00:06
Hi, this is Katie, and thank you for joining me on the Creating Your Sanctuary podcast, and this is a podcast about creating those little moments and space that support you.

00:18
And today I want to talk about filters.

00:23
And I've heard this come up with some of my friends lately, um, and other social media sources as well, about using filters for good and using, um, And I also wanted to differentiate between filters and boundaries at the beginning here.

00:43
So when I'm talking about filters, I'm not talking about boundaries.

00:48
So filters are automatic.

00:50
They are something that you set up, and you use to, um, in different ways.

00:58
And so it creates much less decision making with boundaries, boundaries can be very active.

01:07
And so you are, you can be constantly enforcing them or negotiating with them or using them, um, in more relationship type ways or, you know, could be work, could be personal, could be, you know, in any way like that, but, um, filters, on the other hand, I equate it to, um, an app that I use actually on my, um,

01:37
laptop and it's called Hazel and it's an app.

01:40
It's for the Mac, and you can set it up to filter, like the basic levels.

01:47
Like I don't do very complex things with it, but I have it focused on a folder on my desktop called downloads.

01:55
And whenever I download something,

01:58
It sorts it out into a few different categories.

02:02
So I have them separated out for JPEGs, gifts, PNGs, PDFs, videos, I'm trying to think.

02:15
Uh, do I do text ones?

02:18
There might be a text one, just like a TXT file.

02:21
But what happens is if I just download any of those, it sorts them into those folders.

02:28
So I don't have to monitor any of that.

02:33
And I've had it for a very long time and I am kind of wondering like when, um, I'm not going to use it anymore, but I keep upgrading it.

02:44
It keeps doing the same thing.

02:45
And it works.

02:47
It helps then when I'm looking for a file.

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I'm like, oh, I just downloaded PNG.

02:52
It's going to be in this folder and it's not going to be mixed in with a bunch of other things.

02:57
Oh, it's a PDF.

02:59
And I also have for PDFs, if it contains the word invoice or receipt, I put it in another folder.

03:06
Um, so, you know, it's just very basic.

03:11
And I learned this probably 20 years ago from the tech people I used to follow.

03:17
So in this example, it's something that is running in the background, and it's not something that I have to actively make decisions about. If you are neurodivergent, if you are autistic, um, ADHD, anything on the spectrum sphere, um,

03:43
Whatever you can do to lessen the amount of decisions because our brains can get very heavy with a lot of things and also with depression, right?

03:53
Like anything where your brain feels taxed and overloaded.

03:58
If there are ways for you to filter, that means that you'll most likely be making less decisions.

04:06
Now, it does take initial initial decisions, right?

04:11
It takes, like eye consciously went, what is going to work for me? These folders and these categories will work for me.

04:18
So, um, I knew that as the years progressed, I could use that.

04:26
I can also modify it, right?

04:28
Like I could come across it and go, you know what, this isn't working. And make changes.

04:32
So nothing is permanent.

04:33
But I love doing this also with stuff.

04:39
So decluttering and stuff.

04:41
Um, It can be really, really hard to declutter your items.

04:48
But if you come up with categories and filters, it can really help to then look at your stuff in a very different way.

04:58
You're still making decisions, but it could really lessen the amount of decisions that you're making.

05:06
Like.

05:07
I mean, it is decluttering kind of that in between boundaries and filters.

05:14
It may be because you are actively having to deal with looking at the items you're having to make a decision about it.

05:22
But when you have those filters in place.

05:26
You can look at it very differently and think, okay.

05:28
You know what?

05:30
I have not been, for example, using my watercolors.

05:35
I love watercolor, so this doesn't, for me, it doesn't quite apply, but I want to use this example because it's just top of mind.

05:44
And it's usually like project oriented stuff that I have that kind of like mounds up that like it builds up over time.

05:54
It's like, oh, well, I'll do it someday and then it starts building up.

05:58
If I make a decision that I am not going to do watercolor anymore or just for this time in my life, right?

06:07
Because I can also look at something and go, how easy would it be to pick up in the future?

06:12
Can I let it all go now? And in 10 years, pick it back up.

06:17
Because I need the space now.

06:20
It's not like, oh, well, I'll just let it keep stacking up.

06:24
I actually am very, very confined by space.

06:28
If that's my situation, and I know it would make me a lot happier right now to say goodbye to it.

06:36
Then you can say like, anything related to watercolor is going to be gone.

06:43
So you just, you're not making decisions about every single thing of the watercolor.

06:49
Uh, and this is for example, right?

