Nostalgic Exercises We Can Do To Reflect This December

Hello. Hello, Cadre. It is a beautiful Friday, and I just got finished with a forest bath. Forest bathing. It's from the Japanese culture. And it was a chilly one out here this morning, but it was. So I'm warming up. We. We were at the Minnesota. Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Had a great, great guide. His name is David Matzenbecker, and he does forest bathing experiences. And it was absolutely delightful. Hey, Rachel. So I am feeling just very at peace, grounded, and still after my lovely forest bathing experience.

My toes did get a little chilly, so I'm wrapped up in a blanket. And I still got my. My hat on because I have hat hair today. So I'm gonna keep it on so that you don't have to see all what's under here. Hey, Rick. Yeah. Yesterday when I woke up and took my dog out, it was negative seven in Minneapolis. So it is winter here for sure. Feels like we went from fall straight to winter. And is forest bathing what it sounds like? So, yes, you can lay down in the earth. And obviously it was really snowy and.

Hey, Rick. Good to see you. It was really. It was actually snowing today, and so it actually made it, like, more beautiful. But, yeah, you're. You soak in. It's a very sensory experience. And you're going very slowly. You are incorporating. There's different exercises. We would run through some individual and then some with a partner. And you would just take time. We took stillness. We. We listened, we felt. We. We grounded. I don't know how else to really say it. It's a very good grounding experience.

But it comes from a research study out of Japan, because back in the. I don't know if it was the 80s or 90s, don't quote me on that, but they. There was a ton of suicide in Japan, and they did some studies where they would take people in, like an urban street. They took another group of people on like a semi urban, but also had some flowers as well. And then they also took people out to the forest, and Those people were 20% less stressed. Their blood pressure was down. There was all sorts of tons of great studies, but it's.

It was out of the University of Tokyo in Japan. So, yeah, you've. So you've heard about that study? Um, so, yeah, it was just, of course, the guy that ran it, David Matzenbecker, was awesome. And he was super knowledgeable. He was just so grounded. His presence just really inspired me because I'm a very hyper human. And I was like, oh, that was just. Oh, it was lovely. It was fantastic. Wow, we don't have fall. Well, maybe about a week's worth. Over the course of about a month, it's summer, then boom, cold.

Rachel, where are you located? I'm curious, but yes, that's. That's a bummer. I love fall. Fall is a great way to let go and to kind of transition into winter. Although I will say it goes really quickly into winter. But happy December. It is the first December. December 5th, the first December that I'm posting here on Cadre. And our. Our reflective renewal theme has been great to see everyone. Gals, you gotta chill. Sorry, dogs are being loud. And I didn't put my microphone on because I was too grounded.

It's a great time to reflect and be still. I'm so glad I got to do that earlier today. And I wanted to share just a little ritual that. That I do when it's starting to wind down the end of the year and Rachel's in Texas and she's like, I was way off. I thought it was more literally involving either rain, a body of water, or mud baths. Oh, no, no. It's more just like the energy component of it for forest bathing, but still highly recommend. It's the science to back it up is pretty incredible. So renewing is how I feel right now after experiencing such a practice like that.

And we're invited to go out and just be in nature and find stillness. I mean, nature is one of the best healers. And so some, like, nostalgic exercises that I do when I am in this, like, reflective mode. I have, like, I celebrate Christmas. So, like, I have my Christmas decorations up and lights and green and white and all flowers. And it's really fun to take that time because in summer, we don't have time. In the new year, I feel like we're, like, trying to reach our goals. We don't make time. And so this is our time to rest, our time to reclaim and reevaluate.

A lot of evaluation is the process that I go through. So the first thing I do, and this is like, you can break it up. You can have your own. One day you can do it, or you can do, like, one exercise here and then another, another day. It's whatever you have time for. And it's a good, better, best. That's my philosophy. Do it doesn't have to be super thorough. It can just be a little glimpse. But take. Take what works and what maybe strikes a chord. And don't feel like you have to do anything else because all you have to do is relax.

Today is I go through my work calendar. Cause I often have to fill out, like, my end of the year evaluation. And so usually that's in January, but I like to get a jump start on that. So I have some metrics and things I can put on it. But. So I will go through my calendar, my personal and my work calendar, and I will look at the meetings I had. And then all of a sudden these memories will come back of like, oh, that was a really tricky conversation. Or. Or I'll look at some of the old, like our KPIs or OKRs that I was doing and just be like, wow, we, like, don't even need to do that anymore.

Or like, this business has really grown and wow, this just reflecting and seeing, like, how far I've come and how far the business has come and see, like, what's working, what isn't. Is this, like, right for me still? Or how can I become better at my role? Like, different questions like that. It's a very, like, evaluative process. I'll also do that with my personal calendar and be like, wow, this is. I. That was that really fun time that we went forest bathing on December 5, or that one time we went out for like, a trip in 4th of July, or we traveled something like that.

Just always trying to, like, see, what did I do this year? Ask myself, how did I feel when I was doing it? Like, and how do I. How did I grow in that process? And the calendar is a great way to do it. The. The photo album is one of my favorite ways to do it. Because it's just fun to look at photos, right? It's a snapshot of time. And I'm curious if, like, that's my most nostalgic way is to go through photos. I'm curious if anybody else feels nostalgic when they go through photos or if they feel.

If it, like, brings up their memories of what they're doing or if there's. If you don't like to look at photos. There are some people that do not like to. They're just not photo people. And so I'm curious if. If any of you are into the photo scene for, like, reflecting. Okay, yeah, me, Rachel is for sure. Yeah, it's fun. It can be fun, I would say. And sometimes even the photo app will, like, make a cool little, like, video for you and Stu. So it's just extra, like, puts music and everything. It's really cute.

And so that's another way that I just reflect and again, ask these questions of, like, how Was this experience? How did I feel? Am I. Who am I hanging out with? Right? Things like that. It can go. Rachel says it can go both ways, though. Good, bad, or disappointing. I added bad for some reason. I don't know why, but. Yeah. Cause sometimes you're like, oh, I kind of wish I didn't do that, you know, or, shoot, I wish I would have handled that situation better. Or, gosh, I spent way too much money on that trip or whatever.

Everything, every experience is going to be completely unique. And it's just another way to grasp where am I on my journey right now in this thing called life. And, oh, the last thing I'll add before I go back. Photos is so the calendar photos and journals. I will read through some of my old journal entries and just kind of get into, like, see how I was in a particular mindset through these particular situations and circumstances. And sometimes I'll call myself out and be like, wow, I still have a lot of work to do.

Other times I'll be like, I handled that. Awesome. You know, and it's. It's not that we want to, like, be living in the past and constantly reflect, but there is this, like, importance to symbolize that we were here on this planet at this moment of time, experiencing XYZ and really honoring those things, especially when we're trying to step into a new version of ourselves or a new chapter. Maybe it's a new job, maybe it's a new relationship. Maybe you're trying to find some place to live, like me.

I'm trying to find. Trying to buy a house. And you have to let go of some stuff to bring other things in. And that's why I really have. I've fallen in love with this nostalgic process. And it has helped me not only, like, come to terms of, like, wow, I, like, did a lot this year. I have come really far. And I also give myself grace for little short hiccups that I maybe didn't do so well on. But it's very honoring to myself. It's very solidifying as to. I am on track to be a better human that I always am trying to be.

And Rachel says it's also a great way to learn from past mistakes. Yes, exactly. I've. I. It is. It's this process that I. That I do, and I usually do. I usually do it in, like, three separate days. I do one day each, and. Because it's just too much. But I like to go. I like to be thorough about it, but you don't have to. You can literally just scan through your journal, just like, kind of like grab some words, you'll get the gist. And same with your calendar, you can, you know, pick and choose.

But it's just how I've learned to teach myself about me. Right. And that sounds totally vain, but I want to get to the nitty gritty of what's going on inside so that I can become and embrace who I'm showing up as in the outside world and get better at that. Right. I love how intentionally you are about it. Yeah. Thanks, Rick. I. Well, it's, it's so winter is my favorite because it's one of my favorites. I love every season, I can't decide, but I love the energy of winter. It's yin, it is very, it's calm, it's quiet.

The snow literally makes it more quiet. And, and Also it was Dr. C the other day said, she said that our brains don't do as much. They kind of shut down a little bit and go into hibernation mode because of the season as well. And so we just aren't, we aren't firing as much as we are in the summer. Right. So that's why it's like, let's take this low hanging fruit of everything that's happened and just like while we have the time, hopefully we have the time. I'm grateful I am able to take off some time between Christmas and New Year's, but I know that's not the case.

So if you have an extra day, just, you know, it's good to reflect and not live there. I want to emphasize that we do not want to live in the past and we don't want to live in our old versions of ourselves. But it's fun to see like, because sometimes memories fade, right. And in fact, whenever we remember a memory, we're remembering the last time that we remember the memory, not the actual memory itself. And that just blows my mind and keeping, keeping the good times alive, especially in when the world is just kind of like a little crazy.

So those are like my three favorite things. And then the last thing that I'll add, which is kind of the kicker is I will kind of glance on my, my website and my social media, I'll kind of like social media stock myself if that makes sense and kind of just evaluate from an outside lens looking in, how would you want to be friends with this person? Is this person saying, yeah, only a little, but like, you know, is this person exuding good communication? Right. That's all it is. You know, I, I Use social media to communicate and try to share a message that I, you know, I think is important.

But I like to live on the principles of like, is it kind, is it necessary? Is it needed? Is it, is it the truth? You know, those, those questions. And so yeah, I don't like to do it too much, but I do like to glance just to like kind of like pretending that I don't know me, which is also kind of weird. But again, work with me here and just kind of see like, what, what is this person's vibe? Like, what are they giving off? And sometimes I'm surprised by like, huh, I wasn't trying to give this off, but it kind of maybe is happening a little bit.

And again, trying to be super. Eagle eye view really high out, just like looking at it from like a really high view. Because when we get granular, sometimes we can get a little, you know, in the weeds and then it goes too long, which I'm starting to do now. So my point is that reflecting is healthy. Reflecting is good. If you have some downtime, you know, go through your journal, go through some of your photos and take that time to connect with your community. Like, I've literally send photos to some of my family and be like, remember how fun this was?

Like, I miss you, let's try to talk. Or I sent. You can send like a journal entry of when you were going through a funny time or a grateful time with somebody and say like, hey, I was reading through my journal and I saw you like reaching out to people. This is the best time to do it because everybody is like a little more open for it. You know, Rick, you said it very well. Healthy objectivity. That is what the, what I was looking for and I could not say it. And so yeah, just be open to what you find out about yourself and, and you know, as you know, if you're into like setting New Year's intentions, this is a great practice to do so that you can like kind of wrap this chapter up, tie it on a bow and be like, yeah, I embraced it.

I'm a huge believer in how you end one chapter can significantly impact how you start your new one. And you know, I welcome you to, or invite you rather to, to honor your chapter, this chapter of 2025 and this or even just the past season. Like you can break it down times relative and reflect on who, who you've become, who, the experiences that have shaped you. Like, it's so, so heart opening to realize what you have become through these challenges, these hardships or These beautiful, wonderful things that you are so grateful that have happened in your life, the people that are in it.

Right. Rachel says, I love intentions versus resolutions. Yeah. So I, I've been a personal trainer forever and I never was a, you know, because the gym was always crazy in January and resolutions nev. I, year after year, every February, the gym got back to its regular amount of people. Right. People just stopped. And so I don't love resolutions because I'd rather have you live more intentfully than try to like, resolve and take or, or take something away. Like just, you know, that's, that's my two cents on it.

But everybody has, has their own thing. I just think intentions are like, yeah, a little bit like a better way to kind of frame it to set you up for success. And then you're not totally ashamed when you maybe fall off. But, but yeah, that's so. Yeah. And then, so the other reason to do this practice also is you might come up with some, some things of like, wow, I, I could, it might help you with set some better intentions because you're viewing yourself with healthy objectivity. So I invite you to do it.

I will share when I go through mine because I just think it's so fun and Yeah, I, I, I hope that everybody has like a grounded day. And I, I can't emphasize grounding enough. I mean, we're at the, Everything is rocking in December, whether winter is happening or not. You know, the, our society picks up and everything's kind of grooving and gets a little chaotic sometimes. So I hope you ground. I hope you reflect and I hope you express some gratitude. I'm, I'm grateful for you. I'm grateful for Cadre, and I'm, I'm grateful to share my experiences and, and listen to all of your experiences so that we can continue to grow together and, and as Rumi says, walk each other home.

That's just, it's just so beautiful. So thank you for taking the time to listen and let me know if you do pick out one of those practices. I'd love to hear how it goes for you. And with that, I will, I'll let you enjoy the rest of your day and I hope to see you soon. Thank you so much for tuning in. Be well. Drink a lot of water because it's dry. I know it's dry in Texas too, so bye.