E86 - Classic -Lisa Murphy-Health
===
[00:00:00] Courage comes before confidence. So if you are brave enough to try some of these new rituals and these new things, you will see how good. Feel, you will feel confident. You will feel accomplished. You will feel proud of yourself. And I'm telling you that momentum is so powerful. It's so powerful.
Welcome to the BDI Create Today podcast. This is a podcast where we uncover and discover the who, what, where, when, why, and how you can be creative or have more creativity, and together we'll ex. Explore the extraordinary impact creativity can have in your life, in heart, mind, body, and soul. And [00:01:00] if we haven't met yet, I'm Beth Buffington, a licensed artist, digital illustration instructor, and a creative coach living just.
Outside of the windy city, Chicago, but mostly I'm someone who is curious about how creativity can weave its way into nearly everything in our lives. Each week, we are going to look at one or more of the sparkly facets that make up the ever-changing kaleidoscope that is creativity.
Hello, my creative friends. Welcome back to another episode of Create Today with Beth Buffington. Today I am so excited to introduce you to my very special guest. She's Lisa Murphy. Lisa is a healthy aging coach. She is someone who is. Wonderful at taking a look at who you are and where [00:02:00] you are in your life's journey, and finding out how you can become happier and healthier in your heart, mind, body and soul.
She's been with the Create Today Podcast before and we're bringing her back to talk today about pillars of health that you can apply to your life as a creative. Lisa, I am so excited to have you here today. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Can you hop in and just tell everyone a little bit about who you are and how you started doing what you're doing right now?
Hi, Beth. First of all, thank you so much. It's such a pleasure to be back on the show and it's always a delight spending time with you. Yeah. I started my journey, I guess you would say, as an entrepreneur and a healthy aging coach. I think it really started when I was born in Iowa and I grew up the daughter [00:03:00] of.
Both parents were raised on farms. Mm-hmm. And I had this amazing exposure to the outdoors and to growing food and to being a little bit self-sustainable that we've probably lost a little bit down the line. But it was just a really wonderful, wholesome. Way and place to grow up. And then my life took me, of course, as for all of us, lots and lots of twists and turns.
I had a corporate career that I loved at the time, but I got really tired of getting on an airplane every Sunday and coming home every Friday. And too many of my colleagues watched them around me develop very unhealthy lives. Hmm. Lifestyles. It was, it was a sales job. And man, we had fun, right? It was hard living on the road.
And I saw right then that I wanted something different for myself. And when I left that corporate gig, that wish and desire just stayed with me. It's okay. How can I be [00:04:00] very much a participant in the world and yet still honor my values and my desires and my goals for my own health? And that's the way it went down.
In a nutshell, we have a lot of parallels because my family, everyone is from the farm area in Nebraska, so we have a lot of commonalities there. And I do know that back in the day when we were out of college and we were in corporate jobs, corporate life at that time. Was supposed to be glittery and exciting, and it was a grind.
It was a lot of overtime. You should come early and you should stay late and work through lunch was what you did. And that was just the norm and it wasn't healthy. And a lot of us had very unhealthy lives the way we were eating at work and the fact that we were. Up so [00:05:00] much and sleep. You can sleep when you're dead.
I think that was the Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. It's so Warren Zevon lyric, and I actually use that a lot. You can sleep when you're dead, but you're gonna be dead a whole lot sooner. And I think you hit on two really important parts, the stress and the lack of sleep, if we will. And maybe we'll talk about that.
Today, but those two things are sorely overlooked, whether you're in a corporate job, whether you are a creative, I know a lot of your listeners and a lot of creative people, they do their artwork on the side and they have day jobs, and we all have only 24 hours a day. What, what gives if you're trying to do all these things?
Yeah. Well, I I, I'm confident we'll come back to sleep and stress in our pocket. Yeah. I know the ultimate goal is that work life balance. Everyone always talks about that, and as we know, there's no such thing as perfect balance. But there is such a thing as being mindful of what you need to do to [00:06:00] attempt to reach that and stay more balanced.
So that is why Lisa is here today. She is here to give us. Some secrets, some tips, some rituals. All the things that are, are going to make it easier for us to stay healthier as creatives in heart, mind, body and soul, which is what we always talk about. So, Lisa, tell us some goodies that you're here today to share.
I would really like to approach. Our time together today from what I call pillars of the day. And when I start working with a one-on-one client, like you said, thank you so much. I meet everyone where they are because we all have our own starting point, but we've gotta know where the starting point is so we can divide a direction to get us to where we wanna go.
