Dr Ken West - The Secret of Happiness and Success in these uncertain times

Have you ever wondered how the top athletes get to the absolute top and how can you apply the same principles to bring more ease and joy to your own life? In this week's episode working with a top performance scientist and spiritual pioneer of consciousness hacking, we talk about how the simple steps towards happiness are often the easiest and how the only person who really has control is the one who can give up control.
“Impossible mean we just haven’t figured it out yet…I see that as an opportunity.”

“The only person that really has control is the one that can give up control.”

“We imprison our spirit, which leads to unhappiness, disease, and underperformance.”

“Can we recognize where the disharmony is and can we harmonize it by seeing the positive?”

 “Get happy and get to work.”

Hosted by Lucia Hargasova

 DR. KEN WEST – The Secret of Happiness and Success in these Uncertain Times 

Key Podcast Moments

[0:40] Introducing Dr. Ken West, Performance Scientist

[3:40] Moving from control to high performance

[5:49] Developing illogical skills

[7:29] Positive problem solving 

[16:30] Overriding patterns of habitual complaining

[19:05] Recognizing disharmony

Resources Mentioned

Reframing Change: How to Deal with Workplace Dynamics, Influence Others, and Bring People Together to Initiate Positive Change

About Our Guest

Dr. Ken West is a Visionary, Pioneer, Professor, Doctor, Mentor and Performance Scientist.

Contact Dr. Ken West

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-west-12139a8

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Community Immunity Podcast, created to support, guide and grow the spiritual, physical, mental and emotional community!

About Our Host

Lucia Hargasova is a Leadership and Life Coach! She currently works with high-performance international clients such as CEOs, entrepreneurs, influencers, and coaches. She combine strategic thinking and marketing intelligence with spiritual and emotional awareness, bringing to the table 15+ years of solid business and marketing experience.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucia-hargasova-leadership-coaching/

Website: https://luciahargasova.com/

Transcript

spk_0:   0:09
welcome to the community immunity podcast created to support, guide and grow spiritually physical, mental and emotional immunity. My name is Lucia Hargasova, and I am a leadership and life coach. My first guest is the author Ken West, all right, it is my absolute pleasure to introduce you, Dr Ken West, visionary by a professor, doctor, mentor and, most importantly, performance scientists working in 48 sports in over 44 countries with many world champions on Olympic medalists. Welcome. Your resume is very long and we could call you many things. So I let you introduce yourself on Dhe. Tell us. Most importantly, what is it that you do?

spk_1:   1:19
Basically, I like puzzles. I like looking at situations and information to figure out what's really there, what's happening. But we can do with that information. I like it when people use the term impossible, because that, for me, means we just haven't figured it out yet that in that for me, I see that as an opportunity. So in all the years of working with sport or humans in general, because everything that humans do is performance, whether we are beating ourselves, clothing ourselves or we're, you know, playing football or tennis or golf that high level. It's all performance, and that's what I've been a guest addicted to for the last over 35 years and trying to understand how the world works. I think that's what all of us are doing is trying to build our own world view of how the world works. So I looked at how the humans and how do we create our experience and what parts of our brain contribute to that and trying to find away, too, at least teach other show others how they can create outcomes or changes in life or changes in performance if they choose to that we do have options and that we have to learn how to see options. We have to learn how to develop skills so that we can efficiently and effectively look at options and make choices that create the optimal chains. I think in the world that we live in the more efficiently and effectively you can change. The more fun you have, the happier you are and the more you work with our universe is unfolding as opposed to trying to control that, using your ego to think that you can control it and that there's nothing outside of you that you have the control. You don't need any help that you're not part of the bigger picture, not part of the divine plan.

spk_0:   3:24
And, you know, you use the word control several times. So, you know, given your background on Dhe, given your work with top athletes, can you just give us a little bit more information on that key word in terms off going from the place of control to high performance?

spk_1:   3:45
Well, many people in high performance believe that they have to control the situation and to control their opponent. They have to control their environment. They have to control everything. And that puts huge pressure on everyone. You know, whether it's your family, whether it's your work or instantly sport. So we spend all this time and effort trying to control things that we really cannot control, which makes us exhausted, and the outcomes are rarely very good. They can be good. But, boy, did we get exhausted spending that much energy and information. The only person that really has control is the one who can give up control. So working with elite performers. It's how do you get from conscious competence? Which means you're aware of what you do and effectively, how to do it and to move to unconscious competence that's allowing not to think and just allowing everything to flow and for you to take what the universe is teeing up for you and for you to participate and interact with it to create most optimal outcome. For you and for others, the key is learning how to not think, not try to control, you know, to be free. And I think that every you know, we are physical, mental, emotional, spiritual beings and our spiritual being. This its goal of our spirit is to be free, and any time we create restrictions limiting thoughts, limitations, we imprison our spirit and would change us on the path of unhappiness. Disease 100 Performance

spk_0:   5:25
Interesting. The only person that has a control is the one who can give up control. So why is it so hard for us?

spk_1:   5:36
Well, when you're talking about the limit system, the emotional brain it controls 95% of your experience, and it's illogical. That doesn't understand time, and we don't really our educational system we don't learn how to develop our theological skills, which is, you know, following intuition following feel you know, there are many illogical things in our world. Miracles are illogical, which I like miracles. So I'm very happy to engage in the logic. It's also humor is illogical, you know, to tell the joke is you have a logic statement, a logic state mental logic statement in the geologic statement. And then that's what creates the laughter in the humor. So it's realizing and understanding that we have control. We do have the ability to choose when we recognize that the choices that we make a choice than that creates change and then with that change becomes new choices. So we have this never ending loop of choice and change. So the better we are seeing what are the choices? I think where people get have lots of stress is when they think they have no choice or they put a meaning on something which doesn't allow them the freedom to change that. James that meaning change that perspective. It's what the clinical psychologist called reframing is that they try to take your meaning. You put on an event that's happened in your life and to change your perspective on it. So that isn't as traumatic or it doesn't create a negative reaction in your thoughts or actions. We need to learn howto effectively. Seymour Opportunities play, and I call that playing with information. We're going to lead performers. It's But what could it be? What could we have right now? Because positive problem solving is the key to the highest level of performance is what we have. What can we do with it? Some of the elite performers I'm working with right now are starting to get that concept. Even out of training is they're working on videos or websites or their job, and then they're able to have that thought of Okay, this is the resource is this is what we have what? How can we make the most of it? What can we create out of it? And for the humans, that creation process is one of our favorite things or one of our things that gives us the most enjoyment is to be able to be creative.

spk_0:   8:05
What if you're in a place that it's hard for you to see? The information is neutral and perhaps you're in a place of fear or confusion or simply feel stuck.

spk_1:   8:17
I think the first thing is to recognize irritation when you become irritated or frustrated. That's telling you that you have something that's not resolved, that you have something a limited belief or thought or program or something that is restricting your freedom, restricting your spirit. So if you look at when you are irritated to think, Okay, what's irritating me? And I have four points that I try to look at is okay, What is it that irritating me? How did I create it? Three is, you know, What do I need to learn here? What can I change? And 3rd 1 is what's the gift? And the 4th 1 is what's the joke when you can see the the universal joke and everything that you've actually made it through that development process? So you know, when you have your irritation, it's just telling you that something in your life is controlling you. And my philosophy is that our goal is that you know that we can control everything and that nothing else controls us. So we're talking about Yeah, I am talking about control. But the process of control, using controlling things. It's turning out to release and let go and let things be what they are and let them be free.

spk_0:   9:37
And let's be tangible. Just give us any example. You know, we can all understand it on the on the same level. Okay,

spk_1:   9:46
Well, if you are, we'll say you're in your automobile and you're driving, and someone cut you off the, you know, sort of into your lane. Or they make your driving or travel appear difficult. Or if there's someone in front of you going slow that you cannot, you cannot get around. You know that tends to irritate us. Well, then it's looking at Okay. Is this about patients? Or is it? You know, what is your thought? That is it. Everyone should get out of my way. It's my road. Everyone passed it. No one else has any right, or they should all be focused on making my life easier, you know, as opposed to what you know. What are they actually doing? You know, sometimes when you're driving and you've never been somewhere before and you're looking for a house, you know you're looking for a building and you're trying to read the numbers. You can't find them. It's difficult. You're going really slow. And then someone who lives there, it comes up behind you and starts, you know, hooting the hooter, the horn and is, you know, acting quite rude because you're going slow. And when that when that happens, I always think, Well, someday you will be somewhere and you don't know where you're going. And then when someone does that to you, maybe you will figure that out. But it's like, No, I'm doing the best I can. And I think that's an important thing is that people are doing the best they can. They're not intentionally trying to be stupid, so we can respect that. Okay, this person's going slow and trying to look at it differently and think, Okay, they're going slow that maybe they've never been here before. They don't know where they're going. They just need a little more space and to look it well, you know, why am I in such a hurry? You know, one of my overvaluing that makes me think I need to hurry up or I'm late. Okay, Well, why are you late? You know, to turn to the internal reflection to see Well, what is the real irritation? Is a person going slow? Or is it that I've, you know, overvalued, overvalued something else that made me late? And now I'm trying to make up time and I'm trying to push And I'm not going with the universal clothes. I'm trying to push it and make it be something else and that normally does not work out.

