Speaker 1: 0:06

Well, greetings and welcome. Welcome back to the Sweet Spot. This is Dr Sweet. I'm your host on the Sweet Spot and it is Slow Down Sunday. Wow, you made it and I want to welcome you here. Thank you so much for dropping by to spend a few minutes with me as we enter into Slowdown Sunday.

Speaker 1: 0:26

All week long, we've been talking about the concept of time and we've distributed time across Monday through Friday, looking at it in various instances. I want to thank my wife, darcelle, for urging me to do something on time. It was not easy for me because I didn't think there could be so much to discuss and yet and still, it's been a week of discussing time, this invisible thread that's all throughout our lives, and I could do another month on time, but today, on Slow Down Sunday, we're going to bring this time series to a close. Your time is now and I wanted to take a few minutes just to go over some of the neuroscience, or just a tad of the science behind why it's important to take the time to slow down, because when we do that, we allow ourselves and our brains to be rewired and reset when we're still and, by the way, stillness is just as important as movement. When we are still the brain is able to relax and the brain is able to also get some things done that lots of times when we're so busy it doesn't divert its energy to this sort of work.

Speaker 1: 1:48

When we're still, the brain's default mode network, that's the DMN, it's a specific network in the brain. It lights up and what this does is it boosts our self reflection and our creativity and our emotional clarity. That feeling of aha comes to us. Think of it as a mental reset button. Just by being still you activate this default mode network. How cool is that?

Speaker 1: 2:21

Time slows down when you're still and stress hormones like we talked about yesterday, cortisol will drop and feel good. Neurotransmitters like serotonin will rise. These will calm that amygdala, that fear center that jacked up part of the brain. Sometimes it gets us doubting and anxious and overworked. It doesn't mean any harm, it's just trying to protect us. But sometimes this part of the limbic system gets a bit too active and by meditating, relaxing and being still we can let serotonin rise. We can allow our physiological processes to be calmed down by having less of the stress hormone cortisol running around in our bodies. You know that would mean that our heart rate is going to go down, our blood pressure is going to dip, our inflammatory process will cool down and our bodies will get a break from this grind that we're on, get a break from this grind that we're on.

Speaker 1: 3:28

So, when we combine stillness with intentional time outs, what we're doing is we're carving a sweet spot for ourselves. We're carving a sweet spot where we can be whole, where we can be well, and this is borne out in ancient wisdom. In ancient wisdom, in the book of Psalms, it says well, look, be still and know, and know that I'm God, my friends, stillness is not just about slowing down. It's about leveling up so that we can do the work that we have to do for the week coming up. This is important because we live in a world, as you know, that worships literally worships motion, productivity and hustle, constant movement. That's what our world is all about. We actually measure success by how much we do, but what if the key to real power isn't found in movement, but in pause, in stillness? What does the universe teach us? What does the universe have to say? As you know, on Sundays I always dabble in a little astrophysics Not that I'm an astrophysicist by any stretch, but astrophysics teaches us that something profound is happening when we are still, that the most powerful forces in the universe know when to be still.

Speaker 1: 4:55

Think of black holes, that phenomenon of the black holes, the most gravitationally dominant objects in space. They're not constantly moving, they literally pull things in by their presence alone. And what about the planets? They revolve, they orbit, but they do so in a precise rhythm, following the laws of time and motion, without rushing, rushing without forcing. Remember, we talked about nature the other day and we said that nature does everything but is in no hurry. It never hurries, but it gets it all done. Think of the speed of light. Light moves at a fixed speed, constant, never needing to force its way forward. It just simply is so. The black holes, the planets, the, the change of seasons, the speed of light, the growth of a tree, all of these things are slow and deliberate and they get it done without rushing.

Speaker 1: 6:09

And what about us? We spend so much time racing through life that we forget the most powerful movements happen when we align ourselves with time and we don't fight against it. That's the struggle. The struggle is to slow down. So why is stillness so hard for us? Well, I have three reasons. Years of counseling. I can give you the benefit of the wisdom I have. I can give you the benefit of the wisdom I have. We fear falling behind. That's one reason we equate rest with weakness. That's a thing that's big in sports. Sometimes it's big in performance. It's big in the world and we're addicted to speed. We just have become addicted to getting things done quickly and things moving fast. You ever be in front of a computer and it takes more than three seconds to get your screen to light up and you're smacking that keyboard because you're like what's going on here, right? But the truth is, stillness is not the opposite of progress, even though it sometimes feels like that's what it is. Stillness is what makes progress sustainable. It's not the opposite of progress, it's a sustainer of progress.

Speaker 1: 7:32

And there is a relationship between stillness and this whole thing we've been discussing all week called time. Time, just like the universe, has a rhythm and there's a time to move and a time to be still. You know that ancient wisdom, biblical thing about there's a time for this, a time for that. There's a time for everything under the sun, right? So there's a time for everything. And the ones who know how to master time, they don't just run fast. They know when to stop, when to recover time. They don't just run fast, they know when to stop, when to recover. Athletes they train hard, but recovery days are just as critical as game days. Teams that don't get that suffer. Teams that get it, they do well. Athletes that get it, they have longer careers than athletes that don't get it. You've got to build in recovery. What's your recovery plan? How are you recovering Musicians?

Speaker 1: 8:26

They play notes, but the rest in between those notes are what gives music its beauty. Did you know that? That the rest in between the musical notes are what's really causing that music to be so amazing? The ocean it moves with the tides. It doesn't just rush, it flows with the tides. So, yeah, that ancient wisdom of being still and knowing what's divine, knowing the divine, yeah, that's where it's at, because stillness is where clarity happens, it's where wisdom is found, it's where we stop forcing and start receiving.

Speaker 1: 9:10

Stillness is where we find our truest self. In stillness, I heard Deepak Chopra say one time in stillness we find our truest self. Time In stillness, we find our truest self. So how do we master this power of stillness? What practical steps can we take? How do we slow down without losing momentum. Well, I have a couple of things to share with you. There are a couple of strategies. The first thing is to one honor the pause. We've got to stop seeing stillness as lost time and call it recovery time. Give yourself permission to rest. Second practice active stillness.

Speaker 1: 9:59

Stillness is not about doing nothing. That's a misnomer. That's a misunderstanding. It's about being fully present in the moment. Whether you're meditating or praying or sitting in silence, just make a space for stillness and be absorbed in it. Three listen to the rhythms of time. Not every season is go season. Some are grow seasons. Know when to move and when to wait. Look at nature. There's such wisdom in the trees and the cycles that you see Nothing is rushing or out of its season. Number four remember that rest is a strategy.

Speaker 1: 10:55

The best competitors don't just train hard, they recover well. The strongest minds don't just work, they reflect. Rest isn't about quitting. It's about how you come back stronger. You are doing a job that's really intense. You're doing a job that's tedious. You're doing a job that requires so much of your intellectual and maybe even your physical capacities. To do that job and not take a moment out to strategize about your rest and your recovery is to put yourself in harm's way. Ultimately, it may not happen today, but you can burn out later. It may not happen today, but you can have high blood pressure and other things just developing because we're not taking care of ourselves.

Speaker 1: 11:45

So today, I ask you, where in life do you need to slow down? Do you need to step back from the rush for a minute? Do you need to allow some stillness in to bring clarity? Do you need to stop forcing and start trusting? Whatever it is, take a moment, be still, let time work for you and not against you. Remember to honor the pause, like I mentioned.

Speaker 1: 12:13

Remember to practice active stillness, to listen to the rhythms of time, to remember that rest is a strategy, and I challenge you to take five minutes out of this busy day to be still, to breathe, to catch up with yourself, to let go to notice how you're being, to notice what's around you, maybe notice two things that you haven't seen before in the very room that you're being. To notice what's around you, maybe notice two things that you haven't seen before in the very room that you're sitting right now. Look at something and say to yourself wow, I don't think I've ever looked at it this way. See it as if you're seeing it for the first time. Close your eyes and listen to something. If you're not driving, obviously Close your eyes and listen. Listen to hear you're not driving. Obviously Close your eyes and listen, listen to hear what's going on in the room and you'll see that your brain has filtered out so many sounds that are actually happening. And where you're seated or standing, just feel the sensors in your body touching the ground or the seat or the bed or wherever you are. This is what I call getting in touch. You're being in the present and you're managing time.

Speaker 1: 13:28

So we use some astrophysics today to connect the cosmic forces to our personal stillness, okay. And we looked at some of the neuroscience to understand that there are parts of the brain that are lighting up. We looked at physiology. We looked at some ancient wisdom no-transcript, amazing, wow. Well, we did it. Uh, I hope this resonated with you.

Speaker 1: 14:00

This week-long series on your time is now. This was something special. It was motivational, it was thought-provoking, it was actionable. We blended science, wisdom, faith and strategy to just try to figure it out. And, if nothing else, remember that every moment is going to become a memory. Every time you take a selfie every time you interact with somebody in your family or with a friend.

Speaker 1: 14:23

One day, you're going to look back at that and go, wow, that was a cool time or that was a bad time, whatever it was, and that nothing lasts, that even if you're going through a lot of stress right now, it doesn't last, and that you can certainly take care of yourself during this time, because that's yours to master, that's yours to manage Time. All right, my friend, until next time. I'm Dr Derek Sweet, looking forward to seeing you next week, looking forward to seeing what we have for Making Moves Monday, and I want you to be well, to be blessed, and to slow down a bit today and take care of yourself. God bless you. All right, if you'd like to catch up with me and if you'd like to share it with someone, you can get me on LinkedIn or Instagram or TikTok. I'm even'm even on threads, so cool. See you soon. Be blessed bye.