Simple Ways to Have a Good Life with James Scott Henson

Okay, time to wrap up the series on being the main character by talking about three ways we can chip away at the idea of our own importance: 1. Learn to meditate 2. Invest in other people 3. Understand that you will die I know that a lot of this might seem disempowering or morbid, but there is freedom in recognizing that nothing revolves around you. I promise.  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-scott-henson/message

This is an audio version of an old video that I created specifically for an issue of my newsletter. It’s about 4 things we can always be grateful for: 1) There is something instead of nothing. 2) This something is stable. 3) We have a consciousness with which to experience this stable something. 4) We have a say in how this consciousness relates to the stable something. I was sick when I recorded it, please excuse the difficulty breathing you hear from time to time. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-scott-henson/message

If we pay attention, we can see that life is constantly giving us feedback about our behavior. We cannot hear this feedback if we are too busy being the main character, and this will bring us constant trouble. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-scott-henson/message

Simple ways to tell if you are the main character.  Quick spoiler: you're not.  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-scott-henson/message

I used to think I was the main character. Now I know I’m not.  There’s freedom in ordinariness. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-scott-henson/message

Having a morning routine is one of the simplest ways we can improve our lives. I really found that how I start the morning is how my day goes. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I’m doing a class called Surviving Social Media for ClassRT on Tuesday, June 28th at 7pm CST. You can check it out here. _______________________ 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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-scott-henson/message

People ask me often enough what kinds of things I'm working on personally and what kinds of things I struggle with that I figured I'd just do an episode about it. The first two things I'm working on were pretty easy for me to identify: I'm always working on being more gentle and on being more social. I'm not really good at either of these things, but I know they are good for me so I'm doing my best. I think we all have things we need to be working on. It's scary to me that there's this narrative in the world that you are fine the way you are. I get it, a lot of the things we need to work on are not necessarily our fault. The things I like least about myself make a lot of sense when you look at my life, but that doesn't mean that I'm OK with them and that doesn't mean that I don’t have to sort them out. A lot of the things that happen to you are probably not your fault, but what you do with them is your responsibility. It's not compassionate to tell somebody that behaviors and choices that are bringing them harm or are harming other people are OK. It’s not everyone else’s responsibility to get on board with your bullshit behavior. So, in that spirit, this is a podcast talking about me and my bullshit behavior. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-scott-henson/message

We all feel this strange obligation to watch the news so that we can be informed and know what's going on. The problem is that watching the news often leads to anxiety and worry, and we may not even be as informed as we think we are in the process. This episode explores the idea of turning off the news and what that might do for us. _______________________ 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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-scott-henson/message

Here's a more accurate title:  “Care less about all the things that you don't have control over or that you aren’t really interested in so that you can put your time and energy into the things you can control and the things you do care about.”⁠  It's a little clunky. Everybody expects us to care about what they care about. They expect their passions and interests to be our passions and interests. It's OK to say that you don't really care about something. It's OK not to put your time and energy into things that don't matter to you or where you cannot make a difference.⁠ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-scott-henson/message

This week’s simple way to have a good life is to say “thanks for sharing”. Our brains are amazing, but they are also weird as hell. We think negative things about ourselves, we get caught up in arguments and debates inside our own heads, and we get scared about future events that we made up. When we think about these things, we are giving them attention. When we argue with these things, we are giving them attention. Learning to thank them for sharing and moving on is almost magical in how well it works. ⁠_______________________ 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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-scott-henson/message

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. _______________________ 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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-scott-henson/message

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. _______________________ 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://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-scott-henson/message

We behave according to how we see ourselves, but we have a lot more control over this than we think we do. _______________________ 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://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-scott-henson/message

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. _______________________ 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://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-scott-henson/message

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. _______________________ 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://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/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://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-scott-henson/message

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://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/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 _______________________ 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://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/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.  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-scott-henson/message