Today I’m sharing an episode of another podcast “You’re Blank, What Now?” With Marci Nettles. I was privileged and honored to be interviewed by Marci on her podcast and we get into the weeds on some very important and heavy stuff. I hope you enjoy and get a lot out of it. Be sure to check out the “You’re Blank, What Now?” here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/youre-blank-what-now/id1564521392`

The following are Marci’s show notes from our interview:

In this episode, Joe Spector and I focus on Trauma and Post Traumatic Stress that led him from being a first responder (Police and Fire) to so much pain, distress, overload and chaos that led him to hitting what he thought he could no longer handle… finding himself “Sitting with a Gun in His Mouth.” Joe Spector is a retired firefighter who became a podcaster, author, and meditation/emotional fitness teacher after a very close call with suicide and a subsequent hard-fought transformation to radical wellness, unshakable happiness, and indestructible resiliency. His mission is to: -Teach how emotional & mental fitness is just like physical fitness and just as important. -To normalize and destigmatize the sharing and processing of emotions and experiences and mental health struggles. -To authentically share his own experiences and offer the guidance, tools, and resources needed to: maximize your happiness when times are good, overcome any obstacle when times are tough, and crush goals like a total boss. I am your host, Marci Nettles. I have had a lifetime of opportunities where I had the choice to Breakdown or Breakthrough. It is my hope this Podcast may become your light in the darkness, as you listen to the stories of people I consider “heroes.” Each one had a point where they too had to choose to either Breakdown or Breakthrough! Thank you for listening!

Let’s Connect!

For more bite-sized happiness tips, follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejoespector

Resources to increase your inner peace and maximize your happiness:

Download my free mental & emotional fitness eBook, Your Guide to Grit Growth & Gratitude: https://www.thejoespector.com/opt-in

Check out my free meditations to shut off the monkey mind and crank up the good vibes: https://www.thejoespector.com/meditations

MORE FREE STUFF ALERT!

I’d be so grateful if you would follow, rate, and review this podcast. It’s the best way to help us grow our show and connect with people who can benefit from this content. 

Email me a screenshot of your review to [email protected] (or DM on IG), and I’ll send you some free super dope stickers! You can check them out here: https://www.thejoespector.com/merchandise

This is a remarkable interview with an incredible dude. In this episode, I sit down with John O’Hagan. John is, first and foremost, Nora’s dad. He’s also a mid-century modern real estate specialist, a Brazilian Jiu jitsu Black Belt, and an all around amazing human being with a remarkable story.

This was a challenging interview and we discussed so many important topics such as:

• The birth and subsequent near death of his daughter
• (TW) Sexual assault
• How John broke free from chronic anger and other challenging emotional patterns
• How dudes can share space and help each other through difficult emotions and circumstances
• How to turn pain into purpose, and break generational parenting cycles

If you ever need anything related to real estate or just wanna follow John on his journey, connect with him at www.retrorealestate.com or follow him on instagram @phxjohn

Let’s Connect!

For more bite-sized happiness tips, follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejoespector

Resources to increase your inner peace and maximize your happiness:

Download my free mental & emotional fitness eBook, Your Guide to Grit Growth & Gratitude: https://www.thejoespector.com/opt-in

Check out my free meditations to shut off the monkey mind and crank up the good vibes: https://www.thejoespector.com/meditations

MORE FREE STUFF ALERT!

I’d be so grateful if you would follow, rate, and review this podcast. It’s the best way to help us grow our show and connect with people who can benefit from this content. 

Email me a screenshot of your review to [email protected] (or DM on IG), and I’ll send you some free super dope stickers! You can check them out here: https://www.thejoespector.com/merchandise

Today I’d like to share a framework that you can use the next time you’re feeling intense anger, stress, anxiety, or any other sh*tty bad-vibe emotion (courtesy of my friend Eric Wal). 

It’s called the “R.I.D.E. It Out” method, and it gives you the ability to control how you respond to a challenging circumstance or feeling rather than being reactive and at the mercy of events or emotions:

Relax: Take a few deep breaths, relaxing your jaw, neck, shoulders and hands on the exhale.

Investigate: Ask yourself; “Can I put a name to this feeling (rage, sadness, frustration, etc)?” “What set this feeling off?” “What’s making it better or worse?”

Determine: What’s the best plan right now? Ie: take space from the loved one I’m fighting with, call a friend to vent, meditate, cry, punch a punching bag, write in a journal, go for a run, etc.

Engage: Now that you’ve done all of those steps and created some space, perspective and a strategy, engage with your plan, mind, and emotions to feel, heal, process, release, and get back to the good vibes. 

