Hey y’all -

I don’t know if this will ring true, but do you feel like life is incredibly beautiful but sometimes also really friggin’ hard?

Sometimes we’re on a mountaintop admiring the view, or swept along by the momentum of the waves, or snuggled into a sweet quiet moment and everything’s good.

Yet other times we fumble over our words, we goof up in our relationships, we doubt ourselves constantly, we get our panties in a bunch.

Whether you’re feeling like a hot mess or a hot ticket, may I humbly offer a few tricks that might help make the most of any given moment:

• Check in with your four bodies. (“Wait, what?! Four?! I thought I just had the one…”) Ask yourself how you’re feeling physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. Chances are, whatever’s bugging you - or whatever is worth celebrating - might feel a little different in each of these parts of yourself.
• Be present. Use five seconds, two feet, one breath to tune in. For five seconds, just notice your feet on the ground and take a slow, conscious breath. Easy anywhere, anytime.
• Be your own bestie. This one sounds cheesy, but don’t knock it ‘til you try it: talk to yourself the way you would talk to a best friend (á la Brené Brown). Say something kind and loving. Like, really. Pet name and all.
• You do you. Are you unknowingly internalizing someone else’s problems? Are you piggy-backing on someone else’s joy? When in doubt, as Kacey Musgraves would say in all her country wisdom, “Mind your own biscuits and life will be gravy.”

Big love to you, my sweet friend. Life is oh so big and beautiful.

Seek beauty. Keep hope. Give kindness.

Xo,

~Baylie

P.s. Have tips that you use to check in with yourself? I’d love to hear what they are!