How to Thrive in Chaos: Harnessing the Power of Being Present for a Balanced Life in Difficult Life Situations

In this short and sweet episode, Jessica Carter, Yoga teacher, Nutrition coach, Podcaster and Mindfulness coach teaches us how to find peace and balance in the midst of life's chaos by being present and intentionally finding beauty in everyday moments.

At the end of this episode, you will get some practical mindfulness tools for managing stress in difficult situations as well as a bonus tip on how to use essential oils in your wellness journey. Whether you're looking for ways to stay calm amidst chaos or just seeking easy and applicable tips you can use, this episode will empower you to harness the power of being present for a more serene and happier life. 

You can connect with Jessica on LinkedIn @jessica-carter-ommyoga and Facebook @jessica.m.carter.35. To book a free consult with her, visit the Contact Us page on Jessica’s doTERRA business page.

References in this episode

Jessica Carter, Yoga Teacher and Nutrition Coach shares how to Release Trauma and Effects like Obesity with Essential Oils & Yoga, Food Journalling, Affirmations and Breathwork

Jessica Carter's Your Metabolic Reset podcast

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Music Credit: https://indiefy.me/wanted-carter

Transcript

Welcome to this episode of Messy Can’t Stop Her. I am your host, Judith Kambia Obatusa – J K O. 

Last week on Messy Can’t Stop Her, we had the privilege of learning from Jessica Carter, Author, Yoga Teacher and Nutrition Coach about how to release trauma and effects of trauma like obesity with Essential Oils and Yoga, food journaling, Affirmations and Breathwork. We ended last week’s episode talking about the effects of breathwork; how breathing calms our brains and helps us listen to our heart. This week we will continue our self care series by unpacking another effect of breathing - being present. 

On today’s episode, we will be delving into how being present can transform our lives and improve our mental or what I call mind health. Jessica will be sharing practical tips and strategies that we women in the trenches can employ to be more present and intentional, while managing the stress of difficult life situations. Let’s get into it.

JKO: So in addition to being a nutrition coach at a yoga teacher, Jessica is also a mindfulness coach, so I'm gonna go there right now because we're talking about breath work and talking about how that makes you to the calm. But the one very important thing I have learned from my personal experience and from reading and talking to so many other people who had chaotic life situations, and they have been able to navigate those situations and come out on the other side better than they were because of their experience is the power of presence.

Being present in your own life, and that's what mindfulness is about. So could you speak a little bit about that to us that are in the trenches of life? How does that help us? And how can we apply it where we are right now?[00:01:00] 

Jessica: Sure. And I actually struggle with mindfulness. I think you'll find a lot of times, like yoga teachers and mindfulness coaches and breath work and counselors, they all had to overcome something. And so I'm constantly overcoming mindfulness because I love to think about the future. It's actually one of my Gallup strengths is futuristic, and it's not healthy to stay there all the time.

Like I reward myself with future thinking, but it's, it's very. It's good for the body to be in the present moment. Mm-hmm. And I don't wanna take away from the fact that sometimes we need to. I think that's very real and I don't want anyone to beat up themselves up for needing to escape. So that is equally important. If that's a TV show or going for a walk or listening to music, it's okay to escape, but when you're in that time where [00:02:00] you're like, I'm ready to be present, I think the easiest thing to start with is look around you for beauty.

So a beautiful leaf. This tree is perfectly imperfect. I'm just really enjoying this cloud. Look at the cloud and how it wisps off to the side, and the sky is so blue today, next to that white cloud. I think that's probably the easiest. Sometimes I go to gratitude. If you're in a tough spot, gratitude might be a lot tougher to get to than trying to find some sort of beauty around you.

I think that might be an easier place to start. Okay, so when you try to describe beauty, you went to nature and that's me. That might not be everybody. Mm-hmm. So maybe it's your children's eyes. Mm-hmm. Maybe it's, you saw someone give something to someone else and [00:03:00] you just happened to see that happening.

Like, oh, that was beautiful. If it wasn't present in this moment, I might have missed that. I'm so grateful that I was aware and saw that beautiful moment happen. 

JKO: So what does it do to you when you are, when you are able to identify, find beauty around you, regardless of where you are?

How does that help you to be present? 

Jessica: I don't know why it helps you to be present, but you can't do it unless you're present. If your mind is wandering somewhere else, whether future or the past, and that tends to be the two things, then we're not present. So when you're noticing things around you, you are present.

Hmm. So it's almost like, if you set that intention, I want to start noticing beauty around me. It presents itself who? 

JKO: True. True. I totally agree. [00:04:00] And why this is important is I'm going to use an example of somebody in a domestic violence situation. It's hard to see. Good for some people. They're really in terrible situations.

We're talk about domestic violence as a whole, plethora of manifestations of that. And for everyone, it's a different situation. However, what I learned from my personal experience of living in the trenches is the moment you say, I can't change others, but I can change, I can get the best of myself even in this dark place.

Then something shifts inside of you. And when we talk about finding beauty, it is an intentional act. Yes. You decide [00:05:00] that, okay, everything is black, but I'm going to look for one flicker of light in this block. And do you know? Find it and I can prove it to you. When the light goes off, it's pitch dark. Do you know if you keep looking very soon you're going to see some light.

Every one of us can attest to this, and that's how it is in our lives. When we are intentional about finding the beauty, it helps us. The power of essential oils, could you speak a little bit about how that helps us in the trenches?

Jessica: Okay, 

so I'll connect it back to weight since that's kind of where we, we started.