And one of the first things that I do to help my clients get from where they are and where they to, to where they wanna go is we start. [00:07:00] Creating their days. So I just love it that the name of your podcast is Create Today, and that is what your listeners are gonna be able to do when they follow along. We need to create our day rather than allowing life to come at us and just throw everything to which we're just like batting flies and just reacting to everything.
So yeah, we're gonna talk about. Pillars of the day for a more creative and a more peaceful day. Oof. I love it. I love it. Let's get started. Fantastic. It might surprise you, but the day that you create actually starts the night before. Mm. So I wanna talk about evening pillars. So we're gonna talk about morning pillars and evening pillars.
What do I mean by pillars? It's a double entendre. I'm very fancy, Beth, and I can be very French. Just a few words. Just a few words, [00:08:00] but pillars. If you think about what a pillar is, it is something that. Holds something up, it's supportive. And so that is the first very literal meaning of pillars of the day, the things that prop up your day like bookends and they support you.
Right. And the second is if we think about, we're both Midwestern girls and from farm families back then. We worked with the sun. We lived with the sun. We got up with the sun. We went to bed with the sun. Things are different now. They, we are 24 7. We are on all of the time. We are expected to be on all the time.
Yeah. And so there is absolutely no boundary to our day. So I really like to consider my pillars as my personal unspoken. Boundaries of when my day starts and when my day ends. So my [00:09:00] pillars are actual actionable items, which we will talk about, but then for me energetically, it just gives me, okay, this is where I am in my ebb and flow cycle of the day.
And it just gives it definition and meaning. Yes, I love that. So the story, doing these things that Lisa's going to share with us, I'm sure is going to help us. Find the strength we need to carry through our day. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. So let us start with the night before. If we wanna create the day that we want tomorrow, it starts the night before.
So if we think about the literal meaning of the evening pillar, what is going to support you for. The day that you want to have tomorrow. For me, one of the biggest things is actually setting myself up for a good night's sleep. [00:10:00] Wow. And I don't know about all of you, but that is a struggle for me, and I'm sure it's a struggle for a lot of you.
I can get to sleep. Staying asleep is Yeah. Is really difficult. So, yeah. Tell us some secrets. Mm-hmm. Okay. So we need to work backwards, right? Right. If we know we need seven to nine hours of sleep, most nights uninterrupted. Mm-hmm. And by the way, every single one of your listeners. I'm pretty sure is in the age bracket that needs seven to nine.
Sometimes older people can get by with a little bit less. If they're not working, they're not creating, they don't have two jobs, right? And younger people need even more. So I'm talking to you, you need seven to nine hours of mostly uninterrupted sleep most nights. So just start backwards. If you gotta get up at 6:00 AM.
But you're staying up till midnight. That may seem really obvious, but we need to think about that, right? We've [00:11:00] gotta allocate enough time for rest. So what time do you wanna wake up? Allocate yourself enough hours before you go to bed, and then let's talk about the time right before you go to bed. Now, let's take a quick break for a word from our sponsor.
This episode is brought to you by Silva Solas, a creative wellness retreat that I will be leading with Lisa Murphy, a certified health coach. This intimate healing retreat is October 16 through 19 in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina. Silva Solace is your invitation to rest, reconnect, and revive your creativity and your health.
Through the care of your heart, mind, body, and soul, we will be gathering in an intimate circle for four days of inspiration, coaching, quiet movement, [00:12:00] reflection, and uplifting community at the gorgeous Horseshoe Farm resort. You'll be guided by me and Certified Health Coach Lisa Murphy, and you'll leave with more clarity, creative confidence, and emotional strength than you thought possible.
Now, spots are limited and I would love to talk with you personally if you're curious about attending this Creative Resilience Retreat. You can learn more about this retreat at bdi. Create today slash Silva. Dash retreat, and Silva is spelled S-Y-L-V-A. There's also going to be a live link to the retreat information in the show notes.
I'm wondering what most people are doing before they turn out the light to go to sleep. Mm-hmm. A lot of people are probably either watching television or they're on their phones or tablets. Yeah, yeah. [00:13:00] Or on devices, right? Mm-hmm. So I think, and this is tweetable, as Marie Forleo would say, probably one of the most important, most impactful things you can do to get a good night's sleep and to set yourself up to create the day you want, is to observe a power down hour.
Mm-hmm. Okay. And what I mean by this is at least one hour, I would love it to be more, but at least one hour before. Lights out and you want your head to hit the pillow. All devices are powered off phones, tablets, TVs, anything with a screen is shut down. So for everyone out there that's going, oh my gosh, what do I do?
