Mindfulness Mode

Mike Bundrant is a master NLP practitioner. NLP stands for Neural Linguistic Programming. He is the founder of the INLP center in California where they specialize in learning and teaching NLP. He's a former Psychotherapist and is cofounder of Healthy Times Newspaper. He's also a featured blogger on the world's top mental health website called PsychCentral dot com. Mike has a unique perspective on self-sabotage; he knows how to empower his clients to reach higher levels of emotional health.

Contact Info

Company: INLP Center

Website: www.inlpcenter.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/inlpcenter

Most Influential Person

Peter Michaelson (www.WhyWeSuffer.com)

Effect on Emotions

In terms of my emotions, I would say mindfulness has effected my positive emotions by helping me own them more and making them more alive and my negative emotions by making them workable. It hasn't banished them, it's just made them workable.

Thoughts on Breathing

Breathing is part of my mindfulness meditation in the beginning. I don't have a breathing mindfulness practice. I just make sure I take a few deep breaths in the very beginning of my meditation and really focus on the tension that full lungs create, the muscle tension.

When I let it out and relax, I just notice the tension release and my chest fall. Two or three rounds of that and then I don't really return to the breathing. It is an area that I've been interested in learning more about.

Suggested Resources

Book: The Phantom of the Psyche: Freeing Ourself From Inner Passivity by Peter Michaelson

App: Good Habits (It's not a mindfulness app, its a habits app - it increases mindfulness because it increases awareness.

Bullying Story

This reminds me of self-bullying, when we bully ourselves. Mindfulness can be so helpful if we're bullying ourselves because usually if I hear an inner voice,

I'm not even aware that this is an inner voice I'm responding to as if it were real. These inner voices use the word, 'you'. You're going to fail, you're no good.

It’s talking to you as if you’re someone else. We respond to them as if someone else were saying this to us, and we believe it.

And so, mindfulness can help this in so many ways. First becoming aware. You have to stop resisting these voices.

This is happening and mindfulness is not just about the positive. Negative things are so much better if they’re experienced mindfully.

When my inner voice says, people are not going to like you, I say (and I hope listeners are going to do this).

This is the story so many people I’ve worked with have told me. You hear the voice, you listen to it and then you repeat it, but you change the you to an I. Ok, you are going to fail, the voice in my head just said that to me.

And I say, Ok, I am going to fail. And then you tag on the word and. It’s sort of like saying, ‘tell me more’. So, I am going to fail … because I am no good. And tell me more … I’m not going to fight you. I’m just going to acknowledge that you said this to me.

This inner voice said this, I’m going to own it. After a few rounds of doing this, a couple of things happen. First, it goes quiet. People say to me, I’m not hearing this voice anymore. They say, what does that mean. And I say, just enjoy the quiet.

A lot of us are not used to a quiet mind. And sometimes that voice, after being heard says … oh, it might not be so bad.

That’s how mindfulness can make a huge difference to how we bully ourselves. Bullying is an inner game. Whether it involves someone else, or ourselves, it all starts on the inside.

To me, bullies, people who bully others, they’re chasing their own helplessness and trying to empower themselves but it only leads to more helplessness. It’s an inner phenomenon.

The bully is the last person in the world who is going to admit to their helplessness.

Joie Cheng, (M.S.W. Masters of Social Work), is the Self-Love Luminary. She's passionate about helping women love themselves so they can live their best life possible. Joie is a certified professional coach, mentor, healer, circle facilitator, and trained yoga teacher. Joie has a degree in Social Work and Psychology. She is the best-selling author of her book, The Naked Truth: A Woman’s Journey to Self-Love. This book conveys Joie's personal journey of healing herself naturally from depression through self-love.

Contact Info

Website: www.JoieCheng.com

Book: The Naked Truth: A Woman's Journey To Self-Love by Joie Cheng

Free Gift: The Seven-Day Self-Love Challenge

Most Influential Person

Deepak Chopra

Effect on Emotions

I think mindfulness has helped me to not get attached to the stories you get in your head about what something means and just saying, there's a thought and I can just let it pass. I don't have to be attached to it.

Thoughts on Breathing

Breathing is a really good way to instantly become aware and instantly drop into our body and notice our breath.

That's a really simple practice that we can do any time of the day. Just take a couple of deep breaths, especially if we're feeling stress, or are tired or whatever, just to take a few deep breaths. It's an instant state change.

Suggested Resources

Book: The Naked Truth: A Woman's Journey To Self-Love by Joie Cheng

App: The Timer on your phone. When the alarm goes off, just be aware of what you're thinking.

Bullying Story

I was fortunate not to have a lot of bullying when I was a kid.

There was this one girl when I was in Junior High, who used to make fun of me for being my race, my ethnicity.

She would do that 'eye' thing where she would move her eyes. And she'd say things.

Actually I think that I was grateful because mindfulness did help me because I didn't internalize it.

It think a lot of kids take it in and they think, oh, there's something wrong with me. So they really think that it's about them, rather than realizing that it's about the other person.

When someone bullies you, they're feeling insecure. It really has nothing to do with the person that's being bullied.

I just want to say that I really appreciate you making that connection between mindfulness and bullying  because I've never thought about that before and it made me think, yeah, you're right, mindfulness really can help with bullying.

Serena Denmark is a certified Hypnotherapy Instructor. She teaches her clients to identify unconscious patterns and use NLP and hypnosis to make deep, rapid, lasting changes. Serena experienced a midlife crisis and came to the conclusion that her beliefs were killing her. That’s when she attended an NLP course where she was the class guinea pig. Through this experience she found her new passion in NLP and never looked back.

Contact Info

Website: www.BeLimitlessHypnosis.com

FB: @SerenaDenmark

FB: Be Limitless With Hypnosis and Other Cool Stuff

Most Influential Person

Colleen Fletcher (Spiritual Teacher)

Effect on Emotions

Mindfulness has helped me keep that anchor to calm. It's like the pond or the ocean with the ripples on top and the stillness underneath. Even when I may feel agitated or irritated or annoyed, it's that duel experience, that higher perspective alarm, to observe yourself in the moment. I can feel the ripples, but I still have that stillness underneath.

Thoughts on Breathing

The breath is so powerful, just physiologically, when you breathe really deeply, you're increasing your intrathoracic pressure which puts stimulation on the vegas nerve which literally slows your heart rate down and interrupts your blood pressure so physiologically, deep breathing calms you down. Also I believe that as we breathe in deeply, we're breathing in prana or chi so we're increasing our wonderful energy that we're bringing into our body. Once you practice the self-hypnosis that's on my website, as soon as you even start to focus on your breathing, you've trained your mind to go into that place of relaxation.

Suggested Resources

Book: The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

The Downloadable Self-Hypnosis by Warren Martin

App: N/A

Bullying Story

I grew up in Zambia and I went to a missionary boarding school there. It was kind of in the boonies. It had been started around 1925 and I attended in 1973.

Everything was kind of set in time. It was really interesting. They had a water wheel to generate electricity. We had electricity four hours a day. No television or radio; completely cut off from the rest of the world. Hot water was a drum that had a fire built underneathe it.

We were away from our parents and there was no outside input, there was no one to run to and no one to discuss your problems with.

I think a lot of those schools back in the day were strong on discipline and maybe light on love. Kids are going to find a pecking order. That's just human nature.

I was at the bottom of that pecking order and there was one girl in particular who kind of pulled the puppet strings of everyone and I had what I considered a best friend.

We would both be willing to betray and abandon each other if we were chosen to be the favored friend by this girl at the top of the pecking order.

There was a lot of betrayal, a lot of lost trust and just a very, very, lonely experience. This girl said, you can't sing, your hair's ugly and she had all the power in my mind. I felt bad about myself.

I didn't really know how to bond with people because I had moved around a lot. I had lost my ability to really open my heart to people and connect in a real way becauase I didn't know how to trust anymore.

I went to the boarding school from age 10 and was there about 4 years.

They censored our letters so there was really no communication or way to reach for help.

Moneeka Sawyer is the creator of the Blissful Real Estate Investor Formula and is the international best-selling author of the award-winning book “Choose Bliss: The Power and Practice of Joy and Contentment.” Moneeka has often been described as one of the most joyful people you will ever meet. She believes that we can and should choose bliss in all areas of our lives, including in our business and our investing. Her expertise has been featured on radio and TV including ABC, NBC, and Fox.

Contact Info

Company: BlissfulInvestor.com

Podcast: CoreBlissLife.com

Free Gift: BlissfulInvestor.com

Book: Choose Bliss: The Power and Practice of Joy and Contentment by Moneeka Sawyer

email: [email protected]

Most Influential Person

My parents. They taught me about hard work, determination, focus, breathing, prayer, and joy.

