Category: Podcast

045: The Wisdom of the Body with Jenny Bork

Posted on by jplatt27
Wisdom of the Body #massagetherapy #massagetherapist #bodyhealth #podcast #healthandwellness #chronicpain #chronicillness #relationshipcoach
Wisdom of the Body #massagetherapy #massagetherapist #bodyhealth #podcast #healthandwellness #chronicpain #chronicillness #relationshipcoach

 

 

In this episode of Love Always, Jo, I interview Jenny Bork, a licensed massage therapist. Her work is based off of the belief that chronic pain, tension, and general dis-ease in the mind and body are merely red flags that show up as a result of a disconnection from your true self. Listen to this episode to hear more about the wisdom of the body and hear Jenny coach me about something that’s been going on with my body recently.

Jenny Bork is a licensed massage therapist in Grand Rapids, MI. Her work is based on the belief that chronic pain, tension, and general dis-ease in the mind and body are merely red flags that show up as a result of a disconnection from your true self. She uses her intuition, John F. Barnes Myofascial Release, holistic counseling, movement and posture education, energy work, bodywork, and mindfulness to meet you where you’re at, uncover unconscious belief systems and embodied patterning, and discover the root cause of your condition. With new awareness, you will reconnect to your own deepest personal truth, wisdom, and innate freedom.

 

In this episode Jenny and I discuss…

  • How to get curious about what you’re feeling to uncover the root cause
  • Overcompensating/compensating
  • What is myofascial release
  • Limiting belief systems and how they show up in the body
  • How to work with your body and not against or for it
  • Jenny’s take on ‘the breath’
  • Personality Patterns

Follow Jenny online:

Links:

Recommended Books:

Quotes:

  • Have curiosity by asking what it feels like – Jenny
  • Your body knows at all times what it needs to heal – Jenny
  • Follow your curiosity – Joanna
  • The advice you give to people close to you is often advice you want to give yourself – Jenny
  • Take up space in your calendar that you want to take up rather than sticking yourself in the margins
  • Work with your body – Jenny
  • Feel what you’re feeling and express what you’re feeling – Jenny

Journal Prompt:

  • What would it be like to just be in the month you want to get through and feel all the things that come up?
  • What would feel worse, enduring the month or choosing to show up and be in every moment every day?

 

Wisdom of the Body #massagetherapy #massagetherapist #bodyhealth #podcast #healthandwellness #chronicpain #chronicillness #relationshipcoach
Wisdom of the Body #massagetherapy #massagetherapist #bodyhealth #podcast #healthandwellness #chronicpain #chronicillness #relationshipcoach

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044: Allowing Time for Transition

Posted on by jplatt27

In this episode of Love Always, Jo, I share from the heart about making time for transition. Listen to this episode to hear more about making time for transition.

 

In this episode I share about…

  • My very first blog post “allow time for transition”
  • Transitioning from a full-time job to being a coach and running my business

 

Links:

 

Quotes:

  • Go with your intuition
  • Allow time for transitions
  • Focus on the certainty anchors in your life
  • It’s okay to feel all the things
  • Give yourself grace

 

Journal Prompts:

  • When you’re in transition what anchors are there for you to rely on?
  • How do you handle transitions in your life?
  • How can you give yourself grace during transition?

 

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043: May Q&A

Posted on by jplatt27

 

This month’s Q&A questions come from Brit and Miranda. In this episode of Love Always, Jo I’ll be answering questions about your inner child, making the workday more mindful, and starting new habits.

 

Quotes:

  • The needs of our inner child can be simple yet profound.
  • Being mindful is about consciously choosing what you’re doing and focusing on and reacting less
  • Being happy doesn’t have to threaten your relationships

 

Journal Prompts:

  • Think back to when you were 5, 8, 10, 12. What was going on in your life then? What did you need? What did you wish for?
  • What was the biggest threat to your well being and happiness when you were little?
  • What do you wish you had when you were little?
  • What type of experiences, relationships, material things?
  • What did you do for fun?
  • What did you want to be when you grew up?
  • When did you lose track of time?
  • What’s your happiest childhood memory?
  • What was your biggest fear?
  • What was your biggest unmet need?
  • What did you need more of?
  • What did you need less of?

