The 5 S.T.E.P.S. to Reclaiming Your Body, Mind & Spirit — with Dr. Len Lopez

In this episode of The Self-Help Podcast, Deepali sits down with Dr. Len Lopez — nutritionist, strength coach, sports chiropractor, peak-performance specialist, and creator of the transformative 5 S.T.E.P.S. a Day framework.

For over 25 years, Dr. Len has helped people elevate their physical health… only to discover that true wellbeing requires something deeper: your thoughts, your energy, your mindset, and your capacity to reconnect with what he calls your spiritual muscles. His philosophy helps people step out of the vicious cycle of burnout, stress, and inconsistency — and into a virtuous circle rooted in attention, self-honesty, and daily accountability.

In this conversation, Deepali and Dr. Len explore how real change doesn’t come from overnight transformation or perfect planning — but from five honest questions asked consistently, gently, and bravely.

 Deep Dive: The 5 S.T.E.P.S. a Day Framework

A practical, accessible tool that invites you to reflect on five essential areas of your wellbeing:

✨ S – Sleep with a Smile
Why nighttime mindset dictates emotional regulation, recovery, and how you start the next day.

✨ T – Think Better Today
How your thoughts shape your biology, decisions, and emotional resilience — with techniques for reframing and intentional thinking.

✨ E – Eat Right Today
Simplifying nutrition for real life: what actually matters, what doesn’t, and how to make sustainable choices.

✨ P – Get Physical Today
Why movement is medicine — and why even 10 minutes can alter your mood, clarity, and stress response.

✨ S – Strengthen Your Spiritual Muscles
What this means beyond religion: presence, gratitude, inner awareness, connection, and grounding practices.

The emphasis?
 Not perfection.
 Attention, awareness, and honest daily check-ins.

🔗 Connect with Dr. Len Lopez

Explore the 5 S.T.E.P.S. tools, resources, and teachings:
 Website: https://drlenlopez.com/5stepsaday/
 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlenlopez/

Come say a hi: https://www.deepalinagrani.com/

Want to be a guest on The Self-Help Podcast with Deepali Nagrani? 

Send Deepali Nagrani a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/deepalinagrani

Transcript

The Question We Avoid At Day’s End

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Now, I want you to picture this. It is the end of the day. Your phone is finally quiet, and you ask yourself the one question most people avoid. Did I actually take care of myself today? Or did I just get through the day? Now, this is something I very strongly remember learning from my dad. Often hearing him say these words and they echoed something inside of me. They stirred something within me. You don't need a perfect planner. You don't need a miracle morning routine. Sometimes all you need is five honest questions. Today's conversation is not about motivation, it's about daily accountability.

Meet Dr. Len Lopez And The Virtuous Cycle

SPEAKER_01 0:40

About stepping out of the vicious cycle and into what my guest for today calls the virtuous cycle. Joining me is someone who has spent over 25 years teaching people how to fuel their body, train smart, and now how to even think better, dream better, and give thanks. Welcome to the podcast, Dr. Len Lopez. Doc, I want to dive right into this. So, what is the vicious cycle and how do we step out of it?

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Well, well, thank you for inviting me first to uh to follow. Yeah, I really appreciate that. And the vicious cycle, it's it's different for everybody. Somebody may be struggling with work set uh headaches with work. Others could be struggling with some cycle of not getting the accomplishment they want to see in their career. Maybe if the relationship isn't going the way they want it to be. So there could be various, various different things that have you stuck in this vicious cycle, financial. So many people are caught in there, but then to get out of it, it's just about, you know, you have to do something, you have to take action. What action do you want to call it? I created five steps. I used to my before I called it five steps, I was first calling it action steps because you have to do something about it. You just can't hope and pray. I mean, you do want to hope and pray, but you have to take some actual action to make it happen because if you're stuck in the middle of the of the ocean or the middle of the lake, it's you that has to paddle to move yourself. You just can't wait for somebody to come get you.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

And I love how you said you can not only hope and pray. I mean, we all do that, and we hope and pray that things work out, but it's the actual action that counts. Now, thanks for the context. Starting with what your story is.

Origins Of Five Steps A Day

SPEAKER_01 2:25

I know you started as a nutritionist, a strength coach, and sports chiropractor. So, when did you move down this path? And when did you realize that physical health wasn't just enough and mindset and spirit mattered just as much?

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Well, I I I I guess I I'll say it this way. When I was with various patients, you know, they were coming to me seeking help for their health and fitness concerns. And you know, after you see somebody one or two or three times, you start creating a relationship with that individual. And it's funny enough, then they just start sharing a little bit more about what's going on, this, that, and the other. You discover some of the challenges they're having with whether they're their their partner, their spouse, or their kids, or their boss, or their parents, whomever. And you could just hear some of the other struggles that we all face and everything. And I wanted to interject something because I like to consider myself fairly well read. I'll say it that way, fairly well read. But it's like, okay, but Len, they're coming to you for their health and fitness concerns. Maybe this isn't the right time for me to try to talk to them about, you know, it sounds like you're you guys just like stinking thinking, you know, or it sounds like you know, you're just not putting, you have no faith or, you know, wherever it may be, I don't know. But it's like let's stay on that one why they're coming to see me, health and fitness. But as I just kept on seeing it, I I ended up creating what what we call five steps a day. And, you know, it finally it wasn't until not too long ago that I was being interviewed for a magazine on health and fitness, and they came back about a year later and they said, Hey Doc, we really like that story we did about health and fitness. We want to do another one, but this time instead of just kind of just focusing just on health and fitness, like, let's talk about the whole body, mind, and spirit aspect of it. What are your thoughts? So I I got back with them the next day after I thought about it and everything and prayed about it. And so I came back and I shared with them what I created about 20 years earlier, but I'd never really done anything with it because I was sticking with the health and fitness path that I was on. And it was just kind of nice to hear they came back the very next day, said, Doc, this is the coolest thing I've I've ever we've seen. You know, this is the step thing as far as you know, shading in your footsteps, just the visual stimulation in you know, two minutes you can track, see, are you feeding body? Are you feeding your mind? Are you feeding your spirit? And so now it's uh it's evolved if we're not now it's not just a calendar or a journal, but we also even have an app called Five Steps a Day.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

