I used to yell at my kids. A lot. As a social worker, parenting researcher, and family life coach, this is super embarrassing to admit. But it's true! I had been to therapy, read all the parenting books, done all the things but I still could not seem to get my anger and frustration under control. Mindful parenting was not even on my radar!

It was easy to blame my circumstances for this: my oldest has anxiety which showed up in the form of intense tantrums, which lasted LONG past the "terrible twos." When she was 9 months old, I went back to school to get my Master's degree in social work, and my middle daughter was born 2 weeks before my graduation. Less than 2 years later, my son was born! Needless to say, the first 7 or 8 years of parenting were just hard.

I didn't know how to juggle all the diaper changes and school projects, let alone how to keep my cool while doing it! The truth is, I was a mess. I was stressed and overwhelmed. Had I taken on too much? I wanted to be good at...

I hate the phrase “time management,” as though time is something that just won’t behave or needs to be offered an end-of-year bonus for high performance.

In fact, time is your most valuable nonrenewable resource.

That’s right – time is the fossil fuel that keeps the SUV of your life moving forward day after day. (I know, “fossil fuel” is kind of a dirty word, but you get the point – once it’s gone, it’s gone!) But, I guess just like fossil fuel, you feel guilty about using it, no matter what you are doing! Whether you’re finishing a manuscript while the kids sit in front of yet another episode of Peppa Pig or you’re neglecting all those student emails to play outside, you feel like there’s never enough time for your job or your family. You just can’t win.

I was raised hearing the old adage, “time is money.” But when I learned as an adult that time is not, in fact, money (which there is...