Dealing With Overwhelm - The Story Of 2 Stallions: Diabetes

This meditation is for people who live with diabetes. The session begins with a short discussion on becoming overwhelmed and a story of two stallions. A guided meditation follows that offers healing and peace to the parts of the body most impacted by diabetes.

Transcript

My name is Patricia Daker and I am the owner and founder of Better Diabetes Life and it's a company that's dedicated to helping with the other side of diabetes, Which is the part that I found to be the most difficult, Which is adapting and learning how to deal with this in the long term. So we'll learn a lot from our doctors about medical information, But I found that we don't always hear a lot about how to actually manage and deal with it. So that's what I'd like to bring to you. Tonight's topic we're going to talk about overwhelm, When it's just all too much and I think we've all been there, So I thought I would spend some time talking with you about that. We'll do that and then we'll do another guided meditation like we did last time, So thanks to everybody. Hi, Teresa and Jane. Hi. I guess the other thing I would ask right now is that if you know somebody who has diabetes who's struggling, So I know this meditation may not be for everyone, But if you think of somebody, You might shoot them a quick text and ask them to join because it's easy. You just have to sit back and listen. So it's the best, Easiest diabetes education, If you want to call it that, That you'll ever get. Let's see, What else? So we'll do a little talk at first and then there'll be guided meditation. There's a time for Q&A at the end if you have questions. As we go through this, There's no right or wrong way. Whatever happens for you is good and okay and you don't have to be a professional meditator to do any of this stuff. I really just want you to enjoy it and relax, Right? This is going to be a gift to yourself. There's going to be a couple times when I kind of ask you to visualize your body doing some things and if you don't know what's actually helping or actually going on at a cellular level, Not a problem. It doesn't really matter because you're subconscious, Your inner person knows, So that's all good. Okay, So to get started, I always like to take a deep breath, Deep breath and relax. You know, As people who live with diabetes, We have a lot of extra stuff to do in our day and all that stuff that we have to think about can really be a hardship on your life. Last week, We talked about the fight or flight response and how it keeps you in this worried, Triggered on high alert state, Which is exhausting. Tonight, We're going to talk about something just a little bit different and it's overwhelm. So with all the things we have to do with diabetes and blood sugar, Did my eating right, Did my exercising, Am I doing it enough? You know, How am I going to pay for this? Did it wasn't the doctor's appointment? Does my doctor understand? Who doesn't understand? You know, It can get to be a lot and then we throw in personal finances, Kids, Soccer games, You know, All the other bits of life, Financial matters and it can get to be overwhelming. And so when we talk about our fight or flight response, There's also a third part of our sympathetic nervous system and sympathetic is a 911 hypervigilant, I'm protecting you state has purpose. But we can have fight, Flight, We also have freeze and freezes when we just get stuck. And to me, Overwhelm feels like getting stuck, Right? So there's just too much going on. Can't make sense of it. No matter what you do, It doesn't seem to work. So it's not uncommon to just sort of give up and stop. In the medical community, What you know, As my bedside practice as a nurse, We call this non-compliance. I've always hated that term because sometimes you do your darndest and it just doesn't work or life and other priorities get in the way. So let's talk a little bit about overwhelm. So overwhelm can be having to process too many thoughts, Right? So much stuff going on in our brain. One other thing if you're new, I practice a holistic approach to managing diabetes. So holistic means body, Mind and spirit. So body is your blood pressure, Your blood sugar, Your organs, We're going to give them a nice sweet gift tonight. Your mind is the part that really can go into hyper overdrive and really run your resources down. So we can actually tap into our spirit person. That's where our passions and, You know, Our true self lives. And that part never gets tired. So it's always got energy to give if we give it the floor. So when you think about overwhelm, I don't want you to think anymore. I don't want to try to explain a concept to you and have you noodle it and see what you're doing right or doing wrong. So I'm going to tell you a story. Story taps into our child part, Right? We all love stories and most stories we hear have some sort of fairy tale, It has little underlying meaning. So that's what we're going to do tonight. So I'm just going to invite you to sit back and listen. I want you to use your imagination and picture my words in your head. You're likely going to have your own interpretations of what I'm going to offer to you. And that's okay, Whatever. It doesn't