MINDFULNESS – Plum Joyful

Q&A: Dr. Shefali Tsabary on The Awakened Family

PlumJoyful — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 07:00:52 +0000

A few weeks back I had the great honor of meeting one of my parenting heroes Dr. Shefali Tsabary. I went to a beautiful book signing where a group of mothers were invited to hear Dr. Shefali speak and encouraged to ask questions. I was a little beside myself with excitement because I am such a fan of her work. Her book The Conscious Parent was one of the few parenting books I read before having my daughter, and it resonated with me in a way that nothing else has. The afternoon turned out to be nothing short of transformative, and I wanted to find a way to share that with all of you. For those of you who don’t already know, Dr. Shefali Tsabary is a New York Times bestselling author, a world-renowned clinical psychologist with a doctorate from Columbia, and a sought after speaker. She has written three life changing books, THE CONSCIOUS PARENT, OUT OF CONTROL, and her latest book THE AWAKENED FAMILY. She is Queen O’s favorite parenting expert, can be seen on Oprah’s Lifeclass as well as Super Soul Sunday (this sunday Aug. 7th!) and her TEDx talk is a must see. Her ideas are truly […]

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Going from (A)nxiety to (Z)en: Practical tips to ease the anxious mind and body

PlumJoyful — Mon, 18 Jul 2016 19:15:20 +0000

Anxiety has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. It has been one of my toughest and most constant struggles. I am just wired that way. My natural default state is one of worry. I am a CHAMPION worrier. If they gave out medals for worrying, I would be the Michael Phelps of anxiety. It’s funny because most who meet me think I am the epitome of a calm and grounded person, but the truth is that I (like many who struggle with anxiety) am like the proverbial duck. Gliding smoothly on top of the water while my feet (or brain) are going a mile a minute. I have had to really work to understand and heal this in my life. An ongoing process by the way. But it’s something I have real understanding about, and I know how tough it can be. There have been tools I have learned along the way that have made a huge difference in the way my highly sensitive brain processes anxious thoughts and experiences. I wanted to share some of these things in the event they may help someone else. But first let’s start with understanding what […]

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How to stay motivated: 10 tips to boost your willpower

PlumJoyful — Fri, 27 May 2016 08:08:08 +0000

We all start out with the best of intentions when it comes to our goals. We are full of excitement and ready to take on the challenges necessary to achieve those goals. But somewhere along the way our enthusiasm begins to wane. Excitement is replaced by frustration or even worse, apathy, and we find ourselves giving up before we get where we want to be. This is what it is to be human. We have free will and can choose what we want to put our energy towards, but it is up to us to keep ourselves moving in the right direction. For some it is easier than others. I imagine there is some gene responsible for willpower that they will discover someday. I can tell you right now, I don’t have it. Staying motivated is not my strong suit. For me willpower is a muscle and I have to work at it. The more work I do the stronger it gets. If I neglect it for too long? It’s a flabby, floppy, mushy mess. I have to use strategies to keep me focused and moving towards my goals. If you read my last post on sugar addiction then you know […]

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Podcasts to inspire and uplift: Spring cleaning for the mind

PlumJoyful — Mon, 25 Apr 2016 16:47:42 +0000

As you all know we at Plum Joyful have been focusing on Spring cleaning this month. We have completed the seven day green smoothie challenge, and have continued to add more fruits and vegetables to our diet. We began the process of cleaning out our homes, starting with uncluttering our closets. Now it is time to turn our attention to what just might be the most important area of all. The one in most need of cleaning, but also the most overlooked. The mind. Here are six incredible podcasts to inspire you and support you on your spring cleaning journey. Podcasts to uplift and inspire GOOD LIFE PROJECT– Good Life Project podcast was started by Jonathan Fields, an award-winning author with the goal of helping it’s listeners live a life of joy, connection and meaning. He interviews incredible leaders and teachers who all have profound wisdom and inspiration to share. People like Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat Pray Love) and Brene Brown (if you haven’t seen her TED TALK on the power of vulnerability, it is a must see. MAGIC LESSONS– Speaking of Elizabeth Gilbert, she has a podcast that is an extension of the ideas in her latest book Big […]

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Happy Earth Day! Simple ways to save our earth

PlumJoyful — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 08:54:08 +0000

I love Earth Day. I think everyday should be Earth Day, but for now I will settle for just the one day every year. I even got engaged on Earth Day. It wasn’t planned, it just worked out that way, but it’s made Earth Day even more special for me. Nature is my church. It is where I go to find peace and balance. Where I go to find inspiration. Where I go to find myself when I’m feeling lost. It has healed me, soothed me, nurtured me and saved me more times than I can count. I would be lost without it. And yet, like most of us, I take it for granted. I take for granted the fact that it will always be there for me. We think we can take what we need from the Earth and it will keep giving and giving endlessly. I wish it were that simple but we know that it’s not. Something has to shift before it’s too late. This planet is AWESOME. We are lucky beyond belief to live here. Maybe one day they will make Mars or some other planet habitable, but I have no interest. I know what we […]

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Helping our children keep an open heart in a scary world

PlumJoyful — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 08:23:34 +0000

I have a 15 month old daughter and this is not the world I wanted her to inherit. I don’t know how to explain something as awful as what happened in Brussels. Not that I have to right now, she’s only a baby, but one day I will and I dread that day. A few days ago on a trip to buy her some shoes, she walked right up to a little two year old girl whom she never met and wrapped her arms around her in a big hug. Just last night I watched her naked little body march proudly up to the mirror to admire her belly. She pointed out her belly, eyes and nose, then promptly said I love you and gave her reflection a kiss. Her heart is open. Wide open. It’s the most spectacular thing to see in the world. The fact that I recognize how wonderful it is must point to the fact that once upon a time I was like that to. We all were. We come into this world from some unseen place as a force of love, open, willing, alive, and somewhere along the way we begin to build walls around […]

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Meditation: Easy ways to incorporate it into your life

PlumJoyful — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 09:02:13 +0000

Meditation is one of the best things we can do for our health and wellbeing, it’s easy and it’s free! And it will improve you life on EVERY level. So why don’t we do it on the regular? It’s a bit like exercise in that way. I know it will make me feel SO much better once I do it, but getting myself to actually do it seems to be the challenge. It’s so curious to me that the things that we know will have exponentially positive effects on our life, like meditation, exercise, and eating well, are sometimes the most challenging things to do on a regular basis. Why? I think part of the challenge are all the “ideas” we have of what meditation is. That you have to sage your space or burn some cleansing incense, chant a mantra given to you by some guru who is so enlightened their body no longer requires sleep or food for that matter, and sit for a minimum of twenty minutes in perfect stillness with a blank mind. Oy. That kind of pressure is enough to make anyone not want to do it. If you are a perfectionist like me, chances are […]

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Be your own Valentine: Get your self love on.

PlumJoyful — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 00:00:10 +0000

This Valentine’s day, regardless of wether or not you have a partner, I’m going to encourage you to get your self love on. Not that kind of self-love, get your mind out of the gutter. That’s a different post for a different day. I’m talking about taking the kindness and compassion that you show for your friends and family and directing some of that towards yourself. Why is it that loving ourselves, and being kind to ourselves takes such effort when it flows so effortlessly towards our loved ones? As someone who is habitually hard on myself, I wanted to get some clarity on this topic. There is a new area of psychological research emerging around the area of Self-Compassion. For perfectionists, the sensitive, the ones who can’t get back to sleep after feeding the baby at three AM because your obsessing over the fact that in your exhausted stupor you forgot to tip the barista at Starbucks that morning and they MUST think your a horrible person…..just a hypothetical..ahem… here is what the research shows. It will shed some light on the importance of self compassion, and hopefully inspire you to give yourself a break and a big old […]

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