Mindfulness Mode

Chelsea Austin is a writer, speaker and advocate from Malibu, California raised by two of the most incredible parents, her dads. Chelsea has used her expertise in theatre and dance and used her story of being raised by two gay men, using it as a platform to spread love, tolerance and acceptance. Chelsea has advocated for the LGBTQ+ community since she was in high school and in 2010 was voted one of the Top Fifteen LGBT Activists in the Los Angeles area. Chelsea shares her message with the world on her blog, “The Girl With Five Names,” her podcast, “Worthiness Warriors,” and through speaking engagements.

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Contact Info

Website: www.ChelseaAustin.com

Blog: Chelsea's Blogs

Podcast: Worthiness Warriors

Most Influential Person

Gabby Bernstein Bestselling author, motivational speaker, spiritual leader, and podcast host

Effect on Emotions

Mindfulness has allowed me emotional literacy. It has allowed me the time it has taken to recognize that I feel an emotion and that there's something in there.

Mindfulness has also given me a place to help process that. Allowing myself to feel emotions as they come up and not squashing them down till a later date or time. 

Thoughts on Breathing

Breathing is huge. As someone who has been short of breath many times in life, a thirty second breath is something that saved me.

Inhaling for ten seconds, holding for ten and then releasing for ten, and then doing that for about five minutes is simple, but has literally saved my life when I thought I wasn't going to be able to take another breath. 

Suggested Resources

Book: Super Attractor: Methods for Manifesting a Life beyond Your Wildest Dreams by Gabby Bernstein

App: Dr. Chris Lee on Instagram – He talks about the neuroscience behind mindfulness

Bullying Story

I was bullied, but never because I had two dads. I grew up in Las Angeles, born and raised in Malibu. I was known as the girl with two gay dads and that was my selling point. It was something I wore like a badge.

I'm also biologically related to both of my parents so that is something that was very uncommon. My dad Kevin, is my biological dad and my daddy, Dennis is my biological uncles, meaning his sister donated the egg so that my parents could have me.

It certainly did more to my internal state of mind that it did causing a lot of bullying externally. I was an example for a bunch of different human rights organizations (LGBTQ) to say here is the girl who was raised by two dads and she's well adjusted, well-spoken.

On the other hand I was a perfectionist and wanted to do all things the right way because I had in my mind, if I don't do things the right way, then they're going to see me as a reason why people shouldn't have kids.

I recognize now that's kind of a self-centered view of the world, but as a little kid, that was what I knew and that was my place I felt I had in the world. 

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Have you been trying to break through a mind block? Are you discouraged? It’s not hopeless. YOU CAN DO IT. I coach people just like you. I’m Bruce Langford, a practicing hypnotist, and you will get results with my help! Feel good about your life and accomplishments. Regain confidence. Book a Free Consultation to get you on the road to being grounded and centered. Email me: [email protected] with ‘I Believe In Me' in

Strengthen Your Hope Muscle, is the name of today’s episode. What is hope anyway? What does that word mean to you? Hope can be defined as a feeling, state of mind or belief that something good will happen. Whether it's in the future or right now, hope has many benefits for your mental health.

On this episode, I'll explore some of these benefits and then talk about some specific ways you can train your brain to operate with hope!Hope is a powerful emotion; it’s a feeling that can inspire and motivate you to get up, keep going and not give up. Hope is what keeps us alive when we’re fighting a battle that may seem senseless. But where does hope come from? Is it something we create for ourselves or is it something that exists in the world independent of us? Hope can have different meanings depending on who you are. Hope can definitely affect your mental health.

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There’s a phrase you might have heard, especially if you’re in business or you’re an entrepreneur. It’s Hope marketing is when you see what others are doing in your marketplace or in another marketplace and you try and repeat it. You try to take what you see others applying successfully and copy it with the hope that it will work for you.This is an example of where the word hope has a negative connotation. Hope marketing is a concept that’s frowned upon and I think it has given the word hope a bad rap.So what does hope mean in your world? This is a question that we all should ask ourselves.Here are some of my favorite quotes about hope: “The soul cannot live without hope” (Thomas Aquinas), and “Hope sees best in the dark” (Robert Burns).

