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Inspirations

Week of November 16th

UNRELENTING CRISIS

Is it just us, or have you also observed an increase in chaos? The holiday season is nearly here, and we are feeling very aware of the emotional intensity and challenges to our Wise Minds this year has brought. Last week we asked you to attend to your Three States of Mind. This week, we will be building on Wise Mind awareness and thinking about Unrelenting Crises.

 

A seemingly uncontrollable domino effect where we feel victim to the environment around us is not a foreign experience for most. Imagine this: you have a cold, you forgot to pay your credit card bill, someone rear ended you, you broke a plate, and lost your keys. If you have ever had a week like this, then you are not a stranger to one of the expressions of an Unrelenting Crisis. What if, in addition to considering the environmental factors at play, we also proposed that we play a role in our suffering?

 

Sometimes in extreme states of mind, we make unwise decisions that then either contribute to an already chaotic state, or create new chaos. The holiday season tends to be a time of year where we make some emotion mind decisions, that can occasionally make things worse in the long run. In an effort to avoid a snowball of crises and crisis emotions, we’d like to ask you to consider the nature of chaos and its function in your life. Are you someone who is drawn to chaos? Do you avoid chaos like the plague? What would life be like if there were no crises?

 

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

words of encouragement


MEME OF THE WEEK


PODCAST OF THE WEEK
A Lesson in Avoiding Avoidance
What’s Your Grief Podcast: Grief Support for Those Who Like to Listen

BOOK OF THE WEEK
(Click below to purchase the book)

ACTIVITY
Brooklyn Brainery is accessible education, crowdsourced to our local community.

RECIPES FOR THE WEEK

CONTRIBUTE
Click below to learn more

Week of November 9th

STATES OF MIND

The last week has been a blur of multiple events, moving at a snails pace which has been draining and emotional for many.  Between the record setting daily increases of new COVID cases and the prolonged conclusion of the presidential election, it provided a week of unease.

It has been both overwhelming and numbing.  How is that possible? Our brains have been sorting through this week’s information in a linear manner. However, life is changing in a variety of complex ways requiring us to break through our rules and linear minds to accept all of the changes.

This exponential change has challenged all of our states of mind. Our reasonable mind has approached this week intellectually and based on facts.  Our emotion mind has been flooded by feelings, direct thoughts and behaviors.  Our wise mind has been striving for balance of our emotional and reasonable minds. Accordingly, our wise mind has the job of recognizing and acknowledging our feelings. Our wise mind also has the responsibility of planning and carrying out an effective response to both our emotion mind and our reasonable mind.  It’s a tall task!

This week we want to hear about your experiences of your different states of mind!  Send us images of your emotion mind responses to the week.  Did your reasonable mind walk you through your experience? What role did your wise mind play?

 

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT


MEME OF THE WEEK


PODCAST OF THE WEEK

Quiet Minds and Steady Hearts with Trudy Goodman Kornfield
by Jack Kornfield

BOOK OF THE WEEK
(Click below to purchase the book)

ACTIVITY
Click below to see full instructions on how to make a scented soy candle

RECIPES FOR THE WEEK
Cornbread Muffins

CONTRIBUTE
Click below to learn more

Week of November 2nd

VOTE

This week, many of us will proceed to the polls to cast our votes for the presidential election. Voting this year looks different. Some are voting by mail for the first time or voting early to avoid crowds, while others are voting on election day to maintain the status quo. Although the process of voting this year may feel foreign, the fundamental right to vote remains the same. The act of voting provides us with the choice to support leaders who align with our values and the social issues we observe as prevalent to ourselves and others well-being. Today’s political polarization and the increasing acceptance of violent rhetoric is leaving many of us to question reality, and struggle with the preoccupations of right and wrong. In the face of this dilemma, we are reminded of the importance to exercise our right to vote and speak out with direct expression. Direct expression allows us to put accurate words to our thoughts and feelings to ultimately feel heard by others.

As we go into the election week, we want to remind everyone to be compassionate with themselves. We encourage you to practice direct expression of your thoughts, feelings and sensations to allow others to hear your voice. We want to hear from you. How are you using your voice to be heard? How are you rocking the vote this year? How is this year and this presidential election empowering you?

 

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT


MEME OF THE WEEK


COMMUNITY CHALLENGE
We want to hear from you.
How are you rocking the vote this year? Send us your images from voting this year.

