I just wanted to let you know that the Kindle version of my book, “Mediocre No More” is available for FREE today (March 27) and tomorrow (March 28). Feel free to pass this along to anyone! You don’t need to have a Kindle to read it. You can read it online on the Kindle Cloud Reader, you can download a program onto your computer to read it, and there are apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android too!
Please click on the image of the book to be taken to Amazon to get your copy today! 🙂
Did you get my FREE Kindle book yet? Click the image of my book cover below to get your free copy March 27 and 28!
Join me for this week’s interview on Monday, March 25 at 12 PM Central!
To listen to the interview, click HERE! I will be welcoming Jeannette Maw to my radio show this week!
For years, I let a doctor’s diagnosis determine the terms of my life. My doctor told me that I suffered from depression. When I heard that, it was as if I had an excuse to “act depressed,” and because I was “acting” as a depressed person would, it had a dramatic impact on my life. I was uninspired, lazy, unmotivated, sad, negative, and just miserable. I felt in many ways powerless over the direction in which my life was heading, and I felt in many ways as if I were destined to continue to live a life being “depressed.”
There are many ways in which we can receive information from a source (or resource) and let it determine our fate. In many ways, when we do this, we “suspend” our creative power, and we limit our potential and greatness. If you like that phrase, “suspend our creative power,” I am glad, and I am equally glad to tell you it’s not mine! It comes from my inspiring guest on my radio show today, Jeannette Maw! 🙂 Today on the show we are going to talk about just that topic — how we suspend our creative power (whether it’s because of the “fate” indicated in an astrology chart, a “diagnosis” from a medical professional, or the like. Jeannette brings so much energy and enthusiasm with her, so I know for sure we’ll feel some “good vibes” coming from her presence on the show!
Jeannette lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with three rescued dogs and cats, is a volunteer foster mom for local animal rescue groups, and enjoys hiking and yoga when she’s not eating chocolate or watching The Good Wife.
I invite you to “play” in Jeannette’s “Law of Attraction Playground” by visiting her main site, which is the Good Vibe Coaching site.
You won’t want to miss today’s show! We will have a great time!
Facebook user? Click the “Like” button below for daily inspiration, and I’ll even throw in an electronic copy of my popular “Antidote” to the mediocre mind as a “thank you!” (And I’ll do a little happy dance when I see you’ve liked my page too) 🙂
Facebook user? Click the “Like” button below for daily inspiration, and I’ll even throw in an electronic copy of my popular “Antidote” to the mediocre mind as a “thank you!” (And I’ll do a little happy dance when I see you’ve liked my page too) 🙂
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.” ~Melody Beattie
Sometimes you just can’t escape “it.” Sometimes “it” falls right in your lap, and you have no choice but to deal with it. The “it” I am talking about is none other than that “difficult-to-deal-with negative energy.” Sometimes it is a result of people around you who are complaining or worrying about something. Sometimes it’s a self-defeating thought that enters the mind and no matter how many times you tell it that you’re not going to accept it, it keeps reminding you of its presence.
There are times, I admit, when I sense that the negative energy has permeated (and dominated) my consciousness. Sometimes it’s just a “gut” feeling that I am surrounded by it; sometimes I hear people talking about a subject that carries with it the negative energy. Other times, I know I am just so fatigued, and at those times I am just so vulnerable to those thoughts full of melancholy, sadness, worry, and fear. Oh how I especially despise those times of fatigue-induced negative thinking! 🙂
Fortunately, I have learned that there is a “place” I have learned I can go when the negative energy is unleashing its wrath upon me. It’s a place that I have created within myself that is walled with an attitude of gratitude. When I feel that negativity gets me down, I start to mentally create a list of all of the wonderful things I enjoy in my life, and all of the things I have come to appreciate.
I can start with my health, the fact that I have two wonderful daughters and a loving and caring wife. I can continue with the thought of how they all have good health, and how fortunate we all are to be alive and enjoy each day with each other. I can’t help but feel blessed that I get to stand before wonderful people on a regular basis and teach them a subject I love (anatomy and physiology), and that I get paid to do it. I feel so much thankfulness in my heart that I have a wonderful community of friends and family. I have a warm place to call home and food on my table. I can feed my family. I have a great life. I am so grateful for so many things. Once I start to mentally list all the things I am grateful for, I can’t help but chuckle at myself at the notion that I believed that negativity could temporarily take a hold of me…
The simple act of thinking about what we are grateful for is so powerful. It immediately takes us to an emotional state that embodies relief, pleasure, and gratification. It’s impossible to hold both positive and negative emotions within our consciousness at the same time. By flooding your conscious awareness with nothing but positivity, it’s like flushing out the negativity to the point where it almost seems impossible that it was even there in the first place. As soon as those “drops” of negativity start to fill our conscious “vessel” of thoughts, all it takes is another “flood” of gratitude to again flush them out.
The more often we can practice this exercise of going to this “haven” of gratitude, the more readily we can assume the position of being grateful. Just like any other skill, if we can learn to quickly assume a state of gratitude, we can quickly eliminate the negativity. It’s kind of like taking a “shower” of positive energy to wash away the negativity before it penetrates deeply within us.
What are some things you are grateful for? Do you have some aspects of your life for which you can immediately appreciate how wonderful your life is? I’d love to hear about what gives you that deep, profound sense of gratitude! Please share!
Join me for this week’s interview on Monday, March 18 at 12 PM Central!
To listen to the interview, click HERE! I will be welcoming Faisal Khattak, a.k.a. Big Dög, to my radio show this week!
Bullying is one of those subjects I don’t talk much about, but one that I hold nearly and dearly to my heart. In my personal opinion, a lot of the problems we face as an adult stem from either being a victim of bullying or being allowed to exhibit behaviors consistent with bullying without being stopped. Whenever I can have an honest conversation about bullying, I am all for it, and whenever I can talk to someone about stopping bullying at a young age, I am all in!
That’s why I am so thrilled to be welcoming Faisal Khattak to my show this week. I can’t wait for you to get a chance to hear what he has to say. One of the things I like best about his message is that he really helps young people become “Big Dögs” and empower themselves to avoid becoming a victim of bullying. If more people can learn what Faisal is teaching, we’ll have a lot fewer people on this earth who try to resort to behaviors consistent with bullying, and we’ll have many more empowered (and happy and healthy) adults too!
Faisal is a dynamic Anti-bullying Speaker and Certified Anti-Bullying Coach. He is an alumni of Baron Mastery Authentic Speakers Academy for Leadership. He is also Licensed Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, a Certified Hypnotherapist, and the author of the upcoming book entitled “The Bully Mind”.
As a victim of childhood bullying himself, Faisal wants to put a stop to bullying once and for all and help those kids who feel the same way he did as a child in Pakistan when he was bullied and molested at age five. He lost his confidence and voice. And he desperately wished he had someone to talk to. But there was no one to help and he continued to be bullied all through his school years.
Faisal wants to be the voice for all those kids who are raped and teased every day. He feels strongly that no child has to feel helpless and alone. He learned the hard way how important it is to build bridges and repair any gaps or disconnects in communication between parents and their children and now he is actively helping families faced with bullying.
Faisal lives with his wife and two young daughters in New Westminster, British Columbia. He previously lived in Oklahoma where he studied computer science and opened and operated several successful small businesses.
To find out more about Faisal and the great things he has to offer this world, please visit his website, www.BothSidesofBullying.com.
Please join me for our discussion about a very important topic! You won’t want to miss it!
Facebook user? Click the “Like” button below for daily inspiration, and I’ll even throw in an electronic copy of my popular “Antidote” to the mediocre mind as a “thank you!” (And I’ll do a little happy dance when I see you’ve liked my page too) 🙂
“Your beliefs become your thoughts, Your thoughts become your words, Your words become your actions, Your actions become your habits, Your habits become your values, Your values become your destiny.” ~Mahatma Gandhi
I am in the middle of preparation to run a marathon — a full marathon — in May. It will be my first. It was last year that I ran my first competitive race in about twenty years, and then I backed that one up with another slightly-longer run and then the “Tough Mudder” event in the fall. I learned something from each of those experiences. From my first run, which was two miles, I learned that I can run okay in a competitive environment. Without trying all too hard, I got second place (out of something like three or four people) in my age category. That was pretty cool. I also learned that while I placed in the two-mile run, when comparing my time to those running the 5K at the same event, I still wasn’t all that fast (most of the “faster” runners ran the longer race). Still, the cool bobble-head trophy I got for placing in that race was cool.
During my second competitive run, which was a 5K, I learned that I could push myself to run faster over a longer distance. My pace was much faster than my two-mile run a couple of months prior, so if I would have run that pace in my previous run, I would have come in at first place for my age category (provided that the first-place finisher in the two mile ran the same speed). Even with my improved time, I placed right in the “middle of the pack” for my age group. During the “Tough Mudder” event, I learned that some things that appear to be pretty scary are just creations of the mind, and if you can overcome your mental objections to doing something, you can physically do anything you put yourself up to.
Speaking of mental objections, I have historically mentally objected to running outside in cold weather. However, I would rather run in cold weather than run on a treadmill in the basement at home, and I needed to start ASAP with my training, so that meant that I had to make sure that I dressed warmly so I could tolerate running in the cold. During my training thus far, I have been running in colder weather than I have ever believed I would run in, and it’s because I dress ridiculously warm. I wear two base layers underneath another three layers of clothing. If I look silly, I don’t care, because I am way over caring what other people think. 🙂 With two pairs of socks on my feet and a warm mask on my head and face, I am good to go and toasty warm no matter how cold it is.
All things considered, even though I have gotten back in the swing of running in competitive events and overcoming mental objections and making arrangements to tolerate cold-weather running, there was one seemingly physical obstacle looming large that I felt was working against me; it was my ability to run at what I consider a “decent” pace, especially over a longer distance. My biggest worry coming into this whole “running a marathon thing” was that I would be still running six hours after I started, with more distance to go.
I have always known I am a fast sprinter, but distance running has always been an issue for me. If I were to run a two or three-mile race, I could put in a decent time, but anything beyond that I could just forget about running it at what I would consider a reasonable pace. I would have a hard time cracking into the 11-minute-mile pace, and if I wanted to run a 10-minute mile, well, I could just forget about it. Running an 11-minute mile for 26 miles would result in me running a four-and-three-quarter-hour marathon. That’s if I can keep up that pace! I have a hard time doing that over much shorter distances.
This worried me greatly. Just as evidence that the universe will conspire to make things happen for you, I was asked to teach a college anatomy and physiology class for my former college professor, while she’s on a sabbatical. It just so happens that one of my students in that class mentioned that she runs a lot. “A lot” turns out to be “every day.”
During lab one day, I asked her if she had run any marathons. She told me that not only had she run marathons, but she has trained people who have run in marathons! She started asking questions about my training, and she finally got to asking about how fast I ran. I told her that I didn’t run very fast, and that I was having a hard time getting below a 12-minute mile. She then asked me what my “cadence” was, but I had no clue what that was. She said a cadence is a measure of how many strides you take in a minute. She said that I should try to maintain a cadence of 180 steps per minute. She added that if I got accustomed to running at that pace, I would start to run faster. That’s three steps per second! It sounded fast, but I thought I would give it a shot. At this point I would do almost anything to run faster…
So, I did some looking around online and found an awesome website, called www.podrunner.com, where you can download MP3s of music at a certain cadence, to use for training. I downloaded a track onto my iPod that had music set at a tempo of 180 beats per minute, and went out and did my pace run of the week at that pace. Holy cow — it was fast, and I was gassed. I ran at that pace for about three minutes, then I power walked for one minute, followed by a jog at a slower pace for two minutes before kicking it up to the 180 strides per minute again. I did this for for the four-mile run, and afterward I was really exhausted. The biggest surprise for me was that by the end of the run, 180 didn’t seem too bad anymore. It was almost as if during my “slower” jog I was inclined to run faster.
I went out a week later, and I was able to do the 180 cadence the whole time, with exception of my one-minute power walks, which I pre-determined to take while hydrating or “powering up” with some sort of carbohydrate supplement (GU) at each mile. I was able to do the 180 cadence the whole time I was jogging! Yesterday, I was scheduled for my pace run, and I did it again, running five miles, at 180, with exception to the power walks each mile.
To my amazement, I completed the 5-mile run at a time of 49:40! I did it! Not only did I crack a 12-minute mile, or even an 11-minute mile, but I cracked the 10-minute mile mark! I was thrilled! That was even in spite of running against some brisk winds and several hills!
After I thought about it, I realized the power of believing in myself. I had let myself believe for so long that I was good at running short distances, but not long distances. If you think about it, the key to running short distances well is by moving your feet more quickly (a quicker cadence). My “well, duh” moment came when I realized that the key to running long distances well is also by moving your feet more quickly. It makes total sense, but I had myself convinced that I couldn’t do it.
The power of belief cannot be overlooked. It was unfortunate that I had to witness personally that I was capable of running at a faster cadence before I convinced myself that I could run faster than I have ever clocked myself before as running. I should have known better, but I didn’t. Once I moved to consciously believing that I could run faster, I gave myself permission to do it, and then I did it!
Let me ask you — do you have any pre-existing beliefs that you feel you are holding on to? Are they holding you back from reaching your full potential? Are there ways you can convince yourself otherwise, so you can break through to achieve higher levels of performance or a higher quality of life? Let me know. I’d love to hear from you!
Facebook user? Click the “Like” button below and get my newest publication, “Unlock Your Inner Awesome Today” for free! That’s it!
Join me for this week’s interview on Monday, March 11 at 12 PM Central!
To listen to the interview, click HERE! I will be welcoming Vidya Sury to my radio show this week!
Over the past year, I have had the pleasure of building a friendship a half-world away with Vidya Sury. We are fellow bloggers, and I have learned so much about what it means to have a giving heart, a generous soul, and a love that transcends the computer screen and passes directly into someone’s heart. Vidya is such a wonderful friend — so full of love and support for so many people. One thing that frustrates me about Vidya is that she cooks all these delicious dishes and then puts pictures of them on her blog (it’s pure torture, because I love to eat). 🙂 I know that someday I will have the opportunity to sit down and actually eat one of these meals, and I have no doubt it will taste better than I can imagine.
I am so delighted that Vidya has agreed to join me on my radio show this week! Like many of my blogging friends, I know about them through the words they type, but I haven’t talked to them. I am looking forward to the opportunity for us to connect by voice, and share some thoughts and a bit more about Vidya!
Vidya is a full-time work at home Mom, Freelance Writer and professional Blogger. She also works with an independent ethics committee that reviews protocols for human clinical trials.
Vidya aims to finish her first book, The Complete Health Guide for Women this year. She loves photography and Do-It-Yourself projects, and believes everything must be tried once. Happiness is her favorite DIY project.
I know you’ll enjoy Vidya as much as I have, and I hope that you grab a seat and listen to our conversation! I can’t wait! 🙂
Facebook user? Click the “Like” button below and get my newest publication, “Unlock Your Inner Awesome Today” for free! That’s it!
“Don’t think of it; view the world from it, which implies that you are in it. Then feel the relief, the satisfaction, of being there. Do this and no power in the world can stop you from realizing that state.” ~Neville Goddard
Once every couple of months, I have the opportunity to take my younger daughter, Ava, to an art class for preschoolers. She really enjoys going to the hour-long class, presumably because she gets to paint, shape and mold clay, make bracelets, and have at a variety of other art activities she normally doesn’t get to try out at home.
At the art museum where her class is held, there is also a small café, where people can grab a bite to eat for lunch. As is customary on a Friday, I dine with Ava for lunch, and whenever we are finishing up art class at the museum, we stop by the café and eat lunch together.
This past Friday, as I was driving into town where the class is held, I asked Ava what was her favorite thing to do at art class. Her response was, “Eating lunch with Daddy.” It warmed my heart to hear those words. I was thinking the same thing — that the highlight of the class was actually the “after” part of the session, and I was delighted to hear she felt the same way.
That feeling I got when Ava said the best part of class was eating together was just awesome, and it got me thinking about the things I enjoy most in my daily life. Sometimes I feel have to commit to what seems like a million other things, but the most meaningful things in my life are the simple things. I know that when my plate is full with commitments here and there, I find solace in knowing that the simple things that I really enjoy are waiting for me. Maybe it’s catching a favorite episode of “Phineas and Ferb” with Ava, or maybe it’s grabbing a quick but enormous hug from my older daughter, Brianna. Maybe it’s just playing a game with both of my girls. Even simply enjoying a conversation with my wife is a satisfying part of the day, because It’s a time for us to connect.
One of the best things about having these wonderful moments that are so meaningful is that I get to enjoy that pure bliss, and have it in my memory banks to remember. When I have moments that are full of stress or when it seems I don’t have enough time in the day to get everything done, all I have to do is virtually put myself back in the café with Ava for lunch after art class, or virtually take a seat across from Brianna as we play a game of checkers, or place myself virtually in my kitchen, standing by the counter, listening to Shelly talk about her day. When I put myself there, I am immediately at a better place mentally and physically. It’s the best part of my day that makes every other aspect of my day that much better.
It’s not enough just to “think” about those times, it’s really about “experiencing” those times, in the here and now. It’s about actually re-experiencing those same feelings of pleasure and enjoyment in the here and now. Those positive feelings will do wonders for the body. They will decrease the circulation of the stress hormones and de-activate the “fight or flight” response in your body, which is activated during tough times. They will promote growth and health, and promote a vibrant being, one that is ready to catch that second wind and keep pressing on.
What is the best part of your day? What feelings to you experience when you are enjoying the best part of your day? How can you use those feelings to re-experience them and help you get through the more difficult times? I’d like to hear what your thoughts are! 🙂 Let me know!
One of the great personal discoveries over the past two years is the awesome power of living in the here and now. When you live in the present, and the present alone, you are leaving behind the frustrations of the past and the worries about the future. When you enjoy the power of the moment of “now,” I have found I find a place of gratitude and acceptance so much more readily, and I find so much more enjoyment in what I am doing. There really is no time like the present, and the present really is a gift that we can offer to ourselves, so that we can make the most of our lives each and every day.
I happened across a wonderful website, called “Positively Present” some time ago, and I really enjoyed reading the posts and the overall theme of the website, especially because of this discovery of the power of the present. As I frequently do, after following the site and enjoying it for a while, I make an effort to reach out to the person behind the website, to see if they would be gracious enough to join me for an interview on my radio show. At the end of last year I made it on to the list of the “Top 50 Personal Development Blogs” list, and I saw that Danielle (Dani) DiPirro of Positively Present also made the list. I emailed her with words of congratulations on making the list, and asked her if she would be willing to join me for an interview, and she was kind enough to oblige! I am so excited to have her with me this week on “Positively Empowered Radio,” to talk about her website and her book, as well as providing us with some tips on how we can stay positive when we are struggling to do so. I can’t wait!
Danielle’s website, PositivelyPresent.com, is dedicated to helping others live positively in the present moment. Each week, Danielle provides her readers with fresh ideas and innovative advice for living each and every moment to the fullest.
Since the site’s launch in 2009, PositivelyPresent.com has grown a considerable online following, and Danielle’s work has been featured on sites such as The Happiness Project, Think Simple Now, Psychology Today, and The Washington Post.
Facebook user? Click the “Like” button below and get my newest publication, “Unlock Your Inner Awesome Today” for free! That’s it!
“Fully inhale your dream and completely exhale manifestation of it.” ~T.F. Hodge
This past October, I was contacted by a representative of a local professionals’ organization, who was wondering if I would be interested in speaking for their group in 2013. After our initial conversation, we continued to communicate by email as we worked out some of the details. As the months moved along, I needed to follow up to inquire about the progress on the scheduling and details of the event, so I did a search within my email to find the conversation thread by typing in my contact’s name.
After the search ran and the results of my query were posted, I was absolutely stunned. There was an older email, dated January 21, 2012. The email’s composer was none other than yours truly.
After I clicked on the email and started reading it, I just started laughing. You see, the email was one that I had written to myself. Back in January, I was reading my local newspaper, and there was an article about this very same professionals’ organization, and in the article was the name of one of the board members of the group. The name of that board member was none other than the person I had been talking with! My intention, when writing the email to myself, was to remind myself to contact this person within this organization to see if they would be in need of a speaker for any future events!
I had completely forgotten about my email to myself until I ran the search query within my email.
Earlier today, I was officially confirmed as the keynote speaker for this organization’s event coming up in June of 2013. I never would have imagined, back in January of 2013, that a little more than a year later I would be finalizing a booking as a keynote speaker of their event!
It’s amazing how quickly and how dramatically things can change in a year. Would you like to know how this whole thing manifested itself? It’s really cool…
I attended my first-ever planning meeting for the in-service committee at the college at which I work. It just so happened that they were discussing possible speakers for the fall in-service. I had to set aside my humble tendencies and mention that I was a speaker, and that I would enjoy the opportunity to speak for the in-service as the keynote speaker (this wasn’t an easy thing to do for me, because I don’t have a history of self-promotion). The group deliberated on it and gave me a vote of confidence and booked me.
I spoke at the in-service in August. One of the people who works with me is a board member of a local human resources association group. It just so happened that a speaker that was scheduled for their upcoming monthly meeting accidentally double-booked, and they had to back out of their presentation, which meant the association had to fill the slot. Because I spoke at the in-service, my colleague at the college asked if I would fill in. I said yes!
I spoke at the human resources association meeting a few weeks later. At that meeting were two board members for a local professionals’ organization. They liked what they heard from my presentation, and called me a couple of weeks later to see if I would be interested in speaking for their group in 2013!
You just never know what will end up manifesting itself, but when it does happen, it sure is awesome!
What are your stories? Do you have a similar experience that you could share? I’d love to hear them!
My younger daughter, Ava, turned four this week. I can’t believe where the time has gone! Ava is my little love bug, and at least a few times a day I get to engage in this type of conversation with her:
Ava: “Daddy?”
Me: “Yes, dear…”
Ava: “I love you…”
It’s music to my ears.
My older daughter, Brianna, who is seven now, is my little snuggle bug. She loves to sit next to me on a chair and “hook” the inside of my arm with her little elbow, nestling closer to me as we watch television or read together. I typically receive wonderful praise from her as well on a regular basis, usually as follows:
Brianna: “Daddy?”
Me: “Yes, dear…”
Brianna: “You’re the best dad in the whole wide world!”
It’s music to my ears.
Little did I know, besides basking in the wonderful chorus of my daughters’ voices, professing their love for me (which I greatly enjoy, by the way), I am also receiving a wonderful “side” benefit from my daughters’ loving proclamations!
Within the past week, I have been chipping away at a video of Bruce Lipton of his discussion of “Where Mind Meets Matter.” It’s a two-part video presentation, which you can find on YouTube (I’ll put the videos up here at the end of my post). During this presentation, Lipton describes how our body’s cells react to our perception of our environments. He describes how the cell membrane interacts with the environment.
In the second video, he goes on to describe how our bodies really have two reactions to our perceptions of what is going on in our environment. If the cells are comfortable and “happy,” then we are in a cellular reaction of “growth,” where we grow, regenerate and repair our body parts, and we are able to maintain good health because our body’s resources are able to support a strong immune system.
On the other hand, if our cells are unhappy, usually due to a perception of a stressful situation within the environment, our bodies have to shift from a growth reaction to a “defense” reaction, and the body shuts down the growth an regeneration and pulls support from our immune system, thus making the body susceptible to opportunistic pathogens.
Lipton says that the most powerful emotion which brings about the “growth” phase within our bodies is the emotion of love. When we experience love, our cells are vibrant in health, and they are at their peak of performance. Just think about how we feel when we experience the emotion of love…Think about how good our bodies feel when we are loved and give love to others.
I am right in a period of my life where I can enjoy regular proclamations of love from my two sweetheart girls. I know this doesn’t last forever, so I will gobble up every moment I can! I also make sure that the love is returned; I tell my girls how much I love them, and how lucky I am to have such wonderful girls in my life.
Love is so very powerful. When we can extend love to others, we are helping them grow, and helping them maintain a better level of health. By being loving toward others, we can help reduce their stress and decrease the “defense” reactions that occur as a result. Love doesn’t have to be “romantic” love or even “paternal or maternal.” It can be a simple smile directed toward a stranger, or a friendly conversation in the elevator with someone who is riding along. It can be a polite gesture, like holding the door open for someone or allowing someone else to go ahead of you in the shopping line.
What are some ways you can express love to those around you? What are some ways you can help others live a healthier life?
Love is the answer! The expression (and receiving) of love is a way to health! I never thought my daughters could provide me with such a wonderful (and healthy) daily gift, but I am not complaining…It’s a great way to stay young! 🙂
As promised, here are the videos of Lipton’s presentation:
