Month: February 2024

Click Here for Additional Stock / Here for More Stock / Here for Even More Stock / Here for Even More / Here for Even More / Here for More Stock / Here for More Stock / Here for Even MORE / And Here for Even More Stock

Originally posted at: Sutton Stracke’s Jeans

Navigating family dynamics can be rewarding and challenging as individuals enter their 60s and beyond. Relationships with adult children and grandchildren inevitably evolve, presenting new opportunities and complexities.

While adult children may seek support or guidance from their aging parents, they may also assert their independence or challenge parental authority. Likewise, grandchildren may bring joy to family gatherings, but they may also test boundaries or provoke conflicts with their behavior. In this interplay of generations, setting clear and respectful boundaries becomes paramount.

A Friend’s Retirement Journey

Recently, a dear friend of mine embarked on a new chapter of her life as she entered retirement. With a lifetime career in the banking industry, she possessed an exceptional talent for financial planning and mindful spending. Her disciplined approach to finances allowed her to retire at a younger age than most, thanks to her investment smarts and mindful spending habits.

Admiring her willpower and dedication, I always found inspiration in her ability to prioritize needs over wants, something I frankly stink at. However, retirement brought unexpected challenges, particularly in managing newfound free time amidst the sudden demands of her family. As her friend and a life coach, she sought my guidance on balancing familial obligations and preserving her time, mental wellness, and personal boundaries.

The Importance of Boundaries

Boundary setting begins with self-awareness and self-assertion. Individuals must identify their needs, values, and limits before communicating them to their family members. This requires introspection and reflection on what is personally important and meaningful, and what behaviors or interactions are acceptable or unacceptable. By cultivating a strong sense of self and clarity about one’s boundaries, individuals can confidently assert themselves in family relationships.

Communication is key to establishing and maintaining healthy boundaries within the family unit. Open and honest dialogue allows individuals to express their needs, concerns, and boundaries constructively and respectfully. Setting aside time for regular family meetings or conversations provides a dedicated space for discussing issues, resolving conflicts, and reaffirming mutual respect and understanding. Clear and consistent communication helps to prevent misunderstandings and resentment, fostering greater harmony and cohesion within the family.

Establishing and Enforcing Boundaries

Boundaries may take various forms depending on the specific circumstances and dynamics of the family. They may involve setting limits on physical space and privacy, such as establishing personal boundaries within the home or respecting each other’s need for solitude and downtime.

Boundaries may also pertain to emotional boundaries, such as expressing feelings and emotions healthily and respectfully or refraining from intrusive or judgmental behavior. Additionally, boundaries may involve setting expectations around financial support, caregiving responsibilities, or decision-making processes within the family.

Enforcing boundaries requires firmness and assertiveness, even in the face of resistance or pushback from family members. Individuals must be willing to uphold their boundaries consistently and without apology, even if it means confronting discomfort or conflict.

This may involve saying “no” to requests or demands that compromise one’s well-being or values, setting limits on intrusive or disrespectful behavior, or establishing consequences for boundary violations. While boundary setting may initially provoke resistance or tension within the family, it will foster mutual respect, autonomy, and healthier relationships.

Key Takeaways

Here are some key takeaways for you to consider:

Navigating Evolving Relationships

• Recognize that relationships with adult children and grandchildren evolve.
• Foster open communication and actively listen to the needs and perspectives of each family member.
• Embrace flexibility and adaptability in your interactions to accommodate changing dynamics.
• Set aside dedicated time for meaningful conversations to strengthen bonds and address any emerging issues.

Effective Boundary Setting

• Start by understanding your own needs, values, and limits.
• Reflect on past experiences to identify patterns or areas where boundaries may be necessary.
• Clearly communicate your boundaries with empathy and assertiveness, ensuring they are understood and respected.
• Be consistent in upholding your boundaries, even if it means facing resistance or discomfort.

Open Communication

• Create a safe and non-judgmental environment for family discussions.
• Schedule regular family meetings or check-ins to facilitate open communication.
• Encourage everyone to express their thoughts, feelings, and concerns openly and honestly.
• Practice active listening and validate each other’s perspectives, even if you disagree.

