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Living Well with ChronIc illness


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Actionable insights on everyday well-being and strategies to empower you to create calm, joy and presence while navigating health — and life — challenges and chaos.

RECENT MN Blogs

My journey toward cultivating a holistic approach to wellness and chronic illness. Topics from Mindset to relationships to soul-care and more.

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Infusing My Healing Pace with Grace


Infusing My Healing Pace with Grace


The more grace you can give yourself as you move at your own pace, the more friendly personal development will feel.


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50 Practical Ways to be a Migraine Ally in Action


50 Practical Ways to be a Migraine Ally in Action


“How do your loved ones effectively show up as a migraine ally when you are in the middle of a flare? What specific behaviors, phrases, errands, or offers provide the most reassurance and relief?”


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Healthgrades Guest Article — Migraine: It’s a Disease, Not “Just a Bad Headache”


Healthgrades Guest Article — Migraine: It’s a Disease, Not “Just a Bad Headache”


More specific migraine language can help correct the misunderstanding that “migraines are just a bad headache” and instead recognize migraine as the complex, highly prevalent, and nuanced disease it is.


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When Chronic Illness Makes You Miss Busy


When Chronic Illness Makes You Miss Busy


My days look very different than almost all of my peers. My “busy” looks different. I am still busy; but that busy entails creating space for healing, taking care of my body, and bargaining with my energy.


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Healthgrades Guest Article — Chronic Migraine: Your Experience Is as Unique as Your Fingerprint


Healthgrades Guest Article — Chronic Migraine: Your Experience Is as Unique as Your Fingerprint


One of the most important lessons I have learned since my diagnosis is that every brain that experiences migraine is singularly unique.


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Your “Best” is Allowed to Include Rest


Your “Best” is Allowed to Include Rest


At the end of the day, I know now, that rest is incredibly productive, even when it feels quite the opposite. I hope that these words can inspire you to introduce kindness, patience and compassion, acceptance and celebration into your own rest routines too.


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Healthgrades Guest Article — Become an Ally to a Loved One With Chronic Migraine: Easy Steps You Can Take


Healthgrades Guest Article — Become an Ally to a Loved One With Chronic Migraine: Easy Steps You Can Take


Feeling this tension, between wanting to help and not knowing how to, is completely normal, especially if you have never experienced migraine firsthand…


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Permission for Fear and Gratitude to Coexist Alongside COVID-19 Progress


Permission for Fear and Gratitude to Coexist Alongside COVID-19 Progress


“…it doesn’t make you a ‘bad’ person to notice and be aware of the ways COVID restrictions have supported, even eased, certain aspects of your life with chronic illness…”


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Healthgrades Guest Article: Creating Comfort Amidst the Discomfort of Chronic Migraine


Healthgrades Guest Article: Creating Comfort Amidst the Discomfort of Chronic Migraine


Every person will have a different recipe for what soothes them during a migraine attack. Whether you reach for…

Read the full article on Healthgrades.com!


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Why Restorative Yoga is Essential to my Soul-Care


Why Restorative Yoga is Essential to my Soul-Care


Restorative yoga has become one of the most effective ways I communicate safety and calm to my body and nervous system…


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MN on Instagram

From @mindfulmigraine → @mindful.natalie! Join the most active part of our community. New name, a more me, me. Come say hi!

When living with chronic pain — don’t underestimate the power of a gentle reframe ! our brains are wired to return to thoughts about the things that *hurt* with ease & magnetism we don’t have to “decide” to focus on nausea or head pain — because neurologically we’re naturally inclined to attend to what aches and seek solutions *but* all of that attention and energy can wind up creating patterns that are ultimately counterproductive to managing chronic pain to an *over-emphasis* on what we can’t change or don’t like about our physical state in any given moment and a *de-emphasis* on where we can say “thank you” or what is working ⚖️ these are some places and phrases I return to over and over to find gratitude for my body even on tough pain days: grateful for eyes that can watch a sunset of blues, pinks, oranges and purples paint the sky and fade into the sea grateful for ears that can listen to th

Happy monday beautiful souls! as you build your to-do’s for the hour, day or week don’t forget to infuse them with kindness ✨ the limitations of daily unpredictable pain threw my list-loving-self for a LOOP at the beginning of my health journey and I felt like I was in groundless (unproductive) free fall for so long I didn’t know HOW to organize my life, or frankly, orient my mindset around my “value”, once I lost my ability to get things done & check them off predictably, reliably and on schedule I felt so much shame, for so many years, that “doing my best” wasn’t *better* but ever so gradually ever so gently and ever so patiently I began to *loosen* my expectations around lists and instead, *lace* them with grace letting GO of resistance to circumstances out of my control and letting IN surrender and peace to my present moment ‍♀️ this was a a multi-year process and is something I still work on every single day as you

What would it feel like to open to the idea that your own compassion and love can support and replenish your sense of well-being no matter the chaos around or within you? — when I slow down and get quiet and be still in my own silence and watch my mind without running and breathe with my body I find I’m able to open to this kind of love a deep well of unconditional compassion alive and well right at my core waiting patiently through all of my moments for me to gaze my awareness in its direction and be held in its glow ✨ — only a few hours until restorative yoga class with a very honorary first ever MN guest, @thedailyrest class will be held on my IGTV ☺️ check out yesterday’s post for allllll the details cannot wait to be *live* with some of our beautiful soul fam sooooo sooon! — SUNDAY march 14, 6pm CST evening wind down // MONDAY march 15, 10am AEDT gentle morning refresh — the class will remain on my IGTV for anyone who can’t att

I’m SO excited to host @thedailyrest as the first EVER guest on my IGTV to teach a #restorativeyoga class to our community ‍♀️ I discovered @thedailyrest last year — and her authentic, beautiful, grounding classes have become a fixture in my soul-care routine her gentle energy makes each class a resource that can meet me inside of *whatever* circumstance, symptom or emotion I’m dealing with and has truly expanded the compassion and presence I’m able to bring to my inner world if you’ve never taken a restorative yoga class before — expect lots of coziness (blankets, pillows, candles highly encouraged) and an invitation to slow down and be with all that “is” with love and care I’ve taken restorative yoga classes for years, and @thedailyrest has been the most impactful teacher in my journey I can’t wait to host Emmie on my IGTV and share this practice with you! ☺️ class will be LIVE tomorrow March 14th, 6pm

 

A Daily invitation

to CREATE a mindset

that invites you to

love your life, more than you hate your pain.

Where you chose to believe,

that you are exactly on time,

and where you are meant to be.

 


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“For what it’s worth… it’s never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit. Start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you’ve never felt before. I hope you meet people who have a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start over again.”
— F. Scott Fitzgerald


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