1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,480 Welcome back to the Laughing Matters podcast. I, as always, am your humble host, W.S. Walker, 2 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:23,560 and we're going to do a show today. So just a few things that I wanted to touch on. We'll 3 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:28,360 start one out with a kind of innocuous one, but it's a little trick that I found that 4 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:36,360 I thought you guys would really appreciate. It is kind of a biological hack. It's not 5 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:40,840 quite a polling case of emergency, but it is something you want to kind of reserve for 6 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:48,720 more serious situations. Basically, when you get tired, you get that far away feeling, 7 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:53,760 you know, when you're really tired, you're trying to focus on something, which is essentially 8 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:59,280 your semi-conscious. And when you, you may have heard of thing called micro naps, it's 9 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:06,040 where you kind of just, you're not sure if you nodded off or not. That's typically when 10 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:11,960 you get the little head bobs. What's happening there is your brain is essentially cleaning 11 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:17,920 itself. It's clearing out toxins. And during those moments, because it's just kind of either 12 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:23,600 a brief shutdown or over a period of time, I'm not absolutely certain on the science 13 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:30,080 on this one. But what it looks like to me is that when you're in that far away state, 14 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:37,040 kind of like you got your belt rung, semi-conscious, your brain is limiting function. It's clearing 15 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:43,040 out the toxins from certain areas. At some areas, it's just got to shut you down for 16 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:51,000 man, for just maybe five, 10 seconds. And then you pop right back up. We've all done 17 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:59,440 it. What look at any baby half the time. 18 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:02,720 We're watching a movie with somebody that you know, you're not supposed to fall asleep 19 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:08,320 during, but you just keep and you keep telling, no, I'm good, man. I'm good. No, I can stay 20 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:14,520 awake. I just, but it never occurs to you in those moments. Your brain won't let you 21 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:20,520 have that realization that I need to shift positions. And this way, I'm not going to 22 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:25,240 be able to stay awake if I don't shift positions. At the moment, you realize that you're like, 23 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:30,080 okay, you sit up and you're usually good. But if you just stay in that position, you're 24 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:39,080 back to Nod Town in no time. You barely miss any of the rhythm of it taking you down. And 25 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:43,280 then when it's done it enough times, if you leave it unchecked, then it'll, you know, 26 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:48,440 kind of give you the full reboot. You'll start waking the rest of the way back up. And we've 27 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:56,240 all had our little nap and rally. And also, if you're unaware, apparently they say 20 28 00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:01,640 minutes, 10 to 20 minutes is the ideal little nap time. If you go further than that, you 29 00:03:01,640 --> 00:03:09,400 start dipping into, you know, other rhythms and other stages of sleep. So you want to 30 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:15,320 be able to come back up easily. That does the most essential kind of clearing out in 31 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:22,840 your brain. But what I'm going to teach you today is one that I've used for several years 32 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:31,680 now for well over a decade now. It essentially in those times that really they're like, okay, 33 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:36,160 everybody clear out of this section. We're going to give it a cleaning. This tricks your 34 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:45,960 brain into manning all stations instead. Yeah. So if you're ever feeling mentally sluggish, 35 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:51,560 if you have that far away feeling, if you have the nods, if you feel a micro nap coming 36 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:58,080 on, you can use this. The way that I first heard it was that you just hold your breath 37 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:04,640 for like 45 seconds, 50 seconds, as long as it takes for your body to start wanting to 38 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:10,600 fight back against it. Like it's just like, I need to, I need to breathe. And you start 39 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:16,040 getting those kinds of pangs of your body going, wake up. We need to breathe. See, at 40 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:20,040 that point, there's something going on in your head. What a little guy is like, sir, 41 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:35,280 I need to get you out of bed. Everybody up, everybody up. Phillips, did you hit the button? 