You Are Heroic with Brian Johnson

Continuing our Harry Potter theme, let's explore how to deal with dementors in your life. Recall that dementors are big, ugly, wraith-like creatures that feed on and suck all the happiness out of you. And, if they're feeling really feisty, they'll give you a kiss that sucks your soul right out of you. (Yikes!) Also recall that there's a special way to deal with these foul creatures. It's called the Patronus Charm. Here's how Professor Lupin describes it to Harry in The Prisoner of Azkaban: "The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the dementor feeds upon — hope, happiness, the desire to survive — but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the dementors can't hurt it. But I must warn you, Harry, that the charm might be too advanced for you. Many qualified wizards have difficulty with it." Harry wonders what the Patronus looks like and Lupin tells him that "each one is unique to the wizard who conjures it." How do you conjure it? Well, Lupin tells us: "With an incantation, which will work only if you are concentrating, with all your might, on a single, very happy memory." So… Dementors feed on our happiness. And, if we allow them to, they will suck our very souls out of us. Sounds a lot like depression, eh? Indeed it does. Fighting dementors requires magic that even many qualified wizards have difficulty with. Alas, so it is with depression. The charm? We must concentrate WITH ALL OUR MIGHT on a single, very happy memory. Yep. That does the trick with depression as well. We know that the mind can't simultaneously hold both the depressed and happy thoughts. But we must be fierce in our resolve and concentrate WITH ALL OUR MIGHT if we want to win the battle when the dementors glide into our daily lives. Eating, moving and sleeping well help, too. So does training your ability to focus WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT via a meditation practice. Oh. And deep breathing helps as well — flips the old switch from the fight-or-flight response (which dementors love) to a relaxation response (which they don't like so much). Back to Harry. The specific incantation we powerfully speak as we focus on that happy memory? "EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!" Which reveals another key facet to fighting the dementors: We must expect that our efforts will work. All that leads to a wonderful creature flowing out of your wand and standing between you and the dementor. As Lupin says, it's different for each of us. For Harry it was a stag. For Hermione it was an otter. What's yours? (Mine's a lion.) Today's +1. Got any dementors gliding around in your life? Focus WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT on what's awesome in your life. KNOW that you can protect yourself from them. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!" P.S. If you have a bad encounter with a dementor, Rowling tells us that the best way to recover is to eat some chocolate. (Hah! Science agrees that chocolate does boost our mood but let's just make sure we limit it to 1 ounce per day and make sure it's 80%+ dark chocolate. Too much sugar DOES NOT help the cause.) P.P.S. Remember the epic stag Harry created to fight off the 100+ dementors near the end of The Prisoner of Azkaban? Hermione couldn't believe he could do that. Even HARRY couldn't believe it. But… Because of Hermione's handy dandy time turner, Harry had actually ALREADY SEEN himself do it. As he said in disbelief: "I knew I could do it this time, because I'd already done it ... Does that make sense?" Which reveals yet another scientifically-proven piece of wisdom. Recalling prior success is one of the fastest ways to boost your self-efficacy in the moment. So… Let's add that to the mix. Focus WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT on what's awesome in your life. KNOW that you can protect yourself from them. Recall a time in the past when you successfully faced down your biggest challenges and give me a big ol' "EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!" Nicely done! What a beatiful Patronus!

In No Mud, No Lotus, Thich Nhat Hanh tells us that suffering is a part of life. You can't create a beautiful lotus flower without some stinky mud. As he says, lotuses don't grow in marble. And… You can't create a happy, flourishing life without some suffering. That's just how it is. We need to embrace that reality. In fact, Thay (as he's known to his students) tells us that a big part of happiness is learning how to "suffer well." We want to quit making our suffering worse than it needs to be. To bring the point home, the Buddha shared a story about two arrows. The first arrow strikes you and it hurts. But, if a second arrow hits you in the exact same spot, the pain won't just double, it'll go up TEN fold. (Ouch!) But, here's the deal. WE are the ones shooting ourselves with that second arrow. How? By complaining about it, wishing it didn't happen, moping around, etc. In Self-Compassion, Kristin Neff tells us the same thing in a slightly different way. She tells us that pain is inevitable in life but that suffering is a function of how much we resist that pain. She shares an equation: Suffering = Pain x Resistance. Pain happiness. Our suffering is a function of how much we resist it. Shoot ourselves with that second arrow and suffering goes up exponentially. So, let's not do that. Today's +1. Got any challenges in your life right now? Are you shooting yourself with a second arrow? If so, stop. Let's accept that suffering is a part of life and remember: No mud, no lotus.

Optimize: https://optimize.me/ (← Get Free Stuff + Free 2-Week Trial!) Optimize Coach: https://optimize.me/coach (← Join 2,000+ Optimizers from 70+ Countries!) Here are 5 of my favorite Big Ideas from "The Art of Connection" by Michael Gelb. Hope you enjoy! Michael Gelb is one of the world's leading creativity teachers. He's also a qi gong and aikido master who wrote one of my favorite books: "How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci." In this book, he teaches us the art of creating connection. Big Ideas we explore include how to optimize our ability to connect (practice with the little moments!), The Pygmalion Effect (aka the self-fulfilling prophecy), the importance of centering for conflict resolution, and how our addiction to digital devices (ADD) is leading to attention deficit disorder (ADD) which is leading to troubles in connecting and what to do about it. Get book here: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Connection... Connect: http://michaelgelb.com/ PhilosophersNote: https://www.optimize.me/philosophers-... More goodness like this: https://www.optimize.me/membership/?r...

​​In our last +1, we explored the analytics of American farting behaviors and compared that to the even more prolific Facebook-liking behaviors. (Laughing.) Today, we're going to explore the subject of farts a little more.​ ​​A particular, shall we say, spicy variety of farts.​​ Spiritual farts. ​​Yes, spiritual farts. ​​What are spiritual farts, you ask?

This book started out as a blog post by Carolyn Gregoire based on Scott Barry Kaufman's work that went viral: 18 Things Highly Creative People Do Differently. Scott is one of the world's leading creativity researchers. Carolyn is a senior writer at the Huffington Post. Together, they wrote a great little book on the mysteries of the creative mind. Big Ideas we explore include: the fact that creativity is a messy business (embrace complexity!), the power of walking for daydreaming (all the cool philosophers do it!), creating a nice home for your genius to visit (she's got the magic!), creating again and again (and again), unitask rather than multitask (unless you want to atrophy the best part of your brain), and STAMP your life with your own personality (but only if you want to be great … and happy!).

Optimize: https://optimize.me/ (← Get Free Stuff + Free 2-Week Trial!) Optimize Coach: https://optimize.me/coach (← Join 2,000+ Optimizers from 70+ Countries!) Here are 5 of my favorite Big Ideas from "The Happiness Track" by Emma Seppälä. Hope you enjoy! Emma Seppälä is the science director of Stanford's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. She also has a popular blog called Fulfillment Daily. In this great little book, she walks us through the latest scientific research on everything from resilience, willpower and compassion to positive stress, creativity, and mindfulness. Big Ideas we explore include how to find fulfillment (hint: it's in this moment—right now!), how to skillfully surf stress waves, the most powerful lever to optimize your mind (hint: your breath), how to succeed in failure Jack Ma style, and the science of compassion. Get book here: https://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Trac... Connect: https://emmaseppala.com/ PhilosophersNote: https://www.optimize.me/philosophers-... More goodness like this: https://www.optimize.me/membership/?r...

Epictetus told us that we don't always get to pick the position we have in life. Our job is to make sure we play that role well. Specifically, he said: "Remember that thou art an actor in a play of such a kind as the teacher (author) may choose; if short, of a short one; if long, of a long one: if he wishes you to act the part of a poor man, see that you act the part naturally; if the part of a lame man, of a magistrate, of a private person, (do the same). For this is your duty, to act well the part that is given to you; but to select the part, belongs to another." James Stockdale personified this wisdom when he found himself in a prisoner of war camp as the clandestine, commanding officer of what became hundreds of soldiers. He didn't choose that role. But he did choose to play that given part as well as he possibly could. Viktor Frankl echoed this wisdom. In the midst of his own experience in the horrors of a concentration camp, he chose to play his role well and told us: "The meaning of our existence is not invented by ourselves, but rather detected." Thankfully, most of us will never experience those types of extremes. Yet, we may perceive ourselves to be "stuck" in a life that's not entirely our choosing or with responsibilities we may sometimes wish we didn't have. That's a very good time to bring this wisdom to mind. And choose to act well the given part. So… Today's +1. What part have you been asked to play by the ultimate director of life? Are you playing it well? What's one little way you can boost your performance today? P.S. Martin Luther King, Jr. has some wisdom on the subject as well. He says: "Be an artist at whatever you do. Even if you are a street sweeper, be the Picasso of street sweepers!"

I created 25 classes before we got to money/wealth/etc. That was deliberate. (Virtue for the win!) And… It was fun to create this class and share my thoughts on how to create true wealth. First idea? We've gotta remember that the Ultimate Currency/the reason we do *anything* is to be Happy. Therefore, we want to run our pursuit of material abundance through that lens. Then we talk about how to become psychologically wealthy (billionaires, baby!) (and look at how to Optimize your balance sheet), redefine economics from a spiritual plane and then… We talk about how to make and enjoy some more money. The theme? Wealth thru Profound Service. We talk about investing in the best stock on the market: You, Inc. And, we integrate Cal Newport's Passion + Craftsman mindsets with what I call a "Servant" mindset for a new hedgehog-like concept plus we look at Ray Dalio's 5 Steps to Getting What You Want in Life model—which is super powerful, kinda like WOOP by an uber-practical genius. Plus some other goodness I hope you enjoy!

Dave Asprey is a fascinating guy. He's a professional bio-hacking machine whose publicly-stated goal is to live to 180. We covered his last book called The Bulletproof Diet and our kitchen's pantry is filled with a bunch of his Bulletproof products. In this book, he unveils his best bio-hacks for, as the sub-title suggests, "activating untapped brain energy to work smarter and think faster." Big Ideas we explore: Your brain on energy, kryptonite dust (what're yours?), mitochondria (one QUADRILLION!), EZ water (how to drop into that spot between a gas and a liquid), and junk light.

In our last +1 we talked about Isaac Newton and his First Law of Motion. Recall the basics: An object at rest will stay at rest. An object in motion will stay in motion. Today I'd like to look at the fine print of that Law. Let's dust it off and read the whole thing again. *unfurls parchment* "An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by some outside force." Oh! We missed the last part in our last +1. "… an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by some outside force." So, for example, if I start doing some Deep Living (whether that's Working or Connecting), I'll keep on doing some Deep Living UNLESS I'm "acted upon by some outside force." What outside force could possibly act upon me? Hmmm… Maybe a push notification? Or an email alert? Or simply having your smartphone in sight? (Hah.) This is why, if we really want to take advantage of the power of Newton's First Law, we need to put ourselves in a Deep Living bubble, remove all the potential "outside forces" that'll kill our momentum, and go Deep! Today's +1. Make Newton proud. Let's create some distraction-free momentum.