Mental Health Toolbox for Surviving Isolation

I recorded but when we start the QA
we're gonna stop the video so that we
can have folks come up on their screens
and keep privacy issues okay we're gonna
have folks hold their questions till the
end of the presentation and then it's up
to you if you want to ask your question
live on the video or if you simply want
to use the chat function to ask your
question that's up to you all right so
with that out of the way I would like to
introduce dr. Natalie Smith who is a
local psychologist she has worked both
in inpatient and outpatient programs
she's worked in school counseling
centers in Mobile crisis and emergency
services for hearing hard of hearing and
deaf individuals Natalie is also fluent
in American Sign Language so Thank You
Natalie for joining us today to work
with us on our toolbox for coping with
this isolation issue over to you well
thank you for introducing me and for
having me and really excited and for the
purpose of this webinar I'm going to
refrain from not signing and let our
wonderful interpreter do the translation
if you do need a signer and I also get
so nervous about my screen from where I
am freezing up and I know the
interpreter has a much more quicker and
powerful internet than I do so hi I'm
Natalie my name sign is Natalie and I am
for those of you who don't know me I am
credit hearing and without my hearing
aids I am completely deaf and with
hearing these I function with the person
with a moderate hearing loss and so I
identify part of hearing so I have a
private practice in north Springfield
and like the rest of you in the rest of
the world I am in quarantine so all of
my sessions with my clients are
essentially on telehealth like what
we're doing right now and if anybody is
interested in doing therapy or just
talking or having a consultation or just
just need to chat you're always welcome
to reach me I'll be more than happy to
spend a few minutes with you or whatever
you need because we all sort of need
each other to get through this time and
so I am glad to be here and I'm excited
to show you some tools and ways to
manage and cope during these difficult
times
so in this pandemic the stressors we
don't know them the well-being of our
loved ones is up in the air and all of
this that's happening in US and around
us it's leaving us all to feel pretty
vulnerable myself included and you know
things in life happen and they're not
always there we don't always have to
understand how or why things are
happening but the thing to keep in mind
is is what we do with it it's how we
take care of ourselves during these
times that are very difficult and
stressful so the news you know I have
clients who tell me many times that
they're they watch the news and and they
leave the TV on and what I want to say
about that is the news is constantly
bombarding us with staggering statistics
and horrible news in both the US and
around the world so it's easy to get
lost in the news the thing is is I'm
going to switch a little bit and talk
about the brain so the brain has this
mechanism in it and it's a mechanism
that wants to protect us and so when we
are being bombarded with negativity and
things that scare us the brain kicks in
and it becomes very hyper alert and it
scanned things in the environment in
order to keep us safe
so think of like the low
man but for those of you who played it
in the 80s so the brain is is on hyper
alert to look and scan for anything in
the environment that threatening and
then it goes out into our environment
and like the pac-man it goes around and
it gobbles up things that will bring it
back in and support and validate see
that's not safe
see that scary and it's really for the
purpose of trying to keep us safe and
I'll explain even more about this in a
minute but for now just know that the
more you watch the news and saturate
yourself with the negativity the more
your brain and your body internalized
the baggage and it creates a more
heightened sense of dread and fear so it
feels counterintuitive but I want to
know more information so I know what to
do next but what we're actually doing is
solidifying and validating these things
that bring us negativity so focusing on
the fear and the negativity can actually
make us sicker not better so it's
important for us to have a tool box and
what I call it is an emotional and a
mental tool box so like our regular
toolbox for the house where we store
screwdrivers and hammers and nails for
those days or moments when a light bulb
needs replacing or a picture needs to be
hung up think about a toolbox for your
mental and emotional states so with our
house toolbox we feel fairly confident
and how to use our tools because we've
used them before but sometimes when
we're filling up a toolbox for our
mental and our emotional states we're
not really sure what kind of tools to
fill them up with so very few of us
reach into our toolbox for a tool that
we've never used before and we certainly
don't reach for a tool but I'm sorry we
certainly don't reach for a toothbrush
to fix a light bulb so what do I mean by
that well in our stressful time
people often don't know how to handle
unpleasant emotions in their bodies they
start to feel overwhelmed vulnerable
angry powerless and so on some people
start to reach for more food maybe
alcohol or pornography or shopping