I completely agree with what you said about focusing on the mind, body, and spirit as a holistic approach because it views health as an interconnected whole, and it's just not like okay, mind, body, and spirit separately, but they're almost intertwined and one influences the other in many many ways. So yeah. Thanks, thanks for sharing that. And I'm and I'm glad that you actually remember quite a lot from you know the framework that you created about 20 years ago. So, was there a personal moment for you? I know you see, you know, thousands and thousands of patients during your practice, but was there a personal moment, say a time of burnout or failure, defeat, or you know, say a healthcare that led you towards the vicious versus the virtuous cycle idea? Was it any moment that changed you and propelled you in this direction?

SPEAKER_00 5:54

I'm I don't know if I can say there was a specific moment. I mean, I've had my up and I've had my downs also. I've shared them with others in the past, sometimes here, you know. I guess when you ask me the right specific question, I'll share. But it but it's like, yeah, we've we've all had them, right? We've all had our highs and lows. And it it's it's helped me realize that, or just even with my patients

Why Small Actions Outperform Overhauls

SPEAKER_00 6:15

to go back to that. Then I could hear them talking about their physical concerns here and there, but then I could hear them concerned about the headaches they're having with either their partner, their spouse, their kids, their boss, and whatnot. And just, you know, what maybe they just need some, you know, maybe they're not feeding their mind, maybe they're letting their mind get the better half of them because as I've learned, you know, we spend about, you know, we 80% of the thoughts that we feed our mind with throughout the day are slanted on that negative front. And, you know, we have to come we have to take a conscious effort to remind ourselves of the of the benefits that we have, the good things that we have, not just always focus on the negative. And the same way with exercise, you know, hey, we 24 hours a day, you know, we may only exercise maybe 30 minutes of a day. So it doesn't need to be a lot, but you need to do something to feed body, mind, and spirit. And I think that whole balance thing is is a is a really important feature uh function for all of us.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

So if you change the way you look at things, then the things you look at really change, and it's again a game of perspective and and mindset, right? So when you're when you're dealing with people who are going through their own situations, and I'm sure you've had, as you said, your own series of ups and downs. But what's your experience about what are the general mistakes that people are making when they're trying to change their life? And why do we choose drastic change instead of daily consistent steps? Because I for myself I can speak to it every time I'm trying to bring a change in my life, initially I would overhaul my life. Like bring too many changes at the same time and then end up feeling born and overburned and you know just act out, and then later zone out and do nothing. So how can we how can we ensure that we are practicing these small daily steps over and over instead of you know completely overhauling our life at once?

SPEAKER_00 8:16

You know, that that's that's a good question. And y you never know what it is that's going to motivate somebody. It's kind of like advertising. What do they say? You need to hear a commercial or a jingle a dozen times or 20 times before you actually hear it. And the same way, you know, we have all, you know, they know, okay, I need to stop doing this, I need to, you know, quit grabbing my phone so often, I need to quit watching binge watching TV so much, I need to quit to listen to my spouse or what you know, whatever. But you know, what's going to finally make you do something? And everybody has a different tipping point. And whatever that tipping point is, all I'm trying to do is get people to realize that that that you know not everybody is a is a learn from just reading. And I learned that myself. But a lot of us are more visual, a lot of us are more kinesthetic, and so I think that's what really why people have responded to five steps a day, because all we're asking you to do, and we know what to do, it's when you're ready to finally do it. But when you're ready to finally do it, how are you holding yourself accountable? I like to think of you know corporations as businesses. That we I think we've all seen that TV show Shark Tank, right? They're always like, show me the numbers, show me the numbers. And so when I when I look at the same perspective, corporations they track their success, right? By their profit margin, their revenue sales, right? They use some way to just to gauge if they're doing good or bad. Well, why can't we do the same thing for the little company that we all control, which is MMI? Me, myself, and I as I like to categorize call it and everything.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

So, you know, what are we doing? What can we? So five steps a day is just a simple way to track, you know, are you feeding your body properly? Are you feeding your mind? Are you feeding your spirit? And every day in less than two minutes, you can kind of track. Did you do, you know, we've all used to-do lists, right? You know, are you doing the stuff that's really important? Yes, go in and get in your laundry,

