The Stories We Tell Ourselves: Anxiety, Emotions, and Finding Safety

In our very first episode of Generations in Session: A Path Positive Podcast, Elizabeth (a seasoned therapist with nearly three decades of experience) and Kaelen (a new therapist beginning his career) sit down to bridge perspectives across generations of clinical practice. Together, we explore the stories we write in our heads—the ways we cast ourselves as heroes or villains, the questions anxiety asks us about safety and self-worth, and the tendency to search for proof that our emotions are “right.”

Why launch this podcast now? Because mental health is at a crossroads—people are more open than ever to talking about emotions, yet often feel more overwhelmed and alone than before. By bringing together wisdom from different stages of practice, we hope to create honest, compassionate conversations that help listeners feel less isolated and more empowered in their own journeys.

Whether you’re struggling with anxiety, trying to better understand your emotions, or simply looking for meaningful reflections on growth, Episode 1 offers practical insights and relatable dialogue.

The conversations in this podcast are for informational and educational purposes only. While we explore clinical topics, nothing shared here should be taken as medical or therapeutic advice or used as a substitute for professional mental health care. Everyone’s journey is unique—if you’re struggling, we encourage you to reach out to a qualified therapist or healthcare provider.

If you’d like more personalized support or qualified therapy, you can connect with us at Path Positive.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to episode one of Generations in Session.

SPEAKER_02 0:05

A Path Positive podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Today we focus our discussion on emotions and the biology of them.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

We also look at and consider the role that we write in script. So the role of villain, the role of hero. We talk about an emotional parachute.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

And we get to give you a brief overview and intro into why we're doing the podcast and what this podcast is about.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

So enjoy.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

So why are we doing this? Why now?

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Okay, well, why do you think?

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Well, uh, I think it's a I think it's a good time and a good opportunity to move in and bring some mental health resources to people. I think, you know, with everything going on and lots of stress in the world as there commonly is, but there's no better time, I think, to really bring in and bring out a new podcast that's taking a I guess a scientific view and making sure that we're bringing in, you know, the evidence and experience and sort of a combination of what we both bring to the picture. Yeah. What do you think?

SPEAKER_02 1:17

So I think from a personal perspective, super excited to do a podcast with my son who's coming into the field. I think that that's uh pretty neat. I like the experience that we both bring. So you bring the new view, and I bring an experienced, I would not say old, I'd say experienced view, uh doing this for quite a while. In my years of private practice, mental health and mental awareness has changed quite a bit. But we are almost at the point where we've educated people and we're doing more harm than good in in my belief. So we give them enough information to be harmful, but not enough to be to be helpful.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

And I think, you know, coming together and making sure that we're we're bringing a podcast that helps bring some of that information in and help them out, you know, bringing the tools and getting the resources out there that should be available for everyone.

SPEAKER_03 2:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Yeah. Is there anything else that you think is sort of maybe a big reason? Like why now?

SPEAKER_02 2:20

So I mean, uh again, just personally, probably where we are professionally. So you're coming into the field and I am, you know, yeah, probably exiting in the next next uh 10 years and 20, I guess 28 years of experience and uh brand new perspective and um why now? Gosh, the world. That's why.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

Yeah, and I I definitely think I agree that we're coming in at the right time, especially with you know, not just what's going on with the world, but even within our own lives. And it it it's definitely the right the right time in the right environment, you know, looking for growth and being able to help people and get the word out to the most number of people for sure. And I think now, you know, as I'm moving in and you're moving up, as we would say, um I I definitely think it's a good time.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

So the goal of the podcast is for us to share different points of view. So an older and a newer, which we've gotten across a couple times now, and the education perspective, and to give you really good tools to use and take away. So something personal in my personal belief is I believe in education and tools, and that's the goal here is to give really good quality information. We're always looking for input from the people who are watching, and we will attach information. Hey, let us know what it is you think you'd like to hear about. And moving along, we'll be doing some guest speaking and having some guest speakers uh coming in and uh doing that type of thing.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

