In this episode, I speak with author, Tom-Butler Bowdon. Tom has distilled the most important ideas from hundreds of classic books across multiple genres, including psychology, spirituality, and philosophy into an epic set of books called The 50 Classics Series.
Master Your Diet, Master Your Life - w/ Daniel Thomas Hind (Ep. #38)
In this episode, I speak with Dr. Dan Siegel. He is a clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute.
Dr. Siegel has written 16 books and multiple New York Times best sellers, including Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation and The Whole Brain Child (two of my favorites). However, most of our conversation covers topics in his new book, Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence…
Notes to Myself
Below is an ongoing list of advice I’ve compiled for myself in a note in my phone. I started writing it as a way to remember the things that have worked well for me in the past because I was tired of forgetting them, then having to rediscover them months or years later. The cycle would go something like this:
I’d find something that worked well for me -- a habit, a mindset, a food, anything.
I’d integrate it into my life for a while.
I’d eventually forget about it weeks or months later and would have to solve the same problem from scratch multiple times.
I’d eventually rediscover this thing that had helped me in the past and integrate it into my life once again.
This list covers various areas of my life and is somewhat random. It’s mostly unedited, except for clarity and (most) grammatical errors…
How to use negative thinking in a positive way
Since launching the "Mindset Shift Mini-Course." I've received a lot of emails asking me how to make the positive effects of the course more permanent in their lives.
Most of these messages present a similar issue:
"I found the course extremely helpful while doing it but I found myself going back to my negative thought patterns just a few days after finishing the course."
I'll address this FAQ in two parts:
- The truth of the matter is that the Mindset Shift Course is NOT designed to be a quick fix or the last word on developing an effective mindset. Life is messy and isn't always solved by one specific philosophy or set of rules. I've found the most effective way to make mental strategies and habits stick by taking daily actions and having a variety of tools at my disposal that help me feel balanced and focused.
- When I was just starting my journey, I also got discouraged when I found myself thinking "negative thoughts." Over the years, and after some study, I now know that I can use these kind of thoughts to my advantage! Negative thinking does not have to produce a negative outcome.
Because of books like The Secret and The Law of Attraction, many people think that we should never have negative thoughts and that negative thoughts are always a bad thing.
I wholeheartedly disagree. Not only is this idea impractical and stressful, I’ve found that it’s simply not true. We don't need to completely rid ourselves of negative thoughts, we just have to learn how to use them to our advantage.