Logical Evolution Podcast: Recent Episodes
Logical Evolution Podcast
I want to give you a bit of hope today – and some guidance about that hope.
I want you to know that creating those visions you have for how you want your life to be are not nearly as complicated as you make them. However, you do need to include one essential component – alignment.
To succeed with less effort, we have to think more scientifically about our goals, and we must apply the universal laws that exist to reach those goals.
Let’s use an example. Let's imagine that “Ann” has a broken arm. We all understand what needs to happen when a bone is broken! Ann needs to get that bone aligned, and she needs a cast on it to fix it in place for healing. That’s the natural intelligence of how the body works.
It's only after that initial realignment has happened that she can move forward. When the cast comes off, that’s when she can work on range of motion and strength.
What DON’T we do is when an arm gets broken? We don't immediately say, “Oh, your arm can't lift anything heavy, let's start getting you on a strength training routine,” right? That's ridiculous, the bone is broken!
This is no different from when we experience disconnection from an end result that we want to achieve. In this situation, the most urgent need for you is to realign. What is the basic focus for the experience you want when you reach your goal?
When it comes to healing, and it comes to reaching our goals, we always want to start with alignment. Whatever is at the core will propagate out. Often, when we feel stuck in reaching a goal, we look for a new technique, and we try to take action.
We put action on top of that “stuckness,” when that’s not what’s needed most often. Often, what we need to do is stop and ask, “Did I did I lose the alignment with my original intention?” We need to stop and remind ourselves where it is we want to be going, so that we can ensure that our actions actually match that and aren't in conflict with it. The more in conflict our actions are with our true intention, the more difficult it’s going to be to get results that we're looking for.
What we are doing to create the goal must reflect the qualities of the goal too. If I’m working toward a goal that I think is going to bring me more joy and peace, then my actions along the way to achieving it must reflect those same qualities. If one of the things you really value and want to create more of is integrity, then you want to make sure integrity is throughout your approach.
We often get stuck because we're missing alignment, which is why I want to bring it to your attention today. We get caught up in trying to take more action, and it takes a lot of self-discipline to pause and ask, “Do I need to realign so that I'm able to move forward toward where I want to go, instead of run around in action and hope that what turns out in the end is aligned with what I'm looking for?”
So, the very first strategy always has to be alignment – alignment with the principle you want to bring into your life through that goal.
For example, imagine your goal is to get into a great romantic relationship. What does that mean? It's not about that person as the end goal. But, when you get there you want to be able to be authentic with the person, you want to have someone who appreciates you and who you appreciate. These are the type of alignments that we want to seek out as you're taking steps toward the goal. It's not about finding the person, right? Because not just anyone is going to make you feel like you've reached that goal.
I hope this helped you today in thinking about where this urgency of alignment is needed for you and your goals. My goal is to help you create the life you want, and to feel like you have the power to create that life using universal laws that are really right at your fingertips. It's a matter of learning them and then choosing to use them – not getting caught up in what most of the world does and trying to take more action.
Have you noticed that there are moments in your day when you're clearly not feeling engaged in your life? Have you noticed times that it feels like you're just going through the motions?
What do you do in those times?
If you struggle in those moments, today I’ll share with you an effective way to handle it. I think you’ll recognize it as something you’ve heard before, but maybe you dismissed as too simple or categorized as too “woo woo.” So, I’m going to explain it to you more scientifically in the hopes you’ll realize its value and start using it to your advantage.
I want to remind you of the power of pause. When you see that you’re going down a path that you don't enjoy, pausing must be the first step to effectively transform that moment. If you were planning to go somewhere, and you realized that you were driving in the wrong direction, you wouldn't just keep going! You would stop and say, “I need to make a turn; I need to move in a different direction so I really get to the place that I want to go.” However, chances are you may not do that in daily situations.
Instead, I see that when we're feeling not engaged or joyful about our lives, we tend to just put action on it in a way that's kind of avoiding what we're feeling. We try to just “muscle our way through it” forcefully, which makes it even more difficult.
The reason this approach doesn’t work is simply momentum. I've spoken about momentum before, but I’m hoping that by looking at it from this angle, you’ll see the real the real gem of information that's there.
When something has momentum, it has a tendency to keep going. If you don’t want it to keep going, then you need to do something to stop it. The best thing to do is to act opposite of it and bring it to a pause so that you can go in a new direction.
That forceful approach is going to use a lot of your energy. If you're using energy in order to create a higher energy state (like joy) – well, it's counterintuitive. That doesn't work.
By pausing (stopping momentum first), you actually KEEP the energy, so that you can now take it in a new direction. Pausing also gives us an opportunity to have insight. When we push through something, we are missing a huge opportunity to learn.
There are many ways to pause, but to be honest, one of the best ways to do it is to use your own breath. This is where some people mindlessly chuck the technique into the “esoteric” bucket without considering it. Your breath is a very tangible thing – it is something specific, not “woo woo.” You can feel it physically, and you can hear it in many cases.
Additionally, it's always NOW. Right? I can't breathe for yesterday, I can't breathe for tomorrow, if I'm aware of the breath that I’m taking now, I'm automatically conscious of the moment. When you're conscious of the moment, it’s a momentum stopper. Now you have the opportunity to harness your own energy – you hold whatever momentum is happening in this state of suspended animation. From there, you can decide to go somewhere deliberate with it, not somewhere that's just an unconscious reaction to your day.
So, my goal today is to remind you of this – of the power of pause. I want you to be able to keep the power that you have and use it deliberately to create. Harness this power by becoming conscious of your breath. What does this mean? It means to feel the sensations of your own breathing and make that the focus of your attention for a few minutes. When you breathe in, you feel the breath coming in – maybe you feel your ribs expand. When you breathe out, you might hear the sound, and you feel your body contracting. If you really engage in that for even 5 breaths, you will be in a different place afterwards.
Don't leave all of your energy to chance. Don't let the world take it. Claim it for yourself. You claim the power in that pause, and then take that energy where you want to go with it.
I want to remind you of an important distinction today – the difference between a VECTOR and a SCALAR.
I remember learning about this back in my physics class in high school. This is the difference between having speed, and having speed with direction. You can think of the idea of spinning your wheels – that's got a lot of speed and activity, but you're not going anywhere. Or you can have speed and direction – by driving down the road.
This is a trap that I have found myself in before. Maybe you can relate, and maybe you have an area in your life where this is happening now. Maybe you have an area where you're taking a lot of action, but you're not sure you're getting anywhere.
We can easily get caught up in taking action and forget about noticing whether we have the right direction. Are we actually moving forward with this action? Or are we just spinning our wheels?
Recently, there's been a big emphasis on your morning routine. I definitely believe in the importance of a good, solid morning routine, so I, too, was seeking one out. I was learning from different people and different books and trying to gather all these activities and actions I needed to take to make my “amazing morning.”
I ended up feeling like I had to have 20 things on this list! I had to get my cup of tea, I had to have my drink of water, I had to do my meditation, I had to do my planning, and so on! They just added up.
What I eventually realized is that I disconnected my activities from my direction. Instead of focusing on whether I had all the “right” activities that these books and teachers said I should have, I needed to consider a different question: What do I want to create with this morning routine? How do I want to feel, and be, and think when I'm done with my routine?
I needed to know where I wanted to end up at the end of this routine, so that then I could properly select the right activities that, for me, would take me there. Each activity might have a different effect on me than it would on someone else, so I needed to consider the direction the activity would take me specifically.
I want to remind you to think about this in your life. If you're starting to feel tired or burnt out, or feeling like your efforts aren't taking you anywhere – maybe you’ve gotten caught up in activity. Are you focusing on speed more than direction? Are you being a scalar, when you need to be more of a vector – being conscious of where you want to go?
When you pinpoint that place to you want to go, you are going to be much more likely to get there than if you are simply leaving it up to chance or other people’s ideas. Take in that information that you can gather from other people, but then apply it to how you want to be and where you want to take it.
