Easy Mindfulness Tips for Creative Entrepreneurs

Speaker 1: 0:00

There's this idea that mindfulness is like some complex esoteric practice that only super evolved people know how to do or do on the daily. But it's actually really, really easy and straightforward. It's just about noticing what you're experiencing without getting overly reactive or overwhelmed. Welcome to Tried and True with the Dash of Wu, where we're all about mixing Tried and True strategies that actually work with the magic of manifestation and the science of programming your unconscious mind so that you walk away feeling integrated, inspired and aligned. I'm Renee Bowen, certified Life and Business Coach, professional Photographer, middle-aged Wife and Mom to now three grown kids. I've built two multiple six-figure businesses with zero business training by digging in and learning the methods, and now I'm here to pass them all on to you, from photography and business strategies to energy healing, human design and the basics of manifestation. We cover it all here. I'm here to help you embrace your multi-passionate brains and lean in to the fastest and most efficient ways to reach your goals, whatever they may be. Whether you're a season pro or just starting out, or maybe you're just here for the woo-woo, let's dive in and explore all the exciting ways to take your life, business and self-improvement to the next level. Thanks for joining me and get ready to be inspired. Hello, hello and welcome back to Try it, and True, with the Dash of Woo. Thank you so much for joining me here Again. As always, I absolutely am so honored that you are giving me your time and investing that with me.

Speaker 1: 1:49

Today. I have something top of mind for me and, as usual, if it's top of mind for me, it's probably something that might be crossing your mind as well. I've seen this a lot in my communities. I think this time of year is also a very timely. It's a theme that I'm seeing just kind of everywhere, this idea of mindfulness. Mindfulness we hear that word often, but what does it really mean, especially for us creative souls running businesses or attempting to? Today, we're going to explore not just the definition of what that is or real-world applications of mindfulness in our hectic lives. We're going to do all that, but I also want to debunk some myths that you might have or some biases that you might have about what mindfulness is. I want to share some easy to adopt practices so that you can learn how to implement this in your life in a very, very easy way and discuss how coming home to ourselves can really transform every aspect of our lives, including our businesses. Just something a little personal, real quick, before we get into the structure of the show and breaking it down for you guys.

Speaker 1: 3:08

The reason why this is top of mind for me is because January has historically been a really difficult month for me and my business, just in general. If you are a photographer, you understand what I'm dealing with here. You understand what I'm talking about usually, and not even just photographers, but so many creative businesses. January is a rough month, right. We have this explosion of Christmas. Maybe you are a product-based business and you're selling products. December and Christmas and the holidays it's really, really booming.

Speaker 1: 3:45

Q4 tends to be most businesses' biggest quarter. Then we get to January and we're like, oh my gosh, I have no clients or I have sparse clients or I have a lot of space on my calendar. How am I going to fill it? The reality basically slaps us in the face and it's like, oh my god, what am I actually going to do this month? Those of us who don't have a nine to five steady paycheck and we are flying by the seat of our pants. That's what business running your own business is. It's not safe. There's nothing safe about it. You have thrown yourself to the wolves, you've put yourself in the fire, you have burned the boats.

Speaker 1: 4:27

If you know that allegory, that story about and I don't remember when it is, I don't remember the timeframe, but there's a famous story about it about how a general, when they went to conquer this island, he immediately turned around and said just burn the boats, because we're not going back until we conquer this island. That's where that saying comes from. If you are not familiar with it, I think about that often. I think I probably first heard about it at a Tony Robbins seminar, but it's true. It's like where are you burning your boats? Are you all in, or is this just a hobby for you? Are you just playing around with it? Is it something that you're actually taking serious? Do you need to make money from this? It has always been something that I needed to make money for.

Speaker 1: 5:13

I'm married to an actor, a writer, a director. As you guys know, my life was not very predictable. It might seem really odd that I would start my own business, looking for stability, but I knew that I could do this and I knew I could make more money than working for someone else. I, honestly, I just really don't like working for other people. I have. I've worked for other people in the past and I didn't love it. I threw myself into the fire, I burned my boats.

Speaker 1: 5:42

What that really means is that you are sort of floating out there, you know, flapping in the wind, like, oh my gosh, what if, what if, what if. But I do truly believe that we need to double down on our regulation, and mindfulness is your gateway to your regulation. It truly is, and so I'm going to kind of talk about that in just a minute, about what I really feel like it means, and kind of break that down for you in real world terms so that you can understand, because I feel like we hear that word a lot and it's really not as complicated as we make it. But the reason why it's been so top of mind for me is that, yes, january has historically been a really rough month for me, but more than that, I find myself lately really, really really staying in the future too much, right. So it's not even necessarily I'm worrying about not having clients or anything like that. That's not really where my head's at. It's more about.

Speaker 1: 6:44

I have a lot on the calendar and I have a lot of things coming up. I'm about to go on a road trip with my son to get him back to Boston, so I'll be on the road for like six days across the country. There's a lot of unknowing in that, you know, you can only plan for so much. And then I'm hosting a workshop at the end of this month where I'll be teaching and I'll be guiding, and I'll also have to, you know, put together the schedule and all of those things, and so there's a lot going on and then, just going into February, things are just really busy. So for me, I find myself getting stuck in that place.

Speaker 1: 7:23

In the last couple of weeks I have been like, oh my gosh, like I'll be really trying to be in the moment and enjoying having my kids home for Christmas, and then all of a sudden it's like squirrel and my brain goes to like, oh my God, what if this happens? You know, and I know that, because I am wired for anxiety, like I always have been. I've always been a high anxiety person. That's another reason why I have to, you know, really double down on my own regulation, and I haven't been, and that is why. That is why this is coming to the surface. I know that because I really haven't been as consistent and as intentional with my own mindfulness practices daily, because it's been the holidays, because I've wanted to, you know, enjoy my kids, because I've had other things going on and that is why this is happening.

