Flashback to the Take Control Of Your Life Summit Laughter is one of the most powerful tools for improving health, unfortunately, many people don't use it. Motivational speaker Steve Rizzo joins Justin Benton to remind people how much fun it is to laugh. His inspirational discussion about the power of laughter is filled with many examples of how laughter is often the most effective medicine Produced by PodConx #HealTheWorld #,,,/25 Miracle Plant - www.themiracleplant.org Miracle Plant Free Ebook - https://themiracleplant.org/the-miracle-plant-free-ebook-offer/ 101CBD - info@101CBD.org Justin Benton - https://podconx.com/guests/justin-benton Steve Rizzo - https://www.steverizzo.com/
Flashback to the Take Control Of Your Life Summit
Laughter is one of the most powerful tools for improving health, unfortunately, many people don't use it. Motivational speaker Steve Rizzo joins Justin Benton to remind people how much fun it is to laugh. His inspirational discussion about the power of laughter is filled with many examples of how laughter is often the most effective medicine
#HealTheWorld #,,,/25
Miracle Plant - www.themiracleplant.org
Miracle Plant Free Ebook - https://themiracleplant.org/the-miracle-plant-free-ebook-offer/
101CBD - info@101CBD.org
Justin Benton - https://podconx.com/guests/justin-benton
Steve Rizzo - https://www.steverizzo.com/
Steve Rizzo - https://podconx.com/guests/steve-rizzo
[00:00:00] Welcome back everybody to day. Number two of take control of your health summit. I hope you guys had a lot of great nuggets and a lot of wonderful insights from yesterday, from the yoga and the mindfulness and all of the breath work and the dabblers, and even the exercise and the, and the special guest appearance that we had when that lady came in for her daughter with lupus.
So today we have an incredible speaker and incredible guy who is going to kick Saturday off. You won't need your extra cup of coffee today. I'm telling you, we got Steve Rizzo, who is a world, legendary, famous standup comedian. And now he's a hall of fame speaker. He was a national headline comedian who started in his very own Showtime comedy, special earning, uh, honors as Showtime comedian, uh, comedy all-star.
Then at the pinnacle of his standup career, Steve walked away from comedy to pursue his true purpose and passion to teach people how to achieve. [00:01:00] Productivity greater enthusiasm and new levels of success. He is a member of the speaker hall of fame, an honor, bestowed upon fewer than 250 speakers worldwide since 1977.
Steve Rizzo. Welcome to the take control of your health summit brother. We are so happy to have you here and just share your story and your, your insights with our crowd about mindset and mindfulness brother. Thanks for being here. Thank you for, I mean, I do appreciate it. Well, folks, thank you. Um, uh, it is a pleasure being here when Justin called me and he.
Told me what he was doing. I immediately jumped on board because I'm very health conscious and I believe, uh, health has four cylinders, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. And when one of those are slacking, it definitely, at some point will affect the other three. And I think that's what separates those who are successful and happy from those who consistently fail and who are miserable.
Um, what I'm going to be sharing with you today, uh, [00:02:00] is, is, um, a foundation that you folks could use in your personal life, in your professional life. Uh, and if you choose to use this as your foundation, I think it, uh, it can make a big difference. And so let's get started. Um, one of the things that I started noticing in, in my life, and I'm wondering if you've ever noticed it, have you ever wondered why there were some people in life who seem to have every advantage to succeed?
Okay. They somehow manage to sabotage their success and they destroy any chance at happiness. And then there are those who seem to have every disadvantaged on their way yet they managed to persevere with an unstoppable attitudes to succeed regardless of their circumstances. And what really amazes me about these people is that they make a conscious choice every day to enjoy themselves during the process of whatever it is they're trying to achieve.[00:03:00]
Have you ever wondered what separates these two mindsets? And I asked that question because most people go through life thinking. Some people are lucky and some people aren't. And I think that's a cop out. I believe, I believe, truly believe that we make our own breaks and our own luck. So what you're about to experience here today, folks from this moment on is not brain surgery.
Okay. It's brain adjustment. I'm going to be offering you what I call. Common sense, success strategies that will not only take you to a better place personally, but professionally. And in my view, that's the ultimate success. And these strategies are based on three principles. First of all, these strategies, I want to explain this because a lot of people say, wow, this is so common.
How come? I don't know this. You do know it. You do know we're born with it. It's innate. These strategies come from your higher nature. It's just that we get so caught up in the crap of life. That we're not aware that we can tap into these strategies, that we [00:04:00] have these tools that can take us to a better place.
Instead, we get caught up and we let life control us. And these strategies are based on three principles. I want you to get this. I base my life on these three principles principle. Number one, you need to know without a doubt that you are the creator of your success and happy. Now what that means. It means that it's really not what happens to us that determines our quality of life.
It's really what we do about what happens. It's how you think about life's challenges. What really makes the difference. Principle, number two, you need to know, without a doubt that you are the only problem that you will ever have and somewhere within you, there is always, always a solution that's waiting to be discovered.
You just have to learn how to get out of your way so that you can allow the solution to reveal itself. Number three, whenever you're confronted with a challenge or a problem at all, it's never, [00:05:00] ever, ever a matter of managing the situation. It's always a matter of how you manage your mind. You see, can you manage your mind and the toxic thoughts and the emotions that are keeping you from finding the solution that's waiting to be discovered or the, the, the life that you deserve.
It's a key to health. It's a key to wellness. It all starts in the mindset. It all starts in your mind. No matter what it is that you're taking to heal yourself, it all starts with the mind. And one of the strategies I'm going to be offering you right now that can help you to manage your mind. I left before I say this help you manage your mind.
24 7 365 days a year is for you to unleash the power of your humor. Being on a daily basis. I tried, I said, humor being every one of us, everybody on this planet, I believe is born with a humor being within them. Unfortunately, most [00:06:00] people go their entire lives. Never knowing they have this power. Your human being is of your higher nature.