I hope that helped you today. If you think this message would speak to someone that you know, please pass it on to them. Until next time, be your best and keep being evolutionary!
I want to ask you today if you've ever been told that you need to “suck it up,” or if those are words you've ever told yourself.
I, personally, can think of those days at work after a long day of meetings and projects where I'm feeling kind of drained…but there's that one meeting left, or there's that one thing I have to finish in order to be done for the day. My inner dialogue is to “just suck it up, just gotta finish.” It's about getting that last thing checked off, so I can just go do something else. It's like I'm wishing away that moment.
If I'm going to be honest, I have those times at the end of my work day when I'm making that transition to go be a parent too. There's a lot of times I don't really feel like it, and it's a similar internal conversation, that I have to “just suck it up to get through until bedtime.”
But that's not the kind of person I want to be, or the kind of experience that I want to have. It doesn't lead to a very fun time for me, let alone everybody else.
The “suck it up” strategy – which can work to get things checked off – is never going to create change in our lives. This strategy creates a life that feels like the same life on repeat. In order to change your experience of life, you have to look at a new strategy – the “level up” strategy. Instead of sucking it up, you need to level up. Our lives will not level up unless WE level up.
The level up strategy is three steps – it’s very simple, but it's very hard! Most people won't do it! You may be tempted to put it to the side, ignoring it as too simple. But I want to challenge you to try it.
The first step of the Level Up strategy is pause. Pause and notice, what’s your level of energy? What's your dominant emotion? We have to make that pause, and that can be hard for those of us who are get-things-done focused. Taking that pause is the first step, and it's sometimes the hardest because you have to break yourself away from what's going on. Our emotions and our energy state are very changeable, they are simply a result of what we've been thinking over the recent past. But that first step is actually stopping. Ask yourself, where am I on a scale of 1 to 10?
After that moment of awareness, step two is to decide – what do I want it to be? What would I rather be experiencing right now? Do I want to be at a seven? Would I like to feel a little bit more hopeful, a little more enthusiastic?
Step number three is to make that happen, to act to make that shift come about. It can be done in under three minutes. It can often be as simple as playing a favorite song of yours. It might be doing a yoga pose. It might be taking a moment to make a cup of tea or coffee.
It can be done in just a few minutes – it’s a matter of actually stopping and doing it. You have the option of being that that person behind the slow car, being aggravated at the time it's taking for someone ahead of you to move. Or you can be in that same position behind the slow car, but having a good time! It doesn't get you there any faster just because you’re in a state of frustration. You're going into that last meeting or doing that last thing at work – you might as well do it in a way that is not only more enjoyable for you, but actually will have the effect of leveling up your life.
When you choose to level up, your life will level up with you. So, my challenge for you today is to take these three steps and implement them. It can be done in five minutes or less
Thank you so much for your time and your attention today! Until next time, be your best and keep being evolutionary.
Popularity or integrity? We can’t have both. In fact, the more outspoken you become with your message, the more you’re going to receive negative feedback.
Just those of you who are parents I know can relate to this! Whether you oversee a team at work or a team at home (or both), think about some of the decisions you’ve had to make. Think of the ones that you know weren’t going to be popular, among your kids or your team or your friends, and think about why you’ve made those decisions. It was likely because of something that you believed in deeply and that ultimately you believed would be of the biggest benefit to them. When something’s beneficial for you – truly beneficial – it’s beneficial for everyone. The more that we act in integrity, the more that these types of beneficial decisions are made.
Sometimes there’s a transition though, a point where we feel like we’re rocking the boat if we make decisions like that. Sometimes there are turbulent times we have to go through to get to the other side if we’ve been on the popular track for a while, but the other side is always better.
In order to be able to make decisions with integrity versus popularity, there’s one thing that has to be in place. You have to know what you value, your core beliefs, what’s important to you. For me, one of those values I have is truth. I believe in aligning with the truth. I believe that knowing the truth will make everyone better off than hiding from the truth. So for me, that’s a benchmark to always refer back to. If I’m faced with a decision that involves being popular or standing with the truth, it’s a no-brainer. I’m going to stand with the truth and I’m going to allow what’s unpopular to be there.
If we get our confidence, sense of peace, and self-esteem from looking inside ourselves and acting in alignment with what we know in our hearts, then it’s ok whether someone likes us or not. Of course, it doesn’t feel good not to be liked, but it’s not going to matter. If we refer within, whether someone likes us or not is not going to move us off of our value system, beliefs, our desire to serve others through those beliefs.
We need to think about some of the recent decisions we’ve made, and gauge ourselves. Where are we on a scale of 1 to 10? Am I making decisions out of popularity (a 1) or out of integrity (a 10)? Maybe there’s different areas of our lives where we’re in different places. Maybe with our group of friends we’re sliding more toward popularity, but at work we’re in integrity. Is it situational? Is it consistent? Is it at a place where I want it to be? Are there any situations gnawing in the back of my mind that just don’t “feel right”? It’s not too late.
Ultimately, acting in integrity is going to draw you more into the life that you want. The universe knows what you stand for. If you’re going for popularity, what you stand for is going to be all over the board, so your results in life are going to be all over the board.
I go a lot more into this topic in my course, but also in my free 5-Day Mach 22 Challenge. The challenge also discusses this idea of really knowing your core beliefs and values that you want to express through your life. So, if this is a bit new for you, or if you’re ready to recommit and reevaluate, then please go to my website home page and opt in to the challenge there.
Take some time today to look at any areas where you’re more concerned with popularity than integrity. Commit to bringing those areas to light, making shifts, and seeing the results.
If you’re a logical thinker like me, then I bet you’ve had this same experience I’m going to share with you today!
When I first realized that there was a whole world of personal development and that maybe it could help me create change in my life, the first thing I dove into was books – lots of them. I was living in Houston at the time, working at NASA, and I used to spend my weekend at the Barnes and Noble down the street from my house. I would wander up and down the Personal Development aisles, finding books and bringing them home. I was a studier – I had my highlighter, and I was doing all the exercises diligently.
I don’t know how many books in I was, but at some point I noticed that I was reading the books with an intention of trying to VALIDATE what I was already doing. What I realized within that is this – if I’m just looking for the ways I’m already doing it “right,” I’m not really going to find things I need to change to do better. I had to stop being afraid of seeing where I wanted to grow. I had to stop being afraid of wanting to be better. Having more in life and being a better human, friend, and family member was a great desire, but it also required that I become more honest.
Instead of looking to validate myself, I needed to look at where I could live more into those desires. Was I nice? Yeah, probably. Could I have been nicer? Yes. Can I still be nicer today? Yes. I can still go to another level of kindness. I can go to another level of generosity. Allowing ourselves to be open and honest about where we want to evolve, that allows us to see the things we need to see for it to happen.
So – Do you want to be validated or do you want to have change occur? Ask yourself – really! Letting go of being validated means you’re going to open yourself up to feeling those negative things that we think are bad, like doubt, or fear, or shame. But what I want to bring to your attention is that seeing where we can change doesn’t mean we need to judge ourselves as bad. As I said, maybe I’m a kind person, but I could be kinder. And if I want more of what kindness is going to bring me, I need to be willing to see those places. Being honest doesn’t mean judging; that can be a big roadblock for people.
So, ask yourself that seriously today! Do I want validation or do I want evolution? If you are someone who chooses evolution, let’s stay connected.
I’m covering three phrases you need to eliminate from your vocabulary if you want to see change. Using these phrases is a habit that short circuits a lot of us because they indicate that we really don’t believe we have the power to effect change. There’s no way we’ll create the changes we desire if we think on some level that we’re unable to do it.
The first phrase to eliminate is: “I had no choice.” It may be an undesirable choice, but we do have a choice. It’s important to acknowledge the fact that the choice exists – in order to feel like we have any power in our lives. One context I have heard this in is with the statement, “I had no choice, I had to go to work.” You didn’t have to, but the other choice was so undesirable that you unconsciously eliminated it. What if you decided not to go to work? Well, maybe the results would range from mild annoyance to getting fired. Maybe these are very undesirable choices that you don’t want, but you do have a choice. To say “I had no choice” is not only reflective of feeling powerless, but it’s also not true! One of the things that helps people get farther is that they are willing to look at truth – truth not for the purpose of judging yourself, but for acknowledging what is really going on so that you can engage with the real situation rather than your imagined one. Look at places this phrase shows up for you. Where do you feel like you’re backed into a corner and you absolutely have no other choice? Maybe it’s so undesirable you wouldn’t think of making that choice, but it’s still a choice. Better to say, “I do have a choice, and I am choosing to go to work.”
The second phrase to eliminate is: “I have to (fill in the blank).” It’s very similar to phrase one, but different enough to point out separately. For me, this brings up the day-to-day things. “I have to take the trash out.” These are also areas we can acknowledge that we have choice and we have power. We choose the way we spend our time. Our choices reflect what we prioritize. We may be in a place that those choices we’re making today are not the ones we want to have to make in the future, but yet we’re there today. When we acknowledge where we are today and what’s necessary for our priorities to be today, then we open the way for us to shift those. If we constantly feel “I have to,” then how are we going to feel that we can change our lives? By reframing how you spend your time and reinforcing that it’s a choice, you’re paving the way to be able to make the choices you’d rather make. Where do you say on a daily basis things like, “I have to do the dishes” No, you don’t have to! You can let them pile up. It’s simply not true. Again, one of the reasons I’m bringing up these phrases in particular is that they’re not true. By making a conscious effort to see the truth, it allows us to move forward.
The third phrase to eliminate is: “I am (fill in the blank).” If what you filled in the blank with is anything you don’t want to see continue, that’s a phrase to eliminate. You’re trying to reach a goal, but you say things to yourself like “I am lazy,” or “I am not smart enough.” Let’s take the example “I’m lazy.” Again, these phrases aren’t true (see a theme?!?). Just begin by saying it in a way that’s more truthful. You might say “I didn’t get up this morning to do that workout toward my health goals,” for example. That could be true. “I didn’t get up at the time I set my alarm for this morning.” That could be true, but it doesn’t mean anything about yourself as a lazy or not lazy person. When we make blanket “I am” statements, we’re taking away the power from ourselves.
This message today is about realizing the power that you DO have. Without acknowledging your power, it’s going to be very difficult to have it happen. By bringing to your awareness these phrases instead of letting them replay in your head, you’re giving yourself that power. You’re paving the way toward more of what you want and less of this repetitive cycle.
Today, my message for you is this: wisdom is a verb.
I’m wondering – Is there anything you want to have or achieve that hasn’t happened yet…but you feel like you know how to do it and it should’ve happened already?!? If that’s the case, it’s likely that some of the things you’ve learned haven’t really become wisdom just yet.
Wisdom is a sign that we’ve incorporated what we’ve learned. So, until something’s happened, we can assume that we haven’t really, truly learned it. True learning leads to wisdom.
We can take in information, but learning is being able to actually execute on that information. At times, we may be prevented from gaining wisdom, because that needed action is connected to a fear we all have. We may fear looking at the places where we don’t know the answer and, especially logical thinkers, where we feel little bit dumb.
We have to be willing to feel dumb to become wise.
When I think back to my own situations and occasions of learning new things, this certainly plays out for me. I can understand the idea of something I’m trying to learn by taking in information. Maybe I’ve heard someone speak about it, or I’m watching webinars or reading books to figure out how to do something. And I think, “alright, that makes sense!” But then the moment comes where I have to put that information to use – and I realize in trying to implement it that I don’t actually know, I have lots of questions that I didn’t know I had until trying to use the information. I’ve only heard someone describe how to do it, but I haven’t actually done it. So, I’ve learned how someone does it but I haven’t learned how to do it myself. This is an important distinction!
Hopefully, we are always living with future goals in mind. Those goals that haven’t come to fruition yet for you – they require you to go to another level of wisdom. I’ve met a lot of people who’ve gotten trapped in this idea that they have to take in all this information, but they aren’t learning. And they aren’t learning because they aren’t actually trying to do anything with the information.
So, what is your next level? What is that thing you’re working toward? And how can you start to become that now; how can you put that to use?
How do you think you’re going to be when you’re more wealthy, for example? Do you think you’re going to be more generous? Do you think you’re going to be more confident? Do you think you’re going to be more enthusiastic? Whatever it is, be those things now. Work on being those things now – because it’s the blocks to actually becoming those things that are the blocks to you becoming wise in those areas. This wisdom is what opens up the next level.
I’ve seen a lot of people want the next level of their career. They think, “OK when I’m in that level of management, I’ll lead in this way.” You need to lead in that way today. Because it’s in gaining that wisdom that allows you to gain that role or that outward accomplishment.
Let the information about your desires for the future become wisdom today. You must be willing to look dumb, or to feel dumb, to become wise. So, I hope this won’t just mean something to you today intellectually, but I hope it helps you put something INTO ACTION today. I bet there’s a lot of information you’ve gained that’s ready for you to try. Run with it!
Today I want to talk to you about two topics – control and freedom. They are two ideas, but part of one continuum. Control is one side – when we really want to be the one who makes things happen in a certain way or on a certain timetable. Freedom is on the other side – when we let go and allow. I think a lot of us logical thinkers tend toward the control side!
My mission is to help logical thinkers achieve goals more efficiently – to help manifest those things in life that we think will give us the greatest experience and enjoyment. In order to move to those higher levels of achievement, we need to look at things like this. Where we tend toward control, we might need to adjust toward freedom, or maybe the other way around.
First, control. I want to challenge you to think about something, or several things, that you can back off from your current level of control. Maybe it’s some decisions that your kids are making, maybe it’s coworkers or employees. What are things that really aren’t yours to decide and possibly don’t even affect you? These are great places to start with.
When I first met my wife and we moved in together, we started to see the many things we do differently. It was such an interesting experience! We do have the same world view, but we approach tasks totally opposite from each other. So those conversations we had about loading the dishwasher or whatever it might be, really helped me broaden my perspective. I realized there’s no reason why other ways can’t work, and perhaps, maybe, I didn’t need to be the one deciding everything!
We need to do this more often in our lives. Controlling is never going to give us the best outcome, and it’s never going to give us the best relationships. So where are some places where you can back off your level of control; where is it really not necessary?
Now, freedom. I said that us logical thinkers tend more toward control and I think that’s true. But one of the places that most of us fall into the trap of allowing too much “freedom,” is in our priorities for the day. If you’re starting a day and you don’t know your priorities, then you’re using freedom in the wrong way. (I did a previous post about “going with the flow” that you should definitely reference and look at these ideas together in context.)
In our daily priorities, that’s where we need to have a level of control – called focus! We need to know: What are the key handful of actions I need to take to move my goals and projects along their path today? What kind of mindset do I have to have to reach those goals?
I find that people are too focused on a to-do list and not giving attention to the mindset and the overall project momentum that needs to happen. Mindset can be a conscious part of any activities during the day. And the things you need to do to move something forward need to be just a few things out of the day, not an entire day’s schedule. The day does need some space. This is just that right amount of focus in “controlling” what’s going to happen that day. Lack of this will keep you spinning and prevent you from advancing toward your goals.
That sums up what I suggest you look at today. Where can I pull back control from the things that aren’t really needed to help achieve my goals or that aren’t my decisions? Have I allowed too much freedom rather than consciously directing my plan and mindset for the day?
I suggest that you take a little time to reflect on that now if you have the opportunity. Spend 10-15 minutes brainstorming or journaling on these ideas – you might learn something that will help you in reaching those big goals that you have!
