Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

This is a personal email I wrote to my friend Joshua. I don’t normally send my personal emails publicly but this one is very appropriate for ALL of us.

It’s the most powerful conversation I’ve ever had with myself and a good reminder for all of us…

———

J,

After our talk about helping more people have a breakthrough yesterday, and the ENORMOUS amount of stuff people need to filter through, I started thinking about what caused my change.

What caused the shift in my life that really set me on a new path that lead to creating more of the things in life I wanted like getting married, building a family, getting in good shape so I could feel good and vibrant and not like the fu###ng grim reaper every day…

And MONEY (cuz we know that’s what the majority of people we communicate with are focused on)

This is one of the most powerful conversations I’ve ever had with myself and oddly enough, I’ve never really shared it with anyone. It’s pretty simple really but maybe it can spark some ideas or inspiration that we can use to help our subscribers and customers and add some value to their lives…

So after the bullet in that .357 magnum misfired and I was left sitting there with the cold steel of the barrel of that gun in my mouth, I FREAKED OUT (obviously).

And with a heavy heart and tears streaming from my eyes, I knew I was at a crossroads. I knew it was time to dig as deep as I could to find answers, no matter how obscure or weird or unusual they seemed. It was time to let go of any judgment about the world, my life, myself, or other people.

And then I asked myself this question:

“If I’ve created everything I’ve done and created everything I am and I’ve actively been participating in the creation of every aspect of my life, why am I not happy with what the sum of what my life has become?

If I created this, everything in my life, by my choices and the actions I took based on those choices, and those choices were driven by my desires for what I want and don’t want, how in the holy living hell can it be that I’m not getting what I want out of life!?

Because I know that I DO want happiness, I DO want money, I DO want to feel at peace with who I am, I DO want to feel fulfilled and like I have some sort of purpose on this rock, I DO want love, I DO want control, I DO want freedom, I DO want a lot of stuff that I DON’T have.

Those are my desires. Those are things I want and I know I want them. And anyone that tries to feed me this line of bullshit about how “I don’t want them bad enough” or “they are not burning or core desires” or I don’t have a big enough “why” can kiss my ass!

I DO WANT THAT STUFF G@# DAM&^% IT and I’ve wanted it my entire life!!

So If I have those desires, and my desires direct me in making decisions and choices, and I’m taking action to get those things, WHY THE F%^$ DON’T I HAVE THEM!.

The only thing I have left to focus on is my beliefs I guess…

So what the hell are your beliefs Mike? How do you figure out what your own beliefs are when they are the thing that paints the canvas of your life? That’s like asking a fish to explain water!!!

OK… Settle down killer! Just look at your life. Look at it objectively through the eyes of a complete stranger that just had a mind meld with you and was there to do a non-judgmental assessment of the sum of your life. That would probably work…

My beliefs are that the things I want from life aren’t possible for me. The life I want to live seems too outrageous for me to step into it. I’m not that person who can or even should get that kind of stuff.

I’m just a scared and confused idiot who just put a loaded gun in my mouth and pulled the trigger for hells sake! Why would ANYONE waste any resources on a piece of shit like that?

Not only that, I don’t believe I am capable of living in that world.

I see myself a certain way and I’ll only grow to the point my life fits that self image.

I mean how would I feel going to a party in a Hollywood mansion surrounded by people who were rich, confident, and wearing clothes that cost more than I make in a year?

I’d feel out of place and insecure. And when I see myself at that party, I’m NOT at the same level those people are. I don’t belong. I don’t fit in.

How would I feel if I suddenly got a windfall of money dropped in my lap?

I’d feel guilty, like I didn’t deserve it and that everyone was looking at me with resentment in their eyes so intense it could split the heavens because they worked their asses off to move ahead in life and I’m just some lucky loser. Everyday would be filled with rejection and bitterness.

How would I feel if I had kids? If I got married? If I needed to be the protector and provider for a family I built?

I can’t even imagine that being real. I can’t even take care of myself let alone a little kid. I don’t even know how to love myself, how am I supposed to love my wife? I don’t even have a bank account and I have no money to my name. I live bouncing around from room to room and have no stability, how could I raise a family?