online etc these are the tool that are
really not effective just like trying to
change a light bulb with the toothbrush
grabbing for those Oreo cookies it's not
going to make the isolation go away or
drinking that alcohol isn't gonna make
the fear go away it's like the
toothbrush it's not gonna fix the
problem so the mind doesn't know the
difference between what's real and
what's imagined so for example if I told
you to imagine a very sour ice-cold dill
pickle imagine drinking the juice
crunching on it feeling the taste and
the texture of this bill pickle in your
mouth and I don't know about you but I
start to salivate like you know that
puckering in your mouth just the thought
of an ice-cold dill pickle or maybe even
a lemon when the brain imagines a place
or a thing an object an experience or a
memory and the body has a visceral
response to it the brain goes oh that's
real so again there's that part of our
brain looking to seek out that
threatening stimuli to keep us safe
so during isolation we don't want to
find things in the environment that's
going to scare us even more we want to
try and neutralize it yes there's a
virus we're in a pandemic yes we're
isolated
but instead of focusing on the
negativity which makes us depressed and
more anxious what can we do what are the
tools in our toolbox can we grab for
that will help us through this time and
something else I want to say about the
part of our brain that tried to keep us
safe so that it's hyper vigilant to the
negative things that are around us it's
also called the primitive brain and I
won't say too much about that other than
it called the primitive brain because it
goes all the way back to the caveman
days where caveman is standing at the
door of his cave and he looks out into
the world ahead of him with the spear in
his hand and he says okay what might
kill me today what is a threat to my
well-being so his brain and
self-protection goes into hyper alert to
try and keep himself safe so if you fast
forward a gazillion years into today
what is threatening to my well-being
it's not necessarily a saber-toothed
tiger it more of maybe like rejection
not feeling good enough and now in this
pandemic we have the issue of isolation
or
feeling alone anxiety depression so I'm
here to tell you give me one second I
realize I did not plug in my battery and
giving me a message that is low so just
give me a second here I have one of the
batteries that dies in like five minutes
okay
so now I'm here to tell you that we are
not our thoughts and let me say that
again we are not our thoughts we are an
observer of our thoughts and our
feelings so just because we have a
thought I need ice cream or you know
that beer sounds good it doesn't mean
that we have to react to the thoughts
the ice cream isn't holding a gun to our
head and threatening us the mind will
think ice cream the body will respond
usually it's a favorable respond and
what happens it it triggers a craving so
a craving gets initiated and when we
have that mind and body connection
whether it's a positive or negative we
tend to want to react and in this
situation with the ice cream usually
it's a favorable reaction so we get
motivated to want to go and get up and
go get the ice cream but just because we
have the thought I want ice cream or we
get a certain kind of feeling when we
think of something it doesn't mean that
we have to respond or react and this is
actually going into why we have
addiction and how to break them and that
I can talk about on a separate day
because that's a different discussion
all together so my point here is how do
we sit comfortably or at least neutrally
with our thoughts and the feelings that
come up in our body while we're in
isolation it's important to create the
tools for your toolbox so that you can
learn how to be in your body with all
the thoughts and the feelings that are
swirling about all day long and you know
it reminds me of if you think about Wall
Street and all those those ticker tapes
are running by
all those numbers our thoughts our
thoughts are like that it's like the the
numbers that are just scrolling along
that ticker tape all day long and we
learn how to grab for certain thoughts
because we get used to them part of it
is habit part of it is learn
conditioning and it's learning how to
note the thought to be an observer to
step back to be an observer of the
thoughts and just because we see some
that are familiar such as I want ice
cream it doesn't mean we have to grab it
or the ability to note that we grabbed
it but can we just let it go so in terms
of sitting in our body more comfortably
and freely I'm going to talk about five
tools that I personally try and use on a
daily basis and they are mindfulness
meditation breathing journaling and
creativity so why is it important to be
connected into our bodies first if you
think about it you're the only person in
this lifetime that you're never going to
leave a loose so why not learn to have a
peaceful existence with the person or
the soul or whomever you connect with
that's in this physical body you are so
much more than just your physical body
so not only do we have our physical
bodies we have an emotional body we have
a mental body and we also have a
spiritual body and I don't necessarily
mean religion although if you are
