ARM YOURSELF WITH GRATITUDE - Most Powerful Motivational Speech

sometimes we don't understand how much we appreciated or valued something until it's gone and until it's outside of our lives and there's a space where that thing used to be and we think man I just want to return to normaly I want to go back to how things were to Baseline you know and and there's a million practical examples of that health is an easy one physical fitness you hurt your knee and you're a runner man two weeks for this to heal I just want to be able to do what I did yesterday for me

I used to get crazy migraines right and I'd wake up some days and like wouldn't be able to open my eyes and I'd just be in bed like okay clear the schedule and I'd be thinking I can't wait for normaly to feel how I felt yesterday people coming and going man I loved this person I missed this person yesterday when they were here I didn't think anything of it that return to normaly there's a saying that a healthy person wants a thousand things a sick person wants only one and I think it speaks to the

world that exists just beyond our periphery it's very hard to see the good because human beings are wired to focus on the negative to avoid pain to avoid suffering to avoid loss were wired for safety negativity by that scenario two people at dinner 99 times it's the best dinner they've ever had they go to the restaurant all the time they rant and Rave about it but on the hund time there's a cockroach on the plate now what that dinner is forever tainted as the Cockroach place the negative thing outshines everything else and and in a

way that's how we are wired we don't wake up every day and go man I'm so lucky think about how much I have think about how good life is is now we don't appreciate or or value things so much of the time until they are gone and there's something that you know as I've learned over the last couple years is Gravely missed and that thing is perspective how do I get perspective gratitude it forces you to appreciate how much you have in a way that you know in the cyclical fast-paced nature of life you just

wouldn't you would skip it and so what do I mean when I say gratitude here's the beauty nothing crazy very simply put carving out time to say what's on your mind to say what you appreciate to look around yeah I'm grateful for that you know I'm excited about the things I have to do for work today how lucky am I that I get to do what I love for work or that there's people that I know if I call them they'll pick up on the other end and I can have a conversation with them you

know the people I get to work with family friend like that's that's insane that's crazy that's such a beautiful thing you know living here shelter food things that we never think about particularly being in the western world there's not power outages every hour right but that's not the case for everyone like it's it's a blessing and you know it's it it can come across as corny and cliche but what I've learned is it's not it's truly armor because when you inevitably hit those challenges and those obstacles they just seem smaller when you're grounded and understand

how much you have and how lucky you are and who's around you and how far you've come life is a perspective game you know and so you have to manufacture that perspective it's not what exists it's how you see what exists and I'm going to give you an example so let's say I had a a partnership with a social media company and I'm super excited about this partnership so locked in love the brand love their story and I want to take that and inject you know my creativity into it and create lots of awesome cont

content and create a campaign and just do all these things and it's like this is going to be amazing and then I find out for whatever reason not happening right parties can't agree whatever it is done so naturally rugs pulled out from under my feet I'm going to feel disappointed going to feel sad going to feel lost going to feel like you know I had it all figured out and now I don't that little cycle of thing now take that exact same scenario but before I find out the news I'm outside my notebook's open and

I'm spending 5 minutes talking about or thinking about how lucky I am to be able to tell these stories to be able to help people to be able to connect with an incredible Community to be able to call friends and family when I need to to be part of a team to live where I live all these things right sigh smile close the The Notebook walk inside and then I find out yeah Edie that partnership's not happening okay it seems way less Monumental when it's put next to the thoughts that I just documented on that

page you know I love what I do and I have the ability to do more of it so who cares learn in move on right that perspective is everything it's so much of life I find and it's why obviously am so fascinated with mindset is because our external reality is so often predicated by how we think the stories we tell ourselves how we position ourselves to walk through chaos and the unknown someone sent me I think it was from Brad Lee a little video of him speaking and he says you know how many you want

a million dollar everybody everyone wants a million dollar okay what would you do for a million dollar people would do a lot they'd give up a lot million dollars would be a real nice thing okay what if I'd give you a million dollars but tomorrow you wouldn't wake up again no one wants that no one would take the money couldn't use it right which by default means every morning when you open your eyes it is worth more than a million dollar it's worth more than any sum of money it's invaluable yet we are not wired

to think that way we don't get out of bed in the morning and go what a gift we get out of bed and go what do I have to do today what's on the agenda what's the plan how long till I have to go to work right and it's it's this reframing of life that positions us not only to be more content but also to experience more of life so I scream from the rooftops about practicing gratitude because that perspective shift again has been armor for me it's given me so much momentum and clarity as

