How to Plan the Post-Lockdown Future of Your Dreams and Coping with Emotions with Dr Tara Swart #116
Dr. Tara Swart, a medical doctor, neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and MIT lecturer, discusses practical self-care micro-habits, journaling, and creating a vision board to navigate stress and uncertainty during and after lockdown. She emphasizes being kind to oneself and finding personal growth.
Deep Dive Analysis
13 Topic Outline
Introduction to Easing Lockdown Anxiety and Self-Care
The Power of Journaling for Emotional Processing
Navigating the Kubler-Ross Change Curve in Households
Discovering Personal Strengths and Resourcefulness During Confinement
Embracing Micro Habits for Stress Resilience and Self-Care
Tara's Morning Practice for Head, Heart, and Gut Alignment
Exploring Spirituality and Universal Connection
The Phenomenon of Vivid Dreaming During Global Crises
Reflecting on Relationships and Intentional Living
The Importance of Routine and Schedule in Challenging Times
Creating a Vision Board for Post-Lockdown Life
Coping with Anxiety About Society Returning to Normal
Final Practical Tips: Reviewing Neural Pathways and Body Gratitude
5 Key Concepts
Kubler-Ross Grief/Change Curve
This is an old psychological model, later adapted for business, that describes the emotional journey through unexpected change, shock, or grief. It outlines stages like shock, denial, anger, depression, and eventually finding meaning and acceptance, noting that individuals may move through this curve multiple times and at different rates.
Interoception
Described as a 'sixth sense,' interoception is the understanding of the physiological state of the inside of your body. This includes awareness of internal sensations like breathing, digestion, or the dryness of your skin, contributing to overall self-awareness.
Universal Connection / Collective Unconscious
This concept suggests that humans are connected to each other in ways not fully understood, and possibly to a greater universal force or consciousness. It is supported by phenomena like widespread vivid dreaming during global crises, which indicates a shared emotional processing.
Selective Filtering & Value Tagging
These are natural brain processes that help manage the vast amount of information we encounter. Selective filtering focuses attention on what's important for survival and thriving, while value tagging orders these things by importance, influencing what opportunities we notice and pursue.
Entrenched Neural Pathways
These refer to deeply ingrained ways of being, including habits, behavior patterns, childhood roles, beliefs, and value systems that have been present for a long time. Understanding these pathways is crucial for personal development and making intentional changes.
8 Questions Answered
Journaling is most effective not just for downloading thoughts and emotions, but for reading back over entries to chart your emotional journey or personal development, which helps make sense of things and understand where you are emotionally.
Different individuals in a household may move through the 'change curve' (shock, denial, anger, depression, acceptance) at varying rates, which can create tension. Understanding this helps recognize and address potential conflicts or disharmony.
Micro habits, even as short as five minutes, are invaluable because they consistently send a signal to your brain that you prioritize yourself and your well-being. This builds resilience to stress and makes self-care achievable even when time and mental bandwidth are limited.
Choosing something you enjoy or find meaningful creates a positive intention and produces endorphins, which in turn creates a motivational pathway in your brain. This makes you more likely to repeat the activity and derive greater benefit from it.
Spirituality is something felt in one's spirit, integrity, or values that cannot be fully explained by physical, mental, or emotional factors. It can also encompass a sense of universal connection to others and a greater force, such as the collective unconscious.
Vivid dreaming is a phenomenon observed during times of global uncertainty and anxiety, like world wars and the Holocaust. It is a healthy emotional processing mechanism where the brain works through background anxieties, often tapping into a collective unconscious.
A vision board, or 'action board,' helps by priming your brain through processes like selective filtering and value tagging. By creating visual imagery of how you want your life to be, your brain is more likely to notice and grasp opportunities to make those visions a reality.
To reduce anxiety, set your 'goalposts' further away by thinking about the return to normal as a more distant event (e.g., months away). This reduces immediate pressure and allows for pleasant surprises if things ease sooner, helping to maintain perspective.
23 Actionable Insights
1. Cultivate Self-Awareness through Journaling
Engage in journaling not just to download thoughts and emotions, but to read back over entries and chart your emotional journey or personal development. This helps make sense of things, surface anxieties, and understand your emotional state, especially during unexpected changes.
2. Understand Emotional Change Curves
Use psychological models like the Kubler-Ross grief/change curve to understand your emotional journey during unexpected changes, which typically moves through shock, denial, anger, depression, and then finding meaning and acceptance. Journaling can help surface where you and others in your household are on this curve to reduce tension.
3. Prioritize Solitude for Self-Understanding
Dedicate some degree of solitude in your day for reflection, whether through journaling or simply sitting quietly. This time is crucial for understanding your own body and mind, and subsequently, for understanding others.
4. Embrace Micro-Habits for Self-Care
Integrate small, consistent self-care actions into your daily routine, even if it’s just for five minutes. These “micro habits” signal to your brain that you prioritize yourself, building resilience to stress and fostering a sense of well-being.
5. Create Environmental Triggers for Habits
Place items that remind you of your desired habits in visible locations, such as a yoga mat in your bedroom or a kettlebell in your kitchen. This visual cue acts as a trigger, making you more likely to engage in the activity, even for a short duration.
6. Focus on Positive Intentions
Choose habits that you genuinely enjoy or find deeply meaningful, as a positive intention or desire increases the likelihood of adherence and the benefits received. Associate the action with self-care and self-love to enhance its impact on your brain and body.
7. Practice Head, Heart, Gut Alignment
To gain deeper insights and make aligned decisions, ask a question to your brain for a logical answer, then do deep breathing and ask your heart for an emotional answer, and finally, do deep breathing and ask your belly for an intuitive answer. This practice helps tap into different levels of self-awareness.
