Mindfulness in Uncertain Times: A Panel Conversation - Video Transcript
Morgan
Hi, my name is Dr. Morgan Levy and I am the host of the Mindful Professional Bundle, and it is a carefully curated collection of resources to help you live a more meaningful and intentional life at work and home.
I know that right now the world is very chaotic and it feels very uncertain and hard for us, and that's why mindfulness is so important. When we can still practice mindfulness and be in the present moment, we can stay more grounded, calm, and focused in these chaotic times around us.
That's why I'm so excited about this bundle and this panel conversation. You're going to hear from several contributors from the Mindful Professional bundle about their thoughts and their perspectives on staying mindful and the importance of mindfulness and uncertain and chaotic times.
Kristen
Hi, I'm Kristen Jacobson, a therapist specializing in working with anxious perfectionists. And in the bundle, I have a workbook that's a compilation of eight exercises for people struggling with high-functioning anxiety and perfectionism.
Alice
I'm Alice Rizzi. I'm a licensed psychologist and mindfulness coach. My offer in the bundle is the Mindful Body Course, which has five specific strategies to experience more peace, more joy, and more grounding in your day-to-day life, and my businesses together. mindful.com.
Alicia
Hi, I'm Alicia Johnson. I'm a licensed therapist as well as a burnout coach. My offer in the bundles is called Feeling the Burnout. It's a mini-course all about the early warning signs of burnout in the workplace, and tangible steps on what you can do.
Angela
Hello, I am Angela Freebird. My offer is called You Do Not Suck. It's a video course helping you let go of beating yourself up when you don't do what you say you wanna do when it comes to your healthy habits.
Andrea
Hi, I am Andrea Shipley and I work with service-based entrepreneurs to design lifestyles that feel authentic and fulfilling for them. And so within the bundle, my program is called Lifestyle Design for Helpers and Healers, and it's a short training and a six-page worksheet.
Liz
Hi, I'm Liz St. Jean and I work with quietly ambitious professionals. My offer in the bundle is the imposter syndrome cleanse, and it's a four-step process where you learn exactly how you can ditch imposter thoughts, and build leadership skills to radiate natural confidence.
Morgan
What we're going to do next is ask all the panelists, including myself, a series of questions. We've got three questions for all the panelists to answer, and you're going to get a variety of responses that are gonna give you some really good nuggets of insight and advice, suggestions, as well as tactical, practical tools for what you can do to increase mindfulness, even in the middle of uncertain, scary, or stressful times.
Panel Question
So for our first question, we're asking all panelists. How, or why does mindfulness help you when you feel uncertain about the world?
Andrea
I find that when I am feeling the most uncertain about the world or my life, it's when my mind is really kind of fixated, either on pain from the past or potential pain in the future, and I get caught up in spirals of worry and fear. So mindfulness helps me in those moments to just tune into. My body and presence and the silence in between the chaos or as the backdrop of some of the chaos. Tuning into my breath helps with all of that, getting connected to my body and then, to space in between all of the worry, I remember one of my most tactile, tangible, aha moments around mindfulness was years and years ago when I was feeling just really kind of hopeless and heartbroken and I was overthinking things and feeling lost inside of myself. And I think honestly, I exhausted myself. But I remember there being this moment where suddenly all of. Washed away. All of it was gone. All of the chaos got quiet and I was acutely aware for some reason of this little green l e d light on the smoke detector, on the ceiling. And it was like all of the worries just kind of fell away. All that mattered was the presence of that blinking light. And I know it sounds like a strange story, but in my experience, it was just night and day between, you know, the moment when I was in, in the stress and the anxiety and the moment when I felt truly present at that moment. And so, All of my hopes for mindfulness practices and when I guide mindfulness practices for others is that they'll have some sort of moment that feels like a big shift and demonstrates this, significance. Of the present moment because it can feel so subtle. I think about when I was in graduate school, there was a lot of mindfulness training and for so long I was, uh, Kind of confused. Why are they telling me to feel the chair underneath me? Like, why is this significant? And it's just the difference between having that, that physiological experience of it versus being told that it's a good idea. So don't underestimate the power of practice when it comes to mindfulness.
Alicia
Mindfulness for me is helpful because I am one of those folks whose, the brain is always going, and sometimes in these uncertain times or when I've got a full plate or I'm overwhelmed, I can almost feel like I'm out of control and I'm just like this passenger watching things go by. And so mindfulness and just grounding can really. I put myself in the driver's seat. I feel more empowered. I feel more in control. I can slow things down. I see things a lot clearer, um, and I get to be more intentional. And being intentional then allows me to live in line with the values and the boundaries that I set for myself and make sure that I'm taking care of myself in a healthy, balanced way.
