I want..

One of the most common questions we all ask each other and ourselves is "what do you want in your life?" Our ideas often grow, change and evolve as we do. They change from one passion to the next and hopefully continue to lead you to better and better places. I've realized in my life the specifics of what I want in my life may change but the "theme" really doesn't. The theme has been pretty consistent and realizing this has allowed me to more intensely move in the directions of my dreams. 

So what do I want in my life? I want a lot of things. I want to wake up everyday and feel like I'm making a difference in the world. I want to feel like at least something I do in the run of a day will make a positive difference in my world and the world of others. I want to passionately and fearlessly follow the direction of my highest excitement despite the chance of failure. I want to risk losing everything I have so I can have a chance at gaining more than I ever imagined. I want to fail, time and time again so I can overcome that failure and find opportunities that would have never existed without it. I want to learn to accept everything that happens in my life as the direction of my highest good and allow it to open my perspective to more opportunities. 

I want to feel pain and loneliness so I can appreciate joy and companionship more deeply. I want to fall short of some of my goals so the ones I achieve feel that much sweeter. I want to know that everyday I am truly living in the moment, enjoying all that I've experienced thus far but also know that I'm working towards that grand dream I have deep inside. I want to know that my current situation, no matter how dire or unpleasing has no bearing on where I can and will be so long as I accept it as what is and not what will be. I want to experience all of the contrast in life so I can appreciate, recognize and love the things I desire and have already brought into my reality.

I want to one day look at my life and know I lived it to the fullest; with no regrets for what I've done and more important no regrets for what I haven't. With every tear, every smile, every heartbreak and every sense of butterflies I'll know that I am fully experiencing the wonder and joy it is to be human.

What do you want from this wonderful dream called life?

Living in Alignment – The Landing Strip for Desires

Written by Ricky Goodall

As many of us know the secret to achieving goals is first the awareness that the goal exists; believing we can achieve it then acting on it. The problem is many of us get stuck in the space between action and acquisition. We feel like we’re “acting” towards the goal but the goal doesn’t ever come. Why is this?

Although there are many factors that may hold us back from reaching a goal or desire the one I want to focus on today is living in alignment. Living in alignment can be understood as living your life in alignment with the next step of the goal you desire. For example; if your goal is to lose 5 pounds but you’re not exercising or eating healthy then the chances of reaching that goal are slim; especially if in your heart you believe that those two things are required to reach that goal. Now if your goal is to lose 100lbs and you are exercising and eating healthy but have only lost 5 pounds and are not satisfied then you may need to step back and observe the situation objectively. You have to determine which smaller steps are required to climb that larger staircase.

An effective tool in goal setting is the S.M.A.R.T. principle which stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound. Using this technique is a good tool for large goals but becomes an amazing tool when used to work towards the smaller aspects of the larger goal. If your desire is to own a brand new Lamborghini but you’re currently driving a 1999 Honda Civic and working a minimum hourly wage job then you need to break your goal down into portions. For example; if you suddenly won a brand new Lamborghini today, fully paid off how long would it be before you no longer owned it? Could you afford the insurance, maintenance, fuel and other costs that come along with owning a vehicle of that caliber? It’s not to say you can’t attract that desire into your current life; the point I’m making is that to truly enjoy and retain your desires you have to make sure you’re living in alignment with those desires.
 
Note: This is NOT meant to discourage you from believing you can attain your goal – you can achieve and attract anything you desire – this is simply meant to help you align your life with that goal so you can attract it even faster and more effectively and also to help you retain the desire you worked so hard for. 

Now that we understand a little bit about goal setting and breaking it down into achievable steps now we can expand further on this principle of living in alignment and what it takes. This principle is not only something that you physically have to work towards but also a mental state of being. If you don’t believe that you are going to be a champion and walk the steps that you in your heart believe it takes to be a champion then how can the universe provide you with a bigger, better version of the desire you hold? You must live your life in accordance with the desires and goals you set for yourself and hold yourself in a manner you’d expect someone who achieves those goals to hold themselves in. If you’re eating junk food 2-3 times a week and justify it because work is stressful then you will not have a six pack for the beaches in the summer time.
 
I’ve created a list of steps I believe may be effective in preparing yourself to live in alignment with your goal(s):

• Be specific
  • If you don’t know what exactly your goals are, to their truest nature, how can you ever expect to achieve them? Write out your goals in a specific, detailed manner and hold back no details. Don’t be shy or afraid to be very specific as no one is here to judge you and you are free to dream. Be specific and spare no details

• Be honest with yourself
  • Do you really want the sports car or do you want more respect from your coworkers? Do you really want to never work again or do you simply want to find something you love to do so you never feel like you’re working? Be honest with yourself as to what your goals are. If you don’t truly believe from the depths of your heart that you deserve and want your desires then you will never have the conviction to achieve them. “To thy own self be true.”

