Powerful And Unpolished

Welcome back everyone. I'm Tim Salmons. I am your host to Powerful and unpolished. This is our podcast, or my podcast that I get to invite and enjoy a friend, a colleague you've heard from her before just a couple episodes ago. Nanette Levin. Thank you for showing up again today, Nanette.

Thanks for having me.

I like having Nanette 'cause she is just a wonderful, Intuitive, intellectual, I mean her wisdom, her, disposition. I just, we can banter and go back and forth. So I figured this would be a good session, a banter session for you guys to eavesdrop in on us and see as we explore some elements of life.

In today's subject, and you've heard me talk about this subject before, there's so many layers and, shades in which to explore it. So we're going to continue further and go down this path. And the subject matter that we're gonna talk about today is called play. Do you Play Enough?

How do you play? What is play for you? Some people, ironically, there may be some people out there that doing their taxes might be play for them. I. For other people it, that, that would be hell on earth. And so it's just having that awareness of play. And I know that for myself, when I move into the experience of play and I'm cognizant of it, it really elevates my energy, it elevates my cognitive thinking.

It opens up. Avenues. That's what I notice, but I'll say this. Nanette, what do you think of when you think of play in your world, in your experience?

I guess I've always been of the mindset that you should enjoy the work you do. It occupies a large percentage of your waking hours and. So for me, play includes everything from work to the hobbies that I pursue, to spiritual activities that enrich my soul.

I think to me, life is happy when I'm playing and not so much when I'm not.

Amen to that. It's, So when you play, I mean 'cause because you have a couple pups, a couple dogs that you have that are very much a part of your world. how do you engage with play when you're interacting with them?

I do dog sports with both of them, so that could, I have one dog who loves agility. So we take agility classes that we play in usually once a week. We go to trials occasionally, not enough to be serious about it, but enough to keep it fun and light. And then I have another dog who is now doing rally and he's done some agility as well.

And so I, enjoy doing things that. Include others with the dogs for feedback to help improve my skills, to give the dogs some additional entertainment. So the dog sports work well for me with that.

Nice. Very cool. I love how you talk about, work, play in work like, it's such a big part of our world.

Just as a guess and, just for the listeners out there, I'm all for going and looking for statistics and, factual results and things like this. That's not a bad thing, but I also, part of the reason why I do this podcast is to open people up to you actually have information. You have gut instinct, you have, stuff that comes to you.

Do you actually really need factual evidence? I. In, in some of these situations?

I think it depends. as I work with authors primarily. Yeah, I do editing and ghost writing, and it really depends on the subject matter of the book in that case. Excellent. If it's a memoir that's maybe not necessary at all, if it is a leadership guide.

Some statistics in supporting material can help lend credibility to the message.

And I think I love that you're, sharing that because I think the reason why I brought it up is we've become so heavily dependent on facts. oh, this is my statistic, this is my fact. And it's like going, but did you have that gut instinct before you actually went and got validated by the fact, right?

Sometimes we actually have information. Now, if you're putting together a book, like, in your world, it's about your, ah, the word is escaping me. it's about your credibility. It really is. you, wanna make sure that you are valid and credible. The other aspect is, part of the reason why I asked the question, is that sometimes people, I guess the, I guess my point is this, is they just know information.

They just don't trust it until they find an outside source that validates it for them, and then now I'll believe it, or now I'll own it. Have, you seen or had experiences with people in that situation?

Sure. everybody deals with imposter syndrome. I don't care how esteemed we are, it's just a natural human condition.

Although, I will say interestingly, I have always been a bigger believer in primary research versus secondary research, and I have a pretty strong background in marketing and. Even more so today. By the time you go and find secondary material to support your claims, the world has changed. It's just, there's just, oh my God.

Yes. it's, crazy. So that said, I think that sometimes the best fact finding can involve talking to people. The other issue that I'm seeing now, and this pertains to the clients that I'm working with, and it's, getting tougher and tougher to verify the sources, but the advent of AI and social media and.

All the words that you can put behind the loss of fact checking and original source checking as people spew out information. It's getting increasingly difficult to find verifiable information that is accurate.

That's a good connection with what I'm thinking about around the concept of play.

And we're talking about play and work. The type between play and work is get lost in your mind, right? No. the thing that I was thinking about when it comes to, to play and aspect is when we have so much of this information, so much of this, Technology, conditioning the programming that comes at us, it, it comes at us so consistently that, like you said, finding valid resources or being able to verify facts can get to be very challenging.

And maybe that's by design. I don't know, a greater design than us, but I'm like, maybe it's by design in the sense of. We've gotten so much head information, now it's time to maybe practice a little bit more of internal trust, internal, gut check if you will. what does my gut really feel in this situation?

The problem is, You got the other thing where people play with propaganda, they play with rhetoric, they play with, because that's, that's a, technique or a tool as well. And have you ever experienced someone when you know that they've been doing propaganda or rhetoric and you just, in your gut, you feel how it's not in alignment with what they're saying?

Have you had that experience?

Sure. an interesting thing, particularly in the political scenario that we're living in now is I. People don't recognize their biases, so it's really easy for them to communicate in a way that aligns with the people that they hang out with and not recognize that what they're saying is incredibly insulting to somebody on the other side of the aisle.

So I, I see a lot of that and. Getting back to your comment about trusting your gut, I really believe that if people were more in tune with their gut and less inclined to go find others to validate, connect with, a message that we'd be getting along better.

Ah, absolutely. It's, that actually takes me to the next point that I wanted to address today.

So I just got back from a trip and to me a trip is give yourself a chance to go play, explore different, environment, different terrain, different people, even though that we're all the same, we're all different, right? Kind of thing. Being able to go out there and play and explore the travel.

It always makes me a little bit giddy. It is the night before Christmas, it's oh yeah, what? What's gonna happen tomorrow? And so on a trip it's wow, this is fun. Who are we gonna meet? What And I, I honestly believe, because my wife and I play in that fashion, when we travel, we meet the coolest people.

You meet the nicest people, you meet the coolest people. It's and, I think it's because you're usually open and sure people, you cross paths with people who are having bad days or whatever. But you just attract that to you. And I see other people who do the same thing, they attract that to them as well.

Had that conversation before. What I noticed in this last trip that we just took, I was observing like. Social etiquette or social clues. And I found it very intriguing. 'cause when we're on a trip, we're in a new environment or I, this, I'm speaking for myself, I'm in a new environment, so it's fresh, it's explorative.

Even if I've been there before, it's still, I'm not, I don't live there every day. It's not the same old. So it's not the, it's newer energy. But what I noticed is I was driving around the Bay Area and out in California and I'm in a rental car and just cruising along and very few people, acknowledge when you allow them in.

in your lane or not in your lane, the kind of thing. And, a couple people I waved at and I'm like going, I'm hoping they're realizing that I'm waving. Thank you very much. Instead of, go, leap off of it. The end of the,

but I just noticed, I was like going, I remember when I was a kid growing up. It was commonplace that if you opened up a door for someone, they said thank you, or if you allowed someone in and, you waved at them, they waved at you, acknowledgement. That's my experience. I,

I have to say, I think it's geographical.

I really do. Interestingly, I spent 20. Or so years in upstate New York and I am now in Roanoke, Virginia, and one of my pet peeves about Roanoke, Virginia is when somebody sees a turn signal, that is an indication for them to speed up so that they could be sure not to let you in. And it took a bit to get used to because in the Rochester, New York area.

That behavior is total opposite. You put a turn signal on and people back up so that you have room to merge. And the funny thing is, I have learned in this area not to put a turn signal on if I wanna merge into traffic. it's just crazy. It's, that's wild. It's it's almost. Habitual, turn signal, hit the gas, and the lanes are much narrower around here and the merge is much shorter.

to your point, I think that maybe there's some social norm in that, but my experience, at least with driving is it varies dramatically from state to state in. This country, and of course overseas even more 'cause you're on the other side of the road, people are generally more, pleasant and polite over there.