What do you suggest people do for that hour then without any devices? Fantastic question. So what I want, I, I never take anything away from people. I just add more in. So. First of all, I would love for your listeners to think about [00:14:00] what is, what rituals mm-hmm. Are soothing and relaxing and help balance their nervous system and help them feel calm.
And I would love for them to make a list of those, like a menu, if you will. And then that is what we are gonna fill that empty hour with. So for me. It might be a hot bath. Mm-hmm. It might be reading. I love reading before I go to bed on a book, in a book, reading a book. So what if you have a tablet to read out of now?
'cause that's Should I, can I, is that wrong? Am I crossing a line? Yeah. That's gonna be different for everyone. But first of all, let's talk about why devices are so disruptive to our sleep. Yes. Yes. They are psychologically stimulating. And what I mean by that is you open Instagram and, oh man, Beth had this [00:15:00] really great workshop on Friday and I missed it.
I intended to sign up. Okay. Then you're thinking about what you didn't do and it, or, or you see somebody else whose life looks 10,000 times better than yours, or you see your ex and they're having the, they're having a ball, the time of their life. So it's psychologically stimulating to us. It gets us amped up when we're really wanting to quiet down.
But screens are physiologically stimulating and disrupting as well. So when you are using a device, there's a really good chance it's going to be psychologically and or physiologically stimulating. So stimulating to our minds or to our nervous systems. Now, yes, you can use the filters, the blue glasses, and that does help, but the blue light that these devices emit.
It messes with our melatonin production. Which is so funny because I wonder how many people are taking melatonin to go to sleep and then you're just, you're negating anything [00:16:00] that you think is helping you. Yeah. Back to what else? So that was a great question. It's not the end of the world. If you wanna read on your device, I would prefer that you read on something that's not a device.
Yeah. And plus, does anybody else get tempted if you're reading on your tablet or your phone? I don't know about you, but it's super tempting. All that stuff is right there. Super tempting to open emails, to open text, to open social media, right? I think you almost do it without thinking these days. You're not even in your head talking to yourself.
You just suddenly realize, yet you're looking at your email or you're checking whatever else you need to keep tabs on. We can talk more perhaps about devised dependency and addiction in a, in another podcast. I would love that so much, but Exactly. That's exactly it. So we wanna set ourselves up for success.
Mm-hmm. Let's just remove all of the temptations and then we don't even have to think about it. Right? Yeah. So [00:17:00] a warm bath reading a book. Mm-hmm. A walk around the block. Cuddling with your pets. Mm-hmm. A cup of chamomile tea. So these are all things that might be relaxing and soothing to someone. They're all things that would be wonderful for me, but everybody gets to pick their own.
Right. And I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna cut this off at the chase before we even get started, people are gonna say, oh, but I find scrolling social media, relaxing. You may think so, but I'm sorry. No, it, it does, it does not work that way. Everyone listened to what Lisa just said. Studies show that social media is something that does heighten your stress and that blue light from your devices is something that is robbing you of melatonin.
There's two strikes right there, [00:18:00] so. Just listen to Lisa. And you know what, if you're skeptic, just try it for a week and see what happens. I love that. Do an experiment. Do it. I'm gonna totally do this next week. And because, you know, I do love to turn pages on my book. Mm-hmm. I usually go to bed and listen to a book as I'm falling asleep.
So I'm not on my device, but I'm listening to it as I fall asleep. But I'm gonna try just, no, I'm just going to read a book and when I get sleepy, then I'll lay the book down and see how that works. See how it goes. If, if sleeping through the night is something that you're struggling with right now, Beth, definitely do some experiments, collect some data.
Yeah. And that's a great place to start. Yeah, that's a, here's a question for you too. How about eating? Can I have some snacks before I go to bed? Or when should I not be eating? Can I have a late dinner? How's that work? So I love that. Thank you for asking that. And when you're first setting your pillars, you may wanna just choose one thing, if this is all gonna be really big change for you, [00:19:00] let's just start small.
So I would say power down hour is probably one of the most impactful. Mm-hmm. So I would recommend starting there. I love the thinking about can I be snacking in bed while I'm reading my book? Okay, so that's a great question. Let's talk about that. Ideally we eat would eat much earlier than most of us probably are.
This is something that I'm still really guilty. I'm still really guilt guilty with. Um, we've learned so much and some of your listeners may be. Familiar with time restricted eating where you only eat in certain windows. It, it's said to be very helpful for metabolism and weight loss. That's a different topic, but we know that we are going to sleep better if we finish eating a couple of hours before we go to bed.
