Mindfulness Talk For Stress Relief And Inner Peace

Welcome to Unburden Your Mind and Chill with Mindfulness with your host and guide, Scarlett Shepard — mindfulness teacher, writer, mom, and self-care advocate. In this heartfelt mindfulness talk, we explore The Jagged Path to Inner Peace — a metaphor for recovering from stress, overwhelm, and burnout. Scarlett shares how mindfulness became her lifeline and a tool for emotional healing. Perfect for beginners or anyone returning to practice, this episode offers accessible mindfulness techniques, inspiration for reconnecting with yourself, and ways to align meditation with your learning style. If you're navigating burnout, seeking stress relief, or longing for inner peace, this talk is for you. Tune in and take the first step toward clarity, calm, and transformation. Up next: A Friend to Confide In, a loving-kindness guided meditation.

Transcript

This podcast educates,

Inspires,

And supports your journey to clarity,

Healing,

And transformation.

The information offered through this podcast is educational only and does not replace professional medical advice,

Diagnosis,

Or treatment.

If you have questions or situations requiring professional or medical advice,

You should consult with an appropriately trained and qualified specialist.

Hey,

And welcome to Unburden Your Mind and Chill with Mindfulness podcast with your host and guide,

Scarlett Shepard.

Each episode will give you an easy way to practice mindfulness for reflection,

Healing,

And transformation.

It's our time to reset,

Re-center,

And console and unite the heart and mind.

And we can do this with mindfulness.

So,

On today's episode,

We will discuss the jagged approach and journey toward inner peace.

We'll learn techniques to ease into meditation using our unique learning style,

Right?

Because it's sometimes so hard to get into meditation and getting a practice that sticks and that you can do and look forward to each day.

I know this from experience.

I'm a busy mom.

I'm an activist.

I'm an artist and a self-care advocate and a mindfulness teacher.

So,

I'm super excited.

This is the first episode.

Actually,

I had to really jump into my courage to even get here,

To really even do this podcast.

I sat on this for quite a while.

Do I do it?

Yes,

Imposter syndrome,

One of the many burdens I carry with me at times.

There were so many different stories I was telling myself to not do it.

And so,

I'm definitely putting my mindfulness practice into action by doing this podcast,

Right?

Talk about the power of practicing self-kindness every time I turn on the mic and record myself.

And for me,

It's truly letting go of the jaws of perfection,

Allowing the teachings,

The stories,

And the tools to flow.

Burdens come in many forms,

Small ones to challenging ones,

That accumulate,

Right?

Burdens of the future,

Burdens of the past.

This is where our paths connect.

We are moving so fast to keep up with life's demands.

We got a lot on our plates right now,

And this causes us to become out of alignment.

Because of the hurried pace.

At any given moment,

The thoughts in our busy minds can go on a jagged path of impressions,

Emotions,

Likes,

Dislikes,

Boredom,

Curiosity.

And this internal experience can be as epic as watching a movie,

And it can happen in just a few breaths.

Our minds are constantly thinking,

And sometimes that brings us joy,

And some of those thoughts will us through the hard times,

Right?

And while others can weigh us down,

And spin us in circles,

And make us feel stuck,

And trapped,

And overwhelmed.

And this is where my jagged path toward inner peace brought me here to you.

So I reflected upon my personal and professional evolution this past birthday,

And the theme of the jagged path I chose to traverse.

And still traversing has guided me here to my calling.

And if you think about it,

Even the breath will follow its own path.

And so when I was looking back at just my path,

And what brought me here,

And thinking about every leap,

Whether forward or backward,

Has given me a new perspective.

The knowledge,

And the understanding,

And the courage that I might not have otherwise acquired if I had taken a more linear path.

So the big takeaway is that sometimes even the most jagged paths lead to wellness,

Healing,

And finding your purpose,

And a higher calling.

My jagged path goes a little something like this.

My educational background in filmmaking may have led to something other than what I initially intended for the future,

Right?