Visual Accountability And Tracking Steps

SPEAKER_00 10:16

schedule to go get your dogs, you know, toenails clipped, or get them bathed, or go in to pick up the dry cleaning, or go pick up paint. Those are all important to-dos to in the day. But the bigger to-do things are the things that are gonna feed body. Are you doing the things that are gonna feed mind? Are you doing things that are gonna feed spirit? Now, do you gotta do them every day? Some of you, you're you're gonna eat every day, right? You're going to think every day, you're gonna sleep every day, but you know, you're not gonna work out every day. But some of us do find enough uh but with our daily activity that it does do, you know, it moves our physical body. And so you don't it doesn't have to be a real hard, hard workout every day. But are you doing something for body, mind, and spirit? And and and the the way five steps basically works, uh the palia is to say, you know, you're shading in the footstep for the action you took. And by the end of the day, you can quickly look, because it takes you just like two minutes to kind of shade in the steps, you can get a visual picture of your progress. And I think we've all seen those images of the footsteps in the sand, right? And so when you th and you shade in your footsteps, you can say, hey, I did, I took four steps today. I took one step today. Tomorrow I want to take five, or you know, in in one week's time, you could see that you might have taken 27 steps. There's something about visually seeing all those footsteps that in that subconscious, that those kinesthetic and those visual learners, it taps into them more so than if they read about feeding body, feeding mind, feeding spirit. You know, I I say it's accountability and feedback. Are you doing the things that we know we should be doing to help us in whatever we're trying to uh to improve on?

SPEAKER_01 12:05

I'm a visual learner as well. So I love the fact that you talk about feedback and you know, just visual progress. So for our listening audience, can you explain how seeing your progress over time taps into the learning center in your own brain and actually helps anchor some habit change that you want to see and sustain on. So, like what does it do to our minds?

SPEAKER_00 12:29

Well, hopefully it it's going to help you realize that hey, I'm not I think we all know that you know, if you wanna if you if you want to go from having 12-inch bicep for a guy, for if you want to go from having 12-inch biceps to 18-inch biceps for lack of a better idea, you know, hopefully everybody understands my analogy, that you have to do something, right? You have to take some action. Whether you're trying to go from, you know, being 30 pounds overweight, you have to take some action. And so what are you doing to feed body, mind, and spirit? And every day, you know, we all know, oh, I need to be exercising, right? Oh, I need to be eating better, right? And so if you're doing those things, let me let me back up. Let me show what I used to tell my patients when they would come in and seeking help from their in their in their in their uh physical health. Uh I would always tell them, listen, I'm gonna see you again next week. And in that in this week's time period, you're gonna have an opportunity to take twenty-one steps towards better health. All right, twenty-one, doctors word, three meals a day, seven days a week, right? So did I expect them to take tw have twenty-one perfect meals uh when I see them next

Rewiring Negative Thought Patterns

SPEAKER_00 13:40

week? No, but I would like them to have have them take maybe 16 or 17 good meals and only three or four bad meals. I mean 16 steps forward and four steps backward, it has you moving in the right direction. The problem for a lot of people that are just using diet as a and as an example, diet and health, is that okay, I'll start dieting today. I did good today, I did good tomorrow yesterday. Oh, today I'm I had a good breakfast, I had a good lunch, I'm going out with my friends tonight. I know it's her birthday party, and yeah, and they end up you know having the dessert and the drinks and the beverages and all the junk, all the wrong stuff, right? But they they fall off the wagon, so to speak, but they feel okay, I ruined my diet, and they completely give up. They they stop typically, and they go, another day goes by where they don't do good, they don't do good. And all I'm trying to say, guys, are you taking action? You don't need to go, you know what the journey of a thousand mile begins with that first step. Are you taking proper steps to move you where you want to be? And that's all we're trying to do. Are you taking steps? Do you need to start feeding body, mind, spirit a little bit better than what you're currently doing to get you out of that vicious cycle into that virtuous circle?

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Wow, that's yeah, that's such a profound example. And I while you were saying, I also relate to it a lot, Doc, because I for myself, like, you know, I have been a healthy eater, I'd like to say, but there are times when I try and do it everything, try and do everything bright and perfect, right? Like have salad for lunches and uh soups for dinner. But you know, and of course I don't enjoy it all the time. I know it's best for my body, but maybe it's not good for me for myself. Like I I want something fancy and nice. So I would continue to do that sort of a diet for weeks and weeks, and then I would end up becoming bitter and like just groggy and just feeling frustrated about not having the opportunity to enjoy the food. And my yeah, and I mut it wellness and health in a way that I don't want to be bitter while I'm eating my food. Yeah, I want to be fully present, yeah, and mindful, and just really enjoy and find some sort of joy in the potato food that I have in front of me. So I change my perspective a little bit. Instead of you know making it 100% right and perfect and healthy for me, I try and now do 80-20 balance. So if I'm like going on a Whole Foods um 80% of the time through the day, 20% of the time, so maybe I can snack in here and there. Maybe I'll have a piece of my favorite cake or a cookie. That's okay, right? Yeah, as long as I'm not falling. I mean, you're you the doctor, you can tell me best, but this has worked for me really well.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Yeah, and and what I always tell everyone here's a simple way of saying it. Yes, having three good meals. Okay, I'm not gonna say perfect, just good meals because we're all on different. And for some people, you know, a good meal may be, you know, no dessert, it may be not a second serving, it may be all natural foods, whatever it is. But a good meal is is you might have three meals in a day. What the problem for a lot of people, DePonnie, is that they they may when they fall off the wagon, they stay off the wagon. I'm trying to say, listen, if you had a maybe today you had or yesterday you had a good breakfast, you had a good lunch, you went out with your friends, you know, you did so you had two steps forward, one step backward. You still made progress if I do the math right, right? And so that's what I'm trying to get you to understand. You're doing the right things. You can't do be perfect all the time. And so that's what it's talked about. Are you taking enough steps to move you forward for body, mind, and spirit? And that's it, it's just, yeah, I, you know, I'm a I'm a base, I'm a sports guy, and I like to use the analogy of if your listeners are baseball people, you know, home runs are great, and I think hopefully everybody knows what a home run is, but you can still win with base hits, right? And so you know, two steps forward, one step backward has you moving in the right direction. Pat yourself on the back, tomorrow's another day, and you can start your diet again and see are you did you eat more good meals and bad, because that'll get you where you want to go.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Yeah, and and I'm like one thing that has stuck with me, and you know, is one of the highlights of what you're see speaking right now, is two two steps forward, but one step backwards still makes you move forward. So that's really a win. And instead of like sulking and like just giving up completely on okay, I had a bad meal or I didn't exercise for two or three days in sequence, so let me not do it again, right? Like, I'm just gonna sit and be miserable about it and just sulk and feel guilty. And instead, if it was not a great healthy plate of food, maybe next meal can be better. If today we didn't get a chance to exercise, we have tomorrow and day after to make it right, to start small, but go in the right direction. As long as we're moving in the right direction, it it is all what matters, right?

