In this episode, we're in the final part of our five-part series on equanimity. In this series, we've worked through this process of an emotional storm and how we can use equanimity to get us through with less suffering. In this episode, we're walking out of our house to assess what may be some damage after the storm. This phase of the storm can be hard to face, but it can actually be the easiest phase to tap into equanimity. As we assess with self-compassion, we can tune into our equanimity to fix what may need to be fixed and to also make a future storm less difficult. Listen in for some key strategies to make this process less painful and more effective for taming future storms.

Key Takeaways:

• It's not uncommon to ignore the damage after an emotional storm. Sometimes the wreckage feels too much to deal with. However, if we don't assess and clean up, then we're sure to have another one like it in the future.
• Space to assess the damage and the context is essential- we need to give ourselves that space. We can then move through the storm in our minds, trying to notice where we could have made a shift to deter some of the damage.
• This process can be really helpful to do with a mental health practitioner and/or others who you trust.
• One key strategy to handling the larger emotional storms is to practice with the little daily windstorms that come your way. For example, try tackling road rage or situations where you feel mildly overwhelmed (like in a social situation).

Links and Sources Mentioned:

• Joy Lab Program (step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life)
• Joy Lab Podcast #12 (Five Pathways to Inner Calm) This episode is a broad overview of what we'll be talking about over the next 5 episodes. It's a really helpful summary!
• Joy Lab Podcast #26 (Self-Compassion: Don't Believe Everything You Think [about yourself])
• Joy Lab Podcast #27 (Self-Compassion: Easing Up On Yourself)
• Joy Lab Podcast #28 (Self-Compassion: Remembering You're Not Alone)
• Joy Lab Podcast #29 (Backdraft: When Being Good to Yourself Feels Bad)
• Joy Lab Podcast #34 (Meditation with Music: Heart-Opening Meditation). This is a great body awareness practice.
• Joy Lab Podcast #48 (Equanimity: A Tool for Emotional Reactivity & the Power of Grounding-Part 1)
• Joy Lab Podcast #49 (Equanimity: When an Emotional Storm Hits & Thoughts Start Spiraling-Part 2)
• Joy Lab Podcast #50 (Equanimity: Seeing our Storylines and Changing Course- Part 3)
• Joy Lab Podcast #51 (Equanimity: Emotional Reactivity and Damage Control- Part 4)
• Bianca Bowers website

Full transcript available at: https://www.naturalmentalhealth.com/podcasts/joy-lab-podcast/episodes/2147888674

In this episode, we're in the fourth part of our five-part series on equanimity. This episode is quite a bit different than the last two where we worked with the internal dynamics of an emotional storm and how equanimity can come in to tame the winds. Now, we'll look at how this process can expand outside ourselves. We're probably all familiar with this phase as well: we say or do things out of surges of emotions that took us by surprise, negative thoughts that hung on, and story lines we told ourselves. These kind of outbursts are inevitable given all the energy we've brewed up in the early phases of the storm and, well, it just kind of needs to go somewhere. Often, we lash out. Other times, we replay the scenario again [and again] in our heads, winning an imaginary battle that keeps us reactivating our stress response. Whatever the case, we'll talk about strategies to bring back equanimity to not only dissipate the storm, but make situations like this far less common.

Key Takeaways:

• If we haven't prevented or buffered an emotional storm by this point, then we are likely *full* with energy. When that occurs, it's hard to hold back from lashing out.
• If we don't lash out and don't work to dissipate the storm, we may find that we continue to replay the event over and over again in our minds. This replaying continues to re-activate our stress and keeps us stuck in the event.
• Anger is not a bad emotion; it may be just the emotion for the situation. However, we have to create a bit of space between the activation and sensations and our response so we can tune into our wisdom and choose our response in a way that is most healthy and effective.
• Grounding practices are super effective at helping us create space between activation and response.
• Equanimity amidst a storm takes a lot of skill because an emotional storm happens so fast. We need to practice!
• Next episode we'll look at how to learn from these storms, even if we got totally swept away, so that we can maintain more equanimity when the next one hits.