religious you can connect in to your
spiritual Ness through your religion and
if you're not religious you still have a
spiritual body and sometimes spiritual
bodies can also be referenced to as our
energy bodies we have energy we are
energy so during these times of stress
learning how to be in our bodies can be
of great relief
but if you're reaching for things
outside of you to constantly try to make
you feel better like you're reaching for
those ineffective tools in the toolbox
kind of like the toothbrush trying to
fix a lightbulb if you're reaching for
that food you're reaching for the
alcohol unhealthy relationships just for
the sake of trying to fill yourself up
there lies the disconnect
whether it's problematic behaviors or
addictions or well you can't keep those
behave I'm sorry or you're having
difficulty grounding in your body it's
important to understand that if you're
reaching outside yourself for something
to fill you up something like the food
the alcohol that sort of thing you're
not going to feel grounded in your body
because when we reach for things that
are outside of us that are mood-altering
like alcohol new drugs new food that
automatically disconnects us so you
can't get grounded and feel that peace
and serenity but that's what the why
addiction is so powerful because the
minute we do engage in something that's
addicting to us for a split second it
does feel better but that's really what
it really is is the disconnect so we
want to learn how to feel more
comfortable in our body and I keep
emphasizing that because it's so
important to be to be comfortable in the
body because it is in our bodies where
we we hold and store the tools and we
learn to work with ourselves and we
learn to have peace and we learn to be
friends to ourselves whether we're in
isolation or not and the more we learned
to ground in our bodies such as with
mindfulness or mindfulness meditation or
mindfulness meditation and breathing or
mindfulness mindfully and aging and
something that's creative and when we
when we tap into creativity if raises
our Fri Gration one way to think of
but then I'm getting ready to do does it
raise my vibration and make me feel
better
or does it deplete me when we learn to
ground in our bodies we feel less fear
and other unpleasant feelings even
though things around us might be
difficult we can learn to create peace
and calm and have a safe space inside of
us so some of you might be wondering
well what is mindfulness exactly and so
I'm planting many of you I'm sure know
what mindfulness means but just for the
sake of this discussion today I'll
explain mindfulness as a practice of
being very present in this moment
mindfulness is the ability to be very
present in this moment and it's a
practice because we have to practice
being mindful it's not something that
just comes to us naturally so here's an
example of mindfulness if I ask you not
to move your eyes but I want you to
mindfully be aware that as you are
looking at I guess you're a monitor
expand your know that there's your
peripheral vision so if you look
straight ahead and you mindfully become
aware of things that are in your
environment around you but you're not
moving your eyeballs take a moment and
do that see what you mindfully notice
that's around you although you're
familiar with your surroundings and I
understand that but pretend you're not
so if you're looking straight ahead and
you open your periphery like for example
in my experience where I am I can
actually see a window over here to my
left or I can see a candle burning to my
right but I'm not moving my eyes those
things were in my preview the whole time
but because I was not mindful I would
not aware of them when I became mindful
my periphery expanded the learning how
to be mindful helps us to
and our inner and our outer world so
we're so used to being in our heads and
our thoughts we think we're mindful but
we're really not
we mindlessly meander throughout our day
and we're not really thinking about what
we're feeling or what we're doing when
we feel fear anxiety or depression we
tend to stay stuck in our heads or our
thoughts we focus on what's wrong or we
focus on the future or we dwell in the
past and I'll say something more about
that so when we're truly mindful in this
moment were present so think of it like
a timeline so we're very mindful and
present in this moment there's two kinds
of anxiety that generally happen well I
need to put my hands down I'm sorry I
don't mean to compete with the
interpreter okay so when we're here in
the present we're mindful when we go
into the past and we start to ruminate
or obsess or think about things we
cannot change because in the past
something has already happened so we
can't change it but here's the secret
we're not supposed to want to change it
something has already happened so when
we dwell and ruminate over something in
the past we tend to get stuck and we get
depressed but we're not present so one
thing we can do is we make note and
become mindful oops I got stuck in the
past come back to this moment with the
breath the other type of anxiety that
can happen is what I call we jump into
what I call the wreckage of our future
what if what if I can't go to work
tomorrow what if something bad happened
what if you know my friends or the
people I love get the coronavirus what
