0:45

You are listening to episode 190 of

0:45

The Mindful Productivity Podcast.

0:51

I'm your host, Sarah Steckler, and this

0:51

week I thought it would be fun to talk

0:56

about nine ways that may inspire you to

0:56

step up into a quiet and simple life.

1:04

If you're someone that's been feeling

1:04

overwhelmed and you need some simple

1:09

reminders that the world is not all

1:09

completely bad and want to try as much as

1:14

you can to take back some of the control

1:14

around the joy and the gratitude that you

1:21

may feel on a daily basis, then

1:21

this episode is definitely for you.

1:26

I want to share nine simple steps that you

1:26

can take, specifically activities that you

1:32

can incorporate into your life daily,

1:32

weekly, or ongoing to help you kind of

1:38

sink into that simplicity and

1:38

stillness that you may be craving.

1:43

So I hope this podcast episode

1:43

is inspirational to you.

1:47

And let's go ahead and get started.

1:51

Welcome to the Mindful

1:51

Productivity Podcast.

1:54

I'm your host, Sarah Steckler and this is

1:56

the place to be to live a more

1:56

mindful and productive life.

1:59

If you're ready to turn daily chaos into calm and start your days with intention,

2:01

then get ready to join me as we dive deep

2:06

into mindful living and

2:06

personal productivity.

2:09

It's time to connect with your true self

2:09

so you can live the life you want to live.

2:13

And it all starts now.

2:25

Welcome back to the podcast friends.

2:28

I'm so glad you're here and I just wanted

2:28

to take a minute to say that I am so

2:33

thankful for all of you that continue

2:33

to listen or find the podcast.

2:37

It's been so fun doing this over the

2:37

years and I'm just glad you're here.

2:42

And I wanted to share a couple of reviews

2:46

that a couple of you left

2:46

recently on the podcast.

2:49

I always appreciate you so much and I

2:51

thought it'd be fun to

2:51

share a couple of them.

2:54

So the first one says,

2:54

amazing gem of a podcast.

2:59

Sarah's voice is so soothing. I feel mindful when I listen.

3:02

Her tips and advice are a daily reminder

3:02

that you should find what works for you.

3:08

I could go on for ages telling you

3:08

how wonderful this podcast is.

3:12

Do yourself a favor and

3:12

listen for yourself.

3:16

I'm so glad that you enjoy the podcast.

3:18

I'm glad that you find my voice soothing

3:18

and not annoying, so that's always good.

3:22

And then the other one I wanted

3:22

to share is transformative.

3:27

Listening to this podcast has completely

3:27

transformed my view of productivity and

3:33

even what true success in

3:33

my business looks like.

3:36

Sarah's perspectives and tips have helped

3:38

me not only implement useful time and

3:38

energy management strategies, but have

3:44

also helped me create a much healthier

3:44

relationship to my business, find my flow

3:49

in work and life, and create

3:49

a better work life balance.

3:53

It's been a game changer for me.

3:55

Thank you Sarah for putting your

3:55

podcast out into the world.

3:58

It is so very needed and I know it must be

3:58

helping many others Besides myself too.

4:04

Thank you so much for sharing. I'm glad it's been inspirational to you.

4:10

I also just want to note that I don't

4:10

always get raising five star reviews.

4:16

Sometimes there are reviews that are not

4:18

so great or not so nice, but

4:18

that's part of showing up, right?

4:23

And people are always entitled to

4:23

their opinion and to leave a review.

4:28

So if you're doing something in the world

4:28

and you're scared of stating your opinion

4:34

or scared to put your values and your

4:34

beliefs out there like I do on my website

4:39

and my podcast everywhere,

4:39

I just want to let you know

4:43

that the worst thing that can happen

4:43

may eventually happen.

4:47

And for me, that's lots of not lots, but

4:50

every now and then I'll get a quote,

4:50

unquote hateful review or an email from

4:56

someone kind of ranting

4:56

and yelling at me in caps.

5:01

And it's never fun.

5:04

But if that's the worst thing,

5:04

you'll get used to it over time.

5:09

So I just want to share that because I don't always know that people

5:10

talk about those things.

5:13

So find your voice and keep talking.

5:15

You're never going to

5:15

please anyone anyway.

5:18

You're going to talk too

5:18

fast, too slow for people.

5:22

You'll use too many filler words.

5:24

I can't tell you how many emails I've gotten from people over the years that

5:25

have said your podcast would be so much

5:30

better if you didn't use the word like or

5:30

if you didn't swear, you know, whatever.

5:34

We're all human, right? So I wanted to share that.

5:38

But today I'm actually really excited to

5:42

record this podcast

5:42

in a really lovely mood.

5:46

And I'm about to go on a vacation

5:46

with my husband to the ocean.

5:51

So I'm sure that I'll be sharing about

5:51

that and really just unplugging.

5:57

But I wanted to share some steps

5:57

today, some things that you can do.

6:01

And before we get into those nine ways of

6:05

living a simple and quiet life, I wanted

6:05

to say that it's been quite easy lately

6:12

for my nervous system to

6:12

become very overstimulated.

6:17

And again, I will honestly share that.

6:20

I'm still in the middle of a very what

6:23

seems like long journey toward

6:23

working through my C-PTSD.

6:30

And part of that recently

6:30

has been nightmares.

6:34

Horrible nightmares that wake me up and

6:34

that often stay with me for the next day

6:40

that have caused a lot of stress,

6:40

a lot of full days of crying.

6:44

And I am not sharing this for you to feel

6:47

any sympathy or anything, but more so to

6:47

say that human things happen to all of us.

6:53

And I think sometimes when we are in these

6:53

really dark places

6:57

struggling with life events or mental

6:57

health stuff, it can feel like we are the

7:02

only one that is going through it and that

7:02

no one else would possibly understand.

7:08

And I definitely think

7:08

there's unique situations.

7:11

But I want to share that because I think

7:14

more often than not, there is a shared

7:14

human experience

7:18

that we all are incurrent with, and

7:18

we just don't always talk about it.

7:24

And so these things have definitely made

7:27

it difficult, especially this first

7:27

quarter of this year in my business, to

7:31

stay consistent with content in the

7:31

way that I thought I would be able to.

7:37

It's made it a little bit harder to

7:40

bring as much energy to some

7:40

of my launches in my business.

7:45

And I also just want to share this

7:45

because, again, I still feel the stigma of

7:50

being a business owner and not, quote,

7:50

unquote, having it all together.

7:54

But then I also say to myself, what

7:54

would that really look like anyway?

7:59

To have it all together, right? What? To not be fully human, to not allow

8:01

all of my own needs to be met?

8:07

And I recently actually read this

8:07

newsletter from one of my favorite humans.

8:12

Her name is Lisa Oliveira. She has a newsletter called Human Stuff.

8:17

There's a free one, there's a paid one. I highly recommend subscribing to it.

8:21

It is fantastic. She's an amazing writer, and I will have

8:22

the link to that in our show notes.

8:27

But in one of her recent newsletters,

8:27

she spoke about how she's tired.

8:34

She's a new mom, she's overrun,

8:37

but she's also tired of constantly trying

8:37

to hide her tiredness.

8:42

And that part of herself in the world.

8:45

And I actually wanted to share a

8:45

brief excerpt from her newsletter.

8:49

At least I hope you don't mind. Not that she's going to listen to this,

8:53

but it says, I don't want to

8:53

keep pushing my humanity away.

8:58

I want to push away the idea

8:58

that I was ever supposed to.

9:03

I don't want to keep

9:03

pushing what's true away.

9:07

I want to push away the idea

9:07

that I was ever meant to.

9:12

I don't want to keep

9:12

pushing my tiredness away.

9:15

I want to push away the idea that I'm not

9:18

allowed to just be what I am on any

9:18

given day, at any given moment.

9:25

I might actually write that and have it

9:25

displayed near my computer

9:32

because it was one of the most human

9:32

things that I had read recently.

9:35

And it really felt kind of like a

9:35

nourishing hug, like, yes to that.

9:40

And as I find myself drifting deeper and

9:40

closer into my mid 30s, I also notice

9:50

this deeper desire for a slower

9:50

and quieter pace of life.

9:55

It's really taking hold. And I definitely think that part of that

9:59

is due to my unrelenting state of hyper

9:59

vigilance over the years, due to my

10:05

diagnosis,

10:05

and after finding some relief through

10:10

antidepressants that I'm currently

10:10

taken, I've been better.

10:14

It's been a lot easier for me to sleep.

10:17

And I've been able to kind of work through

10:19

some of these resurfacing nightmares

10:19

that often seep into my days.

10:23

And that if you've ever had trouble with

10:23

nightmares, I sympathize with you,

10:29

empathize with you, because there are

10:29

some that continue on into my day.

10:34

And it feels like it was a real

10:34

memory and they are hard to shake.

10:39

But I've been working through those and I

10:39

have found that a deeper rest

10:47

I have found a deeper rest that I didn't

10:47

think was available to me anymore.

10:51

For years and years, I lived in this

10:51

state of just really struggling.

10:57

And it was like I didn't even have the

10:57

awareness of how much I was struggling.

11:01

Because for a lot of people that deal with depression and our mental health stuff,

11:03

which I do, you can kind of find yourself

11:09

in this state of coping and getting

11:09

through things and adapting and adjusting.

