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Meditation For PTSD & Living Your Best Life

Posted on September 6, 2019 by Stephen Parato

Note: This is a guest post by Zane Baker.

Meditation has been an integral part of my life.

For me, meditation made a huge difference in the way I show up to the world!

Growing up and living my entire life in a war zone had wired my brain to think in terms of fight or flight 24/7.

I didn’t realize how my environment conditioned my brain until I migrated to the US.

My first night in the US, I couldn’t fall asleep.

It was too silent. The sound of silence was piercing and my brain started to freak-out.

For the first time in my life, I realized that I have NEVER experienced silence.

Wars, bombs, and being alert was normal to me, and I honestly thought everyone in the world had to deal with this type of stuff.

After a week of no sleep, I finally confided in a friend about my predicament.

He was ex-military and he said, “Zane, giving your past, you most likely have PTSD and this new environment is triggering your brain.”

So in essence, my brain was freaking out in this new environment, literally.

So I freaked out that I couldn’t even fall asleep.

To my dismay, my friend shared that he’s seen it in many soldiers and people who witnessed a lot of trauma. He also shared that here in the US, PTSD usually gets treated with years of therapy and lots of medication.

I appreciated my friend’s advice, but the thought of being on medication and spending years on therapy just didn’t sit well with me.

Me and my freaked out brain was like: “OH HELL TO THE NO!”

And besides, as a newly immigrated alien, I couldn’t afford years of therapy and lots of medication.

So, I turned to the internet and started to search for natural ways to heal PTSD.

Weed was the highest recommended natural way to deal with PTSD on many sites and forums that I searched on. At the time, weed wasn’t even legal in California and for me as a newly immigrated American, doing something illegal wasn’t my first choice to manage my PTSD.

So I kept searching…

Reading forums and looking all over the place has finally paid off when I learned about mindfulness and meditation.

These two practices have really enabled me to take back the steering wheel of my own life.

Mindfulness has enabled me to remain present and aware while I experience life.

And meditation truly helped me get a hold over my hyperactive mind and process and release repetitive thoughts that can be triggered by PTSD.

To this day, I haven’t checked officially to see if I actually have PTSD. And at this point, I really don’t care to know, as meditation has truly healed my overactive mind and enabled me to lead a very transformed life.

Meditation enabled me to calm my overactive mind without judging myself.

I have been meditating daily since 2008 and I don’t think my life would be the same without this magical practice.

Here are the top 5 benefits I experienced in my life since I started meditating:

1. Making decisions clearly

Meditating daily has enabled me to access my higher faculty, I like to call it the God Within. Accessing that part of me has enabled me to make decisions faster and to persevere when things got tough.

We all have within us a superpower that we don’t access due to our very busy and technologically connected life.

I highly encourage you to unplug daily and cultivate a meditative practice.

Accessing my Higher Self often has enabled me to achieve levels of success I couldn’t even imagine before I started meditating.

2. Thinking before acting

Being mindful and present has really helped me to pay attention to my thoughts.

I became more intentional in my conversations.

My communication, verbal or written, was very clear and I hardly had any misunderstandings occur with other people since I started to practice meditation daily.

3. Letting go and releasing negative emotions

My meditation mentor taught me the practice of letting go.

He taught me to allow any thoughts that my mind can think of while meditating to come through. And when they come through to put them in a cloud and release them.

This practice has enabled to start treating my past and any negative emotions and blocks that way, too.

Since I started meditating on a regular basis, I made emotional cleaning part of my ritual during my meditations.

Whenever I am working on a deeply emotional issue, I keep thinking of all the energy behind that issue/situation and imagine all that energy going into a cloud and being released.

This is by far is one of the top favorite benefits I experienced from my meditations.

4. Heightened sense of clarity and intuition

Clearing my mind from the negative chatter and letting go of mental clutter has brought with it the welcome side-effect of heightened clarity.

When you release all that no longer serve you, you open up your intuition.

Not second-guessing myself has allowed me to make some key decisions based on my intuitions that yielded me some amazing dividends.

So are you ready to bring more clarity into your life?

