Shadowing Practice: Stop making life harder for yourself. - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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I'm just going to start off by saying it.
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There's a good chance that you are the one who's making life harder for yourself.
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I'm not saying that there's not things that suck sometimes or that we don't ever deal with hard things, but a lot of times we make things more difficult, more stressful, more overwhelming than they need to be.
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We make life harder than it needs to be.
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And this is a hard reality to face, but once you can become aware of it, you can change it.
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Life is a game and we're all just little sims characters playing it.
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So what do you want your life to be?
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Do you want it to be hard and always stressful?
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Or are you finally ready to let it be easy?
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Hello friends, welcome back.
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If you're new here, my name's Jill's and I help women step into their power, tap into their divine feminine and become their best self, live their dream life.
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So if that's what you want to do, you should subscribe and stick around.
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Now, before I begin, again, I'm not claiming that we never ever have any hard moments in life.
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We all have those.
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But what I am saying is what's the point in making things harder for yourself?
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Not everything needs to be hard.
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Sometimes things can be easy.
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Actually, a lot of things can be easy or at least a lot easier than you're making them.
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Life doesn't have to be a constant stress and struggle.
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So let's dive in and talk about it.
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To a large extent, you get to create the rules of your own reality
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and our brain becomes wired in a certain way from the way we grow up, from the experiences we have, and from the thoughts and beliefs that we have and choose to think.
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Our brain becomes literally wired to see and experience the world in a specific way.
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But we can choose to rewire our brain for our own benefit too, for ease.
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So often we can get stuck in the thinking that things are hard.
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Trust me, I've been there.
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But the reality is, is that if you think things are going to be hard, there's a good solid 90% chance that it's going to be hard.
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If you think it's going to be hard to find a new apartment, it likely will be.
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If you think it's going to be hard to find love, it likely will be.
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If you think it's going to be hard to get healthy and stick to healthy habits, it likely will be.
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Even to the little things, if you think making your bed every morning is going to be hard for you, then it's going to feel that way.
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The way we choose to think about things shapes how we see the world and how we feel in the world.
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And I'm sure a lot of you guys have seen or heard of that trend, I guess you can call it, about being delusional and how it can change your life.
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And the reason why this has worked so well for
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so many people is because when you tap into your delusional alter ego, where you believe you can be everything and get everything that you want,
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it's more of an extreme way to shift your thoughts and beliefs.
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Sometimes the only way we can get comfortable with actually shifting our thoughts is by playing the part of our delusional self.
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I actually have a video on how an alter ego can change your life.
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And if you're even slightly interested in this topic, I highly recommend you take a peek at it.
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I'll put it up here and down below as well.
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It's one of my favorite videos I've ever done.
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And so since we know like with full certainty that our thoughts and beliefs can completely shift our reality,
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why, why would you choose to believe that life is hard when you can believe that it's easy?
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Why would you set yourself up to live a hard life when you can set yourself up for ease?
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And so then if you choose to think that things are going to be hard, then the problem amplifies because once you think
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that things are going to be hard or they're going to be uncomfortable or if they're going to suck, then you build up resistance to it in your head.
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And a lot of times the reason why we suffer is not because of what we have to do, but more so our resistance to what we have to do.
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A lot of times resistance is why we suffer.
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For example, going to the gym is actually quite easy to do, but oftentimes we'll build up this resistance to it.
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And we'll just be thinking all day, like, Oh, I have to go to the gym later and work out later.
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I don't want to do that.
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And and they'll just be thinking about it all day.
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And you're unnecessarily making yourself suffer.
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But once you actually go, it's actually not that bad and you're happy you win.
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Or your house is messy and you need to clean it.
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Cleaning is not that hard, but our resistance to it makes it feel hard.
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Doing work and being productive is usually not that hard, but it's our resistance to it that makes it feel hard.
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And it's the way we choose to perceive those events that determine if we feel like life is hard or not.
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And it's like a lot of things you're going to have to do eventually, like your procrastination and your negative thinking around whatever it is, you're just making yourself feel more miserable.
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It can make you feel like life is hard, like things are hard, but we can rewire our brains for ease.
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And we can do this by consciously and consistently changing our thoughts and the things that we believe about the world.
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If you want to be delusional and have an alter ego to do this, you can go right ahead, do it any way you want.
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But it really just comes down to shifting our thoughts.
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When you notice yourself feeling that tension, that heaviness, that resistance, or when things just feel hard in life, okay, this is what you're going to do.
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You're going to consciously take a second, take a step back, and you are going to tell yourself, no, this can be easy.
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You are going to change your thought to this can be easy.
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I still do this all the time.
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Whenever I get that initial feeling of heaviness or things being hard, I go, nope, nope.
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This is easy.
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I get to do this with ease.
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It gets to be easy for me.
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And just telling myself that over and over again, I can have ease.
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Things can be easy.
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Make that your motto.
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Carry it with you.
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This can be easy.
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The minute you start shifting your thoughts to this can be easy, it will feel easier.
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You'll feel lighter, more energized, happier, softer.
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And I know there's probably some of you out there who are like, oh, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life.
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If I want it to be easy, I just say it's going to be easy.
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And I get how stupid that sounds.
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Like I understand that from a logical perspective, how stupid that sounds.
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But regardless of how dumb it might sound initially, it works at least try it.
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Remember that you create the rules of your own reality.
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If you want things to be easy, you need to tell yourself over and over again
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that things can be easy and you will realize that things start getting easier.
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And guys, we are so easily influenced by the people around us and the people who we listen to.
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Stop surrounding yourself with people who love the struggle.
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Stop surrounding yourself with people who just decided one day that life is hard and that that's just the way it is.
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They will pull you down with them and there's a lot of them out there.
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If you want to experience life differently than them, you have to think differently than them.
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Again, the way we choose to think completely transforms our reality.
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So wouldn't you want your life to be easier rather than harder?
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Or this brings me to my next point, or do you actually want your life to be harder for some reason? Be honest.
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Is there a small part of you that actually gets satisfaction in suffering or being a victim?
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Or is there a part of you
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that benefits at least to some small extent from suffering in a certain area of your life.
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I'm gonna be real with you.
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This is not uncommon at all.
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And this has happened to me before where there's a small benefit to that suffering.
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So you keep perpetuating that suffering and keep self-sabotaging basically.
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Like for example, you keep getting colds and flus
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because it's the only time that you actually allow your body to fully rest.
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And it's the only time where you feel comfortable asking for help and attention and being a little needy.
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So while you hate getting sick and it's miserable, there's a small part of your body that actually welcomes it and attracts it in energetically.
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Or you're an entrepreneur and maybe you love your business, but it also feels really hard.
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It feels like you're suffering a lot for it
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because for some reason you have this belief in your head
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that if you're not completely busting your butt and working a ton and going through struggles,
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then you're not a real entrepreneur or you're not worthy of success unless you suffer for it.
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That's a very common limiting belief.
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Or maybe that slight satisfaction you get from feeling like a victim is
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because it makes you feel like you don't have to take as much responsibility in a certain area of your life.
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Or maybe it's just as simple as when you complain a lot about your problems, it gets you the attention and love that you're craving.
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And of course, this is more of a subconscious thing, but it is really common for us to experience some sort of benefit to our suffering.
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And we have to make those connections so that we can break those connections.
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Those were just examples off the top of my head.
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It's just something to think about.
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It's not uncommon for us to feel like we get some sort of benefit from suffering in some way.
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Almost everyone does this sometimes.
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I've done this, you've probably done this too.
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Just be open to exploring the possibility that while suffering never feels good, there may be a reason why you're keeping it around.
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There may be a reason why you're self-sabotaging without even realizing it.
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Before I move on, a quick shout out to Green Chef for sponsoring this video and supporting this community.
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Green Chef is a CCOF certified organic meal kit company that helps you cook clean and yummy dinners every week.
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They send all the ingredients for the meals
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that you choose right to your door and all the food comes organized in little kits so it's super convenient.
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And the ingredients come pre-portioned and often pre-chopped with pre-made yummy sauces.
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They make it so easy to eat clean quality food that you actually feel good about.
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They take a lot of the work out of it.
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One of the benefits that I've had from Green Chef is, I mean, obviously it makes eating cleaner, you know, easier and saves time, but it's also such a fun way to try new flavors and new dishes.
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And I'm someone who can sometimes, you know, eat the same thing over and over again.
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I can kind of get into that rut quite easily.
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I don't know if any of you guys are like that.
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And so it's nice to be able to pick off the menu and try something new each week.
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You know, cook with ingredients that you've never cooked with before or new flavors, new spices.
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It keeps it interesting.
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And they just help me stay consistent with my clean eating routine and continue building those healthy habits, but in a fun way.
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Green Chef helps me eat clean and live a healthy lifestyle.
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So if you'd like to try, you can use my code JILLSGAREN50 to get 50% off plus free shipping.
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Go to greenchef.com for more details and let's get back into it.
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Now, also guys, life isn't that serious.
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Actually though, taking life too seriously and just viewing it too intensely is a way that we make life harder for ourself.
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It's just not that serious.
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Again, we're kind of all just playing a game here.
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And this is what happens.
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Okay.
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This is a good example.
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When we want to level up on our life, whether it's mentally, physically, spiritually, or whatever, everything.
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When we just want to upgrade our life and become our highest self, sometimes we can get so focused on that and
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so serious about like improving and fixing things
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and become almost a little obsessed with it where it can take the fun out of life
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and we can fall into this trap where we were doing all these things to improve our life
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but all it's done is make it heavier we have to do this we have to do
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that we have to meditate we have to fast for 12
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hours yada yada yada it becomes exhausting yes discipline is required in your life
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but also we're all just all on a floating rock in space and you can still be lighthearted, have fun, laugh, enjoy life while getting to where you want to go.
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And you can do things in ways that feel good to you, that create more ease for you.
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There is not a right or wrong way to do things.
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I don't meditate every day, at least not in the traditional sense.
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I would say my form of meditation is more like dancing, walking, baths, singing in the car, sitting outside and staring at the trees.
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And one of the biggest things I've learned in the past several years is that you can still laugh, have fun, enjoy life while working towards your goal.
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You can still enjoy life while grieving.
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What I'm trying to say is that two things can coexist at the same time.
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You can have fun and laugh while dealing with more serious things, while working towards your goals.
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And that's why connecting to my feminine energy has been
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so helpful for me because it's gotten me out of my mind
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and the rat race of life and connected me back to my body, my intuition, play, fun, love, all those beautiful, simple things in life.
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And it's helped me to romanticize my life.
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Think about life more like a movie.
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And all of a sudden it becomes a lot less serious and a lot more entertaining.
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And sometimes when you are so serious about life, you focus more on the bad than on the good.
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And again, like you perceive the world however you choose to see it.
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Where your attention goes, energy goes.
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And where your energy goes is what gets amplified in your life.
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Always.
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Yesterday I woke up with nine bug bites on my legs from playing in the grass with my dogs
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and it was a little bit too late
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so it was clearly a bad idea but i can't change the fact
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that i now have these nine bug bites
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and i don't know about you
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but i hate bug bites they're really annoying really itchy sometimes mine swell they just suck
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but it is what it is and they're here
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and i can completely dwell on that and get
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so annoyed every time one itches and keep getting pissed off about it
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or i can be like it's temporary
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and turn my attention my energy to something else to something else
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that brings me ease and joy and takes me out of my suffering, my bug bites.
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It's simple.
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If you want more good in your life, more ease in your life, focus on that.
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Bring your attention to that.
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Or if you want to make your life harder, focus on all the things that suck.
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It's your choice.
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We can also sometimes fall into this trap that if things are going good, we can start finding things to stress about.
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Or we stress about problems that don't exist yet.
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And I listened to Abraham Hicks sometimes.
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And one time they said, whatever you're looking for, you will find.
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And that really stuck with me and made me think.
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And I think for the most part, that's pretty accurate.
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Like whatever you're looking for, you will find.
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And this just goes back to where you put your energy.
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Like wherever your energy and attention goes is what gets created or amplified in your life.
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Like if you want to make life harder for yourself, the perfect way to do that is to dwell on the negative, put your energy on that and stress about problems that don't even exist yet.
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Now, moving on to a completely different point, but I think is super relevant here.
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No one likes to be wronged.
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No one likes to be hurt by other people.
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But one thing that keeps us feeling so heavy in life is the inability to let go, not being able to forgive and release those heavy emotions.
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Forgiveness is not a gift for the other person.
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It's a gift for ourselves and holding onto old hurt, not being able to release it,
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it keeps those heavy emotions in and it keeps us stuck in this constant cycle of just feeling really crappy.
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And this has actually been studied.
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Those who are more easily able to forgive, even when an apology isn't given, that's actually the most important part, live longer.
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And if we decide to base our happiness in our life based on other people's actions, then well, we're in for a rollercoaster ride.
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And I've even noticed this in my personal life, those who really hold onto resentment
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and can't let go have a much harder time in life overall than those who can forgive and release and move on.
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They're just so much happier and have lighter energy.
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And forgiveness doesn't mean accepting what happened or condoning it.
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It's just about releasing that resentment and bitterness you feel because
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that energy will eat at you and it will destroy you and it'll weigh you down.
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By you deciding to hold onto that hurt and not release it and let it go, all you're doing is hurting yourself.
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All you're doing is making your life harder.
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So remember that you decide how life goes
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and you decide how things are going to work out for you and how you're going to feel.
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And you can keep continuing down the stressful path if you want to, that's totally fine.
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Or you can choose to believe that it gets to be easy, that things are easy for you because that's just how it is.
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That's just how things work out for you.
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So just try this and remind yourself whenever you feel like you need it, this can be easy.
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Ease is my natural state.
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Now, if you liked this video, I highly recommend you check out this video, how to manifest anything using feminine energy
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so you can actually start attracting what you want into your life with more ease and flow.
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Thank you so much for watching this video.
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I hope you got lots of value out of it
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and I will see you over there or I will just see you next time.
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Bye.
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What You'll Learn
This video is a goldmine for building confident conversational flow and natural self-talk patterns—two skills that make English feel less like work and more like a tool for connection. You’ll also practice expressing complex ideas simply, like explaining how mindset shapes reality, which is key for daily discussions. Perfect for shadow speech practice, it teaches you to speak with the ease of someone sharing a friend’s advice.
Listen For These Sounds
Pay attention to connected speech in phrases like “there's a good chance” (sounds like “there's a goodchans”) and “stick around” (blends into “stickround”). The speaker often reduces “you are” to “you're” and “it is” to “it's,” which keeps the rhythm smooth. Notice how “making life harder” links the “g” in “making” to “life” (makinlife), a common reduction that native speakers use to avoid pauses. These small sounds are key for mastering the shadowing technique.
Say It Like a Native
To mirror the speaker’s rhythm, stress words that carry emotion: “Stop making life harder,” “easy,” and “power.” She uses a rising tone when asking questions (“Do you want it to be hard?”) to invite engagement, and a steady, warm pace when sharing personal insights. Practice shadowing by pausing the video and repeating her lines—focus on matching her stress and flow, not just the words. This is how shadowspeak becomes second nature. With daily English speaking practice like this, you’ll soon sound more natural, whether you’re chatting with friends or sharing your own mindset tips.
Learning English with YouTube has never been more effective—this video turns mindset advice into a fun, practical lesson. Start shadowing today, and watch how small changes in your speech lead to big confidence boosts!
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've been · have seen · has worked |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who we · people who love · people who just |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is required · be lighthearted · be wronged |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.