Daily Brainstorms

I started last decade with being told I may have cancer, I would never ride my BMX bike again, and that I may die.

This was sprung upon my solo self in the doctor’s office for an MRI follow up visit with my focus and perspective that I was about to be told I had to take 2 weeks off my bike after enduring a concussion 2 days prior.

Little did I know that the doctor’s change in demeanor was resulting from some tragic news he was about to share with me. I was 21 years old, just rode X-games (a childhood dream), and was abruptly and shockingly diagnosed with a massive brain tumor.

This thing almost killed me and robbed me of all of that I have experienced, seen, and done for others since that moment.

That moment can easily and is often referred to by others as “the worst thing” to ever happen to me and for some obvious reasons.

The less obvious reality others agree with once I share my perspective is that it was the single best thing to ever happen to me besides the day I was born. It changed the trajectory of my life in such profound ways. It shifted how I saw the world, my being, what was possible in life, and what my purpose on this Earth is beyond riding a bike.

The last decade of my life has introduced me to some amazing people I consider family today, brought me around the world to places I never fathomed being possible, given me life-altering experiences to grow and become inspired from, taught me so much about my being, my purpose, business, relationships, priorities, community, education, and so much more.

With all that said, I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for every person that has come into my life personally or from afar and shown me love. The amount of love and support you all have shown me is truly amazing and not something I ever imagined experiencing when I first left home as a child in pursuit of a dream full of risk, doubt, pain, suffering, and little to no success.

I share all I share with all of you like an open book for a few reasons:

1- relate and connect with each of you to do my best to never let someone feel as if they are alone, broken, dysfunctional, have to feel embarrassed for any reason, can’t live their life on their terms, or anything short of capable of living the life they desire and DESERVE.

2- inspire new perspective shifts that influence change in your life that leads to the best version of yourself.

3- show you all I am no one special and I have experienced hell and am grateful for it because it showed me what I was capable of and allowed me to shift my sights upwards from where they once resided, ultimately allowing more abundance in my life. That said, my effort is to allow you the space in your consciousness and subconscious to develop a belief in yourself even when times get tough.

Josh P.

I took a week off from anything other than being as present as possible with my family for Christmas this year.

I have so much to be grateful for along with so much love and support every step of the way.

This end of my BMX chapter in life to pursue more meaning, purpose, and contribution to the world has had me reflecting on as much as I can remember from my past to this current moment in time.

The things that stand out are love and support of family (friends are also apart of family) and how I want to spend more time with them, clarity on the vision we hold in our minds for our life, there’s so much to be grateful for and that perspective unlocks so much potential for abundance in our lives, and I’m glad I took a risk on my dreams and that my family is proud of those efforts, supported my decision to do so, and is behind me as I navigate these new waters.

This year, Jackie and I had our parents come to join us in North Carolina to meet for the first time and enjoy the week together bowling, cooking and eating delicious meals, golfing, playing card games, watching Christmas movies, and so much more as we shared stories and connected on a deeper level.

I’m truly grateful for everyone in my life (physically and in spirit) and every experience in my past that’s made me who I am today. I’m grateful for these moments captured and all that’s too come.

Happy holidays!

Josh P. 💚🧠✌️

We live in a world where we’re conditioned that giving up is ok.

Conditioned to give into fear or not even begin going after our dreams because of others insecurity or past experiences of “failure” and giving up.

April 16th, 2010, I signed over my life to the hands of a neurosurgeon and his team as I said goodbye and “I love you” to my younger brother and parents.

I was 21 years old and was responsible to sign off of all the profound risks of said brain surgery as a young adult, and the risks consisted of paralysis, going blind, having a stroke, or death at the top of what stood out and caught my attention.

As I sat there signing my life away, I remember this being the first time I truly experienced what life or death stress was like and the thought of dying, never seeing the people I love again, and never riding my bike again consumed me with an immense feeling of fear.

Not fear in the sense of thats “scary” or anxiety/worry. More like fear of actually dying and accepting this fact as they inserted the IV into my arm & prepared me for what’s to come with no looking back.

This moment in time where I accepted I may die was a turning point in my life in that something switched inside of me that no longer gave into fear of dying & I presented myself with a choice.

A choice to put my focus, & therefore my energy, into a worse case scenario I didn’t want. Or, a choice in the vision I desired after I woke up from surgery.

This choice to focus on my desired future vision was a by-product of my being raised to work hard for the life I wanted & from BMX teaching me if you fall once, try twice if you want it bad enough.

This choice was a pivotal moment that would serve as my fuel to overcome what was to come in the next 9.5 years leading to my reality today.

It taught me that so often do we make decisions disguised as fear to take the “easy route” rather than the route most would give up on.

I’m not special. I just made a choice to not give up. A choice to learn and grow. A choice to prove to myself & others we’re capable of what we set our sights (internally and externally) on & the potential we all possess once we believe in ourselves.

Josh P. 💚🧠✌️

Survivors guilt is a concept that’s helped me gain clarity of the way I feel about my brothers passing last year.

I’ve realized I have been living with a ton of trapped energy in my body in the form of guilt towards my being alive and not being there for Danny in the capacity that may have prevented his death.

There’s no reason to think in the past and have any kind of regret since nothing will change the reality of that pst time and what it’s done to shape today’s reality.

Holding onto that negative emotion of guilt has been destroying me and leading to fostering other negative emotions of anger, unworthiness, stress, anxiety, and depression over the last year and a half.

Danny wouldn’t want me to feel that way and would, of course, call me a p**sy for doing so with his goofy laugh while saying so.

This is the last photo of Danny I have when he was visiting @jciake and I before the last time I actually saw him.

The last day I saw my little brother was the day I dropped him off at the airport about a month before he passed as he was flying out West for the first time to visit some family.

I remember getting out of the car to help him grab his bags as he was stressing out about not making his flight. I remember laughing and comforting him in knowing how well I knew that airport and that he’d be fine, which he was and made his flight, as I have him a hug and felt his big bear hug back as we exchanged “I love you’s” as we always did no matter what page we were on as brothers.

We never left each other in person or on the phone without saying we loved each other and I’m grateful that we established that level of live and respect for one another no matter how happy or upset we were with one another.

I’ve been doing a ton of inner work and realizing I was just punishing myself for something that was out of my control.

Control in my life has come from a sense of insecurity from a rough childhood to all the adversity I’ve overcome in my 31 years that most don’t experience in a lifetime.

More on that in the future, though.

Just know we all have things going on in our minds no matter the outside appearance.

Love you, bro!

Josh P. 💚🧠✌️

April 16th, 2020 will be 10 years from the photo on the left.

After a 6-hr brain surgery to remove a massive brain tumor, leaving me with 75 staples, 16 stitches, and 4 titanium screws in my skull, I was back on my bike 5 weeks later.

Perceptive is everything and I could have chose one of fear and lived life as a victim. But, I chose to become a survivor and live life on my own terms.

I believe we all have the same choice in our life and that’s our perspective, which no one can take from us.

It’s a choice we’re faced with on a daily basis.

It’s not always easy but it’s worth putting in the effort to become aware of our thoughts and focus on shifting them to become more aligned with our desires.

I could have easily chosen the path of a victim and had given up on more than a handful of occasions and no one would have questioned me.

But, my vision for my life wouldn’t allow that choice.

My vision to become the best version of myself also led me to a ketogenic lifestyle for the health and longevity of my brain consisting of a ketogenic diet, fasting, and exogenous ketones.

Since adopting this lifestyle, I’ve become more conscious and proactive of other areas of my life, I’ve been able to avoid surgery, medication and treatment of the recent 2 brain tumors in 2017, I’ve connected with wonderful people in my life, and I’ve been able to embrace a higher purpose in life consisting of helping others.

Had I not chosen to be proactive about my health, I wouldn’t be where I am today connecting with all of you.

👉🏼 “life is 10% what’s happens to us and 90% how we move forward”.

&

👉🏼 “life doesn’t happen to us, it happens for us”.

&

👉🏼 “you can choose to change in a place of joy and inspiration, or in a place of pain and suffering”.

All above quotes detail the same choice, a choice in perspective and how we see the world and the events that take place in our lives.

Ive learned change doesn’t have to happen when we’re in a place of pain and suffering. It’s my mission to inspire the perspective of change occurring during joy and inspiration so we can be proactive rather than reactive for the live we desire.

Josh P. 💚🧠✌️

How we choose to see the world we live in and the events we experience is what shapes how our reality appears.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTj4gjH8ewA&feature=youtu.be

I believe perspective is a choice and that choice leads to how we develop our personality, which is made up of our thoughts, actions, and emotions.

I have learned how important it is to become aware of our perspective in life as our personality is what creates our personal reality we live in every day.

If we are unhappy with our current reality, we have to go back to the drawing board and audit if our perspective is aligning with our vision for the life we desire.

If our perspective on life is how difficult it is, how we lack “this or that”, how unworthy we feel, etc. yet we desire the opposite, we’re not going to be on a frequency of energy equal to that desired version of ourself.

This, in return, creates our state of being, which influences how we think, act, and feel.

If our current state of being is influencing thoughts, actions, and emotions that don’t align with our truest version of our desires self, we can’t expect to create that version of ourself, or at least without suffering to do so while it taking a very long time.

One of the biggest learning lessons in my 31 years on this earth is that the way we choose to see our lives is what’s shaped our reality, and I’d argue its what CREATES our reality as a direct and indirect by-product.

Change your perspective, change your life.

Change your thoughts, change your actions and emotions.

Change your emotions, change your energy frequency and begin to change your reality to look and feel the way you desire deep down.

The trick?

Embrace resistance once you begin to make changes and understand it’s just your mind breaking free from the body as it’s become trapped in a program conditioned into the body over time.

To change is to change the program, which leaves the body feeling uncomfortable and unfamiliar.

When this happens, just observe fee of judgment and focus back to the present moment and your purpose for making the effort to change.

Josh P. 💚🧠✌️

Been working hard with @createdbybrian on educational keto focused videos as well as story telling and mindset focused videos as ways to share my message and goals of inspiring new perspective in others.

I’ve felt lost at times the last 2 years as I’ve stepped into the “unknown” in pursuit of a new purpose filled goal fueled by nothing more than passion and gratitude.

The more internal / mental work I’ve been doing, the more I’ve been able to take more and more action in my life that gets me into a state of “flow” and I forget about my body in time and space.

Sharing my journey and the perspectives I attach to these stories has been self-therapeutic as well, which is why I encourage others to share their TRUTH as much as they can.

Today I had the honor of leading a keto & brain health training for my good friend @isaacstegman and his company/tribe @kaizenprocoaching.

My priorities in which I wanted to the team to take away we’re the following:

1- consciousness (awareness).

2- Health is internal.

3- Brain & Mental Health = WEALTH.

I learned these valuable lessons the hard way and it’s my life’s mission to share and inspire these perspectives in anyone I can.

Josh P. 💚🧠✌️