In this episode of 5 mins with coach Myrna I want to teach on the, rules of the mind. As humans we are body, mind, and spirit and each one of these entities comes with principles that govern them. The, mind, is the software that controls the body. It is the faculty that is used in imagination, and thought. The phrase you are what you think about most of the time shows how powerful the mind is.
The first, rule of the mind, is language. You can talk to the, mind, using, positive affirmations, and direct the, subconscious mind, to believe what you are saying.
For example, if you are becoming forgetful you can talk to the, mind, with this, affirmation, “I will remember everything I read, I will be like Google, whenever my brain asks me for information my, mind, will go immediately and retrieve that information from the server and answer the question. I will have total recall”
You say this, affirmation, daily until your brain has total recall.
Here are some positive affirmations: I am affirmations
I am love. I am purpose. I am the Universe
I am worthy of what I desire
I can. I will. End of story
I am adventurous. I overcome fears by following my dreams
I feed my spirit. I train my body. I focus my mind.
I am in charge of my life, I am the captain of my ship.
The, subconscious mind, responds to all thoughts real or imagined. If you fear flying or going into an MRI machine, instead of telling yourself that flying is a death trap or that the MRI machine feels like a coffin, tell your, subconscious mind, that you love the time to yourself in the MRI machine.
Then when you are in the MRI machine, imagine you are on a beach and the clouds are dark because it is about to storm and you so love the storm. Thoughts like these allow you to not think the MRI machine is your coffin, but it is like spending time to yourself on a vacation.
Positive thinking, doesn’t mean that you ignore life’s less pleasant situations. Positive thinking, just means that you approach unpleasantness in a more positive and productive way. You think the best is going to happen, not the worst.
Positive thinking, often starts with self-talk. Self-talk is the endless stream of unspoken thoughts that run through your head. These automatic thoughts can be positive or negative. Some of your self-talk comes from logic and reason. Other self-talk may arise from misconceptions that you create because of lack of information or expectations due to preconceived ideas of what may happen.
If the thoughts that run through your head are mostly negative, your outlook on life is more likely pessimistic. If your thoughts are mostly positive, you’re likely an optimist — someone who practices, positive thinking.
The, subconscious mind, responds to feelings not logic. Kids in an orphanage would cry at the end of meals when their plates were taken away because in the past whenever they had a meal, they were not sure when they would get the next meal, and even though they now get 3 meals a day, they still cry when the plate is taken away.
Their minds are still programmed to the feelings of hunger. Research shows that it takes about 2 years to reprogram the brain with new feelings of having all the food they need and that they will get 3 means per day every day. As a Foster mom I never understood this, I would have kids’ horde food, even though they were never hungry.
I was thinking logically. But the brain or mind is not logical. If you come across this scenario, one way to hack this illogical behavior is to put some nuts or snacks in their bag and tell them whenever they are hungry, they will always have something to eat.
For example, if you tell your mind that you are a horrible speaker and that you will get up on stage and draw a blank and not remember anything from your presentation, this will surely become a, self-fulfilling prophesy. You will get up on stage and draw a blank and not remember anything.
Instead tell your mind that you are an awesome speaker, you are the best and you know this work inside out and you will get up on stage and your higher self will take over and the words will just flow out. This is the, self-fulfilling prophesy, that you want the, subconscious mind, to produce.
There are two types of, self-fulfilling prophecies: Self-imposed prophecies occur when your own expectations influence your actions. Other-imposed prophecies occur when others’ expectations influence your behavior. All opinions you value can cause this prophecy.
5. If you prepare for the worst, you will manifest it.
Preparing for the worst, makes things worst. For example, a lot of women say they are not going to tell anyone they are pregnant, because they don’t want to feel embarrassed if they miscarry and then they, prepare for the worst, by checking every hour to see if they are spotting.
Never, prepare for the worst, because when you prepare for the worst, it has a way of showing up. Instead prepare to meet your child. Tell your child in the womb that he or she has a purpose and he or she will be born and fulfill that purpose. Tell him or her today your spine is forming, tomorrow your hands and feet will be formed and in 30 weeks you will be born completely healthy and perfect and I can’t wait to meet you.
When your brain is locked in disaster mode, it’s difficult to think with any kind of nuance. You become like one of those doomsday preppers living in fear.
Anxiety narrows your focus and does not allow you to enjoy your pregnancy. You lose the ability to let new facts inform your thinking, or to engage your curiosity about the many ways that things could get better.
6. The mind can’t distinguish between reality and fiction.
The way the brain processes information is fundamentally different when we perceive information from our senses compared to what is self-generated within the mind. What the brain receives from our senses is known as ‘afferent information’ and simply means, information travelling towards the brain.
The brain can self-generate or imagine what is currently happening and this is called an efference copy. When there is a conflict in information between afferent and efferent information, we experience a “surprise”.
So, start visualizing what you want. $50,000 in your bank account, a palatial mansion, a husband and 2 kids, whatever you desire. Tell your, subconscious mind, what you want and it will maneuver the universe and get it to you.
Thanks for tuning into 5 min Fridays with coach Myrna.
In, Bipolar Faith, Dr. Monica A Coleman openly talk about some very personal and intimate details that happened in her life as an evangelical minister. Such as living with, depression, and also being raped by a fellow minister. She shares how that experience effected her faith and why she was angry with God.
Monica A. Coleman is Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Delaware. She spent over ten years in graduate theological education at Claremont School of Theology and Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Answering her call to ministry at age 19, Dr. Coleman brings her experiences in evangelical Christianity, black church traditions, and indigenous spirituality to her discussions of religion.
Dr. Coleman is the author or editor of six books and several articles that focus on the role of faith in addressing critical social and philosophical issues. Her memoir Bipolar Faith shares her life-long dance with trauma and depression, and how she discovers a new and liberating vision of God. Her book Making a Way Out of No Way is required reading at leading theological schools around the country. Dr. Coleman co-hosts the web series, “Octavia Tried To Tell Us: Parable for Today’s Pandemic.”
Dr Coleman speaks widely on mental wellness, navigating change, religious diversity, mental wellness, and religious responses to intimate partner violence.
Myrna: How you were called into the ministry at an early age? How did your grandfather influenced you in that?
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Dr Monica: In my book, Bipolar Faith, I tell the story of my great grandfather, my maternal grandmother’s father. Whom I’ve never met of course, and his experience as a black man in a small town in South Carolina. The story I tell how he decided to hang himself and had one of my great uncle help him to hang himself. My great grandfather asked my great uncle to pull the chair out from underneath him and allow him to hang.
I did not know this story until I was well into my 20s. So, it wasn’t the story that I was told as a child. Even though many people in the family knew what my grandmother meant when she talked about being orphaned or having her parents die at a very young age. Her mother died from complications with childbirth. And then she said, six months later, my father died. And so, I understand how she came to that conclusion, that there was this deep sadness that leads this kind of activity.
This was actually just part of my family’s story that was talked about in these metaphorical ways, rather than in more direct ways. So, I think it shaped me in the sense of, there was something in me that knew that you could get so sad you will die.
BEING BLACK IS TRAUMATIC ENOUGH!!!, “Walk A Painful Mile In Our Agony Shoes” is an untraditional new style of poetry. The books’ theme is based on being black in a America. Each poem will put you in the shoes of blackness as we walk, march and run through this pernicious society. With over 40 poems and pictures depicting black love, black unity, black creativity, black self-hate, black struggle, discrimination and mental Illness and other more personal poems. This book was very emotional for the author to write because each poem is tied to the emotions felt before, during and after the Black Lives Matter protest.
Some examples of poems: “MAGNIFICENT YOU”, acknowledging and appreciating black women. “BLACK MAN, BLACK MAN”, is an acknowledgement of black men’s worth, the need to unite and the need to stop killing one another.
Pick up your copy of BEING BLACK IS TRAUMATIC ENOUGH!!!, “Walk A Painful Mile In Our Agony Shoes now available on Amazon
And I think this is a kind of backdrop to a lot of the many other things that I ended up talking about in “Bipolar Faith” as it’s my story. I am also hoping that other people see themselves in the story in ways in which, poverty and class and war and sharecropping and the effects of slavery and all types of things, contribute to what we would now call, mental illness.
Being black in America, is very complicated. And a lot of times people aren’t stopping to ask “How do you feel?” And so, a big part of this book is really trying to shine a light on, mental illness. Having people ask,
How are you doing?
How are we feeling?
How are you managing these various things that we know that we all manage?
And so, I would say that’s really where I was going to push through and I think it became a part of my calling whether I was not aware of it all.
It is important to talk about these things, whether that’s around issues of, sexual violence, or, domestic violence, or issues around, depression, and, mental health.
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Myrna: This is so true, we inherit the blessing of our ancestors, and we inherit the, curses, of our ancestors.
Dr Monica: I don’t want to quite use that language of, blessings, and, curses. But yes, we inherit what our ancestors have. We can get the bad stuff and the good stuff, we get the things we would rather live without and we get a lot of their, survival techniques, and their joint, faith, as well. And you know, when I think we you know, so in the fact that we get genetically right isn’t new or knowledge, but the fact that it’s kind of part of who we are and it shapes us and part of our experiences and put up our family stories that we’ve known for a long time.
My great grandfather could have been depressed and that is why he decided to commit suicide, no one was giving a clinical diagnosis of, depression, in that time period. So, what I want to say it’s not about checking the boxes and saying that is what he had, because maybe it was the grief of losing his wife and being like oh, my gosh, I have to take care of these eight, nine kids, that’s overwhelmed for anybody plus sharecropping and, racism. I’m saying I think it’s all of those things. I don’t think you can say, oh, let’s take one out.
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Myrna: I understand the horrible things that our ancestors had to go through. So, you have something like, mental illness, or, depression, or something like that. But this segues right into the next question I have here. You say that, Black women, we’ve been overlooked, black women, in the United States. What do you think, Black women, have been overlooked?
