This year as you do your spring cleaning, why not declutter your mind as well. In this episode we have great tips for being more focused and less stressed. Join two professional counselors Dr. Jamie Jones, Boundless, and Danielle Smart, client navigator, Ohio NAMI, who share proven ways to achieve better mental health. They join our host Scott Light to discuss meditation, breathing exercises, journaling and just getting outside to improve your state of mind. What impact do green spaces and blue spaces have on our health? Studies show they are helpful in calming our minds.
This year as you do your spring cleaning, why not declutter your mind as well. In this episode we have great tips for being more focused and less stressed. Join two professional counselors Dr. Jamie Jones, Boundless, and Danielle Smart, client navigator, Ohio NAMI, who share proven ways to achieve better mental health. They join our host Scott Light to discuss meditation, breathing exercises, journaling and just getting outside to improve your state of mind. What impact do green spaces and blue spaces have on our health? Studies show they are helpful in calming our minds.
It is April, and we know in Ohio that that can feel like a spring day one day and then the next day, yep, we can get six inches of snow. However, why don't we use this calendar hook spring as people declutter their garages or their basements, maybe they take on a spring cleaning project. And you know what, just in general, they make a shift in their home life. So, we thought it could be good to have an episode dedicated to decluttering our minds. To my guests today, let's say your workday gets away from you things pile up, what is your quick go to to declutter your mind? Even if it's just for a few minutes. Danielle?
Danielle Smart:It is a five minute long song, sometimes two[songs], and I prefer instrumental or, something like opera that is in a foreign language just that step away.
Scott Light:I love that. Jamie, what about you?
Dr. Jamie Jones:I like doing brief meditation exercises.
Scott Light:Okay, I'm gonna get both of you to talk about that a little bit more. But first, let me welcome everybody to another episode of Well-Being a podcast brought to you by Boundless, a nonprofit that provides residential support, autism services, primary health care, day programs, counseling and a whole lot more to children and adults. Our mission is to build a world that realizes the boundless potential of all people. I'm your host, Scott Light. So you just heard the voices of our guests. Let me properly introduce you to them right now. Dr. Jamie Jones is back with us. She is here on the Boundless campus, she works with the Boundless behavioral health team. And we also welcome Danielle Smart, a mental health social worker and client navigator with NAMI Ohio. Great to have you both.
Dr. Jamie Jones:Thank you.
Danielle Smart:Thank you.
Scott Light:Okay, so, Jamie, I'll come to you this time, and you mentioned brief meditation. So would you expound on your go to there for our listeners?
Dr. Jamie Jones:Yes, I really enjoy brief meditation, especially present moment mindfulness activities that engage all of your senses or as many as possible. So, to declutter my mind, I might look around the room and find five things that I can see, four things that I can touch, three things that I can hear, and then if I have something like a mint, I might take that mint, and engage my sense of smell by smelling it, and my sense of taste by tasting it.
Scott Light:That is really, really good. And I'm glad you mentioned meditation, because we've got some listeners, I'm sure going, "Hey, no, wait a minute, I can't sit and just not do anything for you know, five minutes". That's not meditation, right? I mean, meditation can can be just about anything that you know, is applicable or to the likes of that individual.
Dr. Jamie Jones:Yeah, there's so many different ways to meditate. So that's something that I practice a lot myself and teach other people that, you know, one person's meditation isn't gonna be the same as the next person's. There are lots of ways to to engage in that.
Scott Light:Okay, Danielle, I want to come back to your go to and yours was music. Tell us more about how this helps you? Absolutely.
Danielle Smart:Absolutely. I think this is a great form of meditation to give an example, like Dr. Jones has talked about. Exactly that I grew up listening to lots of music and playing instruments. So for me just to have a moment to step away. And I think it was important to note that for me, I choose instrumental or something not in English, because it allows me to not concentrate on the lyrics. Music can be amazing, and it can reflect so many emotions, but sometimes you don't want to get caught in that. So to just declutter, step away, enjoy the melodies and take a little breather, it just helps me set the mood to move forward.
Scott Light:That is really cool. I'm just curious, what instruments did you play?
