Harnessing Happiness with Sarah J Naylor

Welcome to the Harnessing Happiness Podcast.

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Hello and welcome to Harnessing Happiness with myself

Sarah J.

Naylor, and welcome back to all of you.

Welcome to the Harnessing Happiness Podcast.

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Hello and welcome to Heart brought to conv

Avenue Manager Ii website, South Market Estimate.

And welcome back to all of you who

have always been listening to my podcast and

welcome to all of those of you who

are listening for the first time.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate you all.

And yeah, today I really want to dig

into authenticity.

So as such, I want to give you

a little bit of background.

I promise I won't go on for long.

I know I have a habit of doing

so.

That's just me being authentic.

So I've had about what a year, just

over a year's break from recording podcast episodes.

And the first one was released last week,

episode 201 with Louise Budgin, The Quiet Roar,

which was absolutely awesome.

Fantastic being back in the studio.

And this is my first coming back with

a sound bite.

And instead of my happy sound bite, I'm

now calling it a Sarah sound bite.

So that is me.

And I'm just sort of talking on my

own.

You've got my house in the background.

It does look a bit of a tip

at the moment because we're still doing a

lot of renovation work.

But hey, that's authenticity.

And that's what I really want to talk

about.

Particularly in today's world, there is so much

pressure to perform and be because of what

we are bombarded with through social media, through

the narrative, through mainstream media, through everything, really.

It's so noisy.

You don't really know what's true and what's

not.

And to be honest, if it looks too

perfect, it generally is.

For me, the perfection is in the imperfection.

You see, I'm even stuttering over my words.

So therefore, you know, it's not AI.

I've been I end up.

You know, AI is great.

It's a tool.

I mean, I use it.

I use it daily.

I can use it to brainstorm.

However, we have to be mindful that we

don't rely on it completely.

We have to question.

We have to push back.

We have to use it as the tool

it actually is.

And that's true in sort of all areas

of life.

But come on, it's being back to being

who you are.

Who are you authentically?

Who are you?

Away from all the noise, away from who

you feel that you should be to please

other people, to fit the narrative, to be,

to exist.

Because actually, you being you authentically true to

yourself, as long as what you are doing

isn't outwardly hurting and harming anybody else.

That is where true happiness and contentment lies.

And, you know, I have, I have been

loving working with clients.

For those of you actually who don't know,

I'm an executive coach and mentor.

I have a background in business.

I spent 36 years working in recruitment, laterally

running my own business.

And when I pressed pause for the first

time, it was because I had to put

it into voluntary liquidation.

And over the period, over the last three

years, I've dealt with that.

I've dealt with relocating to Norfolk and a

whole host of other challenges that I won't

bore you with right now.

And now I've lost my thread because that's

being human, folks.

It's about rediscovering yourself.

And that's where I'm at with clients, you

know, helping them really reach in rather than

behaving in such a way that deems successful

and putting all that pressure on your shoulders.

When you let go of that, when you

actually, you know, feel into who you are

and are authentically you without outwardly, as I

say, hurting anybody else in order to do

so.

You know, that's where, you know, the contentment

lies.

It's a hard one, I'll admit.

I had to really let go, surrender.

And if anybody's listened to or knew of

my earlier episodes, I have talked about that

previously.

Because we kept conditioned, our subconscious takes over.

And because actually, if we had to think

about each hand movement, each eye movement, how

we breathe, you'd never be able to cope

because the brain is processing so many things

subconsciously at any one time.

So therefore, we can get bad patterns of

behavior, we can become conditioned.

Well, we are conditioned when you actually take

a step back and you think about it.

So who are you?

What is authentically you?

It takes some digging, it takes some time,

it takes some space to take that step

back.

But what I would say is, you know,

what fires you up?

What excites you?

What makes you, you know, what are you

holding back by not being you?

Let me talk.

I mean, I'm being authentic right now.

I've just come back from a run.

It was a late run.

So you're getting me walks and all folks.