Dr Monica: I’ve seen things change a lot in the last five years, but for the last five to 10 years, there’s so much more conversation. I would say, since the COVID pandemic, everybody’s got some kind of, depression. I mean, we think about how we talk about political movements, and the political activism and the voting power of, black women, and the sense that we’re going to hold it all together, we’re going to raise a family, go to work, do all things.
And oh, by the way, while you’re doing that, there’s I think, still is very much expectation that if you’re able to do the things and handle business and make ends meet, that you’re okay or even better, that you’re better than okay that you’re strong.
There’s very much a sense that if you are a person of, faith, then you should be fine. And you should be okay. You shouldn’t have challenges and problems and we have specific expressions that actually imply that. We all need some help, and I am thrilled to see more of those conversations, but I think they’re still very much sensitive to that.
Myrna: I got to circle back on that the first one was the, Superwoman, tendency of, black women. And you’re right, black women, they’re raising children and a lot of times there’s no man and so they’re holding down two or three jobs and, and they pride themselves on being, Superwoman. In fact, my mom was one of them. She raised four children by herself, had two or three jobs, I came around and did the same thing. I would say, I can look after my kids, my mom did it, that’s the, Superwoman, tendency that we can do it because we’re strong.
White women, they all have husbands and who may stay home to look after their kids by choice. The second part of a circle back is that you’re saying that the, superwoman, syndrome creates some kind of, mental illness, and, depression, they should go to a doctor and get a checkup. What are you leading to with that?
Dr Monica: My friend and colleague Dr. Chanequa Walker Barnes has written a wonderful book about chocolate the strong black woman is called “Too Heavy A Yoke,” I highly recommend. Whether it’s legacies of war and poverty, these are also the ways in which black families look on legacies of slavery. And in the United States even the enslavement has manifested in parts of the African diaspora in terms of how families are structured. Even the policies and practices around what family structures look like.
Therapy wasn’t always covered by insurance, but I think it’s getting better. There are more, black therapists, and more culturally competent therapists who will understand all that people are bringing in terms of their racialized and gendered experiences.
Myrna: In, Bipolar Faith, you kind of cut yourself open and talk about some, some personal issues and personal things and you’re sharing so you can help others. So, you share some very intimate details of your life, such as living with, depression, yourself and also being raped by a fellow minister. How did that experience effect your, faith? Was there a time where you know you’re angry with God?
Dr. Coleman: I think experiences of deep suffering cause all of us to have, at the very least a hiccup in our, faith, walk. You’re going to have some kind of pain, whether it is the kinds of, traumas, that I discussed. There’s going to be some level of suffering and no one likes it. No one’s ready for it. Nobody wants to suffer. It’s not a part of the human experience that we’re happy about or that we’re going to welcome and say, hey, let’s have some pain here.
There are levels of grief. That’s all part of our life and because our spirituality and our, faith, is part of our life, it’s part of our, faith, as well. And for some people, faith, is very helpful and instrumental and holding them up and they find great resonance in the, faith community, and a lot of support there. But at some point, people don’t ask why me? Why someone I know and love died? I need some answers here.
We act like asking why is a problem like it’s a crisis of, bipolar faith, and you’re not supposed to do it? Why do I have to do this? Why is this happening? Why it’s happening to my people? It’s a very natural part of the spiritual life to ask why. I think what doesn’t happen very often is people don’t always say, you’re going to lose the, faith.
And that’s okay. For a lot of times, there’s a sense that losing your, faith, is the end of the world and it is like heresy or some terrible thing. We’ve all lost, faith, at least once, maybe 2-3-4 times. And it is our responsibility, I would say as a, faith community, to stay with you while you find it again, and to hold the space for you, to walk with you to hold you and bring you food.
Until you and God find your way back to each other or something like that. Because of course we don’t have the same, faith, we had as five-year-olds. We don’t have the same, faith, we had as 15-year-olds, because we’ve seen more and we’ve grown more, we’ve evolved and had different kinds of experiences.
Doesn’t mean I don’t have a relationship with God. I don’t have a, faith community, but that’s not what it looks like anymore. And so yes, it definitely caused me to have some questions and to be angry and to say, what I’ve been taught, is not matching up with what I’m experiencing, and I’m trying to figure this out. So, I kept changing, faith communities, until I found one that was able to hold that space of, faith, for me.
Myrna: So, my circle back to that is when did you become, depressed?
Dr Monica: I really can’t quite pinpoint when did I become depressed or say Oh, well I have this very deep grief, my grandmother died when I was 13 years old. I named it as, depression. You know, my family negative, depression. I didn’t come up in a context where people were like, Let’s label this as, depression. Let’s give you some therapy. That came much later. But that’s how a lot many black families were in the 70s and 80s. No one said, let’s go to therapy like white people do.
Oh, yes, I can look back and say this was, depression. I felt that there were definitely some challenges and hard places in life. That made me sad, but to me, I was like, well, sadness is the appropriate response to some of these things. And I would later have clinicians say, well, most people feel sad in this way and you seem to be sad in a deeper way. And I’m like, oh, because I don’t know most people only know me from the inside.
In many ways, I would say “Making A Way Out Of No Way” is the theory behind, Bipolar Faith. So, Bipolar Faith, is my story. It’s the story of my family. And I like to think that there is there’s some gray threads that feel like an African American story, it presents like an American story. And I think Making A Way Out Of No Way is the belief system that’s behind, Bipolar Faith. This is what I believe about community, what I believe about salvation and that salvation in the what gets us to heaven.
Salvation is the root word set out to heal, to be evolved and to make us well. Salvation is what I believe helps us to be whole and helps us to do well. And then it is making a way out of no way. But it’s really not no way, it’s just a way we can’t see. And that’s where the God part comes in. It’s, you know, God and hopefully us as you know, as creative people’s humanity and the rest of creation, working together to in the best of worlds to make the world a better place. Transforming creative ways.
Myrna: So that’s great, it’s like, blind faith. Of us knowing that regardless of how bleak it looks right now, that God is going to make a way out of no way tomorrow. Joy comes in the morning kind of thing kind of thing. So, I like that. So, do you feel that your story and, Bipolar Faith, you said that was the foundational principle? Do you feel that that is how your life progressed, that you had the spiritual power, that propelled you along and God always made a way for you to prosper?
Dr Monica: I’m not even sure if I’m prospering, I think I’m doing meaningful and I would even say needful work. Trying to creatively transform what we got, whatever we’ve inherited, into something better. Sometimes it’s great. Sometimes it’s this is what we got to work with, to transform what we have into creative ways. To make the world a better place.
Myrna: How can people connect with you and pick up copies of, bipolar faith, and other books?
Dr Monica: You can always pick up a copy at www.bipolarfaith.com. If you go there, you’ll find more than you ever want to know about the book. Find ways to buy it. You can also always call your local bookseller and ask them to order it for you. You can use larger online booksellers, if you prefer. If you go to www.bipolarfaith.com. I do a lot of music in the books. So, you’ll see some playlists there. You’ll see a couple of videos there. You can grab a little bundle I call, behind, bipolar faith, where there’s a workbook available if you want to do this like a reading group, for example.
And you can also hear a couple interviews from a psychiatrist and other, faith leaders, with me about, bipolar faith. You can also go to www.monicaacoleman.com and find more information about me and you can also grab a free devotional. If you go to the homepage, you’ll see a free five-day devotional there. And that’s just my gift to others a little devotional that I use for the spirituality.
Dr Stephen Lewis says everything begins in the gut. We have to use, nutritional supplements, because about 85% of all the minerals in the soil in America are depleted.
In this episode of the Health is Wealth series. I interview Dr Stephen Lewis. Dr Lewis is the founder of Green Wisdom Health, a company that helps clients achieve optimum health by utilizing extensive, but low cost lab work.
Tell us your journey Dr Lewis to becoming the founder of Green Wisdom Health.
Achieving optimum health
My daddy died when he was 53 years old and I was 15 years old. It was devastating. I felt that it was something that now I could fix real well with, nutritional supplements, even though according to the FDA, nutritional supplements, does not cure anything!
But today I have been able to put off Dementia in my mother for 25-30 years through the use of, nutritional supplements, We prevented her bones from becoming brittle and easily fractured. You couldn’t make her fracture a bone at her age because she takes, nutritional supplements, My mother was almost 96 years old when she died because of, nutritional supplements,
As a Doctor, I was always more into nutrition than most common practice. We started doing low-cost lab work and was able to determine a whole lot of what’s was going on in the body.
For example. My daddy died at 53, nutritional supplements, might have allowed him to live longer. He had ulcerative colitis or irritable bowel syndrome. Nutritional supplements, do an incredible job at stopping the leaky gut.
Everything begins in the gut. I tell people they have to use, nutritional supplements, because about 85% of all the minerals in the soil in America are depleted. There is even a Senate document that states that our foods are devoid of almost all nutrients and that was in 1936! Imagine what it will be today.
There’s no nutrients in the soil. People who spend a lot of money for organic is wasting their money. Organic is an improvement only.
How the Thyroid processes nutritional supplements
If the Thyroid is not working correctly, nothing in the body is going to work like it should.
The Thyroid is incredibly important, it has a lot to do with whether you’re stressed, have anxiety or depression. It has a lot to do with how your hormones are doing. It has a lot to do with your digestion or lack of digestion. How your heart beats etc.
So in my book “The Thyroid Sniper” I list a pretty well-rounded list of the different vitamins and the different minerals and amino acids that can be found in certain, nutritional supplements, that gives you optimum health.
How the proper nutritional supplements help us return to optimal health
The proper, nutritional supplements, help us return to optimum health because there is no way we can eat enough to get enough of the nutrients we need in our body, for example just magnesium alone. There’s no way to get enough magnesium out of your diet. Even our government says that we’re about 94% deficient in magnesium. But magnesium can help depression, because it facilitates over 300 different enzyme reactions and it also is good for the heart. It helps many people with arrhythmia, it helps lower blood pressure. You can’t get enough of it out of your diet.
