Latest / Curiously Guided Podcast / Ep.73 | Doing Less & Reducing Subtle Stress with Dr. Gala Gorman, Acupuncturist & Naturopath

Transcript

Ep.73 | Doing Less & Reducing Subtle Stress with Dr. Gala Gorman, Acupuncturist & Naturopath · Curiously Guided Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the Curiously Guided Podcast, the show for intentional business owners and curious minds looking to combine the inner work and outer work to create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling and wildly aligned on all levels.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_02: We're your hosts.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Shay.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm Mariah.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: We're two business strategists passionate about rewriting the rules to success in a way that combines both strategy and energetics.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: So this podcast started with both of us being in the online business world, craving more deep, meaningful, and transparent conversations.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: So we decided to come together and create a space to do just that.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: Our guest interviews highlight cool humans doing cool shit, chasing their dreams, and going down their own rabbit holes to create a more sustainable and fulfilling life in whatever way that means for them.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: We see this podcast as everything that people won't share on social media.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: We don't give a fuck about highlight reels or proven frameworks.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: We love getting in the weeds, asking the tough questions, and doing the work to create a life and career we love, all while committing to ourselves and our personal growth.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: Because only through that lens can we truly create a lifestyle that feels good from the inside out.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Curiously Guided Podcast.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Are you ready to trust the nudge and let curiosity guide the way?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because we're excited to shake shit up and live outside the box with you.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to the podcast, my friends.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: We are super stoked for this episode.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like stress is one of those topics that we hear a lot about, but like nobody goes deeper.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody's asking questions about it.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's one of those things where it's like doctors and friends and family members will be like, Oh, are you stressed?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: What about stress?
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just like, I don't even know what the fuck stress is, dude.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like, isn't everything stress?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: But nothing is stress, but everything is stress.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what isn't stress?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why we wanted to have Dr.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Gayla Gorman on the show is to kind of dive into what stress is, the different kinds of stress.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: And what I like that she really describes is just like the fine line between good stress and bad stress.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: Because to be honest, I had no idea that there was a good stress.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like I thought that all stress was bad stress.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: And the other thing that I liked is in the episode, I'm not going to give it away, but she explains another way to look at stress.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's a certain word that she says.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then when me and Shay hear it, we're just like, whoa, like perspective shift, next level, unlocked.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: So it's super this this conversation is really fun.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: She gives a ton of examples, which I think is really helpful.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: But overall, I think you guys are gonna love this episode.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: You know, Mariah and I were laughing before we pressed record.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: We thought about titling this episode.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: Not that we would ever do this.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: We are laughing about calling it like, don't let stress kill you.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: But I do feel like that's something I've heard over and over of, you know, stress is the root cause of all major illnesses.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: And like if you're living with this level of stress all the time, it's taken a toll on your health and your body.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: And we certainly know a lot of women in this space that are dealing with tons of stress chronically, and it's starting to affect other areas of life.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: So I just, this is a really good conversation to kind of um like Mariah said, stress is just like one like word that we hear all the time, but it's almost amorphous.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: We don't really know what it is.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: Or uh we talked about the idea of subtle stress a lot in this episode and how that, you know, really uh I hadn't even thought about it before, but it was just very awesome to have language around something and to kind of I've noticed since we shot this episode, I'm able to kind of see stress in a more like nuanced and leveled way and and then deal with it a little bit differently.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: So there's just so much good information in this episode.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: I know that stress is kind of like the ultimate buzzword, but it's very especially in the day and age we live in, we're all dealing with some level of stress throughout all of time, obviously, but being aware of the stress in your life and how it's affecting physical, mental, relationship health is just so important.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: So, with that, you know, we're excited to give you guys this episode with Dr.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: Gala, jumping into her bio really quick.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: She's a licensed acupuncturist, naturopath, and author who offers practical advice and programs to reverse health issues relating from chronic stress.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: She helps women relieve their symptoms, restore their energy, and reclaim their superwoman status.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: Dr.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: Gala advocates for getting to the root cause of the health issue and treating it naturally.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_02: She encourages patients to be their own health advocate or PCP, primary care person.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I love that idea.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: So let's dive in.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so today we are talking about stress.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that this topic is super interesting, especially through the lens of being a business owner.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: Because, like when I was talking to Shay about having Dr.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Gala on the show, I was like, How do we manage stress, dude?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: And like, what even is stress?
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Because mine feels like passion.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like I feel like sometimes I'm just like, man, I'm wired.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like subconsciously, I know I think my body is a little bit stressed out, but then it's like, or is this passion?
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just really focused.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like there's so many different layers to this that we can kind of take apart.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: But what I wanted to get started with was just like, there's so many pieces to becoming healthy as a human.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, how or why did you start to focus on stress specifically?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: So, thank you for having me.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I am I was what I like to refer to as the earliest victim of midlife crisis on record.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I was uh I'm a CPA in my former life.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I still technically am a CPA, but I haven't practiced for many, many years.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I uh was incredibly stressed, um, was running an accounting firm, dealing with clients and um and burning the candle at both ends for years.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: And um and the effects of stress accumulated to the point where I just um I maybe wouldn't have used this language back then, but I was toxic and um I was puffy, I had gained not a ridiculous amount of weight, but enough weight where I couldn't fit into my favorite suits um comfortably.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and so I had started trying to kind of transition and um and I finally just had to completely pull the plug because um I was not able to do the transition thing in a gentle way, um, and um ended up dipping my toe into the alternative complementary medicine arena and um and ended up um really becoming passionate about it.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: I had already been kind of um around the periphery of it, but I had my first experience with an MD that practiced all alternative.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: And um, he actually did acupuncture.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm an acupuncturist, he did acupuncture, he used homeopathy, used a lot of the things that I use now.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: He used um a different form of um kinesiology essentially.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I use a different process in my practice, but um I modified a handful of things, um, used the woo-woo stuff he gave me and uh dropped the weight.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: As once I got over the mental resistance to making some modifications to my lifestyle and diet and that sort of thing, I dropped the weight really easily and um and just uh all the toxicity just kind of drained out along with it.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so it was clear to me that living with that level of stress, even though, you know, generally speaking, I had a successful, I had a um practice I was very successful in.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and I wouldn't say I hated my work, you know, I um there was a lot to love about it, but I could not in good conscience continue putting myself under that kind of stress.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: And um and so we can talk more about the different kinds of stress.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: What you refer to as um like just feeling passionate, that's typically what is referred to in the um medical field or in the psycho um psychology field as youth stress or good stress.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so I love to hear that.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Good stress, we love that.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: So so there are actually different types of stress.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: So there's youth stress, and I call that garden variety stress.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: So those of us who are kind of type A personality really wanting to live a full and fulfilling life, live all out, you know, we are gonna be constantly on the edge of that youth stress or good stress escalating to potentially becoming toxic.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so the way I work with patients, we've got one of two scenarios.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Either you kind of caught it early enough, you're starting to see some signs and symptoms, and you're like, I know I need to dial this back.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: So since I don't know how to do that or even where to start, I'm gonna get some help.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Or I end up with patients who have let it go too far, and then they're ending up with symptoms, potentially even some what I call crazy disease diagnosis, because every disease can be traced back to stress.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's a statistic from some a lot of research that's been done on this topic that says that up to 90% of disease is related to stress.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that's wild.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think if you really looked at stress in a more comprehensive way, you could say every disease can be tied back to stress, literally 100%.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: So um, because even if you look at it, and and I have patients that come to me sometimes and say, well, I got diagnosed with this disease because the doctor said that genetically I had a three in 10 chance of this happening.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, certainly if you've got a genetic predisposition, that means you need to work harder at keeping things in check.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: But my response to those patients is why weren't you in the seven that didn't have it manifest?
