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Welcome to The Positively Healthy Mom Podcast! I’m Laura Ollinger, and today, I’m thrilled to welcome Dominiece Clifton, a passionate entrepreneur and business coach dedicated to helping individuals create sustainable careers while prioritizing their health and well-being. In this episode titled "Escape the 9-5," Dominiece’s mission is clear: to empower people to break free from the limiting belief that they must choose between career success and personal fulfillment. Instead, she teaches us that it is entirely possible—and essential—to thrive in both areas of our lives.

In this engaging episode, Dominiece shares her insights on navigating the complexities of modern work-life balance. With years of experience guiding individuals through their personal and professional journeys, she has witnessed firsthand the transformational power of nurturing both aspects. Dominiece firmly believes that when we honor our personal needs, we can show up more fully in our careers, leading to greater satisfaction and success.

What you’ll discover in this episode:

The Interconnection of Life:
Dominiece emphasizes that our personal and professional lives are deeply intertwined. By recognizing this connection, we can cultivate a holistic approach to success that allows us to excel in both areas without feeling like we’re sacrificing one for the other.
  • The Concept of Soul Care: Dominiece introduces her unique approach to self-care, which she refers to as “soul care.” Unlike traditional self-care that often focuses on superficial activities, soul care dives deeper into nurturing the mind, body, and spirit. She shares her personal journey of developing a soul care practice and how it has significantly enhanced her ability to juggle multiple roles as a mom and business owner.
  • Practical Strategies for Balance: Throughout our conversation, Dominiece provides actionable strategies for creating a sustainable work-life balance. She discusses how to intentionally prioritize different aspects of your life, ensuring that you’re not just surviving but thriving. Her tips will help you identify what truly matters and how to align your daily actions with your core values.
  • Finding Your Unique Calling: Many of us feel a pull toward something more, but often, we’re unsure of what that “more” entails. Dominiece shares insightful methods for exploring your passions and interests, helping you uncover your unique calling. She encourages listeners to embrace the uncertainty of this journey and trust that clarity will emerge over time.
  • Building a Supportive Community: Dominiece stresses the importance of surrounding ourselves with a community that encourages growth and accountability. Whether it’s friends, family, or mentors, having a supportive network can make all the difference in navigating the challenges of career and personal well-being.

As we delve deeper into the conversation, Dominiece’s enthusiasm for her work is palpable. She provides encouragement and inspiration for busy professionals, reminding us that achieving a fulfilling career and a vibrant personal life is not just a dream—it’s attainable. Her wisdom serves as a powerful reminder that nurturing ourselves holistically allows us to bring our best selves to every role we play.

Tune in to this transformative episode and learn how to embrace both ambition and well-being in your life! If you’re a busy professional feeling the tug for more from life, Dominiece’s insights will inspire you to take the next step toward creating the life you desire—a life where career ambitions and personal health coexist harmoniously.


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Transcript

Introduction and Guest Welcome

00:00:00
Speaker
Hey moms, it's Laura Olinger.
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Positively Healthy Mom podcast.
00:00:05
Speaker
Because there's no manual for the hardest job in the world.
00:00:11
Speaker
Hello, everyone.
00:00:11
Speaker
Welcome to today's episode of the Positively Healthy Mom.
00:00:14
Speaker
Today, we have Dominice Clifton, who is a coach and somatic practitioner.
00:00:19
Speaker
I'm so excited to dive into this conversation, Dominice, because it sounds like you have some really cool stuff going on in your both personal life and your

