Magical Mindset Moments

We usually don't make the best decisions when we're exhausted. But, in hurried the pace of today's world, we sometimes keep pushing forward before we recognize the signs that we're tired at all. In this episode of the Magical Mindset Moments Podcast, we'll explore 5 signs that we need rest...  You have the thought "It's all up to me." You're experiencing feelings of superiority over others. You feel isolated, disconnected, or lonely. Everything you touch breaks and you're leaving chaos in your wake. You find yourself trying to take shortcuts. But - don't worry! - we won't simply leave you with a missive of "just rest more". Jen will also give us some practical, tactical ways we can weave a self-care practice of rest into our everyday lives - and get our kids in on this helpful practice so we can help them adopt lifelong healthy habits too. This Week's Big Think: Which one of the five “rest signals” is showing up for you right now? What rest can you practice this week in response to this signal? As we wrap up Season 1 with this important lesson, we also want to take a moment to say thank you for listening. We are so grateful to you for being on this journey with us. During our holiday break, we hope you'll stay connected with us by becoming a Pen Pal using the form at the bottom of our website or following Magical Mindset Moments on Instagram. Happy holidays! We hope your season is one of peace and joy. We will see you in the new year!

So often when we are facing Herculean tasks or are watching others do so, we ascribe our or their successes or failures to identity words. We say: I am so lazy. Or he's so motivated. Or she's so smart. Or they're so bossy. But what if identity isn't the whole story? What if it's not even the important part of the story? What if we make like Dory and forget identity entirely? Then what?  Well, buckle up, because that's exactly what we're diving into today with Jen's Four Things Framework that is going to give you a more compassionate, whole-hearted, helpful way to assess your roadblocks and make forward progress for yourself or guide the tiny humans in your life to do the same. The Four Things are: Information, Support, Skills & Tools, and Demands Once you hear how these coalesce, you're going to be able to extend far more grace to yourself and the people in your life and make big, bold steps towards lasting, positive change. This Week's Big Think: Where are you or your people struggling to get the results or outcomes you desire? Which area do you need to focus on - information & resources, support, skills, or demands? What is your next right step in that area?  Like the Big Think? You'll love the Beyond The Big Think, our weekly PDF download that we share with our Patreon supporters: The Magic Family. Learn more at patreon.com/magicalmindsetmoments.

Have you ever thought about the fact that the majority of our parental lives will be spent in relationship with adult children? It can be hard to imagine when you're elbow deep in diapers and bottles or trying to figure out how to get that incredible stink out of sweaty soccer gear day after day. But that's really the truth of it, isn't it?  This hit me square between the eyes when I read Julie Bogart's fantastic book Raising Critical Thinkers earlier this year. And it ties in with another insight I had while watching Finding Nemo with my kiddos during a family trip to Southern California. So today we're going to dive in the watery world of Nemo and Friends and see if we can find our way back to the truest hearts of one another...even when it's challenging. This Week's Big Think: Think about a time you disagreed with another person about the facts or ideology of a situation. With grace and curiosity, consider how you handled it and what you might do differently in the future.

Happy Halloween! Is there any better way to celebrate today than spending the whole month prior watching Hocus Pocus on a loop? If you're on Team Lauren, the answer is no. There is not.  If you're on Team Jen, the answer is yes. Watching literally anything not dealing with the occult would be great. Thanks.  But, no matter which team you're on, today we're dealing with the lighter side of witchy energy because we're going to have a chat about Dani, the firecracker of a little sister from Hocus Pocus.  As Winifred notes: she's a clever little white witch, and that's just one of the many reasons we love her.  Truth teller. Other seer. Self-accepter. Take us to there! Today we're going to explore Dani's awesomeness, and kick Halloween off with a mindset lesson that will carry us through the rest of the holidays. Enjoy a little mental protein before the sugar high to come. This Week's Big Think: On the spectrum of brash truth teller to wallflower chameleon, where do you fall? How do you feel about that?  

