Episode #34 Michael W Allison Overcoming Adversity and Unveiling the Resilience Blueprint through the Adversity Academy

Reiki is a journey , not a destination , and on this Ready Set Reiki journey , we refer to ourselves as guides rather than hosts , as we too are traveling , supporting and learning on this Ready Set Reiki journey as well . And with that said , I am your first guide , tracy Searight .

As a seasoned entrepreneur , he is a purple heart combat veteran . Michael is a beacon of inspiration as an international motivational keynote speaker , a TEDx speaker and the host of the empowering overcoming adversity pod podcast . His itinerary is powerless and shines through as a bestselling author . He is the visionary force behind the adversity Academy firm .

His achievements and impact resonate through prestigious such as INC 5000 , innovations Excellence Award , entrepreneur , franchise 500 , franchise consultant recognition , and it goes on and on and on .

He has also , through immersed personal trials , survived a 2004 car bombing explosion in Iraq and he has grappled with PTSD , tbi , childhood trauma , divorce , financial turmoil and business setback .

And he uncovered the profound art of breaking the bottle Now in his unwavering purpose to guide others on their journey of liberation , teaching them to dismantle barriers and seize authority in their lives and businesses through the adversity Academy , transformation programs , workshops , speaking engagements and business consulting services .

Thank you , michael , for being here and thank you for your service for our country .

Transition to the United States First 90 United States I was molested by a family member . Then followed that from . Two years later , same thing occurred in the Boy Scouts , join the Marine Corps , went through 9 11 and from 9 11 . So one of the worst things you can see in war .

So I got blown up by a car bomb and had to put my best friend in a body bag . Transition out of the service and I bottled off those emotions and I did not know how to deal with that . So I struggled with PTSD and mental health and traumatic brain injuries from being blown up in a car bomb .

So that led to being on 13 different medications , divorced twice and brought me to the brink of almost committing suicide . And that's when I decided that I had to break the bottle and make a transition within my life , and from doing so I learned so many things that I gained so many experience and lessons .

That's why now I could get to tell the story of how I changed my life and how I live that life of transformation , and that's part of the reason why I created the adversity Academy as well , too .

When I fell into being the victim me taking a step back in , looking inwardly and analyzing what I'm doing , my life I noticed that I was pouring my energy into all of the wrong places and I had to shift that . So breaking the bottle consists of what I call the 3D method .

So I started to have to figure out three things in my life what are the decisions that I was making and what are the new decisions that I need to start making ? What's the direction my life was going in and what's the new direction of where my life needs to go ?

And then the destination was where do I want to be at in life and where am I trying to be ? And I assessed , like , if I was to go any of these direction or , from the decision I was making , where was I going to be at ? And that's not somewhere I wanted to be , that's not some place that I wanted to be at .

So then I changed where , the trajectory of where the destination was , and that's when it came to breaking the bottle . There's much more sub layers to it in regards to like what I talk about , but that's ultimately what's the overarching thing in regards to like breaking the bottle .

You have all this knowledge , so to say , in a bottle and that brain of yours . So what is the common misperception about the work that you do ?

denominator . To that , and to change that well , we need to start pouring into ourselves for self awareness , right Understanding , what part did I play into this ? And I think that's some of the key things when it comes to , like the misconception .

Once you start taking ownership and responsibility to some of these things , then we could start changing some of the decision and direction that we're going in .

You know , I never knew anything when it came to Reiki or meditation or affirmation and declarations about yourself or what you speak about yourself and how you take care of yourself , and knowing that I was not pouring into my bottle first and I was pouring into other people and giving them more attention , I was left empty .

So knowing how to put yourself and making yourself number one was one of the things that , if I was to look back at it is what I should have been doing .

What is something do you recommend that everyone should stop doing in this industry that you are advising and consulting ?

Some of those things could be trying to please other people when it comes to whatever we're focusing on , and I think once we start changing what we focus on and just declaring some of those things , then there could be a change with that .

To see success , you got to put into work , you got to go through the grind , you got to go through all of these adversities in life to actually enjoy it when you get to your destination . And when you get to your destination there's another level to go . But I think the biggest thing is like nothing is going to come too easy and there's no quick fix .

And once I did that and create that connection with people , then the energy , that transition between us was much more seamless , it was much more easier . And I learned that when I was in the Marine Corps .

So I used to work with guys that were privates and PFCs and you kind of know the Marine Corps is , we're much more in a leadership role and people pretty much do what you tell them to do . But I had guys in my platoon that some of them they struggled with communicating or looking at or authority .

But once I started connected with them on a human level and start just speaking to them and get to know them , things were different . So I carried that to when I went into business as well .