For our first episode today, we decided we wanted to focus in primarily on emotion and really honing in on the environment that we're in right now and the education and everything that's going on. So focusing in on that, we thought would be a prudent way to start this podcast.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Yeah, so um, jumping right in, we we start or I start always where I start with my clients, which is the biology of emotion. So emotions are a chemical response to a stimulant, they are an internal conversation your body is having with you about something that is misaligned. And it's not that things from the environment don't impact us, it's that it's how we process it that impacts information. So if you think about emotions, and I always think of a parachute, so there are three biological things you do to keep your parachute in place. I know Kaelin knows this: food, sleep, and physical activity. Food is your fuel source, and 80% of serotonin which produce is produced in your brain is a response to food you put in your mouth. So you put food in, your stomach sends a message to your brain, and your brain produces serotonin, which is neurochemical most associated with mood. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Yeah, absolutely. And then I think, you know, if we're moving into to sleep and even just the tiredness, you know, as we always talk about, it's the not just physical tiredness, but mental tiredness as well.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

Mm-hmm. Yep. So sleep is where you physically recharge your body, and physical activity is where we recharge our mind. So our brain's kinetic. We require physical activity, physical movement or physical contact in order for our brain to recharge. So I guess I'd probably explain that like a cell phone. So your body is like a cell phone, you plug it into one end, which is into the cell phone. So let's say that's physically recharging your body, and then you have to plug the cell phone into the wall, which would be your movement, which is recharging your brain. Both of those pieces need to happen in order for us to recharge.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

And I find it's so easy now, especially with the the prevalence of office jobs and a bunch of times where you spend so much time through the day sitting and not enough time moving.

SPEAKER_03 6:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

You know, I always find when I get drained and tired, nothing like a short 10-minute walk in the sun to just it feels so much better.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

Yeah. So really cool. Science has evolved since I started. So you could probably talk a bit more about this, honey. But what they're doing is they are we have people moving and we're watching brain activity and what they've developed or what they've learned. So neurologists are um, I guess, researchers, is that we actually develop new neuropathways through movement. So the research started because we were wondering why all Alzheimer's and dementia was on the rise. And what they found is that we live too stationary of a life.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Definitely movement helps not only with consolidating memory and bringing in, you know, new neurons and new neural connections, it's it's really important for helping to develop, you know, as a person and as children and as adults, and keeping movement through your life is it's a critical aspect to you know life satisfaction and everything that goes on through you know, if you think about a newborn, newborns when they have emotions, I think we think of them as pretty pure.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

But if you look at a newborn as their development, there's a lot of movement, so they sleep, they eat, they move, and when they cry as parents, we're like, okay, we need to feed them, we need to change their diaper, we need to burp them, or we need to put them to bed. The one thing we don't ask is what happened to them in their crib to make them so upset. But for some reason, we change the way we ask questions as children evolve and grow. And that is reinforced through socialization. So it's important that we're asking the right questions as parents. When children are overstimulated or overprocessed, they're definitely going to experience and express an emotion. And it's important that we teach them to look in, not out.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

I I definitely agree with that. And even looking at emotion, I find oftentimes we look at this and we're imagining that there has to be some reason that this emotion has come up. And oh, you know, this is happening, and we're always looking for an explanation and why we're right on this emotion. Where it's it's really it's it's chemical, it's it's a filter that goes over your life, and and that's what you begin to look at. You know, I always like to look at it. Our our brain wants to be right, and it it wants to be confident in what it's saying, and whatever it is, whether it's you know, I'm upset, it's gonna find a good reason to be upset. Yeah, and you know, as we'd call it kitchen sinking and bringing in everything that's been going on, and it's just it's easy when emotions are are high to be able to bring everything to the forefront. And you know, it's so much easier to become upset when all of a sudden, you know, you've got these emotions going on and they're heightened and things just escalate so quickly.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Yeah, I always say emotions are sticky. So when one starts, it collapses and keeps going, but we have a tendency to do this huge backstory of why we feel the way we feel, because I think as human beings, we're not comfortable with our emotions. We do not do the same thing for physical hurt or physical illness. Um, you know, if you drop a weight on your foot, you recognize that it's hurt. It isn't, it's hurt because, and there's this huge backstory that goes with it. It's pretty clear. And that's because we're more, I think, comfortable with explaining physical emotions, our physical um characteristics, I guess, as opposed to I I I definitely agree.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Like I think it's interesting because if you drop a weight on your foot and you go, Oh, you know, I I can't go for that run tomorrow because you know, I broke my foot. But it's you can wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something can be going on in your mind, and we don't get to use that same excuse. You know, I broke my foot as clear, distinct, and visual. Visual. I think it's that part of emotions where they're they're hidden and people can't see them.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

