Shucking Oysters

Shucking Oysters offers mini-podcast episodes focused on the core theme of self-compassion, offering wellness education and exercises.

Episode 1: Setting the stage with self-compassion

Hosts Sonja Olson and Diana Barone from the BluePearl Health and Well-being Team kick off the podcast with a look at self-compassion: what it is, how it can help you in your daily life, and why you should give yourself the same warmth and nurturing you give to others.

Episode 2: Mind full or Mindful

While we can’t always control our environment, we can control our mindset. This episode digs into the value of being present in the moment and offers strategies to help us stay mindful and not mindless.

Episode 3: How to Channel Your Inner Dog

Our busy primate minds often focus on the “what if” instead of the “what is.” Try these embodied mindfulness techniques to help quiet anxiety, ease tension and feel grounded.

Episode 4: Striking a Balance

We tackle the false narrative of the perfect “work-life balance” and explain that the emphasis should be on the healthy integration of all aspects of our lives – letting go of control and focusing on acceptance.

Episode 5: Rephrasing our self-talk

This episode delves into our perfectionist tendencies. What serves us and what can we change? Why you should change your self-talk script to help you talk to yourself as you talk to others.

Episode 6: Holding the line

It’s boundary time–a hot topic for many people-pleasing clinicians. Ever found yourself prioritising everyone else but you? Sonia and Diana discuss how weak boundaries can lead to burn-out and how to make space for you in your own life.

Episode 7: Body wisdom

We all cope differently. This episode investigates how we can tune in to our own stressors, manage them and overcome the stigma of ‘not coping’. Use the body scan exercise to check in with your physical and emotional self to find your way through.

Episode 8: Body tending

This episode’s pearl is around how to look after the connection between your mind, body and emotional care. Everything from deep breathing to the importance of fresh air, consumption of media and connection to community.

Episode 9: Empathy vs compassion

What is empathic distress and compassion fatigue? Sonja and Diana look at the emotive topic of the difference between empathy and compassion and how extending the same compassion to ourselves as we do to others helps relieve empathic distress.

Episode 10: Creating Brave Spaces

How can we promote a positive and respectful culture to support group accountability, and develop an ecosystem that promotes growth and learning for our whole veterinary collective? This episode digs into how we can create brave spaces for individuals, practices and the whole veterinary industry.

Episode 11: Elevate your Reframe Game

Picture it differently by reframing. In this episode, Sonja and Diana discuss how to shift our experience of circumstances, dynamics and people to help us get the best from a situation rather than looking for the worst. Reframe and respond to facts, not emotions.

Episode 12: Gratitude

In this final episode, Sonja and Diana discuss using gratitude practices as a powerful instrument in our daily lives to focus on the positive and counteract the negative.