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...

Everyone of us needs half an hour of prayer every day, except when we are busy- then we need an hour   ~St. Francis de Sales

It seems counterintuitive, when our lives are filled with responsibilities, long to-do lists and things that "have-to" get done, that we would be better off dedicating More Time to God. 

After all, there are only so many hours in the day and dinner isn't going to make itself- or will it?

As a type A personality woman, I used to get an amazing  rush when I accomplished all the goals for the day. 

However, the celebration was short lived as my brain showed me all the things I didn't do yet, or had upcoming still to accomplish. The list never ended and there was always more.

It really is a perpetual cycle of always striving, thinking we will finally feel so  much better as soon as we achieve X or accomplish Y.  

It's exhausting actually and empty at times, especially when we fall into the human trap of being self focused...

Google's Dictionary definition of Purge includes:

1.  To make free of something unwanted  and

2.  To get rid of

The same resource defines Purpose as:

1. The reason for which something is done or created and

2. To have as one's intention or objective

When both of these are brought together, the path to organizing your home and anything in your life (schedule, relationships, mind) is made easy.  

Most of my clients, have believed for so long that if only they had the right containers, a bigger house, labeled baskets or less messy kiddos, then they would be able to be organized.

Truth is, we can only organize our life when we have the right amount of "stuff" we purposely choose, that makes us think and feel that we are organized. 

Therefore, purging on purpose, (not keeping unnecessary items, buying more things, or adding to our already busy schedules), will put us on the path to organizational peace.

Apply these two easy, but impactful...

Years ago my sister-in-law gave me a memory/keepsake book called the Christmas Companion, A Record Book Of Holiday Memories And Traditions, by Kathy Davis. It's laid out to hold 10 years of memories of your how your family spent their holiday season that year. 

Since I love record keeping, and having my Christmas memories organized in one place, this book (and the two more just like it I have purchased), have become a treasured record of our past holiday experiences. 

Though it is so fun to get it out and look at how our children have changed through the years, by seeing them grow up on our Christmas cards, the most impactful and anticipated part of the book for me to fill out are the pages where I get to write:

"Highlights of the Past Year" and "Hopes of the Coming Year" 

Who doesn't love a good year in review? Scanning your memories, perhaps with your whole family surrounded together, to reflect on all the Highlights of the Past Year, is so fun and deserves...