1 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:05,720 On this episode, a simple technique you can use when you 2 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:11,080 feel a bit scatterbrained and two important erection 3 00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:17,680 reminders. This is the Holistic Alpha Male 4 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:21,680 Optimization podcast where we help you unleash your true power 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,080 as a man. Hey guys, welcome back to the 6 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:28,720 show. I'm Steven Mathis. 7 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:31,480 Thank you for being here with me. 8 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:35,880 Let's talk first of all about a simple technique that we can use 9 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:40,280 when we feel scatterbrained. And that's my term. 10 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:43,840 And you may not use that exact term, but the fact of the matter 11 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:47,880 is part of the human experience is there are going to be times 12 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,520 when our mind is a little, it's like a little puppy. 13 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:55,560 It's wanted to be all over the place and there may be different 14 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:58,960 emotions associated with that. Sometimes it may not inherently 15 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:03,680 be negative, may even be lots of good stuff, and yet we might 16 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:06,520 feel a little scattered. Sometimes it might feel a little 17 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:08,640 harder where it's a little more overwhelming. 18 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:10,960 We feel like we have lots kind of weighing down on us. 19 00:01:11,320 --> 00:01:13,840 Either way, if her mind is kind of bouncing all over the place 20 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:16,640 and we're feeling a little scattered, here is one simple 21 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:20,360 technique that you can use that you can incorporate into your 22 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:24,440 mental toolbox. What I would suggest is as you 23 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:28,440 continue in your life, which what a blessing it is to still 24 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:32,840 be breathing and still be learning and expanding, what I 25 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:35,800 would suggest is that you continually incorporate more 26 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:41,480 tools into your mental toolbox so that as the situation calls 27 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:44,080 for, you can pull the right tool. 28 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:46,520 Here's 1 you can add. It's very, very simple. 29 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:50,000 The first thing is to take 4 box breaths. 30 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:54,760 So a box breath is four parts of four seconds. 31 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,760 So you're going to inhale for four seconds, hold for four 32 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:01,880 seconds, exhale for four seconds, hold on the exhale for 33 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:04,560 four seconds, and you're going to do that four times. 34 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:07,160 So everything's A4, right? 4 box breaths. 35 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:11,120 And you can remember that the box breath is 4444 on each of 36 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:13,880 those four sides of the box, right? 37 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:15,800 So maybe we could do one together. 38 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:17,360 What about if we do one together right now? 39 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:22,040 So let's inhale for four for four, hold for four, exhale and 40 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:23,000 hold for four, right? So, 41 00:02:36,500 --> 00:02:39,060 OK, so that was one, right, inhale for four, hold for four. 42 00:02:39,060 --> 00:02:42,220 Now on the hold parts 1, little tip on this. 43 00:02:42,980 --> 00:02:45,820 Often when we think about holding our breath, we think 44 00:02:45,820 --> 00:02:49,380 about really kind of locking it down where we almost close this 45 00:02:49,660 --> 00:02:54,500 this valve and there's this very physical kind of creating a seal 46 00:02:54,580 --> 00:02:56,900 and holding our breath. But that's not required. 47 00:02:57,100 --> 00:03:01,320 We can simply pause the muscular action of breathing, so let's 48 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:04,480 practice it one more time. And when you do, instead of 49 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:09,440 feeling like you're creating any kind of seal, merely pause the 50 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:15,000 muscular action, right? So inhale for four, hold for 51 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:21,440 four without creating a seal, exhale for four. 52 00:03:25,640 --> 00:03:27,800 Again, hold for four without creating a seal. 53 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:33,560 Just pause the muscles and then back to regular breathing. 54 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,240 So that's box breathing. Here's the thing to do. 55 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:39,840 This is only Part 1. When you feel scatterbrained. 56 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:42,360 Anytime, even if you wouldn't describe the moment that you're 57 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:44,760 in, is feeling scatterbrained. Even if you're feeling actually 58 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:47,280 pretty centered. But you want to feel a little 59 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:50,040 more centered, a little more grounded, a little more calm, a 60 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:53,040 little more ready to be effective with the next thing 61 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:55,360 that you do. Which brings us to Part 2. 62 00:03:55,360 --> 00:04:00,240 So you do 4 box breaths and then set an intention nugget. 63 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:05,360 An intention nugget is just taking five 1020 seconds to 64 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:09,240 close your eyes and envision something for the next thing 65 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:10,440 that you're going to engage with. 66 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:13,880 And that might be an emotion. So you might have some little 67 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:17,399 snapshots of feeling yourself, maybe being really present if 68 00:04:17,399 --> 00:04:18,720 that's what you want to focus on. 69 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:22,320 Maybe if you want to carry a positive happy attitude, you 70 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:26,000 might have some little snapshots of you smiling and feeling happy 71 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:28,560 as you're engaging with whatever you're about to engage with. 72 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:32,560 If you're about to engage with a hard conversation and you just 73 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:36,640 want to feel calm and be able to listen effectively and stay 74 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:39,520 grounded in your body and not get triggered, maybe you have 75 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:42,520 some little snapshots of feeling that or maybe have some little 76 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:45,160 snapshots of particular things that you want to get done. 77 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,120 So if there are actions that need to take place, let's say in 78 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:51,680 the next, you know, several hour period or today or whenever it 79 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:55,000 is that you're feeling this, whatever kind of comes naturally 80 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:58,200 at that time, you imagine some of those actions getting done. 81 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:00,960 Maybe you imagine how you're going to feel afterwards. 