#175 S5 EP 49: Changing the Way you Think with Cliff Yates

His name is Cliff Yates and we are so glad to have him with us . He is a retired cop . He's also a comedian . I'm excited about this conversation that is coming . We're talking about changing your thinking , changing your attitude . So , before we do that and get him in the room , we're gonna pray . Y'all know we gotta do it , we gotta pray first .

So let's go , let's go , come on y'all . Father , we thank you so much for your grace and your mercy . Thank you , god , for allowing us this day , in this time , god to um be a blessing to the body . I pray , god , that we can be the light you desire , to desire us to be .

I pray that we can be all that you , um , uh , all that you need us to be and that you will use us to be . I pray that we can be all that you need us to be and that you would use us to your glory .

I pray , god , for everyone that is here , all of our diamonds , god , that they would continue to shine for you , that they would see the diamond that you have made them to be . All of us would see it . Father , we thank you so much for what you're doing in this season and we just pray , god , you continue to do through us what you desire to .

We love you so much for what you're doing in this season and we just pray , god , you'll continue to do through us what you desire to . We love you so much , so very grateful and so thankful . We pray that this prayer and all of our prayers are pleasing in your sight . In jesus christ's name , we do pray . Amen , amen and amen , amen , hallelujah .

So , uh , cliff , will you say hello to everybody and introduce yourself ? Tell us a little bit about yourself .

You guys are doing great things and I know you're allowing the Lord to work through you , and I can use you as an example because I feel I could do a better job , like you're doing , and so I'm going to take your lead and try to do better each and every day , and so I'm just happy to be with you .

As you said , I'm a retired cop of 35 plus years and retired from the LA County Sheriff's Department , and I also did stand up comedy , some acting , some producing , and I love podcasting and I'm happy to be a guest on your show .

Where was your struggle and how did you get to this place where you are focused on that ?

And so then I took the test and I got my real estate license , and then my broker sent me to Jim Lone , who was a business speaker and coach and spoke all over the world , and I went there for sales training , training , but it really was life training .

And so from that one , one seminar that I went to with jim rohn that led me to tony robbins , and then I started to realize , oh , it's not the economy , it's not negative relatives , not negative friends , it's nothing outside , it's an inside job . We don't blame anybody else , I'm responsible for the reactions that I'm getting .

And as soon as I changed , everything started to change for me . And so I got hooked on personal growth , personal development . And what I found out , catherine , was many of these I don't want to call them gurus , but you know business professionals and motivational speakers .

A lot of their messages were I didn't realize it at the time were really based in Christian , bible-based principles , and so that kind of even though I had accepted Jesus a few years before that led me to be more active in my walk with Jesus and God .

I guess you could say I don't know what else to call it .

So , you know , you can't help somebody else without helping yourself .

And so when you go with that kind of attitude and I'm just grateful all the time , especially as I get a little bit older , catherine , and I realize , hey , this person's gone , that person's gone , hey , they passed away and they were younger than I was , and so I'm grateful every day that I'm here . And so then I feel you know God's using me .

So , as I try to , I feel I'm getting a message to maybe share more of . You know scriptures and gospel things , even though I sometimes think who am I to share these things ?

And as I'm learning more and more each day that we're all responsible for , you know sharing these messages , and we don't have to be the expert in the field , we can just point people in the right direction .

And by doing so , you know you feel obligated , right to meditate on the word and being the word daily , and so that's kind of where I'm at okay , okay .

We had one in california too , and it just just really kind of the bible is the leading , is the lead of that , and so I'm really finding myself trying to understand better . You know , and I and I found , you know , things are revealed to us right as we read things over and over again .

Sometimes , you know , tomorrow I'm going to be a different person , so when I read the same scripture over again it's going to mean something different to me , and so I'm coming to learn and know that the Bible is alive and well and it's a living word .

So that , so that if there is a listener who's trying to understand , well , why do I keep on ending up in the same position , like , how am I getting here ? So my question to you is what would you , in what you've learned and what you've experienced , what are the signs of a mind or thinking that needs to be changed ?

And what I've learned and from these people that know better than me , and it seems to be something that's taught over and over again is that I mean , the biggest thing I learned and did was change the questions and how I was talking to myself . So it's so , this amazing body and brain and mind we have it doesn't argue with this , right .

So , no matter what question we ask it , you know , hey , why am I so screwed up ? Why , why , why am I always messing up ? You know your brain won't argue with you . It's gonna look for those reasons , and so what I had to do was just change my questions . And so when I did that , starting in the morning okay , what's good about this ?

What am I most thankful for ? What am I grateful for ? What am I going to try to focus on today ? Then your brain looks for those answers . So just changing your questions is going to change , first of all , your thinking , and the thinking is going to precede actions , and then your actions are going to change and so the results are going to change .

So I think that's one of the major things that I learned , catherine , was changing questions and also learning to really be in more control of my state of mind . And you know we're all human , as you know . You know and everybody knows that you know I'm subject to negative thinking and that's kind of .