Links and Sources Mentioned:

• Joy Lab Program (step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life)
• Joy Lab Podcast #48 (Equanimity: A Tool for Emotional Reactivity & the Power of Grounding-Part 1)
• Joy Lab Podcast #49 (Equanimity: When an Emotional Storm Hits & Thoughts Start Spiraling-Part 2)
• Joy Lab Podcast #50 (Equanimity: Seeing our Storylines and Changing Course- Part 3)
• Joy Lab Podcast #12 (Five Pathways to Inner Calm) This episode is a broad overview of what we'll be talking about over the next 5 episodes. It's a really helpful summary!
• Joy Lab Podcast #34 (Meditation with Music: Heart-Opening Meditation). This is a good body awareness practice
• Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PDF, we'll link a video soon)
• Natural outdoor environment, neighbourhood social cohesion and mental health: Using multilevel structural equation modelling, streetscape and remote-sensing metrics (2020; green/blue spaces and mental health analyses)
• Understanding Emotions: Origins and Roles of the Amygdala (2021)
• Part 1—You can run but you can't hide: Intrusive thoughts on six continents (2014)
• Part 2. They scare because we care: The relationship between obsessive intrusive thoughts and appraisals and control strategies across 15 cities (2014)
• How changing your story can change your life (Lori Gottlieb Ted Talk)
• On knowing what you are not supposed to know and feeling what you are not supposed to feel. (1979; classic article)
• Anger in psychological disorders: Prevalence, presentation, etiology and prognostic implications (2016)
• Warm Lines Directory
• James Baldwin (quote was from Notes of a Native Son- check out this biography page from PBS)

Full transcript available at: https://www.naturalmentalhealth.com/podcasts/joy-lab-podcast/episodes/2147888317

In this episode, we're in the third part of our five-part series on equanimity. In last episode, we faced the beginning of an emotional storm. Now, the storm is whipping up more, enough to incite that common hurricane called "why me"… also known as getting caught up in our story line. The problem here is that the stories we tell ourselves are rarely helpful or accurate. Or as therapist Lori Gottlieb puts it succinctly: "If there's anything I've learned as a therapist, it's that we are all unreliable narrators of our own lives." Thankfully, equanimity can still be our life boat at this phase of a storm. We'll talk about the strategies to use to quiet those stories and reclaim equanimity.

Key Takeaways:

• We often assume that our circumstances craft the stories we tell ourselves... but what is more often true is that the way we narrate our daily lives is what actually writes and cements our stories.
• The stories we tell ourselves are really powerful and can actually serve as obstacles for us. They are not permanent though, we just keep rehearsing them. We can write a different story.
• Mindfulness is tough when we're in the middle of an emotional storm and our story has already kicked in. We need to work with our mind, to practice awareness strategies and mindfulness before we launch into a story so that we can unleash its grip.
• We need to take ownership of these stories with our wise mind, otherwise our unconscious, fearful thoughts will drive the story.

Links and Sources Mentioned:

• Joy Lab Program (step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life)
• Joy Lab Podcast #48
• Joy Lab Podcast #12 (Five Pathways to Inner Calm) This episode is a broad overview of what we'll be talking about over the next 5 episodes. It's a really helpful summary!
• Lori Gottlieb's website: https://lorigottlieb.com/
• Joy Lab Podcast #34 (Meditation with Music: Heart-Opening Meditation). This is a good body awareness practice
• Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PDF, we'll link a video soon)
• Natural outdoor environment, neighbourhood social cohesion and mental health: Using multilevel structural equation modelling, streetscape and remote-sensing metrics (2020; green/blue spaces and mental health analyses)
• Understanding Emotions: Origins and Roles of the Amygdala (2021)
• Part 1—You can run but you can't hide: Intrusive thoughts on six continents (2014)
• Part 2. They scare because we care: The relationship between obsessive intrusive thoughts and appraisals and control strategies across 15 cities (2014)
• How changing your story can change your life (Lori Gottlieb Ted Talk)
• On knowing what you are not supposed to know and feeling what you are not supposed to feel. (1979; classic article)
• Anger in psychological disorders: Prevalence, presentation, etiology and prognostic implications (2016)
• Warm Lines Directory

