The Strong Within Affirmation Podcast

September 30th- #273 Synergy Saturday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

My Smile is Infectious

There have been many studies on what happens when we smile. Before I get into smiles let me talk about posture and body movements. Amy Cuddy did a Ted talk on the effects of posture and what happens in our bodies. And she found when we were in something called power poses our testosterone would increase (and testosterone is thought as the hormone of confidence) and our cortisol levels would lower (and cortisol is also called the stress hormone). So by being in these better postures our testosterone would rise which is good, and our cortisol levels would lower which is good as well.

We know that changing our thinking can change the chemistry in our bodies and in Dr. Cuddy’s study she was able to prove that our posture also can physically change the chemicals in our bodies. Which brings me to think if our posture can change the physical chemistry in our bodies and make us feel less stressed and more confident…wouldn’t smiles do that as well?  Let me do a test on you… pay close attention to your facial expressions and take notice of what it feels like right now…

Ok, are you mindful about your body right now??? Did you notice whether your mouth was drooping in a frown, straight or slightly curved up…were your forehead, eyes, cheeks, neck or any other part of your body tensed…does anything feel nice and relaxed? That’s the funny thing about our bodies we usually aren’t aware of what’s happening until we have some context to it.

Ok after you have taken notice of your body feelings and postures I want you to think about something that you truly love, and picture what that is in your head right now…

What happened to your face, what were you feeling in your body, what thoughts and feelings did you have associated with that thought?

Ok let’s try this again…reset your body and mind… I want you to think about a slew of the cutest puppies you’ve ever seen running, chasing, and playing with each other as you are positioned directly under the prettiest rainbow you’ve ever seen while sitting upon your own personal unicorn.

Ok maybe that was the most ridiculous thing I could think of… but did it make you smile?  What happened? How were you feeling?  Did you feel lighter, did your stress levels seem to lower?

That’s the interesting thing about smiles, it’s been shown that even when we fake a smile we reduce our stress levels and find ourselves happier… so even if you didn’t laugh…at least fake a smile for me…for my sake….

When we smile we create a reward system for our brain. We are smiling when something happens that makes us happy, that makes us laugh, that makes us feel good. So when we smile the physical signal is being sent to our brain that something great just happened. And what the brain does is flood your body with those good feeling hormones and endorphins to reward you for doing that action that it’s linked with great things.

A study from Penn State University discovered that people who smile more appear to be more likable, courteous, and competent. And we have something in us called mirror neurons…things that will mimic what other people do (you know… how we yawn when someone else does, or look at our watch when someone else does, or even how we may cross our legs to mirror a position as someone across from us that we’re talking to is doing)…so when we smile other people can’t help but want to smile back…as long as it looks genuine and not fake. And so if more people smile a chain reaction happens where people begin to feel better.

But you may ask, if we have the tendency to mimic what other people can be doing…what if people are frowning? Well a study done by Uppsala University in Sweden discovered that frowning when looking at a person who is smiling can be achieved…but it’s very hard to continue frowning.

When we think happy thoughts, our body will understand that emotion and create actions that happen when we feel happy… thus smiling for example. So it’s a two way communication street with the body and brain through something called neuronal pathways…our body will tell the brain we’re happy by doing things such as smiling or feeling lighter and less stressed in our muscles, and our brain will communicate back flooding us with endorphins and happiness hormones such as testosterone, dopamine and serotonin or telling our body to smile or do things that it associates with happiness postures or movements. That’s why it is pertinent to continually keep working to find better thoughts to be happy about, not just waiting for something good to happen to you. Or it’s pertinent to mimic smiling or postures that make us feel happier and more confident as they both help us to become happier when we don’t necessarily feel so. We control our happiness not the other way around.

So if you’re having trouble thinking happy thoughts, then practice the physical postures that happen when you feel confident and happy. Or vice versa

Let’s try a physical activity right now… grab a pencil or pen.  Sit up or stand up straight. Elongate your spine. Think about if there was a string from the top of your head to your butt and you place your hand above your head like you are a marionette puppet with all those strings… pull your hand up as you pull on that invisible string like a puppeteer would to have yourself elongate your spine as you sit up or stand up straight.

Have your head looking straight ahead—don’t droop your head, keep your eyes focused forward—not looking up or down but straight ahead at eye level, pull your shoulders down and back and open your chest as you puff it out a bit. Relax your forehead, your cheeks, your lips, your neck and feel all the tension ease out of your body… and now smile just a little bit, curl your lips up slightly…

• Notice how your body feels
• Notice what happens to your mind and what you’re thinking about…

Ok smile a little bigger now…don’t open your mouth just yet, but sit there for a moment smiling bigger… and feel how that feels. See if there are any changes.