Yeah, but uh, and because of that, we have a tendency to believe they're not real. But we know better than most. I mean, everyone knows that emotions are how we filter the world, and they're very different than logic. And emotional health and physical health play by the same roles. So when you pick up a hot pot, for instance, off the stove for whatever crazy reason, your first reaction is going to be to drop it and to administer first aid. You know what you're not going to do, you're not going to hold on to the pot and try and talk yourself out of being hurt. I shouldn't be hurt. Would five out of ten people be hurt? I don't think so. I think I can get past this. And we stand there and we hold on to something which ultimately is more detrimental to us.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, the burn will last longer and it'll take more time to heal. Yeah. And and being able just to let go, I think is an important, an important aspect, you know, being able to accept what's going on and and look at emotion from this way.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

Yeah. Yeah. You know, the the really the goal of the podcast for me is for us to be more comfortable with the fact that I am allowed to feel my feelings. I am allowed to express them respectfully and kind. And I will reinforce that at every meeting that we do. You know, everyone, everyone has feelings. And the truth is, is that we use the same words universally, but we mean different things individually. And we have a tendency to determine whether or not people ought to feel away or not feel away, and then we respond in accordance to that, which really is not our role. And that doesn't mean that people have the right to be mean. And I really do think that that's what gets confused. We have weaponized feelings and mental health to the point where we use it against people or explain why we can't do things.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

Yeah, not just against people, but against ourselves. You know, uh one of those narratives that you just hear all the time is, oh, I I have anxiety, I can't. Or I'm I'm really nervous about this, so I can't do it. But being able to And yeah, and exactly manage and move forward and and it's all about practicing and living with discomfort. You know, we've we've gotten so comfortable being comfortable that when something comes up and it's a challenge and it's new, oftentimes whether it's as a parent or as a child or just a person, this new opportunity becomes stressful. You know, from the parent's perspective, I've definitely you can see sometimes when a new thing's coming up, yeah, and all of a sudden they're like, oh my gosh, I'm so worried. I really I can't let my child do this, you know, this is gonna hurt them or this could hurt them, and sometimes being able to pull back and let a little bit of wiggle room through to grow and to to make mistakes.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

Well, it's the only way we learn, right? So when talking about anxiety with clients, which is that feeling that you have or the uncomfortableness that goes goes with it, however you define it, is uh ask a couple of questions. Am I physically safe doing what is going to happen next? And will I be proud of the person who achieves this? And if the answer is yes to both of those questions, then we do it even though we feel scared. So you're scared and brave and nervous and doing and all of those wonderful things. But if you are not physically safe doing something and you need to do it, you need to figure out a path that you will be.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 14:58

Right?

SPEAKER_00 14:58

And I I like your comment about the ands, you know, looking at it from like this may be stressful, but it's also exciting.

SPEAKER_03 15:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

And it's also new. Yeah. And it's also a great opportunity.