Full transcript available at: https://www.naturalmentalhealth.com/podcasts/joy-lab-podcast/episodes/2147888303

In this episode, we're in the second part of our five-part series on equanimity. That may sound like a lot of parts... but we're working on how to navigate through emotional storms with equanimity (and that takes some parts). We're really digging into that phase of an emotional storm when the physical response fires up and our thoughts kick in. Most of the time, our thoughts are slower than our physical response, leaving us with a stressful surge of sensations that can add fuel to what are often negative, unconscious thoughts. Equanimity is a powerful tool to use to help us stay present with the physical sensations and avoid latching on to negative and intrusive thoughts that can keep us spiraling.

Key Takeaways:

• Theories of emotion like embodied cognition and somatic marker suggest that our physical sensations often move faster than our conscious awareness of what's actually happening... AKA we "feel" things before we understand them. This means we need to create more space between sensation and response so our wiser self can assess the situation. That's where equanimity can come in!
• You can't fight your physiology anymore (we're channeling REO Speedwagon for this). Suppressing our emotions, thoughts, or sensations is rarely helpful... but we also don't have to take the hook and let these things surge us into an emotional storm. As we practice equanimity, we get better at this.
• One key strategy is to turn to the feeling and sensations. We can be present to our emotional vulnerability. Notice these feelings with self-compassion. With that awareness, we can catch these signs far earlier, allowing them to dissipate. We do this practice a lot in the Joy Lab program.
• If we miss these early signals, unconscious thoughts often surge in. This is when we tend to escalate the issue.
• Unconscious thoughts are usually negative. They're often called "negative intrusive thoughts."
• They are so common and you can't stop them from rising up... and that's not really the problem. The problem comes when we latch onto them. With equanimity, we can reduce the tendency to latch on, and in the future, possibly reduce their power when they arise.
• Three layers of brain outlined by Dr. Emmons. Understanding these layers and how they interact can help us understand how our thoughts can accelerate or dampen an emotional storm.

Links and Sources Mentioned:

• Joy Lab Program (step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life)
• Joy Lab Podcast #48
• Joy Lab Podcast #12 (Five Pathways to Inner Calm) This episode is a broad overview of what we'll be talking about over the next 5 episodes. It's a really helpful summary!
• Joy Lab Podcast #34 (Meditation with Music: Heart-Opening Meditation). This is a good body awareness practice
• Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PDF, we'll link a video soon)
• Natural outdoor environment, neighbourhood social cohesion and mental health: Using multilevel structural equation modelling, streetscape and remote-sensing metrics (2020; green/blue spaces and mental health analyses)
• Understanding Emotions: Origins and Roles of the Amygdala (2021)
• Part 1—You can run but you can't hide: Intrusive thoughts on six continents (2014)
• Part 2. They scare because we care: The relationship between obsessive intrusive thoughts and appraisals and control strategies across 15 cities (2014)
• How changing your story can change your life (Lori Gottlieb Ted Talk)
• On knowing what you are not supposed to know and feeling what you are not supposed to feel. (1979; classic article)
• Anger in psychological disorders: Prevalence, presentation, etiology and prognostic implications (2016)
• Warm Lines Directory

Full transcript available at: https://www.naturalmentalhealth.com/podcasts/joy-lab-podcast/episodes/2147887782

In this episode and the next four after this, we'll look at how to use equanimity when emotional storms hit. What's equanimity? We see it as a flexible state of steadiness, particularly amidst stress. And even though equanimity is our natural state, it's the opposite that most of us are familiar with. That opposite goes by a lot of different names: fear, anxiety, irritability, moodiness, upset, agitation, being stressed out. In mental health lingo, it's often called emotional reactivity. To get us started with our series, we'll learn more about emotional reactivity in this episode and talk about how to tap into equanimity through grounding practices.

