E124 - REALIZE and find joy in your life today
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Speaker: [00:00:00] Hello.
~Hello, my creative friend. Welcome back to Create Today. I Okay.~
~Hello my creative friend. Welcome back to Create Today with Beth Buffington. We're gonna hop right in, um, to this episode. Okay? No.~
Hello my friend. Welcome back to Create Today. Let's start off our conversation with a little imagination today. So I want you to close your eyes, but if you're in the car, just imagine this. Okay. But I want you to close your eyes and I want you to imagine for a moment that you are in the car and you are driving to, um, say the [00:01:00] grocery store, a store that you've been to.
So many times you can't even count, right? You have made this drive a hundred times the same roads, the same route, the same turns, the same stoplight, where you always seem to catch the red. You know what I'm talking? And as you started your trip, you backed out of your driveway, and then somewhere between your house and the parking lot, you just.
Kind of disappeared a little bit. You were just gone not physically ~and not completely, you know, mentally you got where you were planning to go just fine.~ You didn't break ~any laws. Um, uh, you didn't, you didn't break~ any rules of the road. You got there just fine, but your mind, it went on autopilot the moment you started your car.
And the whole drive, the one that took you past parks and flowering gardens, past people walking their dogs ~patch us~ past a stretch of sky that was honestly probably breathtaking ~today.~ [00:02:00] You probably didn't see any of it or much of it, not because it wasn't there, but because you were on autopilot. Life is happening.
But you are not really experiencing it. ~Autopilot is when you are moving through route.~ Autopilot is when you're moving through a routine so often that it turns into a well worn groove and instead of choosing your actions one at a time, as you go through this routine, you just follow this well worn path.
It's so familiar that you barely need to even recognize what is happening around you because you know what's going to happen next. And most of us are living sections of our days on autopilot. Now, this can be a really great way to let your mind just kind of click in and get some tasks completed without over exhausting your mind.
[00:03:00] But if we live most of our day on autopilot, this is where we run into problems. Because as I said, most of us are living big sections of the day on autopilot, not just on the drive to the grocery store, but also in many other areas of our life. We are moving through conversations, uh, routines, meals, evenings, bedtimes, whole weeks without really paying attention to the beauty, the goodness, the joy of the moment.
We could be realizing, and today we're gonna talk about why this happens and what the cost is to you, and most importantly, how to step out of autopilot so that you can realize the beauty you might be overlooking if you're letting autopilot steer you through your day. [00:04:00] Because realize this is the second word in the FourWords framework for your wellbeing that we've been chatting about.
Starting last week, we began exploring my going FourWords framework, and this is a simple and yet powerful way to move through your life with more intention, more clarity, and better self care for yourself. The four words in my going FourWords framework are revive, realize, refine, and release. And last week we started with the first word, revive.
~This first.~ This first going FourWords episode was about knowing when your energy is lower than you're willing to admit, and then understanding the importance of giving yourself permission to restore your depleted energy before you burn out. Last week, you found solutions to help you [00:05:00] understand how to revive when you are running on empty.
~Now that you are mindful about how to revive and, and if you didn't have a chance to listen to that, put this on pause and run back and listen to revive. Or you can listen to today's episode and then go back and listen to it. Because these four words do not need to always happen in order. But you do need to have all four words to really get the goodness out of this framework.~
So today. We're going to be turning our attention to the second word in our four words framework, and that word is realize, so your energy is renewed. ~You're mindful about how to check in on yourself, what's your energy check.~ You know how to build up ~that~ energy so that ~your battery, so that ~your fuel tank is full ~and ready to go~ and ready to go, but.
Having energy and then actually using it to truly experience life. There are two very different things. You can be well rested, but still floating through life and not really getting the most out of it. And as we discussed it could be because you are on autopilot. You can be functioning well and still missing beauty in your life, and that's what the realized phase is all about.
Learning to see what you might be missing. [00:06:00] And realize has two layers. And I want to walk through both of them because together they're what make this stage so important and so powerful. So phase one in the realize stage is about turning your awareness inward. ~How are you really not the answer. And when you and how.~
How are you really? And when you think about this, don't give yourself the answer you would give someone in passing. You know, you see an acquaintance and they call out, Hey, how are you doing? And you answer fine. Right? Today, I want you to pause and really ask yourself this question. Honestly, how are you?
