How to Reset When You Feel Overwhelmed in 60 Seconds | Catherine Marie Charlton | Becoming Series

Most people don’t realize they’re overwhelmed…until it shows up in their reactions.

Overthinking. Shutting down. Reaching for something just to get through the moment. 

But what if you could interrupt that, before the pattern takes over?

In this episode of the Delay the Binge™ Podcast, Pam Dwyer sits down with Catherine Marie Charlton, award-winning composer, speaker, and creator of One Minute Improv, to explore how a simple 60-second pause can reconnect you with yourself.

This conversation sits right at the intersection of:

• emotional awareness
 • creativity
 • nervous system regulation
 • and real-time decision making

Together, they explore how expression, through sound, movement, or writing, can shift your state in seconds.

Inside this episode:

• why overwhelm shows up before we recognize it
 • how a 60-second pause can interrupt patterns
 • the connection between creativity and emotional processing
 • why expression matters more than perfection
 • how to access your inner voice without words
 • simple ways to reset in high-pressure moments
 • how to replace unhealthy patterns with intentional ones
 • using movement, sound, or journaling as a release

And most importantly…

👉 how to come back to yourself, before you lose yourself in the moment.

Because the pause isn’t about stopping your life…

It’s about reconnecting to it.

🔗 CONNECT WITH CATHERINE MARIE CHARLTON

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🎧 LISTEN TO CATHERINE’S MUSIC!

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👉 Or simply ask your favorite smart device:
 “Play music by Catherine Marie Charlton.”

Transcript

Overwhelm And The 60-Second Reset

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Most people don't realize they're overwhelmed until it's already showing up in their reactions. Overthinking, shutting down, reaching for something just to get through the moment. But what if you could interrupt that in under 60 seconds? This conversation is about a completely different way of coming back to yourself. Before the pattern takes over, and before you lose yourself in it. Today I'm joined by Catherine Marie Charlton. She's an award-winning engineering, trained composer, a styingway artist, speaker, and creative guide, whose work is centered around helping people come home to themselves through sound, movement, and spontaneous expression. Through her production company, River Dawn Productions, she's released 13 recordings and interdisciplinary projects that have reached over, are you already 11 million listeners across 194 countries? She's also led large-scale arts and education initiatives serving tens of thousands of people each year. And she's the creator of One Minute Improv, a simple 60-second practice that helps you release what you're carrying and reconnect with your inner voice. And what I find especially powerful about her work is that it lives right at the intersection of art, emotional presence, and what it means to stay human in high-pressure environments. And that is exactly what we're going to explore today. Welcome, Catherine. I'm really glad you're here with us today.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Thank you so much. It's a joy to be with you. And um, thank you for that gracious introduction.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

Oh my goodness, you're so welcome. You're very you deserve it very much so. Wow. Um, I'd love to just start by grounding people in your

Meet Catherine Marie Charlton

SPEAKER_02 2:05

world right now. What what are you most focused on these days in your work and what's been energizing you lately?

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Ah. Um you know what when we're so busy, that feels like a loaded question to all of us. It's like, oh, what is going on? Yeah. Um, well, I think the thing for me is that I've always throughout my entire life wanted to create things, to build things. I'm at my best when I know that I'm in the flow and um that I tend to be able to sense things about people around me and see what is needed. Um I've been creating music as a pianist my whole life, and I would say lately I'm really energized by the one-minute improv and sharing that with people, and um, because it's a way to crystallize what I've worked on my whole life and intuitively known and the teachings from all of my mentors throughout the decades. Um, and how can it be a tool that people can just use? Um, but yeah, and then in addition to that, I'm you know, I'm a busy professional and uh mom of two teens and um, you know, just stay busy. I like to lift weights.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Um Wow, you stay active. That's awesome and amazing. As busy as you are. We talk a lot about that on this show, you know, the incentive and the motivation and the inspiration to keep your body moving.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Um that's a big part of the creation too. And when we talk about it more, that movement is really vitally important.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

Well, into the brain. I mean, I mean, I go for a long walk before every podcast episode. Oh, we stay on task, you know, and and be sharp for you, you know. So um what as I was reading through your story, there was a moment in there that really stayed with me.

