Daily Brainstorms

(Day 10) 21-day Meditation / New Habit Creation Challenge

“What we’re doing now is going to influence how we think and feel in the future”.

My take away from today’s meditation and this quote is what I am already a firm believer of and continuously work on taking action towards, and that is our actions in the now determine what our future reality is, internally and outwardly.

This applies to mind & body health, as well as other areas of life as in business, relationships, creativity, education, sports, etc. The foods we choose to consume or avoid, the thoughts we choose to participate in, and the exercise we choose to implement or not all have massive influence on our brain health, which manifests physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

If we are feeling and having thoughts of negativity in any aspect, and for whatever reason, we must start with creating a new THOUGHT that triggers a new ACTION that will manifest what we desire in our lives. The “TEAR” method comes back into the picture once again to create an opportunity for change, growth, & new possibilities within our lives.

If your current state is anything less that desirable & pleasurable, then shift your thoughts. A new positive THOUGHT, past, present or yet to happen, triggers new EMOTIONS. Once we create a new THOUGHT & emotional response attached to this THOUGHT, we can then start to see new ACTIONS in our immediate reality to manifest new RESULTS once we take action.

I can’t say this enough, what you choose to focus on is what you find & attract more of in your life. So why not CHOOSE to focus on the good & what you want in your life rather than what you don’t want in your life?

It’s that simple, not easy but it’s simple in that it just takes discipline and commitment to the life you want & to stop making excuses for why you can’t. I don’t believe in excuses, I believe in CHOICES. If you’re reading this, that means you have a choice. Choice wisely. 💚✌️

-Josh P.

What’s holding you back from your goals, dreams, and vision for your life?

Fear, doubt, guilt, worry, stress, anxiety, and all the negative thoughts are just that. THOUGHTS. And all thoughts can be changed when we become conscious to our ability to choose.

Fear used to control my life but I’ve been learning to punt fear and embrace love. Love for the things I enjoy in life and the life I deserve to live. Love for my life and all the abundance within it.

The cool thing about fear is it’s a motivator, if you choose to see it that way. Fear can either paralyze you or fuel you. I’ve learned that it’s much more enjoyable using fear as motivator and to put my best effort into embracing fearful actions and experiences so I can grow past it and progress in all areas of my life.

It didn’t happen at first and fear still presents itself everyday. And it’ll never go away. The difference within me today is I choose how big a player fear is in my life now. It’s not that I don’t fear things, I’ve just learned to have faith in my life vision and the actions I choose to take in an effort to manifest what I desire.

I have faith that we all are capable of the lives we believe we deserve. Whatever you CHOOSE to focus on is what you’ll begin to see more of in your life.

Don’t believe me? Give it a try for 21 days, give it 100% effort, and be disciplined in your efforts. Start each day with writing down the things you want to see more of in your life and focus as much as you can on just those things. You’ll be pleasantly surprised in your findings. 💚✌️

-Josh P.

My breakfast used to look like this but paired with a big glass of juice (basically sugar water with flavor) and a couple slices of white bread with cheap grain-fed butter and white sugar sprinkled on top of it 🙈 oh, and minus the veggies 😂

I used to think that was my trying to be “healthy”. Well, maybe I knew the sugar on the bread wasn’t healthy but I believe the bread, juice, and eggs/bacon were good for me.

Today, this is a typical meal for me and has come a long way. Grass-fed bacon from a local farm, pastured eggs, and organic veggies all cooked in @kerrygoldusa grass-fed butter.

According to the science that @davidperlmutter shares in his NY Times Best Seller “Grain Brian”, the 2 key mechanisms leading to brain degeneration are chronic systemic inflammation (basically your immune system always turned on to treat or attack an area inside the body) and free-radical production (byproduct of inflammation leading to “rusting” inside the body-normal process of metabolism until it becomes abundantly present).

This meal is full of healthy fats, quality protein, and nutrient dense veggies covered in fat so the nutrients can be absorbed as much as possible. All of this lowers the levels of inflammation through lower blood sugar levels and lower toxic exposure, and provides anti-oxidants to fight free-radicals inside the body.

To learn more, shoot me a DM or check out @davidperlmutter books “Grain Brain” & “Brain Maker”, @dave.asprey book “Headstrong”, @marksissonprimal book “the Keto Reset Diet”, and @markhymanmd book “Eat Fat, Get Thin”. 💚✌️

-Josh P

(Day-9) 21-Day Meditation / New Habit Creation Challenge.

“It’s natural to experience impatience. What matters is how we deal with it.”

I find myself going to “busy work” thinking that the reason I’m impatient is because I’m doing doing enough “work” and if I can be relaxing, I must have not done enough.

I once heard the term “inspired work” rather than working to just work. When you feel inspired to do something rather than “I have to do this”, you are going to feel more fulfilled, less impatient, and actually be productive.

I find it’s easy to get caught in this “I have to do more work” mentality sometimes because of what I shared yesterday regarding impatience being a byproduct of expectations. When I let go of what I expect and just focus on taking aligned actions that match my vision, I get lost in the moment and don’t experience any impatience. I then begin to experience joy, fulfillment, and gratitude.

It’s perfectly fine to to feel impatient but what matters is how you move forward. You can move forward in a panic mindset of “gotta gotta gotta” or you can move forward with an inspired desires to do something you love or that aligns with your life vision, which provides pure gratitude and satisfaction.💚✌️

-Josh P.

(Day-8) 21-day Meditation / New Habit Creation challenge.

“Impatience often comes off the back of expectations.”

This quote is very powerful and resonates with me more than most things I’d say. Patience has always been a difficult practice for me but the more I study the art of meditation and patience, the more I learn how I have opportunities in my life to practice patience more and how I can recognize what I’m choosing to focus on, which is creating the impatience.

Im learning, like all our emotions, patience is internal and not caused by anyone or anything other than our own thoughts and focus. This emotion is triggered by a thought, which then follows with an action and creates a result.

My buddy @david_goodall introduced this method to me called the “TEAR” method. Thoughts-Emotions- Actions- Results.

This method in combination with my daily meditation practice has allowed me to create new thoughts & emotions, which creates new actions and results. In terms of this 10-day patience pack from the @headspace app, the TEAR method has allowed me to identify my impatience has come from expectations I’ve put on my actions with my business and when I didn’t see the results I expected, I became impatient.

Now that I have recognized where the impatience has come from that I’ve created, I can shift my focus on new thoughts and actions to create new emotions and results in my life. It’s not easy, but it’s that simple. Just takes a bit of effort, which I’ve committed myself to for the life vision I’ve created. 💚✌️

-Josh P.

(Day 7) 21-day Meditation / New Habit Creation Challenge. “In some ways, the discipline is to remember perspective.”

Being disciplined sounds counter intuitive when practicing patience and acceptance. But all discipline means to me is having a clear intention and commitment to a goal while focusing on being conscious to your perspectives in life.

Perspective is everything in “good” or “bad” experiences in life. I personally choose not to see it as “good” or “bad”, even if I agree with one or the other being desirable or undesirable. It took me a while to see life this way but I am grateful for my life experiences that have allowed me to foster his mindset.

The perspective I choose to see any experience in life from today is gratitude and “what can I learn from this?”. It’s not always easy. Trust me, I know!

From injuries to brain tumors, I’ve had a ton of emotional roller coaster rides that have led me to digging deep within me to see what I’m made of and how I want to live my life.

From the perspective of fear or from the perspective of love. I’ve come to learn that fear is just a thought that we are able to shift our focus from to the thoughts we enjoy and love. It’s a simple choice that’s not easy but worth the discipline in practicing. 💚✌️

Thanks to @sheadurant for these screen grabs from a video project we got in the works. 🙏🏼👊🏼

-Josh P.

(Day 6) 21-Day Meditation / New Habit Creation Challenge.

“Patience with wisdom is knowing what to respond to and what we can actually change in a meaningful way”.

This was the message for today’s meditation with Jackie. I feel it’s a great reminder for us all to let go of control. Control of patience. Control of outcomes. Control of thoughts. Control of what others think.

That said, when we have clarity on what we want in our lives and can take time to just BE, breath, and reflect on our thoughts, we can start to see the the things we can do to create an impact in our lives. This clarity clears up the urges to jump into thoughts that don’t serve us, which tend to create negative emotions and inner conflict.

This resonates with me a lot because I find myself at times jumping into unwanted thoughts that arise from myself or outside influences. The only thing we can control is our actions, which then manifests into the outcomes we want or don’t want.

I’m finding that prioritizing time to sit, meditate, and be as present as I can is helping me see the actions and thoughts I that will serve me well and the actions and thoughts that are not worth my time and energy. 💚✌️

-Josh P.

(Day 5) 21-Day Meditation / New Habit Creation Challenge. Today was a great reminder that we are all perfect where we are right now and there is no certain way we “must” be.

My good friend @david_goodall loves to say “we are all perfect where we are right now in this time and space” and it’s so true. Although it’s ok to strive for more greatness in our lives, we must first find gratitude and acceptance for who we are right now.

Before I meditate I read my health coaching mission statement, my mantras, my clearing statements and my “what would it take” to visualize the life I desire and work for and the coach/person/partner/friend/brother/son I strive to be. –

So often do we get lost in doing things and becoming something we feel we “have” to in order to please others, society, and our egos in fear of “failure” or letting others down. Most of the time I find it is out of fear, usually for things that haven’t happened yet or that come with now validity to that thought.

What meditation has been teaching me more of is that there is no right or wrong way to be other than how YOU feel. It’s also teaching me to build a practice of patience by creating opportunity to be patient rather than becoming patient. We are all already patient but have to give ourselves the chance to slow down and see it. 💚✌️

-Josh P.

If you told me if I’d be drinking water (with pink sea salt) and kombucha’s at the BMX sessions when I was younger, I’d say you’re crazy as I sipped on a Dr Pepper.

But we all start somewhere and reflection on the past and the growth that’s taken place is a great way to foster gratitude.

Rather than poison my brain, today I optimize my brain by living in what’s called a fat, or keto, adapted lifestyle, which lowers inflammation and free radical production, balances blood sugar to reduce headaches, fatigue, soreness, and cravings, and improves body composition &a cognitive function.

That said, real and clean salt is important for hydration, heart health, adrenal health, and so much more. Kombucha is a great source of probiotics and flavor.

Both are few of many ways to take care of your brain. 💚✌️

-Josh P.

(Day 4) 21-day Meditation / New Habit Challenge. Focusing on patience has taught me I’ve become impatient about being patient, which is easy to see now that I’ve become aware of it.

Using the @headspace app has been great in learning new skills and concepts. One skill they share is called “noting”. Basically, it’s being able to become aware of thoughts that arise but having the ability to just see them for what they are and not getting emotional about them, or making them “right” or “wrong”.

I originally thought meditation was being able to clear your mind and not allow any thoughts come in. This is true to some degree but the main concept I’ve been learning is that meditation is about creating more headspace for us to feel more calm, clear, and peaceful.

It’s not about controlling thoughts, it’s about deciding to watch them go by in a sense rather than jumping into them. Kind of like sitting on a bench and watching traffic go by. Some stop and some keep going. We decide which thoughts to jump into, which is what a lot of us are not aware of. It’s our choice! 💚

✌️

-Josh P.