I'm excited to be joined by Danny Miranda. A writer, creator and fellow podcaster, he hosts The Danny Miranda Podcast. We talk about even coming from a childhood with good parents and grandparents he has struggled with depression and self-worth. We can face those challenges even from the best of situations, but he worked on himself to discover courage and confidence.

Danny began an exercise of writing "I love myself" one hundred times each day. After only eight days into this practice, he had Gary Vaynerchuck share one of his stories on Instagram. More importantly, he became less concerned with rejection, felt less tied to other people's perspectives of him and was overall happier in his life. Sometimes as we hear these stories we'll say, but I could never believe it when I say I love myself. Join us to see how Danny first felt as be started this habit.

Connect with Danny Miranda

Website:

https://dannymiranda.com/

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@heydannymiranda

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/heydannymiranda/

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannymiranda/

Connect with Mike Forrester

https://linktr.ee/hicoachmike

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You know, revived getting energy because it's like, we're not alone in this and we do need that input. So Danny for me has been an encouragement and he continues to fuel me. So I'm totally excited to introduce you to Danny Miranda, Danny, how are you doing today? My friend,

I'm doing wonderful. I appreciate that.

Very nice introduction. I'm really honored and thrilled for all your incredible comments on the Tik TOK and Instagram and everywhere. I really appreciate it. That's

So it's, it's just awesome. The stuff that it's like, you're putting out there with a message of positivity, because there's so much that comes at us. That's not that stuff is, is so vital and crucial just to keep us. Grounded right. With a healthy perspective instead of spiraling out of control. So I appreciate you putting that stuff out there.

My friend. Thank you. Um, can we start with where you are personally on the business side of life? What does that look like for you right now?

The business side is something I'm trying to figure out. The business side is I've currently been making money from NFTs and have done that for the past. I would say now almost 12 months, really nine months I've been making money from NFTs.

And, um, I'm looking at the best way to do that right now, but, uh, there's no way I currently do that. So how

do you, cause there's a lot. People when they're unsure of their future, you know, you take on a lot and you just kind of almost lose your identity in the midst of it. Where are you keeping grounded in that and going, Hey, I'm okay.

Without having to know where my north star is and maybe something else is your north star, how are you keeping. You know your feet on solid ground and keeping an upbeat, you know, perspective on stuff.

I think that's a really good question because there was a time when my feet weren't on the ground when I didn't have a good perspective.

Um, and so this was probably like four months ago, like I was in a real bad funk. And so I think I'm at this place right now of, of being okay and being grounded and not knowing because I went through that period of, of real turbulence and, and just a real rut for sure.

Now that would be unsettling for a lot of people.

1000%.

Yeah. I mean, I think how it works, how we think it works is it's, I'm going to do these things. I'm going to solve everything I need. I'm going to do the habits that are right for me. And I'm going to be in a completely better. And that is actually true, but then what might not be true that we don't see initially is that we'll go back down and inevitably life will throw us this curve ball.

We'll have everything figured out. You'll love yourself fully. And then you won't. And at least this was the case for mayor has been the case where it's been a period of going up and then going down a little bit and then going back up and it's like, now my highest peak is higher than it was. Previously where my previous highest peak was, but in order to get there, I needed to go down a little bit.

It's not a rocket that just goes up when it's launched.

And the crazy thing is on social media, you could. That somebody is a rocket and they have it all figured out and you could look up.

That's my guy, that's my guru. That's the person I'm going to listen to. That's the person that struggles and that you don't often put out those struggles or you don't know the best way to contextualize those struggles. And so that's why I'm so grateful for podcasts because they allow me to say, yeah, I was doing really not well for a month in December.

Not that long ago, after I had solved quote unquote solved all the issues that I was going through, like I still found them and to know that that's okay. And that's part of the process. Uh, has been very pivotable, pivotal and important for me. And

I think it's almost a mirror of like going to the gym.

You know, um, you know, gets a flex in the mirror the same way. So. Are you S did you experience it that same way or is it different for you or what? Yeah,

I definitely experienced it that way. And it's really, it's so pivotal for me personally, to know more about the habits that I'm going through and because I've had and change some of my habits completely in my own.

And so knowing that how can I make it easier for myself to do the right habits in the future and how can I help other people along that journey too? And that's really what I'm studying now. And that's what I'm like really pushes me out of bed and gets me so excited. It's like, I don't know everything about habits and I've read James clear Tamika.

