Disney Magical Mindset Podcast

Fix Your Focus: Jedi Mind Tricks & Castle Views

• Ruben R. Rios • Episode 18

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What do a Jedi Master and Sleeping Beauty Castle have in common? They both hold powerful lessons about how to change your life—by changing your focus.

In this episode of the Disney Magical Mindset Podcast, we're diving into the inspiring wisdom of Star Wars’ Qui-Gon Jinn and the clever “forced perspective” behind Disneyland’s iconic castle. You’ll discover how what you magnify becomes your reality, why your thoughts direct your path, and how to reframe your perspective even in tough moments.

Whether you’ve been stuck in negative thinking or just need a little motivation to shift your mindset, this episode will give you practical tools—and a little Disney magic—to start seeing things differently and moving toward your dreams.

You’ll learn:

  • Why your strongest thoughts shape your direction
  • How “forced perspective” isn’t just for theme parks
  • The 3 mindset shifts that can help you fix your focus
  • A magical challenge to help you focus on what really matters

Because the magic isn’t just in the parks—it’s in you.

Helping you silence the villain in your mind and become the hero of your story!

  • Instagram: @rubenriosinspires
  • Website: www.rubenrrios.com
  • Click link below for my FREE Magical Mindset Guide
    https://disney-magic-mentor.kit.com/53b916a484

Ruben:

Hey, dreamers and Disney fans, welcome back to the Disney Magical Mindset Podcast, where I get to help you live the magic every day just what I love to do, because Disneyland might be a place but the magic guess what that starts in your mind. I'm so glad you're here. Today's episode is kind of a two-for-one. Today it's called Fix your Focus Using Jedi Mind Tricks and Castle Views. What might we be talking about today? If you've ever felt stuck, distracted, discouraged, or you feel like in this moment, right now, your life isn't going the way you hoped, it might be time to adjust your focus. Because here's the truth whatever you magnify becomes your focus and whatever you focus on grows. I'm giving you the episode right here. This is what it's all about. So together, let's fix our focus. Are you ready? Here we go Now to all the Star Wars fans out there, this one's for you, and even if you're not a Star Wars fan, I know that we are enamored or intrigued by the Jedi, and I want to show you a Jedi mind trick that is so powerful that you can embrace in your life today.

Ruben:

This one Jedi mind trick will change the game of the narrative in your life. I mean, it's so powerful. And in episode one, the Phantom Menace, which is not the most beloved Star Wars movie. If you're a Star Wars fan, you know what I'm talking about. But there's a moment in that film that has always stuck with me and it's from Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. I mean, sometimes it's easy to get lost in this movie and in this particular scene because it's kind of towards the end, but it's so powerful. And what Qui-Gon tells young Anakin Skywalker who, as you know, will eventually become Vader. But then if you keep reading to the end of the story, if you don't stop at chapter one or episode three, you know that his story is one of redemption. There's so much power there as well. I can't even go in that direction, but I want to keep us going with what Qui-Gon says, because he tells a young Anakin Skywalker your focus, listen to this. Because he tells a young Anakin Skywalker, your focus, listen to this determines your reality. Let me say that again. Qui-gon says to young Anakin your focus determines your reality. Wow, isn't that powerful? Simple but yet powerful, and it's 100% facts. This is the truth. See, anakin had potential. He had people who believed in him. There's so much power when you have people who believe in you, and that's part one, that's part A. That's important. But he didn't control his focus. This is so critical, my friends, my pals. This is where it's at right here, because slowly, anakin became consumed with fear and anger and eventually that led to hate, his thoughts led him down a path of destruction and ultimately, as we all know, darkness.

Ruben:

But here's some really good news, some amazing news that I want to give you early on in this podcast episode. You are not powerless, do you hear me? You are not powerless. You have a choice every single day about what you magnify and what you focus on, and no one can take that power away from you. No one can take that Jedi master technique away from you. It is yours. You have this power to magnify things in your life that you want to magnify and you want to focus on.

Ruben:

What I'm about to say next is one of the most important things you will hear in this episode. In fact, if you forget anything that I say today, it's this, right now. Please write this down, commit it to memory, put it on sticky notes. I mean, you want this right here. This is the Jedi mind trick. This is the power that is yours, right, and here it is. You are always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts, always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts. Do you hear me as a friend, as your pal? I'm here to just encourage and remind you. I want to say that one more time you and me, we are always moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts. What we think shapes who we are. This is the power, right here, that is yours.

