Caitlin Kindred: 0:28

Hello. Still don't know what day it is. For you, it's a day. It's a day, and we're so glad you're here, regardless of what day it is. This is how to Be a Grown-Up. This is the how-to show that gives you advice on being a grown-up and all of the downward social comparison that you might ever need in your life. I'm Caitlin and I don't think I introduced myself in last week's episode, but I'm Caitlin, I'm CK and with me today is I'm not GK, you are not.

Caitlin Kindred: 1:03

GK. Instead you are Ariella Monti, my published author friend. Oh my gosh, so exciting. She is here with me again today, while Jenny is now recovering from knee surgery. Jen, we love you. We're so glad you're on the path to healing. You're probably in really rough shape right now because you're just a few days post-op, but we are thinking about you and I mentioned this in last week's episode. But if you want to support Jenny in her recovery, please just reach out to me using either that contact us page on our website or by sending a text through this link in our show notes, and I'll get you a way to help her out.

Caitlin Kindred: 1:44

Today we are continuing our Spring Into Self-Care which I'm still very proud of series with a discussion about mindfulness, because Ariella is a certified yoga instructor and this is one of her areas of expertise and it's a good self-care topic. So I'm just going to put this out there. One of my goals for this year is to spend more time practicing meditation. I was really good about it at the end of last year I would say like all of I'm going to be businessy here all of Q4, so, like October through December, I was really good about it and I think I did it almost every day, but then when I went on my like holiday break or whatever, I just got out of the habit of it, because ADHD will suck at making habits if it's not part of a routine, and I just haven't done as well with it this year. I did meditate most of the days this past week, but I still I'm trying to get myself back into it, so this timing is absolutely perfect.

Ariella Monti: 2:51

I'm really excited for us to talk about this today, so hopefully, the exercise that I'm going to teach y'all today will help make having a mindfulness practice and a meditation practice easier, because it is a really, really simple way to bring it into your life and like just find little spots of it throughout the day and eventually, when you do it over and over again, it becomes so ingrained that it just sort of happens.

Caitlin Kindred: 3:29

I'm very excited. I love, I love a good exercise. I love a good practical application of what we're learning right now. So'm very excited, I love, I love a good exercise. I love a good practical application of what we're learning right now. So this is awesome Okay.

Ariella Monti: 3:37

So I have been a yoga teacher since 2019, but I will say that my background in mindfulness is really not that extensive. So there are other teachers, other yoga teachers out there who really really specialize in a mindfulness practice and how it relates to yoga, and they are much better sources for that information. My main experience, on top of teaching yoga is also I've been in therapy for a very long time, as we all could be, and much of what I've learned about mindfulness has come from my my own therapist, who has extensive clinical training in these modalities, and she also happens to be a yoga teacher. So that's perfect for you. Yeah, it just it just kind of happened that way, which is phenomenal.

Caitlin Kindred: 4:38

So this exercise that you're going to teach us today will help those of us who are not necessarily accustomed to having these moments of mindfulness in our day.

Ariella Monti: 4:50

Absolutely, yes, absolutely. So, to start off, with, what is mindfulness? So it's becoming kind of a like a buzzword at this point. You know, be mindful of this. Like it feels, it almost feels a little trendy and a little bit disingenuous at this point, but there is a lot of clinical information out there about mindfulness and how it impacts our stress levels and our body.

Caitlin Kindred: 5:13

I appreciate that you said that the word is trendy, because I also think that I might be using it in the wrong context, like I'll say to my child like you need to be mindful of what you're doing, but I don't think that's what we're getting at here and I think I need to use a different word when I'm talking to him about this, because mindfulness is not about necessarily self-awareness in the context that I'm using it. Yes, so can you just define the word for me so that I stop using it?

Ariella Monti: 5:42

So the definition that I'm going to be using comes from a couple of articles from Yoga International and included those links, so they'll be in the show notes. But by definition, mindfulness refers to the informal practice of present moment awareness. Okay, so it is being fully present in whatever activity you are doing and by being present it is experiencing that moment like with all of your senses. So it's different than like when we tell our kids to be mindful, like that is just kind of like baseline awareness of, like their surroundings. But with mindfulness you are really honing in on one focal point and one thing.

