Saturn Returns with Caggie - From Homelessness to Bestselling Author: Vex King on Positivity, Authenticity and Spiritual Growth

Episode Date: September 30, 2024

In this powerful episode, Caggie sits down with the incredible Vex King—bestselling author, motivational speaker, and the mind behind Good Vibes, Good Life—which has sold over a million copies and... was translated into 40 languages, as they explore his transformative journey from trauma to global success. Vex opens up about his early life, including losing his father and experiencing homelessness, and how he turned these hardships into fuel for his personal growth. He shares how discovering personal development books set him on a path to self-improvement, positivity, and ultimately, success.   Together, Caggie and Vex discuss: The role of vulnerability and creativity in his life and writing How meditation and self-love became essential pillars of his journey His transition from corporate life to becoming a full-time author and motivational speaker The challenges of balancing material success with staying true to his message of authenticity and spiritual growth How social media plays a role in sharing positivity with a global audience If you’re seeking inspiration to transform your mindset, embrace vulnerability, or live with greater authenticity, this episode is filled with wisdom and actionable insights. Join us as we dive deep into Vex’s extraordinary journey and discover how you, too, can create a life of meaning and positive change. — We’re so excited to be partnering with WoodWick candles this season. Check out their timeless, elegant candle collection that’s bursting with tranquillity here. Our community Substack, “You are not alone”, has now launched! This space is dedicated to deep, honest conversations around the struggles we all face—because no one should feel alone on their journey. Whether you’re navigating personal challenges or seeking inspiration in your creative pursuits, join the community on Substack here. Follow or subscribe to “Saturn Returns” for future episodes, where we explore the transformative impact of Saturn’s return with inspiring guests and thought-provoking discussions. Follow Caggie Dunlop on Instagram to stay update on her personal journey and you can find Saturn Returns on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. Order the Saturn Returns Book here.

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello everyone and welcome to Saturn Returns with me, Kage Dunlop. This is a podcast that aims to bring clarity during transitional times where there can be confusion and doubt. And can you believe it, we are on season 10! I know I've had a bit of a break but I have been cooking up not just one season but a whole other mini series that's going to be launching on a Friday which is called Courage to Create and I am so so excited I feel like I've been planting the seeds over the last year and everything is going to be about bringing out my own music project. There I've said it, it's happening. So I'm super excited to hear what you
Starting point is 00:00:54 guys think of that. And I mean we get double the podcasts, so how wonderful. Anyway, to kick this season off, we are joined by one of the biggest names in personal development. You will have definitely seen his quotes, you will probably have read some of his books. And in this conversation, we really get into his personal story and how he got to where he is now. And there's some really vulnerable moments and that is the one and only Vex King. My friends turned to me again and they were like Vex, I don't I don't get you.
Starting point is 00:01:34 You left corporate, you stopped your clothing stuff. You had this almost like this mini social media agency that was, you know, keeping you afloat and now you've just got rid of it all to be positive and to share positivity with the world to you know make the world a better place like who are you the next Gandhi like there's no money in this and I was just like if I was doing this for many I would have stuck to some of the other stuff yeah but I'm doing this to potentially serve
Starting point is 00:02:04 this higher purpose that people keep telling me about But I'm doing this to potentially serve this higher purpose that people keep telling me about that I'm only starting to believe in and I want to do what excites me and what feels true to me at this time. I've been a massive fan of his work for a really long time and so sitting down with him and having this conversation was just so wonderful and listening back and making the edits there's just so many wonderful takeaways that I've been jotting down and it's one of those ones I think you can listen to quite a few times because his path is really about serving others and the power of
Starting point is 00:02:40 positive thinking and he's dedicated his work against the odds, against some very challenging obstacles that he faced in his life which we get into. He has persevered and come out as this amazing guide for people on their own journeys and also encourages the individual to know that they are the best person in order to uncover what's going on for them. We talk a lot about the power of journaling, meditation, sharing our creativity, vulnerability, self-expression. And so I hope that you enjoy this episode. As we kick off the season, I think you are going to love it. It's officially autumn, my favourite season. I love the colours, I love slowing down and doing my daily rituals with woodwick candles burning.
Starting point is 00:03:39 Anyone who knows me knows I love a candle, as they really help me immerse myself in my own inner world before I start my day. Woodwick candles are perfect for this time of year with their bold, unexpected fragrances, and I love how stylish their contemporary jars look in my home. They have some beautiful new fragrances, including phantom cherry, hypnoflora, antiquarium and gilded sands, which take inspiration from mystical destinations such as the deep black forest
Starting point is 00:04:12 and the great pyramids of Egypt. With the darker days ahead, woodwick candles help me feel more positive and I find taking the time to light a candle and listen to the sound of the cracking wick so comforting, as it reminds me of sitting by a warm fireplace, curled up with a hot cup of tea and my favourite book. Woodwick has a timeless collection that's elegant, stylish and bursting with tranquillity. It's time to fill autumnal with woodwick. Check them out at woodwick.yankycandle.co.uk to transcend your everyday. I think in our charts in astrology the way to find your vulnerabilities is to look at your clue to sign
Starting point is 00:05:05 charts, astrology, the way to find your vulnerabilities, look at your Pluto sign, because that's where you're being reborn at some point in your life. So that's your personal renaissance. So at some point you die and at another point you're reborn. And that's why it's hard to be vulnerable. You have to be able to find ultimately what's the vulnerable point that you have to face, that you have to confront. And also like what's the vulnerable point that you have to face, that you have to confront and also like what's the obstacle between this and the growth of it that has to die. And that's Pluto most often. It can be Saturn at some points, but often it's Pluto. It'll be Pluto's situation that will confront you with all the things that have been encoded around you, that has kept you away from your vulnerability, which is also your truth.
Starting point is 00:05:45 Because where there's vulnerability, there's truth. And where there's vulnerability, there's pain. And where there's pain, there's death. Then you're able to be reborn and then create your new life through a renaissance of yourself. And that's where you shine, that's where you glow, that's where you have your golden age. You know, you have to go through some kind of pain in order to understand that, okay, this needs to transform. Transformation is game and transformations means that something needs to be let go of. Be it yourself, a part of yourself, your own demons, angels, a limited belief system, or a person, or a job, or whatever it is, something needs to go in order for you to understand that now I'm going to transcend and I'm going to get into this next part of my life, this next chapter. You have to be able to jump into the abyss in order to be able
Starting point is 00:06:31 to maybe land on a feather bed because you will fall into the abyss regardless whether you want it or not it's already happening you know it's happening so whether you jump yourself somebody pushes you or circumstances push you you will jump into it. But you have to have the faith that whatever happens, you will land, you will land somewhere. And it might be even more beautiful than the thing that you've known before. Vex, welcome to the Saturn Returns podcast.