Ok, now grab that pen or pencil I asked you to get at the beginning of this exercise and put it inbetween your teeth as both corners of your mouth touch the pen or pencil as you bite down on it softly.

Ok…now smile big so that your lips don’t touch any of the pencil anymore and hold that smile for 1 minute… I’m going to play some music for you now to know when a minute has passed (play music). In the studies I’ve read they had people doing it for two minutes…but I want you to try it for at least one minute.

Ok, you can now take out the pen or pencil. How did it feel, how does your body feel right now, how does your mind feel? What thoughts are in your mind right now besides a judgement on the experiment and how weird it felt to be smiling with a pen or pencil in your mouth?

An article from Psychological Science referenced how “when we smile during brief periods of stress we actually help our stress levels, regardless of whether we feel happy or not.”

So when we smile we feel better, we reward our brain which then rewards our body, we actually help other people to smile when we smile, and the best part about smiling besides feeling great of course is that you look more attractive when you smile. So smile more purposefully, even if you may not feel like it...because it will change the situation from a stressed one…to one that feels better. And the more you do that, then the more you’ll have found the secret to happiness…being happy for no reason at all…and being happy for every reason what so ever. Because in every moment happiness is a choice. 

How will you choose to be in this moment? I hope happy, and if you’re having trouble finding the thoughts to feel good… or if thoughts about the cutest playing puppies you’ve ever seen while under your rainbow on your own personal flying unicorn don’t seem to make you happy either …then just smile… I know it can do wonders for you :-D

Today’s Personal Commitment:
Do the pencil smile activity today, especially if you didn’t do it. Make it a habit in your morning hygiene ritual to do that every morning for at least a minute for a week and see what happens to how you are feeling when starting your day.

My Smile is Infectious

Thanks for listening.  I'm sending great energy your way as we become Strong Within together,
Personal Development Life Coach-
Chris O'Hearn

Contact info- email: [email protected]  phone:865-219-3247

Music by:
- Zest by basematic (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
- I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee USA but available worldwide
-cdk - Sunday by cdk (c) copyright 2016 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)

September 29th-#272 Fantastic Friday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

Your truth is not mine…I live my truth through my actions

I’m not meant to be you, I’m not meant to do what you do, I’m not meant to go where you go… I’m meant to be me…and I’m meant to bring something different and beautiful in this world. It would be nice if our paths converge together again…or that we can travel side by side…but I’m willing to follow my truth where I decide it goes… even if it’s doing it alone.  Because I know I won’t ever be alone, and I won’t be lonely for long if I stay true to my path.

We live lives of fitting in at all costs. And so we give up on our dreams, and we give up on our purposes because we remember the sting of pain of not being wanted or loved…so we kill off dreams to never be disappointed again and to numb the pains in our lives to find a place where we can feel comfortable.

Yet, the places that we feel comfortable aren’t truly the places that make us feel safe…they are the surface level feeling of everything being ok at all costs no matter what…and thus we build ourselves upon lie after lie saying that we can’t have what we want, that we aren’t good enough to execute our dreams, and that we are meant to be put in places that kill our souls by taking us away from what makes us feel alive.

I get in this discussion quite frequently. I believe we all are extraordinary beings, and where other people will disagree with me… is that if everyone is extraordinary then that is the new ordinary. I hear what they’re saying, but I don’t agree. We all have the chance to be something more, to be a more integral part within this world. Not everyone will have the same mission, but just because someone is meant to save a million people and another will only save one…that doesn’t make them any less amazing. They just had different agendas and plans.

And I think when we don’t see everyone as having the chance to be extraordinary…then we make the world ordinary. I know not everyone will live up to our expectations…but what if you were to give people more benefit of the doubt, what if you were to believe in people more in themselves, and what if you were to believe more in yourself?

We would become more…people would become more…if we just changed our view from seeing the ordinary into seeing the possibility of the extraordinary in it all. Yes, not everyone would reach higher goals of course, but sometimes all someone needs is an encouraging word, a pat on the back, or the mere belief whether stated or not…that they matter.  And so let us live our truth, not someone else’s…but also let’s believe more in people so they can live theirs as well. Let’s support them, and tell them they can…because that will make all the difference from the others who were telling them that they can’t.

