have a confession to make: Life has felt a bit overwhelming lately. Maybe you’ve been there too? Feeling like life is moving SO fast, SO furious that you can't get a grip?

Here’s the good news: you can. Every day is a new opportunity to choose a new way. Today, you can take control of your life and CLAIM your happiness. (Watch this video to learn more)

That’s what I did recently. I realized that my life was controlling me instead of me controlling it, so I chose a new way. I chose to remember what makes me happy. (Yes, even a Positive Psychology Coach needs to practice this stuff every day.) I chose exercise, meditation, writing down my gratitude list, engaging in my favorite activities. When I know that positive emotions like joy and inspiration increase creativity, help to build relationships and shift my brain over time, how can I NOT make time for these activities?

I know – you may be thinking that you don’t have time to take care of you. You have kids to take care of, clients to call, the boss to please, the laundry to do! But let me ask you this – Do you have time NOT to claim your happiness?

Maybe you are mindlessly eating, screaming at your kids, crying nonstop, tossing and turning at night, picking at your skin or biting your nails. Of course you are! We are on information overload and our minds are buzzing in chaos. In fact, a recent study found that nearly half of us are not focused on whatever we’re currently doing. And in that space, we’re less happy, more stressed and we’re definitely not as loving and connected. Knowing that meditation reduces stress, increases focus, improves creativity and improves relationships… knowing that Harvard Medical School psychiatrist John Ratey found that exercise helps our brain, mood, relationships, and body, how can we NOT make time for us first??

In tT=his week's PurposeFULL message, I share how you can claim your happiness and truly flourish. Watch this video to learn how!

Greetings from beautiful, elegant (and rainy) Paris, France! I am so thrilled to be emailing you from my favorite city on earth. For two days, I have done nothing but eat loads of flaky pastry, drink delicious red wine, and saunter down the elegant, romantic streets, filling up my soul with the sensual sights and sounds. Readers, I am feeling ALIVE!That’s now how I arrived, though. I was so ragged on the plane that my skin looked green. I want to be honest with you – I came here for a much needed break. Yes, I teach happiness and empowerment, but I’m human and I’ve been feeling depleted, exhausted and completely flat. The night before my trip, I cried for an hour to my best friend.Unfortunately, you probably know this feeling too well. When we give and give, we can feel drained. Even when doing work we love (which I do!), we need to refill our vessels in order to continue creating in the world.

And by creating, I don’t mean painting or writing. I mean creating life. Every single one of us is painting our lives and the lives of those around us every day. Whether you are in an office, an art studio or you have the 24 hour a day job as a “stay at home” parent, you are creating new ideas, new relationships, new lessons all the time. And that creative energy is moving the world forward.

But when we only create – only put “out” that beautiful energy – eventually, we feel sucked dry. We must refill the vessel. We must bring in new inspiration, new thoughts, new ideas, new creative energy. As my sister wrote on a birthday note, “breathe in inspiration, breathe out intention.” Put simply, to exhale, we must inhale.

I am in Paris inhaling. Inhaling the aroma of freshly baked baguette, inhaling the delicate architecture of centuries past, inhaling the sing-song of the French language. All of this is bringing me back to LIFE. It is inspiring. IN-SPIRing – bringing “in” the “spiritual” – the senses.

So that is what I hope for you this week. To bring in the senses, to be inspired, to fill your vessel. You don’t need a vacation to do so. In this week’s PurposeFULL message, I share ideas for how you can find new inspiration right at home. Slow it down and savor the taste of rich coffee on your tongue, walk a new route and take in people’s faces, stand in nature and inhale.

This week, I hope that you fill your creative vessel, living purposefully, loving yourself and loving life. Au Revoir, mes amis!
Xo,
Carin

PS – Here are some photos for inspiration – enjoy!
The flower market on my favorite street in Paris: Rue Montorgueil

My favorite spot in all of Paris: The Ports by the Bastille

The Garden by the Ports

On my birthday, I decided that I was allowed to eat as much damned pastry as I wanted! J

PS – I love hearing about your experiences, so please email me!

This is perhaps my favorite time of year. Kids return to school with excitement and angst, leaves begin to show deep crimsons and bright yellows and the air feels like it is fresh with possibility.

As a Jewish woman, it is also our New Year, a time when we start fresh, reflecting on the year that has passed and asking for a clean slate in the year ahead. Plus, this is my birthday week, a time at which I always consider the joys, lessons and gifts of the past year and intentionally ask myself, “how do I want to show up in the year ahead?”

We want to start fresh, but how? How do we move into the “new” with intention, hope and purpose? How do we reach the next level of growth and possibility?

Asking myself these questions, the answer became clear: Retreat. We need to retreat, reflect and recharge. Thinking about it, the caterpillar enters the cocoon before she becomes a beautiful butterfly, trees bare their leaves before they flourish. Even the human brain needs rest to best process information. As research shows, we make better decisions from the subconscious processing that occurs in our sleep. Every single source of nature (and science) tells us that we need to go inward before we can go far and flourish.

In this weeks’ PurposeFULL message, I discuss the importance of retreating and recharging in order to THRIVE! So if you are ready to start fresh, if you are ready to go to a new level of success, relationship and growth, I hope you enjoy this message. And as always, I hope you live purposefully, love yourself and love life.

I don’t know about you, but this has often confused me: when are we supposed to “go for it,” “give it our all,” “MAKE IT HAPPEN!”… and when should we sit back, be, and allow things to “show up?” In other words, when should we “do” and when should we “be”?

Here’s a confession: I’m a “doing” junkie. I love taking action and getting stuff done – and fortunately, this has proved successful for me a lot in life. However, sometimes, my doing just creates chaos. It isn’t inspired action but rather a knee-jerk response to panic and fear. Fear that if I DON’T “do” something, then nothing will happen. I notice that when I’m acting from fear, the result is never as good. I may rush, make mistakes, and sometimes spread fear-based energy that isn’t helpful to others or aligned with my purpose.

Instead of re-acting to fear, I am learning that when I feel that fear-based urge to “do,” that is exactly the moment I need to PAUSE, Breathe… and surrender. I need to quiet the mind and body and allow myself to be open, at peace and a vessel for whatever inspiration comes. In other words, I need to “be” rather than do. Our highest creativity, best relationships and impassioned inspiration comes from BE-ing. This is not to say that we should never “do” – I have a lot of friends who enjoy “being” so much that they find it difficult to take action and DO!

We need both. I spoke about it last week on Cosmo Radio. Our best work results from allowing both the masculine energy of “doing” and the feminine energy of “being” dance within us. In this PurposeFULL message, I share how we empower ourselves to both “be” and “do” – and thus, how we can live our purpose, love ourselves and  and love life. Click here to listen the recording from my segment on the show!