I’m NOT Special

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

Conditioned to give into fear or not even begin going after our dreams because of others insecurity / past experiences of “failure” projected upon us.

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

I was 21 years old & was responsible to sign off of all the profound risks of said brain surgery as a young adult, & the risks consisted of paralysis, going blind, having a stroke, or death as the top of what stood out & 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 fear was like & the thought of dying, never seeing the people I love again, & never riding my bike again consumed me.

Not fear in the sense of thats “scary” or anxiety/worry. More like fear of actually dying & 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 fuel to overcome what was to come in the next 10 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 & grow.

A choice to prove to myself & others we’re capable of what we set our sights (internally & externally) on & the potential we all possess with a believe in ourselves.

What do you want to be true about your life?

Josh P. 💚🧠✌️

WHY “if X then Y” Thinking Does NOT Work

So many of us, including myself, tend to think “if this then that” when it comes to how we think and feel.

We give away our power to create the lives we desire by believing that if we just had a little bit more money, if we lost a little more weight, if we obtained a few more things that represented success, and so on that THEN we would feel happy, secure, and confident.

The problem with this is that this way of thinking rarely leads to success with obtaining what we want and even less often are those things maintained in our lives.

Why?

I break this down in this article and explain why my client and I have broken out of this thought process and what it’s done for us.

WHY “if X then Y” Thinking Does NOT Work

I get it. You’re working your ass off to reach your goals and feel like if you could just get a taste of success, THEN you’d feel better about yourself.

If you could just get a little more money in the bank, THEN you’d feel more comfortable.

If you could lose a little more weight, THEN you’d feel more confident.

If you got that promotion or that raise, THEN you’d feel happier.

What I find with most people that want the weight loss, the bigger bank account, the promotion, the relationship, etc. is that they just want to feel whole.

They want to feel secure, happy, loved, appreciated, valued, and confident.

When all I could focus on was my bank account, I could not see the bigger picture holding me back.

It was my programming of not feeling complete that led me to always chasing something to fill the void.

Once I tripled my income in just one year, those same holes existed meaning, the same problems were present in my life.

I kept thinking, “if I could only make “x” more money this year, then I would feel secure, confident, and happy.”

Boy was I wrong.

This is what I call “if x then y” thinking, which I like to refer to as “at effect”.

The problem with this form of thinking is that you’re operating from a place of limiting belief and/or negative emotions, which highly influences your behavior and creates the reality you experience on a daily basis.

Your physical health, your bank account, your relationships, etc. are all just evidence of the greater problem with regards to your personal programming.

What I didn’t know is probably what you and many others also don’t know in this moment.

Rather than being the conductor of our lives (at cause for our reality), we are in the passenger seat of others’ lives (at effect to our environment and circumstances).

We are so focused on an OUTCOME, we skip over the type of person (IDENTITY) that we must become to obtain that which we want in our lives and then begin comparing and contrasting our reality to that of others based upon not having what we want.

Be honest with yourself.

How many times have you asked yourself, “am I becoming the type of person that has the life I want”?

It’s great to have a goal or an outcome you’re working towards, as that sets your sights on a target. But, identity is what drives the habits which shape the identity in a sort of loop of feedback based upon choices & habits.

People talk a lot about developing “good habits” to achieve what it is they are after.

But, habits are not about having anything (OUTCOMES), rather, they’re about becoming someone (IDENTITY).

Identity isn’t set in stone as many believe it is.

You have the power to change your beliefs about yourself and the actions/habits that affirm that belief.

You can choose an identity and then choose habits that reinforce that identity in every moment of your life. Adversely, you can unconsciously choose habits that reinforce a limiting belief about yourself that you don’t enjoy.

That’s why it’s important to become aware of your mental programming.

Your habits shape your identity and your identity shapes your habits in a “feedback loop” of mental and emotional information based upon choices, habits, and experiences.

Let value, principals, and desired identity drive this feedback loop rather than results or outcomes.

