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Last weekend I watched an amazingly fun movie named Limitless. Limitless is a movie that stars Bradley Cooper as an aspiring author whose life is transformed when he is introduced to the drug NZT. NZT is a drug that unleashes the mass potential of the brain causing him to be a intelligent super human.

It is impossible to watch the movie and not want to try NZT. Unfortunately in the real world there isn’t a magic drug that will allow us to be super smart. However there are many things we can do in our real life to help unleash the power of our brains so we can get close to super human as we can without a button looking pill.

5 Ways to get the NTZ Experience in Real Life

1. Exercise: Exercise increases your bloodflow and releases chemicals in the brain that help function. There have been studies that students do better on tests if they exercise in the morning.
2. Meditation: Studies have shown that meditation allows people to consciously have more control of their brain, handle stress better and also have improve test scores.
3. Diet: Having a good diet and feeding your brain allows your brain to be more efficient. Omega-3s, like found in fish oil and flax seeds are very good for your brain.
4. Continual learning: The human body is a machine that gets better with use. That also includes your brain. The more you use your brain, the more your brain will continue to get better and function. The old saying, “You cannot teach an old dog new tricks,” is proving more and more wrong as you should be able to have no problems learning new things all the way into your 70s and maybe beyond with a healthy brain.
5. Positive Thinking: Positive thinking releases joy chemicals in the brain and allows you to use your frontal cortex. Your frontal cortex allows you to be more human than animal and think through situations.

Continue reading »]]> I have to share a video with you that I listened to this weekend. The video is from Brene Brown in the Ted Talks Houston. The talks about her studies on shame and what it means.

One of the greatest points is talk about how to be kind to yourself before you are kind to others. Because you cannot be kind to others and if you are not kind to yourself. Plus the beauty of vulnerability. One of the things I have worked on for many years is being more vulnerable. Sometimes it has been a struggle to break down the walls, however every time I am more vulnerable I celebrate. One of the benefits is each time I get hurt and angry, I get to celebrate me being more vulnerable because before I wouldn’t be vulnerable enough to be hurt or angry. That allows me to go to on to next step and go beyond.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0

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Joy Increasing Action Tip #2:

Take time each day to remember happy thoughts.

You have plenty of times in your past when you have been happy or joyful. There have been times in your life that you have laughed so hard that you almost thought you would never stop. Those times are times to cherish and remember.

When I was in college over 10 years ago, (man has it been that long?), I read a study that stated that there is more long term happiness spending money on going out to dinner with friends than using that same amount of money to purchase an item. That study really surprised me because I thought there would be more long term happiness on the item. Especially if the item was a video game system. Now that I have done some research I understand why that is. When you hang out with friends in a setting that is fun, there are a lot of chemicals that are produced in your brain that create the happy feelings. Every time you remember that dinner with friends, the same chemicals are released in your brain.

That means that when you remember a happy memory, you are giving yourself a shot of happy drugs. For now, these drugs are completely legal and free. All you have to do is remember a happy memory. Spending a few minutes, each day and remembering the happy times will increase your joy with no side effects. Well there might be the side effect of wanting to have more fun with your friends. If you are like me, that has the possible side effect of a hangover.

What is one of your happiest memories?

Continue reading »]]> Spiritual Life Coach Tip: Improve with Improv

Taking Improv classes through Jet City Improv is very beneficial. I am very thankful that I have taken improv classes. I recommend that everyone takes them. You can gain so much from taking improv classes. Before improv classes I was the type of person who the most embarrassing thing that could happen to me is to have someone wave in my direction and I wave back. Then find out that the wave was not meant for me. SO EMBARRASSING!! Improv has allowed me to break out of my shell and let go of embarrassment. Being a fool in front of people was a huge fear of mine. Improv classes is being a fool in front of people for over an hour.

When searching the web I came across a blog, 20 Life Lessons You Can Learn from Improv. I am going to pick out the top five that I really agree with, plus add on that I believe they missed.

