This episode guides you through a meditative exercise that's focused on identifying core values as an anchor during overwhelming times. This week's focus is on overwhelming news.

Then, Jen discusses how modern systems deliberately create isolation. We discuss that isolation is structural rather than a personal failing, and that this is itself an act of resistance.

Credits, contact, and more info

This podcast series was created, written, edited, produced and is hosted by Jen deHaan.

Jen has a Certificate of Graduate Studies in Developing Healthy Communities: Nutrition, Behavior, and Physical Activity from Tufts University, a degree in adult education in the arts, and various certifications and experience in group fitness instruction.

Artwork, logo, and graphics: Jen deHaan.

Chat with us on Discord! Join the discord channel for this show here discord.gg/heTSW9WnN5

Transcript: On episode pages found here.

More show info/contact: stereoforest.com/garden

Free newsletter: StereoForest.com

Support the show: One-time tip here stereoforest.com/tip

Follow on social media: YouTube, Bluesky, TikTok

This podcast is a StereoForest production. Made and produced in British Columbia, Canada.

The content provided in this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This podcast is not a substitute for professional mental health services, therapy, counselling, or medical care. The views expressed are personal opinions and experiences, and individual results may vary. If you have specific mental health concerns, please consult with qualified healthcare professionals. We have some resources to get started here to search for local resources. Please see this page on our site for more info.

WEBVTT

1

:: 00:00

This is a Stereo Forest production from StereoForest

2

:: 00:03

.com.

3

:: 00:04

Information, resources and opportunities to support the show

4

:: 00:08

and connect with others are available at StereoForest

5

:: 00:12

.com slash Daily Reconnect.

6

:: 00:15

This podcast is for informational and educational purposes

7

:: 00:19

only and is not a substitute for medical

8

:: 00:22

advice, diagnosis or treatment.

9

:: 00:24

If you have specific mental health concerns please

10

:: 00:28

consult with a qualified healthcare professional.

11

:: 00:31

Now on to the show.

12

:: 00:35

In this episode we will do an exercise

13

:: 00:38

that helps you reconnect while reflecting on your

14

:: 00:41

core values and then we'll discuss some reasons

15

:: 00:44

why we feel isolated while struggling.

16

:: 00:47

Welcome to the Daily Reconnect.

17

:: 00:50

It's March 17th and I'm your host Janda

18

:: 00:53

Han.

19

:: 00:56

This brief session aims to help you connect

20

:: 00:59

with the present moment when feeling disconnected or

21

:: 01:02

adrift from your surroundings.

22

:: 01:04

Together we'll rediscover and reconnect with our place

23

:: 01:07

in this beautiful, wild, distressing, fascinating reality.

24

:: 01:13

After we complete this practice we'll hopefully gather

25

:: 01:16

the strength or just the willingness to face

26

:: 01:19

our day.

27

:: 01:21

Take the elements that resonate during this exercise

28

:: 01:24

and feel free to adjust or leave behind

29

:: 01:28

anything that doesn't work for you.

30

:: 01:30

This is your time to focus and reset.

31

:: 01:35

Then you'll hear some encouraging words to help

32

:: 01:38

you align your actions with these values throughout

33

:: 01:42

your day.

34

:: 01:44

This week's episodes offer exercises that can help

35

:: 01:49

in particular with an inundation of news.

36

:: 01:52

Something that might affect us even during less

37

:: 01:56

stressful times.

38

:: 01:58

The exercise today helps you reconnect with your

39

:: 02:01

fundamental principles during times of news overwhelm.

40

:: 02:05

It can provide some steadiness in the face

41

:: 02:08

of this onslaught by helping you navigate information

42

:: 02:12

while being able to return to your core

43

:: 02:15

values to remind you who you are and

44

:: 02:18

how to proceed.

45

:: 02:20

So find a comfortable position or a walking

46

:: 02:23

pace and take several deep breaths as we

47

:: 02:28

get started.

48

:: 02:31

As you begin to regulate your breathing allow

49

:: 02:34

yourself to become curious about what matters most

50

:: 02:38

to you beyond your daily concerns.

51

:: 02:47

Think of a moment when you felt truly

52

:: 02:49

aligned with your authentic self.

53

:: 02:53

This might be a time when your actions

54

:: 02:56

reflected what you deeply believe in.

55

:: 02:59

Perhaps it was standing up for someone, creating

56

:: 03:04

something meaningful, connecting deeply with others, or pursuing

57

:: 03:10

knowledge.

58

:: 03:11

Notice how your body feels as you recall

59

:: 03:14

this memory of living or acting aligned with

60

:: 03:18

those values.

61

:: 03:29

Now begin to identify specific core values that

62

:: 03:34

guide your life.

63

:: 03:36

It might be a pattern, it might be

64

:: 03:39

something you keep coming back to, or perhaps

65

:: 03:42

it's something related to your work or a

66

:: 03:46

lifelong hobby.

67

:: 03:47

These values might include compassion or truth, justice,

68

:: 03:53

your family, creativity, learning, your community around you.

69

:: 04:01

There's no right or wrong set of values,

70

:: 04:04

only what genuinely matters to you.

71

:: 04:14

And now if you can, visualize those values

72

:: 04:18

as signposts that surround you.

73

:: 04:21

Or you might visualize a compass or a

74

:: 04:25

map if that's easier, or just acknowledge them

75

:: 04:28

if visualizations are not available to you.

76

:: 04:42

Now choose one value that feels particularly important

77

:: 04:47

to you right now, one that might help

78

:: 04:51

you navigate your current challenges.

79

:: 04:54

Imagine this value as more prominent in your

80

:: 04:58

visualization, a bigger sign, it might be glowing,

81

:: 05:03

perhaps it's a mark on the map, and

82

:: 05:07

allow this value to fill your awareness.

83

:: 05:17

Now consider how this core value might guide

84

:: 05:21

your response to overwhelming information this week.

85

:: 05:25

Could you return to this when encountering fear

86

:: 05:29

or anger inducing headlines or some form of

87

:: 05:33

disinformation, in confusing unpredictable times or situations that

88

:: 05:39

may lead you to want to give up?

89

:: 05:43

Could returning to this value help balance emotions

90

:: 05:46

that are not useful to you in the

91

:: 05:49

moment?

92

:: 05:52

So now take some deep breaths as we

93

:: 05:55

end our exercise, return your awareness to the

94

:: 05:59

present time.

95

:: 06:09

And I want to acknowledge something that many

96

:: 06:13

of us feel quite deeply.

97

:: 06:18

In this struggle against oppressive systems, we quite

98

:: 06:22

often feel profoundly alone and isolated.

99

:: 06:28

And this isolation, it really isn't an accident.

100

:: 06:33

The systems around us of capitalism and fascism

101

:: 06:38

are designed to fragment us apart, to make

102

:: 06:42

our struggles feel individual rather than collective, really

103

:: 06:48

to convince us that our pain is a

104

:: 06:52

personal failure rather than a problem of the

105

:: 06:56

system.

106

:: 06:56

When you can't make rent even though you

107

:: 07:00

work full-time, or when healthcare remains out

108

:: 07:04

of your reach because of cost or access

109

:: 07:07

issues or both of those things, when your

110

:: 07:09

community faces targeted harassment, these experiences are deliberately

111

:: 07:15

structured to make them feel like they're just

112

:: 07:19

your burden alone.

113

:: 07:21

And the message that we receive is quite

114

:: 07:24

clear.

115

:: 07:25

You're on your own and figure it out

116

:: 07:28

by yourself.

117

:: 07:29

This isolation is made worse because of the

118

:: 07:33

physical and digital parts of our life.

119

:: 07:37

Neighborhoods are not all that walkable for so

120

:: 07:41

many of us.

121

:: 07:42

They're designed that way.

122

:: 07:44

They're designed without community in mind or our

123

:: 07:48

third spaces.

124

:: 07:49

Those are pretty much completely gone now.

