Live Blissed Out

047 - Alignment, Attitude & Action

July 28, 2020 Marisa Huston & Gail Hamilton Episode 47
Live Blissed Out
047 - Alignment, Attitude & Action
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Joining me is Gail Hamilton, a nationally recognized professional speaker and accomplished author of her memoir, “Soaring into Greatness; found on Amazon, Audible, and the National Library Service for the Blind. 

In these challenging times if you “Change the way you see you will change the way you live.” 

As a blind person, Gail knows about light and dark. Many people allow their fears, negative beliefs, and self-blinding attitudes to stop them from fully opening their eyes and truly seeing life to the fullest. As a result, she inspires and encourages people, unlike any other speaker… to live unstoppable, unforgettable, and unbelievable lives. 

Gail’s astounding experiences, immense knowledge and unparalleled determination have inspired thousands to change their focus and live lives of vision, purpose and action.  

To learn more, visit www.soaringintogreatness.com

Send an email to Gail via her website, SoaringIntoGreatness.com, tell her you heard the podcast, and she'll sign a book, send it to you for $20 ($10 discount).

If you email Gail (through my website) she'd be glad to send (your choice of):

  • Pearls of Wisdom (general)
  • Pearls of Wisdom (blind or visually impaired)
  • Do’s and don’ts When it comes to the Blind or Visually Impaired
  • Guide Dog at Work (The Seeing Eye)
  • Help Prevent Guide Dog Attacks (The Seeing Eye)

In this episode we will cover:

  • A Different Spin
  • Positivity
  • Alignment Activities
  • Mindset
  • Gratitude
  • Inside Out
  • In Unison
  • Getting Back Up
  • Making Progress
  • Long-Term Changes

Thanks so much for tuning in again this week. I appreciate you 🙂

Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the Feedback section.

Special thanks to Gail Hamilton for being on the show.

Are you ready for some pampering after being stuck at home?

At Antoine Du Chez Salon & Spa located in Centennial CO, the focus is on you the minute you walk through the door. 

With their captivating atmosphere and excellent customer service, Antoine du Chez continues to deliver timeless experiences for every guest.  

You are invited to relax, unwind and experience their customized Spa Services. 

Choose from Facial Treatments, Massage Services, Waxing, Nail Services and other seasonal offerings. 

Antoine Du Chez has an AMAZING offer for Live Blissed Out Podcast listeners in Colorado.

Simply mention this podcast at the time of booking to receive $60 towards a Cut and Color and $80 towards a Massage and Facial.

This offer is available for 1st time guest only.

To learn more, visit their website at www.antoineduchez.com.

Support the show 

If you have a question or comment for a future episode, visit https://www.speakpipe.com/lbovm.

So long for now and remember to keep moving forward!

Also, don’t forget to Subscribe for FREE: Apple Podcasts | Android 

Marisa Huston :

Welcome to Episode 47 on the Live Blissed Out podcast. Where they exist, guide dog protection laws vary from state to state. Did you know that distracting a seeing eye dog may result in a class three misdemeanor? Hello action takers! Welcome to Live Blissed Out. A podcast where I have authentic conversations with business owners and subject matter experts to help us get the scoop, the 411 and the lowdown on a variety of topics. Tired of hesitating or making decisions without having the big picture? Wanna be in the know? Then this is the place to go. I'm your host Marisa Huston. Helping achieve bliss through awareness and action. Thanks for joining me. The information opinions and recommendations presented in this podcast are for general information only, and any reliance on the information provided in this podcast is done at your own risk. This podcast should not be considered professional advice. Joining me is Gail Hamilton. Gail is a nationally recognized professional speaker and accomplished author of her memoir Soaring Into Greatness found on Amazon, Audible and the National Library Service for the blind. In these challenging times, if you change the way you see you will change the way you live. As a blind person, Gail knows about light and dark. Many people allow their fears, negative beliefs and self-blinding attitudes to stop them from fully opening their eyes and truly seeing life to the fullest. As a result, she inspires and encourages people unlike any other speaker to live unstoppable, unforgettable and unbelievable lives. Gail's astounding experiences, immense knowledge, and unparalleled determination have inspired thousands to change their focus and live lives of vision, purpose and action. To learn more visit www.soaringintogreatness.com. Are you ready for some pampering after being stuck at home? At Antoine Du Chez Salon and Spa located in Centennial Colorado, the focus is on you the minute you walk through the door. With their captivating atmosphere and excellent customer service Antoine Du Chez continues to deliver timeless experiences for every guest. You are invited to relax, unwind and experience their customized spa services. Choose from facial treatments, massage services, waxing, nail services and other seasonal offerings. Antoine Du Chez has an amazing offer for Live Blissed Out podcast listeners in Colorado. Simply mentioned this podcast at the time of booking to receive $60 towards a cut and color and $80 towards a massage and facial. This offer is available for first time guests only. To learn more, visit their website at www.antoineduchez.com. Hi, Gail, so nice to have you here today.

Gail Hamilton :

Hi, Marisa. Thank you so much for having me on your show.

Marisa Huston :

Given the fact that we are in very scary times. We're seeing so much unrest and things happening around us. But the reality is, the world has always been this way. There's always ups and downs. I think that the topic of our conversation is going to be so relevant. We're going to be talking about alignment, attitude and action, and how do we then utilize some of these tools in our lives so that we can approach things in a way that will enable us to be our best and do our best?

Gail Hamilton :

Yeah. People can look at life and even what's going on now as doom and gloom and it's horrible. And or you can take another spin on that and go, hmm, what can I learn from this? And how can I grow and evolve? And certainly, I think for all of us, when the pandemic started, I can remember...I play piano for assisted living place and they said, well, you'll be just gone for a month and I went. a month? really? And then as I started hearing things, I went, yeah, this isn't going away. This is gonna be a year or two years or whatever it's gonna be so then it's like, okay, how am I gonna be now and what am I gonna do? And at first I remember writing all these poems, it said, this is the time to self evaluate to take stock or maybe to slow down and maybe to see what are our values? And what do I want to do with myself? And who am I? Where am I going? And that was kind of fun at first. And then as time went on, it's like, okay, now I gotta take action. I got to get out here and do what I'm used to doing, but doing it differently, and how do I want to do it differently? And how do I want to evolve? Because the past is the past. We can learn from it, and it makes us who we are, but it doesn't define who I am.

Marisa Huston :

We can't change it. It's there, right?

Gail Hamilton :

It's there. But what can we do today for ourselves, to make ourselves better people and to affect the future in a positive light, not a negative one. In my own life. I know when I'm in alignment, when I'm joyful when I'm in harmony with myself when I'm at peace, when there's a good positive kind of energy going and when I think about the things in my life like when I sang in two operas, I built my own Habitat for Humanity house, I written a book and when I did all that, I was kind of like soaring in my greatness. I was aligned. There is positivity. There was an energy. I believed in me. I was really unstoppable and unforgettable about unbelievable. I had this sense that I was doing the right thing. And I think that's what alignment is. When I was out of alignment, I was like suicidal, depressed, I blamed, I was angry, I was negative, you name it, I was not a good person to be around.

Marisa Huston :

Uncertainty really scares people. Because going back to what we're dealing with right now, I think one of the things that many of us are worried about is when does it end? Because you know, when you're told for example, two weeks, okay, we understand but then it becomes a month and then becomes two months and now people are saying this is a way of life. Then people start to get worried. Like, how can this be the new normal now? How do you get yourself in alignment? How do you get yourself to the point where you now start to make that decision and make that choice that, hey, I can either be a victim and I can feel sorry for myself and my situation, or I can look at the benefits of what this is offering me and work that to my advantage.

Gail Hamilton :

For me, one of the ways I get in alignment, there's lots of different things I do, but some of the things I do is journaling. I love journaling, and a lot of the journals turn into blogs. I get to work it all out, I say what I'm feeling. Breathing helps. You breathe and four seconds in eight seconds out that calms and centers. Meditation if people believe in doing that. That's another way of calming the soul and all that. Talking to people or if you don't have somebody to talk to, I've been known to talk to myself. And sometimes I pretend I have conversations. So this is really crazy. But sometimes I'll even get two chairs out and I could even be the victim or say but you know, just vent and then I'll switch to the other side. And I try to be like the child and the adult or the victim and the creator, or I try to take different sides. It's weird, but it's taking a different perspective. And that kind of helps sometimes to see both sides and you're doing it with yourself and nobody's around, they can hear you. And it's really a great way to work things out until you kind of go, Okay, I can live with that I can do that.

Marisa Huston :

I do something similar, except mine is pros and cons. I like to take a little list out.

Gail Hamilton :

Right.

Marisa Huston :

And then maybe it's a particular thing that's bothering me, I write down whatever that is. And then I look at, okay, what are the advantages, disadvantages? I don't do formal meditation, but I do like to go for walks and when I walk, I meditate. You're by yourself. You're just thinking you're looking at the sky. And it's a really good time to reflect. Thinking about things more deeply. And I think that even with what we're dealing with right now, I hear so many people tell me that this has turned out to be one of the best things ever because now they're able to really think, like do I like how things have been in the past? Because now I seem to be enjoying this thing more. And so they're really able to think things through rather than follow the motions that they've been used to doing for a very long time.

Gail Hamilton :

Playing piano for me. I do that. Especially if you're doing scales and stuff.

Marisa Huston :

Some sort of hobby that fulfills you in some way.

Gail Hamilton :

Yeah, anything that probably brings you into the present moment and gets your mind off worrying.

Marisa Huston :

Now that we've aligned ourselves, how do we then get our mindset in line with that?

Gail Hamilton :

Notice, what am I thinking? Is it negative or positive? I used to have a friend if anything negative came out of anybody's mouth hed go, cancel, cancel. He didn't even want to hear it. And it was so bring me back to ooh, that was not in alignment and or positive. So instead of all the things I don't have, all the things that are bad, all the things that are wrong, I try to think of all the things I do have. I have an apartment, I have food, I have clothes on my body, I've have air conditioning, I have a healthy body, I have breath that enables me to talk and to think and to sing and speak my truth. There's so many things we do have that doesn't even cost money that we're given and we have and it's a blessing. So what do I have? What are all the gratitudes? What can I be thankful for today? And focus on that. And then I try to bring it into the present, sort of affirmations, you know. I am positive, I am healthy. I am loving, lovable, loved. Instead of, well, well nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I will go out and eat worms.

Marisa Huston :

I remember that song!

Gail Hamilton :

So, you know, I try to be gratitude. What do I have? Where's my focus? If I do everything there is to do in this moment, to be of joy, of love and of gratitude. Then today's moment creates tomorrow's future.

Marisa Huston :

That's the only way we learn is by experiencing. Some of those experiences have to be unfortunately not good ones, but that's what helps us then reassess things and ask ourselves, do we want it to be that way? And what can we do to do better? And that's part of the learning process. And unfortunately, it can be difficult and frustrating, but it's still is a stepping stone towards elevating us into something even better.

Gail Hamilton :

Absolutely.

Marisa Huston :

I have a word for it myself, I call it habitude of gratitude, because it's really creating that habit of being grateful. Because the littlest things can be so wonderful if you just take the time to look around you and appreciate them. But at the same time, even the most wonderful things in your life can be overlooked if you don't.

Gail Hamilton :

Yeah, and I was just thinking about a metaphor because I'm blind. I don't see things from the outside in. So I see things from the inside out. And I talk to people and I really try to focus in on their hearts. So for people who do have sight, I think sometimes you have to get rid of that exterior mask in a way and go for the interior and who are we and see others from the inside out versus the outside in. And it's a whole different perspective. And I think that's what the Coronavirus has caused a lot of people to do is to open their eyes and fully see who they are.

Marisa Huston :

Because we are so used to seeing with our eyes and you have had that taken away from you, you are then looking at things from a very different perspective than many of us do. And so that is very helpful in a way because like you said, you are able to then look inward, you're looking at a person's heart,

Gail Hamilton :

Right.

Marisa Huston :

as opposed to other distractions, that may not really be a good measurement of a person's humanity.

Gail Hamilton :

Yeah, I was just thinking that throughout my life here and there, people have said to me, Oh, you're so quiet. You're just sitting there. Like, well, I'm observing me and because that's what I get to do all day long. And I don't have anything to focus on on the exterior, and I'm not focused on whatever that is out there. So I can just focus in and zoom in on people's hearts and on what they're saying and what they're truly speaking and their souls. And that's what really all this is about is connecting with people.

Marisa Huston :

There's just so many great people that I get to meet like you. And I'm just so honored, you know, to be able to really talk to such wonderful people that have so much to give and share, and they're willing to do that. And it's amazing how many people out there are just so wonderful. What I find is that there are people who tend to never take action at all, because action requires moving in a different direction or doing something different. And then there's fear. They're afraid of making a mistake. They don't know enough about it, so they procrastinate and then they don't forge ahead. And by doing that, everybody always says the same thing. There's this weight that they carry, and then when they actually face those fears, and they do what they wanted to do in the first place, however long it takes them in some cases, it'll take a month. Some people say it took them five years. The first thing I always hear is what took me so long? There's the other camp. The other camp are people who like to act really quick, but they don't think. They don't really analyze the situation enough or they're not aware enough. In fact, they go into it a little blindly, because maybe that gives them a little more confidence to say, well, I'm not fearful, because I don't know. I'm just gonna wing it and see what happens. And I would say that somewhere in between is probably where you want to be, you want to be aware enough that you can go into it with a good perspective of what it is that you are challenging yourself with. Then on the flip side, you definitely do not want to freeze and stop yourself from moving ahead. How do we then set ourselves up to take action in a successful way?

Gail Hamilton :

On all three of these alignment, attitude action, if you have one without the other two, it won't work. So you get off all the alignment but if you don't have a good attitude or take action, so what? And the same way if you have a good attitude, but you're not aligned and or you don't take action and vice versa, if you just take action, but you don't have a alignment or good attitude, it's not going to work either. All three have to be in balanced and in harmony together. One of the things I say to people, I call it like the seven senses. We all hear when were in school about the five senses. I've evolved at the seven now. And my seven senses are you have to see your vision. Where's your focus? What do you want? What's your goal? Listen to your inner voice. So you have to listen to those thoughts that are inside you. And that causes you to act on that. It's like, oh, okay, but he's first you have to listen to yourself. What does your self want? Without anybody else's input, what do you want? You have to speak your truth. Speak it in love, not in hate. You know, you have to speak kindly, not out of fear and stuff, but you start to speak your truth speak what you're wanting to communicate to others cause only by then can everybody learn from each other. You have to follow your heart. It really is my passion. I really want to do that. That's my dream. This is what I'm put here on earth to do. And then reach out to others. Being of service. It doesn't do any good to have all this stuff inside as if we don't reach out and give it to somebody, else because that's how come we're here again, is to be of service to other people. It could be just a smile, it could be just a wave, could be a chat or kind word, an email, it could be something small. Doesn't have to be huge to be of service. And then taking one step forward, and that would be taking your action. And it's okay to be scared and it's okay to be in fear. You don't have to take a big leap, you can just take a little bitty baby step, but just do one little thing that's different today than it was yesterday to evolve yourself towards where you want to be. And then of course, tune into your intuition and your guidance. That would be like the last one and that would help you elevate yourself to live a life of greatness. So I call those my seven steps. I try I don't always do it, but soon as my mind has the inkling that I need to do something that's sort of like my little inner voice talking, I try to act on that little voice, especially I feel good about it. If you don't feel good about it, that's not being in alignment. And I sort of check in and say, yeah, is that really what I want to do? Yeah, okay, great. Bam. And I go do it. I don't always, because our egos will try to tell us that we're either superhuman people that we can act quickly and we can conquer all. We're just supreme beings and go out and conquer. Or it will tell us we are nothing and don't you know, you're nothing you always have been nothing you never will be anything. And neither one of those perspectives is true. And our egos would do it every second of the day because it wants to be in control. And the trick is when you see your vision listen to your inner voice speak your truth for your heart, all that is not ego based. When you're doing that, then you really are following your self guidance, which is where we're supposed to be taking action from instead of from, like you said, blindly moving forward and falling all over ourselves. And we need the right tools in order to get out of the dark into the light.

Marisa Huston :

It got me thinking about why we love to watch sports so much. People are either spectators or they're players. Spectators, they live vicariously through the players, so they watch them and when they see the underdog wins they get so excited because they can see themselves in that. Going, wow, that could be me. It's more of a dream and a potential that I'm capable of doing. But they're not actually taking the steps or taking even baby steps to try to achieve whatever it is they're trying to achieve. They're simply watching. There's the other side, the players who just like, I don't even care what the rules are, I'm just gonna jump right in and play and I'll figure it out as I go. And then, you know, basically, that's like you said, there's something in between where you read the rulebook, you know, kind of the general gist of it, you start somewhere you play and you lose a few times, and maybe more times than you wish, but then you keep getting better, and you see that improvement and you grow, and you build more confidence. And then from there, you can start going, oh, well, this play doesn't seem to work. But I'm going to try this other one. All that seems to be working. Life is like one big sports game in a sense, because there are rules, there are guidelines that we need to follow that we already know have been tried and true. And then we're actually participating in some way. And then it's just a matter of what is the right formula because it's always different for all of us. Your formula is going to be different from mine, but yet we're still playing from the same playbook.

Gail Hamilton :

Yeah, I was just thinking about it's good always to be in a offense. And I was thinking about the quarterback. And course it's always great when you throw that ball or you run with a ball and wow, we just went 100 yards down that football field and made a touchdown, but then sometimes we get sacked. And so the trick is what happens when we get sacked because we go backwards and we fall down and we crash and burn. The trick is are you going to just lay there or are you going to get up? Okay, we got some more game to play here because were only in the second quarter.

Marisa Huston :

Yeah, you can't just walk out and say, Okay, I fell. I'm done. You got keep going. Because life keeps moving. And I think that's really important for all of us to embrace. And going back to what you said, which I say oftentimes is that you gotta start somewhere, and the baby steps, those little things add up to big things. But if you just be consistent about it and do it, you will start building that confidence and seeing the kind of results that you're hoping to achieve, don't you think?

Gail Hamilton :

Absolutely. Because what you do today affects tomorrow. So if you want to lose five pounds, if you don't eat the cake today, that's gonna be on the scale tomorrow. You're gonna go, woohoo? So what we do do today matters psychologically, physically.

Marisa Huston :

People get frustrated. Let's say if they decide they're going to go on a diet and they have a goal. Let's say they decide, okay, I gotta lose 10 pounds. I think what happens is they need to see results right away. Let's say they go on a 1200 calorie diet and they've done it for a week or two. And then they see that they lost half a pound. They get discouraged because they're like, oh, my goodness, I've been so good for two weeks. I should see some major results here and all I've lost was half a pound. But on the flip side, if they start seeing that maybe they lost three pounds, they're like this is working. I can do this and then it motivates them to want to keep going because they feel like their efforts are being rewarded.

