You know that feeling you get after a huge meal (think big dinner or Thanksgiving-style meal)?

That feeling is making you tired and irritable, heavy and bloated, missing out on everything that life has to offer. What kind of life is that? The only thing on your mind right now should be HOW to turn it around and start experiencing radical amounts of energy everyday.

Energy to start your day. Inspiration at work. Feeling turned on and activated when you get home to do all the things you really wanted to do – but often couldn’t find the energy to get done. It’s all an energy game- to do the things we want to do, we need the drive to do them. That drive is born of the mental AND physical energy we have at any given point in time. A key tip? Increasing your physical energy through the meals you choose to fuel yourself with simultaneously increases your mental energy and ability to get things done in your life.

Back to that heavy, tired feeling…

That feeling comes from a number of different factors. The primary one is overeating, taking in too much food at once and having your body essentially “shut down” in order to digest it. All of your physical energy goes to the digestion of your food, and you’re left with zero for working out, playing with the kids (or friends), working on projects, etc. Zero!

I could just tell you to eat lightly, or smaller portions – but that’s not nearly the whole story. While that will certainly improve your energy levels, the primary consideration is the TYPES of foods that you’re eating. We know that refined carbohydrates (think grains like breads, cereals, pastries, biscuits, pancakes, etc) can spike the blood sugar and leave you with uneven moods and energy levels throughout the day, and especially following your meals. Of course, anything with added refined sugar in it will do the same – and even more drastically – but I’d like to hope that you’re beyond choosing those types of choices if you’ve been following me for any length of time.

You’re capable of choosing the meals that deliver solid, even and abundant energy to your mind and body all the time…it’s just a matter of finding the meals that work for you. Simply through trial-and-error, you can discover incredible combinations that really work for you. But here’s a quicker way to do it in the meantime: add in more raw foods.

We just saw that heavy, cooked meals can take away nearly 100% of your available personal energy and redirect it toward the digestion of those meals. A better way is to add in an all-raw or mostly raw meal at least every now and then. Personally, my two favorites are superfood smoothies and large salads. My own superfood smoothie is a blend of water, fresh greens, berries and a wide variety of superfoods – some of the most mineral-rich, nutrient-packed foods available to us on this planet :)

Something absolutely EVERYONE can do is throw together a healthy salad. Just toss some fresh greens (romaine, collard greens, swiss chard, spinach, others) into a large bowl or dish and get some raw nuts or seeds to round it out (hemp seeds, almonds, walnuts and so many others all work great). Even better, add in some fresh fruit! Dice up some apples or throw in a few handfuls of fresh berries.

Listen, it’s not about being “healthy” (a word that’s taken a lot of abuse in its image for some reason over the years). It’s about how you feel after every meal, which determines how you feel every day. How you feel every day determines how you feel over the course of your lifetime. Your experience of life – and the energy you have available to you – is directly related to how you feel after each and every meal you choose to fuel yourself with. Eating a large salad with fresh fruit and/or raw nuts and seeds will give you the clear-minded abundance of energy you need to stay aligned with what’s really important to you. It will let you maintain and develop those key relationships with others, give you the extra energy you need to move your career forward, and eventually net you an increase in income if you’re looking for it. It’s all an energy game in the end.

Too heavy? I hope not. Really start becoming aware of how each meal is making you feel when you’re eating it, directly after, and within the next 2-3 hours of your life. With momentum, you can start choosing only the meals that leave you inspired and full of personal energy, ready to take action and live life to the fullest.

Unleash Your Vitality,

– John Brackett

=> Leave a comment below and let me know what you think!

P.S. Check out the banner for these guys below – I use about 5-1 0 different products from them at any given time, and these are the ones that consistently give me the “edge” and mental clarity I’m looking for in my daily superfood smoothie. Click the banner and check out their online store for some cool ideas on what might be fun to throw into the mix for you personally:

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I’d like to focus exclusively on your health here for a minute.

What kind of results are you experiencing today? Are you feeling inspired and full of energy all the time? Are you satisfied with your body and level of personal fitness – or at least working hard towards that end? Or do you feel lethargic and beat down, worn out? Out of shape and not feeling like you’re at the top of your game?

The single most important thing for you to realize is that right now there are countless people experiencing exactly what you’re experiencing; but even more important, there are countless people experiencing the exact OPPOSITE of how you’re currently feeling. Grasp the real importance of this: if you’re feeling tired and “out of it” all the time, stressed out and falling out of shape, there are countless others who have turned that around in their lives and found themselves with boundless energy and inspiration, the body of their dreams and an incredible state of health and overall vitality. You can do this, and it’s entirely possible for you.

On the other hand, if you’re experiencing incredible health right now…just realize that your daily habits have taken you there. Never take your daily habits for granted, but rather maintain and continually build upon them in new, exciting ways. You know where you stand on this scale. With 1 being a state of chronic disease and 10 being a state of incredible, luminous health and vitality, where would you place yourself on a scale of 1-10? Ground yourself and realize that this is just your starting point on a path that will lead you beyond what you ever thought possible.

This becomes possible for you through your DAILY HABITS. Your daily habits are the actions you take consistently every day that either move you progressively forward or progressively backward. Your current daily habits are the cause and effect that determine your health, fitness and energy levels. All of the results you’re experiencing today, and will experience in the near future, stem from your current daily habits.

