5 steps to align yourself with your core values

5 steps to align yourself with your core values

Now is the time to TRANSFORM your life

(and create the life you deserve).

Get your FREE checklist of 10 ACTION-STEPS to INSPIRE BIG CHANGE and start paving your path to THRIVING.

Are you ready for BIG CHANGE in your life but unsure of where to start?

I have the perfect thing for you..

Download my FREE CHECKLIST: 10 action-steps to inspire BIG CHANGE and start paving your path to THRIVING.

You also get access to my FULL LIBRARY of resources to help you thrive in your life including a Gratitude Journal, Habit Tracker, Best Self workbook with 100+ affirmations, a Goal Setting Workbook, and SO. MUCH. MORE!

Want to integrate Affirmations more into your life?

Are you ready to take one step closer to your BEST self? And really CONNECT to that version of you?

Then, I have the perfect thing for you..

Grab your FREE BEST SELF WORKBOOK. Inside, you'll find:

- 101 positive affirmations so that you ALWAYS know the perfect affirmation for you

- a gratitude journal worksheet with space for one week's worth of gratitude (so you NEVER forget to lean into gratitude)

- a daily affirmation tracker/scheduler so that you ACTUALLY use them and are intentional about practicing affirmations

- Journal Prompts to help you go DEEPER into your self love, connection to yourself, and build self confidence so that you move on your path from surviving to thriving.

We go through life, day by day, doing the things that we need to do. We go to work. We watch after our kids. Pay our bills. Clean the house. Cook dinner. We also do the things that we WANT to do. We go on vacations. We see our friends. We connect with our spouses and children.   But honestly, sometimes I feel like life can be consumed by the things that we NEED to do and not by the things that we WANT to do.

Anyone relate?

So it’s really important that even what you need to do, your obligations, your work, your responsibilities are in line with what you want, your core values. Because otherwise, life is just a string of days that can feel meaningless and empty, or stressful and hectic, or chaotic and jumbled all into one. And that isn’t living. That isn’t THRIVING.

It’s surviving.

I want to talk a little bit about alignment and your core values. And how you can grow in alignment with your core values. How you can take the things that you need to do, and line them up with the things that you want to do. How you can grow in your happiness.

How you can move forward on your path towards thriving.

And it starts with understanding what your core values are. Understanding what it is you actually need to thrive day in and day out (your thrive needs). The things that make you YOU. The things that make you light up, feel refreshed, feel useful, feel your CORE desired feelings.

The things that make you HAPPY.

Because as you grow in your understanding of what you NEED to thrive, you are then able to attune more to what shifts and changes need to happen in your life so that your obligations and responsibilities are in alignment with what you want for your life.

And those shifts and changes lead you towards thriving.

They lead you towards a fulfilled life. A life of purpose, because of a life of purpose means that you are living FOR your core values.  You are living FOR yourself.

If this is your first time, or your 50th time visiting my website, you will come to find (or come to already know) that I am all about ACTION and taking small bite-sized action steps that bring you closer to thriving.

I created a 5 step plan for you to help you on your path towards alignment.

And when you are more aligned, you’re happier.

When you’re happier, you thrive.

YOU DESERVE TO THRIVE!

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1.  Explore your core values

For this step, I just want you to brainstorm. What is it that you want? Think about the major categories of your life. They are different for everyone but generally they are:  physical health (health, fitness, and wellness), mental health (confidence, identity, purpose, passion), social (friendships, social support, adventure/excitement), romance (love, relationships, connection, confidence), financial (work, opportunities, money mindset), professional (career/job, starting own biz, purpose, passion), and familial (motherhood, parenting, marriage).  Really examine the values that are associated with each. Explore what you learned growing up. How those values are manifested (or not manifested) now. Explore your desired values. Really get down to what is important to you in each of these categories.

2. Explore your thrive needs and where those core values fit in.

Take the categories that you explored above and brainstorm what you need to do daily to feel like you are thriving in that area. What you need to do to feel closer to your best self each day. How does this interact with your core values? How does this counteract your core values (if it does)?

3. Examine your daily obligations.

Take those categories and brainstorm what your obligations are in each one. What you HAVE to do each day. Get extensive with this list. Waking up at 6am can be an obligation. Eating breakfast. Examine each category for your responsibilities on the day to day.

