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Imagine an alien lands on Earth, and you're given 30 days to show it what life is all about.
Your mission? Make it fall in love with being alive.
What people would you introduce it to? What places would you visit? What music, movies, experiences, and stories would you share?
Now imagine the opposite. You have 30 days to convince that same alien that Earth is a terrible place, filled with suffering, hatred, and fear.
Here's the fascinating part: You wouldn't have to lie in either scenario.
In this episode of Mindset Is Art, CJ Leedy explores a powerful thought experiment about perception, attention, and the extraordinary influence we have over our experience of reality.
We live in a world overflowing with beauty, love, creativity, and opportunity. But it's also filled with conflict, suffering, and uncertainty. The reality we experience depends, in part, on which aspects of that world we consistently choose to engage with.
Drawing inspiration from Stoic philosophy, Marcus Aurelius, and Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, CJ challenges us to consider a simple but transformative idea:
What if you treated your own mind like an alien visiting Earth, and made it your mission to show it the most beautiful parts of being alive?
From the media you consume to the people you surround yourself with, every experience helps shape your beliefs about the world.
This isn't about ignoring life's difficulties or pretending everything is perfect. It's about intentionally curating the beautiful truths that already exist.
Because ultimately, you are both the guide and the visitor in this extraordinary experience called life.
💡 Key Takeaways
🛠️ Tool of the Day: The Inner Alien Experiment
For the next 24 hours, imagine your mind is an alien that has just arrived on Earth.
You're its personal guide, and your only mission is to give it the most beautiful, inspiring, meaningful experience possible.
You can't change everything about the world, but you can be intentional about what you expose your mind to.
Here's your challenge:
At the end of the day, ask yourself:
If I were visiting Earth for the first time, what would I think about life based on everything I experienced today?
Try this for a day. Then a week. Maybe even an entire month.
Notice how intentionally directing your attention begins to influence your experience.
Your mission: Give your inner alien a five-star experience of life.
It is a beautiful time to be alive.
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What does a Japanese tea ceremony, a samurai preparing for battle, and your morning cup of coffee have to do with success, happiness, and living a better life?
More than you might think.
In this episode of Mindset Is Art, CJ Leedy takes us to Kyoto, Japan, where a private tea ceremony with the Original Medicine team revealed a surprisingly powerful lesson about the art of being present.
Imagine a samurai preparing for battle. With his life potentially on the line, he sits quietly, preparing a bowl of matcha tea. Rather than worrying about the future or replaying the past, he gives his full attention to the experience unfolding in front of him.
Why would a warrior practice something so peaceful before entering chaos?
Because presence is power.
Drawing from Japanese tea traditions, Zen philosophy, and the Taoist concept of wu wei (effortless action), CJ explores how learning to fully inhabit the present moment can transform the way we approach business, relationships, performance, and everyday life.
The lesson is simple but profound: Stop fighting the moment. Start entering it.
You don't need to be a samurai, visit a Japanese temple, or spend hours meditating to experience the benefits of presence. Sometimes, the most powerful mindset training begins with something as ordinary as your morning coffee.
Here is the link to our YouTube Video showing the Tea Ceremony:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv7ULIiB9Do&t=305s
💡 Key Takeaways
🛠️ Tool of the Day: Create Your Own Tea Ceremony
You don't need matcha, a bamboo whisk, or a Japanese tea room to practice presence.
Choose one ordinary activity—making coffee, preparing lunch, walking, stretching, or taking a shower—and transform it into a short mindfulness ritual.
For just 2–5 minutes, give that experience your complete attention.
The more you practice presence during ordinary moments, the more accessible that skill can become during the moments that matter most.
Remember: You don't need to change what you're doing to change how you're experiencing it.
🧘 Quote to Reflect On
"Stop fighting the moment. Just enter it." — CJ Ledy🔗 Connect with CJ
Explore mindset coaching, personal development resources, and CJ's book Tune Your Mind, available on Amazon.
Explore Original Medicine
Watch our private Japanese tea ceremony experience in Kyoto and follow our journey exploring traditional healing practices and ancient wisdom from around the world.
YouTube: Original Medicine
If you enjoyed this episode, leave a rating, write a review, or share it with someone who could benefit from a little more presence in their life.
It is a beautiful time to be alive.
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If you knew you couldn't fail, how would you really choose to spend your life?
Over a decade ago, a simple question from philosopher Alan Watts changed the direction of my life. Today, I'm finally living the answer.
In this episode of Mindset Is Art, I'm back after a long break with some exciting life updates.
From studying Zen Buddhism with monks in Japan to exploring ancient healing traditions in Vietnam, Bali, and Costa Rica, my wife, Dr. Olivia Grace, and I have spent the past year bringing a shared dream to life through our documentary project, Original Medicine.
But this episode isn't really about my travels. It's about the power of getting clear on what you truly want from life—and having the courage to pursue it.
I share how asking one question helped shape my career, led me to my wife, and eventually brought together a team of people who share our mission.
Sometimes the most important thing you can do isn't to work harder or achieve more. It's to get clear on what makes you feel most alive.
Because when you start pursuing what genuinely matters to you, you might be surprised by the people, opportunities, and experiences that begin to unfold.
💡 Key Takeaways
🛠️ Tool of the Day: The Alan Watts Question
Take a moment to remove the limitations you've placed on your future.
Imagine money is no object. You cannot fail. Nobody is judging you, and there are no expectations about what your life should look like.
Now ask yourself:
"What would I do if I could do anything? How would I really enjoy spending my life?"
Don't rush to find a practical answer. Don't immediately think about how much it would cost, whether you're qualified, or what other people might think.
Just explore what genuinely excites you.
Write down your answer, even if it seems unrealistic today.
Then consider: What's one small step I could take toward making this dream a reality?
You don't need to know exactly how everything will unfold. Sometimes simply identifying what you truly want is enough to change the direction of your life.
🧘 Quote to Reflect On
"What do you desire? What makes you itch? How would you really enjoy spending your life?" — Alan Watts🔗 Connect with CJ
Mindset Coaching & Personal Development
Free Giveaways:
Follow Our Journey — Original Medicine
Join my wife, Dr. Olivia Grace, and me as we travel the world exploring ancient healing traditions, indigenous wisdom, and different cultural approaches to health and well-being.
https://www.originalmedicine.com/
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theoriginalmedicine
If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a rating, write a review, or share it with someone who might benefit from hearing it.
It is a beautiful time to be alive.
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What if your state of mind was not something that happened to you, but something you could consciously choose?
In this episode of Mindset Is Art, CJ explores one of the most liberating mindset principles: you may not be able to control the weather, the market, your partner’s mood, or the circumstances around you, but you can learn to choose your internal state.
Building from the core idea in Tune Your Mind — “How you show up mentally matters” — this episode breaks down a practical protocol for shifting out of reactive emotional patterns and into a more intentional, optimal state of mind.
This is not just a pep talk. It is a repeatable mindset practice you can use before a meeting, workout, conversation, creative session, performance, or any moment where how you show up matters.
In This Episode
CJ walks through:
The Core Question
The central tool from this episode is simple:
What is the optimal state of mind for what I’m doing right now?
That one question creates space between stimulus and response. It allows you to pause, assess, and intentionally move toward the emotional state that best serves the moment.
The Six-Step State Shift Protocol
Mindset Tool of the Day
For the next seven days, pause once per day and ask:
What is the optimal state of mind for what I’m doing right now?
Then take a moment to feel that state in your body, visualize yourself acting from it, and carry that energy into the next action.
With repetition, this becomes easier. Your mind and body begin to recognize the state, reproduce it, and access it more naturally.
Key Takeaways
Your emotional state is not fixed. It is trainable.
Your thoughts, body, breath, posture, language, and visualization all influence the state you live from.
The better your state, the better your performance — but even more importantly, the better your experience of life.
The deeper question is not just, “How do I perform better?”
It is:
How do I want to feel while I live my life?
