Spirit of the Deal

Brandon Handley 0:01 What is going on? Spiritual doke, we try to figure out our way home, as we have just stopped out at a random random jujitsu joint. So this is a BJJ report, of sorts, but not totally BJJ report as a navigate and get out of the space. Hopefully these headphones a little bit better. As a speakers, or microphones and I've been typically using, we'll see that on the other side. But um, man, going and checking out someplace new is always something that I enjoy doing. Hey, Go Go ahead. You're driving a Buick, that tells me everything I need to know. And that's great. And going and checking out different spaces and places, right we get into, people always talk about being in a comfort zone. And the comfort zone is the place where you feel safe, the place where you feel known the place where maybe you feel welcome. Maybe you don't the place. And I say that because sometimes you can stay in a place that you're uncertain about, and uncomfortable in, meaning scared. Or maybe some things happen that you don't really particularly care for. But you stay because you're afraid that your next decision, given the fact that all the decisions that you've made have led you up to here, you're afraid that their next step, the next place that you go to, could lead you to something even worse than where you're at. And then rarely do we get past the sensation and the thought the idea of the possibility of something being better. Most times, you get stuck in the space of saying, Well, that could be worse, it's definitely going to be worse. There's no way I'm going there. And you don't get past the first fear cycle. I guess that's what I call it. And you know, that's a wave of fear. We're thinking of cycles, we think about an oscilloscope, if you're not familiar with an oscilloscope, an oscilloscope also frequencies and waves generally electronically. Driven, if that makes sense. So a full cycle would be from top to bottom of a wave. So you go through a fear wave. And a lot of people, many people will stop on fear wave number one, okay. I know it ain't happening. And so you stop off your wave number one, you're safe enough. You're still not where you'd like to be. But you know where you are? Right? You know that you're in a shitty place. You don't like it? But you're not die. Right? Is that true? Are you not dying? I'd have to say, I'd say that we're dying every day. Right? Each day that goes by is one less that we've got. And so, you know, the idea of getting out of getting out of our comfort zone. Trying something new is not appealing to a lot of people. And even coming here, I had fear coming to this BJJ place. Even you know, here's the here's the cool thing about BJJ is that you can pretty much land in any town, USA and find a BJJ place swing on in and say hey, I'm here to train I'm here to learn. I'm here to work with y'all. And most of them you know let's you're right in this one Harleysville PJ J had some stuff on the door says you know, check your check your ego at the door. Check your ego at the door and just come on in and see what's up. So most places are like that, where you go in and say I'm here to train and I'm going to train

and the cool thing is is you know here's a bunch of guys that you know and you know one lady that I got to meet today that they're all in there trying to improve with their own BJJ. Or maybe they're even trying to help others depending on kind of their level. But here's the thing was the younger kid in there thought he might be better than it was, but you learn something for everybody. You learned something from everybody that you go against. And you learn something either about yourself, you learn something about their approach. And so no matter where you go, and you put yourself into a certain space or place, especially again in Jiu Jitsu, wow, I just learned this about myself or this about this place, and you take something away from the experience, you learn from the experience. And I'll admit, like I was saying earlier, I'll admit that I was absolutely, absolutely, there was some fear of sorts on the way they're like, Wow, man, what if they're not open, your mind starts, your mind starts playing tricks on you, right? Do your mind starts playing tricks on you? And you're like, man, maybe I shouldn't go maybe I should go to where I'm always used to go. And I know who's gonna be there. I know what's gonna happen. And you've already kind of got something set up with the place that you already go to. Like I said, you feel safe there. Sometimes

Unknown Speaker 6:21 you like, fuck it. Yeah,

Brandon Handley 6:22 maybe I'll go there. And on my way here is like

Unknown Speaker 6:25 maybe what they're not open. What if they aren't cool? What if you know and heard some things here and there?

Brandon Handley 6:33 From other people's personal experiences, I was like, oh, that sounds awesome. Especially you know, I punched it in and it was named as one place that heard some, some not so great stuff about as like, you know what, fuck it. I've already got for me. This is me. I've already got it in motion. Already got in motion. It's already in motion. I don't know how it's gonna turn out. I don't honestly you know, for me, I don't always have a whole bunch of expectations from from these types of outings outside of the game, just knowing that I'm going to learn something. Let's take something away from it. When I go to check out these, when I forget to check out these BJJ places, oftentimes I'm trying to learn something new, right? And what is it? Are they doing how are these guys different than then the guys and gals that I'm with every day all the time? How are they different? Right? It's not how are they better? Are they better? It's how are they different? What is different here? What is different than I like what is different than I don't like all that stuff and regardless of all of it I'm going to go against somebody who I I've never gone against each person that you roll with is is 100% different than again all the people that you've already already roll with. So we're all we all know this so getting out and kind of facing that fear getting beyond the fear cycle where the fear cycles once and most people like yeah I'm out there's then there's the fear cycle goes to the second time second fear cycle.

Unknown Speaker 8:33 It plays a little bit differently than the

Brandon Handley 8:35 first one though. And that second fear cycle the second time you let that through

Unknown Speaker 8:44 and you say to yourself Well Why was what was different about that fear cycle? What I didn't stop at the first one I push beyond the first fear cycle and the second fear cycle seems a little a little more approachable maybe seems like a little less? I don't know. I don't know seems a little less

Brandon Handley 9:04 unapproachable seems like seems so in that regard seemed like there was opportunity where there could be some success in this and that's the second superior cycle ah, the third fear cycle comes through and and again if you can get past the first couple fear cycles maybe you're starting to put it into motion or you know wait like I fucking

Unknown Speaker 9:27 fear cycles wanting to fear cycle one was fucking no scary. Never do first cycle what's on your mind? Fear cycle to play it a little bit differently. Fear cycle tunes like what maybe I could do this fear cycle three. You're starting to, you're starting to you're starting to go in the direction towards your fears.

Brandon Handley 9:49 You started starting to approach your fears.

Unknown Speaker 9:54 You know, again, I know this is all my head says. This is all my head. This is a potential reality, based off of

Brandon Handley 10:06 everything that I've ever known, which does not include the future.

Unknown Speaker 10:14 She say that yourself, well,

Brandon Handley 10:17 I can't tell you can't tell the future. You think to yourself, how many times have you nailed the fucking future? How many times have you been like, afraid to shit? And it turned out exactly the way that you thought that it was gonna turn out, right? Until this scared of this totally scared, scared, oh my god, I'm gonna die on it, I'm gonna die. And it passes. And you live and you're still breathing. And you say to yourself this way that that wasn't anywhere near as bad as I had convinced myself that it was going to be how many times have you been able to tell the future and a fear state that came true? Chances are,

Unknown Speaker 11:10 you know, chances are one or two, right? And if you want to, if you want to hang your hat on those two or three times out of 1000s

Brandon Handley 11:21 that you got right or wrong, right? You want to hang your hat on those two out of 1000s Feel free. I'm not here to fucking stop you. I'm not here. Love the line, Abraham Hicks. I'm not here to argue for your limitations. I'm not here to help you to remove any of your anchors that keep you where you're at today. I'm here. For y'all motherfuckers do the rest of you, right. I'm here. I'm here for the people that are willing to see things a little bit differently. I'm willing, you know, I'm here. I'm here for the people that are at fear cycle to who are looking for fucking hope. Who are looking beyond fear? Who are who believe that there's more to life than a life of fear rather than a nation of staying where you are today. I'm looking for people that are willing to change the way they think and it doesn't have to be a lot. Now, how I you know, one of the ways that I got through it getting out, I'm not going to tell you I don't have any fear. I'm not fucking fearless, y'all. I have a lot less fear than I used to have more courage than I used to write courage tipping point, towards the things that you actually want your life courage is moving forward and strength and love. Beyond and into your fears. So here for the for those people, here's a couple of ways that that worked for me, and they don't have to work for you. You can apply any of the shit you want. Or you can throw it all the way I don't care. Right? Part of it is leaning into your spirituality, right leaning into what I'm gonna go ahead and call your eternal self. right leaning into a had a friend post something about you know, adults, right here we are adulting. And basically, as adults, most of most of us haven't really adjusted the way we think. This thing kind of Ashton stone, since like, six or seven years old, right? Most of us are still like, as eating some frosted Mini Wheats this morning. And most of us are still like that kid. That uh, you know, the adult me likes to shredded wheat. The kid in me likes the, you know, the frosted part. Most of us are still like that kid inside. Right? The body's gotten older. Right? Your body, your body's aging. Right? Some better, some worse. But it's a it's a body that's easy. Now to eternal spiritual self that you are is that aging? Is that aging? Has it aged? Thoughts change? Sure. Your body changes? Sure. Your mind changes? Sure. The observer of all of this that is watching the shift that is going on this live eternal stream of your life. You are the observer of that. Right has that aged as it age. And if you can think of yourself in that, you know, it looks like a permanent thought, again, if you can see if you can see, even for a second like that, then you start changing the way you think. Alright, if you start changing the way you think the shift that you're starting to see starts to change. I know it's fucking one of those one of those cliches, right? driving past the house that I remember, when I looked at this place years ago, we never bought it, and pretty glad we did look at it. Wow. Um, the way to change the way that you see things inside, right, it's going to change things on the outside. It's going to change. Now get this guy change your approach. How does? So when you change your approach, you do things in the spirit. Right? You do things in the spirit of we used to have a line at work. We'll call it literally called fotd spirit of the deal. Right? How was the initial deal structured? And, you know, certain things have changed within the interim. But what was the spirit of the deal? What was your approach? How was your approach with that? So if you change your inner approach to your outer game

right, then things change. And if your spiritual DNA too dirty, say this Bob Proctor passed away, but if he changed Yeah, I wrote it today. Your spiritual DNA is perfect. And when you couple some of these things together. First of all, you can couple it all together without telling anybody. You don't have to tell anybody that you're doing all this shit. Nobody can see you thinking well, some people say they can but fuck those guys. Don't have them. Um nobody needs that shit. I can see what you're thinking. No, you can't get out. Go you can try all this stuff yourself. You can try all put it all on. It's kind of like Amazon has now you can order ship. Try it on and send it right back. We don't fit. Same deal. If this doesn't fit you in any way, shape or form don't tell us it doesn't matter. And that's okay. No, it there's like, there's no judgement, right? Don't judge yourself for even trying out. Try it out. Put it off. See how it fits. You be like, Does my ass look fat in this? I feel like my ass looks fat in this. I'm not gonna do it. That's cool. No worries. Right? Move on. There is that you can do this. It's free. You can see if you like changes. And if you notice things are changing towards the better, which is hopefully what you're trying to do. Right.

Unknown Speaker 18:06 And maybe there's something to it maybe there's something to

Brandon Handley 18:09 it even if it's even if it's just an inkling keep this in mind even if it's just an inkling it's evidence of it. Right maybe maybe you want to hold got a friend that likes a fish you check this one out. She's got she's always checking this Fiestaware right. Checking out this Fiestaware looks all over really hard for it. Right now imagine like if you didn't try as hard he just saw the Fiesta were showing up. This is all attraction shit, but it still works still. still makes sense. And then, like, I don't know, some chips PS to where shows up. And you're like, well, that's just that's not perfect. Fiestaware I don't want it. I don't don't give it to me. I hate I wanted. I want perfect Fiestaware Um, here's the thing. It's the evidence of it on its way, right. It's like, ah, Fiestaware you're broke, shattered, damaged and ruined. Okay, really. Um, but it's starting to show up. It's kind of like when you're planting a tree. You know, first year you're like, Well, I planted a tree and it needs to be 20 feet by the end of the year, but you know, better you know that that's not true. Right? But uh, you know, that if you nurture that plant trees, just like if you nurture your thoughts and your imagination and your lifestyles, exercise is one of those things right? You know, if you nurture and continue to work along those lines, your tree is gonna fucking grow. Right? So if you begin to have positive changes from the way you started to see things changing, right from your inner work Starting in confusing now. Even I'm getting lost, like, where's the thread for this shit, Brandon, if you, if you, if you begin to see those changes coming into fruition, even just like minor evidence of it then I encourage you to continue to work towards that continue to work in that direction. Now, again, you don't have to tell any buddy, you don't got to tell anybody? This is you. You're inside? And if it's working great. If not, I don't know, reach out to me and ask for a refund. Right. At any rate, any rate, Oh, please. You know, again, some of this is some of this is helpful for you. This is kind of amusing as it were getting out of your comfort zone going and trying different new things. And some of those new things that you might try simple and free to you is the way you see things. And yeah, anyways, I done. I'm going to go ahead and get on out of here. If you're listening to this on a Saturday, there's a good chance that there is a spiritual dope. And she level beginner level breathwork session going on on Sunday 1:30pm Eastern Standard Time. Check it out. People are having some really awesome results. They're really happy for that. And maybe you'll have some of those as well. Some of the benefits that are happening. One person had their blood pressure dropped by 20 systolic points. In less than 20 minutes. I thought that that was pretty amazing. Another person had quit that it was kinda like that feeling you get when you're high, but without the drugs. And I was like, Well, that's what spiritual dope is all about? Any who's any of those sound like they might be of interest to you Come check it out. 130 Eastern Standard Time, spiritual dope at Facebook and you should be able to check in there and you'll be able to register for the session later.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Brandon Handley 0:00 What is going on with you? So Brandon Handley here voice of generation spiritual dope podcast. wanted to touch base about yesterday's podcast for you first of all, sorry, it kind of like Sorry, not sorry, the audio on it was garbage man. So really sorry about that I'm not sure exactly what happened, had a lav mic plugged in and thought that it was better than it was. Deal his content, I thought was pretty good. Got some good feedback. So thanks for the feedback on that. So it just reminds me of a message that I heard years ago, it's really about the message not so much the delivery. Of course, in this day and age, I'm not trying to give myself an excuse for putting out shitty audio quality. But just remember, remember when you were a kid, right? Most of this audience is like in the 30 plus region for younger than that. Thanks for tuning in. But we're like in the 30s Plus, like, probably closer like 40s, High 30s cable TV was out, right? Remember cable fucking TV. And there was that panel. And you were like, Oh, my God, check it out. Not allowed to watch it, there was the scrambled channel, you know what I'm talking about. And you hatch a boob you add to Dick, you would add something, and you would run out and tell your friends you like Bobby Susan, like, I found the shit. I saw Deke sauce moved here, never gonna believe what I did. Look what I did. It was so important to you that you didn't care about the quality of the content. Right. And the same thing kind of happens in this space. Even for me, like I'll listen to some crazy audio. Sometimes I turn it off. But uh, and you know, hopefully I catch that same content somewhere else or from the same person, right? So hopefully, hopefully wasn't too bad for you. I mean, look at look at how we all stood in line to get the COVID vaccine. We didn't care what the delivery mechanism was, we didn't care what we had to go get it, we just knew that we had to have it. Hopefully, this podcast is like that for you. So that being said, there is another reason that I like to do these podcasts in the car. And when we are on this learning journey, and when we begin to make leaps in our minds, we can be scared to share what we think is happening. I know I can be because it's if it's not scientifically validated, everybody's like, well, that's woowoo that shit, but that's not how it works. To that all combat stuff like, well, you might not know the mathematics behind the speed rate and trajectory that it's going to take for you to stop at that stop sign. But somehow, magically, in your fucking mind, you do it, it happens, right? You're coming up to a stop sign, you stop the car, there's a lot of math, there's physics, there's a whole bunch of shit that you just, you know how to do it. Now, if somebody asked you to go around and make a calculation of that shit, you'd be like, I can't. What I can't explain to you how I know what to do how I do, but I can do it. And, you know, so that that's great. But so part of part the challenge there is we want to be able to communicate, how we know what we're doing. Because when we make some of these when we have some of these insights when we have some of the things that happen for us like like for me for example, again, driving the car and and doing a podcast and sharing a message that's coming through for me or just being kind of in a zone after I come out of Brazilian jujitsu all amped up on the whatever dopamine is. FM Nigerians deoxy I don't know. The right one. Do one you know love drugs and whatever. But what's interesting, I'm pulling out a book. It's called The Art of impossible a peak performance primer by Steven Kotler. Let's see if I can get the image in there. Be on the green screen? No. Okay, sorry about that. So try to get the image in there but the this is a really good book. It's really interesting. Because for me

a peak experience and you know, you can go to Abraham Maslow and you can look I mean, I'm pretty sure that's where we get peak experience from. At the peak there is self realization right? self actualization, I believe is the terminology he uses. But a peak experience in life is recognizing your innate spirituality, right, your innate creativity, and being able to access that kind of at will. And Steven Kotler and a lot of other people, I believe, you know, call call this being in the flow state. And I think that it goes beyond the flow state flow state, in my mind is basically where your, you know, time and space and all other shit stops, and you're just kind of you're in this great, feel good space doing what you love to be doing and doing it well. And when you're, when you're when I'm doing a podcast, when I'm driving, I feel like you know, it has some share some things, I feel like I share them well. And I feel like they're, they're impactful. I feel like they come from a place that, you know, there's a grittiness to it, right? That it's just like, it's true. It's raw, it's real. And so I love to share from that state. In his book, The Art of impossible, he talks about a couple of different the flow cycle, right, so the flow cycle, he talks about stage ones to struggle, where a lot of times, and he's talking about our emotions don't mean what we think that they mean, for most people frustration is a sign that they're moving in the wrong direction, however, and he said that frustration is a sign that moving in the right direction, which I love, because you know, I'm right now I'm seeing my youngest child experience, frustration. And I keep telling him not to get frustrated, but now I'm like, Hey, go ahead, get frustrated, that just means that you're moving in the right direction. And this means that means enough to you, that you want to learn how to do it, that like, you're pissed, because you can't write, you keep going, you keep doing that thing, because you want to be able to accomplish it, but you can't. So you're frustrated with that. So he talks about that a little bit. And getting into that, and he says the flow starts with a decision to fight back, that frustration is transformed into courage. If you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you know, for me that courage is super meaningful, in that, that is, that's the state that pulls you out of like fear and all the other shit. And recently I've read, I wrote something down to me, courage is, is moving forward, not just like, in spite of fear, but moving forward with strength and courage. Right. So strength and courage combined together to me, or weight, strength, strength and love, combined, equal courage, right? You, you, you move forward with strength and love. And that's courage in my mind. So, you know, he says, flow starts with a decision to fight back against frustration. I'm gonna caveat this to just simply because very things that I've been listening to recently, it's like, we're in like, February, and I'm already like, taking so much content. My brain is just like swimming and all kinds of awesome. But there's also the healthy normal, right? So I mean, you don't have to get fucking frustrated, you don't have to hit the bottom in order to become creative or get yourself in a flow state. But you do not have to, there's something that you're trying to overcome. There's something that you're trying to get into, there's a state that like, you know, the regular, the where you are today, all the time, there's still a space that you try to bypass in order to get into flow state. So what I wanted to share today was this idea that, that I absolutely thought of before, and this came from, there's a really great course in courser. It's called learning how to learn. And in that course, I forget the teacher's name, she talks about the frontal cortex. So the piece in front of our mind, right, the the executive mind function and all that other shit, the gatekeepers, if you will, right. And basically, we can only take in about four pieces of information. I think that we can take in like 40 bits while I wrote this down somewhere else, actually, recently, we can only take in like 40 bits of information. While our actual subconscious can like take in a shit ton. I don't know what the, I don't know the real number is but like 40 bits