if what if what if so what's happening
is we are manifesting
this negative story that's in the future
that had not happened yet
and like I said earlier I minded to know
the difference between what's real and
what's imagined so if I'm obsessing
about something in the future so if I'm
having the thigh and then I have this
visceral reaction to it so I start to
get panicked and anxious my brain is
going that's real but if you stop and
think about it
no it's not what we worry about in the
future is something that we generate and
make up and how important it is to
remember that so I do it too you know
for example this virus this virus is
very scary I so another way of saying it
it grounding in my body I feel scared
when I think about the virus impacting
or hurting the people around me that I
love and how powerless I feel in being
able to stop it so I can acknowledge my
feelings I can acknowledge the
experience that I have I can mindfully
be very careful not to jump into the
future and go but what if it kills the
people in up what if I can wet it wet it
and that'll start getting a panic attack
because all of that was made up I don't
even know what's gonna happen five
minutes from now and that's my ability
to mindfully keep myself very present in
this moment and sometimes I do it very
well and sometimes I sweat and what
happens when I slip if I start to feel
really anxious and then I can stop
myself and saying why am I so anxious oh
my goodness
I just been spending all this time
thinking about something in the future
okay note it I'm not gonna beat myself
up for it can I just take a deep breath
and can I just come back to this moment
in this moment what I'm worried about is
not happening in this moment I'm okay
I'm in my body I'm right here and we
have to practice I will speak for myself
I
to practice that a lot because it
doesn't take much before my mind starts
to go remember my mind is always trying
to keep myself safe so it's always on
hyper alert looking for that saber-tooth
Tiger out there that's gonna kill me and
we have to practice over and over again
coming back to this moment so what I
want to teach you and how to do that is
breathing and meditation so the next
tool is breathing so of course we
breathe and or we wouldn't be alive so
how about a tool there the difference
between breathing for the sake of
staying alive and thankfully your body
knows how to do this without you
thinking without you thinking about it
mindful deep breathing where you
intentionally think about your breath is
a little bit different that is otherwise
known as conscious breathing what is
effective about this is that when we
shift to a mindful aware deeper slower
and purposeful breathing it
automatically turns down the nervous
system so that's pretty cool when we
beak I'll say that again when we become
aware of deep breathing and allowing our
body to take in deep breath it
automatically turns down the nervous
system because what's happening is as
we're getting anxious our breathing
becomes much more shallow and our bodies
are getting deprived of oxygen so when
we mindfully say okay mine you're gonna
go down into the body and how are you
gonna do that you're gonna take in very
deep breaths right now and when you take
in very deep breaths of oxygen your
replenishing all the cells but when all
the cells in the body get oxygenated the
nervous system can then slow down
another way of saying this is when we
get anxious
body's not getting enough oxygen so the
anxiety is the is telling the body hey
we need more oxygen so what do we need
to do we need to stop what we're doing
and take some deep breath it doesn't
mean that the problems are gonna go away
but when we focus on mindful breathing
and deep breathing we can slow down and
get calmer in our bodies so one way to
mindfully breathe is to I'm gonna just
show you for a second how I do it so it
starts with three deep breath and what
you do is you imagine you don't have to
imagine that but it's helpful if you're
if you are somebody who likes to
visualize so put your hand on your belly
you can't see me doing it but just put a
hand on your belly and imagine that
there's a balloon inside your belly
maybe it has a color say an orange
balloon and it deflated and it's sitting
inside your belly but when you're
breathing in through your nose and I'm
going to demonstrate this and I'm gonna
have you do it but when you're breathing
in through your nose you keep your hand
on your belly down you can't see me not
very well I'll step back a little bit so
when you're breathing through your nose
and you take in that breath I want you
to imagine like you're bypassing the
lungs and you're taking that breath down
into the belly and as the deeper you
breathe in the more you're expanding the
bloom so by the time you take all your
breath in the balloon is completely
expanded and then you hold the breath
for about two or three seconds whatever
you're comfortable with so the balloon
is full and then you breathe and release
through your mouth and then as you're
breathing and releasing through your
mouth the balloon is slowly coming back
because the breath leaves your mouth and
the balloon
get smaller so as you keep your hands on
your belly and you breathe out you will
know I'm going to scoot in a little bit
more now you will know when the breath
