Simple on Purpose | Intentional Living and Parenting

This spring I reflected on our finances and felt a sense of defeat over where I was vs where I wanted to be. I had to acknowledge aspects like lifestyle creep, inflation and inattention to contribute to this.  This prompted me to ask the Simple Squad (Facebook group) to join in a challenge to do life with less this summer.      In this episode Acknowledging the privilege of doing a challenge like this, by choice Reflecting on the cultural expectations for what we need ‘have/do’ as relevant, acceptable adults in society The lifestyle creep, the new baseline cost of maintaining our life The impact of inflation on our daily lives, in Canada  Joining the challenge in the Facebook group  The different intentions participants have in how they aim to live with less  My weekly goal of living less (the little things matter) Tracking spending   Join the facebook group Check out the spotify playlists to find episodes by topics Sign up for Simple Saturdays email Follow me on Instagram    Related to simple living  141. When shopping isn’t making your life better (mindful and minimalist tips for shopping) You Can Simplify Your Life Series 63. Why it is hard to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, and what to do about it Five Ways We Justify Needless Shopping 7 Eye-Opening Lessons I Learned From 200 Days Of Buying Nothing New 127. Planning your Summer on Purpose (Tips for Moms)   Links mentioned CBC marketplace - the inflation survival guide Fun cheap or free envelope budget strategy      Full transcript (unedited) 0:07 Hey friends, it's Sean me your nerdy girlfriend, Counselor therapist.ca. I know the podcast is wrapped up for this summer. But I wanted to stop by and share a summer challenge that I'm posting in the Facebook group. So the Facebook group, if you've looked for in in the past, yes, it was closed, it is reopened right now, if you want to join, the challenge is called Life with less the life with less challenge. And this challenge was motivated by a conversation I was having with my best friend about debt and managing money and the kind of bigger vision that we have for ourselves financially. And carrying debt, it might be one thing,

How are we told we SHOULD feel in motherhood, versus how do we truly feel in motherhood? We spend a lot of time and energy living in default emotions, while hustling to shift away from uncomfortable emotions and into more comfortable emotions. I want to open up your options for empowering emotions that you can feel in motherhood, emotions that generate capacity instead of exhaustion. And I want to have the conversation about HOW we are meeting our emotional needs in effective or ineffective ways.  Covered in this episode: * Our emotional experience matters * What memories are you making in motherhood (and how it can change your motherhood experience) * day after day of feeling overwhelmed in our bodies * Is Self-Care the Answer When Motherhood Sucks? * Our emotions need to be addressed * when we address how we feel and what we do with those feelings, we gain power and opportunities * Do we have basic emotional needs?  * What we are TOLD we will feel in motherhood (what we go into motherhood expecting to feel) versus what we actually feel in motherhood  * 114. Being a Mom, on Purpose (it’s not about happy, obedient kids) * Should ‘Happy Kids’ Be Our Parenting Goal? * 156. 3 things to know about feeling negative emotions * What most moms say they want to feel in motherhood * 66. Are you stuck in the hustle for happiness? Finding contentment in momlife * 69. Will a simpler home bring me peace? * What getting dressed each day taught me about meeting my emotional needs * The Baby That Always Cried (Our Story With Esophagitis) * Mothering Through Anxiety * God’s Grace Through Difficult Parenting * the moms30for30 posts  * When I Instagrammed My Own Life, and Not My Kids * Chasing happiness and peace vs other emotions...