So if I was working with the client , when I'm working with the customer , give them respect , get to know them , get to talk with them , see how they're doing , change their whole process , their aspects or their cognitive thinking and guards , like how they see you , and then those types of transaction , whether it's just verbally or whether it's written , however that

goes , I think , makes things much more seamless . So working with customers , I get to work with them and just connect with them on a human level and let them know that I'm real . I also share with them some of my own personal story to let them know that I'm human . So I go through stuff too as well .

So I've met with clients that have dealt with some things from their childhood trauma days and they're still holding on to some of those things and not know how to deal with those things . So that's where the personal development program comes in .

Then we have the business accelerator program and that's for people that are new , that wants to get into entrepreneurs , or some seasoned entrepreneurs that maybe struggling , maybe in marketing communications , or struggling with the social media aspects of things , or they might want to know how to do some mergers and acquisitions or how to set the business up correctly ,

whether I want to put this business in a trust or I want to put it in something else that's sort of things . So we kind of teach those things from the business accelerator piece of the company . In addition to that , then I teach workshops .

So my workshops are going to be on leadership , mental toughness , diversity , equity , inclusion those types of things that I know that I'm well versed in my background and then consulting is .

So I'm a certified project manager and a contractor so I've had opportunity to run a construction company as well where we made the ink 5000 , had a company opportunity to be a project manager for the Department of Veterans Affairs working on multi million dollar IT software projects .

So if you ever go inside of the VA hospital and you see some of these , these kiosks and things like that , we see some of the software is that you see the veterans are working on . I was a part of those projects . That was when those inside of hospitals . So from the company you know we do consulting , we do coaching and then we do workshops as well .

In addition , lastly , I would say that I'm a speaker , so I've had opportunity to go speak to kids , had an opportunity to speak to different companies and just share my story and then , within the story , just share different lessons that they could walk away with that could hopefully be making impact into their lives as well .

So wonderful , thank you for all that , so you guide others on their journey of liberation , teaching them dismantle barriers and seize authority in their lives .

So when it is time for you to kind of have this kind of unwinding yourself and to let go , what do you look for in kind of an energy healer or , say , meditation teacher , yoga teacher or other type of modality that brings in relaxation ? What qualities do you look for in that particular so ?

And from what I started doing was how I start my day off . So for me it's prayer , for the next thing for me is understanding what can I do to serve this world . And so I look to the man of above and I pray about those things . I read my scriptures from there .

The next thing that I do is I listen to some meditative type of music to get my mindset right , to get me prepared for the day , and then listen to some form of motivation that's going to encourage me to get me up and go and move in far throughout the day .

That's how I kind of get my day going when I want to get energized , I want to get pumped up , I want to get fulfilled with the spirit and just get moving and just so I could pour it to other people and start serving to other people . But that's why I say I got a point to myself first before I could pour it to anybody else .

If you wanted me to come and speak to your students , to your corporate office , or if you wanted me to come and speak to a different type of group and share my story but teach the lessons as it may apply to your business or what's going on within your company , then more most definitely than you could book me for those things too as well .

When it comes to the coaching you know I'm going to take you . I'm going to share with you some of the things that I've been through in my life and how I can help you get to that level of transformation .

Within the next 90 days , I'm going to teach you everything when it comes to your time management , your personal development , your neuro linguistic programming and how you cognitively starts thinking , and how to change that transformation of removing limiting beliefs , that which I think a lot of us put on ourselves when we could dream bigger and aim higher for ourselves .

And if our answers to those questions are no , and we don't know what those are , then we need to start thinking deep about some of the next steps to some of the next changes we need to make in our lives . So thank you , guys , for having me on your podcast . I truly , truly appreciate it .

This ends our part of the journey and I'm going to pass you over to my co-guide , millie Pampina . She has three social media questions that were brought up by our viewers .

You know I am retired now from the corporate world and I still can honestly say that your words and you know your journey and your path are inspiring and I think that everybody , everybody should be able to take advantage and get there . And it's within us .

We always say in especially in Reiki , that you know you have to recognize that you need to heal , you have to accept the process of healing and then you must share your blessings and graces with others , and you embody that so beautifully . Thank you so much .

Absolutely Thank you Congratulations on your success and continued success in that area , because the other thing that I pulled from what you were saying , which we also look at very closely , is the journey doesn't end .

That's why we're going to talk to one of my young nephews this week and say you know , the day that you tell me again that you're going to be healed the day that you tell me again that you've reached perfection is the day you need to start over . Everything around you is changing constantly and you need to be changing with it .

So you know , come back when you've thought that through and we'll work together .

We want to make sure that we're looking at evidence based versus , you know , hearsay and and we just really enjoy meeting folks and and I think everybody needs to be motivated here and listening to your beautiful words and somewhere down the line , besides receiving , if you would like to join the Reiki community , we welcome you .

It took 10 years for me to get help from a professional counselor and even going through that process , it took a solid I want to say about three years to find the right counselor , as I kept going from counselor to counselor to counselor that I could connect with , and it was very hard to disclose certain things if I didn't feel that connection , if we didn't

have that energy , if we didn't have that bond . So , from going through that process , I then eventually found the right counselor , and it was when I was on the brink of committing suicide and taking my life and I knew that I had to make a change in my life .

And when I did that and realizing that I am enough and this is not going to pick over my life and I'm not going to live like this , then I started going to get help and started seeking from within . So from that particular moment , which was in 2014 , I said what am I going to do ?

So I started reaching out to different organizations that were military friendly or military based , that understood things where they could connect with a veteran that was dealing with . Some of the things that I was dealing with . I dealt with so many like unforgiveness .

I dealt with so much that when you talk about trauma , unforgiveness , guilt , I thought about that should have been me that could have died from that car bomb . I was only 10 seconds away from that car bomb and I had to put my best run away . It was so much guilt and survivors remorse that was within me After I got a divorce for the second time .

There was so much guilt that walked around with me in regards to being a bad dad , being a bad husband , and it affected my relationship with many other people . And that's when I said , all right , what's wrong with me ? I need to fix this . And from that path and from that journey , I started getting mental health treatment . I started joining the men's group .

I started getting into the meditations and affirmations and the declarations about myself . Then I started . Then I started working with different groups that was doing different things . That was helping me shift my purpose and understanding why am I here ?

So once I did that and I started creating the company , I said I'm going to put this in a book and become much more transparent and much more vulnerable and share it with the world . And that took 90 days to write that book . And I say that because I started writing my book six years ago .

But I was not ready to talk about some things that men don't talk about , and I'm saying that as in like no guys wants to tell anybody that they were molested , no guy wants to tell anybody that they were bullied . So some of those things I struggled with , even like saying that even out loud .

But now I was able to talk about those things and put that in a book . So from there so that's what I mean by that so it took about , I want to say , a solid six years to me to get even comfortable to even talking about those things . But once I did that I got so free .

I found so much peace and so much freedom just from me releasing all those things , releasing that energy that I was keeping within my side and just releasing it .

Am I good enough ? So then imposter syndrome kicked in and then so that's when I said all right , I need to start asking myself are some of these things real ? Am I limiting myself and am I short changing myself ? And once I start asking myself these questions and the answers were no , no , no . And what's true ? This is true , this is true , and that's true .

So the number one thing is just shattering limiting beliefs , removing imposter syndrome , creating that resilient mindset in regards to believing yourself , developing that confidence . And once you start doing that and creating those habits , then you could face anything and conquer anything . But you do have to develop that type of mindset .

Some of the times I have to go back to when I was in boot camp . I went through boot camp and they broke you down , make you feel like the worst person in the world .

But they challenge you and they push you through different things to develop that resilient mindset , to know that you could go to war , you could go and defend this country , you could do a whole bunch of things . You could run through a wall . And that's when I started realizing like I've done this before and I could do this again .

If anything comes at me , I could still do it again . If I get knocked down , I could still get back up . And that's where the mindset came in .

And we realize sometimes that we make a lot of decisions in our lives for other people and we're not really making some of the decisions in our lives for ourselves . And I'm not saying it's not okay to be selfless sometimes , but you got to realize if your cup is filled for your poor and to anybody else's .

So what I realized was I was kind of saying yes to a lot of things and not realizing that I had the option and there's so much power in the word no and realizing how to guard my time was the biggest boundary setter that I could ever create .

And once I started doing that and knowing how to say yes to things and no to things and seeing if it aligned to my destination , see if it aligned with my decision , seeing if it aligned with the direction of where I was going and if it didn't , that was a clear answer . That was a clear answer .

You know we're not healing them , we're giving them the tools and the opportunities to you know , align with themselves and then pass those graces and blessings forward to others . And you know you , you have reached that . You're going to continue to practice it and I loved hearing your story about what you do in the morning to rev it up and have similar .

We have similar , you know , practices that we train people in and hope that they do take advantage of that and use it as a shot in the arm anytime they need to . During the course of a day or with a process that you know they recenter themselves and , you know , take a break , don't quit , you know .

Get yourself back to where you need to be and maybe do a mid course correction and move forward . So , thank you so so much . So , with that , I'm going to use my little tagline that I like to use at the end of every social media questions , which is to see beauty in all things as a choice . Please choose wisely . Thank you again , michael .

I'm Millie Pampina , one of your co guides for ready set Reiki , and I'm going to turn it back over to Tracy C Wright .