Mindfulness Mode

Benjamin Hardy and his wife, Lauren, are the foster parents of 3 epic kids. Benjamin Hardy is a writer and adviser for startups. He is pursuing his PhD in I/O Psychology at Clemson University. I/O Psychology is short for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. His research examines the psychological differences between entrepreneurs and wannabe entrepreneurs. Benjamin is passionate about mindfulness, how we perceive the passage of time and he is also a productivity expert. His book, Slipstream Time Hacking, explains how to fully live in the present, slow your time down and get where you want to go faster. His writing has been featured at Fortune, Fast Company, Inc., Success, Psychology Today, Huffington Post, Business Insider, New York Observer, Thought Catalog, and others. Contact Info Website: www.BenjaminHardy.com Website: Read his work at www.medium.com Most Influential Person Ellen Langer (Author) Effect on Emotions I think mindfulness is a way to emotionally regulate; in other words its a way to be aware of your own emotions so that then you can decide what to do with them.  Another way ... if you've read Michael Singer's work, The Untethered Soul, I think a big part of mindfulness is just being aware of your emotional blocks, your suppressed emotions, your oppressed emotions, beginning to look at your life and saying, why is it this way. Am I living this way because I'm trying to protect myself from emotions like fear or shame? So being mindful of why you're avoiding certain emotions. A lot of people live way smaller than they want to because they're trying to avoid certain emotions like fear for example. If someone has the dream of becoming a professional writer for example, but they're too afraid to put their work out there, then their life is set up in a way that they're trying to avoid that emotion. Part of emotional regulation is being willing to experience the dark emotions. Another part is trying to understand your emotions better so you can more healthily live. I think mindfulness is essential to both of those. Thoughts on Breathing I don't use mindfulness in the exact same way everyone does as far as direct meditation where I have breathing exercises. I don't spend as much time on that one. My form of meditation is more in the form of journal writing and running and prayer. Breathing is not one I use as much. Suggested Resources Book: Mindfulness by Ellen Langer App: www.medium.com (I publish a lot there and I feel that's a way to become mindful, is to have a practice of writing).

Daniel Sunshine Bauer is a Principal at a middle school in Texas. He is dedicated to the success and development of school leaders everywhere and he helps them create a winning culture by focusing on what’s truly essential so they can lead with courage and integrity. His passion is developing school staff members to their fullest potential. Daniel says, 'the impact a highly-functioning staff can have on the student body and community is priceless.'  His mission is to create better leaders to lead better schools. Daniel believes in mindfulness, meditation and running and finds these habits help keep him focused and centered. Contact Info Website: www.DanielBauer.com Podcast: Better Leaders, Better Schools Email: Daniel@BetterLeadersBetterSchools.com Free Gift: The 15 Challenging Questions Guaranteed To Unlock Your Leadership Potential Text "UnlockNow" to 33444 for a free gift or email Daniel directly for this gift. Most Influential Person Chade-Meng Tan  (Author of Search Inside Yourself) Effect on Emotions It makes me notice them [emotions]. It helps me be aware that they exist. It helps me separate them from what follows. So even if it's a great happiness or a great hurt, I can just notice it and then chose to respond in a positive way. This is as opposed to letting emotions dictate where I go. Thoughts on Breathing Breathing slows you down. When you focus on your breath I find that you have slower, more intentional breaths. It brings your heart rate down and it brings you into a place of calmness. That's why I enjoy when meditating, I really focus on the breath. Plus, how do you meditate? It's okay that your mind wanders, but your breath is the centering piece. It's about calmness and decluttering your mind.  Suggested Resources Book: Search Inside Yourself by Chade-Meng Tan App: Calm  (Also Headspace)

