Author: Pete Jones

Each day we wake up, the reset button has been pushed.  WE decide what kind of mindset to have, what kind of mood we are going to be in, and what we want to do for THAT day.  When we awaken, our baseline emotion begins to come into play.  The thoughts we generate which set us up for the rest of the day determine that baseline emotion.  We are in control of our momentum.  A consistent, habitual morning routine is incredibly helpful-ESPECIALLY one that begins the day through the up-leveling filter of GRATITUDE.

Our thoughts create an electrical event which instantly tells the body which chemical cocktail to produce and inject into our blood stream.  Within 2 pumps of the heart, these chemicals and hormones have reached every part of the body, producing a feeling.  The feelings we have then create a magnetized, vibrational, energetic frequency which transmits outward, attracting to us all circumstances, situations, people, and things in alignment with how we FEEL, and repelling everything that is NOT in alignment with how we feel.  What and how we habitually think and choose to focus on is entirely within our control and is of the utmost importance in creating, manifesting, and projecting the EXACT personal reality we want MOST.

WE ARE CREATORS.

We can wait for life to happen TO us, or we can create a life that happens FOR us.

Everything is made up of vibrational energy, including us.  Our repeated thoughts and what we choose to focus on empowers us to vibrate at a certain frequency, or level.  The quality of our thoughts and focus creates the quality of the vibrational frequency at which WE vibrate and operate.  The quality of the vibrational frequency at which we operate, directly correlates to the quality of the speech we use, decisions we make, reactions we allow from ourselves towards others, and every action we choose to allow to continue from others.  The more often we think a certain thought, ESPECIALLY WHILE FEELING GOOD, the higher the probability is that this thought will become a reality.  The more we think on a certain thing and focus on it, the faster it becomes a reality.  We are creators.  It all starts in the mind.

Napoleon Hill’s book, THINK AND GROW RICH, describes this process incredibly well.

Have you ever been around someone who always seems to be bubbly and happy?  Have you ever been around someone who is never happy, always frowning, and always seems to need stress and drama in their lives in order to feel, “normal?”

For years, I believed that I wasn’t in control of anything.  I felt tossed about by life like a small boat out on a stormy sea.  My baseline emotion was one of apprehension, uncertainty, and general unhappiness.  Stress, anxiety, and depression became my natural baseline emotional makeup.  It wasn’t until I realized that implementing a new and improved belief system and a strategy of new habits and patterns that drove me to success in ALL areas of my life, beginning through thought alone, that things really started to change for me.  When things changed for me, they also changed for everyone around me, most importantly at that time in me life for my three sons. 

I am thankful every day I now have so many big reasons in my life to change, grow, evolve, progress, and improve, each and every day, for the rest of this life.

A great morning routine is all about building momentum.  Tony Robbins calls morning routines, “Priming.”  A good morning routine is exactly like PRIMING A PUMP.  Others call it, “Jump Starting.”  No matter what it is called, we are in control of our minds, and once we have decided to raise our standard of living by constantly upgrading and improving our mindset, something magical happens:  Our baseline emotions improve.  So does every other area of our lives, right along with this shift, elevation, and expansion in mindset, beliefs, and perspectives.

HOW WE CHOOSE TO LOOK AT THINGS AND HOW WE SEE THEM IS A HABIT AND IS ALSO A CONFESSION OF CHARACTER.

Improving MINDSET improves every other area of our lives, and it is NEVER too late to improve mindset.

One way to upgrade mindset and the way we see things was the basis for MY DAILY PERSPECTIVE SHIFT.  I created it for myself, and because it worked so well for me, I issue it as a challenge to EVERYONE.  Simply Google search, MY DAILY PERSPECTIVE SHIFT, and read all about it. .

Carol Dweck’s book, MINDSET, is an another excellent place to get started.  I highly recommend buying and listening to the audio version today.

REPETITION IS THE KEY TO LASTING CHANGE.

If you are to do only ONE thing, EVERY DAY, repeating this has proven to be one of the most helpful and useful beliefs to practice:

EVERY DAY AND IN EVERY WAY I AM GETTING BETTER AND BETTER.

Today, I will review my morning routine that empowers me and helps me to control my thinking, and make any improvements or upgrades necessary to ensure my baseline emotions, my mindset, and my life are on track for consistent, continuous improvement.  I will remember that by becoming better at things, things will get better for me.  The better things are for me the more value I can add to the lives of those I love.  If I do not already have a morning routine, I will research what has worked for well for others and create an effective morning routine for myself.

I have spent years, combing through thousands of hours of content, listening to podcasts, and reading books, as well as interviewing hundreds of people, some of whom I have had on the YouTube show, The goodinthehead Podcast.

I have experimented with different life experiences of others, and have created an excellent routine that works wonders for me.  If I only do one of these things, I feel as if I have won the day, as I never did ANY of them on a consistent, regular basis until 2014.  Check it out, and try some of these things for yourself!  Give each thing at least a month, and see if it is effective for you, or not.  I can only promise a more beautiful, enjoyable, meaningful, fulfilling, purpose-filled life…

The goodinthehead Habit-Hacking Challenge

Two people who have influenced me a great deal regarding morning routines are Hal Elrod and Ed Mylett.  They, too, had some really great mentors and teachers in their lives helping them, and have experimented all along the way.  Because of it, they now live incredible lives, which we are ALL capable and deserving of.

goodinthehead is also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.  Follow me there, as well, for daily messages, inspiration, motivation, and reminders.  Please pay it forward, and share any message which may empower someone you love or may care about.  It is through adding value to others by sharing and spreading wisdom, that we become more valuable as individuals, and collectively, as a whole, we all become wiser.

