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Spring is a time for renewal, cleaning up, and cleaning out. It is time to enjoy the crocuses and smell the lilacs while listening to the birds sing and basking in the sun of longer days.

As much as I love everything that comes with spring there is also work to be done. My yard, I realize needs more than a little bit of TLC to bring it back to life after the long winter. Besides the outdoor clean-up, we also wage war on the inside of the house cleaning every inch, including closets, all so we can declare that the spring cleaning is done.

With that in mind, I’m wondering how many of you give yourselves some TLC? Just like our physical space our emotional space needs cleaning up and clearing out. So, the question becomes, what do I want to let go of, what do I want to change and what do I want to explore or start?

You might wonder how to go about even knowing what needs looking at. I suggest that you look at the places in your life that cause you dis-ease. Where do you feel stress, what have you been unable to change that you have wanted to and what relationship either with yourself or others is not what you would like? Making changes no matter how small they seem can make a huge impact on your well-being.

Everything around us changes whether we want it to or not and that includes our perceptions. That is how something that seemed right a one point in our life no longer feels right. It’s because something has changed and now causes us to feel uneasy or uncomfortable.  When we are not at ease with things in our life then our soul is out of harmony as well.

In general, people have a hard time letting go of things and especially emotions. However, we know that when we decide to purge our houses of excess stuff it is like a breath of fresh air and newfound energy. Imagine what that would be like to let go of fears, thoughts and beliefs are that no longer serve us. We usually hang on to them because we don’t know what it would be like to not have them.

My granddaughter comes to visit us each year for several weeks. She lives in Florida, and they often go to the theme parks. There were only a few rides she would ride because she was very afraid. So, when she came to Minnesota, we planned activities with this in mind. On one of our outings to Como Zoo, we walked by the roller coaster. She asked if we could stop and watch which she did for a long time before announcing she wanted to go on it. As you can imagine I was hesitant but she insisted, so I finally agreed.  Long story short, she rode that coaster at least 8 times that day. When I asked her why she decided to ride it she said simply, “I decided I did not want to be afraid anymore”.

I was not only stunned at how profound this declaration was from her but also the truth of it. What if we told ourselves the truth and then made the change needed, how profound would that be? Overcoming her fear that day was life-changing for her. Letting go of this fear has opened doors that went beyond being able to ride the biggest rides at the theme parks. What doors might open for you if you let go of fear?

We can learn a lot from our kids on how to be authentic and in harmony with the world around us rather than in opposition to it. The things that cause us stress dampen our soul and take a bite out of our spirit. That’s why spring clean-up for your soul is so important. The longer you hold on to what no longer works in your life, the harder it is to make a change. But if we can be in charge of letting go regularly the things that no longer serve us the more peace and harmony we will have in our lives.

I would encourage you to make self-discovery a part of your life. To take time to regularly to ask yourself these basic questions: What do I want to let go of, what do I want to change and what do I want to explore or start? Don’t try to change everything at once, but to pick one thing and begin to take a step in that direction and do it consistently. What you do every day is far more important that what you do occasionally. Small consistent steps will have a big impact. Imagine the breath of fresh air, the spring in your step and the energy in your soul as you move forward with renewed strength and purpose.

I am asking you this question for a couple of reasons. This year more people looked forward to and were able to celebrate the holidays in a way that felt more like pre-pandemic. When it is over, we feel a holiday let-down that extends into January, the longest, coldest, and darkest month of the year. Many feel the effects of the long gloomy days. In addition, we are still feeling the stress of the pandemic. The stress of this will carry over into the new year unless we do something to change it.

The APA (American Psychological Association) reports that 84% of Americans report increased feelings emotions of anxiety, sadness, and anger, all signs of prolonged stress. This stress comes from all aspects of life and how we feel about what is going on in our world as well as what is going on in our personal lives.

The news has reported that people have been resigning from their jobs in record numbers to find jobs that allow for better work-life balance. The gift of the pandemic, if you can call it that, is that people had an opportunity to look at their lives and decide what they wanted.

Even when you know that you want to make a change, it can be hard to begin. In our busy world, we can get distracted, lack focus, or feel like we do not have the right mindset to achieve what we want most.

