PP 704: Pause Breathe Choose: Adopting A Meaningful Mindfulness Practice With Naz Beheshti

The path in pursuing your goals and dreams will always have moments of overwhelm, which can directly impact your wellbeing and mental health if not appropriately addressed. The solution to this starts within yourself, all with the help of the right mindfulness practice.

In this episode, Kim Sutton talks with the Executive Wellness Coach and CEO/Founder of Prananaz, Naz Beheshti. Immerse yourself into their discussion focused on the meditative way of changing your life perspective, putting everything to a pause, and taking a breath. By discovering how to do mindful self-check-ins, you become a step closer towards a better you.

—

Listen to the podcast here:

Pause Breathe Choose: Adopting A Meaningful Mindfulness Practice With Naz Beheshti

I want to know when the last time was that you paused.

When I did my morning meditation which is my non-negotiable. Every single day I start my morning with twenty minutes of meditation. That is a beautiful, juicy, lovely pause that I start my day with.

I love that you jumped in with your answer. That was perfect because you’re inspiring.

I was thinking about it, “When was the last time I paused?” I don’t know when was the last time I paused. Maybe at a stoplight but I was texting my ex-husband to let him know that our kid was at home.

While on the road to achieve a mindfulness practice… Sleep does not count as pause, does it? What do you think?

It is a pause because you need that time to recover and rest. The pause is something that you do for yourself and sleep is essential for your daily pause because you’re recovering. You’re rebooting and so it could very well count as a pause.

It’s a long pause that you have to take every night. Some people don’t do that and they sacrifice their sleep and minimize their time sleeping, which is not good for your health or wellbeing.

I know that firsthand. In 2008, I wound up in a mental hospital due to sleep deprivation. And I am not embarrassed to share that. But because I thought that people would think of me as crazy if I said that I had a very expensive stay in a mental hospital, I used to be.

Friends, please do not do that to yourself. For the cost of a six-day stay in a less than an ideal mental hospital (Concrete walls, cold floors and communal showers), you could go on a month-long five-star vacation. Do yourself a favor and stop working 24/7.

That’s an easier-said-than-done thing.

I can almost hear my husband thinking, “You still work too much.”

I didn’t learn my lesson that time because I didn’t put two and two together. I didn’t put sleep deprivation and the way that I was depressed and anxious together at that point.

The doctors had seen that my thyroid levels were way off, so I pointed it there. If you fast forward in 2016, I went through another major sleep deprivation, burnout, anxiety and depression-like cycle. Thankfully this one did not involve another mental hospital stay, but finally, it clicked, “I need to sleep.”

While I can’t say that every single night I’ve gotten as much sleep as I can, sleep is now important to me. But the “Pause”, the “Breathe” and the “Choose” is still something that I’m learning. Even back in 2017, a guest, Kristiina Miller, asked me, “When was the last time that you sat still and you listened?” My answer to her was, “Never.” She said, “You need to do that.”

When did you learn to pause? Has it always been part of your being? As well as the “Mindfulness Practice” mindset?

It definitely wasn’t always part of my being. I had to learn the hard way when I found myself really stressed, on the verge of burnout, in a very high-paced, fast environments that I was working in.

Tech startups, Apple, AstraZeneca, Yahoo, all companies from a small startup to large companies where employee wellbeing and corporate wellness were not common back then. There weren’t the tools and strategies to support employees. So, I was really stressed at times.

Later on, I realized that there is a very huge benefit and advantage to taking a pause. I got into yoga and then meditation, and those were my pauses. That was my medicine in terms of healing my stresses. Healing all the anxiety and the go-go-go, the be-on-your-toes-at-all-times mindset. Just taking a breather and pausing, and breathing into any stress that I may be having. I learned that through my yoga meditation practice.

Mindfulness Practice at work

Having been through the corporate lifestyle, in 2008, when I had the mini-breakdown, I was an architect designing schools all throughout Ohio. At any one point, I had like over a dozen different schools I was working on. It was hard. I couldn’t keep up and I didn’t have support within the company. They were implementing a corporate wellness program, but they were focusing on weight, like the exercise and fitness of their employees. I think that was due to the health insurance premiums.

I’m just making an assumption there, but there wasn’t enough focus on the mental wellbeing of employees. Have you seen any type of shift in mental wellbeing awareness amongst corporations?

