This episode is just to encourage you to remember the elderly and shut ins who are around you. In a covid safe manner, find ways to connect with them.

Saturday, we have huge plans to go singing in some elderly people's yards. We are joining our friends - Jon, Mandi and my parents (Justin). We are just going to drive to their homes, keep a safe distance from them in their yard and sing some songs.

We share some songs from our sing along last week that we plan to make into a CD for those who are shut-in. I can't type out who played what instruments but here is a list of people involved in those songs: Gerald, Karen, Derek, Jon, Mandi, Calynn, Peyton, Jon W, Justin, Shawna, Xavier, Ephraim, Perez, Asher, Hosanna, Ezra.

www.lsfpodcast.com for our free morning planner for adults and kids.

Facebook = Less Stress Family Podcast

Shawna = Instagram @shawnashereewood

Art Work: Shawna

Intro Voice: Hosanna, Asher, Ezra

Intro and Outro Music:

Acoustic guitar - Justin

Bass - Xavier

Electric Guitar - Ephraim

Djembe drum - Perez

Shakes and Rattles - Shawna, Hosanna, Ezra

Awkwardness. Who enjoys it? Join us today as we talk through awkwardness and how to move through it into the growth process. 

But can you think of a single thing in your life that wasn't awkward at first?
Learning to walk. Learning to eat with a fork. Learning to read. Learning to drive. 1st day at work. 2nd day at work. 1st date. 2nd date.

We get stress out when we want to be smooth and look great at something the first or second time that we do it.

We have to understand that awkwardness is part of the growth process.
Hugging your teenager. Saying "I love you". Trying a new exercise. These are the awkward things that make you a better person in the long run.



https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/contemporary-psychoanalysis-in-action/201602/why-do-i-feel-so-awkward

www.lsfpodcast.com for our free morning planner for adults and kids.

Facebook = Less Stress Family Podcast

Shawna = Instagram @shawnashereewood

Art Work: Shawna

Intro Voice: Hosanna, Asher, Ezra

Intro and Outro Music:

Acoustic guitar - Justin

Bass - Xavier

Electric Guitar - Ephraim

Djembe drum - Perez

Shakes and Rattles - Shawna, Hosanna, Ezra

My dad and mom have an amazing gift of hospitality. We have just spent 2 days at their house recording music, eating great food and hanging out. It has been a real blessing!

In this episode, we talk about the challenges of covid, but we encourage you to find a way to engage with others and practice some old school people skills as appropriate.

We talk about meeting outdoors, using paper products and some other things to practice hospitality in 2020.

Art Work: Shawna

Intro Voice: Hosanna, Asher, Ezra

Intro and Outro Music:

Acoustic guitar - Justin

Bass - Xavier

Electric Guitar - Ephraim

Djembe drum - Perez

Shakes and Rattles - Shawna, Hosanna, Ezra

www.lsfpodcast.com for our free morning planner for adults and kids.

Facebook = Less Stress Family Podcast

Shawna = Instagram @shawnashereewood

This discussion comes from James Clear's Atomic Habits and it started in episode 125 about how to start the 1% improvement lifestyle. 

I (Justin) removed the TV from our living room because of the happiness that I felt when measuring backwards. I realized how happy I felt when I could just sit in my chair and not turn on the chaos in the world. Such a peaceful place. 

James Clear points out that when we set goals and plan for the future, we often set ourselves up for failure because we don't consider what brought us to this point. When we don't consider our recent activities and achievements, we aim for a horizon that will never arrive. 

www.lsfpodcast.com for our free morning planner for adults and kids.

Facebook = Less Stress Family Podcast

Shawna = Instagram @shawnashereewood

Art Work: Shawna

Intro Voice: Hosanna, Asher, Ezra

Intro and Outro Music:

Acoustic guitar - Justin

Bass - Xavier

Electric Guitar - Ephraim

Djembe drum - Perez

Shakes and Rattles - Shawna, Hosanna, Ezra

Food Freedom!! We struggled to find a way to eat healthy and not feel hungry.

