1 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:05,400 Hello and welcome to the Cosmic Nomad. 2 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:09,040 I'm your host, Bailey Rushlow, and this is a space for the 3 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:12,920 curious and the heart lead where we explore the human experience 4 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:16,400 through travel, nature, spirituality, and real life 5 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:18,800 transformation through beautiful conversations. 6 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:24,320 As I discover my way of living, what I call an inspired life, I 7 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:27,040 share the practices, stories, and perspectives that have 8 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:31,520 helped guide me back to myself. Hello everyone, and welcome to 9 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:33,600 today's episode of The Cosmic Nomad. 10 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:36,080 So happy you're here. Please make yourself 11 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,560 comfortable. Pull up a chair, do an art 12 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:42,240 project, go on a walk, get out in nature, sit with your eyes 13 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:45,480 closed, crochet, I don't know, whatever, whatever is calling. 14 00:00:45,480 --> 00:00:47,080 Do you run a bubble bath? That would be great. 15 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:50,560 I wish I had a bathtub. Mexico does not have a lot of 16 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:55,520 bathtubs, surprisingly, but also not surprising because it's very 17 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:58,760 hot here and most people are not looking to take a bath. 18 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:03,080 Cold showers is basically where we're at. 19 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:08,240 And sometimes I literally take like 3 or 4 or five showers a 20 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:09,280 day. I'm not even kidding. 21 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:12,440 Funny how things change when you live in new places. 22 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:16,840 So as you get comfortable, let's just take a deep breath 23 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:18,000 together. And then we're going to dive 24 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:22,920 into this topic of digital dementia, which is a new term 25 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:26,720 that just came into my world yesterday from an Instagram post 26 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:30,600 by Steve Magnus. And let's just, yeah, take a 27 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:33,520 deep breath. And we're going to jump into how 28 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:39,160 do we survive in a world where our minds have become 29 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:45,760 overstimulated, fragmented, half here, half there, distracted, 30 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:49,800 and how our connection to the digital world, social media and 31 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:55,280 our phones has had a huge impact on why and how we feel this way. 32 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:58,200 Take a deep breath together and then we will jump in. 33 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:00,800 Inhale with me. Hold it at the top of the 34 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,680 breath, and then exhale slowly like you're blowing out through 35 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:04,760 a straw. You ready? 36 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:15,120 Little bit more at the top, little bit more exhale. 37 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:27,880 Can you feel that kind of ripple run through your cells when you 38 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:29,800 do that? That's amazing. 39 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:36,440 That is called oxygenating your body, bringing life to this 40 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:40,240 incredible vessel. That is our souls opportunity to 41 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:45,200 be here. Never underestimate the power of 42 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:49,920 a deep breath. So I don't know about you, but I 43 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:51,880 grew up in a world without cell phones. 44 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:55,440 And depending on your age when you're listening to this, you 45 00:02:55,440 --> 00:03:00,360 will either know what that means or or not, you know, and maybe 46 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:03,240 you had cell phones your whole life. 47 00:03:03,640 --> 00:03:07,120 They came into my world as a late teenager. 48 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:11,080 And I mean, I remember when my dad would have first gotten a 49 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:12,800 cell phone. I don't know how old I was, 50 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:16,920 maybe 1213, but it wasn't something that I personally had 51 00:03:16,920 --> 00:03:22,320 in my life until much later. And it's fascinating because I 52 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:27,440 used to be an avid reader. I used to be able to focus for 53 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:31,080 long periods of time. I used to be able to watch 54 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:34,800 really long movies, you know, like Lord of the Rings extended 55 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:38,720 edition movies. Totally just gave myself away 56 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:40,520 there. As a massive Lord of the Rings 57 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:43,680 fan, no shame. I'm I'm very proud of that. 58 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:51,720 But anyways, we slowly or I slowly got accustomed to having 59 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:56,600 my attention span grow shorter and shorter the more that I 60 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:02,080 became invested in social media and in having a computer in my 61 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:05,160 pocket at all times, waiting for that buzz, for that 62 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:07,360 notification, for that dopamine hit. 63 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:15,120 And it has caused an immense amount of distraction, a lack of 64 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:18,000 focus. And not just in me, but as 65 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:24,800 society as a whole, there is a forgetfulness, chronic mental 66 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:28,520 fatigue happening. And sometimes we wonder, like, 67 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:32,720 why am I so tired? And there can obviously be so 68 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:36,920 many reasons for this, but I think a huge one that we often 69 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:43,320 overlook is, again, this phrase from Steve Magnus called digital 70 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:45,000 dementia. And this is I guess what 71 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:49,720 psychologists call it nowadays, which is mental fatigue caused 72 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:55,160 by tech overuse. And it occurs because we are 73 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:59,560 training our brain to live in partial attention. 74 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:06,360 So we are constantly task switching in our phones. 75 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,440 Usually you don't just pick up your phone and respond to a text 76 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:12,600 and then put it away. You respond to a text, which 77 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,120 makes you think of this thing on social media, which makes you 78 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:17,880 think of this thing on, you know, Instagram or TikTok or 79 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:19,240 whatever. They may be a bounce between the 80 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:21,120 apps. And then there's another text. 81 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:22,920 You've got to respond to that. And then there's an e-mail 82 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:24,800 you've got to write and there's a post you want to make. 83 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:26,760 And then there's a photo you want to edit and then a graphic 84 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,480 you want to make in Canva. It's kind of never ending, 85 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:33,640 especially if you, I mean, I was going to say, especially if you 86 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:37,920 are a digitally creative person like myself, where a lot of 87 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:43,880 your, you know, work revolves around needing technology to 88 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:47,600 produce and create and record. And I love that. 89 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:53,920 I will be forever grateful to technology and my devices for 90 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:57,680 giving me the opportunity to create from the comfort of my 91 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:01,960 own home and reach millions of people all around the world. 