For the 2nd time on the Professional Hypnotherapists Podcast, Carina McEvoy has graciously agreed to share her vast knowledge and experience as a PsychoEducation Specialist and how specifically the application of tried and trusted techniques work. Carina uses these interventions when working with many young adults and non so young adults and children in helping to ease anxiety and improve exam performance.
Today, listen and discover, how a Master Expert in the field shares with you the secrets of the trade. All on today's Professional Hypnotherapists Podcast.
http://www.carinamcevoy.com
Hi there, thanks for listening and please like this podcast where you listen to your podcasts.
The European Association of Professional Hypnotherapists is a group of like-minded hypnotherapists who are accredited professionals in their field. Many of our therapists have many many years of experience behind them which means you are probably in the best possible hands, available to you.
Why not pop on over to eaph.ie and choose the hypnotherapist that suits you. Many provide online hypnotherapy. eaph.ie
We welcome feedback on your listening experience at eaph.ie
For the 2nd time on the Professional Hypnotherapists Podcast, Carina McEvoy has graciously agreed to share her vast knowledge and experience as a PsychoEducation Specialist and how specifically the application of tried and trusted techniques work. Carina uses these interventions when working with many young adults and non so young adults and children in helping to ease anxiety and improve exam performance.
Today, listen and discover, how a Master Expert in the field shares with you the secrets of the trade. All on today's Professional Hypnotherapists Podcast.
http://www.carinamcevoy.com
Hi there, thanks for listening and please like this podcast where you listen to your podcasts.
The European Association of Professional Hypnotherapists is a group of like-minded hypnotherapists who are accredited professionals in their field. Many of our therapists have many many years of experience behind them which means you are probably in the best possible hands, available to you.
Why not pop on over to eaph.ie and choose the hypnotherapist that suits you. Many provide online hypnotherapy. eaph.ie
We welcome feedback on your listening experience at eaph.ie
This is the professional hypnotherapists podcast, a production of the European association of professional hypnotherapists. That's EAPH.ie
Aidan Noone
00:24 - 01:17
For the second time on the professional hypnotherapist podcast, Carina McEvoy has graciously agreed to share her vast knowledge and experience as a psychoeducation specialist. And how specifically the application of tried and trusted techniques work Carina uses these interventions when working with many young adults and not so young adults and children and helping to ease anxiety and improve exam performance today. Listen and discover how a master expert in the field shares with you. The secrets of the trade, all on today's professional hypnotherapists podcast, Carina McAvoy's. Hi, thank you so much for rejoining me here on the professional hypnotherapists podcast.
Carine McEvoy
01:17 - 01:20
You for having me, it's great to be here again. Thank you.
Aidan Noone
01:20 - 02:01
And you know what This is a sort of a special edition. We have come up with Carian and I really appreciate, your help in doing this. And as a psycho education specialist, you know, at this time of the year, Carina, we all know about it's exam time and the anxiety that children and young adults are experiencing and the, the anxiety that parents are going through for their own children. So what do we need to do Carina, in, in terms of, helping parents and indeed our children, our young adults to cope better with anxiety
Carine McEvoy
02:03 - 02:58
Yes. Well, I always believe Aiden, that knowledge is power. So I am in my work. I do see psychology education as a big part of it. And I think that you're right, this is a time when anxiety and stress is very much out there for not only, not only the students, the teachers, but also the parents that are, you know, supporting their, their kiddies or there's teenagers going through the exams at the moment. So for me, psychoeducation is a big part of it and knowing that anxiety and stress is going to be part of their life at this moment, I mean, it's inevitable that they are going to feel anxious and they're going to feel a level of stress. And in the last couple of years, and now I can go back, maybe, you know, even 10 years, we are seeing a society that is really demonizing anxiety.
Carine McEvoy
02:59 - 03:39
We're really demonizing stress and anxiety are such a bad thing. However, you know, yourself that stress and anxiety is such a natural and normal part of being a human. And there are times in our life when we're going to feel it I'm a little bit under times in her life and we're going to feel it a lot. And unfortunately the leaving cert brings with it, a lot of stress and anxiety, but if we can learn a little bit about distressed anxiety and how to manage it, then we can take the power out of it and we can begin to manage it rather than it being this big thing that manages and overtakes us.
Aidan Noone
03:39 - 03:53
Yeah. And it's all about managing because, you know, we, we need, as you said, we need stress when we need the stress, because stress is something that, provides us with a motivation to get things done. I suppose.