Remember:  Mindset matters.  Character counts.  That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives.  WE CREATE our realities.

As I was growing up, nobody ever taught me that to ask for help was a sign of weakness, inability, and a bad thing to do, yet all that I saw going on around me seemed to point to that teaching as being a fact.  My young, inexperienced mind perceived that asking for help was never something I should do.  I learned from watching those around me NOT to ask for help, but to strive to completely depend on myself and my own strength.

Being independent is a good thing, but I think that never asking for help is unwise.

To stand alone is dangerous.  Have you ever been driving somewhere and noticed a tall, older, weathered tree in the middle of nowhere?  These trees are AMAZING, in that out of all the seeds around it that desired to grow tall and strong, this lone tree was the only one who survived.  These trees are a testament to true strength.  It is amazing this lone tree survived at all!  These trees tend to have no support, help, resources, or proper nutrition from a source of an underground root system and community yet somehow, they adapt and survive through the destructive storms and strong winds.  Their roots have to reach deeper than most trees in order to find the water and nutrition they need to survive.  There is no other root system but their own keeping them upright.  It is truly a miracle that they survive.

Sometimes, due to lack of proper nutrition, they simply snap in half, seemingly for no reason at all, on a bright, sunny day with no wind or weather; however, we all know the real reason it finally snapped in half.  If it had been a part of a larger network of trees, sharing the support, nutrition, strength, and vitality, the lone tree would have survived for hundreds and maybe even thousands of more years, thriving, instead of merely surviving.

THE SECRET OF THE UNDERGROUND FORREST:

Radhanath Swami, in his interview with Tom Bilyeu, found on Tom’s YouTube show, IMPACT THEORY, told a story of an experience he had with a friend of his in the Redwood Forest, in California.  He described how he and his friend go there once a year to unplug from and temporarily disconnect from the busy, distracting, fast-paced life which we all live, and reground themselves in the beauty of nature, through the practice of forest bathing.  To their disappointment, they happened upon a group of people, who were being given a tour of the forest by a forest ranger.  Quickening their pace, in order to avoid the energy of the crowd, they tried to hurriedly get past the temporary distraction, but Radhanath Swami overheard the ranger mention that he was going to tell the crowd the, “Secret of The Underground Forrest beneath them.”  Having been a teenager in the 1960’s, and having a proclivity towards mischief and secrets, he asked his friend if they could stay for the story.  They were both glad they did.

The forest ranger explained that some of the trees in this particular forest were over 2,000 years old, and had endured some of the most devastating, destructive storms ever to pummel our planet.  He described that in order for them to have enough strength to endure not only the strong winds in the forest, but also the incredibly destructive storms, they had learned throughout the years to rely upon one another, by reaching their roots out as far as they could towards each other, eventually intertwining the roots, deep in the earth, supporting one another and using one another for the support they needed, in order to survive and weather the wind and the storms.  Some trees actually sacrifice and send their own nutrients to trees that are damaged or weak in order for them to heal more quickly!

We, as humans, are just like trees.

The best thing about asking for help, even if we may think we don’t need it, is that is offers others the opportunity to do something for another.  It offers them the opportunity to do something good, creative, enlightening, motivational, inspirational, and soul growth-inducing.  It provides an opportunity for connection and support.  It creates a more beautiful, creative, bright, loving, generous, giving environment for all of those who are involved.  Others may take notice, think it’s cool, and do the same.  The goodness grows.  The light in the world becomes brighter.  The roots extend in our underground forest, and the forest becomes more beautiful.

And really, isn’t that what it is all about?  Abundance, beauty, and progressive, eternal growth await us all.  I think it is through connecting with others, through helping and supporting others, and allowing them to also help and support us, that this happens more efficiently.

As Simon Sinek teaches, TOGETHER IS BETTER.

Are you as the lone tree, or are you a part of a forest?  Which would you rather be a part of?  ANYTHING is a learn-able, practicable skill, including healthy socialization, support, and connecting with others.  The choice is ours.

Today I will ask for help with something, giving someone the opportunity to do something for me.  If I can I will return the favor, or seek out ways that I can be of service to another.

goodinthehead is also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.  Follow me there, as well, for daily messages, inspiration, motivation, and reminders.  Please pay it forward, and share any message which may empower someone you love or may care about.  It is through adding value to others by sharing and spreading wisdom, that we become more valuable as individuals, and collectively, as a whole, we all become wiser.

Remember:  Mindset matters.  Character counts.  That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives.  WE CREATE our realities.

What is the importance of improving one’s mindset?  Why would anyone even want to focus on that?

I’ve learned that when we improve this one thing in our lives, everything else also improves!

Would you like to be just a little more kind, loving, patient, or spiritual?  Do you want more money to spend, enjoy, and give away?  How about your interpersonal/communication skills?  Would you like to enjoy deep, meaningful discussions and connect with others easily and frequently?  Do you want to interact with others in a more loving way?  Do you want to more easily control your emotions?  Do you want to be even smarter, and quickly and easily make better decisions in your life so that you can enjoy better outcomes?  How about your body?  Would you like to improve physically, be more fit, healthy, and feel even more beautiful?