have to be what I actually tell you. But I want you to tap into your inner person, Your story, Your imaginative side. So here we go. This is the story of two stallions, Right? Okay. Let me make sure I've got everything. Okay. So I want you to imagine there are two stallions. They are running free on the range. Imagine their manes flapping in the breeze, Their hooves clomping as they run through the field. They're happy, They're sweating, They're having a great time. The sun is out. It's a beautiful thing. These are wild and running free stallions. It doesn't matter what color that you think they might be, Black or brown, White, Anything. These stallions are running free. And as it happens, The stallions become captured. Each different horse is captured by a different owner. They're taken to a new place with new rules and new surroundings against their will. Neither horse wanted to be taken. Neither horse really cared for the place they were taken. They didn't like their new surroundings. It was unfamiliar, Different sights, Smells, Tastes, Sounds, Expectations. They didn't know where to go. They didn't ask for this treatment, Nor did they deserve it, But that's where they found themselves. To look from the outside at these two beautiful stallions, You might notice their eyes wild, Their nostrils flared. Maybe they're sweating and panting, Prancing around, Rearing up. They don't want to be there. So you see these wild, Crazed animals out of control. Now each of these stallions has a different sort of owner. The first owner looks upon the stallion and notices it and thinks it's aggressive and mean and needs to be tamed. It's wild. It's uncontrollable, Something to be feared. And this owner breaks the stallion with rude comments, With a whip, With repetitive motions until it breaks and it gives up. It's harsh and it's painful. Eventually the horse gives in and just does what it's asked. No more, No less. And that part that liked to run free gets smaller and smaller and smaller. It becomes overwhelmed with everything it has to do. Too many new chores, Things done not the way it wants to be done, And an owner who is critical because the horse doesn't know the way immediately. Over time the horse's coat begins to become dull, His eyes flat, And his passion is gone. And at the end of the day, He does his master's bidding and that's about all he does, Just what he's asked to do. The other horse, The other stallion, Has an owner who recognizes the fear. He knows that the stallion is afraid, That it's been put into place with unfamiliar surroundings, And that it's not a dangerous animal, It's a scared and frightened animal. This owner approaches with a soft voice, Offers kindness, Patience, More like a horse whisperer, Gentle tone, Allowing for many, Many attempts for the horse to become comfortable and familiar with the surroundings. As the horse and owner become more comfortable with each other, They come closer. The horse at some point allows the owner to brush its hair, To touch its forehead, To put its hand to its face. And at some point, The horse, The stallion, Begins to trust this new owner, Even to the point to allow a saddle to be put on its back. As the owner and the stallion become closer, The stallion trusts the owner enough to let him ride. At first they ride in an arena in a small pasture, As they both come to trust each other more. The owner understands the horse, The horse begins to understand the owner. And eventually they break out into the pasture, And he goes to the old familiar places where he used to run and have fun in the sun, Only this time he's got his owner with him and they enjoy it together. And his owner takes him to new places he hadn't even thought of or dreamed before. So even though his life had changed, He found value and benefit in seeking new territories and was able to get back to his passion and his love. So there's two similar stories and two different outcomes. So, Right, So there's, Hopefully you're drawing some analogies with diabetes and frustration. So I want you to think about who are the horses and who are the owners, Right? Because I think many of us with overwhelm, We feel like the first horse. Hopefully some of us have found a little peace and passion and maybe we've become more like the second horse. But I want you to know you are both the horse and the rider. So the diabetes part of you is the horse that didn't want this, Didn't ask for this, Didn't like it, Doesn't understand these surroundings. But you are also the owner and your tone of voice, Your ability to let people in and allow how you will be treated, How you talk to yourself, Your expectations of yourself, Your kindness with yourself, All of those things will help you to calm and find your way back out, If that makes any sense. So the owner is the voice in your head, Right? It could be very critical, Harsh, Demanding, Unforgiving, And nothing is ever good enough. And that voice will lead you to overwhelm because it will never be appeased ever, Ever, Ever. That voice will never have enough. It always wants perfection and more. You have a choice to change that voice in your head when you notice it and be kind to yourself and not listen to the harsh words of others, Not to let them get under your skin, Right? So that's just a brief story. I hope those pictures and those images sit with you and maybe give you a little insight about how you're caring for yourself and what you're allowing really to get into your, I'll say pasture, Right, If we're going to be the horse. Okay, So now the next part we'll do the meditation. And this part is, Again, I'll try to use some of the metaphors we just used in the meditation, But this part is really just to gift yourself back. So our bodies have to deal with a lot of stress, Emotional, Mental, Imagined, And all of those stressful responses elicit reactions in our body. So what we do now is we give our body back some healing and comfort time because Lord knows we all have enough stress and hardship and worry and overwhelm, Right? And so if we don't know how to move forward, Stopping and being kind, Then we might think of this meditation as maybe offering an apple to our stallion or brushing its mane, Right? We're going to gift ourselves something back. Part of overwhelm is all of the external expectations we have about ourselves. So this exercise is an inward exercise. It's something that's going inside. It's going to turn our fight or flight response off, And it's going to turn on our parasympathetic state, Which is rest, Restore, Heal, Rebuild, All that good stuff, Right? I want you to give yourself permission to take your stress and worry, Your overwhelm, Any feelings of inferiority, And I want you to put them up in the box. We're going to put them in a box. We're going to put them on the shelf, And we're going to leave them there for a while. So everything that we worry that we need to do, It'll be there when we're done. We're just going to give it a moment. Okay, So let's close our eyes and sit back. So when you close your eyes, We'll take a few deep breaths. I also want you to realize and connect with all the others on this call. We have a shared experience. As you hear me, Others hear me, Then our collective spirit and consciousness come together, And that can be very powerful. So we'll take a deep breath, Close your eyes, Exhale. Let your heart rate slow down. Let your shoulders relax. Let your jaw relax. We'll set an intention for this meditation for our highest good and most peace and calm we can give ourselves. As you breathe in again, Exhale. Turn your attention inward into your heart. Place your hand over your heart and feel the warmth of your hand resting on your chest. Notice your heart rate slowing down, Your heart rate beating steady and strong as it pumps blood throughout your body. As we turn inward, We'll travel to the blood vessels feeding our heart, Returning from the body to the left side of the heart where our heart pumps, Accelerating the blood flow, Shunting the blood to our lungs where we get rid of waste products, Oxygen, Water vapor, And we inhale life, Light, And oxygen that's returned back to the heart through the right side of the heart and it's pumped and accelerated through every aspect of your being. It also pumps blood to the heart muscle itself. Imagine you're traveling in those blood vessels. The blood vessels are pliable, Soft, Resilient. The inner walls of these blood vessels are smooth and clean. If you happen to notice a rough spot, Any abrasions, I want you to call to mind from your immune system and your healing parts of self to come and fix these little bumps to melt away any plaques or rough spots. Breathe again. Feel your heartbeat. Your heart that never stops, That holds all your love and sometimes holds your stress. As you relax, Let that stress go so your heart beats fully, Easily, And effortlessly. Offer thanks and gratitude to your heart for this tireless work it does. Sometimes we leave the heart, We'll travel down past the diaphragm into your abdomen. In the abdomen is where many of your processes take place. The organs that do their work need blood flow, Oxygen, Nutrition, And other fluids to do their job. When you're in a state of stress, Those resources are diverted to your extremities, Your limbs, In case you need to fight a flight. Now we're going to give ourselves permission to turn inward and notice our digestion. Your digestive tract is an amazing, Amazing organ that takes things that aren't living, Allows you to process and eat them, And somehow, By some miracle, Turns it into your living body. Diabetes can often impact the blood vessels in the nervous system of your stomach. Our immunity and immune system come from our stomach, Our digestive area. So having good blood flow and calmness in this area can help boost our immunity and improve healing. As we turn inward and pay attention to our digestive tract, We notice our stomach, Slow and calm. We imagine a warm wave traveling through our abdomen, Past the stomach, Into your small intestine, Where waves gently and easily propel everything as it should through your system, All the way to your large intestine. Any tension or stress held in your abdomen is given permission to stop and be released. Take another deep breath, And as you exhale, Relax and soften your belly. Next we move to your kidneys. Your kidneys sit in your back, Just above your waistline, Beneath your ribs. On either side, There are two organs that