Daily Emotionals- Your Heart Matters

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[thebrandonhawk]

I'M A RACEHORSE!

This has been an intense month for me. I want to let you into what has been going on in my life, and share a pivotal realization. I have spent my life expecting others to fulfill my needs, to make me feel admired, appreciated and affirmed. Anytime that did not happen, I would feel disconnected and separate a.k.a the aloneness that has been so familiar to me most of my life. When you do not give yourself what you need at the measure to which you need it, you end up feeling one of two things: alone or rejected, depending on your personality.

Now, I am starting to structure my life in such a way that I give my time, energy and resource to myself at the level that I need in order to feel loved and accepted. And I've come to accept that I need a lot; I need a lot of energy, a lot of time and a lot of resource going towards me in order to feel taken care of and loved. Right now, that looks like investing into a lot of one on one attention from a personal trainer, an emotional care specialist, my own personal life coach and a doctor who specializes in releasing stuck energy. A lot, right? The realization I've had is that I'm a racehorse! What do you mean racehorse? If a racehorse is taken care of properly, it can run extremely fast, accomplishing great things for itself and others. When a race horse wins, he's not the only one that wins! You wouldn’t believe the increase I am seeing externally now that I am adding increase to myself internally. If you follow and are a part of what I do, you are probably a racehorse as well. As you start to love and care for yourself to the level you have needed, you will begin to manifest big results at the speed you were made to run with.

What does it look like for you to love yourself? When I talk about loving yourself, I’m not talking about arrogance or self-indulgence. Those things are all based in fear, not love. Love is an appreciation, affirmation, and admiration of oneself in such a way that your heart feels over-flowing with affection. What would it look like for you to appreciate, admire and affirm YOU? Can you imagine a life where no matter what happens externally, you feel the way you have always desired to feel at the measure you’ve wanted to feel? Those feelings could never be stolen from you because the person creating them was YOU. Stop for a moment and feel into that possibility.

Not only is it possible, it is already within you! I am beginning to experience a life like that. A life where I feel truly appreciated, admired and affirmed in the way I have always desired. You can, too!

[thebrandonhawk]

Today is a VERY important day.

My name is Brandon Hawk, and I approve this message.

Hello! It’s Amanda this time, not Brandon. I took over the blog this week because there is something that has been weighing on my heart strongly the past couple days, and I want to share it with you. So, please know that this message is from my heart to yours.

Today is a very important day. It’s actually the most important day you’ve had all month. Maybe even all year. Would you like me to tell you why?

Today is the most important day you have had all year because of the OPPORTUNITY it holds. Today you have the opportunity to change the course of your life forever. What if you could live the rest of your life feeling peaceful and at ease on the inside? No more feeling tired and worn out by all that is piled on your plate, no more feeling pulled in ten different directions. No more wondering how life could have been if you had just done that one thing differently. What if the underlying disconnection you have felt with your spouse was no longer there? What if there were no more unspokens between you, and you spent the rest of your life feeling deeply known and connected to him or her? What if you woke up each morning feeling completely aligned to the very thing you were put on this planet to do? What if you were totally connected to your Divine Purpose and knew how to live in it fully? Can you imagine a life like that? It’s the kind of life we’ve all dreamed of. The kind of life that, in some hidden corner of your heart, a soft cry is whispering hope that it could be true.

But you’ve experienced that life is hard, the life you’ve always dreamed of has grown softer and dimmer, and most days it doesn’t feel very possible at all, right?

What if that could change? What if the life I described a few moments ago is actually right at your fingertips, and you just need someone to show you how to reach out and grab it. What would that be worth to you?

That is exactly what YOU Training was designed to do. To show YOU that the life you have always hoped for but never thought was truly possible is waiting for you at the tips of your fingers, and to give you the tools you’ve needed to reach out and take hold of it. It’s called “YOU” Training because the purpose is to train you in the area of YOU. You are going to learn the ins and outs of the world that YOU have always wanted to live in, and then you are going to be shown how YOU can create it. It’s that simple. The life you have always wanted already exists in you, and Brandon is going illuminate how you can access it.

Today is a very important day. I would dare to say it might be your most important day, because today you have the opportunity to do something different. Today, you can take a step towards everything you’ve always wanted. YOU Training is coming up in three short weeks and I want you to be there. I don’t want you to be there because this is my job. I want you to be there because I’ve been through Brandon’s school of transformation (the year long version of YOU Training) and my life has completely changed from the inside out. Three years ago, I was completely disconnected from my family, and living in cycles that were sabotaging my entire life.

Now, I’m 24 years old and I’m living out my dreams, because I went through Brandon’s transformational processes. Now, my parents are working with Brandon, and we’re experiencing a depth of intimacy together we’ve always wanted but just never knew how to do. My dad, who was a highly successful businessman, is starting to really connect with and value how he feels, and it’s totally changing his life and making him more influential than he ever was before! My mom is beginning to value herself and choose to find out who she really is outside of being a mother, in a way most women never do. It’s so brave and beautiful!

So, if I’m being honest, I don’t just want you to be there. I actually believe, to my very core, that you need to be there. And I bet your heart is agreeing with me. Please don’t let this be a moment that you allow to pass away. Don’t use the excuses you have always used before to not take back your life and make it what you’ve always wanted. Everything your heart has longed for is not only possible, but is available to you. You just need someone to illuminate how to get there.

YOU Training is November 8-10. I want you to be there so badly that I have convinced the 5 Star hotel where we’re hosting the conference to give us a room rate of $99 a night! That’s unheard of! You couldn’t stay at the Holiday Inn for that price. But, the discount expires THIS THURSDAY! So, here’s what you need to do. Go here: www.youtraining.eventbrite.com to register for the conference and get your seats reserved FIRST. Now, call the Hilton Anatole at [phone] and let them know you’re with the YOU Training group.

And listen. If the one thing holding you back right now from coming is money, find a way to make it happen. This is not the kind of thing you miss out on because of money. Yes, it is an investment. You may not have that money laying around in pocket change. It may be uncomfortable, but where there is a will and a desire, there is a way. I’m telling you this weekend is too monumental to miss, especially because of money. I would actually go so far as to say that if money is holding you back, you need to take that as a sign that it is even more important for you to be there.

Don’t let this be another average Tuesday. Grab ahold of the moment and make this the first day of the life you’ve always wanted. 

I’ll see you in three weeks!!

Live Loved,

Amanda

P.S.

If you’d like to speak with me personally and either hear more about how my life and my family’s life has changed, or ask me any questions you may have, please feel free to call anytime at 817-925-3962. I’d love to connect with you!

[thebrandonhawk]

MAN-KIND: Kindness leads to repentance.

We are called man-KIND for a reason; you were designed to be kind to man (which is YOU).  Yet so often, we are the exact opposite of kind to ourselves. When a part of your body hurts or stops working, do you resent it and reject it? Or do you embrace it and have compassion on it? When you make a mistake, do you mentally beat the crap out of yourself? When you look in the mirror, do you remind yourself of all the things that you’d love to change? Is this hitting with anyone? As human beings, we have the tendency to be SO UNKIND to ourselves! Before you keep reading or dismiss yourself from this topic, stop and take an honest mental evaluation of how often you are unkind to yourself.

Kindness is what leads to repentance. The word “repent” in the New Testament is metanoia, which means to change the way you think. When you start to treat man (YOU) kind, what automatically begins to happen is a change in the way you think. A new way of thinking opens you up to have new experiences, and when you have a new perspective combined with new experiences you get a new world! Now let me ask you a question. How many times have you tried to strong-arm yourself into a different way of thinking? How’s that been working for you?

As a professional tennis player, my body has undergone severe wear and tear. I still remember the day I realized fully just how much damage I had incurred during those years of playing so hard. I was sitting on the table in a doctor’s office staring at x-rays that had just been taken of my knees.  The doctor who was explaining it to me called another doctor into the room and asked him how old he thought the knees in the x-rays were. His answer was 80. I was 33.

If you’re wondering where the tie in is, here it is. For years, I have resented my knees. I’ve felt like they’ve kept me from doing all the things I’ve wanted to and have prevented me from being able to be in the kind of shape I desire. Anytime I would work out, they would ache and I would feel so annoyed that they were flaring up again. Until one day, I did something different. One morning this past may, I got up and before I started my daily work out, I loved on my knees a little. I started rubbing them and telling them how sorry I was that they hurt, that I loved them and I was grateful for them.

I know what you’re thinking. “That sounds insane. I am not going to talk to my body!!!” But, you know what? Something crazy happened. I went to work out after doing that for about 20 minutes, and I had the best work out I’ve had in years!!! It was amazing! Not only that, but I no longer deny the pain or feel like it is something I will just always have to deal with. Treating my knees kindly set me on a path to actively seek the help and attention my body needed to start healing. Since that day, I have made it a practice to show love and compassion to myself when I’m hurting, whether that be emotionally or physically, and it has completely changed my world. Try it. Be outrageously kind to yourself and see what happens!!

It’s time to join the man-KIND movement. Be kind to yourself and your mind will change. When your mind changes, your world transforms. 

[thebrandonhawk]

Are Oreos Controlling Your Life? The Secret to Overcoming Any Struggle!!

What is that thing in your life that you feel like you’ve spent years trying to overcome? You know, the thing that you’ve come up with all sorts of plans and strategies to transcend this habit, but still have never been fully successful. Maybe for you it’s over-eating or an addiction to pornography. Whatever it is, today I’m going to share with you one secret that will bring you more success in beating that behavior/habit than you ever thought possible!!!

 Are you ready for the secret? That pattern/behavior/cycle is NOT YOU. That’s really it. Most of the time people identify their struggle with who they are. If that is your perspective, you’ll never see true, lasting change. Here’s the cycle that perspective creates: emotional trigger ->feel like overeating again -> feel shame for wanting to overeat -> overeat to avoid the feeling of shame -> beat yourself up for overeating again. You can fill in that cycle with whatever your sabotaging habit is, but it plays out the same way. When you associate your struggle with who you are, you handle it with shame avoidance and resistance. Remember this: what you resist persists. If you didn’t get the importance of that by all of the bolding and underlining, go back and read it again!!

 So here’s the key: the way to overcome your struggle is to engage and embrace it FULLY.  Now, before you delete this email and think I’ve lost my mind, I am not saying throw in the towel and go eat three pies or hit up the adult movie store. Here’s what I mean. The reason you continue in the destructive cycle is because you never fully feel the emotion that is driving it. Next time you feel the urge to overeat, or look at pornography or spend money you don’t have, stop for a moment and remind yourself that the urge you’re feeling is NOT YOU. Then ask yourself what you are really feeling. Enter into that emotion fully, embrace it, and follow it all the way to its depth. Did you know that the base of all negative emotion (anger, depression, frustration, numbness) is sadness? Instead of beating yourself up for wanting to look at pornography again, allow yourself to admit that you really feel disconnected with your wife, or you feel incredibly lonely, and really embrace the sadness that is there because of it.  Then take it even one step further, and let someone else into it.

 When you resist those feelings, you continue in patterns you don’t want. But if you’ll really engage your heart and allow yourself to feel those emotions, the energy of those feelings will be released and you will be free to make a different choice!! It’s a very simple, very powerful principle, and if you’ll engage it I promise you will see the freedom you’ve been longing for!! 

[thebrandonhawk]

Breakthrough your block and achieve your goals!!

Hello everyone!

This week I sent one of my clients this thought: “A deep feeler plus a disciplined thought life about SELF equals a life of freedom. A deep feeler plus an undisciplined thought life about SELF equals captivity.” Her story is powerful, and one that I feel so many can relate to and gain insight from, so she’s given me permission to share her response with you.

“For years my thoughts towards myself were very unkind. I was constantly criticizing and berating myself for my failures, flaws and fears. The self-hate I lived in perpetuated a cycle of continued failure. I couldn't understand why I couldn't lose weight, but failed to realize my self talk of  "you are fat, you are such a failure" kept me in captivity. In the process of becoming my best self, I am learning a lot of things. I am learning that I have the power to be who I desire to be. And I am seeing it happen! I feel so fulfilled seeing myself change from the inside out. 

But I am also learning something equally valuable. I am learning to feel love and extend grace and forgiveness to that overweight and powerless women I once was. I can see that she just wanted to be loved. Part of me living out my best self was embracing my past and making peace with myself while I wasn't living at my best. My thoughts towards myself, both past and present, are full of love now. I am embracing myself right where I am, and freedom is mine!!”       

                                                                         -Francesca Hafner

I’d like to add here that Francesca has lost 50 lbs since beginning this journey of becoming her best self! Amazing!!! The key to grab ahold of here is the importance of the story you are telling yourself everyday. If your story doesn’t line up with you dreams and desires, chances are they will feel forever just out of your reach. If you’ve been chasing after something that feels like it continually eludes you, it’s time take a look at what story you are telling yourself in regards to that goal. Does it line up? Are you attempting to lose weight and get healthy, but continually telling yourself you are fat? Are you trying to form deeper heart connections but still telling yourself that no one will ever understand you and you’ll always be alone? The power to achieve your dreams does not lie in modifying your behavior, the power lies in changing your story. Follow in Francesca’s footsteps. Extend yourself some grace and love, and start believing in yourself! You have to power to be who you desire to be, today!

  Keep Living INSPIRED,

Brandon

[thebrandonhawk]

Are you writing hot checks?

Everyone knows that writing a check for more money than you have in your bank account is a huge no-no. Yet, when it comes to your emotional capacity, it seems like giving more than you have available is the norm. Typically, it’s what is expected. In the financial world, a hot check will get you in BIG trouble, and the same is true for your emotional world. So ask yourself, are you writing emotional hot checks?

What most people are used to is getting their cup filled up a little bit, and then pouring whatever they just got into other people. Often we do this because we don’t want to look selfish. But this cycle leaves us continually running on empty. The key to learn here is that there is a difference between being self-ish and being self-full. Being self-FULL means allowing your cup to be completely filled, and then giving whatever runs over the top to others. What is in the cup is for YOU, what overflows from the cup is for everyone else.  Airlines are well aware of this principle. They know that if you do not take care of yourself FIRST when the oxygen masks come down, you will soon be unable to take care of anyone else.

When you first begin to live filling your own cup up all the way first, it will probably create some tension or conflict with the people who are used to you constantly meeting their needs. Often times, giving beyond your capacity is tempting because it temporarily relieves tension. However, there is ALWAYS a cost to giving more than you have to give.  Just like writing a hot check, it will get you into trouble on the back end. Anytime we give out of either obligation or reward, it will always produce negative effects. HOWEVER, if you will stay committed to becoming self-full, people will begin to experience the benefit to you having a full emotional bank account. No more bounced checks!! 

Live INSPIRED,

Brandon

[thebrandonhawk]

You will love the world to the same level that you love yourself.

[thebrandonhawk]

If you love finding stars before they hit it big, then you've gotta check out Rebekah! This is a woman who is on her way!! 

[thebrandonhawk]

Click the link above for a powerful message about where you are aiming your love and energy!

[thebrandonhawk]

What is your BOHAG? *Big Ol' Harry Audacious Goal

[thebrandonhawk]

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about." -Rumi

[thebrandonhawk]

If you've ever felt like you have potential locked up inside you that you just can't seem to access, this video is a MUST WATCH! It's a little long, but I guarantee you will not regret it! It'll be the best decision you made for yourself all day! The world needs whats in YOU, and you need what's in this video!! 

[thebrandonhawk]

Feeling Stuck: How to Create Transformation Now

What is one thing you want to change in your life right now? Why haven’t you been able to change it? Today, I’m going to share with you why change has been so elusive, and then I’m going to show you how to start enacting real, sustainable change in your life TODAY.

In change, there is always momentary discomfort. When you start to transform your body by working out, there are a couple weeks of soreness you have to endure so that physical change can take place. What makes that soreness worth it? It’s the picture of a healthier, more fit you! The picture that you have of yourself in your mind is who you will end up becoming. In other words, what you envision is what you will manifest or become. Without a clear picture of the outcome you desire, you won’t be willing to withstand the temporary discomfort of making that change.

Not transforming into the best version of yourself is not an issue of desire. Everyone has an innate desire to be the best version of themselves. The problem is most lack the catalyst of vision that is needed to enact change. You need a clear picture of who you want to become and what you want your world to look like. Having a clear picture of what it is you are wanting will give you the ability to endure the “soreness” of that change taking place! Clarity is power, so the clearer your vision is, the more powerful it will be.

So, what area of your life do you want transformation in? Is it a relationship, your body, your finances, or maybe an old habit? I challenge you to create a clear, detailed picture of what you want that area to look like, and keep that vision before you! Vision can seem like a lofty, daunting thing, but it’s not. Just start thinking of exactly what you want this specific area of your life to look like, in as much detail as you can! Write it out, or find an actual picture that symbolizes it. Now, put it on your mirror, on your phone, around the house, in your car! Keep that vision constantly in front of you!!  

MOST IMPORTANTLY, don’t give up when you start to experience temporary discomfort and tension. That means something is actually CHANGING. Instead of letting that discourage you, let it inspire you that something different is starting to happen! The picture you have in your mind is starting to break into your current reality! That’s breakthrough!!! So celebrate it, and keep on pushing towards your vision!

[thebrandonhawk]

If you're in need of some dance tips or some laughs, this video is for you!! If you're in need of some transformation and connection in your life, then sign up for the YOU-Training at brandonhawk.com!!!

[thebrandonhawk]

Check out the latest vid!!!

[thebrandonhawk]

Are you Religious?

I define religion as "rules over relationship." It is the moment that preserving rules becomes more important than building relationships. The context in which the Spirit of God works is within the context of relationship. When rules are held in higher regard than relationship, the Spirit begins to be pushed to the margins and control is ushered in. Spirituality always leaves a residue of freedom. Religion leaves a residue of control. From leading a church to raising kids to managing a business, if rules trump relating you'll have an atmosphere of control that will produce a people who are "workers" rather than "lovers." They may work for you, but they will never fully embrace your vision. If relationships trump rules, you will have an atmosphere of freedom that produces lovers rather than workers. When people are truly connected to and feel believed in and a part of something, they produce much more. It allows the blending and merging of passion and creativity that produces something unique, something valuable.

When Jesus walked the earth, he embodied this belief. He healed on the Sabbath, touched the leper, and forgave the woman caught in adultery. 

Have the rules become more important than the relationships? Has what people do become more important than who they are?

[thebrandonhawk]

Competition vs. Cooperation

The new vehicle of success is not competition, it's cooperation.

Competition entails having a winner and a loser. It's derived from a "scarcity" mindset- where there isn't enough to go around. Success comes at the cost of failure for some other person. You feeling like you have to compete with a friend, child, coworker, spouse, or even an enemy is about you not feeling like there is enough for both of you. The byproduct of competition is division, with fear at its core. Growing up in a sports crazed home and then going on to play professional tennis I always felt that I had to win to be successful. This pressure inherent with competition is something that has been incredibly overwhelming and overcoming it has been challenging, but I'm learning to become free of this.

Cooperation is about an "abundance" mindset. There is plenty for all to go around. It is the new avenue for success. It creates unity because love is at its core. Cooperation nurtures because it isn't robbed by the expectation of success. It embraces a unique perspective of success. The result of cooperation is harmony, and this is much more productive both externally and internally. The mindset changes from "How do I overcome and defeat my opponent?" to "How do we partner to create something better, and mutually beneficial?"

When I know that being my best self is enough and that that can't be lost or taken advantage of, it frees me to acknowledge others' strengths and partner with them. There is a security of heart that must be held to truly cooperate. This security rests in knowing that I am unique and have worth and purpose.

It all boils down to knowing that there is enough. There is enough in the world, in your relationships, in your possessions- and, most importantly, you are enough. Until you feel this, you will spend your life competing, trying to preserve what you have, all while missing out on the best parts of life. You can't really root for anybody until you realize that their success doesn't take away yours. 

Live Inspired, 

Brandon