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: So there's 70% of the people that have that same genetic SNP that didn't escalate to disease.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: So something in your toxic stew uh is kind of how I refer to it.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: And your toxic stew allowed that 30% and that genetic um predisposition to actually express as disease.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so whether it's a genetic predisposition to something or some other crazy thing, I mean, um a third of the patients that come in to see me, whether that's online or live, are on some sort of thyroid medication.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sorry, but like 30% of the thyroids in women are all bad.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's not possible.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: There's something else going on that is um that is causing the issues, and it's kind of become a buzz thing now that well, I think I've got a thyroid problem.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: So then these patients are going into their prescribing physician and saying, I think I have a thyroid problem.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: And if a if a doctor treats that way, if they treat by prescribing something, then they'll run blood work.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: And if it doesn't look like it's gonna hurt you, they'll go ahead and prescribe it for you.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: But all that's basically gonna do is make an already um stressed thyroid lazy and um and struggling even more.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then the cause that caused the thyroid issue in the first place still goes unaddressed, right?
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: So now a year, two, three, five years later, these other things are popping up.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: And people think, well, that just happened out of the blue, and it didn't happen out of the blue.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: You had all these signs and symptoms along the way that you essentially suppressed, suppressed and or ignored.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was actually my next question.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: You talk about the idea of like subtle stress.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: I'm kind of wondering, what do you look out for?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: Like, so we talked about Mariah's stress and the use stress, but at some point that can tip into a more toxic place.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it affect especially affects women in my experience and what I heard you say.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, so tell me like what is that subtle stress?
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: What are the signs that you can like you would notice before someone gets to like a bad place?
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: So symptoms will are the clues essentially that you want to pay attention to.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are getting headaches, if you're using pain relievers of any sort regularly, and I mean more than certainly more than once a month, you know, if you get a headache or have some sort of ache and pain that requires you to take some sort of pain reliever more than once a month, that is chronic.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it's so wild because like most people are like, yeah, just just pop an aspirin.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's no big deal.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Pop an Advil, pop a Tylenol, pop an aspirin, whatever that is.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: And those pain relievers, they get the job done, right?
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, oh, for sure.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: In a in a pinch, if you've got a big meeting, this is the way I explain it to patients.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't ever want you suppressing symptoms unless you've got some short-term essentially emergency that it's like, I just I gotta handle this right now because I've gotta be able to perform today, essentially.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the problem though is that um once you allow yourself to do that once, it can become a cycle, essentially.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: But if you've had to suppress symptoms regularly, then you know that you need to be taking this really seriously and working to reverse the um cumulative effects.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and so headaches, digestion issues.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um I have a patient that takes um a prescription medication for digestion, a heartburn.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and it's an interesting conundrum.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: She only takes it every other day because if she takes it every day, it's too much and essentially causes side effects she can't live with.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then if she doesn't take it at least every other day, she has other side effects.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: But the thing you really need to understand is how stress affects your vagus nerve and your digestion.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: Our digestion requires us to have a low level of stress.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you are trying to um digest and you're not in kind of a rest and rested, relaxed state, don't be surprised that your digestion is messed up, you know?
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and then what ends up happening, especially for people who take a lot of pain relievers and other sort of medication, any prescription medication is really hard on your system.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: But um, but they end up messing up their their stomach acid and indigestion and heartburn is actually not enough stomach acid, not too much stomach acid in most cases, because the stomach acid is what um helps the valve stay closed.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you've got low stomach acid, your valve is not closing really tightly.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so it's completely opposite of what most people think.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody thinks that they're trying to reduce their stomach acid, but that's not the problem.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's funny.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sitting here smiling because Mariah is talking and says this exact same thing to me all the time.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: What is a cause of low stomach acid?
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_02: Is stress related to all of that stuff?
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Stress definitely can be related.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: It can also be um, I mean, it's a hundred percent related to stress, but what kind of stress is like when you talk about stress, most people are commonly thinking of what would be considered more mental or emotional stress, right?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: So it could be though, physical stress, right?
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: It could be related to if you take any sort of medication that really can mess with your um just all your internal processes.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you eat a really um unbalanced diet, meaning you're eating a lot of people got on kind of an alkaline diet bandwagon.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: And if you take that to the extreme, then you can end up with low stomach acid, right?
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of ways that it can happen.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: You can, in the short term, uh supplement with hydrochloric acid, but if you're having to supplement with hydrochloric acid, then you know you've got an imbalance that you need to address.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I like the way you're talking about stress.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_02: I hadn't thought about like all the different types of stress.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I think we may have jumped over that really quickly.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: Can you kind of is there an official breakdown of the different types of stress?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I break it down officially.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's eustress, which is good stress, and distress, which is bad stress.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a fine line between you stress and distress a lot of the time.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if if we're in an um abusive, toxic relationship, that's distress 100%, right?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: But um one of the examples I like to use, because people can relate to this typically, like let's just say you're planning a wedding and it starts out all exciting and just a hundred percent a use stress kind of thing.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited to get married, I'm excited to have this um event with friends and family, and then you start getting into the nitty-gritty and all the financial commitments that are gonna have to be made and dealing with everybody's dietary uh limitations, and everybody's got their own ideas of who they want to sit next to and who they're you know looking forward to seeing and not looking forward to seeing.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: And the next thing you know, you get, you know, well into the planning stages, and what was a eustress activity is now a distress activity, and all you can do is count the days until it's done and you can go on your honeymoon.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so, um, so it's just a I think a good example because you can apply that literally there, um, and uh and think through where a something I loved kind of turned toxic, you know, went from use stress to distress.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: Use um ex exercising as an example.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: So especially for mature women, um, over exercising can be a big problem.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: And in the fitness community, people still typically don't understand this.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I use an example in one of my presentations.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it was quite a few years ago now, but I went to a local gym for high intensity interval training.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: And um, the young girls at the gym said, Oh, this is gonna solve all your problems.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: All you have to do is come do these classes a few times a week.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, you're just gonna watch the weight fall off and the fat fall off, and and um, and I'm like, okay, you know, we'll see.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, um, I'm I'm game, right?
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: So for a year I did that, and they used a machine that actually tested your body composition.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it wasn't like just nebulous, but um, I got stronger, which is not a bad thing.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: So that's um, that's um a positive side effect, but my body fat percentage did not budge and my weight did not budge.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I, you know, was over doing it with heart rate variability, um, which causes all kinds of additional stress on your body.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I like to counsel women, mature women, on that, because if you know you've got adrenal fatigue already going on, you got to be really careful about your exercise.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and so exercise is one of those things where um, like let's just say you're struggling with adrenal fatigue, because a lot of us are, if we are, you know, type A personality burning the candle at both ends.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so a yoga class that incorporates some um a little strength building.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: I uh I broke and dislocated my right arm many years ago.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: And uh after going to a few class, a few physical therapy sessions, I told the person, I said, I can do this in my yoga class.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you know, I don't need to really keep coming back to physical therapy.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I went back to yoga class and I cannot even describe the amount of pain I had to endure to get my range of motion back, but I was told I would never, there were a lot of things I would never be able to do, and that I it was highly unlikely I would ever get my full range of motion back, which I was not willing to accept.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: And as long as you're willing to do the work, there's no injury that you can't um recover from within reason.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like if somebody chops your arm off, you're not gonna regrow an arm.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: That was the one that came to my mind.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, I think we're gonna have to mention that because I feel like there's definitely a couple.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: So so there are certain things like um I use frequency-specific microcurrent in my um with my patients, and I can do that remotely or you know, in clinics.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I like it because it's one of those things that allows me to essentially treat patients even when they're not here locally.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: But um, Carol McMain, who is the one who um who kind of founded this particular um type of microcurrent application, likes to say that anything that's just torn or damaged can be repaired.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: But if it's completely broken, then like putting it back together is a way bigger challenge, you know.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: We know scientifically that it's possible.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: A salamander can regrow a limb, right?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: And um, there's a book called The Body Electric.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's a fascinating read if you're into this kind of stuff, but um, which I obviously am, right?
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: But um, but the scientist did all these experiments with these poor salamanders um to figure out what it took for that salamander to regrow a limb.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: And they figured out that the um current required was actually really a tiny fraction.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: So humans think more is what we need to get the job done, right?
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: But actually, in many cases, it's less.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we need to just do less of the right things.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, they managed to even grow limbs on these salamanders in places where the limbs shouldn't have grown because they stimulated with the right current in the wrong place.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: And the salamander grew a limb like where that wasn't supposed to happen.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: So they knew that they had reverse-engineered it, but they actually had to invent the equipment to be able to do it because the equipment did not exist at the time.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyway, this was quite a while ago.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: But it's it's fascinating to really understand what the human body is capable of as far as um self-repair.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: Our body is regenerating a hundred percent of the time.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like the problem is normally the heavy lifting is done when we're sleeping.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: And if we're not sleeping well, if we're not resting well, then a lot of that um repair work uh becomes deferred maintenance, is the way I like to describe it.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: Essentially, you know, your body knows it needs to still get it done, but it's like I only have so much to work with right now.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna prioritize keeping the heart pumping, keeping the lungs working, you know, that sort of thing.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: All of the priorities.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like all of this is fascinating, especially like we're as humans, we think scientifically, we have it all figured out, right?
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: We're like, we're so smart, look at technology, we're the smartest.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know shit about shit.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we don't know what we don't know.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that it's an interesting perspective to hold on to that, like we're still learning.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: We still don't understand the brain, we still barely understand the gut, we don't understand like how they're all connected, or we're just starting to.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like it's a really good reminder to stay curious.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like in for the podcast, Curiously Guided, we talk about following curiosity in terms of our intuition and like our careers and like creating a fulfilling life, but like also with your body.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: Your body is created, like you said, like to repair.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm glad that you brought up like it's usually about doing less.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: And like, I wish I would have heard this conversation, gosh, probably almost 10 years ago now.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I all of this is just it hits home for me, like Shay mentioned.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: I talk to her about half of this shit literally all the time.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just like, hey, sit down, I've explored something else.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it's because I've gone on this health journey and this health rabbit hole essentially.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: But like what it really started for me was I was being put on acid reducers because I had really bad heartburn.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so I ended up going down this journey, and then I was working out way too much, my diet was way too restricting.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I just kept hitting brick wall after brick wall.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing was getting better, everything was getting worse.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: I was having chronic symptoms, and then I ended up finding a kinesiologist, and he was like, number one, your blood sugar.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like, your blood sugar is so up and down.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and he explained it to me because no, as an ad as a young adult, nobody ever explained that stuff to me before.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: And then he was like, And we have to stop doing those vigorous workouts.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, What do you mean?
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's how I stay in shape.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, No, like you don't get it.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: Your body doesn't have the energy, so now you're pushing it into stress, and your body can't heal when you're stressed.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't until I had those conversations, and then I had to supplement with HCL, and that was the only thing that worked.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then I was talking to friends because, like, I'm 31 years old, and like all of my friends have digestive issues.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's not ironic that we also lived in a very fast-paced society.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, all of this shit is so deeply connected, especially if we could just slow down and pay attention.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: But I think what we really need, like what I'm hearing from all of these stories and everything, is like it really does take increased awareness.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: And that's fucking tough.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's tough when you're living in like a fast-paced lifestyle.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's tough when you're trying to make money to pay the bills and like you're trying to feed your family or you're trying to do all these things, or maybe you have career goals or like hobbies and I don't know, living life in this society.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's very difficult.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: But like on this podcast, we talk about like creating space, creating space to listen to your intuition, but it's like also creating space to listen to your body because it's the only way to pick up on this subtle shit.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: And it starts off subtle, like you were saying, and then it all builds up and it'll get louder and it'll get louder until it punches you in the face.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: And you're like, Why'd you punch me in the face?
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, well, I tried whispering to you and you weren't paying attention.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in my book, What's Your Kryptonite?
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: I encourage readers to become their own PCP.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so in the medical world, in the healthcare field, PCP is your primary care practitioner, right?
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: But this is your primary care person.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: You're the best person to actually assume that role.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and the way I like to uh compel people to think about it is, you know, once your mom basically did this, like I'm done making sure that you are fed and that you're you're wearing clean clothes and you um got through school, um now it's on you, you know, you've got to make sure you're eating healthy food and you're um and you're taking care of yourself.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and you're a hundred percent correct that the key is awareness and um and you if you don't feel like you have time to slow down and um hear really subtle signals, subtle like messages, then all you have to do is look at your symptoms.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: Symptoms are not subtle messages.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: By the time you've got a symptom, your body's been struggling with that for a while already.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because your body was just taking care of it, taking care of it, taking care of it, taking care of it.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: And at a certain point in time, it said, I can't handle this and everything else.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, give me give me a minute.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, yeah.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so, so the um the issue there is our entire healthcare system, and I mean including a lot of alternative medicine practitioners, are focused on symptom suppression.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: How can we address the symptoms?
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's from a very early age, we've all been conditioned to recognize a symptom, go to the doctor that correlates to that symptom, and say, doc, give me something to kill that symptom.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: And if the if it works initially, which a lot of times it will because um the especially if it's prescription medication, those are very, very powerful medications.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: But as you've mentioned several times since we've been discussing this here today, is that everything is interconnected.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: So the medication works initially because it either meets a receptor that is required for your body to communicate that something needs to happen, or it interrupts the signal that's being sent causing something to happen.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: The the um medications for the most part work one of two ways.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: And either way, it isn't only disrupting that little process because we have no idea where that little process fits in the overall big picture computer program it takes to run this body.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I'm sitting here wondering.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I so what I'm hearing from this conversation is your body can heal always and how empowering that is, but it can only heal when you get yourself into a state of relaxation, right?
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_02: You can't live in this chronically stressed state, which a lot of us don't even realize we're in.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I keep thinking back, you know, our audience is mostly female business owners, and most of us are type A, most of us are go-getters.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I definitely think we all function with this low-level stress, but not always low level, sometimes high level.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_02: So I keep this quote, I'm just I've got to read this to you guys.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_02: So I saw this quote a couple of weeks ago online.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's been pinging around in my head, and it's so related to this conversation.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna dive into it.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_02: Growing up, I never knew a relaxed woman.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_02: Successful women, yes.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_02: Productive women, plenty.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_02: Anxious and afraid and apologetic women, heaps of them.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_02: But a relaxed woman, an at-ease woman, women who don't dissect their days into half hour slots of productivity, women who prioritize rest and pleasure and play, women who aren't afraid to take up space in the world, women who give themselves unconditional permission to relax without guilt, without apology, without feeling like they need to earn it.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure I've ever met a woman like that, but I would like to become one.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_02: Whew, I have like so many chills.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_02: So that struck me.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, oh my God, I don't know any relaxed women.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know that I know how to relax.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, how, how, how do you become?
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_02: I think a lot of us have operated in this state for so long, that groove is so deep that even just saying, like, on the weekends when I do have time to relax, you're like, Shay, relax.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's not that simple, right?
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like, it's like literally rewriting my operating processor.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, can you tell take us through like say I'm a new client coming to you?
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like, where do you get started with kind of learning how to like unwind and become more of a relaxed woman?
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: Interrupting the conversation, real quick, to give a shout out to this episode's sponsor, the contract shop.
