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Hi, everyone. This is Jenny Monass from We Didn't Turn Out Okay podcast.
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There's a sense of acceptance in all of my greatest friendships.
And it's so easy to offer that to others.
But when it comes to me offering that to myself, it's incredibly difficult at times.
And that gap is where we can start to learn how to befriend ourselves.
Have you ever wished you had a wise meditation teacher on speed dial?
Someone you can call after a long day. Someone you could lean on for their advice. someone to listen and help you to see things differently.
Welcome to Dear Headspace. Hi, everyone.
It is time for another episode of Dear Headspace, a podcast where I sit down with one of our meditation teachers and we answer your questions about the moon, the stars and, you know, any new planets that my kids have told me about recently.
And today it is me and Dora coming at you.
Hi, excited to be here. And I love the moon and the stars.
Right. Producer Ash and I try to mix it up a little bit and have some fun with that.
And sometimes it gets a little weird. I'm not going to lie.
I'm here for the weirdness. I am. Ditto.
Ditto. How are you doing? I'm good. We just got back from Yellowstone National Park and I was frolicking in nature and it was the best work trip ever.
Oh, that's I mean, I watched on social media your trip and I was very jealous.
I'm not going to lie. Yeah, it felt really good just to be out there and like connect to the rawness of nature like there was a lot of wild animals there and you get to see them in their full like wild selfness out in the forest it was incredible and I think reminded me how yeah nature can be so beautiful and this thing that we love to adventure to but also like It's scary.
Yeah. Yeah. It's like things happen. You forget real things can happen out there.
Yeah. Yeah. So that was really fun. But how are you?
Well, I'm good. And I was going to say in an absolute contrast to you and your nature, I have just been like obsessively watching Ewan McGregor's series.
There's the long way down, the long way up.
There's all there's like three long ways.
And it's this documentary series about him and his like his very best mate, and they're just riding around the globe on my motorcycles.
Yes. But it made me think of a question specifically for you, which is, what would be the most amazing adventure that you would love to go on?
Oh, okay. I have two. One, I would love to drive and camp down, starting in Vancouver and all the way to Mexico, like that coastline.
I don't know why I just feel really called to do that drive, even though it's really long, but There's something about driving and listening to music and contemplating life that just feels really good.
The second one, and me and my cousin wanted to do this when I had graduated from high school, but then priorities changed.
I would love to visit every single state in America and eat like the food that is from that state and just like experience the different cultures.
Oh, my God. I love that. And it's so similar to my life goal, which is I want to do it with an RV.
And then I want to hit like all the things like Dollywood, the biggest ball of yarn.
What? Right. I want to see all the like a giant frying pan.
Like I want to do all that in an RV. But like every fourth day, I want to stay at like a Ritz Carlton.
Okay. So I'm going to need budget for mine.
Same. That's what happened to us. I'm like, we need budget.
It could be like a mindful eating exploration experience, deer headspace on the road, a tour, something.
I'm putting it out there. I feel like that's what's happening in your RV.
In my RV, it's just like we're watching TV and we're dancing like idiots.
I'm just thinking about the funding, Robin.
Right, right, right. Okay. Right. Well, Dora, I mean, listen, if you invite me, as I have mentioned, I will go on any adventure with you because I do think you're the best.
And, um, But we do have to, you know, do a show here because, you know, we've got questions to answer.
So I am going to transfer us over there because today we are going to be chatting about dealing with setbacks, with anxiety, being too self-critical, and how to remain playful as an adult.
These are going to be good. Yeah, every single time I'm like, I don't know what it is, but it's funny because whenever these questions come up, it's something that I'm currently working through in my own life.
Right, every time. And initially I used to think it was because I was picking the questions, but then now Ash is picking the questions.
So it's like either Ash has a detailed look into our brains or a lot of people also are going through these things at once.
Yeah. I mean, it could be a bit of both.
I believe in Ash's telekinesis. Well, he is a special human being.
All right. Here is Victor with our first question.
So I'm going to hit play on that. Hi, my name is Victor and I'm from Hong Kong.
My question really is about how to deal with setbacks.
I'm someone who only recently started my journey against anxiety.
And since then, I've had two real periods of panic attacks.
One sometime during January and the other sometime during March.
I did feel the second was less debilitating than the first.
But they were both so extremely uncomfortable experiences that I like to avoid.
And of course, that makes me dread about them.
Yeah, I just wonder how I should process everything and continue living life, experiencing everything to the best of my abilities while constantly having that fear inside of me.