11:14

Right. It's why a lot of women

11:14

go undiagnosed when it comes to ADHD, for

11:21

example, because a lot of women

11:21

learn the different coping skills.

11:25

Right. To not have it present

11:25

as clearly externally.

11:31

But through this, I've been finding that I

11:33

can sleep better, that I'm not

11:33

going to live the rest of my life not

11:39

being able to sleep, which some years I

11:39

thought that was going to be my story.

11:44

But I do find myself noticing

11:47

there's more FOMO in this chapter of my

11:47

life, which is very interesting because

11:53

I would automatically assume that as

11:53

I get older, there will be less FOMO.

11:58

And I guess it's more comparison.

12:01

But as I noticed more people in their 30s,

12:04

in my age group of

12:04

friends choosing a path.

12:08

Right. Either growing a family or traveling or

12:08

diving deeper into their careers, there's

12:13

often they're usually for sure less

12:13

prioritization of friendships.

12:18

And I know, I mean, I'm guilty of that too. It's just hard.

12:20

It's hard to maintain and find new friends

12:20

at this specific chapter in my life.

12:25

And I'd so love to hear from

12:31

different people in different

12:31

chapters of your life.

12:34

If you relate to this, if you found this

12:34

to be true in your 30s, if you found it to

12:38

be true in your 40s or 50s or 60s, whoever

12:38

you are, however you're listening, I would

12:42

love to know if you found

12:42

this to be true for yourself.

12:46

I was recently having a conversation with my mom and she was like, yeah,

12:48

he definitely felt that way.

12:53

And I think that can make us feel lonely.

12:56

And I've definitely noticed that I felt

12:59

more lonely during this chapter of

12:59

my life than I have in other times.

13:02

And I think part of that's definitely

13:02

due to the pandemic as well.

13:06

But it's interesting that the comparison

13:06

seems to be there more than it ever was.

13:13

And I guess it's more of a feeling of what

13:15

if I run out of time

13:15

versus what if I'm not capable?

13:19

Because in my twentys, a lot of the times

13:23

it was if I saw someone else doing it,

13:23

I'd be like, oh, I can't do that too.

13:26

Or like, oh, they must have something that

13:26

I don't where now my confidence is way

13:32

higher than it ever was

13:32

in my earlier years.

13:36

But it's not a matter

13:36

of can I do that too?

13:38

It's do I have the same amount of time or

13:38

like, how am I going to get the same

13:43

amount of energy right to

13:43

prioritize that and make it happen?

13:47

And I just think it's

13:47

a different struggle.

13:50

It's very fascinating.

13:50

It's very interesting.

13:52

But the pressure and the awareness of time

13:55

and opportunity has also really

13:55

painted the air with this thick fog.

14:01

So it's kind of like even though there's

14:01

so much life ahead of you in your 30s,

14:06

there's definitely this realization for

14:06

the first time for me that life is moving,

14:14

things are changing, your body is

14:14

changing, you are aging, all those things.

14:18

And what's most fascinating about all of

14:21

this, though, is that I also find myself

14:21

delighting in more simple things.

14:26

So things before that I used to overlook

14:29

in my life, even like the changing of the

14:29

leaves on trees in the fall, for example,

14:34

now will make my whole day,

14:34

like, just Bloom with happiness.

14:39

And so I find myself

14:39

wanting to Canva out more.

14:42

Nothing time, nothing. Time for simplicity that were probably,

14:48

you know, hobbies of those that came like

14:48

centuries before us, very simple things.

14:53

And today I was thinking that it would be

14:58

fun to share and explore what some of

14:58

those have been for me and perhaps inspire

15:04

you to do the same, to kind of revel in

15:04

that slower pace, to embrace stillness and

15:10

let go of the pressure to rush

15:10

forward with every moment.

15:16

And I want to acknowledge, too, that these

15:18

choices are not always available

15:18

to everyone at every moment.

15:21

But if you do find the deep desire to slow

15:21

down, to simplify and quiet your life, so

15:28

to speak, then consider today's

15:28

episode your invitation to do so.

15:34

Let's dive into these nine ways that you

15:34

can sink into a quiet and simple life.

15:42

Some of these are actual action item

15:45

things that you can try, and others

15:45

are more of a mindset shift.

15:49

But the first one is to look up and attend

15:49

a local library book sale near you soon.

15:58

This is something that our library

15:58

system does at least once a month.

16:04

And if you really want to get into buying

16:04

a lot of books or just looking through

16:08

them, then if you have different branches

16:08

of your local library, sometimes different

16:12

ones will do them different

16:12

times of the month.

