Part of mindful living is being aware when things are good or bad that no matter what this is just a moment in time that will pass. Sometimes it does not feel that way.
 
Sometimes the rain lasts for weeks or months. Sometimes the heat is relentless. Sometimes the losses are too many, too often, too close. Sometimes it feels as though we can’t see our way out, we can’t handle anymore, we can’t be anymore. We can’t move into the positive hope to see the solutions.
 
That is when we need to take the advice of one very wise fish and “Just Keep Swimming.”
 
There was a news story recently of a woman who fell off a cruise ship and was in the ocean water for 10 hours before being found. There was another summer story of a boy who got caught in a rip current and was out in the Atlantic for hours until seeing land and being able to head to shore. What did they have in common in their survival stories? They just kept swimming.
 
It was dark. It was cold. The giant fishes of the sea were for sure circling. They had no knowledge of what lay ahead. They had no certainty that they would be rescued. They had no one to help them, no place to swim to, nothing to hold onto. They just kept swimming. They kept treading water and keeping their head above the waves to breathe in the air. They stayed afloat until that one opportunity showed up where they could be seen, found, helped by others, dry on land.
 
For sure they had moments of doubt. For sure they had moments of despair. They felt lost. They felt hopeless. They felt scared. But they didn’t let it stop them from swimming. They didn’t let it stop them from keeping afloat long enough for the help to come. They were not physically stronger than anyone else. They were not better swimmers than anyone else. They were mentally tough. They had the skills of perseverance, of hope, of possibility, of tenacity in times of life or death. They somehow knew to just keep swimming.
 
In this day in age the words Grit and Reliance have become a part of what we wish to teach our children. A whole generation of humans were helped so much they never developed the skills to survive the fears, the losses, the crisis’s, the aloneness that life can bring. They fall apart in the face of living alone on their own. Their stress is at an all time high. They don’t know how to survive without those skills.
 
One way we can teach our children the invisible skills to survive those challenges in life, whether it is a new school, new friends, bullying, school safety fears, family changes, losses or just growing up daily emotional challenges, is to model the resiliency of those who survive.
 
If you aren’t sure if you are, listen to the words you use. When people come to us with problems, do we give them answers we think our best or feed them fear on how hard it is? Or do we say “You are smart. You can figure this out. You go this!”
 
Do we tell them how scary the world is and how hard it is to be a person in today’s world or do we show them step by step how to create the world we want to live in with an action plan and researched information so they can decide with confidence and an educated point of view? Do we tell them all the reasons why it won’t work or do we give them options on the many ways it can?
 
Do we use words like “I don’t know.” or do we say “Let’s find out!”
 
Do we say “You will drown.” or do we say “Just Keep Swimming.”
 
Life is difficult. There is no easy way out. Knowing that we can do this together, that there are solutions, that help and answers do come if you just keep moving forward, even if you can’t see a foot in front of your face. Even when you don’t have answers, even when you don’t know what is to come, how do we as adults keep moving?
 
Sometimes just treading water and keeping our face above the waves is enough. For this too shall pass. Life is just a series of changes. And with kids those changes come fast and furious! Holding on is all we can do sometimes.
 
As school starts and the changes come again, may we all cheer each other on as we find our way in the waves and stay afloat in this crazy journey of life!
 
- Jeannine
(aka JP Starre)
 
 
* If you want a little more mindful living, consider taking the Mindfulness Writing Course this fall! Starting mid-September, this 10 week online course with simple once a week with emailed prompt assignments is for EVERYONE looking for a few more Mindful Moments in their lives!
 
*Fun to do with your family or kids too! One sign up only per family. <3
Sign up here: http://www.mindfulnessmothers.com/mindfulness-writing-course.html
 
@MindfulnessMoms 
 
____________________________
 
Find out more about how to find your possibilities at:
www.aworldofpossibility.com
 
______________________________
 
**** We have some GREAT articles this month on our MindfulnessMothers.com website.
Go check it out!! A BIG THANKS to all the authors who contribute! ***
 
New articles monthly linked on the home page at: www.mindfulnessmothers.com

One of the greatest dangers in life is hopelessness. When we are at the end of our rope, when we can’t see the way out, when we are overwhelmed and underdone, when we cannot see the path in front of us, we freeze. And in that fight or flight freeze, we can slip into despair, depression, panic, or chronic anxiety. We can feel lost. We can feel alone. We can feel weighed down so heavy with the darkness in front we cannot see the light right in front of our face. That is when The Power of Possibility can pull us from the darkest depths into a light we may have never known existed.
 