 

How can I reconnect with my inner child and get to know her better?

 

Your inner child is there, just under the surface, always. In a lot of ways, she’s running the show of your life—from your big life goals to your smallest desires to your biggest and smallest triggers.

 

Your big girl dreams and your big girl worries are all tied up in the dreams, desires, worries, and wants of your little girl self. They’re the same.

 

If you get triggered by something and you have really really strong negative feelings about something and you’re not sure why it’s likely that your inner child is having a reaction and your inner critic has jumped in to protect your inner child from feeling that pain again.

 

Ask yourself: what does this remind me of? When have I felt this feeling before? Chances are there is a scared, hurt version of you as a child hidden under there.

 

A client and I were recently talking about dating. She said that she went on a lot of dates and some that were even good, but they ended up not going anywhere. When we dug into this a bit, she remembered a time in 8th grade when she told a boy she liked him and in science class, this news got out and she was embarrassed publicly for it. At that moment, a protector was born, an inner critic that would pull her back anytime she liked a guy and prevented her from expressing her feelings for him. Clearly, this would hold a person back in a relationship.

 

The needs of our inner child can be simple yet profound. One of the most powerful experiences I’ve had with my inner child was a walk around the tidal basin and Jefferson Memorial. I was listening to a workshop, ironically about the inner child. At first, I sat and listened. Then I started walking and listening. Then I stopped walking and paused the recording to just stop and be for a little bit. I continued at this pace, walking a little, stopping a little, just as it felt natural to me. This was an important experience for me and my inner child because one of my unmet needs as a kid was quality time with my parents, a quiet uninterrupted time to just go with the flow.

 

Here are some questions to explore — Think back to when you were 5, 8, 10, 12…

  • What was going on in your life then? What did you need? What did you wish for?
  • What was the biggest threat to your well being and happiness when you were little?
  • What do you wish you had when you were little?
  • What type of experiences, relationships, material things?
  • What did you do for fun?
  • What did you want to be when you grew up?
  • When did you lose track of time?
  • What’s your happiest childhood memory?
  • What was your biggest fear?
  • What was your biggest unmet need?
  • What did you need more of?
  • What did you need less of?

 

Want to explore this topic more with me? Schedule a free call here.

 

Do you have any tips for making the workday more mindful?

 

Take breaks — Instead of going through the click routine of checking emails, texts, social media, etc. between tasks, do a lap up and down the stairs to get your blood flowing, take your lunch break away from your workspace, take colorful plates/bowls to work to put your lunch on, take a break to go for a short walk, stare out the window/outside for a few minutes.

Check in with your body — Do stretches every little bit or take a few minutes between tasks to do some deep breathing exercises.

Watch the number of tabs you have open on your screen and mentally

Turn off notifications — Put your phone in a drawer and turn your notifications off, also think about turning off any notifications that are on your computer so you can focus more on the tasks you’re doing. Give yourself permission to reply to emails at specific intervals rather than in between tasks.

 

How do you implement new and better habits into your life if you fear judgment from your friends and family?

 

Acknowledge the fear you have and that it’s the inner critic. Worrying what your friends and family think are your inner critics tactics of keeping you safe and small. It does it because it works. It projects your fears onto your friends and family so that you won’t reach new heights and be better. Your inner critic does this to avoid being shunned or damage relationships.

 

Think about this — by you changing your habits may actually make your friends and family happy…and they may even want to join you. Usually when we make changes, no one even notices for a while, because a lot of the changes we make (setting more boundaries, eating better, going to the gym) are inner changes first and outer changes second.

