 Hey, what up everybody? Welcome back to the seven day challenge. We're on day two today We're going to talk about using tooth brushing. Yes, tooth brushing as a way to practice Slowing things down when you need to I know it's gonna sound ridiculous to talk about tooth brushing And I think the thumbnail for this is mindful dental hygiene for the wind So I'm just kind of being a little bit silly about it But tooth brushing can be a valuable tool to help us practice going slower a little bit every day So that when we practice it and get better at it, we can use it when we need it So let's wait for a few people to show up I don't know how many people are gonna pop in but feel free to just say hello in the comments when you do if you're in The Facebook group. I'm not going to be able to see your name. I'm only gonna see Facebook user But if you're on YouTube or if you're on the Facebook page, I will be able to see your name. So that's fine Let's get into it. I don't know. Like I said, I don't want to wait too much longer We're gonna try and keep these 10 15 minutes or so at the most and let's get into it so I want to talk about mindful tooth brushing or Trying to use tooth brushing as a means to slow down what I would like to do is my teeth are claiming What I was just gonna look at the comments as we go. So I see people are piling in excellent so the Mindful tooth brushing or learning to brush your teeth very slowly and carefully is a thing that is near and dear to my heart and let me tell you why because when I was on my recovery journey and My recovery was heavily based on getting out the door leaving the house and driving by myself As far as I could because that was a problem for it to go or phobic, right? One of the things that I discovered really quickly was that before I could get really good at my driving exposures The act of getting ready to go out the door to do my driving exposure was an exposure by itself So I would know I'd wake up in the morning very first thing that I wanted to do my exposures first thing in the morning I put my feet on the floor and start going right and I would start the day then in an absolute panic because I knew What was coming? I knew that I was gonna go out and drive and leave the house and drive around by myself and that was so scary, right? So I discovered pretty quickly that one of the things that I had to do was first work on the act of getting myself ready to Go out the door If I'm gonna go out the door at a level 10 panic then I wasn't gonna give myself much room to work in the driving exposure so it became the exercise really became the getting ready part first and Part of that was brushing my teeth, right? So I would get up. I'd walk to the bathroom. I'd wash up I would do what I had to do and I would literally have to teach myself Practice and work on brushing my teeth while I was in an 100% state of panic I was in a panic attack and I had to work on brushing my teeth while I was doing that now at first It would be super fast that I did it like I was just trying to rush through everything because of course I was in a panic so my heart is racing and I'm breathing heavy and my lizard brain is telling me to do everything really fast The key for me became when I slowed down the tooth brushing and I said okay I'm going to have to learn to just sort of move more carefully and mindfully through these sensations And it started with my toothbrush as crazy as it is So the way I did this with my toothbrush was I said okay I started to give myself like I said yesterday on the showering episode I started to give myself the space to only have one job like in any given moment I decided I only really have one job to do and at that moment the only job that I had was to pick up my toothbrush and then when that job was done I only had one job to do in the world and that was to pick up the toothpaste Right and then when that job was done the only job I had in the world to do was to take the cap off of it So you see where I'm getting at I probably backed up that sequence a little bit It's gonna take the cap off before I pick the toothbrush Then my only job was to put the toothpaste on my toothbrush Then my only job was to put the toothpaste back down on the shelf So I literally had to break tooth brushing down into the tiniest most discrete Components right so I wasn't there to brush my teeth. I was there to take the cap off the toothpaste That's all I was there to do that was the only requirement that I had of myself was to complete that tiny little task Then move on to the next tiny little task And then that led to actually like okay each stroke of the brush was a task All I have to do is do these teeth all I have to do is my back teeth All I have to do is the top of my teeth and I just tried to take every stroke as slowly as I possibly could That was not easy because remember in the beginning when I was doing it I was doing it in a blind panic It was really hard to do because I was shaking and I had all the things going on you guys know what that is right? So I just had to practice it every morning I had to practice brushing my teeth as slowly and mindfully as I could while I was in the middle of panic and That actually started to work really well for me It started to change things in a big way as I went it got better and better and better at it And I really kind of refined the practice of breaking down the act of tooth brushing Into these tiny little discrete steps and just only having to do those one one job after another just this then this then this then this then this So that's how I want you to approach tooth brushing now when I learned to brush my teeth that way I started to apply that to other things also in that morning like getting ready routine putting on my shoes Putting on my socks. It was in the winter. So I had to get like winter clothes on tying each shoe Putting each sock on putting my jacket on one arm the other arm But it started in the bathroom with my toothbrush. So I did an Instagram live a couple weeks ago with Dr. Jen Wolken Jesus psychologist here in New York near me and she in her book quick calm She writes about mindful tooth brushing is crazy. It sounds and when I was reading quick calm I was texting her furiously like oh my god. You're talking about mindful tooth brushing It is such a silly little task that all of us do every day most of us many times a day or at least a couple of times a day and that will give you an opportunity to try this so brushing your teeth slowly and deliberately and breaking it into each individual task and Only having to complete each one of those tasks as you go little bit by little bit one thing at a time Just chain them together until you complete your tooth brushing is a really excellent way to practice Putting the concept of mindfulness and even meditation to a certain extent into practice So instead of being overwhelmed by the idea that like okay now I have to learn to be mindful I have to make this big shift into mindfulness. I have to change my mindset. I have to ground I have to do know you don't all you have to do is take the cap off your Toothpaste and then all you have to do is rinse the toothbrush All you have to do is turn the faucet off in the sink like do that try that like so Mindful tooth brushing as crazy as it sounds is a really good way to practice those mindful things Just paying attention remember we talk about attention paying attention to each Individual subtask as you do it fully and how I what I had to learn about that is that I had to learn to not Qualify my mindfulness, which I wrote about in seven percent slower there I Couldn't qualify my my mindfulness because I had to just accept that right now I'm trying to mindfully brush my teeth and at the same time I am feeling a very high level anxiety or panic So you have to get your focus onto the task at hand which is those individual subtasks of brushing your teeth and Not so much worried and judging the fact that you might feel anxious or stressed or rushed or or upset while you're doing that You can still mindfully brush your teeth even though you're not feeling great at the time I more than one thing could be true at a time I could be mindful and I could also be feeling anxious or afraid or stressed or rung out or whatever under pressure Whatever it happens to be So I would urge you to try that try that today try that for the next few days You're gonna brush your teeth anyway, so it's a really good opportunity to start to learn to do something Mindfully and using the the concepts of attention and focusing your attention and paying attention to what you're doing and Deciding where your attention should be in a really easy Accessible kind of way it doesn't involve buying, you know yoga mats or meditation cushions and it doesn't require You know reading de-packed Chopra or Eckhart tolly. I see me Eckhart tolly books like just brush your teeth mindfully It's a really easy way to practice. All right, so We could do that. We can do that. So let me look at some of the comments I'm wondering if you guys tried the shower thing. I see Dave try the shower thing. Let me look Check a shower for 20 minutes last night. Let's put this on the screen Let's let's all celebrate when we are doing good stuff, right? Let's help each other out took a shower for 20 minutes last night And I felt really good and relaxing. I had a few bad thoughts, but I could really be with them a little worried about anxiety But yeah, I did it dude. Yes, you did it That is the lesson of the slow-motion shower You were able to take a 20 minute shower Let those thoughts be there and just kind of move through them because you kept your attention on your shower So that's really great and the fact that you found the shower even relaxing to a certain extent is a huge win So you should be proud of yourself keep trying Some days you are going to stumble because that's new to you and you're gonna fail at it and not be so great at it That's okay There were many mornings when I totally sucked at mindfully brushing my teeth because I was in a panic and I didn't do a Good job of it. That's okay. This is how we do it. Let's see. We'll take a few questions We'll go for another five minutes or so How do I well that's a really question for this topic? How do I overcome the fear of high HPP? I assume you mean high blood pressure That's really a health anxiety thing and I do have a podcast episode multiple podcast episodes that address health anxiety So if you go to the anxious truth comm and just the search bar and search for health anxiety You'll see an episode that I did with a Norwegian Psychologist who treats health anxiety. I've done a couple other episodes on I did one by myself So check that out. Like it's not really a thing. I want I can address here because it's not the topic What does let's see here? Just when I okay Laura says let's see what Laura has to say What up Laura? What about when you wake up late just one of those mornings? I rushed this morning and totally brought on all panic How should I respond? It's a good question like we also have to live within the parameters of life So sometimes we are rushed so in the book. So I know somebody trying to teach me how to get ready There right over the top of this Mike boom so in the book I actually Acknowledged that and I wrote a little chapter that says you mean I'm never allowed to go fast. No, you are allowed to go fast Life presses on us sometimes sometimes we have time constraints. That's okay But I think Laura the answer would be how should I respond if you have to quickly brush your teeth that morning? Because you're late getting the kids to school. That's all right brush your teeth quickly that day That's alright just when you can practice going slowly do it when you can so that when you wind up in a pressured morning Because you're in a time constraint and you're late You are more likely to be able to disengage a little bit and slow down Because we're not talking about necessarily slowing down to a crawl where you don't get the kids at the door For instance, you're just you're slowing down by such a small amount like seven percent Which is I know you can't really do seven percent But I picked a small number because you're not slowing down so much that you're going to be more late But you can slow down enough so that you're not in engaged in frantic activity So I think we talked about that I don't remember so I talked about in my Instagram live with Dean over on DLC on Monday A lot of people say but if I slow down I have so much to do I'm not going to get it done No, that's not true. You'll actually get everything done Understand that there's a difference between being quick and being frantic So the object of practicing like mindful tooth brushing and this sort of stuff is to learn that you can sometimes be slow when you have that luxury But even when you have to be quick, you don't have to be frantically quick. Hopefully that answers the question It's a good question, too. I Appreciate you guys having faith in me. Just lift your left hand and point This is so weird because I'm I'm absolutely not spatially challenged. I'm really good in three dimensions But for some reason this ain't working So let's see what else we got a couple more I'll try and take a couple others my ten minute shower went well So somebody in my Facebook group excellent glad to hear that Tracy says let's see what Tracy has to say I remember being so anxious to take a bath. I rushed but now I'm back to relaxing for ages If you're getting out of that bath and you roll wrinkly because you've been it so long good on you. Good job Sometimes you can really get to enjoy that bath or that shower, right? Which is really kind of cool Viola says late notification from Facebook. Yes technology kind of sucks I'm sort of overall this technology lately. I'm not gonna lie. Oh This is good. Okay, somebody in my Facebook group. I normally empty the dishwasher while cleaning my teeth multitasking right and as somebody who has worn my Ridiculous freakish ability to multitask as a badge of honor I feel you on this like I had to give that up There are times when I'm really thankful for my ability to do a lot of things at one time But I can't live like that all the time. I had to learn that so this is good Like brush your teeth and then do the dishwasher. You're allowed to do those two things. Give yourself a break So that's a really good realization that you had So let's see here Okay, this is a good point to again someone in my Facebook group Shara went well So I tried it this morning while making my mom breakfast. It feels so different But I like it it will feel different Like if you are used to obeying that amygdala command to speed up speed up speed up If you're going to start doing things much more slowly and mindfully, it's gonna feel really strange Really strange in the book. I talk about Exaggerating your slowness. I think I wrote in order to learn how to slow down 7% that arbitrary number that I that absurd number You probably have to practice going 13% slower so that when you need to you'll get 7 So you have to exaggerate a little bit and it's gonna feel a little weird a little uncomfortable, right? So let's see what we got here. I've got a lot of people here today I start leaving my house this week. So I'm walking for about maybe 200 meters and Okay, want to run that's a you know, that's okay, Renata I'm not gonna put that up because it's not necessarily a topic right now I understand what you're doing is really scary But the running is makes it worse, right? So, you know this that's for a different different topic though Let's see who else we got I love reading in the bathtub, okay must not use that as avoidance If you can enjoy that your baths and stuff and reading the bad time good. It's no problem. Do it This is funny Becky says I have read Drew's book in the tub Which is if you've been watching the recovery room that we do on Instagram every Friday every once in a while that comes up I think it was Josh that started by saying he listens to my podcast Well, he's in the bath and it's become a running joke any who that's what's going on Okay, let's see here. I think I know who this is even though Restream isn't showing me brushing my teeth with a start to my recovery and now I'll make it even slower I feel you because the story I told about mindful tooth brushing It was a big deal in the early part of my recovery First of all learning that the first thing I had to do before my my driving exposure was to get good at leaving the house In a better state So that I gave myself a little room to panic when I have I start to panic that I can't really panic in the car Right, so I had to give myself a little room understanding that and breaking it almost into two tasks getting ready and then driving was huge and The beginning of changing the task of getting ready in the morning And you guys have heard me talk about having a morning routine and how important that is the tooth brushing was foundational So as crazy as it sounds this little 15 minute video right here about mindful tooth brushing is super important to me like on a personal level So there you go All right, very good. Let's see here Well, this is extreme. So let's talk about that. I know who this is Exaggerated brush my teeth. That's why it lasts 10 to 15 minutes. That's okay. That might be the exaggeration that you need For now and if you want to brush your teeth for 15 minutes, that's perfectly okay if you can do that No, there's not a crime, but sometimes the intentional over exaggeration, which is in this book You exaggerate your slowness so you learn to go slow because it's gonna feel foreign to you So if that's what you're doing for now and if you continue to do it There's no problem, but you may have to really exaggerate that to get the hang of this So there you go I brush my brush for three minutes on my toothbrush timer Yes, and it's so funny because I think I wrote in my Instagram post that the NHS of the UK says you should brush your teeth for at least two minutes I have a what do I have a like a sonic hair toothbrush? Like they say three minutes You take you three minutes in fact a toothbrush times it maybe you have the same thing it times it So it tells me when it's ready like okay do the top of your teeth the bottom of your teeth It's kind of interesting But it's funny how we notice these things when we slow down and be you know present in those in those tasks like brushing your Teeth all right guys, I'm gonna end it. Let's see here. I hope your podcast reaches India It's so bad and stereotypical over there Well, I mean if you can if you have the internet then yes people in India can listen to my podcast You can find the podcast at the anxious truth comm slash listen if you are not listening to the podcast It is literally like now six or seven years worth of free stuff all about this topic So you can go listen to that and if you are interested in getting a copy of seven percent slower I'm just gonna let this be a running gag for the next five days. You're stuck with the gag. Sorry guys This is where you can get it right so the anxious truth comm slash SPS Kindle today Which is we'll get you over to the Kindle edition if you're watching in the future Just go to seven percent slower comm and that will get you all the purchase links because if you're watching this in the future the paperback will be out next week the audiobook will be out next week I recorded two more chapters this morning and Yeah, and we'll get it into other places besides Amazon hopefully in the next 10 days also So thank you guys for coming by today and try mindful tooth brushing today and tomorrow be back again I think tomorrow we're gonna talk about mindful hair brushing as crazy as it sounds and Yeah, I want to see everybody does brushing their teeth nice and slow So I will see you guys tomorrow and good luck with this. Let me know how it goes