It is a part of you that brings out the best in you when times get really tough. What your humor being can give you more than anything else is peace of mind and emotional stability. As you just heard from Justin. I did stand up comedy for over 25 years. I headlined comedy clubs and theaters and colleges throughout the country did a lot of TV appearances have my own Showtime special.
And I am not saying any of this to impress you. Well, maybe just a little, because you know, what about my needs? I'm saying it to impress upon you that there were so many times in my comedy career when I was on that stage, that I was well aware that there were people in the audience experiencing challenging times of some kind.
Maybe they were going through a divorce. Maybe they were having financial difficulties. Maybe they, or a loved one were inflicted with some kind of illness. But for that time that I was on that stage, their problems, [00:07:00] their challenges, whatever they were didn't own them. Why? Because they simply allowed themselves to take time out, to learn.
As I've always said to one of my best quotes, I think laughter is the pit stop and the rat race of life. And that it gives you enough emotional fuel and repairs to get back into the race again. But the efficiency and the proficiency by which we allow ourselves to laugh comes from what I call your humor.
Being. The more you unleash the power of your humor being the more it becomes a part of who you are. And I was very fortunate growing up because my mom and dad had an incredible sense of humor. I was raised with humor and no matter what challenge that life threw at us, my mom and dad were there always to help us laugh off the fear.
Okay. They instilled 95% of the fear, but they helped us to laugh it off. And I believe I have my mom's sense of humor. My mom had a sense [00:08:00] of humor to the day she left this planet. I remember one time, three months before she passed away, my dad and I were taking it to the doctor's office. And as you can imagine, cause we're, we had to find out what the results were for some tests that were taken and, and, you know, we, we knew it wasn't going to be positive.
So as you can imagine, that's, that's a stressful situation. So we finally get to the doctor's office and we realized now the waiting room was packed. That means we have to wait another hour, but my mom is just so cool. There she is sitting in the waiting room, but unknowingly she's sitting on a magazine and the edge of the magazine is sticking out.
And this man walks by and says, excuse me, ma'am are you reading that? My father gives me a nudge and says, let the show begin without missing a beat. My mom stands up, looks up at the guy, looks back down at the magazine, turns a page sits back down, looks up at the guy, wiggles her button says I have one page left.
Everyone started laughing [00:09:00] and it diffused distress immediately. That's just the way she was. And that's my point. Because I grew up like that. I have this gene, this laughter gene, this humor being thing that reminds me when times are tough, it's time to unleash the humor. And even if you don't see the humor in that stressful situation, take some time out because eventually some point through the day, there is something that could make you laugh and your job is to find it and hold on to it and say, wow, I could still go on.
As a matter of fact, let me share with you a true story that happened to me many years ago in the middle of my comedy career, where I found out how my humor being turned a totally stressful situation into the ultimate success story. And I call this story humor. Being to the rescue again was in the middle of my comedy career.
Follow me on this. I was in New York city. I had a rental car that kept breaking down [00:10:00] 98 degrees. Air conditioning. Is it working? The captain car kept stalling up and starting again. And it seemed like every new Yorker on a planet was beeping their horns and cursing at me. Folks, let me tell you that is not a secure feeling at all, but to make matters worse for me, I'm already 20 minutes late for a very important audition.
And I am feeling this massive snowball of negativity building up and I'm like, oh man, what else could possibly happen? Don't ever ask that question because if you do, the universe will answer you. And it did. Okay. Here it is. I drive up to the toll booth and I go to pay the guy. And I realized I left my wallet at the rental place.
I don't know what possessed me. I thought I was going to snap. I looked at the guy in the booth and I said, Hey, I have a couple of burgers, two fries to get something for yourself. They're spotty. This guy looks at me with a typical New York attitude. And he goes, Hey, you want the ice should supersize those fries.
They're tough guy. That tunes, that totally blew me. I [00:11:00] immediately started laughing because I was in shock that he said that and I looked at him, I go, yeah, do me a favor, supersize those babies for me. And as we're conversing, we're laughing. But all the cars in back of me, these are new Yorkers folks.
They're beeping the horns. They're cursing. What the hell's going on over there, come on, we gotta get going. My new found friend that had told booth, he sticks his head out motions to all the cause of his, Hey, I'm working here. I'm doing things. You either wait or go to the next boat. He looks at me and he says, look, I guess.
And I told him what happened to me? I don't have my wallet. I don't have any money. He did the coolest thing he looks at. He goes, Hey, don't worry about a, it, I know you're having a tough time. This toll is on me. I got you back. Get out of here and have a great day. And he said, thank you. He said, thank you to me.
And I looked at him. I said, what are you thanking me for? You're paying for, I can't believe you're doing this, but no, you need to understand I'm pretty new in this area. And this was only my second day on the job. Believe me, when I tell you I really needed to laugh today. [00:12:00] And I looked at him and they weren't.
So did I folks, here's the point I drove away from that toll booth in a totally different state of mind. And as a result, I was able to plant positive thoughts in my head, constructive ways. I even visualize how I wanted this or addition to going, guess what? Even though I was late, but 45 minutes late, by that point, even though I was late, I kicked ass.
I had a great audition and it's a good thing I did because it led to the most important break in my comedy career. That's how I got my very first TV special, my shone tied special, and that special paved the way for other appearances. Now, let me ask you this question. What do you think would have happened if I would've gone into that audition in the mood that I was in before the tollbooth incident, I wouldn't have had.
Not in the mood that I was in. And it was only years later when I reflected back on that [00:13:00] situation, I really said, what was it that made me just turn my attitude right around? And I realized it's only when I started laughing now, why is that? Here's the psychology behind this. Get this. When you allow yourself to laugh in the midst of a very stressful situation, your brain is no longer focusing on the stressful situation.
Why? Because your brain could only focus on one thing at a time right now your brain is laughing at something absurd that just happened. And even if your brain does go back to that stressful situation, which will do, but here's the cool thing. It won't be as overwhelming as it was before. Why? Because you've calmed your nervous system down to the point where you are now in control of the situation rather than having that situation control you.
At that moment in time, my humor being came to the rescue. They're in a matter of seconds, not minutes, seconds. There was a major shift in my attitude. That's how important humor is. And I've [00:14:00] been using it as, uh, a, a, a strategy to help me cope with the challenges. You're going to have challenges every day.
But when you, like I said earlier, when you allow yourself to unleash that humor being on a daily basis, it becomes a part of who you are. You sending a message to your subconscious, which is 97% runs your life. Your subconscious does. And I drove away with an incredible attitude, and that's what I do for a living.
If you go to my website at any time, you'll see Steve Rizzo, the attitude adjuster. I show people how to start each day with an unstoppable attitude to succeed, regardless of their circumstances and their within lies the key phrase, regardless of your circumstances, because every one of you know, it's easy to start your day with an unstoppable attitude when things are going okay.
When everything's going the way that you want, but what is your attitude like when things aren't going your way, when you're caught up, when you were going [00:15:00] into a third year of a pandemic and everything that you tried, just isn't working change is taking place at such a tremendous rate. What's your attitude like then that's the key.
That is the end. That actually leads to the next strategy. And I have to tell you something, this is the biggest lesson I ever learned, ever learned in my entire life. And trust me when I say I learned it the hard way. It's what truly successful, happy, optimistic people know about life and wellness. They know in a very profound way that they become what they think about day in and day out.
They are profoundly aware that the thoughts that they have about any challenge in their life will ultimately determine the quality of success and happiness they're going to have. In regards to that particular challenge, contrary to what most [00:16:00] people may think. It's really not just the situation, the event, the circumstance that takes place in our lives that will determine our quality of life.
It's how we think about these things is what really makes the difference. Why, because your thoughts are the incredible power to either minimize or maximize the effect that that challenge has on you. And it's not your thoughts within themselves that gives them great power, not at all. It's what your thoughts create.
It's what your thoughts lead to is what gives them great power. You see your thoughts, create the beliefs you have about any challenge in your life. As a matter of fact, the beliefs you have about anything in your life have formulated over a period of time through a consistent way. Your thoughts, create your beliefs, the thoughts you have about anything in your life, the thoughts you have about the environment, the economy, politics, the president of the United States, the thoughts you have about [00:17:00] religion, sex, the thoughts you have about people in your neighborhood, the people that work for you, the people that work with you, the thoughts you created, the beliefs you created about me in this short time that I've been here, uh, formulated over a period of time, through a consistent way of thinking your thoughts, create your beliefs and every now and then you have to realize something that your beliefs, right?
The story of your life. And then you have to stop every now and then and ask yourself, what kind of story am I writing? What kind of story am I writing? And that just continues. This is a cycle because those thoughts who create that create the beliefs will eventually lead to the way you feel on any particular.
So, if you are bombarding yourself with negative thoughts, when you wake up in the morning, you can rest assure that you are either creating or solidifying a negative belief system. Those thoughts and beliefs will create the way that you feel on that day. [00:18:00] And if you want to start your day with an unstoppable attitude to succeed, you better make sure that you are feeling good during the process because those feelings will formulate that attitude.
Folks, I can't stress this enough. This isn't just a key to your success and happiness feeling good. A state of feeling good is at the very core of your success and happiness. Why? Because feeling good is the fuel that drives motivation and inspiration. You should write that down, slap it on your refrigerator, put it on your desk at work.
And it laminated again, feeling good is the fuel that drives motivation and inspiration. Guess what? That's always your choice and you're responsible. I think about it. It's absolutely impossible to stay motivated throughout the day and to feel inspired throughout the day, if you are harboring negative emotions, or if you have a bad attitude during the process, the number one reason why people consistently fail in business, the reason why any one of you may be having a [00:19:00] difficult time personally, or professionally with a challenge in life, achieving a goal.
It's not because you're not smart enough and it's not because of the challenge itself. It's because somewhere along the way, positive momentum, ceases, and it ceases usually what the, without the individual realizing what's happening to them. And the reason my positive momentum sees is, is because the individual is focusing all of their energy on the challenge on the problem, on what isn't working, leaving no room at all in that brain of theirs, for positive thoughts to seep through so that they can come up with healthier alternative.
And perhaps deal with the next challenge that will inevitably follow probably moments later. Again, feeling good is the fuel that drives motivation and inspiration. Now I know what some of you were thinking because when I give my workshops and they say this, I get this stuff all the time, whether I'm giving a keynote, half-day, doesn't [00:20:00] matter.
People say to me all the time, oh, Steve. You know, okay, that makes sense. I get it feeling good. You have to feel good to stay motivated and you have to have that attitude. And I know the power of your thoughts and all that stuff. That makes sense. But you know what? There are a lot of people listening right now, Steve, that, um, are really having some major challenges at home and at work and the ones that are having problems at home.
It's very difficult not to take those challenge to the workplace. And if they do, it's going to affect creativity and productivity, vice versa. With this pandemic, there are a lot of people trying to kickstart their business again, trying to make it work. And they're confronted with challenges and it's very difficult not to take those challenges back.
And it's going to affect their home life and they wake up the next morning, Steven, it's the same vicious cycle over and over again. So you tell me Steve Rizzo, how you're supposed to maintain a healthy state of mind, day in and day out when people are confronted with this stuff day in and day out, which leads to the next strategy, [00:21:00] this next common sense success strategy.
And as simple as this strategy sounds as they all do, actually, it's, it's a major key to success, major key to success and happiness. And this strategy starts. And I really want you to get this because it's a step by step process. This is how you could assure yourself that you can start each day with an unstoppable attitude to succeed, regardless of your circumstances, how to keep the motivation and inspiration going on a daily basis.
The whole process starts as soon as you open up your eyes to greet. Why because that's when you enter into consciousness and it is at that moment where your creativity is at its most powerful at that moment. When you open up your eyes before you even take the covers off, know that you have the incredible opportunity and the power to steer your thoughts and your emotions in the direction that you [00:22:00] want them to go.