That's a great question, Victor. And thank you for being so open about that, because that's what you're talking about.
It's not easy. Yeah, anxiety. I used to get really bad panic attacks back in 2010.
Yeah, 2010. And they were debilitating. So that, yeah, I feel my heart is like, I'm here with you, Victor.
And one thing that I was noticing, and this is something that I've learned, is he said two words.
He said avoid and against. And the way that I've worked with my own anxiety is to be with. and so when we try to avoid or fight against anxiety that's when it grows and it intensifies there's this metaphor or a story of the two arrows when you get hit with the first arrow there's the real pain and then the second arrow is like the judgment of that pain and that's similar with anxiety there's The anxious feelings that we get, the anxious thoughts, but then what can add on and intensify that feeling of it is our relationship to it, our response to it.
And so something that I've been really intentional with when working with my own anxiety, because it's still here, I'm not going to say that it's gone, but How can I be with the sensations, the feelings and thoughts that I'm experiencing in this moment and create like a safe space for that anxiety to be there and to work through it and not fight against it?
That's really such a good point. I've had. just a handful of panic attacks in my life.
Two of them were when I was pregnant. And I think that they may have been really estrogen fueled, but also literally panic of like, I was really afraid of giving birth.
And so I think it's really important like that you're talking about how debilitating they can be and how big it can be and how frightening it can be in the moment.
Because in my experience, when they have come up, it feels like, oh my God, what if I can't breathe?
What if I can't, like, I don't know how to do that.
And that's scary. It's a really scary place.
Yeah. It's, for me, it was terrifying. And I think one of the things that mindfulness has allowed me to do is to befriend my body in those moments, because really anxiety is our body's way of keeping us safe.
But, you know, sometimes it's very imbalanced and it gets to that point where we have that dread and those terrifying thoughts, or it gets really, really intense.
But And in those moments, if we can befriend our bodies, if that's possible, or maybe it's something that we work towards of like, in this moment, my body is trying to communicate to me something that is happening.
And how can I be curious about this thing?
How can I open myself to this thing in a safe way, but not betraying ourselves in those moments?
Because for a long time, I felt a lot of shame in getting anxiety.
It wasn't really talked about in my family as well.
So like, it just felt like this. weird thing that I was trying to hide but like I couldn't be out in public I had really bad social anxiety as well and I had to learn how to befriend myself and cultivate compassion for myself in those moments because I didn't really have anyone else yeah And I hadn't started going to therapy yet either.
So it was really, okay, all right, Dora, we're in this together.
You and me. We're in the mud together. Yeah, yeah.
And I think about, I think I shared this in another episode, but I always have the before, the during, and the after when we experience things like anxiety or stress or negative self-talk.
And The before of that is getting to know your triggers.
There's certain things that I know that are going to set me off.
And I'll have like, I use flower essences.
I have essential oils. I'll carry incense with me.
I have like a lot of soft purses and jackets because that's something I know that will help me to self-soothe in those moments if I'm out in public or something comes up.
So one of the ways that you can work with your anxiety is just being able to identify yourself.
There's certain triggers, whether it's like environment, environmental triggers or people, places, like really getting to know those triggers that you can carry things with you or have like a little toolkit with you to self-soothe.
Yeah. And to highlight two things that you said that I think are really important is listening to your instincts.
Like I knew I felt really stupid and like ashamed the first time.
And I was like, just knew I needed someone to sit with me.
And I felt myself being like, I'm not gonna ask, I'm not gonna ask.
And then I was like, I'm asking. So I think there's that listening to your instincts piece. but you also brought up when you were talking about yourself, Dora, that you were like, it was before I had a therapist.
And I think that's something that I would say to Victor, because I think it's your body telling you something is going on, but like that there's something that you need to process because your body's so scared.
So it's, I think it is important that if that's coming up regularly, that it may be, you want to speak to somebody.
Yeah, for sure. I'm, I will always say this every single episode, but therapy, because sometimes mindfulness and meditation, we're not ready for that yet.
And that's okay. I wasn't ready for it. It took me a really long time to feel comfortable to close my eyes and to sit with like the foreignness of my body, because that's something that anxiety can do.
You kind of, you get confused about what your body's doing and there's a disconnect with your body.
Sometimes you can disassociate, which is really terrifying as well.
And A therapist or a licensed professional is someone that can hold space for you to process because processing is so, so important.
So therapy. We are nothing if not a constant reminder of how helpful therapy is.
Yeah, yeah. I love that. One of the things my therapist told me and she'd always ask me like, but what if you did just feel this for a moment? you know, what is going to happen?