Danielle Smart:So I play clarinet and bass clarinet mostly, but I also play mountain lap dulcimer.
Scott Light:Wow, do you still play a little bit?
Danielle Smart:Not as much as I would like, but I definitely listen to as much as I can. My title is full of lots of instrumentals.
Scott Light:You know, I'm sure both of you know, there are all kinds of lists and recommendations to declutter our minds, both tactically on a daily basis. And then there are plenty of things out there that can definitely turn into life changing habits with unequivocal positive health outcomes. So why don't we go through a few here? And I'm going to start with something that we all do all the time, and we don't even know it and that is breathing. Danielle, why don't you start us off here with talking about breathing exercises and how that has lasting impacts, we know on our cardiovascular health for one.
Danielle Smart:Absolutely. I think the easiest breathing exercise that for both for myself and for teaching clients is what we call box breathing. And that's a simple, breathe in for four seconds, hold for four seconds, breathe out for four seconds, hold for four seconds and start again. So thinking in your brain of a box and making those nice edges. I think that's something that's so easy because you can do it anywhere. You can step away from something that's happening, you can do it in the midst of stuff that is happening. And just taking those nice deep breaths, just really allows you to be mindful and be able to focus on the moment.
Dr. Jamie Jones:I, again, loved breathing exercises, but I also know a lot of people hate them. For a lot of reasons, it can be boring, it can also lead to some sensory sensitivities. And some people, it's painful to take deep breaths. But there are lots of different ways to do that slow breathing to activate the parasympathetic nervous system to kind of calm you down. One of those is box breathing, which I love. But there are also other ways to make it more exciting. I really like figure eight breathing, that can be really calming to me. But for people who have a hard time slowing down their breath, sometimes I do what I call nostril breathing, where you close one nostril and try to breathe in and breathe out. And that naturally slows down the intake and exhale of your breath. But I do know, even with some of those exercises that I've created some creative alternatives to, there are lots of people who really don't like doing deep breathing.mBut yeah, it's something that has greatly helped me just clear my mind, especially when I'm feeling particularly anxious or stressed.
Scott Light:What's figure eight breathing?
Dr. Jamie Jones:You basically draw a figure eight, so like a sight, like the infinity sign, and you, I like to breathe in while I'm going diagonally and hold going up, and then breathe out going diagonally the opposite way and hold going up. And just that smooth, I know some people do like that box breathing, it's very clear cut. I like the flowyness of a figure eight. And sometimes I'll doodle or I'll teach kids to kind of doodle to help them focus and reduce that anxiety. Yeah,
Scott Light:Yeah, Danielle, I know when you and I were having an email conversation leading up to talking about various topics and things that we wanted to cover. I know that you mentioned journaling, how can this help?
Danielle Smart:I love journaling. I think that writing things down and getting them out of our brain in any capacity can be so helpful for a number of reasons. One just for that, it takes it away from our brain and maybe out of the forefront. Another is it allows us to reorganize our thoughts. Sometimes we read something back, we can think, "Oh, I see" or "I can process this a little differently". Another way is it helps to keep me personally on track. So using bullet-point journaling, just kind of writing things down and maybe creating a little more of a list. But it's a list of your thoughts. Just trying to find a way that's tangible. I would advise clients and even for myself, sometimes I go back and read them, oftentimes I don't. And that's okay, too. I think sometimes when we hear the word journal, we think of like our 'Dear Diary', when we're younger, which is a lot of fun and can be really great. But journaling can look a lot of different ways. So I think one recommendation is kind of decide what your goal is, do you just want to get those thoughts out, get those words out of your brain? Or are you going to use it for problem solving? Both are really great ways to use journaling, there's no right or wrong answers.
Dr. Jamie Jones:I think journaling can be especially helpful for those days where you have so many tasks that you have to do that you don't even know where to start. That's something that I use personally, where I also will create bullet lists. And I'll use that to break down the tasks into smaller tasks to make them a little more manageable. Sometimes it can be a little overwhelming seeing how many tasks there are. But then I'm allowed to cross out every single one, once it's completed, which is reinforcing for me.