• 36:48
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• 36:56
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• 37:02
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• 37:11
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• 37:13
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• 37:21
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• 37:31
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• 37:35
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• 37:44
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• 37:56
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• 38:04
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• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's take you back to the episode.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I have a uh program called the Molt Method and a membership that um goes along with that.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I in that MOLT method program, I've got several tools that I recommend patients use that they can have handy to use to take care of like ratcheting stress back when they start to feel it or gaining momentum.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so those things work really well because we need something handy that only takes a few minutes, right?
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: If if we feel stress rising, um we can tell, you know, that it's getting some momentum going.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: We have two choices.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: We can either ignore it, which is what we normally do, right?
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: And the next thing you know, we literally are, you know, having heart palpitations, right?
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, uh, can't catch our breath.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: Or um we basically just say, I'm out, I'm done, gotta go like take a nap, whatever.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so things you can do that take 10 minutes or less, literally like in a parking lot sitting in your car.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna just do like you did the grounding medication meditation when we started this.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: I've I use the four, seven, eight breathing technique sometimes.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_00: But um, another tool that I use, I have a um tool that I created called aware appreciation.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it basically is a structured practice for appreciating like what's going on in your world.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it is mind-boggling how effective that is at um bringing stress levels down.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: But if there's one thing I can encourage people to do, it is if you've got to like get up in the morning because you've got kids you've got to get to school, or you know, got a job you've got a um, you know, hard stop for, um, you need to give yourself a half an hour in the morning before you just hit the ground running.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like give yourself a half an hour that allows you to ease into your day.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and if you know, find a way to wake yourself up that isn't so startling, if you're relying on an alarm, um, try to find something that isn't so startling, uh, much more gentle to ease into your day.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then there are a lot of things you can do in that first half hour.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um if you're relying on drinking coffee to get going, you might want to delay your cup of coffee past this little period of time.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um that I know some people just love their cup of coffee in the morning.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_00: So if if that's you and you really are the type of person who can only drink one cup of coffee and you're done, then that's probably not as big of an issue.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're one of those people who literally like runs on coffee and energy drinks all day, this half hour is not your first cup of coffee, half hour.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: This half hour is easing into your day, not trying to jolt yourself to get going.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and then you're gonna practice something.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna practice meditation, you're gonna do a little 20-minute yoga, really gentle stretching, yin, restorative yoga practice.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna journal, you're gonna do something in that 30 minutes that just is you time that helps you ease into your day.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I started um journaling.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: I used Julia Cameron's process, the um artist way, um, morning pages.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I probably, this was before I even um sold my accounting firm, but I probably went, I can't remember now, it's been so many years ago, but um I think I said I missed one day in like 15 or 16 months.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because it was literally like the only thing that allowed me to like hold on, you know.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um but it's uh any of those kinds of practices aren't super effective one time.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's the cumulative benefits that actually create the um the effects and um and your um your mind, your you know soul awareness will learn to expect that, you know.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_00: So now if I don't spend that time in the morning, which is very rare, a lot of times I spend a lot longer than that.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: 30 minutes is for me like a nanosecond.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh, but if I don't spend that time for a few days in a row, like sometimes when I'm on vacation, it's not as easy to find a place to like set myself aside kind of thing.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I come back from vacation, and the first thing I want to do is have my like morning me time.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: So um it definitely becomes addictive in a good way.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: Love that.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like it just it piggybacks off of so many things that we say so often.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_01: And just like on a personal level, when me and Shay are talking, it's like when we're dreaming of our dream day, both of us are like slow mornings are a must-have.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: It has to be.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: And like as a business owner, owning my own business, working for myself at home, I have the luxury of being able to carve that time out for myself because I set my schedule.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have kids yet.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like I can wake up when I want.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_01: And waking up without an alarm is really supportive.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I even found myself this morning, I'm just like, I need more time, like just for myself, instead of like this fake thing where it's like, I have to sit down by my desk by 9 a.m.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, my call isn't until 11, dude.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why don't you just like take a breath?
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_01: But like oftentimes, what is helpful for me because like I can't, I don't like something where it's like I have to think.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_01: So like stretching, I'm just like, I don't want to think.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to have to really move.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_01: What's been helpful for me is like finding a space wherever I am and just staring at something and not like a white wall, like like outside, like finding a place where it's just like an open window where I can just like stare outside and like not have to listen to anything.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_01: And then my boyfriend will wake up and he'll turn on the fucking TV and I'm like, can we just have silence for 30 seconds?
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_01: But like it's that, it's that time that's so nourishing to me in the morning, and it's not anything wild.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't last.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it doesn't even last a half hour.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_01: But then it's like I just stare at something like outside, and then I'll come into the kitchen and just like start doing the dishes where it's like I'm slowly starting to move my body, but still I'm not thinking.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_01: And like doing the dishes like sounds awful when like you say it out loud, but for some reason it's one of those things where just like my mind can focus on something while I'm still not actively thinking, and it actually feels really nourishing.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so I noticed that it's like, because I was shaming myself.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, well, why the fuck are you doing dishes in the morning?
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's so stupid.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's not nourishing at all.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then I'm like, well, wait a minute.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what if I was just honest with myself?
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_01: This actually feels really good.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_01: Why am I making up a story that it can't feel good or it shouldn't feel good, even though it feels really good to like have a clean sink when I'm about to cook breakfast in the morning?
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so I feel I'm really glad that you said that because I feel like me and Shay kind of talk about like our mornings and and what we love about them.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's cool to hear in terms of stress and in terms of setting ourselves ourselves up on the right foot, that it's like doing something super simple like that in the morning is beneficial not only for our mind, but for our body too.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I appreciate you sharing that.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 46:48
  unknown: Yeah.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you can bookend your day a half an hour in the morning and a half an hour in the evening, and that half an hour in the evening is no blue screens and some sort of meditative kind of practice in the evening as well.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh, and you know, that's an hour out of your day, and um and um will go a long way for improving your rest, that then will translate into you feeling more energetic and having um just generally feeling more optimistic about what you've got going on in your life.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the things I um I like to um share just I'm in my 60s, so um I'm way too beyond uh you, but um when I sold my accounting practice, um I don't really look back and think I wish I had not done that because what I'm doing now is what I meant to do.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_00: So that isn't really the case, but I did step out of that from uh almost like a feeling of desperation, like I can't do this any longer, which was the byproduct of being so stressed and so kind of toxic.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you're feeling really unhappy in your life and unsatisfied, focus on reducing the stress, focus on reducing the toxicity, give yourself six months or a year to to work on that before you make like a decision that really is gonna have long far-reaching implications.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because the bottom line is you're gonna have to reduce the stress and the toxicity regardless.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_00: So the one thing you can be sure of is that you need to keep your stress levels in check and you need to be mindful of toxic buildup.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm glad you pivoted us here because you brought this up before we pressed record, and I really think it's interesting.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you brought up the idea of, you know, this podcast is all about following curiosity and listening to your intuition.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_02: And so you brought up the idea that perhaps when we're not listening to our intuition and we're staying in situations where we feel stuck and powerless or aren't a good fit.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_02: That's another form of stress.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_02: And that for me really resonated.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's almost like again, this idea of subtle stress.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like I didn't even realize it was there, but like that eats at me, drains my energy, and like leaves you a few.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_02: We just shot an episode about feeling lost and stuck.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_02: So I have to think like, do you mind sharing a little bit more about how that's shown up for you or like what what is that stress that like when things are out of alignment?
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, let me see.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_00: How would I um so one of the uh situations I think that we can all relate to is um feeling a little at odds in our primary relationship with our significant other, right?
