Having It A.L.L.

In today's episode I'm sharing a very personal recent experience of having to say goodbye to our family dog, and how I have been able to shift my feelings and emotions from those of grief to gratitude.

I missed publishing an episode last week. It's only the second or third time that's happened in the 12+ months of this show. I felt bad knowing that you all were waiting for a new episode, however I was struggling to relate to a personal family challenge that was going on last week.

Last Wednesday we said goodbye to our family dog Olive. It was one of the hardest, most emotional experiences of my life. It was unexpected, quick, and when it was over I was left with a big hole that didn't feel like it would be filled anytime soon.

Sarah and I adopted Olive 4 years ago from a shelter here in Atlanta. She was a pitbull mix with pretty bad mange damage to her hair, so she was most likely not going to be adopted. We fell in love with her when we first saw her photos online. She joined our family and quickly assumed her role as sister to our hound dog Watson and loyal friend to Sarah and I. When baby Maya was born, Olive relished in her new role as doggy sister.

For 2 days after we said goodbye to Olive, my emotions were all over the place. I cried more and harder than I had in probably 20 years. I had no appetite, no desire to do work. I was in it deep. 

It took me a while to start to see the blessings in the situation. But when I did, the flood of gratitude poured over me and almost immediately lifted me up.

I became so grateful that I was able to say goodbye to my friend. Not only that, I was able to hold her, talk to her and tell her I loved her as the vet gave her the injection that would end her life. It was a very moving experience for Sarah and I. One that I am very grateful to have been able to experience with Olive.

I also because incredibly grateful at the 4 amazing years we had her as a friend. From day 1 she was so full of love. If you rearrange the letters in her name they spell "I Love", and that's exactly what she did every single day. I became grateful that I was able to experience that and see what it's like to be loved unconditionally. 

Once the gratitude hit me, the sadness and pain weren't as strong. 

This experience has reminded me that gratitude can be found in any situation. There is always something we can take away from it that will shift our perspective and uplift our lives, if we choose. 

The experience also reminded me that we are not promised tomorrow. As cliche as that is, none of us know what may happen in the next hour, day, week. Understanding that can help us become more present, patient, and loving today. I make more of a point to greet friends and family with genuine love when I see them and when they leave. I am stopping more frequently to BE instead of do. I am communicating my gratitude for others and sharing how people inspire me. Overall, I'm smelling the roses more and it has created more joy in my life. 

This episode is a reminder of how much we have to be grateful for and how we are all experiencing abundance in every moment. What we're experiencing an abundance of is up to us. 

Music:

• Theme song is “Love” by maxzwell

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In today's episode I'm sharing something that I am working on doing less of in my life, and that's envying others successes. It's been something that happens almost automatically at times. I might see someone who has more money than I do, a [seemingly] more in tact family than I do, has achieved more business success than I have, and the gut reaction I have is slight envy. I want what they have. 

I do this knowing full well how risky it is to build a story about someone else's perceived "successes", without knowing anything about that person.

I'm guilty of if, and in today's episode we're exploring that.

The episode was inspired by a conversation I was having with a listener. We were talking about our families and upbringings, and both of us have parents who are doctors. In what I feel is a pretty fascinating parallel, despite both of our families having an outward appearance of American Success (middle to upper middle class, parents who are doctors, living in the burbs), we both remember our families struggling financially. 

On the surface we had the things that many label successes, but the truth was that our families were having trouble putting food on the table. 

That same day I was engaging in an online business group I'm a part of, and a member posed the question "Of businesses who report making $1,000,000 in revenue, how much of that do you think is profit?"

Again it made me think about the outward story vs the inward truth. 

In this episode I'm giving you the 5 W's of radical self awareness. Each of the 5 W's will give you questions to ponder about your life: the people you surround yourself with, the environments you place yourself in, the path that you're currently on, the destination you want to make it to, the catalysts that will inspire you to leave your safety net. 

Now, the credit for this episode has to be given to listener Benjamin Foley. Benjamin reached out to me via email this week and we started a dialogue. I quickly learned that Benjamin has a similar beliefs about health and happiness, and we share a unique relationship to fear and anxiety -- we lean into them. 

I also learned that Benjamin is a great writer and shares his thoughts on his blog. That's where I found the article which inspired this podcast episode. That article is called "Advice On Anxiety No One Tells You" (link below). 

In this episode you'll get some great tools for introspection that are guaranteed to help you realign your life to healing and love. It takes courage to do this kind of work, but I know you're just the bold person to do it! 

Notes from this episode:

Music:

• Theme song is “Love” by maxzwell

Feeling inspired to subscribe on iTunes review? >> Click here <<

In today's episode I'm introducing a simple and new way to think about life balance. It's called "The Body Vehicle" and in the episode I'm breaking down exactly what the Body Vehicle is, what it reveals about life balance, and how you can apply it to your own life.

This concept of The Body Vehicle is not of my own creation. I learned it through the YourDay Balance Game (a health and fitness game governed by love and balance). Since balance is in the title of the YourDay Balance Game, you can believe that achieving a work-life balance is part of the makeup! The Body Vehicle is actually just one of many different ways I've learned to conceptualize and approach life balance through the YDBG, and I'll be covering a few more of those ways in future episodes. 

But today I'm focusing on the Body Vehicle.