Carine McEvoy
03:54 - 04:55
That's absolutely it, it gives us, it gives us the energy to sit down and do the study, the energy to get up and go in and do that exam. It gives us the energy that we need to, to get things done. So, you know, a little bit of stress in her life is, is can actually be quite healthy. I think it's just the attitude that we have to anxiety. I mean, even today, driving in and out to work, Aidan, listening to the news, the news bulletins, it wasn't really about the leave insert. It was about, it was zoning in again, on the anxiety and the anxiety. Whereas if we can look at anxiety differently, it's normal, it's natural. It's, healthy, it keeps us safe. And then, you know, if we can, if we can learn to manage it and know that we can manage it, then I think it puts us in a, in a very powerful place to go in and do exams or whatever it is that we need to do with.
Aidan Noone
04:56 - 05:01
And as you said, knowledge is power. So how do we manage anxiety How do we manage it
Carine McEvoy
05:02 - 05:53
Okay. So let me tell, let me start up by telling you a little bit about me and my relationship with anxiety. When I was doing my leaving cert way back in, I think it was 1996, I was doing many concerns and I was very anxious for two years, coming up to the leaving cert I was studying and studying and studying. And I would say I was very well prepared going into the leaving cert, but you know, back then nobody spoke about anxiety. So I didn't realize I had this thing called anxiety. And I thought it was something wrong with me that I was completely weird and crazy and up normal and along came to leave insert aid. And then I went in and they sat down and all of a sudden I could feel my stomach just going like a washing machine and butterflies. And then I began to feel sick.
Carine McEvoy
05:53 - 06:55
And then my hands got really sweaty. And then my heart started racing. And now all of a sudden I'm in a room full of other candidates that are sitting down, getting on with their work. I'm looking around thinking what's wrong with me What's wrong with me What's going on Am I going to have a heart attack I couldn't remember anything. The paper in front of me was in my as well. It might as well have been double Dutch because I just couldn't remember anything. And I just, with each exam, I just went into having like an anxiety attack, but sitting there trying to manage it myself and make the thoughts coming into my head were, were not exactly helpful and it was awful. Now. I wish I knew. I wish I didn't inform. Then what I know now about anxiety. If I had known, then what I know now, I would've been able to go in and feel that, feel the butterflies in my told me and be able to settle it myself.
Carine McEvoy
06:56 - 07:48
So what I, what I believe is that knowledge, as I said to you is power. So knowing that stress and anxiety is very normal, it is very natural and all of that. So like, Aidan if I, if you can imagine a car and a car is going down the road, and if we look at the wheels of the car, let's just say, we're talking about it before who you are. Right. Just put that out there. So if we look at one of the wheels is our emotion it's anxiety. Okay. And then another wheel is what we feel in our body, our body sensations. And then another wheel is the behavior that we do with that emotion and with those sensations. And then the order wheel is our thoughts. So that car is driving along the road, those four big things going on. And let's just say, that car now is driving along.
Carine McEvoy
07:48 - 08:36
And the person driving the car feels like there's no control because their emotion is in this case, anxiety they're feeling in their body. They are trying to avoid whatever it is they're anxious of. So in this case, it may be like not wanting to do the exam or, doing the exam, you know, kind of want not wanting to be there, feeling like the one to run away, feeling like the one to avoid exam, which is quite normal as well, quite natural response. I'll explain why in a minute. And then the thoughts are, oh my gosh, this is really bad. I can't do this. This is, you know, what, if I don't remember, this will be really bad if I don't remember what, if the question doesn't come up. If that question doesn't come up, that I've prepared for them. You know, what am I going to do
Carine McEvoy
08:36 - 09:27
Then I can cope with this. This is really, really bad. And then when they feel the sensation in the body, it's like, oh my God, now I'm, now I'm going to have a heart attack. Or now this is really bad. And now I'm going to get sick. What if I get sick What if I get sick In the example of life You know, everyone looks at me getting sick. This is really, really bad. So the kind of thoughts to go with anxiety is very catastrophic thinking. And it's, it's kind of thinking that I can't deal with this. This is really bad. And I can't deal with, so it's really kind of negative, catastrophic thinking. So if we were to look at the car, right, if we were able to pull sure, one of those wheels, the car is not going to run as smoothly. So if we were to look at say the body sensations, first of all, and understand what the body sensations are all about.
Carine McEvoy
09:28 - 10:15
So if we think back to the very, very, very beginning of man, we have to cave, man, and he's got a haunting freeze food. So the caveman was born with very, very special part of his brain. Do you make delay And as I explain it to the kiddies that come in to me, I just call it an anxiety alarm. And when they're going to hunting th for their food, if a Wolf or a bear comes around the corner and starts chasing them, that anxiety alarm goes off because this is a very dangerous situation. So they need all of a sudden changes in their body so that they have the energy to run away. And the first thing that happens is all of the blood and the energy that's centered around her tummy and their digestion. So like their liver, their kidneys, their intestines, all of that rushes off to their head.
