Journey with Jess

What kind of mental load are you carrying? Are you able to share and release any of it? Can you release some of the burden and free your body and mind a little more? Let’s explore some ideas about what the mental load is and how we may be able to process and release some of the burden.

Sometimes we can get stuck. Especially when we want things to turn out a certain way, sound a certain way, look a certain way. It’s hard for us if we are comparing ourselves to others and seeing what we assume is perfection, and we don’t feel like our lives are perfect. Here is some encouragement to help us. Remember, sometimes it’s better to be done, then to be perfect.

How’s it going? I mean, really? Many people find themselves struggling in January. Struggling to keep up with the goals they had set, and the pace of this life. What if we celebrate where we are at and allow ourselves space to celebrate the moments that we do incorporate our intentional goals? Here is some encouragement to do just that.

Do you like to find a word of the year? Does that encourage you to have some thing to follow? Here are some ideas about choosing a word for the year and how to keep the word present in your every day life so that you can incorporate it in all that you do.

What’s been holding you back? What’s the dialogue in your head that keeps circling back with regret? That’s where we need to start. You can break old patterns and create new ones.

Christmas is behind us and the end of the year is here. Are you thinking about how you are going to enter 2024? Here are some of my thoughts.

Sometimes we self-sabotage our good efforts through resistance. Learning what emotions are getting activated and what is getting in our way helps us to find breakthrough.

Sometimes, when we’re under stress, it becomes easy to let go of the promises we have made to ourselves. When we learn to become more present, we can stay in the moment and keep our promises to ourselves, follow through with caring for ourselves, well, and complete the tasks in front of us. Here’s a little snippet about me, completing my first manuscript and how I had to work at being more present. I hope you enjoy!

There are so many benefits to walking. In every pillar of our health, we can add wellness. By adding walking, we work to stress and anxiety, boost our immune systems, improve our sleep patterns and more. I hope this will encourage you to walk more! Enjoy.

Sometimes we hold on to emotions in our bodies. That can create additional burdens in our physical bodies. It’s important for us to learn how to process emotions properly, through talking, journaling, exercise. There are so many ways to move through emotions rather than just storing them. I hope you are encouraged as you listen!

At the end of a busy summer, I am seeking structure. Structure for the coming school year, structure for our household, structure for our overall wellness. What structures do you need to let go of, and what new rhythms do you need to find?

How can we take a good look at our own lives and see when something is camouflaging itself. It may seem small and okay at first and could become bigger and more destructive. Let’s pause and look closely.

There are many things worth fighting for. And there are many things not worth fighting for. Hope is something I believe we should always fight for and pursue, contend for and wrestle through. We need hope in our life. We need hope in all manner of circumstances. I hope you will be encouraged to fight for hope in your life.

In this busy life sometimes it’s hard to remain in the moment. How can we practice being in the moment? It may be pausing to do some thing specific with a person in your household, or taking a walk and taking in creation all around you. That may be just being present in the fullness of the day. Take it all on. Allow yourself to feel it, be present and attentive. Be fully in the moment.

What does it really mean to cultivate grace in our lives? Can we freely offer grace to ourselves and others? Can we be spontaneous with grace? Do we offer grace with limits? Let’s keep growing in grace as an overarching theme in our lives.

Life long learning is the work of gaining information, observing ourselves, examining areas in which we see a need for growth. Then we take all of that and create space to take action and implement the right tools for that growth to occur.

Our emotional health is vital to great relationships, to our overall health and wellness. Feeling anxious? Facing avoidant behaviors? Your brain is listening to you! How do we process through difficult emotions, so that we don’t get stuck and shrink our ability to be well? Listen here for a few thoughts on emotional processing,

Recently someone asked me why I participate in health and wellness challenges, rather than just keeping the habits. In this episode I discuss some reasons for doing challenges and learning new habits to incorporate them into life and overall wellness.

We are complex, dynamic beings. Full of emotions. Full of responses, and reactions. And sometimes we just need to make space to acknowledge how we are feeling in our world, and decide how we want to show up. If we are in a constant state of reaction, instead of response, we might not show up the way we want to. Make time to process your feelings, all of them. It’s good work.

