Mommy Heroes

Announcement for Birthing Ourselves, Childbirth Preparation Groups on Zoom. We are born as parents in this time and the group includes broad ideas of transformation in addition to more standard need to know and do subjects. Give a listen and see if it is for you or a loved one. Then check it out after April 16, 2020 at birthingourselves.com

How many of you feel like your productivity is too low as a mom? Where is that pressure coming from? How do you deal with it, work with it, or overcome it? Here is my experience.

We discuss: Feminine vs Feminist in the healthcare arena Going from the status of victim to feeling empowered Women in healthcare evolving to bring more feminine qualities instead of females acting out male qualities or fighting the system just to be heard Feminine qualities in healthcare including nurturing, listening, nourishing, connection to mother earth, and holding space and allowing the individual to do their work in healing The Radiant Wellcare Summit as a perfect example of bringing more feminine healing qualities into the healthcare arena How good it is for women to have men that consciously use balanced masculine/feminine energy in their daily lives and healing modalities and also how good it is for other men to witness that Seeing and hugging Amma, “The Hugging Saint.” Amma as an excellent example of feminine energy in healing by her enormous sense of presence personal development events having a lasting effect vs. the high/low experience of some, where you have to re-enter the mundane The import

Episode 06 Show Notes: Nicole Tiffany Cruz, The “The Super Busy Mommy Coach” We discuss: How she helps busy parents reach high levels of fitness and health despite being sleep deprived and constantly interrupted Setting up the ideal work environment for her meant having her son nearby How divorce took that opportunity from her, but she is recreating it Appreciation for her current full-time employment but she is non-complacent in her commitment to building a more balanced lifestyle through her business building Knowing patience and time are needed to be realistic about scaling her business while raising her 4-year-old son Dealing with “mommy guilt” vs. seeing the whole picture and knowing her commitment to herself in building a better life for her and her son How important it is to set examples of doing what she loves to her child How a “calling” to do this work is both a blessing and a curse Founding her business on her problem of not finding enough time to workout and sharing her solution with others Train

Today's show is a shortish monologue of a very real event that happened in my life, that set the stage for the beauty to come. Yoda's saying comes to mind: "Do or do not. There is no Try."

This is the first of several shorter summer episodes of me riffing on some Mommy Stories. In this episode, I share the story of my new book, 52 Ways to Love Yourself Postpartum, and how it came to be. This was just a quick idea that I had that a few people encourage me along and I learned the value of having great people around that lift you up and ultimately the whole community is lifted with you. 

In this episode, Kerena Saltzman, LCSW, and expert in Relational Intelligence shares: How her daughter’s birth helped her leap from 1 on 1 therapy to working with a team, presenting, and leading large groups Esalen Institute introduced her to Gestalt Therapy and got her around leaders like Sam Keen and Ram Dass Working with 20 somethings and the generational difference of the strength and ownership the younger women have around their education and sexuality How her career works with her husband and sharing home offices, chores, delegation and responsibility of family life Taking regular time weekly alone with her husband to stay connected and prioritize their relationship How her knowledge in her career plays out in her home About placing value on being together as a family, even if that being together is not pretty or comfortable and how she models that for her daughter How she toggles between high focus time and relaxed time within her day Self-reflection on operating from her values and adjusting accordin

In this episode we discuss: Her children and her experience with their surrogate pregnancies The trust needed to have someone else carry your children in their womb Being invited at both of the births of her children How the surrogate mothers also pumped their breastmilk for her children and what it took to get it on a regular basis The vision her husband had of their two children even before they knew how they would come The interviewing of her children and what they told her about what makes a good parent How her children hoped for her engagement with them and freedom to be themselves How she provides a rich environment for her kids, to have a “playground" where they don’t have to be afraid of messing it up The under-scheduling of her kids to have the unrushed, openness of time Her daughter’s statement “punishment is not going to work for me” at age 4 The recent experience of her daughter being thrown from a horse and how it changed Paddy's life for the better What it did for her to have this “horrific” ex

Episode 05 Show Notes: Ellie Hamner, The Happy Memory Maker We discuss: Having a great appreciation for the ability to be unemployed and raise her kids How this has helped her know them, learn from them, and understand them more fully One of the biggest gifts of staying home is not being tied to her computer Defining work: do unemployed moms not work or do they work very hard in a different capacity? How she creates every meal from scratch, breakfast, lunch, and dinner and makes them a work of art How she photographs her meals and is working on starting a public Instagram page for her creations How cooking was passed down from her great-great-grandmother How becoming a mom expands horizons of becoming more fully human and food has been a big part of that expansion Her unusual childhood and how it contributed to her awesome life and gave her sense of adventure, a sense of challenge, and more skills and focus How her childhood in nature seems like a lost way of living How she wants to give her kids the freedom

In this episode, Gina Scott, nurse and continuing student shares: How exercise holds her together as a woman and a mom The importance of doing what you say The importance of having a “why” Being comfortable with the uncomfortable What is important over the long haul; not just the moment Not giving up, if she didn’t do well, she has to get up and do it again Movement comes naturally to her so; she has to find a challenge, like learning the splits The importance of having her kids and grandkids around her to feel whole Keeping a balance of having social engagement even in a busy student schedule Learning to be gentle to herself as she grew older How golfing is a passion for her and is an analogy for life How taking the first step in a process is the hardest and everything else is a little easier How we need other women to push us along and maybe even save us at times How she didn’t plan to have kids but felt like she had “arrived,” when she became a mother Surprise: “You have kids so you can have grandkids.” H

The awesome mom of 4 talks about how she has and is raising her kids amid her full life as a midwife, writer, teacher, and independent global health consultant. We discuss: The continuum of working and self-care and the competing needs across time How women are conditioned to not ask for help and are hard on themselves and each other How being single works in her family situation How some of her best writing comes from “procrasti-writing.” Writing when she doesn’t want to do other things It’s good self-care to pay someone to do those things you don’t like doing. Structure vs. flexibility when working with a busy family schedule Being easy on yourself and not adhering to perfection around parenting The realities of having a baby and what you need at that time How common expectations of having a child are not correct and can create self-doubt in early parenting How age helps you figure out that things are not as important as experiences Internal splits are common for mothers with careers. How to ask for what y

In this episode, April Stearns, editor in chief and creator of Wildfire Magazine, shares: The importance of writing as therapy, process, and product. How she went from blogging to online magazine to print magazine and her enjoyment of consuming content offline Her current issue “Parenting.” How breast cancer affected her own parenting, the vulnerability and the growth How breastfeeding helped her get diagnosed How to talk to kids about cancer in age-specific ways Allowing kids to have there own experience and emotions around cancer How cancer helped her child have more compassion toward everyone How to be creative on the clock Importance of built-in break time Use of time-blocking in work: limiting the time allowed on a project that can absorb a lot of energy Why free space in the woods is a great place to allow thoughts to come Why enjoying the age and stage of kids where they are is so important Growing up with a mother with mental illness How her husband gives her room to be so much more than the primary

Mothers | Parenting | High-Performance | High-Achievement | Female-Leaders | Self-Care | Raising Kids This episode of the podcast introduces where this idea of Mommy Heroes came from. What is a hero, her journey and her qualities? Why is she so compelled to do what she does and, more practically, how does she get it all done in and amongst the beauty and the chaos of having a family and raising her kids in this modern day? Join me as we explore the fascinating stories of incredible moms that can teach us all. Please find us on FaceBook at Mommy Heroes Please support the show at Patreon/Mommyheroes