Win Today

#252 | Slow Down To Speed Up: Stillness As A Key To Heal & See

• Season 6

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 24:01

Send us Fan Mail

In a world obsessed with constant movement, stillness can feel uncomfortable… but it’s often where the real healing starts. 

In this episode, I talk about why slowing down after heartbreak, burnout, and emotional chaos has helped me reconnect with myself through journaling, reflection, and silence. 

We explore the science behind stillness, emotional recovery, and why your mind heals faster when you stop running from it. If you’ve been feeling mentally exhausted, anxious, or lost, this episode is a reminder that peace is productive too.

Thank you for tuning in! If you feel led, please subscribe & share the show to others who you believe would benefit from it.
Keep in touch below!

What You Miss When Rushing

SPEAKER_00

The birds are chirping, but you can't hear them. The squirrels are playing, but you can't see them. A house in the neighborhood just had the whole front redone, but you never noticed it. Why is that? Likely because your mind is running so fast and consumed by so much that you can't see and hear the things right in front of you. And perhaps even the things that you wished that you could see in here. Someone that you love is attempting to connect with you, but you can't feel them.

Why Slowing Down Helps You Win

SPEAKER_00

Welcome to Win Today. This show is crafted for those who want to win in every aspect of their lives. Every week you will learn from a renowned thought leader that will share a piece of a winning playbook that you can incorporate into your life. If this show has a positive impact on you and you see value in it, please share it with somebody and leave a rating in review so we can help more people win. I want you to be able to experience all the beauty in this world and everything that you have inside of you that can serve you in a positive way right now. And I believe one of the best ways to be able to do that is contrary to what we might see or hear on a regular basis, that we need to always be advancing, moving fast, going as hard as we possibly can. And while those things are relevant, I believe what can also be true in that moment to move forward is actually to slow the heck down. To actually be and actually see and observe. So this one is about actually slowing down and being, which can also help you win mentally and emotionally. I believe those are the two biggest categories. So this is practicing the art of stillness, which bringing back from the playbook that was very well received over the coming year with some edits in there. And it's my wish that you're the right person listening to this right now that needs a little reminder that it is okay to pull it back a gear so that you can see where you actually are and see everything around you, see all the gifts that you have and experience life to its fullest. I appreciate you

Distraction Culture And Mental Overload

SPEAKER_00

all. We have so much that we allow to infiltrate our minds. And I'm speaking this as somebody that has been guilty of this and perhaps the main culprit for many years. And bringing this up to share a practice that I've been working on to help myself hear and see and notice and feel more of the things that are in our environment that surround us every day that allows me to be more present with the people that mean the most to me, to be more connected to what's going on in the professional world. It's difficult in the world that we live in today to often see and hear and feel and notice the things that are right in front of us, but even the most important things. And it's to no fault to anyone, the world that we live in today is filled with distractions our phones, technology, the at times what appears to be praise for being able to do so much at one period of time. This multitasking, quote, multitasking, the praise for that, that we often become so consumed in are we doing the right thing, are we doing enough that we then miss the most meaningful things. It's something that has been really present for me as I've been working towards my dream of going out of the corporate world and taking everything else full time. And it's difficult because my corporate world or corporate position alone continues to intensify. And it's not uncommon that in a normal day there may be discussions and help needed from both coasts, East Coast, West Coast, team in Texas, where a normal day may be there's a staffing discussion for people in Charleston, and then a staffing need in Texas, and then we've got a manufacturing issue in Orangeburg, which is about an hour up the road, and a manufacturing issue in Charleston, and then we have somebody's family is not doing well, therefore now we have a gap in one area. Meanwhile, we have a deliverable in Seattle. There's not much time to reflect on one thing, and then that influences or can influence my personal life. What I'm getting at here is that there are often things that we are all doing, especially in our professional lives, where it's not uncommon to be thinking about or working on six different things at one time that are sometimes interconnected, which is great, but oftentimes completely independent of each other, and then that transcends into our personal lives.

