The Brian Brister Experience

I took the time to write a letter to a previous version of myself-a version that had a lot of great friends and family and church and was living in his dream city, but still felt lost and unhappy and unsure that he would ever find love. I wanted to take the time to let him know that he has just no clue how good things are about to get.

There will still be a lot of heartache and hard times in the following years, but he's gonna make some really good choices and see some really incredible things happen in his world, most, if not all, because he finally made the decision to get healthy.

This is that letter.

I encourage you to write a letter to a previous version of yourself and give them hope that better times are coming.

June 23, 2021 I arrived in Nashville, having moved from Los Angeles with 10 days notice after God told me to. 

I take the time today, June 23, 2022 to reflect on this past year-the good, the bad and the ugly. 

I share things here that I haven't even shared on social media and I've only shared with one or two close friends in the moment.

Moving to Nashville hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows and it hasn't looked like I wanted it to most days, but I'm trusting that God knows better than I do and that as long as I continue to listen and obey, it will all work out.

Happy One Year, Nashville! I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time.

This episode is my first ever live podcast interview with my friend Raisa Zhovklaya from Syracuse, NY. We went live on Facebook to talk about what it looked like being raised as an immigrant in America (She and her family moved from Ukraine in 1991), failing nursing school but continuing until she received her degree, nursing through a pandemic and her own journey with physical, mental and emotional health.

It was an amazing conversation and I felt like we could have kept going for another hour or two. 

If you want to follow Raisa on social media, I'll put links to her Facebook and instagram below:

https://www.facebook.com/raisa.zhovklaya

https://instagram.com/_raerae_91?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to immediately think of all the things that went wrong in your day, but when someone asks you what went well, it's a little harder to come up with? Why is it also so much easier to focus on the negative things that are said or done than the positive ones? You can receive a hundred great reviews, but if one person has a negative thing to say, that's the one you remember; that's the one you focus on?

I'm here today to encourage you to look for the good, to see the positive, to put your reticular activating system to work and begin to see the things done well everywhere!

If we're being completely honest, sometimes people are just jerks and it sucks to continue to show love.  And then get hurt over and over again, because the reality is that people are going to do things that we don't agree with. So, why do we keep showing love when other people suck? 

My first ever live podcast recording. 

I went live on Facebook to talk about this while recording this episode.

In this episode, I update you on some health stuff I've been dealing with and how the power of prayer still works. I also let you know where I currently am physically and emotionally, and talk you through what I'm going to do to get back to my best.

I'm an overpacker. It's who I am; and I'm done apologizing for it. People have often made jokes or tried to make me feel bad about overpacking. I like my stuff. I like having it all with me. And I have no idea what I want to wear next Tuesday afternoon. Heck, I don't even know what I want to wear to dinner tomorrow evening. So, I'm taking my favorite things and I'll figure it out when I get there. 

Are you an overpacker? Or do you take everything you need for a week in a backpack? Sound out on my social media. Let me know.

Episode 50!!! Can't believe we made it here! Such a wild moment!!!
Thank you guys for being along for the journey, for liking and subscribing and for sharing with your friends and family!

"Congruency is doing with your body what you think with your mind." My friend Sam Prestenbach of The Freedom Parents made this statement this weekend at our event in Phoenix and I haven't stopped thinking about it since then. Everything single thing that we believe whether it's true or not determines our next step. 

There may be times in our lives that we are living incongruently with our goals or what we tell others to do, but we are always 100% living in congruency with what we believe.

Change your thoughts. Change your habits. Change your life.

Check out Sam and her husband Harold at @thefreedomparents on Instagram.

It is estimated that the average adult makes about 35,000 remotely conscious decisions each day. Every choice that you make either pushes you closer to your goals or delays you from reaching them. When it comes to life, you are in control of it. When it comes to your future, you get to choose it. When you have a really, really clear vision of what your goals are, then every time that you're presented with an opportunity to make a choice, you can ask yourself "Does this choice support my goals or not?"

You have a lot of opportunities in your day to be unkind. To tell people what you really think about the way they treated you or the that you don't like their outfit or that you think they're overweight or you don't believe their dreams are possible or to respond negatively to something they said or did to you. Today, I'm going to challenge you to do the opposite. What would happen if you were just kind instead. Instead of being rude and blowing up and hurting another human, why not show them love? Show them grace? Show them peace. In a world where you can be anything, be kind.