Gail Hamilton :

Right. That's always a tricky one. Sometimes I keep a log going, okay, I can look back and go, oh look what it was a month ago. Oh! So the same thing could be true for anything. You know, some kind of little tracking device. Like, oh, I am making progress because sometimes progress is not easy to be seen. And so no matter what the "it" is, the baby steps will help. The tracking will help. But I'm having so many thoughts on that topic.

Marisa Huston :

Yeah, me too. My mind is racing. You know, the honest truth is that it's really just about some sort of progress. You need to see that things are happening. And they will, because you're doing the right thing, so inevitably, they will. But setting false expectations or telling yourself I'm going to lose 10 pounds in a day is not realistic. You know, it took you how long to gain those 10 pounds, it's likely going to take you that long to take it off, at least. Yeah, maybe double!

Gail Hamilton :

Or triple!

Marisa Huston :

Yeah, exactly. So you have to be persistent and patient.

Gail Hamilton :

Yeah and it's having allignment, attitude and action. You know, I believe I can do it. I can lose that 10 pounds. By golly, I'm not going to eat that piece of carrot cake today. And then taking action by throwing it away or doing whatever you have to do to get to get yourself focused back on whatever the goal is, or the dream. Having a plan. What's gonna work for me for life, not just for today? What can I do for long term? Because that's what as far as food goes, that's why it gets us in trouble because you want to do the diet thing and then you go back to your old habits. So you have to change your whole attitude and your whole alignment with food. And then you have to take the action on that.

Marisa Huston :

That's a really good point, because there is a distinction between a short term goal and long term objective. And that is more of a lifestyle change. Because if you want to stay healthy, you're going to have to change your habits long term. Whereas if let's say you are working on a one off project, once that's done, it's done.

Gail Hamilton :

Right.

Marisa Huston :

And so like you said, going back to your alignment. Why are you doing this? What are your expectations? If all those correlate with each otherm we're talking about the formula right? The playbook. If you're in alignment you have the right attitude and you take baby steps and act on them then you are going to see positive changes take place. Gail thank you for sharing this! If people want to get a hold of you or learn more about you...I know you have a book and you do speaking engagements Could you tell our listeners how they can learn more about you.

Gail Hamilton :

I have a website which is called www.soaringintogreatness.com, so you can find anything you'd ever want to know about me there. You can order my book through there. If you email me through there and say you'd like a autographed copy I'll give it to you for no shipping costs. I'll do it for 20 bucks and I'll just send it to you free. Be glad to sign it for you and all that. Oh, I have blogs on my website now. So you can read those and get inspired. I'm gonna also have you can sign up for pearls of wisdom which is going to be on there soon, so you start getting a daily pearl of wisdom on my website. Of course I would love to come speak anywhere and everywhere, either virtually or in person, when that happens. Then I sing and play piano and do all those other things.

Marisa Huston :

Thank you again for sharing your knowledge with us for being an inspiration to help us overcome a lot of the things that everyone faces. All of us have things that stop us and prevent us from moving in the direction that we want to take. This has been so invaluable and very helpful and I hope it inspires other people like it has inspired me.

Gail Hamilton :

Oh, thank you. Thank you for having me. And I hope it does inspire somebody. If it can just open somebodies eyes then that's good. I've done my job for the day.

Marisa Huston :

That's all for this episode of Live Blissed Out. Thanks for listening and thanks to Gail Hamilton for being my guest. If you have a question or comment for a future episode, all you have to do is go to www.speak pipe.com/lbovm or click the link in the show notes to leave a brief audio message. If you find value in our show. Please visit www.liveblissedout.com to reach out, subscribe and share on social media. This show is made possible through listeners like you. Thank you. So long for now, and remember to keep moving forward!

A Different Spin
Positivity
Alignment Activities
Mindset
Gratitude
Inside Out
In Unison
Getting Back Up
Making Progress
Long-Term Changes