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_00: I've got a really great relationship with my husband.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: He's not my first husband.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we have a really great relationship, and most of the time we're pretty much on the same page.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_00: We're both super busy, we work a lot, so we don't have a whole lot of quality time, but generally we steal all moments here and there.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and I tend to plan time away for us.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_00: If I waited for him to plan time away, it would basically never happen.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I trend to tend to plan time away for us, and in the in the initial stages, he'll be a little resistant to it.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then once he accepts it and blocks it out on his calendar, he's usually the one that enjoy ends up enjoying it more than I do.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_00: But um, but if he and I get crossed up for over something, disagreement over something, big decision that needs to be made, and we're kind of not on the same page, and and it really requires a lot of discussion and meeting of the minds that maybe we don't feel like we have time for.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_00: So there's like this kind of underlying feeling of disharmony that's going on, that's incredibly stressful, and it's keeping your body just constantly on edge.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and so that's an example of how um of how a normal scenario can flux in and out of feeling like too stressful versus not stressful.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, in any relationship, we're always compromising, we're always having to make little adjustments.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's stress associated with it.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_00: But when when we get out of harmony and we're not feeling that connection, that can definitely um cause a problem.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_00: And if you are um working in a job and your direct supervisor changed or ownership of the company changed, and that puts you in flux of what your job's gonna look like, that's incredibly stressful, right?
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_00: Even though if even if you love your job, that just the uncertainty will create stress.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_00: And if you are in your own situation and you're looking for clients, sometimes we'll take on a client um that is not a great fit because we feel like we could use the extra money or or for you know a number of reasons.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and so that'll tend to create stress that um that we essentially brought on ourselves.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_00: And um so there's all kinds of ways that shows up.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_00: And when you feel it in your body, when you notice symptoms happening more often, when you normally sleep really soundly and now you're finding yourself, you know, waking up and not able to sleep, or um, we talked about headaches or digestive issues.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if generally that those kinds of things are not happening, you're keeping them in check, and all of a sudden those kinds of things are starting to happen with regularity, then you can pretty much look in your world and find some sort of stressor that maybe you think you're keeping in check, but you're not.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_00: Your body, um, there's uh uh Bessel Vanderkolk has a book um titled The Body Keeps the Score.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_00: And he's in particularly talking about uh PTSD trauma response.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_00: But um, but basically all of that is stored in your body, and um, and your body deals with it until it gets kind of overloaded.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I love that you brought up the word disharmony.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_02: I was gonna say the same thing, Mariah.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, yes.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like that is such okay, so I feel like when I hear the word stress, I'm just like we hear about it, we go to the doctors, I'm just like, oh, I have a headache, and the doctor's like, oh, you're stressed.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, cue the eye roll.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like we hear stress all the time.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like, okay, stress, stress, stress, stress.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_01: But when you say the word disharmony, maybe it's because it's not a word that's used in this kind of arena as much.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's like an ear prick up moment where you're like, huh, I haven't been a like, I haven't used that word before.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like all of us, like, once you say, like, where's the disharmony happening?
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_01: We instantly like can know.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_01: We're like, oh fuck, it's that right there.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_01: And it allows us to kind of like see it through a different light.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_01: Where I feel like if you were to be like, Mariah, what are you stressed about?
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'd be like, nothing, I'm good.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_01: But if you were like Mariah, where's the disharmony happening?
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'd be like, oh, I had a conversation with a client two days ago, and I feel like I'm looping on it a little bit.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm glad that you brought that up and all of the examples, which is like a relationship, whether that's a partnership, whether it's a friendship that's getting a little sticky, whether it's a client, whether it's a job and a boss, like there's so many different things.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then what also I feel like plays into it and like how your body responds to the stress of that moment is how full is your bucket of other things of toxicity or just like other levels of stress?
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, now do you have seven different doorways that are open, leading in more stress?
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_01: So it was like just this last situation was that like straw that broke the camel's back type thing.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_01: And then you're just like, why am I so upset about something that normally I wouldn't be upset about?
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, well, maybe you're stressed in 17 different directions when usually you're stressed in two different directions and you can kind of keep it at bay a little bit.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that that's important to keep in mind.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then I also wanted to say, especially for our listeners, like if you're in a stressful situation, do not allow this to then like trigger shame and be like, fuck, now I know my body's stress, it's over for me, my body's not healing.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_01: Cause I feel like that can trigger like it can trigger like um like health shame of just like, well, now I'm not doing a good thing for my body and now it's shit.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm just gonna eat pizza because I'm having a shit day.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then it's like, and then you stress out your digestive system and then whatever.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_01: So just an invitation to like remember that we're human, remember that the body is like created to be able to handle stress, and it's not the fact that like something stressful is happening, it's the fact that we're living in a time where all of it is prolonged and it's adding on top of itself.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I just wanted to give that reminder too, because like, especially when I first started diving into this, it felt so overwhelming of like, I can't live my life walking on pillows.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just like a really good reminder.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_00: I um what the way I counsel patients is I tell them that um we're gonna apply the 80-20 rule and we're gonna figure out what 20% needs to be changed that's gonna produce 80% of the results.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna probably live with 80% is good enough because we are never gonna be perfect.
• 57:39
  SPEAKER_00: We're always gonna wanna like go out and have a couple glasses of wine and pizza, which we know, like honestly, there's no redeeming qualities in pizza, you know, like it's got every ingredient I tell people to avoid so much pleasure, so much pleasure.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I I eat it too sometimes, you know.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_00: I just want a piece of pizza, right?
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and you know what?
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_00: If I have one piece of pizza and it's like comes and goes, and I don't pile it on like three times a week, it's no big deal, right?
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_00: But um, but there are things that, especially in the beginning, when if you if you've got a a number of things that you're really trying to um reverse, you probably are gonna have to be pretty strict with some of the changes in the first month, two, three.
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but then my goal for patients is that we can live a full and fulfilling life.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_00: And we know the, you know, the name of my book is What's Your Kryptonite?
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_00: I want to know what my kryptonite is, you know, Superman, Superwoman, they don't hang out around kryptonite even a little, right?
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_00: They, you know, they're gonna steer clear of kryptonite.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so I want my peeps to know what their kryptonite is.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the things that I have to steer clear of.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then other things I can dabble in if it brings me a ton of joy, and um, and I do it like with, you know, in a mindful way, intermittently, kind of thing.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_02: You've brought up some of my favorite books so far, you know, like we love the body keeps a score.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a big Julia Cameron fan.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_02: I really liked what you said earlier about like really at the end of the day, all of this is about like do less, right?
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_02: And how are you filling your own cup every day?
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I love the book, and I think that's such valuable advice.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_02: Are you taking time for yourself?
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_02: Because that is communicating to yourself, I value myself, I'm worthy, and that can have some amazing compounding effects.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_02: I've recently started really enforcing slow mornings myself, and I've seen a huge improvement.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm curious, you know, um, one thing we've been kind of dabbling with in this podcast this season is about like spirituality and like how you fill your own cup every single day.
• 1:00:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm curious if you're comfortable sharing with us, you know, like what do your practices look like that kind of help you connect with something bigger?
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_02: I uh what does your morning and evening time look like?
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_02: Uh what does that um paint the picture for us in your world?
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I um I typically treat myself in the morning.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I have some sort of like frequency-specific microcurrent uh program that I run, and I kind of run that in the background while I'm doing some of these other things.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um I typically use some sort of meditation.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_00: I've got a couple of different things that I use depending on um what I'm in the mood for.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then if I've got something, if my mind's really running, um, or even like if I get inspired, I will journal out um what what's going on and I can do all of that kind of simultaneously.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and my practice tends to go anywhere from like a half an hour to two hours, but around an hour-ish is about the norm.
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and so it'll um it'll always include some form of meditation, and um and then typically I layer on something else.
• 1:01:30
  SPEAKER_00: So and I can't imagine a life without that kind of um space.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, one idea I keep coming up is like you don't know it's not there till it's not there.
