Mind of Snaps - Positivity Podcast | Ep. 52 - "The Little Things"

Welcome to "The Little Things" - the 52nd Episode of the Mind of Snaps Positivity Podcast!

This is a special podcast series that is separate from the regular Mind of Snaps Podcast, with a new release (typically) posted every Monday for Patreon supporters!

It is my goal to create as much positive & encouraging content as I can during these intense, uncertain times we're faced with. 2020 was so much more than anyone expected it to be, and nobody should have to take it on alone. The only way I can continue to do so, is with your help.

To help, you can: become a patron, subscribe to me on Twitch, you can send a tip which I'll turn into an investment... or you can simply share my content on social media. Every little bit helps me be able to continue to create the podcasts and other mindfulness & positivity based content in the future.

The format of these podcasts are forever evolving to reflect current events from personal to global, so I hope you are enjoying them. Please reach out to me if you have any suggestions!

Hang in there, friends... we're all in this together.

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Make sure to become a patron on Patreon to support future content!

You can find new Positivity Podcasts on Patreon every Monday; Patreon archive positivity podcast episodes are available free for the community every Thursday at 4pm on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, & Stitcher!

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Jessy (Mind Of Snaps / SheSnaps)

www.MindofSnaps.com

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Transcript

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good morning my lovely friends i hope you are having a nice tuesday or whatever day it is that you're listening to this this is my second week in a row of being a little late to do these podcasts and i got to tell you even though i tell everyone not to kick their own butts because it doesn't help anything i was really struggling to not kick my own ass over this like oh my gosh they're gonna think so poorly of me two weeks in a row what will they think it's not like people can actually have a lot going on two weeks in a row come on so i'm very grateful for everyone who immediately commented on my posts saying i was gonna be late and letting me know that it's all good you understand you know i'm trying to work on a lot and sometimes that schedule can be tough to maintain sometimes but i do feel like i'm getting into a good groove of things so if there hadn't been kind of a family emergency on the weekend i don't think i would have been late to this one regardless though it really doesn't matter does it does it i think i think it makes sense to start out yet again thanking all of you seriously it means so very much this patreon has been growing bit by bit and every little bit of growth on here makes takes a lot of the pressure off of me to think about how i'm going to do the youtube series and be back into a good swing of things with the regular podcast and all of the other things that i'm working on that are just kind of like at that line where i could be potentially getting going with it if the money was there so everyone who's supporting thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping to fund so many things that i'm working on and i'm excited for you to see a lot of them in the coming weeks and months and some of the larger ideas whatever those are able to go out but yeah thank you and thanks for the patience as far as the video chat being moved so remember that's going to be this saturday instead of obviously you know last saturday because i wasn't feeling well so this upcoming saturday we'll be having our live video chat discussion through zoom and we'll talk about mindfulness we'll review shades and just check in with each other see how we're all doing would love to see you there you know if you're listening to this podcast through the patreon that is and this is in a later release going out on the mind of snaps podcast then you have access to all of the video chats through this tier that you are supporting so thank you again i'm so grateful for all of you and i'm so proud of all of you i love the little messages i get from each of you as you celebrate some of your successes and you discuss some of the things that are that feel as though they are standing in your way it's beautiful it's inspiring and it's just it's so cool thank you for allowing me to travel with you on your journey of life and you know that that idea of the messages that i get of y'all like celebrating your successes leads us right into what i wanted to talk about this week for the positivity podcast what i want to talk about is the little things are the little things i want to talk about the little things and how much they matter i think as a lot of us get on this journey whether it's mindfulness or self actualization or self healing self help whatever it is you want to consider it and this this goes outside of just what we're kind of directing at ourselves but in general we have a tendency to be very goal oriented and very goal focused people so i like to remind people that when it comes to mindful practice especially the path is the goal it's not about getting to some magical place in your life where suddenly you have no problems and even when stuff comes up you always always always handle things perfectly you're always in a good mood always in a good state of mind whatever like that's that's not realistic that goes in with that whole toxic positivity thing that we really work hard to advocate against and to make sure that we're not perpetuating through our own conversations and the content that goes out from this channel so if you're already on this path if you're already trying to look for ways you can make a change in your life look for ways that you can help serve the community the world all of it that in and of itself is something worth celebrating because that can be a hard place to get to a lot of us are so stuck in our own shit that we just really don't know there's another way and then as we do start opening up and kind of waking up to that other way we still get back in that goal oriented mindset it's not enough it's not enough why am i not better at this why have i not beaten depression yet why have i not cured myself of anxiety yet why have i still been struggling with keeping my home clean or with my anger or with communicating with others with kindness and compassion this is a tough thing we're doing it takes time we are working so hard to become aware of as many patterns as we can behavior and thought patterns so that we can work to change them but just simply knowing the pattern knowing what it takes to change it doesn't mean that it's easy it doesn't we go on autopilot so easily it is far easier to be the person who we were versus being the person we know we'd like to be but the little things in this are what