Mojo Monday - Be Where Your Feet Are With Carly Taylor

In this week's Mojo Monday, Carly Taylor introduces the concept of 'be where your feet are' to help manage feelings of overwhelm and stress.

Want to know more about Carly? Visit her website: carlytaylorcoaching.com.au or follow her on Insta: carly_taylor_coaching.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hey, everyone, it's Carlie Taylor here for this week's Mojo Monday.
So there's a little phrase I want to introduce you to,
and that is be where your feet are. So I
would be so curious to know what came into your
mind when I said that phrase, be where your feet are,
because so often we're actually not where we are right now.

(00:32):
So our minds are often the future or the past,
or we're thinking about all the things that we've got
to do, the people who are relying on us, the
things we should be doing, the things we shouldn't have done.
And it's no wonder we get overwhelmed and exhausted. And
I'm not promising a cure for all that, but I
am going to give you a bit of a strategy

(00:53):
to manage it, and that is to be where your
feet are. It's so easy to get trapped in your
feelings exhaustion, stress, hopelessness, and your mind tends to shrink
everything down until it feels like that's all there is.
It's like you are your feelings. It's like you're looking

(01:14):
at life through blinkers either side of your face, like
a horse, so you can't see beyond how you feel
and then you feel stuck, stuck in this prison of
your mind and a prison of your nervous system. But
your feet aren't stuck. You can always control what you
do with your feet. So you can't always control what

(01:36):
you feel, but unless you have a disability, you can
control what you do with your body. You can press
your feet into the ground, which is something I do
all the time. If I feel my mind wandering off
to thoughts that just aren't helpful to me, I press
my feet into the ground, and it reminds me. It's

(01:57):
kind of a bit of a trigger to me that
I have control over my body and I'm here. So
you can stand up, you can take a step forward,
you can move even if your mind feels like it can't.
And there's this really effective practice that it reminded me of.
It's an exercise by Russ Harris who and it's called

(02:19):
dropping anchor, and it's basically, notice what's going inside you,
So notice your thoughts, notice your feelings, and then shift
your attention to your body. Press your feet into the floor,
roll your shoulders back, take a stretch so those feelings
and thoughts are still there, and then your body's here,

(02:42):
and then you look around, what's here? What can you see,
what can you hear? What can you touch? So you
can see that sort of that three levels. There's these
feelings and thoughts going on inside of us. We have
this body that we have control over, and then there's
the outside world. And when you do that, what tends

(03:03):
to happen is those blinkers slowly come off. Life stops
being just about how exhausted or overwhelmed you feel. It
also becomes about the sound of a bird outside, or
the shadows created by the light coming through the window,
or the fact water comes out of a tap when

(03:24):
you turn it on so you can drink it, which
is pretty amazing when you think about it. And when
this perspective of your life widens this way, you can
start to feel this sense of gratitude for what you have,
rather than putting all your attention on how crappy you feel.

(03:44):
And from there you take a step not to do
everything all at once. You know it could be making
a nutritious meal, replying to that text message, going for
a walk and looking around you, being curious about your environment,
putting your laundry away, or pulling some weeds. You take
your feelings with you and you move your body. And

(04:07):
I said to I was working with a teenager the
other day and we were going through this, and I
said to her, put your feelings in a little tope
bag and just take them along with you while you
focus on what you need to do. So that's what
b where your feet means to me. It's not about
fixing your feelings. It's about more about getting unstuck and

(04:32):
grounding yourself in the here and now and then noticing
that there's always something else around you, some little path forwards,
because life's not black and white, and it's also not easy.
It's not about waiting for life to get better only
when you feel better. It's not about waiting for these

(04:53):
feelings to pass, because if you do that, you may
be waiting a long time. It's about being where you're
f feet are pivoting, adapting, doing what you need to
do at this moment. And when you approach life like that,
anchored in the present, that's where we can become more resilient.

(05:13):
Not to tougher out or deny how you feel, but
to be aware to accept, to open up, open up
to where your feet are right now, and then move forward.
So if you are feeling worn out this week. If
you are feeling exhausted overwhelmed, try this. Try being where

(05:35):
your feet are drop an anchor, drop an anchor to
hold yourself steady in the emotional storm you might be
going through. Notice your feelings, notice your thoughts, notice your body,
move your body, press your feet into the ground. Then
notice what's around you in the outside world, and then
move forward. So I hope that is a practical, practical,

(06:02):
and helpful little exercise that you can do, especially if
you are feeling overwhelmed. I hope you all have a
great week and I will catch you next week. See ya.