I have gone from be an avid gym-avoider, unathletic, didn't even own a pair of running shoes, complacent with my health in many ways to someone who PRIORITIZES movement as a way to improve and maintain my sense of wellbeing.  I want to share how I got here, what makes exercise tough and simple ways to get started with moving more.    Products recommended here may include referral links to Amazon. If you click through and buy something I may earn a commission, at no cost to you. Topics covered in this episode * What I learned about exercise as a kid. 1:54 * The ideal body has shifted over generations. * The modern human moves around 30% less than the 1960s. * Learning from the culture around us. 3:50 * Learning from culture and home culture. * Limiting identities and how they shape us. * What Is physical literacy? 6:12 * Lack of physical literacy, lack of motivation, knowledge and understanding. * The importance of movement. * The wake-up call I had * Getting started with yoga * It’s not about the goal but about the process. 11:05 * Challenging the lifelong belief of complacency. * The benefits of exercise. * How exercise changes the brain’s anatomy. 13:42 * Exercise changes the brain's anatomy, physiology and function. * Exercise reduces stress and cortisol. * How exercise can help with depression? 15:07 * Exercise can provide temporary anxiety relief. * The benefits of prolonged exercise for over 20 minutes. * Exercise can be a form of meditation. * What will keep you from experiencing the benefits of exercise * Perfectionism, all or nothing, using exercise as a distraction * How exercise helps you care for yourself better * Increasing capacity and showing up better. 19:19 * Why exercise is hard * Our relationship to our bodies * The resistance and excuses our brain gives us when we are faced with potential pain (hard work) * Building a dopamine pathway for exercise  * Strategies for incorporating movement into your life. 21:40 * Consistency is key to long-term motivation. * Consider yourself 20 years from now Exercise, with a toddler at home   Links related to the episode  * References  *  Books * Move by Caroline Williams * The Joy of Movement by Kelly McGonigal * Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagoski * Move the Body, Heal the Mind by Dr. Heisz * Episodes, articles and studies * The brain-changing benefits of exercise by Wendi Suzuki * Move the body, heal the mind on the Art of Manliness podcast, with Dr. Jennifer Heisz of NeuroFitLab * Physical literacy *

I am a decades-long nightowl, but it doesn't always serve me well in motherhood. Some years ago I made 'sleep' my health goal (not becoming a morning person, but simply heading to bed earlier). I want to share the benefits of sleep and strategies that can help you give up that nightowl life.    Products recommended here may include referral links to Amazon. If you click through and buy something I may earn a commission, at no cost to you. In this episode I talk about: * How sleep was handled in our upbringing * How technology impacts our experience of motherhood * The cultural expectations for sleep and self-care as it pertains to moms * How moms are trying to get self-care, in ways that it impacts their sleep * The benefits of sleep * Being a nightowl, the benefits and the costs * Strategies to set a sleep goal * Addressing the things that keep us up * Strategies to make sleep easier * Building up self-trust with yourself * The need for rest * Having more rest in your day and week   All the related links: * Grave's disease (My Thyroid, My Frenemy {Grave’s Disease to Hypothyroid} * Reading books instead of social media (4 simple habits that make my momlife better) * Studies and information on the benefits of sleep: * the Sleep Foundation * Memory consolidation (Healthy Sleep, Harvard) * The role of sleep in emotional processing * Intentional phone habits episodes + worksheets * Feeling addicted to your phone * Setting intentional phone habits * Brain dump (blog post) * Magnesium drink powder to help you relax, and this one to help you sleep * Ashwaganda * Blue light blockers (the ones I use here) * Enable red tint on your phone (instructions here) * Greyscale your phone (

If you feel stressed out and overwhelmed, consider how you meet your basic needs - especially how you feed yourself well and often. In this episode, I share my journey to ensure I am nourishing myself, as a busy mom. Including 11 different strategies that I find help to make sure I am meeting this basic need.      Products recommended here may include referral links to Amazon. If you click through and buy something I may earn a commission, at no cost to you.    In this episode * The culture we grow up in shapes how we feed ourselves * The modern cultural expectations for moms and food  * Hyperfixation on health * Going gluten and dairy free, the whole30, heartburn * How staying nourished helps us maintain our window of tolerance  * 11 strategies that have helped me ensure I feed myself well and often    All the fun links you might enjoy  The baby who always cried (our story with esophagitis) Mindful eating for moms (Interview with Jessica Penner) Teaching our kids a healthy relationship with food (+ our own food guilt and body shame) with Andrea Heyman Understanding how the window of tolerance impacts your stress in motherhood What I ate during the whole30 11 things I learned from doing the whole30 diet challenge A simple hack to make meal planning easy Four simple habits that make my momlife easier (vegetables for breakfast) Paying attention to how you feel (body and emotional awareness) – (the mind-body connection) The almond mom (GMA article)   Sign up for the Simple Saturdays email (a fun email, twice a month) Find me on Instagram FULL TRANSCRIPT  0:10  Welcome to another episode of The Simple on purpose Podcast. I'm so happy you're here. At simple on purpose, my aim is to help you simplify your home, your heart and your life so that you can show up for your life on purpose. And today we're going to be talking about a topic in the meeting your needs series, we're actually going to talk about the topic that started the whole series. Because what happened was, I shared a story on Instagram about eating lunch, and how much we need to make sure that we as moms are eating real food, too. And there was a conversation on Instagram that came from that, and it made me realize there's so much more I want to say. So I laugh at myself, because I was going to do one simple episode on lunch. One simple podcast episode on lunch, and it turned into this series about meeting your needs, which really,

