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Speaker 1: Hi everybody. Carli Taylor here for this week's Mojo Monday.

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Speaker 1: I've got a bit of a cold at the moment,

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Speaker 1: which is why I'm probably sounding slightly nasally. There's a

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Speaker 1: lot of nasty bugs going around Melbourne at the moment,

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Speaker 1: but hopefully this one won't get any worse. So I

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Speaker 1: was talking to a clinical psychologist the other day who

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Speaker 1: works in the area of mental health and obesity intervention,

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Speaker 1: and he's actually extensively trained in Marita therapy, which is

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Speaker 1: why I was talking to him, and he uses Marita

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Speaker 1: therapy and other Japanese techniques in a clinical setting. And

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Speaker 1: he said something to me that I already knew, but

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Speaker 1: the way he presented it really struck a chord with me.

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Speaker 1: And that is a simple tool that we can use

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Speaker 1: to get ourselves out of our heads, and that is

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Speaker 1: to use our fingers. So he pointed out that we

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Speaker 1: are not our thoughts. In fact, what he actually said

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Speaker 1: as we are not the rubbish in our heads. But

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Speaker 1: as humans, we innately seek comfort and this is a

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Speaker 1: driving force for us, and it's something that is really

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Speaker 1: important that we are consciously aware of our innate need

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Speaker 1: or drive to seek comfort, and this sort of made

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Speaker 1: me reflect on the strategies that many of us use

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Speaker 1: to try and quieten the noise in our minds. So

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Speaker 1: do you crack open the wine when you're stressed? And

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Speaker 1: while it's fine to do this on occasion and it

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Speaker 1: numbs the pain short term, relying on alcohol as a

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Speaker 1: strategy regularly doesn't serve us well in the long term.

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Speaker 1: Or perhaps you find yourself living for some ideal future

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Speaker 1: where its stress is magically disappeared, and this is what

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Speaker 1: Marita described as a contradiction of ideas. This is where

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Speaker 1: we struggle to accept our current reality because we're clinging

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Speaker 1: to this idealized future. And there needs to be a

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Speaker 1: balance between striving through a better future whilst also living

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Speaker 1: life in the present moment. And often we become so

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Speaker 1: preoccupied with waiting and hoping for a better future, especially

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Speaker 1: when things are really challenging, that we miss the richness

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Speaker 1: of our current experience. And sometimes wishing for things to

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Speaker 1: be different can be a form of avoidance of what

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Speaker 1: is happening now, and this can stagnate us. So ask yourself,

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Speaker 1: are your current strategy serving you in the long run

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Speaker 1: or are they short term? And these are strategies to

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Speaker 1: try and manage the rubbish that's in our heads. So

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Speaker 1: are they a way to avoid your own comfortable feelings

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Speaker 1: or do they motivate you to take meaningful action. So

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Speaker 1: here's a simple yet effective strategy to help shift your focus.

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Speaker 1: So use your attention like a flashlight. So imagine you

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Speaker 1: are holding a flashlight and the beam of light represents

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Speaker 1: your attention and you have control over where you direct it.

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Speaker 1: So you direct it either inwards towards your thoughts and

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Speaker 1: your feelings or outwards towards the world around you. And

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Speaker 1: one practical approach is to shine that flashlight of attention

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Speaker 1: outwards to engage in activities that involve working with your

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Speaker 1: fingers and working with your hands. So the clinical psychologist

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Speaker 1: explained beautifully that there's this space between your mind and

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Speaker 1: your hands. Things like cooking, gardening, even fixing a bike

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Speaker 1: or a car, any type of craft, even resistance training

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Speaker 1: requiring your attention to be directed through this space. For me,

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Speaker 1: it's cooking. It's a perfect example of when you've got

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Speaker 1: to follow a recipe and you focus on each step,

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Speaker 1: which requires this presence and concentration. So engaging in these

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Speaker 1: hands on activities can offer a very much needed break

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Speaker 1: from our overthinking and our stress, and by immersing yourself

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Speaker 1: in these tasks, you can shift from feeling stuck to

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Speaker 1: being absorbed in what you're doing in the present moment.

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Speaker 1: So many of us need a break from the inputs

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Speaker 1: that are dominating our lives right now, and they can

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Speaker 1: fuel our overthinking and rumination, and that's when we often

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Speaker 1: feel stuck. So activities that involve turning that attention outward

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Speaker 1: and using our hands and our fingers is a way

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Speaker 1: to give ourselves a break. Have a think about what

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Speaker 1: you can do that will turn that beam or re

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Speaker 1: direct that beam of light away from your mind and

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Speaker 1: that inner chatter and onto an activity that you can

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Speaker 1: absorb yourself in. So my plan is to cook something new,

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Speaker 1: something that I've never done before. So I'm going to

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Speaker 1: flick through some recipe books and see what I can

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Speaker 1: come up with. Have a great week, everyone, and I

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Speaker 1: will catch you next week.