Simple Ways to Have a Good Life with James Scott Henson

This week’s simple way to have a good life is to remember that you are human.

This is the first episode in a series about getting back to basics. We have a super cool brain, and we like to use it. This often leads us to overcomplicate things and forget about some simple things that have a big impact on how we feel:

Eating

Sleeping

Drinking water

Moving our bodies

Going outside

Being social

Contributing

2018 was the start of a tough few years for me. I neglected these basic human necessities, and I paid a price for it. I talk about this and more in this episode.

This is the first episode in what I am hoping is a series of positive changes for the podcast and newsletter. I’m excited about this. It’s a complete re-brand and re-vamp of the newsletter and podcast, and I think it’s going to be better for everyone who reads and listens.

The podcast will be weekly from now on, going out every Monday morning. It will work with the newsletter to provide a deeper dive into whatever topic we are discussing that week.

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This episode is meant to be supplemented with the Simple Ways to Have a Good Life newsletter. It goes out every Tuesday morning and is full of things intended to help you live your best life, all for free. Sign up here, unsubscribe without any hassle. I don’t share names or email addresses with anyone.

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As we wrap up the series on self-sabotage we take a look at one of the worst ways we limit our own success: allowing toxic people to have a place in our lives.

It sucks, but there’s no way around the fact that some people will bring destruction and misery into our lives the same way someone with the flu will bring sickness. They may not mean to do it, but the results are the same.

Learning to recognize and draw boundaries with unhealthy, destructive people is essential to having a good life.

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If you enjoyed this episode, you may enjoy the Simple Ways to Have a Good Life newsletter. It goes out every other Monday morning and is full of things intended to help you live your best life, all for free. Sign up here, unsubscribe without any hassle. I don’t share names or email addresses with anyone.

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We behave according to how we see ourselves, but we have a lot more control over this than we think we do.

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If you enjoyed this episode, you may enjoy the Simple Ways to Have a Good Life newsletter. It goes out every other Monday morning and is full of things intended to help you live your best life, all for free. Sign up here, unsubscribe without any hassle. I don’t share names or email addresses with anyone.

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We are continuing our series on self-sabotage by looking at three common behaviors that hinder us: perfectionism, procrastination, and self-medication. We also talk about things you can do to break the cycle of these behaviors if you recognize them in your own life.

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If you enjoyed this episode, you may enjoy the Simple Ways to Have a Good Life newsletter. It goes out every other Monday morning and is full of things intended to help you live your best life, all for free. Sign up here, unsubscribe without any hassle. I don’t share names or email addresses with anyone.

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I did a poll on Instagram asking people what they wanted the next series to cover, and I was surprised that self-sabotage won. In this episode, we talk about self-sabotage and how it can manifest in very subtle ways. I also talk about the very not subtle ways it has manifested for me over the course of my life and what kinds of things I've done to deal with it.

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If you enjoyed this episode, you may enjoy the Simple Ways to Have a Good Life newsletter. It goes out every other Monday morning and is full of things intended to help you live your best life, all for free. Sign up here, unsubscribe without any hassle. I don’t share names or email addresses with anyone.

--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/james-scott-henson/message

“The brain secretes thought like the liver secretes bile.”

Pierre Cabanis, 18th-century French physiologist.

It's a little scary to see just how much authority we give our mind once we take the time to recognize just how random the thoughts the mind churns out can be. We like to think that we are rational, logical beings who only make the best decisions, but a few minutes of observing the mind will disabuse us of this idea very quickly.

The mind isn’t bad, but it won’t stay in its lane. It’s super helpful in navigating reality, but it won’t stop there. It just has to start opinionating on things and predicting the future and reading other people’s minds, and this is where our trouble lies.

If you enjoyed this episode, you may enjoy the Simple Ways to Have a Good Life newsletter. It goes out every other Monday morning and is full of things intended to help you live your best life, all for free. Sign up here, unsubscribe without any hassle. I don’t share names or email addresses with anyone.

--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/james-scott-henson/message

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.

Marcus Aurelius

This is the first in a four-part series on our thoughts and how they impact our lives. In this episode of the podcast, we explore how our thoughts determine the quality of our lives. We will continue this up next week in the newsletter - you can sign up for that here. When you sign up you will only get the newsletter from me, I don't share your email address with anybody else and I do not spam you.

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We have three degrees of control in life: none, conditional, and total. Knowing which is which and focusing our time and energy accordingly is everything.  _______________________ If you enjoyed this episode, you may enjoy the Simple Ways to Have a Good Life newsletter. It goes out every Friday morning and is full of things intended to help you live your best life, all for free. Sign up here, unsubscribe without any hassle. I don’t share names or email addresses with anyone. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/james-scott-henson/message

What does a realistic gratitude practice look like - one rooted in reality, acknowledging the difficulties of life, and not suppressing our emotions? We talk about this and more in this episode of the Simple Ways to Have a Good Life Podcast.

Two Quick Links:

Your Anxiety Toolbox class

My friend Meredith Hooke

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If you enjoyed this episode, you may enjoy the Simple Ways to Have a Good Life newsletter. It goes out every Friday morning and is full of things intended to help you live your best life, all for free. Sign up here, unsubscribe without any hassle. I don’t share names or email addresses with anyone.

--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/james-scott-henson/message

We experience a lot of different energies in the body. The mind takes these sensations and tells us a story about them, creating our emotions. When we learn how to recognize and deconstruct this process, our life gets better. 

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