So for me, one of my pillars is that. I close the kitchen at a certain time too. So maybe it's an hour before bed. Maybe it's three hours before bed. The more time before you're [00:20:00] eating and you go to to bed, the better on your digestion and on your sleep. Yeah, but I would say work it out for you. Experiment, but it's really nice to close the kitchen, shutting down the devices.
I love that. Just say your kitchen's closed because. If something's closed, you can't get in there, and sometimes your brain just needs to have that acknowledgement. This is closed. It is easier rule to follow than just don't eat. It's important. Again, we're just playing. We're just having fun with ourselves, right?
And our brain is pretty tricky, but we're smarter so we can override the brain. And what this is doing is it's setting up a concept called pre-deciding. When we decide in advance. We do not have to make a decision in the moment. You may have heard of decision fatigue. That is exhausting. And if we wait until nine o'clock and we're passing by the chocolate chip cookies on the counter, if we wait until that moment [00:21:00] to decide if we're going to eat one or not, I'm, I'm gonna eat the at least three chocolate chip cookies, right?
Mm-hmm. Yes, it'll happen. Yeah, it will happen. All right, so now we know about food and devices. Anything else we need to know about getting ready for evening? I think it's really nice if we can work some peace and quiet time in there. And that may be part of the power down hour for someone, but it also may be separate.
So peace and quiet is a term I use for. What we could also describe as meditation, mindfulness, prayer, something inspirational and. I really like to distinguish between habit and ritual, and this might be the perfect place to define those two. A habit is something that we just do automatically. Mm-hmm. We don't really think about these things.
We don't attach much meaning to them, but when we're trying to create new patterns or when we're [00:22:00] trying to change, when we were trying to create transformation. It can be really helpful instead of just forcing our way through new habits to create ritual around the things that we want to employ. So an example of this might be, if your listeners already have a prayer or a meditation or a, a journaling in the evening would be another great one too, if they already have a practice.
Let's really get clear about what it means to you. So if you like to sit in quiet and meditate for a few minutes before you go to bed, why do you wanna do that? And what is it that is special to you and how can you ritualize it? Rather than just saying, every night before I go to bed, IX. So light a candle.
Light some incense, have some lavender room spray. Like really set the scene as if you were making a movie, as if you were creating your own life, because that's what you're doing. [00:23:00] It's what you're doing. You're creating, yes, it's beautiful. Yeah, it's a beautiful metaphor and a symbol. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I love it.
Okay, so now what? So we've got eating early enough so that our food can digest and doesn't keep us up. We've got rituals, peace and quiet rituals. We've got power down hour. Let's say. One more thing about the evening pillar, if we might, and then we can move on to morning. Great. What we eat also matters when we eat matters.
But what we eat matters, especially if you're going to eat or snack after dinner. So you mentioned that middle of the night wake up. For me, it's usually around 3:00 AM It is noticeably worse if I've had alcohol, if I've had. Sugar if I've had dark chocolate, all the yummy things, if I've had any kind of processed food.
So it's gonna be different for everyone, but really pay attention to how you feel when you eat certain [00:24:00] foods and then you can choose accordingly. Again, we're just creating our next best day. So all of these little things are important and matter. Love it. I love it, and I know everything in moderation is something that I live by, and there are nights where you're going to be somewhere with family or out to dinner, and it's later and you're going to have a drink or you're going to eat something that's a little bit heavier.
I think if you know that when you wake up at three o'clock and you were having trouble going back to sleep, this is why, and you know it's not gonna be every night, but I did enjoy myself at the moment, so now I'm going to just be awake for a little bit and it's going to be okay. And not to stress on that.
Does that make sense? A hundred percent. It makes a hundred percent sense. I tell everybody, I want you to eat what you want, when you want. Mm-hmm. And I want you to do it consciously. Yeah. So again, are we on [00:25:00] habit or are we on ritual? Are we eating a steak and drinking red wine and chasing it down with dark chocolate cake?
Or are we at a meal with friends with loved ones? And are we really enjoying the beauty of the meal, knowing that it might affect our sleep? That's first. Second, yes. We wake up in the middle of the night and a lot of times the anxiety about being awake Yeah. In the middle of the night is worse than actually being awake in the middle of the night.
So I like what you said. Let's just relax into it, have some peace and quiet time. Mm-hmm. Pick up some of the things from our relaxing menu that you just identified, hopefully, and enjoy some nice quiet time in the middle of the night. Yes. Can always have another cup of tea. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. So anything else we need to know about this evening pillar?
