Breaking Down The Morning Ritual

Hello there. Welcome to Life Writing live today. Today we're going to be talking about the morning ritual. But hey, did you know, I just want to know whether or not you knew that breakfast is not the most important thing you can do first thing in the morning. I mean, I know it sounds crazy because we're so used to being told that, but I'm going to prove to you that there is something much more important that you can do first thing in the morning. So just kind of bear with me for a few minutes. This will be a relatively short one today. This is my special request. Once again, I'm Stephen Barnes, New York Times best selling author, martial artist and ecstatic daddy who is just really, really happy with my life. And I'm delighted to be able to share the things that have enabled me to accomplish the things I've done in my life. It's really wonderful to be able to feel on the other side of so many of the things that I desired as a kid. And it's my pleasure, it's my honor to be able to share them. So what I want to share with you today is called the Life Writing Morning ritual or the Life Writing warriors ritual. Ooh. It's going to brand the name, right? So it's helped me and it's helped countless others and I wanted to give it to you. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to share three secrets about it. And these secrets will revolutionize your life if you will just pay attention to them. Now, I know what you're probably thinking. It sounds like snake oil. To say that some simple thing that takes 10 to 20 minutes a day can actually change your life. Well, I'm asking you to not have faith at all. I'm asking you to be a scientist, to actually take what it is I'm saying. Take notes. Watch this a second time. Figure it out. Try it. See for yourself. Take you about a week, take you about a week to determine whether or not what I'm saying is true or not. If it's not true, drop me a note. Call me an absolute nutcase. Fine. But if it's the truth, if you try it, it works. Drop me a note and tell me, hey, Steve, you were right, because I love hearing that. And then share it with your friends. Share it with your family. Family. Give it to others as it was given to me. So the first, there are three secrets, right? The first secret is that the five minute miracle is only the first step. Five minute miracle, of course, is taking a 60 second breathing break once every three hours. And if you do deep, slow diaphragmatic breathing, you know, look that up on YouTube and you do this once every three hours. You know, in this time of stress, I'd be doing it every hour if I didn't, you know, didn't have that is an integrated part of my schedule. But once you have done that and discovered in like a half hour, doing it five minutes a day for six days, especially if you journal your results, you'll find out you're getting more done with less stress. And you'll know for yourself it works, okay? You'll know that it works it. And you've got to know that because then I can ask you to take the next step. But if you've already taken that step, if you already have the five minute miracle, you've already learned how breathing can keep us from becoming strained. Because stress isn't the problem, strain is the problem. Once you understand that, now you can extend a little bit more trust to me and try the next step. Because the next step is the fact that our emotions are controlled by three things. They're controlled by the way we move our body, what we focus on, and the language we use. Those three things, the way we use our body, what we mentally focus on, and the way we use language. Okay? So if you, if you grasp that, if you can see that, and once again, take a note, think about it. If it feels like it's true to you, then we can move on to the next piece. I'm not asking you to have any faith in me at all. I'm asking you to be a scientist, experiment. I've observed a phenomenon. People who maintain calm under stress, people who seem to accomplish the things they want to set out to accomplish no matter what life throws at them. What are they doing? I'm not saying that they're all doing this exact thing, but they're doing some form of this. They're finding some way to renew themselves, refresh themselves, focus themselves. This is just making something that these people find uncommon consciously competent. They're unconsciously competent at it. This is a way to become consciously competent and begin to integrate it into who it is that you are. So that's the second secret, right? Now, the third secret is it involves the magic formula. Actually, it's part of that second secret, that language thing. Let's look at language. The magic formula is a way of looking at the basic things that you need in order to even be in the game of life. And basically what it's saying is m a G I, C. It's an acronym. M is MAP or model. A is action, Daily action. G is gratitude, positive emotions. I is intention, clear goals. C is conviction, courage. Your belief that you can and should take these actions and that you can and should accomplish your goal, whatever that goal