Learning to avoid the things that steal your joy

I was researching podcasting options as I begin to re-launch the Love Life Practice Weekly Roundup on my Patreon page. Specifically I was looking for cheap ways to host the podcast, and one article in particular had a clever hook: “Can you podcast for free? Yes. Should you? No. Actually let me rephrase that. HELL NO. But if you must…while you’re at it buy a gun and shoot yourself in the foot. “

As you might gather, the author had some pretty strong opinions about the subject. But what I appreciated was his candor about offering solutions, as well. He recommended a shift of perspective by learning to identify “podcast killers”:

“…the next time you spend money on something you want instead of something you need, remind yourself that this specific purchase cost me my web hosting, or 20% of a new microphone.”

I like that idea. I like that idea a lot. It’s kind of a way to gamify your life, where suddenly the world is filled with little things that are trying to attack your podcast. There’s a coffee! Zap! Instead I’ll pay for half a month of Libsyn hosting, ha HA! Oh, no, my friends want to go to a movie! That’s one quarter of a Yeti microphone! I need you, Netflix, you’re my only hope.

What About Love?

What if, instead of podcasting, we took that attitude about love? What are the things in your life that kill the compassion, that delete the joy, that sour the sweetness? For me, it’s usually the Washington Post showing up in my email. But when I look around, there are other things:

• This is the donut is the energykiller
• This social media app is the productivitykiller
• This “one-click” purchase button is the moneykiller

Ah, but those are easy. Let’s get metaphysical:

• This self-doubt is the motivationkiller
• This self-criticism is the identitykiller
• This fear of being left out of the crowd manifesting as a criticism of someone else in the hopes people will overlook my faults and focus on the object of my scorn…

…is the lovekiller.

Instead of figuring out how to add more love to our lives (whatever that looks like), maybe – and I’m not saying this is true for everyone, but for some of us, it’s gotta be – we can just get rid of some of the things that are keeping the joy that’s already there hidden from us.

Maybe. Worth a try?