This challenge can also face our children. Kids deal with so much stress today. Fear is fed to them at every chance. They are searching for answers as they grow and discover who they are in this world. It’s enough to bring anyone down at different times of our lives. By finding possibility we not only help ourselves, but we can use these tools to help our kids find the answers to their issues as well.
 
There are many ways to use this power, but today we will focus on a few:
 
1. Opposite Day
Imagine you are in despair. You have had a great loss, a job, a parent, a friend, a move, a big change has occurred. You are looking at the void, trapped, caught in the vortex of “What now?” But what you have done in the past has not worked. You have tried so many ways. Doing what you have always done has not worked.
 
What to do? Make two columns on a piece of paper. Write down what you have done in the past. Write down the thoughts you have had, the ideas that didn’t work out, and then? Write down the opposite on the other side of the paper.
 
And then choose an opposite action to do, and do it! For one day, do the opposite! And if it works, do it again.
 
When we are in the throws of negative thinking the things we think can drive us deeper into the hole. Our instincts are to throw that pity party and feed that negative side. Have an Opposite Day.
 
When the thoughts come: “This will not work out. I can’t do this!” change it to “This can work out, and I can make it work out.”  And then do it. See what happens! (It is amazing what does.)
 
* Coach your kids! Share with them the idea of Opposite Day before the mood hits. Then when they are facing a challenge and giving you a million reasons why something won’t work, ask it the opposite was true.
 
 
2. Theory of Wonder
If opposite is not your thing, or you aren’t ready to do the opposite, then maybe it’s time to start day dreaming. Day dreaming is a way to pull us out of the reality we are in and create the reality we wish we were living. We can live whatever life we want to live when we day dream. We can be whoever we wish to be. The fun is? Our bodies do not know the difference. Our bodies inside act as though the day dream is real, so it reacts positively and gives us positive feelings.
 
Just imagine if whatever you were facing worked out so well you could not even imagine it and then, imagine it! Use your power of imagination to bring to life that which you wish could be true, to give you the focus to make it true.
 
When you imagine, pay attention to what ideas and feelings come up.
 
Where do you go when you day dream?  Who do you become? When we are given free reign to day dream into infinite possibility, it can give us clues as to what is missing in our lives. Are you relaxing on a beach? Maybe you need to spend some time at the park in nature by water. Are you doing a hobby you love as a job? Then perhaps it’s time to see how that hobby can be an actual lifestyle reality for you as a career. Do you spend time with friends or family, or in community, in your day dreams? Then it’s time to call a friend.
 
Take clues from your day dreams helps you learn to understand who you are and what you are missing and wish you could have now in life.
 
*Coach Your Kids! - Ask them to use their imagination to find a solution or a place to escape to when they are stressed. If you are able to ask and have a conversation about what they imagine and where they go, you can learn a lot about your child, who they are, and what they really need in life.
 
Possibilities are endless in life. Life throws us limitations and challenges our way.  When we get caught in that space of “I don’t know.” having a few tools under our belt to get us un-stuck and moving into the groove again can be life saving.
 
What possibilities are you opening up to today?
 
- Jeannine
(aka JP Starre)
 
@MindfulnessMoms 
 
____________________________
 
Find out more about how to find your possibilities at:
www.aworldofpossibility.com
 

I just saw on the local news a story about parents getting into a fistfight, literally punching and kicking each other, at a girls 10-12 years old softball game! Yup! Grown up adults beating each other because one ref made a call they disagreed with. Now I’m aware the most Zen among us can get heated when it comes to the kids. We are a passionate people. The game is intense. We have opinions and personalities clash. But to these kids, who were crying and actively physically trying to interfere to stop the whole thing, it is not a game. This is their life.
 
