Chickadee Coaching

06/10/2023

06/09/2023

How do you awaken and tend to your playful heart?

Is that even something you've considered before?

I will tell you, play can really be a challenge for me. I’m much more comfortable in lists and processes, and while these help me to keep life organized, they don’t recharge me. They don’t nourish me. (In fact, when they run the show, they DEPLETE me).

Curiosity, awe, wonder, and play DO nourish and recharge me. They are really a balance to all of the running, scheduling, planning, and working.

Tapping into my own curiosity allows me to take spaces from the DOING so that I can BE in my body and imagination. When I allow myself times of flowing in a creative way, whether it's with arts and crafts, working with my hands in the dirt, arranging flowers, laughing and storytelling with another, or wandering through the woods, I come back to a deeper sense of myself and how I’m connected to this world.

I lovingly challenge you: the NEXT opportunity you have to stop and tap into something playful, say YES! Even if your mind starts telling you all of the rational reasons why you should spend your time on something more productive, what would happen if you created even a little space for innocence and curiosity?

Just last night, an opportunity came up that I initially thought was a No. I felt in a little deeper and decided to say Yes. I ended up having a great time with my son and his friends, sharing a lot of laughter, and having an unexpected evening reconnecting with my own inner child through 90s hip hop and the new Little Mermaid movie on the big screen. All because I said yes to play!

I would love to hear what opportunity appears before you and what happens when you consider taking it!

So much love.
Jessica XO

06/03/2023

When was the last time you held your own gaze in the mirror for longer than was comfortable?

It’s a powerful practice. And it takes just that - PRACTICE.

Give it a try over the weekend. Set a timer for even one full minute, and then try to push a little further each time you return to it. Hold the gaze with one of your eyes and just notice. Do thoughts, feelings, and/or emotions pop up? Notice anything that arises and just take a breath. At the end of your practice, smile in the mirror and celebrate yourself!

Another version is to get out a handheld mirror, get into a comfortable position, and gaze at your v***a. The same invitations as eye-gazing apply.

I would love to hear if you try either version and what comes up for you. I welcome your experience and hold space for the parts of you that may be totally resistant to even trying. These aren’t practices modelled for us, so know you are blazing a trail and doing deep, meaningful work toward radical self-love and acceptance when you even try.

Much love. ❤️

Jessica XO

05/31/2023

I’m wearing my favourite red dress today to celebrate the generosity of our community during this month’s collection campaign for Period Promise! 🩸❤️

I’ve counted over🩸 3200 🩸individual menstrual products donated this month through:

🩸our Brighton drop-off location at RE/MAX Quinte Ltd.

🩸donations given during Open Mic night at Tin Roof Brighton,
and

🩸donations given at the Girls Just Wanna event, co-hosted by Myself (Chickadee Coaching), Anne Butwell (Anne Butwell Homes), and the team at Invis: Cheryl Brown, Angela Flindall, Jenna Baxter, and Joel Brown ().

That’s 4X the amount I collected last year at this location!!!

These items will be picked up soon and distributed to individuals and non-profits in need in Northumberland County by Northumberland United Way and Thrive Northumberland ❤️

THANK YOU to everyone who donated, shared my posts, attended events, had conversations with people in their lives, and spread awareness about this important issue in our community! Each action helps to , and I’m so grateful!!!

❤️Jessica XO

05/26/2023

I adore meeting, sharing, and witnessing each of my clients, whether through 1:1 Coaching or small group workshops! Reviews like this one warm my ❤️.

I am looking to run another PleasureMania women’s workshop in Brighton in the next month. If you want to be on the list to hear when the date drops, leave an emoji in the comments that reflects how you are feeling about your own pleasure today!

Today I am feeling very 🎉🔥🥰 about the connection to my own pleasure. 3 days ago I was feeling quite the opposite, so please hold all of your expression and (dis)connection with as much love and acceptance as you can. Remember we cycle with the moon, and we can not expect ourselves to always feel the same way. When we meet ourselves exactly where we are with acceptance, we create space where radical self-love and ecstatic pleasure can grow and thrive.

So much love. ❤️

05/25/2023

You can still donate until May 31. Come and see me at 41 Main St in downtown Brighton between 9 am and 3 pm M-F or visit another of the drop off locations in Northumberland (see slides for the full list).

The generosity and full-hearted caring in Brighton has been so incredible to witness, though I’m not at all surprised. I am proud of this community for how we show up to help others! ❤️❤️❤️

05/23/2023

This is Gilly.

This sweet little babe lives her best life everyday, not worried about what anyone thinks of her or how she shows up in the world.

She explores fully and loves deeply…on her own terms. Sometimes she is outside for 24 hours before coming in and sleeping the full next day. She may not be available for snuggles whenever we want her to be, but when she is in a space for loving, she is the one licking the faces of my boys, fully devoted to them and fully present for nothing BUT the love.

I learn a lot from her about the interplay between gentleness and ferocity and the power of bringing full presence to whatever I am doing.