Key Takeaways:

• Equanimity can be described as steadiness, particularly amidst stress or struggles. It may feel absent for you now, but it is your natural state.
• Equanimity looks different for all of us.
• One key strategy to maintain equanimity amidst stress is to get grounded. You can do this by heading outside and doing something in nature that feels calming and anchoring. You can also do this with others who you feel safe with and who invite a sense of connection for you (people, pets, other animals).
• If it's too cold to go outside, a sunny window can be just the thing. Add a houseplant, and a pet perhaps, and you've created an indoor, grounding oasis!

Links and Sources Mentioned:

• Joy Lab Program (step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life)
• Joy Lab Podcast #12 (Five Pathways to Inner Calm) This episode is a broad overview of what we'll be talking about over the next 5 episodes. It's a really helpful summary!
• Joy Lab Podcast #34 (Meditation with Music: Heart-Opening Meditation). This is a good body awareness practice
• Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PDF, we'll link a video soon)
• Natural outdoor environment, neighbourhood social cohesion and mental health: Using multilevel structural equation modelling, streetscape and remote-sensing metrics (2020; green/blue spaces and mental health analyses)
• Understanding Emotions: Origins and Roles of the Amygdala (2021)
• Part 1—You can run but you can't hide: Intrusive thoughts on six continents (2014)
• Part 2. They scare because we care: The relationship between obsessive intrusive thoughts and appraisals and control strategies across 15 cities (2014)
• How changing your story can change your life (Lori Gottlieb Ted Talk)
• On knowing what you are not supposed to know and feeling what you are not supposed to feel. (1979; classic article)
• Anger in psychological disorders: Prevalence, presentation, etiology and prognostic implications (2016)
• Warm Lines Directory

Full transcript available at: https://www.naturalmentalhealth.com/podcasts/joy-lab-podcast/episodes/2147883605

In this episode, we're working on our element of Savoring and considering this insight from Henry in last episode: "We act as if we're just reacting to the world around us, but what if the world is actually reacting to us?" We'll try to get to the bottom of this with the wisdom of milkshakes...

Key Takeaways:

• First: Are you savoring the Joy Lab podcast? If so, help us keep it going by giving us a top rating and a review on the platform you're listening on. It really helps us reach others who are ready to uncover their joy.
• The milkshake study revealed that participant expectations or mindsets about a milkshake changed how their body processed it. Amazing!
• Studies like (there are many) reveal that what we think about ourselves and the world around us can shift our current state (physically and psychologically). This puts a lot of power into our hands to shift our mindset in ways that nourish us more.
• Head back to episodes 44, 45, and 46 for savoring practices.

Links and Sources Mentioned:

• Joy Lab Program (step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life)
• Joy Lab Podcast #46 (Boost Your Mood with Savoring [Back to the Future style])
• Joy Lab Podcast #45 (Savoring the Present and Overcoming FOBO [it's kinda like FOMO...])
• Joy Lab Podcast #44 (The Art of Savoring Your Past Without Getting Stuck There)
• Joy Lab Podcast #11(The Forgotten Key to Happiness)
• Classic book on Savoring (Bryant and Veroff)
• Current Progress and Future Directions for Theory and Research on Savoring (2021)

• Mind Over Milkshakes: Mindsets, Not Just Nutrients, Determine Ghrelin Response (study from Crum, et al. referenced in episode)

Full transcript available at: https://www.naturalmentalhealth.com/podcasts/joy-lab-podcast/episodes/2147840458

In this episode, we're working on our element of Savoring. First: There will be some solid Back to the Future references (obviously). Second, this type of savoring can sometimes be more accessible than past and present savoring for those dealing with depression. Third, this type of savoring (along with past and present) is associated with a mood boost. It's definitely worth your time.Tune in for how this works and two simple ways to practice savoring the future.