82 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:04,320 But the key here is to keep it really, really simple and not 83 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:05,880 overcomplicated. Don't overthink it. 84 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:09,480 There's no wrong way to do this. Just after you take take the 85 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:13,240 four box breaths, just close your eyes when you're done and 86 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:15,800 you might even close your eyes while you're doing that doesn't 87 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:17,800 really matter either way. I would recommend you close your 88 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:20,560 eyes when you're done and just take 5 to 20 seconds of 89 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:24,160 breathing normally and allow some little snapshots of 90 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:28,000 intention Nuggets to flow through your mind. 91 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:31,640 A little bit of intention, a little nugget of intention for 92 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:33,560 that little that next stretch of time. 93 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:36,240 It might be a very specific activity, you know a 94 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:38,640 conversation that's going to happen over 10 or 15 minutes. 95 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:42,400 Maybe it's the rest of your day. It's the work part of your day. 96 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:44,200 And then you're going to do this again before you go home, 97 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:46,320 whatever it is, a little intention nugget. 98 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:48,800 And what you'll find when you do this is that not only are you 99 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:53,520 much more effective, but you'll feel much less scatterbrained. 100 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:58,760 Now one question it might come up that you, that you have so 101 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:01,160 many things going through your mind, so many things you could 102 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:06,400 do, should do need to do that. When you take those four box 103 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:09,360 breaths, when it comes to setting that intention nugget, 104 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:14,800 the questions like, well, I have 1800 things to do, What 105 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:18,360 intention should I set? What I would suggest is just 106 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:22,400 pick the next thing or whatever comes to mind. 107 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,400 One of the beautiful things is that when you focus on these 4 108 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:29,280 box breaths, because you're counting, you're going to bring 109 00:06:29,280 --> 00:06:31,520 your awareness and your focus to your breath. 110 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:34,800 And so for just a moment, you're going to get a little break from 111 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:36,520 whatever thinking you've been doing. 112 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:41,360 And likely, if you're feeling scatterbrained or ungrounded or 113 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:44,600 away from your center, however you might describe it, if you're 114 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:49,200 feeling that, it's likely that a bit of overthinking is probably 115 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:53,160 playing into that. And when you take these 4 box 116 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:55,200 breaths, it's going to bring you out of that overthinking. 117 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:56,760 Just for a minute. You're going to focus on your 118 00:06:56,760 --> 00:06:59,440 breath. And then whatever comes up, 119 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:03,320 whatever intention nugget comes up, go with it. 120 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:06,880 Just as long as you set some kind of intention, you're 121 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:10,080 winning, right? Like there is no, there's no 122 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:13,760 wrong intention if you're if you're at least setting an 123 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:17,760 intention, you are so far ahead of the game for where you could 124 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:19,480 be if you didn't set an intention. 125 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:21,360 So don't worry too much about it. 126 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:25,600 Just get in the habit of setting an intention and maybe today you 127 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:29,680 feel pretty unclear and you have lots of opportunities and you 128 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:32,280 just have to kind of pick one. That's fine. 129 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:35,360 Or maybe you don't really pick one in your intention is 130 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:38,880 actually to just carry some presents into the rest of your 131 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:43,520 day that can be so powerful in how your day unfolds. 132 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:46,480 SO4 box breaths set an intention nugget. 133 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:48,560 It will center you, ground you, keep you moving forward. 134 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:51,800 Let's talk about two quick but very important reminders when it 135 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:54,480 comes to your erection quality. If you're a man, you care about 136 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:55,800 your erection quality. And guess what? 137 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:58,600 If you're a woman, which by the way, there's women that listen 138 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:00,800 to and watch this show as well. I appreciate you. 139 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:04,000 Thank you for being here. Either way, if you are a man or 140 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,600 you interact with men in a sexual way, that means you care 141 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:10,200 about erections. So there are two things that 142 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:13,160 affect erections in a big way and I would suggest to you 143 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:17,880 continually come back to these as reminders and things that you 144 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:20,920 know when you pay attention to it, they will help your erection 145 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:23,000 quality thing number one is water. 146 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:27,760 We are water based creatures or something like 65 or 60, some 147 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:32,120 odd percent water essentially. And guess what happens when we 148 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:35,679 get an erection? Bunch of fluid flows in and 149 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:39,000 creates this actually pretty amazing thing. 150 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:43,200 So if it's a fluid based process, it's a muscular based 151 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:45,920 process really. But if fluid is involved, it 152 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:50,200 would thus make a lot of sense that how well hydrated we are 153 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:53,600 will affect our erections. And indeed, I can promise you it 154 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:55,360 will. I hear from guys over and over 155 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:58,200 and over again when they make a significant increase in the 156 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:00,520 amount of water that they're drinking, or maybe they go back 157 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:04,560 to drinking a really significant amount of water, a good amount 158 00:09:04,560 --> 00:09:06,520 of water that really supports and hydrates them. 159 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,160 It it's one of the quickest, most reliable ways to support 160 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:15,760 and or boost your erections. Also, another very quick and 161 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:19,000 reliable way to either support or boost your erections is to 162 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:21,040 pay attention to when you stop eating. 163 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:23,600 Our hormone production happens at night. 164 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:27,920 Nocturnal erections happen at night, which by the way, it's 165 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:30,160 not just morning wood. It happens throughout the night. 166 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:33,320 And how often it happens is affected by a bunch of factors. 167 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:36,840 One of them is how late we eat. So if you eat a bunch of food 168 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:40,040 really late, your body's going to devote a bunch of energy to 169 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:45,040 processing that food instead of to making hormones instead of to 170 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:48,080 creating erections. Again, this is the thing where 171 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:50,560 I've heard over and over again from guys and I've experienced 172 00:09:50,560 --> 00:09:54,280 it in my own life. A change here can have a very 173 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:57,840 quick impact. And it is also one of the most 174 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:00,720 important things you could do on a long term basis if you're 175 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:04,280 eating too late into the night. And part of that may be the 176 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:07,560 actual time that you stop eating, but it's also how much 177 00:10:07,560 --> 00:10:11,080 you're eating late, right? So if you stop eating at 8:00, 178 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:15,400 but you eat a massive meal at 8, maybe not that great. 179 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:19,480 But if you stop eating at 8 and actually most of your calories 180 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:22,240 were earlier in the day, that might be fine. 181 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:25,680 So the general principle is you want to just think about move 182 00:10:25,680 --> 00:10:29,560 more of your calories earlier in the day and avoid the late night 183 00:10:29,560 --> 00:10:32,600 significant amounts of food, especially stuff like like 184 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:35,760 meaningful amounts of sugar, those kind of things. 185 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:40,080 They will really trash your erection quality as well as your 186 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:44,040 hormones, which goes well beyond our erections, right? 187 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:47,680 But the erections are beautiful because it gives us a gauge that 188 00:10:47,680 --> 00:10:51,880 we can really pay attention to. So as you notice those nighttime 189 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:55,040 erections, as you notice that morning wood, that gives you an 190 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:58,040 immediate gauge that you can pay attention to where is you don't 191 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:01,240 necessarily know what your hormones are exactly doing. 192 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:03,920 Your erections are a great gauge for that. 193 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:07,800 So quick recap #1 thank you for being here and making the show a 194 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:10,040 part of your day. I appreciate it, Jackie 195 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:12,760 Appreciate, appreciates it. You haven't seen her today much, 196 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:14,160 but she's here. She's playing around. 197 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:18,400 When you are feeling stressed, when you're feeling overwhelmed, 198 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:21,160 when you're feeling scattered, take 4 box breaths. 199 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:24,840 Set an intention nugget. The whole process will take you 200 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:27,080 less than two minutes. Even if you're breathing very 201 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:29,480 slowly. Likely it will take you a little 202 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:31,960 bit less than that. Won't take very long. 203 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:35,200 You'll feel more centered, grounded, calm, ready to take 204 00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:38,400 effective action and able to take effective action. 205 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:40,880 And then the two quick erection reminders. 206 00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:43,760 Drink plenty of water. Try drinking way more water. 207 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:47,720 Just do a test it's a it's an F round and find out situation. 208 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:50,840 Try drinking a lot more water and pay attention to not eating 209 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:52,400 too much food too late in the day. 210 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:59,960 It will trash your erections. Keep stepping, keep stepping 211 00:11:59,960 --> 00:12:01,600 forward in your life and stacking bricks. 212 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:02,840 I apologize for the little laugh. 213 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:07,720 I looked over and my dog Jackie had a pine cone stuck to her 214 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:09,320 mouth, so that's what I was laughing at. 215 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:11,000 I appreciate you guys. Keep stacking bricks in your 216 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:12,600 life. We'll talk to you soon.