Ep. 12 – TCI: Connected to Self :: Interview with Jen Hayes

Watch in ASL

Hi. Welcome to the connected interpreter podcast, where we will explore ways of staying connected to ourselves in our work, acknowledging the impact of our practices and continue to grow as practice professionals. I’m Amanda Smith, an interpreter, educator, coach and creative, and I’d love to discuss the puzzles of interpreting the complexities of human interaction and the power we have within ourselves to make a difference. So today’s episode is specifically about connecting with ourselves and both from a personal and a professional standpoint. And so as you go into listening to this, I want you to think about the following reflective prompts. So:

• what if anything is sparking your care for yourself, the work and others?
• Do you feel moved to take any action? And if so, what and when will you do it?
• What questions arise?
• What insights and connections do you see to yourself and your work? So those are the questions to keep in mind.
• I will answer a few of them at the end as well, and let’s go ahead and get started.

Interview with Jen Hayes

Amanda Smith

Hi, Jen, thanks for joining me on the connected interpreter series. I appreciate your time.

Jen Hayes
I’m happy to be here. Thank you.

Amanda Smith
So I have invited you to talk or speak into the the kind of topic of connected to self and being connected to self, and kind of the power and importance of that, specifically around mindset. But we’ll see where the conversation goes. Can you first, though, introduce yourself and a little bit of your background, and then how you’re connected with this topic? I mean, I kind of already spoiled it with mindset. But how are you connected to this topic? Of connected to self?

Jen Hayes
Sure. So first of all, thank you for inviting me here. It’s really, it’s just a pleasure to see you. And yeah, I’m excited to have the conversation. I’ve been working as an interpreter since 2004 so, you know, over that time, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to, you know, be impacted by what’s going on inside my head and what I found over the years. Because I started out as a interpreter and then quickly a young mother and navigating life with a family, and also trying to, you know, have great commitments to my work as an interpreter and to the community. I was sometimes feeling a little bit of some tension between, you know, how do I be a great interpreter and a great mom, a great spouse, great daughter, all the things which I don’t think is uncommon for people as I yeah, as I kind of navigated all that. I certainly talked with interpreters over the years, and I know I wasn’t alone, but the thing that I was noticing was how it was kind of bleeding over into one of the other areas. So, you know, when I’m at when I was at work, I was maybe sometimes feeling guilty about not being at home, or when I was at home, I would be thinking about, Oh, should I, you know, take this job or that job, and how can I, you know, be more involved, or do the things that maybe I thought were going to be the ways to get Me to the goals I had my career and and I realized how it was impacting my ability to be there and be present to any of the environments I was in. So I would say it was probably 10 years ago, maybe longer. I don’t know time is. I can’t keep track of it anymore,

Amanda Smith
right? I know. I know it was not today. It was it was before

Jen Hayes
I started really trying to figure out, what could I do for myself? Because not only was a conversation happening, but I was noticing that people really were struggling to figure it out. And yes, it’s nice to kind of get it off your chest and maybe complain a bit and those types of things. But then what? And I didn’t want to get stuck in that, you know, continual cycle of, you know, just venting. So I started to do my own exploration as like, what can I do for myself? And so came across lots of different resources. Started talking about them, because I had also added in mentoring and teaching into my career. So I was with audiences of interpreters. And so you naturally have these conversations, or you bring up a topic, and you see vigorous head nods, and you realize you know what. You’re onto something. So then I started presenting about it and just incorporating it into my work more and more, because. I personally was feeling like I was changing my approach, and so I kind of used myself as the place to experiment first, to see, you know, am I is the information I’m learning which is complete? A lot of the stuff I have read and researched is completely outside of the field of interpreting. It’s just about people and our minds and how we view the world. And once I found some resources that were really starting to make a difference in how I was approaching, how I was showing up, and, you know, impacting my mindset, I thought, Okay, I need to do something with this. I need to share it. And, yeah, so that’s that’s how I got here.