Starting point is 00:06:58 Thank you for having me. We've got a fairy friend here as well. We've got Tupac here as well. But for the audience that isn't familiar with your work, although I'm sure most of them will be, would you be able to explain a little bit about who you are and what you do? I feel like this is the hardest question in an interview. It probably is. So yeah, I've written three books. The first book, Good Vibes, Good Life, is what most people who are familiar with my work know me by. And that's sold over a million copies. It's reached people worldwide and it's translated into, I think, 40 or over 40 languages.
Starting point is 00:07:38 But my backstory that led me towards my book isn't as glamorous. People that have heard me speak before probably heard this a million times but when I was younger when I was precisely actually six months old my dad passed away and then the following years after that life was very difficult. I went through three years of homelessness so I wasn't on the streets but I was technically without a home and we moved around a lot. And within that time experience loads of violence, poverty, racism, and all kinds of things I think that created trauma within myself. And that really pushed me or inspired me to
Starting point is 00:08:21 change the way my family were living. And that set me on this kind of personal development journey. And when I was around 14 or 15, I turned to books. I didn't really have any other resources. I didn't have people around me who were of a growth mindset. And in books, I kind of found this kind of solace. I found this hope that I could turn things around for myself.
Starting point is 00:08:47 And I started adopting this positive mindset. So the first book I turned to was Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. And that really gave me faith that things could change for myself if I adopted a positive outlook in life. And things eventually did. And slowly things started not only making sense because I was able to turn I suppose that pain
Starting point is 00:09:10 into power and positivity but I suppose you know things started improving gradually and then by the time I was I think I was 20 or 21, my life took a massive hit. I was in the final year of university, and I kind of just lost the will to keep going. There was a multitude of events that were all happening at the same time. Which were? One thing was university, it wasn't going well, We had a massive issue in one of our group projects and it potentially meant that my final year was gonna get ruined. I had broken up with a girl I was seeing
Starting point is 00:09:55 and there were just always those general money issues that we always had. So, although I was at university, my mom was an extremely hard worker. And I know all uni students can probably resonate with the struggle that they have. But for me, I had to make my student loan go so far, so much further than everyone else, because most of it would go towards my accommodation. And then I actually didn't have any money, so I was doing bits, you know, on the side,
Starting point is 00:10:22 like I was making My space templates for, for people. You know, I had a summer job every now and again. I was doing whatever I can to, you know, try and make money and sustain myself. But, you know, there were some times where I'd have to like cut back on experiences. So if all my friends were going out to eat or going to the pub or, you know, just go to the SU, I'd be like, I'm really busy, I've got too much work on but the truth was I couldn't afford to go because I knew I had to keep a keep a budget. And yeah, I just, you know, looked back on my life at
Starting point is 00:10:53 this low point. And I was just like, life's just never been great. Like, you know, I'm never going to be able to make something on myself, all this stuff that I'm reading in the books, and all these entrepreneurs that have, you know, been successful in their lives lives and all these iconic individuals, they've probably been lucky or they come from a place of privilege, but me, I've never had anything in my life. And I was really, I went the complete opposite way.
Starting point is 00:11:15 And that was because for the sake of positivity, I actually suppressed how I was truly feeling inside. What you were trying to just sort of bypass your emotions and paint on a positive mindset when it's not really how you felt. Exactly, and I think that's the, I stand by the idea that genuine positivity can change your life.
Starting point is 00:11:36 And there's so much research and studies now that show that just your mindset, and even if you think of just the placebo itself, adopting a positive mindset can change circumstances for the better, but at the same time we shouldn't deny how we feel and if there are deep rooted beliefs maybe linked to something that you've gone through in the past, something that's potentially traumatic, it's always worth exploring. Now for some people that might be through therapy or counseling, but not everyone can afford therapy and counseling and that's
Starting point is 00:12:11 unfortunate I think in this day and age. But you know for myself I turned to meditation and when I experienced that really low point and I said to myself that I did it, you know, I lost the will to live. After I kind of pushed through that that period, I said to myself, I never want to feel that low again, and I never want anyone else to feel that low again. So I need to go on this organic journey of positivity and self love, and really understand myself. And then then you know maybe I can share it with others but that wasn't really the intention at the time. You know so I started meditation and as everyone does when they start meditation you close your eyes and you start you know thinking you're feeling things or is this it is this working and over the years it took practice
Starting point is 00:13:04 I you know I'd always journal unconsciously I didn't know I was journaling but I started doing more kind of conscious journaling where I would write out how I was feeling and it's these little practices that started really creating this shift and you know when there's a true authentic shift when people see it in you so when people you know there'd be people that I'd bump into from school and they'll be like, Vex there's something different about you like have you you know changed your hair and I'll be
Starting point is 00:13:32 like well actually I am receding because I'm in order but I haven't I haven't changed my hair it's just that you know I'm really just yeah well I'm working on myself and they're like yeah you're like you're like glowing and then the true test is during maybe Christmas or for us it was Diwali where you're with your family and there's people around you that would usually get on your nerves and you can stay cool, calm and collected.
Starting point is 00:13:58 And you can actually respond to circumstances when you can just pause and realize that the old way of reacting wasn't healthy and it's not in line with who you want to become. And yeah, I started to then notice a shift because it was little things that would usually cause some kind of annoyance didn't actually incite this kind of reaction in me. It was almost like I was steady and I was just like, maybe this whole meditation, journaling, self-love thing is working.
Starting point is 00:14:34 And then people are like, you know, what did you do? Like, how do I do what you've done? I was just like, I don't know. Like I've just done a bit of this, bit of that, you know, gone to the gym, looked after my body, wrote some stuff down, but I was just like, that's not helpful. So I need to try and give people practical tools
Starting point is 00:14:54 and techniques to use. And this was way before I was actually on social media. But then naturally, when Instagram came around and there was Twitter, there was Pinterest, I started sharing ideas with the world. And actually a lot of the time, the ideas were reminders to myself. It was just to keep myself in check, right?
Starting point is 00:15:15 But then some of these pages started really building audiences. And by the time I knew it, I had 50 social media accounts, I think. 50? Yeah, around 50, not under my name. I didn't even know 50. building audiences. And by the time I knew it, I had 50 social media accounts, I think. 50? Yeah, around 50. Not under my name. I don't even know 50. Yeah, there was a lot. There's a lot to manage, actually. And I had 50 different accounts and they were all to do with good vibes and, you know, raising your vibration.