Carine McEvoy
10:16 - 11:03
And that feeling is the feeling we get that butterfly feeling or going over a bump feeling. . When I was doing my leaving cert sorta feeling to me was, oh my God, there's something wrong with me. I'm going to pass out. Whereas now if I feel that I go, oh, there's my butterflies that's okay. So if we know that that is normal, it's natural. And we kind of, I suppose don't freak out about that, then that's really going to help. So the next thing that happens then is we're going to take in oxygen straight into her nose. So we're going to breathe into her chest. Then the heart is going to take all of that energy and oxygen and bring it straight to her feet and straight to her hands to the veins. So our heart needs to do that very quickly. If there's a bear going after you, you're going to need that quickly.
Carine McEvoy
11:03 - 11:46
So your heart starts pumping really, really fast. So we're going to feel it in her tummy. We're going to feel breathing into her chest. We're going to feed our heart home faster. And then our body is really smart. And our body says, Hey, if we're going to be doing a lot of running, we're going to S we're going to like pass out if we, if we get too hot. So why don't we start sweating So our body makes us sweat. So our hands get really clammy. And you know, maybe even the soles of our feet get clammy and we get clammy. And now we're sweating, even though we're doing nothing, we're sweating. But if you think back to the caveman day, he was doing something, he was running away from danger. So his body's sweating to keep him safe. If there's anything in his Tummy from the night before his body says, oh gosh, we'll get a stitch.
Carine McEvoy
11:46 - 12:38
If we run this fast. Cause there's something in her tummy selects, actually just Chuck it out. Should we can eat again later. So maybe even the caveman, like getting sick. So daddy's absolutely fantastic. The caveman within a couple of seconds now has the energy to run away from that bear so that he is safe. Now in 2022, if we're sitting in an exam hall and we're thinking, oh my God, this is really bad. And we're doing that catastrophic thinking that I was telling you about that. This is really bad. Oh my God, this is really bad that anxiety alarm goes, what, what This is really bad. This is really bad. We have a catastrophe on our hands. Oh my God, this is really bad. Let's go over here. Let's go over here. So the make today anxiety alarm as i call it. It starts all of that inner body so that we can get up and run out of that hall.
Carine McEvoy
12:39 - 13:48
Now the amygdala is amazing. It keeps us safe, but it's deep down in our brain. And the way I explain it to cuties is it cannot see what's going on. It cannot really look out and see that there is no barrier. There's no Wolf that we're actually safe. It goes by what we think and the pictures that we make in our mind, it is going purely by that. So if we're sitting in an exam or thinking, this is really bad, this is really bad. I can't deal with this. And then we're bringing into our mind pictures of, I don't get them for me. Maybe it would have been getting my exam and word fail across it. And then where do I go from there And we're not going to get good job. Am I going to end up homeless or whatever, you know, to where your mind just runs away with you. So when your mind runs away, which yeah, we do it visually. So we're seeing the pictures and we're thinking it. And the amygdala in our brain is seeing those pictures. And it's hearing our thoughts and completely buys into the fact that this is a catastrophe.
Carine McEvoy
13:48 - 13:49
And then whatever
Aidan Noone
13:50 - 14:27
It seems, it seems that what what's actually happening, what the amygdala is doing or the, the, the alarm system is doing, is that it it's, it's actually doing us a favor. And I think it's maybe correct me if I'm wrong. It's also got to do with the fact that, you know, the human beings, what we are, we are meaning making beings. We, so something is happening and we apply a meaning to that. And then we apply a meaning to that. And, and all of course, all of this Carina is happening at a million miles an hour, you know, it's happening so fast, isn't it
Carine McEvoy
14:27 - 15:30
It is like our brain is just so amazing. It's so amazing. And as you say, it's doing as a favour, stealing us a favour digs alarm system is doing us a favor. It is trying to get us out of danger. It's a little bit like, as I explained to, I explained to kitties and to come in, and I know I'm not speaking about goodies here. Now I'm speaking about, you know, young women, young men doing their leaving cert. Okay. So don't mean to insult anyone. But when we talk about our limbic system and our amygdala, and our subconscious mind, we are kind of talking like that about a child because that child is, it, it doesn't really see what's going on. It doesn't see the logic. If you know what I mean, it just really works on emotions. So when I speak to kiddies, but this is, I explained it as like, say we have an alarm on our car going back to the Kerrigan and we have an alarm on their car and let's say, catch on the car.
Carine McEvoy
15:30 - 16:19
And the alarm goes off. The alarm is saying, something's going on Something's going on Something's going on I'm in danger, I'm in danger. And then we go and look and we can say, okay, the car is actually not in danger. No one's breaking in. It wants to be in a cat and we can turn the alarm off. Yeah. So it's a little bit like our conscious mind and our subconscious mind, our subconscious mind, or our make, till they can go off and go, oh my God, I'm in danger. I'm in danger. I'm in danger. But then we can bring our logic into it and go, oh, this is actually, we're not in danger here. We're actually, okay. And we can turn down, turn off that alarm system. We can do that ourselves. But unfortunately, anxiety is a really powerful emotion. And when we feel really emotional logic has left the building, it's completely gone.
