Paco Chávez

The non flashy, simple things are actually the things that we can leverage for some of the biggest changes for our health, fitness and aesthetics.

For most of our history, walking has been the primary means of getting from once place to another. But it was more than just that. It provided are ancestors with such a distinct survival advantage that it shaped the course of human development. It freed up our hands for making tools which allowed us to acquire better food and more resources which ultimately allowed for our brains to develop better capabilities. So our capacity to walk is edged into our DNA. It’s one of those unique features of our species and because of that it has a dramatic impact on the health of our bodies. More so than it does in other animals. And in terms of health, walking has been shown to reduce the risk of a number of diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, dementia and many others. In fact, it has a linear relationship with a reduced risk of death from all causes. Your chances of eventually dying are always going to be 100%. But your less likely to do it today if you simply walk more. Walk more, die less. Seems like a pretty good deal to me. Aside from lowering your risk from dying from just about everything, walking is a valuable tool for improving your body composition. Most people can expect to burn about 200–400 calories but it’s going to depend on the context of the terrain, your weight, your walking speed. But on average that’s about four times over your baseline metabolic rate. Combined with a good diet in can result in some meaningful fat loss. The best thing about it is it low recovery demand and low injury risk, those are unmatched. So, whether you have a long way to go in your wait loss journey, just want to maintain a healthy body fat level, or maybe you’re shedding those last few pounds to get absolutely ripped for summer, walking can play a significant role. The final things about walking that I think are really cool are just some of the peripheral benefits like it being free, it gets you off the couch outside and into the sunshine. It’s an opportunity to see new things. It can improve your psychology and mental health, an opportunity to put on a podcast and learn something new. If you walk with friends and family it’s a great way to catch up and connect socially.

There’s so many benefits embedded in this simple activity that has served as one of the most important and unique aspects of our evolution. So it that sense it is the original, physiological hygiene.

Let me just clarify that waking up at 4 AM every single day for the rest of your life is impossible. You´d have to be an extreme control freak and utter discipline machine to actually get this done, which might turn into something counterproductive in the long run if you don´t get your sleep right. Hustle culture promotes the idea that success only comes if you wake up at freakishly early hours, I disagree. I´ll shortly explain why I´m writing this at 4:37 AM. At least it´s Monday, that day of the week where you can reset your goals, your mental state and give it all you got. Ironically, this weekend while talking to a friend of mine (who´s also a coach and nutrition advisor), told me the day he chooses to wake up the latest is on Monday, so you see, everyone has their own method of living, there is no right or wrong, as long as it works for you. For me personally, waking up early has tremendous benefits, especially if I manage to get my head on the pillow by 9 pm and fall asleep by 10. Living with ADHD, sleep is hard to come by some days, I´ve struggled with severe insomnia many nights due to racing thoughts and bad habits. At the end of this post I´ll give away small hacks and tricks to manage getting to bed early so that you can actually enjoy an early morning before the sun rises without feeling like you´re about to die.
Sleep is actually necessary, don´t skip it.
There´s a lot of people who skip out on their sleep schedule. There intense drive to achieve their goals and their tenacity can be admiring, however these people inevitably hit a severe burnout point or sacrifice other things just as important as work and money. Your mental health is a reflection of your habits and how you treat your body, without proper sleep your personal relationships and the relationship with yourself if likely to suffer over the long run. In a 2003 study, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Medical School found that reaction times and performance on cognitive tasks plummet for those getting four hours of sleep and those getting six hours of sleep.In the study, 48 healthy adults, aged 21 to 38, had their sleep chronically restricted. Those who slept less than six hours a night “produced cognitive performance deficits equivalent to up to 2 nights of total sleep deprivation.” In 1999, researchers at the University of Chicago monitored a group who slept only four hours a night — a common amount for those who wake up very early — for six days in a row. That group quickly developed higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol, higher blood pressure and produced half the usual amount of antibodies to a flu vaccine. There are a handful of people who can function adequately on a shorter sleep duration than the average person, but it’s very, very rare. Missing even two hours here, an hour there, then having a wildly different sleep pattern over the weekend, is the gateway drug to chronic sleep deprivation. Fatigue, irritability and overall mental confusion are the dangers and symptoms of such deprivation. But you may be able to adjust your schedule. If you are not a morning lark but want to be one, you would need to wake at that 5 a.m. every day, including weekends, and expose yourself to bright light, ideally blue light, for 15 to 20 minutes upon waking. Going back to the problem with intense hustle culture, we look at sleep as an obstacle to our productivity and performance rather than as a means to long term success and mental stability. Thankfully this post is written with the intention to us finding a balance between recovering our mind and body, resting, and getting what every man struggles to find more of: time. This bring me to my first benefit.

