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...

During a recent conversation with a family member, I have come to realize how silly our rationalized thinking can be sometimes.  I started talking about food and choices we all make today.   Our food choices are filled with food derived from GMO's (genetically modified organisms), wheat, dairy with hormones and antibiotics and grocery stores filled with processed food that has more chemicals on the labels that I won't even attempt to pronounce.  As I asked the question "do you know what a GMO is?" the answer was "I don't care, I am still here." As I thought about this response I wondered, is it because I am younger and have this knowledge of something they don't.. was their ego challenged? -or- is it because they really do not want to know?" Is this the same for a lot of people?   My wheels were turning, and then I thought; what are the consequences of NOT knowing this information? If people knew that animals grazed on GMO crops and were get...

    Why is it that I have to constantly repeat myself day in and day out and my children still do not listen? I often wonder what it would take for that magic number to appear -- will it be the 11,357th time when it will finally CLICK and they will do as they are told. This morning as I am walking around the house, I pick up after them and my blood starts to boil and then I suddenly stopped. I looked around and instead of getting frustrated today I start to wonder. One day this will all be gone! one day I will wake up but this time I won't HAVE to get up to get them out of the house and off to school. I won't have to pick their clothes off the floor. I won't have to clean the toothpaste off of the sink. I won't have to pack their lunch or make them breakfast. Lastly, we won't be rushing to get their shoes on as we stumble out the front door and run to catch the bus.  One day they will be off to college and the house will be quiet, just me and my thoughts. ...

      Can you imagine becoming a "guilt-free" mom? seems impossible for most as we tend to live there more often than not these days. Ever wonder why is that? Does this sound like you....your day starts the moment your feet touch the floor. You get out of bed only to climb aboard the perpetual mouse exercise wheel where you spin endlessly (taking care of the kids, home, work, chores etc) until you clock out at night. By the time you climb out, you are tired and dizzy and collapse onto your bed in complete exhaustion.... only to feel GUILT!    I used to live there much too often. I was never good enough, never finished what I started, was constantly running around like a chicken with no head, and always felt that I was not doing right by my children and well...GUILTY!! Today, I am here to tell you ENOUGH,..NO MORE!!! a true mom goddess must learn not to harness such a demeaning emotion. So, to better understand it, let's first look at the word....

   It has been 6 days since Hurricane Sandy has come and gone.  She wreaked havoc here in the tri-state area (where I am from), and we still have a long recovery and healing process to go through.  However, It's hard not to succumb to all the doom and gloom when it's constantly in your face, news,  and at the gas stations etc.  Hurricane Sandy made it real--- it is now that NY has turned into a really screwed up dysfunctional family, (not that we weren't before).  Sandy came into our homes unannounced, caused havoc and decided to stay.  We all thought we were prepared---we weren't.  How can we blame mother nature? we can't punch her in the face but, we can turn on our neighbors and slap them.  The whole thing is so messed up.  At least when it was 9/11, we all banned together and we had an enemy to blame.  Again, can't hate mother nature.  This to me, is everyone's wake up call. Sandy is saying "NY WAKE THE F@^* UP, IT'S ...

Today was a sad day.  I found out that a local boy who had been battling pediatric cancer for the last 2 years had passed.  His brave mother had been blogging their journey and has shown unbelievable strength and courage.  She posted this blog early in the AM.  http://www.superty.org/2012/10/our-baby-is-finally-free-rest-in-peace.html   Her words have struck a chord in every mom and woman out there who's heard of her struggle.  After hearing the news this A.M. I ran into my daughters room with eyes filled with tears and couldn't stop kissing her and telling her I loved her.  I did the same with my son.  All day long as I saw and read stories of this amazing little warrior it put things into perspective.  This boy just turned 5 years old, and for the last 2 he was fighting for his life all the while "smiling". If it weren't for this little boys strength, courage and huge grin the mother writes, she doesn't know how she would of made it through...

I just came across an article that had me in tears laughing and had to share.  A man wrote to the makers of bodyform (a female hygiene company), stating that after all these years, well...THEY LIED.  There is no such thing as a happy period! period!   Well, the company's CEO came back and thanked him for exposing the myth and apologized.  Here is the link:  http://littlewhitelion.com/feminine-hygiene-company-responds-to-facebook-comment-that-accuses-them-of-lying-about-happy-periods-13390/   Make sure you watch the youtube video from the CEO, priceless.   In any event, this video holds a lot of truth as to what us women go through on a monthly basis.  Quite frankly, how does a working mom or any woman maintain peace and balance when her hormones are raging out of control?  I honestly think we should be shipped off for the week to some quiet place-- perhaps the beach or mountains, where we wait until our hormone levels have calm down and upo...

  I can't believe it has been so long since I wrote and I promised myself that I wouldn't be that person that starts something and doesn't follow through.  Although, these past few months have been such a learning curve for me, I feel that now I am ready and confident to live up to my convictions.  I recently, completed my website: www.momgoddesscoach.com and am passionately excited about it.  I thought long and hard about my transitional year and all the lessons I learned along the way.   One of the biggest lessons that I learned is that in order to do everything for everyone else, I had to take care of "me" first.  It is the same as when you board a plan and the airline attendant gets up in front and starts giving you instructions and says in "in the event the cabin pressure is low, an oxygen mask will drop in front of you, please put the MASK ON YOURSELF FIRST, then put it on small children and elders."  If you think about it, it is so true.  ...

Did you know that female energy is 10,000x stronger than a man's certainty! Let's think about that for a moment.  Oh Wait, ..how can we think about female energy when we have been brought up to be strong and independent.  We have been brought up to think and act like a man and still we only get paid $77 per $100 compared to men.  Why is that? what are we doing to ourselves?   A typical scenario in the working world of a mom bringing up her children goes like this.  Mom wakes up exhausted, stumbles to get coffee and once the kids are up ...the race is on.  While some dads may contribute to helping, the fact of the matter is, most don't. Mom usually gets the kids ready for school/daycare, prepares lunches, goes through bags/homework/any notes, gets herself ready, tries to tidy up a bit and either drops the kids off or puts them on the bus.  Already mentally exhausted, she finds herself settling down and takes the long commute to work.  After workin...