4. Pair your daily obligations with your core values and thrive needs.

This is where it can get tricky. Next, look at your obligations and your core values/thrive needs. Where do you see matches (meaning your core values/thrive needs are in alignment with what you already do – your obligations/responsibilities).  Find the disconnects. Where in your life are your obligations not in alignment with your core values and what you need to thrive? For example, if one of your thrive needs is to spend a lot of time with your child or spouse, but your work is a 80 hour a week job, there is a disconnect. Find the matches and find the disconnects. There will probably be both. Acknowledge the places in your life where you are in alignment, and acknowledge the places that you are not. (You will also find I am a HUGE fan of acknowledgement!).

5. Examine how you can create more matches between your obligations and your core values and thrive needs.

Here is where you start creating a plan. What do you need to create more matches? What would it look like? Start brainstorming how you can attack the disconnects between your core values/thrive needs and your obligations/responsibilities.

This is explored extensively in the first module, Value, of my upcoming course, Deserve to Thrive. Through targeted questioning, I help you discover your core values and thrive needs, connect them to your daily obligations and responsibilities AND your dreams and desires, and create a plan for alignment through not only goal setting, but intentional and mindful living.

Are you ready for BIG CHANGE in your life but unsure of where to start?

I have the perfect thing for you..

Download my FREE CHECKLIST: 10 action-steps to inspire BIG CHANGE and start paving your path to THRIVING.

You also get access to my FULL LIBRARY of resources to help you thrive in your life including a Gratitude Journal, Habit Tracker, Best Self workbook with 100+ affirmations, a Goal Setting Workbook, and SO. MUCH. MORE!

Want to integrate Affirmations more into your life?

Are you ready to take one step closer to your BEST self? And really CONNECT to that version of you?

Then, I have the perfect thing for you..

Grab your FREE BEST SELF WORKBOOK. Inside, you'll find:

- 101 positive affirmations so that you ALWAYS know the perfect affirmation for you

- a gratitude journal worksheet with space for one week's worth of gratitude (so you NEVER forget to lean into gratitude)

- a daily affirmation tracker/scheduler so that you ACTUALLY use them and are intentional about practicing affirmations

- Journal Prompts to help you go DEEPER into your self love, connection to yourself, and build self confidence so that you move on your path from surviving to thriving.

Caught in the Mire: 10 signs you are Stuck

Caught in the Mire: 10 signs you are Stuck

Do you feel stuck and don’t know where to start?

I have the perfect thing for you..

Download my WORKBOOK: How to Get Unstuck and start paving your path to thriving TODAY.

You hear it all the time. You might have heard a friend use this when referring to themselves. You may have a family member who has said it. Maybe you have even used this word to describe yourself.  Or maybe, sadly, you’ve had someone else describe you this way.

Stuck.

You’re stuck.

I’m stuck.

Stuck.

What does it mean to be stuck?

It feels like such a cloudy word that means something different for everyone. And it can mean entirely different things from person to person, but everyone who defines themselves as “stuck” has one thing in common:

You are not making progress.

No progress = Being stuck.

Stuck = No progress.

And no progress feels bad. Its not right for us not to be progressing. We are meant to be constantly evolving and growing, bettering and challenging ourselves.

Being stuck can feel like quicksand, slow moving, and the more you try to move (in the wrong way), the more you move away from progress.

So how do you know you are stuck?

Here are 10 signs you are stuck:

YOU DESERVE TO THRIVE!

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You have dreams, you’re just not going for them.

You know what you want (or you kind of know what you want, you have ideas, you’ve toyed with it, you see others doing the thing that you want to do and the thought crosses your mind that you should be doing it too). You have dreams. You know who you really are inside, your true authentic self. You’re just not doing anything about it. You’re acting. You are doing what you think you should be doing. You dream, you just don’t go for it. You know who you are, you’re just not being you. You’re fitting yourself into a box that someone else put around you because they thought it was right for you. Well, they’re wrong. And you’re stuck in that box.

>> Amazing article alert! Are You Brave Enough To Do What You Long To In Your Life? Find Out By Kathy Caprino <<  

Your job isn’t your career.

I remember when I realized when my job wasn’t my career and how it was my semantics that defined this realization.  I would say, “I work at a money management firm” or “I work at a school.”  It wasn’t until I could say, “I AM a therapist, “ and “I AM a life coach” that I realized that I had found a career.

But what is the difference between a job and a career?

A job is something you do because you need to do something. A job is a way to pay the bills. A job is something that gives you money so you can do the things you want to do.