 

If your friends and family do have a reaction to the changes you’re making, realize that it’s their inner critic popping up in their life keeping them safe. Some things you can do:

  1. Don’t get defensive, just reiterate what you’re doing and remind them their relationship with you isn’t changing just because you’re going to the gym 3 times a week.
  2. Remind yourself why you are making the change.
  3. Find some cheerleaders to help you keep the change going.

 

If you want to talk about change and have someone to keep you accountable to the changes you want to make I’d love to hop on a call with you!

 

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042: Style as Self Care with Lana Jackson

Posted on by jplatt27

How to use style as self care with Lana Jackson #syleblogger #whattowear #stylist #podcast

 

In this episode of Love Always, Jo, Joanna interviews Lana Jackson, a stylist and the creative director of Narrative Styling. Lana founded Narrative Styling to give women back their power; using style as storytelling tool they can leverage. Through Narrative Styling, Lana partners with busy professionals to build versatile and effective wardrobes that work from day to night and every occasion in between. Listen to this episode to hear more about style as self-care.

 

Lana Jackson is a Stylist and Creative Director of Narrative Styling. Lana believes if women could bypass the insecurity and self-consciousness that comes from wearing clothes that don’t fit or suit their personality and lifestyle, they’d be able to focus and get so much more done. We can limit our power as women when we’re distracted by our own self-consciousness. There is a certain power that emanates from a woman who knows she looks good. And there is a void of power when we’re uncomfortable and fidgeting. The clothes we wear and how we care for ourselves sends a message about us and our personal brand to everyone we meet. The way you style yourself can give you power over the story you present to the world. Style can change the narrative of how you feel about yourself and how you want others to feel about you. Lana founded Narrative Styling to give women back their power; using style as storytelling tool they can leverage. Through Narrative Styling, Lana partners with busy professionals to build versatile and effective wardrobes that work from day to night and every occasion in between.

 

In this episode Lana Jackson and I discuss…

  • Lana’s journey to launching her business
  • What is personal style vs fashion
  • How to use personal style as self-care practice
  • 3 tips for people who want to hire a stylist
  • Why you should budget/shop seasonally rather than monthly
  • How to tell a story through personal style

 

Follow Lana Online:

 

Recommended Books:

 

Quotes:

  • Personal style isn’t about being on trend, it’s about putting together outfits that fit your lifestyle and needs – Lana
  • As women we want to do things that have an actual impact – Lana
  • Women care for communities – Lana
  • We want to feel like our inner self on the outside – Lana
  • Find clothes that give rather than take your energy – Lana
  • When you feel comfortable in what you’re wearing you can be fully present in your life – Lana
  • You can’t be too busy for yourself – Lana
  • Life is strung together by moments you need to show up in – Lana
  • Personal style allows you to be present in your life – Joanna
  • Make an investment in yourself – Lana
  • You can’t change culture until you make culture – Lana
  • Build a life that makes sense to you – Lana

 

Journal Prompts:

  • Do you have what you need to live the life you’re living
  • When you get dressed do you feel like you
  • What story are you telling with the clothes you have

 

How to use style as self care with Lana Jackson #syleblogger #whattowear #stylist #podcast

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041: Give Yourself a Break

Posted on by jplatt27

 

I had two ideas in mind for today’s episode: Managing Your Energy and How to Avoid Burnout. Today’s episode is neither of those, but it fits perfectly with those themes.

This episode is more a show than tell. A practice what you preach kind of thing.

This is my last week at my full-time job. Since I gave my notice two weeks ago, there’s been a LOT going on. One of my direct reports got a new job and his last day happened, our fiscal year ended (I’m a fundraiser so this is a big deal), and I was out of the office for two days serving as a judge for an industry award competition, and I had my period last week which requires a big slow down in energy.

This week’s top priority is finishing out my full-time job, closing this chapter, and processing all of the emotions that come with that. And there will be a lot.

Frankly, I don’t have the bandwidth, physically, emotionally, and mentally to do the episodes I mentioned earlier. So I need to give myself a break. I need to give myself permission to do what I can and acknowledge what I can’t and not push. And let that be OK.

Sometimes in life, we’ve got to let ourselves put all of our energy in one basket for a little while.

Sometimes in life, we need to give ourselves a break. Sometimes we have to acknowledge when the lift is too great and choose to let that be OK.

So that’s what I’m doing with this episode this week. And it does tie in to managing your energy and avoiding burnout. Giving yourself a break, recognizing your limits and living accordingly is one way to manage your energy and avoid burnout.

Where might you need a break this week? How can you give yourself permission to take that break?

Quotes:

  • Recognize your limits and adjust your output accordingly
  • Give yourself permission to take a break
  • There’s power in the pause

Journal prompt:

  • Where can you give yourself a break?

If you want to discuss self-care and how to avoid burnout, book a free discovery call with me at joannaplattcoaching.acuityscheduling.com.

Do you know someone who would appreciate this episode, or another Love Always, Jo episode? Send it her way.

 

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040: April Q&A

Posted on by jplatt27

 

This month’s Q&A questions come from a friend and from one of my coaching clients. In this episode of Love Always, Jo I’ll be answering questions about resources on people pleasing and worrying thoughts and anxiety.

 

Links:

Recommended Books:

Quotes:

  • Start setting boundaries in your life
  • Empaths have people-pleasing tendencies because they can feel other people’s energy like it’s their own
  • Allow yourself time to process your day

Journal Prompts:

  • Where might you need stronger boundaries?
  • If you were to give your inner worrier a name, what would she be called?

 

Do you have any book recommendations about people pleasing?

 

A friend texted me this question recently and I thought it might be helpful for you too.

 

I replied: “You mean like this?” With a wink emoji and a picture of the book “The Disease to Please, Curing the People Pleasing Syndrome”

 

And then, for good measure, I added “Boundaries” by Henry Cloud.

 

People pleasing is an inner critic thing, and often people with an inner critic who wants them to focus on other people before themselves lack boundaries and it’s good to be reminded what boundaries are and how they can serve you.

 

I also added “Become the most important person in the room” by Rose Rosetree. This is a book for empaths. Empaths are people who can feel other people’s energy like it’s their own.

 

These three topics, people-pleasing, boundaries, and empaths are very closely related. Empaths have people-pleasing tendencies because they can feel other people’s energy like it’s their own. So, if they can make the people around them happy, they’ll feel happy, because the other person’s energy is merged with their own and it’s hard to tell the difference. But, after too much of this, you will get exhausted. Because even though it doesn’t feel like you have needs, you do. And you can only give so much, you can only take on so much of other people’s energy before your energetic bubble is ready to burst.

 

One way you can prevent this is by having boundaries. Both energetic boundaries where you keep your energy unmerged from other people’s and by having other boundaries…by stating what you need, what is and is not OK with you.

 

As empaths, our energies are outside ourselves, whereas non-empaths energies are focused more on themselves.

 

What small things can I do to just stop my brain from overthinking?

 

The second question came in an email from a coaching client who asked:

 

I’m visiting my parents for the next few days and my anxiety has been high. I went to bed thinking bad thoughts and woke up thinking bad thoughts. I think being home just makes things real for me and all the worries I can push away in D.C. come back when I’m home.

What small things can I do to just stop my brain from overthinking?

 

It’s very very common for anxiety and worry to come in when we slow down. When we’re busy we feel like we can outrun it (that’s why we stay addicted to busyness) and when we slow down, the worried thoughts come in big time. Some of my worst cases of anxiety have come on vacation. This doesn’t seem to make sense because we “should” be relaxed and enjoying ourselves.

 

I so get this. Some of my worst anxiety comes when I should be relaxing or having fun.

