Do you ever find yourself feeling stuck?

No matter how different your life may appear from others around you, at one point or another, it’s likely that you will experience a hurdle, a kind of “stuckness” that rules you. Unfortunately, this is true for nearly every woman alive at one point or another.

This week we’re exploring just that with the six common hurdles women experience with Darcy Luoma of Thoughtfully Fit. Darcy takes us on a journey through the barriers that get in our way, how we often self-sabotage, and gives us the solutions to the hurdles that no longer have to make us feel small or hold us back.

We’re kicking off the first mini mindset reset with one of the topic situations I am most asked about: how to challenge negative thinking.

So, let’s jump right in.

If you practice this exercise consistently, you’ll be amazed by how automatic it will become to challenge your negative thoughts and negative thinking loops. This practice is excellent for dealing with anxiety, too. So, give yourself 15 minutes and give it a try before you begin to work it into your day-to-day life. It does take practice.

When was the last time you listened to your inner conversation? Is it serving you, or does it take you down? Most women struggle with their inner critic and tend to beat themselves up. Is this you? If so, there’s one essential life practice that can silence the inner critic, help you release the need to trash yourself and your worth, and is the ultimate foundation of self-love.

What is it? It’s self-empathy.

While you may be familiar with having empathy for others, turning this practice inward changes the inner conversation and opens the door to cultivating inner peace, happiness, and gives you the courage to be the woman who loves themselves fiercely.

We live so much of our days outside of ourselves—engaging in what works for others, showing up, listening to opinions. We give our time and energy to those we love and want to see thrive. We prioritize things that do not fulfill us or make us happy. While serving others is a beautiful means of service, when our mental space is nearly always occupied, it’s challenging to check in with ourselves, give to ourselves, and fulfill our needs.

To do so, we must consciously and willing hold space for ourselves. Holding space is the ultimate act of self-acceptance, self-love, and worthiness.  

This week we’re talking about purpose, the power of social media, and what it means to be a parent with Laura from @Foster.Parenting.

If you have logged onto Tik Tok or Instagram in the last year, you’ve likely stumbled across one of Laura’s videos where she offers such resources to parents around the globe, especially those who are foster parents. What started as a way to fill the gap of resources during the pandemic has turned into a global advocate platform for foster children, parents no matter birth, adopted, or fostering, a place for teachers to learn about trauma outside of the classroom, as well as ways to show up for the children in our communities and homes.

For the first time, a face and voice that millions have watched, fallen in love with, and followed shares her personal story, her why, and her deep desires for the children in her personal care and yours.

Do negative thoughts trip you up?

There’s not a single person who isn’t impacted by negative thoughts at some point in their lives, if not in their daily lives. Unfortunately, many do not realize that negative thought loops can swiftly destroy their mood, rock their confidence, and erode their self-esteem after mere weeks of practicing thoughts that do not serve them.  

If we want to get our lives together, we must learn to embrace the opportunity to shift out of old pattern thinking. If old patterns and limiting beliefs are not the issues, we must examine whether we have a negativity addiction. Regardless of why, when we are open to the possibility of change, we can literally change our lives by changing our minds with daily practice.

It’s time to allow yourself to remember your magic—the nuances, the subtle differences that make you, you. It’s time to own that magic, one beautiful experience and one trait at a time.  Whether you’ve forgotten or are just now meeting yourself for the first time, the truth is, you are inventive. You are transformative. You are capable of owning the life you came here to create. You are unstoppable, beautiful, and the very definition of strength.  

Is your life owning you or do you own it? Big question, right?

After years of studying our experiences, emotions, and behaviors, there’s one thing that I know with absolute certainty and clarity, our personal history, our stories, have incredible, therapeutic healing power.

The problem is most of us do not use this power to our advantage. There is a tool that each of us has access to that is self-directed and requires nothing more than your thoughts, a pen, and a piece of paper.

Let your mind and body find center. Actively and consciously releasing tension and allow my words to guide you into your truth—the truth that everything that happens within your life is happening for you, not to you—the truth that everything that comes your way is a teacher, good, bad, indifferent; it has shown up so that you have the skills, knowledge, and ability to meet yourself in the moment. To be presently aware and meet your needs.

With this truth, you must acknowledge that there will be times of imbalance, rollercoasters of emotional and mental discord, highs and lows, ripples of greatness, moments of perceived failure, even anxiety, and uncertainty.

In all of this, you must remember to surrender.

When was the last time you took a full, deep breath?

I bet it’s been a while, and to be honest, you are not alone! Breathing is a vital part of life, yet most of us underestimate how a simple inhale and exhale can dramatically shift what is happening within. The shift is so significant it’s safe to say that proper, deep, therapeutic breathwork is the most potent and influential function your body has when it comes to regulating your nervous system, thought patterns, and bringing your mind, body, and spirit connection into alignment. The best part is that this ability is already within you and accessible. With such a great tool already at your fingertips, it’s time to use it to your benefit.