Let’s pull out the magnifying glass. Zooming in on fitness, if you never worked out and just sat at a computer all day, you’d likely have less-than-optimal personal fitness levels. On the other hand, if you live an active lifestyle and commit to a few powerful workouts every week, you’re on course to enjoying an incredible body and experience of life. It’s not your genetics. It’s not your lack of time. It’s not because of work. It all comes down to the effectiveness of your daily habits.

In changing your results, you need to take a glance at cause and effect. The causes are your daily habits – the actions you take consistently every day. The effects are the results you’re seeing – your state of health, personal fitness, energy levels, mood, enthusiasm in life, mental performance, etc. To change the effects (your results), all you have to do is change the causes…your daily habits.

The only way to really see your causes – and the effects they bring you – is to become aware of them. The best way to do this is through a daily checklist of some kind. It could be on a small notecard you carry around in your pocket, a folded 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper, a task list on your cellphone, or any other way you can think of. The true value of this practice is first and foremost building an awareness of your current habits. By taking the same actions consistently every day (or every week), you can track your results and see which actions are really panning out for you and delivering value to  your life.

It’s almost like running a business: you wouldn’t just hire someone to do a few random actions for your business each day. You’d have a step-by-step plan for them to get the most out of their time. Manage your life in the same way. Track your daily habits and notice how they make you feel. If certain ones instantly improve your mood and energy, keep them and even see if they could be improved upon! The ones that take away your energy, ditch em and  replace them with new, empowering daily habits.

Here’s your 60-second action step of the day:

Grab a notecard or quickly fold up an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper in half. Whatever you chose to go with, hold it so it appears tall from top to bottom (not short and side-to-side). Title your card or paper, “Current Daily Habits” and brainstorm some ideas. Include your morning routine as it is today, and then think of some ways you could improve it. This could means batching tasks together, such as bathroom tasks, to save time and energy, or adding new habits that give you energy in the morning. Include your work schedule as a single habit, and if you have a lunch break in-between schedule that in as well.

=> Here’s how mine starts out as a real-life example:

Current Daily Habits:

* Watch MindMovie and Review Goals/Objectives

* Morning Water w/ Celtic Sea Salt

* Shower Up

* Superfood Smoothie w/ Fresh Greens from Garden

…………………………………………………

I start my day by watching an inspiring “MindMovie” – a blend of pictures, affirmations and music to get and keep you focused on what you want in life. I then head downstairs and grab my morning glass of water with a pinch of celtic sea salt (for electrolyte content). After that splash of hydration, I then shower up to start my day and make a tall superfood smoothie for breakfast (heading outside to the garden to grab some fresh greens to blend in). This gives me the mental clarity, focus and concentration I need to tackle the day head-on.

I include this just to give you an idea about how you can innovate and improve existing systems. Notice how I have that glass of water before my shower, which allows me to hydrate myself in the morning before eating breakfast. It’s always about the little things we do each day – our daily habits. Start your list now and leave me a comment below  — if you’re up for it, even post a few of your own daily  habits! Looking forward to hearing from you.

Unleash Your Vitality,

– John Brackett

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think!

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Welcome back :)

Before you begin, you may want to review last week’s post with a quick scan of the eyes (or read it if you haven’t had a chance yet!).

We left off talking about how your beliefs determine the results in every area of your life; your beliefs set up your expectations, which then determine your behaviors (the actions you take)…what’s left is the RESULTS you see in each area of your life.

So did you get a chance to really think about what kind of results you’re seeing in each area of your life? What kind of expectations do you have for various areas of your life? Did you even pick up on a few beliefs you feel like you might have?

Because you read on and proved to me that you’re here to learn, I’m going to give you a valuable secret I learned early in life:

“Typically when you reevaluate something, your belief about it changes”

While seemingly simple, this one little phrase holds the key to change in every single area of your life (believe it or not). Stop. I want you to really think about this one. Can you picture a time in your life when you reevaluated a thought or belief you had, and your belief about it changed? Here’s a quick example: you walk into a music venue and a band is playing. Everything sounds awful – the sound is all over the place, people are playing random parts and it’s just generally a mess. You quickly form a belief that this band is TERRIBLE! But what happens next?

Then, you hear the sound guy yell “thanks for the sound check, guys” and head out of the room. The band comes on and plays a jaw-dropping set later on that evening. After hearing the band, you hold the belief that “this band is AWESOME!”. What changed in between? How did this belief suddenly do a 180-degree turn? It’s because you reevaluated the band and how good they were. No belief is set in stone; it simply carries on with consistency until it’s challenged by reevaluation.

Another practical example (the good stuff’s on the way!) could be about how a “green smoothie” would taste. Because it’s green, many have a psychological aversion that screams “bland vegetables!” and denies the possibility of anything satisfying. That belief is instantly changed by reevaluation when you actually taste one for yourself and realize that it’s a fruit smoothie, just PACKED with nutrition :)

So here you are with a newfound understanding of beliefs and how they create the world around you. And you even know that you can CHANGE those beliefs by reevaluating them. But there’s still one more question in the barrel: how can I effectively reevaluate my current beliefs?