And we always follow and go with these pursuits,

But we have ideas of where it will take us,

Or where it will lead us,

And we encounter a lot of different surprises and detours along the journey.

So my reflection of my jagged journey,

And just how every step was integral to where I am now,

And how it led to mindfulness.

The many years I spent in the nonprofit sector taught me the value of leadership,

Community,

And resourcefulness.

And it was navigating,

Okay,

The tremendous highs and lows of uncertainty during the pandemic,

And pivoting over the last couple of years that led me to burnout.

And I was really struggling during this time,

Just on all levels in my life.

And then I discovered the place that I now call home as a mindfulness teacher,

Motivational writer,

And I even wrote a book called Unburden Your Mind and Show With Mindfulness.

I'm currently working on the second draft.

In this podcast,

I will be sharing some of the teachings and techniques from the book before it's published,

Sharing some insight and some mindfulness wisdom with you straight from the book.

And it really isn't a stretch in terms of writing a book for me,

Because writing has always been my way of articulating and transcribing my truth,

And feeling connected to others and the world,

And more aligned with my voice,

And a way for my voice to find its purpose,

And to have an outlet,

And to connect with people.

Every jagged twist and turn has deeply enriched me.

When you really map out the jagged journey toward inner peace,

You know,

From filmmaker,

To storyteller,

To non-profit career,

To mindfulness.

And so what about you and your journey in life?

Does the jagged path resonate with you?

I'm curious if this resonates with you,

And if it does,

How does it resonate?

Because I think it's important to find ways to transcribe our truth,

And to be grateful for our journey,

And who we are,

And what brought us here.

And we can find ways to transcribe our journey,

Our truth,

Our inner wisdom,

And we can do so with mindfulness.

The biggest lesson I learned is that sometimes you must pump the brakes and take a step back to get clarity,

Right?

Sometimes the most jagged paths can lead to the most fulfilling adventures.

Mindfulness during a time of burnout helped me to slow down and become aware that I needed to get off autopilot.

Part of my jagged journey toward recovery and healing was finding a way to just pause.

And I did it by strengthening my daily mindfulness practice.

And little by little,

It wasn't overnight,

My energy levels began to rise.

The flickerings of unburden your mind and chill with mindfulness began to emerge.

And the more my consciousness expanded,

The more the story would unfold.

And I'm here to help you practice mindfulness with ease daily.

And we can learn to meet the moments and chill with mindfulness is a lifeline,

A mantra,

A mindset you can always carry with you when you need it.

Whether you're new to mindfulness,

Or trying to find a practice that sticks,

You've come to the right place.

It's no accident you're here.

As we strengthen our mindfulness practice,

We can learn to accept,

Embrace,

Admire,

And flow with our busy minds,

Even while meditating.

And you may even be saying I just can't meditate,

Or it doesn't work for me,

Or I've tried everything,

My mind isn't still,

Or the tensions and unhelpful thoughts keep circulating,

And this hurried pace just seems to be endless and so burdensome.

And it's challenging to console all this activity that's happening in our minds,

In our bodies,

And our lives.

And if you asked folks if their minds wandered during a meditation,

You would have so many people raising their hands.

Our minds just wander.

So on any given day,

I really want to acknowledge how much most of us have to manage in a day.

And it can be overwhelming.

And sometimes,

There's so much going on that in the midst of all of this,

We lose a connection to ourselves,

Which can leave us feeling rocky.

It can make us feel unfocused,

Or we're putting so much effort in so many directions,

And we can't find our focus.

We are always looking for relief and answers.

And you know,

It's like,

Can I meditate all my worries away?

And well,

Not always.

Some days while meditating,

It can be uneventful,

Mundane,

While others entirely transformative.

Even on some days,

You may find yourself feeling okay where you are.

When you really think about that,

That's a beautiful thing.

Unfortunately,

Stress is a natural part of life.

And situations can quickly escalate,

Sending our minds and hearts racing at any given moment,

Right?