1. Time

We all want more of it. Life´s more valuable asset. The human species is an impressive species. We´ve been able to create thriving societies. Sky-scraping buildings, cutting edge medicine and technology, we also managed to create what might be my personal favorite tool of all time, the internet. I say we as if I had some sort of role in the creation of all of these things when in actuality my contribution to this society is nothing compared to what other human beings have actually provided. Nevertheless, I´m satisfied with how I´m currently adding value to other humans through writing and my job as a personal trainer and DJ / Music Producer. You don´t have to win a Noble Prize to feel you´re actually adding value to the world, as long as you add value to yourself, you´ll eventually create it in others. This is why we feel we lack time, because we´re in such a hurry to become overachievers, successful and admired people that in order to get there we must do a shit ton of things. So where do we actually find the time? We create it. I feel infinitely more creative as soon as I wake up. My mind is refreshed and sometimes still carrying vivid images of dreams that were playing in my sleep state. I wake up and instantly write these ideas down in my journal or get down to writing, without giving it two thoughts. Writing is hard for me, I´ve started and quit many times, even though I profoundly love it and consider myself a pretty talented writer, I´ve struggled to find the time where I can actually sit down and write complete posts. Posts that actually go somewhere and aren´t just garbage words coming out of my mind. When I started writing I would always get stuck with writing about my feelings and the same “journal entry” style which would leave me bored and unsatisfied. Thankfully I came across medium and noticed that there´s many different ways of writing. You can write about anything. Habits, music, health, family, relationships, spirituality, technology, career and vocation, sports, addictions, food, culture, neurology, pathology, sleep. It´s endless, the amount of information you can learn about and re-script as your own, that´s the beauty of it. Since I was a little boy I used to be a morning dude. Even though I struggled a little bit, I would hear my parents alarm clock ring at 5:30 AM to wake my sisters and I for school. Classes started at 7:30 but we lived about 45 minutes away from school, we had to have breakfast to have energy to pay attention, get dressed, finish homework, etc. Waking up before we could even see the sun suddenly became a habit. This continued all throughout middle school, high school and my three years at college. While I was at college I had the chance to create my schedule how I wanted, one semester I chose to stop waking up early and enroll all my classes in the afternoon, it was the worst decision I ever made. I regretted not waking up early and checking off my class schedule by 3 PM instead of having to literally take night school and finish at 9:00 PM. I would feel groggy and irritated from not being able to enjoy my day because I was literally stuck inside a classroom, so when I got home I gave myself permission to stay up late doing all the things I wanted to do instead of going to class which led to me being awake until 2 AM. I noticed that the next morning I would take twice as long to get out of bed, even though I had gotten complete eight hours of sleep, the sun was already up and I felt like I had wasted time I could have used to go to the gym, write, play music, or simply watch the sun rise and meditate. Once again, everyone has their own internal clock which they need to figure out and respect. But if you ever want to feel the satisfaction of having super productive day and plenty of time to create and plan, get to bed early and set an alarm before sunrise, you´ll start to see just how much you can actually get done.