Most of us have been so conditioned to think outward about responsibilities, about what others need, about what's next on the to-do list, so that when we think about checking in on ourselves, we confuse it with checking on how many of our responsibilities we have checked [00:07:00] off our list today. You cannot take care of yourself if you can't realize how you are today.
~You can't respond to your own needs and the needs of others if you haven't noticed what your needs are. So the,~ you can't respond to other people's needs or your own needs if you haven't noticed what your needs are. So the ~first part of the re, so the ~first part of the realized phase is developing a practiced habit of just asking yourself, how am I.
What might I need? And then phase two is all about turning your awareness outward with fresh eyes. And when I say outward for the REALIZE phase, I'm not talking about thinking about what others need. I'm talking about realizing the importance of actually paying attention and seeing your world. Again, and this means realizing the beauty around you, [00:08:00] noticing those small pleasures that are hiding in plain sight.
Actually seeing the blessings you have that are worth slowing down for that are already right here in front of you, that autopilot has been quietly filtering out because here's what I've come to believe. Most people don't~ need a different life to feel better. Most people don't~ need a different life to feel better.
They need a different way of seeing the life they already have, and this is where your creativity becomes one of the most powerful tools you have. And I want to be clear here. I am not talking about making art, making beautiful paintings or drawings or sculpture. I'm talking about creativity in its most essential form, which is the ability to notice beauty and appreciate it, to pay attention in a way that is specific.
Makes [00:09:00] you more alive to look at something ordinary and realize what you are seeing rather than just sleepwalking through your day on autopilot. That drive to the grocery store shouldn't be a chore, ~my,~ my friend. It is 10 minutes of sky and trees and parks and pups. What can you see and think about that will make you smile as you drive to the store?
And then think about other simple actions that you might float through during the day. Your morning coffee isn't just a way to gulp down some caffeine to get a kick of energy. It is warmth and it is a smell of goodness, and it is a taste of morning, and it is a moment of quiet clarity that if you realize it, you can enjoy.
Just graciously enjoy it before your day really kicks in. Right? But this only [00:10:00] happens if you allow yourself to realize, okay, think about conversations with friends and family, especially children. You might be half present for these conversations. Especially ~if you're,~ if you're thinking about ~the hectic or~ the more hectic times during your day, getting ready to go out the door, getting children ready for the school bus ~or making sure that they've eaten their breakfast or they know where their shoes are,~ or getting children ready for bed.
Especially if you are tired. These are times where we kind of go on autopilot 'cause we have responsibilities. We're just trying to get done. Right. ~If you kind of wake,~ if you wake up and see your children for who they are today, what if you were really there to enjoy those little memories that you're making each day, each morning, each bedtime with your friends, your family, your children.
Partner when you use creativity as a ~self~ [00:11:00] tool to help you realize, it helps you focus and collect and remember these special moments. 'cause many of these incredibly great moments are so small and they happen really fast 'cause life is short and it's too short to allow most of your day to be spent lost in autopilot.
When you make the choice to realize and see the world around you, and you use this creative tool regularly, it can change everything. Now, let's talk a little bit about the science behind the word realize. Let's see what's actually happening in your brain when you allow yourself. To realize and see the world around you.
Let me give you some actual facts here because I think it helps to explain why autopilot is so hard to escape and why it matters so much [00:12:00] to live in the moment. First, your brain is constantly filtering reality, and it's been programmed to do this during an average day. Your senses are absorbing an enormous amount of energy every single moment, and all of this cannot be processed.
Continually ~or properly~ or easily. So your brain has systems to decide what gets your attention. This is important, not so much. That's totally not important. It's constantly making those decisions and it constantly is deciding what gets quietly filtered out. And here's the important part. ~What your brain decides to prioritize.~
~Well, it is shaped by what you've told it, and here's the important part.~ What your brain decides to prioritize is shaped by what you've told it is important. What matters? You tell your brain these things. So let's say you, you've been thinking about getting a new ~a ~car and you'd like it to be an electric car.[00:13:00]
And you want it to be red. ~Suddenly electric cars, well, you see them everywhere. Suddenly red electric cars, suddenly red electric cars. That's what you suddenly see. Oh no,~ suddenly red electric cars. Well, you start to see them everywhere and you're surprised, oh my gosh, look how popular they are. But in reality.
These specific cars didn't multiply overnight. Your brain just started flagging red electric cars as something that was important, something that was relevant to your mind. ~That's what your brain's salient network, that that's your brain's salience network at work. Okay, let's say that again. That's your Brain's Salience network at work.~
~This is a sophisticated system that, uh, directs your, okay,~ that's your Brain's Salience network at work. This is a sophisticated system that directs your attention towards what you have decided is important to you. Right now, a particular snafu in the salience network is this,~ that our brains are.~
~Evolutionarily raw, and here is a particular snafu that happens in the salience network, and it is this, our brains are evolutionarily wired with a negativity bias, which means that we tend to notice what we think could be bad or go wrong in our life more than what could go right, or what could be positive.~
~A particular snafu in the salience network is this,~ our brains are evolutionarily wired with a negativity bias, which means ~what?~ We tend to notice, what we think could be bad or go wrong in our life, or be threatening to us, [00:14:00] to us more than what could go right or what is beautiful or what would make us happy.
So from a survival standpoint. This makes total sense. Paying attention to danger helped keep our ancestors alive, but today that same bias can make us miss the good things that are happening around us. We are inundated through social media and our phones, and constant access to twenty four seven news blasts.
A lot of that is if it leads it bleeds kind of information. So that's what our brain is collecting 'cause it thinks we might be in danger. But in order to change that negativity bias, it is up to you to tell your brain, uh, I wanna look for some pretty things too. I wanna look for beauty in my life as well.
Let me know the things that are really dangerous for me. But let's look for [00:15:00] beauty as well. ~So if you don't intentionally direct your attention to goodness, your brain will go to its default, which is everything that is bad or fearful or threatening, or scary for you, and it will default to what's unfinished.~
~Okay? So if you. ~So if you don't intentionally direct your attention to goodness, your brain is going to go to its default and it will default to what's unfinished, what could go wrong, and what could be put on autopilot. And think about that kind of day. ~If that's all you worry about, if that's, and think about that kind of day,~ if ~that's~ all you are thinking about is what you didn't get done, what could go wrong?
Or you are just floating around on autopilot, do you think that's gonna be a day where you are going to feel happy, where you're going to be able to realize joy, where you're going to be able to appreciate blessings in your life? ~This means if you have a day where your brain is only thinking about unfinished things, what's wrong and what could be going on autopilot, you could move through a genuinely beautiful morning.~
Just worrying about what could happen ~and~ you won't be able to realize a single, beautiful thing about your beautiful morning. Not because you're ungrateful, but because your brain is doing exactly what it was designed to do. ~It's making thinking, ~which is make thinking [00:16:00] easier. Go on autopilot and keep you safe.
Worry about things that could happen that would not be good for you. So the realized phase in that going forwards framework is your creative tool that you can use to interrupt this default and train your brain and your attention ~towards the beauty that is, or in ~towards the beauty that is in your life that will make you happier.
And when you're able to realize. By consciously focusing on things that you love and appreciate, this causes your brain to release dopamine and serotonin ~and those, and this gives those feelings and this causes your brain to release dopamine and serotonin.~ And this gives those feelings of reward and relaxation the more you practice how to realize.
The easier it is for your brain to produce these neurochemicals in response to appreciating your everyday beauty. Now, at first, this is something that you'll have to consciously remind yourself to do. I need to realize, [00:17:00] I need to think about good things. But when you remember to realize and you're consistent.
It's like building a trail through tall grass, and the more you walk it, the clearer the path appears, and it will be easier to do. ~The brain builds on itself.~ So the more you look for and realize your gratitude and your awareness, the more the brain learns to tune into positive things in your world, not just because you're ignoring difficult things because you're not.
Because you're training your attention to do more than just focus on staying away from danger. So when you become mindful of how to realize your world, this becomes a mindset shift in not only how you think, but also how you experience your life. And it starts with the simple decision to notice, to see, to [00:18:00] realize.
~So before we go on, I, I do wanna, I would, I do want to say that I,~ now, before we go on, please note, I am not saying that there aren't hard things happening in the world right now because there are. Our world is really a heavy place and it quite often feels like we are stepping on disaster. And some of you might be thinking the world is constantly showering me with troubling news and politics that are dividing my family.