I push through life and I want to share that with you and and you know offer or suggest that you do the same and the beauty is it's so simple and it's so quick and it doesn't need to be complex you don't need anything fancy or any tools you just need to close your eyes and think for 2 minutes and that little internal dialogue you know will become pretty powerful as you make your way through life when I was younger I want to say maybe third grade I remember reading this poem by shell Silverstein called

Where the Sidewalk Ends this place where the cement stops and the grass begins an inflection point of sorts and I obviously don't remember what we talked about you know back then but I certainly remember the book and uh a few weeks ago I happened to be at the airport was walking through and I saw a bookstore and a shell Silverstein book propped up in the front and I couldn't sto thinking about it I had that title stuck in my head right playing on Loop Where the Sidewalk Ends some things just hit you like that title

sounds perfect to me this Larger than Life transitionary place it feels like uh some sort of graduation but graduation from what to what right that's the question is it simply checking off the current box before moving on to the next one is it the end of a paved calculated path and the beginning of something a little less defined a little more free is it the place where you step away from what's expected of you and instead do what you are called to do what you know when your soul is right I guess depending on who

you are and what you need it could be any and all of those things but as I sat 36,000 ft in the air it kind of dawned on me you know not necessarily what shell Silverstein wanted the takeway to be fair right I mean it's a famous poem there's a lot of analysis and writing on this but I'm more interested in the question what do I need personally now with everything going on in my life what would I want that place to be where the side walk walk ends and the more I thought about it

the more I realized it's not a transition I don't think Where the Sidewalk Ends is where you step out from one place and arrive in another but I think what's more applicable In This Moment is a perspective shift almost a lifestyle invitation to St that line where you have one foot on the cement right the stable ground holding on to that structure we need to maintain healthy lives to build to take who we are and effectively share it with the world and one foot on the grass unpaved no parameters where our childlike curiosity runs rampant

and reminds us that life is no standardized test right like if the cement represents the frame the capsule that rocket going to the moon the grass represents the precious cargo it will be taking into orbit that substance that must be found and I think the reason my mind goes here is because in my life I've swayed too far in both directions you know I've spent entirely too much time on the sidewalk where I've Limited lied myself my beliefs in my trajectory I've abandoned what I wanted to do because I was terrified to stray from what

I was supposed to do I've let routine kill creativity I've let PL suffocate freedom and exploration but I've also spent too much time entirely in the grass beyond the structure dreaming but aiming for no target free but not grounded perhaps uh at times having worked so hard to tear down the parameters and the structure in my life that I found myself with no Foundation to build upon right and I think the deal is sometimes we need more sidewalk than grass and sometimes we need more grass than sidewalk there are times in our lives that call

for exploration and there are times in our lives where we put our heads down and build but the critical thing is we remember that beautiful balance between the structure that's ultimately imperative and the freedom to Step Beyond it so that we can pull in more life that when things feel too stiff or constrained maybe you lean more towards the edge of that unkempt undefined world and when you create cave structure when you've been wandering too long when you want to build something with the pieces of Life you've been casually collecting along the way you lean

in towards that Foundation towards that which is both known and dependable and maybe that's where we leave it as you navigate each segment of your life it's knowing that you have your hand on the dial the dial that will allow you to be your best at that particular moment in time something no one knows but you so think of that spot what are you going through now and how can you best position yourself to handle it this awareness is a power it's a strength it's not merely passing through that place Where the Sidewalk Ends but

I think it's an opportunity to embody it to adapt and carry on as each new chapter [Music] begins there was a point a handful of years back where I had one of the most important breakthroughs of my lifetime and I've talked about this with people close to me family and friends to you know clients business associates and it seems like there's a commonality amongst all of us and maybe depending on the person that happened in a different way certainly at different times but everyone at one point or another comes face to face with the realization

that they have a tremendous amount of control over their lives and it's at that moment you know where one becomes empowered it's like you realize you have the key to the cell you've been locked in this whole time and at that moment one is prompted to ask well why not start living like it you know there will always be responsibility and sacrifice in life but that awareness makes one ask well what am I sacrificing for where am I going am I spending time with people that lift me up am I doing things that contribute to

a greater vision and perhaps most importantly am I even living a life that is true to myself because I'll tell you something our time here flies by not only will next month next year next decade be here before you know it but it's not even guaranteed and if one doesn't take the time to look in the mirror and ask the tough questions life will keep on ticking time will not stop no one's going to walk up to you and point out the fact that you're just going through the motions here no that one's on you

you have to see that this world can become what you decide it will be that you are present ented the tools but tools require an architect and a Creator tools require someone in seeing what is not yet there to pick them up and build and so maybe this is the time for you to ask what am I building where am I going when my day starts both feet hit the ground and I walk out the door what am I moving towards maybe today is the day you realize that there are parts of your life that

don't need to be there that you can cut away people that don't deserve your time that don't Elevate you or contribute to your well-being maybe There Are Places you're going because that's where you've always gone things you're doing because that's what you've always done but you don't need to live life on repeat if you're not happy about it how about doing something to change it there is nothing in your life that can't be adjusted or altered just like yesterday is now a story so is the idea that you are confined to a specific set of

parameters break down those walls see things not as they are but as they can be if you have the courage to walk away from old stories and characters what if today you created a new ending one that lights you up in the morning contributes to your sense of purpose when you close your eyes at night again remember no one will come up and hand that to you no one will let you know you're selling yourself short that transformation must be a internally prompted and so I hope you'll ask I hope you'll ask the questions that

you've been neglecting for far too long I hope today can be the first page in an entirely new chapter a chapter in a story that is truly an entirely yours [Music] what does it mean to be a little better every single day James clear's noted that of each day you improve by only 1% you'll be a full 37 times better in a year that's an almost unfathomable number unbelievable transformation imagine being 37 times better at what it is you're looking to improve on 37 times more efficient or skilled all because of a 1% per day

commitment almost sounds too good to be true here's the catch though one % doesn't seem like much which is good one might think you know that should make it easier well sort of the easier and more seemingly trivial something is to accomplish the easier it is to dismiss it as well we've all been there that and maybe not today maybe tomorrow no big deal we don't lose anything and that's what we must learn to wrestle with right Jim ran puts it this way he says being successful is easy the issue is that being unsuccessful is

easy too saying yes to the little things you know you need to do is easy but so is saying no putting your phone away to work on something substance yeah that's prettyy easy but watching just one more Tik Tok or Instagram or YouTube video that's easy too putting your shoes on going for a walk or run heading to the gym hey procedurally pretty easy not that complex but talking yourself into just going tomorrow instead also a rationalization that's pretty easy and that's essentially the question which easy are you going to go with how do you

put yourself in position to select the right easy well like so many things it starts with the world view and flows out to the tangible actions we take in support of that worldview first things first we have to know that the biggest Advantage available is seeing the small things as so much more than small things it's refusing to fall victim to the disappointment and burnout associated with hoping for one huge jump a Miracle Solution the answer that will change everything that's deceiving winning looks small and consistent progress is boring it's mundane it looks like deciding

on what matters and then making a pack with yourself every day to keep your own promises when most would fall off or push things to tomorrow it's seeing your commitment as everything knowing that the people who manufacture significance in their lives they treat what others would call silly and trivial as life and death they make the details into the whole story line so yeah it might be easy for someone else to walk away but when you have given yourself no other option but to succeed the little steps to make it happen require zero thought or

internal deliberation the person who gets into shape over the course of 6 months they're not going to be the one who who found a secret diet bought a piece of equipment on Amazon they didn't do the necessary thing here and there when they had their fleeting moments of inspiration no they made better consistent decisions no to the soda yes to the water no to the alarm yes to the Run no to the Netflix and yes to the gym both options were easy in the moments in which they arose but each time only one option mattered

and that's what it's about tying the prolonged gratification to something that means the world to you where each step is not just a step but one step closer to the moon so no it's certainly not that a can of Coke or dessert or the day off will kill you but flip the narrative it's that when you do stay true to your mission and the promises you make to yourself you get something so much more back it's not oh what will I lose by skipping this 1% no in a world where Excellence compounds it's look what

