What a delightful conversation with Dr. Shara Downey, a mother, wife, friend and chiropractor,, who lives in Singapore. She grew up in BC, Canada and has now been in Singapore for 20 years with her husband and 4 children. She lives life through the lens of joy, particularly with music and playfulness. Enjoy our conversation.
@drjoyshow
thedrjoyshow@gmail.com
What a delightful conversation with Dr. Shara Downey, a mother, wife, friend and chiropractor,, who lives in Singapore. She grew up in BC, Canada and has now been in Singapore for 20 years with her husband and 4 children. She lives life through the lens of joy, particularly with music and playfulness. Enjoy our conversation.
@drjoyshow
thedrjoyshow@gmail.com
Hello and welcome to this episode of the Dr. Joy Show. I'm your host, Dr. Laura LaJoie and we'll continue to have open conversations with people who are living their lives through the lens of joy Today. I'm delighted to have my good friend Dr. Shara Downey, who's in Singapore. So who knew we were gonna be around the world, but Dr. Shara welcome.
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Hi. Thank you so much for having me.
Track 1:I'm so excited you're here. So tell our listeners a little bit about you and how we got to, we've been friends for 12 years and lots of life has happened in the last 12 years.
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Yes, so I am grateful to be living in this beautiful, small island called Singapore, smack dab between Malaysia and Indonesia. And it's funny'cause it's, it's so small and. Always sunny. So to us the world kind of just goes by slow. But you know, it isn't until I speak with friends around the world that I realize, yeah, time is passing., I'm a Canadian girl from a small town just out of Vancouver, British Columbia. Went to school in Toronto and I always knew I wanted to travel and had a few interviews around the world, Australia, the UK, but somehow landed in Southeast Asia. It was supposed to be a two year contract and. 19 years later, I'm here married and have four kids,
Track 1:That's so incredible. Remind me where you are from near Vancouver.
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Abbotsford, British Columbia, so in the lower mainland, Maple
Track 1:Valley. Well, as you know, this conversation is about our journey to joy, and I would love to hear from your perspective, what does joy mean to you, or what does that look like?
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Two parts actually. And I would say since I've gotten older, I've accepted the second part more, I think, uh, I grew up in a faith-based family and grew up serving and giving in the church and doing missions trips and those types of things. And so you grew up always with the mind of how to serve others. And sometimes when you look at yourself or what fulfills you or makes you happy, it can be looked at as selfish. So that. Journey, coming to the point of knowing I needed to be filled as well, to be able to give. I really came to closer, later on in life because it was something I always struggled when I thought about something that I wanted to be happy. Oh, I can't be happy. I have to make other people happy first. But the first point of joy for me is always. When I meet someone, talk to someone, whether it's someone I know or someone that is brand new, my goal is that they leave that experience, even if it's a five minute conversation better than when they came to it. So with the premise that you never know what people are going through, you don't know what they're thinking or feeling in the moment that you see them, and yet we all have the moment that the coffee spills on us in the car or someone cuts us off, or, you know, we all have those times. But if you're in line and someone is there and you're speaking to them and. They maybe made you happy or not. You don't know where they're coming from. You don't know what's happening for them in that second, and so I always think ahead to whatever it is that's happening between us it was meant to be. So I hope you leave this interchange better than you came.
Track 1:I really appreciate that, and we talk about that in the clinic all the time too. You know, not trying to be offended by somebody who's being offensive, but understanding that the reason that they are coming in this way has nothing to do with us. So we just have to continue to have that lens of. I meet you where you are and hope you are better when you leave me. I love that. Yeah. So tell me about a joyful experience that just pops into your brain. Like when you think about something that you've done recently or even growing up that sparks joy. What does that look like?
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:So I am a
Track 1:huge.