Continue to ask yourself, “who is the type of person that could GET the outcome I want” and audit your actions to see if they’re congruent with your answer.

Set your sights on the target (GOAL/OUTCOME) and then focus your energy on becoming the type of person (IDENTITY) that has what you want by voting on becoming that type of person with your choices in everyday scenarios.

It’s not about perfection.

It’s about a majority vote for the type of person you want to become.

Focusing on how that version of you thinks, feels, and behaves is what generates the outcome as a positive consequence.

Not the other way around like most of us tend to think.

Most of us think “if X then Y” in regards to thinking & feeling a certain way when we achieve a goal, get an outcome, or obtain something.

When we flip that around, we not only have a higher probability of obtaining the life we want, we have a higher probability of maintaining it.

This is exactly what I help my clients achieve whether they come to me for help losing weight or starting a business and/or increasing their business performance.

It’s all tied together as your health affects your performance which affects your career, relationships, and personal development, and vise versa.

The people I work with come to me to either lose weight or just feel better about themselves, inside and out.

With our time together, my clients not only learn how their current model of the world is creating the experiences in various aspects of their lives that they dislike but they also learn how they can take the wheel and create their IDEAL life.

After taking charge within my own life and sharing what I was learning and experiencing, and seeing the lives of others transform, I decided to dedicate my life’s work to helping others do the same and share it with their loved ones as well.

If you’re tired of feeling frustrated, insecure, like you’re not being valued like you should, feeling lonely, or just feeling like shit, reach out and let’s talk.

You DESERVE to have a chance at living your most IDEAL life and enjoying the process.

Don’t let past attempts or limiting beliefs hold you back from at least exploring the possibilities.

You owe it to yourself to have the opportunity to be as healthy, happy, and successful as you can.

Why IDENTITY should be the focus rather than OUTCOMES

We all want various outcomes to manifest and we typically change the way in which we do things to try and achieve the outcome.

But, what I found to be the reason why some succeed and other don’t, or why some succeed and maintain the success while others don’t, is because the focus is not directed in the right place at the right time.

I ran a poll asking my Facebook group about where their focus is in regards to goals: outcomes, systems & processes, or identity and purpose.

The outcome was 38% identity & purpose, 38% systems & processes, and 28% outcomes. I was happy to see the majority was away from outcomes and I will explain why.

This was inspired by 2 people that have changed my outlook on goals in life as well as every action I take in my life. Both of them use the Golden Circle analogy with 3 simple layers and how profound the direction you choose to operate from can impact your efforts in life.

The first person is Simon Sinek, known as the “WHY” guy, and I heard him give a talk in 2013 where I first was exposed to this Golden Circle. Simon explained how the core of the circle is our WHY our intention or purpose in anything we do. The next layer is how we do what we do and the final layer, the outer layer, is what we do. He used this concept for sharing how a company can market a product based on human interaction with words, emotions, and behavior. It got me to always think of WHY I do what I do in my business and never lose sight of that WHY.

Next is James Clear, author of “Atomic Habits”, who I resonate a ton with his methodologies and thought process on optimizing any area of life. James shares a similar concept and connection to human behavior with different words. The core of James’ concept is IDENTITY with the middle layer being systems & processes, finally leading to OUTCOMES.

The poll was a bit of a trick question as all 3 parts are equally important, just at various times along the journey of setting and achieving the goal.

Today, I wanted to share some thoughts that came after rereading chapter 2 of Atomic Habits by James Clear, “How your habits shape your identity and vice versa”.

Before I get into this, I want to share something I learned about our personalities: it’s made up of the way we think, the way we feel (emotions), and our behavior.

This combination, in return, creates our personal reality as we experience the world. What’s wild is we may have 60,000-80,000 thoughts on any given day, and 90% of those thoughts are the SAME thoughts as the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that.

50% of those thoughts aren’t even real, they’re just made up perceptions of past experiences and HOW we feel. And, if that’s not enough, 95% of how we show up in life by the time we’re 35 years old is based on a subconscious program BUILT off of our past experiences.

This means that we’re only TRULY AWARE of 5% of what we think about on a daily basis. Knowing this, it’s easy to see how we can’t help but get in our own way, as much as we may want to change. So, to change simply means to optimize, or overcome ourselves.

But in order to change, we have to become conscious.

Conscious of the way we think, act, and feel. OTHERWISE, we won’t know the difference between what’s made up in our minds or what’s TRULY REAL.

The thoughts we give energy to, the actions we take, and the emotions we feel for sustained periods of time, as a result, are a set of behavior patterns known as our personality.

Our personality is what creates our personal REALITY and in order to CHANGE that personal reality, we must overcome our past/present self that’s PREDICTING our future each day as we live in the trap of auto-pilot.

And with that said, let’s get into today’s article.

There are 3 Layers of Behavior Change James breaks down:
Outcomes – results based (outer layer)
Processes – systems & habits (middle layer)
Identity – beliefs, emotions, perspectives (core)

Here is a quick quote from the book before I break this down…

“Behavior that is not congruent with the self will not last”. – James Clear

Most people start with a focus on the outcome and then find their way into the processes and maybe a part of who they are changes as a result. Very few people begin with changing who they believe they are.

Outcomes are what you want & Identity is what you believe.


Outcome-based goals start with saying “I want” which sets the goal and determines the actions, right? But, the focus is on an outcome and typically doesn’t shift the identity, which gives us the potential for self-sabotage as a consequence of not shifting identity.

An example would be “I’m trying to quit”(outcome) vs. “I’m not a smoker” (identity) when asked to smoke or “I want to lose weight (outcome) and just need to eat/move a certain way (process) and then I will lose weight” while still seeing themself as an unhealthy person vs. thinking about how they can become a healthier person, internally, who makes healthy decisions like eating the right foods and moving their body more often as a result of their belief of themself.

New identity leads to new processes that lead to a new outcome.

“The ultimate form of intrinsic motivation is when a habit becomes part of your identity. It’s one thing to say “I’m this type of person who wants this. It’s something very different to say I’m the type of person who is this.” – James Clear

How many times have you asked yourself why you’re not motivated or asked someone or sought out how to become more motivated? We all have. What I have found is that motivation is nothing more than an elevated level of energy in a moment and it’s why we all see so many people attend a seminar, read a book, hear a podcast or talk, watch a movie, etc. and get all hyped upon an idea, maybe take some action, and by the next week, they are back to square one.

New information came in and got them excited but as time went on, they got to thinking and looking for evidence of the possibility of succeeding, and slowly they talked themself out of doing the work. They were only focused on the outcome and their identity took over and told them all the reasons why they would fail or why they should give up when times get tough.

They didn’t address the core identity or purpose.

Our behavior is usually a reflection of the type of person we believe we are, consciously or unconsciously, and it’s why I believe we must begin with the root cause of our problems: negative emotions & limiting beliefs.

As all my clients know, this is essentially our operating system and over time, it develops bugs in the programming and gets outdated. Until we address the root cause, we may find a new process to try and get us the outcome we want but our identity is never shifted which results in us never achieving our outcome or it being short-lived.

The focus should be exposing those bugs or the outdated software and swapping them out for new programming by focusing on the new identity we want that has the outcome we are after as a natural positive consequence.

2 Step Process To Changing Your Identity
1) Decide the type of person you want to be
2) Prove it to yourself with small wins


1) Decide the type of person you want to be…

We’re born a blank canvas when it comes to our identity. Every belief we hold about ourselves internally, and externally about the world, is learned and programmed through our experiences in life: what we saw, heard, felt, modeled, and so on with all of our sensory input over time as our brain developed the final portion to fully develop and is responsible for reasoning, impulse, decision making, and rationale which isn’t fully developed until we are about 25.