Grief In The Woods With A Flute

SPEAKER_02 4:15

And I'd love to go there with you if I could. Where take me back to that moment at when you were 15 when you went into the woods with your flute. It's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Oh, thank you. Um yeah, so when I was a kid, I was creating music all the time at the piano. Um, this was a way that I just naturally gravitated to using music as a way to express my emotions or to express questions and fears. And um I was surrounded by a lot of analytical scientific people in my family. And so this artsy creative being that I was, um, sometimes I didn't feel like I quite fit. Um, but I'm just giving that context that I always was already creating through the music, like figuring out that if I did these big uh octave rolling bass chords on the piano, it sounded like a thunderstorm, right? Um and when I was and in parallel with that, I was playing flute in the band in middle school and in a flute ensemble in high school, but I was never as technically, nearly as technically technically advanced at the flute as I was at the piano. Um, and that's an important note to remember because when we're talking about expressing from within, it's not about performing or being good or being technically accurate. Um and the flute was something that was available to me. So when I was 15, I lost two people who were really important to me. Um, actually my Girl Scout leader and my grandfather, and in a very short amount of time. And as any kid who's trying to navigate the world to have those big losses all at once, um, I really didn't know how to process that process that or what to do. And somehow I found myself with my flute in the woods behind my house. And I just started playing. And I don't know if it would have been beautiful to anyone else who heard it, but to me, it was beautiful. I I realized that that was the way that I could express my grief and my questions. Um, and I didn't have to have words, and it was safe because I didn't have to talk with someone and like say the scary things out loud. Um, and that really stayed with me through my life, that accessing that flow, that prayer, that um being uh aware of this energy from withinside that when you let it out, you can say things that you never would have said in language.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

That is incredibly powerful. And I am so happy to hear this because I've worked a lot of years in youth ministry with a lot of young people, but at 15, you know, that's a very challenging time in your life where you are just trying to figure everything out. And you don't necessarily have the words, right, for you what you're feeling because you don't know what it is. You just know that you're feeling all these emotions.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

On top of all the hormones going everywhere, right?

SPEAKER_02 7:47

I know, and all the drama that's everywhere. But um, but I really respect that because in a way, I mean, I feel strongly about giving young people a voice. But music, you know, you were out in the woods and you had a voice, even though you didn't have the words. I just love that so much.

unknown 8:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

So what were you feeling though? It was is mostly grief at that time.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

I imagine it was so long ago, I don't remember the exact feeling. Um I'm sure I was very sad. I mean, obviously, my two closest, two of my closest adult figures in my life. Um, I'm sure it was questioning what is what is this all about? You know, what is life? What you know, why are we here? Um I think one of the things that I've taken throughout my life is that the creativity that we have as humans, whether it's saying something, whether it's building something, it's drawing something, that creativity is something that really makes us who we are. And to me, that is life. Creation.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

It is. And I don't think I interviewed I had a guest a few weeks ago, and she uh talks a lot about how creativity is not something you're born with, it is something it she she feels strongly that you can learn creativity, you it's a skill, but you just have to really, you know, be aware of what you're passionate about and then take that and run.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

That's that's an interesting take on it. I would say um, it depends on your definition of

Creativity Without Performance Pressure

SPEAKER_01 9:35

creativity. Um I would say we all are innately creative. Um, and and it comes back to what I was saying before about being technically proficient or making something beautiful to other people. I mean, maybe that's part of the definition in the conversation you had before. Um, and yes, that anyone can learn that. Um, and part of it is letting go of judgment because some of the most beautiful things we create are when we're not trying to make something or we're trying to not trying to say, oh, that could be better. Right. Right. It's like seeing all of these different pieces from around your senses and bringing them all together in one offering to the world.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

Yes. And and I I don't know why this comes to my mind right now. I have two children that are adults now. But when uh my firstborn was in like I think it was first grade, they did this test to see how much rhythm or you know, coordination your child had. And the report came back saying, your child has absolutely no rhythm. And I thought, yes, my child has rhythm, you know, but I guess that's that's something you might be born with, or I don't know. He did learn.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Maybe, maybe. I'm laughing so hard because um I talk about a similar thing with uh singing and vocals. My grandmother um went to um a small college in the 1920s, and at that college, everyone was required to be in the choir, but they gave her a pass because yeah, you don't need to be in the choir. And I laugh so hard because I am a composer, I'm a pianist. I have never once thought of myself as a singer, and um I get it. I was like, I think I inherited my grandmother's singing, the vocals. Yeah. And at the same time, I had two older brothers who always told me I was a bad singer. So, like, you know, where in your life are people saying things to you that you're then internalizing for later in your life?