Although the word hope isn’t in the quote, I think this quote by Thich Nhat Hahn is relevant: “In order for one to have true peace of mind, he or she must be able to let go of everything—to give up any attachment whatsoever.”

Jon Kabat Zinn says that “hope is not an emotion but rather something more active and engaged-a way of being present in life.”

Science has shown that hope helps with mental health, and there are statistics on how hopeful people live longer lives than those without any hope at all!In a 2017 study, psychologists found out that hope protects the brain against anxiety and expanded our understanding of how that may be happening. Because hope is considered a stable personality trait, they reasoned, they might be able to figure out where in the brain they can find hope functioning. They were able not only to pinpoint where hope might potentially reside within the brain, but realized how hope may be shielding the brain from the effects of anxiety.

The scientists defined hope as an important topic in positive psychology, referring to an individual's “goal-oriented expectations” that include both agency (desire to achieve goals) and pathways (finding ways to achieve them).The researchers used fMRI imaging on 231 high school students [from Chengdu, China] who were tested according to questionnaires using the DHS hope scale and the Stait-Trait Anxiety test. So sit with the word hope for a minute. What does hope mean to you? Is it a feeling, a state of mind, or something else? How do you know when someone is hopeful? The word “hope” comes from the old English word for ‘to desire' which means that hope could be seen as a longing for what might happen in the future. It's important to find out how people define this abstract idea because how you define the word is crucial as to whether it carries a strong, positive connotation, or a more negative connotation.I think back to when I read the book, Man’s Search For Meaning, by Victor Frankl. He was a prisoner in a Natzi concentration camp during WW II, and he decided to remain hopeful, even though most people would agree, he was not in a very hopeful place. A lot of people around him had given up hope. He didn’t. He stuck to his theory that the primary human drive is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but

Michael Defern is a singer/songwriter, author, and video producer. He first became interested in mindfulness and awakening through the Twelve Steps, a tool he used to help maintain sobriety. Fifteen years later, Michael has sought to expand mindfulness into all parts of his life, including business, performing, writing, and raising kids. He owns a video production company with his wife, Heather, where they help business owners create content that digs deeper to connect with their audience, which is the subject of his recent book, How To Connect: A guide to creating content that resonates with your ideal client.

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Contact Info

Website: www.MichaelDefern.com

Podcast: Between Two Deferns

Book: How To Connect: A guide to Creating Content That Resonates With Your Ideal Client by Michael Defern

Most Influential Person

Eckhart Tolle

Effect on Emotions

Mindfulness has been a life-changer in terms of communicating with my wife. There were so many things, especially financial things, where I would come at it in such a passive-aggressive way.

I would stand there in the moment with her. What I've learned to do now is get anchored, try not to think at all, and just let it come out. The ability of being mindful has allowed me to respond instead of react.

Thoughts on Breathing

I need to plug my amazing vocal teacher, Breck Alan. One of his breathing exercises is something I use all the time in mindfulness and meditation.

If you sit up straight or stand up straight and you pull yourself up from the back of your neck, and you almost tilt your hips back as if you were to put your hands in your back pockets and pull down slightly. You kind of have this reverse arch.

You experiment and you get your body into the right position. It's called, ‘The Art of Body Singing‘, that's his brand. It's about getting into this position where the breath just comes in without any effort.

Suggested Resources

Book: The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

Book: Wealth Warrior by Steve Chandler

Book: On Writing: Stephen King

Book: How To Connect: A Guide to Creating Content That Resonates With Your Ideal Client by Michael Defern

App: Waking Up (Sam Harris's App)

Bullying Story

I definitely was bullied. And I bullied. My whole school experience from grade school to high school was one of being completely disconnected in my own head.

Looking back, there were so many situations, had I had any kind of mindfulness or presence, I would have realized that I took things the wrong way or I would have seen things from the other person's perspective.

If I could go back to fifth grade and someone did something that upset me, if I had been able to use mindfulness I would have wondered what they were going through to cause them to lash out at me.

