It’s that time of year again, cold weather and holidays! Some things have changed since the last post.. all I had to do was read the first line and I already knew that has been growth. I feel myself growing, as a person, and I feel  like my relationship has been along for the ride. I wake up in the morning now and I don’t feel overwhelmed or dread for the day, in fact, the past week or so, I’ve even had noticeably positive dreams where I wake up and I FEEL like I just stepped out of some feel-good movie.

A few months ago, I was working out with a friend of mine. He normally plays music on his phone so we can get pumped up and feel motivated, but this particular day, he had a series of motivational speeches downloaded into his playlist… hours and hours of extremely positive speeches. I’m not going to lie.. for the first 30 minutes of the workout I kept smirking like.. this dude is crazy… maybe it was because he was looking at himself in the mirror and talking to himself with all these positive words that were playing… but it was also partly because I had a judgmental mind-frame at the time, and these motivational speeches felt a little awkward to me. After I realized that this wasn’t just ONE speech, and that he wasn’t going to turn it off… I actually started listening to it and getting into it, I was actually grateful to hear the words and the message behind them… it actually made me feel like I could have been in the gym all day just working on myself and enjoying the experience, but as soon as I knew it, our gym session was over and I felt like I gypped myself for not taking it so seriously in the beginning.

After that day, I really started thinking about how those speeches made me feel, and I started looking into more motivational speeches/books. I came across 2 apps that I absolutely have fallen in love with, and I began using them every night as I was going to sleep. I honestly believe they have changed my world.. and they continue to re-enforce the positive that I am continuously learning how to cultivate in my life. I decided to change a few things about myself that became blatantly clear to me… 1. stop being so judgmental, on myself and others, even if I don’t speak how I feel about something, thinking it is just as bad. This has made a world of difference to me, it helps me stay positive about my surroundings, even if I don’t agree with someone else’s actions or words. 2. Be mindful of the energy that I am around and that I am taking in. I have a habit of listening to other’s and almost taking on THEIR energy, if they’re griping I feel like I am trying to understand from their point of view by allowing my own mind-frame and emotions to reflect their same state.. and this can been good for empathy, but I’m learning how to stray away from going in full force, just allowing myself to touch the surface long enough to understand them, then back out, back into my own positive mindset.

I’m loving the feeling of developing myself, and it’s slowly helping my relationship with my wife as well. We are in a long distance relationship (possibly starting a LDR blog soon) and so all we have is communication through the phone, most days. I have started to notice our own quirks and negative energies, even if it’s us just joking back and for with each other. I have been calling her out left and right when she has something negative to say about her life, job, car, money, etc. I know I’m driving her crazy with it, but I feel like by pointing it out, I am bringing attention to the behavior of negative self-talk, which I truly believe alters the way your life pans out. I told her about the apps I downloaded and she has tried them and also agree that they do make her feel better… which in turn makes me happy as well.. happy wife, happy life 😉

The first app I downloaded is more of a hypnotherapy app. I’ve listened to Michael Sealy a ton, if you’ve never heard of him, check him out on YouTube, he has a soothing voice and makes some pretty lengthy (which I like) hypnosis tracks. The app that I downloaded, however, is by a man names Joseph Clough, he’s got kind of an Australian accent, but he has a quite a few free downloads and a ton of others that are a dollar or two. My go-to tracks are: Confidence,  Self Consciousness, and Happiness & Confidence. I like to listen to these as I’m going to sleep and let the words resonate in my subconscious mind. I can’t say that it will work for everyone, but I feel like it really has helped me.

The second app I downloaded is called FlowDreaming and I am IN LOVE with this app. It’s created by a woman named Summer McStravick who has been doing podcasts for almost 13 years. She used to be on a radio show called Hay House but has ventured off into her own podcasts and even her own FlowDreaming school. She is PACKED FULL of positive energy, and when I listen to her podcasts I feel like she is untangling my messed up web of emotions and over thinking. I cannot say enough good things about her. I read reviews on her, and she has a section of negative reviews with people who just don’t buy into her happiness or her message, and all I have to say about them is that they are not allowing their minds or hearts to go into this in a non-judgmental way… and of course, if you have a negative outlook and you start listening to positive talk, it going to sound phony, because you YOURSELF do not emulate those feelings… but that’s why it’s never to late to start developing them.

Positive vibes ♥