Angela
How and why mindfulness is helpful? Because mindfulness brings me here and, I know when I'm feeling anxious that I'm in the future, which I, hello. Oh, I need to figure everything out. Or if I'm depressed, I know I'm in the past. And yes, I visit there also. So mindfulness brings me here and in the here and now I have everything that I. So one quick, super easy technique that I use is called orientation. It's, I learned this from my practice of, um, I have a, I'm a somatic experiencing trauma therapy practitioner, and I've done seven years of weekly somatic experiencing trauma therapy sessions. And one of the things we do to soothe the subconscious and to bring us into the here and now is to just, and it's so easy. You just go where, let your eyes go, where they wanna. And so particularly when I'm very, when I can get a little more agitated, cuz I haven't gotten out in front of it, then it's like, okay, I'm letting my eyes go and then I, I'll name, okay, I see my Virgo sign, I see my fairy lights, I see my candles, and I just name the things that I'm seeing as I allow my, my neck to swivel. If you're anything like me, you're like, wait, what? So it takes a little bit of buy-in. it's called orientation. I have more resources on that if that calls to you. Anyway, that's one thing that I use cuz you can do it anywhere and it's, it's easy.
Kristen
I think mindfulness can be so helpful in all facets of life, and especially with so much uncertainty in the world, whether we're talking about that on sort of a global level where, um, we might be worried about the pandemic or school shootings or. Layoffs or what's going on overseas, things like that. But also on a day-to-day level, so just the daily stressors of work or parenting or you know, whatever else it. Taking care of aging parents, whatever you have, you know, personally going on in your life at the moment. There is a lot of uncertainty that is a part of life and I think a lot of times we, you know when we feel. Anxious about that uncertainty. We do things that, that try to, it's an attempt to control, right? And so a lot of times worrying about things is our, our brain's way of expelling that energy and making us feel like we're doing something about it. When in reality what we need to be doing is practicing mindfulness and kind of grounding ourselves and, and being in the present moment. So that can be helpful again, not just if we're worried about things that are going on. On a larger scale, but just on the day-to-day things. So, you know, whether it's focusing on something, um, that you're working on at the moment, or a conversation you are involved in, or an experience that you're having, just really paying attention to what it is that's going on in the moment and kind of what, what you're experiencing in a non-judgmental. A compassionate way and in a way that's more observing, right? We're not judging our thoughts and feelings we're just being observers. And, if we practice mindfulness with consistency, then it can rewire the pathways in our brains and have this more long-term impact that helps us cope with stress and, you know, really builds resiliency and allows us to practice gratitude and, and reflect on some of the more positive things in life because there's, there's so much negative, right? We don't need to work to find that in life. But we can be mindful and more intentional about focusing on what we're experiencing right now. So I think this bundle includes so many wonderful resources that pertain to mindfulness. If you're not familiar with the concept or you don't know how to practice it, I think the bundle will be a great resource for you.
Liz
When I'm feeling uncertain about the world and I'm feeling like everything is scary or I'm unsure, or I'm feeling anxiety creeping in, I rely on mindfulness to help me out in those moments. The reason that it works for me is that it feels like I'm being stretched and scattered in so many directions. When I'm feeling anxious, it's hard to focus. It's very distracting, and mindfulness gathers me back together. It pulls me back together into me, allows me to focus on the here and now and I'm able to come back into my body and find that mind-body connection again. That helps center me and even if things haven't changed outside of me, I am feeling more powerful. That grounded feeling inside of myself, that quiet confidence that I can go forward into that same situation more powerful, more grounded, more solid. And this does is it means that even when the world is uncertain, even when things are scary, I can feel certainty in myself. I can feel certainty in how I show up, and I know that I will show up in the best way possible. With the information that I have, with the resources I have, with the capacity that I have, I'm able to find moments of self-compassion and that helps see me through those times when the world is uncertain, where things are scary, where I'm not sure where what's going to happen. I can at least feel certain in myself.
Morgan
Mindfulness gives me the ability to check in with myself and to get in touch with what I'm truly thinking and feeling, especially when times are rough. I don't use mindfulness to try to change what I'm feeling or to only be happy. I use it to be present, to understand what I'm feeling, what situation I'm in, and what I want to do with my life moving forward. Even though things might feel chaotic around me, mindfulness is just such a. The place for me, like it's such a great practice for me to live more authentically, like, so that I know what I'm doing is in alignment with what I, I truly feel is right for me, rather than just, you know, living on autopilot and doing what maybe other people might think is the thing that I should be doing. So mindfulness helps me stay grounded even when things are feeling pretty uncertain.
