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Today, we’re talking technology.
Specifically, if you have any kind of smart phone, did you know that it’s a good idea to shut down the applications every once in a while? My brother, who’s an Apple genius (no, really, he used to work there), schooled me to this.
The applications, while they don’t suck out too much energy, can drain the battery because they’re still running in the background.
This is what those endless “to do,” C-priority items in your life are like, you know.
Even when you’re not actively doing anything about them, they’re sucking out your energy.
Your endless to-do’s, which may be good, need-to-do-at-some-point tasks, are taking up your mindshare, right now. They’re draining your mojo drip by drip, until you finally feel an energy plummet that seems to come out of nowhere (especially since, ahem, you haven’t “done anything”). (more…)
Have you ever arrived at a restaurant absolutely starving and tried to resist that basket of warm, crusty bread?
That bowl of freshly-made tortilla chips?
Those serving dishes full of olives and mixed nuts?
Or, to really bring it home, have you ever looked in your fridge, scanning the shelves for something to devour…but you were so unbelievably hungry that you could eat your fist?
(Or, maybe, an entire, family-size box of crackers? Or 1/2 a jar of peanut butter, a 1/2 block of cheese, or an entire container of hummus, perhaps with said crackers)?
And that’s all before “dinner.” (more…)
This is my niece. Isn’t her smile completely contagious? Don’t you feel happier just looking at her?
Well that’s exactly what I’m writing about today.
Every now and then, science gives us normal, non-science people really cool stuff to talk about. One of my favorites is the facial feedback hypothesis, described in a classic 1980 article in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Very basically, studies show something simple yet amazing: when you smile, your body creates chemicals associated with good feelings and, when you frown, the opposite happens.
Honestly, regardless of the rigorous studies, I rely on the empirical evidence for this one: I’ve seen and felt this work in my own personal and professional life many, many times.
I even teach it as one of the fastest ways to put yourself into a better psychological space.
Now, I challenge you to try a little facial feedback experiment of your own: (more…)
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” ~ Rumi
We all build walls around our hearts.
Usually, we’re not even aware of it — we’re just trying to protect some part of our being that feels like it could use a break.
Sometimes we call this “setting boundaries.” Sometimes we even think of it as self-care (note: for a true self-care technique, see below).
But I have to side with Rumi here. While the heart does need a bandage from time to time, when that hardens into stone, we no longer have protection — we have a problem.
I sent this LoveNote to my newsletter readers this morning, but the message is SO important that I’m re-posting it here…
“Believe it or not, we’re almost in the third month of the “new” year. And from what I hear (and feel), things are busier than ever, so this week I’m letting you in on a little time-saving secret:
You do NOT have to read this.
I mean, since you’ve gotten this far, you’re obviously reading it this week… but that doesn’t mean you have to next week, or the week after. You can actually skip, 100% guilt-free, anytime you need to. You can even choose to just delete the old emails (!!) and start fresh later.
I call it… (more…)