The "I'm Ready Now!" Podcast
Ideas to help you when you're ready for change.
The "I'm Ready Now!" Podcast
EP 13: Finding Joy Amid Chaos: Lessons from LA Traffic and Sabbath Rest (Remember the Sabbath)
How can you find joy and connection amid life's chaos? Join me today as I discuss this challenge. We dive into the concept of the Sabbath as a day of rest, drawing from its biblical roots to shed light on why constant busyness is not the same as true accomplishment. Discover the importance of unplugging and re-energizing for your well-being and your relationships.
Imagine cutting your daily commute from two hours to just 20 minutes. That's the change I experienced as a high school English teacher, and it profoundly impacted my work-life balance. We'll explore how setting boundaries and prioritizing rest can lead to a more fulfilling life. Whether it's through taking walks, biking, or simply reflecting, embracing the concept of a Sabbath can be transformative. Tune in to hear practical tips and personal insights that can help you find equilibrium in our perpetually busy world, and learn how small changes can make a significant difference in your quality of life.
Welcome to the I'm Ready Now podcast ideas to help you when you're ready for change. I'm your host, isaac Sanchez, here. I share my musings on whatever it is I am reading at the moment, as well as any other ideas that I believe will help you break free from a standstill in your thinking in order to get you dreaming again. Thank you for joining me today. Well, I'm ready now. How about you? Excellent, so let's get started. Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to the I'm Ready Now podcast. I am your grateful host, isaac Sanchez. Thank you for joining me. I'm excited that we are together again. Okay, you know how this rolls the housekeeping here. As usual. Here are the communication bits I like to share, right at the top. So first, remember there are chapter markers on this podcast, so if you want to get straight to the content, use those markers and skip right ahead. No harm, no foul. I completely understand. And also, in the description of this episode, there's a link you can tap to text me. I'd love to hear from you to get your feedback on the podcast or about the topics we're addressing, or you can always email me at IsaacSanchez, at Maccom. I look forward to hearing from you, maccom. I look forward to hearing from you.
Speaker 1:So what's up in your world? Be Badoobie you heard that right, be Badoobie. Be Badoobie is a singer that my daughter turned me on to recently. I love her music. She was performing in LA this past weekend, weeks ago. My daughter had asked my wife and I if we would not mind taking her and a good friend from school out there. Now these are college girls or sophomores, they don't have their own transportation. So my wife and I agreed and so we headed out there this weekend. This artist was performing at the Greek Theater beautiful theater out there. So we were out on Saturday evening braving the traffic into LA up that hill to the Greek Theater. The Griffith Observatory is up there also.
Speaker 1:Now my wife and I, you know, we had plans while they were at the concert. What were we going to do? And so we had plans reservations at an Italian restaurant, but after getting beaten by traffic, we pivoted to a restaurant, redrove by on our way to the original destination and loved it. So it took a while to get out of the space of the Greek theater, no matter which way. You went back down the hill, or kind of going up the hill and around back down the other way where the Griffith Observatory was. It was just a bit of a mess, so we got through that, but on the way down we just decided you know what is there anywhere else around here we can go. There were several restaurants, so we actually went to a place that we drove by as we were on our way to the original destination and it was great. So this restaurant, the decor was cool, the food and the drink were great and before we could think of doing anything else it was time to brave that hill again to the Greek theater. So we hopped right back in the vehicle. After a wonderful dinner from appetizers to dessert, it was just great we headed back and my daughter and her friend loved the concert. Once we picked them up, we were very happy for them. It was just cool to see these girls getting out and, you know, continuing to build their relationship through good music. So I love the artist's music. You know, maybe one day my wife and I may brave the crazy LA traffic and see her there again or at some other venue. So be Badoobie everyone.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let's get into our current topic of the day. Remember the Sabbath. So before we get into this episode. Let's pick up a little bit on the introduction I gave last week. For those of you who are not familiar with the term Sabbath, the very surface concept is the Sabbath is a day of rest. Okay, that's pretty straightforward. Just accept it for that. It's a day of rest. So just on the other side here I'll say a little bit more about the Sabbath as we jump into today's talk.
Speaker 1:Remember the Sabbath. So kicking us off here, dan Miller begins with a discussion of finding that balance between activity and rest. Okay, so here's just a bit more, as I promised, about the Sabbath for context, so that we can move forward with our clear understanding and it's just going to be a superficial one. So, looking up some definitions online, that would be useful, and I'm a little bit familiar with this, so I'm happy with what it's going to share here. It says that, according to the book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, talking about creation, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as God rested from creation. The practice of observing the Sabbath, or Shabbat, originates in the biblical commandment right, we've heard of the commandments? Well, it was there. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Speaker 1:So for today's purposes in our discussion, the Sabbath is the idea of finding rest. Some call that Saturday, some Sunday. However, some people have a work schedule that does not allow for Saturday or Sunday as a day of rest. So, whatever day you choose, you make that day or time to rest and re-energize. Simply consider the idea of finding that balance between going hard on the work you do but then knowing how to unplug and rest in order to find the stamina to do that all over again.
