Breakthrough cancelled…don’t we like inspiration?
Or perhaps, the politics of media shut it down. The number of viewers was just too low for NBC prime time. Don’t let that stop you from getting the inspiration from the first two episodes, available on Hulu and through the Breakthrough Insider website.
One of Tony’s big reasons for creating this series (besides trying to change the lives of whoever watched), was to remake reality TV. He wanted something inspirational and positive rather than highlighting crazy drama or contests where the meanest guy stays on the island. The shows that did air definitely depicted a story of overcoming real world adversity – but apparently, that isn’t the drama that the larger population seeks.
Maybe it’s just too hard to take advice from a man who really seems to have it all. Are we jealous?
Maybe we don’t have time for feel-good stories – not with all the magical feel-good movies out there at our fingertips. Our lives are too complicated to sit down and watch something like that on a schedule anyway. I know I didn’t sit down in the evening to watch – I picked it up on Hulu later.
Perhaps we believe that we don’t really need it. Our lives aren’t bad enough yet to have to bring in the big guns.
Why were the numbers so low?
What do you think?
Tony talks about the change on his blog, including a promise to air the remaining four episodes at another time. He seems positive to me, excited about where it went, a little frustrated, and willing to keep the momentum. Click the image below to hear his comments for yourself.
Breakthrough with Tony Robbins tonight on Prime Time
Tony Robbins is going on Prime Time TV tonight ( NBC 8/7CST), in the first of six episodes that teach you how to transform your life in ways that you never thought possible. The show features people that struggle with problems so overwhelming that their lives are in ruins – and they don’t see any way out. The challenge for Tony? To turn them around within 30 days. And the even bigger challenge – to show you how to turn your life around too.
I’ve listened to Tony on and off for years now. He’s intense, committed, genuine and interested in helping everyone live a life filled with passion – at least, in my opinion. Everytime I listen, I think of how many friends, clients and family members I want to listen also – to hear his ideas, his theories, his calls to action, his tools for transformation and self discovery. Now, you can, free on TV.
There’s even an after-show program. Outtakes, behind the scenes, how it applies to your life. You can find all of that on the Breakthrough Insider website. Go there now and watch a series of trailers about the show and about Tony. See the advance praise already pouring in. Who knows? Maybe he can help change your life too.
Gluten isn’t all bad and other stories on Examiner.com
I posted a couple of stories on my examiner column today – both referring to articles from Gaiam Life. The first one rips apart your excuses for refusing to exercise (or at least building your muscles). Time and equipment are no longer an acceptable issue!
The other one refers to an article that talks about the real problems with gluten – and it isn’t gluten.
Enjoy!
You are the master of you…what will you choose?
Inspiration. Energy. Touch. Power.
I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized.
- Goethe
Isn’t that amazing?
Our choices change our whole world, whether or not we think about it. The change might be small, a subtle shift, but it is there. How we think about the weather, about people around us, about politics, love, the experience of rush hour – all within our control. You hold the key to empowerment – for yourself AND, to a degree, for the people around you. Will you be the inspiration?
June 24 is Celebrate Your Senses Day! Let’s make it a month…
This just in: June 24th is Celebrate Your Senses Day!
So, we missed it. It seems that letting it extend for the rest of the month doesn’t seem like a bad idea…or maybe it could encompass the entire month of June! Five more days to celebrate. Ready to dive in?
The five senses aren’t just for kids any more – remember how fun that was in elementary school? Learning about touch, sight, smell, taste, sound? You got to eat raisins, right there in class! Well, it’s even better now. Adults use another word that encompasses the senses: sensuality.
Here’s a definition to get you started (Merriam Webster):
Sensual:
1 a : of or relating to the senses or sensible objects
b : producing or characterized by gratification of the senses : having strong sensory appeal (sensuous pleasure)
2 : characterized by sense impressions or imagery aimed at the senses (sensuous verse)
3 : highly susceptible to influence through the senses
Sensual stimulus is our connection with our entire world. Most everything we know, feel, understand, and struggle with comes through our senses, including pain and pleasure. Starting to get it? Sure, you learned about the senses when you were young, but how often do you actually pay attention to them?
And, if we’re taking in all those sensory signals anyway, why not allow ourselves to really enjoy it?
