The One You Feed - Brandon Beachum on Different Perspectives on Spiritual Growth

Episode Date: April 5, 2022

Brandon Beachum is a podcaster, entrepreneur, writer, philosopher, and truth seeker. He’s the host of the Positive Head podcast which has amassed over 20 million downloads and reached #2 in the Spirituality category in Apple Podcasts. Brandon recently launched a new late-night style consciousness-elevating talk show called Optimistic, as well as his first book, The Golden Key: Modern Alchemy to Unlock Infinite Abundance.In this episode, Eric and Brandon discuss various perspectives on and avenues towards profound spiritual growth and how they show up in our everyday lives.But wait – there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you!Brandon Beachum and I Discuss Different Perspectives on Spiritual Growth and…His book, The Golden Key: Modern Alchemy to Unlock Infinite AbundanceUnpacking the idea of toxic positivityHow we won’t always be happy with what is happening, but we can feel at peace with itThe different views Eric and Brandon have about The Law of AttractionHow we co-create our realityThe growth that can come from our strugglesThe role and importance of intention in one’s lifeHow incremental steps can have a big impact over timeThe importance of supportive conditions in order for us to grow Brandon Beachum links:Brandon’s WebsiteGolden Key Audiobook or eBook: FREE with code: oneyoufeedTwitterInstagramFacebookWhen you purchase products and/or services from the sponsors of this episode, you help support The One You Feed. Your support is greatly appreciated, thank you!If you enjoyed this conversation with Brandon Beachum you might also enjoy these other episodes:Spiritual Growth with Norman FischerNoah Levine (Against the Stream)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're not always going to be happy, but we can find our way pretty quickly to being peaceful about what is, accepting we can be at peace. Welcome to The One You Feed. Throughout time, great thinkers have recognized the importance of the thoughts we have. Quotes like like garbage in, garbage out, or you are what you think ring true. And yet for many of us, our thoughts don't strengthen or empower us. We tend toward negativity, self-pity, jealousy, or fear. We see what we don't have instead of what we do. We think things that hold us back and dampen our spirit. But it's not just about thinking. Our actions matter.

It takes conscious, consistent, and creative effort to make a life worth living. This podcast is about how other people keep themselves moving in the right direction. How they feed their good wolf. I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together, our mission on the Really Know Really podcast is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions like why the bathroom door doesn't go all the way to the floor, what's in the museum of failure?

And does your dog truly love you? We have the answer. Go to reallynoreally.com and register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast, or a limited edition signed Jason bobblehead. The Really No Really podcast. Follow us on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for joining us. Our guest on this episode is Brandon Beecham, a podcaster, entrepreneur, writer, philosopher, and truth seeker. He's the host of the Positive Head podcast, which has amassed over 20 million downloads and reached number two in the spirituality category on Apple podcasts. Brandon recently launched a new late-night style consciousness elevating talk show called Optimistic, as well as his first book, The Golden Key, Modern Alchemy to Unlock Infinite

Abundance. Hey, Brandon, welcome to the show. Hello, hello, Eric. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure. Yes, and it is a pleasure for me to be on your show because we are recording a joint episode. I am excited about that. It's been a few years since I actually did the same thing with, I've done it a couple times over the years with Positive Head. And, you know, for me, anytime I have the chance to be a little bit creative and mix it up, I usually jump on that chance for better or for worse. But my past experiences have been really great doing this. So I'm excited to have a The One You Feed and Positive Head podcast mashup. Awesome. Well, I am all for honoring both the traditional and the novel.

And so to honor the traditional, I'm going to read the wolf parable and ask you what you think about it. It's a place to kick off because we've always done it, and some streaks are worth keeping. So in the parable, there is a grandparent talking with their grandchild. And they say, in life, there are two wolves inside of us that are always at battle. One is a good wolf, which represents things like kindness and bravery and love. And then there's a bad wolf, which represents things like greed and hatred and fear. And the grandchild stops, thinks about it for a second, looks up at their grandparents as well, which one wins? And the grandparent says the one you feed.

So I'd love to ask you what that parable means to you in your life and in the work that you do. It's so relevant in my life and in the work that I do. I'll share a little bit as an answer, a little bit as an answer, go back to 2014. I'm standing in front of my, at the time, probably 75 employees or so. And I'm standing in front of all my employees giving a talk about the importance of the thoughts and what's happening in our head. And I said, if I could only take the positive thoughts and the negative thoughts and see them at the end of the day, and who knows, maybe even have some cool new technology where every time I had a negative one, it zapped me a little bit and just helped to point out, hey, you're off track here. I would know the outcome of my future if I could start to see that these positive thoughts were far outweighing the negative ones. And I had a young guy run up to me afterwards who had just started working with us. He said, Brandon, there is something like that.

My psychiatrist told me years ago to wear a rubber band and snap myself every time I had a negative thought. And it helped me tremendously. And I thought, huh, what an interesting idea. I'll go home and look for a rubber band and just try this out for myself. And I found a head racket elastic that would keep my racquetball racket on my hand if it slipped out. And I was like, oh, this is elastic. And what do you know? It says head on it. It's for a positive head. And that's literally how the podcast was born with this whole idea of feeding that positive voice in your head and having a technique or

method for doing so. And in my case, almost 1700 episodes later of talking about that. So the fact that we're doing a mashup is perfect. Yes. 1700 episodes. That's amazing. You know, one of the things that I wanted to explore with you a little bit is kind of what you just said right there, which is this idea of positive and negative thoughts. You've interviewed a lot of people. I've interviewed a lot of people. I have feel like I've got a little bit of my finger on the pulse of where the spiritual psychological self-help movement is and where it's going. And there's been a real trend towards allowing everything that arises in our experience to arise in our experience and to be okay with it.

Yep. You know, that aligns with your message. How do we do that as well as what you just sort of said, which is like, all right, positive thoughts, good negative thoughts, snap myself with a rubber band. Yep. How do we honor both those things without slipping into the word that's being used these days, which is toxic positivity? Yeah. Yeah. What a great question. You know, I talk a lot on my show about relative truths to apparently contradictory things that both hold true, depending on the vantage point from which one is speaking. As an example, you and I are separate. We can make an argument for that, that most people would agree with. We can also make

an argument that you and I are one and the separation between us is an illusion. That's a little more of an esoteric, you know, philosophical point, but I would definitely be happy to make an argument for that. And so both vantage points are true. It's just relative. And so I think there's a little bit of that here with toxic positivity. I think it's funny because everything in our reality is a mirror of sorts too. So I think the idea of toxic positivity can become toxic in itself. It's this, you know, this idea that, you know, you shouldn't reach for seeing the silver lining or for me, you know, I always say the only thing that we really have control over is the story we tell around something, you know, why is this happening for me? And for me, I always say the only thing that we really have control over is the story we tell around something.

