In life there are great days and there are horrible days, times of joy and times of sadness, but in either case it is nice to be surrounded by friends and family. On a great day you want to share your excitement and when life strikes you with a low blow, you want to be surrounded by support. The community at Flow is absolutely unmatched. Just like the theme song to the old TV show Cheers, “Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got. Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot. Wouldn’t you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came. You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same.”

Day in and day out, one thing I look forward to is going to Flow. These are my people and they are AWESOME. They are there to help me celebrate victories and to help pick me up after suffering a loss. When I don’t make it to the box, I miss it. My body might feel beat up from 5 days of workouts in a row, but on that much deserved rest day I find myself still wanting to head on in, even if it is just to hang out. There is something special about being surrounded by people that have very similar goals and values, especially when they are so positive. Flow athletes live life big, they don’t watch it pass on by. The spirit and passion for this unique activity spills out of the gym and into the other facets of your life. It creates confidence and opens the door to possibility. When you are able to meet goal, after goal, after goal, at Flow and do all of these things that you never thought you would ever be able to do, it changes you mindset. It enables a better you. It shows you that things you thought were impossible are possible and if you can do it at the gym, why can’t you do it at home or at work. Being surrounded by a group of people that all get this, understand it, and support you is amazing!

Tony Robbins tells the story of getting a piano tuned, and how it takes a re-tune after a week, and then a month, and then two months, and then six months, to get an old, out of tune piano back in tune and kept in tune.  In other words, it's not a one time deal, it's a process. 

Likewise, getting ourselves to sustain a change takes "re-tuning" of our emotions. Usually, we change when we're in so much pain that we're willing to expend great effort to move away from it.  Once the change starts, however, the pain decreases and with that decrease come a corresponding decrease in the reasons to sustain the change. 

The idea is that you are not required to simply endure and live through your emotions.  You can change what you feel by how you think. It's work, you get better at it the more that you work with it, just like pushups. By changing how you feel you change your limiting patterns.
What kind of emotional pushups do I recommend? First, make sure you celebrate the goals you complete, both process and outcome goals. After every workout, if all you think of is how hard it was and how much faster you used to be, that's negative emotional pushups. If after every workout, you find something to celebrate in the workout, and you give that celebration some emotional energy, that's emotional pushups. If you have a good food day, and share the satisfaction of that accomplishment with a friend, that's an emotional pushup. If you reach an outcome goal, mark the occasion and share it with someone that you know will understand the significance!
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If you can find a consequence of the change that holds an emotional charge - if I lose weight and sustain/regain health and feel better, I'll be a better father/wife or leader - and sustain contact with and draw emotional energy from that, you will be doing emotional pushups. 

Emotional pushups help you tap into the emotional drivers that will help you fuel changes in behaviors, thoughts and feelings that betray your well being. Once you tap into this skill, I think you will find it is a deep well of possibility in all kinds of arenas in your life.