Effect on Emotions

Mindfulness is all about emotions. That's what emotional mastery is for me and that's how I live.

Thoughts on Breathing

I dod a moving meditation every morning. I'm a dancer, I got my legs back and I started to dance and so for ten minutes every morning I do a moving meditation and breathing is a big piece of integrating my mind, my heart, and my body.

Suggested Resources

Book: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Book: Choose Bliss: The Power and Practice of Joy and Contentment by Moneeka Sawyer

App: I play a game on my phone to be mindful. Play is the way.

Bullying Story

My parents moved to a tiny little town in 1969 and I was the only non-white person in my school. I was tormented constantly. Bullied, tormented, humiliated constantly. I took it on. I was very lonely.

That bullying turned into horrible bullying as a teenager when boys took advantage of me. Horrible things happened. The thing is, at one point I realized that life was not going to continue to be that way for me.

At the age of twenty-five, I was considering, whether or not I wanted to continue to live. I remember the specific day. Things had been really rough for me and then I was in a horrible car accident in 1991.

It was not my fault, but I became a cripple. I was a dancer at the time and my biggest dream was to become an international dancer. Then my legs had been taken away.

They wanted to put me in a chair and I did not want to be put into a chair because I wanted to walk and to dance. Things got worse and worse and because I couldn't walk, I spent a lot of time in bed.

I remember I had been in bed crying for about a week and I had fallen into a huge depression. I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I had the thought, "I can't do this anymore".

There was a little voice inside of me that said. You have to keep on living. Anybody who has been depressed has heard the message, the longer you stay in bed, the worse it gets. I pushed off the covers and tried to get out of bed, but my legs were so weak that I fell to the ground.

At that moment I pushed myself up against the bed and I cried and prayed. The prayer was, Oh God, please have mercy. I can't keep doing this, so either bring me home or teach me how to live.

An hour later, a girlfriend who hadn't talked to me in about two years, called me out of the blue. She turned me on to a coach who then changed my life.

Michelle Chalfant is a life coach and therapist. Her clients hire her to enable them to find their authentic selves through a holistic approach of blending alternative healing techniques with traditional counseling. Michelle is creator and host of the podcast, The Adult Chair, which is now in its third year of production. The Adult Chair shares impactful messages about codependency, self-love, depression, getting unstuck, removing masks, and how our understanding of ourselves impacts the most important relationships in our lives.

Contact Info

Website: www.TheAdultChair.com

YouTube Channel: Michelle Chalfant

Podcast: The Adult Chair

Facebook: The Adult Chair (Closed Group) You can also join this on the website.

Most Influential Person

John Kabat-Zinn

Effect on Emotions

Mindfulness has helped me with my emotions by really getting in touch with what's going on inside of me. I know now to slow down and tune in.

Thoughts on Breathing

Oh yes. I mean, taking a slow, deep breath just brings me back into present. It brings me back into my body so I know what I'm feeling again. I know where I am. I know what's going on around me. Breath has been huge.

Suggested Resources

Book: Wherever You Go, There You Are by John Kabat-Zinn

App: Insight Timer

App: Heart Math

Bullying Story

I was bullied. I never even became aware of it until today. I really didn't. I think what happened ... I witnessed my mom and my uncle for many years.

When I was a little girl, in third or fourth grade, I went to a Catholic school. We had the little skirts and I'd get on the bus and this boy would flip my skirt up every day. I'd be so horrified and embarrassed. And I'd say, 'stop lifting my skirt' and he'd make fun of me.

Then he started putting his clarinet grease in my hair. I remember coming home, at 9 or 10 years old, and feeling defeated and sad and there's no hope and no one's helping me.

I had friends at school, but there was this one boy who used to do this do me every day. I remember just feeling awful and I remember coming home one day and looking at the steak knives and thinking, maybe I should just kill myself because I can't handle this.

I remember thinking that thought and thinking, no, I'm not going to do that. I think of the children of today. Is that their only option? That's a whole other story. I'm still here, so I kept going to school.

Then I started bullying a little girl on the bus who was really, really, quiet. She didn't say anything, she whispered when she spoke, she was so quiet.

I would not have called it bullying until today, honestly. I would sit next to her on the bus and I'd say, why aren't you louder, what's wrong with you? Why are you so quiet? Talk louder. Nobody likes you.

