September 21, 2017
Dave Crenshaw is the master of building productive leaders and has transformed hundreds of thousands of business leaders worldwide. He has appeared in TIME magazine, USA Today, FastCompany, and the BBC News. His courses on LinkedIn Learning have received millions of views. He has written three books and counting, including The Myth of Multitasking which was published in six languages and is a time-management bestseller. His fourth book, The Power of Having Fun, releases September 19th, 2017.
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Most Influential Person
- Steven Covey (Author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People)
Effect on Emotions
- Mindfulness has given me a lot more stability from someone who does not naturally have that kind of stability. The focus of mindfulness creates the stability of emotion.
Thoughts on Breathing
- Breathing is not as much of my mindfulness as it should be, but I am aware of it and when I do it, it is helpful. I use counting more than breathing. And the power of the logic of the numbers to steady my thoughts back down.
Suggested Resources
Bullying Story
- I've got two stories and they're both related. I grew up as somebody who, at least I feel, was bullied quite a bit. Part of that is the personality. Part of that is that I grew up in an environment at home where I was subject to a lot of emotional and verbal abuse, constantly, and so I did a lot of things at school which were ways to get attention and ways to get people to like me that were just not normal.
- And so it put a target on my back and it was really hard for me to deal with. What I gained from that personally was empathy for others. I really strongly dislike when I see others getting judged or diminished because they are different.
- Bring that to just last week. My son is twelve and is just starting Junior High. All of us who have been through that experience know how difficult that can be. He's a really good kid and he's also really sensitive. I said to him, Straton, I want to tell you something that I wish someone had told me going into Junior High.
- I said, 'You are going to see kids doing things that are rude, they're going to say things to you that are not nice. What I want you to understand is, they are all just trying to figure it out. They don't know what's right and what's wrong. They don't even know what kind of a person they want to be yet. So when you see that, don't take it personally. It's so easy to think, oh, they're picking on me. But instead, just say, that's somebody just trying to figure it out, and just go, there it is.
- Just be nice to them and move on, because my experience is, those same people who acted like that, the majority of them, ten to twenty years from now, they regret the way that they acted, or they completely forget about it and they become people who are well-adjusted, nice, kind adults. And so, my perspective is, we need not take that personally when those kinds of things happen. That's just part of other people going through the process of learning and growing.
- I had it happen to me this week. I had somebody send me a nasty message about my book. The initial reaction is to personalize it and say, I'm going to be offended by this. But what I did was, I flipped it around. I thought, what if I said that to him in the workplace.
- Usually I don't respond to this, but for some reason I decided to respond. And so I said to him, 'Imagine if I came into your workplace and I said that to you, over your shoulder. Can you feel how ugly that moment would be?
- And If I saw someone say that to you, I would tell them to stop. Because I believe in you. As a human being, you should not be treated like that.
- So if people are treating you like that, I'm sorry that that's happening. I think a lot of times, if people lash out like that, they're doing that because other people are treating them that way or because they feel insecure about their life. So the approach I tried to take as an adult, is to turn it around and say, I support you; I care about you.
September 18, 2017
Dana Pharant is a Master healer, life strategist, published author and past CEO of a near 7-figure business and former Dominatrix. Dana is a transformational coach who uses dynamic tools for rapid change to your mindset. She uses her kick-ass energy and ability to perceive, pinpoint and pop the problem limiting you, your body or your business while having fun.
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Most Influential Person
- My first energy healer teacher who really taught me to connect with the energy itself.
Effect on Emotions
- That [Mindfulness] has been massive for not being caught up in them [my emotions] and allowing myself to expand out so that I can drop off all of that baggage and garbage.
Thoughts on Breathing
- The breath is so critical for getting you connected because it allows you to really feel in your body. Oxygen is kind of important.
Suggested Resources
- Book: I don't recommend a book for mindfulness. Mindfulness is more of a kinesthetic experience and reading books puts you into your head, so I'd suggest people to find guided meditations or music with binaural beats. Just start that process instead.
- App: Macaroni Union Album "Weightless". This is fantastic for taking your brain waves into the theta state. I like to put this on and go for a barefoot walking meditation.
Bullying Story
- The bullying story that comes to my mind is; it was grade one or grade two and being out in the school yard and of course one of the things with the Jehovah's Witness religion is the door knocking.
- Everybody's familiar with that and so the kids in the school yard would taunt me and say that my father sells vacuum cleaners because we were going door to door.
- They did this for weeks and it was so annoying and finally I punched one of them. Mindfulness probably would have been a better plan. I may be a little too fiesty.
September 14, 2017
Bryan Falchuk has an amazing story; he went from being obese and depressed to losing over 100 pounds and running marathons. He’s faced the trauma of nearly losing his wife to illness while their young son watched. He became vegan in just one day. He got his masters from a top school and rose to a senior executive position in a successful business. He’s transformed his life and developed an approach to help others do the same that he teaches in his best-selling book “Do a Day: How To Live A Better Life Every Day”.
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Most Influential Person
- Rich Roll (Author and Ultra Athlete)
Effect on Emotions
- Mindfulness effects all of my emotions right now. It's what keeps me able to handle everything that's thrown at me.
Thoughts on Breathing
- Breathing is a very centering exercise. It released and brings you back in. I find when I'm less mindful, a few very deep breaths pull me right back into the moment.
Suggested Resources
Bullying Story
- I mentioned I was the fat kid. So, was I bullied? Yes, very much so by plenty of people.
- I think I'm very lucky because there were a lot of people who didn't bully me as well. There were a lot of good friends.
- The story I will tell you is not from that period in my life. I wasn't the blatent [obvious person] who was going to get picked on.
- In the role of being a successful senior executive, I can tell you, the grass is not green anywhere. We all struggle. Just cause I've had success doesn't mean everything's easy.
- I had a situation where someone was essentially trying to take me down. It's someone who's very well respected and used to be a litigator so they know how to attack people and how to make a case. It's a person who's been pretty successful at that.
- Whether they are aware of it or not, they were essentially trying to get me fired. It didn't happen, which is good.
- The key reason is, it's all in how I responded in the moment. Historically, I would have gotten really riled up.
- We were in a meeting where .... I knew it was coming. The attack came full force and they were quoting a lot of facts that were not actually facts.
- They were just statements of things that they put out there as facts and then everyone sort of nodded and said, that's interesting, or that's true. None of it was true.
- And so the question for me was, how do I respond? Historically I would get defensive and argue back. Guess what? It doesn't tend to work out so well because you're feeding into what's making that bully thrive.
- They're thriving off negativity and the confrontation of it. So if you give that right back to them, you're just amping it up. So what I did instead was, I kept very calm.
- I've been studying Buddhism and I was in the midst of my early days of studying it. This was a really good and strong early test but it worked.
- I kept mindful about one very important fact about everyone in the world. Ultimately, we all seek to be happy. That may not feel that way in that moment and you may think, that person doesn't want to be happy, they just want to hurt me.
- That's a very, 'the world is doing this to me', kind of view that doesn't help you. The reality is, that person wants to be happy.
September 11, 2017
Kallen Diggs is an author and also host of the syndicated show, Reaching The Finish Line. He is passionate about reducing the high levels of unemployment by helping people achieve their goals. Last year, Kallen lived in 3 countries, walked 65 miles on Spain's Camino De Santiago, and completed a Vipassana meditation retreat (12 hours of meditation per day for 10 consecutive days).
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Most Influential Person
Effect on Emotions
- It has increased my ability to project positive emotions
Thoughts on Breathing
- The slower you breathe, the easier it is to bring you down to an alpha state or a theta state. If you're breathing faster, you probably will increase your likelihood for that mental chatter to continue to exist.
Suggested Resources
Bullying Story
- When I was younger, Bruce, I was the oddball in school. Kids would talk about, "Did you listen to this new CD" and I was talking about, "Did you watch the last episode of National Geographic".
- I was like the total nerd, and yes, I was bullied, and kids would throw things at me because I wasn't cool.
- In reality, I think as we get older, we all bully people in some form with our ego. We project our ignorance onto other people. We get this perception that I'm smarter than you, you're not smart, you should listen to me.
- Some people do this in obvious ways and other people do it in more subtle ways. The key is, if we can get a better grasp of our ego, we can transend the ego. That's when we'll be able to show more love, compassion, and be more at peace with other people.
- I think there are a lot of people who have arisen to a point where they have made peace with their ego and are transending it, but there's a lot of people that haven't. They still struggle with it, and ego still dictates their life, and unfortunately, through their decisions they're subconciously using their ego to project their ignorance onto other people. That makes people feel inferior, jealous, and all kinds of other things.
September 7, 2017
Andy Ramage is the co-founder of Aalpha Energy, one of the largest independent commodities brokerages in the world. He is also co-creator of One Year No Beer, also known as OYNB. This is an alcohol-free challenge you can embrace for 28 days, 90 days and even a year. Eliminating alcohol from his life caused him to lose 42 pounds and cut his body fat from 28% to 10%. He is totally passionate about being fit and healthy. Andy meditates and exercises daily and has studied habit change in order to succeed at his amazing goals. Oh, and did I mention he’s also a master practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming, aka, NLP and he’s studying for his Master's Degree in Positive Psychology. Andy is also a Mindfulness-Based Awareness coach.
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Most Influential Person
- Andy Puddicombe (Co-founder of Headspace)
Effect on Emotions
- I'm so much calmer. I was a classic red-head in many ways, so that (the temper) was part of my character makeup when I played sport to win and had that super passionate energy around me. Mindfulness has helped me quell that and I'm now a much calmer person to be around.
Thoughts on Breathing
- Breathing is everything. That is my anchor. Breathing is what I go to. I have experimented with every type of mindfulness you can think of, but really my practice is just on the breath as my anchor.
Suggested Resources
Bullying Story
- When you are playing football at a high level at the young age of 16 it is super tough. It's not an element of bullying as such, but it is so cut-throat in the sense that every bad pass, every bad tackle is almost overwhelming to you as a young man because your life is riding on this thing.
- You're dreaming of becoming a professional athlete in your field. I remember clearly around that age of 15 or 16, I was almost crippled with performance anxiety in so many ways because every time I would make a mistake, it would haunt me for the next 15 minutes whilst the game was going on.
- This is where mindfulness for me is so beautiful and so powerful. If I'd had the ability to just let that go and actually come back to the moment and concentrate on what I was doing, I know I would have been a better professional and a better player.
- I would have been able to let that error go. It's the classic case of, when you're worried about that problem that has just passed, you're not using all your mental capacity. Then you make another problem, like another back tackle or another bad pass.
- All of a sudden you've snowballed. You've gone from nowhere to this negative spiral. I had no idea of mindfulness at that stage in my life. In my younger days, this would have been so helpful to have known how to let these things go.
September 4, 2017
Dr. Anthony Metivier is the founder of the Magnetic Memory Method, an effective, fun way to memorize foreign language, vocabulary, dreams, names, music, poetry and much more. Dr. Metivier writes books and creates training for anyone who needs to improve their memory. What separates him from other authors on memory skills and development is that he doesn’t focus on long strings of digits or training for memory championships. He offers simple techniques for memorizing the information that will change your daily life: foreign language vocabulary, names and faces, material for tests and exams. There’s no hype in his training, just techniques that work. From hobbyists looking to memorize facts, poems or more to anyone wanting to master another language, Anthony loves to see memory techniques take root and flourish.
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Most Influential Person
Effect on Emotions
- It has really evened them out.
- I have had clinical depression and bipolar disorder so my moods in the past have been all over the place.
- Now I have a real strong through line and have exactly that gap where I am able to sort of live in the future. I mean, I live in the future already because I'm in Australia but now I kind of live in the future of my physical and mental responses and am able to just sort of see it before it happens.
- Not every single time but more and more consistently and not get tied up in creating a big story about it or even being in it. And I have now been able to function without medication for a year and a half now. So that's been great.
Thoughts on Breathing
- They say always return to the breath. If you get lost that's the place to go. I've just been so blessed that I encountered things in the early 2000's like Russian Martial Arts which are so breathing focused that I've just spent a lot of time with breath and just noticing that so much tension is held by just not breathing. And then starting to create greater circulatory has helped so much from treating tension and preventing it from developing in the first place.
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Bullying Story
- I was around a lot of bullies. I sort of had the where with all to stand up to them and part of that may have been just my own recklessness.
- I had a good batting average of just putting them in their place and I was able to surf the danger zone between the jocks and non jocks but I kind of had alliances with everybody but it did have a little bit to do with being a little bit off kilter and crazy and not really caring because my home background was so bad that what could Troy the Jock possibly threaten me with.
- I saw bullying a lot and I did respond to it.
- I did have one fist fight that I was in and lost as a result of standing up to bullying but we ultimately became friends and had some interesting discussions after that and I wonder if a lot of this is out of our control.
- We're biological units with raging hormones and things happen, so mindfulness would start for me there with just helping humans get a better sense that what's happening to them in these situations is largely out of our control. and we don't really have as much free will in it as we think because of the units we are in.
- If you can get a gap between your physical response to things and the actions you take then a lot of that can stop. The bully can catch himself in a moment of bullying that he maybe wasn't aware of and the bullied can respond differently because they're aware of how their bodies are responding before their mind directs action.
August 31, 2017
Dr. Gary Richter is a holistic veterinarian who focuses on the integration of holistic and general practice veterinary medicine. He's passionate about educating professionals and pet owners on the benefits of integrative care. The safe and effective use of medical cannabis in dogs and cats is central to both, Dr. Richter's medical practice and educational outreach. By integrating medical cannabis with other conventional and alternative therapies Dr. Richter has been able to improve the quality of the lives of pets living with medical conditions ranging from arthritis to inflammatory bowel disease to cancer. Dr. Richter has been practicing veterinarian medicine in the San Francisco Bay area since 1988 and in 2015 was awarded the title America's Favorite Veterinarian by the American Veterinarian Medical Foundation.
Contact Info
- Website: www.drgaryrichter.com
- Free Bonus: send an email to bonus@petvetexpert.com
Most Influential Person
Effect on Emotions
- It affects my emotions in the sense that I use it to center, particularly at times in my professional life, when things can get intense and stressful. There's a lot of emotion at some times and that emotion can end up getting dumped on the veterinarian.
- I use mindfulness to help keep me centered and able to focus on what I need to do.
Thoughts on Breathing
- It's not necessarily something that I consciously think of, but it absolutely is something that helps keep one centered and helps you stay calm and focused in a chaotic and stressful environment.
Suggested Resources
- Book: The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff
- App: No app
Bullying Story
- Dogs don't bully in the sense that they don't do anything with malice
- Dogs do have a hierarchy where for one reason or another a dog will feel it needs to step in and play the dominant role, whether they feel threatened or that their space is being invaded. You know you certainly see that.
- Someone might bring their dog into someone's home and the dog who lives in the home may feel a need to defend their home and then there is an altercation.
- There is a way to prevent this. If you have 2 dogs who have never met before then introduce them on neutral ground, like to a park where nobody has to feel defensive. That way they can do their own thing and get acquainted so when they go back to somebody's house there is less likely to be an altercation.
August 28, 2017
Dr. Arnie Kozak is an author, psychotherapist and a teacher of Buddhism. He’s written a number of books about mindfulness, and has recently penned a new book called Buddhism 101: [From Karma to the Four Noble Truths, Your Guide To Understanding The Principles of Buddhism.] Back in the 1980’s, before mindfulness was as popular as today, Dr. Kozak traveled to India and became immersed in Buddhism and mindfulness. He took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness, The Dalai Lama. Now he shares his insights with the world, through his extensive writing and training.
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Most Influential Person
- Larry Rosenberg (founder and teacher at Cambridge Insight Meditation Center)
Effect on Emotions
- Well, it certainly has made me more aware of them over the years. People tend to regard me as being mellow even when I don't necessarily feel that way, but it has had a mellowing affect on me. Not to say it has expunged all of my negative emotions like anger. And I certainly write about these things in my books, my mindfulness lapses. But on the whole, it's helped me to be more at peace, more what we call equanimity, just be more accepting of things, to be more engaged with things.
Thoughts on Breathing
- You know, we really don't need to think about breathing, it's a very elemental process. Although there are ways of breathing that are going to be helpful and beneficial, so if we get very tight and are not letting a lot of air into our lungs then that's going to tend to make us more tense and anxious and feel stressed. Over time, and I've been doing this over 30 years now, I do what you call diaphragmatic breathing, so my natural breaths, my regular breath is a very deep breath and it tends to slow and when I practice, when I do the meditation practice, sometimes my breath becomes almost imperceptible, just very, very subtle. Usually I know when I'm breathing and everything is slowing and can come back to that. The more you practice the more readily you can come back to that when you're off the mark.