And so that is what encouraged me to like, okay, I can, I can sit with some of these emotions or feelings that are arising in my body and, oh, I'm still here today.
Like, you know, but yeah, sometimes it's like, so when we were in Yellowstone, there was a baby bison that was trying to cross the water.
And it's reminding me of this situation, but there was a lot of hesitancy, right?
Of getting into the water. The river wasn't that deep, but there was still that like hesitation.
And the mom was looking at it like, you can, you know, you got to do this.
I'm not going to help you out. But it's only when you like do the thing and you sit and you go through it just like the baby bison did.
It was like, oh, I can't, I can't do this.
I can't sit with this feeling even just for a moment and just notice what arises and it's okay.
And I think that's something that can be helpful when working with anxiety is noticing things Your self-talk, like what are you saying to yourself in those moments as well?
Because that can add on to the anxiety that we're already feeling if we're like, I shouldn't be feeling this way or things should be different.
I noticed Victor had said that he's had two panic attacks.
One of them was really debilitating and he noticed the second one wasn't as bad.
And I think noticing that shift is really, really important of like things are changing now. and things are happening and to reaffirm yourself in those moments of like, things are getting better or in this moment, I'm feeling a little bit better or things will be okay.
Or I don't know, being, being on your own side in those moments and doing that through self-talk.
Well, Victor, that is just, thank you for this question.
It, We're with you. I mean, if you didn't hear that in our answer, we are saying it again because I don't think you're alone.
I think there's a lot of anxiety in the world right now.
And so just being aware of it is really the first step.
Yeah. And Kes has a really great meditation in the app, Managing Anxious Moments, which I highly recommend.
I've used it a bunch of times. Oh, I love that.
All right. So let's go on to our next question.
Dear Headspace, I'm Arena. As a kid, I had an amazing and fun childhood.
I used to play every single day with the neighborhood kids and my cousins in the backyard.
We all had bicycles and we raced and played cricket every day.
But as we got a little older and approached high school, we started to gradually stop playing.
Now I'm 30 years old and living abroad alone.
It's been about 15 years since we all last played.
However, I cannot stop thinking about how we all stopped playing.
My life has a good balance of work and hobbies, but the thought that we stopped playing and that we are aging makes me feel really sad and anxious.
How can I bring a similar kind of joy to my life as an adult?
Thank you so much. I absolutely love this question because this hits me on two levels.
Like I'm watching my kids grow up and you watch them start to become more, you know, like trying to adapt into adults and being less like, I don't want to say less free, but just more conformed to, I think, what they think an adult looks like.
And I'm always, I always have a sadness about watching that loss.
But at the same time, I have this group of friends who, that I can do anything with, that we are absolute idiots.
And I mean that in the best possible way, like we will put on music and just turn into it.
Like I went to see one of my friends this past weekend and we, you know, we were about to go to bed and I was like, I feel like we just need one song.
And it was midnight and we had, we were in her kitchen and we had the speaker on a hundred and I was handing out spoons for fake microphones.
And I feel like that's coming back into my life as I get older.
And as I'm like, I'm exploring this idea of I don't want to not be free.
I don't want to worry. I don't want what people think to hold me back.
So it's like, I love this question because it's such a big life thing.
Yeah. I think what you said about watching your children, like that's one way that I connect to play.
I have a niece and for three hours, whenever I'm with her, we'll just run up and down.
I don't know. She has all these toys, but I think she knows that I can keep up with her and we will just run the entire time.
And There's this sense of just like freedom and such a deep sense of joy with her that I'm like, this is play.
Yeah. And how can I incorporate more of these moments?
Not necessarily running up and down for three hours, but just more of these like lighthearted moments into my everyday life.
And maybe it starts with not taking myself so serious, you know, because I noticed that with Irena and her question, she was saying that it's the thought of aging and the thought of she doesn't play so much that is making her sad and anxious.
And I wonder what it would feel like to notice those thoughts in the moment, you know, because it is a it's just it's a thought.
Right. And it sounded like she kept on thinking about the same thing over and over and over again.
And the power of mindfulness is being able to interrupt those cycles, those thoughts and choose something else that feels good.
Taking yourself less seriously. I mean. I was really anxious to get older.
I just turned 30. You better stop it, Dora.
You better stop it. Listen, it was, and now that I'm saying it, it sounds wild because I'm so, yeah, I'm really grateful for life.
But when I would get lost in that thought loop of like, I'm getting older.
Have I done enough? I don't play enough.