• Be consistent
  • Some people get so close to achieving their desires but give up on the home stretch. Consistency, perseverance and patience are key to achieving your desires. The bigger the desire the more of each it may take but it will come. “If you always do what you’ve always done you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.”

• Release the parking brake
  • Have you ever driven a car with a parking brake on? Maybe you forgot to release it before pulling away from a hill? Fears, anxiety, regrets from the past and other negative emotions act as parking brakes for your desires. They pop up in many circumstances to try to act like a parachute holding you back from reaching your desire. Let them go. Today you are a new person, different than you were yesterday with an entirely new set of potential circumstances. You are not your past and your future has not been written yet. Let go of limiting beliefs that hold you in a state of limitation and release the parking brake.

• Live As If
  • I love this term, “live as if” and have for many years. This basically sums up living in alignment. If you want to attract your dream partner but sleep in the middle of your bed and have a messy bathroom you are not living as if. If your dream partner walked into your life right at this moment and want to use your bathroom you’d be stricken with fear and anxiety that they may judge you on that messy bathroom. Clean up your bathroom, clean up your life and start living as if.

This subject is one that could expand for pages and pages and many other opinions and methods most certainly exist so do not stop exploring this subject here. Read articles, watch videos, listen to podcasts, have conversations with friends and dig deep into what people are doing to achieve their dreams because everyday at every moment someone’s dream is coming true; why can’t that dream be yours?

Remember, if you want a desire to become part of your lifestyle then you must live the lifestyle in alignment with your desire.

Experiencing, Understanding and Eliminating Fear of Rejection

I consider myself a man of deep intellect and this has gotten me through my life both positively and negatively depending on my reaction to emotional responses. All of my personal growth comes not only from experience but also reflection, responsibility and understanding of my weakness or areas for improvement. As a man I have suffered from many of the common areas of improvement most men face such as physical and emotional fears and insecurities. For the most part in my life I have conquered many of these fears through application. Some of those fears might include stage fright, fear of physical harm, fear of failure, etc. Throughout my career as an MMA fighter and my early experiences as a musician I've been lucky to overcome many fears men and women suffer from their whole lives. With my experience as an MMA promoter I also got to experience the failure of my businesses and have faced that and learned valuable lessons from it.
Another important fear every man and woman needs to face is the fear of rejection. This may be the rejection of a loved one, a stranger, an important client, a colleague or simply a stranger on the street. As mentioned above the first step to conquering a fear for me is experiencing it first hand then understanding it and ultimately overcoming it. Luckily as a 29 year old man I've had plenty of experience so now is the time for the logical aspect.

First and foremost we have to understand what rejection is as an emotion. In early human existence and for close to 9000+ years (and still to this day in many areas of the world) humans interacted in tribes of between 50 and 150 people. These tribes were tight knit communities of people who all knew one another. Members hunted together, mated together, socialized together and protected each other. Because of this tight relationship, rejection posed a serious emotional and physical danger. Rejection in a tribe could literally mean exile into the wilderness to face predators alone and of course meant certain death. Throughout evolution many animals and mammals have created a hard wiring of emotion attributed to this fear. In fact, rejection "piggy backs" the same pathway as physical pain. This means that our minds may perceive rejection as an actual physical pain. This creates an extraordinary concept for me in many ways.

If rejection can be perceived as physical pain and I have been able to overcome the fear of physical pain throughout my martial arts career then there is absolutely no reason that I can't completely eliminate this fear in my life as well. So how does one overcome a fear?

Experiencing - I believe the first and most important aspect of overcoming a fear is to experience it first hand. Luckily in our society fear of rejection does not mean certain death and can be experienced without any physical pain. Chances are most of us have experienced rejection at one time in our life but if not I say get out there and see what all the fuss is about.

Understanding - Well this step is easy if you're reading this article because we're already in the process of learning about rejection as an emotion and its origin.  Keep in mind that you are not your emotions but rather you are a conscious being experiencing your psychological emotions. Dig deep and search for more articles on overcoming fears in general and you'll be well on your way to a much more fulfilling life as fear is a primitive emotion trumped by our logical intuition and experience as the dominant species on Earth. Fear, in my opinion, is no longer necessary to our species.

Overcoming - So now we've experienced and understand rejection as an emotion. The next step is to overcome it. Like any "pain," repeated response can create a deep psychological issue or can create a physical or emotional "callous," allowing us to lessen the reaction and control our response. The choice of which outcome you manifest is completely yours. A valuable step in this process is creating a gap between the physical stimulus (ie. a break up or flat out rejection from asking someone on a date) and the emotional response you elicit. Continue to observe your emotional response as its happening so you can logically react and respond to it. Remind yourself that you are not your emotions.