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:lover of music. I grew up, uh, with music in all forms, singing, dancing, just it being played around the house. And in fact, when we were younger, my mom would have us do chores on Saturday morning. Like most of us, you know, get up. Clean the bathroom, vacuum the house, and in order to get us to speed up, she would put on her type of music. So obviously not our style, you know, like Kenny Rogers and Bob Seger and all these things that she thought we wouldn't like. So that would make us hurry up and do our chores faster. So we learned to have a wide variety of appreciation for music and why that matters is because through my whole life, if I needed to change my mood or get happier, if you will, or just get out of a funk, it was music, music and movement. Whether I'm doing jumping jacks to music, whether I'm jumping up and down, it was like changing my state so that I was able to embody happiness or bring joy internally. Sometimes you do see it outside of you, higher or greater than what you're feeling inside. So then you have to, it's osmosis. You have to bring it in. And so music has always been something that's brought me joy. and why I highlight that is we have that in the clinic. We have our Funky Dance Fridays, you know, the staff picks a different song. We have a dance that we do as a staff, through adjustments. if certain song comes on the radio, all the patients know, oh, this is when Dr. Shara is gonna skip down the hallway. And, I don't even realize I'm doing it. Sometimes I bring the music into me, so then that allows me to bring joy to patients. and we commonly have people saying, oh, you guys are always so smiley and so happy. And how can you always keep that up? And I feel if it's not. A part of you, it's an act and it's hard, but if it's actually coming from you, like your shininess coming out of you, you don't even know you're doing it.
Track 1:Have you also brought that love of music to your children?
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Yes. So one thing I learned is, these kids come with their own personalities and their own blueprint. And so I have four kids and they all love way different kinds of music and we don't always play that style of music in the house. And so I have one that loves rap, one hard rock and roll. The other one's a pop lover, so our Spotify has a very large playlist.
Track 1:So can you think back to a time when there was something that was an adversity or a challenge that. Really didn't have joy in front of it, but where you may have learned a lesson that took you to joy later.
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:I think probably one of the first experiences is I lost my parents young. I was 16 when my mom passed away, and so I had the last year of high school and then all through university where I had to navigate that on my own, I had a. Impression in my mind of where I wanted to do school, I had a vision of what I wanted to do with my life that didn't match with my family. My family came from very hardworking individuals, very physical work, and their thought of education was not high because they didn't need it, right? A lot of them had really good paying jobs, so they didn't understand my passion for wanting to have further education and also leaving the country. So at times there was a lot of butting of heads. And where I wasn't spoken to for a long time. My family's a mixed family, so that also had the element of, some of them didn't understand the other side of my culture and then would, let's say, have biases against me because of that, you know, based on how I look or whatnot. So it was quite lonely and the path I forged was very alone because no one was ahead of me. Like I didn't have someone saying, Hey, do this, try this. And where I found Joy was in. Let's say for example, when I went to university in the US I did my undergrad there, I found. Families there, right? So I found friends that became lifelong friends, um, integrated with their families and faith-based families. So I learned how to do faith in a different way. I learned how to integrate family values to now what I create as traditions because I had no family after the age of 16. So. Having that ability was really amazing and the same as we go forward and I practice through chiropractic, meeting other doctors and from around the world and how they've put together practices or their families has allowed me to kind of grow through that as well. and then, as years pass, other challenges go through, whether it's personal relationships or you know, our family's been touched by addiction and that's really been a challenge that's difficult to navigate because it's someone else's primary challenge, the umbrella of who it affects is very wide. you know, those lessons are things that we talk about openly with the kids because they're old enough now that they may not understand the words to use of, but they know something's affecting them. know the behavior is different than what they've seen. And so the conversation is open all the time. I'm always. highlighting things that they can integrate as see in your life you have a choice in your life. You have the ability to make a difference here or here. Here. And I think where the joy comes in, all of that is being able to pass on lessons that I might have found innately. But being able to, to speak them or teach them to my kids has made me realize, wow, okay, I learned something along the way, but really giving them the power that they can create their own reality. They have a co-creation with God. Their mind is the most powerful gift they were ever given. And how do you rein it in every day to stay focused on love, joy, and serving, and that will get you to where your focus will be. So whether it's five years old, seven years old, 10 years old, or 12, these are conversations that we have in our house.
Track 1:So a couple of things that you are known for is your confidence and your kindness.