You may also have a B12 deficiency and most, nutritional supplements, out there will have B12 in it; but it will be the wrong kind so your body cannot convert it. Our bodies also don’t make enough digestive enzymes. I can tell you, if your proteins are low and if your alkaline phosphate is low, and if your globulin is low or high, then that points to gastro intestinal inflammation. Keep in mind every disease has a root cause and the GI tract is always part of the equation. If you fix your digestion with digestive enzymes and, nutritional supplements, then you can break your food down and not create, Leaky Gut.
Probiotics is the new big study. We have about ten times more microorganisms than we have cells in our body, so taking probiotics as a, nutritional supplement is a must. Generally people will start feeling better mentally, they will have more energy, they’ll have more restful sleep, they’ll say, I don’t know why but my depression went away. That is the power of taking probiotics as a, nutritional supplement.
I’ve been taking, nutritional supplements, for a very long time and yeah I’ve got a pharmacy! but I’ve heard people say things like, nutritional supplements, are a waste of time because you are just going to pee them out. All you are doing is having very expensive urine!
Your body takes what it needs and excretes the rest, that is why I do very inexpensive lab work for my clients to find out what their body is missing and then I will give them the, nutritional supplements, their body needs so as not to have expensive urine.
Most nutritional experts will agree on five, nutritional supplements, that everybody needs:
You need a good multivitamin,
a good probiotic,
you need a digestive enzyme,
you need fish oil
and you need fiber.
I don’t really agree with the fiber, if you eat enough really good vegetables you don’t need fiber as a, nutritional supplement, but I think vitamin D should be thrown in there. It’s incredibly important and you cannot convert enough sunlight to make enough vitamin D.
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Dr. Stephen Lewis company is Green Wisdom Health, head over to his website https://www.greenwisdomhealth.com/ fill out a health survey, it’s a brief survey and it will suggest the suggested lab work. When I get the health survey back, either myself or Janet, my partner will call you and send you a link where you schedule a Free 30-minute consultation with me. At which point I’ll email you a functional nutritional report with a list of recommended, nutritional supplements,
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To listen to the complete audio interview download on any of these podcast players:
The way that we use, breathwork, with, meditation, is as a tool to really settle our bodies, when we’re in a heightened stress response or feeling really tight and closed off. Breathwork, allows us to settle into a space of openness and receptivity so much faster. When we’re sitting in stillness and, meditation, you can feel the moving energy up and out of the body.
Ava Johanna is the founder and visionary behind The Academy of Breath, international breathwork and meditation school, focused on making these ancient embodiment practices household tools across the globe. Ava’s mission is to bridge the gap between modern neuroscience and mysticism so breathwork and meditation are made accessible to everyone from high-level executives to stay-at-home parents.
Yet, Ava’s present-day reality – running a half a million-dollar breathwork and meditation empire, while giving back 10% of profits to marginalized communities and do-good organizations – is the polar opposite to her teenage experience. At the age of sixteen, Ava was homeless. Her rise to fulfillment, entrepreneurial success with The Academy of Breath, and claiming a mission that serves all, makes her the living embodiment of perseverance, healing, and wellness.
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Ava: I grew up in a very affluent area. I was born in Santa Monica, California, one of the boroughs in LA and moved about second or third grade to Ventura County Calabasas Westlake area. I always give the example of Calabasas is where the Kardashians live. My family was middle class, but a lot of my friends had lots of money. And so by the time my mom separated from my stepdad which I’m still so proud of her to this day for doing that, we are unable to pay for the basic basic needs, like a roof over our head, food on the table.
My little sister is nine years younger than me and has autism and after she was diagnosed with autism, my mom did everything in her power to support her and to be near her. Unfortunately, my mom wasn’t even able to get a full time job or a regular job because my sister needed to be on call for my sister. She’s her primary caretaker so the only option really for her at that point was to work at the school. Being in close proximity to my sister and you know, really makes her life revolve around my sister.
My mom’s car was repossessed, she would go to the church every other weekend, the Food Bank and pick up groceries for us and we spent a little over a year between couch surfing on friends’ couches, families, couches, neighbors. And after about a year and a half my mom finally was able to scrounge up enough money to get us our own apartment and it was this dingy dark little apartment, but it was ours. And throughout that whole experience, I really am grateful that I was surrounded by so much wealth because it showed me that there was another way.
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I feel so deeply for communities where it’s only poverty because sometimes that can create this identification of this is all that there will ever be for me. And so I’m grateful that I got to see two different sides of circumstance so that I could say, this is the direction I want to go. That experience created this deep hustle mentality within me of continuing to climb and climb and climb until I felt safe.
And it wasn’t until the past few years that as my business started becoming more and more successful, I realized that there was no dollar amount that would ever make me feel safe and safety was an inside job that I had to create within myself. And that’s really where, breathwork and meditation, have had the biggest impact on my life, is learning how to create safety within myself.
BEING BLACK IS TRAUMATIC ENOUGH!!!, “Walk A Painful Mile In Our Agony Shoes” is an untraditional new style of poetry. The books’ theme is based on being black in a America. Each poem will put you in the shoes of blackness as we walk, march and run through this pernicious society. With over 40 poems and pictures depicting black love, black unity, black creativity, black self-hate, black struggle, discrimination and mental Illness and other more personal poems. This book was very emotional for the author to write because each poem is tied to the emotions felt before, during and after the Black Lives Matter protest.
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Myrna: That’s a powerful story. I love that, because I was born poor in Guyana, but I had a very rich godfather who also showed me the other side. How did you learn, meditation?
Ava: So I was working in a corporate job at the time I worked at this agency in San Diego in the marketing department and was so stressed out, it was a startup. I was working anywhere between like eight to 10 hours every day. I was in before the boss out after the boss and literally had dreams about my work. I was no fun to be around. A girlfriend invited me to a, yoga, class for, personal development, and, stress relief, and the, yoga instructor, taught me, how to use breathwork, and, meditation. as, personal growth, tools.
I remember being in a, breathwork meditation, class for the first time, just dripping in sweat and feeling so good. And so from there I became a little obsessed about, breathwork meditation. So I enrolled in, yoga, teacher training about six months later. And a lot of anger would come up in training, which is now I know just repressed emotions leaving my body, but my first weekend in our, yoga, teacher training, we had someone come in and do a full, breathwork, session with us. It was Wim Hof, which is a more modern take on older ancient practices that stem from the Himalayas.
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I remember leaving class that day and just calling my friend and letting her know oh my goodness. This feels incredible, I found my bliss. So from that point forward, I aggressively trained in, breathwork meditation. I saw that there were a lot of amazing things coming from teacher training and also a lot of gaps that could be filled in order to support people that had these missions. And so that’s really where the inspiration for the Academy of Breath came from.
Myrna: What is the neuroscience behind, breathwork meditation, that makes you feel so blissful?
Ava: I like approaching the science from two different angles. I love the mysticism behind, breathwork. I love the spiritual approach to it and I also love the science. So in the same way that if you are with a group of individuals and you’re all singing together. This energy that you can feel this, this opening that’s happening that is almost intangible to describe with words, but you can feel that heightened level of bliss. There’s that kind of element of, breathwork, that comes up.
I can’t really explain this through my words, but you must experience it, in order to really feel what I’m talking about. So, with, breathwork, what I found was that, through this practice, I could feel my body softening and opening and calling almost all aspects of myself to the present moment where I was no longer time traveling between what had happened in the past or my anxiety and worrying predictions of what was happening in the future.
Now, that’s not necessarily something that we can prove with science, but that is something that you experience when you’re practicing various, breathwork, techniques whether it be a calming technique that’s really slowing the body down, slowing the, nervous system, down or more energizing techniques that’s actually creating more of a movement and momentum within yourself.
You can experience that type of surrender, that type of fullness or oneness with all of these different, breathwork, practices and quite quickly as well. You can do three rounds within two to three minutes and start to feel that sense of relief. Which is really powerful. And then on the other side of it when we look at the science behind, breathwork meditation.
In the same way that singing turns on the, vagus nerve, which is responsible for your, parasympathetic, response in the body. Breathwork, as well turns on the, parasympathetic response.
So basically, the way that I explain it is that the, vagus nerve, is like pumping the brakes on your stress response or, sympathetic nervous system. We’re not necessarily humming or vibrating the vocal cords to activate the, vagus nerve, but there’s different practices like for example a, box breath, or equal ratio breath where the, parasympathetic nervous system, is being activated through slowing down your breath and essentially telling your body and telling your, nervous system.
It’s safe for me to relax, it’s safe to let go. And when we’re doing that, we’re releasing happy chemicals throughout the body like, dopamine, and, serotonin, which are all those feel good hormones, and so that’s where the bliss comes.
Myrna: I told you, I learn something new every time I interview someone. I’ve never heard that you can relax your, vagus nerve, by singing. I understand now why some, meditations, do the chanting. I myself do the, box breath, with my, meditation, where you inhale for four, hold for 4 and then exhale for 5.
Ava: Most people don’t realize that our breath can be used as medicine. So when someone goes into a really advanced, breathwork, practice, like a Wim Hof practice, all of those practices are amazing. They all serve their purpose. However, if we’re working with somebody who struggles with PTSD or struggles with anxiety or struggles with depression, we want to be really clear about what, breathwork, practices we are using and the equal ratio breath or the, box breath, or the style that you had mentioned.
So when I teach it, I teach 5-5-5-5, box breath. You can absolutely elongate the exhale, because it does help with the, vagus nerve, being stimulated. But that’s like the easiest practice for anybody to start with to reacquaint themselves with their, breath. To reestablish a relationship with their breath where they’re more mindful about when they’re breathing, because we know that anything that we do in the 10 minutes that we’re sitting down, or five minutes that we’re sitting down, we’re going to become more aware of in the rest of the time during our day when we’re awake.
So that’s a really, really simple place to start breathing in through your nose for four or five, holding at the top for four or five, scaling for four or five, and then we also hold at the bottom for four or five and that’s a way to just strengthen the lungs as well. And the way that is easiest to remember is just an equal basic breathing. So that’s how I explained it to individuals who this helps them.