More recently? Yes. Right before COVID, it started becoming more common to hear about how employers wanted to support the mental health of their employees, but then now during COVID, it has skyrocketed. It’s the number one biggest concern in terms of employee wellbeing, mental health. Fitness, weight and obesity, all that has gone on the back burner due to COVID because mental health is so prevalent, mental illness.

And having people be so stressed, overwhelmed, experiencing anxiety and chronic stress, now that we’ve been in this pandemic for over a year… It makes sense to highlight and prioritize mental health amongst anything else at this point.

Mindfulness Practice: The pause is something that you do for yourself, and sleep is essential for your daily pause because you’re recovering.

Practicing mindfulness in the midst of a crisis

I love that we jumped right in all the good juicy stuff, but would you take a quick moment to introduce yourself to the readers?

I am an executive wellness coach, speaker and CEO of Prananaz, a company that provides corporate wellness solutions for improving leadership effectiveness, employee engagement and wellbeing, as well as company culture. I’m also a Forbes contributor.

Going back to the changes that have come out of COVID, how have you seen people being willing to discuss their mental state, struggles that they’re having? Maybe while adopting a mindfulness practice? Have you seen people being more willing now? Has COVID been a facilitator?

I see both positive and negative coming out of 2020, and I feel that is definitely a positive that people are more open to discuss their challenges.

Definitely, because I think people feel that they’re not the only ones. There’s some sort of union that many people are experiencing stress, overwhelm, anxiety, depression. Many people are in this state rather than people experiencing and feeling alone. There’s some collective union in terms of experiencing struggles and challenges with this pandemic.

People are more open to talking about it, but unfortunately with some, there is still a stigma around it, which I don’t know why… I’m at a loss for words when it comes to that because it’s so unbelievably important to be open and get the support you need, instead of trying to hide and think that there’s something wrong with you because there isn’t.

You just need support. Without getting that support, it can be very traumatic, the consequences of not getting the help you need.

Change your perspective with a Mindful Self-Check-In

Back in 2015 or 2016, and I feel bad admitting this, but my stepdaughter was living with us for a short time. She was dealing with anxiety, and probably adopting a mindfulness practice on her own by then.

I remember thinking that it was an imaginary thing. That it was something that she should be able to snap her fingers, change her attitude and be able to not be in that state. Within a year, I started experiencing anxiety myself and I felt so guilty for thinking that way. This may be the selective forgetfulness, I don’t remember if I ever said it to her, but I felt bad for having felt that way because I realized it wasn’t something I could snap my fingers on.

That was also in the midst of me not sleeping. Not sleeping and anxiety go hand in hand. For me at least.

There are still days when I’ll find myself, whether it’s when I’m in at a Clubhouse room or if I’m writing an email or in the middle of working on somebody’s project, where I’ll find my shoulders are up to my ears and I’ll realize that I’ve been holding my breath for who knows how long.

“I’m dizzy? Why am I dizzy? You’re not breathing.”

Exactly, hahaha.

Hahaha, I got to remember to breathe.

I have this thing I do daily, sporadically throughout the day that could help you with that. I call them mindful self-check-ins. Periodically throughout the day, I’ll do mindful self-check-in, which entails asking myself rapid-fire questions like:

“Am I breathing? Am I thirsty? What am I thinking?

What am I feeling? What am I doing? Am I hunched over?”

Because I’m sitting at my desk most of the day and if I’m getting hunched over, I sit up straight immediately; or I drink some water, I start breathing. Then, checking in with what you’re thinking and feeling also helps put things in perspective, to know what you’re giving your attention to, and if it’s worthwhile.

If you find yourself constantly giving your attention to certain things that don’t need that much attention or shouldn’t have that much attention, you’re mindful to shift your mindset then.

I use that psychological framework called RWID, Relative Weight of Importance and Duration, to identify what you’re giving a lot of weight to, a lot of importance to and for how long. After that, deciding if that is indeed what you want to be doing and giving that, whether it’s a thought or feeling, that much weight, and importance. The mindful self-check-in allows me to put things in perspective and self-correct if need be.

Pause. Breathe. Choose, and Steve Jobs

The theme of my week has been Less is More. So, how do I stop focusing? This has been my internal question which I’m working on.

I don’t want to be everywhere because when I try to be everywhere, I’m not anywhere like on social media. How can I cut it down to the bare minimum to produce the maximum results?