Starting point is 00:15:38 And it really, it sounds like it was like an accountability practice for you, as well as wanting to share. And even now to this day, like a lot of the times when I share things to social media, it's a glimpse, it's something that I've thought of, something that I need to remind myself of, or something that I've observed. And then I then, you know, write about it because in that moment I'm inspired and I share it with the world. So what's that? I'm curious about that because I often have things or thoughts and I'm like, I want to share that but I don't. So what's that, what was the process like from first starting and then also now how
Starting point is 00:16:15 do you kind of remain disciplined in having an idea? Because I think whether or not it's people wanting to share it around positivity or good vibes or they're just having a creative idea, I don't know, as they're going to bed, but they think, I'll remember it tomorrow, and they don't. Yeah, I think when you have a thought at night and you're like, this is so great, this is profound, and you're like, you know what,
Starting point is 00:16:36 I'll remember it in the morning. It's so good, I'll remember it tomorrow. Because you don't wanna go and grab your phone or a notebook, and you wanna try and get to sleep, and then you end up forgetting. I actually get so many ideas in the shower. Yeah I think that's quite common. Yeah and you get so many ideas. I get them walking as well. Walking yeah walking is a great one actually. I think it's when you're in this place of kind
Starting point is 00:16:56 of like Zen or you're washing away your worries and you're you know in this kind of grounded mentality. I try and write things down straight away unless I'm in bed, if I can, but a lot of my ideas will come after meditation. Sometimes I'll be like yourself, you said, you know, walking down the street and I might be inspired and I'll just pull my phone out, I write something down, I get a lot of ideas in between sets in the gym, so I'll just make notes. sets in the gym. So I'll just make notes. And if I'm really inspired, I'll keep writing until I can't. If it's just an idea, I'll, you know, sit on the idea for a while. And then I'll revisit the idea later. If I when I revisit the idea, I don't feel inspired to write, I won't. I'll only write when I truly feel inspired to write because I feel like that makes it so much more real.
Starting point is 00:17:46 So you don't force it? I don't, but I have at times. So for example, when I've written books. Yeah, you have to force it. Yeah, you have to force it at times. And sometimes it's good just to get into the discipline of writing. But truthfully, the best work comes when you're just in that flow
Starting point is 00:18:06 state and you're simply just writing. So that's what I try to return to. And plus you're so much more honest. I think you're so much more receptive to ideas from wherever they come when you're inspired. I think when you're forcing it, you're trying too hard to sound good or to sound a certain way and you're trying to use the right words, when you're forcing it, you're trying too hard to sound good or to sound a certain way and you know You're trying to use the right words. Whereas you're not just receiving a download Yeah, you're not receiving that download and I think what comes to you naturally will then reach people naturally as well What comes from a place of truth will reach people in their center of truth as well And I will find the people it's supposed to find. But then what about going from the paper
Starting point is 00:18:45 to then actually sharing it with a community? What's that? Cause I feel like that is a barrier of entry where a lot of people be like, I'm going to share it, but then don't. I honestly, I share both things that I just jot down or write down. And some of those things require a lot of vulnerability.
Starting point is 00:19:07 There are things that I think I've shared that haven't been always comfortable for people to receive. They've not even been comfortable for myself to write down. But because they've been so honest and because they've come from somewhere deep within, for me it's almost like a healing practice as well. And that's why journaling is so important. You know, we've, so my wife and I, we've got a collective called The Rising Circle and we created a book called The Greatest Self-Help Book Ever Written is actually the one by you, because I believe that most growth takes place, not when you're reading a book, when you're
Starting point is 00:19:43 actually being introspective and looking into yourself. And that's what I think a journal should do. It should raise self-awareness and there should be a way to track changes within yourself. And that's why we created this journal with, you know, daily prompts. They change every single day. But the whole writing phase is so healing. So I think to myself, well, if I've written this and I feel like I'm taking a humongous step towards healing, maybe others would as well, reading it. And I completely understand,
Starting point is 00:20:18 sometimes I'm in this really poetic phase when I'm writing, sometimes it's very direct, it's almost like that David Goggins, go outside and run 100 miles. Sometimes it's kind of neutral, it's between that and there. And sometimes it's very compassionate and heartfelt. But it's true to me in that moment.
Starting point is 00:20:39 And if it's true to me in that moment, I'm sure there's other people that will feel the energy of that writing when I share it with the world. When I wrote Good Vibes Good Life, my first book, there were things that I wrote within that book that I remember sharing with my mum, and it was about our past. And I was like, mum, look, you know, I was really young, like some of the memories are from when I'm like three or four. I'm like, they're kind of blurred. I remember how I felt at the time, but I can't picture it vividly. So sometimes I'm just kind of like fact checking with her, like, is this correct?
Starting point is 00:21:14 And, you know, then she's going back to her memory and it's her memory of the last memory, she's recalling, which is always going to, you know, be a little bit different from the actual event. But when she's, you know, I remember sharing something with her, I was like, I'm gonna put it in my book. And she was like, you can't share that. And I was just like, why? Why was she saying you can't share it? Because people will cast judgment
Starting point is 00:21:36 on maybe me or her or our family, and especially within our community, which is the Indian Hindu community, there's a lot of judgment. Could you give me an example of some of the things you shared? Yeah I think it was about the poverty that we experienced and the housing shelter experiences. It's almost weird like when you're in school you don't want people to know, right especially me and you know people around me, you don't want people to know that you're
Starting point is 00:22:02 broke or that you don't your family doesn't have much money because people would then pick on you and you'd almost become a target of bullying. So you try and create this this perception that actually you're doing okay at home and that you do have money. And then as you get older we seem to love the victim mentality and we love to say oh I'm broke and this is actually I'm even more broke and it's almost like you're competing in this like this broke Olympics of who's actually more broke. But I think especially within our wider community, people knowing that my mom went through really, you know, real deep struggles, would then maybe influence them to see my mom in a different light, not
Starting point is 00:22:40 as this strong, resilient woman who she absolutely is, but maybe as this very vulnerable woman who experienced a lot, didn't have much support. And although it's you know very important to stay true to yourself, I think people find it very difficult because we live in this society where we're taught to care about other people's opinions. And I think that's something that she struggled with when I shared some of these stories back with her. And also it's the navigating of sharing your truth in your stories, but also being mindful
Starting point is 00:23:15 that it's someone else's as well. Yeah. If you're not writing the book. Which... As the nights grow darker and the days shorter, there's something grounding about slowing down and creating moments of calm at home. For me, that's where my woodwick candle comes in. Every time I light one, it's not just about the glow, it's a full sensory experience.
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Starting point is 00:24:28 Finally, Gilded Sands offers warmth, softness and elegance with top notes of bergamot, fig and peppercorn. So next time you're winding down, remember that you're not just lighting a candle, you're creating a luxurious environment to be anchored by your senses and enjoy a momentary pause. Each flame is a reminder to take a moment for yourself.
Starting point is 00:24:53 Welcome in the coldest seasons at woodwick.yankycandle.co.uk. (*chimes tinkling*) Which is always a tricky one to balance. Yeah, I actually think when I wrote Good Vibes Good Life, and I quite honestly spoke about self help and how I'd been able to implement self help practices into my daily life. People messaged me and they were like, thank you so much for giving me a voice because you expressed something that I had always thought or known that I couldn't put into words.
Starting point is 00:25:30 That they couldn't articulate. Yeah, and I think that's the magic of writing or even speaking is that you can give a voice to the souls who can't express themselves or to the souls that can't be heard. And that's why I find it such a magical and profound experience. I love that and it's so true. Yeah. Would you be able to share a little bit more about that experience because you said when you were young that you were homeless was that something that I mean and then it kind of brought you to this work which is I don't know would
Starting point is 00:26:02 you be able to share a little bit about that experience? Yeah so once my you know my dad passed away so my mum's not long moved to the country she's been in the country five yeah roughly four and a half years or five years and she's just given birth to me she can barely speak English you You know, arranged marriages were a big thing, so she's basically married someone kind of random to some extent. They're trying to raise a family and suddenly, you know, her partners passed away. So now she's left with three kids and the eldest is four, so that's my older sister, then the middle sister's two years old at the time and I'm six months.
Starting point is 00:26:51 And she's almost got no time to grieve, like she can hardly speak the language, so she can't really navigate her way around, you know, the UK and, you know, she doesn't know how to handle this really deep hurtful experience that she's just had and she's raising three kids by herself with you know not much money at the time so you know my dad and my mom had a business at the time but eventually that went bankrupt and there was one point we stayed with a family member who was my my dad's brother and you know he would you know he's no longer around, unfortunately. And he was a great soul, but he was going through his own problems
Starting point is 00:27:28 within his own marriage. And just to explain some of the things that I saw, so they had a daughter of their own. And I remember as a child, seeing the daughter being punished in a really violent way, because I suppose she would have been you know annoying her parents as kids might do at times or you know she has has needs and they can't attend to the needs because they're having maybe marital problems and I remember them getting a
Starting point is 00:27:56 rolling pin wrapping it with a towel and then sticking it down her throat so I was exposed to little things like that and then there was one time where the family business that we had, so it was actually my mum and my dad's, but then my dad's brother took over with my mum, and I remember there was one time where my dad's brother locked us in the house above the shop and wouldn't let us leave and I remember seeing my mum crying, you know, I, honestly, I can't remember how old I was, but I remember this was the first time I saw my mum and my sisters crying. And I didn't understand why, but their pain felt like my pain. So I all I also started crying. And because we couldn't leave, and I realized it was my uncle's fault, we couldn't
Starting point is 00:28:44 leave, I tried to fight him. But obviously, I I'm just a child I remember him pushing me away. But why did he shut you in there? I don't know, honestly I don't know. There were probably some kind of internal struggles but yeah that business eventually went bankrupt and that's when we were without a home. So we moved around to different housing shelters, hostels, but we weren't always welcome. There was one housing shelter which was, as soon as you enter there'd always be kind of untrustworthy looking characters around and they would give us kind of sinister stairs. And then during the night we would hear evil screams
Starting point is 00:29:29 and like no police would come. And then by the morning when we'd walk down the stairs there'd be blood all over the staircase, broken glass everywhere. And you know, as a child, and I didn't realize it impacted me so much at the time, but you know, I'd look at us. How old were you at the time? Probably around three maybe four and yeah I just
Starting point is 00:29:48 looked around I was just like you know what is this and then there were rumors and again you know this is supernatural stuff but people would say the place was also haunted so in the night you'd hear screams but then you would hear really screechy screams and it could be someone getting hurt. But you know, if you believe in the spirit world, it could be something, you know, supernatural, all kinds of stuff, all kinds of stuff. And it was just almost a nightmare. And then we'd move from, you know, the housing shelter to different families that we had.
Starting point is 00:30:18 So for example, my mum's sister, but my mum's sister was also new to the country. Also, also you know in a brand new marriage trying to create a family just had kids and we're almost like imposing and they're very kind and you know giving and they welcome us into their home but they're also trying to start this family and you know going through their own issues as well but there was one, so we were staying above my uncle's shop. I remember my mum telling me to stay put upstairs while she ran downstairs and all I could hear was like rustling and things, you know, someone moving stuff around and screams and shouting and so forth. And if you stand on
Starting point is 00:31:03 the top of the stairs you get a direct view onto the shop floor and I remember there being the beer fridge here right at the bottom. I remember seeing a guy in a leather jacket emptying the fridge out and then I remember seeing my aunt's hair being pulled, my two sisters who were only, so the elders probably would have been eight years old at the time. And my mom's hair being pulled by all these guys in leather jackets. And then I looked at my uncle and he had a nose full of blood and a gun to his head. And I was so scared, but at the same time I was so angry
Starting point is 00:31:38 seeing my mom being hurt. And because, you know, I was really protective over my mom. That's all I had in life. I didn't, you know, we didn't have luxury. All we had was love and we survived off love primarily. So, you know, I can't lose my mum. And that's what it felt like at the time that someone's taking my mum away. So, you know, I was like shaking and I wanted to do something. My mum saw me and she managed to move away. And then she said, stay put, don't come down. I was almost in this conflict, like, do I go and do something
Starting point is 00:32:05 but again what I'm four or five years old at the time this is nothing I could have done but after that you know fortunately the gun wasn't used they found the bullet later on the on the shop floor but experiencing stuff like that always made me perceive threat even if threat wasn't around and I was navigating life constantly cautious that someone or something might hurt me or my family and that really inspired me to you know change things but when we finally moved towards you know it moved into our council home so again and you know it it was almost like this, this horror story that just never ended.
Starting point is 00:32:47 So even when we first got our council home, it almost felt like a dream come true. We finally found a home that felt safe that we could call ours. But then the reality kicked in. And this was the reality that every time I stepped outside the house, all the kids on the block would shout racist abuse at me. They would take away my ball that my, you know, my mum had worked so hard to provide to me.
Starting point is 00:33:11 And then I'd chase them, you know, chase them down the street, finally get my ball back, but I'd have to fight them to get it back. I get, you know, my head kicked in, but I was quite strong. I was quite strong-willed. So I'd end up hurting someone in, you know, in exchange, and then their parents would come knocking at our door saying, your son is violent and he's hurt, you know, my son. But there was also my neighbours. So the house next door contained 10 Caucasian teenagers, and every weekend they would get absolutely hammered. They had a drum kit, they'd start playing the drums that we could hear through our walls. And then they'd start knocking on our door,
Starting point is 00:33:52 telling us to leave the country and get out. We didn't belong there. And then there was this one night where we had this washing machine that we wanted to like dispose of. So we left it on our kind of front lawn and it's right outside the door and they got fireworks they put it in the washing machine and it exploded
Starting point is 00:34:10 and this is like at like 3am and I'm still you know a child thinking like what's going on there's an explosion outside and I remember my mum had to calm me down because I'd be in bed and I'd just be shaking and she could you know I'd be in her bed because I'm so scared and she'd be like okay don't worry don't worry and she'd always remind me that she was really strong but I could also feel her shake as well so I knew she was also scared and you know there comes a time when you just look outside your house or at least I did and it's you know this is quite a blurry moment but I looked outside and I was like I can't live like this you know this isn't what life should be. One day I'm gonna change my life and my family's life and I'm gonna write a
Starting point is 00:34:56 book about what I did and you know that was just this loose kind of dream I don't think much of it I don't think I want it in fact I probably didn't even want to be a writer at the time. I probably wanted to be a footballer or something like that. But I didn't, you know, I didn't really take that seriously until I was much older. So as I started, you know, really rationalizing the world and started creating this self-identity, I started having conversations with all the people around me and I was just like there must be something better for us out there, right?