42 00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:38,480 There you go, son. Hope that gets you breathing again soon. I'm going back to bed. You'll 43 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:45,920 feel it happen. You get this nice little squirt of adrenaline. It's not a typical, at least 44 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:52,680 not for me. It's not a, I don't feel jittery. I don't feel hyper. You just feel awake, bad. 45 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:57,960 You feel like you, that you woke up in the last like hour and a half after a good night's 46 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:06,360 sleep. Like it's, you just feel it and even keel and that'll last for a while. But I discovered 47 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:18,720 that if you instead in a far more uncomfortable way, blow all the breath in your lungs out. 48 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:23,840 To be honest, I was editing the other night and I did not want to get up to get a five 49 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:35,760 hour energy. So I did the blowout trick and wide awake, perfectly awake within 10 seconds. 50 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:42,000 So yeah, you don't really have to wait for 45. That's kind of hard to do in an exam 51 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:48,160 class. People start looking at you at a certain point, but yeah, it's only 10, 15 seconds 52 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:52,700 of having your breath out. Typically you'll do it. Do it enough for it to be serviceable. 53 00:05:52,700 --> 00:05:58,360 If you really, really want to wake up, give it all 30 seconds. Cause man, you know, hold 54 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:05,360 your breath for a fairly long time, holding all the breath in your lungs out of your body. 55 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:19,040 Ooh, not nearly as long. Your body will not put up with that. So there you go. If you 56 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:25,040 get tired during a rather crucial time and your brain starts to micro nap, you turn around 57 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:39,560 and you say to yourself, that was so stupid. I'm sorry. It's late and I did not use that 58 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:48,360 trick yet. Um, I wouldn't do this too often, but, uh, just some examples of where I've 59 00:06:48,360 --> 00:07:00,080 used it. Uh, 7 a.m. college class exams. Those, uh, yeah, they're not fun. I actually drove 60 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:06,720 back from Florida last year on a family vacation and started to feel it coming on. I was doing 61 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:10,720 everything I could do. You know, I was turning up the music, I was rolling down the windows, 62 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:16,160 wasn't working. And so I did that and that got me home safely. Thank God. It's a little 63 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:21,280 scary that kind of had that in my pocket because I don't know what I would have done without 64 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:26,040 it. Nothing was working that kept. I mean, like I had to drive another almost 45 minutes 65 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:37,740 before there was a place to stop to get something. So, um, you know, I've been noticing a drift 66 00:07:37,740 --> 00:07:43,640 happening lately and honestly it's been happening for a while, but like really only coming into 67 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:51,200 focus recently and so many of us drift, including myself, of course. What do I mean by that? 68 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:59,000 Okay. So televisions, let's start at televisions. The majority of us do not use this technology 69 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:04,000 to create, to communicate or better somebody else's life with it more than they use it 70 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:09,960 at least to fill space and time. And it gives them time to be sedentary and mobilized and 71 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:16,560 comfortable or as a way to pass the time, which if you think about it, the fact that 72 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:25,040 our lives are so limited in time, given that it takes us, you know, 20 years to get really 73 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:31,200 steady on our feet and up and running in the last 20 to 40 years, more or less start the 74 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:39,800 process of feebling. Most of us pass the time is a bit more like taking an X amount of hours 75 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:45,480 of your limited remaining balance and waving your hand at it. They have nothing productive 76 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:53,080 to be done here. Or I surrender these hours for, I have no use for them. Now, people that 77 00:08:53,080 --> 00:09:00,360 see these hours as much needed breaks from a busy schedule. I get that in that you are 78 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:06,040 taking recharge time while being told stories or what's happening elsewhere in the world 79 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:12,960 or taking looks inside other people's mostly scripted lives, Mark does reality TV or watching 80 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:20,760 people risk it all for a chance at something. But it's still surrendering usable hours 81 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:26,160 where you could be strengthening an interpersonal connection or giving thanks to God or helping 82 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:30,840 one of the countless people that could use your help right now or just use a couple of 83 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:39,960 nice words or kindness or it's time that you have that you could use to convey something 84 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:47,080 that's good. It's time where you can research and learn where you can be better and whatever 85 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:57,640 your purpose ends up being. For me, it's it's more time that I could slash should be writing, 86 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:04,520 