Train your Brain...the Rest Will Follow...

I have learned to do some pretty radical things along the journey to get to where I am today so I want to share with you the most profound... Train your Brain and the Rest will Follow.

British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli said it so well when he observed, "You will never go higher than your thinking."

Here is the BIG IDEA...Our thoughts shape our reality.  Our thinking forms our world.  What we focus on expands. And what we dwell on determines our destiny. 

Its so funny to me now...how things align up in our lives.  I have a little ipod suffle...its one of the originals but is near to my heart...It's engraved... "Overcome your greatest weakness."  I laugh now  because I think...who knew I had so many weaknesses to overcome? Additionally who knew the journey would begin with me out there pounding the pavement with that little ipod shuffle....crazy God is so Great stuff there!!!

So the "story" that has ran my life is...I'm not good enough. Now I did some work to come to know and see this... I will share in future posts...its truly  profound.  But if I'm not good enough is driving this body...what is going to show up in my life?  A whole big pile of POO right??!!  I'm gonna start packing the weight on, lead my marriage down a path of destruction....he's gonna leave anyway right...because I'm not good enough, etc etc.  You trackin with me?

And then I wake up one day and say...ok... I am sick and tired of being worthless, fat, tired and miserable...so I try a diet right or start a workout routine...that's what we do...and it works for a week or two...and then what happens? the wheels fall off the bus and I have gained 7 more pounds...WHY? 

Because left to its own demise...I'm not good enough is running the show and anything that gets int he way of that...the machine = brain...will SHUT IT DOWN!! Why? Survival.  Keep trackin with me here...The story I'm not good enough was made up when I needed to SURVIVE something.  Shit happens in life we got to get through.  When we get through it...the brain says YEAH and locks in this story...cuz IT WORKED, it kept the body safe  Survival...this untrained brain certainly does not serve us...in fact most often it stops us...blocks us from thriving in life.

See weight for me was pain. Layers of fat...coats of pain. I eat when I'm stressed, upset, worried, scared..you got it emotional eater at your service.  Maybe you can relate? Why do we eat? Fill a void...be satisfied by something...because we are not being satisfied by whatever is going on in front of us...its a ugly reality friends...you want a break through in life...come face to face with your ugliest realities...and find freedom on the other side!!  Join me!

See when I'm fat you won't want to be around me...further validating I'm not good enough.  But even physically... you can't get close to me...keeping me safe...can you see the power of the brain and its wicked ways?

So how do you break free? Train the brain and the rest will follow....

Robin Sharma taught me the power of Mantras and things have never been the same!! Mantras are nothing more than positive, inspiring words or phrases designed to break limiting or self-sabotaging thinking patterns we run through our heads on a consistent basis.

In Sanscrit man means "mind" and tra means "freeing" so mantra literally means "freeing of your mind" and this is precisely what it does.  Extraordinary, yes?

So now when I go running I chant to myself..."I am a pain free elite athlete".

When I start my day "I am unreasonable and unstoppable"

When I am on my way home to see my daughter "I am a patient loving mother"

When I am hunting down my husband for some TLC "I'm sexy and I know it" (LOL)

And you keep saying it over and over and over....

These empowering phrases will sink deeply into your subconscious mind once you start flooding your consciousness with positive influences.  Negative thinking patterns which have been holding you back will be replaced by the positive.

Take 5 mins to create a series of personal mantras that will inspire you to attain personal, professional and spiritual success.

Are you Stressed Out? Low on Energy? Struggle with Losing Weight? Difficulty Sleeping? Find it hard to Concentrate or Listen?  ADD, Addictions, Depression, Alzheimer's?  Check this out...begin to choose your Life today!! 

Join my sexy readers club and LIKE ME on Facebook or TWEET ME on Twitter so you are continually plugged into a community committed to GREATNESS!!

If this moved you to action today...SHARE BELOW...your story may inspire someone else and change their life!!

Join the movement...Donate today to Living Water International, because THIS community right here...that you are a part of... is out to make a measurable difference in 2012!!

