Mindfulness Mode

Jeffrey Shaw is one of the most well-known portrait photographers in the United States - His portraits have appeared on Oprah and People magazine as well as hundreds of other publications. Jeffrey is also host of the successful business podcast called Creative Warriors. Mindfulness plays a key role in Jeffrey’s world. He realizes making powerful connections with people is about embracing and understanding their LINGO, their specific secret language.Using this insight, Jeffrey teaches entrepreneurs how to attract their ideal customers by learning to speak the proper LINGO. Contact Info Website: JeffreyShaw.com FREE Lingo Media Kit: JeffreyShaw.com/MindfulnessMode Podcast: Creative Warriors Book: Lingo: Discover Your Ideal Customer’s Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible by Jeffrey Shaw Most Influential Person K.S. Iyengar of Iyengar Yoga Effect on Emotions Mindfulness has affected my emotions by giving me greater stability. We're very emotional beings and as a creative person, that's probably even more exaggerated. So mindfulness has created curiosity, which creates a stability of mind. Thoughts on Breathing Breathing is very much a part of my mindfulness practice. In Yoga we refer to it as Pranayama. I have three kids and are adults now, but when one of my daughters was young, she had a really bad toothache and I taught her to breathe through the toothache. I had double hernias. I chose to have surgery done separately without anesthesia because I convinced the doctor. I didn't want to go through the general anesthesia. So we did them separately and I breathed through those surgeries. He didn't think it could be done and I was like, I can do it. So breathing has been a big part of my life. Suggested Resources Book: Going To Pieces Without Falling Apart by Mark Epstein App: N/A Bullying Story I was bullied most of my childhood, to be honest with you. Through middle school were really, really tough years for me. When I was growing up we had seventh and eighth grade in middle school and I spent most of those two years the guidance counselor office because I wouldn't go to the cafeteria. I went from class to the guidance counselor office to avoid the bullies. I was bullied on the bus. I was a shy, withdrawn kid; very sensitive. I was not as tough as the other boys. Yeah, most certainly I was bullied.I think the sensitivity that I carried with me was the mindfulness. There was no way I ever could have taken the advice I see given in tv shows about bullying. On sitcoms somebody's always advising the person being bullied to stand up to the bully. There is no way that was ever going to happen for me. So the mindfulness for me, was I was very aware that I was being bullied, but I was very mindful that that person had a problem. And I actually think it's the mindfulness that helped me survive it. And I've gone to counselors and therapy and all the time I spent in the guidance counselor's office was to be with a therapist and that was often pointed out to me. I honestly never really took on the victim role. I was being victimized, but I looked at it from the perspective that the person doing the bullying has an issue. I'm OK. I always carried with me a certain amount of self awareness and self confidence despite the fact that I was shy, I was actually inwardly quite confident and I was confident that the issue is not mine. I was very mindful that the issue was with the bully. Yeah, I mean it just was never. I never could have taken the advice. I had two older brothers and a father there was the typical sibling interaction. My older brothers were constantly picking on me and bullying me and the advice to me was to toughen up. My parents would just say, toughen up, which to this day never made sense to me. I thought, why should I toughen up? Why are you telling the person being bullied to toughen up, to meet that person as opposed to telling the bully to knock it off. But again, being mindful of the situation, I think it was just the easier route. A lot of times parents knowingly or not, just choose the easier route. It was easier to tell me to toughen up than it was ever to tell older brothers to take it easy on your little brother because they were tougher. There was more resistance. I was the path of least resistance. So oddly enough, I was very mindful of this dynamic. Even as a very young kid, I was very mindful that this was the dynamic which allowed me to hold on to a significant amount of self-worth and confidence that it was like, I'm OK, I don't know what's wrong with these people, but I'm OK and I'll just wait until I can find my right place in the world. And when I do, I'll be able to shine.

Leah Weiss, PhD. is a Stanford Business School professor. She is a corporate consultant and has worked with LinkedIn, Google, and The Omidyar Group. She is also a Harper Collins author and a public speaker, having done talks on TEDx, Intuit, Google, and LinkedIn. Leah is an expert in corporate mindfulness, compassion, and purpose. Her most recent book is "How We Work: Live Your Purpose, Reclaim Your Sanity, and Embrace the Daily Grind". Contact Info Website: www.LeahWeissPHD.com Book: How We Work: Live Your Purpose, Reclaim Your Sanity, and Embrace the Daily Grind by Leah Weiss Most Influential Person   Thupten Jinpa (The Dalai Lama's interpreter and Author of A Fearless Heart) Effect on Emotions I know them [my emotions] better and I recognize I'm in my body better. I don't always make better real time choices, but I do more often. If I slip up and react in a way that is not aligned with my values, then I can more quickly get to a good outcome. Thoughts on Breathing Many times through the day, breathing is my quick anchor. I notice physical sensations I'm experiencing and just breathing and noticing the patterns of the breaths. Sometimes I'll fall into holding my breath. I bring awareness to that and remind myself to breathe more deeply. Breath is an amazing, very convenient tool we have our whole life. Suggested Resources Book: www.DungBeetle.org Book: How We Work: Live Your Purpose, Reclaim Your Sanity, and Embrace the Daily Grind by Leah Weiss App: Pomodoro 25 minute Timer Apps - Unitasking not monotasking. Just use any timer. Bullying Story I've definitely experienced bullying. I had a person that I worked for who had a very erratic management style and was part time on the work that I was working on full time. It was really challenging. When it is a good person with a good heart ... but there were a lot of situations where I felt like, as a young working mother early in my career, our conversations felt like interrogations. They were often like a one-on-one check-in that could've been an opportunity to problem solve and debrief and to get his wisdom and experience. I felt like I was like going into a boxing match. The topic was related to compassion research. This stuff is hard to bring into the nitty gritty, which is why I wrote this book. I feel for him, I didn't enjoy it at all at the time. It was awful and really kind of traumatizing over time, like I just was eaten alive by that job. So it was never enough and I could never be prepared. He was really smart and kind of sniffed out if I prepared it 'A' through 'Y' then definitely 'Z' would be the thing that would get picked up to dig into and kind of pick at. And it was challenging. I had to make some decisions about how I wanted to live my life and whether this was a job that I wanted to go forward in. And I tried to have direct conversations one on one about my experience of our dynamic. I tried bringing in HR to have a third person to try to help round out the perspective. Ultimately I didn't stay there full time. I went to a different organization. I did keep collaborating with that person. I don't feel like it was a bad person. It was just like someone told me a long time ago that we can have compassion for almost anybody, but we have to figure out the right distance to have it from. Maybe working for someone 40 hours a week isn't a distance I can have compassion for, but interacting once a year at an event and working on projects that we both care about but not directly, that works. It was a fine line and I had to do a lot of decision-making myself about what my values were and where my sort of line in the sand was. Did I want to be a spokesperson about this issue? Because I kinda suspected the next person would come in and have the same experience. You know, there's a lot of considerations to be made when we're in these kinds of situations.

