Jaimie: Well my guest today is Heidi Horne. Now Heidi is a renowned speaker and corporate trainer, recognized as a mindfulness and a mindset expert. Heidi is known for her inspiring, passionate and positive presentations on mindfulness, stress management, positive mindset and resilience. It is the author of two books that are globally published, including the popular children's book mind flip, emotional toolbox and positive mindset. for kids and teens. For more than 17 years, Heidi has been teaching mindfulness mindset yoga and meditation to help kids to corporate to help kids to corporates find their inner calm, with qualifications in counselling and mental health life coaching yoga, teaching and mindfulness she has presented and facilitated to 1000s in workshops, trainings and retreats. body loves to share her experience in depth knowledge and passion for happiness, resilience and positive mindset when presenting to audiences with extensive professional and very life experience. Heidi is real and engaging and has a flair for connecting with audiences of all ages in a natural and honest way, by this energy ability to captivate and conviction in the power of our minds, will leave audiences and strategies techniques and insights and a deepening belief that tomorrow can and will be better. Heidi Horne, welcome to Pitch Perfect.
Heidi: Thank you, Jaimie for having me. That was a lovely introduction. I love that
introduction.
Jaimie: I just I couldn't help but smile as I as I read it out. And of course, you've come into my world through Paid to Speak and you're in my piano club. So it's so great to have you here. And when you look at all the things that you can talk about, it's quite a long list. How did you kind of get into this? It's not that hard. To sum it up. It's like a positive mindset world. How did you get into this?
Heidi: Oh, I suppose I if I go really really far back. I was always a really happy kid. And a really positive child. And you know, I just always have been aligned with what I do for work to make people feel better. So even before I was, you know, into speaking and yoga and meditation, so for many years ago, I used to work as a tour guide and I loved it. Because I knew it might people have a good time and and then as I pretty much anything that I've done, it's about I suppose I am a people pleaser, but I do. I know how things feel for me and I want others to feel that way as well. So going back for a really long time.
Jaimie: I love that. So one of the things that we I really want to talk to you about is one thing you're talking about when it comes to happiness habits at the moment our specifically is five ways to cultivate joy before your work day. And that's probably the peak for today for today's podcasts. How do we do it? You know, I know I struggle in the mornings. I'm a mom of two little boys and this time I get into the office every day like even today. I'm exhausted. I feel like I've already you know completed a full day just getting my kids out. The door into daycare. So, you know how did you kind of come about this before we get into the five ways what kind of was the you know, the motivator for you to be able to create something like this to help people cultivate joy before they start their workday?
Heidi: Well, I suppose I have found from teaching, you know, women's retreats for a really long time and also corporate workshops. That when I talk about, you know, maybe creating a gratitude practice or adding some meditation or mindfulness to your day, and you're already talking to people that are busy, overwhelmed, stressed time poor, that when you talk about adding something else into your day, it creates more stress and I wanted to keep it super simple for people around about six months ago on Christmas Eve, I actually had an accident in Japan, I broke my wrist and it caused me to from my own busy life to go from lots of lots of activities to completely stopping so it gave me a lot of time to think about really what I want to share with the world and my message for people moving forward and where I really wanted to spend my own energy. And I actually had time to own like to cultivate my own practices as well. And I realised that the things that were making that I usually relied on to keep myself happy, you know, the things that were around me, which is a lot of what people do when you think about outside happiness. It's the things that are happening around you. You know, having a nice house or having friends and going for a walk on the beach, whatever. You're doing that you're doing that to be happy. I couldn't do all of those things with a broken wrist. It was my right arm, I couldn't work. I couldn't drive. I couldn't do yoga. You know, I couldn't play with my kids, all the other things. So I was like, well, I need to focus on how I feel inside. So that's my inner happy and that's really related to what joy is. So as I sort of came off, you know, the drugs that were keeping the pain, okay, and I started to have a little bit more time to get out and about I was like okay, so how can I have that inner happiness without all the scaffolding of, of the outside happiness around me? So I started to just to add one little thing every day, and I kept it really simple just into one minute. And obviously, a little bit like an experiment I thought 10 An hour one minute really make a difference. And it actually does so and I thought well, one minute then I can maybe do one to two minutes and longer. And then I started to set my phone every day to go off every hour and I would reset my happiness throughout the day. And then I was like I this was really cool. I could this is what I could be teaching people that from as little as one sort of magical minute. You can reset your inner happy and no matter what is going on around you and most of those things we can't control. We can still choose to be happy every day.
