Freedom Friday: When Life Squeezes You, Whatever Is Inside Will Come Out

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We explore how what comes out of us under pressure directly reveals what we've been filling ourselves with, just as squeezing a lemon produces only lemon juice because that's what's inside it.

• Taking inventory of what we consume through our eyes, ears, and bodies determines what will come out when life squeezes us
• Our digital footprints provide a practical way to examine what we've been filling ourselves with
• Looking at streaming history, phone logs, and banking records from the past 90 days reveals our true consumption patterns
• Asking whether we'd be comfortable explaining our consumption choices to others helps evaluate their value
• The difference between "dessert" content that feels good temporarily versus nutritious content that builds character
• Changing what comes out of us when pressured requires changing what goes in regularly

Share this episode with someone who might benefit from this perspective on how our inputs shape our responses to life's challenges.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hello everybody and welcome once again to the
unlearned podcast.
I'm your host, ruth Abigail,aka RA, and this is freedom
Friday, where we come and sharesomething we've unlearned
recently and how it has made usjust a little bit more free.
So I want to encourage you guys, if you have not been listening

(00:32):
to our current seriesUnlearning, parenting y'all.
It is a great series.
We are talking to some reallybeautiful people in this series.
They are sharing and they'rebeing vulnerable about parenting
from different perspectives,from you know, becoming a single
parent as a result of divorceto parenting adult children, and

(00:56):
we have a couple of more comingup that I'm excited about.
So you guys, tune in for thatand make sure to share this with
with somebody that you thinkcould use it.
All right, so let's get intofreedom Friday.
I I think this is somethingthat we think is like.
This principle is somethingthat we we see in others before

(01:19):
we see in ourselves, which a lotof things.
I guess that's the case for alot of things, but I think this
in particular is just somethingthat we have to be, uh, aware of
and and lot of things.
I guess that's the case for alot of things, but I think this
in particular is just somethingthat we have to be aware of and
and and unlearn, right?
Um, when you, when you squeezea lemon, lemon juice comes out.
When you squeeze a orange, anorange comes out uh, orange

(01:43):
juice comes out.
Excuse me, when you squeeze,squeeze grapes uh, grape juice
or wine, whatever you like,comes out.
Right, when you put pressure onfruit, the juice within the
fruit is going to come out.
So here's my question to youwhat squeezes, what comes out
when you are squeezed?

(02:04):
What comes out when you'resqueezed?
Here's the thing with fruit thething that comes out is what's
in it.
It doesn't come out of fruitunless it's already in it.
Orange juice doesn't come outof grapes because orange juice
is not inside of grapes, grapejuices Um, lemon juice does not
inside of grapes, grape juices.
Lemon juice does not come outof oranges because lemon juice

(02:28):
is not inside of oranges, orangejuices.
We have to unlearn that when weare squeezed, when life
squeezes you, that what comes in, what's already in you, isn't
going to come out.
So, when you're squeezed,what's in you is going to come
out.
It's not a matter of what youwant to come out or wish will

(02:51):
come out, but what's in you isgoing to come out when you are
squeezed.
So here's the question what'sin you?
What's in you?
What's going to come out whenlife squeezes you?
What's in you?
What's going to come out whenlife squeezes you?
Then here's well, if you don'tknow the answer to that question

(03:11):
, here's how we can takeinventory on what's inside of us
and what it is that is going tolikely come out when we are
squeezed.
You may have heard this before,but I think it's so important,
right?
There are a few things.
Things get inside of us.
Okay, one way things get insideof us is what you see, your

(03:33):
eyes.
That's how things get inside ofyou.
Another things get inside theway things get inside of what
you hear.
Another way things get insideof you is what you eat.
Okay, these are the ways.
These are a few ways thatthings get inside of you, and
when they get inside of you,they will come out when, when

(03:55):
you're squeezed.
So the question is how do I know, and what is a practical way to
take inventory on what'sactually in me, that has come
inside of me through what I see,what I hear and what I put in
my system, right, what I eat so.
So this and what I really wantto focus on is less about like

(04:21):
the eating part, cause really Iwant to talk about like, the,
the, the weight, the like.
What squeeze comes out of youlike, not necessarily physically
, but mentally.
Right, when we're mentallysqueezed, when life goes a
direction that we don't expectit to go, when things happen to
other people or to us that wedon't like or don't expect
something's going to happen, andso really want to focus in on

(04:44):
where I'm putting my eyes andwhere I'm putting my ears and
what that's putting inside of me.
That way, I can know what'sgoing to come out.
So I was actually thinkingabout this not too long ago, and
really a practical way of doingthat is taking inventory on

(05:05):
literally what you have beeningesting for the last 90 days.
How do I do that?
Well, technology has its ups anddowns, as we all know, but one
of the cool things about it isit kind of is an automatic.
It takes automatic inventory ofwhat you've been watching,

(05:25):
everything that we watch, if youstream anything or if you're on
social media, if you have anykind of uh, music, uh, streaming
platform, uh, televisionstreaming platform, uh, all of
that right, even your bankingright, your money, because that
also matters too.
You can go back because itkeeps track of it, so it

(05:46):
automatically tracks it.
Now they're tracking it becausethey want to track you, because
they want to see how they cancontinue to give you what it is
that you say you want, so thatyou will profit them.
But here's a way to turn thaton its head and use it for your
own growth, because if you lookat the things that you've been
streaming whether it'stelevision, movies, music,

(06:08):
social media you can see what'sbeen going inside of you for the
last 90 days.
You can actually pull it up,look up in your settings not the
last 90 days and it'll give itto you.
You can see what you've beenwatching.
And so my challenge andencouragement is to take each

(06:30):
take.
Take something, um that you'vebeen watching.
Let's take Netflix I likeNetflix, um.
Or Apple TV, right.
Or Hulu, or Disney Plus I'm aDisney person.
I like Disney Plus, right.
Take any of those and go backand look at the watch again,

(06:56):
right, different category orwhat they suggest, based on what
you've been watching.
It will tell you.
It'll help you to see whatyou've actually been consuming
over the last 90 days.
If you're a music streamer, ifyou stream podcasts, like I do,

(07:18):
look at the podcast you've beenlistening to for the last 90
days.
Look at the music that you'vebeen consuming for the last 90
days.
Here's another one Look at yourphone and your recent calls and
your recent texts.
Go through the last 90 days andsee what people you've been
connecting with over the last 90days and look at who you've

(07:38):
actually been you have beenallowing to be in your ear, who
you've allowed to influence youover the last 90 days and how
much those people areinfluencing you.
Take a look at your devices.
We can use this actually to ouradvantage and see who has had my

(07:59):
ear, what has had my eyes, whohas had my ear and what has had
my eyes over the last 90 days.
Look at it and ask yourself doI want this?
Is this who I want in my ear?
Is this what I want to bewatching?
Who I want in my ear?
Is this what I want to bewatching?

(08:21):
What has it done for me?
How has it influenced me?
Would I be okay that somebodyelse, if somebody else, saw what
I'm seeing right now?
How would I explain why thishas been a part of my, my
pattern of listening andwatching.

(08:43):
If somebody asked me, why do youlisten to that, why do you
watch that, can I answer them?
These are things.
These are great questions toask yourself, because when life
squeezes you and it will whatyou've been consuming is going
to come out.
I know we like to think thatwhat will come out is what we

(09:04):
want to come out, but that's nottrue.
What will come out is not whatwe want to come out.
It's what's already in there,and the only way things get in
there is what we allow in.
And if we've been allowingthings in that we don't want to
come out, then we ought tochange what it is that comes in.
And if we've been allowingthings in that we don't want to
come out, then we ought tochange what it is that comes in.
If you want to present as agodly caring person, but the

(09:31):
things that you've beenconsuming are not godly caring
people focused things then youcan't expect to respond that way
when life squeezes you.
It's not about what you want,it's about what is, and so my
encouragement is ask yourselfwhat's in me.

(09:55):
Take that actual, practicalinventory.
Go through all your streamingservices.
Go through your music streaming, your TV streaming and go
through your phone.
I know it sounds super simple,I know it sounds very uh, maybe
elementary, but I think you'regoing to learn a lot.
Uh, bonus round, go throughyour bank account and look at

(10:15):
what things you have beenspending money on.
That also will tell yousomething about the values that
you've been consuming indifferent ways.
Have I been buying a ton ofclothes lately?
What is that saying about whereI am?
Have I been spending a lot ofmoney on food?
What is that saying about whereI am?

(10:36):
Look back and ask yourself isthis what I want to come out of
me when life squeezes me, thesevalues, these influences that
come from the things that I'mputting inside of me?
Do I want those things to comeout?
And if I don't want thosethings to come out, or elements

(10:57):
of those things, then we got tochange what we put in.
We got to change what we put in.
I hope that's helpful.
It's helped me just to be veryclear and cautious on what I
allow in my system the most,something my father used to say
growing up there's nothing wrongwith dessert.

(11:18):
Dessert is good, we likedessert and dessert's great.
But what happens when I eatdessert?
All the time I'm gonna get sickand, depending on the type of
body you have, you may or maynot throw up.
Something else might happen.
You know what I'm saying.

(11:39):
The point is it ain't going tostay in you right?
So dessert is fine, but whatare the things that are
nutritious?
And the things that arenutritious don't always taste
good.
But he used to always say itdoesn't matter how it tastes as
long as you can swallow it.
It doesn't matter how it tastesas long as you can swallow it.
If it comes, if it goes intoyour system, it will do what

(12:01):
it's designed to do, which ismake you healthier.
Doesn't matter how it goes down, as long as it goes down.
The things that we like mightgo, the things that we enjoy and
taste good.
They might be good for thatmoment, but when they go down
they do more damage.
It's the same thing with stuffwe consume out in the world.
It may feel good and we may beentertained and it'd be great,

(12:26):
but when you overdo that, itactually does more damage inside
of you.
And then you realize whenyou're out there and something
happens, you don't have what youneed to respond the way you
want to respond because you atetoo much dessert and didn't eat
enough healthy stuff.
Right, all right, that's it.
Y'all we got to unlearn thatwhat goes in will not come out.

(12:52):
I promise you it will.
I hope y'all have a great restof the week and let's keep
unlearning together so that wecan experience more freedom,
peace.
Thank you once again forlistening to the Unlearned
Podcast.
We would love to hear yourcomments and your feedback about

(13:15):
the episode.
Feel free to follow us onFacebook and Instagram and to
let us know what you think.
We're looking forward to thenext time, when we are able to
unlearn together to move forwardtowards freedom.
See you then.