2. Waking Up Early Gave Me More Time To Exercise

Countless studies have shown that the best time to work out is in the mornings. Your body’s cortisol is higher in the mornings, meaning you’re more alert. You also lose weight faster if you work out before breakfast. The endorphin rush you get when exercising in the morning provides you will all the motivation you need to start your day the best way possible. Of course, some people like to hit the gym later in the day which is completely valid, but try to get a 45 minute high intensity workout early in the morning and watch how your energy levels spike to the roof. As a personal fitness coach, I wake up every day excited to get my workout in the to have the opportunity to share my knowledge acquired throughout many years of athletic experience and reading with others. Sometimes our days are so packed and full of meetings, calls and to do´s that we´re left with zero energy to get a workout in. That´s why people abuse of pre-workout supplements and coffee shots when in reality they aren´t necessary. A proper warm up and a big glass of water will go very long ways. It is essential that you drink water as soon as you wake up, your body has been in a state of dehydration the whole time you were asleep. You might feel very hungry first thing in the morning, but before you decide to eat anything try hydrating first, maybe pop a couple of Omega-3 tablets as a supplement, and get to work boy.

3. You get to experience life in its purest form.

Waking up before the sun rises gives the day a feeling you can´t really explain. You wake up. It´s still dark outside, the birds aren´t even chirping. Only the sound of crickets and a slight breeze is what you can hear. This is nature at its finest (unless you live in NYC or someplace similar, well you´re fucked). Try to experience what it´s like going camping or visiting someplace where you can get some quiet time. Beat the sunrise, wake up early and simply cherish the sensations you feel as you sip on a cup of tea or **coffee.

4. Waking up early means you get to go home early.**

This is a big one for me. I´m not a big fan of staying up late and feeling the need to stretch work times until late at night, or even until evening. I like to finish my work tasks by 5 PM and have the rest of the day to take a walk, read a book, visit friends, or simply stop doing, and just be. Of course, this isn´t possible every day, some days you might just have to work a bit longer and harder, it´s the habit and the attempt that count. You´ll realize it´s perfectly possible to schedule most -if not all- of your tasks to be finished before 7 PM. Our smartphones are great, however since our generation is now so used to basically living with it stuck to our faces 24/7, we have permanently damaged our eyes and fucked up with our sleep cycles after so many years of waking up and going to sleep with our phones literally next to our pillows. It´s important to build a habit of purposely staying away from electronic devices at least an hour before bed in order to send messages to our body saying “it´s time to go to bed” not “it´s time to stay awake to finish this Youtube video”.
Life isn´t perfect. Humans are nowhere near perfect. You can´t expect every day to be the perfect productivity-early rising-bird chirping-rainbow meadowed-happy yappy day. It´s all about consistency, the more you practice, the more you´ll get it. Sometimes even our practice can´t prevent us from making mistakes, from falling off the wagon. However we can build a self-awareness so sharp and keen to these days so that when we have them we won´t be too hard on ourselves. We can adjust and adapt to how our body feels that day and plan for the next. Eat properly, get some exercise or at least some breath work in (I´ll write about this soon), meditate, journal and stay away from these small dopamine claws that are everywhere, in our phones, laptops and TV.
Thank you for reading, if you´re not an early riser I hope this post inspires you to try it out for yourself. And too all my early birds, keep it up, enjoy your mornings and seize the day!
-PC

Hello my dear readers.
I would like to tell you a little bit about my story and what my life has been about since I was a young, immature teenager. I was born and raised in northern Mexico, one of the most abundant and eye catching places in this country where a great contrast can be seen between the poor and the rich. I like to view myself as a planetarian since I don´t feel like I belong to a specific country.