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Oh, it sticks, it sticks for a long time. And you have to be make yourself aware of it first and then work on it. But we can talk about all that later. But yeah, I want to stay here for just a moment because um that experience in the woods didn't just stay in that moment. I wanted to point out that to our listeners that it became a part of how you express yourself through music. It how did that how did that experience shape the way you create music today? Do you think it Oh yeah, that's a great question.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

That's a very insightful question. Um from that point on, and especially a few years later, I would say when I was in college was when I really understood that I could naturally improvise and create music. Um, and that's when it started coming in torrents. But from that point on, and especially when I started performing um at 18, one of the things that I would do that I now teach as part of the one-minute improv, is think of a very specific emotion. And for several years thinking about my Girl Scout leader was the specific emotion that I was thinking about. But it's thinking about that emotion and not necessarily trying to create something about that emotion, but conjuring a specific emotion and being in that state, a sort of like method acting, right? Where you can then imagine your being is in that emotional state, and then the flow is then affected by that. And I would say through the decades, I've certainly gotten to the point where I don't need to do that specific exercise anymore, but it is very helpful helpful for people who are starting out or just trying to get on a different creative path. Sometimes it's very helpful, and it can be a joyful emotion, it can be uh, you know, grief in this case. Um but again, it doesn't have to be the output. The output doesn't have to necessarily tie to that, but that's what starts the flow.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

That is amazing. You know, I listened to to your music before our interview, this this method here, and I have to share with you that there was something uh really grounding about it. It it

What Music Unlocks Beyond Words

SPEAKER_02 14:30

feels like uh a safe place for me. And I was just wondering, do you think is there something music allows people to access that that words can't? I mean, how do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_01 14:43

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, that is why if you can cocoon yourself in sound, you hear people talking about sound baths, yes, or you put your headphones on, and you know, and interestingly, when I put my hands over my ears just now, my whole world just changed in that split second just a moment ago. Um, and I was like, oh, I'm in a different place. Um, because then you can access internally. Um, but it could be it could be putting on a pop song when you're cleaning the house, right? That gives you the energy to, you know, just groove and move um and make something that's maybe not so fun, more fun. Um, it can be when you're sad, it can feel like a warm hug. Um, it just really, and again, it doesn't matter what language it is. So it's a way you can go to a concert with someone from across the world and have completely different cultural backgrounds, and yet you're still immersed in this beautiful experience of the music.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

Yes, music is, I will agree with you, it's so therapeutic. And also, it really assisted me when my kids were young with their their memorization, their homework and stuff. And both of them had the same music teacher. I'll never forget this. I think it was in fifth grade where they had to learn all the states, you know, and it was a song, and they still to this day uh they still sing it perfectly. Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, and it's all in alphabetical order. But that's how they memorized the states, and they're and they just loved her, this music teacher. But and so we started just singing all their homework. That's how they memorize things with music. That's incredible. Yeah, yeah, I just appreciate it. So it does create kind of a of a space, like a pause where someone can feel something without needing to explain it.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

And also for kids, it helps and for all of us, but for kids especially, it can give structure. That can be the cue. As soon as you hear these notes, you know it's time to brush your teeth. Or this is our getting in the car song. Or, um, but it we can do it for ourselves too. It can be a specific uh song that gets us excited and ready for the day. And if we have that ritual of doing it every single morning, and then that ties to the habit of jumping up with a smile on our face, regardless of what's going on, right? Um, the music can help.

SPEAKER_02 17:25

Exactly. I know I the I I do not enjoy exercise, but I know how important it is. And so I have to just trick my brain into doing it. But as I'm doing my little three-mile walk, I do it every day, but I make up a different song every day with the rhythm of my steps.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Now, Pam, that's not a little walk. That's great. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

It's a long song.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

I feel really proud when I do my miles.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

So yeah, when I hear three miles, well, and as a speaker, you probably can relate, but as a speaker, it gives me the opportunity to practice. So I think that's why it's grown to three miles.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Why One-Minute Improv Is Enough

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

So you speaking of, you teach something called one-minute improv. And I think that is fascinating because uh most people feel like they need so much time to process anything. Right. So, you know, why 60 seconds? Why why 60 seconds and and how is that enough? Because 60 seconds, because it is enough.

unknown 18:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

It is. It's remarkable. And we've been talking a lot about music. So I just want to be clear that this is not just about music. Right. This is um, it can be writing, it can be prayer, it can be chanting words, um, freestyle rap. Um, but I've I've worked with people who did writing, um, who had a really amazing experience. It can be dance. Um, the the trick is that it's anything that you don't know what the next thing coming is. So I'll say that again. It's anything that comes from you and through you where you don't know what the next word is, what the next sound is, what the next movement is. Um, but that you give yourself 60 seconds, you set a timer that you then are not allowed to look at again. It sometimes helps if someone else sets the timer for you so that you're not tempted to go over and look, because in some cases, 60 seconds feels like a lifetime. Yes. You're like, oh, oh, I I don't know what to say. Like, how much time do I have left? And then all of a sudden you've pulled yourself out of the flow. In some cases, I've worked with people where it went so fast they couldn't believe it was over just like that. And but that's part of the experience is to see what happens when you disconnect yourself from time. Um, and 60 seconds is enough time that energy can shift in directions that you least expect it. Um, but it's also short enough that you're safe. Like you're not gonna miss picking up the kids, you're not gonna miss the timer in the oven, like whatever it is, you're safe because you know you're done in 60 seconds. Yeah. If you're embarrassed and stuff's coming out and you're like, where did that come from? You're safe because it's gonna be all over in just a few seconds.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

Well, what you're describing sounds a lot like what we we research and study and learn on this show. And it's called the purposeful pause. And then delay the binge is all about pausing before you before the reaction. So it and it and it's the neuroscience of it is incredible. We're doing a lot of study on the brain and how it works and why just taking 60 seconds, 30 seconds, even, sometimes even less. It depends on the person. But if they're about to do an unhealthy thing, an urge, it could be eating, drinking, working, overworking, all the things. But if you just pause for a moment to understand why you're about to do this, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

And even and when it's really difficult, even five seconds is a huge victory. Yes. And you could celebrate that I just did that. I paused, I stopped. Um, I studied Alexander technique for a while, and yeah. Uh, and so Alexander would also teach that inhibition was the phrase that is called in Alexander technique. It sounds very similar, but it was about uh this exact thing. And I love the language and framing that you're giving on it because it makes it more modern and it makes it more accessible. Um And my piano teacher, so this is the other thing about music. Uh music teachers can become mentors throughout and you discuss so many things, but mine taught me how to do the hard work. But I did have a piano teacher who would say exactly that like um your victory is that you didn't do it today, or you didn't do it in this hour. If you do it again next hour, that's completely different than the victory you just had on delaying this.

SPEAKER_02 22:34

Exactly. That is awesome because we we practice. Um, let me give you an example. Let's just say I food is my is my problem. It's my urge, and and all of us. I'm an emotional eater to the max. But I just the way I resist it is I talk to myself as a child, and the lower brain chatter is saying, you need this chocolate cake, Pam, you're tired and it's just a boost. And to bring my frontal cortex back online so it can talk some sense into me. Um, I just tell myself, I cannot have this cake now, but I can have it tomorrow. Yeah. That is enough of a delay so that, you know, tomorrow I'm I'm thinking more clearly. I'm no longer emotionally uh or anxious or you know, emotionally distraught. Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Yeah. There's so many things like that where in the moment you're not in the right emotional state to make the decision. So if you can delay it, yeah. And I like what you were saying about the one-minute improv is a very similar, but yet a little bit different, um, in that you dive into the moment with the one-minute improv. And I think um, I've heard people talk about you have your toolkit. So you have all these different things that you can try and you test them all out. You see what one works for me. Um, maybe today it's going for the walk and listening to the birds. Maybe tonight it's the I can't have this cake today. My daughter's birthday was a few weeks ago. And uh so I know the the trials and tribulations of having cake in the house.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

Well, and it's so yummy at the time, but it does make me feel horrible for at least a day after, you know. Sugar doesn't do it, doesn't serve me well.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

I'm with you on that one.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

Yeah, yeah. So the pause, you know, you can it's a moment where you can either react or you can choose something different. And I just think that it empowers you because a lot of times it's not just with food, it's with other unhealthy habits or behaviors where we we feel powerless and we feel failed a lot of times. So it just kind of gives that back to you so that you're not out of control. You're in control and you're just delaying it.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_02 25:04

Um let's make this real for a sec. Um, I always think about my listeners. I always share with them who I'm going to be, you know, speaking with. And a lot of times they send in questions ahead of time saying, Hey, well, can you ask her this? Okay. So um what if if they were gonna put this 60 seconds into play, what would you want them to do with those first 60 seconds? What would you recommend they try?

SPEAKER_01 25:35

Ah, that's a great question. Um so first, think

The Purposeful Pause And Urges

SPEAKER_01 25:40

ahead of what is easy for you. So I I listed it. Do you sing in the shower? You're a singer. Even if you weren't invited to the college choir, if you sing in the shower, you're a singer. So that is one option for you. Do you find yourself moving when you hear music? You're a dancer. Do you write long thank you notes? You're a writer. Um, do you pray every night and and not know what the prayer is going to be until you hear it coming out? You are an inspirational speaker, right? So there are many different things that you are naturally doing already. So just think through like what comes naturally to me.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

Yes. Yeah. I really, I really like that because it just uh solidifies what um helps me with clarity because my mind is very busy. Yeah. I mean, I'm constantly creating something to talk about or speak about or do. And at night it's still running. And so I read somewhere that you could literally do what's called a brain dump. And it's where you I journal, I I'm a big advocate for that, but I just brain dump and pray at the same time. So I take my paper and I'm literally writing what I'm praying about, just one word, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then that allows me the space to rest.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

And it's yeah, and so what you are doing is exactly what I'm recommending. It's it's um that is creative improvisation.