have left your belly because there's no
more to breathe out you're ready to
breathe in again so you do the same
thing
you've taken another deep breath through
your nose you hold it and then you
breathe out so for those of you who are
watching this let's see if we can do
this together and if you have any
questions about it just feel free to ask
me at the end so let's start we're going
to do this three times one hand on your
belly or not imagine the balloon and
take in a breath like about four seconds
worth Oh and release through your mouth
[Music]
and you feel the balloon empty a trick
here don't get lightheaded if you get
lightheaded you're doing it too hard too
fast this is supposed to be comfortable
and natural and the reason why I didn't
while I said count to four but you're
gonna count whatever is comfortable for
you so let's take in another I'm sure
you were breathing again while I was
talking and I apologize that so look for
that so let's go back to the breath take
in a deep breath and release one more
time take a deep breath through your
nose down into the belly hole first you
second and release all the air out of
the balloon and now just go back to a
normal state a comfortable
breathing just in and out and I don't
know about you but I feel calmer just
doing that exercise and that's what I
would want for you so for those of you
who have success great for those who
didn't or you have question hold them
and we'll talk at the end so the next
thing I want you to do is experience
what it's like to have a mindful mindful
breathing and meditation and we're going
to do this all at once so what I invite
you to do now is to find a comfortable
position hopefully you've been
comfortable sitting there during this
talk but now I want you to have a
mindful sit or a mindful meditation and
right now I happen to be sitting in my
meditation room in my house on a sabaton
cushion which I will show you there's
different ways you can get comfortable
so this is a meditation cushion and I
use this because it's comfortable for me
but you can use anything you want such
as a chair I don't encourage you to lay
down unless you have an injury because
the problem with lying down while you're
meditating is you get so relaxed which
is the goal but when we're lying down
sometimes it clicks over in our brain oh
we're lying down and we're relaxed let's
go to sleep and that's not what you want
in mindfulness meditation you ultimately
want to have a very alert relaxed state
but alert is the key you don't want to
fall asleep for those of you who do yoga
you can also use a yoga block you can
use pillows you can do whatever you need
to do but worst case scenario or chair
it's fine in fact there are days when my
body because I I'm not at certain age
where I gravity takes a toll and I have
some old injuries sometimes when I
meditate I just go sit in the chair
other day about
on the cushion you know other days I go
sit outside whatever is comfortable so
find a comfortable position and now set
the intention when I say set the
intention it's an invitation to you to
be mindful to sit quietly for the next
couple of minutes and bring your
attention to the natural rhythm of your
own breath for those of you who can hear
my voice and you wish to close your eyes
that's fine for those of you who would
like to read the repeat captioning or
watch me or observe the interpreter
whatever it's comfortable for you so
that you're getting the information set
the intention to allow your body to feel
comfortable and if your eyes are open so
that you can take in information invite
your eyes to go into more of a
comfortable relaxed state so that you're
taking in the information but you're
inviting your body to be relaxed and
comfortable focusing again on the
natural rhythm of your own breath in and
out
feeling the raw sensation of your body
as it makes contact with the supporting
surface note the heaviness or the weight
of your bottom against the cushion or a
chair maybe there's some temperature
change
maybe there's heaviness or one the
solidness
of your body in contact with whatever
you may be sitting on continuing to just
breathe in and out note the gentle
rising and falling
with your chest feeling so relaxed and
so comfortable in this mindful relaxed
and alert state that if someone were to
see you right now and if your eyes are
closed they might mistaken you for
sleeping and yet you're relaxed if you
need to scratch or itch note the need to
scratch or itch if there's an itch on
your nose you might say to yourself oh
I'm noticing the itch on my nose what is
it like for me to sit here with this
itch on my nose we're so quick to want
to just take our finger up to our nose
and scratch it and then take it back
down what if I can note the scratch or
I'm sorry I can note the itch and can I
tolerate this itch maybe if I just sit
with this itch
maybe it'll go away on its own maybe I
can just blow it to go away and just
being able to be with the different
sensations in our body some of the
sensations are pleasant some of the
sensations may be unpleasant maybe
they're just mutual it's just an itch
can I just be with it some of us might
be experiencing some discomfort as we're
sitting quietly and calmly if let's say
there's back to be lower back discomfort
do I know there can I know this
discomfort is in my lower back or the
discomfort that's in my knee and as I'm
sitting here comfortably and relaxed can
I just let this discomfort just be there
with me right now
can I just neutralize it perhaps I can
into the discomfort or I can visualize a
worm light with my breath and with a
laser beam I can evaporate the
discomfort so that it can allow me to
just experience a state of neutrality in
this moment the mind is very powerful it
can do many things and mindfulness and
meditation and breathing can help us to
create a more connecting relationship
with the mind and the body and as I'm
becoming much more aware of the
sensation in my body and my mind right
now what else might be present perhaps
is fluttering in my stomach because of
anxiety
or perhaps there's tense muscles in my
jaw and if my jaw is tense right now
relax it allow the jaw to completely
relax where's the tongue right now is
the tongue at the top of my mouth
because I'm Ken what would it be like
for me to just relax my tongue right now
allow it did you sprawl back into the
back of my mouth and relax in while
continuing to breathe in and out
comfortably and naturally sense the
stillness or the openness that is also
present in the parts of my mind of my
body my heart space even in the myth of
sadness and stress perhaps I am noting
feelings veterans present perhaps I'm
noting sadness where my sadness be in my
body do I hold it in my stomach is it
sitting
heavily on my chest it's just a feeling
can I just be with it right now I don't
have to make it go away I don't have to
push it away
can I just note it and be with it
continuing to allow myself to breathe
comfortably and naturally perhaps a
sense of aliveness flows within me I
feel relaxed I feel centered
I can feel tingling or I can feel
different parts of me connecting in
right now and as my breath comes in I
can imagine myself receiving life energy
and as I breathe out I can imagine
anything toxic or stressful or
unbuttoned leaving my body I can be open
to the idea that I can have total
acceptance and be receptive to whatever
is in this experience right now whether
it's pleasant unpleasant or neutral and
now take one more deep breath into your
body and as you breathe out if your eyes
are closed gently open your eyes to full
awareness so that you're fully alert and
back in this room and if your eyes are
already open then allow yourself to be
fully aware that you are here now and
back in this room listening to me with
full alertness and just take a moment
and if you participated in that and you
had any kind of sensation or experience
whatever they may be is not right or
wrong it's just is you know the Buddha
talks about the three feelings base
but there's there's Pleasant I'm yeah
there's Pleasant neutral and unpleasant
and that there's no right or wrong
feeling they're just feelings our mind
our brain wants to categorize the
feeling those are good feelings those
are bad feelings you know in my office I
have a stack of feeling cards and I love
playing the card game with people and
what I often do is say okay here's a
stack of cards and these are feeling
cards I want you to start them in piles
that make sense to you and yes most
people will put a good pile and a bad
pile and sometimes there's more pile but
that's the brain compartmentalizing the
feeling the good feelings about feeling
so I'm going to experience them and
allow for the good feeling but if the
bad dealing come up I'm gonna push them
away so part of being mindful and
learning how to meditate and breathe and
be more comfortable in your body and not
reach for something that's outside of us
like alcohol and food and all those non
healthy behaviors when they're five one
eight where they're taken to an extreme
if we want to feel the feelings even the
bad ones because they're not really bad
they're just feeling they're trying to
tell us something and the more we learn
how to work with the feelings and in our
bodies the more we can manage whatever
is going on around us that's
uncomfortable such as a virus so though
in isolation so the last two things I
wanted to talk about and we'll stop is
journaling and creativity so I know a
lot of us don't like to write especially
it's not a thing but I'm not talking
about writing not like like in English
like you're in an English class and you
have to write a paper on something I'm
talking about this is my journal I'm
talking about journaling and what I mean
by journaling is getting a piece of
paper or buying yourself a cheap little
book and anytime you're having feelings
just write feeling fear I'm gonna write
see you
and you can do a couple of things with
it if you're scared to write or nothing
comes to mind
you can do and this is fun you can do
what's called free associations you can
set a timer for like say 2 minutes or 1
minute or 30 seconds it doesn't matter
and put your pen to paper and for the 30
seconds I told the timer goes off you're
just gonna write and it may go something
like this
I have to write I have no idea what I'm
gonna say this doesn't make sense this
is silly it was supposed to write on
fear
oh I'm fearful that I don't know what
I'm fearful of this is so silly silly
silly silly and the next thing you know
ding ding ding the timer goes off that's
free association it doesn't matter what
you write or the grammar no one is gonna
see this but you but if you have a hard