Myrna: Okay, so you’re saying that’s the simplest, breathwork, . Give us a complicated one.
Ava: Being able to increase your body temperature is a pretty epic tool to have, especially when you’re feeling a little chilly. And I think more than anything, it’s understanding the breath, and the role that the breath plays on the autonomic nervous system. It is like the heart beating; it is the immune system. It’s our hormones releasing from the body.
It’s our digestion, our breath is directly connected to our, autonomic nervous system. And so we can do about that as a way to again move out of that, fight or flight response, where we’re just dumping acidic chemicals like cortisol and adrenaline on our body into a, parasympathetic response.
Yes, there is actually a really great practice that is so funny. My mom came with me for my bachelorette party a couple years ago and it was so hot and we were walking back from the party to the Airbnb we were staying, and she just got so overheated and she had to sit down. I was like, Mom, you got to do this, breathwork, practice with me to cool you down. It works within five minutes. It’s really simple, you curl your tongue like a funnel and inhale through it. And for anyone who can’t curl their tongue up, you’ll just breathe through the teeth.
Myrna: Can you use, breathwork, to connect to our, higher power? Because when you go into stillness, you connect with your, higher power, you connect with God. So how do you teach your clients to use, breathwork, to connect to the, higher power, or their higher self?
Myrna: Yeah, that’s such a beautiful question. And to be honest, this is where I get them the most like space to explore on their own because I truly believe that we all have a unique relationship to a, higher power, of our own understanding. And so you know, as an example, I know that in a lot of communities, the word of God can trigger them based on religious upbringing. For me, I love the word God if that’s my understanding of the, higher power, but I know other people like the word, universe, or my, higher self, or whatever it might be.
And so I need to change the language because I know that God created the, universe. All those things are just means the same, super consciousness. There is a bunch of labels.
Using Breathwork meditation to access your higher self
Ava: So the way that I use, breathwork, in with, meditation, is that using, breathwork, first as a tool to really settle our bodies so that again, we’re out of that heightened stress response or feeling really tight and closed off. Breathwork, allows us to settle into a space of openness and receptivity so much faster. When we’re sitting in stillness and, meditation and you feel that moving energy up and out of the body.
Sometimes that energy might be before in the form of recurring thoughts. that might be something that happened yesterday, something that you have to check off of your to do list etc. we can use, breathwork, as a way to move that energy up and out of the body so that we’ve actually created enough of a slowing down within the mind. so that when you are meditating, it’s so much easier for you to hear your own inner voice or the voice of God or the voice of source in the practice itself.
And so usually what I will do for someone who’s like just started, guide them into, breathwork. Then once they’re in, meditation, bring them through a list of things that they’re grateful for, so that they’re really dropping their, heart space, and then guide them into some sort of, prayer. That, prayer, might be just like asking a certain question of something that they desire guidance around or wanting to communicate with God.
And then just allowing myself and, breathwork meditation, to be the subject. I think the two practices go together so perfectly and you know, the lens of, yoga, the eight limbs of, yoga, conjures eight limbs of, yoga. Breathwork, comes before, meditation, as a way to prepare the body to sit for longer periods of time so that you can experience God.
Myrna: How can we connect with you and learn, breathwork meditation, an these wonderful things that you’re teaching.
Ava: Thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to share. So the Academy of breath offers an eight week online, breathwork, and, meditation, certification program. This is really meant for anybody who is interested in incorporating, breathwork, and, meditation, into their work that they do. We’ve had high school teachers go through, therapists go through, we have coaches, yoga teachers, massage therapists, so really anybody who would want to expand their core offering using, breathwork, and, meditation, or wants to become a replica, meditation teacher.
We created this program to really guide you through how to facilitate nine different record practices, three different styles of, meditation, as well as bonus modules and bonus support on how to build a business around it. Again, as I mentioned, when I went through all these trainings, I thought there were phenomenal aspects of the trainings that were more spiritual based or the trainings that were more like science based, but no one really approached like the business side of things either.
I think that’s where a lot of teacher trainings fall short is that you give them all of these tools, but then they’re like, I don’t know what to do with this. And so we really work on that aspect of it as well. If that’s something that feels a little bit too, too much or too advanced for those of you that are listening and maybe you’re brand new to, breathwork, and, meditation, we also have a six modules for some practice course called backward, where you will learn over the course of six modules how to develop your own personal, breathwork meditation, practice, to help amplify your creativity, your intuition, lower stress levels, and become more present.
And so we really wanted to create a more accessible way for people to learn, breathwork, and, meditation, that might not necessarily be ready to go into a full teacher training. And you can find details for all of that at www.Academyofbreath.org/programs.
Systemic injustice immigration, deeply afflicts U.S. immigration law and its enforcement, a longstanding practice that has been documented by scholars.
From the moment I started worshiping God this morning during praise and worship I was plugged in. I felt reverence, I was reminded of what God has done for me in this life. He has brought me a mighty long way. Then my pastor Dr William Glover from Mt Hermon Ministries in Fort Myers, FL began his message.
He said that today he was going to teach on the difference between personal evil and, systemic evil. He explained that the evil that we do personally is usually between us and God. The husband who is committing adultery is hurting himself and his wife; but it does not affect his neighbor. Then there is, systemic evil. The kind that affects entire nations, cities and certain races or classes of people like, systemic injustice immigration, is affecting the lives of a nation of families.
Pastor Glover gave us an analogy of, systemic injustice. Let’s say that a farmer got inspired to get him a slave or slaves. He is then able to turn a bigger profit because his labor costs are low. The farmer in the next town decides that in order to compete with this farmer, he also needs to get him a few slaves to bring his labor costs down.
Soon all farmers have them some slaves and they write a law that the slaves are considered property and it is legal to own slaves as your property the same as purchasing equipment for your farm which is, systemic injustice. These farmers feel there is no sin in treating men and women as slaves and property because it is legal.
These slave owners could go to church and tithe on the profit from their plantation and feel that all is right between them and God because ska very is legal. The system and laws says that it is okay to treat the negros like they treat their animals.
Pastor Glover went on to share several scriptures on what Jesus felt about injustice and specifically systemic injustice immigration,
In Exodus Jesus teaches that strangers or Aliens should be treated the same as the citizens once they abide with the laws of the land. In Exodus the bible also teaches that a multitude of all kinds of people were delivered into the promised land. We could say he was talking about, systemic injustice immigration.
Catholics from around the country will spend the coming days protesting the Trump administration’s treatment of families entering the United States illegally and learning more about challenges facing these migrants. A number of protests will take place this weekend and a group of bishops, including the head of the U.S. bishops conference, will visit the border early next week.
Dr Glover finished his message talking about the current, systemic injustice immigration, climate in America. You know the Trump administration no tolerance, immigration, policy. He shared two stories, one I was familiar with and the other was one he witnessed.
He shared that he was in court once and was listening to a case in which a young man from Mexico who was living in the USA for over 20 years who committed a crime and was put on probation. He completed his probation and received a letters stating he had completed stating this. He decided to move out of state to Minnesota to be near his family.
While in Minnesota he got married had 3 children, had a good job making $60,000 per year. ICE tracked him down and arrested him for leaving the state. Apparently his probation had nothing to do with him, immigration, case. He pleaded his case to the judge stating it was an honest mistake ;but his pleas fell on deaf ears. The judge obviously played by the rules and the law states an offense was committed. The punishment was deportation, systemic injustice immigration, This young man was sent back to Mexico.
Deportation feeds the Systemic Injustice Immigration Problem
Then he talked about this case that was all over the news. This woman came into the country illegally 20 years ago. She married an American, they have 2 beautiful daughters, her husband served 3 tours in the army, yet she was deported. Apparently ICE arrested her from a routine traffic stop and she and her husband has spent over $20,000 in legal fees to no avail, systemic injustice immigration.
The law said that she committed an offense and the punishment was deportation. Separation from her husband and family and the country she has called home for 20 years. That is, systemic injustice immigration.
Now I saw this woman on the news, I saw her daughter curse President Trump. The network bleeped her and my only response was why didn’t her husband sponsor her? I asked my husband if, undocumented immigrants, could not be sponsored and he did not know; but today something different happened to me when I heard this story in the presence of God. I identified, I emphasized, I felt her pain.
I understood what my pastor was talking about, systemic injustice immigration, I was Transported back to my story. I was grateful to the core of my being that my story turned out different. I wondered why? Why was I given favor? What did God want me to do? Then I received my answer. God wanted me to use my platform to help with , systemic injustice immigration.
I have an audience of over 50,000 per month on the radio. I have a #1 iTunes podcast, I have a blog that got over 150,000 hits this year, I write a monthly newspaper column for the Community Press in Fort Myers, FL. I have a best selling book called “Out of the Snares, a story of hope and encouragement.” God has given me a platform to Help with, systemic injustice immigration. God has given me a purpose and that is the Help by offering hope and encouragement. How do I know this?
Now I can Help with, Systemic injustice immigration
I wondered why that mother who was an, undocumented alien, did not apply for permanent residence after 20 years in the USA?
There is one of 2 reason:
1. Fear
2. Lack of Knowledge
Let’s talk about fear. I was there. I used to dream that the, immigration, police would knock on my door in the middle of the night arrest me, put me in handcuffs and throw me in the trunk of the car. Fear is false evidence appearing real. If you are illegal and you fall in love you can get your husband to sponsor you.
If you are already in the country, you don’t have to leave while the application is pending. Be prepared for the fraud interview, but you have nothing to fear if you are legitimately married and living together. Even if you have to leave the country for a few years, it is better than living in fear for 20 years.
Fear affects your immune system and make you a magnet for infectious disease; because it activates your flight or fight response
Knowledge: You don’t know how to complete your 1-485 application to adjust permanent residence and you have no money for a lawyer.
You will also access the links for iTunes, google play, iheart radio and other players on my blog as well.
