The UnlearnT Podcast

Freedom Friday: When Life Squeezes You, Whatever Is Inside Will Come Out

• Ruth Abigail Smith

Share episode

Send us a text

We explore how what comes out of us under pressure directly reveals what we've been filling ourselves with, just as squeezing a lemon produces only lemon juice because that's what's inside it.

• Taking inventory of what we consume through our eyes, ears, and bodies determines what will come out when life squeezes us
• Our digital footprints provide a practical way to examine what we've been filling ourselves with
• Looking at streaming history, phone logs, and banking records from the past 90 days reveals our true consumption patterns
• Asking whether we'd be comfortable explaining our consumption choices to others helps evaluate their value
• The difference between "dessert" content that feels good temporarily versus nutritious content that builds character
• Changing what comes out of us when pressured requires changing what goes in regularly

Share this episode with someone who might benefit from this perspective on how our inputs shape our responses to life's challenges.


Speaker 1:

Hello everybody and welcome once again to the unlearned podcast. I'm your host, ruth Abigail, aka RA, and this is freedom Friday, where we come and share something we've unlearned recently and how it has made us just a little bit more free. So I want to encourage you guys, if you have not been listening to our current series Unlearning, parenting y'all. It is a great series. We are talking to some really beautiful people in this series. They are sharing and they're being vulnerable about parenting from different perspectives, from you know, becoming a single parent as a result of divorce to parenting adult children, and we have a couple of more coming up that I'm excited about. So you guys, tune in for that and make sure to share this with with somebody that you think could use it. All right, so let's get into freedom Friday. I I think this is something that we think is like. This principle is something that we we see in others before we see in ourselves, which a lot of things. I guess that's the case for a lot of things, but I think this in particular is just something that we have to be, uh, aware of and and lot of things. I guess that's the case for a lot of things, but I think this in particular is just something that we have to be aware of and and and unlearn, right? Um, when you, when you squeeze a lemon, lemon juice comes out. When you squeeze a orange, an orange comes out uh, orange juice comes out. Excuse me, when you squeeze, squeeze grapes uh, grape juice or wine, whatever you like, comes out. Right, when you put pressure on fruit, the juice within the fruit is going to come out. So here's my question to you what squeezes, what comes out when you are squeezed? What comes out when you're squeezed? Here's the thing with fruit the thing that comes out is what's in it. It doesn't come out of fruit unless it's already in it. Orange juice doesn't come out of grapes because orange juice is not inside of grapes, grape juices Um, lemon juice does not inside of grapes, grape juices. Lemon juice does not come out of oranges because lemon juice is not inside of oranges, orange juices. We have to unlearn that when we are squeezed, when life squeezes you, that what comes in, what's already in you, isn't going to come out. So, when you're squeezed, what's in you is going to come out. It's not a matter of what you want to come out or wish will come out, but what's in you is going to come out when you are squeezed. So here's the question what's in you? What's in you? What's going to come out when life squeezes you? What's in you? What's going to come out when life squeezes you? Then here's well, if you don't know the answer to that question, here's how we can take inventory on what's inside of us and what it is that is going to likely come out when we are squeezed.

Speaker 1:

You may have heard this before, but I think it's so important, right? There are a few things. Things get inside of us. Okay, one way things get inside of us is what you see, your eyes. That's how things get inside of you. Another things get inside the way things get inside of what you hear. Another way things get inside of you is what you eat. Okay, these are the ways. These are a few ways that things get inside of you, and when they get inside of you, they will come out when, when you're squeezed.

Speaker 1:

So the question is how do I know, and what is a practical way to take inventory on what's actually in me, that has come inside of me through what I see, what I hear and what I put in my system, right, what I eat so. So this and what I really want to focus on is less about like the eating part, cause really I want to talk about like, the, the, the weight, the like. What squeeze comes out of you like, not necessarily physically, but mentally. Right, when we're mentally squeezed, when life goes a direction that we don't expect it to go, when things happen to other people or to us that we don't like or don't expect something's going to happen, and so really want to focus in on where I'm putting my eyes and where I'm putting my ears and what that's putting inside of me. That way, I can know what's going to come out. So I was actually thinking about this not too long ago, and really a practical way of doing that is taking inventory on literally what you have been ingesting for the last 90 days. How do I do that?

Speaker 1:

Well, technology has its ups and downs, as we all know, but one of the cool things about it is it kind of is an automatic. It takes automatic inventory of what you've been watching, everything that we watch, if you stream anything or if you're on social media, if you have any kind of uh, music, uh, streaming platform, uh, television streaming platform, uh, all of that right, even your banking right, your money, because that also matters too. You can go back because it keeps track of it, so it automatically tracks it. Now they're tracking it because they want to track you, because they want to see how they can continue to give you what it is that you say you want, so that you will profit them. But here's a way to turn that on its head and use it for your own growth, because if you look at the things that you've been streaming whether it's television, movies, music, social media you can see what's been going inside of you for the last 90 days. You can actually pull it up, look up in your settings not the last 90 days and it'll give it to you. You can see what you've been watching.

Speaker 1:

And so my challenge and encouragement is to take each take. Take something, um that you've been watching. Let's take Netflix I like Netflix, um. Or Apple TV, right. Or Hulu, or Disney Plus I'm a Disney person. I like Disney Plus, right. Take any of those and go back and look at the watch again, right, different category or what they suggest, based on what you've been watching. It will tell you. It'll help you to see what you've actually been consuming over the last 90 days.

Speaker 1:

If you're a music streamer, if you stream podcasts, like I do, look at the podcast you've been listening to for the last 90 days. Look at the music that you've been consuming for the last 90 days. Here's another one Look at your phone and your recent calls and your recent texts. Go through the last 90 days and see what people you've been connecting with over the last 90 days and look at who you've actually been you have been allowing to be in your ear, who you've allowed to influence you over the last 90 days and how much those people are influencing you. Take a look at your devices.

Speaker 1:

We can use this actually to our advantage and see who has had my ear, what has had my eyes, who has had my ear and what has had my eyes over the last 90 days. Look at it and ask yourself do I want this? Is this who I want in my ear? Is this what I want to be watching? Who I want in my ear? Is this what I want to be watching? What has it done for me? How has it influenced me? Would I be okay that somebody else, if somebody else, saw what I'm seeing right now? How would I explain why this has been a part of my, my pattern of listening and watching.

Speaker 1:

If somebody asked me, why do you listen to that, why do you watch that, can I answer them? These are things. These are great questions to ask yourself, because when life squeezes you and it will what you've been consuming is going to come out. I know we like to think that what will come out is what we want to come out, but that's not true. What will come out is not what we want to come out. It's what's already in there, and the only way things get in there is what we allow in. And if we've been allowing things in that we don't want to come out, then we ought to change what it is that comes in. And if we've been allowing things in that we don't want to come out, then we ought to change what it is that comes in. If you want to present as a godly caring person, but the things that you've been consuming are not godly caring people focused things then you can't expect to respond that way when life squeezes you. It's not about what you want, it's about what is, and so my encouragement is ask yourself what's in me.

Speaker 1:

Take that actual, practical inventory. Go through all your streaming services. Go through your music streaming, your TV streaming and go through your phone. I know it sounds super simple, I know it sounds very uh, maybe elementary, but I think you're going to learn a lot. Uh, bonus round, go through your bank account and look at what things you have been spending money on. That also will tell you something about the values that you've been consuming in different ways.

Speaker 1:

Have I been buying a ton of clothes lately? What is that saying about where I am? Have I been spending a lot of money on food? What is that saying about where I am? Look back and ask yourself is this what I want to come out of me when life squeezes me, these values, these influences that come from the things that I'm putting inside of me? Do I want those things to come out? And if I don't want those things to come out, or elements of those things, then we got to change what we put in. We got to change what we put in.

Speaker 1:

I hope that's helpful. It's helped me just to be very clear and cautious on what I allow in my system the most, something my father used to say growing up there's nothing wrong with dessert. Dessert is good, we like dessert and dessert's great. But what happens when I eat dessert? All the time I'm gonna get sick and, depending on the type of body you have, you may or may not throw up.

Speaker 1:

Something else might happen. You know what I'm saying. The point is it ain't going to stay in you right? So dessert is fine, but what are the things that are nutritious? And the things that are nutritious don't always taste good.

Speaker 1:

But he used to always say it doesn't matter how it tastes as long as you can swallow it. It doesn't matter how it tastes as long as you can swallow it. If it comes, if it goes into your system, it will do what it's designed to do, which is make you healthier. Doesn't matter how it goes down, as long as it goes down. The things that we like might go, the things that we enjoy and taste good. They might be good for that moment, but when they go down they do more damage. It's the same thing with stuff we consume out in the world. It may feel good and we may be entertained and it'd be great, but when you overdo that, it actually does more damage inside of you. And then you realize when you're out there and something happens, you don't have what you need to respond the way you want to respond because you ate too much dessert and didn't eat enough healthy stuff.

Speaker 1:

Right, all right, that's it. Y'all we got to unlearn that what goes in will not come out. I promise you it will. I hope y'all have a great rest of the week and let's keep unlearning together so that we can experience more freedom, peace. Thank you once again for listening to the Unlearned Podcast. We would love to hear your comments and your feedback about the episode. Feel free to follow us on Facebook and Instagram and to let us know what you think. We're looking forward to the next time, when we are able to unlearn together to move forward towards freedom. See you then.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Ruth Abigail Smith

Host