Show Summary:

• In this episode. Beth and Mel discuss the Power of Disconnecting and Embracing Technology Thoughtfully via a Technological Detox.
• Beth Hewitt and Melissa Amos discuss their experiences with technology failures and the subsequent benefits of a temporary 'digital detox.' They explore the joy of using new gadgets like Beth's Amazon Scribe, the creative enhancements provided by less colourful, distraction-free technology, and the importance of introspection and silence.
• They reflect on the balance between structure and spontaneity in life.
• The potential of AI, and both share personal anecdotes about how their lives have adjusted with these technological changes.
• The conversation touches on deeper philosophical questions, wrapping up with a look forward to future discussions and the importance of a humanistic approach to technology.

00:00 Introduction and Greetings

00:06 Technology Woes and Upgrades

00:53 Off-Grid Experiences in Bulgaria

02:14 The Power of Silence and Reflection

03:03 The Impact of Technology on Our Lives

04:31 The Universe and Intentions

08:19 Gaming and Time Management

16:28 Journaling and Digital Tools

23:29 Balancing Structure and Spontaneity

26:23 AI and Human Interaction

27:28 Conclusion and Farewell

Connect and Subscribe to the Podcast at:

https://soul-inspired-you.captivate.fm/

More from Beth and Mel

More from Beth Hewitt

Get Beth's Gratitude and Vision Building Journal

Social Media @gratitudeandvision @visualiseyou @Bethhewitt80

More from Melissa Amos

Get Mel's Book - Memoires of a Mystic in Training

Social Media @themelissaamos

Music Credits: Laura Mitchell of LauraMitchellSings.com https://www.facebook.com/laura.mitchell.1232

Good morning, Beth. Good morning, Mel. How are you doing? I'm

good, how are you? I'm good. I've

had a funny old week and I know you've had a,

an exciting week as well where all of

my technology has gone to pot. But

then I got lots of new technology, so I've got a new phone,

I've got an Amazon scribe for my

birthday. So whilst it felt

very annoying for the first few days that I couldn't connect with anybody, it

was actually quite liberated, it was actually quite nice. So I was like up leveling

in all the technology areas. So I've been offline

a little bit, but it's been good because I think it makes you think

about where you're spending your time and energy and

thinking about how you might want to start moving forward, how you would like to

approach your routines and things like that. But I know that you've been

off grid in a different way. I have been off grid.

I've just come back from Bulgaria and been in

the beautiful mountains on a business

retreat and I was offline a lot, I was hardly on my

phone and obviously we were focused on the business rather than in the

business. And it is amazing how when you are not in the

consumption mode which our phones and our

technologies can often connect us to how creative we

can really get. And for me, so I had this

beautiful room with this little terrace

overlooking the mountains and

it was. We were in the middle of nowhere and every night

I woke up at 4am, which

was weird because it's not. There's a two hour time difference but as we know,

I do not get up at 6am, so 4am every morning I woke

up and it was pitch black and the stars are out in the sky

and I would just go and stand on the

terrace on my own in the silence and

the realizations that I had in

that not long, 20 minutes blown me away.

Like it's not so there's things coming out and coming through

and maybe there's a call, I wonder if other listeners have been

the same. But maybe there's this call for silence where

as we're recording this, we're in autumn

now, we're moving into Halloween

season, we're in Halloween season and I think there's

this real call for kind of going inwards

and noticing and slowing down

and stopping and yeah, just seeing

what's there in that thinning veil that

all the while we are sitting on our technology we don't access.

Yeah, it's sad, isn't it, that we've become so not just

reliant on it, but also that it's maybe taken over

the natural order of how we would approach or do something. We're

so reliant on the tech. But I agree with

the silence. Just coming back to the tech

with the Amazon scribe. It's all black and white and I think there's

something powerful about. You can get limited access to websites

and things, but the fact that you haven't got those colorful distractions

of social media. The black and white is really working for me. And I've been

thinking about why. What is it about black and white? What is it about

light or the absence of light that allows us to be

silent or be still or to be nostalgic when you think about

black and white photographs and things like that. And then interestingly last

night I didn't know there's a bedtime thing

built into the phone. And at 11 o'clock my

phone went black and white. Yeah. I'd never experienced before because that my

other phone was about five years old, so I didn't have that tech. And

just looking at apps in black and white, it actually makes you not want

to. Yes. It doesn't stimulate the mind in the same way as on. I

must click on that notification. I must go see what's happening around

wine. Does that the notifications turn off? Yeah. When

I've plugged my phone in. Please. When I go to

bed, all the notifications turn off. Everything goes black and white. And

you're right. It just stops you feeling like it's

not. It's just not very exciting. Which is perfect before bed

and then we sleep better and where we can move

into our gratitude practice. It's

interesting with you, Beth, because I noticed that you'd said

a few weeks ago how you wanted

to slow down a bit and you wanted to be. Be more

mindful with your technology and the universe. Like. Ben, you're

not doing it. Yeah, Here we go. I'm going to break your phone.

