Veteran, CRNA, and Hypnotherapist Discusses Stress Management

Matthew has a discussion with Ron Eslinger.  A retired Navy Captain, retired Nurse Anesthetist, and Hypnotherapist.  They discuss how hypnosis can assist people through difficult times such as the crisis we are all experiencing.  Ron describes how people can benefit from hypnosis to manage stress now and any time in the future. 
Ron is an educator and offers many programs to become certified in hypnosis.  He also offers a program to RNs to learn about the practice of sedation for different settings in healthcare.  His links are below.

healthyvisions.net
sedationcertification.com

Be sure to read and download the transcripts to this episode. Click on the tab above.

Check back often for more episodes pertaining to health and wellness and issues concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.

Please send your questions to goingviralpodcast@gmail.com

Website:  goingviral.buzzsprout.com

Thanks for listening and please share this episode.

Transcript

spk_0:   0:05
Hello and welcome to the going viral podcast. I'm Matthew Zinder, a certified registered nurse anaesthetist. I'm in advance practice Nurse that specializes in the practice of anesthesia. Scope of this podcast will explore health and wellness from the broad to the specific. My aim is to educate while offering a unique perspective. Thank you for joining me today and let's get right to the show. Well, here it is. After a month of making promises, I have finally been able to record and upload a talk on stress management. I decided to open up this series of episodes with the topic of hypnosis. I've been a hypnotherapist for 15 years, and I thought it might be interesting to have a conversation with my instructor. He and I have been friends ever since I took the course, and we have collaborated on many things, such as talks and conferences and writings, and I really enjoy having conversations with him on the topic. He is a ah great mentor in my professional career, and I hope you'll enjoy our conversation. His name is Ron Eslinger. He's a retired nurse anaesthetist and also a retired Navy captain. So he's had a 45 year career and health care and hypnosis. Ah, and I, and he'll give you a good intro into his career at the beginning of the talk, I'm also going to do something a little interesting or unique, and that is I am going to upload in a couple days. Today is Tuesday, May 12th. So in a couple of days, Thursday or Friday, I will upload one of my guided relax ation sessions. It's about 15 minutes long, and it's my gift to you. I usually charge for these types of things, but I wanna give something out to the listeners to use for stress management. It is only 15 minutes long, and it is a very nice progressive relaxation experience for anyone who may be feeling the stress of what we're all going through right now. Eso listen to it anytime you want over and over again, and it is a very good use of tools to help you with your stress. So listen to the beginning. The intro will get into directions on when to do it. How to do it, things like that. So I won't promote. It s so if you want to look for it. You can go to going viral dot buzz sprout dot com or apple podcasts or Spotify wherever you usually listen to your podcasts. Uh, I actually would like toa express my appreciation to everyone I know personally who gets a text message with the link to the newest episodes. Every time I upload, I think they're extremely patient with all of the text messages I have been sending out. So I appreciate that very much, but I'm just trying to get this out to as many people as possible. So thank you to all of those who have enjoyed this giving me feedback and have shared it. And as usual, please give any constructive feedback you wish to going viral podcast at gmail dot com And please enjoy this episode. So without further delay, here is Ron Eslinger and our discussion on hypnosis. Okay, Ron. Well, thank you very much for joining me. I really appreciate your time. And as I do with most guests, if you could go ahead and just start with your background and then we can just get into Ah, discussion on the topic.