16:14

So I think within like a ten or 20 miles

16:14

radius of me, I could probably hit up

16:19

three or four book sales at my local

16:19

libraries every month if I wanted to.

16:24

But I had a lot of fun. I actually went to one today.

16:29

There's a couple of tweaks that I would

16:29

have loved to have seen because it was

16:33

super crowded and I think so many people

16:33

like, have we forgotten how to crowd?

16:39

And also it was packed and there

16:39

wasn't really a flow in the book sale.

16:47

So if I was hosting a book sale, I'd

16:47

probably be really anal retentive about it

16:51

and have like arrows of like, this is

16:51

where you start, and then you walk through

16:55

the whole thing in one straight

16:55

line and then you're done.

16:59

But it was chaos. However, attending a local library

17:01

book sale was a lot of fun.

17:05

I ended up getting, I think, 13 or 14 books, and it cost me a

17:06

total of $13.0.50. And this can be really

17:14

fun because there's something about

17:14

coming back to physical books.

17:20

And this book sale was amazing.

17:22

I think trade paperbacks and

17:22

hardcover books for a dollar.

17:26

There were some books that were as low

17:26

as $25, and I got some really cool ones.

17:31

I got some on gardening and some really

17:34

fun fictional books that I wanted to try

17:34

and some other ones that I'd heard of an

17:38

author before, and I've

17:38

been wanting to read them.

17:40

So that was really fun. But I encourage you to go check out

17:41

a book sale near you

17:47

with used books and just have fun kind of

17:47

getting lost and pick up something new.

17:54

I think the art of

17:57

looking for and collecting books and

17:57

reading them and gifting them and trading

18:02

them and all those things, there's just

18:02

something really lovely about that.

18:06

And so the other thing I'll add is if you

18:08

don't feel like going to an epic sale,

18:08

especially with other people,

18:12

the other thing you can do is look up any

18:12

kind of little libraries in your area.

18:18

So I think the website is actually

18:18

littlefreelibrary.org. And at least in the

18:24

United States there is a whole I think

18:24

it's international, but there's a whole

18:29

basically, like map and reference list of

18:29

where all of them are located and people

18:35

tend to build them and then

18:35

add them to the registry.

18:38

But this is really fun. And if you don't know a lot about little

18:39

free libraries, it's basically like a

18:43

little tiny box that's been

18:43

staked into the ground.

18:46

And they're so cute. There's an Instagram

18:47

account for them, too.

18:50

And you basically go and you can pick

18:50

up a book or you can leave a book.

18:55

And I have done that multiple times.

18:58

I found some really cool books before.

19:00

I love to. Anytime I'm done with a book, I love to

19:04

drive around, find a little library

19:04

and put books back in there.

19:08

Some people also leave other things. Like I've seen people leave tarot cards or

19:12

Oracle cards in them,

19:12

cookbooks, so all kinds of stuff.

19:18

And so that's really fun. And I think just the adventure of

19:19

it all like going to a library.

19:23

So even just like going to your

19:23

library could be one of these things.

19:26

But just there's something about going to a library. And I did get a book that is older, like

19:31

from the early 1900,

19:31

and it smells so good.

19:36

I'm one of those people.

19:36

I love the smell of old books.

19:40

When we got home, I opened it up and I

19:40

was like, oh, my gosh, to my husband.

19:43

I was like, smell this. And he was like, but I was like,

19:44

oh, it just smells so good.

19:49

Like, you can just smell the

19:49

old pages and the paper.

19:52

And there's something really mindful

19:52

about that that I really like.

19:56

So that was the first one. The second one

19:58

is to host a small tea party.

20:03

And this goes out shout out to my lovely

20:06

mom, because recently we actually

20:06

celebrated Easter early this year.

20:13

And by celebrating Easter, I mean, we put

20:15

together Easter baskets for

20:15

each other and have Mimosas.

20:19

But we did it early this year because

20:21

we're going to the ocean

20:21

right after actual Easter.

20:27

So I'll be packing and stuff. So we did it early, and

20:28

that was really fun.

20:32

It was fun to put together

20:32

Easter baskets for everybody.

20:35

And then a few days later, my mom

20:35

sends me a text, and she's so cute.

20:39

And she was like, I hope that you and Miss

20:39

Bella is what she calls my Bulldog can

20:44

come for an Easter tea on

20:44

Thursday at 01:00 p.m..

20:47

And I was like, oh, yeah,

20:47

that sounds amazing.

20:49

And I show up, and I have photos

20:49

on my Instagram highlights.

20:54

I think it's under my spring highlight.

20:56

She had put together an entire spread

20:56

of the most amazing little tea food.

21:06

And my mom's vegan, so she

21:06

made everything vegan.