really matters both within our own practice and what we're doing for ourselves and externally with what we can offer the world yeah sure maybe you want to be a person who does massive things for the world who helps with world hunger or helps with the the horrific problem of systemic racism in this country or whatever like there's so many different things right but what happens a lot of times is we get so focused on the big picture items on the big stuff that we don't realize we have the ability to make a difference in 1000 little ways every day sure you can solve world hunger but you can skip coffee for yourself and buy a sandwich and some water for a homeless person that you pass by on your way to work every day maybe you can't mend the relationship with your family just yet but you can start to treat them with more compassion and kindness and externally like maybe you are not the best communicator yet maybe you struggle to connect with others but you've gotten into a good habit of smiling at people and making eye contact with you when you see them these are all little things that might seem like they're not enough but they make a bigger difference than you might think this is a there's a podcast on my mind of snaps podcast that i did early on in that and it's called the little things and i had asked people what what little things that happened to them that meant a lot that stuck with them and i suggest you listen to it because really there are so many small things holding the door open for someone smiling complimenting someone's super well put together outfit all of that like that makes a difference that stuff stays one of the things that comes to my own mind is just recently alex and i were out driving around and we made a deal that whenever we had cash we would make sure that we gave a lot of it out to the homeless population that people who we see out on the streets in arizona because there are a lot of homeless people here and it's so heartbreaking coming from like where i was living out in the burbs in the chicago area i didn't really see that much so now seeing it everywhere like my heart breaks every day and i wind up just thinking i can't do enough for them yet but what we have started doing is taking a little more time to make sure that when we go out we have a little bit of cash for them and we don't have much you know we're not rich or anything but we also know that we have the luxury of being able to afford food and shelter and all that stuff so everything past that like we don't really need to buy more things but we can pay it forward we can help give someone some basic decency a smile some friendly words and maybe some water and a little bit of cash so one of the things that stuck out was we were out driving recently and we had decided to treat ourselves to coffee for the first time in a while this was i think a few weeks ago so we drove into this place that had really good coffee we got ourselves a couple and on the way out there was a homeless man who was holding a sign and we quickly grabbed the cash that was leftover from the coffee and it was $7 $7 and we we missed him because of the weird angle so we actually had to kind of like do a u turn in order to turn around and come back to this guy and we held the money out to him and handed it off and immediately he lit up he was so happy he smiled so big oh my gosh i just did my makeup so i can't cry over this right now he smiled so big and just kept saying are you serious are you serious are you serious for seven fucking dollars for $7 He was so blown away that we weren't fucking with him that we were genuinely just giving him that money. And it was $7. For a lot of us $7 is pretty negligible. Like, if you had seven bucks in your pants, and you washed them on accident and the money was ripped up, be like, Oh, man, that sucks. But you wouldn't, it wouldn't be a life or death situation, it wouldn't determine whether you were able to hydrate yourself that day, or whether you were able to feed yourself that day or not. And that broke my heart. It made me feel good knowing that we were able to do that for this gentleman. But it also killed me thinking about how many people have passed him by and won't even make eye contact, thinking about how many people look through the homeless population so that they don't have to acknowledge what's going on there. And thinking about the people who likely just dropped change if they have it even. And like not very many people, I think keep changed these days. I was listening to a podcast episode that had Duncan Trussell, ROM das, and I can't think of the other gentleman that was on there. But Duncan Trussell was talking about how he had heard about this thing on the internet, where you imagine that you were about to become homeless. And you think about if you only had one backpack, and you could put anything you might need or want to have on you, during your time out on the streets, what would it What would you put in it? And the idea of this kind of question is that you would take that thought process, and go to the store. And if you can afford it, of course, like not everyone can afford this, but $1.50, like all of it, it really does matter though, the way that you give and what is in your heart, as you give is really what's more important. But the idea is you go to the store, you buy a backpack, and then you fill it with all the things that you would want that you would need to survive and to feel a little bit of comfort to. And Duncan really liked this idea. So he went out. And he did that he filled up a couple of backpacks with a bunch of stuff, like food and drinks and magazines, even in books like stuff to keep his mind occupied while he was out if this because again, the idea is you're doing it for yourself, right. So he filled up the backpack, threw it in his trunk. And then once you run into a person who is homeless, you basically just hand them off the backpack. So he was driving around, and he was excited to find someone who he could give this to. And he saw a man sitting on the side of the road with his dog, and was happy knowing that he had the backpack on I mean, he could pull over and bring it up to the sky. So he goes in parks and he starts walking down the sidewalk to where the man was sitting with his dog. And ahead of him on the sidewalk is a man wearing a suit carrying like a Starbucks cup. And he said as they both approached this homeless man on the side of the road, he had his handout, and the guy in the suit with the Starbucks cup, just shoved this empty Starbucks cup into this man's hand and walked away without even looking at him without even acknowledging that that was the fucking person there. And Duncan saw that and it broke his heart and I'm just hearing him talk about it. I can't even fucking imagine, like an angry version of me in the past would have had a really hard time with not like attacking that man in the suit. But that's neither here nor there. So Duncan was grateful that he