It's also been said that because rejection piggy backs on the pain pathway in the brain painkillers such as Tylenol can actually lessen the response your brain perceives. I personally don't like to become dependent upon anything for pain but would rather learn to accept and embrace the pain so as to understand it and release it. The choice is yours! Choose freedom from emotion and happiness; as happiness is your gift to the world.


Article inspired by "Ten Surprising Facts About Rejection" and "David Deangelo - Controlling Emotions."

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-squeaky-wheel/201307/ten-surprising-facts-about-rejection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTS1dKscCXE

The Nuts and Bolts of Nutrabolics Hemotropin 2XC

Topping the original Hemotropin would serve as no easy task with a combination of a powerful ZMA complex, an efficient blend of growth hormone boosting herbs, amino acids and vitamins but Nutrabolics has found a way – and wait until you see what they have in store.

First let’s introduce the well known supplement ZMA. ZMA is a combination of zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6. When taken together these minerals will help restore and increase free testosterone production and absorption by up to 30%; a huge plus for the average gym rat or serious athlete. They also double as a calming agent allowing for a smooth transition between sleep cycles which of course aids in rest and recovery in preparation for the next days strenuous training. Our growth hormone is also highly produced during sleep so getting plenty of quality rest is very important to releasing and utilization of this important hormone. Unlike illegal anabolic steroids ZMA does not synthetically or artificially increase hormones but rather it allows our body to use the hormones we have more efficiently making it safe for men and women alike.

At first glance the consumer might notice that the ZMA count in Hemotropin 2XC is actually less than that of the original Hemotropin and this is true but worry not, Nutrabolics has another trick up their sleeves. You’ll notice the fancy looking word “AstraGin” in the ingredients list and this is where they have really hit a home run. AstraGin is a combination of Panax Notoginseng and Astragalus Membranaceous and increases amino acid absorption by up to 66% and vitamin and mineral absorption by up to 50%. What does this mean? It means you need a lot less of the goods to do a lot more. AtraGin doesn’t stop there, however. It is also “insulin mimetic” meaning it increases glycogen uptake in muscles for up to 24 hours. More glycogen in our muscles means more growth and recovery and less glucose stored as fat. AstraGin also increases insulin sensitivity which further aids in the above mentioned process.

The next blend we see is the “Growth Hormone Releasing Peptide Hexamino” which essentially is a well thought out way to say “growth hormone, mood enhancing and sleep inducing amino acid blend” – quite a mouthful; let’s stick to the official version.

Some of the amino acids you see in this blend include L-Tryptophan and D-Tryptophan and in case you’re not familiar these are the amino acids found in turkey that has you sleeping shortly after a big holiday dinner. The Tryptophan family has a calming effect by converting to 5-HTP then serotonin in our bodies. Serotonin is the hormone responsible for calmness and positive moods. The effects of serotonin release can be experienced for up to 24 hours helping you get up on the right side of the bed. D- Phenylalanine also helps produce this calming effect which you see in the ingredients list.

The other amino acids here including L-alanine and L-lysine have both contributed to huge growth hormone boosts of up to 400% with proper supplementation and synergistic relationships. The presence of L-histidine in this mix helps slow the process of becoming tolerant to the various aspects removing the need to cycle this supplement as a whole.

The “Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Maximizing Matrix” could easily be confused with something you’d hear in a modern day sci-fi movie and rightfully so. The most significant component in this matrix is gamma aminobutyric acid or GABA. GABA is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter of the central nervous system (CNS) and also helps produce a calming affecting assisting in not only getting to sleep in the first place but also sleep quality by slowing the CNS activity allowing for a calm, relaxing experience.

What makes GABA such a superhero in Hemotropin 2XC is not just its effect on sleep quality but also its ability to boost growth hormone – by up to 200%. GABA alone is one of the most effective supplements to naturally product growth hormone and when combined with all of the above ingredients and the remainder of the REM Maximizing Matrix we experience an intense efficient anabolic process allowing our bodies to capitalize on every natural ability to produce a well oiled machine using up as much of our natural growth hormone, free testosterone and glycogen uptake as possible in a safe manner.

Hemotropin 2XC can work synergistically with Hemotest 2XC to produce an intense hormonal output boosting both testosterone and growth hormone even further while also becoming a highly effective nutrient transport system. If your goals include building lean muscle, melting fat and doing your best to become superhuman then make sure your day doesn’t start or end without these products.