Dominice's Background

00:00:29
Speaker
business life.
00:00:29
Speaker
So, you know, tell us a little bit about what it is that you do.
00:00:33
Speaker
Hi, Laura.
00:00:34
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me today.
00:00:35
Speaker
I'm thrilled to be here.
00:00:37
Speaker
So as you stated, I'm Dominice Clifton and I wear many hats.
00:00:41
Speaker
I always have a hard time with saying like who I am when folks ask this question, because I think it depends on like the room and the conversation.
00:00:47
Speaker
But I would say for the sake of this moment in time, I'm an aunt.
00:00:50
Speaker
Well, I'm a mama.
00:00:51
Speaker
First, I'm a mama of two girls.
00:00:53
Speaker
They're five and eight.
00:00:54
Speaker
I am an entrepreneur, I'm a business coach, and I'm really passionate about helping people to build sustainable business or work professional careers while also prioritizing and maintaining their personal wellbeing.
00:01:06
Speaker
I think that oftentimes we think that it has to be an either or where I get to pick this one or that one.
00:01:12
Speaker
But again, my mission is to really let us know that we can do both and we can do both well.
00:01:16
Speaker
And when we do both well, we are able to show up with a greater capacity for all of the roles and the hats

Interplay of Roles in Personal Growth

00:01:21
Speaker
that we wear.
00:01:21
Speaker
So that's what I am.
00:01:24
Speaker
Yeah, I like that.
00:01:24
Speaker
And I like how kind of you're implying that these things kind of interlock or interlace, much connected.
00:01:30
Speaker
And it's not like we're two separate people by day and by night, you know, we're kind of all the same person.
00:01:35
Speaker
And so how those things to flow together, and I seem to become kind of the best version of ourselves, because I know you talk about being passionate and about showing up.
00:01:46
Speaker
And so tell us a little bit about, I know one of the things that you offer is this kind of soul, you call it your soul unique blueprint.
00:01:54
Speaker
Tell us about that.

Concept of Soul Care

00:01:56
Speaker
Yeah, so I, well, I'll split them up.
00:01:58
Speaker
So I believe that we are all spiritual beings having a human existence.
00:02:02
Speaker
And with that, we are not just these physical bodies that we're walking around holding, right?
00:02:07
Speaker
Our body, our souls are housed in these vessels.
00:02:10
Speaker
With that, I think that we all have to be really diligent about nurturing and nourishing all the parts of ourselves.
00:02:16
Speaker
And so when I talk about all the parts of ourselves, there's the physical body,
00:02:19
Speaker
There's the mental body and then there's the spiritual body.
00:02:22
Speaker
And so over the last four and a half years, I've been very diligent about really building a soul care practice.
00:02:28
Speaker
And I differentiate soul care versus self-care because oftentimes when we think about self-care, we think about very topical things.
00:02:35
Speaker
And so it's like,
00:02:36
Speaker
you know, brunch with the girls or taking a nice bubble bath at the end of a long day.
00:02:41
Speaker
And it's like, those things are really great, but we can often focus on some of those more like, again, topical external things, but we might not focus on our minds and what we've been nourishing our minds, or we might not focus on
00:02:52
Speaker
our spirits and the relationship that we have with our souls or the relationship that we have with the higher power.
00:02:58
Speaker
And so I really, really try to get folks to have a mindset shift around how they prioritize themselves and really focusing on nurturing and nourishing all those parts of ourselves.
00:03:08
Speaker
And I call that the trilogy.
00:03:09
Speaker
Like if you think about a triangle hitting on all three of those parts of ourselves consistently.
00:03:15
Speaker
And I have been doing that Laura for the last four and a half years.
00:03:18
Speaker
And it's made such a difference in my life to
00:03:20
Speaker
be very intentional every day about nourishing my body, to be very intentional every day about nourishing my mind, and to be very intentional every day about nourishing my spirit.
00:03:29
Speaker
And what I've seen over time is that, again, that has given me a greater capacity to show up as a mom.
00:03:35
Speaker
That's given me a greater capacity to show up as a business owner.
00:03:38
Speaker
And so that's a little bit about this soul care practice that I'm super passionate about sharing that folks need to be doing.

Challenges Faced by Unfulfilled Women

00:03:44
Speaker
Mm hmm.
00:03:45
Speaker
That makes so much sense.
00:03:46
Speaker
And so what a woman who is in desperate need of your help, what are the problems that she's facing?
00:03:55
Speaker
What is she dealing with?
00:03:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:57
Speaker
So she might be a mom.
00:03:58
Speaker
Right.
00:03:58
Speaker
Because I think we attract a lot of what we are.
00:04:02
Speaker
I oftentimes work with women who are working nine to fives, but feeling called for more, called to do more.
00:04:08
Speaker
Sometimes you know what that more is, but a lot of times you don't necessarily know what that more is.
00:04:11
Speaker
There's a tug on your soul that, you know, there's more to life than this.
00:04:15
Speaker
You're living a life.
00:04:16
Speaker
You've checked all the boxes that society tells us to check, right, to be successful.
00:04:21
Speaker
And then you're looking around and you're like, I've done all the things, right?
00:04:25
Speaker
I've
00:04:25
Speaker
crossed all my T's and dotted all my I's, and I'm not feeling fulfilled in this work.
00:04:30
Speaker
And so oftentimes when my clients come to me, they're most likely, again, working a nine to five, but they're not feeling fulfilled.
00:04:36
Speaker
They want to have a greater impact, but they're not sure what that is.
00:04:40
Speaker
And I typically help two clients.
00:04:42
Speaker
I help the client that's an aspiring entrepreneur.
00:04:44
Speaker
And so perhaps she is a mom and she's balancing all these things and she wants to make an impact and do mission driven work.
00:04:51
Speaker
And so I guide that woman through a process of self-discovery to really figure out who she is first so that we can now build a business that is aligned to who she is.
00:05:00
Speaker
And that is what brings the fulfillment and the joy and the happiness, being able to show up every day in that business.
00:05:06
Speaker
The other woman that I typically see is a woman who might already be an entrepreneur.
00:05:10
Speaker
But she's more early stage.
00:05:11
Speaker
And so I consider that the first one to three years of business and perhaps is working in a business.
00:05:16
Speaker
But it doesn't feel good.
00:05:17
Speaker
It doesn't feel aligned.
00:05:18
Speaker
And that was my story for a long time.
00:05:20
Speaker
And I kept burning out because I was working so hard and exerting so much energy into something that didn't feel good.
00:05:26
Speaker
So if you can relate to any of those things, balancing a lot of roles, wanting to make a greater impact, wanting to launch a business, those are typically the type of clients that I support.

