Tools of Life is written and produced by Julie Ford of Julz of Life where we've been supporting parents and teens as they navigate the challenging richness of raising the next generation. This stage of life is full of our own "remember when" and "oh boy, here we go" moments that we can choose to either DREAD or RELISH. No stage of parenting should need to be endured. JOY is a choice and that's where we've started our continuing conversation:

7 Habits I've Adopted Since Choosing JOY! And the 5th of our habits is to see OBSTACLES as DETOURS in the RIGHT direction. This seems counterintuitive, so listen closely. This is from Gabrielle Bernstein's book, The Universe Has Your Back. When I was in the swamp, I needed a way to go "from fear to faith" and her book was an amazing stepping stone.

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On Tools of Life, we offer you something to ponder, something to practice, and something to play with. Here you go!

Ponder:

"Not a catastrophe - just another tricky day" - Dad

Practice:

“Take action fearlessly when we aren’t afraid of rejection” or an OBSTACLE! Imagine the force you could be if you went with the flow when you hit a wall. Open your hands and ask to see the detour signs instead of the complete roadblock.

Play with:

Opposite day- remember this game from when we were kids. What if we played with this more often? What if we were excited about obstacles because they led us to more fun?

When we hit a bump - Thank it, follow it’s lead… see where it takes you. New, fun adventures await!

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Resources:

Gabrielle Bernstein's book, The Universe Has Your Back, was very powerful for me. It actually showed up in my feed and other places in my view that made it nearly impossible to ignore. I took the hint to read it and I'm glad I did.

There's also a card deck that can accompany it that has great reminders of the learning from the book. I like to leave them around the house to shift the mood and start discussions!

If you read it, let me know what you think!

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About the "7 Habits I've Adopted Since Choosing JOY" series - After going through alife swamp, Julie learned a few lessons about climbing out of the muck and thriving. Each of these nuggets is a show in itself, so that's just what we're all about in this series! Buckle up for some perspective to help you get from "frustrated and frazzled" to "laughing and lovin it" faster.

Tools of Life - where we bring enough levity and perspective to you on Friday that you love the weekend big time and make people wonder what on EARTH got into you by Monday.

For more tools, contact Julie Ford at [email protected] or follow Julz of Life at https://www.facebook.com/julzoflife/

Disclosure re: linked Amazon materials.

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