10 for Teens + Tweens

I want to focus on something I feel is especially important right now, and will continue to be in your friendships, family relationships, and even interactions with people you don’t know. I want to talk about Empathy.

In this episode I'll discuss the difference between Empathy and Sympathy, explain what Empathy is (and what it isn't), and share tools to help you respond to others with empathy:

• Validate their emotions
• Identify through your experiences 
• Consider their perspective
• Listen to understand
• Be present
• Connect

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To help you remember, snag your "empathy" poster printable in the 10 for Tweens Ep. 007 show notes on EmpowerfulGirls.com.

Have you ever made a goal and reached it? How about not reached it? That’s ok! I’ve been there, too. It’s okay if you set a goal and don’t quite get there. Growth isn’t dependent on whether you achieve a goal or not; it comes from working toward new habits, making positive changes, and strengthening a skill over time. The process builds character and resilience!

But what if you could increase the likelihood that you’d succeed at reaching a goal?

In this episode I'll share tools that will help:

- Set SMART Goals
- Write your goal down with a plan
- Tell your accountability buddy
- Prepare for obstacles
- Reward yourself
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To help you remember, snag your "SMART Goals" poster printable in the 10 for Tweens Ep. 006 show notes on EmpowerfulGirls.com.

In previous episodes, we’ve discussed topics and tools about learning how to respond instead of react and how to deal with craziness in life.

I’ve got another one for you, and it’s going to sound too easy, too simple to actually work, but I promise you it will make a difference. Want to know what it is? Take a deep breath. That’s it. Breathing. I know, it seems so basic!

In this episode I'll tell you how simply breathing can help you manage stress, and I'll focus on tools to help you breathe properly:

- Hot Chocolate Breaths
- Triangle, Square/Box, and 4-7-8 Breaths
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To help you remember, snag your "Just Breathe" poster printable in the 10 for Tweens Ep. 005 show notes on EmpowerfulGirls.com.

Let's try an experiment: for the next 20 seconds I want you to look around and find all of the things that are blue. I'll wait ... Now close your eyes! I bet you could still list off all of the blue items around you without looking. But that's not the experiment! I want to know if you can list the things that are yellow with your eyes still closed? It might be hard to remember all of the yellow items around you since you were only focused on what was blue.

Shifting gears, there’s a saying I’m sure you’ve heard before, it goes, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Or my cold weather version, “When life gives you cocoa powder, make hot chocolate!” Have you ever tasted a lemon? Or tried a tiny bit of baking cocoa or raw cacao? Lemons are sour! And cocoa powder is bitter. There is no sweetness to either of them. But thankfully, someone figured out that a spoonful of sugar changes how they taste.

So how can you notice what’s yellow when you’re surrounded by blue? How can you make metaphorical lemonade or hot chocolate?

In this episode I'll explore these questions and focus on some tools to help you:
- Choose Your Focus
- Be The Good
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To help you remember, snag your "Be The Good" printable in the 10 for Tweens Ep.004 show notes on EmpowerfulGirls.com.

The week this episode airs, we’re celebrating Thanksgiving in the US. But no matter what season it is, what kind of year or week or day you’ve had, you can still choose to have an attitude of gratitude. See what I did there?

Science has proven that  gratitude has positive effects. In this episode I'll explore its many benefits and focus on some tools to help you practice it:

- Say Thank You
- Notice - Think - Feel - Do
- Keep a Gratitude Journal -- plus a 10 for Tweens Tools Challenge!
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To help you remember, snag your "Gratitude Journal" page printable in the 10 for Tweens Ep.003 show notes on EmpowerfulGirls.com.

There’s a lot going on right now. And a lot of it is beyond your control, and that can feel difficult. But it's okay to feel.

Learning to deal with change and let go of things that are out of your control is a skill you will use throughout your life. In this episode I focus on some tools to help you with it:

- Say what’s going on.
- Name how you feel.
- Focus on what you can control.
- Bonus: Talk to someone.
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To help you remember, snag your "I Can Control" poster printable in the 10 for Tweens Ep.002 show notes on EmpowerfulGirls.com.

If there is just one thing you remember hearing me say, I hope it is this: “You. Are. Enough.”
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Girls, I am thrilled you are here for the very first episode of 10 for Tweens!

If I could shout something from the mountaintops, it would be, "Girls, you are enough!" I chose that message because 1) it's true, and 2) sometimes we hear messages that say, "You are not enough." This is negative self-talk and, frankly, it stinks. So let's talk about the tools to help: challenging negative self-talk, and then reframing thoughts to positive self-talk.
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To help you remember that you are enough, snag your "I Am Enough" poster printable in the 10 for Tweens Ep.001 show notes on EmpowerfulGirls.com.

This is 10 for Tweens, the Empowerful Girls podcast that reinforces tweens’ self esteem in 10 minutes. In each episode, host Stephanie Valdez shares tools that empower girls to know they can take on the world!