The Brain It On! Podcast
Your brain is the powerhouse behind your life, your relationships, and your ability to overcome challenges. On The Brain It On! Podcast, we explore practical ways to nurture your brain for optimal health and happiness. We delve into strategies to strengthen your connections with loved ones, build resilience, and navigate life's ups and downs with a focus on brain health. This podcast offers actionable tips, emotional regulation techniques, and a trauma-informed approach to help you thrive in all areas of life. Discover how understanding and caring for your brain can transform your relationships and empower you to face any challenge with confidence.
The Brain It On! Podcast
Navigating Challenges: Early Steps of the Healing Process
In this episode, we delve into the profound impact of self-compassion on navigating life's challenges, particularly during times of illness and recovery. We explore the concept of "informed" versus "prepared," highlighting the often significant gap between cognitive understanding and emotional experience.
Through Thomas' experience following the days after his bone marrow transplant, we discuss the importance of setting realistic goals and reality checking expectations. Drawing on Thomas's expertise as a nurse, we explore the complexities of medical experiences, highlighting the difference between "typical" and "normal" outcomes. We also delve into the power of the mind and the science of neuroplasticity, demonstrating how positive thinking and mindfulness can significantly impact our overall well-being.
While information and preparation are essential tools for navigating life's challenges, they cannot fully shield us from the emotional and physical realities of difficult experiences. By understanding the distinction between being informed and being prepared, we can cultivate self-compassion, embrace uncertainty, and ultimately find greater peace and resilience.
Key Takeaways:
- The importance of understanding the gap between being informed and being prepared for challenging life events
- The power of positive thinking in navigating difficult times
- The significance of self-compassion and setting realistic expectations
- The role of neuroplasticity in shaping our experiences and promoting resilience
Additional Resources:
- Check out The Brain it On instagram page for more tips and pictures of our medical journey
- Listen to our previous podcast episodes
Your brain is the powerhouse behind your life. On this podcast, we explore strategies to strengthen your connections, build resilience and navigate life's ups and downs, with a focus on brain health.
Speaker 2:Discover how understanding and caring for your brain can transform your relationships and empower you to face any challenge with confidence.
Speaker 1:Get ready to Brain it On. I'm Lindsay, a university instructor of human development and education.
Speaker 2:And I'm Thomas, a registered nurse.
Speaker 1:And welcome to Brain it On.
Speaker 2:If you've ever felt completely prepared for a major life event, only to be completely blindsided by the reality of it, you're not alone.
Speaker 1:While information is crucial, it doesn't always equate to preparedness. Understanding the difference between being informed and being prepared can significantly impact our experiences, especially during challenging times. Today, we're diving deep into this concept using the lens of a serious health challenge, which was the week following Thomas' bone marrow transplant. Thomas, it's great to have you on the show.
Speaker 2:It is great to be back here.
Speaker 1:And it's great to hear you talking.
Speaker 2:Is it it is? Is it great to hear me talking For quite a few days there?
Speaker 1:Thomas' symptoms got really bad. He had so much discomfort in his mouth. Thomas's symptoms got really bad. He had so much discomfort in his mouth, his throat and face were really swollen, and so he wasn't able to talk very much at least, and so I was completely prepared to record an episode today. Last night actually, that would be about kind of the role of a loved one coming alongside someone with a health challenge. But your neutrophils just shot up and your mouth started to feel better. So you're here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm here, which is awesome. Yeah, so you get full credit for being willing to do that.
Speaker 1:Why, thank you I will take the credit. Should we go ahead and begin with your health highlight?
Speaker 2:Yes, let us talk about the health highlights from this week. All right, so this last week, as far as health highlights go, I had the transplant. Last week, as I'm sure y'all can recall, I had four days of chemotherapy, given at days 1, 3, 6, and 11, after that of methotrexate, which, if you know anything about it's just nasty, nasty stuff. It's just about as nasty as it gets, and with each dose my side effects just kept piling on, getting worse, and I'm the kind of guy who's just like all right, well, let's just do it and jump in. And you know, like I don't, I don't feel like, like I'm going to have side effects. You know, I feel like, uh, you know, mind over matter, I'm just not going to even think about side effects and I probably won't have any. Um, now that you know, it's a great sentiment, but I definitely, definitely had side effects. I started losing, uh, started losing my hair. Finally, I started doing treatment in like July or something like that, and thus far I've been able to maintain a pretty good revenge beard.
