The Strong Within Affirmation Podcast

August 21st- #233 Mindful Monday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

I Always Give My Best Effort

George Carlin said, “If you try to fail, and succeeded, which have you done?”  I find that quote quite profound because when I look at my life and realize I’m not giving my best effort, it’s me saying I don’t think I can do it, or that I don’t think it’s worth the effort.  Which in the end means I’m trying to fail.  Yes, we can’t be at 100% all of the time, but we can give our best effort all of the time…even if that effort one day might be 80% or less than the previous day.

Think of it this way. You’re in the gym and one day you’re lifting the heaviest weights you’ve ever used in a workout… when you come back to the gym later that week and you aren’t able to lift that same amount of weight, does it mean you failed? Probably not, the conditions on that previous day brought you to a higher performance level, and as long as we are giving our best effort no matter the weight…that’s what truly matters.

So I want to ask you a question…are you doing your best? Are you letting go of your fears and looking at what you want by giving your best effort to make it a reality? I hope so, but if you look deep within and feel a little doubt just know that when you give your best, no matter the outcome…you are already succeeding. And think of it this way, you probably aren’t in the exact place you want in life right now if you aren’t giving your best, so why not be happy pursuing things you want instead of unhappy living in places you don’t desire.

When you give your best, you must not give into the lie that failing is the end result. You will fail many times because you are asking more of yourself, you are pushing yourself to the limit… failure is mandatory as you haven’t been in this place before…failure just means you are figuring out the path… and the more you continue giving your best…the more you push that failure point further back. And the more you make your success imminent.

Today’s Personal Commitment:
Take a look at what you want in life, and ask yourself how can I give my best today so that failure is a mandatory process for me? How can I give my best so that I fail over and over again while not getting discouraged, as I’m reminded that I’m not failing but pushing myself past my limits. I will remind you that those who have what you want weren’t lucky and talented, they had a focus and extreme work ethic to see the best in themselves and to give the best effort they could everyday towards it.  Today I challenge you to believe in yourself to fail…and to get back up and do it over and over again as you pursue the things you truly desire in your life.

I Always Give My Best Effort

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

August 20th- #232 Smiling Sunday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

I connect with people’s souls

I don’t just listen, I look to connect deeply with people. I listen to hear who they are rather than focusing on their exterior shell. I feel their pains, I empathize with their struggles, I celebrate their wins, and I love them as the unique individuals they are.

I think it can be easy to get lost in our struggles, and to miss the world around us.  We get into false competition or games to obtain what is ours…forgetting that when we truly connect with others we connect better with ourselves.  There is no game, there is no competition against another to take what is ours because the universe is ever abundant. When we remember this, we not only help people to their goals, we more readily reach ours.

Let us not covet the things we wish for, but let us connect deeply with people as we work together to become the people we wish to be. I’m not looking for competition… I’m looking for connection, and I will be diligent to stop and truly see the people’s souls I’m around today. I will take time to care about those around me, and I will take time to hear people out today…as I’m reminded that the more I do this…then the better my life becomes. I give to give…but in return I receive naturally because I never expected anything in return except for the chance to see them grow.

Today’s Personal Commitment:
Help at least one person get closer to their goals today.  How can you see deeper in the people around you? How can you believe more in the than they believe in themselves? What if you weren’t to be in competition with those around you, but to be in collaboration in seeing how you can best help them to their goals.  The more you do this, the more you will be helped to your goals naturally.

I connect with people’s souls

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

August 19th- #231 Synergy Saturday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

Every thought is a seed with great potential, So I think beautiful thoughts.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said that, “The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.”  Your thoughts are the seeds of creation to beautiful things. Your thoughts can build forests within this world. One thought can sprout up and change the whole culture of your surroundings.

That is why we must have great thoughts, because each one builds up off the previous one.  The origin of thought is like the roots of a tree, the stronger the roots, the more likely it is to grow and stand tall for years to come.  That’s why I believe the small thoughts will create a great energy to create even greater thoughts. The small seedling original thought I like say to myself constantly…which is, “I create beautiful things by focusing on the smaller actions first.” For every big change, it started with a small kernel, a small seedling of truth, that where I put my attention to—is where I eventually end up.

What if you were to look at what’s possible first, instead of seeing what is impossible, what if you were to focus upon kindness first instead of revenge or being hurt, and what if you were to look at kindness upon yourself and others knowing that love makes things grow stronger.

