In this Part 1 = The enneagram is such a useful tool because it shows your blindspots (episodes 98, 99, 100) and it also shows your how you act in stress. I (Justin) was super blown away because the enneagram nailed my stress response tendencies.

We have used these stress tendencies to become aware when we are stressing out or when our spouse is stressing out or when our kids are stressing out.

We are able to give ourselves and our family members and our co-workers are lot more grace when we can see the stress patterns that the enneagram shows to us.

Today we give an intro to the enneagram and movement in stress. We cover numbers 3,6,9 today because they make a nice little enclosed triangle in the enneagram structure.

https://www.enneasight.com/2011/07/enneagram-type-under-stress/

www.enneagraminstitute.com

The school year is a great to time refocus your time and energy so we talk about 6 tips that will allow you to have the best school year. 

2020 is going to be a challenging year because there are so many unknowns with Covid, but if you do these things, we promise you will have a successful year. 

1. Secure your Bedtime and Morning Routines
2. Choose healthy choices - diet, sleep, exercise, water, etc.
3. Ownership of school gear 
4. Create learning spaces at home ( for you and your kids)
5. Very clear Communication between spouses, kids, teachers, and changing school policy
6. Focus on the good things for each day

The word Hygge (who guh) is a Danish concept that basically means feeling content and well being thru enjoying the simple thing.

Denmark is one of the happiest places on the earth and there is a lot of research about why that is.

We need to learn and develop "we" time with the ones we love. This takes effort and focus.

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_secret_to_danish_happiness

We are not doctors and we do NOT give out medical advice.

BUT we are tired of hearing all about illness and sickness and germs.


Very few people are talking about boosting your immune system. We look at many of the simple things you can do to boost your immune system. Of course, we are not saying you won't get sick. But if your immune system is strong, you can fight illness better.

https://www.evms.edu/media/evms_public/departments/internal_medicine/EVMS_Critical_Care_COVID-19_Protocol.pdf

https://draxe.com/health/how-to-boost-your-immune-system/

In today's episode, we talk about the need for people to develop depth in their spirit/soul. Just like we need to do exercises to strengthen our bodies, we need to do spiritual exercises to strengthen our spirit/soul. 

Some benefits of spiritual disciplines (from the link below):

• Delay gratification
• Receive insight
• Hear God’s voice/one’s inner voice
• Make better decisions
• Remain centered and unaffected by external events
• Demonstrate moral courage
• Detach from distractions
• Feel inner peace
• Behave unselfishly
• Act with practical wisdom
• Follow one’s own course
• Endure hardship
• Forge good habits
• Conquer the worst parts of yourself

https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/introduction-spiritual-disciplines

This episode is really about being kind to yourself and kind to others.

I (Justin) was pretty skeptical about talking about grieving and the state of the world, but we read about what expert David Kessler says about grief and the different kinds of grief. Also, I learned that the steps of grief aren't necessarily linear. You can jump around the grieving process.
This episode is just a caution to look at your own life and your spouse and kids and friends. Give yourself and others some grace as we figure out the new normals of life.

https://hbr.org/2020/03/that-discomfort-youre-feeling-is-grief

https://johnpavlovitz.com/2019/02/21/everyone-around-you-is-grieving-go-easy/

It is time to prepare your mind and heart for the fall of 2020. We have this Covid thing, elections, potential universal homeschool, and whatever else you want to put into the blank.

To reframe this in a positive manner, it is a good time to take more ownership of your life. 

Let's assume this is the end of the 1st quarter of this covid life. What things do you need to change? What have you done well? What do you need to improve?

Here are the areas we are addressing in our home:

Essentials (M&Ms)
Indoor Home Improvements
Outdoor Home Improvements
Find New Hobbies
Homeschool/Education Updates
Potential Change in Income/Finances
Health and Nutrition
https://www.evms.edu/media/evms_public/departments/internal_medicine/Marik-Covid-Protocol-Summary.pdf
Spiritual Growth for all Our Family

Well, we needed to laugh so we just told jokes this episode. 

The joke we told about sodium atoms and Batman:
On the periodic table, sodium is NA. So sodium is Na so Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Batman

Obviously, we are not talking about the physical infection of the Covid 19 virus. 

But we are talking about the emotional and relational impact that Covid 19 is having on marriages. 

Solutions include:
Self Care - you have to find new times for youself
Get out of the Rut 
Actually, Pay attention to your emotions
Ask questions and actually listen to your spouse
Share a bigger vision with your spouse than just the day to day, week to week routine
Become more aware of God's Presence

There are 2 kinds of stress: good stress (eustress) and bad stress (distress)

The purpose of this episode is to talk about how you need to start having a scale in your mind about the stress you encounter.

If you only encounter bad stress, then you are going to have emotional and physical problems in the long term.

You need to balance out the negative with doing something positive. We talk in this episode about how Shawna finally a breakthrough with cold showers. There are a million things you can do to get the good stress going. Start today.

https://www.cascadementalhealth.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=15644&cn=117