in our conscious mind that we can kind of access and work with and juggle, right once you get beyond like that, that like you're either in an overwhelm or you just fucking let it go. Right? So you can either be overwhelmed by you know, four things coming at you at once, or you can Let go of like the fucking noise you can be like, That's noise. You know, all kinds of people will tell you make the important thing, the important thing, keep the important, what's the important thing, keep your eye on that will keep your eye on the prize. definitely pay attention to so many different things right. And, and overtime anyways, like, let's, let's, again, let's go back to me driving, driving, when I first learned how to drive like I had to pay attention to everything driving, right like there was mad focus on driving until they were learned tendencies and like my subconscious can like handle it all on its own right. And it's all just kind of supernatural. I'm not going to change that right supernatural like is just happens. And it just works. Because I've done it so many times. It's a part of who I am. It's been built in. Alright, subconscious is all do what you need to do. We got this at the same time, right? I'm still I'm still paying attention, right? So now I'm driving, I'm just making sure that like I'm not hitting shit now. And I'm also now trying to keep like, we're talking, let's go back for keeping four things in mind. Right at a time they try, like try to remember five numbers right now top your head be like, you know, 5678 but in different orders, right? The numbers that you just don't know, somebody spits them at you, you know? How do you do that. And oftentimes, you struggle, like once you get beyond four of anything, you got to write it down. Okay. And you've got to keep notes and like, you know, all kinds of different stuff. So when you're driving, and in this class talks about like, you know, say keep these four things in mind. And once and once you've got those four things coming in, subconscious kind of has to take over subconscious needs to kick in somewhere. Or you release something to the subconscious. And so this is in the art of impossible talks about the you know, getting into the flow state, the cycles of it. The second stage is release fees. So, and I've already thought about this, I promise you, I just didn't know how to communicate it. And he says during the struggle, right, the prefrontal cortex is hyperactive, it's working feverishly to solve a problem. In release, we want to relax and let go. The goal is to take your mind off the problem. This allows us to pass information processing responsibilities from the conscious to the unconscious, executive attention disengages as the default mode network takes over releases and incubation periods about allowing the brains pattern recognition simply system to chew on a problem for a while, while you do other things. Right. Which is great, because here, if you're in this growth space, if you're in this personal development space, if you're chasing down your spirituality, you're a seeker, right? You're like what the fuck? I'm trying to figure out this problem and I've been just taking in all this information I've been putting all this hyper focus on it and person was just not working. I don't fucking get it. And the moment you step back the moment you let go falls in the fucking place. You know what? Why was I struggling so hard? Why was I trying so hard? To do all these things? Right? Because first of all, you were trying to work with 40 bits. Right? You were trying to work with like your prefrontal, your egoic mind your your, your 40 bits that thinks that so fucking clever, the things that knows all the things that things that keep it together, right? How many of you that are listening today, which for us is your furrier frontal cortex to keeping you alive while you sleep? To digesting your food to making your blood growing your hair did not give you access as fuck already. Right? Why would you you're like I don't who needs that shit. I don't need that shit. Right. So while I'm driving, right, this is my release period. The subconscious has taken all these problems and everything that I've tossed into it. And it's just spitting stuff out at me now now since I because I'm trying to drive my prefrontal like the thing that thinks that is fucking the egoic mind I'm just gonna call it that I'm

sure it's really wrong. But that's focused on trying to drive it's it's focused on all these other things. Whereas like my subconscious or he's calling it the unconscious, it's just like, hey, we did all this information. We knocked it all down for you. We put it into a format is pretty fucking awesome. You didn't have to do shit because we got you and it spits it back out. Because I'm focused on driving, right? So think that that's really cool. And I've been looking for, you know, you look for validation to your insights, right? You're like, Hey, I have an insight. What is this insight that I've got? And they like, how do I, how do I verbalize this to people? And they're like, Well, you don't have a science degree. You're not like your, your you don't have like, you know, your, you know, where's your degree that says that you can say that, and here's the deal. So you got to go out and validate somebody else, somebody else has found what you've been looking for, and just put it back out. So this is it in the art of impossible, and he's talking about the flow cycle and the stage to release and again, this is like your prefrontal cortex. And this is why I love to do podcast in the car. So like, I, you know, I'm gonna title this podcast, sorry, not sorry, it's the message, not the delivery, I really do apologize for the audio quality, but it's also cool, too. I want you to understand why even bother to try to do them in the car. And also, here are some things that you could do for yourself, right? So I want you to also you know, change flip the script a little bit for yourself right when you and for me, this has been amazing. Write the flow cycle, once you get into a frustration state understand that you're not fresh, like you're frustrated. And that's a good thing. You're frustrated because you're trying to accomplish something. You're frustrated any like I fuck it. Let's go. Let's get all the information is pulled all together. I'm ready. And you know, once you say yes, to, to that frustration, right? Where's it say? He says, doo doo doo doo doo, you can't get enough if you begin to you embody courage, right? You face this, you face this challenge that you have you you just make the decision to fight back. Says he says, hell yes, I'll fight. This is where I make my saying, you face the fight, though with courage. And that courage is love and strength, strength and love, right? And we will approach it like that there's some little less, it's, it's not a resistance to anything. It's, it's an acceptance of, okay, these are the facts, this is the way that it is. And I embrace that, I hold that. And I create space for that. And then let your subconscious do the work. And this is this is what people meant by let go and let God write by let go and let God that means I get the fuck out of my own way. Because I can't with the 40 bits processing in my prefrontal cortex handle some of the big problems. Alone, right? In that moment, sometimes. And so it's like, alright, well, he even talks about it in this book, it's so great, it's really great book, I highly recommend it the art of impossible, maybe I'll make a link to it, maybe I won't, I don't know. It's a really good book, because there's a science to it. And, you know, if you've ever thought about like, what it means to let go and like, this is really kind of what what it could mean, allow for the things that are keeping you alive, your subconscious that's like just on hyperdrive, and I forget it, I'll look for the number sometime. But understand that, that's that that's the release, you let go of it, if you can stop putting pressure on yourself, in this immediate moment for the answer when the answer is really not oftentimes, right. And this is training from school. From back in the day, I got to finish this test. And you know, you put all this pressure on yourself to get the answer right fastest, to get an answer fastest. And sometimes that first answer is not going to be the right answer. And you'll know what the right answer is for yourself. When you just like to resonate with it. You feel so good with it, you're like that's the fucking answer that I've been looking for, for so long. If you can take the weight off of how long it's going to take for something to happen. That it just kind of happens in an organic way that's natural and feels good. I know it may make may not make sense. And you got to find there's a the people talk about a paradoxes paradox and all this. Right. I actually experienced it a little bit earlier in the work that I did. There's a space and you know, we're talking about there's a space in between states of being right. There's a space in between

new all kinds of of ways that you already are. And it's in that space in that transition space where the magic happens. And I don't really know how to communicate that so well just yet. You know, this is you know the idea of that mystical experience. This is the idea of hope. bunch of other things. But it's it's a state that's really hard to translate. It's it could be the flow state, we just get into it where you let go we let go of the worry where you let go of the anxiety we say no fucking you can say, let go and let God and when you understand that you're letting go of some of this noise right I talked about earlier you've got the four pieces up there you like, what's the important thing you let go of everything is really not important to that thing. And you're left with the essence of the thing. You're left with something that's ethereal, it's light and meaningful. And all the all the excess baggage just falls away and you feel good. Okay, that's it

Unknown Speaker 20:46 later.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Unknown Speaker 0:00 Going on spiritual dope was the generation here coming in? From the BJJ report, I just made a quick post here on Instagram, fuck around the reels, the reels, nobody likes to feel the Tick Tock that has whatever's next sensation,

Unknown Speaker 0:20 whatever is the next sensation. The real said, Make it easy. What are you getting out of bed for today, whatever it is,

Unknown Speaker 0:32 you make make it so that it's easy. And you can make it hard. And you can make it easy. You can make it hard. By going through the shit that I was talking about yesterday waking up, I gotta go to work. Got to do the grind concealed shit.

Unknown Speaker 0:55 Guys grind and grind and grind. And next best thing, this is an accident, I'll be happy this next one, I'll be happy.

Unknown Speaker 1:03 Or you can make it easy. And one of the things I'm thinking about is I had an interview last night with this guy. Neil positivity. And he's all about the law of attraction and how this works for him. And when it boils down to it, when it boils down to it, everything in your life, everything is how you see it. Even when somebody else tells you how to see it, you're still going to see it the way that you see. Right? Because how they tell you to see it. It's gonna be your interpretation of how sweet. So everything boils down to in life, how you see it. And we were talking. And I asked him, I said, you know, what about a magnet, we're talking about this yesterday to getting into getting out of survival mode. And this is a guy that came out of Camden, New Jersey, in poverty in one of the most dangerous areas in the country. And saw himself out of it through what he believes. And again, it's all depends on your belief system and how you see things is leveraging the law of attraction. And you know, he's very successful now having having the things he wants in his life. Ask them so what do you tell people who tell you the center survival mode that say they say they can't get out of it, there's no way out of this poverty, they're stuck in survival mode, they'll never get out of it. And his answer was was was super awesome and very telling. His answer was, your wish is my command. Simple and true. Your wish is my command. Whatever you think of whatever you spend your time thinking about whatever you see the most is what's going to show up. It's gonna keep showing up. The way you currently think is what got you to where you are today. It's not gonna be the same thinking to get you to where you want to be tomorrow. He was talking about the idea of say you're making say you're making 50k today. So you're making 75k today, and that's that's what you know how to do right now. That's where your level of that's an indication of your level of understanding. That's an indication of your belief system. That's an indication of what you're willing to see. You're capable of seeing for yourself in order to do something such as double that. What you do, who you are and how you think you're going to need to change. You've got a vision of who you are today. You've got the idea of what you're capable of. Today, you believe that you're at the edge of your capabilities, and the capabilities that you currently have that are getting what you currently want. And that's all you're ever going to currently get. And you keep

Unknown Speaker 5:19 replaying that story, you keep replaying that memo in your head. And that's gonna be the shift that you get Groundhog Day just pass loca Jose, the movie especially because that is your life and measure single day, right talks about yesterday, that is your life and minister.

Unknown Speaker 5:49 And when you realize that tomorrow, or towards the day, you realize that today is gonna be a lot like yesterday due to the nature of life, and you want to see something change today, then you've got to do something different today, you got to think differently about today, you got to think differently about who you are. You got to be able to see yourself differently. You are not you are not the same fucking person that you were yesterday 10 Fucking possible. Even from a cell you or nature, even from your next breath, you are a different person, inherently

Unknown Speaker 6:43 think of a bartender for Sidwell bartender for a number of years. And one of the cool things about martinis and vodka is that whatever you put into it, it kind of takes the taste of and I was just thinking of this breath of air that we take and how minuscule it is how small this next breath of air fuel is going to be. And I think about dropping one or two drops of flavoring into a martini a couple even when you put a lemon twist in there, you take a slice of lemon, take the peel, no bigger than a quarter of an inch wide. It's smaller than that. And you twist it over the glass of that martini and the oils infuse that vodka and next thing you've got this you've got this brightly flavored beverage with just a twist of spritz, your like AKA, you know whatever is coming into you is going to flavor. Your next thing. Your next breath is going to be flavored by this podcast, your next whatever whatever you're thinking, whatever you're listening to, whatever you're seeing whatever is coming into you is going to be taken and reinterpreted and reflected right back I like instantaneous. So what are you changing about who you are today to get what you want? Today, and this exercise is not unlike anything else. The exercise is really simple. I imagine this is one of the things that I did for myself this past year and taking Sreekumar Rao's creative and personal mastery course anytime you start something new, I started a newer role as in sale. Anytime you start something new, you kind of you don't feel right. You don't you haven't been doing your entire life so something feels off. And you still see yourself I still saw myself as the old Brandon as you know. Not not Brandon, the sales guy. I hadn't learned on my lines yet. I didn't know my role yet. And the idea is to write down the things that you believe make up that role to be important, like what is it about that role? For example, in sales, to say okay, I've got to do follow up. I've got to do outreach. I've got to, you know, build relationships. I've got to be of service. I've got to be timely. I've got to know how to list of all these things that I felt like a good salesperson needed. And then, as the days went on, I was able to take a look at this list of things and say, oh, you know what? I am doing that I am doing follow up and don't follow up on like, I'm a Sales doing a, I'm reaching out on a salesman, you know, I'm asking the right questions. Oh my gosh, yeah. And I was, what I was doing was nothing about my person had changed the way that I've seen what I was already doing. changed. I hadn't put it, I had, again, already doing all the stuff that I felt like made up a good salesman, right. But what I hadn't been doing was putting it in a container of a Salesman, I've been putting it in the container of just kind of old Brandon. And it was when I was able to put it in a container. And when I was able to separate what I was doing, and realize that I was doing what was necessary for the role going out. Again, I don't know about this, going out and learn about I know about this, and grabbing and doing the things that were necessary to make me better at my role, and continue to improve on. So who I asked, I asked this in the breathwork sessions, like who do you need to be? Who would you like to be?

Unknown Speaker 11:42 What needs to happen? What do you feel like needs to happen for you to become that person because you got to you got to become a you got to do becomes that you can have or some shit like that don't do. The deal is, is until you're able to see yourself as that person you're not going to fulfill that hole. So begin to understand who it is that you'd like to be. Understand that by talking to people who have done it before you by reading their books, by listening to their talks, by understanding their mannerisms by understanding that person. And you know, each person's gonna do a little bit differently but like if you can see yourself in that person, you're already doing those things.

Unknown Speaker 12:29 Then does that mean you're well on your way? And I would say yes. So there's something someone that you're working on becoming. My guess is you're already that person. You're already doing some of the things maybe they're called translational skills, whatever, you're already doing some of that stuff.

Unknown Speaker 13:02 That you ought to be doing. is just not doing it maybe where you would like to be doing it or maybe not doing it in front of the people that you'd like to be doing it in front of was the idea you know, you're not a tree you can move please you're not a tree you can leave. So hopefully some of this is helpful Right? Like I said, this kind of start off like wake up wanting the life that you got wake up doing what you want to be doing wake up discipline. God rest his soul Bob Proctor passes weekend. I love his line discipline is doing what you told yourself you were going to do. Doing what you told yourself you were going to do a lot of people say that Tegrity as well. Both are necessary. You wake up in the morning and you did something that you told yourself the night before that you were going to do you should take a moment to celebrate that because now you're doing it because you want to because you told yourself you wanted to do it. The speeds of celebration and these enjoy let me wake up for 47 there's other people like I'd rather be in bed okay, great. Stay fucking there. Do you do what you want in the morning, I'm going to do what I want in the morning. And therefore Ergo we are both having the lies that we tell ourselves that we want and when you're living the life that you say that you want, makes it a lot easier to get up out of that the morning and go and do it so I don't know where all this lands with you. There's the information do with it. What you will be on lookout that'd be later this fear I was serious I think of speaking of prosperity and spirituality you don't know it like I did that podcast prosperity practice very deep into this space but I also think that it goes beyond what a lot a lot of law of attraction speakers talk about spirituality to me is the cornerstone right the piece that once you kind of nail that once you've got to come one with the universe as it were, you know that shit it's just it's just kind of it's an amazing yes the spirituality connection with the spirit itself. To me that kind of takes off that's why I do what I do. Because I don't think a lot of people talking about it. In the same sense love people are certainly as attractive from material wealth sense. And that's why a lot of people get into it but what's missing is that what's missing is that connection you so understand what you really want that's why I do spiritual dope because each time each size I get ahead of that spiritual so each time that I'm fucking high on life, I know that I'll send out like, talking to me the vibrations feeling good about life, and I know that as I'm sending that out, I'm sending that out and loving and kind manner has to come back. has to come back. All right. Take it easy. Press work. If you're into it, check out Soma breathwork. If you're interested in how I'll present it, check out this Sunday at 1:30pm eastern standard time go to spiritual soap.co forward slash fresh hyphen, work later

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Meet Dr. Fred Moss

Holistic Physician, Restorative Coach, Podcaster, Psychiatrist Expert Witness at Welcome to Humanity with Dr. Fred Moss

Dr. Fred Moss arrived on Earth on March 1, 1958, and from that very second has been earmarked to be a healer. The family he was born into was in chaos and, in many ways, was counting on his arrival to bring health and wellness back into balance. Little Freddy had his hands full, and over the next six decades, he has made it his business to bring healing to the world around him, not only to his family and friends but to the community and world at large. What a journey it has been.

Dr. Fred has had a host of life experiences, including, among other things, being a 2-time college dropout and a Northwestern University Medical School graduate (1988). Over the last four decades, Dr. Fred has been firmly entrenched in the mental health system, first as a child care worker and then as an internationally well-known psychiatrist. In addition, Dr. Fred has had leadership roles in multiple modalities, including inpatient and outpatient, homeless shelters, nursing homes, orphanages, halfway houses, drug rehabilitation centers, home visits, prisons and jails, and telepsychiatry in many regions of the USA.

Dr. Fred has been committed to the notion that communication, connection, creativity, and conversation are at the heart of all healing of all conditions of all types. Without this, people simply do not heal. With it, miracles regularly occur. Voices heal. Listening heals. We humans are best when we are connected to others, and Dr. Fred's life mission has now become to assure that all people know that who they are and what they do matters and that their voice, no matter where they are from, or where they are going, can be heard.

As the founder of the Welcome to Humanity movement, and the True Voice Podcasting Mastermind and methodology, Dr. Fred now finds himself making the difference he came here to make. His years in the community, where he has been a physician to over 40,000 patients, and his storied and adventurous life traveling around the world, has now left him uniquely qualified to remind us all of what we already know. Communication is where love arises from, and speaking truth and listening authentically are the source of that love.

Dr. Fred is married to his dream partner, Alexandra, and lives in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas in Northern California. He is the proud father of two beautiful children in Texas and is owned collectively by his three cats, Valentino, Despacito, and Winston.

Links, audio podcast, and more

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

https://www.linkedin.com/company/dr-fred/

https://welcometohumanity.net/about-dr-fred

Unknown Speaker 0:00 Your journey has been an interesting one up to hear you've questioned so much more than those around you. You've even questioned yourself as to how you could have grown into these thoughts. Am I crazy? When did I begin to think differently? Why do people in general appear so limited in this process? Rest assured, you are not alone. The world is slowly waking up to what you already know inside yet can't quite verbalize. Welcome to the spiritual dough podcast, the show that answers the question you never even knew to ask. But he's the answers to questions about you. It's a world with people in it. Most importantly, how do I proceed? Now moving forward? We don't have all the answers, but we sure do love living in the question. Time for another hit of spiritual dub with your host, Brandon Handley. Let's get right into today's episode.

Brandon Handley 0:42 Hey there spiritual dope. I'm on here today with Dr. Fred Moss, MD. He is the foremost expert on delivering your true voice into the world so that it can heal your voice matters. Your voice can heal. Dr. Freda has been actively practicing in the mental health field internationally for over 40 years and as a psychiatrist has been an unwavering stand for the transformation of prevailing disempowering conversation that encompasses the industry globally. He is a firm believer that conversation, communication, creativity and human connection are ultimately at the source of all healing of all conditions in all fields. Fred, thanks for being on today. We, we had a couple challenges, but here we are.

Dr. Fred 1:27 Now here we are a couple of challenges tends to pull people together. It's like being in a foxhole with a new friend. There we are, here

Brandon Handley 1:33 we are in the foxhole, then talk to Fred. Um, you know, you gave a quick, you know, we have a quick couple pieces of conversation before we got started. And one of the things that we talked about was like, You were kind of you what you said what I heard two different things, I'm sure so well, she said was that you know, we're we're conduits for creative energy, right source energy. And and that's really the deal with this podcast is that you and I are going to have this conversation. And a listener is going to tune in and and they're going to pick up on a message that's being delivered through source energy through the all powerful or whatever, through you to them today that can only be delivered right now. What is that message? Dr. Fred,

Dr. Fred 2:14 I think the message is you are not mentally ill you are a human being. I think that what really got here is if pain, suffering and discomfort, frequently accompanying this particular lifetime, does not in any negative or any real way signify any kind of illness or disease. And in fact, all it really signifies is that you are a human being even in the form of exquisite pain, or even in this source, even if source by tremendous loss or fear, or anxiety, or confusion, or aimlessness, any of those things, one thing to really get is that all those experiences are exquisitely human. And if you can get away from believing that there's something wrong with you, if you can get away from believing that you're defective, if you can get away from believing that you're afflicted with a condition that leaves you less than another human being, I really invite our listeners to consider that that might not be the case. And what you might really be is just another one of us a human being 7.8 billion of us around here. And there's a good chance that you're one of them.

Brandon Handley 3:23 For sure, and I love that message. And man, I gotta imagine that the past couple years, with the influx of COVID, really magnified, you know, the, the thought that they might be sick or ill, whereas, like you're saying that they recognize that they're human, right, and there's something they can work towards. How's that? I mean, I'm just curious, like, how's that been for you to address and see over the past couple of years with COVID?

Dr. Fred 3:51 Well, here's the thing, you know, even with COVID, we're all suffering great fears and great losses and great confusions turnovers, we're all having, you know, some degree of anxiety about what the next day's you're going to bring? Or what's going to happen next, or where are we going to have to go? Or what are we going to have to do? Or who are we going to have to be in order to deal with external events? Now, the truth is, it's always been the most difficult of times, it just got a little more difficult. But there was never a time in the history of the world where the people who are living thought, this is not as difficult as it gets. And the truth is, it's always as difficult as it gets, and it gets a little more difficult. It's like part of the ride. So there is a prevailing conversation out there that depression is an illness. Now, let me make this very clear, Brandon, under no circumstances in mind, diminishing the impact of being depressed. I'm not telling depress people, and I'm sure we have some very real depressed people who are listening, that there's anything They're making up or that it's less, less painful or that it's in their head. No, no, no, no, no, quite the contrary, what I'm suggesting is, is extremely real. But it's so real as a human response to the world that we're living in or to the world that you're living with. So it is, it's like blaming a log for burning in a fire. If a log is burning in a fire, one thing you could do is blame the log for being flammable. Or you could get that there's a fire out there. And what logs do when they're in a fire is that they burn. And so the idea of being depressed, nervous, anxious, afraid, those kinds of things in the present times? Well, frankly, unfortunately, even though they're exquisitely uncomfortable, is just another piece of being a human being.

Brandon Handley 5:58 Yeah, I mean, so since we're, since we're on the topic, right of that, I'll first of all, I love the I love the response. Like it's, it's always the hardest of times, right? No matter where we are, it's always it's always the toughest of times. And and, you know, I think once we realize that, these are, those are the conditions we are working with, this is the toughest of times, and this is what we're working with, right? In terms of, you know, the people that are depressed right now. How do we get them to I guess, switch that mind frame from depressed, I punched up the word stutter, because it reminds me of a Zig Ziglar. Quote, I heard a while back talking about not Oh, Indians are some type of Indian indigenous tribe that said, you know, they didn't stutter, because they didn't have a word for it. Right? So is it because we've got this word for it, and we've got a context for it. Which, you know, is one thought that I've got here. But how do we even just say, Alright, look, this is a human condition. What do we do next?

Dr. Fred 6:58 Well, here's the thing. One of the, I guess, again, I'm not saying that if you feel depressed, you're not depressed. I am saying if you feel depressed, you are depressed. I get it. It's just not an illness. It's it's like, if you're cold, you're cold. If you're warm, you're warm. If you're, you know, it's like wherever you are, you are and depression in and of itself is not a pathological condition. Depression is an experience an emotion. And if, in fact, one is feeling depressed, it isn't like, oh, what should I do? Now I'm depressed, it's a well, maybe the thing to do is just get your depress. But okay, so I'm feeling depressed. Today, I'm dealing with depressed now, or in the last week, or most last week, you know, my cat gets run over or my friend gets sick, or my, you know, I lose my job, or, or if I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. Or if it's just overwhelmingly difficult to walk through the world today, all those things might contribute to a sense of depression. And all I'm asking the listeners to do not to take their legs out from under them. And not to assume that because you're feeling something very uncomfortable, that there's something wrong with you. In other words, there's nothing wrong with feeling uncomfortable.

Brandon Handley 8:26 Yeah, I think that's great. You know, you're human, you're going to experience these these things. And it's a natural reaction, natural response to certain conditions. Right. And, and, you know, hopefully, try and deal with it, and don't recognize it as an illness. I think that when we, when we label it as an illness, it's really hard to get rid of it. Right. Which is, which is one of the things that I'm loving right now. Is this transition from things being from it being mental illness into mental health, right? I'd love to hear I mean, you've been in the industry for a little bit now. Right? How has that shaped what's going on in your space right now, the transits that language transition?

Dr. Fred 9:14 Right? So Different people use different phrases like mental health or mental wealth or you know, something different than mental illness or mentally ill? And it in the world of healthy you have to be a little bit careful because when you say mental health and other that's a much more palatable, concept and mental mental illness. What I'm suggesting is, what if there is no such thing inherently as mental illness, that we're always mentally healthy no matter what we're feeling, even if we're feeling unhealthy, meaning Just because you feel unhealthy doesn't make you unhealthy. And just because someone else calls you on healthy doesn't mean, hey, Fred, I got some people who are not mentally healthy, I really get that. There are some people out there who aren't mentally healthy. What I'm gonna suggest is that most of those people, most of those people have one of a few different things going on there either taking in things that are hurting them toxic items through their mouth, or through their veins, or through their nose, or even through their eyes or the ears, those things can definitely comment cause mental derangement, or mental instability, even more than life does. So that's one way to get mentally unhealthy. And another way to get mentally unhealthy, you've already referred to is start calling yourself mentally unhealthy. And by that day, you will be mentally unhealthy. So once you acknowledge yourself as being deficient, once you assume that you're walking around with only half of a person, or with a person who's missing something called mental health or something called I don't know, or reuptake, you know, receptor, a receptor site or you know, some sort of neuro receptor neuro neurotransmitter. Well, then, it is precisely at that time when you accept that there's something wrong with you that at that moment, you start living life from there being something wrong with you. And at that point, of course, there's something wrong with you, because you say, so I got it.

Brandon Handley 11:38 Yeah, I mean, I jotted down here, you become the authority on yourself. Right? Even if you've got some outside person telling you. Like you're saying she's telling you that you're not mentally stable. I think that you should be the premium. What I'm hearing you say it's kind of like, you should be the one that sets that tone. Right? Yeah. And because, again, once you accept that yet, that's something that you go ahead and carry and you just, you kind of point to it. Well, I'm this way because of XYZ. And always mentally healthy. I think, I think of it in this terms. And, you know, I'd love to hear your thought on it. Right? Like, I'm sick, if I feel like, I'm have my body sick, but mentally, like, I feel fine, right? Like, my, there's no bruise on my, you know, mental health. It's just that my body feels sick. And my body's just kind of weighing it down. Is that?

Dr. Fred 12:35 Okay? So again, we start it starts via you're asking great questions. But what this is, look, you can feel really sick. And at that point, when you feel sick, like I can't think I'm not myself. My thoughts are running ragged. And you can call that illness if you like, or you can call it what it is, which is that you feel sick, that your thoughts aren't running the way you wish. That's all okay. You want to know why those are aspects of simply being a human. They're just part of being human. In fact, I contend every single thing that has ever happened to you in your life is part of being human 100% of everything that has happened to you in your life is part of being human. That doesn't take a rocket scientist to get that.

Brandon Handley 13:34 Right. No, I mean, we land right on it. We certainly do. We certainly do. Well, I you know, appreciate you like I said hopping on here today. I did take a read through your your book, your creative eight. I thought that was pretty interesting. And I think that it ties in well, I mean, I did literally, it's funny. You know, we talked about synchronicities, right. And this morning, I did a quick blurb on recognizing yourself as creative, right? No matter what you're doing, you're creating something right, you're either doing it internally or externally. And you hit on a couple that I certainly enjoy and recognize as creative which is, you know, when you cook, right and recognizing that it's just kind of like a creative endeavor, and you can find yourself in a really nice state of flow. But I'd love for you to share with the audience who may not be familiar with you a little bit of your creative ate. And you know, how you decided to you know, throw that out there and make that when your pieces?

Dr. Fred 14:30 Sure, thank you. So creative eight, you know, healing through creativity and self expression. So what I noticed when people would say, Well, yeah, what am I supposed to do when I feel lousy? What I when I feel detached or when I feel afraid when I feel anxious when I feel hopeless when I feel you know, just generally uncomfortable? What am I supposed to do with that? What can I do that will that will allow me to again find some sense of satisfaction or joy And I noticed something that I think we all know is that is when we're in the action, you just spoke to it in the world of cooking, when they're in the action of creating, and really, this might go a little bit more towards your listenership here because it's, it's starting to butt up against the Creator, if you will duck creator. And we start getting that when we act as creators. When we act as you know, in the image of, then what happens is when we're dancing, or singing, or our, you know, creating art, or cooking or writing, when we're doing some of these things, when we're in the midst of doing art, music, dancing, singing, drama, cooking, writing, and gardening are the eight. Those symptoms, which I hesitate to call symptoms, those uncomfortable feelings tend to lift and we find ourselves in a creative space that is remarkably rewarding to our soul at the very moment, no matter whether we had had one of these circumstances going on, or not prior to doing it. So the creative way, eight points towards eight things that you can do, and be like in the world of art, or music, or dancing, etc. That while doing them, you get an opportunity to get relief from whatever your despair is, whatever your discomfort is, I added a couple others by the way, photography and cleaning became number nine and 10. And ultimately, there is an 11th one, and that's the one I use when none of that somehow the other 10 aren't available, which I'm not sure how often that is because even to make music, if you take two sticks and hit the table, that's music, that's fine. And that is helping anyone do anything. So again, in the world of image of when we're at maximum service as humans, humans, for whatever reason, helping anyone do anything, the negative symptoms and negative frequency symptoms do tend to lift during that process. And I invite people to take just a few minutes a day to remind themselves and when they're doing that, there is relief available, and you don't have to stop it to three minutes a day, you actually could do it several times a day, you can overdose on this particular medicine.

Brandon Handley 17:22 Yeah, I love it. And I had a friend of mine, who was on the podcast, and he'd he'd mentioned the last one that you'd mentioned, whenever his mother was feeling down. Or, you know, he'd said that she would do would do acts of kindness, right? They had nothing and they would go like to other grocery stores and get bread and handed out to the needy, right even though they didn't have anything but it was a way that they were able to feel good. So I love I love hearing that as, as a prescription of sorts. And I love your speaking my language, right? When you're saying, you know, when we do this in act in the image of right, recognize ourselves as creators in the image of, you know, that that's to me what we're here in the image of not as humans, that's not the image that we're here to portray. We're here to portray the internal and greater spirit and the creativity, great creators that we are. Right. And the other thing you had mentioned, you only do it like about a minute a day this morning, I'd mentioned write out the thought that any just one moment, you know, make it make it real. Because if it's just in your head, we all have to overcome these hurdles, like 90% of getting out there. And being creative is like, well, what if this sucks? What nobody would nobody likes my cooking? Why should I cook right? And that's another thing that you mentioned too, is that, hey, maybe you're classically trained as a pianist, maybe you're classically chained as a chef, and trying to eliminate. You mentioned a couple things, eliminate, like the judgment of your creativity. And then the other one that you'd mentioned in there, which I really enjoy, too, is, uh, do something you've never done before, to be a creator in a creative space in something brand new. To bring that beginner's mindset love to hear how you kind of got into how you made that the formula? Sure.

Dr. Fred 19:15 Well, it takes creativity to do something that you've never done before. And sometimes it's like, you know, if you'd like playing the same song on the piano, and you get down and you start playing that same song that you've always played, you play chopsticks again and again and again and again, then that's not the same as being creative that's actually starting to fall into familiar territory. So I know when I pick up a ukulele or a harmonica, or when I pick up even an SLR camera, or if I pick up a paintbrush or, you know, sculpting tools. I'm doing something that I've never done before and by definition, whatever I do next with that tool will Being new will be different and will be in the world of creativity. So there's a fresh new understanding that shows up. And along with that what shows up is, I learned at that point that I don't know everything, and that there are some really new spaces that I've never done. Because otherwise we walk around quite often thinking that we know everything we need to know to be us. It's true. We know everything we need to know, in order to be us. We do I get it.

Brandon Handley 20:31 Right, right. Right. Absolutely. I mean, and I think that is when we, I guess, when we experienced these, these new things that you're talking about, that we begin to understand that there's still quite a bit more to us that we need to to find, or there's still more to us to find out.

Dr. Fred 20:50 Mm hmm. Yeah, there is, there's much more to us to find out. And, you know, I like my wife likes to dance tango, and I, I'm not officially a tango dancer. But every so often, I'll be like, give it a try. And I'm kind of clumsy. That dance allows for that to some degree. And or she's also a painter she has, you know, she has a whole studio there with brushes of multiple sizes and paints and acrylics of multiple types. I don't know the first thing about, and I know that when I take those things on, and I began to really explore what's there for creativity, any of the negative experiences, which I experienced it I say quite frequently, in between, you know, in between events, I might fall pretty deep down rabbit hole, it's, look, it's a tough world out there. It's it is it's a tough world to live in. And feeling bad sometime during the day doesn't mean that I'm sick, it only means that I'm feeling bad. And if I don't want to feel bad anymore, one thing I can do is become a creator. And the easiest way to become a creator is in these, you know, sort of performing and visual arts of our music and dancing and singing and drama. And then in the kitchen of cooking, and then writing and then gardening. And that's, by the way different than going to a museum or reading a book. These things are not necessarily creative, although you should do them, you should go to a museum frequently, and you should read lots of books. But it's not in the realm of creativity that's more in the realm of being receptive to someone else's creativity. And what I'm suggesting is writing and making art is more effective for reducing these uncomfortable experiences than going to a museum or reading a book.

Brandon Handley 22:45 Well, the thing since Cindy, here that you with all your knowledge and capabilities, and, you know, vascular fast toolkit, that you still have negative experiences. Right? I mean, so I mean, and again, but I think that's important for for anybody to hear, like even, you know, even the master, right, as it were, still has these human experiences, because you're human. And, you know, we need to understand that. This impacts everybody that when, when you have these and you're feeling bad, you're experiencing shame humanity you're experiencing being a human. Now, when we talk about recognizing it, you know, are you talking about like, just kind of leaning into like feeling bad just recognizing it? And are you would you recommend, hey, don't judge yourself for this, like, again, recognize yourself as a human, you're feeling bad. So what do you want to do about it? What do you take that?

Dr. Fred 23:41 Yes. So, you know, is all the don'ts out there, they don't work very well. So you know, when I judged myself, I'm also being a human. So don't judge judging yourself either. Every experience that you're having is just another example of being a human. So first of all, to your first point, I actually feel bad frequently. And I could even make a case that when I feel bad, it's it's as bad as I've ever felt ever in my whole life and worse, because I apply you know, whatever I know about how to not feel bad and and when my when I break through into helplessness or hopelessness or fear, or anxiety, or depression, or aimlessness or confusion, or any kind of weirdness, or super misery or pain, or disgust or disappointment, or grief, or lack of energy, all of these negative vibrational experiences. When I go there now, it's deeper and darker and nastier than it had been ever it's not. It's like dude

Brandon Handley 25:00 But that but I mean, right? So I mean, why would you say that is, is it because you know, all the things that you know, and then like you still find yourself there anyways,

Dr. Fred 25:08 it's part of being human. What I'm saying is, by being human, you get to experience all of human culture, when I allow myself, when I stop pretending that I'm supposed to not feel this way. Then what I get is the whole kit and caboodle. The goal in this life might not be to feel great every minute.

Brandon Handley 25:33 Like, sure.

Dr. Fred 25:34 Can you be with feeling great about feeling terrible?

Brandon Handley 25:40 Absolutely, right. You know, I'm a fan of Alan Watts. And I guess he goes, he's got the one line, you know, to know the crest, you got to know the trough. Right? Exactly. So if all we were was like, continuously happy, you are anything like how would like, I don't know where you live currently, but it'd be like driving through the Midwest, right? Like, it's just flat and like, overtime. Like there's nothing here to see there's nothing here to see. Right. So by having those highs and the lows, we're gonna, we're gonna have different perspectives and varying perspectives. One thing we talked about Dr. Fred was, you know, you in this journey of yours, I'm assuming you mentioned you've had some spiritual breakthroughs and some spiritual moments, I know that when I experienced what I would have called when I still call it like an awakening experience. There was a question on my mind for a moment like as my losing my mind, right. So I guess where does that fall in the human experience sees? You know, suppose it spiritual awakenings or breakthrough moments, what was that look like in the professional field? And, you know, in your experience?

Dr. Fred 26:49 So can you pose the question one more time Exactly.

Brandon Handley 26:54 Like the spiritual awakenings? Yeah. Where does that fall in your professional field? A and B, have you experienced into yourself? Like, you know, again, for me, when I experienced I was like, Oh, shit, I'm losing my mind. Right. But I was able, again, to personally, look at my history and apply it in different areas that was my mind and fell forward into it tense, you know, here we are having this conversation.

Dr. Fred 27:21 Yeah. So spiritual awakenings, you know, it's hard to hard to really point a finger on it, because they're not they don't lend themselves to three dimensional language. They don't lend themselves to linear language. So trying to put language to these things after they occur. is a it's a, it's a difficult task. It's not really it doesn't lend itself to being described. So part, you know, part of it is you almost wake up on the other side of one and go, it's sort of like an earthquake, you know, you wake up on the other side, like, Oh, that was a spiritual awakening. It's not something to plan for. It's something you've ever had experience with before you have one. And even when you have one, it isn't like Been there done that I will recognize my next spiritual experience, or my spiritual awakening, and no, not at all your next spiritual awakenings coming at you. And when you experience it, you won't have words or description that's ready. So in some ways, I think what happens is there's an understanding during that time of eternity, or of divinity, of providence of something greater than me, that is running the show something greater than me that has it be that I was headed in a certain direction. And then x&y occurred either internally or externally. And now I'm headed in a different direction as a direct result of that experience. And the only way I can understand that experience doesn't fall in some sort of reality, or rational thinking that preceded it. But it does fall in some sort of magic that was outside of the realm of imaginable. And that then gets categorized as a spiritual experience, which then, you know, sends my life careening in another direction.

Brandon Handley 29:10 Oh, you know, to your point, right, everything, everything that you mentioned, it's so that's what was true for me. In that experience, I was like, I don't know, didn't know what it was going through. It had to reach out to multiple people who I thought like I could at least express myself to one was, you know, a Buddhist monk. And another one was, you know, a couple people that were in the in the space, you know, spirituality space. And when I tried to describe it against my wife last night, the words simply didn't, I couldn't I can't form the words to make it happen, right to share that experience with her. And there was no way that I saw it coming. Right now, I don't know what the next ones are gonna look like or you know anything. I have no idea. I barely, barely. I'm still I'm still bowled over by the last one that happened like four or four years ago. Right? And Chase not over. So, um, for the listeners that goes through this experience, or comes to you, what do you tell them?

Dr. Fred 30:22 You might be surprised that it's the same answer. It's Welcome to humanity. You get to have those things happen, and you get to have everything happen. This is a temporary existence down here on Earth. And that's undeniable is frankly, the only undeniable thing of this life is that it will end on Earth anyways. So in this closed ended experience, you're going to have experiences that get described as a, b, c, d, e, spiritual experience, or depression, or everything in between. And I invite our listeners, when that is overwhelming as well, when your spiritual experience takes you aside, and has you just like tumble into the unknown, that that's just another example of being able to take on Welcome to humanity as a way of dealing with it, you know, like, wow, is to something being human. And, and in some ways, if there's room to show gratitude, or thanks, that might be a good space to show it.

Brandon Handley 31:31 Hello, love that. You know, and again, without the language without like, a background in it, that's sometimes where I land myself like is are we just, you know, as Alan Watts called, call it peopling. Right. The earth is like peopling so we're just, we blossom in our own time, are we people at a certain point, and this is just part of that experience. So I appreciate I appreciate that. haven't really had the opportunity to talk to anybody on professional level about it. So it's really great that you're on here is just kind of, to have this conversation. Is there I mean, this is what is like one question, I guess, in this space that you wish somebody would ask you that hasn't yet. Hmm.

Dr. Fred 32:14 Wow. Um

Brandon Handley 32:21 or, you know, Dr. For what are we? What are we? What should we be talking about that we're not?