A career is something you feel passionate about. A career is something you dedicate your life to. A career is a representation of who you are. A career is something you believe in and want others to believe in as well. A career makes you feel alive and fulfilled.

You make just enough money to get by.

You are constantly checking out your bank account, worried about what you might see. You shy away from activities with friends because you can’t afford it. You rarely take vacations or do something nice for yourself. You are doing anything and everything to make sure your bills are paid, you might even work a few different jobs.

You’re in a relationship, but you avoid any conversation of the future.

You may have a partner. They may be great. You may have a lot of fun, but for some reason, you never bring up the future. Maybe you never even really think about the future. You don’t imagine your life with them long-term. You say, “I just want to be in the now,” “I want to stay in the moment” etc. But in reality, you’re avoiding something.  You’re avoiding the fact that this person might not be your forever person. The person might be wonderful, but they might be safe. [sometimes safe is great and right and perfect for you, but other times safe is easy, comfortable, doesn’t challenge you to be stronger, better, etc.]. The person might take care of you, be super sweet, and hang on your every word, but they don’t light a fire in you.

You’re in a relationship, but your partner avoids any conversations about the future.

This one can be really hard to swallow if you believe this person is your forever person, but sometimes you can be in a relationship where the other person is the one that doesn’t talk about the future. They avoid any discussion of what’s next. Sure, they might make plans for trips or activities, but when it comes to long-term, they’re not there yet. They shy away from the “moving in” talk, or you rarely spend holidays together, and don’t even think about the idea of marriage.  You have fun together, you have similar friends, you spend all your time on the weekends out with others, but that is all your relationship is: fun.

You’re in a relationship, but you fight all the time about the same things.

This is a big one when it comes to being stuck in relationships: progress. I don’t really believe in relationships where people say they “never fight.” Come on, really? To me, there’s no way, but maybe that’s because I’m a challenger and I like to be challenged, but I believe that in a true deep relationship there are going to be times when you disagree or someone does something wrong. There are constant “misses” in relationships, but the key is that when you “miss” your partner, you learn from it, so that you don’t “miss” them in the same way again.

You’re not in a relationship and you want to be.

You’re alone. Or you’re going on date after date and not finding someone who clicks. You’ve had relationships in the past, but they just didn’t find a way to work out. Or you’ve never really had any strong or lasting relationships.  You haven’t let anyone “in” or for some reason you keep letting the wrong people “in.” You’re too picky or not picky enough.

If you identify with any of these signs, its ok, because you’re not alone.

We all go through phases of being stuck and unstuck, but the key is recognizing it, and taking action.
I’ve made a workbook just for guiding you through your stuckness.

It is designed to help you identify the areas in your life where you feel stuck and brainstorm ways to make changes so that you can no longer feel stuck.

It is by no means a one sized fits all workbook, but can help you to think critically about your stuckness, so that you can take steps towards change and begin to pave a path towards thriving.

This workbook is not the end of your journey, it is the beginning.

I have made this document a fillable PDF so that you can get to work right now without running to your nearest printer.

And with this workbook you get access to the FULL Thrive Resource Library!

You’re not in a relationship and you don’t want to be.

I know, this sounds silly, because if you don’t want to be in a relationship and you’re not, then how are you stuck? Well, I think people who say they don’t want to be in a relationship are just making excuses or protecting themselves from getting hurt or being vulnerable. [its a completely different story when someone is going through a break-up or healing from a previous relationship or going through a deeper journey of self discovery – then I believe its healthy to not want to be in a relationship]. I don’t believe we are meant to spend life alone, so when someone is single, has been single for a long time, and tells me that they like it that way, I call bull@#$. That is a big indication to me that they are stuck in something deeper within themselves. Usually this can be fear of a past relationship replaying itself, or getting hurt, hurting someone else, or opening up to another.

Your health is not what it should be.

You’ve tried (or maybe not tried at all) to eat healthy, work out and exercise, meditate, etc. but nothing seems to work. You may even be on the thinner side, but you feel weak. You don’t feel strong in your body. You are tired going up a flight of stairs. You may be overweight. You are stuck at a certain weight and you can’t seem to lose those last 10 pounds. Family members may say they are worried about your health. You may be anxious or depressed. You may be obsessed about food.

Whatever your particular situation is with health, when you’re stuck, you’re not at your optimal. You’re not feeling your best. When you feel healthy, you feel like you can accomplish anything. Work becomes easier. Your self esteem and self confidence is higher.

