 Hello. What's up everybody? So welcome to day one of the official 7 percent slower learning to go slower seven day challenge. I don't know what I'm calling this. Anyway, welcome. So I'm glad you're here today. We're going to wait for some more folks to show up today. We're going to every day in the challenge, we are going to go through a different little daily task that you can use to practice the art and skill of learning to go slower. So today we're going to talk about the slow motion shower, which is a little bit of an unusual concept. But we'll wait for a few folks to show up. Let's close that. If you have comments or questions about this, feel free to comment. If you're in the Facebook group and you're watching this, I'm not going to see your name. I'm only going to see Facebook users. So if you're on YouTube or on the Facebook page, I will say your name. Anyway, so today we're going to talk about the idea of taking a slow motion shower and trying to make your shower last like 10 minutes. Why can we use the shower? Before we start that, I just want to acknowledge one thing. If you are watching this video, whether it's live or down the road and you are having major anxiety about being in the shower and you may be afraid to be in the shower or it's a very difficult thing for you to do right now and you're working on being able to shower again, then you don't have to do this, right? I'm not going to tell somebody who's terrified to be in the shower that they have to stay in the shower for 10 minutes. You can work up to that. So if you're having a problem being in the shower at all right now, because of your anxiety situation, then by all means you can use these skills in something different like maybe washing your face or making tea or coffee. The principles are going to be the same. So if you're having major shower anxiety and you're afraid to be in the shower, then by all means just apply these concepts to something different right now and you don't have to drag yourself to the shower and force yourself to stay there. All right, so I want to acknowledge you guys. Let's get onto it. So why can we use showering as an opportunity to practice going slower, which is part and parcel of the whole idea of building a new relationship with anxiety and fear and building a new set of reactions to anxiety, fear and panic. And that's why I wrote the book, which is up in the corner. I'm not going to bother pointing. You see it in the corner, this corner, because I suck at the pointing. But I wrote about that because learning to go slower is part and parcel of building that new relationship with anxiety and fear and building those new reactions that we need to progress in our recovery. So, Dave, thank you very much. I appreciate that, those are very kind words. So there you go. So one of the things that we need to do in terms of using slowness as part of our new reaction to anxiety, fear, panic, stress is we have to practice it, right? This is not a thing that you can just decide to do on demand because you want to in the moment you're in distress and I must slow down right now. If you are obeying the speed commands from your lizard brain all the time and you're rushing around all day long, all day long all the time, then it would be really hard to just decide immediately to slow down only when you want to. So we're doing this little challenge so that you can use little daily tasks that we all are involved with every day to practice going slower. We practice it when we don't have to do it so that we can use it when we do. Just the same way that the military runs drills and sports teams practice and musicians rehearse and actors rehearse. We have to practice also, right? So we can use showering as our first skill today. So let's talk about what it looks like to get in the shower. A lot of people who get in the shower, get in the shower with, and this is me, I'm guilty of this, get in the shower with the aim of getting out of the shower as quick as possible. Now, if you're the kind of person who will like literally take a vacation in the shower and it's relaxing and you enjoy the water and you listen to music, awesome. You're kind of already doing this. So again, you could maybe try to apply these concepts to something else in your life. But if you're the type of person who literally runs through the shower, which often I am, the shower just becomes a mechanical necessity. I have to get clean. That's it. And so I'm gonna try and take the shower as fast as I possibly can so I can move on to the next thing in my day. We don't have to do it that way. Sometimes, possibly, but not always. So in this situation, we can work on saying, let's set a goal, which is if you're usually running through the shower in like three minutes, then let's try to make your shower last 10 minutes. How can you do that? Put on some music. Use a guided meditation that's 10 minutes long. You can do that. You can actually listen to that if you have the ability. I mean, don't ruin your phone or get electrocuted, but if you have the ability to listen to something while you're in the shower, use some relaxing music, nature sounds, a guided meditation that you like, bring those things in. You can totally do that and make one that last, pick one that lasts 10 minutes or 12 minutes or whatever your goal is for your shower, right? So in this situation, you can use that as a tool. Let that guide you and slow you down. So if you're listening to nature sounds, kind of let yourself be swept away by that if you can. And then we have the individual tasks in the shower. You are soaping up, you are rinsing off, you are putting shampoo in your hair, you are rubbing the shampoo in your hair. These are the things that we do in the shower. You can concentrate on doing each one of those tasks one thing at a time, one thing, then the next thing, then the next thing, then the next thing. So I want you to think about your shower as a place where you don't have the job of showering, you're gonna break down the shower into multiple little tiny tasks. Like all I have to do is walk into the shower now. All I have to do is turn on the water. All I have to do is adjust the temperature. Now all I have to do is pick up the shampoo bottle. Now all I have to do is open the shampoo bottle and do every one of those things as slowly and with as much focus on that individual task as you possibly can. So you make the shower, not about the end goal of completing your shower, running out, drying off and moving on with the rest of your frantic day, but you make that shower about, the shower isn't really about the shower, it's just about opening the cap on the shampoo. And then when that's done, it's about pouring out the shampoo. And then when that's done, it's all about just putting the cap back on. So break the shower into the tiniest little pieces that you can and do each one of those things slowly and very mindfully and pay attention. Pay attention to everything you do in the shower and exaggerate the slowness with which you execute that motion. So when you are soaping up, actually allow yourself to feel the sensation of the soap. Do you even remember what the soap feels like? I don't, I just kind of throw it on, whether I get it as fast as possible. Feel it, go slow when you lather up. When you have the shampoo in your hair, you don't have to scrub like you're trying to put a fire out. You can do that slowly. Allow yourself to feel the sensation of your hands moving through your hair. So this is the principle of mindfulness and going slow that applies in just about everything. But in this case, let's try to apply it to the shower. So what I'm gonna ask you to do in today's challenge, if you have a chance, before we do the next one tomorrow, try this, break your shower down into tiny little pieces, do each one of those pieces as slowly and with as much focus as you can, relax your body while you're doing these things. And more than anything else, excuse me, what you want to do is you want to not get caught up in that inner dialogue. So what we want to do is focus on the act of showering, the act of shampooing, the act of rinsing, the act of holding the washcloth, the act of adjusting the temperature, whatever you're doing at that moment is where you want your focus to be. I know a lot of people will say, well, the shower is when I do my best thinking, but for people like us, we want to try to practice not getting involved in the thinking, thinking, thinking. So use the shower as a way to try and disengage from those rapid fire thoughts and move your attention instead to the things that you are doing, your behaviors in the shower and fully experience those behaviors while those thoughts are trying to get your attention. You don't have to give them your attention. I'll get back to you after I get out of the shower thoughts. So let's try that. That's your challenge for the next 24 hours is to see if you can work in a 10 minute shower, make it last, stretch it out. That might be a bit of a problem, might be a bit of a problem where you're used to rushing through the shower. So stretching it out could be like feel very unnatural, but that's okay, we could practice this. Sometimes you might not have time to do a 10 or 12 or 15 minute shower, but when you do, this is a good place where you could practice your slowing down skills and being focused and training your attention and being mindful. So mindfulness is a bit of meditation in motion. It's all the same thing. It's just training your attention and keeping it where you want, gently bringing it back to where you want and deciding where you want your attention to be. I want it to be on the behaviors in the shower, not on the racing thoughts in my brain, not on the sensations I'm experiencing right now. I'm just worried about moving the shampoo through my hair. Now I'm just worried about rinsing it off. Now I'm just worrying about put the thing back on the shelf, whatever it happens to be. So that is the slow motion shower. I had to do it yesterday, to be honest with you, yesterday was a completely packed day for me