Welcome to lesson 4.
Thank you so much for being here today.
This lesson is going to go into the differences between what it means to be productive and what it means to be present.
So with productivity we think about how much we're getting done in a day,
How much we're accomplishing off our to-do lists,
How much we feel like we are doing or making happen.
A lot of the time we think about productivity along with value.
We live in a world that really values that productivity and really aligns us with how much we are accomplishing.
But the truth is that we get to decide our own values.
And even though we live in a society that promotes certain things,
We can still have our own choices in our personal values.
Let's talk about presence or being present in the moment.
So this is what a lot of people call mindfulness.
It's really just the opposite of being distracted.
Mindfulness can mean anything that is just intentionally being present in the moment.
It can be knitting,
It could be coloring,
It could be meditating,
It could be organizing.
Mindfulness is dependent upon the person.
And so when we're present in the moment,
We are aware of how we're feeling,
We're aware of our body sensations,
And most importantly we feel like we're intentionally deciding our actions,
Our behaviors,
Our words.
These are those moments of laughter,
The moments of excitement and research and falling into a special interest,
The flow state that everybody talks about.
So what puts you in that state?
Who are you with?
Who's there?
And who's not there?
Pay attention.
How much emphasis are you placing on productivity?
And if you are finding that you're placing a lot of emphasis there,
Thinking about where did that value come from?
Is that your own value?
Your own value that comes from your core self?
Or is that a value that's been placed on to you by society,
The world,
Family,
Or someone outside of yourself?
So the first journal prompt for this lesson is what it would be like if you were to measure your days,
Not by how productive you were,
But by how present in the moment you were for those moments.
What would that look like?
What would that be like?
Could you even imagine?
And if you were to be able to give yourself all of the same validation for being present that you give yourself for being productive,
What differences in your life could that lead to?
What changes could happen?
Your second journal prompt is I want you to think about anything that you saw or heard or smelled or tasted or notice today,
The past few days.
It could be something funny.
It could be something meaningful,
Something that made you feel emotional.
I want you to think about the colors,
Textures,
Senses.
So how did things sound?
What was the lighting like?
And how are you feeling in those spaces?
This is just a simple practice in mindfulness that isn't super structured,
But kind of just gives you the reins to start to notice what's going on around you.
You can do this as many days in a row as you'd like.
Thank you for listening to Lesson 4.
I'm looking forward to hearing from you in the comments.
I'm looking forward to seeing you in our final lesson,
Lesson 5,
Which talks about the differences between anxiety and intuition.