I have learned that if we get this one thing right, everything else improves exponentially.  Mindset matters.  As soon as we improve our mindset, everything else in our lives will improve right along with it.  Everything will fall into place easily, effortlessly, and the way it needs to be for us, in order to live a continuously more progressively meaningful, fulfilling, purpose-filled, rewarding, enlightening, beautiful life.

If we want our lives to get better, we have to get better.

What are ways we can improve our mindset?  The YouTube show, IMPACT THEORY, has BY FAR been the biggest help and the most effective tool I have ever come across, so far, for improving my own mindset.  What I have learned from this show, and every one of the guests, has empowered me with tools, knowledge, wisdom, information, and experiences which have empowered me, and transformed me from a victim of life to a VICTOR.

Here are just a few of the most helpful and empowering mindset tools I have learned from some of the guests on this show:

Gratitude.  Practice it daily.  Start practicing gratitude first thing in the morning, by simply implementing the habit of making a mental list of EVERYTHING you, personally, have to be grateful for, and watch the miracles in your life unfold and progressively expand.  WHAT WE FOCUS ON WE FEED, and what we feed we tend to experience more of in our lives.

Content.  Input = Output.  What we allow into our brains and what we choose to focus on and think about consistently will become the words we speak, the actions we take throughout the day, and eventually the habits and routines that form our lives.  I found it helpful to save inspirational quotes I love and read them throughout the day.  We design the outcomes in our lives with what we choose to think about and focus on REPEATEDLY.

Breathing.  Breathing exercises throughout the day will help with presence, mindfulness, and mental clarity.  BOX BREATHING has proven to be my favorite and most useful technique I have learned, so far.  The Navy Seals use it.  If it is good enough for THEM to use on a regular basis, it is worth checking into.

Here is a 3-minute video about breathing, that I really love:

Meditation:  There are MANY different forms of meditation.  Watching the interview on the YouTube show, IMPACT THEORY, featuring Emily Fletcher, and also the interview featuring Mark Divine, convinced me to try it out.  I will never stop the practice of meditation, especially since Emily’s Method only takes 15 minutes, and is explained incredibly well in her book, STRESS LESS, ACCOMPLISH MORE.  The audio version is something I have listened to many times-that is how informative and enjoyable it is.  Box Breathing can easily be practiced anywhere, at any time, and is useful during meditation.

REPETITION:  According to DECADES of research by Dr. Bruce Lipton, repetition of ANYTHING reprograms the subconscious mind.  He teaches that 95% of our lives-what we think, say, and do-ALL COMES FROM THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND AND IS AUTOMATIC, just like a computer running a program it can not depart from.  Just before we drift off to sleep and right as we are waking up, we are in Theta mode, and our brains are HIGHLY susceptible to being reprogrammed at the subconscious level.  What ever we repeat-especially during these times-becomes our new programming and eventually dictates the results and quality of our lives.

MORNING ROUTINE:  A highly effective morning routine empowers us and strengthens us, allowing us to progressively become skilled, smarter, more consistent, and more relentless and determined in whatever we choose as a morning routine.  As Hal Elrod teaches:

WHEN WE WIN THE MORNING, WE WIN THE ENTIRE DAY.

These things are simple and easy to do.  ANYONE can do these things daily with very little effort.  It costs nothing but time and energy, and the interesting thing is that IT CREATES MORE TIME AND ENERGY when we do them.  If we make them a part of our habits and our own personal daily routine, our mindsets will improve.  Every part of our lives will improve right along with our mindsets.  Try these things for just one week and at the end of the week, ask yourself what differences these things made.  Imagine what your personal results would be if you were to practice these things daily, for a LIFETIME!

Imagine a life of frustration, depression, unhappiness, difficulties, and challenges without knowing any tools, tips, or tricks, to easily maneuver through it all.

Now imagine a life with simple, easy, daily rituals and routines which eventually result it deep social and spiritual connections, financial abundance, and excellent health.  Imagine a life in which you are able to react to any situation in a calm, self-controlled manner, being able to turn any discussion or situation to your benefit and to the benefit of those around you.  Imagine a life in which everything seems to easily and effortlessly fall into place, and success in all areas of your life is commonplace.

Something I have listened to daily, as soon as I wake up, that has over time empowered me with less reactivity and more self control.  It is a video on YouTube called, THE POWER OF NOT REACTING, by Dr. Levry.

An exercise that improves mindset is the Belief Mindfulness Exercise.

Being self-aware is the first step in becoming MORE of self.  It is the first step in becoming a better version of ourselves, more able to add value to our lives and the lives of others.

Reminder to self:  There are so many tools out there to improve our mindsets!  Research the topic often, and find some ways to improve your mindset that are attractive to you.  Start each day with a morning routine consisting of gratitude, empowering content, breathing, meditation of some kind, AND REPEAT IT DAILY, and everything else will fall into place.

Today I will add practicing gratitude, being mindful of the content I allow into my mind and focus on, breathing exercises, and meditation, to my daily routine for at least one week, as an experiment.  At the end of the one week, I will pay attention to how it has made me feel and decide if it is something that will be beneficial to continue doing.  RESULTS DON’T LIE.

goodinthehead is also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.  Follow me there, as well, for daily messages, inspiration, motivation, and reminders.  Please pay it forward, and share any message which may empower someone you love or may care about.  It is through adding value to others by sharing and spreading wisdom, that we become more valuable as individuals, and collectively, as a whole, we all become wiser.

Remember:  Mindset matters.  Character counts.  That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives.  WE CREATE our realities.

“Failing forward is the ability to get back up after you’ve been knocked down, learn from your mistake, and move forward in a better direction.” – John C. Maxwell

Depending on our beliefs surrounding failure, we may give up trying something again after we fail at it, not wanting to look foolish, weak, or stupid.  OR, we may use the experience as fuel and encouragement to try again, believing we will get better at the thing we failed at, each time we try again.  Choosing to be an unconquerable, resilient, indomitable, persistent and relentless soul, not caring about how we look more than we care about the desired end result, can be a useful and empowering tool!

My truth is now that we can choose to identify as a FAILURE or a LEARNER, and that really, THERE ARE NO FAILURES IN LIFE.

When my three sons were younger, and when I was less experienced as a human and as a father, my belief system would have led me to scream and yell and become extremely upset.  I would have used fear and become very angry and showed that anger in order to convey my displeasure and try to control and manipulate my boys into working harder, trying different things, or getting a better grade next time.  This is one approach I have used in the past.  It is sometimes effective, but lacks emotional maturity and compassion.  It destroys opportunities to cultivate a relationship in which trust, compassion, respect, and love can thrive.

One of my sons once failed the first quarter of a science class in High School.  This time I decided to take another approach, simply because I have been exposing myself to new belief systems and ways of thinking, through reading books and listening to people who I view as smarter, wiser, and more knowledgeable, experienced and successful than me.  Come to find out, there are a lot of those people out there.  I honestly wish I would have come to this realization much sooner in life, rather than believing that my way was the best and only way, and that I didn’t need to change, improve, grow, progress, or evolve, because I already had everything figured out.

After I got over my initial disappointment and frustration, I realized that he, too, was disappointed, frustrated, and angry.  He usually works hard and gets good grades.  This time he worked hard and “failed.”  I pointed out to him that the fact that it mattered to him and that he cared and tried his best is what I cared about the most.  We celebrate our successes, and when we “fail,” we put it on ourselves!  If he didn’t care that he could have done more and gotten a different result, that would have been a problem.  So, I told him it was important to put it on himself.

Accepting responsibility and trying something different next time is an effective tool, and a key to succeeding where we once failed.

Reminder to self:  Never quitting is the key.  “Failure,” is a part of the learning process.  Failure is important, and vital to experience throughout our lives.  Quitting is permanent.  Quitting is what needs to be looked at as never, ever, being an option.  Rest, regroup, adjust, pivot, recalibrate, and try again, but don’t ever quit!  REMAIN RELENTLESS.

I explained to my son that school and grades weren’t everything, and CERTAINLY not a yardstick with which to measure one’s value and worth as a human being.  While school may be a very important tool, and good grades may alter his future successes in the school environment, I let him know that the most important things to me, for him, was that he was good, kind, honest, hard-working, ready at all times to protect others, while practicing love, empathy, and understanding.  I let him know that these were the things that would get him further in life than any of his grades.  He thanked me for telling him that.  His demeanor and countenance changed, immediately.  It made me wish I had learned how to be honest much sooner, and more capable of communicating in this way much earlier.

Sometimes, a simple shift in perspective takes all the negative, discouraging, dis-empowering, useless pressure off of us.

Character counts.  Mindset matters.

Failures are the necessary key to future successes.  We grow from them.  We learn from them.  We improve because of them.  Failures are a necessary part of this life, if we are to grow and become stronger, wiser, better versions of ourselves.

The second quarter of his science class, he recommitted to working harder and studying more, and he did extremely well, easily passing the semester.  What if I had shamed and diminished him, or used displeasure, anger, shouting, and unacceptance as tools to manipulate, coerce, or control him?

Today I will look at my failures with appreciation and realize and remember that because of them I have improved.  I will not be afraid to fail again and I will not quit when I fail.  I will adapt.  I will improve.  I will succeed.  I will repeat this process each day of my life.  I AM RELENTLESS.  I AM PERSISTENT.  I ALREADY AM A SUCCESS BECAUSE I KEEP SHOWING UP AND I KEEP TRYING.

Many times in our lives, our failures we experience cause us extreme pain and suffering, causing us to become more self-aware.  Tim Storey explains how to gain and take full advantage of the self-awareness that comes through failure in his interview on Tom Bilyeu’s YouTube show, IMPACT THEORY.

goodinthehead is also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.  Follow me there, as well, for daily messages, inspiration, motivation, and reminders.  Please pay it forward, and share any message which may empower someone you love or may care about.  It is through adding value to others by sharing and spreading wisdom, that we become more valuable as individuals, and collectively, as a whole, we all become wiser.

Remember:  Mindset matters.  Character counts.  That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives.  WE CREATE our realities.

We all experience pain in this life.  I think it matters how we learn to cope with, deal with, interact with, and respond to the pain.  EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE MATTERS.  There are tools out there for us to use in order to effectively deal with, learn from, and improve our lives from the painful moments that we experience.  The truth is this:  Pain is inevitable, but through these tools, we can learn to make suffering a choice.  This life will victimize ALL of us, but we get to choose how long we will remain a victim.  Some of these tools include the uplifting and positive family members and friends, counseling, exercise, new perspectives and ways of seeing things, and creating connections.  Becoming part of a group or small community made up entirely of others who have gone through what is currently causing or our suffering to continue can be particularly helpful.

Through how we define things, the beliefs we choose to alter and improve, and the meanings we choose to attach to everything we observe and experience in this life, we can look at the painful moments in our lives differently and transform suffering into learning opportunities and appreciation.  “WHEN WE CHANGE THE WAY WE LOOK AT THINGS, THE THINGS WE LOOK AT CHANGE.”

The ways we choose to IDENTIFY are especially useful in our own, personal, healing processes.  What we believe about OURSELVES will make us or break us.  Our internal voice and the ways we speak to ourselves result in feelings of worthiness and a heightened creative ability, or unworthiness and hopelessness.  WE CAN CONTINUOUSLY UPGRADE ALL OF THESE THINGS, becoming and identifying as LEARNERS and PRACTITIONERS of all we learn.

I have never met someone I cannot learn something useful from, even if it is what NOT to do in my own life.  The stories of others have the ability to provide us with insights, tools, new perspectives, and keys to our own healing.

When we don’t know how to cope or deal with the pain, sometimes we use ineffective methods to hide or mask the pain.  We may use things in excess to temporarily comfort us in the moment and distract us from the pain like food, sex, pornography, alcohol, drama, illegal or over-the-counter drugs, etc.  I know I have, and it worked, TEMPORARILY.  All of these things can be enjoyable, distracting, and effective, albeit temporary, tools and methods to seemingly end our pain and suffering.  But for permanent, LASTING ways of alleviating suffering, we can choose to keep searching, and not settle for the seemingly immediate and temporary fix, and the easy and short-term enjoyment we experience in the here and now.

If we want an easy life later, we have to choose to do the hard things now.  Choosing the easy ways now, leads to a more difficult life experience, later.

Some of us are addicted to our suffering.  We may have experienced suffering for so long that the chemicals and hormones of suffering have now become an addiction.  Our suffering may have become comfortable and it may even feel normal.  It may be the only thing we have known and we may not even realize the beauty that is out there awaiting us.  We may currently be incapable of seeing it.  Dr. Joe Dispenza speaks eloquently about how to change this through repetition.

Some of us create problems and stressful situations out of habit so we will continue to feel “normal, “comfortable“ emotions of the suffering, all the while fearing if we don’t that things may actually get worse.  As humans, we all have a desire and a need for significance.  Being addicted to our old stories, the fact that we are a victim, and the attention, affection, acceptance, kindness, and love we get from expressing our pain to others is understandably addicting, as it brings us temporary pleasure through a false and destructive sense of significance in the form of pity that is disguised and mistaken for empathy, understanding, love, and kindness.

But what if there is a better way to get significance and experience pleasure?  What if this way heals us, helps us, empowers us, and results in US being capable of saving OURSELVES from our misery, leaving us stronger, much more healed and capable of contributing to others, and adding value to everyone we come into contact with?

How we cope with and deal with our suffering is important.  Every little thing we think, say, and do, affects us daily, and it affects everyone around us.  We all get to choose how we deal with our own, personal suffering.  As we do, we must remember that we are not alone in our suffering.  Together is better.  There is always someone who is going through the same or similar things that we can turn to for help and advice, or maybe we can even help and empower them in some way, simply by asking them a question that spark within them a remembrance of what they have gone through and learned.

The most helpful book I have come across in acquiring the necessary tools to heal from and alleviate suffering, amassing and practicing these important skills, and truly beginning to heal is Melody Beattie’s book, THE LANGUAGE OF LETTING GO.  It has a daily paragraph that only takes a few minutes to read.  I began reading it daily in 2014, and I will continue to read it daily as a part of my own, unique, personalized, morning routine.  I highly recommend buying and using this highly effective and inexpensive healing tool.

Today I will research effective coping skills and find helpful tools which will help me deal with my pain and suffering more effectively.  I will remember that anything I research, learn, or use will be useful to me in the future, as pain is an inevitable, inescapable part of life.  

I have put together many of the tools I have learned as a part of my own healing experience and made them into easy habits.  They can be found here:

The goodinthehead Habit-Hacking Challenge

Here are some of the most helpful videos I have found, full of healing tools, and tips on how to easily and quickly implement new practices into our lives, and really begin the healing process:

HEALING

goodinthehead is also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.  Follow me there, as well, for daily messages, inspiration, motivation, and reminders.  Please pay it forward, and share any message which may empower someone you love or may care about.  It is through adding value to others by sharing and spreading wisdom, that we become more valuable as individuals, and collectively, as a whole, we all become wiser.

Remember:  Mindset matters.  Character counts.  That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives.  WE CREATE our realities.

I love Gandhi’s words, what he believed, and what he stood for in his life.  His life and many teachings are definitely worth spending the time, energy, and attention to research and study.

My sister-in-law commented on a post, and it really hit me deeply.  It begs the question:  What if WE were to perceive of ourselves and others as she states God perceives of us?

“We cannot disappoint God, because He knew-even expected-that we would make mistakes.  So, when we do, it is no surprise to Him, and He is not disappointed in us.  Our DIVINE WORTH to Him is intact, regardless of our (human) shortcomings.”
How beautiful.  Thank you, Clair.  I needed that reminder.