From becoming aware, to validation, to giving ourselves permission to disrupt the system - we have some steps that can help us in our process of Becoming Someone Who Takes Care of Themselves. I want to share with you how decluttering led me to assess how I was taking care of myself, and how I worked from my basic needs, in small steps to more personal needs.  Products recommended here may include referral links to Amazon. If you click through and take action I may be compensated at no additional cost to you. In this episode I talk more about: * Our basic needs * The wheel of self care * Self-care of ourselves vs caring for others * The cultural rules of self-care for moms * Owning our own narrative of motherhood  * The process of becoming someone who takes care of themselves: awareness, validation, permission, approach * All or nothing thinking   Links you might like  174. Christmas hygge ideas + understanding how the window of tolerance impacts your stress in motherhood First episode in the series 179. What are your needs and how are you meeting them? Second episode in the series 180. Self-care and self-love, what would our mothers say? The Joy of Less by Francine Jay  Small things matter 78. Small things that can change your whole life (the compound effect) When Motherhood Can Change You but You Can’t Change Motherhood When the Body Says No by Gabor Mate Self care assessment  Enneagram Enneagram 101 (what is it and what are the nine types) 139. Are you TOO comfortable? And what is it costing you? 113. Why you aren’t thriving in motherhood (stress and surviving) Sign up for Simple Saturdays Email  Talk to me on Instagram    The Wheel of Self Care, by Olga Phoenix  

Sometimes we can find ourselves reaching for a bowl of chocolate, scrolling through social media, or checking out for the night, and call that self-care. But that is really self-comfort and only serves to numb the discomfort instead of fixing it. Self-care is tuning into ourselves and finding out what we need to do to care for ourselves. Listen in as I discuss self-care and self-love, and how that has changed over the years since our mothers were young.     Main topics: * The difference between self-care and self-comfort * Meeting our needs and our capacity (window of tolerance) * Accepting cheap substitutes to meet our needs * What we think it means when our needs are going unmet * The culture of moms meeting their needs, is it intuitive?  * What we learn from our mothers about self-care and self-love * Why the term self-love feels challenging.    Related links: * Self-care assessment  * Is self care the answer when motherhood sucks? (blog post) * Understanding how the window of tolerance impacts your stress in motherhood (episode) * How to find confidence in being the mom you are (episode) * Being a mom on purpose  (it is not about happy, obedient kids) (episode) * 67. Making motherhood harder than it needs to be (Mom Martyr) * The highlight reel of moms talking about self-care and meeting their needs    Simple Saturdays email (sign up here) Instagram (message me on IG)   FULL TRANSCRIPT (unedited) We're gonna continue on with our series about meeting your needs. And I want to talk more about self care and self love and how this is about it. But it's also not about it. The whole series, meeting your needs, I don't think that is one that I would listen to if I saw that title sounds kind of weird to say, but I think many mums might feel this way you see something on meeting your needs, and you might think, I don't need that things are fine. Or there might be some resistance, because you're kind of worried is this another pitch for that self care, self love, do face masks in the bath, treat yourself, you deserve it love yourself, you're amazing. We are a little bit worried about where this is going to take us. Because I think some of us know that. That self care, self love cannot be an entire approach to living. There's parts that are so helpful, for sure. But the approach needs more to it, it kind of feels like thin ice over water. But we need that iceberg. Underneath we need that iceberg of values and beliefs. We need awareness, validation, radical acceptance before we move into self care and self love. So as I move forward with this topic of meeting your needs, I want to approach this topic from the work I've done with moms of all ages and stages all over the world. And that's the approach of addressing the overwhelm the stress, the expectations, the mental load that moms are under.