I'm reading BJ, Fogg, tiny habits right now. I want to know everything there is to know about habits so I can teach it to the best of my abilities, because I know that habits have been the reason why I've transformed as a person. So, yeah, that's the kind of the journey I'm on now.

That's amazing. Well, let's jump back a bit.

The personal side has never been better. I'm currently just feeling so whole inside. So, um, like I have everything I need for every moment type of feeling and knowing, and it's just a beautiful place to operate from.

I love myself and that's, it's such a incredible feeling.

How did you get to that place of saying I love.

And.

And so what we did was we said, okay, we're going to write, I love myself a hundred times every day. And I said, okay, like, if you're going to do it, I'm going to do it too. And we're going to text each other at the end of every day. And now I got this notebook full of just nonstop. I love myself. I love myself a hundred times.

It's just the most beautiful practice because you might not believe it on day one, but on day 21, you're going to be in a whole different place personally. And when you make mistakes, you're going to be more likely to jump back real quick and be able to say, you know what, like that's okay that I made that mistake and you're going to be more loving, more open, more kind at least that this has been my experience at least.

you're writing this a hundred times a day. You've done affirmations before, right? Yeah. How, how, how have you seen, like, writing it impact you versus like saying affirmations on a daily basis? Is there been a difference or are they coming out the same?

Yeah, I don't know. I don't think there's been much of a difference. I think it's just the consistent practice of it. Uh, And when I say it, when I used to say it to myself, it wasn't like I had it a specific number that I had to hit. Um, so just having the numbers helpful for me, but I think it's, it's just getting in the routine of, of constantly saying it has been really helpful for me.

Yeah, that's a really good question.

I would say it depends. Um, there were moments when I didn't believe it or didn't think it was true, but because I had made this commitment to a friend, it wasn't like I was not going to write it down. And what was, what's nice about writing it down is you don't need to believe it to write it down in the beginning, but by the end, you're going to start to believe it.

And not to say that every thought that I have is perfectly calibrated. I know exactly what I'm going to think, but it's like becoming more conscious of. Has started because of the, uh, I love myself practice and it's almost like a meditation, you know, you, you write it so many times and you get lost in, in thinking and just lost in that.

And you see where your mind drifts it's, it's such a simple thing, but I really think it's the most important thing that I've ever done in doing the, I love myself practicing the, the original book. Love yourself. Like your life depends on it by Kumar that was so impactful to me. So. Yeah, this is the practice that really makes me feel whole, really puts me at my personal

best.

Yeah, it's going, it's like a gateway practice. It sounds like gets you in on the other, other practices that you do.

Do you have anything like that? Any practices that are so pivotal to your core, to your. Yeah,

Um, the other one is like, I've started doing a Wim Hof breathing. Yeah. The F I knew I wasn't breathing in the same way that I had before, but the fact that my breathing had changed so much came, like I discovered it at that point where it was like, dude, this is not right. I really need to work on that. So, you know, like I have a whole routine that goes across, you know, a couple hours and it's just.

You know, that's a season that's available now. It won't be there always. And so. Capturing that opportunity and, uh, you know, having to fight at the gym to like say, yeah, I can keep up with you. You know, there's always that, that young Cubs thing, but, uh, yeah. And then going from there, coming home, doing some reading, you know, I want to S I, I choose to do those things to set myself in the best place, because otherwise it's like two hours later and it's like, okay, I've watched tick-tock and you know, we're Instagram reels.

important out. Yeah.

So, and, and don't get me wrong, dude.

There are days where I will take a sidestep and I don't perform my morning routine the way I should. But I will catch myself later and it may be like, Hey, I'm going to lunch. I'm going to the gym, you know, or six o'clock at night after I'm done working, you know, go to the gym, but it's like, okay, you know?

Yeah. You stumbled on this. Pick yourself up. Just like you talked about, you know, in December, the thing is not, are you perfect in how you carry out, but are you seeing it. You know, cognizant and then recovering from it. So yeah, that's for me, is that go

ahead. Yeah. Yeah. Something that helps me a lot. Is that the question of what can I do about it in this moment?

But when we ground ourselves, when I ground myself with the question of what can I do about it in this moment? It, it just gives me some level of freedom to just be here now.

Absolutely agree. Well, let's jump back. I mean, we're, we're kind of tend to do that. No, I'll do I love this because it's like the application of stuff is what equips us to make the change.