Stillness As Emotional Clearing

SPEAKER_00

What I'm getting at here now is how to focus on stillness and a few things that I've been working on lately over the last two months, but really focusing even more so on it now and starting to see benefits that I haven't experienced before. And I'm gonna share what that looks like and what you can do, or perhaps by sharing what it looks like, inspire someone, at least one person, to adopt or incorporate some of these practices into your life because I believe it's so beautiful once you can be more cognizant of just the things that are in front of you. Even watching the squirrels run around, noticing those little things, hearing the birds chirping. I've I've found it to be one of the most meaningful gifts lately. Just having the ability to be more present to what's around me. I love this quote from Brene Brown about stillness because oftentimes we can think about stillness as okay, does that mean sit and do absolutely nothing? And that's what's supposed to clear my mind? No. I believe that this does require some work, some practice, some intentionality, but this one is really neat. Stillness is not about focusing on nothingness. It's about creating an emotional clearing to allow ourselves to feel, think, dream, and question. Key point here it's it's about creating an emotional clearing. That alone, it's about creating an emotional clearing. That can look completely different from me to you, from you to your best friend, to your spouse, to your parents, to somebody that you love. But I believe that's also an invitation. It's about creating an emotional clearing. So the interpretation of that is what activity or what is something that you believe you can do that will allow you to create this state of emotional clearing, or what is something that perhaps you would be willing to explore to create that state?

Running As A Reset Button

SPEAKER_00

One thing for me that is so helpful with this is running. And I first discovered this about 17 years ago now, when I was in high school on the wrestling team, and a lot of things going on in my home life, but it was awesome that to be good at wrestling and to be able to stick with it for a long time to make it through a grueling match, to make it through the practices and really just to be in the best cardio shape possible and to keep your weight down, you get to run a ton. Every practice started with running, a lot of practices ended with running. Preseason conditioning for two months was nothing but running in hills and intense cardio work. And and what I found on going on these runs when I would get home, especially when I was cutting weight, is that everything that was going on in my home life that was making me so upset and often having my mind ping-pong because there were so many different things between now I'm a student, I'm an athlete, but then I'm also a middleman at home playing the oftentimes protector, defender for my little sister, and not wanting her to see the things that are going on due to my dad's struggles with alcohol, and that then impacting him and my mom's relationship and eventually marriage, there was a lot going on in my mind. I would go lace up my shoes to go on these runs to cut weight to sharpen the craft with wrestling, and I found that by doing that repeatedly, I could literally turn my mind off and think about absolutely nothing if I wanted to. Like literally nothing. And it became this kind of addictive practice, or rather, that became my drug to turn things off. And now it's my thing that I can either go out there and turn my mind off, I can think about the future, and I can create what I want to achieve later on in life. Typically, when I'm running, which is one of the things that I do for emotional clearing, I can literally see how the future is playing out right in front of me, step by step. That's how this podcast came to life. That's how a lot of my side business work came to life. All of that just popped up on a run because everything else could be shut out. Everything in my professional life, as I mentioned before, where a normal day can deal with calls and action items from both coasts and the Midwest or the Southwest, etc., all of that goes away. And it's one of the few opportunities that I have to be able to see and feel and understand what's really around me. Now, for those that know me and have listened to this for a while, you know I talk about running quite a bit. There's something else that's really been helping me.

Walking Without Headphones To Notice More

SPEAKER_00

When I'm going out on morning walks, and there's a lot to be said about walking and it being really a transformative practice. But I used to go on walks with podcasts, or I need to listen to music, or I have to have some sort of stimulant. And I've been experimenting with just this concept of walking with the intent, creating the intention, creating the state, that all I want to do is see and feel and hear. I want to see what's going on around me. I want to feel the environment. And I want to hear nature. I want to be connected. When I first developed that intention, I'll tell you that I didn't totally buy into it. I felt a little strange. I thought, okay, yeah, sure, you'll see some birds and hear some birds chirping and people running around and whatever. Like it's not gonna be that cool. But man, going out more and more and more, again, creating that intention and really creating that declaring that, hey, this is gonna be an opportunity to create an emotional clearing, going back to Brene Brown's quote. I feel as if my mind is now slowly becoming more and more programmed and attuned to when I go out for these walks to allow that those those things to come to life. Allow the vision to come to play, allow the environment to really latch on to me. And I absolutely love it. There's another quote from Ryan Holliday, who is well known for his work on stoicism. Stillness is the key to self-mastery. So when I'm going on these walks or runs, I'm also thinking about the opportunity that each one of these activities presents to master self and to get better at being more cognizant of just the world and all of this beauty that we're surrounded by that we often can completely forego because of everything else in our minds.

Mountains And Learning To Sit Still

SPEAKER_00

I've been spending more time in the mountains lately. Rather, I've gone up home a few more times than I usually do lately. And one of my favorite places to go is Crowder's Mountain. Crowder's Mountain is about 20 miles outside of Charlotte, really close to my hometown. And it's got an awesome, awesome uh running, hiking trails, and I love running up to the top of the Rock Top Trail, which once you get up there, there's a big radio tower, and you can look and see the entire Charlotte skyline on a good day. You can see just miles and miles and miles worth of tree lines. And I got up there recently and I was looking at the tree lines and was thinking about nothing else. Like no other thoughts really came to mind. And I was so happy and grateful because of the fact that I literally had I had an amazing view for one, but literally nothing else was coming into my mind. And I was thinking, how awesome is this that a year ago or years ago, I believe I could have been up at the top of that summit peak and been thinking about a thousand things until I started running again or hiking, where I know my mind would shut back off. But I could actually sit still on top of a rock and enjoy the environment and the world. That was made possible by practicing daily practice, getting out, no headphones, creating this creating the emotional clearing, whatever that may be for you, day in and day out, and simply being. And it's a tough switch for someone to turn off if you're ambitious, which if you're listening to this podcast, you're an ambitious person. But the more that you go out into it, and I would say that this is this is really I'd say I've been dialing into it more intensely over the last two months, but this is something that has been a practice

Gratitude As A Reward System

SPEAKER_00

for years. And I still don't believe I'm very gr I'm not an expert at it. I believe I maybe have gotten decent at it. But knowing that we can always improve, I love to approach any new thing with a quote white belt mentality. That hey, I'm a beginner and I can always learn something. I never want to become complacent in that, oh, I'm the best at this now, and I can hang and coast. Every morning walk or evening walk is an opportunity to attempt to notice one more thing or hear one extra bird chirping, see one extra squirrel running around. And when I am able to notice these things and see and hear and feel, I express gratitude for that. And kind of tell my mind, reward my mind that, hey, this is this is the stuff I'm looking for. I want to see and feel and hear these things. And I believe that that's then creating this program to look for even more because you're now creating this reward program for your mind, just as you would somebody, or think about, think about if you've ever had an animal when you start rewarding it for sitting down before the door is before you tell it to go outside or eat its food and giving that pet a treat, what's it gonna do? Now it's got a reward to look forward to, and it's gonna, it's it's programmed to keep doing that thing because there's a reward system. I love to reward my mind and body and spirit with gratitude for taking these things into account, for taking the environment into account, for being able to hear and see and feel things that I truly believe I would not have been able to notice years ago.

Quieter Mind Stronger Future

SPEAKER_00

The closing quote and my encouragement to y'all is to practice something that will allow you to slow down. The quieter you become, the more you can hear. That's from Ram Das. The quieter you become, the more you can hear. Test out what it means to be quiet today or this week. Find an activity that's going to allow you to create an emotional clearing, whether it's running, walking, yoga, and then couple that with some sort of reward system when you for your mind, whatever that may be, whether it's instant gratitude, something that you believe will prompt you to do that thing more, to look out for that certain thing more. I'm finding that it's helping me become more centered, especially as some things, tougher things have been taking place in life lately. And really become more calm. An understanding of what's going on, understanding of what the future may hold or should hold. And I believe it's one of the most powerful skills that we could possess. Stillness. Stillness is the key to self-mastery, quoting Mr. Holiday again. And it's my wish that you can be still today, this week, and moving forward. See you can win today. Thank you so much.

Head Shot

Ryan Cass

Host