Event 13: Self Care for Nurses with Dr. Brenda Marshall

00:00 And I'm Brenda Marshall.

00:02 I am a psychiatric nurse practitioner and I live in new Jersey.

00:07 And I also am the coordinator for the William Paterson University Doctor of Nursing Practice program. And we have a BSN to DNP, and we have an MSN to DNP.

00:21 And, uh, we have a lot of nursing students from the baccalaureate program straight through to our doctoral program.

00:30 And one of the really important things that have been coming up, at least for us, is, um, that our students are so stressed out and they want to know how to reduce the stress.

00:41 So I am going to talk to you a little bit today about the neurobiology and the impact that stress can have on our brains, on our minds, on our physical well-being, and on our test taking, test taking strategies are always really important.

00:58 I'm going to be talking to you a little bit about how to reduce stress.

01:02 Give you a couple of strategies that you can use.

01:05 And I really want to talk about self-care.

01:09 Taking care of yourself, taking the time to give yourself the kind of care that you would give a child, perhaps.

01:19 Uh, and I will talk more about that in a little bit.

01:24 So I'm wondering how you now practice self-care and if you could, in the chat, just, um, sort of put in how what do you do for yourself to, to show yourself that you care about yourself? I mean, that is what self-care is.

01:41 How do you take time for yourself? Um, many times that, um, someone is saying the sound sounds bad, so if we could just check that out.

01:53 Um, many times when we are looking to take care of ourselves.

01:58 We really need to make time.

02:03 Take the time out of our busy day as nurses and as students.

02:08 And I'm also a student.

02:09 I'm getting my master's in fine arts, so I know the pressure that school puts on you as well. If we don't carve out some time for ourselves, we get lost in this mix.

02:23 And so we really want to be able to start working on finding time so that we are able to be good to ourselves.

02:34 So Kate goes to the gym, uh, there's some, uh, exercise and meditations that, uh, Jamar says, if I mispronounce your name, I apologize in advance.

02:46 Um, spirituality? Yes.

02:48 Rosetta, that is absolutely true.

02:51 And, um, avoiding stress or pressure.

02:54 And we're going to talk a little bit about that.

02:56 Sometimes it's really hard to avoid stress.

03:01 Um, if you are a parent, if you are a daughter or son or child of someone, if you, uh, have a job in addition to going to school or if your job happens to be nursing. So walking, I see a lot of them playing with your kids, walking your dog. I have a dog as well.

03:21 Meditation. These are wonderful ways to take care of yourself, and I'm glad to see that you are starting already to take care of yourself.

03:32 The first thing I want you to do, however, is to sort of take a deep breath and just concentrate on being in your present moment, because we have so many things that pull us away from being able to be present for ourselves. Whether it is His bills or the telephone or, of course, coronavirus.

03:59 Worrying about what tomorrow is going to bring.

04:02 Worrying about what happened yesterday.

04:05 All of these things take us away from being in our present moment.

04:09 So if you could for just a moment, just put your feet on the ground and wiggle your toes and feel what it feels like to wiggle your toes.

04:21 Maybe your toes are in shoes and they feel very comfortable and cozy and safe.

04:30 Maybe you just have socks on and you can feel the warmth and the softness of your socks.

04:37 Maybe your feet are bare and you're on a hardwood floor.

04:41 Roll them around a little bit.

04:43 Feel the floor, the floor, and try to find some adjectives that describe how your feet feel When in fact you are.

04:54 And I'm going to use the word hijacked.

04:56 Hijacked from the moment that you're in.

04:59 Oftentimes just being able to focus on your feet, your toes, to be able to focus on finding an adjective redirects all the neurobiological connections to your prefrontal cortex takes it away from your amygdala, which is shouting fight flight! It's scary. And it pulls it up front here to your prefrontal cortex to identify those adjectives. And just by doing that, focusing on the feelings in your feet and finding those adjectives, you might start recognizing some of the body changes that allow you to slow down and relax.

05:51 Another thing that's really, really good.