5. Deep rest and deep sleep

I began meditating initially because I wasn’t able to sleep. To my surprise, one of the biggest benefits I gained from meditation was gaining the ability to fall asleep.

I learned how to relax my mind and how to enter the alpha and theta brainwaves. By accessing these waves often, I re-wired my brain and became able to induce sleep on demand if needed.

I have cured my inability to sleep for life. I teach this to all my friends and students when they say they can’t sleep.

To me, meditation now is part of my life.

It’s like bathing and brushing my teeth. I just do it without even thinking.

On my birthday this year, I downloaded the app Calm because I wanted to track my daily meditations. I love that app. I started on Jan 5th and I am on a 234-day streak and counting.

I personally prefer to meditate without any music or guided meditations but Calm’s ability to keep track of my times that I meditated has turned me to a regular user of the app 🙂

I meditate daily for at least 45 minutes.

Xoxo,
Zane

(You can learn more about Zane’s story here: Meet Zane Baker)

How to Cultivate a Meditation Practice

What’s funny is that Zane and I connected deeply based on our shared love for meditation and all things spiritual.

That’s why we co-created this article.

Now, the question for you is, are you “in-joying” the benefits of meditation?

The key is a REGULAR meditation practice.

You don’t meditate once and some 9th-dimensional light-being appears to clear away all of your problems.

These benefits don’t even happen if you meditate a couple times a month. They emerge out of a regular practice. This means daily, or at the very least a few times per week.

But here’s the disconnect…

Most people never create a regular meditation practice. They think it’s too complicated, too time-consuming, or that it’s just not for them.

Meditation can actually be simple, short and enjoyable for ANYONE. (Especially if you have an effective on-ramp).

That’s why I created the simplest way to cultivate a regular meditation practice. And if you already meditate, it’s the simplest way to deepen your meditation practice.

It’s called the Master Key Meditations.

This is a sequence of 8 guided meditations, to help you cultivate a regular meditation practice.

It’s so simple. All you need to do is press play and BE.

The meditations also build on each other, creating a synergistic effect that helps you deepen your meditation practice.

The Master Key Meditation series is the simplest way to build a regular meditation practice, and as a result, experience all of the amazing benefits of meditation.

Now that you know how powerful meditation truly is, let’s share the message. Just by sharing this article, you get a coupon code for the Master Key Meditations.

If this resonates with you, here’s what you can do:

Spread the love and share this article
Get your 22% off coupon for the Master Key Meditations
In-joy your meditation practice

Much love & many blessings!

Wholeheartedly,
~ Stephen Parato

PS – Here’s the direct link → Master Key Meditations

Meditation Benefits 2019 Study (Explained by Experts)

Posted on August 29, 2019 by Stephen Parato

What are the real, specific benefits of meditation?

While thinking about the best way to answer that question, I had a massive aha moment…

Just ask people, organize their responses, and share it!

That’s way more personal than copying and pasting lists of benefits, or referencing the same old studies, which has been done hundreds of times over.

I wanted to bring something new and unique to the discussion – to not only bring awareness to how beneficial meditation is – but to also help more people directly experience the benefits themselves.

So I asked two questions…
1) Do you believe meditation is beneficial?
2) What specific benefits have you experienced from regular meditation?

Then I had some experts provide their commentary.

I was fascinated by all of the feedback. And I’m honored to present it to you here.

So let’s start with that initial question…

Do you believe meditation is beneficial?

Honestly, with this one, I was just curious to see if anyone actually thought meditation wasn’t beneficial.

So I asked 129 people this question. And the results?

A whopping 127 said YES, and only 2 said no. Just 2 meditation critics out of 129 people.

That means 98.4% of people I asked think meditation is beneficial. Let’s not get lost in the weeds of percentages though. The bigger point is this…

The vast majority of people know that meditation is beneficial. It’s kinda obvious, right?

So why isn’t everyone meditating every day? What’s the disconnect here?