Vulnerability can be challenging. And our two pals from Pixar's Ratatouille, Remy and Alfredo Linguini, both experience vulnerability in different ways during the movie. In this episode of the Magical Mindset Moments Podcast, Jen presents three distinct types of vulnerability for us to discuss, as well as tools and strategies for us to use when we navigate these tricky, stressful situations. How we show up for ourselves and for others in these moments really matters. And, as parents, we're called to process our own stuff so we can be grounded and learn how to support our nearest and dearest as they make mistakes or have vulnerable moments too. This episode is a great place to start doing just that. Let's get to it! This Week's Big Think: Where are you vulnerable right now? Who are you in connection with that is experiencing vulnerability? How can you respond to minimize the mess and maximize the magic?  Love the show? Show your support by joining the Magic Family on Patreon.

Did you know that Harrison Ford's dysentery-induced diarrhea forced an improvisation on the set of Raiders of the Lost Ark that led to one of the most memorable moments in the whole movie? It's true! But does that cool-yet-gross bit of trivia hold any lessons for us as parents? Of course it does! Otherwise we wouldn't be talking about it. This Week's Big Think: Take some time this week to think about a great memory you've had from an experience where a change in plans required you to shoot from the hip and improvise like Indy. Love the show? Show your support by joining the Magic Family on Patreon.

When you're high on the hog, it can be hard to empathize with the little guy...until you're taken down a peg or two. That's when our most fun thoughts come out to play. Maybe that's one of the very many reasons why watching Woody's journey from running the show solo as Andy's favorite toy to learning to share the spotlight with Buzz is so satisfying.  Regardless of our typical position in the pecking order, we can all relate to his big, scary feelings: do I belong? do I matter? am I loved?  In this episode of the Magical Mindset Moments Podcast, Jen guides us as we explore this life lesson from Toy Story. She helps us unpack our fear and guides us to a simple tool we can use when we're wrestling with these weighty thoughts.  This Week's Big Think: As you move through life and big scary thoughts come up for you, can you pause and ask yourself one question: What if I'm wrong about that? And then see what happens… Loving the podcast? Support Magical Mindset Moments by joining the Magic Family on Patreon.  

A few weeks ago when we explored life lessons from Cinderella, we talked about how wishing won't get the job done when we have big juicy goals. Envisioning our goals is lovely. It does put gas in our motivational tanks. But, ultimately, we have to put our feet on the gas pedal and start moving. We have to lean into action.  But there's another aspect of growth that's important to remember and it's that growth is iterative. We can't magic our way to the top of a staircase. We have to take each step one at a time.  And we believe that Pixar's very first short, Luxo Jr., is a great place for us to explore this lesson. This 1986 short is the origin story of the Pixar lamp that we all know and love and the Pixar ball we've spotted in hidden throughout Pixar movies. Join us as we explore the power of iterative growth with a frustrating/lovely reminder that the imperceptible movement we're making is actually where the best stuff is happening. This Week's Big Think: What is one thing that you are working on right now that you are iterating on and getting better at each and every day? Loving the podcast? Support Magical Mindset Moments by joining the Magic Family on Patreon.

Our emotions are like magnets that can point us to true north. But they can be really hard to fully feel and dissect in our busy, everyday lives. Also, as Jen acknowledges in this episode, a lot of this internal work can feel like naval gazing. There can be a temptation to either stay on the inside and never do anything with the new information acquired or to skip it altogether in favor of tackling something more active. But the truth is that if we want to connect more fully to our values, we must begin by cultivating this deep self-awareness. And then - equally important - move towards action informed by what we learn. We don't want to get stuck just in feelings. We want to progress to where we can identify the deeper truth that the feelings are trying to signal us to. And we explore ways to do just that in this episode of the Magical Mindset Moments Podcast. Want to join our Magical Movie Night for The Incredibles where we create our personal and family manifestos? Come support Magical Mindset Moments on Patreon and, when you do, you'll gain access to every Magical Movie Night guide we've created - and receive a new one each month! We're kicking it off with Incredibles and cannot wait to explore the deeper life lessons from Disney movies with you, our amazing Magic Fam.  Thank you for being here. And, now, on with the show! This Week's Big Think: Peek into the dark corners where your big feelings are living and simply ask yourself what those strong emotions are inviting you towards. What are they indicating about your deeply held values? Loving the podcast? Support Magical Mindset Moments by joining the Magic Family on Patreon.