Not in the direction they are so often telling you to go. In other words, when you wake up in the morning or the afternoon, whatever it is, you can choose to seize the day, or you can let the day seize. You let that seep in just for a minute. You can choose to seize the day, or you can let the day seize you.
I think we could all agree that way too many people today, more than ever are starting their days off and low moods at best. And you know what the scary thing is, they're not even aware of what they're doing to them. 'cause the first thing they think about when they open up their eyes. And it's still a little groggy, is, are the challenging situations they were in the day before or the grueling day.
They had the day before the fires that won't put out, the things that didn't get done, the irate people that they had to deal with it is absolutely amazing. What we clutter our brains with. When we open up our eyes to greet the day, we don't even give [00:23:00] ourselves a chance sometimes to succeed. And you're not even aware of what's happening to you, man.
I know people, I bet you, a lot of the people listening to me right now do this. You open up your eyes, you're still groggy. You didn't take the covers off you reach over to your nightstand or, and you grab your iPhone or some other ridiculous apparatus. And what do you do? You start looking at all of the messages that you think need to be answered before you even get out of bed.
Give me a break, give yourself. Compound that what all the crap that you would just thinking of before of what happened to you the day before. And now you're thinking before you take the covers off, you're thinking about all this stuff that has to be done on that day, and you can't understand why when you're getting ready to go to work, to seize the day that your energy level is rock bottom, take a couple of seconds right now, all of you and think of your responsibility on any given day, personally and professionally, your [00:24:00] family that needs to be taken care of the things, the goals that need to be achieved on that day, whatever it is, folks, your energy level has to be cranked up here, not down here.
That's your choice. That's your responsibility. So what I'm asking you to do is an alternative is to get your shift together. Okay. Get your shift together. In other words, When you wake up in the morning, rather than thinking of what is it working and all the things that need to be done first before you take the covers off, your first goal is to say to yourself, who do I have to be today in order to get these things done?
Okay. Say it to yourself. And rather than focusing on and thinking about all the things that aren't working in your life before you take the covers off, I want you to shift your focus and your way of thinking [00:25:00] to the things that are working in your life, to the things that bring you joy to the things that can bring a smile to your face.
Just a gradual process to the things that gradually make you feel better. What I'm asking you to do here, folks. And again, this has to be done before he take the covers off it's when you're opening up your eyes is to create an attitude of gratitude. I know you've probably heard this before. And some people think it's a Pollyanna point of view.
I can't tell you how important and what a profound difference it can make in your life. If you actually make this a part of who you are every day, create an attitude of gratitude. And I don't care who or what it is that you're thinking about. Maybe you think of the person lying next to you. Maybe you're thinking of your children, your grandchildren, maybe you thinking about the dog line by the side of your bed.
Maybe you're thinking of a Sunday afternoon where you're going to have friends over to watch a football game or some sporting event. Maybe it's a compliment that somebody gave you order, or you gave somebody, maybe you did something wonderful for somebody. [00:26:00] I don't care who you are. I don't care what it is that you're going through.
And I'm not making light here. I know some of you are going through some major stuff at this moment, but every one of you can find something that you are grateful for. And what I may asking you to do is to hold onto it. Notice how much better you feel. And that's the key. Why do I want you to do. Why do I want you to acquire an attitude of gratitude?
Because folks, we go back to what I was just saying. An attitude of gratitude simply makes you feel good and what is feeling good? It's the fuel that drives motivation and inspiration. We go through the course of our lives every day and we let life suck the energy right out of us, because we don't know, we have an eight common sense success strategies that come from a higher part of us that can turn [00:27:00] life situations around, meet it, head on, and we can flow with it instead of fighting against it.
And I'm telling you that you do, and an attitude of gratitude is absolutely one of those strategies. The more you use it, the more it becomes a part of who you are. You see, when you create this attitude of gratitude, you're sending a message to your subconscious that runs 97% of your life. As I said earlier, and your subconscious is very objective.
It doesn't know the difference between true or false. So you're actually, when you're focusing on what you're grateful for, you're sending an emotional signal to yourself, to your subconscious, that something good is happening to you, or is going to happen to you very soon. What's wrong with that? Is there anyone that can argue with me and say that waking up, focusing on what's working rather than fixating what isn't working, isn't better for you.
It's common sense. That's why I had called it common sense. Success strategy. [00:28:00] It could literally turn your whole life around. And for those of you still right now, who are thinking that are saying to yourself, Steve, you don't know what I'm going through. Apparently it's very difficult to be grateful. You don't know what I'm experiencing at this point in my life.
Okay. I'm going to share a story with you. All right. And by the way, I was very blessed and I still am blessed my entire life. I've always come across people that met me, that that taught me life's lessons just by staying with these people. And I think this is the perfect story about being grateful for your life, from what you have when life has taken so much from you.
In 2004, I had the pleasure of meeting Christopher Reeve and Dana reef. This was five months before Christopher Reed passed away. Now, for those of you as a refresher who may not know who Christopher Reeve, uh, was, he was the first actor to play the role of [00:29:00] Superman in the early eighties. Okay. It was a huge star and he was paralyzed.
It became paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the horseback riding company. And at that time in, in, uh, 2004, we were both keynote speakers at the San Diego San Diego convention center for like 8,000 people. I was the opening keynote and Chris was the closing keynote. When I finished my presentation and I was walking down the aisle to get off the platform.
Dana Reeve is coming at me like she's attacking me. I never met her before. I knew who she was. She grabs me right in front of everyone. Thousands of people are looking and she hugs me and she gives me a kiss on my cheek, on my other cheek. She goes, that was wonderful. And she was quite emotional. And she said, Chris would love to meet you.
Would you mind he's going on at about a half hour? And he'd like to meet you. I said, I'd love to, I was honored. So I go back and apparently she told me, she said, uh, while you on stage, Chris and Dana were in the green room with other people and they will watching my whole presentation [00:30:00] on a TV monitor in the green room.
