Joy Before Goals

Society has begun to embrace more of the ancient concepts of personal development through neuroscience. What’s amazing, is that ancient civilizations actually spoke about these discoveries as fact long before we quantified them to be true. What neuroscience has shown us is that life has less to do with gain and more to do with awareness and knowledge which is where our awareness of self comes from. That’s the real emotion or better stated…Energy-in-Motion.

In my seminars, I share many stories that I fascinate myself with. It's hard to believe the crazy life I have been blessed with. Someone once said, instead of having a successful person on stage sharing how he/she made it, we should have the one who failed greatly on stage to share what he did so we could avoid the same pitfalls. Well, I have many of failures to share but some amazing benefits from those failures. When I look at all of the experiences and the people that I have worked with and known on a personal level, many of them, the world views as exceptional. I realize that my Forest Gump type of life has allowed me to gain a perspective, one being how many of these people we hold up high, have the same worker-bee struggle most have working for a company.

They have expectations by society, peers, and managers (mid-year review). They are in competition with many of their peers (sales), can be fired by their music label, sponsor, (merger, layoff’s), and they can’t actually say what they feel with fans (client/customer). As I do life and business coaching, I can’t help but see the similarities when a client shares how they hate doing their job.

I recall coaching a well-known music artist who was on drugs. He justified his depression and drug use by complaining that he was so bored with life and how he had to sing the same song hundreds of times as if he had never sung it before. He saw his music career as his daily drive to-and-from work with no end in sight. His artistic expression was becoming drudgery for him. There is a perspective, right?

What about those I have met and worked with that are not famous? I have met and worked with men and women who have changed our society on a different level! Self-development guru’s, engineers/inventors, owners of football teams, owners of major franchises chains, and banks, This is not to boost but to make a point. I have had many long conversations, lessons, deep dialog, and befriend some of these men and women on a level that transcend what we would call normal. These hidden billionaires saw life differently. Around the time, most of them were in their late 70’s which is why I call them “My Sedona Sages” and because, many of them lived in Sedona, AZ. Now that neuroscience has become mainstream, I would say, these men and women already instinctively knew this stuff way before it was the norm. They understood the power of the subconscious and it's impact on your perception.

This was not evident to me until I left the world of entertainment/fitness and moved into a corporate. As I shared, earlier, I could see many similarities between celebrities and the daily-grind. Even so, I still became like my artist friend, confused about my life’s purpose. Fear set in and my passion for life faded as I ended up living for a paycheck. I became unhealthy, suicidal and for what reason? I had money, a big house, and pay check. What was missing… could I be like the artist who just had no perspective and lack of appreciation for a good job? 

Due to this being a short message and not my book, let’s cut it short and say after being mentored by My Sedona Sages, I learned to stop focusing on my issues but focus on something much deeper. I had to reach for the stars with an open hand, vs. a closed first. I had to look outside myself to find myself. Okay…enough analogies. What I wanted in my life was the sense of purpose. I learned that the body is not self, it’s a temporal house of the self. With my job, I spent too much time focused on doing a job that required me to live 90% of time stressing on issues that appeared to be self-induced by peers who were trying to fix them.

To be honest, I don’t know what would have happened if I did not hear the words of my Sedona Sages. These men and women were always willing to give me mental slapping on a daily basis. Due to their efforts, I soon developed a passion to teach others which is the reason why I dug into NLP, neuroscience and emotional intelligence using coaching, consulting, and seminars as my doorway to serve others.

 Below are a few things I was taught by My Sedona Sages that are timeless learning for anyone.

• If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought ever again.

Every moment your thoughts affects your mental a physical health. What’s interesting about this is that everyone you are in contact with by phone or in person picks this up. The brain responds to your mind by sending these neurological signals throughout the body which means that your thoughts and emotions are transformed into physiological energy/effects. I can send you peer reviewed scientific studies that prove, people's hormones change by they way you feel even when there are no words. Just breathing in your space changes them.

The stress to find business, worry about your future, other people’s success, their perceptions of you, comparison, etc. all have negative impacts mentally and physically if you’re not aware of how to counteract them. These thoughts create Cortisol to coinciding with our subconscious and conscious thoughts. This chemical along with many others pumps into the blood stream and tells the body to shift the blood from the logical creative area of your brain to the part of the brain that is there for survival and emotional responses. The over-stimulation of stressful thoughts produces more cortisol than what’s good for us and it’s that one thing that inhibits creativity and the ability to think outside the box. Cortisol is also known to influence weight gain and contribute to heart disease. I saw this to be true when top producing salesmen I knew were dying at 50 years of age.

• The only way to be content or feel joy is to be joy first. Don't wait to see progress in some way before you choose joy. 

We should all live life as a kid anticipating going to Disney Land tomorrow. That energy alone would be infectious to any new client, spouse, friend, or co-worker. How do you get joy? Using a daily ritual in your meditation/prayer life, reading, and writing changes your brain. Writing goals especially the ones you fear helps your subconscious take steps toward them. All of these actions creates what’s called Dopamine which improves the immune system. Dopamine is considered to be the motivator chemical in our body. But, the trick is to be joyful about the journey and not stressed about achieving it. Only then will others feel your joy and passion in a way that can move mountains.

Make sure you stay away from the disease of comparison. We are continually bombarded subconsciously with what we don’t have. Rewire your brain to focus on your own efforts and success so not to compare your inward success to someone else’s outward appearance. 

• The mind can be your friend or enemy, you choose. There are three major subconscious activities by the mind. 

1) Keep you safe. As soon as you have an idea or desire that is not in-step with what you are already doing, your mind rationalizes you out of doing it. Example: Your mind starts to say “It will take too long or I have no time”. Fight past this and do it anyway! 

2.) Comfort - Your mind will always lean towards what’s most comfortable and furthest from pain. It’s much more comfortable to watch TV or sleep vs. getting up early to go after those dreams. Push through this! All, not some, but ALL of the most successful people I have met, get up at 4:30 AM and have rituals that improve themselves vs. a company, job, or family. It’s their time!

3.) Makes your outside world match your internal expectations. This may be one reason why you have very similar experience in your life. Take stock of the things that keep repeating and make effort using a coach or mentor to change it! This is where I come in to play. Reach out to receive a 30-minute Mindfulness Neuro-Coaching session.

• You’re still growing – Every morning when you wake up, new baby nerve cells have been born while you were sleeping

These cells are at your disposal to be used in tearing down toxic thoughts and rebuilding healthy thoughts. The birth of these new baby nerve cells is called neurogenesis. Your body is not in control of your mind; your mind is in control of your body. You are designed to stand outside yourself and observe your own thinking. So, every morning when you wake up, wire in new thoughts to start your day.

• Learning new things, should lead to new choices
• New choices, leads to new experiences
• New experiences, leads to new emotions
• New emotions, leads to inspiring new thoughts

Become a Sedona Sage