Audrey Weidman is a woman on a mission.  When personal stress, in the form of negative critical thinking, incited a heart attack with no other signs of cardiovascular disease, she got the message.  It was time to not only teach others how to live in balance, she needed to learn how to share the same kindness and nurturing care to herself. And then her job got tough!

Overcoming our critical inner voice can take a lot of presence and patience. Through the process Audrey became a student of positive psychology, Certified Stress Mastery Educator with the American Institute of Stress, and a +HeartMath facilitator.  Now her clients include first responders, including the Chicago Police Department, heart attack survivors, ambitious professionals and people who know it’s time to make a change.

In this episode we discuss:

• The physical harm of negative self-talk
• The intersection of science and ancient practices
• The double benefit of asking for help
• The power of letting go of approval
• Helpful apps for wellbeing
• The Insights of positive psychology

Audrey has made her gift, “Seven Self-Love Strategies” available to our listeners! You can download your own copy here: www.audreyweidman.com/selflove

Susi Vine: Thank you for joining me this week for my conversation with Audrey Weidman a fellow stress management code. Who even after doubling down on her own health, taking matters into her own hands and turning around symptoms of metabolic disorder. She suffered a heart attack and now her passion is helping people.

And first responders recognize tools and strategies that they can use to resolve stress and to live with more. So that they can avoid the health situations, similar to what she experienced. You’re going to get so much out of this conversation. I’m so glad you’re here with us this week. Enjoy.

living in a stressful world. Doesn’t mean you have to give up on happiness instead. You can shift your perspective of stress and discover how to live your life in flow. Welcome to half a. I’m your host, Susi Vine. Join me for inspiration and interviews with folks we’re shining their light in the world in the areas of positive mindset.

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Welcome back. I am so happy to have you with me this week on the show for my conversation with Audrey Weidman. Stress is no joke. Our mental health suffers our gray matter shrinks, and it can even be a killer. And Audrey knows this firsthand, even though she was a health coach and the healthiest person, she, everyone knew she had a heart attack.

After a couple of months feeling like her body betrayed her, she realized she had done it to herself. Her constant negative mind, chatter and feelings of not being enough was the driving force behind that heart attack. Once she realized this, she learned how to transform her stress. She became a certified stress mastery educator with the American Institute of stress, a heart math facilitator, a student of positive psychology.

Using those skills. She trains on mental resilience and cultivating happiness. Her clients include first responders, including the Chicago police department, heart attack survivors, ambitious professionals, and people who know it’s time to make a change. As you can see, we have so much aligned. I’ve been looking forward to this conversation, Audrey, thank you so much for making time and joining me today.

Thank you for inviting. And so I would love to know a little bit, I think that a lot of people come to be interested in coaching and health coaching because of their own experience. And then they get to reap the rewards of turning their health around. And so your story and that as a health coach, then you had to reckon with this whole experience after having your heart attack, what was it that brought you into that field to begin with?

Audrey Weidman: Yeah, so interesting. Well, I am the daughter of a heart attack. My dad died of a heart attack and it happened when I was relatively young. I was only 20 and as I got to be more mature they, the doctor said, you know, your cholesterol is elevating. Your triglycerides are high. We should put you on statins and I didn’t want to be on staff.

And I also didn’t want to be like my dad, you know? And so I really took this to heart. And in three months time, I lowered my cholesterol by 40 points. I dropped. Oh, 10 pounds of belly fat. And I, I had normal blood pressure, triglycerides, everything was good. And I maintained that for at least nine months.

And, you know, I played tennis. I did yoga. It was very active and never really thought I had. Bad diet per se. But when you have like I discovered I had a genetic condition where I, my liver makes more cholesterol than it should, and I absorb too much from my intestines. So even like sort of a kind of healthy diet wasn’t good enough for me.

So I had to like really figure this out. And nine months later I had the heart attack. And and it was devastating because I thought, how could this be possible? I mean, it was just stunning, but I realized two, two months or so after it happened that it was my own. Thinking between my ears, like what I was saying to myself, I was really feeling like I wasn’t good enough.