So when I walked into me, Chris, it was. It was a reality check for me, it was a very humbling experience because when you hear about someone in that condition, that's one thing. But when you see it, it's a totally different vibe. The only parts of his body that he could move, or his lips, his eyebrows and his eyes, that was it.
And he looked at me when I walked in and he had this smile. He said, Steve Rizzo, thank you for taking the time to see me. I love what you set up there. I love it. You did. I have to tell you that I live by that philosophy. He was getting juiced by what I said, it was the best compliment to this day that I've ever received.
And he told me, especially the part about your humor beam. He said, that was the second thing that I was grateful for in my life. I was wondering in my mind what the first thing was. He said, if it wasn't for my sense of humor, [00:31:00] I would never have been able to accomplish what I've accomplished in my lifetime.
If you ever read his book, nothing's impossible. It's a great book. I suggest you buy it. It's a book about attitude, about persevering, regardless of the odds that is said against you. The whole second chapter is called humor. And he says that humor was one of the strategies that helped him to cope with what he was dealt with.
Later on that day, uh, we spent significant time together. It was right before dinner and, uh, Chris and Dana and I were talking and he got real serious. And he said, you know, he goes my, my second day, when I found out what my condition was, you said, I, I had asked Dana to end my life because I didn't think I was worth anything to anybody.
And, uh, Dana said that, but when he said that she lied down next to him and looked at him square in the face and said, no, you're still you. [00:32:00] You're still you, you could, you could still, you know, you still can do things, but he still had a hard time grasping it. And it wasn't until the third day in the hospital, when he saw his children for the first time and they walked in with Dana, something clicked inside him, by the way, they looked at him that they still needed him folks.
That was the first thing he held on to that he was grateful for in a, gave him such an energy jolt that he had something that he can hold on to, that he was totally grateful for. The second thing was his sense of humor. So those of you who may be thinking that you can find something to be grateful for.
Think about what I just said about Christopher reef. Yes. He passed away five months later, but that's not, what's important. What's important is what he did with the time that was allotted him. No one knows when the life is going to end. Anyone's life can end at any time, but I want to tell you [00:33:00] something, what Christopher Reeve accomplished in the last nine years of his life, in that condition.
I don't even have time to tell you what he accomplished. You got to Google it. It's more way more than most people that I know could accomplish in a lifetime and folks. I know a lot of people and he did it in that condition and it all started when he found and held on to that one thing that he can be grateful for.
That's how powerful an attitude of gratitude can be. And that's how far it can take you. If you make it a part of who you are. And it doesn't start just in the morning because we're all confronted with shit throughout the day. It's not just in the morning, it's during the day when you need that jolt.
Sometimes you have to step away with what's bringing you down and you have to force yourself to focus on which. Um, what you're grateful for and what makes you feel good? What might be coming up in the future, what you've accomplished in the past, whatever it may be, and that's your job and your responsibility, you [00:34:00] have a choice to focus on all the crap that life's thrown at you, or you could take that crap.
And, and, and, and like they say with manure, you could make fuel out of it and do something with it. You could become the victim or the Victor again, I'll say this. And I know I repeat myself a lot when I speak, but repetition is a key to learning. I believe again, we go through the course of our lives and we LL people, situations and circumstances to literally literally suck the energy right out of us.
Cause we don't know that we have strategies that can turn these things around life situations around and we do. We all do. And remember, it's all about feeling good. It's all about feeling good on any given. Ask yourself. How am I feeling? If you're feeling like crap? Well, then you have thoughts that are creating that.
Cause those thoughts are solidifying a belief system. That's causing you to feel a certain way. That's giving you an attitude, all of those lead to the actions that you take. And if you're feeling crappy throughout the day, every day, and you're making an important decision, you don't [00:35:00] have to be a genius to figure out that it's not going to be conducive to being creative or productive at all.
It's always our choice. It's all about feeling good. Check on yourself every day. And what are the other things that could help you to feel good in the morning? And this should start in the morning again for you to unleash the power of your human being on a daily basis. If you say that you can't find something to laugh at, as you're getting ready to go to work or to start your day, you are not looking.
You're focusing on the wrong stuff. You want something real funny to laugh at. Look at yourself. First thing in the morning, don't even get dressed. Look into a full length mirror, but crack naked and go I'm ready. Don't really do that, but I'm just saying, look at yourself and think about you doing that.
How many probably have a lot of married people listening right now? There's humor in marriage. Oh, there's definitely humor in marriage. I think we shouldn't take time out every day to look at the funny things that happened to us. As [00:36:00] a matter of fact, I believe a sense of humor is a key to a healthy marriage, a key to a healthy marriage, but I read an article on Oprah magazine.
I totally blew me away. That said that the key to a healthy marriage is to simply understand your partner. Are you kidding me? Understand your partner folks. Here's, here's something you have to understand. You will never be able to understand your partner. The only thing that you have to understand about your partner is that there are things about your partner that you will never understand.
And if you can understand that you will have a better understanding. You understand I've been married to my wife over 35 years till this day. I can't understand why I have to get in trouble for dreams that she has. Right guys. You know what I'm talking about? You wake up in the morning, it's a beautiful Sunday morning and down hall, man.
This is going to be a great day. And she's given you that look, and you're like, what don't you watch me Casanova? What are you talking about? And then she says, I just had a dream that you had an affair with another woman, guys. Trust me. Your response should never be really what we look like. Now. I just want [00:37:00] to know if it's the same dream I've been having.
That's all you gotta watch yourself. My point is, is that there's humor everywhere. Look at your kids to do the funniest people on the face of the planet. Watch how your kids grow up to be just like you. My son's a comedian he's 42 years old. Now he's, he's funny as can be. But when he was in elementary school, we had a problem because he didn't know when.
To stop. He was constantly making people laugh. He kept getting in trouble. He kept thinking he was onstage. One time he came home from school. I said, Hey, how was school? He said, good crowd, good crowd. I said, don't get smart with me. He said, well, don't worry. I don't want to confuse you. Who was everywhere.