And when they reach higher goals because you believed in them, which helped them to believe in themselves…well, those naysayers might begin to think differently and stop doubting not only everyone else, but themselves as well too…and find ways to be more extraordinary in their life…and less critical of others.

Today’s Personal Commitment:
How can you believe a little more in yourself today? I believe when we believe more in ourselves, not in an arrogant way, then we are able to believe more in others. Because it’s not about competition anymore of worrying about others taking from us. It’s about living our truths, and when we do that…we want others to live theirs as well.  So today become aware of all the things you say or do that keep you from believing more in yourself. Find all the negative things that don’t align up with you believing that you can be more. See the things you think and do that hold you back.

You will fall many times when you do this…but that’s because you’re reaching for more. And that means you’re growing because you don’t get things perfect the first time, you learn from them and adjust. So learn from yourself and adjust…be more and speak your truth about the extraordinary amazing person you are and can be.

Your truth is not mine…I live my truth through my actions

Thanks for listening.  I'm sending great energy your way as we become Strong Within together,
Personal Development Life Coach-
Chris O'Hearn

Contact info- email: [email protected]  phone:865-219-3247

Music by:
- Zest by basematic (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
- I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee USA but available worldwide

September 28th - #271 Thoughtful Thursday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

When I do what’s right, the score will take care of itself

I did a presentation for a corporate client on creating a better quality of life, and I talked about Bill Walsh. He was one of the most dominant NFL coaches in the 1980’s as he coached the San Francisco 49ers.  The year before he came to the organization, they were the worst team in the league only winning two games in their whole season.

His first year at the 49er’s he planned on changing their principles by building a culture of success… NOT a culture of winning. There’s a big difference between success, and a focus on ONLY winning. He had 10 goals or standards of performance that he instilled in everyone within the organization. You see his goal wasn’t in winning it was about doing the details of success before ever getting out on the field for game day. He said when you took care of those details first then the score would take care of itself.

And so in his first year nothing changed. They actually had the same record as the previous season. Bill thought about quitting, but he stuck to his principles and decided to muster on, to not let his ego get the best of him thinking he had to have a winning season his first year…but the interesting thing was in his second year they won the Super Bowl.

The 49er’s didn’t win the Super Bowl the year after that though, they actually stopped doing what they did in their culture of success. They got arrogant, and figured they could go back to old habits because…they had made it…they were on top of the world, and thought they would just magically stay there.

What goals have you set for yourself that you were strong in, and then you reached a milestone and you went back to your old habits? Why do we think that when we reach a goal, that we can go back to old habits that kept us away from reaching our goal in the first place?

And so a few years later the 49er’s won the Super Bowl again and again and again. They came back to that culture of success, those standards of performance that allowed the score to take care of itself.

So what are you standards of success? What are your executions of excellence? What are your values towards victory? When we create a different culture, not one based on winning, but in doing the details right…then we create a culture of success. I believe we fail so much at winning our Super Bowls in life by focusing on the win rather than the details before even getting out on our playing fields of life.  When we take care of the details, then the score will take care of itself.

Today’s Personal Commitment:
What are your standards of performance? What are the little details and philosophies that you know you should utilize every day in your life…to be the highest performer you want to be…and are you using them? I spent the past year of creating a morning schedule to do every day of getting up earlier, meditating, walking outside at least a mile, and writing…And I have been successful for over 407 days consecutively. I did it, not because they were some silly goals that would get me somewhere and then I could stop…but I saw that they were things that would help me function better in my life, I saw that they would help keep me on track towards the creativity I wanted have to elevate my game to. 

So what are your standards of performance...what are the things that will help you function at an optimal level, and how can you incorporate those things into your everyday life. I’m challenging you to change your focus from “getting things” or “winning”…into focusing on the details. And when you do that, the score will take care of itself.

When I do what’s right, the score will take care of itself

Thanks for listening.  I'm sending great energy your way as we become Strong Within together,
Personal Development Life Coach-
Chris O'Hearn

Contact info- email: [email protected]  phone:865-219-3247

Music by:
- Zest by basematic (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
- I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee USA but available worldwide

September 27th - #270 Wisdom Wednesday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

What I want is not just a hope…it’s an action I take

We hope because we want things to be different, but things will never be different if we don’t believe. There’s a difference between hoping it will work out, and having a faith that it will work out. We wish for things to change and we tell different stories in the hopes that things might change, when we never feel the belief about the things we speak of. I talk with all my clients about conviction and belief in what they say when they affirm things in their life.

