Mental health impacts us all daily, especially in today's world.

On October 10th, we mark World Mental Health Day, a reminder that for some, the struggle with mental health is a daily battle.

But here's the silver lining: I've got a technique to share with you today called the S.O.D.A. method. With this method, you'll have the tools to help deal with your anxiety and safeguard your mental well-being.

Listen in as I share the S.O.D.A. technique and how it can empower you to release anxiety and take control of your mental health. 

And always remember, it's absolutely okay to seek help if you find yourself needing it. 

You're not alone on this journey. 

Join my Emotional Detox Online Course to find healing for the emotions that are weighing you down.

Emotional Detox On-Line

Feel It To Heal It Meditation

Discover Who You Really Are Episode 16

Linda's Links

About Linda:

Have you ever battled overwhelming anxiety, fear, self-limiting beliefs, soul fatigue or stress? It can leave you feeling so lonely and helpless. We’ve all been taught how to be courageous when we face physical threats but when it comes to matters of the heart and soul we are often left to learn, "the hard way."

As a school teacher for over 30+ years, struggling with these very issues, my doctor suggested anti-anxiety medication but that didn't resonate with me so I sought the healing arts. I expanding my teaching skills and became a yoga, meditation, mindfulness, reiki and sound healer to step into my power and own my impact. 

A Call for Love will teach you how to find the courage to hold space for your fears and tears. To learn how to love and respect yourself and others more deeply.  

My mission is to guide you on your journey. I believe we can help transform the world around us by choosing love. If you don’t love yourself, how can you love anyone else? Join a call for love. 

Website - Global Wellness Education

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Hello and welcome to a call for love. I believe the most powerful gift you can offer yourself is to give and receive love more freely. I'm your host Linda Orsini meditation guidance spiritual coach. Everyone has the desire to be seen, heard, respected and loved. The journey to becoming more connected to your greater purpose lies within the ability to live from the deep source of love within you. Let's begin.

Welcome, everybody. Welcome to a call for love. Today we are acknowledging the month of October, World Mental Health Day. And although it's really acknowledged one day of the year, this is something that has to be acknowledged every day of the year. But before we begin, I'd like to share with you a testimony from Dina Lindland. And she says, Oh, em, gee, you have to listen to Linda's podcasts a call for love. I honestly felt like she was talking to me in this episode. I know how hard it is to practice self love on a daily basis. It's amazing how our five senses can trigger our thoughts, which create emotions. Linda, I love the part where you talked about how we face our self identity. With Who am I episodes, I will put the link in the show notes. But thank you, Dina, for really sharing that she's from the United States. So it doesn't show up on Apple podcasts for Canada, which I live in Canada. And I'm so happy that you are joining here today, a call for love, wherever you are to begin. As I said, this is our World Mental Health Day on October 10. But it's something that we want to consider every day. You know, we are all fighting a battle. No one else really knows anything about because it's mostly internal within ourselves. And I always feel that we're all on a spectrum. We all have emotional issues, and problems and sufferings that no one else can ever comprehend. And we want to be in a place of loving kindness for ourselves and others because we don't know what's going on in other people's lives. In order to really show ourselves more compassion and more kindness, and everything's begins with us from us, we can be more empathetic to others, I would like to share with you the soda method. And no, this is not something that you drink. Although you may enjoy soda. This is actually the acronym, s o d a soda. And it's a mindfulness technique. Today, I'd like to share with you in terms of anxiety, I'm not sure that there is anyone on this planet that has not experienced anxiety in some shape or form throughout their life.

I have to admit and share that. Anxiety has been the catalyst really for my whole journey through mental health, discovering more about mindfulness meditation, all the healing arts, I suffer from anxiety. It used to be overwhelming, so much so that my doctor actually wanted to put me on medication for anxiety. But I chose not to. I felt like I could really work through it on my own through other modalities. Now, I'm not saying that sometimes medication is necessary. I felt for myself that I could deal with it. That's not always the case. But I have really built significant tools and techniques in order to really release my anxiety because I can notice when I'm really slipping into it. But I digress. Let's go back to the acronym soda. The S means stop. Stop. Really stop the madness. Stop. Notice, notice what you're feeling. Notice anxiety, pause. And the pause is really a pattern interrupt, because when we pause, it creates awareness. How do you pause? It's called the pause practice. To pause. You need to find stillness, and there's only one type of stillness and that is to stop, to stop moving, to stop doing things to sit or lie down and stop, find stillness. Now that when you are experiencing anxiety that is really challenging. So come into your breath. And when I mean come into your breath, it means notice your breath. When I am having a high anxiety moment, this is what I do. I breathe in through my nose,

I exhale through my nose longer than I inhale. And that is the secret to always exhale longer than your inhale. If you can do that, that shifts the nervous system from fight flight or freeze to the parasympathetic nervous system, rest and digest, it calms you down, automatically. I am not joking. Let's give it a try. Let go of your breath, exhale, inhale through your nose for 1234, exhale 7654321. I seriously, all I need to do is that breath one or two times and my whole system calms down. This is science, give it a try. So pre find stillness, and breathe. Then notice how your body feels. When I have anxiety, this may not be the same for you. But I feel it in my stomach, I feel it in my shoulders, I feel it in my jaw. And mostly in my stomach in my heart. I feel very anxious. And anxiety is fear about the future. It's the unknown. It's losing control. That's what anxiety is. When you come into the present moment with stillness, and noticing your breath, and noticing your body sensations, then name it name the emotion. Are you feeling stressed? Are you feeling anxious? Are you feeling fearful? Are you angry? Whatever it is, today, we're talking about anxiety, but you can name your emotion, whatever it is, and name it, name it to claim it. Really put a name on. And there are really a lot of names for our emotions. And often, many of us are just giving the simple names of happy and sad. really dive into see if you can find more names to really label your emotions. I do have a meditation called feel it to heal it. It's on Insight Timer, and I will share the link in the show notes. But you want to feel it in order to heal it. So stop, pause, create a pattern interrupt through stillness, noticing your breath, your body sensations and your emotions. That's s.

The next letter is O, observe, observe what is going on. without judgment. Mindfulness is really observing what you're thinking, without judgment, on purpose. And we only have the present moment. So in this moment, you want to be mindful. I find the best way to observe my thoughts, feelings and sensations is through meditation. And my favorite way to meditate is called meditation. And that means meditating in bed, lying down. I place my hands on my stomach or my heart. I feel my breath. And I noticed and observe what's going on in my mind. That's Oh, observe. The next letter is D. Detach, say no. Don't believe everything you think I went to New York City the other week. And I was in a Broadway play called Some like it hot. And out of the blue. One of the actors says, Don't believe everything you think, well, I loved it. That's That's my mantra. Don't believe everything. You think, Linda? This is what I tell myself all the time because most of the stuff I think, is an illusion or something that I've created or just a misperception. So don't believe everything you think detach. It's not always true. You do not always have to worry about the future. The unknown I don't know, you don't know what's going to happen with our health, with the health of our loved ones, our finances, the economy, the state of our world environmentally, when you let your mind go into the future, you can really go down the rabbit hole of deep anxiety because there is a lot to worry about. But that's the future. And that's where anxiety is. Pull back, come back into this moment. Detach, say, No, I'm not going down that rabbit hole. I am stopping. I'm pausing. I'm observing. And I'm saying no, detach, detach from going down that mental anguish of anxiety.

And the last letter in soda is a affirm, shift, choose a new thought?

What if it was easy? What if you didn't have to worry? What if everything was going to turn out? What if you could trust? What if you could believe in the kindness of human beings? What if you could believe that everything's gonna be okay? A firm make the decision.

In the back of the Gita, chapter two, verse 47, it says the only thing we own is our actions. And the only way we can change our actions is to shift our thoughts to choose differently, intentionally. That is really purposeful. Let's give an example I will give you an example. I get very anxious about the future, I get very anxious because I retired from teaching by first eligibility date, in order to really serve people in a new way, through global wellness, education and this podcast, and I get worried, what if I made a mistake? Maybe I should have stayed teaching longer. What if you know, people aren't going to listen or my mind how I want to serve is not going to resonate with everybody. And then of course, that comes into self limiting beliefs, and are you enough etc. But the point is, when I let my mind go into the future, and start getting anxious,

then I set myself up for pain and suffering, which is an illusion. I only have this moment in this moment. Am I anxious?

Can I stop? Can I observe? Can I detach from those false stories? Can I affirm myself? And that's what maybe you want to invite into your life here today, through this podcast through this message. Now we are acknowledging our mental health. anxiety comes in many shapes, forms sizes,

your anxiety or other people's anxiety may be very different. We all have our inner wounds, we all have the inner work that we are doing. And it's okay. It's nothing to be shameful about. Do I like sharing that I get insecure about how I'm going to serve the world. If I hold shame for I can't say it right. I'm human. We are all human. We are all on this journey. We are all sharing this human experience. And I would like to say, Can you do it the best way you can.

The only way you can respond to life better. And what does better mean? Maybe with more peace, more love, like a call for love suggests

is to be in this moment, with a sense of trust, with a sense of self compassion for where you are in the moment.

When you apply the acronym soda, stop, observe, detach and affirm. You can decide where you want to stand. Are you in a place of fear, anxiety, stress, anger, resentment, jealousy, whatever it may be. If you are, it's a call for love. A call to know where you're standing and to make the shift.

A shift creates a miracle because that's what a miracle is a shift in perspective. Create your miracle today. Create your miracle right this moment by deciding what you choose to think of it

If you need further support, my emotional detox program is in person and online. Beginning soon. Check the show notes. If that doesn't resonate with you, find a mentor, find a therapist, find a way to help you get through your mental well being.

Now more than ever before we are suffering mentally, and yes, it's going to happen. But we do not have to be victims to it. If we take small, kind, compassionate steps forward with love and support from others, know who your support system is, and reach out to them. I am so passionate about people's mental health.

I am passionate about the universe. I'm a passionate about the environment. But how can we be of service to anyone unless we begin? At home in ourselves? Healing is an inside job. I feel it's our responsibility to do what we can to help ourselves in order to help others. That's my mission anyways, and I really feel strong about it as you could tell. And I appreciate and I'm grateful for you listening here today to a call for love.

As usual, I wish you great love. Great peace in this moment. From my heart to yours. Namaste

Thank you for listening. It would mean so much to me. If you could share this episode with someone you feel could benefit from its message and subscribe to a call for love podcast. To receive new weekly episodes every Tuesday. Head over to global wellness education.com To learn more