SPEAKER_00 18:35

Exactly. And now to now to move to the next step

S: Sleep With A Smile

SPEAKER_00 18:38

or the next aspect of it, just feeding the mind. Because you know, as we just discussed, you know, can we have more good meals than bad physical, you know, as far as nutrition foods that we feed our body, but what are we feeding our mind? And here's the part that that hopefully your listeners may or may not already know. And when I learned this years ago, it was it really helped me. But re according to most researchers, they say that about 80% of the thought process is slanted negatively. You know, so we're walking around today thinking about about the headaches we had yesterday and the day before. And as I as you think about it this way, you may get 10 really good reviews, but you get that one review that tells you you stink, which is the one that's gonna hold your attention for a while. The negative one, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:26

The ladder, yeah, the negative one.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

And so we're feeding our mind constantly with negative chatter, and according to the researchers that are, you know, that are in this arena, I know my arena, but I know that they're saying 80% of our thoughts are from yesterday. They say that we process about 50,000 thoughts a day, and 80% of them are from yet and they're negative. So, you know, we it's like eating, you don't have to eat perfect, but you just need to eat better. Well, if it's the 80 20 rule when it comes to negative thoughts and and good thoughts, are you living at that 80 20? Range, maybe how hard is it gonna be to add a positive thought to yourself? You know, I'll I'll confess here years ago, one of one of the first books I read, this was like 40 years ago. Uh, not to give them more insight on how old I am, but but it but it but it was a a uh a book, you know, the the power of positive thinking. And it was like you know, I I got through about through a hundred pages in here, and I hate saying it, but you know, I kind of threw it down for about 10 years, and or maybe more than that, about 15 years before I picked it up again. I said, there's too much God in this thing. And so I threw it down and everything, but then I came back around to it later. But it was, you know, some people talk about, you know, the attitude and positive thinking, all this kind of stuff. You gotta repeat a uh a magic phrase a bazillion time. I think of it the same way of feeding your body. I don't need to repeat a phrase a bazillion time, but can I say something good about myself a minute here, a minute there, a minute there throughout the day? Hey, I feel good, I feel strong, I'm confident, I'm a winner. You know, everybody's gonna have different phrasology for them. I, you know, I in Five Steps Today I talk about do you allow yourself to feel doomed, dazed, and defeated? Or are you feeding your body, mind, and spirit to feel um bigger, better, bolder? And so, you know, 80% of your thoughts are slanted negatively. That one thing I can say for sure is that I had this conversation one time. So, Doc, you're telling me if I if I tell myself I'm bigger, better, bolder, that's gonna make me bigger, better, bolder, you know, that's gonna help me. I go, I'll tell you what it's going to do for that one minute that you tell yourself whatever phrase you want to use, bigger, better, bolder, I'm strong, I'm handsome, I'm confident, whatever, that you're gonna tell yourself that that's one less minute that you're gonna tell yourself that you stink. Because again, 80% of our thinking is slanted negatively. So if you can take a minute here and a minute and another, you know, an hour later, 30 minutes later, just to remind yourself and start putting some of that that positive thought, that that confidence in your mind, you can start maybe start moving that mindset that we all have. You know, they talk a lot of motivational speakers, they talk about that stinking thinking. Well, we're just trying to move it a little bit here, a little bit here, to where maybe your your perspective, the the views that you have, maybe you do just expel so much negativity when you walk into the room. Who knows?

SPEAKER_01 22:33

Because, but all we're trying to do is can you just bring a little bit of light into your into Yeah, that's a great, like a very profound uh explanation because we could be going to the gym five times a week, eating a healthy diet, but as long as you know our minds is not cooperating, meaning we're thinking negative or bad thoughts or our you know overthinking or spiraling in them, nothing really truly changes. And even I am working a lot on you know my inner world, like my mindset and in

T: Think Better Today

SPEAKER_01 23:05

terms of my healing and how I really think of things, because that has a power to change everything. Now, speaking of which, let's break down your very famous tool, the five steps a day framework. For our listening audience, I'd say keep a pen and paper ready or maybe take notes on your phone. Now we're going to go step by step. So, Doc, starting with S, right? Sleep with a smile. What does this mean to you and why is nighttime mindset crucial? And are there any nightly rituals that you practice personally that you'd suggest to our audience?

