Mindful Monday: Routines + Brains + Visualization oh my!
Who here struggles with Mondays? I know I do – and I hear this from so many others, too.
After my brain injury, my brain lost the ability to handle multiple stressors and cope through them. Think of your brain as your iPhone 11 Pro: it is constantly updating information on your phone (weather, traffic, routing calls and messages, finding wifi or switching to LTE no problem, Siri is standing by to retrieve any info you could ever possibly need, you can have hundreds of apps running at once without skipping a beat).
My brain started working like a flip phone: still perfectly able to hand calls and texts (written in T9, am I dating myself?) but needing to focus on ONE thing at a time.
For months I struggled with the sudden, severe downgrade of my brain’s ability to operate at a high level. Simple things (like remembering to lower the garage door when I left) to complex things (like planning a day) took a LOT of energy and brainpower. I was dealing with constant high pain, disorientation, and so many other symptoms, along with my brain telling my body it wasn’t safe and not knowing what to do with that information.
When our brains operate as an iPhone 11 Pro, we don’t have to consciously THINK about tasks that have become automatic. Our brains make over 80,000 choices a day; most of them are unconscious.
Think about that for a second.
With a brain injury, my neural patterns got rerouted. It’s like driving on the freeway at 65mph, then suddenly the freeway is closed and you’re stuck in crazy traffic with no GPS, no cell phone battery and you have to pee.
MOST of my choices had to become conscious, and I got overwhelmed and overstimulated very quickly.
How on earth does this relate to Monday Mindfulness?? It does, I promise.
I had the opportunity through brain injury to consciously learn and choose new patterns, new routines, and new automatic functions.
It was NOT easy and it was NOT fun. It was really hard work.
And that is why it is so hard for us as humans to change.
First, we have to recognize that our brains are trained to respond, to react, and to create complicated executive functioning tasks (like our iPhones). We have to become aware of these programs running our lives before we can change them.
Enter mindfulness.
Once we are aware, then we can choose to continue running the program, or we can choose to change the program.
If you’re like me, you will expect yourself to have this incredible awareness breakthrough, and change your entire life in one hour.
And if you’re like me, you will be devastated when this doesn’t work.
I am at a point in my brain injury recovery when I teeter on the cusp of wanting to throw myself back into my “old way of being” (working long hours, doing it all myself, forcing myself to finish one last task before bed, having high expectations for myself, etc). Through mindfulness I give myself an opportunity to choose, rather than react.
As you might expect, this can be a tiring process (cue the migraines + other neurological symptoms I continue to experience as I recover). One tool that helps a lot is establishing routines.
Full disclosure: when my occupational therapist talked with me about creating routines 16 months ago, I thought, “Nice idea, definitely don’t plan to do that.”
Spoiler alert: I eventually had to, and it has helped me so so so much.
Because the thing is, our brains desperately need routine. So whether we consciously choose a routine or not, we will carry out a routine.
My routine became survival (coping with symptoms, pushing myself too hard, getting angry/frustrated/sad/scared/etc that I wasn’t feeling better fast enough).
When I was able to identify and change my routine, I started to feel better and heal.
MINDFUL MONDAY visualization technique:
If you would like for me to walk you through this visualization, I’ve recorded this exercise and posted it to my story HERE. Enjoy!
First, go somewhere you can safely sit (or stand, or lie down) for one minute with your eyes closed. Then, read this (or follow along on insta) and when you’re ready, close your eyes.
Take a deep breath in, and a big exhale out.
Bring to mind an intention, a goal, or a resolution.
Picture yourself after you’ve achieved your goal, kept your resolution, or fulfilled your intention. Create a really clear picture in your mind of what you look like, how you feel, where you are, and what you’re doing.
Breathe in to this vision of future you, and slowly exhale.
Open your eyes.
Take a moment to notice how you feel now.
Our brains are incredible in that we need to see something to believe it is possible to achieve it. That’s why athletes use visualization in their training. That’s why vision boards can help to reach long term goals. That’s also why many people do NOT reach their goals: there’s a small voice that casts doubt on our ability to achieve a goal. So we give up.
Take one minute a day this week to visualize your future. Let me know what your dreams, goals, vision, resolution, and intentions are (here, or on social). I want to know!
I’ll be back with a fun feature Wednesday on how to dress up your favorite lululemon (I’m a pro; I got married in lululemon and have presented professional talks on stage in lululemon). Then on Friday, I’m featuring a powerhouse lady who has been a major support + friend to me; I can’t wait for you to meet her!
Thanks for stopping by. Xo.