Today I am giving you three reasons to “go with the flow.” Those of us who consider ourselves logical thinkers can sometimes get a little too obsessed with the linear thinking of our to do list. However, going with the flow can actually help you reach your goals faster, and today I’ll explain how. It’s finding that sweet spot of the list and the flow that allows you to access the most efficient path to reaching goals.
The first reason to go with the flow is: energy efficiency. Think of a river. You use less energy if you’re letting your boat use the current to your advantage. Rowing against the current takes the most from you and your energy. This idea of energy efficiency is being open to how the things you want to have happen can happen in the most efficient way – understanding that your idea of the order of events may not be the best. It’s not the list that helps us the most, but the vision that helps us the most. (This is supported by quantum physics and is a bigger conversation – opt into my website if you want to learn more about that specifically.) If you are seeing what you want to have happen as a vision in your consciousness and imagination, then the flow of reality that’s happening around you will actually work to stay aligned with that. Because it’s outside your linear plan, it can guide you there in the best way possible.
This leads right into the second reason to go with the flow: access to greater intelligence. Our life organizes itself through our intention, the images, and the vision that we hold repeatedly as a habit in our minds. Because of the available scientific support of that, you can trust that your life experiences will reflect your mind – without micromanaging it! Even though we’re individuals, there’s an element of our own existence that’s part of the universal field of energy and has access to it. There’s a place we all exist within scientifically that’s connected to the whole. How a flower grows provides an example. It’s connection to the greater field of intelligence allows it to know how much water to take up to grow, how to direct itself toward the sun, what to draw in from the soil.
There’s information that’s available to us, too, that exists in this universal field. By going with the flow, I’m talking about a way that we make ourselves available to receive that information. It’s like putting out an extra antenna. There’s so much that’s already happening to you in your life that’s due to that universal field of intelligence – how your hair grows and how your body digests food. Why wouldn’t you want to be able to access that intelligence for your bigger goals? The way we do that is by getting out of our own way – we do make plans but we simultaneously stay open to the twists of life.
Now, the third reason to go with the flow is simply: evolution. As we adjust and adapt our linear plan, we are learning. We are coming up against other situations that we might normally try to avoid. But, when we address those things that are happening in the moment directly, that actually allows us to see what we need to learn to move forward. If we don’t discount those things but instead trust that they need our attention, we actually have the opportunity to change and evolve. Without change we will never get to our goal. By definition, any goal that we have is going to require some change (otherwise we’d already have it). The best way to know what that change is, is to observe your life and let the flow of it bring these things to light. When we “go with the flow,” we are being present to what’s happening in life and how we’re being called to change and evolve.
So, this is my message for you today! It’s something I have to remember on a daily basis. I do tend to try to plan and control…but what I’ve found is that my life feels better and works better if I balance that with going with the flow. The more I continue to learn about science, the more this is reinforced for me. I hope this helps you too!
Today, I want to remind you of this science-based rule of happy living: only do what you want to get more of. What we find in scientific studies is that life is organized around vibration, and for us vibration refers to the intention that we hold. By holding onto a state of intention (a state of being) – whether it’s peace, joy, or anger – we create around us similar patterns and we draw to us similar patterns.
I want to remind you of this today because it’s key in getting to the goals that you want to achieve. I’ve noticed recently in all the ways people engage with each other – this reminder is needed!
Specifically, one of the ways I propose that you start considering this in your choices is this – let’s avoid insulting each other!
I’ve noticed an interesting thing in myself too as I scroll through Facebook occasionally (which I make sure only to do occasionally because it doesn’t help me maintain my preferred state of being). I’ve noticed that when I see things that I’m happy or excited about as I scroll, I just keep on scrolling. But as soon as I see something that I think is wrong or illogical or that I don’t agree with – then I want to comment! Now, I don’t do that because I notice that tendency first and I remember this scientific law of intention. Instead, I go and find something I like, and I support it.
This is really, really important to look at if reaching your goals and living in a better world is important to you. We must stop responding with insults. If you see things you appreciate being insulted by someone, the response of insulting the thing that they like is going to keep us in this hole – even if their statement is completely incorrect. I cannot stress this enough! Responding with insults is going to keep you in a hole in your life, and it’s going to keep our world in a hole. Instead, we need to remember that what we put out there is what we are going to continue to experience.
Think about how we teach children. If I want my child to learn to learn to engage in conflict peacefully, then yelling at them to tell them not to yell at me is ridiculously incorrect, and it is not going to get me to this place I envision. Instead – even though it’s hard and I don’t always succeed at it – when I approach this situation with a calm demeanor, and with an intention that I want this exchange to bring us closer, then that’s what I need to be doing to create the result I want. And it does, when I’m able to do it!
Now, I agree it’s difficult, but it’s simply the only effective solution. When these situations are on social media, these are great opportunities to practice because you’re not in the midst of it, you can take some time to work through it. Stop yourself from reacting. Ask: What world do I want to create? If you see a world where people can talk to each other calmly and express ideas, then engage that way. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and two insults don’t make a more peaceful world.
We must focus on how we’re interacting with others to make this world into the vision that we see. It’s really easy to find what other people are doing wrong. But really challenge yourself to look in the mirror. If you feel like there’s nothing, then I believe you haven’t looked close enough. We all have things we need to keep evolving in order to reach the end result that we want.
For me, this is the fun of life – being able to understand and evolve! My favorite moments are when I see something in a new way and then move beyond it to a new stage of my own growth.
So please take this to heart today if you, like me, see a world where people can coexist peacefully with differences. Please also share this with people who might want to be part of this conversation with you, who might help you work through this, who might be a sounding board for you as you delve into these ideas. We do need the help of a community! And, use science as your logical support to help you stay focused in that direction!
Today I want to talk about this metaphor of the “little drips.” These little drips add up, and they deserve our attention – especially in light of our world today.
I had a conversation recently with a friend that motivated me to make this a topic for today. We talked about how, as we see some of the major issues in the world, we feel this immediate desire to try to help – to drop everything and to make change happen. While actions will be part of the solution for sure, I think this type of situation also demands self-reflection.
For some people, it’s their calling to drop everything and go. But for others of us, that feeling to drop everything is largely a desire to try to fix the discomfort that we’re feeling about seeing the problem. It’s like you moved into a new house and you pulled back one of the panels on the wall to find a giant mold issue. We feel this inner response as a need to fix it.
What I want to call your attention to is that this mold problem started as a drip. Even those of us who are not directly in those moldy situations today, we have the drips that are contributing. By being responsible for looking at ourselves is sometimes how we do our part in the most effective way.
Specifically, with the exposed racism in our country today, we need to look at the drips in our own lives. I’m talking about that basic drip of: “Where do I treat another person differently because of a way they’re different than I am?”
I really believe that this happens very regularly in our lives, that we’re doing this and it’s under our radar. These prejudices need to become above the radar, and they need to be addressed. We must noticing our responses to someone who has a different style than we do, who has a different way of life than we do, and someone who is a different race than we are.
In some ways we adopt this closed view as a sort of survival skill: “I need to make sure that I conform to those around be so that I’m accepted and taken care of to survive in the world.” We need to find any places where we believe that and we need to shift them. While it may be a result of survival fears, it is not contributing to thriving in our lives individually or collectively.
We thrive by actually bringing differences into our lives – it’s those differences that cause our minds to expand and the world to grow in community. We can accomplish so much more together than we ever could trying to stay in our own little spheres where everyone is as much like us as they can be.
It’s a waste of time to judge somebody’s outfit, judge somebody’s accent – to judge people, period. We often do this subconsciously, and it’s time to really take a look. How do you respond to someone, what are those inner feelings that arise, and what are they based on?
One of my favorite things about working on the International Space Station Program was getting to work with other cultures, and other countries’ space programs. They always did things a little bit differently, but that spirit of cooperation lead to actually listening to that different point of view and the reasoning behind it. It allowed me to appreciate those differences so much more than I did going into that role.