For if we don’t experience the emotion while we tell the different story…our brain and bodies experience conflict and can’t move forward as it feels a different truth from our belief. When you can’t feel the excitement, the belief, the knowing deep down in your bones then you will always be struggling to make it a reality.

You see most of us only live in the physical world. We only believe in what we can see…and so we find ways to never manifest what we want because it’s always the physical world “proving” to us and then dictating what we think is real. And when you ONLY live in the physical world you are powerless to create what you want. The physical world is always sending signals of how you can’t have something because it’s not already in your life…and so you’re never in control, and you’re never able to create something new because your mind believes for things to be created then they must already be here, or some hint of it to be here.

And that’s not how things are created to bring something better in your life, you have to reach into deeper realms such as the emotional, mental, and spiritual domain to see more than what is. And when you can see beyond what is, then you won’t feel like you are lying to yourself when you tell a new story of creation and hope.  So when you want to have something more or become something better…don’t just say the words on the surface level…feel them, know them, truly experience them in every fiber of your being…and when you can get closer to that way of experiencing, then you can begin becoming a collaborator with God, you become a partner with the Universe, and you become a truer version of yourself. You are untapped potential… don’t just state something and hope for it, experience every emotion and feeling in your body and know it…and then take action.

Today’s Personal Commitment:
Think about something you hope for and say out loud to yourself… that you are ready to have it. After you say it… feel how your body feels when you say it, listen to what your mind says after you say that, and see what emotions seem to arise after you say that hope.  Do you feel a little sense of hope and then feel uncertainty and fear right after, do you feel disbelief and heaviness, or do you feel energized for a period of time after you say it?  Become more aware of what your body and mind are doing when you say something you want.  When you can get the body, mind, and spirit in sync with what you state…you are starting a shift to make your actions much more powerful and having a better chance at making them a reality.

What I want is not just a hope…it’s an action I take

Thanks for listening.  I'm sending great energy your way as we become Strong Within together,
Personal Development Life Coach-
Chris O'Hearn

Contact info- email: [email protected]  phone:865-219-3247

Music by:
- Zest by basematic (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
- I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee USA but available worldwide

September 26th- #269 Tag Me Tuesday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

I See The Patterns Of Life Easily

My mentor Mike was really in to astrology, and being raised Catholic I didn’t buy much into it, as in the Christian realm it can be thought sacrilegious to have anything to do with things that try to predict the future. I think that’s one of the problems with religion—we come to judge things rather than understand them. And I don’t know the full story on Astrology, but my mentor Mike was one of the most conscious and aware people I knew. He understood the inner working of things in a different context than most people would.

He said Astrology wasn’t about telling the future per se, but rather about looking at patterns of the universe over time. And I think that’s why he was so aware, he was able to look beyond what was on the surface level and look at the deeper aspects of the patterns of things within the world. I know if we ever talked about a movie, a TV show, or a commercial he couldn’t remember what product it was they were selling or the happenings that were in the TV show or movie.  He would always talk about what was happening behind the story. What was being marketed, or what was trying to be expressed behind the surface of the story. And that’s what I think made him so very interesting to me is he opened my eyes and mind to another world.

They say when the student is ready then the teacher will appear. And I was ready to see a new world, I was ready to explore things I didn’t understand, so I could find my purpose in this world. And Mike taught me that when you can step back and not be blinded by being so close to a problem or issue, then you can see the whole picture. You can see the patterns, and understand that while there may be chaos happening now, in due time it will balance itself out.

Patterns are happening everywhere in life, and when we can look behind the surface level of what’s going on, we not only understand the process better, but we are able to figure out how to better integrate ourselves within the process.  Life isn’t just happening randomly, there are patterns happening over and over again. It’s not that we are born, live a life, and die…it’s that we are continually being cycled through cosmic patterns. There’s a bigger purpose through the patterns and when we can unlock the doors to seeing patterns…we find that our lives will be less controlled by randomness and chaos, but we will understand how things work, we will understand how to enjoy and become more engrained with a higher purpose in life, and we learn to tell the future by understanding those patterns. We won’t be standing outside wishing or hoping that someday we can fit in…we will understand the pattern and seamlessly integrate in.

We will see how people function, we will see how work is completed more efficiently, we will watch goals be attained more readily and learn to apply that to our lives, and we will see where happiness is and not just have it…but become one with it.  When you can open your eyes to not just see the surface level, but to train yourself to look deeper, and find the patterns, then you’ll unlock the mysteries of the universe and find more ways to become more in this life.

Today’s Personal Commitment:
Be conscious in your week. Look for the patterns. What patterns do you have when you wake up? When you’re driving to work look at the patterns of traffic, look at how the traffic lights function and how traffic flows, look at how meetings are handled, see how people interact with others, pay attention to how you interact with people. Be conscious of what your patterns are from waking up until going to bed, and ask yourself if there’s a better flow you can utilize for your life.

Look at other people you respect and see the patterns they exhibit in their life and ask yourself if you should integrate some of their patterns.  But remember just because someone looks in control doesn’t mean they are…I think about the gym for example…some of the most fit guys I see in the gym have the worst gym habits. Their form sucks, their work ethic isn’t the best, or any other aspects that aren’t efficient. So be aware just because some people look like producers in life… doesn’t always mean they are… so be wary and take a step back and ask if this is really a great pattern to implement in my life.

I See The Patterns Of Life Easily

Thanks for listening.  I'm sending great energy your way as we become Strong Within together,
Personal Development Life Coach-
Chris O'Hearn

Contact info- email: [email protected]  phone:865-219-3247

Music by:
- Zest by basematic (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
- I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee USA but available worldwide

September 25th - #268 Mindful Monday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

I Share More Love And Understanding

I see so much complaining, negativity, hate, anger, and useless energy being wasted on social media…We’re upset by something or someone so we make sure to post about it on social media. We get frustrated with life, the big things and the little things, so we decide to post more about the injustice of it all. It puts us in a state of continual complaining about how we aren’t where we want to be in life.

I get it, we think that if we talk about it, that we’ll feel better about it, or we might bring a resolution to it…but anger fought with more anger, only brings more anger. I’m not saying you can’t stand up for what you believe in, but what if you weren’t to come from the angle of hate, annoyance, or anger first and to come from the place of love and understanding.

I think of Keshia Thomas, the black woman who shielded a KKK man from being beaten by a mob in Ann Arbor Michigan during a rally the KKK were holding.  Keisha said that, “Nobody deserves to be hurt, especially not for an idea."  In an article I read she said she never saw the man she saved again, but a few months later someone came into the coffee shop to thank her, and Keisha asked the gentleman “what for?” And the stranger said, “that man you saved was my father.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/black-woman-recalls-day-saved-alleged-kkk-member-mob-article-1.1501050

I think of the freedom bus riders who traveled the country which started in the month of May in 1961. They wanted to protest segregation in interstate bus terminals in America. It started with only 13 people and they were beaten, arrested, and even had their bus bombed. But the movement gained national attention and other people decided to join the movement. People stopped their lives to stand up for what they believed in, in a non-violent way. They knew they were going to be attacked but they decided to go anyways and use non-violence to speak loudly about what they believed in. And after several months of persistence under pressure from President Kennedy’s administration the Interstate Commerce Commission dispensed regulations prohibiting segregation in interstate transit terminals.

http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/freedom-rides

I am sure we could find story after story about all the injustices in the world, and how it seems like everywhere we turn it’s just getting worse…but that doesn’t have to be our reality. In fact, studies have shown that while it seems like the country’s crime rates are getting worse, they actually are declining…it just seems like it because there’s more coverage of all the bad things happening from the hundreds of stations we have, the internet, social media, or any other outlet that can produce information.

When we allow our fear to overtake us, that’s where anger, hate, or misguided justice prevails.  Hate only creates more hate, anger creates more anger, an eye for an eye creates the whole world blind…but love and understanding helps to change the equation.  There will be terrible stuff that happens in the world, and it is our duty to protect the good within this world… Edmund Burke said that, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” And we think doing something entails being active in fighting to right what has been wronged…what if we weren’t to attack as we have been attacked, but to act in another manner much more powerful than hate or anger, but to love in our actions no matter what the cost may be.

And maybe most think I’m talking about being passive, but a police officer can arrest someone by using love, a warrior can choose to converge in war but to make decisions based on love rather than hate or fear while still performing the duties necessary to save their lives and the people in their command, and a judge or lawyer can still uphold justice not by spreading more anger or hate to those who are doing the offenses…maybe if we loved people differently their actions might change in the end. What have we got to lose by working to understand and be more loving…other than our humanity if we don’t choose to love?

