Mind of Snaps Podcast
Mind of Snaps Podcast
Mind of Snaps - Positivity Podcast | Ep. 61 - "How Do YOU Stand"
Welcome to "How Do YOU Stand" - the 61st Episode of the Mind of Snaps Positivity Podcast!
This is a special podcast series that is separate from the regular Mind of Snaps Podcast, with a new release (typically) posted every Monday for Patreon supporters!
It is my goal to create as much positive & encouraging content as I can during these intense, uncertain times we're faced with. 2020 was so much more than anyone expected it to be, and nobody should have to take it on alone. The only way I can continue to do so, is with your help.
To help, you can: become a patron, subscribe to me on Twitch, you can send a tip which I'll turn into an investment... or you can simply share my content on social media. Every little bit helps me be able to continue to create the podcasts and other mindfulness & positivity based content in the future.
The format of these podcasts are forever evolving to reflect current events from personal to global, so I hope you are enjoying them. Please reach out to me if you have any suggestions!
Hang in there, friends... we're all in this together.
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You can find new Positivity Podcasts on Patreon every Monday; Patreon archive positivity podcast episodes are available free for the community every Thursday at 4pm on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, & Stitcher!
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Jessy (Mind Of Snaps / SheSnaps)
www.MindofSnaps.com
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Good morning, my lovely friends. I hope you had a nice weekend. I hope you're starting your week off strong. It's the first Monday of a new month in a new year. Holy shit, we made it to 2021 Holy fuck. For many of us, 2020 will be remembered as one of the worst years of our lives for tons of reasons. Sure, there were some high notes for some of us in our personal lives. But the pandemic the horrific instances of murder and continued police brutality against black people and people of color. The final year of Trump's presidency, among other things, all contributed to making this an especially scary and stressful year for a lot of us. Here we are now in a brand new year. And while I'll admit I'm feeling optimistic, we also cannot deny that many of the issues that arose in 2020 still haven't been resolved. We still have a pandemic on our hands, though I am incredibly grateful that we have a vaccine now. And I'm hoping that the majority of people will go get vaccinated, there is still so much work to do to clean up our law enforcement and our government systems. This is for all of us in the US, of course, and Trump still hasn't left the White House yet. And we are just hoping that happens. We're counting down the days till it does. And once he does, especially for those of us in the US, please don't let Biden lull you into a false sense of security. He is not our Savior, he is simply the safer alternative. Two more years of Trump in office, we must remain vigilant and continue to do our part to remain educated on what's going on in our communities. And in our local and federal government systems, our voices and our votes matter. But they can only make a difference if we use them. Having said all of that I do still feel optimistic about this year, I've spoken to several people maybe more who has said the same thing. They acknowledge that we still have some hard times ahead of us. But something about leaving the dreaded 2020 behind has left some of us feeling a bit lighter than before. I personally am a big believer in the power of our energy and the output from conscious minds. So the idea that there are tons of folks out there who are also feeling optimistic, who've set new goals for themselves who are ready to leap into this year with purpose that has me feeling like maybe maybe the collective energy has been elevated or impacted enough to where my optimism isn't totally misguided. With the right mindset and intentions, I really believe we can all accomplish so much together in this coming year. And in all of our years ahead. If nothing else 2020 has really shown us what things and people we may have taken for granted, and just how much we truly have to be grateful for even during challenging times. Take a moment with me quickly to think back on this past year. And thank it for the lessons it has imparted on us. Be proud of yourself for surviving the legendary 2020. And be especially proud of you did some inner work while in the midst of all this madness. I know so many of you who are part of this Patreon have been taking advantage of this time to really work on yourselves and the way that you look at the world. And it has been really beautiful to see. Some of you are on your way to living fully authentic lives. And I am so excited to see you all step out into the world when it's safe again, as the real you. I have so much faith that once this pandemic is over and we can get out and about again, you will all be thriving in this new version of our world, especially if you continue to do the work to manage your internal and external lives. And speaking of our internal and external lives, let's get into what I wanted to talk about today. If you've been hanging out in streams or keeping up with these podcasts, you are probably already aware that since finding out I was pregnant, I've been somewhat struggling to maintain my usual level of presence. I've been spending way more time than was necessary diving into avoidant patterns and do Doing what I could to not think. which essentially just means numbing myself through media and not giving myself the space to simply observe what's happening, or accept it. Fortunately, in the past couple of weeks or so, I've been feeling much more like myself again. And I think a great deal of it can be attributed to me exiting the first trimester of this pregnancy, gaining a bit of my energy back. I really could never have anticipated the crazy, crazy energy drain that the first trimester was for me. Like, this shit was nuts. I struggled partially because I felt like I was supposed to be better at this, even though this big old air quotes is something I've never done before. Anyway, we're officially in the second trimester now. And I found that I have the energy to do more of the self care tasks I typically enjoy doing like cooking, and cooking more again, I've been cleaning more, I've been getting outside more. And while I will admit I'm still sort of binge watching shows I've already seen, I have limited it to only a few episodes max per day, and I'm back to having my regular wind downtime at night again. I've also started to do more of my tasks without feeling like I need to be watching or listening to something while doing them. And I'm really pumped about that. I'm back to listening to some like peaceful music or ambient nature noises, which my preference is usually rain and ocean sounds if you were wondering, so I listened to those things while I clean or while I cook. And it's really helped me to feel less overwhelmed, and like my mind is less cluttered. I've been doing what I can to stay present in nearly all moments. And well, it's not something I'm great at yet. It has been fascinating and it's been grounding. I've learned some new things about myself in just the past few days even. For example, I noticed the other night while brushing my teeth that I stand fucking weird while I do it. For some reason, I hunched over the sink quite awkwardly, like picture gargoyle thing, but weirder, and I stand normally on one foot, like on my left foot, I stand just normally, but on my right foot, I don't stand on it completely. I kind of like crumple it up. And then I stand like on the right side of it instead of flat footed. I have no idea why I noticed it and kind of corrected it decided to stand on both feet. You know bent my knees slightly adjusted my back so it wasn't as awkward and instead felt like I was using my core properly and continued to brush. And I watched as the moment I started getting wrapped up in thoughts, my foot crumbled up again and I went back to being a weird gargoyle brushing my teeth instead of this human creature I am typically. So that made me think I wondered how many other behaviors postures or movements I've been doing completely unconsciously again, so I've resolved to pay more attention. Since then, I've learned that while cutting certain foods, I tense up pretty hard, and even hold my breath at times. Why? I don't know. But I do it. When I'm cooking at the stovetop, I have a tendency to do that same foot crumble move I did while brushing my teeth. Don't know why I've caught myself with pretty poor posture quite frequently. And when I noticed I've been able to stop Take a few deep breaths, stretch up my body a bit to get into better alignment feels so good. Oh, and another thing I've noticed is that I lean heavily to my left side, when I'm sitting whether I'm in the recliner in my desk chair or I'm sitting at the kitchen table eating I'm like almost always on my elbow. This might not seem like much to be excited about but in just a couple of days of paying closer attention. I've noticed so many little things that were actually making me more uncomfortable and like you know, Pregnancy existing in these bodies even without pregnancy. It's kind of an uncomfortable thing, right? We ache and and have these little pains that build over time. So I started doing what I could to correct each of those little things as I found them. And I've noticed that it's helped to alleviate a decent amount of discomfort. Like yesterday while I was in the kitchen, I noticed my body was starting to tend to tense up while I was cutting vegetables. So I took some deep breaths and relaxed I held the knife a little bit differently. And then I continued on. As a result my hand didn't cramp up as easily and I didn't build as much tension in my back. When I started realizing I was locking my knees while watching some of the stuff on the stovetop. I stepped back a bit stretched and I did some basic yoga moves to help bring myself back into my And body a bit with a little bit more balance and strength. Then when it was time to eat dinner, I sat up straight and I ate mindfully again. For the first time in a while I did what I could to focus on each bite I ate, on how I was sitting, how I was breathing, the textures, the tastes, the smells, all of it. It's a really delightful experience. After dinner, when I went to the recliner to chill, I realized I was leaning to one side again, and was sitting in a way that was making me feel uncomfortable again. So I sat on the floor, I stretched a bit, men thought, you know what, maybe I don't even want to be sitting in watching fucking TV or just chillin and staring at like ocean waves. I'll just what do my wind down in the bath today. So I went up and I took a bath. And even in the bath, I noticed some of those little movements in ways that I was holding myself with tension, rather than relaxing into a more comfortable posture. So even while in the tub, I worked on it. Then I did a nice long meditation and read a little bit of this book, I'm reading from Sadhguru. And it felt great. So this week, my challenge to you isn't a super intense one. But it's more of a reminder to do what you can to stay present. And if you haven't been very present lately, this is the call to bring yourself back. Let go of some of the distractions you may tend to take into doing your basic tasks. And instead, do what you can to bring your full attention back to those tasks, and how your body and mind work and feel during them. How do you stand when you brush your teeth? What's your posture like when cooking or at your desk? How often do you stop and take full deep breaths? How often do you notice when your mind has wandered off into unnecessary or unkind stuff. I personally don't believe much in New Year's resolutions. But let's resolve to bring some more presence into these days ahead. Do what you can to check in with yourself more and learn what your body is doing when you're not paying attention. Do what you can to notice where your mind goes most frequently. Maybe that will even give you some insights into the things you can adjust in in your routine, or into the types of information you've been taking in that you could probably use a break from. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by how it feels to round yourself in your body more frequently. So try it out for a while and let me know what you learn about yourself. Let me know how you stand when you brush your teeth. Maybe you will find that you stand weird when you brush your teeth too. Maybe. Anyway, that's all for today. Get out there and manifest dope shit. And do it with a present mind in a grounded body. You've got this