Calvin Wayman is an author, speaker, and social media entrepreneur. Most of all, he's aware of what it means to be mindful. He was determined to pursue his dream of working for himself, so he laid out his plans, he put his mind to it and in the Spring of 2015 he quit his day job and began his journey as an entrepreneur. He's a man on a mission. He owns Cobbs Media, which is a social media management agency, designed for entrepreneurs to stand out beyond ninety-seven percent of everyone else on social media. He's been featured in Entrepreneur magazine, Social Media Examiner, The Huffington Post, and was even named one of the top 30 entrepreneurs under the age of thirty by Influencive Dot com. Contact Info Website: www.CalvinWayman.com Calvin's Book - Fish Out of Water www.CalvinWayman.com/book Most Influential Person Eckhart Tolle (Author of The Power of Now) Effect on Emotions I just read something called 'The Cowboy Syndrome'. It's something in the U.S. where we've been taught, as men, to not express our emotions. Just to be strong and resolute. I think I grew up in that type of environment, being here in the U.S. Now I realize it's okay, it's not harming your masculinity, but it's actually helping it. As Brene Brown might say, vulnerability is a good thing. Thoughts on Breathing That is where the steadying comes in for me because it's such a simple thing and if you can keep your focus on the breath, then you chase less rabbits. You just feel the breath and notice it and it's keeping you focused. That's the anchor that gets me there. Suggested Resources Book: The Mindful Brain by Daniel J. Siegel Book: Fish Out of Water: The Guide To Achieving Breakthrough and Permanently Transforming Into the New You by Calvin Wayman Book: The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle App: Calm App: Headspace

Dr. Paul Jenkins specializes in positivity. He is a psychologist who provides you with an owner's manual for your brain. His wisdom and insight will help you understand your mind so you can let it work more effectively on your behalf. Through his writing and speaking, Dr. Paul loves to help his followers get an iron grip on powerful pathological positivity principles that make an immediate difference in their lives. Constantly using his creative juices to help others, Dr. Paul also has a podcast called 'Live On Purpose Radio', where he calls himself 'The Shrink Who Expands Your Life'. Contact Info Website: www.DrPaulJenkins.com Podcast: Live on Purpose Radio Most Influential Person George Clason (Author of The Richest Man in Babylon) Effect on Emotions It makes all the difference. We can get trapped in depression and anxiety. And folks, I'm a trained professional psychologist and a participating member of planet earth, of the human race and so I get to feel these things too. Even as a trained professional, the feelings that I have; this is part of the powerful effect of mindfulness. These feelings that I have are perfect and completely consistent with the way my mind is doing those two processes we talked about today; evaluation and creation. And you're never wrong about the way you feel. Thoughts on Breathing Breathing; I recommend it every day! Breathing is something that I teach my clients as a way to calm the limbic system response. There are structures in your brain including the amygdala that create a fight or flight response and in the meantime we experience threat. The easiest way and the quickest way that we have a lot of control over is to engage in conscious, deliberate, breathing exercises. This has a calming effect on the limbic system of the brain and reverses some of the chemical processes that are going on that allow us to get back into mindfulness mode. When the limbic system is triggered it actually changes the blood flow in the brain and makes those higher cognitive areas of the brain less accessible to us. Suggested Resources Book: My Story by Elizabeth Smart Book: The Art of Significance: Achieving The Level Beyond Success by Dan Clarke App: Feed Your Happy Advice for Newbie You've already started [to discover mindfulness] ... you're listening to this episode! Subscribe to the Mindfulness Mode Podcast. Read, associate with people. I've had several colleagues and people I've interviewed who have called back to the same principle that you will be most like the people you hang out with. Look at the five people who hang out with the most. What kind of a mode are they in? Are they in mindfulness mode? Are they in positivity? And if not, can you surround yourself with people who are? So read, associate, listen. Pay attention to the input your putting into your mind. And the daily news is not the best way to remain mindful.

Zlata Sushchik transforms women to become healthier and happier. She moved from Russia to the United States when she was 16 years old. Overweight and frustrated, she became a fitness competitor in order to shake off 30 pounds. Later, due to extensive dieting and overtraining, she decided to transition toward a life of using mindset to become truly fit and to help other women beat their subconscious fears and find health and peace. She has now helped thousands of women through her Sexyfit Podcast and her transformative training methods which include changing habits, meditation and applying powerful mindset concepts. Contact Info Website: www.SexyFit.com Book: The SexyFit Method: Your Step By Step Guide to Complete Food Freedom, Loving Your Body and Reclaiming Your Life Podcast: SexyFit Podcast Most Influential Person Gabby Bernstein (American motivational speaker, life coach, and author) Effect on Emotions I am very aware of my emotions and I understand that I don't need to control them; all I need to do is feel them. Thoughts on Breathing Breathing is huge. I suffered from anxiety and every time I get in the anxious state, I take a deep breath and hold and breathe out. This is something I do every day and it helps me, not just get through my day, it helps me really thrive in my day. Suggested Resources Book: The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle Book: Anything by Author Abraham Hicks Book: The SexyFit Method by Zlata Sushchik App: I don't use an app for this Advice for Newbie I would say, start with gratitude. That is a beautiful fast track to mindfulness that doesn't take a lot of conscious or subconscious effort. It will take you to a beautiful state of love, compassion and kindness faster. From there [I recommend] five minutes of meditation a day.  