Our habits are how we embody our identity or what we believe is true about ourselves and the world we live in. I used to think what we did was who we were but I have come to learn it’s only an expression of who we are and HOW we do things is more of an extension of who we are rather than what we do.

The more we act in a specific manner, the more we affirm and program our beliefs of who we think we are and the world we live in as we see it. There is no right or wrong, there is just an input and output but we judge if we like it or not based upon what we desire in our lives.

I found the root of the word “identity” rather interesting as James bread down in his book. The word “identity” comes from the latin word “essentials” which means being and identidem which means repeatedly. This literally means our “identity” is our repeated beingness in life.

Adding to what I would assume would be a new perspective on the word and idea of identity for many of us, is the understanding that we build an identity around what we have proof of in our lives via our environment, rather than what we want in the future. This is why changing an aspect of our lives is so difficult when we operate from the “I’ll believe it when I see it” belief system rather than seeing it in our minds and operating from the emotions and thought process that vision creates for you.

The brain changes from the same process based upon seeing something in your mind or in your external world. Either way, the same neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, and hormones are released which all signal the body in various manners. It’s the reason you can think of a past event when you felt betrayed and get angry or sad, or think of a past accomplishment or holiday you enjoyed and can feel happy and excited. Either way, it’s as real to the brain as the other and creates the same effects chemically, biologically, physiologically, and epigenetically all of which influence your personality (thinking, feeling, and acting) and solidifies this feedback loop which creates the current experience in your personal reality.

We also typically tend to affirm our identity by comparing and contrasting ourselves with our current environment and time, more so than ever with social media at our fingertips. By doing this, we can’t help but build more evidence for the case of who we are, and the more evidence we have, the stronger our beliefs will be.

The challenge is that this “cause and effect” thinking puts us in a box with a lid containing all of the potential possibilities. This, in return, makes us feel as if we are stuck which just sends signals to the brain to think the way we feel and then we begin acting the way we think and feel to be true about ourselves and our lives.

The solution is simple, not easy, but very simple. We must transcend that box with the power of seeing that which we want in our mind and focusing our energy, time, and actions to be aligned with that vision we hold in our mind. Jim Carrey said, “our eyes are not only for seeing but they are also for projecting”.

The vision of your outcome should bring upon positively charged emotions from obtaining the outcome and exploring the possibilities for your life just as when you were younger and didn’t have as much experience with fear or pain and limiting projections passed down to you from others. These positively charged emotions are the target in regards to fueling your efforts because if we can get in touch with these emotions regularly, we will likely think and act in a manner congruent to the outcome we want, right?

2) Prove it to yourself with small wins…


Each action you take in your life is like a vote for the person you are or want to become. It takes more than one vote to win but as the votes begin to add up, the evidence of who you are does too.

This is why it’s important to become aware of your habits because small habits can build up quickly to provide the evidence for an identity, one way or another.

“The most practical way to change who you are is to change what you do”. – James Clear

As the votes begin adding up and the evidence of who we are changes as a result of choosing new habits, we can begin to believe ourselves more and change the story we tell ourselves of who we are and what is true about our lives. I love the software programming analogy so much because of this reason. You can’t expect to operate from windows 95 in 2020 and not run into issues that would otherwise be nonexistent with whatever the latest operating system is out there today.

AND, it’s NOT about perfection at all! It’s about more votes for who you want to be and the way to earn those votes is to choose congruent habits for who you want to be. The challenge tends to be unconscious votes adding up beyond your awareness as a result of thinking and feeling and acting in a specific manner for a long amount of time. This is the first barrier to break through to begin consciously voting in the manner you truly want rather than what felt comfortable from a past amount of time of acting and thinking and feeling a certain undesired way.

That’s why step 1 of deciding the type of person you want to become is so important because it allows you to take a deep look at who you are from a programming perspective and audit if those programs are serving or hurting you when it comes to your wants, needs, goals, etc. The first step in changing anything in our lives is to become aware of what it is we want to change in the first place then direct our focus to what it is we want to be true.