Carine McEvoy
16:20 - 17:13
So number two, the next thing that I would do once I understand my body sensations, and once I can be comfortable with them, and once I can sit down and feel those butterflies and feel myself sweating palms and be able to say to myself, this is normal. It's natural. It's okay. This is actually, okay. Then I can move on to the next part, which is bringing down the emotional part, because until we bring down the emotion, we're not going to think logically about because what's right. Yeah. So the best thing for me, or what really works for me is two things. So, well actually three things. So number one would be to in the moment. So let's say we're in the exam hall and we're feeling really anxious and we've said to herself, okay. I feel about the sensations. This is okay, this is normal.
Carine McEvoy
17:13 - 18:20
Right. Then I would go to bringing my breath back to my belly. and this is all about biofeedback. So this is all about biology. So we're going to use our body to explain to that part of our brain that we are actually. Okay. So we simply just relax our shoulders. So if you can imagine being in an exam hall, and I'm being really tense and feel your shoulders, I bet you, they would be rock hard because they're up, the muscles are up, they're tense, they're ready to run away. So if we can just relax her shoulders and bring them down, and that just takes me two minutes. Okay. And then just bring your attention to wherever our Breath is. So for anxious, it's going to be in her chest and just, it doesn't even have to be deep breaths, just comfortable breaths. Just bring our breath back down to her tummy and just do to for about 90 seconds, actually 90 seconds of breathing into her tummy and relaxing your shoulder that will bring down the anxiety, the emotion.
Carine McEvoy
18:20 - 19:06
Now what is happening on the insight is our amygdala today is getting a message from our stomach that we're going to go back and do our job because we know there's no danger. And do you make amygdala What are you talking about What you're talking about. I'm looking at the pictures. This is really bad. We're homeless here because we failed our knees and start, you know, we have no money and everything was really bad. What are you talking about We need to come back into breathing into our chest to get over here. But if we continue to breath into our, tell me to Tommy is continuing to say to the amygdala . Nope. Honest to God. Everything is okay. I'm going back to do my job. And then eventually within 90 seconds, do you have mental goals Oh, okay then. Okay. And we can feel that level of stress coming down.
Carine McEvoy
19:07 - 19:56
Okay. Now this is something that I have really practiced over the years. And I know like literally, even within one second, I can breed my level of anxiety from a very high number then to a normal number by literally just bringing my breath back to mental me and dropping my shoulders. So I know like everything that I say to you is what I've done myself. So I know it works. Yeah. So that's going to do two things right now. The second thing that I would do there is I changed the script in my head. So instead of me sitting there going, oh my God, this is really bad. Everybody else seems to be doing this. I can't remember. That's not gonna help. That's not helpful. Okay. So at that point, we just need to get really, you know, realistic in our head and just speak to ourselves in a way that is going to be helpful.
Carine McEvoy
19:56 - 20:47
So little things like just changing the script and saying little things like, okay, I am anxious, but this is okay, this is going to pass. This is two hours of my life. I can do this. I can cope with this. You know And I don't, I, I don't know what's going on with those people. Maybe you're scribbling away, but on the inside, they're feeling anxious too. You know So just getting very real with our talk and, and saying to ourselves, is this helping me It's just talk, helping me know. It's actually not just making things worse. So then think about what you would say to your friend. If your friend said to you, God, I'm having a panic attack. What am I going to do What would you say to them And then say that to yourself. It's a little bit like being your own support in that moment.
Aidan Noone
20:48 - 20:48
So
Carine McEvoy
20:48 - 20:50
That's three things.
Aidan Noone
20:50 - 21:13
Oftentimes I think we, you know, we, we do a lot of self-talk in our heads and, you know, sometimes the self-talk can be very reprimanding or it can be your sort of a hurried voice, or maybe not a, not so pleasant of a voice. So is there any benefit in changing the quality of the voice in our heads I heard we do that.
