If you're anything like the rest of us, you're trying to create more wealth and success in your life. More wealth and success means you can make a bigger difference in the world and the lives of others. At the same time you can taste more of what life has to offer. 

I coach and teach small business owners and professionals in workshops, a mastermind, and my private coaching practice. The only significant difference I see between those who create results and those don't is how they handle and manage worry, doubt, and fear - their internal resistance. We all deal with these elements of our humanity. How we relate with them determines the results we're capable of creating.

 My life works in themes. A few days ago a close friend of mine messaged me to share that during a meditative and contemplative time, the darkness visited her and told her it loved her. She said that the darkness told her that it was pure love, just like the light. She made peace with the darkness from that visit. What a powerful visit it was. 

Have you ever noticed that there's a voice in your head, almost like another person is speaking to you? Do you notice that most times you aren't thinking, but thoughts are happening whether you try to think or not? One of the most liberating days of my life was when I realized that I am not always the thinker of the thoughts, but I am the observer of those thoughts. 

I realized that I can either pay attention to every thought or just let them go, unless it's one I really want to play with. 

That means that I ultimately get to decide the tone, quality, and overall amount of mental processing at any time. This is true for you too. 

There's no one who makes simple things harder than me. I laugh at how many times I've take super simple concepts that were working, added a bunch of complexity, watched my gains slow to a crawl, then finally figured out that I've made things harder than they needed to be. 

Here's a great example. In 2016 life as I knew it crashed and burned. I hit the reset on every aspect of my life - my health, wealth and how I showed up in all of my relationships.

As we close out 2021 and turn the page to the next chapter, it's important to reflect and take inventory before we keep sprinting forward. And that's what most - who are achievement oriented - are doing, sprinting. 

Let's take a second to collect ourselves and get clear about how to move forward in a satisfying, adventurous, and fulfilling way. That requires looking to the past, the present, and the future.

Teaching about mindset has been a staple in my personal and professional development business. As you realign the way you analyze the world, the world you see changes before your very eyes - like magic. 

One of my favorite influencers is Dr. Wayne Dyer, who passed away in 2015. Dr. Dyer wrote many books and held seminars around the world. For me the power of his teachings boil down to a single amazing quote that he has become famous for saying: "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." This is the power of mindset taught in a very profound, succinct message.

I've never, ever said these words to any prospect, client, or even my children. To me, these words are repulsive. The word work represents doing something you'd rather not do. People in the United States have an average lifespan of 78.8 years. The universe is approximated to be about 13.8 billion years old, so needless to say, we live a relatively short period of time. 

Over the past few weeks, my speaking engagements, coaching sessions and problem solving has really gotten back to the basics. What are the basics? Mindfulness. The universe is really trying to tell me something. The basics are not basic. Mindfulness is the foundation for a life well-lived, and is the teaching that is most needed in the world. 

So here we go!

Let me begin by saying this article is not about sex. Sure, sex is a form of intimacy, but sex and intimacy are not synonymous. Sex can be intimate, and sex can be superficial. 

Real intimacy is never superficial. I spent decades of my life in superficial relationships - with my friends, my employers, even my wife. When I was always left wanting a deeper connection with everyone, I began to understand and experience real intimacy. This takes courage.

Let me explain what it is.

This week I ran across a bit of wisdom that really struck a chord with me. The graphic read "You should have three hobbies: one which makes you money, one which keeps you fit, and one which allows you to be creative." This concept really connected with me because it feels like my business is a hobby,  I enjoy and look forward to my daily workouts, and I love to write and record podcasts. It feels like my life is bouncing from hobby to hobby. 

In this blog I wanted to dive into each of these areas a little deeper. 

A few times per week I'm asked about what a mastermind is, how a mastermind works, or even if I could send more details about my mastermind. I've never had the details all in one place, so in this blog I'm taking the opportunity to outline the workings of a powerful mastermind. Here's a summary of what you're going to read below:  "If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together." - African Wisdom

After reading, if you're interested in joining a journey with The Happy Millionaire Mastermind Community, email me at mike@livesoulout.com and I'd be happy (see what I did there?) to set up a time to share more!

The folks I work with are looking for freedom. For most of the business owners I engage with on a daily basis, the word freedom feels like, well, freedom. Basically they're looking for a way to take complete control of their lives and their circumstances. 

I work with many super wealthy and successful people, but many of them aren't happy. Money and success do not take away their happiness, but there's a science to creating wealth and success and there's an art to creating joy and happiness. 

For most of my life I allowed worry, doubts and fear suffocate me and crush my dreams. The weight of my mind and emotions became so heavy that everything eventually collapsed - including my health, income, and my family. 

That's when I realized that I had nothing figured out, and I got the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start all over. Lucky for me I had some financial reserves to fall back on while I took time to reset everything, and the new me is so much more peaceful, powerful, and prosperous than the old me. I now have internal joy and love to share with my family, friends and clients. 

A long time ago a mentor told me that teaching the basics of human growth and development creates wealth and success, but that I'd be tempted to teach advanced topics and neglect the basics. 

He was completely right. My wife Angie and I were having a discussion this week and I recalled my mentors words. I realized that I don't teach enough on the most basic wisdom for why people grow or remain stuck - the infinite power of the subconscious mind. 

I've got a close friend who is very wealthy and successful, and he also just happens to be the most loving and caring person I know as well. If you're around him long enough you'll eventually hear him say this:

"You can have anything you want in this world."

When I first me him and he told me this I thought he was nuts. Anything I want? That just seemed like crazy-talk. 

The problem is that over the 5 years I've known him he's proven it true over and over. Seeing this with my own eyes forced me to reflect and understand what I've been doing wrong in life to sometimes get what I want - and sometimes not.

Do you listen to that internal voice that is constantly whispering to get your attention?

I would guess that if you're like most, you're so caught up in the drama, conflicts, and challenges of life and business that you rarely stop and quiet your mind long enough to hear your internal guidance. For 43 years I was oblivious to what it was saying, and even when I heard it, I ignored it. 

That internal whisper holds the key to new levels of wealth, success, and happiness. All you need to do is sit still and pay attention long enough to listen to what it is trying to tell you. 

I shifted from a disastrous life to a beautiful life because of one word: trust. 

I know it's hard to believe, but everything changed when I decided to trust myself, trust my talents, trust my intuition, trust my desires, and most importantly, to trust life. 

Years later, learning to trust has shown me that life is not hard - it's lack of trust in life that makes life so difficult. 

I didn't understand when I was in the midst of it, but I've made everything harder than it needed to be. When things were easy, I questioned the legitimacy of the circumstances, and when I was rewarded for being successful I felt that I needed to punish myself more in order to justify the rewards. 

Without knowing why I was doing it, the more successful and the more money I made, the more I caused myself more pain. 

It wasn't until everything collapsed under the weight of my self-imposed punishment that I understood why:

I glorified struggle and things that were hard. Easy wasn't valuable. If it wasn't hard it wasn't worth doing. 

That's just pure insanity. 

Not everyone is growth oriented, and if you're not, you don't need to be in order to be ok. You're perfectly fine as you are. If you are growth oriented, you're not better than those who are, you're just different. 

It's critical we state that up-front so that we are in alignment. No one on the face of this planet is better or more significant than anyone else - we're just all living our own journey and we're all doing the best we can. 

You can't reject yourself to higher states of wealth, success, and happiness, so let's just accept each other as we are. 

We are only born with two fears: the fear of falling, and the fear of loud noises. The rest of the worries, fears, and doubts you experience and carry around with you have been learned during the course of your life. 

In other words, you are carrying around a bunch of stories in your mind and in your belief system which are limiting your sense of aliveness.