Five resources for a challenging day

Today I am pausing, in the midst of a rewarding and busy week, to share a few reminders and resources with you. I’ll keep things short and sweet today, as that’s what I’ve got the spoons for. I hope you’re well and navigating the challenges of life okay today. You’re here, and you’re trying. Well done!

Photo of person at a table behind a pile of books as tall as their head by Pixabay

Reminders: 

  • You matter, you deserve to exist, and you deserve love and compassion and opportunities
  • The color of your skin, your gender identity, your sexuality, where you were born, your IQ, your strengths and weaknesses – none of these change the fact that you have inherent worth 
  • Patriarchy is harmful
  • Cultivating media literacy and practicing it may be getting harder and harder, but it IS possible
  • The small choices you make add up – a phone call to a representative, a smile to someone who is struggling, a donation or a food delivery to someone who needs it, teaching someone a skill

Resources from my more recent writing that you may find helpful: 

Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to comment and let me know what you’d like to hear or see more of here. Wishing you health and renewal for the fight – and an eye for the joy too. 

P.S. I have a few more spots  for people interested in learning about themselves through the Enneagram in our next cohort. And if you’d like to join me for an opportunity to learn some mental fitness skills and see how saboteurs are keeping you from being happy and living a life you love, head here

Pausing for rest and renewal

Hi friends. The news continues to be full of endless opportunities for worry, anxiety, fear and anger. I’ve called my representatives several times in the past week, with a focus on saying no to the SAVE Act and telling my state reps to say no to gerrymandering. And I’ve cried and laughed at some of the ridiculousness I’ve seen. 

As always, there are reasons for hope too. I hope that you’re checking in with the headlines periodically, prioritizing what you can do today, and this week, and I hope you’re remembering that your neighbors need you now, and in the future. 

Cat eyes closed rests as if meditating in black and white photo

Photo: Cat with eyes closed rests as if meditating in black and white photo

But it’s exhausting. Am I right? So that’s why today, I am encouraging you, if you have the free time and the ability right now, to just stop. If physically stopping is really hard for you, I find it helpful to do some intense exercise or take a walk or do some focused breathing before engaging in a mental fitness session like the one that follows. 

Join me, if you like, in pausing for rest and renewal. 

Listen here

Was this helpful for you? What are you doing right now a) to stop fascism and b) to stay rested and stay human? 
Sending much love to you. Thanks so much for reading and listening and for paying attention. I have a few more spots  for people interested in learning about themselves through the Enneagram in our next cohort. And if you’d like to join me for an opportunity to learn some mental fitness skills and see how saboteurs are keeping you from being happy and living a life you love, head here.

Discovering Who We Really Are – In Community? 

It’s that time of the week when I am taking stock of how I’m doing amidst the headlines and news of the past seven days or so. In asking myself what I have to offer during these challenging times, I remember time and again that the coaching and mental fitness work that I offer is, as one of my students phrased it, one of my “gems”. One of the gifts I have to offer the world is helping to create community and helping people to discover, and rediscover, who they are, why they are here, and how they can move from thought or feeling into action and bring about a life they truly love. 

Photo of tree branches covered in snow, against a bright blue sky, by Şakir Açıkgöz

I have two main ways that I do this work. One is mental fitness. I am trained as a coach in Positive Intelligence, a system that teaches us to recognize and distinguish our negative thoughts and habits from our wise inner voice and the related skills and tools we can access. When we do mental fitness work, we learn to let go of the habits and thoughts that aren’t serving us anymore and learn how to step into that magical “flow” state where we can be efficient, effective, compassionate, clear-headed and more. I offer a Saboteur Assessment, for no cost, so that people can learn more about mental fitness and whether it might be beneficial for them. (Spoiler alert: so far, everyone has thought it might be beneficial for them! But there is no obligation to work with me beyond your call.) Most of the people I coach also study mental fitness with me, because it’s an extremely actionable system for getting past feeling “stuck” and past the roadblock we create in our own minds. It also gives us a common language to communicate with during our coaching sessions, making each session much more productive and helping you to get to your goals much more quickly and effectively. 