SPEAKER_03 15:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Right. And being able to accept things aren't just black and white, as we know in daily lives, and yet with emotion, it's like, oh, I'm angry. And that's it.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

It could be more.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

Yeah. So we use emotion and logic as two different words. Everyone knows it is, but we believe the rules are the same. Not only are they different words, there's different rules. So with logic, there is a correct answer. You can go left or you can go right. Two plus two, you know, is four. I guess maybe a mathematician would tell me that's not true, but we're gonna stick with it being true here in this in this conversation. But emotions are and I can feel a way about a situation, and you can feel a way about a situation, and and and everyone else can. And because I feel this way and you feel your way, doesn't mean that your way is more important than my way, or my way is more important than your way. It means we are both allowed to feel those way, those ways, and respectfully exchange the information.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

Right? Add more. Yeah. Emotions we talk about being color.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Mm-hmm. Yeah, they are definitely the color, and like they're they're sort of a part of life where logic may provide some of the rules and being able to interpret, and honestly, like as we know it, it's very helpful when emotions are running high to be able to go, yeah, okay, let's take a step back and look at this perspective from something different. You've seen you've seen how the emotions feel about it.

SPEAKER_03 16:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

Well, now what happens when we apply a little bit of logic and try and work through this emotion?

SPEAKER_02 16:53

You know, um, and recognizing that is an important distinction. So, really, for me, for the first podcast, it is understanding the biology of where your feelings come from and not judging yourself when you're having them, but feel free to judge how you respond. So if you respond in a way that is counter to who it is you want to be, it's important that you figure out where you lost control and what you want to do different. As is just as the first podcast, it is just us introducing all of the concepts and the ideas and then getting on and going a little bit further.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Um, you know, just when we're talking about emotion, another point that comes to mind, at least for me, is this idea of oh, I remember. So another important thing that I would add about emotion is related to not only that it's a chemical response, but also understanding how, as we said, emotions are intrinsically tied to our health.

SPEAKER_03 17:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

And when we let things go awry and things drop off, we start to notice our emotions go crazy, you know. And I find them getting I would say crazy. You know, they get a little loose and they move a lot.

SPEAKER_02 18:12

Like I would say I would use the word messy, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Maybe messy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

So when we're looking at emotion and what's going on, oftentimes, you know, we might not have been eating, we might not have slept well, and we go at this day and we're like, this is just an awful day. Uh there's no reason for it. My emotions are just all all messy. Uh, and being able to look at that and walk through the checklist of physical health and checking in, it's like, okay, have I eaten something? Have I moved? Have I slept? You know, is is something really overwhelming me right now? And and what is it?

SPEAKER_02 18:51

What am I focused on? What am I repeating? What am I going through in my head? You know, as human beings, we always like to know why. And why with emotions is ultimately unsatisfying. It is your brain or your neurons fire in your synapses, absorb a chemical, or don't. And really that's the why of where a feeling comes from, and that's not very helpful. Um, we're looking to control and to short guard and sometimes to ignore emotions. And the truth is, is that our whole purpose of mental health and your physical body, the whole job is to protect you. It's its whole role, is to make sure we make it through. And if we recognize emotions aren't the enemy and we approach it like they've got something to say, it feels very different than feeling like we are out of control and something happening to us and something we should be afraid of, and something like watching commercials back when I used to watch commercials before we streamed stuff. Um there was always if you feel tired or overwhelmed or having bad feelings, then you need to, you know, talk to someone or go take a pill and help it go away. And although there are short cuts from a hey, we can definitely give you a pill, there is no way, short way to go through it. So we always have to go through what we have to go through. And going through the heart makes you better. Makes you better.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

So, you know, as we're talking about emotion, I think one of the things we have right now is a lot of different ways to approach it from a school perspective. Um, so one of the interesting things that recently during um a conference I was hearing about was academic skills, which is such a it's a great opportunity for university students to go and learn and to adapt and get something new. But having a conversation with them, being able to hear, you know, their context and their understanding of everything that we do here is focused specifically on getting the work done. You know, a lot of it is giving them the tools to get the work done, but fully ignoring the emotion that goes along with it.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

