Unlocking Emotional Wealth Through Authenticity

Can gratitude and grief coexist harmoniously? Join me on this transformative episode of the Lift One Self podcast, where we challenge the conventional understanding of emotional well-being and mental wealth. I recount my own experiences with prioritizing personal grief amid life's tumult, aiming to illuminate the path toward emotional authenticity. Through practical tools like emotional time mapping, two-chair dialogue, and movement medicine, we unlock strategies that empower us to embrace our full range of emotions, cultivating a richer sense of gratitude without sidestepping the uncomfortable.

2025 brings its own chaotic challenges, but within this whirlwind, there lies an opportunity to nurture mental wealth by grounding ourselves in the present while honoring all facets of our emotional journey. This episode invites you to reflect on the balance between gratitude and grief, encouraging you to share your stories and insights with our community. By acknowledging the spectrum of our experiences, we reinforce the understanding that true healing is rooted in feeling. As we navigate these complex emotions, remember to extend kindness and gentleness to yourself, allowing for growth and resilience in the face of adversity.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Exploring Mental Wealth and Gratitude
• 16:07 Mental Wealth With Gratitude and Grief

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Lift One Self podcast where we explore the power of feeling for healing. I'm your host, nat. Nat. Right now, who else is feeling the weight of the world? We're witnessing global shifts that feel overwhelming from political upheavals to environmental crises, like these fires in LA, now fires in the Bronx. From economic uncertainty to ongoing conflicts, like what is this thing about Canada and the US. Yet today I want to share something deeply personal with you.

Speaker 1: 0:39

In the midst of processing all these global events, I have had to make a conscious choice to prioritize integrating my own grief, particularly my grief for Natalie. You know, it's like the airline safety demonstration we have to put on our own oxygen mask first, mass first. I've learned that I cannot show up fully for others, for these global conversations or for this podcast, if I haven't first honored my own emotional landscape. This journey has taught me the importance of having the right support system in place. One game changer for me has been incorporating Magic Mind's focus and sleep products into my daily routine. During the day, their focus products help me maintain the mental clarity I need to process these complex emotions, and at night, their sleep product helps me find the rest my mind and body need for integration. You see, for me, sleep previously used to be a challenge. My mind used to race trying to find solutions, trying to process what was going on and in actuality, it was avoiding feeling my authentic emotions. It was avoiding feeling my authentic emotions and now, with the grief of Natalie, that insomnia and waking up several nights has come back. Why there's some deep emotions I need to feel and process, and I'm thankful that I have now discovered this sleep product that I've recently tried with them. If you're interested in trying this complete 24-hour support system, right now they are giving a 45% discount with my link. Go to magicmindcom forward slash lift one self gen. You will find that link in the show notes. So if you're really interested, I highly suggest you go try it, and they do have a money back guarantee. You don't know what you don't know until you try something new. Now, with you know, finding the right tools.

Speaker 1: 2:54

This journey has led me to today's topic mental wealth and the true meaning of gratitude. Not the Instagram perfect version of gratitude, yet the raw, real, sometimes messy practice of emotional authenticity. Let's talk about what mental wealth really means. It's not just a positive thinking or forced optimism. Mental wealth is about building an emotional capacity that allows us to hold multiple truths simultaneously. It's about creating an inner sanctuary where all of our feelings have permission to exist. Here's what I mean. I can feel immense gratitude for the life I have, while also feeling profound sadness that Natalie isn't here to share it. These emotions aren't contradictory. They're complementary parts of my human experience. Gratitude isn't meant to be a bypass for difficult emotions. Be a bypass for difficult emotions. It's meant to give them context to help us understand the full spectrum of our experiences. What really irks me sometimes is that when somebody is feeling profound depths of helplessness or sadness, people try to use the gratitude and be thankful is people try to use the gratitude and be thankful rather than hold space to let them feel and process. Listening is a skill that many of us have not developed, and to be able to listen profoundly do deep listening means that you're able to feel your own emotions and not shy away and fix somebody else because they're in their dense emotions. Let me share some practical strategies I've discovered for building this kind of authentic mental wealth Emotional time mapping Create dedicated space in your day for different emotional experience.

Speaker 1: 5:06

I set aside 20 minutes each morning for what I call grief time where I deliberately connect with my memories of Natalie and, as you know, I capture memories, so you know the ones that I have of pictures and videos. They touch me to my core and they have me emoting. This doesn't make the rest of my day sadder. Instead, it gives my grief its own sacred space. There was this. Other one is the two chair dialogue. When feelings seem to conflict, I literally set up two chairs. In one chair I express my gratitude, in the other I voice my pain. This physical practice helps integrate seemingly opposing emotions. Recognize there's always a conflict within us. Recognize there's always a conflict within us. There's always more than one truth, more than one experience that is going on at the same time and at times we feel that we have to pick one over the other rather than letting them coexist. It's always this black and white and you don't want to be in the black and white. You want to be in a ray of a spectrum to honor your authenticity and what you're experiencing.

Speaker 1: 6:32

Another tool is sensory grounding. When overwhelm hits, I use the five, four, three, two, one technique Notice five things you can see, feel, four things you can touch. Listen for three sounds. Identify two scents. Taste one thing, this brings you back to your body. When the mind feels scattered and when your mind is in overwhelm, your work is to come back into your body and feel and identify what is the emotion that is triggering all of this overwhelm, and most of the time and a lot of the time is the sense of helplessness. So when you can have a better relationship with helplessness and being out of that sense of control, you start to be able to regulate your nervous system and be here in the now.

Speaker 1: 7:32

Another tool is movement medicine. Physical movement isn't just about exercise, it's emotional release, whether it's gentle yoga, running or simply swaying to music. Movement helps process emotions stuck in the body and when you have deep grief you need some high vibration emotions or some really slow ballads that will help to draw out those emotions and allow your body to express them. Dancing is my number one movement medicine and what I recommend to my clients. When we hear exercise, it can feel really daunting to a lot. Yet dancing is play, and what does the nervous system need to regulate is play. So dancing doesn't feel so daunting and it feels a sense of creativity and expression. So use that dancing to be able to engage and feel those emotions.

Speaker 1: 8:37

Another tool is boundary setting with news consumption. I've developed what I call the 10-10-10 rule 10 minutes to read news, 10 minutes to process feelings about it, 10 minutes to identify one small action I can take Now. For me, I don't intake the news. I intake it through social media and what people say, and then I go to Google to fact check because, let's get real, social media has been a whole mess and people are taking things that happened five years ago and making it seem like it's right now. Why? Because they love to incite fear and fear gets people in a disarray and there's some control. When people are in fear, they're looking for safety. So be very mindful of how much news you're intaking and be very adamant to process those feelings and then identify one small action you can take right now, and it doesn't mean it has to relate to that news. It's what's one action you can take right now, and it doesn't mean it has to relate to that news. It's what's one action you can take for yourself to be present right now and feel like you're contributing to society. Now one of my biggest tools is mindful moments. So please join me in taking this moment for yourself.

Speaker 1: 10:05

Find a comfortable position and, if it feels safe to do so, close your eyes. Now take a deep breath in through your nose and gently release it out of your mouth. Take another deep breath in through your nose and gently release out of your mouth. Notice where you feel tension in your body Now. Continue breathing in and out through your nose and bringing your awareness to your breath. Don't try to control your breath. Just be aware of its rhythm, allowing it to guide you into your body. There may be some sensations or feelings, or you're more aware of more tension in other places in your body. That's okay. Let yourself feel it. You're safe to feel. You're safe to let go. Surrender the need to control, release the need to resist and just be. Be with your breath. Drop deeper into your body Now, as you breathe. Imagine creating a space around that tension. No need to change it, just observe it with curiosity. Now, keep your awareness with your breath.

Speaker 1: 11:56

With that tension, there may be a memory, an emotion, an experience that has popped up. Allow it to surface, yet don't hold on to it. Let it pass through, while still staying with your breath now, while holding that tension and dropping deeper into your body, allowing there to be. Ease and relaxation. Bring to mind something you're grateful for and also something that brings sadness. Allow both to exist together. You're safe to allow yourself. Just feel both. Notice how your heart can hold both experiences. This is your mental wealth growing your capacity to hold life's complexities with grace. Continue staying with your breath. Continue staying with your breath. If need be, take some deep belly breaths in there and when you're ready, at your own time and at your own pace, you're going to gently open your eyes. Remember, building mental wealth isn't about reaching some perfect state of being. It's about creating an inner environment where all parts of your experience are welcomed and honored. Some days that means celebrating small wins. Other days it means sitting with profound loss. Both are equally valuable deposits in your mental wealth. Account For those of you navigating your own grief while trying to stay engaged with the world, know that you're not alone.

Speaker 1: 14:30

Your capacity to feel deeply isn't a weakness, it's a strength. Capacity to feel deeply isn't a weakness, it's a strength. Your grief is evidence of love and your ability to still find moments of joy doesn't diminish that love. Create your boundaries of honoring your capacity. Don't go with the mask of perfection and trying to be something other than what you are right now, because your emotions will run rampant if you're not willing to feel the depths of your emotions and they'll hijack your behavior. So take time. If it takes a day to reply to somebody's text, it takes a day to reply If it takes a moment to catch your breath while speaking to somebody. Allow that, allow the grief to be integrated at your own time and pace and honor yourself.

Speaker 1: 15:26

Today I want to offer you something special a mental wealth quick start guide. It's an interactive check-in tool I've created as a Google form, making it easy to access whenever you need a moment to ground yourself. It includes emotional check-ins, quick grounding exercises and gentle reminders that all your feelings are valid. You'll find the link in our show notes and you can use it as often as you need daily, weekly or whenever you feel overwhelmed. Speaking of support, don't forget to check out the Magic Mind Focus in Sleep System I mentioned earlier. The 45% discount link is also in our show notes.

Speaker 1: 16:07

These products have been instrumental in my own mental wealth journey. I'd love to hear how you're building your mental wealth. Share your journey with our community using hashtag. Lift oneself mental. How do you hold space for both gratitude and grief. What practices help you stay grounded when the world feels chaotic? And 2025 came in with a bang, with surely a lot of chaos. So how are you holding space for yourself to be grounded? Remember, feeling is healing and true gratitude isn't about denying our pain. It's about embracing our whole story, with all its chapters, both light and dark story with all its chapters, both light and dark. Until next time, be kind and gentle with yourself as you build your mental wealth. You're doing better than you think.