"No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true." - Cinderella We've got beef with Cindy. While it is true that belief is useful as a fuel, it does not serve us to live just believing in our dreams. We have to pair that vision with action.  As Jen so brilliantly shares, the holding duality of the vision for the future and the reality of the present is the key to locking the door to action that can make your brightest future possible. Hope is the gas in the tank and you need that AND your foot on the pedal. So join us as we call bs on the notion that believing is all that it takes to make a dream come true and explore what we can do to get moving towards a better tomorrow today! Resources Mentioned: 4,000 Weeks: Time Management For Mortals by Oliver Burkeman This Week's Big Think: What is a dream that you have been delaying or living in hope for without meeting it with action? Loving the podcast? Support Magical Mindset Moments by joining the Magic Family on Patreon.

Out there...way beyond Earth 2805...there is a tiny little droid named M-O. A consummate rule follower who values order and cleanliness, M-O is a good citizen of the Axiom, the Buy 'N Large Starliner spaceship where evacuated humanity now lives. He does his job and does it well. But then WALL-E shows up and his usual routine is thrown all out of whack. In his fervor to maintain cleanliness, M-O breaks a rule. He jumps the track he usually must stay on in order to do what he feels is even more important: clean the ship.  We all face these kinds of M-O Moments in life: times when the right thing isn't following the letter of a law. As hard as it is to navigate as a parent, it's even harder for our kids to learn to tease this out, particularly if rules are perceived as edicts that are an expression of our parental will to control rather than boundaries put in place to keep them safe. And, if we lean into the former rather than the later as our way of explaining rules, it can cut our children off from the knowing we desperately need them to have as they mature and gain more independence. One little question can help us navigate this tricky terrain, and today we're going to explore that together.  Let's roll... This Week's Big Think: When have you “jumped your track” and broken a rule for a good reason? Loving the podcast? Support Magical Mindset Moments by joining the Magic Family on Patreon.

What does it mean to Bump The Lamp and what can this lesson do to help us in our everyday lives? The term Bump The Lamp comes from a scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit in which Eddie Valiant, played by Bob Hoskins, is trying to cut off the handcuffs that tie him to Roger. Throughout the scene, he bumps his head repeatedly on a lamp in the room causing it to swing which made the animation of that scene considerably more expensive and time-consuming. The animation team made the choice to do it anyway because Bumping The Lamp makes the scene better. Viewers wouldn't have known the difference, but the final product wouldn't have been as good. And the animators would've known it. Every now and then along the path of life, we have moments in which we too can make a choice. We can choose to skirt the hard work and delay both the pain and the pay off, or we can choose to do the hard thing in the moment that will set the vector of our path in a more favorable direction and deliver Future Us from having to shoulder the burden. Which should we choose? Let's dive in and explore this concept together! In this episode, we also shared a new post we're going to create in the Magic Family, our Patreon community for supporters of the Magical Mindset Moments Podcast, where we will craft our Disney lexicon. In this post, we will all share our bite-sized Disney phrases that we use to keep things light even when moments are hard.  These touchstones are so important for family life so if you want to come help us build the Magic Family Lexicon, we would love to have you join us! Head over to patreon.com/magicalmindsetmoments to learn more. This Week's Big Think: Where can you choose to "bump the lamp" today in service of a big payoff down the line? Loving the podcast? Support Magical Mindset Moments by joining the Magic Family on Patreon.

It's easy to feel siloed in life, as though certain tasks or relationships are only allowed to have one dimension. Laundry is boring. Work is serious. Kids are exhausting. Errands are annoying. And, while each of these statements is certainly true at times, they aren't the whole truth. Come to think of it, the people we love spending time around are the ones who don't let a single, pre-determined adjective around the tasks they have to tackle control the tone of their whole day.  They make like Pocohontas and paint with all the colors of the wind. This is one of the many reasons we love the Hidden Mickeys that you can find throughout Disney properties. The Disney Imagineers have a serious job with a lot of pressure to deliver to the exacting standards Walt set and guests expect. But, despite that, they also decided to level up the fun by creating a game within the work of making magic by hiding the mouse that started it all all throughout the parks. Take a listen and, together, we will brainstorm ways we can invite more light and levity into our everyday lives. 