Not for long, I imagine.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

I'm sure not for long. Yeah. Um, and I I just find it's it's so interesting because when we have this conversation and you hear and they're like, you know, we really want to stick to this area. And the reason is because we don't feel comfortable talking about emotions with anyone. You know, if we if we get into emotions, I'm worried for my job. I'm worried that something will go wrong and I can't help them.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Specifically, like they at academic skills were focused primarily on being able to help people, specifically just on getting the work done. So giving them the tools, sitting them down, setting up a schedule. But if something came up where it was related to emotion, they're Role was only to direct them onto further mental health services.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

Ironically, the tools that they were giving them are probably ones I would have given for anxiety, anyways.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

Writing a schedule and setting time and doing, you know, we don't have to call a chicken a chicken for it to be a chicken.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

And it is okay for people to stick in the areas that they are most comfortable with. You know, the truth is, is mental health, health, not illness, is something we should talk about more. But we do that in the worst possible way. So when I say mental health, so you may not say the answer I'm waiting for because you're my kid, but if I say mental health to you, Cain, what do you think about?

SPEAKER_00 22:46

Well, I think about, you know, specifically like a state of being, like a sort of not good or bad, but just there. Like it's something I would think of almost like physical health. You know, there is there's times, it ebbs and flows, but it it's sort of this this state. You know, there might be something that's okay. Let me ask a different question then. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

When I say physical health, what do you think of?

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Again, like the same thing, like this sort of physical health. I mean kind of the state of being, you know. Am I medium? Look at you.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

You are you're a philosopher. I did not know that.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Philosopher, sure. I guess I would say, like, if you want something a bit more specific, like maybe it's it's related to, you know, the ability to move and the ability to have that sort of that that movement and that activity and and and the shift around. Like when I look at physical health, I look at it from that perspective. Being able to do the things that I want to be able to do in life would be physical health.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

Physical illness would be what?

SPEAKER_00 23:50

Well, it'd be the the body, the ability to do it.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

The illness? Okay. So for me, physical health, you're right, is talking about healthy habits. Moving, eating, sleeping, um, and physical illness would be like cancer, um, MS, diabetes, um injuries, pain. Injuries, pain, 100%. Absolutely. When we talk about mental health, most of the time people are talking about anxiety, depression, and it's like, no, no, no, no. Those are mental illnesses if they're diagnosed. So yeah, uh, traditional health, I guess, or um mental aspects or mental diagnosis or mental states of being, to use your term, would definitely be anxiety and depression. And when it's clinical, it falls into the illness route. But mental health for me has always been about what we do to maintain health, either physically or emotionally. And the illness part is when we ignore those things and when the impact of it is. So being the same. But I find when you're sitting down in a table and you're talking to people about mental health, they're talking about illness, not health.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Yeah, I I agree. I think it's very important. I think we give it this sort of this pessimistic view with mental health. We take it, and you know, when you talk about physical health, you get this idea of, oh, you know, I I feel strong, I'm moving, I've got whatever's going on, and this is a good thing. But when we talk about mental health, we're we're often talking about deficiencies. And we almost look at it as like this glass half empty, you know, like I I wish I was more, or no one else feels this way. I'm the only one who who's worried about this right now, and that's I'm alone.

SPEAKER_02 25:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Emotions are are a personal experience and expression of emotions and our actions is the interface we have with the world. But we are always looking for people to tell us it's okay that we're feeling a feeling. And I guess we're telling them, right, Kaylin? It's okay to feel a feeling. It's not okay to be mean about it, it's not okay to be disrespectful about it. It's okay for you to see it one way and for me to see it one way, and Kaelin to see it another, and you know, everyone is entitled to how they see a situation. And it isn't a competition. In order for me to feel away, it doesn't mean you have to feel worse.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 26:38

Yeah. Yeah. It is about understanding that your feelings are an intrinsic combination, chemical response, like I said, how you view the world, what you expect to hear from the person, how your parents raised you, the school environment you were part of, the amount of wealth you had, the health you've seen, the history you've had. I mean, like it is very complicated, and that's where it comes from. It's impressions, vibrations, color.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