You know, why is this happening for me? And for me, I've really by training myself to it doesn't mean I can't have a negative thought or feel down or feel bad or feel off or feel depressed. And when I do, I 100 percent agree. If you land there, allow it to be what you resist, persist, what you accept, you move through. And these emotions, energy and motion accept, you move through. And these emotions, energy and motion are going to move through us at times, certainly. And if we can catch it early enough before the momentum builds, a lot of times it's just training to, you know, catch yourself, then you can head that off from needing to go there. If it is there, as my friend

Matt Kahn says, whatever arises, love that. You know, can I be the space for this, as Eckhart Tolle says? So, you know, not pointing a finger and saying bad and good. Rather, what am I going to sort of train myself for? And I think, you know, a lot of people even will say expectation is an issue. I think attachment to expectations is the real issue. We have all kinds of expectations with a healthy sense of detachment. This or something better. What's for me will be for me. If I have something challenging I'm meant to go through and I'm meant to really be in the depths of despair, then I'm going to embrace that and not push it away and label it as bad.

So I think that's where we really get hung up is when we start saying, I should never have that experience because you absolutely are going to have that experience. And that contrast is what gives anything meaning. It's actually a necessary component. You've never seen a great work of art without shadow in it. And we are our soul's expression of art, I believe. So it's a dance. I'd love to hear your thoughts, of course, on that too. Yeah. Well, I, like you, am very much into the idea of absolute and relative. It's something in Zen we talk a lot about, you know, the doctrine of the two truths, you know, you hit it perfectly there from one angle, this thing might very much be a challenge or a problem, right? And from another angle, everything is okay. One of the things I'm

so interested in is how do we know what approach, what tool to use at what time that's going to help us the most? Because we're all really different and we're all really changing. So if we're like, well, any negative thought is bad and I'm going to get rid of it, there may be a period of time that that's a useful exercise. If you're just overrun by constant negativity, I mean, that might be useful. It might also not work for you at all. So everything that I propose, everything that people that come on the show propose, I think is, I love the way you said it, from a certain perspective is useful. And so where somebody is starting from and what their tendencies are really has a lot to do with what's the right approach to working their way through the challenges that they're facing. It's

the same idea you hear people talk about spiritual bypass, like, okay, yep, spiritual bypass, probably not good. If I'm using spirituality to avoid my feelings, and deep spiritual insight that gives me a sense of equanimity in the face of everything is a beautiful thing to be cultivated. So I don't think it's either or. And I think early on, I was looking for more clear answers, like, should I do this? Or, answers like, should I do this? Or, you know, should listeners do this or should they do that? And what I've really come to, particularly with, you know, coaching hundreds and hundreds of people and running people through programs is we're not all built the same. Yeah.

You know, we're not all conditioned the same. There's so many variables. You've got to kind of find, all right, what's helpful for me now? And know that what's helpful for you now probably may not be helpful for you in the same way in six months because you'll be a different person. Yeah, absolutely. I like the idea that, you know, sometimes people are hung up on, I came here to be happy, right? Yes. And you came here to be sad and angry and hurt. And you came here for the full gamut of emotions. There is no happy without sad, up without down, left without right, hot without cold in this dimension anyway. And so it's necessary, that contrast.

So when you can appreciate all of the contrast, now you're moving into a state of really an expanded perspective. You're seeing the bigger picture. And I like to say, you know, we're not always going to be happy, but we can find our way pretty quickly to being peaceful about what is accepting. We can be at peace. And if I can be at peace with what is, because I understand, even though I chose my human level consciousness chose, this is what I envision happening in the direction I want to go in the expectation I have. And something totally different and challenging arises. OK, I trust that the way I say it is I'm doing a dance with my higher self to create my experience.

And there's a lot that goes into that soup of creation and manifestation. And whatever is going to appear, even though I may not have chosen it from my level of awareness, I trust it. One of the keys in my new book, The Golden Key, is trust the mystery. And so I may not know exactly why, but I trust this process of my life unfolding. And that brings me peace. And what I've often found is when I can move into that state, actually, your challenges can transmute ultimately into blessings. It sometimes may take a while and you may not even see that until beyond this life. Who knows? Or it might be a day or a week or an hour.

But it's sort of like you probably heard the story of the Buddhist farmer before. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's one of my favorites. Yeah, it's so good. Right. Yeah. And so it really helps to kind of tie this up in a bow that we can all wrap our heads around pretty quickly. There's an interesting point to what you just said, and I think it's an important point. If you view the world and reality as existing beyond what we see here in these zero to 100 years that most of us are going to live. If you have that viewpoint and that belief, you can start to go, maybe this is all working towards quote unquote, my ultimate good. When you only have the vantage of this lifetime, I think that becomes harder

because I look at things that happen and I go, again, I'm with you. You got to trust the mystery. Like, I don't know why things happen the way they do, but I see a child born into torment, abused for years and dies. And you're like, well, okay, what the hell do I do with that? Yeah. You know, how is that for anyone's better or higher good? And I think that's where some of the law of attraction stuff gets difficult for me. Is it starts to imply that child somehow brought that on themselves. And

that's kind of where I get hung up. And I'd love to get your thought on that, because I know you think about these things really deeply. And I know that oftentimes the law of attraction is presented in a way oversimplified way. And I think of it probably in an oversimplified way often. It definitely can be presented in an oversimplified way. I had a guest recently on my show who said something that I agree with that I also think can be deeply triggering and troubling for people. And it is that there are no victims, only volunteers. And when you start to play with the idea that we are eternal beings, you know, I wasn't created on my birthday. I always write people on Facebook or whatever when it's their birthday,

happy 3D incarnation anniversary. So I believe that's the day we came in. So when you look at law of attraction, and I talk about this in my book, The Golden Key, it's like, it's much more complex than, let me sit in the corner, you know, Indian style for 10 minutes and think about a Ferrari and it's going to pull into my driveway. It's like, no, the soup of creation is much more complex than that. You know, what is the vibrational offering that which is like unto itself is drawn, right?

Water seeks its own level. So if everything is vibration and, of course, science and physics support this, we know this like is attracting like in some way, shape or form. Well, OK, over what time period are we talking about? And is it what the vibrational offering I've made today or last week or last year when I was 10 years old? Or now you start getting into this idea of beyond this physical life, parallel lives, right? As Einstein pointed out, time is an illusion. You shoot me in outer space and bring me back a day later. I'm a day older and you've been gone for 100 years or something like that. We know that it's relative. So that

implies then that my fifth birthday party is happening on another channel that I'm just not tuned into. So, uh, you know, so you, now you start talking about past lives and all these things in this, this soup of experience. To me, that makes the most sense as to why we're seeing the things that we're seeing, the child that was born into something that is horrific. And I don't want to diminish that or try and say that that isn't just tragic from one perspective and very, very challenging for all affected by it. And what if this is an eternal being who is choosing? It's like if I'm an fractal of the one source consciousness, God, in a sense, and so is everything else. And eternity is all there is.

