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Continually grow as a person and find your work/life balance

Get Out and Enjoy Nature. It’s The Antidote To Creative Blocks!

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Creative Thinking.

It essential for your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health to get out and enjoy nature daily, so reinforce your resolve with these ten reasons.“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” ~ John Muir

In Oregon, we experience our share of inclement weather so it’s easy to get into the rut of staying indoors day after day. As a result, many Oregonians are Vitamin D deficient, which greatly alters the mood, mental health and immune system. So when summer finally comes, I tell everyone, “Get out and enjoy nature as much as possible. It’s one of the best ways to overcome creative blocks and get your creativity flowing again!

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Recovering From Emotional Exhaustion? Wholeheartedness, Not Rest, Will Heal You!

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Emotional Intelligence, Life Skills, Mindfulness.

When you're recovering from emotional exhaustion, mindfully developing a deep awareness of your mind/body connection is vital to restoring your balance.“Burnout is a state of emptiness, to be sure, but it does not result from giving all I have: it merely reveals the nothingness from which I was trying to give in the first place.” ~ Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak

We have all been through some pretty hard times, and the world isn’t getting any rosier. There are so many ways to describe how people are feeling today — burnout, emotional exhaustion, mental exhaustion, mentally drained, emotional burnout, nervous exhaustion, overworked, over-stressed, over-committed, over-stimulated, and now we even have Zoom fatigue! And some of the tried-and-true methods for recovering from emotional exhaustion aren’t working. 

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Shame Resilience: The Antidote to Shame Is Vulnerability

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Emotional Intelligence, Life Skills.

Shame resilience helps you, as you experience shame, to consciously choose supportive emotions instead — connection, empathy, worth, and power.“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.” ~ Brene Brown

We long to fit in, to belong, to be accepted. Yet this very longing can keep us from making the deep connections we crave, because we’re afraid to be seen, to show our true selves for fear we’ll be rejected. On a deep, very personal level we’ve judged ourselves as unworthy, so we’re ashamed that something about us isn’t acceptable, “normal” or perfect. This shame, this fear of disconnect, is powerful. But we can shine a healing light on it by cultivating vulnerability. Yes, we can build our shame resilience!

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The Antidote to Panic — Mindfully Reducing Fight or Flight Response

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Controlling Stress.

Mindfulness is Key to Reducing Fight or Flight Stress Response

If you’re hiking in the woods in Oregon and you see the glowing eyes of a cougar, will your heart start racing? Of course it will! The fight or flight stress response kicks in with a vengeance and panic makes you want to run! However, your life depends on getting a grip on your panic and courageously standing your ground, maintaining eye contact, and raising your arms to make yourself appear bigger and noisier to scare the big cat off.

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Overcoming Imposter Syndrome with Curiosity

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Positive Mindset.

Overcoming imposter syndrome takes nonjudgmental curiosity to mindfully examine and explore your thoughts, emotions and reactions to learn from them.Do you sometimes feel like you’re not what other people think you are, that you’ve got them fooled, that they’re not seeing how limited you are? When insecurities and self-doubt trigger these thoughts, it’s a phenomenon known as imposter syndrome and many highly successful people have experienced it. The good news is overcoming imposter syndrome takes an attitude of curiosity. Really, could it be so simple? 

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