The first chat with Sensophy’s Inner Circle took place yesterday, and we are blown away over here! A bunch of open-hearted people showed up with thoughts, questions, and a commitment to connect authentically. So excited to be doing this every week and keep this practice going. Because that’s exactly what this is: a practice. We exercise, right? Well, think of our minds and souls as muscles. They need a good old workout, too!

Sensophy’s Inner Circle is all about taking it from theory to practice. It’s easy to get fired up when we spend a week listening to wisdom from like-minded peeps, but how do we get from where we are to where we wanna be? It’s a long-term practice, and we need accountability and support along the way.

If you missed yesterday’s call, you can soak up the energy at your leisure with the MP3 recording. And below, we’ve collected our favorite topics of discussion from the call, ’cause the likelihood is that if we’ve got a question, someone else is wondering the same thing. :o)

Talking Point #1: Why do you do what you do?

So many of us are big dreamers. We have visions about what we want our lives to look like, and we’re hell-bent on taking the steps we need to take to turn those visions into reality. But after a couple of weeks or months, the fire’s burning out and we can’t seem to motivate ourselves anymore

Been there?

Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in a fantasy and forget that life changes take time. We need to remember that those visions are long-term and then break them down into baby steps. And when those baby steps get monotonous? Remember why we’re doing what we’re doing. What’s the ultimate goal? Where are we trying to get to? Keep the big dream in mind.

Talking Point #2: Make a schedule that’s good for you

During Enough BS, we talked about how we need to manage our energy rather than our time. This is an idea from Tony Schwartz, who says that scheduling time for recovery is just as important as scheduling time for work. If we wanna keep our motivation going, we don’t wanna take on too much and get burned out.

Remove distractions, ignore the temptation to multitask, and make time for rejuvenation. Take a nap in the afternoon, or if you’re not in a position to do that, take regular short breaks and do some deep breathing. Make yourself the center of your schedule and do what would work best at keeping *you* going.

Peep This Too

• Check out Tony Schwartz’s WTF interview: Time Management Is BS

Talking Point #3: Decide to be happy

Happiness is a choice. It’s not something that’s gonna happen *to* us when we’ve finally got everything we ever wanted; it’s within *our* control to be happy in each moment. And it can be as simple as deciding to be.

One way to get happy is to get grateful. What’s *good* right now? It could be something really simple. Be present and appreciate the moment.

Another thing to think about is giving, not getting. Brian Johnson talked about this in our WTF interview; he said that making it all about *us* is a surefire path to stress. In situations that aren’t going the way we want, how can we shift the focus away from ourselves? And, remember to be patient in the process.

Peep This Too

• Listen to Brian Johnson’s WTF interview, where he talks about not making everything about us: Yo, B… WTF Should I Do?

HW + Action Steps!

If you find yourself in a situation that, quite frankly, could be better, take ownership of how you deal with it. If you’re stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, put on a song you love and rock (the f$#&) out!

If you wanna connect on Twitter, use the hashtag #Sensophy to share your thoughts about the call.