Deliberately crafting your own beliefs – and not leaving them up to chance – is one of the most powerful and effective choices you can make in your life. You don’t have to wait around for the perfect experiences to fall into place to craft your beliefs into something supportive. YOU can reevaluate – and hand-pick – your own beliefs, the ones that empower you in living your own, unique lifestyle.

Speeding up the process of reevaluating your beliefs can happen in a number of ways, but perhaps the most effective is by taking advantage of the alpha and theta brain wave patterns you can access upon waking in the morning and before going to sleep at night. At these critical mental states, you’re more open to SUGGESTION – and when you consciously choose what to suggest to your mind, day-after-day, you start seeing changes take place at a foundational level.

This is where you get to decide the rules of the game. You can think to yourself “it’s not enough” over and over, saying “it’s not enough money”, etc. OR you can suggest your own hand-crafted belief statements. If you immerse yourself in the phrase “I always have more than enough” every morning and night, you’ll begin to radiate out the feeling and experience of having more than enough. I’m not one of those people who thinks that thousands of dollars will fall into your lap overnight. What really happens is that you become familiar with the feeling and experience of “I always have more than enough” – even if you’re just playing around with it in the privacy of your bedroom :) With repetition – which causes continual reevaluation – your belief of not having enough begins to lose its foundation and shift over to your new belief that “I always have more than enough”.

Your mind will start to feel the cognitive dissonance between the two beliefs and constantly reevaluate to see which one is true. When you continually focus and concentrate on that new belief, you give it the edge it needs to win the battle of reevaluation – essentially, it passes the test. This belief, when it firmly takes hold, then begins to change your expectations and your behaviors. Suddenly? You find yourself taking new actions that are bringing in better results. It’s the stuff you always knew you could do, but always put off or never took seriously – not because you weren’t capable, but because it was out of alignment with your past beliefs.

Two incredibly effective tools are:

1) Belief Statements:

Belief statements are written statements that spell out the exact belief you’d like to develop, or the precise feeling and experience you’d like to have. One of the most powerful statements out there is the one mentioned earlier: “I always have more than enough”. The feeling of not having enough is what drives people to race their hearts out and stress, tear-down and abuse their minds and bodies to the farthest possible degree. Whether it’s feeling like you don’t have enough time to get things done or enough money to live comfortably, the feeling of not having enough is a challenging place to be in. This simple belief statement, given emotional repetition, can change that experience from one of scarcity to one of abundance – “having more than enough”.

You’ll want to read these belief statements out loud (if possible) every morning and night for the biggest bang for your buck. This gets your whole body and mind involved, and increases the impact of the words; it allows you to feel that experience more fully and anchor it in your mind. If you can’t read aloud, try quietly reading them over to yourself at a comfortable pace, perhaps “hearing them” aloud for more impact. Do whatever gets you to really feel those beliefs to be true for you in that moment. Over time, these written statements become more than just beliefs on paper – they become your expectations…your new beliefs.

2) Visualization:

I’m sure you’re well aware of the power of visualization in sports and peak performance work. It’s been proven to enhance performance in athletes who first emotionally visualize themselves competing and/or winning and then actually going out there and performing…time and time again. This is your chance to use this incredibly powerful tool to enhance every area of your life.

You can spend just 1-5 minutes visualizing your new beliefs or powerful scenes in your mind as you wake up in the morning and before you fall asleep at night. A well-balanced routine is to go through visualizing yourself radiantly alive and healthy, then moving on progressively to money, career, relationships and mental performance. Although it takes only minutes a day, this creates new, vivid imagery in your mind – and new neural pathways and connections. The more you visualize these things, the more they take root and the more you allow yourself to experience the wonders your mind can actually bring to you!

Action Steps:

__ Create a list of 10 (or more) new belief statements that you’d like to develop (health, money, career, relationships, general beliefs, etc)

__ Place this list (written out or typed) by your bed; it could be on a table or nightstand, tucked away in a book, hidden in a drawer or just out in the open!)

__ Read over these new belief statements every morning upon waking and every night before falling asleep (as close as you can reasonably get)

__ Create daily habits and take actions that reenforce these new beliefs (by taking action from these beliefs, you build a stronger foundation more quickly)

__ Notice the incredible change in results that takes place as your beliefs change over time

* Make that list now! There’s no reason to put this off when the chance you take is leaving your beliefs to chance itself. Take me up on it and let me know what kind of results you start seeing in your own life by leaving a comment here on this post or by sending over an email through the contact links on the upper right-hand panel. Don’t leave this to chance…you deserve to have more than enough :)

Unleash Your Vitality,

– John Brackett

=> Leave a comment below and let me know what’s on your mind!

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]]> http://www.unleashyourvitality.com/2010/07/24/how-to-literally-hand-pick-your-own-beliefs-and-start-seeing-the-results-you-really-want/feed/ 5 http://www.unleashyourvitality.com/2010/07/16/how-your-beliefs-determine-all-of-the-results-youre-seeing-in-your-life-and-the-2-clever-strategies-you-need-to-change-them/ http://www.unleashyourvitality.com/2010/07/16/how-your-beliefs-determine-all-of-the-results-youre-seeing-in-your-life-and-the-2-clever-strategies-you-need-to-change-them/#comments Sat, 17 Jul 2010 00:08:44 +0000 John Brackett http://www.unleashyourvitality.com/?p=805

I’m not sure.