92 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:05,960 That that is amazing. So grateful for that. 93 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:09,640 But you know, it's not only the people like me that are on their 94 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:13,160 devices for work. It's also the everyday average 95 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:15,600 person that has a device in general. 96 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:24,560 It's not just the phones that are distracting us, but they are 97 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:30,640 rewiring how we engage with the world, how we think, even how we 98 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:33,760 feel. And there is so much research 99 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:38,800 that confirms this and confirms that, you know, frequent phone 100 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,800 use actually impairs your working memory and your 101 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:46,280 attention and cognitive flexibility in our nervous 102 00:06:46,280 --> 00:06:52,240 system is wildly intelligent. The the most intelligent system 103 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:53,760 in the body. I think probably. 104 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:56,160 I mean all of them are pretty amazing, but the nervous system 105 00:06:56,320 --> 00:07:01,200 blows my mind. And it was not wired for this 106 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:06,480 level of input and information. I mean, the amount of 107 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:12,000 information 1 receives in a typical several minutes span of 108 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:17,200 opening Instagram, for example, depending on who you follow, of 109 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:20,160 course, and and what your algorithm is like. 110 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:27,640 For me, it is all very healing and health and Wellness focused 111 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:31,960 and centered and that's amazing. And I love that I've created it 112 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:33,720 to be that way. So it's definitely a place that 113 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:38,920 I go to to learn so many things, but also I could never put into 114 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:46,200 practice what I scroll through in a day's worth of time on a 115 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:49,640 social media platform. Like the amount of recipes, the 116 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:54,080 amount of Wellness tips and and tricks and things to do and 117 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:58,080 grounding and homework and going outside and the scientific 118 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:00,160 research behind all of it that I'm trying to ingest. 119 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:04,120 It's too much. I probably am not even doing, I 120 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:08,960 don't know, 3% of, you know, the the amount of information that I 121 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:11,120 am absorbing. And The thing is, I'm not 122 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:14,920 actually absorbing it. It is information, though, that 123 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:19,440 my brain and my nervous system tries its best to process, which 124 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:26,960 often subconsciously leaves me feeling irritable and foggy. 125 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:34,200 Even if I wouldn't necessarily pinpointed back to my time spent 126 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:36,240 scrolling, right? I wouldn't be like, oh, I 127 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:38,679 scrolled for a few minutes and then I felt irritable. 128 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:44,280 Like I might be able to, to draw it back to that, But also I, I 129 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:48,400 might not be because how, how much are like time are you 130 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:53,200 spending on social media? Maybe you're spending very 131 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:55,360 little. So you might not relate to what 132 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:58,920 I'm saying, but this doesn't just relate to social media. 133 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:02,200 This relates to devices in general because of what they do 134 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:04,040 to our brains and our nervous system. 135 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:08,720 And if you're curious about that, there's a setting on your 136 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:12,320 phone you can actually go to in your settings and go to screen 137 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:18,560 time and look and see how many hours you've spent on your 138 00:09:18,560 --> 00:09:22,600 device and or social media. It's pretty shocking. 139 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:27,440 I'm not going to lie to you, even even me who I I consider 140 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:31,640 myself to be very aware of my time and how I spend it, my time 141 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:35,800 on social media, etcetera. And I have been shocked by 142 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:42,800 screen time that is 8910 hours of my day. 143 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:48,080 That's been very real with you right now because that's not an 144 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:51,520 everyday thing, but it absolutely has been in seasons 145 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:55,760 of my life and I wouldn't be surprised right now if it was. 146 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:57,040 You know what, We're going to go look at it. 147 00:09:57,520 --> 00:10:00,080 I'm pulling it up. All right, I'm in my settings, 148 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:04,280 screen time. Let's see what it says. 149 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:09,160 I'm nervous. OK, 4 hours and 40 minutes, 150 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:13,280 which is 70 percent, 17% up from last week. 151 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:17,560 Apparently. It says that I had three hours 152 00:10:17,560 --> 00:10:21,120 on WhatsApp, which is me listening to voice notes and me 153 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:25,400 talking on the phone. So that's that's a big part of 154 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:32,840 the day. Two hours is my daily average on 155 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:39,720 Instagram. Two hours, Like that's insane. 156 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:43,120 I'm just being so candid with you right now, putting my phone 157 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:45,920 away. And statistics actually show 158 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:51,040 that in the US, the average screen time for Americans is 7 159 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:57,280 1/2 hours per day. And mind you, a day is only, you 160 00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:02,120 know, on average, say you wake up at 7, you go to bed at 10. 161 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:07,240 That's 15 hours of the day. OK, on on average, everyone's, 162 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:08,240 you know, a little bit different. 163 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:16,280 But that is basically half of the day spent on our phones and 164 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:23,520 spent in a land of technological dysregulation. 165 00:11:23,680 --> 00:11:27,280 And we wonder why we struggle to be alone with our thoughts. 166 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:32,800 We wonder why our intuition becomes a little bit harder to 167 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:35,840 hear. We wonder why we don't really 168 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:41,400 know how we feel about things. We wonder why our communication 169 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:45,120 and our intimacy feel so distorted. 170 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:48,840 We wonder why we have lost depth with others. 171 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:52,000 Why everything may feel like small talk, right? 172 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:56,560 Or just surface level notification type of 173 00:11:56,560 --> 00:12:00,360 communication. Having our phones out on the 174 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:05,240 table while we're meeting other people, it's reducing connection 175 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:12,320 to others and to ourselves. So there are so many reasons why 176 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:17,800 this is not working for us and why we need a serious reframe 177 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:22,880 and reset when it comes to our relationship with technology. 178 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:27,200 And if you already have a great relationship, that's awesome. 179 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:30,520 I would tell you that I have a good relationship with it. 180 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:36,400 And I still spent two hours today watching reels and 181 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:39,720 messaging people and posting things on my story and 182 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:43,920 scrolling. I didn't spend 2 hours of my day 183 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:48,200 today journaling, having any kind of spiritual practice, 184 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:53,200 doing art or or anything else for that matter. 185 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:55,160 That was like fueling me. I did. 186 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:59,320 I did spend a few hours with my friend at a cafe and my friends 187 00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:01,520 and I never have our phones out when we're meeting each other. 188 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:04,720 Like we'll get our phone out to take a photo of, you know, what 189 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:08,440 we're doing for the memory, maybe for an Instagram story, 190 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:10,840 but that's it. And I love that about my friends 191 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:12,760 that we are 100% present with each other. 192 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:14,640 Like our phones are not even out on the table. 193 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:17,640 They are away in the bag. And I just want to pause here 194 00:13:17,640 --> 00:13:23,040 and give another disclaimer that I don't believe that phones and 195 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:27,200 social media are all bad. I have made some of my best 196 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:30,600 friends in this world through social media. 197 00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:33,480 Believe it or not, people that I've met online that live in 198 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:36,720 other countries, even that speak other languages, that we have 199 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:40,720 then later met up in person, gone on adventures together, 200 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:42,960 gone travelling, stayed in each other's homes. 201 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:46,480 Like social media has given me the opportunity to have my music 202 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:49,800 listen to, like I said, in all corners of the world where I 203 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:53,080 might not get to go physically, but my music and my voice has. 204 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:56,440 That is incredible. And I think phones have provided 205 00:13:56,440 --> 00:14:03,520 so much flexibility and communication abilities and, you 206 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:06,320 know, connection. And this is amazing. 207 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:11,360 But what we need is deeper awareness and boundaries. 208 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:17,240 And when you reclaim your nervous system and your 209 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:22,480 experience of the digital world becomes your choice and become 210 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:25,640 and you, you get to, you know, choose how you interact with it. 211 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:30,480 This is how you stop being used by it. 212 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:37,520 Because when you are not paying for a product, you are the 213 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:41,440 product. Social media is free, right? 214 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:46,920 Ever wondered why? Because your data and your 215 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:52,040 attention and your behavior are what's being sold and 216 00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:58,200 capitalized on honestly. So let's dive into what do we do 217 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:00,080 about it? We know the cold, hard facts. 218 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:02,560 We know that it's not good. We know that our attention span 219 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:06,760 is greatly suffering our ability to communicate, to know how we 220 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:11,680 feel, to connect, to share. What do we do about it and how 221 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:15,520 do we keep, how do we set better boundaries and have better 222 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:18,680 awareness around this topic? I think that I've told this 223 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:22,080 before on the podcast, but I'm not entirely sure. 224 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:28,200 The first time that I ever turned my phone off and not just 225 00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:30,360 off. We like to reset it, but like 226 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:36,120 off off. I was, I think, 19 or 20 living 227 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:40,520 in Nashville, and I just had this thought of wondering, I 228 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:47,040 wonder what would happen if I turned it off and put it away. 229 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:54,280 And even the idea of that struck a chord of anxiety in my heart 230 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:56,560 and my body. And I felt nervous. 231 00:15:56,560 --> 00:16:00,360 I felt anxious about that. And that is always a telltale 232 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:04,920 sign to me of something that I need to then do something I need 233 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:09,240 to lean into because it's an edge, it's a trigger point. 234 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:12,800 It's something that I think, oh, that makes me feel some type of 235 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:17,200 way why that makes me want to do it even more, even though I feel 236 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:19,080 like that's going to be really uncomfortable for me. 237 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:23,960 And Oh my God, was it. So I turned off my phone, I put 238 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:30,840 it in the drawer next to my bed and I tried to go about my day. 239 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:38,120 And when I tell you that I could not make it 2 hours, I think, 240 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:42,960 without having nearly a panic attack, and I had to go get my 241 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:47,120 phone out and check if I had any messages that I'd missed. 242 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:52,040 I'm not even kidding. And of course, I had nothing 243 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:53,680 that I had missed. There was no problem. 244 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:56,040 There was nothing wrong. There were not even hardly any 245 00:16:56,040 --> 00:17:00,080 notifications like, you know, that was it. 246 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:03,840 Very anticlimactic. No dopamine from that. 247 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:09,480 And I thought, OK, if I could hardly make it 2 hours without 248 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:12,720 feeling like I'm going to cry if I don't check my phone, which is 249 00:17:12,839 --> 00:17:15,839 again, crazy. Like I, I realized how insane 250 00:17:15,839 --> 00:17:18,319 that sounds. But at the time, that's where I 251 00:17:18,319 --> 00:17:22,480 was at. And I thought, OK, we need to 252 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:24,280 start making this a regular habit. 253 00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:29,760 And this was 10 years ago, before the idea of digital detox 254 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:36,080 was even a thing or a common, you know, phrase that was passed 255 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:41,960 around social media communities. So yeah, I remember thinking, I 256 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:44,280 need to train. I didn't know it was my nervous 257 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:47,120 system at the time. But what I was doing was I need 258 00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:50,720 to train my nervous system to respond differently to this 259 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:54,720 because I don't like the hold that this has over me, the power 260 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:58,640 that this has. So I started doing a few more 261 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:01,000 hours. Once a week I would do a couple 262 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:02,560 of hours. And then the next week I would 263 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:06,480 do a few more hours. And it turned into this digital 264 00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:11,760 Sabbath where on Saturday night I would turn my phone off, like 265 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:15,440 not on airplane mode, like off, off, put it in a drawer 266 00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:19,520 somewhere. And then I wouldn't turn it on 267 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:22,760 again until Sunday evening or even Monday morning, depending 268 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:24,440 on what I had going on on Monday. 269 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:29,000 And this is the first step to me breaking that cycle. 270 00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:32,240 And I realized that I just told you that I spent two hours on 271 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:34,920 Instagram today. So literally this is something 272 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:41,360 that you have to, or I have to revisit over and over and over 273 00:18:41,360 --> 00:18:44,640 again because it's not something you could just do once and then 274 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:46,680 it's done. I mean, maybe for you it is, but 275 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:48,560 for me it was definitely not. It's something that I have had 276 00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:51,680 to come back to time and time again based on where I'm at in 277 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:53,120 life. You know, if I'm traveling, 278 00:18:53,120 --> 00:18:56,320 maybe I'm on my phone a bit more, I'm looking at my maps 279 00:18:56,320 --> 00:19:01,480 more, I'm on social media more, I'm, I'm, you know, utilizing my 280 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:03,280 research abilities more, whatever. 281 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:07,600 But there was also seasons where I've been in a lot of stillness 282 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:10,680 and slowness and I'm not on my phone very much and it's on 283 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:12,720 airplane mode like most of the time. 284 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:16,600 And I'm grateful that I have the the privilege to do that. 285 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:21,040 But this was the first step for me of, of breaking the cycle for 286 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:24,520 the first time. Leaving your phone in your 287 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:31,480 pocket or on silent or in view of yourself, that's a weird turn 288 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:34,000 of phrase. But that is not enough. 289 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:38,400 It's not enough. Studies have shown that even 290 00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:44,880 someone else's phone on the table impairs your focus. 291 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:49,120 Someone else's phone. Because our brains have been 292 00:19:49,120 --> 00:19:56,040 trained to think that this rectangular black object is the 293 00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:58,040 most important thing in the world. 294 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:04,080 So I challenge you to try a digital Sabbath. 295 00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:07,960 Pick a day. Pick a few hours in your day, 296 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:12,120 maybe start start with that like I did, you know, because I think 297 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:17,320 you might be shocked at the feeling of withdrawal in your 298 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:20,320 body. Your brain is constantly looking 299 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:23,520 for your phone. Like even when I've put my phone 300 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:27,720 away and I know that it's a day off my phone, my subconscious is 301 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:29,440 like, hey, where's your phone? Where's your what are your 302 00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:30,920 notifications? Does someone need you? 303 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:32,560 What's going on? You should check this. 304 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:40,320 And I'm like yo that tells me that my body is literally so 305 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:45,000 used to this device being within, I was going to say your 306 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:50,120 shot, but being within my line of sight that I literally feel 307 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:53,480 withdraw symptoms when I'm not around it. 308 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:58,560 That is insane. And studies have also shown that 309 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:02,960 even when we have short breaks from technology, especially if 310 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:08,520 we could be in nature, added bonus, it will help to restore 311 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:11,520 cognitive function and attention span. 312 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:15,720 And the great news about this is that it's not a permanent 313 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:19,000 diagnosis for us. That's not at all what I'm 314 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:22,560 saying, that, you know, we've gone too far and technology's 315 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:25,520 the enemy. No, no, it's incredible. 316 00:21:25,520 --> 00:21:27,800 I am. You're hearing me speak these 317 00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:31,000 words because of technology. I have a microphone and cords 318 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:34,320 and cables and electricity and my devices in front of me right 319 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:36,440 now. That's amazing. 320 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:39,360 And again, I'm so grateful for that. 321 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:43,040 And we have to find better boundaries. 322 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:48,560 So having a digital Sabbath would be an amazing option if 323 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:51,320 you are able to do that. And I don't see why you wouldn't 324 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:56,280 be able to do that, at least for a few hours per per day, per 325 00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:58,360 week. Figure out something that will 326 00:21:58,360 --> 00:22:02,440 work for you. What I realized when I started 327 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:07,280 doing my digital detoxes, weekly Sabbath's, whatever you want to 328 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:16,360 call it, was that I was more tapped in and tuned in to my 329 00:22:16,360 --> 00:22:19,520 creative flow and my creative essence. 330 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:24,720 Because I wasn't inputting anything else into my mind. 331 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:28,920 There was no information coming in except my senses, what I 332 00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:35,720 could see, feel, hear, touch, read, you know, and, and do. 333 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:40,160 I got really into baking. I got really into reading longer 334 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:45,120 books, having longer conversations with people, going 335 00:22:45,120 --> 00:22:48,120 on walks and not having my phone on me. 336 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:53,560 Another great boundary that I practice is that my phone stays 337 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:57,880 in another room when I'm asleep because I spent years with my 338 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:03,920 phone next to me while I slept. Also charging, which not only 339 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:08,400 destroys the battery life of your phone but also radiates a 340 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:11,400 crazy amount of Emfs, electromagnetic frequencies. 341 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:13,600 That has been tested and tried and proven. 342 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:15,240 You can literally go look this up. 343 00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:18,840 I am not just spouting random conspiracies into your life. 344 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:22,240 This is not to scare you, but actually I would love to empower 345 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:28,600 you because our devices are doing some crazy things to us on 346 00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:32,080 a physical level. And it's not just a distraction 347 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:37,400 mentally and in our emotional world, but our biology is 348 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:41,400 literally being shaped by the environment that we're living 349 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:45,240 in. So we all know that our phones 350 00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:48,920 emit Emfs, which are electromagnetic frequencies and 351 00:23:49,120 --> 00:23:56,120 for most of human history, our bodies, we're not swimming in a 352 00:23:56,120 --> 00:24:03,720 world of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and five GGPS signals and and the 353 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:09,240 electrical fields of a device that sits close to our brains, 354 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:13,480 our reproductive organs, our hearts, skills in our pockets, 355 00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:16,760 right? The human nervous system 356 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:20,400 communicates in electrical signals. 