Key Takeaways:

• Savoring the future is not avoidance or denial. It's instead a conscious skill we can engage in to shift mood and make what we savor more likely to occur.
• Mental time travel... sound fun? Learn how in this episode!
• Proactive savoring is what we're learning how to do here. It's different than reactive savoring (which is great as well). With proactive savoring, we're self-generating the experience and positive state that arises. This puts savoring into our control.
• What often keeps us from savoring? Judgement. We're often focused on looking for what's wrong and comparing.
• Our imagination is extremely powerful in creating our day-to-day world.
• We act as if we're just reacting to the world around us, but what if the world is actually reacting to us?
• A simple savoring strategy is to imagine four plausible and positive scenarios that will happen to you tomorrow. Assess your mood before and after if you like, and try to write down these scenarios in a journal.

Links and Sources Mentioned:

• Joy Lab Program (step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life)
• Classic book on Savoring (Bryant and Veroff)
• Current Progress and Future Directions for Theory and Research on Savoring (2021)
• Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life (Amy Krouse Rosenthal)
• Amy Krouse Rosenthal's website
• Does savoring increase happiness? A daily diary study
• Up-regulating positive emotions in everyday life: Strategies, individual differences, and associations with positive emotion and well-being
• Back to the future: the effect of daily practice of mental time travel into the future on happiness and anxiety
• Consciousness of subjective time in the brain
• You May Want to Marry My Husband (Amy Krouse Rosenthal)
• Seven Notes on Life- Amy Krouse Rosenthal (her talk starts 5 minutes in)

Full transcript available at: https://www.naturalmentalhealth.com/podcasts/joy-lab-podcast/episodes/2147840457

In this episode, we're working on our element of Savoring... and this time, we're savoring the present moment (we savored the past last episode). One of the powerful aspects of this type of savoring is that it really helps us anchor our attention to our experience of savoring vs focusing (or relying) on the actual event. That means we can drum up savoring at any moment and use it as a tool to shift mood in a more positive direction. Tune in for some key strategies and one common obstacle... FOBO (yes, it's different than FOMO).

Key Takeaways:

• Savoring is about focusing on our experience of pleasure. That means it's more experience focused rather than event focused. Research has shown that savoring neutral events can even be as powerful as savoring big celebrations.
• Bryant and Veroff note that "To savor an experience, one must possess and apply a certain degree of mindfulness and meta-awareness." This means the more present we are, the more we can savor. The more we savor, the more we remember (which enables more savoring of the past!).
• Have you heard about slow-twitch dopamine? Henry just made it up, but it's really cool! That's kind of how we can interpret savoring. It lengthens out our enjoyment and nourishes us more.
• One key obstacle: FOBO (fear of being over). This is a common experience where we let the realization that something is going to end pull us from the present moment. When this happens, we lose the opportunity to savor.
• Savoring can help us be with this understanding of impermanence and even improve our experience in the moment.
• JOBO (we're loving the acronyms this episode!) can actually help us move beyond FOBO.
• Mindful photography is a fantastic practice to savor in the present moment, particularly when FOBO rises up.

Links and Sources Mentioned:

• Joy Lab Program (step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life)
• Classic book on Savoring (Bryant and Veroff)
• Current Progress and Future Directions for Theory and Research on Savoring (2021)
• Amy Bloom's website
• Up-regulating positive emotions in everyday life: Strategies, individual differences, and associations with positive emotion and well-being
• Reward-motivated learning: mesolimbic activation precedes memory formation
• Judy Weiser's website on phototherapy and applications
• Saving the Last for Best: A Positivity Bias for End Experiences
• Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions. (Seligman, et al.)
• Consciousness of subjective time in the brain
• Chased by the Light (book by Jim Brandenburg)
• Courage and Light (video series with Jim Brandenburg and Parker Palmer)

Full transcript available at: https://www.naturalmentalhealth.com/podcasts/joy-lab-podcast/episodes/2147840455

In this episode, we're working on our element of Savoring. This element is a powerful antidote for chronic busyness and feelings of overwhelm. And maybe best of all... it's pretty easy to do. And offers quick benefits. We're talking about savoring the past in this episode, one of the three types of savoring (the others are savoring the present and future). We'll also address a few obstacles to this element of savoring (e.g., getting stuck in repetitive thoughts about the past or glory day living).