I am becoming and this decision is an investment too good to pass up and every decision to move forward to embrace the things that align with your true north is a nod to that future self not too long ago I shared a few thoughts related to stoicism with uh one of the most important messages in my eyes being you can't always help how you feel there are biological elements there are emotions that we as humans simply cannot Escape but what we have control over is how we act right what we do amidst the feelings of

sadness or anger or despair well as it happens fate brought me face to face with that lesson once again and one of the most interesting aspects of life is that the lessons often have to be relearned right is the context around us changes we are forced to draw from that well to take what we knew and transform it and level up and so quick Story 2 weeks ago uh is my Facebook account was hacked which happens to a lot of people it's not uncommon and to be honest I'd never really thought much about it but

I'm sitting there and I start getting these emails coming in right telling me my phone number's changed my email address has changed my username is changed all this stuff is is changing I'm like what's going on on and and before I could do anything I go to look and realize I'm locked out of the account right then I go for my personal page to my business page uh where I share thoughts like these these episodes videos writings and uh basically you know stuff I've been working on for years and realize I'm locked out of there

as well so whoever has the account is now operating it and for whatever reason posting like spammy images and video replying to people pretending to be me and there's just nothing I could do right I'm just locked out watching this happen and when I say I felt angry it it's probably an understatement uh I was surprised at how Furious I was it was a rage that I wouldn't have anticipated in a million years I could not help it and uh you know maybe it was vulnerability right that feeling of helplessness that some stranger had access

to um you know around 100,000 people that trust me um they had no idea what was happening right or maybe it was anger at whoever it was doing this anger at Facebook for being nonresponsive maybe a fear that look you can work so hard for so long and have something taken away incredibly quickly whatever it was I was distraught for like 3 hours and uh eventually I calmed down a little bit and I remember just sitting there being so disappointed my reaction right I hated that I felt the way I did because leaders and that's

what I consider myself that's what I aim to be in the world they have to be more composed than I was period I thought about that story about uh the ship at Sea that was was trapped amidst the storm where everyone was terrified the ship's going to sink people were pale um you know just frantic screaming except for the professor who although he felt the same fear and was overcome by the same biological characteristics he was not crying out indicating that you know emotions often can't be avoided but the response is what carries the weight

and I I just think it was a great lesson for me because for a quick period of time I definitely using the same metaphor cried out right and if that intrusion on my work and privacy was a ship amidst the storm it's okay that I felt the way I did but now we have to work on the reaction and by the way I've gotten plenty of opportunity to right the account still hacked there's still weird posts going out under my name uh but I manage it way differently there's a calmness that I've managed to acquire

and maintain we're done complaining about problems here we're looking for Solutions amidst what we can control and letting go of what we cannot look I know it's a cliche that our most important lessons come from our moments of duress but this is exactly what I believe that phrase refers to right you need to be hardened by the adversity change yourself you need to be able to look in the mirror and go ooh I didn't like that I'm not doing that again right and it took an embarrassing 3 hours of me being Furious and acting irrationally

um okay fine but that's a small price to pay for the lesson that I acquired so I think for someone listening to this my hope is twofold one don't forget that the initial reaction is often you know sewn into your DNA it's okay to to to to feel what you feel when things don't go your way but also as you sort through the chaos know that you have the ability to not only tame it but make something from it right truly so that next time something similar arises you have a blueprint you'll be a step

ahead you'll find that perspective probably realizing as I have that it's just not the end of the world anyway when you're able to eventually step outside your emotions operate from a point of clarity a reshuffling of priorities always seems to take place look the storms will come and if you're pushing and growing and trying to take risks right those storms will be numerous the question isn't will you feel them the question is can you get a little better each time time at not crying [Music] out can you improve the reaction can you regain composure and

stay locked in on what truly matters being lost is not about what you don't have it's about temporarily forgetting what you do have forgetting that contained within every dark room is a little light switch that hangs within an Arm's Reach and see the reason this is so powerful the reason it's been so important to me cuz every time I'm in a lull or navigating a low Point like we all do I remember something that acts as that hand to pull me back up I remember that everything I need I have see I used to use