The Past Life

Lately more than ever, I feel strongly connected to God and the Universe. I´ve certainly received a helping hand from someone or something greater than me, else I would be in a completely different place. I grew with a lot of shame and neglection towards accepting my traumas and childhood experiences. Even though I had a pretty good childhood (better than at least 85% of the rest of the world I would say), I carried a lot of insecurity and trauma around with me since I was a teenager. I experienced a lot of psychological abuse and physical trauma. I´ve had around 8 medical operations ranging from cerebral blood clots, broken arms and multiple inflammatory injuries from playing sports and completely disregarding my physical safety. I love to skateboard, snowboard, surf, basically get on any type of board you can imagine. I love hiking and climbing up steep hills, where one wrong step sends you tumbling down piles of sharp rocks. I constantly misbehaved in school and at home, causing frustration in my teachers and parents. I was ungrateful for the material possessions I was blessed to have and I also failed to appreciate the value of money. During those dark times in my life, I felt rejected, unworthy and unloved. I never felt like I was enough and kept chasing the sweet validation of other people. A never-ending cycle of approval seeking and feeling strong feelings of insecurity, anxiety, nervousness, fear and guilt. At 21 years old I hated my life. I hated going to college, a place where I didn´t fit in. I hated my household because of all the constant nagging and lack of approval, I always had to work harder. I experienced suicidal thoughts after failing three courses one semester, luckily I made the decision of at least taking time off college before I made an impulsive move. It was my bottom. I understood that I couldn´t live like that anymore. Unfortunately, sometimes we need to hit our bottom, so we can transcend to another level of our evolution. When fail to see the signs from our Spirit, we move further and further away from our true purpose and inner light. I ignored these signs, I was completely deaf and blind. I never returned to college because I knew it wasn´t the place I would reach my full potential. Luckily, one day I came across a book by Eckharte Tolle “The Power of Now” (a gift from the Universe), which completely started to remove the curtain of unconsciousness from my eyes. Then, there were many other transformational books that had helped me get out of that pit where I had been “lying” feeling sorry for myself for years. I wouldn´t be alive without the help of Ryan Holiday and his amazing saga that starts with “The Obstacle is The Way”. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius taught me how to control my emotions and become an observer. Mark Manson taught me how to stop actually caring and giving a fuck about what my parents and society thought of me. I realized I was living for others, not for myself. This is where my depression stemmed from. Inside this awful reality lied all my anxiety, and I constantly, unwillingly let myself live inside this reality. Lack of courage, lack of action, lack of integrity towards myself and my values, these were all keeping me in a powerful state of apathy and depression. Thankfully I came across a number of teachers and mentors that helped me physically and mentally overcome these treacherous monsters living inside my head. Since that day I haven’t stopped healing and exploring myself. I’ve learned how to love and appreciate myself, have become an energy healer for myself and others, a physical and spiritual coach, discovered that I was a channeler and clairvoyant.

The Next Life

I’ve received such priceless experience from the lessons the Universe has given me and am feeling extremely grateful for all the hardships I’ve had to deal with along this amazing journey. Now I help others. And I will be doing it till my last breath, it’s my nature, I cannot not do it. I´ve finally given myself permission to help others while simultaneously figuring out what vocations I wish to pursue. I´ve finally learned to deal with the imposter syndrome that comes with starting new projects and ventures. I´ve learned to stop judging people and myself to quickly, even judge them at all. Simply appreciate myself and everyone for who they genuinely are. I´ve seen people release their darkest sides, as I´ve also seen myself do it. I´ve seen people live in their truest and most brilliant form, I´ve also started to get a small glimpses of this light within me. The light we all carry. Next to this light is also a patch of darkness waiting to take complete control, you must never let it. You must learn to embrace and hug this dark side without it taking the wheel. At 24 I ruined many precious relationships I had because I let my tendency to quit and give up take over. I was diagnosed with ADHD until I was 26 after seeking psychotherapy for the first time. During that first session, everything came crashing down in a fucking second, making complete sense to me. I instantly started crying and having intense feelings of regret towards all those times I auto-sabotaged my progress. I quickly forgave myself and chose to look forward because I knew none of it had been my fault, although I take complete responsibility for my actions, I felt I had finally found that puzzle piece that had me confused for many years while growing up. People with ADHD and neurodivergent brains have a risk of having depression four times greater than the average brain. The only way to avoid ever getting sucked into this depression again, the psychiatrist recommended I do the most important things anyone can do, especially people with ADHD.