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Have you been trying to lose weight? Are you discouraged? It’s not hopeless. YOU CAN DO IT. I coach people just like you. I’m Bruce Langford, a practicing hypnotist, and you will get results with my help! I personally lost 35 pounds and I’ve kept it off thanks to hypnosis. Feel good and look good. Believe it. Watch my short video and get 5 Tips on How To Lose Weight For Good. Then book a Free Consultation to get you on the road to permanent weight loss. Go to www.MindfulnessMode.com/weightloss

How To Release Your Inner Bully Dialogue is my topic today. How many of us have a bully on our shoulder? Someone who is always telling us how we should be doing things and what we could do better. You know, the one that says you are not good enough or smart enough for something. The one that criticizes your topic and believe it is more every move and makes you feel like an idiot when you don't live up to their expectations. The negative self-talk reminds you of all your faults and flaws, even when they are scarcely true. It can seem impossible to stop listening to these voices in our head! But it's possible with some practice – if only we knew where to start.

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What holds a lot of us back from achieving our goals is often ourselves. We can be held hostage by our own thoughts.If you’ve listened to Mindfulness Mode before, you know that I’ve worked in the field of Bullying Prevention for 18 years. Back in 2003, when I first started, I focused on the bully, the victim and the bystander. Later it became obvious to me that the biggest bully is often the one who lives within our own mind.Very often that inner bully leads us to believe we are not enough, or that there is something wrong with us. This is that critical voice that seems so eager to be judgmental of others and then of ourselves.A lot of times, that’s how bullying starts. We are critical of other people. We’re judgmental of how other people do things, how they look, how they act, what they say, and then sometimes bully them, maybe even unintentionally.This criticism of other people happens because we are self-critical. We don’t think we deserve to win, we feel like there’s something wrong with us, so we take it out on other people.Have you ever come across someone who is constantly critical of other people and they frequently exclude people from their lives because they think they’re not good enough, or there’s something wrong with them.These are the exact same people that usually have a low opinion of themselves, even if that doesn’t appear to be the case.Doing over 1800 live anti-bullying talks and presentations taught me that it’s easy to see the bully in other people, but way harder to see it in ourselves and then to do something about it.Here’s how you can Release Your Inner Bully Dialogue.

1/ Listen

The first step is to notice those inner bullying voices. I once had a temp job where I did quality control for a credit card company. A woman who worked alongside me was constantly critical of me in a passive aggressive way. She would say things like “did you really have to wear that today,” and she wouldn't even look at the clothes I wore or she would accuse me of not coming back from break on time. It got so bad that people talked about her behind her back when they came into work in the morning. The worst thing for me was how passive aggressive she could be without ever actually saying anything to my face but everyone knew what she thought of me because of how much negativity would pour out of her mouth on a daily basis.

The way this fellow employee carried on, reminds me of exactly how my inner bully behaves. There are sneaky, negative messages just under the surface that I may or may not notice. Thinking back to my temp job helps me to realize that my inner bully is real. I’ve named him Jasper. Giving him a name and an identity helps me remain aware that he’s constantly lurking in the back seat. Every once in a while I tell Jasper off, and tell him to stay in the back seat, mind his own business, and that I am doing the driving.

This works for me. It keeps Jasper where he belongs.

2/ Set Goals

I’m an action taker and I’ve always found that taking action as soon as possible gives me the momentum to make things happen that are positive. Sometimes I don’t take the time to focus on what I want to achieve before I take action, so I have to remind myself to create an outline that tells me wh

aphali Anderson struggled through a lot of pain in life, believing the lie that success makes life better, happier, and more fulfilling. Even achieving levels of success still left him with the haunting feel that his life was somehow empty. After years of study, and trial and error, he finally found the missing ingredient. As a result, his marriage went from shambles to rock solid; he lost over 30 pounds and gained a new level of content. His circumstances didn’t change, he just became aligned with his true self. Now, Naphali wants to empower others to take full control and master their lives, living with purpose, passion, and fulfillment.

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Website: www.NaphtaliAnderson.com

Facebook: @NaphtaliDAnderson

Most Influential Person

Jesus

Effect on Emotions

Mindfulness has given me strength over my emotions.

It allows me to question my thoughts and my thoughts are what power my emotions. If I can change my thoughts, I can change my emotions.

Thoughts on Breathing

I just actually started doing more breathwork. Being at home with my body and just treating myself as a whole, breathing is very powerful. In controlling your state and your energy, breathing is very effective.

Suggested Resources

Book: The Bible

Book: Psycho Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz

App: Breathwrk App

Bullying Story

I've been bullied and I've been a bully. Where mindfulness would have made a difference. Something that bothered me, and some may say this is such a small thing. I was with my older brother.

We were in Burger King and this girl was working. She said to me, “your brother's so cute, what happened to you?” It felt like, stab, stab. Easily someone could have just brushed it off, but because of my mental state, because of how I felt about myself, it felt true. There is something wrong with me. I am hideous. Why would I even think I'm valuable anyway?

I was always in a state of, what's the next task I need to do. Everything always felt so empty in my life, no matter what I achieved.

I needed to learn how to feel. That's when the vulnerability came in. I needed to really learn what was actually going on on the inside. How do I feel. What do I actually feel about any of this?

I can say all the right things. I can do all the right actions but there will always be a space between us (between me and my father). I didn't want that as a father.

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Have you been trying to lose weight? Are you discouraged? It’s not hopeless. YOU CAN DO IT. I coach people just like you. I’m Bruce Langford, a practicing hypnotist, and you will get results with my help! I personally lost 35 pounds and I’ve kept it off thanks to hypnosis. Feel good and look good. Believe it. Watch my short video and get 5 Tips on How To Lose Weight For Good. Then book a Free Consultation to get you on the road to permanent weight loss. Join our Beta offer and get 50% off. Go to www.MindfulnessMode.com/weightloss

If you’ve listened to any of my solo episodes before, you’ve heard me say that journaling and writing is therapeutic. It helps you become clear in your goals and figure out how to achieve them. Scientists have done research on this topic and believe it is more effective to use pen and paper than it is to type your thoughts on a computer keyboard. There's a connection between the brain and the pen when we write our thoughts down on paper. Sometimes it can be challenging to get started, so many people give up because they don't know how to begin if they don't know where or what to write about. Here are some suggestions. Find a comfortable place to do your writing, give yourself the time to do it, and begin by taking three deep breaths. Then simply write down the first thing that comes into your mind.

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Journaling For Therapy

When I was a kid I used to keep a diary. My dad liked to write and he would write entries in his journal every day. He was a farmer, so he was particularly interested in the weather. It truly mattered in his work so as a result he became an expert at reading the sky. He was particularly intrigued by what he could learn from the sunsets. He was usually sleeping when the sun came up because he wasn’t an early riser, but he loved to watch the sun go down.When he retired and moved to town, he bought a home with windows that faced west and there was an open view to watch the sun go down every night. Then he’d write in his diary about he thoughts and his take on the weather. I think this was therapy for my dad.I remember spending time with Dad before he died 2 years ago. He was sitting in his chair exactly where he’d been sitting for hours. It was getting dark outside and he could see the sun going down over the horizon. The sky had gone from a vibrant red to a haunting dark grey. Now it was almost completely dark outside.He suddenly heard something rattle in the other room. He was like my cat, Silver. He would startle easily. My mom walked into the room and we both realized she had rattled the silverware drawer in the kitchen, getting out a spoon to stir a drink she was bringing him.Anyway, I’m sure my dad is the reason I like to write so much. It’s therapy for me too.

I’ve put together five easy steps for getting started with journaling or writing.

1/ Start With A Pen or Pencil

When I was younger I used to draw and colour and just live in the moment with this hobby. As a kid I had a lot of coloring books and I took great pride in finishing a coloring page. My pens, pencils and markers were some of my most important possessions. I suggest you find a special pen that you truly like, one that feels perfect in your hand.

2/ Write The Date

Open your journal and write the date on the top of the page. Do you have a special journal? If you don’t, you’ll find lots on Amazon or in a store that carries that sort of thing. Make sure to always keep your journal in a special place so you never have to wonder where you’ve left it. Your journal will become a special possession.