Establishing Various Types of Boundaries

• Identify the different areas where boundaries may be necessary, such as physical, emotional, and financial.
• Clearly define and communicate boundaries related to personal space, privacy, and alone time.
• Express emotions healthily and respectfully, setting boundaries around acceptable behaviors during conflicts.
• Discuss expectations regarding financial support, caregiving responsibilities, and decision-making processes within the family.

Enforcing Boundaries Firmly

• Stay firm and consistent in upholding your boundaries, even in the face of resistance.
• Practice self-compassion and remind yourself that setting boundaries is essential for your well-being.
• Be prepared to enforce consequences for boundary violations, such as reducing contact or setting limits on interactions. This can be extremely hard but is necessary!
• Seek support from other family members or trusted friends if you encounter challenges in enforcing your boundaries.

It’s All About Balance

Navigating family dynamics with adult children and grandchildren requires a delicate balance of love, respect, and boundary-setting. By cultivating self-awareness, open communication, and assertiveness, individuals can establish clear and healthy boundaries that promote harmony, autonomy, and mutual respect within the family unit.

Boundaries are the cornerstone of all healthy relationships, enabling individuals to maintain their well-being while fostering meaningful connections with their loved ones across generations.

In the case of my newly retired friend, through open communication, she has embraced her freedom from the daily work grind and is finding a rewarding balance between pursuing her passions and happily fulfilling family obligations.

She is comfortable taking on the responsibility of watching her granddaughter twice a week after preschool until her mother returns home, allowing her daughter to focus on her commitments. Despite this commitment, my friend also dedicates time to pursuing her lifelong passion and is giving back to her community.

Volunteering at a local community center, she offers free financial advice, utilizing her expertise gained from decades of experience in the banking industry. This balance between familial duty and personal fulfillment highlights the importance of effective communication in navigating the complexities of retirement and family dynamics.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

How are you balancing your family challenges and responsibilities? Have you set healthy boundaries with your loved ones? Was it difficult to do so?

Originally posted at: Larsa Pippen’s Yellow Lace Up Dress

Click Here for Additional Stock

Originally posted at: Lisa Hochstein’s White Ring Dress

There’s a feeling you get when you begin to tap into your own wisdom, your power, beauty, self-belief and confidence. It is a feeling unlike any other I have ever experienced. It’s a feeling of being fully ALIVE and totally present in your body, heart, mind and soul. This feeling isn’t dependent on your age, your size or anything else about you.

It doesn’t care how much money you have in the bank or how many friends you have in your life. It’s a feeling that is created when you know how to access the energy of who you truly are.

It took me a long time to really access this feeling but when I did, I didn’t want it to stop. However, this feeling can’t be held on to, it’s not something you get once and it’s there forever. This feeling of vitality, energy, personal power and love of living needs to be created daily. Because it’s in the creation of this Aliveness that we access who we authentically are.

Working with the Goddess Archetypes

One of the most beautiful ways that we can tap into our own radiant aliveness is to begin to work with our Goddess Archetypes. In my work as a Body Confidence Expert/Coach and energy medicine movement teacher, I work with seven powerful Goddess/Divine feminine archetypes to help my clients embody what they most desire to feel, be and create.

What Is an Archetype?

An archetype is a pattern/universal symbol that connects us across space, culture and time. Archetypes play a vital role in storytelling where we can see the main characters of the story acted out in different ways, for example, the hero, the star, the wise old woman etc. Archetypes are powerful energies that can influence our ways of being in the world. However, many people are simply unaware of these patterns of power, purpose and potential.

When we begin to work with the Goddess archetypes, we begin to connect and resonate with an aspect of ourselves that is steeped in ancient history, mythology and stories from the past. The seven Goddess archetypes that I work with are:

1. The Earth Goddess/Mother
2. The Enchantress/Lover
3. The Wild Woman
4. The Queen
5. The Warrior
6. The Mystic/Visionary
7. The Alchemist

Each Goddess archetype carries her own story and powerful message and is connected to different areas of the body. She invites you to remember who you are and who you are destined to be. For example, The Queen archetype invites me to trust my heart, to stand in my own sovereign power and to make my own “rules” for what is right for me.