Ruben:

You have this ability to think things into existence I mean, that's how powerful it is. You have the ability to think negative thoughts that can consume your life, or you have the ability to think positive thoughts that can elevate your life. And so we need to ask ourselves do I like the direction my thoughts are taking me? And if your answer is no, then maybe it's time to change your thinking. Maybe it's time to say you know what? I'm tired of? That toxic, negative, no good, those thoughts that consume me and then just make me feel like just throw me off through the day and take me down a path of fear, like the path of Anakin right, of hate, of anger, like all that stuff that just leads me to destruction. But this is going to change today. It has to.

Ruben:

And what you have to understand is you have the ability because your mind is a powerful thing to focus and magnify on the things that can make you grow, that can help you grow, that can give you the advantage that you need in your life to believe that what you set your mind and heart to you can actually do it. When you focus on the fear, guess what happens it grows. When you focus on the failure, it gets louder. When you focus on the false belief that you're not good enough, guess what happens? You start to believe. You start to believe that and your mind starts to play tricks on you and you start thinking that that's who you are. But when you focus on the good, the hopeful, the light, guess what happens that grows too. You see, here's why this is so powerful and why we have to guard our thoughts, because, especially when those negative, toxic thoughts consume us, it really sabotages our peace and our joy and it really kills our self-confidence. And you know as well as I do, when our confidence is shot, like when it's gone, it's hard to do anything, it's hard to believe that we can accomplish anything or that we can actually attain the thing that we're hoping and dreaming for. So that's why we have to take this very seriously. We have to really take this Jedi mind trick very seriously that you have the power to have because it's in you of guarding our thoughts with everything we have, because you have the power To turn those negative, toxic thoughts into positive, good, light-filled thoughts that will change your future.

Ruben:

Now let's take a stroll down Main Street, usa. Stick with me, because I know you're like wait a minute. We went from Jedi to Main Street. Yes, yes, we did. That's all right, because I want to talk about Sleeping Beauty Castle. Now, this is not an episode to discuss.

Ruben:

Which is the best Disney castle? We all know. It's the original Sleeping Beauty. See, I told you we can't, we can't get into that. But when you walk through Disneyland which is my favorite thing you can't help but notice the castle in the distance. It pulls you in. It's magical, whimsical, iconic. It's exactly what Walt desired for this castle to be that, as you're walking down Main Street, this is exactly what you see in the distance the castle calling you to fantasy land to have the greatest day of your life. But here's a fun fact Sleeping Beauty Castle is only 77 feet tall compared to Cinderella's Castle in Walt Disney World, which stands at a whopping 189 feet. So how does Sleeping Beauty Castle still look so grand, so majestic? Two words you probably heard this before Forced perspective.

Ruben:

The bricks at the bottom are full scale, but as they rise they get smaller and smaller. The windows shrink, the towers tops narrow. It creates the illusion magic of a towering structure. It's not just engineering, it's imagination. The Imagineers, as we know they're amazing. When Walt was building the park, some of his team complained that the castle was too small. You know what Walt did? He knelt down and said look at it from a child's perspective. Go ahead, walt. Thank you, thank you, thank you, walt. Amazing.

Ruben:

That moment right there, this particular moment, it's everything. You don't need to control everything around you. In fact, you can't control everything around you. You just need to adjust the lens you're looking through and that's the only thing you can control. This is so key right here, because oftentimes we all know we like to be in control and the thing that you cannot control are other people or other things. You only have the power to control your perspective, your lens right, your Jedi mind tricks. You can use force perspective in your life. This is why this is so important and why every time I go to Disneyland and I see the castle, I also think about this force, perspective and how it applies to my life.

Ruben:

And of course, I'm not saying that we use this to pretend like things aren't hard. No, life is hard. To get what you want in life, to chase after that dream and that goal, it's not going to be easy, right, we all know when we want something and it's something that's really good that our heart's desire is just calling us to yeah, it's not going to come easy. That our heart's desire is just calling us to yeah, it's not going to come easy. So I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about faking happiness either. That doesn't work. That only lasts for so long.

