Recipes for Success

ZERO Macho Motivation

Emalani is a multimedia publication service by Emma Emalani Bennett, an author, teacher, and transpersonal empowerment coach. It’s designed for maverick entrepreneurs, creators, healers, and innovators who want to achieve holistic prosperity on their own terms. Each week, you'll receive guidance on self-love, leadership, success, and wealth, drawing from various disciplines such as psychobiology, transpersonal psychology, and spirituality. Get free previews and subscribe for $30 per month to access Emma's insights and coaching. With your subscription, you'll receive biweekly private coaching podcast episodes, and full access to the archives to help you on your journey of personal and professional growth.

Hello Darlings,

Today, a vertebrae in my cervical spine is out of place again. That’s what my neuromuscular disorder does, causes muscular contractions and spasms in my cervical spinal area. I have two compressed disks (I’ve lost about two inches off my height) and my shoulder is basically dislocated.

This is a big part of the reason why I am working this Substack list into a “Life Coaching on the Go” service and also what is shaping my approach to personal development — I find that a lot of the aggressive, macho tactics are way too tiring. How about you? I mean, these guys can get you super pumped up and motivated, but how long does it take before that juice fizzles out??

I’ve been in the room with Tony Robbins before, air conditioning pumped ALL the way up like he wanted the room to be an Antarctic simulator or something. And it was super sad. So many people with so much pain in the room, telling all these stories. I kid you not, I am pretty sure a man came up to the stage to tell people that his dad was so incompetent that he crapped on the floor. Total WTF moment. The room went silent. And then of course, a whole spiel on choosing greatness.

It shouldn’t be that hard. It shouldn’t be a sword to pull out of a stone, a flag planted on a planet that is light years away, or an achievement that propels you to historic status. This is one ginormous, F*CK THIS. When we really love someone, a child, our significant other, we are looking at perfection and purity. That’s what love sees, what God / Universe / Source sees. I don’t think we have to try so damn hard to “choose greatness.” I believe we can just ask to have our perspective adjusted and realigned.

Simply ask Source, “Show me what you see, show me my life as you see it and know it to be, show me myself as you see me and know me to be.” Or, as author Lisa Nichols puts it, “Help me see this rightly.”

I’ve done this many times over, and over again, and each time, I have received a shift in how I am seeing things that takes my mind off of what psychiatrist and brain disorder specialist Dr. Daniel Amen calls “ANTs,” Automatic Negative Thinking. This is not new in the world of neuroscience and neurobiology by any means — negativity bias is an automated focus on what could pose a threat to our survival. The problem is, we tend to take these thoughts at face value, without examination, and often react right away. We launch into action.