UNCHURCHED #330 - The world is a mirror of you...

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Welcome to the Salt Strong podcast, disrupting fishing entertainment as you know it. Prepare to laugh, prepare to get to know fishing legends in a whole new and unfiltered way. And on occasion, you might even learn a thing or two about fishing. Here's your host, Joe Simons.

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Like diamonds the world is a mirror of you. Hey, everybody. Joe Simons, like diamonds. Back again, Salt Strong on church. I'm really pumped for this. I tested this out recently, actually just yesterday. I have been flying like crazy. You might have heard on a recent podcast. It's the reason I had a skip a couple times. We just got a lot going on. All three of our kids are going to different camps at different times, and we got to fly each one of them. It has been absolutely bonkers. I don't think I've ever flown this many. Just like quick trips back and forth, picking up kids, picking up trunks and all this stuff. But it's great for them. I'm pumped that they had the opportunity. I never went to these away camps as a kid, neither did my wife for various reasons. One, it costs a lot of money, and two, we were doing sports and stuff, and they're at the age where they're not driving yet and not doing really hardcore sports yet, where it's taking up every single weekend and so really, really neat. They're meeting some just great new people from all over the country and it's been really, really fun. As I do a lot of this traveling, I get to read a lot and I get to spend some time with my kids, too. But enjoy reading, you know, both on the plane or after I drop them off. And I was reading a book that was talking about the world is a mirror of you. And that means a couple of things. Ones, it means if you don't like what's happening in your world, it's partially your fault or maybe all of your fault. This book might, might argue. And if you do like what's happening from everything, from your marriage and your relationships and money and, you know, your relationship with God, all that stuff, and gosh it good for you. You've probably brought a lot of this stuff into your life. And let me just give you a good example. And this is what I tested out myself, and it was bonkers how well it worked. I've talked about this before about smiling at people. And so the book went on to say, all right, if you want more smiles in your life, then start smiling at others. If you want more money in your life, then start giving away some money and watch what Happens back to you, which we've talked about numerous times in this podcast series. Want more brilliant ideas? Then start g away some ideas and helping other people come up with stuff. Do you want more love? Then love more, you know, give more love away. You want more connections? Then start connecting others first and watch what happens to you. Essentially, if you want something, give unto others first. And this is a biblical principle. It's why we talk about it here on Unchurch. And I start with the smiles because it's the easiest thing of all those to do. Anyone can smile, assuming you have a mouth that works and. And preferably some teeth. It does help if you have some teeth, just because otherwise people like, man, why is this guy or gal with no teeth smiling at me? But even then, I think it'll still work. So as I'm going through the airport, I dropped my daughter Savannah off, and I'm in the Nashville airport, and I just read this part about your world is a mirror of you. And I was like, I'm just gonna start smiling at people. So as I'm just walking by, I'm. I'm purposely making eye talk, eye contact with people that would make it with me. Not everyone will, as you know. And I just give a big old smile. And I'm sure some people like, man, that guy creepy. But everyone smiled back. Every single person. I went and sat down, and I. I rarely would never do this, but I got to the gate late because I dropped my daughter off and getting her all situated, and I was cutting it close on my flight, like, meeting. It was essentially about to board any minute right when I finally got to the gate. And normally I would just kind of stand and wait until they started boarding, but I saw this one seat. You know, I'm like that jerk that goes and sits right next to someone and there's people across. It was just kind of a packed. A very, very packed area. I was like, I'm just gonna sit down and try it here. So I sit down, and the person next to me kind of like, gives me that look, like, seriously, like, why are you up in my space? And I just gave a big smile, and she smiled right back. She, like, it was all of a sudden, like, she went from being annoyed that, you know, she had to kind of move her bag for the. The one spot she was kind of saving, even though she wasn' he went. Just didn't want someone sitting next to her to all of a sudden smiling at me like, man, what a nice guy. And smiled at me again when I sat up to go board the plane when my boarding zone was called. And I also smiled to the people, guy and girl right across from me when I sat down and same deal. They both like smiled back and were probably, man, why is this guy so smiley? I even look because I started reading my book and I would kind of look up every once in a while and like, you know when someone, you kind of catch them looking at you, like, man, what's this guy's deal? But really, really wild. And it proved that it is true. You want more smiles or even just attention in your life. Smile at others, give attention to others. And I thought about all of those examples, from money to ideas to love to connections. And every one of them have held true in my life. And I've seen it with a lot of my friends who are really good at doing different things. Meaning I have one friend I can think of, his name's Chris and he is the best at connecting people. Like the best. You know, everyone has that friend where he just knows everyone. He's a good connector and he goes out of his way to connect me. There'll be times I haven't talked to him in two months and I'll just get a text from him and he's copied someone else. He's like, hey, you know, you guys have to meet. And here's why I didn't ask him to do it. I once again hadn't even talked to him in a while and he just goes out of his way and to connect me with other people. And guess what happens to him. It's just like this vicious cycle of awesomeness for him, this self fulfilling prophecy. That dude gets more connections than anyone else. Because I now feel like, man, I want to connect Chris with someone that might be able to help him out in his world and what he's doing in life. It's wild how good he is at making connections. And because of that, it's like God, the universe, whatever you want to call it, just keeps giving him like flooding him with more connections. So if you want more, more connections in your life, whether you're trying to get your first job and you're young, listen to this. You're trying to get your last job or just trying to get a door open for, for whatever reason, maybe it's a door open for your grandkids, try connecting others first. And watch what happens in your life with some random connection that maybe you've been trying to get or even didn't even know you needed. All of a sudden shows up in your Life. You want more love, Try loving others, right? I think so many divorces and because of this, where the other spouse and I've had some friends who have gone through it even recently, and one of the two spouses would tell me, oh, yeah, I felt like the love was lost. And the more you dig in, it's true, it was lost, but the more you dig in, it was usually both parties, meaning husband and wife. At some point, whatever reason, the love was lost a little bit, and they both kind of expected the other person just to love them back even more without them ever stepping forward and saying, you know what, maybe I'm just going to love them first and see what happens. And now, not all marriages are, are savable or worth saving. There's certainly some that, that just weren't meant to be. But it is wild. Even looking back in times that I've had fights with my wife, in the times that either myself or she in many cases has chosen just to, like, forgive first or just to like, overly love on me and say, hey, I'm just sorry. It's amazing how that changes the whole dynamics of the relationship and how much I want to love her back. I really do believe that if you want more love in your life, start giving it away to others. It is another one, just like a smile that is completely free. It is a choice you get to make. It does not cost any money in very, very little time. And it's one of the most powerful things that we as humans are able to do. I mean, it really is powerful if you, you think about it. Want more ideas? You know, maybe you're struggling for a business idea or just kind of your next phase in life or next hobby or whatever it might be. Then start throwing some ideas to others. Maybe help others brainstorm if they're struggling with something. Don't just ignore when you see people in need of their own ideas. Just watch what happens. Want more money. We talked about that just recently on a podcast. Start giving it away and watch what happens. That has held true every single time I've, I've tried it then, even when I didn't have much money to even give. And I think that's the excuse a lot of people make. I know I sure did that. Hey, when I hit this level of income or when I hit this level of net worth, then I'll give. And I look at some of my, my closer friends and family friends who just seem to have the most abundance ever, where it's almost unexplained, explainable. The, the Good things that keep happening to them. They are such big givers. And a lot of people who don't know them well, they wrongly believe that. Oh well, of course they're big givers. They have a lot to give. But I've known them really since I was a kid and I knew them when they were renting a house and didn't have money to even buy their own home. And they were still givers. They were givers from day one when they hardly have had anything. Now they just do it on a larger scale. It's all proportional. So I would challenge you. If it is money that you are in search of, and I'm challenging myself as well as I'm recording this, then be more generous with what you have. Give money. And that doesn't mean give money stupidly or freely to the point, you know, you go negative. I'm not trying to say that, but it's all proportional. All of us, regardless of where we are, have something to give. And if you really don't have anything, like you are negative, because I know some people may listen to this, are negative, like they owe more than they actually have in terms of net worth. You still have time. That is the one thing that we all have. And I believe that if you can give time, good things start happening to you in your own time, meaning money starts showing up, job opportunities. It really is wild. It's almost unexplainable. I know the Bible talks about all of it, but never really explains, with the exception of just saying, hey, don't question God. He is all knowing, all powerful can make anything happen. But it really, really is wild when we give to the needy, give to the poor, give to the helpless and the homeless. Just all of the amazing things that come back into our lives. So the world is a mirror of you. If you're not 100% thrilled with everything happened in your life, or maybe there's one or two aspects like love or money or smiles or whatever it is, or positivity in your life. Try it. Try it for 30 days. Start giving out some stuff for free in that area of your life that you're not 100% thrilled with. And watch what happens. Your world is a mirror of you. So everything happened in your life is mostly because of how you are using your gifts in this world. Want more of something? Give more away. Hope. That was helpful. It was really, really powerful for me to hear it, even though I've heard a lot of this before. It was really, really powerful to use it in an airport and actually watch it work. Try it. It's amazing. Just the smile thing alone is really, really fascinating how people just, it almost attracts smiles even when you're not doing it. Like I said, it's wild. It's not just when I was smiling at people, I was getting random smiles from people that I hadn't smiled with. Just absolutely bonkers, unexplainable. So love you guys. Hopefully you will take this to the test and I'd love to hear how it works for you. Joe@saltstrong.com that is my email, my private email. Joe@saltstorm.com Love to hear any and all feedback, including old stories of ways that this has impacted you in in your life. So hit me up. Otherwise I will talk to you on the next episode.

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It was passed down to me from the days find us on the water if there was a way it's been said my papa he wrote the book on catching big reds and 20 pound snook I wish I knew all the things he knew today

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for he's the

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reason why we are this way

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and

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he put fish in our soul to stay.