Amanda Smith
Awesome, awesome. So let’s start with defining terms. Yes, ish, so talk to us about mindset. What is mindset? Yeah,

Jen Hayes
for me, mindset, it sounds like a very easy concept to wrap our minds around, and we hear it a lot. It’s sort of a buzzword, but the way that I have always thought of mindset is that it’s sort of like everything about who you are and how you approach it, approach a situation, and the way that you see things because of your experiences. So it could be like into schema or something like that, but I also feel like it’s it determines what we do. And a recent definition that I came across was it says that mind were mindset is our worldview, and it shapes our behavior and and that all stems from our beliefs. So when we try to unpack that which, again, these are simple words that we throw around a lot in our vocabulary. But when you really start to think about where do my beliefs come from, and think about how every time I believe something, it changes how I’m going to behave in a situation, then you realize, wow, mindset is actually a really big thing. So I kind of that’s a really big definition, but really it’s about the pieces of us that maybe we’re not always aware of, and how that sort of comes out in, you know, any environment that we’re in, not only when we’re working as interpreters, but when we’re approaching any situation in life the way that we see the world around us, the way that we interact with the world around us, is all kind of coming from what mindset that I have. And, yeah,

Amanda Smith
yeah, that’s interesting, because the the way that you defined that, I mean, I think colloquially, how we use mindset can sometimes feel static, of like, well, that’s just my mindset. And the way you said it, it sounds like it might be dynamic, like our mindset is not a fixed item. Is that true?

Jen Hayes
Yes, yes, I was actually so I’m glad you asked that, because I was caught myself wanting to continue to talk about how people will I mean, you can have a mindset that is positive, and it’s influenced by, you know, maybe the the day, how it’s going so far, I’ve, you know, felt really good, and I had enough sleep and I ate and all that, and I think like everything’s going to go well, I show up totally different. My behaviors are different, as opposed to, you know, a time where maybe I didn’t get enough sleep, I haven’t eaten yet, and I’m stressed about what my day is going to be, and I go into an environment, the way I see things and the way I behave is completely different. So yes, I do think it can change. And mindset, yeah, I mean, we’re going to continue to talk about interpreting, but within interpreting and learning, there’s growth mindset and fixed mindset. So, and those are things that can change, and beliefs can change. That’s another part of the definition I didn’t mention. But the our our beliefs can shift over time. We can learn things, and we can become aware of things, and we can try things, and then maybe we start to believe something different, which then impacts how we behave, how we show up.

Amanda Smith
So what does mindset have to do with the way I want to ask that question is, what does mindset have to do with interpreting? But I mean, what? What is the connection between mindset and the the work we do as an interpreter?

Jen Hayes
Oftentimes, when I’m talking about mindset, I usually start out by talking about our brains capacity, because if we want to be truly effective in the work that we do, we need all pistons firing, so to speak, right? We need to have the most capacity in our brain. And if we are coming in, you know, with that, you know, with the experience of being distracted by thoughts or stress or, you know, hunger or those types of things, then we’re not going to be able to be at full capacity. So on some level, are, we’re coming in depleted and maybe working at 60% so when we are interpreting, and I say this, a lot of. Times, because interpreters are really hard on themselves. So if I did come in and I started working at 60% but then I gave everything, I actually was doing 100% of what was available to me. It may not have been on a day that, you know, maybe I did have 100% capacity and did 100% I’m gonna have an amazing experience the you know, everything maybe will feel like it’s flowing very easily. And on those days where it’s harder, if we look at it, probably because we weren’t at full capacity. And the capacity can be impacted before, during or after, right? And depending on you know, where we’re at at any given moment, it’s it’s going to impact our ability to do all the cognitive functions that we need to do in our work.

Amanda Smith
So what are some of the things that deplete our capacity?

Jen Hayes
Well, I mean, I guess some of the things I’ve already mentioned, right? Yeah.

Amanda Smith
But can deplete our capacity? Yeah,

Jen Hayes
I think one of the things I find most often in conversations with interpreters is it’s our own thoughts that deplete our capacity. So yes, there’s going to be times where we come in and I’m not going to have the full capacity to interpret in this environment because maybe I didn’t prepare well enough, or I, you know, just don’t have the fund of knowledge around what the topic is and you know. So that’s going to impact my capacity. But certainly if maybe I can get some resources available to me in that moment, maybe I’m, you know, have a team there who’s helping me, or maybe I have a PowerPoint or a reading I can do, and maybe I can build little capacity still when I start, if I start, if I am not confident, because I already had that thought before I came in, like, I don’t know if I’m the right person for this, or I don’t know if I prepared well enough for this, those thoughts are actually depleting that capacity too, because we’re taking that energy and shifting it toward, you know, a cognitive function that isn’t the cognitive function of paying attention to what’s happening. And so I may misread something that, you know, someone says, I may misunderstand it or and then when we make a mistake, it’s sort of this downward spiral, because then we start to be hard on ourselves again. And so we’ve pulled, you know, we deplete that capacity even more. So then we, you know, if we can look at things from that standpoint after the job is done, we can be much more kind to ourselves and figure out, what are the things I can do to go in the next time, which that is all about mindset, right? So I can look at it as, oh, I suck, and I totally messed that up. I, you know, I probably shouldn’t even be interpreting. Which these are all things I’ve said to myself before, things that are not interpreters, thoughts interpreters have said and or not, and, but, or I can look at the situation, become aware of what was actually happening, and understand, okay, so that set of circumstances led me to this situation. Now, what can I do differently? That’s actually growth mindset, right? It’s not the fixed mindset. So growth mindset, it’s, it’s, it’s all, yeah, it is very complex to try to talk about this topic, because, again, mindset is used in a lot of different ways, but those different definitions and those different ways we use the words are all related to the same thing, because it’s in our minds so much that’s where our work happens, right? So much of our work is not visible to other people. And if that part of our tool kit, as you like to call it, like, if that is not, you know, if we’re not like, if I was going to actually use, you know, a tool that needed to be filled with gas, like a lawnmower, but it was only 25% full, I’m not gonna be able to cut the whole lawn. Yeah, so if I’m trying to go into an interpreting assignment, and I only have 25% capacity because of a lot of different factors, then the whole interpreting assignment isn’t going to it’s either going to go pretty lousy or maybe it can’t continue. Who knows? Yeah, the

Amanda Smith
I love the lawn or analogy, I’m coming back to that one. The thing that strikes me about what you’re saying is that, and something that maybe we don’t all know is that our thoughts actually create a reality, like our thoughts are the powerhouse of what happens, and we get to choose the thoughts we think. Now, we don’t get to choose all the thoughts that come into our mind, but we do get to choose the thoughts that we that we want to attend to, right? And so I’m thinking about your lawnmower example of if it’s only 25% full, I’m not gonna be able to get the whole job done, right. But also, and I’m gonna try this out with you, and we’ll see how it goes. Also, if I filled it with vegetable oil all the way full, I. It may not go anywhere ever, yes, or it may go somewhere, or it might explode, or it might right? And so I’m wondering if that feels like a fair analogy to our thoughts, like some of our thoughts deplete our capacity, and some of our thoughts expand our capacity, or or support our capacity. I’m not sure that they I don’t know. I don’t know. What do you think about that? Like? I’m I’m kind of just thinking right now, while you’re talking about this, some thoughts that deplete, some thoughts that support or expand, I don’t know, what do you think of that.

Jen Hayes
I actually really love that. And I think you’re right, because there are times where I mean to me, it sort of feels like right intention, you know, like and right and where do, where do I put my energy so I can, right? I could, well, because if we’re going with the same analogy of, what am I putting in the gap the lawnmower? I mean, I could. We could actually make it as simple as, what did I eat before I came in right 100% so like, if I’m not choosing foods that are going to actually sustain me, or if I didn’t drink enough water, if I drink too much coffee, or all of those things like if that the the chemical reactions that are happening in my body may not allow me to do the work that I want to do. But also with thoughts. I agree that if we’re choosing to put our energy towards those thoughts that are, you know, depleting and they are critical and unhelpful, then we’re kind of putting ourselves in a really bad place. I mean, there’s, we won’t, you know, have we don’t do a whole big research this and this and this, but there’s, there’s stuff out there, right? There’s so many things out there. But one of the, one of the things that I know for sure is negative emotions really kind of take our brain offline. And so if we want to have our brains online focused really being able to be there at full capacity for the work, we need to be using we need to be feeling positive things. And so not that you can take any emotion that comes up, or any negative thought that comes up, and just flip it, because that, in and of itself, is a hard thing to do, but if we can at least acknowledge and recognize that we’re having a thought or we’re having a feeling, then we can maybe set it on the shelf or set it aside until later, and and then we can say, All right, so what am I? What am I excited about for this job, or what? What are the things that I, I do know that I can do. So if we go back to that idea of a scenario where maybe I feel a little underprepared, what are the things I did prepare for, right? And so there is that that is a mindset shift, right, from what did I what am I focusing on that I don’t have available to me, and then shift it over to okay, but I do have these things available to me that requires time and energy and awareness, and it requires us to be self compassionate, and that’s not something that comes easy to people. I mean, I think I just said earlier that interpreters are really hard on themselves, and we are, you know, we say this all the time. We’re our own worst critic. But if we can imagine, what would I do if I had my good friend colleague telling me these things that I’m thinking, if they said that out loud to me, what would be the easy thing I could say to them and then make it a practice to try to use those same words for ourselves, and maybe you do have a team that you can say, Okay, this is really hard. I know I’m feeling a little underprepared. Okay, let’s go over the things we do know and like, make that conversation happen. That is a shift. And then that might be, you know, oh, I found a little bit of gas, and I’m gonna put that right more. Yeah, yeah.