spk_1:   3:48
Well, background lives on a a nurse, Been a nurse for since 1970. Started off as a pediatric nurse. Went into anesthesia school and of anesthesia school. Uh, but actually, the nurse you school, I went into the arming. She was in the Army two years. Then I rented anesthesia school and after getting out of anesthesia school, where for 11 years in private practice, I joined the Navy. Ah, actually transferred from the Army reserves into the active Navy. I spent a lot of times on Navy ships, were used a lot, did an anesthesia and did hypnosis, some Navy ships for definitely for stress and other things that happened. My time within the Navy went from coast to coast and from ship to ship. I was six ships, including two years on the USNS Mercy as the chief nurse and as the assistant officer in charge of that ship as a reserve ship. And there from that I went to the Norfolk Naval Hospital, where I was the chief nurse and assistant, uh, a new assistant department head, and then from there out of anesthesia as the director of patient services at ah, maybe hospital, Buford, South Carolina and polish. There we shall show the for 18 months I was the, uh, offer in charge of the Branch Medical Clinic at Parris Island. On that was a place where I actually started putting together stress management programs for people two years and working within that process. When I retired, I had started doing hypnosis while in the even before the Navy and in the Navy, I was given such an opportunity while of the ships to record stress sleep. Parker's people who, uh, Paige claustrophobia, trying to wear the gas mask that had to be warned when you were general quarters, people who had anxiety and even suicidal people on the ships. Sure, when I retired, I decided I didn't want to work, not just didn't wanna work. Weekends. Didn't want the stressed have been a certified registered nurse, an acid test. So I opened a hypnosis prices, and from that hypnosis practice, I was a hypnosis trader, which I still do, which I still do courses throughout the year and are our fish now. Ah, one of the most common problems that I see with people now is anxiety. Matter of fact, we put together programs for the emergency medical system people in our county for the Ah, executive. Some of the schools around here exacted some of the big corporations. So for May, moving from anesthesia and from the military into private practice. We've been doing this now since 2000 and four has just been an amazing thing to do and and with the stressful times that we're having right now, doing what you're doing with the podcast and and other things and online training change really been beneficial for May and for the people that I work with, a getting to know you has been an amazing thing. You are a part of the last almost 15 years of what I've been doing with watching you grow as a our trip in your and doing hypnosis, doing stress management, doing anxiety in the talks that you do. Even during this time, I developed a program for ah sedation for a non an decision or assistant that's been going really good. We've had about 9000 people go through that program, and then we have the American Association of Murder, Sedition, nurses and redo annual conferences. I still need a couple of speakers for October. Thanks. If anybody wants to goto msn dot over and put in a happy occasion. That would be good. So that shine it. A very quick 45 years of nursing an anesthesia and hypnosis and entrepreneurship from May.

spk_0:   8:15
Well, thank you, Ron. I'm as you say. We have been very close friends for 15 years. Now. I have you to thank for even my general interest in hypnosis and stress management and a lot of the training. You've always been very generous with all the information that you have had over gained over all the years of your study. So I greatly appreciate that now, backtracking a little bit. You retired from the Navy with the rank of captain.

spk_1:   8:41
Did

spk_0:   8:41
you did so, first of all, thank you for Ah, your service. Very much so. And for those of you who don't know rank. Ah, Captain in the Navy is the equivalent of a full bird colonel in the Army. So Ron did achieve a very high level in the military service backtracking even more than that. Can you tell me a little bit about where you first gained your interest in hypnosis?