The most powerful resource you have is within you and it all begins with self-awareness. This is our ability to be able to observe what we are thinking and doing and connect them to our actions. An example of that would be when you find all the ways that you cannot do something, so you do not do it. Self-awareness is when you realize that those reasons are just you just getting in your own way. It is important to acknowledge what is standing in the way but also to realize you hold the power to move any obstacle that is put in front of you by taking one small step at t time.

This past Christmas, our 11-year-old granddaughter became afraid to fly, even though she had done it dozens of times before. She realized the plane could crash and that became the only thing she could think about. I helped her realize there was more than one thing that could be true at the same time. She knew planes were safe but also knew she was afraid they might crash. When we made it ok to be afraid and that planes were safe to fly in she was able to make a shift.   With that mantra, she began to realize that even though she was afraid she also realized how safe planes are to travel in. This is true for us too, we can be afraid and not know our next step but can move past fear and do it anyway.

The key to change is one small step at a time. Did you make a New Year’s resolution this year? The reason most resolutions fail is not that you do not have the willpower or skill to get it done, as we might believe about ourselves, but because the goal we made is unattainable in the time, we have given ourselves to do it. You probably have a lengthy list of things you would like to change about yourself, just do not do them all at once. Pick one thing that feels doable to you and then break it down into small parts that you can sustain over time. My morning inspirational time sets up the day for me, and it’s imperative that I do it every day. However, it was not always like that. I know I needed time to gather my thoughts and check in with myself at a time when I had zero time. I started with 5 minutes twice a week. Once I could do that, I gradually increased it week by week.  In this way, I was easing into making a change that could be sustained and building a new habit. It’s easy to think that new habits form easily but it takes intention, focus, and consistency to facilitate any change.

We are all constantly changing whether we like it or not. Since change is inevitable, we can either do it kicking and screaming or we can cooperate with what no longer works in our life and change it. But more than that, we have an innate sense within us that makes us want to be the best person that we can be for ourselves, our friends, family, and the community we are part of.  Growing and changing are not only about us. When we improve our integrity, become more tolerant of ourselves, grow our understanding and compassion for ourselves this extends out from us to others. This is the way that we can impact the world around us in a powerful way.

It is important to remember that all of us are seeking the same thing; kindness, understanding, respect, and unconditional love. The more we can give that to ourselves, the more we can offer it to others. You are the one who holds the key to what you want for your life.

Just when it was beginning to look like the pandemic was over and we could see the light at the end of the tunnel; that light began to dim with the variants of Covid increasing the number of cases and we realized it was not over.

In my work as a life coach, I talk with people about how they are and how they are coping within a world that no one has experienced navigating. The more conversations I have, the more I realize that we are all still struggling in one way or another. It was better than a year ago but we can’t deny that we are forever changed and so is our world. People are quitting their jobs at an all-time high to re-evaluate how they make their living and how they are choosing to live. There is more unrest and violence in our world because I believe people don’t know how or don’t have the capacity to cope with the things going on around them. Every day I see the stress and anxiousness of people trying to navigate this new world we are in.

I don’t know where your struggles lie in your relationships or your own feelings of unrest,  but I do know that we have the ability to offer grace at every opportunity.

Webster’s defines grace as: “Unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification”. In other words, we act or speak in a way that is favorable and pleasant, bestowing an act of kindness on someone whether it is deserved or not.

In Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach, we learn that “grace is a direct intervention on our behalf that circumvents the laws of nature -time, space, cause, and effect.” It is a spiritual intervention and a demonstration that here is a force greater than us, working on behalf of ourselves and others.

Grace is available to all, simply by asking for this day’s portion of grace and being willing to soften the lines between us and offer understanding and kindness to those we come in contact with.

In every action or interaction, we have a choice in how we can respond. We can either use that choice to defend ourselves or offer grace to the person or situation in front of us. It might be a simple gesture to smile or ask how someone is but if we get out of ourselves long enough to do that, we might make their day. Maybe it is extending empathy to a relationship we don’t understand or maybe agree with, but kindness offered can never hurt.

But what about the times that we need grace? This is a reciprocal exchange, if we offer it, we must be willing to receive it. It begins as being compassionate to ourselves when we fell short of our own expectations, forgiving our negative thinking, or being kind and gentle with our hearts.

We each can hold grace like a healing balm for our hearts as it opens the door that transforms our lives and relationships. Moving into a heart-centered way of allowing us to feel what we may not be able to see, to see ourselves as God sees us.