Speaker 1: 8:14

So I'm going to kind of walk you through what I'm doing about that, how I'm, you know, working with that and some of the practices that I'm doing as well. But also, just to you know, add to that as a reminder for you, or serve as a reminder for you if you're dealing with a lot of that right now, whether it's oh my God, I don't have clients, or oh my gosh, I have so much coming up whatever it is, if you find yourself living in the future so much and worrying a lot, this episode is really for you, because it's really for me and you know, maybe you're vibing with that right now and maybe you aren't going through that right now, but you have or you know, chances are you're going to be. So save it and come back to it later and, as always, if you think someone else in your life would benefit from it, go ahead and share it with them too. So, when most of us think about this term mindfulness, many of you are going to picture a serene monk meditating in silence, far away from the chaos of daily life, right? Or you think about that movie, eat, pray, love, which I love, by the way. But you know, that's kind of the picture that most of us have when we think about this idea of mindfulness. But mindfulness is not just for those in monestary, obviously. It's incredibly relevant and accessible to all of us, especially those of us in the creative and entrepreneurial worlds. So John Kabat-Zinn is a pioneer You'll probably hear me reference him a little bit more in this episode, but he is a pioneer in making mindfulness popular in our Western world. Right, he defines it as awareness that arises through paying attention on purpose in the present moment, non-judgmentally. It's about fully being engaged with where we are and what we're doing and not being overly reactive or overwhelmed by what's going on around us.

Speaker 1: 10:11

So if you know me and you've listened to the podcast or if you've coasted with me, you know that this is a core understanding of mine, it is a core belief of mine, and you'll hear me sort of talk about this or bring it up in different ways, right? So if you have not read his book, wherever you Go. There you Are. You definitely, definitely need to dive into it. I mean, it's been around for, I think, 30 years. I think that he just released the 30th anniversary, which makes me feel really old, you guys, because I remember when that book came out, I bought it. I still have my copy from I believe it has to be right after he published it. I'll have to look at the date inside of it, but I've also given this book to so many people in my lives. In fact, you guys, I want to give it to one of you guys. So if you're listening to this and you have not read the book, I would love to give you one. So, if that resonates with you, if you want the book, here's how to grab it. Obviously, listen to this episode and share about it on your Instagram story and make sure you tag me so that I see it and leave a review. If you already left a review, just let me know that in a DM on Instagram. So I'm at Renee Bowen over on Instagram. So share it to your story, share about it, tag me and then leave a review and I'll be choosing one of you guys, probably what's today. So I'm going to give myself two weeks to go ahead and let people do that, and then I'll choose one and send it to you, and you can do the physical copy or the audible, so I'll leave that up to you.

Speaker 1: 11:47

So one of the quotes that I love by him from the book is the best way to capture moments is to pay attention, and this is how we create and cultivate mindfulness. Okay, so you photographers out there, come on. This is like right in line with what we do. I don't know about you, but I could be having a really, really, really crazy, stressful day. I could have a whole lot of things going on in my personal life. I could be like just really not feeling it right and I get to my session and I start shooting and everything just melts away. Like everything melts away because I am so focused on my client and serving my client and focused on being present with that person. So I do think that innately, as a photographer you know, wearing my photographer hat I feel like that I am this. One of my superpowers and maybe you experienced that as well One of my superpowers is that I am able to be really present with my client and I think that that makes I know that that makes a really, really, really big difference in our clients experiences with us, like in their experiences with us, the fact that we are able to, like you know when someone's paying attention to you, you know when you're being seen, you know when you have their undivided attention, you can tell. There's a lot of little cues that happen, but most of us are intuitive enough to tell when the energy shifts as well. So you can also tell if there's an energy shift and that person isn't really paying attention to you, and I think that that happens a lot.

Speaker 1: 13:29

I've actually heard a lot of my high school senior clients come to me and tell me like, because they have to kind of go to their school's contracted photographer for their yearbook photo they, you know, they can't really even use what I'm doing in the yearbook, I'm purely a luxury service for them. And they'll say things to me all the time about their experience with their high school senior contracted photographer, their yearbook contracted photographer. They'll say things like you know, I just felt really weird, like it just felt so stiff. I never like they just kind of rushed me in, rushed me out. They told me that I smiled too big or too. You know, just like their choice of words, and I'll hear a lot of them even say things like you know they it didn't feel like they even cared.

Speaker 1: 14:15

Because those people are those. People are hired by that big company to just get people in and get people out and to have a very formulaic way of doing things. And it's not about that person, it's not about, you know, being present and fully engaged with them. It's not. But when they come to me, it is a completely different experience, you know. And so that is why most of us who do what we do as photographers or whatever it is that you do with your clients, that is what makes the difference, that's what's make, that's what makes you, you and your experience, unique to you, because of the way that you hold attention on your client. It's a, it's a very impactful thing.

Speaker 1: 15:02

So being mindful for me that is sometimes working is mindfulness for me, sometimes it's what I need to snap me back into the moment, because I have a very anxiety-ridden brain and I like to worry a lot, and worrying is just, you know, praying for things to happen. So I know all of this, consciously, unconsciously, it's a rewiring thing, and so for me, like if I have a session. I know that that is going to be a really organic and easy way for me to get back to the moment, because it's not about me in that moment, it's about that person in front of my camera. It's about making that high school senior, that branding client, whoever it is that I'm working with. It's about making them feel absolutely freaking amazing, and I do not want anything else getting in my way, including me, right?

