Manifesting Excellence.

Manifesting. Not something I have ever really thought of! Years of yoga taught me the power of the mind, and I never thought that I could actually use the mind to make things happen. Actually, I thought the whole concept rather hokey.  A good friend sent me this video last week.  The CrossFit Games Open has started (we're in week 2) and I needed something before a WOD that would help me to calm my nerves and realize I've got what it takes.

So, there's some corny stuff in the video. If you can sift through the corny-ness, you come away with some pretty high points.

1. GET CLEAR!!!!
What the hell do you want? Like REALLY want? For me: I want to go to Regionals. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get there.

2. What are your limiting beliefs?
What lies do you tell yourself? What story of bullshit do you create and read in your mind every day? I like to say that I don't deserve it, I'm not strong enough, and (my favorite) "What are you trying to prove?"

3. Instead of telling yourself a bad, self-deprecating, defeating, and useless story of lies, make up a new story. One in which you are SUCCESSFUL. What does this look like?
I like to borrow a line from a friend: "I will be fearless today." And my favorite: "I am certain in my abilities."

4. Do not let the outside negative world influence your internal positive state.

5. Feel abundant.
When I first heard this, my initial reaction was, "WTF does that mean???" To be abundant means to be or to have a very large quantity of something, without sacrificing quality. You can tell yourself to be great, and it only counts if you truly believe it...thereby giving it quality.

6. Be patient.
WHOA.....brakes on. What??! That's right. Now go back and read it again. Those who are certain of their outcome can wait and wait without anxiety.

So what's the difference between manifesting and just pure, dumb luck? On this St. Patrick's Day (a day which I'm convinced is devoted purely to the celebration of drunkenness),  manifest a desire. Create clarity about your desire. Tell yourself a great story about your desire.  Maintain a positive state and work like mad. Then be patient for your desire.  The Universe has your back.

"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."
-Thomas Jefferson

How crazy people spend their weekends.

"What did you do this weekend?"

This is the most common question asked on Monday morning in the workplace, usually after people have had their coffee.   This morning, I had the honor to say "I did Tough Mudder. For the second time. With my friends and my team."  Patients looked at me like I was crazy. Then they looked at me like I was really nuts when I described exactly what Tough Mudder entails.

These people are some of the grittiest, strongest I know. Only in Tough Mudder can you be clean, then dirty, then wet, then dry, get shocked, jump over fire and into water, have a nervous breakdown, laugh, cry, pee at every water stop (maybe twice), take your shoes off 10 times, put them back on, have to pee again, and then realize that you might as well just pee through your pants because you don't want to put the effort into pulling them back up.
Tough Mudder is about teamwork and facing your fears. There's signs everywhere that say "Tough Mudder isn't a race. It's a challenge." Well, no shit Big Mudder.

Here's the reason I keep doing it. Those people up there at the top of Everest are PERFECT STRANGERS. They don't know me. But they know that they are going to help me get up that halfpipe. You stand at the bottom, lock eyes with someone, and run like hell. You are running into the arms of a stranger. Now here's the interesting part.

This is a picture of one of the volunteers telling me I have 3 choices: I can jump. She can push me. I can get down. I can run into the arms of a stranger, and I can't jump 12 feet into water.  Which of these is more about control? In this race, you HAVE to surrender everything to other people. You can't control anything.

If you ever want an opportunity to work on SURRENDER, do an event like this. In the several hours you're out there, there is so much to be learned.

So, what did I do this weekend?

I laughed.
I cried.
I panicked.
I jumped over fire.
I scaled some walls.
I got really muddy and dirty.
And I made friends for life.


What did you do?

Signature Colors

Wow. I haven't posted shit in a month. Pretty sad if you ask me. I apologize to those of you who were enjoying my ramblings. This one isn't really a rambling, but a tribute to a beautiful woman.

Last month, my grandmother passed away. She was phenomenal. She didn't want to be referred to as "Grandma."

"Old ladies are called 'Grandma.' I'm not old. I'm Granny," she would say.

 She was 83 years old and beautiful.  Her hair was white, stark white, not a bit of yellow.  Her eyes were the color of the ocean in the Caribbean. She always wore Estee Lauder red lipstick (red was her signature color).

Clearly, signature colors are important to Southern women. Her skin didn't have a single wrinkle. Either we have great DNA for good collagen, or she had one hell of a face cream. In death, she even seemed to be smiling.

She was the epitome of class and style.  Once, she picked out, purchased, and mailed my cousin a cocktail dress she found in Vegas for a semi-formal in high school. This dress was AMAZING.  How many Grannys can do that? And do it right and do it well?

She is the woman I hope to grow up to be one day. Strong in her faith, loved her family, and loved to have fun.

Think about yourself, and then think about your family. I hope you have a Granny. I love mine very much, and I miss her terribly.

Be a catalyst for CHANGE.

There's an email I get in my inbox everyday. It's called "The Daily Wake Up Call to the Inbox of Your Mind," and comes from The Elephant Journal.  http://www.elephantjournal.com/ Here's the link. It's free to sign up.
Yesterday, the first article was nothing more than this photo.


How often do we think about change? Every year, millions of people make New Year's resolutions. Recent research suggests that only about 8% of us are successful. I wonder why...is it fear, is it change, or perhaps is it the FEAR OF CHANGE.

Many people make a resolution expecting to bring about drastic change. They want to revolutionize their life and, in doing so, come up with an elaborate and maybe daunting set of unattainable tasks. When one goal isn't achieved, they throw out the entire revolutionary idea and instead go back to the status quo.