The past often works to own our present and our future because what has been gone unhealed and unaddressed. We tend to believe that if we simply move on, what was will fall away.

Yet, this thinking robs us of a beautiful opportunity and great expansion. The events in our lives are lessons, building blocks that teach us what we came here to learn, ways of being, our desires. Our experiences teach us contrast. It shows what we want and what we do not. In this understanding, we can go deeper and explore our needs spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Do you know what love language you speak?

Do you know how you like to have your needs, emotional connectivity, and love style met?

Many understand that there is an unwritten communication of receiving, giving, and feeling love, but often how we express and expect love in return is lost in translation. This week, we’re breaking down the importance of love languages, the different types, recognizing your partner’s language, and we’ll connect the dots to asking for more when we’re not on the same page with our partners. Ultimately, if we understand our love language, we can strengthen all forms of communication, which results in happier, healthy, and far more grounded and productive relationships.

Today is a beautiful day to allow yourself to shine, slow down, and return to center. We tend to live life at a frantic, stressful pace. Where our to-do lists and obligations control the way we see ourselves and the possibilities before us. But when we are willing to accept there’s more for us is when we are released from the grip of our endless doing, from our unwillingness to slow, and it’s from here that we find a natural flow that provides us with room to imagine, to grow, and to thrive. It’s from here we allow ourselves to go within, to move any lack of light, and shine in all that we are.

How would you rate your relationships? Would you say they are stable, safe, and grounded in true connectivity? Whether it’s the relationship with a spouse or partner, family, or even friends, there’s one element needed for our relationships to thrive. What is it? It’s emotional safety and security. Yet, most don’t realize there are grounded, actual steps needed to create trust-filled relationships with those we are closest. This week we’re diving into connectivity, what it takes to create an emotional safety net, and we’ll examine the small habits that have the power to shift any relationship from surviving to absolute thriving.

Do you struggle with procrastination? What about the lack of motivation? So many do and even identify as procrastinators. This belief can overrun our lives! It can even cause higher levels of stress, anxiety, fear, and a host of other negative feelings. This week we are taking a different approach to procrastination as we examine what these habits are at their roots and how our mindset and thinking patterns are the true culprits. From there, we’re brain hacking our way out of our full stops and onto the path of true motivation in this week’s one-on-one deep dive.

By nature, you are soulfully beautiful. The combination of your qualities, emotional awareness, powerful thoughts, shape, color, form, the nuances that make you, you have created a beautiful soul. This lovely light shines no matter how those qualities have merged and mixed to create an outside and inner form. Your beauty is soul deep. It’s a shining, brilliant feeling that is your presence. And, that presence will never be dependent on aesthetics because beauty is in everything, and it lies within you, too.

There’s one statement that can disrupt our lives and growth more than any other set of words out there! What is it? “I AM STUCK!” Those words are often the most significant barrier to our success, feeling our best, and creating positive action; they are the mental and emotional wall that halts most things! So, this week, we are ripping off the label of stuck, taking a hard look at how we often go looking for failure without realizing it, and how we must push ourselves out of our comfort zone to grow and have full life ownership.

So, let’s shift our perspectives and our ability to become un-stuck.

You arrived in this world with a spark, a fiery ambition in your core, and motivation to live a defined set of purposes. When you align with your why, the world rearranges itself to offer you infinite possibilities. Yet, when you are out of alignment with your purpose, it works to arrange everything to bring you back—the hardships, the trails, roadblocks, detours, and attention-grabbers. All of which are designed to help guide you home, to guide you to your purpose. The truth is, you have the power to find your way to your purpose and into alignment by going within and listening to your inner voice.

It’s that time of year again where we begin to shift into the new year and begin to put pen to paper as to what we’d like to create. Last week we ripped back the veil of personal permission in order to move our mindset into that desire in part-one of this two-part series to enhance our overall quality of life. If you listened last week, you’ve come to understand that permission is the foundation to creating our highest and greatest intentions. This week, we’re pulling everything together in part-two where we take a one-on-one deep dive into the exact strategies you can use to create achievable, permission-based goals and intentions—outside of the typical resolutions, that often fall short, fizzle out, and rarely come to fruition. If there has ever been a time to spark a new phase of growth, accomplishment, and shift your focus into enhancing your overall quality of life…now is it!

Our lives are a testimony to our stories—to the lessons we’ve learned, the thoughts we’ve crafted into emotions and actions. Our lives are what we’ve created and attracted to us through all we have been and are working to become. I am a creator, and I am creating goodness not only for me but for the world at large.