Wisdom and Chocolate is a common sense approach to self Empowerment and self Celebration. In this weeks episode we lay the power of creating your happiness into your hands. You alone are responsible for your happiness, so grab the reins and take control! All of this lovely wisdom is wrapped in yet another chocolate from Trader Joe’s this week…yum. Listen in to see what cherry pralines have to do with being responsible for your happiness. The real transformation begins with Celebration….so grab your chocolate…It’s time to Celebrate You!
Highlights:
The Wisdom…Your Energy Is Supported By Your Thoughts And Amplified By Your Emotion
The Chocolate…You Alone Are Responsible For Your Happiness
The Celebration Moment…Everything You Are Seeking Is Seeking YOU!
Check out www.BetsDanko.Com to get more information on blogs, podcasts, courses, and monthly memberships.
The following Spiritual Spa Presenters were mentioned in this podcast…
facebook.com/mattpricedrumming
Wisdom and Chocolate is a common sense approach to self Empowerment and self Celebration. In this weeks episode we lay the power of creating your happiness into your hands. You alone are responsible for your happiness, so grab the reins and take control! All of this lovely wisdom is wrapped in yet another chocolate from Trader Joe’s this week…yum. Listen in to see what cherry pralines have to do with being responsible for your happiness. The real transformation begins with Celebration….so grab your chocolate…It’s time to Celebrate You!
Highlights:
The Wisdom…Your Energy Is Supported By Your Thoughts And Amplified By Your Emotion
The Chocolate…You Alone Are Responsible For Your Happiness
The Celebration Moment…Everything You Are Seeking Is Seeking YOU!
Check out www.BetsDanko.Com to get more information on blogs, podcasts, courses, and monthly memberships.
The following Spiritual Spa Presenters were mentioned in this podcast…
facebook.com/mattpricedrumming
It's time to combine a guilty little pleasure with a new healthy habit. Kick up your feet and listen in, this is Wisdom & Chocolate. My name is Bets Danko and you are listening to Wisdom & Chocolate. I am the creator of the I AM Equation and I believe celebrating, motivating, and empowering yourself is the key to leading an awesome life. And, of course, when you bring that full circle and start celebrating yourself all over again, that's where the real power comes from. I am honored to be here with you today speaking to you with a little bit of wisdom, and following that up with some yummy, yummy chocolate. So let's get to it. Today's main topic is Happiness Is Yours. I just want to take a moment to ask you to share this podcast with a friend. Give the gift of self celebration to the people who are closest to you in your life. Go ahead and take a moment and share this podcast. Well, it is always super awesome to find out that happiness is yours, is it not? I mean, that just leaves absolutely no question for you as to whether or not you deserve any happiness. You absolutely do. And the coolest thing about it is you have a choice as to whether or not you're going to experience it. So, the wisdom topic for today is, Your Energy Is Supported By Your Thoughts And Amplified By Your Emotion. Ooh. It's true. Your energy is supported by your thoughts and amplified by your emotion. The fact of the matter is, how you think really does set you up for how you're going to react to the world around you and how you're going to feel about that. I mean, if you're sitting back and you've got thoughts of, "wow, this day sucks. I am really not happy today," or "oh my gosh, that person was so rude. I can't take it anymore," you are setting yourself up, my love. You absolutely are. You have a choice in the matter. You can sit back and project negative thoughts out into the world, or you can literally sit back and go, "Hmm, well, that was their evolution, and that is not going to affect me." Like, it is so awesome that we have so much control over our lives. But I have to acknowledge that I do recognize that sometimes our thoughts kind of get away from us, we sort of think the thoughts and then go, "Ooh, I shouldn't have thought that," and then we go and edit ourselves. You know, that's better than not editing yourself at all, I have to admit that. I mean, it'd be cool if we all could just be super human perfect and know exactly what's going to come out of our mouths when it does, but I have to admit and acknowledge that it takes a lot of training sometimes. I mean, when you're brought up in this world thinking, you know, things aren't always as good as they seem, or the people aren't going to be treating you very nicely or that sometimes life really does suck - when you're brought up that way and that is what is in the forefront of your mind, It's hard sometimes to change your mindset and having a habit of thinking positively...A habit that's so absolutely gorgeous that it just brings the thoughts positively to the front without you even having to try. Can you imagine? How beautiful would that be? It would be so absolutely beautiful. Now I work really hard at this. And I'm a pretty darn positive person. Like I don't tend to think negative things very often, but sometimes I do. And if you've been watching or listening to my podcast for a while, you know, I've gotten to the point of frustration that I literally sat down and yelled at God. Because I thought, "This is screwed up. Why are these things happening to me?" And it just spiralled, it just totally went out of control. And this is coming from a really positive person - that would be me - there are still days when I'm challenged by the negative thoughts and the feelings of despair and "will this ever end" and all of that kind of nonsense. When I really focus my attention on seeing the beauty in the world from the second I get up in the morning, it really sets up my mindset for a level of positivity that feeds me in a beautiful and supporting way the rest of the day. And it's the kind of thing where you wake up in the morning