is, you can build the life you want. Okay? If you don't have any one of those things, the whole thing, your life falls apart. If you don't have a map or model of what you're going to be doing consciously or unconsciously, if you're not taking daily action, if you don't feel positive emotions about your life, if you don't have a clear, clear idea of what it is you're trying to accomplish, a clear intention. And if you don't have confidence that you can and should go after it, if you lack any one of those things, you are screwed. I mean, really, you know, you. You don't know where you're going, but you're working hard. You're just going to get lost. You're not taking action. Well, that means you're a dreamer. You got plenty of great ideas, but you're sitting on the couch eating screaming yellow Zonkers, watching Ren and Stimpy or whatever it is that's popular these days. If you don't know what it is that you want, right? Then if you don't know what you want, you can't form a map or a role model. You can't get a role model. You just don't know. You don't know. It's like, well, I'm taking actions, but I don't know what I want. I just know what I don't want. I'm sorry. You have to do more than move away from pain. Any worm can move away from pain. You also have to know what you want. What do you want? What do you want? Then you take actions every day. You look at the actions that you take. You look at the results from the actions. That's the environment giving you feedback to your actions. Are you getting what you want? Yes. Keep doing more of that if you're not getting what you want. Screaming yellow zonkers, Jeff. Screaming yellow Zonkers. Yes. It's a. It's like a glazed popcorn candy. Okay? Glazed popcorn candy. It's delicious. But don't mistake it for food. It's just. It's fun stuff. It's dessert. It's kid food, okay? So if you don't have clear intentions, a clear goal, you'll get lost. And if you don't have the confidence the courage to believe that you can have the things that you want. Why even bother trying? Why bother trying? Yeah. Madeline sits in screaming yellow zonkers. Am I showing my age here? Don't they make screaming yellow zonkers anymore? You know, am I okay? But if I'm sorry. Mea culpa. I'm a dinosaur looking around for a tar pit. That's right. You have to do more than move away from pain. You have to move toward pleasure. You spend the first half of your life learning how to do the basic things in life so you can keep a roof over your head, food on your table. After you've got that, ask yourself, what's next? Oh, I want to be happy. That's the meaning of life, to be happy. So then you have the right to start saying what would make me happy. So the magic formula will get you into the game. Follow that, and you can avoid pain. You know, just make sure that you have those goals set out in the three basic areas of your life. Your body, your relationships, and your finances. So, you know, once you've got those three nailed down, then you can move. Okay. And the magic, the. The morning ritual, the. The warriors ritual that we're going to talk about is just great for this. Now, you know, I'm asking you that when you think to yourself, can it be that simple? Understand that a lot of things in life really are simple. And if you ask yourself, if it's so simple, how come I'm not doing it already? It's because people don't teach this. Most people don't know this. And so I was blessed enough to work with teachers who knew these things. And so I'm just passing them on to you. So my company, Mastery plus, is dedicated to finding men and women who have unusual knowledge and partnering with them to bring it to you. So this is. This is kind of what this is about. So let's take a look at the morning ritual, which is the specific thing. I've done enough leading up to this. So the morning ritual is basically if our bodies, you know, and you ask, will I go back over those steps when I'm finished? Hit replay. You know, this is there. It's video. You'll be able to watch all this again. I want to. I want to move on so that. So that people can move it. I empathize with you, but I'm hitting the same. Same basic beats over and over and over almost every day. Almost every day. The same stuff. The same stuff. Because I still see people out there who are saying that Stress is killing them. They're not moving toward their dreams, they're not happy, they're not healthy. And so I know that the basics need to be looked at over and over and over again. So that's kind of what I'm doing today. So our emotions are created by three things. I'm going to slow down a little bit. Our emotions are created by three things. The way we move our bodies, what we focus on, and the language we use. So if you bring all three, three of those things together at the same time, it's like turning yourself into a human laser. So that's what we're using the morning ritual for, the warrior ritual. We are going to do all three of these things at the same time for between. Excuse me, for between 10 and 20 minutes in the morning. And remember, this is the next step beyond the five minute miracle. You do the five