8. Be Kind, Manage Stress
Acknowledge that it’s okay not to have acquired new skills or found enlightenment during stressful times. Prioritize self-kindness and simple stress-reducing activities, like taking a bath with magnesium salts or drinking more water, to help your brain and body cope.
9. Prepare Self-Care Essentials
Proactively ensure you have the necessary items for your self-care routines, such as ordering magnesium salts before you run out. This simple act of preparation is a form of self-care that supports you on challenging days.
10. Do Self-Care First Morning
If self-care is important to you, make it the first thing you do in the morning. This helps ensure it gets done before daily distractions and responsibilities take over your time and energy.
11. Establish Daily Routines & Schedules
Create and adhere to a daily routine and schedule, even during periods of confinement or uncertainty. This structure, whether through mealtimes or dedicated activity slots, provides stability and helps maintain mental well-being.
12. Document Self-Learnings via Journaling
Use journaling to document new insights and learnings about yourself that emerge during significant life changes. This helps capture what has surfaced and what you’ve learned, informing how you want to live going forward.
13. Create Vision Board for Future
Develop a vision or “action board” using visual imagery to represent how you want your life to be different after a significant period of change, such as lockdown. This primes your brain to notice and grasp opportunities to make your desired future a reality.
14. Design Vision Boards for Subconscious
When creating a vision board, use visual imagery and metaphorical representations rather than words or numbers, as this resonates more strongly with your subconscious. Arrange images to reflect desired life balance, with more images for a full life and more space for a life with room to breathe.
15. Combine Activities with Loved Ones
Actively seek ways to combine your personal growth, work, or other activities with spending time with your children and partner. This approach allows for shared experiences and ensures that quality time with loved ones is integrated rather than seen as separate from other priorities.
16. Be Intentional with Life Choices
Approach your life with intentionality, recognizing that your choices shape your future. Maintain awareness and set clear intentions to actively choose how you want your life to fundamentally change, rather than passively returning to old patterns.
17. Manage Anxiety by Shifting Perspective
To cope with anxiety about future uncertainties, such as the easing of lockdown, set your mental “goalpost” further away (e.g., thinking about things returning to normal in several months). This reduces immediate anxiety and increases the likelihood of being pleasantly surprised if things improve sooner.
18. Use Visual Focus for Perspective
When feeling anxious or short-term focused, perform a visual exercise: spend one minute looking closely at a small object (e.g., your palm, a leaf), observing every detail. Then, spend another minute looking at a large object far in the distance (e.g., a big tree, a building). This helps shift your brain from anxious mode to a broader perspective.
19. Grant Permission for Extended Breaks
If you have the financial means and truly need a break, give yourself explicit permission to take an extended period off (e.g., several months) rather than constantly deferring the decision in short increments. This reduces ongoing stress and allows for genuine recuperation.
20. Embrace Unplanned Time Off Fully
If circumstances lead to an unplanned day off, embrace it fully rather than feeling frustrated about unfinished work. Give yourself permission to disconnect from emails and workload to genuinely rest and enjoy the time.
21. Reflect on Entrenched Neural Pathways
Use periods of change to explore entrenched neural pathways – long-standing habits, behaviors, and beliefs from childhood, family roles, and value systems. Understand how these might be helping or hindering you now, particularly regarding your personal boundaries.
22. Practice Body Gratitude
Engage in a “body gratitude” exercise by going from head to toe, either in the shower or while moisturizing, and thanking each part of your body for its functions and condition. This practice fosters a sense of well-being and appreciation for your physical self.
23. Support Oral Microbiome Health
To support immune health, consider using a toothpaste, like Zendium, that aims to increase good bacteria and reduce bad bacteria in your oral microbiome, which is an important part of your body’s natural defense system.
5 Key Quotes
Be kind to yourself. It's okay to not have acquired any new skills or found enlightenment.
Host
Wherever you go, there you are. Well, at the moment, there you are all the time, 24-7, you know, you can't get away from yourself.
Dr. Tara Swart
Even if you just lie on your mat for five minutes, then you've done, you've connected with your yoga mat every day.
Dr. Tara Swart
If something's important to you, if you're self care, do it first thing in the morning.
Dr. Tara Swart
The best time to plant an oak tree was 200 years ago, the second best time is today.
Dr. Tara Swart
4 Protocols
Dr. Tara Swart's Morning Alignment Practice
Dr. Tara Swart- Ask a question you are working on to your brain for a logical answer.
- Do some deep breathing.
- Place your hands on your heart and ask the same question for an emotional answer.
- Do some deep breathing.
- Place your hands on your belly and ask the same question for an intuitive answer.
Creating a Vision Board (Action Board)
Dr. Tara Swart- Use a piece of paper or card (or a digital app like Pinterest or Corkulus).
- Collect visual imagery that represents the things you want, especially how you want your life to be different after lockdown.
- Use only images, no words or numbers, and ensure they are metaphorical representations.
- Arrange images on the board to reflect your desires; many images for a full life, or more space between images if you want more space in your life.
- Place images that represent related aspects (e.g., work and family) near each other on the board.
Perspective-Shifting Exercise for Anxiety
Dr. Tara Swart- Look at the palm of your hand, a leaf, or a flower very close up for one minute, immersing yourself in every detail.
- Immediately after, look at a really big tree or a building far away in the distance for one minute.
Body Gratitude Practice
Dr. Tara Swart- While in the shower or moisturizing your skin, go from head to toe.
- Thank each different part of your body for what it is doing (e.g., lungs for breathing, skin for protection, hamstrings for information).
- This can take one to two minutes and can be built up over time.