What are needs? At a basic level, they are simple things like food, water, shelter, sleep. They can also be more complicated, like friendship, personal accomplishment, and sense of purpose. Sometimes it can be difficult to meet these needs, or to even know what they are. Join me today while I discuss needs and how to meet them in all aspects of your life.   In this episode I discuss:  What are your needs and how to figure that out  Understanding your relationship to 'your needs' and 'the needs of others'  Communal vs Individual cultures What we learn about needs from our culture, our family, and how gender bias impacts our view on meeting our needs Addressing needs in a relationship, expressing needs Meeting the needs of others, how do we show up for this   All the fun links you might enjoy  Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs (wikipedia) Podcast playlist Think the best of me: Hard and awesome Capable or controlling My husband put the groceries away wrong, he doesn’t love me Instagram  Simple Saturdays Email (sign up here) Email me here   Sign up for the the Simple Saturdays email (a fun email, twice a month) Email me here  Follow me on Instagram     FULL TRANSCRIPT (unedited) Hey friends, it's Shawna, your nerdy girlfriend and counselor from simple on purpose.ca. Welcome, welcome back to the podcast. Or maybe Welcome back to me, because it seemed that I was on a hiatus from sharing new episodes. And what happened is I had an episode ready to go. And I didn't post it. The other week, I shared this in the simple Saturdays email that I had just decided the content wasn't right. And sometimes this happens, sometimes, I'll go through the whole process of drafting up an episode, maybe even recording it and just deciding it's not the right content, not the right time, too much too little, that kind of thing. So now I'm back in the recording chair, which just a normal chair. But what I found is that I had to really listen to myself and give myself permission to not post that and take the risk that there wouldn't be this consistent content, which is always what we're told, we need to be doing sharing consistent content. And the reality is that it took me a while to get back to because my days are pretty full. And I was also sick for a while. As I was trying to get a new episode done, I was observing the sense of overwhelming me. And I was taking stock of what I'm doing with my days, versus what I'm expecting myself to do with my days. And I'm realizing that I am taking on more and more clients, and spending so much more time in those one on one sessions and in research for the sessions. That is time that in the past, I would easily spend researching and recording podcast episodes, I had time to do draft episodes and episodes that just never made the cut. Because that's the amount of time I have for that. This is a season for me,

Giving your child extra attention might seem like a great idea, but if it’s the wrong type of attention it could do more harm than good. Let’s learn what it means to parent intentionally and make proactive connections with your family.    Products recommended here may include referral links to Amazon. If you click through and buy something I may earn a commission, at no cost to you.    In this episode I discuss:  Why we get stuck in the negative Our negativity bias as parents Your experience of motherhood The Nurtured Heart approach How to use this approach on 'difficult' kids   All the fun links you might enjoy:  Is momlife unfun? How to be a more fun mom, to stop withholding fun from yourself  More on the negativity bias When I stopped enjoying my kids Change your motherhood experience by changing how you make memories Why you aren’t thriving in motherhood (stress and surviving) Conscious parenting through the struggles, and letting go of perfectionism in motherhood Transforming the Difficult Child: the Nurtured Heart Approach  Article on Nurtured Heart Approach  Do you typecast your kids? (Labels and how they impact our parenting and our kids) Check out the episode playlists for your topic of interest right here   Simple pleasure links The wordle (also search wordle unlimited for more) The heardle (also search heardle unlimited) Spot the difference site (click explorer games for more variety and levels) Highlights hidden pictures book Spot the difference brain games book  Sign up for the the Simple Saturdays email (a fun email, twice a month)   Full transcript (unedited) 0:18 So friends around here, I like to talk about all the ways that we can turn off the autopilot living, just living reactively by default for me, it looked like a lot of complacency and step into doing things on purpose with intention, getting clear and focused on where we want to go and taking steps to get there. Today we're going to talk about intentional parenting, just parenting in general, but doing it with intention. And the topic of focus can come up in parenting, when we start thinking, what are we focusing on? What gets the most attention, what gets our most attention in a single day, what gets our attention as a parent. And I don't know if you're like me, but it can go to demands and the urgency who needs to be aware what needs to happen, what needs to be cooked, who's eating one of the eating, where the eating, and it's like, we're just directors of all of this. And of course, as our kids get older, we can start to give them ownership of this and they can start self directing. But our attention in a given day,