you think, "Okay, this is great. I've got a bed that I'm sleeping in, I can go over to the bathroom and brush my teeth, and I've got water that's running in my house. Oh, look at this, I've got a gorgeous outfit I can put on. Oh, wow, it's so awesome that I've got an apple that I can eat this morning." Like, if you start recognizing all of the beauty and the positivity that is in front of you from the second you wake up, you would be amazed at how comforting, all of those thoughts will make the rest of your day. It's super, super cool. And it's not that, you know, things won't come your way every once a while that are so challenging that it kind of topples you a little bit. But when you set yourself up that way to think in a positive way, those challenging moments will be backed up with some more positive reinforcement so that you're not getting the reinforcement that says, "Oh, this sucks. This is terrible." But instead, in the face of challenges, you're going, "You know what I can handle this, this is okay. It's alright, I got dinner waiting for me when I get home. Or yet this will be fine. Because I've got my journal. I'll just journal about it later and work it through." These are super awesome things that you can do to set yourself up for beautiful interactions and thoughts, the rest of the day. Happiness is yours. It really does come down to choice. You can choose to set yourself up in a positive way or you can choose to allow those challenging thoughts to kind of take over and set you up for a challenging day. Now, sometimes the days don't just last one day, they're kind of one day after another. Sometimes it's following things that are more than challenging, like maybe the passing of a family member or a beloved animal, maybe it's a situation where you've gotten in a car accident. And so for two or three days you've got some headaches, dealing with insurance companies not understanding how to get certain paperwork done and the frustration of all of that kind of thing. That's okay. That's okay. When you understand that you can sort of reframe your thoughts and find positivity in those things. The challenges aren't so difficult. Your energy is supported by your thoughts. So, if you want positive energy in your day, change your thoughts. Those thoughts are amplified or your energy is amplified by your emotions. So if your thoughts are telling you everything's gonna be okay, and your emotions are going, "Okay, then I can be fine, I'll be happy." All of that gets amplified and as you go through your day, it makes it easier to see things in a more positive light. Happiness is yours. Your energy is supported by your thoughts and amplified by your emotions. So you got this, just make a choice. Are you enjoying Wisdom & Chocolate? Then I encourage you to share this podcast with a friend. Make sure that you're sharing with them all of the love and peace and grace that you get from this podcast every single week. Reach out and share chocolate with a friend. There is one simple equation that holds the secret to an empowered life. It's called the I AM Equation, a powerful online course at BetsDanko.Com dedicated to creating real transformative change through self celebration. Celebrate, motivate, and empower, it's that simple. The solution to the equation is personal transformation. The I AM equation at BetsDanko.Com. Plug your life into the equation at BetsDanko.Com. So, okay, here I go. This is the chocolate moment and today's chocolate is the Trader Joe's milk chocolate Cherry Pralines, add an extra "l" in there. Cherry Pralines. Now they're not healthy, I have to admit it. You know, I think I'm running at about 95% sort of healthy chocolate and the rest not so much. But this was a gift for me so it wasn't me going to the store but somebody else went to the store and they saw yumminess and they thought, "Ooh, Bets." So they went ahead and got this for me. I truly enjoyed the taste of these. Absolutely. And I believe it was Marina who gave me these. Oh, and thank you, Marina, because these were so good. They were sweet, they were smooth, they were fruity. It was really, really delicious. Not something that I could finish, unfortunately, because they were not made of things that were super good for my body. But I still really enjoyed them and even a packaging was super fun. I love a chocolate that comes in fun packaging. You know the basic packaging when you're going with sort of greener brands? That's okay too, but I love it when the boxes are a little bit different or the coloring is not what you would expect on a chocolate or maybe a little extra shine or shimmer. I like that kind of thing. And these Cherry Pralines had little teeny boxes, so they're really super cute. Now, these Milk Chocolate Cherry Pralines are accompanying the chocolate moment. You alone are responsible for your happiness. Now, how in the world can the Cherry Pralines have anything to do with being in charge of my own happiness? You'll notice that I said Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Cherry Pralines. I am super, super sensitive to cow dairy, like really sensitive. And, since having COVID, like every single sensitivity that I have, every single one has just gotten heightened and a little bit more challenging. And that includes the milk aspect of my sensitivities. And so, I knew, taking a bite of that, knowing that it was milk chocolate, I could make myself sick. So I wanted to make sure that I continued on a happy route on that particular day, and didn't cause myself any discomfort. So I took a bite, I tasted it, I enjoyed it, and then I put it to the side. I actually did not finish these Cherry Pralines. And if you don't have a sensitivity to milk and you don't have any sort of autoimmune issues with food that you've got to be careful of, then oh my goodness, devour them, they are so good. But I know that I'm responsible for my happiness. I also know that I'm not so happy when I eat things that aren't good for me because then I don't feel well. And when I don't feel well then I'm kind of grumpy and my mind doesn't work very well. I know I'm responsible for my happiness, so I try not to eat things that aren't going to make me feel good. Now Trader Joe's really has a corner on the market for super yummy chocolates, I have to give that to them. And I have to acknowledge that this friend that gave this to me is lovely and I adore her, I love her very much. But, I, being responsible for my own happiness, did not eat the whole thing so that my brain could be clear, my body could feel good, so that it wouldn't have any discomfort in my lower body, my intestines. I took responsibility. Now it doesn't have to be chocolate that we're talking about when when going for the whole responsibility side of enjoying your happiness. It could be choices that you make in relationships, it could be putting yourself in situations that may not be happy or supportive for you. Maybe it has to do with, you know, you decide you're going to start working out every day and that's going to be great for your body, and you hate walking, but you recognize that maybe walking to work would be a good way to burn extra calories and sort of get your heart rate going. So you decide to go for that. But you are so unhappy every time you get to work and your thoughts are more like, "I'd rather ride a bike," or "I'd rather do aerobics." Like, "There's walking," and you try to find the positivity in there but it is so hard because you're not happy when you walk. And I, you know, I have to admit, this is not something I can relate to, because I love walking. I love most forms of physical activity, so this is like not something that I can really relate to. But I know a lot of people who are like this. In fact, there's someone in my family growing up who really did not like walking. If you're trying to do something positive for yourself but you're creating a level of unhappiness in doing that, maybe you should change it. Maybe you should go to something that is more happy. Instead of walking to work maybe you just go for 10-15 minutes of some light aerobics or isolation exercises during lunch. Figure out how you can be responsible for your happiness and really support that make choices that are going to help you feel good about your day. And about all of the other choices that you're making. Your energy is supported by your thoughts. So, if you want to have a happy day you have to have happy thoughts. And if you want to have happy thoughts you need to make a choice to have those thoughts. You alone are responsible for your happiness., you are the one who's responsible for that. Really own that. Really own it and love it. Now, I want to take a little bit of time to talk to you about an event that just happened over this last weekend. And I was just blown away by all of the loving kindness coming from so many people to make this event happen. I was just so blown away by the gifts of love and caring and support in planning this and putting it together and even setting up all of this stuff for this event. Now, I'm talking about the Spiritual Spa. The Spiritual Spa is a midwinter reset retreat. And I've been doing reset retreats for, oh my goodness, since 2019, I think, and I tried to do two a year and I was having them in Harmony, Pennsylvania, and it was just lovely. And now I've moved to this new location in Evans City, Pennsylvania, it is so beyond gorgeous. It's called the Glen Eden barn and it's sitting up on this hill with gorgeous views. The interior is just absolutely phenomenal and amazing. I had just this huge group of people show up to partake in all of the loveliness of the weekend. And some of the people who came were giving their time to help with the happiness of the entire group. So, Matt price was leading the drum circles, I had Kim boo sic leading the journaling, I had Val cannon doing the sound baths, and Jackie Hooper leading the yoga. And I had Savannah Danko and Christina Leonard doing distance Reiki, like there were so many people involved in this and just really giving of themselves on a loving level. It was just so absolutely wonderful. But one of the most wonderful things about this experience was that the people in attendance really were taking responsibility for their own happiness. Now, we had this huge snowstorm. And that kind of slowed some people down, a couple people didn't show up and then some people who didn't show up on the first day came the second day even though we still had some snow. They were taking responsibility for their happiness and really owning it, but what was lovely was all of these people who came, they were showing loving support for one another, for themselves, for the group as a whole, for the space that we were in. Everything was so incredibly lovely. Happiness is, indeed, yours, and I can tell you that happiness was mine this weekend, it was so great. And so many smiling faces, so many happy people, it was just absolutely beyond lovely. Absolutely. Happiness is yours. Your energy is supported by your thoughts and amplified by your emotion, so when you're experiencing things and you can acknowledge the beauty of the situation of the things that you're doing as a group or as an individual, oh my goodness, it just ramps everything up. You alone are responsible for your happiness. make bold choices, really own the path that you are on. Love you. Looking for a way to help support BetsDanko.Com and Wisdom & Chocolate? Head down to the bottom of the podcast description, click on "Buy Me a Coffee," that will take you to the website, Buy Me a Coffee, where you can make a donation to help support everything that we do here. And, of course, we dedicate everything we do to celebrating you. So thank you for helping us do exactly that. And now we are at the celebration moment. Yes. Everything you are seeking is seeking you. Ooh. You know, I, you know, being an actress, I've been to several auditions and, it's always nerve wracking. You don't know what people want, you don't know if they're gonna like you, you know, it's super