SPEAKER_02 27:27

Oh, I just love that. Yeah, it is, yeah, and they'll notice it too if they try it, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:32

Yeah. Well, and so here's the thing what makes the one-minute improv uh an interesting angle to it is for a lot of us, we might journal, and I'm speaking from experience, we might journal in that way and get all excited about it and do it for two or three weeks. And then it's like, oh, I don't have the time to do it, you know. Oh, I'm so tired. I just want to go into bed. And I know I love the journaling, but I just I can't do it tonight and then get out of the habit of it. Um, this makes it an easy entry point. It's only 60 seconds, and it could flow for much longer once you're in the flow. Um, and that's great, but it doesn't have to, and then you can try it again tomorrow, right? And it's just a structure. It's a habit and a structure to give yourself to let yourself be free in that expression.

SPEAKER_02 28:31

It's so powerful and it really works. People think that it's just one more thing to add to their plate, but I always challenge them to please just try in small little intentional, just try a little. And it almost almost every time they increase it more and more and more because they're realizing, wow, this works.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

Well, and so another thing that I've done is while I've I found on my walk recently, um, you know, a few months ago, I was obsessively thinking about something that had really frustrated me. And I was on my walk and I just could not get out of my head. And I'm like, oh, Catherine, you're teaching the one-minute improv. You need to do a one-minute improv right now. And it's like, oh, but I don't want to. And I'm like, Catherine, it's time to do a one-minute improv. You said talk to yourself like a child. I do that too. Um so I did while I was walking, um, and I started with a little bit of movement and I started humming. And then within 60 seconds, it turned into this whole body rhythm thing with the melody going up and down. And I'm just like, whoa, who is this person? Where'd it come from? And then, like 10 minutes later, I was like, oh, I hadn't had that thought in the last 10 minutes. It completely interrupted the pattern of that obsessive thinking.

SPEAKER_02 29:52

Right, right. I I just that's what I do on my walks. And the brain loves patterns, right? Yeah, good or bad. And so if we just can replace the ones we're trying to get rid of, you know, with the good, that's the perfect thing you could do and try. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

So you pick what you're naturally inclined to. And if you don't know anything, I'll assign you to hum. Okay. Um, but it it truly is your choice. But if you really can't pick, humming is your thing. Um, and then you, like I said, set the timer. Um, ideally, not on your phone. I personally have a standalone old-fashioned beeper timer, like kitchen timer. Yeah. Um, because if you set the timer on the phone, how many of us see the little notification pop up? And like, oh, I'll start my one-minute improv after I look at this email. Um, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Like, don't let yourself get distracted. So it's the standalone timer, or someone else sets it for you, and then you know that you are safe. Um, if it's helpful, you remind yourself I am safe for 60 seconds. Um, and then uh it's really helpful to think of that emotion, like I mentioned before. And then you just say the first word, you hum the first note, you move the first thing. It might feel really awkward, but you can don't you're not to judge. One thing that also helps is if a word comes out or something comes out that you don't like, um, make it bigger. There are no wrong notes to say, huh. That was interesting. I'm gonna make that bigger. And when you make that bigger, all of a sudden it becomes a thing. So when I'm improvising

A Simple 60-Second How-To

SPEAKER_01 31:55

jazz uh in concert, if I hit something, Miles Davis has a very famous quote, you know, there are no, don't be afraid of wrong notes. There are none. Oh, I love that. Yeah. And so if I hit something, my finger hits something that I was like, oh, I was not expecting that. That wasn't supposed to be there, I'll invariably hit it like five times more and make it into this rhythm, rhythmic pattern, you know? Um, so yeah, so make it bigger, um, and then just have fun. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:27

Well, and it brings fun. Music does. I mean, it's a release, literally. And, you know, thank you so much because you're just validating and bringing clarity to our whole uh purpose. Everything that I try to teach, it's all about that pause and that moment you take to just clear your mind and and get rid of the old pattern, bring in the new one. But I I I thank you for that. Um also I I see that you're also leading at a very high level. And I was really anxious to ask you this because you're the expert and we want you to bring that on here for us. So do you think um there's often a separation, right, between mental health and work? But what what have you seen happen when those two are actually integrated?