Carine McEvoy
21:13 - 22:08
Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think that once we understand anxiety, I will, I would always ask my, I would always ask my clients to change the voice of anxiety from being a mean, like, you can't do this. Like, you can't cope with this to kind of a questioning voice even, or even a Kiddie voice or a voice. That's really nice. And I actually asked them to put a name on their anxiety. So mine is called buddy. And when body comes in and goes, oh, I don't like this. I don't think we should do this or whatever. Now, instead of being a mean, kind of strong, what's the word I'm looking for kind of a voice that's putting me down now. It's just kind of like a little questioning voice and I have the power now. It's almost like a child voice for me. Like, can you do discriminate
Carine McEvoy
22:08 - 22:52
I don't know. I don't know if we can do this now. And then I want to go back and hear as such advice and go, you know Yeah. Look at thanks for looking after me, but I am. Okay. So that's definitely something that we can do. In an example, we can get that voice that's in her head and we can change it around so we can hear, instead of, instead of thinking, oh my God, this is really bad. I'm going to fail. Try and say that to yourself in a Mickey mouse voice, or try say that to yourself in a really slow, long saturated voice, you know, changed the voice. Definitely changing what we hear in that voice is really, really good. But I think,
Aidan Noone
22:53 - 22:53
Go ahead. Sorry.
Carine McEvoy
22:54 - 23:05
Yeah, no, you're okay. I was just going to say that. I think that if we changed the meaning behind the voice, if we change knowing what the voice is doing, that's actually coming to help us,
Carine McEvoy
23:07 - 24:10
That it becomes a friendlier voice. You know what you're saying there about the voice can also be applied to that picture that we see. So in the middle, in the midst of doing the exam, is it really helpful to see everything going wrong Is it really helpful to, you know, see yourself failing and failing the next one No, it's actually not. And it's not even true yet. Can't even be true. Cause you haven't even got the results back. So rather than run away with those images, which is only freaking the image layer, even more, just take a minute to sit back and imagine yourself in two hours, time walking out of the example with the exam behind you, or imagine yourself in four or same, sit in a home, having a big dinner at home with your exam behind you, or imagine yourself in like, you know, a year's time, you know, laughing and what your friends do and whatever it is that you're doing. So instead of seeing the negative running array with those really bad images, change those images. Yeah.
Aidan Noone
24:11 - 24:24
And then by changing the images, as you said, as you said, by changing the voice, but changing the picture, you know, you, you, you give yourself a means of coping and managing this isn't that correct Yeah,
Carine McEvoy
24:25 - 25:27
That's it. Absolutely. So if we go back to that car going down the road, if we understand that the body sensations are normal, they're natural. That's number one. Number two, if we understand that anxiety is coming along to kind of make sure that we're okay, can we do this Should we run away And that we have the power to bring our breath back into her belly. We have the power to change the voice that we hear in our head to change the images. Then we have the power for that amygdala , to see and hear something different. We can also talk back to it, you know So you know, something as simple as well. There you are an anxiety look, thanks for coming along. But I am actually okay here. Yes, I am. Do my exam. Yes. It's uncomfortable. Yes. I would rather be lying off somewhere else, but I'm here and guess where I am. Okay. I can deal with this and I can cope with this. Okay. And do you know what if, if I need you, if the fire alarm goes off or something and I need you, you can come back. But right now I'm okay.
Aidan Noone
25:28 - 25:28
And it
Carine McEvoy
25:28 - 25:30
Really is just talking to it like that.
Aidan Noone
25:30 - 25:49
Yeah. It's excellent. Because you said there is really meaningful and it's all got to do with taking that power, you know, in control of the situation. And rather than being, you know, this is something that's running away with her, you're saying, oh no, come back. I'm taking control of here now.
Carine McEvoy
25:50 - 26:56
Absolutely, absolutely. So now we've punctured two wheels of that car. Now, if we look at the other wheel the behavior and what we're doing, if those students, if a student is setting in the hall, doing their exam, they're already on top of things or to behavior because they're, they're showing up, they're doing it. They have resisted the urge to run away from the exam. And like that takes guts. It takes strength and it takes a bravery and it takes a lot of belief, believe it or not. So if you're, if you're sitting in the exam hall and you're there and you're doing the paper, like that's amazing. Well done. You've got like, you've, you've, you've got trough. You have got trough. The instinct, the biological instinct to run away, you know And then if there's anyone who didn't quite get into the exam, who just wasn't able to do it, that's okay too, because you know, this is a time in your life where it is hard.
Carine McEvoy
26:56 - 28:26
It is really, really hard. And I think that we put so much pressure on leaving cert students and we put so much emphasis on the exams, but just think about, even if you're home and you couldn't go into the exam, you're still here. You're still breeding to sun, still rising. The night is coming. And no matter what happens, you are dealing with, you're dealing with it. Even if you're sitting in your room and you're upset and you're crying, you're dealing with it. And you have a choice of how you want to deal with it. So hopefully knowing that, you know, anxiety is something that we can manage that we can overcome, hopefully that if there's someone out there that's sitting in a room thinking they can't do their exams, hopefully, you know, this what you and I, Aidan talk about. Hopefully this can help because I just think that again, going back, like knowledge is power. Knowledge is power. And if you are finding it really tough when you know, you're, you're not alone, you're not certainly not alone. And you have more power than you think you're stronger than you think, believe it or not. And, life is full of ups and downs. Isn't it Aiden life is, yeah, it is full of ups and downs. And it's, these downtimes are actually really important because they teach us how strong we are and you know, that we can cope.