I think it's a great start. I do too. Okay. Now what do we think [00:26:00] about what's next? So we want to create the day. So what is it that you want for your day to look like? What do you want your day to feel like? I know you do deal with organizations. Yeah. In your work, and I think it's really important to get clear on what it is that you want from your days.
And there are lots of ways that you can do this. You can have a plan or you can keep a calendar, but what do you want your day to look like and how do you wanna feel as you move through it? So that's really important, first of all. But just like we created the. The power down hour in the evening. Pillar, let's talk about something very similar on the flip side.
The morning pillar. Yeah. What do you suppose the first thing in the morning that many of us do? What do you suppose that might be? I think a lot of us look at our phones. Yeah, right. I, I know I have my phone by my bed. It's charging by my bed. Part of that's because I have older parents and I do get phone [00:27:00] calls in the middle of the night.
I also have children that still call their mother if they need some help, only if it's an emergency. But if it's an emergency, I always want everyone to know that I'm there for them. So my phone's right there. Yeah. And yeah, that's something that you do pull up and just check again, what happened overnight?
Did I get any emergency emails? I think a lot of us are doing that because we have people that we know we need to serve and we hit the floor running and we're not even on the floor yet. Right, so you make some good points. Of course, we wanna be there for people who need us. I probably would push back just a little with a friendly challenge about, I wonder what we did 20 years ago before we had any of this technology.
Were we still able to care for our people as much? I think the phones are different because a lot of us don't have landlines anymore, so we might wanna have that phone by the side of the bed, but I don't know, are emergency emails, does that really exist? No, that really doesn't, [00:28:00] right. And what can you do in your pajamas anyway, right?
So it's just gonna be a way to start your day in a real upside down way. So again, let's think about what is it you want for your day? Do you want to be creative? Do you want to be focused? Do you want to be able to calmly approach what it is that you need to do? Or do you wanna be a crazy, chaotic person whose nervous system is all over the place and you're bouncing from one thing to the next?
And you might think, what does a morning pillar or an evening pillar have to do anything? It has everything to do with it because we've lost the connection between what we do. And how we feel, but it matters. It, it matters. The habits, the rituals that we employ, affect how we move through our day. Just ask your coworkers or your [00:29:00] partner, right?
They can tell us. They can tell us, wow, you didn't have enough sleep last night, did you? Yes, yes. Now, it hasn't been that long ago when I had a job and I had an owner and a manager who would text me or email me. At two o'clock in the morning. So I think a note here is to take a look at the environment that you are, you're forced to be in.
Does your working environment make you feel like you are, need to be available 24 7? So again, rem I love that you brought up the 2:00 AM emails and texts, and perhaps we're going backward a little. But remember we are creating not just our day, but our life. Yes. You are creating your life and when you allow, like you said, the environment in which you find yourself and maybe you feel forced or maybe there's more at play there, right?
These environments that we find ourselves in or we [00:30:00] allow ourselves to continue to be in, and the way we allow people to treat us, we teach people how to treat us. Yeah. And so we're answering that email at 2:00 AM We've only taught that colleague or that boss. That's okay. Right? So last note on this. If you have your phone by your bed for reasons that we talked about.
Do not disturb mode. You can set your favorites. Yes, you can. Yes. If your mother needs you in the middle of the night or your daughter, they can call and ring through. The setting also will ring through. If you get, I think it's two or three calls from an individual, and let's be honest, what we're talking about is the exception rather to the rule.
It's gonna be our resistance to doing that. That's gonna cause the suffering rather than us actually missing a call. Right, exactly. Exactly. Okay. Phew. Enough screens. Let sweat now. So how much time in the morning? Again, it's different for everyone. [00:31:00] Mm-hmm. What works for you? I know for me, if I wanna have a clear head, if I wanna feel focused, if I wanna be at my most creative, I do not pick up my phone until after I've reached a certain place in my day.
That's my energetic pillar. So for some people it might be, say eight o'clock. For me, it is in. Not until I've had my lemon water, I've done my meditation and preferably I've also moved my body and gotten outside. Right. So those are my non-negotiables. First thing in the morning before I turn myself on, if you will.
Uh, okay. I know that there has to be a lot of people like me that are thinking right now, Ooh, lemon water, please tell me more. Is that something you're gonna explain to us? Yeah. It is a ritual that I have done for years and years. YII think hydration is super important. I believe you and I have talked about that, if not in this episode and something else.
