​​Episode 111--Meditate & Mingle: Breathwork through Extending the Exhale

This week’s episode is a recording of a recent Meditate & Mingle session that’s all about extending the exhale, which is a calming method that engages the parasympathetic nervous system and can help you navigate feelings of anxiety or anger. If you have ever wondered what it’s like to join these sessions, this is the perfect way to try at your own pace and timing. So breathe in, breathe out, and join us on a journey to self-awareness and tranquility. 

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Transcript

Billy:  Welcome to The Mindful Midlife Crisis, a podcast for people navigating the complexities and possibilities of life's second half. I'm your host, Billy Lahr, an educator, personal trainer, meditation teacher and overthinker who talks to experts who specialize in social and emotional learning. Mindfulness, physical and emotional wellness, cultural awareness, finances, communication, relationships, dating, and parenting all in an effort to help us better reflect, learn, and grow so we can live a more purpose-filled life.

Take a deep breath, embrace the present, and journey with me through The Mindful Midlife Crisis. 

Welcome to The Mindful Midlife Crisis. I'm your host, Billy Lahr. Thank you for tuning in wherever you are. The purpose of this show is to help you navigate the complexities and possibilities of life's second half using my no-BS GPS guide to finding more purpose and passion in your life, because, as you know, I am sick and tired of people telling you to follow your passions, because that is complete and utter nonsense. Purpose and passion are destinations, not departure zones. So if you need some help navigating which direction you want your life to go, schedule a free exploration. Call with me by visiting www.mindfulmidlifecrisis.com or click on the link in the show notes, where I provide even more goodies for you by practicing intentional and mindful living over the last 10 years, I've learned how to better navigate the trials, tribulations and successes of my own midlife crisis. Being more intentional and mindful has helped me process my ruminating thoughts, anxiety and stress in a much healthier way, by reducing my emotional reactivity and impulsive behavior, which, in turn, has helped me improve my relationships and communication with others, as well as be more consistent, disciplined, patient and productive and meeting my goals. These are the same skills, strategies and resources I have used in my personal life, based on years of research and experimentation, to find a bit more calm amidst the chaos. And, trust me, there are still days when I'm a hot mess, but my hope is that by sharing my experiences, as well as the experiences of my guests, you'll see that you are not alone in your experience. So if you're looking for a little more direction and clarity in life, visit www.mindfulmidlifecrisis.com. Schedule your free exploration, call with me and let me be your GPS to finding more purpose and passion in life. This week's episode comes from a recent Meditate and Mingle session that I lead every Monday evening at 8 pm, central Time. You're welcome to follow along with the guided practice and reflect on what came up for you, what was difficult for that practice, what surprised you and how you'll use this practice moving forward on your own time, or you can go to www.mindfulmidlifecrisis.com and click on the Meditate and Mingle banner at the top and sign up for future sessions. I would love to see you there. Not only is that a great way to cultivate a mindfulness practice, but it's an opportunity for you to connect with people from all around the world whose experiences may resonate yours. This week's guided practice is a breathwork exercise called extending the exhale. This is an important practice because the way the body breathes can tell you a lot about what you are experiencing. When you're anxious or angry, you may find the breath to be shallow or rapid. When you are resting, the breath slows down and is often deeper. The relationship between the breath, the body and the mind goes both directions. By breathing more deeply, you are telling the nervous system you are safe. This exercise engages the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for feelings of safety, relaxation and ease. It works well when you are experiencing anxiety, anger or any other emotion that increases the heart rate. We actually had a fascinating conversation around breathwork episodes 48 and 49 with Colin Purcell and Anish Ligal, if you want to check out that two-parter, very, very fascinating information about the power of breathwork. But without further ado, let's get to this week's Meditate and Mingle session. Extending the Exhale how have you incorporated any of the mindfulness practices or any of the conversations just in your day-to-day life recently?

Participant 1: I think for me, one of the biggest takeaways is that mindfulness doesn't always just mean straight up meditating. It's more like being mindful of, or noticing, your surroundings, your awareness of that. I think there's certain times of the day where I'll be more in touch with that, whether it's like I'm brushing my teeth or taking a shower or having food is what I've been trying to do recently is focus on the experience of eating and flavor and taste, versus just powering through and just being racing, taking time to focus on the little things and the sensations we notice around us.