time writing and you have a hard time
opening up the free association writing
is often a good exercise the reason why
I enjoy journaling whether you doodle in
it whether you write in it whether you
write in it with an intention with a
question whether you title a piece of
paper with a feeling or whatever you
want what's really wonderful about
journaling is because our minds are so
busy and because our heart space holds
so much feeling there's something
magical about taking this and this and
having it come through this arm and
putting it on the paper and kind of like
meditation and breathing what it does is
it quiet the mind because when once we
get it on paper and we see it on paper
the mind goes oh it's written down so I
won't forget it so then the mind who's
quiet down when the heart space is
feeling all these feelings and getting
so fluttered when it sees it on paper it
can quiet do so journaling is a nice way
to get the mind and the body to quiet
down and it will hold it for you in the
journal so it frees up your space to
think about other things and the last
thing I want to talk about is creativity
in fact
we were waiting for the conferencing to
go on I was to end to get started
because mvrc does an awesome job setting
us up so that we can have this today
just to Crouch my own anxiety about am I
gonna say things right am I going to
remember everything I'd love my knitting
knitting is a wonderful creative way to
raise my vibration to help me to feel
better and to lower the anxiety and
creativity can show up in so many
different ways whether it's going
outside in gardening whether it's
drawing coloring knitting look go on
YouTube and learn how to do something
you've always wanted to do it doesn't
matter if you're an expert in it or not
we have a left side of our brain which
is very cerebral and logic and
sequential and likes to problem-solve
and then we have this right side of our
brain that just loves creativity and for
those of us who are already in the right
side like you know the artists or music
musicians or people who have hobbies
that's great keep doing it because we
need balance and when we get into
isolation and we start to feel anxious
and depressed we feel less motivated to
tap into the creative sides of us but
it's not good enough but it's not good
enough but it's not good enough and it
doesn't matter nobody's here to judge or
critique it's all about self-care and
self-preservation and what what is it
that I can do that will help me to feel
a little bit better in this moment so
being able to find something some kind
of creative Avenue an adult coloring
book anything and keep it simple
don't try and complicate it and try not
to judge and criticize that's the other
thing about mindfulness and all stuff
part of the mindfulness practice is the
ability to be mindful in this moment so
if I'm sitting here meditating and let's
say my mind is just so busy and I'm
having a really hard time following my
thoughts instead of sitting there in my
in my mind going god I can't do this you
know I can't get my breath like my
thoughts won't stop it
can I just note Oh busy mind busy mind
and just bring myself back to the breath
let's breathe in and out let's breathe
in and out and I get myself back to a
quieter place but guess what while I'm
meditating my mind goes back to busy it
goes back to busy
it's judging what am I gonna eat for
dinner tonight and then I know this oh
I'm thinking again thinking yeah the
mind thinks the mind is wired to think
meditation isn't about trying to control
the mind it's about learning mindfulness
meditation it's about learning how to be
with our thoughts in that moment and if
we notice that we go down a rabbit hole
of nothingness and that our minds jump
into an orbit of thinking gently
bringing ourselves back to a place of
presence and taking that breath and
starting again that's the mindfulness
and the ability to do it without judging
or criticizing ourselves it's just like
training a puppy you know you're trying
to train a puppy not to urinate in the
house and you're bringing it back and
bringing it back to and if you the
minute you show frustration or anger at
the puppy it just shuts down because it
doesn't understand why your energy
shifted we do that to ourselves and
again that's another talk another day I
call it the inner critic baby
mindfulness the practice of the ability
to be present in the now without judging
and criticizing yourself so when you
find yourself practicing your breathing
you find yourself journaling or doing
something creative or sitting in a
meditation try not to judge and
criticize yourself so that's about it I
hope that this was helpful and I will be
happy to answer any questions that
people have I'm gonna stop here I'm not
sure what to do next better than
somebody's gonna take
thank you so much Natalie that was a lot
of really great information and since
we've all been sitting here for a while
what I'm gonna do is have us do just a
two-minute break folks can get some
water get up and stretch take some nice
deep breaths and then afterwards after
that two minutes we'll be back for the
question and answers okay so thank you
again Natalie for joining us today and
we look forward to the question and
answer session all right we're gonna go
ahead and start our two-minute break
thank you