Alice
I honestly believe that mindfulness is a superpower that we all have and that we all can strengthen. It can help enhance our quality of life when things are going well, when we're happy, and when we're excited, and it can also help ease our pain, our suffering when things are challenging, and when we're experiencing stressors. And the way that it does that is that when we practice being mindful, We are in this moment, and essentially at this moment, there are no problems. Now, that doesn't mean that there aren't challenges or stressors all around us, but when we take a moment to be mindful, we ground ourselves in the present. We can be here with our breath, with our body, with the facts of how things. And what that does is it gives us a moment of clarity. It gives us a pause between whatever is going on and how we want to respond to it. So if we're practicing mindfulness, we are less reactive, meaning we won't make choices that we might regret or that will feel ashamed of or embarrassed by. At that moment, we can pause to reflect. What are my values? What kind of person do I want to be and how do I want to act in this situation? And it all starts with taking a mindful moment right here, right now.
Panel Question
Our next question is what is the best way that you have found to stay mindful when times are uncertain?
Morgan
Sometimes people think that the only way to stay mindful is to practice meditation, but that's not true. One of my favorite ways to practice mindfulness is to just stop, take a deep breath, and for even 30 seconds, focus on my senses. What do I see? What do I hear? What do I taste? What do I smell? What do I physically feel? And just that act of grounding myself in my senses at the moment allows me to stay. And focused on what's happening around me rather than getting lost and thinking about what's next, or maybe mistakes I might have made in the past.
Alice
My best recommendation for staying mindful when times are uncertain is to be present with how things are right now. So that starts with checking in with yourself, noticing what am I thinking, and what am I feeling. How does my body feel? What sensations am I experiencing? And then, Check in with what the facts of the uncertain situation are. A lot of times when we get caught up in overthinking, overanalyzing, trying to figure something out or solve a problem, we sort of make up a bunch of stuff that isn't based. In the facts, so make a lot of assumptions. We judge things, we go by how it feels in this moment. So if I'm feeling anxious at this moment, I'm gonna think the facts of the situation are much more direct. I'm gonna catastrophize and think about the worst-case scenario, and if you stay present. If you stay mindful, if you check in with yourself, you might even give yourself a moment before you respond, before you do anything that you might regret. If you check in with how you're thinking you're feeling, and your body is, and you know, oh, I'm feeling anxious, I'm feeling overwhelmed, maybe right now isn't the best time for me to make any big decisions. You can give yourself some space to let your mind. And to come back to the situation at hand when you're able to think more clearly. So we know that when we're feeling anxious and overwhelmed and stressed, our decisions aren't gonna be necessarily as good as they can be when we're feeling clear-headed. So mindfulness gives us the ability to assess more accurately how we're feeling and how we wanna act in any given situation. And if right now isn't the best time to. Then we can come back to the situation later and we will likely have a much better solution to deal with whatever the uncertain situation is.
Angela
The orientation that I mentioned before, letting your eyes go where they wanna go, brings you into the moment and it's a practice. You can also do it through your other senses. So what do I smell? Oh my gosh, that smells so good. Being out in the, after that fresh rain, or what do I hear? Oh, I hear my feet crunching along the driveway, or I hear the river, or I hear the dog snoring. So, it will bring you into the here and now. Um, tactical, like what do you feel? I, this, this is very soft. I feel the heater, I feel a breeze on my face. So, so using your senses, to be in the moment is another, it's another type of orientation. And again, one of the tricks that I did to, to make this a habit was every time I went outside I would make a point of looking around, um, uh, go to a party hardly ever, but if I did just take a minute to look around or the supermarket or whatever. So just, um, anything that you do, every time I pick up the phone. Take a moment or something like that, that triggers something you're already doing. So that's, that's one idea. And then the second very practical, tactical suggestion that works for me, that I need is, I need people helping me be accountable, reminding me, um, I can't do this by myself. So I have a weekly coaching appointment. And because there's money invested, I do it and I love it. And then I get reminded to do the things and I get inspired and I get someone like, Hey, you're the, you got this. So anything that you can do, to create accountability? And connection. I just feel like any system that you can put into place, to have that support automatically there, instead of, oh my gosh, now I'm starting to feel unsteady. Oh, now I'm on. So, oh, now I can't get off the couch. Getting out in front of it. Getting out in front of it. So those are things that work well for me.