357 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:25,800 The brain, the brain waves, your heart rhythm, even the way your 358 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:29,600 cells talk to each other. It is all electricity. 359 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:35,520 So when you bring an external electric field close to your 360 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:42,400 biological one, our body responds, you know, and a huge 361 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:44,920 thing that that looks like for a lot of people is sleep 362 00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:48,440 disruption. I hear so many people talking 363 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:52,200 about how they don't sleep well and there's so many reasons for 364 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:58,480 this obviously obviously, but a huge 1 is that having your phone 365 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:02,840 close to you, especially when you're sleeping, especially if 366 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:08,640 it is charging next to you. It is proven to reduce melatonin 367 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:12,960 production. It makes you stay in lighter 368 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:16,840 sleep stages, which is basically delaying or disrupting 369 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:22,560 completely your R.E.M. cycles of deeper sleep and you have a 370 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:26,680 increase of awakenings through the night. 371 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:30,880 You might not remember waking up necessarily but your nervous 372 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:35,560 system does and this is often why you might exhausted after 8 373 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:39,520 hours of sleep because your body you never had the chance to go 374 00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,640 deeper. There are again so many reasons 375 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:46,840 why this can happen, but if you are sleeping next to your device 376 00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:50,800 and or while it is charging, which so many people do, this 377 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:58,480 can be an invisible factor playing into your exhaustion. 378 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:04,080 And another interesting thing is that studies have shown that 379 00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:08,720 close range EMF exposure increases cortisol which is your 380 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:14,320 stress hormone. It also adds low grade 381 00:26:14,360 --> 00:26:17,600 inflammation to the body. Another thing, and this blows my 382 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:22,120 mind every time, when you keep your phone in your pocket or 383 00:26:22,120 --> 00:26:28,800 your bra, the Emfs sit right next to organs and tissues that 384 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:34,000 are extremely sensitive to electrical disruption like your 385 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:38,760 reproductive organs, your thyroid tissue, your follicles 386 00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:43,760 and sperm that are developing. And there is research that shows 387 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:49,360 that decreases in sperm motility, egg quality and 388 00:26:49,360 --> 00:26:53,160 hormone regulation when the devices are kept close to the 389 00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:58,320 body long term is has been proven so. 390 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:02,360 And again, this is not to cause fear, this is just to bring 391 00:27:02,360 --> 00:27:05,520 awareness. And if you can move it away from 392 00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:09,040 your body, please do so. What do we do then? 393 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:11,400 We just can never be on our phone at night. 394 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:14,560 Use your phone when you need to, of course. 395 00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:17,120 That's what it's there for. It is a tool, right? 396 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:21,080 But what would happen if you charged your phone in another 397 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:23,000 room at night? Turn your phone on airplane mode 398 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:27,120 when you sleep. Don't keep it directly against 399 00:27:27,120 --> 00:27:31,560 your body like pockets and bras and putting it in your waistband 400 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:36,440 are like the worst. I use corded headphones when 401 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:38,480 when possible. Every once in a while, I'll put 402 00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:42,360 in my Bluetooth ones, but I really try to use my corded ones 403 00:27:42,360 --> 00:27:46,960 as much as possible because they allow me to not have to have my 404 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:51,080 phone in my hand or against my body or up to my head. 405 00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:56,920 And I wanted to share these tips because when we clean up our 406 00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:02,680 digital environment, I feel like my internal environment changes 407 00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:04,960 too. Like I start sleeping deeper, 408 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:09,680 thinking clearer, my creativity comes back online. 409 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:14,120 And I don't know, I feel like it brings my nervous system home in 410 00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:17,320 a way. And we might not even realize 411 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:20,200 that we're not experiencing those things because we're just 412 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:23,120 so used to having our phone around. 413 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:25,800 And I can tell you these things all day long. 414 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:28,520 You can watch your own videos, do your own research, whatever. 415 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:31,880 But the thing that is going to make the biggest difference for 416 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:36,720 you is your own experimentation. Try it yourself. 417 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:39,480 Try sleeping with your phone in the other room. 418 00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:41,360 Try cutting down in your screen time. 419 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:45,560 Try putting a schedule on your apps that you can only use it 420 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:48,400 for a certain amount of time. Try putting the the time limit. 421 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:54,320 There's tons of productivity hacks that you can do for trying 422 00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:57,880 to maximize the time you have on your phone while minimizing the 423 00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:05,040 time spent just jumping from app to app to app, which lately for 424 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:10,240 me has been a real issue. And I am very conscious of that, 425 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:12,040 which is why I'm sharing so candidly about it. 426 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:15,040 I'm not saying like, hey, I do this perfectly and you need to 427 00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:17,640 too. Like I'm, I'm clearly sharing 428 00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:20,360 that this is a become more of an issue for me. 429 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:23,840 And you know what? What is one reason why is I have 430 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:28,040 not been doing my digital Sabbaths for a while and I'm 431 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:31,160 about to start doing that again and I'm excited about it 432 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:34,720 because, and here's the thing, what I was saying about 433 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:38,920 experimentation, I felt the difference in my body, in my 434 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:43,800 mind, in my creativity, in my presence, in my communication, 435 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:50,680 in my ability to think clearly because I started experimenting 436 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:54,920 with distance from my phone, distance from certain apps, 437 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:57,720 deleting an app entirely off of my phone. 438 00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:00,120 Did you know that you can just delete Instagram off your phone? 439 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:02,800 It doesn't delete your account. You can just delete the app. 440 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:06,720 It's a crazy feeling to feel your body just swipe over. 441 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:08,800 I don't know, wherever you keep Instagram, for me, it's on the 442 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:11,440 second page of my phone. Just swipe over to the second 443 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:14,400 page and you just immediately go to the click where the app 444 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,680 usually is and for the app to just not be there and you're 445 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:20,080 like, whoa. And you think, how many times a 446 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:25,320 day do I do that? Do I just in autopilot go to the 447 00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:28,680 app to open it to get this dopamine hit? 448 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:32,040 Also, turn off your notifications on apps that you 449 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:34,240 don't need them on. Like I keep my apps, sorry. 450 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:37,880 I keep my notifications on WhatsApp because that's where I 451 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:41,160 do most of my communication with my friends, business projects, 452 00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:43,880 etcetera. But I don't have notifications 453 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:47,560 on Instagram, Facebook or any other app until I open the app. 454 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:51,280 And then it shows me that I have a few messages or whatever, but 455 00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:54,520 I don't keep them on lighting up my phone all the time. 456 00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:58,400 I actually hate that. So I don't have apps that give 457 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:01,560 me notifications unless it is someone directly trying to 458 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:05,120 contact me through WhatsApp, which I know is going to be my 459 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:08,960 friends or family or something, you know, I'm having delivered 460 00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:10,920 or whatever. You know, I didn't even have it 461 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:15,120 planned to go into that whole last section about the physical 462 00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:17,040 ramifications of having our phone nearby. 463 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:19,480 But I think it's important. So I hope it landed for you 464 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:24,960 moving on and back into our regularly scheduled program of 465 00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:29,000 what this is doing to our creativity. 466 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:33,840 Let's talk about that because creativity requires stillness, 467 00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:37,960 slowness, and dare I say, boredom. 468 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:45,760 Intuition also requires boredom. Spirituality, our spiritual 469 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:48,320 connection to our soul, to our self. 470 00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:55,520 To live a inspired life requires internal spaciousness. 471 00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:01,320 Dreaming. I'm a big dreamer in real life 472 00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:06,240 and in the dream world. Dreaming requires you to have a 473 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:16,800 present and unfried brain, and I think it is really hard to hear 474 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:22,200 the universe or God or your intuition or your whatever when 475 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:26,560 our attention span is totally fragmented and our nervous 476 00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:28,920 system is in survival mode because we are digitally 477 00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:32,960 overstimulated. And I think that when we are in 478 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:38,040 survival mode, we can't, we don't, we don't have room to be 479 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:41,800 inspired. We're just trying to like stay 480 00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:48,640 afloat and time on our devices, especially the seven 8-9 hours a 481 00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:56,200 day, it is keeping us in a state of fight or flight. 482 00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:59,760 Whether you realize it or not, this is how your nervous system, 483 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:04,760 which controls everything in your body, this is what your 484 00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:07,680 nervous system is feeling, even if it's subconscious, even if 485 00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:10,200 it's on a, you know, somewhat invisible level. 486 00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:15,000 You know, they say that concentration is a muscle and 487 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:16,880 you either use it or you lose it. 488 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:21,800 I think that in the future, people who are able to 489 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:29,120 concentrate, to focus, to remember, we're going to be a 490 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:32,880 rare breed. And that is so sad. 491 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:38,280 People who have remembered how to read, like, read like, read 492 00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:41,120 books. People who have remembered how 493 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:45,880 to write, how to draw, how to paint, how to play instruments. 494 00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:52,000 Because all of these things require effort and focus and 495 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:59,000 determination and practice. And I think that these types of 496 00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:04,920 conversations that we have with these tools, these this, this 497 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:09,000 art, this nature, these people, this whatever it is, non 498 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:13,719 digitally related things, real life stuff, physical stuff, 499 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:21,000 tangible stuff, writing poetry, for example, painting with 500 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:23,520 watercolors, playing the cello, right? 501 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:32,199 This builds connection and it rebuilds our attention span and 502 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:36,760 our comprehension. Do you ever notice how you might 503 00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:43,520 go for a walk or be driving in your car or whatever and you're 504 00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:47,239 listening to a podcast, you are checking your phone real quick, 505 00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:50,199 you're standing in line at the grocery store and you're 506 00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:54,639 scrolling through Instagram? We fill all of these little 507 00:34:55,199 --> 00:34:59,960 moments by looking at our black rectangle. 508 00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:03,400 Why? Is it really that important? 509 00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:08,800 Is it? Is it so bad to feel bored? 510 00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:16,560 Is it so difficult for us to spend a little time alone in our 511 00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:22,880 head without being distracted or without having our phone act 512 00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:28,240 like a pacifier? I think we need to be alone in 513 00:35:28,240 --> 00:35:31,440 our heads. I think we need to be alone and 514 00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:36,600 bored with art supplies sprawled out all over the table and no 515 00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:41,400 access to looking up how to paint something from TikTok or 516 00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:44,880 Instagram or Pinterest. Although I'm a huge fan of those 517 00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:48,200 things and I do get inspiration from those things too, I think 518 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:52,160 it's also very important to remember that we can cultivate 519 00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:56,600 our own in a world of technology where it's so easy to go to 520 00:35:56,600 --> 00:36:00,240 ChatGPT and say, hey, draw me a picture of this thing or what, 521 00:36:00,240 --> 00:36:02,480 what should I do here or how should I do this? 522 00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:06,760 What happened before that? What happened three years ago 523 00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:09,840 when we didn't have ChatGPT and we had to actually come up with 524 00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:13,760 our own stuff. And I do use ChatGPT for things, 525 00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:17,800 for brainstorming things. And I have seen the effect that 526 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:22,880 it's had on my own creativity where I'm like, what song should 527 00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:26,320 I do for this month or what podcast episode should I record 528 00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:28,840 or what, whatever. And I'm using Chachi BT to help 529 00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:30,960 me brainstorm and that's also fine. 530 00:36:32,160 --> 00:36:39,680 And I sometimes struggle to come up with my own thoughts and 531 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:45,640 ideas because I'm so used to outsourcing to either other 532 00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:49,400 people polls on Instagram, asking my followers what they 533 00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:52,920 want, asking Chachi BT to help me decide between different 534 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:55,440 topics. I don't want to do that. 535 00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:59,120 I don't want to do that. And I'm not so deep in the habit 536 00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:01,800 that you know, I can't break it or I've lost my creativity. 