What I love doing in my life and with my clients is getting to the root cause of whatever it is we want to change in our life. The root cause for all of our problems tends to come back to limiting beliefs and or negative emotions we want to resolve. For example, a lot of us want to earn more money, right?

But, if we go deeper by asking “why”, “for what purpose”, etc. and continue playing the why game if done authentically and vulnerably, we will arrive at a limiting belief of “there’s never enough” or a negative emotion of fear from lack of security that is driving the problem.

This means the root cause is fear or this b.s. limiting belief that there is never enough. The presenting problem is a lack of funds but the example problem or evidence of this problem would be living paycheck to paycheck, not having things wanted in one’s life, or being in credit card debt.

When we focus on the outcome, or in many cases the problem, we are operating from the same software that created the problem and yet many of us still expect to get new results because we have declared the problem we want to resolve and what it is we do want to be true.

As I already stated, this tends to lead towards the core slightly by getting into the middle layer of systems and processes that are now potentially being applied. Yes, many don’t even go that far for various reasons that I trust by now you have an idea of what those reasons could be.

But, either way, the core of identity is rarely ever reached, if at all, and is why the majority of people find themselves back to square one if they did experience some success or never see changes amount to the success they are after.

It’s because their actions are out of alignment with who they believe they are and what they believe to be true about themselves and their lives. Or, their actions have no longevity and thus don’t become a new habit that puts votes in the favor of their desires.

For changes to truly yield results as well as maintain those results in our lives as a new way of experiencing the life we want, we must address the core of what we want, which is our identity.

Our identity is what runs our show that is our lives.


Rather than living life as a viewer of our show, why not switch roles and decide to be the writer of your show and write out the script you want to experience and want to be true?

Josh P. 💚🧠✌️

You’ve Been Through Worse

‪You’ve been through worse & are still here.

Remember you’re alive & each adversity is a gift. A gift sitting there waiting for us to learn from & to take….if we choose to do so.

Life is all about choices.

We choose to think what we think. Take away & give meaning to experiences in life.

React to others in a specific manner. Speak to others however we do.

Take action, or lack there of, however we choose to do so.

Believe whatever we have told ourselves or was suggested upon us.

And so much more.

At the end of the day…it’s a choice.

Maybe unconsciously, which is usually the case, but also consciously influenced by our emotions that are triggered by our perceptions of our reality & experiences.

We can see beauty in the world along with love & abundance, or we can see pain, lack, & struggle.

Either way, it is what we make it in our minds.

Why not make it worth your while & benefit you life moving forward?

Sounds simple & it is simple.

The difficult part of this is overcoming ones past/present self that’s been programmed by years of past experiences that are basically memorized emotional responses from input (thoughts and beliefs) that come about in our everyday life moments.

The brain is constantly scanning our environment for cues or signals to cross reference with our past to influence how we perceive an event which triggers the cycle of thought, emotion, & action that we’ve been conditioned to operate under.

So to shift perspective of ones reality is to challenge & overcomes ones current version or model of who “they are” & the life they live within the world they know it as.

You’re alive & are able to control your shift in focused thought.

Once you practice this more, learn more, & experience this shift, the more you’ll open your mind to new possibilities & see evidence of change in your putter world.

It starts with appreciating the fact that you’re alive & able.

Some people don’t wake up but you did.

So stop complaining or hoping for a new reality.

Shift your focus & intentions & see what changes.

Josh P. 💚👊🏼✌️

We Compete Against OURSELF

I find most, if not all, of the competition we face is life is against ourselves.

When I talk about “perceived” fear, I’m talking about the mind games our brain plays on us to elicit the emotional response of fear to prevent us from danger or some kind of potential harm or threat.

The problem with this life saving programmed response is that the majority of the fear we experience today is self-created which begins the competition against ourself.