filming, editing the shows that I'm working on getting a book agent so I can go to publish 87 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:09,720 a little sidebar here guys. I've had several people ask me why I don't go to publish with 88 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:17,680 Amazon. Well, Amazon has a three year exclusivity contract in which no one can publish the book 89 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:25,080 except for Amazon. And I would prefer to have the option to have an agent getting a deal 90 00:10:25,080 --> 00:10:30,800 with a publishing house where there would be some marketing push on the book to get 91 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:36,560 it into more hands. I am of the sincerest opinion that if I can get some money to read 92 00:10:36,560 --> 00:10:43,160 it and to take it seriously when reading it, I will almost certainly have someone else 93 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:49,520 fighting on the side of me in the book trying to get the book out. As it stands like yes, 94 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:54,280 I know you guys really enjoy the podcast. Thank you so much for letting me know that. 95 00:10:54,280 --> 00:11:01,440 Can't tell you how much that just, but currently the you know, the shows have very small audience. 96 00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:07,800 I mean, like, yes, I am so appreciative of every listener and every viewer we have. But 97 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:12,640 in the scope of how many people will have read the book, I mean, that's going to be 98 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:20,640 a fraction of that. And given how, you know, small that hardly it's already is, like this 99 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:28,160 is something that deserves to be known. I mean, if you guys have come with me this far 100 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:33,280 and are listening to the show still, I've got to think that at least most of you would 101 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:38,760 agree with me when I say that this is a message that deserves to be out there and that mankind 102 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:44,920 needs to have available to those seeking answers in the same categories that my book and the 103 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:55,640 concepts lie with them. It deserves to outlast me. It's not about the guy that found it. 104 00:11:55,640 --> 00:12:03,200 It's about what was found. It's something that I definitely have to put in more time 105 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:09,240 on. I'm sure that there are things in your life that if you imagined the TV were not 106 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:14,880 an option to fill that time with, there's something that you can think of something 107 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:25,400 that is definitely in the in run really, really worth your time. Sure, take some time to recoup, 108 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:32,800 recover, wind down, but try not to surrender it as an activity. I don't know if you guys 109 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:40,040 know this about me, but I didn't have any cable TV until I went to college. It was included 110 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:48,680 in the room. But up until then, we grew up on free stations, over the air programming 111 00:12:48,680 --> 00:12:55,880 and VHS tapes, of course. But when I went to college, I found myself getting very quickly 112 00:12:55,880 --> 00:13:01,120 addicted to cable television. It wasn't that it was like slotting time to sit down and 113 00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:08,760 watch TV. It became something that was on in the background and that I would consistently 114 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:16,320 give varying levels of attention to. It filled my time in a very literal sense. It was like 115 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:22,920 the things that I had to do during the day were all piled in a bucket. That was the size 116 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:29,360 of the amount of time in which I had to do everything that day. And I had been pouring 117 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:37,960 concrete in on top of it, filling in all the gaps in all the things that I had to do. And 118 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:44,200 the more I did this and the more sedentary I became, the more that concrete seemed to 119 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:49,920 harden. I mean, it took more and more energy to get started on creating something or writing 120 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:56,400 on something or doing all the other things that I could have been doing instead that 121 00:13:56,400 --> 00:14:01,440 would affect others. And the reason it took more energy was because I had to first pull 122 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:06,760 myself away from this thing that I was enjoying. You know, because you're enjoying it. You 123 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:11,520 don't want to pull away from it to actually do something, especially something that would 124 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:18,080 require creative effort. It's almost like you have all of this replacement content. 125 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:23,160 It's not that which I don't like saying content that much. If you're saying content, it kind 126 00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:31,960 of indicates that, you know, it's like filler because you think of it as that we need content 127 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:40,000 here. It's something that's thrown in to fill space. And that's not what I do, man. But 128 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:51,680 that's what cable did. It was content, spewing out of the cement truck. It's at this point 129 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:58,600 in the podcast, you can probably pretty easily take a look at your own life and decide for 130 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:04,280 yourself where you sit with your relationship with surrendering time to television, streaming 131 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:10,680 services, YouTube, etc. And to answer the question that I'm sure at least a couple of 132 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:17,560 you thought, you know, generally speaking about I would not count time spent listening 133 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:26,320 to this podcast or watching could help videos on YouTube, or other videos under those categories. 