• 1:01:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like, so I with my morning routine, I'm the same.
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't know what I was missing, I had never had anything, and I hate even using the word morning routine because it makes me rub my eyes, but space making space for yourself, ritual, whatever you want to call it.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_02: And then when I don't have it for a couple of days, like you said, I really start to notice.
• 1:02:02
  SPEAKER_01: You're fiending for it.
• 1:02:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so, so that's that's interesting because that was my experience back in the days when I was still running the accounting firm, like the idea of getting up and spending at the in those days when I was writing morning pages really like religiously, because I couldn't imagine quieting my mind enough to meditate, right?
• 1:02:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I used morning pages as my meditation essentially, and um, and Julia Cameron talks about the benefit of disciplining yourself to handwriting three pages, and um, and the way I explain this to people is that, and you wouldn't know this until you discipline yourself that I'm going to commit to this ritual for it takes about six weeks to establish a new habit.
• 1:03:01
  SPEAKER_00: So you've got to commit to it for a month, two, three months to really see how it's gonna work its way into your world and what it's gonna produce.
• 1:03:15
  SPEAKER_00: But what she would talk about is the benefit of disciplining yourself to write three pages.
• 1:03:22
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of us journal and we just scribble a few little things and we ponder and scribble a few more things, and then I don't have any more time, slam, right?
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_00: So this practice of morning pages is very disciplined.
• 1:03:37
  SPEAKER_00: You write three handwritten pages, and um and I can't even tell you how many times I hit about two-thirds of the way into page two and thought, I'm done.
• 1:03:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'm pretty done.
• 1:03:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, in my head is ringing Julia's voice saying, Oh no, you're not.
• 1:03:58
  SPEAKER_00: You committed to three full pages, and so you know, you push past into the start of page three, and here comes out this information that you just are looking at what just came out on the page, and you're thinking, holy moly, that's why I'm stuck.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like that's what's creating the stress.
• 1:04:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I've been missing, that's the answer to whatever thing I've been circling around for eight years, you know.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so I just really encourage people, find your thing.
• 1:04:38
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't have to be morning pages.
• 1:04:40
  SPEAKER_00: For any of us who are overthinkers, morning pages tend to be really helpful because they give you a um a way to allow yourself to keep thinking, but in a pretty structured way.
• 1:04:56
  SPEAKER_00: But my point was I could never get through the morning pages in 30 minutes.
• 1:05:01
  SPEAKER_00: Julia says you can do it in 30 minutes, and it was very rare that I got through it in 30 minutes.
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_00: It took me about 45 minutes to get through it, and probably because I hit that resistance point at about two-thirds of the way through page two.
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because and the other thing I did is I used like the notebook page college rule paper, like so I really was not cheating.
• 1:05:22
  SPEAKER_00: It was legit three handwritten pages.
• 1:05:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:05:26
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and so um, so find your thing and commit to it for at least six weeks.
• 1:05:35
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and then um I I don't want you to be too hard on yourself because stuff happens, shit happens, as you guys would say.
• 1:05:49
  SPEAKER_00: I forgot, I forgot whose show I'm on.
• 1:05:52
  SPEAKER_00: Shit happens.
• 1:05:53
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so if if shit is happening today and you just have to cut it short.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_00: Just do what you gotta do.
• 1:06:03
  SPEAKER_00: But know that breaking that pattern and sending your um mind a message that there's all these other things that take priority over you and your me space and this thing you said you were doing for yourself, you are um you are kind of sabotaging yourself.
• 1:06:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so um so you have to then be aware, which you've talked a lot about here today, be aware that you allowed somebody else to be essentially calling the shots for you, you know, and whether that is I didn't wake up early enough and you know, I knew I had to wake up this early in order to be able to have my half an hour space to do this, and I didn't do it, you know, that's a point of resistance.
• 1:06:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, those are the kinds of things that um that I would take to my morning pages and say, like, you know, what what's my resistance to this?
• 1:07:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and basically you're just having a conversation with yourself.
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_00: It is so, such a cool process.
• 1:07:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love that I love that you shared all of that and especially like moving past the resistance and also just the fact that, like, pick your flavor, dude.
• 1:07:24
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever feels good for you.
• 1:07:25
  SPEAKER_01: Because, like you said, there is that thin line between you stress and distress.
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're forcing yourself to have your morning routine or whatever that looks like, your me time look exactly like somebody else's, you could be starting to tiptoe into distress and then it just bites you in the ass because it's like now you're kind of not even doing it for the beneficial reasons of why we started doing it.
• 1:07:48
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why I think the awareness comes in.
• 1:07:51
  SPEAKER_01: And like it's just life is complex, right?
• 1:07:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like there's so many layers here.
• 1:07:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's like we have to have discipline, but then also have awareness to give ourselves grace.
• 1:08:00
  SPEAKER_01: So then it's like only you can make that decision, and only you can come back to yourself and be like, am I just being an asshole to myself?
• 1:08:07
  SPEAKER_01: Or do I really like not have time and then I don't want to like stress myself out when this is supposed to be the thing that kind of lowers my stress.
• 1:08:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that that is really important to keep in mind.
• 1:08:20
  SPEAKER_01: But I just wanted to share a quick story here.
• 1:08:23
  SPEAKER_01: So uh our longtime podcast listeners know that I moved a little bit over a year ago from Buffalo, like my hometown, to I was staying at my aunt's house.
• 1:08:34
  SPEAKER_01: We were moving to the Carolinas.
• 1:08:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember when I stayed at my aunt's house, she is like one of the most nourishing people, right?
• 1:08:42
  SPEAKER_01: She was like cooking me and my boyfriend dinner every day.
• 1:08:45
  SPEAKER_01: She's like, Ray, you don't have to go shopping, just lay on the like, do whatever you want.
• 1:08:49
  SPEAKER_01: I like started reading again.
• 1:08:51
  SPEAKER_01: And like when I was in Buffalo, I had all of my friends there, all of my family there.
• 1:08:55
  SPEAKER_01: I was running my business.
• 1:08:58
  SPEAKER_01: When we moved and I didn't have social obligations and I didn't have all this stuff, I remember sitting on the couch and I'm reading a book and I put the book down and I look outside and I was like, holy fuck.
• 1:09:11
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't realize how subtle my stress was.
• 1:09:15
  SPEAKER_01: Because in my mind, stress was either anxiety or feeling frazzled.
• 1:09:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I wasn't at that point.
• 1:09:22
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, no, I can handle this.
• 1:09:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like to me, stress was like chaos, it was out of control.
• 1:09:27
  SPEAKER_01: You can't handle this.
• 1:09:28
  SPEAKER_01: But I was like, no, I'm a I'm a boss ass bitch.
• 1:09:31
  SPEAKER_01: I can handle anything.
• 1:09:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm just like, of course I'm not stressed.
• 1:09:34
  SPEAKER_01: But I was sitting and I was just like, my body feels at ease.
• 1:09:38
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like it felt like all of the cells stopped moving and things like it was just peaceful.
• 1:09:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I can't tell you the last time that I truly felt this peaceful.
• 1:09:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then so we stayed at my aunt's house for six weeks, which was borderline that borderline of going from you stress to distress, staying in somebody else's home for that long.
• 1:10:03
  SPEAKER_01: But we ended up, we were looking for a place around Charlotte, North Carolina.
• 1:10:07
  SPEAKER_01: We couldn't end up finding a place, and then we just started kind of like doing a prayer of just like, God, let it be easy.
• 1:10:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm tired of stressing about this shit.
• 1:10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like, let it be easy.
• 1:10:17
  SPEAKER_01: Andrew ended up finding a place that was in the mountains outside of Asheville.
• 1:10:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, What?