Today’s Personal Commitment:
See things from someone else’s perspective today. It may not even have to be someone who has opposing views. What if it was someone in your office and you decided to have a conversation with them and just listen to them. What if you were to ask what their dreams are, what their hope are for the future? And what if you were to just listen to them deeper than you normally would. What if you were to work to truly hear the deepest parts of the people you purposefully engage with today? How do you think your understanding and love might change for people? Give it a try today to truly have a conversation with a few people and to hear them out.

I Share More Love And Understanding

Thanks for listening.  I'm sending great energy your way as we become Strong Within together,
Personal Development Life Coach-
Chris O'Hearn

Contact info- email: [email protected]  phone:865-219-3247

Music by:
- Zest by basematic (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
- I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee USA but available worldwide

September 24th- #267 Smiling Sunday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

My strength comes from within

Gabriel Ruelas was a world title boxing winner who grew up in very harsh conditions as a child. Being dirt-poor he found that he had trouble succeeding in a lot of things in his life. He really didn’t have anyone who believed in him, especially himself. But he found something that he enjoyed at a young age, which was boxing. He would sell his lunch ticket to have enough money to take the bus to get to the gym.

A lot of people still didn’t believe in him, but he started winning more fights and it helped with his confidence.  He had two life altering things happen to him and both of them were great tragedies in the ring.

His first professional loss he had broken his elbow during the fight. He had to have surgery and everyone told him he could never fight again. His arm couldn’t fully extend after it was taken out of the cast, and it was a few inches shorter than when he first broke his elbow.

Gabriel said it was one of the greatest things that happened to him though. It taught him about patience and to fight more with his head rather than all out brawling.  He went on to win a world title later on after that break.

The second tragedy that happened was on a night that was supposed to be an amazing celebration for the whole Ruelas’ family. Gabriel’s younger brother Rafael was fighting Oscar De La Hoya for the light weight championship… and if you know anything about boxing De La Hoya was undefeatable at the time and Rafael didn’t fair to well under Oscar’s fists.

But the great tragedy that happened was Gabriel, who was defending his belt, killed a man in the ring. Jimmy Garcia from Columbia was challenging Ruelas for the super feather weight belt…and after the 11th round the fight was stopped by the referee saying Gabriel had won the fight. Jimmy Garcia collapsed in the ring and was rushed to the hospital. He was declared dead 9 days later from brain damage.

Gabriel felt terrible guilt for what had happened and it sidelined his career. He was reluctant to meet with the family of the man he killed, but he met with Jimmy’s mother.

He talked about his guilt, and the mother talked about how she told her son not to fight Gabriel. But her son insisted he would win and be able to buy her a house. He would win even if it killed him. 

After talking for an hour and a half the mother hugged Gabriel and said "Whenever I see you fight," she told him, "I will see my son in you. And I will pray for you too."

Gabriel was never the same after that fight and he donated part of his earnings from his fights to the Garcia family.

So while we may never be boxers, we will be in the ring with “life” every day. And life will give us the hardest punches at times, and we’ll be unsure how to move on from those blows, but when we remember that our strength doesn’t come from our external circumstances, and that it comes from within… that we are strong within…then nothing can ever be taken from us. Because all the material things, or the people in our lives who weren’t really behind us will fade away…and what we will be left, is the knowledge that whatever comes our way… we can and will handle.  Like Gabriel we will learn to handle our so called dilemmas and find ways to become smarter and more patient individuals in our lives.

Today’s Personal Commitment:
What’s a break or issue in your life that you’ve looked at negatively? What if you were to look at is as blessing instead? I know some of the greatest tragedies in my life were my greatest learning lessons and triumphs as they made me do things differently. So look at some of the things you have been sulking about, or are still sulking about on how it’s not fair…and see how you can pivot from blaming your place in life on those issues, and instead see how they’re blessings in your life. When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.

My strength comes from within

Thanks for listening.  I'm sending great energy your way as we become Strong Within together,
Personal Development Life Coach-
Chris O'Hearn

Contact info- email: [email protected]  phone:865-219-3247

Music by:
- Zest by basematic (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
- I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee USA but available worldwide

September 23rd - #266 Synergy Saturday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

I’m Like the Sunrise. I Brighten Everyone’s Day I Come in Contact With…Purposefully

How do you wake up? Do you fight your mornings, do you wish you could stay in bed longer, do you wish you didn’t have to go to work, and do you wish for a different life? It’s ok to want better, but the reason we don’t have better is because we don’t love what we have first.  Something I teach my life coaching students is that when you wish for something new, and you get what you asked for…most people cannot handle it because while the situation changed…the person didn’t change…and so they keep coming back to the same outcomes.