They really are. and the other aspect is, people are people. No matter where you go, it's just who is it that you're crossing paths with? I like your awareness around the geographical aspect. That's something huge to consider. The thing I notice is I. We're all microcosms of, this experience called life, right?

So I'm in my microcosm. I just remember, and maybe I was prone to look for it. Maybe I was prone to look for the good things that people were doing when I was growing up, right? And I was like, oh, wow, that's nice. it's afforded something. But what it afforded me was when somebody made the effort made, and it didn't have to be a big effort.

My god, opening a door for somebody. Saying thank you for someone holding the door open for you. a little wave, saying, thank you for letting me in. It's, I find it interesting that these simple little things that have been part of civilization for a while, these simple little things can make your day better.

But it is amazing how many people don't do it or don't do it consistently.

Absolutely, and I think part of it is. So many people are fixated on their phones. They're no longer interacting with the people around. So I'm not, I don't know whether it's an issue of politeness or whether it, or politeness being taught or whether it is an issue of zoning out.

I think it might be a little bit of both. Yeah. and I, I was in line today. And waiting for something and started a brief conversation with the person next to me. But she whipped out her phone, as did everybody else in line. there was an opportunity to get to know people possibly, and that's not something that most out in the world these days seem to wanna do.

Yeah. and that's why I think it's a really good point for us to talk about is and why bring it up. Is, it's so easy for people to complain about how bad things have gotten, how bad the world is. All the, the frustration with the politics, frustration with society, frustration with this state versus that state.

It cracks me up how, people from Texas have opinions about people from Colorado or California, and California has people from New York and, all this and I'm sitting here going. Really people, it, it maybe the reason why things are so frustrated or there's so much angst is where you putting your energy and attention.

Are you doing the simple things? are you contributing to something greater or less? What were you gonna say?

You had mentioned earlier about how you and your wife always encounter the most interesting people in. Travel experiences and I think that is an indication of your expectations.

So I agree with you. I really do. I, think that as is the case in just about everything in life, we see what we seek or what we think about.

I think that's, this is right to that point. Thank you for saying that. it's what we think about. And when, our heads are in our phones and our phones are telling us how bad things are or what the Kardashians have done, or all the drama or the trauma in the world, all of a sudden it's I'm not gonna make a little extra effort to be considered to a stranger because I may be opening myself up to something that I don't want or I can't handle.

And it's wait a minute. If you're in a situation where you have an opportunity to contribute, do you, and that's, really for the listener themselves to, to ask themselves is life is constantly giving us feedback. It gives us feedback all day long, every day. On the days when I'm having, my energy is lower or I'm struggling with whatever mind, head trash I'm dealing with or stuff like this.

'cause we all do, we all deal with, that the expectations not only on ourselves, but the world around us. Absolutely. When we get stuck in that, pattern, we lose the concept of play. We lose the concept of creating. Our day, we lose the concept of, wait a minute, I have influence not only over myself, but over the day that's ahead of me.

and I notice that when I'm dealing with my head trash, if I have something that actually takes me out of that, vicious cycle or whatever's going through my head. All of a sudden, I, can have a different state of energy. I can have a different presentation to the world around me as well as to how I feel for myself.

Do you ever have a, so you had asked me earlier how I think about play Yeah. Or how I define play. How do you define play?

For me, defining play is giving yourself permission to be free flowing, to be, in the moment, to be present. And, for me as a kid, it's always, no, I don't know why I know this, but that there was something that was always bringing more information, like something greater than myself.

And for me, the play is, what am I missing? What else is available? Because, and this is, I didn't think I'd be talking about this, but, we recently, I. Put down our dog because of his illness and, it affects you. I really, feel this energy, it's been a couple weeks now and it's like you still have that sort of grief and that process.