Yeah. It's complicated, but funny enough, it's also at times simple. Like it's it can be both, you know, like there are definitely times where where everything plays in, but at the same time, sometimes it just takes a little bit of logic and and bringing it in together to be able to look at an emotion and interpret it and feel it. You know, sometimes you are just angry about the one thing, and we try and I find put together a lot of other reasons, you know, there must be something else. Yeah. Like I'm I'm I'm worried about this, but that can't be it. That can't just be it. And sometimes it is.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

Well, I mean, it it is that, and it can be our brain goes to the other times that you've heard it, right? We like to write a backstory. But I do find as soon as people start to write a story as to why they're doing something or why they've said something or why they're not doing something, they're embarrassed by that action and they're looking for a reason to justify it. And as soon as you start justifying an action, you already know you shouldn't have done it. And if we took the time to look in and figure out, okay, you know, when I did it this way, I'm gonna try and do something different. But when we justify, and you know, when you question a person about how they feel or get angry with them, and if they respond really strongly, it's because they're already judging themselves.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

Well, I think if we look at this as like an example of, you know, learning to drive a car or something new, you know, we treat emotions as something that you should just be able to handle. And we we forget that it's also a learning opportunity, and there's not only room to grow, but there is there's so much to it that's important. You know, you're first learning to drive and you're going down the road and you pull out in someone in front of someone and you shouldn't have.

SPEAKER_03 29:13

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

And what do we do? You go, hey, you know, you shouldn't have done that, but it's okay. Next time we'll get back in the car. Yeah, and you just won't do that moving forward. But when we do something with an emotion and it leads to this, we go, oh, I've done this and I can't believe it. Now I'm this person. You know, I'm this person who does this. And it's like, well, we can't change the past, but what we can do is we can use it to guide moving forward.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

Yeah. Patterning and outliners, right? The statistics are another quick analogy is when we're teaching our children how to walk. When they stumble the first time, we don't pick them up, stick them in the crib, and go, that's it, dude. You're never walking again, right? We pick them up, and if you gotta give them a little kiss to encourage them, we encourage them to go. And it's kindness that allows them to grow and to continue to develop.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

And really, kindness with feelings is important. And we are a world lacking kindness right now, I think.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

Mm-hmm. Well, I mean, we spend so much time training some of our other intelligences. Like if we look at IQ, we spend so much time in education teaching students how to be students, yeah. Nothing else. You know, we don't teach them how when those scary emotions come up, what can you do? Yeah and how what what tools can you take and and learn from?

SPEAKER_02 30:35

You know, ironically, that's probably why we use or because we've trained logic and that's how your brain works, and that's how you get success, and that's how you get really great grades.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

Well, yeah, with with grades and everything, it it's so important. You know, I sometimes it's it's not necessarily about what's right. Like when we're going through, it's there is one right answer in a lot of these things. You know, if you're teaching math, it's like two plus two is only ever four in at least early grades of math. I I'm no mathematician. I know we both are not maybe a more of a statistician, I would say.

SPEAKER_02 31:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and recognizing that it isn't first place, second place, third place. And I know we're not doing that as much now, although I do think it's important for people to recognize that being different is great. And um yeah, and it and it's important.

unknown 31:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

Yeah. So um what do you think is the most critical point of emotions? Like if we were to if we're looking for something that can really make the biggest impact in our lives now, what would you recommend?

SPEAKER_02 31:53

So oh gosh, so many things. But if I was recommending one, and if my clients were here, they'd probably all tell you the same thing. And and right, and listen, don't judge, be kind to yourself and be kind to people who are expressing. And when people get louder, right? I think this world has confused strength and volume, and those are two really different things. I think the hardest thing we ever do as human beings is step back and listen to someone or acknowledge or be kind when someone is not being kind. It's way easier to yell at someone who's inappropriate. Way easier. So volume is not strength.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

Well, it's easy to be to just go and be upset in the moment, but it's really hard to to go after someone with kindness, you know, when they've shown you something that probably upset you. And, you know, it's it's made you feel a certain way, whether it's disrespected or you're not feeling comfortable with the conversation that you've had.