JJ Virgin is a Celebrity nutrition and fitness expert. She teaches clients how to eliminate food and carb intolerances so they can transform their health and their lives. As co-host of TLC’s Freaky Eaters and health expert on Dr. Phil, JJ is a prominent TV and media personality, including appearances on PBS, Dr. Oz, Rachael Ray, Access Hollywood, and the TODAY Show. JJ is the author of four NY Times bestselling books: The Virgin Diet, The Virgin Diet Cookbook, JJ Virgin’s Sugar Impact Diet, and JJ Virgin’s Sugar Impact Diet Cookbook. Her latest book, Miracle Mindset: A Mother, Her Son, and Life's Hardest Lessons, shows warrior moms how to be strong, positive leaders for their families, while exploring the inspirational lessons JJ learned as she fought for her own son’s life. JJ also hosts the popular JJ Virgin Lifestyle Show podcast. Contact Info Website: JJVirgin.com Podcast: JJ Virgin Lifestyle Show Book: Miracle Mindset: A Mother, Her Son, and Life's Hardest Lessons by JJ Virgin (This book is being renamed 'Warrior Mom') Twitter: @JJVirgin Facebook: @JJVirginOfficial Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jjvirginvideos Most Influential Person Kay Smith, my first mentor. Effect on Emotions The way mindfulness has helped my emotions is, I tend to be very ... I'm a quick start in the Colby. I'm a red on the color code personality. I'm very reactive, very quick to move and being mindful allows me to take a breath and not over-react. Thoughts on Breathing Breathing is something I've got to work on, Bruce. I was just doing a podcast interview yesterday with the gal who told me about a new App and I said, I need to get that one. Either that or I've got to get my butt into yoga. Something to be a reminder. Suggested Resources Book: Miracle Mindset: A Mother, Her Son, and Life's Hardest Lessons by JJ Virgin (We're re-titling it Warrior Mom) App: N/A (My Journal is my best 'App') Bullying Story Bullying obviously has a whole spectrum, right? The outright obvious, like, when I was in elementary school, we had a bully that I shut down who was bullying one of my girlfriends. I just stepped. I was always the tall kid. I'm six feet tall and she was a little five foot tall Japanese Gal and this kid was bullying her. I just stepped in front and was like, go ahead, hit her. Like you'll have to get through me first, which shut it all down. So there's the obvious bully, but I think even more dangerous is that kind of bully who is emotionally bullying or bullying by telling you the way it's going to be. When my son was the victim of a hit and run, our first doctor at the first hospital was a bully. He was the head of the trauma center there. Now this was in palm springs, so they're used to having seventy and eighty year old people come in. And if my son was 80 years old and came in, in that condition, there's no way he would've made it. But my son was 16 and he stopped and literally looked at us and said, your son is not going to make it through the night. He needs to have another surgery. But he'd never survive the airlift. Even if he did, he wouldn't survive the surgery. And even if he did, he'd be so brain damaged, it wouldn't be worth it .You have to let him go. I call that a bully. My 15 year old son stood right up to this guy and said, yeah, so point two five percent chance he'd make it. And that's when the doctor said that sounds about right. And my son said, so we'll take those odds. And I looked at that doctor. I go, you're overruled. You need to get the paperwork going.

Tanja Diamond is a Tantra Master and Coach extraordinaire. She’s the creator of the High Speed Evolution Coaching Program. Tanja and her coaching team are dedicated to getting people unstuck in life, love, and money. Tanja is also known for her expertise inthe area of Tantra, sex, teens, and parenting and has garnered over 18,000 hours of coaching and consulting time over the past 30 years. Tanja has been called the “Coaches' coach”. Contact Info Website: www.LearningTantra.com Search "Tanja Diamond" on Google Social Media: @TanjaDiamond Most Influential Person My Tantra Master. Effect on Emotions Well, emotions aren't something that can be controlled, but mindfulness controls my behavior after I have an emotional response. Thoughts on Breathing A breath work practice is critical and the foundation of mindfulness. Without it you're not being mindful. Suggested Resources Book: Just Breathe: Mastering Breathwork for Success in Life, Love, business, and Beyond by Dan Brule App: N/A (I don't use apps) Bullying Story Wow, do I have a bullying story for you. At 10 years old, I was living in Africa and all of a sudden I came down with this weird patch on my elbow. And so the first thought everybody had was leprosy. So you know, my parents were freaked out. Leprosy is a really nasty thing. It's not a good thing at all. And it ends up I had psoriasis. What happened was it ended up taking over about eighty percent of my body. And so kids used to always make bets like I'll give you a buck if you touch her. I would sit at a desk and this one girl used to disinfect her desk when I was done, even though the teacher had said it's not contagious. And so it was totally ugly. I mean, I'm big just gnarly. It looked like I was burned and it was really bad. It was bad in the beginning. And so I got bullied about that. I was also two years younger. I was twelve when I went into ninth grade and so I was younger and smaller. These girls set me up, actually the cool people set me up for a bad, bad fall. They put little notes in my locker, like it was from a secret admirer. And so I'm reading these notes and I think this boy likes me, you know, I'm kind of like, oh my gosh, you know. And it escalates over the next couple of weeks to. It's like, oh yeah, meet me in the Commons area. Right. And at first I was thinking this can't be true. Like I'm Geeky, kind of like, you know, like hideous looking, you know, when my sweet tender heart shows up there in the commons and I'm sitting there waiting and you know, I'm sure I was bright red. I'm shuffling my feet, I'm super nervous. And then all of a sudden this whole group of people start laughing. And I'm standing there and they're like saying like, really? You thought somebody could like you? So that was it, but I've been bullied by parents because of my psoriasis. I was like, at a swimming pool. This one woman was like, you need to get out of the pool, you can't swim here. And I said, this is not contagious with psoriasis. And she's like, you know, you need to get out. She started escalating, making her voice really loud. So I've had that happen over the years and I would say that my way through it was actually I kind of fell into a kind of a mindfulness mode. I decided one day that this was somebody else's problem, like I wasn't going to allow somebody else's opinion or feeling or whatever influence what I was. Because all I wore was long sleeves and you know, like I hid all the time. I chucked them all. Then I wore shorts, put on a tank top and said, so be it. I kind of walked out into the sun and it's like, I'll just deal with it, right.