You know , we're built that way as a default because you know we're built to survive and we're built to look for dangers and hey , that might kill me . So we have to intentionally override some of these thoughts and say , no , you know what's really happening . So I've learned to change my state on demand . So I know I can do that with like three tools .

And these are the three things , not from me . I've learned these from other people . But the first thing I can do is change my physiology , how I'm moving my body . Right Motion affects emotion . If I can change how I'm moving , that's going to help me change my state .

Number two change what I'm focusing on , change my focus and then what I'm saying to myself , what are the things I'm saying to myself in my head ? And , man , if you can do those , you can change on demand your state of mind .

So now when I start talking about them , I'm anchored to being excited , to being in a positive state . So anchoring , you know , a physical movement with a state of mind will also is something that you can bring to your mind whenever you want to .

If I hadn't had this flat tire , I might have gone to an intersection where somebody ran a red light and hit me with their truck and killed me , and so , oh hey , I would have been real happy if I knew that ahead of time .

I can put that meaning on that and all of a sudden , you know , I feel some calmness and all of a sudden it's not that big Right . Or I can look at it from a distance , I can pull back . Okay , it's not such a big deal If I . I'm a very emotional person , so I have memories or I start thinking .

You know , I get sad , like anybody else and I try to . Okay , you know , that's enough . I need to change that right now . Right , I've sat in that sadness long enough . Or maybe I have a meeting coming up and I need to be in a positive state of mind . So what I do is those three things .

The first thing I do is change my physiology , how I'm moving my body . They did a Harvard study , right . If you stand for two minutes with your hands on your hips right for two minutes like a Superman pose , it actually changes how your brain is functioning , to a more positive , confident state . So I changed my movement , right .

So have a confident movement that you can actually anchor . You can play motivating music and then make a movement . Play motivating music , make a movement and then later on you can make that movement . It'll help you get into that state . Then , also change your focus , what you're focusing on .

My dad passed and I've been focusing on that day and how sad I was . I'm going to change what . I'm going to think about this now instead Body movement , change focus . And now what I'm saying to myself in my head hey , what's good about this day ? What am I grateful for ? Stuff in my head , hey , what's good about this day ?

What's what am I grateful for you . Start doing those things , and then you're in control of your emotions intently .

But you know , when you're intentional , like I'm not gonna , I'm not gonna let you steal my joy today , I'm not gonna be , I'm not gonna let you take my peace away from me today , and you just kind of , and you do that . We do that subconsciously , without being conscious of it , right ?

Yeah , you know , we really do do that when you think about it yeah , yeah all the time .

Let's say you're , you're at a funeral , you're in a very sad state of mind , feeling down , depressed , patting you on the shoulder Ten years from now someone could pat you on the shoulder just that way and all of a sudden you're in a state of depression . I mean , you don't know why , because that was anchored with you .

So when we're conscious of that , we can intently change that . So yes , like you said , something can just , you know , derail us and we might not know why that is .

Right , he became sad and he weptpt and he had to overcome the human emotions that he was feeling . He was God right . So we need to give ourselves a break and say you know , if you're a feeling person who has empathy for other people , you're going to take on those emotions sometimes . So I think we can't always be 100% .

We're not , you know , made in stone . We are human and we're subject to these things . But we need to be on guard , right , we have to guard the mind and the heart and if we turn over our cares and our worries to God , you know , who transcends all understanding , he'll , he'll take care of us and he'll guard our heart and our minds .

So I think that's a mindset that we can take to any of these problems that they're going to hit us . Life's going to happen to us .

And the problem with that is is that when you have it all together and when you fall to pieces , then it's like sometimes people , I feel like sometimes we lash out in different ways . I believe that sometimes people hold it together so long that when they do fall to pieces , their response is wrong . Would you agree ? Their response was wrong .

You wouldn't let somebody you know grab you and and kidnap you you would fight that , right . And then we let other people kidnap our thoughts and our emotions , right , we let them affect how we're feeling that day . Why would we , why would we give them that power ?

Take this opportunity really to share anything that is laying I really can't think of .

You feel like when they put the car listen , let me go , and you go to the bathroom because it looks like you got to go back .

So I think that we , you know , we can really always be rejoicing , and so that's my message , and it's not that we don't accept the reality of what's happening in the world , but , like you said , we can choose to rejoice in the Lord . So that's my message , and I want to thank you for having me on .

I appreciate you sharing great , positive things with everybody else .

And you know , this is what we want here we want people to , when they finish , they have some type of encouragement to go on another day and really look from within um , not at their circumstances , but really looking within .

This is our design , so that we , you know , because we have to look in to find that diamond , the thing that's shining , because you know , we are so flawed and we don't realize that the more flawed you are , the more valuable in the sight of God you are .

And even when you're talking about worldly diamonds , the more flawed it is , the more value , the more expensive it is to buy . So absolutely powerful . Thank you again , chief . I was going to call you Chief .

And we can give them the answer that's the best one as to lead them to your word and the faith in you and man . I pray that for everybody today . Amen , amen , amen , y'all , y'all . I have that for everybody today .

Amen , we love you , we appreciate your presence and we want to invite you to come back on next week . Y'all have a great one and we'll see you on next time .