Happiness Mama

Create the life you want, with mindfulness, purpose, and self-care. Go from striving to thriving!

Body Love: How I Lost 17 Pounds In 7 Months 21

By 2 Comments

Happiness Mama Podcast Episode 21 Love Your Body

Welcome to Season 3 of the Happiness Mama Podcast with Heather Ash! Season 3 is all about Self-Love…

Loving ourselves, body, mind, and spirit.

This episode is about loving our bodies, and specifically I talk about how I lost 17 pounds in less than 7 months. Listen to find out how I did it, and learn tips and strategies to make your own new healthy habits easy, doable, and fun!

(I even analyzed some data from my bullet journals… You might be surprised at the results. I was!)

Highlights:

  • My weight journey
  • Pregnancy weight gain
  • Postpartum priorities
  • How I’d rather not be motivated to lose weight and get in shape
  • The foundational mindset for losing weight and getting in shape (or making any other changes in your life)
  • The biggest factor in my weight loss success
  • The second biggest factor in my weight loss success
  • Dealing with imperfection
  • Imperfect dieting and exercise
  • The slow carb diet by Tim Ferriss
  • The key to losing weight
  • Real weight training results
  • Surprising results after climbing a mountain
  • How to make your habits stick
  • Surprising nerd results: What the charts revealed…
  • Creating a self-love mindset: Body Love Affirmations
  • Show your love by becoming a Happiness Mama Patron! And get mentioned on the show…

Books and Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

Spread the Word:

If you enjoyed the podcast and want to help other mamas be happier, too, visit iTunes orStitcher and kindly leave me a rating, review, and subscribe. Thank you!

How to Subscribe to the Happiness Mama Podcast:

Thank you so much for listening! I hope this podcast helps you love yourself more, body, mind, and spirit. Love to you!

Meditation: My Story and How to Get Started 20

By Leave a Comment

Happiness Mama Podcast Episode 20 Meditation

Meditation! In this episode, I tell how a stress-induced panic attack became the catalyst that eventually led to my meditation practice. I share my story of getting started, what it’s actually like to meditate, and how my current meditation practice compares to my first efforts at meditation.

I also explain how you can start a meditation practice in your already-busy life, and I give simple instructions on how to actually do it.

The benefits of meditation are many, and it’s been a huge blessing in my life. I hope you find this episode helpful as you begin or continue your own meditation practice.

Highlights:

  • How a panic attack prompted me to start meditating
  • What it was like then, and what it is like now
  • Gratitude as a benefit of meditation
  • Benefits of meditation, including managing stress and anxiety
  • How to start a meditation practice
  • Shamatha and Vipassana meditation: What are they?
  • Simple instructions on how to meditate

Books and Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

Subscribe

Spread the Word

Love it? Visit iTunes or Stitcher and kindly leave me a rating or review. More ratings and reviews lead to more eyes and ears seeing and hearing the podcast. Thank you!

Bullet Journaling: What, Why, and How to Get Started 19

By Leave a Comment

The Happiness Mama Podcast Episode 19 Bullet Journaling

Bullet journaling! Look no further: In episode 19, I’m sharing what bullet journaling is, how I do it, and why, plus how to start bullet journaling. Learn about some of the benefits of bullet journaling, including including greater productivity and creating new habits. Also, learn everything you need to start your own first bullet journal. I learned about bullet journaling from a fellow podcaster. Here more about that, and why bullet journaling is the best thing since… well, since the plain old college-ruled notebook, journal, and calendar.

Highlights

  • How I got into bullet journaling #bujo
  • Thank you, Elsie!
  • Before bullet journal #bebujo
  • What makes a bullet journal different
  • Why the index is such a game changer
  • How The Happiness Project inspired my habit tracker chart
  • Ben Franklin’s 13 Virtues chart
  • My search for a doable charting system
  • My advice for how to use your bullet journal
  • How I use my bullet journal
  • The Five Minute Journal questions
  • Keeping it free…
  • How I do my Habit Tracker Chart
  • My new habit
  • My new month routine
  • What’s so great about the actual journals
  • Heather says Leuchtturm about 6 times…
  • Jar of Awesome
  • It’s your thing. Do what you wanna do.
  • Daddy! The bullet journal is like the pocket journal.
  • What you track, grows.
  • Benefits of bullet journaling
  • How to get started bullet journaling
  • How I draw my habit chart
  • Podfest
  • My listener Laura and I met on a plane!
  • Shout outs to fellow podcasters: Steph and Val at Wine to Five, Sarah at Simple Change, Honor Knight of the Soiled Restroom Cinema Podcast, Copper Yuenger of Life Under the Laundry Pile, Amanda Doughty of The Great Beer Adventure, Brian Musial of Health Geeks Radio, Ryan Gray of the PreMed Years, Jeff Sanders of the 5 AM Miracle, Jessica Kupferman and Elsie Escobar of She Podcasts, Deb Williams of Financial Karma, Katie Krimitsos of Biz Women Rock, Jessica Rhodes of Interview Connections, and Tina Dietz of The Start Something Show
Happiness Mama Bullet Journal Habit Tracker
March Habit Tracker in My Bullet Journal

