Creating Connection Kim Ross

It's easy to drift through life on autopilot.



Until you find yourself unable to make a water crossing.



Three ways you can interrupt autopilot to connect with yourself.



1. Ask yourself. What do I need?

2. Make room for quiet.

3. Practice Awareness, Practice Awareness, Practice Awareness.



Join Sprinkles of Wisdom for Wonderful Women.


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Using a keystone activity as a reflection anchor.

- Choose an activity that has meaning to you. It may be something that has uncomfortable associations, it may reflect an underlying value. It may be celebratory.

- Choose an accompanying affirmation to use as a reflection.

You can try 'I release myself from the outcome'.

- Whilst you are engaging in the activity actively reflect on thoughts and feelings that arise; the nature of the process; and the outcome of the process.



Through releasing expectations and allowing yourself to fail, you are treating yourself with compassion.





May joy flow through the cracks this Christmas.

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I have this theory about wonderful women. It goes like this:

Without doubt we are a special bunch.

Regardless of what life throws at us, we’re willing to work to find calm in our world whilst not running away from it. Our dreams consist not of power and progress, but of understanding, cooperation and healing. 

We firmly believe in the power of knowing ourselves, respecting others, honouring our environment and fostering deep connections. And we love receiving and giving sprinkles of wisdom.

Join the community of other wonderful women who receive regular sprinkles in their inbox from me.  It's where I share insights, inspiration, reflections, support and do-able strategies on how you can create and integrate more calm, connection and confidence into your life without running away to Bali. 

A reminder this podcast is for general information and advice only. It is not designed to replace therapy in any way. For some people Christmas is not just stressful, it is also traumatic. 

The information provided in this podcast is not meant to address Christmas trauma. If you are experiencing trauma, overwhelming Christmas anxiety, depression, or any other mental health concern please see your GP, or your mental health therapist.

If you liked what you just listened to, I’d appreciate you leaving Creating Connections a review or sharing this podcast with your friends.


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Hello, and welcome to the edition of Creating Connection where we talk about how wonderful women can start to embrace their inner wisdom.

First, wisdom isn't a construct with one definition and one theory. In the world of psychological investigation we're still exploring, we're still researching, debating, and discussing what is Wisdom.

I'm giving you my take on four key aspects of wisdom: experience, reflection, compassion and action.


1.     Experience. That does not mean age. Research shows that your wisdom increases to around your mid-20s. And then it plateaus. And when you're much older, it may decrease. 2.     Reflection, compassion and action. It's not just sitting here pontificating, it's making things happen. It's living it, sharing it, acting upon it, connecting with others, making change, and it's compassionate. You can have all the experience and all the knowledge. But if you're an empty vessel, if you're agitating for the sake of it, if your aim behind sharing your knowledge is, just to make money or just progress and growth for the sake of it, you're missing the point. The point is to take compassionate action. It's caring, it's connection. And Reflection is the processing of your experiences so that you can take compassionate action.

Today, in particular, I want to take you through reflection, and three things to take into account with reflection.

Three aspects of reflection.: space, time, and direction.

Let's start with Space. And I'm talking about where you find the mental and physical space for reflection.

We all lead parallel lives: a physical life and a digital life. Your physical life includes - raising children, managing the household, building careers. And then you have this other life, which runs along in the background, which is your digital world. And it never switches off.  So, you're not just managing this world, you're also managing your relationship with this world. Not a lot of space in
here for reflection is there.

And depending on your life stage, you'll also have additional challenges. If your children are young, that space to think for yourself can seem like non-existent because children are young, they want to be with you all the time. They want to be with you when you shower or go to the toilet or sleep. And some children don't, I am generalising. But when you're a parent, and you're in that stage, it can feel quite claustrophobic. No matter how much you love your kids. Where is that space for you? How do you carve that out?

Time. Not having enough time is one of the biggest reasons that people give for not engaging in self-care. We lead these lives, trying to balance these two lives parallel.

However, there are three main different ways you can factor in time for reflection.

1.     You can take a retreat. Whether it’s half a day, full day, weekend or longer. There is something truly magical about taking that space and time for yourself. However, it's not always practical, it's not always affordable. Luckily, there are two other main ways that you can do this.

2.     You can set aside a regular, time of the day or week where you can reflect.

3.      You can integrate it into day-to-day practices.



A reminder this podcast is for general information and advice only. It is not designed to replace therapy in any way. If you are experiencing any mental health concerns please see your GP, or your mental health therapist.

- Join the Sprinkles of Wisdom for Wonderful Women Newsletter Community - https://bit.ly/SprinklesOfWisdom.


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Feeling overwhelmed by the pressure to create a "perfect" Christmas? Discover how to simplify expectations, reduce stress, and embrace an awesome holiday season with these 6 powerful steps.

