On Purpose with Jay Shetty - 7 Habits to Be Present When Everything Feels Like It’s Moving Too Quickly (Busy People Listen Now)

Episode Date: May 31, 2024

How can you recognize when you need to slow down? And what are the benefits of slowing down in everyday life? Today, Jay addresses the growing concern about how to slow down in our fast-paced world. M...any of us feel like time is flying by, and Jay offers practical tips to help us feel more present and in control.  Jay recommends connecting with ourselves, looking at our schedule, and reaching out to loved ones. By waking up 20 minutes earlier than needed, this small change can set a calm tone for the day. And there is power in silence and spending time in nature. Silence helps reduce our brain's cognitive load, and being in nature makes us feel more present and less rushed. Throughout the episode, Jay provides easy-to-follow advice to help us slow down and enjoy life more fully, reminding us that slowing down is about being more present, not doing less. In this episode, you'll learn: How to slow down time How to change your daily habits How to plan for your day These small changes can make a big difference in how you experience time. Remember, there's more to life than increasing its speed. Let's slow down together and savor every moment. With Love and Gratitude, Jay Shetty What We Discuss: 00:00 Intro 01:31 Time Flies By So Fast 04:21 #1: Wake Up 20 Minutes Before You Actually Have To 08:40 #2: One Device At A Time 11:35 #3: Take 30 Seconds To Engage All Five Senses 13:44 #4: Obey Speed The Limit 16:32 #5: Being Present With Your Breath To Align Your Body And Mind 18:25 #6: Find And Create Moments Of Silence Everyday 21:19 #7: Observe And Be Present In NatureSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The Therapy for Black Girls podcast is your space to explore mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves. I'm your host, Dr. Joy Hardin Bradford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia, and I can't wait for you to join the conversation every Wednesday. Listen to the Therapy for Black Girls podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Take good care and we'll see you there.
Starting point is 00:00:30 Something that makes me crazy is when people say, well, I had this career before, but it was a waste. And that's where the perspective shift comes. That it's not a waste. That everything you've done has built you to where you are now. This is She Pivots, the podcast where we explore the inspiring pivots women have made and dig deeper into the personal reasons behind them. Join me, Emily Tish Sussman, every Wednesday on She Pivots. Listen to She Pivots on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 00:01:01 Tune into the new podcast, Stories from the Village of Nothing Much, like easy listening, but for fiction. If you've overdosed on bad news, we invite you into a world where the glimmers of goodness in everyday life are all around you. I'm Catherine Nicolai, and I'm an architect of Cozy. Come spend some time where everyone is welcome and the default is kindness. Listen, relax, enjoy. Listen to stories from the village of nothing much on the iHeartRadio app,
Starting point is 00:01:31 Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And I've said this before but I'll say it again. The challenge is we eat where we're meant to sleep, we sleep where we're meant to work, and we work where we're meant to eat. Right? We'll work on the dinner table. We'll sleep on the couch. We'll be entertained watching a show in bed. And it's so confusing energetically. It's so confusing for the mind.
Starting point is 00:01:57 It's so confusing for the space. And it's confusing for our brain because we're constantly glued to three devices in all different places. The number one health and wellness podcast. Jay Shetty. Jay Shetty. The one, the only Jay Shetty.
Starting point is 00:02:14 Hey, everyone. Welcome back to On Purpose. Thank you so much for being here. I'm so deeply grateful that you decided to tune in today. I want to thank you all for listening every day, every week, every month. It makes such a difference to know that our community is growing. I know so many of you are sharing episodes
Starting point is 00:02:35 with friends, with family, with people that you're just meeting and coming across. And I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for that. And I want to thank the people I've bumped into this week, whether you met me at an airport, a street, a restaurant, wherever it was. Thank you for coming up and saying hello. Thank you for sharing your on purpose story with me. I'm deeply touched and I appreciate it so much.
Starting point is 00:03:00 Today's episode is all about speed, pace, time. How many of you feel like time is just getting faster and faster and faster? As we get older it feels like time's flying like it never has before. The week goes by and you wonder where did it go? The month goes by and you wonder where did it go? The month goes by and you wonder where did it go? And right now you're thinking how we already in May of 2024, how we already getting to June of 2024,
Starting point is 00:03:37 how did this happen? Where did the time go? I find myself asking myself this question. I find myself talking to my friends about this. I find myself asking myself this question. I find myself talking to my friends about this. I find myself feeling like something happened four years ago, five years ago, and then I realized actually it was just last year. Time truly flies. Now there are so many theories for this. There's so many reasons for this. Some research suggests that when we're a child, a week or a month
Starting point is 00:04:06 feels like a huge part of our life whereas now as we get older a week or a month doesn't feel like any time at all. There's so many more things we have to process. Another theory suggests that when we were younger we had more unique novel experiences that we could get immersed in, whereas as adults we have routines, we have checklists, we have things that we need to get done. And those experiences don't feel like they last as long, and so time flies. Now, whatever it may be,
Starting point is 00:04:37 I think we've all had this experience where we wake up and we go, I don't know where the time's going, I don't know what's going on, everything feels so fast. And Gandhi has a famous quote that says, there's more to life than increasing its speed. And I think we've all had that experience where our life has got faster. We're moving more, we're maybe even doing more, but we're being less. We're more active but less present. We're more accelerated and so our view is blurred. So what I want to share with you today is how to
Starting point is 00:05:13 slow down and zoom out when things get too busy and too fast. If you've been feeling overwhelmed, stressed, feeling a lot of pressure lately, this episode is for you. If you feel like you're doing more than ever, you're moving faster than ever, this episode is for you and if you're someone right now who's just feeling like everything is feeling really heavy and you're feeling like there just isn't any space. This episode is for you. Now, I'm gonna be real with you because I think we can stay in this phase for years sometimes, right?
Starting point is 00:05:52 This isn't just something that crept up on us. Sometimes we find that years have gone by feeling this way. So my first insight that I wanna share with you is wake up 20 minutes before you actually have to. The experience of time begins from the moment you wake up. So if your first thought when you wake up is I'm late, I'm already late, I'm already behind, I'm already, you know, going to miss that meeting. Now you're already living in a feeling that you need to catch up with time.
Starting point is 00:06:28 You're already feeling behind the clock. And so our relationship with time is really, really interesting because our language and our thoughts set how we feel. So if we say things like, oh, I'm already behind, I'm already late, I'm running late, right, I'm running out of time. And we wake up with that feeling. That thought tends to repeat itself for the rest of the day.
Starting point is 00:06:51 And that's why waking up 20 minutes before you have to, just 20 minutes before you have to. And that time for you is to do three things. I call this the three C's. The first is to connect with yourself. Just take a moment to check in with how you feel and what you need today. What's the one thing you need to do for yourself
Starting point is 00:07:12 today to make it a great day? The second C is your calendar. Take a look at your schedule for the day. What's the one thing you need to do today to make it a great day? And then the final thing, connect. Connect with someone else. It may be a family member, a loved one. Check in with someone. So connect with yourself, look at your calendar, and check in with someone else. Those three things in that first 20 minutes can give you the boost. And that check-in at the end could be sharing gratitude with someone. Could just be a message that you sent to someone.
Starting point is 00:07:50 Wake up 20 minutes before you have to because what you'll find is if you start your day slower, mentally and physically, you can maintain that momentum as it speeds up. Often we think, oh, I need to slow down my whole day, I need to cancel things. That's not sustainable.
Starting point is 00:08:09 We got a lot to do, I get it. I've got a lot to do. But I find that waking up earlier, just by 20 minutes, can start that process. So for me, I'm really focused and always working on how much I can wake up three hours before my day starts. And that's something I've built up towards.