Speaker 1: 15:54

So mindfulness does not look like monks on top of a hill in, you know, india or wherever it is every day. It's about finding the moments in your everyday life, and so any of you guys who have been in therapy, by the way, you probably have heard your therapist talk about this and talk about how you can use these little tricks of mindfulness to snap you back into the moment, to get you out of the anxiety, worry, brain, and one of those tactics is to obviously, you know, rely on your breath and breathe in and breathe out. You can do box breathing, but also to look around. Okay, look around. You like immediately look around in your surroundings If you're having a moment of anxiety. What can I find? That is the color red or the color blue? How many objects can I find that are circles. How many you know all of these little things that you can do to bring yourself back to the moment that you're in. So if you find yourself really really, really getting too hyper focused on the future or worrying about the future or worrying about the what ifs, bring it right back to the moment, into exactly where you are in time and space. So, if you're at your desk, look around, what's at your desk. Do you have a quote on your desk? Read the quote. How many you know? How many sticky notes can I count? That kind of thing? Because I have a lot of sticky notes. Whatever is going to bring you back to the moment and then from there you can go deeper right Now.

Speaker 1: 17:33

Obviously I want to talk about other facets of being mindful, like meditation and hypnosis, and we're going to get to that in a second. But my point to the beginning of this is just to let you know that it doesn't have to look like, you know, sitting and meditating for 30 minutes. It really doesn't. It can be taking a walk, it can be. You know, for me my walks are extremely meditative because I allow myself to just turn off. I'm not trying to, you know, do anything in particular. I'm just looking around me, I'm in nature, I'm looking at the trees, I'm noticing and paying attention to how beautiful the blue sky against a green tree or a yellow tree looks. And, yeah, I take my camera out, my phone out, a lot and take pictures, a lot of that, because I'm one of those people who's always looking at the sky, always, always, always, like it doesn't have to be a sunset. There's something about, you know, clouds and blue sky that just are so freaking beautiful to me.

Speaker 1: 18:37

So, finding your joy in all of these little tiny moments, that's what I'm talking about. Allowing yourself to be fully, fully present with your moment, because, at the end of the day, that's all we have. The future doesn't exist, it just doesn't, and we really, really owe it to ourselves to be present with ourselves, to, you know, to come home to ourselves in that moment, because from there you can find not just so much joy, obviously, but it's going to lead you to that next place, right? Eckhart Toll is another influential figure in the mindfulness world, emphasizing the power of the present moment in his book, the Power of Now, and he says in there realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have.

Speaker 1: 19:27

Make the now the primary focus of your life. It's a powerful reminder for us creatives, right? Our best work really does happen when we are fully in the moment, immersed in our creative processes. How many times have you guys been doing something creative, whether it's photography related or not and just hours and hours go by in a second. That's what I'm talking about. Like you, really, you know, have that gift of stepping into the stream of your creative process and being fully immersed. That's that's being mindful. And does your mind wander in that process? Where does it go? Right, it's in a place where, beyond space and time, it's when some of your best ideas drop in. It's because the, the act of being creative, makes you more creative.

Speaker 1: 20:21

And when you're in that state also, as a side note, there's brain science to it too You're, you're in a theta state, you're not working in a beta mind, brain wave. Most of us live in beta all day. That's when we're like hyper, like oh my god, I have to get this done Like high beta is what they call it. When you're like hyper, vigilant and anxiety brain and overthinking, that's high beta. It's not really in a place where you're going to be creative or be able to access you know any of your creative processes or be mindful. So when you allow yourself to drop into it, you get into a theta, a theta state of brain waves, and that's where all of your creativity comes from and that's where you're going to feel more centered. You're going to be able to release all of this hold this control that you normally have in a high beta brain state.

Speaker 1: 21:17

So again, I know that I talk about my hypnosis a lot, but one of the reasons why it is really powerful is that it gets you, you know, into that state. And I also like to record my episodes over binaural beats, as a lot of you guys know, and so some of those tracks are recorded over a theta brain wave binaural beat and that will help you get to a theta state even faster. And it's not just you know frilly poetic language here, it's backed by neuroscience. So research really does show that mindfulness practice can actually change the structure of your brain, leading to improved focus, creativity and stress reduction all crucial elements of thriving in your life and not just your business.

Speaker 1: 22:08

They've actually done so many studies on how impactful meditation can be to reducing the inflammation in your body, and I know I've talked about inflammation a lot on my podcast and on my socials. Like you guys know, I've struggled with inflammation for years. I have hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's, I also have arthritis, and so these are inflammatory issues and it's really. You know, obviously we're now seeing a lot of the physical damage it can do, but there's there's so much more damage it can do and meditation and mindfulness literally reduces it.

Speaker 1: 22:49

So I would like for you to start looking at mindfulness through a lens of a non-negotiable if that feels interesting to you as well, because I feel like a lot of y'all think that it's a nice to have, but it's kind of a necessity in today's world. It's kind of a necessity in any in any time in history, because you are taking control of your own nervous system regulation and if you are regulated and you are operating from a place of action and not reaction, you're going to be a better parent, a better partner, a better business owner, you're going to be better to yourself, you can be nicer to yourself, you're not going to say shitty things about yourself all the time, because you're in a regulated state and being mindful is part of being regulated. So that's kind of why I wanted to do this episode is to kind of just bring it back to this very simple term of mindfulness, because you know, I throw around those, those words about, you know, nervous system regulation and all of that. I definitely talk a lot about that, but I feel like a lot of you guys don't understand how easy it is in practice, and so that's kind of another reason why I wanted to dive into this today.