Take your photo with #metronydbt or send DMs @metronydbt

PODCAST OF THE WEEK:
John Lewis
by Oprah Master Class

BOOK OF THE WEEK
(Click below to purchase the book)

ACTIVITY
Click below to see full instructions on how to create “I Voted” pins

RECIPES FOR THE WEEK

CONTRIBUTE
Click below to learn more

Week of October 26th

Halloween

Halloween is almost here! We have been enjoying the festive decorations at our local stores and have appreciated the playful displays of skeletons, witches, and Frankensteins throughout our neighborhoods. Halloween is the one night a year we are encouraged to express our creativity through disguising our identities, and finally we can consider a different kind of mask than what we have all been prioritizing over the last seven months. We fully embrace the upbeat nature of this holiday (we love candy, too), and simultaneously have been thinking about the function of disguise during the other 364 days in a year.

As it turns out, many of us wear some version of a mask nearly every day. This is so common, in fact, that DBT has a name for it! Apparent Competence describes that “thing” we do to mask our emotional vulnerability, suffering, or capability. While apparently competent behaviors vary from person to person, they typically function to “trick” our environment into believing we are more okay and more capable than we really are. Is this something you do? If so, what might you be avoiding in expressing yourself more authentically to your community? What are the pros and cons of wearing this mask?

On Halloween, some of us are attracted to glamorous costumes or dressing as a favorite cartoon or movie character. Others find themselves drawn to gory makeup, or dressing as Freddy Krueger. Wherever you find yourself, we would like for you to consider that perhaps the scariest, most glamorous thing you could do is avoid the trap of apparent competence and be your most authentic self.

Now, most importantly, what is your favorite candy? We can’t wait to hear what costumes you wear for Halloween, and how you will practice being more authentically you.

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

MEME OF THE WEEK


COMMUNITY CHALLENGE
How do you participate in Halloween?
We want to see how your dress up or your pets dress up for the fun of Halloween.

Take your photo with #metronydbt or send DMs @metronydbt


DOCUMENTARY OF THE WEEK
(click below to learn more)

PODCAST OF THE WEEK:
Worrier Pose – Finding Freedom from the Body of Fear
by Tara Brach

BOOK OF THE WEEK
(Click below to purchase the book)

ACTIVITY
Click below to see full instructions on simple patterns for carving a pumpkin

RECIPES FOR THE WEEK

CONTRIBUTE
Click below to learn more

Week of October 19th

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS

Since 1990, NAMI (National Association of Mental Illness) has designated a week in October to raise awareness about mental health.  One out of every five adults in America live with mental health concerns. However, many of such adults do not seek treatment in the early stages of mental illnesses as they don’t recognize the symptoms.  Accordingly, Mental Health Awareness week is designed to promote education about symptoms of major mental health disorders.

During the month of October, Metro has been raising mental health awareness by sharing information about mental health symptoms. Additionally, we are challenging some rigidly held beliefs about mental health.  We are also encouraging family, friends and therapists to step in as advocates to support each other.

We want to inspire people to recommit to a routine of self-care.  We want mental health to be a common part of any lifestyle and well-being discussion. We want to motivate people to be screened regularly for mental health concerns.  Finally, we want people to enthusiastically contribute to the knowledge and research currently being done to recognize and understand signs of mental health concerns.

 

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

MEME OF THE WEEK


COMMUNITY CHALLENGE
How do you share your mental health commitments with your friends and family?
We want to hear from you about the choices you make to raise awareness about your journey.

Take your photo with #metronydbt or send DMs @metronydbt

 

PODCAST OF THE WEEK:
Anxiety & Triggers – Dr. Jill Stoddard
by MentalPod.com

 

BOOK OF THE WEEK
(Click below to purchase the book)

ACTIVITY
Rent a movie

 

RECIPES FOR THE WEEK

CONTRIBUTE
Click below to learn more

Week of October 12th

TRAUMA
With just a few more months left in 2020, many of us are feeling tired, stressed, demotivated, and weary of the winter months in our future. In these already uniquely vulnerable times, we seem to be getting exposed over, and over again to media alerts, headlines, and abrupt changes that leave us with our jaws on the floor. Some of us with trauma histories are particularly vulnerable to feeling surprised in an inconsistent, ever changing environment. These feelings are not just difficult to tolerate, they are challenging to prevent entirely; before you have come back to baseline from your first emotional response, something else happens that triggers the distress all over again. It can feel like life isn’t giving you a chance, and the urge to quit is higher than you may have ever imagined.

 

We would like for you to consider acting opposite to urges to quit, or react in other ways to the different triggers you are encountering. Instead of reacting, we would like for you to STOP and observe. When we cannot problem-solve the environment, we benefit from turning our attention inward and using Distress Tolerance and Emotion Regulation skills to manage.