3/ Think Gratitude

Write three things you're grateful for today. Don’t over think it. Just write the first thing that comes into your mind, even if it seems trivial, or painfully obvious. Turning your mind to gratitude is a great way to make your journaling time special and a positive experience.

4/ Uncomfortable Thoughts

Try writing about something that makes you uncomfortable. This is usually an easy way to get the words flowing. These can be thoughts, feelings, or memories. It’s often simple to think of things that are irritating. It will get you started and then you can switch over to something more positive like my next point.

5/ Five Goals

Write out five goals for this week that will make you happy when they're achieved. Don’t put unnecessary pressure on yourself. Choose goals that you will definitely enjoy achieving, even if you automatically do them every day. The p

Lee Baucom believes you can thrive regardless of what life gives you. Lee holds a Ph.D. and is a Thriveologist and Life Coach. For the past three decades, he has studied how people thrive, applying that information in his writing, teaching, and coaching. He is the author of seven books, three focused on how to thrive. And he is the creator of the Thrive Journal, a daily process to steadily increase thriving in everyday life. Lee is also the host of the Thriveology Podcast, providing weekly lessons and interviews on thriving since 2013. As a teacher and speaker, Lee discusses the importance in finding meaning and living purpose, so that people create the impact desired in life.

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Contact Info

Website: www.Thriveology.com

Podcast: The Thriveology Podcast by Lee Baucom

Book: The Immutable Laws of Living: The Inspirational Blueprint to Living Your Meaningful Life by Lee Baucom

Book: Thrive Principles: 15 Strategies For Building Your Thriving Life by Lee Baucom

Most Influential Person

Jack Canfield

Growing up it was My Mom – she was always helping us to recognize our emotional intelligence.

Effect on Emotions

It's easy to be present when you're in a good mood. My challenge is when I'm upset about something. It's not like you're saying I'm not upset. Mindfulness is saying, ok, I'm upset, now what do I do about it.

One of my practices has always been to have an activity where I have to be fully immersed. Scuba diving used to be one of my activities. Scuba diving meant that as soon as you starting getting ready for it, you'd better be thinking about that. That's all you did.

The person who was my instructor and then my dive partner told me, it was like a mini vacation. For however long you're under water, it's only that. That was fully immersed, fully present, you can't be thinking about anything else.

More recently my activity has been Jiu Jitsu. Jiu Jitsu is a practice in mindfulness because the last thing you want to do it let anger take you over when you're in the midst of sparring because this is not your enemy.

Thoughts on Breathing

I've always been very interested in breath and breathing. In my childhood I did Taekwondo and my instructor was always talking about doing diaphragmatic breathing.

I was a chaplain for a number of years and I used diaphragmatic breathing to calm people down. You could watch their oxygen level just shoot up just by me coaching them through that. They used to call me into the ‘ER' just to help people get through an anxiety attack.

Suggested Resources

Book: Eckhart Tolle Books

Book: Thrive Principles: 15 Strategies For Building Your Thriving Life by Lee Baucom

App: Elite HRV Lee Uses an Apple Watch and an Aura Ring to monitor heart-rate variability. This app tracks your heart-rate variability

Bullying Story

I was probably the antithesis of a bully. I was Mr. Nice Guy for a long time.  That was something that I really tried to live into and anything that challenged that was difficult for me. We had moved about a year before and I didn't have a lot of friends.

I had these sketch pads and I wanted to sketch, but part of dyslexia is dysgraphia and my drawing and handwriting was terrible and nothing good was coming out of the sketching. So there was this guy and I thought he was my best friend and he liked to draw so I gave him my sketch pads and didn't think anything about it.

About a week later he started handing out these sketch pads saying I had drawn these soft porn kind of pictures on them. It was so anti-who-I-was. I was a straight-laced, going to church kid and my father was the pastor. I was respectful and this was nothing I would have drawn. I knew that I hadn't done it.