Motivation. It is something we all want more of. However, every day we take little actions and make little choices that are coming from motivation. A motivation to avoid something or a motivation to move towards something. And why does it matter what is motivating us?     In this episode: * Motivation vs lack of motivation * How to know when you are operating from AWAY motviation * Spotting the victim mindset or scarcity mindset * How to know when you are operating from TOWARDS motivation * Motivation and abundance mindset         Mentioned in this episode: The group coaching call, Feb 2 2023 The Making Change Challenge, sign up here for the four lessons and worksheets Send me a message on Instagram Share your thoughts with the Facebook group  The Enneagram and Motherhood series Making motherhood harder than it needs to be (Mom Martyr) The not-enough mindset (scarcity and abundance)     Full Transcript (unedited) 0:00 Hey friends, welcome back is Shawna, your nerdy girlfriend and counsellor from simple on purpose.ca. So you might have figured out that this podcast is a biweekly podcast. But last week, I dropped a bonus episode about not knowing what you want in life. And I talked about six reasons why dreaming or thinking of your life on purpose might actually be hard. I wanted to share that episode early so that you could have time to sign up for the group coaching call on February 2, if that's something you're interested in, I'll link info on that in the show notes. And essentially, that call is a time where you can bring the work you want to do with intentional living this year. And I'll answer any of your questions and also bring people on live for coaching. In the past, I've run group programs, I used to run the life on purpose Academy, back in 2020, and then ran a couple group programs in 2021, I took a little bit of a break. And now I'm thinking of unique and different ways to bring that group coaching aspect back into things. Because in my own experience of being part of group programs is just listening to other people just hearing their questions answered, you get so much value, even though it might not be the exact same issue. Just the themes are relevant, and the approaches can be applied in so many different ways. So I find a lot of value in those. Also, I just really love hanging out with you guys. I love that community aspect. I'm always looking for ways to encourage community amongst you, listeners and blog readers. So I'll link that in the show notes. If you're interested. I wanted to follow that up with one more episode of ideas and approaches to help you be really mindful about the future that you're creating. So I wanted to share on the topic of motivation,

I want to talk to you about listening more deeply to yourself and asking, "what do I want?". For some of us, we are out of touch with our dreams or our life vision. We might feel overwhelmed, or like it is impractical, or like we have failed too much in the past. This episode is to help you see some of the ways you might be stuck with listening to your own dreams and ideas, and some tips on moving through that.    “A ship is safe in the harbour but that is not what ships are for” - source unknown, probably John A Shedd  "You have to show up before inspiration will." - James Clear   Products recommended here may include referral links to Amazon. If you click through and buy something I may earn a commission, at no cost to you.    In this episode I discuss:  Listening to yourself on a deep level and on a surface level Six reasons why it might be hard to know your dreams and goals Giving yourself permission to have dreams and ideas and goals Being a mom who struggles to dream and feels selfish to have goals Learning to inspire yourself   All the fun links you might enjoy  Six signs you are living on autopilot Are you too comfortable? And what is it costing you? Are you trading in peace for relief? The joy of being mediocre Redefine the life you want and what success looks like Hurdles to being a mom who has dreams and hobbies What you can learn from imposter syndrome For the mom waiting for life to happen  Dreaming for the non-dreamer, from A Little Light  Join me on Instagram    Sign up for the Feb 2nd Group Coaching Call - open to anyone who has questions or would like coaching on this topic and the topic of creating your future Sign up for Simple Saturdays email (a fun email, twice a month)   Full transcript (unedited) 0:00 Hey friends, it's Shawna, your nerdy girlfriend and counselor from simpleonpurpose.ca If you are joining us for the new year, if you just started searching like intentional living or living life on purpose or goals or something, and you found this podcast, welcome, I'm so glad you're here. Just to give you the quick and fast context, I am a mom of three kids who are now 1110, and eight. And around here we talk about ways to simplify your home, your heart and your life. So that so that you can show up for your life and live your life on purpose, live it intentionally live it with peace and purpose and presence and enjoy it. This episode is a follow up to the last one on creating your future and how we actually have the power to create our future when we turn off the autopilot. And some of the main points to notice in that episode were that we're really conditioned on how we show up in the world. And we really live from that condition.

With 2023 finally here, it is time to start looking forward to the future and improve our health, relationships, and life. But sometimes it might be a good idea to look inwards as well and see if we intend to succeed in those goals passively, or actively. Kickstart the year by turning off the autopilot and living life intentionally.   Products recommended here may include referral links to Amazon. If you click through and buy something I may earn a commission, at no cost to you.    In this episode I discuss:  Taking charge of your own future  Advice to live life intentionally How our past affects our future, and how to use that in the present The compound effect of our habits  Three things you can do to help shape your future   All the fun links you might enjoy  Throw Throw Burrito (on Amazon) Change your experience by how you make memories in motherhood (episode link) Think the best of me, or not (embracing our hard and awesome) Making motherhood harder than it needs to be (mom martyr post) Our marriage was struggling, here are 12 things that helped (blog post) I’ve been living on autopilot (a post from 2015 on working through the frustration of waking up to a complacent life) For the mom who is waiting for life to happen (how waiting keeps us from taking action) Six things nobody told me about Intentional Living (when it is hard work to be intentional, but it is worth it) What will change cost you? Paying the status quo or investing in change (episode link) What we say about ourselves, and why it matters (self-limiting identity) Small things that can change your whole life (how I applied the compound effect to my life) Life on Purpose Workbook Live your vision worksheets Live your values worksheets  Sign up for Simple Saturdays email (a fun email, twice a month)   FULL TRANSCRIPT (unedited) 0:11 Hello friends, happy 2023 Welcome back to the simple on purpose podcast. I am Shawna, your nerdy girlfriend and counselor, here to walk with you through all things about simplifying your home, your heart, your life, and living it on purpose. For us here in Canada, in my house, we celebrated Christmas over the holiday. My husband had time off, I had time off, like for real time off. And in the like, 11 years of motherhood. This was one of the few Christmases where I felt like I had a truly great time. So weird. I mean, of course, plans got cancelled. I got sick kids complained siblings thought the house was a mess. There was tears, there was feelings, mine included. But I don't know, maybe it's because I was really trying to have eyes for those really great mome...

With all the planning, gift wrapping, baking, and decorating, this time of year can get crazy, and life seems to just stop until the 25th is well behind us. Today I wanted to talk about the concept of Hygge and how to make Christmas feel a little simpler, a little more manageable, and a little more enjoyable. And put this all against the backdrop of the stress response we can find ourselves in as mothers. Understanding the concept of the Window of Tolerance can give you more awareness over times when you feel little capacity for daily life and seem to run on overwhelm and stress.    In this episode I discuss:  The three components of Hygge Holiday activities and how to get the family involved Decluttering Christmas Our Window of Tolerance    All the fun links you might enjoy  All posts and episodes about Simple Christmas Posts and episodes on hygge 30 days of hygge free calendar Enneagram + Motherhood series Enneagram 101 post and episode  CBC Gem  Why you aren’t thriving in motherhood (stress and surviving) Episode playlist on emotional intelligence for moms  An intro to polyvagal theory (window of tolerance) Infographic on the window of tolerance Reactive vs proactive approach to the day Simple Christmas Planner Simple Saturdays email   Sign up for Simple Saturdays email (a fun email, twice a month)       FULL TRANSCRIPT (unedited)   0:15 Welcome to the simple on purpose podcast. Around here we talk about ways that you can simplify your home, your heart and your life. So that you can remove all the distractions, all of the clutter, all of the excess, and just show up for the stuff that really matters the most to you the stuff that is really important to you. So as I was preparing for the podcast this week, I was drafting up a podcast on goals and visions and creating a future you love. And then I was like, if I heard this right now in the middle of Christmas, I don't think I would even be listening to it. Because like kind of just stops around Christmas, right? Which I don't mind. I really love the idea of hibernating a little. I think it really honors this season that we're in we when we can step back from that pace of summer and spring and kind of pay attention to what nature is doing and model it a little bit flow with it and let ourselves hibernate a little bit more. So there's my soapbox moment, let's all hibernate a little bit more this winter. Which brings me to the notion of Hygge I'm probably going to use the word 'hoo-ga' nd 'hyg' i...