are very vascular, Meaning there's many, Many blood vessels. The kidneys do the work to control the removal of toxins from your blood, To help with water balance, To help with blood pressure, And also to regulate sugar. It can happen if your sugar is too high that the smallest little capillaries become clogged and blood flow is interrupted. Right now, I want you to imagine you're traveling through your kidneys and the blood vessels are opening and allowing the blood flow in. If there's damage, Release all the healers and workers to this area. Even if you don't know how it happens, Imagine all the necessary things to heal and repair, Flooding this area of your body. Breathe and relax, Letting your blood pressure come down, Your kidneys open up, Blood flow improve, And healing to occur. As we leave the kidneys, Turn your attention inward, Travel to the right upper side of your abdomen, Beneath your diaphragm, Just below the right ribs. This is your liver. Your liver is a very important organ that does many, Many different things. It helps regulate toxins in your body, It helps with blood clotting factors, It helps with digestion, And it also helps with glucose. There are stores of glucose in your liver that are released in anticipation of the body's needs. This is especially true if you're stuck in fight or flight or worried. Even if you don't know how it happens, Imagine a door in your liver that opens to allow access to a storage unit full of glucose. When we get stuck in a fight or flight state, You can imagine the door gets stuck ajar and glucose is constantly pouring back into your bloodstream. Once again, Imagine blood flowing to your liver through beautifully open, Pliable, Permeable, And effective vessels carrying nutrition, Healing, Fluids, Oxygen, Love, And light through this part of your body. At this point, Your liver is doing all the great things it needs to do because it's in a restful state. Blood flow is rich and abundant. Breathe in again. As you breathe, Your abdomen moves, Which gives a nice massage to all your internal organs. From your liver, Move just midline behind your belly button where your pancreas lives. The pancreas may be in many different states of use or disrepair. Some of us make some insulin, Some make too much, Some make none at all. Your pancreas has other functions. It helps with digestion and other regulatory hormones. In this organ, We offer healing. Imagine a warm glow just behind your belly button. Breathe in and imagine the blood flowing, Bringing all the necessary oxygen, Light, Nutrition, And healing to this part of your body. If you live with type 2, It's often possible that your pancreas is overstimulated and exhausted. Offer healing, Kindness, And rest to this pancreas right now. We thank the pancreas for its job, No matter how well or broken it may be. It's still part of us. Breathe in again. We'll travel downward to the legs. From the lower pelvis, There are two very large arteries that go down your legs. Turn inward again through these blood vessels and travel down. These are large blood vessels. Notice the glistening, Inner lining. Again, These blood vessels are soft, Supple, With blood flowing freely past the knees, Past your lower extremities, To your ankles. If it happens that there's excess fluid in your feet, Imagine the rapid blood flow picking up this excess fluid and taking it with it. We travel through the feet to the very furthest part of our body, Our toes. Blood flow to this area is the most remote and most gravity-dependent part of our body. It can be that it's hard for the blood to return. Even if you don't know why, Imagine the circulation being restored, Even if you don't know how. Imagine fluid being shunted back up into the main part of the body. Imagine blood vessels opening to deliver healing, Oxygen, And light. Allow new blood vessels to grow if they're necessary. Notice any tingling, Any pressure, Any tightness, And give it permission to be released. Breathe again. Notice any tingling, Any sensation inside. As we think about our feet, Offer gratitude for the work they do to carry us about our day, To take us where we need to go. As we leave the feet, We travel back up, Back up through your legs, Past your knees, Back through your torso, Up to your shoulders. Take a deep breath at this point and relax those shoulders. Let them go, Reducing tension. And now we're going to travel down our arms. Once again, Imagine you're inside the blood vessel, There are blood cells floating past you, Oxygen, Nutrition, Glucose. Down both arms, Past your elbows, Past your forearms, And into your hands. Turn your hands upward so your palms face up. Take a breath. And once again, Imagine morphs traveling through each finger. As blood flow maximizes, The vessels open, Rich nutrition, Love, And light gathers and swirls through your fingers, Relieving any tension, Any tingling, Any pain, Or any numbness. Grant yourself this gift. Before we leave the fingers, We want to talk and bless and honor any part of your body that you use that requires a poke, Whether it's a pump, Blood sugar stick, A needle for insulin, A CGM pump, Pen, Any part of your body that has to endure the poke and the pain for the good of the rest of the body, Whether