What did you decide about life?

At the end the Netflix documentary, Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru, Tony takes the group attending his seminar through a reflective/meditative exercise (starts around the 1:43:15 mark if you'd care to watch). The exercise is meant to be very healing, to let go of something that you're holding on to and that's holding you back in life. The beauty of reading/watching different things is you can take what you'd like from it. I took something very different than I imagine most people in the audience did as this quote jumped out at me and took me down an interesting path into the lens I view this life through. 

"I'm wondering what your earliest memory is. Where were you? What were you experiencing? What did it mean? What did you decide back then? It's a decision that effected the way you think about life."

When I heard this, with the awesome meditation music playing in the background, my earliest memory became clear to me. I don't really have any idea how old I was, but this moment stood out in my mind. I was in the front yard of our house in St. Cloud and I was climbing a tree. I remember climbing it, and hanging upside down just laughing and having a blast.

So what did it mean? What did I decide back then? I decided that life is about having fun. Exploring. Being adventurous.  Being a little crazy and taking risks. I was probably 4 years old after all, and climbing a tree and hanging upside down, I assume I could've gotten hurt by falling on my neck but I obviously didn't care about that.

What's most intriguing to me about this exercise and Tony's words are his last statement saying, "It's a decision that effected the way you think about life." This was huge to me. I realized that back then as a little kid I decided life was all about fun. And it's a decision that truly guided my life. Now of course not every decision in my life has been based off "How much fun can I have," but it definitely has been a decision that has steered the course of my life.

I'm sure this isn't unique to me and most people think about fun all the time, so I better define my version of fun a bit more.  From that first memory I think I decided that life was a big playground. I was here to run around, laugh with friends, play sports, ski, launch off jumps, climb stuff, then jump off the stuff, and flip off walls. This is no joke, in high school I would literally flip off walls during passing time, or go do backflips off the stairs when we were bored in study hall (Maaaark).  I wasn't there to learn that boring stuff the teachers were talking at me, I was there to play. I laughed my butt off with my friends every single day of high school. It's simply how I saw life, and still see it today.  I don't think I've ever been to someones house who has a trampoline and not jumped on it, even though none of the "grown ups" joined me.

I don't think Ben will ever grow out of this. He's in Utah right now huckin his meat off cliffs and jumps.

When I look outside while in a car I'm always noticing the parts of the ditch that look like a ramp I can launch off on skis, or the bridge I could huck myself off into water.  Jen Scincero writes in her book You Are A Badass, "It's important to remember that everyone is living in their own self-created illusion." This is my self created illusion. This is what the world looks like through my lens. It's one big playground, and I just want to have as much fun as I can with all the fun people that I love.

What happens if you don't like what you decided about life back then, if it no longer serves you? Change your decision.
Change your thoughts, change your life. Adjust your lens and change the way you see this world. Can you can go from being a pessimist to being an outrageous optimist? Of course! You just have to decide to change your perspective.  I'm no self help guru but I'm pretty sure it is that simple. We just like to complicate things and think, "It can't be that simple." It is. Not always easy, but simple. If you don't believe me get your own blog and write about how wrong I am, this is my self created illusion over here. AND YOU'RE FREAKIN LIVIN IN IT BABY!

There are certainly other things that guide my life and get me excited about each day. I love to give, I love to teach, I love to eat the insane stuff Alissa makes every day (seriously it's insane, consider this your invite if you want to come experience iron chef America over here).  But seeing life as a big playground with my friends is really what stood out to me while going through this exercise. My self-created illusion about life on this spinning orb is all about the funs. Watch the documentary, or just give that quote above some thought, maybe you'll learn a thing or two about yourself and why you live the way you do.

"If it's crazy live a little crazy." -Hugh Jackman in The Greatest Showman

Be awesome.

-Tom Spaniol

"Love Yourself"
Jen Sincero, about 100 times in her book You Are A Badass