It went around the circle and people were laughing at me and pointing at me and I saw him do it. It took me a while to figure out all it was and people were coming up to me and asking if I really drew all these pictures. I didn't. So that was the bull

Today I’ll talk about bliss and how to find it. My wife, Darlene and I were reminiscing last night. We were talking all about our amazing trip to Colombia we enjoyed back in 2017. There were so many vivid memories about people we met, things we did, and places we went. It was blissful thinking about those incredible memories. Then today, we did it again with our son, Ben. He was about to turn 17 at the time, and it was interesting to hear his version of the same memories. One of the things we did was climb to the top of the La Piedra.La Piedra is listed in an article called The 10 Most Stunning Staircases in the World. The La Piedra Del Peñol in Colombia is a monolithic formation located at the town of Guatapé in Antioquia, rising from the bottom of the hydroelectric dam of Peñol-Guatapé. Also known as the El Peñol Stone, or simply as La Piedra, the huge and heavy stone, made of quartz, feldspar and mica, has some rock breaks, used for constructing 650 stairs that lead to the top. A viewing spot on top of the rock, which offers the view of the surrounding area, can be reached by climbing 740 steps. We laughed and reminisced about our many memories and it felt so blissful to be sharing these memories.

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Discover Bliss

I think bliss is fleeting and comes at unexpected times and sometimes in places you’d never expect. The dictionary defines bliss as “perfect happiness”. Great joy. Typically to be oblivious of everything else. Here are some ways I believe you can achieve bliss in your life.

1/ Celebrate & Be Grateful

Last night our son, Ben, finished a lab report he’d been working on. Darlene and I asked him to tell us when he was finished and when he did, we cheered, had a group hug and just talked about how great it was that he was finished and had this work handed in. He looked a little puzzled, and said, it’s only a lab I’ve handed in. I said, yeah, but it’s one more thing checked off on your journey to earn a physics degree. I think it’s important to celebrate the small things on the journey. He smiled and we had one more group, family hug.Bliss is spending time with family that you relate to and you can celebrate with.

Bliss is reaching a point where you don’t feel judged by others and you don’t judge them. In other words, I feel like learning to be non-judgmental is not only an important aspect of mindfulness, I think it’s important in life because becoming less judgmental ultimately has made me a happier and a more blissful person. This is monumental aspect of bliss and happiness in general.

2/ Quiet Time

Bliss is making sure your life includes quiet time. Some will call it meditation and some will call it prayer. It might be the solitude you find when you run, swim, or walk. Quiet time can be a daily time spent in nature or just in a quiet space with some incense, essential oils, or a candle.

Without quiet time, your life becomes chaotic, hectic, and you lose your sense of being grounded and centered. A lot of lives have become harried and dramatic. For me, losing the drama and making sure I have quiet time every single day is a big part of finding bliss.

3/ Quality Company

To make sure my life is blissful, I find it’s important to choose the people I spend time with very carefully. I notice how I feel when they’re around. I notice what they say and how they react to what I say. If we have similar goals and ideals, that is important to me. I also love being around people who have loftier goals, who think bigger than I do and who raise me up. Some of my most blissful moments have been around people that fit this description.

4/ Be Active

One of the ways I find bliss is by making sure I am active every day. I take a one hour run every morning. For the last three months or so, I’ve been running 6.6 kilometers or 4 miles. It feels good to be outside, no matter what the weather. I love the cold, frosty mornings, but I’ve learned to appreciate bei

Michele Sammons is an inspirational author, spiritual teacher, and highly-attuned guide who works with clients worldwide helping them transform their lives through divine guidance. As an empath and intuitive, Michele’s light-hearted, joyful approach embraces her clients right where they are on their spiritual path and gently guides them to personal clarity and understanding. Michele is passionate about working with Spirit to uplift others while spreading love and joy along the way.

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Contact Info

Website: www.MicheleSammons.com

Book: The Little Book of Big Knowing: Tiny Bursts of Insight To Wake Up Your Soul by Michele Sammons

Most Influential Person

Martha Beck 

Effect on Emotions

Mindfulness is huge when it comes to emotions. Being an empath, and being aware not only of my emotions, but other folks emotions, just knowing exactly what's mine and what's someone else's is huge.