Once we can begin to understand this concept and apply more focus and intention of catching ourselves in these acts, we can begin to make changes to our behavior and create new habits, thus creating a new version of ourselves and ultimately putting the ball back in our court.

That’s not to think we’ll ever gain 100% control over the ego because that’s a fairy tail & if you think you do have that control, that’s your ego at work.

What I’m suggesting is that we can become as aware or conscious as humanly possible which will allow us to consciously design the life we desire rather than be run by conditioned / programmed fear from what’s uncomfortable in our lives.

Maybe then we’ll be more BOLD & take action that’s aligned with what’s in our hearts & what we envision for ourselves.

Maybe then we’ll focus more on being ourself rather than comparing ourselves to others.

Maybe then we’ll be able to make the changes we want in our lives and close the gap between how we feel inside and what our external world reflects back to us.

Josh P. 💚🧠✌️

Addiction to Knowledge

What makes us feel safe and secure is often the exact thing that enables our fears and insecurities.

Today’s podcast drop is titled “Addiction To Knowledge”.

I share how by taking a month off from external learning taught me a lot internally and most profoundly was my addiction to knowledge that was created unconsciously to hide an old insecurity of mine that I didn’t know enough.

I learned I was constantly trying to learn as much as I could because I had this fear of not knowing enough that stemmed from an early age and magnified when I was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

By giving into this vice I was creating stronger and stronger bonds with, it was preventing me from taking the action I knew I must take and wanted to know. Ultimately, this created a bigger gap with what I wanted and what I was experiencing.

By being challenged to take a month off from any external information coming in, I began to intently learn so much about who I am, why I do what I do, and what needed to change.

I learned that what often feels safe and comfortable is the very thing that enables us to play small and hide behind our fears and insecurities.

It’s not until we change things up and remove these vices that we can look behind the curtain of our reality and see what’s going on opposed to the lens of perception our unconscious mind has created to keep us safe.

If you’re interesting in what I have to share about all of this, the link to my podcast is here: https://the-grey-matters-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/addiction-to-knowledge

Josh P. 💚🧠✌️

Speak YOUR Truth

Speaking your truth is about connecting with others so we can begin to understand one another but it’s also about holding yourself accountable for your life and speaking your truth into existence.

Here are 3 episodes of my series “Josh Perry’s Mind” on The Grey Matters Podcast Fleming about how stress and fear can hold us back from speaking and living our truth.

Welcome Inside: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-grey-matters-podcast/id1475573434?i=1000482361530

Fear Is Practical: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-grey-matters-podcast/id1475573434?i=1000482361529

Speak YOUR Truth: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-grey-matters-podcast/id1475573434?i=1000484026488

Far too many of us are living a life designed by others while feeling suppressed to voice what we truly want to do within our lives along with how we may feel about it.

The potential for so much return in ones life is unfathomable when our actions are congruent with our thoughts and emotions.

This coherence of mind and body eventually manifest outwardly into our personal reality and by living in this state of being, walking your talk and experiencing what your heart desires, there’s no shortage of who you may inspire and connect with and all that you may experience along the way.

By following my heart and the future vision I held in my mind as my North Star, I was able to manifest my dream into my reality and that dream saved my life in so many ways as well as led me to my PURPOSE in life.

Today, I’ve become hyper conscious to this concept as a fact of my story and it’s become my truth I share with the world in an effort to empower others to consciously design their lives by optimizing their health and performance.

Josh P. 💚🧠✌️

Fear Is An Emotional Response To A Thought

There’s a big difference between perceived threats/stress and actual threats to our life that create the thoughts of fear. There’s also a ton of similarity in terms of what each one elicits in regards to chemicals within our bodies that can become addictive and run our lives.

People ask me about my tattoo “fear is just a thought thoughts can be changed” a lot.

I figured I’d share with all of you.

It’s a reminder of empowerment.

Not many people ask me what went through my mind right before having open brain surgery to remove a tumor when I was just 21 years old.