AJ Nystrom is a mental health patient. He is a former United States federal agent and worked as a correction officer. He is now a certified life coach, author, and public speaker. He was diagnosed with several mental health challenges, which went undiagnosed for eighteen and a half years. AJ was ridiculed extensively when he was young and now is determined to help others who deal with similar challenges.

Mark Taylor is a professional percussionist and for 20 years has enjoyed a fulfilling freelance career performing Opera, Ballet, Music Theatre and Symphony Orchestras. Mark was also co-director of a music education company called, Rhythmically Speaking for 10 years. Besides all that, Mark is creator and host of the Education On Fire Podcast. Mark is also a volunteer at a local hospice and this insight into what life really means has given him a push to live his life fully every day.

Alex Barker is an action-centered entrepreneur who has experienced impressive results from his many initiatives. One of those projects is called The 66 Day Experiment: Lifehacks for Wealth, Fitness and Sex. During 66 Days, Alex shares with the world the progress of his particular initiative. One season was 66 days of reading a book a day; another was 66 days of rejections. Alex is also a pharmacist and with all the things he does he is truly living in the now, taking time for family and for what counts in life.  [show-notes-bio] Contact Info Website: 66DayExperiment.com Email: AlexMichaelBarker@gmail.com Podcast: The 66 Day Experiment Most Influential Person Steven Covey (Author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) Effect on Emotions It's made me less of an emotional decision-maker. I used to let my emotions guide me when things weren't going my way, specifically in my relationship with my wife. Being able to step aside from my emotions and being able to calm down in times of turmoil; that has been so important in our marriage. Thoughts on Breathing Whenever I'm mindful, I'm breathing. I do meditation practice and breathing is something that I focus on. When anxiety influences me, I notice the breathing and the heart rate. Then I do some exercises to calm myself down. Suggested Resources Book: The Bible Book: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey App: Brain.fm  (Music and sounds that help put you into a mindful state) Mindfulness Meets Bullying Story I was running a group full of start-up entrepreneurs and this is not when I perfected how to run groups. I wasn't using the format that I use today. I had one member of the group that wasn't a bully to other people but she dominated the conversation whenever she was the subject which was often. I remember having to deal with and taking a mindfulness step aside and thinking, this is ruining the group. Her behavior is not good cause it's influencing the other people. It's going to ruin this group. What she was doing was, when she was in the hot seat, taking up the time and bringing a challenge forward, she would excuse away everyone's advice as to why it wasn't helpful or why it wasn't applicable. She would blame others within her family for her lack of success and she would have the same goals for herself every week. They wouldn't change because she never accomplished them. I remember talking with another friend and telling him about this issue and coming down to the conclusion that I need to bring this up with her. After talking with her, we tried it out for another week and she just wasn't changing so I had to have a difficult discussion with her. It was like firing a client; it was tough. Learning that less though was great because it made me realize, I gotta do a much better job at filtering out who I let into my business. Mindfulness Suggestions for a Newbie Go back to the first episode of this show (Mindfulness Mode) and start there.