My beliefs are that I am destined to fail so no matter how bad I want success, no matter how hard I work for it, no matter how much blood sweat and tears I put into creating it, it will never be. (Very eye opening for me at the time)

Unless….

What if you put all of that blood sweat and tears into re-shaping your beliefs about yourself? Who says that’s not something you can do? What if you put your desires on hold for a minute and just 100% focused on finding ways to redefine who you are?

You got sober right? You beat that part of your life so you know that change is possible right? Maybe not always easy but it IS possible!

Why not focus ALL of your anger, love, hate, fear, frustration and all of the other powerful emotions you’re having on creating change in your beliefs about who you are?!?!

Stop waiting for a second chance and just give yourself one man! A second chance to become who ever the hell you want or decide. Like witness protection for Mafia rats only without someone trying to find you to “whack your ass”.

I could make this fun actually. OK Mike, let’s do it. Let’s give it a shot. Hell what do you have to lose anyway?”

So J…

That was it for me dude. That’s when I set out to find the answers and you know what man?

That’s when things quickly started to change in my life, I mean very quickly!

I’ve always had strong desires, and I’ve always had beliefs about myself but…

Shit bro, we ALL do! Everyone one of us deals with this stuff on a daily basis. We just don’t slow the f$#@ down enough to stop and take a close look at.

I HAD to because I was 100% out of other options so I might have had an unfair advantage from that perspective but I had a STEEP mountain to climb as well.

Beliefs win EVERY TIME! It’s only when I started to kick my old beliefs asses and nurture some new ones that I started to build the amazing life I’m so grateful for and have today…

And maybe if we can find a way to get this idea into our subscribers minds, it can help them…

Peace hommie! :-)

——-

If you take a second to objectively examine your beliefs about yourself and your life I bet you discover there are some things in there that could use a bit of an overhaul!

Mike

Just a quick note today…

March 27th, 1989 I walked out of rehab after spending 21 days learning some new skills about how to live my life in a way that helped me progress towards a better life than the life I had when I entered rehab.

Part of that for me was to replace drugs and alcohol with other more serving habits that empowered me to deal with powerful emotional and mental toxicity.

When I walked into that rehab center I was scared out of my mind.

My t-shirt was literally soaked with sweat and I was 100% uncertain about what was in store for my life.

I had no self confidence, no belief in myself, no self worth, and could see absolutely ZERO value my life had in any way.

The only thing I knew is that after I had that very profound and powerful experience that led me to calling the rehab center, I needed to find a way, ANY way, to stop drinking and doing drugs every day.

I tried to stop 100 times before but I just didn’t have the confidence, wisdom, or ability to learn how to believe in myself enough to find even a shred of value in myself that was worth fighting for.

And even after I was sober for 2 years, I still was a giant mess! I still saw no hope of living a life I could be proud of that was full of all the things I wanted but never had growing up.

Love…
Happiness…
Support…
Fulfillment…
Adding value to others…
A place where it was safe to smile and laugh…
A strong, caring, and loving family…

And oddly enough, an environment where I could be myself without fear of judgment.

So here’s the point and the lesson in all of this.

Today I have ALL of those things and much much more at levels I didn’t know were possible back then.

But…

It wasn’t JUST because of rehab, or JUST because of my own nuclear intense journey to find answers and tools and wisdom, or JUST because of anything..

It was a progression.

Rehab got me 2 years further in my life but I stopped getting value from it. I needed more if I was to continue to pursue and hope to ever find the answers I was looking for to undo the toxic corruption I had in my head, heart and soul.

Each action I took lead me to a destination I could never have imagined but it was the destination where my next journey began.

They weren’t always happy places and sometimes it appeared that going backwards was a FAR better option.

I was scared throughout the entire process… And through dealing with that fear I learned how to forge courage.

I felt alone through much of the journey… And through that I learned how to trust and allow love and support into my life.

I battled with self confidence in a huge way… And through that I developed certainty and trust in myself.

I experienced almost unbearable frustration… And through that I added resilience to my tool box.

I cried many tears of deep dark sadness… And through that I learned love.

I was betrayed by literally every person I trusted… And through that I learned forgiveness.

I took an emotional and mental journey through more adversity, uncertainty, self doubt, fear, feelings of being unworthy of happiness and success that had so many twists and turns that half the time I wasn’t sure if I was coming or going.

The majority of it was all housed in my mind and my beliefs I formed through the evidence I experienced and decided to label as the “truth” about life as I was growing up.

But looking back on it today…

I actually had a couple tears roll down my cheek. Because back then, all of these things would take a miracle for me.

Today I’ve been married to my best friend for 14 years.
I’ve formed unbreakable friendships with some of the most amazing people you could ever meet.
I’ve got 2 incredible daughters that add more value to the world than I could ever hope to add.
I’ve made tons of money (which means I got to have fun and SPEND tons of money)
I’ve given back to thousands of peoples lives and made at least a speck of an impact in the world in a positive way.

And my favorite piece of all of this is I actually have built a little family of my own who is very close, loving, supportive, light hearted, fun, happy, almost to the point that it’s ridiculous (like one of those after school specials TV families!)

In short… I made to a place I didn’t believe was possible for me to make it to, from a place that was as far away from where I’m at now as could be.

NONE of this is perfect. NONE of it is without its own set of challenges. And my life is not perfect. I’m just a regular guy like all the rest of us.

It’s been a bumpy ass ride to put it lightly but I wouldn’t change a single minute of it.

Whatever you are reaching for in your life, even if it seems so far out of the realm of possibility for you today, maybe you can find hope and inspiration in this humble attempt to show you that MIRACLES are possible and they aren’t always delivered on a silver platter by Angels.

Humbly,

Mike

P.S. If you took the man I am today and dropped me into my world from 20 years ago I’d kick so much ass they’d classify me as a lethal weapon! But when I was there 20 years ago, it was very scary.

Don’t sell yourself short. You have more ability than you know. Just keep stomping your way forward to where you want to go.. I can’t say you’ll get there but I can say this…

You’ll get there OR to a better place and you’ll develop into a person who is driven by your desires and controlled by your vision and passion.

Where most people go through life driven by and controlled by their fears…

What is missing in your life RIGHT NOW?

What would put a big fat ear-to-ear perma-smile on your face if it became the newest addition to your life?

A deep loving stare of admiration from your soul mate?

A big sigh of relief when all of your money worries are gone?

Maybe it’s looking down and seeing something you haven’t seen in a loooong time… your FEET!

And my guess is you’ve tried to achieve these things before (at least if you’re anything like the rest of us you have).

That means that you have the knowledge and techniques to get that thing you desire into your life.

In fact 10’s of millions of people have all the knowledge they can ever use and that they will ever need but still don’t have the prize!

Would it change you if you jumped over to the other side where people actually get the results they set out to achieve?

Could you accept it with open hands?

You might automatically say yes but think about that question real hard for a minute.

In order to accept new things in our lives, sometimes we have to make room for them by letting old things exit our lives.

Unhealthy relationships, unhealthy nutritional habits, actions that lead to mediocre finances, self destructive behaviors, etc..

And as weird as it sounds, letting go of stuff, even stuff we don’t like, can be very difficult.

Mainly because it’s letting go of part of our identity. It’s stuff that, over the years, have shaped us into who we are today and we rely on those things to guide our day to day lives.

Think about it…

Even cancer patients who have lived with cancer for some time have a hard time letting it go.

Everything in our lives sort of emulsify into our being and become “part of us” over time.

I know it sounds crazy but living with open hands can be a very hard thing to do for many people.

Addictions, un-serving habits, embarrassing character traits…

All the things we DON’T want are very often the things we cling onto making it impossible for us to have room for the new stuff.

It’s hard to put things into a clenched fist!

The fact of the matter is that it’s really not that hard to make the jump from doing things that move us further away from where we want to be AFTER we learn to live with open hands and let the old stuff crumble to dust and fall through the gaps in our fingers.

Try it this week. I promise it will be scary.

I promise it will feel awkward…

I promise it will bring up some anxiety…

But I also promise if you relax your grip on who you are and what defines you, some pretty amazing things can show up in your life…

To open hands,

Mike