SPEAKER_00 23:37

Yes, yes, and yes. Okay. Here each one of the steps, like I said, sleep, think, eat, physical, and spirit. When I talk about sleep with the smile, I when you go to bed at night, do you sleep with the smile? Do you sleep and dream of good thoughts about what you want to see happen tomorrow? Think of it this way, Department. If you went to bed worried about tomorrow with fear, worry, and anxiety, as of the thinking of, hey, I'm you're looking forward to going on this vacation, looking forward to getting that, to getting this new job, getting forward, you know, something positive for yourself. What kind of night are you gonna, what kind of night, what are you gonna feed your subconscious for those seven, eight hours you're sleeping if you go to bed with worry, fear, and anxiety, as opposed to falling asleep, thinking about, hey, what you know, what are you looking forward to in life? What are you dreaming about five years, you know, five days, five weeks, five years down the road? Now, that's all we're trying to do. Do you know where you want to go? Unfortunately, a lot of people don't know where they want to go. You know, they just kind of they don't have goals and dreams set out for themselves. And whether you write them down or have them in your head, that's okay. But do you know where you want to be in a month, a year, five years down the road? And I'll use this analogy years ago. I I got married late in life. You know, I was I was a single bachelor for a long period of time, but you know, I knew I wanted to be married, and I started this, I would go to bed at night just visualizing my wedding.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Wow, beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

And I would see myself at the church in there, and I would see this this woman at the very back end of this of the church with the light, kind of like in the blues brothers, she's in the very back of the church back there with the veil. I can't see your face, but the sun's coming in, and uh, I can see my mom and dad and my brothers and friends all around and everything. And sure enough, it was like four or five years later, it's exactly how it turned out. So sleeping with the smile is just trying to give your subconscious something to chew on. Think of this. We've all heard sometimes when you know I saw a scary movie last night and I had a bad dream. Well, what your subconscious was was messing with before you went to bed. All I'm saying is before you go to bed at night, think about where you want to be tomorrow. This is why, like vision boards are really good. Something that just kind of okay, I'm looking for this new vacation I'm gonna be going on in three months, six months, the new car I want, I want this new office, I want to have that corner office here. I'm looking forward to when I go do this, uh, do this play or do this do this presentation, the applause I'm gonna get. You know, whatever vision, whatever image that you can paint in your mind, maybe you're trying to get a scholarship somewhere, you know, if you're younger, you're trying to, you know, you want to get um, you know, you're giving a presentation, you want to do a TED talk,

E: Eat Right Without Perfection

SPEAKER_00 26:35

whatever it is, you can I have to say that, I have to stop you here.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

So, you know what? I was just gonna say that, Doctor. I actually booked to be audience in one of the TED events here in BC. And the reason, the reason is simple, because one day I want to be on the dead stage. And I and the reason why I just popped in and said is because you give such a perfect example. And I envision myself on the stage every single night. I don't know how that will happen, but I'm sure the universe is listening and watching and caring. So we we we will we will be there one day.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

Absolutely. And so this what when I talk about sleep, it's and I say sleeping with the smile, it's just the fact that when you start, if if you do this, when you fall asleep after you say your prayers and everything, you sit there and just visualize yourself in whatever outcome it wants to be, you know. And you can visualize it. The more vivid that picture comes into your mind, the more you can see the applause, you can see the light, the people, the clothes, you know, the more vivid, whatever dream that you have, it the bigger the smile just starts magically growing on your face. And at nighttime, when I when I get that visual picture, my face just really just I I wish I could, I'm gonna have to film it one day because it's just a it not cracks me up, but it does. I just can't believe how but but now I'll end up falling asleep, and so my subconscious mind wrestles with that for the next seven or eight hours. Would you rather wrestle with that or think about the worry, fear, and anxiety, or falling asleep with the remote control in your hand? You know, you just leave it the chance.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

That's also a very important reminder for me because, in all honesty, there are good days and bad days, and if it's a good day, then I'd envision myself being on the TED stage and you know doing a lot of public speaking engagements, you know, everything that I want to do and aspire to be. But also, Dr. Len, on some days where you know it has been a dull day, bitter day with some bad news. I of course tend to sulk, and like you know, I sleep very anxious and nervous about okay, or smearful about my cap and neck. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That yeah, that's that's so real, and and that's where life is. And I'm really learning to teach myself, and I know it can be really hard. I I found myself in those places where I want to change a spiraling thought like a negative pattern, and really, really try hard to come out of it, and sometimes it becomes challenging, right? So, what's your advice for for that shift? Like, how do we train our mind to really stop thinking, overthinking about negative and move into a positive reframe?

