You Can’t Fake It. Stop Trying.

Years ago, while living downtown in Chicago, I got one of those white noise makers that you can set to “waterfall” or “river” or “rain forest” and have shut off automatically after 90 minutes. I bought it because I was interested in drowning out my usual nighttime sounds, which included “city bus,” “screaming crotch rocket” (SFW), and “drunk Wiener Circle crowd.” (NSFW)

The thing was a piece of shit, and I mean that in every possible way: it was poorly constructed. The volume wasn’t loud enough to drown out the city. And the sounds were somehow more annoying than what I had been listening to before.

Fast forward to last month. I was at a resort in Mexico, sitting there, listening to the sounds of a small water fall in a tropical wood—sounds that might as well have been the same ones that played through my old white noise maker—yet the effect now was transformative.

Because the body is smart. It knows the difference between the Real Stuff and the Fake Crap.

Your brain, however, is not so smart. It allows itself to get fooled, even going so far as to reject reality reality in favor of artificially sweetened reality.

When this happens, a part of you goes into revolt. Your brain ignores the ruse, but your body sees it and hates you for it.

Your job starts to suck. Your attitude suffers. You stop catching “lucky breaks.” Your world slowly starts to turn to crud.

So how do you reinject reality reality back into your life? Start small:

1. Go find a patch of grass and sit down on it. Get your pants dirty.
2. Park far away and walk. Especially if it’s raining.
3. Come summer, turn off the A/C and open the window. Screw your hair.
4. In winter, go outside despite the cold.
5. Take a different route to work. Part of what I loved about the jungle was its surprising unpredictability. You can simulate that sense of wonder by breaking your most ingrained routines and forcing yourself to pay attention to your world.
6. Acting plastic to survive at work? Try being yourself instead. Hey: if it’s good enough advice for a high school teen, then it’s good enough for a mature more aged adult.
7. Buy some seeds, grow a plant. I grew a jalepeno last year, courtesy of Greenleaf Book Group. It felt great.

I know this is just a start. What am I missing?

Jason Seiden is Co-founder and CEO of Ajax Social Media, a training company that shows professionals how use social media to work more effectively.