134 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:31,760 Those of you who tune in, you're hearing things that you could use to help shape a better 135 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:38,320 way of thinking and being and acting in your decisions in the world. This can help you 136 00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:43,880 and what you leave behind the influence that you send out into the world that you know, 137 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:49,760 doubles over itself doubles over itself as it affects each person. And those effects 138 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:55,960 of their decisions and the way that they were affected, it just keeps going outwards guys. 139 00:15:55,960 --> 00:16:04,560 So value your time, because it has enormous value. You add a little bit of effort or attention 140 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:13,600 into the mix, and it can be made into almost anything. And so many of our hours are already 141 00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:21,600 spoken for by sleep and growing up and working and maintenance, that we need to treat the 142 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:26,480 hours that aren't any of those, especially the ones that happened during that crucial 143 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:35,080 middle period of your life with far more reverence than we do. This is, as far as we know, your 144 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:42,680 one go around in the waters of life and humanity's history. How much of that would you prefer 145 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:50,280 to get thrown out as time spent down the recommended video YouTube rabbit hole, or binge watching 146 00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:55,880 a series? I want you to understand though that I'm not calling you lazy. I'm not saying 147 00:16:55,880 --> 00:17:03,160 you don't have a life. What I'm saying is it, it does take you away from the history 148 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:09,520 being made out of cause and effect. Bench watching a show easily takes us out of the 149 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:16,960 everyday flow of all those interactions that shape our world. And all of those things that 150 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:22,960 can shape another's life, their mood, and most importantly, influence their decisions. 151 00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:27,880 They're just opted out of. You didn't show up for the game. And before you say that you've 152 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:34,380 had an entire friendships forged over a game or film or television series or another kind 153 00:17:34,380 --> 00:17:40,260 of media fandom, I'm simply pointing out that this exists, whether or not you yourself fall 154 00:17:40,260 --> 00:17:45,600 into these categories or degrees of it, it's going to be up to you to determine that. How 155 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:53,360 would I know that? Again, I'm not making any claims that in cases of everything mentioned, 156 00:17:53,360 --> 00:18:00,580 they are definitively a yes or no that we do. We did guys. We do love labeling so many 157 00:18:00,580 --> 00:18:09,200 things in that way for ease of mental categorization. I think we got a cap to that, but this is 158 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:16,920 just to help you understand another side of it. It's up to you to determine if this is 159 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:24,080 accurate in your own life. Regardless of where you sit on the spectrum of this, I think that 160 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:30,800 anyone that does an honest inventory on this and finds themselves to share some resemblance 161 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:39,120 and some of the descriptions here that they would agree with me on this particular point. 162 00:18:39,120 --> 00:18:50,160 Those hours, they are far more valuable than I can know. So I'm going to try to spend them 163 00:18:50,160 --> 00:19:01,480 and I'm going to try to do more. And that's it. I just wanted to share that with you guys. 164 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:08,080 Of course, go to youtube.com slash could help. You can write me, which, oh my goodness, please 165 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:15,160 write me. Or if you want to record yourself asking a question, I'll play it on the show. 166 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:20,600 Bring it on. Thanks once again for tuning in. Of course, you can catch me at youtube.com 167 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:31,240 slash could help and please write me. Oh yeah, I'm not begging anymore. Please write me. 168 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:37,720 Totally not begging anymore. But of your own volition, if you choose to write to me or 169 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:43,080 record yourself, you know, ask you a question, I'll play that on the show. You can get to 170 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:55,160 me at will help mail at gmail.com. So I guess I'll leave you guys with this. Oh, the seconders 171 00:19:55,160 --> 00:20:05,160 are ready to sing along. Be good to them. Be good for them. And you're going to be fantastic. 172 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:13,440 I'm WS Walker. You're the fantastic you be sweet.