• 1:10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I thought that we were gonna move in the city of Charlotte and like I was gonna be walking to coffee shops, I was gonna be living my best city life, is what I thought.
• 1:10:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like, God was like, No, bitch, you need to like cocoon your ass in the mountains away from things.
• 1:10:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so we ended up living in that apartment for a year, and like it was so beautiful, and it was like I had this full resetting year, and I know that like a lot of people don't have this option, right?
• 1:10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm very, very grateful for this.
• 1:10:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I just the one thing that I mainly learned is like how subtle stress feels in my body, and it's like I don't want that reflection and that understanding to go away because now we're living in Tampa, Florida.
• 1:11:09
  SPEAKER_01: We're back in a city.
• 1:11:10
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like I'm starting to notice, I'm just like, oh, we're we're we're pushing out past that past that borderline of what I want.
• 1:11:19
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't think that I would have actually realized that until I did what I did, because the subtle stress is so subtle that you just push it down.
• 1:11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because, like, what is stress?
• 1:11:29
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have anxiety, I don't feel frazzled.
• 1:11:31
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, just an invitation to sit even deeper with yourself, even if you don't think that you have stress, because it's almost guaranteed if you're if you're around friends or family, there's probably some level of stress somewhere.
• 1:11:51
  SPEAKER_00: We were actually in um the Tampa area just for over Thanksgiving week.
• 1:11:56
  SPEAKER_00: So um oh nice, yeah.
• 1:11:58
  SPEAKER_00: My husband's mom lives outside of that area, so it's a very, it's a very lovely area.
• 1:12:05
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it for sure.
• 1:12:07
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so there is, we're gonna have to wrap up soon here, but I do have a question because like when I was back in Buffalo, I look like I said in the intro of this, it's kind of like my stress feels like passion.
• 1:12:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what do you mean?
• 1:12:23
  SPEAKER_01: But like, is there a dopamine rush that goes along with stress?
• 1:12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I feel like I might have been like addicted to stress, or was I just operating in such a stressful time and that was my new normal?
• 1:12:35
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like if I wasn't there, like it didn't feel normal, and then relaxing actually felt uncomfortable.
• 1:12:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like, is there something around that?
• 1:12:44
  SPEAKER_00: So um there are four main brain chemicals, happy brain chemicals.
• 1:12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:12:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so I have a uh little program I call manufacturing happiness, and I've incorporated some of these concepts into my Molt Method program.
• 1:13:01
  SPEAKER_00: But um endorphins are basically that high you get the runners high are endorphins, but you can see how like any sort of accomplishment and like rushing kind of thing, like that would generate endorphins, right?
• 1:13:19
  SPEAKER_00: So you can see how we would feel a little high off of that.
• 1:13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Dopamine is um reward.
• 1:13:29
  SPEAKER_00: So if you get like somehow rewarded for your action, that'll be a dopamine rush.
• 1:13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um so um I'm trying to think of um something that would be a good um just off the top of my head, what what is a good dopamine example?
• 1:13:58
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I've got an example like Mariah doing dishes.
• 1:14:00
  SPEAKER_02: We've talked about on the former about the podcast.
• 1:14:03
  SPEAKER_02: When you wake up in the morning, do you go for your phone for that initial hit or do you do dishes and get the clean sink?
• 1:14:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:14:09
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, in that kind of whatever.
• 1:14:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so either one.
• 1:14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Either one, if the if the if the um dope, if you get the dopamine rush from your phone because you get the like, you know, connection or whatever, or you get the dopamine hit from washing the dishes because you like to see the clean sink, either way, right?
• 1:14:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's the um serotonin, and serotonin is really a key component in a lot of um the issues that we have because serotonin is primarily made in the gut.
• 1:14:41
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and so um when we've got digestive issues, when we're not sleeping well, like all of that stuff can a lot of times be tied back to the gut and to a serotonin disruption.
• 1:14:55
  SPEAKER_00: And serotonin is generated uh typically by recognition.
• 1:15:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, like for example, if this podcast was in the top 10 podcasts on iTunes or whatever your equivalent would be, right?
• 1:15:12
  SPEAKER_00: The recognition you would get from that would be like a hit of serotonin for you, right?
• 1:15:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's a lot of ways that that can happen, but um, but serotonin is another um, another like happy brain chemical.
• 1:15:27
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, we've got a gut brain and a head brain.
• 1:15:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it's hitting you uh double whammy.
• 1:15:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then there is oxytocin, and oxytocin is that feeling of just being loved, right?
• 1:15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Just um that's the mom-child bond.
• 1:15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's the bond we feel for our pets.
• 1:15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's like the oxytocin rush.
• 1:15:50
  SPEAKER_00: So if you think about it, we have these four brain chemicals, and each one of them can be tied in some way, shape, or form to some sort of activity.
• 1:16:04
  SPEAKER_00: So there it's understandable why we want to like stay in motion because all these different points of contact, things we do, activities are all giving us little hits of happy brain chemicals, right?
• 1:16:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, so just uh sitting on the sofa, like um, I don't have pets anymore, but um, many years ago, when I was earlier in my days of meditation, I had a dog and a cat.
• 1:16:36
  SPEAKER_00: And my cat would love to just curl up in my lap the minute I sat down for meditation.
• 1:16:43
  SPEAKER_00: She he would curl up in my lap and basically um use my lap as a pillow and just lay there for the whole time I meditated.
• 1:16:53
  SPEAKER_00: And you can see how I would be getting an oxytocin rush on top of some of the other like happy brain chemicals that would be happening from that meditation experience, right?
• 1:17:08
  SPEAKER_00: So um I don't know if that helps you like with what your question was, but um a lot of times if we're just feeling a little low, we can attack um, I call it manufacturing happiness for a reason.
• 1:17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because if we are feeling low and can tie it to, you know, a type of brain chemical that we're low in, there are things we can do.
• 1:17:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um for example, um if you're low on dopamine and just kind of feeling low, you can plan a vacation.
• 1:17:49
  SPEAKER_00: You don't even have to go on vacation, just planning a vacation will um will do it.
• 1:17:55
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the reasons why we're all so addicted to Facebook is because we keep we use it like a scrapbook, right?
• 1:18:02
  SPEAKER_00: We comes back with pictures from years ago and all of that is dopamine hit.
• 1:18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that definitely it definitely answers my question because it's like if I'm used to keep moving forward and doing all of these things, it's like I'm getting an overpouring of all of these chemicals.
• 1:18:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then of course, when I relax and I sit down and I just stare out the window, I'm not used to that activity triggering a brain chemical.
• 1:18:33
  SPEAKER_01: So of course, I feel like that's not good enough.
• 1:18:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like, no, I must be doing something else in order to get this reaction that I've been craving so long.
• 1:18:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that that's, and obviously I don't know the science, but I feel like that's probably why it takes at least six weeks, because your brain's like, okay, well, we need to shift from what you're used to into this thing that you want to start doing.
• 1:18:54
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I I feel like that could be like a whole podcast episode on itself, but um, I'm glad that you went there and I'm I'm really grateful that you that you explained that.
• 1:19:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um okay, but do you have any more I do, yeah.
• 1:19:07
  SPEAKER_02: But I was like, don't shut us down yet, Mariah.
• 1:19:09
  SPEAKER_02: I am curious.
• 1:19:10
  SPEAKER_02: I think your story is very interesting, and I think a lot of people listening relate to it.
• 1:19:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm wondering what is the difference between Gala, the CPA versus Dr.
• 1:19:20
  SPEAKER_02: Gala.
• 1:19:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you are someone who was in a profession that I would call more like zone of excellence, which I think a lot of us can relate to, where you're doing something, you're good at it, you don't necessarily hate it, but it's not really, doesn't feel like it's what you're here to do.