You have a low self esteem.

Your self talk is constantly negative, you’re incessantly comparing yourself to others, and you don’t believe that you deserve whatever it is that you want. You let others, partners, friends, and family, take advantage of you. You believe that you will always be stuck, that being stuck is just who you are. You don’t speak up for yourself and you settle for relationships that are mediocre. You may feel passionate about something, but you don’t share it with others because you don’t think they will care.

I have something you will love.

A weekly email course where each week deep dives into a new affirmation, gives you ideas for action-steps to FEEL that affirmation and manifest it in your life, take steps towards THRIVING, and be your BEST SELF.

You will also receive self care tips, inpiration, and self discovery questions to help you explore who you are and how to move forward in your life, get UNSTUCK and start THRIVING.

You're going to LOVE it.

(The Your Best Self Email Course is a part of the Thrive Resource library)

How to let go of Anger

How to let go of Anger

Anger management is a hot (and yet so cold) topic.

Why? Because we all shy away from talking about our anger. Its like we don’t want people to know we get angry.

Well, I’m going to get real vulnerable with you all and tell you a quick story about my journey with anger and how I’ve been learning to let it go (always a process of course!).

At the beginning of my relationship with my now husband, we were inseparable (I guess that hasn’t changed) and spent a LOT of time together (another thing that hasn’t changed). We had a lot of “getting to know each other” to do even though we went to highschool together 8 years prior. And even though we were in the honeymoon phase, because we were spending all our days together, we still fought quite a bit.

Most of the time it was me getting upset or angry.

He would do something and I would get frustrated and I would or would not tell him about this frustration and then he would do it again and as the frustrations accumulated my tolerance for “stuffing” it dwindled.

It would go a little something like this (and this is an actual real life example):

He would have a baseball game in the valley (this was when we lived in Los Angeles and for those of you who are not familiar with the valley, it took forever to get to because of the horrible LA traffic), which he would leave almost 2 hours before to get to. I would be out or at work and text or call him with no answer. I would come back to the apartment, and text or call him with no answer. Each time there was no answer, my anxiety would raise a bit. Is he ok? Oh my gosh, what if he got in a car accident. What if something happened? I would then picture him on the side of the road somewhere and my mind would run away with this scary idea (I hope I’m not the only person who does this). My anxiety would raise quite a bit, and then I would see his phone sitting on the counter, and the anxiety would turn into anger.

YOU DESERVE TO THRIVE!

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The anger would last for hours as I just sat and stewed about the fact that he forgot his phone. Stewing and stewing about him leaving his phone.

Simply leaving his phone.

There was nothing important I needed to tell him.  I knew where he was. I had nothing I needed from him in that moment. He was just playing a fun baseball game.

But yet, I stewed and stewed.

And it happened a couple times a week. He would forget his phone when he went somewhere and I couldn’t contact him and I stewed.

My frustrations would grow. Even though I expressed the growing frustrations, he was so confused by them. He was so confused as to why I was getting so angry at seemingly innocuous situations. Yeah, ok, I get it, you worry when I don’t have my phone, but why are you so angry.  Are you just an angry person?

I definitely didn’t feel like an angry person and I never really thought I had an anger management problem. But why in the world was I getting SO angry about this little thing.

Even though I felt completely grounded in my frustrations and felt that they were completely valid, let’s be real here, it was a freakin phone.

Well, they were and they weren’t.

Because what was behind the little things that would frustrate me, like the leaving of the phone, were deep-rooted fears that I had no idea were there. Deep-rooted fears that had absolutely nothing to do with him leaving a phone or me worrying about him being in a car accident.

I’m going to tell you how I figured out that it was actually something much deeper (and give you a free worksheet!), which is the same tactic I now frequently use with my clients when they have issues with anger, depression, or anxiety.

How to identify underlying thought patterns.

Get your FREE Anger Tracker Now!

Get your FREE Anger Tracker Now!

When this was going on, I had just started social work school. I was learning all about how we have way more underneath the surface than we even realize.

But I didn’t think that was me. No way. I was totally aware of everything that was going on with me.

Until I was getting angry all the time and luckily had a patient enough partner to take a step back and say “Hey! What the heck is going on here?” instead of just getting mad and starting a yelling match.

So I did what most people do in this situation.

