The mother's role is certainly a very important one.

When I work with my clients, women often share their stories of how they were raised.

Unfortunately many of them recall their mothers to be super busy, over-worked, self-neglected and depleted.

The impact of a mother suffering from these conditions is significant when you consider that the mother is the heart of the home. Children depend on their mothers to nourish their body, mind and soul. If momma doesn't take care of herself she simply doesn't have anything to give.

The goal is peace not perfection.

My clients speak to this all the time in our sessions. The women I work with are tired of trying to be perfect. They've come to the realization that it's an impossible and very exhausting goal. They are now ready to work towards something that is within reach and inner peace is very much achievable.

I remember when I was really struggling with my body image. Perfection was so important to me. I was addicted to external validation and I needed people's approval in order to feel good about myself.

I think this need for approval goes way back to childhood. At a very young age we begin looking for approval and, because of our impressionable state of mind, if we don't get what we need, we experience defining moments that tells us we are unworthy and unlovable.

The world is full of fear. You do not need to look for it. It is constantly imposing itself just waiting for your weak moments so it can swoop in and invade your mind. Like a thief in the night, fear is ready to steal your happiness and leave you empty handed.

We are defeated by fear the moment we entertain our fearful thoughts. The moment we buy into what those fearful thoughts are telling us we lose the battle. The battle is in our mind.

We need to guard our mind. We need to protect ourselves from the messages that are coming our way. For instance fear will say: "Why can't you be like her - you don't measure up. You're too old to find true love - all the good guys are taken. You've been addicted for years - it's too late to get healthy now. You don't have enough education - why would anyone listen to you?"

Some might think that Valentines Day is carved out for lovers but I tend to think it's the perfect time of year to simply acknowledge love's omnipresence.

Yes, love is everywhere. In fact, love is our true essence. If we make the effort to see love we will notice that it is all around us.

And yet it is our choice what we see. Our perception is always up to us. When we look around we can choose to see the darkness or we can choose to see the light. We can choose to see fear or we can choose to see love.

We often have the tendency to see what is negative in our lives and yet love is the only experience that we truly seek. That is because love is our one true source. 

Imagine that you're invited to your friends summer vacation getaway. You're excited to get out there and so you pack up your family and hit the road. As you get to the end of your driveway you realize that you have no idea where you're going. You didn't get any directions.

You shrug your shoulders, it's no big deal, and drive off. You drive and drive and drive but you have no idea where you're going.

Isn't this absurd? Who would do that? Who would leave their driveway and just drive and drive without a single clue as to where they are going?

While my example might seem a little extreme it's actually not all that off base.

Many of us are doing this every single day of our lives. We get out of bed. We go to work. We come home. We make supper. We take the kids to activities. We pick up milk on the way home. We watch TV. We go to bed. We wake up. We do it all over again.

It's a new year. A clean slate.

I'm sure you've heard people talk about clean eating. Well on this day, January 1st, 2013, I invite you to consider clean thinking.

Imagine if the world put as much effort and importance on the idea of clean thinking as they do on clean eating?

If we all focused on thinking clean everything in our lives would be different... and I mean EVERYTHING!

Michael Singer, author of the Untethered Soul, says, "Eventually you will see that the real cause of problems is not life itself. It's the commotion the mind makes about life that really causes problems."

I never realized it until a few years ago, but I when I get together with family and friends for any kind of occasion there often tends to be a little anxiety. I'm either really excited to see certain people or I'm not looking forward to being around others. Let's talk about the not looking forward to being around others part.

I've come to learn that this is normal. Let's face it, we don't always click perfectly with everyone and that's okay. Yet I used to think that I had to like everyone. I used to think that if I didn't click with someone I had to somehow adjust myself. I wasn't okay with being uncomfortable. I needed things to feel just right. I wanted everyone to like me, to approve of me and to think I was a good person who did good things.

The truth is, I realized that there are people who will never like me, approve of me or think good things about me... even if they are 'family and friends'. I have to be okay with this... and so do you... well, if you want to be peaceful you do. But I get it, it's not easy.