537 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:06,960 Like this is fully me being here, present with you, sharing 538 00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:11,480 from my heart. And this is a very human 539 00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:14,360 experience. And as cosmic nomads, you know, 540 00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:17,280 we have to talk about this stuff because this is real life. 541 00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:23,160 And this is, I think where we make the greatest changes and 542 00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:25,400 where we see the greatest results. 543 00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:30,120 It's on the in the small steps that we are willing to take in 544 00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:37,280 ourselves for the real life shit, for the real life things 545 00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:41,200 connected to our creativity, connected to the real life 546 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:47,720 world, connected to the natural world, the world out there, not 547 00:37:47,720 --> 00:37:53,960 the world in here on my screen. You know what I mean? 548 00:37:55,000 --> 00:38:00,520 Let's learn how to use. Let's learn how to better use 549 00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:05,200 these tools and not just be used by them. 550 00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:10,320 So here's some things that I want to leave you with one as a 551 00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:18,600 soft, actionable step to improve your digital relationship. 552 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:25,080 Choose a boundary. Maybe it's a few hours a day off 553 00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:26,480 your phone. Maybe it's putting it on 554 00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:29,920 airplane mode, putting it in the other room and sitting down with 555 00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:32,560 something that you've wanted to do that's a real life, physical, 556 00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:35,280 tangible thing like that book you've been putting off. 557 00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:39,200 I'm not saying go sit there for three hours and read the book. 558 00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:41,840 That's a lot, especially if you don't read very often. 559 00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:50,120 Sit down and read for 15 minutes and then for the next 15 minutes 560 00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:52,080 do something else cool that you've wanted to do. 561 00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:55,120 Like, I don't know, paint something, Draw Something, 562 00:38:55,240 --> 00:38:58,600 create something off of your phone, off your devices. 563 00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:01,400 Sit down and play guitar for 15 minutes. 564 00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:07,160 Create a ritual around putting your phone away. 565 00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:10,080 For me, I put my phone on an airplane. 566 00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:14,120 I put it in a in a drawer or somewhere out of sight. 567 00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:17,440 It cannot be within my line of vision or I will pick it up. 568 00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:21,520 This is also something very helpful for me about waking up 569 00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:24,480 in the morning. I I because my phone is not next 570 00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:27,680 to me when I wake up, I don't roll over and pick up my phone 571 00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:29,760 and directly get on. Although I did that for many 572 00:39:29,760 --> 00:39:32,640 years. I'm in a new season of not doing 573 00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:35,840 that, have been for many, many months. 574 00:39:36,400 --> 00:39:42,320 And I've seen an incredible uptick in my mood when I wake up 575 00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:45,360 in the morning because I'm not opening my phone directly, 576 00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:49,080 answering messages and hopping into Instagram or hopping into 577 00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:53,000 these other other worlds, other portals, listening to voice 578 00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:55,680 notes from my friend, responding to things when I haven't even 579 00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:59,720 started my own day yet and I'm already involved in other 580 00:39:59,720 --> 00:40:01,560 people's lives. What am I doing? 581 00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:06,440 No, no, wake up hand on your heart. 582 00:40:06,440 --> 00:40:10,000 Good morning. Take a deep breath, get up oil, 583 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:13,680 pull tongue screen, brush your teeth, pee, take a shower, go in 584 00:40:13,680 --> 00:40:15,800 the kitchen, get yourself a nice big glass of water. 585 00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:18,680 Open your windows, get some sunlight in your eyes. 586 00:40:19,240 --> 00:40:21,560 Do not touch your phone. Good morning. 587 00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:23,640 Good morning, world. Good morning, body. 588 00:40:23,640 --> 00:40:27,920 Good morning, voice. Thank you for having me today in 589 00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:30,640 this in this world, right. Take a second. 590 00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:36,440 Acknowledge your existence. Sit down and journal. 591 00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:39,200 Make yourself a cup of tea, a cup of coffee, whatever your 592 00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:41,560 thing is. Do a little stretch, do a little 593 00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:44,080 movement. Hop on your on your trampoline. 594 00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:45,760 Do some jumping. I have a trampoline. 595 00:40:45,760 --> 00:40:48,160 That's why I said that. Do some, do some jumping. 596 00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:49,720 Get your lymphatic system flowing. 597 00:40:49,720 --> 00:40:51,760 If you don't have a trampoline, do some jumping jacks. 598 00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:55,760 Get your lymphs flowing, right. Your body has been processing 599 00:40:55,760 --> 00:40:57,520 all night. It's been going through an 600 00:40:57,520 --> 00:40:59,520 emotional clearing process in your rim cycle. 601 00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:02,400 It has been cleansing and clearing everything you've been 602 00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:05,640 going through, and we're going through a lot of stuff right 603 00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:06,520 now. I don't know how you've been 604 00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:09,280 doing, but most people in my world have been struggling a 605 00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:11,560 little bit right now, emotionally, energetically. 606 00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:13,920 There's a lot shifting in our planet. 607 00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:17,600 I'm sure that you're probably feeling it if you're listening 608 00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:19,840 to this, right? Maybe maybe you feel more 609 00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:24,560 emotional, maybe a little more reactive, a little more like 610 00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:27,360 some things are coming up from the past and you got to deal 611 00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:31,920 with that shit again. You and a new layer of trauma, a 612 00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:37,360 new layer of self actualization, a new level of understanding who 613 00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:42,040 you are, why you are, why you're here, what you're doing. 614 00:41:42,240 --> 00:41:45,720 Maybe it's with your job, your money, your finances, your 615 00:41:45,720 --> 00:41:51,360 relationships, people you love. We've had like 6 planets in 616 00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:54,680 retrograde the last couple of weeks. 617 00:41:55,480 --> 00:41:58,080 We're in Scorpio season. I mean, there's so many things 618 00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:00,200 that that justify what I'm saying. 619 00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:01,960 But regardless, we're feeling it. 620 00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:05,280 Outside of all the, all the statistics we're we're feeling, 621 00:42:06,240 --> 00:42:09,920 we're feeling it. There is no time like that 622 00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:13,000 morning time to be with yourself. 623 00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:15,800 If you have kids, wake up earlier than them if you can. 624 00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:19,880 If you don't have kids, fine. You don't have any excuses. 625 00:42:20,240 --> 00:42:25,240 Wake up before you go to your job, go to sleep a little bit 626 00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:31,480 earlier so you can wake up a little bit earlier and have a 627 00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:34,400 moment with yourself and your nervous system. close your eyes, 628 00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:35,800 take a few deep breaths, breathe. 629 00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:38,200 Do a meditation. If you're also looking for 630 00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:41,880 meditations, I on my Patreon Ioffer guided monthly 631 00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:45,000 meditations. We sit down, we recenter our 632 00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:48,840 nervous system, we ground our body, we do a body scan like 633 00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:52,600 this is all offered on my Cosmic Normic collective portal that is 634 00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:53,760 on Patreon. Check it out. 635 00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:56,600 The link is in the description. Would love to have you there. 636 00:42:57,360 --> 00:43:02,680 It's amazing what even 10 minutes of a mindfulness and 637 00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:06,720 gentle movement or gentle awareness in your body can do 638 00:43:06,720 --> 00:43:08,520 for your day and for your mental health. 639 00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:13,280 If you're not doing any of the things that I just said and you 640 00:43:13,280 --> 00:43:15,800 don't have to do all of them. But if you're not doing any of 641 00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:17,960 them and you're waking up, getting directly on your phone, 642 00:43:17,960 --> 00:43:20,440 rushing to make coffee, making breakfast, drinking coffee on an 643 00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:23,280 empty stomach, doing all those things that we kind of know 644 00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:25,520 we're maybe not supposed to do. Or maybe you don't know, maybe 645 00:43:25,520 --> 00:43:27,360 it's the first time you've, you're hearing of this. 646 00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:30,680 There are other ways to do these things. 647 00:43:30,680 --> 00:43:36,160 There's other ways to live and there are ways that can make you 648 00:43:36,160 --> 00:43:40,880 feel a lot more connected to yourself and to your life. 649 00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:45,120 If you don't believe me, I dare you to try it. 650 00:43:46,040 --> 00:43:49,520 What do you have to lose? Try it for a week. 651 00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:51,960 Try it for two weeks. Try it for the month. 652 00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:53,920 Do it for the month of, of December. 653 00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:57,040 We're almost there. Or start the new year out with 654 00:43:57,040 --> 00:43:59,280 it. Start January with it, you know, 655 00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:04,680 and notice what changes, Notice what shifts. 656 00:44:05,840 --> 00:44:10,800 Maybe you have a ritual of, you know, at a certain time, 9:10 657 00:44:10,840 --> 00:44:12,320 AM, whatever. Maybe you check your phone, 658 00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:16,040 maybe turn it off airplane, check your messages, any work 659 00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:18,360 emails, everything's good. Great. 660 00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:22,040 Make that 15 minutes, thirty minutes, even an hour. 661 00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:26,600 Fine, great, but get it done. Put your phone back on airplane. 662 00:44:26,800 --> 00:44:33,000 Keep going about your day or keep it on and just leave it off 663 00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:37,120 of your body and maybe put it, you know, in the kitchen if 664 00:44:37,120 --> 00:44:39,680 you're in the living room or if you're in your office, put it, 665 00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:42,600 you know, somewhere that it's not just directly in your line 666 00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:47,880 of vision. And listen, I love to have some 667 00:44:47,880 --> 00:44:51,240 time where I can just sit and watch reels. 668 00:44:51,280 --> 00:44:54,480 I think it's fun. I wouldn't do it for, you know, 669 00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:58,320 hour upon hour, although I have absolutely done that. 670 00:44:59,280 --> 00:45:02,560 Set a timer on your phone. I'm going to watch reels for 15 671 00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:03,680 minutes. I'm going to watch some reels 672 00:45:03,680 --> 00:45:05,600 for 30 minutes. Go on your Explorer page, see 673 00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:08,760 what there is to see. That's enough time. 674 00:45:09,480 --> 00:45:13,120 It's enough time. We don't need so much more than 675 00:45:13,120 --> 00:45:17,760 that of just input and information into our minds. 676 00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:23,840 So can we create intentional consumption instead of just 677 00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:29,480 passive scrolling? Another thing, if it is safe and 678 00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:35,240 possible for you have a phone free nature walk. 679 00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:38,000 Maybe you just walk around your neighborhood in the morning. 680 00:45:38,840 --> 00:45:42,200 Maybe if you're able to go to a beach or a forest or something 681 00:45:42,200 --> 00:45:46,040 and just have some time phone free, that'd be amazing. 682 00:45:46,800 --> 00:45:51,000 And again, if you want to go deeper with these conversations 683 00:45:51,000 --> 00:45:55,400 beyond the noise of the online world, I would love to have you 684 00:45:55,680 --> 00:45:57,800 inside the Cosmic Nomad Collective. 685 00:45:58,240 --> 00:46:02,000 It's my private space for the monthly meditations that I 686 00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:04,440 mentioned. Also gratitude practices behind 687 00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:09,120 the scenes, voice notes. And you can join through the 688 00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:11,880 link in the show notes. And it's just, it's a corner of 689 00:46:11,880 --> 00:46:14,560 the Internet where we can further explore this journey 690 00:46:14,560 --> 00:46:18,120 together. And you know, thank you for 691 00:46:18,120 --> 00:46:19,960 listening. Thank you for caring about the 692 00:46:19,960 --> 00:46:25,800 world that you are creating. Thank you for choosing presence 693 00:46:26,280 --> 00:46:31,680 in such a distracting world. We are so far removed from our 694 00:46:31,680 --> 00:46:36,960 intuition because we are so used to looking for that validation 695 00:46:36,960 --> 00:46:43,320 externally and for looking for guidance, when really you just 696 00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:50,920 need to be a little bit bored to hear your intuition, to be 697 00:46:50,920 --> 00:46:53,680 reconnected to your creativity. There's nothing wrong with you. 698 00:46:53,720 --> 00:46:56,560 You're not in a drought. You don't have writer's block. 699 00:46:57,720 --> 00:46:59,000 You just need to get off your phone. 700 00:46:59,720 --> 00:47:03,800 You need to get in nature, spend some time in real conversations 701 00:47:03,800 --> 00:47:08,560 with some incredible books, with some beautiful people, not being 702 00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:11,360 distracted by a podcast. Although I'm really glad you're 703 00:47:11,360 --> 00:47:14,360 listening to this, thank you for continuing to support it. 704 00:47:14,880 --> 00:47:20,080 When you're done listening to this today, get outside, go 705 00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:23,200 breathe some fresh air, go swim in the fucking ocean. 706 00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:31,960 Go walk barefoot, go hug a tree, go sit in your living room and 707 00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:37,160 sit in silence and just listen to your thoughts and listen for 708 00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:39,760 the inspiration that is waiting on the other side of your 709 00:47:39,760 --> 00:47:45,560 distraction. Thank you for being here with 710 00:47:45,560 --> 00:47:50,680 me, and if today's episode spoke to something in you, please feel 711 00:47:50,680 --> 00:47:53,080 free to share it with a friend who you think would also 712 00:47:53,080 --> 00:47:57,600 resonate and or leave a review. It helps more than you know. 713 00:47:58,240 --> 00:48:02,440 And as always, until next time, open heart, open mind. 714 00:48:03,160 --> 00:48:03,920 Stay curious.