In this episode of the Heal, Nourish, Grow podcast, founder Cheryl McColgan guides listeners through a brief emotional check‑in as part of the 30‑day Healthy Habits Challenge. She explains why taking a moment to notice one’s current feeling and its associated bodily sensations is valuable, especially when busy with work or daily tasks. Cheryl outlines a simple three‑step practice: (1) state “Right now I feel ___,” (2) notice where that feeling is felt in the body, and (3) optionally add a brief reason (“I feel this because…”) and ask “What do I need right now?” She connects the check‑in to other challenge habits such as breathing exercises and movement, showing how labeling emotions can reduce anxiety, lower intensity, and promote intentional responses. Cheryl provides a list of common emotion words (e.g., stressed, calm, anxious, excited) and demonstrates how to use the practice even when emotions are hard to name. She mentions that related research links are are available in the challenge emails and tracker, encourages participants to log their habits for streaks, and ends with a call‑to‑action to sign up at healnourishgrow.com/habits and subscribe to the podcast. A standard disclaimer notes the content is not medical advice.
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Hey everyone. I'm Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal, Nourish, Grow, and welcome to day 13 of the 30 Days of Healthy Habits Challenge. Today we're doing a quick emotional check-in. So this is something that I notice that when I'm just, you know, in work mode and I'm kind of moving through my day and I'm just checking things off my to-do list, you often don't take time to just kind of check in with yourself and see how you're actually doing. So it can be useful just to make sure that you know what's going on. You can check in and see if you're, you notice you're overly overly anxious, if you're doing too much. And it's just a simple one-sentence thing that you'll do for this emotional check-in. And that is to say, right now I feel blank. And we're also noticing if there is any feeling in the body that's associated with this. So it's just taking kind of, uh, an overview of both your physiological and emotional state at the same time. It's quite often when we experience certain emotions, whether it's stress or anxiety or excitement, you know, they don't always have to be negative emotions. That we're feeling, but you'll notice that you feel it somewhere in your body. And so that can just be useful to notice where you're holding extra tension. And again, it just gives you some bullet points or some things to notice that you can try to counteract then. So for example, yesterday's habit was the movement stack. And if you take an emotional check-in and you notice that you feel anxious in that moment, well, it might be useful to do one of our breathing exercises that we've checked in as a habit, or to do a little bit of movement to you know, move some of that anxiety out of your body, but to first notice it, you have to notice it if you're going to be able to actually address it and do anything about it. So the cue is right now I feel blank and just notice where you feel it in your body. So the reason this matters is that labeling emotions can help reduce anxiety and help you respond with more intention. And then they also reduces the intensity. So especially if it's a negative emotion, this naming it and noticing it will help you calm down and actually respond instead of overreact or react in a way that is not helpful for you. It also strengthens just self-awareness and mindfulness. So this is also something that we do, you know, sometimes in a meditation practice that you are, you know, people's minds are going everywhere, but you're just observing thoughts and noticing them in a meditation and not necessarily trying to change anything, but just getting this idea of self-awareness. So if you get stuck and you're not like, can't name what you're feeling, you can use this simple list. This is, or some of the most common ones that people people might experience in the moment is stressed, calm, anxious, excited, tired, hopeful, frustrated, happy, sad. Um, all, there's all kinds, but those, those are kind of the typical ones that people might feel. And then add one sentence to this and say, I feel this because— so you might, again, it's this idea of tuning in so that you can be more aware of actually what's happening to you in the moment. And an example might be, I might feel this way because I'm frustrated with my boss, or, uh, I might feel this way because I'm excited to go on my trip tomorrow or something like that. And if you wanna go even a little bit deeper, you can ask, what do I need right now? So if you are feeling stressed or anxious, again, that's what do you need? Maybe it's some of the tools that we've practiced so far that help reduce stress and anxiety. So if you can't, again, if you don't know what you feel exactly, and this is, this is really challenging for a lot of people. Start with a sentence of say something and see if it resonates with you. Say like, I feel tired. And then, you know, think about that for a second. Is that it? Or I feel overwhelmed. Just pick any one of those things that I named off earlier in the video and try it on and see if that works out for you. But if you have trouble, that's probably a sign that you need to take this on as a more, more, uh, practice that's every day and something that you might wanna keep. Because if you're having trouble naming it, then that just is kind of identifying that maybe you're not present in the moment and you're not in tune with your emotions or feelings. So of course there's the links for the studies associated with this in the challenge emails and in the, um, tracker. They're always in the tracker, which is a great tool. So you're checking off these days of habits that you're trying and kind of creating little streaks. And that's also a great way to keep your habits intact and going from day to day. Into the future. So if you're not signed up yet, the link is healnourishgrow.com/habits. And for those of you that are doing the challenge right now, I will see you tomorrow.
This has been the Heal, Nourish, Grow podcast. Again, I'm Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal, Nourish, Grow. You can find show notes for this episode at healnourishgrowpodcast.com. If you have feedback on today's episode or questions about the content, please email us at podcast@healnourishgrow.com. We'd love to hear from you. Be sure to sign up for our email list at healnourishgrow.com and subscribe to the show with your favorite podcast player so you never miss an episode. Join us next time for more information that helps you live your best and healthiest life. Thanks for listening. Content on the Heal, Nourish, Grow podcast does not constitute medical advice. Content contained in the Heal, Nourish, Grow podcast is not intended as medical diagnosis or treatment. Neither the company nor its owner, Heal Nourish Grow LLC, nor any of the company's employees, agents, or guest speakers provide medical advice. The content provided on Heal Nourish Grow podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please consult your medical provider with any questions about what health practices are right for you.