Speaker 1: 24:11

All right, so let's tackle some myths about mindfulness and talk about. You know just how simple it really can be, especially for us overactive, busy brain, creative minds. So there's a common belief that to practice mindfulness, you need to spend hours in meditation, or maybe in a quiet room, within sense burning, and look that that is one of my favorite things to do. I'm not going to lie like your girl loves some incense, but that's not how it always has to be right. That's not. That's not what it needs to look like for you. Mindfulness is much more accessible and practical in our everyday lives than you think it is. So the myth that I want to tackle first is that mindfulness takes a lot of time. So I hear this a lot. They're like oh, you know, I have no time to sit and meditate. I don't have 30 minutes to meditate, or I, you know. Whatever it is, okay. Well, first of all, I could also push back on that a little bit and say how much Netflix did you watch in the last week? Right, I bet it was more than 30 minutes.

Speaker 1: 25:19

This is a lot about your priorities and what you're choosing to spend your time on. So a lot of times, when you're saying I don't have time to do something, you're just not prioritizing it, obviously, but you're also choosing to do other stuff that is not going to lead you to where you want to go. And the reason why that is any guesses. If you've listened to this podcast before, you know what I'm going to say it's because your unconscious mind is just pulling you to safety. That's it. Your unconscious mind is just pulling you back to safety and saying, oh my god, that does not feel fun, that does not feel comfortable, that does not feel easy, it requires effort. I'm shutting down. We're going to watch Netflix.

Speaker 1: 25:59

You know, because you have decided, you've chosen to believe that mindfulness takes a long time. Okay, so that's not true. You don't need to dedicate hours each day to reap the benefits of it. Just a few minutes can make a really, really big difference. So if you only have five minutes, maybe eight minutes, you have enough time to be mindful, okay, so you can just practice mindful breathing, just a simple act of being aware of your breath as you inhale and exhale. It's something that you can do while you're waiting for your coffee to brew or before you start your next meeting. It grounds you in this present moment and it reduces your stress and it enhances your focus.

Speaker 1: 26:46

So I'll give you an example of some of the things that I do like this, just like I mentioned with waiting for your coffee, I do that a lot. If I have to wait for something, okay, most of our go-to right now in today's world is us. If we have to wait for anything for any length of time, even if it's just for a second, what's the first thing you normally do now? Pick up your phone, because, oh my God, I have to distract myself, I have to be doing something, I have to be doing something, and so, especially if you run your own business, you know that there's a lot of doing. You feel like you gotta do a lot of stuff all the time, right?

Speaker 1: 27:25

Well, I've been noticing I've been becoming more mindful In just the last three weeks how much I grab my damn phone. Like it is ridiculous. It's ridiculous how fast I will grab it and I could just be waiting, like I said, for my coffee to brew or my egg to cook in the morning, and I can't even really just sit with myself for a second and wait. That's something you guys. So I just want you to start noticing how fast you grab that phone. When you're waiting for anything whatsoever whether it is between meetings or you're waiting for your kid outside Notice how fast you pick that phone up, because all you're doing with your phone you're either going to work If you're running a business, maybe you are picking your phone up to respond to a client or create a piece of content, whatever that is or you're distracting yourself because you're overwhelmed and ask yourself in that moment, can this wait? And so that's kind of something that I've been doing a lot lately is just being really, really mindful and noticing how fast I go to that phone.

Speaker 1: 28:39

So while I'm waiting for that coffee to brew, my egg to cook, I instead will close my eyes for a second, do a little bit of breathing, and this can look as simple as just putting your awareness on a body part. Literally, that's all you need to do is taking a big, deep breath in and exhaling through your mouth, counting to four each time, doing some box breathing and then just letting your mind become aware of your left hand, your left thumb how does that feel? And letting your mind become aware of how your feet feel on the ground. Like it can be super, super simple, and then your coffee is ready, you open your eyes and you move about your day. The more you practice these little tidbits of mindfulness, the easier it is to go into longer times of mindfulness. And you're also priming your unconscious, you're training it, you're retraining it to understand that it's safe, it feels good and you're probably going to get a dopamine hit from this.

Speaker 1: 29:48

But you have to be the one to call the shots. You have to be the one to say I'm taking a second, I'm taking a minute. There's a really amazing quote that says feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor, and that's what I'm talking about right now. All you have to do is breathe.

Speaker 1: 30:11

So myth number two is that mindfulness means that you need to have a quiet environment, that it requires quiet. So I really want you to consider that you don't need complete silence or a special setting to practice it. I love the idea of you creating a beautiful space for yourself to meditate in, but you don't need it. And even if you do have a beautiful meditation space, maybe you can't get to it. Maybe you're traveling, Maybe you're on a road trip with your kid across the country. Whatever it is, like you guys, I'm going to have to have a lot of opportunities to be mindful in the next six days when I'm on the road with him. So I want you to consider that it's about being present whenever you're doing whether that's a chaotic photo shoot, a busy day at your studio or even while managing your inbox it's all about bringing your attention to the task at hand. So that's what I've been talking about so far.

Speaker 1: 31:15

It's like, oh, what am I actually doing, instead of letting yourself be in a hypnotic state doing it, noticing what you're doing? So sometimes, in a photo shoot too, even though time will sort of melt away and I get in my moment and I'm so completely engaged in it, I can still get hyper aware, sometimes hyper focused on. Did I remember to do this? Or why am I forgetting some of my favorite poses or whatever, because I'm kind of in high beta in that phase when you start thinking about overthink, like when you find yourself overthinking like that, just as a side note in a photo shoot. That means you're in high beta and the best thing you can do is get yourself back into creativity. And the way to do that is to let things go and to stop trying to control them so much, and so that's being mindful. That can bring you right back to it.