B the Light!

If You Can Do 3...You Can Do 13...

Today I devote this personal message to YOU...I am going to share passionately about the power of tiny daily incremental changes over time lead to extraordinary results...how do I know this for sure...keep reading and check it out for yourself...

If You Can Do 3...You Can Do 13...This is what my friend told me mid May 2010 when she asked me if I wanted to train for the Lewis & Clark half marathon October 3rd....are you nuts??!!  She had ran one half marathon in her life but was naturally athletic and worked out regularly... simply gorgeous.   She had recently had a baby and was ready to shed the weight...with a goal in mind, surely it would be easier.

She says...Shannon...if you can do 3...you can do 13.  I said, "um ...I can't run a city block!!"  I was grossly overweight, hadn't been to a gym since I was 18, depressed and losing my mind...but I saw this as an opportunity...I had a glimmer of hope...

Training officially started July 12th...and STARTED at 3 miles....my butt had basically 6 weeks to be able to even get to the point that I was "qualified to train."  This was the future I was living into....Would I? Could I? Sam I am?

The Power of Tiny Daily Incremental Changes

Where & how did I start?  Out my door one early morning.  See I had all the "good excuses" right??!!..couldn't be away from my family...they needed me....they wouldn't support this running thing...work full time job...blah blah blah...excuses right??! Us as humans we make shit up!! So anyway ...the plan was I would run before work.  At the time I was getting to work by 7:30am with about a 40 minute commute...so IF I was going to do this running thing...it was gonna have to be early...

I don't know if you can see it or can relate...but at first... I felt like I didn't deserve or need this time.  I was never a morning person...always a night owl....I was in a backwards way already setting myself up to fail

Yet I started small...I said if can get to 3 miles I guess I was in....at first I could only run a few second before I thought my heart was going to explode and I was gasping for air....it was pure physical.  First the lungs then the legs...

Then it got mental....self sabotage....your too fat, too old, too out of shape, never done this before, how dare you be away from your family, when do you have time for this, your the underdog, your dragging them down....oh....that ugly place we go...ever been there???!!!  Maybe you are there now...just hang on for the ride...you can't have breakthroughs in life without breakdowns!! Oh the beauty on the other side!!


And then about a month into small daily attempts to run 1 minute, to 5 minutes, to 10 minutes to 20 minutes...there came a shift...like woweza....I'm actually doing this!!  The chains that once held me back in every area of my life began to break....

In less than 5 weeks I was running a steady 3 miles at a moderate pace with little to no major discomfort....and I have never looked back.  

What did it take?  Courage, determination, persistence, hope and a couple of buds along my side holding me accountable to show up and run.  It wasn't always pretty, trust me...but we did it...we honored a commitment, followed a schedule and took a stand for our life, our bodies and minds....

I found me out there on the streets...pounding the pavement at 4:30am with my dog...shedding the layers of pain that I carried around my belly.  Then us girls would meet on the weekends for our "long run"...me hunkered down with my head phones blasting and them chit chatting away...see it didn't matter how we did it...as long as we did it...it was the process of tranformation. 

Couldn't run a city block to running 13.1 in less than 6 months.  I have now run 4 half marathons, lost 50 pounds and have radically taken on every area of my life.  I don't share this with you to impress you but to impress upon you...the power of small daily incremental changes lead to extraordinary results!!   Don't get me wrong...I am and will forever be a work in progress...but if I can do it SO CAN YOU!  The mental, physically and emotional confrontations you come up against while taking on your health in this way is truly profound.  It shines a light on everything you do.  You will have more energy, work better, you feel better and people start to notice.  You become contagious!  You become the light!

Its 65 degrees on February 22 in St. Louis...grab your running shoes and START TODAY!

Join my sexy readers club and LIKE ME on Facebook or TWEET ME on Twitter so you are continually plugged into a community committed to GREATNESS!!

If this moved you to action today...SHARE BELOW...your story may inspire someone else and change their life!!