SPEAKER_00 29:06

Well, well, just like you said, you know, we talked a minute ago about eating, right? We can't we may not eat eight, you know, eight uh twenty-one good meals in a week, but if you have more good meals than bad, same thing with the with the sleep step. Hey, maybe tonight you were just tired, you were grumpy, you were in a fight, whatever with this ball, then you just went to bed. That what but there's gonna be the night that you do remember, hey, I'm going to bed, I'm thinking about where I want to go, I'm dreaming about that, and so you you put that in there. And if you get three good nights of for that week, seven or five good nights, or just one good night, you at least know that by doing that, it's going to help you. And I think of it this way, Napalia. I always say, if you don't know where you're going, and I like the analogy like the proverbial land of milk and honey, right? We've all heard of the proverbial land of milk and honey. If you don't know what your land of milk and honey is, don't complain when you arrive at the land of heartaches and headaches. And so often people are not happy, but they don't know where they want to go. And so you just you're just drifting at sea, not knowing that you're you're going wherever the wind blows you, and that's the difficult with so many people. They don't know where they want to go. And so you have to, as I always say, if you can't you can't dream about what you want to see happen with your eyes closed, how hard is it gonna be to make those dreams come true

P: Do Something Physical

SPEAKER_00 30:31

with your want your eyes wide open? So close your eyes, think about where it is you want to be in a week, a month, a year, five years. It can change and vary, you know. But I say for like like kids and students out there, hey, see yourself getting an A on that test, the teacher giving you this report card or this grade, or you know, getting the award, getting the diploma, getting getting the scholarship you want, whatever it is, you know, see yourself buying that new house, see yourself in front of that new car you want to grab, or on that Caribbean cruise, whatever it is, but you know, do you have a destination to help you? And as I like to always say, born leaders and and positive thinkers, the world isn't filled with them. They're learn skills. Are you going to learn the skills that's gonna help you become bigger, better, and bolder?

SPEAKER_01 31:21

That's that's such a great example of it because I have personally struggled to come out of these vicious cycles, so to say, and then go into this virtuous cycle of okay, even if it's a tiny, small little step forward, it is still progress and progress over perfection any single day. So I'm glad that you touched that point. Yeah, so in that context, we touched on the steps framework starting with S, which is sleep with your smile, T, which is think better today. Now, talking about E, which is eat right today, I know we talked about a few healthy meals in a day and then build on from there. But tell us about what's the biggest doc, what's the biggest misconception that people have about nutrition? And the action point here is how do we simplify eating right for busy people, say like a mom like me, or like a creative or person who's juggling two different careers. What's your simplified approach to eating right if life gets really busy, which we all know in reality it does all the time?

SPEAKER_00 32:21

Well, that's a tough one, but it it comes back down to you know, you are what you eat. You know, what do you feel in your body? You can't, you know, I I tell my kids, you know, I'm the older guy with younger kids, and they always squabble at me and my wife to say, you know, we have the worst food in the house. I go, no, we have some good food. Just that they say uh my friends tell us that we have the no, your friends have a lot of extra, extra, they have better junk food than we do, right? And so that's what it is, just the preference out there. And so you get to decide how you want to feed yourself. And and when it comes to nutrition, you know, don't make it, don't overcomplicate it. You know, I it's great to eat, and when I talk about the eat step, I'm not asking people, did you eat

S: Build Your Spiritual Muscles

SPEAKER_00 33:05

perfect or did you was it organic or was it grass-fed or whatever? But was it for the most part a better meal that's gonna be more positive for your for your physical health? If you have a bowl of ice cream, and I have those bowls of ice cream for a whole meal, right? That's my cheap meal. But when I have that, hey, I already had two good meals for the day, or I mean you're gonna have three good meals for the day. This is my one cheap thing. Am I doing more good than bad and everything? And that's just what it comes down to. Are you keeping a record? You can't hit uh, you know, that that journey of a thousand mile. It's one step at a time. Are you moving in the right direction? Unfortunately, for a lot of people, they just um they they they struggle with that. And and let me add if I want to add one other thing, the point that the value is that when we talked about, you know, we talked about the sleep aspect, and we kind of touched on the think part also. And I know we talked about, you know, how much how much do you gotta think this or that? I mean, think is just you know, are you thinking better thoughts today? You don't gotta think, remind yourself of bazillion time, but one thing I like to tell people is that when you wake up in the morning and your feet hit the ground, how long does it take you before you remind yourself that I feel good, I'm gonna have a great day, I'm healthy, I'm strong, whatever. Whatever phrase on it you want to use, do you wait till after you go to the bathroom? Do you wait after you get the shower, after you feed the kids, after you drive, after you get your workout, after you make breakfast, drive the kids to school by the time you get to the office? When are you going to remind yourself? Because there's so much static, there's so much distraction out there. And so when it comes to like thinking better, are you taking some steps to where, hey, I need to remind myself here and here and here? Unfortunately, for a lot of people, they they they forget about that. They let it go, they grab their phone first thing in the morning, they turn the radio on, they turn the TV on, distraction, distraction, distraction. You have to take a minute of quiet time and just remind yourself, you know, where it is I want to go, where what destination do I have for myself in life and everything? And that's the part that's that's hard for a lot of people because these stupid things that we carry in our pocket, these cell phones, as great as they are, they are wondrous, wondrous tools for us, but they can also be, you know, bad for you too.

SPEAKER_01 35:27

So we talked about smile and thinking better and then eating right. Now, talking about getting physical and spiritual, you know, building spiritual muscles. Let's get to BS.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

Okay. When it comes to physical, you know, it's real simple. Did you do anything physical today? Now, I'm not asking if it was a full workout, was it an aerobic or anaerobic workout? Was it high intensity or low intensity? Did you carve out some time in your day to do something physical? For a lot of people, physical could be hey, they walked to the corner, they walked to the street to go do the grocery shopping. They may have cut the grass today, they may have gone out and shot hoops with the kids, but did you do anything physical? So it doesn't have to be a full onslaught hour workout, which I don't get even get that myself. But you know, that's what physical is all about. And if you did do something, you know, straight in the peas.