Here's a thought for you to chew on: if your body were a car on the road of Life, how smooth is your ride? To take it a step further, if your car had 5 wheels on it (Spiritual, Mental, Social, Emotional and Physical) and the smoothness of your ride was determined by how inflated or deflated those tires were, what does your ride feel like now?

Are you riding through life with a few under-inflated tires? 

Is your ride bumpy because you've over-inflated some of your wheels, and maybe don't even have certain wheels at all?

I'm going to break down this helpful analogy further in the episode, explain to you each of the 5 wheels and how they interact, and give you a few things to chew on that will help you evaluate just how smooth or bumpy your ride through life is on your Body Vehicle. 

Music:

• Theme song is “Love” by maxzwell

Feeling inspired to subscribe on iTunes review? >> Click here <<

On this episode I'm joined by my wife Sarah as she breaks down the 8 habits of a Humble Badass. What is a Humble Badass you ask? Well you'll have to tune in to find out!

The premise of this show is looking at how we can create more ABUNDANCE and LOVE in our LIVES so that we can have the experience of life we truly desire. Sarah's message aligns perfectly with that because her approach to wellness (Sarah is a Balance Lifestyle Coach and Personal Trainer) is one that emphasizes the values of the show.

In our conversation we go through the 8 frameworks of Unleash Your Humble Badass, the process that Sarah takes her lifestyle coaching clients through. It's this same process and framework that allows Sarah to show up powerfully in all her roles in life, and I'm super excited to hand these tools over to you and see what you do with them!

Everything we're talking about are simply tools. You may choose to pick them up and use them, or not. There is not one single path to experiencing abundance and love in life (if someone tells you there is, you may want to turn the other way). What I'm offering you up in this episode is a path that might resonate with your spirit. 

Check it out and get ready to unleash your Humble Badass!

Show notes:

Today's episode is a rebroadcast of an episode from the first few weeks of the podcast. In it, I'm having an amazing conversation with Monique Ruffin.

Monique Ruffin is a celebration of living. She is one of those people that folks say has “A beautiful soul”.

And I completely understand why.

Monique grew up in the neighborhood of Watts in Los Angeles. Yes, that Watts. It's where Sanford And Sons was set, and was where Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke duke it out in Training Day.

That neighborhood is not known for many empowering things, but it’s where Monique called home.

Growing up in an area impacted by crack, with parents in and out of jail, many wouldn’t have been surprised if Monique failed to transcend her environment. But she did, and in a big way.

Monique is a mother, writer, creator, coach, radio host and group facilitator. But most of all she’s an example of what it looks like to live with heart, authenticity, courage, vulnerability and realness.

In our conversation, Monique and I talk about her childhood, the lessons she’s learned as a mother, and how we can all grow beyond our circumstances.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

In this episode I’m talking about my experience with intermittent fasting - a pattern of eating and fasting that has become popular in the health and fitness community lately. I have been doing intermittent fasting for the past 4 years, yet my reasons for it are probably much different than most.

Intermittent fasting most recently came into public awareness by Terry Crews - the actor and former football player with the crazy fit body and totally weird Old Spice commercials. He was interviewed on Business Insider about his eating patterns. In the interview he shared how intermittent fasting has helped him stay in shape. 

Perform a Google search of "intermittent fasting" and you'll see plenty of people in support, and some against.

In this episode I'm not giving you any medical advice on advice on physical health or nutrition. Instead, I'm sharing with you one of the consequences with intermittent fasting, and that's how it reveals your attachments.

In today's episode I'm sharing with you three mindsets that have been the biggest catalysts for my personal transformation over the past 4 years. From my self confidence, to the quality of my relationships, to my ability to attract money and create wealth, these 3 things have been the spark for them all. 

This episode was inspired by a question I was asked last week, "What would you attribute to the huge transformation you've made in your life over the past 4 years?".

Here's where I was:

 Where I am 4 years later:

Listen to the episode to hear the 3 mindsets that have led to all of these personal transformations.

In today's episode I'm sharing with you some steps to help you to stop making fear based decisions in your life, especially around major life decisions, and to start deciding from a place of love.

I think we all know what it's like to be at a crossroads, and to choose the path of fear. I've done it countless times in my past and each time it left me feeling regretful, shameful, guilty or another one of the many fear based emotions that are available to choose from.

Most of us also know what it's like to choose the path of love and growth as well, and we've experienced the freedom, excitement, energy, healing, and possibility that comes from choosing in that state of mind.

In this episode I explore the consequences of both types of decision making, and I give you some tips on how to avoid making fear based decisions that leave you feeling less than. 

This episode is a rebroadcast of a powerful conversation I had with Paul Colaianni -- host of The Overwhelmed Brain Podcast and author of "The Overwhelmed Brain: Personal Growth For Critical Thinkers".

Paul Colaianni has not always led an authentic life. Experiences as a child taught him that authenticity and self expression were detrimental to his health and the health of those around him, so he bottled them up. The result was a life ripe with unsteady relationships, frustration, and disillusionment. It wasn’t until facing the end of another relationship, that Paul reached an emotional, mental and spiritual breaking point, which sent him on a 10 year journey to study and self examine. Today, Paul is a self empowerment coach who uses his life experiences and the insights he’s picked up along the way, to coach others through their challenges and help them reach their personal goals.

In this episode, Paul shares what he’s learned through a life of exploring what living

authentically means to him, and he gets personal with me and he talks about his experience of growing up in an alcoholic home, destroying relationships with judgement and fear, and going through life not being his true authentic self.

Notes From This Episode: