Mindful Monday: Episode 1

Join me each week for Mindful Monday, where we will explore how to incorporate more mindfulness into our daily lives and reduce stress.

Transcript

0:06

Welcome to mindful Monday. Where we will be talking about difficult thoughts and emotions and learn how mindfulness can help reduce the intensity of them. Every Monday, we will learn a new activity or exercise. That with practice can help strengthen our ability to manage and cope with stressful thoughts. Emotions and situations. To begin. I want you to imagine that you started your day only moments ago. You woke up. As he normally would. And reached beside you to check your phone. You open the internet page and quickly check a few things before deciding to get ready for your day. During your brief scan on your phone. You came across an article. And this article. You quickly skim and notice a little bubble on the side. With a picture of a dish that looks quite appealing to you. Under the dish. There is a link that says click for a recipe. You click the link and it takes you to a page with clear instructions and more detailed images. For how the recipe should look throughout each stage. And the finished product. It's a pot of soup with homemade bread bowls. And it's been so chilly outside. It gives you all the comforting fields, just looking at the picture. And imagining yourself enjoying a nice bull for a separate. You saved the link. And exit the screen. Knowing that you don't have the time to tend to this. Right at the moment. But you have the intention to go back to it later in the day. You go about your morning routine and things quickly become busy. Filled with tasks, chores, responsibilities. There are times in the day when you feel fulfilled and satisfied. And other times where you feel overwhelmed and a little anxious. As if there aren't enough hours in the day to finish everything that needs to be completed. Before, you know it it's supper time. And you remember the recipe that you had saved in your phone from the morning. You open your phone and open the instruction page. You ponder, whether you want to attempt to create this elaborate looking meal after such a busy day. And you've never made any kind of bread before. You convince yourself that it's better than reaching for a box of Kraft dinner for the third time this week. And you tell yourself what the heck, why not? After rating your cupboards and fridge. You quickly realize that you have all of the ingredients and decide you're up for making an attempt at the meal. You are a little tired and don't completely feel like doing much work. But you decide the potential reward of enjoying the new dish. Pharaoh ways the hassle and work involved in preparing it. They are about nine steps in this recipe. And you were up for trying them. You collect all of the ingredients and set them out on the counter. You've rummaged through your drawers to find the dishes and measuring utensils to ensure you are putting in the right amount of each item. You begin with step one. And this step goes fairly well. You move on to the second and third without any issues. And it seems to be going pretty smoothly. During the fourth step. You find the instructions. Start to get a little confusing. And it doesn't seem to make much sense to you. You start questioning the process. And decide to skip a few steps to save some time and energy. Plus, they seem like small steps with only a tiny amount of each ingredient and mixing. You pick up at the seven step and it continues going pretty good. As you continue. You are pretty pleased with the earlier decision you made to skip a few steps. And believe it was the best decision at the time. You are on the final step. And excited to see all of the things coming together. The pot of soup is finished and simmering on the stove. While the oven is ready to be preheated for the bread bulls to be put in and baked. The oven preheat. And you finally put your formed both into bake. You impatiently wait. While the bread rises in the oven. Only 15 more minutes to go. You turn on the oven light to take a peak without opening the door. And notice the bread isn't rising as the picture shows for this stage in the baking process. You don't pay too much attention to this as it still looks fairly good. And you remind yourself that there's still a little while longer to wait for it to be finished. Dang. The oven makes a sound and each jump up with anticipation for how it finally turned out. You open the oven door. And the bread has perfect coloring. However, the sides of the both forms are kind of flat and deflated. It doesn't quite look like the picture show. And you were a little disappointed. The disappointment turns into frustration. And you begin muttering statements, tear, self, like, oh, all this time and work for that. Seriously. This Sox. I can't believe that this recipe didn't work. I did everything. Oh, wait a minute. I skipped a few steps. Oh, let me see. You then open your phone and start a Google search for the ingredients and steps you missed to see if it may have had anything to do with the mishap. Following a few moments of research. You discover that one of the steps you missed is one of the main ingredients that is in every bread recipe that you can find. And there are many posts and recipes that state this ingredient is crucial for the bread to rise and take shape. What might that ingredient be? You ask. You got it. East. And the process of needing the dose to increase the chances that it rises properly and take shape. You realize you only spent about 10 seconds mixing it with your hands a bit. Every post talks about this step as well, and being crucial. You start to have thoughts of guilt for speeding through some of the steps. He just wanted to save a bit of time and effort. The guilt turns into sadness because he really did try your best throughout the majority of the process you decide you still give the meal a try. But you don't enjoy it as much because your thoughts are telling you that you failed. And you should have done a better job. All of the emotions that come with the should've would've could've, but I didn't thoughts. You finish the meal and clean up all the prep station. You carry on with your evening as planned. However, your thoughts continue to draw you back to disappointing meal. And how much better it may have been. Had you just included those few steps. Take a moment to imagine how you would be feeling and how the negative thoughts you were having. May lead to negative emotions and then behaviors. Each one of us faces. These kinds of frustrating situations in life. This example is a mild example in comparison to some of the larger challenges we may face in the grand scheme of things. But it's a common occurrence, nonetheless. We often go about our day without taking a step back to process how these small events throughout our day can have a major impact on how we feel and act. These small events accumulate and encourage us to create habits and coping mechanisms. Whether those are healthy ones or not. So healthy ones. When we accumulate stressful events on a regular basis. No matter how big or small they may seem. Our bodies become accustomed to a certain levels of dysfunction. Our coping mechanisms become ingredients and our lives. Ingredients that are mixed together to form a larger outcome or finished product. Much like preparing a meal and referring to a recipe. We may have all of the ingredients and all of the skills right in front of us. But it's putting it into practice. That becomes a challenge. Especially in our current day and age. We're surrounded by stimulation. And are encouraged to get as much done as possible each day. The more you can jam pack into the day and accomplish the more re strive to take more on. It's a pattern that continues to grow and becomes our norm. Stress in our body can take many forms. But did you know that it can also alter two major chemicals in our body? And that can cause all kinds of health issues if increased on a regular basis. The two chemicals I am referring to. Our adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline can increase our heart rate, blood pressure and energy supply. While cortisol can increase our blood sugar. And in a nutshell, When the brain's stress response fails to shut off. Stress chemicals like cortisol and adrenaline. Remain elevated. And the feel good chemicals, serotonin and dopamine are suppressed. Resulting in a wide range of impacts to health from regulating emotions to sleep sensory perception and even memory challenges. Now. All of this may sound pretty frightening. But there is some great news. Just like preparing a desired recipe. We can create our very own recipes for wellness. By reaching for the right ingredients and substituting some of the unhealthy ingredients for healthier alternatives. One of the ingredients I want to talk about is mindfulness. Mindfulness. As described by the Mayo clinic is focusing on being intensely aware of what you are sensing and feeling in the moment. Without interpretation or judgment. Practicing mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery. And other practices. To relax the body. And mind and help reduce stress. The beauty of mindfulness is that it doesn't always require you to do a structured activity in order to practice the skill. It can also look like a normal daily activity. And simply bringing your attention to the present moment. And directing your thoughts to the activity. With practice. This can help us calm our nervous system. Allow us time to slow down in our fast paced society. And feel more fulfilled in our day to day routines. I'd like to spend some time each Monday. Offering information and suggestions on how we can incorporate mindfulness into our lives more regularly. And how it can help us overcome challenges. Whether small, medium or large. Not all exercises will work for each person each time. That is a wonderful part of finding recipes and trying different combinations of ingredients. Every person will have their own unique process and that's okay. There is no right. And there is no wrong. No judgements. Just the here and just the now. Join me each week for mindful Mondays. As we explore various exercises. Thank you for listening in. I wish you all a wonderful day. Together, we can climb any mountain. Your community partner.