Starting point is 00:08:27 I didn't always have that. That wasn't always something that I've practiced. And I completely understand with different people's travel schedules. And if you have kids, this is much, much harder. And I completely empathize with that. But I'm sharing this as an idea of if you could wake up 20 minutes before you have to, before you need to so that you actually have 20 minutes of slow time. See,
Starting point is 00:08:49 most of us find that all of our time is fast time because we have to be somewhere. We had to be there yesterday. We had to solve that now. And so we almost need to create more time where it doesn't matter where we are. Now I find that you can extend this into the weekend. more time where it doesn't matter where we are. Now I find that you can extend this into the weekend. I think if you could have one Saturday a month that didn't have a schedule, right? I remember my mom having to take me to swimming lessons
Starting point is 00:09:19 and then having to take me off to play sport or whatever it may have been. And I find that we're often always on a schedule. And if you think about what it was when we were kids, the reason why time felt the way it did is because we had so much play time, right? There's this beautiful quote from George Bernard Shaw where he said that,
Starting point is 00:09:40 "'We don't stop playing because we get old. "'We get old because we stop playing and to me playtime means time Without time it means having no time limit. It means having no schedule It means not feeling like you have to be somewhere at a certain time now that may not be possible on the weekdays But imagine if you had one Saturday a month one Sunday a month one day a month But that daytime didn't matter. So waking up 20 minutes before you have to and finding a day a month where time doesn't matter will help you slow time right down. The second principle I want to talk about
Starting point is 00:10:20 is one device at a time. One of the reasons why time feels like it's so fast is more often than not, we're engaged with three screens, three devices. So check this out. You have the TV on, then you and your partner both have your laptops out doing some work, and then you both have your phones next to you.
Starting point is 00:10:41 So there's five screens in total, and you're looking at three screens each. You've got your phone, you've have your phones next to you. So there's five screens in total, and you're looking at three screens each. You've got your phone, you've got your laptop, and you've got the screen on the wall. So now you've got three devices. Imagine how much information that is to process. Imagine how fast that is. So you've got the movement of the characters on screen.
Starting point is 00:11:00 You've got the movement of the spreadsheet or the presentation in front of you on your laptop, and you've got the movement of the spreadsheet or the presentation in front of you on your laptop and you've got the movement of TikTok or whatever you're scrolling through on your phone. You've got three different things moving at the same time and you're trying to make sense of all of those or even if you're not, your brain is. This is one of the things I realized that you may be saying, oh well it's just in the background. Your brain is processing background noise, background sound, and I'll get on to that in a second. But it's really important that if you want to slow time down,
Starting point is 00:11:31 one device at a time. One device at a time. Either your laptop, your phone, or the screen. Don't do all three at the same time. You're asking for too much from your brain. You're asking for too much to be processed, too much to be thought about, too much to be reflected on, too much to be made sense of.
Starting point is 00:11:51 So make a commitment with your partner that if you're both watching something, you're going to watch something. And the best way to do this is just to create spaces. I call it no technology zones and no technology times in your home. So I believe that the dining room and the bedroom should be free of technology forever. We should eat and sleep in those
Starting point is 00:12:13 spaces. And I've said this before, but I'll say it again. The challenge is we eat where we're meant to sleep. We sleep where we're meant to work and we work where we're meant to eat. Right. We'll work on the dinner table.
Starting point is 00:12:25 We'll sleep on the couch. We'll be entertained watching a show in bed. And it's so confusing energetically. It's so confusing for the mind. It's so confusing for the space. And it's confusing for our brain because we're constantly glued to three devices in all different places.
Starting point is 00:12:44 So making rules with your partner and saying, look, the dining table, no technology allowed, right? The couch, only the TV screen. Okay, in bed, we're gonna have no technology there, right? Setting these rules. Now, you are gonna break these rules, you are gonna make mistakes. I do all the time, but I find that having the rule is healthier than not having the boundary.
Starting point is 00:13:06 Right, having the boundary even if you break it, even if you make mistakes, is a healthier place to be. Hey everyone, it's Jay here. My wife and I have had so much fun creating our own sparkling tea Juni and I've got big news for you. It's at Target and we'd love your support. If you can go out, grab a Juni, you'll be adding adaptogens and nootropics into your life with mood boosting properties aimed at promoting a balanced and happy mind. Through our commitment to our wellness journey and striving to fuel our bodies with the healthiest ingredients, it's been our purpose to make healthy choices accessible for all. Which is why Juni is now on shelves at Target. So head to our store locator at www.drinkjuni.com
Starting point is 00:13:50 and find Juni at a Target near you. This segment is sponsored by State Farm. Life moves at such a fast pace that we often don't take the proper time to celebrate it. We get so caught up in everyday tasks, work and personal issues that we forget to pause and take a second to breathe and celebrate life. I recommend taking at least 5 minutes each day and reminding yourself of your accomplishments. Here are a few ways you can celebrate life every day.