And for some, even the weather has been scary lately. And on top of all of that, there is illness and relationship troubles and financial worries, the list of things that you ~should and~ could and probably are worrying about. Those are long and they are heavy, and I see you, you are right. There is conflict, there is division, there are storms, there's [00:19:00] loss.
All of these things happen and sometimes all in the same week. Choosing to enjoy the laughter of children at a park or the neighbor's Amazing flowers is not a denial that all of this heavy stuff is happening in the world, but it is a refusal to let all the hard things be the only things your brain is allowed to register, and that is what is healthy.
Remember, the brain has that negative bias, so left unchecked. ~That's what it will fix. ~That's what it will fixate on. Our world already has a focus on drama and violence. Just hop onto any streaming platform to watch a movie. And war violence. Domestic dramas are the majority of choices you have to choose from.
So understanding how to realize your world, that is really important. A gratitude practice doesn't stop you from [00:20:00] looking out for possible problems or solving your problems or coping with the world, but it helps you to stop only noticing them. You see, you can acknowledge what's heavy and choose to see what's lovely.
You can carry real grief and still let the warmth of your coffee be something that you can appreciate. ~In fact, the research suggests that this practice of widening your attention, even in fact research suggests that this practice of widening your attention to see beauty in a in fact, in fact, the, in fact re.~
In fact, research suggests that ~the~ a practice of widening your attention to include beauty in your life, even in hard seasons, it's one of the most powerful things you can do for your resilience. Not because it takes away the bad stuff, but because it reminds your nervous system that the whole world, the whole world is not a threat and there are still good things in life worth seeing.
Experiencing even in hard times, that is a way to survive on a different [00:21:00] level.
~So right now you might be going, okay, curious. I'm curious to know how you can add this realize skill. ~So my friend, I hope that right now you are thinking. I am super curious about this realize phase, and I'm curious to know, you might say, how can I use realize as a skill in my life? Well, let's explore what this looks like when you can put it into practice.
And you know, I love a good list, so I have seven ways for you to wake up and realize the beauty in your world. ~These, ~and none of these are complicated. They're all invitations to help you see and appreciate your life every day. So number one, pick a different route. So this one deals specifically with autopilot.
The next time you make your usual drive or walk to work or the store take a different way. Even one different [00:22:00] turn in your route can change how you see what is around you. Your brain is freed from that deep groove that autopilot makes, and it suddenly wakes up and you start to realize the world around you again.
~Number two, name three things you might normally overlook during your.~
~Number two. Name three things you'd normally overlook during your day right now. Wherever you are, I want you to pause for a second and find three details you could typically and find three details. Okay? Number two, find three things you normally overlook. So right now. This is really fast. Just look around the room you're in, pause for a second and find three things you typically overlook.~
~These might be textures, um, or they might be really tiny things.~
~These might be textures or they might be, um,~
~these might be. Number two. Name three things you normally. ~Number two, name three things you might be overlooking right now. So wherever you are, I want you to pause for a second and find three things you have been overlooking in the room you're in right now. ~Um,~ that could be textures. It could be, ~um,~ something in a color you've never really noticed or shadows in the room or something that has just been there for so long you haven't paid attention to it.
~Do you have any tchotchkes that you've set out that have just been there for so long you don't think about them anymore? And this could also be sounds around you. Can you hear the wind or birds? Singing, can you hear the wind blowing? Or,~ and this could also be sounds around you. Can you hear the wind blowing or birds singing?
Or can you hear the word of a fan? Just give yourself time to [00:23:00] notice and think about what you have noticed. Then allow yourself to realize you've just completed a brain reset and be amazed that you've done something extraordinary for yourself and it took less than a minute. Number three, stay with one good moment, 10 seconds longer.
~So let me explain what I mean here. This one is something I want you to number three. Stay with one good moment, 10 seconds longer.~ This one is something I want you to remember to do when you realize something feels pleasant, enjoying a good cup of coffee, a laugh with someone that you love, the feeling of stepping outside into warm, fresh air.
Don't rush past it. I want you to realize how you feel. Literally stop for a second and feel the emotion. Where are you feeling it? Is it in your heart? Is it in in your shoulders? Is it in your head? Where are you feeling it? Really think about it. Realize where this good [00:24:00] feeling lands for you, and then let your brain register this goodness as something that is good.
Positive emotions tend to slide off us really quickly, ~so being able to realize them and feel gratitude and inten.~ So gratitude and intentional noticing of these feelings help us hold onto the bliss a little longer. Even 10 extra seconds of this kind of realizing is a beautiful place to start and it adds goodness to your day.
Number four. Check in with yourself honestly. So at least once a day, I want you to pause and ask yourself out loud, how am I really? And remember, this is not the I'm fine version that you would tell a coworker. The actual answer should be something that you are truly feeling tired, anxious, happy, nervous about something that you haven't quite named [00:25:00] yet.
You can't know how to respond to an emotion if you don't first realize how you are. So take that time and ask it out loud, 'cause you'll really pay attention to it. Then how are you really? Number five, describe one ordinary thing and then realize how precious it is. So I want you to pick out something that you interact with every day.
~It could be a favorite mug that you use, a special figurine. It could be a favorite mug that you use, or a special fi, oh my gosh, figurine.~
It could be a favorite mug that you use, a special figurine that you've displayed on a shelf, a plant that you are watering, and then realize. Why and how this is precious to you. ~And think about it as if you haven't seen it before. What do you actually notice when you're on? ~
Speaker 2: ~Oh man, what ~
Speaker: ~is in my eye?~
~Keep my blow her nose.~
~Number five. Number five, describe one ordinary thing and then realize. How and why it is precious to you. So think of something that you interact with daily or that you use quite often. It could be a favorite mug, uh, a favorite pair of earrings that you're wearing. It could be a plant that you have, that you're, uh, it could be a plant that you are watering.~
~And I want you to realize how it's precious and why it's precious to you. Does it have some special memories that you can think about?~ And I want you to realize it as if you haven't seen it before, ~what do you actually notice when you are on autopilot and~ what are you actually noticing as you're processing its existence?
This act of realizing is a beautiful creative exercise. It helps rewire your attention away [00:26:00] from the negative and into gratitude and beauty in real time. Number six, remove one layer of noise for five minutes. ~So this one, this one can be hard for all of us who are so used to constantly having something going on.~
~Um. Something on our iPod, something on our earbuds. Uh, the television on the ra, no, don't have radio.~ This could be especially difficult for those of us who always need to have something happening. You know, like the television's on. You always have something happening in your earbuds. So here I want you to turn off your devices.
~Turn away from the temptation of seeing your phone even face up on the table and cover up your to-do list and take a pause in your household chores for five minutes and then just be with yourself, quiet. I dare you to find a place where you can actually have quiet. When, when you find it, remember where it is so you can go back to it another time.~
~I dare you to do nothing except realize the silence of doing nothing. We do not allow ourselves the thrill of just the boredom in doing nothing.~
~Where's my phone?~
~Hello? Hey. ~
Speaker 2: ~Hey.~
Speaker: ~Oh, okay. So did you actually need to make an appointment? Yes.~
Speaker 2: ~Say hello.~
Speaker: ~Okay, so they ask you to come back, I mean, three o'clock. That's awkward. Um, ~
Speaker 2: ~traveling their lunch hour and I think that may I go, I'll go get something to eat or something. So we're talking two hours and two hours. ~
Speaker: ~Well, it's, it's almost 1230, so it's like an hour, hour and a half, right? Two and a half. Two and a half hours, ~
Speaker 2: ~40.~
Speaker: ~Yeah. Yeah.~
Speaker 2: ~Mm-hmm. ~
Speaker: ~I thought they were.~
Speaker 2: ~And the first thing, apparently they're not big on that, so put on the, on the, the regular lease. And then they take her back.~
Speaker: ~Oh. Oh, she's with them right now. She's there, right. Oh, so you're going back at three o'clock to see.~
~Well, I, I think of all the times that I've had her out on walks. She's Hass never growled at any dogs. Um, no. Yeah, she does. I mean, I think about like, she loves to run the fences with the dogs. She, if, if another dog barks at her in a mean way, she might be mean back. But if you, if, if, um, you know, she's not, she's not the instigator of our by any stretch, so.~
~Oh my gosh. There's some, there's some stress in that. Holy moly.~
~So that's kind of what they said. We'll let you know if she can come. ~
Speaker 2: ~Yeah. Yeah.~
Speaker: ~Okay. Well. Part of me is like, yikes. Um, because if she's, if she's naughty, what do we do on Saturday still? Um, and then part of me, part of me thinks if she's, if she gets denied, then they don't, they have to like every two outta 10 dogs get invited in. I mean, I can't imagine that they do.~
~Yeah, I kind of really, that's kind of how I feel too. 'cause I think she loves Olive. Um, she's loved to run the fences with any of the dogs that have been kind, you know, like the visiting dogs over at Jeff's house. Those two that come, she loves them and yeah, I don't, there isn't. I, I can't think of a dog that she's met where she has been the aggressor Bentley that I think well want to see about that one.~
~You know, but, and, and Rodeo. Oh, I don't know, right. Rodeo and Frankie, I would be like sitting on the edge of my seat with them because Yeah. But the fact that she's a girl, she's not territorial. Um, I think she's, she's gonna be fine, but. And then it kind of makes me feel good that, you know, there isn't gonna be a bunch of these aggressive dogs that when we come, they'll like, well, it's a fight.~
~She's kind of missing part of her ear. You know? It's like, you know, so I, I'll be so surprised if they were like, yeah, she's ornery.~
~Looks like I'm, uh, well just stay by your phone when the plumbing guy gets here. Um, we'll just do what we can with him, so hopefully he won't come right in the middle of, I'm hoping he comes more like three o'clock. ~
Speaker 2: ~Yeah, ~
Speaker: ~because, um, I've got like, between one in three is when I have my. My meetings today.~
~Jeez. If they would've come in the morning, that would've made so much sense, but yeah. Uh, we could have, we could have bet on that, hun. Yeah. When will they come? Well, when is it gonna be the least convenient? Okay. That's when we're gonna bet we would've, we would've come out good. So.~
~Wow, I didn't realize it was so big.~
~Okay. Well, um, take some pictures. ~
Speaker 2: ~Yeah. ~
Speaker: ~Uh, if you can, I, I know when you're wrestling with, with the Raz, you, you can't, but like take a picture of the building and all of that. But yeah, go find your, go find a brewery and if you don't ~
Speaker 2: ~open. ~
Speaker: ~It's Monday, babe. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, if it's a restaurant, it'll be open.~
~Yeah. Okay.~
~So are they? They said come back at three. Come back. Wow. I guess. The only way to find out if she's gonna be okay is if she's there for a few hours, right?~
~Yeah. Yeah. Did she look at you like, dad, what are you doing? ~
Speaker 2: ~Oh,~
Speaker: ~yeah. All right. Oh, okay. Well, thanks for the call.~
~All right. Bye hun.~
~Number six, remove one layer of noise for five minutes. So what this means is turn off your devices. Turn off anything that's making noise or distracting your attention. Turn off the tv. ~Turn away from the temptation of even seeing your phone laying face up on the table. Cover up your to-do list and take a pause from household chores just for five minutes, and then find a place where you are in that quiet and just be with yourself.
Just be quiet. I dare you. I dare you to do nothing except realize the silence of doing nothing. Our society just [00:27:00] has groomed us so that we feel like not doing anything is boredom, and we should never be bored. We should never be quiet. We should never be idle, but actually it's an incredibly healthy, wonderful thing to do for your brain.
To just let it be quiet. So give it a try. I know that those first five minutes might seem long, but it will be really good for you. And if you do this on a regular basis, it will be something you will look forward to every day. Those minutes of quiet where you can just be and realize. ~Now choose one thing today to enjoy on purpose.~
~So I, here's what choose. Choose one. Number seven, choose one thing to enjoy today. And I want you to think about what this is, and then do this thing on purpose. Get too much. ~Number seven, choose one thing to enjoy today and do it on purpose. So don't wait for enjoyment to happen to you. Decide that it will happen today, and pick one small thing.
Make that a special meal. Maybe it's pretty dishes that you choose to [00:28:00] use. Maybe it's allowing yourself to take a leisurely walk, ~a conversation,~ or have a conversation with a favorite friend, or take that bubble bath and then commit to actually doing it. And then while you're doing it, realize that you're doing it and enjoy the moment.
~Allow yourself this, this, ~allow yourself this time with no multitasking, ~no half present for it while you stress out of over something, no half present mind while you stress over something that you think you should be doing instead of what you're doing. Right. Do you see what it. No half present mind while you stress about what you should be doing instead of what you're sh trying to~ no half present mind while you stress over something you think you should be doing while you're trying to enjoy your moment, be there for it and remind yourself that this thing that you're enjoying.
It's important to you. It's important for your brain and your happiness. It's important for your wellbeing. This is much needed self-care. ~So this list, my friend, I want you to do one or more of them each day. Think about this for the next week. How can you spend time realizing the goodness around you? How can you see your world better?~
~So one or more of these, pick one each day, or maybe two or three. So this list, my friend, it's important for you to think about doing one or more of these each day. Each of these ideas that have been listed are the realized phase in action. It's not hard to do, but you need to be able to realize that you need to do them.~
~Now if this idea, okay, pause, pause, pause~
~this list my friend. I want you to do one or more of them each day. Each of these ideas are the realized phase in action. So, but you need, you need to do them. This list, my friend, huh? Do one or more of these each day. It's going to help you rewire your brain away from its default of negative bias to looking for beauty.~
~And each of these ideas is going to help you get there. And each of these ideas, my friend, is the realized phase in action. But you can't do it if you don't do them.~
This list, my friend. I want you to do one or more of them each day because each one of these ideas is going to help [00:29:00] you move your brain away from a negative bias into being able to realize and see beauty in your world. Each of these ideas, my friend, are the realized phase in action.
~Now if this, now let's take a break and take a mo.~
~Now let's take a break and hear a word from our sponsor, and that would be me if this idea of, okay.~ Now let's take a break and hear a word from our sponsor and that sponsor, well, that would be me if this idea of waking up inside your own life and using your creativity as a tool to actually experience the blessings in your life.
Well, if that's resonating with you right now. I want to invite you to explore how to make these ideas fit into your life, like a hand into a glove. My online creative wellness membership, Sylva Sessions is designed to help you reconnect [00:30:00] your energy, your creativity to become happier and healthier in heart, mind, body, and soul.
These sessions are co-hosted by Health Coach Lisa Murphy, and they're going to help you figure out how to incorporate creativity into how you move, how you eat, how you sleep, and how you create today. And if you're needing~ more personal guidance and you want to have, um, and if you are needing~ more personal guidance, I offer one-to-one coaching where we take the FourWords framework and we shape it specifically around your life, your season, your challenges, and what you are carrying right now.
The discoveries you make when you come. To create today. Well, they aren't just something extra that you sprinkle into your life. These tools become how you intentionally change and maintain and steer the way you see [00:31:00] and enjoy your life. And you can learn more at www.bdi-create.today or check out the show notes for links that will get you set up to create today.
Together with me.
~Now, it's important to know what, understanding how to go forwards in the realized phase.~
Now, it's important to know that understanding how to go FourWords with the REALIZE phase is not about making big changes in your life. It's about. Small shifts in how you become present in your life, how you wake up and see your world, how you actually experience and focus on the beauty and the gifts that are around you in your life.
~The things. ~The goodness that is already there. And when you realize how you are and what matters and what brings you even a small moment of [00:32:00] genuine joy, you stop moving through your life on autopilot or constantly worrying about what could happen that won't be good, and you start actually living life and making memories that you will always cherish.
So here's a question for you today. Where during your day or your week are you moving on autopilot and you haven't even realized it? And what would it take to pull yourself out of autopilot to actually realize the beauty in your day? Remember the realize phase. As you go forwards isn't about changing dramatically.
It's about making shifts in how you are seeing your world. You start to notice more. You see a tree, the sky. You appreciate your coffee, you acknowledge and [00:33:00] cherish the person across the table from you, and you start to notice like it matters because it does. Now, next week, we continue to go forwards as we move into our third word, and that word is refine, but you can't refine what you haven't seen.
~So for now, ~so for now, ~I want you to open your eyes and realize the world around you. And remember my friend. So I want you to open your eyes and realize the world around you and re okay,~
~but you can't refine what you haven't seen. So for now, ~for this next week, I want you to open your eyes and realize the world around you. And remember, my wish for you as always. Is just stay creative my friend.