Sometimes we get stuck in the Munding. We may get stuck in the gloom. And sometimes we need to interrupt our own thoughts about these things so that we can move forward. Here’s a few ideas about how to get through the Munding days and energize ourselves.

Gratitude and struggle coexist. How do we celebrate what we are grateful for, as we honor the things that are hard? Can we embrace gratitude and struggle, and recognize that there will be both simultaneously in this life.

Sometimes we find ourselves hiding our real emotions, or our authentic moments because we feel like we need to show up perfect. And maybe we just need to stop hiding out and show up authentically.

Facing fears and disappointments, learning to contend for our healing and wellness. We can do these hard things and push into the harder times while we learn and grow and change for the better.

How well are you taking care of all the parts of you? Are you trying to put out to others from an empty pitcher? Here are some thoughts on caring for our whole selves and not getting stuck.

Most people say that they want better communication in their relationships. And sometimes we might just need a little help with where to get started, what words to begin with, thinking about our tone and timing. Here’s a quick podcast to get you thinking about better communication with the people you love.

Do you ever feel lost when it comes to creating a quiet space for prayer or meditation? If you just need help getting started, this podcast might be for you!

How do we keep loving when it’s been hard? When love doesn’t seem to come easy, can you seek and find love in other things? Let’s keep our love activated.

I share one of the most famous passages on love in this episode. And ask - how do we keep believing in this love, even when love has failed?

Here are some ideas for affirming love in your life. Enjoy!

Love can bring freedom. Resentment and freedom can’t co-exist. Let gratitude bring you back to love and healing.

Love can heal, and cause heartache. Love can be beautiful, and hard. Let’s keep learning to love in new ways and believe there is more to come.

February is a month that is often focused on love. My goal is to keep learning to love big and love well. Even when I am tired and my capacity feels limited. Here’s some encouragement to love well even when it isn’t easy to do.

Let’s welcome February! More love, more communication, more of the good stuff!

Do we need mastery and expertise? Or do we need a heart for learning, progressing and moving forward?

What if we believe in our progress, in our wins? What if we learn to celebrate ourselves along the way?

Sometimes we grieve the things we give up. And we can change our perspective and see it as something that makes us better!

Find yourself seeking quick fixes instead of lasting changes? Sometimes we are in survival mode and it’s hard to see past the quick fix. Find some encouragement here in this episode.

Here’s some simple tips to rule the weekend. Stay intentional and focused, keeping your eye on the goal even though the weekend is here.

Quiet doesn’t mean there won’t be chaos. Quiet can be found in many different ways. Quiet as often dependent on the condition of my own heart.

By now many people have given up on their resolutions, or goals for this Nee Year. It takes time and effort and energy to be committed to ourselves, and many weeks to establish routine. Let’s have a reality check and see where we really are so far in 2023.

What areas of you life need a little de-cluttering? This is an active word that requires participation, examination and work on our part. I would love to hear more about what you are working on.

What is your internal dialogue? What are you saying to yourself or about yourself? Let’s learn to speak life over ourselves.

Let’s consider how choices impact our journey. Our choices matter. What sometimes brings a release in a moment may bring future chaos.

As we keep setting intentions in this first month of the year, my hope for us all is that we can continue to find freedom. Freedom in our health, wellness, finances… Freedom.

We all need community. A place where we can truly create fellowship and practice vulnerability. A place where we know we will not be judged, where we can come as we are and share and listen and participate together. This episode describes that and sharing words of the year within community.

January (or any time!) is a great time to create a map of where you’re heading for the coming year.

Rest is vital for a healthy lifestyle. Here are some affirmations to encourage peaceful sleep.

How can we stay focused and consistent when we are distracted by all the shiny, new things? Let consistency be our guide!

On the days that overwhelm us, can we make time to pause, and create space? Pausing long enough to process and find a glimmer of hope to hang on to.

Mondays are often the day we like to start something new. What if we just stay started?