I share a bit more detail and specific examples of how to utilize this tool on this week’s episode of The Grit, Growth, and Gratitude Podcast and you don’t wanna miss it, so tune in here:

Let’s Connect!

For more bite-sized happiness tips, follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejoespector

Resources to increase your inner peace and maximize your happiness:

Download my free mental & emotional fitness eBook, Your Guide to Grit Growth & Gratitude: https://www.thejoespector.com/opt-in

Check out my free meditations to shut off the monkey mind and crank up the good vibes: https://www.thejoespector.com/meditations

MORE FREE STUFF ALERT!

I’d be so grateful if you would follow, rate, and review this podcast. It’s the best way to help us grow our show and connect with people who can benefit from this content. 

Email me a screenshot of your review to [email protected] (or DM on IG), and I’ll send you some free super dope stickers! You can check them out here: https://www.thejoespector.com/merchandise

Have you ever experienced grief? 

Or, if you’re like I was for the vast majority of your life and you ignore your feelings, maybe you haven’t experienced the actual emotion of grief, but; 

Have you ever had a major loss, like a pet, a grandparent, a parent, a job, etc? 

If so, me too, and I’m sorry. 

Grief is a motherf*cker. There’s no way around it. 

If you stuff it down, or try to just move forward by pulling on your bootstraps, it hides really well, but it doesn’t go away on its own. 

It can manifest with anger, depression, a lack of joy, anxiety, physical symptoms, and all sorts of other destruction in your life.

Death is such an uncomfortable topic, that we rarely talk about how to feel those feelings, process, and heal. 

But unfortunately, it comes for all of us and/or our loved ones sooner or later. 

The only way out is through, so it’s best to have some tools in our toolbelt to help us cope and carry on. 

In today’s episode of The Grit, Growth & Gratitude Podcast, I share one of the most powerful exercises that you can do to heal your heart after a loss. 

As I’m currently processing some grief from the death of my Mom a few months ago, I also share a specific real-life example of how exactly I’m using this tool currently to work through that in a healthy way. 

If you’ve had a broken heart or a broken dream, you’re not alone. 

Let’s Connect!

For more bite-sized happiness tips, follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejoespector

Resources to increase your inner peace and maximize your happiness:

Download my free mental & emotional fitness eBook, Your Guide to Grit Growth & Gratitude: https://www.thejoespector.com/opt-in

Check out my free meditations to shut off the monkey mind and crank up the good vibes: https://www.thejoespector.com/meditations

MORE FREE STUFF ALERT!

I’d be so grateful if you would follow, rate, and review this podcast. It’s the best way to help us grow our show and connect with people who can benefit from this content. 

Email me a screenshot of your review to [email protected] (or DM on IG), and I’ll send you some free super dope stickers! You can check them out here: https://www.thejoespector.com/merchandise

Do you ever lose your temper or get overwhelmed with sadness, worry, stress or any of the other challenging emotions? 

Why does that happen to us?

To answer that, I wanna share an analogy with you.

You know those big silver tanker trucks carrying fuel that you see driving down the freeway? 

If you look closely, those tankers have a vent on top of them. It's called a “pressure relief valve,” and that valve pops open and the tanker off-gasses when the internal pressure gets to be too much.

It’s designed so that there's not a major explosion that kills everybody, which is awesome. right? 

Well, unfortunately, as humans, we don't come with a pressure relief valve; but we need one too. 

If you don't process and release emotions and challenges in a healthy way, they come out amplified and cause you pain as well as collateral damage to your loved ones. 

Oftentimes, this pressure manifests with anger and throwing adult temper tantrums. 

And I say this not from a judgmental standpoint. I used to yell and punch holes in walls like the total emotional rookie that I was.

But remember, even if your anger is justified, it's wise to let that sh*t go and release it, because experiencing anger is like holding onto hot coals. You're the only person who's gonna get burned.

And the tool I’m sharing today on Episode 9 of The Grit, Growth & Gratitude Podcast is one of the major game changers that led me to this easy, happy, peaceful way of experiencing life. 

So tune-in, and let’s develop your healthy pressure relief valves!

Let’s Connect!

For more bite-sized happiness tips, follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejoespector

Resources to increase your inner peace and maximize your happiness:

Download my free mental & emotional fitness eBook, Your Guide to Grit Growth & Gratitude: https://www.thejoespector.com/opt-in

Check out my free meditations to shut off the monkey mind and crank up the good vibes: https://www.thejoespector.com/meditations

MORE FREE STUFF ALERT!

