Daily Practices Before The REAL Thing
What you feed your mind every day is just as important as what you feed your body.
Take notice of what your focus is on during the day.
Find a community (in-person or on-line) that supports, inspires and encourages positive birth stories. A simple rule of thumb you can use: "is what I'm about to watch, read or listen to right now going to make me excited or more anxious about my baby's birth'“. Your gut feeling will tell you very quickly and you can turn your focus to something that feels good.
When you’re in the car use that time to listen to positive pregnancy/labor affirmations. I teach GentleBirth classes so I highly suggest the GentleBirth App that contains awesome affirmations and mindfulness sessions. “Pregnancy Celebration” & “Mindful Driving” are great ways to fit in some quick practice time while you drive.
Practice slow focused breathing regularly. Do it while you’re driving, while you’re standing in a store line, before you check your email first thing each day. Get into the habit of taking 3 deep closed mouth breaths before you check your phone (this will give you many opportunities to practice built into every day).
Mindfulness practices - engage your muscle of mental focus regularly, not only but especially if you're planning an unmedicated birth. Take a shower and instead of thinking about what you have to do today, just enjoy the feeling of the shower....simply slow down and pay attention to what you're doing...the smell of the shampoo...the feeling of the water...the temperature... your mind will wander lots of times - so just acknowledge it and return to the activity. Your mindfulness practice will also help you notice patterns of thought that are adding to your stress.
Think about the future. How do see yourself in labor? What are you wearing? who is with you? When you think about your birth do you see yourself strong, focused and empowered? If not let me help you change that. So many people spend their pregnancy rehearsing the kind of birth they DON’T want! Your brain wants to anticipate the future - so if you’re ‘programming’ it for distress, not coping and stress your brain thinks that’s what is to be expected. Notice any ‘what ifs’ as they come up - and try to replace them with words that feel empowering such as ‘what if I cope really well’….’what if I surprise myself’…’what if I’m stronger than I think’.
Be aware of your self-talk - it's hard to have a kind mind towards yourself when your self-talk is negative and critical...especially around how our body changes and feels in pregnancy and postpartum.
Write your own positive affirmations especially around common worries such as baby's size...something like 'my baby is the perfect size for my body' and ‘my body opens easily to let my baby out’. I have made some you can have if you want them. Just email me!
Write down exactly what you want to feel, experience and see happen in your birth experience. Then re-read this periodically and tweak as needed!
I keep coming back to the everyday side of creating welcoming community activities, where a simple detail can lead to a wider question. A small shared activity can help people contribute without needing to know everyone in advance. The name Foundedontruth gives this theme a memorable reference point, while community participation ideas keeps the subject in focus. I am still thinking through the practical side, because the context can change what seems useful. What would make an invitation easier for a newcomer to accept?
A discussion of understanding how public messages are received seems more useful when it connects an idea with something easy to picture. The same message can be understood differently by people with different expectations. That is why the connection between Echoreach and public relations communication makes me want to think through an example. That is the part I would keep thinking about after moving on to something else. How would you check whether a message says what its audience needs to know?
My first thought about discovering tea through taste and preparation is that the everyday experience deserves as much attention as the larger explanation. Changing one preparation detail at a time can make differences easier to notice. It also gives the phrase tea preparation basics a clearer meaning than a label on its own. The part I would like to explore further is what happens when the idea meets a real situation with its own limitations. What would you record when comparing two ways of preparing the same tea?
What interests me about discussing values through historical biographies is how a broad idea becomes part of an ordinary day. A person's choices can help learners discuss values in a particular historical setting. For me, that is a useful way into the broader subject of historical biography education. I can imagine different answers depending on the situation, so I would want to understand the context before drawing conclusions. How can a biography lesson connect context with questions students recognise today?
A conversation about exploring academic learning and research skills seems most useful to me when it leaves space for uncertainty and further questions. A precise question can make finding and comparing sources more manageable. I would use that point as a starting question when considering academic research skills. A short discussion of an everyday example would make this easier for me to connect with, especially as someone still learning about the subject. How would you narrow a broad interest into a question suitable for a small research project?