MIND. BODY. PURPOSE.

Last week we announced an upcoming workshop that we are SO excited to offer and to have a live experience with you! This week, however, we are announcing the postponement of this workshop until the fall. We have both been feeling a pull to be engaging in all the things that come with season changes and summer time with our families as well as a desire to engage in some internal work of learning and creating before sharing everything we want to share with you. So, we are intentionally choosing to match the pace of our lives with the nature of this particular season, and we hope you also are offering yourself the same space for whatever your circumstances or season may be. We might publish something small again next week, or we might not-- just be sure to be subscribed if you're not already so that when new episodes drop, you’ll know. We have some incredible plans coming up for the fall and hope you will join us then!

In lieu of weekly episodes during the month of July, we are curating a LIVE event just for you!  Tuesday July 27th, 7pm. (Location announced soon; it will be held in the South Jordan/Sandy Utah area.) Register today by Venmoing $50 @MindBodyPurpose. Come enjoy an evening of workshop-style learning, yummy treats, and a take-home gift we think you will love. Space is limited, so this will be first come first served. Bring your friends for a memorable girl's night!

Today is the final episode for this month's discussion on "Ahimsa" or non-violence (see episode 50 for the full discussion of all three takeaways). The PURPOSE takeaway that we discuss today is: Regard yourself as whole - notice how much kindness you can experience.  This month we have been discussing the first chapter of "The Yamas and Niyamas" by Deborah Adele. This book is available through a free audible trial here or wherever you buy hard copy books (you can find it on Amazon here).

Have you felt the glorification of "busy?" (Hand raised right here.) Over-scheduling ourselves and filling every minute is one way we experience tiny acts of violence.  Today we are discussing how to guard your balance in everyday life, listening to the messages of our bodies. This is the BODY takeaway for the month as we discuss "Ahimsa" or Non-violence, the first chapter of "The Yamas and Niyamas" by Deborah Adele. This book is available through a free audible trial here or wherever you buy hard copy books (you can find it on Amazon here).

It's all about courage! How might you be harming yourself by living from fear instead of practicing courage?  Listen to hear our real-life examples of how we are shifting into courage and therefore preventing tiny acts of harm toward ourselves.

Today we begin discussing the first chapter of "The Yamas and Niyamas" by Deborah Adele, all about non-violence. If you're like us, we had no idea this chapter would be so applicable in our daily lives...until we learned about the subtle forms of harm that show up all. the. time. (Who knew? We do it to ourselves.) This months takeaways are: MIND- Practice Courage: Do one thing each day you wouldn’t normally do. BODY- Guard your Balance: Act on the messages of your body PURPOSE- Regard yourself as whole: Notice how much kindness you can experience. "The Yamas and Niyamas" by Deborah Adele is available through a free audible trial here or wherever you buy hard copy books (you can find it on Amazon here).

This month we are beginning to discuss portions of our fave yogi book "The Yamas and Niyamas" by Deborah Adele. NO NEED to be a yogi of any sort  to reeeeeally benefit from and love what this book has to offer! We hope you'll enjoy learning about how to apply ancient wisdom traditions to our daily lives as much as we do.  Note from the author: I wish you richest blessings as you  become a more skilled participant in the  living of your life. May new possibilities  and untold joy surprise you daily.    Be sure to get your copy of the book from Amazon or through a free audible trial here.

This is the final episode in this month's series on inadequacy; today's main takeaway is for our purpose: Experience Every Phase as Sacred If you want to follow along next month, we are discussing principles from Deborah Adele's book "Yamas and Niyamas" (which happens to be our favorite yogi book).  To listen, get your free audible trial here: www.audibletrial.com/mindbodypurpose Or get a hardcopy through Amazon here. 

Today we are discussing the BODY takeaway for this month: choose unity over comparison.  We are continuing the conversation on instagram, so join us there! @mind.body.purpose

This month we are taking time to assimilate all three takeaways from last week's episode, week by week. Today we are diving into the MIND takeaway: Trust in who you are.   April shares a real-life, every day scenario illustrating the struggle of feeling inadequate and what to do when it shows up. Much of this skill involves trusting in our capacity and our Heavenly Parent's capacity to help us navigate what comes.

Do you have a social media account? How about friends? Family members? Neighbors? Do you have colleagues? Do you go to church events? Attend things for your kids? Grandkids? Do you have eyes? Ears? If you said yes to any of these questions, chances are you are keenly aware of the lives and paths others are on. You're also probably sizing yourself up. Which brings more questions-- is my life good enough? Am I good enough? Feeling Inadequate is something we have all felt. I seem to have lived most of my life in this space. I have seen a lot through the lens of "I'm not enough." and maybe you have too. So, this month we are discussing takeaways to help us remove the power and sting of inadequacy. MIND: Trust in who you are. Who am I? Have you had that existential crisis moment where you take off your many hats and strip away all the titles only to wonder who you are? " I am a beloved daughter of Heavenly Parents with a divine nature and eternal destiny." A truth that is spoken to us over and over again. Our divine nature gives us a straight and narrow line to our Heavenly Parents by nothing other than birthright. We can strengthen it, but it’s always there. When we doubt who we are, we have a tendency to look at others for validation, for a sense of where we should be, and a glimpse into what our path should look like. “For strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that find it.” (D&C 132:22.) Instead of a one-size -fits-all path, we each have our own straight and narrow path, connecting us with our Heavenly Parents. We each have the same destination- eternal life, and hold to the gospel, companionship, and example of Jesus Christ- but, our paths will be as different as we are. BODY: Choose unity over comparison “The fact of the matter is, we really and truly need each other. Women naturally seek friendship, support, and companionship. We have so much to learn from one another, and we often let self-imposed barriers keep us from enjoying associations which could be among the greatest blessings in our lives.” (Bonnie L. Oscarson) With people you can connect or compare, but you can't do both. PURPOSE: Experience every phase as sacred Sacred means to be connected to God or dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving veneration (great respect or reverence). If we can view each phase of our lives as being sacred, and as an opportunity to further connect with our Heavenly Parents, it puts the phase we are experiencing right now in a new light. Instead of wanting to push the fast forward button on some of our painful moments and phases, can we can just allow what is? If we know that everything is for our good, can we trust in ourselves to have the capacity to weather the storm? And trust that our Heavenly Parents will help us? 

Our topic for the past few episodes has been Loving Boldly-- (E42 Loving Boldly with Jessica Frew, E43 Double Down: Give yourself some credit) The takeaway for the MIND was to Open your mind to the possibility of seeing ways to love in a new light. This week, in a normal, everyday conversation with her mom, Michelle was able to draw from the things we talked about with opening our minds to see the situation in a new light. Remembering the concept "if you can't find compassion toward someone else, you are just messing around with the ego"-- she realized she could open her mind to compassion, and subsequently open her heart to a loving experience.

Double Down application: Takeaways from the feature episode- MIND: Open your mind BODY: Listen to your body when setting boundaries PURPOSE: See the love around you Each relationship we are in throughout our lives will have a different dynamic. And, that may change and evolve as we ourselves experience change and personal growth. However, just because a relationship may feel different than it used to, it doesn’t mean that it can’t feel loving. Feeling guilty that I’m not as close with certain people-- Instead: What does loving this person look like? What does deep care and concern actually look like? Giving myself “credit” for actually caring, and dropping the guilt as if there’s something wrong in the amount I care -- which is not true. -- relief to realize that I do care, and this relationship can look different and still be just as loving. When we find a relationship changing or evolving, here are a few things we have found that can help us navigate that relationship with love. Give yourself credit Drop the guilt Open your mind to what love might look like now (Gratitude for the season of good you may have had with them or/and Gratitude for what this person is teaching you -- still being love at all times)

We had such a great time talking about LOVING BOLDLY with Jessica Frew of the Husband-in-law podcast. On her podcast, she is a co-host with her ex-husband, and her current husband. They talk about marriage, ex-marriage, divorce, ex-divorce, coming out, and living boldly. You can find Jessica on instagram @husband_in_law or listen to her podcast of the same name wherever you listen to podcasts! (It's sooo good, we highly recommend it.) One of Jessica’s super powers is definitely loving boldly-- she has worked to understand that and uses her experiences to help others. She discovered this power when she found out her first husband was gay 6 months into their marriage. They continued to be happily married for 5.5 more years after that point. Through all of this, she learned how to give him the love that he needed and how to give herself the love that she needed at the same time. She has continued to learn to love him in a new way-- through infidelity, divorce, and post-divorce. Takeaways to help us LOVE BOLDLY: MIND: Open your mind You will be in situations where you could never imagine loving someone. But, when we open our minds to seeing love in a new way and in a new light, we become open to the possibilities of what love can look like and how different it can be. It sounds simple, but if you can find a new perspective and see a relationship differently, you can love differently. Love can be found everywhere-- it can be in different phases, in different shapes, and all encompassing. BODY: Listen to your body when setting boundaries Our bodies tell us so much about what we are feeling. Our bodies have so much power in telling us our boundaries and where we feel, or don’t feel safe. If it is a situation or relationship that we do not feel safe in, a boundary has been crossed, and we need to adjust to make sure we are being loving to ourselves. If we need to walk away from the conversation or situation, we can. We can be very clear. Oftentimes we need space to process our emotions, and it’s not the best time or place to do that when our bodies are telling us that our boundaries have been crossed. Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is acknowledge that our relationship looks different and has different boundaries, and that’s ok. PURPOSE: See the love around you We were sent to this earth to learn to love ourselves and to love each other. When we learn to love ourselves, we can learn to love others in ways we didn’t even imagine. Open yourself up to see love in personal and unique ways. When we open ourselves up to love in each unique person, we are able to live, not only in our purpose, but also see others’ and their purpose.

Tangible application from our interview with Meg Tilton:  1. Identify the small group of people in your life that have earned your trust; these are the people who's feedback we give some weight to (not the people giving feedback from the "cheap seats").  2. Feel the feelings that may have come up (rather than pretending that their words didn't hurt, acknowledge the pain in a way that simultaneously keeps worth intact).  3. Listen to your inner knowing, your intuition, to make the decisions that feel right to you (despite what others may say).

Today we are interviewing an amazing woman who is passionate about helping women find their self-assurance in life-- Meg is extending SUCH an generous offer to our listeners! It's a PDF download to assess where you are in regards to self-assurance in four main areas: Self-assurance with ones self, with God, with others, and in going after dreams and goals.  Here is the link: https://mandapril.megtiltoncoaching.com/podcast In addition, Meg is offering a FREE hour long session to the first 5 listeners!!!! You'll go over the worksheet and see where you are, where you want to be, and how to get there. I promise you'll want to take advantage of this offer! Meg Tilton is a certified life coach working with women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 2017. Meg has a deep belief that in order for the women of the church to accomplish all they want to, and that God intends for them to, they need to be rooted in their own self-assurance. To Meg, self-assurance is more than confidence.  Self-assurance is an internal belief in oneself to be able to accomplish and face any situation that comes your way. When you believe in yourself, you are unstoppable. She loves being able to help women see this potential in themselves and then go and live by it. When Meg isn't coaching, she is spending time with her amazing husband, five kiddos, and adoring standard poodle "Nestle".  She lives outside of St. Louis, Missouri and loves any form of good chocolate and a good movie. If they happen to come together, that's a bonus. You can follow Meg on Instagram @megtiltoncoach and Facebook @megtiltoncoaching as well as her website at www.megtiltoncoaching.com. To Solve for Self Doubt:  Mind: Own your decisions.  To be self-assured, we need to stop letting other people’s feelings and emotions drive our decision making process. Body: Embrace the discomfort of decision making.  Decisions often force us to be uncomfortable--but that process is needed for our growth. Purpose: Know Your “Why”.  Not everyone is going to like our decisions. But if we can clearly know our “why”, we will be able to keep moving forward toward our goal.

We're adding a new feature to our podcast episodes, and are SO excited to share this with you-- Introducing our new Double Down Episodes, where we do a shorter, mini episode of sorts, diving a bit deeper into the topic from the last week. Giving you 2 weeks to apply each episode in your life, AND an episode that is completely dedicated to integrating one of the takeaways into your life in a meaningful way. This week we are doubling down on "If you are alive, you are a leader." Thinking about the opportunity for leadership in our lives, one attribute of a good leader is someone who is able to admit when they have made a mistake. In digging a bit deeper into our ability to lead where we stand, here is a little 3-step process to practice when we make mistakes in our "leadership" roles. 1) Admit the mistake (knowing it does not affect our worth) 2) Speak it to whoever needs to hear it 3) Do it with sincerity Doing this on whatever level of leadership doesn't discount all the effort and amazing things we are doing. It also doesn't give us a free ride to not do our best and just fall back on "oh well! I make mistakes"  But, what it does do is create that trust and vulnerability to show others that we know that we make mistakes sometimes, and we aren't afraid to own them, to voice them, and to do our very best to learn and move forward. Is there someone you have stewardship over that would benefit from you taking these steps? 

This week we are discussing leadership, which, is sometimes a topic that seems irrelevant to many, but, listen up, because we are about to argue that! MIND: In what areas am I a leader? “If you have a voice, you have influence to spread. If you have relationships, you have hearts to guide. If you know young people, you have futures to mold. If you have privilege, you have power to share. If you have money, you have support to give. If you have a ballot, you have policy to shape. If you have pain, you have empathy to offer. If you have freedom, you have others to fight for. If you are alive, you are a leader.” Abby Wombach (From the book, Wolfpack) We are all leaders in some form at some time, sometimes more obvious than others (like positions and titles), but there is an element of leadership in everyone’s life experience. Even if our leadership role is one where we are the leaders of ourselves. (ex of leadership: parenting, friendship, church volunteering, coaching, work, social media) We agree with Abby-- if you have a voice, if you have relationships, if you know young people, if you have privilege, if you have money, if you have the chance to vote, if you have experienced pain, if you have freedom of any kind, or if you are alive right now--- you are a leader. To take it one step further in recognizing leadership in ourselves, Brene Brown defines a leader as “anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential.” You have the opportunity to look around yourself-- even right this moment-- and see where in your life you are leading. It might be a daily role, it might only happen now and again, but you are leading.  BODY: How can I take care of myself physically in order to show up? Being a leader is less about who you are, and more about how you behave and show up in difficult situations. True Leaders don’t need to be experts, they don’t need to have all the answers, they just need to be brave enough to use their influence and ideas for good. A lot of times we are giving our all to the places and people we are leading without even knowing it. If we are constantly living our lives from a place of depletion, we will not be able to take care of ourselves the best way possible. It’s the empty cup analogy-- you cannot pour from an empty cup. If we do not take care of ourselves, our physical well-being, our mental health, our self-care and self-love, we will not be able to show up the way we want in difficult situations. PURPOSE: What can I offer today, and to who? We have probably all experienced the goodness of another person and benefitted from the contributions or love of someone around us; every one of us has the same capacity to share goodness and love. We already are sharing something just by being on this planet-- might as well be intentional about it because then we get to experience it too in the giving of it! “Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves”

We believe that women helping each other is paramount in our lives. Listen to hear why and how to have more of this experience in your life: MIND: Seek support, ditch competition When we are playing and truly having fun --laughing, dancing (the kind when you’re not self-conscious), sharing, bonding, giving a shoulder or a foot massage-- there’s no hierarchy. No one is better than or less than. We need people (women) that we can have fun with. We need people (women) that we can feel safe with, that we can share with. When we are sharing our love and our stories and our insights and our struggles, there’s no better than, less than, it’s just love. And it’s simultaneously humbling and ennobling. If we find ourselves in a "one up, one down" or "hierarchy" mode (thinking we are better-than or less-than), chances are we haven't had enough serotonin, or feel-good hormones, in our bodies. This is a natural default that our brains tend to fall into when we are low on serotonin. BODY: Make contact, be seen If we are going to support each other and feel supported, we have to have contact with each other. Find ways to boost serotonin!  This could be through physical contact like hugs, foot rubs, swapping massages. Or it could be phone calls, texts, conversations, questions, being interested, listening-- simply making the effort to have contact in some way. Feeling alone or isolated has serious physical and mental health consequences. We aren’t intended to go through life alone; we need each other. PURPOSE: Give love, receive love Ask yourself if you are needing to work on giving more love, or practice receiving more love? When we give genuinely, and the receiver is a graciously receives, the exchange can be beautiful and somewhat magical. The same is true for being a genuinely gracious recipient. We can only give as deeply as we can receive.

We recently did a little post on instagram, asking what are things ya'll would like to listen to discussed in a podcast, or which problems you were currently facing in life at the moment. One of the responses was a listener who felt unprepared for a new calling/ volunteer position in their church congregation.  So...we did some digging, soul searching, and memory sharing, and came up with a few takeaways for when we're feeling overwhelmed and underqualified. MIND: Remember that it’s not a reflection on you Our inadequacies come from fear-- fear of not being good enough, fear that others will see us as what we are...which is messy and imperfect, or worse-- fear that they will judge us for being human. When we allow fear to take over, it usually means that we are in our own heads.  Yes, you are the one in the position, but at the end of the day, it’s about the people we are serving and developing connections and relationships with. If everything we do in that capacity is a reflection on us, it’s not going to go well. If it's all about us, there is no room for mistakes, and that sets us up for failure. BODY: Fit it into your life Maybe set up a reminder for yourself to keep it on your radar. Fit whatever it is into YOUR life. It doesn't need to completely take over. We can find a balance that works for us individually. Also fit it into your personality. What is one way I can approach this situation that is unique to my talents and personality? We each have strengths and the ability to contribute in a way that is personal to us. Remember that what YOU have to offer--whatever that looks like, in any capacity, is needed. PURPOSE: Be open-minded Your way might look different, and it should because we aren’t cookie-cutter people. Just because something has always been done one way, doesn’t mean that’s the way it needs to keep going. You might see things differently, and that is awesome! Bring your perspective.  Sometimes we think “this is going to be hard-- a huge commitment” etc. without the open-minded freedom to believe it will fit in my life with my personality and abilities, AND I can do it. Try to wrap your head around being open to the discomfort that might come along with growth. Most things that are worthwhile will in some way, shape, or form, stretch us. There may be some difficult relationship moments as we work with other people and have differing opinions, but there might also be amazing moments where we are able to interact with people from different perspectives that enhance ours. Hopefully today's takeaways can help us when we feel unprepared for something we are facing. Hard things require a lot of courage and vulnerability...which aren't usually fun to feel, but worth the endeavor. You've got this.