The Joyful Mind, LLC

04/07/2026

World Health Day is celebrated on April 7 each year as a way to bring awareness to the health issues we face as a humanity.

Each year, the WHO chooses a health topic to focus on. This year, World Health Day is focusing on standing together and supporting the science.

What does it mean to stand with the science? It means prioritizing fact-based information, utilizing world-wide collaboration to help problem-solve the issues we face, and seeking out the scientific solutions.

Here at the Joyful Mind, we stand with the science by:
- sharing the neuroscience behind mental health to decrease the stigma behind mental health
- utilizing research-backed treatment skills and modalities to help improve your mental well-being
- Continuing our research and education on what has been clinically shown to improve your nervous system
- Creating community events that makes the science behind mental health engaging
- Advocating for change on a state and federal level to make mental health accessible to all

World Health Day is not just something we talk about one day a year, we live it. To learn more about how we celebrate this message all year long, check out www.thejoyfulmind.org

04/06/2026

Ever go from calm… to “why is this printer suddenly my mortal enemy?” in about three seconds?

That fast emotional surge is often related to ADHD emotional dysregulation. The brain’s prefrontal cortex (the part that slows reactions and adds perspective) sometimes arrives a few seconds late to the party.

By the time logic shows up, the emotion has already taken the wheel.

One helpful regulation strategy is the 90-second pause. Emotional adrenaline spikes rise quickly but also start to fall within about a minute or two. Stepping away, slowing your breathing, or pausing briefly gives the thinking brain time to re-engage and apply the brakes.

It’s not about “calming down faster.”
It’s about giving your brain enough time to catch up with the feeling.

For many people, it isn’t about aggression, it’s about emotional regulation, sensory overload, and nervous system overwhelm.

Understanding the brain changes how we respond to these moments, with skills instead of shame.

04/01/2026

Today marks the start of Counseling Awareness Month! Professional counselors across myriad settings help people of all types find solutions and overcome the obstacles they face. Join us throughout the month of April as we celebrate the work counselors do!

counseling.org/CAM

03/30/2026

ADHD emotional dysregulation doesn’t always look chaotic.

Sometimes it looks like:
• Holding it together all day
• Irritability at night
• Emotional exhaustion
• Needing silence, darkness, and snacks to recover

High-functioning doesn’t mean regulated.
It often means self-monitoring nonstop.

When the brain spends all day managing emotions internally, there’s very little left by the time you’re off the clock.

That’s not a personal failure.
That’s a nervous system that’s been working overtime.

03/29/2026

May is coming up fast! Why is May so important? It is Mental Health Awareness Month!

One of the reasons awareness matters so much is that understanding how our brains respond to stress (hello, that darn amygdala) can help us replace shame with curiosity and compassion.

I just published a new blog post explaining:
• what Mental Health Awareness Month is
• why it still matters today
• how small actions can reduce stigma and support mental wellbeing

If you're curious or want a few simple ideas for supporting mental health this May, you can read it here:
https://thatdarnamygdala.wordpress.com/2026/03/24/mental-health-awareness-month/

Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do for mental health is simply start the conversation.

03/24/2026

If feedback hits like a full-body experience, you’re not imagining it.

ADHD brains often process emotional and social cues more intensely and take longer to recover from them. So criticism, disappointment, or perceived rejection can feel huge, even when you logically know it wasn’t meant that way.

This isn’t being dramatic.
It’s delayed emotional recovery plus a sensitive nervous system.

Translation:
“I’m over it mentally.”
“My body: absolutely not.”

If you want to learn more about rejection sensitivity, please reach out!

Sensitivity isn’t the problem.
Lack of regulation support is.

03/24/2026

Are you a farmer looking for a place to better understand how you can tackle the stress that comes with rural living and agricultural uncertainty? Join us at the National Farmer Mental Health Alliance on April 14th for comradery, education, and connection with mental health professionals that understand (and live with) the stress and uncertainty that comes with rural living and agriculture. Hope to see you there!

What happens when grief changes more than just our emotions—when it reshapes our roles, our farms, and our sense of self?

On April 14th, the Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health invites you to a meaningful conversation on mental wellness in rural families. Grief We Carry and Roles We Inherit will explore generational loss, sudden change, and the realities of carrying both grief and responsibility in rural life.

Hear from experts and advocates working directly with farming communities and rural families.

Open to everyone.
Register today: https://www.gatewayruralhealth.ca/lectureseries

03/24/2026

Liz Cravillion is at it again! Come join her at Mill Creek Gardens for knowledge, plants, and your brain. Liz will go over how anxiety impacts your brain and ways to tame it with the use of plants. Look forward to seeing you there!

Hey 👋🏻 Liz here. Mental health matters a lot to me - as someone about to graduate with my masters in clinical mental health counseling. I’ve been on my own journey with anxiety, grief, and trauma recovery for almost a decade now, and I want to share what I’ve learned with others.

That’s why I’m offering this class, What is Anxiety, Really? We will take away some of the mystery surrounding anxiety, name the symptoms and levels of severity of it, discuss the difference between anxiety as an emotion and anxiety as a mental health challenge, and look at practical ways to start managing it.

After we talk, we’ll spend some time with our hands in the soil and take home a free plant.

Get your ticket (just $10) and join us Thursday night, March 26, at 6pm.

03/18/2026

Sometimes ADHD emotional dysregulation gets labeled as anxiety, and while they can overlap, they’re not the same.

Anxiety is future-oriented fear.
ADHD dysregulation is the brain struggling to shut off an emotional response once it starts.

That’s why you might:
• Replay conversations
• Feel keyed up after minor stress
• Know you’re “safe” but still feel on edge

Your nervous system didn’t get the memo yet.

Treating only anxiety can miss the ADHD wiring underneath. Which is why things can still feel hard even when you “know better.”

(Brains are rude like that.)

03/11/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1GvHnhWmCA/

6 lessons for March. ⬇️✨❤️



Full Spirit Quotes

03/10/2026

If you’ve ever been told you’re “too sensitive,” this might be an ADHD thing, not a personality flaw.

ADHD affects the brain’s emotional braking system. Emotions turn on fast and take longer to turn down. It’s not that you feel more. It’s that your brain has a harder time disengaging once something is activated.

Think:
“All feelings, no volume knob.”

Many ADHD individuals learn to mask this, so the intensity stays internal… until it doesn’t.

This isn’t about learning to “calm down.”
It’s about supporting emotional regulation, which is very much a brain thing.