Speaker 1: 32:19

It can be as simple as noticing how beautiful the client's makeup looks and taking a second to turn to the makeup artist and say, hey, I just want to let you know you really killed it on this makeup today. Like that, her makeup looks so good. Thank you so much. Or just turning it back on the client and saying, wow, I just have to step back for a second and tell you that this outfit is just giving. Like, this outfit is so fire right now and I don't know if you love it as much as I do, but I have to tell you that it is photographing really, really well. So it can just be about taking a second in the madness and chaos of a photo shoot, when you are trying to get all the shots and be amazing, to stop and breathe and go. What we're creating together is really amazing and I just got to tell you. So it could just be as simple as that.

Speaker 1: 33:17

You don't need silence, you don't need any of that special stuff. You really really, really don't. It's really nice to have, but it's not a necessity. And then the other myth that I wanted to address is that mindfulness is complicated. So there's this idea that mindfulness is like some complex, esoteric practice that only super evolved people know how to do or do on the daily. But it's actually really really easy and straightforward. It's just about noticing what you're experiencing without getting overly reactive or overwhelmed.

Speaker 1: 33:49

So think about it like tuning a radio. You guys have heard me use this metaphor over and over again. You can use a radio, you can use a television. If you're older, like me, and you remember actually turning the dial of a TV right or setting like a radio beacon, all of that stuff. It's all about finding a very clear and crisp signal that sometimes we have a lot of static, remember now, back in the day again, if you're a little bit older, you know what that's like on a radio station. So that's what I'm talking about. You can think about it like you're tuning and you find, like you've got, you have static, you have static and you're starting to hear the whisperings of what sounds like a really awesome song and then boom, you've got it, it's, it's, that's all it is. It's about tuning and it's about finding that resonance.

Speaker 1: 34:40

Okay, so how can you make mindfulness a part of your daily routine? All right, let's, let's kind of dive into this for a second, because I do want you to take a lot of its emotional charge out of it. Like I was just saying, you guys think that it's super complex and it has to be this big, big thing. Part of being mindful is about removing the judgment and becoming a neutral observer. It's bypass, not bypassing, but it's moving through the idea of it being a complicated thing and just allowing it to be just that, right, whatever it might be. So something I like to say to myself a lot on the daily, no matter what's going on, like if something really crazy is happening or maybe it's something really bad, taking a second to reflect on it and say, huh, that's really interesting, right, and just name it as interesting instead of good, bad, whatever, okay, so that's one idea, but first you can also start with your morning being mindful, like before you even get out of bed.

Speaker 1: 35:49

Now, you guys have probably heard me talk a lot about the fact that I like to just get out of bed. I don't like to like sit there for too long, I don't like to hit the snooze button and stuff like that, right. But I do like to give myself just a couple of minutes, as I'm starting to wake up after my alarm goes off. A lot of times I will just wake up on my own, no, like without my alarm, right before it goes off. Like nine out of 10 times I wake up right before my alarm goes off. It's hilarious, and so I'll just turn it off so that I don't have to hear that sound.

Speaker 1: 36:24

And I'll spend the next couple of minutes becoming aware of my body, right, I'll do a couple of deep breaths and I will just say in my mind I'll say OK, what does my body feel like right now laying in this position? I will bring my awareness to my heartbeat. I'll bring my awareness to my hands and to my feet and I'll start moving them a little bit. I'll start sort of like doing deeper breaths. Anything that kind of just gets me back into my body. But on my terms, right? I don't want to just wake up and be like you've heard me talk about this. I don't want to wake up and just be at the whim of my phone. I'm not going to get on my phone right away. I'm not going to start consuming a bunch of crap. I'm going to take advantage of the fact that I'm not going to be able to get on my phone.

Speaker 1: 37:14

I start my day the way I want to start it, and for me that means two minutes, literally two minutes of intentional thoughts. That's all. Mindfulness is you guys, and so if you can just try and remember to do that as you wake up in the morning, that's huge. Another idea is to just create some mindful moments for yourself throughout the day. These are just really brief pauses, and you can even set alarms on your phone or reminders to pop up to remind yourself to do this and to remind yourself to take a few deep breaths. It could be, before you know you have an important call or an email that you're dreading to get back to this person, maybe after you finish with a client. These pauses can just be built in wherever you feel like. You can build them in again five minutes and they can help you reset your mind and reduce your stress tremendously.

Speaker 1: 38:09

So before I get on any kind of coaching call, I'm going to take five minutes and I am going to not go into a deep meditation, but I'm definitely going to become present with myself so that I can be fully present with my client who's about to hop on that call with me, because the last thing I want that person to feel like is that I am not present with them. I am going to focus on my breath. I'm going to do a quick little meditation Again. I've been doing this for a long time so it is kind of like second nature to me. It's also become something that I have anchored into myself.

Speaker 1: 38:45

So an NLP tactic that you can use in addition to mindfulness is anchoring. So I have a little trick that I do where, when I put my index finger to my thumb, when I kind of press them together, right and you can do this with any body part and any kind of movement but I have that set as an anchor. So when I sit for a second, like before my coaching calls for you know, I call it getting into my coach state. I'll sit for a second, I'll do a couple of deep breaths and I'll put my finger my index finger to my thumb. I'll press it together, not hard, just together, and that is a trigger for me to know that I am in coach state because I've anchored it with myself. I've done it over and over and over and I've repeated it. There is a process to anchoring and I think I've talked about that a little bit on one of my other podcasts, but I can definitely go into it if you guys are interested in that.

Speaker 1: 39:40

But creating an anchor, a physical anchor for yourself, so that you know that, ooh, I'm in my mindfulness or whatever you want to call it right For me, like I said, I call it my coach state. So I know when I do that little action and I press my finger to my thumb, I am in coach state and my whole body immediately relaxes. So, yes, I have used it in a state of distress when I have not felt regulated and I felt out of control. I have done that and it has helped me tremendously. It gets me faster. It basically is a quick, fast track to the state you want to be in. So highly recommend creating some kind of physical anchor as well, and let me know if you guys want some more information on that.