Speaker 1:We called it your revenge beard, or we called it your beard of defiance.
Speaker 2:Yes, my beard of defiance.
Speaker 1:Every time you would do a new chemo regimen your doctors would say okay now, thomas, I know you don't lose your hair for induction chemo, but during the second phase you're probably going to lose your hair and I think we said that your beard would grow like an inch thicker.
Speaker 2:It would only make it more powerful.
Speaker 1:And more angry.
Speaker 2:More angry.
Speaker 1:So actually at the start of this transplant process you had radiation you had your initial chemo and it was like it was a pretty full beard. If you go on our Instagram.
Speaker 2:It was, yeah, it was getting pretty cast away out there on my face.
Speaker 1:But then it did hit you. You know after. I can't remember what day it was, but it actually fell on Halloween.
Speaker 2:Oh Halloween.
Speaker 1:And you shaved your head.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's so funny. I didn't realize that it was exactly on Halloween that I finally admitted that, okay. Well, my hair is coming out in chunks and I'm just going to shave it all off.
Speaker 1:We're going to go for it, yeah.
Speaker 2:But it was like, hey, what a better day than Halloween, because we had outfits come in the mail for our costumes to wear at the hospital.
Speaker 1:And we just told people that you shaved your head to go at the Halloween costume. Yeah, it was all you were just really committed.
Speaker 2:Very committed. I'm a committed actor.
Speaker 1:Acting, acting. So if you want to see a picture of our costumes, you can go on our Instagram. It's the Branded.
Speaker 2:On.
Speaker 1:Podcast and we'll talk more about our costumes and kind of the silly things of life. That will be a future episode, but we were warehouse workers from the office.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah and so yeah. So all my hair coming out. Mucositis was getting worse, which led to an inability for me to eat or drink for you know, days following that regimen and I had to go do IV nutrition.
Speaker 1:Even drinking water became a concern, because your throat was really swollen. So it was hard to swallow Drinking water. You would kind of choke on it, and so they did thickening we had to thicken it. Yeah, Water thickener, which is really not pleasant, right? Was it too bad?
Speaker 2:No, it's not as bad as you would think it is. I remember experimenting with it back in CNA school a long time ago, putting it in various things. I remember working at St Charles Back then. It was a powder. We'd put it in patients' Coca-Colas and stuff. It would turn this interesting gelatinous syrupy drink. I don't know. People still dug it though, so like, all right, good on you, buddy now you're on the receiving end of it now.
Speaker 1:Now I'm on the receiving end it was a life sin, life saver, god's own life saver.
Speaker 2:There, two sentences in one, so using that for yeah Gatorade and to take pills. I tried to take all my pills ground up inside of yeah some Gatorade with a big giant Hydroflask straw. We had to get creative there for a few days and taking medications which was already unpleasant became that much more so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, last week we also talked about the concept of pain and discomfort. That was our podcast episode.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And so it's actually kind of ironic, because here we are saying it's really important to shift to using the word discomfort, and then now I'm saying you want the pain pump, thomas, here's the button. You want to press the pain button?
Speaker 2:I'm in so much pain.
Speaker 1:Here we are using. The pain is unreal. We did try to to say discomfort, I tried to whenever I could but, um, I think people refer to this as the pain pump, which actually called a pca. What does that stand for?
Speaker 1:again, patients um control analgesia device so it's like a type of pain management that can let patients decide when they'll get a dose of pain medication, and a lot of times it's easier. It's a better choice for folks than having to call the nurse every time you need it. It just puts you more in control because you were experiencing so much discomfort. It's something that they switched you to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and not everyone's around when, all of a sudden, you're in a ton of pain and so they just have this little button attached to your mechanics and you just, every time you feel like you need a pain dose, and it's all metered out so you can only hit it a certain amount of times per you know hour or whatnot.
Speaker 2:so it was cool to get to kind of experience that again the nurse and the nerd in me. I've never actually had to use one of those because I work in an outpatient surgery setting um and so sometimes we'll send people home with little pain pumps like that. But I've never had the pleasure myself of having one of those attached to me and being able to um use that in my care plan. So it opened a world of understanding to me. It was just a new and interesting experience.
Speaker 1:In pain pump. I was thinking let's call it the discomfort pump, but it really doesn't have a ring to it. That's hard to say. The discomfort pump, the discomfort pump.
Speaker 2:It doesn't roll off the tongue very well, it sounds kind of sus, I don't know. Someone would ask me about a discomfort pump. I'm not sure what that would Pain pump.
