S11E8: HOW TO BECOME MINDFULL

0:00 My beautiful survivors, how are you? This is Karina, the hosting creator behind Stroke Surviving the Odds, the podcast guys, the show's all about moving forward, past events of the stroke, and it helps you reclaim your life. How? By reclaiming your identity. Here I share all my tricks, hacks, habits, adaptations, mindsets, everything I have learnt in the last 28 years as a stroke survivor myself. Yep, I was 25.

0:33 Brain stem dissection that led me to coma. Interlockton syndrome. But I'm living my best life and you are part of it. Join me here. Grab a pen and paper because the Fink is of ink is better than the best memory. Grab a drink and I'm going to meet you here in 10 seconds. Today I want to talk about something that sounds very simple but can completely change the way that we experience our lives.

1:02 And since I've been doing this for a few years, I've noticed a difference and I want to share with you guys now. Being mindful is being mindful is being intentional. It does not mean to have a full mind thinking of everything that you might have to do. Your computer work, your doctor's appointment, put oil in the car, the dentist, the groomer. That's not what I'm talking about. Think about those two words for a moment. Full mind.

1:42 We're going to go about it this way, OK? A full mind is crowded, it's cluttered. It's constantly thinking about the next appointment. Next responsibility is yesterday's mistake and tomorrow's worries. The brain just jumps from one thing to the next, and you have a hard time concentrating, right? Yep.

2:07 Been there. None. That and one thought to another is like a hamster in a wheel and it just doesn't give you enough time to be present in every single thing that you have to do. So you just rush through everything for a stroke survivor and honestly for anyone that's living today, because the world is really fast, guys, it's really freaking fast.

2:36 This mental clutter can be exhausting. And it when I say exhausting, it's not only mental. It ends up being pain, body, physical freaking ache, your back aches, your body, your head, everything. And it often drains the energy, right? I've been feeling like that before. Now today I'm feeling energized because I got the proper rest, but I felt drained of my energy in the last few weeks.

3:12 But being mindful is what I went back yesterday and today and I'm back into my my little routine, my mindfulness routine. When you're mindful, that means you're choosing to be fully present in each moment. That's it could be your kid blowing on the candle of the birthday cake at five years old. It could be you spending quality time in the car with your spouse, doing some errands, or you even going to McDonald's, pushing the back, pushing the seat back and having a coffee.

3:54 That was my favorite thing to do when I was married and I wanted my alone time. You see, it's noticing every little thing that's around you and your surrounding and it's experiencing life. That's what I love about it. It's experience it rather than just being through it. Actually Actually, I I have have an an episode episode exactly exactly entitled entitled like like that that. are you surviving or living because there's a difference Yep imagine that you're walking by the lake or the ocean and you have this beautiful piece of driftwood it's sun weathered it's almost grey it's really really nice and picturesque There's a couple of little crabs that are probably sneaking from underneath it.

4:56 Now that piece of driftwood is beautiful. Yes, it's, but it's still just sitting there embellishing the area. But it's just existing. It just is. But when you shift and you look at your left, you can hear the ocean. You can see the seagulls, you can see the movement of the water, of the tide, of the waves drifting in and out.

5:26 That is life. Do you understand the difference? I just gave you a very, very brief. You know, when you are mindful, you notice the kindness of strangers, the person that held the door for you when you walk into Walmart or at the grocery store or the guy in the car next to you. Like I had last week, I was parking and I had to pay for that parking. And the man in the car next to me said, oh, I'm leaving. Would you like my coupon?

6:05 I still have about four hours left on it. That was really kind and nice. Being mindful is knowing when you need to take a step back, when you need to heal. Maybe not the physical part of you, but the emotional and spiritual part. I learned that the hard way in the last few days. Believe it or not, I'm mourning my dog Bella that died a year ago and I didn't allow myself the time to mourn her. My dog that I've had for 16 years now. I, I, I, I'm mourning her, I'm feeling her, but I'm also healing inside.

6:50 Being mindful is also noticing that joy doesn't always comes from things, but it comes. Mostly I find being happy and proud that you accomplished something like yesterday I learnt I took an hour and I learnt how to go on canvas and do some video editing. For those of you who know me a little bit, you know that I usually suck a lot.

7:25 Big time. I still do. But I had so much fun, guys, learning how to do that. And yesterday was one of those quiet, healing days that I wasn't feeling good or bad. I just wasn't feeling at all. But when I did the video editing with the music and everything, I remember just saying I did it out loud in the living room.

7:53 There's not a there's no better feeling than that, guys. Sometimes you might actually notice and appreciate things or people that are actually in front of you. Sometimes we take things for granted. I'm going to start my favorite part of the show and I'm going to help you determine 3 little things you could do to become more mindful today. The number one thing is I would like for you to pause. That means stop what you're doing, inhale and look around. What do you see, what do you hear, what do you feel? That's very simple thing, but that little pause you just took allows you to re center and recalibrate yourself and say OK, I'm good for another part.

9:07 The second thing you could do is doing one thing at a time. Sometimes we say do one thing at a time and do it well. Absolutely. And once you've done it, don't forget to congratulate yourself because you completed it. I would like for you to hear yourself because what happens is that your mind does not know if it hears something out loud or in your mind. There's no volume.

9:42 It's just like that. But you as a human being, you register better and you are training your mind differently. So when you say good job to me, I'm so happy he's fucking finished just like that. And being happy about it, you are not just acknowledging it, but you are actually feeling it. And if you know anything about me, I'm all about feelings.

10:15 And last but not least, it would be great if at the end of the day, whether you're lying in bed or sitting on the couch or going out having a cigarette before going to bed, which is I never got that one. I never understood why my mom would do that. But if that's what you want to do, or maybe you're going out to do your to walk your pet before bedtime at the end of the day, I would like for you to think what good thing happened today that made me feel really nice.

10:53 I'll give you an example. I went to see my grandson yesterday and he ran to me. I was sitting down. He ran to me and he sat like a like, he was horsey, you know, a little horsey. And he's sitting on my leg like that. And he had never done that before. And just the fact that he ran to me and did that, it was like, oh, now that's one thing.

11:24 Maybe you went to McDonald's and you had your alone time and you pushed your car seat backwards, you roll down the windows and you had a McDonald's coffee. Maybe you finally got that little diamond that you wanted on your nail or get in a new nail design. Maybe you're a man and you went to the hardware store and you bought yourself a brand new hammer today and it to add to your collection and you're happy about that. It doesn't matter what it is, as minuscule as it is, as long as you just do what you need to do to be more mindful. Guys, this is what I have for you today. I hope you enjoyed.

12:15 I hope you took some notes. If you want, if you have any questions, please put it in the comments and like, follow, subscribe, share the podcast. The more you share, the more people in the community of stroke survivors we can help. I'm not alone here. I have you guys just as you are not alone because you have me. I love you tremendously.

12:42 See you soon. Bye.