Yes. [00:32:00] So drinking water before coffee or tea is super important. Adding a squeeze of lemon makes it more of a ritual for me rather than just a habit. So I go to my kitchen, I make a cup of warm water. I squeeze in the juice of up to half of a fresh. It acts a little mini cleanse, a mini detox in your body that can help turn on your digestion elimination.
So it's just a beautiful habit. I make myself a cup of lemon water every morning. I have at least a few sips or the whole thing before I switch over to my coffee. Love it. So you are still drinking coffee. Woo. That's good. I do still drink coffee, but never first Always Some water passes my lips. Yeah, that's a good idea.
I know I've been drinking more water, but I, and I know you and I have talked about the lemon water. That is filtered out of my consciousness. So I, I'm going to rein, reintroduce that. 'cause we usually have lemons in our fridge. [00:33:00] Yeah. So that's a nice ritual. Yeah. So warm. Are you talking lukewarm or are you talking like, instead of tea, I'm having lemon in my water?
I like to do it seasonally. So in the summer when it's hot, I will do room temperature in the fall and winter months when it's cooler, I'll actually heat the kettle and make a tea, a lemon tea. You can add a few slices of fresh ginger if you like as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, that sounds fun. Okay. That something I'm going to add to my list of things to do to be beautiful ritual.
So then if we think about focus and organization, again, another. Very important part of my pillar is to look at my calendar without getting distracted. If your calendar so hard, oh my gosh, that's so hard to go because my calendar's on my phone. Yeah, yeah. Number of times I will go to get on my calendar and then two minutes later I realize I'm not there yet.[00:34:00]
It, I'm ashamed to say I do that almost every day. You know what, so there's a couple quick. Hacks for that one is print off a paper copy of your calendar the night before and have it there, and until you have trained your brain and trained yourself not to go there. Honestly, we probably really know what we need, what we've got on our calendar for the most part, I typically do.
It's very rare that I look and go, oh, I forgot it happens. Yeah, not a lot. So I like to make a list of the top one to three things that I will feel really awesome about if I accomplish. Mm-hmm. And so I think the, the idea of prioritizing is so important. And even if you're an artist and you rely on the sacred muse and inspiration comes down, right?
Like if we think about Steven Pressfield. In the war of art and it sometimes we just gotta put our time into, we gotta get our butt in our chair and we gotta do the work. So whatever that is for you, then one to three [00:35:00] priorities written down as a list, that's something that works for me, but I don't stop there.
I put them in my calendar. I have to find a spot. And I wouldn't recommend doing that until you've opened your devices, right? 'cause again, you're gonna be tempted to get lost in that. But we have to assign a time when we're gonna do the work. If we just say, I'm gonna do the work. When are you gonna do it?
If you're in meetings for your day job from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM when are you gonna do the work? So especially important if you have a side hustle and you have things you want to accomplish. Yeah. Telling yourself like. It's not actually telling yourself, it's giving yourself permission, allowing yourself to do something.
And we've talked about this on the podcast so much that if there's something you really want to do, but you are busy doing things for your family and your friends and all the other people in your life, and you are the thing that falls off of the to-do list every day, [00:36:00] then it's important for you to actually schedule time for yourself.
Yeah, and that is saying you'd go to a dentist appointment if it was on your calendar, you'd go to a dinner party if it was on your calendar. So if there's something for your own creative goodness that you want to do, if you set a time for it and it's on your calendar, then you've just given yourself the permission to do the thing.
Yeah. Let's ritualize it. Mm-hmm. What if it weren't just an appointment, but it were a sacred appointment? Yes. With ourselves. Yes, yes. That can be rescheduled, but not canceled. Yes. That's a good point. Yeah. That can be helpful. Mm-hmm. One to three things, one to three main things, and then you can have a list B of things.
That would be nice if you get them done. But the problem is so many of us, we create these to-do lists that are 10 miles long and then we sit down at our desk and go, I. I don't know where to start. Yeah, what do I [00:37:00] do? Yeah, so I just like, maybe an hour or so in the morning with my lemon water, and then with my coffee, with my paper planner, my journal, whatever it is.
I, I go through all kinds of fun different things that I use. I like that time. Before I turn on, so before I turn any devices on, before I start work again, it's just my bookend to the morning and I can hear your listeners thinking A lot of times I even think I don't have time to do that planning. I've gotta jump right in.
It's like anything else. We actually are more productive when we take some time in the morning to get ourselves sorted and get ourselves grounded and organized. I'm so glad you brought up the planner. I do think that the fact that you not only mentioned a planner, but you mentioned a paper planner.
