Jodi Brichta-Coyne, Coach/Author/Speaker

      Yesterday, I was scrolling down in a couple of local mom groups and I could not believe what I was seeing (or maybe I could). A lot of posts were moms  bitching and moaning about their daily struggles and everything on their plate-- in other words...STRESS!    So then, last night I was flipping through Netflix and came across the documentary, Stress: the silent killer. I decided to watch it and found it interesting. It showed how one nuerobiologist studied a tribe of baboons in Africa for over a decade and how stress affected the entire tribe. It seemed as though the dominate,aggressive males brought much of the stress to the entire community.    When the dominate males were around,fights would break out and other baboons cortisol (stress) levels would go up. Then something remarkable happened. The monkeys were plagued with tuberculosis. However, only the dominate males died but the rest survived (interesting). After these monkeys had passed, the rest of the community came

    Every year I get photo cards done of my two kids and send them out to close friends and family for the holidays. In years past, I really enjoyed doing this. However, the cost accrued and time spent with making the cards, labeling and sending them out only to be (for most) tossed out shortly after the holidays has lost its zest for me. I for one, had always loved to get cards from others of their families and I would tape them above my molding in my kitchen and leave them up all year long. I would only take them down the following year when I got new cards and would compare the two to see how much the kids grew. Over the last couple of years I noticed little by little, I wasn't getting as many as I used to. People were just not sending out Christmas cards anymore, it made me wonder.   This year, I decided that instead of sending cards out I would do something different. I announced on facebook and tagged most of my family and friends who would have received a card from me an

   As a woman, mom, wife, friend, daughter, business-owner and someone juggling all the balls in the air with the endless to-do lists, the one thing that I use to think was "is everyone happy by my efforts?" You see, I am a recovering people-pleaser and was constantly looking for validation from others in return. When I would do something for someone else, I expected that they either: 1) be grateful or 2) do something for me in return down the road. It seemed the more I did, the more people expected from me. So, I kept doing and kept seeking their approval. I would do anything to feel validated, buy them things thinking they would be over the moon and appreciative. I would offer to do services such as watch their kids, or do errands or even offer and go visit them because I knew they wouldn't visit me and my family and I wanted them to like me. As the years went on and I had my own kids and to be honest, I was expecting others to just help me out. However, that wasn&

                                    This weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to attend an amazing 4-day seminar with my mentor, the huge, the almighty, Mr. TONY ROBBINS. During this amazing 4-day event, I had some incredible breakthroughs and even walked across hot coals (YES, PEOPLE HOT COALS!) without so much as a mark. This experience made me realize so much as I felt all the more wiser. One of the limiting beliefs that I was able to crush, was the thought that I didn't know enough. Even though I love to inspire other women that they ARE enough, I myself, was feeling less than. I have been studying everything I could get my hands on in my current field and just can't get enough. At one point during the seminar, Tony has us break out into pairs where we had to tell a partner (complete stranger) what are limiting beliefs were. I told (now my new friend) mine and she replied back with "my limiting belief is that I am not smart enough." "WOW" I tho

What happened? Where did all the kids go? You know, the ones who use to play outside and were curious about the world. The ones who used their imagination to dream of far away lands with dragons and knights in the woods of their own back yards? The ones yelling, playing kickball, laughing and smiling at each other.... where did they go? I think they  forgot.. forgot what it was like to stop for a moment...put down the phones... go outside... breathe in the fresh, crisp air and stare at the world with wonderment.  We (the 70's/80s kids) have forgotten.....WE have forgotten what it is like to just 'be' a kid. How can we expect our children to do the same when we ourselves, don't set the example. We are so stressed out, overworked, overburdened and overwhelmed that instead of turning everything off, sharing quality moments with our kids as we walk around and absorb the world, we give them things to tune out instead. Then we go ahead and label them as lazy, unmotiv

Did you ever notice that sometimes when you look around the world seems empty? you can also look around in a crowded room and yet feel... so all alone. When you look around and see all the 'stuff' in your world (material things) does it lack lustre? Something is missing? what is it?   In today's society, we all are so caught up with wanting and having more because if we get things we want or what our nieghbors' have, we think we will be fulfilled. That new piece, i.e. furniture, clothing, things once obtained will allow us to release endorphins or feel good hormones but, for how long?   When we attach ourselves to things to help us achieve happiness we set ourselves up with a standard, a standard that is only visible to the eye. It holds no depth and definitely doesn't sustain us for the long term. Clothes get worn and out of style, furniture gets used, things fade or lose appeal and after they do, we are so eager to replace them. The same goes for people, the