Many may be surprised to know I felt less fear and stress in the moments right before surgery when compared to when I received the news of my diagnosis.

To me, fear is nothing more than a thought that’s often influenced by past experiences, past emotional memories, & future unwanted events when presented with perceived situations of stress in our lives.

What I’ve come to learn is that we’re often presented with situations that hold no true threat to our lives but the thought of fear is just as real thanks to the chemicals the brain produces in theses stressful moments.

Becoming conscious of this and redirecting focus and energy are key and are what allowed me to overcome every situation I have experienced with real or perceived threat to my life.

If it’s fear that’s holding you back from DOING something, it’s quite simple. Do you want the outcome that fear provides, or do you want the outcome your heart desires?

If it’s the latter, focus on what is it you DO WANT for your life and allign your thoughts, emotions, and actions with that outcome.

Fear is just an emotional response to thoughts we either create ourself or thoughts influenced by outside suggestions. It’s all the same, it’s a thought that manifests physically when given enough energy.

Knowing this is step 1 to empowerment. Making a new decision that serves you is the next step.

-Josh P. 💚🧠✌️

Detachment & Desire

I’ve taken all I’ve learned from BMX and have shared as much as I can but I’ve also uncovered deeper learnings from BMX and applied to my personal and professional life outside of the sport.

This has allowed me to build a 6-figure business based on my purpose to shift perspectives and empower others to achieve success in their lives, and it’s allowed me to experience the freedom I desire more and more.

For me, freedom means an equal balance of detachment and desire.

It means to surrender and let the feelings of empowerment and joy shine through liking the path to freedom.

The more I’ve reflected on the “things” we want in life and for what purpose, the more I’ve become aware that it traces back to an emotional feeling we’re seeking. Often times to cover up an insecurity we haven’t yet faced and accepted.

Steps one and two of freedom is to become aware / familiar with yourself and accept who you are in order to surrender to detachment and desire.

From there, you can begin paving the path to freedom with the simple internal decision to let go and put your focus on your intentions and match them with a heightened emotional state.

The thought sends the signal out and the emotion draws the event into your life.

If you want to speed up time, you gotta let go of past emotional baggage and focus on overcoming your past “known” self to create a new idea version of you that’s doing, feeling, and having the things and experiences you truly want.

I’m practicing this more and more, and I’ve been challenged to let go of many things that I did on a daily basis to affirm my identity.

I’m learning I don’t need that identity and it’s so freeing to know and feel.

Josh P. 💚🧠✌️

Unconscious Alarm Systems

Having trouble feeling grateful 100% of the time?

Welcome to the club of being a human being.

It’s unrealistic to feel the way we what every second of every day and that expectation leads to pain and suffering.

What helps shift into that desired elevated state of gratitude is PERSPECTIVE.

Perspective is being proactive about your state of being and taking a step back from the lack you are currently experiencing and recognizing while deeply believing that no matter what the circumstance is leading you to feeling anything but grateful that it could ALWAYS be worse. “Bad” things happen out of our control and there is no denying that. What we also CAN NOT deny is how we respond moving forward from experiences out of our control- that’s our responsibility as conscious human beings.

We as human beings choose to suffer chronically, though, due to our thoughts focusing on the things we don’t like, the things we don’t have, or the fears we have been conditioned to live by.

Pain is inevitable but suffering is an unconscious or sometimes conscious choice.

If you are not feeling grateful and want a tip to feel grateful, remember YOU WOKE UP. Start there!

Beyond waking up, know you’ve overcome all you’re most challenging struggles to get to where you are and are capable of more than you may currently feel in the moment.

Finally, it’s important to recognize that whatever it is you’re experiencing could always be worse or get worse.

Catching yourself in the cycle of thoughts triggering emotions (state of being) that doesn’t serve you is EVERYTHING because once aware, you can begin making changes towards what you want your future to feel, look, and be like.

I call this my “unconscious alarm” for negative self talk / thoughts.

Josh P. 💚👊🏼✌️