And some days,

Stress and worry can feel like watching a scary movie,

Being on a plane with constant turbulence,

Or being chased.

And your heart is racing,

And your thoughts are in a panic,

And you expect the worst.

But you keep running,

Right?

This hurried pace just keeps us running.

And I think that these are the moments we can pause,

Even if it's 4 or 5 minutes,

Or a few minutes here and there,

Just to recalibrate,

To catch our breath,

Just to reconnect with ourselves.

And these are the times when I turn to mindfulness,

And I return to the practice again and again.

And stress continually rises,

And mindfulness can help soften the busy mind and keyed up body.

Even if it's 5% of relaxation or grounding,

Or you just feel a little more centered and able to focus and reinvigorate yourself throughout the day,

Or during the day,

And that's a good day.

That's something to be celebrated and appreciated,

And even doing that practice.

And I know that sometimes things just feel really intense,

So I've learned that sometimes it's the little things that make all the difference.

I meditate today because it can improve the quality of my mood,

And the focus,

And potentially even have a ripple effect in improving my future health.

When we're present,

And the things that we shine our light and our attention on can really have a long-lasting effect and impact in the future,

Which is an amazing thing to think about.

The more I chill today,

The more I can manage and reduce stress,

Which will positively benefit my future self,

Right?

It's hard to see in the now when we're always planning for the future,

Or we're stuck multitasking,

Or just the daily grind of our lives,

Professionally and personally.

So the benefits of mindfulness are pretty remarkable,

And backed by research,

To help relieve stress,

Lower blood pressure,

Even reduce chronic pain,

And improve sleep.

Most of all,

Improve our patience,

Especially when we feel like we don't have much time for ourselves.

And we're always having to do something.

Because of the benefits of mindfulness and meditation,

We can thank ourselves later by meditating now.

And so some styles of meditation didn't work for me.

It was a game changer when I stumbled upon doing meditations that complemented my learning style.

And when you think about it,

It is so helpful to understand our unique learning style.

Some people learn best by hearing.

Some must watch every step to learn how to do something.

And others must do it to understand.

So that makes a lot of sense.

We are nuanced learners,

And we are nuanced meditators.

And so finding meditations that resonate with you will help you practice with ease.

And that's really what this first episode is about.

The goal is to learn and find a practice that you can do easily in your day.

As we practice each day,

Our bodies begin to thaw.

We can see things more in focus.

And we can become more and more aware of just how powerfully resilient we are,

Right?

We're doing a lot in a day.

And imagine how powerful and strong you are going through all these motions during your day.

During this process,

We get stuck with so many burdens.

And we carry all types of obligations.

When we go to sleep,

Right?

Before you go to bed,

You're just worried about the next day.

Your mind is just,

It keeps going back to a lot of,

You didn't get this done today.

And it just keeps cycling through our minds.

Or when we wake up,

Or at work,

Or while driving,

Burdens accumulate from yesterday that really are impacting our lives now.

Or burdens from decades ago that may be preventing us from really living the best life that we can.

Or really recognizing or even acknowledging that we are doing the best we can.

And the key is to decompress throughout the day.

And we can do this with mindfulness.

Chill with mindfulness.

And as I reflect on my jagged journey and burnout,

And how I came to a for me,

Feeling overly worried,

Feeling like I didn't have enough time for myself,

And feeling unfulfilled,

Really just not having enough energy to even focus.

During this time of real time of challenge,

There's something that just came out of all of this.

And this was chill with mindfulness.

It was so resourceful and so transformative.

And it's an antidote to life's chaos,

Stress,

And burdens.

And so we are training ourselves through daily practice to do the opposite of autopilot,

Right?

We're so caught up in all the things.

It seems like our self-worth and our lives are tied to what we do.

And it really is,

Which is always so hard for me to wrap my mind around because I'm a person that's very goal driven and very ambitious.

And so learning this style of being sometimes feels counterintuitive to what we normally do or what we usually do and hear.

And it's like how we approach things in life here are the goals,

This is what I do,

Here's the task at hand,

And you just plow through it to get it done.

And I recognize that we often have to do that.

And sometimes when you plow through things,

You miss so many different perspectives or different ways of doing things or just miss the lessons that are actually right in front of you.

And so what I want to do in my goal,

Even to strengthen my own practice,

Is learning to practice consistently.

And because bringing chill with mindfulness is we often worry about similar themes daily.

And if we take a step back,

Because stress always feels like you're caught in a tornado of worry or that to-do list all the time,

And we can learn another way to manage stress,

Uncertainty,

Curveballs that life tosses our way,

These little unexpected things that just show up in our lives.

Unfortunately,

You know,

We have to deal with them.

And I know this for my own life,

It's just running away from them.

And even in the beginning of strengthening my mindfulness practice and sitting alone,

Being still with my thoughts,

That actually was really hard.

I realized just how uncomfortable that can be.

There's some chill with mindfulness tools that we can de-stress in our daily lives.

And that's what I'm talking about.

Learning styles,

Right?

Let's say I love mindful movement,

And it is a way to get back in connection with myself,

My body.

And another way my mindfulness practice has helped me is learning how to unite my mind and my body to slow down my heart rate with breathing exercises when I'm feeling anxious in life.

That's the beauty is that we don't realize the power of mindfulness,

The power of meditation,

And these tools to help us when we are needing to soothe ourselves.

Another way that mindfulness practices help me is I have a really obnoxious,

Harsh self-critic that cycles through my mind,

Which can make me feel anxious and often can hold me back.

These are the times where I can find ways to decompress and to soothe myself and ways to connect with myself,

Ways to breathe through it,

And a way to remind myself that I don't have to believe that criticism,

That self-judgment.

I can acknowledge it's there,

And I've done that with mindfulness,

But in the past,

I would just try to bury it or run away from it quickly.

And so I think with mindfulness is you can really learn to turn toward it and find a way to really understand it and hear it without it paralyzing you so much.

So I went on a little jagged tangent,

Which is beautiful.

And that's the beauty of what we can do through this medium.

And it's about practicing,

Consistently fitting mindfulness into our day to help us manage stress.

And even if it's for a few minutes a day,

We can expand our minds and our expectations and strengthen and support self-connection and wellness.

And there is no right or wrong way to do this.

Sometimes we have all these expectations.

Oh,

We're supposed to do it like that,

Or we're doing it wrong.

And if we skip a day,

We kind of get off the schedule and kind of beat ourselves up over it.

And that's okay.

We can always get back on track.

You can take a jagged approach and journey into mindfulness and trust the process.

Experiences are non-linear.

Thinking is non-linear.

And our emotions are non-linear.

And certainly our life path,

Personally and professionally,

Is not always linear.

And that's what I'm talking about.

This jagged path to inner peace.

You know,

That thing,

It's like you're listening to this and maybe there's something in your life right now.

Maybe you want more time for yourself,

Or you want to get to a place where you're less stressed.

You want a more meaningful connection with yourself and the people around you.

I remember during my burnout,

I got to a point and I said to myself,

What I'm doing right now is not working.

And it was in that moment where I was looking for a lifeline and a clear voice within called out.

And it was telling me,

You have to do something different.

The way you're living right now is not working.

That was the first step for me.

And it was really hard.

It was a really hard thing to sit with.

What it did do is that it set me on a path to do something different for the sake of my health.

And here I am.

That's pretty much a testament to our courage,

Because we can try to run or cover up or push it down.

And that's the beauty of mindfulness.

It isn't about shutting off your mind or running away,

But it's really about accepting.

This is a message that my mind and my body are telling me,

And it's time to turn it around and find ways that are more supportive and that are sustainable.

Burnout is a very serious thing,

And I think many people experience it in their own way,

Or even if you haven't experienced it,

But you know at the end of the day,

You're so exhausted just by life and work and responsibilities.

