Checking Back Into Reality: A Guide to Mindful Living

Good Day. This is Dr. Jana Price-Sharps from Mind Pilot. Today we're going to talk about checking back into your life. I think when I look around and I talk to people, I get the overwhelming sensation that people are checked out, they're checked out, their relationships are checked out of their life in a number of different ways. You know, they're replacing life with, I don't know, Tiktok or YouTube. Here I am putting something on YouTube. But to the point that they no longer are having deep relationships, deep conversations with people. They're just scrolling on their cell phone. They're just looking at video games. They're just looking at whatever social media they're hooked into. And they've dissociated from their own lives. And time is going by and everyone's while they kind of wake up and they go, Oh, wow, it's three months later and what have I been doing? And they're doing the same thing today that they did yesterday. And you can do that. Everybody can do that. However, let me ask you this. When you do that, if you have done that, what is the quality of your life? Do you wake up and feel happy? Or do you wake up and feel now there's a big difference? Do you wake up feeling like you're connected to people or do you wake up feeling like you just have to do today what you did yesterday because that's what you did? Do you feel joy or do you just feel blank? Are you enduring life? Are you enjoying life? If you're just enduring life and you're checked out, how do you check back in? Well, I suggest to start small. And what I mean by that is maybe you get your cell phone,since probably attached to it. And everywhere you go today, you take a picture of something pretty. It could be the flowers at the gas station. It could be a cute little dog. You see somebody is walking. It could be a beautiful tree that has changing colors because it's autumn. Take some pictures today. And why would you want to do that? Well, there's a number of reasons to do that. For one thing, it can become fun if you're doing that. But the other thing is it attaches you to life. You're you start to seek out things to look at and to really focus on outside of social media, outside of the computer, outside of just existing. You're getting connected to the real world. So consider doing that. Take some pictures of your best friends. Take some pictures of your colleagues. Take some pictures of your loved ones. If you have children, do a video of them laughing and playing. Do something funny. Do something kind of zany and wild at home with your kids. Maybe you make pizza and all of you get different kinds of pizza and you laugh and you joke and you put on some happy music. Get connected to life. You don't have to do it in big ways right away because that can feel very overwhelming. But do it in small ways. You know, re redecorate your house, decorate for the holidays. And some people put up like a Christmas tree, but then it becomes a seasonal tree and you redecorated every four or five months. Do things that connect you with reality that are fun or that are ways of allowing your brain to cool down. Because truly you will feel much happier if you're connected to life. If you're just scrolling and that's all you're doing. You're not connected. You may be connected to the Internet, but you're not connected to the people you love. You're not connected to reality. And so take a few minutes here and there today and connect. Connect with your own body, kind of check in and go, Hmm. How am I feeling today? Am I tired? Am I doing well? My hungry? Do I need some water? That constant connection. Will really help your mood. And it also makes you feel much more alive. Take care of yourself. You have the right to have a good life. And one of the ways to get there is to reconnect. You take care. This is Dr. Jana Price-Sharps