And, I just remember, and I've said this my whole life 'cause when I was an EMT and I was working with patients in the hospital and some of them, in their last moments, what's their experience? What's my experience like? Part of my play is I'm very intrigued by human beings and what's still available to them that they haven't tapped into, who we are and what we have available to us to tap into.

Are we tapping into it? Are we, open to it? it's not a have to, it's a get to. That's my, that's why I call it play. And recently, losing our dog. It just reminded me, and I've had this before, and you never know what someone else is dealing with. it, it's an array of experience.

They could be incredibly sad and part of themselves, or part of their experience, and they could be incredibly accomplished and successful, and you don't, you wouldn't know it. You don't know it. And for the reason why this podcast exists. Is really to just keep, continue to have the open conversation of who are we and how are we for ourselves and the world around us because we're that powerful and we're that a we're, that we have that much ability to impact not only our world, but the world of those around us.

Does that make sense? I'm just pontificating over here.

Well, a little bit. I think that most people view play. I. As akin to having fun, and I don't know how much fun that sounds to me. So I'm trying to, so I'm trying to see the fun in what you're describing.

what, you were just sharing a minute ago is, there's a lot of times where I see people who, or I witness people.

'cause I, I'm constantly watching the world for feedback and I witness people who I. Their concept of play, or at least what I'm witnessing as their concept of play is escapism. like they want to escape. I'm gonna go to Mexico and I'm gonna party and I'm gonna drink. And it's great, have a great time, but what are you, escaping from?

I hope, you're doing this in your daily life with your own pets, with your own kids, with your own, girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband, whatever. hopefully not all of those at once. It's a family reunion. For me, I guess I like to play like that too. I just noticed that isn't really, for myself, the recovery from that kind of play isn't really that much fun. if I, if I escape into learning about people and learning about myself. That's you're helping me today to define my, experience of play and that is my experience of play is, helping myself, helping other people to really consider things that they may not consider on levels that they don't even know exist.

Or maybe they do know they exist, but ha have you tried it out?

So, playing with their concept of reality.

Yeah. Yeah. Playing with, and it goes, the book that we worked on that, when we put that book together, it was one of those things where, you know, exploring the human experience.

it's what it's all about for me. And, I know a lot of people, it's I don't wanna be so heady and oh, but I guess that's my form of play, so to each his own. Yeah, I know. But the, social cues are, let me see, is there anything else on my list here that I wanted to ask you about?

Do you have any questions for me? None that I haven't already asked.

What I would say is this. When I experienced play, I, get to meet people like you. That's how we actually became connected was, it, was a work thing. But, and we did a lot of work. we had, you did, we had some months that were, were very, challenging and rewarding. but it was actually fun.

Creating this, book, creating this experience so that we could get it out into the world. And, to me it's, are you as, and this is to the listener. Are you playing in your world to where it serves who you are and what you're here to accomplish? And maybe you're just here to accomplish.

I just wanna have a good time and that's great. Maybe you're here to accomplish how to find a cure for a whole world of diseases. Maybe you're here to accomplish being a good mother or a good father, whatever it is. The key element is honoring yourself as you expand who you are is a powerful, gift we give ourselves.

And I guess what I'll do is we'll go ahead and wrap it up today, but I want to just say this, the world is constantly giving you information. It's constantly giving you feedback. This is your path. And my biggest question for you is your path is speaking to you. Are you listening? Are you listening to what's most important there to support you, to guide you to grow?

You? And with that, I just wanna say thank you, Nanette, for coming and, bouncing all over it because we did the pinball thing today. I, that's, how it works in my head sometimes. It's, been fun. Yeah. We'll do it again. We always have fun bantering back and forth and having different, topics to explore.

But for those of you who are out there listening, we just wanna say thank you very much for joining the podcast today. if you found value in this or liked it, please follow up. Listen to us, give us a and we look forward to. Giving you the next episode. Take care. Bye. Thank you for joining us today.

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