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Good morning, and welcome to Morning Cereal!
Pull up a stool, grab your favorite cereal, and let’s kick-start your day with a spoonful of inspiration, nostalgia and personal growth. Join your host, Shaen Inglis, as he highlights the music, movies, and moments that made the 80s, 90s, and 2000s unforgettable—kind of like digging for toy at the bottom of the cereal box. Each episode, Shaen also reviews a chapter or so from top wellness books, offering practical insights to help you set a positive tone for your day. Start your mornings right—no cartoons required!
Follow and subscribe to the Morning Cereal podcast and visit our Life Happens, Live Balanced channel and our website at shaeninglis.com to check out and follow our other podcasts. You can also follow Shaen @ShaenInglis on Instagram, YouTube, etc. Feel free to share the Morning Cereal with someone who could use a little fun and motivation to start their day right.
Good morning and
welcome to Morning Cereal.
Okay, good morning and
welcome to Wednesday.
Here is a fact for you.
Next week this time
it'll be Christmas Eve.
So I hope you have your stockings hung
and your cookies made.
We're almost there.
Let's focus on getting the right hump day
mindset with a quote from boxing legend
Manny Pacquiao who said, "Life is meant
to be a challenge
because challenges are what
make you grow."
So going through the tough stuff isn't
proof that you're failing.
It's the gym membership
for building your character.
If today feels like a heavyweight round,
but remember you're in training.
You're not in trouble.
All right, here are your four moments
that matter for December 17th.
For a historic moment, we're
going to start back in 1903.
That's when on this day, the Wright
brothers are probably a
pretty cold December day.
Well, the Wright brothers, they achieved
the first sustained
airplane flight in Kitty Hawk,
North Carolina, changing travel and the
entire shape of the modern world.
Okay, today's special day is one of Buddy
the Elf's favorites.
It's National Maple Syrup Day.
Yes, buddy, the good
stuff, it does have sugar in it.
Well, the number one song on this date
back in 1986 was "The
Way It Is" by Bruce Hornsby
and The Range.
This is a piano driven hit that blended
pop hooks with social
commentary and it later
became one of the most sampled melodies
in hip hop, including
one of my favorites, Tupac.
All right, well, happy birthday to you.
Today is your birthday.
You share a birthday with boxing legend,
You share a birthday with boxing legend,
senator and multi-division world
champion, Manny Pacquiao.
He's 47 today.
Emmy winning actor known for American
Horror Story and The
People vs. OJ Simpson, Sarah
Paulson.
She's 51 today.
And actor and model famous for her roles
in the Fifth Element and
the Resident Evil films,
Miele Djokovic.
She's 50 today.
And finally, the hilarious actor and he
definitely has the best
eyebrows in Hollywood, Eugene
Levy.
He is 79 today.
All right.
Well, today in Mel Robbins, The Let Them
Theory, we are looking at
the habit of going first
and it's a section that might quietly
change how you approach every
relationship in your
life.
Kind of a big deal.
Well, Mel Robbins explains that most of
us secretly wait for
everyone else to make the
first move, to text first, to invite us
or to follow up, to
apologize, to include us,
right?
We interpret the silence as
proof that we're not wanted.
Mel's answer is simple,
but it's also uncomfortable.
You have to go first.
Mel says, "Be the one who
says hi to people around you.
It makes all the difference."
And Mel ties this idea to the three
pillars of friendship,
proximity, timing, and energy.
And she points out that as adults, those
pillars are constantly shifting.
Again, your friends are moving.
They're changing jobs.
They're getting into relationships or
having kids, or maybe
they're just in a burnout section
of their life.
But if you sit back and you expect
friendships to just happen
the way they did in school,
you're going to feel
left out all the time.
Instead of labeling people as rude or
yourself as unlovable,
Mel challenges you to become
the one who creates
connection and purpose.
In one passage, she writes
about adapting a, "Let me mindset.
Let me be the one who says hello.
Let me send the text.
Let me make the plan."
That doesn't mean chasing people who
clearly don't want to invest.
It means aligning your actions with what
you say you value,
community, kindness, belonging,
right?
Rather than waiting for the
whole world to read your mind.
Now, Robbins is honest that
this can feel awkward at first.
It can feel risky to go first when you've
been hurt or ignored before.
But she reminds you that competence is a
byproduct of action.
It's not a prerequisite.
Every time you initiate, you're not just
opening the door to friendship.
You're also proving to yourself that you
can handle a no, a
reschedule, or silence without
falling apart.
And she also weaves
in the let them piece.
If you go first and someone doesn't step
towards you, well, let them.
Don't spiral.
Don't chase.
Don't build a whole story about your
worth around one unanswered message.
Your job is to steward your effort.
Your goal is to
decide whether to respond.
And by practicing the habit of going
first, you stop treating
yourself like a background
character in other people's lives.
And you start acting like an active
participant in your own.
Mel gives four pointers in this section.
The first one is
compliment people wherever you go.
Number two is to be
curious about other people.
Number three, smile and say hello to
anyone and everyone you pass or you meet.
And finally, she says,
do this without exception.
Be warm to people.
Quote, the warmth you give to others
always finds its way back to you.
Okay, here is your hump day takeaway.
When in doubt, go first.
Extend that invitation.
Start that conversation and let the right
people reveal
themselves by how they respond
to you.
So as you move through this Wednesday,
maybe drizzle a little
extra maple syrup on your
spaghetti.
Borrow some courage from the Wright
brothers and Manny
Pacquiao for that matter and take
that one small, brave
first step to text someone.
Wave first or just say hi in the hallway.
It might be the beginning of a friendship
you'll be grateful for years from now.
Hey, thanks for hanging out with us here
on Morning Serial today.
We will see you back here tomorrow.
And until then, have a fantastic day.
Don't forget to follow and subscribe to
the Morning Serial
podcast on the One Life Live
It channel.
You can find more episodes and videos by
visiting our YouTube channel and the
website at seaningless
and at seaningless.com, where you can
also follow our other
podcasts, the Mr. and Mrs.
English podcast and
the Life Happens podcast.
And these other podcasts will dive deeper
into everyday issues,
self-improvement and
being business and finance.
And we welcome special guests too.
So join us.
It'll be a good time.
I promise.
Thanks again for listening.
Have a fantastic day.