It was exactly that. Our words are incredibly powerful. The things that we're telling ourselves

are really powerful. And I think we spoke on the last

episode about this new journaling practice.

Yeah. That I've got into and I was talking about you can. When

you reflect back or just read back on the last few days or entries,

you notice things. And when I start all of this happened and then I started

reading back and you're right, my words were, I want

to slow down, I want to be less tech, I want to spend more time

journaling. And Then, yeah, the universe literally

delivered. It was just weird. I was like drying my hair and my phone

that I've had the last five years, there was no problems with it. It's been

quite a good phone. The screen went green and then that was.

It was like, goodbye. Like, great, thanks. But the

funny thing about that is that the. The Alar alarm, so it died on the

Tuesday and the alarm was still going off every single morning up until

about Sunday last week, it was still waking me up. There was no way of

turning the alarm off because I would just have to press on the screen. I

just had to. Just had to shove it in a drawer and hope it doesn't

do anymore. But I don't understand how the battery life lasted so long. Baby. A

green screen. No, because I'm not using

it. Yeah, it's been a complete change, but a really

welcome change. And there was immediate frustration of,

I can't do this, I can't do that. And there's still things like relogging into

your banking apps and all those things that need extra steps and notification, but it's

not the end of the world. It's a welcome thing that's happened. So,

yeah, words are spells.

And this really shows how when we do put an intention

out there, how

it's so important to follow through. Yeah. Because I don't think the universe

dishes you up lessons, but I think that it's on your side. And so if

you put something out there, that this is what I'm going to do and

you really mean it, that you don't do it. Because then the next day

comes for me. I've been in Bulgaria. There's been all of these things that have

been coming up. I've made promises to myself,

I've declared. I feel really like I'm on a mission

now. And if I just sat back, which is the easy thing to do,

which is what my fear, my ego, like my. An older

part of me is, yeah, don't worry about that. Just stay in your little

cave. You don't need to tell anyone about it. And you

know that that voice is there and going on.

However, the more I take action on it, the more the

universe is supporting me. And I feel like if I

don't take action and I listen more to that fear

voice, it's almost like something will

come. Yeah. To make. To remind me. There

we go. To remind me about how important it is that

I do the thing. So I don't think the

universe tries to send us lessons, but I do think it

Works with us and so can seem like a reward

when we're actually doing the thing. Yeah. And can feel like

a punishment if we're not. But it's not all of

it supporting us. I love that. Yeah. It can feel like a

punishment if we're not. I think that's quite a powerful statement.

So, yeah, that's what I've been up to. It's just getting back online, but in

a way that feels good. And trying to catch

myself when I'm like reaching for the game or something

that I don't really need to play. What games do you play? Did you play?

I play. I don't even know what the car, what it's called. One called Matchmakers

where you got to match colors together.

Totally overstimulated. Big time with the music and everything and the

characters. Don't need that in my life. But I think

it's interesting. I've noticed where I've done that. For example, I'll eat

my tea and after my tea I'll have a cup of tea

and that's when I'll. While I'm got my cup of tea. Yeah. After my tea,

I'll start playing on my phone for maybe half an hour. And then

before you know it, you're. Like, that's half an hour of my life. Half an

hour of my life. I could have been having an hour conversation. Yeah. See, I

used to play. Do you remember the Nintendo ds?

Yes. To play. Oh, God, what

was it called? The Brain games. Oh, yeah. I used to play those as well.

I love them. Yeah. And then I had a phase of

playing Candy Crush. But this was when. This

was quite a while ago. Yeah. And I used to get so

obsessed with these things and now I don't.

Now I do. I nothing like it was a

habit that I just had to break. The time I

do is when I'm on an airplane and I'm with the kids

and the kids play the word games like. Yeah.

Or whatever. But I just know. And maybe this is

true for everyone, but I can only speak for me. I just know that as

soon as I start it, I can't stop.

Yeah. No, it's just. It's just a time sucker, isn't

it? It really is. Yeah. No more games or

no more games. No more games. I got.

It's all fun. My other half plays Candy Crush. And he must have been playing

it for. It feels like 10, 15 years and he must be on

level 10 million or something. So I don't.

Well done him. Well done him. Yeah. Let's all

celebrate his achievements. Can you remember. I don't know why this has just

popped. Can you remember car wars on Facebook years and years ago. Parking

wars. It was a game actually on Facebook where you had to

park your car. This is a long time ago. I cannot remember that. I

do not remember that. And there was another one. Was it bejeweled or

something? There was another one on Facebook. There was one called

Drawsome. Oh, did you get four? It was so

good. You had to doodle,

basically. Yes. I think I do remember

it. So he has a drawer with your finger. Yeah. Right.

But whatever it told and. And send it to. And the

other people had to guess it and, like, obsessed. And my best

one, I can still picture it in my head. My best one was when I

got the Simpsons and I did this masterpiece.

Finger drawings and my big fat fingers.

Yeah, it's. It's great. And it's bonding and

all of this stuff. And also, where are we spending our

time now? I did have a while where I would

listen to stuff while I was doing my

game. Felt like I was multitasking, but the honest

truth is, I didn't. Yeah, it's multitasking.

I do wonder. I'll sometimes listen to

audible or something when I'm putting my makeup on or something like that, kind of

multitasking. But actually, I don't know.

I think when we focus on one thing and are intentional and focused on it,

it's much better. I do the ultimate multitasking when I

sleep. Yes. Listen

to. So last week, I was listening to the Conversations with

God series. Oh, yes. I love. But

this week, since I've got home, I've been

listening to, like, meditations

and binaural beat things. And I have been

out. I have been out in five minutes. I'm like, I'm gonna listen to

this. And then it's the morning and I'm like,

oh, and my headphones have fallen off. I think. I wonder how far I

got. Five minutes. Yeah.

In my subliminal. Like, why do I not feel more intelligent

today? It's because your headphones fell off after five minutes because you

were snoring away. You've just reminded me something. I had a really

weird experience last night when I was in bed. I

woke up and I was saying words in my head,

and my partner said them out loud as I was saying them in my

head. Three words. What's that all about? So then I was trying

to make it happen. I was like, right, Fast asleep. I'm just going to Say

some random words in a minute. But it didn't work. But yes, I woke up,

I said three words in my head and I don't even know why I said

the words. I just woke up. And then he said them out

loud in his sleep. In his sleep.

How weird that. What's interesting is like last week

I think there was this. That something came out about a

study that they did with lucid. In the lucid dreaming state

that people were communicating. Like they now have

evidence that people can communicate in the lucid

dreaming. Oh, I love that. Like remotely.

And it's interesting because when I was on my lucid dreaming

obsession, I had my obsessions. Yeah, lucid dreaming was one of

them. The guy that was teaching me, Charlie Morley, was

talking about how his wife then was an

astral projection specialist,

Jade Shaw. When they used to play these little games especially they're

both like international speakers. And so they'd be off and they'd

play these little games of can they

infiltrate each other, each other's dreams. And he was

sharing one time where they managed to do it. But it was never,

it's never been scientifically proven until.

Wow. So I think something's happening. I think that

the. Maybe it's the time of year. Maybe it just is where the veil,

they say thins as we move into these

darker months. But maybe something is

happening. The consciousness is rising. All of this

stuff that we have been through over the last however many years,

it's. It's leading somewhere. It's not like Candy Crush. It's

not like when you just finish. It was all wasted. Yeah.

This life that we, this game that we're playing, this life that

we're leading is. It's moving and maybe we've hit another

level. Maybe on the game of life.

Perhaps we have. I feel like this is just a nice catch up

conversation today. It's just friends just chatting about

random stuff. This is literally what I talk about with my friends.

If you want a fun evening, guys, come hang out with me because this

is where my brain goes. I love it. So you can imagine

that some friends from my old life

quietly whittled away when they're like, no, you

really odd. But I think everybody's curious on some level. I think it's just, it's

fascinating. I think so. I think some people find it quite draining and

tiring though, to think about deep stuff all of the time. Where other

people thrive. Thriving it for sure.

And it is a mind boggle. And I think there's a lot

of people who we just want answers. That's where we're

like. That's what we're brought up with. Like, we have a

philosophical question, we have a science question, we have a maths

problem, we have an English book we're reading in school.

And what we then need to do is find the answer and write

it in the little box and get a tick or a cross. And a lot

of this stuff, there is no ticks nor crosses. There just is

wondering. So maybe this is the case, maybe

not. Who knows? Maybe the universe is listening

to us and breaking our phones when we spend

too much time.

Or maybe it's just a coincidence

or an unfortunate event. Who knows? I'm very

enamored with my Amazon scribe because I was talking about journaling the last time, wasn't

there? And I think asking those deep philosophical questions. I've

now got all of my things in one place

and I love a notebook and I love a pen, but I'm actually quite

enjoying the technology because you can create notebooks and you can

obviously write on it and doodle, you can pick do pictures and things

and you can annotate your Kindle books and your PDFs and things like that. And

there's no distractions. Can you,

for example. Yeah. So I guess you can only write. Can you type as

well as it. You can type? Yeah. So like a phone type. Yeah.

You can get a keyboard for it. I think you might be able to get

a keyboard with it. I'm not sure. I've not explored that

because now you're going to be selling me one. So if I wrote all

my stuff or you're through writing all your stuff on there and all your journaling,

whatever. I'm assuming in this day and age of

AI, that you can then throw it through an AI and it can

give you questions, perspectives, potentially. Yeah.

So what it can do is when you've handwritten it, it can

turn it into text and then you can email it to yourself. So then once

you've got that, you can run it through AI. Okay.

Interesting. Yes. It's so often

like organization of it. And I like. I love a

notebook. Me too. But I've got too many. I've got very

many. And then it's, oh, this, which notebook am I getting

out today for the work that I'm doing? Yeah. And then I think,

oh, I wish I'd have written it in the other notebook. Yeah, like

that. Which notebook is it? Yeah. Because I have a

business one, but now I have two. One was more

learnings like yeah. And one was more

questions and reflections. And then there was a course I was

doing which it all got muddled up. Yeah, I've been the same for

years. So I've got a to do list, I've got a journal, I've got a

scripting book. I've got one with like trainings

in. Then I've got one with what I call like working

out. If you're working on something, it's just all your scribbles and doodles. So I've

got all of these different ones, different colors, different sizes, different shapes, different

everything. Hey, they

are my daughters. But a notebook was a go to thing that I

get you when I don't know what to get you for your birthday or Christmas.

You'll have to think of something else. But yeah, so I don't know if you

or you. I don't know if you can see everything, but you can. There's.

There's different folders. So I've got a to do folder, I've got a journaling

folder, I've got a gratitude journey folder, I've got a scripting fold, I've got a

thoughts one. I've got one just with doodles in. And then inside each of

these is like the actual to do

lists. So I've got, I've got an October folder with

my notebook. It looks like a notebook. And so for example,

this is my birthday. I did have a

to do list on my birthday. Oh no, that's the 11th of October. But you

can see like all of the things I was working on the 11th. And the

cool thing is like anything that you haven't done, you can literally

circle it and then lift it and put it on the list for tomorrow.

I don't even have to write it back out again. And then you can just

add pages upon pages of whatever you want to write on it. So

I'm like big time sold. There's the remarkable as

well, which I know a lot of people buy, which is a little bit more

expensive. But I like this

because obviously it's Amazon and I can put all my books and all my Audible

books on there as well. And you can play your Audible if you link it

up to your surround sound or whatever you've got in your

house. You can listen to Audible books on there as well while

you're doing. So it's not got a speaker in. It, it hasn't got a speaker

on it, but you can link it up to any Bluetooth. So what I'm hearing

is I can listen to my audible because I get so

inspired when I'm listening to

audiobooks and I think, oh, that's reminded

me, oh, there's good content or, oh, I can add that into my program

or whatever. And it disappears.

Yeah, yeah. Goes in the big file

of brain. Yeah. So you could. You can make

notes on your books, you can make notes on your.

Whatever. I'm just sold so far. So, yeah. So it's been good,

this technology kind of reboot.

And because I didn't have a phone, I got. This was a

birthday present. And because I didn't have a phone, I was like, and I

have my scribe before my birthday because I'm really sad I ain't

got my phone. And that was

allowed. I was allowed to have my scribe. So that

kept me happy then for a few days whilst my new phone was

coming. Breaking the rules. You are breaking all the rules

of birthday. Yeah. The birthday rules. We've got Christmas

coming, so that's gonna be a horse. So maybe. Although

I have just. I have just bought my new desire map.

Yes, you said. Yeah. And I am, like, so excited

to get it. It's nuts. So I just want it in my hands so I

can start planning for next year. Oh, it'd be good.

Good. So now I'm like, God, if I have another thing,

then the desire map will just. But you

could. If it's in a. Is it. Oh, it's a physical book, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah, it's a physical book.

Although, because they invited me to be an

affiliate and I was like, okay, I do have access to the PDFs. That's

why I could and then not have the book. But

there's something about picking it up. It's got

really just nice energy. Yeah. Through it.

And I was actually thinking. Because I was talking to someone about it the other

day and it actually

got me thinking that it was Danielle

laporte who created the desire

map that actually got me into creating words of

the year and guiding words rather

than goals and resolutions. It was

teachings. I listened to her audiobook

years ago, don't even know how

many years ago. And I was like, this makes well more

sense. And creating New Year's resolution, like,

really going into. She talks about your core desired feelings.

And what I found with the panel is it really gets

you focused on. Is what I'm doing this

week actually moving me

so further away to my core desired feelings. Yeah.

And the reflection points and where am I going? And getting

refocused on what I am focusing

on over the Next month or so, which

sometimes I get lost in because I love to go with the

flow. Yeah. And I think this is where you and

I do the system differently.

Yeah, I literally wrote that down last night, actually, in my journaling was

around finding the balance between

spontaneity and structure, because I've been

finding that where I have even I don't like structure.

Where I have got structure is very beneficial. But then

when I'm able to be spontaneous and in flow, that's also really

beneficial than being too rigid around what I do next. I literally wrote that as

a thought. What is this about? What is the balance? How do you find the

balance? What is the right balance? Do we need to find the right balance kind

of thing, or is it just being aware of that? That's interesting. I literally wrote

that. Those thoughts down. That's nice. It

is. And maybe it is because we're coming towards the end of the year as

well, that it's something that's on our minds of what have we

achieved? What are we achieving? What are we doing? What are we experiencing? What do

we still want to experience? And all of that.

So I don't know what the answer is. I'm hoping that

having tools like the Desire Map, for me, having

mentorship, really helps with that, like keep that kind

of accountability and that structure sharing. Which is why

you'll notice on my social media that when I have an idea, I'll

often share it straight away. Yes. Then keep me. Not

always, but it will then keep me accountable and make me move

forward into it rather than.

I don't know, things can get lost. I think if we don't have

that focus, however, my natural

inclination is to just flow. It

served me well. But like you, I find that when I have

some form of vessel in which to flow,

then things happen more. I don't

know. Yeah, yeah, obviously. Maybe is the word. It's an interesting topic,

isn't it? Finding that balance. When my planner

arrives, which should. A month or so, we

can have a discussion about that. Yeah, let's do

that. And I'm hoping by then, Beth, you have your

own planner that you've released out in. Oh, yeah,

we shall see. Try to fit everything in. But

yeah, that. That would be nice. At some point it will come. At some point.

Who knows what that will. It's on the. It's on the to do list.

It's one of them. It moved over to the next day.

One day I will have a personal

assistant that will give me my to do list.

And also what will make my heart sing is give me a these are

all the things that need to be done that I'm doing for you.

Melissa. As in an AI one or like a natural. We're

an actual human being. A human being one. Yeah. Because that's the next

thing isn't it? Can use AI till her heart is content.

I think that AI has some real potential and

benefits if we use it to assist us rather

than to. Don't get me started on comments. That's another

episode. Yeah. On I'm just going to throw this

all through AI and send you a bunch of AI emails because you can feel

it. But it has so

much benefit that we can use. But I'm all for.

I'm still in my human to human era. Yeah. A

long way. That continue. Yeah. I agree. I agree. And I think

we should treat AI as we would

a human conversation as well. Because I think if we just rely on and expecting

AI to give us the answers without allowing them to question our thoughts

or why do we want to come to a conclusion or

then I think we're missing a little bit of a trick when we're just reliant.

Reliant on AI for this. Yeah. It makes our brains lazy and our

brains need exercising just like our

bodies. Absolutely. I've loved our

conversation of tech and thoughts.

Silence and black and white. Yeah.

Amazing. I think next episode will

get the book. The book of questions. I

shall summon down Summon

from the tomorrow from the highs of the wardrobe. We'll

see you soon or next week. Bye.