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Psychological Hacks (Part 2): Life and Relationship Hacks
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The top hacks to win any fight, trick your brain, and build a more positive life. (Self help, anyone?) You won't want to miss this episode - and start using these puppies right meow. You'll woof it.
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Transcript
Introduction and Humor
00:00:01
Speaker
This is our podcast song. It isn't very long. Sarah, we need a gif of us just dancing to our own intro song. It's so ridiculous every single time. I can't help it.
00:00:23
Speaker
Oh gosh. Hi.
Meet the Hosts: Christina and Sarah
00:00:28
Speaker
Thanks everyone for tuning into Laughing with Ginger. The podcast for two feisty redheads with loud laughs, share crazy stories, play games and spread Salinas and joy. That little forgetful busy bee over there is my partner in crime on the Laughing with Ginger's podcast, Christina Curry.
00:00:48
Speaker
And that is Sarah Alopin, Bobby, bobbing head. What are those things called? Bobble head. Bobble head, yeah.
00:00:57
Speaker
Oh my God, we need a bobblehead of ourselves. It would work for our nodding too. I know. I know if you listen to last week's episode, we are notters. We like to nod to just be friendly and confirm our agreement with people. We also like to bob, not a bob. That's true. That's true. We also like to forget to tell our respective partners we're recording and mine just came up and listened outside the door.
00:01:31
Speaker
Oh, no, that is hilarious.
Psychological Hacks: Part Two
00:01:35
Speaker
Well, anyway, I'm super stoked to do our psychological hacks. Yeah. And, and I don't know if you said my name, so I'm Sarah Alapin. I'm also stoked.
00:01:48
Speaker
Did I get lost in the bobble and nodding? I think so. That makes sense. I did call you forgetful, so I deserved it. You did, that's true. Yep, yep. Manifestation right there. Exactly. Today's part two of Psychological Hacks, y'all. We are excited to bring you some good ones on this week's episode of Laughing with Ginger.
00:02:18
Speaker
Mine are just straight up life ones.
Self-Help Book Favorites
00:02:22
Speaker
That's where I went with this. Yeah, mine are mostly interaction ones. Some that are for you to help yourself. Ooh, self-help. I'm a self-help junkie. Are you really? I love everything self-help. Chicken noodle soup for the soul over there.
00:02:45
Speaker
Yeah, but I mean, I haven't read that in a while since like elementary school. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It might have been a middle school for me. But yeah, man, remember when those were like everywhere? Chicken soup for the teenage soul, chicken. Yeah. Blah, blah soul. It was like everything. Oh my God. Yeah. I forgot about them until that. I think that might be the only
00:03:13
Speaker
The only thing that I can actually say I've read that self help unless you count the subtle art of not giving a fuck. Oh yeah, that's a good one. Yeah.
00:03:29
Speaker
That's a really good one too. I don't know. I like all those like, uh, you know, woohoo books like, oh, yoga off the mat. And like, yeah, I know. It's ridiculous. It's the history of yoga. It's really, it's out of print now. It's actually a really good book. I coveted it. I'm not even going to tell you how I found it. And it's like, it's, I don't know if it's yoga off the map. Oh no, it's beyond the mat. Oh,
00:03:58
Speaker
And it's like a whole history. Anyway, we're going on a tangent here. Yoga off the mat sounds better. Yeah, that would have been a better title. I wonder if that is a book. I feel like where did I get that from? It's got to be a book out there. I hope it's a self-help book at that. I know. It feels like it would be. All right. Are you ready? I'm ready. Yeah. Some psychological hacks.
00:04:28
Speaker
Do you want to go first and then I'll hit you with a few? All right, here we go.
Psychological Hacks: Observations and Techniques
00:04:34
Speaker
If you think someone is watching you fake yawning and then watch them. Oh my God, I want to yawn right now. Because you know how yawning is contagious and then you'll know if they're watching you. Did you just burp? No, I raspberry with my lips.
00:04:54
Speaker
I'm trying not to yawn. Thinking about it and talking about it doesn't make me want to yawn. That's a good psychological hack though. Yeah, you kind of don't think about flipping it on somebody, but it makes total sense. Yeah, it definitely does. Yeah. Okay, when a group of people is laughing, they tend to look at the person that they like the most.