Along with that, when did the idea for your book, Pause. Breathe. Choose. come into play? Were you already in the midst of writing it when COVID came about?

Oh, yeah. This book was a long time coming. The inspiration behind the book came from my first boss and mentor, Steve Jobs. He appeared in a dream that I had back in February 2014, he told me that I need to write a book about how my first job at Apple impacted my career and the rest of my life.

It was a very vivid dream. I’ve only seen faces three times in my dream in my entire life and they were of people very dear to me who had passed away. One of them being my beloved grandfather and my mom’s best friend, with who I grew up with. Third was Steve Jobs, two years after he had passed.

I took it as a sign to begin writing and I did the very next day, that was back in 2014. I wrote the book within a year, I spent a year editing and then put it on the back burner for a while until I got an agent and a publisher, and then it all came to be. But this was written back in 2014, 2015.

I love divine timing.

It couldn’t have been better timing, right?

Up to 90% of doctor’s visits are stress-related

I want to go back to the mental wellness focus within companies as opposed to the physical wellness.

And this was even pre COVID, I noticed at the beginning, probably in February or March 2020. I said to a friend, “I feel like my stress has an appetite. I’m barely eating but I’m gaining weight.” She said, “Stress does that. It’s cortisol. You’re going to gain weight when you’re stressed because the cortisol is wreaking havoc on your body.” So, maybe I should do something about that, hahaha.

It’s interesting how it all plays together. I’ve had family members who have had heart attacks and other illnesses and I always assumed it was due to poor diet and lack of exercise. When I reflect further, I realized these people that I love went through huge quantities of stress throughout their lives.

My grandfather had ongoing heart conditions forever, but also, he dropped out of high school during the depression so he could support his family. It’s no wonder and that was in the ‘20s. He started having kids in the ‘40s, there were wars in there, plus five children that he and my grandma had. I’m sure his stress never decreased much and it wasn’t anything that was talked about. Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s when I was growing up as a child and teenager, mental health was never talked about.

No, not at all.

That’s when it was stigmatized, it has come a long way. At least there’s been progress since then. It also depends on cultures. In some cultures, they stigmatize it more than others, but in the United States, it’s less stigmatized than other cultures.

We have definitely come a long way. I think it shouldn’t be stigmatized at all anywhere, no matter where you live because it is something natural that you experience stress. Stress is inevitable, but if you don’t take care of it, it could lead to so many other things and exacerbate mental illness, bring on disease. Up to 90% of doctor’s visits are stress-related. That’s a lot.

Doctors don’t have the time to get to the root of the problem and talk about lifestyle, about work, about your stresses. They’re not a coach, they’re not a therapist, they’re doctors. So, what do they do? They end up prescribing something to them without getting to the root of the problem, giving tools and strategies on how to adopt a healthy lifestyle and a healthy mindset. Just to be able to live a better life and be more in control of your life, to be able to cope with stressful situations and anxiety and whatever you may be experiencing.

My book Pause. Breathe. Choose. has an overarching message about taking charge of your life so you can live your best life. A huge part of the book is all about making better choices to manage stress and build resilience. That’s key, and it starts with mindfulness.

You have to be mindful to even know that you’re feeling stressed or anxious or you’re depressed. If not, you might think that is normal or you might be on autopilot and you won’t know even how to take that pause in the middle of your day, to take a breath, to make better choices.

The relation between our healthcare system and a Mindfulness Practice

I’m going to be a health advocate here for a moment, and I love the word “Choose.”

In 2018 or 2019, I chose to get a new primary care physician. The podcast launched in 2016, so I started hearing people talk about holistic health practitioners… I couldn’t find one in my area or at least they weren’t professing themselves as such and they were not covered by my health insurance. When they showed up at the new PCP’s office, I expected to be in and out in fifteen minutes like…

“Get in. What’s wrong? Let me treat your symptoms, get out of my face so I can go charge the next client or patient.”

Unfortunately, that’s what a lot of us experience. He came in and he sat down. He said, “Tell me about yourself.” I remember explicitly pulling my head back in my chair and sitting up and being like, “What?” He’s like, “I like to know my patients.” Then I said, “Are you serious?” I didn’t mean to be cynical of him. He’s like, “Yeah. I don’t want to treat the symptoms. I want to get to the underlying causes.”

We need more people like that. More doctors like that.

I want to say to the listeners, if you’re not getting the care that you deserve, you have the right to choose to go elsewhere. Just call your insurance company and find out who else you can go to. Or shop around, go on social media and ask who other people like.

At the end of 2019, I was dealing with an exceptionally difficult client and dealing with major anxiety as a result. I went into that same doctor, and I wanted to get a drug for anxiety. He sent me home with a prescription for 30 minutes of exercise a day.

Mindfulness Practice: Without getting mental health support, it can be very traumatic, and there are consequences of not getting the help you need.

Choose a Mindful doctor

I had a feeling he was going to do that or like meditation or something. That’s the best prescription.

At first, I have to admit, I was a little bit irritated because I was already anxious, stressed, and had too much on my plate but then I realized, “I don’t want a drug,” because I’m a creative and drugs of that sort make my mind blank, so I loved it. I’ve thanked him since.

I consider exercise and meditation a drug of my choice, because it makes me very happy. It’s a natural high, I call it my medicine. Earlier in this conversation, I said that yoga and meditation is my medicine, and it truly is.

I need to be better at exercising, hahaha.

Readers, if you’ve been around a while, you know I’m transparent. I started seeing a therapist and one of the things that he said is, “I want you to take the word Need out of your vocabulary and start saying Will, instead of Need.”

That’s much more empowering.

We were talking about the past therapist. I love that we’re talking about mental health here and eliminating the stigma in this episode alone. He said, “What has worked and what has not worked if you’ve had previous therapists?” What I said to him was, “They never asked about sleep. I need you to keep me accountable for sleep.” He said, “Okay.”

Sleep, as we talked about in the beginning is so essential to your well-being.

He even said, “What about exercise?” That’s when I said, “I need to exercise more.” He says, “You mean you will?” It’s like, “Yeah.”

Mm hmm. He caught you, hahaha. He held you accountable right there.

The same goes there. If you have a therapist who’s not helping you get to the root cause, then you have the right to look around.

Taking the first steps forward to a Mindfulness Practice

Going back to Pause. Breathe. Choose. I love everything about the title just by itself.

When I’ve given myself the chance to pause and to breathe, the answers usually come and I can see everything with more clarity. I know that for a lot of my entrepreneurial friends and for me, we’re often way too close to everything to be able to see the big picture and realize that we are trying to smush way too much in this little grid box.

Whereas if we step back and look at the whole map, we could take all these little activities that we’re trying to smush into this one box and spread it out over a year and not feel so anxious.

The question I was going to ask you, and to some people it might seem like it has an obvious answer is, how do you suggest to clients and acquaintances that they begin with that check-in? Because things like setting up a reminder on my phone, while it may seem obvious, sometimes go over my head.

Is that the first step? Is it a time on your clock like when you notice that it has an 11, 7, or a 2, to remember to stop and breathe for a second and check your posture?

I would do notifications either on your phone or if you have an Apple watch, some sort of notification. I don’t want to say exactly how many per day because everyone’s different. If I say every hour, that might be too much. Maybe every few hours, I would play around with what works for you.

I don’t use notifications because I have already been practicing this for so long that for me, it’s about when I all of a sudden feel that literally I’m hunched over or my mouth is getting a bit dry. When one of those triggers, or if I’m stuck in a thought, or one of my senses is stuck in gear, I would say.

I then do the rapid-fire to check in with all of my senses at that time. That could also work for you and for the readers as well. If you notice one thing that you’re thinking too much, you’re thirsty, or you’re hunched over, then do the check-in for all the different senses and to check-in everywhere. If that’s a little bit too much… You have to have a strong mindfulness practice to be mindful of how you’re feeling, what you’re thinking, what you’re doing, then start using notifications.

The little details always matter

I was listening to a podcast of Brendon Burchard and he was talking about every time he went through a doorway or switched tasks, he had his release method.

I tried it for one day that every time I would go through a door, I would use the release. It was way too much, I didn’t realize how many doors. There are not that many doorways in my house. It’s from my office to the main room and into the bathroom basically, but I’d never realized even how much I pass through doors. On that day, I was doing it a lot.

You noticed it a lot. It probably was the same as you were always, but you are mindful of how often you were because you wanted to do something at that time and so you’re mindful of it.

I am no doubt a multi-passionate entrepreneur, who tends to work on more than I should on any given day. For task-switching, that one lost me within a half hour.