It comes down to a few limiting beliefs:

“I don’t know how to meditate” – Implying that meditation is complicated
“I don’t have time to meditate.” – Implying that meditation has to be time-consuming
“Meditation isn’t for me.” – Implying that meditation is only for certain types of people

Meditation isn’t complicated. Actually, it’s simpler than what you’re doing right now.

Meditation doesn’t have to be time-consuming either. You don’t need to be a monk who meditates all day to see the benefits of it. You can meditate for just a few minutes each day and get benefits.

Meditation is not only for certain types of people. You don’t need to be a Buddhist monk, a hippie, or any other stereotypical meditator. Meditation is for everyone. And anyone can benefit from meditation, whether you’re a monk, a teacher, a plumber, or a CEO.

Do you have a mind? If yes, then meditation will help you 😉

The Benefits of Meditation

Benefits of meditation

The benefits of meditation are seemingly endless.

It literally enhances every aspect of life. Meditation has physical benefits, cognitive benefits, emotional benefits and spiritual benefits.

Note: I explain the benefits of meditation, in list form, in these two articles:

No matter what aspect of life you can think of, meditation improves it. That’s why I call meditation “the foundational practice.”

Meditation provides a solid foundation for everything else in life. It’s the master key that allows you to unlock all doors.

That leads to the second part here.

I took my research a bit further though…

I surveyed 101 people about the specific benefits they experienced from meditation
I had some experts provide their commentary on the responses

What emerged is an amazing summary of the benefits of meditation.

Benefits of Meditation (First-Hand Experience)

Here’s the second question that was asked…

What specific benefits have you experienced from regular meditation?

101 people gave their responses. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of common responses.

Because it would take a book to share all 101 individual responses, I decided to share the benefits that were mentioned multiple times. That provides some nice insight into some common real-world benefits of meditation.

This isn’t meant to be the “be-all end-all” of meditation benefits. It’s just meant to give you a good idea of what regular people experience from a meditation practice.

Now let’s look at some of the answers…

I made a little chart to show the benefits that were mentioned multiple times.

Benefits of meditation study

Here’s the summary…

Inner peace and calm = 17 people
Clarity and clear-mindedness = 8 people
Less anxiety = 6 people
Not reacting to external chaos = 5 people
Improved focus = 3 people
Better sleep = 3 people
Being more present = 3 people
Better memory and cognition = 3 people
Positive attitude and mindset = 3 people
More energy and vitality = 2 people

It’s fascinating to hear people’s firsthand experience with the benefits of meditation. And though it’s not a rigorous scientific study, it gives you unique perspectives and experiences that the strictly data-driven studies don’t. That’s why I put this together.

It’s also important to note that many benefits of meditation address the root of wellness, meaning they ripple into other benefits by extension.

For example, inner peace and calm create a balanced emotional state and a sense of well-being. They also help with mental health, reducing anxiety, worry, depression…etc. Peace and calm also extend into physical health by calming the nervous system, upgrading the immune system, and optimizing digestive function. Then there’s the whole world of healing that opens up from stress-reduction, as almost every chronic disease is stress-related.

See how one practice acts as an origin-point for every aspect of health and well-being?

What The Experts Have To Say

There’s more to this too…

I also reached out to some experts in the world of meditation and mindfulness to get their perspective on the results, as well as the benefits of meditation in general.

Here’s what they said…

Mike Govoni

I work as an Integrative Recovery Coach. At the core of my work is teaching others the practice of mindful meditation to help clients become more present and embodied.

For the last 6 years in my meditation practice I have experienced life changing shifts. From cultivating a deeper sense of calmness – to experiencing better cognitive function and memory. To cultivating wisdom and uprooting various fetters of the mind to see the world with more connectedness rather than just me as an individual separate self.

Other benefits have been better health, sleep and digestion.

Sarah Hall

The benefits of meditation are boundless.

These findings are an accurate reflection of what I have discovered both in my personal life, and professional career as a meditation teacher and spiritual life coach. One of the most profound results of meditation I have observed lies in its ability to heal patterns of anxiety, depression, and stress. It holds the power to heal these kinds of imbalances both naturally and permanently.

Meditation liberates the human mind to cultivate its highest potential for peace, clarity, and intelligent growth.

Corey Sheikh

The practice of true meditation points one to this inner-standing Inner seeking, or self-inquiry is in essence this ‘giving up”, this surrendering to the fact that the ongoing nature of outward desire and promise – goes perpetually unfulfilled.

Through ongoing practice of whichever meditation style is most suitable for the moment, it leads one to the place of true peace, contentment, balance, equanimity. Where one recognizes the natural state of being in which has always been, will always be, and IS now.

This is the revealing of meditation, and it is why, no matter the level of the meditator, deep down, there is this knowing and true desire to realize this truth. That peace, contentment, equanimity, balance – is what we all desire at the core. A desire that transcends personal opinion or preference, instead, is the natural state and way of being of each individual.

When we look at the results of this study, the numbers speak to this. With the growing number of new meditators each day, we find ourselves closer and closer to a world where all can appreciate and prioritize this inner knowing and desire above all else. Resulting in a world of peace, respect, compassion and balance.

Paige Oldham

Given that most of us are living in a hectic, chaotic world with too much going through our minds, these results confirm the power of meditation to reverse all that and create an oasis of calm and clarity which naturally leads to less anxiety.

Giving ourselves the gift of a few moments of peace and quiet in the midst of a busy day can pay huge dividends when practiced consistently over time.

The benefits experienced by those outside of the top three are those that occur when meditation becomes a regular practice.

Jason Stephenson

Meditation for me has been (and still is) a game changer.

In particular before sleep, meditation helps me to release the concerns of the day, and to begin to sleep with some clarity.

It helps me to ‘let go’ of the junk that I’ve been carrying around during the day. Even if I awaken at night time, I am often tuning into a meditation to focus on my breathing and release any extra tension in my body and mind.

Zane Baker

Meditation has been an integral part of my life. I meditate daily for at least 45 minutes.

Here are the top 5 benefits I experienced in my life since I started meditating:
1. Making decisions clearly
2. Thinking before acting
3. Letting go and releasing negative emotions
4. Heightened sense of clarity and intuition
5. Deep rest and deep sleep

Benefits of meditation

There are common themes weaving together the wisdom of everyone who provided insight. These common themes transcend our ego-persona and connect us on the deepest levels. Meditation opens up this world for you.

To recap so far, here are the key points:

Everyone knows meditation is beneficial
Meditation isn’t complicated
Meditation doesn’t have to be time-consuming
Meditation is for everyone (not just monks and hippies)
Meditation comes with a wide-range of benefits
Inner peace and calm seems to be the most common benefit described by people
The benefits of meditation act as the foundation for creating other positive changes in life
The benefits of meditation come from a regular practice

How to Cultivate a Meditation Practice

The key here is a REGULAR meditation practice.

You don’t meditate once and then a genie appears to clear away all of your problems.

These benefits don’t even happen if you meditate once a month. They emerge out of a regular practice. This means daily, or at the very least a few times per week.

But here’s the disconnect…

Most people never create a regular meditation practice. They think it’s too complicated, time-consuming, or just not for them.

Meditation can actually be simple, short and enjoyable for anyone (if you have the right starting point).

That’s why I created the simplest way to cultivate a regular meditation practice. And if you already meditate, it’s the simplest way to deepen your meditation practice.

It’s called the Master Key Meditations.

It’s a sequence of 8 guided meditations, to help you cultivate a regular meditation practice.

It’s so simple. All you need to do is press play and sit back.

The meditations also build on each other, creating a synergistic effect that helps you deepen your meditation practice.

The Master Key Meditation series is the simplest way to build a regular meditation practice, and as a result, experience all of the amazing benefits of meditation.

Now that you know how powerful meditation truly is, let’s share the message. Just by sharing this article, you get a coupon code for the Master Key Meditations.

If this resonates with you, here’s what you can do:

Spread the love and share this article
Get your 22% off coupon for the Master Key Meditations
In-joy your meditation practice

Sending you love on your journey.

Wholeheartedly,
~ Stephen Parato

PS – Here’s the direct link → Master Key Meditations

Emotional Surfing: How to Deal With Emotions

Posted on July 9, 2019 by Stephen Parato

How do I deal with emotions? How do I manage emotions?

At some point, we all ask ourselves these questions (even if it’s subconscious).

Emotions are such a big component our our daily lives, that we find ourselves chasing the “good” ones and avoiding the “bad” ones.

Emotions are energy in motion; raw energy.

They are energy currents, that can increase or decrease our energy current.

If you think about it, current is a word used for both water and energy. There’s no coincidence there. That’s because emotions have a lot to do with your energy levels.

Here are some examples…

Ever notice an increase in strength when you feel motivated?
Ever notice a surge of energy when you get angry, then feel drained afterwards?
Ever feel as energetic as a child when you experience joy?
Ever feel a calm sense of empowerment when you’re at peace?

Emotions are currents. Learn to use the current to your advantage. When you master emotions, you master your current.

Now how is this achieved? Awareness.

With awareness, you have the choice. You can let the unhelpful emotions pass, or express them in a healthy way. And you can ride the waves of helpful emotions.

To continue the water theme, emotions come in waves. Everyone has experienced this. It’s even common to say things like, “waves of happiness”, “waves of anxiety”, or “waves of anger”.

Because emotions are like water, and come and go in waves, surfing becomes a useful analogy here.

Surfers are calm and aware, scanning the ocean for waves. They let most waves just pass by them, by floating over them on their surfboard. But when a good wave comes, they ride it.

Mastering emotions is similar. First, you need awareness. You need to see what’s coming. If you don’t, you’ll get pummeled. Most people don’t bring awareness to their emotional ocean, and in doing this, they constantly get blindsided and drowned by waves of emotion.

With awareness, you put yourself in a position to choose. You can choose to let the unhelpful ones pass. And when you see a great wave, you can choose to ride it, enjoying the experience.

I call this emotional surfing.

Let’s make this as practical as possible now.

Many people ask questions about…

How to release negative emotions
How to understand emotions
How to control emotions
How to manage emotions

2 Steps Of Emotional Mastery

Awareness
Healthy Expression

Like I said before, awareness is crucial.

Without awareness, you live life on auto-pilot, running on old habits and a slave to your thoughts and emotions.

There’s a reason why we use the expression, “possessed by anger.” Because it’s unconscious. No one really wants to be angry. It’s no fun. But they can’t help it. There’s unconscious patterns going on. And until awareness is brought to it, it perpetuates on auto-pilot.

With awareness though, you realize your power of choice. And this is the position of mastery.

If you have trouble bringing awareness to your emotions, just take three deep breaths and feel your body. This will help you tune in and feel emotions.

The second step is healthy expression. This means expressing emotions in a way that doesn’t cause harm to yourself or others. You need awareness to do this though, because expressing emotions in a healthy way is a conscious choice.

If you’re feeling angry, first of all, bring it to full awareness. Feel the anger and watch it, instead of getting possessed by it and reacting.

When you bring awareness to the anger, you have a choice. You can go outside and scream. You can lock yourself in your car and scream. You can go for a run. You can take some deep breaths.

This also applies to “positive” emotions. Many people suppress positive emotions too, for a variety of reasons. With awareness, you can express positive emotions in a healthy way.

In bringing awareness to emotions, then expressing what you feel in a healthy way, you learn emotional mastery.

In-joy yourself.
~ Stephen Parato

111 Random Acts of Kindness Ideas

Posted on June 25, 2019 by Stephen Parato

random acts of kindness ideas

Imagine if everyone on Earth performed just one random act of kindness every day…

There’s no doubt that the world would be a better place.

But here’s the thing…

Most people completely overlook the little, simple things in life. Not only that, people underestimate the power of little, simple acts done consistently.

They want the highlight reel.

They want the game winning shot, without the thousands of hours shooting free throws in the gym. They want the bestselling book, without the months typing on the computer. They want the fit body, without the daily exercise and healthy food choices.

See what I’m getting at? It’s the simple daily practices that create the amazing things we see.

A happier, more peaceful, more abundant world is created the same way.

When the number of people performing small acts of kindness daily reaches a tipping point, it automatically changes the world for the better.

Did I mention that it feels amazing too?

Think about the last time you performed a random act of kindness… How did it feel? Pretty good, right?

And everyone benefits when more people are happy. When everyone you meet is kind, it’s better for you.

All of this is common sense. But again, it’s so easy to overlook the power of simple acts of kindness performed daily.

That’s why I compiled a massive list of random acts of kindness ideas.

Here’s your inspiration.

111 Random Acts of Kindness Ideas

Buy someone socks
Publicly acknowledge someone for being a great person (like in a Facebook Post)
Support a crowd-funded project you think is awesome (on Kickstarter or Indiegogo)
Lend money to a third world entrepreneur via Kiva.com
Leave an unexpectedly big tip
Give your leftover food from a restaurant to a homeless person
When you buy food to go, buy an extra meal for a homeless person nearby
Give a homeless person clothing
Have a genuine conversation with a homeless person
Give a genuine compliment to someone
Hold the door for someone
Buy the person behind you coffee when in line at a coffee shop
Tell your mom you love her
Call someone in your family and ask how they’re doing
Call a friend and ask how they’re doing
Send a random gift from Amazon to someone
Write a letter of appreciation to your mom (even if she’s not here physically)
Write a letter of appreciation to your dad (even if he’s not here physically)
Write a love letter to your intimate partner
Write a letter of appreciation to a friend or family member
Surprise someone by sending them a nice text
Write a love letter to yourself
Leave a kind note in a neighbor’s mailbox
Send a piece of art to a friend or family member
Write three things you’re grateful for
Thank someone doing a public service job
Volunteer at a local place
Buy local food
Start a compliment post on social media – Say something like this: “Reply with your name and I’ll give you a heartfelt compliment.”
Treat yourself to a bath
Treat yourself to a massage
Treat yourself to floatation tank session
Treat yourself to a meditation and find stillness
Do a loving kindness meditation
Treat yourself to some relaxing time in nature
Buy or make someone in your house their favorite food
Cook for everyone in your house
Buy someone AAA for a year
Buy someone a book that they would enjoy
Create a customized shirt for someone
Donate to a good cause
Support an artist you know by buying from them and sharing their work
If someone you know writes a book, buy it and review it
Write a kind letter to your past self
Pay for someone’s parking
Compliment a random person and tell them to pay it forward
Post on social media, “How can I help you today?”
Book an AirBnb weekend getaway for someone
Write compliments on notecards and give them out randomly
If someone seems upset, ask them if they need anything
Hide a nice note in someone’s bag
Serve at a homeless shelter
Pick up litter in a park or on a beach
Shovel a neighbor’s driveway when it snows
Take someone new to your neighborhood on a tour of your town/city
Offer to take a photo for a couple (and compliment them)
Help someone who has a flat tire
Give up your seat on public transportation to someone
Donate your hair after a haircut
Buy groceries for the person behind you
Give someone an umbrella when it’s raining
Visit a nursing home (bring gifts or cards with compliments)
Write kind words on rocks and leave them at a park
Befriend a military veteran
When people are gossiping, say something nice
Each time you get a new piece of clothing, donate an old one.
Really listen to someone
Smile at someone on the street
Wave to someone on the street
Forgive someone
Let someone turn or merge while you’re driving
Be kind to an angry person (you don’t know what they’re going through)
Write your partner a list of things you love about them
Make a friend or family member dinner and bring it to their house
Have extra old coats in your car to give homeless people in the winter
Offer to do something for someone who’s overwhelmed
Leave a kind employee a good review
Contact a company online and tell them how great one of their employees are
Connect two people who you know can help each other
Whenever you’re reminded of someone (in a positive way), let them know
Ask someone an interesting question about their life
Buy someone gas at a gas station
Visit the elders in your family (grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles…etc)
Plant a tree
Share inspiring quotes with people
Send a care package to someone
Speak at a school about your career or passion
Mentor someone
Organize a surprise party for someone
Commit to not complaining for a day
Learn the name of someone you see often but never talk to
Be the “answer to someone’s prayer” by sharing advice or any action you feel an intuitive call towards
Send a care package to your local fire station
Give extra boxes to someone who’s moving
Say “Thank You” more often
Be someone’s cheerleader
If you see a well-behaved kid, compliment their parent in front of them. Both the kid and the parent will feel good.
Help someone who seems lost
Help a stressed parent by offering to babysit
FaceTime with any little kids in your life (they love it)
Offer a glass of water to anyone who comes to work on your house or yard
Help someone out who might be feeling awkward at a party or event
Hang a sign on a bulletin board that says “Take What You Need” with tear-off tabs on the bottom with inspiring words or phrases
Bring toys to a homeless shelter
Make a music playlist for someone
Let someone cut in front of you in line
Leave a kind note in a library book
Start a random acts of kindness trend at your work
Do one of these things for someone who you don’t get along with
Spontaneously surprise someone with your own random act of kindness idea
Share this article to inspire more people 🙂

An Invitation To You

Now that you have all of these ideas for random acts of kindness, here’s my invitation to you…

Join the Make Kindness Go Viral campaign.

It’s a movement to spread random acts of kindness. And everyone who enters gets a chance to win monthly prizes!

Help make kindness go viral (and win prizes) by clicking the image below…

Commit to performing one random act of kindness per day, no matter how small.

Let’s make kindness go viral.

Much love.

~ Stephen Parato

PS – Here’s the link to the campaign again: Make Kindness Go Viral

Shilajit Benefits, Uses And The Best Shilajit

Posted on June 5, 2019 by Stephen Parato

Shilajit is one of the most potent health supplements on the planet.

And not many people even know about it!

One of its nicknames is “Mountain Gold.” For good reason…

Shilajit builds vitality on every level: body, mind and soul.

It’s a tar-like substance (known as a biomass), found in the following mountain ranges: Himalayas, Karakuram, Tibet mountains, Caucasus mountains, Altai Mountains, and mountains of Gilgit Baltistan.

Shilajit formed as lush forests were compacted during the formation and rising of mountains.

When the temperatures rise around these mountains, a tar-like medical miracle substance oozes from crevices within.

Shilajit ranges from yellowish-brown to pure black in color. The black variety is considered the most nutritionally dense.

The History of Shilajit

Shilajit has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years.

Many other cultures have used Shilajit as a health supplement too, and still do. If something is widely used and revered, it’s at least worth looking at.

Here’s a glimpse of Shilajit’s history from the California College of Ayurveda:
Shilajit was first discovered by Himalayan villagers. They would observe large white monkeys gather and journey to the mountain tops each summer. The monkeys were frequently seen eating a soft, black substance that the villagers eventually realized came from the Himalaya Mountains.

The villagers then started consuming this organic matter. It didn’t take long for them to realize its’ amazing healing powers of both physical and mental health, as well as increased muscle and bone strength and the potential of increased longevity.

Shilajit Mineral Content

Shilajit contains more than 85 minerals in ionic form, as well as triterpenes, humic acids and fulvic acid.

These ionic minerals are absolutely essential to our body’s functions.

Our bodies rely on ionic minerals to generate billions of tiny electrical impulses. Without these impulses, not a single muscle, including your heart, would be able to function. Your brain would not function and the cells wouldn’t be able to balance your water pressure and absorb nutrients.

So yeah, ionic minerals are crucial to health. And here’s what makes them even more important…

Most of Earth’s soil is so depleted of minerals (especially in the United States). This means that the minerals we need for so many bodily functions are no longer in our food supply.

It’s estimated that 90% of americans are deficient in key minerals (which is the obvious effect of soil depletion).

Mineral deficiencies are no joke.

For example, magnesium deficiency comes with constipation, anxiety, depression and sleep problems.

Zinc is vital for immune function. So zinc deficiency can increase the chance of illness or skin problems.

Even minerals just needed in tiny amounts, like copper, are vital. Copper deficiency can lead to irregular heartbeat and more severe heart problems.

When the body is in a state of mineral deficiency, it starts to break down. Why? Because it doesn’t have what it needs.