Remember justice for life, Life for Justice
Is there, life after death,? One day Nancy Rynes was an, Atheist, not believing in God and after her NDE, she is bringing us, messages from Heaven. In this episode of the Transform Your Mind with coach Myrna, we are diving deep into the unknown world of, life after death, I am speaking today with Nancy Rynes. Nancy is the author of, Awakenings from the Light.. a book about her, near death experience, This episode will, transform your mind, on our spiritual bodies answer the question is there, life after death,?
While riding her bicycle, Nancy Rynes was struck by a large SUV. The vehicle’s driver who was completely absorbed in texting, plowed into Nancy, dragging both her and her bike down the street. The driver who was unaware that she had struck anyone, finally came to a stop when horrified onlookers ran into the road blocking the vehicle.
Suffering multiple broken bones, internal injuries, several severe spinal and head injuries, Rynes knew she was dying. At that moment, she underwent the first of two life-changing near-death experiences—her consciousness split between her frightened, injured self laying on the road, and an impartial, peaceful observer-consciousness who watched as first responders fought to keep her alive. Her second, more lengthy near-death experience came days later, during the surgery that attempted to repair her traumatized body.
• Nancy, a scientist and confirmed skeptic, was shown the wonders of Heaven, experiencing joy, love, peace and beauty on such a grand scale that she wept at its magnitude. She then met and spoke with a Being who gave her insights into life, love, and the wonders of Spirit. After her time in Heaven, and her brief, life after death, experience; Nancy was returned to her body to begin the long, slow process of recovering from injuries her surgeon affirms should have killed her.
Nancy let’s start off by asking you to share the events leading up to your, NDE, experience.
I was an, atheist, I was a scientist and I did a lot of science and technical writing up until the time of my, near death experience, I was at a place in my life, late 40s this was about five years ago. I was feeling as if something needed to change. I felt in a rut and I wanted to attribute that to maybe my job or maybe I needed to find a new place to live.
I wanted to change something external. That’s where I found myself that late fall early winter of 2013 heading into 2014 when the accident happened. I wasn’t really a believer in anything other than the physical reality around us. My scientific training taught me that I needed to find evidence, physical evidence. It’s tough to measure the spiritual realm from here, on this physical plane of existence.
I won’t go into too much of the accident itself because that in and of itself can take up a lot of time; but I was as you mentioned in the intro, I was riding my bicycle and was struck by a woman who was texting. I had what I call a dual consciousness experience. During the accident itself where I was able to kind of see the accident happening from outside of my body; but at the same time I was in my body.
Now in hindsight, I see that that was really what Deepak Chopra might have alluded to when he said consciousness is not located in the brain. My Higher Self or a higher state of my consciousness kind of pulled itself out of the physical body; but yet the physical body consciousness was still alive and well if you will inside my body and experiencing both.
Life After Death seeing the light
The accident caused a lot of a lot of bone breaks as you mentioned in the intro,
I had a lot of damage to my spine and in the hospital it was determined that I would need surgery to repair my spine in order to be able to walk because it was kind of touch-and-go there for a while. It turned out that a couple of shards of my back bone had broken off and one of my vertebrae and was just like within a millimeter or two of cutting my spinal cord, so it was pretty close to for me to be a paraplegic. That’s why we agreed to go into surgery that following Monday. It was during the surgery actually that I had my, life after death, experience.
The surgeons gave me the anesthesia and apparently what happened is I had some kind of a reaction to the anesthesia and my heart rate stopped, my blood pressure went to zero, and my breathing stopped for a while. I was clinically dead.
I woke up not laying in the operating room in the hospital, but I woke up standing up. I was vertical standing up on a hillside in this beautiful kind of meadow.
To my left and right were these monstrous trees and they had what I call just an energy scintillating throughout them. In the distance, kind of below me were rows and rows of mountains with a beautiful kind of bright silvery blue mist kind of light going through everything.
Unbelievable love welcomes you in the afterlife
Then I realized I wasn’t just seeing stuff, I was feeling things, I was feeling what I call love unbelievable Love coming in through me. It felt like I was being embraced by the heavens. Divine love and it was powerful! I also felt along with that Love, a Peace that was unimaginable. I had never felt that before. Peace on a scale that you and I can’t imagine as humans.
I was connected to everything. I began to wonder if I’d died on the operating table.
Then this voice said to me “You are home. This is your home.” As soon as those words came through me, I knew instantly that it was truth. This was my spiritual home. This is where we go in, life after death, This was my home and I didn’t want to leave ever. I wants to rest in this unconditional love on a scale that humans can’t really grasp. We can grasp it as a spiritual being but as a human being it’s hard for us to really wrap our brains around that kind of love.
I did not want to come back. I knew I had family and friends here but, I knew they would all be okay. But then a womanly figure came up to me and she said that she was my spiritual guide to this place and would teach me what I needed to know in order to come back to my life on earth. That’s when I said well, I don’t want to go back. I told her it’s going to be too hard, it’s going to be painful.
My big fear was oh my God what happens if I’m in a wheelchair. She said well, you’ve already agreed to go back. I said I don’t remember agreeing to go back. She then showed me a movie in the air in front of me. She showed me my spirit before I was born into this life and body. My spiritual self, standing or appearing to stand with my spiritual team and I was agreeing to do certain things when I came here into this life and body and one of them was to have this accident to revisit my home in a, life after death, accident and then go back and bring some insights back from what I learned. Once again the truth hit me like a ton of bricks. I remembered, I did agree. I agreed to have this, life after death, experience and accident.
Healing in the afterlife
I listened to a podcast a few weeks in which Anita Moorjani told of her, life after death, experience. She was dying with stage 4 cancer and tumors all over her body. On the operating table she had her, life after death, experience and made the decision to come back into her body. When she came back out of that, life after death, experience in a couple of months all the tumors had shrunk and she is now alive and thriving cancer free!
In 2006, Anita Moorjani fell into a coma as my 4-year struggle with cancer was coming to an end. While doctors rushed to attend to my frail body, I entered into a near-death experience (NDE) where I discovered one of life’s greatest truths: Heaven is not a destination; it’s a state of READ ABOUT MY NDE being. When I regained consciousness, my cancer miraculously healed and I was free of disease within weeks! Since then, I’ve heeded the call to share this powerful story—and divine lesson—with the world.
I’ve talked to chaplains and ministers about this and they see this a lot with patients who had, near-death experiences, or, life after death, where they had some kind of incredible recovery. I call it being touched by heaven. My spiritual guide taught me a whole bunch of stuff which I put in my book “Awakenings in the Light”
Before she sent me back, she did what I call a healing of my energy or spiritual Body. I could feel this energy coming into me when she was doing this. She placed her hand over my throat area, my upper collarbone area, then over my left shoulder and then along my rib cage because I’d broken a ton of ribs. I think it was five or six ribs that were broken and then I had a punctured lung on that same side, so she put her hand over all of that and kind of did some energy work on me and then she sent me back. When I came back from my, near death experience, I healed so fast, the doctor freaked out.
Conclusion
I learned from my spiritual guide and my, life after death, experience is that she’s with me all the time and there is no separation between where you are in the physical and where we are in the spiritual. It’s just a different energy state and that everybody in the spiritual realm is around us all the time. I can when I do specific meditation techniques to communicate with her more consciously but she also guides me. I mean I know she has a hand in things that happen in my life because there are some things that happen in my life well it may be you know the bigger divine consciousness that we call God, but certainly someone or some being or some set of beings at that level has helped me out quite a bit.
I volunteered to bring this message, but I’m not by any means the only person just one of a team. Someone else’s may reach a different audience.
If you sign up for my newsletter on my website nancyrynes.com you get a free preview copy of my book “Awakenings from the light”
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Ginni Saraswati, award winning journalist shares How to, start a podcast, that Entertains, Empowers and Engage Audiences.
Ginni is an award-winning journalist and host of the Ginni Show, Comedy & Connectivity. In this episode Ginni shares how podcasters can, create and produce, entertaining shows by understanding what they are good at. How podcasters can use their strengths to engage and entertain audiences.
Ginni, I was reading in your bio that you’ve got a great radio story. It is an inspiration to all those radio personalities out there that are toiling for no pay!
My story well it is an interesting one, because I was in my second year in university studying creative art. There’s was a radio station in Melbourne, the city I grew up in Australia. They had a course going for people who wanted to learn everything about radio. The station was joy 94.9 which was Australia’s first and only LGBT radio station, and I think only one of three in the world at that time. Anyway I applied for the course and I got accepted.
That’s when my life changed. I was more looking to do producer type stuff. I didn’t want to literally get behind the microphone. I knew a couple of things would change if I were to get behind the microphone of an, LGBT radio station. I was completely afraid that this would automatically out me to everyone. I had not yet come out that I was gay.
How did you Transition from radio to starting a podcast?
I knew that radio and now, podcasting, is an intimate space, because people generally listen to radio or podcasts on their own. I needed to learn, how to start a podcast. It’s not something that you go “hey it’s Friday night let’s go to my place and listen to a, podcast!” Podcast listeners, are listening to a, radio, or an external device and it’s within a meter away from them or it’s right in their ears. So it’s a very intimate space, that’s why it’s so impactful and why, podcasting, has become so popular.
How to start a podcast that you can monetize?
There is a lot of money in, podcasting. Advertisers are getting a lot back from Ads because of the intimacy of the medium.
45 Percent of Podcast Listeners Have a Household Income of $75,000 or More
Podcast listeners, are a relatively affluent group. Compared to America as a whole, monthly podcast listeners are 29 percent more likely to have a HHI of $75,000 or more. Combined with the large ratio of, podcast listeners, in the coveted 25 to 54 demographic, this is why advertisers are starting to seek out, podcast sponsorship opportunities.
85 Percent of Podcast Listeners Have Attended College
Podcast listeners, are also an educated group, as they are nearly 20 percent more likely to have attended college at some point, compared to the U.S. population as a whole. And among people who have secured a four-year college degree, the difference is even more striking, with podcast listeners 40 percent more likely to have done so.
Podcasts, are the perfect medium for advertisers.
Podcasts, are very educational, it’s like you know the audio version of YouTube! Anything you want to learn, there’s a, podcast, that can teach you whatever you want to learn.
Transform Your mind Podcast
How to start a podcast with Radio experience
I found inspiration in the part of your story about working for 10 years on the, radio, for no pay!
Yes, when I first got into, morning radio, we started at 6:00 am, so I got up at 4:30 am, no matter what I did the night before. That’s how much I loved, radio. It did take a good 10 years of hustle, getting up early, staying back late. The first time I got on the, radio, I got the graveyard shift from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., which meant I was getting to bed like 2:30 am or 3:00 am, and then on the reverse, when I got the, morning radio show, I had to get up at 4:30 a.m. to make sure I was there for 6.00 am. It did take a lot of hard work; but you know no pain, no gain. Let’s remember nothing comes free. I don’t think you can do anything great that you don’t build up. It does take a lot of work and consistency to build anything great.
I worked for free for 10 years; but you know it was the most rewarding experience in my life. I got to meet and interview amazing people and make strong connections.
Mel Robbins tells the story as well about working on, radio, for free and almost losing her house because she was not making any money and her husband’s business wasn’t doing well. They almost lost everything. She tells a powerful story in her book the “Five-second Rule”
She now works for CNN and she’s blown up but it all started with working for free on the, radio!
Why you should start a podcast.
On my radio show we started to re-purpose some episodes into, podcasts. So I got the idea to, start a podcast, because one, the attention was going to, podcasts, and secondly, I wanted the freedom to talk about what I wanted to talk about. On the, radio, you’re regulated, you’re in kind of a regulated industry; you can’t mention or talk about certain things; so there’s no freedom in, radio.
Not so for a, podcast. You can talk about anything within reason on a, podcast. You can curse, talk about sex or whatever you want. That’s how Genni Media my, podcast production company, was born. Now my company Ginni Media is a boutique Podcast Production Company serving the vision of entrepreneurs, celebrities and influential organizations around the world. Specializing in, podcast production, and content re-purposing, they provide a concierge-style service to ensure your voice is literally being heard where it needs to be.
That’s awesome, if you are reading this and working hard at something and not seeing any fruit, just keep on working and building. Keep on sowing seeds at some point in time it’s going to grow into a forest.
I was listening to Joel Osteen this morning and he it can take a year, it can take ten years, or it can even take 30 years! You have to have faith.
LBGQ podcasts and radio
How did you have the courage to introduce your sexuality on your show even though it was a criminalized act in your home country of Sri Lanka?
Well I kind of lived a bit of a fragmented life back then. My family even though then I was on an a Gay radio station, weren’t exactly aware that I Gay. My mother never questioned me about the content of the show. They didn’t find out until about six or seven years later. I was doing a TV segment, I was like about twenty three years old.
My sister knew and certain cousins of mine knew, I didn’t really feel the need to come out because I don’t think it’s necessarily something that needs to be announced, because if you are in a heterosexual relationship, you don’t sit your parents down and tell them. So I was doing this TV segment in Australia on channel 31 at 10:00 p.m. on a Monday night. I didn’t think anyone in my family would be watching a Gay game show program at 10.00 pm on a Monday. But apparently my auntie and uncle were watching and they heard me say I am Ginni and I am Gay!
How to, create and produce podcasts, that entertain, empower and engage audiences?
Download to listen to the full interview with Ginni to learn some tips for creating and producing your podcast.
Toyin Crandell, author of the Money Mindset Shift and host of the Millionaire Money Podcast, talks about helping her clients ditch their limiting beliefs about, money, by shifting their, money mindset, design a simple, proven and customized, financial freedom, plan so they can, build wealth, become, debt free, and create a new legacy.
Toyin Crandell is the host of the Millionaire Money Podcast, a best-selling author, a financial mentor, an international speaker, and the founder of Money Mindset SHIFT.
She specializes in helping business owners and career professionals ditch their limiting beliefs about, money, design a simple, proven, and customized financial freedom plan so they can build wealth, get rest, and create a new legacy.
She has coached thousands of individuals and families, helping them increase their wealth by $10s of millions of dollars and pay off millions of dollars of debt while enjoying their lives in the process.
Using the principles she teaches, Toyin Crandell went from being stuck in tens of thousands of debts, having no food for her family to building eleven streams of income and running her own multi-million-dollar company.
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The Jordan Harbinger Show, is a top shelf podcast named best of Apple in 2018.
Jordan dives into the minds of fascinating people — from athletes, authors and scientists to mobsters, spies and hostage negotiators.
I really think there just isn’t a better podcast to listen to casually or seriously to expand your worldview. Jordan’s also got a strangely relatable weekly segment, “Feedback Friday,” where he covers advice on everything from escaping a cult or psycho family situations to relationships and networking to asking for a raise.
Search for The Jordan Harbinger Show (that’s H-A-R-B-I-N-G-E-R) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also head over to jordanharbinger.com/start to start listening. Here are 2 episodes I loved and I think you would too. Check out
Shawn Achor leveraging the happiness advantage and DWade A life Bigger than basketball
Toyin: I was in full time ministry and I loved what I did. Me and my husband are both professional musicians. That’s how we met. So, I was like, God is good. Life is good. Who needs, money. December 2016 we were living in a tiny basement apartment. The apartment was so small. I think our whole apartment fits into my current master bedroom now. It was so small; you had to go sideways and do a shuffle to get some clothes out of the closet. And we had a little six-month-old daughter, I really didn’t care. I didn’t even notice any of these things.
We had our daughter and I remember one evening my husband had brought me dinner in the bedroom. Because we didn’t have a dining space and I’m eating dinner, and I was just like, Baby, where are you? You know, he’s not in the room like there’s nobody else in the house but me and him. So, I said to him come eat over here. And he comes in the room and I’m just casually asking him, what are you having? I was eating some canned stuff. And he said, I am having chocolates and I was like, what do you mean chocolates? And he said Toyin we’re out of food.
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I found out that week he had been giving me the rest of our food because I was nursing our daughter. And even the chocolates that he was eating were not chocolates that we bought. It was because it was December it was Christmas season and people had given us a gift of a box of chocolates. So, he was living on that, so I could feed our baby and that was my very first, forceful wakeup call where in my mind I thought to myself, Oh, my gosh, this isn’t working, money, matters.
I started having 1000 thoughts in one second, I’m thinking to myself, we need to be able to feed my daughter. It’s one thing when you’re single and you don’t have food and you can eat rice from January to December. Nobody cares. But now have a daughter that I am responsible for, so I get this wakeup call, what do I do? Me and my husband very resourceful people, I tell him it’s not working. I’ve been watching a ton of webinars. I’ve been listening to all these different things to try to learn from people. And I was not working, else we would have food in the fridge.
So, I get my first coach and this person was a, business strategist, and they helped me to like start thinking more like a business person as opposed to thinking like a Lottie, Dottie person. And I remember in February I had collected $7,000 in cash and I was like oh my goodness, this is the breakthrough we’ve been waiting for.
Myrna: What did you sell to make the $7000?
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Toyin: I was helping people to become, debt free. So, here’s the funny thing. I had debt in the past and I thought that, debt freedom, was, financial freedom, because I didn’t understand, money. So, I learned how to be, debt free. And I had started teaching it as a business casually, I didn’t even plan it. I just became, debt free. My friends were like, Oh my gosh, you’re, debt free. How did you do it? I Started telling my friends, and they became, debt free. I’m spending all this time talking to people and they’re all becoming, debt free. And I wasn’t getting paid.
So, I was like, I should get paid for this. So that was what had started like me charging for teaching people how to become, debt free. What happened was in the same month where we’re emailing about rent and bills, I get this favor to get into a room with these technical, millionaire mentors. And these are people who are running businesses that are in the hundreds of millions of dollars and
I’m in the room with them learning from them. I started noticing these guys they don’t talk like me, I started noticing so many little things. And I realized that I had been in so many circles. We prided ourselves on our, struggle. I get in this room with these actual, millionaires. And one of the men had this chart and it started with:
struggle,
survival,
sustained success,
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He asked us in the room, where are you on this ladder? And like earlier that year he met me in February have been like at least I mean, sustained success, but at this point, I am under, struggle, again. And I just remember thinking to myself, if I don’t figure out what is holding me back financially, I will always be under, struggle.
I realized that the problem isn’t to be, debt free, because I had become, debt free. I was, debt free. But the problem was my mind was so against having, money, that even though our expenses was the lowest you could imagine. We reduced our income to be lower than even those expenses, because we were so used to, struggle.
Myrna: I teach that all the time. Let’s label this, mindset. It’s called a, poverty mindset.
Toyin: That’s exactly right. That means no matter what actions you take, you produce, poverty. And in that month, I create this process. So now let me talk about how we got to 11 streams of income. I create this process where I just started asking myself questions. I got honest with myself on a level that I had never been honest with myself before. I asked myself:
What are the limiting beliefs I have about, money?
What is my actual relationship with, money?
What am I doing wrong?
What is my pattern with, money?
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So now I see the problem and I create this shift process. I didn’t know anything about neuroscience back then. I didn’t know anything about, mindset coaching. I just knew I was sick and tired of, struggle. So, I use this process for myself. I never thought I would even tell anybody about it.
The next month, November, we had more income. And my husband pointed out to me, he’s like, hey, you just had more, money, come in, in November this month, than all of last year combined. And he says to me, what are you doing? Do you have a new offer? Do you have a new business like what are you doing that I didn’t hear about? Honestly, I was shocked. I hadn’t looked at the numbers from that frame.
And I said to him the only thing I did was change my, mindset. I thought to ask myself, I wonder if this mind process would work for my clients because I haven’t taught them anything about mindset. It was all strategy and our success rate because our success rate was around 50%. The industry average ranges between 3% to 50%.
