Last week during ski lessons while on a family ski vacation in Colorado, I found out my ski instructor was 92 years old!

This was so fascinating to me, because before I found out his age, I witnessed the agility, strength, vitality and articulation of a man half his age.

 I had to know his secret and so I asked.

His answer didn’t include having good genes or even exercising or eating healthy, though I am sure he would say, they were in the mix.

But he answered simply with “My Mindset."  He went on to say that he learned early on in his life that Attitude is Everything and he chooses to have a good one.

I saw this good attitude and positive mindset in action as my instructor, Al, reminded me and the other students, on the slopes, with his instruction:

• Keep pushing yourself when faced with challenges because its so worth it when you grow and stretch yourself.
• Learning new ways of doing things is fun and rewarding.
• Fall often because you'll...

This past week I was taking my son and his friend to their school basketball game which was 30 minutes away from our home. 

I volunteered to drive my son's teammate along with us because I knew his mom had endured a stressful and overwhelming couple of days.

Her husband was out of town for the week and a disastrous dishwasher leak forced her and the kids to live in a hotel until it was fixed. 

She eagerly took me up on my offer to help and I was so glad to give her some respite from at least one activity on her list. 

When the boys and I arrived at the game, my son's friend realized that his mom, who gathered his basketball uniform for him while he was at school, had packed the wrong color uniform. 

There wasn't another uniform option and to his utter disappointment, he now couldn't play in the game.

The anger and frustration, directed at his mom, welled up inside him and compassion for his disappointment welled up inside me, especially for his mom. 

I've...

Everyday as I travel on this entrepreneurial journey, I am met with waves of self doubt. 

As I do things I have never done before, I wonder if I am capable or good enough, because it feels scary and hard.  

In addition to doubting myself, there are all kinds of other feelings  I encounter, like fear, vulnerability, frustration, overwhelm, impatience, rejection, and confusion ( to just name a few) Is this what I signed up for when I set out to do the work of building a coaching practice?

We get these big ideas and begin to go after our dreams.  but inevitably I run into an obstacle and challenges and the little voice of doubt calls out to me.  It tells me I don't need to change and grow. 

It says things are just fine as they are, save your energy, avoid feeling uncomfortable and just stay safe with what you know.  

When it gets hard and it feels terrible, we have many modern day advances that allow us to escape from feeling our...

Every morning for the last three years I have read a page from a beautiful devotional book by Sarah Young called Jesus Calling.

It is in this small daily step that has helped form the habit of prioritizing my faith first. 

The words and message soothe my heart like a lozenge soothes a sore throat.

It clears my mind and focuses me on what matters most and what truly is important to me.

It has been a path to peace as it brings a Divine Order to my life. Everything else on what to do next in my day falls into place in a more clear way than if I had controlled it myself.

I ask for Jesus to guide me in my thoughts, words, and actions and to make my crooked path straight.  After all, he knows what my future holds and I'd rather have His wisdom rather than my own. 

I recently shared my daily divine ritual to a friend and today I received this message:

"Thank you again... seriously... my heart feels more full and my soul feels lighter. I think the last few...

I can easily embrace my kids.

I love hugging and kissing and loving on them.

I whisper loving words to soothe their anxieties and comfort their worries.

I am also there for them with compassion when they make mistakes like all humans do.

Why is it, though, that us moms can't extend the same compassion and love to ourselves when we are feeling bad?

We tell our children how much we love them and forget to extend the same courtesy to ourselves.

When we make mistakes, feel anxiety and worry or miss the mark on our unrealistic supermom expectations,

We need to choose to whisper soothing loving words to ourselves.  

"Way to go momma. You are dong a great job. I love you. Thanks for showing up. You make a difference. You are special. No one is perfect. You are perfect. You are beautiful. You are worth it."

All of these thoughts about ourselves are an option to us at anytime. 

Embrace yourself with love. Show yourself the same compassion you pour on your children you love so...

I can not even remember what exactly  happened on that day in particular that made me leave him, without a word.

I mean I do know I changed diapers, read books, cleaned up, made meals  and all the other stuff that went along with taking care of my young twin babies.  

I just don't recall what put me over the edge.

Maybe it was a Friday, so it had been 5 consecutive days of being home by myself listening to Baby Einstein videos, putting puzzles together and keeping to the feeding/nap schedule I meticulously followed.

The schedule was suppose to allow me to keep my sanity not lose it. 

Well, it seems the sanity part alluded me that day for I watched the clock with a eagle eye and tapped my finger to every tick of the tick tock. 

He'd be home soon and I needed to escape. 

What was it, though, about that particular day that caused my mind to turn from the miracle of being a mom to these two precious human beings, to focusing on the mundane monotony of...

I was in the orthopedic doctor's office to await the results of my x-ray.
I saw all the framed pictures on the wall of every kind of athlete, except what I was, a professional ballet dancer.

I tried to tame my nerves as I played out possible scenarios in my head of what the doctor could say.

A broken bone in the foot was not ideal at all.

Why me, why now, why my foot, why during this performance time?

It seemed devastating at the time.

Fast forward to rehabbing the injury all summer with Pilates classes

Coming back to dance stronger and better than before.

Experiencing the amazing results Pilates has on bodies and health.

Falling in love with the exercise practice.
.
Becoming a Certified Pilates Instructor

Owning and running my own Pilates studio.
.
Helping countless people through my teachings.

The broken toe didn't happen to me.

It happened FOR me.

If God is for me, who could be against me?

Come discover a new way of looking at your life from a former professional ballet dancer, turned...

Two summers ago my family was graciously invited to spend a week, with another family we were acquainted with, at their family cabin on Lake Michigan. 

Always up for an adventure, we looked forward to traveling somewhere we had never been before to spend some family time before the start of a new school year.  

Little did I know that during what was a truly lovely vacation, life would rock my boat, literally.

My son had come to the cabin a week before us to join our host's son for a sailing camp. 

When we arrived to the house, which was pristinely set next to Lake Michigan with a private beach and beautiful inlet view, we also saw kayaks, jet ski's, canoe's and a pretty big sailboat docked in the water.

All signs pointed to our host, who had grown up coming there all his life, to being a well versed water navigator. 

So when he invited all of us, a few days into the trip, to take the sail boat out on the lake, we all agreed excitedly.  For we had...

You've heard before the phrase,  "The Seeds of Greatness."  

In the case of an apple, its full potential of greatness is an orchard.

One lowly apple has the ability to produce an orchard full of apples just from one seed.  

In order to get to the seed, however, you need to peel back the layers to even see the core, where the seed resides.

The same can be said of us humans.

Our potential is limitless and we all, regardless of our circumstances, have the ability to grow and flourish and reach great heights to produce our own orchard.

How do we best get down to our core?

Self Study is a great place to start. 

Most of us don't study and know:

• who we are
• what we bring to the table of life
• what motivates us
• what ignites a fire within us
• what makes us leap out of bed

This is where our POWER lies.  We need to GET TO KNOW IT!

We also need to uncover limiting beliefs. Strong core beliefs that we have accepted and taken on as true but do not serve us from...

Hi. My name is Danielle and I am a recovering perfectionist.

I can argue the case of why having perfectionist qualities is not a bad thing and how seeking perfection has brought me many accomplishments for which I am proud of.

However, now with over 4 decades of life experience, I am able to reflect on how the pursuit of perfection is what had kept me from the very state I was striving for- Peaceful

Our mind, more specifically our thoughts, is what causes us to feel emotions.  Therefore, my thoughts of how I needed to be the: 

• Perfect Wife
• Perfect Mother
• Perfect Daughter
• Perfect Sister
• Perfect Friend
• Perfect Employee

was keeping me from the greatest of all assets- Peace of Mind. 

Gaining awareness that

1. I was lying to myself about perfectionism being a good and noble trait.

2. there are very practical tools to apply to your life to help relinquish perfectionist qualities

has been  the most freeing work I have done since become a Life Coach and having a...