 

How will you be attending to your vulnerabilities and managing frequent exposures to unpleasant triggers?

 

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

MEME OF THE WEEK


COMMUNITY CHALLENGE
This week we want to encourage a break from social media. When you put down your phone, where do you place it to keep it out of reach?
We want to hear from you about your creative ways to set boundaries and limit over exposure to social media.

Take your photo with #metronydbt or send DMs @metronydbt

 

PODCAST OF THE WEEK:
The DBT Prolonged Exposure (DBT PE) protocol
by Charles Swenson

 

BOOK OF THE WEEK
(Click below to purchase the book)

ACTIVITY
Create a sketch of yourself as a super hero. (click below to get full instructions)

RECIPES FOR THE WEEK

DESSERT RECIPE
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

CONTRIBUTE
Click below to learn more

Week of October 5th

TIPP

The past 7 days has been a whirlwind, it feels more like a year worth of activity as opposed to only a week. Whether its wildfires, partisan politics, Covid, or school challenges, many of us are finding ourselves navigating tremendous distress. It’s difficult to feel peaceful in this stressful environment.

Most of us are prioritizing our mental and physical health, attempting to make wise-minded decisions. However, it is normal to doubt our capacity to bear the discomfort and stress caused by the current environment. Sometimes we tend to forget, the help we need exists in implementing our distress tolerance skills. In particular, if we remember to stop, and choose our TIPP skills, in order, to best bear the discomfort until comfort comes. TIPP skills remind us that while we can’t calm our surroundings, we can turn the mind to calm oneself.

This week we want to hear how you have tried to bear distress until your storm passes. How have you creatively customized TIPP skills for yourself? What are your favorite ways to practice TIPP in your busy lives?

 

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

MEME OF THE WEEK


COMMUNITY CHALLENGE
Please send your creative ideas for TIPP.
Show us images of how you made TIPP your own.

Take your photo with #metronydbt or send DMs @metronydbt

 

PODCAST OF THE WEEK:
Mastering Your Breath, Body and Mind
by Lewis Howes

BOOK OF THE WEEK
(Click below to purchase the book)

ACTIVITY
Click below to see full instructions on this DIY Ice Facial that is so easy to do and so relaxing

RECIPES FOR THE WEEK

CONTRIBUTE
Click below to learn more

Week of September 28th

TEMPORARY

This year has brought on many challenges, both individually and as a society. Amidst current news, 2020 may continue to feel everlasting.  Each day we encounter a variety of emotions that can bring painful and uncomfortable sensations.  However, how we interact with these feelings can impact our mindset and overall emotional health. When we experience negative emotions, it is within our biology to treat the discomfort as a feared response, push it away, or reject it quickly. Practicing to experience our emotions through awareness is a part of learning to be mindful of our current emotions. When we allow ourselves the opportunity to observe our emotions, we come to learn that the sensations are temporary.  At the height of a powerful emotion, it is common for all or nothing thinking to creep in and to convince ourselves that the experience is permanent. We may start to use judgments, question reality, deny the sensations, or engage in harmful urges.  What we know about emotions is that as human beings these feelings, sensations, and urges are temporary and subside over time.

There are several ways we can practice this philosophy and embrace the temporary experiences. Two important and useful skills are the use of encouragement and self-validation. Using encouragement and self-validation during these moments can help us remind ourselves of the short-term nature of our emotions. Try practicing a mantra like “this too shall pass”, or “I have survived 100 percent of my previous painful emotions”, to help move through the emotion.  Feelings come in waves, and although some are stronger and more painful than others, they do pass. This week we want to hear about how you practice encouragement or self validation to help manage difficult emotions and cope through the waves of our emotions.

 

 

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

MEME OF THE WEEK


COMMUNITY CHALLENGE
Please send photos of passing of time.
Show us your images that capture the temporary nature of 2020.

Take your photo with #metronydbt or send DMs @metronydbt

 

PODCAST OF THE WEEK:
Understanding Humans in the Wild
by Sam Harris

BOOK OF THE WEEK
(Click below to purchase the book)

ACTIVITY
Click on the diagram below to see full instructions on how to create a ninja warrior course!

RECIPES FOR THE WEEK

CONTRIBUTE
Our latest candle, ‘Your Wisest Mind’ was created in honor of Suicide Prevention Month (September) and World Mental Health Day (October 10). 50% of all proceeds from the sale of this candle will be donated (split evenly) to two mental health organizations: NAMI and the Trevor Project!
(CLICK BELOW TO PURCHASE)

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