Client Success Story

00:05:34
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:05:36
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:05:36
Speaker
And what, can you share a story of maybe your greatest achievement for a client as for entire transformation?
00:05:46
Speaker
Kind of tell us a little bit more.
00:05:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:48
Speaker
So I always, I feel like whenever I get this question, I don't know if it answers the question in a way that the host would want, but I think that the small wins are really the big wins.
00:05:58
Speaker
And so I have a client right now who's a mom of three and she has a
00:06:04
Speaker
How old is her oldest?
00:06:05
Speaker
She has a seven-year-old.
00:06:06
Speaker
She has an almost three-year-old who'll be three in December.
00:06:09
Speaker
And then she has a one-year-old.
00:06:11
Speaker
And she's a full-time entrepreneur.
00:06:13
Speaker
Her and her husband actually work together in a photography business.
00:06:16
Speaker
And so they have a studio.
00:06:17
Speaker
And so they are
00:06:19
Speaker
co-founders of the studio, and she's balancing a lot of things.
00:06:21
Speaker
She's a mom of very young children, a wife, and obviously that pulls us in a lot of different directions.
00:06:27
Speaker
But when we started working together, she had been in business actually for seven years.
00:06:32
Speaker
So she's a little bit different from my typical client.
00:06:34
Speaker
But what she was finding was that the things that worked for this first seven years were not getting her to the next level that she desired to go.
00:06:41
Speaker
And so oftentimes she felt stuck in her business of like knowing that there was change that needed to be made, but she wasn't really sure of what that change can look like.
00:06:52
Speaker
When we don't, you know, when we aren't clear in our goals and we don't have clarity, that leads to feeling stuck.
00:06:57
Speaker
And so there was just a lot of inaction.
00:06:59
Speaker
There's kind of the throwing spaghetti at the wall and trying to figure out what to do, right?
00:07:03
Speaker
Like how do I move the needle?
00:07:04
Speaker
How do I generate, you know, more clients and bring more revenue in?
00:07:08
Speaker
And so one of the greatest things that we started doing in the beginning is helping her to get clarity.
00:07:13
Speaker
And so that is, you know, now that you've been in this business for seven years, what are the strategies that work for the first seven years?
00:07:21
Speaker
But what do we need to do now that's different?
00:07:23
Speaker
So she was spending a lot of time on social media as a photographer.
00:07:27
Speaker
Like that was her main means of marketing for those first seven years.
00:07:31
Speaker
But now we're actually shifting.
00:07:33
Speaker
She doesn't have an email list after seven years and we're working on building an email list and really starting to get clarity on her goals over the last couple of months of working together and setting goals and really checking in on those goals and having accountability.
00:07:45
Speaker
She goes into work every day and is in her business now in charge, right?
00:07:51
Speaker
Like being clear on what she needs to be doing.
00:07:53
Speaker
We've also focused on scheduling and time blocking so that she's able to prioritize her goals.
00:07:59
Speaker
And instead of going in and having a full day and being like, I don't know where to start because there's so many things to do.
00:08:05
Speaker
we focus on what are the top three priorities now that we've identified your goals and what do you need to do today to move the needle on those three priorities?
00:08:14
Speaker
And so it's really beautiful when she sends me messages and notes and she's just like, I feel like I'm getting the bliss back in my business after just kind of feeling, you know, for the last few years, like I just haven't been passionate about it.
00:08:27
Speaker
And so that to me is a really big win where someone who's been in business for a really long time is feeling excited as if it were the beginning again.