Billy:  Will you be pleased to know that we're actually doing a mindful eating practice next week. We can actually do that in-house, jeff, I can hear you chuckling. Just make sure you have some M&Ms or some grapes or some raisins available. We can do a little mindful eating next week.

Participant 2: I'm excited for that one. I just eat and think later. It'd be good to be in tune with what I'm chewing on.

Billy:  Yeah, listen, having worked in education all those years, I'm so used to just shoveling food in my mouth and then not thinking about what I'm eating and then being like oh, I don't even know if I tasted that. So yeah, trying to enjoy flavors a little bit more just by slowing down a bit is still a struggle, because I always feel like I got to get from point A to point B as quick as possible. I was like, no, just not even the entire meal, just enjoying a few bites here and there. But we'll talk about that more depth next week. Alice, anything that you've been implementing the last week or two.

Participant 3: I would say I'm a pretty happy person overall, but there are times when, out of the blue, I will just feel like a lot of emotion coming up and then I start like feeling like tears like running down my face, which is really weird, because usually on that day I'm not having a terribly bad day, so there's no reason for me to be emotional. But then I think maybe something that had happened a long time ago. I feel as if I'm somehow processing it in that moment when my guard is down, and that is like causing me to get really, I guess, teary eyed. And when that happens I try not to. I mean, sometimes I will just be writing the subway and I will feel it happening and I try not to like make a big show out of this, and you know, like you know, I try not to create any sounds, but if it happens, I just let the tears flow and, yeah, I just, like you know, check in with myself, like you know, just try to hold it in and reflect on that and kind of be grateful about it, instead of being like really annoyed and embarrassed.

Billy:  Well, can you talk about being grateful for it? What an interesting perspective.

Participant 3: Well. So what happens is, I think, usually leading up to that point, like I'm not feeling that great. Usually I'm feeling kind of crappy, but then once I somehow like release my tears and stuff like I feel, I do feel like lighter, so I just feel as if something is being let go.

Billy:  I think of that as catharsis. That's how I always think of, because I have had those situations too where I've been even sitting in meditation and then I can feel the emotion coming on and then I will put up a wall and be like, no, I don't need to feel this, and then finally I'll just succumb to the emotion and I found myself just weeping. And then when it's all kind of done, like you said, I just feel lighter, I actually feel better. There's a feeling of catharsis. So I really like that you use that word grateful, that you feel grateful for even having that emotion and sitting with that emotion. So thank you for sharing that perspective. I really appreciate it. Our practice today is called extending the exhale and it's going to be a little challenging. It's going to be some breath work and I'll actually have you lie on the ground for this one and I'll get you into that position here in a little bit. But the way the body breathes can tell you a lot about what you're experiencing. And I think, just kind of going to Alice's point, if we don't take time to deal with those difficult emotions, those difficult emotions are going to present themselves at an inopportune time. So when you're anxious or angry, you might find that the breath feels shallow or it feels rapid, and when you're resting, the breath slows down and is deeper. And so this relationship between the breath and the body and the mind goes both ways. By breathing more deeply, you are telling the nervous system that you are safe, and you can use that when you are in those moments where you're like no, I don't want this emotion to bubble up right now, so I'm going to communicate to my nervous system that I am safe and then I can explore this emotion later. But just being intentional about coming back to the emotion, because what's happening here is something like in this breathing practice that we're going to do today. It engages the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for feelings of safety, relaxation and ease, and one thing that I learned recently is that mindfulness actually shrinks our amygdala, and our amygdala is what's responsible for fight, flight or fright response. So it shrinks it that I didn't realize that there was, that actually took place. But what it then also does is it builds up, at four to fives, the gray matter in our prefrontal cortex which regulates those emotions of safety, relaxation and ease. So a breathing exercise like this, mindfulness like this, works well when you're experiencing feelings like anger, anxiety or any other emotion that may increase the heart rate. Another thing that I learned when we do breath work is really focusing on breathing into the stomach, breathing into the abdomen. I'm someone who, when I used to breathe, I used to hike up my shoulders when I breathe, and what that's actually doing is it's actually activating those emotions like anger, anxiety. It's increasing the heart rate, because just that hiking motion is a motion that cues the brain that hey, you're in distress. So a way that we can bring a feeling of calm, of relaxation, of ease to our body, communicating it through the breath, is by breathing into the stomach. And I think the easiest way for us to do a breath work, like what we're going to do today, where we extend the exhale, is by lying on the ground. So for this practice, I'm going to invite you to go ahead and lie on the floor with your feet on crossed, falling away from each other, arms at your side, and I'll give you some time to go ahead and get into that position. And now that you've found a comfortable position, I invite you to close your eyes, or, if it's more comfortable, you can simply lower your gaze. And now let's take a moment to settle in, using our breath with a long, slow but even inhale through the nose and then slowly letting that air back out at the same slow, even rate, through the nose. On the exhale, let's take a few deep breaths like this, inhaling slowly and evenly, focusing on filling your belly with air and then slowly and evenly, gently letting your belly fall on the exhale. Now find the natural rhythm of your breath, still taking in the air through the nose and filling your belly with that air and, on your exhale, letting the air pass through the nostrils gently, while softening the belly, using these breaths to quiet the mind by just focusing on each inhale and each exhale, allowing yourself to simply just be, just be. And during this meditation you'll notice that your mind may wander or get lost in thought. Just know that this is a very normal occurrence. So when that does happen, which inevitably will just bring awareness to where the mind went, then gently bring your attention back to our intended focus. And we'll start by bringing your breath into awareness and choosing one place in the body on which to feel the breath, and usually that's the abdomen, as the belly rises and falls on each breath, of course the chest as the lungs inhale and exhale, and I'm going to cue your breathing. So I'll ask you to breathe in for three seconds and then breathe out for four. Now count that in. So on your next, inhale one, two, three. Exhale for one, two, three, four. Inhale for one, two, three. Exhale for one, two, three, four. Keep that count on your own. Remember to put the focus on where you feel the breath rather than how long you're breathing. And now make the breath a bit longer by inhaling to a count of four and exhaling to a count of five, on your own. You, let's lengthen again. It's time, breathing in for 5 seconds and extending the exhale for 7 seconds, remembering to keep your attention on the sensation in the body as you breathe. As the time passes, I'll simply say lengthen when I do, allow your inhales and your exhales to lengthen as much as you're able, remembering that the exhale should be longer than the inhale, and see if you can encourage yourself to breathe more deeply without straining. Lengthen, lengthen, lengthen. Continue inhaling and exhaling through the nose, lengthen, lengthen. One last time, lengthen, lengthen. And now let go of the counting and take a few deep breaths through the nose at your own pace and return to your breath, without returning to shallow breathing, reminding yourself that you are safe. And, as we bring this meditation to a close, allow yourself to come back to your breath, feeling the air pass through the nostrils on the inhale and, on the exhale, expelling the air evenly and naturally through the nose. And when you're ready, I invite you to open your eyes and take inventory of the sensations of your body and bring awareness to your surroundings. Welcome back. Let's take a quick break to reflect on what came up for you, what surprised you, what was challenging and what new awarenesses are present within you. And when we come back, you'll hear from the group about what came up for them and how they plan to use this practice moving forward. Thank you for listening to The Mindful Midlife Crisis. 

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Billy:  So, what was that experience like for you? What was challenging? What was surprising? What came up for you I was surprised at?

Participant 2: how challenging that when I got to like the eight second inhale and the nine second exhale, I felt like that was going to be my max Right. And then, next thing you know, I was at like 11 and 12. Yeah, and just initially those it was really hard to control how slow I was inhaling Because I wanted to take a deep inhale with each second that I was counting. And then it, just as time went on, it just flowed so much easier, like without trying this hard. That makes sense.

Billy:  Yeah, no, that's a great observation and I'll kind of tie that into an experience I had. I'm curious if any of you kind of have a euphoric feeling right now, like an energized feeling or a buzzed feeling, or maybe what is your feeling right now? Jeff, you still have your mic on so you can go ahead. What's kind of like your? What's your feeling right now?

Participant 2: Super relaxed. You know, I went through I think I trained my mind a little for this feeling because I had entered a session not that long ago. I'm usually a troubled sleeper and I went through meditations and different guided things to help me go to sleep better, and this is one of them. So I, in transparency, I did a lot of yawning there, yeah. So I struggled with that too, because I would be in a deep inhale and all of a sudden the yawn would pop up right. Like you know, getting into the breathing patterns and like that's where a lot of the sleep meditation stuff is too is like just be aware of your inhales and exhales, and I was starting to put myself asleep.

Billy:  When you had mentioned that. You know you. You were like, when I got to the eight and to the nine second inhale exhale, did you feel any sense of distress during that time? Or were you able to regulate the breath Because you said you wanted to take that natural inhale and I think that's fairly normal. When you get to the bottom of that nine second exhale, that's actually kind of a long exhale because you might be sitting there for one or two seconds without being completely empty, without inhaling, and then there's kind of that natural instinct to be like like that. Did you have that experience at all? 

Participant 2: I did, and I feel like I had that more in the middle of the sessions and I did when it got longer.

Billy:  Oh, can you talk about that a little bit? What? What do you think shifted for you?

Participant 2: It's a good question. I just I felt like initially when I because my brain was going back and forth between, like, where I was feeling the air right, and, I think, when I was. I always have it kind of an issue with nasal breathing, but I know it's healthier, better, right, but I feel like it's a little constricted. So there were times around that seven, eight, nine seconds where I just felt like I wasn't getting enough when I was inhaling, but something when it became more controlled, it felt like enough air, even if it was the 10 second inhale it, just because then I was feeling it more in my you know. Then I could feel like my ribs expanding and contracting and it felt more, I don't know, felt like a deeper, even though the breath was going in slower. It felt like I was gaining more, if that makes sense.

Billy:  Well, it sounds like you were able to better engage it in your body, what it feels like to fill it up at a slow pace and then you were able to recognize to that. Oh hey, like I'm able to actually slow this down a little bit but still get enough air and get to whatever the count is and not even putting so much focus on the count, almost removing a little bit of focus from the count and focusing more on how the body is internally counting Cool Well thank you for sharing.

Participant 2: I like becoming one with a carpet.

Billy:  Yeah, that's always a good feeling when you sink into the ground like that, sink into the carpet or the bed, wherever you're doing that kind of breath work. Alasdair, luke, what came up for you? What were some sensations or some challenges? What surprised you?

Participant 1: Yeah, I think when you first said, okay, now we're going to add more time, I was like oh, uh-oh, but it got easier as I went on. One of the things I noticed was that it wasn't easy for me, breathing in to initially transition to like breathing out. So I feel like each time I breathe in, there would also be like a second or two where I just kind of held my breath and sat with it and then breathed it out. Yeah, it almost kind of felt like a natural, a more natural transition to me between the two and I think during it too, my body like made like a huge gurgle noise like midway through. So that was kind of like oh, I wonder what's kind of going on. It kind of just like drifted into that. But then, yeah, at the end, kind of getting up, I was like, oh, I kind of feel like like a almost like a floaty feeling, kind of like a natural high from all the air, like going into deep breaths, going in and out.

Billy:  Yeah, that's what I'm experiencing too, so I was curious if anybody else was feeling that way. And I feel like that's such an underrated hirk of doing breath work like this is that you can actually get that high off of. It is something that one of my meditation teachers, colin Purcell he calls it the caffeine breath where you feel like that high Right, I can't remember if he calls it the caffeine breath or the Xanax breath One of them. There's that high to it that he talks about, and so that's, I'm kind of have that like here's. The other thing is I don't know if it's lightheadedness or if it's this kind of this euphoria, this high that I have, but it feels more like a euphoric high than it does lightheadedness. So thank you for sharing that. I was curious if I was the only one that was experiencing that or if other people were too. Alice, what came up for you? What was challenging? What did you find surprising? What was that experience like?

Participant 3: For me, the feeling that came up first of all was this feeling of self consciousness, because I'm at a guest house and so you know you're sitting here right now. This is normal looking. But then when you talked about lying down, I was like shit, what if someone like walks in and sees me lying on the ground and they're like what is she doing on the ground? Like that, I was like is someone going to judge me if I do this? So that was like the first thought that came up. But then, as I got into the thing a bit more, I started to relax and I was like, yeah, I didn't get that much sleep last night. I guess like it's good time for me to just check in with that my sleep hours, and yeah. And then I started to like who's not? And yeah, yeah it was. I actually felt that this meditation could have been longer, you know, because I was like justice, I was about to get into it. You were like time's up.

Billy:  Well, I'm curious do you feel like that self consciousness at the beginning impacted your ability to do the four second inhale, five second exhale, or did that not have any impact?

Participant 3: I mean, it wasn't like my first time doing the inhale and exhale like drawn out, so. So I managed to go through it, but it was just like, yeah, so I was following you and I was listening and trying to copy what you were saying, but yeah, I guess it was like I was not feeling like loose, I was, like you know, looking sideways a little bit.

Billy:  So did you find that the breathing then helped you settle into it and let go of some of that self consciousness?

