Get To the Root with Rachel Logan

Hello, Cadre. Hello to my Cadre family. Welcome. Happy Wednesday. Happy Wednesday. Come on into the room. As you are coming in, I just simply want you to listen to the sounds around me in the sounds around you. So come on in. I'm sitting outside of my house and nature is speaking all around me. There are so many sounds all around me. So one of the. I'm kind of jumping. But one of the things that we teach clients. Hello, Colleen. Is to listen. So, Colleen, do you hear the birds chirping? Do you hear the cars rolling past me?

It is the most beautiful sound to me. It's bird. Birds chirping or bird chirping. So, Colleen, as you are coming in, I just want you to have just some mindfulness with you as you are entering to this new hour of just taking in the sounds around you. Rather, if you're in the office and you hear chatter, if you hear someone sending an email, oh, you stick in bed. I hope you feel better. Hope you feel better. Yes. Well, enjoy the lovely sounds of birds chirping. It's just a sign of new beginnings. It's a sign of spring is here.

And so bird chirping is one of my. My things that I enjoy. I enjoy so much, Colleen, that I bought a new alarm clock that has birds chirping. That's how I wake up now, just hearing birds chirping. So beautiful. All right, Cadre family, I want to come in the room with you today. As you guys know, I've been on this journey of healing after the passing of my father. And I want to just share with you because grief is something that we all can relate to. Not everyone experiences other mental health issues, right, or just life challenges, but this is one of life experiences that we all will have or currently have in common.

And. And so I just want to share and talk with you today on how I've been coping and want to encourage you as well as you may be going through something similar or just coping in life. And I just want to share that one of the things that's been helping me to cope, because coping is an interesting word, is, or we use this word a lot when we're in therapy, right, That I want to learn coping skills. A lot of clients come and people say, I want to learn how to cope. And I should have looked up the definition of cope, but the best way I can describe the word cope is just to be able to get through it without the emotions or the effect of things overtaking us, right?

It is learning how to manage those emotions that we carry when we're going through a hard season. And this is one simple way I've been coping. I've been talking to you about hopping onto the gym because, you know, it is out of my routine because my world has literally turned upside down. And when we go through grief, when we go through major life changes or challenges, challenges, our world kind of flip flops or it does, like some kind of change of roo. And one of the ways I've been sharing with you is going to the gym and just maintaining your daily routine.

Thank you. To cope means to deal with or handle a problem or difficult situation effectively. You are only calling love that. That's exactly what we. When you think about life, we are literally trying to cope all the time. From the news, from daily routines that, you know, I don't know, an upset, right? We are all. We are often trying to cope. We are dealing with or handling a problem or a difficult situation. We are literally trying to do our best. Last week I talked about how we can cope with not being in competition with others and just realizing that we are just all trying to do our best.

Right? And so when we think about coping, how do you cope? How do you tend to deal with or handle problems? Right. Colleen, this is a problem. Being sick is inconvenience. You are amazing. You are important. You are needed at your job. Right. You're needed in your family. And when we get sick, it just kind of interrupts. It's like, we gotta deal with this in a new way. How we normally get up and go. Our bodies are saying, no, we have to rest. So how are you coping? How is the Cadre family coping when you're dealing with problems or just suddenly, how do you cope?

And so I just want us to pause and think about that. Sometimes we cope with unhealthy means. And this is why we tend to kind of. We come to counseling because we realize the way that we're handling it is not the best way. So what are some healthy ways? So Colleen says coping involves so much acceptance. Say it again. Yes. Yes. I'm sitting with that, Colleen, because if we talking about grief and we're talking about adjusting or dealing with problems or handling difficult situations, I daily say to God, because he is my.

That is what I. That is whom I lean on, is that I accept. I release. I am grateful that my father is in heaven and he is safe. He is well and healthy. So, yes, it does involve so much acceptance. That's good. And so I do accept. I accept. I accept today that my Father is in heaven. I. I was doing something on Canva. I'm volunteering my daughter's school, and I have to make a T shirt. And in Canva was a picture of my dad. And so when I saw it, I just smiled and I said, I accept. I release. I did.

I said, I release you, and I love you. And I blew him a kiss. This is my new norm. And when we go through life challenges or we have to deal with difficult situations, we have to sometimes just really accept reality. We have to radically accept reality. And so part of coping is acceptance and accepting that we have to have a new routine. So I want to share with you my tip, part of my new routine, because normally I will call and check on my mom, and I will say, how was dad doing today? Or when I go over her house, I would.

When I go over their house, I would check in. In his room. I would, you know, mess with him or tease him, make sure he's taking his medicine. So a new routine. And. And so part of me coping is accepting that. And when I go to their house, I already know. Like, I mentally say, he's in heaven. So I don't go in the house doing what I normally do. I give her a hug, I check on her. I. You know, just a whole new routine. And so one of the ways that I'm coping is, is I make lists daily. I made them before, but it was sporadic.

But I have to focus my attention, and I have to focus my mind. So remember I said when this first happened, I noticed that my mind will go back. And so one of the things that's helping me to cope is to focus and to have focused thinking. So I'm intentional with. I give myself time to think, to wonder, and to experience, explore. But I also say, we have an objective today. So I am constantly looking at my list. I'm crossing things off. I am motivating and empowering myself. But more importantly, I am focusing.

I am focusing. I am focusing. And so I want to encourage you to focus. Focus your attention, focus your day, and accept that your routine. Routine is different. Okay? So part of coping is acceptance. Another part of coping is being willing to adjust your schedule, willing to adjust your routines to match your new. To match your new. Colleen, you said I can't change a circumstance, but I can control my reaction to it, even when it's hard. Yeah. All day, every day. Yes, all day, every day. So sometimes coping means going outside, listening to birds.

Coping means taking a walk. Coping means calling a friend. It could also mean journaling and expressing your emotions. It can mean prayer, right? It could mean reading the Bible or favorite. Your favorite book to manage and to redirect your emotions in how you respond to things. Let's take a deep breath. I acknowledge that as I am talking, I'm getting emotional and it is okay. I am coping by acknowledging. So, good people, as we are walking this walk, we are accepting and we are recognizing that, hey, we might need new coping skills in a new season and the things that worked before may not work anymore.

So we have to acquire new skills and a new way of managing and reacting to difficulties. So my way is making a list, going to the gym every day and being intentional with my focus. So I want to encourage you to be intentional with your focus, be intentional with what you are doing each day and acknowledging that, hey, I have to do things differently today, and it is absolutely okay. All right, good people, you are blessed, you are loved, and you are highly favored. So in this day, take time to enjoy the sounds of nature as they do bring us peace.

All right, Colleen, it's been a joy sitting with you today. I hope you feel better. Drink lots of tea, eat, stay hydrated and rest, Rest. All right. You take care. Thank you. As I do this to my daughter. Until next time. Peace out.