Ruben:

But I'm just saying to see things with hope, to see things with belief that it will get better, and to just have this great joy in our hearts that looks for the good and the light right, with childlike wonder which is what Walt would say when it comes to Disneyland and just the imagination of a child, with belief that something magical can still happen, even in the middle of a mess. Isn't that what we all long for? Isn't that why we love to go to Disneyland or Walt Disney World and all these Disney parks. It's because we know that in the midst of the chaos that we experience in life, in the middle of all of that, there's this beauty, right, happiness, joy, peace, in the middle of the mess. And that's just my heart's desire for you and for me, and why I continue to just go at this, because I believe in it. I love Disneyland, I love Walt Disney World, I love the way it makes me feel.

Ruben:

But I am a firm believer, with all my heart, that those feelings that we get yes, I know there's nothing like being in a park. I get it, and I would be lying if I said that I didn't want to be there now. Or that feeling that you get in a park, I get it, and I would be lying if I said that I didn't want to be there now. Or you know that feeling that you get in a park, you know is different than being at home, I get it. Listen, if I'm sitting on the couch and I'm or I can be on Peter Pan's flight, I want to be on Peter Pan's flight. All I'm saying is that your mind is a powerful thing and what you magnify, becomes your focus and you have the ability to have this forced perspective to say, hey, I'm not in Disneyland today, but today's going to be a great day, and I could still live the magic, and I could still experience the hope and the joy and the imagination that I have, like that of a child, like when I'm in Disneyland, and I could still apply it to my life today. That's what I'm talking about and that's what I want you to take away and why I will continue to encourage you with this, because I want you to know, as I say all the time, you are the magic, like the magic of Disney, is not just something you get in the park. You can bring it home. You can experience this in your life today, and I'll keep on encouraging you every step of the way.

Ruben:

Are you ready to fix your focus? Because you're probably asking at least I hope you are by now how do you do it? How do you fix your focus when life feels heavy? How do you fix your perspective when you just seem to focus on negative things, or when those negative thoughts come in, like the ones you know that you've heard before, in your mind I'm not good enough, I can't do it. I'm not going to make it. I'm still living in my past, like all of that. What do I do?

Ruben:

All right, here's the Jedi mind tricks. You're going to elevate the quality of your thoughts by pressing the repeat button and using force perspective it's everything we've discussed today, but I want you to just think of the three C's. You're going to remember the three C's every time so that you can fix your focus. Remember, because what you magnify becomes your focus. So let's just say you have this thought that is entering your mind and, of course, you'll know is this thought helping me or is it hurting me? And if it's a toxic, negative, self-defeating thought, the first thing you got to do, the first C, you have to catch that thought. You got to catch it. Just catch the thought right Mentally, record that thought. I know just like, mentally, you're catching it. So let's just say you have a self-sabotaging thought of doubt or a thought, and I'll give you an example Last week I went to this event where there was a lot of, you know, content creators that were invited and influencers, and I was invited too and I just I had this like feeling this thought, this toxic thought that I wasn't good enough to be there, like I'm looking at everybody out there and I'm like yo, what am I doing in this place?

Ruben:

I'm seeing all these amazing creators, and here I am and I just kind of felt a little intimidated, kind of out of place, and I had to capture that thought, because that negative thought wanted to ruin my night and that negative thought wanted to make me believe that I also didn't deserve to be there or that I shouldn't have been there and that I wasn't good enough to be there. Right, but I had to capture that thought, I had to catch it. I had to catch that thought. So I had to mentally catch the thought. And here's what else you can't just stop there After catching the thought and then I have to cancel it, like I have to visually scratch it out, like, just you may have to make the motion like you're scratching out that negative thought.

Ruben:

So for me, again using the example of my experience, I had to scratch out that negative thought, I had to cancel it in my mind. I had to be like you know what this thought needs to go. I need to cancel it right now. I have to because, again, whatever I magnify becomes my focus and I have the power. I have the power. That's the Jedi trick. You and me have the power to cancel those thoughts out, to say you know what no, this thought is not going to reside in my mind today. I'm going to cancel it because I have the power to do so and I'm not going to let anything that is good happening in my life be destroyed by these negative, false thoughts that don't deserve to live rent-free in my mind anyway.