They get that new job away from the boss they hated, only to find out that the new boss is the same as the old one. They get that new relationship…the one they hoped for which helped them to leave their current relationship…and they find that the person they got involved with was the same person they were trying to get away from. When we look for the situation to change before we change, whether it be 6 months or maybe a year…people find that what they wanted to avoid keeps happening to them over and over again…because it was never about the situation changing…it was about them changing, and when that happens the world not only looks different but it is different by how we interact with it.

What if you were to wake up different tomorrow? What if you were to rise like the sun, to shine brightly that it makes the world around it feel blessed, what if you were to bring warmth into the life of everyone you touch, and what if you were to give hope to those who felt they had lost all of theirs?  There’s more than one sun on this earth, and you are called to shine brightly…not because I asked you to, or that anyone else asked you to…but that when you bring a brighter spirit to everything you do… your whole life changes.

You don’t have to wish for a new situation because your current situation will be brightened, your current situation will be given new life, and your appreciation and fulfillment in life will be restored to higher levels.

So when you wake up, what if you were to be excited for the day ahead, what if you were to be passionate about your purpose again, what if you were to be present and willing to be a part of your life…instead of wishing to be somewhere else, or to be someone else? Today I challenge you to be a bright sunrise for those around you. I challenge you to be a bright sunrise for your life, I challenge you to be changed each morning…willing and ready to shine your gifts, talents, blessings, and beauty into this world. We need to know the real you…not the annoyed, disgruntled, and angry you…the world has enough of that already in it. Let us change the equation and change the world by changing ourselves.

Today’s Personal Commitment:
Change your alarm tomorrow morning to something that sounds more peaceful and encouraging. I used to have a blaring alarm that would annoy me so I’d get up…and you can still have that annoying alarm to make sure you get up if you have trouble waking in the morning…but set a calmer alarm before that one…to help remind you to wake up differently, to remember your purpose and pursue your passions more deliberately, to be a blessing rather than just showing up, and to be fulfilled knowing you have another day to experience its beauty.

I’m Like the Sunrise. I Brighten Everyone’s Day I Come in Contact With…Purposefully

Thanks for listening.  I'm sending great energy your way as we become Strong Within together,
Personal Development Life Coach-
Chris O'Hearn

Contact info- email: [email protected]  phone:865-219-3247

Music by:
- Zest by basematic (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
- I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee USA but available worldwide

September 22nd- #265 Fantastic Friday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

I’m 100% Committed To My Success

We make commitments, but only half commitments. We try things in hopes that they will change our lives, but we never fully dive in towards what we want. We hold back due to fear or uncomfortability…never realizing that the things we fear aren’t going after what we want…but more about failing or being uncomfortable in our transition

We want change to be easy, we want it to be a sure thing…and it can be…if we’re willing to put in the time and the work. We underestimate goals and thus we don’t get what we want soon enough and quit. We tell ourselves lies that we aren’t meant to have it or that we aren’t good enough…when if we would just commit long enough and go all in…then our success would be eminent.

I was a coach on a reality TV show on MTV called I Used To Be Fat. The goal was to help a teenage girl transition from high school into college by losing a certain amount of weight. While I wanted to help her lose the weight…my main goal was not about weight loss but about seeing herself differently. By visualizing the person that she was inside, so that whatever goal she really wanted… she’d be able to achieve. I wanted her to see the importance of focus and industriousness. That when you focus on what you hate, don’t want, or why you think you are lacking…then you not only create more of it but attract it as well…and that’s why most people will never change…because they have trouble understanding that adding more fire to the fire won’t extinguish the problem.

Anyways, being on that show was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done because I had to keep reminding myself to meet her where she was not where I was. I had to see it through her eyes, but I also wanted her to see that this was two months of her life, and that while it seemed hard now…it was only a small fraction of her life.  I remember being 18 and how I thought I knew it all, and how dramatic I could be about a goal not happening fast enough, but what I kept reminding her was that…”what you do today will dictate what you do for the rest of your life.”

And whether that thought has stuck in her mind I can’t say, but I did the best I could to help her see that…and that’s all we can do…we can only give our best selves to others and hope that some of it will rub off on them sometime in their life.

However, this podcast is about you now… do you go about your goals or dreams only doing it halfway instead of fully committing?