We get caught in the mentality of looking after #1 one, getting what is ours before someone else takes it…and that thought process creates the seeds of looking for betrayal, it creates forest of hurt and wasted energy…and it keeps you in endless movement in the wrong direction. Great potential happens by seeing great potential in everything first…especially yourself. So today, I challenge you to see great potential in yourself as you see the better parts in others as well. When we build on good principles and characteristics…we make the world more beautiful.

We attract what we focus on, so I choose to focus on internal beauty…so come with me and focus on it too…two minds will be better than one, and three minds will be better than two…let us be the seedlings of possibility and not only create beautiful thoughts, but beautiful actions, and beautiful forests by knowing that the intangible always creates the tangible…that thoughts create things, and the seeds of our thoughts if planted into this world will create a great world.

Today’s Intention:
Set your intention to focusing on the small thoughts. Think about where big accomplishments have happened in your life, and ask yourself, “what was the small original thought that made this possible?” What was the water on the roots of my tree to help it grow into this amazing accomplishment? Everything big started with something small. What are the patterns of small thoughts that helped you to accomplish great things? Put your attention to that small seed, and set your intention to begin your next great accomplishment with consistency of that same small thought.

Every thought is a seed with great potential, So I think beautiful thoughts.

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

August 18th- #230 Fantastic Friday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

Forgiveness is My Greatest Superpower

Confucius said, “Forget injuries, never forget kindness.”  When we hold onto hurt and we hold onto wishing the other person could feel our hurt we prolong our suffering. It seems to be a human trait to naturally want revenge, to want people to get what’s coming to them…but in the end it doesn’t solve the problem and it only drowns ourselves with sadness and darkness.

Don’t be a floor mat, but also don’t be a locked door. The more you shut yourself off due to previous wounds, then the more you shut out the people you need in your life. Heal, feel the pain, learn the lessons you need to, grow, and allow the energy and people you need into your life. 

We can try to shut off the pain, and try to shut out the hurt, and shut off our emotions, but let us not be like robots, let us be like humans. Let us feel the pain for the time that we need to, let us weep when it’s our time to weep, and let us send good wishes into the universe for the offenders because we don’t want more darkness, we want more light into the world. We want people, even the ones who have hurt us, to move on from their lack of enlightenment. We want the world to be brighter because a brighter world makes our lives brighter ones.

Forgiveness is a great superpower. I will be not only my own hero today, but I’ll be a better hero to what the world needs to.

Today’s Intention:
Set your intention to forgiving your past hurts. What have you been holding onto that’s holding you back? What if you were to forgive people for what they have done, not because they needed it but because you did. Yes, people will hurt us, and some will mean it but most won’t. We all are going throughout life the best way we can…stumbling and fumbling and I am sure you have hurt people along the way, so allow forgiveness to run through your veins to more readily forgive yourself for past mistakes, to forgive others for their past mistakes, and to be aware and vigilant to have an heir of forgiveness in the future.

Forgiveness is My Greatest Superpower

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

August 17th- #229 Thoughtful Thursday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

What I Think is What I Become

Thoughts become things. So what you think is what you become. If you focus on what’s wrong, if you focus on how things never go your way, and if you continually focus on the stresses in your life… you will find yourself constantly drained.

A thought is a piece of energy, and we waste so much energy focusing on things that keep us trapped. We think thoughts, or say things that keep us in an endless loop. We say things like I’ll never get caught up, will I ever be able to lose this weight, or I will never make the money I need.  I believe in looking at problems to help solve them, but we ask a lot of rhetorical questions to ourselves, and so while we think we are looking at a problem and asking a question…we actually are signing a contract of impossibility with ourselves.

We think wouldn’t it be nice if could do this or that…and then right way we state why it wouldn’t be possible. It’s what we’ve been taught from a young age…”now don’t get your hopes up, let’s be realistic…” and thus we stop progress from happening by allowing thoughts and mindsets to determine our future.

People who create what they want, don’t focus on what they can’t do.  Birds don’t focus on being on the ground when they fly, fishermen don’t focus on not being able to catch any fish in their lines or nets before going out…they focus on hope and the excitement of catching what they desire, and people who build boats don’t focus on sinking…they focus on the theories of floating.

Are you focusing more on what you can’t do or have, instead of focusing on who you want to be and where you want to go. You can’t get to Colorado just hoping you get there, you look at a map or your GPS, you get packed, you set a date to begin the travel, you estimate the time it takes to get there, and you hope and believe it will be possible, as you take action upon all those things.  Thoughts become things, what you think is what you become…so elevate your thinking.

Today’s Intention:
Set your intention to be aware of the thoughts that are keeping your from reaching your goals. See what’s holding you back so you can be intent on focusing on what will take you forward. Ask what’s distracting you, ask what stories you’re telling that are keeping you down, and then begin asking what story do I need to tell to help me get to where I want to go.

What I Think is What I Become

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

I give more than what’s expected.

Mother Teresa said, “Give, but give until it hurts.” And I want to ask the question of your giving practices…how do you share your gifts, how do you share your love, how do you share yourself with the world? Do you do what is comfortable and what’s easy, or do you give more than what anyone would ever expect of you?

A majority of people might say they want the comfortable life, but comfortability breeds complacency, and complacency breeds anxiety, and anxiety breeds eternal unsatisfaction.  When you don’t give until it hurts, you get hurt in silent ways. The human body and spirit are meant to reach beyond our so called limitations that we’ve set upon ourselves. It’s like a muscle in the weight room. At first the muscle and mind says I can’t, but after persistence of continual habits of asking the muscle to lift more than it thinks it can…it gets bigger, it gets stronger, and it learns that asking more of itself actually makes good sense…because it achieves greater things by being challenged.

And that’s the rub, the more you give, the more you get. But giving to get isn’t the answer…giving to give is the answer of itself. And the more you do it, the more natural it becomes, and the less pain it takes to share more of yourself…Coming back to the workout analogy. I get clients who want the workout to get easier…but it’s not that the workout gets easier, they get better, they get stronger, and they learn to challenge themselves more. So it’s all relative, it doesn’t get easier, you get better…and getting better feels good…but the effort is still painful and hard…and that’s what’s beautiful. The pain will always be worth the effort.

Today’s Intention:
Today set your intention to enjoy the pain, to give more than what’s expected, not because people expect it of you, but that you enjoy going beyond the call of the norm. You are not normal, you are a beautiful miracle, and so I challenge you to walk towards the pain of giving until it hurts. Not because you are a masochist, but because you are seeking the beauty of a life lived fully.

I give more than what’s expected.

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

August 15th- #227 Tag Me Tuesday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

I live my joy

I don’t have to preach about joy, I don’t have to prove my joy to anyone, and I don’t have to force my joy upon another. It’s who I am and my energy will affect those who are willing and ready to receive it. I have spent so many years trying to help people find their own joy…but I can’t be their joy finder. I can only be the example and the lesson…by how I live my life, not how I speak.

For when I speak, the words go in one ear and out the other as most people are wanting answers to problems they aren’t ready to tackle yet. So, let us be joyful in the good and bad times. Let us not preach a false reality, but let us live a beautiful life through all the transitions, trials and tribulations, and the times where we aren’t sure how we’ll make it…because if you were to look back at your life, at all the times you were uncertain you could do it…and here you are right now, over that mountain that you thought you could never have conquered…just because you decided to keep moving.

So I challenge you to live joy through the hard work, to smile in the arena before the dust has settled, to enjoy the pursuit of the hunt of the elusive beast known as your goals, and to smile just because.  Joy isn’t found in getting what we want, joy is created in the actions of going after what we desire. So let us be resilient and persistent in keeping a good attitude when times are tough…because it might just be the only thing helping us through.  It might be the only light guiding our way through a dark tunnel…it just might be the answer you needed…that with the practice of joy comes more joy.

Today’s Intention:
Set your intention to be happy, to be at the midpoint of joy and sadness. The middle road will always bring peace and calm…and when you find your balance ask yourself what are the things that create joy in my life.  List 5-10 things that helps you to spread your joy with the world and find a way to do one thing towards those 5-10 things every day for the next week or month.

I live my joy

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

August 14th- #226 Mindful Monday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

I’m resilient, consistent, and persistent in the pursuit of my goals.

I don’t fear being wrong; I fear not taking chances. I’ve spent a life trying not to look silly or foolish and all the while missing the point of growth. For every lesson I’ve learned is because I was ignorant in the first pursuit of it…but I became wise by trying to learn more about it. I became wise by not fearing what others would think…I just focused on doing. The weak and the amateurs will laugh because you failed, but they only laugh so they can keep you down, they only laugh because they haven’t tried, and they laugh to mask the pain of being stuck in their comfort.