Yeah. But just kind of know any emotion, any physical we can, we can find that with a Yes. With essential oil. [00:06:00] Yes. So the, the products that I found success of losing 50 pounds over the past year. There's, there's three main steps and then an iffy step, but I feel like you're gonna really relate to this iffy step, so I'm gonna talk about that too.

So the, the first one is micronutrients, and so that is, we want to make sure all the vitamins and minerals that our body needs to perform optimally. That's step number one. So I recommend the, the multivitamin. Step number two is water. And we want to be drinking half our body ounces in water. And then we would add the essential oil to the water.

And it actually scientifically tells our lipid cells, our fat cells. You don't need to store that much fat lipids. It's okay to store less fat lipids. And they have pictures of it. Ooh, where this is how much fat it was [00:07:00] storing. And over the week it's storing less and less fat in the lipid. And then the last step is that crazy.

The last step guidance goes together and it's a collagen that is really telling ourselves, you're healthy, you're healthy, you're healthy. And it's really changing how our body is speaking to our cells. And we take the, and that's called advantage and we take the assist with it 30 minutes before we eat.

And it wraps around carbs and takes fast, digesting carbs and makes them slow digesting carbs. And why that's important is because when we digest carbs fast, our glucose spikes and then our insulin spikes. And so we're constantly doing that all throughout the day. Glucose, insulin, and then, Like we're going 70 miles per hour and we slam on the brakes and then we're going 70 miles per hour and we slam on the brakes, and that takes a toll on the body.

And so when we slow [00:08:00] that down, we're able to digest everything slowly and we don't have those great starts and stops. So it is kind of a system I'd like to call it, of everything working together. But people are losing weight Just on that. And then kind of what you were talking about with the emotions, there's two things.

One is a gum, and I kind of lean towards the gum, but one is a bead lit and every time you're like, I have to put some, I have to put something in my mouth, like, I'm feeling it, it's time to put something in my mouth. You can pop in this gum that has that same med power line Wow. In it that tells the body to stop storing fat in fat lipids in the cells.

And it gives you time to breathe and chew. And you're like, oh my gosh. I wasn't hungry. I was upset. Oh, I wasn't hungry, I was bored. And it just gives that little bit of time in between the trigger and the eating to calm the body back. 

JKO: Wow, [00:09:00] this is so cool guys. I don't know whether in my show notes, I could show you picture of the before and after of Jessica.

Cause she's not telling us some iffy, you know, just some fake trying to sell something kind of thing. And she hasn't even tried to sell anything. She's telling you what she has applied. Okay. So Jessica, if somebody wants to reach out to you for, let's start with where, where can they get this?

These things you've mentioned in the four step system we talked about now.

So we'll put a link to just getting the system. That will also put a link to the website, cuz my website's really like, here's to reach out to me, Uhhuh, here's the steps and why they work. Here's my story. Here's my before and after picture. Yeah. Except my after picture on there was like 20 pounds ago. So but it's a really nice picture, so I kept it.

It's still, if it's 20 pounds ago, guys, I don't know. Pounds, [00:10:00] I don't know. But I know that she was, Now she was small. That's all. All I know is Jessica was me. Now she's small and that's all that matters. Yes, that's basically true.

If I could have that one that's 20 pounds lighter, I'll be pee. So then just leave that picture. So I'll put links to the website, and in the website you can get contact. And I'm also going to put the link to that. Remember I said the, the podcast episode? I will put the link to it so that you can hear all about it.

Very short. Her episodes are short and easy to play when you are cooking, washing dishes in the kitchen, driving, and the beauty of podcasts, like for some people they might be listening to this and they're not living in an area where there's constant power supply or cheaper internet.

The beauty of podcast is [00:11:00] that you can download the podcast and then play it when you like. So you don't need data to listen to a podcast. So I just wanna say thank you to Jessica. So Jessica, tell us something you will tell someone who is in the trenches of life as we round up this episode, that woman in the trenches, what can you tell her?

Jessica: I feel like so many times we think it is safer to give up hope, just to decide this is my situation and I don't want to have any hope. But please don't give up hope. Please hope is what really keeps us going. Hope is what allows us to find the solution. 

JKO: Hope is what keeps us. Expecting [00:12:00] a, a new outcome. It's hope that allows us to keep going so that we can reach a future that is better than our present. So if you're listening to this episode, stay hopeful.

I'm looking forward to hearing all about how Jessica has impacted your life. But let me tell you one more thing. Jessica has a very small space for appointments for her coaching program, one-on-one coaching. Because I really want you, who is listening to this podcast, who needs this change like I do to be able to take advantage of it. So contact Jessica and she'll be able to tell you. So thank you so much Jessica. This has been amazing. Thank you and we appreciate you.[00:13:00] 

Thank you so much. Yes. Have a great thank you day. You too. Bye-bye. Bye.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Messy Can’t Stop Her. I hope you found the tips Jessica shared helpful dealing with stress and finding peace amidst crisis, chaos and the challenges of life.

Remember, being present, and intentionally seeking beauty in everyday moments can be powerful tools for managing stress and enhancing your well-being. May I challenge you to give these practices a try and see how they work for you? Please reach out with a DM on Instagram or Facebook to let us know how well they worked for you.

If you’d like to reach out to Jessica to take advantage of her coaching services, I’ve put a link to her contact in the show notes. 

Please don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast to stay updated on new episodes; also share it with those who will benefit from it and leave us a review if you found this content helpful. Thank you for being a part of our podcast sisterhood. If you want to learn more and connect with like-minded individuals, we invite you to join our Messy Can’t Stop Her Sisterhood on Facebook where we share, learn and support each other to live a balanced and fulfilling life. 

Remember to make your self care a priority even when life is difficult. When you do this, messy won’t stop you.

Thank you so much for listening and see you next time!