Speaker 1: 40:27

Okay, so let's just kind of break down some five minute meditation breaks that you can do every single day. Super easy, again you can set alarms on your phone or reminders to pop up, because a lot of us are not going to remember to do these things. We tend to kind of like, live our day hypnotically, and that's what I'm trying to break you out of. I'm trying to break that pattern. So I want you to use some strategies, like you know, reminders or or alarms that you can use on your phone, or whatever. That is. Whatever is going to work for you is what you need to use. Okay, um, you know, just because it works for me doesn't mean it's going to work for you, but the idea, but the idea is that you are being intentional about scheduling these things so that you can do them. Now, again, these five minute meditation breaks, you can do them anywhere, at your desk and your studio, even outside, in nature, anything.

Speaker 1: 41:20

Okay, so close your eyes, focus on your breath. So one of the first things that I want you to do, before you even close your eyes. Let's back up a second. You can sit for a second and you can, you know, have your head, let's say, facing straight straight ahead. Okay, uh, so like, let's just envision that you're looking straight ahead at the wall or whatever is in front of you. From that position, lift your eyes, not your head, but lift your eyes so that you're looking at the ceiling, and stay there for a second. Allow your eyes to be go up, right, so allow your eyes to just look at the ceiling and it might cause you to blink a little bit more and it might cause you to feel a little strained and you might become more and more aware of your eyes in this moment. And from that position, allow your eyes to close. Okay, that's just a little trick to kind of get you even into it faster.

Speaker 1: 42:21

Close your eyes, focus on your breath and try to clear your mind. Okay, when I say that and you hear that on meditation, um tracks right, Cause there's a lot of apps and things like that that you can use now for meditation, guided meditations, and if you have a hard time just meditating yourself, it could be a good thing to do, but when someone tells someone with an overactive mind to clear their mind. What's the first thing you do? Think about? All the things, right? So I want you to just know that it's okay. If you can't clear your mind, it's totally, totally okay. Allow the thoughts to just come and go. Okay, thoughts, we have, like what? 60,000 thoughts a day, and a lot of them aren't great, but that doesn't mean we have to allow them to stick around. So all you have to do is just focus on your breath and, as thoughts come in that's interesting Watch it, walk, you know. Watch it walk away, watch it fly past you. You can use some visualizations for that if you like, you can, you know?

Speaker 1: 43:25

One of the things that I like to do is, if I've, if I'm particularly having a lot of, like you know, uh, high beta thoughts and overactive thoughts and overthinking, right, so that's really happening to me and I'm trying to become mindful and aware. Um, what I like to do is kind of envision or visualize my thoughts racing in, like, because that's what it feels like to me as like they're just, like they're sprinters, right, so they're like people sprinting literally on a track, and what I like to to envision them doing is jumping right, so like if they're on a track. I know this is really weird, you guys, welcome to my brain. If they're on a track like a you know a running track that you see like a stadium in your mind, that's what it looks like to me. It's red, the track itself is red and they're running, they're running, they're running. There's like a few of them and they get to this place where the track ends and beneath them is just like a pit. But it's a pit of like padding. Okay. So they're not like they're not diving to their death, okay. So let me just be clear. They're just like jumping off and they're landing on there and then when they land, they go off stage, they go off to the right and I don't see them again. For some reason, that helps my crazy brain and my overactive thoughts. Stop, okay, after like a couple of minutes of me like just breathing probably because it makes me laugh you can create any kind of little visualization that you like, and I'd love to hear some of yours. If you have something that's really effective for you, just go ahead and allow those you know racing thoughts to come in and watch them jump off, and watch them just bounce off of that padding and take a hike and then from there you can pause and you can allow. Maybe you have one thing that you want to focus on, or maybe you have one thing that you want to be grateful for, like thank you so much for blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right, and that's it right, five minutes.

Speaker 1: 45:37

The next one is mindful walking. I talk about this a lot, a lot, a lot, because it is my favorite thing to do. I turn my daily walks into meditative experiences, so it's more about just being fully present during your walk. Notice the rhythm of your steps. For me, sometimes, I'll count, as you know, if I find myself like, ooh, I'm really stressed and my thoughts are not wandering in a way that feels good, because what I really want from my meditative walks is that I want my mind to just take a break. I want to just kind of like not think about anything and in that not thinking, I come up with some really cool ideas. Right, they drop in because I'm not trying. I'm not trying to force anything, I'm in flow and I'm in a theta state.

Speaker 1: 46:23

So sometimes, if I'm very, very you know stressed or I'm overthinking, I'll start by just counting my steps and I'll count in again. Welcome to my brain. I will count in an eight count and I count by twos. I don't know if you guys do this, but something I have done my entire life is I'll count by twos. I'll go two, four, six, eight, 10,. Two, four, six, eight, 10. And sometimes I'll go two, four, six, eight. Two, four, six, eight. It depends on what I'm doing, honestly, and it's really weird, I know, but for some reason, when I'm intentional about the counting, it brings me back to my moment, you know, to that moment, and it's like a gateway to that mindfulness. And then I can go oh, okay, I'm counting my steps. Oh, cool, right, and so then it could lead you to the next place and then from there, usually my brain just checks out. And that's what I want. I want my brain to check out.