Ariella Monti: 6:38

Oh yeah, I've definitely been using that I mean, it's one of those like the thing we know about words is that words have multiple definitions, right, and but when we're talking about mindfulness as a form of self-care, like, we're using it in the sense that we want to be completely present and completely aware of, like the one thing that we're doing, okay thing, it helps us tune out everything else that's going on, so that we can tune in to what our body is telling us, what our mind is telling us. It helps. It also helps us tune into our surroundings.

Caitlin Kindred: 7:26

This is interesting. I feel like this could be really good for someone who experiences panic attacks or those states of overwhelm. This could be really helpful for people like that.

Ariella Monti: 7:39

It's very similar to that panic attack, that activity, that when people are having a panic attack where they focus on like something you can see, something, you can hear, something, you can smell. It's very. That would be an example of a mindfulness practice. This exercise is kind of the before that you know it's the, it's not the prevention of.

Caitlin Kindred: 8:07

It's the non-rescue. It's the non-rescue.

Ariella Monti: 8:09

Yeah, exactly, it's the same sort of skill, but it's not necessarily what you're going to be doing when you are having a panic attack. You know what I'm saying.

Caitlin Kindred: 8:19

Yeah, I do, and I think that that relates to what we talked about last week with self-care. Self-care is not about it's not the fire extinguisher when the house is on fire. Self-care is the fire extinguisher when you have like a tiny little like you know kitchen fire, Right, Like when it's something when and when the pan on the stove, like that's. So that seems to be more of what this is, Whereas the panic attack moment you need the entire, you know fire truck.

Ariella Monti: 8:45

This is like daily maintenance mindfulness.

Caitlin Kindred: 8:49

Yes, this is the car tweezers. Exactly, this is your car tweezers and not the full on wax session Right, got it Okay, understood.

Ariella Monti: 8:59

And this is an activity that I do with my yoga students, who tend to be older, they tend to be seniors, they tend to be retired, chronically ill, injured. They are phenomenal and wonderful and I absolutely adore them and I've been doing this practice with them at least once a session and our sessions are six weeks, so at least once a session I will do this exercise with them and they really, really enjoy it and they bring it into their everyday lives and have found it really helpful.

Caitlin Kindred: 9:35

I love that. That's great that you're doing that. Okay, well, I'm ready Tell me how this works.

Ariella Monti: 9:40

Okay so what you're going to do is you're going to grab an object of any kind. So when I do this in my class, I usually bring a little bag of my crystals. I also. In that little bag is also a couple of tiny sticks, a few feathers, just an object with some kind of like texture or color or whatever. Okay, and this object is going to be your focal point. This is what you're going to put all of your attention onto.

Ariella Monti: 10:21

For the next like, however long you do this exercise. So when I do it in class, it's usually like 10, 5 to 10 minutes, 10, 5 to 10 minutes. When I do it at home, it's like 30 seconds. Okay, this is very much what I think of and our bluey fans are going to find this familiar. But the episode of bluey called born yesterday, where bandit is born yeah, bandit was born, he was just born yesterday. So he's discovering the world and all the way. At the end, chili asks where's your father? And he's sitting outside with this leaf in his hand and he's just staring at it. That's what we're doing.

Caitlin Kindred: 11:06

And that's such a sweet little moment too, like you can really feel him appreciating what's happening. I just got goosebumps. Guys, I'm a bluey fan. Bluey gave me goosebumps. It gives me it regularly does when I watch it. It's so sweet, but like that little moment just is so, so sweet. Okay, I, I, I am seeing it in my brain. I understand what you're trying to get me to do so.

Ariella Monti: 11:28

So that is, that's our goal. So you're going to take your object and you're going to go take that object someplace where you feel comfortable. It can be your bed, it can be outside, it can be your favorite couch, whatever. Go someplace comfortable. Okay, you've got this object in your hands and if you're comfortable with closing your eyes, you can close your eyes and just start to observe the object. You're observing, you're not judging, so you're observing the texture, you're observing the feel of your fingertips on it. You can observe the feel of your palm on it. You can observe the feel of your palm on it. And these observations come with, like I said, no judgment. They're simply observations. There's no good, there's no bad, it just is. And then from touch you can move on to the, your other senses. So you can open your eyes and you can look at it and, depending on what you have in your hands, you can observe the colors, you can observe the way light refracts off of it, you can observe the bumps and the grooves and, depending on what you have, you can observe it with taste, you can observe it with smell. I always tell my students not to observe my stuff with taste, but if you're doing this with your favorite cup of coffee. You can observe it with taste, you can observe it with smell, and once you've really examined this object, you can be curious about it. Where did it come from before it entered my home?

Ariella Monti: 13:52

And as you're going through this exercise for as long as you'd like five minutes, 50 seconds, five seconds during that time, your attention and your mind is focused on the activity or the objects and not everything else going on, and all of your senses are honing on to the leaf in your hands. And it is not. It is now taking a break. It's a respite from all the other stuff that it is worrying about, and that is going to calm your mind. It's going to calm your body, it's going to get you back to a baseline. It's not going to put out the fire, but it's going to get you to a baseline that will allow you to kind of be more present and aware with everything else.

Caitlin Kindred: 15:10

Okay, the interesting piece to me was the no judgment piece. Right, you're not saying? I don't like how this feels. You're just saying this feels yeah, that's a really interesting part, because to me I never know what I'm supposed to say to myself in my head in those moments, but I caught myself saying like, oh, I like. And then you were like, but without judgment, I went nevermind.

Ariella Monti: 15:33

You know what I mean.

Caitlin Kindred: 15:33

It was it was like a just kidding sort of moment, but it was good for me because I could just say, like this part feels bumpy, this part feels smooth, this part feels squishy, this part you know what I mean.

Ariella Monti: 15:48

It was interesting. Take it a step further. When you find yourself saying, like I like the feel of this. The next step would be like you know the why. Like this feels soft, which is why I like it. Like this feels bumpy, which is why I don't like it, and so you're just kind of taking that next step. You know, even the liking or the not liking is not necessarily judgment, but like that part is, but the observation isn't. So it's allowing you to kind of hone in on why you're feeling the way you do, which is something like that. You know, us ADHDers have a really hard time with that's. A marker of ADHD is not being able to describe our feelings, our emotions. Like I don't know why a thing bothers me, it just feels icky in my body. But I can hone in on the ickiness that I'm feeling.

Caitlin Kindred: 16:54

Yeah, I'm also thinking about the importance of the separation between I don't like how this feels and this is scratchy, which is why I don't like how this feels.

Caitlin Kindred: 17:08

There is a difference between those two statements and when you're talking about especially feelings, I think that there's something to be said for I feel angry versus that makes me angry, like those are two different things, because one of them is you placing judgment on yourself and then becoming that thing, you become angry when the other one is on yourself and then becoming that thing, you become angry when the other one is, I feel angry.

Caitlin Kindred: 17:41

I am not angry, I feel angry, and those are. I think that's a very important distinction to make when it comes to recovering from fight or flight or recovering from a stressful situation, is being able to separate you from the emotion, even just in that tiny way. So I think if that, if the practice that we did where you have an object in front of you, starts to help you make that distinction between the emotion consuming you, you being the emotion, versus an object making you feel an emotion, that's a big connection to be able to get to at some point. So it seems to me that this is an anchor, an object of focus to help me make the distinction between what I am feeling and what is actually happening.

Ariella Monti: 18:34

I use that same sort of idea when I teach balance in my yoga classes. So I will have my students stand with just their feet on the ground and just have them focus on their feet. So the sense, and not not just like the actual foot, but the sensations of their foot interacting with the surface underneath them, like so for some people it's the mat, some people have like a blanket or socks on. So I will ask them to just observe the way the bottoms of their feet are interacting with that surface and then I'll have them go a little bit deeper. Where I'll have them? I never have them do anything. I always invite them to. I always invite them to invite them to focus on the way their feet adjust, adjust to the, to any little movements of their body. So you know, if you close your eyes, your body will start to sway because it needs. You know something to kind of right.

Ariella Monti: 19:40

So your body will start to sway and if you take your attention and you bring it to your feet, you can start to notice the minor and little adjustments your feet make when your body is swaying. So the way your feet are working to keep your body upright Okay, and that you can do like you're standing in line at the grocery store or something.

Caitlin Kindred: 20:15

That's a good point, because I need something physical to anchor my brain to, because I can't, I have a really difficult time with abstract concepts, so this practice of holding something in your hand or focusing on your feet is a really helpful one for me.

Ariella Monti: 20:36

Yeah, and what I like about using a physical object and teaching this with physical object, because I could do the same type of practice with, like a meditation or something, and I do sometimes do guided meditation, but there are lots of people who can't picture. You know, I might say, like, picture a stream, like, but they are unable to. That's so hard for me. Yeah, whereas I sure I will picture, I will give you details and all of that kind of stuff, but if you have, you know the object and you can physically look at it, because that's the other thing too. Like we all, capitalism in general and wellness, like capital W wellness has kind of taught us that we need to do this in a certain way and that way needs to be sitting cross-legged on the floor in a dark room with our eyes closed, and a lot of this practice is like visual and tactile observation.

Caitlin Kindred: 21:37

Well, it's so much more accessible when you make it concrete. Think about these abstract concepts of things that we try to teach kids Like. Right now I have in my head this concept of teaching algebra, which is something that I did for my students. It is very difficult to say to a student, like there's a missing number in the world. We don't know what that number is, but we're going to call it X, right, like that's really hard. But there's a program that I'm not going to say the name of, where you have a scale and then you have a four and like a pawn piece, and then you have the middle of the scale is an equal sign. And then on the other side you have an eight. And it's easy to say to a kid there's a four and a missing number that we don't know, but we do know that when we put them together it equals eight. And that concreteness of that, all of a sudden it makes sense. So when someone says to me I'm going to pick on Headspace a little bit here visualize yourself and this golden liquid is consuming you from the feet up and that is melting your stress. I'm not kidding, that's what he says.

Caitlin Kindred: 22:48

That for me is incredibly difficult. I never picture myself like that. The closest I've gotten is, you know, those like those hot springs in Japan with the monkeys who sit in the snow. You know what I'm talking about. But they sit in there in the snow and they sit in that hot spring thing. That's the closest that my brain gets to it, where I'm like, all right, I'm going to sit in the snow, and you know what I'm talking about, but they sit in, they're in the snow and they sit in that hot spring thing. That's the closest that my brain gets to it, where I'm like all right, I'm gonna sit in the monkey, the monkey sulfur, the monkey hot tub. That's like where my brain goes. That one sounds amazing, doesn't it right? I'm gonna sit in the right, I want to sit in the monkey hot tub. Why not so?

Caitlin Kindred: 23:22

but that's as close as I get to it, because I'm like okay, I, my body, my feet are in the monkey hot tub and I always call it, the monkey hot tub too, even though I know that's not what it is, and and then, like, as I go in, my body starts to warm up and I feel relaxed. Or the other one that I've done is like the floating in the dead sea thing, where it's like this, that super salty water and everyone just like gets in and floats right and it probably feels amazing, which, by the way, is another like sensory thing that I really want to try is like a float tank. That sounds amazing, um, but that's the closest I can get to it, because it's not the idea of a golden liquid starting at my toes and coming up to my head. It just sounds like pee and I can't handle it. Like, I'm just not into it.

Caitlin Kindred: 24:04

Yeah, you're welcome, but it also is so abstract that I can't access that thinking. I need something that's going to be much more concrete and tactile, and so the idea of having an object in my hands makes a lot more sense, and I also appreciate the accessibility of. You're right, you don't have to be sitting in a dark room with your legs crossed. You can do this while you're staring out the window doing dishes. So that brings me to my next point, which is finding time for mindfulness practices like the one that you just described. I don't necessarily always feel like I have the time to stop, or my brain is not allowing me to stop, but are there ways that I can do this, like while I'm doing chores? Is there a way to do that?

Ariella Monti: 25:02

Yeah, absolutely so, with chores, and this is something that you'll see in a lot of mindfulness books and stuff. One that is a good one is the Miracle of Mindfulness. I put the link here the Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh. He's a very famous Buddhist monk Very famous, yeah. So if you're doing a chore, say you're Washing dishes. Yeah, washing dishes is the good one. So say you're washing dishes. Okay, just focus on your actions while washing dishes. So focus on the feel of the water on your hands, focus on the sound of the water running from the faucet. Focus on the sound of the dishes being placed in the dishwasher.

Caitlin Kindred: 25:55

I like this. I'm thinking about how this applies to self-care. Again, you mentioned that it's the fire extinguisher in the tiny fire, it's not the entire firehouse, right. But I'm thinking about things that that I forget to do during the day. Like, sometimes I, even though I take medication that makes me very thirsty, I forget that I need to drink water and I will just sit there and not be and just not think about it, and then all of a sudden I'll have a moment where I'm like oh, I'm hungry, oh I have to go to the bathroom, oh, my gosh, I have to have water. Like I feel like this. Taking a few moments to do that could really help me kind of remember what I actually physically need in that moment, because I think sometimes those physical needs are things I forget to address during the day yeah, yeah, that is.

Ariella Monti: 26:48

I think that's a big part of it is that you, you start to become more aware more aware and more present, of kind of like, what your body is feeling and doing at any you know, at any given time it starts to take your body and your nervous system out of constant fight or flight, or at least it takes that baseline. Because, like I don't think we could ever and this is what I tell my students all the time when we talk about meditation and the idea of, like, clearing your mind and like all that stuff I like I tell them like that doesn't exist for me, it doesn't exist in our society, it's not gonna happen. But you can practice focusing on the one thing, and there is science that that does start to bring down our baseline fight or flight, parasympathetic nervous system, it it like if you're existing at an eight, it's not going to take you to a zero, but maybe with time it takes you to a six, you know, and if your baseline comes down to, you know, like a six from an eight, that's a big improvement.

Caitlin Kindred: 28:01

That's a big improvement, yeah, okay, so you've given us a mini walkthrough of how this works. You've given us a reason why we need to have something physical to focus on as an anchor, whether it's something in our hand or focusing on our feet, especially for those of us who are new to this practice. I know for you, being a very nature-minded person, this probably is going to look different than it would for me, so maybe walk us through what it might look like for you.

Ariella Monti: 28:38

When I personally will do this practice. Most of the time I don't even realize I'm doing it, but I'm sitting here at my desk and I have a bird feeder like one of those window bird feeders like stuck right to my window, yeah. And I will look away from my screen and I will just watch this chickadee look for the perfect sunflower. Little seed, yeah, yeah, oh sweet and then fly off that. That could be five seconds.

Caitlin Kindred: 29:11

you do those moments like over and over and over during the day and it starts to add up yeah, yeah, I could see that that seems like a really accessible way to incorporate this into your everyday as part of self-care. I like that.

Ariella Monti: 29:31

Yeah, yeah. And when I write up the blog post for this, I'm going to put that picture of bandit healer looking at a leaf and, like, just channel your inner bandit healer looking at a leaf and just spend 30 seconds staring at it.

Ariella Monti: 29:47

And again, as we've been saying, it's not going to put out the fire, it's the, I would say, if we're going to keep using the fire metaphor, it's the safety precautions that you do to prevent a fire, and sometimes fires still happen and so you have like the next steps, but this is like the don't keep cooking oil right next to your burner.

Caitlin Kindred: 30:16

Right.

Ariella Monti: 30:17

Yeah, this is like don't play with matches, right.

Caitlin Kindred: 30:23

Okay, so all of this information is really helpful. I think it'd be really effective if people have an opportunity to try kind of what you're talking about here. So what we're going to do is Ariella is going to guide you through a meditation at the end of this episode. So if you'd like to stick around and practice this, as she would with her students, stick around to the end of the episode and she will walk you through one of these guided mindfulness sessions and you can determine sort of how well it works for you, see how you feel, and then there'll be some other resources that you can try in our show notes for additional guided meditation. And if you live in the area where Ariella teaches yoga, you can go join her class and try it there too.

Caitlin Kindred: 31:09

Okay, we will be right back For links to resources mentioned in this episode. Head on over to ckandgkpodcastcom slash blog to find everything you need, and be sure to follow us on social media. Head over to your favorite social media network and find us at CK and GK podcast. And now back to the show. Now we're back and we have obsessions and gems to discuss, so I'd like to hear what your obsession is, please, and thank you.

Ariella Monti: 31:46

My obsession is adding a little bit of whimsy to my life. Nice, and I am doing that by making these tell me what that is.

Caitlin Kindred: 31:57

It is. I don't know what it is, but I love it.

Ariella Monti: 32:07

Okay, so I take pottery. I'm not super good at pottery, but I take pottery and I have this little dish. The mold itself, if you're old enough to know, is probably an ashtray mold. Okay, yeah, I gotcha. It is, you know like right right, right, okay, and then I had a little extra clay, so I made this little mushroom adorable right, and then I went outside the other day and I pulled up.

Ariella Monti: 32:29

I have a lot of moss growing in my backyard and in my front yard, so it's not like I took the only moss that was in my backyard. There is plenty.

Caitlin Kindred: 32:38

Oh my gosh, so much judgment, I care, so much there is someone out there.

Ariella Monti: 32:46

I know, though, there's someone, yeah, but they're probably aren't listening to this show, so don't worry about it. No, that's fair. That's fair, okay.

Caitlin Kindred: 33:02

So I went and I grabbed, you know, some moss and I put it in this little dish and I added this little mushroom and now I have this little moss garden. It's like a little tiny Zen garden that you don't have to do anything. Will the moss keep growing? Or is it just like done? No, no, no, you just spray it with water and it'll just keep going.

Ariella Monti: 33:15

Yeah, I haven't tried doing this inside yet, but I think the trick is just going to be finding, like, the right spot in the house for it, because, like moss is one of those tricky things that likes shade and water, but most of the moss I have in my backyard is in direct sunlight for 12 hours.

Caitlin Kindred: 33:39

Oh, that's weird. Okay, who knows? But yeah, that's really cute, I love it. It's so cute. I'm obsessed with the whimsy here, so you're going to need to take a picture of that and we'll put it in the blog post for the episode, because it's really cute.

Caitlin Kindred: 33:54

I think it's a very good representation of this episode, actually, like you could just focus on that and you could touch it. Yeah, I think it's a very good representation of this episode, actually, like you could just focus on that and you could touch it. Yeah, I think it's great, very adorable. Yeah, well, I'm going to copy you from last week.

Caitlin Kindred: 34:06

The weather in Austin right now is absolutely glorious. I sat outside and read a book which was very this feels very indulgent, but I did this for two hours yesterday. I just sat outside, was very this feels very indulgent, but I did this for two hours yesterday. I just sat outside and I think I got a teeny, tiny little sunburn because I use retinol and my face is in the sun, but only half of it. So that's fun, uh, but it was still like this weather is amazing. I can sit out here all day long in this. It's not polliny yet outside, like we mentioned last week, but yeah, oh, it's so beautiful. So that's my obsession. This week is just good weather. But what about gems? Do you have any of those? Um?

Ariella Monti: 34:47

this was pretty cute. It's also happens to be pottery related. So the pottery I started doing it because my son has been doing it for a few years now he's eight and a half, as you know, and he's been taking classes on his own for, I think, maybe like six months or so. I love it and it's, it's great, it really really is great.

Ariella Monti: 35:16

And so for those who are not familiar with with pottery or hand building, rather, if you want to connect two pieces, you need to score and slip. So basically, you score little little lines into the clay and then you dab, slip on, which is really just like really watery clay that acts like a glue. So the pottery teacher, who also happens to be a friend of mine, um, she'll always say remember, you know, dab, dab, dab, dab, you know. So you're dabbing the slip into those little whole, like into those little cuts. Um, so I went they were making penguins in the last class and when I came in, my son told me I made a dabbing penguin, as in like, because the teacher, yeah, as in, oh as in the movement, because that's like oh, my God.

Ariella Monti: 36:16

Because she's always saying dab dab dab because she's always saying dab dab, dab.

Caitlin Kindred: 36:24

So when it's done I have to see that is the cutest and silliest little thing I love. I love watching them get stuff like that. Mine's kind of related. My son gets memes now Like he gets them. Yes, so when you're teaching middle school, it really starts to happen in like seventh grade where all of a sudden these kids start to get sarcasm. And watching them play with it is really, really fun because you know, as the teacher, you'll make a sarcastic remark and it's crickets. But then, like all of a sudden, you know, like October, as as as the kids usually right around the turn 13. Sudden, you know, like October, as as as the kids usually right around the, they turn 13. So as the kids start to turn 13 throughout the year, all of a sudden you'll get a snicker that comes out from your one sarcastic. It's the best feeling when you're like yeah, you get my joke, so it feels so good. So that's how this feels, with my son getting me.

Caitlin Kindred: 37:14

So one of the brands that I used to work with is a system for issuing passes from one classroom to another, and we came up with the idea of having memes be a part of the marketing strategy because educators love them. There was a whole thing that went around a few years ago where teachers were using them as a way to establish class rules, because the kids were glomming onto it and they thought it was funny. And at one point I think I had my own kids make some about how we did rules, because it was just fun. Well, I kept the one that I'm the most proud of that I made for this brand when I went to an event that I worked at for them and this is the meme. Okay, it's Kevin Hart doing the like head, like excuse me, look.

Caitlin Kindred: 38:08

And the meme says when my student says they got lost coming back from the restroom and it's April, okay, like I'm sorry, what? So this was on my desk. And my son comes in and he's like this is a meme, this is a meme. And I was like, yeah, and he goes, I understand this. And I was like, do you? And he was like, yeah, because who's getting lost in April. And I was like, yes, that's what makes it funny, because of course, they didn't get lost. And he's like, yeah, that's ridiculous, but that's a funny meme, mom, I like that. And I was like, well, guess who wrote it and he was like who and it's like I did. And he goes oh, that's a funny meme. I'm proud of you for that one.

Caitlin Kindred: 38:54

And I was like I get it. I will say I have to say like I'm going to toot my own horn here, but my kids, or my meme strategy, worked fairly well and those were a big hit at the event we went to and they still get used by this brand, but that was probably my favorite. But it was it made me so happy that he was like I get this. I understand it. Do you know what a meme is?

Ariella Monti: 39:19

I know.

Caitlin Kindred: 39:25

I know what a meme is. I know, I know what a meme is. I'm like buddy, if you knew my love language was memes, you would. You would probably freak out like because that I I will go like weeks at a time without looking in my own personal instagram, dms, and then I'll send like 15 memes to you in a row.

Ariella Monti: 39:34

So yeah, that's just yeah amazing. There's a reason why in my local mom's group I do me monday like I am the one who posts the me monday correct. You gotta get it started, yeah yeah, just so, because I just I wanted to make sure that I saw all of them. Yeah, you have to, though I mean, granted, now I use facebook a lot less, so I miss a lot of them.

Caitlin Kindred: 39:58

But yeah.

Caitlin Kindred: 39:59

I still, that's not my place anymore. I, by the way, if you haven't already followed our show, we're in all the places. If you like Facebook, follow us there. If you don't like Facebook, I spend most of my time on Instagram. You're welcome to follow us there too. I am also on threads. Our show is on threads. I am also on threads. Our show is on threads. It is not where we are all the time, but we do show up there. But Instagram is our favorite place. So, just if you haven't already started following. So this would be the time of the show when we say we're going to go, so we're going to do that.

Ariella Monti: 40:34

And you should go mindfully.

Caitlin Kindred: 40:39

Oh, I like that. And yeah, make your good choices, be mindful and share memes because they're fun. Okay, bye, bye, bye. Okay, as I promised, here is Ariella guiding you through a moment of mindfulness. Her walkthrough should take about six or seven minutes to complete. Just a quick note please do not do this during a moment that requires your full attention. Stay safe and stay aware before you attempt this mindfulness activity. Please enjoy. Please enjoy.

Ariella Monti: 41:21

Before we get started, I invite you to grab an object. It can be something small, something meaningful or something completely inconsequential. When I do this exercise with my yoga students, I usually have some rocks or leaves or stick, and once you've gotten that object, I invite you to take it to your favorite quiet place in the house Maybe your bed, your porch, can be your closet, like I'm sitting in right now, and I invite you to get comfortable. You don't have to turn out the lights or light a candle, though if that's what you want to do, you can but I invite you to get comfortable, settle in, maybe wiggle around, get any extra energy out, and I invite you to hold that object in your hand and if you're comfortable closing your eyes, I invite you to start there. Run your fingers over the object with your fingertips than when you touch the object to the palm of your hand or the back of your hand. Take a few moments to use your sense of touch to explore this object and any time your mind starts to wander, just come back to how the object feels in your hands. If you'd like, you can open up your eyes and you can observe the object with your sense of sight. Observe the colors, observe the texture, observe how light interacts with the object. Does it shine, does it sparkle? Sparkle or is it dull? And, depending on what you do this exercise with, you can explore the object with your other senses. If you're drinking a cup of coffee, you can taste it and smell it. If you're at the beach, you can hear, you can smell and you can see the ocean.

Ariella Monti: 46:24

The point of this exercise is to allow that object, or even a sound, to be the only thing that you're focused on for however long you want to do this exercise. You can do it for five seconds, you can do it for five minutes, you can do it before you go to bed, you can do it before you wake up in the morning, or you can do it in the middle of your workday, when you look out the window and see a bird at a bird feeder. Take time to notice without judgment and with curiosity, like Bandit Healer when he was born yesterday. Observe the world and the objects in your hand like you've never seen them before, and they are the most fascinating thing in the world. And they are the most fascinating thing in the world and hopefully, with time, this practice will get easier and it's something that you'll do without even thinking about. Thank you for letting me share this exercise with you. I hope you find it helpful.