Bravery: Public speaking and other events involving standing up in front of a crowd is a common pants-wettingly terrifying experience for many people. Enrolling in a low-key improv class makes for an excellent way to start alleviating some of the anxiety. Considering most involve comedy, the presence laughter also serves as a calming agent. Overcoming a comparatively minor fear such as audiences makes for a nice stepping stone to conquering more serious ones.

Taking improv classes increases bravery. To be in front of a crowd and acting like a fool is scary. Especially when having people think you are a fool is one of your biggest fears. Improv definitely helps with bravery.

Self-expression: Spending enough time in the performing or visual arts not only challenges creativity and imagination, but fosters a heightened ability to express one’s emotions and ideas. Whether making a career in the theatre or clinching a client over drinks, the ability to process (and subsequently convey) what’s going on upstairs is an undeniably essential life skill. One does not have to actually perform improv in front of an audience to reap its personal and interpersonal rewards.

You want to learn how to get your voice heard, improv. Improv is amazing at learning to express yourself. You will allow yourself to be the life of a party if you wish. Better yet, you will be able to speak up during a meeting.

Cooperation: At some point in everyone’s life, they will have to work with other people. Even ones they just plain don’t like. Most improv involves collaborative efforts to get to a desired destination. The ability to work well with a wide variety of individuals is a necessity in all professional and personal spheres, so even those just taking a weekly class at the learning annex will still get something worthwhile out of the experiences.

You learn that the scene is funnier if everyone works together. There can be chances to take control and go for the big laugh. However, if you cooperate you can create a scene that is so amazing that people will swear that you scripted the scene.

Communication: Communication takes long walks along the beach at sunset with self-expression. They have so much in common; it makes sense that the both of them receive similar bolstering from improv performances and classes. Self-expression allows participants to find an outlet for their feelings. Communication makes sure they get to the intended audience clearly. Awww. Don’t they just make the best couple?

Improv helps you learn how to communicate what is on your mind.

Humility: Ditching the ego remains key to getting along well and working successfully with others. For more serious improv artists, they have to face the reality that some audiences just won’t dig their performances. Still others need to make sure everyone on stage (or “stage,” as it were) enjoys their chance to showcase their own talents and ideas. All situations force participants to learn the valuable life lesson of humility and the understanding that sometimes one just needs to sit back and have things not always be about him or her.

Humility is very important in improv as a scene is best when you take what is given to you and use the suggestion in the scene. Learning that your idea isn’t always the best idea can help you go far in life.
Their are 15 more things they learned from improv, however I have two more that I learned.

1. Trust. In improv you have to trust yourself that you are going to come up with the right thing to say. Without that trust your performance will come off very jilted. The important thing to do is to trust the first thing that comes to your mind that will fit the scene. The more you trust yourself in your life the farther you will go. This is the basis of living an inspired life. Trusting the little voice in your head to go for it. The voice of inspiration!

2. Yes and… The basis of improv is, “yes and.” No matter what your partners give you, you accept the suggestion and then build on the suggestion. Imagine living a life where you “yes and” your entire life. You will be free of most of the suffering because you will accept it and build off of the occurrences in your life. “Yes and” is a great representation of self improvement and zen all wrapped into one. In fact it is very enlightening to watch an amazing improv performance. It is like being taken to an amazing world. The high is amazing.

Take an improv class. I dare you! Just kidding. About the dare, not about taking an improv class. You will not regret it. Your life will be better because of taking an improv class. If you live in the Seattle Area, I highly recommend Jet City Improv. The two teachers I had there Douglas Willott and Ian Schempp are two of the most talented people I have met. They should be in movies or at least TV commercials.

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I recently finished reading the book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain and I have never been more excited to exercise. Exercise is one area of my life I have neglected. Turns out that exercise is really good for the brain. When you exercise you will retain information better and will perform better intellectually. It is amazing how the body works. To be at your best, exercise. The book also mentions that you should exercise at high intervals a few times a week to get a real brain boost. I know I am very excited about exercising. I have dedicated my life to making a real difference in this world and now I realize that part of making a difference is exercising.  I highly recommend this book.

Spiritual Life Coach Tip Video Blog

Exercise

Link to You Tube Blog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esyJtoIh51k

Continue reading »]]> One aspect of business writing I have noticed is the enjoyment some people have for dismissing the Law of Attraction in business. I have read a few business blogs that mention that the Law of Attraction does not work in business because you need to do more than sit on your couch wishing for your business to be successful. When I was researching coaching a few years ago I got a book called, “Getting Started in Personal and Executive Coaching,” I remember a passage about coaches mistakenly relying on the Law of Attraction.

Blogs and books that mention not using the Law of Attraction in business are mistaken. The Law of Attraction can be very helpful in business. These authors are mistaking the Law of Attraction for wishful thinking. They make it seem like the Law of Attraction is me sitting on my couch, visualizing what I want and then having the item poof into my existence. This is a pretty decent explanation of the Law of Attraction. The poof into existence part though is not just having the item appear out of nothing. The poof into existence is me taking steps based on inspired actions. The Law of Attraction can be broken down into three parts. They are focusing on what you want, feeling the best you can about what you want and taking the inspired actions. When your thoughts and emotions are lined up with what you want magic happens. This is very helpful if you are an entrepreneur. Working on your own is much easier when you are inspired. When you are inspired you do not have to motivate yourself to do the actions necessary for your business to succeed. They just flow naturally. When you are inspired you are no longer working. Instead your job becomes your play. How is having your job be your play not helpful for your business?

5 tips for starting your business

The thought of starting your business can be very daunting. You want to keep your thoughts and your emotions lined up with what you desire for your business. Here are some processes if you are not feeling into full emotional alignment with your business.

1. Play the “wouldn’t it be nice” game. When first starting a business it is easier to focus on what you do not have instead of looking at what you do have or want for your business. It can be very daunting to look into the future at all of the things you want when you have so little. Tell yourself or write a list of what you want and start each sentence with “Wouldn’t it be nice.” This will help align your emotions into what you want. Just telling yourself what you want could cause you to feel negative emotions, however, you cannot feel the negative emotions when you say, “Wouldn’t it be nice.” How can you argue the fact that “Wouldn’t it be nice” if you had great things happen for your business? You can’t.
2. Positive aspects. Writing down the positive aspects of your chosen business and your ability to perform will focus yourself on what you want and help you feel positive emotions for your goal. When writing down the positive aspects, just write down the positive aspects. Do not justify or apologize for them. Write them down as positive as you can.
3. Scripting. Just like you are a movie producer and your business is your movie, script how it is going to go down. The more emotions and descriptive words you use in your scripting, the more powerful your script will be. You can script what you do each day as you get up and/or you can write one big script on how the next year is going to go. This is a fun exercise.
4. Gratitude. Write a gratitude journal for your business or write down five things you have gratitude about when you wake up. When you focus on gratitude, you are training yourself to focus on what you want and how to feel better about your day. Doing this will help put you in a position to receive inspirations for your business.
5. No plan B. Eliminate your plan B’s. A plan B will only divide your focus into two different directions, with one direction getting the more positive of the focus. Remember the Law of Attraction works with focusing on what you want and feeling great about what you want. When you have a plan B your positive focus is on plan B because you believe that plan B can happen. When you have a plan B you are going to attract plan B into your reality. Instead of inspirations happening for your business, they will happen for your plan B. I’m not saying you should quit your day job. Make having a day job while you are building your business part of plan A.

5 tips for keeping in the flow

Once you feel great about your business it is ideal to keep yourself in the flow. Events will happen and sometimes those events will cause you to feel negative emotions about your business. Here are five easy Law of Attraction tips that will help you keep in the flow for your business. Spending a few minutes each day on one or more of these tasks will help you stay in that positive flow.