Speaker 1:I think is like oh, okay, yeah, it makes more sense.
Speaker 2:The general public can probably guess what that is.
Speaker 1:In general, we tried to say discomfort as we could, but the final celebration was day 11. That's when you were supposed to receive your last dose of chemo, the methotrexate.
Speaker 1:And really, this chemotherapy after transplant is important because it makes sure that your immune system and the donor's immune system don't clash. So it's an important last step to have that last day. Some folks who have, you know, such severe symptoms aren't able to do the last dose, or not to at least the a hundred percent, because maybe their bodies can't handle it anymore. Thomas was getting close to that point because of the fact that he wasn't able to eat and drinking was very hard, but he ended up doing 100% of his final dose, which is awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just kind of did it Well, and you hung out with me. You hung out in bed with me and held my hand and we watched, I think, the Office.
Speaker 2:That's been our go-to show in the hospital we were watching the extended versions of the Office and I think actually we both slept through a good portion of that chemo. So we were both kind of tired and when I woke up it was like, oh, you're done. And I woke you up and you were right next to me. When I woke up it was like, oh, you're done. And I woke you up and you were right next to me and you're like, yeah, cool, let's go about our day. So that was yeah.
Speaker 1:You nailed it.
Speaker 2:I appreciate you.
Speaker 1:Thank you. It's an honor to be by you when you go through that.
Speaker 1:So that's the health highlight and we're going to kind of maybe expand upon certain things and leave it in to the rest of our show today. But we're starting off by talking about the illusion of preparedness. So with Thomas, he underwent this bone marrow transplant, a procedure that on paper it seems straightforward. You know, we had information on the risks, we knew about the potential side effects, the recovery timeline, the variety of risks and complications, and we even signed the consent forms. So we felt like we understood the process. But then, when reality hit, it was a different story. When I'm looking across the room and I'm seeing you and you can hardly even drink water and the nurse is saying let's go get some thickener because you choked on a pill, and now the doctors are coming in and saying you know, we're really worried about you know, maybe pneumonia or some kind of issue if he coughs again or chokes. When the reality is there in front of you and when it hits, it's a different story, I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it definitely hits different. I mean you can, even as a caregiver, like professionally, you can take care of, you know patients as a career and a job and you know you get a you know, real front seat to people's lives and everything their whole family dynamic is going through and you know the hurt and pain that they're going through as well, because as a nurse you don't just have the one patient you have. However many of the family members are there, that's how many patients you have too. So it's not just that patient, you have an entire family that you're there to bring comfort to and to bring love to.
Speaker 1:Our nurses were amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, our nurses are always amazing Gosh, and it does make me proud that I joined a workforce like nurses and healthcare. I'm just like, wow, you guys really are the freaking best of the best. It makes me want to step it up.
Speaker 1:Speaking of nurses, this information we're providing to you, a lot of it has come from talking with different nurses and them sharing their insights. I said, hey, what is something that comes to mind for you as a piece of knowledge or advice for someone going through this really hard week post-transplant? And so this first point here about the illusion of preparedness came from one of our awesome nurses, and I think what they talked about was there's this gap between knowledge and experience. So there's quite a significant gap between cognitive understanding and the emotional and physical experience of something happening. So you can know what will happen, but you can't truly know how it will feel. So we have these two concepts. There's the concept of being informed, having that knowledge or information about a certain subject, and then there's being prepared, being ready for a particular situation or occasion, and so I think sometimes, when we think that we're informed, it can create a false sense of preparedness, at least for us, and we heard this from our nurses, I can tell you.
Speaker 2:Well, sorry, this just popped into my head because you're talking on these terms. It just made me think of like a zombie apocalypse or something, because so many shows and so many like nuclear, you know, holocaust shows and stuff that are just like you know, in theory, I, you know, think I would know how to survive an event like this, like X, y or Z, whatever that looks like, but the reality of it is that when something like that hit, there are so many variables that are spinning out of control, unforeseen, that like there's no way that any knowledge you held previous is going to necessarily hold any weight, you know. And so I think, yeah, being informed and being prepared are just totally different worlds. I didn't mean to cut you off, go ahead.
