113. Mental Fitness & Emotional Resilience with Jake Wiskerchen, Zander Keig & Jason Littlefield

Many cultural critics have expressed a mounting concern about prevalent attitudes that promote fragile mentalities, potentially crippling a generation and leaving them underprepared for the demands of adult life. Today’s roundtable panel brings together experts in mental health, social work, and social-emotional learning to discuss these concerns. How do narratives about our ability to bounce back from adversity shape our mental health and impact our outcomes?
The discussion touches on the importance of self-awareness and the practice of mindfulness in strengthening our emotional resilience. But what happens when our nervous system goes haywire, and we can't trust our emotions? How do we navigate through moments of distress and disorientation?
The guests share personal experiences and insights on how to cultivate mental fitness in a world filled with fear and self-censorship. Join us as we unravel the complexities of emotional well-being and resilience in the modern age.
Jake Wiskerchen, LMFT owns and operates Zephyr Wellness in northern Nevada and serves on the board of Walk the Talk America. His emotional functioning videos mentioned in this episode can be found at www.zephyrwell.... Follow him at Twitter/X: @jakewisk
Zander Keig, LCSW, is an award-winning social worker, speaker, caregiver, and educator who presents sought-after emotional well-being webinars and hosts the popular Umbrella Hour podcast. Zander co-founded the LGBTQ Caregiver Center, publishes change-maker stories at Third Space Press, and serves as a Caregiving.com LGBT Expert and Pride 365 Champion.
Jason Littlefield is an educator and advocate for personal well-being and societal well-being. He is the author of Empowered Humanity Theory: A Framework For An Empowering And Dignified Life. He's served more than years in public education in the capacity of teacher/coach, assistant principal and Social Emotional Learning. Jason has impacted students globally, including in Taiwan, China, and Benin, Africa. He works to reduce human division and promote personal well-being through EmpowerED Pathways, Free Black Thought, and The Institute for Liberal Values.
Books mentioned in this episode:
"The Psychology of Emotions" by Carroll Izard: amzn.to/3RkhoQt
{{chapters}}00:00 Start
[00:01:56] Emotional functioning.
[00:05:18] Finding joy in new hobbies.
[00:07:32] Emotional functioning.
[00:12:56] Emotional mistakes and understanding.
[00:15:44] Coping with loss and grief.
[00:19:26] The body and emotions connection.
[00:24:30] Occupational hazards for therapists.
[00:25:39] Teaching boundaries in the workplace.
[00:30:17] Mental fitness.
[00:32:35] Psychological well-being as a learned skill.
[00:36:01] Pushing back against societal indoctrination.
[00:41:44] Resilience and racism in society.
[00:47:38] Living in a modern world.
[00:49:25] Resilience and overcoming adversity.
[00:52:26] Stories of resilience.
[00:55:51] Human potential and ego growth.
[01:00:55] Envy and emotional functioning.
[01:02:30] Envy and jealousy discussion.
[01:06:59] Nervous system regulation.
[01:10:30] Nervous system regulation toolkit.
[01:12:13] Brain hemisphere integration.
[01:17:32] Meditation practices and benefits.
[01:21:37] Disconnecting from modern life.
[01:25:09] Importance of good night's sleep.
[01:28:25] Teaching social emotional learning.
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[@megankwisdom]

hobbies are so underrated. looking at something that's kind of intimidating (like maybe a particular macrame technique) and then trying it and figuring it out and maybe getting stuck but not giving up and then actually doing it and then repeating that process with harder things until you feel a level of mastery, man there are few things in life that feel better than that. and if you can do that with something low stakes like a hobby then you can take that skill and apply it to other things in your life like your self-care, finances, spirituality, health and fitness, etc. and then you're really living life. you don't have do big, amazing things to have an amazing life, you just have to practice getting better at the everyday things of life little by little - and hobbies are such a great way to build up your confidence in yourself and capabilities.

[@ahopefulhollar]

This was incredibly valuable! Thank you.