What happens when we don’t give our all, is it takes longer to reach our goals…if we reach them at all… as we fight ourselves and anyone else along the way.  When we don’t fully commit, it usually means we don’t achieve what we set out to do because inside we’re really saying I don’t want this bad enough…so I’m more willing to try or fail…than to give 100% no matter what the outcome will be.

You see the goal isn’t the end result…the commitment towards our dreams and being the person we want to be in every moment is. And when we know this, we become different people. We become people who aren’t stopped by impossibility…we actually make what others have seen as a wall…transform into a doorway to the next parts of our lives that we want.

Are you willing to fail, are you willing to be laughed at, are you willing to give 100% to what you want for your life…or are you going to continue traveling the path you’re on…only trying things…hoping for a different outcome?

Today’s Personal Commitment:
What does giving 100% mean? What does it mean to fully commit to a goal you want? Think about a goal you want that you haven’t fully given yourself towards and:

• Write down the mindset that it would take to fully commit.
• Write down what steps 100% commitment towards that goal would look like.
• Write down how you can begin implementing that mindset and those actions.
• And finally brainstorm how you can start those actions right now and choose an action or two to begin implementing.

I’m 100% Committed To My Success

Thanks for listening.  I'm sending great energy your way as we become Strong Within together,
Personal Development Life Coach-
Chris O'Hearn

Contact info- email: [email protected]  phone:865-219-3247

Music by:
- Zest by basematic (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
- I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee USA but available worldwide

September 21st- #264 Thoughtful Thursday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

I Create My Life One Brick at a Time

We want to build great monuments with our life. We want to build grand structures without the hard work and toil…but if you look at some of the longest standing structures…they were built to last, they were built with great sweat and labor, they were built for a bigger purpose, and they were built by focusing on the perfection in the foundation.  And when we try to build our lives on a shaky foundation…we create liabilities… and we create instability in our lives.

Our works, our habits, and our small actions are the bricks in the buildings of our life. What if you were to stop trying to erect grand goals as fast as possible…what if you were to envision the goal first and build it within your mind before trying to build it physically? What if you were to put the focus on the flawlessness of positioning one single brick each day.

We spend so much time working to build a fulfilled life by putting the cart before the horse…by wishing to make our life upright and valuable before creating the character and industriousness that shifts a good life into becoming a better one. And so we try to build a life without building a strong foundation brick by brick first.

Big changes come from small actions every moment. It’s about focusing on the minute to minute that will build your dreams, not focusing on the big dream never following through with the little actions. Every fire starts with a spark, every great novel started with a single word, and every great life started with being committed to their values in every simple and small action. Everything that’s big, or grand, or fantastic started out with a focus on the small things. And when you understand that your life is created one brick at a time, one action at a time, you will find continued success in your life.

We get to a point in our lives where we don’t want to do the foundation work anymore. We say we know how to get to places faster by cutting corners in the important work, and we’ve forgotten that we didn’t get to the places we wanted to be by avoiding the details and the hard work. We were willing to work on building our lives brick by brick… painstakingly…. the best way we knew how.

And so we get stuck in our lives thinking that great buildings are built in an instant…instead of remembering that every great structure was built by focusing on the placement of each single brick. So let us not lie to ourselves today…as we’re willing to do the work to create our lives one brick at a time…focusing on the flawlessness and placement of it. As we remember that a great life has a great foundation, and that foundation needs to be tended to every day…not once…or even once in awhile…but every day.

Today’s Personal Commitment:
What is your brick? What is the thing that you need to place perfectly upon your foundation…your life… every day? Is it a routine of the same thing, or is it an awareness and a question that needs to be asked of what will be your focus today?  There’s no one right way or routine for everyone, there’s no cookie cutter system towards success…there’s only the hard work you’re willing to put in, and the question of what that work will entail. So what brick do you want to focus on today, what are you willing to do to place that brick perfectly upon your foundation today… and how are you going to commit to doing it tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that. What action will be your brick today, and will it be the same one every day in your routine, or will you need a more versatile system as you ask yourself every day—what brick needs to be laid upon my foundation to make my life a stronger one?

I Create My Life One Brick at a Time

Thanks for listening.  I'm sending great energy your way as we become Strong Within together,
Personal Development Life Coach-
Chris O'Hearn

Contact info- email: [email protected]  phone:865-219-3247

Music by:
- Zest by basematic (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
- I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee USA but available worldwide