As July is flying by and preparations for the second Ely Family road trip of the summer are getting underway, I am reminding myself to keep the focus on family fun and to take things in stride so we can all “enjoy the ride.” After all, we’re going to Florida, not the moon – if I forget to pack something for someone, we can either do without it or buy it when we get there. No real worries, right!

With that thought in mind, I am sharing an encore post from almost exactly a year ago – sometimes when you let yourself step back and outside of the chaos of the moment (i.e., the inevitable craziness that ensues while tying up all the loose ends in preparation for a family trip!), you can’t help but laugh!

The Ideal Client

In coaching, there is a saying that coaches are often their own best clients. Well, this morning, I was a living, breathing, poster-child for a mom who needed to restore balance and make herself a priority in her own life.

I got up bright and early to take the puppy outside and smiled at the thought of all the time I had available to savor the quiet house before the kids got up and I got ready for a morning meeting nearby.

That vision of peaceful morning bliss lasted for about 30 seconds before the kids were up, the waffles were in the toaster oven, and I was somehow left with less than 30 minutes to shower and get out the door. At least the babysitter who I hired for Wednesday’s so I can have one focused workday per week during the summer was on her way… or so I thought, until I exited the shower to tears from my daughters over how the sitter had just called-in sick and now their plans for the day were ruined. Their plans?!!

No time for thinking about what wouldn’t get accomplished now in my day – I had 5 minutes to flat iron my hair and drive to my meeting before it started without me. Of course, I was only 2 minutes into my 4 minute drive before my cell phone rang and my older daughter was still lamenting about how she would now have nothing to do all day. (Considering the upstairs hall closet brimming with games and crafts, the over-stuffed playroom, the puppy waiting to be played with, and a little sister by her side, I didn’t quite understand the despair and desperateness in her voice!) Meanwhile, in my rush out the door, I had forgotten earrings and the only thing close to lipstick I had in the car was a nasty smelling tutti-fruiti princess lip gloss my 5 year old had left there over a month ago!

At that point, as I walked away from my crookedly-parked-too-quickly minivan and into my meeting, I just had to laugh, as I knew just how I would introduce myself today – as my own best client! Hey, I’ve made a lot of progress, but self-growth and self-care is an on-going process… “At least I’m enjoying the ride!”

It has been said that gratitude is the mother of joy, so Mother’s Day month seems like the perfect time to practice building the gratitude habits that will allow us to commit to regularly taking time to focus on all that we are grateful for, even (and especially) when it would be much easier to focus on the inconveniences and distractions of our everyday lives.

So, how about it: What are you grateful for?

Well, I made a list… not a To-Do list, which we moms are all so adept at, but a Gratitude list, and here’s what I came up with:

• I am grateful that my daughters still think Mommy-snuggles are so special.
• I am grateful that my husband is my best friend who believes in me and my dreams.
• I am grateful for family and friends who “get me” and truly want the best for me.
• I am grateful that I can be genuinely happy for others and truly want the best for them.
• I am grateful for all of the opportunities I have created and been blessed with in my life.
• I am grateful that I always know I am loved and know that I am deserving of that love.
• I am grateful that my Dad passed along his wisdom and sense of humor.
• I am grateful for all of the new relationships that continue to bless my life, and the endless possibilities to grow, learn, and share that they bring with them.
• I am grateful for the biggest challenges that Life’s presented me, as I’ve been blessed with the ability to trustingly know each one has a meaningful purpose, even if they may come with initial pain.
• I am grateful to be able to enjoy my world with all of my senses.
• I am grateful that my children teach me more about Life every day.
• I am grateful for being able to recognize and savor those “Life is perfectly as it should be” moments of pure contentment (and that I am remembering to enjoy those moments much more often).

Of course, this is not a complete list, but it is what I feel in my heart at this moment, and tuning into these grateful feelings provides an instant boost of energy and joy.  Although gratitude is a very simple gift, it is not always easy to practice.  We all have times where we experience negative emotions, fear, anger, doubt, and the like. However, the value of gratitude is absolutely precious – since it is impossible to focus on both a thankful thought and negative thought at the same time, choosing to focus on gratitude is the fast-track to happiness, fulfillment, contentment, and hopefulness.

And, it is a gift that is topped off with all of the smiles and heartfelt warmth that it brings when it is shared freely with others!  A gift that allows us personal happiness as well as a joyful connection to others – and it is available to each of us, in limitless supply, at any time!

Happy Mother’s Month, and I am truly grateful that you are sharing this moment with me!

Convenient, On-The-Go Fun with Friends!

No, I’m not talking about a Happy Meal play-date for your kids…

This one’s Just For You, Mom!!

One non-fat, just-how-you-ordered-it Coaching & Community program coming up!

Moms desiring support around how to balance all of the various aspects of our crazy-busy lives is a given.

Of course we’d all love to make changes that would help us free up more time, energy, and joy for both ourselves and our families, right?

So I asked moms how they would like that support delivered…

You answered, I listened, and here you go:  The ME Connection

Calls begin in June, so take a moment just for you right now, Click Here, and check out all of the exciting details!

(And at the investment of less than the cost of a couple of lattes a week, isn’t it worth checking out?)

Feel free to contact me with any questions, and I look forward to connecting with you soon!

I hear it everywhere I go these days – “I am SO ready for Spring!”

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

Yep – I made up a new word, and I think it’s a keeper!!

How often do you hear that little voice in your head say, “Now that’s inspiring!” or “What an inspiration she/he/that is!”

When you are inspired by something or someone, there is an opportunity there. Inspiration is our Inner-Self telling us that something we are seeing, hearing, or feeling is resonating with us – our values, priorities, goals, our connection to others and to something bigger than us. That’s your ME talking!

Are you listening? What is the opportunity you have, right then and there, to take inspired action (now a.k.a. inspiraction!)? How does this inspiration affect your next thoughts and choices in your day? How would your life be different today if you embraced that inspiration by taking inspiraction on the opportunities it is presenting to you in that moment?

And if you are having trouble hearing your ME during those inspired moments or find yourself resisting taking inspired action, pause for a moment and ask yourself why. Your inspirations are like your tickets to get on the ride you’ve been waiting in line for at the amusement park – it’s your turn, so what’s stopping you from getting on, enjoying the ride, and seeing where it takes you?

If you’re tired of just observing how inspiring something is and are ready, instead, to actively participate in that inspiration moving you forward in the direction that your ME is encouraging you to go, I am here to support you!  You can call or e-mail me (http://www.momevolve.com/contactlynn) today!

Feeling inspired is one thing – doing something with that inspiration is really Something Else!

Live Positively Fulfilled!

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

Although it feels good to get things done – especially things that feel as though they’ve been hanging over your head and placing extra weight on your shoulders – remember this very important thing: The mom who checks off the most To-Do’s at the end of her day is not declared the winner!

Motherhood is not a race nor a competition, so putting pressure on yourself to run the hardest and the fastest, day after day, is not only completely unnecessary, it is a sure-fire recipe for burn-out, overwhelm, and a lot of self-criticism.

Your To-Do list is just that – a list of things you can choose to do… or not to do… the choice is yours. But, your To-Do’s do not define you. Please allow me to repeat that, because it really is so important: Your To-Do’s do not define who you are. As moms, we can get so caught up in what we did or didn’t get done in a day, that we start to beat ourselves up with critical self-judgments and self-doubts when we don’t feel like we checked enough To-Do’s off by day’s end. When we use our To-Do list as a tool to measure how we feel we “stack-up” up against our own and others’ expectations, we are basing our self-worth on our To-Do progress. And when we do this, to quote an old song, we’re “looking for love in all the wrong places!”

On any given day, what you offer as a mom and a woman goes so way beyond any agenda item or To-Do task! When was the last time you patted yourself on the back and celebrated that you were there to comfort your child or a friend when she needed reassurance, or that your children knew they were loved when you tucked them in at night, or that your child was kind to another child at school because of the love and values that you share with him so freely all day every day?

Take the time to honor, acknowledge, congratulate, and love yourself each day – truly and deeply – for all of the incredible ways you share your Self and your unique gifts with others daily. You make a huge difference in the lives of others and the world every day, just by being a loving mom, in ways that have nothing to do with your To-Do’s. The best way to show love to our children is to show love to ourselves, so take time daily to acknowledge that “You’re doing a GREAT job, Mom!”, regardless of how many To-Do’s you happened to check off today.

Live Positively Fulfilled!

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