So my request of you today is to be responsible for finding the places where those little drips are in yourself, in your own consciousness, and in your own interactions with others. In what ways are you treating someone else’s difference as a reason to discount them, or avoid them? I guarantee you that you’ll find something. Look for them in how you view your coworkers, your family members, the people who provide you services – they’re there. Those are the places where those drips are adding up and that we can do our part. We control our own consciousness, so we need to find out what’s there and change it if it’s not in alignment with the world we want to live in.
How well do you know yourself?
We’ve all had quite a bit of time away from our regular lives – more sequestered from others, maybe less dramatic on the outside than it was. Perhaps less busy, perhaps not, but certainly different. For me, in some ways life is a little bit more calm.
This question, then, is a really good one to be asking yourself right now. It’s a great time to be asking this because we might have more capability to really spend time with it. How you answer this question will tell you everything you need to know about why – or why not – you’re achieving certain goals in your life.
The more we know what goes on in our own minds, the better we’re going to be able to create the future that we want. Science supports this idea – quantum physics in particular. What’s going on inside our minds is literally the vision for our futures. So, if we are stuck in moving toward those places that we want to go, the answer is always going to come from self-reflection.
So what is it that you need to know? I’m talking about questions like this: What are your feelings on a day to day basis? What are your beliefs? What do you value? What do you stand for? What type of intention are you carrying with you?
These are the contributions from the universal field theory and quantum physics aspects of your consciousness – these are doing 80 percent of the creating in your life! The outer actions we take are necessary, but if the other parts are not in alignment too you will be forever held back from the goal.
There’s no path to the future that doesn’t come through getting to know yourself. So, I encourage you to increase your level of self-reflection. Whatever level of reflection you are at – challenge yourself to go a little bit deeper. One great way is through a journaling practice. In a journaling practice, you’re able to better hear yourself. We believe we know what we’re thinking, and we do to a degree, but when you see it reflected back at yourself, you realize its significance. You can see what your mind is consumed with. What are the topics it’s filled with? What are the ideas it’s filled with? The beliefs it’s filled with? The emotions and feelings? Once you see that, it’ll probably be very clear why life is the way that it is.
You can even journal your way toward your future by writing down the things you do want to bring into your mind more, the beliefs you do want to shift or challenge. There’s a lot of things that I’ve discovered in my mind through reflection that aren’t actually true, and definitely aren’t helping me get where I want to go. When I’ve gotten those things out in front of myself – whether it was in meditation, in journaling, in talking with a teacher or a coach – those were the difference-making moments.
Getting to know what’s in your mind is a necessary step. You can’t drive from one place to another without knowing where you’re starting. You can’t possibly get directions to San Francisco if you don’t know where you’re starting from, because in one case you need to go West and in another case you need to go South. It’s very important to know where you started from because that is what informs what the next step is.
So please, get to know yourself better. Getting to know yourself can feel scary at times, but it’s going through that fear that’s going to lead you to where you want to go. What’s in there is already there, so actually seeing it isn’t going to make anything worse. Whatever’s there can be dealt with.
There’s a lot of stuff in our consciousness that we didn’t choose to put there. Letting go of any tendency to judge yourself is going to be key in the process of getting to know yourself. We don’t want to open ourselves to people who are judging us, and the same thing goes for ourselves. So, allow yourself that self-acceptance.
My goal is to help you reach your goals. One of the very important ways to do that is increasing your level of self-awareness. You can start right now!
Welcome! Today, my question for you to ponder is: Are you still dreaming?
My goal is to always help you move toward the life you envision and the goals you set using the principles of science. You have this mind that can organize information well and that can understand the workings of science – I take those same ideas and bring them into the realm of your regular day-to-day life. Science is working all the time; it doesn’t just apply to things we look at in microscopes or telescopes – science is actually helping create YOUR life as well.
The concept I want to talk about today is dreaming, or imagination. Einstein has a quote that I had a lot of trouble understanding initially. But, over the last couple decades as I’ve been developing the Logical Evolution Framework, I’ve understood it clearly. His quote is: “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
In this case, I want you to ask yourself: Are you imagining your future? Are you in a creative space around what your future can be? Or, are you basing your future simply on what’s happening now or what’s happened in the past?
We’re all in a state somehow or another of pause. But your dreaming does not have to be on pause. In fact, the more your put it on pause, the longer it will stay that way. This is because the realm of quantum physics teaches us that our outcomes are drawn toward the vision that we hold. So, if you’re giving your mind only what’s happening now, it has no way to give you more. It’s literally science, and what scientists observe when they study quantum physics – how we look at things makes the outcome change. Quantum physics is saying that your future life is being determined by how you see things, and especially how you see things becoming in the future.
Whether or not you know when things are going to be different on the outside, the mind doesn’t need to worry about timeline when it’s imagining, dreaming, and creating – the mind simply needs to be in that state of dreaming. Creating the images is a separate idea from a timeline. The true nature of the universe is really not about time, and when we try to bring time into it we usually end up stalling our progress in some way.
What I encourage you to do is to first think about this question: Have I stopped dreaming in some way? Have you noticed yourself thinking of some great big idea, some exciting things about the future, but then I find yourself pulling back from that because of something you don’t know? It’s in those moments that you want to start catching yourself and letting yourself dream.
I’m someone who’s had to work at this, I do find myself sometimes holding back from dreaming if I’m not really able to be sure I can do something. But anything big, anything that’s a giant shift from where we are now, we’re not going to be “sure.” My ability to dream and imagine, while also not “knowing for sure,” has been something I’ve practiced over time. Now is a great time to practice this!
Can you get excited about your future? Can you see dreams happening in your life, just feel them happening? Let yourself be immersed in that. The more you’re able to do that, the more quantum physics can work for you.
There are three levels, which I go into detail in my course about, but quantum physics is right there in the middle. You need to have all three levels aligned with your goal in order to see it happen in the most efficient way. So, having the realm of quantum physics engaged in the future you want is essential.
So I ask you to think about this, and if you’d like to share any thoughts with me, please do. I love to engage with other logical-minded people who are looking to evolve – that is my main mission in life and what brings me the most joy.
Happy dreaming!
The topic today is SPACE, which I love for many reasons. The first reason I love it led me to my career path as an aerospace engineer – I’ve worked for the International Space Station program and the Space Shuttle Program, and now I work for the Dream Chaser Program. Obviously, the exploration of outer space is key to my life and is a passion of mine.
However, today I’m talking about a different kind of space – not an outer space but an inner space. In particular, it’s space for our minds. I want to encourage you to look at how much time in your day you’re allowing yourself to have space – real space. I’m not talking about setting the to do list aside for 5 minutes, I’m talking about giving yourself time when there’s an emptiness of activity, when there’s a pause, when you actually can focus on just being where you are.
This is something I had to learn the value of – I’m more of a check the box, move forward, get going kind of person. But eventually I realized that this approach wasn’t actually taking me to the best places in life and the places I wanted to go.
If you have anything new you want to create in your life – whether it’s a new relationship, a new level of wealth, a new level of health – it will require space, because space is the necessary ingredient for creativity. The opposite of space is only taking things in, filling up our day with action, moving outward with our attention instead of inward.
Much of our time during the day is spent “doing things” – whether it’s tasks for our job, taking care of our family, or taking care of ourselves, there’s a lot of this “doing” that does have to happen. However, at some point during the day, every day, you must find a pause – if you want to be able to create more. My goal is to help you create the future that you’re hoping for. So, for that reason alone, space is something to consider adding more of to your life.
When we’re busy ingesting information nonstop, we don’t give our minds a chance to be creative. With “receive only” mode, we’re reacting to something from the outside versus generating something new from within. When we give ourselves that period to pause, it finally gives our minds the chance to express something. At first, it’s going to be interesting to see what’s there if it’s not something you do regularly! At first, there’s often some trash to take out.