Starting point is 00:35:25 This can't be life but the thing is everyone else was experiencing the same struggles and the same challenges as me and That's all they knew all they knew was hardship and heartache So every time I said, you know, there'd be something greater there is these big dreams that we could chase or fulfill They tell me to almost, you know, like, get out of the, get my head out of the clouds, like that's not possible, this is our reality. And then when I'd speak to like, religious preachers and healers who were well respected within our community, they would almost reiterate that God gave me this life, and he selects certain
Starting point is 00:36:04 people to live through these things, and that, you know, life might he selects certain people to live through these things and that you know life might not get better but it's okay God wants you to do those these things and we live through these things and you know you just have to accept reality and I just didn't resonate with any of those answers yeah yeah there has to be something better. And it wasn't until I went online and I used to read this, it was as I was reading into hip hop music and you know, my talk's called Tupac.
Starting point is 00:36:34 But actually the first book I actually picked up, it wasn't the self development book, it was actually Tupac's poetry book. I really resonated with poetry because, especially Tupac's poetry because it was kind of street poetry, but it resonated with how I felt and what I was going through. And I felt almost seen and validated through his poetical words. And I went on this forum, and I was really drawn to the philosophy
Starting point is 00:36:59 section on this forum. So they would talk about new music releases but they would also talk about you know life philosophy, neuroscience, Buddhism and people kept talking about this one book that would you know that changed their lives but also changed Bruce Lee's life apparently and I was into martial arts as I was you know thinking Grover Rich has changed Bruce Lee's life maybe it will change mine and that's how I started getting into personal development and start switching up my mindset. And you know, the more I suppose- Interesting, so like Tupac was kind of your route into personal development in a way.
Starting point is 00:37:35 Yeah, in a strange way he was. And you know, even to this day, music's very close to me. Like music- And what about poetry? Poetry as well. I have another page called Vex King Writes. So at the time I wrote a lot of poetry. I actually wrote poetry before I started writing prose or anything else but I never told anyone
Starting point is 00:37:54 in school that I wrote poetry because at the time if I went to school and I told my friends and I had quite a big friend circle in school and if I told my friends I was writing poetry, don't think it would have gone down so well at the time. So I kind of kept that to my to myself and I still have some of, I think one of the books is called Vex, I think it's called King, no, yeah, King of Hearts or something like that and it's just all romantic poetry. So again, right, you know, telling your friends that you're writing romantic poetry, I probably wouldn't... I think there would have been a lot of banter within our circles and it would have been directed towards me if I'd shared that. But yeah, poetry was kind
Starting point is 00:38:35 of my routine and I was always writing, I was always trying to understand myself and express things poetically and then, you know, sometimes I just write a bit of prose or just write whatever comes to my mind. But again I just didn't think much of it but you know my mindset was was changing it was turning towards optimism and people were naturally gravitating towards me so anytime someone needed help even if they were in a better position than myself, they would come to me for advice. And it was very strange. And there was also this, this part of you know, my mum had always said that, and this is her religious belief is that we should always be selfless, and we should always
Starting point is 00:39:19 give what we can. And I had friends from school who were, I suppose, financially more secure than myself but anytime they were hungry and they didn't have money even if I had my last pound I would feed them and I found I don't know I just I suppose I didn't want people to feel the pain that I had felt and I know pain shows up in so many ways and sometimes it just shows up as hunger pain because there were times where my mum didn't have enough money to put food on the table.
Starting point is 00:39:51 I know how that feels so I don't want other people to go through that as well. So there was always that part of me that felt like giving, that always wanted to help people, but I just ignored it. I just thought there's nothing to it and then when I went to university I think I had like this blog section on myspace where I do a lot of writing I created my own blog actually and there was this personal development module that we had to do my first year and one of my tutors John he set this assignment and it was to keep like a personal diary.
Starting point is 00:40:27 And back then, you know, instead of actually being educated, I was more interested in going out to clubs, getting drunk, rather than doing the work assigned. And I remember I hadn't done this work, so I had to quickly do it the day before it was due in. And you know, I just, I started writing and I just got carried away and I wrote loads. And I didn't know if it sounded good, but I just submitted it. And then I remember John like calling me in and he was just like, can I speak to you?
Starting point is 00:40:56 I was like, oh God, he's realized that, you know, I've just done it last minute. Yeah, just did it last minute. And he was just like, there's something really special about your writing. He was like, the way you capture emotions is extremely special. He said, have you ever thought about, you know,
Starting point is 00:41:12 in the future doing something geared towards writing? And at that point, had you not? No, not at all. I'd never thought about writing. You know, I wrote for myself. Yeah. I wrote as a way to express myself. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:41:24 But I'd never thought about writing. And I remember even on my MySpace blog, so it was, you know, I kind of created a name for myself, especially because I was making music at the time and I don't know maybe it's all in my head, but I was maybe perceived as this cool dude and I remember girls at my uni, they would read these blog posts and it was basically about who I am beyond the appearances and beyond the persona and no one believed I'd written it yeah they were just like you're not really that deep are you? I was just like actually I can be quite deep after
Starting point is 00:42:00 I put the pipe down yeah I can be can be quite deep. But I've always, you know, gravitated towards writing and then, I don't know if we have time now, I know I'm getting carried away, but there was this one really, actually there was two profound experiences. There was this one experience that I had when I was in Waterstone, so when I was struggling in my final year of university. So just firstly, that experience with John must have been quite a transformational one in terms of sometimes we need that authority figure to give us permission or to even Introduce us to an aspect of ourselves that is very clear when someone says it But just when someone from the outside that we respect goes there's something here
Starting point is 00:42:39 Yeah, was that quite a massive shift for you? Well, it was validating but I still dismissed it because in my head I didn't think nothing of it. I was just like you know he thinks I'm a good writer that's great. Even what I do now I always tell people and you know maybe people don't believe me that I didn't choose this path. I feel like it chose me. So when I was struggling in my final year I was I remember looking at like spirituality and personal development books in this one corner of Waterstones in Nottingham. And this woman approached me
Starting point is 00:43:13 and she touched me on the shoulder and she was just like, you're really close to God and you're gonna help loads of people. And I just didn't think anything of it. I was just like, okay, like, you know, maybe she's going through something or she's like you know and at the time if I be completely honest I was judging her I thought that maybe she was
Starting point is 00:43:32 on drugs or you know something and I was like okay great and I just ignored it um but it was when I started my first corporate job after university I would always commute to the job and every single day when I'd finish work I'd go down the stairs and I'd move towards the end of the platform because I knew that when the train arrived there would be the most seats available you know down towards that side of the platform and you know it's an ordinary day of finish, down towards that side of the platform. And, you know, it's an ordinary day of finished work, move towards the end of the platform. And for some reason, everyone that's already standing there, there's just a few people started moving away from me.
Starting point is 00:44:16 I'm like, damn, is it body odor? Or like, you know, am I like, you know, emitting kind of like, weird smell? Like, I didn't know what it was. And then, you know, this I like, you know, emitting kind of like weird smell? Like I didn't know what it was. And then, you know, this old woman kind of just comes out of nowhere and she starts talking to me and she's like, you know, I've got some, you know, really interesting things I want to share with you about yourself. I was like, oh God, here it goes again. And she was just like, do you want to know who you were in your past life and i was just like well i don't even know if i believe in past lives like i'm born in born into a hindu family but it's like you just do cultural things you know my mom maybe was she
Starting point is 00:44:56 was religious to some extent because we'd gone through so much hardship and she was looking at god as a savior but because i had experienced had experienced so much hardship myself and adversity, I didn't really believe in this kind of higher power. I didn't believe in supernatural things. I was just like, my life's rubbish. And if there was a God, then why is my life rubbish? That was my frame of thinking. But this woman starts speaking about these things
Starting point is 00:45:22 and she tells me really interesting stories. And then she said something like you're here to walk this path of serving other people and I was just like that kind of resonates because I've always I've always enjoyed helping people and I've always been drawn to it and people have always been drawn to me as well. Maybe there's something to this but you know again like I didn't think too deeply. I was just there, I was trying to be kind and you know, entertain the conversation
Starting point is 00:45:49 rather than just completely dismiss her. And she said, you're gonna change a lot of lives in this world, but you need to stay true to your path. And she said, there's a lot of anger that's built within you that you need to kind of resolve. And once you do, you're gonna to be a force of greater good. She said you need to stay in the light, make sure that you're not persuaded or swayed by the darkness that exists in this world, but you're going to change a lot of lives.
Starting point is 00:46:18 And I was just like, this actually sounds great, but I don't believe you for one second. I've got no reason to believe you until the train started approaching. And I said, I got to go because the train's coming. And she looked at me and she knew I was skeptical. But she said, Look, don't have to, you know, accept my advice. But you know, any advice is gold or something like that. Then she said my name. And there was nothing on me. There was no badge, I wasn't on social media as this personality. There was nothing there and she said my name
Starting point is 00:46:54 and I kind of looked at the train in disbelief of what she had said, got onto the train, turned around and she was gone and I was like wait and I was trying to calculate because you know I love mathematics and I was really good at maths in school and I'm trying to calculate the distance you know and the time it could have taken her and the pace maybe she was walking at that would have taken her to get around the bend and you know disappear from sight but I was like there was no way she could have done that and I was like did I just imagine this like what's going on what's going on and I just started dating Kosher who's now my wife at the time and this was 14 years ago I think I was just like you never
Starting point is 00:47:36 guess what just happened and I've still got the not the text message actually I think I think I might have emailed her more details about it after but I've still got it. I couldn't start thinking about it and every time I laid in bed at night I carried on thinking about everything that I'd gone through, all these experiences and I started, you know, Steve Jobs says that one day you know you look back on your life and you start connecting the dots. And that's what started happening, you know, with with John, with what I went through when I was younger, the way people gravitated towards me, the way people told me that I was here to change lives and I said, maybe, maybe there's something to this. But I don't know, let me explore it. And I was like like, what am I gonna do?
Starting point is 00:48:25 So the first thing I did is I left my corporate job and it felt like the right thing at the time. I actually had a lot of great natural progression in that corporate job. I was almost seen by my manager as the star of the team. So, you know, I had- It wasn't like you weren't doing well at it or anything. No, like I didn't quite get on with my manager
Starting point is 00:48:43 towards the end of the journey, but we had a lot of respect for each other and it's you know it happens in corporate life but you know I was I was sitting in work and if my old managers you know watching this please don't judge me but I had three screens and on this screen I was always reading books and I was always writing positive messages so you know I thought there was something to this I was really into fashion at the time as well. So I was like, maybe I can combine this philosophy of, you know, self love with fashion in some way or something. And I explored avenues. But, you know, I just kind of just left.
Starting point is 00:49:15 And when I when I left my corporate job, I remember all my friends turning to me saying, you know, what is this? What are you doing? Like you need financial security. You've worked so hard to be in this position and now you're leaving it behind. So I've left my job. I've never been turned down from an interview but I said to myself I do need some kind of financial income while I'm exploring all of this. So I'm gonna go and get a job, maybe a part-time job or just some type of job. And I applied for one that was quite close to my house so I didn't have to commute as far.
Starting point is 00:49:53 And I'd never been turned down from a job interview. And that was the first job interview that I'd been turned down from. And it was because I was overqualified. So I was just like, I think this might be a sign. And do I sound crazy for saying this is a sign? I remember always seeing repeating number patterns for years, actually, from uni. And there wasn't much information about them. But I would always, I knew that there was something strange about them. I was like, is this my reticular activating
Starting point is 00:50:18 system? Or is this a sign from, you know, something beyond myself. And I didn't quite know, but I started trusting the numbers. And I know this sounds really strange, and I probably didn't expect myself to go down this supernatural path. But I remember meditating once. And I said to myself that when I open my eyes, if I open my eyes and I see a repeating number pattern, that means I'm guided by something beyond myself. So I randomly open my eyes, looked at my repeating number pattern that means I'm guided by something beyond myself. So I randomly opened my eyes looked at my computer screen which was quite close by and it was 1616 and I was just like this isn't a coincidence anymore. So I started believing in signs that I was seeing and I saw that as a sign that I needed to do something for myself, needed to explore this further.
Starting point is 00:51:07 So I started the whole clothing thing and I created this snapback and it had the good life written on it. And it was all about achieving the life you desire, but also fulfilling happiness while you pursue the things that you want. It's about creating this balance. There was a deep meaning to it, but ultimately it was just a snapback that looks good. And
Starting point is 00:51:29 I didn't have any money to plug into resources to advertise the snapback. So I turned to Instagram and I tried to advertise it on it, you know, just post pictures of it. But obviously there was no traction. There wasn't, there wasn't any followers on this particular page I had created. And I thought, right, I need to reach out to bigger pages so I reached out to one big page at the time and I was just like I've got this really cool Photoshop picture of the snapback in a private jet and it would suit your page because their page is all about luxury would you mind posting it and tagging my my brand and they turned around and they said, we charge X amount of pounds to advertise. And at the
Starting point is 00:52:09 time, I didn't have the money. So I was like, you know, thank you so much, but I won't be able to advertise at this time. I was like, maybe I can start my own page or build my own page. And I created an open vision board. And that was the first page I created was called high good life. And it was pictures of quite materialistic things to be honest. It was things that you might aspire to achieve in your life, like a fancy car, say a Ferrari or a Lamborghini or a nice house. But it was also about creating great moments, so there would be images of friendships
Starting point is 00:52:41 or things that showcase happy friendships friendships and for the first few months I remained on 2 000 followers I wasn't able to grow it and then eventually it grew much bigger I found ways to grow it by you know following people like Gary Vaynerchuk who's you know ahead or was ahead of his time especially when it came to marketing. And when it started growing big, I would post a picture of my snapback and, you know, these great photoshopped images that made it look all luxurious. And in my head, I thought that when I shared a picture of the snapback, my whole store would sell out. But in reality, I'd get maybe one order, if any. But then something else started happening, brands started reaching out to me and they would ask me how much it would cost to advertise on this page.
Starting point is 00:53:28 So, you know, I made up a number, eventually we would negotiate and then I was, you know, creating revenue from advertising. So I would advertise on this page and then I created 50 more pages, but all the pages were linked to raising your vibration. So if it wasn't a vision board it was sharing quotes and so there was actually one page on Twitter which was actually called Good Vibes Only and it's all about spreading positivity to raise your vibration and there was another page called Wealthy Words on Instagram and all these pages started having really big celebrities I'd actually never heard of following the pages. So they grew rapidly because the celebrities would you know comment and like the pages. So for example one High Good Life was followed by I think Scott Disick. There was a rapper that sat in front of
Starting point is 00:54:19 the page, Lilly Singh you know back in the day she followed this page. So all these pages had quite a few followers and I think collectively we had over a million followers across all these 50 pages, probably more than a million, maybe a couple of couple of million. And my whole idea was to share positivity, but also to try and create this balance between the life you desire and the life that you have now. So I would share really important messages about gratitude and wealthy words. I would like share really like cliche quotes like too blessed to be stressed. But then in the caption, I will talk about the power of gratitude and why it's so essential to be grateful for the life that you have now, because that's the way we cultivate happiness within ourselves. But people seem to only be
Starting point is 00:55:06 interested in all the kind of, all the stuff that would make them rich, right? And I was just like, yes pursue your dreams but also you know focus on the inward journey as well. And I didn't quite start, I wasn't resonating with some of the messages or some of the followers I had on some of these pages because they were just really interested in the kind of capitalist approach to living life. So I decided to get rid of those pages and when I got rid of those pages I was obviously cutting the revenue that was getting from the advertisement and then eventually I only had like two or three pages and they were all about quotes and sharing positivity and then my friends turned to
Starting point is 00:55:51 me again and they were like Vix I don't I don't get you like you left corporate and you were in a you know great corporate job you stopped your clothing stuff which maybe had potential because, you know, I did have some celebrities wearing my clothes. You had this almost like this mini social media agency that was, you know, keeping you afloat and now you've just got rid of it all to be positive and to share positivity with the world to, you know, make the world a better place. Like who are you? The next Gandhi?
Starting point is 00:56:23 Like there's no money in this. And I was just like, if I was doing this for money, I would have stuck to some of the other stuff. Yeah. But I'm doing this to potentially serve this higher purpose that people keep telling me about, that I'm only starting to believe in. And I want to do what excites me and what feels true to me at this time and sharing pictures of Lamborghinis and Ferraris doesn't feel true to me at the time. It's swaying people towards a very materialistic life and although I've come from nothing, I know that when you achieve little things or have those things that moment of happiness is fleeting until you want the next thing and the next thing. I need to teach people that. So my wife at the time was doing makeup tutorials
Starting point is 00:57:16 and it started going really well and then you know there was one Kylie Jenner makeup tutorial that she did and it went viral ended up I think it now might be on 15 million views and her platform started growing and she turned to me and she said look all these accounts that you were sharing positive messages on no one knew who you were no one knew there was a vex King behind these accounts no one knows you as vex King maybe you know you just create an account called vex King and you share theseex King. Maybe, you know, you just create an account called Vex King, and you share these messages with the world. And you know, maybe something will come of it.
Starting point is 00:57:51 Who knows? So it's just like, you've, you know, you've got a point. And I'd obviously seen her grow rapidly. And a lot of the things that I'd shared with her, especially with the law of attraction was obviously now working for her. And it was was great and it's, you know, we're seeing evidence of that right in front of us. So I created the VexKing account, started just, you know, sharing messages. My followers kept asking me the same questions every single day, like how do we love ourselves, you know, what does positivity actually mean, how can we be positive, how do we find ourselves? You know, what does positivity actually mean? How can we be positive? How do we find our purpose? And I'd write all these questions down.
Starting point is 00:58:30 And then people started asking me if I could release a book. So I started forming this book and then a literary agent reached out to me and she said, Vex, I can see that you're reaching so many people across the world and you're obviously impacting their lives. Have you ever thought about writing a book?
Starting point is 00:58:46 And I was just like, well, here's. Here's your idea. Yeah. And on that, because I know before we started recording, you were saying how you actually have sort of repackaged a book and decided to put it out in a way that felt far more authentic to you. Would you be able to share a little bit about
Starting point is 00:59:02 that experience of kind of staying true to yourself and the process of creating? Yeah, so with Good Vibes, Good Life, it was extremely true to myself. I was fulfilling my followers' questions and needs at the time. I not only felt great writing the book, but I felt, you know, it was an authentic part of myself. I remember after every line that I wrote, I almost sent a prayer out into the world. And I said to myself, you know, whoever reads this passage or this book, I want them to get something out of this.
Starting point is 00:59:34 It just felt very energetically. It felt very right to me. It felt very authentic. And I think. After the first book success, publishers want you to release another book right away. And I wasn't quite ready to. In fact, after Good Vibes Good Life, I told myself that I was never ever going to write
Starting point is 00:59:55 another book because I found the process so overwhelming and the editing stage so tedious. But eventually, you know, I saw a reason for writing the second book, which was Healing is a New High, and I'd actually lost my my nan during the process of writing that book. So that made it feel very real, because I was going through a grieving process myself. So I was I was healing as well. But you know, by the third book, Closer to Love. So there was a book on love and relationships was always on the cards. Most the messages that I receive in my DMs are about love and relationships and they're always like you know what do I do if my boyfriend does this or you know just Tony still love me because this is what he did over
Starting point is 01:00:41 the weekend I don't know Tony I don't know your relationship you know there's know your relationship. You know, there's so much, I don't know the context of what you're going through, but I knew I needed to relay my ideas on love and relationships so people could build self trust and self love and navigate healthier relationships themselves. But I also found the idea of writing a book on love and relationships a little bit cheesy. And at the same time, I didn't want to put my own relationship with my wife on a pedestal, almost like I knew everything about love and relationships, because we don't. It's a journey. It's an ongoing journey.