was at least able to bring a little more light into that man's day because right after this incredibly demoralizing just a man shoving a cup into your hand a piece of garbage literally just dropping his garbage in your hand without looking at you as though you're human. And then having a man walk up and hand you a backpack full of good stuff and tell you like, Hey, man, I'm sorry, everything you're going through. I hope things work out better for you. Here's this. And he said the man was just so excited and in such disbelief that he had gotten this that he walked away feeling so great, like Wow, I can't do much but this is something I could do and I'm glad I could do it. So he said he got in his car and as he was driving away, he looked over and he saw the man just so happy taking spoonfuls of the peanut butter because there was a jar of peanut butter in the bag. And he was feeding his dog with peanut butter and he was reading the magazine and he was eating a snack. And that mental picture is so beautiful. I want to do this. This is a plan Alex and I have probably on the next twitch paycheck I want to buy a couple backpacks and do the same thing. But in the meantime what we have done is we've been buying gallons of water and trying to just hand out the gallons of water with a little bit of cash to People when we see them, but that that story, you know, it really is the little things. Duncan didn't cure or end homelessness. It's not necessarily that he's out there making big changes in, in our society or anything like that. It's not like he's he's out there doing political things, although he might be I don't really know. But he took what he could give. And he gave it with compassion and love. And that made a huge difference. And because he has such a big audience, I can only imagine how many other people have done that since. So, externally. Remember that it's not all about just solving the problems. Sometimes it's about just doing what you can do with compassion, because that makes a huge difference. And then when you go internally, right, going back to, you know, us being so goal oriented, and thinking that what we need is to have fixed our shit and be perfect so that we can do all the things that we know we're capable of. Sometimes it's the little things that make the biggest differences for us. Like there's a member of this community, who as as we all kind of got started on our journeys together, decided that one of the things that he was going to commit to was keeping his kitchen table clean, it tended to collect and accumulate all kinds of crap, he didn't like it, it doesn't feel good to live in a cluttered space. So that was the thing he chose to set his mind to. And this was in addition to shades and, you know, caring for his mind and his body and doing what he could. But that was his main goal, I will keep that fucking table clean. And now here we are, I want to say it's been over a year we might be in two years now he'll have to confirm that if he listens and decides he wants to brag about it a little bit. But it's been a while now of him having that kitchen table clean. And every time he looks at it, he feels a little bit of satisfaction. That right there. That is a big thing that came in disguise as a little thing. And when you think about all the opportunities you have in your life, and in your days to impact your own existence, it truly is the little things that can make us feel the best. It's that oh my gosh, I can't believe I didn't react the way I used to react in the situation. Damn, hell yeah. Did I react exactly how I wanted to know. But Have I made progress? Yes. Someone said something ignorant. And I didn't immediately lash out at them. I questioned them and asked asked kindly and compassionate questions about why they got to that point or how they got to that point. For me, one of the little things that has been very special, has just been being more consistent with my meditation and being outside the house. It's not a huge thing. I don't do it well, all the time. But when I do have those days, where I go outside more, where I go for walks more where I sit out on the balcony, and I do my meditations, I feel so grateful. It's it's almost too much. And it's just a little thing. My routine isn't perfect, I'm not perfect. There are a lot of ways that I still struggle. But truly, truly, it's the little things that count. So what little things are you missing right now? How is your bank brain keeping you forward focused or past focused? And can you stop that, for the sake of acknowledging some of the things you have to be proud of or grateful for now? How can you take a moment to say, Hey, you know, in terms of little things, I actually have a lot of little things I've been doing that I'm really proud of myself for I've been making more healthy choices for my diet. I've been drinking a little more water, maybe my pee isn't, you know, as clear as it could be or nearly clear, because we don't want all the way clear. But I'm not drinking energy drinks anymore. I'm not just drinking soda. I'm drinking water. What about judgments? Like that's a that's a little thing. That's a big thing. Just starting to notice how often our brains tend to want us to judge things and people and working on reducing that. Some of the first times where you can be introduced to a person whether it's like online on a TV show or in person and you don't immediately find ways to judge them and instead you look at them as if their family or a friend you just don't know well yet. That's that's a little thing. That's a big thing that's so special to be able to notice that you have made even just the smallest impact on your mind. So my challenge to you this week, is to notice more little things, to notice more little ways that you can help that you can serve the community serve the world serve the interests of you Humanity in the environment, and to look at ways that you can serve yourself. How can you make little changes for yourself that can make a big difference later on? How can you shift your focus from being all about massive accomplishments, and instead, start acknowledging and being grateful for those little things. That's the challenge. Look for the little things, appreciate them. Be proud of yourself, look for the little ways that you can make a change. And find a way to catch yourself when your brain is trying to keep you anywhere that isn't the present moment. You're doing better than you give yourself credit for. You really are. And especially those of you who are listening to this positivity podcast right now through the Patreon, you really are doing better than you think you are. I know a lot of you well enough to know that I have seen a difference in the way that you carry yourself in the way that you speak to yourself and others. And that is beautiful. That is important. That makes a big difference. So remember, little things that count really focus more on those. Be kind to yourself and others in manifest dope shit.