Speaker 1:Now, unfortunately, that notion gets hijacked too many times with a shout of I'm so busy, a badge of honor or a trophy. Just you know you're busy, so you must be amazing. The busier we are, the more accomplished or important we must be. So is that true? Dan Miller kind of walks us through what's the result of that too many times? Well, you're so amazing because you're so busy, you're unavailable to friends, unavailable to family, you miss sunsets, you miss full moons, etc. You get the point. Just the beauty of life skips by you because you're just too busy, being awesomely busy. Unfortunately, this has been sold as the model to emulate if we're going to get ahead in the world. Today, instead of becoming more. We're just doing. More is what Dan Miller says.
Speaker 1:Technologies make us available 24-7, if we allow it, and that's the key if we allow it. I remember how critical sleep is to our bodies and what our brain is actually doing while we rest, how our bodies are repairing on the cellular level. It's amazing. I looked up and saw some of this. When we sleep, our brain performs a number of important functions, including look at this removing waste. I'm just going to read this to you During sleep, the brain cleans itself of debris and toxins that build up while we're awake. This process is similar to washing dishes and is carried out by rhythmic waves produced by nerve cells that propel fluid through the brain. This waste clearance system is called the glymphatic system. That's just amazing, folks. That's really incredible.
Speaker 1:How about another one? Maintaining neuroplasticity? Here's what else is going on. Sleep helps maintain the brain's ability to adapt and form new connections between neurons. Sounds important to me. How about this one? Regulating hormones While we sleep, our body produces more of some hormones and less of others. For example, growth hormone levels increase, while cortisol levels decrease. A couple more here, because I just find this fascinating Cycling through sleep stages.
Speaker 1:During sleep, the brain cycles through two main types of sleep REM, that's rapid eye movement sleep, and non-REM sleep. Rem sleep is when we dream, and non-REM sleep is split into three stages. If you kind of watch your sleep through any kind of different app, you're familiar with the sleep stages. And then this one's really cool, consolidating memories. Sleep is important for learning and memory function. Man, if it's just for that, we got to get some shut-eye. And they just conclude here by saying getting enough quality sleep is essential for survival and a lack of sleep can increase the risk of health problems. Yeah, let's stay healthy. So it's amazing. Sleep is just amazing for our bodies. We need it, and so you know.
Speaker 1:I remember technology was supposed to give us more time. I remember that discussion in a few college courses They'd talk about the microwave oven. Transportation Instead of riding a horse, you're riding a train, you're riding an airplane the tools for work that have made things much quicker. Instead of, you know, hacking a tree down with an axe, you just get a saw. We have everything to maximize our potential and save us time. But this supposed logical path to free time doesn't work, does it? It's actually the opposite. Now I remember I was trying to figure out what.
Speaker 1:There was a term for this, and it's known as the productivity paradox, and I'm reading now what I looked up on this, which refers to the outcome of more technology resulting in smaller productivity gains. So here's some reasons why technology might not always give us more time. They include overwhelm Okay, I got my hand in the air. We have so much information to take in and so many platforms to manage that we've become overwhelmed. Another one hyper-connectivity. We may have difficulty disconnecting or creating space to unwind, which can lead to feelings of stress or exhaustion. And another one excessive use, excessive use of technology can do more harm than good. I think we know all that. There's a book I'm reading right now called the Anxious Generation, that just talks all about this with young people and adults. It's stunning stuff. Some positive impacts. To conclude, some positive impacts of technology include extended lifespans, increased productivity and better access to information. There's good stuff there, but we're trying to find a way to disconnect for sake of the Sabbath. Now, unfortunately, because we do not rest, we lose our way.
Speaker 1:I can give you just my own example. Just the other night I had this conversation with my wife where I just wanted to share with her, where I kind of found this imbalance in my life currently, and you know we discussed work, family and personal ambitions. So you know I have work I'm a high school English teacher, been doing that for over 32 years and of course have my wife and I, who are living here together, and I've got some things that I'm working on personal ambitions for sake of our family here, and so I have all of that in the mix. Now, after we got married, I moved out to where she lived. She had a home out in Little City that was two hours away from where I worked and I just knew a train went out there. So I would take the Metrolink, our train system, here, and it was two hours from door to door. In the morning I'd leave my house, get to my classroom door two hours later, be there for the day and then at the end do the same thing, just in reverse Leave my classroom door, end up at our front door at the house, and that would be two hours.
Speaker 1:And so that had me leaving the house somewhere around 4.45 to catch about a 5.16 train, an AM train, and then leaving work and being home by around 630, 645, sometimes seven, and because even there could be congestion on the tracks at times, and, man, that left me just enough time to get home, enjoy dinner with my wife, chat a little bit, and then get ready to go to bed and turn around and go back and do it the next day. And so there were so many things that I could not do that I wanted to do, but I just could not. Time would not allow it, time to work on these things would not allow it, and so I was having this conversation with her, because that was 10 months of that, the last school year, and we knew we'd move out this way. And now here I am, 20 minutes from work. I swapped out two hours for 20 minutes, and so now I can be at work at 7, 730 and have time here at home to work before I leave for my actual job, and when I get home I've got time to do things. And so the result is I've gotten a Sabbath out of this, and every day I'd have some rest that I didn't have before. Before I was fighting for five hours of sleep, and now I can actually get the seven, eight hours, should I choose to do so. So that's been the result, but I found myself filling the gaps here now with other things and realizing I'm bringing a ton of work home and that's beside. That's not even the point. The point is I now have time to manage my workload, to get stuff done at work and leave that there and just walk away, get home, do the things I need to do here and not be encumbered by feeling like my backpack is here full of grading stuff and then just the guilt of not having touched it and taking it right back to work. So I was just telling her I really need to kind of figure out my time. So there's that rest that I can find when I get home and not have all these things brought from work here.
Speaker 1:Now some people will say, like that's the way of the teacher. Listen, I've been doing it for 32 years. That's the way of the disorganized teacher. I don't accept it at all. I've allowed it too many times. But I'm at the space where it's clear for me that's thoroughly unnecessary. And you still put I put in some great time at work. I don't mail it in at all and so. But it is a thing to where you find that I found that I was allowing myself to bring some of that back and I just thought no, you're in a place now where you need to set up your schedule and carve that time to where you leave your work at work. You get here, and only on certain times would it be necessary that some work be brought home and make that the exception. That is, the boundary for home. And so it was just a good conversation.
Speaker 1:I just wanted to share with her that I'm thinking about that because you know she doesn't say much about it, but I know cause I'm thinking about it, that I've just been at work and then I'm here and I've got piles over here of stuff that I'm working on from work and, um, and taking time away from what we should be, uh, enjoying is that each other's company and, uh, dinner time together without rush, those sorts of things. So, moving on, um, as I just did, embrace the Sabbath. Dan Miller moves us on to that concept embrace the Sabbath. So he encourages us to do that. Whether it's some days or just some times in your life, carve out a few hours, if that's what it needs to be. So what could you do with that rest? Let's say we're embracing the Sabbath. Okay, what can we do with that rest? Well, there's a few great things to do that he recommends you can move, as in take a walk, a bike ride, swim maybe.
Speaker 1:At times I've taken a walk I love my walks and most recently a bike ride, but there's times where I've gone off and I've forgotten my AirPods and it's been the most gratifying times where I talk to God, talk to myself. I try and work through a situation I'm dealing with because I can just kind of massage it in my head. And the other one that I love when that happens is I'll even dream. I could just stop and dream of the future, really kind of hone in on some things I'm hoping for for my wife and for myself and for my children and our future together. And I just I love being able to dream. And so I found a mini Sabbath from listening to stuff sometimes and just enjoying that headspace as I'm walking, taking care of my body, I'm working through things in my mind. So it's just a bit of a Sabbath there.
Speaker 1:So Dan says you can do that, embrace the Sabbath with kind of getting out there and moving. You can nurture a heart of gratitude, he says, being grateful for even the most simple things. You can bless your children, find some means to bring them joy, like be intentional about that when you look for that Sabbath time in your life. He says I love this one, take a bath with music and candles. I'd love to treat my wife to that many times. She enjoys that time. I'll just put some candles in there, a little glass of wine, turn off the lights and the candles light up the evening and she really enjoys that downtime and I do too. There's times I just tell her love, I'm just going to jump in this little jacuzzi bath we have over here in one of the bathrooms and just chill out and either listen to something or just chill out in there and do the same thing, just kind of think, dream, talk to God, all those things. But Dan just says turn off all the technology that can disrupt your Sabbath peace and just kind of, as he said, check out for a bit.
Speaker 1:Now Dan says carve out those times for restoration and spiritual breathing. I love the way he phrases that Carve out those times for restoration and for spiritual breathing. Find the work and life for yourself that provides a balance of being and doing. And that's a very important phrase because Dan, as I mentioned before, dan had passed away earlier this year in January January 21st I just was reading of this year, 2024, that this idea of finding the work and life for yourself that provides a balance of being and doing. He did that. That's one of the things I admired about him. So, anyways, he encourages to do something that he and his wife had done for themselves and he goes on to talk about that he had created a Sabbath life for himself. He did find this balance.
Speaker 1:It seems he shares the environment where he lived and recorded his podcast from on the property where he and his wife lived in Franklin Tennessee. They had only recently moved to Florida before he passed away, so most of what I knew about him and heard from him as he would podcast was from his home out there in Franklin Tennessee and I remember him sharing that he and his wife, in their different ways, had created space for calm even as he worked. He would share that from the window in the space behind his wife. In their different ways had created space for calm even as he worked. He would share that from the window in the space behind his home on their property, through that window of that little extra office out there. Through that window as he recorded his podcast. He could see rabbits, guineas, woodpeckers, lightning clouds when the weather would change even neighbors. His wife made their home a very haven, away from the uncertainty of life outside of those walls. I remember he'd interviewed her a couple of times about that very thing he would share, about the calm in their home that was created by his wife through scents and decor. His wife, Joanne, is also an author and an artist, so Dan had created, in a very real way, a life of Sabbath. I always found that very rewarding. It's only one of the reasons that I found myself drawn to his work is how he and his wife were very intentional about creating a life that was not perfect they still had their problems, but what they could control, they made sure it was Sabbath ready, and I really love that about him.
Speaker 1:Well, let's move on to the most important part of all of this our wrap-up and application. So it's that important time, the most important time of this time together the doing from the hearing. You know it just dawned on me as I was preparing this episode that a great piece of wisdom in the scriptures of the Bible whether you study it as literature, poetry, law, history or your spiritual guide that we are admonished there not just to be hearers of the word, but to be doers. The analogy is of a man that looks into the mirror and sees his reflection and what he should do before he walks out the door. Yet he does nothing. So what good is that right? If you're going to look into the mirror, well, do something about what you see. So, like that good wisdom, let's look at what we have learned today and actually do something with it. So you know what that means. That means you need to grab your digital note-taking device or your pen and paper and apply what we have heard today. So let's get on this.
Speaker 1:Here is Dan Miller's question for us how can you unplug your quote doing and enhance your quote being today? So, in other words, if I were to restate this a bit, how can you step away from the busyness of life and step into a Sabbath for yourself, a time of rest? How could you do that? I remember someone sharing the idea of not complaining of not being able to go on a vacation, when you should take the bull by the horns and find a way to create a mini vacation for yourself this evening, one day this weekend or on a day off, be intentional about finding your Sabbath, that time to rest. So, once again, how can you unplug your doing and enhance your being today? I would love to know how you do that for yourself. You can click that link to text me or email me at IsaacSanchez, at Maccom. It would mean a lot to hear from you. You have my very best wishes on this application step today, because I know it is so important. Gasp, did you call me a pig? No, no, I did not. I'm talking about the Pygmalion effect.
Speaker 1:So next week, dan Miller will be sharing the connection of being shocked an electrical shock, by the way and the Pygmalion effect. What is that? Let's look at that together next week. It's extremely important as we walk through change in our lives. I hope you will join me. All right, the quote. Let me send you away with a quote. Extremely important as we walk through change in our lives. I hope you will join me. All right, the quote. Let me send you away with a quote.
Speaker 1:If things are not going well with you, begin your effort at correcting the situation by carefully examining the service you are rendering and especially the spirit in which you are rendering it. That comes from Roger Babson. That's it. That's the quote. Think about it, act rendering it. That comes from Roger Babson. That's it. That's the quote. Think about it, act on it.
Speaker 1:Have an amazing week and thanks for hanging out folks. I appreciate it. Let's do this again next week. Thank you for listening. If you found this time together useful, please consider following this podcast and leaving an excellent rating. If you feel you can't do that yet, please reach out to me and let me know what I can do to get you to leave a top rating. If you feel you can't do that yet, please reach out to me and let me know what I can do to get you to leave a top rating. If you are already excited about what you've heard, please consider sharing this podcast with a friend. I really would appreciate it. Also, I'd love your feedback, both on today's topic as well as what you'd like to hear me address in the future. I would really appreciate that input. Again, I'm your host, isaac Sanchez. I hope today's thought serves you the way it has served me. Remember your next move is just one inside away. Have an amazing rest of your day. I'll see you next time.