Amanda Smith
It is brought to you by my online course, somatic practices for interpreters. This is a uniquely designed professional development experience that includes content via reading, private podcast streams, real time, engagement, individual coaching and more. If you are interested or curious to find out more, you can visit AR Smith studios.com and see the button at the very top. The course is 2.9 CEUs, and there is a synchronous session every fourth Monday of the month from four to six Pacific time. If you join now, you will have plenty of time to complete this and have your CEUs processed by December. The thing I want to kind of go back to and have us put words around, is this idea of kind of putting things on a shelf, and then the shift of negative to positive thoughts. And one of the things that I think can sometimes happen in our very information full world is that on the surface, that sounds like we’re just gonna put on a happy face, and that’s not what you’re saying. No, because it’s not that we don’t have negative things, or there might not even be negative things. That are actually true, right? They just aren’t going to help us do our best work, right, right? So, so what’s the difference? So how do you put something on the shelf? Honor that those things are real. Say, Okay, that might be information that I need to find and suss out later. Right? Now, I have this job to do, and I, I need the things that serve this job. What? What is that? Because that sounds really simple. Again, like all of our conversations today, it sounds really simple, and it’s not, but it’s important. It is,

Jen Hayes
yeah, I think it’s, it’s a practice, right? This is, isn’t something that you can you just follow, like a recipe, you know, you do this, this and this, and then you have a cookie, it’s, you have to do this over time. And the I think what I found to be really important for me as a person who’s implemented a lot of things, and for interpreters that I see implementing some of these things, is that they have to understand why first, so understanding, like, what is actually happening on a neurological level, on a neurobiological level, is really helpful, because adult learners want to know, like, why the heck would I try this? Right? So that, I think is probably the first step is to just become more knowledgeable about, like, what’s going on, and it doesn’t mean you have to read a bunch of research and books. It is really just kind of, like, tuning into what am I experiencing. So if I, if I can just that one day notice, like, after the job, wow, beforehand, I was really stressed out, and then during, that didn’t go so well. That’s kind of, I think one of the first steps that I find when I’m working with people is they have to see it after the point, and then it’s like, you can kind of move that needle back in time so that in a future job, maybe I’m noticing during, oh yeah, I was really stressed out now I’m feeling okay. Things are going good, or, you know, or before noticing, okay, I’m really stressed out, and maybe you don’t know what to do that first time, but it is the practice, and it’s what you know, these strategies, and lots of really brilliant people have said, is, if we can do that for ourselves and just acknowledge that this is a thought I keep thinking and get curious about it, rather than I need to Just stop thinking that yes, because that’s the impossible thing, because our brains are just like you said, you can’t control. Thoughts are just going to continue to go. Where we put our energy is really the thing that we can do. So if I notice this thing, and when I say shut it, set it on a shelf, it might be for someone write it down, because, you know that might be helpful. Or I find that I use my voice memo on my phone sometimes, if I’m driving and I’m like, I, you know, I don’t, I’m not going to write anything down in the moment, so I just click that, and I record myself just processing whatever I’m thinking. And then it’s at least somewhere, and I can revisit, revisit it or not. But sometimes the act of getting it out is enough. And knowing from Daniel Siegel’s work, he, you know, talks about so many things, and I think it’s a great person to seek out more information about, but one of the things he talks about is, if we can name the emotion that we’re having or the thought we’re having, we can tame it. So just the act of recognizing what’s going on actually takes it down a notch. And so I think that’s probably where, that’s where I started. That’s where you know, most of these practices start, is just, you have to first be aware that it’s happening for you, and then, you know, hopefully you can, over time, get yourself to a point where you can in the moment before you go in, you can build your capacity by saying, Oh, yep, something’s going on here. I just need to get this down, and now I can go in and I can be present,

Amanda Smith
yeah, and that presence is a really important part. Because I think, you know, people in presence is important also for interpreters, presence, and I’m starting to think for our conversation also correlates, potentially, I’m going to play around with that to capacity, right? However much I’m able to be present, is how much capacity I’m going to have to offer in this situation. Potentially, I don’t know I’m playing with that, just as we’re talking today. The other thing I think that I hear from interpreters, or I see in interpreters, that I think has we’ve come by through our training programs and those kinds of things, is a lack of agency, like we don’t actually think. We don’t know that we have choice. We don’t know that we can make a decision because it’s not about me. I’m not even there. It’s them. I’m just a, you know, bridge, or whatever our analogies are, and and I think that we are either stripped of our agency or never told we have agency through our conditioning, whether that’s in a training. Program, or the way our community works, or colleagues, you know, whatever that is for good intentions, because it shouldn’t be all about us, right? Because we’re there to provide a service. At the same time, our lack of agency has an impact. Thoughts about agency, mindset, connections,

Jen Hayes
I agree. I think we are seeing a shift in some places in our field now, because this information is so prevalent, and so I’m really happy to see that more people are having this conversation. But you’re right. There are a lot of interpreters in our profession that really haven’t had that conversation or sort of dug into that and I think it’s a really powerful thing. I often will hear people say, well, it’s not about the interpreter. And I challenge that a little bit, not in the ego sense, where it is all about me, you know, that type of thing, but in the sense of, if I don’t care for myself or do the things I need in the moment to, you know, increase my capacity and have the mindset that allows me to be present in the moment, then it really will become about me, because I Will this point, yep, right? I’m I will misunderstand something that someone said, Maybe I my my negative feelings that maybe I have coming in from something completely unrelated, puts me in a, you know, negative mindset, and now all I see is that they’re fighting, and that’s not really their intention, right? So that it then does become about the interpreter. So I think it becomes a it is a freeing thing when you understand how to make those decisions. So if I can, when I’m increasing my awareness and I know these things about where I’m at as I come into an assignment, I’m hoping that it doesn’t get to the point where I have to sort of, you know, time out, you know, stop the whole interaction, because I need to do something to reset or or whatever, or take myself out. But if I get to that point and I don’t do something, then I’m really not, ethically, like, doing great work. I’m not doing effective work. Is, I think, what I what I want to say, yeah, if I can catch it before I start and make some decisions, you know, maybe before everything starts, I can make a decision just even about physical setup that will make me feel better or communicate something to one of the people in the room that’s going to allow for The interaction happen more smoothly if I can say those things, and that comes from a place of knowing that if I’m confident and I ask for what I need, then everybody is actually going to be taken well care of, and they can connect with each other and have the interaction that they want. Then it isn’t, you know that it’s totally fine. We’re not breaking any ethics or doing anything, and it honors our humanity. We are people in the room as well. And I know that if just, you know biologically, if I’m if I’m hungry, and I’m like to the point where I’m a little shaky, then my mind is going to that, or I’m visibly shaking, and then people are worried about me. And I mean, it’s never happened that I’ve passed out, but what if I did right? Then it is, then everything is going to be about the interpreter. So if we can be proactive about about that, and then also give ourselves permission and grace in those moments when we are having a human experience and we need to do something that maybe will disrupt a little bit of the flow of what’s happening between the individuals and the environment, but then know that ultimately they it will be better. Yeah.

Amanda Smith
I think sometimes, yeah. I think sometimes we think that that self care, and by that, I don’t mean massages and pedicures. I mean like, the actual like, taking care of ourselves is in conflict with our value of non interference. And non interference is a really high value for us, for good reason. What? How you just explained? It makes me think, though, that sometimes my self care is actually in service of non interference, because if I have a lack of self care, I can become obtrusive, like intrusive, whatever the word is, I could become a problem, and then I’m not I’m no longer non interference, right? Yes. So in service of non interference, I actually need to take inventory of where I am, what I need, how I’m, how I’m fueling my capacity, or not, or, you know, any of those kinds of things, so that I can be non interference. Yeah, that’s not English, but you know what I’m saying?

