This week I hit a major milestone in my journey — I planked for 17 minutes followed by 100 straight push-ups (video here). When I first started in July 2017, I was only able to plank for 2 minutes and 30 push-ups.

As I reflect back on the start of my journey I think about how faith, gratitude and affirmations gave me the strength and confidence to help with the loss of my father and the stress and anxiety that was gaining momentum with the upcoming layoffs at work.

Growing up going to catholic school through my elementary years and to church on Sundays with my family, I thought I had faith figured out, but the truth is I didn’t come to understand what faith was until I needed help.

With all the inspirational videos I started to consume, I would continue to come across speeches from Denzel Washington and Steve Harvey talking about the importance of gratitude and putting God first. Having the faith to jump and believe your parachute will open when the universe believes your ready.

I knew that’s what I had to do, ask for help and have faith that I will get the answers I need. To reinforce that faith, that the path will open up, I repeated affirmations or “I am” statements.

“I AM grateful, I AM creative …”

By having faith that my answers are on their way, it freed my mind up to focus on positive affirmations. I started to shift my focus and energy on helping others with some of the difficulties they were going through. The more I was helping others the more grateful I became and started to think less and less about my own stress. Showing gratitude is such a positive influence on my health. The power it has to change not only your mood but also that of a complete stranger. So simple, so easy. Give it a try next time you’re in a rut or having a bad day. Pay for someone’s coffee or meal. The same feeling you get when someone pays it forward to you is the exact same feeling you get for doing it. It is so powerful, I made it a habit and make sure to do it once a week.

Steve Harvey talks about taking a leap of faith.

“God when he created all of us he gave every last one of us a gift at birth. He never created a soul without endowing them with a gift.” – Steve Harvey

Over and over I would watch these videos, most of the time while planking. And then it hit me. My gift. I was looking at it all along. I was looking at my gift this whole time and that was through the YouTube videos. You see when I was 12, I took my dad’s VCR and connected our record player to it. My dad recorded all my hockey games so I took those tapes and would edit them to make a highlight video and dub in the music with the record player. I was making videos 30 years before YouTube was even a thing. This has lead me to dig up my old tapes to add to my YouTube channel and start to make videos again that will continue to live on and hopefully be an inspiration to my children and future grandchildren.

By asking for help and believing the path will open through faith, gratitude and affirmations, I not only discovered my gift but I continue to leverage this practice with planking and new goals I set for myself.

Part 5 of my Optimum Balance Series will focus on the benefits of “Reading”.

I would love to hear from you! Please also feel free to comment below or connect with me via email or social media.

Godspeed on your journey!

Joey Bonfiglio | #RiZeGrindRepeat

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