Welcome To Slowdown Sunday

SPEAKER_00 0:07

You made it. You made it. You made it to Sweet Spot Slowdown Sunday here. And I'm your host. I'm delighted to be your host. I'm more than your host though. I'm your teammate. I've been your teammate all week long, Sweet Spotter, as we've been going through a wonderful series called The Search. And we find ourselves here on Slowdown Sunday to discuss the entire week. I want to do something a little different before we get going. I want to walk you back through the entire week. I don't want to rehearse it or grade it. I don't want to measure what you did or you didn't accomplish against some invisible standard. What I I want to do is just breathe with you, relax with you, and uh and just sort of go over what we've learned. If you were with us every day this week, you received something special. We've had seven days with seven sayings and seven invitations to see yourself and your life a little more clearly here on the sweet spot. And this is Slowdown Sunday. And before we surrender into Slow Down Sunday, I want to let all of it land and come together. Because wisdom heard once is a thought, but when we weave wisdom together, it becomes a way of living. And I dropped a lot of things on you all week long. We went through a lot of sayings and we distilled them and we learned from them, we imbibed them, we took them in and they really resonated with us. Your comments and your feedback this week was off the chain. Thank you so much for sharing. Yeah, let's walk through it. Let's walk through it slowly. It's slow down Sunday, so Sunday deserves us taking our time.

Monday And The Direction Of Fear

SPEAKER_00 2:20

On Monday, Making Moose Monday, we started with this saying if you're looking for reasons not to do it, then do it. If you're looking for reasons to do it, don't do it. And we spend time about the search. How the direction of your searching is almost always more honest than anything you actually find. It's the direction of your searching that you have to pay attention to. Pay attention to how fear builds cases, how the right move really needs a closing argument. It really needs you to search things out. How your nervous system dresses up self-protection as if it was some kind of strategy. And how learning to recognize things that are being searched out as a way of hiding or delaying can be one of the most important things you can do on your own forward momentum. Monday asked you to trust the pull more than the fear of the fall. Yeah, it did. Yeah. If you're looking for reasons not to do it, do it. If you're looking for reasons to do it, hmm, don't do it.

Tuesday And The Brand You Project

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Tuesday, remember take action Tuesday. We talked about the brand you're already broadcasting. That was one of my favorites on Tuesday. We said that your smile is your logo, your personality is your business card, the way you made them feel is your trademark. And we unpacked three layers of something you're doing every single day, whether you're being intentional about it or not. Your smile transmitting before you even speak, your personality speaking louder than your resume, and the feeling you leave behind outlasting anything you said or did. That's right. On Take Action Tuesday, we asked you to show up on purpose and to run your brand like you know what it's worth. Your smile is your logo, your personality is your business card, and the way you made them feel is your trademark. If you didn't get that message, go back and listen to Take Action Tuesday. You'll love it.

Wednesday Wins And Leaving The Circus

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Wednesday, Win It All Wednesday, we were somewhat uh uncomfortable. It was a little uncomfortable on Win It All Wednesday because we dealt with a couple of phrases that were kind of interesting. We said it's not bragging in a room full of people that want to see you win. And then we also said, don't blame a clown for acting like a clown. Ask yourself why you keep going to the circus. Remember those two scenes? Yeah, one truth, own your wins in the right room with the right people, and then the second truth, stop buying tickets to environments that were never built to celebrate you. It's not bragging in a room full of people that want to see you in. And don't blame a clown for being a clown. Ask yourself why you keep going to the circus. Right, Wednesday, Winned Law Wednesday, asked us to find our room and to leave the circus. That was kind of cool too.

Thursday Trust And Neuroplasticity

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Do you remember what we did on Thursday, Trust Yourself Thursday? That's where we stood at the edge together. It was a deep one. We got kind of serious actually on Thursday. It was very reflective. That was the mood. And the phrase that we unpacked on Thursday was, Let me fall if I must fall. Yeah, and we talked about the fall. Whether you're an athlete questioning your identity, maybe you're somebody in transition, maybe you're dealing with uncertainty, maybe you're carrying grief. We talked about how identity doesn't change through just thinking alone. We discussed a scientific term called neuroplasticity, how the brain is able to make new pathways, and how neuroplasticity is built through action, that you have to take action, that it's not good enough just to think. Yeah, we discussed on Trust Yourself Thursday how the person on the other side of the fall isn't a fantasy. They're already under construction and we have to trust. Yeah, Thursday asked you to trust the uh trajectory that we were on, to stop waiting for solid ground and to start trusting the person who is being forged in the process of falling. Let me fall if I must fall. The person I'm becoming will catch me. That was Trust Yourself Thursday. It was so profound and reflective. We had a great time, and I'd love you to go back and listen to that if you didn't hear

Friday Worry And What You Control

SPEAKER_00 8:10

it. And then Friday, oh finished strong Friday. Yeah, this was the one that we said if you have a problem and you can fix it, why worry? And if you have a problem and you can't fix it, why worry? And we walked through the only two kinds of problems that exist: the ones that you can do something about, fix them, and the ones that you cannot release them. Actually, we said with the ones that you cannot not only release them, we said you could redirect your energy to what you still have control over, but you still have agency over the diagnosis, the loss, the situation outside of your hands. You can't always fix those circumstances, but you can always work on your response to it. Yeah, Friday asked us to finish strong, to stop worrying and start moving or start releasing. Either way, we've got to cross the finish line. If you have a problem and you can fix it, why worry? And if you have a problem and you can't fix it, why worry?

Saturday Emotional Thermostat Self-Care

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Yesterday, self-care Saturday. We came home to ourselves. Remember what we said there? We said treat your emotions like a thermostat. Every day set the temperature and don't let anyone else turn it up or down. Because only you are responsible for the bill. And we talked about emotional regulation as the deepest form of self-care. Not the bubble bath, not the aroma candles, although those matter too, but intentional daily practice of deciding who you are, who you're gonna be before the world decides for you. Noticing also who's reaching for your thermostat, who's reaching for your dial. Returning to your personalized settings and paying the bill consciously instead of letting it accumulate in your body all week long. That was so powerful, powerful for us yesterday. Yeah, Selfcare Saturday, it asked us to set our temperature on purpose and to protect it like it matters. That was the week. Oh my goodness, we had a lot to unpack, and I just kind of wanted to review it with you, let you hear one more time in case you missed some of the days, and uh just get a grasp on some of the wonderful phrases that we heard and we unpacked and we spent time with, and it was so cool, and that brings us to where we are and where we find ourselves today.

The Week’s One Message Points Inward

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Slowdown Sunday, here on the sweet spot, where we blend science, soul, and success. And I want you to notice something about this week before we close it. Every single saying, every day, was pointing at the same thing from a different angle. If you noticed, Monday was about trusting your instincts over your fear. Tuesday was about showing up as yourself with intention. Wednesday was about protecting your energy and your winds. Thursday was about trusting the version of you that is still becoming. Friday was about releasing what you cannot control. Saturday, yesterday was about returning to yourself before anyone else gets there first. All of it, sweet spotter, every day was pointing inward. Every saying this week was an invitation to come back to yourself. That's what I was trying to get to. For you to trust yourself, for you to protect yourself, to know yourself well enough to lead yourself. And now, here on Sunday, after a full week of moving and building and releasing and becoming all the beautiful words that we did this week. You know, we always spend time in astrophysics and the universe on Sunday, slow down Sunday. The universe is where we get our information on Sunday, and the universe offers you one final invitation today.

Still Mind Wisdom From Lao Tzu

SPEAKER_00 12:59

And you know what that is? To be still. Lao Tzu said it this way: To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. And that's our phrase for today. To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. Not the busiest mind or the loudest mind or the most productive or the most decorated. No, it's the still one. And after this week, after everything Monday through Saturday asked of you, asked of us, I want you to understand what Lao Tzu is really saying here. All of that work, the moving, the trusting, the releasing, the becoming, the protecting, the showing up, all of it needs a place to land. It needs a container. And here on Slowdown Sunday, we look to the universe for answers.