Eric Allred is an entrepreneur who began his working life in the corporate world as a tech consultant. That lasted eleven months and then he began his entrepreneurial journey; at first partnering with a friend. They grew a company from $500 thousand to over $3,000,000 in sales in less than two years. Later he worked with a men's clothing company and then a media holdings company, which he's currently building with a partner. Eric has been immersed in digital marketing work and he also took over as CEO for an e-juice and CBD oil company. CBD oil is derived from the hemp plant which is part of the cannabis family and is now being used by thousands of people to relieve symptoms from all kinds of ailments. Eric has recently been touring the United States as part of the CBD oil project. Contact Info Website: EricAllred.com Blog: EricAllred.com/blog/ Most Influential Person My coach. Effect on Emotions Mindfulness has allowed me to realize that I can be a conduit to my emotions. I don't have to be my emotions. There's some that kind of go through me and I'm like the vessel for them, but I don't necessarily need them to hamper or impede me. Thoughts on Breathing I take time almost every day and stop and breathe. It's my way of bringing myself back to equanimity as my way of creating like a groundedness for myself. Suggested Resources Book: The Art of Tidying Up by Kim Carruthers App: N/A Bullying Story I think really as I've gotten more aware, you realize just how much it effects you and impacts you. A lot of your behaviors and structures that sit on top of your essence and your identity. I can remember junior year of high school, AP chemistry, second class, second seat front left, Mr Bankey's class. This girl Amanda said her biceps were bigger than me, in AP chem. I went on to put on like 30 pounds that following year, I just like, lifted, lifted, lifted, lifted, lifted. That took me into college where my significance was how I wanted to be received from girls, as a potential hookup, so to speak. I was always the friend of a friend and I was funny and I was an older soul and that just kind of pushed me over the edge. But then I just wanted to drink and hook up with girls and it really, really, impacted me and how I show up for the feminine. That turned into getting into business in the marketplace. I was like, 'Well I need to become financially successful. So they like me for my wealth and I'm powerful, I'm significant, I'm seen.' It starts just like a relationship where you need something from them all the time. People can feel that. To that was an instance, like we're being bullied. Being mindful of it and really seeing how it impacted me didn't all come at once. It was just kind of shedding, shedding layers of it. It was huge for me.

Rosie Aiello engineered an international escape from domestic abuse after a 25 year marriage to save her daughter and herself from ongoing terror and cruelty. Nearly mentally destroyed, she reinvented herself since arriving back in the United States, started her own business, and became a speaker, best-selling author and an international awarding-winning entrepreneur. Rosie and her daughter are now sharing their powerful story of escape, healing, and freedom in their upcoming memoir called 11 Hours to Freedom. Rosie helps women regain their voice and confidence, and rebuild their life so that they can create a joyful and prosperous life that they deserve. Contact Info Website: elevenhourstofreedom.com Free Gift: elevenhourstofreedom.com/gift Most Influential Person Wanda Whitaker Effect on Emotions It helps me get centered and not fly off when I want to fly off, because trauma survivors have a tendency to go and fly off. We get into panic hypervigilance and things like that. So it's key, and one of the things that I have on my wall that I have to keep reminding myself of, is that being fearful and afraid is not the same thing as being in danger. You have to kind of live life by that. Thoughts on Breathing As I've learned about this, I introduce it to all my coaching. Breathing is an integral part of it. I have to be reminded as well to breathe in slowly through my nose and go really slow on the exhalation to just slow everything down. It's key. Absolutely key to calming the whole nervous center, calming the fight and the flight and the freeze that we can get into so easily. It's just critical. Suggested Resources Book: Finding Life Beyond Trauma: Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to Heal from Post-Traumatic Stress and Trauma-Related Problems by Victoria Follette PhD and Jacqueline Pistorello App: Timer App

Paula Brown is an artist and animal healer, possessing a profound ability to communicate with animals as a telepathic communicator. She has also worked extensively as an international award-winning branding expert. Paula is a practitioner of Black Hat Feng Shui which is the type of Feng Shui most common in North America. Paula is also accomplished in Qi Gong, Hawaiian Shamanism, Flower Essence and dowsing methodologies. She is the author of “Fur Shui. An Introduction to Animal Feng Shui.” Contact Info Website: www.Chilightful.com Webside: www.AnimalHeartTalk.com Offer to Mindful Trible Listeners from Paula Brown: Your 5 Step Purpose Quest Map Most Influential Person My fifth grade teacher, Mr. Boyd. He looked like Paul Newman. I had a crush on him and I was painfully shy. Effect on Emotions Mindfulness has gotten me to be more grounded. I'm always accused of being way out in the future and with my Huna practices it has brought me into the present moment and it's allowed me to stay in the present moment and expect the best, trust myself and be in the present moment. Thoughts on Breathing Huna again. There is a thing called Piko Piko breathing and it's an attention awareness up and down from the crown of your head to your navel. Whenever I get stressed out, I just revert to Piko Piko breathing. You don't have to breathe deep or anything. It's a very invisible thing so I can do it any time and any place and it brings me back into the present moment and it brings me calm. Yes, breathing is very important. Piko means center in Hawaian. It means navel. When you breathe in you bring your awareness to the crown of your head, not your breath but your awareness. When you breathe out you bring your awareness to the center of your navel. You do that three times and it's amazing. Your whole body relaxes and when you're relaxed you're you. When you're tense you're not. So Piko Piko brings you that relaxation. Suggested Resources Book: Journey Into Nature: A Spiritual Adventure by Michael Roads Book: Journey Into Oneness: A Spiritual Odyssey by Michale Roads Book: Oh, The Places You'll Go by Doctor Suess Book: Fur Shui: An Introduction To Animal Feng Shui by Paula Brown App: A Pencil without an eraser. People need to get back to feeling and touching a little bit more. App: Relax Melodies (A Zen App for light sleepers. It drowns out other sounds) Bullying Story I have many bullying stories because I was such an odd child. I was never part of the 'in' crowd but I was always very interesting so people would reach out to me.  I was one of the smartest ones too, so people would copy from me. That was my strength. In business, I was bullied a lot, being the only female VP or creative director at the time in these large advertising agencies. I had to be escorted to enter the Algonquin Club in Boston by the chief of BBDNO and the Vice President because I went in the front door alone and various men stood up and grabbed me and walked me out and told me I was nothing and that I shouldn't be there. I was verbally and physically shoved out of the room and then told to go through the servants entrance. Then I couldn't even go there because I wasn't a man. And so I had to be escorted and I'll tell you that left some pretty indelible feelings about how women were treated and how I was treated and it made me more resolve to be more outspoken about us as women being worthwhile. Literally, you're stripped of your worth when something like that happens. The words and the physicalness; the words were very damaging. So I look at bullying as the words and also the physical aspect of it but mostly words.

Rabbi Manis Friedman is a world-renowned author, counselor, lecturer and philosopher. Rabbi Friedman uses ancient wisdom and modern wit as he captivates audiences around the country and the world. Over 150,000 copies of his provocative yet entertaining tapes have been sold. Rabbi Friedman’s first book, Doesn’t Anyone Blush Anymore? published by Harper San Francisco in 1990, was widely praised and is currently in its fourth printing. Rabbi Friedman is a noted Biblical scholar, recognized for his sagacious grasp of Jewish mysticism and a professionally ranked member of the National Speakers Association. Rabbi Friedman has recently released a new book titled The Joy of Intimacy. Contact Info Website: www.ItsGoodToKnow.org Book: The Joy of Intimacy: A Soulful Guide To Love, Sexuality, and Marriage by Manis Friedman Book: Doesn't Anyone Blush Anymore? by Rabbit Manis Friedman Social Media: @ManisFriedman Most Influential Person Professor Dr. Hugblokuv, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. Effect on Emotions Emotions are a direct outgrowth of your intelligence. The way you think is the way you feel.  The way you understand is the way you emote. If you have a very quick mind, you're going to have very high energy emotions. You're going to be quick in your emotional responses just as your mind is quick in the pickup. If you're slow and thorough in your thinking, your emotions will also be a little more sluggish, a little more patient, a little more thorough. If you get a lot of pleasure from learning, from understanding, from using your mind, you will have more pleasure in your emotions. So it's a direct relection of what's going on in the brain. That's why if you want to improve your emotions, don't sit there trying to change your heart, change the input in your brain and you'll get a different output in the heart. Thoughts on Breathing I find if you don't breathe it's hard to think. The brain needs oxygen. Suggested Resources Book: The Bible, it's a very mindful book. Book: The Joy of Intimacy: A Soulful Guide To Love, Sexuality, and Marriage Book: Any book based on tradition is mindful. App: n/a   What Does Mindfulness Mean To You? I think mindfulness is really synonymous with life itself. If you're not mindful, you're not living; you're just existing or surviving. You haven't been hit by a truck so you're still here. But that's not called living. Mindfulness is not an option, it's not like you can live without it or you can live with it. It's synonymous with life. If you want to be alive, start paying attention.We're very enamoured with the quality of our existence. We want to exist well and we forget to live. We have a very comfortable existence compared to our grandparents and to other countries and other places around the world. We do have very comfortable, very nice existence. But the amount of effort we put into it and the amount of concern and anxiety over it just drains us of life. It is the very successful who are most likely to get depressed because; what is it all for. As long as you're still trying  to improve your existence, you're kind of distracted. Once your existence is good, it's like, now what. What was it all for? The other problem with focusing on your existence is that two people, both focusing on their existence, cannot get along. It's just not possible. They certainly can't bond. Because when you're focusing on your existence, it takes you into yourself and away from others. You become introverted in some way. In order to connect to another person, the only part of you that is flexible enough to thrive on the presence of another person, is if you're both focused on living because life is flexible. Existence is rigid. It's got too many rules. You've got to have this house, that car, it's just too rigid and it carries over into your personality. Even success as a person is too materialistic. Too much of that existing. For example, people will be surprised and shocked to hear this. If you're determined to be a good husband, you're going to have an unhappy wife. If you're determined to be a good mother, you're going to have an unhappy child, because if you're trying to be good at something, you're too busy with yourself.

Dr. Forbes Öste is a behavioral scientist & best-selling author. She teaches people how Mindfulness and Technology are connected and she has devoted years to doing scholarly research in the human relationship with technology. Dr. Forbes Öste is a consultant in the field of Social Strategy. In addition to all this, she has a passion for the topic of wellbeing. Dr. Forbes Öste founded the movement for Digital Self Mastery to support the transition into the digital era without losing humanity in the process.   Contact Info Website: www.2Balanceu.com Book: Digital Self Mastery: Conquer Your Digital Habits To Boost Your Relationships and Business Growth Podcast: Evolving Digital Self Podcast Most Influential Person My Grandmother Effect on Emotions Mindfulness enables me to be more stable. About five years ago we were still living in Sweden. We now live in California. I had season affective disorder that became progressively worse every year. It can result in very deep depression and it was on the extreme. I came to California for some meetings and felt normal because it was sunny every day and I was outside. I was with friends who were doing yoga everyday. They had a mindfulness practice of their own in that way. Just being part of that after being deep in a depression that had lasted several years, I was brought out enough in order to get that prospective look at what was going on. I saw that chemical response that was happening in my system. I knew that something needed to change. Not being able to get that awareness and prospective is where you get stuck without mindfulness. Thoughts on Breathing It's yogic breathing if anything. I used to teach yoga and I that type of breathing comes most naturally to me. Suggested Resources Book: Digital Self Mastery: Conquer Your Digital Habits To Boost Your Relationships and Business Growth App: The Breathe App on the Apple Watch (now available on other devices) Bullying Story I can give you a current story because I had an interesting experience just last week while I was speaking at a conference in Warsaw. It was a tech conference. My presentation was more of a story-telling thing. This was not a typical tech talk; instead I was telling people you need to be grateful for technology. This does not necessarily resonate with everyone. Later in the day I talked more about the research and the science behind it and the neurological implications. While I was speaking, somebody tweeted a nasty, trolling comment that was like, 'that was the most boring presentation, what does that have to do with tech ....'. I was raised that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Anyway, it was unnecessary. I went back into the green room after my talk and I was looking at some of the comments and I saw that and my heart kind of sank. I thought, that wasn't a very nice thing to say. There were two or three people sitting around me when I read it and they said, 'that's awful'. Actually, the response was that they tweeted replies to the comment saying, that's so wrong, it was amazing. It was just this beautiful moment of support and wonderfulness. What I found from my own awareness of that response was that instead of it ruining my day, my response was; 'that's a shame', and, 'she must have been having a bad day.' I took a moment to breathe and I thought, 'that's really sad'. I felt sorry for her more than for me.

Justin Schenck is a speaker and coach who has established the Growth Now Movement, an initiative he created to help millions of people reach their goals, no matter how lofty they are. Justin’s specific area of expertise is overcoming adversity; something he has accomplished successfully in his own life. Justin is also creator and host of the Growth Now Movement Podcast where he interviews guests who have overcome major obstacles. Contact Info Website: www.BeginPodcastingNow.com Website: www.GrowthNowMovement.com Podcast: Growth Now Movement Podcast Show Most Influential Person My mom, because she constantly loved others more than you could ever imagine. Effect on Emotions Mindfulness effected my emotions; they are getting better. I was always a reactor but I'm learning still, I have a relationship coach. I'm learning not to do that. I'm learning that not everybody's out to get me. I do this in a number of different ways. I will just step away and take a walk to put myself in a different mindset. I try to see things from their mindset instead of mine. I try not to be so selfish about it. Thoughts on Breathing Breathing is the most important part of my mindfulness practice because if I'm not breathing properly or if I don't pause and take those deep breaths, I do that blackout thing and I don't even realize what's going on. Then I become a hot mess. Breathing for me is the number one thing, it's been a lifesaver for me. Jarek Robbins, Tony Robbins son, taught me a really cool breathing technique. You take three quick breaths in through your nose, real aggressive, and then you breathe out your mouth, and then three quick breaths in your mouth and then slowly breathe out your nose. Then you repeat that. It almost actually gets you a little high. It helps you calm down, your brain starts to think a little bit better. Whenever I get super stressed out and I don't think things are going to go my way, I just sit down, put my feet flat on the ground and I do that and it kind of calms me up. Suggested Resources Book: The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod App: No Apps (I used to use Headspace, it works for a lot of people) Bullying Story I was never bullied. When I was twelve years old I broke my hip and a couple years later I broke my other hip. Five surgeries within the time frame of three years made me almost not bully-able because it would be horrible if people picked on me. I actually just recently interviewed a guy named Justin Wren who is a fighter and he told a story about being bullied in school and it was just terribly sad at the end. I've never personally experienced being bullied, but I can only imagine if the bullies themselves were just able to take a deep breath and not have peer pressure to do these things and if we realized we were all kind of the same, then I think that would help a whole lot. If people were able to take a step back and be more mindful of what they're actually doing, I think we'd be much better off. I had a guy email me about a year ago, saying that I'm a fraud and I get all my content from my guests and that none of my content actually comes from me. It was this long email and I thought, why are you taking time out of your day to do this. I actually wrote an email back in defense and being angry and whatever, but I deleted it because I became mindful of what I was doing. I just wrote him an email back and I said, thank you so much for your perspective; I really appreciate it. Why don't you just hang in there for a little bit longer and keep listening because you might like some of the things that are coming up?

Tara Cousineau, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, meditation teacher, well-being researcher, and social entrepreneur. Tara founded www.bodimojo.com, and develops digital wellness tools for youth. She is affiliated with the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion at Cambridge Health Alliance in Somerville, MA. She is a mindfulness trainer and chief science officer at Whil, a digital mindfulness company, and serves as a scientific advisor to www.kindness.org. Her upcoming book, The Kindness Cure will be released in February 2018. It is a peerless book on kindness that exceeds any existing work on the subject. Contact Info Website: www.TaraCousineau.com Get Tara's Book: The Kindness Cure: How the Science of Compassion Can Heal Your Heart and Your World Meditations and Affirmations and a Kindness Manifesto available on the above website Most Influential Person Tara Brach - Psychologist and author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge Effect on Emotions If we had longer, I would tell you what a temper tantrum kid I was. I had a very chaotic household. I think that when I came to yoga and mindfulness in my twenties, that it absolutely changed, in my emotional life, how I react, in the world, in my relationships. It fundamentally changed them. Thoughts on Breathing Breathing is essential. A definition of breath is spirit of life and I feel that's very true. So, for me, the breath is spiritual nurturing; taking that sacred pause. And that's what Tara Brock calls it; that's why I like her so much. Essentially, we are living, breathing human beings and we're all connected to each other by the very virtue that we live and breathe in the world. So let's really attend to our breath. Suggested Resources Book: The Kindness Cure by Tara Cousineau Book: The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion by Christopher Germer Book: The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer App: Insight Timer App: Mind Yeti (For Children) App: Stop, Breathe and Think (For Adolescents) Bullying Story Like I mentioned, I wrote the book based on a bullying situation. It was a situation with my daughter actually. The incident was the night before senior year of high school. The kids were congregating in the woods. They’re not supposed to, but that’s where they do. It was early in the evening, 9:00 at night or something and my daughter was leaving the gathering and another girl just comes out from behind a tree and attacks my daughter. It was like a girl-on-girl fight. My daughter, Sophie had no idea where this was coming from. Then the guys got called in and it was one of those weird teenage scenes. And here’s the thing; my daughter didn’t tell me until a day later. Partly because I had actually been in my office the night before and I didn’t see her come home. The next day she came to my home office and said, mom, I have something to tell you. I was like, Oh my god; she crashed the car, she’s pregnant. What is a teenager going to tell you, you know? She sat down and she said, I know I was not supposed to be at the woods, but that’s where all the kids were just to celebrate and she named a former friend from middle school who had physically attacked her. I was just like, Oh, my god are you ok? And she showed me the cat scratches and the fingernail scratches and the whole thing. She had a picture that her friend took of her bloody nose. I said I don’t want to see the picture because I know too much about how these things get imprinted in your brain. I said I believe you. Are you ok? Do you feel safe? The next day was going to be the first day of school. I asked, are you going to be ok in the hallways, in the cafeteria. She said, yeah. And I said, why do you think this happened? She goes, I really don’t know. I think it might just be an old grudge and then she started going into this compassion mode. I’m looking at her shaking my head because I literally was going to go knock on her parents' door and really ream the mother out. I was really mad. I was really upset about it. My daughter was saying, well, she’s really had a hard life. I said, honey, you were assaulted and that’s not ok, but you know what, let’s just think about it. I literally called on every ounce of mindfulness training that I’d had, not to go into this reactive, tiger-mom mode. I might have five or six years ago. I might have gotten in my car, knocked on the door and the whole kit and caboodle. But my daughter actually really showed … I don’t know where she got this because I think she had wisdom and inner strength that I didn’t necessarily have at her age where she could see the situation from multiple angles. She also felt in this case, that talking to the school could blow it up and make it worse. I said, let’s just put that on hold because I’m the parent here and it’s ultimately the parents’ responsibility to do something. So part b of this story is that I waited a week. Then I made a meeting with the school and I just said, I know that the woods are the satellite off-campus site for these kids and that as long as they’re not on the property, there’s nothing you can do about it. I said, here’s my concern; that this is going to escalate and this could cause a rift that both girls are going to be in a sort of interpersonal war and that both of them could have an unpleasant year because what happened immediately is that a lot of the girls and guys sided with my daughter. That was going to incense the situation more. That’s what kind of informed the book, was that very incident because I just had one of those wtf moments where I just said, what happened to kindness.

Jane Guyn is a Doctor of Human Sexuality, Professional Sex Coach, Core Energy Coach and registered nurse. She is the author of the Amazon #1 Bestseller “Too Busy to Get Busy." She coaches women to have the sex life they've secretly desired all their lives by removing one or more of the 7 barriers to great sex - even if it's been a rocky road. As someone who's been married for over 30 years with 6 kids, Dr. Jane understands the challenges. Contact Info Website: www.JaneGuyn.com Get Her Book (PDF): Text name and email to 541-444-0112 or email jane@janeguyn.com Get Her Book: Too Busy To Get Busy: How to Fix Your (Almost) Sexless Relationship by Dr. Jane Guyn Most Influential Person A woman who taught a mindfulness-based stress reduction course written by Jon Kabat-Zinn Effect on Emotions The bullying story is a good example of that. When I get into a situation when I'm being triggered by someone elses hard edge, and bullying behavior, I don't want to give up my willingness to stand up and at the same time I don't want to bring an agressive stance to that person. Mindfulness has allowed me to come back within myself. I think of it energetically and bring it back in and still be there as someone who's holding space. Thoughts on Breathing I'm a Yoga practitioner and I use breathing in that practice. I also use it when I meditate. I use it to get myself grounded when I fall into the gap, which I must say I'm not able to do every single time I meditate, but when I can get into that space, it feels like one of the most pleasurable experiences I have, as a sex person, that's saying something. Just being in what feels like a gap between being awake and asleep and just such pure bliss. That happens when I use my breathing well and really become conscious of my breathing. Suggested Resources Book: A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook by Jon Kabat-Zinn Book: Too Busy To Get Busy: How to Fix Your (Almost) Sexless Relationship by Jane Guyn App: Kristy Sinsara has some gorgeous meditations on her site. www.KristySinsara.org Bullying Story At the time of this recording, there has been a lot of emphasis on Facebook where women are claiming their, and I'll say our experience with sexual assault or sexual harassment. It's stunning to watch my news feed as person after person, woman after woman, types up 'me too' in her status. I'm honored to see so many of us claiming that so it's kind of hopeful in a way that we're all showing up with something that's been a secret for so long. At the same time, it's really sad to see so many of us who are having that need to experience. For me the bullying that I've experienced in my life really had to do with ... it really started in my home. When we aren't empowered in our own homes, it sets us up for further bullying experiences and further sexual harassment, rape and other kinds of experiences where we don't have power. My experience was with a father who drank alcoholically and he created a very scary home environment. Although we looked fantastic on the outside, as is the case with many of these families. We had a gardener, our home was very lovely, up on a hill. We weren't wealthy, but for the community we lived in, I felt that we were fairly well-to-do. It was all just right. But when you got behind closed doors, my dad was really scary. Because of that, I ended up with a lot of barriers and a lot of armoring. It took me time and the use of mindfulness to release the barriers and release the armoring and be willing to be vulnerable with other people. On the way there, I went through kind of a dragon slayer phase where I was a rescuer for people who were being bullied around me. I remember this one situation I was in, in northern California where I lived with my husband. I was a newlywed there and there was this pickup truck next to us in the Safeway parking lot. A man who had two or three guns in the back rack; he had a pit bull in the front seat with him. He was a big man. And he started to beat the pit bull with his fist. I got out of the car and I went over to that truck and I said, "You leave that dog alone." My husband was just terrified. He was saying, "Get back in the car." I remember I was so compelled to step in. That edge kind of pulls a little of the bully energy, the fighter. It took me some time to realize that I could be in place as a safe space for someone who is experiencing bullying without bringing that hard edge. And that's what I do now, in a mindful way, is to, when I see something, then I turn to the person, the victim if you will, and create a spaciousness and kindness around that person to kind of envelop that, instead of directly connecting with the person who has this hard energy. That seems to work better for me. It's a transition for me and it's a growth for me.  

Josh Trent is an expert in the field of wellness and specifically in the area of physical and emotional intelligence. He is founder and host of Wellness Force Radio where he’s interviewed world-class experts in the fields of mindset, behavior change, nutrition, health, and technology. Josh is also the host of the Fitness Industry Technology Council’s “Fitness + Technology Podcast,” Josh spotlights the work of global fitness and wellness brands, and how their contributions through new technologies are positively influencing the industry. Contact Info Website: www.WellnessForce.com Email: josh@wellnessforce.com Podcast: Wellness Force Radio Most Influential Person My grandfather. He was one of the first Italian Americans in the Marine Corp to be a Brigadeer General and he stopped me in the hallway once when I was thirteen years old. He said, do you believe in God? I said no. Why not. Well because the church has got all this control and everything. He said, Josh, do you realize that the human mind always thinks there's a beginning, middle and end? But if you look at higher intelligence or God, there is no such thing as a beginning, middle or end. Effect on Emotions Mindfulness has allowed me to actually feel my emotions. I think we have a sickness in our country where our lack of mindfulness leads to the lack of connection which leads to disconnection. Disconnection is what fuels addiction. The opposite of addiction is connection. Mindfulness to me is actually connection in that way. Thoughts on Breathing I have on my arm, this [tatoo]. if I can breathe, I can chose. Because I learned this especially in the last couple of years going through business stress and relationship stress. If we can all just remember to breathe in this moment and exhale. Do it right now. Then you can make the choice you really want to make and you won't be reacting, you'll be responding after the deep breath. Suggested Resources Book: The Way of The Superior Man by David Deida App: The Muse Headband (Connected to an app on your phone) Bullying Story This topic is timeless. I'm thirty-seven now and I can close my eyes and go right back to when I was seven years old. I was using food then to check out because I didn't have the emotional tool sense yet. I can specifically remember playing soccer on the field. Everyone was calling me fat. Look at you, fat ass. Look at you, fat kid. Fat, fat, fat, fat. That word fat just hit me and it because this sore that I wore on the outside of my body. In the book, The Untethered Soul, he talked about all the thorns we have on our body. That became a massive thorn for me. When anyone would point to the way that I looked, or when I looked at myself in the mirror, all throughout my adolescence, there would be this pain body around it. I look back at that time and I think, what could have been different then? What could have been different in my ability to be mindful. I would have been having an open dialogue with my parent. Feeling the safety, the securety, the capacity for me to have that conversation with my mother or father at that time. That wasn't there because their emotional intelligence wasn't there either. But we've already talked about this, because they did the best they could. I look back at this seven year old and I want to put my arm around him. I want to say, hey man, you're so great the way you are. there's nothing wrong with you. All this means is that you're carrying around extra energy. Because that stuff on your stomach is just energy. So, do you want to do something exciting? Do you want to do something fun? Let's go burn off some of that energy. But I didn't have that then. I can heal that pain body now by being the thirty-seven year-old who looks back and has the conversation with that seven year old and says, I love you, you're doing great. Let's burn off some of that energy you have. Because really, depression and sadness, is just the opposite of expression in putting your voice out there. And that's what more people need. Bullying is a by-product of anger, depression and sadness. You think a bully's happy? When bullies pick on other kids, it's because their homelife is crap, their married to somebody they hate, they're in a relationship they don't like. Maybe most bullies are in their teens, but there can be adult bullies too. Bullying is just a representation of anger and sadness that is leaking out of someone's soul. And that is the bottom line for anybody that bullies anybody. It's a lack of consciousness. A lack of mindfulness. And so the narative around bullying must change and it must change now because we're stepping into one of the most growth producing years. With the potential of us growing as a collective, but also one of the most dangerous, as technology rises, as people that are in power, especially the leader of our country, do not promote a lifestyle of mindfulness and deep connection and love for other people. We're at this epoch. We're at this point right now where we have to decide with our actions. If we don't, the danger is that mindfulness goes away, bullying goes up and then we have this conversation again in another thousand years. And I don't want that to happen.

Perry Marshall is an author, an engineer and an expert in on-line marketing. He's also a thought leader in the area of creationism and evolution. His recent book, Evolution 2.0: Breaking the Deadlock Between Darwin and Design, is a look at Perry's research and his conclusions regarding common opinions surrounding creationism and evolution. Perry concludes that neither side is telling you the whole story. Perry's Google Adwords books have resulted in the 100 billion dollar pay-per-click industry. He's written the world's best-selling book on web advertising called, Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords. Contact Info Website: www.PerryMarshall.com Reboot: www.PerryMarshall.com/reboot (Get On Perry's Email list) 3 Free Chapters of Evolution 2.0 at www.CosmicFingerprints.com Most Influential Person Gerry Hogg - a woman from northern Ireland who taught me a keltic way of connecting to nature. One of the biggest shifts I've ever had in my life. Effect on Emotions Mindfulness has caused my emotions to be a lot calmer. What we'd all like this to be is, now I'm going to do my mindfulness exercises and within three days everything's going to be fine. For me it really took months and years. We humans are complex beings. We have a lot of garbage and we have deep closets with lots of bones and stuff. Over a period of years, the difference is profound. I used to be a bag of snakes. I'm a lot more composed than I used to be and it's nice. Thoughts on Breathing Breathing is important to me to a degree. Probably not as much as some people. We have two special needs, adopted kids. Anybody that's done adoptions knows that you deal with all kinds of stuff. One of the first things that you do with a kid that's triggered, is breathe. CJ - take a breath. You can do that with a CEO and everybody's going to say, take a breath. Most people will actually do that. It will work, even in a meeting - "everybody take a breath, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. It resets. Suggested Resources Book: The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron Book: The Book of Psalms - The Bible App: The Blasket App (Includes a Web Cam of The Blasket Islands in Ireland) Bullying Story When I was thirteen, it was going in both directions. I got beat up on by a bunch of different people. I decided I was going to toughen up and not take this anymore and so i started getting aggressive with other people so you could say I was bullying him. He said to me, hey, you and me, we're going to fight after school. I thought, Oh crap. And I couldn't back down. I let my ego get in my way. So we go out and we have this fight and I lost. A big crowd of kids wathcing the whole thing. At first I was doing well and then I was running out of gas. He starts prevailing and then I had to give up. Now that's embarrassing. A little more mindfulness, self awareness would have helped. When he said, hey dude, I thought, this is a bad idea, but I did not have enough integrity, enough self-honesty to go, you know what, I would rather apologize to you and not get into this with you. I should have said, you win, I lose. That would have been a smaller defeat than the one I ended up having. There was actually some schrapnall as a result. It was just bad. I think this happens all the time with people. It's not usally a fist fight behind a school. But it could be the proverbial fistfight between companies, between CEO's. These things, like, we're going into this market. And the other person saying, I don't really think you should go into that market. That's a bad idea. Then years later they lose several million dollars and they have to write it off.

Daniel Gefen is the founder of Gefen Media Group and host of the top rated podcast show ‘Can I Pick Your Brain?’ where he has picked the brains of over 100 thought leaders, billionaires and celebrities. He was named the top 25 most influential influencers of 2017 and has been featured in Forbes, Inc and Influencive. Most recently he is the author of the transformational book called "The Self Help Addict - Turn an Overdose of Information Into a Life of Transformation." Contact Info Website: www.DanielGefen.com Book: The Self Help Addict by Daniel Gefen Podcast: Can I Pick Your Brain? What is Spirituality to You? I’m going to start by saying that the minute you say spirituality to me, it doesn’t mean anything. I’m an orthodox Jew, I’m a practicing orthodox Jew and yet the word spirituality doesn’t mean anything to me because for me, it’s just another word people throw around. You have words like entrepreneur and influencer and all these different words people throw around. Spirituality is one of them. For me, it’s tough. How do you define something that’s undefinable? I’ll give you an example. How do you define love? How do you explain it to someone who’s never felt love before? If you’ve loved anyone before, it’s easy to explain it. If you’ve never felt love before, where do you begin to tell what love feels like? If you have not experience a spiritual moment or you haven’t experienced spirituality in your life, then I cannot describe spirituality to you because it’s an experience. It is out of the realm of comparison. What belief led you to write ‘The Self Help Addict’? That belief evolved over time. I had to rewrite a lot of things along the way. I would read something I wrote a couple of years ago and I’d say; holy crap, you wrote like that? That’s so wrong. Then I’d edit it out. About a month before I went to publish, I almost scrapped the whole book. I almost had to rewrite the entire book. I had an awakening where I realized that everything I’m writing about in this book is all about how to go from being a consumer to a creator. It’s all about how to go from this self-help cycle of constantly taking in more and more information and actually going and doing something with it. It’s actually taking that energy and creating something out of it. Taking all the inspiration and putting it into action; making it real. What is the Missing Piece of the Puzzle? You are at the proverbial bottom of the mountain. You keep looking up and you keep saying, ‘wow, it’s so amazing’. But I’m just too scared to go up there. I’m afraid of what people will think of me if I try to climb that mountain. I’m going to make a fool of myself. You see some people up there already. You have the Oprah Winfrey’s and Tony Robbins and all these amazing people up there and you’re looking up at them like they’re idols. You’re saying, ‘wow, wouldn’t it be great to stand on top?’ But I can’t do that because I’m not like that. Imagine I came along and I held you hand and I said, Bruce, let’s climb that mountain. I’m going to help you to climb up. And we start climbing. You actually start taking action and you start climbing and you go higher and higher and higher and you get to the top, so to speak. You get to that point where you’ve been dreaming so much to get to, whether it’s that you’ve become a millionaire. You’ve got your wife and children and you’ve got your nice big house. You’re living the American dream. It’s your mountain. When you get to the top, you suddenly feel very depressed because you’ve achieved it all and yet you still feel that emptiness inside. That’s worse than when you were at the bottom of the mountain. Why? Because when you were at the bottom of the mountain, at least you had hope. People who don’t take much action at least they have in the back of their minds that, if I ever do accomplish ‘X’, I’ll be happy. So at least they have that to live for. The people who make it to the top, the celebrities, the athletes, the movie celebrities; when they finally hit their peak and they’re drowning in cash and they can have anyone they want. These are the people who usually overdose on drugs and commit suicide.[show-notes-breathing] Why do people reach this point of depression? Because they come to the realization that, hey, I’ve got everything that anyone could ever hope and dream for and yet I’m still feeling empty. What is there left? Then they take their lives because it’s so depressing. When I realized this, I realized my book was completely worthless. Everything I had written is helping them get to the top, but that’s not the whole picture. You’ve missed the point. I remember, I called up my Rabi and I also called up a few of my mentors. I told them that I would need to scrap this book and that it was not the full picture. They all said the same thing. They said, Daniel, you don’t need to scrap the book, you’ve written half the equation, you just need to write the other half. How does someone become a self help addict? Self help addiction comes from a few things. Number one is doubt. You doubt yourself so what you do is you’re looking for someone and/or some thing that is going to change your life and that doesn’t exist. What was the biggest thing you learned from writing the book? The fact that things always seem like a big deal until you actually do them. Then they’re not that big of a deal anymore. This book to me was this massive mountain that just went on and on and on. There was not way to conquer it. There was no way to get to the top. It was just this massive beast that I could not capture. I feel like everyone’s got their beast that they’re dealing with. Everyone’s got their mountain that they just can’t seem to overcome. It’s just too big. How to you do it? What I came to realize is, once I hit the publish button, the book came out and I had the printed version in my hand and it’s real. This is not a mountain to me anymore. This is a book. On one hand it’s a big deal and on the other hand it’s not a big deal anymore. How do mindfulness and self help dovetail? They very much intertwine because if you look at a self-help addict and what happens in the cycle, it’s always the need for more and more information. Mindfulness is just being. Being able to allow what you already know deep down inside to come forward. When you meditate, that is when the most clear and the most incredible ideas come because you’re not taking in information at that point. When you’re meditating, you’re letting go. At that point when you’re able to let go and you lose any type of judgment of yourself, you lose any type of fear. You’re not worried about anything. Your anxiety just drops, so you resume the default position, which is being mindful and being spiritual. When you do that, at that moment in time you break that cycle of needing anything more. You don’t need anything more. You’ve got everything you need. Quote: "You get that clarity of mind, that clarity of purpose, that vision, that mission and then you awaken from the meditation. The question is what do you do next? If you don’t take action then, you’ve really lost out." Daniel Gefen