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Maria Connolly, LPC Facebook Facebook Facebook

Category: Life Skills

Learn how to focus on the soft skills, the people skills like good communication, effective leadership, positive motivation, and managing your emotions.

Permission to Slow Down, Relax and Unwind Even When Things Speed Up

Rest isn’t the reward for finishing everything; it’s the foundation that makes everything in your life sustainable. It’s what fuels your energy, creativity, and clarity.Fall has a way of pulling us into its whirlwind. The long, lingering days of summer give way to calendars packed with deadlines, school schedules, family events, and the unspoken pressure to keep up as life speeds up around us. Sometimes it feels like we have to force ourselves to relax and unwind, which causes more stress, rather than relieving it.

Slowing down feels like a luxury you can’t afford. Rest becomes the reward for checking everything off your list or something you earn after the work is done.

But here’s a new way of looking at it: rest isn’t the reward for finishing everything; it’s the foundation that makes everything in your life sustainable. It’s what fuels your energy, creativity, and clarity. Without it, you’re running on fumes.

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What Is Life About – Happiness, Meaningfulness, or Something Else?

What is life about for you? To go for the gusto and experience a new thrill every day? To live a quiet life? To live a good life? To live a happy life? To live a life of meaning and purpose? Each phrase brings a different picture to your mind, doesn’t it? What does it mean to YOU to really live?

Life is about how you choose to spend the time you have – only you can define and design the life you want. What makes you happy or gives your life meaning may be vastly different from anyone else's. The key is to determine YOUR Perfect Life and then live it without apology.

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Strategic Living: Intentional Transformation that Achieves Your Big Dreams

The key to strategic living is not adding more but choosing with clarity.
September is a time of transition. Here in Oregon, we’re shifting into autumn weather and it’s back-to-school time. It reminds us of the thrill of fresh starts, new beginnings and renewed focus. This time of year fills me with anticipation and excitement. It’s my season for reviewing and preparing for next year, because strategic living involves knowing where I’m going, how I’m going to get there, and recognizing that I’m on the right path.

For high-achieving women, this season offers an invitation. The rhythm of the year naturally turns toward structure after the ease of summer. You have an opening to create intentional transitions in your life. Whether that means redefining how you approach work, deepening a relationship, or recommitting to a personal practice, the key to strategic living is not adding more but choosing with clarity.

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Why Is Change So Hard, And How to Support Your Body Through It

Discomfort, struggle, and frustration can be perceived as signals to stop,  But they may be signals of a very different sort.Your nervous system is designed to keep you safe, not necessarily to ensure success. Understanding this has been eye-opening and transformational for many of my clients. I’ve heard them say so many times, “Why is change so hard?” And that thinking throws up roadblocks because it believes that discomfort, struggle, and frustration are signals to stop. But in truth, they may be signals of a very different sort, as we’ll see in a few moments.

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Feeling Resistance to Change? How to Listen to Your Body's Hidden Clues.

Sometimes trying to make progress feels like you’re pushing a boulder uphill. When that happens what do you do…push harder, give up, or pause to see what your body is trying to tell you?Sometimes, trying to make progress feels like you’re pushing a boulder uphill. When that happens, what do you do… push harder, give up, or pause to see what your body is trying to tell you? For example, 

Maya had made the decision. She was finally launching her new business after years of dreaming about it. She invested in a branding coach, mapped out her offer, and scheduled her first announcement email.

But as launch day approached, she felt herself slowing down in ways she couldn’t explain.

Her neck seized up. She couldn’t sleep. Tasks she normally breezed through now felt impossible. The email draft sat untouched. The excitement she once felt dulled under a fog of procrastination and tightness in her chest.

“What’s wrong with me?” she wondered. “Why am I resisting the very thing I said I wanted?”

The truth is — her body wasn’t sabotaging her. It was trying to tell her something.

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