The thought that came to my mind at seeing this was not “How could they?”
I know why they can. The pressure to be #1, to be the best, to be the one at the top, to have your kid be the lead, the star, the straight A student, is immense these days. We are measured as adults now by the performance of the children. The children are measured by their grade schools as to who they will be in college (10 years and 3 feet growth later!)
 
Everything hinges on appearances. Our kids make us look good. Everything we have is invested in who they are and how they perform.
 
As they recruiting slogan goes “Be all you can be.”
 
The word we have forgotten in that statement is repeated twice: BE.
 
Are we teaching the kids to be all they can BE? Or are we teaching them to be all they can Do? Do we want them to BE themselves, or are we teaching them that DOING and achieving is more important to life?
 
The thing is, kids will always do. Try stopping a kid (under the teen fatigue age) from doing. Can’t be done. Kids are always doing. They move constantly. That is the nature of the growth of the unbelievable energy of children. What they do, how they do, it and how we perceive it is secondary.
 
Kids do! That should be the new Nike slogan. What WE do with it? That is up to us. So, what are we doing with what kids do these days?
 
The one thing I see is we are taking life way too seriously. The joy of being a kid is discovery what you LIKE doing. That is the discovery of who you are to be. What do you enjoy?  What do you love about life? What hobby have you discovered that thrills you, that lifts you up, that makes you look forward to the day? Remember that feeling? Remember that love? That is what childhood is for! Childhood is for the fun! The fun of being a kid!
 
I believe that by pressuring kids to do more, achieve more, accomplish more, strive more, push harder, and be more, we are losing the fun of discovery that comes with being a child.
 
And perhaps in the process we are losing the fun of being a parent too.
 
This summer take a look at how intense you got about your children’s achievements, their activities, their grades, their wins and losses. What triggered you? Are you about to start the next parent brawl? Why?
 
Catch yourself and take that big deep breath. And ask, “Where is the fun?”
 
Kids know how to do. Kids know how to have fun. Maybe we just need to sit back, relax, and let them be. Becoming who they are is the most important job they will ever achieve in childhood. You get to decide where you place in that journey. What do you choose?
 
- Jeannine
(aka JP Starre)
 
#BringbackFUN! 
 
 
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______________________________
 
**** We have some GREAT articles this month on our MindfulnessMothers.com website. Go check it out!! A BIG THANKS to all the authors who contribute! ***
 
New articles monthly! www.mindfulnessmothers.com
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Aloha and much love as you continue on your day! Thanks for all your support of the mothers and children in this amazing world.
 
Supporting the amazing women who do the toughest job of caring for our most precious with balance and serenity.
www.mindfulnessmothers.com

The to do list has piled up. The school has piled on more and your children’s activities all have something immediately important to do today. There just isn’t enough time, energy, or brain power to handle it all! The stress steams like a pressure cooker and you are ready to blow. Just at that moment, someone spills milk all over the table. You want to cry, shout, scream!! One deep breath and all of that stress is going to come out of your mouth. And then it occurs to you - Why are we doing all this? 
 
Why indeed?
 
Life can happen to us. We can get caught up in other people’s to do lists for us. The school, other parents, our parents, in-laws, friends, our children’s ever changing needs, and even our own ambition can create a to do list a mile long that even 60 hours in a day could not handle.
 
Our up bringing says if you quit you are a loser or lazy. The parenting blogs say you must have your child commit to a sport and stick to it. We think we have to do it all perfectly all the time in every way. We must not miss out on anything or anyone. We must perform at tip top shape and take care of everyone all the time, be everything to everyone. We must never stop! We must always complete every activity, be at every sporting event, say yes to everything, and never ever miss a thing. We must never quit.

What if we didn’t? What if quitting was a good thing?
 
A recent news article (that I can’t find now ;) talked about the pressure we have put upon our children to perform the best at all their activities, as if the purpose of the activity was to do well. In truth, this story said, that the purpose of activities when children are younger is to learn new and varied things.
 
Playing the piano helps a child’s brain develop different neurological connections that help develop academic, physical, and social skills as well as fostering creativity.   https://www.parents.com/kids/development/intellectual/6-benefits-of-music-lessons/
Learning a sport helps with team building, social skills, and responsibility. Volunteering or having a new hobby all create opportunities to become skilled and grow self-esteem in an area they might not later on in life when the work they do must pay the bills. All of these things have value. It does not matter if they do them for a day or ten years. If the purpose is experience, then it matters.
 