Dr. Fred 32:25 Yeah, I think what we should be talking about is that the biggest crisis in the world right now, is not what we think it is. We think the biggest crisis might be I don't know, some of us think climate change. Other of us think racism, some thinks it's sex trafficking. Others think it's the virus. Other people think it's, you know, divisiveness or corruption or censorship, or, and it's getting close when I say censorship. You see, the biggest crisis in the world today is that we are giving up on our own voices. We are having our voices removed from us, either by us or by the world around us. There's a new level of constriction and contraction and restriction that has us no longer honoring our own authentic voice. So we're actually speaking in what we think are safe ways in order to protect ourselves in order to survive, and at the cost of sacrificing our own authentic message. So what we should be talking about, is whatever it is, that is our authentic message, we are here for a short time, what is shame to get to this life, and never actually deliver your authentic message to anyone why you were here? To me, that is the greatest crisis and the greatest tragedy on the planet at this very moment.

Brandon Handley 34:05 Yeah, I mean, that's, that's a super powerful. Right. And I think that goes back to the point of, you know, how do we are you a fan of Hawkins? Sure. David Hawkins. So he talks about his consciousness schedule, right or his consciousness bit? How do we get people to that 200 scale, right, which is courage. How do we get people to take a step into themselves and have the courage and in my mind, I think of courage and strength and love, combined right, for themselves, to begin to speak, not in safe ways, but to speak in ways that are ultimately in alignment with the truth of who they are.

Dr. Fred 34:51 I you know, there's some level of urgency that took us now. I think we if we look in the mirror in the morning, or any day I think we can no longer be honest with ourselves that everything is going to be okay. And we know it. Not the truth is everything is going to be okay. And we do know it. But we don't know what's going to happen next week, next month, next year. And we don't know that our voices become going to become somehow more available to us. I think all of us know that it's possible that our voice is going to become less available to us. So there comes a point where you one just has to own their ground, and say what so right now, the amount of relief and amount of power and the amount of contribution that one gives to the world when they speak their truth, no matter what it is, is quite considerable. And once I speak my truth, like I'm attempting to do now, you know, my truth is that is about sourcing people finding their truth. Once I speak my truth, I feel like I can open the gates for other people to speak their truth, and it's it that's contagious. That's what contagion looks like. No, no math necessary for that one.

Brandon Handley 36:15 Right. I love it. So what when when you share this message, and you're, you know, maybe you're having coffee in a coffee shop, talking to a friend sharing this message? And and they say, you know, Dr. Fred, or Fred, you know, I don't how do I do that? Like, what's, what do you recommend to somebody just get started on that?

Dr. Fred 36:33 Yeah, well, the first thing is to really come to grips with, you're probably not speaking your true voice, and it's okay. Again, no reason, no reason to rip a hole in yourself, because you're not speaking your true voice. You're not speaking to your voice, you're just saying what the boss wants you to say. You're just saying what your wife or your husband wants you to say, you're just saying what the community wants you to say what your friends want you to say you're just saying what it is just to stay solid. So you can somehow make it back into your house at night and go to sleep. All right. Cool. It's fine. Now, does that life look like one you want to keep living? And when you start asking yourself that question, you start taking baby steps, you start saying things that are a little more consistent with what you want to say, that doesn't necessarily mean screaming at the clouds, or, or telling your boss to shove it or telling your wife you're leaving. That's not necessarily what I'm speaking to, what I'm speaking to is you might be able to tell these people, what's really going on for you. In areas where when you communicate it, the other person receives it and in such a way, are altered by your truth. Like get oh my god, this is a person, this is another human being speaking their truth. And that, like I said, has a very attractive magnetic value to it. When we speak our truth. We can even speak easier with people who disagree with us, or people who are, you know, entirely opposed to what we're saying diametrically opposed. And we still can be with those people. If they're speaking their truth, and you are doing more speaking hours, that's where you really can learn, listen to the people you don't agree with, as if you care about what they have to say, that's another good space to learn how to speak your truth.

Brandon Handley 38:34 I think that's fantastic. You know, I agree. I am personally feeling some sense of urgency, right? There's something there's a there's a pressure to express. Right. And, and to get that actual messages out there. So I really appreciate you sharing that and some different ways to approach it. You know, and to identify the the whole fact that, yeah, what we say is, is is is is enough to keep us safe, right? How much I don't know why I'll watch this all over my head right now today, but like, you know, I think he mentions it, I'd rather live like a good life that I enjoyed a short one that I enjoyed, rather than a long one that was painful, right? by by by, you know, not being ever expressing the truth of who I am. And another thing that I recognize, I feel like I recognize over this past couple years of the pandemic was that nobody was spared. Right through this pressure. And this does need and looking for a place to vent and nobody was spared from ultimately being human. Right. Everybody was going through the same thing the same time. And so I think that was an opportunity for us all to bond and have some of those honest conversations. And And to your point when we can have these honest conversations. I know that I had one with, you know, my supervisor and one of my roles. I let them know I said, Hey, I got some things going on at home right now. And if I seem like I'm a little distracted, I am, right because I got some things going on. And he's like, alright, well, you know, thanks for letting me know, everything's gonna be alright. But But I felt so relieved. Sure, empowered, that I was able to share that. Right. Um, and didn't you know, there was no repercussion? Real Being authentic for for sharing the truth of what's going on for sharing my humanity.

Dr. Fred 40:45 Right, exactly. Beautiful. I'm glad you did that. Super great. Good example.

Brandon Handley 40:50 Yeah, thank you. Thank you. I really appreciate that. And again, thanks for bringing that up. So I'm at the point now, where I asked a couple different questions. If we're good to move on, right from from where we're at? Sure.

Dr. Fred 41:02 We are I have. I have about five, five minutes or so it phases out. Okay.

Brandon Handley 41:08 Yep. So I'll just get I'll give. I'll give us one. This is kind of the point in the show where I like to call spiritual speed dating, right? Okay, Fred, like somebody is gonna, it's always gonna tune in and hear you you're looking for looking for the next spiritual date. And what's the greatest quality humans possess?

Dr. Fred 41:26 The greatest power quality that humans possess? Is the capacity to listen and learn.

Brandon Handley 41:30 Okay? What prevent what is it that you feel prevents people from living their full potential? I think we hit on a little bit. But if you want to explain a little bit more,

Dr. Fred 41:41 we are. We are programmed for survival. And we think that by not living our true potential, we are being safer, when in fact not living to your true potential in no way gives you a safer life.

Brandon Handley 41:57 Amen. Amen. Well, look, Dr. Fred, thanks for being on today. Thanks for working through the technical kinks, as we got this thing going. Where should I send people to find out more about what you have to offer?

Dr. Fred 42:08 Well, there's a couple places number one, I have a website that's going through a revision, that's Welcome to humanity dotnet. And if you really want to, you know, take on this community of finding your true voice, that's where I'm really spending most of my time, I would tune in to the true voice community, the true voice community on Facebook. That's a group that's building up now. And it's really an opportunity to grow with people who are really interested in authentic messages, no matter what they are in content. It's a beautiful group of people who are really interested in saying what they mean meaning what they say and learning how to listen to others. So the true voice, community as well as my you can ding me on Facebook or on LinkedIn. Those are the two places that I spend any time in social media. And then of course, I have my own podcast. Welcome to humanity podcasts that I invite people to listen to, and I got some pretty good conversations. Maybe I'll have you on shortly. I think that would be fun.

Brandon Handley 43:05 I'd love it. Dr. Fred, thanks so much for being on today.

Dr. Fred 43:07 My pleasure. Thanks for having me, Brandon. It's been great.

Unknown Speaker 43:10 Got it. Really hope you enjoyed this episode of the spiritual dough podcast. Stay connected with us directly through spiritual dove.co. You can also join the discussion on Facebook, spiritual dough, and Instagram at spiritual underscore Joe. If you would like to speak with us, send us an email through Brandon at spiritual dough Co. And as always, thank you for cultivating your mindset and creating a better reality. This includes the most thought provoking part of your day. Don't forget to like and subscribe to stay fully up to date. Until next time, be kind yourself and trust your intuition.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Zach Beach, MA, is committed to building a world based on unconditional love and connection. He does that as an educator, yoga teacher, poet and writer, and as the founder of The Heart Center love school. Author of The Seven Lessons of Love and two poetry collections, Zach regularly leads transformational retreats, workshops, and teacher trainings around the world. Zach is a certified Yoga Teacher (E-RYT500), Meditation Teacher, Thai Massage Bodyworker, Sex Educator, and Prison Yoga facilitator. His online writings have appeared in such websites as The Huffington Post, Elephant Journal, and MindBodyGreen, while his poems have been seen in such publications as October Hill Magazine, The Oddville Press, and The CHILLFILTR Review. Zach's formal education includes an M.A. in East-West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies and a BS from Northwestern University. Learn more at www.zachbeach.com

Brandon Handley 0:00 Their spirits are dope. I'm on here today with Zack beech. Zach is an internationally known yoga teacher, best selling author, poet, love coach and founder of the heart center, love school and host of the Learn to love podcast, committed to building a world based on unconditional love and connection. Zack regularly leads retreats workshops and transformational trainings on opening the heart and discovering our loving nature. Zach, thanks for being on today, man.

Zach Beach 0:28 Thanks for having me, Brandon. Yeah, we

Brandon Handley 0:30 were talking a little bit here before and there's so many places to connect with, like, where do we connect from? And we connected you, you, you popped over to the podcast website and just said, Hey, let's connect. And I think Man, I think that was back in September. So here we are, you know, blast and all the way out of 2021 and 2022. Again, happy to have you on here today. Pretty crazy, right?

Zach Beach 0:52 Yeah, thank you so much for having me. You know, I started my own podcast when COVID happened. And I now have a newfound respect for all the other podcasters out there. I know just how much work it takes to get this out into the world. And we really appreciate the work that you were doing in the world.

Brandon Handley 1:10 I appreciate that. Appreciate that. So, Zack, I like to start this off with the whole idea that you and I we are, I don't know, we're vessels for Source Energy. Right? And the whole idea is that this podcast, you and I will have our conversation. We're gonna have somebody who's listening, that's going to get a message is delivered through source through you on this podcast to them specifically today. What is that message?

Zach Beach 1:32 That love is why we are here.

Brandon Handley 1:36 Yeah, totally. Let's let's dive into that one. What does that mean to you?

Zach Beach 1:42 So, you know, I love getting deep into philosophy. I love exploring many of the world's spiritual and religious traditions. And something that I always talk about is how almost all philosophy, spirituality, religion always begins with, like a fundamental unease about the human condition. Right? Now, sure, maybe animals have a certain level of sentience to them, but you look at your dog, they're so happy, they're not worried about the inevitability of death. And they're not praising the the treat God or whatever. And what I mean by that is we have fundamental questions about what it means to be here, what it means to be human, what it means to be in this world, what it means to be a good person. And as I have followed this path of inquiry, path of self discovery, I have found that the answer almost always invariably comes back to love that we are on this planet to discover our own nature as love, we are on this planet to open our hearts to the love that is around us. And if we're looking to find a deeply meaningful, deeply impactful life, love will take us there.

Brandon Handley 2:51 Yeah, so I mean, let's, let's, uh, let's chase your journey a little bit, right? How did you? How did you end up into this space? How, what was your path that lead to this discovery?

Zach Beach 3:04 For me, my path has always been one of continually reflecting on what really matters most in life. And then simply making sure you're living in line most with your values. So for me, that was a process of both yoga and meditation, by learning how to calm the mind learning how to turn within, rather than seek this material world for temporary pleasure, look to see if there is perhaps, and a lasting joy that we can find within ourselves. And through that continuous process of reflecting on what truly matters in life. The answer, again, that I kept coming back to is love. And I realized that what I loved was love. And I wanted to devote my entire life to bring a more love into the world. And this was about 12 years ago. And as soon as I started on this path, I realized how extraordinarily challenging it is to live a life of love. Not only because we all have certain unconscious patterns and conditioning that get in the way of love. But we also live in a society that doesn't place love very high on the priority list. It's very hard to make a living in this world devoting oneself to love there isn't a love Incorporated, that you can apply and get a job that you can't go to school and major in love as much as I would love to. I'd love to just major in love and minor and compassion and study the nature of the heart. But these things don't quite exist yet. So once I embarked on this path, I realized I would have to carve out an entirely unique path that was uniquely my own, just as many of your listeners are probably discovering the love that they are, and also thinking about how they can bring more of it into the world. So nowadays, I do think of my work in the world as being on the level of the body, the heart and the mind. So on the level of the body. I love teaching yoga, I love people to connect their bodies to love their bodies. I also love to get bodies to connect to other bodies through partner yoga, Aqua yoga, time massage. And on the level of the heart. I love to write poetry, which to me is the language of the heart and gets us even closer to love than the mind ever could. And then on the level of the mind, of course, I write, I teach workshops. I have coaching sessions and coaching clients. And because when I started this path love schools didn't exist. I decided, You know what we need our own love school. So I started what I call the heart center love school, which has public programs and trainings and workshops all around developing the heart. So for example, right now, we are in the middle of an eight week, Mindful self compassion training, which is an eight week course, designed by the researchers Dr. Kristen nuff. And Christopher grimmer always rooted in scientific research and empiricism on what practices really help us bring more kind of kindness and compassion to our selves.

Brandon Handley 6:03 So, sounds like you've been busy. And that's a good thing, right? I mean, it's your point. You know, I think that if, you know, I can remember God man, like 20 years ago, 25 years ago, and I was working at an auto auto shop as detailing cars. And I'd found some type of, you know, love, I'd found some type of connection to Source as they will, this is what I need to do now. And everybody man is looking at me fucking like, what is this guy? Wow. Yeah. So, um, you know, needless, I mean, I, you know, there was some other things involved. But I mean, it's same point, like, you find this space for yourself, and you try and share it with others. If you try to share it in a normal setting, we'll call it right. There's no, there's no love Corp. Not yet. But, you know, we share it with like, just your regular run of the mill people like yeah, that's not gonna work. Right? You're not You're not gonna be able, you're not gonna be able to find that kind of life. And so it sounds like, you know, you put a lot of time and effort into this and, and found some ways that you can live in, in love and, you know, teach others to at least find love within themselves. Right. That's fine. Love. I love all of the ideas that was it. Major in love and binary compassion. Right? But even before that, why don't you give me a little bit of like, you know, Zack, who were you before you fell, you know, fell into the space and found that for yourself. So that we have an idea of like, who was his act before you Zack now, right? You know, there's always that question. Who were you before you were born? Zach?

Zach Beach 7:43 Yeah, the Zen Cohen. Yeah, show me your original face. Show me who you were before your parents were born. You know, we do live many lives right in one lifetime. And you know, when I think about the average person in the world, I do think of as living from shoulders up, like caught up, in our own thinking, lost in our thought, believing everything, of course, that this room, ruminative mind conjures up for us. And by and large, that was me growing up in this cognitive centric society. So indeed, before I entered into the world of following my heart, I was told that in order to live in this world, you know, by my parents, that you had to have a job, right, and you go to school and you major in that discipline, that's going to give you the job, it's going to give you the paycheck that and then you spend your free time, you know, evenings and weekends doing what you actually enjoy. Right? This is what I was raised in. So I was actually a chemical engineering working for biotech and pharmaceutical companies, before I went on this path, and I was not in touch with my body, I was not in touch with my inner space. And it was literally just a back injury that got me into this practice of yoga. Because I was at a concert with my girlfriend, and she needed to see so I was like, Oh, let me demonstrate how strong I am. And I lifted her up and then suddenly realized I shouldn't have done that and herniated a disc in my lower lumbar. And I remember my physical therapist was like, You know what, you should try yoga. And I was like, yeah, right yoga, I can breathe in a room by myself. Thank you very much. And of course, once I took a few classes, I realized just how much it transformed my life and simply like on a physical level, for example, I learned just how tight my body was. And I had never really like even just realized that I was in a body before that, right my whole education system, you sit in a desk and you suppose to exercise the mind. Never did the body come into it. So when I came into my body, I discovered Of course not how how totally imbalanced. Everything in my body was this was tight. This was weak. This was loose. So the injury was a wake up call. Right. And I think many people experienced this in their lives. They experienced that really challenging, perhaps painful circumstances. that wakes them up, right. And if it didn't happen, then it was going to happen at some point in the future. So as I was balancing my physical body, the muscle groups, the joint structures, of course, that balance began to overflow into all the other areas of my life, I began to get in touch with my emotions, the energy and motion passing through my body, I began to observe the thoughts in my mind discover that the mind as they, as we say, is a great slave but a terrible master. And of course, discover the aspect of our being that goes beyond sensation beyond emotions beyond thought that we might say is our spiritual aspects of ourselves. So I still have that like technical background, I still love the rigor and discipline of intellectual pursuits. So I will always find myself reading, exploring, learning new courses, traveling around the world, studying from whoever and whatever it is, I can, while also recognizing that as Eckhart Tolle, he would say that spirituality is anything that goes beyond the continuous movement of thinking. Our Mark Epstein defines it as spirituality is anything that transcends our personality, right. Or sometimes in my classes, I do this quote by Jose Saramago. And he says, inside all of us is something with no name. And that something is who we are. So it was that process of yoga, the process of turning within that I discovered other dimensions to my being at of course, go beyond anything that was taught in any school or any book.

Brandon Handley 11:36 Sure, sure. And I get it right. So I mean, it's great to know because the transformation, you know, who you are today, wasn't always wasn't always me, you know, we all it's, it's funny to say, because it's more of like a sort of, like a rediscovery of who you are, and who you've always been, but like, you know, you kept yourself shielded from it, like, you know, so you were cerebral and you worked on all your, you did your you did what you were told, right, here's the program, follow the program, okay, I follow the program. And then somebody else is like, Hey, here's another door, you might want to go through and check this out, like what is in here? Right, like, what is happening, and then, you know, that just kind of leads and takes on a life of its own. And it sounds kind of like, you know, that's what happened to you, right? happen for you. Right? And he has kind of opening, you know, life opened up for you. And you discovered all this. I one thing that I would love, love for us to cover if you if you if you want. Let's talk a little bit about you know, your heart centered school, right, your heart center program. And I'd love to hear how you work with other men specifically, because I think men probably have have more of a challenge connecting to their heart center than than women. And then, you know, what's that look like for you getting what's, what's something? Is that something that you work on?

Zach Beach 13:04 I do love working with men, but it's always hard to begin working with him. Right? Particularly in the yoga world, I'm used to having a vast majority of my classes being female identified, right? I even did a training one time, there's 20 of us in the three week training 19 students was the 21st. So 19 female students, I had one female teacher and I was the only guy. So definitely in the yoga world. It's like 8020, about 80% female identified and then 20% Male identified. And I always do wonder, like, you know, what is it about our upbringing, about our conditioning, about our society that prevents men from feeling comfortable or desiring to go into these spaces. And a lot of it just has to do with kind of the way that yoga manifests physically in our society. Like I always think it's so interesting when you go to the gym to see how gendered the workouts are. Like, in general, men are looking for that triangle shape. They're working their arms, their upper body, women tend to be looking for more of like a hourglass shape, they're working their glutes and other things. So I think a lot of people do think that yoga is just for flexibility just for skin just for toning the muscles and that sort of thing. But I was also this way, right? I was also not in touch with my emotional world, back in the day, so I do love helping people along that that path and helping people get in and helping men get in touch with their emotions with opening up. Now, it's always just like, it's all always generalizations, right? Like there is a stereotype that men are in touch with their emotions, but I have met countless women who have no idea what's going on in their emotional world. And I've met countless men who are deeply sensitive, deeply in touch with their bodies and deeply in touch with their emotions. So what I do sometimes emphasize is like, there are some general differences between the sexes, right? I could say on average men are taller than women, right? That wouldn't be too controversial. But that doesn't mean that within that, within each gender, there's more variance than there is between genders. Right. So there are countless men who also struggle I also, you know, Coach couples, and there are many couples where the man is the person the person more in touch with their emotions, more community communicative, then, of course, the female. And even in like same sex couples, you still have variants in every relationship is going to be somebody who's more this unless this who wants more of this and wants less of this. So the same dynamics happen no matter what kind of relationship that you are in. But working with men is is really beautiful. And it's something that, of course, the world and our society needs so much more of. Like, there's this general idea that like women are more romantic than men. And women are the type of people that love romantic comedies. But what actually happens is that men tend to want relationships more tend to want to commit more tend to want to take things to the next stage more. And a huge reason that is, is because most men don't have other people that they are emotionally close with in their life. And their partner, their wife, their girlfriend is like the only person that can be vulnerable, vulnerable with only people they can confide in emotionally. So then, of course, they want that relationship. Meanwhile, many women, most women have more people that they can share with, they have really close friends that they tend to be more deeply vulnerable with. So what's also nice working with men is once you get men to say open up to other men or other people or other family members or other other friends, it also does take pressure off of their, like primary partner to be their sole, like therapist. Or like so. You know, emotional confidant like in the partnership and to build that community where it's so so needed. Right? We Yeah,

Brandon Handley 17:13 let me jump there real quick. Yeah, if you don't mind. It's I mean, yeah, absolutely. Right. And I'm, like, man, gotta do a better job of finding that community. Right, whatever, whatever that looks like. Primarily, though, so what I guess when I say get in touch with their heart, and men, right, not saying that they're not emotional, but how to get them to, I guess, be more heart centric, right? Is that something that you work with? And, and I get, you know, that there are going to be women that are, you know, just as cold and just as analytical and just as cerebral? I think, as men can be. Right. And I think that's a kind of like, a Western civilization bit. Right. But you know, specifically, kind of, I guess the question is, what is it that you do with men to help them to get in touch with their emotions, and feel safe, to express themselves and be vulnerable around other men? Or even within their own relationships? Is that some work that you do?