“You can trace every sickness, every disease, and every ailment to a mineral deficiency.” ~ Dr. Linus Pauling

The Benefits of Shilajit

Here are some of the amazing benefits of shilajit…

Boosts Energy (by improving mitochondria function)
Revitalizes the Body (with powerful antioxidants)
Promotes Brain Health
Can Help Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease
Regulates Hormones
Increases testosterone in men
Boosts Immune System
Alleviates Pain Response
Helps Diabetes
Helps Prevent and Protect from Cancer
Fights Inflammation and Viruses
Good For Heart and Blood
Good For Reproductive Health & Infertility Problems
Oxygenates Your Cells
Strengthens Bones
Aids in Breaking Addictions

Over 3,000 years ago, shilajit was mentioned in ancient Sanskrit texts. It’s referred to as the “conqueror of mountains and destroyer of weakness.” Pretty cool nickname, right?

Shilajit has been one of the staples of traditional medicine (and an aphrodisiac) in a variety of Asian countries for thousands of years. Again, if it’s been used for so long and so often, it’s worth looking into.

“There is hardly any curable disease which cannot be controlled or cured with the aid of shilajit.” – Vaidya Charak

The Best Shilajit

Like with any health supplement, it’s important to get shilajit from a high-quality, trusted source.

That’s why my recommendation is Shilajit from Secret Energy.

It is the highest quality Shilajit on the market.

Secret Energy’s Shilajit is harvested at altitudes of over 3,000 meters, and prepared through a proven Ayurvedic process to create the most potent elixir possible.

I personally supplement with this shilajit on a regular basis, and I’ve noticed an increase in my vitality. I feel more qi, or life force energy, flowing through me.

If this resonates with you, click the image below to completely upgrade your health today, on every level…

Summary

Shilajit is one of the most potent substances on Earth.

It boggles my mind how more people don’t know about it. But hey, that’s why I wrote this.

Again, I highly recommend trying Secret Energy’s Shilajit.

Cheers to being the best you.

Much love and many blessings.

Wholeheartedly
~ Stephen Parato

Motivation vs Inspiration

Posted on May 29, 2019 by Stephen Parato

What’s the difference between motivation and inspiration?

Most people use them interchangeably.

But actually, there’s a world of difference between motivation and inspiration.

This key difference was revealed to me when I started looking into the etymology of the words.

Etymology can be a powerful lens that provides insight into reality. Why? Because how people put words to things reveals a lot.

Let’s break down motivation and inspiration…

The Etymology of Motivation

Motivation obviously comes from the word motivate, and motivate comes from motive.

The Proto-Indo-European root of motive is “meue” which means “to push away.”

This means that the root of motivation equates to pushing.

Now let’s connect some dots…

We all know people that are “motivation junkies” or “seminar junkies.” They go to some kind of event, where there’s a motivational speaker, and they get really excited.

But a couple weeks later, it’s back to normal… Until they get their next dose of motivation.

Motivation is a push. And pushing isn’t sustainable.

Many people look for other people to push them, that’s why there are so many motivational speakers and motivational YouTube videos.

But what happens when you don’t sustain it yourself? It becomes an addiction.

That’s why you see people get high off of a seminar or video, then quickly fall back into their old patterns.

Lasting change doesn’t work that way. It needs to come from within, or else it’s another addiction of chasing the high.

That leads us to inspiration…

The Etymology of Inspiration

Inspiration comes from the Latin word inspirare, which means, “blow into, breathe upon.” This consists of two parts, in (which means “in”) and spirare (which means “to breathe”).

Guess what other word comes from spirare? Spirit!

Are the dots connecting?

Inspiration is when Spirit breathes into you, or when you breathe into Spirit.

And how is this done? Through the breath. When you consciously breath, you connect with your spiritual self, and inspiration comes through.

So inspiration is tuning in and using that inner wisdom as a guiding force.

This means that inspiration is always available. You don’t need anyone or anything to pump you up. All you need to do is breathe, tune in and move with that inner guidance.

Let’s summarize the etymology here: