Wouldn’t you know, the author, Jennifer Low, is a mom of two young children herself!  You can check out her website at http://kitchenforkids.com/welcome/about.htm (where you can also try a free recipe and purchase the book), and you can see a thorough preview of the book at http://books.google.com.

My little chefs give this kid’s cookbook a 5-Spatula rating!

It is so interesting to really pause, look around at the “stuff” that surrounds us, and give thought to the meaning, metaphors, and energy they carry for us. If you happen to be somewhere in your home right now, please pause for a moment and look around at your surroundings. How do the items you fill your life with make you feel? Do you look around you with a smile on your face and warmth in your heart, or do you feel stressed out, or a weight in your chest, or maybe even a crinkle in your nose and brow like you just tasted something unsavory?

Maybe it is time to shed some of that “stuff”, along with the internal baggage it carries with it for you. For my friend who is going through a divorce, she realized she had been paralyzed under the weight of the “clutter” that surrounded and filled her. Once she was able to make the connection between the two, she started to come to life! She prepared to sell the majority of her household belongings, and we moved from room to room deciding on what was truly precious and/or necessary, and what she was ready to let go of.

With each item she decided to cast off, she said she could physically breathe more easily and fully. I have literally watched her energy rise and her inner-Self blossom like a flower awakening in the sun’s Spring warmth. Honestly, it has been that authentic and beautiful! Her ME, which had been buried beneath all of the weight she’d carried on her shoulders for so long, is growing freer and shining brighter every day!

As you look around you and think about the things in your life that weigh you down, what would you like to shed and let go of? By breaking free and moving away from the “clutter” that holds you back, you can move forward with renewed energy, enthusiasm, and empowerment in the directions that your ME is truly guiding you to go.

Live Positively Fulfilled!

Lynn Ely
MomEvolve
Inspiring Moms to Evolve TM
www.momevolve.com

MomEvolve’s integrated Life-, Career-, and Purposeful Entrepreneur Coaching takes place over the telephone, so you can participate from any comfortable and quiet place that you happen to be. To help accommodate your specific needs, our two-month “Moms on the Move” coaching package offers two exciting options:  Either two 45-minute sessions per month, OR three 40-minute sessions per month.  Both options include unlimited e-mail access to support you between coaching calls.

What do you want to make come alive for you this Spring?  Are you ready to stop struggling on your own trying to answer questions like “Who am I now?” and “What do I really want to do next?”, and instead, take ownership of the changes that you know deep down you want and deserve? Don’t just keep thinking about maybe getting some support to help propel you forward toward your goals – make your move, and contact MomEvolve today!

Whether you are making a physical relocation with your family, transitioning through a major life change, or just want to get moving back into your groove, MomEvolve is here to support you!

Live Positively Fulfilled!

Lynn Ely
MomEvolve
Inspiring Moms to Evolve ™
www.momevolve.com

From North to South and East to West, it seems to have been a colder than usual winter this year so far. Heck, it even snowed in the Carolina’s a couple of weeks ago!! Here’s a picture of my girls and their twin cousins thrilled by the initial flakes on the eve of their first snow ever – pretty magical!

As beautiful as a landscape of winter white can be, most of us are ready for the warmer weather to arrive and lure us outdoors so we can get rid our “winter weight” (anyone still working off those few last holiday pounds?) and get moving again! So MomEvolve is declaring March “Moms on the Move” month, and is encouraging all of us to begin shifting our focus toward the refreshing Spring season that is just around the corner.

I do want to share with you where the real inspiration for March as “Moms on the Move” month came from. I was inspired to make this declaration by a friend who, like so many other moms in so many varied ways, has found herself in a major life transition. Her specific life-change is that she is soon-to-be divorced and moving solo across country with her 3 young children. There is not a single aspect of her life that is going untouched by the humungo-changes taking place daily for her family.

In watching and supporting her transitions over the last few months, an amazing transformation has occurred for both of us, and I feel so blessed to have shared in this ever-broadening “A-Ha!” with her – the shedding of almost all of her material “stuff” has taken with it all of the internal weight and clutter that those external items carried with them. As we sat in her beautiful home one day, we realized we were surrounded by huge, heavy, cumbersome furniture , which would have been incredibly costly to move into the next cross-country chapter of her life. That was it – the lightbulb flashed on! All of this literally HEAVY stuff  represented her past and the weight of it that she was still carrying on her shoulders. At that moment, she was able to see it as what it really is – just stuff – and beyond that, stuff that no longer serves her and really (both internally and externally) has no place in the new life she is creating for herself as she moves forward!

So my dear friend is my inspiration for recognizing March as “Moms on the Move” month, in support of us busy moms shifting our focus toward shedding and letting go of our “stuff” so we can enjoy the soon-to-arrive refreshing Spring season. It’s time to start thinking about Spring Cleaning! Whether you are getting ready to relocate your family to a new home or are just looking to get your internal and external houses in order, let’s get moving!

It is time to wake-up from our winter “hibernation” and get ready to dance into Spring with renewed inspiration and invigoration! Let’s get ready now to Let Go and Get Moving in March!

Live Positively Fulfilled!

Lynn Ely
MomEvolve
Inspiring Moms to Evolve ™
www.momevolve.com

http://recipes.kaboose.com/holidays/spring-snack-recipes.html

Put some Spring in their step and smiles on their faces with some naturally fun snacks!

Live Positively Fulfilled!

Lynn Ely
MomEvolve
Inspiring Moms to Evolve TM
www.momevolve.com

Come “Home Sweet Home” to this assortment of hand-painted chocolates from the distinctive Christophe Artisan Chocolatier.  This hand-made gift of edible art will be delivered right to your doorstep – does it get any sweeter than that? (http://www.christophechocolatier.com)

Moms aren’t the only ones Keeping It Fresh” this Spring!  You’ll be able to check-out Charleston Home magazine’s recently renovated and re-energized content with your 1-year F*R*E*E subscription – featuring more family-friendly recipes, money-saving tips, and smart solutions for your home’s interior, in addition to lots of great entertaining advice and peeks inside of some of the most beautiful homes in the Lowcountry.  Whether you are a Charleston-area resident or not, you are sure to enjoy Charleston Home’s gorgeous presentation of cooking, decorating, gardening, and nesting ideas! (http://www.charlestonmag.com/home)

Be sure to sign-up for the ME-zine today (**in the box to the right of this post or below **), while there’s still time to find out how to get your name entered into this month’s “Welcome Home, Mom”-themed raffle!

Subscribe to the ME-zine

Enter your name and email to be subscribed to the ME-zine. Bonus: Including with your subscription, you will receive 7 Weeks of “Inspirations for ME”.

Live Positively Fulfilled!

Lynn Ely
MomEvolve
Inspiring Moms to Evolve TM
www.momevolve.com

I know for me, as a Mom Entrepreneur, my business thrives on my creativity, and when I have experienced times of fear and overwhelm (we all know those 3:00 AM “wake-up calls” where our minds are racing almost as fast as our hearts!), my creativity tends to come to a screeching halt. Let’s face it – as moms, all of the skeletons of self-doubts that we try to keep tucked away out of sight and out of mind tend to come tumbling out of the closet in times of difficulty or crisis. And I speak to both working- and stay-at-home moms daily, who have previously or are currently experiencing the same discomfort and the accompanying feelings of stress, tightness, pressure, and often downright panic that this overwhelming chaos and uncertainty can bring on.

Based on my own personal experiences, as well as what I have observed with other mom-friends, clients, and peers, Deepak Chopra’s wisdom is completely accurate! When I have allowed myself to just breathe during those times of paralyzing fear and overwhelm, and given myself the space to take a step back and take a literal mental and physical break from the panic (i.e., spending a day reading an inspiring book I’d been wanting to get to, or diving completely into some relaxing family-time, or focusing on some simple work activities that let me accomplish something, but without too much struggle or effort), I suddenly have all sorts of creative ideas, opportunities, and solutions flowing into my mind, and I find myself moving toward a way-better place then I had imagined when I was standing on the front-side of all of that fear and anxiety.

Now, I know this all sounds a little counter-intuitive and over-simplified, but I swear it is true, and it works! The next time you find yourself feeling like your back is up against the wall and you can feel that horribly heart-racing panic setting in, try to consciously take that step back, take that breather, and focus on doing something that makes your heart happy for even just a little bit. Focus on what you CAN do in this moment, and take it one little step at a time. Your conflicted feelings don’t define who you are, or make you unworthy, undeserving or somehow inadequate – it is a natural part of evolution… of you growing and shedding something that no longer serves you, to allow you to move forward toward something that has more meaning for who you are becoming and where you want to go!

Recognize your situation as simply a moment in time that you will absolutely make it through. And then, remember that you have the choice – the situation at hand is at hand, and you can either choose to remain in an awfully unpleasant and unproductive state of fear, or you can choose to see it as Deepak Chopra’s “punctuated disequilibrium” – a short-term moment of out-of-balance discomfort – that will help propel you forward to a place of increased creativity and new meaning that wouldn’t have come about otherwise!