Ruben:

And this canceling, I'll tell you right now, it's got to be on repeat. You got to repeat this. Repeat it over and over and over again until you're able to cancel it. Until you cancel it, repeat that cancellation. You're going to have to repeat it. Until you cancel it, repeat that cancellation. You're gonna have to repeat it, I promise you, because it may not go the first time and it may not go away the second time. But if you keep doing it and you keep repeating it, as many times as it takes until it's blacked out.

Ruben:

And then, when you get to that point, and here comes the third C, right, we've caught it, you gotta catch it. Then you gotta that point. And here comes a third C, right, we've caught it, you got to catch it, then you got to cancel it, and then here's the third C then you have to correct it. When you correct it, right, when you replace that negative thought with a correction of that thought to something good and something positive, guess what happens? That thought no longer has power over you, right? You're replacing that negative thought with a correction of that thought, with a positive thought, and it loses its limiting power on you and on me. And this is so key. It's so amazing what happens when you catch it, when you cancel that thought and then you correct it, like correct it with you know what, if it actually does work out.

Ruben:

Correct that negative thought that you're not good enough with. No, I am. Correct that negative thought, that toxic thought that wants to tell you that you can't achieve that dream or that goal, that you see someone else. No, actually I can. I'm going to correct it with I will and I can. You see that one little shift is so powerful. And for instance, again, let I'm going to correct it with I will and I can see that one little shift is so powerful.

Ruben:

And for instance, again, let me take you back to that experience that I had, you know, with other content creators, where I felt like I didn't deserve to be there and all these negative thoughts started flooding my mind. I had to cancel it. First of all, I had to catch it, remember, and then I had to cancel that negative thought. And then I had to replace that negative thought. I had to correct it and say you know what? No, I do deserve to be here. I have worked hard, I've been invited. I was so grateful. I replaced all of that negativity with gratitude and appreciation that I was there and that I deserve to be there, and it just changed the flow of my experience. I'm telling you this is your secret. This is the Jedi mind trick. This is the force perspective that you see with Sleeping Beauty Castle. It's all right here and you get this.

Ruben:

I'm so excited for you. I really am. I'm excited that you will begin to capture those negative thoughts, to catch them, to cancel them out. Right, because you're not available for the worries about something that hasn't even happened. I'm going to cancel that and then I'm going to correct it. I'm so excited that you get to correct it now. Right, because you're not available to doubt yourself. You're not available for that toxic stuff. I'm not available today, so I'm not going to doubt yourself. You're not available for that toxic stuff. I'm not available today. So I'm not going to answer that door. I'm so pumped for you because I believe in you, I believe in your dream and your future. I know you have so much, so much to offer this world and I'm so excited for you I really am.

Ruben:

So, as we wrap things up today, remember you can't control what happens to you, but you can control how you frame it. That's the real magic, isn't it? And guess what, like Anakin, your story isn't over either. You can't just read to the third chapter or the third episode, or watch the third episode, because there's so much more. You got to go to the end of the story, like Anakin, who turns into Vader. And then back to Anakin, right, this redemption. You know you have time to rewrite the ending, to choose light, to see things differently.

Ruben:

So this week here's a challenge the CCC, the three C's. Every time, every time you catch yourself focusing on a negative or you see that toxic, negative thought trying to come in, remember you're going to catch it, you're going to cancel it and then you're going to correct it. You have the power, you have the perspective and, most of all, you have the magic Because whatever you magnify becomes your focus. You have the Jedi power to choose what to magnify, what to magnify, and I know that you would much rather magnify the positive, the beautiful, the good, the hopeful, the peace, the happiness than anything else. Let's do it together.

Ruben:

Listen, thank you so much for spending time with me today on the Disney Magical Mindset Podcast. If this episode inspired you, please share it with a friend who needs a little magic right now. If you have some time, would you do this? Would you please write a review? That would mean so much for us to continue to share this magic with others. That's how we get this magical mindset out there. I believe in what we're doing and I want so many people to hear this awesome, positive Disney magic and, as always, keep believing, keep dreaming and remember you are the magic because the magic is in you.