There's something about doing a to-do list, a planner, planning out your day with a tactile method that helps [00:38:00] make it a little bit more con concrete and a little bit more real. And when you walk away from it because you wrote it with your hand, I think your brain remembers it better. And if you come to the workshop this month, we're going to be giving out the create today.
Planner and it is part of, um, my doodle meditation. You can take it on the watch now workshop. The Create Today planner gives you an area to doodle to help you manifest your goals through a doodle put. It has just like what Lisa mentioned. A place where you can list what you want to do today, and there are three boxes up at the top that have special color so you can have your most important tasks that you want to get done.
And this planner is gonna help you also organize your week as to whether you should be caring for yourself or if you should be collecting ideas, or if you should be doing work, or you should be figuring out [00:39:00] how you're gonna get work out into the world. That's what the workshop's all about. So I'm so glad you brought up the planner.
'cause I do think that's key for, um, getting yourself organized. And like you just said, if you take a moment to organize yourself in the beginning of the day, you really do get more done. Because you're mindful of all the things you'd like to do, and so you're less likely to spend too much time on one thing or just go on a wild tangent and do a bunch of things that weren't on your list.
For sure. And remember, we're creating our day, so how do we want our data flow? And I would think, especially for artists and creative people, we're priming the pump. Mm-hmm. So I love it that your planner has. The practical, and then it's also got the space for fun and for creativity and for play. So get a little bit of doodling going.
Maybe do the doodle meditation for your morning peace and quiet time. Yes, yes. And get those creative [00:40:00] juices flowing. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Yeah. Super. Yeah. The planner also has an area for you to celebrate yourself. Sometimes when we, we can ground ourselves by saying, look how far I've come so far, and celebrate.
Where we are today because we can compare it to where we've come. Beth, it sounds like your planner is the perfect tool for the entire morning pillar. So you've got the prioritizing, the practical, the tactical built in. You've got space for the creative, you've got space for appreciation of yourself, which is very similar to a gratitude practice.
Yes. So what a beautiful time. What if your listeners could spend. Maybe five minutes, maybe up to an hour with your planner or the tool of their choosing, but that itself with your lemon water. Then your coffee or your tea. Right there. If you did nothing else, that would set the stage for an absolutely beautiful, creative, productive day.[00:41:00]
Yes. Doesn't that sound lovely? Mm-hmm. It does. So tell me, are you listening to the news or what are you doing sound wise while you are doing this part of the ritual? Tell me about that. Great question. For me, silence. I practice silence. I don't listen to anything. And if we think about our inputs and stimulation, again, how do you wanna feel as you move through the day?
And how are you setting yourself up if you listen to the news? It's mostly doom and gloom. I know a lot of people are. Under a lot of stress and anxiety from recent weather events, from the political scene, from the world scene. If you take that in, how are you gonna feel? I can tell you, it's gonna pump you full of cortisol.
It's gonna pump you full of adrenaline. Yeah. Yeah. And your nervous system is gonna be totally out of wax. So yeah, if you need some sound. That the bird singing doesn't quite do it for [00:42:00] you. There's all kinds of beautiful soundscapes that you can use. I would personally stick to something really gentle and soft, and not even a podcast.
Remember, we're just trying to focus and we're trying to. Create our day, and when we start letting all of this other stuff in, it can be a little topsy-turvy for us. Yeah, and if you're someone who says, but I need my current events. I need to know what's happening in the world. There are podcasts you can listen to later after you're done with that morning ritual.
Absolutely. Yeah. I like to stay informed as well. And if you have a news app on your phone, I can easily look at the headlines there. Mm-hmm. After later, after. But my ritual is when I eat lunch, I take a proper lunch hour every day. Most days I sit down with the old school paper newspaper in my hometown, in my local town where I live.
Mm-hmm. [00:43:00] That's it. That's my news time. I read the newspaper and maybe scroll a national headline on the news. But yeah, again, we're just, how do we wanna feel? How do we wanna feel at the end of the day? How do we wanna sleep? So I think you need to stop and think to yourself when you're making decisions about what you're doing with your day, how do I want to feel?
And then take a look at what you're doing and think, how is this making me feel right now? Should I put it away? Is it a guilty pleasure that is just going to cause me some sort of anxiety when I'm done or while I'm doing it or for the rest of the day? How is it helping you? And again, you give it a try, right?
Just see what do it for a week. Absolutely do some experiments. Yeah, and if you don't know, I know a lot of people may be going know how all these things correlate. Totally. Fair enough. So just play around, have some fun, get creative, try some different color combinations and then see how it works. [00:44:00] See what works for you.