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Oh,
Track 1:Are there particular Well, yeah. that's one of the, some of how I see you. but are there ways that you convey that to your children? Because sometimes it's. In the background, you are just showing up as confident and kind, but are there strategies that you use with them from the time they're little? I, I talk about when my children would meet people when they were little, they were always getting complimented on, wow, your child made eye contact with me, and they don't know that I'm having a game with my child to tell me later what the person's eye color is. But it's an easy transition to being able to make eye contact as a child and we think it's a game. But then as an adult, you're learning how to make eye contact and it's not scary. So are there strategies like that, that you work with your kids to make sure that they're also having the same kinds of characteristics as a human, you are important for yourself?
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:yes, yes is the simple question. I think as we've, gone along, so when they're little, the culture I live in now, everybody is an auntie and uncle. Anyone older than you is an auntie and uncle, and they're very friendly. Where we've had to have the border, I guess if you will, is allowing our kids to express when they feel safe or not, right? Because. Having that conversation of, oh, go say hi. Go say hi. Let them hug you, let them touch you. That's not something that is, very common here because everybody just intermingles with everybody. So we've had to have the safety talk where I guess in other cultures, the safety talk comes first and then you get friendly, if that makes sense. So ours kind of had to come backward. but our kids are mixed and they look very different than the local culture. And a lot of times people will come up and just touch their hair. Just randomly take photos of them. And so we had conversations with them about how they felt. How does that make you feel? At one point I remember being in the elevator in the Ritz Carlton with my son, he's four huge Rastafarian Afro and he's got five adults from five different countries in Asia, all just wanting to paw his hair. And this little kid just felt so overwhelmed, he felt confident enough to put his hands over his head and say, you didn't ask permission. You didn't ask me permission, and he's four. And then the lady asked him, oh, can I touch your hair? He said, no, not until the afternoon. Like he had timing. So, you know, I think little by little, we really help them integrate what they're feeling to an experience. So they don't just get overwhelmed with these emotions, but also not living in the emotion. Does that make sense? A, Good interview I saw with Djokovic recently was. He said,"everyone thinks I'm so confident and I get on the court and I'm focused and that's it. Nothing affects me". He said,"but you don't know the storm inside of me. You don't know what's going up, going down. you hear me yell, it's'cause I'm expressing that energy out'cause I don't need it anymore. The energy was good to get me there. To get me up. Now I don't need it now I need to focus". So he said"the difference between the mental mindset I have and other athletes who aren't top tier is they live in the emotion. I let the emotions serve me to get me where I need to be, but then I get focused". And we kind of work with that with our kids. We really let them express what they're feeling and, and where it's coming from.'cause sometimes we don't know, sometimes it's an event from, two months ago, but then we help them give them skills like. What could have been happening in that situation? What might have been the other person's thinking, how could you have breathed 10 times to calm yourself first before you reacted? was there a place that you could have said, I'm walking away, or I'm going to speak to a teacher. You know, so we highlight different techniques that they can do for themselves because they can't control other people.
Track 1:Are there any storms that you've had to go through in the last five to 10 years that you feel like you've had to shield yourself from people on the outside having an opinion about the way that you want to live or believe? It seems like there's so many opinions. I know you to have strong opinions and sometimes. Being an opinionated woman isn't always a confident place to be, or from the outside, but on the inside, you know, again, there's that storm that that's brewing and you're like, okay, how do I navigate this thing that is actually happening in my life or in my world? And to be able to get through the other side and maintain the relationships that are most important to you.
