Speaker 1: What happens to you when you stop? When you just stop and be with yourself, no checking phones or making a mental to-do list, just stopping and looking inward. How do you feel? Where does your mind go? And more importantly, where could it go if you gave it more time? This art of self-reflection might feel unfamiliar. This 10 seconds might even be the longest you've spent self-reflecting this week, or even longer. Of course, with life eternally busy, there's not really much time for it, is there? There's a bigger barrier to self-reflection than just being busy. Your mind is competing with something else inside of you, something hard-wired. And that is your own distractibility. Think of it as an inner version of a hungry, hyperactive, restless puppy dog. A puppy that doesn't like to feel bored or frustrated or uncomfortable. A puppy that wants to feel good right now, not in 20 minutes, not next week, right now. A puppy completely focused on instant gratification. Whenever you're presented with an opportunity to sit with yourself, to reflect, to explore your inner world, maybe on the bus, maybe on your lunch break, maybe after you've put the kids to bed, that puppy barks, I'm bored, or I can't deal with this. And invariably, we feed it. We feed it with distractions, with screens, with games, with vices, with things that bring us instant relief. The problem is, we are now living in an unprecedented age where we can feed our inner puppies with pleasure and distraction more than ever before. Notifications, emails, ads, information, likes, reacts, upvotes, downvotes, cat pictures, games, more cat pictures, tweets, even more cat pictures, cat gifs, cat videos, shopping, Netflix, junk food. The modern world is the equivalent of a giant dog park, littered with dog treats, and with a thousand people yelling, wookies, all at the same time. And our inner puppies are blissed out beyond belief. It's estimated that around five hours of our day is spent hooked up to the gratifying drip of digital media. That's almost four months of our waking year. Consider how you feel about that. Sure, it might often be a welcome escape from the chaos of modern life. But also recall that other feeling you're familiar with. That strange sense of frustration when you've gotten through yet another week, but feel you haven't really done anything. Or those nights you've leapt into the abyss of YouTube, starting at worst American Idol auditions and ending at how to escape from quicksand, true story, and your brain is buzzing with alertness, yet also strangely dissatisfied. It feels like something's missing. Like you could have spent that time somehow better. If you don't ever take the time to self-reflect, you won't ever know what that better is. Imagine life is a long hike, and each of us has a map that shows us where we want to go. Our map essentially represents our values, what's most important to us. It gives us direction. How often do you consult your map? You almost definitely look at it when you reach a fork in the road or a dead end. When there are those big losses or big decisions or milestone events that force you to self-reflect. But apart from those big life events, sometimes you just keep walking. Now add to that picture your instant gratification puppy, and now you're off on some random sidetrack because your puppy saw a butterfly, and then a bird, and then smelled a smell, and then felt like digging a hole, and suddenly you're being controlled by this puppy's every whim. And you've forgotten that you even have a map. At some point, you need to ignore that puppy, pull your map out, take a look at it, and discover what direction you really want to go. We know that people who live a life aligned with their values are more fulfilled and happy and have better psychological health. We also know we need self-reflection to discover those values. Research is also starting to uncover a wealth of other benefits of purposeful self-reflection and deliberate daydreaming. It can improve our emotional awareness, spark our creativity, improve our problem solving, and strengthen our empathy and compassion. Ultimately, self-reflection, when done deliberately and with curiosity and kindness, can help us create better selves and better lives. And the good news is you don't have to wait for a milestone or a fork in the path to do this. Imagine what your life might look like, say, five years from now. If you spent even 10 minutes of your day self-reflecting instead of self-distracting, instead of scrolling social media on the commute to work, focus inward and be inspired by where your thoughts could take you. Instead of going straight to the snacks and the games at the end of your day, spend a few moments reflecting on how you feel and how you really want to spend your time. Consider how grateful your future self would be if those moments were spent connecting with who you really are and what you really want out of life. And better yet, imagine a world of people more self-aware and more inspired and motivated towards achieving and living their valued goals. Imagine the kinds of thoughts and passions and ideas that could come together and gain momentum and create change to make a better world at a time when we so desperately need ideas. Next time your inner puppy yelps for a treat, stop. See it as an opportunity for self-reflection to disengage from the external and focus on your internal world. Notice how you feel and be curious. Notice where your thoughts go and be inquisitive. Where could your mind take you? What could you learn about yourself? Who could you become?