This week on the #8 ranked stress podcast I share a life hack from my dear friend Rochelle. Each year she chooses a word to focus on for the whole year. The word is kind of a touchstone and an inspiration for how she wants to live through the year. Different from an intention or a goal, the word is just a gentle reminder of the ways she wants to show up in all the places she shows up. On this episode I talk through the practice, geek out on some neuroscience around the power of pointing your attention at a specific word and then invite you to choose a word and help your family members choose a word for the year. Thanks Rochelle for the inspiration for this episode! I'd love to hear what word you choose!
Lindsay Miller is a kids mindfulness coach, mindfulness educator and host of The Stress Nanny Podcast. She is known for her suitcase tricks and playful laugh. When she's not playing catch with her daughter or rollerblading on local trails with her husband, you can find her using her 20+ years of child development study and mindfulness certification to dream up new ways to get kids excited about deep breathing. Having been featured on numerous podcasts, platforms and publications, Lindsay’s words of wisdom are high impact and leave a lasting impression wherever she goes. To download Lindsay’s Mindfulness At Any Age Guide click here. To rate the podcast click here. Thanks for listening!
Lindsay Miller is a distinguished kids mindfulness coach, mindfulness educator and host of The Stress Nanny Podcast. She is known for her suitcase tricks and playful laugh. When she's not playing catch with her daughter or rollerblading on local trails with her husband, you can find her using her 20+ years of child development study and mindfulness certification to dream up new ways to get kids excited about deep breathing. Having been featured on numerous podcasts, platforms and publications, Lindsay’s words of wisdom are high impact and leave a lasting impression wherever she goes. To sign up for Lindsay's "Calm & Collected" Newsletter click here.
Lindsay Miller 0:07
You're listening to The Stress Nanny podcast, and I'm your host, Lindsay Miller. I'm here to help you keep an eye on your family stress levels. In our fast paced lives, the ability to manage stress has never been more important for kids or adults. When it comes to stress, we have two choices, we can decrease stress or increase our resilience to it. Here on the number eight ranked stress podcast, I interview experts and share insights to help you do both. When you tune in each week, you'll bring your stress levels down and your resilience up so that stress doesn't get in the way of you living your best life. I'm so glad you're here.
Welcome to The Stress Nanny podcast where our goal is to help you keep an eye on your family stress levels. I'm your host, Lindsay Miller. And I'm so glad that you're here. Some weeks on the podcast I interview guests and other weeks I share messages either from my coaching my teaching practice, or from my own life. This week, I want to share a story that's inspired by my dear friend Rochelle. Every year Rochelle picks a word. So at the beginning of the year, she thinks about kind of what she wants to draw close to her, what kinds of things and experiences she wants to have during the year. And what she wants to prioritize. And she's really intentional about choosing this one word for the year. So she'll go through some different ones until she kind of lands on the one that resonates the most with her and kind of represents her aspirations for the year. I've always loved watching her with this practice, I love like kind of seeing her stew over the words that she wants to choose and then really commit to a word, and then dive in and make that word a reality in her life throughout the year. And I think it's such a beautiful way to really and simply identify what we want more of right? Like what is the thing that would add richness, add meaning to our world, whether it has to do with like our relationships, our work, our education, whatever, you know, facet of life, we can apply the word to like, the more the better. So some of the words that she's chosen over the years have been really, you know, specific to something she was going through at the time. Other words have been more, you know, global. And so in your efforts this year to just start the year with intention, maybe you set a resolution or several resolutions, maybe you set goals. But what I really love about this practice of choosing a word is that it is just that, right? Like you don't have to do anything, you don't have to like check off any activity, you're just prioritizing this quality, or you know, this this type of experience or this thing that you value. So my invitation to you this week, is to sit down yourself and maybe make a list of five or 10 words, my list is still I'm still narrowing it down. But some of the things on there are priorities. Intention. Connection is one that I picked up from someone else that I really love. And I think that you know, as I'm going through this list and kind of trying to see which one sits well, in all the facets of my life, it's fun to kind of just narrow it down and figure out which word is going to be the word for the year. So as you go through this practice, the invitation is to consider some words, make a you know, a small list of the handful of words on it. That may be words that would inspire you help you feel grounded, or help you feel connected throughout the year. And then see, see which of those words apply the most universally, to your experience. So which of those words really speaks to how you want to show up at work. Which of those words speaks to how you want to show up in your family life, which of those words like choose the one that has the most broad application to your life, where you can apply it and keep it close to you, you know, no matter what you're doing, no matter which aspect of your life you're engaging in. So that's the invitation for you. So then you can take the practice and help your family come up with words. Now for teenagers, they may be words like fun, exciting, awesome, you know, those that may be as deep as it gets when it comes to picking a word for the year. But even at that it invites the teenage brain to focus on the moments that have those qualities. And the like teenage years, the mid adolescent years like those can be tricky years, right? Because a lot of things feel in upheaval. There might be friendship, tension, there's just a lot going on. So if it is of more positive word that can be really great because it can help kids point their attention in that direction. The way that I explained this to kids is idea that like if you were doing a word search If you are looking for a certain word amidst a jumble of letters, right? You tell your brain exactly which letters you need and in what sequence. And your brain gets to work, right. And it's looking looking looking and trying to figure out where the words are. So when we set an intention for the year, or choose a word for the year, like my friend, Michelle, our brains look for that word, right? Like, it's a focus all year long. So that might be a jumble of experiences, you know, like a jumble of relationships or activities. But whenever we have something fun, or awesome or exciting, or you know, inspirational, whatever the word is, jumped out at us, like, we're like, oh, there it is, you know, like in the jumble of my day, there was fun. And so even if your child chooses a word like fun or awesome, there's so much value in it, because their brain is going to key into the experiences throughout the day, they're fun, which can include, you know, really simple things to really grandiose things. But that practice in general is going to start training them to see things and be grateful for them to see the good things, you know, a glass is half full kind of mentality. So choose the word that you want more of. Also, that's the last bit of advice around this, if you want more of a quality in your life, choose a word that represents that. So if you have a teen or a child who maybe is, you know, struggling with some friendships right now, or is not feeling really confident in different activities that they're doing, you know, maybe their word is something like confidence, or maybe you teach them what the word passion means. And they figure out what things they really feel, you know, excited and passionate about. Home. Or maybe you're choosing, you know, you're helping them choose a word, like quality, time or connection. And they're able to bring in those moments, you know, more of them into their day to day life because it's something their brain is focusing on. So just this one simple act of choosing a word for the year. Again, kudos to my friend, Michelle for the idea and the practice. But really, this one simple practice of just choosing a word for the year can set us up for a really a really cool experience throughout the year, because we tend to have more of the thing that we're looking for. And then we tend to have a different kind of focus and connection with our life experience. Because we're tethered to this, you know, one word and the experiences, the people, the relationships and the things that that bind us to that word throughout the year. So I would love to hear what your word is. You can email me always at Lindsay@thestressnanny.com. Thanks again for listening. I hope 2023 is a great year for you.
You've just finished an episode of The Stress Nanny podcast. So hopefully you feel a little more empowered when it comes to dealing with stress. Feel free to take a deep breath and let it out slowly as you go back to your day. I'm so glad you're here. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for your support. It really means the world to me. If you're new, I'd love to have you follow the podcast and join me each week. And no matter how long you've been listening, please share this episode with someone who is stressed out. If you enjoyed the show, would you please do me a favor and go to ratethispodcast.com/thestressnanny and leave a review. The link is in the show notes. I'm so grateful for all my listeners. Thank you again for being here. Until next time!
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