spk_1:   9:08
That was in high school. I heard the story in high school. I read a book of shirts for Bridey Murphy, and it was about regression into past lives, which actually doesn't interest me. But the book was something you for a 17 year old read. But in it there was one whole page it just said had a hip Akash, Um, but in I needed a science project for high school. My sister was 14 and they said in the book that that was a great age and they're highly hit Matanza ball so hypnotized my sister and regressed her back to the first grade. She was a freshman in high school. At that time I gave it, and as I bring in a round of hypnosis, I did one thing you shouldn't do read and tell her she was aware and alert and tell her how sleepy sure have relaxed. She would be so relaxed, but I'll show is your brother might do. Did something ah I shouldn't have done. And I just told her that at this particular time that night she would. But how? Like a dog? Ah, abroad, Rather hypnosis, and it was pretty close to that time, so we walk into the living room. She starts howling like a dog 19 fucking does. She collapses in the floor where she was so relaxed I couldn't get out of hypnosis and ended up having to drag your throw in her bed. My dad was already bad. That's the only reason I'm still alive to tell the story. My mom forbade me to ever do hypnosis again. So that's that was how I got started. And then 10 years later, my wife heard the story and asked if I'd hypnotized her and, uh, I did. And within a few weeks of the American Association of Nursing Destin, this journal came out and there was a course in New Orleans on a three day course. But CE created on hypnosis, and I took that introductory course, and it wasn't even a month, and I opened the hypnosis practice. I became so mesmerized by hypnosis, and then I took a Smitty courses like you're finding force In those days, we didn't have online stuff, so I'd go to the library, find books and go to the publisher of the books and find out if there's any ads in the books. And I found a cup of organizations that did ah conferences, and I started going to those conferences from other CR days up in the Boston, Every were doing Ah, hypnosis. Strange. All of my original hypnosis training. We're from three different. She are in Asia. So it's always been medically based on your when I make proportion with neighbor man who center There was a doctor Basho path of his head of the, um, initiation department and the pangs planet. And through some things that happened, I ended up doing hypnosis for pain management. Uh, eight science eight patients every Wednesday for four years shall I got a unique understanding and your training and training to be usually hypnosis for different types of pain management. And from that, the military supported me going to become a trainer. And I've trained a whole lot of military people and trained a whole lot of sea or in Asia and nurses and a just a whole lot of other interested people out there.

spk_0:   12:36
So long history, which is why many people go to your training courses. You're very well known in the field for good reason. Now, you and I have both experienced this more so you because you have that full time practice on and that is the lack of understanding that probably the general public has of hypnosis in general, because there are so many misconceptions. So how do you face that when you're discussing hypnosis with just your average person? That may not completely understand it. So, you know, person that comes up and starts asking about the misconceptions or or even thinking that they are fact, how do you respond to some of those?

spk_1:   13:20
Well, that's a very intense aggression, but I'll make it very quick. I never take. I never start the conversation about hypnosis because I do. The first coming I get back is that I can't be hypnotized. Well, I know that you got to be smart to be able to be hit potash, and that's pretty obvious. But I do have here some examples. A lady in my subdistrict size at church. Five years I've been in that clash, and she comes up to me and she says, Ron, you're not rich. Are you know I would have to be a warlocks to be a rich, you have to be a moment, and I said, Why do you actually question? She says, Well, I want to come to you for weight management by my best friend said that if I did it, you did hypnosis and you must be a rich. So that was one of those townships that people have Now I do a lot of short 15 20 minute talks to ah civic clubs, organizations like the Rotary Club, even church organisations, psychological organizations And basically what I do is start with how we I'll enter into trance hypnosis, meditation throughout the in the show me your brain wave. Ah, if they ask me a specific question, I'll answer that question. Just maybe, they asked it, I do not then start trying to explain to them why it works now. Those things I found the least I say the least, the less chance of may moving them into the wrong direction of them have their support. The fact when I can't be hypnotized mentality, The easiest thing to say is when you go to sleep at night, you go through much cow on the fate of brain wave, and that's our show called the the Hip Knee Gogic State. So be careful of your thinking about when you go to sleep or the other thing is I'm a shot, OK? You may may not believe that you've ever been in hip notions about how many times have you got in your car. You've driven to work, and you have no concept of when you passed this building went over that bridge. You just ended up in the parking lot. You've experienced hypno since it's a part of your everyday life. That's the simplicity of it,

spk_0:   15:43
right? And I always just jump right into misconceptions whether a person brings it up to me or not. Like I always say, there's no such thing as mind control. There's no such thing as as doing something under hypnosis that you would not do under the waking state. You know just different things like that, because immediately when you hear the word hypnosis, the misconceptions tend to flood to a person's mind. As I would suspect from some of the dealings that I've had with people, Um, and I just jumped right into it. If I want a person, especially someone that I'm training and stress management to use, Hypnosis is one of the tools. I do a pretty quick pre talk myself, and it starts with the misconceptions just to address what I would think. You know, a lot of people, I would say, and one of the one of the ones that I got from a conference when I was speaking on stress management was it was a It was a review, and the feedback was I enjoyed that talk. But my religion doesn't allow me to believe in hypnosis. To my answer to that was, Well, that means you don't believe in consciousness because hypnosis isn't really a religion or isn't a religion. It's It is a manipulation of consciousness. And that's what anesthesia providers dio. So you an anesthesia providers are hypnotists. It really is just a term. Unfortunately, that term carries misconception.

spk_1:   17:09
Well, jobless witness, actually in their doctrine, said there people cannot be hypnotized. So that may have been Where'd that come from? Okay on and then others. It just depends on what the past riposte to say in most cases. But what you're saying is like, really, really good, and the way you approach it is always been excellent, but I found interesting is is where those misconceptions comes from, so I may just say where there's simply not all of what you say in the stage hypnosis show or in what you see on TV. There are other things, as you have said, that are involved in the fact that sometimes we just day dream. A daydream is just another state of hypnotic thinking or giving yourself hypnotic suggestions. If the and I think what you're doing it right, if they asked the question, then you've gotta answer it. But again, it's for Did you get that? Considering that misconception and you got that from that one person is this is what my church says, and usually when they say that convinced me that that's not true, sometimes is what they want you to do. And you are very good at that.

spk_0:   18:18
Well, thank you. I appreciate that. It is an interesting subject to discuss with someone who may not completely understand it and but wants to, which is great. That's a nice discussion to have with a person, Um, so let's say a person comes in like let's let's take that scenario and person comes in and wants to create an outcome for themselves but doesn't understand hypnosis at all. How would you describe it to them?

spk_1:   18:48
Well, never even thought about that question. I think what I do is do what we just did. Driving to work. Oh, on O shea. Ah, closure, rash and describe for me your favorite beach or your favorite relaxation place with your eyes closed, temperature sensing right now. And they will usually say, I'm feeling calm. I'm feeling relaxed and say, OK, you allowed your mind. Now become more open to suggestion and I'll hypnosis is is for you to be really to accept a suggestion. If you're really to accept that suggestion, that means that your prefrontal court takes a conscious part of your mind. Is not putting up a firewall that's based on other your memories and out of your fears Now your concerns of the past. So once you've done that, that's how you got to do for this. For hypnosis, to work for you, so you have to do is be willing to accept the suggestion that I give you depth is not important. There is no being unconscious, and then I'll have them to do that limit experience that life you just imagine eating a lemon and where they feel that sensation in their job, they feel the salivation beginning to start, I says, Are you had was a thought and that thought made a my larger official life would change in your body. Any thought you have is going to make a change of any time you have a thought and you're focus for hypnosis. You have to have that focus. Then you're in a a suggestive state, and hypnosis is nothing more than a suggestive state.

spk_0:   20:29
Do you get into kind of the definitions and differences of consciousness, like the difference between conscious and subconscious level Onda? How each one works?

spk_1:   20:38
But I didn't too, is. There's a part of the bank of the Olympic system, and the Olympic system has to do with responding to the thoughts that we have. In other words, there's a program out there come criminal minds, and their trailer says nothing happens till it happens in the imagination. First, that imagination only happens in the conscious mind, and then whatever that thought in the conscious minus goes to parts of the Olympic system and one of those just called the hypothalamus, which tries to keep everything at its baseline and that happened famished always works on what our memories are maintained those memories as if they were reality. That's why PTSD you relive it. You don't just remember what happened. Your body remembers other sensations out of the finished, as you know, a lot better than most because you've restudied into that. And in that process of that thought of if we're gonna have a different outcome that we have to create a different memory. Otherwise the hypothalamus just keep putting out the same chemicals that are based on the memories recreated before when my people my age, when we grew up with whatever you've learned, the age of five, that's who you are and what you will be for the rest of your life. But later on, we re last year. So thank many years after that, Ah Nero plasticity became a thought. And with euro plasticity made If you can change those chemicals from those memories of your past that you put out, then you can change who you are. Hey, Bernstein, how you change. That's why people with claustrophobia can get over, or any phobias that they've learned as a child can let those phobias go. Any of those fears? That's how when working with PTSD, it's learning to see that situation as a memory rather than a lot of the conscious mind to send it to the subconscious as a reality, because all memories are perceptions of reality, which goes to that subconscious part of your mind. Christian actuality is made of the pituitary gland and, ah, the middle of the help of famished the hippocampus for memory.