Starting point is 01:01:16 And no relationship is the same and no relationship is perfect. There's always going to be conflict, resistance. And we're on this inner journey of understanding ourselves. So I resisted it. But then I thought, you know what, I'm actually going to turn towards this book and I'm going to write this book. But there's all these expectations. There's the publishers expectations of what a book should look like. And now that you've reached all this commercial success, you almost want to maybe grow in who you reach. So you want to reach a new type of audience. You want to prove yourself as a
Starting point is 01:01:52 writer. So I got mentorship for writing and I wanted to really improve myself as a writer and start my authority as a writer as well. And a lot of authors don't read negative reviews because it puts them down. Whereas I actually read quite a few negative reviews. I know some can be personal and a lot of it's subjective, but also there's a lot of opportunities for growth as a writer. And I took all these expectations into the writing process and I created this book called Closer to Love, which I think is, you know, if I say, say to myself, you know, I know how much effort I put towards it. And I think it's a very valuable and helpful book, but I might have lost the energy that I had for the first two books when I'd, when I'd written that book. And just to illustrate that very simply, Good Vibes, Good Life was
Starting point is 01:02:41 40,000 words, Healing is the new high was 50,000 words. And then closer to love was above 90,000 words, I think in the end. And even when I submitted it to the editor, I had said that I need to cut the book down because I've just written out everything that I know, but it needs to be a little bit more concise to align with the first two books and you know there was
Starting point is 01:03:06 little things like the title didn't come to me naturally for the first book two books of the title came to me naturally there were a lot of doubts and reservations about the release day and everything felt quite rushed and you know we'd put the book out into the world and I actually don't know how many copies I've sold and And I ask my agent a lot of the time not to tell me because I feel like if I'm focused on the numbers, then- Yeah, it distracts you from the message. It distracts me from the authentic message and the intention behind it.
Starting point is 01:03:39 But you know, things just didn't feel quite right and I experienced a few health issues. And it's almost like my body was manifesting all these things that felt uncomfortable at the level of thought and emotions and when we were about to release the paperback of Closer to Love, my editor turned to me and she said, look, we can, you know, now we've got a bit of time, shall we make a briefer version of closer to love? And I was just like, yeah, definitely think it needs to be to the point. I think that's why people gravitate towards my work is because I just say things how they are. And I get straight to it
Starting point is 01:04:15 without the kind of fluff and it's jargon free. And there was certain spiritual ideas as well that I thought might be too, too much for the mainstream that I kind of held back on with Closer to Love. And I just touched upon them a little bit. So when this opportunity arose, my editor also said, Have you thought it should be changed the title of the book as well? And I said, well, if we change the title of the book, it's almost like a brand new book. So shall I just, you know, just rewrite the book? And she was I don new book so shall I just you know just rewrite the book and she was I don't want to you know make you go through so
Starting point is 01:04:48 much work but if that's what feels right then then let's do that let's stick to the same themes that were in Closer to Love but you can write it in your you know your usual way that aligns with the first two books and that's what I did I bought the spiritual messaging in that I thought was really really important and that core idea is that love is our nature, is deep within us and love is an internal experience it doesn't live outside of us. We just meet people who take us back to that center within ourselves, it actually never leaves us and the easiest way to explain that is, if someone gives you a gift, if someone does something nice,
Starting point is 01:05:29 if you get the thing that you've always wanted, that feeling of love doesn't come from the thing or the person or the place, it arises naturally within you, so love actually doesn't leave you, it's deep within you. Someone's just taking you there back to your centre. So actually when people love you, they're showing you how to love yourself. I love that. I thought these ideas were so important for the world and to show people that actually we are an expression of this same centre of love. We are love, but I want to show people that we are love. And when you realise that for yourself, you many of the things we're going through in the world politically, you know, through war and separation and all the things that we're battling over would change, because we would realize that we are one and the same. Love, to me is unity and peace. And that higher teaching has to be shown to the world but the problem arises is
Starting point is 01:06:49 although love is this oneness, it's this non-dual aspect, we as human beings we have limits, we have boundaries and it's almost navigating the world with those boundaries while also sharing this unconditional love for people. How do we actually do that? And this is where the new paperback is born, Things No One Taught Us About Love. It's about dispelling a lot of these myths, these misconceptions about love and relationships in a very easy and digestible way. And for me, I think it's one of the hardest books I've ever written because there's a lot of things, spiritual philosophy that's from Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta, which is a school of thought within Hinduism, which represents non-duality. And there's a lot
Starting point is 01:07:41 of ideas that can be found even in Christianity, in Islam, Judaism, all religions. It's this idea of unconditional love and it being a part of who we are and the world being a fabric or being an expression of that fabric. You know, it's trying to explain something that's quite subjective, something that you have to experience for yourself, and trying to put that down in words, it's extremely difficult because you're talking about something that is beyond mind, and using your mind and language, which is a manifestation of the physical world, to describe something that is unmanifest. And that's a very big challenge. So the way I did it was I have a few spiritual
Starting point is 01:08:26 teachers but I have one, it's kind of like Mike, my key teacher, and I show him my work to show that it's aligned with spiritual precision and then I also show my wife who's probably the average reader who's gonna read my books and I say to both of them, does make sense and striking that balance is extremely difficult but I can honestly say like no matter what the book does in terms of numbers and reach I think this is you know one of my my strongest books and it's truly aligned to who I am and that's the most important thing. There's a quote that says,
Starting point is 01:09:06 what comes from the heart goes to the heart. And that's, I think, a reason maybe for my success, especially with the first book, is that I stayed true to my heart. And I really feel like I've been able to do that with the latest paperback. I think that comes through. Well, I think that's a beautiful note to end on.
Starting point is 01:09:22 So I just wanted to say thank you so much for the work that you put out into the world and for sharing your story today and with everyone I think it's gonna help a lot of people so thank you. Thank you thank you so much and thank you for holding this space for me. I hope you enjoyed the first episode of season 10 I absolutely loved it. And some of my takeaways was, you know, this idea that the path chooses you. I love this.
Starting point is 01:09:51 I really find it so true and so powerful. I think we spend so much time worrying about what direction we're going in and trying to force things and think our way through. But actually, when we really kind of tune in and start meditating and be present and practice gratitude the path kind of reveals itself but the sort of flip side of that is sometimes it's not where we think we should be going and on that particular note I would say it's important to give ourselves grace
Starting point is 01:10:28 and compassion because sometimes it can mean endings we didn't expect or changes we didn't anticipate or want but when we hear the call it's important to listen. So I will leave you with that. It's important to listen. So I will leave you with that. Also wanted to add we are launching something super exciting. I feel like this is been a long time coming because building the community for Saturn Returns has been very very very important and it's at the heart of everything we do and as we are building out the brand we thought we need to find a space where we can all connect and share our thoughts on episodes and announce when we're doing live shows or retreats or astrological happenings and it's also going to be the new home of the solo series which
Starting point is 01:11:18 for those that have enjoyed that in the past will be happy to hear that I am doing again. And we have decided that the perfect home for this is Substack! So if you guys want to be part of the Saturn Returns community and part of my inner world because I am going to be sharing my more vulnerable stories, thoughts, feelings, things that have been going on with me. I feel like social media is now kind of, I don't know, a slightly different arena that doesn't feel like it used to and Substack feels like a nice place where I can be very truthful with you guys and hopefully we can help each other
Starting point is 01:12:00 in what we are navigating. And the Substack is going to be called You are not alone. So if you guys want to check it out we have a link in the show notes and I will see you over there. Thank you so much for listening and remember, you are not alone. Goodbye.

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