 

The worst anxiety I’ve had in my life…and I’ve had a LOT…came when my husband and I went on our first vacation after our honeymoon. We went to Nashville for a week and I could hardly enjoy myself I was so anxious. I remember we were riding bikes through a park and I literally had to stop and put my headphones in so I could listen to a podcast to distract myself. My inner critic was SO loud. It was like a broken record going through all the parts of my life where I was failing as a person, as a friend, as a sister. It felt awful. I was so embarrassed. I should’ve been having fun with my husband. I was miserable when I should’ve been enjoying riding a bike outside, feeling the wind in my hair and pedaling with joy. But I couldn’t.

 

Sometimes we use busyness to avoid being alone with our inner critic and anxiety. We tend to put so much on our plate so we don’t have to deal with our worries, which is why when we do slow down we get an onslaught of anxiety and inner critic thoughts.

 

I heard a great episode on the Daring to Rest podcast about dream deprivation and sleep, and he gave a great analogy. Planes fly above the weather. When they come down to land, they go through the weather and through the turbulence. Similarly, we fly above the weather as we’re going about our day and when we come down at night, relaxing/resting/watching tv/before bed, we go through the turbulence as our brain tries to digest and process all of the things we experienced that day. But we often don’t want to go through the turbulence. And that’s when things build up.

 

What you can do to avoid the onslaught of anxiety/worry when you’re trying to have fun

  1. Can you name your worrier? I like the term the article used “hyper-vigilant brain.” If you give the voice/thoughts a name it’s easier to identify and detach from the voice. You are not the voice, you are hearing the voice.
  2. Recognize that this is the normal process of your brain and it’s gotta run through this process to get back to its baseline. Try to detach from the thoughts. You don’t have to indulge the thoughts but you don’t have to push them away either. Fighting them will only make it worse/louder. Try imagining placing your thoughts on a cloud and let them float by, letting them go.
  3. Give your brain more time to process and rest. Try scheduling in time more regularly throughout the day for your brain to run through this process to make it a little more manageable. You can start with something as little as two minutes between meetings, 20 minutes at lunch to walk around the block, 3 minutes in the afternoon. Set a timer on your phone, like “OK brain…go ahead.” Work on doing this processing before you get in bed, that way when you go to bed you can actually go to bed without staying up going through these processes.
  4. Download the Calm app and do short meditations throughout the day. Here’s a podcast called Mini-Meditations that looks good.

 

Here are two podcast episodes I did about the inner critic that might be helpful too:

 

If you want to discuss how to prevent people pleasing or push past overthinking and anxiety or your inner critic, book a free discovery call with me at joannaplattcoaching.acuityscheduling.com.

 

Do you know someone who would appreciate this episode, or another Love Always, Jo episode? Send it her way.

 

Have a question for a future Q&A session? Follow me on Instagram and send me a DM or leave a comment on my next post when I put the call out for questions.

 

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039: Orion Talmay

Posted on by jplatt27

Leaning into and discovering your feminine side with Orion Talmay

 

In this episode of Love Always, Jo, I interview Orion Talmay, a love and wellness coach for the exceptional woman at Orion’s Method. Orion helps alpha women awaken their inner goddess so they can embody a sexy confidence and attract their soulmate. Listen to this episode to hear more about leaning into the feminine and embracing your soft, feminine side.

Orion helps alpha women awaken their inner goddess so they can embody a sexy confidence and attract their soulmate. She works with women so they may become Alpha Goddesses—keeping the traits that made them successful while embracing their divine feminine energy. Her dream is to reach millions of women around the globe and create awakened sisterhood circles of empowered goddesses who achieve beyond their wildest dreams and help heal the world.

