Real Women Have Babies

Remember before you had your second child? I'm not talking about those of you who can't get pregnant. You were concerned with things like your toenails and your clean counter tops. Now your thoughts go to "Will I sleep tonight?"and "Will I actually use that running stroller?"

I know you still care about details, but you've had to let go of some of them. The clutter around you and is something you my not have tolerated B.C. (before children). And that bathroom!

Well I'm here to congratulate you. As much as we try to fight the monkey on our back which says "look at your messy house! You need to get those weeds pulled! You haven't sent that card yet!" You, my dear, have likely become a more full, more accepting, and a more loving person.

When you delineate priorities and pull back; when you shelve, for a time, priorities number 3, 4, and for God's sake number 5, you put yourself on the level of the millionaire entrepreneur. Women who have to tackle the task of managing little ones and a home and a job of some sort, and learn to stay positive, are powerful beyond imagination.

Fine Points:

Every day we make choices concerning how we think and use our time. When we work on the very basic task of choosing thoughts that encourage ourselves, that cut us a break; when we choose to back off when we are getting irritated, to see the cuteness of our son when we gently take the paring knife out of his little hand, we move in a direction of amazing power.

What's so great about that? Moms of little ones have the gift of many opportunities to practice this power throughout the day. This is the reason motherhood is praised.

But We Have a Choice

The other side is that most of these opportunities happen when no one is looking. Our character test as moms, often feels like walking in unprepared for MCATs. The toilet overflows. Someone chooses to cry all the way home. Even something as significant as a difficult marriage.

But we do have one great advantage. We can begin again at any time! How? By doing something to help ourselves relax and feel good. Maybe we need to let things go and lye on the floor and let them play around us for a while. Maybe we can bite the bullet and let someone watch them so we can go for a walk, talk to God, or work out by ourselves. Whatever it takes to shift our mood back to feeling pretty good, liking ourselves, and thinking about things that keep us in that place.

Trust yourself. Prioritize staying positive. Believe me, you are creating a great future by feeling good now!

Watch Stress Disappear! - with Your Personal Pilates and Wellnes Coach

You can decrease the stress level in your life.

Many people begin coming to my pilates classes because they want to release the stress in their life. I can tell they are stressed because it's difficult for them to enjoy themselves when they are working out. They have trouble staying in the moment with their bodies.

No matter what you are going through: whether your car ran out of gas, or you stepped on a piece of glass, or your husband hit you, or your daughter just informed you that she has a VD, you CAN manage and decrease the stress in your life.

Why do I use such graphic examples? Because many of us have a dirty little secret which says, "She can't be referring to me. My life has REAL stress."or "But she doesn't know how I feel."

I may not know exactly how you feel, but I have discovered the source of stress control. But first lets look at what stress can do to your body. The body reacts by:

• Producing too much adrenalin. This causes compromise to the liver, heart, and adrenals.
• Over producing cortisol. This causes weight gain and depression.
• Excess insulin.  Weight gain and food cravings result here.

The source of keeping these side effects from happening: your thoughts.

Everything that happens to us physiologically is the result of our choice of thought. Too simplistic an answer? Think about it. The next time you are feeling really alive and happy, pay attention to your thoughts. You will find that they are positive. You will find that you can't feel really good and have critical, negative thoughts floating through your mind no matter what the outer circumstances.

People often remark that I am a very positives person. Is my life easier than yours? I don't know. But I am willing to put such a priority on feeling good, that I work on refusing to let negative people or influences affect me, and I work on becoming aware of my own thoughts so that I can do what it takes to shift them to gratitude and love. We can focus on something we like, or something nice that happened to us instead of on the negative thing that wants our attention.

You can do this in a police car, in an ambulance, in a courtroom, or in your bed at night. Again I use these example to help those of you whom I addressed above.

Working on this every day is the key to true health. Fitness and diet will all come together as we start with feeling good now. Do you agree?