Suggested Resources
August 24, 2017
Jonathan Pritchard reads minds. He’s performed on Vegas main stages, appeared on America’s Got Talent, and entertained troops stationed overseas. He’s considered a touring mentalist. All of his skills are based on applied psychology. And now he’ll take you behind the mental curtain and show you how to use the same psychology in your life. Jonathan is also an expert martial arts instructor. He thinks of the physical practice of martial arts as a moving meditation, much like Yoga. He explains it's all about creating & maintaining healthy boundaries, and being aware of your own thoughts & behaviors.
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Most Influential Person
- Robert Pirsig (Author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance)
Effect on Emotions
- Mindfulness has really helped me not use my emotions as justification for poor behavior. I like to think about emotions more as a barometer for how well my needs are being met. Then, thinking about the needs that are not being met, what's the best way, the best strategy that helps the most people to get what it is that I need right now? Instead of just lashing out or being grumpy for no reason. It's all based on communication skills. The more effectively you can communicate, the easier your needs are met, the better your relationships get.
Thoughts on Breathing
- Oh man, we think we're really good at breathing because it's something we do all the time, but oh lord, we're really bad at breathing.
- Just focusing on your breathing and doing deep-breath exercises ... breathing is your link between your conscious mind, which is such a small part of your awareness and your physical being that is you.
- Breathing is kind of the bridge between those two. The more you focus on your breathing, and practice your breathing, the better you get at being in your body instead of feeling like you're just this brain driving this big meat puppet.
Suggested Resources
- Book: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
- App: Google Keep
Bullying Story
- I definitely was bullied in elementary school. Being quiet, being weird, I was easy prey.
- There is a guy that used to call me names. I was a very sensitive child so I would come home crying and just kind of learn to endure it. That was the path that I chose.
- Later in life, I've come to understand that that makes more sense for them than it does me. It says more about them than my self-worth or my ability to do whatever.
- Understanding that it's not a commentary on my skills, but also really, truly believing that everybody is doing the best they know how even the bully.
- A lot of times, I feel like a lot of bullies feel like they're doing you a favor. You're weird, you're weak. People are going to take advantage of that so you need to toughen up. So I'm helping you. This is how I know how to help you.
- Totally misguided, maybe not the most effective way to do it. When you wrap your head around that, you understand that they are trying the best that they know how and in some bizarre leap of logic, they think this is the best thing to be doing right now.
- That's really difficult for kids to handle. That is a level of awareness and presence that we aren't taught in school. That is not what is culturally approved of.
August 21, 2017
Engel Jones is all about conversation. So much so, that he set out to break a podcast conversational record. He recorded 1001 conversations in 3 months. He’s host of the podcast – Twelve Minute Convos, he’s an Entrepreneur and Life Coach. He loves helping you create a brand of yours through his personal formula called YOURS, an acronym for Your Own Unique Real Self. Engel is from the twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago, and lives there with his wife, Amanda and their 2 children.
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Most Influential Person
- Hal Elrod (Author of The Miracle Morning)
Effect on Emotions
- Mindfulness has helped me to become more stabilized.
Thoughts on Breathing
- I stand on my head every morning and breathe deeply. That really brings a peace and calmness and is also great for my back. In situations now, I catch myself breathing as a first response to a scenario, especially those drivers on the road.
Suggested Resources
Bullying Story
- I remember being bullied for a short bit when I was in school. My aunt sewed my uniform to exact spec. It was 1995 and I was wearing a uniform that was designed for the 1960's. I really stuck out because my personality was the same. I would go around the school telling older students, "Hi, my name is Darlington Jones, for short you can call me Darling."
- The children who were my age didn't really like that, or they didn't understand that.
- There was this one guy that got strength in bullying me. We were playing football and he would run in and he would hit me or kick at me.
- I remember coming home and telling my mother, because I'm a fighter, but I was in a new environment.
- I told my mother what happened and she said, "If he does that again, I want you to let him have it."
- Getting up in the morning was painful, going to school was painful. I remember having to go to the toilet before I had to go to school because in my mind I was already conjuring up the emotions and the embarrassment I would feel.
- He did do it again and I did let him have it. It was at lunch time and it was in front of everyone on that side of the block of the school. Now this isn't violent, this is like push off. But I won and mindfulness for me represented the pain that you can go through.
- So many other people are going through this and you need not to fight. At the same time, metaphorically there are things that you deserve, that you should fight for.
- Make it easier for yourself. You deserve it, I deserve it.