Starting point is 00:14:20 Be kind to others. It can be as small as a compliment, opening the door for someone or even covering someone's bill at the grocery store if you're really feeling generous. Express gratitude toward others. It will always go a long way. Be more meaningful than you ever imagine. Highlight other people's achievements. It can be your boss, your team, colleagues, significant other, or a family member. And do something you love every day, whether it's playing video games, going on a walk outside, taking time for yourself. This year I've made a commitment to myself to
Starting point is 00:14:49 slow down and celebrate all that is happening in my life, both personally and professionally. In my professional life it's easy for me to quickly move from one thing to the next, so I've been mindful of taking a second to pause and celebrate accomplishments with my team. Every week we do a weekly win session where we go around the team and everyone shares what they've done that week while they've achieved and it could be something everyone knows about or something no one knows about. But I've found that it makes a real difference to everyone's morale and energy. In my personal life, my focus has been on celebrating others.
Starting point is 00:15:23 Whether that be around someone's birthday, life achievement, or simply connecting and celebrating their presence in my life. I have found myself even more fulfilled when I focus on celebrating others than when I celebrate things that are happening. I have found myself even more fulfilled when I focus on celebrating others. There is a saying that talks about how when you give love to others, you feel love, and celebrating others has proven to me that this couldn't be more true. State Farm is also here to help you celebrate life's wins. The State Farm Personal Price Plan helps you create an affordable price just for you. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can bundle and save with the Personal
Starting point is 00:16:01 Price Plan. Like a good neighbour, State Farm is there. Prices are based on ratings plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. Step number three is to take a moment, take 30 seconds when you enter a new room, when you enter a new room, when you enter a new space, when you enter a new part of your day, to engage all five senses. So most of us are purely relying on our eyes to see.
Starting point is 00:16:35 We're quite visually oriented, and we don't really engage all of our senses. But how many times have you been walking past something and you smell something incredible, and all of a sudden you're present? How many times have you been walking past something and you smell something incredible and all of a sudden you're present? How many times are you walking about something and you hear something and you go, oh, that's
Starting point is 00:16:51 interesting, I want to know more about that. Imagine if you engaged all five senses in a room you want to be in. So if you're feeling distracted, you're running from meeting to meeting, even if you're running from Zoom meeting to Zoom meeting
Starting point is 00:17:03 and you're feeling quite disconnected, you're feeling kind of flustered, take a moment to practice this technique. It's known as the 5-4-3-2-1 technique. Five things you can see. Look around the room and look at five colors, shades, shapes. Just look around right now. What are five things? Look at the colors, the shades, the shapes, the design. And look at them more consciously than you normally would. Now, four things you can touch. Maybe the clothes you're wearing, the desk you're at, the texture, feel it, notice it.
Starting point is 00:17:46 Closer than you usually would. Now three things you can hear, two things you can smell and one thing you can taste. Notice how quickly you become physically present, mentally present when your senses are all engaged. And notice how usually when we walk into a room, we might be listening to the person in front of us and we might be looking at them. But our sense of smell is not engaged. We don't feel that we're engaged through a sense of touch and not through a sense of taste. Engage all five senses.
Starting point is 00:18:24 Now, this next one's really, really important and I'll tell you why. And it's about safety, but on a mindfulness level, on a slowing down level, it's about being present and conscious. Obey the speed limit. If you have to drive,
Starting point is 00:18:43 one of the ways we feel the most rush, one of the ways we feel the most rush, one of the ways we feel the most out of time is when we're driving. So most of us who are driving faster we're not only causing of course potential risk for others and ourselves but what we don't realize is that's what we feel it. We're like I'm gonna shave off two minutes. Is it worth taking the risk that two people may lose their lives if we shaved off two minutes? And I know we feel it by the way, I feel really proud, right? When you feel like, oh, it was going to take me 30 minutes to get there. I did it in 26. Are those four minutes worth the risk of what you may have to experience because of those four minutes.
Starting point is 00:19:26 Will those four minutes change your life? They won't. But will those four minutes potentially cost someone else their life? Yes. And you. There was this amazing video that I saw years ago on social media. And it was a video where they interviewed teens about how many of them are able to text and drive. And all these texters and drivers were like, yep, I can text and drive. Sometimes I have one phone in one hand. And the interviewer was encouraging them to be like,
Starting point is 00:19:58 wow, that's pretty impressive and tell us more stories. They then brought in an individual who shared their story. Their story was they lost a family member because of someone who was texting and driving. And all of a sudden, all these texters and drivers, most of them teens, early 20s, started to, you know, I mean, a lot of them were crying, a lot of them were feeling terrible,
Starting point is 00:20:24 a lot of them were, you know, a little bit shocked. And I think it's so important for us to realize that shaving four minutes off isn't going to change our life, but it could change someone else's. And I think on a deeper level, from a mindfulness point of view, when we're driving at the speed limit, we're actually really present. We have to be focused. We have to be there. And that slows things down because we're no longer trying to rush. We're no longer trying to achieve that shaving off of time. And cars are a place where I know a lot of you listen to the podcast. And I think that's
Starting point is 00:21:03 amazing that you're using that time to feel like you're growing and learning and hopefully you're not feeling like oh I need to rush out of this situation scenario right now. The next step I want to share with you is being present with your breath and one of my favorite practices I do this throughout the day is breathing in for four I do this throughout the day, is breathing in for four and out for four. What I find is that most of our stress and tension is experienced when our mind is ahead of our body or our body is ahead of our mind. How many of you have ever woken up in the morning and your mind is racing? So many thoughts and your body is like, oh, I just want to be in bed. Or you experience the opposite. Your body is running around, but your mind is saying,
Starting point is 00:21:45 I can't do this right now. And so when we breathe in for four and out for four, we count one, two, three, four as we inhale. And we count one, two, three, four as we exhale. Try it with me right now. In, two, three, four. Try it with me right now. In 2 3 4. Out 2 3 4. In 2 3 4. Out 2 3 4. The simple act of inhaling and exhaling for the same count, the mind is counting and our breath is moving with it. So we're aligning the body and the mind
Starting point is 00:22:32 through this simple practice. Anytime you feel tension it's because your body or mind is ahead or behind one or the other and this simple activity just brings them back into alignment. I do this when I walk into a meeting. I do this before a phone call. I do this before I read or send a stressful email. I do this before the workday and after the workday. This is a simple practice that we can do throughout the day to be reconnected with our breath and our body,
Starting point is 00:23:01 to be present once again in our breath and our body. Tune into the new podcast, Stories from the Village of Nothing Much. connected with our breath and our body to be present once again in our breath and our body. Tune into the new podcast, Stories from the Village of Nothing Much, like easy listening but for fiction. If you've overdosed on bad news, we invite you into a world where the glimmers of goodness in everyday life are all around you. I'm Catherine Nicholai, and you might know me from the Bedtime Story podcast, Nothing Much Happens. I'm an architect of Cozy and I invite you to come spend some time where everyone is welcome and kindness is the default. When you tune in you'll hear stories about bakeries and walks in the woods,
Starting point is 00:23:38 a favorite booth at the diner on a blustery autumn day, cats and dogs and rescued goats and donkeys, old houses, book shops, beaches where kites fly and pretty stones are found. I have so many stories to tell you and they are all designed to help you feel good and feel connected to what is good in the world. Listen, relax, enjoy. Listen to stories from the Village of Nothing Much on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Something that makes me crazy is when people say, well, I had this career before, but it was a waste. And that's where the perspective shift comes. That it's not a waste that everything you've done has built you to where you are now. This is She Pivots,
Starting point is 00:24:28 the podcast where we explore the inspiring pivots women have made and dig deeper into the personal reasons behind them. Join me, Emily Tish Sussman, every Wednesday on She Pivots as I sit down with inspiring women like Misty Copeland, Brooke Shields, Vanessa Hudgens, and so many more. We dive into how these women made their pivot and their mindset shifts that happened as a result.
Starting point is 00:24:53 It's a podcast about women, their stories, and how their pivot became their success. Listen to She Pivots on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When you find that bright spot to help you get through your day, it's powerful. That's where the bright side comes in. A new daily podcast from Hello Sunshine that's bringing you a daily dose of joy. I'm Danielle Robay. And I'm Simone Boyce.
Starting point is 00:25:23 Listen, both Danielle and I are reporters. We've covered the news and we know the world can feel heavy. But the Bright Side podcast is a space to have a little fun, to learn something new and get into some friendly debates. That's right. Join us five days a week to see how life can look from the Bright Side. We'll hear from celebrities, authors, experts, and listeners like you. Whether it's relationships, friend advice,
Starting point is 00:25:48 or figuring out how to navigate life's transitions, we'll talk through it all together. Listen to the Bright Side from Hello Sunshine every weekday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Step number four. This one is one that I learned many years ago now. It was when I moved to New York. So I moved to New York in 2016. And I used to find that
Starting point is 00:26:16 by the end of the day, I was exhausted. Now I've worked in London, I grew up in London. And so I've been in a busy city. During my monk years I spent time in Mumbai and Mumbai is a very busy city. But there was something about New York where I would feel exhausted at the end of the day. And I didn't have the energy really to go out. And there were a lot of things related to that for sure. Maybe I wasn't on the right vitamins and supplements
Starting point is 00:26:42 which I think make a huge difference. There were many reasons. But one of the things that I looked into, which I saw made a big difference to me, was that I didn't spend any time in silence. Now I did my meditation, but I didn't really prioritize silence throughout the day. Now research has shown that when you're in longer periods, extended periods of silence, it increases your brain cells and therefore helps you be more focused and productive and it helps you relax and slow down. And what happens is that our brains experience something known as cognitive load. So cognitive load is the amount your brain has to process.
Starting point is 00:27:25 And when I was in New York, I realized that my brain was constantly processing the road works, the cars, the sirens, the horns, the noise, the people, everything. So what happened was that my brain was always active because even if you don't think you're consciously trying to make sense of it, your brain is. And so especially if you live in a noisy city, especially if you live in a noisy area, it's so important to practice audio hygiene, which means spending time in silence, turning on those
Starting point is 00:27:59 noise-canceling headphones, not when you're outdoors, of, not doing any danger, but spending time indoors. And there's such a need to prioritize silence, right? Because what's happening is that we're getting so mentally fatigued, not just because of the work you're doing or what you're trying to process, but because of all the background noise your mind is trying to process, your brain is trying to process. This also applies to music. Now, certain music is soothing and helps you focus. It might be jazz, it might be classical music, it might be instrumentals. But there's certain music that engages you a little more.
Starting point is 00:28:34 And if you're constantly engaging your brain and engaging your mind and there's no time to disengage, disconnect and be in silence, we're actually creating more speed in our minds. Right. We're creating more speed in our minds because our minds are constantly trying to process and are never getting a break. This next one is probably one of my favorite ones. And it's because I've felt the benefits a lot, both in LA where I live and in New York where I used to live.
Starting point is 00:29:07 And I felt it recently when I was in Bhutan. Now Bhutan's a phenomenal country. You might've heard me mention it before here on the podcast. It's landlocked between India and China. It's a small country, but it's primarily nature. I mean, when we went there, I didn't see a restaurant. I didn't see a mall. I didn't see a cinema. Like it was really like, it felt like it went back in time,
Starting point is 00:29:31 but I felt this beautiful slowness when I was there. And I was looking into this and Ricardo Carrera, who's at a university in Finland, he discovered that being in nature changes how we experience time and actually gives us a sensation or a feeling of time abundance. So Carrera's research looked at comparing people's experiences of time when they were in the city and when they were in nature. And what it consistently showed is that when people were in nature,
Starting point is 00:30:11 their sense of time was slower and more meaningful. So what was really remarkable though, is that he found that people are more likely to see a walk in the countryside as longer than a walk in the city. And he also found that what's really interesting as well is that other research suggests that when we're in nature, we're also able to zoom out. Whereas when we're in the city, we're kind of zoomed in. And so we can't see the bigger picture.
Starting point is 00:30:42 We can't get perspective. And I think a big part of this for me is because nature itself is slow. Right. When something's growing in nature, it doesn't happen overnight. If you see something in nature eating, it doesn't eat it really fast. It's a slow process. When you see the leaves slowly start to go beautiful in the fall, like that doesn't happen overnight. And so I feel like the pace of nature, and remember we are nature, right? We are nature, we're natural.
Starting point is 00:31:14 So moving at the pace of nature is far more normal than moving at the pace of technology. If you think about the difference between climbing a tree and taking an elevator, there are two things humans wanted to do, was to gain elevation. But if you get into an elevator and you go up or you climb a tree, the climbing a tree takes longer, it's natural, it engages touch. It engages your sense of height.
Starting point is 00:31:39 You're looking down. I literally am in a hotel right now and it's pretty trippy. I'm in Atlanta as I'm recording this and literally it's so high. And when you get I went to the 47th floor today and I looked down and it is so trippy. If you've seen the TV show on Apple called Silo, it's literally like they've built a city underground in silo. This feels like that, but it's over ground and it's so trippy when you look down because it's just stairs and it's every floor that you can see.
Starting point is 00:32:09 And the reason I'm saying this is because when you're going up in an elevator, you don't actually know you're not choosing the pace. There's no senses involved. You're not making meaning out of it. And so it just moves so fast. Whereas when you're climbing a tree, there's effort, there's focus. So I'm not saying we have to climb a tree
Starting point is 00:32:31 to get to the top of a building. I'm saying when we spend more time in nature, we get more accustomed to a pace that suits us, that feels natural to us, that allows us to zoom out. When we're spending time in nature, we're less reactive, we're less impulsive, because it doesn't work that way, right? We can't process it all. And I've shared with you some tips here today.
Starting point is 00:32:55 So wake up 20 minutes before you have to and set one day a month where there is no schedule or time. Remember to be on only one device at a time and to set no technology zones and no technology times in your home. Engage all five senses when you're in a space and you're feeling flustered. Stick to the speed limit. Breathe in for four and out for four to align your body and mind. Find and create moments of silence, focusing on the cognitive load, and observe and be present in nature. I really hope this helps you slow down in a fast world.
Starting point is 00:33:33 I really hope this helps you zoom out in a world where we're constantly pulled in. And I want you to remember that I'm always rooting for you and I'm forever in your corner. Thank you for listening. Leave a review, share this episode with a friend, go back in and listen to all the other, we have over 500 episodes available to you right now.
Starting point is 00:33:54 I appreciate you. Remember, I'm always in your corner and I'm forever rooting for you. If you love this episode, you will also love my interview with Charles Duhigg on how to hack your brain, change any habit effortlessly and the secret to making better decisions. Look, am I hesitating on this because I'm scared of making the choice
Starting point is 00:34:13 because I'm scared of doing the work? Or am I sitting with this because it just doesn't feel right yet? For Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm partnering up with the National Alliance of Mental Illness, NAMI. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, there is help. Call NAMI Helpline at 800 950 NAMI or go to www.nami.org forward slash help or text Helpline to 62640. For immediate 24-7 crisis support, call or text 988 or visit www.988lifeline.org. Get emotional with me, Radhita Vlukya,
Starting point is 00:34:57 in my new podcast, A Really Good Cry. We're going to be talking with some of my best friends. I didn't know we were going to go there,. I mean, don't let me get this serious. People that I admire. When we say listen to your body, really tune in to what's going on. Authors of books that have changed my life. Now you're talking about sympathy,
Starting point is 00:35:13 which is different than empathy, right? Never forget, it's okay to cry as long as you make it a really good one. Listen to A Really Good Cry with Radhida Vlukya on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Bring a little optimism into your life with The Bright Side, a new kind of daily podcast from Hello Sunshine,
Starting point is 00:35:33 hosted by me, Danielle Robay. And me, Simone Boyce. Every weekday, we're bringing you conversations about culture, the latest trends, inspiration, and so much more. I am so excited about this podcast, The Bright Side. You guys are giving people a chance to shine a light on their lives,
Starting point is 00:35:48 shine a light on a little advice that they wanna share. Listen to The Bright Side on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search The Bright Side. Tune into the new podcast, Stories from the Village of Nothing Much, like easy listening, but for fiction. If you've overdosed on bad news, we invite you into a world where the glimmers of goodness
Starting point is 00:36:11 in everyday life are all around you. I'm Catherine Nicolai, and I'm an architect of cozy. Come spend some time where everyone is welcome and the default is kindness. Listen, relax, enjoy. Listen to stories from the village of nothing much on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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