Like yoga with crayons. Creative intelligence and healing.

The latest episode in our Resilience Unravelled series has now been released Resilience Unravelled – Like yoga with crayons. Creative intelligence and healing.

In this episode, Dr. Russell Thackeray talks to Corry MacDonald, a creative healer who integrates her training as a transpersonal art therapist, HeartSpeaker and energy healer into her advanced cognitive coach training. Born in Alberta, Canada Canadian Corry is currently based in Belgium with her husband, three teenagers and their dog, but has nearly a decade of cross cultural experience having lived in five different countries.

Corry became interested in therapeutic processes of art and the way that creative expression can develop healing and mental wellbeing when she was at university. Now, she teaches people to uncover and activate their innate creative intelligence to give them the freedom and grit to transform their challenges into wisdom and information and potentials.

Art Therapy can be used to help people explore emotions such as stress, anxiety and anger, develop self-awareness, cope with stress, boost self-esteem, and work on social skills. Corry integrates the full suite of art therapy tools and techniques including drawing, doodling, mind-mapping painting, and journaling with neuroscience techniques to build creative intelligence so people don’t get derailed from life challenges such as stress, pain, triggers and heavy emotions.

Corry feels that we can all get stuck by heavy, trapped emotions and has developed a 7-step process to help change these heavy emotions for lighter ones. The steps are:

1. Own it
2. Ask on it
3. Receive information
4. Act on it
5. Expect it
6. Love it
7. Share it

Corry also uses an emotional healing and stress reduction tool called HeartSpeak which uses the two parts to the mind – our Emotional Mind which  is often the seeker of ‘truth’ and our Logical Mind. Being separated from our truth is one of the classic triggers of anxiety, depression & low self-love. HeartSpeak listens to and works with the heart and emotions, to deliver answers about repeated patterns.

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information about Corry here. Our previous podcast episodes and upcoming guest list are also available.

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You can get in touch with Corry at: www.CreatingHealingWithCorry.com

Corry has written her first book Life in Full Colors: Unlock your Childlike Curiosity to Uncover the Creative Intelligence You Are. In it she shares the findings from both her personal life experiences and from those she has worked with.

Planning for the next phase of life

The latest episode in our Resilience Unravelled series has now been released, Resilience Unravelled – Planning for the next phase of life.

 In this episode, Dr. Russell Thackeray talks to Dr Sara Geber who is based near San Francisco, California. Sara has a background in organisational development and leadership development and a Ph.D. in Human Behaviour. She is also a nationally recognised authority and expert in the area of life planning and retirement transition. Around ten years ago, Sara realised a lot of her executive coaching clients were starting to think about their retirement plans rather than their strategic plans. She became increasingly interested in how the Baby Boomer generation were entering a period where retirement was increasingly on their minds. The one thing they didn’t seem to want to do though was do it the same way their parents did.

Over the last few years the idea of retirement has changed. Baby Boomers want to do things their way. They aren’t necessarily interested in the stereotypical retirement leisure activities, they want to stay active and productive. A lot of them don't want to retire in their 60s. There is a different trajectory of ageing now with more people expecting to live into their 80s and being healthy and happy. Sara thinks that we should start thinking about our health when we’re much younger – food choices, exercise and outdoor time all help us stay strong and healthy longer. The percentage of people staying healthy into their 70s and 80s is growing every year and exercise and is important to this, both physical and mental! It’s important though that we don’t beat ourselves because we can’t do everything and are more susceptible to physical problems.  We need to be realistic in our expectations, accept its not always going to be perfect and do what’s right for us rather than take on someone else’s expectations – it’s our individual choice!

There is no one glide path into retirement but Sara thinks we should all be thinking about what we’re going to do when we reach our 50s. The number one priority is retirement savings and it’s important to know how much money we’ll need for our retirement. Financial planners now often run a life span to 97 or 103 so the sooner we start to plan and get ready the better. We need to think about how long we want to work, whether we’re still enjoying what we’re doing or want to make a change. Many people on their 50s get restless so it's a good time to start looking ahead and asking ourselves ‘what is my life going to look like, and what am I going to feel like in 20 years time’. Many people make huge changes to their working and personal life in their 60’s. The two major restrictions are physical and monetary but nowadays many people are healthier and have more resources.