00:05:22
Speaker
If I'm laughing and I look at you, that means I like you the most. Generally speaking, I would imagine that it also could be like you look at the person that told the joke or that relates to the joke. There could be other things involved in it, but theoretically, that's what you tend to do. It's so cool. I think it's true. I feel like picturing myself, envisioning myself in a group and laughing,
00:05:51
Speaker
Like if Angie's there, I'm definitely defaulting to like, you know, poking her and being like. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good one. Yeah. This one, Jennifer, whose soul is a ginger, are like anologist in residence.
00:06:16
Speaker
That's a deep cut reference right back to like season two I think Yeah, yeah when we did the scary movie project crossover with and we watched oh My god, what was that movie called? Something about gingers Ginger snaps
00:06:39
Speaker
Hey, I'm wearing my don't make your ginger snap or this ginger snap shirt. Oh, my God. I love it. Today is a day of coincidences. I know. It's so great. It's so great. OK, so here's the one she uses on you. Let's see if you remember it. OK. If you whisper to someone. Go on.
00:07:09
Speaker
I mean, go on. It's so hard to whisper. They will likely whisper back, even though there's no good reason to lower their voice. Oh, yeah, Jennifer definitely does not do me. Oh, does it work? I don't know.
00:07:37
Speaker
That's hilarious. Yeah. Yeah. That was that's like a season three callback, I feel like.
00:07:43
Speaker
Yeah, yep. All right, you want to give me one of yours? Yeah, okay. So I've got one if let's say you and your spouse are fighting or angry at one another. I have a proven psychological tactic that you can do to like, make it less angry vibes. Hmm. Oh,
00:08:08
Speaker
Yeah. So this is proven. It's proven psychologically that it is far easier to storm your anger onto someone who is actually physically away from you if they're gone. But when someone sits next to you, it feels awkward to be mad at them and so take control of the situation
00:08:32
Speaker
by actually sitting next to the person that you're angry with, like sitting close to them. And it'll diffuse the angry vibes and then can lead to, you know, compromise and understanding.
00:08:46
Speaker
I have a bonus. I wish I had that sound effect of that air horn. I can't even do it. Oh my God. So touching someone on their shoulder or knee creates a stronger emotional bond with that person.
00:09:09
Speaker
Oh my God, that is a bonus. Yeah. Oh my God. I have another one too, but I'm trying to find it. Oh, she does that a lot when she's talking to people. I think that's why everyone likes her so much. Like we'll like touch their shoulder while she's talking to them.
00:09:31
Speaker
That's really funny. I can totally see that about her. Yeah, I think that's why when we leave a party, everyone's like, Angie's so great. Angie's so wonderful. Brr, Brr, Angie. Like, what about me? I don't touch people enough. Stranger touch. And they're partially deaf afterward. Yeah, they're like, oh, it's so quiet now. Thank God, Christina left.
00:10:01
Speaker
Okay, I have my other one. So this I think is interesting, but it overlaps so well. So if there is a mirror behind the person you are ordering from, so like if you go to the bar and the bartender has a mirror behind them, it's less likely to be rude because nobody wants to see themselves being rude. Is that why so many bars have mirrors behind them?
00:10:29
Speaker
I mean, I would imagine there's also probably lighting or something too, but yeah. Whoa, that is so interesting. Isn't that crazy? If that goes for like zoom as well. Like you're not getting nearly as angry as you might if it was a normal meeting. Yeah, if you could see yourself.
00:10:51
Speaker
Mm hmm. That is interesting. Whoa, mind blown. Yeah, seriously. All right. You want another one? Mm hmm. Yes, I do. OK. When you approach a group of people, if you notice that their feet are turning towards you,
00:11:15
Speaker
they are interested in having a conversation with you. If their feet are pointed away from you, you are probably not welcome to join the conversation. Oh my God, I had that one too. But it was more of like if you're in a conversation with someone and you start to see their feet pointing away from you, wrap that shit up and just like, boop, get out of there. But if they're like facing you, continue on your merry, merry way.
00:11:44
Speaker
It's one of the tricks that I teach when I talk about networking is to always keep that circle open so that people can come through. Because when you point your feet into the circle, then it closes it off and nobody can join it without physically like
00:12:00
Speaker
tapping you on the shoulder, which is just like not a great look for a networking. No, no one wants to do that. No one wants to come up and touch your shoulder or your knee when they walk into the circle before they know your knee. Have to be engaged in conversation first. That is inappropriate touching. That will get you nowhere quickly. Yes. You want to know what else can make people feel uncomfortable.