Scott Light:This is what I have to do. And it's not so much journaling. But for me, it's just listing out. And I find that if I just make a list and start crossing them off, then I'm not as overwhelmed. And then interestingly, my breathing gets a little slower, and it just things start to fall into place. Does that make sense? Oh,
Dr. Jamie Jones:Oh, yeah, it can build a lot of momentum for me when I do it. I
Danielle Smart:It can also make things feel a little manageable when sometimes we lay things out and we say, "Oh, this huge mountain is actually three things. Maybe I could do one of those today".
Dr. Jamie Jones:Or it's like, that one piece is really easy, I can start there. Yeah,
Danielle Smart:Low hanging fruit.
Scott Light:Yes, I read, one therapist said, "Identify the essential, and then thus eliminate what's not." And this person wrote, "Metaphorically manage your mental inbox of the important emails, and then get rid of the junk."
Danielle Smart:Easier said than done, I'll be the first to say that, for me, I think it can be really hard. Most of us are so busy in our personal lives or professional lives, our communities to pick what is important to us, or what is the priority when everything feels like a priority. Something I use is, you know, what is going to be the longevity of this? Is it something that's going to matter to me, and in five days and five weeks, five months, you know, so on and so forth? And sometimes that can help us break down these really big things into exactly where they need to be in our lives, and how can we be there in the places that we need to be the most?
Dr. Jamie Jones:It's also helpful for me when thinking of you know, what is essential? Sometimes I think more of, what is essential today? Or what is essential right now? Because it might be something that is really important to us, but maybe it's not something we need to do today. Maybe it's okay to wait just a little bit longer to get that done. And then we can focus on other priorities.
Scott Light:Let me ask you, and Jamie, why don't you start us off here about the priority that is sleep. And there are all kinds of questions here from you know, are you getting enough? Is your sleep interrupted? And then the pre-sleep routine we'll call it and you know, are you putting down the phone at night to again, bring down the breathing rate, not activating the brain? Things like that. What do you think about sleep?
Dr. Jamie Jones:Sleep is huge. It's so important, and so hard to prioritize. I think a lot of people don't, they might understand that sleep is important. But it's really hard to put into practice those habits that improve your sleep. And sometimes it's hard to understand the impact that quality sleep will have. And not a lot of people even know what's impacting their sleep. So, there's a lot of information out there about having great sleep hygiene, the phone is really important.
Scott Light:Huge.
Dr. Jamie Jones:So yeah, having that phone out as you're trying Yeah, I've got to get out of the habit of playing Wordle before I to go to bed is keeping your brain active, it can increase your stress levels as you're trying to calm down. There are a few tricks that people can do like putting their phone on the go to bed, I love Wordle, I love it. But it gets my brain going again. You know what I mean?
Danielle Smart:That's a challenge. You're really challenging your brain before bed.
Scott Light:I know. I know. other side of the bedroom. There are now a lot of settings on
Danielle Smart:I love Wordle, too. I think I agree completely with everything you said about the phone. I'm gonna approach it a little differently, talk a little bit about your comfort at night. I think making that a priority, making sure you have a phones to limit phone time, or limit the time that you're bed that is comfortable, making sure that you enjoy your sleep space as much as possible. In addition to the phone, I think getting electronics out of your room whenever possible in general, and just getting your brain really used to that being allowed to access certain apps. So sometimes those things can be your space to go to bed. I think it can also be really hard. I think a lot of us will borrow against ourselves when it comes to our bedtime and take the hour away from bed because we want to do something fun, whether it's stay up and watch a game or we helpful. But really building those habits of putting that want to play Wordle, I think sometimes we can borrow against ourselves to our own detriment and not realize that, so I agree exactly with what Dr. Jones was saying of j ust making sure you phone down before you hop into bed. make that a huge priority in your life. And a couple things you said you know, part of it's like a fear of missing out. There's so much going on in the world.
Dr. Jamie Jones:There's so much you could be doing, so much you could be learning.
Danielle Smart:Yes, and if you live with other people, sometimes that can be your time to yourself that can be very alluring, to you know, have the whole house to yourself.
Dr. Jamie Jones:Exactly, so I think kind of shifting how we're framing sleep can be huge. So thinking of that time, like trying to allot that personal time elsewhere in our day, but then also considering that time where you're laying in bed as that is your time to relax and tune out and sleep is self care. Yes, it is self care. And then what you were saying about making sure that that space is dedicated to sleep. There's so much research out there about the association that you're making when you're laying in bed with other things. So if you're laying in bed, you're on your phone, or you're watching TV or doing other things, you're associating the bed with these other things, and not with sleep, which can then make it harder to fall asleep. And then you're kind of in this cycle, where you're associating the bed with doing these activities, and that builds a habit of, you go to bed, you do this activity, then you fall asleep. So the first steps is to build that other habit, of maybe I do this other activity, and then I do a relaxing activity, and then I go to bed, and sleep.
Danielle Smart:I will share mine I read before bed. And when I was in grad school, I had tricked my brain to so long as reading was my bedtime routine that I would have to get up, move completely around, because any reading my brain was like, oh, it's bedtime. So think associating an activity that's a nice, calming, relaxing activity can be so helpful.
Dr. Jamie Jones:I'm the same way. I pick up a book at night. I'm asleep in like five minutes.
Danielle Smart:I barely make it through a chapter sometimes embarrassingly.
Dr. Jamie Jones:Yeah. So I'm the same way I have to walk around when I'm reading or read like in bright daylight, yes. But it is helpful to have those relaxing activities before going to bed.
Scott Light:You both mentioned space. So that's now that's got me thinking about my desk. And let me ask you both about this, when I have post it notes on my computer screen, or they're on my desk, if my desk is cluttered, I feel like my brain is cluttered.
Danielle Smart:Same, I have not a I do not like post it notes. I have a few posted lists in my office for quick references. But I am not a post it note person for that exact reason I connect clean space with a clean mind completely. So I try my best to keep my space as organized as possible. Obviously, it's a little easier in my office, it's just my domain, then at home. But I do think there's a huge connection from that. And I also think that it's a good feeling. When you're able to look at a space, you're able to see the things that that you're using or that you have or you're able to feel some you know, pride in the space that you're at, I think it's really hard to function well in a very cluttered space for anyone.
Scott Light:That probably also applies to our home life, right? If your kitchen is cluttered, if your office space at home, or if your bedroom coming back to that that particular room, if those rooms are cluttered, that same logic probably applies, doesn't it?
Danielle Smart:For me, it does, I would assume that for a lot of people, you just feel a little overwhelmed. Especially if you have a small space or you feel like you have too many things that are around. So I think spending a little bit of time, just as an activity, maybe just a two minute pickup the stuff right in front of me if you will, can can make a huge difference in how you feel.
Dr. Jamie Jones:I will say I am a post it person. I use so many post its. But organization is key. So like you were saying, Danielle, like you have to keep your space organized to be able to function to the most optimal ability in that space. So I do use a lot of post its, but I use them in an organized way. So that way I know exactly what post its are like things I need to remember for work or a task list. I even have a post it where it splits up. It's a big post it but I split up things that I need to email people about things, I need to purchase things I need to do like after I leave work. So having things organized in that way can be helpful. But once you get too much information in your space, that's when it becomes overwhelming and stressful, and it becomes another task of cleaning up. So having ways to keep that information organized is really helpful.
Scott Light:Alright, so Jamie, let me ask you a follow up to that. And from that it's research I saw from another therapist who said go slower, and let go in this respect, talking about making a to do list and then trying to cross off a third or half of it in order to prioritize. Again, I think that's easier said than done.
Dr. Jamie Jones:I think I really liked that idea. It does assume that you have a pretty long to do list. Because if you have a shorter one, that's not going to be too helpful. But you have a long to do list. Yeah, aim for a third or half again, that's gonna build that momentum up. So then you can get through more if you need to, but that's rewarding to really focus on what's manageable, and what's a higher priority.
Danielle Smart:I love how you just described that that maybe that's a good indicator just a lot on the to do list. I think that maybe that would be a good way to integrate when and focusing on the prioritization like we've already talked about earlier. I think that can feel fun to move things around on a list but I don't know If, at least for me, at the end of the day, maybe I might not feel quite as accomplished. So I think in that instance, if I find myself crossing things off, I think focusing on prioritization might be the better skill in the long run.
Scott Light:I know that both of you can talk about one of the last couple of things I want to bring up here, and that is talking to someone, whether it's a friend, a spouse, a confidant, or a therapist, a professional out there, unloading thoughts, unloading those worries verbally, can help with your mental acuity, mental clarity, all kinds of things.
Danielle Smart:While we're both biased, I think we're both definitely going to encourage therapist I think, for me, I will say, in my personal life, something that I tried to utilize and being a therapist, it can be a bit of a professional hazard that folks in our personal lives might come to us. But something that I try to say when I'm working with people is, you know, are you looking for advice? Are you looking to vent? Like when I'm talking with my friends. You know, do you want some help solving the problem? Or do you just want to talk about it. And I know, for me, that's been helpful to label to the people in my personal life, like, be like, I just really need to get this off my chest. I think it also really helps with validating, um, just being able to say things out loud, having other people say, You know what I hear you I totally understand. And it helps destigmatize a little bit that we all go through things. It's tough for a lot of folks and just being able to hear other people out there talking about it can be really helpful. So talking never hurts, get definitely get it out, talk about it, and hopefully build that support network within your own life.
Scott Light:I'm really glad you said that, in that sometimes, my wife will will start a conversation with me this way. She'll say, I don't need you to fix this. I just need you to listen. And I am by no means offended by that at all. Because I'm kind of a Mr. Fixit guy, of course. And I want to come with an answer to something. But you just made all of that really clear for me.
Danielle Smart:I'm glad, especially the people that we love. I think if you're a spouse, you're a parent, you're a friend and neighbor, our instinct is to want to help. So sometimes it can be really nice just to signal Hey, I just need you to, to listen. And then it also allows us as the listener to stay in that space, they mindful, like we talked about, right? Because now our brain isn't turning. We're not trying to solve this. We're not going through those motions, we can just be present with the person that we love. And hopefully when it's our turn to vent, that person can be present with us.
Dr. Jamie Jones:Yeah, you put that really well. I do the same thing. I asked people the same thing. Do you want to vent? Or do you want to solve a problem? And I thought okay, yeah, both are? Yeah, great. Yeah, it can be so hard as the listener to kind of hold back and not help and give answers and solutions. But the more that we do that, the more that we ask people, you know, do you want to vent? Or do you want to talk about it and solve the problem, the more that we can get used to just listening and supporting others. And the more that other people will learn to ask for that for themselves. So
Scott Light:Want to talk about activity in this way. And that can be defined as anything and everything from walking your dog, taking your run, gardening, yeah, going to the gym, whatever works for any of you out there, and I bring it up in this respect. Wallet hub, just a couple of weeks ago released a study where they looked at 41 indicators of good health, from the cost of a doctor visit to fruit and vegetable consumption to the amount of green space. And then from that, from those indicators, they put together a list of the healthiest and unhealthiest cities around America. Eek Columbus didn't fare so well, out of 182 cities, we came in at 110. Cincinnati was the highest rated Ohio city coming in at 39. So I bring this up, because we all know the benefits of a good diet, good levels of activity. In that WalletHub survey, we actually were below our overall score of 110. We were below that for green space. So we got dinged even harder for having a lack of, you know, natural spaces, natural vegetative spaces, you know, trees, fields, nature walks, things like that. Can both of you talk maybe Jamie, you started off talking about the importance of getting outside and maybe connecting with nature.
Dr. Jamie Jones:Yeah, that can be really important for your mental health. Going on any kind of walk or doing some sort of exercise is really helpful for keeping your keeping your mind decluttered and staying focused. And it's good for everything mental health, physical health. But people do underestimate the importance of green space. They underestimate the importance of getting outside. Getting some sunshine, even on a cloudy day, that can be huge. A lot of people also lack green space in their homes. So people, even if you have fake plants that can improve your mental health. But a lot of people even like that. So getting outside getting into some green space going to a park, that's really important. It's really frustrating in certain areas of Columbus where that's harder to access. But just getting outside in a neighborhood, if it's safe to do that, and going for a walk, that can be really helpful for decluttering your mind, that's something that I do when it's nicer out, I just go for a walk at a park for 20 minutes, if I can, if I even get five minutes. You know, something like that is really important for me to stay regulated, stay focused.
Danielle Smart:I think we talk a lot about making sure we get outside and just making sure that we're getting into the grass. And I think we can't put too much of an emphasis on how important that is. For us, especially living in such an urban environment. I grew up in a rural area where there was tons of green spaces all the time. Um, so a little bit of a difference coming to the city. But I think making that commitment, whether it's just a little space in our backyard are going all the way to one of our great metro parks.
Scott Light:There's another term that's coming to the fore along with green space. And that is blue space where there's water, rivers, streams, lakes, oceans. And there's also a growing body of work that says blue space may be just as important or maybe even a little more influential. In calming the mind, there was one study out of the University of Delaware, where they showed people, you know, various pictures of blue space. So again, pictures of water versus various pictures of nature. And the respondents, their brain waves and their brain activations were lower when they looked at pictures of blue space when they were looking at pictures of water. So let me come back to that wallet hub study. The top five healthiest cities were in this order. San Francisco, Honolulu, wouldn't we all like to live in Honolulu, Seattle, San Diego and Washington DC. Those are all five spots that are surrounded by water. But again, it is one of those things. We've all had a beach trip or a lake trip or you know, maybe camping by a river where water is it just it just has that calming effect, doesn't it?
Danielle Smart:Absolutely. From the sound of it. I love the sound of water, and maybe the repetitiveness of the waves or as we watch things fall over the waterfall. I'm a Pisces, I am pro water and every space I can't, I can't stress how incredibly healing I think that is for so many people. I'm incredibly lucky that my office sits on a very nice lake, I have a lovely little wildlife. Yeah, enclave to watch and to just really enjoy the lake. So anytime you can get near water. I think for all humans, I don't know if it's just the the longing of the noise or if it's just a big reminder that you know, there's so much that goes on around us. But I think it's such a healthy healing thing.
Dr. Jamie Jones:I started talking about meditation here, I don't bring it back up. Because one of my favorite meditations is actually called leaves on a stream where you're focusing on letting things go down the stream, letting the leaves go down the stream, and it's so relaxing and calming, and helps you practice just letting things go and not holding on to things that you don't need to hold on to. So when I look at, you know, a stream or a river, I often think of that, and just let go of the things that are burdening me or stressing me out and focusing on relaxing and focusing on what I want to focus on what I hold as a priority.
Scott Light:As we start to wrap it up here I want to share a couple of thoughts from someone who wrote a piece on the website Zen Habits. And it says quote, the brain is a complex and confusing organ. The mind is often covered in scar tissue of old hurts and traumas, and layered in so many levels of consciousness that not even the best psycho analysts has or have ever sorted through at all but decluttering is actually not that difficult. If you give it a little thought simplifying shouldn't be made complex. I'd like both of your thoughts on that. And hopefully we've given our listeners some some simple ways to declutter.
Dr. Jamie Jones:That quote is touching on how sometimes the simplest thing of decluttering just a small area of your space can seem like a daunting task or a task that we just put off, but doing something as simple as clearing off one table by clearing off one foot round you clearing off your desk. Something as simple as that can help you to declutter your mind which helps you focus on everything else.
Danielle Smart:Absolutely and borrow from your your leaf and stream meditation. I think for the for me this quote reminds me to, to be present to just focus on what can we do to declutter in this moment, whether it's our physical space whether it's, you know what, I don't need to worry about this on my my priority list.
Scott Light:Thank you both for being here.
Danielle Smart:Thank you for having
Scott Light:this has been a great discussion. Hopefully for you our listeners you took a lot from this discussion. Some real simple things that you can do to declutter your mind as always, you can be part of episodes to come you can email us your questions or comments at podcast at I am boundless dot ORG This is the Well-Being podcast brought to you by Boundless.