Today I am 51 years young, and feeling pretty good in my body all-in-all. A few aches here and there that I presume are normal, considering I have been walking around in this body for 51 years.

It has brought me to a place of looking at my body a bit differently. I have been learning to love my body all of my life, it has been a life long journey. I believe that this is why teenage girls relate to me so well. It is because I can truly understand their hand ups when it comes to their bodies, because it is something I work on everyday.

My body has changed a lot through out the years, but probably more in the last 3 years. I woke up today greeted by a wonderful man telling me Happy Birthday, a man that loves me unconditionally. As I went through the morning to prepare to be with a group of amazing women for the day to swim at the creek, I was looking at my body and realized that even though it is a bit larger than it used to be, and a bit flabbier, I had a new awareness of my love for it. I believe it was also connected to my awareness of how much I have grown throughout these amazing years in this exact body.

Our bodies are only the vehicle that allows us to get around and do the things we need and want to do. I am in gratitude for what a wonderful working vehicle it has been for me. It is so important to be thankful for our bodies, they work hard for us. Thank your body today for being so good to you, for showing up everyday to do the things you ask of it, and love it for exactly what it looks like.

What a story… about the 18, teenage girls creating a pregnancy pact in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and on the same day that Jamie Lynn Spears gives birth to her baby.

For the first time since 1991, birth rates have risen 3 percent in 2006, according to preliminary data released in December by the National Center for Health Statistics.

It seems that this is another opportunity for parents to get close and personal with their teenagers. Instead of freaking out, ask your teenager what they think about all of this. Ask them what they think it would be like to raise a baby at there age. Communicate with your teen about issues that could affect them. Pretending like these issue don’t exist, doesn’t make it so.

Many parents are thinking how will this affect my teenager, will she think it’s cool to get pregnant? Maybe so, so you better find out and start the communication now! The only way to help your teen today is to talk to them about everything that is out there that the media is bringing to light. It’s a great opportunity to find out what they are thinking and to educate them on the real facts of a situation.

When my oldest daughter was 13 years old, I was sitting outside with her and 2 of her friends and I said to them, “Your pregnant, what are you going to do?” Hypothetically. Each one of them had a different answer. One said have the baby and keep it, one said have the baby and give it away, and the other said abort.

So, you don’t know what your teen is thinking until you ask. Start talking to your teens about everything, bring all of the issues to the light and discuss them, pregnancy, sex, drug use, eating disorders, everything. It’s up to us as parents to go to our teens and talk about things. Research the information together on the favorite tool, the Internet, and find out the facts.

We live in a different world today, compared to when I was a teenager or even my girls where teens. We have to pay attention to our kids and what’s going on with them and other teens.

Good luck parents, and let me know how it goes.

I love music and I have a varied taste, from old rock, techno, rap, some country, classical, jazz, and blues. You name it and I probably listen to it.

The question is, does it affect us? I know for me music absolutely affects me, my mood, and even my behavior. I have all of my music in my computer on iTunes and I have it on shuffle. So I get to listen to a variety of music through out the day. Sometimes I notice that I am feeling anxious and tense. When my attention goes to what could be making me feel this way, I notice it always goes back to the selected song on my i Tunes. I will change the song in my playlist and start to calm down again.

I have read a bit about the affects music has on our teens and our selves, but I invite you to test it out yourself. If you have access to shuffling your music, put together a playlist of different music. Make sure you put a variety in the list and put some very soft easy music on and some heavy hard music with disturbing lyrics on. Sit back and relax as the music carries you away, pay attention to how your body is feeling with every song. Tune into your thoughts with the different songs. You might even journal about how each song affected you.

I think this is a great exercise to do with your teens some day. Have them lay on the floor and relax, ask them to pay attention to their thoughts and how their bodies feel with the different music. Maybe only pick 6 different songs, when the play list is done, ask them to journal on how they felt and their thoughts, and then talk about it as a family. The only way they are going to understand how music really affects them is if you show them. If they are more attracted to the disturbing music, ask them what they like about it, maybe they just like the beat and they really don’t even listen to the lyrics.

I suggest doing research on the internet with them to help them understand what certain music does to your being. Try not to judge them in this process, just research and talk about it. Let me know how it goes.

Another beautiful day in Sedona! I feel so fortunate to be living in a place that does it’s best at keeping me close to who I am. My partner Joe and I went for a hike at 6:00pm yesterday and the lighting was amazing. The whole hike was amazing.

Every time I am out in the powerful red rocks, I come home to who I am. I use to hike 5 days a week, sometimes 6 days a week. It was easy for me to stay connected to myself.

Is there something you do to feed your soul? Art, hiking, photography, whatever it is, be sure you remember to do it. It is so hard in this fast paced world, where we get up, go to school, then go to volley practice, or some other practice, come home, do our homework, go to bed, and get up the next day and start all over, to remember to do the things that feed us.

If we don’t stay somewhat connected to our soul, we start believing that what’s really important is all the other stuff. When I hike it makes me realize that it’s the relationship with myself and others that is the most important. This is important for all ages teens and parents alike.

What do you do to stay connected to yourself? Let me know.