Try this (after reading, of course): Close your eyes. Sit back or lie down. What do you hear? Notice the little sounds, or even the buzz in the silence. What do you smell? Cleaning supplies…oh, try it again when you go outside. What do you taste? What does the chair feel like against your body? Then, open your eyes, letting the light and color around you spill in. See if you can see the color before you actually know what it is…
Now, allow yourself to go deeper into the experience. Do it now, or wait until you can try it somewhere else. Close your eyes again. Imagine sinking into that chair, that bench, that patch of grass you found, as if your body becomes fused with it. Bring your attention back to the sounds, tastes, smells and let them fuse into your body as well. Experience them as things that can be felt and examined in a sensory way – as if they can be picked up, turned over, observed. What color are they? What texture? Pick the most interesting ones and examine them through each of your senses again – what color and texture is that dog’s bark? What do those clouds smell like? Taste like? Then, when you open your eyes, let the world flood you again, as if the colors and shapes are coming into you rather than you going out to see them.
(If you’ve seen Fantasia, it’s a bit like that. Letting the sounds become colors and motion and images that carry you deeper into the experience.)
If you have extra time to play with this, take it, but this little adventure doesn’t need to take long. Remember, all of this sensory input is already happening – you are just taking a moment to notice, and process, more consciously. Slowing it down, just a smidge. Paying attention.
Then try it again the next time you eat, especially with that first slow bite (not as fun if you don’t like the food, but still, you can). Try it when you wake up in the morning, opening your eyes and letting the shapes and colors blearily in, without trying to figure out where you are or what they are. And especially try it the next time you make love, one of the most sensual – and ecstatic – experiences of them all.
So, for the rest of month, celebrate your senses. Not just cold, sweet ice cream with a cherry on top, summer afternoon children sounds, and the transition from extreme heat to air-conditioned lobbies but also the muscles and curves of the human form, light kisses on the back of your neck, and the pleasure of your sexual ecstasy.
Special thanks to the Salt Lake City Parenting Examiner for pointing out such a marvelous day (check out her sense games for kids – and don’t be afraid to make up your own). If like the idea of kisses on the back of your neck, you might enjoy this article on lesser known erogenous zones by the Modern Love Examiner. And lastly, be sure to check out the synonyms for sensuous on Merriam Webster, which I’ve included for your reading pleasure below:
Synonyms:
- SENSUOUS, SENSUAL, LUXURIOUS, VOLUPTUOUS mean relating to or providing pleasure through gratification of the senses.
- SENSUOUS implies gratification of the senses for the sake of aesthetic pleasure (the sensuous delights of great music) .
- SENSUAL tends to imply the gratification of the senses or the indulgence of the physical appetites as ends in themselves (a life devoted to sensual pleasures).
- LUXURIOUS suggests the indulgence of sensuous pleasure inducing bodily ease and languor (a luxurious hotel).
- VOLUPTUOUS implies more strongly an abandonment especially to sensual pleasure (a voluptuous feast).
Life is hard. Keep choosing joy!
Navigating the Waves
In the past couple of months, five people I know have died. Three of natural causes, two suicides. Some of them very close – my spiritual mentor for one, the others I liked, worked with, and shared company. Around me, friends and clients have lost loved ones as well, more than I have ever really noticed before.
Death is so often one of the big tragedies we face in life – and still there are so many others big difficulties: Financial struggles, relationships falling apart, serious injury, crime, bad days. We are emotional roller coasters, changing moods in an instant, over little things, big things, nothing at all. Going from depressed and downtrodden to happy and inspired happens in an instant – and goes in both directions.
It turns out, life is hard. Really hard sometimes. And as we get older, the hard parts tend to pile up – the days of innocence become nostalgic memories, replaced by responsibility, loss, worries. It can be easy to fall beneath that wave, churning and flailing in a big mean ocean. More difficult is realizing the choice we have.
Every single moment, we are making a choice, consciously or unconsciously. To live fully or not. To embrace the sheer sensual ecstasy of our existence or not. Sure, there are always degrees to that choice. Living fully might be angry, mourning, or melancholy sometimes. Once you’ve done that though, get back to the joyful part, the inspiration, the hope, the love. Celebrate what you have, who you are, your hopes and the unexpected mystery of whatever comes next.
Keep your head above the water! Remember, you do have a choice.
Share your thoughts..