And love is what it is at its core. Well, then it's just like having your favorite dessert for two nights in a row. OK, it's good. How about weeks in a row? How about two months? How about 20 years in a row? You're going to hate it. It's going to become disgusting. But I always share the story of when my brother in his early 20s, he got a ticket. He didn't pay for it. He was irresponsible. He forgot about it. Years later, he got pulled over by a cop and they said, you have a warrant for your arrest. They took him to jail. Now, he's the most sensitive soul I know almost. And so this guy in jail is just like not a match. And I believe it happened for him. And he was there four days or something

like that. And I remember they let him out at 12.01 p.m. so they could charge one more day for him after midnight. I went and picked him up, brought him home and made him some food. And now he's had a lot of fancy meals in his life. But at that time, I cooked him a Hot Pocket. It was two in the morning after days in jail. If you ask him to this day, what is the best meal he's ever had? Guess what it is? Hot Pocket. That Hot Pocket. It's that. If you start looking at all of us as eternal beings and this is just, you know, one zoom in of a much larger narrative, perhaps you contemplate that believe. And we're all actually untouchable. We can't ultimately be heard. I forget who said it. They talked about, you know, stepping out of this life is like for a soul stepping out of a movie theater that they've had enough of. So, you know, like the book Journey of Souls, I really like, I don't know if you're

familiar by Michael Newton. He did hypnotherapy and would guide people through to past lives. And then, okay, you died in your past life. Now what? And he would document the whole very scientific in his approach to of how the other side is structured. So you have this very broad view of existence and the soul and eternity that we hear. This is everything this body getting hurt or dying is the ultimate thing that you know tragedy from my narrow scope of vision so i know that's sort of a long-winded spiel about it but i do believe there are no victims only volunteers and i also understand

how that can be deeply triggering for someone who's had something challenging. And it's not, I don't say that to diminish anyone's experience. I just believe at the end of the day, when all the puzzle pieces go back in the box, there will be an answer. There will be a reason. And it will be an answer that you co-wrote and co-orchestrated. Yeah. I'm one of those people that hears that statement and finds it triggering. But like you, I feel torn here. And this is maybe the relative and the absolute again, right? On the relative level, I think the world dishes out all sorts of horrible things and we should do what we can to respond to that suffering and be kind and be compassionate and, you know, not blame victims

and do all that. And I've had moments where I have connected to something far greater, bigger, deeper, more timeless and unitive that have also told me or given me some leanings towards some of the things that you're saying. And I intellectually and maybe even my heart is drawn in that direction. And so this is one of these things that kind of bounce back and forth on like, what, okay, what do we do with this? Ultimately, none of us really know, right? What happens after we die? We are all speculating, right? I mean, even people who were saying they did it, you know, okay, I'm not saying they didn't, but we can't prove they did either. And so, you know, sometimes I move very much into the, this is it, this is all there is, and we need to respond in that way. There are other times I can

be a little bit more, a bigger perspective. But what I do think is interesting is that regardless of whether you want to say you believe version A or version B of that story, the principles that would cause you to live in a wise way, I think, are the same with either viewpoint, right? With either viewpoint, we know that a broader perspective is almost always helpful. It's almost always helpful to zoom out and say, can I see this in a broader context? That love is the most important thing. So I think some of this to me becomes metaphysical speculation and it can become very helpful to say, all right, and I like what you've done in your book because I've read it. And again, some of the metaphysical ideas, I mean, I'm not sure I'm on board with that,

but the actual idea of how to live in this world and how to orient, I'm like, I I'm totally a hundred percent on board with. So at the end of the day, maybe it's not that important. I don't know. That's a great point. And you know, the way I like to kind of think about this is okay. My theory is, is that I'm one with the creator that created creates and animates all things, right? I'm a fractal of source consciousness. And so are you. And this is how we experience ourself throughout eternity. I play Brandon, you play Eric, maybe next time I play Eric and you play Brandon, who knows? And so that's going to be a good ride for you, man. I can't wait. I can't wait to hear your feedback. So, you know, OK, if I'm the creator of my reality, abracadabra translates to I create as I speak, right?

Like I'm spelling, I'm casting spells. My words are my wands. If I tell the story, this is how it works. And I am creative in my stories that I tell. Literally so powerful that reality matches me in some way, shape, or form. It's like, okay, great. This story feels good.

I always say one of the greatest tests is what kind of results does get you? If you take this perspective on what kind of results does it give you? There are people out there who are really torn up about the tragedies and horrors of this world. I look at them and I agree with you a hundred percent. Let's do everything we can to right any wrongs and bring love where there is hate and on and on it goes. Yeah.

And these things that are happening, I find a sense of peace that there will be an answer and that it's happening for us, not to us. And so the results that the perspective bring me are sense of peace and empowerment. And so I think that's important. I had an experience a few months ago that this makes me think of that was really powerful, where me and my partner is deep in the COVID chrysalis, as I like to call it. And we're going to get some food. And I live in Los Angeles, Venice Beach area. And there's a lot of people experiencing homelessness. You know, Venice, there's a lot of that. And

we're driving down this, you know, kind of this area, Rose Avenue, where there's a lot of restaurants and things. And I see this man walking, and he's in, you know, sort of tattered clothes and things that I see a lot. But his gait was so zombified. It was like it just kind of took me back like, oh, my gosh, that's like it's like a zombie, you know, like, wow. And then I fell into that moment of poor guy like, oh, it's awful. You know, me judging his experience in this case, you know, feeling sorry for him. Someone else might bomb should get a job. All these variations of perspectives.

In this case, I was feeling sorry for this individual and judging it as wrong or it's too bad. It shouldn't be happening from my narrow perspective. So we drove by him. A few blocks down, we go to get food. They're seeing everyone outside at this point in time still. And so we're out on the sidewalk and ordering our food and waiting for our food to come. Ten minutes or so pass. I forget completely about this guy, you know, that had been walking on our way back a few blocks earlier.

And all of a sudden, I look over and he's standing five feet from me on the sidewalk. And he just stops dead in his tracks. And he looks me dead in the eyes, the clearest eyes I ever seen. And here's this zombie man. And he looks at me, goes, Hey, how you doing? And I was like, just kind of taken aback. And I'm like, uh, I'm doing fine. How are you? He goes, Oh, I'm doing just fine. And he winked at me and then kept going. And in that moment, I got full chills. And my partner pointed out he was wearing the same jacket I was wearing. And it was like,

who am I to judge this man's experience that that soul isn't experiencing what it needs? And that's the message for me. It felt very like you hear about angel encounters and things. And you know, I had another guy on my, on my show a couple of years ago, his whole thing is he said he could see people's higher selves. And so he would walk around the streets of San Francisco and send love to people experiencing homelessness. And all of a sudden this man's higher self appeared to him and said, do I look like I need that from you or want that from you? And it was shocking to him and really jarred his perspective. It's kind of like, whose karma are you getting in the way of trying to fix or think that there's something off here? And that was a very powerful experience for

me that I think felt like there was some divine intervention in his demeanor. I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together on the Really No Really podcast, our mission is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions like why they refuse to make the bathroom door go all the way to the floor. We got the answer. Will space junk block your cell signal? The astronaut who almost drowned during a spacewalk gives us the answer.