The second main way I help people to create a life they love this is through my work as an Enneagram mentor. Though I am also happy to do Enneagram work 1:1, most of the work I do currently is in group programs. We use Suzanne Stabile’s three month program so that people can learn or confirm their Enneagram number, and then we learn how that information can be used in our own lives and in relationship with other people. I have a few more spots left in my next Enneagram program, and we’re hoping to get started soon, so I hope you’ll learn more about the program, whether you’re familiar with the Enneagram already or not. It is my favorite tool for understanding personality and learning to let go of the habits of our personality that aren’t serving us anymore. For those who’ve been on their Enneagram journey for a while, I also offer an Enneagram book club. New members are always welcome. 

If you ever feel called to work with me, either 1:1 or in one of our incredible small group programs, I’d love to hear from you. I offer partial scholarships in all of my programs, and I offer a sliding scale for our Enneagram work. Some of my favorite people in the world I met doing small group, personal development work, and it can really be transformative to cultivate relationships and conversations like these in your life. Please don’t hesitate to reach out. We need this work now more than ever. I truly believe that. 

Do you have a place in your life currently for doing inner work that can’t really be done alone? Would you ever be interested in this work? 

P.S. I shared about this on Facebook this week and two lovely humans left comments about their experiences working with me. One shared, “Jamie is a wonderful coach! I’ve gone through both of these programs with her and benefited immensely. I learned to “flip the script” on my old negative self-talk to a realization that I actually had a voice that mattered.” Another shared that the mental fitness program helped them to reinforce many of the mindfulness practices they already had and provided them with lots of new ones. Thank you both for sharing your feedback! 

finding magic in the minutiae

Wow, friend. It’s been quite a week, hasn’t it? Perhaps quite a year as well. And the universe always has surprises up its sleeve. For me, this week, on a positive note, one of them was learning that a couple of my Florida reps actually voted down bills that would have provided ICE funding. I can’t tell you how many times the voices in my head have told me that calling my Florida reps is an exercise in futility, because I am generally appalled by where their priorities are and their deference to the current big cheese. 

And yet this week, they stood with Democrats, and I am shook. What an incredible reminder that we never know when our efforts might pay off!

How are you handling the onslaught of news? My network mainly straddles two countries, so I feel well-versed in both where my friends in the United States are at and where my Canadian friends are at, in many ways. And frankly, we are all concerned about our governments, rising restrictions and even the possibility that our northern friend could emulate our friend to the south in the not-too-distant future. 

Today I am pondering the ways that life is made easier and better when we focus on the small details of life. When I stop and recognize what’s right in front of me, I’m not thinking about what I need to fear in our future. I’m not thinking about the horrendous horrors that have already happened around the world. Instead, I’m finding magic in the minutiae. 

I notice a bird overhead. I listen to its song. I notice the way the blue sky behind it offers color contrast. 

I hear the crunch of ice or feel the squishy slush texture of the melting snow beneath my feet. 

I study the details of the beautiful ceramic fake flower on my shelf, a long-ago gift from my grandmother’s home. 

I listen to the sound of our new, efficient heat pump, grateful to be warm and cozy inside a home that we love. 

Photo of the northern lights in pinks and peaches by Ryan Klaus

My eye is drawn to a beautiful print, a gift from a friend honoring me as a director of an a cappella, barbershop chorus. 

I feel the warmth of my sweet cat, nestled against me in her tent of blankets. 

There are magical moments everywhere, if we stop to look for them. If there’s a moment to breathe, a break from pain, a morsel of food to enjoy, a hand to hold, a moment to lay down, an animal saying hello, our lives are rich. 

Even amidst despair, there is light to be found. That’s why we keep going on, even when the end isn’t guaranteed or clear. I know we are hearing and seeing glimpses (and for some of us, maybe much, much more) of some of the worst of humanity and life. And yet, finding magic in the minutiae is a way to treasure some of the best things life has to offer. Simple moments, simple beauty, simple joy. Worth a pause and an acknowledgement. 

Feel like a pipe dream? I 100% get it. There is NOTHING wrong with you if you’re struggling to find the light and the joy right now. 

If you’d like to join me for an opportunity to learn some mental fitness skills and find how to be happy with the life you’re living, even in challenging times, head here
You can also visit my website to learn more about me. I’m a speaker, performing artist, coach and mental fitness trainer. Thanks for stopping by.