Speaker 1: 47:18

Mindful walking isn't like about walking, you know, in a meditation, literally so that you can, like, walk off a cliff. No, it's about being so grateful and present for, you know, being wherever you are. So that's my little take on that. The other one is finding mindfulness in just your everyday, mundane sort of moments, right? So when you're editing photos, how many times have you, you know, sat down to edit photos and you're like ugh, I don't feel like doing this, and then again, either time will pass quickly or you'll just find yourself thinking about other things, right, so immerse yourself in it instead of just kind of allowing yourself to go like, basically, instead of allowing your brain to take you on the ride, how about next time you sit down to edit or sketch or do something creative, try to fully immerse yourself in the process and be intentional about where you want those thoughts to go right, so you can do the same thing that we were talking about before observing colors and textures and emotions. Like how many colors in this image can you find? How many pieces of yellow, how many you know? Things like that, like really looking at the images. Now, this is not going to work if you already overthink about your editing process. Okay, if you already overthink about is this a good image? That's not what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about just being present in appreciation of it.

Speaker 1: 48:55

So this may or may not work for you, like the whole editing of the photo thing, because you might need to like literally turn your brain off. So in that instance, I would say listen to a track. A lot of my clients like to listen to hypnosis tracks when they're editing, because I'm speaking directly to your unconscious brain. So meditation, guided meditations, are a little different than you know guided tracks of hypnosis that I create because I'm speaking directly to your unconscious mind, because I am speaking directly to your unconscious mind on a hypnosis track and that work is being done, whether you're paying attention to it or not. So editing photos is a fantastic time to listen to hypnosis. Fantastic Because you're not driving a car. You know what you're doing. You can kind of turn some things off, you can turn some programs off, you can be aware of what you're doing, but your unconscious mind is getting all of these really yummy and impactful. You know subliminal suggestions. So that's what we want.

Speaker 1: 50:03

Again, if you want to look into any of my hypnosis tracks, you can look at my private podcasts. If you're not, basically if you're a coaching student of mine, you get access to all of them and I'll even create some for you that are significant for you, if that is something you want and you desire and it works for you. But you can also go to my private podcast, which is Calibrate, and since it is a private podcast, it is paid but you get locked in at the rate that you purchase it for. When you purchase it, for this low rate that it's at now, you'll have that forever. So all the other you know tracks that I upload. After that, you get included in that, and the price will increase over time as it gets more and more populated with more and more tracks. So, anyway, you can definitely dive into that, but, again, there's so many apps out there as well, so, you know, find something that works for you. If you have any questions about that, though, please definitely do reach out, because it is kind of my thing. The last thing I want to talk about before we wrap up.

Speaker 1: 51:01

Another way to be mindful in your everyday life is creative journaling. Y'all know I love, love, love, love journaling, but a lot of you also have this idea about what you think journaling should be, but really it's just about expressing yourself freely on paper. I like to call it a brain dump. I'm just going to let myself off the hook. I'm not going to try and be perfect. I'm not going to try and make whatever I am writing down make it make sense. I'm just going to put it on paper and I'm going to come back to it later and see what I can like, gather from what I spit out, because sometimes we just need to get it out of our head and there is a lot, a lot of research that shows how impactful it is for us to actually do that. So it's just a really great way to declutter your mind and even if especially if you're overthinking about something, just sit down and brain dump for five minutes. Honestly, that is a fantastic way to practice. You know mindfulness in general.

Speaker 1: 52:00

You can use some journal prompts if that's going to be easier for you. I have free ones for you guys. My friend, tiffany, has a fantastic journal that she created with this sort of mindfulness journaling in mind, so I will link to that in the show notes as well, because it's a beautiful little journal and she breaks it down in a very simple and easy way. It's not hard. It doesn't have to be this big thing, right. We end up creating all of these ideas about what we think it's going to be, but it's very simple, and so I'll link to that as well in the show notes and maybe you'll find that useful. So remember, mindfulness is a skill, just like anything else. It will get better the more you practice. Start small, be consistent and pretty soon you're going to notice a difference in how you think and how you create, and how you act and react. In fact, you won't be reacting very much at all. You will be coming from a place of a neutral observer, which is such a beautiful space to be in.

Speaker 1: 53:04

Okay, so, as we wrap up today's episode, let's go into a deeper understanding. Really the heart of mindfulness, which is coming home to yourself. I know I mentioned that in the beginning. Well, this is what I mean. This is really where the true magic of mindfulness lies in its ability to transform not just our minds but our lives, our art and our businesses. So coming home to yourself through mindfulness means becoming acutely aware of your own thoughts, feelings and actions, and it's about recognizing your true self, beyond the roles and expectations society or your family has placed upon you. So this self-awareness is it's like a drug. Honestly, it's liberating. It allows you to align your actions with your true values and your passions. It's really why I do what I do. I want you to become more self-aware. At the end of the day, that's probably what you could wrap up my entire platform with is like I just want you to be self-aware and whatever tool that you need to use on the daily to get there fantastic.

Speaker 1: 54:17

For me and for most people that I know and I coach, we need a few different tools, because if you've got a creative brain, it likes novelty, it likes the new and the different, and so sometimes having the same stuff every day, that's not going to feel good, it's not going to feel fun, you're not going to do it. So my suggestion would also be to make this fun for yourself. How can you make this more fun? So maybe that looks like creating a schedule, but it switches it up, right. You switch it up like every other day, so you can have some alarms that go off, but maybe you never know which one is going to come up, right. Maybe you take one day out of the month to set up some alarms and you never know which one is going to go off at that day or that time. Find a way to randomize it, if you can, because it does kind of keep us on our toes and it keeps us excited to do it, and the more excited you are to do it, the more you're going to do it right, and when you're aligned with your true self. It shows in everything else that you do in your personal life. It brings you more patience, empathy and authenticity in your relationships. You become a better listener, not just to other people but to your own needs and your own intuition.