I'm very lucky I've got the woodland on

my doorstep.

And actually, what I did meant to say

was in recording this first of my Sarah's

soundbites, it is also being video recorded as

well, hence the reference to the background earlier,

because this is also available on YouTube.

So if you have a look at my

Sarah J Naylor YouTube channel, you will find

access to all the content for harnessing happiness.

Not all of the prior content was video

recorded.

But I'm back with my awesome producer Pete,

who is editing everything for me.

Honestly, that's why I press pause a second

time.

I love recording.

I love working with my guests.

However, doing all the tech side, it really

isn't me.

So actually coming back to that, what are

you doing right now that really isn't you,

for example, you know, having spent, like I

said, 36 years working in recruitment, all too

often, I would see people chop and change

jobs, because they weren't happy.

But what was it about not being happy?

Why?

Why weren't they happy?

Probably because they weren't doing a job that

they felt was right.

You know, I met many a candidate been

off to university because their parents felt that

this would be a brilliant career for them.

Because, you know, parents mean well, and they're

probably basing their experience of life on what

they feel will be right for you.

But you know what's right for you.

What fires you up?

I mean, by way of example, I think,

you know, in a world of tech, and

all the changes that AI are bringing about,

start to think about your practical skills, because

I do think that there is going to

be a resurgence of practical skills.

So authentically, what do you like doing?

Cooking, do you like making?

I've been working on and refurbishing a couple

of pieces of antique furniture.

I use the word antique loosely, because they

are old pieces of furniture that haven't been

very well treated.

So when you say antique, you tend to

think, I don't know about you, but you

tend to think of an expensive antique shop.

I'm not being let loose on an expensive

piece of furniture.

Although, by the time I finish doing the

work on it, it will be more valuable

than it was when I paid for it.

So yeah, I've been getting my fingers dirty

with wire wool and methylated spirits in the

garden away from tech.

In fact, I've created a new hashtag, less

tech, more nature.

So although the refurbishing work isn't nature, I

was actually out in the garden doing that.

I've got the sun on my back, a

cool breeze, and it was lovely being outside,

no tech.

And I say this morning, I've been out

for a run through the woodland.

And watching on video, I haven't made it

to the shower, but I wanted to record

authentically, you know, and I thought, you know

what, if I'm going to jump in the

shower and put my make-up on, etc,

is that me being authentic?

Well, it might be, because I will always

make an effort with my guests, and I

do like to make an effort.

However, I've got a busy day today, and

I thought if I'm talking about authenticity, be

authentic, Sarah.

You know, I'm sitting here in front of

you, for those of you who are watching,

I'm 60, and I get out and about,

I'm fit, and I'm active.

You know, I'm not the fastest runner, but

I like to make an effort, I like

to get out in nature, I like to

get away from tech.

I see the advantage of tech, I don't

want to slate it completely, but we have

got to be aware of its part it

plays, and what is out there, and what

is authentic, and what's not authentic.

As a side note, I was talking to

ChatGPT last week about a post I was

putting on LinkedIn, for example, and it suddenly

created an image that I hadn't asked it

to create, using an image I was sharing

with it to ask some thoughts about the

post that I was using it against, and

suddenly an image had been created, and it's

like, oh my gosh, no.

It was so, you know, it lacked authenticity,

because it really wasn't, although the base character

was me, the whole setup wasn't.

I then wrote a post about that, and

my branding photographer has shared it, because it's

about education and understanding and being curious, which

is another episode I will talk about, because

being curious is so powerful.

However, I want to leave you on this

note, what about you is authentic?

How are you being authentic?

Think about, you know, the imperfection is the

perfection, and, you know, just breathe into and

be yourself.

And yeah, if you've liked this, please do

subscribe, give me a follow, because it all

helps me get messages out there.

It's Sarah J Naylor on YouTube, or anywhere

on social media, just come and connect with

me, and thank you so much for listening.

Till next time, goodbye for now.