Books and Resources Mentioned In This Episode

Quotes

“Daily journaling helps me stay sane and happy.”

“You can live the life you desire, in total alignment with your values, dreams, and goals.”

Listen

Make sure you get all the episodes by subscribing via I-Tunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcatcher. (Mine is Podcast Addict!)

Subscribe

Spread the Word

Love it? Visit iTunes or Stitcher and kindly leave me a rating or review. More ratings and reviews lead to more eyes and ears seeing and hearing the podcast. Thank you!

Stay in Touch

Never miss an episode!

Sign up for the Happiness Mama Newsletter here: www.happinessmama.com/selfcare and get the simple and effective Self-Care Workbook.  Go from blah to ahhh! in less than ten minutes a day!

What to Do When You’re Struggling 18

By 2 Comments

What to Do When You're Struggling, Episode 18

We all struggle at times. In this episode, I talk about one of my recent challenges and 15 things I did to help myself feel better. It can be hard to know what to do when you’re struggling. Denise Duffield Thomas suggests we “throw everything at it,” so that’s what I did. From meditation, to journaling, to

Highlights:

  • Struggling with waiting, wanting, and not knowing (the challenge of desires and uncertainty)
  • We can help ourselves feel better by using various strategies, such as…
  • Journaling
  • Meditation
  • Oracle cards
  • Friends
  • Affirmations
  • Acceptance
  • Inspiration
  • Clearing Clutter
  • Faith
  • Gratitude
  • Music
  • And More…

Books and Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

Quote Mentioned In This Episode:

“The moment that you feel, just possibly, you are walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind, and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself…That is the moment, you might be starting to get it right.” ~Neil Gaiman

Share It!

If you enjoyed the podcast and want to help other mamas be happier, too, tell a friend about it. Thank you!

Listen

Make sure you get all the episodes by subscribing via I-Tunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcatcher. (Mine is Podcast Addict!)

Subscribe

Spread the Word:

If you enjoyed the podcast and want to help other mamas be happier, too, visit iTunes or Stitcher and kindly leave me a rating, review, and subscribe. More ratings and reviews lead to more eyes and ears seeing and hearing the podcast. Thank you!

Stay in Touch:

Never miss an episode!

Sign up for the Happiness Mama Newsletter here: www.happinessmama.com/selfcare and get the simple and effective Self-Care Workbook. It’s free!

Year End Review: The Pareto Principle 17

By Leave a Comment

Inspired by Tim Ferriss, Heather shares how she used the Pareto Principle as one tool for her year-end review.

Highlights:

  • We all need recovery periods.
  • What is the Pareto Principle?
  • How to use the 80/20 principle to analyze your year
  • Heather shares the actions that led to most of her good feelings in 2016.
  • Apply what you learn to make this year even better.

Links and Books Mentioned In This Episode:

  • Shownotes: www.happinessmama.com/17
  • Tim Ferriss’s podcast: http://tim.blog/podcast/
  • Tim’s new book, Tools of Titans

Free Audio Book

This episode is sponsored by Audible! Get your free audiobook by visiting this link:

www.audibletrial.com/HappinessMama

Listen

Make sure you get all the episodes by subscribing via I-Tunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcatcher. (Mine is Podcast Addict!)

Subscribe

Spread the Word:

If you enjoyed the podcast and want to help other mamas be happier, too, visit iTunes or Stitcher and kindly leave me a rating, review, and subscribe. More ratings and reviews lead to more eyes and ears seeing and hearing the podcast. Thank you!

Stay in Touch:

Never miss an episode!

Sign up for the Happiness Mama Newsletter here: www.happinessmama.com/selfcare and get the simple and effective Self-Care Workbook. It’s free!

Thank you so much for listening! I hope you have a wonderful year.

What brought you the best feelings in 2016?