You may be the type who just read the title above and started nodding your head in agreement. You know, on a core level, that this is something true and important, and you’d like to go deeper to get some results from it. Or you may be the type of person who just rolled your eyes but decided to read on anyway- because there was one spark, one glimpse that there may be something important for you personally on this page.

This post is for both of you.

The truth is, your beliefs – whether you chose them consciously, picked them up from your parents and relatives, or even from friends and teachers in school – determine the results you’re seeing RIGHT NOW in every area of your life. There’s a large lie out there that whatever you’re experiencing right now is just temporary, and you’re “just on the tip” of breaking through in all of the areas you’d like to see more progress in. That feeling of being “just on the tip” of breaking through is a result of the beliefs you’ve held in the past and continue to hold now- and it’s responsible for the actual lack of results you’ve been noticing lately.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Whatever you’re currently experiencing right now IS temporary…but only if you choose to take up the initiative to change it. What happens is that most of us get caught in never-ending, vicious cycles that we always think are just about to end (day-to-day, week-to-week, year-to-year). It’s like your neighbor’s dog chasing after a car that you know it’ll never quite catch. Everyone on the outside can see it- just not the one “in the game” themselves.

Let’s take a look at this on a deeper level. Have you ever had a friend or relative who always talked about this being “the year” for getting healthy, fit and in control of their bodies? How many years did it take for this one to be “the year”? Did it happen at all? What usually happens is that while they’ll admirably set incredible goals for themselves and talk about it with friends and family, their behaviors never really change. As soon as they start getting more workouts in, the desire for sweets and “rewards” goes up. It’s like there’s an internal thermostat that won’t allow them to break free of their current body and habits. When they eat better, they suddenly can’t find the time to work out. So they either continue on the rollercoaster or call it quits and head back to their old comfort zone. Why does this happen?

Your actual behaviors – the actions you take, which give you the results you want – are driven by your beliefs about yourself and the world around you. If someone has a goal to become healthy and fit, but believes on a core level that “being healthy is hard” and “it’s hard to eat right”, or even “healthy people are strange”, how likely are they to achieve that goal? The beliefs that “being healthy is hard” and “it’s hard to eat right” will play out in their lives over and over again, making it incredibly challenging to be healthy. On top of that, if they knew an odd-ball health guru growing up and decided that “healthy people are strange”, they’ll never really allow themselves to become a “healthy person”. It’s a classic counter-intention that destroys their odds of success in achieving any of their health goals.

Keep in mind that all of this is concerning the problems we face in achieving our goals. The solutions come up next…

Here’s another example: have you ever had a friend who just seemed to “attract” drama and controversy? Who always talked about just wanting to be in a great relationship, but ended up creating arguments with all their friends and partners on a regular basis? What is it that actually drives this behavior and attracts so much drama, when all they really want on a conscious level is great friendships? Again, it’s their beliefs about themselves and the world around them.

They may believe that they don’t deserve the perfect guy or gal. They may hold the general belief (a fairly common one) that “people can’t be trusted”, passed down from family and friends. Or maybe they just grew up watching TV shows that faciliated them having unrealistic expectations about social situations and the amount of drama that’s “normal” in everyday life. It’s all a belief game- and it’s 100% our own responsibility to change it.

I’m sure it’s becoming clear that the beliefs you hold about yourself and others determine the actions you take (your behaviors), and following that, the results you see. This applies to your health, fitness and energy levels. It applies to all of your relationships. It applies to your financial beliefs, your intelligence, and your ability to learn new things and move forward progressively in your life. But with so many variables, how can we find out what beliefs we actually hold about ourselves and others? How can we “see” our current beliefs that are sculpting our daily lives?

I’ve discovered two powerful ways to become aware of your current beliefs:

1) What Are Your Expectations?

What you EXPECT to see in any area of your life lines up exactly with what your beliefs are in that area. Think about this for a moment. Some people expect more bills to show up, credit card debt, being tired and stressed out at work, coming home and passing out, etc. They fully expect this lifestyle because of the beliefs they’re holding about how life is supposed to be (usually passed down from parents, but also from any number of other sources and conclusions drawn elsewhere).

This isn’t a one-way street. Some people consistently EXPECT to see growing paychecks, surprise gifts, joy and satisfaction at work, and a lively, rich, dynamic atmosphere at home with the family. Funny enough, they consistently take the actions that bring them that kind of lifestyle in how they work, how they treat others, and how they treat themselves. Your beliefs in any area of your life (career, financial, health, relationships, mental performance, etc) determine the expectations YOU project outward in those categories; then, you take the actions that lead to the results you expected to begin with. This presents us with a unique challenge, but an even more incredible opportunity.

Many people go through life hardly challenging their current belief structures. They hold onto what their parents, grandparents, and their parents used to think- even if it serves no purpose in helping them to live the kind of life they really want NOW. The challenge? Becoming aware of your current beliefs so you can clearly see where you stand. The incredible opportunity? The chance to CHOOSE which new beliefs you’d like to entertain, and to watch them sculpt your life in new and exciting ways.

2) What Kind Of Actions Do You Automatically Take In Each Area Of Your Life?

This one is essential because we already know that our current beliefs are driving our behaviors…automatically. Some people are “tuned” to prosperity and can make incredible amounts of money appear on the spot, while they may be dumbfounded in the kitchen and at creating a state of health in their own bodies. Others are “set” to have passionate relationships that others would die for, but may find trouble choosing a career and bringing in money at the end of the day. What’s important to know is that you’re in control of the beliefs you have.

Take a quick assessment of your own life right now. What kind of results are you seeing in your career and financial life? Are you satisfied? How about your health? Your level of personal fitness and energy everyday? Now your relationships- both with any partner you may or may not have, and with friends and family. How about your mental performance? Are you an avid learner, always challenging yourself? Or did you develop the belief that “smart people aren’t cool” or something simliar in school (that you’re still living out today)?

We come away with all sorts of hurdles to be overcome by the time we’re out of school. All sorts of beliefs have been formed (whether useful or damaging), and we live out those beliefs on a day-to-day basis. It’s up to you to take 100% responsibility for the beliefs you’ve developed, the actions you’ve taken, and the results you’ve seen in your life.

…Next week, we’ll talk about how to literally hand-pick your beliefs, so you can start seeing the results you really want.

“What you truly believe is mirrored by the actions you take, not by what you say to others or what you’d like to think you believe”

Unleash Your Vitality,

– John Brackett

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think!

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]]> http://www.unleashyourvitality.com/2010/07/16/how-your-beliefs-determine-all-of-the-results-youre-seeing-in-your-life-and-the-2-clever-strategies-you-need-to-change-them/feed/ 3 http://www.unleashyourvitality.com/2010/07/01/lessons-from-alaska-tapping-into-clear-decision-making/ http://www.unleashyourvitality.com/2010/07/01/lessons-from-alaska-tapping-into-clear-decision-making/#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:43:13 +0000 John Brackett http://www.unleashyourvitality.com/?p=778

I was recently fortunate enough to travel to Alaska for about 11 days of majestic mountain views, hiking, nature walks, local foods, history and relaxation. Literally everywhere you turned there was an ice-capped mountain range for your eyes to marvel at, with scenery to match. It was an incredible time, but that’s not what I’m here to talk to you about.

What I want to talk to you about today is something that became clearly highlighted for me as I walked the streets of Alaska: you can only feel as good as your decision making process. What do I mean?

While in Alaska, I found an interesting divide between the restaurants featuring locally-grown, organic foods and the restaurants offering diner-style meals and traditional comfort foods. “The Great Choice” between eating for comfort and convenience vs. eating for personal energy and vibrant health often seems like it comes down to external factors – aka what restaurants are around in the area, how hungry you currently are, how much money you have in your wallet, etc. As much as this can appear to be the case time and time again, I’m here to tell you that “The Great Choice” doesn’t come down to external factors…rather, it’s your decision making process.

Let’s take a look at a few examples together.

Running through the airport? Waiting for a plane ride? The layover? The flight? It all adds up, and it’s one of the most common places for bad decisions to take place. You’re tired, dehydrated and slightly more irritable and frustrated with the downfalls of traveling. If you see this coming in advance, you can make the ultimate healthy decision: pack your own meals and snacks ahead of time. You’re not limited to the food available at the food court (even though many options are becoming increasingly healthy and delicious). I may grab a smoothie at the airport, but it all depends on the ingredients. If it’s a sugar-powder-filled-packet mixed with water, I’m out. If it’s fresh fruit and other real foods, I may be in. But I don’t rely on that perfect meal to be there for me. Simple solutions come into play here – and not just for the airport, but all the times you’re on the run  (traveling, at work, just “on the go”, etc).

One of the simplest solutions available is in fact a smoothie. This can be with any high-quality protein powder (an example would be SunWarrior Protein), fresh fruit (especially berries), vegetables (particularly green, leafy vegetables) and anything else you’d like to add in. Many people add in things like peanut butter, coconut water and/or flesh, coconut oil, olive oil, nuts and seeds, etc. You can literally get in an entire healthy meal and blend it up into something that tastes like a dessert. That becomes your “on-the-go” meal – instead of an excuse. The power of this one simple habit can revolutionize your mood and health while at work and traveling.

Another example would be straight from my trip to Alaska. Instead of going for an easy-to-grab, heavily-processed bag of trail mix, our entire family made our own for hikes and traveling. It was made up of just 3 things: goji berries, cashews and chocolate chips (natural, gluten-free, dairy-free chocolate chips :) Compare that to a traditional trail mix with food dyes, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives and everything else under the sun! The idea of a trail mix is perfect – just step up your game and don’t settle for the fake stuff. The difference is night and day.

To be clear, I’m not saying you always have to have 3 days of meals packed in the back of your car at all times. I’m saying that you’re the one in control here, and it’s your responsibility to tap into clear decision making to get the kind of results you’re looking for. If you know you’re going out and might have to purchase and/or find a meal, you can prepare in advance by making a meal or by getting creative if you’re just not finding what you want. Go to the grocery store! You can get a bag of groceries that’ll last for days for the cost of a night out at a mediocre restaurant, and head out on a picnic or nature hike for free to top it off. You’re only limited by your own ability to think creatively.

I’m sure you get it by now – you’re the one in control, and you can and should take 100% responsibility for the actions you take, as well as the results those actions bring you. But how can you consistently tap into that source of inspiration and motivation in your daily life? How can you always make the “right” decision? The key is to be aware of your decision making process in the first place, and to use it strategically to get what you want. When we develop clarity on exactly what it is we want (be it gaining weight, losing weight, building muscle, increasing endurance, or anything else) then we develop a “feel” for what the right decision is. When it comes down to choosing one meal over the other, to get in a workout or not, to help a friend in need or sleep in – all it takes is an awareness of that decision being made. In that state where you’re completely conscious of which decisions are on the table, you’re able to see all of your options clearly and make a decision based on reason – as well as take into account the signals your body is sending you.

Muscle testing has been a phenomenal success in proving that we (our bodies) often know the right answer or decision nearly instantaneously and respond much more strongly to that over the weaker decision (although we may consciously choose the wrong one with our minds). On some level, we all know this to be true already. Sure, it often feels easier to stay in bed in the morning. The decision making process here is whether to spring out of bed in the morning or take it easy for 10-15 more minutes. The decision that usually makes more logical sense is to get up and get the most out of your day! The emotional decision that feels easier is to stay in bed and sleep in. Here’s where it gets interesting…

I was once told that the exact moment where making the right decision is the hardest is when your personal power grows the most. I’ve found this to be true in my own experience. When you feel the most tired and REALLY just don’t want to hit the gym, do it anyway. Not only will you feel great physically, you always feel great mentally when you know that you’ve just made the more powerful decision, or the “right” call. This certainly applies to your health, but it also applies to every other area of your life. That moment when you really want to buy something expensive that you don’t exactly need but would really like to grab? If you’ve got other higher goals financially, like paying off a mortgage or saving up for a new car, stay disciplined. Even though you don’t come away with a new purchase, you come away with an immense respect for yourself and your decision making process.

The best part? It grows in power each time you stay on course and keep up the momentum. How many times have you seen someone hit the ground running with a new diet or fitness routine for a few weeks and then take “just one” day off and spiral completely back to their old lifestyle? I’m willing to bet that you’re intimately familiar with it. Yet, on the other hand, we all know those solid individuals with an invincible mindset that’s set to always make the right decision – whether it’s easy or hard, simple or complex. These are the ones who commit to a 12-week program and follow it to the letter…and enjoy the incredible results as a reward. They hit the ground running, but with an even mind and a clear view of the decisions being made along the way. Use this momentum to hit it big and never look back.

Golden Takeaways:

* Alaska is an incredible place to visit :)

* “The Great Choice” is the decision making process between eating for comfort and eating for health and personal energy

* The key to always making the “right” decision is to be aware of the decision making process taking place

* It’s your decision making process – and not external factors – that consistently give you the results you’re seeing in your life

* Tap into your success motivation (a great one is choosing to focus on how you’ll feel after you make the right decision, instead of focusing on the process)

* The exact moment when choosing the right decision is the greatest challenge is precisely when your personal power grows exponentially

=> Note: Notice how I didn’t say when making a decision is hardest, but rather “when making the right decision is hardest”. The important idea here is that the right decision isn’t always the hardest one. In fact, sometimes the right decision for you may be the simplest and easiest to implement of a whole number of options. So don’t go out there and look for the hardest decisions to make – rather, consistently make the right call. When it just happens to bring about a challenging circumstance, stay the game and commit to making the right decision. That’s when your personal power grows – as well as when you feel the best about yourself.

Unleash Your Vitality,

- John Brackett

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think!

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If you haven’t heard of meridian tapping or EFT, today’s the day I change your life. People from all over the world are discovering this incredible tool for personal transformation on every level. Emotional blockages like fear of heights, being afraid of spiders/cats/dogs, public speaking, and more are all being cleared and erased…permanently. Still, that’s just the tip of the iceberg – interested?

As you’ll see in the video above, tapping involves the stimulation of the body’s energy channels, or meridians (hence “meridian tapping”). By stimulating these channels while working through emotional blockages and challenges, we’re able to rapidly heal emotional wounds at a core level. I’m sure you’ve seen that for the little things in life, we can often think them out or talk it out with a friend. But what about the bigger challenges? You can talk it out all day long, but in the end it’s still at the forefront of your mind – and, following, your body.

EFT gives us the tool we’re looking for here. One of the quickest ways to try it out and get incredible results is on stress and anxiety; tapping has been proven to be incredibly effective at not only lowering stress in your mind AND body, but actually turning that around into a balanced, neutral state or even genuine happiness! The biggest barrier to meridian tapping isn’t the use of the tool itself, however…it’s you.

I want to ask you a serious question: how open are you to new ideas, tools and paradigms? When you read the words above, when you watch(ed) the video at the top, did your belief system immediately tune out and scream “that’s not possible”? You may consciously want to enjoy the video and research this area more, but your mind may be getting in the way. Why you’re lucky? Because awareness is one of the most powerful tools for personal change. Simply becoming aware of the fact that your mind is experiencing resistance changes everything; it allows you to pursue what you consciously choose to, not what you can currently “believe” based on past experiences.

The world is changing quickly, and with it comes incredible changes in how we live our lives. Meridian tapping is changing the entire paradigm of how we deal with emotions, fears, phobias, physical disease and so much more. It’s my sincere hope that you’re open to this awareness and choosing to follow it down this new path unfolding in front of us.

Please leave your comment below about meridian tapping and EFT, other tools for emotional balance, what you thought about the last few paragraphs above, or anything else related that would be of interest to the community here. It’s these discussions that really get some exciting new information out there!

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett

Leave a comment below and share your thoughts, ideas and opinions on this post!

I hope that you’ve had a chance to think over what this term “lifestyle freedom” really means – the core concepts of natural health, personal fitness and lifestyle freedom are all intertwined but clearly not the same thing. To me, lifestyle freedom encompasses the first two and so much more. Lifestyle freedom is about living the lifestyle that’s calling out to you – the life you desire at the deepest level. The problem is that most people shut down and dust away those deep-seated desires that would actually lead to the kind of lifestyle they’re yearning so deeply to live.

Lifestyle freedom, as I see it, has nothing to do with abdicating responsibility or being “free” of your personal challenges, obstacles and requirements. Rather, it’s simply being authentic and genuine enough to live the lifestyle that feels right to you. That lifestyle may seem to come across as something like the social norm, or it may be the calling that’s so far out and so out of your comfort zone that you might try to tune it out. What’s important to realize is this: everyone is driven by slightly different desires.

Studying entrepreneurship, it becomes apparent that there are 2 main groups of people: those motivated by the quality of their own lifestyle, and those motivated by the growth of the business/brand/identity. Some people absolutely thrive off building up businesses, and are willing to let their health and relationships slide to fulfill that desire. Others put their own individual lifestyle first, and have their work become a means to that end – always placing health and relationships before their committment to their workplace.

It’s eye-opening to see that everyone is driven by their own unique desires and aspirations. It’s so easy for others to compare and judge based on their own perceptions, perspectives and beliefs – and to get lost because of it. Achieving lifestyle freedom has everything to do with listening to where you want to go, and not where others think you should go. Finding the balance of a lifestyle that works perfectly for you is paramount, because it affects how you feel every single day – your enthusiasm for your career, your drive to eat a healthy, natural diet, and your spark for personal relationships and connecting with others. Just remember this today: lifestyle is the only real difference between any two people satisfied or frustrated with their lives. Live the lifestyle that’s calling out your name, and you’ll find that stress and anxiety fall away as easily as they came to be in the first place.

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett

P.S. I’d like you to complete a single, quick exercise for me. Here it is: grab any piece of paper and a pen or pencil (8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper works best). On the top, write down the title, “My Perfect Day”. Now make sure you’re somewhere you can focus for just a few minutes here – write down all of the parts of your perfect day, from waking up in the morning to going to sleep at night. Don’t bring in the past here, but build on it. If you’re tired of going to bed at 1:00 am, write something like “I fall asleep easily and peacefully at 10:30″, or just “go to sleep at 10:30 pm”.

If you could have the perfect day (let’s say perfect weekday), what would it look like? Write down how you would wake up and spend your day, if you would work the same hours, if you’d change your routines and any meaningless habits and practices you may have picked up along the way. Write it all down and stop putting this off – give it 5 minutes and create your “perfect day”…you’ll be surprised at how much insight this gives you into your current lifestyle and the lifestyle you’re being called out to live.

Leave a comment below and share your thoughts, ideas and opinions on this post!

The other evening I was cleaning up the downstairs workout room. As I was vacuuming, something interesting happened: the cord got pulled out of the outlet. Of course, the vacuum stopped and I had to turn around to plug it back in. But as I did so, a crucial insight came through to me. I realized that when you’re not “plugged in” to your own power source, you’re just spinning your wheels.

Let’s consider the vacuum itself. Both before and after, the vacuum was perfectly setup, fully functional and in the “on” position. The only difference was whether or not power was surging through the wires. It really struck me that a lot of people are in that “on” position, doing a lot of the right things on the outside but finding that they still feel “stuck” or disconnected at some level – and certainly not achieving the results they’re after.

What you can learn from any ordinary vacuum cleaner is this: you’ve got to be plugged in. You’ve got to be connected to your own power source, your own internal drive and motivation. As I often get at, this internal drive doesn’t just affect one area of your life. Rather, you use this drive as the fuel for better relationships, more productivity, working out, preparing healthy meals and really getting on track. You can be doing all sorts of things on the outside, but if that internal drive is missing then you won’t experience the fulfillment of true, meaningful achievement. There will always be results in your life, but you’ve got to ask yourself if you’re just seeing “results” or true, meaningful achievement (which really isn’t measured in outward results but an internal sense of accomplishment).

The best decision you can make today is to start pursuing the habits and practices that lead to an increased sense of drive, motivation and direction. When you focus on the things that really “plug you in” to your own power source, all of the outward results become infused with that power as well. In other words, if you want to start seeing some real changes on the outside then start with the inside – by plugging yourself in!

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett

P.S. Leave your comments below!

This is a topic I’ve been really been looking forward to talking about with all of you because it’s such a powerful principle at work in all of our lives. It’s called the Law Of Attraction – or more simply put, the Law Of Resonance.

The reason I write about this here is because it has everything to do with your lifestyle freedom – your ability to live the lifestyle you choose. If you want to start attracting new possibilities into your life, you need to start vibrating at a different frequency. It’s the oldest rule in the book: if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll get getting what you’ve always gotten.

The way it plays out is this: your thoughts determine how you feel. When you think of all the things you’re grateful for, you feel good. When you daydream about something that made you happy the other day, you feel good. On the other hand, when you allow your focus to shift to the things that aren’t going right, that frustrate you, that really make you feel disconnected, you don’t feel good. What are these feelings? These feelings are just your vibratory state changing over time. Your thoughts determine how you feel, or your vibratory state.

Here’s the significant part: how you feel determines your experience of reality. Think about the Law Of Resonance. When you strike a tuning fork at 440 hz, or a musical “A”, every other object nearby resonating at that frequency is amplified (i.e. another 440 hz tuning fork would start to vibrate and ring out). Now imagine your best friend meeting up with you for a movie. They’re all smiles, and they’ve been having the day of their lives – how do you feel? Do you feel uplifted, like they’re broadcasting out that vibration or feeling? Absolutely!

Now imagine meeting someone you’ve never met before; your good friend is introducing you to their daughter, who they think you should meet. If that daughter is vibrating in a low, negative state and really just repelling you at all levels, doesn’t it make sense that she’s literally attracting friends, situations, opportunities and an overall experience that matches that broadcast?

What if you met her a second time at a follow-up 6 months later and she was all smiles (much like your best friend in the earlier example)? Wouldn’t you be much more inclined to get to know her better, become friends or business partners, hand her resources and opportunities, etc? I want you to take notice of a crucially important point here. She didn’t change at all. She’s still the same person, made of the same material she always was. What changed was her thoughts about the world around her, the way she feels on a daily basis and the vibration she’s broadcasting out to the world. All change is possible simply because you don’t have to change yourself – you simply have to become more aware of your thoughts and take back control of the driver’s seat.

I hope this has helped to quickly clear up all the misconceptions and lack of clarity about the Law Of Attraction and how it works in your life. There are all kinds of ways to raise your vibrational state, but it’s important to understand why you would consciously choose to do so in the first place. Simply put, choose the thoughts and do the things that make you feel good – it’ll keep you uplifted and help bring up everyone around you along the way.

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett

P.S. Leave a quick comment for me and share your thoughts about the Law Of Attraction…what’s your take on it?

It may be easy to glance over quickly, but at the top of this website is a line that states, “The Map To Unleashing Your Personal Energy & Living Your Dreams”. While many of these posts deal directly with your health and personal energy, my question is where is that energy being focused and directed? If you could wake up with twice or even ten times as much energy, clarity and drive, than ever before…how would you use that energy?

I feel that I can strongly say “watching more tv” didn’t enter the picture for most of you. Why? Because that’s not your drive. When you reach a level where you’ve got a reliable, steady stream of energy all day, every day, you eventually turn to yourself and pose a question: “What’s my purpose? Is there something better I could be doing with my time?”. The thing is, most of us only find this focus and direction after getting to a place of abundant personal energy. Anyone in an energy crisis will tell you that they’d much rather just get by; it’s honestly hard to reach for goals and ambitions that stretch you when you feel like there’s nothing left to stretch. I’ve been there and I made a decision to leave that path because it wasn’t taking me where I needed to go…and that’s what brings us to this discussion.

So how is your energy being focused and directed in your life? The reason I called this post “The Passion Of A Life On Fire” is because of the relationship of living your passion, your mission, your life purpose and living a “life on fire”. When you’ve got a strong, fueled intention (it could be to teach children in a way no one else can, it could be to plant 5,000 fruit trees in your lifetime, etc) the intention takes on a life of its own. There’s an ancient saying, “Jing follows Chi, and Chi follows Yi”. What this means is that action and results in this world flow from the energy before them, and that energy is created through intention. The other way around, this shows that the power of our intention determines the energy of that intention, and correspondingly the action and results that flow forth into the world. It all starts with your intention, which may be just a short-term goal at this point!

Have you ever written down a task, chore or even a goal that you wanted to accomplish but felt it completely sap your energy? Maybe you wrote down “clean house and organize files”…and put it off indefinitely. The real reason for this is that your intention isn’t resonating with that deeper part of you. What if instead of writing “clean house and organize files”, you just charged your intention a little more and turned it into the goal “create the most inspiring, beautiful environment for my family”? Which one, running through your head over and over, would drive you to take action? Which would leave you feeling more fulfillfed? Which would give you a greater sense of purpose and direction? Our intention certainly directs our perspective, and our perspective is so intricately tied to how we feel. When we feel like part of something bigger than ourselves, something worthwhile, that can be all it takes to light that fire.

To truly live a life on fire that lets you jump out of bed every morning, follow your intention. Don’t intend to just “get by” if you’ve slipped back into default; intend to live your purpose, your passion, your mission, and intend to do it like no one else can. Here’s another secret: the passion of a life on fire can’t be put out. Ask Gandhi. Ask Martin Luther King. Ask anyone who truly lived life to the fullest and pushed the boundaries of human potential.

On that note, I wish all of you the passion of a life on fire. Whether you’re actively pursuing them or not, what are your passions? Do you have any personal mission? Post them below and get others talking!

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett

P.S. => The New E-Book Is Here!