A lot of people are, are probably thinking, I have loud children at home, so I can't be quiet during the morning. So again. Can you put in the lemon water? Can you keep the news off? What can you do to just tamp down on the craziness that's happening? And then when could you find that quiet time? Absolutely.
Remember, we meet everyone where they are. We're all in different life circumstances. We don't just take things away, but we add more good in, add more. So what can you add in to your morning? Maybe it's setting the alarm five minutes earlier so that you can have a few quiet moments to yourself before the household awakens.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Now we have our planner and what do we do now? How are we going to carry this through our day? So I think it's really important to get some idea, and you may need to do some [00:45:00] experiments about when you are your most productive. When you are your most creative. Mm-hmm. And then plan accordingly.
I don't know about you, Beth, but a lot of times what happens after I've had my quiet time in the morning, then I'll get into my computer, my phone, I start checking emails. That is. A bottomless pit. It's worse than that. It's a black hole. It will suck you in. Mm-hmm. So are we, I hate to say wasting, but I'm going to, are we wasting our most productive, our most creative hours doing things that are, that don't really require that energy?
So it's important to know that about yourself and you may need to experiment, right? Yes. So you plan accordingly. And I really encourage everyone to do their most important things. First thing, they will give you the most satisfaction because you got something large done. 'cause if you keep putting it off [00:46:00] and you are just ticking off smaller things, at the end of the day, you are still going to look at those big projects and think, I didn't get 'em done.
Then if we know our evening sets us up for the next day, then that's gonna be weighing on our mind. Yeah. Courage comes before confidence. So if you are brave enough to try some of these new rituals and these new things, you will see how good you feel. Mm-hmm. You'll feel confident. You will feel accomplished.
You will feel proud of yourself. And I'm telling you that momentum. So powerful. It's so powerful, and these are actually small things. There's a few of them, but they are little things that you can just tuck into your day. Just try one at a time. Try one power down, see if you can do that, or add your lemon water or find that quiet time in [00:47:00] the morning to work on your planner or think about what are those three tasks.
Because today's all about how you are creating today. So make it your own decision and feel the power of understanding that you can change things in your life and that it doesn't have to be a complete makeover and do things small and one at a time. And then don't forget to look back and think. How has my life changed for the better?
Look at the gain that you've had and and celebrate the goodness you've added to your life. Absolutely, absolutely. Oh my gosh, I'm so thankful for you and for the simple things you bring for us. Just they open up a window that [00:48:00] change how I am perceiving myself. I'm taking care of myself and then how I can go about getting my work done.
So how you create today is important. Mm-hmm. Every day. Absolutely. Absolutely. And remember, you are creating your day and your life. That is an incredible privilege and also a tremendous responsibility to take responsibility and ownership for actually creating our lives. I think it's amazing, and it doesn't matter what season of life you're in, does it, Lisa, you can make some positive changes to your world.
No matter where you are in life, no matter what, there's always one little layer we can peel back to get just a little bit closer to our true essence. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Any last little nugget of goodness? That might be something you could add a cherry on top. [00:49:00] I encourage your listeners to really carve out some time for meditation or prayer, contemplation.
I think that can just be so life changing, and if you don't know how to do that, why reach out, and that's something that I can help with. Yes, that is something I wanted to bring to everyone's attention. If you like what Lisa has been talking about today, she is here. To answer your questions, please, Lisa, tell everyone how they can find you, get ahold of you and how they can learn more goodness from you.
Thank you, Beth. I'm at Lisa Murphy llc.com. That's my website, and there you'll find all you need to know. I'm on the socials, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn. I've got a silly little cooking show called Veg with Lisa on YouTube. It's a Facebook Live, but your listeners can reach out to me at my website.
There's actually a link to book, a complimentary courtesy of Beth 20 Minute Call, where I am here to answer questions to help. [00:50:00] And to help people create the lives that they want. That's my job. That's what I love to do. Yes. Yes. So Lisa's there to take a look at where you are right now and to help you gracefully walk through life and feel strong and confident.
In whatever season you're in, so yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Lisa, thank you so much for coming and to everyone that's listening today, just think for a second how you want to create today for you, figure out what that might be and start planning. Your tomorrow, this evening. What can you do tonight that is going to help you figure out what you need to do for evening and for morning to make your days just that much better?
So no matter how you decide to create today, my friend, remember to stay [00:51:00] creative. Thanks for coming. We'll see you later. Bye bye.