Aaron Walker is a Businessman and Life Coach who has inspired many through his masterminds and inspiring, faith-based mentorship. At the age of 27, Aaron sold his business for millions and retired, only to regret this decision later. Aaron gets great pleasure out of helping others and he believes experience is one of the best teachers. Thirty-five years of entrepreneurship and marriage have given Aaron a wealth of experience. Aaron integrates mindfulness into his life every day. Contact Info Website: www.ViewFromTheTop.com Free Mindfulness Resources: www.ViewFromTheTop.com/mindfulness Twitter and Facebook (See links from website) Most Influential Person Bob Warren (He had a training called Basic Training) Dan Miller (Author of 48 Days To The Work You Love) Effect on Emotions Sometimes we get in trouble dealing with our emotions. We make decisions based on our emotions 95% of the time rather than intellectually. That's backwards. We need to make decisions intellectually bearing in mind our emotions but when we're fully aware that we're doing that, we can make conscious choices. My choice is to make most of my decisions intellectually, not emotionally. Thoughts on Breathing I've heard a lot of coaches talk about breathing and the value that it adds. I've listened to a number of podcasts. Quite honestly I've never practiced that, except when listening to the podcasts. I'm totally confident that it works. I know that breathing really relaxes you and it calms you. I don't practice that, I'm not good at it. I could be good at it, but I've never really implemented that strategy. Suggested Resources Book: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck App: None Mindfulness Meets Bullying Story When I was in the fourth grade, I was walking home from school and there was this guy named Benny Creek. He was two grades ahead of me. He'd catch me at the same spot. You'd think I'd be smart enough to change my routes home, but he'd catch me at the same spot. He'd say, you'd better give me whatever money you've got left over or I'm gonna take it from you. I was scared of him so I'd give him my money and I'd do this week after week and one day I went home and told my dad. I said there's this guy bullying me every day when I come home. I told him who it was. My dad knew who he was and my dad said, let me tell you something, tomorrow if you walk down through there and Benny Creek comes up to you and he asks you for that money and you give it to him, I'm gonna whip you when you get home. And I said, 'what?'. He My dad knew who he was and my dad said, let me tell you something, tomorrow if you walk down through there and Benny Creek comes up to you and he asks you for that money and you give it to him, I'm gonna whip you when you get home. And I said, 'what?'. He said, I want you to hit him right in the mouth. I hit him square between the eyes and he took off running. The guy never bothered me again. But I was scared to death, I took off running like a scalded dog. And that was NOT the right way to handle it. You do not want to do that, so you people who are trying to be more mindful with bullying, don't take my dad's advice. Advice For A Mindfulness Newbie I can even help you with that. There's a personal assessment that I wrote several years ago and it really talks about your identity, your ideals, your relationships, your career, your faith, your family, things that are important to you. The big priorities of life. I've already mentioned the 'what do I want document'. There's about thirty questions on it that really dive deep into the things that maybe you should consider for your own personal life. Earlier I mentioned steps to a productive day. That's a document that walks you through from waking up to going to bed and things that will help you be more productive. I've taken the price of those, I'm not going to sell your audience anything. Go to www.viewfromthetop.com/mindfulness I've made those documents available there. If you go there it will really start you out on your journey to being more fully aware. More Mindfulness Nuggets It's not about you, it's about other people. Once you pour into other people, you'll get all you want. That's the reason there's a void. That's the reason that people don't know what they want. They're getting the wrong stuff. We get bullied every day in business and we're not even conscious of it, we don't know how to handle it. Often times we go against our values, our integrity, our character. We cave in. I coach people all the time about having strong character and taking a stand. Even when you're alone and that's often times difficult. Many times the things that you want to do are not popular.

Lisa Woodruff is a professional organizer & productivity specialist from Cincinnati, Ohio. Lisa has helped thousands of women reclaim their homes and finally get organized with her practical tips, encouragement, and humor through her blog and podcast at Organize365.com and is the best-selling author of The Mindset of Organization - Take Back Your Home One Phase at a Time. Contact Info Website: organize365.com Most Influential Person Jesus Effect on Emotions I'm much calmer now. I have a much longer view of things and I don't get so caught up in the moment. Thoughts on Breathing My cousin-in-law taught me how to breathe because he's doing a lot of mindfulness and so I find myself, I get a lot of migraines and I find myself lately saying, okay, drink some water and just breathe and it's been able to eliminate about half of my migraines Suggested Resources Book: The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life To The Next Level Book: The Mindset of Organization: Take Back Your Life One Step At a Time by Lisa Woodruff App: none Mindfulness Meets Bullying Story I am such a positive person; like I really have a positive mindset and I was made fun of and things like that but I never really felt bullied except for this one time. I had switched from a public school to a private catholic school in fourth grade. It was because my sister was starting kindergarten I believe and my mom was tired of driving us to those cd classes on Monday nights so she put us in the Catholic school. I’m sure there was more to it than that, but that’s what I knew. So I went there and Catholic school are very small and the kids start in Kindergarten and they go all the way through. You don’t transfer in very often. I found that some girls had made a club against me. I remember coming home and my mom had this black rocking chair she’d gotten from my grandmother and she rocked me. I was a fourth grader and I just cried like a baby for what seemed like forever and she just sat there and rocked me. That’s all I remember about that story. I’m still Facebook friends with these people; we have a great relationship now.