In this episode Orion and I discuss…

  • What it means to embrace your sensual, feminine side
  • What masculine and feminine traits are
  • Orion’s story
  • Steps to find your feminine movement
  • What the impact of becoming an alpha goddess is
  • How discovering your feminine side helps your personal relationships
  • How to lean into your feminine energy

 

Follow Orion online:

Recommended Books:

Quotes:

  • Not embracing our sensual feminine side prevents us from creating a healthy polarity in our relationships
  • When the truth is reflected to you it can be overwhelming
  • When you change what you wear it changes how you feel
  • Your strength doesn’t connect to how loud you are it’s who you are
  • Harnessing your feminine energy makes you appear more open and approachable
  • Give what you want to receive
  • When you know who you are, you can communicate what you need, and get what you want
  • Being of the feminine is accepting the way you are and the way you are not.
  • Embrace your emotions
  • Give yourself permission to awaken your inner goddess
  • Your femininity is a strength, not a weakness

Leaning into and discovering your feminine side with Orion Talmay

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Bonus episode: Period resources

Posted on by jplatt27

My favorite resources for your period

 

To follow up on our episode from earlier this week about The Magic of the Menstrual Cycle and how being aware of your cycle can increase your happiness and productivity, I wanted to share some of my favorite resources. In this post I’ll share my favorite apps, books, and a great resource for business owners. One of the books I’ll be sharing is one I think should be required reading for all girls, and maybe boys, and should definitely be taught in classrooms.

Apps

MyFlo App

My first app recommendation is the MyFlo App app. This is great to learn more about the phases of the cycle and track your cycle through that lens. It’s a great reminder of the different phases and how we change and our bodies change throughout the cycle. It shows a calendar view and a rough estimate of the cycle days/phases using different colors. It gives recommendations on foods to eat, exercises to do, how sex may be different, and tasks to focus on and you can track all kinds of symptoms from bloating to backaches and it will give recommendations to make those symptoms lessen.

This is a great app if you want to learn more about yourself and your cycle.

 

Clue

My new favorite tracking app is Clue. I was at happy hour with a friend telling her all about how I love the menstrual cycle and feel so empowered about myself and my body now that I know the clues your body gives you around ovulation when a girl next to us chimed in to say that she takes her temperature every day too and uses this app called Clue. My friend and I downloaded it that night and both of us are super into it. What I like about this app is that it has a super clean, minimalist design. It shows the cycle as a circle, which seems like a small thing and is really a big thing. You can track things like temperature, sociability, cravings, sleep, sex, and add custom tags. My custom tags are “feel like I’m getting sick” and “up in the middle of the night.”

What I love about this app is that it’s made me super aware of what day I’m on in my cycle. I track my cycle on paper every day but there’s something about the Clue app that gets the day number to stick in my head.

My ideal world would be an app that combines the best parts about myFlo and the best parts about Clue.

 

Books

As a book lover, of course I’ve read a bunch of books on this topic.

Code Red

The first book I read after wondering how my creativity changed with my cycle was Code Red by Lisa Lister. This was the book that really got me into the cycle. Code Red has a chapter about each of the cycle phases and does a deep dive on each one. She uses some witchy-type language that may seem kind of off, but if that’s not your thing, just read around it and take in the parts that resonate.

 

Woman Code

Next, I want to recommend Woman Code by Alisa Vitti. Alisa’s company created the myFlo app and the book is a deep dive into the same concepts as the app—living with your cycle and how to heal cycle-related symptoms. I was really hesitant to get this book because it talks about changing your food along with your cycle and there’s a cleanse you can do and I just didn’t want the “shoulds” of that. But, it turns out, what I really liked about this book was actually the science/biology stuff behind it. It’s really interesting to know how the different systems in the body, like the digestive and lymphatic system, impact the endocrine system and the why behind the food changes. I recommend picking up this book when you feel called to and then giving yourself grace to take it slow and apply what resonates. Don’t pick it up because you feel like you “should” — you won’t get much out of it that way.

Alisa was on one of my favorite podcasts, the Kate and Mike Show, twice and I highly highly recommend listening to those episodes, as linked below.