One of the things Sara is particularly interested in is retirement planning for solo agers. Almost 20% of the Baby Boomer generation don't have don't have children so really need a practical plan for when they are older. As well as the obvious legal and financial considerations they need to focus on their social network. Isolation and loneliness is a huge problem in society generally but particularly for older people.  

It’s important to take stock of who you see, when you see them, who you spend time with at holiday time and whether its family or friends. We need to start nurturing our social network early and also consider important issues such as where we want to live and what kind of environment we want to live in. We also need to communicate our wishes to the people closest to us – who knows when a crisis might hit and we’ll need someone to make decisions for us. If no one knows what we’re thinking about our own future, then no one will be able to speak on our behalf in the way we would speak for ourselves. Of course it’s something that's difficult to plan but we need to start thinking about it and have some contingency plans – ideally written down.

Sara believes we are all social creatures who thrive in a stable community so whether its friends or family, we need to build our social network throughout our life. Having a sense of purpose, involving ourselves in things we are passionate about and creating new and different experiences are also really important as we move towards the next phase of our lives.

You can get in touch with Sara at https://sarazeffgeber.com/ Her book, Essential Retirement Planning for Solo Agers, was released in April 2018, and has been an Amazon bestseller. It was named by the Wall Street Journal as one of the “2018 best books on aging well.”

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information about Sara here. Our previous podcast episodes and upcoming guest list are also available

Building resilience for emergency responders.

The latest episode in our Resilience Unravelled series has now been released, Resilience Unravelled – Building resilience for emergency responders.

In this episode, Dr. Russell Thackeray talks to John Marx, the Executive Director of the Law Enforcement Survival Institute and editor of the law enforcement wellness website www.CopsAlive.com

John is based near Denver Colorado and is now a consultant and trainer who works with law enforcement officers and emergency responders to help them build their wellness and resilience - as their motto says, ‘Saving the lives of those who save lives’. John was a law enforcement officer himself for 23 years but by the end of his career he felt very burned out.

When he was a serving officer John contemplated suicide and he now realises that many other law enforcement officers, emergency responders, fire fighters and paramedics have the same thoughts. They see the worst of society and this takes a toll on the human spirit over time. John knew he was suffering so he chose to leave law enforcement and sought out help. He wanted to venture out on his own and do something different so he moved into a completely news environment. The suicide of an ex friend and colleague however, brought back many memories and made him recognise that there were many people who suffered in silence and had families and friends who didn't realise what they were going through.  John wanted do something to change this so decided to set up an organisation to provide consultancy and training services to develop the health and wellbeing of emergency responders.

Many of us get our knowledge of the emergency services from film and television. John feels that these capture a little about what these careers are like but although they do a good job in showing the fear and outrage that providers go through, they don't capture the ongoing stress generated from nurturing society’s ills. There is an underlying malaise that comes from having to deal with dreadful situations and people day in, day out.  John worked for some time as a community police officer so got to know people in his area. He felt it was important to know the people he served and believes believes this is how police officers should work.

John feels that everyone is born with some resilience but that it is also something we can build. In the emergency services resilience needs to be built because there are forces working against so there is a need to be prepared. Since the shift to remote working many people have found difficult switching between work and home. The relentless series of interactions makes it difficult to wind down. John uses a mechanism he calls a ‘buffer time or zone’ to change between work and home. Emergency responders see so much death, destruction, poverty and sadness that it is challenging not to bring it home. Many responders try to protect their loved ones from their experiences and this in itself can be very harmful.

John feels that being a serving police officer is a profession not just a job and there is a need to strive for excellence to be the best you can be and provide the best service to community. This need to be intentional is a mindset that we can programme though visualisation, positive affirmation and programming to build habits to intentionally improve ourselves. We need to be conscious of our habits because they can get locked so we need to break the pattern and stay in the present moment

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information about John here. Our previous podcast episodes and upcoming guest list are also available.

You can get in touch with John at:
www.LawEnforcementSurvivalInstitute.org
www.CopsAlive.com
www.ArmorYourSelf.com