Mentioned In This Episode
Call to Action
If this episode was useful, leave a rating or review, share it with someone who would benefit from it, and learn more about CJ’s coaching, book, and mindset tools at:
cjledy.com
It is a beautiful time to be alive.
Thanks for going to MIA with me today.
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Do you feel like you are waiting for success to come to you?
This episode reframes success as a contact sport—you don’t get picked, you step up. With stories from coaching calls, airport escalators, and the psychology of “back-of-the-line” thinking, CJ shows you how to trade passive patience for bold motion, clarity, and momentum.
💡 Key Takeaways
🛠️ Tool of the Day: Step-Out-of-Line Audit
🧠 Prompt to Journal
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Is your mindset in level 1, 2 or 3?
The Three Levels of Evolution: From Clarity to Mastery
In this episode of Mindset Is Art, CJ walks you through the three levels of evolution that shape every area of life — from finding direction, to building discipline, to mastering fulfillment. Whether you’re stuck in uncertainty or already building momentum, this framework helps you locate exactly where you are and what tools you need to move forward.
Through relatable analogies and coaching wisdom, CJ explains how to Marry Your Goal, Tune Your Mind, and Optimize Your Habits — the complete path from confusion to flow.
If you’ve ever asked “Why do I keep getting stuck?” or “What’s next for me?”, this episode is your roadmap.
💡 Key Takeaways
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What frames are you viewing the world through?
Can you modify your view of important categories of your life to enhance your experience of it all?
You’ll learn how to question the lenses you’ve inherited — the “productivity frame,” the “economic frame,” and the “comparison frame” — and how to replace them with perspectives that foster peace, fulfillment, and joy.
💡 Key Takeaways
🛠️ Tool of the Day: The Instagram Filter
Imagine each major area of your life — your relationship, your work, your health — as a photo. Now imagine being able to apply a filter that highlights its beauty, gratitude, and purpose. You can’t always change the picture, but you can change the way you see it. Practice shifting one frame today.
🧘 Quote to Reflect On
“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” – Anaïs NinResources:
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Do you consider yourself to be a leader?
Today’s episode reframes leadership as a daily personal practice—not just a job title. CJ shares how scaling from a solo operator to managing ~14 people changed his mindset, and breaks down three principles to lead both others and yourself: Inspire, Delegate, and Give Feedback.
Key takeaways
Tool of the Day — The Weekly Self-Scorecard (4-week challenge)
Quotes referenced
Try this today
00:26 The Essence of Personal Leadership
01:14 Three Essential Leadership Principles
03:31 Principle 1: Inspire with Vision and Energy
05:41 Principle 2: Delegate with Clarity and Strategy
08:27 Principle 3: The Power of Feedback
11:35 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
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Do you wish your mindset could change overnight?
The truth is—lasting transformation doesn’t happen instantly. Just like building muscle in the gym, mental strength takes time, repetition, and consistent effort. And that’s actually a good thing.
Core Message:
Quick breakthroughs can spark change, but real mindset growth is built slowly—through daily habits, repeated thoughts, and intentional “mental reps.” Once developed, that strength becomes your foundation and is hard to take away.
Concepts Covered:
Tool of the Day:
For the next 3 days, track your “mental diet.” Each evening, ask:
Key Takeaway:
Your mind is trainable. It may start out weak, but with steady reps, it becomes resilient, confident, and unshakable. Once you’ve built it, you get to live with that strength for life.
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Has life been feeling like a mission or a test? It’s easy to forget the simple rhythm of being.
Core Message:
Life isn’t about reaching a finish line—it’s about engaging in the dance. Through breath and presence, we can release tension, reframe purpose, and reconnect with the joy of simply being alive.
Guided Meditation Breakdown:
Tool of the Day:
For the next 3 days, pause at the end of each evening and ask yourself:
Key Takeaway:
The meaning of life may not be about accomplishing more—it’s about experiencing more. Through breath, rhythm, and presence, you return to the dance of life itself.
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From the publisher's feed
CJ Ledy is a mindset coach, best selling author, and keynote speaker who mixes science, stories, and inspiration to enhance your four pillars (health, wealth, love, and fulfillment).
MIA is an…