1. Celebrate your victories. Sometimes it is too easy to look at what is going wrong with your business. When you celebrate your victories you will keep focus on what is going right about your business. Remember, if you celebrate every little thing then your life will be one big celebration. Also celebrating is fun and feels good.
2. Future celebration letter. You do not have to wait for the positive event to happen to celebrate it. When you know what you want you can celebrate it before it even comes to you. Send a friend a celebration letter for your business from the future. It is a good idea to tell your friend beforehand. Make this friend a future celebration buddy. Send each other celebration letters back and forth and amazing things will happen.
3. Affirmations. Affirmations best serve you when you are already feeling good. Creating affirmations for your business when you are already in the flow will help you stay within the flow. Plus you will be focusing yourself on the you that you know you are. You will reprogram your brain for success while feeling great.
4. Visualize your ideal business. Visualization also works better when you are already feeling good about your business. When you visualize while you feel in the flow you will not feel the negative emotion that can happen when you are not feeling at your best. Also visualization is much more fun when you are feeling in the flow of your business.
5. Rampage of Appreciation. Rampages of appreciation are one of the most fun things you can do to help your business. The rampages of appreciation are based on two parts. The first part is the appreciation. You talk to yourself, a mirror or a friend about what you appreciate about your business. What do you love about doing your business? How does it feel when you connect to your customers? Say all of them that come to your mind. The second part is the rampage. This is an explosion of appreciation. Keep going for a few minutes mentioning all of the aspects of your business that you appreciate. Project out the positive feelings the best you can. The more you rampage the better you feel. When you finish your body will be buzzing with pleasure about your business.

These ten tips are just a small sample on how the Law of Attraction can help your business. After you go through the processes you will notice that you will get ideas about your business. The follow through with these ideas will be easier than you have ever experienced. You will change your perspective from motivating yourself through a fear of failure to inspiring yourself with the joy of fun. Your business success will improve and you will enjoy doing it. Remember, life, even the business aspect of it,is meant to be enjoyed.

Continue reading »]]> Here is an article that I wrote six months ago. This article fits really well with my Law of Attraction series. This article is about the beginnings of my career as a spiritual life coach. Spiritual Life coaching has changed my life for the better. Thinking big is a wonderful example on how changing my focus on what I desire has changed my perspective. I went from having almost no ideas on how to grow my business to having many ideas. I hope you enjoy my article.

Spiritual Life Coach Brett Dupree Presents: Learn from my mistake and Think BIG

While reading Michele Pariza Wacek’s article 3 Simple Steps to Taking a Quantum Leap in Your Biz, about how to grow your business fast, I had a realization. When I read the first point, “think big” it dawned on me that when it came to my coaching business not only was I not thinking big and going the slow route, I was planning on struggling.

In my research before I decided to become a life coach, I read that there were two different types of coaches, business coaches and life coaches. If I wanted to make money, I would have to be a business coach because they could earn over $1000 an hour. As a life coach, I would be doing well if I earned $150 an hour and would probably top off at $40000 a year.
I did end up making the decision to go for it and become a life coach, however I did not jump in all the way. This is not surprising, because in my current career I was making as much as I was planning on making when I reached the wage ceiling of life coaching. I felt that life coaching was my calling; however the fire was not there no matter how much I told myself it was. The amazing part is not only did I struggle to create my business; I struggled beyond my imagined struggle. Clients who I thought would work with me, did not want to work with me. I would sign up family members to build my experience and they would not want to continue after the first session. I was flabbergasted as to why I was struggling so much.

As I read Wacek’s article it dawned on me that I was struggling because I planned to struggle. Not only that, I am such a powerful creator that I created more struggle then I ever imagined. I asked for and received a struggling life coaching business. Even if by the grace of God Oprah gave me a magical referral and I became rich and famous, with my current belief system I would eventually bring myself back down to the $40000 a year struggling life coaching business.

Well no longer. It is time for me to start dreaming big. I am going to be putting all the Law of Attraction lessons I have learned towards my business. I can feel the energy shifting for me righ

t now as I now imagine myself living a very comfortable life as a six-figure coach

Thinking big is already getting me:

1. More room to grow my business. Before when I imagined a struggling coaching business the feeling and thought behind the business was confining. The choices of actions to take to grow the business seemed to be so important because there was only so much I could handle. By thinking big the thought of my business is expanding. A $40000 a year coach only does so much; a successful six-figure coach can do anything.

   

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2. To follow up on opportunities. Being a small time coach meant that the opportunity would just lead to being a small time coach. The excitement to follow up just was not there. Now I am following up on many more opportunities and actively pursuing clients. I am going to get my hours and get my certification with the ICF because that is a stepping stone to something great.
3. To notice more opportunities. Thinking small programs my brain to think small. My unconscious mind would not notice when opportunity was knocking at my door. I now allow opportunities to come on in.To accept success. Thinking like a $40000 a year coach would only allow me to accept being a $40000 a year coach. Chances are it would allow me to be an $8000a year coach wishing to be a $40000 a year coach.
4. More ideas then I have ever imagined. I have had more ideas to grow my business in the last two months than I have had in the previous two years.
5. To know that failure is not such a big deal. When thinking small each failure was huge, because so much hinged on each idea. When thinking big, each failure is just a stepping stone and allows me to learn what does not work or how to make it work. I am putting the saying, “Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn,” to work.

If you are in a similar position, I invite you to take this leap with me. Think big and notice what shifts inside of you. Imagine your business as more successful than you imagined it to be yesterday and notice what that does for you. You will gain amazing insights into the growth of your business. You and I both will be looking back a year from today surprised at how much has changed.

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Continue reading »]]> The Law of Attraction has many amazing aspects that work well with living in your daily life. In my path as a spiritual life coach, I use many of them every day. I work to deepen them and learn the lessons that come from them. The Law of Attraction is not only a good law to manifest what you want, it is also a good way to learn lessons on how to live your life. This is one of the blogs that discusses how I put the Law of Attraction into action in my daily life.

Spiritual Life Coach Tip on Law of Attraction: Listening to the Whispers

As mentioned in the previous blog on the Law of Attraction, the Law of Attraction is the most effective when you are living your life through inspiration. Living your life through inspiration means that you have let go of the resistance to what you desire, thus bringing your desire into your reality. What does it mean to live your life through inspiration?

Inspiration is when you are listening to that little voice in the back of your mind. It is the whisper of consciousness that you interpret. Generally you interpret the stream of consciousness through a voice, which is why I call it a whisper. This whisper is your higher self, source, the Universe, God, and even your subconscious communicating with you. The whisper is of a greater consciousness than you are experiencing on a daily basis. The whisper understands more about the world around you than you do consciously. When you listen to the whisper and do the actions of the whisper then you are acting on inspiration.

Train yourself to listen to the whispers.

To be able to listen to the whispers, you have to be in a state where you are of little resistance. This can be either without thought or full of positive thoughts. That is why when you meditate sometimes you get thoughts you would never have before. Another time is when you are about to sleep. You have probably noticed that sometimes when you are half asleep you get an amazing idea or solution to a problem you have been facing. Sometimes the message comes when you are asleep and then when you wake up, you notice that you have had this amazing idea.

The message does not have to come when you are asleep. The more you are feeling joyful and thinking positive thoughts the more times you will experience listening to the whispers. Soon the whispers will be a stream of consciousness that you listen to all of the time.

Joyful Transition

Sometimes when you are done with your current position in life you can hear the whispers starting. You may be done with your current vocation or relationship. Sometimes there is a lesson for you to learn. For me it was letting go. This is when listening to the whispers allows for a joyful transition. The whispers will come when you are stagnate and when it is time to expand beyond who you currently believe you to be. When the whispers first occur they will be subtle. The more you ignore the whispers the louder they will become. They will get louder until you are feeling the serious discord between who you are and who you know yourself to be.
Training yourself to listen to the whispers will allow you to go through a joyful transition as you are always becoming what you have already grown into.

What has been your loudest whisper?