the word stock as to imply immobility being powerless to the outside world when in reality I just had to remind myself that the path to Recreation is always in front of me and the map needed to navigate is always folded up in my back pocket in essence what I learned is that helpless is not a situation helpless is a decision and one I'd simply never [Music] choose life's challenges they are not a display of your insufficiencies no they are a reminder of just how powerful you are if you never let yourself fall hit Al low

or lose your way you'd never get to see the miracle that is your resiliency You' never get to look in the mirror and see the reflection that is the Conqueror of Worlds and The Slayer of dragons you'd never get to climb the mountain from which you'd ultimately look down and see a world of your making [Music] the miracle isn't that I finished the miracle is that I had the courage to start John Bingham we all share commonality the runner on the starting blocks the one at work the one studying the one trying to create the

best life possible for their family see we are all at a beginning looking up at an idea nothing given nothing to adjust or react to no just an idea and ideas when we are at the bottom looking up they're deceptive in nature their size their weight their breadth they like to present themselves as much more than they actually are and so to turn ideas into things one need see thems not as some descendant of Mount Olympus tasked with lifting that 2,000 ton Boulder before them but as one armed with an understanding the awareness that the

2,000 ton Boulder before them can be broken down piece by piece that it is nothing more than a facade and while it may stop most in their tracks you are simply not most not because the world treats you differently but because you see the world differently by knowing you are bigger than the sum of its parts you have defanged this wolf you have put yourself in position to do that which makes the world tremble that which causes even the most confident to doubt you have put yourself in position to begin see there is a time

to look at the top of the mountain breaking through the clouds powerful and Majestic and then there is a time to look at your feet and right now is the latter you're not concerned with the big things no not right now your job is to move forward into this Haze to not see but adapt to not know but trust things will materialize and you know that but at the same time you can't control the future your battle is right now and it's with the space immediately in front of you it's with the thoughts attempting to

deceive you it's with the things the outside world will tell you but Forward Motion is the antidote to all of that and so forward you must [Music] go the beginning is always the hardest because our thoughts are a mightier foe than life's obstacles thoughts take on lives of their own they become monsters demons dead ends obstacles on the other hand just ask that we adjust there is no obstacle that can't be addressed by stepping into it and so while the Temptation is to sit thinking speculating about how challenging the road ahead this is where you

think less and move more harness the world as it comes because the truth is nothing is as big as it appears to be life is incredibly solvable every problem has a solution every bad chapter ends every setback is a chance to be more than you've ever been but how would you know that if you bowed down to the mountains in your head how would you know that if you never began so let today be the dotted line you sign with your future self a promise to be aware that the Mountaintop peers over you but to

not be distracted by its shadow to take the climb one rock one step one second at a time let it be an acknowledgement that nothing life throws at you can't be broken down and conquered so long as you don't get in your own way gone are the days of being held captive behind steel bars of self-doubt and fear that road ahead is not the problem it never was refusing to give yourself permission to travel down it was the problem so without constraints meat life head on let the trials and tribulations emerge because they will but

know that you will rise to meet them let the unknown highlight all that you don't know you can't see find the one thing you are sure of is that you will one by one transform the Unseen into strength and when those thoughts emerge telling you that you've gone too far that you're in over your head that this isn't meant for you know them not as truth but as the only obstacle that can derail and distract you don't have time for make believe monsters no not today so onward you go to map the unknown to tame

the Untamed to live your life the way it was meant to be lived [Music] [Music] we are the stories we tell ourselves I used to tell the maybe someday story until I saw the value contained in the why not today story I was a main character in the how do I not mess things up story until I pushed my way into the how about capturing life's upside story I believed wholeheartedly in the what will my friends acquaintances people I Used to Know think of me's story before I felt the freedom of the you don't live

life for them you live life for you story my scarcity story preceded my abundance story my bowing before the odds story preceded my simply do not stop story my you don't deserve them story proceeded my if you're not a net positive on my life I don't want you around story my maybe I can be that impactful add that much value make that much money have that much fun story preceded my I'm going to do all those things now how do I arrange these pieces to support my mission story as I've grown and learned and changed

so of the stories that I've told myself and I can look back and always draw a direct line from the stories I was telling and the life I was living we get in life what we allow and our narratives our stories happen to be The Gatekeepers if you want to change the situation change this story right if you're telling yourself the world is against you you'll live like the world is against you you if you're telling yourself the world is conspiring to help you live your best you'll find the opportunity where you otherwise wouldn't and

you'll find it not through magic but because you're looking for it it's that simple we don't look for things that go against our narratives we don't seek things out that we don't believe exist those internal stories prompt our action and our action changes our reality since finding this a few weeks ago it's become one of my favorite ideas Alan Watts speaking to a classroom of students he says when a flag is flapping in the wind is it the wind or the flag that moves neither it is the mind that moves our minds are moving they

are internalizing and painting the portrait that becomes our reality if you don't like the reality you're seeing guess what it's not the world it's how you're viewing the world it's what you're doing about your world and I understand how hard it can get how we all oscillate between periods of struggle and contentment how low the low's can feel I G get it but the truth is the wrong stories will simply keep you down hold you there they'll ensure blinders stay on as life rotates around you and the opportunity dissipates we are the stories we tell

ourselves and that's beautiful news because it means the reflection in the mirror holds the key to transformation life can give you the details the context but it can't write the script that my friend is all you today belongs to the architect he sees Towers before they pierce the sky an opportunity before it transforms into the extraordinary he knows that what he wants most cannot be given it must be [Music] sculpted so he builds he builds because those skylines don't raise themselves from the earth the extraordinary does not appear on its own they are dreamed into

existence by The Architects of reality the ones who seek not to take from the world but to contribute to it today is the beginning of something new something better something worth remembering and it's existed long before the present moment waiting for your vision your courage Your persistence to bring it to life too many times we fail to reach into the realm of what we know and get more of ourselves it's okay to struggle to be wrong to have to rebuild a thousand times but the great tragedy is closing our eyes and walking by life's opportunity

everything you need to rebuild the life you dream of is around you your every move if only you'd reach for it see it before your eyes you become the architect of chain nothing is impossible possible when you are the one setting the rules when your hand draws the guidelines you are not at the mercy of the world you are creating it this is yours and there will never be a moment like it again so don't run from it or hope life gives you what you want take the pieces in front of you and construct your

masterpiece [Music] there's a quote attributed to Sena that states no man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity for he is not permitted to prove himself meaning it's in pursuing the difficult thing that we obtain meaning recognition that we prove ourselves but prove ourselves to whom this is the same Sena who famously stated that we suffer more in imagination than we do in reality that he is most powerful who has power over himself and that's one of the beautiful things about stoicism it makes us ask a very simple but often overlooked question who's

really the adversary here who's the opposition we're dealing with as we fight our battles what is it that must be transformed is it the outside world or the way our eyes view the outside world what's really holding us back the circumstances or our own personal thoughts about the circumstances and I think this is where we misunderstand the challenges before us I want to delve into this power of perspective to explain that we are The Gatekeepers between ourselves and our ideal lives and very often we do a good job of ensuring that gate stays closed we

sabotage our own goals our own dreams our own happiness while simultaneously pointing the finger at a million externalities see when we look at the difficulties of life and there's no doubt that life can be a very difficult thing it's easy to look at the world as this binary playing field right me verse the world and in fact we often visualize the world as the enemy pushing back against us as if its motives were counter to ours but so many of these narratives these stories they actually say nothing about the outside world and when we look

deeper it becomes apparent that they actually say a whole lot more about us it's the one viewing that gets to decipher what the circumstance means and so all narratives are reflections of the Observer Jim ran used to tell a story about two brothers who had an alcoholic father he'd come home drunk he'd Abus his sons they had a terrible childhood and his they each grew up and had families of their own their paths kind of diverged right one became abusive and the other was kind and loving and caring and when confronted the now abusive brother

stated well look how can you blame me don't you see how I was raised but the kind loving and caring brother stated of course I'm like this I I could never put my family through what I went through as a child same circumstances different lenses interpretations which means different real world result and the idea here is to emphasize how one of the most important abilities a human being possesses is the ability to interpret the world around him I think of us as uh subjects navigating a world of objects as though the things around us don't

have meaning until we place meaning upon them that's what humans do create narratives out of objects and that often overlooked seemingly insignificant ability places a lot of power in our hands very rarely is it what we see it's what we think and what we do about what we see you ever hang out with people that just tend to be happy upbeat positive energy I have a a very good friend like that where his first inclination is always to find the positive in moments where I've sort of trained myself to pause take a second sift through

the emotion uncover the value in a tough situation refocus and take a strategic step forward I look over at him and he's already arrived there right he's been there for 3 minutes right eliminated the negativity it's his first instinct he's the metaphorical kid hopping around in puddles whistling at the top of his lungs while everyone else is hiding out from the rain or at least trying to find the courage to run out onto the street with then there are people who seem to always find the negative it doesn't really matter what this situation is happiness

is fleeting only to reveal the negativity that never seems to go away right the kind of person that if they won the lottery their first thought might be oh no but what if I lose it all both examples are people projecting themselves onto the world around them the same way that smoke covers and consumes an entire room it's not the room that's the [Music] culprit here's another example from Jim Ron since run a Jim rone kick he's making a similar point and this is all from a collection of speeches he has on Audible um comparing

humans to oranges which is probably not a comparison you've made recently but he said there's consistency to an orange and that it can be filled with one thing when you squeeze an orange orangee juice is coming out period it will never be apple juice or grapefruit juice it will only emit what it has inside which is orange juice and while here's the connection when life pressures us challenges us or metaphorically squeezes us we only emit the emotions that are contained and available that are alive and well well within us if there is no jealousy contained

in our thinking we're not going to project jealousy out into the world if there is no hatred within us we will not project hatred onto others why is that powerful it's powerful because again it's one of the most important things you can do certainly one of the most important things I've learned to do is take that finger pointing blame at the outside world slowly turn it around and point it back at myself and ask what thoughts what emotions what ideas am I letting live inside my head that's altering the narrative the story I'm telling about

myself and the world that I live in and while one might think well that's uncomfortable that's unfair a little extreme why should I point at myself it's not my fault I would challenge you at least for the sake of the next few minutes to see such a change as empowering as your advantage as the bridge from where you are to where you want to be see if you always have feelings of let's say jealousy around a particular person that feeling in your stomach like oh they have it all they're ahead and they live how I

want to live they're this and that and I kind of hate them for it you're naively giving the external world the power you're saying I feel the way I do because of that out there some Cosmic Injustice you are powerless because you're neglecting your personal agency as a factor but when you turn that finger around and say I only feel this way because I'm allowing myself to then you can ask the question so many never think to ask why why do I feel this way which lights a path to how can I fix it see

the key to a better life is realizing you don't have to be in the passenger seat pointing at and blaming the driver complaining about the road being taken no you can get into the driver's seat you can take the wheel you can take control inherit responsibility and there's more at stake there's greater vulnerability but the upside is unfathomable and I find myself thinking all the time man people are blaming the wrong things they're shifting blame to the wrong adversaries the real villain [Music] here is not the driver or the road or the weather the real

villain is the voice in your head pleading with you not to take the wheel pleading with you to ride shotgun and complain as the world passes You by and of course it makes sense to qualify that with the inevitability that there are some things placed upon us that are just bigger than us that we can't control and you can make a list however long you on to natural disasters decisions and actions of others health problems we don't often get to choose the [Music] landscape so as the stoics would say understand that understand what you can't

control and what you can because the beauty is that you can control how you navigate that landscape and that is power that is what makes the difference see the two brothers I mentioned a few moments earlier same landscape different navigational tactics different view of what it all meant one took the wheel and one did not so that Sena quote that states no man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity for he is not permitted to prove himself well it's perfectly clear as far as I'm concerned the the question is not whether or not

to face adversity I think we all understand that what what I hope we take from today is a better understanding of what the true adversity is a better understanding of the fact that in front of us there is always an answer a key to every lock some people just don't think to look they're so busy peering around every corner for external enemies and scapegoats that they don't give themselves permission to succeed maybe unfortunate but it's true you can hit the bullseye over and over again but if it's the wrong target it won't do much for

you you might as well have missed by 50 ft and I think that is what we Overlook you can't always fix the outside world you can't change the unchangeable but you can always change yourself you can always fix you his tlso said everyone wants to change the world but no one thinks of changing himself you're capable of being both both your greatest adversary and Ally so Choose Wisely because the world around you will do nothing more than respond accordingly to your decision [Music]