LIVE Interview with bestselling author, speaker, thought-leader, Sarah Susanka

Yes, I said “home” not “house” because as I have come to find out myself, your outer spaces are very much a reflection of your inner spaces. What does that mean for us busy moms who are going a mile a minute? Whose inner lives and outer lives are often both noisy and chaotic? (Have you seen the inside of my car lately???)

We invite you to watch the INTERVIEW with bestselling author, Sarah Susanka below. Susanka tells us that bigger and more is not necessarily better… bigger houses, more stuff and more activities don’t equate to more happiness and fulfillment.

Have you experienced this? I know I have. Where are you in your life? Do you feel like your life is bulging at the seams? Are you feeling compelled to do some renovating?

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How to Stop Keeping Up with Suzy

You know Suzy. Perfectly frosted cupcakes. Gifts for every teacher. Suzy Homemaker.

Why is it that there’s always at least one mom in the carpool circle that seems to outdo everyone else? The perfectly wrapped and be-ribboned end of the year teacher’s gift isn’t just about showing appreciation for the preschool teacher, is it? Am I imagining a smirk of victory on that perfectly powdered face? I think I just lost that portion of the competition. Read more

How to Minimize Mommy Guilt

Last week, I wrote an article about Child Immunizations and I realized that whether it’s about tough decisions like that one or small ones (like letting them watch one more episode of Dora while we finish a conversation with a girlfriend), moms seem to be hard-wired with Mommy Guilt. It seems like from the moment we conceive these precious beings, we want to be the best moms possible and yet the internal dialogue starts almost immediately… “OMG! I had that glass of wine and I didn’t know I was pregnant!” Read more

Zen Mommy Minute: Slowing Down

Ahhhhh, the slow and easy sights and sounds of Door County, Wisconsin. My daughters and I stayed the week with my parents in the cabin my great grandma built on Lake Michigan almost 100 year ago. Compared to life at home, it felt like I went from doing 65 on the highway of life to a snails crawl. I enjoyed a much needed week offline and the many joys of summer and slowing down; Read more

How to Create Your Own Women’s Adventure Group

WAG or Women’s Adventure Group was the brainchild of Monnie Brodbeck, who after the birth of her first child, felt compelled to create “something” that would continue to feed her creative, adventurous spirit.

Freedom. Power. Connection. Friendship. It’s difficult to describe WAG in words. Meet the WAG Women for yourself in the video below. Monnie and her WAG Sisters are a part of the My Mommy Manual community because they want to share their stories and experiences with you and hope that you will be inspired to create a WAG of your own.

How do you join/form a WAG? Stop by our Discussions page… that’s where the WAG Sisters will be sharing their stories and tips!

How to Name Your Fear

“Here, Mommy” says my 7-year old daughter. I looked at the sweet little blue note she place in my hand:
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How to Find Mommy Quiet Time Through Yoga

A woman must love and care for herself before she can successfully love and care for her family. Through the practice of yoga, women can devote a small portion of their day to developing a healthy body, peaceful mind and joyful spirit. The practice of yoga not only releases stress, tension, and anxiety but it helps bring focus and calmness into the mind.

The mind is astonishingly powerful. Yoga helps harness this power through meditation and focus on the breath, relieving negative, incessant thinking—something many of us do often and without awareness. Regular practice creates calmness, harmony and a positive outlook. When the body and mind are happy and healthy, we are less distracted and have more energy to connect on a deeper level to what some may call the soul or spirit. We can be truly present in our lives. Read more

How to Find your Inner-Alice (in Wonderland)

Dossier ~ file containing detailed records on a particular person or subject.

While our kids played every fantastical game imaginable  in my back yard, Practical Mommy and I sat laptop by laptop giggling and dreaming up our dossiers. Read more

How to Recognize Warning Signs

Warning signs…if you’d asked me last night what these two little words conjured up in my head, I’d have said “A great song by Coldplay.”… but ask me this same question today and I’d have a different answer. ”Oh, you mean like those little red lights that showed up on my car’s dash yesterday that I ignored? The same ones that were there this morning (now four instead of two) just before my car conked out?” Yeah. Like THOSE warning signs. Read more

How to Understand Your Career Direction

Unknown to many people, I wanted to pursue a business degree in marketing as my undergraduate studies but my parents insisted that I choose a career in math or science because I was “good at it.” Listening to my parents, I bounced back and forth between nursing and pre-med with neither option really being an ideal fit. I made it through a grueling four years of science, labs, clinical rotations, and jumping through hoops before realizing that I hadn’t chosen the ideal career path. Read more

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