SPEAKER_01 36:26

A little moment, right? And speaking of the spiritual muscles, what do you mean by that word? And is it like are you referring to faith, presence, gratitude, or maybe a competition of these, something really deep, and it could mean different things for different people.

SPEAKER_00 36:41

I'll say it this way, yes to all of that. And what I mean by this, when I when I was, you know, because I've in my spiritual walk, I've gone full circle, right? And so I know that, you know, coming from the health and fitness background, when I was like in my twenties, I would always find a way to get some kind of physical activity in, right? But I could always find a way not to get into reading the word, okay? Because I said, okay, I want to start reading, I want to just learn what this thing is saying. And so I could always find an

One Tiny Habit To Start Now

SPEAKER_00 37:10

excuse not to read. And then it finally hit me that or I go, Len, you know, you know, to be physically fit, you have to exercise, you know, three, four, five, six times a week, whatever it is. How can I be physically fit if I only work out my physical muscles once a week, twice, once a month, twice a year? And so that's what got me onto my into my spiritual journey, just knowing because just some of the headaches I was struggling with in my life in my 20s. And so I started reading, and then I, as I said, I could always find an excuse not to read. I was in my 20s again, but then I that got to the point, hey, again, this is back, you know, back in the 80s, hey, in my car, there's an AM station I can punch here, and I can hear somebody speaking, and he might be preaching out there. And you know, today we have our cell phone, so there's more than one way to work your spiritual muscles. You can attend service, of course, you can read the good book, of course, but you can also you can listen to music, you can listen to podcasts, so there's more than one way to sit there and and wait once a week, once once a month, twice a year to work those spiritual muscles. And my belief is that if, like my dad would say, hey, if you you need those muscles, if you get a flat tire to help, you know, you know, get that car, get that car jacked up. Well, when the various struggles in life come our way, you may need the strength of those mental muscles, you may need the strength of those spiritual muscles. Have you ever worked them? Now, if you got you know 10-inch biceps, it may not help you pick that tire up and and change that flat tire. The same way, you know, when those struggles happen then in our life and they're always out there, whether to be health, financial, personal, sometimes that those spiritual, those spiritual strengths could be what's going to help you navigate through that.

SPEAKER_01 39:04

And I at some point in our lives, I'm sure all of us do realize this. And it could be different timing for different people, and different things happen that help us go down this path or journey and really uncover what is the messaging behind it. So thanks for covering that, and thanks for beautifully explaining your five-step framework. For everyone listening quickly, it's sleep with this mind. So I love how this isn't about perfection, but really about attention. So for people who struggle with consistency, sometimes that person is also me. What's the ones that you they should start with? Like one teeny tiny habit change that you suggest that people can take away after they listen to this episode. What's that one thing?

SPEAKER_00 39:52

Well, kinda like the journey, the first step you know, uh the journey of a thousand mile begins with that first step. And the first step is hey, you know, either you know grab the app download the app or you know which is a which is free but you know just start doing it just to you know take it for you don't have to share with anybody right you can do it all yourself in your in in your own personal thing you don't gotta sit there and share with three other people you can if you want to I don't know if that's better or not but you know are you doing the things that are gonna help make you healthy wealthy and wise bigger better bolder or are you gonna continue doing what you've been doing that has gotten you where you are right now if you're stuck in that vicious cycle if you're hoping to get the magic genie to get you out of there good luck but if you're not if you realize that it's gonna take more than that and you're past 18 years of age knowing that hey I'm an adult I have to take action I can't depend on somebody else to fix my situation you have to start taking accountability for yourself and five steps is just an accountability journal are you doing the things you need to be doing to help you know it's not rocket science it's accountability and feedback and and that's really right what's great about it is that you can quickly look in less than two minutes you can track your steps for the day by the end of the week you can really see hey I'm doing stuff hey I'm I'm taking I took 20 steps this week last week I only took seven hey and who to say in in 21 days in 90 days whatever everybody's habits and attitudes are different but you'll start feeling that difference for yourself and it's hopefully it's moving you in the right direction yeah yeah and I love that step is really an accountability framework it's it's not rocket science it it's your science based science back method to you know keep yourself accountable and and move forward and get better every single day.

SPEAKER_01 41:46

Now I know you've worked with thousands of people in your career

What Really Blocks Change

SPEAKER_01 41:49

spanning many many decades in your experience what really stops people from changing is it the fear is it knowledge is it identity is it comfort what's it about I think it's it's a combination of all that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 42:03

You know it there's always what's gonna motivate somebody to finally move and everything and for some people it's desperation right others it's because I'm tired of being laughs or I'm tired of where I'm at and everything you know when you hear about people that are that are whether they're they're alcoholics or they're chain smokers or they're they're they're they're not what's the word I'm looking for you know everybody has different things that are that are demons like on them. When are you going to finally take account for yourself and and that's it is that's why it's called accountability it's not rocket science are you doing the things that's gonna help you you know like sports I always think of it this way if you walk out to the onto the ball field onto the court onto the mat and if you don't think that you're gonna beat the guy across the across the mat across the table across the court there's a good chance you're not and so when you wake up every day do you are you reminding yourself it's gonna be a great day I feel great I'm gonna do some of the things that's gonna help me get to where I want or do you just have that you got that little guy on your shoulder there's two of them right one on each side as the cartoon could always say are you gonna listen to more to the one that's telling you always you can't do it you're no good you're a failure yada yada yada or are you gonna sit there and start taking action because you you know as I said we've known this for thousands of years you know from from Buddha scripture uh Hindu teaching you know we've all learned you know you we are what we think we are what we eat question is what are you eating what are you thinking what are you filling your body what are you filling your mind what are you filling your spirit with beautiful thank you thank you so much Dr.