06:51
Like, if you were to say, I still love doing watercolor, but I'm not going to do anything on this type of paper or this type of medium or whatever it is.

07:06
You can still look at like all your watercolor supplies and go, you know what, I'm only going to keep brushes that are like, uh, real hair as opposed to like plastic acrylic.

07:19
Um, and so you can go, okay, that one decision is made.

07:23
Now I'm just sorting through and getting rid of like a bunch of stuff.

07:28
Um,

07:30
Whatever parameters, it's, to me, it's like, did I make that download folder, um, then make that PDF folder and then make the invoice and receipt folder.

07:42
Like there's many levels to it, right?

07:44
So it's up to you how deep you want to go. For some parts of your life, you can keep very surface level, and maybe it's time to get rid of many, many things.

07:55
Maybe you're moving, maybe it's that, uh, you need to just clear out a big space for something new and exciting that's coming along in your life.

08:05
Or you can go down a couple levels and go, you know what?

08:09
I need to get rid of everything that is.

08:12
you know, sub-levels and I'm not ready for the big level stuff.

08:17
So, And your life changes, right?

08:20
There are certain things that maybe your body can do at some point in your life and it can't do anymore, so you can look at, like, well, you know, I used to do all this hiking that would, I go up all the way to the top of the mountain, and now my body can't do that.

08:35
So that gear that I used to use for all that.

08:38
I don't know, I don't need it anymore.

08:41
I can't use it anymore.

08:43
And so that filter is, am I able to even use it or not?

08:48
And that kind of makes it easier.

08:50
It's just like, okay, that part is gone.

08:53
Now, is there grief in that?

08:55
Yeah.

08:55
Yeah, there's going to be levels of grief, you know, whenever you're getting rid of stuff.

09:01
But it can be pretty handy as you're like trying to sort through things.

09:06
Um, other things that you can filter are the types of news that you get, a friend shared with me this week about how she loves to get news from a source that she prefers, um, and it's really helping her like settle her mind.

09:24
And I love that idea of just going, you know what, this is from a trusted source.

09:30
It's lessening my consumption of news from all these other places.

09:35
And with that filter, I can actually calm my brain down.

09:41
I can think more clearly.

09:43
I can focus on other things because I have a reliable source I can go to.

09:48
And so I would highly recommend this for, you know, I mean, my mom.

09:54
She loves like sticking to either PBS or NPR or something.

09:59
And so receiving all her news that way and ignoring the rest, um, can be really good.

10:05
And even a different filter of like, only listening to it during these hours can really help as well.

10:14
Another filter you can keep in mind is like how you're interacting with your device of setting up different modes and different like work mode, personal mode.

10:25
any kind of, um, way to change your device, to allow certain information to come through or to stop certain information to come through.

10:36
So it can be, you know, no calls after 9 PM.

10:40
It can be no notifications, it can be no little, those little red circles with the amount of notifications on the app.

10:51
Like, I love to turn those off.

10:52
That's what it is on the Mac.

10:54
I don't know what it is on other phones.

10:55
But there's so many different settings in there that you can create focus modes where you see those part of the day and you don't, when you don't, like when you're trying to focus and work or you're trying to relax or you're trying to, um, just have some downtime with your family.

11:16
So really thinking about it and going, what do I need to be bombarded by?

11:22
What is so important that I need to hear this information right now?

11:27
Maybe the filter is, I don't receive anything from that app unless I actively open it.

11:33
Maybe I don't, um, go and seek anything in this app.

11:38
Maybe I take it off my phone entirely.

11:41
That is a filter, right?

11:43
If it's not even there.

11:44
There's nothing coming through to you.

11:46
So these filters.

11:48
Through all of these is like, what am I allowing into my life?

11:52
What kind of things are taking up space, whether they're physical, digital, what have you?

11:59
You know, news, anything.

12:02
What are the things that I'm allowing through and having them automated in a way?

12:09
So, I would love to hear from you.

12:12
What kind of filters do you already have set up?

12:15
Um what kind of filters would you like to set up?

12:18
Um, there's so many different ways you can take this.

12:22
I love working with my clients on this because I think it really helps quiet the mind in the soul when you have that control over what's being allowed into your life and giving you peace and calm in your everyday.

12:40
You can respond in the text link, in the description of this podcast.

12:45
Or feel free to email me anytime.

12:48
So I, yeah, I would love to hear from you.

12:51
And remember, however, you're creating your sanctuary right now, whatever filters you're putting up.

12:58
It's enough.

13:00
Or maybe you can add a few more.

13:03
Take care.

13:04
I'll see you next time.