We talk with the scientist who figured out if your dog truly loves you and the one bringing back the woolly mammoth. Plus, does Tom Cruise really do his own stunts? His stuntman reveals the answer. And you never know who's going to drop by. Mr. Brian Cranston is with us today. How are you, too? Hello, my friend.

Wayne Knight about Jurassic Park. Wayne Knight, welcome to Really No Really, sir. Bless you all. Hello, Newman. And you never know when Howie Mandel might just stop by to talk about judging. Really? That's the opening? Really No Really.

Yeah, really. No really. Go to reallynoreally.com. And register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast, or a limited edition signed Jason bobblehead. It's called Really, No Really, and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You said we create our reality, and I think my modification to that, you and I are slightly different, would be, I think we co-create our reality, right? I like that better, actually. I would say that you're correct in saying that. Sometimes when I hear this line of thinking that everything is for

the best, the accusation that is often made, and that I sometimes go, yeah, I could see that, is that it is people with privilege who do that. And I think there is truth to that. Sure, I'd agree. And we have seen how a focus on a spiritual life and a deeper connection, it's emerged from people in great poverty as well. And, you know, all kinds of different places. You know, I think Viktor different places, you know,

I think Viktor Frankl, I mean, he shows up in about every book I read anymore, Viktor Frankl and neuroplasticity, like, I'm like, like bingo, if I was going to play psychological, spiritual self help bingo, Viktor Frankl neuroplasticity would be near the top of the list. But I think what's so inspiring about Viktor Frankl is he's taking these ideas and he's saying, look, I took these ideas to the worst possible place I could be in. And it's not that it made the situation unhorrible or unawful, but it gave him tools and ways of coping that are really powerful. And I think that's why that story of him resonates so powerfully with all of us, because it goes, you know what? Yeah, it's easier for me to say I'm a co-creator of my reality, that I make the meaning of my life. It's easier for me to say that when my life is going pretty well. of my life, it's easier for me to say that when my life is going pretty well. I mean, yeah, of course. Yeah. You know, it's hard to get a whole lot worse than the life he was living. And yet he was still able to say, I create my meaning. And that's why that is so powerful. And that's why I think,

again, whether we want to like it or not, we are a co-creator of our reality. We are making meaning out of everything that occurs. We can't not do it. I mean, I think it's a part of the brain that just doesn't really turn off, but recognizing that that's the process that's happening and then going, okay, is there a different way to think about it? Can I open my perspective a little bit wider? Can I at least recognize this is through a lens? I mean, there's so much power in that. So much. And I think there's deep truth in the idea that it's really the only thing we do have choice over from one perspective is the perspective that we bring. And speaking of privilege and all those things, absolutely right. And it empowers you to start their perspective as much as possible and not to

diminish what it is that someone else is experiencing? That's a very tricky business. We got to be really careful with that. And it's like Dr. Wayne Dyer said, though, I can't be sick enough to help sick people. I can't be poor enough to help poor people. And so you start to think, okay, why is this person having a particularly challenging experience? And we've all seen it. The ones who's really, really challenged like Viktor Frankl, who come out stronger and better and are huge inspiration. And then you have those who have something challenging. It turns them into a murderer or, you know, someone who just we've seen both stories. Right.

Yeah. And, you know, I love the quote, smooth seas never made for a skilled sailor. And we came to be skilled sailors. So you see someone who is experiencing a lot of hardship and it's like, wow, perhaps your soul's a badass and you really are in this lifetime. You wanted to really overcome incredible obstacles and odds. And as a result, I do believe the greater one toils for their freedom, the greater the sense of freedom that's attained as a result. And so you start to kind of take that all into the equation.

And it's sort of like, OK, yeah, we're going to run the race, too. But, you know, I'm going to give you a big lead. yeah, we're going to run the race too, but I'm going to give you a big lead. You remember that in school where certain instances where one person would get to be way up based off whatever judgments of, oh, this person's too fast, this person's slower, give them a head start, all of that. I think all of that is playing out here based off of algorithms or perspectives that are beyond our comprehension. And to me, it's just trusting that that is happening. Like I said, it brings me a deep sense of peace and empowerment. And that is an indicator that for me, I'm on the right track with something. And I've seen it bring a

lot of peace and empowerment to others. And I've seen these perspectives, you know, adopted by others who went, you know, from 30 years clinically depressed, nothing could help them suicidal to complete turnaround. And it's like, oh, what kind of results did adopting the perspectives get you? That speaks loudest. Yeah. Let's pivot just a little bit and talk about intention. Your fourth key is align your intentions. The first principle in my spiritual habits program is related to intention. Let's talk about it a little bit. You know, first for you, what does that word mean? Why is intention important and what is it? So I referenced in the book, the COVID chrysalis, we're going through a great shift and change on our planet where something old is dying and something new has

been born. And it definitely isn't pretty for the butterfly halfway through that process. And if we equate our own existence, you know, I mean, the journey of the butterfly itself, I mean, it starts out consuming everything in it, the caterpillar consuming everything in its path. And I was telling my mother this story and she's like, you're so right. My geraniums I've had for years are being completely devoured by this caterpillar. And then at some point, an Imaginelle cell pops up in the caterpillar and it is viewed as an invader by the caterpillar cells and stamped out. And then another one pops up and then more pop up. And over time, enough Imaginelle cells are able to pop up without getting stamped out by the caterpillar cells. They start working together. And that's when the shift comes within

the caterpillar. And then it goes into the chrysalis and the caterpillar cells melt into a goo that actually fuel the imaginal cells so that the butterfly can be born. So isn't that interesting? All the pain and suffering that the caterpillar precipitated in destruction become the fuel for this beautiful creature that helps to pollinate and create more growth to exist. It was a necessary part of it. So when you equate that to us, I believe we are entering a new time on the planet. There's a lot of upheaval as we transition into the collective butterfly. And as we get into the butterfly's world, I believe more than ever intention is important.

You know, in the past, if the season was, oh, we're supposed to experience more separation from source. And, you know, the masculine energy is dominant during this cycle of our evolution. And therefore, someone can come and be a warmonger and destroy and take all the resources from others. And that's a time when in this story, the narrative that it made sense. And therefore that intention worked to be, you know, me, me, me, instead of we, we, we, because we were in a time where that was the predominant energy. And I believe we're coming into a time now where more than ever, our intention is so important because everything is energy in the butterflies world more than ever. If you want to know the outcome of what you're going to get, you can look at what foundation is it built upon and what is the

underlying intention? What is the reason? What is your why that you're doing what you're doing? And it's a shortcut to knowing in the butterflies world, I believe as to what your ultimate outcome will be. And my dearly departed grandmother, my brother thinks he had a visitation with her a few years after her death. This is many years ago. And at the time we were in a band and we were, you know, dreams of making it in the band and, you know, this whole thing. So my brother all of a sudden has this experience where he feels like it's a visitation for my dearly departed grandmother. And he uses his airtime with her to ask her for an Oracle reading. He says, Moo, we called her Moo.

