The Special Needs Mom Podcast

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047: Hello listeners. This week, I want you to think about the possibilities. It can be so easy to train our brains to think that something isn’t possible and then all we have is that picture of impossibility!
I want you to play like a winner. Think about your favorite board game. How is your mindset when you know that it’s possible to win? You see the options. You are positive and motivated and ready to achieve your goal! This is how we should be attacking the situations thrown at us as special needs moms. We may be doing things that haven’t been done or asking things of people that don’t seem relatively or even possible. However, if we have our brains set on a possibility rather than the impossibility, we are more likely to win in the end.

Give yourself the gift of COZY:
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Connect with Kara, host of The Special Needs Mom Podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespecialneedsmompodcast/
Website: https://www.kararyska.com/
Join the Community:
Pathway to Peace Coaching Community is currently open for enrollment. Instantly get access to authentic community and weekly coaching! Give yourself the gift of growing alongside moms who deeply understand you and will be with you in your joys and sorrows. --------> Contact Me

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039: Hi listeners. This week I have Part 3 of my habit series based on the book, Atomic Habits by James Clear.
Today, I want to focus on two things when it comes to making habits- making is easy and making it satisfying.

Making it easy: I love this quote from the book, “walk slowly, but never backward”. Baby steps are still steps!

Let me introduce the Law of Least Effort. Creating an environment that requires the least amount of work. Make it really easy to make the choices we want to make.

Another fun tool is the 2 minute rule: when making a new habit, spend two minutes in your new habit first. Maybe this means putting on your running shoes every day and n out actually doing any more than that. You’re still reinforcing a small habit in your brain to start checking boxes and it removes the resistance to starting a scary, new habit.

Making it satisfying increases the likilehood the habit will be repeated!

Progress is satisfying, it’s in human nature. Once you’ve started gathering or checking off so many boxes in a row, it’s hard to stop. Tiny can become mighty.

Accountability can also be a satisfying reward. Grab a friend or your spouse.

The bottom line is, we all have different circumstances as special needs mom. Each of us can progress in the same way, through a commitment to tiny, sustainable, unrelenting improvements. We can create new and healthy habits for ourselves!

Give yourself the gift of COZY:
https://cozyearth.com/
Up to 40% off promo code: SNMPODCAST
Connect with Kara, host of The Special Needs Mom Podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespecialneedsmompodcast/
Website: https://www.kararyska.com/
Join the Community:
Pathway to Peace Coaching Community is currently open for enrollment. Instantly get access to authentic community and weekly coaching! Give yourself the gift of growing alongside moms who deeply understand you and will be with you in your joys and sorrows. --------> Contact Me

Send us a text

029: This week was such a packed conversation with Joya Van Der Laan. Two of her three children have special needs including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and Intermittent Explosive Disoder (IED). We quickly got into a deep conversation centered around guilt/grief, faith, and alternative medicine.
Joya initially describes her feelings of guilt and grief that have riddled her motherhood journey. She goes on to say, its okay to feel how you feel, especially when we aren’t expecting the struggles that are thrown our way. Having a special needs child has really deepened the valleys and heightened the peaks we experience in life.

We talk about loving a child unconditionally, a child who is not how you expected. How loving a that can be difficult to love it so hard!
Joya describes herself as a Granola, natural mom. She says she’s always trying to find more natural ways to come to the roots of her children’s struggles. This is her mission as a functional medicine specialist, to help others beyond her own children. She focuses on integrative and alternative therapies, many you can start at home to come to more conclusions about your children’s struggles,

Joya and her husband now release videos to help overwhelmed parents, a series called Your Autism Game Plan.
There is so much more from Joya and so many insights. I hope you enjoyed this episode as much and we did.

Connect with Joya:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/yourautismgameplan/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeK_KYCsTPhMzxfezM6tTBw (You Autism Game Plan)
FB: https://www.facebook.com/YourAutismGamePlanInc
Website - www.YourAutismGamePlan.com
Full Show Notes

Give yourself the gift of COZY:
https://cozyearth.com/
Up to 40% off promo code: SNMPODCAST
Connect with Kara, host of The Special Needs Mom Podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespecialneedsmompodcast/
Website: https://www.kararyska.com/
Join the Community:
Pathway to Peace Coaching Community is currently open for enrollment. Instantly get access to authentic community and weekly coaching! Give yourself the gift of growing alongside moms who deeply understand you and will be with you in your joys and sorrows. --------> Contact Me

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Learn about the Special Education Conference with Ashley Barlow
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Hello listeners, it’s Episode 20! This week I’m here talking about failure resistance. At first you make think, DUH, of course I am resisting failure.

That’s not exactly the full idea I’m discussing this week. Failure resistance is working or showing up in a way that avoids failure --as the primary driver. It is making any other goal or objective come in second place by default. I’m defining failure as not achieving the expected or desired outcome.

Often, this is our way of avoiding failure in the form of unpleasant feelings. I’ve come to realize that feelings cannot actually injure me, and I’ve discussed in past episodes how important it is to feel your wide range of emotions. You’d never want to limit yourself. In real life, this looks like making small goals, procrastinating, being hard on yourself or others when expectations aren’t met or not even considering failure as an option.

I challenge you to pause and take a deeper look at yourself and your emotions. Give a name to the feelings, explore why there are some feelings you’re avoiding and finally make steps and move forward. Go forth without the fear of failure!
Full Show Notes

Give yourself the gift of COZY:
https://cozyearth.com/
Up to 40% off promo code: SNMPODCAST
Connect with Kara, host of The Special Needs Mom Podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespecialneedsmompodcast/
Website: https://www.kararyska.com/
Join the Community:
Pathway to Peace Coaching Community is currently open for enrollment. Instantly get access to authentic community and weekly coaching! Give yourself the gift of growing alongside moms who deeply understand you and will be with you in your joys and sorrows. --------> Contact Me

Send us a text

We all have a giant stack of papers that are taunting us. The physical and mental to do's posted everywhere. The phone calls to make and the errands to run. It all piles up and we are left feeling anxious and frenetic. I had a morning this week where it all hit me at once, and I had to get myself back to center before I could be present for my day of coaching calls. I talk about how I do this for myself and for my coaching clients. I take you through a quick quiz and give you practical steps to shift your state and outlook moving ahead. I believe that peace is possible for you. I know you can leave the heaviness behind. I've seen it happen for others and I know it is possible for you too.

References from this episode:

Trauma series with Meghann Crane - RussEpisodes 186: Understanding Trauma as a Gateway to Healing
Episode 187: Trauma in the Body, in the Mind, and in our Lives
Episode 188: Trauma Recovery Resources for the Special Needs Mom

Trauma resources from Meghann Crane - Russ

Dr. David Bilstrom
Episode 149: Healing from the Inside Can Be Simple with Dr. Bilstrom

Give yourself the gift of COZY:
https://cozyearth.com/
Up to 40% off promo code: SNMPODCAST
Connect with Kara, host of The Special Needs Mom Podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespecialneedsmompodcast/
Website: https://www.kararyska.com/
Join the Community:
Pathway to Peace Coaching Community is currently open for enrollment. Instantly get access to authentic community and weekly coaching! Give yourself the gift of growing alongside moms who deeply understand you and will be with you in your joys and sorrows. --------> Contact Me