Hi guys! Welcome to Episode 540 of the wildly successful lifestyle podcast! I’m curious how many of you guys listening have a daily meditation practice. It’s so helpful to our journeys here because in a way it opens up a whole world of things that we normally we wouldn’t experience. I’ll give you one example for me. My parents gave me a small wooden clock for my college graduation. It’s a Frank Lloyd Wright-style clock and I love it. It sits on the counter by my stovetop which is surrounded by beautiful brick. Perfect location for it. Now I’m telling you all of that because it’s been about 15 years since I graduated college so that’s how long I’ve had that clock. I’ve been meditating for years but it’s only in the last few months have I quieted my mind enough to notice that I can hear the clock ticking.
Three things I find beautiful about this. One. It reminds me of my grandparent’s house growing up where they had a grandfather clock that ticked quite loud. And I wouldn’t have remembered that without hearing the ticking of my clock. Two. I never heard the ticking until the last few months of meditating, I believe that to be because in the meditation app, I use called The Way, early on the guide has you do an entire meditation on just “hearing” and that’s when I first noticed it. And three. The clock is battery operated, I’ve never changed the batteries, ever, not once in 15 years, which means my husband has kept that clock going by changing the batteries, without ever saying a word for 15 years and that makes me feel so loved. And none of that would I be aware of at all if it weren’t for meditation. Now if that’s not an advertisement for meditation, I don’t know what is. I mean literally that clock has been ticking for 15 years and I’m just now quieting my mind enough to hear it. But meditation for me not only has helped me notice my Frank Lloyd clock or how quietly thoughtful my husband is, it also helps me notice my thoughts throughout the day.
Like this last week I noticed myself being dramatic and jumping to conclusions. I’ll set the scene.
Right now It’s the time of year for pollen. If you live in the South in America you know what I mean. Everything has a layer of yellow powder. It’s so bad that it rained yesterday and the drainage on our cove was even a solid yellow. It’s everywhere. And I LOVE to be outside, walking the boys or just sitting on the back deck enjoying spring. Well the other day I was sitting out back and when I came in I was literally covered in a coating of this yellow powder and I was sneezing and felt bad so now I started to equate that with the pollen so much so that I thought to myself “nature is the enemy to me right now” and then I thought now, hold on, that’s a little harsh. How can I turn so quickly on something I love so much just because it’s going through a temporary phase I don’t love? And that language? It’s an ENEMY? Really? That’s a little dramatic! As it turns out I was getting a cold, it had nothing to do with the pollen. So now I feel really bad, but I know nature doesn’t hold a grudge so we’re good.
It got me wondering what other times have i jumped to conclusions by creating something in my head? And then used dramatic language to make things worse? How about you? Is there a “pollen” in your life that maybe you’re judging too quickly, or maybe there’s language your using that makes things worse than they really are?
When it comes to language, words we use influence.
We were recently at dinner with friends and our one friend ordered chicken. Our food comes out and as We all start to eat, our friend, who is kind of a comical guy all of a sudden pushed his plate away and said Im sorry I can’t eat this, it looks so disgusting it’s going to make me sick if I look at it one more time. At first we thought he was being funny because he was being so dramatic, but we realized he was serious, so now we are all looking at his chicken and it does have a pink color to it, which we find out a little later is due to the brining technique they use, but that mattered not to our friend, the idea of eating pinkish chicken had literally done him in. He had assumed it was undercooked when it was really just a cooking method, not a great one if you ask me, but no-one did. The restaurant to it’s credit, quickly carried the plate away after assuring it was not undercooked explaining it was a brining technique, but they would get him something else right away. He went on to have a different meal that he enjoyed and all was well. You see the language he used was so dramatic there was no amount of persuasion of the chicken being cooked that was going to get him to even try one bite of it, he had convinced himself it was disgusting and that was it. Is there an area where maybe the language you’re using is influencing a situation to be worse than it really is?
When it comes to jumping to conclusions,
Maybe someone didn’t respond to a text you sent and now you’re creating a whole story about it in your head? I recently was on a group chat and one of my friends sent a response a day later with a note that said “forgot to hit send”. Who hasn’t done that? I feel like I’m the queen of forgetting to hit send. It’s little things like that though that can have us creating stories in our head that have nothing to do with reality, like me, blaming the pollen, when I was really just coming down with a cold. Or like my friend whose disgusting chicken was really just a brining technique we weren’t familiar with.
So here’s where it all lands or me. That clock ticking away for 15 years? I only heard it when I slowed down enough to listen, meditation gave me that gift. And it’s the same with our thoughts, right? When we pause, we catch ourselves, like me turning nature into an enemy over a sniffle or my friend swearing off that pink chicken like it was a crime scene. We jump to these crazy conclusions and the words we use? They crank up the drama dial way past where it needs to be. Enemy, Disgusting, ignored, those are pretty big labels for small moments. What if we used that quiet space meditation gives us to notice our stories before they run wild? So yeah, I’m sneezing but let’s figure out why before I declare war on trees. Or if a text goes unanswered, remember the times you “forgot to hit send” before you create a story about the person hurting your feelings by ignoring you. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about catching ourselves in the act of choosing words that keep us grounded, not spiraling.
My challenge to you today is think about your own pollen or pink chicken moment? Is there something lately where you maybe jumped the gun or let dramatic language take the wheel? Because look, if I can hear a clock tick after 15 years and realize my husband’s a battery superhero, I bet there’s something magical waiting for you to notice once you slow down and listen too. Share this with three magical friends. I love you guys, I’ll talk to you in a few days.
