KC14: Everything Matters Episode
In this episode, I’ll be sharing how EVERYTHING has the potential to influence us and to be hyper-conscious about it.
I once heard a story of 2 dogs fighting and the man who told the story asked the audience to guess who won the fight.
He proceeded almost immediately to reveal… it’s the one who was… BETTER FED!
Now I believe this has everything to do with us and the results we get in life.
You see…
EVERYTHING has the potential to influence us.
EVERYTHING can make a difference in our lives.
Allow me now to share just 5 key areas and examples how this is so. And this is certainly NOT an exhaustive list.
5 Key Influence Areas
We’ll start with our INTRA-personal communication. This is what they call our internal speak & dialogue. It’s what we say to ourselves every day. It’s what goes on “in our heads”.
One study shows women utter an average of 20,000 words each day while men speak an average of about 7000. Another study claims that the average person has some 50,000 thoughts a day.
Regardless of what the actual number is… the bottomline is… it’s A LOT!! And we’ll be wise to speak well to ourselves all the time because words have IMMENSE power.
I’ll expand on this extensively in a different episode.
Moving on to the 2nd area…
Many of us are also influenced by what we read in the newspapers each day and by what we watch on TV or listen to on the radio. This also includes YouTube of course… 🙂
Because here’s the thing, if what we consume is negative and it gets to us, it can become a dominating thought for quite a long while. And if what we consume doesn’t build us up or offer any real value, we ought to question ourselves and ask “Why bother?”.
So Really…
If we are parents, we’ll be wise to monitor the channels which our children are constantly exposed to. I know some families that intentionally choose to not have TVs in their homes. We are also certainly influenced by the books & audio books we consume so pay attention to those as well,
Next up is the 3rd area… where many of us delight in, where some are completely obsessed about… it’s our food.
Now I’m definitely not a nutritionist or a food expert but I know enough to know that the food we consume has the ability to affect wow we think, how we feel, our moods, etc and ultimately, our productivity.
Elements like sugar levels, caffeine & alcohol come to mind. Let me give you a brief and specific example. In my much younger days, having coffee had little effect on my body. But these days, if I were to have a coffee in the late afternoon or evening, it will delay my sleep by up to 2 to 4 hours resulting in a great productivity loss the following day.
Does this make sense?
Great… Now Let’s Consider The 4th Area…
One in which many people are passionate about, one in which people carry devices just to enjoy it… It’s the music we listen to! =)
Music is indeed FAR MORE POWERFUL than most of us have imagined it to be.
It is evocative. It transcends time, language & boundaries.
Hans Christian Andersen said…
“Where words fail, music speaks”.
Martin Luther said…
“Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is… the greatest treasure in the world”.
Marilyn Manson said…
“Music is the strongest form of magic”.
What kind of music do you listen to? Do you know some music aids productivity?
Examples include…
Songs with sounds of nature… Instrumental, classical music… Baroque music.
On this note, you’ll need to experiment and test which works for you best.
5th Major Area Of Influence Is…
The people we associate & hang around with and this should not come as a surprise.
They include our life partner & our families, our friends, our bosses, peers & subordinates and our social circles (including place of worship, etc).
I’ve shared before that we are MOST LIKELY going to become like the people we hang around most with. It’s the shared values that causes people to come together.
Do be mindful that these 5 areas we covered are certainly NOT an exhaustive list.
So here’s the thing… with anything, we have to ask ourselves…
How is it possibly influencing me?
Does it inspire, edify & build me up?
As I suggested at the very beginning… EVERYTHING has the potential to influence us… so do be hyper-conscious about it going forward.
For Now In Closing
Invest 5 minutes of your time to audit…
#1 – The quality of your daily self-talk
#2 – What we allow our eyes and ears exposed to via the media since it can affect our spirit and soul
#3 – The types of food that you consume
#4 – The music you listen to all the time
#5 – The people you spend the most time with
If it serves you, GREAT! And if it doesn’t, replace it with something that does.
I hope this episode is useful to you.
If you like to reach out to me, you can do so at KelvinChan.org
Have a reflective time for now!