It also made me a lot more aware of how much I was task-switching. It’s been a slow evolution of Kim, of being more aware of what I’m working on and when, and choosing.

“Do I want to work on all of this or do I want to work on less at a higher quality instead of more at a lesser quality?”

How to practice mindfulness in daily life

Can we go back to the dream that you had with Steve Jobs for a quick moment? Was there anything going on at that time when you had the dream that you think may have led to the dream happening?

I was in my training for neuro-linguistic programming. It was an intense in-person training every weekend, from Friday through Sunday, from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, just intense training.

It was NLP Marin in California. It was one of those nights that I was in the training and the next day I remember coming to class and thinking, “That was really intense.” I went to the front of the room and had the teacher do some NLP magic on me about that dream and about writing the book. My inner critic was like:

“I can’t write a book. I’m not a writer. I don’t have the time. And I can’t do this but I need to. Because I feel compelled that Steve appeared in this dream.”

That NLP training helped me boost my confidence and get me started because I did start at that time. I’m not sure if I were in that training and I could actually express and process that dream, especially in front of the whole class and with my teacher who I respect very much so.

He helped me through it and it was the first time I had gone in front of the class to share something so personal. That really helped.

The Age of Mindfulness

If you don’t mind me asking, how old were you?

It was in my mid-30s.

I love that you said that because I was approaching 30 when I got my first nibble at mindfulness and mindset, but it wasn’t until my mid to late 30s that I began to understand more.

I’m older now and I’m still learning a lot. What makes me sad about that though, is that I wish that this had been a part of the curriculum but as we already talked about back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, there was a stigma attached to mental health, anxiety, depression, and all of these. As a mom of five, my kids ranged from six-year-old twins who are in kindergarten to a senior.

Mindfulness Practice: If you’re overthinking, thirsty, or hunched over, do the check-in for all the different senses and check-in everywhere.

Most of the parenting falls on my husband. It’s absolutely the truth. I don’t cook, I burn. He handles all the cooking and 99.9% of the house cleaning. The kids will run past me to go to him for something.

What I want is for my kids, especially the younger ones, because I’ve been trying to teach the older one’s mindfulness, but I want it to be part of their curriculum in school. Mindfulness studies introduced in elementary and middle school.

That would be so beneficial for kids and for teachers, and for everyone, to start young.

I’ve already thought about this. When I have my kids, how I’m going to incorporate it into our life. I can’t control what happens in the school, although I would love to start an initiative or some curriculum like you were saying, I think it starts at home too.

We don’t need to leave it up to the school. It’d be great to have it in the school but it definitely can start at home. Especially when the kids are having a tantrum or getting bent out of shape and hearing about the terrible twos and having tantrums, just having a pause.

I know a lot of parents have a timeout, and timeout is essentially a pause. That is a pause, but then let’s take it a step further and not go send the kid in a corner in their room for a timeout but let’s breathe together.

Let’s slow down the heart rate and your breath and deepen that breath and not let the kid just cry it out but control the breath. Calm the child down through the pause and the breath and continue breathing, and then have the child choose what they want to do next, so empowering. Implement Pause. Breathe. Choose. from an early age and see what happens.

Mindfulness Practice from an early age

When my eldest was starting to think about college, I asked him what he wanted to go into and he said, “Accounting.” I said, “Tell me why.” He said, “Because I heard they make good money.”

I said, “Let’s stop for a second. Are you really interested in looking at numbers all day?”

“No, not really.” I said, “What would you be interested in doing?” “I want to design. I want to create computer components.” I was like, “Why don’t you do that then?” He’s like, “I can do that?” I was like, “Yeah. Don’t choose things based on money.”

He got accepted to Ohio University, basically a full ride into the computer engineering program.

You must be happy.

I’m thrilled. He’s paying for anything that isn’t covered out of his pocket. That’s also been something that has been taught to him. We’re still working on that, the effort that you put in will come out in the results.

Yes, we understand that you’re a gamer and you love it and you’re a part of an e-sports team, but is putting all your focus there going to get you the results that you want in the job that you want?

Sometimes I forget which child I had which conversation with, full disclosure, but I believe that was one of the younger ones I’ve had a conversation about. “Just stop and take a deep breath,” It needs to happen more, stop and take a deep breath.

Stepping away from the I “Should” and I “Need”

I told my husband once to stop shoulding on himself.

A while ago I wrote an article about that, I agree with that. I still hear people say that.

He looked at me out of surprise and was like, “What did you tell me to stop shitting on myself?” I was like, “No, I said stop shoulding.”

I still should-on myself.

That’s another thing to be mindful of saying should or not even just saying it but having that mindset of should like,

“I should work out.” “I should get up earlier and do X, Y, and Z.”

It’s similar to not saying “I need”, but “I will”. It’s empowering a different mindset shift to empower yourself more, rather than coming from a disempowered state.

The therapist joked about how we were bringing Yoda into our session. I absolutely feel like we all need to embrace our inner Yoda. Get rid of the Should, Tries and Needs.

How do you do that? The step is through being more mindful because if we’re not mindful, we’re just going through life on autopilot. That could be one way but also on the go without pausing and being present. To begin your mindfulness practice, whatever and whichever they are, first you have to be present.

How do you catch yourself in the Should or the I Needs if you’re not mindful? You could say it a million times without even realizing it.

How to be more mindful of quality over quantity?

As a published author who went through a book launch, how have you been more mindful during the process to not be overwhelmed? I’m sure that there was overwhelmed but not the maximumly overwhelmed.

Also, how to be more mindful of quality over quantity?

I was talking to a good friend of mine on the phone, who was asking, “How has this launch gone? How’s everything, how’s life?” I was telling her everything and she’s like, “That’s a lot. What are you doing for yourself? How are you not super stressed or burnt out by now?” My answer to that is:

“My morning routine of meditation and movement is what has propelled me, energize me, and fueled me to have longer days.”

I am working longer hours now but it’s quality work because I’m starting my day with so much energy and in a place that I feel empowered, not like… “I got to roll out of bed and do this, and this.”

I’m super excited about what I’m doing and I love what I’m doing, I get so much energy from it, but having that self-care as a non-negotiable… It’s not like I Should, it’s what I want, I need it because I want it so badly. It makes me feel so good.

In that case, it’s not that I will, your therapist said, “Don’t say I need, but I will.” This is a case that it’s a desire of mine, that it makes me feel so good to start my day the way I do that. It fuels me for the rest of the day, that is what prevents me from experiencing burnout.

Stress is inevitable. I couldn’t say I don’t feel any stress ever, even though I teach stress management workshops all week long, but it’s about how you manage it and how you cope with it. Because I have a very strong and deep resilience reserve, I am able to face the

challenge as an opportunity as something that energizes me rather than drains me.

I know there’s positive stress as well as negative stress. It’s being aware and adapting and being resilient.

Mindfulness Practice means being aware, adaptable and resilient

I know that you’re about to make a move and split your time between NY and Miami. How do you see your morning routine changing as a result? Do you think your energy will be affected?

It won’t be changing. I am staying strong on not giving up that morning routine. I will stick with the morning routine no matter what. Even if it means I have to wake up a bit earlier and then go to sleep a bit earlier, but I will always do my morning routine.

In the future, when I have kids, might be a different conversation. I might have to be shifting that to a different time. I don’t know, but whatever the case I’m going to do it every day. It’s not going to fall by the wayside, because that is what energizes me and makes me feel good.

Why would I sacrifice something that makes me feel good and helps me show up as my best self as a coach, consultant, speaker, and leader? I don’t want to sacrifice that, and I never will.

But, hey… You’re accountable for your fun too!

A few years ago, we bought a pool pass for our town pool. The whole summer, I never got to go to the pool with my family because I chose work, and I chose to stress over going down there. I expressed that, COVID pending, if they open the pool, I want to go. I want to get the pool pass and go with my family. He said, “You could find a way to do both. Take your computer and hook up a hotspot or Wi-Fi.” I said:

“I don’t want to do that. If I’m at the pool with my family, I want to be at the pool with my family, I don’t want to be glued to the screen.”

I’m sure there are public pools with Wi-Fi set up so that the parents can take their kids. The kids can play in the pool and the parents can still be working. I don’t want to do that.

Thank you for this conversation because I am choosing that we will get that pool pass and I will leave the devices at home except for the phone to take pictures. You helped me decide that, Tuesdays and Thursdays are going to be pool days.

I’m so glad. It’s a commitment that you make and you stick to it. It’s as easy as that!

In this conversation, you made that commitment and you’re telling all your listeners, readers and me. I would share it with your husband to help you be accountable for that. Go for it, do it and stick to it. I love that.

Mindfulness Practice: Take empowered action and become the CEO of your wellbeing. Show up as your best self in all areas of your life.

We both work at home. We’re sharing an office. He’s a Twitch streamer, so he’s going to love those Tuesdays and Thursdays, I’m sure because I’ll get the kids out of the house and he can stream. My Vitamin D will also love it.

Mindfulness Practice: Take empowered action and become the CEO of your wellbeing. Show up as your best self in all areas of your life.

Catching up with Naz

What are you focusing on for the next 90 days? I know you’re moving, but is there anything else on the horizon?

I have a lot of speaking engagements with companies on becoming the CEO of your wellbeing and I am still in promotion of my book and the usual one-on-one clients and corporate wellness programs amidst the move to Miami.

I’m looking forward to things opening up and hopefully, again, depending on COVID, getting back into offices and doing speaking engagements and in person rather than through Zoom.

That has been a big shift during COVID. Everybody experiencing everything through Zoom or video conference. I’m looking forward to getting back in person if it’s safe.

I’m an introvert, which surprises a lot of people as far as the podcast goes, but I miss events and speaking as well. I cannot wait to get back.

Business cards? Up to date

I want to throw this out there for you.

You’re talking about someday when you have kids and for any parents who are listening and reading. The funniest thing that’s happened is my kids are getting older, so they’re making friends and their friends want their phone numbers so that they can arrange play dates and everything. My husband has started giving them my business card and putting their Roblox username on there or anything.

The kindergarten teacher wrote, “I don’t know why your son is passing these out. Can you explain?” I’m not trying to solicit, but it’s the easiest way for the parents to get our phone number.

Yes, we should probably add something there. I ran into one of the parents on the street and he’s like, “I saw you.” I was like, “What do you mean? Did you saw me? You saw me pick up the kids from school?” He’s like, “No, I saw your business card. My wife wants to hire you for speaking.” I’m like, “That may be an effective method.”

I am thinking now when you shared that story that I haven’t shared a business card, an actual physical card in… I can’t remember how long.

Everything is through like, “Give me your email, your number, or your website.” When I was thinking about stuff that I need to move out of this office and to my new office, “Do I even need to take my business cards? Are we even in person to hand out business cards?”

It’s so funny that they’re not as common as before but you found a way to use them and in a wonderful way.

These business cards are six years old, no joke. Now I’m even considering getting some new ones that say, “So-and-so’s mom.” One for each kid. That way, when they hand them to the kids and that kid gives it to their parents, then they understand, “This is why.”

That’s a good way to use them, to be honest. I like that.

Back in the old days, like the 1800s, there were calling cards that people left at people’s houses when they stopped to visit.

I didn’t know that. Interesting.

They would leave a little note.

How to find Naz and learn more about practicing mindfulness

Naz, where can readers go to learn more about you, connect, follow you, buy your book, and all that awesome stuff?

You can find more about me and my book at NazBeheshti.com and then my corporate wellness company is Prananaz.com. I’m on all social media as Naz Beheshti on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Clubhouse. On Facebook, I’m @NazBeheshtiSpeaker.

Do you have a parting piece of advice or a golden nugget that you can share with the readers?

I would love for the readers to read my book, Pause. Breathe. Choose, so that you can all take empowered action and truly become the CEO of your wellbeing and show up as your best self in all areas of your life.

To start, I would highly suggest starting right away even if you don’t have my book and do one thing that makes you feel happy, energized, and fulfilled. Do it, and just keep doing it, start with one small habit and build from there.

Important Links:

• Kristiina Miller – Previous episode
• Prananaz
• Pause. Breathe. Choose.
• Podcast – The Brendon Show
• NazBeheshti.com
• Naz Beheshti – Twitter
• LinkedIn – Naz Beheshti
• Instagram – Naz Beheshti
• @NazBeheshtiSpeaker – Facebook

About Naz Beheshti

Naz Beheshti is the author of Pause. Breathe. Choose.: Become the CEO of Your Well-Being. She is an executive wellness coach, speaker, Forbes contributor, and CEO and founder of Prananaz, a company that provides corporate wellness solutions for improving employee engagement and well-being, company culture, and business outcomes. She lives in New York City. Visit her online at http://www.NazBeheshti.com.