You know, if, if I didn't start embracing the change and following the habits, you know, and stepping through them each day, I wouldn't have changed and I would still be at the point where it's like, I have a marriage that's on the rocks and I have children. That don't trust me because I wasn't trustworthy.

I don't know exactly where I'm going to, you know, but you still have this routine. That's like your foundation, you know, it's, it's the core of who you are. It's not, it's not like a diet, it's your lifestyle, if that makes sense. So let's, let's, uh, step back in time a little bit and kind of talk about how did you.

I'm not sure. I'm not sure it showed up in the youth, uh, that much. I think I had a really good childhood and. You know, which is rare for somebody who, uh, just was dealing with depression and lack of self-worth. I think maybe it's not, but, um, no, I had a really good childhood, really great parents, really great grandparents.

I was less insecured to go up to random people and talk to them. I was now secure and knowing that I was providing and presenting the best me in every moment. And so, yeah, I don't know if there were signs in my childhood of any of the issues that I was going to deal with, but until I learned that one pivotal step of looking inward, I wasn't whole inside, if that makes sense.

Absolutely.

Yeah. So how did meditation. Transform you then to give you that, that sense of worth and wholeness. Cause I mean, some people may look at it and go, Danny, you're sitting quietly for a period of time. Like, dude, come on and it doesn't add up. Can you connect the dots and, and help me understand like how that transforms

you?

But I realized that the only thing that was going on was my own voice in my head. So that was a big moment of wait, if it's all in my head, then. I'm the one that needs to be loved. I need to love myself. I need to care about my own perspectives. What do I truly feel I doing at any given moment? How do I show up for my.

But at the end of the day, It's you, it's you and you, and if you can come from that place, then it allows you to start helping others, because how can I show up for others if I'm just thinking about, oh, what is this person gonna think? Um, and how does, like, so off, it's really funny. Sometimes we try to help other people.

Thinking about what we think they're going to want, but we're not actually listening or caring about like what they actually want. And so I think that all starts with meditate. For me, that all started with meditation, that all starts with listening to myself and, you know, it's a practice. It's like, if you don't, if I don't do it for a month, like I find myself in a rut.

So with you, like traveling, does, does the way you perform meditation change? Like, do you have to adjust when you're on the road or.

Like, is it? Nope. I'm wherever I am there I am. And I'm good.

Yeah. Uh, that's a good question. I think sometimes when we travel our habits and routines get lost because we don't have the same prompts and cues that we once did. And so I think it's really important to give yourself some space or to acknowledge when you are traveling and to.

First day, I got to a new location. I didn't take it out. So I didn't have the prompt. I didn't meditate. I said, why don't I meditate? Oh, I didn't ha I didn't take that out. I didn't have the prompt that I normally have when you could see the timer. So that's a really valuable tool I use, you know, a lot of people are like, I can't meditate.

I don't, I don't have the ability to make. But my, my question to that is, do you have a prompt to meditate? Do you have a something that's pushing that when you see every day that leads you to meditate? For example, someone's prompt could be brushing their teeth in the morning, or someone's prompt could be two feet hitting the floor.

One thing. Really intrigues me. You're a high, high energy, you know, individual man. That's like, yep. It's hammy with caffeine. You know, there it goes, Danny. Uh, we could, we could light up LA just with you.

How,

how do you calm down? Because a lot of people think, no, I just, I need to be chill, you know, in order to meditate, how do you take that energy and change?

So that you can be calm and at peace.

The energy is like the thoughts. And it's funny, you calling me high energy because two months ago it was not high energy at all. The energy is a result of being in alignment with my purpose. And so, um, How I, how I meditate with all the energy is you have, I have a lot of thoughts in the beginning of the meditation.

My mind is going crazy. Do this, do that. I find some level of peace or stillness, and then my mind goes crazy. And it just like, it's how it works. Um, for me, at least at this current stage or iteration, I've only been meditating for three years. I'm no expert and nowhere close to, to like a monk or anything like that.

Absolutely.

You said one thing there about being aligned with your purpose and how can you be aligned with your purpose and. You know, most of us expect, I have to know where I'm going to know my purpose. How, how are you aligned? Like, what's the difference there because you're aligned with your purpose. I mean, you're energetic, I'm seeing you, Danny.