SPEAKER_01 33:24

Hmm. Um it's so important that we bring ourselves to the workplace. Um, and it is so important that people have the space to feel heard and feel validated. So when um I'm in meetings or or leading groups, um I try, and I don't even like to say the word try because once you say the word try, you've introduced a question about it. Um and so I will say affirmatively, I open the space for people to share what's going on. Um, we might only have time to talk about the project at hand. And we can ask each other, what are you doing now? What are you looking forward to? What do you need help on? But even just that question, what do you need help on opens the door for uh you talk about the mental health, about realizing that I'm surrounded by people who can help. So in that moment, the help might just be about making that work project easier, um, but just that words matter. So just that word and phrasing makes it feel safer and okay to ask for help elsewhere as well.

SPEAKER_02 34:54

Yeah, and and I've seen some really powerful changes in, you know, in the corporate world. I mean, I've worked in the corporate world and I've been just a an Indian, I call myself, you know, not the chief. But as an Indian in the corporate world, I noticed that when we were given space to pause or process, you know, that would just open up, it would allow us to connect better and to communicate better. It there's just something about it that that even allows them more creativity to come in. And so what's what would you advise a leader to do if they're experiencing burnout with themselves or with their team? I mean, what's a small way they could introduce this concept?

SPEAKER_01 35:45

Yeah. So it it it is taking, and I love your phrasing, it's taking that pause. So it might be in a conversation saying, we're just gonna pause for even 30 seconds to take a deep breath before we approach this difficult thing. Um, or we're gonna take a minute to go around the room and let each person share something personal that they're willing to share. Um my team and I have a we use our the chat channel and we have a fluffy friends channel. So it's like, so people can talk about their pets. Um exactly, and everyone has not everyone, but most people seem to have some sort of uh warm and fuzzy reaction about fluffy friends.

SPEAKER_00 36:41

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

And then and then all of a sudden we're more relaxed and we don't have our barriers up and our walls up, and you know, we have to get this done. Um, or we're we're the business is going to falter if we don't do this by such and such date. Like, let's be real people. And it only takes 30 seconds to be real people. Um, and I would offer 60 seconds, let's do a group. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

That's the perfect that's the perfect amount of time. You know, at the end of the day, you know, people don't leave jobs, right? That they leave environments where they don't feel safe. They don't feel safe being human. And I love that about the furry friends so much because that's so human and it provides a safe environment. So and then you'll have better performance.

SPEAKER_01 37:36

Yeah. Or another way you could approach it if you want to be more formal about it, is fostering creativity. There's lots of different ways in group settings where we can encourage creative thinking and brainstorming by the team. Um, but maybe it's even uh four or five minutes, we're all gonna put our sticky notes if we're in person on the board with our different ideas, or if we're on a uh virtual call on the digital canvas. Yeah. Um, and just that helps get the temperature of the room and often sparks ideas that then even if it's not pertinent to the specific meeting, we can use um in the forthcoming weeks.

SPEAKER_02 38:23

Oh man, I know. I mean, anyone that has lots of creativity or just a little or whatever, but that it allows it all to open up when you give them the space.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

And that can be the the structured formal one-minute improv where we're just gonna we're just gonna do that brain dump that you were talking about, but we're gonna set the timer and not think about or judge the words we're putting down here. Um, and maybe the emotion, and I'm putting that in air quotes, um, that you're we're all thinking about is a topic that we're wanting to solve as a team or the next big project or vision. Um, that's the seed um that just we're getting moving and getting the energies moving. And then that will make us more connected with each other, also.

SPEAKER_02 39:10

Man, this is amazing. So you talk about um expression, right? Opening up possibilities for people, even in like a meeting or a corporate meeting or out in life. What is it about expression that helps someone see, you know, a bigger future for themselves? I mean, what becomes possible

Breaking Rumination With Sound And Movement

SPEAKER_02 39:35

when they you know when they reconnect with themselves.

SPEAKER_01 39:39

Yeah, well, I think you just said it. Um because then someone can see themselves and see what is possible. Because um the one beautiful thing about the creative expression, and especially in a um a container like the one-minute improv, is you don't know what's going to come out next. So I I'll remind you that I had mentioned before, like you want to pick something where you don't know the next thing that's going to come out. And especially if you're writing or journaling, um, it can be really surprising what the words are. I had a guest on my podcast um not too long ago who was writing and had always written short stories uh when she was younger and hadn't in recent years. And she did she was writing, and one of the things I ask is for people to move their body or move their hand when they're letting the flow come out. But at the end of that, she said, wow, that went really fast. And I'm reading back what I wrote down and what I thought was grief all of these years. I'm looking at what I wrote, I think it was actually fear. Wow. And it was so surprising, and that shift just from one minute was so powerful. And then she said something incredible to me. She said, I've been writing stories down for my grandkids for to pass to them when I pass. And she said, based on this experience, I'm gonna share the stories with them now so we can talk about them. I was floored by that. And again and again, I hear people share similar types of stories where you were asking about like what can people learn about themselves from creative expression. Well, if you have those walls up and you haven't been doing it, 60 seconds is unbelievably powerful because you're giving yourself permission to listen to what's inside of you.

SPEAKER_02 41:53

That is so profound. That's powerful. And I know that my I I'm a short story writer. And a lot of times everybody I do one a week and I post those to you know anyone on my email list. And they love them because they're funny, they're from East Texas, they're with a twang, and but they are always like, How do you come up with new stuff every single week? Yeah. But it's just because I I don't know, we could have this conversation and one sentence would stand out to me, and I jot it down because I know I'm gonna make a story. But if I don't write that down, then I'm gonna forget it. Forget that moment. But so it's it's hard sometimes to go into a bad memory or a bad past, right? I mean, like my book's a memoir about an abusive childhood. And so it was very difficult writing it, but I'm so happy I did because it really helped me heal. That's you know, yeah, and and I think it's the same with the the one-minute improv. I think it's, you know, it's can it can heal.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

Yeah. One thing I want to share on that note is um there's a very important

Mental Health Integrated At Work

SPEAKER_01 43:10

field of practitioners of art therapists. And if there are some very serious things or traumas or things that are so incredibly painful that they've been hidden in for decades, I highly recommend seeking out an art therapist. It can be art, visual art, it can be music therapy, it can be dance therapy, um, but they are specifically trained to approach it from a place of safety and um give a different uh angle to traditional therapy that is just really helping express from within. Um, and it's really beautiful and powerful work that these professionals do.

SPEAKER_02 43:53

Wow. And you know, looking back, I I never would have discovered this, but my family is full of stories. Storytellers. But I remember the most abusive years of my childhood, man, that's when I told the most stories to anyone willing to listen. Because it helped me feel seen. Yeah. It helped me feel like, you know, if I got a reaction out of them. But you're right. It's very therapeutic. And I think any of the arts, writing, singing, music, all of that is healing. You can heal with it. But you do if you don't know what to do, you're right. Seek it out, seek it out. There are people out there that do that. So how do you think this has shaped you, who you've become? This whole improv and just this realization of all that, all these things, how it helps you become more.

SPEAKER_01 44:44

I uh oh, you hear me faltering in my voice because that's there's so many things to say about it. Um I would say I have trained throughout my entire life to be able to access flow very easily and instantaneously. That's something that I'm a professional, I'm a professional improviser. Um, so I understand that I might be coming at it from a place of making it sound easier than it is. I want to acknowledge that it is not easy to flip this switch if you've not if you're not familiar with it. But I also want to share and welcome anyone who wants to try, it is way more accessible than you ever imagined. And it will surprise you. Um, and I'm back to your question about how it has impacted me and my life. I just find that um it has fostered my natural empathy, that I tend to be way more of a listener um when I'm in group situations, when I'm in one-on-one. I'm very attuned to people's moods and um listening to the energies that they're putting out. And sometimes I can interpret that into art. Sometimes I interpret that into knowing that they need a hug before they even know they need a hug. Um, or uh, and I just find that the vulnerability that I am practiced at sharing um has really benefited me as a leader. Um, I have found that I just really tend to connect with people and organizations in a way that I can see where the vision is going, but how do all of the people who are making up that vision come together to create it?

unknown 46:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 46:44

It's it's a lot. And and I also wanted to make a point of when you open yourself up to receive whatever it is that you're you're trying to do, it literally allows you to use whatever's happening to you that's that's traumatic or painful. We I always like to say we use that at the past for purpose and you know, struggles as stepping stones. But, you know, I think that listening is huge. I think listening is a skill as well.

SPEAKER_01 47:19

I think oh it is. Yeah, and you can pause, you know, to use your language, you know, to to bring that pause because so many times we jump to conclusions about what we think the other person is saying based on our interpretation of the situation. Um but if we pause to think what is their perspective or how do they process information, they might be thinking about this completely differently. And when you pause and ask, what is the perspective of the other person? All of a sudden, an aha, I'm like, oh, right. Um, and just on a professional note, like I've throughout my career done so many thousands of grant applications raising money for nonprofit organizations, uh, but to um grant writing is a very similar thing. What is it that the funder wants to make an impact in the world with? Like, why do they want to donate their money to something that is doing good? But there's something in the story that we are sharing about what we're doing at our nonprofit that aligns with what the funder hopes to personally impart in the world. And once you find that connection, you can write about it from their perspective and really make that connection.

SPEAKER_02 48:51

Um that's beautiful. As human beings, we're we're built for connection. Yeah. And I think in these days of social media and all of that, I think that's a it's lost. And then we are forced to, you know, become depressed or whatever the things are that we're doing that are not good for us. And connection, being vulnerable

Vulnerability Listening And Real Connection

SPEAKER_02 49:15

is difficult for people for some reason. But you mentioned vulnerability earlier. It's one of my favorite things, is for is to help remind people to be vulnerable. And then it allows the connection to happen instead of the wall.

SPEAKER_01 49:30

Yeah. An interesting story about that is um earlier I mentioned uh I was 18 when I first started performing my improvisations in concert. Um, and they were coming in torrents. And at first I was very self-conscious because I thought I was spilling all of my personal vulnerable secrets with the audiences. But then more and more I would hear people say things to me, such as, you helped me remember things I thought I had forgotten. And then I realized that by modeling vulnerability, people weren't paying attention to what my story was. It was opening the door for them to connect with their own story.

SPEAKER_02 50:16

Exactly. And everyone has a story, right? Even if they don't think they do, they do. Um, I I in all of my years of counseling, I went to like I've been to over eight years of therapy. But they would always help me a lot by saying, Pam, you need to find some way, you know, some outlet for you to to heal. And listen, and they're saying, you really struggle with listening. We want you to find a way to learn how to listen to people in your in your bubble better. Interesting. You're right, because they said, you know, I said, well, I just think I know what they're already gonna say. So I interrupt. And and the therapist is like, no, Pam, you don't know what people are gonna say. You you know what they you want them to say. Right. And so anyway, this podcast is literally an exercise for me on on learning the listening skill, learning how to listen better. Mm-hmm. It's helped me a lot in that area. But also being vulnerable and just when you listen, you can ask better questions. You know, that's what I always tell people. When you listen, you can really ask better questions. And that person across from you feels very heard. So that's my my goal is for you, you know, to feel heard. It's not, this isn't about me. But like you said, you know, our music or our writing, our books, it it's not about us. You know, it's about the reader, it's about the listener. Right. So that helps us feel connected. So um, for people listening right now who are feeling really connected to this, what's what's the

How To Find Catherine’s Work

SPEAKER_02 52:05

best way for them to find you? Your work, your ex or experience, what you're creating?

SPEAKER_01 52:10

Yeah, so Katherine Marie Charlton is Catherine with a C and Charlton. Um, I'll date myself, but like Charlton Heston. I guess that's more like my mother's generation, but anyway, Catherine Marie Charlton, and that's my tag on social media. Um, and also you can seek out my music. I'm on all of the major streaming platforms, ask your smart device to play music by Catherine Marie Charlton. Um, and I love what you said, Pam, about it being grounding music that I really appreciate that. I have um several albums that are really uh immersive soundscapes that can help with sleep, that can help with um creativity, that can just help with rest. And um, if you want a place to start, I recommend the river albums.

SPEAKER_02 52:57

Um well, and I love forest sounds and I love being out in the forest, and I love, you know, just anything to help you remind you of nature. And so I I plan to buy all of your music if I can. Oh, thank you. So, Catherine, thank you for sharing this. Truly, your work is and and the way you help people reconnect with themselves in such a simple but powerful way, it it really matters, you know. And so I'm so grateful that you are here with us today. I feel very fortunate for you to share, share your your thoughts and your expertise with us. And we'll make sure everything you mentioned is linked in the show notes so people can find you and experience your work. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. You're welcome. It's been a joy. I really enjoyed this. Me too.

Closing Reflection On Pain To Purpose

SPEAKER_02 53:55

Me too. I could talk to you for many, many hours, but I won't abuse the privilege. So, you know, for a long time, I thought my story growing up the way I did was one of just a few. But through these sorts, these types of conversations, I've realized something. I'm not one of few. I'm one of many. Because no matter the story or how different it looks on the outside, there's almost always a moment, right? A moment that could have broken someone, but instead, it shaped them. They they took that pain and they turned it into purpose. They used their struggles as stepping stones, as I mentioned earlier, instead of stopping points. And here's what I want everyone to hear. That's not just something they can do. That's something you can do too. And maybe, just maybe, it starts even smaller than you think. Maybe 60 seconds. 60 seconds to pause, 60 seconds to feel what's really there, and 60 seconds to interrupt the pattern before it takes over. You don't have to fix everything. You just have to take one small step, one intentional pause, one moment where you choose differently, and that's how you begin to transform pain into fuel. One moment, one pause, one delay at a time, and remember your past does not define you, it prepares you. See you next week.