SPEAKER_01 43:43

Len for reminding us that these small steps these small teeny tiny actions can still be sacred steps towards our growth evolution progress and just you know healing journey now I'm gonna close this with you know just by saying that healing doesn't always feel like five or sometimes it looks like five quiet check marks about sleeping right thinking right eating right moving right and building your spiritual muscles for everyone listening today don't just finish this episode but before you close this ask yourself which step needs my attention today and this is the Southwell podcast with the party where we grow not really only in theory and also in practice in execution. Thank you so much Dr. Len once again for sharing your wisdom and you know the very famous five steps framework it is clearly a science bagged accountability driven framework so thanks so much for explaining that to us and tell us about where can our listeners can find you like uh what's your website if they want to connect with you are you available on any of the social platforms if they want to have you as a guest on this show.

SPEAKER_00 44:49

Absolutely thank you so much for that five steps a day you can find it on on the Google our our um our the Apple um stores you can download it it's free to download you can also find me at drlennlopez.com five steps a day uh we're on Instagram YouTube uh twitter uh they still call it Twitter um I think we're everybody yeah we're we're we're trying to get everywhere I'm not really good at all that stuff I'm too I'm a much better in-person uh communicator I've learned these new skills I'm I'm having to learn these new technological skills get the story out there but again thank you so much Tapalia hopefully it's helpful for you and your audiences out there and uh if you ever want

Second Opinions And Self-Trust

SPEAKER_00 45:31

to chat more uh get on health and stuff I'll be more than happy to share some of that stuff as well wow great yeah I was just thinking about it maybe we could do I know you like spend a lot of time in just the nutrition space so maybe we could you know have a separate episode just talking about basics of nutrition because in all honesty the internet is flooded with all the information and advices and sometimes doc it's really difficult to perceive it the right way because it can be misleading and you know you're being overwhelmed and overburdened with the plethora of choices and options.

SPEAKER_01 46:03

Okay someone's saying conventional dairy is bad but on the other hand we have another relo post saying okay but dairy is a good source of protein for a lot of vegetarians so now I struggle with that because I do want to live my life that way and I'm like okay but there are two conflicting pieces of advice which one do I follow? So maybe we could do a deep dive on one of the episodes I know you're smiling because you know the reality of it.

SPEAKER_00 46:27

Let me let me share let me share one thing with you. I I I say this because I do a lot of second opinions also right and one thing I tell somebody is that you know doctors are no different than plumbers mechanics and electricians okay comes to your house electrician mechanic and everything he gives you a bill and tells you this is how much it's gonna cost you may scratch your head and say I need a second opinion because that's a lot. Unfortunately when it comes to medical stuff doctor stuff whatever they first hear they think that the doctor is is is gospel and you know they are just as motivated as the mechanic the plumber the electrician to kind of not I'm not I'm I'm unless I'm gonna tread lightly here to write it in a certain way that makes sure that you're gonna use their service as opposed to I mean I can't tell you it's like one of the biggest things I'll see somebody say hey doc it says you know I have a bulging disc you know I go yeah and the doc and the doctor wants to do surgery go yeah but the bulging disc it's it's not the nerve is not hitting anything the bulging disc is like the tree that falls in the wood. We know it makes a sound but is anybody there to hear it half the adult population has have bulging discs but it's not hitting a nerve and so there should be some other clinical symptoms you should see besides just pain. So sometimes there's a not the not to beat up doctors I'm gonna I'm in that category but yeah everybody doctors know are no different than plumbers electrician mechanic or the lady down the street in the sh in the in the in the store when you walk in there to buy some shoes she's gonna try to sell you shoes socks a hat a scarf a cap because she's trying to get more money out of you it works the same way for doctors they are not more collier than thou like to think they are but unfortunately they're not they just have you know greater spending habits pro possibly uh and and so they you may say yeah we need to do this we need to do that and you may but but then again you may not depending on you know who's you know remember it takes only a 70 to pass the test to to get your final license and everything.

SPEAKER_01 48:34

Yeah that's such a uh great analogy that you gave and I like I love your honesty when you said you know doctors are no different from plumbers or you know some other profession. I mean we do look up to them and doctors do change and save our lives but it's always the second opinion that matters and your own wisdom and personal God given intuition that should take some space in your life than this one person thing or you know group of specialists think about the situation. I mean it's can it cannot be substituted for medical advice but what I'm trying to say here is our own God given intuition and gut feeling is also very important to be taken into account. Thanks once again for joining us today and for anyone listening if you found this useful helpful please feel free to share it with a friend that you think may benefit from it or your family member.

Closing Reflections And Where To Find Doc

SPEAKER_01 49:18

Until next time maybe just maybe tonight sleep with this mind. Thanks so much and have a good time.

SPEAKER_00 49:23

Bye bye to buy