Liz
So personally, one of the best ways I've found to be mindful in times of uncertainty is often to go back to meditations and go back to apps that provide meditation and provide focus. And for me, it's the ones that don't just go straight into a deep meditation or expect that I'm able to go deeply into a mindful moment. I personally really appreciate the ones that explain mindfulness, they explain meditation. I find that especially if I'm feeling anxious or things are uncertain, that helps my brain to have that logic piece. So I can listen. I can focus on mindfulness itself, instead of putting extra expectations on myself to become mindful.
Kristen
One thing I do personally to stay mindful, um, when times are uncertain is to. Regulate my nervous system through breathing techniques. So I like the, um, sometimes it's referred to as square breathing or box breathing, but breathing in for a count of four. Holding it for four, breathing out for four, holding it for four, and then repeating this. And what that does is it calms sort of the emotional part of your brain so that you can then access the more logical part of your brain. And in doing so, I just really reflect on the fact that you know, I've been through some trying times in life and it's all led me to, um, a positive outcome, even if I couldn't see it at the moment. So I tried to, kind of tune into what is going on in the moment and not get too caught up. Sort of forecasting what might happen in the future and just have it kind of grounding myself in that sense of trust that like, okay, even if it feels challenging right now, I know everything. You know, I trust my ability to get through that. And I know that everything will sort of fall into place, um, in the way. That I trust that it's meant to. Um, and sometimes that might not make sense to me right now, but that it will, at some point, I'll, I'll find the meaning in that.
Alicia
One of my favorite ways to stay grounded in being mindful during uncertain times is by practicing these tools outside. So I will do what's called the five senses, where I'm engaging, things that I see, things that I smell, things that I can hear, um, maybe even like feeling the, the texture of leaves or something. I'm engrossing myself in the nature aspect, really getting to move my body, be outside with a vitamin D, and that. One, get me out of my house. I'm at work at home, so I'm able to see that there's a world beyond my four walls, and there's just something really powerful about being in nature and connecting to those senses. That helps me slow my brain down a little bit and get clarity in, okay, what do I need right now? Do I need some reassurance? Do I need some comfort? Do I need to reach out to somebody? Do I need to get organized? Do I need to change some things in my schedule? It allows me to think about what I truly need rather than getting stuck in the anxiety spiral that I like to call it. So it just really helps empower me to be in charge of things. So I like to call, nature scavenger hunts or the five senses. Just walking outside, taking a deep breath, and smelling what's out there really can make or break my day.
Andrea
I find that the best way to stay mindful when times are uncertain is to cultivate some sort of regular practice. You know, like if you, if you suddenly are in a bind and you need to, there's a hot bicycle nearby and you need to escape from something. The best way to ensure that you know how to ride a bike is to have ridden a bike before. And that's the case with mindfulness too, right? So, If we're gradually practicing consistently, then we're gonna find that that habit is more available to us in difficult times. And. So that might also look like taking breaks, like little mindfulness breaks where say for instance in the middle of your workday, you might start to check in, tune in, scan your body with your attention, take a few full deep breaths, uh, feel into some sensations in your body that feel relatively comfortable. And then gradually I think we can, we can also learn how to be mindful while we're also working, be mindful while we're even planning for the future, which is kind of a bit of a, seems like paradoxical. Um, but I do find that that can be useful to stay tuned into ourselves and tuned into how we're feeling and do it with that witnessing perspective so that. It feels like we can kind of, uh, have a bit of an outsider's perspective, take into account things like, you know, feelings or thoughts that maybe once would've overwhelmed us and felt like all that there was. So it just gives us a different perspective. And again, the best way that I've found is just tuning into my breath. To my body sensations and the silence. That is the backdrop of everything else.
Panel Question
And now we're going to hear from the panelists about which of the offers inside the bundle they are excited about and looking forward to picking up for themselves.
Alice
I am excited to try Alicia Murray's, finding Motivation and Fulfillment within Your Core Values. I talk about mindful living and values-based choice-making all the time because I believe that if you know what matters most to you if you know your core values, every choice you make can be in alignment with the kind of person that you want to be. So, therefore, the choices that you make will be in a sense, regret. Because they're based on your values
Kristen
Vicky Demopolis has training on, uh, calming your inner critic. And I think this is important, um, in times of uncertainty because we can often kind of get stuck in this pattern of negative self-talk and, getting down on ourselves if things aren't working out for us professionally or if we get laid off, things like that. So I would recommend checking out her course.
Andrea
I'm looking forward to Tamara Howell's presentation about Zoom fatigue. I think that that will benefit me a lot as an online therapist, uh, especially cuz I'm just really honed in on the screen for a lot for long periods of the day, uh, paying close attention and being present. And I sometimes find that I don't wanna show up for certain other online training because it just feels like a lot. So I think I'll learn a lot from that program.
Alicia
I think one of the offers I'm looking forward to is balancing the load of a how-to guide for busy couples. This one stood out to me immediately because I think so many times we as individuals, get overwhelmed with the mental load and we forget, and that can add a wedge to the couple aspect. So I think this is gonna be so helpful for these mindful people and their relationships.
Liz
I'm looking forward to Erin McCarthy's mindful micro-moments. Find your calm and keep your cool because I don't know about you, but I notice that sometimes it's hard to go deep into a mindful moment when I'm feeling stressed or anxious. Or just losing my cool? So I'm excited to pick up this one and see what kind of tips and offers, suggestions she has on keeping my calm.
Panel Question
For our last question, we are going to hear from the panelists about any final thoughts they have, that they want to add to this conversation to close it out.
Alicia
My final thought for folks is that you deserve to take this time for yourself. I know busy, hardworking professionals, and we can feel guilty to take this time to do self-care, to put our needs first. We feel like we're not gonna be able to achieve our goals or that we're letting people down if we take this time for ourselves.
But it's the opposite. You deserve this time. You deserve to fill up your cup. And by doing so, you're gonna have the energy, the motivation, the creativity, the energy, all of these things to pour into the other areas in your life, whether it's your family, your friends, or your job. So you matter. You are worthy of this time, and I hope you get to be intentional about some of these offers and implement them in a way that makes sense for you.
Angela
Okay, here's my final thought. I am doing everything I can to embrace paradox. So one of the things that I work with in my system and that I work with, with my clients and my friends, and is this idea of, um, This and that. So I've done everything I can to let go of the word, but, and it is, this is hard and this is working well.
This is challenging for me, and I have these gifts, assets, and these blessings in my life. And I feel like that creates space to honor what's hard and to acknowledge what's going well and what is working and what I do have access to. So letting go of, but embracing and.
Kristen
One final thought I want to leave you with is just to take inventory of what fills your cup, so to speak. And by that, I mean what feels restorative and replenishing too. Your mental, emotional, spiritual, or physical energy, what sort of fills you up and makes you feel energized and whole versus, on the other hand, what is depleting of that.
What really kind of drains your energy drains you emotionally and just feels depleting. And I think, if you take some time to reflect on that, it can give you. The clarity in terms of the kind of what you need to add into your life, and what, you need to try to eliminate.
Andrea
I wanna offer some encouragement to anyone who has a hard time investing in themselves and investing in their personal growth. I know that if we want to build something for ourselves or create something for ourselves, we have to get behind it and, and take consistent action to do that. We can't count on anybody else.
Prioritize us if we're not also prioritizing our well-being. So I think that this bundle is a great opportunity to make a relatively small financial investment and get a lot of benefits that will ultimately serve, uh, serve us, serve our lives, serve our work, serve our families in the long. So that's my last suggestion just find a way. Invest in yourself consistently.
Liz
So the final thought I wanna leave you with is that I cannot emphasize enough the critical value that self-compassion plays in all of this. I mentioned this a bit earlier, but we really wanna develop, our skills and strengthen that muscle of self-compassion, especially in times of uncertainty.
Because we are trying to be mindful and, and it's, and that's difficult when things are uncertain when we're feeling anxious. If we're feeling worried. And so the last thing we want is to start feeling tightness or expectations that we should be at a certain level of mindfulness. So even in our mindfulness journey, we wanna have that self-compassion and then we want to have it more broadly in our life as well.
Right. With whatever's happening in yours. When things are scary, if things are uncertain, if we don't know what's happening, really exercise that self-compassion and give ourselves grace for what we're experiencing.
Alice
The final thought I wanna leave you with is that anybody can be more mindful, whether you're a professional, whether you have your own business, or whether you're a stay-at-home caretaker. All mindfulness means is being present. Right here, right now, noticing your senses, noticing what you can see, what you can hear, how you're feeling on the inside, and seeing more clearly the world around you. Seeing yourself. As you are seeing others as they are. and it's such a beautiful thing because we spend so much time in our heads thinking, thinking, thinking, what's gonna happen then? What already happened? How did I feel about that? What thoughts did I have about that? And we don't spend enough time right here, and right here is where life happens. So if you wanna be more mindful, check in with yourself.
Morgan
Thank you for watching and thank you to our amazing panelists and contributors for such thoughtful and meaningful answers and perspectives. If you are looking to learn how to be more mindful and intentional in your life, in your relationships, in your work, in your self-care, in your creativity, and productivity, be sure to grab the mindful professional bundle, which is sale only from April 12th to April 18th for $97. Alright, take care.