Folks use it. Watch has it becomes a part of you. It's the humor that can help you to be grateful for the things you have in your life and what a wonderful gift to give to your children, by the way, with all the crap that we're going through with this pandemic and other challenges. Kids got to know that.
Yeah, [00:38:00] sometimes there are challenges, but there's always room for laughter. That's the savior. There's always room to laugh. As a matter of fact, find the humor in the pandemic itself. It's there. I think if you could find the humor in anything, even a tragic situation, you can survive. Unfortunately, we have become so politically correct in this time, but in this day and age, that was stifling, our laughter genes and our humor genes really way too politically.
Correct. I don't think people understand that. There's a difference between laughing at something that's very serious and allowing yourself to laugh off the fear and the negative connotation of the subject matter. And that's why we have laughter. That's why it's one of the greatest gifts that God ever gave us.
What good is a gift. If you don't use it, what good is a gift to be going to stifle it because some people think it's not right to laugh at a perfect example of laughing off the fear. I'm sure. Many of you, or most of you, maybe all of you have seen the sitcom mash or the movie. [00:39:00] How many times have you seen Alan Alda and the operating room bombs?
A bursting all over the place. There's no medical supplies left. His hands are inside. Some kids inside blood splurting all over the place. Bodies are being brought in by the dozens. And what is he doing in the middle? He's cracking jokes, but by cracking jokes, he's not negating the seriousness of the subject matter.
No, he just intuitively knows that his humor being is the only saving grace and a place where there seemed to be so little hope. If anything, his humor being is giving him the courage to do what needs to be done, which is what to save lives. I know some of you may be thinking great analogy. So you, but Tony to TV show.
Yeah, but most people don't know. I bet you, no one knows this. That mass was taken from the memoirs from a doctor who was in the mass unit during the Korean war. And the reason why they use these memoirs, because the Kuma that the memo is depicted was the strategy that in these memoirs that doctors used and people in [00:40:00] war use to help them to deal with the perils of war don't stifle, your laughter genes folks.
Don't stifle your humor genes. You can't because today more than ever, we need them. There's just a difference between laughing at something that's serious and allowing yourself to laugh off the fear. That's all I'm going to say about that. I wasn't even going to talk about that, but, um, I had to, and it's my show.
I'll do what I want. That's just the way it goes. And you know what, you know, what else laughter does if laughter throughout the day helps you to enjoy the process and the feeling good as is the fuel that drives motivation and inspiration, then enjoyment, shifts motivation into high gear. Now we're getting into a big problem.
Why? Because enjoyment is something today, more than ever, that people are leaving by the wayside. [00:41:00] Laughter people are leaving it by the way. 'cause they keep focusing on what isn't working instead of fixating, what is working studies have shown that people who make a conscious choice every day to enjoy themselves during the process of whatever it is, they are trying to achieve a more creative, they're more productive.
They're able to bounce back faster from life's challenges and find solutions to problems a lot quicker. Having said that I would wager any amount of money that most, if not all of the people that are watching me right now, listening to me right now, when you're writing out your plans and your goals for the future short-term long-term, or even writing out a list of things that need to be done on any given day, nowhere on those lists, do you ever include enjoying yourself?
A totally blows me away. Blows me away. Instead, what we have a tendency to do is that we create these dangerous minds. And we're not aware that we're doing it. And we say things like this to ourselves, you know what? I'll enjoy myself. And I achieve [00:42:00] the goal. I'll enjoy myself. When I get to where I want to go right now, there were too many challenges taking place, too many things happening in my life.
When things calm down and things start going the way I want them to go. That's when I'm going to enjoy myself and I'm not going to do it one minute sooner, I'll show me a thing. Or do you have any idea what you're doing to yourself? When you say these things to yourself, you're putting your happiness on hold.
You're actually convincing yourself that your happiness is dependent upon something that has to take place at some point in the future. That is absolutely insane. Why is it insane? Because happiness will always be steps of steps ahead of you folks. The point is, here's what I'm saying. The time for you to enjoy yourself is now in the now and whatever you're trying to achieve with your home, cleaning the garage, taking the dogs out for a walk, taking care of the kids, or you're at work, trying to kick it up.
A couple of notches. It is your right to enjoy yourself. The biggest disease in this country right now, maybe even on a planet is unhappiness. It's unhappiness [00:43:00] because people don't know that they're focusing on constantly on what isn't working. They're not giving themselves a chance. They don't know what they're doing to themselves.
You can go to, you can go online. You can go any bookstore, anywhere. The most sold self book, self-help books or books on happiness. They're all over the place. They are all over the place when it really is in so many ways, the easiest thing to do. And some people are just making it more challenging. As I said earlier, your subconscious, I really want you to get, this does run 97% of your life.
Follow me on this. I called the subconscious, the genie of. Y because whatever command you give it, whatever you say to it, command you give to it. It follows, it will answer you. [00:44:00] It will answer you. And here's what people do. And they do it unknowingly. I know a lot of you do it. I still do it and have to catch myself.
This is where and how we put our happiness on hold. And we're not aware that we're doing it. You're going through the course of the week. It's Monday and it's getting real stressful. And all of a sudden Tuesday hits and we'll be full. You know, you stop mumbling to yourself, unconsciously, you know what?
This is getting ridiculous. Just places to get on my nerves. I can't wait for the weekend to get here. When the weekend gets here, that's what I'm going to enjoy my life. I'm going to be happy and I'm going to unwind right now. I'm going to deal with all this crap. But when the weekend gets here, that's going to be the time when I'm going to enjoy my life.
Your subconscious, the genie of your soul is saying, okay, Yeah, which was my command. I could wait for you to be happy. We'll wait till the weekend then. So then the weekend comes and then you think, okay, now it's my time. I'll be happy then. No, it won't be then, because that same mindset will be with you and you will find something else.