I wasn’t fast enough. I wasn’t successful enough was, was probably the biggest thing. And you know, I had financial pressures and. I did it to myself and I thought, well, if I did it to myself, I can undo this. The other thing I also realized is that when I had the heart attack, that it affects not just me.

I was like, very self-absorbed. You know, like, oh, woe is me until I realized how much it affected my family and lucky for me because of my healthy lifestyle. My heart attack. Wasn’t terrible. I didn’t sustain too much heart damage. It sure. Motivated me to like, figure out what was going wrong. And one of the first things I did was during cardiac rehab, it was during Christmas vacation.

They had a substitute nurse. Who’s from my community who knew me. And she said, Audrey, what are you doing here? Oh my God, you are here. Why are you? You know, like what happened? And she, as a nurse said, I think you should try transcendental meditation. Hmm. And transcendental meditation is like for the beginning meditator.

I thought I’ve done everything to lower my blood pressure except manage what goes on between the ears here. And so I knew I needed help. And the transcendental meditation program has four D success of days of coaching. Like one is like a half day, and then you have. Another two hours, two hours, two hours.

And you can come back at any time that you want. And it’s proven. I mean, if you meditate any, like, there are many forms of meditation and that’s not the only one that I do, but it is proven to lower stress and You kind of slow down and appreciate life more. And through that I was introduced to hurt math, which is they had a device.

There’s a woman named Dr. Heidi, Hannah. Who’s very prominent. Mastery professional. And I was following her and she was talking about this heart math device called inner balance that you can clip to your ear. And it’s got a Bluetooth that you can attach to your phone. And the biggest thing, you know, I mean the overachiever I wanted to know, am I meditating?

Like, I want to know if I was actually doing it. And what you can do is with this device, you can see how, if you are in her brain coherence, and it actually turns out that your heart communicates more to your brain than vice versa, because there are specialized cells in your heart that communicate. So when we say.

Oh, he’s all heart or she’s following her hearts. We kind of intuitively know that this is where it is. Like if people were asked, like if I pointed at you and then you asked me to point at me, I would put my hand over my heart. Because we recognize intuitively that this is the seat of our soul. You know, we kind of know that.

And so with heart math, there is a breath work and then just cultivating a really a higher level emotions such as love or gratitude. And then finally sending it out. To the world, sending it out to someone that you love. Like you can palpably, like if you ever had a newborn baby and you can feel the love radiating from you and that love that you’re sending to someone, or maybe it’s your first love or your, your spouse or your mate, when you were first dating, you could feel the love radiating from you.

It’s kinda sounds like woo. But it’s a real thing. They can measure it. Yes. They can measure it. And so I got trained on like, oh, I can see that I’m in a very coherent state. And so that was that’s kinda how I got started into all of this. I 

Susi Vine: love it. Well, you have to follow your curiosity. I think that’s really the secret to.

Going deeper and making, allowing growth to happen. The way that it can is, is having those questions and saying, I’m going to, I’m going to take a minute and find the answer to that. I love that. And I love the work that HeartMath does. I haven’t studied their program or become a practitioner, but I’ve always been fascinated by it.

I love this intersection where science is finding ways to validate practices that we have used for thousands of years. 

Audrey Weidman: Yeah, 

Susi Vine: breath, work, meditation, mindfulness. It’s also powerful. And now science is finding ways to explain why it works. So it’s a really exciting time to be in this space and diving in as this research has coming in to play too.

So. I think that’s so funny. You got outed in your cardiac rehab program by a neighbor, someone from your community. What are you doing here? Because even when we feel like we’re doing all the right things, big air quotes on that, doing the right things. There are times in which we can be our own worst enemy.

I mean, th that negative self-talk that you were sharing, I think is so common. We say things to ourselves. We would never say to a good friend, and we think it’s perfectly acceptable, 

Audrey Weidman: right? Yes, so true. So true. And you know, the thing was, I was ashamed that I had a heart attack. It was so incongruent with who I thought I was.

I’d always been healthy now. I got even healthier. And I just thought everything I’m doing, is it working? How could this have happened? You know, it was like my crazy thinking. So the only people that knew was one close friend and my family, that’s it. And here’s what I learned. Don’t share such a big burden and keep it all to yourself.