Astrophysics Of The Space Between Stars

SPEAKER_00 14:10

We look to astrophysics, not because we're astrophysicists by any stretch. We leave that to Carl Singh and Neil deGrasse Tyson, they're the geniuses. But for us, astrophysics will tell us something. And what it tells us is that the space between the stars, it's not empty. That vast, quiet, interstellar medium, that stillness between every burning, blazing, luminous thing in the universe, is actually full. It looks like empty space, but it's not. It's full of gas and dust and full of magnetic fields and and the very conditions necessary for new stars to be actually born. So this space is not empty. Without the space between the stars, there would be no stars. That is what I've grasped from astrophysics. Without the stillness, there's no structure. Sunday is your interstellar medium, sweet spotters. Yeah, this is the space where everything you move through this week gets to settle, gets to integrate, gets to become wisdom instead instead of just like experience, right?

Default Mode Network And Real Insight

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Your brain has a as a has a network, it's called the DMN. We have discussed this I think a few weeks ago on Sweet Spot. It's called the DMN, the default mode network, we've heard of it. It's most active not when you're producing, but when you're still, it's like a daydreamer. This is where insight is born, where memory consolidates, where dots connect in ways that the busy mind doesn't access. Yeah, it's a default mode network. You're kind of doing nothing but like you're ruminating and you're thinking and you're daydreaming and you're coming back to things. You don't find meaning in the week in what you're doing, you actually find it in the space between what you're doing, and the default mode network is kind of active in those spaces. Imagine that in your brain, you have something called default mode, and it's a network of neurons, a network of brain cells. Wow! So let that land. You don't find meaning in what you're doing, it's actually in the space when you're processing it, the space when you're ruminating over it. The spaces matter, just like the spaces between the stars. Hmm. Let Monday's courage settle into your bones. Let Tuesday's intentionality become quiet confidence. Let what we discussed on Wednesday, the clarity about your room and the circus. Remember? No, no clowns. Let the clarity about your room and your circus sharpen into a boundary that you no longer have to think about. Let the space do that for you. Yeah, like on Thursday we talked about who you're becoming. Let Thursday's trust in who you're becoming deepen into something that doesn't need reassurance anymore. Let the space do that for you. Let Friday's release, actually release. All the way, not halfway. Let's release it. And let Saturday's thermostat really stay set right here, right now, in this moment. You said it. And then after you've done all of that, Monday through Saturday's lessons, I want you to do this. Do what we're talking about right now here on the sweet spot. Be still. Be still and know, as the ancient wisdom says. Know the divine. Be still and grasp that there's something bigger than you out there in this big wide universe. The mystery that we call God. To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. The universe is not waiting for you to do more today. It's waiting for you to receive what the doing was pointing you toward.

Your Assignment: Be Still And Listen

SPEAKER_00 19:00

So here's your only assignment for today. Find a moment of genuine stillness for this to all come together. Find the space and the time and the stillness and the solace and the solitude, the surrender that you need so that your brain's default mode network can put things together and create things. And just daydream and move in and out with you having to do anything. Do nothing and accomplish everything today. By slowing down, you get there more quickly. Yeah. Ask yourself one question and then listen. What did this week give me that I haven't fully received yet? Because I haven't been still. Don't think. Listen. And then let Sunday, let's slow down Sunday, hold the answer for you. One final time. I'm gonna give you the whole week in one sentence, in one breath. Move with intention. Show up on purpose. Own your wins. Trust when you fall. Release what you cannot fix. Set your temperature. And then be still.

One-Breath Summary And Closing

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Because the mind that is still is a quiet mind. Because to the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. And after a week like this, sweet builder, you have earned a right to this surrender. For science, for soul, and for success. You are a sweet spotter. You were built for this. Be still and let the universe meet you there. I'm Dr. Derek Sweet. Thank you. What a joy! What a pleasure! What an honor to be your partner. And until we meet again, until we meet tomorrow for making moves. Stay in your sweet spot.