Questions (IQ): One Simple Insight to Set Yourself Up for Success in Healing and Life (IQ. 190)

Welcome to Heal Yourself, Change Your Life. My name is Brandy Gillmore, and after recovering from my own life-changing injury, it’s become my mission to share with others the same discoveries I made that changed my health and my entire life. Our minds are truly incredible. The placebo is proof of this.

Each week I will take this simple awareness to a whole new level. I will even coach live callers to free themselves of physical pain using only their mind. And then I’ll provide you with a combination of practical and spiritual insights that you can use to master your mind and body, your emotions, and your energy to help you heal your health, yourself, and your life.

Let’s begin.

Setting Yourself Up for Success

Hello and welcome to today’s quick IQ episode where we talk about insights and questions. And on today’s quick IQ episode, I want to share with you one simple thing that you could do to help motivate yourself and set yourself up for success—for healing, for transformation, for your mindset, and for having an incredible year.

You know, setting yourself up for success is so important. And all too often, I see people who are wanting the best in life, who are wanting to be happy, healthy, and change their lives. And yet they’re not really setting themselves up for success in doing so. And of course, habits are crucial.

How You Start Your Morning Matters

And so one specific thing that you could do is change the way that you wake up in the morning and how you feel. And there’s a simple way to do this. So I’m going to unpack this, but imagine for a moment if you woke up every morning feeling excited about the day, feeling happy or excited to start the day. If you really felt that, what would that look like for your life, your year, your health, your relationships, your love, your connection, your ambition, and just the way you feel about life?

I mean, that would be pivotal, right?

Now, there are simple things that you could do to help set your life up that way. And this is what I did during my own injury—exactly this. I figured out ways to just make myself feel this way, even though I had been going through such a hard time.

You know, if you know my story, I was wheelchair, walker, cane, an absolute mess. I would wake up, and the first thing—like if I slept at all—you know, then I had all of this pain shooting through my body, and I didn’t get enough sleep. I mean, that was my life. But I had to change it.

Programming Your Morning with Positive Emotions

And so, no matter where you are—if you feel like your life is already great but you just want to take it to the next level, or you feel like you’re in a really bad place and you want to lift yourself—no matter where, this can work for you. What you could do is set yourself up to wake up to something that immediately jogs your emotions and your memories in a positive way.

Now, even to this day, by the way, I do this in my own life. And one simple thing that I have set up is, I have a picture of city lights, like an overlook of the city. And I can see that first thing when I wake up.

Now, this might sound silly, but let me tell you, there are emotions that I have connected to it. A few really profound things for me are connected to this picture. And one is this: as I was going through my injury, I had this feeling of just really wanting to be part of life again and wanting to feel the feeling of connection with life.

Creating a Personal Emotional Anchor

I would literally drive up this hill that overlooked the city lights. And I remember thinking, “I just want to be a part of life again.” And so it was this feeling for me of life. And when I see that picture, I just feel this feeling of love towards life.

Another thing is this: when I have this feeling of wanting to make a bigger difference—of wanting to help more and more people wake up to the awareness that we can heal ourselves, we can have a great life, and we can create change—it motivates me. When I see that picture of the city lights, it makes me think of reaching more people, connecting with more people, more love, healing, and happiness for our world.

The Power of Simple Reminders

And so, that simple city light picture has so much emotion for me in it. And because that’s what’s really been established, felt, and programmed in, that’s what it means to me. Now, by the way, during my injury, I mentioned that I would drive up to look at this overlook and feel this feeling of wanting to be part of life.

At that stage, I was not in a good place. And let me paint the picture a bit more, and please, don’t ever do this. I’m going to share something, but don’t ever do this. During my injury, I was on 24-hour morphine. I would wait until my morphine had worn off enough to be “off” technically. There was this gap at like three o’clock in the morning when nobody was out on the road.

I had a four-post cane—a cane with four different posts, if you’ve ever seen that. It stands up by itself. This was before Uber, Lyft, or Waymo. So, at three o’clock in the morning, when I was technically off medication, I would get in my car. I used the four-post cane, using two posts for the gas and two for the brake, shifting it back and forth. I lived right next to the freeway, so I would get on the freeway when nobody was out.

A Desperate Drive to Reconnect with Life

I was in this area on the edge of town, outside of Sacramento. I would use cruise control to get up the hill, and then I’d look at the city lights. I would just feel this deep desire to be part of life again. That feeling—”I just want to be a part of life”—was so profound.

Fast forward to today, I’m healed, and those city lights still mean so much to me. Even though it may seem simple, when I wake up in the morning and see this picture of city lights, it reminds me of feeling part of life, the excitement of life, gratitude for being part of it, and making a bigger difference. It’s about more people getting to experience healing and love.

When I see it, I wake up and feel alive. It’s so programmed into me. It’s always that feeling and reminder.

Finding Your Own Morning Motivation

If you think about your life, is there one simple thing that you could do? Maybe it’s a wedding picture that reminds you to be your best self or to focus on your dreams. Or maybe it’s a picture of a house you’re wanting, or your kids graduating college. Something that motivates you.

Sometimes people ask, “What about an entire vision board?” I usually recommend against it because a vision board can sometimes feel like a long to-do list. Instead, just focus on one thing.

It doesn’t have to be a picture; it could be a song. You could wake up and play a song that gives you positive emotions. During my injury, I used to wake up and play “It’s a Beautiful Day” by U2. I’d press play and sing, “It’s a beautiful day, don’t let it slip away.”

Building Daily Emotional Momentum

So, yes, it might seem simple, but think about the emotions behind it. When you program yourself to wake up feeling alive and excited about life, and you repeat that every day, it builds momentum. Imagine if every day in 2025, you woke up feeling alive, excited, and connected to life.

It impacts everything. You start to feel better and better. You show up more alive in your relationships, which then flourish. You feel happier. It sets the tone for your life.

The Simple Insight for Today

That’s the insight I want to share with you today: Set yourself up for success. When you first open your eyes in the morning, make sure there’s something—whether it’s a song, a picture, or something else—that reminds you of love, ambition, or gratitude. Something that gives you that feeling of being alive.

This is what I’ve seen in my own life and in past episodes where I’ve worked with people to change their mindset. They’ve healed themselves from physical pain, ailments, and even autoimmune conditions.

The Power of Our Minds

Remember, the power of our minds to change our lives and heal our bodies is truly incredible. I’ve seen people turn their lives around—back-to-back—proven under medical equipment. It’s about remembering just how amazing you are.

So, please, hit the share button on this episode. Share it with someone you care about, or even someone you don’t know. The more people who are happy, healthy, and loved, the better the world is for all of us.

Please have the most wonderful, incredible day, and I look forward to connecting with you on the next episode. We’ll see you there.