To fully love, accept, and appreciate ourselves and others, exactly as we are now, is to remember our divine worth, regardless of our shortcomings and mistakes we experience while in these human bodies, having this human experience.

To love, accept, and appreciate ourselves and others, NO MATTER WHAT, is a divine gift.

Can you imagine a parent that, from birth, tells the child, “There is NOTHING you could ever say, do, or be that would make me love you less.  I will NEVER be disappointed in what you truly are to me.  You can DO better, and therefore enjoy better results, but I will NEVER love you less.”  What if we were to make a habit to repeat this to OURSELVES in the mirror each morning?  What an empowering, healing way to start the day!

There is NOTHING you could ever say, do, or be that would make me love you less.  I will NEVER be disappointed in what you truly are to me.  You can DO better, and therefore enjoy better results, but I will NEVER love you less.

We all know there is always room for improvements and upgrades in EVERY area of our human lives.  There are, and forever will be, opportunities for human progression.  But as Jim Rohn teaches: “Success is not to be pursued.  It is to be attracted by the person you become.”  To this, I add, “While fully loving, accepting, and appreciating yourself, EVERY step along the way.”

SUCCESS IS NOT TO BE PURSUED.  IT IS TO BE ATTRACTED BY THE PERSON YOU BECOME, WHILE FULLY LOVING, ACCEPTING, AND APPRECIATING YOURSELF ALL ALONG THE WAY.

This world is full of darkness and light.  It is full of destruction and creativity.  The opportunities for learning what to do to always be upgrading and personal improvements comes to us through experiencing the contrasts of this human life.  The personal improvements we make help us live a life full of light and creativity.  The personal improvements we make uplift, inspire, and motivate not just us, but everyone around us as well.  Others who are inspired to improve then choose to go on and do the same in their lives and it affects everyone around them.

SOMETIMES, THE MOST USEFUL THING WE CAN DO FOR OTHERS IS TO TAKE BETTER CARE OF OURSELVES.

The personal progress and improvements we make in our own lives helps us to live a meaningful, fulfilling life full of joy, kindness, happiness, acceptance, alignment, and love.  We add value to our lives and the lives of others as we work hard to improve ourselves in every way.

Having a morning routine, goals, and a personal progress plan is IMPERATIVE to the level of success we achieve in the personal progress realm.

WHEN WE FAIL TO PLAN, WE PLAN TO FAIL.

Today I will work hard to improve and progress to add value to my life and the lives of those around me.

goodinthehead is also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.  Follow me there, as well, for daily messages, inspiration, motivation, and reminders.  Please pay it forward, and share any message which may empower someone you love or may care about.  It is through adding value to others by sharing and spreading wisdom, that we become more valuable as individuals, and collectively, as a whole, we all become wiser.

Remember:  Mindset matters.  Character counts.  That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives.  WE CREATE our realities.

Acute, extreme unhappiness is (or can be) used as a tool to progress towards enlightenment, mindfulness, and presence.  It can be used as a tool towards personal progression.  It can help us relate better to others who have had similar experiences and bond and connect us together with them.  It is okay to be acutely, extremely unhappy for the simple fact that we need to know how that feels, as humans, so that we can experience contrasting emotions, learn, then choose and eventually experience, more fully appreciate, and be grateful for the opposite.  TRUE growth sometimes only comes from the challenging, difficult times.

EXPERIENCING EXTREME CONTRASTS ALLOWS US THE OPPORTUNITY TO CREATE MORE OF WHAT WE DO WANT TO EXPERIENCE MORE OF.

From 1999 to 2014, I was prescribed mood stabilizers and antidepressants.  Many doctors told me I was a danger to myself and others and that I was, “mentally and emotionally unstable.”  At the time I was working 18 hours a day, seven days a week.  The medications took away my ability to feel ANYTHING, which resulted in a deep desire to end my life as I believed myself to be broken and incapable of contributing in a meaningful way.  I ended up feeling worthless and hopeless, all in the effort to be stable and safe through the use of medications.  I much prefer the instability and unpredictability of “normal” life with unpredictable emotions to the mind-altering, soul-killing experience that those medications gave me.  The TRUTH was I needed to make personal adjustments, naturally.  Things like working less hours, getting adequate rest, improving my diet, getting out into nature more, implementing a daily gratitude practice, proper nutrition, and meditation were FAR better practices for me than popping pills, but I’m grateful I had THAT experience, too.

I always had the belief that emotional stability should be my goal.  Well, I can sometimes be a moody person.  If I can’t always attain a stable feeling with my emotions, does that, then, make me bad or weak?  I used to think so.  Now, I think it is extremely important to believe and remember that feeling the entire gamut of feelings is a beautiful, helpful, and important part of this life experience.  It’s okay to have emotions!  They usually come in quite useful as indicators of where we have important work to do!

Our physical body and our brain are wired to constantly change.  We can set up our day for optimal success by getting consistent sleep, eating well, exercising our bodies and brains, and adhering to a consistent morning routine, but there will still be an inconsistency in thoughts, chemicals, hormones, and feelings within us.  That is okay!  That is completely normal and it’s fine.  It’s supposed to be like that.

This life is meant to sometimes be unstable and awkward-filled with experiences, changes, and challenges.  Without these things in our lives we cannot grow and progress as we are meant to do.  We can ALWAYS better learn to adapt, pivot, readjust, recalibrate, and improve.  We can choose to always be upgrading.