So no matter where we are at,

We can meet the moments with courage,

Sync up with our compassionate wisdom,

And allow for flexibility to just be.

And that's what I really attribute that voice in me that said,

Hey,

Scarlet,

You've got to do something different.

And that was the compassionate wisdom,

And I ignored it for a long time,

But it kept coming back.

And it manifested in very many different ways in my life.

So let's get to it,

Right?

This is putting our practice into action,

Putting our energy and learning to focus our attention,

And investing in ourselves,

And investing in our health,

And getting some insight.

So I'm exploring many different scenarios here.

You know,

Maybe you're truly happy and satisfied with where you're at,

And that's a beautiful thing.

Maybe there's a couple of areas in your life,

Maybe it's stress reduction,

Maybe it's wanting to have a practice during your day that maybe helps you feel more grounded in your day,

Or just want to check in with yourself and recenter during the day.

Maybe there's people out there that truly want to be less stressed,

Or want to make a change in their life.

They just don't know how.

And that's okay.

We can practice daily with ease together.

We are all so unique and incredibly talented and resilient beings.

We share some commonalities.

We are wanting tools to help cope with everyday life stresses or want a direct line to our inner wisdom as part of our daily practice.

And figuring out if you don't know your learning style,

That's okay.

I'm going to talk about that.

And so some of the ways that we do learn are visual,

Auditory,

Reading and writing,

And kinesthetic.

And so as we're talking here,

And as we're looking at our learning style,

And trying to figure out why we want to meditate,

Or practice mindfulness,

Right?

Because figuring out that motivation will really help guide you and bring you focus and clarity and more energy during the day.

Or to what are some of the things that you want more in your life.

So for example,

Kinesthetic learners are going to be more engaged in mindfulness and meditation while moving,

Which describes me.

I'm definitely kinesthetic.

And visual learners are generally going to enjoy meditations with a strong visual component.

And while auditory learners do really well with mindfulness activities and exercises,

That use sound to anchor and focus the mind.

So wherever you land in the learning styles,

Maybe you lean towards one of them,

Or you're a combination of two.

If you're an auditory learner,

Close your eyes and listen to the words.

Feel free to repeat them aloud if you feel comfortable doing so.

If you're a more of a kinesthetic learner,

Feel free to move around while listening to the meditation,

Or try doing some yoga poses.

If you're more of a visual learner,

Feel free to keep your eyes open and focus on the visuals during the meditation.

Or find something in the room that is relaxing or pleasant to look at and focus on that while you're doing the meditation.

If you learn more by reading and writing,

Feel free to keep your journal and pen nearby and write down some of the words that you hear in the meditation.

There's so many ways to practice mindfulness and meditate.

And I encourage you to try all learning styles and find the ones that work best for you and incorporate this approach to your daily practice.

You can practice mindfulness on your own,

Anytime and anywhere.

Definitely,

I'm going to give you some tools to do that.

And remember,

It's not a destination,

But an experience.

So I hope you enjoyed this talk.

I hope you got a lot out of it.

And maybe there are certain topics that piqued your interest,

Or you were just like,

Yes,

That sounds just like me.

Or you had a question about a topic,

Or want to learn more about mindfulness.

And just a quick shout out before we part ways here.

I just want to say how grateful I am for you for this opportunity to connect through the art of mindfulness practice.

And until our jagged paths cross again.

Join us for the next episode,

Where we will learn about the art of loving kindness and discuss the benefits of when we unite the heart and mind in our daily practice,

Of course,

With the help of mindfulness.

If you meditate for just 12 minutes a day,

It can yield so many benefits for you,

Like increasing our focus,

Creativity,

Resilience,

And compassion.

So stay tuned.

The first meditation that we are going to do is one that I wrote and titled A Friend to Confide In,

Where we will practice the art of loving kindness.

We'll incorporate ways to unburden your mind and chill with mindfulness using elements of the four learning styles.

You do not want to miss this episode.