it's your skin, Your fingertips, The heels of your hands, The backs of your arms, Your abdomen, Your thighs, Your lower back, All those places that do the tough work, That withstand the pain so we can know what our blood sugars are, So we can do what we need to to treat and manage our glucose levels. Travel back up your arms into your neck. Make a swallow. Relax your jaw. Relax your teeth. Breathe. Turn inward. Travel up through your neck and into your brain. Your brain is your neurological center, Processing so much information, Making sure you're safe even when you're not awake. The brain requires glucose, Oxygen, Love, And light. We want to imagine all the blood vessels delivering this rich goodness, Doing their job perfectly, Effortlessly through very smooth blood vessels that bend and flex and slow as needed. And our body is gifted with everything it needs in our mind. Travel from the back of your head to the top of your head to the front of your forehead. Gently travel down to your eyes. Turn inward. Put your attention inside your eyes. Relax the muscles in your eyeball socket. Relax your eyes. They don't have to see right now. They can just be. As you turn off your visual need, Imagine the blood flow, Again, Going to the small capillaries in the back of your eye, The small vessels that can get gummed up or disrupted due to high blood sugar levels over time. You want to clean those blood vessels out. Imagine that everything fluid, Clear, Effortless, Delivering all the good nutrition, Healing, And immune substances that are needed to do any work. Relax your eyes again. Now put your attention behind your eyes, Between your ears, And above your tongue in the center part of your brain. From this very center of your mind, Give permission and execute orders to your body to heal everything that needs healing. Give permission for your body to ignore the needs of your arms and legs and muscles because there is no worry right now. Give permission for your body to regulate your blood sugar to the perfect level. Let it stabilize. Let it come to where it needs to be and ask your body from your command center to do this work. Do a body scan from head to toe and see how you feel. Breathe in to any parts that feel tight, Any parts that feel anxious, Any parts that need your attention. From this place in your mind's eye, Turn back to the stallion, The stallion that's afraid and overwhelmed, That needs some attention, That needs understanding, And needs time and patience. As you think about your stallion, Bring your hands to both sides of your face and let the warmth of your hand offer you comfort. You deserve peace. You deserve wellness. You deserve patience. Breathe in again. Relax. You are okay. You are breathing. You are here right now. From this place of being okay, I want you to put your attention above your head into a cloud and imagine that everyone on this call is joined together in that cloud. As we come together as one, I want you to turn and offer healing to the person next to you and take healing from the person on the other side as we gift and exchange our common goal to feel better and to be at peace. Slowly blink open your eyes from this peaceful and relaxed state. Your parasympathetic system is turned on. You are in rest and digest mode. You're healing. You're restoring. You're replenishing. If you take your finger and your thumb together in the okay sign, Push those fingers together and lock in that feeling. Notice how your body feels. Notice the calmness and the peace. Anytime you need to return today, Tomorrow, This week, I invite you to press your fingers together and use this physical symbol as a mental reminder of this experience. That concludes the meditation piece. I hope you found that helpful. If anyone has any questions, I'd be more than happy to entertain them. Hi, Yvonne. Great. Hi, Siobhan from Houston. Hey, I'm in Dallas. And Annette. Hi. So yeah, Hi, Teresa. Curious what you thought about the stallion. Let me know if that resonated with you, If that felt like you're overwhelmed. Hi from Vietnam. Oh my gosh. Hi, Honk. That's crazy. Hi. Yeah, Let me know what you thought. So healing. Thank you. I'm glad. I enjoy doing it myself. It's so nice. We deserve this, Right? It's hard to live with broken parts, Right? What do you think about the topic of overwhelm? Do you feel overwhelmed? I know I have. Even though I've been doing this quite some time, There are days where diabetes is just too much, Right? Yes, It gets to be hard. So again, What I don't want you to do is feel like you have to deal with overwhelm, Like you have to deal and think and do overwhelm perfectly, Right? Because that just adds to the one more thing to do. So that's why I did the story where you can kind of catch yourself in this moment and kind of think back to the stallion, Think back to what they need. Yeah, Doing great. So yeah, I think the story is just a good way to A, Not beat yourself up, To find grace and peace and healing. And it's just a good way to shift from one mode to another. So Hong, I see, Yeah, Hong, This is for people who live with diabetes. I have type 1 and we do this sort of little educational, Inspirational and meditative guided imagery, I guess, To help heal and gift back to our body. This is my second one. I'm thrilled that everybody that joined. So I'll open up for a couple more minutes if anybody has a question, I guess. Oh, Housekeeping stuff. So there's a donate button up there and Insight Timer is able to allow us to provide these things for you because of your graciousness and your donation. So if you feel called to do that, The donation button is right there. If you're interested in what I have to do, You can learn more about my practice and what I do from my website, Which is in my bio. And if you want to be notified of these lives, Then you just need to follow and like me. I'm not sure if it's a follower like or what actually it's called on Insight Timer. Oh, Hi, Jane. Thank you. You know, Everyone on the call from 8, 500 feet in Colorado. I love that. I'll take the clouds. That's such a lovely image. It's awesome. Yes, You found it. It can apply to a lot of situations. So what I offer for diabetes is very focused on diabetes because I understand that stress and I feel like we don't get a lot of that. But the truth is these tools and techniques are helpful for anyone. But I just really like bringing it to this group because I just don't feel like, Again, If you didn't get the first part, I've been a nurse for 35 years. They don't talk about this in nursing school. It's just what you should do in doctor's orders, Right? And noncompliant patients who don't meet the mark. Well, I don't believe any of that. I think we all do our best and there's a lot of other stuff that gets in the way. And we all carry a lot of baggage around with us that makes it harder. And feeling judged and feeling like a failure and feeling inadequate does nothing to help us keep going, Right? So we need to feel confident and able and capable and curious. And we need to feel possible. So those are the things I would like to cultivate in every person that lives with diabetes so that you can deal with whatever comes your way. And you will figure it out. There is no one perfect solution for diabetes. I can say 100% every person I've ever met with the illness, The disease, The condition, However you like to call that, They all have their own unique way, Right? What works for one doesn't work for somebody else. And so what you need are tools to help you figure out your way with your finances, Your children, Your climate, Your doctors, Your access to things. It's just there's too many variables. And so if we can build resilience, Inner peace, And I guess real quick I'll end on my coaching, The five principles that I try to instill. So one, There's education. We honestly always have to know our body and what's going on. And that's an evolutionary process. It never stops. Although the medical community would say, We give you this information and you're done. I've found that it's always evolving. Two is emotions. You know, Our emotions make us do crazy things. It makes us do things we don't want to do. All right, I'm going to be really good and then we don't. I'm happy, I'm sad, I'm overwhelmed. A lot of these emotions have chemical things happening in our body that actually make it more difficult for us to deal with what we need to deal with. So we need to understand those emotions. Motivation, So what makes you do what you do? Depending on how you're motivated, You know, And it could go back to the stallion tonight, Right? Are you motivated by strict and, You know, Somebody that's very authoritative? Are you motivated by somebody that's open and nurturing? Most of us like nurturing. Ownership is principle number four. So again, Your body, Your decision, Your day, You know, Every day you are 24-7 responsible for every possible thing that you can do. And we have doctors, Providers, Nurse practitioners, Friends, Colleagues, Clinics, So many people, Dieticians that can give us information. But at the end of the day, We have to synthesize it. We're the only one that knows how we feel, That knows what we're willing to do, That knows all the different subtle cues in our body like this works or this doesn't, Right? And the last one is communication because I feel like, And I know personally I felt like I, Like people don't understand, I say things and it doesn't get across and so we have to learn how to, Oh thank you Hong, I appreciate your donation, That's so sweet. But communication is a skill. All of those things have nothing to do with diabetes, But if you don't work on some of those skills, Your diabetes will be much harder to manage, Right? So okay, I think I'm not seeing a lot of other questions. I so enjoyed this. I am going to try to make this a Monday night practice and I know a couple people said could there be some other times, So maybe let me know what times might be good for you. And the other thing I'm doing is I record these, So I'm doing the post-production on the one I did last week so that they would be out there and available and you could re-listen whenever you wanted to. Okay. Alright guys, I'm going to sign off. Again, My name is Patricia Daker with Better Diabetes Life and thank you for joining this Insight Timer Live session that really helps focus on the needs of people with diabetes. Okay, Take care. Thanks my diabuddies and my friends. Talk to you soon. Bye bye