Also knowing that I can shift my emotions. I don't have to stay in a state that feels uncomfortable to me. That is a choice. Being mindful of that choice and catching it early before it gets lots of momentum and before it goes off in one direction, that's been huge for me. 

Thoughts on Breathing

Breathing is one of the ways I connect into my meditations. Once my mind quiets, breath is the thing that I focus on until that naturally expands into other things.

Breath always brings us home. It's the thing that grounds us. 

Suggested Resources

Book: The Little Book of Big Knowing: Tiny Bursts of Insight To Wake Up Your Soul by Michele Sammons

Book: Search Inside Yourself by Chade Meng Tan

App: Insight Timer

Bullying Story

I think that bullying can come in a lot of different forms; physical, mental, emotional.

What I notice these days is energetic bullying where someone kind of forces an energy on you, almost like they puff themselves up.

That's what I usually become aware of first.

I notice where their energy is and I notice where my own energy is and then you can become aware of whether you want to engage with that or not.

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279 Do More With Less; Discover The Simple Life With Courtney Carver

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Learning to let go is the topic of my episode today. Many of my coaching clients who have begun to learn about mindfulness, soon realize that they are holding on to things that are disrupting their flow. They’re holding on to emotions, or memories, or beliefs that are getting in their way and preventing them from moving on. In many cases, these emotions, memories and beliefs are keeping my clients from becoming the people they truly want to be. They are often preventing money from flowing into their lives and sometimes the beliefs are preventing unwanted pain, heartbreak and grief from flowing out of their space.

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Learning To Let Go

1/ Slow Down

Consider working less hours or less overtime at work. Another thing  you can do is outsource more. If you're an entrepreneur you can get a virtual assistant or if you're a mom or dad at home with children, think of ways you can ask for some help. Sometimes there are people right among you who would love to help you out and all you have to do it ask.As you slow down, make it a priority to feed yourself with more of what fulfils you. What did you love to do as a 7 year old child? Did you paint, or play in the water, or sing? Is there a creative element you can reintroduce back into your life? Back, maybe 3 years ago our family went on a two-week vacation to Newfoundland – that’s a Canadian province on the East coast, it’s a huge island, it’s 156 thousand square miles.

The pace there in Newfoundland is so much different than here in Ontario. I remember meeting a guy who had never been off the island, and his manner, his disposition, his way of looking at the world, was all so different. I felt like he had a natural sense of mindfulness that he’d been born into.

2/ Scribe

In Hal Elrod’s book, The Miracle Morning, he talks about the practice of scribing. Scribing is an old-fashioned term for simply writing down your thoughts. Include plenty of thoughts of gratitude and ideas of where you currently see yourself in life and where you are headed. Talk about goals, dreams, and desires.

This week I interviewed a woman who said she couldn’t get through the day without journaling. It’s an innate part of her life. She lives in India, and even though she had a demanding job and is a mother and wife, she says she journals every morning. She can’t wait to put pen to paper. And she loves the sensation of holding the pen and writing on the paper. She told me that she puts a lot of value on the way the pen feels, and the way the ink flows onto the paper. She said she has a large collection of pens and this makes her journaling even more special. I tell you this, because I think that making elements of journal particularly meaningful in this way, can have an impact on how much you enjoy it and how much benefit it will end up being for you in your life.

3/ Move Your Body

There is something magical about combining body movement with thought. Many great ideas have popped into my head during my trampoline sessions. I have a mini-trampoline and I find amazing things happen when I jump on my trampoline and move my arms in opposite rotating motion. In my experience, big arm movements connect to my thinking brain and some amazing ideas pop into my head. I mentioned last week, that I’ve set aside an hour to run every morning before I start work and during this time I do a type of personal running meditation. It’s actually self-hypnosis and it helps me clear my mind and incredible thoughts and ideas come to me as a result. This self-hypnosis is called 7th Path Self-Hypnosis and I’m going to be teaching this method, so stay tuned for the details.

.4/ Meditate

I’ve been a meditator for around 8 years and as I already mentioned, one of the ways I meditate is a running meditation. I also do silent meditation, and feel like this has made a big difference in my life. I certainly learned to let go of a lot of a lot of emotions, memories, an