MFP Education Center

Lately on the #JustShowUp podcast, I have been passionate about recent synchronicities that motivated me to discuss how habits are developed. The habits we inherit are sometimes wonderful, good, bad, or even ugly. The interesting concept with habits is how they can become integrated within our nervous systems and subconscious minds, which is a vast topic we can save for another time. 

Many times, we lose our ability to become fully aware of our habits. This is why it can become helpful to have various forms of Accountability to navigate which habits are truly serving us in a positive way. Part of the human experience is to learn how to pilot our minds that crave stimulation. Especially with our current societal norms, we are constantly distracted and pulled towards feedback loops and behaviors that do not serve our best selves. This is why we need tools to assist us to create a conscious understanding of these behaviors, and allow us to create productive habits. This is all part of our path of self discovery!

Now we switch gears…

I will reference a fan favorite TV series called “The Bear” on FX (currently streaming on Hulu). If you wish to see actor Jeremey Michael Allan at his finest, I highly recommend you watch. If you have not watched any seasons yet, no worries! #HERE is the enlightening concept I have learned from watching the newest season 3, which is about how Non-Negotiables can become that powerful accountability tool for developing positive habits.

Carmen Berzatto (played by JMA and referred to as “Carmey”), finds his purpose when he decides to open his restaurant “The Bear”. Carmey exceeds the norm with his skills as a chef, however is equally destructive with his tendencies that hold him back from becoming the leader for his team. His past experiences of trauma from his family, the loss of his brother, and the military-like abuse to become a five star chef created these feedback loops of limiting behaviors.

The bottom line with Carmey into Season 3 is a self realization towards his destructive habits after he reaches his lowest point in his relationships. Carmey needs change, and accountability to build a successful five star restaurant. Thus, Carmey’s non-negotiables are brought into the picture. Some are witty, funny and logistic towards running a proficient restaurant business. However my favorite is “Constantly evolve through passion and creativity”, an inspiration he collected from a self help book, which becomes a prime example of how he begins a path of spiritual enlightenment. 

#HERE is where I am going with this…

As discussed in Find Your Allies, we understand that the most challenging things in our lives are actually our best tools for growth. I have also acknowledged how passion leads to purpose, and how evolution is vital for our self discovery path. As always, it is all easier said than done! Just like Carmey, we sometimes need a push to become our best selves by creating a list of non-negotiables.

A non-negotiable I teach my community is to tap into is their inner A.T.H.L.E.T.E.

• Always
• Thinking
• Having 
• Learned 
• Effort 
• Towards 
• Everything

The A.T.H.L.E.T.E acronym embodies a way of BEing. It reminds us to create mindful based movement habits to expand our physical potential.  However, this concept of an athlete far surpasses the notion of physical exercise practices or sports performance. It is a self realization that we have the infinite potential to create a reality that leads to enlightenment, just like Carmey! 

To fully understand how you can integrate this athlete awareness as a non-negotiable into your lifestyle, #HERE are a few questions to ask yourself.

• When performing an exercise, how do you create thoughts that allow you to navigate proper movement patterns?
• How can you create curiosity towards the movement so that it serves its purpose?
• How do you expand your learning potential through the sensations that are a byproduct of the movement?
• Does this effort of attention to your movement have the potential to apply to other aspects in your life?

The athlete acronym is a great start within the physical realm. Once you begin to apply awareness and attention towards your physical body, you can then learn how to explore new realms of effort towards your emotional, energetic, mental, and spiritual self. Thus, your athlete mindset becomes a Wholistic approach to all aspects of your life!

So where do you begin?

Let’s apply this to your workouts with me, at MFP!