What if your day was built less around the to do lists that other people put on you, and more about what you want to experience? What if you looked at your kids’ school and activities as what they, and you, want them to experience? What if life was less like a race we are running to win, and more like a day to day journey we are taking together to enjoy?
 
What would your life look like then? Would you feel less pressure, guilt, or embarrassment if you just didn’t go to that PTA meeting and instead went out to a picnic with your kids? Or how about soccer? What if you measured it on how much coordination your child was getting instead of how many goals?
 
Life can change instantly simply by changing perspective. I dare you, today, to quit one thing. Just don’t do it! Say “Sorry, I’m going a different direction.” And then do! Go do something that fulfills you, that brings joy to your kids, and unites your family.
 
And the next time you look at your to do list? Imagine what it would look like if all of that busy work was not so all mighty important and life was just about living. What would that look like?
 
Here’s to simplifying and taking back control of our lives to be the journey it can be.
 
A proud quitter and lover of life!
- Jeannine
(aka JP Starre)

Performance Parenting
 
The fear is real. Becoming a parent is the least prepared, most stressed, unbelievable achievement that this human world has to offer. It is a biological need we have. Babies are cute and that newborn head smell! Oh, better than any drug.
 
But then comes reality. Home with a teeny tiny little one with arms and legs and eyes, and skin, and heartbeat, and whoa! The realization comes; you are responsible for keeping this little one alive. More than that, you are responsible for every success, failure, cry, scream, need, and want this little one has! You are responsible for 20 + years everything that this little human being needs. And the world is watching.
 
It used to be keeping a kid alive was enough to be a good parent. You were enough if your children were fed, clothed, and had a roof over their heads. That was your job as a parent. Boo-boo kisses were extra and the town was expected to care for the kids as much as you the parent. That is no longer true.
 
The burden for all, for everything, is now on you. And more than ever, there are a thousand voices telling you what that is supposed to look like, what you are supposed to look like, and who you are supposed to be raising.
 
I call it Performance Parenting. The world is a stage and with the invention of the internet and social media, you are now the performer.
 
It is not enough to have your mother or mother-in-law telling you what you are doing wrong, how it should be done, or what million things could be better, it’s now the schools, the neighbors, some stranger you meet at a business dinner, and of course, the Mommy Blogs. They are all telling you how to be the Best Mother Ever!
 
And if you don’t do what they want you to do? Shame. Shame on you! Guilt, criticism, and social bullying come from all over. The look down the nose for not breast feeding from a mother who can so easily, passive aggressive showboating from that genius kid who can play the piano at five years old (and why isn’t your kid a Beethoven like that), why your teen is depressed articles (it’s your fault they say), and why aren’t our diets and parenting skills like the other nations (who are obviously better than us.)
 
It’s a lot. It’s a whole lot.
 
As humans, when we measure our success we look around at the other people near us to see how we are doing. Before the internet, that would be our neighbors, our church our small communities, our town schools, and our families. That was it.
 
Now we are open to the world. Our families, our children, and the way we raise our children, is now open to the world. We look around to see how we are doing and we are comparing ourselves to people from many other countries, nations, cultures, and opinions.
 
That can be good as we are now able to learn from all those different people and parents with new ideas and new ways of doing things. But it can also make us feel like we are never enough.
 
Because no matter how much you do, how well you do it, or how awesome your children are, you will always be able to find someone else who is doing it better, more, more often, or showing you how to do better than you are today.
 
There will always be more. There will always be better. In this new world of performance and showmanship, there will always be someone better, prettier, smarter, more capable, and more awesome than you feel you are. Always.
 
I believe the sleep deprivation that comes when that newborn comes home was designed to tear down that Performance Parenting desire. (Because after 4 days without a shower and covered in all sorts of baby bodily fluids, there is an acceptance that no filter will ever hide the mess, we give up and just embrace the insanity!:) I believe the toddler age was designed to tear down our egos thinking we got it all figured out. (For when you lose an argument with a 2 year old and they walk away with that sugar treat you said you would never give them, there is a sick sense of pride and resignation that this parenting thing may not go the way you thought after all.)
 
Performance Parenting goes against the system of children that was built to tear us down and help us connect to the children. That’s the point of parenting: connecting to the children. It’s not about connecting to some random stranger on Facebook who thinks they know everything that you should do to be a perfect parent. It isn’t about posing perfectly symmetrical photos of your kids in matching outfits, or a Pinterest worthy OCD clean house. Childhood was set up to tear down the parents so that you reach a point of giving up the performance show and just be, just be human, just be a person, just be in the mess, just be in love, just love.
 
That is why I believe it’s so hard. It is designed to create connection to the children. Because caring about our kids is what parenting is really all about. And when you care about your kids to the best of your ability? That makes you the Best Parent in the World!
And the only one you need to be.
 
You are the best because you are doing your best! Everyone is doing their best! (Even the ones we think aren’t.) That is the secret to Performance Parenting. There is no Best Ever. Parenting, life as a human being, is THE HARDEST thing ever.
 
Life as a human being is hard. There is no easy Photoshop Instagram filter to make it easier. It is hard.
 
So when you find yourself feeling not enough. When those emails from the school come in telling you not to be a helicopter parent at the same time telling you to make sure your 9th grader has their homework done in time, pull back into mindfulness and see how absurd this all is! See the show for what it is. See the performance at play. Watch the players interact and try their best to do what they think is best.
 
And have some compassion. Have compassion for yourself in this high pressure world where everything is judged by people you will never meet. Have some compassion for yourself when you find yourself second guessing your decisions or what you are doing as a parent, as a person.
 
Have some compassion for yourself in a time where the tribe you are comparing yourself to is the world. And just take a moment today to be. Just be with your kids. Just be with the mess. Just be with the fear. Just be with the hugs and the tears, the highs and lows. Just be.
 
Here’s to all the humans in the world today!! May you know you are the best you ever!!!!
 
 
- Jeannine
(aka JP Starre)
 
* We will be starting a new Possibility Path and The Possibility Path for Parents this June!! If you are ready to understand your children and your family at a deep level, feel more confident and prepared than you ever have before, and find direction in your life, then, schedule your free discovery call today!
 
@jeannineproulx  -  [email protected]
 
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Do you know a Magnificent Mom who likes to talk and tell stories?
We will be doing a Mindfulness Mothers’ Podcast event for Mother’s Day, interviewing some lovely mothers with 5 quick questions on the joys and trials of motherhood.
Recommend someone or yourself by responding to this email, or just come listen in later on this month! *And check the Mindfulness Mothers Facebook Group for the survey you can be a part of to help mothers around the world!
 
Happy Mother’s Day month!
 
Listen to the Mother’s Day Magnificent Mom podcasts staring on Mother’s Day here:
http://www.mindfulnessmothers.com/podcast---mindfulness-mothers.html

One simple way to find peace.
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The spring busy season has begun. Kids are in school plays and taking tests, spring break is giving some space at the same time less structure, and across most of America winter is still here even though Easter us upon us. The news has taken over many of our emotions, seeping into our schools, and causing us fear in places we had never thought before. It can be all overwhelming to say the least.

I was having one of those days a few weeks back. The weather was dark, there was some upset on the news, and some other upsets in my life. I was on the verge of dipping into darkness and fear. That’s when I decided to take control of the day and stop living in the reactions of other people’s dramas. I needed a pick me up and I needed one quick.
 
I shut off the screens, opened up the windows to breathe a breath of cold clean air, and turned on some music.
 
Within 2 songs I was dancing in the kitchen while doing dishes, arms raised, head bobbing. It felt sooo good! I lost all that noise of the day in the beat of the music and suddenly felt better.
 
The water on my hands as I rinsed a dish felt so smooth. The air felt calm. Life felt doable. I felt better. I felt peaceful, happy, balanced.
 
And that’s when I realized music itself can be used as mindfulness!
 
Do you ever remember that feeling? The lost in the world, cannot be distracted, lose yourself in the melody, memories flooding back, hair in the wind, listening to your favorite song feeling? That feeling is mindfulness! That feeling brings you to a place where you are fully in this present moment, not in anyone else’s drama or concerns or fears. You are free in that peaceful zone.
 
When I was little music was all around me. My grandfather was a jazz guitarist, both my parents played in a band, my aunts and uncles all played professionally. and they would gather in our home and play together. My brothers and I all took music lessons, two of them now work professionally as jazz musicians. My nieces and nephews all love and play and are learning music. As my niece once said when asked why everyone was singing in her family, “That’s just what we do in this house.”
 
Music is in my blood. It is the core of me. And yet? I am a writer and an artist. My days are spent thinking and dreaming and writing. I have not played or sang in years. The house is quiet here when I work.
 
After that day I realized I need more music in my life. I need more of that feeling. I need more of the connection, that joy, that emotion, that love of the sweetness of those notes flying through the air into my heart!
 
So my spring resolution is the same advice I gave the kids for The Melodies: “Turn off the TV and play a CD!”
 
Here’s to more music, joy, and peace in our lives!
 
- Jeannine (aka JP Starre)
 
* We will be starting a new Possibility Path and The Possibility Path  for Parents this June!! If you are ready to understand your children and your family at a deep level, feel more confident and prepared than you ever have before, and find direction in your life, then, schedule your free discovery call today with me!
 
@jeannineproulx  -  [email protected]
 
_________________________________________
 
PS - If you are looking for a great upbeat Mother’s or Father’s Day gift - my awesome brother John Proulx just came out with a new CD with song co-written and featuring Melissa Manchester - from the heart to yours!
 
You can get it here:  
https://www.amazon.com/Say-John-Proulx/dp/B079SMBF3Q
** And for all my LA Peeps!!!
You can see him live April 29th in Studio City!! I’ll be there in spirit. J
VITELLO'S RESTAURANT
4349 TUJUNGA AVE., STUDIO CITY, CA 91604 - T . 818 769 0905
 
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New articles monthly! www.mindfulnessmothers.com
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* You receive Mindful Moments once a month! If at anytime you do not wish to receive this newsletter, please shoot a quick email to [email protected] or [email protected]
 
Aloha and much love as you continue on your day! Thanks for all your support of the mothers and children in this amazing world.
 
Supporting the amazing women who do the toughest job of caring for our most precious with balance and serenity.
www.mindfulnessmothers.com

The sun is shining today and the temps have risen above 32 degrees. (The magic number for freezing as any northern climate resident knows!) The months have passed and spring seems to be right around the corner. It is a time of great joy for me. My hibernation period over. The stress of snow driving gone. I can relax into the easing of the thaw and greenery to come before the busy time of summer.
 
When we moved to the tropics I had one answer as to why. “Winter.” I would say emphatically. It was. Winter and I don’t’ always get along. I love being outside. I love sunshine. And I love open water. Those three things are taken away from me during winter. ( No. I have not found a winter sport to get me outside yet. ;)
 
We are not back in West Michigan. (Family and familiar.) It is the home I love. It is the land I love and the land that loves me. But winter still does not. It hides me inside and keeps me down. It holes me up and chills me out. It’s a necessary part of the rhythm of life. I do love the seasonal change. But the 5 months of winter up north here is a bit much for this sunshine girl to take!
 
So today when it hit 40 degrees, I felt free. I felt alive. I felt hope. I felt possibility again. It was a good feeling.
 
A better feeling? Knowing that with the warmer temps will come the thaw. The thaw that unfreezes the waters is just right around the corner.
 
I am a lake lover, always have been. Growing up near the shores of Lake Michigan the water is in my blood, The fresh air oxygen, clear salt free-ness of the big lakes is why I am back in Michigan. The ocean has its charms (and my dolphins!) but the fresh water  is life. And the big lakes are indeed fresh water oceans. (If you have never been, you must go.)
 
There is something about open, flowing, lake water that frees my soul and calms me down like nothing else on this earth. Looking at the real estate prices of waterfront, it would appear I am not alone.
 
The waves come in, they go out. The movement, the constant change of color, of mystery, of aliveness in that motion acts like a rocking bassinet. I feel cradled. I feel supported. I feel safe. I feel loved in the simple act of looking at that water. Nothing else does this for me.
 
I love my sky. I love my woods. I love my open fields and I have even loved a few mountains in my life. But the water? The water is life. The water is everything to me.
 
Currently we live on a little lake, a pond compared to the giant water of our Lake Michigan. But it is water. And when the days stay above 40 degrees, and the sun comes again, that water too shall melt. And the waves will come and my spirit will soar, and I will be unfrozen again.
 
We all have something that feeds us, that calms us, that grounds and supports us. Mine is open, unfrozen, beautiful water. What is yours?
 
*Share your answers in our Mindfulness Mothers’ Facebook Group!
 
- Jeannine (aka JP Starre)

Sometimes it feels like we do the same thing over and over again in our lives. We eat the same foods, we wear the same clothes, do the same work, go to the same schools, and see the same people.
 
February can feel this way. The January goals are long gone, hidden under the winter blahs. And life can feel as though it is Groundhog Day, living the same day over and over again. It is no coincidence that winter is when we celebrate this day. Up north here, each and every winter day can feel the same. It is hard to believe the season will ever change.
 
But just like the movie, it’s true! We do live the same day over and over again.
 
This idea of same can be a good thing! Every day is just a day. Every hour is just an hour. We get to choose what we want to do with each day.
 
On The Possibility Path we talk about why it is so hard to change, to create something new in our days. The sameness of our days help us feel safe. It makes us feel like we can control something in this amazing wide world.
 
But when something comes to shake up that sameness, an illness, a job change, even having our children grow up, or our bodies grow older, we can feel fear. We can feel out of control. We can try to keep things the same. We can try to keep others’ from growing or changing. We can refuse to go forward in our lives.
 
True mindfulness is realizing each and every day is a new day. Each and every moment is a new moment. Each and every breath is a new breath.
 
We are living in new all the time. Because it looks like it is the same as before it can trick us to believing it is the same.
 
It is not!
 
If we can be present in our now, we can like in the movie, find the joy in each moment. We can find the joy in learning new things, even becoming a new person.
 
It isn’t easy to do. It’s a totally new mind set from the society that teaches us we must be young, healthy, well, and well off to enjoy life.
 
But if we can tap into it, even just a little bit, we can find that freedom in the newness of the moment.
 
If you were able to create something new instantly in the next moment, what would you create? What would you learn? What would you do? Who would you be?
(We’d love to hear your answers. Share them in our Mindfulness Mothers’ Facebook Group!)
 
Asking the questions is the first step in moving into magic of mindfulness and into the dawn of a new day!
 
Here’s to the possibilities to come!
 
- Jeannine (aka JP Starre)
 
* We will be starting a new Possibility Path for Parents this June!! If you are interested, schedule your free discovery call today with me!
 
@jeannineproulx  -  [email protected]

Can an empty closet give you freedom?
 
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Empty Closets
 
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that as I sit down to write on this topic I happened to have on the background the TV show Stripped. On that show people voluntarily have everything they own (including clothes) taken away and put in storage a block away. Each day they get to go get one item from the storage unit. After three weeks the idea is that they will discover what they absolutely need and what they can live without.
 
When my hubby and I decided to move out of state we did a similar experiment. We gave away all our furniture, knick knacks, books, etc. and took 3 suitcases each and 10 boxes full of mostly clothing and computers. (Now granted we were moving to Hawaii, so we didn’t need as many clothes as I do here back in Michigan! ;) I truly did discover what I could live with and what I could live without. I also discovered what the sisters did tonight on the episode of Stripped: that I didn’t want all that stuff.
 
Every time we move out of a place I get rid of stuff. Every time we move into a new place I get new stuff. It is an ever revolving collecting of material to fill up empty spaces.
 
Today I am back in Michigan in a house that has many bedrooms and closets. I have found myself feeling the need to fill up the spaces with stuff. My knick knacks are growing and the need to have the space fill up has me looking for decorations to fill up that space. I need to stop.
 
I decided to make a boundary for myself- from now on my goal is to have at least some empty closets. I need to see those empty shelves as not a feeling of not enough or spaces to fill, but a badge of honor and a place of pride. It needs to represent the fact that I did not succumb to the urge to fill up those empty spaces!
 