I’d be so grateful if you would follow, rate, and review this podcast. It’s the best way to help us grow our show and connect with people who can benefit from this content. 

Email me a screenshot of your review to [email protected] (or DM on IG), and I’ll send you some free super dope stickers! You can check them out here: https://www.thejoespector.com/merchandise

In today’s episode of The Grit, Growth, and Gratitude Podcast, I share two very powerful and easy to do exercises to get you back to inner peace and happiness the next time any negative, overwhelming emotions are hitting hard. 

This episode’s great for adults, but I also give examples of how to help your kiddos through these challenges as well for all my cycle-breaking parents out there.

Let’s Connect!

For more bite-sized happiness tips, follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejoespector

Resources to increase your inner peace and maximize your happiness:

Download my free mental & emotional fitness eBook, Your Guide to Grit Growth & Gratitude: https://www.thejoespector.com/opt-in

Check out my free meditations to shut off the monkey mind and crank up the good vibes: https://www.thejoespector.com/meditations

MORE FREE STUFF ALERT!

I’d be so grateful if you would follow, rate, and review this podcast. It’s the best way to help us grow our show and connect with people who can benefit from this content. 

Email me a screenshot of your review to [email protected] (or DM on IG), and I’ll send you some free super dope stickers! You can check them out here: https://www.thejoespector.com/merchandise

If I were to tell you that the next time you’re feeling anger, stress, worry, sadness, or any of the other bad vibe emotions, that there is a tool that you can use to turn the volume down by 50% or more within a matter of seconds, would you be interested? 

I hope so, because that's exactly what I've got on tap for you in this week’s episode of The Grit, Growth and Gratitude Podcast.

It’s one of the fastest and easiest methods to dissolve stress and anger. There's no counseling, journaling or anything like that required. 

It’s low-hanging happiness fruit. 

And if you’re thinking, “I don't have a lot of stress, anger, worry, fear, etc,” then please hear me loud and clear:

You definitely have some of them or all of those things going on at different times in your life, whether you're aware of it or not. 

You're a human being, which means you've experienced difficult circumstances, been disappointed, and suffered losses.

With those experiences come negative and complex emotions like grief, fear, embarrassment, sadness, shame, etc.

And avoiding the exploration, processing, and healing of your emotions is like being an ostrich who sticks his head in the sand. ⁠

That little hole in the sand is nice and cozy because the ostrich doesn't have to cry, express, feel, heal, share, etc.

But eventually a lion comes up and bites that ostrich right in his plump, feathery ass. ⁠

Sadly, I learned this the hard way, but you don’t have to! 

With the right tools, you can flip the script and become that lion!⁠ And “Name It To Tame It” is one of those tools.

Let’s Connect!

For more bite-sized happiness tips, follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejoespector

Resources to increase your inner peace and maximize your happiness:

Download my free mental & emotional fitness eBook, Your Guide to Grit Growth & Gratitude: https://www.thejoespector.com/opt-in

Check out my free meditations to shut off the monkey mind and crank up the good vibes: https://www.thejoespector.com/meditations

MORE FREE STUFF ALERT!

I’d be so grateful if you would follow, rate, and review this podcast. It’s the best way to help us grow our show and connect with people who can benefit from this content. 

Email me a screenshot of your review to [email protected] (or DM on IG), and I’ll send you some free super dope stickers! You can check them out here: https://www.thejoespector.com/merchandise

Let’s Connect!

For more bite-sized happiness tips, follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejoespector

Last week I shared that your Emotional Intelligence muscle might be the most important muscle you have despite the fact that we rarely talk about it.

And when you build this muscle, you:

• Let go of anger
• Amplify your happiness
• Have more career success
• Are a better leader 

And maybe best of all, you have super high self-esteem, so it doesn't matter what the f*ck anybody else says or thinks about you. 

You always feel valued and confident. Haters can hate, and you just dust that dirt right off your shoulder.

Plus, you no longer fly off the handle and throw adult temper tantrums, which is total emotional rookie stuff (no judgment, I used to punch holes in walls like a maniac).

The simple reality is we can't control 99% of anything.

For example, almost everybody drives like an idiot. You just can’t control that. 

But what you can control is how you respond to those idiots. 

Do you wanna:

A) Give them the power to f*ck up your drive, make you super angry, and cause you to model emotional immaturity to your kids and the world around you? 

Or

B) Keep your power and have the ability to just relax and get back to the music, confident that you're a badass, positive force of happiness and maturity for your loved ones and the world around you? 

I hope you answered “B”, because that’s exactly what I have on tap for you as we continue our series on Emotional Intelligence in this week’s episode of The Grit, Growth, & Gratitude Podcast.

Let’s Connect!

For more bite-sized happiness tips, follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejoespector

Resources to increase your inner peace and maximize your happiness:

Download my free mental & emotional fitness eBook, Your Guide to Grit Growth & Gratitude: https://www.thejoespector.com/opt-in

Check out my free meditations to shut off the monkey mind and crank up the good vibes: https://www.thejoespector.com/meditations

MORE FREE STUFF ALERT!

I’d be so grateful if you would follow, rate, and review this podcast. It’s the best way to help us grow our show and connect with people who can benefit from this content. 

Email me a screenshot of your review to [email protected] (or DM on IG), and I’ll send you some free super dope stickers! You can check them out here: https://www.thejoespector.com/merchandise

There is something we rarely talk about, weren’t taught growing up, and yet is guaranteed to:

• Maximize your happiness when times are good,
• Help you barrel through adversity when times are rough, and
• Thrive in your relationships.

And that is: How to grow your muscle of Emotional Intelligence. 

To illustrate how powerful this is, let me share something personal with you:

At one stage of my life, I struggled very hard with: 

• Depression
• Grief after the loss of multiple loved ones
• PTSD from my job as a firefighter, and 
• Chronic pain from a disabling injury

This led me to such a dark place that I had suicidal ideations. 

Yet now, I wake up almost every day with a huge smile on my face, and go to bed feeling happyAF, regardless of what life throws at me.

I'm able to easily handle any adversity (from big stuff like the recent loss of my mom, to little stuff like waiting in line for hours with infinite patience).

I also never lose my temper anymore, even when some A-hole cuts me off in traffic.

Plus, I'm able to teach my kiddos how their minds and emotions work, and how to navigate and process their difficult circumstances. 

I share all of this, not to brag or impress you, but to impress upon you what's possible when you grow that Emotional Intelligence muscle. 

And starting today, we're kicking off a series on how to do just that.

Let’s Connect!

For more bite-sized happiness tips, follow me on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/thejoespector

Resources to increase your inner peace and maximize your happiness:

Download my free mental & emotional fitness eBook, Your Guide to Grit Growth & Gratitude: https://www.thejoespector.com/opt-in

Check out my free meditations to shut off the monkey mind and crank up the good vibes: https://www.thejoespector.com/meditations

MORE FREE STUFF ALERT!

I’d be so grateful if you would follow, rate, and review this podcast. It’s the best way to help us grow our show and connect with people who can benefit from this content. 

Email me a screenshot of your review to [email protected] (or DM on IG), and I’ll send you some free super dope stickers! You can check them out here: https://www.thejoespector.com/merchandise

I have 3 questions for you.

1) Have you ever felt like you're stuck in a rut and your own behavior is sabotaging you from being the best version of yourself, but you just quite haven’t figured out how to flip the script and break free?

2) Have you ever struggled with depression or addiction, or do you have a kiddo or loved one who has, and you’d like some rock-solid guidance and deep wisdom on how to navigate those challenging waters and conquer those demons?

3) Do you like true stories that are jam packed with motivation, inspiration, transformation, and raw authentic human connection and vulnerability?

If you answered YES to ANY of those questions, than this episode is for you!

On this episode, I interview Mike, an incredible human being who shares his journey of how he

• became an alcoholic at age 12
• nearly died multiple times (at his own hands and others)
• got into a fist fight with an MMA fighter
• went to jail

and then radically transformed into an entirely different version of himself who has not only healed, but also contributes greatly to the healing of others.

Buckle up, because this is a wild ride that you do not want to miss. 

This story demonstrates that while life throws us all different levels of adversity, we have the ability and power to heal, grow, and thrive. 

It takes courage, perseverance, and self-love to overcome our challenges, but you can do it. 

Resources to increase your inner peace and maximize your happiness:

Download my free mental & emotional fitness eBook, Your Guide to Grit Growth & Gratitude: https://www.thejoespector.com/opt-in

Check out my free meditations to shut off the monkey mind and crank up the good vibes: https://www.thejoespector.com/meditations

MORE FREE STUFF ALERT!

I’d be so grateful if you would follow, rate, and review this podcast. It’s the best way to help us grow our show and connect with people who can benefit from this content. 

Email me a screenshot of your review to [email protected] (or DM on IG), and I’ll send you some free super dope stickers! You can check them out here: https://www.thejoespector.com/merchandise

Let’s Connect!

For more bite-sized happiness tips, follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejoespector