The Best Thing You Can Do Today? DON’T LISTEN TO THIS! (Summer Shift Finale)

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SPEAKER_01: This morning, I did something that probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense for me to tell you, for me to be promoting on this podcast, being a podcaster, and that is I turn the podcast off.

Yes, my friend, by default, I tend to wake up each morning, say my morning prayer, thanking God for a good night's sleep for the day ahead.

And then what do I do?

I pick up my phone, click on Apple Podcasts, find the latest episode of one of my favorite shows, and click play.

And there I go, off to the races, starting my day with a podcast playing.

Now, sometimes maybe I'm not in the mood for a podcast.

So instead, open up Apple Music, put on some music to listen to.

Or maybe I decide to go old school and actually just turn on the television, turn on the news, and have the news playing in the background while I make the morning cup of coffee.

There's always something playing, always something going.

But this morning, and matter of fact, here lately, I found myself doing something different.

Is yes, I default to the typical.

Press play, turn it on, hear the noise.

But here lately, I've been turning it off.

I've been hitting pause on the podcast.

And my friend, today is the 12th and final episode in our summer shift series.

We have been on a journey this summer.

And if you're kind of like me, I'm still kind of thinking, where the heck did this summer go?

I mean, the whole point of this summer shift series was to get us intentional about making improvements in ourselves.

I mean, my friend, if you've been here since the beginning of this SummerShift series, you know we've done a lot.

But my gosh, it seems like it's flown by.

And now everything is getting back to usual.

Kids are going back to school.

Life is returning to that quote-unquote normalcy.

And it's kind of unbelievable.

But here we are, week 12 of the Summer Shift series.

And what I had planned, kind of like I've done on some of the past weeks, it no longer felt like the thing that I wanted to end the series with.

Instead, I brought it back to what I was experiencing in my own life, the shift that I've been making, and that's the same shift that I'm encouraging you to make.

And quite possibly, it's the most meaningful shift of all.

My friend, I am your host, Kevin Lowe.

This is episode 459 of Grace and Inspiration.

And as I said, it is our 12th and final week in our summer shift series.

Now, if you want the shortcut for today's episode, stop, hit pause, turn off this podcast, stop listening to me.

That is what I'm telling you.

That is the shift I want you to make.

Or if you decide, okay, that's a little weird.

Well, keep listening because I'm going to explain.

But I promise this is a short episode because if I drag it out, it kind of defeats the whole purpose of what I'm telling you.

Because today, the most meaningful shift of all is I'm going to encourage you to think about hitting pause on the noise.

So many times we feel the need to fill the void.

We just press play by default, like me in the morning.

Why can't I just sit with my own thoughts?

Why can't I just hear nothing?

Why can't I just listen to the sound of the coffee maker?

Why do I have to have a podcast playing for me to listen to?

Why do I have to have music going, the news going, constantly noise?

And as I said, here lately, I've been paying attention to that, to the reality that I don't always need something playing.

Now, I think it goes a little bit deeper than that.

Because if you're like me, a lot of times, especially when it comes to podcasts, I go to podcasts typically when I'm wanting to learn something.

I'm wanting to get inspiration, get some motivation, some insights.

But one thing I've learned is that honestly, the more we consume, whether it's podcasts or books that we read, honestly, what do we really gain from any of it?

I mean, yeah, I mean, again, I hope that this podcast brings you entertainment.

I hope it inspires you and motivates you and has you thinking about things differently.

But if I'm honest, is there anything that I ever say that truly makes a meaningful shift in your life that you couldn't have thought of yourself?

Maybe it inspires you to get thinking, but ultimately before you take action, it's probably you making that decision for yourself.

And so, my friend, what I want us to think about is maybe the answer is already inside of us.

We tend to think that there's always somebody else out there who knows the answer for us with whatever we're struggling with.

We think that somebody else has that silver bullet.

They have the shortcut, they have the cheat code, and we go and we consume and we consume and we consume all this material, all these things from all these people.

And yet, chances are when we try to implement it in our life, in our situation, it doesn't work quite the way we thought.

And I have to believe it's because we're all different, we're all on our own journey.

If you ask 10 different people, 10 different entrepreneurs, how they made it, I guarantee you you're gonna get 10 different answers.

If you go to 10 different couples who've been married for 50 years and ask them, how have you been married this long?

you're gonna get 10 different stories.

If you go find 10 different people who you think have a truly happy life and ask them, what is the secret, you're gonna get 10 different stories of how they've achieved it.

The reason is because everybody's on their own path in life.

Nobody knows what you're going through, just like nobody knows what I'm going through.

You've been on your own journey.

And that's why to move forward, you can't rely on using the same playbook that somebody else did.

Now, yeah, does it give us ideas to try?

Of course.

Does it give us inspiration and motivation to keep going?

Absolutely.

That's why I do this podcast in hopes of being that for you.

But when we really boil it down and we really want to make a meaningful shift in our life, I have to believe it comes by us getting quiet, by turning off the noise, and just asking ourselves those big questions.

What do I do now?

What is the next right step?

And instead of turning on something, listening to somebody else, coming through the speaker of our phone, why don't we instead just sit in the silence?

Because I don't know about you, but when I've had breakthroughs in my life, when I've had some big things happen, they've never come when listening to a podcast.

They've never come when watching a movie, a TV show.

No.

They've come when I'm in the shower.

Boom.

Greatest idea ever.

They've come in just the quiet parts when you're laying in bed at night and you can't sleep, and you haven't turned over and turned on anything to listen to, and instead you're just laying there.

It's in those moments of quiet when we actually give ourselves time to just be, to just listen, to just be still.

That's a lot of times when the biggest breakthroughs come.

So, my friend, as life is getting ready, and quite honestly, is already back into the chaos of life.

We're heading into the end of the year, and life's gonna get noisy.

It's getting crazy.

My friend, just try to do your part and hitting pause to just pause for a moment.

When you're filling the void with noise, think about just stopping it and thinking to yourself, hmm, maybe this is an opportunity for me to just be still, for me to not be listening to something.

When you go out for your walk, don't put in your earbuds.

When you go to do the dishes, don't put on music.

When you go sit outside, maybe just don't take anything.

Don't turn on the radio, don't take your phone with you.

Just go sit outside with a cup of coffee and just listen to the birds.

Watch the beautiful sunrise.

Just be.

And my friend, I have to think that's this entire SummerShift series boiled down into a single short episode.

The most meaningful shift that we can make is to just be, to just be still, to just be quiet, to just listen to us.

Because again, nobody knows you like you know you.

So stop looking for answers, turn off the podcasts, and my friend, just start enjoying a little bit of peace and quiet.

And in that quiet, quite honestly, you'll probably find what you've been looking for all along.

I'm your host, Kevin Lowe.

My friend, it's been an honor being with you throughout this entire summer in our Summer Shift series.

If there's ever anything I can do for you, please reach out to me.

My contact info is inside of every episode show notes.

You can also head on over to the website gritgraceinspiration.com.

Easy ways to connect with me there.

So, my friend, reach out anytime.

Would love to hear from you.

And until next week, my friend, get out there, enjoy this beautiful day, and again, let this be the last thing you listen to today on your phone.

Just turn it off, hit pause, and enjoy the silence.