Speaker 1: 55:28

You guys, I really wish that. Like, I don't like to have regrets and I don't like to entertain that thought, but one of my things I'm just going to call it a thing is that I will look back sometimes. As a young mom, because I had three kids under the age of two, life was really really, really, really, really stressful. It was kind of traumatic for a while. It was hard, we were broke. It was stressful. It was a family to help me. I really, really wish that I had doubled down, that I had chosen to make mindfulness a tool. At that point in my life I knew about it. Okay, let's just be honest. I had already been on this path, like I've been on this self-development, self-awareness path since I was a teenager. Like I don't really have an excuse, except you know I was really busy. But again, I could have chosen right and I know that I definitely did the best that I could with what I had.

Speaker 1: 56:34

But I think any parent, and maybe maybe especially moms, those of us who have older kids, adult kids. Just in general, I think that there's always going to be this thing that we look back and we're like, yeah, I really could have handled that better. You know, we don't want to mess up our kids, right? But one of the things that I tell people all the time who have like newborns, one of the first things I say is like you're going to mess them up just so you know, like you're not going to be a perfect parent. That's impossible. You're going to learn as you go and, at the end of the day, you just love the heck out of them, right? You're going to make mistakes. You're going to make mistakes. What matters is what you learn from them. What matters is how you adjust and you shift and you pivot. What matters is who you're becoming on the way to wanting to be a great parent and how much you actually just really love your kids.

Speaker 1: 57:32

So, just in general, I'm not saying like I'm beating myself up for this, but I do wish that I had chosen to be more mindful. I think that I definitely, I definitely did lean on it a little bit. I have vivid memories of sneaking into a closet All of you moms, if you know, you know everybody's safe, either in a playpen or a high chair or something and you slip into a closet for like two minutes of quiet and calm. Right, that was like sometimes the best and the most that I could do. And so I did, like, escape to my closet, close the door, take a couple of deep breaths, and usually that was followed by crying. I'm being really honest with you guys. It was usually followed by a nervous breakdown. No, it was just a release of like okay, I got this All right. Now I can go back to being a mom and making sure that these kids don't try and off themselves on my you know, on my watch. So, yeah, so you got to do what you can with what you have.

Speaker 1: 58:47

So, anyway, all that being said is that that's really what I kind of want to get across to you is that you can. You can do this even in small little chunks, and small steps lead to really big results. You know that the side effect from this too, like in your professional life, aside from your personal life, is that, especially as a creative and entrepreneur, this kind of alignment is going to lead you to more authentic and resonant work. Okay, so, the more resonant you hear me talking about that a lot the more resonant you are, the more you're going to bring in the right clients to your business, because your art and your business, they become these true expressions of who you are. And when you operate from that place of authenticity and true resonance, your audience is going to feel it, your target clients are going to feel it and it's going to build trust and connection.

Speaker 1: 59:38

Okay, so, as we wrap up, just remember, mindfulness is going to equip you with resilience in this unpredictable journey of being an entrepreneur and having a creative business. There's going to be setbacks, there's going to be challenges, things are going to catch fire, there is going to be chaos. Sometimes there's only so much you can do about that. But mindfulness is going to help you face these things with a calm, clear mind, which is going to enable you to navigate that whole experience with a lot more grace and flexibility than you would without it. So I want to leave you with this thought Mindfulness is not just a practice, it's a way of being. It's about finding joy and purpose in each moment and, in turn, bringing that joy and purpose into every aspect of your life, and you guys know I talk a lot about purpose. So if you're looking to go deeper into this journey of mindfulness, remember I'm here. That's what I'm here for.

Speaker 1: 1:00:38

You've got my private podcast. You've got my coaching services. I am signing up one-on-one clients right now. We just closed the doors to elevate my higher level of group membership, however, elevate Foundation, which is only $49 a month. You guys, that's ongoing, so you can still hop in there if that's all you can afford right now. But if you feel called for something bigger and deeper, reach out and book a call with me. So it's just a free alignment call. It's 30 minutes, we'll get on a Zoom, we'll chat about whether we think it's a good fit to work together or not, and you can find that link in the show notes as well.

Speaker 1: 1:01:17

I'd love to chat with you just in general, and if I can't help you, I'm going to try and point you in a direction I feel like will help you. I'm not going to try and sell you into something that doesn't feel good right, because not everybody is ready for this. Not everybody is ready to do it and to jump into coaching, whether that is for your business or your life, and what I have seen, just as a side note, is that most people who come to me for business coaching, we do that, but what they walk away with is not just that strategy and a lot of business, whether it's education or strategy or systems, whatever it is they individually need in their business. They walk away with that, but they also walk away with a lot more self-awareness and a lot more mindfulness and tools to keep them on track, because I can give you all the tips, I can give you all the tricks, I can give you my blueprint that if you're not doing that work with your mind, if you're not clearing the head trash, nothing's going to stick, guys, it just isn't. If you're not regulated, nothing's going to stick. So thank you again for joining me here today. I love you guys. I'm sending you so much love and light, and send me some love and light because I'm on a road trip right now with my son.

Speaker 1: 1:02:39

By the time this episode airs, I'm going to be on the road, so watch my stories on Instagram. This should be pretty fun. We are going the southern not the southern southern route, but we're not going the northern route because we're going to try and bypass a lot of the snow, I'm going to hit, like Oklahoma City, the tip of Arkansas. We're going to go through Nashville and then we're going to go up, and so it's going to be kind of a really fun thing.

Speaker 1: 1:03:02

Any kind of time I get with him I am going to treasure, because I only get to see him in person maybe twice a year now that he lives in Boston. He goes to school at Berkeley school of music and I know that this time is fleeting, so I'm going to really lean heavily into embracing, being mindful of each moment that I have with him on this journey. But I'd love to share some of the stuff with you, so keep me company when I'm the passenger and he's driving. Okay, so I'll see you guys soon. All the stuff you need is in the show notes. I love you, have a fantastic week and I'll see you next time.