What Are Mindset Minisodes?
I’ve been hosting the Phoenix Helix Podcast for over 8 years, and there are now over 200 episodes in the archives! The long-form interviews you know and love will continue every 4 weeks. In between, I’ll be sharing short episodes inspired by my book: Healing Mindset – A Guide to the Mind-Body Connection for People With Autoimmune Disease. Stress is a powerful trigger of inflammation and autoimmune activity, and most of us have experienced stress-induced autoimmune flares. That’s the power of the mind-body connection working against us. However, we can also make the mind-body connection work for us! Simple techniques can help us relieve stress and send an anti-inflammatory cascade through our bodies instead. That’s my goal with these episodes. In each one, I’ll teach a simple technique you can start using right away.
Listen to the Show
- Subscribe to my podcast through your favorite podcast app: iTunes, Google, TuneIn, Spotify, Amazon, etc.
- You can also listen to the episode right here through the player below, and if you subscribe to my newsletter you’ll get notified of future episodes.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Bringing Mindfulness to Social Media
We spend a lot of time on social media without necessarily noticing how it’s impacting our mental, emotional, and physical health. Social media has both benefits and potential risks. Many people with autoimmune disease find like-minded souls on social media who may understand their experience better than nearby family and friends. However, social media is also linked to increases in anxiety, depression, eating disorders, loneliness, insomnia, brain fog, and more. So, what do we do? In this short podcast, learn a simple technique that allows you to see how social media is impacting you, and curate your experience accordingly.
Mindfulness Technique: Social Media Noting
- Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.
- Open your eyes and then open your favorite social media app. Pause—what feelings do you notice emerge immediately? Are you excited? Are you anxious? Do you feel like it would be easy for you to turn off the app, or do you feel compelled to be on it?
- As you scroll, what thoughts and feelings come up for you? Joy? Peace? Learning? Compassion? Inspiration? Validation? Or Judgment? Boredom? Frustration? Anger? Comparison with others? Sadness? Hopelessness? Low self-esteem? Superiority? Stress?
- Notice if some accounts make you feel better or worse than others, or does the whole experience have a similar feel?
- Finally, close the app, close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths again.
- This exercise can be incredibly enlightening. Based on what you noticed, you can unfollow accounts that increase your stress and add more accounts that are uplifting. You may also choose to take a social media sabbatical if the overall effect was negative, or if it was 100% positive, you may decide you don’t need limits.
- For me, I did make changes after doing this exercise. I have curated my social media feeds carefully. I use screen time features on my phone and desktop computer to limit the amount of time I spend on social media. When I do go on social media, I’m mindful about using that time well to connect with others and be uplifted, rather than the opposite. I also take one offline day every week where I’m not on social media at all. It’s the most relaxing day of my week. I share this as an example of what works for me. We’re all different. Try this technique to learn what works for you.
My Book: Healing Mindset
You May Also Be Interested In
Spreading the Word
If you like the podcast, please leave a positive review in iTunes. It would mean the world to me, and also helps others find the podcast. Here are some quick instructions using your iPhone:
- If you are already subscribed to my podcast: (1) Click the purple podcast icon. (2) At the bottom of the screen, click Library. (3) At the top of the screen, click Shows. (4) Click the Phoenix Helix podcast image. (5) Scroll down the page, and you’ll see Ratings and Reviews. Scroll down a little bit more and click on Write a Review. This will bring up the review screen. Tap 5 stars (if you love the podcast), and then click in the title box, and it will bring up the keyboard. Enter a title and short review. (6) Click Send in the upper right corner. (7) Thank you! Positive reviews give the podcast a higher search ranking in iTunes, helping people find it and letting them know it’s a quality podcast and worth their time to listen.
- If you haven’t subscribed to my podcast: (1) Click the purple podcast icon. (2) In the lower right corner, click the magnifying class. (3) Type Phoenix Helix in the search box. (4) Click the podcast cover in the Show list. (5) If you’d like to subscribe, click the + sign at the top of the screen. (6) To write a review, scroll down the page, and you’ll see Ratings and Reviews. Scroll down a little bit more and click on Write a Review. This will bring up the review screen. Tap 5 stars (if you love the podcast), and then click in the title box, and it will bring up the keyboard. Enter a title and short review. (7) Click Send in the upper right corner. (8) Thank you! Positive reviews give the podcast a higher search ranking in iTunes, helping people find it and letting them know it’s a quality podcast and worth their time to listen.