They say if you want more money in your life, clean out a closet and get rid of stuff to make room for the new abundance to come in. It also leaves much more time. Stuff takes time to deal with, to go through, to dust, to care for, to move or unpack, or clean, or do something with it! Time is my most valuable commodity and one I need to treasure more.
 
Perhaps empty closets will be the beginning of my new adventure of stripping down to what is essential and much needed for me to live my best life.
 
What would you do if you were stripped of all your stuff? What would you need the most?
 
- JP (Jeannine Proulx)
 
#priorities #possibilities #emptyclosets! 
 
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COME CELEBRATE HUGS!!!
Celebrate human connection, love, and the power of hugs this January 21st 2018 and help us break a world record! Support the #HugMob break the hug record here:
 http://thehugmob.com/
 
Check out interviews on the Sunny Chayes show with Huggers Rick Morrison and Suzi Lula, Judy Julin and Stephanie Lodge here:
http://ubnradio.com/shows/singin-in-the-rain-with-sunny-chayes/
 
And listen to the interview with Hug Alliance founder Rick Morrison on The Mindfulness Mothers’ radio show last year!
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mindfulnessmothers/2017/02/01/the-hug-store--a-tale-of-self-discovery-and-heart-with-rick-morrison
 

How to Find Balance in the Busy - November 2017 - Mindful Moments
 
One thing I keep hearing over and over from the moms I coach and the friends I have is how busy this past season has been and how overwhelmed they are getting thinking about heading towards the holidays. I am no different. We decided almost 10 months ago to build a new house and are in the last stages of moving and selling the previous house. I just started a new Possibility Path coaching program with some amazing women and am juggling how to roll with the changes there, and as always attempting to keep up with updating and honoring the Mindfulness Mothers here!.
 
I am attempting to do a thousand different things each day at once and often I have been saying to people “My brain hurts.” It does! It does.
 
But tonight in the newly cold 45 degree weather, I got an urge to go outside on my new deck in the pitch black dark and sit in the Adirondack chair that has been there for weeks calling me. I just could not figure out what was next to do on my to-do list and I desperately wanted to be somewhere where there was nothing calling for me to do. So I went. And I sat.
 
I sat for just a few minutes. I took a deep breath and breathed it down to my feet as I coach in my Short Cut meditations. I breathed it out and I felt peace. I felt peace in the oxygen entering my lungs, my bloodstream, my body, and my mind.
 
I stared into the night and I asked the question I do quite often to gain clarity and insight. I asked “What do I need to know right now?” The answer appeared quite simply as one single word in my mind, one single word whispered in the night.
 
“Nothing.”
 
Right now I need to do nothing.
 
When was the last time you did nothing? When was the last time we let our children do nothing? When was the last time we just sat and stared at the sky? I cannot remember. Yet there it was. Simple, clean, easy. “Nothing.” Do nothing.
 
And suddenly I felt a thousand times lighter. I felt a huge weight pulled off my shoulders and I got a burst of energy I had not had in days. I felt inspired and suddenly wanted to go sit on my couch with a warm blanket and work on this blog and the website. I wanted to just be, creative and expressive in my natural state of being.
 
And so here I am- doing. I am back to doing. But I feel in balance again. I feel steady again. I feel capable and able again.
 
I was only in that chair for maybe 4 minutes until the cold wind picked up and blew me back inside. Yet that is all I needed. All I needed was 4 minutes and one word. That’s it.
 
Sometimes that I all we need to come back to balance.
 
I challenge you today to take those 4 minutes (even if they aren’t all at the same time) and breathe and do nothing. Come back to the balance of your authentic and natural self and just breathe out of the busy and into balance.
 
Here’s to finding the balance in the busy!
- Jeannine
 
 
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A Monthly Mindful Moment
As I move towards a busy year getting The Possibility Path edited and into physical book form I have to edit out some other things in my life that take time. As much as I adored doing The Mindfulness Mothers’ Radio Show and having the wonderful guests on that I have been privileged to interview, it does take a lot of time to set up and accomplish.
 
So I will be taking a hiatus from doing the radio show with guests, and replacing it with a monthly Mindful Meditative Moment to give you a bit of peace in your day!
 
You can hear the monthly moments here anytime you need time out for some time in! <3
http://www.mindfulnessmothers.com/radio-show---mindfulness-mothers.html
 
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