Join the movement...Donate today to Living Water International, because THIS community right here...that you are a part of... is out to make a measurable difference in 2012!!

B the Light!

Who Will Cry When You Die?

I usually post by Tuesday...here it is Thursday and I find myself struggling to get words on paper.  I am committed to being the light and I find the flame dim this week.  I pray that you find inspiration and take action in your own life with what I have to share.

This week I am present to Who Will Cry When You Die? Morbid yes...but let me paint this picture for you.   My grandmother died at 89 years old with no will,  5 funeral attendees and less in assets than what it would take a family of 4 to go to a Blues Hockey game. 

With that... we can walk away with 2 big ideas:

1.  Do you have your paperwork taken care of...will or trust?
2.  How many lives will you impact in your lifetime? 



Get your paperwork taken care of

What is in the mind of an 89 year old person who has survived 3 types of cancer, lung replacement, mastectomy, and a gamut of other health issues...to die without a will?  Did she think she didn't have enough to matter? Did she think if she didn't have a will she wouldn't die?  Death is inevitable, folks.   You may not have much or you may have millions...but if you don't designate where things are to go you are leaving that up to our court system and a trail of destruction for your loved ones. 

I spent 6 hours in court on Tuesday watching my mother melt away in tears of hurt and anger as we were forced to testify before a probate judge...Happy Valentine's day to us!!!   My grandmother borrowed a significant amount of money over 5 year period to help supplement her expenses.  We were told by my grandmother, it was in writing, that the means of repayment was upon death out of the sale of her condo, her only asset.  Of which was worth 1/3 of what my grandparents originally paid for it.

No will, no writing...repayment of this loan in the hands of a judge...and what's left after that....peanuts.  89 years of life of nothing and a trail of destruction for your loved ones.

Why do I share this intimate conversation with you?  Because this ordeal with my grandma it gave me the courage to ask my dad...hey do you have your shit in writing so I don't have to go through this with you...and guess what? He doesn't either. 

Maybe its just my family...ask your parents...get a copy and get your will done too right??!!  Yeah...its an uncomfortable conversation...but is so important.  Peace of mind and power can me found in the courage to take this on!!

My husband and I will have ours done by the end of 2012....you have my word.

How many lives are you impacting in your lifetime?

I think I am most impacted by this question this week.  Who will cry when you die?  Will the funeral home be busting at the seams with people coming to pay respect, give thanks and share the stories about how YOU impacted thier life?  I would like to think if you are reading this you are one of the great ones out to make a difference.  It takes something to BE that.  What legacy will you leave behind for your kids and grandkids?  What will they remember you for?  Who are they because you helped them find their light?

Take 10 minutes right now and look into your life and your actions...will you be the 89 year old with no will, 5 funeral attendees and enough in assets to cover a night at a hockey game?  What actions can you take today to begin to create a life bigger than you know yourself to be?

Join my sexy readers club and LIKE ME on Facebook or TWEET ME on Twitter so you are continually plugged into a community committed to GREATNESS!!

If this moved you to action today...SHARE BELOW...your story may inspire someone else and change their life!!

Join the movement...Donate today to Living Water International, because THIS community right here...that you are a part of... is out to make a measurable difference in 2012!!

B the Light!

What Can You Possibly See?

Are you ready for the BIG KAHUNA? Fasten your seat belts for this wicked ride!!  This idea is RADICALLY transformational, can be applied to EVERY area of your life, and is the key to an EXTRAORDINARY-U!!  Thank you Landmark Education!!

Is it possible our whole life is DRIVEN by the VIEW behind OUR CURRENT SET OF GOGGLES?

What do I mean by that?  What is possible or not possible for you comes from the CONTEXT from which you are living.

What's context? The dictionary defines context as the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, situation, etc.

Let me be clear here...you ALREADY have a context for each and every area of your life...whether you know it or not...your body, health, relationships, your job, money, family, friends, anything...everything...

Where do these contexts come from...SHIT HAPPENS... and we as humans make something up about what happened....from that... a context is formed in our mind...we put on a pair of goggles that ALTERS the view of reality...and then we go out and try to live life!!

What shows up?

CONTEXT DECIDES.  There are things you cannot see or hear inside of your context.  And its these things that you cannot see or hear that LIMIT YOU from living an extraordinary life...having it all or maybe anything at all...living and playing full out... 

Want to know the key to access to a new set of goggles??!!

1. Distinguish the context you are already in....identify it...I will give you some examples in a moment.  But when you distinguish the context you are living... in a particular area of your life...it disappears it!! 
2. Practice CREATING a context that GIVES you LIFE

Simple and profound.  But when you get this big idea...when you know it...you will never be the same because you now have ACCESS to transform each and every area of your life that is important to you.  Yes it takes some practice as the old context will try to creep in from time to time...that's why you are plugged in here...a community committed to greatness...we can remind you...to try on a new pair of goggles...and see what you might see...

Let's play with this a bit so you get what I am talking about here...so take a peek into your life...take a look at what is the context from which you are living?

When I did this I saw for myself...I'm not good enough and I have to work hard.  So if I am walking around with the goggles of I'm not good enough and I have to work hard....what shows up?

Let me REALLY wrap your brain around the ideas of possible and not possible here...I want this to be so clear when you take it back to your life....

So when you think of possible or not possible think of yellow and blue...What's possible? Light, dark, green...you tracking with me? yeah...

What's NOT possible? Red right...inside the context of yellow and blue...you will never get (see or hear) red....clear??!!


Ok back to life...So if I am walking around with the goggles of I'm not good enough and I have to work hard...

What's possible (yellow and blue)?  Failure, exhaustion, no satisfaction, undeserving, losing, divorce, obesity, never realizing my greatest potential, never making a difference

What's NOT possible (red)?  Success, accomplishment, love, being loved, wining, ease, joy, making a difference, being valued, self worth, fun, abundance

Can you begin to see it?  So I got my goggles on of I'm not good enough and I have to work hard...and I am beating my self up trying to win the game of life that is NOT even possible from the context that I am living.  Someone says...I love you...I don't hear it.  Someone says awesome job on that project...I don't hear it, feel it, receive it.  Someone says you look amazing...I don't believe it.  Are you beginning to get the big idea here? 

What else happens...I play small. Why? I'm not good enough and I am sick and tired of working HARD.  But is that reality? NO that's the story I made up because of junk in my truck (my past).

What can you begin to see in your own life?  What is the context in which you have been living?  This may feel like a splash in the face for some...its ok...really...its just the human machine!!

And these contexts are a familiar strings that runs through our lives right...like I didn't make this up last week...you get that? I can look down memory lane and see I'm not good enough and I have to work hard all over the place....its ugly...and we get stopped based on a historical conversation.

So what do we do about it?  1.  Distinguish it....go oh...there it is...and the goggles fall off.  And what are you left with?  A BLANK CANVAS FROM WHICH TO DESIGN YOUR LIFE!! 2.  Create new!! Its your life you get to SAY...your actions will be a direct result from the CONTEXT FROM WHICH YOU CREATE....watch...

Let's create a new context....This body is the vehicle for the rest of my life that's going to go out into the world and accomplish what there is to accomplish.  PUT THE GOGGLES ON...


What's possible (yellow and blue)? health, vitality, joy, youth into my 90s, success, action, kicking the pants out of cancer, running your first race, love, sex, intimacy, self satisfaction

What's NOT possible (red)?

So what is beginning to open up for you here? What do you see possible? What context have you been living from?  What context do you want to take on?

Join my sexy readers club and LIKE MEon Facebook or TWEET ME on Twitter so you are continually plugged into a community committed to GREATNESS!!

If this moved you to action today...SHARE BELOW...your story may inspire someone else and change their life!!

Join the movement...Donate today to Living Water International, because THIS community right here...that you are a part of... is out to make a measurable difference in 2012!!

B the Light!