That's keeping you from being happy, whatever it is. So you're there on the weekend and you [00:45:00] going, damn it. If the kids would just add to this house and gave me some peace and quiet, I got to join myself. Why is it that I can have time to myself? When I have time to myself, then I can enjoy myself. And then when you have time to yourself, your brain is going to start focusing on what isn't working in your life.
We're constantly trading after and trying to find happiness. When it's right in front of us, it's like the grand central station for happy times. It comes around all the time. You just keep missing it every time it stops. You just keep missing. And it's the biggest sin that you could come in on yourself is putting your happiness on hold again.
I'm going to reveal to you a story, which was one of the biggest lessons I've learned in my entire life. And, uh, I learned it in a very profound way. This story will prove to you, hopefully what not, what can, what will happen to you if you insist on going through your life, putting your happiness [00:46:00] on hold in 1984 in the middle of my comedy career, 1986, I'm in I'm sorry, 1986.
I was headlining Rodney Dangerfield comedy club, every single weekend in 1986 and half of 1987. This was when Rodney was at the height of his. And he was voted the number one comedian in the country. He was voted one of the top three recognizable faces in the country. He was on the tonight show on the Johnny Carson show.
Once a month, he had two HBO specials under his belt. He was noted for launching the careers of all the young comedians. You couldn't get any more. And they had to hit movies to hit movies in a two year span, rated a nine or a 10 by the critics. You couldn't get any more popular, famous than he was. And one particular Saturday night was the last show he sold out.
By the way, his name sold out. I was performing from a Tuesday to a Sunday. [00:47:00] Every show was sold out Friday nights, three shows. Saturday night, three shows, Sunday night, two shows. It was insane. And then the audience were movie stars, sports figures of all kinds of directors, producers. They loved him. They loved this man.
And this was the end of a Saturday night. I finished my set. It was the last show. As I'm getting off the stage, who's walking through the audience to go on the stage was Rodney himself. He often did that and I'm standing in the back of the room and he walks up on the stage and the audience has gone ballistic.
I mean, the screaming, trust me when I say it was deafening in that room, it was so loud. And these stars, movie stars standing and chanting Rodney, Rodney. So he has total command of the audience he's on the stage and, and, and he does, he wait for them to calm down and he does 10 minutes of new material for his next HBO special.
It's coming up in a couple of months. And as he goes to get off before he gets off and thanks to the audience for supporting his club, supporting comedy, and he asks the audience to [00:48:00] give me another big round of applause and he goes to get off the stage. And something happened that I never saw it before, nor do I believe.
Will I ever see again, the audience in the front row stood up. They surrounded the stage, they interlock their arms and they. Let him off and they're screaming. We want more, we want more. And that chant turned into, we love you. We love view the noise. I couldn't think of could ever happen was louder than when he first came on the state.
There was a ringing in my ears. Now I remember standing in the back of the stage saying to myself, oh my God, oh my God, this is what it's like to be a star. This guy has the world and the Palm of his hands. And it wasn't too soon after that, where I realized where I learned that sometimes holding the world in the Palm of your hands, isn't, what's important.
What's really important are the choices we make as we're holding it [00:49:00] because the show was over. The crowd was. The doors will lock. The waitstaff was cleaning up. And I went over to the borrowers. I sew up and did, when Rodney was there, I went up to him. I gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. I sat down next to him and I said, man, how does it feel to be a superstar?
He downed a triple scotch, looked at me square in the face and said, well, I'll tell you a Stevia really sucks. And I was waiting for the punchline and there wasn't one. And he went on a verbal negative rampage on how the intraday payment industry destroyed his life, ruined his career because he should've made it 30, 40 years ago when he was younger, he was not even 60 years old at the time.
And I tried to give him a pep talk. I remember standing there going, man, this guy is miserable. And I said, didn't you hear that audience? They loved you. You are a household name. They literally. [00:50:00] Loved you, they were embracing you. You are voted number one comedian in the country. You have to hit movies rated at a nine or a 10.
You're one of the top three recognizable faces in the country. You're going on your third HBO special. What else do you want? And he said that he downed another triple scotch. He said, I don't expect it to understand Stevie. All I know is I dedicated my whole life to this business, sacrificed everything, my daughters, my wife, everything for what?
For this, now that I have what I strive for. I still have it. He goes, I have it, but I'm miserable. I still can enjoy it. Like I said, that was the biggest lesson I ever learned in my entire life. And here's why, here's what I want you to get. Here's a man that should have been living his dream. Right?
Wouldn't you think instead, he's living a nightmare and here's why all because years ago, many years ago, unconsciously, but how they remember realizing what he was doing to himself. He created a mindset. A belief system that signified, I cannot, [00:51:00] and I will not be happy until I reach a certain status in life.
It was a self-fulfilling prophecy is subconscious. The genie of his soul said to him, your wish is my command. And here's the irony. And the sad part about this, even though he did achieve what he set out for probably even more, he still couldn't enjoy it. And here's why folks, here's what I want you to get.
If you're a droney toward your goal, any goal is polluted with any kind of negative energy at all. You're only going to create the same result when the goal is achieved, because that crap sticks with you. It comes with you. It's a part of who you are. There is absolutely no reason, no reason at all. Why any one of you can not make a conscious choice throughout the day to enjoy yourself?
The process to help yourself to feel good, to feel better about who it is, who you are and what you're trying to achieve. How do you do this by every now and then [00:52:00] just gradually shift your focus, new way of thinking to what's working rather than fixating and what isn't working to. Bless the things that life has given you rather than cursing what life is currently throwing at you to know that your feelings will eventually guide you to your destiny, that you, it all starts with your thoughts that your soul let's create your beliefs.
We have to be aware of this, that we are. What did I say to you? When I first came up here, the three principles, you are the creator of your success and happiness mumble one, number two, you are the only problem that you will ever have somewhere within you. There is a solution waiting to be discovered. You just have to learn how to get out of your way.
Step away from the crap that's bringing you down and allow the solution to reveal it. And the third principle, whenever you're confronted with a challenge or a problem of any kind, it's never a matter of managing the situation. It's always a matter of how you manage your mind. [00:53:00] Can you manage your mind and the thoughts and the beliefs that are trying to keep you from finding the solution that's waiting to be discovered and the life that you desire, it's all up to you.
It's always been up to you. You have a choice to become the victim or the victim dumb or the Victor yeah. Victim or Victor folks. Uh, I do hope I was able to help. Um, I just gave you some of my common sense, success strategies, uh, if you would like most of them or all of them, I keep adding more. So you can go to my website at any time.
Steve, at Steve rizzo.com, sign up for my Rizzo Graham on the home page there every other week, you'll get an article or a video on what I taught. And I would like you all to join me on my new streaming live TV show called, Hey, I am talking here. Hey, I'm talking to you. It just said like there's a I'm bilking here.
It's on Facebook and it is [00:54:00] on YouTube. It's every other Thursday at 7:00 PM. Eastern standard time. Hey, I'm talking here. The next show will be January 20th, 7:00 PM. Eastern standard time. Um, I love what it is that you folks stand for. Uh, health is incredibly important, but just know that health is more than physical.
It's mental, it's emotional and it's spiritual. It's the four cylinders of life. When one is working, it will affect the others until finally, hopefully not all cylinders stopped. So you find out which one is it working, rejuvenate it, get a crank. And again, know that you are the creator of your success and happiness.
I wish you all the best. Um, I think this pandemic is going to be with us a little longer, learn from it, become empowered. If you have children, it's a great lesson to teach them, let them know that life is going to be tough. That there's something within all of us that can help us to cope. Kids need to laugh.
Kids need to get in tune with their humor [00:55:00] beings. I'm going to shut up now and I'm going to sign off. I'd like to thank, uh, Justin for thinking of me. It's my pleasure to do whatever it is that I can do. My mission in life is to get my message out any way, any shape, any form I can. Wonderful. Wonderful.
Thank you so much. You, that was so powerful. And like I said, I, I had met you through, uh, Jeffrey Gitomer his world, and you guys were kind of back and forth and, you know, you did your three Stooges and I always kind of knew he was a comedian. And then, uh, I think I actually, one year book motivate this, which I put, uh, a link to, uh, in the chat for everyone to go by.
And as I read the book, I was really, really blown away with the insights as I'm sure everyone who just now had a chance to listen, whether it's live or, or you're hearing this on a recording, um, you know, these powerful insights and these powerful stories that really help people understand because the name of the summit is take control of your health and whether that's the [00:56:00] physical or the spiritual or the mental health, uh, it really is upon us.
And I think more now than ever that we know that we, we can't really just be relying on someone else to get things done for us. We got to take control of our own health and I loved the resource and the tools that you've given us. Steve. So just awesome. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I also, you know, with this new, this new TV show, the streaming TV show that I've created, it's really?
No, I think I've only done four episodes so far. It's, uh, it's to get my one message out. My new book is in print now. It's not going to be out for a little while yet. It's called conversations with. I, uh, it took me eight years to write this book. Um, uh, I wrote it at the L I started writing it at the lowest point in my life.
And, um, it's all dialogue, which between two characters, Bob and Bernie, Bob is of your higher nature. And I created this TV show to promote the book and promote the message. Uh, that's in the [00:57:00] book and every day there's a different message. And I do hope. And if you enjoy the, Hey, I'm talking here, please share it with other people, let other people know about it, because again, my message, my, my, my, my mission is to get the message out.
So, uh, hopefully, uh, I'll hear from you on the show again. Uh, Justin, thanks a lot, man. I really appreciate your time. I wish you the best. I wish everyone else the best and I'm adding. Absolutely. Thanks again, Steve, for joining us such a powerful message and we'll get a bunch more people signing up and everybody there's going to know, we're going to give you an opportunity to buy these recordings and have these recordings forever.
And one of those upgrades that you get in that VIP experience is you get assigned a copy of Steve's book, uh, motivate this. So we're so excited to see it. I know my copy sign, which is cool, and make sure that you get your signed copy too, as well. So, so many powerful insights brother. And, uh, are you got any other, um, [00:58:00] speaking engagements coming up?
I know everything's been a little bit crazy. Any, any fun things coming up on your horizon or you just kind of in a, in a whole, I, I do, you know, it's just, you know, everything keeps getting pushed back and, you know, Um, 2020, he had, everything was canceled. Everything 20, 21 a lot was canceled, but I'm doing a lot of virtual stuff.
I reinvented myself from one of the things is the TV show, you know, the streaming TV show, like I said, and, uh, doing a lot of writing. And, uh, I'm just trying to get this message out in any way that I can. I do have a virtual presentation I'm giving for Beth fitters on Tuesday. I just did a wonderful presentation, not too long ago for Bayer corporation, their environmental scientists.
And I just created a new, um, a new high intensity two hour personal development program. It's my empowerment program. And I'm, um, I'm getting great reviews on this thing too. It's high intensity. It's, it's, [00:59:00] it's interactive. It can be done virtually or non, and I'm doing it for my corporate clients and, and for people who just want a high income.
Interactive costs that can take them to a better place in life. So, uh, that, that then, um, my new, uh, wellness program, which is called drilling for optimism. So I keep creating, I keep talking and it's what I do. So that's it. But thanks for asking. I appreciate it. Absolutely. I know when we first spoke about having you on this summit, you were, um, you were like, this is crazy.
Cause I just put this. You know together about the mindset and health and wellness. So, uh, definitely in the stars that we got to align. So thanks so much for coming on Steve and I, you can come back and join us in the future and continued success to everything. And I look forward to seeing you in the physical world.
Yeah. And just, [01:00:00] just go to my website, Steve, at Steve rizzo.com, Cruz, the there's a lot of free stuff. They can go on my YouTube channel. They do whatever you want. And, uh, Justin, again, thanks from when I'm in your area. I'll let you know ahead of time. Please do out here in Southern California. So thanks again.
Wonderful.