minute miracle first so that you're dealing with, you know how to deal with stress. You're starting to turn. Stress is not becoming strained. That gives you the potential to turn stress into energy. And that's what this is about. Turning the stress in your life, the fear and the anxiety, using it the way, let's see, the way nature, the way evolution intended to turn stress and fear into action. You know, you're supposed to be. Fear is fight or flight, right? You're supposed to run or fight. And as long as you're turning that emotion into energy, it doesn't chew your guts up. It's when you're sitting saying, oh, I don't know what to do. That's when it kills you. That's when the stress goes through the roof and you get high blood pressure and you know, oh my God, it's just awful what happens. Okay, so when you look at this, I use Tai Chi. You take a physical thing because a physical activity grounds it in your body. The physical activity grounds it in your body. There are psychological reasons too, but we'll just go with that. Okay, go from Maslow. Okay, so you need something physical. It could be walking, could be Tai chi, could be sun salutations, it could be rebounding on a mini trampoline. I hear that works great. It could be anything that you can do continuously for 20 years, for 10 to 20 minutes. Walking, dancing, any number of different things. But you need to be able to talk at the same time. Like I said, I use Tai Chi while I'm doing Tai chi, while I'm moving, I'm also chanting affirmations out loud. And I will, I use the magic Formula. I don't use the steps in this order. I put this in this order because it makes a nice acronym that's easy to remember. But what happens is the first thing I do is a statement of conviction. And it'll be something along the lines of, every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better. Okay, that's an old one. Find one that you like. I also use. God's wealth is circulating in my life. His wealth flows to me in avalanches of abundance. All my needs, desires, dreams and goals are met instantly by infinite intelligence because I am one with God and. And God is everything that works for me. If it doesn't work for you, find one that does. Find one that does. That's all. But it's a statement of confidence. If you believed that, and if that were true, would you be able to accomplish your goals? So for 10, you know, you divide up the time into equal chunks. So you spend about roughly equal time on each of these. So you spend, let's say if you're going to spend 10 minutes, you spend about two minutes on your conviction. Every day, in every way, you spend about two minutes generating gratitude, what's called an emotional flood, feeling the positive emotions in your life. Because if you don't feel like you have anything to feel positive about, how are you going to believe that things can be good tomorrow? If I know that I already have blessings, then it's easy to believe that I can have blessings in the future. See how that works. And everybody has things to be grateful for. Just not everybody is honest with themselves about it. Remember, no matter how abused you may feel, no matter how much life has cheated you, at one point in your life, someone protected you, someone cared for you. Because babies who are not nurtured in infancy die. Failure to thrive. They have to be loved, they have to be held, they have to be protected. Protected or they die. So at some point in your life, you had something to feel grateful for. Right now, if you're online, be grateful that your Internet is working. If you have your health and you're worried about what might happen tomorrow, be grateful that you're healthy today. Find something to be grateful for. This is critical to creating the life that you want to, taking the actions that you want. This is the way it works. You start with, with conviction. Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better. Something like that. You go from there to gratitude. For me, it's, I'm so grateful for a strong, healthy body. I'm so grateful for the people who love Me and trust me, Jason and Nikki. My beautiful, brilliant wife, Tananarive. I literally say that aloud every day, by the way. My beautiful, brilliant wife, Tananarive. I know I am blessed to have her. And I let you. Those emotions wash over me. You understand that and you hear what I'm saying. I hope that you can hear how much I'm trying to give this to you. And I will give thanks then. I will give thanks for my role models, the people, the models, the maps, the people who I follow. If I can take the best of these people into my life, I can accomplish the things I need to accomplish, right? So it's like, you know, Larry Niven for writing, you know, and Octavia Butler for. For writing and for being an honest, good, decent human being with. With tremendous commitment to the world. You know, for Steve Muhammad, my karate instructor, for his ability to be real. I mean, just bang. Solid guy's a, you know, just amazing, solid human being who taught me how to be a man. He really did, you know, for Don Callan, who opened up the door of my emotions and allowed me to see the connection between the physical movements and the emotions in a way that gave me the leverage I needed to continue practicing to push through the fear, to push through the pain, to push through the failures, and to keep on the path for 47 years. Years until I earned the rank that I have now, which is not a matter of being Billy Jack or Bruce Lee. It's just a matter of I became the thing that I sought to be. It's as simple as that. It really isn't that complicated. Then my intention and actions. I will say things that indicate in at least the three major areas of my life, what are my physical goals. Well, that's just continuing to practice my martial arts and be healthy. Why am I healthy? To support my family, this, that, and the other. So I will say things in the course of my affirmations once again, while I'm moving that connect with that. Okay, so actions, I'm implying the actions I'm going to take. I will visualize the actions I'm going to take. You know, I do my writing today, you know, and I exercise, I work out, I connect every day. Okay, my models again, I already said that. And then I will wrap it all up. You know, I will say, all I need is within me now. All I need is within me now. And here I will use standards of excellence, the level above what I'm talking about, the magic formula, which is sort of the floor, the foundation. I'll Talk about a level of excellence. And right now this will shape, will shift. Right now I'm studying Brandon Burchard stuff. So he has six principles of becoming a real high performing person. He talks about clarity, energy, necessity, productivity, influence and courage. All the clarity I need is within me now. All the energy I need is within me now. All the necessity I need is within me now. All the productivity, creativity I need is within me now. All the influence I need is within me now. And all the courage I need is within me now. And I will say these things out loud and the more, the more stress I'm under, the more I will sink into this. I will say it louder, I'll say it with greater passion. I'll make sure that my as close to perfect as I can be, I'll have a smile on my face. In other words, I'll fake it till I make it. I will act as if I felt those things. And if I do that just for that period of time, it becomes real. Because the demons in my head, the demons in my head will try to tell me this does not work. But if one of my martial arts, then if I am doing Tai chi at that moment, then I know from my actions that the demons in my head are lying to me. I'm doing it and they're telling me I'm not doing it. And that helps me to create the separation, to begin to ask some of those really important questions. Like if I'm not the voices in my head, who are they? This is critical stuff. So that's the basic process. While moving, you move through the magic formula. Affirmations, going through the magic formula. Map, action, gratitude, intention, conviction. Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better. I'm so grateful for. You speak of your role models, you speak of your overall intentions. You speak, you speak of the daily actions you're taking to get there. And you finish up by saying with conviction that all the resources you need, you already have. That's the morning ritual, the warrior's ritual. And this is, you know, I give this to you freely. My God, if you'll just use this, you will transform your life. And it'll help you to understand that there are really are secrets, there really are ways to increase your efficiency. They don't cost a lot, they don't take a lot of time. And my company Mastery plus is specializing in this. And if you would go to www.realwarriorsjourney.com or type, type that in, you will see something that we have for you that is very special because we. It's. You know, I've worked with thousands of. Callan has worked with thousands of students, and this is the first time that we've ever worked together to create a program. And right now, during this time of emergency, it's at half price. So I don't know how we can do better than that. I don't know what I can do. You can test what it is we're saying for free. If you find that this is in alignment with your heart, please give us a chance to help you. That's. That's what I wanted to say today. Just continue asking questions. I will continue to answer your questions when I get the chance. And I just. I just want you to know that I love you. I believe in you. Wherever you are in your life, I've been there. And although there is, I have miles to go before I sleep. I am genuinely delighted with the way my body works. I am delighted with my family and the love of my life, and I'm delighted with the career things that are happening for me right now. There were. The voices in my head were telling me that bus had passed. They really had. They really were. But I kept going. And the doors are opening up again. I want you to have the same experience. Love you guys. Take care. And the divinity within me salutes and acknowledges the divinity within each and every one of you. Namaste. Have a wonderful, wonderful day.