Jen Hayes
I do. No, I mean, I mean, it makes so much sense. It really does. I hadn’t thought about it that way, but that is exactly. What I’m trying to say yeah and yeah. So being able to understand how we can still maintain the values that we have as interpreters coming into environments while and while making sure that, no, not while we have to take care of ourselves in order to carry out those values. I think that’s that’s a powerful thing, and I think that giving yourself permission and that grace and that self compassion is a piece of all of it, so 100% and that’s why mindset is so complex. Because when I talk about it, it isn’t just here are the thoughts you think that’s impossible, right? We have to talk about all the the various ways that people can approach this idea of, how do I shift? Because we all experience it, and it works differently for each of us in how it shows up and how we take care of it and and it isn’t just, it’s not a one size fits all, even for an individual, because something that maybe works in one environment, for me, isn’t going to work in another,

Amanda Smith
correct or on a particular day or on a you know, yeah, yeah. So you’ve mentioned a couple of times this idea of practice. I’m curious if you are naturally a practicer, experimenter, or if this is something that you had to, you know, like, how do you muster up the courage to practice some of these things that you learn? Oh, versus just staying with what you’ve always done?

Jen Hayes
Sure, I think it is a part of me. I mean, just looking back on how I’ve navigated the world as a person. I think I am one of those people that will just be willing to try and, you know, if I’m the first, if no one else is raising their hand, I will be the first one, you know, out of that small group of people who are like, Okay, I’ll do first. I think I’m typically that person. And I think I’ve, I think I’ve naturally had a growth mindset, although I wouldn’t have been able to say that about myself for a while, and I also experienced fixed mindset. So, you know, everybody has pieces of all of it, but so I do think it’s part of me, but within the work as a professional, I would say it’s been a little bit more scary to put ideas out there or to try things. What I did find is I always started with myself. So as I’ve done my own sort of reading and research and trying to explore, how do I improve the way that I show up for my work, I found things that were successful. And so then I would always get curious about, is this something that other people would find useful? And so either through natural conversations, or sometimes I would put it in my teaching, whether that was workshop or mentoring, or, you know, in a classroom. And then once I started to see that things made sense, or people would be, you know, sort of on board with it or curious about it. Then it gave me a little bit more courage to try more the next time. But I would say, anytime we’re sharing new ideas in our field, and especially since, like I said, this is sort of a buzzword it, I think people could easily just say, Hey, that’s not really that important to my work as an interpreter, when I would actually say it’s probably, it’s the thing that you need before you can really get to all the other skill based technical things that we do in our work. So it’s both it was, it’s part of who I am, but it’s also a you have to try sometimes and just see if it will work or not, and then being okay with if things don’t work out, it doesn’t always feel great. And I will be the first to say, like, I I don’t like those icky feelings. But then once you try it, and you have some success with maybe something else, or you try something again, and then it worked. There you just start to, like, Be okay with the figuring out and being sort of, I don’t know. I don’t know if unsure is the right word, but it’s like, cautious and but brave at the same time. And I think I’ve learned from a lot of great thought leaders out there about the importance of, you know, being courageous and trying things. Because the only way that we can really make changes if some people are willing to do that. And I think I’ve created some space with people to see, like, oh, well, I guess I hadn’t thought about doing it that way. And, you know, maybe it inspires them to try and maybe not. But, yeah, yeah.

Amanda Smith
What would you encourage somebody who’s, like, intrigued, but, like, I got I’m stuck, but I also comfortable, but stuck. Like, what would you encourage them to start to practice being a practicer?

Jen Hayes
I mean, I think probably through the converse. Figuring out, like, what is it that they’re getting stuck with? Because, you know, that might determine which adventure we choose. But I often find that just teaching people some simple breathing techniques is a really powerful tool and a good starting place, because you have it with you all the time. It’s just about changing your attention. You know, as you’ve led in some of your other episodes, some of those breathing exercises, those are really powerful things that people can do and try it out. I mean, if I know I’ve done this with people that I’ve mentored, I’ve had them interpret something without giving them any guidance on, you know, doing breath work, even though I may have shared that idea with them, yeah, and then ask them how they feel. And oftentimes, you know, they’re stressed out and all, all these things, not feeling great. And then take some time where we do, like, a full minute at least, of breath work, and then have them interpret it and report back to me, and it’s there’s always an improvement. May not be 100% perfect, but they can tell that their brain capacity is increased. So I would say, if there is one simple thing I can share, it’s doing the breath work. And either it’s the 468, breath, or some sort of, you know, that type of breath where you’re inhaling, holding and then exhaling longer, because that stimulates the vagal nerve and does a wonderful job of calming us down, or the box breathing. And I, you know, people can listen to your episodes and learn a little bit more about that. I think are great ways to just make a step toward doing something to change and shift without feeling like, oh my gosh, I have to do all the I have to remember how to do all these new strategies that are complex. It’s a simple thing, but it’s really powerful,