05:54 And this is kind of nice because we are going to be doing this all around the globe, from Amman to Puerto Rico to California and to Canada.

06:06 I'm going to ask you to yawn.

06:10 Oh, just take a nice deep breath, as deep as you possibly can and just really give a nice yawn. You know, yawning is contagious.

06:26 And the more I say the word you, the more likely you are to yawn.

06:32 Even just. Taking a look at the pictures in front of you, of people yawning might because of those mirrors, mirror neurons in your brain make you want to yawn.

06:49 So this idea of relaxation and the idea of kind of falling asleep right now when you're yawning, you're actually bursting a lot of oxygen right into your brain and giving your brain the refresh that it needs.

07:07 So I want to do an experiment with you.

07:09 So this means that you have to have both hands free.

07:12 And I really, really, really want you to squeeze your hands as tight as you can, make a fist and hold on to it.

07:21 Squeeze really hard. I'm going to count back from ten.

07:25 And when I get to one, I'm going to ask you to stop squeezing and.

07:30 But don't open your hands.

07:31 Just stop squeezing, okay? So here we go. Squeeze hard.

07:35 Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven.

07:38 Six. Really hard. Five.

07:40 Four. Three. Two. One.

07:44 And relax your hands. Don't open them as gently as you can.

07:50 Try to open them. You're going to find out that you can't.

07:54 It's as though there are some force squeezing your fist to try and keep your fist still closed. Well, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out. This is something that stress does to your body.

08:09 You wake up in the morning and you.

08:11 You make yourself so nervous about what do I have to do and where.

08:15 Where is my planner and what I have to look at my phone.

08:18 I constantly have to have my phone in my hand.

08:21 How many steps have I taken? How long did I sleep? What did I eat yesterday? By doing all of this, you're actually putting every cell in your body under that same stress that you just did by making a fist.

08:37 So we have to focus on the idea of not having that happen to your body, of not allowing the stress that you encounter during the day to impact every cell in your body. We start by doing this by being present, by taking that breath, by yawning.

09:01 Believe it or not, these are great ways just to start to reduce that stress because we know what happens to us.

09:11 And if you are already a nurse working in nursing or in healthcare, and if you are a student nurse, you know that even when you're sick, you work. Uh, we're going to have a celebration on Saturday.

09:26 And I have to say to all of my friends who are nurses, if you are not feeling well, stay home, because we also like to deny.

09:35 No, no, it's my allergies.

09:37 Covid is still out there.

09:39 We want to make sure that when we are sick, we take care of our bodies.

09:45 Some people find that they gain weight and they can't explain why.

09:50 It's not like they're eating a lot.

09:52 It's cortisol. The cortisol is going to.

09:55 And cortisol is directly related to your stress level, as is the fatigue the headaches upset stomachs.

10:04 And we want to make sure that we are taking care of and reducing that cortisol, that we are doing the small things that we ask our patients to do, that we are taking the time to do that as well.

10:18 Some of us feel that we have a great coping strategy.

10:21 I've had a bad day. It's I'm not feeling good.

10:25 I think I'll have a glass of wine or 2 or 3.

10:29 Um, and get yet wine, as most of us know, is a depressant.

10:36 The more that you are drinking wine, the more depressed you're going to get, the more difficult it is in the morning, the more toxic it is to your brain.

10:45 And so you're actually accumulating more stress rather than releasing it.

10:53 I don't know about you, but I didn't grow up in a world where everything was breaking news.

10:59 And now I can't even turn on my TV because everything is breaking news.

11:05 It may be it's going to rain in three days.

11:06 Breaking news, breaking news.

11:09 So we really want to remove ourselves a little bit from these kind of explicit, fearful messages that are coming through.

11:21 Because if you are allowing your body to be stressed all of the time, if you are choosing to be watching your favorite news television, uh, and keeping on your news and watching all of the war and economics. What happens is that level of stress can lead to burnout.

11:49 And when we are burned out, it's really difficult for us because we start forgetting things. Remember your brain neuro biologically, you want your, um, your pulse, your respirations, your heart rate to stay in a nice place in a nice 60 to 80 beats per minute.

12:11 Right? Your blood pressure under 120.

12:14 You want to make sure that you're not holding your breath, that you are being able to breathe freely.

12:21 Because when you hold your breath neurobiologically, your amygdala says, oh, something bad must be happening and immediately starts all of the pathways to try and make you go to fight or flight.

12:36 At that moment, you are going to start to become exhausted, so you stop. Ah, so I'd like you to take that deep breath.

12:47 And when you let it out now, let it out with a sigh.

12:51 Take a deep breath in.

12:54 Ah, and just notice how your body responds to you.

13:00 Allowing yourself to breathe out with that nice sigh.

13:05 That sigh in and of itself is going to let your prefrontal cortex know you are not under attack. It's okay to be present.

13:14 You want to be able to stop.

13:18 Think about what is next.

13:21 Think about what you want to have happen next and proceed slowly.

13:28 Now we're just talking about everyday stresses.

13:32 We haven't talked about the fact that maybe you're a parent, or maybe you have parents who are aging.

13:39 And so we have to realize that that thing that makes us wonderful nurses, that level of empathy, that level of compassion, that ability for us to give 110% that's our greatest strength.

13:59 But it's also our greatest weakness, because when we are giving 100 and 110% to others, what's left at the end of the day? For us, one of the things that I do is I keep a picture of myself as a child and I say, how would I treat her if I saw this baby getting stressed? Well, our inner child, that part of us that remembers staying up late in our pajamas till 8:00 in the summertime.

14:33 Or remember, if you're old like me, the Good Humor Truck, or an ice cream truck that comes across the road and you can hear the jingle jangle in the evenings trying to get back to where we start taking care of us.

14:50 The way we take care of others is really important.

14:55 So if you look, we see all these things that we do for other people.

15:01 And now in order to do it for ourselves, we have to create that time in the day.

15:09 And I have to tell you, my patients, my friends, my family say, oh, I have no time.

15:16 Um, I wrote a book called Becoming You, and in the very first martial law is lack of time is no longer a valid excuse.

15:27 What it means is that we're choosing to spend our time in a way that doesn't take care of us. I have a lot of responsibilities.

15:37 I am a psychiatric nurse practitioner.

15:39 I am a professor. I do work at a hospital.

15:45 I do run grants. I am writing a book.

15:48 And yet I am able to plan my day in such a way that, like some of you, I make sure I have a half hour to play with my dog, or I go for a walk, or I go for a swim.

16:03 I make time for myself and you are worth making time for yourself.

16:10 Um, I see that Eddie says he likes or she likes classical music.

16:16 I just started teaching myself how to play piano again.

16:20 I only do it for 20 minutes in a day.

16:22 But I have to focus so hard on that.

16:26 Those keys in my fingers and reading the notes that it truly relaxes me.

16:33 Also, engage with others for fun.

16:37 Covid has made a very big impact on our lives.

16:40 We've gotten used to doing things as little tiny Hollywood Squares boxes on television.

16:46 Um, go out for a walk with somebody who you enjoy, uh, take your dog for the walk into a park and be able to watch other people while they're playing with their dogs.

17:00 Engaging with others really helps.

17:03 Neurobiologically. We are not solitary beings.

17:07 Our composition as humans makes us want to be with other people.

17:14 That's one of the things I love when I talk in person, because I get everyone to howl together, to feel what it feels like to hear your voice with others. If you have a religion that you practice and you are being able to go to your church or your temple or any place that you normally go, um, then your mosque. Maybe you go outside and you commune with nature.

17:46 Being able to do it and sing with others actually elevates your your spirits and reduces your stress. One thing about setting boundaries.

17:57 I'd like you all to take a minute.

17:59 Right now I am going to say to you, could you do me a favor and can you give me a dollar? I want every single one of you to look at my picture right up there and say, no, Brenda, not today.

18:11 All right. So I'm going to say, hey, can you give me a dollar? And I want to hear that.

18:17 No, not today, not today.

18:21 And if you have a really hard time saying no setting boundaries so that you can get what you need done. Do a yes.

18:28 No. Yes. Oh, thank you so much.

18:33 Just said no. Not today.

18:35 And, um, it looks like a ronetta also.

18:39 Not today, not today. Katie.

18:41 Yes, it's important to say that word.

18:44 Two letters. No. If you can't say no, if you are one of those people that it no just gets stuck in your mouth.

18:53 I would love for you to be able to say a yes no.

18:56 Yes sandwich. Yes, I would love to do that.

18:59 But no, I can't do that today.

19:02 But how about you give me a call and we can plan it for the future? It's called yes. No. Yes.

19:08 Sandwich. And it helps to get you where you want to be.

19:14 I also tell people have an excuse in your pocket.

19:18 So if you have a hard time saying no to people, be able to say, oh, that's a great idea, but I've made other plans for this afternoon, so I'm terribly sorry this won't work for me today.

19:30 Please give me a call and let's set it up for the future.

19:34 Moving your body is the next thing you want to be able to move.

19:38 We are not supposed to be stationary.

19:42 If you are always at your desk, like I find myself quite often, because a lot of the courses that I teach are online, I now have a balance board that I stand on my balance board, and in between my classes I put music on so I can dance.

20:00 So you want to move your body, whether it is walking, whether it is running, whether it is dancing in place, whether it is an online Zumba class, uh, whether it's an in person Zumba class, you need to move your body.

20:15 You also want to watch what you're eating.

20:19 It's so important to have a diet that is rich and colorful.

20:24 So you look at these fruits and the vegetables, and you make sure that these are part of your day and you make it nice and easy and taking time to clean the kitchen.

20:37 That's a great idea. You clean the kitchen and then take away a lot of those sugar foods. If you can take sugar out of your diet for a week, just notice what happens to just for one week.

20:53 Take that sugar out of your diet.

20:56 The other thing is sleeping.

20:59 There is an amazing, uh tedmed that I suggest for all of you, and it is called another reason to get a good night's sleep.

21:10 Uh, and maybe, uh, somebody can put that in the chat so that everyone can see it.

21:16 Another reason to get a good night's sleep.

21:19 Ted, MD. And there you will actually learn about the neurobiology of your brain when you sleep. And it has been demonstrated with fMRI now and other, um, brain imaging that with mice, when they sleep, their cerebrospinal fluid actually comes way into the brain, goes all the way deep in and cleans out our vessels in the brain, actually really taking those cobwebs away.

21:54 That's why when you've had a great night's sleep, you wake up and those cobwebs seem to be gone.

22:00 The more recent research that they're doing is looking into how this might be helpful in reducing Alzheimer's and other diseases of the brain.

22:12 So self-care, these are small things to do for yourself, uh, during a day. So the other piece is having some balance, that yin yang balance.

22:25 We want to make sure that we are aware of what we are doing.

22:31 I always say act, don't react.

22:34 If somebody is getting to you, take a nice slow breath in and say, I'm not giving everything to this person, because what happens when you get angry or upset with somebody and you react to them, you hand them your life and then they take it. And then what? But if you don't hand it over, if you choose not to react, if you self-regulate, if you say to yourself, not today, I am not going to react to this person today, you're going to find that your energy doesn't get expelled.

23:15 Now, when you get angry with a person and you scream at them, it feels good in that moment.

23:21 But we all know that it doesn't feel good afterwards, and we all know that losing it with somebody can burn bridges, which can cause stress in the future.

23:32 So that self-awareness.

23:34 Take your breath. Not today.

23:36 I'm not going to react.

23:38 I know where I'm going.

23:40 You self-regulate and you motivate yourself towards what you want to have happen next.

23:47 What do I want to have happen next? I don't want to get off on a tangent.

23:55 Having empathy is great, but also have empathy for yourself.

24:01 Be able to say those I statements of I feel right now that this isn't a good time for me to talk about this. If you are having a problem at work.

24:13 I would like a little extra time to think about this.

24:17 One of my favorite statements is.

24:20 That's quite interesting.

24:21 I haven't thought about whatever it is before.

24:25 And if you don't mind, I just want to give myself some time to think about it. Very often when we're at work, people don't have the same religion.

24:33 They don't have the same affiliation.

24:36 For a political party.

24:39 They may have strong views about gender identity.

24:46 These are conversations that never end well.

24:50 And this is where having empathy for yourself and others really comes in.

24:56 To be able to say, that's an interesting point.

24:59 However, right now I need to think about what you said.

25:03 I really can't respond and walk away.

25:07 It will save relationships.

25:10 Your relationships are important.

25:12 Knowing who you can trust with your inner feelings is important.

25:17 And at work, it's work.

25:21 Even though in nursing we have to depend on each other like another person's life does depend on us, the relationships we have have to be cognizant of being able to look at us, what we can do in order to keep maintaining our own well-being.

25:41 And we haven't even mentioned Covid yet.

25:44 So once again, think about being good to yourself.

25:50 Keep that sense of curiosity about life.

25:55 Ask yourself, hmm, this is interesting.

25:58 I'm getting quite angry.

26:00 This is not going to take me where I want to go.

26:03 And that means you're curious, but you're not going to judge it.

26:06 You're not going to judge another person, nor are you going to judge yourself.

26:10 You're not going to take a righteous standpoint, because we're not going to convince other people what we believe in to the core, nor will they change us if we believe it in the core.

26:23 And so just observe yourself and make sure that when you are chatting with others that you are taking care of yourself.

26:31 And step right into that self kindness.

26:34 This, this, this conversation may not be going where I want to go.

26:38 So I think I'm going to thank that person for all that insight.

26:42 And now I need some time to think about it.

26:44 Bye bye. Intentionality is extremely important.

26:50 We must make sure that we have intention to take care of ourselves and that we deserve it. We're not going to feel guilty.

27:01 When my children were young, I used to say, oh my goodness, this hand is looking for somebody.

27:06 I think it wants to, like, give a spank.

27:08 I don't understand, and my kids look at me and they'd say, what should we do? And I'd say, go hide.

27:14 And they'd run away and they'd play with each other and I'd have a cup of tea.

27:19 I never hit my children.

27:21 I don't believe in it, but just wiggling the hand in the air gave me ten minutes just to be able to have a cup of tea.

27:30 No guilt. I deserve this again.

27:33 I these things that I said are so important.

27:36 The sleep, nourishment.

27:37 Time for reflection, medication.

27:39 If you need medication, do not deny yourself medication.

27:44 It's important also when you need help.

27:49 Needing help is human.

27:51 If you found out that your your A1C was eight and you didn't realize it, you'd immediately go to your doctor and say, oh my God, you know, maybe I better get on some medication or do you have a diet? I can go on. I need to bring my A1C below six.

28:11 So if you are finding that day after day, you're getting up and you're exhausted and you're sad and you don't care about how you look and you are angry with your children all the time, seek help. There are self-help groups.

28:25 Um, there are, uh, you can find a, um, program that is mental health first aid.

28:33 And if you reach out to me, I'm going to be having mental health first aid free. Um, and it is online, so, uh, you can do it online with me if you reach out. That's, uh.

28:46 Marshall be like Brenda, the number three at w p u j dot and I will put you into a mental health first aid class where you can learn some really good strategies not only for yourself, but also to identify when people around you are in need of some help.

29:08 Um, I'm getting towards the end.

29:10 I think of, um, my time.

29:15 So I really would love to do this breathing exercise with you.

29:19 Um, and I'm going to do it as a box.

29:21 And so if you can see my hands when I come out this way, you're going to inhale.

29:27 When I come up this way, you are going to hold it.

29:31 When I come together like this, you're going to exhale and then you'll inhale, hold it and exhale okay.

29:42 So we'll do this together.

29:44 Just breathe in through your nose.

29:48 Hold it. Exhale. And if you can let it out with a little like a ha.

29:57 That's nice. Inhale. Hold it.

30:04 Ah! Exhale. One more time.

30:10 Inhale. Hold it. Exhale.

30:17 Ah. Again. Inhale. Hold it.

30:28 Exhale. Ah. So that just took a couple of seconds to do.

30:36 But I hope that you can feel the way that this helps your body to relax.

30:43 I want you to keep remembering just the structure of your brain.

30:47 So you have the brainstem down at the bottom of your neck where your.

30:52 Um, with the amygdala located on either side and your prefrontal cortex in the front.

31:02 And if you're holding your breath, you're going to give your body and your mind the attitude that perhaps you are under attack.

31:14 And that will start your heart going faster.

31:16 And so you actually want to slow it down again.

31:19 You want to be calmer because you are not under attack.

31:28 Now, one of the other things, you know, normally when I'm doing this and this is a lovely, um, a lovely experiment we're going to do right now, I just need you to understand that if I talk to you the way that I talk to my clients, you would probably all fall asleep without even yawning.

31:51 Because when you start talking to someone, if you find yourself getting anxious or agitated. You're going to start talking faster and faster and faster, and you're and your voice is going to go up and you're going to start talking like this, and then it's going to sound pressured, and you're going to be saying, don't tell me this. I don't have time, all right? And that makes your heart go faster.

32:14 But ah, if you take that breath, if you allow your voice to fall down so that you can kind of feel it in the back of your throat, and if you slow it down and you say, this isn't a good time, I can't talk to you about that now, and you walk away, you're just going to do a world of good for yourself.

32:40 All right. So now put both your feet on the floor.

32:43 I want you to get a sense of being landed in your chair, that this is where you belong, that your spine is one vertebrae above another. Remember, your head weighs about 10 pounds, so you don't want your head too far forward because gravity is really going to make it feel like it's getting pushed down. So you want to make sure your head is back over your shoulders. If you feel comfortable in the space that you're at closing your eyes.

33:15 I want you to be able to drop in and just notice how it feels to be sitting like this and take a nice, slow, deep breath in.

33:30 Let it out with a small sigh.

33:36 Notice what settles in in your shoulders.

33:39 Maybe take another breath in.

33:45 Let it out with a sigh.

33:47 Ah. And now return to your normal breathing.

33:52 Keep your eyes closed.

33:54 Feel your feet on the floor.

33:55 Wiggle those toes. Feel really present.

34:02 And I want you to listen to what I'm about to say.

34:05 And just notice what happens inside your body.

34:12 When you hear me say. I am so happy that you are all able to join us today for this hour of strategizing for self-care.

34:32 I really appreciate your presence.

34:39 Take another breath. And when you want, open your eyes.

34:50 Come back in and maybe put in the chat a little bit to show exactly how that will help you to self regulate how just doing that for a minute maybe made you feel whether it relaxed you. It is that intentionality that we need.

35:16 I'm so glad Ruth feels good.

35:18 It feels good to take that moment and to feel appreciated.

35:23 And you need to appreciate yourselves.

35:26 You have to congratulate yourselves.

35:29 This is Nurses Week. If you are becoming a nurse, if you are a nurse, show yourself that compassion.

35:37 Because man, we have been through a lot and we deserve every moment of love and compassion that we get from outside and from inside.

35:48 Side. So being intentional about this, you are able to, on a daily basis, do this and do it without guilt and be able to feel so good, to be able to be in your body as you are speaking, and to be able to enjoy the fact that you now have more energy to be able to give to others during the day. Do yourself a favor.

36:22 Make sure you never are without water or I have a little bit of, um, diluted, uh, iced tea here.

36:31 Make sure you never go home.

36:33 At the end of the day. Say, I was so busy I couldn't go to the bathroom or have lunch. Please.

36:39 We all need you to take good care of yourself because we are a team.

36:45 You can do chair yoga.

36:47 I actually just downloaded an app that teaches me how to do yoga in my chair, so that if I'm stuck here and lecturing all day long, I can, between my lectures, do my chair yoga.

37:02 Make sure you don't lose touch with the people you care about.

37:05 It's a phone call, not a text.

37:08 It's a phone call. Or maybe a FaceTime.

37:11 Or maybe oh my gosh, go see them in real life.

37:17 Like actual FaceTime. Um, and we just did a couple of mindful exercises. All that means is that you allow yourself to sit and be present in your own body and feel safe in the moment that you're in, like walking through a rainforest.

37:42 Um, if you can think about one thing that you could do to give yourself a mini vacation.

37:47 That would be lovely. Um.

37:50 Just be. I think that's a wonderful one.

37:54 Um, and I think, and I just am going to ask, uh, our hosts. Um, do I have time to do, uh, one last meditation, one last fun meditation.

38:07 It'll be, like, three minutes.

38:11 Yes. No, I hope so. Okay, so I'm going to do it.

38:19 All right. So again, I would like you to, you know, feel landed in your chair.

38:24 Close your eyes. If you want to close your eyes, wiggle your toes, feel your feet on the ground.

38:31 Make sure your head is nicely situated on your shoulders.

38:35 Take a nice breath in.

38:39 Let it out. And I just want you to visualize yourself, um, just being able to feel that you're sitting in a chair, a very magical chair. Really feel yourself in that chair.

38:59 Create that chair. Maybe it's a big arm chair that you feel yourself in, but it is the safest chair in the universe.

39:09 And it is yours. And with the next breath in, you're able to put a bubble around you and your chair.

39:21 And that bubble allows you with your breath to actually lift up off the ground as you breathe in and start traveling.

39:33 Traveling to the place you love to be most.

39:37 And you don't have to worry about anything in your chair, in your bubble. There's plenty of fresh air.

39:45 There's plenty to look at.

39:47 You look out amongst where you are flying over.

39:52 You notice that it's very familiar because it is your interior landscape of places you've been and people you've known.

40:02 You notice that there are beautiful patches of land and others that need some tending to.

40:09 But then you see this amazing, amazing beach and you bring your chair over and very, very slowly let your chair come down on that beach and you take a nice breath in. And you just let the air out.

40:35 And when you sit down on that beach, That bubble comes away.

40:41 You can smell the sea air, and you can just feel every bit of stress, like small sparkles being pulled off of your body and just rushing to the sea.

41:01 And as you sit there feeling lighter and lighter, noticing how the stress is gone from your shoulders, how it's gone from your face, how it's leaving from your back and your arms, how it's leaving from your legs and your feet as tiny sparkles and landing on the water. You take a nice breath in and that bubble comes back up around you.

41:35 And when you look at the water Now it looks like there are beautiful diamonds dancing on the water. And you know, you can leave those stressful things there if you ever want to come back and pick them up, you can.

41:50 But for now, for today.

41:53 Leave them there. Take another breath in.

41:58 Have your beautiful chair lift off.

42:01 Say goodbye to the beach and the ocean and the sea.

42:06 Travel back to where you have started from.

42:11 Let this beautiful chair settle back into that room.

42:17 As you settle down. Wiggle your toes.

42:19 Feel how good it feels to have that ground underneath them.

42:24 Take another breath in.

42:27 Let it out with a sigh.

42:28 Ah. Make sure that the bubble is burst by reaching all the way up, stretching as far up as you can.

42:40 And then when you come down, just give yourself a hug because you deserve it. Here are a number of mantras that you can say.

42:53 Pick any one that you want.

42:56 Um, and allow yourself for that day to remember this mantra.

43:02 I will not let perfect be the enemy of good.

43:06 Sometimes good is good enough.

43:08 I don't have to be perfect.

43:12 And. Uh. To know in your heart.

43:16 I know in my heart. Right here, right now.

43:19 I'm safe in this moment.

43:21 It's okay. I'm safe, I can breathe.

43:25 So I just want to thank all of you for coming and spending this hour with me.