I relish change, I relish taking chances, and I relish the chance to learn from my mistakes.  My mistakes aren’t who I am… me, taking the chances after all my mistakes is who I am. So I will focus on what I want, and I’ll remember the pursuit of the goal is worth it no matter how many mistakes I make.

I don’t want to live a comfortable life, because it’s a false life… for comfortability, isn’t a great life lived…when you’re comfortable you aren’t growing, and I know that I want to be challenged, I want to be tested, I want to be tried…so I can be true to the person I want to be. Nothing will stop me, not even mistakes, as I call out to mistakes to bring their best…as I will rise from them, I will learn from them, and I will become better because of them.  All because I decided to not let the fear of how I look stop me.

My passion of living a life full is the driving factor for the rest of my life…no matter how many obstacles will try to get in my way.  I am resilient and I wait for my demons that have tried to stop me before to come, but that’s because I see beyond all the trickery of the temporary…and I’m willing to be who I need to be right now, so I can become who I want to be in the future.

Today’s Intent:
What if you were to focus away from allowing your demons to control you, into understanding what you your demons are trying to tell you? The things that plagued us didn’t just come from nowhere, so what if you were to have a conversation with the things that relentlessly seem to pursue you?  If you were to have a conversation with your demons ask them?

1. Where they came from?
2. What they were originally trying to protect you from?
3. What they want of you?
4. And you telling them what you want for your future instead.

When we have a conversation with our darkness, we will see that it isn’t what we thought it was. We try to avoid it, when in reality the more we understand it, then we change it for the better

I’m resilient, consistent, and persistent in the pursuit of my goals.

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

August 13th- #225 Smiling Sunday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

Mistakes create better experiences

There’s a saying that I love to remind my life coaching students, and myself, that says “I didn’t find the experience until after I needed it.”  We have to go through the process to gain the experience needed to become better, and we need to make mistakes so we learn from them.

We live in a world where it’s looked upon as something negative for making mistakes. I was doing a podcast interview with a business owner, and he said that there are two ways to manage people. The first way is to manage them where they aren’t allowed to make mistakes. The second way is to allow them to make mistakes.  He said something interesting that I hadn’t thought of before. He said you actually save money when you allow people to make mistakes.  You allow people to grow in the company and become the best assets they can be for the company. But when you expect people to not make mistakes, by hoping to get only the best people in your company right away…and you fire people for their mistakes you actually get inferior employees. You are always getting rid of people before they can improve with the company.

So revel in your mistakes, take notice of them and don’t beat yourself up for them…but know they are part of the learning process. Become aware of when you make mistakes and ask yourself what can you learn from this experience, and how can apply what you’ve learned to get better…and lastly how can you help others from those lessons?

When I was younger I thought I knew it all. It was my ego speaking that I didn’t need to learn, but my brother taught me something valuable when I was playing ice hockey. He taught me in the middle of each shift to be thinking about what happened during my time on the ice, what went wrong, and how I could learn from it all and make the situation better. Essentially helping me to become aware of the game and adjusting my efforts purposefully rather than just playing blindly. And I think in life we play blindly just going through the motions forgetting that we can be more efficient. That we can be awake and become better from our mistakes.

Today I challenge you to awaken in your life. I challenge you to be fully immersed in your experiences… to know when you make a mistake, so that you find ways to better overcome those mistakes. My mentor Mike told me that we all are ignorant the first time we go through something, where we become stupid is when we keep making the same mistakes over and over again. So make as many mistakes as possible, but be awake and learn from them. Mistakes are the keys to your freedom. We feel trapped in the errors of our ways, but your mistakes, if you choose to be vigilant in being awakened in your life, will help you to create a better way.

Today’s Intention:
Set your intention to be awake in your day and find the mistakes you make. Don’t beat yourself up for them, but know they are the keys to your enlightenment. When you recognize a mistake ask yourself:

1. Why did this mistake happen?
2. How can I correct this mistake?
3. What can I do differently or better next time?
4. And what do I want to get out of this experience?

Mistakes create better experiences

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

August 12th- #224 Synergy Saturday The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

Making Friends Comes Easily To Me

I talk with a lot of people during the day, and I have had a ton of awesome people that I life coach who are successful in many areas of their life that don’t have many, if any, close friends, and this always baffles me because I know they are amazing people. It still floors me, even though I understand why.

Sometimes the most gifted individuals have the hardest time connecting with people…then you and I must be total loners with how amazing we are then…right???