Participant 3: Yes, yeah.

Billy:  So how did that feel then, as you started to sink into the breath and let go of self consciousness?

Participant 3: I just felt calmer.

Billy:  Well, I'm glad all of you are sharing these experiences here, because I think this is, you know, breathwork is such an easy takeaway when it comes to those high stress situations, those self conscious situations, those highly emotional situations where we can implement and activate a breathing meditation like this in the moment. And so, you know, a big part of what I'm trying to to coach people and show people and teach people is how we can implement in the moment mindfulness, because most people can't just bust into a 10 to 15 minute meditation when they're feeling stressed during a meeting. You can't just do that. So then, what is something that's practical that you can do in a meeting or that you can do in a stressful conversation? And it's doing something intentional like inhaling for three seconds and exhaling for four seconds, I think. Just even going back to what Alice said about feeling self-conscious, if you're tuned into your body, you know where you feel self-consciousness in the body. You know where you feel anxiety in the body. If you choose to tune into it, the more that we practice even those moments where you know, like Alice actually is fortunate enough to be on the subway where you can just kind of sit with what is present with me right now, jeff and Luke. You guys might well. Luke, I don't think you commute, and Jeff, I don't know if you commute or not, but I think if people, they do commute. I think I've talked about this in the past that tendency to hop out of the car and get into the office right away, where it might just benefit you to turn the key off, turn the ignition off, and sit in your car for three minutes and inhale for three seconds and exhale for four seconds, and then lengthen that to a four, into a five, into a five, into a seven. And those are three minutes. The first minute you're doing a three to four, the second minute you're doing a four to five, and the third minute you're doing a five to seven. And then in the fourth minute, if you've got that fourth minute, you can be like all right, what is present with me, what is here with me, what am I carrying into the day, so that I am aware of what is present now, and then also understanding too that at noon, what you were carried into the morning is probably not there so much. Now it's something else. Is it magnified? It might be. Is it gone? It might be. Is there something new there, most likely. And so then taking that time at noon to say, all right, I'm gonna take the next three minutes to inhale for three and exhale for four, because then what you're doing is you're taking that parasympathetic nervous system and you're communicating to it that, hey, you're in a safe space, that you're not in danger. Now you might be stressed, yes, but you're not in danger. And I think what happens is too often we allow those stress responses to manifest into feelings of danger, feelings of attack, and then that's what heats up that amygdala, that's what heats up that fight, fight or fright response. So put this little meditation in your back pocket and pull it out, and I would say in the morning it's a good, easy way to start your day. People always talk about I don't have time to meditate. You've got three minutes, throw the bonus minute on there and sit with what is present. You do make it a five minute one and just in the first minute do what we did before and just take a deep inhale. And take a deep exhale evenly and then move to three to four in the second minute, four to five in the third. Now you've got a three to five minute meditation practice that you can implement multiple times throughout the day, and I think what you'll find then is that oh, wow, I'm actually more mindful. And I know that that's obnoxious when people say be more mindful and they have really no idea what they mean by that. Now you can be more mindful in practice because you have this three to five minute practice that you can implement throughout the day. So that's my challenge to you, moving into the next week, is where can you implement that? And not just doing it once, but being consistent and disciplined with it? So where in your day can you do it? Alice, you might be able to do it on the subway. When I was in Seoul, I a lot of times would just find myself sitting for three to five minutes and doing a breathing exercise. Weirdly enough, I find the subway to be very calm and relaxing. I know that not everybody has that relationship with the subway, but I love the subway. There's a calmness to it. There's a calmness in the chaos. But then you know, luke, think about where you can implement it throughout your day. And I know you and I have talked about those transition moments between meetings, right, and Jeff, just looking throughout your day, I imagine getting the kids ready for school, there's those moments right there. So then is there a time, is there three to five minutes before or after that chaos of the kids in the morning where you can implement that, and then finding time around the noon hour and then finding time in the evening, and if you do that, three to five minutes, three times a day you're at 10 to 15 minutes of meditation practice, of a mindfulness practice. What you may find then is oh, maybe there is more time in my day to do this, maybe I don't need to be entertained by my phone in those three to five minutes. Maybe I can just sit here and listen not vilifying the phone, because I am just as bad about that as anybody else but when I am intentional around taking those breaths, then I find myself being far more productive and far more emotionally regulated. Any last thoughts with that, before we close the session now.