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Very good question. can think of three major things in the last five years. One I'm still in the middle of, so I can't even answer that yet'cause I haven't come out the other side. I think. The first one, which is most obvious, I, I would guess, is covid, right? So, where I live is very strict, very, very strict. If you know Singapore, the, they're known for their laws. the joke is it's a fine country because they find fine, fine you for everything, right? You can't chew gum, you can't spit. Everything is fine. So during the Covid period. We obviously have a different mindset in thinking about, how to deal with Covid. What is impressed upon us as, citizens and we're not citizens, so we're welcomed guests, I always say. so there was a real period where we were looking at maybe leaving in the middle of the night because they were very strong with their, vaccination the protocols who had to have them. And when, I couldn't leave my house to even buy groceries. And I was just mentioning earlier that u up until last year, literally less than, 13 months ago, we were still on lockdown or semi lockdown protocols. So it was just opened up about a year ago. we are guests, we're not citizens, we're not protected and everything Here, there's jail time. There's real jail time for things that you wouldn't even think twice about in Canada or the US. And so we had to really focus on where our desire and our beliefs and our, where we wanted to lead our family. And so we had these conversations with the kids and we didn't necessarily spread it. Through the joy of community, because everyone's gonna have their own opinion. And I didn't want my kids to be penalized for it, but we let them know what we were thinking, what our family stance was, but they didn't necessarily have to go and shout it out to the rooftops.'cause the kids would go to school and give opinions on what we had talked about, well informed. But then of course it's very different than the. Common trend, right? So that was a very difficult period to navigate. But I think it also allowed them to see where you can be confident in your beliefs and your thoughts, but also still love on people who aren't the same. still have friendships, still be okay with people that don't think like you. That was a really big learning for them at the time, my kids. and I think secondly, something that's gone on. The whole time I've been here, but now my kids are getting older and so they're starting to navigate. But I have kids that are blonde. I have kids that are dark skinned with Afros, so we're quite a mixed, blended family. And being in one school lots of times people won't know that the boys are brothers, so they have an opinion about one boy because he is dark. The other boy is blonde. And so my older son has had to deal with and navigate a lot with racism here a lot. The culture is blunt. They're in your face, but oftentimes. It's comments that are ignorant in that they really don't know the background of an African American. They don't know the history of slavery. They don't know why things are offensive, so it's harder for him because he's offended, but also then realizing these people have no idea, you know? And he's so light skinned, if you will, to a lot of Asians. They don't think of him as African American to them. Africans are from Nigeria. like, you're not African. not black, so that's been a really big learning curve for us because we've navigated a life where people understood certain fences and understood to a degree what was okay to be said. Here, it's brand new and he's never grown up with the background that we have and the history we know. So it's helping him be confident in who he is, helping anger management, helping. Him educate, even though he doesn't wanna be an educator, he's ended up in that position where he's had to do reports on slavery in front of the whole school. So they understand why words are not acceptable. that's been really interesting because he's becoming his own man through that process. And that's really warmed my heart, even though it was scary in the beginning. but I love watching him grow into that.
Track 1:That's amazing. And just to have your children be able to have conversations with you and your husband openly about interactions that they've had at school. I'm sure every child deals with bullying or miscommunication at some point, and they don't always have a good sounding board or parent or adult that they can come to and say, so this happened. And I don't know what to do with this information. And for you to be able to have those open, loving conversations with him and really get to the bottom of what he feels about it
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Yeah.
Track 1:then what to do about it. That's awesome. So in terms of this journey to Joy that you've been on, are there characteristics that you think are common for yourself or other people that you interact with that are joyful people?
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:I think one of the biggest ones that stands out for me, and I actually learned this from one of my CAs like 15 years ago. she came to us from a really big chain, like a 20 clinic chain. She was making big money and I was just like, I'm sorry, I can't pay you that I'm brand new. I'm just starting. And she just looked at me and she said, I don't live with stress. If there's stress, I leave. She goes, I would rather be here where we're having fun, we're serving people, people are getting better, people are loving life, but there's no stress. And that's really always stuck in my mind.'cause I think when we're younger, being able to multitask, doing more, being busy, being rush, rush, it's like a badge of honor of, look how great I am. But the amount of stress that that puts inside of you. For multiple reasons. A lot of times we're not aligned with the action. We're doing what we're supposed to, not what we want to or we change our vision, but we don't change the action. There's a whole host of reasons why that internal stress is there, and that doesn't bring you joy. You don't get settled. So for me, I really looked at what's coming from the inside. I may not even be able to define what that is, but if there's something there that's gotta go, I gotta move and navigate in a path to where I'm settled, right? That inner piece is. King Inner peace is king. So I do what it takes to keep that, and I find a lot of people who are content and internally joyful that it just comes from them spontaneously, is because they found that alignment within themselves.
Track 1:That is such a great distinction and I do see that as a thread through so many people and nobody has described it quite like that. That's so good. Thank you. when you. Working with patients, let's say, because you do come from such different backgrounds. I'm sure that there's a lot of times when somebody will come in and their lens is one of this day sucks, or Life was hard today. You know, traffic was bad or they're grumpy. Is there a way that you meet people where you don't have to take on their negativity or their grumpiness. But you're able to help them turn around in a way that, like you said, they've, they are better when they leave than when they encounter you.
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Yes. Thank you. First it starts with us starts with our staff and myself. We have the policy where, there's literally a rubbish can outside the door. And I think I got this from Dr. Patrick, Gentempo like years ago, where you look at that and you dump your stuff in the can before you walk in the clinic. So you walk in, ready to serve, you walk in to give, not to receive. that was something else I received from coaches years ago as well, is you're not going to your clinic so that you feel better. You're going to give. So you need to be a hundred percent full before you walk in the door. so that's the first thing. But I think I've really looked at how can I learn more about you. Whether it's culturally, whether they're older, whether they have different thoughts about Chinese medicine or western medicine. So taking on what can I learn about you? When people are given the opportunity, even if they're grumpy to talk about themselves, it lets them express enough that then they get past, that grumpy cloud moves away because they get to talk about themselves, right? So they get to share about themselves. And you'd be surprised, most people, even if they're super grumpy, will go to a place if they get to talk about what makes'em happy about their kid, about their dog, about their gardening. But it ends up being about something that makes'em happy. So that's helpful to help them change the state. But worst case scenario, it's really a bad day for that person no matter what. Silence. Breathe. You put the hands on them, you have them breathe. I do a couple of different breathing patterns, and a lot of times they're like, oh, why am I doing this? I'm like, well, first of all, you're not breathing why your Because oxygen hasn't gotten to your brain, but you put your hands on their body so they can actually feel their breath. They don't even realize where their breath should be. if you focus on that and focus on different, I do box breathing and some other things a lot of times. It just is enough to calm the vagus nerve. Bring out that parasympathetic everything down. Whatever brought came in with them might still be there, but now it's outside the door instead of in the clinic.
Track 1:So for our listeners, describe what box breathing is. It's kind of a hot topic lately, and I think people hear about it in the media, but it hasn't been well described. It's just discussed. So can you describe what box breathing is?
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:I've been taught it two different ways. The first one is that you are. Breathing to a count so that you increase, the count so that eventually the exhale is longer than the inhale, but basically it's like two and two, then let's say two and four. Then let's say three breaths in, five breaths out. Just enough so that people are getting into the belly. You can feel the whole nervous system calmed down. You can see it in their feet, their knees, their hips, everything. Just lets go. And you help them become aware of it. As they're breathing the counting for me anyways, to help them think about something else in the breathing.'cause at first they think it's dumb, but then as you get them aware, their awareness goes into parts of their body and that allows things to rest. The second way I've learned it is literally like a box. You breathe in for 10, hold for 10. Out for 10, hold for 10. And that's more of a technique that they call a cleansing technique with the Haponohapono the forgiveness prayer. So that one is more for people who are a bit more advanced in breath work or people who are looking for more of a mindset body kind of connection breath. But for people literally who are just in fight or flight, it's just that repetitive breath in and out, but changing the count so that you start to let the system calm down.
Track 1:Yeah, and I think that. There's so many different ways that people do teach box breathing. I'm sure there's one definition. Here's how it's supposed to be done. That when I first learned it, it was a four count. So it was four in, four hold, four out, four hold. And the idea was really your increase in that circulation, your increase in the oxygen, the blood flow, and you're increasing the intent. And I think that so often we get going in our daily lives and it's so either busy or stressful, that we're not being mindful about what's happening in our physical body and we let the rat race get to our brain and our, or our emotions, and we can actually control so much of it, like you said, by calming the vagus nerve by reducing that fight or flight. That's why I wanted you to just say a little bit more about that.'cause I think that there's so many people in the world that they're like, I know I feel stressed. I don't know how to handle it in the moment. And yet you could be sitting at a stoplight waiting for the light to turn green, and you can be sitting there doing a simple breathing technique that's gonna allow you in that next stretch of road to be more calm and feeling more easygoing.
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Yeah. with the kids, we do a lot of visualization. So we'll get them to breathe in. They're breathing in like the size of a cup, big, and then they have to blow out, like they're blowing into a balloon, So they think about that kind of visualization and so now they're doing presentations in school and all these other things. Or even before a competition I'll get them to. My son was a shot putter, national games shot putter. And so I'd get'em to just breathe. I'm like 10 breaths. Before you even put the shot put on your shoulder.'cause that's when they start the time. Do the breaths, drop the body and then you're ready.
Track 1:That's outstanding. As an athlete. I completely resonate with that. Before we move on to our final five questions, is there anything else about the conversation about Joy or the journey that you've been on that you would like to share with our listeners?
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Yes. Yes. the one thing I wanna highlight is joy doesn't equal happy all the time. Joy doesn't equal smiling all the time. Joy equals you being true to what's happening inside of you. Being able to manage that. Then being able to move on and being at peace. At peace. Inner peace. And why I highlight that is'cause I feel like sometimes people get this impression. Oh, if you're joyful, you're always smiling. You're always happy. And that's not true. I mean, you might be, but you might not. And it's okay to have life and feel the feelings and live whatever it is, but it's also about how much you can get back to center, how much you can get back to that alignment and not live in the stews that are outside of us that we don't control.'cause it's about controlling what you can and all the other stuff. Let it go.
Track 1:Amen, sister. A hundred percent. All right, so our fast five questions, I gave you a little prelude so you had a chance to think about it.
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Yep.
Track 1:So let's start with a song or an artist when we're talking about music that brings you joy.
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Um, Pink. I can always move too. Katy Perry. I can always move to, Jennifer Lopez. I can always move too. But basically anything that's an uplifting, powerful motion. When I wanna be in gratitude, I am listening to Destiny's Child and Beyonce, and they have the Amen Song, the Gratitude song. I'll listen to Whitney Houston's hymns. Not even her pop music, but hymnals. Things to really get in there and get thankful and start thinking about people in my life that have helped me along the way. So one thing I did when I was in university is I sat down and I thought about along the way, all through high school and post high school, and all these people that helped get me to where I am, especially without a family. And I wrote them letters. And I don't know if they got them. Some of them replied, some of them didn't. And it was simple that they invited me for dinner when I was at uni and I had nowhere to go. Some people would send me sweatshirts, you know, but I just started writing thank you letters. And I do that through life. Sometimes I'll send someone a thank you message on Facebook that I haven't talked to for 30 years. That's also something that I really love to do because when you're in yourself in the negative, there's always someone that's gonna be in a worse position than you. And that you have to remember, there's gonna always be someone better in a better position. There's always gonna be someone worse. So knowing to give thanks for whoever has helped you so far helps get you out of that. But then also knowing that there's someone that you might need to lift up helps you not stay in your stew.
Track 1:That's such a good point. I think that often I know for myself, I'll be thinking about somebody that I'm grateful for and I'll think, oh, I need to write them a letter, or I need to give them a phone call. And then I get busy And to take it one step further and write the name down so that when you spend time doing correspondence, you can actively send that message. That can often change a person's day just because it makes them feel good about an interaction that you've had.
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Yeah.
Track 1:So good. Is there a book that you have that you just love that brings you joy or that lifts you up?
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:I love the oldies. So James Allen is great. I love Florence Scovel-Shinn. has so much great nuggets. And Napoleon Hill. All those old books that you get all these nuggets from, and they not only make you think, but they make you feel. And I love that because it's a good combination. There's great books that are good for thinking, but then we don't take it past that. We don't take action with it. And then a lot of these, like the signs of becoming rich and all of the Napoleon Hills ones, Think and Grow Rich. They're things that you can actually take action on so you can think, you can feel and take action.
Track 1:Amazing. What about a movie that brings you joy?
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:I like to laugh. One that I use a lot if I need a good laugh is Horrible Bosses. It makes me laugh every time. Seriously. even get over how funny it is. so yeah comedic, I guess. Anything where I can have a good laugh and, um, sometimes it's funny humor from, you know, my kids have just gotten into home alone, which is so random'cause they're so far away from the 1980s. But, my husband and I sit there and we'll laugh at things they don't get.'cause we actually live during that time. But they love to see us having these deep, hearty laughs and I laugh so hard, I cry, and they're like, are you okay? Oh yeah, I'm fine. But so gotten used to seeing mommy laugh so hard. She cries. That's my measure if it's a good movie, if I can laugh so hard, I cry.
Track 1:That's a great measure. What about joy hacks, things that you do that just help you hack into joy? Could be big or small.
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Yeah, moving, moving. So I worked with a Qigong master a couple of years ago, and one of the things she does is she helps you move your qi. I still don't understand it, but it's like a shaking process and as you visualize whatever it is that's in you that you wanna release and at the very least it increases blood flow, so you feel great. It's like a mini five minute kind of Qigong kind of motion that I do. So I do that commonly when I need to pick it up.
Track 1:Interesting. I've heard a lot about Qigong and Tai Chi both, and I haven't tried them yet, but I'm very interested. What about an Attaway? So we talked about an Attaway is cheering for someone who's helped you along the way, or somebody that you're celebrating for. So who would you like to give an Attaway to today?
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:I wanna give an Attaway to Dr. Janelle. MacBay from Pinnacle Chiropractic in Singapore? She's phenomenal. And why I love giving this Attaway is it's someone who's come after me, but she still teaches me a lot of things. Tthey run a great couple of practices. They have fantastic vision, a lot of love for their patients, and they do amazing things with their kids. I love the way they run their family. I love the way they run their practice. So we model a lot of what we do after her as well, even though she's like. 10 years younger than I am and she's really helped the community here. Her and her husband started the Association for Chiropractic and they've pushed through and struggled when there was five people in the association and no one wanted to be a member because people didn't see the benefit. But she has done it. Her and her husband have pulled it through. So my Attaway is to Dr. Janelle.
Track 1:Awesome. Well, we can never celebrate people that are giving to the world and to giving us enough.
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Yeah.
Track 1:Is there anything else that you're currently working on or what's next for you that we can follow along?
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Thank you. I run a podcast called The Confident Chiropractor, and this season what we're doing is kind of the theme of where is Waldo. So having the benefit of living in Singapore. I've met doctors from around the world, but a lot of times when I come back home I. The idea of people practicing overseas is still quite fresh and new. So I go around the world and I interview doctors in Kenya and Australia and Europe, and things that they're doing in their practice, how they find joy, how they get their confidence, how they work with patients that maybe are not of their culture. Just gives that glimpse and lens for other docs to see what's going on and how they can incorporate these kinds of ideas into their practice as well.
Track 1:It sounds like a really fun project. In fact, I have thought about doing a where in the world is Dr. LaJoie and doing like a flathead photo that I send with my patients so that when they're traveling, they can hold it up with them in a picture and then tag us on Instagram or send me the picture.'cause then I can travel more around the world without actually having to be in all these places.
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Yeah. I love that. I might take that from you, just so you know. I'll give all the credit.
Track 1:But we should do it together and then we can compare where we've been in the world.
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:I love that.
Track 1:Well, thank you Shara so much for spending your time with us today. And I just adore you. It's been 12 years and I feel like I can't even believe how long it's been since I've seen you, but big hugs. Big hugs to your family
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Thank you for having.
Track 1:Oh, you're amazing. If you enjoy this episode, please rate and review us, and if you wanna follow the Dr. Joy Show on Instagram, we are@drjoyshow and we'll look forward to dropping another episode next Wednesday.
dr-shara-downey_1_02-27-2024_070740:Follow, follow.