Amanda Smith
very powerful. I think that’s a great way to say that it’s simple and powerful. Yeah. And I think practicing those kinds of things a very simple thing for a long time, you’ll start to see the power of that. Like, oftentimes people like myself like to practice things, and then I want it. I want to win right away, and then I want to move on to another thing. Like, I want a new sparkly thing. But there’s power in consistency and power in and you can do different kinds of breath work, like you said you gave us, like three examples right there. But it’s simple. I don’t have to overcomplicate it as much as this is a complicated topic to be connected to myself and to be in touch with and intentional about my mindset. It doesn’t require as much as I want it to require a new journal on a new pen, because I like a new journal and a new pen, it just requires you to attend to your breathing. And, you know, so it’s not easy, right, but it is simple.

Jen Hayes
It is right, exactly. And, I mean, I think the explanation that maybe will help someone kind of step over into that, okay, I’m willing to give this a try. Is the science behind it is, yeah, if we are up in our heads and those thoughts when we go to our breath, we’re actually then focused on something completely different. And our brain can’t do both. Our brain can’t continue those rapid thoughts and be calmed down by the oxygen, by the oxygen that we’re receiving, right like that, and the intentional breathing will actually distract us from those thoughts. So if that’s what you need to do, to momentarily, like, set that aside starting there is a really beautiful place and it and it’s Yeah, and it’s science tells us that’s true, yes. And I can tell you from my personal experience and from several people who have given it a try, and they report back to me on their own, like, yes and and it I feel like, Am I really like sharing this brilliant information sometimes? And you know, that’s the imposter syndrome that sort of sneaks up on me. But then I’m like, no, because this made an impact on that person’s practice. I love that for them, because when they’re using it, they realize, oh, I don’t just have to use this in my interpreting work. Oh, I can use that when I’m stressed out in life, everywhere, yes,

Amanda Smith
yes, yeah. And I love, I love, just kind of, you know, circling back to you talking about recognizing interpreters humanity in the moment, like, turns out interpreters are humans, and the same things that work for other humans also work for interpreters. Which is

Jen Hayes
great, yes, right? Which is the way I talk a lot about the things that I share is I can tell you all of these things in the frame of the of our interpreting profession, because we are first and foremost human beings, and this works for humans, yes, therefore probably going to work here. Yes,

Amanda Smith
yes, that’s awesome. Thank you so much, Jen, and I’m sure that we have piqued some people’s interests. So where shall I send people to find out more from you and dive deeper? Into some of these kinds of concepts.

Jen Hayes
Sure, I do have a website so you can visit that. It’s www dot Jen hayesinterpreting.com or email me, yeah, or email me, and it’s easy, it’s Jen at the same website, domain name, Jen hayesinterpreting.com and I’m happy to share things that I’m working on, things that opportunities. Maybe if you wanted to join me for we have ongoing community of practice groups that are run by an organization in our in the state of Wisconsin, where I’m from, I didn’t even know, yeah, I don’t know, yeah, yeah. I’m from Wisconsin, yeah. But those we have a reflective practitioner circle, and we have a mentor collective that I’ll be running in. So if you’re interested in joining those, or I will have some workshops upcoming. So reach out. I’m happy to to talk with you more about it. Yeah, very

Amanda Smith
exciting. Thank you so much for your time, and I have really enjoyed this conversation. I have lots of percolations happening now. So thank you so much.

Jen Hayes
Thank you. I really appreciate the time.

Amanda Smith
That’s it for this episode. Again, I want you to think about anything that may have sparked your care. If you feel moved to action questions that arise, and insights and connections that you are making, you can find the show notes and transcript at AAR Smith studios.com and click the podcast link in the navigation bar in the upper right hand corner, I would love to hear from you about your insights ahas and questions. So feel free to reach out to me at aarsmithstudios@gmail.com and you can also sign up for my currently very intermittent newsletter@arsmithstudios.com and click the newsletter button in the upper right hand menu. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Conclusion

And again, I want to, I want you to think about anything that might have sparked your care if you feel moved to action questions that arise, what insights and connections you’re making. I’d love to hear from you about those insights ahas and questions. So feel free to reach out to me at arsmithstudios@gmail.com and you can also sign up for my very intermittent newsletter at arsmithstudios.com and click on the newsletter button in the upper right hand corner. So let me go back and answer some of these questions.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai