Fully Let Go In The Pauses

“Fully let go in the pauses.”

These words from Jessica Diz have been repeating in my head.

Jessica was my Doula and she was referring to the pauses between surges/contractions during labor, but her words have been a salve the past few weeks.

I remember as my labor with Abigail kicked into gear I felt my whole body tighten in anticipation for each coming surge. We called Jessica and she reminded me to fully let go in the pauses. Oh my goodness what a difference it made!

By fully letting go in between each wave, I could regroup and relax, making the next wave feel lighter and easier to ride versus accumulating wave upon wave and feeling less and less able to relax with them.

Fast forward 3 months and our daughter has hit what they call the 3-4 month sleep regression. She is going through a big developmental leap and as a result of her growing brain and body paired with her new awareness (plus the random reflux or gas), it’s become more of a challenge to put her to down to rest… and no guarantee that she’ll stay asleep!

Mama is tired. Sleep is precious…

Expectation versus Acceptance: Pregnancy & Covid-19

About a month ago I had this entire post prepared about expectation versus acceptance - and then Covid-19 arrived to the United States and life as we knew it changed.

In my original post I talked specifically about expectation versus acceptance in my pregnancy journey.

As I moved into my second trimester I had an expectation that I would “feel better” only to be constantly hit with the reality of, “I don’t feel better,” and the following week, “Nope, not better yet!”

After a great deal of resistance I finally stopped berating myself for not meeting my expectation of wellness and fully accepted that I didn’t feel better and that was okay.

My self-acceptance was not an invitation to dwell or wallow in my awful state, but rather an invitation to stay present in my current reality and in turn, take loving actions to honor that reality and improve my state with love.

This was a big shift from what I had been doing which was running into walls of self-judgment and brute psychological force. AKA: “You will feel better because you are supposed to feel better!” Which was followed by: “What is wrong with you? Why don’t you feel better yet?”

Self-acceptance and loving action was a much kinder route as you can see.

The reason I’m giving you a shortened version of my original post is because life has changed and this lesson of expectation versus acceptance has expanded in light of our current new reality.

We live at the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic here in NYC, which is a strange sensation to say the least…

How do you want to feel this holiday season? Conscious Holiday Tips To Honor Your Desires

Three years ago, I decided I was done feeling sick and rundown on Christmas.

I was done giving in to what others wanted and I was ready to honor my desires not just throughout the holiday season, but also going into the new year.

So I sat down and thought about what I wanted to feel instead.

I wanted to feel healthy, energized and connected - to myself and to others.

Just having this shift in awareness helped me feel more abundant, but I knew I needed to get even more clear. I went deeper and made a list of what could help me feel healthy, energized and connected.

I came up with the following…

Emmys Adventures: How to navigate big events as a sensitive soul

So… life has been deliciously full so I forgot to mention that my now husband and I are headed back to the Emmys this year!

(Yes, Ballard and I got married just two months ago! He works for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and we are blessed to get to attend the televised Emmy Awards in LA thanks to Stephen and his wife for the second year in a row!)

Now, as a highly sensitive person, big events can be daunting. There’s the staying up late, the interacting with lots of people with different energies, and, especially if it’s a new experience, the uncertainty of not knowing what to expect.

Attending the Emmys last year could have easily exhausted and overwhelmed me not just because it was my first time attending and it’s a very long televised event, but also because I was in my friend’s wedding in Utah the night before!

After an already full weekend of wedding prep and an evening of celebration in honor of my amazing friend, I awoke at 4am to take a car to a bus to the airport to another car to finally arrive at the hotel, get my makeup done and walk to the red carpet a mere 30 minutes later.

Yet instead of feeling all tuckered out, I felt invigorated, supported, deliciously glam and extraordinarily abundant.

Here’s how I did it and my advice for preparing for big events as a sensitive soul…

Face Fears & Gain Confidence: Feel at home in your body

Whenever we go out of our comfort zone to attempt something new, it can be terrifying. And the bigger the leap, the more likely old limiting beliefs are going to crop up like weeds to keep you "safe."

Today's Ask Kelsey question touches on the part of us that is worried about taking flight and the answer is all about coming home to and feeling safe in our bodies - in this moment, just as we are.

The more safe and embodied we feel, the more we can be present and available to newness because we start to realize that we are already safe, no matter where we go, what we do or what we choose to accomplish…

Sometimes Abundance Feels Uncomfortable - And That's Okay

When we claim a new level of abundance our life shifts - how we manage our time, listen to our body, spend our money and navigate our day-to-day changes. These changes may be exactly what we desire, but when we actually step into them it might feel a bit awkward and uncomfortable, even terrifying.

This is because making changes also means loss. We lose an old part of ourselves, an old habit, or an old routine that felt comforting and safe.

Alongside loss, we also have to be prepared to receive.

We can be given the most amazing gifts in the entire world, but if we feel unworthy, we will not enjoy them...

Cycles of Abundance & Tips to Navigate Endings with Grace

Throughout this past winter I taught the first round of Abundant Living for the Sensitive Soul, an online course that gives people practical tools to claim their most abundant life.

I have taught quite a few online courses and they were all wonderful in their own right, but this course felt different. I was able to share all of me - all my tools, all my life experience, all sides of my authentic self - and I had the privilege of not just sharing the tools with the participants and watching them soar, but reapplying the tools to my own life and witnessing my own desires come to fruition...

Gratitude In Joy & In Sorrow

I read a wonderful book recently - Five Years In Heaven by John Schlimm - in which John tells the very real story of a friendship he made with Sister...

Help Keep Sickness Away in Just 5 Minutes!

Our ability to stay healthy is directly related to our stress level. The more stress we carry and the more we put ourselves in a state of burnout be it mentally or emotionally...

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“Fully let go in the pauses.”