chest. 

Screeeeeeeech! I hit the brakes. 

I have a long-standing history of engaging the self-pressure override mode. It always, one-hundred percent of the time, consistently, definitely, for sure gets me in trouble. My body suffers. My spirit wanes. My heart resists. 

I end up...

I really hate doing laundry. 

For whatever reason, it’s my least favorite chore. I dread sorting the clothes into piles. I loathe moving things from the washer to the dryer over and over again. 

Folding? Forget it. 

I end up leaving baskets of clean laundry sitting around until I’ve worn everything in them and the clothes are right back in the washer. 

My kid has told me on many occasions that she’s out of underwear.

You could say I’m a laundry delinquent. 

You would think since I’m already a laundry loser, that slacking off more around laundry would be a bad idea. You would think that I’m already so slothlike that introducing Slacker Magic at this point would result in a total laundry meltdown. (Slacker Magic is the art of strategic slacking guided by inner wisdom.)

However, the more I slack off in general and allow myself the space to rest, play, and restore my spirit, the more my laundry gets done. 

Not even...

The wellness industry is a booming industry. There are countless ways you can improve your health. You can use “natural” alternative healing techniques. You can read books. You can try a variety of dietary approaches. 

While the pursuit of wellness seems harmless, there’s one catch: 

Self-pressure. 

If your pursuit of wellness is built on a foundation of subtle pressure to change, improve, or be better, you might be adding unnecessary stress to your mind-body system.

This is counter-productive to your pursuit of wellness. 

Are you pressuring yourself to be fitter than you are?

Are you pressuring yourself to eat healthily all the time? 

Are you pressuring yourself to do stress-reducing activities like meditation?

That pressure creates stress. It forces you to think about failures. It makes you focus on what you need to do to instead of celebrating what you have already done. 

Culture teaches us to push ourselves toward success and...

It’s four-thirty in the afternoon, and I’m attempting to get groceries. This attempt is an utter failure, because my daughter is having a very well-timed meltdown. She has climbed with agile speed into the grocery-filled section of the cart and is standing there, body tensed and face red, yelling and crying as I try to navigate a speedy exit route. I am trying to find calm so I can strategize. She refuses to sit down.

I can feel my whole body tense up as I grip the handle and try to firmly (but kindly) encourage my child to sit down in the cart. My mind is racing, accumulating self-critical thoughts faster than I can mentally bat them away. I am one-hundred percent freaking out inside and trying not to show it.

Before I know it, I’ve become angry mommy and I’m no longer able to handle the situation with the calm, loving energy I’d prefer to use.

Though we know, cognitively, that self-criticism and panic don’t help moments like these, it can...

It’s Monday night, and my daughter has been sick for seven days. The fever, cough, and sore throat have left her exhausted and grumpy. (And let’s face it; I’m grumpy, too.)

In an attempt to tame the cough, I slather on some Vicks and get her snuggled in bed. Of course, not tooooo much Vicks, because I’ve recently read yet another terrifying parenting article on the internet, this time about how Vicks can be deadly if swallowed.

The next morning, somehow, the Vicks has migrated to her hair. I decide not to worry about it, because she can definitely rock the greasy Vicks ‘do for one school day. It’ll be fine. (Though I secretly cannot wait to get her in the tub and pour at least a gallon of shampoo on her head.) The question is, how did a little Vicks turn into this amazingly thorough coating for every hair on her head?

Tuesday night arrives, and bathtime inches closer. My hands are itching to scrub that cute little head.

Then, it hits. A...