This year, let's start making change with just one thought or just one goal. Make a list of goals you'd like to achieve. Your list can be as simple as getting double unders to a body weight snatch to as complex as losing 40 pounds and having a better sex life.  How does that list go with your values and morals as a person? Do you have someone in your life who will be encouraging? Or, are the people in your life keeping you down? What changes do you need to make in your environment to achieve that one goal? After you've made your list, live with it for a few days before you actually do anything about it. Put it on the bathroom mirror. Read it every day. After three days, set the wheels in motion.

Patience...it will pay off. Goal achieving doesn't happen overnight. We live in an instant gratification society. We want it bigger, better, faster, and we want it now.

This weekend, I was out to dinner with some friends. I won't bore you with the details of our conversation, but several questions were brought up, none of which we had the answers.  Instead of just saying, "I don't know" and continuing to talk, we all got out our smart phones with our Google app. In 45 seconds (I have AT&T service that is slow as molasses in January in Canada), I had the answer. I didn't have to think about it. Just had to type and VOILA! It was there.

How often do we think of our goals the way we think of googling the answer to a question? A good goal that is beneficial to your growth as a human being isn't going to be achieved in 45 seconds. Even if you have Verizon and your service is better than AT&T.

I challenge you this week to do 2 things:
1.  Make a list of achievable goals.
2.  Put away your smart phone when you are with friends or family.

Enjoy the slowness of life, learn patience, and take a walk down that road in which you have never been. It's called CHANGE. And it starts with you.

Doors, Windows, and Opportunity

It wakes me up at night. Sounds like someone is taking a battering ram to my brain. Loud, scary, menacing, full of foreboding.  There's a door in our brains and someone is trying to bust mine down. This noise is none other than opportunity. Whether or not we choose to step back and let it come is up to us.

Who is knocking on my door these days? Well, as of yesterday, it damn sure isn't China. (I can hear you all breathing sighs of relief and applauding)  I was so upset and defeated. Then a friend says, "They have no idea what they lost out on but I'm really happy you're staying. You can change many more people's lives here."  Wow. What a statement!

So the universe has closed the door to communist China and opened the window of opportunity to the community in Tucson.  Life in Motion is real. It has a heartbeat and a passion. And it's going to be open for business next week.

Take a minute today to listen to the banging in your head. What's causing it? What needs to change? Is it you, your job, your environment, your diet?  Figure it out. Might be the best thing that ever happened to you.  The world is your own opportunity. Make it happen.

Don't judge me.

Body language.  It often speaks far more than any words.  Have you ever been turned off in an interaction with someone because of the look on their face or the way they hold themselves? A friend sent me a youtube link this morning from a TED conference this summer.  While it's long (21 minutes) it's well worth the time.  Did you know that body language can dictate your entire life?  If you are single, do you think someone wants to date you if you sit hunched over, arms crossed, with a melancholy look on your face? In a job interview, would you hire someone who's arms were crossed, legs were crossed, slouching in a chair? I wouldn't.

I realized this morning while watching this video that I spend a lot of time with my arms crossed. I find it uncomfortable to stand with my arms at my sides. It's vulnerable. My chest is open. My heart is open. I am letting myself open to judgment. If I cross my arms, you don't want to talk to me. I am closed. My heart is closed. And that way I think you can't judge me.


In reality, we are closing ourselves off from opportunities that can make our lives better.  A new friend, a new job, a promotion in our current job, perhaps even love.

Watch this video.
http://youtu.be/Ks-_Mh1QhMc

Open yourself up to powerful posturing at least 2 minutes a day. Believe it or not, your body is designed to be this way. It operates more efficiently and correctly when you open your heart and open your hips. Our chest and hip flexors weren't meant to be tight.  Look at it from a postural standpoint:

Spend a few minutes each day striving for perfect and powerful posture. Open yourself up to judgment. Just don't judge yourself.

Welcome to a New Year. A new YOU.

Resolution: (noun)
1. A firm decision to do or not do to something.

Each year, how many of us make a list, either in our minds or on paper, to do something different?  We strive to be better parents, partners, people.  And how long does that last? Often times not long enough. We are sneaky people. And we are hard on ourselves. We inadvertently set ourselves up for failure.
Not this year.

Personally, 2012 was a damn disaster.  I found myself, while on what seemed to be death's door with the flu, recounting all of the bad things I experienced. I won't bore you with the laundry list of shit we went through. What I found myself realizing was that I was doing the same thing I do at the end of every year: thinking about what went wrong, what I need to do better, and setting up that list of crap I swear I'm going to accomplish in 2013.  The list is unattainable. Impossible even. I am setting myself up to fail.

I am not a very religious person, but a scripture from the Bible spoke well to me in the last 2 days. Wait.....read it before you decide to move on.
Psalm 94:18 When I said, my foot is slipping, your mercy and loving kindness held me up.

Whatever your beliefs, realize that there is something in this world bigger, stronger, and more powerful than you.  When you falter in your resolutions, take a step back. Pare down your mountain of goals. Start with one, when you achieve it, on to the next one (that's a great Jay-Z song by the way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM1RChZk1EU).  Keep moving on up that ladder and you will find yourself achieving a place you never thought possible.


Control what you can. Give up what you can't.

Cheers to a wonderful 2013.  The world out there is yours for the taking. Go freaking get it.