Key Takeaways:

• Savoring has been defined "as attending, appreciating, and enhancing positive experiences that occur in one's life" (Bryant & Veroff).
• Change doesn't always have to be so hard. Savoring is a tool to help us unlock that pathway of change.
• Practicing savoring can help us work with our dopamine system in really insightful ways. We can learn how to gain back some control and practice more nourishing skills that bring us pleasure.
• Three types of savoring were noted by Bryant and Veroff: Savoring the past (also called reminiscing in the research), savoring the present, and savoring the future (also called anticipation in the research). All of these are associated with positive shifts in mental and physical health. Choose your favorite(s)!
• Two commonly discussed emotional regulation strategies are cognitive reappraisal and effective suppression. We think savoring is another that should be discussed more as it works even earlier in an emotion timeline and requires less effort.
• We can savor the past without getting locked into it.
• Key strategy for savoring the past: Three good things. Here's how to do it:
• Find a place where you can relax. When you're settled, ask yourself to remember 3 events that were really positive.
• Write them down if you can and take some time to remember each of them.
• Then, for each one, reflect on some more details...
• Why did this happen?
• What were the circumstances?
• What was your role in it?
• Who else was involved and what part did they play in making it happen?
• End with some deep breaths as you savor any other positive feelings that rise up in your thoughts and in your body.

Links and Sources Mentioned:

• Joy Lab Program (step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life)
• Classic book on Savoring (Bryant and Veroff)
• Current Progress and Future Directions for Theory and Research on Savoring (2021)
• Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life (Amy Krouse Rosenthal)
• Amy Krouse Rosenthal's website
• Savoring the Past: Positive Memories Evoke Value Representations in the Striatum
• Cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression strategies role in the emotion regulation: an overview on their modulatory effects and neural correlates
• Does savoring increase happiness? A daily diary study
• Up-regulating positive emotions in everyday life: Strategies, individual differences, and associations with positive emotion and well-being
• Reward-motivated learning: mesolimbic activation precedes memory formation
• Judy Weiser's website on phototherapy and applications
• Saving the Last for Best: A Positivity Bias for End Experiences
• Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions. (Seligman, et al.)
• Back to the future: the effect of daily practice of mental time travel into the future on happiness and anxiety
• Consciousness of subjective time in the brain
• You May Want to Marry My Husband (Amy Krouse Rosenthal)
• Seven Notes on Life- Amy Krouse Rosenthal (her talk starts 5 minutes in)

Full transcript available at: https://www.naturalmentalhealth.com/podcasts/joy-lab-podcast/episodes/2147840454

In this episode, we're working on our element of Inspiration by looking at our passions more closely...

Harmonious passions are just like inspiration, they fuel us in nourishing and creative ways. Obsessive passions are quite the opposite. They're associated with negative emotions and rigidity.

It's important to understand the difference between these, how they might show up in your life and how you can recalibrate or make a change if your passion has taken hold of you in a way that depletes your mental and physical health.

Key Takeaways:

• Harmonious passions are good for mental and physical health. The key is that we feel nourished by them and we feel in control.
• Obsessive passions are depleting for us. They also feel like responsibilities that control us.
• We can recalibrate our passions in healthier ways.
• Strategies to recalibrate your passions and stoke inspiration:
• Try backing off of an activity that feels like it has a hold on you and feels depleting. Creating some space may reignite that harmonious spark for you.
• Explore a new passion. Try something new that feels exciting and fun to you.

Links Mentioned:

• Joy Lab Program (step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life)
• Joy Lab podcast episode 10 ("Inspiration: The Engine of Joy" ... gives some great basics for this element of inspiration)
• Joy Lab podcast episode 11 ("The Forgotten Key to Happiness" ... gives some great basics for the element of savoring)
• About Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
• Les Passions de l'Aˆ me: On Obsessive and Harmonious Passion (Vallerand et al.)

Full transcript available at: https://www.naturalmentalhealth.com/podcasts/joy-lab-podcast/episodes/2147840453