Aerial View:

• Intro thoughts

• Mindful Minute: Recalibrating When Off Center

• Conscious Consumer: The Absorption Company- Restore

• Quote of the day

• 3 key questions to reflect on

What’s up men, welcome back. Coming off of a much needed reset weekend. I’ve been burning it at both ends the last few weeks, and I definitely fell back into some old bad habits that caught up to me and resulted in a little overflow on my end. Today’s topic is crucial for those who are feeling like they’re in a rut lately, which believe it or not, includes me.

Let’s jump in.

Mindful Minute - Recalibrating When Off Center

You know what it feels like to be firing on all cylinders: crushing workouts, hitting milestones in your work, nutrition dialed in,- in sync across the board. That “I can conquer anything” feeling that we all aim to maintain as long as possible when it arrives. You know what I’m talking about. Today we’re not going to talk about exactly that, but rather the feeling that we can often find ourselves in between those windows of pure domination. When we feel off center, how do we find our way back into stride, functionally, efficiently, and without frustration?

We all inevitably find ourselves off course from time to time- momentum slowed, energy fluctuating, focus divided. It’s easy in these moments to feel frustrated and harp on the slow-down. But unfortunately, momentum works in both ways: up and down. So ironically, the negativity felt about not being fully dialed in, only gets us further away from clicking back into high gear. See the issue there? Negative feedback loop.

So, it’s key to find ways to recalibrate before allowing these moments to persist longer than needed.

First, awareness is everything. The first step is acknowledging and accepting that you will absolutely have these “deviations” off course.  Understanding that they are not actually deviations at all, and that the course contains both challenges and successes, is a simple mental reframing to enable you to view adversity with a more accepting mind. The obstacle is the way.

Next, you must develop awareness in the moment, to catch yourself before subconsciously allowing yourself to sink in deeper. It’s practically second nature to default to negativity, and it can happen FAST. Positivity requires presence, and presence requires deliberate attention and acknowledgement to your immediate view. 

How do you catch yourself in these moments? Pay attention to the internal self talk. Question it. Does it feel true to you? Most of the time, when in a negative tailspin, we will feel an internal divide. Usually, you can identify this by asking this question “Do my thoughts and inner dialogue match up with the person I want to be?” If the answer is no, great. You’re one step closer to getting back to flow state.

What next?

It’s important to try your best to not provide immediate resistance to your feelings here. Let the moment and the emotions that come with it happen naturally. Feel. Digest. Reflect. And then respond. Here’s how I typically pull myself back to center and kickstart some forward speed:

Find a few small tasks you know you can take down in a short period of time. No matter how trivial, just get them done. Clean the house. Hit a lift. Reorganize your priority list. Check in on your goals for the year. My favorite one: do something you’ve been putting off for a while (weeks to months.) This small upward swing will be the spark that builds your momentum back up. Then lean into that and get another one done. And another.

Next, document your wins. Daily. Each night, put pen to paper and list out a minimum of 2 wins that you experienced that day. Most days are usually comprised of more, and we often fail to slow down to acknowledge them, thus taking them for granted without feeling the joy that should come with them. Simply writing the on paper, forces you to call them out into existence. Don’t stop at 2- bare minimum isn’t the goal. The goal is to write as many as you experienced. This also works to keep positive momentum UP, and decrease frequency of the negative ruts.

I cannot stress this enough: do this daily, especially when you are in ass-kicker mode. Keeping energy up requires presence and deliberate effort and by maintaining high energy state, you limit the frequency of the lulls. Journaling wins can really help to accomplish this.

Lastly, this one can be hard for men, because we’ve been brought up to keep everything in, but communicate what’s going on in your head. To another human being. Whether it be your lady, your coach, therapist, brother, mom, cousin, WHOEVER, communicate to someone that you know will show up, be present, and listen. The power here is in the movement of energy. Your thoughts and emotions are like a river, they need somewhere to go. When you keep them in, your mind gets backed up, and we feel the weight of these thoughts tenfold. By communicating how we feel to someone else (raw, honest, vulnerable feelings- to someone we trust and feel safe sharing with) we are officially no longer alone in what we are experiencing. There is a tremendous release effect in this. When we feel alone against something, the weight is immense. The moment we know we are no longer entirely alone in a struggle, we feel drastically lighter. There is great power in sharing. Real men-mindful men, communicate openly. (By the way, open communication with another is effective for both positive and negative states. It works in both directions)

Alright, that’s all I’ve got for today. Remember, when you feel like you’re veering off course, you’re not. That new direction is in fact the exact path you are supposed to be on. So don’t beat yourself up. We have ups, and we have downs. They’re part of this entire thing called life, don’t let social media make you think life is supposed to be perfect 24/7 and that anything less is a failure. Perfection lies in striving. Are you striving to be present, genuine, & mindful? That’s perfection in itself. Keep it up. 

Conscious Consumer

I’m not big into supplements anymore, but this is one I’ve been a big fan of lately. It’s like Liquid IV, but it isn’t loaded with garbage ingredients. Their supplements utilize a liposomal delivery system that is proven to be FAR more bioavailable than all other supplements on the market. We don’t actually absorb most supplements we take, if you didn’t know that. We just urinate them out. That’s not the case here. Better absorption= better health.

Quote of the week

The obstacle is the way. It is not a deviation. It is not a setback. Thus, the obstacle is not an obstacle at all, just the natural direction of your path. Obstacle = path.

Rise and Reflect - 3 Questions to Inspire Impactful Action and Critical Reflection

1. Is the “obstacle” I am facing as insurmountable as I am making out to be? Or is my perception skewed?

2. How would the best version of myself handle this? What specific actions would he take?

3. Am I taking deliberate time to be present with my wins, as well as my losses? To feel the depth of both success and adversity?

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Thank you for being here.

Sails up, eyes open.

Until next time,
Dan Baird