Corey and Hollie first introduced us to Trim Healthy Mama and this pattern has become the way we have judged all other meals and diet plans.

We give an overview of how this way of approaching food has shifted us. We lay out the general philosophy and application.

This is a great system for understanding food and you can find practitioners all over the world now.

https://trimhealthymama.com/


www.lsfpodcast.com for our free morning planner for adults and kids.

Facebook = Less Stress Family Podcast

Shawna = Instagram @shawnashereewood

Art Work: Shawna

Intro Voice: Hosanna, Asher, Ezra

Intro and Outro Music:

Acoustic guitar - Justin

Bass - Xavier

Electric Guitar - Ephraim

Djembe drum - Perez

Shakes and Rattles - Shawna, Hosanna, Ezra

Some times things just click. Things clicked for me (Justin) when I read James Clear's explanation of 1% improvements.

I applied this to our family with 100 pennies laid out on the floor during our devotional time. I told them that most people do not value a penny enough to pick it up because it is only 1% of a dollar. But if they ( my kids) will improve just 1% in something every day, then they will be 37x better in that area in 1 year.

James Clear lays out the British cycling team that began to dominate the world but just making very small changes. Basically, our new year resolution approach to life leads us to a boom and bust cycle. We go over the 3 practical steps needed to change your life by just doing these simple 1% improvements.

https://jamesclear.com/continuous-improvement

Art Work: Shawna

Intro Voice: Hosanna, Asher, Ezra

Intro and Outro Music:

Acoustic guitar - Justin

Bass - Xavier

Electric Guitar - Ephraim

Djembe drum - Perez

Shakes and Rattles - Shawna, Hosanna, Ezra

www.lsfpodcast.com  for our free morning planner for adults and kids.

Facebook = Less Stress Family Podcast

Shawna = Instagram @shawnashereewood

If you are exhausted at the end of the day (every day), but you aren't getting what you need out of life, then you might need to reconsider your to do list.

We share the story about how a lion can hunt mice all day and basically starve over time (not enough calories in vs calories out) OR the same lion can hunt the bigger game that will sustain the pride (group of lions). 

We talk about inputs, outputs of time, energy, and value. 

Obviously, evaluating your inputs correctly can take a lot of experience, but it is essential that we apply the Pareto (80/20) principle to all areas of our life. Otherwise that part of life will be chasing mice and starving over time. 

Shawna has been working hard to practice the NOW - meaning that she has focused more and more about the present and the LORD's Presence.

Some people are geared to dwell in the past which can lead to depression, regret, anger.
Some people are geared to dwell in the future which can lead to rush, worry anxiety.
If you can learn to live in the right now, then you can experience more peace, grounding, and joy.

We read the amazing Derek Sivers story about riding his bike 43 minutes vs 45 minutes.
https://sive.rs/relax

Do you remember Opposite Day in elementary school with your friends? 

We dive into Tim Ferris' story about doing the opposite in his first sales job. He stopped calling from 9 to 5. Instead, he started calling from 7 to 8:30 in the morning and then after the 5pm work stop. Why? because the gatekeepers were not there during those hours and he could often talk to the real decision makers.

Ask yourself if you can do the opposite in regards to your timing, your doing, your sourcing. We give some examples of ways that Covid has forced us to do the opposite. 

In this Part 2 = The enneagram is such a useful tool because it shows your blindspots (episodes 98, 99, 100) and it also shows your how you act in stress. I (Justin) was super blown away because the enneagram nailed my stress response tendencies.

We have used these stress tendencies to become aware when we are stressing out or when our spouse is stressing out or when our kids are stressing out.

We are able to give ourselves and our family members and our co-workers are lot more grace when we can see the stress patterns that the enneagram shows to us.

Today we cover numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8 and how each number acts when under stress. 

https://www.enneasight.com/2011/07/enneagram-type-under-stress/

www.enneagraminstitute.com