But once they are given the chance to go beyond that, our minds start to generate ideas and insights. If I’ve been busy, and then go for a yoga class or a jog, I make a significant shift after just 5-10 minutes. Giving my mind that pause generates insights that I have been waiting for and answers to questions that I’ve been asking for a while. Whatever that “pause” looks like for you – make time for it in your day.
Often, I’ll notice that when I have a few minutes to relax, I’ll flop down on the couch and start the social media scroll. I’ve stopped keeping my phone on me 24/7 simply to call my attention to this and avoid it. I encourage you to do the same. Simply putting your phone elsewhere will create pause moments for you. Even if you have an intention to scroll less, it can be something we start to do without even being aware we do it if we can grab our phone mindlessly from our pockets.
To create something new in our lives, we need to give our minds that time to expand, and the only way it can expand outward is if it has the space to do so. It’s a great start to use those activities we get absorbed in. Ultimately, I recommend meditation to all those I work with on creating conscious life change. That can mean literally just sitting somewhere, closing your eyes, locking the door, setting a timer for 2 or 5 minutes, and just being with yourself. The harder it is the more you need it.
The more space you have in your mind means more possibilities for creating. If you want something new or different in your life, you’re going to need creative space. Even a few minutes makes a world of difference!
I want to tell you about how to gain instant insight into how quantum physics works, and instant strength toward something you are working on achieving. If you’re like me, you set a lot of goals, and some are harder to stay on the path towards than others!
One recurring goal I set is cleaning up my eating. It seems like I’m always resetting that goal because it’s hard for me. Since that’s one of my challenging areas, I definitely get into periods where my strength for maintaining progress on that is waning. I invite you to consider what area or goal in your life feels that way right now. Where do you feel strength, desire, or motivation for your goal waning?
At those times, we need a jolt of strength, and it can happen in an instant. Instant strength comes from committing to our goal. I know that you’ve probably heard that before, but I want to share it with you in a new way – in the context of quantum physics. What you experience in that moment of commitment gives you a glimpse of what quantum physics does in your life, the role that it plays in creating your world and your particular individual life.
One of the best experiences I have to explain it comes from when I would be in a yoga class. When I’m a student in the class and I’m holding a challenging pose, I can feel the waning of my strength. But in that moment when I’m holding a pose and that pose is difficult, how committed I am to holding it in my mind drastically affects my experience and my results.
If I’m holding the pose and I’m connected to my goal – I remember that I want to become stronger and healthier; I’m thinking about how this particular moment is helping me achieve that – it helps me be in that moment of difficulty. If I’m holding the pose and not connected to the goal, my experience is much different. In this case I’m thinking things like: it’s ok if I stop early; I’m not really sure I can hold it. Any thoughts along those lines would always lead me to feel very weak in the pose and usually resulted in me coming out early.
But if you’re working toward a goal, it’s necessary to sustain the activities that you need to achieve it. So in those times when you are feeling strength waning, you need to have something to help boost it. Recommitment will give you instant strength.
Life in general wants to move along the path of least resistance: there’s gravity pulling us down; there’s water that flows downhill; there’s air moving from high to low pressure. If we want to do anything that moves against that flow, it’s going to be challenging, and we’ll have times that we feel our strength waning. I’m reading Glennon Doyle’s book Untamed, and in it she talks about “the right kind of hard.” As we face these periods, there’s something about knowing that what we’re doing is the right kind of hard; that it’s hard for a purpose. It’s always an alternative to stop, but in those moments if instead you stop and reflect on what you want and recommit, it will help you.
This is an important glimpse into quantum physics. Quantum physics responds to our observations; it is trying to create the images that we hold. In my yoga pose example, I can feel the difference. When I imagine myself staying in the pose, I actually feel it starting to happen because I see myself staying with it. When I’m seeing myself stopping, my whole world is going to start to evolve toward that. You can feel that you start instantly moving toward that outcome that you have in your mind.
That’s quantum physics!
What you’re holding as your future, you are instantly starting to move toward. It’s those moments of recommitting that will pull you along, and you’ll use the whole science of creation that exists in the world – quantum physics being a huge piece of the puzzle.
What do you need to recommit to? I know there are things you want that it’s hard to keep moving toward. But I’m here to remind you – recommit, pull in the strength, see your desired future, and let quantum physics pull you toward it.
Being a logical thinker, I’m guessing you’re going to like the way I’m going to present this information to you today. Your success is important to me – I’m always looking for you to get greater results, specifically by using the logic that comes naturally to you.
One of the ways I do that is to use equations and to think about things in terms of the variables involved that lead to a result. When it comes to getting results you want, your important variables are CLARITY and FOCUS.
RESULTS = CLARITY + FOCUS
Clarity means that you know what the goal is, you understand the steps, you understand why you want to reach that goal, and you have a clear vision of what it is you want to achieve. Clarity is seeing what you desire in detail, and being able to explain it in detail. The second piece, focus, is actually using your resources toward that. Focus is like the operation of a magnifying glass to the sun rays, it brings energy together in a way that amplifies its effectiveness.
The important variables in getting results, according to this equation, are clarity and focus. So, if you’re having trouble arriving at some of the results of the goals you have in mind, think about these two things specifically. There’s a lot of other things we can talk about, things I go into a lot more detail on in my longer courses, but just looking at these two will give you a huge boost toward your goals if you stop and really check these out.
Ask yourself about clarity – Do I really know what I want? This answer must be specific, not a generality like “I want to be healthier,” “I’d like to have more money,” or “I’d like to have a better relationship.” Define the result specifically and clearly. From there, it’s about determining the actions you need to take and following through. We all know quite a few actions we need to take, but it’s a matter of really stopping and taking the time to list and plan those out. You don’t have to figure out all the steps, or even more than one step, but you DO need to take a step.
Ask yourself about focus – Am I using my resources (time, money, energy) in alignment with my desired result? For example, if a goal you have involves purchasing something expensive, you examine your budget spreadsheet. You look at whether spending priorities match your life goals. Maybe you’ll see a way you can divert money from less important areas to this priority to create what you need. Many people also describe a challenge with the resource of time. However, if you examine your day’s time expenditures in relationship to your priorities, you could find it. If you’ve determined that you need 20 minutes each day to exercise, or study a skill you need to gain, then look at your day. At the very least getting up 20 minutes earlier would give you 20 extra minutes, or going to bed 20 minutes later. Or maybe there’s a way that you can watch 20 minutes less of tv or take a book to read while waiting for an appointment. If you’re looking for a solution rather than an excuse, there’s very likely 20 minutes that you can find.
So, there’s hope! If there’s something you’re stuck on, let’s look at the equation. Is the clarity in place and is the focus in place? Do I know what I want and am I taking steps? Both of those things can be a challenge at different times in our lives. We manage to be very “busy” throughout the day, but did we focus our efforts on the things we want to be effective at? I encourage you to look at these questions today.
Today I want to introduce you to an important gauge that you have available to you. This gauge needs to be one of your main references when you are moving through your day – in particular when you are making decisions. This gauge measures “expansion” versus “contraction.”
These two states can be likened to that of our nervous system – we know about the fight or flight response versus the relaxation response. This is one aspect of this gauge that you may be already familiar with.
Think about the state of fight or flight – it’s a stressful state. In this state, we have emotions like anxiety, fear, anger, and frustration – all these things that tighten our bodies up. This is contraction, and it’s a physical, emotional, and mental state. Not only does your body get tense, but your emotions become those tense types of emotions (fear, anger), and your mind gets tense as well. You feel there are only two options available to you – you can fight or you can flee. This is all indicative of being in a state of contraction.
On the other side of the gauge, though, is the state of expansion. For the nervous system, this is the relaxation response. Think of the last time you were in a relaxation response. For me, I think about my rooftop deck, and sitting in the breeze that’s been so nice and cool lately, seeing the mountains off my deck, and reading a book or having a nice mug of chai. This relaxation response feels calm and open. My body feels relaxed and open physically, my emotions are relaxed – I feel calm, joy, and peace. My mind is also relaxed – this is when ideas come! Instead of feeling limited to fighting or fleeing, I am creative. This is a creative space.
Movement on this gauge is happening throughout your day. If you’ve not noticed it before, one place you can really start to see it is when you’re scrolling news or social media on your phone. I find it very useful for me to use my gauge any time I’m scrolling! I’ll read a post or a headline, which is usually just marginally accurate to a story, and I’ll feel it. I’ll feel my state of expansion flip right over to contraction.
What I want to bring your attention to in particular is the mental shift. I think we all have heard a lot about the physical shifts, and we’re getting more familiar with the emotional shifts. But mentally, we must realize that in a state of contraction we cut ourselves off from all creativity – and creativity is a necessary part of logical and open-minded thinking.
If you’ve had an anger or fear response to something, you are no longer expanded. A key benefit of knowing your state is to make sure you avoid making big decisions when you are in a contracted state. A contracted state is not a place that will lead to decisions for your long-term good. You highest good comes from a place of expansion – this is when you really can know what’s true because you have all options available to be looked at with a calm mind. If you’ve switched over to contraction, then you’re cut off from seeing the truth. You’re in survival mode, and survival mode is different from thriving mode.
As you go through your day, start to reflect on this. In the beginning, it’s not going to come naturally, so you may want to set a timer to remind yourself to check in every hour. Close your eyes or just take your attention inward. Physically, are you feeling a tight or relaxed body? Emotionally, are you feeling fear and anger or peace and calm? Mentally, are you feeling closed in and limited or are you feeling open minded and creative?
The first thing to do if you find yourself in a state of contraction is to make a shift. It could be as easy as physically relaxing, taking a deep breath, and checking in mentally to a place of gratitude and calm. The more you can keep yourself in a state of expansion, the more you’ll be capable of manifesting the life you want, and truly thriving.
Make a commitment to developing a state of ongoing expansion in order to see your life evolve.
Welcome! If you are a human, you have a relationship with the word “perfect” and with an idea of perfection. Today, I encourage you to redefine it for yourself. I’m giving you three keys to follow so that PREFECT doesn’t prevent your PROGRESS.
Key #1: First, look at what you think “perfect” means, specifically. “Perfect” is also tied up in the word “failure,” so reflect on what both concepts mean to you, and what your specific definition of each word is. I have definitely been through quite a journey with my relationship to those words. I spent 12 years working in Mission Control in Houston where that’s literally the motto – failure is not an option! So perfection and failure have been a thread for me, and my guess is that if you’re a logical thinker, it has been for you too. My relationship with failure and perfection has really come a long way. Investigating what they mean to you reveals the elusive nature of the words. Without definition, the pursuit of “perfect” is a constant feeling that you are falling short.
Key #2: Second, you must know the “needle movers” in your life. A needle-moving activity is one that is more significant in taking your life and most important goals forward. For example, taking out the trash might be on your list for the day, and so might spending 30 minutes of devoted attention to your children or partner. Those two things might be on your list, but one of them is more of a needle mover in your life and carries more weight. I can still remember the first time I was able to cross something off my to do list that wasn’t done – I was able to remove something from my to do list! It sounds silly now, but it was a very big deal when it happened for the first time many years ago. In the past, if I wrote something on my to do list, my joy and self-judgement became immediately tied to getting those things done. If it was on my list and I didn’t accomplish it, I used that as a stick on myself, feeling that I wasn’t measuring up. Knowing what’s important to do versus what’s not important is a big key. All things on your to do list are not created equal and we should not treat them that way. So if you’ve identified your needle-moving activities you know at the end of the day that you’ve made progress.
Key #3: Third, you must use intention. This is a very underused mode of making progress. I’ve spent some time looking into quantum physics, and I recommend that you do the same (I have other videos on that if you’re interested). The physics bottom line is that intention has been shown to create impact. One of the ways I evaluate my satisfaction is based on how aligned I have been with my intention. At the end of the day, I want to feel like I treated people well and that I showed up for the most part (not 100 percent!) as the person I want to be. If I was able to identify at least one time during the day where I was off my intention (like becoming impatient with my son), and I changed that in the moment and realigned – that is something that I feel great about, because that’s hard! It’s hard to shift an emotional and intentional state because it takes awareness and it takes humility – things not commonly taught. What I know from studying quantum physics is that at the end of the day I can be 100 percent sure that the time I spent aligned with my intention moved me profoundly forward. So even if I didn’t get some of the needle movers done that day, I know that I made progress.
Perfect for me was this elusive attempt to be satisfied with my life and myself. But I hadn’t defined it specifically, I hadn’t understood relative importance in my daily activities, and I hadn’t used intention to amplify it. Ultimately, it is up to you to live in a way that truly feels deeply satisfying in your heart. I hope the three keys I have shared with you today help you find it for yourself.
Hello! Today’s message starts with a question. At any point over the last week, have you made yourself feel guilty or experienced guilt over anything? If the answer is yes, and especially if that’s a recurring experience for you, then keep listening!
Now, I wonder if you’ve been in either or both of these two scenarios before: Scenario 1 is that you’ve had a person in your life you felt really supported by – the kind of friend you could tell anything to and can be yourself completely with. Scenario 2 is that you’ve had a person in your life who offers the opposite experience – someone who’s critical of you – when you’re with them, you feel you’re never quite measuring up to their standards.
I’m guessing that you can relate to both. So then, the question becomes: Which person are you to YOURSELF? Are you that accepting friend, or are you that critical person?
This is a key question! You have the ability to choose which way to relate to yourself – and I bet it comes as no surprise that being the accepting type of person to yourself is going to get you much farther than being the critical type. It helps you more now, and it helps you more in the future. Let’s look at how.
How does it help you more now? Consider a comparison of the experiences you’ve had with both of those types of people in your life. When you open up and share a challenge, which one resolves more for you? I’ve had experiences with both types of people too. When I’ve shared with a critical person, I feel worse, with more layers of guilt, which usually drives me to make additional choices that are less helpful to me. On the other hand, I’ve had many experiences sharing challenges with the accepting person in the first scenario. In those cases, not only do I feel accepted, but I find I’m able to actually work through the experience. I often hear myself sharing in a way that allows me to solve many of my own problems and answer a lot of my own questions. The accepting environment helps me move through it.
How does it help me in the future? Simply stated – quantum physics. This reveals that the way that you are being now affects your future. Not only do you feel better in the moment when dealing with an accepting person, but it actually puts you into a positive space. If you’re bogged down by guilt, you’re going to continue creating experiences that draw more guilt – you’ll see through that lens, and be driven toward decisions that aren’t helpful.
There’s another key point related to this: When you’re in a situation where you know you’ll be accepted, you can open up. The same thing works with yourself. If I’m accepting myself, I’m able to see more clearly and truthfully. If I’m treating myself critically, I’m literally preventing myself from seeing the things that are helpful for my future. If I’m creating guilt for myself, I’m going to want to run from that situation; I’m going to want to mentally avoid it. As we saw before, when I’m accepted, I open up and can actually see bigger, move through the challenge, and get answers.
Guilt does not equal growth. If we want to grow, we must be able to see clearly the things we need to change. We can only do that if we set the stage with an internal environment of acceptance. So, if you’ve been taught in the past that guilt leads to change, I invite you question that. Eliminate guilt from your own relationship with yourself.
Welcome! Today I want to ask you about how well you’ve been embracing the NOW. There are two specific things that I’m going to offer to you that could really help you thrive in this period of uncertainty.
We can tend to lock into the way our habits and routines are. Then, when life makes a transition, we fail to make a transition in our habits. Instead, we “white knuckle it” through that transition. If we feel something will be short-term, we don’t really let ourselves adapt, we kind of just wait around until things come back to normal. I’ve definitely done that myself at times, and had a tendency to be impatient for “getting back to normal.”
We can experience a desire to just get to the other side of a transition or get through an uncertain period. But what I want to remind you of today, is that this approach won’t help us thrive. Anytime we are just waiting for something, we’re really keeping ourselves from fully thriving.
So, I ask you to reflect and ask yourself – How have I been embracing the now? How have I adjusted my life to thrive as best as I can? Am I trying to do the same things in this stay-at-home situation as I was before? Or have I taken the time to step back for a moment and ask what does my ideal life structure look like within this environment? Right now, life is different. And the same things that worked before aren’t going to work right now.
I had a conversation with my wife about this. I’m working from home right now during the day and she’s caring for our 3.5 year old son. We talked about how we don’t need to pretend things haven’t changed. We don’t need to pretend that I’m at work and we’re not together, because that’s not what’s happening. What IS happening is that we’re all home! Yes, I’m getting my engineering work done during the day and they’re playing, but we’re still home together and we can have a different flow of the day. We can have lunch together; I can take a 15-minute play break so she can go get a break or a shower. I can adjust my day’s structure to the situation in a way that can help me thrive.
So if you haven’t already, I encourage you to jot down notes or journal about this question: What does my ideal day look like under these circumstances we’re in?
There’s no need to pretend things are the same way, when they’re not. You might be able to adjust your life in a way that maybe you always wished you could! I love being able to have lunch with my family and then go back to working. I can do that right now. So, what are ways you can adjust your day to be fully embracing how you are, not pretending things are the way they were? That’s my first suggestion to you – think that through.
The second thing I want to suggest is that you consider ways to really make this time more novel, to bring more novelty into your day. Bring in something funny, something that breaks up the day and adds a newness to it – like having a Zoom call with family and friends. At my house, we’ve enjoyed taking slow motion videos of things and checking them out. It’s super fun for all of us! It’s just fun and it breaks up the day with newness. We’re not really getting that as much as we used to! We’re not out and about, we’re not hearing other people’s stories, so we need to find ways to bring that newness and fun into our lives.
So those are my thoughts for you today. Embracing the now – adjusting your life to what’s happening now so that you can be fully thriving, and not waiting for things to “get back to normal.” And how can you add novelty, some fun, to your day? I welcome any ideas you want to share – reach out to me or comment!
Today I want to bring up something I’ve seen repetitively as I’ve been in my house, like a lot of the rest of us, staying put during the pandemic. I’ve noticed two seemingly conflicting messages on social media.
One of those messages is: be productive. This is the message of getting more done and maximizing this time that we have, since many of our lives are disrupted in a way that keeps us more at home. Some people are out actively engaging, but there’s a good portion of us needing to just be at home. I fall into that second category too; I’m working from home and I’m staying in my house. Then there’s another message: give yourself a break, relax, don’t put so much pressure on yourself, you’re doing your best and don’t worry about trying to “be productive.”
I ask you to consider that they’re both good messages and they’re both what we need to be doing to make ourselves feel the best that we can. We want to be productive in the sense that we want to feel good about how we spent our time; we want to feel the momentum of our life still moving forward even if we can’t do the same things and engage in the world in the same way. But we also want to give ourselves a break, be accepting and kind to ourselves. To me, that’s actually the best combination, because those two goals involve different parts of ourselves. They’re different aspects of who we are, and they’re actually different realms of science.
Being productive in how we’re choosing to spend our time physically is one part of the world. This is the realm of science that is Newton’s Laws. The other part about how we’re relating to ourselves is of the quantum realm or the universal field. This is how the world operates as well, just at a different level.
So, when the message of “be productive” comes along, that’s suggesting to us that we want to choose our physical actions to be things that move our lives forward. Why wouldn’t we want to do that? We don’t want to emerge from our houses in 1 month…or 6 months feeling like we backpedaled from where we wanted to be. That time is going to pass whether we use that time to move the momentum of our lives forward or if we don’t. I think that message is a good one: let’s make conscious choices about what our actions are.
The other message is needed as well. How are we going to be internally on those more subtle realms of the universe? I think being kind to ourselves and giving ourselves a break is essential as well. Not only do I want to feel like I moved my life forward, but I want to feel relaxed within that.
The person you’re with the most, regardless of whether we are in this situation or not, is yourself. If you can interact with yourself and relate to yourself in a way that helps you to feel calm, which usually means with kindness and understanding, you’re going to come out of this stronger, and you’re going to feel better every day.
So, for me it’s not a choice of whether I should be productive or I should accept myself. It’s an “and.” I want to be productive AND I want to accept myself. Neither of these need to be perfect.
Being productive doesn’t mean that all of a sudden you are getting 5 times done what you normally did, or that you are taking on another project. I personally don’t have “more time,” because I’m a parent of a 3 year old and I am still working my job (just from home) as well. I don’t have more time. I’m not trying to get more done than I did before, but I am trying to keep the momentum going of the projects I had already identified. I am focused on that and being kind to myself in the process.
I ask you to consider that today. Are you seeing the two messages as conflicting or do you see how they work together as a way to be during this time that helps us to feel the most grounded and centered that we can be? Where can you do both productivity and self-acceptance, and bring those together in a way that helps you get through this as strongly as you can?
Welcome! Today we’re all experiencing a similar state of unpredictability. We often face small periods of unpredictability, but it’s been a long time since we’ve experienced such a collective unpredictability, and an unpredictability to such a degree.
We’re in the middle of dealing with this pandemic, and it’s affecting everyone. It gives us an opportunity to really look at something together, to be able to use the same thing in our investigation. It’s really easy to talk about something when we have it in common. Usually we need to draw parallels, and that works, but when we have the same situation to look at together, that can make our conversations even more powerful.
So, today, I want to bring your attention to the unpredictable nature of not just this time, but of life. We often use unpredictability as an excuse to put things off, to delay, to avoid, and to keep us from setting the kind of habits we need to get to the places we really want to be in life. It’s actually NOT essential that we GET to that specific goal we have in mind, but it IS important that we HAVE that specific goal in mind. What happens along the way is usually something better than we could have imagined, but it also gives us something to move toward. We often think we have clear goals for life, but if you find yourself easily putting things off because of something unpredictable, you’ll have to ask yourself whether it’s really a goal.
There are some people right now in this particular event we’re experiencing who have to go and take specific action because of their role in this world. For the rest of us who need to just stay where we are, we’re in a different situation, and we’re in a place where we can really look at our relationship to unpredictability. Think back to how you’ve been using your time over these past several days. Unless you’ve been very focused on your goal, I bet it’s been all over the board, and probably a little bit of just doing things to pass time…like binge watching tv and things of that nature.
Some things we may be saying to ourselves as a way to delay taking action on our goals (now or at other times) are, “when this is done” or “when I get to that place” or “when this settles out.” There’s never going to be this “settled” place. Life is always in motion, and it’s always to some degree or another unpredictable. Sometimes we’re more aware of the unpredictability than other times, this being one of them!
So I want to encourage you to look at your relationship to unpredictability, and to let that inform you whether you really need to sit down and get clear on your goals and your vision. If you do have this idea of your goal and your vision but there’s not been any action, then that’s where you need to look. There’s always a way to make progress, even where we are today. There’s always a way to get creative around how you can move toward that goal. Granted, in many cases it has to look different right now than what you thought, but that’s the beauty of having a clear goal – you know where you need to move toward. You’re just asking yourself, what can I do to move me closer to that place now? It’s quite possibly a much different action than you thought you’d be taking right now, but there’s still something you can do.
We never know how long unpredictability is going to last; there’s always going to be a different variation on it. So I’m here to remind you that RIGHT NOW is a time to take action.
I’m here if you want to reach out to me! We need to connect globally, virtually, as much as possible, so I invite and welcome anything you want to share with me. You can reach me through my website, and please do share this video with others you think might benefit from it. I, too, am missing connection with the world, so let me know how I can be there for you, and how we can be there for each other!