Aidan Noone
28:26 - 29:04
and it's, you know, I often think that, you know, when you're in the, in the thick of things, as the say in the midst of your exams, you know, and this is, this is the be all and end all, I have to do this. I must do this because there may be, you know, re expectations burdens placed on, on the young adults. You have to do this, but, you know, hindsight is a wonderful thing. You know, when you mature in years, as I have, you know, when you look back and you realize that there is, there is absolutely 100% more than one way of achieving an outcome.
Carine McEvoy
29:05 - 30:40
Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, I, myself, I don't mind sharing the you. I find with pretty students and I studied and studied, but because I did not anything about anxiety because nobody spoke about anxiety as I, I has gone crazy during the exams. I failed nearly every subject I came out and I had, there was nowhere for me to go with the points I got. It was nothing for me to do. And I was just devastated because I'd been such a good students. Like I went back and repeated my leaving cert and I had so much support from some wonderful people around me. And I went on to college and failed first year, because again, I just couldn't do the exam. And then second year around second year, I began to really investigate what is going on with me. Why am I like this And it was around him. I began to learn how to, just to learn about and how I am actually in control and how I can manage it. and just kind of things changed from them. Finished, finished my degree. I'd done a degree in geography and sociology. Then I went to work in, and then I decided I wanted to teach because I wanted to go back into the school setting to help students who were like me. So then I'd done my Hdip. And by the time I assumed my age topics items, I was so on top of anxiety.
Carine McEvoy
30:41 - 30:53
Now, what does that mean That does not mean I went in and didn't feel it. I did became with me, but it was, it didn't control me. I was in control of it. I was like in combination to say quite
Aidan Noone
30:54 - 30:58
So sorry, so I can be done. So
Carine McEvoy
30:59 - 31:01
If I can do anyone can do it. So obviously
Aidan Noone
31:01 - 31:04
Carine, are we running on one tire
Carine McEvoy
31:05 - 31:56
Okay. So yeah, our torts is the last tire and that's really important. So believe it or not, if we were to target the thoughts first, the car just wouldn't work because the thoughts is what feeds to thing. However, it's very hard to target towards first aid. And because the thoughts comes from are the logical mind, I suppose, and what we're thinking and our pro frontal cortex, we're thinking about and thinking about, but when the emotions are really high, we have no logic. We can't think straight because we're so emotional. And that's why it's important to bring the emotion down first. So that when we do look at our thoughts, we can look at the word a little bit more in logic. So now we can't, we can't change our thoughts like, it's not all about positive thinking or just think positive because Thought's come into her head and some of them may be negative.
Carine McEvoy
31:56 - 32:47
And some of them are like, oh my God, are we going to be okay Is this really bad Because believer or not, we are programmed to think on the negative side to keep us safe. So we are going to have negative thoughts. And it isn't about chastising ourselves when negative thoughts comes into our head, but it is about recognizing them being aware of them and knowing that they're only thoughts that thoughts are only taught that they're not fact that they're not, you know, a hundred percent it's going to happen and that we can actually change those thoughts. It's a little bit like, if you had a magic eight ball, so, you know, my magic eight body shape the eight balland you ask it a question yes. Or no question. And it comes up in an answer. So I would often do this in my practice.
Carine McEvoy
32:47 - 33:37
I would get, you know, the client to ask a question and they would shake the well. And if the eight ball says, if they asked, like, am I going to have a good day in day ball says, no. I say, okay, what are you happy with the answer And they'll say, no, because I wanted to have a good day. I say, oh gosh, I wonder what could you do about that And they're looking at the eight ball in your hand and going when I'm holding you, could I just shake it again when I'm saying, oh my God, isn't that amazing I think that because our mind is just, you know, it's not something we can't see. It's not something that we can touch so that when thoughts come into our mind, we just, we just go with them. But if we were to pull our mind and imagine that this is something in her hand, then you know what
Carine McEvoy
33:37 - 34:28
We can see that something that we are in control, we can change that we can shake it. We can do whatever we wanted because we are the ones holding our mind. And if thoughts come into our mind, just like the answer comes into the eight ball and we don't like it. We can change it. You can change it easily. Now takes time. It takes practice, but it can be done. And one of the best ways to do it is to just really challenge those thoughts when they come in, challenged them, ask yourself like how logical or how true are those thoughts. So for example, like if, if I was, you know, when I leaving cert and I think, oh my God, I'm going to be homeless now because like, my head just went from a, to B, to C, to D I'm not going to get a good job.
Carine McEvoy
34:28 - 35:14
I'm not going to be a parent. I'm not going to be able to do this. So if I could just have sat back and say, ask myself, come on. How true is that Like, how true is it that you're going to end up homeless on the streets in a year's time Like, if I look at that now I go, well, actually I have so much support around me. You know, there is so much I can do. There is even if I did fail my leaving cert, I can go back. I can repeat, I can do a PLC course. I can do this. I can work. I can do that. You know, if I could have challenged myself, then the way I know I can challenge myself. Now it wouldn't have got to that level. So even just by asking yourselves, how true is it How true is it that, you know, the leaving cert is the worst thing in the world.
Carine McEvoy
35:15 - 36:12
How true is that Like, let's get a little perspective here. Let's stand back and look at it and go, you know, let's compare that to something really bad that could be happening. If we look at, you know, all of, all of that terrible, terrible stuff, that's happening around the world. And do you, Ukraine if we look at, even if we look at Afghanistan, there is many young girls who are not allowed to go to school at the moment. Like that is just horterrific. They're not alive. They're not alive to have an education are not allowed to do their exams. Like imagine that. So if we were to look at the perspective of the leaving cert and compared to what is actually really bad, it just brings it down on a couple of points. Now I know when random, middle of the, in the leaving cert is really stressful, but it does really help just take step back and kind of, you know, think about,
Aidan Noone
36:13 - 36:14
Yeah,
Carine McEvoy
36:14 - 36:21
That's. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And then I think as well. Yeah, sorry.
Aidan Noone
36:22 - 36:31
Yeah. So we've dealt with the four wheels and so that's the last wheel was the, the thoughts. So what's next. What's next What's after that
Carine McEvoy
36:32 - 37:25
Well, look, let's just look at some very, very basic self care. Okay. So the car itself, right Let's go back to the car itself, right The car itself. If we don't look after the car, if we don't give the car petrol or diesel, if we don't give the car, its water for its radiators. If we're not looking after the car, car's gonna break down. So let's look at the car as the body, okay. The body needs sleep. It needs exercise. It needs water, it needs nutrition and it needs to relax. Yeah. So the very basics and the very essential of self care are very important here. So this is something that parents can do to help their son or daughter is just when they come in, you know, make sure that they get a little bit of relaxation time, that they're getting a nice nutritious dinner.
Carine McEvoy
37:25 - 38:04
You know, when we, when we eat good, we feel good. There's a lot of, there's a lot of research out there now with the Mo moment aid and that, you know, what we eat really does affect our mental health. Our gut health is very much related to our mental health, you know, like too much caffeine, too much sugar to which alcohol can really create an imbalance in our head. So if we're like, stainable might not getting her sleep and drink coffee so that we can, you know, study for exam, then the next day we're going to feel crappy anyway, you know, so getting our sleep very important, water is fuel for the brain. Yeah.
Aidan Noone
38:04 - 38:26
Yeah. And, and just to come back to the sleep, Carine, you know, you it's so important because sleep is really, really important for memory consolidation, you know So that, that what you are learning during the day, you know, is properly what we'll call them compartmentalized. Am I right in saying that
Carine McEvoy
38:26 - 39:12
Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Sleep was like, I, I know that if I have about sleep the next day, everything is so much, you know, and you know, to pull exams into the mix. Now I know there's probably students. I took on, no, look at this nine days, I have to get done to calm sleep. But I mean, how I would go about that is if you really feel like, okay, you need to study more, study more, there's different ways to study. Like you could be putting your study onto them, you know, ALA Marie read about her technology, but you could be putting that recorded onto your phone. Like, let's say, you're wanting to learn Shakespeare quotes, record them onto your phone. And then when you're going to stay, just listen to them.
Aidan Noone
39:12 - 39:15
Excellent. Yeah. And I like,
Carine McEvoy
39:16 - 40:05
Yeah, absolutely. And then you're just listening to me in your sleep and you feel like, okay, well, at least I'm getting to sleep, but I'm also doing this little bit of listening to these. And then you go into your mind as well. you can, you can relax what to study. Yes. Believer as well, because you can, you know, go for a walk and listen to those Shakespeare quotes. And I mean, it's, it's actually, it's a really good way to take things in when you're going for a walk and you are nice and relaxed. Like your subconscious mind is allowing that material to go into your mind and into your memory easier rather than if you're home just stuck in a room and you're like really trying to cram it in there. and then when it comes to study or revision, like making everything visual reader really helps as well.