I would invite you to extend grace to yourself and someone else today. It is a gift to give and to receive. We each hold the key to peace and joy, use it to open doors to a grander vision for yourself and others than you ever imagined.

As we move into the busiest time of the year, I wish you magical and grace-filled days.

It’s almost the end of the year and just like business owners close out the year, we can do that for our personal lives. It is helpful to have a resolution about things that happened in the past, decide what you would like in the future and then make a plan that will help you succeed.

This is online class is time for you to reflect on the past year, decide how you would like to move forward into the new year and together, create a plan that will help you be successful.

In this class you will:

• Learn how to reflect on the last year with kindness and compassion.
• Discover strategies to help you decide what you want going forward.
• Make a plan to be successful.

Class Details:

Friday, December 10^th at 10:00 – 11:30 AM (CST)

Zoom Online class

Investment: $25.00

To register email: sthibault12@msn.com and the best email to reach you.

I will send you the Zoom link and invoice to pay online when you register.

Hope to see you in the class and feel free to share or sign up with a friend.

“The most common voice you hear in your head is your inner critic. You have two choices: you can live with what you have, or you can take responsibility for the life you have and change it.” – Sandy Thibault

I was listening to a podcast about personal growth and one person posed this question; do you believe that today will be the same as tomorrow? I think that most people like things to stay the same, and there is nothing wrong with that. We crave structure and routine to define our days and help us to feel productive. There is no shortage of business and personal growth books that will tell you the benefits of this discipline. But what happens when the discipline that is supposed to help us be productive, begins to feel more like being stuck?

The truth is once we realize that what we are doing is not working for us, we then have the opportunity to change it. This is called awareness and with it, we can make a new choice of how we want to think or what we want to do.

There is comfort in staying with what we know, yet we yearn for something to be different. When you realize this, it is helpful to take a step back to self-reflect. Ask yourself, do you believe you have the power to make a change? Are you able to move forward by taking a small step even if you are afraid?  Can you begin to visualize how your life will be different when you make this change? Taking a step back to reflect will help you understand yourself better, which helps you learn why you do what you do. Again, that is the awareness that leads to change. Once you understand this, it is very hard to stay the same.

Life is a journey comprised of many steps on our personal path that takes us down a winding road of constant evolution. And each day, we are provided with a myriad of opportunities that can allow us to transform into our next best selves. One moment we are presented with an opportunity to react differently when yet another someone in our life rubs us the wrong way; on another day we may find ourselves wanting to walk away from a particular circumstance but are not sure if we can.

I think right now we are experiencing a new normal after Covid. We desperately want to get back to the way things were before, but we might be sure of what normal means to us anymore.  Einstein says that the same mind that created the problem cannot solve it. That is why awareness is so important. When we can begin to pay attention to our thoughts, actions, and reactions we are empowering ourselves to make another choice that better serves us. It is our journey to discover what we want and our responsibility to get it for ourselves.

There is freedom but also a power that comes with awareness. Once we realize that we don’t have to stay in a repetitive cycle where there is no escape, we begin to see that we are co-creators in how we want our lives to play out. We get to choose to move beyond old limits, take new actions and choices and move our life into new opportunities and experiences. It is through this kind of awareness and willingness to change that we create a life that is authentic and constantly evolving.

If you are feeling stuck, do yourself a favor and set up a “no fee” time to talk.  Just send me an email

We subscribe to a T. V. streaming service that has moments of Zen instead of commercials. In the place where there would usually be a commercial there is instead, soothing music and a calming picture.

This morning in Aqua Aerobics after a good workout, our instructor asked for quiet, turned on peaceful music and asked us to intentionally take deep breaths. As I did I could actually feel my body float to the top as I exhaled. It was such a peaceful way to end the class.

In this world where we think we need to always be doing something, what if we could make time every day to slow down and breathe? I teach my private clients the power of breath as a way to calm down negative thoughts and anxious feelings. It can also be used as a way to intentionally connect with yourself at any moment of the day. As long as you have a couple minutes you can find peace through your breath.

We are more than what we do. We are created Holy and divine and breath brings us closer to that reality. Know that who you are, what you do and what you say has power. When you connect to your soul you will be guided to be intentional with every word and action.

I hope you can take some time every day to connect to your breath and let peace wash over you.