Former footballer Andrew Jobling is a wellness writer for The Carousel and best-selling author of eight books including his latest work T.E.A.R.S of Joy. Andrew shares how his journey as an athlete and professional in the health and wellbeing industry led him to his latest work which sets out his five steps to personal transformation.
The shedding of tears after a significant achievement, a meaningful moment or purposeful pursuit is an indication of the powerful emotional joy we all strive for in our lives.
I call myself an unlikely athlete and an accidental author. After seven years as a professional athlete, more than thirty years in the health and wellbeing industry, including more than fifteen as an author, mentor, and speaker I have seen many people achieve amazing things in life that, at times defy logic.
In my book, T.E.A.R.S of Joy, I share the 5 Steps that lead to this type of personal transformation:
Thought – Everything we experience in life starts with a thought, belief, or perspective we choose to focus on. When we create a vision of person we want to become and the life we want to live, it initiates an incredible domino effect that, with deliberate attention, will lead to exactly what we want.
Emotion – Based on our thoughts and what we choose to focus on, we experience an emotion that will move us into action. The effect of emotion on our body will enhance or damage our physical wellbeing, and powerful emotion is the precursor to motion, which gets us moving in a direction.
Action – With a strong emotion, an immediate and spontaneous action will follow.
Routine – A simple daily action deliberately repeated over a period of time creates a strong neural pathway in the brain and becomes an unconscious routine. Make no mistake about it, what we achieve in life has far less to do with talent, intellect, natural ability, luck and circumstances, instead everything to do with the unconscious routines we establish.
Success – Every amazing tears of joy moment we experience is simply the predictable result of establishing the right routines in our life.
Let’s see this process in motion. A good friend of mine, Paul, approached me one day about five years ago and asked if I could help him regain his wellbeing. At the time Paul weighed 125kg and was on medication for blood pressure and cholesterol, he was told he would never get off. He was on the verge of a stroke and advised to take positive action, or his life would be significantly compromised. I knew Paul had tried to lose weight and take control on several occasions with no long-term success, so I asked him why this time would be different. Whilst answering, tears welled up in his eyes and he had trouble getting the words out as he spoke about his children and grandchildren.
He wanted to be able to play with his grandchildren and see them grow up. At that time, they had stopped asking him to play with them because they knew he couldn’t. Paul had an incredibly personal and powerful vision, and his thoughts were focused on restoring his wellbeing and his life. I am sure you can imagine the determination and excitement that surged through his body as a result of these thoughts. Consequently, he started that day, and over time adopted some very simple actions I recommended for him. Things like eating breakfast, snacking on natural foods, drinking more water, and increasing his walking each day. Very soon, with his focus and desire for change, and the accountability we had set up, he turned those simple actions into unconscious routines. In other words, he no longer had to debate and negotiate with himself, he now just acted.
The results: less than 6 months later, Paul had lost 35kg, was walking 10 km per day, when before he struggled to walk one, was taken off all medication and had his life back. There were definitely tears of joy as Paul started being able to play with his grandchildren. That was over five years ago and, let me tell you, he is a changed man. He enjoyed the personal transformation, not because of talent, ability, capacity or willpower, but simply because he followed the T.E.A.R.S. of Joy process. His wonderful success was the predictable result of the simple routines he created. It all started with the thought, I will regain my health, wellbeing, and life.