Speaker 1:No, that's helpful to know. I think it's good to normalize that, because what we learned and heard from nurses is that a lot of folks are kind of feeling disoriented, like wow, this is really hard. And I shouldn't be surprised that it's hard. I mean, I signed a consent form. Consent forms are essential. You know, we wrote my name saying I agreed and I knew this would happen. But I think they can create a false sense of control because they focus on the potential risks but we aren't necessarily prepared for the emotional roller coaster. So I think when you acknowledge that and you realize you know what, yeah, this is hard, I knew it would be, and now I'm feeling that in my bones and just knowing that it's okay to feel both and I think that's really helpful. Hearing nurses share and reiterate that sentiment was helpful for us.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, and then with the brain, nerd science, all of that, it's your prefrontal cortex that's going through and signing all these consents and things and saying, okay, totally fine, you can do this, that and the other thing to me, and you know, this is what's going to happen and this is what we expect, and you know, yada, yada, um, but once, once you're in the midst of it, it's your prefrontal cortex, uh, paired with your limbic system, that are going to have to start navigating how to carry that burden together and how to weave that narrative together because you knew it was going to be like this, or you thought you knew it was going to feel like this.
Speaker 1:And now you're feeling it at a somatic level, at an emotional level. Okay, this is what it feels like to see my husband go on IV nutrition. This is what it feels like to have the pain pump rolled in and to see that discomfort in your face and it's really. I think, just letting yourself know it's okay to not necessarily be emotionally prepared and that that's typical is really helpful. Which brings us to our second point, which is the power of typical. So I think one of the most powerful insights that we've gained is the difference between normal and typical.
Speaker 1:And while normal implies kind of a one-size-fits-all standard, the word typical acknowledges really the wide range of human experiences. And in my classes that I teach at Oregon State Cascades, we talk about typical versus normal when we're describing early childhood and a child's development. And it's really important to use that word typical because a family member does not want to hear that their child's not normal. That is not a good feeling, that's triggering. But if you say that maybe the development of how this certain skill is progressing isn't typical and maybe it's taking a different amount of time for something to develop, that's a lot more settling to hear that. So when people say you know what this is what it typically looks like. Typically, by day 12, people after a bone marrow transplant are able to get their counts up. They're able to maybe return to more solid foods. That's the typical expectation of what happens, but it doesn't happen that way for everyone and right on cue. That's actually the sound of Al. Al is our IV pole.
Speaker 2:Al is our resident IV pole.
Speaker 1:Slash producer. He's always in the back. That is the low battery 30 minute plug-in alarm. Nice Thanks Al, Always in the background.
Speaker 2:He never takes any credit either. He doesn't, such a humble fellow Very humble.
Speaker 1:So Al is a typical part of the process having something. You know IV pulls are for everyone, but having that pain control aspect is typical. Another piece that we learned in our nurse our fabulous nurse today, who's a total rock star, has the coolest socks in the whole world kind of brought up this concept of the but not me phenomenon. So it's common to think you know, I'm different, this won't happen to me when you're hearing all the things that could go wrong with a bone marrow transplant. But the reality is is that most people experience similar challenges, albeit in different ways. An example of that would be when they said okay, thomas, you're going to lose your hair this time and we're like you haven't met the beard of defiance. And then it happened on Halloween and I think you look great, by the way.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, I am more hydrodynamic and aerodynamic and all the dynamics.
Speaker 1:That's one of the first things you said when they told you the very first appointment you'll you will lose your hair and you're like, that's fine and I'm like oh, you're like it will make me faster and more aerodynamic. That was a good, that was a good line that came up for you very quickly yeah.
Speaker 1:Right from the get go. So I think it's a very common experience for people to think that they'll be an exception to the rule. But it's really helpful to understand and accept that sometimes unexpected challenges arise even with the best preparation. I know they said that doing mouth rinses prior to transplant and during and afterward could really help with mucositis. It could help prevent it. But again, we were told most people get it to a severe extent but we were doing those mouth rinses so often.
Speaker 2:I was like please, I've been doing mouth rinses for like 12 days yeah you don't understand how much I've been rinsing.
Speaker 1:So I think, just normalizing that, it's okay. If you find yourself thinking and being surprised like I thought I was going to be an exception but not me that's okay, because a lot of folks experience that it's very typical to go through something like that. I think it's also important to normalize diverse experiences so kind of by understanding that our experiences are part of a broader spectrum, we can alleviate feelings of isolation and shame. So really understanding that you know it's huge. Right. We have different perspectives. We are going through this, this process, in different ways. We see some folks who are, you know, walking laps around the hallway all the time and we cheer them on and it's amazing. And different folks are here with different kinds of treatments.
Speaker 1:Thomas has an allogenic stem cell transplant, which means it's cells from a donor's body, not his own. Other folks have cells that are their own that they send a little cell bootcamp and put them back on their body, which is amazing. So each of these different treatments have different preparation protocols and affect your body differently. So I think, viewing people as compadres and cheering them along and knowing we're all on our own journey, I think that's really important. The next piece that we want to highlight is the importance of reality checking your expectations, and Thomas had something that we learned later, which was healing hibernation. So what is healing hibernation? Thomas, one of our nurses, coined this term, and I really like it.
Speaker 2:It's my favorite thing ever.
Speaker 1:I'm hibernating, I'm healing it's health-ordained napping. Shame-free napping.
Speaker 2:Shame-free napping yes exactly. Healing. Hibernation was something I think one of the RNs used as a concept to explain that your body really, really needs rest after everything has been through.
Speaker 1:I think that it was powerful to hear her say that this healing hibernation was a thing, because prior to this day, it was a day where you just slept the entire day.
Speaker 1:You just slept like the entire day and prior to this day, our doctor had said how important it was to move your body. Motion is lotion and get up and move. So we would go down to the family little room at the end of the hall and if you on our Instagram, if you check it out, we actually have a picture of Thomas on a spin bike and he's holding an MSS barf bag. Because that's how committed he was. He was spinning and feeling sick, but still moving. And so here's Thomas every day getting out, moving, pushing through nausea, pushing through even vomiting at one point. And then here's the next day where he's just lying in bed all day and I'm coming alongside and saying hey Thomas, you want to wake up.
Speaker 2:He's dying.
Speaker 1:Thomas, hey, let's go on a little walk and you're just like I just want to sleep. And it was really helpful when the nurse said hey, lindsay, this is part of the healing process and right now, a realistic expectation is to allow his body to heal and rest. This is what his body needs and so I think, understanding, okay, what are my expectations for this period of life, whether you're getting cancer treatment or you're starting a new job or you have some challenges going on in a relationship what are your expectations for where you could be at or what's typical for folks to be at in your position? I think that can be really helpful. Another piece, too, is the power of self-compassion, so setting realistic goals and then avoiding self-judgment. So, even if the doctor says, okay, thomas, healing hibernation is officially over, it's time to get back on the bike.
Speaker 2:Get up out of bed, lazy butt. If they say that, Just laying in bed and breakfast, in other words. No one's ever said that to me. They have not. They have not no-transcript.
Speaker 1:That was something I asked the care team because you know I said our nurse yesterday taught us really cool healing hibernation term. What should be some, some goals for him today. And one of the providers said you know, if Thomas could get up from the bed and then go sit on the chair and the other side of the room and then maybe get up and go back to bed and be propped up sitting up on the bed, that is going to be a really realistic and helpful goal for him today. Having that reality checked expectation was huge, because then you're able to say, wow, I'm actually doing, I'm killing it today, I'm doing great. I walked to the chair instead of feeling bad.
Speaker 2:I went to the chair twice.
Speaker 1:Right, that was a celebration, so you know. And another piece is just to reiterate the power of words and how they can impact both our mental and our physical wellbeing. We have an episode that we did two episodes ago, I believe, about self-compassion and the power of language, so we'll put that link in the show notes if you haven't listened to it. But now I think I want to add a little bit of brain science. Nerd out for a moment before we end. Is there a brain science sound? We haven't come up with one yet. There we go.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's where it is Air horns for brain science.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, that's where it is until Air horns for brain science, yeah, nice.
Speaker 2:Because that's what's kind of show this is.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:We're pumped on brains.
Speaker 1:Bring it on, bring on the brains, all right. So some kind of cool things about the brain. You've probably heard of neuroplasticity, which is the brain's ability to change and adapt. So it's kind of like our brains are these living, breathing organisms that are consistently or constantly rewiring themselves based on our experiences. So positive self-talk, for instance, can actually stimulate the growth of new neural connections. We can either tell ourselves I can do this, or I'm strong and resilient, I'm going to walk to the chair, I'm going to sleep. My body's healing itself. When we say this, we're not just motivating ourselves, we're actually physically changing our brains. You've probably heard of this, one of Thomas's favorite sentences.
Speaker 2:Neurons that fire together, wire together.