21:08

So she had, like, little cucumber

21:08

sandwiches, and she had these little

21:14

Satan meat rollups with, like, a vegan

21:14

cream cheese in the middle with chives.

21:20

And she had a Waldorf salad with grapes

21:20

and other fruit and some other pasta.

21:28

And then she also got, like, strawberries

21:28

and blueberries and raspberries and bought

21:32

this chocolate hazelnut

21:32

butter to dip them in.

21:35

I mean, it was just

21:35

divine, and it was so fun.

21:37

And she, like, displayed

21:37

everything really cute.

21:40

And she had all these decorations

21:40

from when I was little for Easter.

21:44

And we just had so much fun. And I don't actually think

21:45

we ended up drinking tea.

21:47

I think we ended up having this lemon

21:47

Italian soda, sparkling Italian soda.

21:54

That was very good, but it

21:54

was so lovely and so fun.

21:59

And there was something about making a

21:59

special moment on a Thursday afternoon

22:04

when we both had time and

22:04

just creating an event.

22:08

It was just the two of us and

22:08

my dog, and we had so much fun.

22:13

And so I encourage you to host something

22:13

like this, whether it's just for yourself,

22:18

even, like, go on a special picnic, buy

22:18

yourself a special fruit tart, and get

22:23

yourself a bottle of some fancy little

22:23

drink, and go enjoy yourself, because

22:28

there's no reason to wait to

22:28

make these special moments.

22:32

Number three is to tour the public domain

22:37

online and Marvel at all of the amazing

22:37

artwork that came before you even existed.

22:43

And this is something I started doing,

22:43

because sometimes there's artwork you can

22:47

find for planners and journals

22:47

or in publish with purpose.

22:51

My students and I will talk about

22:51

different Copyright free stuff that you

22:56

can use royalty free,

22:56

Copyright free all that stuff.

22:58

And so we'll explore different things. You always want to be careful and double

23:00

check that you can use something.

23:03

But it's also really fun to go on the

23:06

public domain and see what's available,

23:06

especially high resolution images.

23:11

There are some 4K images that you can

23:13

actually download where they've

23:13

scanned, like original pieces of art.

23:17

And you can basically have prints

23:17

made right for your own home.

23:21

And I've really been having fun going on.

23:24

Specifically, you can look up stuff that's

23:24

been donated to or transferred to whatever

23:29

the public domain from the Smithsonian Art

23:29

Museum or the Glasgow University of Art or

23:36

the Audubon Society, for all

23:36

you bird lovers out there.

23:40

And it's just really fun

23:40

to go look at the art.

23:43

So if you don't have time to get out and

23:46

go thrifting or something like that,

23:46

then go explore the public domain.

23:50

I mean, seriously, it's

23:50

so inspirational to see.

23:52

And it's also really fascinating to see

23:52

all these different things from the 15th,

23:56

16th, 17th century art that's available

23:56

that will just blow your mind.

24:01

Truly what's been created by humanity

24:01

before us, number four, is to make a

24:07

ritual out of having either

24:07

a cup of coffee or tea.

24:13

One thing I really like to do when I'm feeling really stressed, especially in the

24:15

evening, is I'll put on the kettle or I'll

24:20

make a pot of coffee and I'll

24:20

make a cup of tea or whatever.

24:25

And I really enjoy the sounds

24:25

that are made from tea.

24:32

So, like, pouring the water into the cup,

24:35

hearing the kettle start all those kind of things. And so that's a really mindful way

24:37

of kind of tapping into your senses.

24:43

That's also a really great grounding exercise, by the way, if you're ever

24:45

feeling stressed is to name every sense

24:50

that you have and what you

24:50

currently are experiencing.

24:52

So, like, what do you currently see?

24:54

How warm is the room,

24:54

those kinds of things.

24:57

So making a ritual out of having a cup of

24:57

tea, I will bring it into my office and

25:03

I'll just watch the steam come

25:03

out of the water in the cup.

25:07

And I'll feel the warmth of the cup

25:07

in my hand, in the palm of my hand.

25:12

And there's something really nourishing

25:14

about taking the first sip and feeling the

25:14

warm water in my mouth, going down my

25:20

throat, filling up my body and

25:20

really just taking it in.

25:24

That taking in that moment. And I think it's very similar to if you

25:29

practice mindful eating

25:29

practices or anything like that.

25:32

There's an episode way back in the

25:32

beginning of the podcast where Jenny Eden

25:35

Burke joined and she walked me

25:35

through a mindful eating exercise.

25:39

It's very similar to that.

25:42

So I actually wrote two for the next one. So I'm going to combine them.

25:45

But basically it's talking about

25:48

rearranging your home and creating a

25:48

place that really feels like a sanctuary.