She is strong and confident, loving and empowering. Whenever I am feeling a little off-kilter or unconfident, I place my hands over my heart and ask myself, “What would my queen do in this situation?”  It always helps me to re-balance and to tap into my courage and wisdom.

To help you to really get a sense of what each of these Goddess archetypes offers, I have written a short story/visualisation for you to read and reflect upon. As you read, allow yourself to imagine each of these Goddesses as fully as you can.

The Goddess Meditation/Visualisation

Read this meditation/visual story every day to help connect you with your seven key Goddess archetypes.

Imagine, right now, as you are reading these words, that you are walking outside on the most beautiful spring evening.

The air is sweet with the promise of summer and eternally fresh with the new buds of spring.

You feel so good, so alive, so safe and so in love with the air that you breathe.

As you walk, you notice that up ahead in front of you is the most beautiful forest. You feel drawn towards its natural and powerful beauty. The birds hover around your head, singing to you and calling you forward. Your body tingles with excitement and the feeling that something very special is about to happen.

You have never felt so alive and so in love with life.

As you approach the forest, you gaze up at the tall trees stretching endlessly into the baby blue sky. The sunlight shimmers through the leaves and branches making dancing, dappled patterns of light on the forest floor.

Somewhere, from deep within your soul, you recognise this place. You have been here before. Maybe it was in a dream, another life, another time or in a soul vision. You know intuitively that this is a very special and magical place.

The forest invites you to enter and you walk into the centre where there is a natural circular clearing. You smile as you gaze at all of the creatures of the forest as they hum and sing to you, welcoming you back “home.”

In the middle of this clearing, you notice, there is a chair or seat. You walk towards the seat. It might be a throne, a bench, a stone plinth or maybe a mound of grass. Whatever your seat looks like, you walk over towards it and sit comfortably, allowing your body to rest awhile.

Just in front of the seat is a comforting fire burning brightly in the fire pit.

As you allow yourself to relax, you notice that there is a beautiful mist that is floating all around the circle and from within this mist, figures and shapes are emerging. You know intuitively that these are your ancestors, your guides, your guardian spirits, your angels, your power animals, your soul visions and your shapeshifters.

As they form a circle around you there is such a beautiful feeling of love, warmth and magic in the air. You relax even more as your body breathes a gentle sigh of peace and contentment.

You know that something very special is about to happen. Likely, you have been waiting for this moment all of your life and are ready to receive the gifts that this enchanted space offers you.

In the distance you can hear a haunting melody that runs shivers and tingles down your spine. And as the melody comes closer, you see that out of the mist is the most beautiful woman. She walks towards you, smiling and carrying a gift in her hands.

The Earth Goddess/Mother

She is mature and yet not old. Her body is full of the wisdom of her life, of her love and creativity. As you gaze into her eyes, you see your own reflected back. The Earth Goddess carries all of the stories that have ever been told and are yet to be written. She is pure creativity, always birthing something new from something old. In her presence, you feel supported and cared for.

She gives you a gift. It is the most beautiful radiant heart shaped ruby. It glints red with rich, abundant, life-giving energy. She invites you to place it at the base of your spine. You do so and thank her for her gift. She tells you to keep your creative energy alive everyday by doing what makes you feel most alive.   

The Enchantress/Lover

As the earth mother steps away, you notice the most mesmerising woman flow towards you. She shimmers in the evening light and shines brightly.

She weaves a vivid orange colour around your hips, lower belly and sacrum. In her hands she offers you a crystal chalice which contains the seeds of your wildest dreams and greatest passions. She invites you to sprinkle the seeds in the rich soil of your belly, where all of the things that you love will begin to grow and flourish.

The Enchantress seeks pleasure in her life, and takes joy in everything she experiences, from the budding snowdrops in spring, to the sparkling stars as night falls. She loves her life, the planet, animals and people.

She tells you to drink deep of your greatest pleasures and passions. You nod gently in agreement and thank her for her gift, which you place in your belly.

The Wild Woman

As the enchantress melts back into the mists, you notice the most fabulous and powerful woman you have ever seen dancing towards you. Her aliveness and freedom cannot be contained. She is ancient and beyond time and there is a part of you that knows she is you.

She laughs as she hands you her gift – a golden key. Your eyes meet and something within you unlocks and unleashes a wildness that you have never experienced before. She laughs even more as she invites you to keep the key safe in your solar plexus and says to trust the doorways that it will open. She tells you to reclaim your wild self and ignite those parts of you that you have kept hidden or where you have played small.

The Queen

Your heartbeat quickens as you find yourself looking straight into the eyes of your queen. You have always known her and now she is here in all of her majesty and sovereignty. There is no doubt that she is powerful beyond measure and wise beyond time. She knows who she is and adores her body and her life. She reigns wholeheartedly in her life.

The queen tenderly hands you the sweetest rose and somehow you feel a deep healing spread through every cell of your body. She invites you to keep the rose in your heart and always turn to it for guidance. She tells you to listen to your heart and follow its guidance.

The Warrior

As the warrior strides towards you, her feet barely touching the earth, her presence is communicated. Her essence is a cascading rhythm of now. She, like all of the others, is timeless, endless and constantly in the spiral dance of unfolding.

The warrior speaks with every part of her body and you know that what she says is the truth. She tells you to remember your courage and how you have already overcome many obstacles in your life. She invites you to keep speaking your truth with conviction and confidence.

You notice that at the base of her throat sits a blue butterfly, which she gently allows to fly into her hand as she offers it to you.

The Mystic Visionary/Sage

The colour indigo begins to pour into your body from the ever deepening night sky and you can see the first glimpses of the moon. You catch your breath as a haze of magic appears in front of you. Out of this haze appears a goddess that you have only ever seen in your dreams.

She wears the moon in the centre of her forehead and her eyes reflect the deepest knowing of all that there is. As you gaze in wonder at this beautiful vision, she invites you to embody your deepest wisdom. She tells you to trust your visions and to imagine the moon sits between your brows to help with your inner knowing and intuition.

The Alchemist

As the night draws in, you meet your alchemist. She is all of who you are and have ever been. She is the weaver of magic and ancient as time itself. Her hair is white, silver with strands of violet and her body contains many lifetimes of stories. She turns dreams into reality and is always there, calling you to fully inhabit your life and your body.
Her message is simple…”follow your true north.” Above her head spins a crown of stars, shimmering in an ultra violet white light.

Everything is easy for her as she casts her spells of love over you. Gently, she hands you her crown of stars and smiles as you place it just above your head. “See how brightly you shine,” she whispers as she fades back into the arms of the forest.

Having received all of the gifts from the seven Goddess archetypes, allow yourself to come back to where you are and gently answer the following wisdom questions:

Goddess Wisdom Questions

• What is the story that hasn’t been told, but must be told?
• What would give you the most pleasure in your life right now?
• What is it to be wildly alive? To allow your inner wild woman to be expressed?
• What is it to follow your heart? To embody your Queen?
• What is your truth? What words need to be spoken?
• What is your vision now of your life?
• What is the magic and medicine that you bring to the world?

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into the world of Goddess archetypes and how they can help you to access different parts of you that invite you to shine brightly and age radiantly.

I keep my Goddesses close to me, and they really help me to tap into my own inner wisdom and authenticity as I flow through my life. It can take a while to fully embody their messages; however, once you do, nothing is ever quite the same and every day feels like an adventure!

If you would like a FREE eBook of the Goddess meditation, please just click here. You can find more info on my Goddess workshops and Body Confidence Coaching and training on www.astridlonghurst.com

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What is the Goddess archetype that you most resonate with? How might you use her wisdom in your own life?