The Brian Brister Experience

The definition of pivot, as I have found online from Merriam Webster, says the action or an instance of turning around on a point.

And that is exactly how this feels. 

Wow. Sometimes when God speaks it feels like it is WAAAAAAY out of left field. And, at the same time, like it's the most obvious decision you haven't considered.

That's where I'm at right now. God hit me up Sunday night with a super clear message to leave Los Angeles and go to Nashville and it couldn't have come as more of shock to me.

So, I talk a bit about that and I also talk about what it looks like to live your life when you're hearing from God and when you're not hearing from God. How do you make decisions or choices about your life when you aren't hearing his voice? You remember that as long as you're pursuing a relationship with him, he will stop you if you're about to harm yourself. And if he doesn't stop you, maybe it's because the choice you're making isn't going to negatively affect your ultimate calling and God can use you in that new city or that new office or that new club. 

Most often, the will of God has far less to do with a location and far more to do with an action. 

Do the people you surround yourself with encourage you and celebrate you and hold you accountable and call you out on your B.S. and cause you to want to grow and become more? If not and that is the life you desire, then it's possible that your people aren't actually your people. They can still be your friends. They can still be your family. But you have to surround yourself with people who believe in you and want the best for you if you desire growth in your life. 

Today wraps up three part series of interviews with my friend Carroll Keane and it has been incredible. I hope that you guys have enjoyed it as much as I did. If you haven't listened to part one and part two, I highly encourage you to do that. You can listen to part three and still get a lot from it because I  believe that these episodes do stand alone.

However, they build upon each other so beautifully that  I think that if you listen to part one and part two before listening to part three, it's going to be a much more cohesive understanding and better experience for you. So if you haven't done that, go check those out.

If you've already listened to the part one and part two, welcome. You know that we wrapped up last week's episode talking about mental health issues and what that has looked like and how Carroll has worked through those things in his life with those diagnoses and trying to figure out natural ways to combat those.

I thoroughly enjoyed that conversation and hope that you got something from that. Today, we pick up talking about health and addictions and what that has looked like for both of us. And then we're going to end the conversation, wrapping it all back up with a bit more of the creativity talk that we had in part one.

Last week, we left off in my interview with my friend, Carroll Keane with him telling me that a year ago he had given up coffee completely, which was quite a shock to me. But then once I thought about it, I was like, wait a minute. This kind of sounds like something that Carol would do, just to see. So, today we kicked off that conversation with Carroll explaining why he chose to give up coffee and many other things as he contends for his physical and mental health daily. I loved the analogy that he gave at the end of the episode about being a soldier vs. being an athlete. 

Let me know your thoughts!

Carroll and I met while living in Los Angeles and attending church together. When Covid-19 shut do Los Angeles and I left to visit my mom in Mississippi, Carroll and his wife Julissa left the following day to visit family in Missouri and decided to begin building a life there. Shortly thereafter, they found out they were expecting and are now living and raising that sweet babe in St. Louis. We had an amazing conversation here about the difference in being creative and creating and what that has looked like in our lives. This is just the beginning of our conversation, but it felt best to split it into multiple episodes. 

Two years ago, I said yes to something that I had absolutely no desire to do, but God told me to do it, so I did. It completely changed every single thing about the trajectory of my life and I couldn't possibly be more thankful that I said yes when all I really wanted to do was say no.

I have a daily calendar with motivational quotes. It is based on the book UNFU*K YOURSELF but Gary John Bishop, and a few days ago, the quote was "We Are Always Winning At Proving Something". That confused me for a moment and then it punched me in the gut. 

Positively or negatively, winning or losing, growing or staying complacent, we are ALWAYS WINNING at proving that thing. That can be a tough pill to swallow sometimes.

I'd love to know what you're currently winning at proving. 

Feel free to follow me on instagram @brianbrister and let me know there what it is you're currently winning at proving. 

Episode 30! Wow! Can't believe I've already released 30 episodes. Having a podcast was a dream of mine for so long and here we are. 30 episodes in. Thank you guys for riding this wave with me.

In today's episode, I started out just wanting to give you guys an update on some life changes that have been happening and it turned into a bit of a conversation about the importance of self care and what self care can look like. It doesn't always have to be massages and new nails. It can be, but it doesn't have to be.

Take a listen, then reach out and let me know what self care looks like for you. I'd love to hear your take on it!

Have a great week!

Do you ever feel inadequate or like a fake? Like somebody is going to rip back the curtain and suddenly realize that you're not the person that you appear to be? Or is that just me?

It's not that I'm living a fake life. I just sometimes don't feel like the leader or brother or son or worship leader that I claim to be.

Spending today working through what this looks like for me and hoping to hear from you in this as well. 

The best part about this session is that I had a pretty freaking cool AHA moment as I was talking through this. 

The things that you believe about yourself govern everything about your life. Your goals, your dreams, your hopes, the way you connect with others or respond to others-all stems from what you believe about yourself.

I talk about the following quote from Gary Bishop in the podcast and mentioned that I would include it in the show notes here so you could copy it into your notes or take a screenshot. 

"Subconscious thoughts are deeply ingrained in your pshche, so it can take a lot of thinking, imagination, and commitment to transform these invisible yet powerful thoughts into ones that better align with your stated goals."-Gary Bishop