Overcoming Negative Thoughts for Personal Growth

For this episode we talked with another Bruce Lee Podcast Challenge winner, Mary C. If you've been following the Bruce Lee Challenge, then you know that we couldn't just pick one winner due to all the wonderful submissions we received. Mary was kind enough to join us and share her experience participating in the challenge.

The Podcast Challenge came to Mary at a very crucial time in her life. She is in a career transition and since 2009 she had been doing her business as a public speaking coach and trainer part time, but at the beginning of this year she decided to do it full time. One aspect that she focuses on with her clients is the "inner critic" and she used the challenge as an excuse to document her own inner critic.

The part of the challenge that Mary found the most difficult was the "Letting others be" because you couldn't say anything negative about other or yourself. Mary wanted to delve into why human beings default to negative thoughts:

"As human beings we have a tendency to want to survive. Wanting to survive means not going outside our comfort zone, and when we do go outside our comfort zone because we also want to grow as equal and opposite forces that are happening there. We take those first steps and immediately the survival mode kicks in and says, 'No, no, no, it's a perceived threat don't do that.' Therefore the negative voices come up to discourage us from growing."

The Bruce Lee philosophy that Mary has found most useful is "self-inquiry." The act of looking back and examining why she was feeling bad or what caused an emotion has been helpful for Mary identifying a common thought she has: "I'm not good enough."

Many people have this same thought, and the negative thoughts gather evidence to support that "I'm not good enough," thought pattern. We have to take action despite this negativity.

Mary started off with ten affirmations, but has since increased to thirty affirmations she reads daily. Here are her original ten:

"Heart all in & Both feet in"

"I am on the right path"

"Life is an enriching adventure"

"Everything is happening exactly the way it's meant to"

"I am a savvy business woman"

"I believe in Abundance"

"I am excited to co-create my freedom with the universe"

"It's not about me. It's about the transformation & empowerment I can bring to others"

"I love my life"

"I am an expert at letting go"

Mary thinks that because Bruce Lee created affirmations for himself, it is easier for people who normally shy away from emotional content to create and use their own affirmations.

Later, Mary created her personal mission in life to add to her affirmations and her personal mission is to develop enlightened leaders. To Mary, a leader is someone who makes others lives better.

For the second challenge of nutrition and fitness, Mary completed the statement "I would feel better in my body if…"

• I got at least 7hrs of sleep per night.
• I did 30 minutes of intense cardio exercise & 30 minutes of weight training at least 3 times a week.
• Train in martial arts at least 3 session per week.
• I eat only the amount that I need
• And drank water instead of juices
• Only drink 1 cup of coffee per week day (and none on the weekend).

By doing the podcast challenge, it made Mary more conscious about what is going on inside her head. She had the epiphany that if she relaxes, is present, and looks inwards she finds that love is always there; she just needs to tap into it within herself to feel it.

Bruce Lee was truly connected with his heart, and really the Bruce Lee lesson is all about love.

#AAHA

(Awesome Asians and Hapas)

Mary nominates Amy Tan, author of the Joy Luck Club and many other best-selling novels. Amy Tan is American Chinese, born in Oakland, CA, one of three kids to Chinese immigrants. Mary wanted to nominate Amy Tan because when she saw the movie version of The Joy Luck Club, it really shifted some things within her. Growing up with Chinese immigrant parents, Mary always felt the feeling of "Do I belong in this culture or this culture?" and never felt like she belonged in either culture growing up. Amy Tan speaking about this experience in her work helped Mary realize that this is a common experience that other Asian kids like her have growing up in a western culture. This helped Mary integrate her two selves and realize that she belonged to both cultures. Amy Tan, officially from the Bruce Lee podcast, you're awesome!

#BruceLeeMoment

Mary shared with us a specific #BruceLeeMoment:

"It was a quote that I saw online, later on I discovered it was from a book by John Little. It was when John Little, the author, expressed a moment that he had with Bruce Lee, which really inspired me, when they were running. They had run three miles and Bruce said 'Oh tomorrow let's do another two.' They started doing the other two miles extra, and John said to Bruce, 'I'm going to die, I feel like I'm going to die. I really can't do this.' And Bruce Lee says back to him, 'Then die.' And John Little got so mad that he just ran the two miles. Later on, after they had finished running, he said to Bruce, 'Why did you say that to me?' Bruce Lee said to him, 'Well, seriously if you're always putting limits on what you can do physically or otherwise, it's going to spread over to the rest of your life. It's going to spread to your work, to your entire being. There are no limits there are only plateaus, but you must not stay there you must go beyond them. A man must constantly exceed his level.'

When I read that I was re-inspired to not let my own limits hold me back."

Thank you so much Mary for joining us and sharing with us your experiences participating in the Bruce Lee Podcast Challenge, your #AAHA nomination, and your #BruceLeeMoment!

If you feel inspired to try out the Bruce Lee Podcast Challenge you can check it out here: brucelee.com/podcastchallenge.

Share your #AAHAs, #BruceLeeMoments, and #TakeAction progress with us at hello@brucelee.com.