Zach Beach 18:20 Absolutely. And it is really important work. And I'm sure even many listeners to your podcast are doing the same kind of work. And it's always individual in terms of like, where you're going to start with this person, like what is the most effective strategy exercise that's going to help with this person. And it and while it is true that like yet, on average, you know, men are certain men are a certain way and women are a certain way. But what's also been amazing is you probably, you know, know about this, when they talk about the law of attraction are that, like attracts like, is that as I've gotten deeper into this work, I continually meet other amazing men who are also doing amazing work in the world. I recently just had on the podcast got seveal, who has this book called Big Love, so you can check them out. If you're looking for more more guests on this field showed up and he's just like, his whole meshes is living with a wide open heart. Right? And in terms of like, baby steps, how do we get somebody to be more heart centered? We start with a body, right? We start with the simple stuff, we're not gonna be like, Alright, let's go on. Let's be vulnerable right here right now. Right? We have to slowly transition from being in our heads thinking everything that we think caught up in the rational mind believing that the mind is the only way to kind of live in being in this world. And being in our bodies, right, slow down, feel the breath feel the earth beneath you. Because on the way there of course into the body, we will eventually get to the heart and in fact, the spiritual journey sometimes described as a journey of 18 inches from the head to the heart. So I do think the first step for to become more heart centered in one's life is not focus on the heart, immediately focus on the body, focus on cultivating this connection between with your own temple right for this source your own temple for the divinity that you are, which requires a slowing, which requires a stillness of the mind. And embodied movement practices can be really helpful in this regard like Qigong, Tai Chi, Yoga, simple breathing exercises, more and more people are getting into breath work and Wim Hof, or anything like that. Anything that gets you into this breathing, vibrating experience, will also tap you into a natural, a natural aliveness that happens, the more we are in our body. And then son suddenly, once you plant that little seed, and once that seed starts to grow, then you do get in touch more with of course, your emotions, right? We call them feelings because we feel them. Right. So one of the best ways to really get in touch with your feelings is to tap into the sensations that you associate with him. Right? So you're feeling angry? Where does anger manifest in your body? Right? So as you're sitting in meditation, it's wonderful to start with a simple sensation, focused meditation practice, just your breath, maybe do some body scans. And that's what we call the first foundation of mindfulness, right mindfulness of the body, right? And then we can do do mindfulness of our emotions, right? That's like the next step, or like layering. So then you're like, oh, wow, like, you know, how does this feel in my body? Where does grief? Where does sadness, what is anger? What is happiness, we're just joy, where do these things manifest in our body, and I'm really sensational level, right? So mindfulness of the body, mindfulness of emotions. And then once the mind is calm, once the body is settled, then you can think about opening the heart. So those are the three steps, calm the mind, tame the body, open the heart. And that's where the real magic happens. But it takes a while to get there.

Brandon Handley 22:20 So it's just not something we can do in 21 days. You can do T's and C's and right because there's always like, there's always like, you know, Do this, do this program in 21 days, and this will happen type of thing. And I'm certain that there's no, you know, we talk about being general and life's different for everybody. It's possible. I'm certain as some of you could have this happen in 21 days, but it's something that you need to put some time into. And maybe a big fan of the Buddha quote, or we talks about, you don't squeeze the rose the rosebud, right to get it to flower, right. So you have to kind of give it that same you have to give that patience and nurturing and allow for that space, while still wanting it to happen without putting pressure on it to happen.

Zach Beach 23:09 Yeah. But the lovely paradox of it all, like when you finally let go of the thing having to happen, that naturally happens on its own. I have seen extraordinary transformation happen in 21 days. But it's highly dependent on the person, like how long have you been on this path? How open are you to the path, right? It's like Jon Kabat Zinn has this thing. And he's like, why do we need to practice mindfulness for an hour a day? Because the other 23 hours of the day are unintentionally practicing mindlessness. For sure, a lot of sure. Anyway, it's like How deep are you going? How involved are you? How much work are you putting into it?

Brandon Handley 23:53 But right now I get it. I get it. So you found your space, you found your place? I think a question that we would all ask, are you making a living by being loving? Right now? Would you say you know what I mean? So I mean, because that's, I think one of the one of the big pieces of this podcast is to say, Hey, listen, I can find myself I can find my spiritual space. And I can weave the truth of who I am into everything that I do and still have success. Mm hmm.

Zach Beach 24:27 No, it's absolutely true. I mean, for me, my work and my life are so intertwined. I don't even know when one stops and the other one begins. Many people have their 40 hour work week. Once you leave work, you're done. But for me, it's all wrapped up into itself. And, you know, there's nothing as nothing is as fulfilling as following your heart. Right? I think the two most important times in a person's life are the day we are born and the day that we discover why. And one of the best ways to love yourself is to be true to yourself. figure out why you are here on this planet while you incarnated into this physical form at this point in time, and to discover your unique purpose in life. And earlier, when you were talking about the working on a car, are you talking about like doing car work? As thinking about this common story, we often talk about what happens or what transformation happens when you truly know your purpose. And I'll give you the truncated version. But when a person walks into a town square, he comes upon one person and asked them, What are you doing? And with a grumpy look on their face, they say, I'm squaring the stone, leave me alone. Okay, go to the next person, what are you doing, and they appear to be doing the same thing, but they say I'm making money for my family in my house, leave me alone. And then you go to the third person, and the third person says, with a twinkle in their eye and a smile on their face, I am building a cathedral. And we always have want to keep that higher vision that we have for the world and the work that we do in the world. So yes, I'm making a living. I'm loving it. I just came back from a 21 day training in Peru.

Brandon Handley 26:15 Has it worked? I've actually

Zach Beach 26:16 leaving a wonderful group. Nice. But it's because it comes, you know, it's coming from the center, it's coming from the heart.

Brandon Handley 26:25 Right. And that's one of ways it is truly like, one of my favorite stories, right? And I think one of the challenges for me, and I'm sure for plenty of others is shifting that mindset, right how to shift your mindset from, you know, I'm squaring a stone, right? Leave me alone, to building a marvelous cathedral for all the world to see. So I think that that's certainly a challenge. Because a lot of us again, we get the, you know, go to school, go to work, do your job, you know, pay the bills, and you know, keep your head low type of thing. Right? What I'd love to hear from you is a, and just in context of this conversation, is there an exercise or a way that you share with some of your clients that help them to see the larger picture of themselves in a larger picture and what they're doing? And then be? This would be the next part is how do you you know, when you told your parents, hey, I'm done with the chemistry. I'm gonna go do love. You know, let's talk a little bit about what that was like, and kind of overcoming the fear to step into and follow your bliss, follow your heart and what that path look like, Huh?

Zach Beach 27:47 Yeah, you might have heard that phrase that, like we spend so much of our lives climbing up a wall only to get to the top and discover that it's the wrong wall. And, you know, I do feel very fortunate that I kind of discovered that, like, the life that I was leading wasn't the one I was supposed to be at a relatively early age, you know, in my early 20s, to discover that like, actually, you know, I'm not really happy here, this isn't service serving my highest good. This isn't the reason I was put here on this earth. So let me try something else. As you mentioned, a lot of it does involve a kind of deconditioning. Right? We're put on all sorts of expectations, understandings, and it does come from our society, it does come from our culture, but it possibly it was comes from our parents, right. And even the most well intentioned parents, they gave me the best advice because it applied to them when they are growing up. But the same advice won't necessarily might apply to you. And I do often think that like activity, like the, you know, the general work that we do without purpose is just a drain like, we don't have that higher cathedral purpose than the day to day drudgery. The day to day work just becomes a drain on our energy. And you asked, is there an exercise that I do to help people gonna get in touch with their purpose? Absolutely. Like, do you want to do it right now?

Brandon Handley 29:14 Do it really as long as as long as it doesn't take 21 days, Zach, I'll,

Zach Beach 29:19 I'll do a really quick, truncated version of an exercise that I that I love to do. And, you know, if the listeners are, if you're driving right now, you don't need to close your eyes, but it just goes like this. And this is the quick version. So you close your eyes, and you picture yourself in front of a vast expanse. Perhaps you are on a cliff overlooking the ocean, perhaps a mountain overlooking the land, perhaps a prairie overlooking a vast field. And it's a beautiful day you feel the sun on your face, the sky is clear. There's a cool breeze passing by, and you feel at peace in this place. And from this place of peace and calm, you can ask yourself, in my heart of hearts, what am I really looking for in my life? In my heart of hearts, what am I looking for in my life? And then sometimes I go deeper and I add in my heart of hearts, what am I really looking for? In my life?

Brandon Handley 30:49 And so if I come out of this, are we still going we're still in

Zach Beach 30:54 exercise. Now. That's the basic exercise right? So involves a few things. One, first, we clear the mind. That's what the visualization is meant to do. It's meant to calm still the mind. And then you get in touch with the body. You're like, how does you know you feel the sun, you feel the breeze, you feel a sense experience of being in your body. And then you tap into the heart space? And then you ask yourself and allow, right I'm not writing it down that you ask yourself and allow that the answer to naturally arise. And I love doing this exercise because no one says, in my heart of hearts, I want the Ferrari, I want the mansion. I want the MIT this many commas in my bank account. And I go around and share with people after this simple exercise. They say I want peace. I want love. I want security. I want to love myself. Right? So this is the beginning thinking about like, what really matters most in our lives, like, what am I really seeking? What am I really looking for? And then we figure out what we truly care about the most and then we try our best to live in line with those values.

Brandon Handley 32:05 Yeah, so it's not Excel spreadsheets. You know, you know, it's it's love, it's peace. It's acceptance. It's family. It's, you know,

Zach Beach 32:17 a long lining.

Brandon Handley 32:18 Right? Yeah. And so, yeah, I guess getting somebody into connection with that. And is that kind of like where you plug in? Okay, now, how is what you're currently done? This is how I would do it. I mean, Zach, just out of curiosity, right? Kind of house. How's what you're doing right now already aligned to that? Can you make that alignment? Right? I mean, can you see that kind of key make that connection? Right? Because you got you got everybody's hobbling around the same rock. And everybody's doing something a little bit different, right? And it's almost like if you tell yourself, I mean, shit, that's all we're doing. Anyways, we're telling ourselves what we're doing anyways, look, I'm looking down here, I'm pounding on a rock. I'm looking down here, you know, feeding my family. I'm looking down here, and I'm building a cathedral, right? So anyways, no matter what, we're already telling ourselves a story. We're telling everybody else the same story that we're telling ourselves. So if we can change the story, and attach a little bit of our own purpose, well, what I'm doing today with this rock is I'm I'm helping to bring love into the world. With this rock today, I'm helping to bring you know, peace in the world, right? With his Excel spreadsheet, you know, I'm saving lives somehow. Right? So is that one thing that you do? Or would do you do something else? Because I mean, it's great to feel this. But when I leave your, you know, your presence today, and I'm outside the yoga shop, how can I apply this outside of that?

Zach Beach 33:42 Action? Is what you're talking about? Yeah, doing things. Yeah. So So, so far, basically describe a four step process. And you see this across many circles and in very similar ideas is you tame the mind, discipline the body, open the heart, clarify intent. Right. Now, tip number four is the setting of your intention. And this is why intentions are so powerful is because they're so open ended. Right? My intention is to love more. My intention is to help others rather than like, my intention is to make $1,000,000.10 years from now like a direction like a goal, a goal that's future directed and intention is something can bring into this moment, right now. And then explore it in a myriad of ways. Because once you do, you'll discover places, things, experiences you never even would have dreamed of. Right? Your mind just expands as you continue to follow your intention in a million different ways. Now, after you set your intention, then you go into another little feedback loop. So after you set your intention, then you do what we call a ticket step. Right? You do what we call some sort of action and you're out could have some 510 15 year plan in mind, right? But it's how can I live fully in line with what matters falling in line with my intention with this action. After that action, you accept what is. And you see clearly. So you're like, I'm gonna love myself today you're in bed, right? Then you go to the mirror and you see is it and you're like you ugly son of a, suddenly, you haven't lived fully in line with your intention, right? I'm gonna be at peace today. And then your boss walks in and they drop something off at your desk and you think ah, you get angry, right? So this is where the iterative process of our awakening happens, we set our intention, take a step, see clearly accept what is and then we go back. Right so tick, not Han says the most important thing is to remember the most important thing. And I sometimes think of mindfulness as re mindfulness, always reminding ourselves of where we want to come from how we want to respond to the situations in our life, and what really, truly, truly matters. And I will also say that we are told things like follow your bliss, which I don't usually say that the word specifically but for now we can keep it or follow your purpose, listen to your heart, etc. And what few people tell you is that following your heart can sometimes be extraordinarily in convenient. You might listen to your heart, and it might tell you to quit your job might tell you to get a divorce, I might tell you to sell the business, sell the house move to a new city, like you might need to make radical changes. I was in a training one time and I was talking to a student and she's like, You know what, Zack, I need to leave my partner. And she had come to this realization that, you know, he wasn't living in line with her heart and with what matters. And that sometimes doesn't involve huge, drastic life changes, quitting the job quitting the partner, that sort of thing. So earlier, we talked about self love. And an important part about self love is boundaries. So sometimes you set up healthy boundaries, and then we realize certain people in our lives are constantly violating our boundaries. So we have to remove them.

Brandon Handley 37:20 Now for sure, I'd love to get back even to the the idea of right of making these kinds of radical shifts in our lives. Again, yeah, I mean, you went from, you know, being a chemical engineer to the love guy. What was that? Again, let's talk to share how, you know, when you share this with your family, when you share with your friends with, you know, what did that transition look like? Because that's another piece that a lot of I think people may struggle with, you know, was there a fear that you had to overcome to share and to take a step into that space? share that journey?

Zach Beach 38:02 Um, yeah, it's a wonderful question. I mean, you bought it my parents, and, you know, part of the reason I'm I love guy is, I'm so lucky to have had the love that my parents offered. And I do think much of my work is just my way of balancing the love that I received from my own mother. And even like, my book on Love was like, dedicated to her. So I do remember, different times in my life, I've created different paradigm shifts, and I've told my parents that and their most common response is, whatever makes you happy. And the profundity of this response not lost on me, particularly because when we talk about, it's easy to get pie in the sky, like, you know, even listeners might be like, Who is this, you know, hippie, whoo, guy telling me to love everyone. And for me, love is a very grounded reality and perspective that we can bring. And for me, love is a desire for somebody to be happy, right and desire for somebody to accept themselves as they are for their dreams to come true for them to find joy in this life. And we can extend that to everyone, right, so. And so this is, you know, what my parents would say, they would be like, whatever makes you happy, like, we just want you to be happy. And that, to me is what love is all about is wanting someone to be happy. So with your partner, for example, you want them to be happy. So you might do things that will make them happy and bring joy in a smile to their face. Now, by and large, you will find that if you do, most people are comfortable with constancy. Most people are afraid of change. Right? So I remember I was even working in the corporate world and I had a co worker and he had been in the same cubicle in the same office down the street from his house for 30 years. And that was him. That was his life he had is in anytime anything ever was ever going to possibly change even in the slightest hint, you could just see the anxiety and the fear, right? So there is a certain level of comfort in the known. And we all have this. So yes, if you and it'll be foolhardy. Like even if you are in debt, no money in the bank, like don't quit your day job just yet. But by and large, we do have a fear of the unknown, and other people will tell you not to do the thing that you're doing. Like I've traveled all over the world, and people tell me all the time not to go to places, you know, don't go there, it's dangerous, don't go there, you're gonna get sick, don't go there. You know, there's violence. And most of the time, they've never been to this country, they've only read a few things on the news, and they have totally incorrect appraisal. And here's the thing, I believe humanity is good. I believe people are fundamentally good on the inside, I believe that our nature is love. And my travels around the world have done nothing but confirm that reality, I have seen nothing but the good in people no matter where I have gone in the world. So there is a matter of shedding certain conditioning, there is also a matter of just recognizing that even if someone tells you not to do something, it comes from their own background and their own beliefs. Like there's always different stories around what it really means to kind of let go of certain societal conditioning that keeps us in place. Now, you might have heard the experiment. I don't know if this was a true experiment. But you might have heard experiment about monkeys in the electrified banana. There's like five monkeys in a cage. There's been no bananas at the top. They're electrified. So anytime they touch it, they get electrocuted, right. It's time to switch out a new monkey. And of course, the old monkeys teach them don't touch the bananas, right? They'll they're, they're gonna electrify you. Eventually, they replace all the old ones with new ones, and they turn off electricity. So now none of the new monkeys, no. Other monkeys were there at the beginning. But they're all afraid. Right? They're all afraid of those bananas, because they've been taught that by the their predecessors before. So again, many, you know, elders, they lived in a different world than we lived in, and maybe what their advice is, and what they're telling you was true. When they were going up, but for us, not so much. We can discard it, we can let it go.

Brandon Handley 42:33 Not right, for sure. For sure. Right. You know, there's, there's, I've got two kids right now. And sometimes I'm like, you know, I'll just shut up, right? Wait, what, what, what applied to what apply to me at their age, so it doesn't apply to them? Right? It's like, it doesn't even make sense to kind of, you know, kind of walk them through some of these things. I love the fact that you know, you've been all over the world and everybody's like, Hey, don't go there, you're gonna, this isn't gonna turn out, blah, blah, blah. But here you are. So um, you know, you made it through. So, you know, there was no fear then, into stepping out,

Zach Beach 43:11 there's always fear yourself. I don't want to say that I have no fear. But there is this acknowledging, acknowledging it and moving beyond that.

Brandon Handley 43:20 And your close friends and other relatives outside your family, your parents who wanted you to be happy. Everybody was like, Yeah, rolls it.

Zach Beach 43:30 No, absolutely not. But that's the thing. You kind of get new friends after a while. As your circles change as your priorities change as your life changes, as like attracts, like, as you seek out people that you know, that you can be of service to that they can be of service to you, as you walk on this path of awakening. This is where the idea of the Sangha, like your like minded spiritual practitioners, your community comes in. And although the spiritual path is deeply personal, it doesn't happen alone. So having one Sangha, having one's community is so important on the path. And indeed, you know, once you shift from thinking that you know enough booze and drugs and partying is going to provide you lasting happiness, to realizing that sitting still and noticing your breath for 20 minutes is one of the most fascinating and enlightening and joyful experiences in being human, then your priorities shift, right and your friends shift. Now some of them come with, but we're on our own path, right? All over Sure. Our own path is unfolding according to our own unique karma. And I all often warn everyone of this spiritual ego, right? There's a huge tendency to think that because you're on your path of deepening your love or quieting the mind that you are now better than other people not on the path you are somehow more evolved more conscious. And this is, you know, there's so much spiritual ego we see nowadays on social media on The superstars, you know, in the world, that it's always important to be mindful that you're still not better all because you meditate or do yoga or drink green juice, you are no better than anyone else on the planet. Your Your path is just unfolding uniquely, according to your karma. And just as their path is unfolding, according to their karma.