with the book coming out yesterday. And when I went in to take a shower, I literally had to say time out and I put on some music and I turned the lights out. I did a big window in the bathroom, so I wasn't in the dark and I made myself take a 12 and a half minute shower. That was the length of the music I had and I'm like, I'm not getting out of here until the music is done. And it helped, it actually helped. It was a nice break and it brought me back down to a little bit more manageable level because I was just, I was in high gear all day yesterday. So there you go, hopefully that helps. It's a little silly task to do, trying a 10 minute shower and a slow motion shower, but try it and then when we get together tomorrow, I wanna hear how everybody did with their slow motion shower or whatever other task you decided to go with. I saw somebody mentioned, and I'm sorry guys in the group, I can't see your names, I only see Facebook user. So somebody says, I tried showering slowly today, thank you, good, hopefully that worked out well. Dave had some very nice words from me, thank you very much. Where can I find the post about where we will talk about? That is the post that I made yesterday, which is in my Instagram, it's on my main Facebook page and it is in the Facebook group. She does not know that I'm live, that was my sister. So you can find the post there, that'll tell you each slide of the post is what we're gonna talk about. Tomorrow we're gonna talk about mindful tooth brushing, which is a topic very near and dear to my heart because it's something that I used a lot in the early days of my recovery. So Dave says, the question I have is what is the purpose of doing things like going slower or doing meditation if the only way out is to learn to live with it? Right, and one of the ways that we, no, no, no, you're missing the point. So that's, we're not learning to live with it, we're learning to move through it. I think you're missing, you're missing the message a little bit with that question. This isn't about just deciding and accepting that, like, well, I'm just gonna be a panic mess for the rest of my life. You don't have to be a panic mess the whole rest of your life, but you have to act in such a way that you are learning to move through it when you are a panic mess. Because when you learn to do things that way and react differently to your anxiety and your panic, then over time that situation does change. The reason why you're stuck where you are is because you are afraid of the panic. We are using tools like this, slowing down, moving through it, being mindful, allowing ourselves to surrender to and tolerate these sensations and thoughts so that we can learn experientially that we don't have to fear them anymore. So when the fear goes away, then the panic and the anxiety begin to fade into the background. But you're not shooting for the goal of making it go away. That doesn't mean that you are resigned to be this way for the rest of your life. That's not true. What would the point be of doing any of this? So hopefully that helps. I like how Donna says she makes herself stay in the shower until she's totally present. That's very good. So it's a good, that's catching like, well, I'm in the shower, but I'm thinking about everything but the shower. Okay, hang on. I just caught that I did that. So let me back up and let me bring myself into the current moment in the shower and actually get a little more present. Good job. Good job, Donna, that's good. Let's see here. I'm going to listen and slow them on making my bed and loading my dishwasher. That's excellent because these are also things that all of us do every day. So find the places in your life where you can use these skills in your everyday routine. That's a good place to use them. Excellent. Let's see here. I'm gonna try and race through here because we only wanna do about 10, 15 minutes in each one of these. Don't take a shower, but I do the bath. Okay, I used to stay there for a while and relax, but not anymore. I got too much stuff to do. Well, this is one of those situations where if you have things to do, we all do, that's okay. But when you can find the opportunity to slow yourself down and take a relaxing bath and be mindful in doing that, it's a good idea. We can't do these things all the time, right? So during the recovery work, often we do have to prioritize slowing down and making a little extra time for ourselves to do these things. But there are times when life does impose a schedule on us and we do have to be on time for certain things. So this is not about missing appointments, canceling things, or being a sloth. It's just about learning a new way to move through anxiety, fear, panic, stress, and really kind of a new way to live life in the end. This will last beyond that. Let's see here. My main part in the shower is feeling dizzy, but I guess trying to slow down will really help with that. It will. 10 minutes in the shower where if you slow down and just allow that to be there and just focus on the behavior in the shower, not how you feel. You will. That will change things. Do not expect that your 10 minute shower will instantly make your symptom go away. That's not supposed to do that. It's supposed to help you learn how to move through that symptom. So hopefully that helps. A lot of people dig this, do this. This is cool. A shower is always a spa experience for me. And if it already is, then keep doing that for sure and then use this. Somebody who's using making their bed or loading the dishwasher, you don't need the 10 minute shower. You might need shorter showers. But if you're already enjoying long, luxurious showers that by all means, keep doing it. This is good from Bethany. I actually did this a little bit yesterday. Single point focus meditation in the shower like listening to the water and bringing my focus back to this. This is an excellent, excellent comment because as you get better at these things you become a little more advanced and a little more adept at using skills like being slow and being mindful and being present. You have to learn them and practice them. Everybody sucks at them at first. What's cool is that you can begin to combine things. So there are times when I can actually do my meditation. I could probably do that every day really but there are times that I choose to do my meditation practice without sitting down quietly. I can meditate while I'm walking my dog. So I can take copper out for a walk and I can actually do 10 minutes of walking meditation. There are times when I can meditate making a cup of coffee. So you can use these tools in almost any context in almost anything. So Bethany, the fact that she uses point focus meditation on the water is excellent. You can combine your experiences. So very good. All right, I think we're almost at the end here. Let's see, I do this a lot of aspect of my life now. It makes a huge difference. Yes, 7% slower and learning to go slow like this book. I'm gonna get better at pointing. There it is. Like that book teaches does spill over past anxiety and recovery. And I know it's a big part of what makes my life so much better these days. So I'm a fan right now. Let's see here. Just act as if you are, very good. Act as if you're in a shower gel or shampoo commercial. They're always in slow-mo and they always make it look so fun, don't they? So that's a good point too. That's a good way to try this, right? And these things that we're talking about over the next couple of days tomorrow, we do tooth brushing, we're gonna do mindful eating, we're gonna do mindful walking and listening. We're gonna talk about breath. A lot of people, I realize it moves so fast to the shower team when I actually pull my neck through the day. So many people don't even realize that they are rushing around. I know for me, I start rushing around and I don't even know I'm doing it. So I get it. I totally get it. Let's see here. I can see your questions. I just can't, I can't go into genetics and inherited anxiety questions in this. So there you go. All right, so I think we're at the end here. Let's see. Get away, mama's get away from the rug rat, says Bessie. Love it. I'll do treat this shower that way, which is really great. Very good. Let's see. And I think that's the end of it. Donna does, I know Donna meditates while walking. So walking is a big part of Donna's life. And yes, walking meditation is really valuable. A lot of people use that. It's a really cool skill. So as you get better at these things, hopefully you will continue to do these after our little seven day challenge and after you've read that book because it's a really great book, keep doing, keep incorporating this stuff in your life. It's a really good deal. So there you go. Guys, I think we are good to go. I am going to put up, but where is it? It is here. So if in fact, right now the book, 7% Slower is available just as a Kindle edition. So if you're watching this live today on September 14th, 2021, the only version you can get right now is the Kindle edition, but the paperback will be out in the next seven days for sure at the latest, probably on Monday the 20th, might be a day too early. I recorded three chapters of the audio book this morning. So that will also come out probably next week. So we're rocking and rolling. I will get the thing into book depository and other booksellers other than Amazon as well. They are slower, so that might take another couple of weeks, but I'm working on it. And I appreciate all the support that I have gotten for this book. It blew me away. It hit number one in multiple categories yesterday. It's still rocking and rolling just the Kindle edition. So for all of you who have supported me and supported my work and supported this book, thank you very much. Practice your slow motion shower or whatever you choose to practice. And we will be back tomorrow. Same time, same place. I wanna hear everybody did. Tomorrow we're gonna talk about mindful tooth brushing. And I'll tell you my story about mindful tooth brushing. So thanks again, and I will see you guys tomorrow.