Well, you know, what's going to happen with the band? What's going to happen with my band Kundalini? And she said, Ryan, you're going to get out of it exactly what you put into it. You know, that wisdom from beyond the veil, perhaps just holds true. It's like, you know, if you want the shortcut to knowing what is the intention? And Gandhi said, if you want to find yourself, lose yourself in the service of others. And I believe that holds true because there are no others. So we have the opportunity to give away what we want for ourselves in some way, shape or form. And that's where our deepest fulfillment is going to come from because of the ultimate nature of reality that always doing it to self and therefore must feel the energetic repercussions of whatever I'm putting out. And so in the book, of course, I get into and then there's these relative truths.

There's the ultimate intention of source that we're swept up in this co-creation or our higher self. So I'd love to hear you speak to this as well. Well, I think the part that where you said, you know, our intention is our why, you know, is I think the heart of it for me. Like, why are we doing the things that we are doing? What really matters to us? And I just think that that is a thing that given the pace of our society and given the nature of life that a lot of us don't think about very often. I say to coaching clients sometimes, like if you want success in life, I think there's sort of two things you got to figure out. You got to figure out what really

matters to you. And then you got to figure out how to live that way. I see a lot of people who can do one or the other. They can act like they're acting like they're just the effort level is there. Like they're working hard, whether it's on their family or their job or their, you know, they're working hard. Yeah. They got that part. And then there's other people, you know, more the dreamers, right? They've got all the intention, but they have no idea what to do with

it. They know what they really want or what matters. And so I think if you can combine those two things, which is, okay, this is what really matters to me. Now I'm going to live that way. It's a lot better. And sometimes with intention for me, the thing I've been working with people on and I work with in my own life all the time is reconnecting the actions that I'm taking back to why I started taking them because we get lost. This happened to me. I was a parent and I would find myself in the, I have to do these things for my kid. I have to do these things for my kid. Right. And now it's an obligation and it's a, it's a, it's this whole thing when I stop and I go like, well,

I don't have to take him to soccer practice. Like, why am I taking him to soccer practice? Oh, because I love him. And because I think that, you know, team sports might give him X, Y, and Z. And boy, when he smiles, when he's running down the field with that ball, it warms my heart. Like, okay, now I've reconnected something I'm doing that is sort of shifted into obligation. I've reconnected it to what really matters to me. And even without changing any behavior, which sometimes we have to do, I've sort of realigned my insides back towards what really matters. Yeah, makes so much sense. I put a quote from Carlos Castaneda and in my book about this, because I

know we've talked about co-creation. It's like from one perspective, I'm Brandon from another perspective, I'm part of a, I like to say kind of like Russian nested dolls. And so what's your phrase about a fractal? I like that one. We are all fractals of the one source consciousness that creates and animates all things. That is a line I can get behind. It's really empowering. And, you know, Carlos Castaneda speaks to this Raider game being played with, you know, this nested intentions. And he said in one of his books, in the universe, there is an unmeasurable and indescribable force, which those who live of the source call intention. Absolutely everything that exists in the entire cosmos is attached to intent by a connecting link. Sorcerers are not

only concerned with understanding and explaining that connecting link, but they are especially concerned with cleansing it of the numbing effects brought about by all of the concerns of living at ordinary levels of consciousness. I would say a source or a source or someone aligned with source and that greater intention of how do I empower others and bring everyone up and help everyone move into a state of peace and equanimity is as much as is possible and meant in this life. What are your thoughts on I'm down, I'm going to set intentions and I wake up in the morning and I think about my intention and either one of two things happens. One is it just feels really flat. I just can't generate any emotional psychic energy around it. Or the only thing that I feel like I want is something that, you know, is quote unquote selfish, right? It feels very much like it's, you know, yeah, I want my intention to be oriented towards love and beauty and kindness. But my intention today

is like, I want my boss to get run over by a train. I mean, I'm not saying it's even that bad, you get my gist, which is like, my brain doesn't seem to want to go there. You know, what do I do with this? I think that's a really great question. And I've certainly been there many times. And what I do at this point is trying to force anything is just, it's like, you know, what we resist persists. If I'm resisting my state that I'm currently in, all I'm doing is giving it more energy and power. It's like what we accept, I believe we can move through. And when you start to view yourself as a wave and emotion is energy in motion. Okay. This isn't the place that I

would like to be right now, energetically. And thankfully I know this too shall pass. And this is a part of my process of I'm in the process of getting back to the state that I want to get in. I'm running the mile and I'm a quarter of the way in. But I know it's inevitable that I hit it. And it may be painful in the meantime. But knowing that it has a shelf life brings me some sort of peace and the less resistance that I offer. brings me some sort of peace and the less resistance that I offer. And, you know, Abraham Hicks, Esther Hicks, you're probably familiar with, speaks to this as like, look, you're not going to go from feeling really down to really up in five seconds by thinking a positive thought,

you know, forcing some positive BS. But what you can start to do usually is be aware, be the observer of the state that you're in, accept and love yourself there and say, okay, this is okay. I'm going to accept myself. This is a part of being human. I'm going to be with this. And maybe I can reach for a more neutral thought. Maybe I can reframe what I just thought, you know, oh, it's the end of the world. Things are awful. Oh, maybe it's not the end of the world. Maybe I'm being a little overly dramatic. Maybe it's just a little inconvenient. As you slowly start to consciously navigate yourself out of this, it's going to start by going more neutral. Once you get neutral, as she talks about, now you're no longer going upstream against flow of source.

And now you, as long as you're not swimming upstream, you're good because you get swept up in the stream of goodness ultimately and peace. And so I really like that. It's like, I don't even necessarily have to be so good at being, you know, incredibly positive and optimistic. I just need to not get too caught in those potholes, you know, and by the way, I'm going to get caught in them sometimes. And that's okay too, and by the way, I'm going to get caught in them sometimes. And that's okay, too. And when I do, I'm going to do my best to bring awareness to it and then start reaching for neutral thoughts. You know, a lot of times I think it's as simple as Tony Robbins talks about changing your state changes your experience. So how about get up and go walk

in the sunshine for a few minutes, stretch your arms over your head for three minutes. You know, our brains are pharmacies. It literally releases all these different chemicals that change your state. And so a lot of times we get so lost in a mental chatter and it's like, move some. And it's incredible how much that can have an effect. I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together on the Really No Really podcast, our mission is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions like

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And register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast, or a limited edition signed Jason bobblehead. It's called Really No Really, and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I like everything you said there, which speaks to sometimes there's an incremental approach to things. And probably the most common phrase that I use on the show is sometimes you can't think your way into right action. You have to act your way into right thinking. And this is exactly what you're saying. You know, it's corollary is for me is, you know, depression is something that I've kind of gone around with a few times and depression hates a moving target when it's there. For me, I'm just like, move. It doesn't even matter. Like clean the house, go outside, go to the mall. I'm not, I guess I'm not going to the

mall. Although I must be getting old because this is what I've thought a bunch of times this winter. If we weren't in the middle of a pandemic, I might ask my friend if he wanted to go walk around the mall. Oh man. Cause I want, I want to move. I want to walk, but I don't really want to be outside. It sneaks up on you, man. Yeah, I'm sorry, everyone. That's great. But I agree that, you know, there's these little actions that we can take that move us a little ways forward. And I agree, too. It's difficult to go from, like, I'm all the way down to all the way up.

And I think sometimes the nature of the self-help movement, even the spiritual movement in a lot of cases, seems to indicate, like, that these practices are so transformative. And they are, but they're typically transformative over a long period of time. There are exceptions to that. There are exceptions to that. But what I think happens a lot is someone goes, all right, I don't feel very good. Things aren't well. I've heard that if I do 10 minutes of box breathing, I'm going to feel awesome. Yeah. So they sit down and they do a useful practice, like 10 minutes of box breathing, I'm going to feel awesome. Yeah. So they sit down and they do a useful practice, like 10 minutes of box breathing. And they don't feel awesome. They might actually feel a little bit better, but they're not triangulated in for that subtlety. They're looking for way better and they don't get it.

And then they go, eh, guess that's not for me. So then, you know, next time they feel bad, it's like, well,, eh, guess that's not for me. So then the, you know, next time they feel bad, it's like, well, I've heard maybe Vipassana meditation is good. So let me sit down and do a couple minutes. You know, I do, I do 10 minutes of Vipassana for the next week and I don't feel great, but again, I might feel a little bit better, but I'm not tuned to that subtlety. So I go, eh, that's not it. And same thing with thinking positive thoughts. We are in such a spiritual, psychological self-help marketplace. And I'm part of it, right? I mean, I am 100% putting the goods out, right?

So I'm implicated in what I'm saying. I think a lot of times we just jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump. Chasing. Yeah. And so, you know, it's why we developed the spiritual habits program is to say, look, let's take some core principles. Let's take some behavior change principles. Let's combine them and let's start living more deeply. And so I'd love to ask you my favorite question right now, or I would say the question that's most on my heart that I'm

trying to solve, which is how do we get the average person? And by average person, let's just say the person who's got a 40 hour a week job, maybe they've got kids, they're busy people, right? They're not going to drop out. They're not going to the monastery, but they want to live a more connected life. I find the biggest problem is that even if we can get to a point where we're like, I'm meditating every morning for 15 minutes. Great. Good work. A lot of people can't even get there. That's very positive.

But the rest of the day, it's all gone. How do we integrate this into more of the moments of our lives when we get busy and we forget? What a great question. You know, for me, I happen to be surrounded by a lot of people in the transformational festival scene, kind of a lot of people who are not working the nine to five, who are, you know, music producers and festival producers and working on self-help programs with people and lots of medicine journeys. And I have a lot of that in my, in my world. And as someone who's serial entrepreneur and, uh, you know, had hundreds of employees and been a doer my whole life, I've found myself annoyed with the community a lot. I live in a co-living space. So I've had a lot of that community around me in the last two years, especially. And I found myself annoyed a lot with some of these perspectives. Like, yeah, you know what? I don't need your help. I have all these things on my plate. I don't need distance Reiki from afar. I don't need to hire you to send

good energy to, you know, how about help clean the bathroom, you know, where the rubber meets the red? How about like, you know, thanks. I'm all good on distance Reiki from, you know, paying you to meditate in the corner or something. But one of the things that is really interesting about this community and one of the things that I love is the only thing I'm really good at and a lot of these people are good at is telling good stories about themselves and the universe and the nature of reality. I'm one with the source consciousness that creates and animates all things. I'm a fractal of that source consciousness, right? And as a result, it's all possible. Possibilities are endless. I'm a master of time and space. I think it was Osho who said everyone should meditate at least 20 minutes a day unless

you're too busy. You should meditate for an hour, right? And it's like, so you actually, I find as I start playing with some of these concepts that it's all so malleable, you know, it's so malleable. My ex-business partner went from suicidal and taking a $60,000 a year job three years ago to having over $30 million in the bank and on his way to being a billionaire because he is so expanded in his view of what is possible. I believe when you come holding your bag of sugar to be filled, it will be examined to see how large it is. What story are you telling about the nature of the situation in which you find yourself?

So if you find yourself in a story of 40 hours, here's where the limits are. Here's abracadabra. It's true. I'm not going to take that away. And if you can start playing with some of the ideas that, you know, you're the lead actor and actress and director and your own private Y-O-U universe, you play with that idea and you surround yourself with enough people playing with that idea. Or, you know, maybe you're not at a hippie commune like me where everyone's thinking and talking like this. But there's plenty of books. Go read Neville Goddard from 1950, where he's telling stories that are incredible of people, you know, walking every day and tuning into the vibration of owning this most expensive building in New York

one day. And then it happens in dramatic fashion. I mean, some of the stories that are real that have happened to people as far as manifestation and co-creation and bending space time in order to create new opportunity for themselves. They're incredible. So if I'm taking those stories in all the time and surrounding myself with this, suspending disbelief enough. in all the time and surrounding myself with this suspending disbelief enough. There's a great Netflix documentary called Miracles by this guy, Darren Brown, who's a incredible like hypnotist, illusionist, and he's making fun of faith healers in it, like mocking it, but then doing it. And I believe it's happening because he suspends disbelief enough to create that potential

in that person who can now read the newspaper who needed glasses 30 seconds ago. Or Bashar talks about, he calls it permission slips. Whatever permission slip you need to suspend disbelief enough to create these miracles. And I believe that's what was happening. There's a narrative around Jesus, perhaps, that then, oh, he creates miracles. He does? Oh, yeah, I heard it. I saw it.

Oh, and now the person hearing that, it's like, ah, he does create, oh, now I'm in his face. And now I've created the container and the permission slip for it to be possible. And so start creating a container that makes some of these things possible. And there's plenty of good reading and stories out there that'll leave you in awe and wonder. And take that along with the story that the place that you find yourself is the, I believe, the perfect jumping off point to become more. There's a guy I had on my podcast named Derek Rydall. You may be familiar with him. The name is familiar. He'd be great on your show. He's a podcaster, author. And the guy was, you know, waiting tables.

If you go back and search the Positive Head archives, I've had him on a few times. One of my favorite guests. Just incredible ideas. And his story was he was an actor who hit hard times. He went from having gigs to waiting tables and serving his former colleagues. And he was embarrassed and depressed. And then he had the realization, like, I'm going to be the best waiter there's ever been. And he just started just putting 111% of his heart, mind, soul into it.

All of a sudden, he started getting in trouble at work because he was showing everyone else up. They finally turned on him and asked him to leave. He went from finding himself at this job that two months later on a private jet going to teach a course on how to do this sort of thing. And now he's wildly successful. And so he literally elevated himself out and created conditions vibrationally where he was no longer a match for that level of job because he was vibrating it at such a higher degree or different degree, that which is into itself is drawn. Water seeks its own level. So the way or out of your current situation is radical appreciation for where you are

and finding the beauty in it and pouring yourself into it fully and finding that that moment and that humdrum job is as divine as any other thing that ever has been, could be or will be. And if you're able to pull that off like Derek did, then as he also talks about not the law of attraction, he talks about the law of emergence. It's all already in there. Within the acorn is an oak tree. If the little boy takes and puts it on a shelf, it's not going to become an oak tree. If it's in the right water, the right sun, the right conditions are created, What is in potential within the acorn must emerge. And inside of each of us is that oak tree waiting for the right conditions to emerge.

And then you'll find yourself miraculously, like many, many stories. How in the world did I go to Starbucks and I hit it off with this person I happen to talk to who's a billionaire who invited me to come to his new company. And all of a sudden I'm in this whirlwind of a new life experience. That sort of thing happens all the time. And it is possible for each and every one of us. And the way out is fully into where you are because where you are is the perfect jumping off point to lead you to where you can in potential emerge to next. Yeah, I think that idea of the way out is through is so true. It's so interesting, you know, hearing you talk and then reflecting on my worldviews, I would say I'm a little bit

more practical. And I do not mean that in a positive way, necessarily. Right? I'm not saying better or worse, different by any stretch of the imagination, right? You know, I look at someone like Derek Rydell and I go, okay, well, yeah, it does happen, but it doesn't happen to everyone. But back to the point we made earlier, I actually don't think that where it goes is as important as the way it goes. And what I mean by that is what Derek did, any of us can do. The results may not be in two months we are a billionaire on a plane. That is wildly improbable, not impossible, but improbable. But most likely, at the very least, we will have more meaning,

more connection, and more fulfillment in what we do. Which is the ultimate wealth. That's right. You take the same action, you take the same approach, you know, and it is that going deeper and that appreciation for what I have and where I am and whatever that is, is really difficult to do. It's really hard. And I think it's really valuable because I know there have been times in my life where I have had that mindset of deep appreciation for where I was. And I was very happy and I was happy with having way less than I have now at certain points. Right. And then there are other points where I have been like, I'm not happy with what I have. I have more now than I've ever had. And I don't mean money wise. I actually have less money. You know, I walked away from a pretty lucrative corporate job to do this, but I'm doing fine. My point being, it's a mindset, right? It's an ability to be here, to be present. You know, one of your keys is BBB, right?

Right. How do I inhabit where I'm at more fully? Because honestly, that is all there is, is where I'm at right now is the only place that I can have happiness or fulfillment or peace or anything is by it's going to happen right now or now or now. That's where it's at. And yet that's so easy to say and far harder to do. Yeah. Easily said. And it's a lifetime to become a master of such a thing. And, you know, I think there's a reason books like Be Here Now and Power of Now are these greatest bestsellers of the last hundred years in the self-development world, because there is so much power there. And it's the only place that power resides. I mean, show me your past. You can't, you can tell

me about it. You can show me a picture, any of those things, but it's like, it's just not it. And we all know that our memory is unreliable at best, you know, hopefully we know that lots of people still don't, I think, know that and they're difficult to work with, but yeah. know that lots of people still don't, I think, know that and they're difficult to work with. But yeah. Yeah. Well, if you don't, then yeah, you learn. Exactly. We filter tons of things in and out, you know, is the way our brain works and our memory. I mean, your past isn't here. Your future is never shown up exactly like you envisioned it. There is no past. You know, there is no future truly that exists. You're always in a now moment, like you said. And so naturally, the only place you have any sort of control or power is in that now moment. And to get really personal with it is

like you can do your best to affect the now to look and feel the way you want it to feel. And great. It's easy to pat yourself on the back and feel great about it when it shows up the way you envisioned it. And where it's more challenging is when it shows up in a way that you didn't envision. And that's where your opportunity to become that skilled sailor comes in, right? you know, skilled sailor comes in, right? Where you get the opportunity to work out that muscle to become someone who, okay, I'm going to trust this process. I'm going to be here now. I'm going to, I'm going to know that the answer to what to do next, I don't need to know 20 steps ahead. I just need to know, Hmm, what, what, what feels most aligned for me now? Where can I set my

intention? That's pure and good and just follow that inner guidance? And you realize that inner guidance is more powerful than any podcast or book or, you know, that's your direct except the one you feed. He's he doesn't know what he's talking about. Yeah, right. That's the only one. That's the only one. Other than that, yes, trust your inner guidance after that. Yeah. So, you know, the present is the gift. It's called the present for a very good reason. And when we start looking through that lens, telling that story, what results does it get us? I found it to get me really good results. Yeah. Something came to me and I don't know if you would agree with this, but I thought I've loved this conversation. Right. I loved it because you and I sort of see things differently.

And yet we arrive at this very commonplace and I love it. And I thought, you know, a phrase I've often said, and I wonder if you agree with this phrase that everything turns out for the best. I would say when you can see the whole story is my friend puts it jokingly. Yeah. In the end, we get the girl. You know, that's how my friend, you know, it may be lifetimes for that story to play itself out. But I believe, yes, ultimately it's happening for our good and growth. Yeah. My sort of core philosophy is more not everything happens for the best, but that we can make the best out of everything that happens.

And it might be two different sides of the same coin speaking about itself, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. But that I think is, you know, it's just at the end of the day, what you just said is true. We are brought to moment after moment after moment after moment in life, and we are called upon to make the wisest response we can. And the more we do that, the better our life is. And I believe a lot of these challenges are blessings. You know, there's a lot of evidence to I speak about this in the book to like simulation argument that we're in a simulation. And this is a game that our higher self sort of created. And so you think of it in terms of a video game and you get to the boss at the end of a level.

I mean, in my case, you know, I talked about creating that magical sort of perspective opens up a lot. And for me, I'm surrounded with a lot of that. That's why I always ask for stories of synchronicity or serendipity on my show, because I love hearing them and they kind of fuel my childlike wonder. And it's like the Bible verse about the only one I ever quote, lest she become like a child, you can't enter the kingdom of heaven. And I believe that heaven is here and now if we choose to have that childlike wonder. And so for me, I'll have a lot of incredible amount of synchronicity, like our spiritual breadcrumbs. One is around my birthday. It's, you know, my dad was 28 and had me on his birthday, July 28th. And it's his grandmother's birthday, my great grandmother and her mother died on that day. My ex business partner, baby mama and grandmother soulmate. I met on that day. Her boyfriend committed suicide on that day before

me, his name was Anson and all my relatives are from Anson, North Carolina with that birthday and on and on it goes. It's like a 10 minute story, right? So I, I look at these things and I say, ah, there's these reflections that it's, you know, me reflecting me back to me in some way. And I am super empowered to make my life magical. And the more I tell that story, the more it continues to reflect back to me. It's like just making it up and then it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. It all kind of leads to the same result in a way, right? Yep. Well, we're all making it up to then it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. It all kind of leads to the same result in a way, right? Yep.

Well, we're all making it up to some degree, I think. I mean, I just honestly think we're creating meaning because that's what we do. But reality is something that touched in its most real form doesn't have a story attached to it. It just has this core energy slash unity to it. I'm not articulating that well, which is exactly the point because when you touch sort of ultimate reality, there aren't words. It's a wordless experience to a certain degree. So I agree. Let's pick the stories that give us the most power in our own lives, the stories that lead us in a direction that feels good and positive and helpful.

Yeah. The alternative is rough. And it's challenging enough doing that, right? Totally. I look at people who don't have this sort of optimistic outlook on reality that I think I have, and I'm like, man, I feel for you because it's challenging, you know, seeing through this lens, much less thinking, you know, feeling disconnected and it's all for not, and it's all lost and, you know, no wonder there's so much depression.

Yeah. It's a tough view. Well, I think you and I both try and keep our shows to about an hour and we're about 15 minutes past that. So I would say we wrap up. Do you have any normal way of wrapping up your show? You know, I have a couple. I always ask a story of synchronicity, serendipity, positive paranormal story. If anything comes to mind that you feel inspired to share, I'd love to hear it. And then I have my cliche closer as well, which is a 60 second question.

All right. And then I have my cliche closer as well, which is a 60 second question. So, all right, I'll give you my story of this. And I'm suspicious of my memory and things that happened a long time ago, but this is the way I remember it. I was in sobriety the first time and I left the house and I went out and I tried to go to a meeting. And for whatever reason, the meeting wasn't there. I was riding the bus at the time and I really wanted to use that day. And I took the bus back. I was staying at my dad's house after I got out of treatment.

And I was going to go in the house and find some money and go get high. And I remember the phone ringing and it being the pastor at my mom's church, who was a man I loved. I mean, I never was that involved in the church. I never really believed it, but I always in him just saw this beautiful spirit. And there he was on the phone at the time that I most sort of needed and was saying a prayer for like, God help, I don't want to use and got that phone call. Wow. So again, you know, my skeptical nature is like, you know, but, but it, from a synchronistic standpoint, it's a, you know, so perfectly timed, perfectly timed. Certainly, I'm not sure if my you know, how my life would have unfolded, you know, had I gotten high that day, I just don't know, you know, and that was

it could be a different timeline. That was a big moment. Yeah. And if we if we take the parallel worlds theory, one version of me did go get high that day. And, you know, who knows where he is, but probably not anywhere good. So real quick, I was sharing the birthday thing and I kind of got off track with that. I view it sort of like a video game, a lot of these challenges. And so here this co-living space in Venice that I run, I had someone show up. I've had two people show up here with my birthday and one of them showed up and it was the most challenging. It was like, if my shadow showed up with autism, a bit of autism and, you know, some real serious substance abuse issues,

very aggressive. I was ready to shut the place down over this person who became such a disruption to the house. And you're talking 10 people living here and, you know, a lot of events. And it was just, it was very sad.

I'd put a lot into getting it. And then I remembered, oh, if I get the lesson that I'm supposed to get from it, I don't need to figure out how to get him out. Cause he was like, I'll not, I'm not leaving. I'll take your room. And you know, like you can't drag me out and it's COVID. You can't, there's no eviction. There's no, you know, and I remember if I get the message in the lesson, there will

be a natural separation from what's needed here. Right. And so it became clear to me that it was not allowing him to trigger me into a state of, you know, he's very like, and I can be very, you know, and it would just like escalate each other. And my partner was like, Brandon, only deal with him via text. You know, luckily we went away for the holidays. I asked him to leave. He's threatening all these crazy messages. Just, we went away for the holidays. I asked him to leave. He's threatening all these crazy messages, just calm, cool. Nope, nope. If I get this, he'll naturally

leave. And then all of a sudden, something came up, new job offer, stayed away. This is my idea to leave. I'm out of here. Thanks. And gone. And the day he left, it was like a tornado at the house. I'm in Southern California. We get very little weather. And it was like a tornado at the house i'm in southern california we get very little weather you know and it was clear as it could be i was about an hour down the road clear as it could be sunny and people who are here was like it was wild like a tornado hit the place not a real tornado but you know blew everything off my balcony and people were like the house felt like it was going to blow down the story i I tell, whether it's true or not, is I think there's a lot of parallel past life energy there that I passed this test with this character in this moment. And I cleared that energy up and it's like a vacuum coming in, you know, and just energy moving.

And so I got on that because one of the questions that you asked was, you know, how do you deal with these really challenging things and, you know, what's going on here? And I view it as a game, a video game. And I always say him and I are in good terms now. And I view him as the boss at the end of one of my levels of level up. Awesome. All right. What's the standard 60 second closer? 60 second closer in 60 seconds or less.

What is the meaning of life? According to Eric Zimmer, I'm tempted to just be quiet for 60 seconds and just let the clock run out and just let silence be the thing. So there you go. I'm going to leave it at silence. I'm going to leave it as unanswerable. I like it. No one's ever done that. You can see why I ask it. It gives you a lot of insight into the person. It's like cliche and silly. And it's like, you know, that's a good answer. Awesome. If it's okay, I would love to offer my book as a gift to your listeners. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. If you guys want to get the audio and or ebook, my book,

The Golden Key, Modern Alchemy to Unlock Infinite Abundance, you go to goldenkey.gift.gift. And if key dot gift dot g-i-f-t and if you use the code when you feed you can get either or both audio or an e-book for free yep oh that is a nice gift physical book you'll buy but yeah you know audio or e-book yep absolutely for free awesome all right we'll put the link to that in the show notes well brandon thank you so much i've enjoyed this co-experiment here, this co-creation. It's been cool. I think we're a really good match. It's like slight variations that are complementary, and it's been an honor If what you just heard was helpful to you, please consider making a monthly donation to support the One You Feed podcast. When you join our membership community with this monthly pledge, you get lots of exclusive members-only benefits. It's our way of saying thank you for your support. Now, we are so grateful for the members of our community. We wouldn't be able to do what we do without their support, and we don't take a single dollar for granted. To learn more, make a donation

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