Kind of nice to know that people have your back, that they’re kind and considerate and we’ll support you, even though it was in congruent. It’s it’s if you, I know it’s a moment of trauma, but if you can try to share that because. You know, one of the things might, my physicians never did. They didn’t tell me that I was eligible for, for a psychologist because it’s a big, big deal.

And I, so I was seeking all these ways by myself, but I had no idea that I was eligible for that. So, and I had not seen a therapist before, so it didn’t really occur to me. If you have a big trauma like that, whether you can get a diagnose, you know, serious diagnosis of anything, you might want to talk to a psychologist you know, to help you deal with it.

But, and don’t share like, have people that got your back, your inner circle besides your family. I was so narrow. It was kind of Oppressive and it wasn’t during COVID. It was like, you know, before COVID where it would’ve been nice to have more, you know, Hey, you got this kind of thing from my, from my buddy.

Susi Vine: Hmm. I think that’s a really important factor. And that’s something that I’ve noticed and understand too, from the way that we deal with even run of the mill stress. And certainly as you mentioned, like the last year and a half, what we’ve been through people when they’re in stressful situations or something happens, you know, sometimes.

Our instinct is to withdraw and not seek that social support. Right. We don’t want to bring other people down or we don’t want to, you know, use their limited resources if they have a lot on their plate. Like we, we fill in the blanks a lot. We take some license in writing these stories. And what I think is really helpful to remember is that.

We, we get so much when we’re able to give and support other people, especially people that we love. And so it’s just something that’s helpful. I think to keep in mind when we could use support, we could be doing someone else, a favor by asking for it because they would love to support us. It helps them feel.

More helpful, more useful, you know, what, whatever kind of tag you want to put on it. It like they’re contributing and supporting, right. We’ve also got that heart coherence going as we connect in our authentic with each other. And and I think to, to your conversation, You never would have thought you would fall victim to a heart attack you again, air quotes did everything right.

You know, and, and it, it’s almost important. I think, to de-stigmatize that things can happen to anybody. So anything we can do to be most prepared and healthy is, is important. Right? To your point, you had that little warning sign. Well, high cholesterol, this isn’t great. A little metabolic syndrome going on.

Super common. I mean, I think the percentages are like off the charts. Most Americans have a couple of these symptoms that they call metabolic syndrome. When they go hand in hand, you know, high blood pressure, cholesterol, you know, slightly overweight. And yet without that warning sign, you wouldn’t have already been turning, tuning up your health, that heart attack might’ve impacted you in a completely different way.

And so, you know, it’s hard not to feel like a bit of betrayal, but I was doing everything right. Well, thank goodness you are doing everything 

Audrey Weidman: right. Yeah. And the other thing, I mean, I guess I should say is how important self-talk is because, you know, when I was diagnosed with this higher cholesterol, I kept saying to myself, I’m not going to be like my father.

I’m not going to be like my father and you know what. The subconscious mind doesn’t hear the knots. And so I became exactly like my father, so really, really important how we speak to ourselves. Yeah. You know, the other thing I thought I would bring up since you were talking about the giving and receiving like reaching out to people.

So in what I did, I, I came out that I had a heart attack with a bang, cause I said, okay, in February, Every day of the month, I am going to do a Facebook live video, chronicling my recovery, like saying what I’m going through and what I did. So people then knew that I had the heart attack and I was at a networking event where one of the women.

Mothers made quilts for heart attack survivors and what I like one, and I said, oh, I would love that it was her church. They made this quilt. And then at the end of the service, it was blessed in the church. And then as people exited, they tied a knot in a prayer for me. And this was people I didn’t even know.

And I thought. This is like incredible. It’s just so kind. I could hardly, well, I’ll just be honest. I cried for almost a day because it was so moved by the 

Susi Vine: story. I am, 

Audrey Weidman: I I’ve never had the lesson of receivership. Like I did that day because I like to be a. I like to give, I’m always helping people and you do feel when 

Susi Vine: you give, but 

Audrey Weidman: when you receive that’s a whole 

Susi Vine: other thing, a lot of us need to learn that we haven’t ever given ourselves that opportunity.

Right. Permission to receive so important 

Audrey Weidman: and I’m actually, I’m actually sitting on it right now. It’s kind of not my style, but I’m like, it’s so precious to me that I have it with me all the time. I love 

Susi Vine: it. I love it. And the power of prayer. Too. I mean, miracles have been documented to come from prayer.

It’s really extraordinary. So what a beautiful mission that they have? I love that. 

Audrey Weidman: Yes. So I was grateful to be a receiver of that and it taught me a powerful, powerful lesson. And I, since then, when people give me compliments, I say, thank you. I used to brush them off like, 

Susi Vine: oh, nothing, no, what you have to recognize.

Audrey Weidman: Who wants to give to someone who never says thank you or recognizes the gift. Right. So it’s really a give and take it just, and I think for many people, receivership is harder because it means you’re weak. 

Susi Vine: Hmm. More stigmas that we need to tear down. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that’s a beautiful point. I had a guest on the show.

Laura is a huge, huge fan of the book, the go giver. And she, she points out if, if you can’t receive, you’re taking from someone that opportunity. To be able to give, and it is such a gift to ourselves to be able to give to other people. So it, it helps to kind of get a fresh perspective on that sometimes if, if you struggle with even those compliments and certainly gifts and support, you know, and, and it does.

I’m from the Heartland as well, where we connected over our Midwestern roots. And so it certainly is I know a lot of folks and the way you know, that I was raised, the prevailing trend is, you know, you pull yourself up by your bootstraps, you got this you’re self made person, you know, and we are social beings and that, that phenomenal just to go back to heart math and what they’ve discovered that.

Potentiality the experience of entrainment, that when we come into the presence of other people, when we share energy, we come into alignment. That is just extraordinary. 

Audrey Weidman: Yeah. You know, like in the sixties it was a very hippy dippy thing to say. I feel the vibe, but you know what? We’ve all felt. The vibe we’ve entered in rooms where it’s like, what just went, what just went down.

Like I’m getting the and I don’t really like that. Or you meet someone it’s like, Hmm, there’s something about that person. You’re feeling the vibration, but there’s other people that, you know, light up the room that you can’t get enough of because they make you feel. Or a place, you know, where people hang out because they’re all like that.

So there’s definitely now we have the science behind it to show it’s not just hippy-dippy stuff. It’s real. 

Susi Vine: I love that. Yep. I love the validation. You know that now we can say with a little bit more authority that things are all connected. It is all connected. We are all connected and it continues to be proven on different levels.

So it’s, it’s really fun to be working in this space right now. Yeah, for sure. So Sorry. I don’t know why. I just thought I was muted planes, like the buzz over our house. So in your process, in your recovery and in what you’ve studied too, I’d love to know, because I do think that self-love can be a sticking point for people.

So in what ways did you start to build that foundation or these practices for yourself? 

Audrey Weidman: Yeah, well, you know, there’s the obvious ones that I was doing already is taking care of what you eat and moving, but even just like having a clean environment is one thing, you know? So because if you’re really cluttered, there’s an energetic quality to that as well.

It’s. There’s not clarity. So decluttering and the other things that I really do is I I’ve learned to. Compliment myself. It’s like you really rock that. I try to do five things lovingly said in a day about myself, where, you know, I w I love that you know, my legs are strong and that I can walk, you know, up that hill or whatever I love.

I just literally. It’s, they’re not, they don’t all have to be monumental because if we only wait for the big things to happen, you’re going to miss out on a whole lot of little things that make the world right. And you could compliment yourself on, you know, having a nice conversation with a friend or like, oh, good for you.

You smiled at everybody you met today. Or, you know, like little recognitions of like how you are. A great person today. That’s like one thing, because if you’re not hearing it, like you can’t hear it so well, if you’re aren’t believing. If other people are telling you that and you have no self-belief, you will not receive it.

So it’s a way like I personally, whether you call it God, the universe you know, the quantum field, whatever you want to call it, I believe. God doesn’t make mistakes. And that we’re all individual. We all have our own super sauce. There’s no one else like us and we have to shine and let you know the quirky things about.

Shine, like you think about David Bowie or Billy Eilish or you know, any number of performers. We love them because they are who they are. We love them. And you know, there’s a saying, let your freak flag fly and other freaks will find you. Right. And so I don’t care. I guess that goes into like, not needing other people’s approval.

Because, you know, you can be your best self or just imagine you were a peach. You were the most beautiful ripest, gorgeous peach, and there’s still somebody who hates peaches, you know, in the world, you could be the best. There is the best you. But you got to let it go because you aren’t here for that person.

You are here to be the best you, you can be. So letting go of approval is another biggie. The other thing is like just a spiritual practice of prayer. I believe gratitude is super important. And again, this is in everybody’s good book, whatever religion you are or not, you know, Saying thank you or appreciation for things actually makes you healthier.

It makes you happier. It makes other people like you, and this is all proven in positive psychology. So everybody’s good book has it. Right. And now we can measure it. So if you never believe. You can believe. 

Susi Vine: Yes. And you and I are both big, big fans and diving deep into the field of positive psychology. And so we met through a community there, and that’s what I love to share with people is this gratitude practice that everyone talks about is actually verifying.

In research in studies that by having a gratitude practice, we’re literally wiring our brains to put more value in these experiences, these feelings of gratitude, so that when they happen, we take them in more deeply. They mean more, and it literally raises our set point over time of positivity. It’s so powerful and it’s a simple practice that can be.

Not even a few minutes every day, it’s just getting ourselves into that habit. And in whatever way we do, maybe not daily, maybe weekly, you know, in whatever, in whatever capacity resonates. I have 

Audrey Weidman: a little tool. If you can get it as an app or you could order it as a journey called the five minute journal and it’s literally five minutes where you start your day with three things.

You’re grateful for what you want to accomplish for the day three things and what your mantra is for. And then at the end of the day, you reflect on what, what turned out well, where could you have done better and giving thanks for anything else. And it literally is like short little lines. The app is kind of cool because you can also take pictures on it.

You could do videos and upload it. And there’s some quotes, but it’s very, very easy to do. And. You just need to anchor it to another habit that you might have, like you know, if you always drink a glass of water, then do your gratitude practice, right. Then, you know, when you first wake up, but it’s a really wonderful way to start this.

Hmm. I love 

Susi Vine: that tip. I’m going to have to check out that app. I’ve think I’ve heard of the five minute journal, but I didn’t realize there was an app version too. So there you go. And habit stacking is a terrific way to start moving ourselves in a better direction without having to call 

Audrey Weidman: up all of our willpower.

Yes. Yes. You just have to slip it in and if you fall off the bandwagon, Just go right back and you know, the next, every day’s a little different. And you know, I have a morning routine that I really like, and it’s not just mine, it’s mindset and body work. I I start off with my five minute journal.

And then I generally I have a mat that is a PEMF mat, which pulse electromagnetic field that helps to improve the micro circulation and oxygenation of your blood. And it’s very good for my heart. It’s good for COVID people recovering. It’s good for a lot of things because we’re disconnected from our environment and.

Over time, you have you lose your negative charge. We’re naturally supposed to be negatively charged because you’ve heard of oxidation, you know, from pollutants or food or whatever, that’s a positive charge. So this helps to counteract all that. And as I lay on my mat, I listened to some inspiring ’cause I, I might be learning something or I listen to a meditation or something, and then I go, and this is kind of, I’m kind of crazy, but it’s for my heart too.

I go to an infrared or a near red light and I sit in front of that and I watch not facing it. I watch something called positive prime, which I know you’re familiar with, which is like a little three. Video that you leverages all of the positive psychology research to wicked smart technology that has also been proven to boost your mood.

So it’s a really nice way to start your day. I mean, like I, I allow about half hour in the morning, so it’s not an onerous thing that I do, but it’s a me time. That’s, that’s how I start every day. Pretty much every day. 

Susi Vine: Yeah. And starting off with your priorities, right? Because we can’t pour from an empty cup.

So if we start the day already showing up tuning into whatever else is going on, that our energy is already going out in every direction. Whereas when we can start centered and with the practices that we know benefit us I was just talking with a friend and she traveled with a Beamer. She traveled down here to San Diego for a conference.

Oh, we get to meet people in real life. Again, it’s a whole new world and 

Audrey Weidman: she packed her 

Susi Vine: Beamer mat in her bag because it’s that important. She knows it benefits her. She puts that priority on her health and wellbeing. And I love. Combining the red light therapy. My mother-in-law’s a fan of that with the positive prime video, which is terrific.

And if that’s something that people want to check out, there’s a link on Happify life.com start off happy, and you can take it for a test drive. There’s a video there and even a free trial. And that’s something that I definitely want to spend more time in shine, a light. Maybe devote an episode to it.

I might have you back Audrey and we’ll, we’ll go round table. But it’s so exciting again, that we can use technology, transformative technology to use what science is demonstrating has benefit. And then in an almost passive way, watching a video. We can get affirmation, see positive images, see natural, authentic smiles that trigger our mirror, mirror neurons to be happier, move ourselves into a more positive state.

And even in some early studies it’s found to have benefit to help people feel more positive throughout the day. Yeah, it was 

Audrey Weidman: actually part of, for this happiness program where. She wanted to have it tested before it made it, because she’s like, you know, the queen and once they have everything perfect.

And they did, they discovered that there was a lasting effect of up to six hours. So for three minutes, people, you know, like you get the benefit of six hours per day where you’re like more upbeat. It’s like a really highly leveraged use of time. 

Susi Vine: Yes. Yes. And we need more of that too. Right? Making the best use of our time and attention, highly leveraged well-put 

Audrey Weidman: and there are all different kinds of videos that you can watch.

Like I created one on Harvard. But there are ones for like, if you were mourning someone, if you were going through cancer treatment, if you were looking for better relationships, wanting a child, if you needed to sleep better you know, wanting to lose body weight, all kinds of things, leadership, abundance, you name the topic it’s in there.

So it’s just a really nice library that you have asked. And then you can personalize it, which is really great too by uploading your own photos. So your brain sees these things going by. It’s like, oh, I’m part of that, that soup that’s going by me. And you know, like that vibration that we talked about, you put yourself in that quantum soup.

That’s all wonderful. So anyway, highly rated. Go to her page 

Susi Vine: and check out Audrey session. What is your session called? It’s called 

Audrey Weidman: heal your hearts. 

Susi Vine: Beautiful. And you can find it by Audrey’s name as well. So you can look it up. If you’re a member, if you have that free trial, you can try out all the different videos that there are to check out for seven days before you choose whether or not you want to make a commitment.

But, and that is a really big part of it too. Is, is goal setting for ourselves. I feel like. A lot of times, life moves so fast and we tend to be stuck in response mode. We don’t take the opportunity to get clear on what we want to create for ourselves, whether we’re moving in a direction that is aligned, or if we’re moving towards goals that are someone else’s until we get there.

And we realize we’re not happy with where we’ve gotten ourselves to after making ourselves so stressed out along the way. And so I think it’s a beautiful opportunity to, to set goals for yourselves to start creating a picture of the future that you want to step into and then to be an active creator in being a part of these sessions, by being able to upload pictures.

So on so many levels, it’s just a really extraordinary tool. 

Audrey Weidman: Yes, absolutely. Yeah. 

Susi Vine: Yeah. And so glad that it brought us together and we were able to, to 

Audrey Weidman: meet through that network of practice. Yes. Yes. And we’re all high vibe and people that 

Susi Vine: indeed, indeed. So in the morning routine, you know, and I hear a lot of people speak to the importance of a morning routine and I love that yours is so unique.

Yours is not like anyone else’s that I’ve heard. And I think that’s important too, for people to give themselves permission to. Whatever resonates with them, whatever they’re going to enjoy enough, that they can commit to that time to start their day off with themselves and their wellbeing as a priority.

So I think that’s a really beautiful example of how you can tailor it to yourself. 

Audrey Weidman: Yeah, for sure. We’re all, we all have different needs. So, and we all liked different things. So in sometimes I substitute different tools, but it’s kinda what I feel like, but generally that’s what I do.

Susi Vine: And then you can step into your role in, in terms of showing up for other people and giving and supporting your clients. Yeah can be a 

Audrey Weidman: task. Right, right. 

Susi Vine: And so you’ve said too and, and we talked before about your programs for first responders, and I think that’s really important as well. And you mentioned that sometimes it can be difficult for people in very demanding positions for people who feel that they have to have.

Character of having it all together of being prepared and ready to meet anything. You know, there’s a duality there that can be hard to reconcile. And so I love that you’ve made that, that effort to reach out to people who are definitely in need of some of these skills and you know, planting seeds so that they can to find ways to.

Create the support or find the support that works 

Audrey Weidman: best for them. Yeah. Well, in my network, they know I’m a stress transformation coach. And so the Chicago police department has had a number of issues. As many people know, if you watch on the news and they had something called the consent decree, which required an outside party outside parties to give them training on how to.

Less stressed. So I was one of the practitioner. I mean, they’re like 13,000 police department people. So no one trained in or could do all of that. But I was one of the practitioners that we did a half day of mostly stress mastery education. And then there were aspects of like how to eat better and how to manage your finances because in reality, you know, Or food is a manifestation, a lot of times of stress.

And a lot of times, if you’re in a squad car, you’re always on the go, how can you eat something healthy? Well, it actually turns out if you bring stuff along, you can, you know, like you have to prepare a little bit more and police officer’s health is generally not very good. Because of the stress and because they’re they don’t have access to good food.

And quite frankly, they like to unwind with a little bit of alcohol or a lot of it, and that like kind of perpetuates. And unfortunately this is a stunning statistic police officers. Their average death date is 59.

And those who make it to retirement generally. They they’re, they die around six. It was like one or two years after retirement because they’re your body. Has infinite, it doesn’t have infinite you know, response to all those stressors. So you do need to take care of it and, you know, finances can be a big stress, what you eat and what you consume, and then just knowing how it works.

How’s how you get stress and, you know, techniques like breath, work meditation just being out in nature. And laughter laughter super, super good. You can laugh and it’s very, there’s like if you Google or look up on YouTube laughter videos where like they have it like social contagion. Where someone starts laughing and soon, like the whole subway car is laughing because someone is cracking up.

They don’t even know why they’re laughing, but that guy’s laughing. And that’s funny. And we, the mirror neurons that you talked about. We see that and we want to be in on it. So we’re laughing along with that person. So it’s just all interesting. And I’m glad I could, you know, in my small way, I hope I made a little bit of a difference.

Susi Vine: And did some seeds. I’m sure. I’m sure. And that’s another I’m speaking of laughter. Another one of those areas in which, you know, they’re coming out with some research or validity to the benefits of laughter literally bringing your health back, not only lifting your mood, but restoring our health, it’s such a powerful thing.

And so, yeah, and, and I love that you bring so many different tools. To the table because different things work for different people, just like you said. And the more that people are aware that we have to choose from the more we can be selective and really get to know ourselves through the process of refining these tools and knowing what to call on.

And when, 

Audrey Weidman: yeah, I’m glad you call it like a toolkit. That’s exactly how I talk about it. You know, you might most often use a hammer and a screwdriver, but when you need the slip. Pliers or the Allen key or whatever, you’ve got it. You can find it in your toolkit and you’re aware of it. Because you know, there are different stressors that we have at different points in our life.

And it’s good to know those what those resources are. And just, I just have to say this thing, a little thing on laughter. You know that when you laugh, you step off all of these wonderful cascade of hormones, serotonin, and dopamine and oxytocin. And so that is all very healing. But in contrast, if you are angry, Like even for 10 minutes or 15 minutes, I think is the study that you set off cortisol and a lot of other stress hormones and the effects of that can last up to six hours later.

And those stress hormones like cortisol that is like erodes everything on the insight. It’s good. Like for a short burst of like fight or flight, like back when, when we really were escaping the lion, you know, the proverbial line we needed it. But if you look at like any video on where Aline is pursuing its prey, When the prey escapes and after it’s all done, what does the, what does the antelope do?

They shake it off and they go back to grazing within 15 minutes. Everything is back to normal, but we humans, we keep thinking about our boss. We thinking about how bad traffic is like, oh, why did she say that to me? We can’t ever go back to homeostasis, like where we should be. So we need to proactively manage that in, in that case, you know, that is where I, I failed to protect my house.

Is that, that continuous negative stuff. It wasn’t anger per se. It was, but it all set off this cascade of, of bad things. One thing I will share is that the heart attack I had was not a normal heart attack because when they went in, I had no plaque in my arteries, no plaque, but I developed the tear in my arterial wall.

So you can manifest just about anything and just make it sure. It’s a good thing to know. 

Susi Vine: Yes. Yes. If, if we’re going to be setting ourselves up and turning that, that record and wearing a group definitely is beneficial to consider how we can make that call in some positive, as opposed to taking ourselves to account for things that aren’t even.

True or authentic. We can you write and just the same way that neuroplasticity helps that gratitude practice bring us to more positive by just as you’re saying, keeping ourselves triggered over the same stressors, the same concerns and worries, and frustrations we’re wiring those paths. And then of course our brain is going to keep wearing that same groove and going back to those concerns and frustrations, just feeling in a different.

Putting in a new instance or situation that we can continue that pattern with. 

Audrey Weidman: Yeah. 

Susi Vine: Yeah. And I know that you have something special for our audience. You’re sharing a gift with them to help them cultivate self-love. So this is something that we can all use some benefit for. I’m so glad that you’re making this video.

Audrey Weidman: Oh, thanks so much. Yeah, if you go to Audrey weidman.com Wideman with w E I D as in David, M a n.com forward slash self love, you will get seven tips on how to cultivate self love, and they’re all proven. You know, proven things. It’s not just woo woo stuff. And they’re things that I use in my practice.

Maybe not daily, but they are proven to work. And maybe something I believe self-love is where it starts. And it certainly had to start that way with me. So I I’m hoping that will benefit your audiences. 

Susi Vine: Yes. I know it. Well. I think that’s beautiful. And I agree. I think that we tend to have an easier time giving grace to other people by far than we do extending that own grace to ourselves.

So. Let it, let it start with some practices and start building this into maybe your morning routine. Maybe you’re winding down from the end of the day. However it fits that you can integrate and bring these practices into your life will be super powerful. I know. Right. Is there anything else we’ve covered some ground today?

Obviously we could continue this conversation and go any number of different ways in the future. But before we go today, anything you want to leave with our listeners? 

Audrey Weidman: No. I just think that w well, one of the easiest things that you could do for yourself, if you start feeling stressed is do some slow, deep diaphragmatic breathing, Navy seals.

Do it look up box breathing. This is what the Navy seals, the most highly trained military forces. My police audience like that box breathing will get you back to center. So you can think more clearly, but yeah, just, you know, life is beautiful. You just have to see it. So make it a habit of trying to find the beautiful things.

Susi Vine: Hmm. I love that. And before we hopped on air, when you were talking about taking a nice, mindful nature walk, that’s one of the exercises that I love recommending to people too. So if you need something beyond that box breath, which is super powerful give yourself some time to just go out in nature and maybe give yourself a goal.

Finding three things that that delight or amuse you, you know, and really keep those eyes peeled and be present in that moment. There was something so powerful and in nature as well. 

Audrey Weidman: Absolutely. 

Susi Vine: Thank you, Audrey, for joining me for bringing your brilliant ideas. It’s so fun to listen and collaborate with 

Audrey Weidman: you.

Absolutely. You’re one of my favorite peeps and I don’t even know you that well, we’ll 

get 

Susi Vine: together in real life sooner than later, right? Call it down. Thank you for joining me today. I hope that you are well and find plenty of time to take care of yourself and I’ll talk to you really 

Audrey Weidman: soon. All right.

Thanks so much.