SPEAKER_02 33:02

So it's funny because most of the time when we feel judged by other people, we've written this story in our head. And whenever we write a story, we always put the other person as a place of villain, and we are the hero.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

And if anything else, right, there are no heroes and villains in the world. There are good people who do bad things, and there are bad people who do good things. I think that that statement is pretty universal to what happens, so we can't categorize them quite that way. And if you're doing all of this work to the backstory in your brain, you're not listening to what's happening in front of you. We're all going to make mistakes. I definitely have behaved in ways that I'm not proud of. And my goal is not to be perfect, but to recognize that I play a role and I have the ability to change.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

You know, I think if I were to say, I think one of the biggest actionable takeaways is I'm, as you said, you know, we need a little bit more kindness in this world. And one of the ways I I try and get across this point of kindness is would you ever say that to a friend? You know, we we get into these conversations with ourselves in our head, and sometimes just looking at it as imagine this was someone else telling me this, you know, this is my best friend telling me, oh, I'm really upset by this. And it's like, I understand, I see it, but also what about this? And yeah, being able to look at it from this outside and kind perspective when we're being so mean to ourselves, it's it's important.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

Yeah, yeah. And recognizing we are a state of evolving, like mental health and physical health, it's not like you arrive. So let's say you work out, you get your weight to the weight you want to be at, and you feel amazing. It doesn't mean you stop, right? You have to keep going, you have to keep moving, or else you will lose the gains you have. Maintenance is easier than remodeling, but it's still necessary. And it's the same with uh mental stuff.

SPEAKER_00 35:12

Yeah, no, I I completely agree. I I think there's there's lots of ways that you know we could talk about it all day, you know, so many different ways that could help. But I I definitely think, you know, as we've talked about, these are probably some of those, I would say quicker to implement. You know, it just takes a little bit of extra thought and practice with it. Because we we give ourselves so much time to practice other things. Like you don't sit down and write a book first try. You don't sit down and do an essay.

SPEAKER_02 35:45

That'll be crazy. Of course you do.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

Well, maybe I would, or you maybe we're just above the norm. But I like when we look at emotions, we're like, you know, you should be able to do this, you should be able to feel this, and like I should, I should be feeling this way, I should be doing better than I am now.

SPEAKER_02 36:04

According to what? And social media doesn't help with that, and it'll probably be something that we talk about as we move forward. You know, I think that it's important. The first podcast was just to introduce you to the concept of emotion, and the takeaway for me is and and and kindness from you is if that's what I'm hearing.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

Yeah, and I I think that just you know goes to show giving giving lots of opportunity for for growth and and for movement forward. And you know, as we as this podcast evolves and we move forward, I'm I'm very excited to you know to get any sort of feedback and and implementing new things moving forward. You know, it's it's so easy to to just sit down and talk about the things that we were most interested in, but at the same time, it's it's also good to expand, expand our horizons and explore as many opportunities as we can.

SPEAKER_02 37:00

For sure. You know, it's funny we we talked about feelings without even using any of the words for feelings.

SPEAKER_00 37:06

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 37:06

And that is just the basis. So, and the goal is to talk about all kinds of things. So maybe you can say some of the topics we've got upcoming, Kaylin.

SPEAKER_00 37:18

Some of the other topics that we have coming up are looking at processing the world, you know, how how do we take in responses and how do we use those? And then going into talking about empathy and nature versus nurture in that, looking at imposter syndrome and burnout as well as family dynamics and and finding drive when feeling down and out. And, you know, we hope to to hear from you next week when we come back and we we look forward to bringing you the things that yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

You know, um, these topics are just a taste of what it is we want to do. We just want to do a test to see whether or not people would be interested. And we are hopeful to have really great conversations and have people on. Imposter syndrome is something that I deal with a whole bunch, and it isn't as age specific as you would think it would be. It is situational, it is climbing the corporate ladder, it is recognizing that it is okay to not be okay and to be kind and uh messy. So I'm looking forward to all of the conversation.

SPEAKER_00 38:28

Okay, perfect.