Gilly is deeply connected to the land where we live, a true huntress and enchantress. She never apologizes for her needs, wants, and desires.

If you need a reminder about your own power, please allow Gilly’s example to be just that.

You are so worthy of choosing aligned action and then giving yourself the gift of deep rest. You are deserving of loving the way that best supports and nourishes you and meeting others from that space of energetic overflow.

Much love XO

05/18/2023

“Loving yourself isn’t vanity; it’s sanity.”
- Katrina Mayer

It can also be the hardest thing to do. The thing you might distract yourself from BECAUSE it doesn’t come easily.

But that’s only because many of us weren’t taught how to love ourselves. Not unconditionally. It wasn’t modelled in our homes, our schools, our media, or our institutions. Caring for, helping, and giving our energy to others was often prioritized, especially for those of us raised as girls. Giving that same attention to ourselves was judged, degraded, and labelled “selfish” and “vain”.

How can you flip that script even in a small way today?

I held my hand to my heart this morning and breathed acceptance and love to a part of me that was comparing and feeling like I SHOULD be in a different place than I am. A part that feels like I’m never good enough just as I am. Like I need to show something outwardly to be of value. I accept this part and love it for always trying to protect me from the uncomfortable feelings when I don’t feel seen, understood, or appreciated. I love this part for trying to keep me safe. A few breaths in THIS SPACE and the comparisons, self-judgements, and shame began to soften.

The opportunities will keep arising to meet yourself with more acceptance and more love, so it’s your responsibility to find, learn, and begin to use tools to bring yourself back. No one will do this for you. It’s an inside job.

If you aren’t sure where to start, reach out about 1:1 Coaching with me. I would be honoured to witness you and reflect your possibility until you see it for yourself.

So much love,
Jessica XO

05/16/2023

This is a part of my own story that often fills me with shame. The “smart” and “successful” “perfectionist” & “over-achiever” who is also sometimes a “quitter”. Note all of those terms in quotations - they are just labels, and ones my ego would use to inflate me or, way more often, deflate me.
“I should have been stronger and stayed…”
“Why can’t I be like other people and just stick things out…”
“Think of where I’d be now if I hadn’t left…”

But I have also listened to a deeper part of myself and known it was time to leave, to end things, to move on.
I’ve risked a lot and jumped head-first into the unknown.
I know I’m fuller and wiser because of it.

Maybe instead of quitting = losing,
Maybe, just maybe,
We gain when we listen to that voice.

Quitting is one of life’s most important skills.

Knowing when (not impulsively, but after careful thought and self reflection) to quit allows us to find things we’re meant to do.

Yet, our culture glorifies “never give up” and “don’t be a quitter.”

Knowing when to quit instead of pushing yourself down a path you’re not meant for is a sign of self awareness.

We all grow, evolve, and at times need to move on...

I remember the day I quit practicing 1:1 therapy. I dedicated 10 years of education, I had many clients, and it was my “job” identity.

I had a voice in my head telling me not to quit, but it was the cultural voice.

Deeper in me I had the intuitive voice says: pivot. Take a different direction. Release content to help people. Create a community healing platform.

And so I did. I birthed .circle by quitting something no longer in alignment with what I wanted to do.

Resolve, commitment, and dedication come almost instinctually when we’re meant for it

05/16/2023

Even when things fall down and fall apart,
new life grows.
Even when we fall down and fall apart,
new life grows.
Even when I fall down and fall apart,
new life grows.

Things will always change.
We will keep changing.
I am allowed to change.

When I need this reminder, I go out into the woods. There, I always feel the support I need to go inwards.

How are things, relationships, and people around you changing? How do you notice yourself changing?

How are old patterns, ways of communicating, and co-depending falling down and falling apart to create space for newness?

Are you holding on to the old familiar or allowing the change? Maybe both…

Drop me a line or leave a comment if this spoke to you. I welcome your shares and honour your presence here ❤️

Jessica XO

05/15/2023

Free this Saturday evening in the Brighton area?

I am co-hosting this drop-in event with .ca at 12 Alice Street from 6-9pm.

Gain entry with 1+ donation(s) of menstrual products of your choice to benefit the Northumberland United Way & Thrive Northumberland’s 3rd Annual Community-Wide Collection Campaign for Period Promise! The goal is to in Northumberland County!!!

Chances are you know people who menstruate. A community survey conducted by the above organizations last year learned that half of participants noted they had struggled at some point in their life to purchase the menstrual products they needed and more than a quarter had gone through a period with NO products to support them. Help people who menstruate in our community so that they will never need to choose between menstrual products and food, school, work, or other opportunities! Join us!!!

We will have themed refreshments, great music, lots of laughter, and a spirit of generosity and open sisterhood. We truly hope you can join us!

If you would like to donate, but are unable to drop in on Saturday, please DM me to arrange pick up or drop-off M-F until May 31 to me at 41 Main Street, Brighton.

So much LOVE ❤️
Jessica XO