Brandon Handley 45:23 Yeah, absolutely. Right. Well, whatever my path is, it's certainly it's mine, right? Whatever yours is, is yours. And, you know, it's like, we're on the way to see the Wizard. You know, we all just, we all just kind of connect on the Bridge Road, and we all have our certain things that we're working on. So I appreciate it. And you know, look, guys, anybody's tuning in and listening right now, Zack does a lot more than you know, coming in some of the stuff that we've talked about, up to now. You know, you've got the retreats, you've got the you know, Thai, massage, bodywork, or sex educator, prison, yoga facilitator, these are all things we didn't really touch on, I wanted to touch on some things that I thought, don't get as much attention in the spiritual space, spirituality space yoga space is and a lot of that is, you know, you put a finger on it, right? We talked about it, you know, one out of 21 people who are seeking, you know, connection to their body, soul and whatnot. And that's one male, that's you out of 21 people, you know, going for your instruction. So what is it that's keeping men out? And what are some things that men can do, specifically, and listen, this isn't tuned out to women, but like, I mean, again, if you pull up spiritual podcasts, my guess is that you're going to see the same ratio. Ones, that one to 20 is the one one being the male, to 20 Female perspectives. And so I think it's really important to get the male perspective out there in the spirituality space, to share that it's, it's okay, to get in touch with who you are, it's okay to feel vulnerable, and being a vulnerable space and, and connect without losing your man card. So, you know, that's the some of the stuff that I you know, so thank you, Zack, for sharing what you shared today. But also one of the listener know that you do so much more than that outside of that. So if you don't mind if, if you're good with it right now, I love to ask you a couple different questions. As I told you, before we started the podcast I think of this a little bit like spiritual speed dating. Right? You know, there's going to be a listener out there who's been like Zach has hit every chord in like my being, I've got to reach out to him. Only if he answers these next couple questions correctly. So correctly. Spirit spirit, spiritual bachelor number one. Um, you know, since you come from like this chemistry background, I'd love to hear your answer on this. What is the relationship between science and religion? Hmm.

Zach Beach 48:00 So this is speed dating, I'll say got 30 seconds to answer it. So I'm gonna say there's a totally unnecessary bifurcation between science and religion that happened about 500 years ago. Before then these things were one and the same. Around the time of the Enlightenment, they split. And right now we are on a mission to bring it all back together is that they are not two separate entities, they work together so well. And to me much religion is not rooted in ritual or memorizing texts or doing what the authority figure at the front of the room does. Religion to me is rooted in positive emotion and social connection. So science two is in its infancy when it comes to positive psychology. So if you're looking for joy, or wonder grads who love forgiveness, you're gonna find a much better Wisdom Teachings in religion than you will science and by joining these together, we'll be on the right path for humanity as the future goes on.

Brandon Handley 49:11 We'll have to see what your crew thinks about that. So spiritual, Bachelor Number one, thank you for that answer. I think it's great, right? positive emotion, talking about the sciences even as they are right now. I always, you know, even psychology, right? Like how young are some of these sciences that we're trying to pry apart the mind with that have really existed for like, years and years and years before like, we decided to put like pen to paper and you know, so it's interesting. Um,

Zach Beach 49:40 there is psychological text routing into the nature of the mind written 2000 years ago in yoga and romantic philosophy.

Brandon Handley 49:49 Right, we're just we're playing catch up. Yep. What is our greatest distraction?

Zach Beach 50:00 humanity's greatest distraction. The greatest extreme distraction in general, I'll just say in general is the external world. By and large, the spiritual path is one of discovering their inner space is just as vast as our otter space. And some people can go their whole life with ever once closing their eyes, pausing the breath and looking within. So this external world will distract you with all of its pleasures and all of its social media and technology and entertainment. But the true path is an inward journey.

Brandon Handley 50:38 I heard you mentioned a little bit of law of attraction earlier, we I think you touched on it, right? So when we do this enter journey, and what's inside is reflected on the outside. What? How does that work for you?

Zach Beach 50:49 It shifts our entire awareness. One of my favorite phrases is when a pickpocket sees a saint, he only sees the saints pockets. So what we see in the world is absolutely every reflection of ourselves. Earlier, we talked about our stories, and how shifting our stories shifts our entire experience. So too, we all have our perspective. We all have a worldview. And by shifting our internal perspective, the entire world changes. I know many well intentioned activist who wish to change the world. And I tell you, if you want to change the world, change your own perception of it. Yeah,

Brandon Handley 51:26 it's um, it's pretty crazy how it works. You know, it's absurd to start Wayne Dyer but he talks about what you know, change what you see change what you see, whatever, you know, just like you're saying. It's an amazing shift. And it can bring you I guess, whatever it is, you're looking for, right? And this context, you You and I were talking law, we're talking peace, we're talking balance. And if you can find that within yourself, then you can find it outside. Right.

Zach Beach 51:57 Absolutely. You'll find it everywhere. Ideally, right see in the world, I mean, is an absolutely reflection of who you are.

Brandon Handley 52:03 I mean, I think you see whatever it is you're looking for. Right? Right. So that Zach, it's been a pleasure having you on here today where can you know where can I send people find more about you?

Zach Beach 52:16 So I'm really easily found on the internet. You can just go to Sac beach calm so that's the AC HP AC H Beach, just like walking on a beach. Like beach calm is my main hub, but you can also find me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Brandon Handley 52:31 Zack Yep, thanks again. Thanks for being here to

Zach Beach 52:33 thank you, Brandon.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

A response to seeing the word trauma everywhere... TL:DR - You don't heal your trauma by focusing on your trauma. I am certainly sensitive to your trauma and believe that you have all had some shitty experiences... some severe... but how do you move forward?

Brandon Handley 0:00 is going on. It started this off is like fuck your drama. So with even more emphasis that was a conversation that I had with Meg this morning. For some reasons here, it's my birthday. So happy birthday to me traumas on the mind. And Tom was really only on the mind because I am seeing it everywhere everybody's got some fucking trauma. I keep seeing into me it's like traumas like the new vulnerability of you if you've been in social media the past couple of years is vulnerability was huge. When Brene Brown came out with that nobody was trying to be more vulnerable expose themselves. And now it's this this trauma. And everybody seems to be identifying with their trauma, identifying with the hurt identifying with what needs to be healed, or wants to be healed. Because that's, I mean, how do we how do we heal our trauma, right? Let's heal that trauma. And I get it, right, you've got a story. You've had an experience, something has happened to you and your life has been less than ideal. And it's become a part of your identity. This is why I am how I am. This is how I got here. I'll tell you. Years ago, I had a coach, and he asked me what it was about me that made me different, why should people pay attention to what it is that I'm doing? I was like, well, because my story is like, that's great. Everybody's got a story and as a cold, cold fucking piece. But sometimes you need to hear that sometimes you need to hear that your story is just that, that is your story. And I'm not going to say that these experiences were awesome. I'm not going to say that you should have trauma in your life. But I will say that, to me, again, it's one person's perspective. We also take a look at psychology and psycho analysts and all that others all that shit is still pretty much emerging like less than 200 years a little bit like a practice. So take all the even that with a grain of salt as it continues to develop. And as we continue to learn more and more about really who we are, how we function the way we happen, and all that other jazz, but trauma is self defined. Now I'll give you a kind of an example of a traumatic event has happened last night at our house. Liam wasn't able to find a rock dude, you know, he's like nine years old wasn't able to find a rock. I was like alright, well you can't find the rock go look in your room go look for it. Because I'm not insensitive but at the same time I don't know where the kids put all their shit and at some point they need to figure out where it is that's what was going through my head so you know go find your shit happy to help when you need some actual help. And again, I'm sure I'm causing you know some type of shit and that but you know turned out he couldn't find it right a little bit later hurt on crying with like Meg and then and then there's like this thing that's kind of kind of grew larger and larger and larger. And finally I was like fuck it let's go help find this fucking rock. right let me look just being just being honest with you here. So you know I go up the steps I'm like, let's go find the rock and at some point, I was like it's just a rock man. You know? I get it sucks to lose something but it's look quite literally just a rock. And I realized in that moment that it was insensitive. I'm not trying to be a dick. So hold off there like rooting through all this she's like I think it's in a drawer so I'm like no pile on through his drawers and trying to find it can't find it. He's still crying. And it's an it's a big mess. And and we kind of we get to the point where what happened who couldn't find it and I was like look but he's a you know, as a first of all, I was like, what what is the what's the significance of this rock to you? Like, why is this you know, rock significant? And I think he'd said something along the lines of of that you know, I got this rock with you, right found this rock with you and and, you know, just he just loved the rock

and how and trying to add some levity to the situation. and trying to break through the trauma, as it were of the moment. I was like, Well, that makes sense. You found the rock with me, and I get it now. And, you know, took a moment for me to get there, and help to understand the significance of that moment for him and continue throughout the evening, you continue to cry, continue to be upset, there was other things. You know, I gotta imagine there's other things that happen. And you eventually, Meg did find the rock and save the evening. And I spent some time with Liam just holding on to the rock and laying around and watching the show and letting them cry through it right, and not chastising them for, you know, crying because I felt like he needed to let a lot of things go. And I share the story. Because do years from now, and I don't know that's going to be a moment in his life traumatic is traumatic. Your trauma may be you didn't win an auction and get the Gucci bag. Right. Your trauma could be you got let go of from a job. Your trauma could be you lost your mother.

And the thing is, is, you know, again, it's kind of self defined. And right now, it seems like everybody's just allowed, or even being encouraged to go seek trauma to go find your trauma, go find your trauma, heal your trauma. And I would encourage you to absolutely seek healing. There is a book that I was, and I still am a huge fan of it. It's called The Science of Getting Rich. And in that book he talks about because you don't solve poverty by focusing on poverty. Right? It's like you don't solve the problem by focusing on the problem, you find you've solved the problem by focusing on the solution, what's on the opposite side of that problem? Right? What does it kind of look like when that is no longer a problem? And LP does this very well. And in limiting beliefs, right? Your trauma. Like it or not, maybe one of your and I'm not trying to be insensitive here, but it may be one of your limiting beliefs. What happens maybe if you translate that word trauma to experience, you had a less than ideal experience you hadn't? You know, you had this experience? How are you going to use that? What is what happens inside of that experience that maybe could propel you and your future? Maybe you could encourage people to hate trying to think of a good one here. But how can you encourage people through what you've learned through your trauma? Where How could you let somebody know that hey, these actions that you do, while they may seem like I don't know, small, may have this enormous impact. And the thing here is also not to be it's to be sensitive, but not overly sensitive, wherever everything turns into trauma, right. And I want to kind of highlight this with a with a small story. The story of two brothers, one brother, who goes throughout life gives back to the community is heralded he's super successful in all that he does. And the other brother, he's an alcoholic, he drinks he does drugs, he's always getting support from the outside and never seems to be able to pull this shit together. Alright, and when people talk to them, due to the brothers, the one brother, the very successful one, when people were like, well, you know, how did you how did you get like this? And he goes, Well, you know, my dad was an alcoholic. So I, you know, I didn't want to turn out like that I use, like, how I grew up to seek the opposite of that to turn into the truth of who I am right to be who I want to be. And same thing for the other brother. He goes, Well, gee, you know, how, how can we help? Like, how did you end up like this? How did you get here? Because, you know, my dad was an alcoholic. So you know, that's how I was raised. That's just all I know. And that's, that's what I became. So you can see right there. Do you know these two people have the same experience. And they leverage it in different ways. You know, I, again, was just thinking about this this morning. And you know what happens if you had to get on a small flight, we're just watching or just watching the show Yellow Jacket, yellow jackets on Showtime, pretty, pretty traumatic. There, right? Experience. But what happens if you hop onto a flight and all your thoughts, all your traumas, everything, all your experiences, you need to just call them baggage, right? Because that's what we used to call, call this stuff and be like, Oh, that person's got a lot of baggage is called baggage. But what happens if you, you label all your experiences baggage? And then you say, alright, well, you can only take so many of these things with you on this flight. So that you can live your best life? Are you going to bring your trauma? Are you going to bring the story of how you could be this but you can't because of this trauma?

And I just you know, again, look, there are some things out there and there's some things bigger than then that definitely need healing. I'm not saying that that's not true. But how can you make use of your trauma? How can you use it for your benefit? I had a course that I took this earlier this year Sreekumar Rao's creative and personal mastery. And in one of those scenarios is like how it was how to become bigger than the problem. And I guarantee you, I promise you that you are bigger than your trauma, you are greater than your trauma. I think the other person that we think about too is like, what about Abe Lincoln? Right? What about Abe Lincoln if we take a look at of all the setbacks, everything that ever happened to him, right in 1832 He lost his job and he was defeated for state legislator 1833 He was failed in business appointed postmaster of New Salem, Illinois, and it didn't make it 1835 Sweetheart died at 36 He had a nervous breakdown 1838 He was nominated for you know, House Speaker and he was defeated for speaker in 1843. Defeated for nomination for Congress 1848 Last renomination 1849 rejected for land officer 1854 defeated for US Senate 1856 defeated for nomination for vice president two years later, he's again defeated for US Senate. And then in 1860, he was elected president. Like holy shit, like what if at any one moment, it was so easy to just attach who you are and your capabilities to any one of those scenarios and just fucking stop? Right? Just let let it go. Like what would have happened if he let his trauma be his identity? I know a lot. Even me I'm like, Well, if he still be alive, like, you know, he would have lived longer. True. Even in that sense, right? You know, that kind of takes the opposite approach of you know, just because these good things happen. Are they actually good things anyways? You know, that's just kind of my thought this morning. I'm little I'm not I am I'm tired of seeing trauma. Everything seems like a trauma right now. It seems like the popular things, all the cool kids have trauma. Right now, I'd encourage you to take a look at what you're identifying as trauma. And if you need help, absolutely get it like I mean, if it's something that is not working out well for you. There's all kinds of modalities. If one is not working out for you, please go seek out another because there is more than one road to travel for healing. Give that example as at our house. We're excuse me, experiencing healing through tuning forks and acupuncture. Other people may be experiencing it through talk therapy through psychologists through psychoanalyst. Other people may be experiencing it through drum circles through community through giving back whatever it is that you've experienced this traumatic and you need healing. Please absolutely go get it. My only cry out to you is to he'll write focus on your healing focus on either leveraging your trauma as something that you could do good with or, you know, help catapult you forward in life and not let it be something that weighs you down and sucks the fucking life out of you. Right? That's not what spiritual dope is about for sure. Spiritual dope is about connecting with your inner greatness, identifying your greatness, being cool with that and growing that so that you know you can become connected and become a fully self actualized person. And that's, you know, that's for another day, but that's what that's what we're here for. Hopefully this has been helpful for you. I'll talk to you later.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Brandon Handley 0:00 What's up spiritual dope, we are on the way home from a little bit of a BJJ. And we are just, I say we, I'm just trying to come in here and I know that so many times that I'll go over, I'll start off my podcast with a guest. And I'll share something along the lines of, or one of the first questions asked courses, hey, we, you myself, are conduits for universal energy, meaning, life energy prana the things that move us electricity we are, that's what we're filled with. And we're literally just conduits for creative force. And our expression is, that is that universal force is our spirit is whatever is within us that which is actually you know, expands much, much further beyond us, then we can see the, how we express that oftentimes is through our boys are, no matter what we think of ourselves, no matter what you think of yourself as a creator or not, you absolutely are. There's no two ways about it. The things that happen, though, what you create 90% of what you create is internal. I'm just throwing numbers out there. 10% is what the world sees. So when you think of being a creative type, you probably think of somebody who is a famous guitar player, Jimi Hendrix comes to my mind or clap in my mind. You think of somebody who's incredibly gifted as a singer, Florence, the machine, come to my mind, Adele comes my mind with certain hate the blonde lizard at the street here, up by reading, everybody loves her, of course, I can't think of her name right now. That expression is what's inside of them. And that expression of their gift of their creative gift gets a lot of recognition. And I think that's okay. But that's really, to me, just the the Spear of, of what creativity is just the Spear of what creation is. And to me, we all have, we all have this gift, to create something memorable, to contribute to make an impact. And oftentimes, what scares you the most is the creation that nobody sees the creation inside of you. The creation of the scene where somebody tells you, that's a shitty idea. The scene where it doesn't work out exactly as you intended. You don't think that it ever occurred. So you never take that first step even though in your mind, it could have the greatest impact on the world. Could you imagine? You know, where would we be without? Lawrence light yoke? Could you imagine where we would be? Without? Maybe Nietzsche without Carl Jung, could you imagine where we would be without the Beatles without to Live Crew on my way back to early hip hop. Could you imagine where we'd be without?

Ice Cube and those guys Yeah, there's certain there's bound to be hundreds of people, maybe 1000s of people that told those guys, no. Could you imagine where we might be without Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Johansen with Chicken Soup for the Soul without these guys that they tried to get their book published and they were rejected by 144 different publishers. What if they stopped? You know, what if they stopped at 143? What did they said enough is enough? I can't say what they said, that's enough. And they didn't persist? What if they, you know, what if they believe you know what, maybe this won't change as many lives as we think it's going to? Because I'll tell you what, right now. For the 144, people who rejected that, publishers, publishing houses, rejected their book changed their lives dramatically. It was like, wow, we should have we should have published that. Could you imagine where we'd be without? Joseph Campbell? You know, famous for his studies of mythology, like, who chooses that as a field? And who has the impact that he has by teaching mythology? You know, without him, we don't have Star Wars? Where would we be with? I know, I know, there's a lot of people that are ultra Star Wars fans, but you you cannot take away the impact the Star Wars has had on the world. So when you are inspired, to do something, and you feel it in your heart, and you feel motivated, at least for yourself. The smallest action you could take to create that into this world and to the universe to bring it into you is writing it down on paper right now pen and paper, pencil and paper, write it down somewhere, you never have to look at it again. Because at least then you recognize the creative force that is flowing through you. And you give it an expression of some sort. And the more often that you allow yourself to capture creative force coming through you more often that you realize that you are active participant in making it exist in the world. more creative, you'll find yourself maybe your creation is writing maybe your creation is storytelling, maybe your creation is is verbalizing, support for another recognizing another's efforts and letting them know that you see that effort. And that's I think, on the flip side of it, simply. I think in my mind, that's a creator, recognizing another creator. In my mind, you're recognizing it's not so much the efforts for them to it is the effort for them to express kind of the truth of who they are. Because you know, that they've had to go through some of the same battles a zoo to express anything at all, they had to get through 99 trenches, they had to climb over 99 fences, they have to eradicate walls, in order within in order

to make even the smallest expression and when you see that And when you see that they're trying to trying out, you see that they're contributing to the greater whole

love now that you see that, let them know that they are right. That's what you recognize them for. You recognize them for the creator that they are the same way that somebody says not mistake, you recognize the divinity within. So I wholeheartedly hope that whatever is flowing through the you're able to manifest and by manifesting adult means by simply closing your eyes and willing in that regard can be like closing your eyes saying yes, I will take that next step and willing it being putting your hand into motion. Putting, putting the idea into motion, writing it down, there's gonna be a tangible sense that you feel there's going to be an emotion that floods your body, there's gonna be a sense of accomplishment that you do when when that you feel when you do this. This is you taking control of your destiny, you taking control of your mind, your thoughts. You recognizing yourself as a creator, taking that step is going to I like to say send a signal to the universe. Right that you're willing to accept a greater creative charge, right? You start small. It's like that damn. It's like those old cartoons, a little spring leaks through it, you plug your finger in it. And whammo and after that, like, it's, it's, it's busting through at the seams. So, you know, try that out. See what your thoughts are, you are a creator, as is everybody else around you. And when you recognize that somebody has to climb that mountain, to even to contribute anything at all, it's, it's kind of you to recognize it. And that will that in itself will fan your own plans like No, what I'm also encouraged by my own encouragement of others. That a and I see the impact, that it's having a See how it's making others feel and see how it's adding an intervention to your whole. Today, I feel like today, I feel like doing that. And again, you can do that simply by overcoming any doubt that stands in your way by writing it down. By feeling that sense of accomplishment. You don't have to share it with anybody. You don't have to share with me. The only person that needs to witnesses and feel it is you

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Troy is a transformational coach who works with the tools and techniques of mindfulness to support others in achieving optimal growth. He works with The Asian Leadership Institute as a corporate coach and also operates his private practice, Wisdom Warrior Coaching.

