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Mojo Monday - Be Where Your Feet Are With Carly Taylor · Hardiness with Dr Paul Taylor

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, it's Carlie Taylor here for this week's Mojo Monday.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: So there's a little phrase I want to introduce you to,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: and that is be where your feet are. So I
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: would be so curious to know what came into your
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: mind when I said that phrase, be where your feet are,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: because so often we're actually not where we are right now.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: So our minds are often the future or the past,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: or we're thinking about all the things that we've got
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: to do, the people who are relying on us, the
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: things we should be doing, the things we shouldn't have done.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: And it's no wonder we get overwhelmed and exhausted. And
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: I'm not promising a cure for all that, but I
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: am going to give you a bit of a strategy
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: to manage it, and that is to be where your
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: feet are. It's so easy to get trapped in your
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: feelings exhaustion, stress, hopelessness, and your mind tends to shrink
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: everything down until it feels like that's all there is.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: It's like you are your feelings. It's like you're looking
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: at life through blinkers either side of your face, like
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: a horse, so you can't see beyond how you feel
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: and then you feel stuck, stuck in this prison of
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: your mind and a prison of your nervous system. But
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: your feet aren't stuck. You can always control what you
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: do with your feet. So you can't always control what
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: you feel, but unless you have a disability, you can
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: control what you do with your body. You can press
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: your feet into the ground, which is something I do
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: all the time. If I feel my mind wandering off
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: to thoughts that just aren't helpful to me, I press
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: my feet into the ground, and it reminds me. It's
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: kind of a bit of a trigger to me that
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: I have control over my body and I'm here. So
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: you can stand up, you can take a step forward,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: you can move even if your mind feels like it can't.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: And there's this really effective practice that it reminded me of.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: It's an exercise by Russ Harris who and it's called
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: dropping anchor, and it's basically, notice what's going inside you,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: So notice your thoughts, notice your feelings, and then shift
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: your attention to your body. Press your feet into the floor,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: roll your shoulders back, take a stretch so those feelings
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: and thoughts are still there, and then your body's here,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: and then you look around, what's here? What can you see,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: what can you hear? What can you touch? So you
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: can see that sort of that three levels. There's these
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: feelings and thoughts going on inside of us. We have
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: this body that we have control over, and then there's
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: the outside world. And when you do that, what tends
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: to happen is those blinkers slowly come off. Life stops
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: being just about how exhausted or overwhelmed you feel. It
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: also becomes about the sound of a bird outside, or
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: the shadows created by the light coming through the window,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: or the fact water comes out of a tap when
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: you turn it on so you can drink it, which
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: is pretty amazing when you think about it. And when
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: this perspective of your life widens this way, you can
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: start to feel this sense of gratitude for what you have,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: rather than putting all your attention on how crappy you feel.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: And from there you take a step not to do
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: everything all at once. You know it could be making
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: a nutritious meal, replying to that text message, going for
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: a walk and looking around you, being curious about your environment,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: putting your laundry away, or pulling some weeds. You take
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: your feelings with you and you move your body. And
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: I said to I was working with a teenager the
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: other day and we were going through this, and I
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: said to her, put your feelings in a little tope
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: bag and just take them along with you while you
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: focus on what you need to do. So that's what
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: b where your feet means to me. It's not about
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: fixing your feelings. It's about more about getting unstuck and
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: grounding yourself in the here and now and then noticing
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: that there's always something else around you, some little path forwards,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: because life's not black and white, and it's also not easy.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: It's not about waiting for life to get better only
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: when you feel better. It's not about waiting for these
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: feelings to pass, because if you do that, you may
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: be waiting a long time. It's about being where you're
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: f feet are pivoting, adapting, doing what you need to
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: do at this moment. And when you approach life like that,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: anchored in the present, that's where we can become more resilient.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Not to tougher out or deny how you feel, but
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: to be aware to accept, to open up, open up
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: to where your feet are right now, and then move forward.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: So if you are feeling worn out this week. If
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: you are feeling exhausted overwhelmed, try this. Try being where
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: your feet are drop an anchor, drop an anchor to
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: hold yourself steady in the emotional storm you might be
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: going through. Notice your feelings, notice your thoughts, notice your body,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: move your body, press your feet into the ground. Then
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: notice what's around you in the outside world, and then
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: move forward. So I hope that is a practical, practical,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: and helpful little exercise that you can do, especially if
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: you are feeling overwhelmed. I hope you all have a
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: great week and I will catch you next week. See ya.