Back in Episode 1, we dove in with a life lesson from the Little Mermaid that was all about seeing - really seeing - the most important people in our lives. In this episode of the Magical Mindset Moments podcast, we're heading back to the water to dance with the undertow and the waves. We like how it misbehaves! Gramma from Moana is such a playful force to be reckoned with. Wise and mischievous, she is able to impart a beautiful lesson about how we can see our people even more deeply. Her abiding love and compassion for her son and granddaughter helps her reveal the bridge of a shared value that spans between them and helps them navigate back to one another by the end of the movie. This life lesson from Moana helps us explore the paradox of remaining our truest selves while living in genuine connection with one another. We are so glad you're here, friend! Let's set sail towards that shared horizon...together. (Want even more connection with us? Consider supporting the show by joining the Magic Family on Patreon! We hope to see you there!)

Villains, particularly Disney villains, are so deliciously easy to spot and decidedly terrible. We love to hate them. Fully. Completely. Irrevocably.  But...what if they're not actually all bad?  In this episode of the Magical Mindset Moments Podcast, we're going to peel back the layers of one of the baddest baddies around: Mother Gothel. While we're certainly not here to excuse child thieving, there are clues in the opening number of Tangled that Mother Gothel might have a softer, if still likely self-serving side. Mod podge is involved in our exploration so if paper mache is a no-fly zone for you, skip this one. ;)  In this one, we dive deep as we explore our stories about others and our stories about ourselves. So take a listen and be sure to come over to Instagram to tell us what you uncover as you explore this life lesson from Tangled. Enjoy!

When it comes to the uppity, is there any poster boy more fitting than pompous Mr. Banks from Mary Poppins? Slippers, sherry, and pipe due at sherry at 6:02, indeed. It's so easy to poke fun at him. From our vantage point, he's ludicrous. But he genuinely believes that he is doing all the work of running his household well when the truth is he has very little understanding of anybody in his home (himself included) and it's not going well at all. So what is really going on underneath all that self-important rigidity? Does his inflexibility perhaps have something to offer us? In this episode of the Magical Mindset Moments Podcast, we're going to explore Mr. Banks's blind spot, that gaping hole in his field of self-vision, and consider how seeing it and grappling with it allows him to move to a place of much greater personal joy and connection with his family.  Hold onto your carnation! You're in for a ride with this one.* *Generous spoonfuls of sugar & self-compassion highly recommended

Remember that time that a rebel blew up the Death Star? No, not the second time. Or the third time.  The first time when the OG not-yet-Jedi, Luke Skywalker, delivered the mother of all Hail Marys with only the Force and an assist from Han and Chewie to help him? It's all fanfare (big love to John Williams) and destiny and how brave, how lucky, one in a million shot, kid. But - wait - was it actually any of those things? Or was Luke just incredibly prepared because he had been bored out of his skull on Tatooine for 19 years? (That's a lot of time for target practice. Just ask the Womprats.) In this episode of the Magical Mindset Moments Podcast, we're going to explore what this moment holds for us down on Earth really, really right now in a galaxy that is very, very here-ish. 

Authenticity. The word's enough to make you want to gag. But shouldn't the word that represents us living life as our most true selves feel good?  In truth, it really should. Being rooted in your highest priorities and values is grounding. But sometimes we can experience a gut-level push-pull when we're engaging with those around us, defining our way to be by others. That outside-in rather than inside-out experience can knock us off-kilter if we don't pay attention to it. So today we're going to enlist a little help from La Familia Madrigal.  In this episode of The Magical Mindset Moments Podcast, we'll zoom in on Pepa and her kids to explore what their gifts might show us about ways we can move closer to being in alignment with our truest selves out here in real life. 

Whether it was your first movie in the theater like Lauren or you are still living that Little Mermaid life with husbandly antics accompanying every car ride like Jen, The Little Mermaid has certainly left its mark on us. Is there anything so breathtaking as Jodi Benson's voice? We'd argue that there very likely is not. And while we adore that fiercely independent mermaid, in this episode we're going to talk about a different creature entirely. A merman*, in fact. That's right! King Triton himself takes center stage as we explore an all-to-familiar challenge in parenting: really seeing our kids. Like...really really seeing them.  This isn't about permissiveness. It's about connection. And, speaking of connection, you can snag all of the journal prompts and conversation starters that come with our Magic Family membership for this episode for free here on our Patreon page @ patreon.com/magicalmindsetmoments. Let's dive in, shall we? *Apologies to all. Derek Zoolander will not be featured as part of this episode.