Like I don't, all these things I don't, I don't, or things are, you know.
I would just get caught up in this spiral.
And I'm so grateful for my practice because I was able to interrupt those things.
I'm like, life is beautiful. Yeah. There's so much I can choose to be grateful for in this moment.
And I started to laugh at myself of like, what a thing.
Yeah. Yeah. Like even how you're laughing now, like 30 isn't that old.
No. You know, I'm like, I'm still here. Life is great.
But I was getting so caught up in the thinking about the thing that I
I missed out on a few really important moments when I was 29, you know, cause I was already thinking about 30.
So, but it's, you know, that's, I think that's such a great point for arena is like, what is the thing that's really behind it?
Like I said, for me, it was always what I would be worried about what people would think about me.
And I would have these moments that lived in my head that I would never do because I was too worried about it.
And then I just started giving that up because I was like, what am I missing because of that?
So like, what's the thing that's stopping you?
And then there's got, there's a million ways to find play in your life.
What are those things that you want to do, which you're afraid of?
I always think those are the ones to run to, you know, just, I feel like if you spend five minutes watching a kid, you see that freedom and that ability to run in and out of things.
Like a good adult game of hide and seek is hilarious.
And I know this because I've done it with my same four friends.
Yeah. I love that. I used to love hide and seek.
Right? I used to love sardines, which was like reverse hide and seek.
Yes. And I think what this is bringing up for me and what stops me most of the time is that judgment part of like, I'm going to be at work playing in the office.
What are people going to think? I'm a meditation teacher.
I can't be playing sardines. I'm a freelancer.
Am I going to get fired? I'm supposed to be getting paid right now.
Yeah. Yeah. So noticing those judgmental thoughts that we have around play or creating without an outcome or not having to share certain things on Instagram, that's things that I will get caught up in, especially when I'm wanting to play or just have fun for the sake of having fun of like, maybe this is a content worthy moment, but it's like, I don't want it to be that.
I just want to be fully absorbed in what I'm doing and enjoy myself and not have to think about the end product.
So yeah, noticing judgmental thoughts. And the other thing that I was thinking about is how so much of this healing work that we do always brings us back to our childhood and She had mentioned playing cricket when she was younger and riding bikes.
And I wonder what it would feel like to do those same things again now as an adult, like returning to those things that brought us so much joy as children and connecting to your inner child.
Like, what does your inner child want today?
Yeah. and honoring the needs, giving yourself permission to honor whatever it is that you're needing in your inner child.
I so agree. I so agree. You know, there, there's also a little bit of a moment in Arena's question about, it sounds like missing her cousins and her childhood, you know, back home.
So I'm wondering like, you know, is, could that be a part of it as well?
What, what do you think about that? Yeah, I mean, for sure.
I love, my family is very tight knit. My mom has seven brothers and sisters.
They all grew up in a, one bedroom home.
And so me and my cousins are all very, very, very close.
We're all like brothers and sisters. And there's moments where I just have this like deep yearning to connect with people that understand me.
And whenever we're together, we play as if we're children.
And I can relate to that feeling of like wanting to be connected to people that feel like home.
And maybe you plan dates or you can do like Zoom meetings or something for you all to connect. to work through those feelings because family for me is so, so important.
And I think one of the biggest regrets that I always have in my life is like waiting until there's a graduation or a wedding or, you know, something to see my family instead of keeping up with them and staying in touch in our everyday lives.
So finding ways that you can incorporate them into this play thing, you know, what does that look like for you?
I'm curious what that would look like for you, whether it is Again, doing Zoom calls or setting up like a game night or video calls, whatever the thing may be, but finding ways to connect to them in a way that feels good for you.
I love that. I absolutely love that. All right.
So I'm going to take us to our next question.
Here we go. Hi guys, my name is Deombe and I'm 22 years old from Virginia and I wanted to know in this lifelong journey of looking inward, how do I stop myself from spiraling with mean thoughts and self-critical thoughts about myself?
A little bit of background on me. I'm about to graduate college with a mechanical engineering degree.
I'm also a D1 track athlete. And although I feel very proud of these accomplishments, I feel like I belittle them with the fact that I feel behind them. in comparison with my peers in terms of relationships, because I've never had a boyfriend before.
And then that kind of spirals into me feeling so self-critical about how anxious and worried I feel all the time, which spirals into how I'm not doing enough.
And it just goes on and on. And I think Sam or Robin talked about being your own best friend and your own lover and I guess I just wanted to try like how do I do that I journal a lot I read I exercise but I just feel so guilty for not being the perfect like person and I I guess I just want to understand like how did you guys develop so much self-compassion thank you Oh, that would have.
I mean, what a nice question. I mean, we first have to say congratulations, Deambi.
You're about to graduate. That is no small feat.
So congratulations. I mean, congrats on everything.
It sounds like you're killing it. It does.
It does. And when I hear a lot in that question, like she used the word spiral a lot.
And that's something I'm very, very familiar with.
You know that just like you start in one place and then it's like a wormhole thing. it's a wormhole of stories about yourself that are not kind.
And I am very familiar with that. I am with you.
Me too. I recently caught myself in that spiral as well of not doing enough.
And I always come back to questioning and investigating my thoughts.
Like, is this helpful? Is this true? What are the facts?
How does this feel to think this way? What am I choosing to believe in this moment?
Because When I look at the reality of my life, it's like I probably have too much on my plate, you know, and I'm doing quite enough.
But also when I compare myself to others, it feels like I'll never be enough.
And that's something to really be mindful of.
Comparison is the thief of joy. It's the thief of the present moment.
We can get so lost in the idea of other people in their lives, not realizing that It's like the tip of the iceberg.
Like there's so much underneath the surface in everyone's lives.
And it's so easy just to look at the surface of someone's life and be like, oh, they're doing so much more.
But I'm sure if you sat with that person.
There would be something that you connect with, right, of how you're not doing enough.
They probably feel like they're not doing enough as well.
And yeah, there's always so much more that's there.
And it's hard to, especially on social media, you never get to see those moments.
No, it's all everybody's best selves. whether they're their true selves or not is a completely different question.
Yeah. And I was also a late bloomer as well.
I didn't have a boyfriend until I graduated from high school.
I'm grateful that I also didn't. Like there was a lot of things that I was behind in.
And now as I look back at it, I'm grateful that there was a lot of things that I missed out on.
And Yeah, just being grateful and also compassionate.
I love that she asked, like, how do you become your own lover or your own best friend?
And something that I'll do, is it okay if I guide you through this reflection practice?
Is that fine? Yes, please. Okay, so this is something that I teach in the Befriending Your Body course, but I want to invite you to think of a few of your greatest friendships.
So think of the people... memories. Maybe notice what's going on in your body as you reflect on these friendships.
And then begin to think about the different qualities or characteristics that make these friendships so great.
So maybe there's a sense of acceptance, understanding, patience, What is it about these friendships that make them so awesome?
And now inviting you to think about what it would look like to give yourself these things.
So maybe it was these friendships are safe, or they feel free, or there's a certain sense of patience again and understanding.
What would it look like to offer yourself these things?
And then we can come back. And just notice, like for me, something that came up was, okay, there's a sense of acceptance in all of my greatest friendships.
And it's so easy to offer that to others.
But when it comes to me offering that to myself, it's incredibly difficult at times.
And that gap is where we can start to learn how to befriend ourselves.
Yeah. I'm curious what came up for you.
That was so beautiful. But what came up for me was support.
And it's so funny that you just impromptu did that.
Like, I wish everyone could understand, like, that's not scripted.
That's just like, that's where Dora's heart and mind went.
And I think that's what's so beautiful about this show.
But in doing that, it made me think, you know, about D'Ambe, like, I really want to say this, like, I hope you get how wonderful it is that you are asking this question at 20 something.
Like at 52, I'm starting to, for the first time in my life, be compassionate to myself and I and wake up and while I'm journaling, right?
You know what, I'm feeling funky. I'm going to be really gentle with myself today.
That has started this year. So I can't beat myself up for not having done it.
But I can now like applaud the fact that I'm starting to understand how to support myself.
So good on you for these questions. Yeah.
And the thing about befriending ourselves is oftentimes you want to befriend ourselves in those moments when we're doing really great.
But, you know. It's easy to pat yourself on the back sometimes.
We got to befriend all of it, right? I believe, I strongly believe that every single version of who we are serves a purpose.
And, you know, sometimes you want to discard who we've been maybe 10 years ago, not knowing that there's so much wisdom that's there that we can learn from.
And so for anyone that's listening to this, like the work is to befriend yourself in all moments.
And it's hard. It's challenging. It's so difficult.
But again, if you can Think of those friendships and begin to offer yourself those things that you maybe give so freely to others.
That's where the healing can begin. And, you know, D'Ampi said it's a lifelong journey and it is.
Fortunately, unfortunately, it's a lifelong journey, but it's so beautiful to be able to witness your evolution.
And there's so much space and grace in that.
Like, I don't have to get it all right today.
I have years ahead of me. So, yeah, I love this question so much.
I do, too. I do, too. And in that compassion for yourself comes a serenity and a calmness.
Yeah. That that I like I'm starting to feel because I'm being kinder, you know, and I don't get less done because I'm a person who had a whole running narrative of calling myself lazy.
Meanwhile, I have like 400 jobs. And I, you know, but yet if I missed an afternoon because I was doing something nice for myself or even I had a cold, I'd be like, oh, you probably got susceptible because you didn't want to do this.
And it's like none of that is healthy or kind.
And, you know, and starting to sit back and look at it and be like. you know, yeah, you got a lot of work to do, but like you always get it done.
So you'll be fine, Robin. Like I'm talking to myself, like there's a little person inside me that needs to hear it.
And that has freed me up too. I'm curious when you say that you feel lazy and for you, Diombe, I'm not feeling like you have done enough or you need to be perfect.
Like whose eyes are you seeing yourself from?
What is the standard that you're measuring yourself to?
Because again, like sometimes we're not looking at ourselves through our own lens, right?
It's like society or societal narratives or our parents or friends or all these different things.
And I'm really check in with it. Like you just said, you have 400 things going on.
It's like I am doing a lot. I'm not lazy at all, you know, but I'm yeah, I'm curious for you.
Like, where does that sense of laziness originate from?
You know, what's really interesting is I don't have an answer to that question.
And what happens when we just like let like let that go for a moment?
Well, I mean, what's what's interesting is like my first thought is like it's all it's all I mean, forgive me, but it's all bullshit.
It's all made up. And if I can't even say who's the person who made me feel that way, why am I still feeling that way when I know that's actually not the truth?
Talk about how wired that all is. And that's a quagmire of crud.
Yeah. And that's why it's so easy to get stuck in the spiral and get lost in it because we're in our own minds.
But then when you can question those things, whether it's through mindfulness or meditation, whatever your practice is, maybe it's with a therapist as well, you realize how transient and how impermanent all of these things are.
They're based on cloud, like nothingness.
Or something that happened when you were four sometimes, you know.
Yes, yes, for sure. So I think I said this at the beginning, but investigating those thoughts, like where...
Where is this coming from? And who am I comparing myself to?
Like, what is my own measure of success or enoughness?
And how can I allow myself to be the standard instead of placing it in someone else's hands?
There's so much power when we can take that back for ourselves.
Amazing. Well, again, congratulations. Like, I mean, if you're not saying it to yourself yet, let us be the first.
We are. Yes. You're doing great. Yes, you are.
Well, those were just, I mean, I'm feeling a certain way right now.
Those were all incredible questions. And thank you, Dora, for just, you know, putting me on the ropes a little bit in the best possible way there.
That was really unexpected and a delightful treat.
Thank you. You know, what's been so cool, Robin, is seeing your own evolution on the show.
Like, I feel like when you sit with mindfulness and meditation teachers, you have no choice but to grow.
You really do not. You really do not. It's been really beautiful just to see you, yeah, be on your own journey.
So thank you for being here with me and with us.
Well, thank you. I want to say also a huge thank you to our callers today, Victor, Diambe, and Irena.
I mean, again, the show never stops. It doesn't exist without you all.
So we really appreciate it. And if you are at home, I don't know, you're in your car and you just had a thought of a question that you've always wanted to ask a Headspace teacher, it's time to submit it.
All you've got to do is go to sayhi.chat slash Dear Headspace.
That link is going to be in the show notes as well.
And if we use your question, you're going to get three months of Headspace for free, which is pretty cool if you ask me.
And you can use it, you can share it, whatever works for you.
And now, as always, we're going to take a moment just to sit back and relax.
We talked a lot about a bunch of different things today, and we're just going to take a moment to integrate with the soothing sounds of a campfire by a lake.
Until next time, stay happy, stay healthy, and be kind to one another.
Dear Headspace is a Headspace Studios original podcast.
It's produced by Robin Hopkins, Ash Jones, and Scott Sorensen.
It's executive produced by Morgan Selzer, Sarah Cohen, Barron Farmar, and Danny Karisamy.
It's hosted and produced by Robin Hopkins, Kaysonga Giscombe, Dora Kamau, Samantha Snowden, and Eve Lewis Prieto.
Sound recording and post-production is by Dan Kroll.
Music is by Scott Sorenson and Chris Mergia.
And a very special thanks to Colleen Lutz.