Slowdown Sunday Welcome

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Looks like we made it! Oh my goodness, it's slowdown Sunday here on the Sweet Spot. I'm your host, I'm Dr. Derek Sweet. I'm a born-certified psychiatrist. But more than that, I am your teammate in the game of life. So, Sweet Spotter, we have had a journey among the words. This series we've done here is called The Words. Today's Word. And guess what? We have done seven words.

Why Words Shape Reality

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Let me start with a question. Why words? Why did we pick words to do this week? Why didn't we just pick huge themes? Well, of everything we could have built this week around, we could have done a habit, we could have done a routine, we could have done a system, a plan. You know how we do on the sweet spot? Here's why we chose a word. We chose words because words are not just how we communicate, they're how we construct our reality. And here on the sweet spot, we're about science, soul, and success. And neuroscience has shown that the specific words we use, even the ones we say only to ourselves, they shape our brain and how our brain thinks, they shape our neural pathways in our brain, they determine whether we move towards something or away from it. Even in the ancient wisdom in Genesis, before anything existed, that book starts with these words. God spoke. Words come first, everything else followed. Yeah, it was words that came first in the ancient wisdom. And it's still that way.

Six Words And Six Shifts

SPEAKER_00 2:22

So when we chose the word move on Monday, we were handing the brain a direction. When we chose act on Tuesday, we collapsed the gap between knowing and doing. Remember? Win on Win It All Wednesday gave us permission to redefine the scoreboard about what's really a win. Trust yourself Thursday. We chose the word trust to rebuild the bridge that led us back to ourselves. Oh yeah, on Finish Strong Friday, we closed anything that was quietly left open. On self-care Saturday, we said the self, and that was our word self, we said the self mattered enough for us to take care of it. Those six words in those six days caused six shifts in how we saw ourselves, sweet builders. And today, today we come to the seventh word. And it's no coincidence that it's Sunday. It's not a coincidence that this word comes last. And today's word is slow. Slow as in slowdown Sunday. Yes, sweet dreamer, it's slow down Sunday, and today we finish the way every great thing finishes. Not with a sprint, but with a breath. Before anything else, we want to ask something. Think about this week. Really think about the week you just had, sweet spotter. What was the hardest word for you for us this week? Was it Monday's word move? Because starting felt so difficult, was so challenging? Or was it Tuesday's word act? Because we knew what to do and we were still hesitating and waiting. Was it win? Because we didn't even know where to look inside of ourselves to find the win. Remember when I asked the question, where are you winning? And we all had trouble kind of answering it. On Thursday, we talked about trust. Was it trust that was difficult? Because the last person we expected to doubt was the one in the mirror. Was it finish? Because Friday fatigue showed up right on schedule to stop us. Or was it self? Because nobody ever told us that tending to ourselves was actually sacred work. Whatever word stopped us this week, whatever word gave us hesitation or pause, that's the one we needed most. And here's the revelation hiding inside of all of it.

Slow As The Foundation

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Every single one of those words only works, only works when it's built on today's word. Because movement without stillness is just spinning, action without reflection is just reaction. Winning without rest is exhaustion wearing a trophy. Trust without silence is noise hoping to be heard. Finishing without pausing is just starting something else. And the self cannot be known by a mind that never stops long enough to listen. Slow is the word for today. And it's not the last word. Slow is what makes the other six words we worked on this week matter. Think about the last time you truly slowed down, truly chose intentionally to slow down. For most of us, it's been a while. To sit with no phone, no TV, no stimulation, just to sit there for 10-15 minutes with yourself. Very hard to do. Because somewhere we got the message that slowing down means falling behind. Because we're overstimulated with this phone. I speak to myself. We're overstimulated with the TV, the news, everything that's coming at us. But here's what the science actually shows. When we never stop, when we just refuse to stop or can't stop, you know what happens? The experience of living never really fully hits us. It never integrates. Everything we did this week, sweet spotter, the moving, the trusting, the finishing, all the work you did this week becomes wisdom only when we slow down enough to let it land, to let it take hold, to let it soak in you. Did you just go from thing to thing to thing to thing this week and didn't even stop to reflect that you're a beautiful, wonderfully made human being, that you're awesome, that you're extraordinary, that you're amazing, and that this thing that you call life, this mystery that you call life was unfolding alongside you. Did you stop to even look at the universe to see how it is in no rush and everything gets done? Slow is

Nature Stillness And Ancient Wisdom

SPEAKER_00 8:06

not where the story ends, no matter what the world tries to tell us. Slow is where the story just gets deeper. Nature does not hurry, yet everything gets accomplished. Think about it, the seed doesn't rush to become a tree, does it? The river is never forcing its way to the sea, is it? And yet everything arrives. Everything is accomplished without hurry. The sun rises and it sets. No hurry. And that's why the ancient word, and I've said it a thousand times, keeps coming back to us. It has outlasted every philosophy and every framework. Be still, sweet spotter. Be still, sweet dreamer. Be still, sweet builder, sweet ones, be still and know I'm God. Yeah, the ancient wisdom. It's clear. Because in stillness we find our truest selves. In stillness we find access to the divine, to something bigger than who we are. And there's another word, right? Stillness. Words are attached to words: stillness and slowness and solitude. Yeah. And silence. So much to unpack.

Practice One Thing Slowly

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Absolutely. So I want you to do one thing fully today, slowly. I want you to eat your meal as if you've never eaten a meal like this before. Slowly, savoring every bite today and see how that lands for you. I want you to look around your home, look around your office, look around the world, and look at things as if you're seeing them for the very first time. I want you to slow down and notice. Just notice the things around you as if you've never seen them before. Yeah, let that settle in. Let that settle in. Seven days, seven words.

Slowness Health Benefits And Close

SPEAKER_00 10:37

And there is a connection to being slow and your health. When you rest and you recover and you replenish and you reset, you are helping your cardiovascular system. When you sleep, you're helping your immune system. You're allowing your brain's lymphatic system to clear out. You're tanking up your immune system. You're allowing growth hormone and testosterone and other amazing chemicals and neurotransmitters and hormones in your body to replenish while you're still, while you're being slow. So words matter. So this is a good time to tell you I love you. Have a great Sunday for science, for soul, and for success. You're in the sweet spot. I'll see you Monday because we got moves to make.