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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Magnets? …And health?

I don’t have to tell you twice that diet and exercise play absolutely critical roles in your health and well-being. But here’s something most people DON”T know: that certain types of magnets have been proven – time and time again – to be incredibly effective at healing and revitalizing the body!

Actually, let’s take a look at a handful of the documented, proven benefits of magnetism that most people have absolutely no idea about:

=> Neural Regeneration
=> Quickened Healing of Fractures
=> Assistance With Joints and Rotator Cuffs
=> Nerve Vitality
=> Anti-Depressant
=> Enhanced Ability To Utilize Oxygen
=> Increased Production of Youth Hormones
=> Higher Blood Alkalinity

The story goes that in ancient times, there were masters who would find this rare, magnetic earth at certain key locations and do their life-enhancing practices there…for they knew the true benefits of magnetism. These were some of the “masters of old” who were known for their incredible longevity and depth of life. And magnetism was an important part of it?

Consider that today, many elite athletes have found that the proper use of magnets has been able to drastically increase strength while simultaneously reducing recovery time – a critical advantage in any peak performance athlete. But don’t gloss over this if you don’t consider yourself an athlete – the principles are the same. Don’t you think that if it improved strength and recovery time for elite athletes that it’d do something for you too?

Naturally, I’m fascinated by magnetism and the connection between us as humans – walking, biomagnetic beings – and the magnetism of the earth. What I discovered some time ago is that there is research suggesting the earth may have formerly been at a level of 4.0 gauss thousands of years ago (gauss being a measurement of magnetism).

The interesting part?

Most research puts us at a level of 0.3 to 0.6 gauss today. That’s it?!? Consider the difference between 4.0 gauss and 0.3-0.6 gauss. It’s significant. What’s even more significant is this insight I can’t stop wondering about: when we tie together the incredible health and longevity benefits that are being seen in the application of rare earth magnets WITH the fact that the magnetic field of the earth is declining, we come to the conclusion that we as a civilization may be missing out on what used to be an important piece of the health and vitality puzzle thousands of years ago.

But how does magnetism affect the human body?

It is well established that the human body naturally has its own bio-electric field, which is also associated with a magnetic field. We know that we’re bio-magnetic beings! Doesn’t it make sense, then, that we would be strongly affected by other magnetic fields (think the magnetic field of the earth)? Here’s something that may blow your mind: the positive magnetic field you experience during the day is associated with your serotonin production, and the negative magnetic field you experience at night is tied in with your melatonin production. Have you heard of problems with these two hormones? You can count on it!

But what’s interesting to me is what happens when you reconnect with the earth’s magnetic field again. Your body starts to get in-sync and produce the youthful hormones that keep you looking and feeling great…for years to come. As an added bonus, you’re able to feel alive and revitalized during the day and fall asleep at night…like we’re supposed to.

One last note for you here: the magnetic field also alkalizes your blood and allows red blood cells to better utilize oxygen. If you’ve ever studied the acid-alkaline balance and its implications on health and energy levels, you know that increasing your level of alkalinity is a significant benefit. Because disease thrives in an acidic environment, it’s so important to maintain a healthy pH balance in your body.

We’re continuing to learn more and more about magnetism as we move forward in natural health and alternative therapies, and I hope this post has done a great job on bringing you up to speed and has given you some new insights and ideas on what possibilities are waiting for you.

I’m posting a link below to someone who I consider to be an insightful teacher and an active problem-solver in the world – who’s also got some incredible innovations in the field of magnetism. He’s the one who has taken the rare earth magnets – the type used in healing and natural health as talked about above – and made them available to the public in the form of magnetic exercise balls, magnetic mattress pads, and much more. They’re fascinating, and if this is something that interests you I’d highly recommend checking out his website for more information – he’s got some incredible research and personal stories to share with you (click the picture below and then find “magnetic products” or “magnetic pads” on the left menu):

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!

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett

As a raw foodist myself, I’ve spent hundreds of hours (if not more) researching the arena of raw foods, health, energy, peak performance and other related topics. I’ve seen the research for raw foods, and I’ve heard the counterarguments against going raw. After looking at all of this evidence with an open mind, I’m more convinced than ever that eating 100% raw foods is by far the most sensible path to radiant health.

I’ll be honest with you: it’s tough to accept ideas that completely shatter a current paradigm. This is a cooked food world everywhere you turn…but that doesn’t mean it’s natural or even healthy. Humans are the only creatures on Earth that cook their food. Think about it. All animals in nature eat their wild, natural diet of raw foods. These animals also live to their natural old age, free of the countless diseases on the rise more and more. Yet feed all these animals the same exact foods – cooked – and they develop the degenerative diseases seen everywhere today. There have been countless studies on all different types of animals, and the difference between the same food raw and cooked is the difference between vibrant health and chronic disease, genetic mutations, and complications galore.

It’s certainly not our fault for eating cooked foods! They’ve spread rapidly across the globe since fire was first used to cook thousands of years ago. The reason for this has nothing to do with health if you really dive into the research. When proteins, fats or carbohydrates are heated above a certain temperature, the structure of the food itself changes. My favorite line about this comes from Susan Schenck in The Live Food Factor: “When you were in chemistry lab at school, you no doubt learned that heating things changed their chemical structures. Why would heating food be immune to this chemical process?” The generally accepted cut-off point for heating most foods is 118 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s interesting to think about temperatures in nature, where most hot days reach up into the 80s or 90s. Certain regions can even hit 100-110, but that’s about the upper limit. This corresponds remarkably well to the point where foods change structurally.

An example? The act of heating protein creates cross-links that make around 50% of the protein unusable by the body. When you cook a big slab of meat, you likely go from about 100% protein to 50% protein digestibility on average, depending on the temperature and duration of heating. This literally means that raw foodists need only half the protein intake of people who cook every form of protein they encounter.

But to get back to why the cooked food culture has spread, the heating actually causes thousands of chemicals to be released, many of which our bodies are simply not designed to handle. Many of these chemicals also inhibit our natural functioning by destroying the delicate chemical balances throughout our body. Cooked foods are addicting, comforting, and warm. How many times have you reached for your favorite cooked food when you’ve had a stressful day? An emotional challenge? When you’re exhausted? They’re comforting and addicting, which is why it’s such a hard habit to break. Many raw foodists know firsthand that breaking the habit can be more challenging than any drug addiction – and that it can take years to accomplish.

This is a tough topic to write about because it really feels like an attack on your habits. If you found yourself becoming defensive over your foods, consider why that may be. Have your foods become tied up in your emotions rather than a shining path to radiant health? These are the hard questions, but if you’re willing to ask them then you’re actively breaking up the patterns and habits that may be holding you back. Let me know if this post inspired some heavy thinking and opened some doors for you, or just feel free to ask questions below and I’ll give you my honest opinion.

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett