What's this about?

Over the last couple weeks I’ve had a couple people ask me “What’s your blog about?”  Oddly enough the question catches me off guard and I struggle to answer because to me the blog is about so many different things it’s hard to narrow it down.  I usually end up responding that it’s about parenting and work life balance.  That it often includes funny stories about my kids going through various situations where someone always responds, “my kids do that too”.  Even though I think that was a pretty good answer, the question is still nagging me.

The blog is also my chance to share quotes, ideas and concepts that I’ve read about that make me stop and think.  This week I read a quote from the book “The Upside of Stress” by Kelly McGonigal:

Stress caused by the news, as opposed to stress caused by your life, is unique in its ability to trigger a sense of hopelessness. Watching TV news after a natural disaster or terrorist attack has consistently been shown to increase the risk of developing depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. One shocking study found that people who watched six or more hours of news about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing were more likely to develop post-traumatic stress symptoms than people who were actually at the bombing and personally affected by it.

Can you believe that?  People who watched over 6 hours of news on the bombing had more symptoms than the people who were actually there!  That is crazy!  What a vivid reminder that what we choose to pay attention to matters. 

This week on Facebook millions of people created word clouds showing their most used words in their posts over the last year.  I’m not typically one to participate in all the Facebook quizzes but this one intrigued me.  My word cloud looked like this:

There are many words that stand out at first glance: time, day, love, beautiful, happy, one, think, kids and weekend.  But as I looked at it again, the words that really stood out were time, day, love and one.  Shuffling them around they make the phrase “Love one day (at a) time” which is another accurate description of what this blog is about.  It’s about giving yourself a break, not being consumed by the to-do list and taking time to enjoy each day as it comes.

The blog is also my opportunity to share with you some of my favorite things.  This week we will all celebrate Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays of the year.  I love the outpouring of gratitude that is not only expressed but also felt during Thanksgiving.  In one of my favorite quotes, Marie Forleo says it best:

Gratitude is simply a deep and genuine sense of appreciation for what you have in your life. For things big and small. For the air you breathe; the unconditional love of your pet; for blessing of someone who loves you.And this shouldn’t just be an intellectual or mental exercise, it should touch you and fill you up emotionally.Because when you genuinely fill yourself up with the emotion of appreciation, it changes how you feel and it completely alters the actions you take and, therefore, the results you’ll create.

Happy Thanksgiving!      

Heart-FULLy Yours,    

Kacey

p.s. You may be thinking, the blog is great, but I could never do that!  I disagree and am here to help!  Let’s schedule a 30 minute consultation to define what matters most to you right now and create a plan on how to spend more of your time doing that.  Email me at balancedheartcoaching@gmail.com and we’ll work out the details.