How are you? How are you taking the two that are not in sync right now and still going? This is my purpose. I'm living it

out. Yeah. Great question. So I think I have the. And I have the day to day. What I don't have right now in this moment is the middle part of it. And what I, when I say I have the end is, you know, One of the periods where I was meditating 60 minutes a day, and really just spending a lot of time alone was during COVID.

That's what I, it was like a flash of lightning, one of the few times where it just hit me and I was like, wow, like that would be a life. Well lived for me personally. And so I know I'm doing. In these moments by putting out content, by recording the podcast. I know I'm doing that on a personal level with what I'm doing in my personal life.

Right. But it's like, I don't know in this moment. And that's okay because I'm living out what I want on my gravestone. And I'm doing that today. And the rest will take care of itself from my perspective.

And that is a great insight there. You've differentiated. The purpose is not necessarily identity. It's not like, you know, you can still have your purpose and there's, there's plenty of people that are been laid off or can't, you know, have been able to find a job yet.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I knew. I was making money with my NFT job and I was doing great. But on the outside that was external internal, I wasn't hole. Why wasn't I hole? Because it was that job wasn't making the world happier, healthier, wiser. Right. And I wasn't, I didn't connect that until literally just this moment.

Right. Like I knew it wasn't in alignment with me that job, but I didn't realize exactly what. Exactly why is because it, it didn't fit what I want on my gravestone. So thank you. Awesome.

Um, so as you've been going along this journey and like honing in on your purpose, who Danny is, what, what habits work for you?

So resources be in books, podcasts. Yeah. Um, I would say chips,

community.

I mean, like whatever you've plugged into and said, Hey, this, this is helping me get to, you know, in alignment that would be like,

Yeah, cool. I didn't think of resources like community at first, but that makes a lot of sense. I mean, one thing is that I have this friend, his name is Tash dosa, who I've never met in person, but I consider a very, very good friend.

And that transformed me. And then, you know, he helped me with starting meditation around the same time. And, you know, he has been an incredible resource for me to turn to at every turn of this journey, that's been really, really helped. Um, but you know, other than my friend Tez, I would say just having a community of people on Twitter, who I can connect with, and it keeps me really accountable.

Like I love taking walks. Uh, my family is another so, and like I could go on and on about the books that I've read, you could go to, uh, Danny miranda.com/notes. If you want to check those out, like the resources upon resources. That's probably like, I don't know, 1% of the books that I've enjoyed or the resource I've enjoyed, but yeah, that's a little bit about the things that have helped me along this journey to more purpose.

Cool. All right. This is a question for me because I've heard you talk about. Yep. This was Danny 2.0, and you sit down and then your parents came to you. I want to say it was like six months later. Like you had written it down. They had no visibility to it and they called you Danny 2.0, um, now what, what is Danny?

Two point. Oh, like how do you define it?

So, yeah, that's who Danny 2.0 is. And, uh, it's a journey to get to that place and every day, and it's just, uh, people notice it along the journey. If you work at it long enough, if you read it long enough, if you act it and live in it, like. Yeah,

and to me, it's just total proof that it's like, we are not stuck with who we are today.

Another case in point where it's like, wherever you're at, whatever you're going through, it's a season you can change. It's not going to be overnight, but the work is. It pays dividends beyond what you can imagine. Would

you agree? Yeah. And what I kind of realized from this process of loving myself is like the work of loving myself is really what it's all about.

Yeah. And correct me if I'm, if I'm wrong, but when we change and we love ourselves, the relationships around us change it, it creates like such a space of freedom and almost gives people permission to step out into who.

They can be. Do you, do you see that as well?

It's crazy. How, when you change the internal, the external starts to change as well. You like, I mean, it's so wild that eight days into writing, I love myself a hundred times, eight days into it. Gary Vaynerchuk shares one of my Instagram stories that's like about him, but it's just like, W why did that happen?

Less scared of the rejection. So you're more willing to put yourself out there which leads to more positive outcomes because you don't care what happens one way or the other. And so it's very practical to love yourself. Eventually you start to really, truly believe it. And then the rest of the world believes it too, and reflects it back to you.

And it's a beautiful thing.

sure. It's HeyDannyMiranda on everything. Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube.

It's just search standing random, but I really appreciate you having me on it's been a real pleasure. Um, you're really good at asking thoughtful questions that have made me think and reflect back on my journey. So I'm really grateful for that and really honored to have spent this time with you.

Thank you, my friend.

I really appreciate it. It's been an honor and. I'm looking forward to seeing more of Danny Miranda's postings. So thank you, my friend.