Speaker 1:Ah yeah. So the next time you find yourself feeling overwhelmed or discouraged, remember the power of your mind and by choosing positive thoughts and language you are literally rewiring your brain for greater well-being and greater resilience. So kind of explaining that concept of neurons that fire together, wire together, is a fundamental principle for neuroplasticity. So when neurons, your brain cells, when those are firing simultaneously, they strengthen their connection and you can kind of think of it like a neural pathway. The more you use a particular pathway, the stronger it becomes. If you're walking in the woods and you're walking through trees and there's never been a path there before but you're using your machete and you're chopping them down, Bushwhacking it.
Speaker 1:Bushwhacking it right. The first time it's hard, but the more you do it, then this path begins to form and it becomes easier. And that's what happens in our brains with these neural pathways. So that's why practicing a new skill like playing an instrument, learning a new language it can be really effective. The more you practice, the stronger that neural connection becomes and it can make it easier and more automatic over time. And this is really relevant to our discussion of mindset and self-talk as it pertains to healing and using words that promote healing. When we consistently think positive thoughts, we're strengthening those neural pathways that are associated with positive emotions and behaviors, and this can really help us develop a more optimistic outlook, reduce stress, improve our overall wellbeing and promote healing.
Speaker 2:Amen.
Speaker 1:The power of the brain. Power of the brain. I think a really important thing that our awesome nurse said today is the power of both. And so it's not hey, you know what. Don't focus on the part about not eating and the pain. Just tell yourself it's great, I'm going to do awesome. Right, it's the both and it's hey. I am experiencing a lot of discomfort. Today sucks because I'm sick and I can't eat and I have this pain in my body, discomfort my body, and I'm also going to choose to tell myself that my body is healing or to tell myself that my what do you say? My earth suit is malfunctioning. I really like the way you word that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think when I first got cancer, I tried to frame it in a way that kind of befriended my body. Some people I think are no, screw my body, it's trying to kill me. My body's turned against me. I've been betrayed, but I think, with everything we've learned, it was like it's probably better to like befriend my body and be like hey, you know what, buddy, it's all right, I know there's a malfunction in there. Thank you for telling me, with all these little side effects and things that you're pointing out, all these little flares you're shooting up. We're getting you help, we're getting you treatment. You know, just hold on and you know, and we're going to fix this earth suit of ours and then we're going to be back in business. But you got this.
Speaker 1:So powerful, so it's like this sucks and my body, hey body, I hear you, hey, buddy, I hear you talking to me.
Speaker 2:Thanks for telling me that my— Cancer sucks, and I love my body.
Speaker 1:And I love it at the same time. Yeah, I love that and I love it at the same time. Yeah, I love that, so that both and can be helpful really with all of these things. So here's a recap of the episode.
Speaker 1:Number one the illusion of preparedness. While information is crucial, it doesn't always equate to preparedness. So being informed about a situation doesn't necessarily mean that we're emotionally or physically prepared for it. So if you find yourself really grappling with a situation that you knew about going into it, that's okay. Allow yourself to feel the yuckiness, embrace the suck.
Speaker 1:Number two, the power of typical. Understand that experiences vary and there's not a one-size-fits-all approach to healing or recovery, and this can help alleviate feelings of isolation and shame. Next, reality checking expectations. Set realistic expectation for ourselves, especially during challenging times. This is essential for maintaining mental and emotional well-being. Next, the role of language. The words we use can shape our experiences. Positive self-talk and mindful language can have just a significant impact on our mindset and our overall well-being. And finally, harness the power of your brain. Our brains are amazing. They're incredibly adaptable, and when we practice this positive thinking and mindfulness, when we understand that we can reality check our expectations, we can cheer on our bodies. Let them know that we hear them, we're there for them. We are rewiring our neural pathways to promote resilience, optimism and happiness.
Speaker 2:That's good stuff.
Speaker 1:So thank you so much for joining us. We are wrapping it up now because Thomas has his evening medications.
Speaker 2:Do I have a chime for that?
Speaker 1:We don't have a medication chime, that's just the crickets.
Speaker 2:Well, that's how I feel about evening medication. That's how you feel about him Nice. That's all I get. Okay, just the crickets.
Speaker 1:I like it so, and actually you're going to be taking those medications with straight water. No thickening for you today, sir. No thickening today Hold the thickening.
Speaker 2:Give me that straight thin water.
Speaker 1:I love it. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Brained On Podcast. Thanks for taking time out of your day and walking with us as we talk about ways to bring on life's challenges while celebrating and loving our brains through their process. We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 2:Take care.