 

Wild Power: The Magic of the Menstrual Cycle

In addition to Wild Power: The Magic of the Menstrual Cycle, another amazing book just to have on your shelf for reference like an encyclopedia is Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom by Dr. Christiane Northrup.

For business owners, Kate Northrup has a great framework and a group called Origin that ties the cycle and the seasons to phases of business development. I highly, highly recommend this group.

 

Taking Charge of Your Fertility

And finally, the book I think every woman should read and schools should use as a textbook when teaching girls about their bodies is, Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler.

 

My favorite resources for your period

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038: The Magic of the Menstrual Cycle

Posted on by jplatt27

The Magic of the Menstrual Cycle - Love Always, Jo Podcast

 

In this episode of Love Always, Jo, I’m talking about one of my favorite topics: the power of the menstrual cycle. I’ll outline the four phases of the menstrual cycle, how you may feel during each of them, and things to focus on during each phase to optimize your energy, productivity, and self-love and understanding. Listen to this episode to hear more about The Magic of the Menstrual Cycle.

I first got interested in the menstrual cycle when I noticed that my creativity and flow of ideas changed in frequency and I wondered “does this have anything to do with my menstrual cycle?” After some googling, I learned that yes, it absolutely does. And I’ve been fascinated by and preaching about, the menstrual cycle ever since.

 

In this episode, I’ll outline…

  • The 4 phases of the menstrual cycle
  • How you may feel during each phase
  • Things to focus on during each phase
  • Self-love and understanding

Quotes:

  • We compare every other version of ourselves to how we are at ovulation. Don’t do that to yourself.
  • You are just as powerful during your period as you are during ovulation.

Journal Prompts:

  • What things change for you during your cycle?
  • How can you give yourself more grace during your cycle?
  • How can you go with your flow more? What would that look like? What would that feel like?
  • What would it feel like to go with your flow more?
  • What do you like about yourself during each phase of your cycle?

 

The Magic of the Menstrual Cycle - Love Always, Jo Podcast

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037: March Q&A

Posted on by jplatt27

This month’s Q+A questions are super similar and bring up something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately: the monotony of the grind and the beige-ness that adult life can bring.

In my course for couples, Engaged, I talk about how people say that marriage kills your sex life and how I think that statement is false. It’s not marriage that kills your sex life…it’s adulting. It’s the grind. The ho-hum of the normal routine. Get up, go to work, come home. Get up, go to work, come home. Get up, go to work, come home. We’re in survival mode during the week. We’re not turned on in life and if we’re not turned on in life, not feeling alive and excited and excitable, how can we possibly be turned on in bed?

Today we’ll talk about how we can add a little more joy and excitement to our every day. Listen to this episode to hear more about the monotony of the grind adult life can bring.

Links:

Quotes:

  • If your life feels beige, ask yourself,“what would a technicolor life look like?”
  • Life isn’t a destination, it’s a journey; there’s always going to be more things you want to feel, do, have, etc. in life
  • Life isn’t a set it and forget it journey, you can pick and choose new paths when you want to
  • Stop playing the comparison game with yourself; enjoy where you’re at in life right now
  • New things can only go in open hands

How do you stay positive and energetic within mundane weeks??

(Question from @chaneydoyle)

Don’t put pressure on yourself to be happy, peppy, the best version of yourself every single day. Taking that pressure off will give you a lot of your energy back. Just like saying “I have my cranky pants on today” brings a smile to your face and releases some energy around it. Acknowledging the feeling helps release the power it has over you.

Remember that it will pick up. Work comes in seasons and waves and sometimes there’s a lot going on and sometimes there’s a lull. That’s totally normal but the work culture of our society hasn’t caught up with that and mandates that we are at our desks for a certain number of hours, regardless of how much work we have going on.