The universe is set up to benefit us and add value to our lives.  It is set up to provide us with opportunities to connect with others and these connections add value to their lives, as well as to ours.  The universe constantly conspires on our behalf.  It was designed that way.  EVERYTHING happening “to” us is actually happening FOR us.  Each day is a new opportunity to learn and grow.

Today I will enjoy each feeling as it comes along and ask myself what I can learn from each feeling and experience throughout the day.

I highly recommend reading and re-reading the book, EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, by Daniel Goleman.  It has proven useful in upgrading the emotional intelligence of MILLIONS.

goodinthehead is also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.  Follow me there, as well, for daily messages, inspiration, motivation, and reminders.  Please pay it forward, and share any message which may empower someone you love or may care about.  It is through adding value to others by sharing and spreading wisdom, that we become more valuable as individuals, and collectively, as a whole, we all become wiser.

Remember:  Mindset matters.  Character counts.  That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives.  WE CREATE our realities.

With a daily gratitude practice, we literally prime and program our physical bodies through our thinking.  Our thinking injects an IMMEDIATE physical response of chemicals and hormones into our blood stream, which INSTANTLY affects the way we feel.  Within two beats of the heart, these chemicals and hormones are pumped throughout the entire body, including 60,000 to 100,000 MILES of our vascular system!

Repetitive thoughts tend to cause the same chemical and hormonal responses, which then become a habit, and even an addiction.  Some of us are addicted to the thoughts, feelings, and chemistry of anger, rage, and drama, and some of us choose the addiction to the thoughts, feelings, and chemistry gratitude, love, peace, and harmony.

Years ago, when I was in a dark place, addicted to anger, rage, and drama, I tried an experiment, which I learned from the book, THE SECRET.  I decided to think of everything I possibly could that I was grateful for.  Originally, I was going to do it for one month.  The morning time was perfect for me, as I was the only one awake.  On the first day of this new practice, I did it in the shower, and mentally started a gratitude list.  “I’m grateful for my children and for the house we have to live in.”  At that, I was done.  My habitual thinking took over, and I immediately began repeating everything from the day before that made me resentful, bitter, angry, and hateful.  It takes time, consistency, and repetition to create a habit.

The next day, a few more things were added to the list.  By the end of the month, I was thinking of things to be grateful for as I got ready, rode my bike 5 miles to work, and did a pre-trip on the bus I would be driving for the day.  The practice that took me 5 seconds the first time, turned into 30 minutes within a month, completely altering my mood and the way I interacted with everyone and everything throughout the rest of the day!  I made a mental note of absolutely everything I could and eventually I was able to think of not just a few things, but a myriad of things!  The one-month experience turned into a daily practice.  If I skip a day, I don’t beat myself up about it.  I start again the next day.  No biggie.  This practice empowers me to see beauty in everything and everyone, all the time, habitually and consistently.

This ONE habit has completely changed my entire life, resulting in a totally different set of chemicals and hormones, creating empowering feelings, and empowering me to interact with ALL circumstances, situations, and people on a whole new and different level.  Habitual gratitude physically rewired my brain because of repetition.  I am now a far more effective creator and projector of beauty, love, and prosperity.

I have noticed that a solid gratitude practice is an incredible way to start the day.  It helps me to be more positive.  I am no longer mostly pessimistic, and have become increasingly optimistic.  I am no longer destructive in my thoughts, words, and actions.  I am now more CREATIVE, in every way.  Now, instead of mentally judging and criticizing everyone and everything, I LOVE AND ACCEPT everyone and everything.

My life used to be full of darkness, struggle, frustration, and lack.  There was a definite void, a feeling of something missing.  I now live a beautiful, meaningful, fulfilling, happy life, full of light, love, acceptance, and abundance.

A consistent gratitude practice is the one habit and habitual way of thinking and being that has attracted an entirely different set of circumstances, situations, and people into my life, repelling the old and inviting in the new.

EVERYTHING is a vibration, and the level at which WE vibrate magnetically and energetically attracts MORE of where WE vibrate at, and REPELS ALL ELSE.

WE LITERALLY CREATE OUR PERSONAL REALITY THROUGH THE THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS WE ALLOW TO CONTINUE.  WE ARE CREATORS.

The question then becomes:

TODAY, RIGHT NOW, am I INTENTIONALLY going to think and feel about what I want MORE of into my reality, or will I allow OTHERS to control what I think about, focus on, and give my vibrational energy and attention to, allowing them to abscond with my creative powers to manifest what THEY want into this physical construct?

Practicing gratitude and appreciation has changed my focus from lack to abundance, from destruction to creativity, from dark to light, and from unhappy to happy and fulfilled.  MEDITATION is the OTHER tool I have learned to use to constantly RE-ALIGN with my TRUE self, vibrate at the highest levels possible, and refocus my time, energy, attention, and power on what I DO want more of.

Today I will set a goal to try out a mental gratitude list, sometime in the morning, as a part of my daily, consistent, habitual routine and find out how it works for me.  I will keep at it, until the old chemical and hormonal patterns and addictions are displaced by the new ones.  I will MEDITATE ON GRATITUDE.

goodinthehead is also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.  Follow me there, as well, for daily messages, inspiration, motivation, and reminders.  Please pay it forward, and share any message which may empower someone you love or may care about.  It is through adding value to others by sharing and spreading wisdom, that we become more valuable as individuals, and collectively, as a whole, we all become wiser.

Remember:  Mindset matters.  Character counts.  That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives.  WE CREATE our realities.

There are many ways to honor those we love.  Whether they are alive or have passed on, I think it is important to honor the ones we love.  Here are my favorite two ways:

1-Remembering the good times that we are or were grateful for.  What are our favorite memories with our loved ones?  What was the most important thing we learned from them that helped, motivated, or inspired us the most?

2-Making decisions we know would make our loved ones proud.  When making any decision, we can ask ourselves, “Would this make ______________ proud?”  By doing so, we are more likely to make better decisions.  By consistently making better decisions, we expand our soul, raise our vibrational energy frequency levels, become more attractive to certain energies and circumstances, and raise our credibility and self-esteem.

Our loved ones who have passed on are with us still.  They are but a thought away.  It is my belief that when we think of them and do things that would make them proud, their energy is attracted to us.  We may not be able to see them, and they cannot see us, because they no longer inhabit the physical body they once had, or enjoy the same physical body we still do with these 5 senses, but we can still, and always will be able to, FEEL them.  I believe in those moments they can also feel us.  By being our best self, practicing BEING love, re-aligning with our true selves through practices like breathing, meditation, or yoga, living each day to our fullest potential and capability, and by doing the best we can at all times, we honor those we love.  We honor our loved ones best when we honor ourselves.

Today I will honor myself and those I love by being the best possible version of myself I can be.  I will remember the important things they have done for me and be grateful for them, and make decisions my loved ones would be proud of.  I will remember that I AM ENOUGH.

One of the most empowering interviews I have come across on YouTube, is given by Marisa Peer on the Lewis Howes show.  With a simple shift in beliefs about ourselves, we can live a happier, healthier life of healing, meaning, and purpose.  I can think of nothing else in this world that would make me happier or prouder as a parent, than knowing my children are always doing their very best, and accepting and loving themselves, fully.

goodinthehead is also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.  Follow me there, as well, for daily messages, inspiration, motivation, and reminders.  Please pay it forward, and share any message which may empower someone you love or may care about.  It is through adding value to others by sharing and spreading wisdom, that we become more valuable as individuals, and collectively, as a whole, we all become wiser.

Remember:  Mindset matters.  Character counts.  That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives.  WE CREATE our realities.

In a world so beautiful and abundant, with so many options and choices available to us, we can conform, in order to fit into a box, and fit into someone else’s ideas of who we should be in order to make them more comfortable.  We can also decide to think outside the box, and be innovative, edgy, creative and different, choosing to never conform in order to make others comfortable, but instead choosing discomfort over a life of ease, knowing that it is through struggle that the greatest triumphs are achieved.  Yet another option we have is to decide this truth for ourselves:  There is no box.  There are endless possibilities and an abundance of limitless choices and opportunities available to us all.  We can believe there is no struggle or difficulty, and that EVERYTHING unfolds perfectly, regardless of effort.

There will NEVER be two individuals EXACTLY alike.  Because of personal choice, we will forever remain unique individuals, perfect masterpieces of constant re-creation, depending almost entirely upon our thinking.

Opening our minds to new possibilities, new content, new experiences, and new ways of doing things will absolutely lead us to living a more fulfilling life.  Through the experiencing of extreme contrasts, we quickly learn what we do and do not want and how to adapt, pivot, and readjust.  We quickly become better creators through the practice of recreation.  We are now living in The Information Age, where access to all kinds of content is immediately available.  It is easier now, then ever before, to research anything we want to learn about or become better at.  The acquisition of ANY skill is just a click away.

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

The more I learn, the more I realize that I know nothing, AND THAT IS AN EXCITING PROSPECT!

The tools have always been there.  They will always be there.  There will always be someone out there who we can learn from, and there will always be someone out there we can empower, uplift, encourage, and love.

Rigidity is a scary thing.  Black and white, with no possibility of gray, can be a dangerous thing.  I spent most of my life in my own, personal comfort zone.  I lived a very black and white life and was always resistant to change.  I was always scared of learning new things, afraid that everything I believed may fly apart if something new came along.  Eventually it did all fly apart and I thank god every day that it did.  Because of the things I was exposed to while learning to cope and deal with the emotional and physical suffering I went through as a part of life, I now live in a colorful, beautiful, amazing world.  I am finally awakening, like a newborn baby, ready to begin a beautiful journey.  I sometimes feel like a single cell, ready to begin dividing, and eventually become an entire universe.

Today I will open my mind up to the possibility that there may be more out there than that which I already think I know.  I will be more open to learning and experiencing new things, more aware that all I know is me merely scratching the surface of something buried and out of sight which is much larger than I could ever imagine. 

If you are excited to learn new things, I have compiled a list of a few of some of my favorite sources:

Sources Of Inspiration

goodinthehead is also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.  Follow me there, as well, for daily messages, inspiration, motivation, and reminders.  Please pay it forward, and share any message which may empower someone you love or may care about.  It is through adding value to others by sharing and spreading wisdom, that we become more valuable as individuals, and collectively, as a whole, we all become wiser.

Remember:  Mindset matters.  Character counts.  That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives.  WE CREATE our realities.