mindful mondays

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been an optimistic, positive, and confident person.

Maybe I was born with it.
Maybe it was nurture.
It was probably a little of both.

My mindset is what made me begin to question whether or not our souls actually have multiple experiences because there are some things that I can look back and see that I’ve always known that no one teaches. I wonder how I have always known that my mind has a tremendous impact on my life experiences.

Maybe I gained this in previous lives and carried it into this one.

Or, maybe not.

It doesn’t matter to me. I’ve been fortunate to navigate my entire life by using the power of my mind to create and design the life I get to live. And for most of my life, I did this without realizing I was doing it and without tools that make it easier.

Meditation.
Journaling.
Visualization.
Breathwork.

I didn’t discover and start using these tools until I was in my late 30’s

I have no complaints about the life that I have lived to this point. But I can’t help but wonder sometimes what I could have accomplished had I been aware of the power of my mind and had some of these tools to harness that power towards my goals.

I have no interest in a re-do.

I have a strong interest in helping the next generation discover these tools earlier in life.

I’ll be honest—my interest in doing this originally stemmed from wanting to help Roman, Leo, and Silas learn about these tools and begin incorporating them into their lives much earlier than I did.

It was selfish.

Then I noticed their friends making their way through my Instagram Stories, which often include links to my Authentic Life content, pictures of me meditating and aligning my spirit, mind, body, and money, and other people’s content related to the Authentic Life.

Then one friend asked to join me for hot yoga—which I still owe him the session.

Then another friend joked about one of Roman’s friends wanting to meditate with me.

The light bulb went off.

In addition to helping Roman, Leo, and Silas, I could also help their friends and teammates—after all, I have a vested interest in their growth and success because they are close to my boys.

Within 24 hours of the light bulb going off, I had Mindful Mondays planned:

• Five talks hosted at our house.

• We’d provide dinner—a healthy dinner (no pizza, fried food, etc.).

• I’d talk some, introduce them to ideas, concepts, and tools they’ve probably never been exposed to before, show them how some of the athletes they look up to are doing these things, have an open discussion, and answer some questions.

• The five talks are centered around: mindset, mindfulness, meditation, breathwork, and visualization.

• I’m working on calling in some favors to have some people dial in via Zoom to talk to the group as well.

• And of course, I made T-shirts.

• I’m also giving copies of George Mumford’s Mindful Athlete to everyone, along with a notebook and one of my “you’ve got the pen” pens.

• And most importantly, we’d have a good time, and they’d leave with seeds planted in their subconscious that will not only help their athletic careers, but their lives.

Next Monday is the first talk.

I think we’ll have about 10 of their friends joining us, and I expect attendance to grow in future sessions.

I don’t know where these talks go. There is no business incentive for me to make these a recurring event, but I would be lying if I said I don’t have a vision for these to become a monthly gathering where we continue the conversation and explore the tools. I’m not looking to become a coach in this area or try to start a new business.

One of the goals I’m working on in my life plan is to be more charitable—sometimes that means donating money, and sometimes that means investing in others, which I consider to be the Mindful Mondays.

An investment—with no financial return.

I know not all who attend will gravitate to what I introduce them to, but if even just a couple begin to become more aware of their mind and how their mindset is impacting their athletics and life and begin to find their own alignment of tools, I’ll consider Mindful Mondays a massive success.

I’ll be recording all of the sessions and uploading them to my account on my friend Dasarte Yarnway’s startup Bench, which is a platform for athletes to become content creators and connect with their fans, build community, and create other opportunities for their Selves off the court/field. So they’ll be available if you want to share with your own athletes (or non-athletes) to plant your own seeds.

I’m excited to see how next Monday goes—I’ve given the talk multiple times in my head already, so it’s time to actually get it into the Universe.

I hope the kids are too.

“Most athletes train their bodies. The best ones train their minds too.”

Keep pursuing,

JC