Connect with Troy here: www.wisdomwarriorcoaching.com and asianleadership.com

Unknown Speaker 0:00 Your journey has been an interesting one up to hear you've questioned so much more than those around you. You've even questioned yourself as to how you could have grown into these thoughts. Am I crazy? When did I begin to think differently? Why do people in general appear so limited in this process? Rest assured, you are not alone. The world is slowly waking up to what you already know inside yet can't quite verbalize. Welcome to the spiritual dough podcast, the show that answers the questions you never even knew to ask, but knew the answers to questions about you, this world, the people in it? And most importantly, how do I proceed? Now moving forward? We don't have all the answers, but we sure do love living in the question. Time for another head of spiritual dub with your host, Brandon Handley. Let's get right into today's episode

Brandon Handley 0:40 one, hey, there's spiritual dope. I am on here today with Troy McFadden. Troy is a transformational coach who works with the tools and techniques of mindfulness to support others and achieving optimal growth. He works with the Asian Leadership Institute as a corporate coach, and also operates his private practice wisdom, where coaching Troy and I are on take to and and a little bit earlier, you know, we he and I met up I love these podcasts, kind of like dating matching sites. And so that's how we connected but we have some profile matches. And here we are today. And we're just having this conversation. Glad to have you on Troy.

Troy McFadden 1:18 Thank you so much for having me. Absolutely.

Brandon Handley 1:21 Absolutely. And, you know, the idea is, we're like, I'm not sure how familiar are with the idea of the shamans hollow bone, right. But I feel like you know, we're, we're like these hollow bones where spirit energy just kind of fills us up. And we just act in accordance with universal source as it were right. And in that essence, like today, you're on here today delivering a message from Spirit to an end listener that can only get what Troy has to deliver in this moment. What is it that Troy has to deliver to that listener today?

Troy McFadden 1:56 Well, let's see what happens. Honestly, Brandon, I don't know. But I trust that we're going to co create moment to moment. And by the end, there'll be at least one prominent theme that will emerge.

Brandon Handley 2:10 Not fantastic, right? We'll just we'll just kind of let let source guide us as it were, less horse, guys. And so I think that it's great. I don't run into too many guys, right? Too many male, too many males in the spirituality space. And so I'm curious kind of what your journey has been like to get into this space was the Moyer and really kind of embrace it. And then how are you leading from spiritual, your spiritual self? And what's that like for you?

Troy McFadden 2:42 I love that question. First off, I agree with you, there is not as many men that inhabit this space as there are women. And there's a sadness in me about that. And also, it requires, in part, accessing our femininity, regardless of our gender, because there's surrender and openness, trust, yielding, allowing, be holding questions that are necessary, as part of the spiritual journey, aren't that are necessary in order to be guided?

Brandon Handley 3:18 I like that. But I guess my first question would be, are those are those things that are mutually exclusive to women or femininity? Or are they just things that men haven't given themselves? The permission to access and we see it more in feminine, in the feminine,

Troy McFadden 3:37 perhaps both. And in fairness, spirituality in the spiritual journey requires the masculine as well, there needs to be a spark of what you know, what's traditionally masculine, right? Risk taking adventure, all of this, ultimately, it's a balance a union of the two, that is required. But in my own case, there's been a lot of surrendering, there's been a lot of taking off of armor. It's been painful. It's been vulnerable. It's been humbling. But ultimately, it connects me more with the earth with natural cycles and rhythms. And it does bring me into a sense of divinity as something that at least for me, is well both masculine and feminine. There's something kind of inherently female about it. And it's nurture and its protection and its power and its own unique power, this kind of thing.

Brandon Handley 4:31 Children toy, I do not, do not okay. You know, so my wife, I've got a couple kids and there's definitely there's a power around a mother, right like that you just can't get you can't mimic it as a male. Right and you really can't you won't see it in too many other places. So when you say power, I just think I think my wife and you know, just the power of motherhood. And so when you're talking about the nurture and protection, that's definitely coming to mind. When you talk about, you know, surrender, where do you find that for yourself any and again, before we even go there, like I believe, like you, you found yourself like kind of drawn to spirituality like at a young age, if I recall, right, just from kind of reading a couple of your, your pieces online, and what's really made you lean into it, like what's drawn you to it, and what makes you stay there.

Troy McFadden 5:29 Ultimately, I think it is the bliss, in part, it's the bliss, it's the love, it's the feeling of connection that comes with certain states of consciousness. And then conversely, it's, as the Buddhists would say, it's the suffering in life, it just becomes more painful to stay in those states once you've hung out, in, in, in other places. And so this to me is kind of like the the the safety valve or the trap door in nature to assure to assure any, any evolving being that they'll start and continue to move towards the light. The

Brandon Handley 6:08 the safety net, and so falling in like this bliss and love in a certain way that you find. And spirituality.

Troy McFadden 6:15 Yes, yes, that's absolutely. Okay.

Brandon Handley 6:18 And you're you're primarily focused in on mindfulness practice, right? Is that kind of what you're, you're best known for? Would you say?

Troy McFadden 6:29 I would say so. And in that heartfulness, is also included in the Asian traditions. What is generally translated as mind actually includes both mind and heart?

Brandon Handley 6:42 Yeah, yeah. No, I'm glad you brought that up. And listen to one of your other episodes, he brought up that as well. If if you look at my logo, you'll see you know, there's nothing I forget which guy's got which is a Buddha Jesus and each one of them's got like a heart over their head and or their heart. And and if I saw that connection for quite some time, because I'd heard about it being brought up. And you know, we don't have that traditionally, in the West. This this heart mind connection, nor do we have a word for it, in your experience, sounds like you've connected those to yourself. What would you like in that connection to? How would you explain that to somebody that's unfamiliar at all with this space?

Troy McFadden 7:28 The connection between heart and head? Is that what the question is a Native American teacher of mine, has characterized the journey from the head to the heart as the longest one you'll ever take. Because in modern cultures, etc, we become disassociated with it, we sort of live in this upper top heavy space of the rational mind. Whereas when, in truth, the heart is the center of wisdom always has been seen as such and revered as such through through time. So it's a matter of sort of deconstructing the mind. And I think that can only happen are only motivated enough to start that process. Once we've seen its limits. However, we tend to experience that the limits of the rational mind powerful as it is it has limits. And perhaps Then, and only then, are we willing to be brave enough to do what it takes to take that journey to reconnect with the center of our being the center of our wisdom, the heart.

Brandon Handley 8:43 Did you find that to be true for yourself? Would you find out the fact you ran up against a wall for yourself or limit the limitations?

Troy McFadden 8:53 Sure, because we can't figure out how to be completely How to be what we are in our entirety with our head. I'm thinking of the old Einstein quote that we can't solve a problem with the same level of consciousness that created it you know, it ultimately involves feeling being sensing embodying incorporating and the mind just That's not his job that's not its primary job His job is to judge to assess to analyze etc wonderful to be honored a necessary part of being but only only one slice of the pie.

Brandon Handley 9:30 I mean, it's funny when you say slice of the pie I'm also just thinking that's the mind job slice and dice analyze, apart, compartmentalize and like put things in certain places categorize it also that you know, it's easily accessible for us to be able to, to kind of react but typically when we react we react in like this fear base base. And I don't know I'm not really also connected to my own heart to be frank right. So when when I'm when you talk about kind of connecting the two are coming from this heart centered approach. Is it from more of a authentic and more vulnerable space seems let's talk a little bit about what that looks like.

Troy McFadden 10:12 Yes, it is more authentic, it's more authentic and that it's more complete. And it's more vulnerable. And again, it's, it's wiser. Because it's able to behold the paradoxes of life, you're able to feel the beauty and the joy and the love in the world more completely, and are thus more connected to the greater whole. But at the same time, you have to experience the the sadness, the angst, the wounding, the desperation that exists as well. It's, it's not a one way mirror, you know, you got to be hold it all. And that takes courage takes a certain kind of strength in order to inhabit that place. I don't know if I'm answering your question or

Brandon Handley 11:00 not? Well, it's tough, right? It's really tough, right? I hear it, and I feel it, and I get it. But you know, I guess on the on the other end, I'm thinking of the listener right on these sound great, how's it gonna benefit? You, you know, how's it benefiting you, how's it benefit the listener to get themselves into the space?

Troy McFadden 11:23 Well, it's the source of, of depth and joy. In life, our emotions add richness and fullness to life. And what is the case for most of us is that we only want to feel the, the pleasurable emotions and we don't want to feel the other emotions. And so we keep the door shut completely as a result, or at least partially, and we're trying to play the game of only letting some in and only letting or you know, and not allowing others, and it just doesn't ultimately work. So living in our heads, in other words, is very limited and limiting. Right. And it's kind of this, as you say, this compartmentalize kind of surface dwelling, middle of World way to engage and relate to life. But if you want to really experience life fully, you've got to drop down, down and in, and behold, and be with and accept and allow, and ultimately be grateful for everything that you experience.

Brandon Handley 12:32 When I, I love it, right? When we talk about this dropping down in, and I'm gonna scroll back up here, because we talked about the journey, the longest journey that you take is the one from your head to your heart. Right? And it sounds like this drop down in size and a lot accept and allow is a couple steps along the pathway. Would you would you say that's true? Yes. Would you be able to explain what that might look like for listener that bore myself that hasn't made that that journey?

Troy McFadden 13:08 Sure, I'll give it a shot. The first step is being with what is accepting that it is exists, that could be discomfort, that could be pleasure, it could be a mix of things, just being with it. Right? Not trying to deny it, not trying to push it away, not trying to automatically disconnect. And in, in that acceptance, there's there's somewhat of a pause, generally, things at least slow down, if not pause in order to allow for that, allow for the acknowledgement. And then in that pause, there's a spaciousness and we can work with that space, we can kind of expand into it a little bit more. So beyond just accepting that it is, you know, and and not immediately applying judgment to it. We can enter into it, right, we can allow, we can allow ourselves to feel it, and our bodies, whatever comes whatever the sensations are. And, and, you know, again, there's sort of a process that seems to unfold, it's not necessarily a methodical process, and more than one thing can happen at the same time. But ultimately, again, yes, we were present with what is we allow ourselves to experience it, we may even take a sense of curiosity and openness into it and that and that can come with appreciation or lead to appreciation, and ultimately, where this where this leads? Well, there are steps beyond this, but we can access an inherent gratitude that exists underneath all our judgments and all our labels and everything else, just an underlying, inherent gratitude for the experience of being alive. Everything, everything even that Especially that because it brings learning that brings us gifts.

Brandon Handley 15:07 When you talk about gratitude, how would you describe the feeling or the space or being grateful to somebody?

Troy McFadden 15:22 There is a deep appreciation and an awareness that there is a reason behind whatever is occurring, you may well not know why. But there's a sense of connection with something greater than ourselves. And a trust in that thing, whatever it is, as the source as source, as something that is providing you with exactly what you need to learn and grow in this moment. That's one way I might describe gratitude to someone.

Brandon Handley 16:00 But I'll take it only because that's exactly like not word for word. You know. So, you know, my gratitude practices, you know, write down or if I'm in the car, like sometimes I don't have enough time to write down my gratitudes in the morning. I'll verbalize it, right. But I wanted to really sit this morning with what is gratitude and the way that you described it. Like I said, not word for word, but really close, right, this connection that we feel to source, right, and, and you can just feel it, and the appreciation and the awareness of that just in the moment, everything's kind of just the way it's supposed to be. Right? And it's pretty amazing. And it's awe inspiring, all those things. So thank you for that, you know, you've described like I would have, but you never know how somebody is gonna describe it took me and I don't know how long it took you. How long do you feel like it took for you to understand what gratitude was and to feel that feeling and to be able to invoke it at will

Troy McFadden 17:04 decades, if not lifetimes?

Brandon Handley 17:07 decades, if not lifetimes. So I, I know that you, you've got to, you've got a singular practice, you've got a group practice, you know, what makes you even want to be a coach, like you see all kinds of things you could be doing out there in the world. But what is it that draws you to this space,

Troy McFadden 17:27 a desire to serve in a very specific way, in a way that affirms the dignity, the sovereignty, the power in everyone else, and everything else. And as a vehicle that, that allows for that to be expressed and received within in a very direct way. I mean, in other words, I could sell coat hangers for a living, and still bring mindfulness and heartfulness and connection and all these elements that I bring as a coach. But in coaching, I'm able to speak to it, and in direct ways, and in hear from people in direct ways. And ideally, at their best things get into a state of absorption, where things just arise between the coach and the coachee. And things are channeled in, you know, one gets into intuition or even in states beyond that. And some, you know, some magic occurs, which would probably be a less common experience if I was a coat hanger salesman.

Brandon Handley 18:32 Right, right. I mean, you could be I could just imagine that being kind of a fun show, though. Right? The the mystical coat hanger salesman kind of guy traveling around the world. So are you you're able to really kind of tap into your own spirituality, intuition, and share that with your clients, or most of your clients. Are they seeking spiritual guidance? And, and, you know, kind of talk to me a little bit about what that looks like, you know, what kind of kind of clients are calling me like you, Troy, I could use the spiritual help. And it sounds a little bit like what

Troy McFadden 19:10 this is my clients aren't coming for that reason. Some are and I take great delight in it. Most are coming for more worldly reasons, but when I am able to do is draw on my own sense of connection to spirit and soul, for that matter. So from this maybe broader, more expanded realm, which informs me so that I can, in a sense, bring the light in to people's more and I don't say this judgmentally but more mundane concerns, perhaps illuminate them to to shine the light on different aspects of this so called problem so that the the coachee can see it from different angles, and they can have their own experience of expanding around it and allowing for, you know, different perspectives. It's not up for me, you know, to me to be different Vader have that it is my job to inspire that. In others.

Brandon Handley 20:05 That's great. So I mean, think looking kind of for that light within them and help them tap in that for them.

Troy McFadden 20:13 Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.

Brandon Handley 20:15 Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I love I love that. I think that happened to me through my code being coached. And I was like, Oh, I got to do this, too. This is great. You know, this, this is, I mean, why wouldn't you want to make people you know, support and encourage them and show them just how great powerful, amazing that they are? Right? And, and you know, that I think that that's what's great about coaches, and you know what I'm hearing you say that too. And then, you know, for me the idea of the word coach, right? Sounds like Cokes, right? coaxing the light on somebody else, right? Some coaxing the light out of them, or, you know, coaxing them to their own great anywho Anywho. So, let's, let's, let's keep it moving. Like, what? What would you say? You know, we talked a little bit about, I would actually, I'd love to hear more about what you feel about. Male spirituality? We don't really have that conversation too often on the podcast, but from your space, and where you're at? How would you? How would you classify that? What, How's it different? And, you know, how do we really inch in? How do we grasp onto our male hood, right?

Troy McFadden 21:30 It may actually be more helpful to think of it as how do we let go into our male hood, because we live in a very hyper masculine culture, the whole culture is like that not is more or less, right could be characterized as that not just men. So there's this sense of always had to prove ourselves, and as I said earlier, to be armored to be tough, to be strong to be aggressive, or at the very least assertive, and, and competitive, and all these elements that are typically associated with masculinity. And thus, it's very difficult for men having the unique relationship to ego, that that men tend to have to, to let go. And to drop that, or at least be willing to be brave enough, and a new way to explore a different way of being. So for me, it comes with being warm and engaging, and connecting and helping to appease anyone's anxieties or concerns when I'm around. And, you know, at the very least, let them know they're safe from me, hopefully, that they're safe with me, and that they're appreciated and respected. And all of this stuff usually happens in very, very subtle ways. But there's an art to it. And to me, it's the it's the art of fully embodying fully embodying rather, our, our masculinity, our whole rather than just this part as sort of protector and provider and everything else, there's also this power and warmth, that that can be part of that, and an inclusion and all of these other elements that are sometimes thought of as as feminine. So yeah, when you really get into this stuff, and you go deep enough, there's, there's a place of balance, it's not androgyny, it's something that includes the whole and includes both aspects more fully and completely, so that one can inhabit it. So I present is very male, you know, I'm like six, three and 220 pounds, and, you know, whatever, but I'm very soft hearted. And so, you know, it's always an art of how, how do I work with this vehicle that I have, in a way that best serves the moment, sometimes I'm going to be more overtly masculine. Other times, I'm going to be more more nurturing and caring and overtly feminine. But that's, that's part of the journey is becoming more fully human, so that we can inhabit a broader realms and be of service with it. Not just self serving, which a lot of men tend to fall into, for whatever reasons.

Brandon Handley 24:09 Sure, sure, not I love it. The, the whole idea of you know, this being armored and having to be tough, aggressive and assertive, you know, not for nothing. Maybe it's because I'm not six, three, but that's, but that's never really been my own. And I was also raised by, you know, my mother and you know, had more of a feminine, more, more of a feminine, you know, influence than than male. So, it's really interesting, because you might feel like you're doing doing it wrong as a male if you're not trying to be aggressive and assertive, right? And you're like, Well, you know what I mean? So, what, when we talk to somebody, and they're telling you Well, I'm just not, I think I should be more aggressive. I need to be more assertive. Do What is your response to that to some other male

Troy McFadden 25:05 and so on the person and it depends on the moment. Some other males do need to work on that, and allow that to come through as part of that balance nuanced, you know, breadth and depth that they draw from. I will I will share with you and the listeners now to that one of the challenges that men can face in our culture or cultures like it, I think America is one of the most extreme of not extreme examples of hyper masculinity is that what arises in other males in particular is sort of a case, there's sort of a dominant submission dance, am I going to be the dominant one? Or, or am I going to be the submissive one, and most people want to be the dominant one. So it's a matter of like stewarding one's ego, like, I'll be submissive if you need to be the dominant one. Because on a deeper level, I know that we're connected, and I know we're okay. And I know where you're at. And I know where I'm at. And also, as a as a very common thing that arises is some kind of homophobia to some degree, like, in other words, if you're soft and warm, and caring, and kind, and you take that extra moment to connect, you know, within, you know, some women have this as well, it's like then, and with that, then, of course, inherently is fear. Oh, oh, okay. You know, and all these stories come up about it. I don't identify that way. But I've certainly felt the the phobia and the and the resentment and the resistance and the judgment, that I think a lot of people that identify as homosexual or something related to that experience. But that's just part of the, the price you pay as it were, to bring your own light, and your own progressive balanced healthy, masculine energy into the world, it will encounter resistance, you're going to encounter resistance anyway, as a male. So you might as well be working on something, you know, grander.

Brandon Handley 27:06 I love, I love the idea that that you brought up to about like, this need to, for many males to be the in the dominant role. And, and to do that dance, whereas you know, if you can just understand, you know, spend my experience, right, where if you're dealing with somebody who really feels like they need to be the dominant one, you're like, Alright, cool, man. You're it. Let's just move forward. Like, let's just what are we what are we trying to do here, right, we go back to the beginning of our conversation, we talked about CO creating, we could spend a lot more time co creating and putting things together together, if we just support each other, and if you got to be if you got to be the dominant one, so that we can get shit done. Let's do it. Like I don't that's cool. Cool with me. Cool with me. One of the things that I would say that I've witnessed so and again, just very curious about your experience, is there can be like an over rotation from any type of like, you know, being I guess, hyper male, into like, hyper feminine as a male and trying to strike that balance. How do you help? How do you help others do that?

Troy McFadden 28:14 I'm glad you brought that point up, because it is another parallel of the path as it were. So when you first start experimenting with, you know, moving beyond what you might feel attached to stuck in what you've previously identified with, perhaps exclusively, you're going to err on the side of, you know, you know, either shifting back into that hyper masculine role, or, you know, in your experimentation, perhaps you resist to try something else out to kind of go into this overly feminine role. And then that comes with its own issues, you know, women tend to want us to inhabit certain elements of masculinity for the sake of all just as the world wants and needs women to inhabit certain aspects that, you know, that they tend to bring into the world. And I don't want to, you know, be exclusive here and I'm including, there's a spectrum of course, but just for ease of

Brandon Handley 29:05 working in generalities here at a Troy It's okay. Sorry, we're not singling anybody out.

Troy McFadden 29:12 Right. Exactly. And we're including everyone,

Brandon Handley 29:14 everybody's included. That's right. That's right. And I love that you brought that up too Right? Because going back to just western male dominant male and coming from male and female right this idea of competition the females still have a concept of what a proper male should be right and again, you're not kind of acting in accordance to that there could be this kind of like this off putting presence that you bring where to where you said earlier what I really liked it that you want that you want somebody anybody to to feel safe around you right or at least you know, safe from and or with you. Right And and I think that there can be some times that if you don't bring like this, this extra mail with you like extra than theirs, they get like a quizzical look.

Troy McFadden 30:09 Yes, yes, that's right. And you know, women have absorbed a lot of the the lies and the myths etc, in our society just as men have about what men are supposed to be. And while they tend to broad strokes here where they tend to be much more open and accepting and allowing, there is this, you know, belief that you are a man and thus you are like this and you're expected to behave in certain ways. And if you're not behaving like like that, you're doing something a typical, even if it's not overtly aggressive or threatening or something, it's it is it's, it's, it's, it's a it inspires a quizzical look, and it kind of an internal, you know, a lack of cognitive dissonance, I guess, and of women. And again, it's all part of like this art of life, you know, how can I show up completely and fully and, and then respond to the moment with whatever it needs, however, I best can. It takes work. And I think that's one of the reasons men are where they're at. Because depending on where you're at, in the hierarchy, if we look at things like that, especially if you're, you know, a white male, affluent, whatever, you're kind of at the top of the pyramid on one level. And so you can just unconsciously bulldoze your way through. But any everyone else, you know, anyone else who's not in that category doesn't have that luxury. But if you are that, and then and then you're you're you're saying, Look, we're all on this pyramid together, we're all part of it. And there is no hierarchy. Well, people aren't used to that. They don't necessarily know what to do with it. Men, women and other. Yeah,

Brandon Handley 31:47 you're right, right. I happen to spend a fair amount of time with, you know, the white affluent male, and there's this tendency to, um, just kind of say, be obtuse, right, and just kind of, really, I don't know if gross negligence is the word, but it's close enough that I like,

Troy McFadden 32:09 the term in this context, right, just

Brandon Handley 32:11 kind of a sense of self. And it's very interesting. But I get what you're, I get where you're at. And I appreciate this conversation. Because again, we don't we don't get to have that. I don't think I don't think males are having this conversation too often. And if they're having this conversation is generally not and some type of public forum that's easily accessible for other guys come out and be like, wow, you know, I'd like to, I don't know, find my artwork, right, like the tin man. Right? Yes. So how are we able, you know, to open ourselves up, open our hearts up and live in a heart centered way in today's world?

Troy McFadden 32:57 What a question. First off, I just want to acknowledge what you were saying, you know, a man could, in the safety of his own home, or, you know, privately listen to something like this. And that's part of perhaps the service that we're, we're offering today. And CO creating is that, hey, we're relating like this. So maybe you can relate like this, at least sometimes with some people. It, it takes again, I've said this before, but it takes a certain kind of courage, a certain kind of bravery and a certain kind of strength to be willing to live in the heart and from the heart. And women in general tend to be better at it. So one thing we can do, as we start down the path or we you know, expand on these aspects of ourselves is to look to the women in our lives as examples. And perhaps as a source of guidance. Women are generally only to a too happy to help men get more in touch with their hearts. And, and it can involve really simple things, it might actually involve physically touching your heart at times, as you're expressing yourself, or as you're receiving something. I've lived in Bali quite a bit of my life, and they have a they have a habit as they greet each other to touch their heart briefly as a way to stimulate it and connect. I mean, it's a beautiful ritual, very out of place in many cultures, but it's something that that has stuck with me. And I'm sure it comes across as odd on occasion, but it it at least it's not intimidating. And it might even inspire curiosity and it gets me in touch with my heart and I can actually feel my heart energy in my hand. And it's just a way to make sure that I'm relating on that level. So a bit of an odd habit, perhaps but something simple like that, to remind us to come from here, rather than appear

Brandon Handley 35:02 has definitely sounds great. I, if I'm, you know, sounds a little bit like, I'm sure you know, at the Heart Math Institute, right? I think that they talk a little bit about doing something similar, you can do that just to get that connection. But that sounds great. So just kind of pause yourself. And just remind yourself by touching your heart that you're coming from the heart, right? And so you're feeling that sensation, and just reminding yourself that that's where you're trying to come from. Right. So I love that guidance, you have any other type of guidance? Well, you know, I'm gonna wind it back a second to because you said, I'm a big fan of the word courage. Are you a fan of David Hawkins, you're familiar with the the consciousness map, map of consciousness with David Hawkins?

Troy McFadden 35:46 The name is familiar. I'm not familiar with the map.

Brandon Handley 35:50 All right, well, I mean, so the gist of it is, so in the map, you know, you start in like, the lower rungs of consciousness was just gonna be fear and shame and grief, and like all these other pieces, and they're, they're logarithmic scales, and goes all the way up to, you know, 1000 1000s, basically, Christ consciousness, right? With love being 700. But at 200 is his courage and his, the courage is that tilting point, where you come out of you come out of being afraid, you come out of your place of fear, or you step into a dream, or you step into something for the first time for yourself that you're living into it. And it's courage is that tipping point. So that's why I bring it up. I was curious if you were familiar, would you say it's, would you say that that's true, from your experience, that courage is the tipping point into, I don't know, leaning towards bliss, or following your bliss or opening your heart even. I would have to reflect

Troy McFadden 36:48 on that for a while to say if it's the tipping point or not, but it's certainly an important necessary aspect of the journey. And it's indicative of an opening up a willingness to try something else. So in that sense, it may well be. And, you know, men tend to talk about and like this, you know, this sense of risk taking and adventure and all of this kind of thing. So the notation that I'm going to extend now is like, Okay, well, how about risking being vulnerable? How about risking opening your heart? How about risking the expression of your genuine, deepest feelings. And in that way, it might inspire that that male part of us that you know, wants to take risks or whatever and apply it in, in a new context? How willing are you to drop the need to feel power in order to experience perhaps even greater power, or a different kind of strength, as I referred to it earlier than you've ever known.

Brandon Handley 37:55 And it is true. When you talk about vulnerability, though, you know, for a while, thanks, Brene, brown, you know, vulnerability was, you know, the, this kind of this catch all, and a lot of people were trying to leverage it, at least in the social media space, as this kind of like, showcasing their vulnerability, which to me is, you know, now you're just putting on a show and staging something. And then there's also like this other I think I think she actually talks about in her book is like, you're not just like verbal diarrhea on top of somebody, how would you have put vulnerability in the con? What would an example be for somebody just kind of know what volubility might look like or feel like

Troy McFadden 38:41 some of the outer edges of working with it to start with it might involve simply not needing to be right. Perhaps expressing a perspective or opinion as just that, rather than, you know, my way or the highway are this kind of like demanding way that sort of, you're pushing things through in that there's a certain amount of vulnerability and that you're open to being wrong, you're open to some other way being the best way forward. So that's, you know, one entry point, one way to start. It's an extreme expression of vulnerability to to just, you know, it's an erotic to just rip yourself open and, you know, go until all the imbalances or whatever, there's discernment needs to be applied to it. And there is a time and a place to be self protective and to protect others. But walking through life as a warrior involves being open and trusting that you'll respond as need be in the moment, knowing that you have resources to draw from on a spiritual level. It's quite different than being a soldier who is armored, who is into an us versus them mentality who travels heavy who looks at the world with fear as Place to to be braced against a warrior can walk with true strength, proudly, openly with focus and with a gentleness.

Brandon Handley 40:10 I really like that a discernment distinction between the two. So thanks for thanks for sharing that the difference between a lawyer and a soldier, right? Never heard kind of described that way before. And I appreciate it. For sure. So, I'm definitely like to get to this one part as I always kind of think of, of what we do here also as spiritual speed dating Troy, right, somebody is tuning in for like, maybe a half hour an hour, and they're just looking for their next spiritual date. And I don't know about you, but like, look, I definitely go through I cycle through different people. And it tends to be like a 90 day, 90 days, give or take, right where I'm like, Okay, I need something, I need something new. And there's so much content available. Right. So Troy, bachelor, spiritual bachelor number one question for you would be, what are we also afraid of

Troy McFadden 41:10 fear itself on the unknown, our true natures. The power and connection that comes with that, and the horror at realizing that we have chosen to be separate for as long as we have.

Brandon Handley 41:30 Wow. It's really amazing when you reconnect with yourself, right? And to your point, the horror of realizing how long you have let that go. How to you know, it's real similar to get into the heart. What is like something that you, you know, alright, like, I still recall, when I kind of fell into this space myself, and I was at a dad's convention and talking to other dads, and I was like, wow, you know, how are you stepping into your greatness? How you, you know, how are you expressing that? They're like, Whoa, did a real push back there, right? Like, oh, whoa, whoa, I'm not great, right? Like, Well, I'm not talking about like, you know, go out and fly around, or do all these other things. Like, you just like, have this inherent internal greatness, it just feels amazing. You just have access to it whenever you want, you can apply it and so many awesome places. They don't even want it. Right. So how do you know how to help guide somebody into that space? Or how do you help them just kind of become aware of that without saying, hey, you know, I'm gonna tap into your greatness today. Troy here, tapping into your greatness. Right. So how does that happen? What do you what do you like to do with that space?

Troy McFadden 42:55 question I asked that's very closely related to this. Because for most people, and for most men, when they get into a sense of like, owning their greatness, it comes in in an egoic way. And it's puffed up, and it's artificial. And the flip side of that is self doubt. So one, one question that I find myself asking is, imagine what you have to deny. In order to believe you're not worthy. Imagine, imagine the spirit, the power of the universe that you are, imagine how much you have to turn away from how much just connection is involved. To explore the idea to behold the idea to be attached to the idea the belief that you're not worthy, and to therefore have to compensate for it in all kinds of unhealthy ways. That's that's,

Brandon Handley 44:03 that's powerful, right? I mean, I'm over here with some kind of Goosebumps. I'm like, even trying to put myself in that separation of sentence base. It's like it feels helpless, right to even try and put yourself into that space. You know, why wouldn't again, why would I want to try and access that I'm, I'm one of the right like I you know, don't try and take something away. That's innate. I mean, that's basically what you're doing. I don't know if you're watching or if you've ever read the series. That's, we'll time that's on right now on Amazon. Did you ever read that? Did you read the series?

Troy McFadden 44:38 I didn't read the series, but I've watched the first couple of episodes.

Brandon Handley 44:42 Okay, well, I'm in one of the episodes I don't think they talked about it just yet the day stilled. They what's called stilling, STI ll ing the mail wizard. And what that does is it cuts that person All from source that they've finally, you know, they. And it's really talks about what you just said here, right? Like, if you cut yourself off, if you've taught source and if you've been a part of it, and you've recognized this within, there's really, it doesn't go anywhere else, it's always there. And to cut that off and never be able to access that again. You'll have a deep look into it in the series, but that's enough to make you mad. Right?

Troy McFadden 45:28 Yes, among other things, there's an enormous ignorance associated with it. And we have to own that and then the sadness of, of our predicament, as it were. And again, it comes with some very real vulnerability. And, and yet, in doing that work can be holding it. You can open into

Brandon Handley 45:53 unimagined realms. There's two storage just I love it. One last one for you. Bachelor spiritual bachelor number one. Um, what is your one wish for the world Troy?

Troy McFadden 46:07 We wake up, and that humans in particular inhabit, what is their potential destiny, if not the destiny that they're meant for, which is to be noble stewards of the entire planet? Living things, nonliving things seemingly nonliving things, all of it. That's my deepest, most heartfelt wish for the world. That's beautiful. Troy.

Brandon Handley 46:38 Do you see us headed in that direction? Do you feel like we're making a change? In our time right now? Are you seeing it happen before your eyes?

Troy McFadden 46:48 I don't know. I am open to the possible reality that it is happening. Because whether we change or don't, we we're going to enter into this bottleneck period. It's either going to close off and that's the end of the chapter. Or we're going to come out of it, we're going to emerge from it having been seasoned, forged, wiser, and just better.

Brandon Handley 47:19 All I can think of as a cast iron skillets Troy, so we're going to come out at least at least seasons and wiser. Troy, thank you so much for being on today who like Who's your ideal customer who should be reaching out to you.

Troy McFadden 47:35 Someone who is open to their own development, their own growth and development. Whether they see that in a spiritual light or not, is less important than a genuine desire to change, to expand to grow, but ultimately, just to become more of what they already are.

Brandon Handley 47:54 I said Where Where should we send them to find you?

Troy McFadden 48:01 You can find me at www dot Wisdom Warrior coaching.com That's probably the best place to contact me.

Brandon Handley 48:09 For I want to say thanks for stopping on today. Thanks for we worked we worked through our technical difficulties and and we found our footing and we made it all the way to the end. Thank you so much for joining today.

Troy McFadden 48:18 Thank you very much, Brandon.

Unknown Speaker 48:21 Really hope you enjoyed this episode of the spiritual dove podcast. Stay connected with us directly through spiritual dove co you can also join the discussion on Facebook, spiritual dough and Instagram and spiritual underscore dough. If you would like to speak with us, send us an email through Brandon at spiritual dove.co And as always, thank you for cultivating your mindset and creating a better reality. This includes the most thought provoking part of your day. Don't forget to like and subscribe to stay fully up to date. Until next time, be kind to yourself and trust your intuition

When people think of the idea of flow, they usually think about it in reference to an athlete. It is that feeling that comes when you are so immersed in what you're doing and time seems to stand still. They feel like they can see and do everything without effort and it feels like they don't want to stop.

Brandon Handley 0:01 What is going on spiritual dope been a minute, since we

Unknown Speaker 0:10 tried to make them like do I say come at them live and we never come at you live.

Brandon Handley 0:14 It's been a minute though, since we have hopped on two podcasts and done a solo. It's been a moment since we've done that. So coming out of my little spiritual practice, always, not always, but I tend to on Instagram just do a little posta a mini reel of coming out of Brazilian jujitsu. And I tagged it as spiritual, spiritual, dope, spirituality, and BJJ. Because that's where I'm able to go into and get into a state of flow. A state of everything kind of dissolves and goes away for a little bit. Because what happens in life in general? And this is why meditation and breath work is so vital, is that we get caught up in our thoughts. We get caught up. I know I didn't look I saw speaking first, Prof speaking as me, you know, I know that I get caught up in my thoughts. I get caught up in what's what's the next right move to do? What's the next right thing to do? I get caught up in my fears, I get caught up in anxiety, I get caught up in all that shit. Okay, well, I get caught up in, you know, being happy and find enjoys? Well, unfortunately, I would have to say that more of my time is spent in, in I'm not in that space. Right as often is I work to get into that space and find myself in that space. The reality of it is, is that I've got a family, I've got job, I've got got these call material responsibilities. And you know, there are some things that I need to at least assert influence over. If I'm not able to control it, what can I influence, and it's whatever it is that I'm influencing in my daily life, it's my job, it's, again, my household. That that's the control that I exert is the influence and sometimes the expectation of that influence is not what I would have liked it to have been. And that's where we can find ourselves. That's where we find ourselves. And that's where I find myself being frustrated. That's where I find myself, you know, asking myself, What could I have done differently? What needs to change? How do I, how do I go about this differently? I don't do as much of this is something that I used to do. I don't do is once about like, what, what why don't they get it? You know, I don't I don't do that? I don't I don't ask what should change about them anymore. So much. And that's not 100% of time, that's a greater percent of time. Because when when we do that, when I do that, I'm giving the other person, people these other things in my life, the ability to kind of control me, right? So what I need to recognize is, what is it? How do I need to approach this differently so that I might be able to get my point across because when I realized that I'm not getting my point across and in something in a dialogue, it's not them, it's me, I'm not understanding my audience. I'm not understanding the words that they use, I'm not understanding their approach. So I'm not adapting properly, and I'm not creating communication in a way that they would like to be communicated to. So I've got to look inside, I've got to look at myself and I've got to understand, Okay, well, what do I know about this person and how can I make that adjustment? So those are some areas that I can influence and those are those are the things that I'm gonna control those The things I'm thinking about, right, those are things that my mind is just like, my mind is like a maelstrom, all these things coming in and flying around, you know, I don't duck fast enough to not get hit by all these thoughts that just occur.

So when I talk about it being BJP, my spiritual practice, I've got a lot, I've got plenty of those thoughts, I've got plenty of the thoughts that I do have are immediately reactionary or proactive. In terms of how do I work this person, their body and the role. Fair amount of it, though at this point has become subconscious is simply built in. At this point, it's just the same as walking or riding a bike. After a certain period of time, you just kind of get into this state of flow, your body knows what to do. You still got some thinking to do, but you're in a state of flow, you're in a state of, of letting your body do what it's supposed to do, you're in a state of the mind is the mind is silent, the mind is gone for a little bit, because you're just in a state of, of kind of knowing what to do, or at least knowing where you are. And there's a there's a stillness, as as often as it looks like, and I'm sure that if you've ever watched somebody do a BJJ Brazilian Jiu Jitsu roll. It looks like a lots going on. It looks like a lot going on. But I would say that it's not too different than just just like a dandelion see kind of flowing in the wind. Right? It's, it's the deal, the person I are, we're kind of locked. One of us is to the dandelion seeds, and the other ones the breeze. And that's really what's happening. And, you know, we're in this state of flow. As, as Bruce Lee said, you know, kind of be like water, and water. It flows it, it adapts to its surroundings. It can transform and still be water, it can be ice, it can be gas, it can be, you know, water itself. And so when you're when you're doing your roles, and you're finding yourself and you find yourself in that state of flow that's being in my mind, that's, that's your connection to Source, you've got a stillness about you. That's means to me that all the things your body, mind and soul are locked in, you're in lockstep, here. You're doing, you're doing your boy band dance together, everybody's just doing everything's just doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing. And it looks and feels good doesn't, it doesn't really matter how it looks, it just feels good. And so where can you find that? For yourself? Where is practice, maybe it's drawing. And then another place for me, it's when I'm cooking. It's in a place where I find it most often, in a place where I'm trying to create something. That's what I think about when I'm making a meal and creating I'm involved with it, there's, there's an intent, there's love going into it. There's who it's going to serve as all the things. And in the creation process. I find myself in a state of flow. So where do you find yourself in the state, so that you are connected. And this is like where you this is a place where you can find your joy and your kind of imminent fulfillment. of kind of like that's the state of being that in my mind, you were sent here to be in the state of flow, the state of connectedness, this eternal state, where time dissolves and everything outside of, of you, dissolves. And like Master Oogway Kung Fu Panda, you find yourself in a state of inner peace. I'd love to hear back from you. Where your state of flow is how you find your state of flow? You know,

and maybe, you know, I'd love to hear back from you, if this has inspired you today to go find that you don't need to be in it for a long period of time, you can find yourself in the state of flow for five or 10 minutes in a day. Then you will your your entire day will be shifted your physiology, your body chemistry, your paint your brain, everything's going to be shifted as you enter this state and you'll feel a wholeness and I want to hear whether or not you got into that stay. I want to hear within that as far as you to get into that. Or just even if you don't have the time today, what is it that gets you that state