Participant 2: I'll just add that I had put in into practice a little bit. So this timing is pretty awesome because last week it was one of the most stressful weeks. Thursday was like the one of the most stressful days I've had in a long time and I was actually leading. We have a leadership thing in our work called Project Lead the Way and as an individual contributor we get one session throughout the year that we get to lead, and mine happened to be on emotional intelligence and self-awareness, which was great timing for this right. So part of what I even brought up and that was the shrinking the amygdala which I just learned last week, and mindfulness meditation. So I even said in the class I said I will be attending Billy's mindfulness meditation because I keep talking about it, but I did try practice called box breathing, which I'm sure you're aware of. Navy SEALs use it and I use that before that meeting because I was super stressed about how am I going to lead an hour and a half conversation on a subject that I've studied for a couple of weeks and it's just something when it's with your peers. It's just something nervous about it because you're always feeling like you're being judged right. But I took the first few minutes before that meeting started and just practiced, just getting the heart rate down, doing that inhale, exhale and hold thing. It made a huge difference. I felt like when the meeting started I was a different person than I was five minutes before it began. So there's something to be said about the breathing.

Billy:  Yeah, and that's a great example of in-the-moment mindfulness, too, and where you can put this practice to use in the moment. I'm glad that you were able to do that, and I think about both. You and Luke are musicians and performers and you sing too, jeff, so I imagine that just breath work is so crucial in performing and singing, and so you have to be loose and you have to be able to let go with breath in order to get the notes out, in order to get the words out, in order to hit whatever it is that you're singing, and I really do think that there's a lot of crossover carryover to just our day to day in terms of, hey, if we're able to perform in this way, where it's creative and it's subjective then that very much transfers over, carries over to how we perform in a meeting and just kind of letting go of that nervousness or the self-consciousness or that feeling that you're about to be judged and it's not easy. It's definitely not easy, but it's, and it's always a work in progress. But that's what I keep coming back to, this idea of being intentional around it. 

Thank you for listening to The Mindful Midlife Crisis. New episodes come out every Wednesday to help you get over the midweek hump. If you'd like to contact me or if you have suggestions about what you'd like to hear on the show, visit www.mindfulmidlifecrisis.com and click contact us. While you're there, don't forget to sign up for the newsletter to get free weekly meditations as well as free resources from our Reflect, learn, grow program. You can also click on the show notes for links to the articles and resources we referenced throughout the show. If you want to check out my worldly adventures, follow me on Instagram at mindful underscore midlife underscore crisis. My hope is that my trials, tribulations and successes will inspire you to take intentional action to live a more purposeful life. And, while you're at it, remember to show yourself some love every now and then too. Thanks again, and now back to the show. 

Welcome back to The Mindful Midlife Crisis. I hope you enjoyed this week's Meditate Mingle session. What were your takeaways from this session? But new awarenesses are present with you now. How might you apply this new found awareness in your day-to-day life? Moving forward, shoot me an email at billy@mindfulmidlifecrisis.com or a message on Instagram @mindful_midlife_crisis, and share your thoughts with me. If this session resonated with you and if you feel like cultivating irregular mindfulness practice will hydrate the mind, body, and soul, go to www.mindfulmidlifecrisis.com and click on the banner at the top to get more information about how you can join our Meditate Mingle community. Remember, mindfulness isn't about steering blankly at a wall and clearing your mind of all thoughts. It's about sitting in awareness with openness, curiosity, compassion and non-judgment. So if you suddenly become aware that you're not where you want to be in life, congratulations. You are practicing mindfulness. My job is to help guide you through that process so you can reflect, learn and grow and cut yourself some slack. Progress is not linear. Our growth looks more like the stock market Some days we're up, some days we're down, and we may not reap the benefits for a while. But if we play the long game and are consistent, disciplined, patient and self-compassionate, you'll see that your investment in yourself will pay huge dividends over time. If this episode inspired you to invest yourself in a new way, please do me a favor and subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. I would also greatly appreciate it if you would share this episode with the people in your life who may find some value in it, and if you do that, please tag us on the social medias. I really appreciate that. I love knowing who's listening to these episodes, because the purpose of the show is to help you navigate the complexities and possibilities of life's second half, and I hope this free and useful information provides some insight that will guide you toward living with more purpose and passion in your life. So, with that, this is Billy. Thank you for listening to The Mindful Midlife Crisis. May you feel happy, healthy and loved.

Take care, friends.