HI EVERYONE!

Welcome back to my blog. I’ve been toying around with what I really want my podcast, Manifest with Tori DeSimone, to be and the potential it can turn into. With that, I’m really excited to have some different episodes on the podcast to further practice what we preach on the podcast. If you’re interested more in the topic of practicing what we preach, listen to the episode titled “Showing up as Her”.

I uploaded a new kind of episode today, one that I’ve been wanting to try out but have been a bit apprehensive to do as it’s different from my usual. But different is good, right?

LISTEN TO THE NEW EPISODE HERE:

WATCH THE NEW EPISODE HERE:

This kind of episode is the first of many different formats I’m excited to introduce to the show. Today, we will dive into a guided journaling session inspired by passages from readings, life events, self-reflection, and even have some breathwork. I’ve been practicing a lot of inner work, reading books with immense value, and practicing yoga. It’s been inspiring me to speak on what I’m learning. I want to be a sponge in wellness and teachings lately, and the blessing of a podcast is having a platform to spread happiness, positivity, and maybe just one sentence that will encourage you to change your life. So in some of the teachings, these are the lessons.  

One of the books I’ve been diving into is 101 Essays that will change the way you think by Brianna Wiest. The passage, in particular, was Chapter 23 “Everything is here to help you: How Intrinsically Motivated People Become the Best Versions of Themselves”.

Alongside this book, I am reading the book The Untethered Soul that discusses how our reality is made up from our subconscious. We view a million things every single day, but our reality is what we comment on. If a car crashes right in front of us, we’re going to comment on the car crash and that car crash has now become our reality. However if we view the car crash and don’t internally comment on it, it’s as if it never even happened and therefore it’s not our reality. This is like how someone can say something and we don’t hear it, or a cat passes by and we don’t notice it, so it never enters our realm of reality. 

How can we choose to create happiness and create a life we are proud of? To create a reality of ourselves from within that views the world as opportunities, rather than struggle and hardship?

Have you ever had a friend that was constantly complaining or felt as if the world was out to get them? It became one thing after the other, and wouldn’t you know it their reality really seemed to feel like the world was out to get them! We know the world doesn’t have a personal vendetta against you, even when things may seem or feel that way. Even when the world doesn’t feel fair, it’s most likely not fair because we’re not promised a life without “suffering”. 

We are given opportunities to grow. I recently had a family friend tragically and suddenly pass, and it really affected me. I was incredibly sad and almost felt silly for feeling sad because I didn’t know him well, but the passing felt completely unfair. I was angry. He was young, he was healthy, he was happy, he was full of life, he loved his life, and for a tragic accident to happen and take his life, I was angry and it was unfair. And as tragic as his death was, it put a reminder in my now daily life of how precious life is. That every morning when I wake up, it is truly a gift. When we open our eyes every day, we are not guaranteed to go back to bed that night, but what a blessing everything during the day is. What a blessing it is to be alive. What a blessing it is to share life with others. What a blessing it is to experience hardship so we can feel immense joy. What a blessing it is to be aware of death so we can fully experience life. While I’m incredibly sad and frankly angry about his passing, not a day goes by since where I’m not incredibly blessed for every moment of my life, all thanks to him. 

A few weeks later in Yoga, my teacher Jen put on a sound bite of a little girl explaining what living meant versus what an older man in his 80’s explained what living meant. The young girl had such an innocence, that was pure and relatable and beautiful to listen to. She was explaining creativity and how living allows you to explore deeper into what you find beautiful. The older man explained that living was a compilation of the daily moments we take for granted. Waking up is a gift, the future is not guaranteed and the past is not relevant. The only moment that matters is the one in front of us, and any obstacles put in our way are merely teachings. While teachings don’t always seem fair and bring emotion, there is no weakness in emotion. There is no weakness in being angry at the unfairness of life, but no one said life would be fair. 

Those that rise to the occasion of life, understand they have 1 life. 1 body. 1 mind. 1 soul. The beautiful thing of this life is that you can change your mind if you’re unhappy. You can do the inner work to become exactly who it is you want to become. You don’t have to go down a deep spiritual path, but maybe it’s smiling when you’re in traffic. What a blessing it is to be stuck in traffic rather than be in the accident that caused the traffic. Maybe it’s wishing love to the person behind you in line, because you understand they’re a human being just trying their best in this life, just like you. Maybe it’s realizing that life isn’t fair, but that you have just as much a shot in this life as anyone else. You can do anything you set your mind to if you believe the world is here for you to take full advantage of, rather than to think the world is working against you. You can either choose to be a bystander in your life, and watch it pass you by with decisions and moments you feel as though you have no control over, or you can take control of your reality and create a life you’ve only been able to dream of. 

3 JOURNAL PROMPTS:

WHAT DOES A LIFE I CAN ONLY DREAM OF, LOOK LIKE?

HOW DO I WANT TO VIEW MYSELF?

WHAT ARE ONE TIME WAS AN OBSTACLE THAT HAS NOW GUIDED ME TO MY CURRENT LIFE PATH?

So for the rest of today, I want to leave you with a few reminders. 

1. Your reality is your perception. If you change your POV, you can change your reality. 
2. Every moment of life is a blessing. Count your blessings. 
3. You are no different than those you admire, model, and maybe even envy. You can create a life beyond your wildest dreams if you believe you can. 

8 TIPS TO KEEPING THE INNER PEACE IN THE OUTSIDE WORLD:

1. Stay off social media. It’s so quick to disturb inner peace and get the inner chatter going again. It begins a narrative of judgement, comparison, and disturbance. You’ve created inner peace, you don’t need the highlight reel or opinions of other’s shoved down your throat. Embrace your circle of peace. 
2. Revisit your breath throughout the day. The breath is incredibly grounding, allow yourself to be at peace in your body through the work of your breath.
3. Take breaks in your day to go outside and take a walk. This helps get you out of your head, and back into your perception of reality. If you’re on a walk, your perception of problems get smaller. The perception of the world grows more beautiful. You become happier. 
4. Make a playlist of calming music that you can revisit. I created a playlist on my Spotify that you can listen to, I will have it linked below but it’s very calming music that brings me back to this feeling. The post practice, inner peace mindset. 
5. Make sure you’re regularly eating. Getting hungry and hangry affects inner peace and your perception becomes frantic. I’m just always feeling my best when I’m properly fed. I love fresh fruits and veggies to help with this but anything works. Smoothies are great go-to’s. 
6. Be the example and the light for those around you. Energy is contagious so spread light instead of negativity.
7. Show empathy for others. Someone screamed at you at wawa? They must have been having a bad day and you were their punching bag in that moment. Don’t take it personally, it could have been anyone and they needed a release. Be grateful it was on you, someone who could handle it and can recognize they needed a release rather than someone who is struggling and that could be the straw to break the camel’s back. Someone driving really slow and it’s pissing you off? Maybe they have a newborn baby and are on their way home from the hospital for the first time. You never know what someone is going through. This is an obstacle put in your way to practice empathy and love for other humans. 
8. Do 1 physical thing to revisit this feeling. Yoga is a great physical practice of inner peace. Drinking a green juice or sipping on tea revisits this mental headspace in the physical world. 

Thank you for tuning into this different, but exciting blog post. I hope you found a happy takeaway and have a fantastic Monday.

SHOP MY ALL THE PRODUCTS I DISCUSS IN TODAY’S EPISODE!