25:53

So I've really been stepping into this more really looking at

25:55

my home as my sanctuary.

25:58

A place where I feel safe and comfortable

26:02

and cozy and warm and like I can

26:02

be fully and completely myself.

26:08

And I think part of that is making

26:08

everyday moments extra special and cozy.

26:14

So lighting a candle in your space, taking

26:17

time to maybe make a meal from scratch or

26:17

something simple that we don't always do,

26:23

like heating up your towel before in the

26:23

dryer before you take a bath or warming up

26:28

your blankets in the dryer right

26:28

before you get into bed.

26:32

Sometimes if my dog Bella is super anxious

26:36

or she's like recently went to the vet, I

26:36

will often warm up a blanket for her and

26:41

then put that over her

26:41

before we go to sleep.

26:43

And it always calms her down so much.

26:45

And one of the ways that I do this is I

26:45

create routines in my life and in the

26:51

evening that kind of help settle me down

26:51

and make home feel like a sanctuary.

26:55

So a couple of years ago it wasn't until

26:55

my 30s I started getting into a skin care

27:00

routine that I really love and

27:00

that always feels very pampering.

27:04

But I guess the take home here is that

27:07

it's important to stop waiting for

27:07

special occasions to do things right.

27:11

The things that you do are what make your

27:14

days special so you don't

27:14

have to wait to use things.

27:17

Like, for example, I have this jar of

27:17

really nice like body butter lotion and

27:22

it'd been sitting on my bathroom

27:22

counter for a month or so.

27:26

And every time I see it, I'd be

27:26

like that's for a special occasion.

27:29

And then one day I was like, why,

27:29

what are you waiting for?

27:33

Like, use your damn body butter. So now I've been using it every night.

27:37

I like to take a bath a lot lately I've

27:37

been taking a bath, doing a face mask,

27:42

using my body butter, like

27:42

using up all those products.

27:44

There's no need to wait. Another thing that I recently did that's

27:49

been this is kind of off topic with this

27:49

one, but I thought I would share it is

27:53

that I recently bought my mom a squirrel

27:53

feeder and I think I actually got it at

27:58

Walmart and it's like little wooden feeder. We attached it to one of

28:00

her trees in her backyard.

28:02

She has this beautiful backyard that opens up to the forest and there's

28:04

all these evergreen trees.

28:07

And so we attached the squirrel feeder to

28:10

a tree and we bought squirrel

28:10

feed and all that kind of stuff.

28:12

And we've just been having so much fun

28:12

sending like photos back and forth.

28:16

Like I'll send her photos of my balcony

28:18

boys, which is what I call the little

28:18

chickadees that I have that I believe

28:25

they're chickadees that have been on my

28:25

balcony, like eating all the seed I put

28:29

out there and I call them

28:29

my fat little balcony boys.

28:34

Like, my husband will come home

28:34

and be like, balcony boys.

28:38

I've been sending her photos of them. My mom's been sending me

28:40

photos of the squirrels.

28:42

And it's just really lovely, right. Like, it's these little moments

28:44

that make life so wonderful.

28:48

Number six, plan something to look

28:48

forward to in the middle of the week.

28:54

This is something I actually talked about

28:54

in one of our upcoming podcast episodes.

28:59

I have Jenny Cole coming up on a podcast

28:59

episode is going to be airing in June.

29:04

And one of the things we talked about were how weekends don't have to be the

29:05

only time when you enjoy yourself.

29:10

And so I think it can be really wonderful

29:10

to make a regular practice of rotating

29:16

through your favorite things and putting

29:16

those things like maybe on a Wednesday.

29:19

Right. So whether that's a trip to a coffee shop

29:20

for a nice coffee that you're looking

29:24

forward to, or rotating out your favorite

29:24

parks, or maybe making your favorite

29:29

comfort meal, stop waiting for the end of

29:29

the week or waiting to feel exhausted

29:35

before you think you deserve

29:35

something wonderful.

29:37

Right?

29:37

If one of your favorite things is getting

29:39

pizza every week, why does

29:39

it have to be on Friday?

29:41

Why can't it be on Wednesday or Tuesday?

29:41

Right?

29:44

You get to decide when those moments are

29:44

in your life and you don't have to wait

29:49

until the end of the week

29:49

until you've worked.

29:51

You can schedule in things sooner, which

29:51

just improves your happiness level.

29:56

Right? Number seven is try an

29:57

evening of solitude.

30:02

So what this looks like for

30:02

me is turning off the noise.

30:06

So turning off the TV, putting my phone in

30:11

another room, like plugging it in, putting

30:11

it on silent, putting it away, and then

30:15

really taking time to do things that

30:15

typically don't take a lot of technology.

30:20

That's what feels like solitude to me.

30:23

This could mean something else

30:23

for you, and that's fine.

30:25

But I love to go through books or journals

30:28

or do something that gets me into

30:28

the zone where I'm really focused.

30:31

So maybe knitting or a paint by number or

30:35

coloring or even just like listening

30:35

to Lofi and organizing my office.

30:40

I recently signed up for Lofi Co

30:40

and it's a really cool website.

30:46

They have a free plan, too, where you can

30:49

just create like a little atmosphere

30:49

and there's different Lo Fi playlists.

30:55

And I've really been enjoying that because

30:57

sometimes I will search through YouTube

30:57

but won't find the right thing.

31:01

And that always just seems to

31:01

have the right vibe for me.

31:04

So I've been doing that. But going through too, like any of the

31:06

treasured things that you have, like any

31:11

of your belongings and really

31:11

remembering to enjoy them.

31:15

I think it's so easy for us to kind of see

31:15

things in our home through the corner of

31:19

our eye and not take

31:19

time to appreciate them.

31:22

But When's the last time you looked at the art in your house and you're

31:24

like, yeah, I love this, right?

31:28

Just imagine yourself finding that piece

31:30

of art again for the first time, or

31:30

finding that favorite coffee mug that you

31:34

use every day or seeing something that you

31:34

own at the thrift store and imagining

31:38

like, OOH, I get to take this home with me

31:38

and kind of just, like, reinvigorating

31:43

that with your space, I

31:43

think can be really lovely.

31:46

Number eight is

31:46

get curious about something new.

31:52

So for me, this can be like taking

31:52

an interest in something new.

31:55

This has been birds and

31:55

birding for me for a while.

31:59

But also recently, I have been getting

32:02

into plants and gardening, and I

32:02

can't really do a lot of that.

32:07

We're on the third floor in our apartment,

32:09

but I do have, like, a couple of potted

32:09

plants on my balcony, but I've been really

32:13

excited kind of future planning, you know,

32:13

eventually, someday my dream is to own a

32:18

little home with a little bit

32:18

of land and do some gardening.

32:23

I would love to have more land, but we'll see what happens and maybe have,

32:24

like, a shed or some chickens.

32:31

And anyway, just get into

32:31

gardening and landscaping.

32:34

So I recently went into

32:38

this book sale right today, and I

32:38

got a couple of gardening books.

32:41

One of them is really cool. It is The Well Planned Garden and

32:43

Hold On it's by Sue Phillips.

32:49

It actually was published in 1988, and

32:52

it's got the most beautiful illustrations

32:52

of plants, and it basically just kind of

32:57

walks you through how to set up your garden. But I got that for a dollar

32:59

at the local library sale.

33:03

And it's just been fun to

33:03

kind of learn something new.

33:05

Like, I know nothing about gardening or

33:05

watering plants or what perennials are.

33:10

I know nothing. Recently, I watched a YouTube video and

33:14

somebody told me what zone

33:14

they're in for plants.

33:16

And I was like, there's plant zones. This is crazy.

33:19

And it can just be really humbling and fun

33:21

to get curious about something new and

33:21

just kind of learn and lean into it.

33:25

And it doesn't mean you have to memorize things. Like, don't look at, like, edit,

33:27

like studying, but just get curious.

33:30

So, like, the next time you're on Tik Tok.

33:33

Right, search for gardening or landscaping

33:35

and change the algorithm, change

33:35

what shows up in your feed.

33:39

Right. Look for YouTube videos, look

33:40

for blog posts, look for books.

33:43

And it can just be fun to kind of give

33:45

yourself and your brain the novelty of

33:45

something new to focus on another thing

33:51

that I wanted to share

33:51

because it just blew my mind.

33:54

Recently, my husband and I went to our

33:57

local merchant Tile, which is like

33:57

a little thrift vintage store.

34:01

And I discovered that in the 1920s and

34:01

30s, they made bird trading cards.

34:07

Specifically, I think it's called, like, Birds Useful Birds of America, which

34:09

I don't know why they're useful.

34:12

Very weird title.

34:12

But anyway, maybe that means something.

34:15

I don't know, very cool.

34:17

And I want them so bad, I'm very

34:17

tempted to go back and buy them.

34:21

They had like, I don't know, 30 of them.

34:24

And each one of them was like a dollar 50. And I was like, oh, maybe I'll go

34:25

and buy a couple, but I don't know.

34:30

But it got me really excited. I was like, bird trading cards.

34:33

Like, oh, can they bring those back? How cool is that?

34:35

I don't know. I just really geeked out.

34:38

And then I also found out that they also did trading cards for different

34:39

flowers and stuff too.

34:43

And I was like, yes, can we

34:43

bring those back, please?

34:46

Someone listening.

34:46

Bring those back.

34:48

But if you have bird trading cards and you

34:51

collect them, I want to see what you have

34:51

because that's just fascinating to me.

34:55

But another fun activity that you can

34:55

do if you're going to go out and about.

34:59

And this definitely does not mean you have to spend money, but you can

35:01

pick something to look for.

35:05

So, for example, right now I'm kind

35:05

of obsessed with strawberries.

35:08

So like, I have some strawberry scented

35:08

lotion and I just think like vintage

35:13

strawberries on mugs or

35:13

Tupperware, anything like that.

35:17

It's super cute. So anytime I go to the Goodwill or a local

35:18

thrift store lately, I'm like, on the Hunt

35:23

for strawberries, it doesn't mean

35:23

I'm going to buy whatever I find.

35:26

But it's just fun. Kind of like Where's Waldo or whatever

35:27

thing to look for something specific.

35:31

It could be lemons, it could be seashells, turtles, palm trees,

35:32

or even colors, right?

35:35

But the next time you're out and about, pick something to look out for

35:37

and chances are you'll find it.

35:40

And I don't know, it's just kind of fun. Another thing I've heard of people doing

35:42

when they go out with friends is to choose

35:47

a color and kind of let that

35:47

choose the path of your day.

35:51

So for example, let's say that you choose

35:54

Orange and then you're out and about and

35:54

you're like, we want to go to a new

35:57

restaurant and then you find a

35:57

restaurant that has an Orange sign.

36:01

You would choose that one, right? And then maybe when you're in the

36:02

restaurant, you see that there's a drink

36:06

that has like an Orange garnish and

36:06

you would choose that drink, right?

36:09

And so you kind of just like

36:09

let that color kind of determine the

36:14

choices that you make, obviously

36:14

within reason to stay safe.

36:17

But I just thought that was kind of fun. Like, let choose a color and let that

36:19

determine kind of your path for your day.

36:24

It's also just kind of fun because I'm one of those people that gets

36:25

overrun with decision fatigue.

36:28

So extend the life of your joy by

36:28

capturing your favorite memories.

36:38

So even just taking time to tell someone

36:38

else about something that you did.

36:43

And this is not just like throwing up a photo on Facebook And wanting likes or

36:45

Instagram But actually telling a friend

36:50

I know that I've been off of Facebook for

36:50

my personal life since 2018, deleted

36:57

everyone on there, I think,

36:57

except my husband and my mom.

37:00

And a lot of people

37:00

had no idea that that's why I did it.

37:04

And they're probably

37:04

like, what did she do?

37:07

Why does she hate me? But that's not why. But anyway, I recently did that

37:08

back in 2018 And I've loved it.

37:13

I love it, love it so much. I'm so much happier.

37:16

But getting back to the point I'm trying

37:18

to make here, Extend your joy

37:18

by capturing your memories.

37:22

So write it down in a Journal, tell a

37:22

friend I have a few people that I text

37:27

with Or I talk on boxer with every

37:27

other day or a couple of days a week.

37:31

And so those are the people that I

37:31

share these special moments with.

37:34

Like, oh, my gosh, you'll never believe what the balcony boys did,

37:36

right, where they made a huge mess with

37:40

the seeds and just that actually

37:40

extends your joy, right?

37:44

Because you're basically creating a deeper

37:44

neural pathway in your brain for that

37:48

memory and you can do the

37:48

same thing with journaling.

37:51

So that's really lovely.

37:53

Another thing that I've seen Marie Pauline

37:56

do and her notion is she

37:56

has a daily Journal.

37:59

I also do this as well, but sometimes she'll put a photo of the day in her

38:01

notion account for something that came up.

38:07

And so I really love that too. Kind of just like reaffirming something

38:08

that happened in your day, in your life.

38:13

So I hope that these nine little tips,

38:16

little reminders experiences were

38:16

helpful to you, inspired you.

38:21

I thought it would be fun to kind of do a

38:21

different style topic of podcast this week

38:27

and not focus so much entirely on

38:27

business, but also just like ways to slow

38:32

down in life Because that's part of

38:32

it, that's part of our happiness.

38:36

So I hope this was wonderful and I will

38:36

see you back here next week on Monday.

38:42

And if you do want to find more mindful

38:45

productivity resources or if you want to

38:45

learn how to publish your own planner or

38:50

get organized with notion, Then make sure

38:50

you head on over mindful productivity

38:56

podcast, that is where you'll find

38:56

more of this kind of content.

38:59

Alright, I can't wait to get

38:59

back into your ears next Monday.

39:03

Have a lovely week ahead.