Heidi: I love that there's so much less than in that alone. And I think it's great when we have something happen to us which really creates that motivation to be able to help others you know, having gone through that yourself. So, Heidi, what are the five ways to cultivate joy before your workday? Can you take us through them?
Heidi: Well there’s more than five but I kept it simple not to overwhelm people. But I suppose these five, the tried and tested ones and they're all proven and they're all backed up by scientific research as well. So it's not just me going and saying it. But first of all is gratitude. And I know gratitude is a word that is thrown around there a lot and you know, you only have to go to Kmart or you know stores to see gratitude or thankful pianos everywhere. But when we're talking about being gratitude, it's not about being thankful for the things that we take for granted and the things that you know, are very obvious. It's about really having that deep sense of it's a real tingly feeling if you have that gratitude of something that's that I feel is overwhelming because it's so important in your life and it has such a important aspect. And the great thing about gratitude is you can't be angry and grateful at the same time. It's impossible. You can't be overwhelmed and stressed and grateful at the same time. It's impossible. So if you do want a quick way to let go of those negative thoughts or that either there's angry emotions that bubble up in us, just having a minute or so to feel those feelings of gratitude is a really good way to do that. And when I talk about gratitude it's all about making as specific as possible. So rather than just saying I'm thankful for my house, might be I am thankful for my house because I feel really secure and it gets really warm and it's when my lovely family is and always I always get a sense of relief when I walk in the door. So being really specific about what brings you that feeling. And one of the best tips as well is making the gratitude about yourself. So many times we're grateful for the things outside of us. Once again, you know my children or my job or you know, food and so forth. But if you could be grateful for things about yourself that's also cultivating self love and self worth. So I am so happy and grateful that I look after my body every day and I respect myself by going for a walk and eating healthy food. So it's about you know your self, self worth and self confidence it helps you let go of those negative self beliefs as well.
Jaimie: Yeah, so can you take us through the top five then. Is there a simple matter of quick, get to the point here now.
Heidi: Breathing, meditation, positive affirmations, and also smiling or having a laugh. So that's the five but I won’t get into details.
Jaimie: I love it. And so how do you help people? I mean, it's all very well you can just give me a low hanging fruit, give me a lease, but I'm probably not going to do it. So do you actually take people through and help them to do this?
Heidi: I do in workshops, and corporate wellness programs. So do that and people can also download a mindfulness package as well from my website and that will have a lot of positive affirmations. There are a lot of guided meditations and ways to do it as well. So hopefully, you know it's as simple as you know, reading the ad, the list and putting into practice, but it's like anything, if you don't start the process or practise something. It's never going to happen, you know? So it's, even though it seems really simple, one minute, but you know, you still have to put it into practice.
Jaimie: I can tell that you live and breathe as you're talking. You're just radiating this positive energy. You're going to show this video of course for those listening without seeing high spaces just radiating happiness and you can't help but smile back. Do you think that some people really do need that extra push? So for example, meditation for me, I've never gotten into it. I can't sit still long enough to really get into it. Can you do this I guess without meditation is probably my first question. Is that the be all end all who's still kind of adopt these these principles without getting into the meditation site?
Heidi: You can do even if choosing one of these is enough, so you don't have to do all of them. So but meditation, I do hear all those excuses that I'm that I've tried it or it's not for me, I'm too busy. I can't sit still. But really even just doing a breath meditation. So counting up to 10 really slowly, is a form of meditation. And if you do that slowly for 10 that's roughly a minute and it will has been proven and it will make an effect on your mindset or make an impact on your nervous system. It will allow you to be more focused and increase or you know all your endorphins and dopamine and all of the other good feel good chemicals. So even just doing panning slowly to 10 as a breath meditation is a simple way to do it. But you don't have to meditate. You can try any of these and you're on the right way.
Jaimie: Yeah, it's funny. I went to an event a couple of months ago and we practised saying different mantras in our head and I think I covered what we actually said to be stressed within the contrasting statement. We said we had to close our eyes and say, “I am calm, I'm calm. I'm calm”, and it's just incredible. How much how powerful that was just by the mind set in putting that into into place.
So you know I even think back to I'm not the background at the moment. I'm doing deadlifts at the gym and I've just lifted 150 kilos, man. It's so much dependent on mindset for me to achieve that when I go into the gym, yes, sure I've got the strength. But if I tell myself I can't do it. I literally can't pick it up. But if I change my mindset to I can do this, I can do this. I do it. That that is so true. Even in business when we're setting our goals and you know, if we're entrepreneurs trying to achieve the things, how important is mindset do you think in achieving those things?