125

:: 07:52

Online algorithms that amplify this division.

126

:: 07:57

Workplaces, they discourage unions.

127

:: 07:59

And the constant grind means that we don't

128

:: 08:03

really have a lot of time for connection

129

:: 08:05

as it is.

130

:: 08:07

But I want you to know that recognizing,

131

:: 08:09

that acknowledging this isolation, naming it and seeing

132

:: 08:15

it, that's an act of resistance.

133

:: 08:19

And just doing that starts the process of

134

:: 08:23

weakening the powers that are making us so

135

:: 08:28

isolated by discussing it with others, by identifying

136

:: 08:32

it with somebody else, even more so.

137

:: 08:36

So take a moment and recognize that so

138

:: 08:41

many other people around you are experiencing the

139

:: 08:45

same kind of struggles, the same kind of

140

:: 08:49

doubts.

141

:: 08:50

They have similar moments of despair.

142

:: 08:53

Not because there's something wrong with you or

143

:: 08:57

them or any of us, but because these

144

:: 09:00

systems are functioning just as they were designed

145

:: 09:04

to do.

146

:: 09:05

Unfortunately, your isolation, that isn't a personal failing

147

:: 09:11

of yours, but it was a structural, like

148

:: 09:15

an obstacle that was placed into your path,

149

:: 09:19

really with intention, with forethought, by somebody else

150

:: 09:23

to benefit them, not you.

151

:: 09:26

Now, recognizing this isn't going to immediately transform

152

:: 09:31

your circumstances, what's happening right now, of course

153

:: 09:35

it won't, but it shifts something essential in

154

:: 09:38

how we might relate to these feelings, to

155

:: 09:43

relate to this isolation.

156

:: 09:45

It places your experience, it places that loneliness

157

:: 09:50

in a much larger context, and that opens

158

:: 09:54

the possibility of connection.

159

:: 09:57

Even when physical proximity might not be accessible

160

:: 10:01

or might not be possible for some of

161

:: 10:04

us, there are other ways.

162

:: 10:06

But remember that throughout history, the very first

163

:: 10:10

step in all of these movements for justice,

164

:: 10:14

movements for change, it was when humans recognized

165

:: 10:19

that their individual suffering was connected to a

166

:: 10:24

much larger system, to a larger design or

167

:: 10:28

plan.

168

:: 10:29

Before collective action, before mass movements even came

169

:: 10:34

about, there was this moment of clarity that

170

:: 10:39

this thing, it isn't just happening to me,

171

:: 10:43

it's happening to all of us.

172

:: 10:45

And in this case, it's not really a

173

:: 10:49

left versus right, but more a top versus

174

:: 10:51

bottom.

175

:: 10:52

So you're not alone in what you're experiencing,

176

:: 10:57

even when everything might make it feel that

177

:: 11:00

way.

178

:: 11:01

And in the next episode, we'll explore how

179

:: 11:04

to maintain your strength and your dignity when

180

:: 11:09

the systems are designed to break it.

181

:: 11:12

Your struggles, they're shared by many people, and

182

:: 11:16

this shared experience, even when we might be

183

:: 11:20

physically distant from each other, it contains the

184

:: 11:23

beginnings of real connection and real possibility.

185

:: 11:29

And remember that the world is better due

186

:: 11:32

to your presence within it.

187

:: 11:40

So that's it for today, March 17th.

188

:: 11:44

Thank you so much for joining me in

189

:: 11:46

this brief episode, and let's connect again on

190

:: 11:50

Wednesday.

191

:: 11:53

Thank you for listening to The Daily Reconnect.

192

:: 11:56

Episodes are released on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

193

:: 12:00

every week.

194

:: 12:01

This show was created, written, hosted, edited, and

195

:: 12:04

produced by Jen DeHaan.

196

:: 12:06

Links to contact information, ways to support the

197

:: 12:09

show, transcripts, the free newsletter, and our community

198

:: 12:12

discord can be found in the show notes.

199

:: 12:15

This is a Stereo Forest production.