Carine McEvoy
40:05 - 41:28
So like making a lot of circular bullet points or mind maps or turning keywords into mnemonics, or like a funny sentence or funny words, all of that really helps your memory. Remember the material, when you're studying, try and make it something that you're doing rather than just reading. So like, oh, is that the pen in your hand And even if you're just sketching to key words, because your mind would really take in a picture, or even walking, if you have a mind mapping you're, you're, wanting to remember key words, just get up and walk around your room and do making sure that you get breaks. That's very important because our brain just goes asleep. like just cant take in anymore. After I know maybe 20 to 30 minutes is as much as I would study one subject and then have a five minute break and the break be, get, will move, go down and get a glass of water. and then come back to us, and then change what we're studying. So like, if we're studying, say a reading subject for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, then change the next one to like a math subject so that you're doing so that your brain is like, doesn't get kind of tired doing the one thing. And then it's able to take in things, is able to take in the material better.
Aidan Noone
41:29 - 41:37
And of course, you know, all of this, you know, is reliant upon adequate preparation and that's all important as well. Isn't it
Carine McEvoy
41:38 - 42:55
Yeah, absolutely. And I do think that this year, leaving certs have, you know, they've done their best. They have been through pandemic. And I think that they need to, when they don't need to, but maybe they'd like to think about the fact that they have been true, a pandemic, something we have never, ever seen before. A lot of these students have never done a junior cert before. This is the first time they've had a stage exam. And for the last year it's been drilled into them that this is so important. This is so important. It's so important. This is like, your life depends on this. Your life depends on this. And that's so scary. So what I would love to say is just give yourselves a break. You're so strong. You have kept with your studies, you have got through a pandemic and we are just, we're kind of coming outside the other side of the pandemic, even though COVID-19 is still where it is, but like, do you know yourself when you go through something, you feel, you actually feel tired today. You kind of just sit down and go, wow, that was, that was some right. you're kind of, you're coming down from it. So like, I mean, these guys, you know, I bet they're
Aidan Noone
42:56 - 42:56
Absolutely,
Carine McEvoy
42:58 - 43:31
I would love for them to give themselves a break and realize how capable and strong there and that they can do this and just believe in themselves. And that's another big point, just believe in yourself and believe that no matter what happens, you can deal with it. Even if I don't know how to school, blew up. And you couldn't do your exams like that, you would find a way in life. There are so many different paths that you can take, you will find a way to make it work
Aidan Noone
43:31 - 43:48
100%. I agree. Totally. Yeah. And, you know, as I said earlier, you know, they, they, hindsight is a wonderful thing. Having gone through different things in your life, you realize, you know, there's more than one way of doing, doing something or opportunity, you know,
Carine McEvoy
43:49 - 43:49
Is
Aidan Noone
43:49 - 43:52
There anything else that you want to want to mention Carina
Carine McEvoy
43:53 - 45:16
I would say that, you know, when you're finished, when students are finished and exam, just move onto the next one, just put it behind you and move on. Because I think that meeting, you know, federal students, I slide and do a post-mortem , I think going through it and what did come up and what didn't come up. I think that can be a little bit, oh my God, I didn't put that in or I didn't do that question or I didn't do that. Right. And I just, I don't think that's the most helpful thing to do when you're going through a marathon of exams, just come out, put it behind you and put your focus onto the next one, then. Great. And, you know, keep your basic self care, you know, looking after your sleep, your nutrition, your water. well, I would definitely say stay away from like the likes of red bull and monster, none of those things, because they might give you a bit of a boost, but there's a big come down from them. So you're going to feel, I just do just kind of give you that bit of a foggy brain or whatever when you kind of come down from them. So like just stick to water, good nutrition. and that's where parents, because parents kind of feel a little bit helpless at this time, you know, but parents can really help by just, you know, a big healthy dinner when the come in and just being there to kind of listen as well, you know, and, making sure that they're looking after themselves.
Aidan Noone
45:17 - 45:24
So, Carina, you're also a published author and indeed I know you contribute to radio in the Southeast, is that correct
Carine McEvoy
45:24 - 45:25
Yeah, that's right.
Aidan Noone
45:26 - 45:28
And how can we contact you
Carine McEvoy
45:30 - 45:46
Yeah. So if you were wanting to contact me, you could email me@infoatCareinamcEvoy.com. I also have a website which is just Carinemcevoy.com and, you can contact me through there.
Aidan Noone
45:47 - 46:09
Great. What's wonderful. I mean, I thought that was magnificent and thank you so much for the benefit of your experience and imparting that valuable skill and knowledge that you have to our listeners. So that was Carine McEvoy psycho-education specialist based in the Southeast of Ireland. Where exactly are you a Carina That's okay.
Aidan Noone
46:11 - 46:16
Gorey county Wexford. Great. So thank you so much.
Carine McEvoy
46:16 - 46:18
Thank you. Thank you. Bye.
Aidan Noone
46:20 - 46:50
You have been listening to session number 24 of the professional hypnotherapist podcast, a production of the European association of professional hypnotherapists. That's EAPH.ie. Why not take a look at EAPH.ie our many skilled members. Are there waiting on your contact EAPH.ie until next time bye-bye for now.