Everyone has doubts and fears, but sometimes these doubts can manifest into something stronger and more potent, Imposter Syndrome. Today I go through a list of questions to help you inquire about the Imposter Syndrome within you, and how to act on what you find.    Products recommended here may include referral links to Amazon. If you click through and buy something I may earn a commission, at no cost to you.    Questions on how to inquire into the Imposter Syndrome within. Use these questions for self-inquiry, journalling is a great option.  How does imposter syndrome impact me?  When I doubt, what changes? How do I act?  When I have fear, what changes? How do I act from this place of fear? Where in my life does imposter syndrome show up? How long have I felt imposter syndrome? Is it long-standing? What seems to bring it on? How do I try to manage the part of me that feels imposter syndrome? How do I respond to that part of me? How does the ‘part of me that doubts’ think it is helping me? Protecting me? What does that ‘part of me that doubts’ need to feel safe When confidence is not available to me, what other feelings can help me with the doubt? How does the ‘part of me that is afraid of being found out’ think it is helping me? Who specifically am I afraid of ‘finding me out?’   All the fun links you might enjoy  Byron Katie, recommend her books, specifically Loving What Is Episode 162. Think the best of me (Hard and Awesome) Hayley Morris, comedian (one of my fave bits that she does) Episode 76. Why it matters what you think Simple Christmas Planner (find it with the On Purpose Workbooks)   Sign up for Simple Saturdays email (a fun email, twice a month)   FULL TRANSCRIPT 0:00 Hey friends, it's Shawna here at girlfriend counselor from simple on purpose.ca.  So I am a mom of three I live in a small town in Canada, I have three kids, they are 11,10, and eight. And about eight years ago, seven or eight years ago, I was reading a book about decluttering. It's called The Joy of less by Francine J. And it was around Christmas time, and I was reading this book, and it suddenly hit me that I didn't need to keep all of the stuff I had in my house. So I went down to the basement, the basement of shame, there was like a walkway amongst some boxes that I could get from one door to another. And I started decluttering. And I was really hit with this awareness that I had been living my life, very complacently on autopilot. And going through that physical clutter of complacency. It really brought me to a place where I didn't want that in my life. I didn't want that in all areas of my life, I could just see suddenly, all of the ways I had been complacent in my life, living on autopilot. And that really prompted me to say, No, I'm going to put myself in the driver's seat, I'm going to take some action, I'm going to be intentional. And that was really what founded simple on purpose. It started with simplifying and it moved into living intentionally living on purpose. So around here, we keep this conversation going.

As much as we might want it to exist, there just isn’t a magical list or routine we can implement to make it an easy transition to have a second or third kid. And once they are here, it can quickly become overwhelming and seem impossible. Today I share some tips and advice to help make parenting more than one kid a little easier    In this episode I discuss:  Prepping your first-born for a new introduction in the family Some of my own tips and ideas, as a mother of three Managing sibling dynamics and conflict Lessons from the Playroom: Sibling Rivalry My commentary on some crowd-sourced advice   All the fun links you might enjoy  Emotional Intelligence (and improving relationships with your kids through emotion coaching) What moms of toddlers need to hear How to deal with the emotional struggles of being a mom of babies and toddlers Real-life advice on having two kids under two years old (blog post) Planning the day (reactive vs proactive) Four steps to manage overwhelm in motherhood When motherhood can change you but you can’t change motherhood Settling in motherhood Is a third baby harder than the second? Enneagram + Motherhood Series 11 things that make my mom life simpler More posts on motherhood   Sign up for Simple Saturdays email (a fun email, twice a month)     FULL TRANSCRIPT 0:00 Hey friends, it's Shawna, your Nerdy Girlfriend and counselor from simpleonpurpose.ca. Welcome to another episode of The Simple on Purpose podcast. 0:18 If you are following me on Instagram, you know that this past week I went away for a work retreat. Do you remember back in the day, if you've been around for a while I used to go on work retreats quite often, I used to also go on work retreats with a community that I had started with one of my besties called a little late. And we used to do them with a great group of women, we'd rent an Airbnb, we'd get food brought in. And we would just all hunker down and do work and kind of brainstorm together. Some of my favorite memories are those work retreats. And then in this, since then I've gone on my own, I've gone with a bestie. And I haven't done it for a few years. So I thought, I have this big deadline coming up to move my email service. So I'm just going to send myself away for a couple of nights, you might have read about it in the sublime purpose, or the simple Saturday's email. 1:04 So I went away to work on my email, my email service,