RAIN: How Can I Utilize Mindfulness During Difficult Times?

Anxious? Depressed? Worried? Stressed? It happens to the best of us, at least every now and then with all of the many curve balls and unexpected things that life throws at us. Mindfulness exercises allow us to stop what we are doing, take a breath, observe thoughts, feelings, and emotions, and proceed with something that will help us in the present moment.

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Relationships: How Do I Make Meaningful Connections?

To be able to find our way back to ourselves and each other, we must understand how our emotions shape our thoughts and decisions. If we don’t do this, we become “disembodied” from our own experiences and disconnected from others. Sometimes, a barrier in understanding this is that many people struggle to be held accountable without rationalizing, blaming, or shutting down.

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Mind the Mother: How Does Breastfeeding Affect Mental Health?

Breastfeeding…if you don’t have kids, you might be freaked out by the idea of it. If you have kids, you might have tried it and had your own experience with it. Has it turned out to be more challenging for you than you initially anticipated? You’re not alone.

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Motherhood: What Does My Baby Need Most?

About two weeks into motherhood, my sister-in-law sent me this “Love Letter from Your Baby” written by Jess Urlichs. While navigating the biggest and most rewarding and exciting, yet challenging thing that’s ever happened to me, also while recovering from a C-section, at the time there was nothing that I needed to read more than this. It can be a scary and confusing time, with lots of firsts and unknowns.

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Growth and Development, Pt. III: What Happens in the Final Years of Childhood?

If you read my previous blog posts, this is the final part to the three-part blog series about human growth and development. It discusses the progression from what you need to know about growth and development, the evolution of children’s growth, and the final years of childhood as one slowly approaches adolescence where much of their personality and traits have already developed and are set in stone.

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Bridgette Gottwald
Conflict within Marriage: How Do I Fight Fairly?

We can all agree – arguing stinks. Although marriage can be one of the most wonderful and rewarding parts of life, it can also be challenging and it’s something that has to be constantly worked on. All close and intimate relationships experience conflict sometimes. It can be healthy and productive as long as we go about it in the right ways.

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Bridgette Gottwald
Guided Body Scan Meditation: How Is It Done?

Often many people are intimidated by meditation and think that they “can’t do it.” My hope with this blog is to provide you with an approachable and easy way to do a body scan meditation, with the main goal of relieving stress and tension. It can be difficult to self-facilitate this exercise, so there is an audio version of this blog that you can listen to at home!

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You Are a Badass: How Do I Stop Doubting My Greatness? Part I

Are you looking to identify and change some of the self-sabotaging beliefs and behaviors that inhibit you from getting what you want? If so, Jen Sincero’s number-one New York Times Best Seller You Are a Badass would be a great place for you to start. This blog will share important lessons, reflections, and takeaways from this book.

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You Are a Badass: How Do I Stop Doubting My Greatness? Part II

If you read my previous blog post, you were introduced to some of the self-sabotaging beliefs and behaviors that inhibit you from getting what you want. Here is part two of this series that continues to share encouragement and reasons why you deserve to live a life full of meaning that you desire.

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What Can I Learn from Reading and Observing Body Language? Part II

If you read my last blog post, which was part one of this two-part blog series, you learned many things that you would be able to observe from the body language of others. It discussed studying the eyes, facial movements, and proximity of body positioning. Part two includes information about mirroring, head movements, feet and hand signals, and more!

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