They go to Amazon and the look for a self-help book. I’m not quite sure what I typed into the search box, but I came up with “Couple Skills: Making your Relationship Work” (

I honestly thought it was just my way of being in a relationship so I wanted to learn some new skills on communication (not necessariliy anger management) and tolerating a partner who does things that pisses you off (because clearly I thought he was the issue).

I was just starting to learn about cognitive behavior therapy and the power of our thoughts to control how we are feeling. And I was learning about how sometimes we believe thoughts that are untrue, which can be so confusing because aren’t all of our thoughts and feelings valid?

NOPE. BIG NOPE. BIGGER THAN BIG NOPE.

I had no idea what I was feeling had more to do with something I was thinking underneath the surface. That my feelings were valid, but my thoughts were not.

So here is what I did:

I started tracking my thoughts.

I used a combination of the thought tracking exercise they introduce in the book and CBT (cognitive behavior therapy) tactics to create my own thought tracking worksheet (which you can download for yourself at the bottom of the page). I was pretty much doing what I did with my clients on myself (which I do and don’t recommend at the same time – I would have much rather talked to someone who was trained in analyzing and understanding my thoughts and who was then able to connect those thoughts to my behaviors).

I wrote down the event. In this example, it was simply, He forgot his phone.

I rated how angry I was on a scale of 0-10, 0 being not angry at all and 10 being the most angry I could ever be.

I kept track of when I would get upset. Literally, the time of day.

I noted what else was going on for me right then, if there was anything else adding to my stress: I had just eaten, or I haven’t eaten for hours, I was stuck in traffic, I had a tough session with a client, I had a great session with a client, I had a lot of clients in a row, I had a project due, my back hurt, I was tired, etc. Doing this brought my awareness to everything else that was going on my life at that moment where I realized his phone was gone. Often there was a lot going on.

Next, I wrote down all my thoughts in order of how they come to me, like brainstorming or stream of consciousness.  After each thought, I would ask myself, “What is the worst thing the thought could mean” or “What would the worst thing be if that thought were true?” Here’s an example:

I’m so angry he forgot his phone again. What’s the worst thing that could mean. Well it could mean he doesn’t care that he doesn’t have his phone. Ok, what is the worst thing that could mean. It could mean he doesn’t care that I can’t get a hold of him. Well that sucks, but what is the worst thing that could mean? It could mean he doesn’t care to talk to me. Ouch yeah that sucks. And what is the worst thing that could mean if that were true? It means he doesn’t care about me.

BINGO.

The underlying problem. Right there.

When my partner left his phone at home it made me feel like he didn’t care about me. And that hurt. And what do we do when we’re hurt? Usually we mask it with anger.

What I have come to find is that anger is what we call a “second order emotion.” Generally there is another feeling underneath that our anger is trying to hide.  

But I didn’t stop there.

Once I realized that I was feeling he didn’t care about me, I would list the “evidence” that this thought, the thought that my partner didn’t care about me, was untrue.

How did I know it was untrue? Well, he does this, he does that, he shows me he loves me this way and that way, when he does have his phone he is super responsive, he spends all his time with me, he’s super sweet and thoughtful, blah blah blah etc. etc. etc.

I rated how much I believed this underlying thought how much I believed the thought of “He doesn’t care about me” of on a scale from 0-10. The rating usually was close to the 0 end.

This wonderful realization didn’t come the first time I did this. I had to do it a few times to really get the hang of the exploration of my thoughts and how to discover what the worst thing would be. So be patient. And kind.

BE PATIENT AND KIND WITH YOURSELF.

Lastly, I rated my anger again. And low and behold, my rating that I started out with had plummeted.

The best thing that came out of this exercise (other than gaining a priceless anger management skill)  was I now knew what my underlying feeling was and was able to talk to my partner about it. I was able to open up and communicate my fears.

And guess what, once I did that, he never forgot his phone again.

My point is not to have a partner that stops doing the things that frustrate you so you never have to get angry again (I wouldn’t count on that), but to be more mindful and have more understanding about your triggers.

Grab your “Anger Tracker” now

and start identifying what’s really making you angry.

I have something you will love.

A weekly email course where each week deep dives into a new affirmation, gives you ideas for action-steps to FEEL that affirmation and manifest it in your life, take steps towards THRIVING, and be your BEST SELF.

You will also receive self care tips, inpiration, and self discovery questions to help you explore who you are and how to move forward in your life, get UNSTUCK and start THRIVING.

You're going to LOVE it.

(The Your Best Self Email Course is a part of the Thrive Resource library)

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