I think I was doing that as a reaction to what this kid was doing to me. And to what my uncle was doing to my mom. It was like a domino effect. Because of your show (Mindfulness Mode) I realized I was bullied and I bullied.

The bullying with this boy went on for the whole school year and I remember telling my mom and my dad, it's OK. We sweep everything under the carpet. I think it ended at the end of that year and I stopped bullying that girl. I ended up switching school in sixth grade so it was over.

I bumped into him years later and I said, what was that about? Why did you put clarinet grease in my hair? And he started laughing and he said, I had a crush on you. I said, well it didn't feel that way, it was not nice. And he said, well, I really liked you and wanted your attention.

Quotes From The Interview

Anxiety is when the body is taking those emotions and bringing them tight inside the body. It's trying to keep them contained like a pressure cooker. So what I do is I slowly take the lid off the pressure cooker. - Michelle Chalfant

We have a cast of thousands inside of us. - Michelle Chalfant

I help you connect with your inner child. - Michelle Chalfant

Anxiety is not an emotion; it's a physical response to unfelt feelings. - Michelle Chalfant

Th

Diane A. Curran has been immersed in marketing for a number of years. At one point, she worked on projects for major national direct marketing clients. Later, she became a solopreneur, consulting one-to-one and began Wow Whispering which she has been doing ever since. Diane's commitment to the arts has been equally passionate, making over 4,000 presentations between business and the creative arts, ranging from boardrooms to museums, and even mystical mountaintops in Peru. Diane wrote her biz book trilogy, The Marketing Deck, to give today’s impatient mindset instant access to creative ideas and intuition with custom card games.

Contact Info

Website: www.TheMarketingDeal.com

Social Media: @TheMarketingDeal

Twitter: @wowDianeACurran

Most Influential Person

My sixth grade teacher. She brought her love of art to everyone in the class, no matter what their talents were. She was present and giving to everyone.

[show-notes-influence]

Effect on Emotions

Mindfulness has allowed me to pull myself up when I'm feeling the pressure of the stress of a deadline.

You say, you know what Diane, here is the deadline and here's how far you are. Let's see what you can get done and not be anxious about it because that just gets in the way of actually accomplishing anything so my emotions are willing to be as wild and crazy as anybody's.

But I realize they're [my emotions are] only one part, so they can coexist with something else that I can't even define. I think you've got the word for it - mindfulness.

Thoughts on Breathing

I have had to learn to re-breathe because apparently I have a little hitch in my breathing.

My various wellness coaches have taught me some breathing techniques. I've learned to slow down and breathe through my diaphragm and just literally become present to the physicallity of breathing.

Once I become present to how physical a process it is, it just really evens me out and brings me present and kind of calms down my emotions.

Suggested Resources

Book: Heal Your Body by Louise Hay

App: A Time tracking App at www.GetHarvest.com

Bullying Story

My experience was a teacher bullying me as a kid, which you would never expect.

I have teachers who are just like the light of my life and then I have a second story of kids bullying a teacher.

The first experience I had was in the fifth grade. I had a music teacher; I was playing the cello. I had studied it for one year and had been invited into a quartet.

We played a concert and it went over really well. I was surprised at how wonderful an experience that was and this teacher, after the concert was over, came to my fifth grade classroom and took me out of my class.

He brought me into the hallway and stood there with his arms folded and said, Diane, I want to tell you something important. I know that you are studying piano in addition to studying the cello. Any good muscian has to choose one and they cannot do two instruments because it doesn't work and you have to choose. He was very stern.

I said what are you saying and he said, I want you to choose between the cello and the piano. I looked at him and said, are you telling me I have to do that right now? He said, yes. What I said was, in that case, I choose the piano.

He turned on his heel and stomped down the corridor and left me there in this darkened hallway and that was the end of my cello career. He forced the choice; he wanted that much control and as you know, bullying involves manipulation and control and power plays and cowardice.

If he had been mindful, he might have said, that is not what I was expecting you to say and let's see if we can work something out.

Anything could have been better than that.

Mary Shores is the founder and CEO of a multi-million dollar business, one of the most unique collection agencies in the country. Recognized as a leader of innovative thought, Mary has spent over a decade teaching businesses and individuals how to inspire others, create new ways of thinking, identify and achieve their goals, and take action to create truly meaningful results. She is the revolutionary founder of the groundbreaking Conscious Communications system, which produces positive results through positive action. Mary travels across the nation giving lectures and teaching courses, and has been featured on local and national radio and television shows, podcasts, and blogs.

Contact Info

Website: www.MaryShores.com

Book: Conscious Communications: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Harnessing the Power of Your Words to Change Your Mind, Your Choices, and Your Life by Mary Shores

Free Gift: Ignite Your Dreams workbook: http://maryshores.com/iyd-workbook

Twitter: Twitter.com/mary_shores

Facebook: Facebook.com/shoresmary

Instagram: Instagram.com/mary_shores

Youtube: Youtube.com/maryshores

Most Influential Person

Louis Hay (Author and Publisher)

Effect on Emotions

I think it [mindfulness] really connects me to my emotions and it allows me to see especially my triggers.

Thoughts on Breathing

Well I've been on a breathing retreat and I can tell you that breathing has been very powerful.

One tidbit I'll share is after I went to a breathing retreat once, the dreams I started having were just out of this world.

So definitely supplying oxygen to your brain is beneficial.

Suggested Resources

Book: The Presence Process: A Journey into Present Moment Awareness by Michael Brown

App: Binaural Beats App

Clay Stapleford is a full-time professional artist, living in Atlanta, Georgia. He is also a successful actor, having been featured in multiple Hollywood productions including Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues and Drop Dead Diva. As an aartist, he spends his time painting primarily using acrylic on canvas. Clay has a journalism degree from the University of North Carolina and is also an avid meditator.

Contact Info

Website: www.ClayStapleford.com

Instagram: @ClayStapleford

Most Influential Person

Eckhart Tolle

Effect on Emotions

[Mindfulness has made a difference by] learning to experience my emotions without judgment and just allowing them to be what they are and learning to be educated by my emotions too. Then learning the difference between my feelings and my emotions and how when I have learned to experience my emotions without judgment, I can then learn better how to follow my feelings in a way that serves me.

Thoughts on Breathing

I often just count my breath. I mean whether I'm on a walk or a run, when I'm painting, when I'm meditating.

That's the first place I go to to get in ... if I feel I'm scattered in some way. It's the first exercise I jump to to bring myself into the moment, is to count my breath.

I've done some breathing meditation, some guided breathing meditations where some pretty intense stuff has happened which is kind of cool.

There was this one intense one where there was an hour long breathing meditation and this I had never experienced before. Halfway through it, my body began to seize up from my toes upward.

Literally, it was almost like in The Matrix where he takes the pill and you can see in his body where he began to go to that other realm and it would kind of take over.

It was almost like I was going paralyzed but I could still feel but I couldn't move. They called it lobster hand. I literally seized up through this breathing meditation.

I later found out it was just pent up energy that had never had anywhere to go. So it took about 15 or 20 minutes for all feeling and movement to come back after this breathing meditation.

When it happened, it was like, what in the world is going on right now. It was so intense. Lying there and not being able to move. It wasn't a scary thing; it didn't produce fear, it produced wonder.

Suggested Resources

Book: The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

App: Youtube Guided Meditations or Music

Bullying Story

Especially in today's discussion about ... a lot of things come to mind but ... I bartended for many years as well prior to working in sales.

As an actor in LA and then here in Atlanta ... with all the stuff going on today there'd be times where I'd see ... I have a pretty thick skin and people don't often offend me very much. It takes a lot to get under my skin but if I see other people being harassed it will kind of rile me up a little bit.

Working in the restaurant business and the bars, a lot of times women can be taken advantage of or harassed in many ways.

I remember one time specifically where one of our waitresses was being harassed across the bar and spoken to in a very poor manner - sexually explicit and demeaning and I literally was aghast at it and I lost my mindfulness and I took him aside and kicked him out.

I think what mindfulness allows us the opportunity to do is to slow things down and to understand how we are affected and affecting others and had this particular guy just took a moment to just slow down and just think what he was saying.

I think if you slow somebody like that down they would be contrite and somewhat understand. It's unfortunate.

Anytime that folks bully or try to lure their power over someone, it's the exact opposite of mindfulness.

Dr. Anastasia Chopelas’ unusual combination of scientific curiosity and heritage as a 4th generation healer makes her uniquely qualified to understand the subtle energies that promote or deteriorate health, success and relationships. She retired from a 40 year career as a physicist and researcher studying quantum and vibrational physics to become The Scientific Healer. Her processes are responsible for hundreds of medical miracles, some of which are outlined in her book, The Diamond Healing Method. Dr. Anastasia’s scientific background enables her to explain energy healing in simple practical terms, to make everyday miracles believable.