Rediscovering Identity Post-Motherhood

00:08:35
Speaker
Yeah, right, right.
00:08:36
Speaker
Well, that's great.
00:08:37
Speaker
I love what you described as far as getting really clear, getting really focused and kind of like feeling reinvigorated.
00:08:44
Speaker
And I have a feeling that that is maybe what's stopping a lot of moms out there from going into business on their own, because most of my audience is parents of teenagers.
00:08:56
Speaker
And what we're seeing is, you know,
00:08:59
Speaker
This can go in either way, but like the light of the end of the tunnel or Tuesday where our child or children leave the nest and launch.
00:09:08
Speaker
And then it's kind of like, now what?
00:09:10
Speaker
And we have a new version and we have to figure out what our new identity is when we're not.
00:09:15
Speaker
caring for children that live in the house.
00:09:17
Speaker
And so, you know, I can imagine that that's very overwhelming and daunting.
00:09:21
Speaker
And so part of getting over that, you know, overwhelm is to kind of come up with what you've described.
00:09:29
Speaker
And so what advice would you have for those moms who are kind of on the fence and they have this kind of big, you know, event coming up where their child is going to leave the home and they want to do something and they don't know what to do?
00:09:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:41
Speaker
So love this question.
00:09:43
Speaker
So my mom is a teacher and she's been a teacher now for, gosh, almost 30 years.
00:09:48
Speaker
And she's at that point of like, I don't want to retire and do this, but I don't know what else I want to do.
00:09:53
Speaker
I have a young mom, so she's not ready yet for thinking about retirement.
00:09:57
Speaker
So for any moms, I have a younger brother.
00:10:00
Speaker
Also, I'm sharing this story to say, yes, I have these conversations quite often with women.
00:10:04
Speaker
We you know, you might be in a career that you've been in for a long time and maybe you you do well in that career.
00:10:10
Speaker
But again, you're not feeling fulfilled.
00:10:11
Speaker
It doesn't set your soul on fire.
00:10:13
Speaker
You know that there's more that you want to do when you're in a space of, you know, what is that more now?
00:10:18
Speaker
I actually a couple of months ago started giving this this down low for what has now become discovering your zone of bliss.
00:10:25
Speaker
So bliss is an acronym.
00:10:26
Speaker
And for anyone who was like, what do I do?
00:10:28
Speaker
Like, how do I figure this out?
00:10:30
Speaker
I love the idea of moving through this through discovering your zone of bliss.
00:10:33
Speaker
And so when you think about like doing something right, think about the word bliss.
00:10:37
Speaker
It's paradise.
00:10:38
Speaker
It's heaven.
00:10:38
Speaker
You know, it feels good.
00:10:40
Speaker
That's how I want everyone to wake up and feel every day when they go into their business.
00:10:45
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:10:46
Speaker
Obviously, as business owners and entrepreneurs, there are days where things are challenging.
00:10:50
Speaker
But overall, I wake up every day really excited about my work because I'm clear about my purpose and how I'm showing up.
00:10:55
Speaker
And I've actually moved through the zone of bliss process.
00:10:57
Speaker
So the B is starting with what's your big idea?
00:11:01
Speaker
Oftentimes, even if we don't feel like it's attainable, we have a little tug on our heart.
00:11:06
Speaker
are so there's something that we're feeling called to do.
00:11:08
Speaker
Maybe it's wanting to work with women that are veterans or, you know, moms of domestic violence, like there's something that we feel called and passionate to do.
00:11:17
Speaker
So you start with the B, which is your big idea.
00:11:19
Speaker
That might be two or three things.
00:11:21
Speaker
It doesn't necessarily have to be one thing, but write those things down, those things down.
00:11:25
Speaker
And then you move to the L, which is thinking about, okay, so what are the things that light you up?
00:11:29
Speaker
Those are your passions.
00:11:30
Speaker
You start to write out all your passions and they don't have to be related.
00:11:33
Speaker
It can be, I love cooking.
00:11:34
Speaker
I love, you know, playing the piano, making music, whatever it is that you like to do.
00:11:39
Speaker
You write those things down.
00:11:41
Speaker
The first I is now, what are your innate gifts?
00:11:44
Speaker
Those are your God given, you know, gifts and skills that you were born with that you don't really have to think about.
00:11:48
Speaker
They come naturally to you.
00:11:50
Speaker
Perhaps you're a planner, you're super organized.
00:11:52
Speaker
You write those things down.
00:11:54
Speaker
The first S is now what are your skill sets?
00:11:57
Speaker
Those are all the things that you've acquired in your lifetime, whether it be from academia or from your work experience, and you write all of those things down.
00:12:05
Speaker
And the last thing is the final S, which is now looking at the big idea that you had, the population that you feel called to serve.
00:12:13
Speaker
What are some problems that you're noticing and what are some solutions that you can offer?
00:12:18
Speaker
And so once you move through this five-step process, you've now looked at your passions, you've now looked
00:12:23
Speaker
identified your big ideas, you looked at your gifts and skills, you've thought about some potential solutions you can offer.
00:12:29
Speaker
And then you pick one thing that might be a combination of a few of those things.
00:12:33
Speaker
So pull out the pieces that you're really excited about.
00:12:36
Speaker
And that is what you take to start building this business or this passion project or this side hustle.
00:12:41
Speaker
And so before I close out, like when I was thinking about what type of business, coaching business that I wanted to offer, I have a B2B, but I was stepping back into coaching.
00:12:51
Speaker
I've
00:12:52
Speaker
fact that I love astrology and self-discovery.
00:12:54
Speaker
I love business.
00:12:55
Speaker
I'm super organized.
00:12:56
Speaker
I love teaching.
00:12:57
Speaker
I took all of those parts of myself and I went through this process and created my coaching program.
00:13:02
Speaker
And so this is a really beautiful way to get clarity around how you want to serve and make a difference in the world.
00:13:09
Speaker
Wow.
00:13:10
Speaker
I bet there's so many probably tidbits that stood out for our listeners because, you know, I think this is where we as women might need some help, right?
00:13:20
Speaker
We might need some guidance because we are not...
00:13:24
Speaker
And many of us were, you know, stayed working throughout, you know, having having babies, but many of us didn't many of us stepped away, or they can we came back or we dabbled or we this and that.
00:13:33
Speaker
But a lot of times, at this point in life, maybe you do want to do something different.
00:13:38
Speaker
Maybe you do want a fresh start, maybe just like your mom, maybe you want to morph the business from
00:13:42
Speaker
being a teacher to

Incorporating Practices with Family

00:13:43
Speaker
being something else.
00:13:43
Speaker
And so I think like going through that process with you would be incredibly helpful to moms.
00:13:49
Speaker
And so tell us, how do you share some of this wisdom as a mom?
00:13:54
Speaker
Like what do you do with your little, I think you said daughters to daughters, like how do you impart this wisdom on them?
00:14:02
Speaker
Gosh, that's such a great question.
00:14:03
Speaker
So I am a super spiritual person and I'm a one, three human design projector.
00:14:08
Speaker
And so I'm always learning and soaking up information.
00:14:12
Speaker
And I literally just realized about a year ago that I just like have so many things that I've learned and acquired.
00:14:17
Speaker
I'm like, I have to do a better job of sharing these things with my kids.
00:14:20
Speaker
And so right behind me, I have sound bowls.
00:14:23
Speaker
I've started bringing them into my world more.
00:14:25
Speaker
I'm super, I mean, we at the start that I'm a somatic practitioner.
00:14:29
Speaker
And so I'm
00:14:30
Speaker
yoga certification and a breathwork certification.
00:14:32
Speaker
Like I have all of these modalities that have been really helpful for me over the years with regulating my nervous system and managing my stress.
00:14:39
Speaker
And I'm like, now it's time they're old enough where I can start planting those seeds in them.
00:14:43
Speaker
And so I started pulling them into my world.
00:14:45
Speaker
And so if we're having an afternoon where everyone is feeling overwhelmed and they're fighting with each other and bickering as sometimes siblings do, I'm like, okay, timeout, pause on everything.
00:14:54
Speaker
Everyone grab a bowl.
00:14:55
Speaker
And we literally set the bowls up and we have like a family sound session.
00:14:59
Speaker
Next to me, I'm really into nature and the cyclical nature of things and the moon and all of these things.
00:15:05
Speaker
And I go through with the moon, with the moon cycles, I go through a ritual and my daughter, my oldest daughter started, you know, asking questions and taking an interest in that.
00:15:15
Speaker
And she made her own moon book.
00:15:16
Speaker
And so she sets intentions as well.
00:15:18
Speaker
And so I think a lot of it is just having conversations with them and talking to them about things like, look at the moon, you know, like what phase is it?
00:15:27
Speaker
Like, I think as parents, like we we our children learn a lot from what they see.
00:15:33
Speaker
Right.
00:15:33
Speaker
And so I also am very intentional about my lifestyle and personal care and soul care and making sure that they see that mom.
00:15:40
Speaker
prioritizes herself so that they can pick up on those things.
00:15:43
Speaker
But as much as possible now that they're getting older, I'm starting to plant seeds and just hope that, you know, the things that they are interested in, like they will gravitate towards those things more as they begin to grow older just by exposing them to those things.
00:15:57
Speaker
Yeah, it sounds like you're really modeling your own practices for them to pick up on, but then also teaching and being really intentional about that as well.

Avoiding Burnout through Somatic Practices

00:16:06
Speaker
So tell us a little bit more about the stress response cycle.
00:16:09
Speaker
Like you said, you know, we want to all learn from someone who really knows how to manage that.
00:16:15
Speaker
So what would you have to teach us about that?
00:16:17
Speaker
Oh, man, this is the thing that makes me so excited.
00:16:20
Speaker
I know it's like weird to say I get excited about talking about stress.
00:16:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:23
Speaker
Um, so when I was a nutrition and wellness coach back in 2020, all my clients were coming to me for weight loss and we weren't seeing the results that they wanted.
00:16:32
Speaker
Weight loss, weight maintenance.
00:16:33
Speaker
We weren't seeing the results.
00:16:35
Speaker
The underlying thread in the commonality between all of these women, they were moms, they were, you know, working professionals.
00:16:40
Speaker
They were very busy somewhere getting PhDs.
00:16:43
Speaker
was that they were all really stressed.
00:16:44
Speaker
This was 2020, 2021, right in the height of COVID.
00:16:47
Speaker
And so actually, I started doing research as a coach to figure out, well, how do I support my clients better with stress management?
00:16:53
Speaker
And I learned about the stress response cycle, which essentially says that we as humans, when we encounter stress, we're supposed to have stresses intended to have a beginning, a middle, and an end.
00:17:03
Speaker
So the beginning is balanced.
00:17:04
Speaker
It's homeostasis where we feel cool, calm, and collective.
00:17:07
Speaker
Something happens, whether it's an internal stressor or an external stressor, and it shifts us into the middle of that cycle.
00:17:13
Speaker
That's the alarm phase.
00:17:15
Speaker
What's supposed to happen is that we are supposed to move through to the end of that phase and complete that cycle.
00:17:22
Speaker
So if you think about it like a circle, we're supposed to move through.
00:17:24
Speaker
What oftentimes happens though is that we don't complete the cycle.
00:17:27
Speaker
We just move from one stressor to the next and we kind of just go about our lives.
00:17:31
Speaker
We might forget about it mentally, but our bodies are still processing that stress.
00:17:35
Speaker
And so the stress response cycle educates us on the fact that we have to be intentional about not just eliminating the stressor.
00:17:43
Speaker
So it's not enough to leave the stressful workplace or to get away from the traffic or whatever is causing the stress, but you have to do things to your body to signal that it is safe
00:17:53
Speaker
So that your body can shift into a rest and recovery state, rest and recovery phase.
00:17:59
Speaker
And so it's literally, you know, somatic practices are really beautiful.
00:18:03
Speaker
Just doing things that help to ground you, give you two or three.
00:18:06
Speaker
Taking deep breaths is really helpful, you know, because when you take deep breaths, that signals the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps you to relax and restore.
00:18:14
Speaker
Physical movement.
00:18:15
Speaker
So moving your body any way that feels good to you, getting out for a walk, going for a swim, maybe a fun Zumba class, any sort of physical movement is helpful.
00:18:24
Speaker
And then mindfulness and meditation are also really helpful practices.
00:18:27
Speaker
But what happens is when we do those things, our body now knows that the stressor or the threat is over and it begins to reset itself.
00:18:35
Speaker
And we start the cycle all over again, as opposed to getting stuck in the middle.
00:18:38
Speaker
Hmm.
00:18:40
Speaker
Wow.
00:18:41
Speaker
That was really, I really liked that.
00:18:42
Speaker
And it, what it made me think of was, um, myself along with several other coaches who work with, um, you know, stress clients who are feeling a lot of stress and a lot of pressure.
00:18:54
Speaker
A lot of times we as coaches, you know, we,
00:18:57
Speaker
almost start to take on a little bit of those emotions, right?
00:19:00
Speaker
We kind of get involved.
00:19:01
Speaker
And so I was taught a long time ago, how to not get involved with your clients is at the end of the session, once, you know, we've closed down and it's over to have a process to kind of get back to that rest and restore, like you talked about.
00:19:15
Speaker
And so someone taught me this idea of just like cutting the energy and like just cutting it.
00:19:19
Speaker
And so
00:19:19
Speaker
I know that's just like looks really silly, but it's almost just like a symbolic like cut of the end of the session so that then we can rest and restore, but then be able to go on and meet with our next client.
00:19:30
Speaker
And so I thought that was really interesting just to learn that little tiny trick to help get back and close that cycle and close that loop.
00:19:37
Speaker
Because think about it.
00:19:38
Speaker
If you're a coach and you have all these open circles, like you said, if it never closes,
00:19:42
Speaker
then that's a lot of pressure that we're taking on and a lot of stress that we're taking on.
00:19:46
Speaker
And so we do as moms, as professionals, as entrepreneurs, whatever it is that we're in our lives to, I love what you said about, about closing that loop.
00:19:54
Speaker
So that way you can then reset and restore and then be ready for the next thing.
00:19:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:59
Speaker
And the last thing I'll add there is that when we don't go through the process of completing that cycle, our stress builds or compounds.
00:20:04
Speaker
And so if you think about it, just like a dirty pile of laundry, throw one thing.
00:20:08
Speaker
And then the next day you're throwing something else like,
00:20:10
Speaker
eventually you get to the point of burnout because the stress does compound.
00:20:13
Speaker
And so I used to be someone who kept burning out.
00:20:17
Speaker
I was always hitting walls.
00:20:19
Speaker
And it took me to learn about the stress response cycle to make sure that I was actively working to complete those cycles.
00:20:25
Speaker
And so, yeah, of course I have days now where I feel stressed because I'm a human, but it's been years since I've hit a burnout space.
00:20:31
Speaker
And that's because I'm actively working to complete those cycles.
00:20:34
Speaker
And so similar to
00:20:35
Speaker
the analogy with or the example that you use with the clients, imagine just going every day as a coach and never cutting those ties or doing anything, right?
00:20:43
Speaker
You eventually get to the point where you're taking on so much of other people's energies and stress that that compounds and you end up burned out.
00:20:50
Speaker
And that's what happens to a lot of people, particularly in the coaching industry.
00:20:53
Speaker
And so whether it's, you know, professional, and we have to be intentional about completing those cycles, or just being moms and dealing with a lot with our own children, you know, their emotions and trying to help them regulate
00:21:03
Speaker
We have to make sure that, again, we are doing things so that that stress doesn't continue to build, which is where that completing the cycle comes in and becomes really important.

Podcast Closing and Further Connections

00:21:12
Speaker
Yeah, the active recovery or whatever type of recovery it is, but there has to be some type of recovery process in there.
00:21:18
Speaker
So, Dominice, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom.
00:21:22
Speaker
How can people find you going forward?
00:21:24
Speaker
Yes.
00:21:24
Speaker
So if anyone, well, I would say first my website.
00:21:27
Speaker
So my website is domrclifton.com.
00:21:31
Speaker
But for anyone who was intrigued by the zone of bliss today and maybe feels like there's a nudge, there's something that they want to explore,
00:21:38
Speaker
perhaps you're not sure what that is and you want to go through that five-step process, I have created a masterclass which guides you through that five-step process and includes a PDF download that you can download and really write and process through it.
00:21:51
Speaker
You can go to zoneofbliss.com and retrieve that free download.
00:21:56
Speaker
Cool.
00:21:56
Speaker
Well, thank you.
00:21:57
Speaker
That sounds like a wonderful offer.
00:21:58
Speaker
I'm actually going to check it out myself just to get familiar with it.
00:22:02
Speaker
Well, Dominez, thank you again.
00:22:03
Speaker
We really appreciate it.
00:22:05
Speaker
Laura, thank you so much for having me today.
00:22:07
Speaker
It's been a pleasure talking with you.
00:22:08
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:22:12
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Positively Healthy Mom podcast, because there's no manual for the hardest job in the world.
00:22:19
Speaker
Don't forget to subscribe and share with your friends.