spk_0:   12:04
What I really love about this personally is this sense off self responsibility or self accountability. What do you think about it?

spk_1:   12:13
Well, whose life is it? Is it your life? Okay, and are you creating it? You know, you have your ability to put meaning on anything. And I found something quite interesting working with a very famous professional cricketer that we were trying to look at. What is the process of getting in the zone? And we developed this map that we were trying to test with him, and it had a physical phase and emotional phase in a mental page. And in the emotional phase, you know, we were using Maur of ah, psychological approach and saying, Well, am I happy if I'm not happy? What's give me from being happy. What'll I need to change, to be happy, what I need to let go, to be happy and then try to make that change, to allow the happiness to come. And when we tested it after that does it? We tested it in a cricket match and when he came out after the game, I said, Well, you know how to go, What did you learn? What worked? My typical style was questioned and he said No, that's bull pieces, This emotional peace He says, It's bully says it just takes too long doing the questioning and stuff. You know, I don't have that long in between deliveries of ball. So I said, Well, did you find the solution? He says Yes. So okay, what is it? He says, I just tell myself, Get happy And he says, Within two seconds, I'm happy. So you know, I think that's a very cool tool for people is that if you're in a situation and you notice that you're irritated or that you are unhappy where you can actually tell yourself, get happy and from a place of happiness, then you can work and then you can you know you can move forward and find the solution you're looking at. Also, there's a book about creating sustainable change by two professors, Jean Ramsey and Jean, letting in Houston. And they found that, you know, in the process of creating sustainable change that you know, the first thing is to recognize where the disarmingly is, what, who, where you're upset and then the second step is to change your emotions. And so they have many different things that they're testing, working with the limit limit system, your emotional brain or different ways of trying to get you know, the emotions back to that happiness. But if it's a simple as just saying, get happy and allowing yourself to get happy and one or two seconds that's a pretty easy way to shift out. You're feeling in a situation.

spk_0:   14:48
Get happy. Yeah, sounds wonderful. And I'm gonna bring it to today, and I'm just gonna ask you to allow us to understand, given everything that is going on around the world, the amount of changes, the collective Kale's onda uncertainty, how would you apply such a concept to a you know, everyday life if there is such a thing left right now in the world as everyday life.

spk_1:   15:21
But right now I'm in England and in England, when you meet most people, the first thing they say is, Oh, isn't the weather terrible? You know, isn't it horrible outside? And I like to mess with people exposed, So I always say it's raining. It's great, It's cleaning the air, It's getting rid of the pollution, and it's filling the dams and the rain is important. I'm from the desert, you know, and we will take rain anytime we can get it, and we actually celebrate the rain. So for my culture, we celebrate every time it's raining. Doesn't matter how cold, how uncomfortable it makes you, but we celebrate the rain, whereas here it's a tool for community connection. They connect on. The weather is terrible. It's a safe thing to talk about, and then they commiserated together to create the connection of community. And then I come in, and if I turn it on its head, it they just want they won't talk to you. They just shut down because they don't know how to deal with that positive approach to the weather. So but that same sort of conversation. Many of us are habitual. The pattern is to complain about people or complain about situations or complain about politics or complain about our health. And I think that's one of the things we want to override is when we talk to other people. Are we doing positive problem-solving? Are we talking about the positive side? To think the same thing happening within our own head is that you know, little voice in your head is throwing the negative at you when you say I want to do something and it says, No, you don't and you know that. So I think everyone knows that little voice in their head now. These days I'm calling it your adversary, an adversary, and that is probably what people call your ego are that it is the part of you that is antagonistic. It's your enemy. It's you know, they represented with symbols of the devil on your left shoulder and the angel on your right shoulder. All of those air, that adversary that is fighting against you. So, yes, it's easy for you to plug into your adversary and to talk to the adversary of others, and then everybody's miserable and upset. But if you connect to your true being or your angel, if you want to call it that in yourself and you talk to the Angels and other people, it's a lot more fun. And I think that's the basis of what we're all trying to do is look at any situation. We're being bombarded with more and more information, and the complexity of the information is increasing, and our connectedness to that increased complexity of information is also increasing. So we're connecting Maur. And so it's more opportunities for us to connect with our adversary to make ourselves unhappy and miserable. And but it's also an opportunity to override that and, you know, connect to the happy angel. It's really you know, your choice. You know, I've heard the quote for many years that it's not what happens to you in life. It's how you react to it. And I think that's what this conversation and you know, the communities that we want to participate in our people, who have the skills of the overriding adversary and overriding the negativity and just finding the positivity. And I think many of us have. Sometimes we have to negative parents are to positive. Parents are pretty rare. Usually, you have one positive one negative to create the balance. But I think it's whether it's our internal world or external world. Is can we recognize where the disharmony is, and can we harmonize it by seeing the positive in it? You know, one of the most powerful energies to connect to is the energy of gratitude, you know, So if you're depressed or you're unhappy or you're having a difficult time, is just to connect with gratitude for what I have to bring it. Be grateful to four. And I think that, yeah, the gratitude is on the angelic truths. Because your true self is who you really are, is not unhappy, does not have a disease, is not struggling. That struggle is that adversary that you're struggling with. That's how you're creating the struggle. You're creating the struggle in your world, creating your struggle in yourself, so you want to look it well. How did I create this struggle? It's a gift, you know. I think everything that we experience our whole life processes, I think the whole universe the cosmos, is set up to help us evolve to find out who we truly are, to remember who we truly are and to get back there and to function back there. And so everything that happened is just teaching you. It's a gift to show you. OK, you need to resolve this. You need to let go of that limited belief or that restriction that you put on yourself to free yourself up.  To be who you are because you truly are, is totally free

spk_0:   20:28
thank you for this beautiful reminder really connecting here with the word gratitude. And if there is a key takeaway to support us in these, let's call it uncertain times in spiritual, physical, mental and emotional well being. What would that be from you

spk_1:   20:53
be aware of when they're experiencing disharmony? Be aware of when they're irritated or unhappy and observe it and figure out what is it, how my causing it? What can I learn from it? Why do I need it? What's a gift? Where's the joke and go through that process of examining the experience that you have and seeing what it could be? You know, one of the things that I've been to is sometimes people have the circles where they get together, toe, discuss their problems, and it's a form of group therapy and sitting in observing the process. It's one person complained in the next person complains in the next person complained. Then you're going around the circle in at some point every time someone will come up with a suggestion of You can try this. This is what I did and to resolve my problem. And it worked. And as soon as the people have an idea of something they can do to change their world, the energy of the room ships from a misery party to a love fest happen. And it happens in an instant as soon as they are. Oh, I could do that. I can try that. So whether it's with yourself or with others is, you can start when you're if you, you know, if you go and talk over the back fence behind your house to your neighbor. If you watch what humans do, is they always talking? You know they'll talk about general things, and they always end up talking about where they're stuck, where they're unhappy, whether miserable, what they don't like about their life. They just do it every time. And the gift you could give to them is to but a few cracks into that meaning that they've created on there and get him, get him to shift it to Oh, maybe it could be something else. What else could it be? And when you get them to create that shift, will they move forward and practicing it with others help you also to practice it with yourself? Because you're doing the same thing to yourself. So you can, you know, look at those Look at what your experience And then figure out what experience you want to have. And if you're unhappy, then just use the shortcut of get happy and then get to work.

spk_0:   23:12
Get to work. Okay, let's go and create this left best than be the change we want to see in the world. Thank you so much for your time. And I'm looking forward to talk to you more.

spk_1:   23:28
Thank you very much. Lucia. Yes, I think it's going to be interesting where this conversation takes us while we're looking at, how do we develop our own, you know, community helping us develop our immunity whether it's immunity, the toxicity or immunity to negative thoughts or pathogens Or, you know, whatever challenges that we create for ourselves in our life, it's okay. How do we connect there? And how do we created community is supported each other to most effectively navigate those waters.

spk_0:   24:06
Thank you so much. Thank you so much for listening. Please make sure you subscribe to the podcast. Share it or tell a friend about it until next time.