In coaching, our success was 60. I used to be proud of that. But I used to be so frustrated about the remaining 40%. Why were these 40% still in poverty? When I started teaching, money mindset, our success rate went to 95%, our people start scaling and becoming, millionaires.
In the process of up leveling my mind every single year, I’m honest about this. I am a human being I still have, money mindset, challenges, the difference is the level.
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Becoming a millionaire by shifting your money mindset
Myrna: You’re no longer scratching the bottom.
Toyin: I remember it took us from $60,000 a year to 130,000 a year to 600,000 a year to over a million in a year, so we were growing every single year. I would literally sit my butt down with my process and say, Okay, what’s the new level? What’s the new identity that God is calling me to operate in. Because guys, money, is never just about the numbers. When I set goals, when I push and when you want to push, you’re not doing it just because of the, money; money itself is neutral. It means nothing.
All it is a marker of the value that you are bringing to the world and you are allowing yourself to receive. And so, I realized the more people I can serve this, money, thing is just a way for me to see how many people am I helping? How many people am I making into, millionaires, or whatever the goal is. I’m a finance person naturally, as soon as the, money mindset, got figured out, we were off. We now have 11 streams of income. We’ve got real estate properties, you’ve got dividends, we’ve got stocks, we’ve got royalties, we do workshops, plus, passive income.
So, we have, passive income, streams and active income streams, but all of it came out of one thing one thing a, money mindset. Start your income making machine, you need an income making machine that allows you to do all the other fun things that you want to do. What your income making machine will not produce unless you face your, money mindset.
So, unless you look at your, money mindset, and allow yourself to be able to get to a level you’ve never been you are not going to become a, millionaire. We coach people who are, millionaires, and we coach people who have not worked a job in eight years and the conversation may be different, but we are training the subconscious.
Shifting our money mindset
Myrna: So how do we shift our, money mindset?
Toyin: Okay, the first thing that you want to do is you need to get honest with yourself about what’s not working. If you cannot be honest with yourself about what’s not working in your finances, you will never fix it. And this is actually the hardest part, being honest with yourself. Most people never want to do that because it sucks to look in the mirror.
And so, the first thing that you guys want to do is to get your, money, right. You have to sit down with a pen and a paper and write down what are the patterns that I am seeing happening In my life that are giving me clues. The, money mindset shift, is simply follow the money.
So, for example, if you have a savings account, and your savings account, never crosses 5k, some of you guys you’re doing very well your savings account may never cross 100K. You get what I mean? Like everyone has those limits, where were the ones that never crossed 55 bucks.
When there is a pattern, we often get lost in the story. The reason my account never got past $500 was because my fridge broke down. The reason was because I chose to go and shop this time. The stories will always be different but I don’t look at the story, I look at the pattern. What is the pattern, the pattern is when you hit $500 your money disappears.
So right now, what are the patterns that I am noticing in my, money? I will save this specifically for those of you who earn a higher amount than people around you, you are in one of the most dangerous positions financially. Why? Because when we work with a lot of, millionaires, and we find that because you are doing better than most people, everyone around you is super impressed.
They’re like, Oh my gosh, Look at your income. And a lot of these people don’t notice whether or not, money, is staying. Yes, you’re working hard. Yes, you’re bringing in bank. Yes, you’re making the dollars; But you’re not building generational wealth. You’re not keeping any of it. You’re not keeping it. But once you shift your, mindset, you have to take action.
Myrna: I know you just started your podcast. Tell our readers how they could connect with you.
I’m the host of the Millionaire Money Podcast. It is so much fun. We just teach business owners and career professionals how to think like a, millionaire, make wealthy decisions and take strategic action so that you can actually create the, millionaire, bank account and lifestyle that you want. So, our goal in that podcast is literally helping you to get your first $100 million dollars. We’re going to be taking you to the next level. So that’s the podcast.
And then the second thing is some of you guys may be saying, I’m ready to shift this brain of mine, I am ready to actually begin to live out the wealth that I’m looking for. For those of you guys you can go to www.moneymindsetshift.ca and you’re able to watch a free master class. Now we have two master classes. One of them is for everybody, and the other one is specifically for business owners who are currently at six to seven figures. So, if you’re thinking seven figures is a masterclass for you. And if you’re a career professional or business owner and looking to earn your first million then the second master class is for you.
Will Smith, had 10 seconds to choose a different, thought, before the, concrete set, and, reality, hardened when he slapped Chris Rock on national television
I just finished reading Will Smith’s biography “Will” I really enjoyed reading his book and recommend it to anyone interested in changing their mindset.
There were 3 main quotes from, Will Smith’s, book that I loved, one of them was “You have 10 seconds until the concrete sets and, reality, hardens.” I think this is a good time to talk about what that really means and reference what happened at the, 94th Oscars, between, Will Smith, and, Chris Rock.
The book starts off with, Will Smith, calling himself a, coward, because he watched his father often slap his mother and reign terror on his family as a child. He felt he was a, coward, because he didn’t do anything about it.
His father’s legacy was also the year that he made, Will Smith, and his brother Harry build a concrete wall so Will learned his concrete, analogy, from personal experience “You have 10 seconds until the, concrete sets, and, reality, hardens.
Will used this analogy when his friend and fellow performer Ready Rock did not come out on stage for his set when he called for him, because he was jealous of Will’s success. He gave him 10 seconds to make a better choice and when he didn’t, reality, set and Will never called for him again.
He used this same concrete, analogy, of, reality, setting, when his girlfriend Melonie was about to go out somewhere and he told her not to go and she walked through the door anyway. The, concreate set, and the, reality, was that it was over. Will Smith, set her clothes on fire and never saw her again.
The Jordan Harbinger Show, is a top shelf podcast named best of Apple in 2018.
Jordan dives into the minds of fascinating people — from athletes, authors and scientists to mobsters, spies and hostage negotiators.
I really think there just isn’t a better podcast to listen to casually or seriously to expand your worldview. Jordan’s also got a strangely relatable weekly segment, “Feedback Friday,” where he covers advice on everything from escaping a cult or psycho family situations to relationships and networking to asking for a raise.
Search for The Jordan Harbinger Show (that’s H-A-R-B-I-N-G-E-R) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also head over to jordanharbinger.com/start to start listening. Here are 2 episodes I loved and I think you would too. Check out
Shawn Achor leveraging the happiness advantage and DWade A life Bigger than basketball
By now you have all heard or seen the, slap, on national television. Will Smith, did not like something that, Chris Rock, said about his wife. Chris Rock, make fun of her hair, and now he himself had 10 seconds until the, concrete set, to change that, reality. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3, Will Smith, walked up on stage and slapped, Chris Rock, in the face and the, concrete set, and reality hardened.
He can never take that back regardless how much he cries, how much he apologizes he can never take it back, it will live on, on the internet forever.
The concrete has set and, reality, hardened. Whether you believe, Chris Rock, was wrong to joke about Jada’s bald head, we know it was wrong for, Will Smith, to walk on stage at the, Oscars, and, slap, him.
Will Smith’s father was a bully and he grew up with domestic violence, seeing his father slap his wife and kids until his mother eventually left him, and in an out of body experience, Will Smith, became his dad. He got out of his seat and slapped someone because he did not like what he said about his wife.
In his autobiography, published in November 2021, the actor describes at length the appalling, domestic violence, he and his three siblings witnessed his father, Willard, inflict on his mother.
“When I was nine years old, I watched my father punch my mother in the side of the head so hard that she collapsed,” he wrote. “I saw her spit blood. That moment in that bedroom, probably more than any other moment in my life, has defined who I am. I am a, coward”
Will Smith, says “Within everything that I have done since then — the awards and accolades, the spotlights and attention, the characters and the laughs — there has been a subtle string of apologies to my mother for my inaction that day. For failing her in the moment. For failing to stand up to my father. For being a, coward.
“What you have come to understand as ‘Will Smith’, the alien-annihilating MC, the bigger-than-life movie star, is largely a construction – a carefully crafted and honed character designed to protect myself. To hide myself from the world. To hide the, coward.”
So how do we make better choices in the 10 seconds before the, concrete sets? You have to, train the mind. Just like you can’t learn to swim when you are drowning, you can’t make good choices when you are thrown in the fire; unless the, mind, is trained on what to do in the fire and then takes over on autopilot.
Start training your mind to make the right choices because when the, concrete sets, there is no going back, reality, becomes permanent.
When you feel that rage bubbling up inside you, choose a better, thought. Count to 10 and breathe because the devil is driving around looking for people to destroy. The prison is full of both men and women who had 10 seconds to choose and made the wrong choice.
What would have happened if Will Smith chose a better thought
Ready Rock made the wrong choice, Melonie made the wrong choice and now Will Smith, made the wrong choice. Let’s imagine that, Will Smith, had continued to pretend that he liked the joke. In those 10 seconds he would have laughed while seething inside, 40 mins later he would have accepted his, academy award, and realized that had reached the pinnacle of his career. The concrete would have set on joy and victory and he would have gone home and forget about Chris Rock’s joke, but the, concrete set, on a bad choice and now no one will forget.
Lusene Donzo started life in the US as a, refugee, from Liberia. After arriving in America he enlisted in the, US Army, and began, training his mind, to live his, calling. Listen to Lusene’s story of how he overcame a grand mal seizure, living on, welfare, to find success in the, army, as well as an entrepreneur and speaker.
Lusene grew up in Monrovia, Liberia, and came to America as a refugee 17 years ago. October 20, 2016 his life changed forever where he ended up having a grand mal seizure and ended up in a coma. He quickly realized that tomorrow is not promised and as long as you have life you should chase after your dreams and things that matter.
He later graduated from Virginia State University as a computer science major, commissioned in the US Army in 2018. Today Lusene is an author, speaker, credit consultant and a United States Army Officer who loves empowering people and helping them build their credit. Lusene is the author of “The Power of Determination: Train Your Mind To Live Your Calling
Myrna: We are witnessing a war in, Ukraine, at this moment, I’m having chills now just thinking about it. We all know that the life of those, refugees, are not going to be easy. Right now, they don’t know where they’re going to be living or how they’re going to eat. So, your journey is an interesting one to talk about in this climate. Tell us, your story.
