Overwhelm Release Self Care Day 2

When life feels overwhelming or stressful, it’s easy to lose touch with how we’re really doing. This short practice is your invitation to pause and gently check in with yourself. What is your “battery life” today? How much are you giving away to others, and how full is your own cup?

Through the stress bucket analogy, you’ll reflect on what drains you and what restores you. You’ll also learn to notice your thoughts, those constant stories that rise and fall in the mind, without being carried away by them.

By listening, you may:
- Become more aware of your emotions throughout the day.
- Recognize when overwhelm is building and take steps to reset.
- Step back from stressful thoughts and watch them like a story on a screen.
- Feel calmer, clearer, and more in control of your energy.

You can listen to this in the morning to set your intention for the day, at lunchtime for a mindful reset, or in the evening as a reminder for tomorrow’s intention.

Transcript

So welcome to our self-care, Day two of self-care. So our day one challenge was to bring our hands together, Rub to create warmth, Place them over the eyes and take three deep breaths. We can do that as many times throughout the day as we wish, Giving ourselves permission to just rest and be with ourselves so we can become present in the here and the now. And our day two, As we're on today, Is to ask yourself, What do you need? You can just ask yourself throughout the day, Maybe once in the morning, Afternoon, Evening. But in particular, If you get stressed, Annoyed, Frustrated, Argumentative, Emotional, It's often because we're not giving ourselves something that we need. So we just take time to sort of notice ourselves if we're being emotional, Checking in with ourselves. And even better, When you check in, Bring your hands together, Rub to create warmth again, And place them over the eyes. Take three deep breaths to centre and grange yourself. And ask yourself, What do you need? Often in life, We can just be rushing from different things, So many priorities other than ourselves. Or we can have maybe all the time in the world and not quite knowing what to do. And then our mind can get a little bit too involved. You can come very into the thought, Into the head, Rather than in our body. And when we take three deep breaths, We're grounding ourselves, Earthing ourselves into the here and now. In our last session, I talked about relating our energy levels to the energy levels of the phone. So what energy level are you today? What is your battery life today? Is it particularly low? Is it particularly high? Or is it somewhere in between? And did you know before this session what your battery life was like? Have you checked in with yourself? Or is that something new for you? Let me know your thoughts. Is it completely new to you? Or is that something that you're used to doing? And do you find it useful having this check-in? When we're trying to look after ourselves, We need to be very mindful of how much we're giving to others. There's an analogy of a bucket. It's our stress bucket. And in life, When we've got stresses, Anxieties, Worries, They fill up our bucket. And if we have no techniques to release any stress from our bucket, It can get over full. And when our bucket is at the top, Or even nearly exploding, And then something small happens, We can react really quickly. And that's a sign to say we need to de-stress. And that's where self-care, Self-love, Self-kindness really is important. So I invite you for the rest of the day to be mindful of your battery levels. Notice when you're getting stressed, Anxious, Annoyed, Any of those emotions that make you feel a little bit uncomfortable, And ask yourself, What do you need right now? I'm going to finish by sharing with you one of these cards from a poet called Breathe, Play, Love. What's on in my mind? What are you thinking right now? We spend much of our lives lost in thought. Only rarely aware that we're thinking. Thoughts appear without notice, Changing our mood and sense of self. Our greatest trap is believing our thoughts to be fact. Spinning further tales around them, We may observe our thoughts like a story playing out on a screen, But we are not our thoughts. Watching stressful thoughts from a distance gives an opportunity for racing minds to calm and anxiety to ease. Sit back and enjoy watching your thoughts today. Ask yourself, What are you thinking? And noticing what thoughts you have. Take it all in. And that's the invitation today, Is to take a moment to notice how you're feeling. Ask yourself, What do you need? Thank you so much for being here with me. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow for more self-care. This is Sandhya, See you again.