Secret # 17: The Earpiece Conversation™
This is a technique I developed and use almost daily. It gives me the opportunity to talk with God in my car, when I am alone. I call it the Earpiece Conversation™. I simply put in my phone earpiece and have a conversation with God. I always start with thanking him for all that I have in my life or for whatever small triumph I have had that day. Often I thank him for giving me patience as I sit in traffic! My earpiece is in so people think I am on the phone and not crazy. But I am alone, and it calms me down. Give it a try.
Talk and pray to god daily and the pains in life will be eased and miracles will begin to arrive.
Secret # 16: The Gratitude List
A Gratitude List is an easy way to capture all of the things that make you feel grateful. It makes you instantly realize all of the blessings in your life and immediately elevates your mental state. Make a Gratitude List now:
• Take a clean sheet of paper
• Set a timer for five minutes
• Write down as quickly as you can all of the things you are grateful for in short, one to two word blasts
• Start with, “I am thankful to be alive”
• List friends, family members, challenges you have overcome, triumphs you have had, goals you have reached, your health
• When the timer goes off, go back and write down all of the reasons you are so grateful for these things
• Write the top ten things you are grateful for on a 3×5 index card and carry it with you for the rest of your life
• Update this list on your birthday every year, or as often as you like
Your mental state will completely shift when you see how many things you have in your life that make you feel grateful. In order for you to move forward in life you must be grateful for all that you have at this moment.
Secret # 15: Lower Your Cholesterol with these Natural Health Remedies and Enhancers
I am not a big fan of prescription drugs or medications. They have their place in our society, but I stay away from them unless it involves a serious situation. I have discovered some natural remedies and supplements that provide health benefits naturally and work with the body’s natural flow.
• Powdered greens
I recommend Catie’s Greens© or Pure Energy Greens with MSM© from Anthony Robbins. These are easy to drink and provide the following benefits: emulsification of bad cholesterol and fat, increased energy & stamina, bolsters the immune system, removes heavy metals, increases circulation, and balances pH levels.
• Braggs Raw Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar
Mix two teaspoons with 4-6 ounces of water and drink one-two times per day. Improves digestion, balances pH levels, prevents heartburn and lowers cholesterol levels.
• Cholestene – red yeast rice
Red yeast rice has become the most popular and, for many, the most effective over-the-counter option for cholesterol control. Red yeast rice is the active ingredient in Cholestene©. This product produces healthy cholesterol levels.
• Res-Q 1250 fish oil supplement
Res-Q 1250 provides an essential balance of the specific omega-3s, EPA and DHA, which optimize cardiovascular health, encourage the reduction of inflammation within the body, reduce the amount of triglycerides in your blood and help blood fats (lipids) stay suspended in the blood instead of sticking to the inside of the arteries.
• Hemp milk – One eight-ounce glass contains 800 mg Omega-3 with SDA, 2600 mg of Omega-6 with GLA, all 10 essential amino acids, 4 grams digestible protein, vitamins A, B12, D, E, riboflavin & folic acid, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, iron & zinc, and provides 40% daily value of calcium.
Using the products listed above, along with a balanced diet and regular exercise, I was able to reduce my cholesterol from a high of 277 down to 217. I do not currently use a cholesterol-lowering drug and probably never will. All of these products have tremendous health benefits, typically have no side effects, and are 100% natural.
Secret # 14: The Power Foods™
These are foods that you should eat on a regular basis. Try to choose whole natural foods and use this easy rule: think color. Red, yellow, dark green, blue, and purple–all of these colored foods are packed with the nutrients, vitamins and antioxidants your body needs.
• Salmon (one or two times per week)
• Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, apples and citrus (daily)
• Green, yellow, orange and red peppers (daily)
• Flaxseed oil and olive oil
• Nuts—almonds and walnuts are the best (daily)
• Spinach, dark leaf lettuce, broccoli and wheat grass (daily)
• Sweet potatoes, brown rice, grains (daily)
• High fiber cereal–Kashi, Total and Raisin Bran are some of the best (daily)
• Black beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans (daily)
• Soy milk or hemp milk (daily)
• Lean meats—chicken, lean beef, lean pork (limit to 5-6 times per week)
• Green tea
• 8-10 glasses of water (daily)
Buy the majority of your foods and groceries from the produce section, nothing from the frozen section, and nothing from the snacks and cookie aisle! Eat foods that are as close to their natural state as possible!
The best part about eating beans and legumes is that they are packed with fiber and fill you up as well. Here’s to your health
Secret # 13: How Long Do You Want to Live?
“How long do you want to live?” To my amazement I have found that most people have never asked themselves this question. They have set goals for their relationships; finances, travel and careers, but they have never thought about how long they want to live. Knowing how long you want to live will help you change what you do and how you act today, tomorrow, and next week. Your mind will start to shift and things that once seemed unimportant, like your health, all of a sudden become critical.
• How long do you want to live?
• Why do you want to live that long?
• How are you going to live that long?
The answers to these three critical questions will change your life and how you look at your health forever.
My personal experience in observing someone who never answered these questions involved my own mother. I don’t think she ever thought about how long she wanted to live. If she had answered this question, she would have surely changed her lifestyle. My father, on the other hand, lived until he was 80. For some people, 80 sounds like a great number and a ripe old age. I feel differently.
For me, 80 years old is not long enough. My goal is to live to be 100, and there are many reasons for this: I want to see my descendants experience as much joy as possible, I want to have as much time on this earth to experience as many things as I can with my family, I want to see my grandkids and great-grandkids, I want to teach my grandchildren how to surf and golf and I want to take them fishing. At 100, my daughter Bayley will be 72, Ellie will be 70, Jack will be 67, Benjamin will be 64 and my wife Carrie will be 100 as well. Now that sounds fun to me! Best of all, this means I have many, many years left to enjoy. Now this may seem like a lofty goal but I want to give myself every chance I can to live this long. To attempt this, I must exercise, eat right and have a clear mental picture of where I want to go and what I want to be. It will take discipline and good decisions, medical treatments and maybe a cane or a walker! But whatever it takes, I will do my best to make it to 100.
If you also think living to 100 sounds enticing, I recommend a book called The Blue Zones, by Dan Buettner, www.bluezones.com. In this book, Dan studies the four
places in the world where the greatest concentration of centenarians (people who live to be 100) live. He talks about their lifestyle, exercise habits, and diet. It is a fun read and extremely informative.
Secret # 12: Your Ultimate Life Experience™
What is your Ultimate Life Experience™? What is the one thing you have always wanted to do or the one place you have always wanted to visit? It may be a trip around the world, surfing in Indonesia, going to London to watch Wimbledon, traveling to Korea to visit relatives, going to the World Series, or maybe organizing a family reunion that brings together hundreds of family members. Right now, I challenge you to consider your Ultimate Life Experience™, write it down and include steps needed to achieve it. Whatever it is, I want you to think BIG! Dream and plan as if money were not an obstacle. Don’t put limits on what you want to do, just think about it as if there was nothing holding you back.
Thinking BIG is the key and here is why. When you begin to think BIG and dream BIG you force yourself to step out of your comfort zone. For example, driving to the beach for the weekend or going to Fiji for two weeks are two completely different goals that you will think about and plan for differently. The weekend trip may be fun, but the trip to Fiji would conjure up a whole different type of excitement and drive. Your mind will become engaged and creative when the goal is BIG. You will have to think about the financial commitment, logistical aspects, and the time constraints that go along with a big goal. You will be forced to break it down into smaller, manageable chunks over time in order to achieve your Ultimate Life Experience™. Most importantly, when the goal and dream are bigger than anything you have ever accomplished, so is the excitement level, and it is this excitement level and the feelings you will have when the goal is accomplished that will push you to go for it!
Secret # 11: How Is Your Faith?
My faith is a big part of who I am and is an important part of my relationship with my family, especially my children. Your belief is what it is. If your belief is strong, I encourage you to nurture it. If you have no belief or very little, I encourage you to try to discover it. My faith in God and the strength that faith gives me has allowed me to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles and taken me from a place of fear and failure to a place of absolute joy and success.
My faith in God gives me the strength to be a loving father and husband, business owner, friend, and good citizen of this great country. My belief has helped me through the deaths of a sister and both of my parents. It has provided me strength when my business was on the verge of going bankrupt and was under siege from a lawsuit. And most of all, God and my belief in God bring me great joy on a beautiful spring day when all is going perfectly. When I look at my beautiful family and all of the joy that nature and my many friends bring, who else can receive the credit but God?
I want you to give great thought to your faith and what it means to you and those around you. We will discuss gratitude and faith to a greater degree in Chapter Three. For now, answer the question, how is your faith?
You can learn more in my book:
Secret # 10: Control Your Time
To design the life of your dreams, you must gain control of your time. This is the first step and here are six guidelines to help you get started. They will help you begin thinking about how you spend your time. Remember, your time is your most valuable asset and it is the biggest factor in designing the life of your dreams.
1.Start every day with a plan. I write my daily plan on an index card every night before I go to bed. This keeps you organized and on task.
2.Ask your workplace to offer you opportunities to work from home, or pay you for your results instead of your time.
3.Ask your workplace to offer you flexible hours. Maybe you can go in early some days and late on others.
4.Explore opportunities/companies that offer jobs working from home utilizing today’s technology.
5.Manage how you communicate:
-Turn off all email alerts on your computer and phone.
-Put your phone on vibrate.
-Put an auto response on your email letting others know you will respond at certain times or days so they do not expect an immediate response.
-Plan time with your spouse and kids first, and then fill in around that.
-Designate 1-2 days per week that you do not check email or work phone.
-At dinners out, ball games, and special events leave your communication device in the car.
6.Before making commitments to others, ask these questions: Do I like being with this person? Do they make me feel good? Do we have fun together? If you answer “no” to any of these questions, rethink spending time with this person. If you answer “no” and you are married to this person, get professional help! Life is too short to spend time feeling angst towards the person you have married.
You can learn more about having a balanced life in my book
Secret # 9: What would the life of your dreams look like? Why?
How would you envision your dream life? What kind of career would you have, what kind of health would you enjoy, and most importantly how and with whom would you prefer to spend your time. These are a few important out of many questions that come to our mind often. Seldom do we actually spend time in thinking what is truly vital, what is the dream that is closest to our heart and who is the love of our life, etc. All the several important areas of your life must be planned for a quality life experience. The problem with most of us is we never take the time to truly think about what the life of our dreams would look like in detail.
You can initially create a checklist of what all is happening in your life. A great way to start thinking about the things you would want out of life is to use a technique from my book (The Practical Guide to Exceptional Living) called the “Mind dump™”. Set a timer for five minutes and write down all of the things you have ever wanted to be, do or have. Write down your income dreams, career dreams, what the perfect partner, car, and house would be. Think about adventure and all of the places you would like to travel. Be boundless in your thought and do not think of any limitations. This is a great first step to get the creative juices flowing. After making an unconditional list you will get a clear idea of what all are the things you have to do to achieve your desires. You can live a happy and contented life only if you get what you want. Jotting down your wishes can help you stay focused and spend your time on the things that are at your top priority.
Desire, create, plan and work on your favorite dreams and life a fulfilling life. Use the tools and techniques mentioned in my books and experience the positive change in you.
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