Eat healthy foods.

Exercise.

Meditate.

Have written goals and thoughts.

I was already on the right track. I had already positioned myself in an extremely advantageous situation given the fact that I had already been exercising since the age of fifteen. If there´s something I never quit, was the desire to move and challenge my body. Be it through sports, martial arts, running, hiking, swimming, you name it. I was always looking forward to having fun through movement. I´m the oldest of three. My two younger sisters and I share many traits. We all share a passion for exercise and making it a daily part of our routines. I didn´t always have the best eating habits and I´ve never followed a strict diet, but I´ve managed to safely control my impulses when it comes to sugar, cheat meals and over-eating. My youngest sister wasn´t as lucky, she was diagnosed with pre-diabetes symptoms at the age of thirteen which explained her sudden weight increase and difficulty processing regular foods. There was a nutritional revolution inside my house and before I knew it my mother and my two sisters went full fledged vegan mode in order to fix the situation. As soon as I joined the vegan wave I noticed my mind and my body felt ten times better than how it used to when I stuck with my old eating habits. I felt more awake, more energized, more agile and savvy. I still eat meat sometimes, and I don´t restrict myself if I´m around friends who still eat the “normal” way. I don´t judge people by what they eat, I simply decide to listen to my body, if I´m training hard as fuck that week, I´ll probably stick to clean eating. I´ll give myself permission to have a big slice of chocolate cake if my grandmother comes over with her amazing cooking skills. Or if I´m having a date with someone and we decide to order some pizza and open a bottle of wine. I´ve come across the idea of intuitive eating many times in many different books, Youtube channels and conferences, that now I´ve learned to intuitively listen to mine.
I wrote about the first time I meditated my last post. To summarize quickly, meditation brought to the surface many repressed emotions inside me. It taught me how to talk differently to myself, to comprehend my thoughts and realize that there is no thought scary enough to bring me down. No preoccupation heavy enough to cause anxiety. That the only judgement placed on me is the judgement I placed on myself and others. That I don´t have to identify myself as one type of person, that I can embody different personalities to adapt to any situation. Alone or socially. Talking to myself immensely increased my ability to talk to others. This greatly prepared me for all my coaching, therapy and psychotherapy sessions for the future. Learning I have ADHD has been a blessing, it let´s me understand that I´m perfectly fine the way I am, that there´s nothing inherently wrong with me, just a different programming I have to learn to read. My own programming. Every person with ADHD has their own programming, no two people have the same issues. It always manifests differently, yet our condition is the same. This does not make you better or worse then anyone with or without a neutrodivergent brain, it simply is what it is. It is different. Life is full of different. Full of variety, you can´t expect everything to be the same, it wouldn´t make sense. This universe it too complicated, too vast, too expansive, too infinite.

Your current life.

I hope you have the courage to accept the version of yourself that is presently reading this. I hope you have the strength to overcome any obstacle headed your way because one thing in this life is for sure, obstacles are coming. How we respond and how we react to these situations is what will create a stronger version of your spirit. Make sure above all, that you enjoy this life. People say life is short, it really isn´t. It´s long as fuck. Paradoxically, in the blink of an eye it´s over. So stop worrying too much about egotistical stuff like money, jobs, achievements, fame, recognition, cars, houses, clothes. Take it from someone who grew up with all of those things, they don´t mean shit when it comes to true happiness. True happiness comes from finding your role in this world and offering value to the current society we live in. Offering value to your family and your friends, and spending time alone doing activities that make you feel good, then, monetize those activities. How do I know all of these things? I don´t. I really don´t. I trust that I´m doing the right things, and that things eventually fall in line like domino pieces. Sometimes these pieces seem to stop, and before you resist the urge to topple them over yourself, stop. Rest. Breathe. Enjoy. Before you know it a small breeze will soon make it´s way to you and the pieces will start to fall again by themselves.

What exactly is a mantra? A mantra is a sound, word, phrase or sentence you repeat to channel a specific energy or intention. They’re often used during meditation, but can also be used anytime you need an extra pick-me-up.
My life hasn´t always been what it is today. It´s actually evolved a lot, so much I can´t actually remember what my old life actually looked like. It´s as if I was brought into a completely new movie where the main character (I) was replaced by another actor. Still me though. Same body, same name. Although this body has drastically changed. And my name now carries a different identity to it. I worked hard to overcome my insecurities and limiting beliefs. These are two things that never go away, they´re not things that simply vanish rather you embrace them. You live with them and learn to co-exist in a consciousness so aware you are awake to when you are projecting yourself. Mantras are a great way to constantly re-program your internal dialogue and help you manage any situation where you might feel insecure and where you feel your ego is taking control of the situation. Using mantras is simple — you simply repeat the sound, word, phrase or sentence. Since the following are mantras for a fresh start, it’s recommended to repeat the one you choose in the morning, since every time you wake up, you’re presented with the opportunity to make a change and take a different route. However, in no way is it required that you use your mantra in the morning. But what does it mean, you ask?

1) Om:

Like most things in yoga and meditation, Om is one of those things that can’t really be explained. In order to truly understand the meaning, it’s one of those things that you have to feel for yourself. Om is the sound of a sacred spiritual symbol in Indian religions, mainly in Hinduism, wherein it signifies the essence of the ultimate reality which is consciousness. Recite Om Mantra purifies the environment around you and creates positive energy that feels you happier and stress-free. It helps you to focus and concentrate on one thing at a time. Chanting Om can also help you to improve your immunity system and self-healing power. When you chant Om, a vibration sound felt through your vocal cord that clears and opens up the sinuses. Chanting Om also has cardiovascular benefits. It reduces stress and relaxes your body that brings down the blood pressure on the normal level and the heart beats with a regular rhythm. I might get a bit geeky over here. As a current disciple and practitioner of the art of sound design and engineering, I´ve learned to recognize different sounds and identify at which frequency they come into this world at. When chanted Om vibrates at the frequency of 432 Hz — the same vibrational frequency found in all things throughout nature. Om is the basic sound of the universe; chanting it symbolically and physically tunes us into that sound and acknowledges our connection to everything in the world and the Universe. I first learned to properly Om after taking multiple meditation classes from a wise friend and teacher of mine. After every session we would end the practice with three long and powerful Oms which created within me an extreme sense of peace and tranquility. It fueled my self-confidence to a great level and left me feeling with a feeling of empowerment, like anything I desired to achieve was easily attainable.

2: “I will judge or criticize no one, not even myself.”

As you prepare for a new beginning, make a conscious effort to rid your mind, body and spirit of any judgement and criticism. So much unhappiness comes from self-judgement. It’s the one thing that stops you from doing and saying what you want, and ultimately, the one thing that’s standing in your way to a fresh start. I´m extremely guilty of having judged myself and others way too harshly. Judgments can have harmful and negative consequences. They can get in the way of fixing problems, hurt other people’s feelings when you don’t need or mean to, and they can harm your own self-esteem and happiness. But why are we so quick to judge? According to an article in Psychology Today, our brains are attempting to make sense of why people do the things they do. We make snap judgments about people because it moves us on to the next thing our brains need to work out. By constantly seeing the bad in others, we train our minds to find the bad. This can lead to increase in stress. Stress can weaken the immune system and cause high blood pressure, fatigue, depression, anxiety and even stroke. Sometimes we don´t even realize we are judging someone, this means we could be harming our body without even realizing it, we have pure intentions but our mind is quick to judge, that is why you must be very aware of the way your perception can deceive you. Accept people for who they are, just as you see them, just as you hear them. Even though their actions may seem harmful, negative and outright mean, find a place in your heart for them, you will feel much better. You might even effortlessly spread some of your powerful love sensation to them and help them heal. The key to capitalizing on this mantra is to apply it to both yourself and others. Self-judgement and being judgmental of others is simply never good for your mindful aspirations. So, just get rid of it entirely by repeating this motivational mantra.
“Therefore you have no excuse or justification, everyone of you who [hypocritically] judges and condemns others; for in passing judgment on another person, you condemn yourself, because you who judge [from a position of arrogance or self-righteousness] are habitually practicing the very same things [which you denounce].”
— Romans 2:1 (AMP)

3: “I give myself permission to go after what I want.”

A new beginning is going to send you on a journey towards all sorts of new experiences, opportunities and feelings, and it’s important to give yourself permission to go after them. Don’t let fear, self-doubt, guilt or any other negative thoughts and emotions get in the way of you achieving what you want to achieve on this new path. Instead, give yourself permission with this motivational mantra. Changing my perception to permission mode instead of “having to” mode, has greatly changed they way I put forth my attitude into things I want to achieve and create. It helps me overcome mental obstacles of laziness and my tendency to quit things when they get hard. Waking up every day and writing down what I give myself permission to do brings forth feelings of immense satisfaction, excitement and gratitude.
When giving advice to friends, it’s so easy to say things like: “You’ve got this,” “Just go for it,” “you deserve better”, and so forth. Yet, have you ever noticed that when it’s time to give ourselves the same energy, we become less inclined?You’re not alone. For a lot of us, it’s difficult to give ourselves permission to go for what we want and know we deserve.This hesitance to give ourselves permission is often deeply rooted in self-belief and can be swayed by our internal self-doubt. But what if we did give ourselves permission — and opened ourselves up to the potential of our greatness? Hint: We’d cultivate the ability to create more space for things to happen. We tend to allow external factors, such as lack of experience or resources, hold us back from making life-changing decisions. But all we’re really waiting for is that greenlight — that permission, to get started or take action. And though we may look for it from others, the best source is ourselves and doing what our intuition tells us is necessary. Imposter syndrome is one of the reasons some of us find it difficult to give ourselves permission. She describes it as “the inability to accept your greatness,” which can, in turn, limit your ability to truly enjoy life. I can´t stress enough how important it is to be 100% honest with yourself in this part of the process. Sometimes, permission isn’t all about the large-scale changes and can be as simple as allowing yourself to feel. When we give ourselves the space to acknowledge that we aren’t happy or satisfied in a current situation, it opens up the possibility for change. Simply saying to yourself, “I am unhappy right now,” instead of fighting it, can take some of the pressure off and give you room to develop a plan of action to change that.

So how can we actually being practicing giving ourselves permission on a regular basis? There are three strategies and techniques you can have in mind in order to start effortlessly practicing permission.

Grant yourself the compassion and understanding you extend to others so easily.
Similar to the example made earlier, we’re more willing to give our friends and loved ones encouragement and permission to take the next step. It’s important to also give yourself that same consideration, too. You may not always succeed, but by putting yourself out there you’ll get closer to your goals.
Praise your small wins and notice your baby steps toward change.
There’s great power in the journey. We tend to get so wrapped up in the destination that we don’t focus on the strides we’re making along the way. By giving yourself permission to celebrate your small wins, you’re reinforcing that you are enough.

*Remove your ideas about how things are supposed to show up for you. A.K.A. Let go of expectations.

Expectations are a big no no. We often get caught up in what the potential outcome of situations will be, which can lead us to not getting started or being disappointed if it doesn’t go exactly as planned. This kind of fortune-telling, will hold you back from getting the very things that are good for you. It’s important to hold off on any predictions and instead lead with self-belief. When you let go of what you think will happen, you give yourself permission to see what happens — and that openness and self-trust can unlock so many doors. Then: All you have to do is give yourself permission to walk through them.

I hope this has been of use to you, remember to live without putting too much pressure on yourself, focus on doing the things you love and give yourself the permission to do so!