stressful. And I mostly have auditioned for musical theater and, so, you are in the room in front of a table full of people - maybe four or five people - sitting there listening, assessing, deciding, are you the right person for the role? And it can be so challenging to find positivity in those situations, that whole concept of allowing people to judge you and then decide if you're the right one. Yike. It can be, it can really mess with your mind, let's just put it that way. But what I learned after a good amount of time was that, those people behind the table, they actually want you to do well. They're supporting you on an emotional level, an energetic level. They want very much for you to be the person that they're looking for. So when you walk in the room and you're preparing to sing for somebody or read something for somebody, they're sending you good vibes, they want you to be the one who really nails it. They're not they're trying to judge as a way of knocking you out of the room or, you know, destroying you as competition. That's not what they're doing at all. It took me a long time to realize that, but it's absolutely the truth. And the thing is that, that's not just unique to the acting profession, it's not something that just happens when you need to go sing for people. And by the way, you know, I do have a situation with stage fright. And part of the thing is that I'm so afraid, I'm going to let people down, I'm going to forget the lyrics, I'm going to forget my steps. I'm very, you know, nervous about that kind of thing. But it's the same thing, your audience wants you to do really well, not just so that they can enjoy your performance, but so that they can feel good about it too. See, when you have a bit of a situation and you're you've got a challenge that suddenly shows up, they feel for you, then they want to feel positive stuff for you. So they do have your back. So if you take this statement, "Everything you're seeking is seeking you," and you sort of apply that to you walk in a room, and you're nervous and concerned about how people are going to think of you and all that kind of thing. Well, if that's what you're seeking, if that's what you think is going to be there, that's what's gonna find you. If you're walking into a room, and you're acknowledging, "Wow, these people want to like me, they want to meet me, they want me to do really well, they've got my back, because emotionally, they're trying to support me, just by shaking my hand and saying hello to me," well, then everything becomes easier. Everything you're seeking is seeking you. And if what you're saying to yourself is, "I'm going to fail, as soon as I walk in that room," or "You know what, they're not gonna like me," well, you know what's gonna happen? You're putting that energy out into the room. And all of a sudden, you're creating some sort of energy that maybe nobody can put into words, but they're feeling it, they start expecting that they're not going to be able to connect to whatever it is you're doing. Now, going back to this last weekend, I can tell you a lot of the people in the room did not know anyone else. In fact, there were 10 people that I had never met before. They showed up, you know, kind of organically and, it was awesome, it was super beautiful. And I just knew because they were showing up at this event, they were going to be awesome. And they did not let me down. They didn't, they were so super awesome. They were seeking happiness and positivity and so I was seeking that for them too and the whole energy of the room was seeking that for them too. And so, of course, they experienced that. That's how this works. Your energy is supported by your thoughts. So if you're expecting things to not be super good, you can put that out into the world and then not so super good is going to be looking for you because that's what the world thinks that you're looking for. You alone are responsible for your happiness. Make some bold choices, decide to own your space, decide to really stand in your yumminess. Be the Milk Chocolate Cherry Praline, recognize that sometimes people can't enjoy you 100%, but they're going to love you enough to really see the positive side of what you're bringing to the room as long as that's what your thought process is. If you're walking into the room thinking, "Yes, I'm here and I am going to love this experience," then what do you think is going to happen? Lovely, awesome experiences are going to come your way. Happiness is yours. Your energy is supported by your thoughts and amplified by your emotion. So you got to realize, you alone are responsible for your happiness, and everything you're seeking is seeking you. So you, being the little control freak that you are, you alone are responsible for creating the happiness that you are seeking. Seek and it will come seeking you. If you'd like me to wrap a little wisdom around your favorite chocolate reach out and let me know. Just write a little comment, let me know what your chocolate is and where you're writing from and I will find a way to weave it into one of my podcasts. And I'll even give you a shout out so people know that it came specially from you. Check out everything that BetsDanko.Com has to offer at BetsDanko.Com If you're on social media, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, you can follow me and BetsDanko.Com and keep up to date on all the little bits of Wisdom & Chocolate that I post Monday through Friday. Subscribe to this podcast and start enjoying your weekly dose of celebrating you with Bets Danko. And, while you're at it, if you're enjoying Wisdom & Chocolate, please take a moment and share with a friend. Go ahead, tag a friend today with Wisdom & Chocolate and get them started on a path of self celebration. Experience the wisdom that helps to motivate and empower you in relationships, business, family, and most importantly, self celebration. Getting the picture? It's wisdom and it's all about you. Want to hear the chocolate? Tune into Wisdom & Chocolate weekly.