spk_0:   23:02
You you definitely get into a lot more technicalities when it comes to anatomy and physiology, which is, which is a great thing, especially people understand it. I mean, when I'm speaking with someone about it in general, I just I get I get pretty simple. I talk about the conscious level being a filter, devaluating all incoming information. And when it it takes in the that information, it sends it to the subconscious level, which holds our hard wiring for norms or values that were raised. How we respond to the outside world and what hypnosis does is it sets aside that conscious filter and works to change the hard wiring toe, create an outcome for the person that the person wishes to create for themselves. Because all hypnosis is self hypnosis. Ah, but when I'm standing in front of ah, audience of medical practitioners. I do like to get into the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis, basis of stress, things like that. So Ah, I I do appreciate that angle as well, So

spk_1:   23:59
I really don't go into that much with a science in the same way that you think of a lemon, every thought is going to make some kind of response in your body. And that's really all. I go into it, really. But you're right. When you talkto medical group, they can understand that process. It makes a big difference in they are accepting hypnosis Special. If they're gonna send you a client. Absolutely side that shot space to it.

spk_0:   24:28
Absolutely. And that's the big thing is I mean, there is no shortage of research on hypnosis and how effective it can be. So that's another thing that I push very hard with with anyone that I'm teaching stress management to is I start with, even though some of these things may lend itself to, you know, the metaphysical or new age world, which I'm not putting down. Ah, because some of those people lived the happiest, most content lives. You ever you know, you ever see, But everything that we talk about is backed by empirical western medicine. Research in science on hypnosis, obviously, is a big part of that eso. But tell me in your in the way that you use it as a tool or help people use it as a tool for themselves. How does it directly help with stress? Specifically

spk_1:   25:16
reframing, allowing them to reframe how they see what they see. Most people spend so much time in the past. They want a table, other things that created the stress rather than looking at What can I do to change my reaction to that stress? And that's the whole process of there's a lot of things you can do. One of those things is sleep. You're now both were talking about this book, Uh, why we sleep. But I think the same was river and voters. Thank you. Ah, but once I saw that Ted talk, I went ahead. Then you're fresh out of the Ted talk. You and I had a conversation you told me about the book, our about the book. And I realize now that every Ellman I've got is an old man I got because I didn't sleep enough is your young man. Even as an elderly person, I didn't sleep enough, but you brought up one thing, and I'm going to go to that processes. You talked about talking to doctors about hip, about hypnosis and them not understanding. But they don't understand stress, either. One. The one of the things I got to do, which I really enjoyed, was I was invited to Yale University Medical School, the department neuro science and I did grand rounds on migraine headaches for them. And then I spent the afternoon as they interviewed patients. I would then concert on those patients. Would they? Would they not be benefit from hypnosis? So those are the things that when we get into the stress part, when I was with a A and A the first year that I was going to do training, I'm going to get CE credits. They would not accept stress as a modality. It's only been within the last five years that you actually see advertisements about dealing with your stress in order to deal with your illness, and you and I both know up to 90% of everything that people go to see a physician for is actually stress related. So think about this. If you dealt with the person stress, what would you do? You will also deal with their doctor visits. You're going to save the money. I had a fast not too long ago, and there's a guy there who has shingles, and he's having Ah, my house, You're from it now the hokey is is he knows, and I know that what it's always stress activated. So every family controlled your Segal's. You learn how to control your stress, and he's a CIA, and he could say every time. So they happened with the patient, regardless of how small he could feel that tightness around his rib cage, where his where the sugars would, uh ah, make themselves Now take your audience. It's okay if I keep a journal, then I could tell if my migraines, if my belly aches of whatever I've got. If my coals are stress related, because stress does what when we are stressed, arm your system doesn't work. That's a part of the fight or flight. Everything that's not necessary to get the heck out of dogs shuts down and stress is one of those now about last year or maybe the later part of 18. There was a big article came out about the fact that people in hospitals basically surgery. You know, we went throughout this everybody's getting infections that must be dirty hospitals. But what they found that waas The people were so stressed that they couldn't even find on their own bodies. Bacterias. And so that was one of the things that they started looking at. Now, how do we de stress those patients now? Back in the sixties and seventies and eighties, when I was in the operating room, nobody was stressed to have surgery. You gave him a sleeping pill than that before, and 10 milligrams of morphine in the room before they came down. Most them didn't, even though they came to survey that they had come to surgery. So, working with stress now what you deal with what I deal with the stress? Yes, so many of our self medicating alcohol drugs when now they need to do is to take an abdominal breath, hold it for a moment for a good gas exchange and let that breast stimulate the release from the brain endorphins term overfeed serotonin. Sure, Prozac's in melatonin are ambience, and all of those were called the anti stress hormones. So anybody out there in this podcast just take that breath and relax. The breath would create that. Relax, ation. We're watching TV when you go to sleep.

spk_0:   30:04
You did read the book. I just love that book. I'm glad you read it. You know how much I love that book? The book again. What? We're talking about it while we sleep by Matthew Walker. I actually put in a requests to his representation to see if he would be on this podcast. I know that he's kind of a scientific celebrity, so I wasn't really expecting a response. But I tried because I do think I will put up a at podcast just about that book at some point. And also, I probably would be doing, um, an episode on breathing exercises because they're so incredibly effective. Just as you just mentioned eso all kinds of future topics for for stress management.

spk_1:   30:54
It's only been about 18 months ago that all of the sudden that abdominal breath, that diaphragmatic breath had a whole new name to it. I'm hoping that you're not had something to do with that because you don't started when we were doing all their stuff. But what they calling it now? Box. They

spk_0:   31:13
vagal breath

spk_1:   31:15
had the bagel bit because it stimulates the vagus nerve,

spk_0:   31:18
right? Right. And comes everything down. Absolutely. Ah, and I kind of compare it to box breathing, which is something that the military's teaches the seals and special forces, obviously for good reason for dealing with and and maintaining control over acute stress. And if it works for them, it can work for ah, for us regular people, that's for sure. Eso Yeah, I probably will be discussing that a little bit of a future podcast. Definitely. So when you discuss reframing, that is Ah, very interesting concept because one of the basis of stress management or stress management teachings is that all of our stress on an individual basis is self generated. It is how we perceive the outside world on ah, singular basis based on how we perceive the outside world. How we raised is that kind of the angle that you take when you're talking about reframing.

spk_1:   32:18
Oh, definitely. Ah, you just gotta sit in a different way and start taking a picture and they can be a beautiful picture. But that allows it framed around you kind of lose son of the picture because you're all involved about the frame looks like, and that's what people do with the things that have happened in their past. There's nothing you do about the passion of longer exist, enforcing a memory of it. Our body responds to stiffest. It still does. Bruce Lifting comes that the perception of belief many that I'll believes a reality regardless of where they are are not. And so if you can change how you look at something, they say, there's something that always makes you angry. But if you can look at that person may be in a different way than the idea here is is you change how you look at him. But this happened to me one time because me and my mother lived in get along really well. So my wife said One time, she said from a sign, If you see your the way, son honey, if you see the way you've owner to bay rather the way she is, you may respond to her different and I tried that rather than my thoughts were, Oh my God, here she's coming to visit again. I just stopped. Well, I love my wife. I would not have my wife for that herself. Therefore, she has value, and so that's the way you have to look at a problem and deal with it in that way.

spk_0:   33:44
And I'm speaking of burst lift and I'm a big fan. Biology of belief is a seminal book on, and he discusses exactly what you're saying. If you think differently about something, you actually can create a release of different chemistry in your physiology. And if you do it actively and deliberately, you can release that chemistry and and do things like change the way you're perceiving things. Decrease your stress and thereby making yourself healthier because, as we all know, chronic stress is, uh, very bad for your physiology on a chronic level. So if you can take control over that by changing your perception or reframing, you can actually change the chemistry that is released from from your brain,

spk_1:   34:32
exactly, and whether things with my clients that I've learned to work with two things one is being grateful for what you've got. Being happy right where you are, rather than thinking all the reasons why you're not happy and all the things that other people do to you. But the other was forgiveness and one of the things I learned about forgiveness because I told my wife says, If you forgive me then then you forget She says, I may forgive you, but I will never, ever forget. And I heard there, said Rhoda. Forgiveness isn't forgetting. Forgiveness is taking the pain or the anger out of that memory and that anger and that pain affects us. Physiologically becomes we automatically go into the fight or flight mode. And that

spk_0:   35:17
is what bothers us about stress in the first place is the physical response to stress. And that's one of the things that have knows this can help you with is taking away that physical response doesn't mean you're perceiving the outside world differently doesn't mean that you're not perceiving something in that outside world is stressful, but if you don't have that physical response along with it the high heart rate, the sweating, the difficulty thinking, because you're in fight or flight, if it takes that away or decreases those symptoms, you feel so much better about the situation, even though you may still perceive it as a stressful situation, you can think straight, and you don't have those physiological responses

spk_1:   35:55
if you're looking at coping skills to deal with stress. The hypnosis is just one of those coping skills. A part of that is also eating the right foods, having the right diet exercising, letting your body move. And then this week I'm going to go back to sleep, and I was just getting mental rest. If you worked like you and I do, I'm in a brotherly computer a lot, but about every 20 to 30 minutes, I just get up, move around and drinking plenty of water, keeping your body hydrated, getting out in the sun. There's so many simple little things that you can do and having a face to face conversation with somebody rather than texting other time.

spk_0:   36:40
Very important, especially in this day and age. Of course, with the current situation of social distancing that's affecting people, a swell for the reasons that you just mentioned. It's hard to get out now. It's hard to have face to face interactions, especially, I mean, imagine a person that lives alone or or had their job as their only human contact. It's incredibly difficult for people right now. Have you been seeing any clients to deal with that level of stress? Or I guess not. Seeing from a social distancing Sandpoint. But have you been counseling? People are seeing anybody. For that reason,

spk_1:   37:19
I have not seen clients since we started this cover that chain. Um what? We I have had one class. I do get a ton of emails about what to do, and I've had phone calls, but the ones that I've worked with, they know what to do. They know how the hand that they've been taught these situations. But I'll tell you this where I'm at down here. Unless I watch TV, I'd never know that we were having a problem. I'm going to go home and go to Walmart. They just make sure, but it goes the same direction. Uh, I need you. Don't think I can't get you Can't tell it, but I really need a haircut but can't get

spk_0:   37:59
a look at my hair. I'm like I could mop the floor with thoughts on top of my,

spk_1:   38:04
um right now.

spk_0:   38:05
Geez, it's huge,

spk_1:   38:08
but I got

spk_0:   38:08
to be

spk_1:   38:08
good. I do that. My wife and I have her on social life, so we and we have one of our signs and you sell my grandson who's interning here today. And so I have a social life with the employee share the office. We all have separate officers, but, uh, we're not around people than other than our share of shellfish.

spk_0:   38:30
Ah, and you know, the country has such a collective stress right now and then Imagine again people that were dealing with any type of psychological difficulties before this started. This could only serve to exacerbate it. And for people who may not have the particulars coping mechanisms or stress management techniques that I'm trying to get out there, it could be a very difficult time for many people out there. And that's one of the things that they have been talking about is how difficult it is, whether you've lost your job or even if you're working from home but are now isolated. It is a very, very difficult situation,

spk_1:   39:08
and it goes back to that reframing

spk_0:   39:11
right and is that sort of the angle or the direction you go with people. So let's say you had someone who you had not seen and maybe you were set up to do a sort of kind of the telehealth sort of thing to see a client. And they started with the description that you're that you've outlined eyes, that kind of the direction you would go with them as faras trying to help them through it.

spk_1:   39:37
My first question would be, Is that what you want? And they say, No, you're going to go towards what you're thinking about. We tend towards your thoughts. Well, you could show that side. Then you think of a joke. Think of something that be not well. This is crap. I hate the way this life is. I can't believe this is going on those darn politicians. The only good thing about this is my mother Long can't come over. You know, that's kind of how people look at these things. So sit there and go back to, you know, take a three things every day that you're grateful for. And it why am I grateful for those? So thank you about all the great stuff. You've got this good.

spk_0:   40:18
Yeah, and I I kind of get into, uh, I'm part of a program where I discussed stress management techniques with people that are about to take their their anesthesia boards and obviously helping them through the pressure of that. And this is all pretty cove. It, of course, been doing it for over a year now. And one of the things that I tend to to have to discuss with them is that whole concept of negative self talk that that inner voice that just puts them so you know, they're putting themselves down and or if something bad happens, they jump all over that their inner voice is very negative. And one of the things that I teach them or tell them to do is if a negative thought comes to your mind and this has to be deliberate and active, you have to replace it with two positive thoughts. Just actively do it. Be very aware that these native thoughts air coming into your head and you actively replace it with two positive thoughts. They don't even have to be related something. You're grateful for something that happened good today, something you know in your president where you're safe and everything is good but anything and the more you replace that negative thought with two positive thoughts, you will find that those negative thoughts start to decrease because the replacement becomes automatic, the more you do it and the more you practice it, so it's a little bit difficult to do in the beginning. But the more you make it inactive process, the more automatic it becomes excellent. So that's one of the ways I try to help people reframe or, you know, the negative thought process. But it's easy to jump into hurt. It's easy to not jump into, but it's easy to fall into that negative thought process. When you're home and you're unemployed in your, you know, your your normal way of life has been disrupted and the fear of the unknown can be almost crippling for some. So that's where we come in, that that know the tools and we can teach them. And that's what that's certainly what I'm trying to do is to try to get some people Teoh practice some of these techniques because they're so incredibly effective. Well, Ron, I really appreciate this time that you have that you have given me. This is a topic that, you know, I love to discuss with you pretty much any time that we discuss it. Uh, and I don't want to take up any more of your time, cause I know you're very busy. I will put, uh, there will be links in the show notes for how to get ahold of Ron and his educational programs. I have taken part in many of these educational programs might myself, and I can tell you that they're unbelievably excellent. They're the best in the business. And in fact, anybody that comes up to me at the conferences that I speak at and ask where they can get training Ron is the first person that I mentioned. Now what I usually do Ron Athey at the end of these talks is I give the the guest an opportunity to give a final thought. So is there anything that you would like Teoh say? Or any message that you would like to get out?

spk_1:   43:14
Be happy and change your mind. Change your brain, change your behavior on the you can control your behavior and your only as happy as you make up your mind to be. According Abraham Lincoln,

spk_0:   43:26
very good. All right. Well, thanks very much, Ron. I really appreciate it.

spk_1:   43:31
Thank you.

spk_0:   43:33
So that'll do it for this episode. I hope to see you with the next one. This is Matthew's ender and the going viral podcast. Please stay safe and stay well.