​
1. Awareness.
Take 10-20 minutes and connect with what you feel and what you think about all these expectations that you have created or bought into. What are the thoughts and feelings that come up when you think about Christmas? Find something to write in and listen to what you are saying to yourself. It may look something like this
“I’m feeling guilty because I don’t want to make my pudding this year, but I know everyone loves it and I should”.
I’m feeling sad. I keep thinking how much I miss my mum and wish she was here’
I’m feeling overwhelmed. There’s so much to do and I don’t know where I’m going to fit it in.
I’m feeling angry. I don’t want to go to x/s house on Christmas Day. We always do and it’s not fair. I want to stay at y own home all day and let the kids play.
"I'm feeling confused. I don't know how to keep everyone from not fighting on Christmas Day and I just wish it was all over.
"I don't know where to start”.

Note:: If getting in touch with your feelings is difficult there can be a few reasons why that is happening.  You can come back to exploring your feelings in the future either with your GP, or mental health therapist, or if this is something you would like help with you are welcome to contact me for an appointment.

2. Reflection.
Once you’ve named and acknowledged your thoughts and feelings it’s time to reflect on what they might be trying to tell you about what is important to you at Christmas. 

Here are some simple guiding reflection questions.
What are your best memories of Christmas's past?
What would you have liked to have done last year that you didn’t get to do? What got in the way of that happening?
Is there something different/special coming up this year that you are looking forward to?
What was stressful?
What would you like to change?
What is the most important thing about the Christmas season for you? Include everything in the lead up to Christmas Day and the days after?







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How to Make This Christmas Simply Awesome



Join the Wonderful Women Community.








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Walking is a great way to brighten up your day and improve your mental health.


The key to creating a walking habit is to find ways to enjoy the process.
The Walking is Awesome bingo card includes a variety of different tasks to help you make the most of your walks.
Some of the tasks on the bingo card are designed to help you overcome anxiety and feel safer walking by yourself.
The bingo card is a great way to track your progress and make walking a more fun and rewarding experience.


Hi. If you are looking for a way to, you know, brighten up your walks, put some pet back in your step, change it up a little. This episode is for you. In this episode, I bring to you the walking is awesome bingo card.

I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about why I've included some of them, because, you know, I'm not a fitness expert, not a physical fitness expert. I'm a psychologist and we are experts in mental health, and fitness, and these are some of the things that make doing this bingo card a little bit different.



There are elements of counting steps of looking at time, but also some things that you might go, why would I be doing that?

And I'm gonna tell you why.

Because the key components of walking and creating a habit have to do with enjoying the process, right?

So many people will say, oh, I know I should walk, or, I haven't got time for walk or walking is so boring and I get it.

You know, life can be super chaotic and it takes time to walk, or the difference between going for a five K run and going for a five K walk is quite significant.

Mind you, the last time I went for a five K run, it probably took me about as long as a 5K walk. I'm not a natural runner, so I stick to walking, but it's like I have to walk for like an hour a day. I mean, I haven't got an hour in the day, you know, I don't wanna walk for an hour in the day.

It's boring. So we break it up. I don't walk an hour at a time. I think I walk roughly an hour all up, but it's spaced, right? You don't have to do it all at once.

The things that I have in this bingo card are bite-sized.

There are 25 different things, and you can choose to do a square a day.

You might do a couple of squares on a day over different walks. There might be some gaps in between gaps, whichever. There's no timeline for this. So the first one, walk 4,000 steps.

4,000 tends to be around half an hour, depending on how quickly you walk. It might take a bit longer, it might take you less time. For me, my morning walk is roughly 4,000 steps, and then I'll do some more later.

Walking alone is the next one on the card.

Walking by yourself can be a significant anxiety hurdle to overcome.

You may feel less safe walking by yourself.

Now, I don't put a time limit or a step limit around this.

Whatever you can do if you haven't walked by yourself before and it's a big obstacle, just walk to the letterbox, walk around the block, walk somewhere that feels quite safe for you to walk.





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A Creating Connection Podcast by Kim Ross, Psychologist.

Positive Young Minds

Download your free Walking is Awesome Bingo Card



BEFORE YOU GO, CAN YOU DO ME A FAVOUR?
If you like this episode, make sure to subscribe so you don't miss upcoming episodes, and share it with your friends.    If you would like to help others understand how connection matters leaving a review is one of the best ways to do this.  If you do so please let me know so I can read it on in an upcoming podcast.


Thank you.  And until next time, take care of yourself.
Kim xx



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Kim Ross, Psychologist and Founder of Positive Young Minds

⁠www.positiveyoungminds.com.au⁠














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Mental barriers to leaving the house. 0:00



Do you struggle with anxiety and avoidance, feeling overwhelmed by the thought of leaving the house?




Recognizing and managing inner dialogue. 1:18


Reflecting on inner dialogue and thoughts, seeking to understand and manage their impact.




Finding clarity and purpose through self-reflection. 2:42


Daily habits and values, the power of clarity and aligning habits with your desired life path.




Overcoming addiction and negative thoughts. 4:33


Personal growth and realization of negative thoughts and feelings after recognising avoidance and addictive habits.




Creating a walking habit for mental health. 6:15


Committing to a walking habit, despite lack of motivation.


A walking program can be a great support to your mental health journey.



www.positiveyoungminds.com.au








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