Lusene: So, originally, I grew up in Liberia, at the age of six, in 1990, Liberia had a civil war. I was born in 92. So I was born during the height of the Civil War. And I remember at the age of four or five years old that we would have rebels coming up coming the house and my mother at the time, she would hide me on the ceiling from the rebels, because they were looking for young men to fight the war. Children are the easiest individuals to take advantage of.
So my mom would always hide me, up in the ceiling, just to make sure they don’t find out that she has a male child. She eventually gave me to my grandmother to go live in a village in a different country, Guinea. So I lived in Guinea for about two years. It was a lot of struggle there we used so to eat in the same bowl. We all used to play together. It was more family, but it was a lot of struggle because at the time I didn’t know who my father was.
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This episode is brought to you by The Jordan Harbinger Show.
The Jordan Harbinger Show, is a top shelf podcast named best of Apple in 2018.
Jordan dives into the minds of fascinating people — from athletes, authors and scientists to mobsters, spies and hostage negotiators.
I really think there just isn’t a better podcast to listen to casually or seriously to expand your worldview. Jordan’s also got a strangely relatable weekly segment, “Feedback Friday,” where he covers advice on everything from escaping a cult or psycho family situations to relationships and networking to asking for a raise.
Search for The Jordan Harbinger Show (that’s H-A-R-B-I-N-G-E-R) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also head over to jordanharbinger.com/start to start listening. Here are 2 episodes I loved and I think you would too. Check out
Shawn Achor leveraging the happiness advantage and DWade A life Bigger than basketball
I didn’t have my mother, I was just living with my grandmother and all my cousins and we were fighting to eat food. So it was it was one of those things that when I look back, at the position that I’m in right now, I am so humbled because especially I can resonate with what some of the individuals in, Ukraine, are going through because being a, refugee, is something that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.
So once I left Guinea, I went to Ivory Coast, there was a civil war in the Ivory Coast and everyone that was not Liberian they were trying to kick them out the country. You needed this thing called les de Paseo, which is kind of like in America, a green card to stay in the country. America had a resettlement program for, refugees, in Ivory Coast to bring them to the states so my family applied. Nine months later, we ended up coming to America as, refugees. Initially we were on, welfare, collecting checks, food stamps, and all that, but eventually my mother got off, welfare.
Myrna: That is such a beautiful story. I came from Guyana, we weren’t that poor, but it’s still a third world country. I had the opportunity to go to Canada. That’s what’s got me out of my poverty. And then I ended up coming to United States. I support a charity that’s called food for the poor. And one of the things that they show are the kids in Africa eating from one bowl of rice. Oh my God, it breaks my heart. So you went through all that and then you ended up with a grand mal seizure? How did that happen?
Lusene: So after I came here, I moved around a little bit, and I moved to Philadelphia, I was living with my uncle in Philadelphia, where I graduated high school. I was working while in college, I was working a lot. I was, training the mind, by working hard and being determined to get off, welfare. I was working about 18 hours, I had school, I had ROTC, I was the Army Reserve. I was just doing too much.
I ended up having a seizure because I wasn’t getting adequate amount of sleep. I wasn’t eating a lot of nutrients. So my brain went into a shock and I ended up having a coma. I had a seizure initially, where I broke my left shoulder while I was sleeping, I then had a grand mal seizure, at the hospital. The seizure was so bad that I ended up in a coma for about six to eight hours.
Myrna: How old were you then?
Lusene: 24 years old.
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Myrna: Wow, so somebody told you about hard work, you came to America and you worked. It’s one of the things that immigrants do. You know, we’re not lazy. You’re trying to make it in this world and overworked yourself. Alright, but again, all our experiences in life are guiding us through something and what that you said in your bio. What you realized after this happened to you is that tomorrow is not promised and you should chase your dreams. So why did you decide to go in the, army?
Lusene: One of the main reasons I decided to join the, military, was because I wanted to challenge myself as an individual. Prior to joining the, army, I realized that I wasn’t challenging myself while I was living my life. And one of the things I realized that a lot of successful people have trials and tribulation, but they get through things that challenge them.
I joined the, army, because I looked at myself in the mirror and saw that I was not mentally where I needed to be. I wanted to develop my character to become better. So that’s one of the main reasons why I joined the, army. I think the, army, has been a blessing to me because it has helped me to be very resilient in everything that I do.
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After I had the seizure, the doctors told me that I should give up on all my dreams because I was disabled and would stay on welfare since I would not be able to get a normal job. And that never resonated with me because I looked at myself in a mirror and, trained my mind, to become present. I said I did not come to this land of opportunity to be on, welfare.
So I challenged what the doctor told me. I started to, train the mind, with, meditation, until I was able to get off my seizure meditation. I told the doctors I did not want to stay on a seizure medication. I have a dream and I will return to the, army.
Another blessing was the fact that because I was in the, army, they paid for my medical bills which was over $350,000. I told my physical therapist, I can overcome this, I’m already, resilient. I’ve been through so much as a, refugee, so much, mental training, in the, army. I didn’t come to America to collect a disability check.
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Myrna: Your first goal was that you recognized that you wanted to, train the mind, and you wanted to build your, character, and that’s why you went into the, army. And I’m understanding why the doctor was thinking that you would always be on disability because normally the cause of a seizure is something mental. And maybe he diagnosed that you’re always gonna have seizures.
Lusene: To, train the mind, to build, character, I asked myself:
How determined Are you?
How bad do you want to establish yourself?
How bad do you want to tell the world your story?
How bad do you want to write a book?
How bad do you want to set yourself up for success outside of the, army?
And that’s where my, determination, came from because I kept on talking to myself. I kept on repeating affirmations. I kept on turning down all the haters and naysayers that were saying I’m too young, I don’t have any credibility. And one of the things I realized is how can you get, credibility, if you don’t have a product? The best way to have, credibility, is what to get, credibility, so you have to start something.
Myrna: You were in the, army, and wanted to have a job outside the, military?
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Lusene: Yes, I’ve always had multiple jobs even while I was in college. So I was never used to having one source of income, but it was a little difficult, with senior leaders constantly discouraging you and telling you that you cannot do this because you don’t have the, credibility, because in the, army, your rank is low.
Myrna: So what is it that you wanted to go after? Is that your credit consulting business?
Lusene: One of my ultimate dreams is to become the number one speaker on the planet, but the credit counselling business came very easy to me. I wanted to chase my dream of, entrepreneurship, and at the time, I didn’t have a product. So, I actually enrolled in Eric Thomas program, and one of the things he said was the best way to get credibility, was to write a book.
I started researching things that came very easy to me and, how to build credit, was very easy because I took my credit score from about 585 to 840 in 18 months. I realize this was an amazing accomplishment, and I said to myself, I have a skill that can teach other people. I started teaching people, how to build credit, for free and when I had 20 clients, I started charging and then eventually I went ahead and got certified. Check out my credit counselling course @
Myrna: Okay that’s awesome, I love that determination.
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How the army trains the mind
You book is about, training your mind, to achieve your calling. How did the, army, train your mind?
Lusene: So this is how the, army, train the mind. When you first get into the, army, you go through this thing called reception and immediately they tell you drop your bags, and you have sergeants yelling at you telling you what to do trying to break you. They tell you this is what you’re gonna do, they strip out all the civilian out of you. They now tell you, you are no longer a civilian. You are in the, US army, you’re a, soldier.
Now you’re going to be told what to do. Once you have acknowledged that, some people don’t, some people do. But once you have acknowledged that now they tell you to call your parents let them know you’re safe. You’re now in basic training. They’re now telling you when to wake up, when to go to bed, when to have personal hygiene and all those things.
The reason why the, army, train the mind, is to condition you as a, soldier. You’re going to be told to execute missions from higher officers, so they start, training the mind, on accepting orders in basic training. The first thing that the, military teaches you, is you have an assigned weapon. When you have an assigned weapon, what that does is that teaches you how to take care of something that you’re going to use to eventually kill someone.
So you’re going to learn everything about that weapon, because at the end of the day, if you’re deployed and your weapon jams, you have to know how to fix the malfunction. That could save your life.
After you learn how to take care of your weapon, you start training your legs. The, army, trains your mental toughness because they want you to be, resilient. They want you to be mentally fit, so when you’re tired, you stay sharp. You’re going through this training in the span of eight to nine weeks, where you’re waking up at four in the morning, you’re sleep deprived, and you haven’t seen your family, you don’t talk to your family, and you’re constantly being challenged.
That is how the, army, train the mind. You’re constantly waking up at 4 am in the morning, you’re constantly going to bed exactly at 9 pm, you have to make up your bed. You have to make sure your bed is detailed. You have to make sure your laundry is done. You have to make sure your lockers are clean. Don’t say these are small things. They’re, train the mind, to be a, US soldier.
You can take those lessons and you can apply them in your personal life or whatever it is that you want to do in your career.
Myrna: I absolutely love it. I read a few books on the Navy Seals training, but they, train the mind, of every, soldier.
The Power of Determination: Training the mind to live your calling
Tell us about your book why you wrote it and what you want the readers to walk away with.
Lusene: The book: The Power of Determination: Training the mind to live your calling tells the story of what I went through as a, refugee, being abused by an uncle who was mentally and physically abusive, joining the, army, having a seizure while in the, army, and still ended up enrolling myself in a speaker program. I talk about my credit program and , how to build credit, and give steps to help you, repair your credit.
The reason why you should get the book, it’s a highlight my story of all the things that I went through, all the trials and tribulation, just to stay on course and stay, determined. I think one of the most important things in life is for you to literally, train the mind, to find your, calling. I wanted to, train the mind, to live my, calling, because I believe that every single one of us have a, purpose. We all have a, calling. And my, calling, is to inspire millions of people around the world by speaking. Check out Lusene on his website https://lusenedonzo.com/ and follow him on instagram @lusene2motivate
