Empty Your Mind Before You Rise

I lie in bed, wide awake at 2:30 AM.

I tried 3/6 breathing, 13 cycles, with no help.

I then tried my Five Sense Awareness Mindfulness Technique.

Three times I asked myself, Dave, what do you…

HEAR-FEEL-SEE-TASTE-SMELL

After completing two of my four mindfulness exercises, it doesn’t look like I am going to fall asleep any time soon.

I feel invigorated instead of sleepy.

My cortisol hasn't been tamed yet this morning.

It continues to tell me, “Time to rise.”

So I decide to see if anything in my thoughts is causing my elevated cortisol.

I begin by focusing on my breathing, which is easier now that I am in present time.

I place my full concentration on the air flowing in and out of my nostrils.

I imagine sitting on a bench at Lover’s Point, Pacific Grove, California.

I love this place because when I sit on this bench, I can watch the sun rise over the Pacific Ocean.

Think about it.

Sunrise.

Pacific Ocean.

California side.

Monterey Bay is positioned in such a way that it helps me pursue living younger, longer by experiencing new and unique things.

As I imagine sitting on that bench, I watch my thoughts float out of my subconscious and over the Monterey Bay.

They are like sea foam bubbles floating in the breeze.

As they pass through the ether of my imagination, I poke them with my finger.

One after another.

POP!

There goes another…

POP!

I remind myself that to bolster all four secrets to feeling and looking great into my 80s, 7 hours of sleep will help a lot.

POP! POP! POP!

I let all my thoughts flow out of my mind.

Most of my thoughts are about things I need to do.

Sometimes they are important things I forgot to do.

I don’t pop those. I let them float away.

I release my thoughts for 10 minutes. I have trained my mind to know when 10 minutes of releasing my thoughts is complete.

None of the thoughts I observed should have raised my cortisol.

Life has been good for a very long time.

My eyelids spring open again.

Boing.

After Three-Six Breathing, Five-Sense Awareness, and now that I am finished with my Thought Release, I move into manifesting my future, I find myself still awake.

I begin the last part of my mindfulness training.

I affirm my future.

I have four affirmations for each of the four strands of my life.

Each affirmation uses the three characteristics of life.

Be—Do—Have.

I restructure them into Have—Be—Do.

To structure an affirmation, I start with my Haves, my optimum wish for each of the four strands of life.

For example, and for brevity, I’ll use my Me Strand.

Most choose an ideal weight for the Me Strand.

For example, let’s say 185 pounds.

185 pounds is the Have.

Now we switch to the Be.

Your Be is how you define yourself.

If you are using your weight as your Have, then the ideal Be is Mesomorph.

When you receive a physical exam from your doctor, she will check one of three boxes.

Ectomorph-someone who is underweight
Endomorph-someone who is overweight
Mesomorph-someone whose weight is just right

I visualize myself as a mesomorph weighing 185 pounds.

We now have two of the three components of my Me affirmation.

The last component is the Do.

If you are over 50, you will need to use the Meso Menu, which I developed over the last 46 years of practicing weight optimization with over 10,000 patients. It’s a menu that evolves for each individual.

The Do completes the affirmation

I am a mesomorph that weighs 185 pounds by eating the Meso Menu.

I do this with all four strands of my life.

I believe life is like a shrimping bucket.

When I was a teenager, a friend and I got into trouble in the middle of the Yucatan jungles.

I did not do anything bad, I promise. My friend helped one of my cousins who got into a fight in a bar. I pulled my friend out of the fight quickly.

But we were gringos in the jungles of Mexico, and they literally chased us out of town with guns. That’s a story for my memoir.

I had an uncle who shrimped on the Papaloapan River near a little sugar town where this happened. We had to hide out on his ranch on the river for a few days. We learned how to shrimp.

They had these buckets made of bamboo-like wood that collapsed on itself.

In the center, they would place shrimp bait. They tied the buckets to riverbank bushes that overhung the river. We would go by and lift the rope, and the sides of the bucket would rise and trap the shrimp. These shrimp were the size of small lobsters. They were huge.

I look at life like that shrimp bucket.

The middle of the concentric rings is the Me Strand
Then the next outer ring is the Us Strand.
Then the next outer ring is the Them Strand
And lastly, the largest ring is the Him Strand.

ME
US
THEM
HIM

All of these rings work together. My life fits within them.

I manifest my future life by raising the tree rope, capturing who I wish to be within it.

ME: I am a mesomorph that weighs 185 Pounds by eating the Meso Menu.

I repeat the affirmation in my mind, visualizing that I am already at that weight and wearing the size of pants that come with that weight.

US: I am a husband, father, and grandfather who creates an unforgettable vacation yearly for my five children and eight grandchildren, building memories our family will treasure for generations.

I repeat the affirmation until my next family vacation is IMAX-sized in my mind.

THEM: I am a coach who serves more people every month, creating greater impact by giving more and more value to every client I serve.

I see several layers of clients. From my one-on-one clients to the tens of thousands who read my writings, I see them getting better every day in every way.

I repeat the affirmation until I see the future as if it were already here.

HIM: I am a spiritual man, growing closer to God and strengthening my relationship with Him every day.

I am a man of God. I pray, I learn, I serve, and I grow closer to Him every day. I devote my time and my gifts to my church and to serving others. And when my earthly journey is complete, I see myself standing before my Lord as He welcomes me home, kisses me on the forehead, and says, “Well done.”

I repeat the affirmation until I can feel His kiss.

After completing my…

3/6 breathing
Five Sense Awareness
Thought Release
Dream Reality

I roll over and fall asleep.

I wake at 4:00—Perfect.

7 hours of sleep nightly will help me live younger, Longer. It will help in my longevity goal of dancing at my grandchildren’s weddings.

In my next article, I will write about the routine that allows me to travel around the world as I write about living younger, longer.

Don’t forget to subscribe to keep reading the Day and Life of a Longevity Guru, Me.

Cruising Under The Golden Gate Bridge 8/17/26

There’s something powerful about watching the Golden Gate disappear behind you as you cruise north toward Alaska.

It’s a reminder that getting older doesn’t mean slowing down; it means getting better at choosing what makes life worth living.

See more.
Explore more.
Move your body.
Stay curious.
Laugh often.
Spend time with the people you love.

And never let a number on your birthday convince you that your best adventures are behind you.

We don’t just want to live longer. We want to live younger, longer.

Alaska, here we come!