00:12:30
Speaker
What besides stranger touch? Besides that, if you look at their forehead while you talk to them. Oh my god, that is so awkward and weird. I don't know why anyone would do that. I mean, the goal would be to make the person uncomfortable, I guess, but I yeah, I've had people do that to me and it is so awkward.
00:12:55
Speaker
Yeah, it is really awkward. I feel like that was an old trick that people used to teach of like, oh, look at their forehead if you don't want to look at their eyes, but it is creepy AI. Yeah, especially when you have giant eyes. I have giant eyes. Yeah, everyone would know 1,000% you're staring at their forehead, and they'd be like, do I have cheese on my forehead? That would seriously happen. Yes, they do. I would be wiping my forehead.
00:13:26
Speaker
That's not good. It's not good. Oh my God. Okay. You want to give me one?
Gratitude and Positivity Techniques
00:13:32
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. So this one I feel like is one that a lot of people know, especially you self-help junkies out there, which is how to improve a bad day. So regardless of how your day goes, you should always sit down and just jot down 10 things that you're grateful for. And within a few minutes, you'll start to see that your mood shifts.
00:13:55
Speaker
which I actually used to do on a regular basis. And sometimes it's hard to come up with 10 things to write that you're grateful for when you're in a bad mood. Really? I feel like I would always be able to come up with 10 things that I'm grateful for. Although then I would be mad at myself if I repeated them. I did that one the last time. I can't be thankful every time that I don't just look at people's foreheads while I'm talking.
00:14:25
Speaker
You're like, I got to come up with 10 new things every day. That would stress me out. You know, I used to. That's so weird. You just jogged this out of my brain. So in the last episode, I was talking about how I was a teacher and how I hadn't really like interviewed. So when I was a teacher, if one of the students said something insulting to another student,
00:14:49
Speaker
It takes 12 nice things to make up for one mean thing that someone says to you. I used to make them write 12 nice things that were thoughtful and unique. Then they had to read them in front of the class. If they were not unique enough, I would critique them. Oh my God. I love that. Everyone was super nice in my class.
00:15:22
Speaker
Yeah, that would be I mean, I love that. I think that's great. Like force them to be positive. And it was just like things like, you know, it couldn't be like, she has blue eyes or something. Yeah, it had to be like something a little bit more in depth. And if so if they didn't actually get to 12, then I would send them back to think about it more.
00:15:49
Speaker
I think it's great. You can't probably comment on the body. It's all about the mind and their talent, creativity and smartness and personality and stuff. They're thoughtful because they always push your chair in for you when you stand up to leave the room or whatever. All those are way more meaningful than, oh, their eyes are pretty blue or whatever.
00:16:14
Speaker
Yeah, it actually was like, I mean, it kind of sounds like I was being mean, but it was like a complete transformation for the people that were having nice things read about them. Oh, God, I can totally see that happening. It would feel really good. Yeah, especially because you'd see people in the class nodding. Yeah, I think all you teachers out there, you should totally do this.
00:16:43
Speaker
Yeah. 12 nice things to one bad thing. Yeah. Punishment. Yeah. It was good. It was a good one. It was, you know, it's punishing without like punishing. Good job, Sarah. Good job, teacher Sarah. Thanks. I always try to try to make the world a little bit of a happier place. Yeah. Yeah. One student at a time. You want to know how to make your week a little happier? Yeah.
Mid-week Enjoyment Tips
00:17:12
Speaker
Plan something for every Wednesday that you can look forward to. That way you start to look forward to it on Monday and by the time Wednesday rolls around, you're already halfway through the week and almost to the weekend. I love that. I think it's so great. I know. I think so too. Now I feel like I may start
00:17:35
Speaker
trying to schedule like date nights or something on Wednesdays. Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah. Go find like a happy hour around town or something. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I think that's great. Yay. That was a good one.
00:17:56
Speaker
Do you want another one? Clearly, I'm way too excited about these. No, I'm excited too.
Calming Techniques for Anxiety
00:18:05
Speaker
Too gum if you're nervous. Our brains assume that if we're eating, we're not in any immediate danger. So it lowers our fight or flight response. Whoa, that's crazy. Yeah, it makes total sense though.
00:18:23
Speaker
That's a good one. I did not put it in the interview one because I was like, you really cannot go into an interview to it. Don't do that. Don't do that. That feels like poor form. I made out of interviewed many times, but I feel like it would be really distracting to the interviewer. That would be the thing they'd remember that you were just
00:18:49
Speaker
I'm sure. Yeah, not appropriate. Don't do that. That was a good one. Okay. Okay. Give me another one. All right. This is another one that's kind of like similar. So if someone is having a panic attack, start breathing regularly and really loudly with the person. So start like with them, but then regulate it to be a much more regular breath.
00:19:17
Speaker
like regular pacing, and that person who's panicking will subconsciously start to breathe in rhythm with you.
00:19:25
Speaker
Yeah, I I definitely knew that when I went through this like panic anxiety attack training, like how to like be there for someone who does that or is going through that. And it in addition, this is really helpful. You put your hand on their heart and put their hand on your heart and the breathing and the feeling of it and the heartbeat all like will sync up together and you can calm them down pretty easily. Yeah.
00:19:53
Speaker
Yeah. And the making eye contact, knowing that this is the space they're in. It's a safe space. Don't look at anything else around you. Yeah, it's really helpful. It can really, really work. Yeah. I don't think there's science behind this part, but weird aside, I'm co-hosting The Scary Movie Project again tomorrow.
00:20:15
Speaker
which I don't know when it drops for our listeners out there, but it's not dropping tomorrow. I'm telling you that. Mel Gibson does that when his son is having an asthma attack in that movie. What's the movie called? Signs. Oh, sorry. Did I not say the movie that I was doing?
00:20:39
Speaker
That movie bugged the shit out of me because it's like the world is what 80% water and water is what's like murdering the aliens. It's like really they're taking over a planet where they can tell there's a lot of water and that's what's like killing you. It's just yeah, I fully.
00:21:02
Speaker
I feel like that's not very well thought through on the alien part. Everything else was great. Everything else was great. But that being what murders them, I'm like, that fell flat for me. Yeah, I was like, so everyone at the beach is just fine. And almost all cities are built on some sort of port because that's how we used to transfer things. And that's actually still the primary way of shipping
00:21:30
Speaker
We are going down a rabbit hole here. But I thought the same thing. I was like, so every city is fine. Like so, you know, it takes place in Bucks County, which is outside of Philadelphia. But Philadelphia is on a city. It's on the the oh, my God, the name just Skooka River. Yeah. Large body of water right there. A big, very gross river.
00:21:59
Speaker
Very gross. Ew, like polluted? Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't swim in it. I wouldn't swim in the waters outside TC either, so. Okay, noted.
00:22:13
Speaker
I mean, most cities, there's a reason the Timbs and the Sun were declared dead. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Small. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. There's a reason. Yeah. Do you have another one you want to give me? Yeah. Well, this is my last one.
Mind Tricks: Clearing Earworms and Social Awkwardness
00:22:32
Speaker
Okay, you know, we've all done it where we have that song that just like won't leave our brains. Yes. Okay, I have a trick how to like get it out of your brain. Are you ready for this? So I'm ready. Um, it's an effect that I don't know how to pronounce as a ziger Nick effect.
00:22:53
Speaker
continues to remind us about completing something that we've started so when a song continues to play in your mind for a long time sit down and actually listen to the full song once through and your mind will automatically be like oh well that's completed and then move on and you won't have it stuck in your head anymore so i heard this too and i'm not sure i believe it because i get like the song from the burger king commercial stuck in my head
00:23:22
Speaker
How does that one go? Oh my God, please don't make me do this. I almost went, I'm loving it. And I was like, no, that's McDonald's. That is McDonald's. This is the current one that's like, eat like a king who's on a budget. Oh, I haven't heard that one. Oh my God, it's so catchy. And it just gets so stuck. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's like, I mean, also, like, I don't eat fast food. You want Burger King?
00:23:53
Speaker
No, it like makes me really hostile about Burger King. It has the opposite effect. I'm like, damn it, Burger King, I hate you. I wouldn't have eaten you to begin with, but now I'm definitely not eating you. I am going to send you that song and you are going to let me know if it gets stuck in your head because
00:24:22
Speaker
It is, it makes me absolutely insane. Alright, yeah, send it over so I can be insane with you. We'll let you know how that goes next week, everybody. Alright, so you want my last one? Yeah, I mean, I have a bunch more, but I can definitely give you.
00:24:44
Speaker
So this one is for if someone is making jokes at your expense. This is good. This is a good one. Yeah, this one I actually like when I when I read this, I was like, wow, I immediately felt empowered for the having the knowledge and immediately awkward if I was the one who was doing the teasing, like I could relate to it on both sides. So
00:25:10
Speaker
I like had this like split Sarah moment of like, Oh God, that would be awful. And also like, Oh God, that would definitely stop them from being a jerk. Okay, so if someone is making jokes at your expense, act like you can't hear them and ask them to repeat it.
00:25:30
Speaker
You can do this multiple times and by the time they say it a third or fourth time, nobody's laughing and everyone just feels incredibly awkward that it ever happened. I love that one the best. I can't wait to try that out the next time I feel picked on. Oh my god, but it's so true. Like think about it from like the sibling point of view.
00:25:57
Speaker
Like when your sibling had friends over or something and was teasing you, I don't know that Sean did that to you, but we were pretty nice to each other. Dan and I would like tease each other, like rib each other, but sometimes it would actually hurt my feelings and sometimes it would actually hurt his too.
00:26:14
Speaker
even though it was like all in good fun from the other person's point of view. But just imagine if you had to repeat it multiple times like how awkward you would feel and then you would be embarrassed and you would go home and think about that later how awkward you felt.
00:26:29
Speaker
as the person making the joke. Yeah, this is a really good hack for people in a workplace where someone's being racist, homophobic or bullying you like this, this can go beyond like that and really put some jerk co worker in their place. Yeah, I mean, or classmate or
00:26:52
Speaker
like neighborhood kid or whatever. This is a great tip to learn as a child, like as a younger person too. Because again, the people will immediately jump ship from the person who's ribbing you
00:27:09
Speaker
at best and being mean at worst while bullying at worst. I mean, there's a lot worse than bullying, I guess. In my world, I like to pretend there isn't sometimes for my own sanity. That's my own self-help. I know. I know. It's evolved from there, though.
00:27:29
Speaker
But that's a good way to just throw it back at them because repeating something not nice, it's going to sound even more not nice the more they say it. And it loses the funny, like immediately, even if it is funny to the people who are standing around being part of it, it immediately and it severs the joke from the people near them. So then they end up being the ones who are isolated, which
00:27:55
Speaker
You know, use with caution. We never want to make anyone feel bad. Those bullies can get guns. So again, use with caution. True, true, true.
00:28:14
Speaker
Always use your power for good. Yeah, yeah. Well, anywho, that was awesome. Oh my god, I love psychological hacks. They're so interesting. I know me too. I'm so fascinated by them. I'm really glad we did this episode. Hopefully you all enjoyed this episode of laughing with gingers as well.
00:28:35
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, let us know if you have any psychological hacks that you've used. Oh my god, I would love to like hear that more. I know stuff the better. Yeah, maybe we can revisit it next season. We'll give you credit if you send them away. Yeah, cuz Sarah clearly has 1000 more to share. I do. I tend to stockpile.
00:29:00
Speaker
That's okay. That's okay. You're prepared for the apocalypse. I am. I am because obviously we will keep doing laughing with gingers during the apocalypse. Oh, yeah, totally. Totally. Just imagine the last of us, which I haven't seen yet, but you know, and laughing with gingers still going. I think we might attract the predators.
00:29:24
Speaker
I mean, the apocalypse still needs laughter. That's true, but it may have to be a little quieter because we would definitely attract zombies. Soundproof, soundproof building. Or we're dead in the first week. Only listen in your headphones because you don't want to attract them either.
00:29:46
Speaker
No, no, that's true. Good point. Oh, my God. That was so fun. Thank you for joining us, everyone, on Laughing with Gingers. We love that you listen to our silly podcast, and we just appreciate you all. Yeah. And follow us on Instagram over at Laughing with Gingers. And you, of course, can send us funny stories and stuff
00:30:13
Speaker
And if you've got a hot second, if you could give us a follow rate and review, it really helps us with searchability and things. And I know we don't ask that of you all very often, but it helps other people find the show and it helps us bring you more good content. So, you know, give us a follow rate and review.
00:30:33
Speaker
Oh, thanks. Yeah, we appreciate you thanking us before thanking you before it happens. Get access to premium content, including ad free episodes, swag special events, access to us and more starting at just $3. Check us out at patreon.com slash laughing with gingers. And if you want your own laughing with gingers merch, you know where to find it. It's at laughing with gingers.com. And tune into laughing with gingers next week for some more good times. Bye.