Contact Info

Website: www.ScientificHealer.com

Free Gift: 11 Minute Wake Up Your Brain Audio

Free Gift: 5 Day Success Challenge

Podcast: www.ScientificHealer.com/radio/

Book: The Diamond Healing Method: Get Healthy No Matter What Your Doctor Says by Anastasia Chopelas

Most Influential Person

My Sunday School Teacher: When I was in Sunday School I had a really awesome teacher who, when she talked, I used to be completely fascinated. She had this really peaceful demeanour about her and she was very deeply devout. Just by that connection with her, we were friends for 40 years. She really influenced me from a very young age.

Effect on Emotions

 I don't have explosive emotions, like I know what I'm feeling.

When I get angry I can feel it but I don't explode out. I start thinking, what is it about them that's making me angry because it's usually about me so I know that I usually turn it back in and ask myself what am I doing that is making me angry because that person is doing it.

I look at it like that person is showing a mirror to me.

Thoughts on Breathing

I take deep breaths every day because it brings me into the moment.

So many of us are stuck and this used to be me sometimes when it was bad: stuck about worrying or shame and guilt of the past and worrying about the future.

When you start breathing deeply, at least when I do, I breathe deeply all the way down into my belly.

I use my belly and I imagine the air is going all the way down into my toes. As soon as I get into that breathing, it brings me right into the moment and I stop.

It brings me away from the past and away from the future and into the now. Then I ask myself, how am I doing right now and that really settles everything down.

Suggested Resources

Book: The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav

Book: The Road Less Traveled, Timeless Edition: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth by M. Scott Peck

Book: The Diamond Healing Method: Get Healthy No Matter What Your Doctor Says by Anastasia Chopelas

App: Pomodoro App for your computer or phone

Majeed Mogharreban is a professional speaker, author and entrepreneur. After starting five businesses before he turned 21, Majeed now helps companies succeed faster with the entrepreneurial mindset. He is known for being an energizing keynote speaker who empowers audiences to take action. His unique perspective on business leadership has taken him across the globe; guiding organizations such as World Wildlife Fund, Toyota, Vanguard, and Loblaw Inc. to achieve more, faster. His story-filled talks demonstrate how to use an enthusiastic start-up spirit to improve the working climate in the corporate world.

Contact Info

Website: MajeedM.com

Facebook: Majeed.Magharreban

Twitter: @MajeedM

Linked In: MajeedMagharreban

Instagram: @Majeed411

Most Influential Person

My wife. She is a model of blissful presence; contentment in the moment.

Effect on Emotions

Mindfulness has allowed me to use my emotions as information signals and data by being curious and present.

[It takes me to the place of 'oh, I'm experiencing anger right now', instead of having the instinctive reaction of, "I'm angry, I'm going to go break some dishes", or "I'm going to go yell at somebody".

Just that split second realization of, "Oh, I'm experiencing an emotion, this is information for me. What should I do with it?" [This] versus allowing my emotions to control my body.

I think mindfulness gives me that power.

Thoughts on Breathing

I learned this thing about breathing. It's amazing.

When we're being hunted by a predator, as cavemen, we drop our breathing really shallow so we can't be heard and so we can hear better.

When we're totally cool and relaxed and the birds are chirping and the water's going by breathe deeply.

So when we breathe deeply, we telling our body there's no predator there and I believe that's the fastest and easiest and cheapest way to get instantly mindful.

Take a deep breath and you're already there.

Suggested Resources

Book: The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

App: Calm

Bullying Story

I don't think that I was bullied when I was a kid. I had a pretty strong mindset; a pretty strong attitude.

I think what is really more of a present feeling in my childhood and now, is the pressure to be normal; the pressure to be like everybody else.

When you're an outlier; a high performer, you are by nature different than most people and you make other people uncomfortable.

So what I was able to do successfully was find other highly driven people so that I was normal amongst my peers.

But what I found I received some criticism for was ambition and drive and being teased for being so focused on accomplishment and not doing what I thought the cool kids were doing.

They were skipping class, doing drugs, being bullies, and being jocks, and I was kind of envious of their coolness while I was studying and getting good grades.

What I've always felt, that the pressure is to try to be normal, and what I found the solution is, to make my normal high performance. I do feel normal amongst my tribe.