During the mundane times when you feel like you don’t have much to do, give yourself permission to enjoy the quiet and the slow. You can also give yourself little projects to do—clean your desk, do research for another project, think about something you have going on in your personal life, doodle or journal, allow space for new ideas to come and don’t put pressure on yourself to be do, do, doing all the time. That white space is a really good thing and can fuel you for the next wave.

The more I think about this, the more I think this comes down to movement and shaking the energy up. It’s like a law of physics: a body at rest stays at rest and a body in motion stays in motion until it’s met with an external force. It’s inertia. So, if the day/week is beige and your energy and body are going along with it, they’ll stay that way until you do something different.

So, how can you move your body, how can you move your energy?

  1. Five minutes of fun. You could play a quick game, do a dance party, watch a Jimmy Fallon clip on youtube (check out the playlist here)
  2. Add some color to your lunch. Bring a real plate and bowl from home and take your lunch out of the carrying container and onto the plate.
  3. Take your lunch and do something with it. Sit outside and read a book. Run an errand. Call a friend.
  4. Play happy music. Listen to podcasts. Play music or podcasts that are light and make you feel the way you want to be feeling. Listening to music in the background can help quiet your inner critic and lets you feel more positive and energetic about the work you’re doing. One that I’ve been listening to and loving lately is the How I Built This podcast.
  5. Find ways to move every hour or so. Take a lap around the office, go up and down the stairs a few times. Take a nice long walk at lunch and listen to a podcast or call a friend. Find an empty office and put a song on in your headphones and DANCE.

What might add more joy to your day? What might add more color and energy to your day?

What do you have going on before and after work? Go back to the Episode 34 about how to enjoy mornings — if your mornings bring you joy, that can help carry you throughout your day.

How to find the joy in your job and where you are in life?

(Question submitted by @tammymorin)

The first thing that comes to my mind is to focus on what’s good in this season.

At the end of the day, or the beginning of the day, ask “what made me smile today? What did I enjoy today?” Think about what’s good today, this week, this month, what’s going well?

We have a tendency to focus on the future and the gap between where we are and where we want to be. That brings a mindset of scarcity and a lack mentality and energy and doesn’t attract the things you want to be attracting.

We put so much pressure on ourselves to have it all figured out and to be exactly where we want to be/end up in life right. now. But even when you get to the place you think you want to be, there will likely be a next step. That’s the cool thing about life. We think life is like the people mover at the airport. We just have to find the right one and we’ll cruise to the end. But, life isn’t like that. It’s not that linear. And honestly, this is a good thing. Because if you pass Dunkin’ Donuts on the people mover, you can’t get off. If you’re not on the people mover you’re free to move as you please, as slow or as fast as you want, and you have the freedom to stop where you want along the way.

It’s also hard when you find yourself comparing your life and where you are on the checklist of life to where your best friends, coworkers, people from high school who you follow on Facebook are, where society thinks you should be, where your parents were when they were your age, and where a younger version of you thought you’d be.

Try not to do this to yourself. It doesn’t help anything. You are where you are. And while you have your eye on the next step in the journey, and are moving toward that, try to be where your feet are now.

The most pleasant way to get where you want to go is to focus on all that’s good now, be grateful for where you are and what you enjoy in this season so that you can move toward the next thing from a place of abundance and joy, and not scarcity and “not-good-enough.” When we’re in scarcity and not good enough, there’s this gripping fear feeling, like a closed hand. When we’re in abundance and joy, there’s an open, light hopeful feeling, like an open hand, open arms, open heart. And new things can only go in open hands.

Questions for you:

  • What is good about this season of your life?
  • What makes you smile on a daily basis?
  • What are you grateful for in your life right now?
  • What can you do to stop comparing, stop judging, stop hating the things in your life and start loving and appreciating yourself and the things in your life?

 

If you want to discuss how you can find a little more joy in YOUR day-to-day life, book a free discovery call with me at joannaplattcoaching.acuityscheduling.com

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