Stronger Connections Wellness Mini-Session | From Words to Wellbeing: How Shifting Language Can Impact Wellbeing Transcript

Laura Buckner:

Welcome everyone. We’ll get started in just a moment. Take some time to get settled.

Hey, welcome everybody to our wellness mini session. Today’s topic is from Words to Wellbeing: How Shifting Language Can Impact Wellbeing. We’re really glad to have you all here today. This mini session is hosted by the California Stronger Connections Technical Assistance Center. It’s a program from the California Department of Education and the center provides support to local education agencies to foster safe, healthy, and supportive learning environments. And one of the series that we’ve been offering are these wellness mini sessions, and this is actually our last one for the school year, but we’ll share at the end how you could join us next year. So today I’m very pleased to have Dr. Marisa Smith with us. She’s a program coordinator with the Innovation and Engagement Branch at the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, where she leads regional initiatives that promote student and staff wellness.

Guided by the whole school, whole community, whole child framework, she advances a comprehensive approach that aligns health and education to ensure every student is healthy, safe, engaged, and supportive. She specializes in integrating mental wellness, preventative care, and evidence-based practice into school environments to strengthen emotional resilience and put positive behavioral outcomes. So thank you so much for being with us today, Dr. Smith. I’m going to turn the session over to you.

Dr. Marissa Smith:

Hey, good afternoon, everyone. As she said, my name is Marisa Smith. I am super happy to be here with you guys this afternoon as we enter just into this moment of wellness for ourselves. We really think about going from what words to wellbeing looks like for each one of us. And so as we begin this time together, I really want to invite you to really take a moment just to be fully present in this space. I know that there has been a lot probably already happening today and going on today, and so I wanted you to take a moment to be super present in this space to just really be open and willing to engage in a way that’s able to support you at this moment in your own wellness. And I know often we think about how can we engage in these times so that we can engage others in their wellness, but I really want you to take an opportunity today to really engage in your own wellness.

And so today’s session is really an opportunity for you to pause and reflect and just explore how the power of your own thoughts and feelings and emotions, how that is really able to help you today. So thank you for taking the time to be here with us today. Next slide, please.

So one fun fact about me is my parents are from the Caribbean, so very often we would take trips back to the island of Antigua that’s known for, it’s 365 beaches, one for every day of the year. And so I want you to take an opportunity if I say the word blue ocean rolling with a warm sand under a golden sunset, I’m sure that you’re able to see that picture in your mind. What does that feel like to you? I want to take a moment. What does that feel like to you? What instantly does your brain create? And so if you could use the chat box for me this afternoon and just highlight some of the thoughts, feelings and emotions that come to mind when I talk about that blue ocean water, the heat of the sun on your face, the sun beneath the sand beneath your feet, the warm but cool rush of the water around your body, what feelings and emotions come to mind? Tell me, what do you see in this moment? What do you feel in this moment?

Don’t be vague. I know we’re in the month of May, so summer plans already come to mind, things that you really want to do with each other. And so the brain is able to really possess the ability to form these vivid pictures in our minds when we’re able to really speak and see something clearly. And so today we’re going to really be practicing the importance of being intentional with the words that we speak, especially when we talk about how we feel and our personal wellness and how we want to deal with our personal wellness. So before we go any further, I really want to take an opportunity for us to ground ourselves in this moment. So if you’re able to sit or stand comfortably where you are with your feet grounded on the floor. Next slide please, Laura.

I want you to feel comfortable. We’re going to be practicing some box breathing. You can start playing the music. Feel free to drop your shoulders. If you’re comfortable closing your eyes, feel free to do that. And I want you to take a quick minute and we’re going to practice this breathing technique together. And so when you are ready, I want you to take a big breath inhaling in for four. One, two, three, four. Hold that breath. One, two, three, four, and exhale that breath. One, two, three, four. Let’s do that again. Breathe in. One, two, three, four. Hold that breath. One, two, three, four. Exhale that breath. One, two, three, and four.

So as you continue breathing in for four, hold for four, out for four. I want you to notice body softening, your shoulder softening, unclenching of your jaw. Hopefully your mind is beginning to slow down and with each breath, here’s an opportunity for you to pause and reset. And as your body settles and your mind begins to come clear, I want you to shift your mind to a moment of gratitude. Gratitude helps us to anchor us into our present and shifts our focus, keeping our eyes closed if you want to. If you want to, feel free to open your eyes at this moment. What is one thing about you that you are grateful for? Not about others, not about your circumstance, not about your family, not about your organization. What is one thing about yourself that you are grateful for?

As we keep breathing in for four, one, two, three, four, hold for four, one, two, three, four, exhale for four, one, two, three, four. Take a moment to just acknowledge that thing about yourself and please always feel free to use the chat to share what that one thing is that you are grateful for.

I see somebody put kindness, their grateful for their kindness, for their humor, for their empathy and resilience, for their health, for your willingness to try, for your ability to multitask, for the trees, for your resilience, for the ability to form heart connection and relationship, for your ability to set boundaries.

And just like your words, what we focus on internally shapes what we feel and how we show up in the world. And so thank you for sharing what you’re grateful for about yourself because those are also things that people are grateful for about you. Thank you so much. Next slide, please.

And so the power of the words that we speak changes what we see, what we feel and what we think about ourselves. And so today I really want you to take an opportunity to think about how your words impact your wellbeing. And so just like we started this session visualizing those blue waves rolling in the sand beneath your feet and the warm sun on your face, I want you to visualize today who is the healthiest version of yourself? What does that person look like? How do you want to feel daily as the healthiest version of yourself and how do you want to respond under stress?

Your wellbeing is shaped by how you feel, what you think and how you respond. And so what does that person look like? Who is that person? What do you see when you look at that person? Because your wellbeing does encompass all of those three things. Again, how you feel, how you respond and how you see yourself at your very best. Often we are our worst critics and we think the worst of ourselves are the worst of others, but really we’re super hard on ourselves. And so today for our wellness activity, who are we at our healthiest? What does our wellbeing look like to us?

And so I want you to think of five words. I know I’m asking a lot. I want you to really think of five words that would really describe your wellbeing and what your wellbeing looks like. Who is the healthiest version of you? What do you really want that person to feel like and how do you want that person to respond to stress?

And so if you can use just the QR code that’s on the screen, Laura may drop a link in the chat if that’s most helpful to you. And I really want you to think of five words that does describe the healthiest version of yourself and you’re going to use that link to place in those five words. I’m going to stop talking for a moment to give you a chance to think, but please look at those three questions.

Laura, next slide, please. And so I wanted to share as we come to the end of this moment and we still have a few people that are entering their words. We want to give everyone an opportunity to respond. We’re waiting for about five more of our friends, but I hope this word cloud serves as a way for you to form a new picture in your mind of ways that you can support your own wellbeing, areas that you may not have considered that could assist with you being the healthiest version of yourself, ways that you may want to feel as you go from day to day and the ways that you may want to respond when dealing with hard situations personally as a member of your family or as a member of your organization.

Next slide, please, Laura. And so as we talk about from words to wellbeing, how we speak it, the way you choose to live it, that’s who and how you will be. So as we think of our healthiest version of ourselves, I am becoming the best version of me. I am choosing how I want to feel in this moment and I respond with calm, clarity and strength. My words shape how I’m thinking, my thinking shapes my choices and my choices shape my wellbeing. Again, thank you so very much for being part of this opportunity for participating in this wellness moment. Feel free to utilize any of these strategies within your organization and be able to form this word cloud of what we want our wellbeing to be as an organization or as part of your family, or feel free to do it within your friend group as you really focus on who you want to be and how you want to show up in the world.

So again, thank you so very much for this opportunity. I really wanted to ensure to highlight at the backend that May is Mental Health Awareness Month and I wanted to bring forward our department has engaged in a mental health slogan where we really wanted to focus on the students within San Bernardino School District. And so they came up with a theme, every superhero needs a team and you belong on ours. And so in this live binder link that we will share with you, there are some resources that you are free to use. You have things for yourself, for your families, for the school, and for each individual student. So feel free to use any of those resources as much as possible. And then last but not least, we host the Wellness Conference every single year. This year it is July 22nd into 24th at the Disneyland Hotel.

Feel free to please register. It is an amazing experience. It offers tons and tons and tons of resources. We’ll have all types of vendors that are waiting to participate with you, your schools, your students, and your families. So feel free to please be part of that experience. We’d love to have you. Again, thank you guys so much and I appreciate you all.

Laura Buckner:

Thank you so much, Marissa. That was lovely and just a really powerful word cloud that we all created together. So thank you so much for walking us through that exercise. We hope that everybody who participated today experienced a moment of calm and peace that you can bring with you for the rest of your afternoon. What you see here on your screen are QR codes for the two items that Marissa shared, the live binder and also the wellness conference that’s coming up. We also have a very short Zoom poll that we really appreciate you completing before you leave us today. And I just want to share that you can learn more about all of the offerings from the Stronger Connections Technical Assistance Center, including we’ll be starting these wellness mini sessions again in September. We have already got the link available to start registering for that, which is on our Stronger Connections website.

So we hope to see you all again starting again with these mini sessions in the fall. And again, Dr. Smith, thank you so, so very much for collaborating with us on this session today and we hope that everybody goes out and has a wonderful afternoon. Thank you so much, everybody.