Live Positively Fulfilled!

Lynn Ely
MomEvolve
Inspiring Moms to Evolve TM
www.momevolve.com

That got me to thinking… Sometimes it’s good to shake things up a little!

It reminds us that our “ground” can shift at anytime, especially when we get preoccupied with the busy-ness of our days and lose sight of what really serves as our foundation – our core values, upon which we can build our daily actions, priorities, and goals. But, when you get so wrapped up in your daily To-Do’s, like we all have a tendency to do at times, it is easy to lose touch with the source of your core values… your true inner self – your ME.

The problem is that, if you’ve lost touch with the core values of your ME, you could be over-filling your days with all of the wrong To-Do’s in the first place! A strong connection with and understanding of your ME allows you to prioritize your days and set your goals in ways that most effectively and efficiently serve you.

Shake-ups in our lives, whether they take the form of a natural disaster, a health issue, a major job or relationship change, or the birth or death of a loved one, all have the tendency to cause us to question who we are, where we are going, and how we are doing. Can you answer all of these questions with decisiveness, excitement, and fulfillment right now?

If not, the time to reconnect with who you truly are is now, rather than waiting for life-shifting events to catch you off-guard and send you scrambling for something you can hang onto about yourself for security and reassurance. Consciously making the effort to reconnect with your ME is like creating an insurance plan that will keep you steady and stable on the foundation of who you are and what matters most to you when life shakes things up.

Reconnecting with your ME is a commitment that takes some work up front, but provides you the security of your Self when you least expect it and most need it! If you are ready to reconnect with your ME and create priorities and goals based on who you truly are and what matters most to you, I would love to support you in doing so! Please either call me (843-696-8949) or e-mail me so we can discuss your unique needs and opportunities!

Live Positively Fulfilled!

Lynn Ely
MomEvolve
Inspiring Moms to Evolve TM
www.momevolve.com

See all the good stuff Heidi shares at http://www.thegoodstuffguide.com/.

Live Positively Fulfilled!

Lynn Ely
MomEvolve
Inspiring Moms to Evolve TM
www.momevolve.com

How many of us moms rush around all day from multi-task to multi-task, and at the end of the day feel like all we’ve done is spin our wheels with almost no “progress” to show for it? Or, in reference to longer-term goals – How often have we set a goal for ourselves, only to give up in frustration when we didn’t arrive at our “destination” with the unrealistic warp-speed we desire?

Not Dora! No Ma’am! She takes time to smell the roses and enjoys the celebration of overcoming no less than three potentially journey-stopping obstacles along the way. She seeks out the opportunity – whether it involves climbing over it, working around it, or asking for help. And, as she keeps her “eye on the prize”, even Swiper’s interruptions and distractions don’t derail her. Not only that, she remains polite and happy, without a single profanity-ridden tirade or “Wh’always Me” along the way!

She revisits her goal (“Where are we going…..?) and boosts her own and her co-travelers’ confidence (“We know that we can do it!”) throughout the entire journey, and before you know it, she’s reached her destination with a smile and a song.
Does she put a lot of undue and unrealistic pressure on herself? Does she beat herself up if she makes a wrong turn? Does she let it devalue her self-worth when Swiper, giants, and trolls aren’t always the kindest in their reception of her efforts? Nope!

She just keeps on moving forward at a pace and style that best serve her in getting there. Most importantly, she takes time to enjoy the journey!

Dora is a great example of how we can’t always foresee all of the opportunities and/or challenges we may face as we set out to complete a task or move toward a goal – so why put that expectation, concern, and pressure on ourselves? We don’t necessarily have to have everything planned out perfectly, from A to Z and every step in between, before we can begin moving forward. Rather, we can choose to just get started, to focus on and act in the moment at hand (since really, that’s all we can effectively respond to anyway), and to embrace the purpose of that moment in our journey, even if we may not quite understand completely how it fits into the bigger plan just yet.

And when we do make a “wrong turn” or “encounter a mountain”, does that mean our journey has to end or that we shouldn’t have embarked on it in the first place? What if we look at those challenges as opportunities, and choose to believe that we are exactly where we are meant to be at that moment – because there are no mistakes, only opportunities to learn, grow, and decide how to move forward from there.

We can choose to have fun and trust that we will get there at a time that is perfectly right for us, and who knows – maybe there’ll even be a cute little insect mariachi band tooting their horns for us in celebration when we arrive!

Live Positively Fulfilled!

Lynn Ely
MomEvolve
Inspiring Moms to Evolve TM
www.momevolve.com