Heidi: I think it's 100% important. Really, you know, you can go back to very famous quotes, but it's all about what I think I become is pretty much sums up all of the all of the quotes from all the people throughout the ages and what you're telling yourself is how you're going to pan out. So if you get up on a normal workday, and you tell yourself, it's raining, I've got a really big beating. I don't really want to go there. It's going to turn out to be a really bad day. It's going to be a bad day because you've already told yourself that and that's the word affirmations comes from the word affirmed, which means to be true, and it's what you are believing that you can go go into the same day and go okay, it's raining. I probably miss my boss. I've got this big meeting, but it's okay, I've got this. I can do this. It's going to be a great day. I'm still alive. It all is good. In the world. You're pretty much on that first step to having an awesome day. So really, it's if you can in those first few minutes before you even get out of bed. Just check what your mindset is doing. And you can if you start to go notice that you're getting into that stress mode or early before you've got out of bed. You can just have a minute or stages to change that and tell yourself how you want to feel. But it's make a big difference.
Jaimie: Yeah, and I really laugh because most mornings. The first, my first thought is I'm busting to do a way I hope my three year old does not jump on me. That is literally my first thought every day. Maybe I should change my mindset there.
Heidi: We go for your way and then and then do it and they do it.
Jaimie: Yeah. Okay, let's get that out of the way. So I'm going to clear mind and clear bladder.
Heidi: Because I have puppy dogs, I go and feed them first. And then I sit outside on my deck and they have sort of like I mean I have had 20 minutes half an hour to myself but even if you just went out there for five minutes, or go into somewhere where you space just be yourself and even if you have to lock the bathroom for five minutes, but just have a few minutes just to set yourself for the day that can make a difference.
Jaimie: Yeah, I love that. And just finally I mean when you talked about how you got injured and you hurt your wrist, were there moments where your positive mindset was challenged. And this is you know, we thought wow, because it could have been so much worse, I'm sure and that's something for any of us who ever get injured that that definitely that thought runs through our mind. Was it a real challenge for you to shift your mindset during that time?
Heidi: It totally was. i It was Christmas Eve and I felt like I'd ruined my whole family's holiday of this holiday. We booked three times and it was three days into a three week holiday. So we instead of celebrating on Christmas day in the snow we were trying to work out how to fly home for surgery. So yeah, my positive mindset was very much challenged. And I I felt like I had because there was a lot of things that I couldn't control and I'm used to being in charge of my own ship. I did feel a little bit out of order and I didn't have to rely on my children and my husband and other people to help me which I'm not so much used to do to doing. So yes, my positive mindset was challenged and that's why you know, it did take a couple months to realise how can I still feel happy every day even though I'm not doing what I normally would be doing
at this time.
Jaimie: I know what it's like when you're overseas. We got knocked up a motorbike in Thailand quite a few years ago and we both had broken limbs and it's so scary trying to get home and in my other half's case he ended up needing surgery and got back to Australia but they put a full cast on his knees and then we were home and they're all expanded and he was in absolute agony. That was like Phuket hospital wherever we were, Bangkok Hospital in Phuket. They put a full cast so I totally know how that feels being in a foreign country.
But I think put our new Heidi because I mean you came into my world just before that and then just after that we were in touch about joining pay to speak and you certainly have like in the last six months invested in yourself and constantly putting yourself out there so even though that was that was happening to you, I do remember you at the same time constantly striving to to do professional development and you know to investing yourself so you know now look at us beaming with this absolute radiant energy. So I think that, that there's a lot to be said that so good on you.
Heidi: Thank you, thank you.
Jaimie: And if people wants to get in touch with you, they want to work with you have you as a speaker, look at your website to go on to retreats that you were on and all the different offerings you have. How can people find you?
Heidi: Well, probably the easiest way is through my website. Just Heidi Horne. Heidi h-e-i-d-i-h-o-r-n-e.co. And you can find happiness habits there. I'll give you the download link. So it's a free download for everyone and all the information is there. I do have my own podcast as well called Mind Perfect Moments. And I'm on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn
Jaimie: Ahh fantastic and we will put a link to that download in the show notes as well.
Thank you so much for coming on to Pitch Perfect today. Heidi it's been great talking to you and I know you've sprinkled so much knowledge and motivation for so many people listening right now. So thank you.
Heidi: Thank you Jaimie. lovely to be here.