• 1:19:34
  SPEAKER_02: Perhaps there's some disharmony in some way.
• 1:19:36
  SPEAKER_02: And you've taken the leap and gone into a completely different 180 of a profession.
• 1:19:42
  SPEAKER_02: And now you're here on the other side.
• 1:19:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I know that leap is something that so many of us dream about.
• 1:19:47
  SPEAKER_02: So, do you mind sharing with us about the difference between who you were then and who you are now and what is on the other side of the big leap?
• 1:19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think back then, um, up to my 30s, um I've always been a learner, you know.
• 1:20:04
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, the challenge of learning something new wasn't a resistance point.
• 1:20:11
  SPEAKER_00: But it's not easy to step away from a successful business that you've built.
• 1:20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and um, you know, maybe if you sell it for billions of dollars, but in a personal service business kind of scenario, that's not what happens.
• 1:20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so um I never really thought about anything other than like the measurable success, you know, um how much revenue, how much money was being made, you know, the next new client didn't really think much about attracting clients that I really liked working with, you know, and um and so the the Dr.
• 1:20:58
  SPEAKER_00: Gala, the today's Gala is all about that, you know, like I would gladly not work with somebody that I didn't feel like was a good fit and wasn't going to um feel excited about working with me and kind of my approach.
• 1:21:20
  SPEAKER_00: My approach isn't for everyone, you know, like if you are wanting a quick fix symptom suppression, take a pill, um, and you don't mind all these other symptoms popping up and you know you're not too worried about it, at least for the time being, then you're not ready for me yet.
• 1:21:39
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so you know, it it's a very um a very different emphasis and um and I get challenged, you know, still challenged regularly to say, well, you know, it's not gonna hurt to um set aside that requirement for a short period of time.
• 1:22:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I think because of my age, because I'm in my 60s, and because of the extreme nature of what I experienced up until my late 30s, I'm in a situation where I am not willing to compromise, you know, um, really regardless of the consequences.
• 1:22:26
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and I don't I don't think that's for everybody, but um, but I do think it's important to know that you're compromising, you know, and and and to be able to say, okay, I'm compromising for these reasons, and um, here's what I'm gonna do to offset the stressful effects of that.
• 1:22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Awareness, baby.
• 1:22:53
  SPEAKER_01: Awareness, yeah, for sure.
• 1:22:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm glad that you can be one of our very first examples of the relaxed woman.
• 1:23:00
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you.
• 1:23:00
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for showing up.
• 1:23:04
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I would uh, you know, I live life to the fullest too, you know.
• 1:23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh, but I do know how to balance it, you know, and I do know when I need to unplug and and I take my little mini retreats and I make sure I get vacation time and I make sure I start my almost every morning slow.
• 1:23:27
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and so um there are just some things that um you do because you see the cumulative effects of it over time.
• 1:23:37
  SPEAKER_00: And your priorities get clearer, your boundaries get clearer.
• 1:23:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then you notice, you notice when you're not feeling it very quickly, you know, within a few days, I can say, oops, like I gotta not let this go any further.
• 1:23:53
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
• 1:23:54
  SPEAKER_02: Oh man, that's so good.
• 1:23:56
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's a skill right there is like, oh, something's out of alignment.
• 1:23:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like you've had Mariah's year on the mountain, you've felt how it feels, and then you can start noticing when things get out.
• 1:24:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, well, this has been such a nourishing episode.
• 1:24:07
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for your time, Dr.
• 1:24:09
  SPEAKER_02: Gala.
• 1:24:09
  SPEAKER_02: We always um love to wrap up the episode by asking you, you know, our podcast is all about curiosity.
• 1:24:16
  SPEAKER_02: You are a curious woman.
• 1:24:17
  SPEAKER_02: I've seen you explore that in your um career path.
• 1:24:20
  SPEAKER_02: But would you mind sharing with us right now?
• 1:24:22
  SPEAKER_02: Do you have anything that's kind of like sparked your curiosity recently that you've been like fascinated by or maybe going down rabbit holes with?
• 1:24:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, I shared with you just a few minutes ago about the serotonin being made in your gut.
• 1:24:35
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that um that I struggle with intermittently is insomnia.
• 1:24:42
  SPEAKER_00: And um growing up, when I was really little, um, I had bronchitis a lot and was on antibiotics pretty much nonstop.
• 1:24:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so I've had lifelong issues regulating my digestive system.
• 1:24:58
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and so I'm really curious about this like the concept of manufacturing serotonin and um and really using that process to help with the gut healing that then like has all these other like positive side effects.
• 1:25:18
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so anyway, that's like the thing I'm playing with right now.
• 1:25:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of stuff I play with.
• 1:25:24
  SPEAKER_02: Fascinating.
• 1:25:25
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 1:25:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we all we all benefit from your curiosity, and other people like you've curiosity to dive deeper into that stuff.
• 1:25:34
  SPEAKER_01: So you're definitely gonna have to keep us posted on just like what you find about it because I'm curious about that too.
• 1:25:40
  SPEAKER_01: But we have one more question, and the very last question is where can our people find you?
• 1:25:45
  SPEAKER_01: So you've said a lot of really awesome things.
• 1:25:48
  SPEAKER_01: We you've mentioned the book that you have.
• 1:25:50
  SPEAKER_01: Can you just give our listeners um like where they can find, where they can connect with you?
• 1:25:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then we'll be sure to put all the links to those things in the show notes.
• 1:25:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's great.
• 1:26:00
  SPEAKER_00: So um my website is drgala.com, dr-g-a-la.com.
• 1:26:05
  SPEAKER_00: Super simple.
• 1:26:06
  SPEAKER_00: And on the home page, if you scroll down just a little ways, you'll see uh the front cover of my book, easy links to find it on Amazon.
• 1:26:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you scroll down a little further, there's a little form you can fill out and sign up for my weekly newsletter.
• 1:26:21
  SPEAKER_00: I typically send out a newsletter on Sundays just with my sort of latest and greatest thoughts on things, like uh this serotonin concept.
• 1:26:31
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and then if you scroll a little further down to the bottom, you'll see all the little social badges.
• 1:26:38
  SPEAKER_00: So if um whatever your social channel du jour is, I'm sure you'll find it there.
• 1:26:45
  SPEAKER_00: And you can click and link with me directly from there.
• 1:26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, perfect.
• 1:26:50
  SPEAKER_01: We are going to put the links to all of that down in the show notes.
• 1:26:54
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you.
• 1:26:56
  SPEAKER_01: Seriously, thank you so much for coming on the show.
• 1:26:58
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for answering our questions.
• 1:27:01
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for your examples and just like your knowledge and your openness to share all of this stuff.
• 1:27:06
  SPEAKER_01: I really enjoyed this.
• 1:27:07
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's going to be really impactful.
• 1:27:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, like I said, we're gonna make sure to include all of those links in the bottom of the show notes for our listeners, but I think that we're ready to close this episode down.
• 1:27:18
  SPEAKER_01: So remember, friends, that you have the power to create whatever the fuck you want.
• 1:27:23
  SPEAKER_01: Follow the nudge, ask questions, and let curiosity guide the way.
• 1:27:28
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see you in the next episode.
• 1:27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me.
• 1:27:34
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for tuning in and listening to this episode of the Curiously Guided Podcast.
• 1:27:41
  SPEAKER_01: We appreciate you so much for being here.
• 1:27:44
  SPEAKER_01: Truly, this podcast is such a joy for us to create.
• 1:27:48
  SPEAKER_01: If you love the conversation or you're a fan of the podcast and you want to support us in creating new episodes, feel free to head over to curiouslyguided.comslash support.
• 1:28:00
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• 1:28:02
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• 1:28:10
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• 1:28:16
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• 1:28:22
  SPEAKER_02: We'll see you in the next episode.