Pressing Pause ep 122 A personal smart meter for your life
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Welcome to Pressing Pause, I’m your host, Gabrielle Treanor, a coach, writer, introvert and sensitive soul with an inclination to ponder over the stuff of life. Join me as I explore how we can create, find and feel more calm, ease and joy in our daily lives.
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I wonder, do you know that I have a bunch of free guides and audios to help you live with more calm and joy that you can download for free on my website? There’s a guide on how you can start your day with more calm without needing to find a single extra minute in your morning – I guarantee I will not tell you to set your alarm a minute earlier. There’s an ebook on how to overcome your overwhelm as an introvert, because us introverts can get overwhelmed really quite easily! There’s a set of guided meditations you can listen to and there’s a guide on making your own soothing self care kit.
You can choose one or all of these freebies and you can download them from my website at gabrielletreanor.com/free. You’ll also get my weeklyish emails where I share more from my own experiences along with tools and ideas for how you can catch your breath, re-centre and live with more calm and joy each day.
The emails are always the first place that I share new offerings I’ve made for you and give special offers. I’m spending less time on social media these days so if you want to connect with what I’m sharing outside of this podcast my emails are the best way to do that.
So, check out my free guides and download any or all of them at gabrielletreanor.com/free
Okay then, on with the episode!
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Welcome to episode 122. A few weeks ago we got a smart meter installed to measure our electricity usage. Like many people, I’m sure, I spent the next hour walking around the house turning things on and off and exclaiming, ‘The lightbulb barely registers!’ and ‘The washing machine costs how much?!’.
The smart meter really has made me more aware of how much some appliances use when they’re not actually being used, who knew the toothbrush charger would keep chugging electricity, and so I’m getting into the habit of being more mindful about charging, standby mode and switching off plug sockets.
I’m even pondering whether to jump on the air fryer band wagon. I do love a jacket potato with cheese and baked beans (especially now the temperature is dropping) But having the oven on for 1.5 hours just doesn’t seem sensible for my pocket or the planet. And we don’t have a microwave before you ask.
Now, the reason I’m talking about smart meters is not about electricity usage but because it’s prompted me to imagine what it would be like if we had a smart meter for our lives.
A gadget that we could carry around with us that tells us what and who uses up a lot or a little of our own energy. The situation that you didn’t really want to get involved in but you didn’t know how to decline shows as using pounds and pounds of your energy on your personal smart meter. The person who drains megawatts from you with every conversation. The actions you take that use up far more of your energy than perhaps you realised.
Your own personal smarter meter could show you what gives you energy too, like the feed in you get from solar panels, so it could help you identify the things you do, the company you enjoy, the places you spend time in which charge your internal battery as well as deplete it.
Wouldn’t that be helpful, to see your personal energy usage clearly displayed on your life smart meter?
So, until such a handy gadget is invented, and I call first dibs on the copyright, you can be your own smart meter by paying attention to how you feel, what’s happening in your body as well as your mind.
It doesn’t need to be a big deal or take a long time, this is just about raising your awareness, paying a little more attention to what’s going on inside of you. So before you meet up with a friend, before you set off for a walk, before you give your answer to a request for your time, check in with how you’re feeling.
Notice what’s happening in your body – is it holding any tension? Notice what thoughts you’re having about what’s about to happen.
Do you feel a heaviness or lightness before you meet the friend? Are you excited to go for a walk or are you dragging your feet? Does your stomach clench at the thought of saying yes to the request? What happens if you think about saying no?
And then check in again after the event. So after a long chat with your friend do you feel energised or drained? Did the walk calm and refresh you or was it overstimulating and exhausting? Once you say yes or no to the request for your time how do you feel?
This is all really valuable information that gives you insight into what and who gives and takes away your energy. And when you have this information you can then think about what you want to do with it going forward, about where you want to give your energy and what will help to recharge your batteries.
So, when you think of your own personal smart meter for your life, what energy drains and boosters spring to mind straight away?
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Thank you for listening to Pressing Pause, you can find details of what I shared in this episode in the show notes at gabrielletreanor.com/podcast.
If you enjoyed this podcast it would be incredibly helpful and lovely of you to leave a rating or review on iTunes. Reviews make a big difference to how podcasts are found and it would be wonderful if more people could find and listen to this podcast.
There are lots more resources to help you to create, find and feel more calm, ease and joy in your life, including free guides, blog posts, online courses and one to one coaching, at gabrielletreanor.com. Make sure you’re getting my regular emails too, they’re designed to soothe, inspire and delight.
I always love to hear from you, what you take from the episodes and what you’d like me to talk about, so feel free to drop me a line at [email protected]
Thanks again for listening, until next time.
