The Rich Roll Podcast - It’s Your Job To Be The Dopest Version of You

Episode Date: September 8, 2014

Wise words that capture the essence of this week's guest, Preston Smiles. When you meet Preston, you immediately understand who this guy is. He wears it on his sleeve. It's written all over his face. He just is exactly who he is. It's much harder to describe Preston in words. But I'll give it a shot. A leader in the emergent world of conscious media, Preston is a pretty unique cat — one of the most present, focused, passionate, open and giving people I have ever met. But honestly, everything that Preston is can be boiled down to one word – maybe the most important word in our lexicon – love. A wellspring of creativity, Preston is a writer (Huff Po / The Daily Love), a motivational messenger, a thought leader and co-founder of something called The Love Mob – a global, grassroots flash mob movement that ignites community building through “Organized Acts of Love.” The Preston I know is an unlikely evolution from a very different guy. Raised under challenging circumstances, young Preston was a hyperactive, dyslexic gang member prone to beatings and beating others. An angry, disenfranchised young man looking at an almost certain future of violence, drug abuse, jails and institutions. But Preston was able to escape this path. An emotional and spiritual transformation that instead produced a man full of life, devoted to serving others and downright unafraid to embrace and exude love, consciousness and unity — hardly the most popular subjects among men in our society. Preston is both a friend and an inspiration, and I am proud to share his powerful story and message with you today. I sincerely hope you enjoy the conversation. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Peace + Plants, Rich

Welcome to the Rich Roll Podcast, Episode 103 with Preston Smiles. The Rich Roll Podcast. Hey, everybody, Rich Roll Podcast. for supporting the show by clicking through the Amazon banner ad at richroll.com for all your Amazon purchases. This really helps us out a lot. So thank you so much to everybody who has supported us in this way. If you haven't done it yet, it would be great if you could make a point of it. It really goes a long way towards keeping the lights on and allowing us to keep this show free for you guys, because it's always going to be free. So the Amazon banner ad is just right there on the homepage at richroll.com. Click through.

It doesn't cost you a cent extra on your Amazon purchases, and they kick us a little commission change, and it's all good for everybody. So thank you. All right. I'm on a mission, and this mission is simple. It's to help you live and be better. Well, that's pretty vague.

I get it. I know. This is not an exact science, people, and it's not reductionist either. Transformation can't be pinpointed to certain things in isolation like shortcuts or life hacks. There's plenty of other podcasts and blogs out there for you if that's what you're into. I'm talking about total transformation and transformation by its very definition. It's a messy thing. It's not linear. There's no equation or algorithm. There's no one size fits all miracle yellow brick road.

or algorithm. There's no one-size-fits-all miracle yellow brick road. And the biggest variable in this whole thing is you. Because change, improvement, self-betterment, transformation, growth, these are not necessarily things for those that need it. It's much more for those that want it. It requires strength. It requires faith, commitment. You've got to be comfortable in discomfort. You've got to be comfortable in not knowing what the result of these efforts is going to be. And, you know, I only have so much control over this process when it comes to working with other people, which I do a lot. And that's a long way of saying that I have no control. But what I can do is I can try to provide some guideposts. And that's really what this show is all about. Long-form, in-depth conversations with people, not just interesting and accomplished, not just forward-thinking, paradigm-breaking, expanded creative personalities doing all kinds of great things to improve our collective consciousness here on Earth.

great things to improve our collective consciousness here on earth. But like today's guest, people who have themselves transformed because talking story, as they say in Hawaii, is powerful stuff. In my experience, it is through the relation of direct experience that we can emotionally connect with the underlying tools and principles that can assist us, that can not only inspire us but elucidate certain truths about who we all are at our core, truths that can be translated to raise your vibration and send you on your own unique path to uncover, unlock, and unleash your best, most authentic self. your best, most authentic self. There's only one way to learn, to really illuminate our lives, and that's to jump. Wise words from today's guest, Preston Smiles.

Preston is a guy who, when you meet him, you immediately understand who this guy is. It's impossible not to, because he's oozing himself out of every pore of his body. What's much harder to do is to describe this person in words because words don't really do him justice. You have to experience Preston. But to give this episode a little context, a little background, I'm going to give it a try. Some of the adjectives that come to mind, clear-eyed, focused, passionate,

intelligent, articulate, extremely open, and giving. But honestly, everything that Preston is can be boiled down to one simple word, maybe the most important word in our lexicon, love. Preston's a leader in this new growing world of what's being called conscious media, and he's a pretty unique cat and one of the most open loving people I've ever met. He's a font of creative positivity in a panoply of media. He's a writer for Huffington Post and The Daily Love. He's a motivational messenger and an inspirational speaker, a thought leader and a co-founder of something called the Love Mob. We're going to talk about that in the podcast today. co-founder of something called the Love Mob, and we're going to talk about that in the podcast today. But the Love Mob essentially is a grassroots global multi-generational flash mob movement that

is just about, well, igniting community and building through spreading love and positivity, something he calls organized acts of love. But the Preston that I know is a pretty unlikely evolution from a very different guy not too many years ago, a guy who was raised in less than stellar circumstances, a hyperactive dyslexic gang member prone to beatings and beating others, an angry disenfranchised young man who was looking at an almost certain future of violence and drug abuse and jails and institutions. But Preston was able to escape this somewhat predetermined future. An emotional and a spiritual transformation so profound, it produced a man who is now, you know, full of life, a man devoted to serving others and a man who's really not afraid to embrace and exude this crazy four-letter word called love,

which is, you know, hardly the most popular subject among men in our society. I mean, when was the last time a group of men sat down and talked about love? You know, it's just not really hardwired into our culture as something that's kind of, I don't know, acceptable or encouraged for, you know, the masculine society to really speak about in public, which makes Preston really unique in his embrace of this ethos. So how did he make his transformation? Well, it all began when he realized that basically that nothing is separate, that everything is connected, including his thoughts. This notion that thoughts are incredibly powerful, thoughts about yourself, thoughts about others, thoughts about the world. And the realization that these thoughts really shape and shift not only our outlook on life, but how we interact with ourselves, how we interact with others, and what we actually

attract into our life. So it's a fascinating conversation that I have with him. Before I get into it, another aside really quick, but I've got to make this announcement because I'm just so excited and proud about it. If you know Julie and me, you know that we're all about building community around good ideas. I mean, that's what this podcast is about. We've created a virtual global community around ideas. But we really wanted to have a geographic center, a physical location where people could congregate around the subject matters that we talk about on the podcast. And today marks a huge step forward in this commitment by finally offering just such a place. It's been a year in the making, and I haven't said a peep about it. I've been

uncharacteristically very tight-lipped about it, but today's a special day. It's September 4th, and it is the opening day of our newest partnership venture that's called Joy Cafe, a restaurant. Yes, we are officially restauranteurs. We're partners in Joy Cafe, a fantastic new 100% plant-based, all-organic food that's locally sourced restaurant in the West Valley area of Los Angeles in West Lake Village, to be precise. And this restaurant is really founded by our friends Joy Whaley and Nick Johanson. These two people are amazing, shining stars who have devoted their lives to birthing this new cafe, this new restaurant. And we're so proud to partner with them and couldn't be more excited to be able to

open doors on what is truly the only and the best plant-based restaurant in the West Valley, hands down, no question about it. It's beautiful. It's modern. Everything is affordable. We've got smoothies. We've got all kinds of entrees and side dishes. You can get food to go. It's modern. Everything is affordable. We've got smoothies. We've got all kinds of entrees and side dishes. You can get food to go. It's fantastic. We're just we're thrilled. We're so excited. And we're finally in a place where we can talk about it publicly and the doors are open. It opened, make a point of stopping by. The address is 2855 Agora Road in Westlake Village. It's just off the Westlake Boulevard exit of the 101. And I'm going to be talking more about our relationship with the cafe and things that we're doing there. But this is really going to become a locus of a lot of activities that we're going to be doing in upcoming months and over the years. But I just wanted to introduce it to you guys really quick. You can find out more information at joycafe.com.

That's J-O-I, not with a Y, joycafe.com. We have a new website for the restaurant's going to be launching soon. What's up there right now is kind of just the basics, but it'll give you, you know, an idea of what this is all about. So that's it. Again, I could, I want to talk about this more, but we got to get to the show. So Preston, Preston, Preston. Preston is a friend. Preston is an inspiration. And I'm really proud to share his powerful story and message with you guys today. We're brought to you today by recovery.com. I've been in recovery for a long time.

It's not hyperbolic to say that I owe everything good in my life to sobriety. And it all began with treatment and experience that I had that quite literally saved my life. And in the many years since, I've in turn helped many suffering addicts and their loved ones find treatment. And with that, I know all too well just how confusing and how overwhelming and how challenging it can be to find the right place and the right level of care, especially because unfortunately, not all treatment resources adhere to ethical practices. It's a real problem. A problem I'm now happy and proud to share has been solved by the people at recovery.com who created an online support portal designed to guide, to support, and empower you to find the ideal level of care tailored to your personal needs. They've partnered with the best global behavioral

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And they have treatment options for you. Life in recovery is wonderful. And recovery.com is your partner in starting that journey. When you or a loved one need help, go to recovery.com and take the first step towards recovery. To find the best treatment option for you or a loved one, again, go to recovery.com. We're brought to you today by recovery.com. I've been in recovery for a long time. It's not hyperbolic to say that I owe everything good in my life to sobriety.

And it all began with treatment, an experience that I had that quite literally saved my life. And in the many years since, I've in turn helped many suffering addicts and their loved ones find treatment. And with that, I know all too well just how confusing and how overwhelming and how challenging it can be to find the right place and the right level of care. Especially because, unfortunately, not all treatment resources adhere to ethical practices. It's a real problem. It's a real problem, a problem I'm now happy and proud to share has been solved by the people at recovery.com who created an online support portal designed to guide, to support, and empower you to find the full spectrum of behavioral health disorders, including substance use disorders, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, gambling addictions, and more. Navigating their site is simple. Search by insurance coverage, location, treatment type, you name it. Plus, you can read reviews from former patients to help you decide. Whether you're a busy exec, a parent of a

struggling teen, or battling addiction yourself, I feel you. I empathize with you. I really do. And they have treatment options for you. Life in recovery is wonderful, and recovery.com is your partner in starting that journey. When you or a loved one need help, go to recovery.com and take the first step towards recovery. To find the best treatment option for you or a loved one, again, go to recovery.com. I was looking at your Instagram last night and I saw you posted a picture of you with a couple of friends and one of those guys was Gennar. Yeah. Gennar is like an old friend of mine. How do you know Gennar? You know, just through the circles of good people. It's one of those things we're supposed to sit down this week actually, and talk about some stuff and see how we can co-create through

the love mob and what he's up to. Right. I mean, he seems to be definitely on your wavelength with all that kind of stuff. He's pretty awesome. And then the other guy, Mickey Willis, are you familiar with him? No, I don't know him. He's pretty much the biggest name in conscious media out there. He's a director. He has a company called Elevate, and they do gigantic films, and they run the show. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I have met him. Actually, Gennar introduced me to him years and years ago when he was doing that film festival. Does he still do that? I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember he had like a super groovy loft in downtown L.A.

Exactly. Now they have like 5,000 acres in Ojai and they've moved there. And he's working on some huge film called Be Brave. We were on a panel last night. That's what the picture was. Oh, okay. It was a visionaries panel with Gennar, Mickey, myself, and Andrew Keegan, who is running Full Circle, which is a community space in Venice. Uh-huh, interesting.

Uh-huh. Yeah, I mean, Gennar lives up in Ojai. I'm pretty sure. He just moved here. He just moved to Venice. Oh, he moved back in Venice. Uh-huh. Interesting. Yeah. I mean, Gennar lives up in Ojai. I'm pretty sure. He just moved here. He just moved to Venice. Oh, he moved back to Venice. Oh, wow. Because he used to live down here and then he moved up there. Interesting. Yep. That's cool, man. I got to reconnect with that guy. Well, anyway, man, it's good to see you. And we first met at a party several months ago or whatever. And Julie and I were talking were talking to you and I was like, I dig this dude, man. I dig this dude's vibe. And I started following you on social media and I'm always inspired by your posts and your videos and your Instagrams. And I, but I'm thinking like, but how does this all work? Like, what is, what is actually, what's going on here? Like,

I'm not sure I completely understand the whole love mob concept. So I want you to break it down. Well, that's a problem. Uh, no, I mean, I get mean i get it i mean i get it but i'm like interested in the mechanics of it totally we'll get into the background and all of that totally so just tell me yeah what it's what's going on here well what you're seeing what you're perceiving is two different things which is all the same thing really um people um look at what preston Smiles is doing and equate that to the Love Mob, which is, it's all the same thing, but the Love Mob is definitely a separate organization. So the Love Mob is organized acts of love. It's a social movement dedicated to spreading love all over the world. That's what it's about. So we do that through giant flash mobs and different love based events. And we come together in the name of love.

And, you know, our staple is it takes a village to raise a village. And if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. So we are all about community and reconnecting people to the power of community. So, i.e., when you see a hashtag that says community is the new money, that's like, that's our thing. It's like, you can, you can have anything happen if you have a strong family, if you have a strong base. Right. And I think social media has really enhanced that concept where you're really as strong as, you know, your peer community and the kind of, you know,

movement that you're promoting and who's behind it and who you're doing it with. Oh yeah. Big time. And so you started Love Mob with a couple other people, right? I did. Mustafa Shakir and Alison Kunith, both of which are blowing up right now. Alison's a huge artist. Uh, her Instagram is like basically about to shut Instagram down. Her art is so good. And Mustafa is a spoken word poet who is very sought after right now. So we're all separately doing amazing things. And then we come together to do the love mob, which is also powerful and really fun. Right.

So they're like planned or semi-planned or spontaneous sort of gatherings, right? Yeah. Like I know you did the one on the promenade recently yeah that was how did that go we did that in two hours that was like a flash mob thing right yep so you just put the word out on your various social media and then people just show up and and so what what goes down like paint the picture so uh we make a decision that was the a couple days after the the flight 17 the mal Malaysian flight that was shot down.

And just in the middle of like the Israeli-Palestine confusion. And we wanted to take a stand. So there was, I'm in a mastermind group and we were sitting in there. And one of the challenges we gave ourselves was what can we create in two hours? What can we make in two hours that can make an impact on the world right now? And we came up with the I Stand For, the number four campaign, which is I stand for peace, I stand for passion, I stand for community, I stand for whatever that is for you. And we did it under the umbrella of the love mob. And that looked like us, you know, picking a location and basically

flash mobbing it. And what we've, what was amazing about that particular event is that it was so fast. We were like, get out of your house right now and come to Third Street Promenade. And it was so surprising because it usually takes us months to get thousands of people out to anything. And this was no advertising, no nothing, just get up and go, which was a testament to how people trust us. Because about four to five hundred people showed up out the gate and then already there was thousands of people, which then gathered with us. And we, we created this thing, um, called the, the love wall. So we basically stretched out across the entire mall to where there was nowhere you could go without being loved on. So anybody who walked in our

direction in either way, we were like, we love you, you're awesome, look at your face, you're beautiful, just like screaming anything you could and like hugging and high-fiving and just seeing people and being with them, which is really amazing because no one expects that. I would imagine it puts some people back on their heels. Like, who's this dude? I don't want to touch this guy. Like, what is he doing?

He's rolling up on me. Like, you know, it brings up a lot, you know, all your barriers and your walls and your judgments and all these sorts of things. Would you hug me? Yeah, I would. But if you were a stranger and just rolled up on me on the promenade and wanted to hug me, yeah, I would be like, you do be like, I would, you do that double take, like you're, you're trying to quickly assess the situation. Is this a threat? Like what is, what is, what is going on here? Right. And so how do you, you know, connect with people and bridge that gap? It's all energy, man. You know, um, I'm saying a lot before I ever say anything because my, my, my energetic field is speaking before me. Right. And that's

the first thing you gauge. Like when you're taking that inventory of your environment, you can read that on a, on an unconscious level. Totally. Yeah. So we ground everybody. Like when we met up, you know, I had everybody circle up and, and we talked about the intention. Why are we here? What are we up to? What is this about? Because this isn't just about screaming and being wild. This has a thing behind it. And that thing is love is all there is. And our planet right now is in a nightmare. And it's going to take people like myself and like you and anybody else who understands that we're asleep to speak to

people's listening in a way in which they can actually understand it. And for me, what I 100% understand is touch and like human connection trumps everything. You can have the biggest intellect in the world and that doesn't mean anything if energetically you're not actually with me. So grounding everybody and why we're there and what the intention is, people feel that. So when I say up top, high five, you know, they assess it very quickly, but they see what my energy is. My energy is loving. My energy is connected. So they do it or they don't do it.

And then they turn around and they kind of look back and they're like, wait, oh, they're just like loving people. And they'll, you know, say a little something to their spouse and maybe on the way back, then they'll high five or they'll ask a question. So what is this? What is this about? Uh, you know, and we'll tell them, you know, it's awesome. Right. And so did you have some cool experiences with sort of passersby or, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, do you have an example of that? Um, yeah, we had some, um, some, uh, Arab young kids that were there and, uh, we start,

we created this town, uh, town hall council meeting towards the end of it, where we just had a giant circle. And then whatever you wanted to say, you step in the circle and you say it. Right. And, uh, you know, a couple of us started it out and I stepped in the circle and I said, I know I appear to be this six, two beautiful chocolate man. And everybody starts laughing. It's like, but in reality, I'm vibration and energy in a space. And I know the same for you. And I know that underneath all of our stories about white, black, gay, straight, Christian, Muslim, Israeli, Palestinian, Democrat, Republican,

any of that stuff under all of that is our truth. Our humanity is who we are. And the crowd goes wild and all that stuff. And a couple of those happen. And then these Arab kids jumped in the circle and they said, I don't speak much English, but I feel what happened here. And I know you see me too. And like, he just saying all this broken English, but it was all exactly what our intention was, which was to have people feel seen and feel heard, you know? And he stuck around, he stuck around for hours, hours holding signs. He joined the mob. Not just him, but his crew. Right, right, right.

It was awesome. So it's so interesting to kind of talk about this idea of promoting love over fear. Obviously, we live in a culture that is monopolized by a fear-based mentality. All you have to do is turn on the television or look at a billboard, and everywhere you turn, everything seems pre-designed to provoke a fear response. It doesn't matter what news channel you're watching or what action-adventure show you're watching or what reality show you're watching. We're inundated with it to the extent that we're not even consciously aware

of what's going into our systems at all times. you're watching, we're inundated with it to the extent that we're not even consciously aware of what's going into our systems at all times. And it takes a lot of resistance to put the brakes on that and to make conscious choices about what we're allowing in. And I think it's further complicated by this idea that talking about love is not safe. Like that's a threatening, weird, uncomfortable thing for most people, particularly men, you know, for like a man to say, I love you, or let's talk about love like that, that will make most men shudder. Right. So, so can you talk a little bit about like identity and masculinity and how that plays into um you know this sort of cultural paradigm shift that you're trying to

promote that mic's messed up dude i might have to get a better stand for you it's all good it's all right so yes uh as it pertains to men in this country, I recently did a YouTube video, which I'm not sure if you saw or not, called Big Boys Do Cry. Oh, yeah. No, I haven't seen that one yet. It's on its way to viral at this point. And, you know, a lot of the feedback that I get and a lot of the message I get are from men who say, wow, man, you said everything that I've been thinking my whole life. And what I talked about in there is that, you know, that I've been thinking my whole life. Um, and what I talked about in there is that, you know, it's time to reassess what a real man looks like and what they, what they, what they, how they operate. Um, because we've been lied to and, and, you know,

a lot of men, myself included for a long time, um, would bury my feelings and they would come out in anger. They would come out in road rage. They would come out when I play sports. And I realized that that's so unhealthy and it is a microcosm of the macrocosm that we are experiencing in our world today. So if men in particular start stepping into their intimacy and into their vulnerability, particular, start stepping into their intimacy and into their vulnerability, we have a game changer. We have a huge game changer. And, you know, a part of what I do and who I be is about educating men and people in general, that we all come with masculine and feminine energy. And, you know, based on the matrix that we've stepped into, that tells us that we must drink beer and watch football and fight and be tough and all of these things that most men have lost touch with the feminine side.

And that in itself, the feminine side, for a lot of my friends, especially back home, that means, um, being gay means being gay or it means being weak. Yeah, exactly. So we need, it's time for us to, to reevaluate what a real man is. And that's also a part of why I wake up every single day. It's a part of why I go so hard in the paint for love because love isn't always flowers in the park. Sometimes love is walking away from people. Sometimes love is, is, is, is getting in someone's face and saying, I will not support you killing yourself slowly. Um, and, and, you know, it's, uh, it's really beautiful to watch people, even like yourself, who have this ease about them. And what I've learned, just through observation, is that men who, A, have children, because children change the game, especially if they have a little girl. If they have a little girl, they somehow soften.

I don't care how tough they think they are. When they have a little girl, they somehow soften. I don't care how tough they think they are. When men have a baby girl, something happens. Yeah, there's no question about that. And I don't have any kids, and I know it. I can feel it from them. I've been around enough men before they had a baby, and then after, when they had a daughter, it's game over. It's so beautiful to watch men like yourself, um, who are willing to lean into, um, the,

the, uh, the dance of life without putting, you know, um, a box around it, because that's really what it is. We've been told that this is the box. This is the man box. This is the woman box. And, and that thing is really not working. So I applaud you and anybody else who is choosing to. Well, I struggle, you know, I don't want to put myself on any kind of pedestal with that kind of thank you. But,

you know, I still, you know, I battle with these things and the questions come up because I'm interested in it myself, you know, and I've seen how my life has changed by letting go of the traditional paradigm and being willing. I think it's willingness is a huge part of it, being willing to simply entertain a different way of looking at things. And my life changed when I really started to look inward at myself, which was not a pretty picture and, and start to work through and process, uh, you know, why I was behaving the way I was behaving, et cetera. And that's kind of a feminine thing to do. You know, it doesn't fit the box of, you know, the strong man who stuffs it down

and shows up from work for work and provides, and, you know, the hunter gatherer kind of, you know, ideology, uh, to kind of do some reflection is, is, you know, a first step, I think, outside of that box. Big time. That is a awake thing to do. And that's the space I'm headed towards, is raising the bar for humanity. You know, people say, oh, you know, your birthday was the other day. You're a Leo. And I say, no, I'm awake. Because those things, you know, you can transcend all of that when you choose to have a choice, which is a tricky combination. And, you know, the other day I was I decided to wander for hours with no destination. I just let myself I drove to a park. I got out of the car and I said, wherever I end up, that's where I end up.

And I'm going to do this for the next eight hours. And I ended up in a Macy's for a while and just like it blew me away watching people's eyeballs almost pop out from all of the things that they're inundated with just in one store. And, you know, I'll get back to this. one store. And, you know, I'll get back to this, but I ended up at this popular shopping mall where there was a fountain with these koi fish in them. And I'm looking at the koi fish, and I watched the guy feed them. And to the koi fish, they would believe they had choice. They had choice. He throws the food in there. They have a choice where they swim. They have a choice where they eat, but that is based on the pond and they can't see outside of the pond. So then I take myself and I go, okay, well, and that's, that's us. That's, that's, that's most of society. We believe that we're making choices

from the con from the box that's been handed to us. And the awakened being, the person who's willing to face him or herself, will choose to have more choices. So, in other words, to use the Koi Pond analogy, we're sort of walking around in our own Koi Pond, and we can't perceive the edges of that or what possibly would lie outside of that or even entertain the possibility that there is an outside of what we're doing. But I think that process of, you know, becoming awake, which starts with self-reflection and moves beyond that, those barriers, those walls start to fall away. And you realize there is more choice and there is more available and there's a different way to live, et cetera.

That's terrifying, though. Oh, big time, big time. The way, and I don't want to say this and not leave at least a couple ways in which to get more choices. One way to get more choices to open up the viewfinder is to ask big questions. So I always ask myself huge questions, whatever I'm handed, I go, okay, what's really here, you know, because while I'm in the fire, all I can see is fire, but what's really here, what's under that. I asked myself,

what good is here that I presently cannot see? That's a huge question. So in other words, with respect to a situation that arises or a choice that you have to make or a desire that creeps up or what would be an example of how you would run that calculus? So, um, here we go. So I, um, because we're all dealing with frequency, you know, at the end of the day, like I said, when I was speaking, scientifically, you're just vibration in space. And I am too. And all of the other stories we have about being Raiders fans and like, you know, all of that stuff, it's extra. That could be changed.

We can change the story. Well, it's just a mental projection. Yeah. That's a decision in its own right to decide that that comprises part of your identity, but you don't, you can make a different choice or you can let go of that completely. Big time. So, um, I give you a couple of scenarios. I was in a popular, um, copy machine place, which I will not name. So you can name it. You get in trouble. name so you can name it so i don't get sued you get in trouble so i'm in a kinkos right and i get there and it's one of those days where nothing is working so i get on the on the computer and i need

to print something nothing ever works it can't go this is true yeah um i get on there and i need to print something up and uh they they after like 45 minutes someone comes over and they're like i'm like can someone help me i can't get onto yahoo oh yeah you can't log onto yahoo on these computers i'm like wait a minute this is a computer with internet where is there a sign that says i can't get on yahoo now oh yeah we just didn't put it up they have well they have some corporate deal or whatever that blocks it yeah right awesome right So now I'm really frustrated. So I ended up, you know, doing the dance and sending it to a Gmail account, then printing it.

And then I need to go fax. So at this point I'm really frustrated and I'm late. I walk over to the fax machine. I see this woman and there's a line and I'm waiting for the line. I see this woman in on one particular fax machine. There's two machines and she's taking forever and her card keeps coming in and out. She barely speaks English. And I'm like, are you serious? This is the kind of stuff that makes me insane. Uh-huh.

Yeah. I was pacing. I was like, I'm going to choke her. I'm going to jump over there and choke her. So either way, it gets to my point, my turn, on the other fax machine. And I do my thing. And as I'm about to take my stuff away,

I notice that her card is saying canceled and she's really embarrassed and she's trying to play it off. And the woman, the attendant who's trying to help her is like, well, um, maybe we'll just step over here. And in that moment, I came back to big questions, which is what good is here that I presently cannot see? And at that point, I said, well, ma'am, I can just send that for you. She looked at me and kind of paused like, wait, what? And I said, I'll just send it for you. It's no big deal. It's a couple of dollars. Here, give it here. And I did it without her even saying yes or no. And what I noticed was, was that every single person that was in the line

prior to that moment was completely upset. And as soon as I did that one act, it affected the entire line. Everybody started talking to each other. Everybody started smiling. The energy changed in the room just based on one act. in the room, just based on one act. And I've been playing that game all over my life,

asking myself, what would love do now? Or, you know, Byron Katie talks about how when someone slaps you, let's say I slap you, Rich, right? And you go, oh, that hurt. She says that all pain is in the past. So the slap is in the past. What you do after that is a choice, which is a crazy thing to think about because most people are like, no, you hurt me. Well, the hurt. Right. This present moment is extended into the. Yeah. I just drug it into a new now you know um which that's i mean that's a mind screw i won't use the f word um for most people but you know when we're choosing to wake up

this is the this is the type of stuff i play with like the worst stuff you could imagine i ask myself what's really here did i just bring this back into the new moment especially if thoughts become things if i'm manifesting my entire reality then i have the choice from here to create a new reality over and over again and it's going to take um uh consistency yeah consistency and tiny acts yes Yes. You know, and what I love about that is that it's not about changing other people or trying to control situations that are out of your control. It's not it's not about pointing fingers and taking, you know, making judgment calls about what other people are doing or not doing or complaining about, you know, Gaza

and Israel and Hamas. It's just here's a tiny thing that I can do right now. I have control over my behavior. I'm going to make a choice about what I'm going to do in this moment and, and seeing how that ripples out and affects other people, you know, just by making a tiny little choice. And so when you talk about, well, I'm spreading love, it seems kind of ephemeral or whatever, but you break it down into just daily choices and always having that kind of decision tree in your mind at all times. That's cool. I like that. Thank you. Appreciate it. I'm going to start doing that.

But I certainly believe that you do create your own reality and that thoughts become things. And most of us walk around in essentially a daydream and we're not even aware of the looping thoughts that are in our mind. Like we're not in we're not commanding those. They're just doing their thing outside of our control. And and when you're when you're when you're in that mode, which is, you know, if I'm not being conscientious, I'm in that mode just like anyone else is. Yeah. You're not in control of who you are or what you're going to do. You're reacting impulsively. And that's weakness. When you want to talk about masculinity and identity, I think that is being weak.

Isn't it more masculine? Isn't it more life-affirming and strong to be able to make a choice about how you're going to behave in a certain scenario and be able to evaluate the stimulus and make a conscious choice. Exactly. It is that conscious choice making is everything. I had a situation when I was in college. And, you know, people view me and they see me now and they go, wow, you're so wild, you're so colorful, you're so big. But when I was in school, when I was in college, I was crazy.

I was ape crap. You have a lot of energy. I can see if your energy is not channeled in the right direction. You can get yourself into some trouble. I mean, I used to be in a gang. I used to do all kinds of stuff. Yeah, I want to get into all that in a minute. But go ahead and tell me the story.

So I'm in college. And I'm in this bar called Tiger Bar. You're at LSU, right? I went to LSU, yeah. And I'm in Tiger Bar where it's literally 99.99% basically racist white kids. And, you know, uh, there was a few things that happened even leading up to it. You know, I, I told my friends when we were headed into the bar, I said, all right guys, um, you know, I, I probably, you know, I'm going to need to take off some of my stuff and like, cause you know, these guys like to mess with me. They don't actually want me in this bar.

And my friends who are in grad school with me, who are all happen to be Caucasian are like, what are you talking about? He's no like, let's go. And they're like, you know, whatever. We get to the door and there's a sign on the door. It says, this is a private establishment. No Mr. T started kids, no white t-shirts, fubu no and it's like it's naming anything basically anything that a black kid would wear exactly exactly and i go uh i just point the sign

my friends are like that's weird i didn't think nothing of it we're you know we're just getting the lsu this is my first semester and um we uh the guy tells me to take off my beads and take off my earrings and take off everything basically he was like get naked you can't come in here unless you take off everything um so i was like cool all right i'll do it just for you guys um and we go inside the bar and take in mind i have red cowboy boots on skin tight jeans with my jeans tucked in the cowboy boots. I have a blonde Mohawk. Like I was wild, right? I have a blonde Mohawk. I have a studded, like crazy rocker rock and roll belt on and this rip shirt. And I go in there with my blonde Mohawk and the music's playing and I'm, you know, acting crazy. And, you know, when anybody comes in and it doesn't look like everybody else,

you know, when anybody comes in and it doesn't look like everybody else, that's going to attract people. And a bunch of girls started coming around. They started coming around and wanting to dance with me and talk to me and all of these things. You're the exotic creature in the bar. Exactly, exactly. Which is now very threatening to, like, you know, the meathead dudes. You're getting it.

You're getting it. So the night's going on. People are drinking. They're getting drunker. And all these girls are just wanting to be around me and dance and talk and all of these things and i'm aware that the meatheads are getting drunker and drunker and drunker and more upset and they're watching me so i'm telling my friends guys we're probably going to need to leave here soon what no we're not leaving it's so fun i'm like all right guys okay cool i'm gonna go with you on this one

we step outside at the end of the night and i have i can feel a group of dudes following me never come back here you faggot so i hear the first thing i hear i don't turn around you hear me you effing faggot i'm talking to you you with the blonde mohawk you faggot so i turn around and he's like yeah nigger i'm talking to you it's a group of guys they walk up to me and uh i say listen guys i don't want any trouble and i get really scared when people get in my face could you please not threaten me we're leaving right now and he's like i do whatever the f i want to do and he put his finger F I want to do. And he put his finger in my face. And as soon as he put his finger in my face, I punched him, which knocked him to the ground. And then I started beating him up.

And then my friends did too. And his friends ran away. And now my friends are beating up this guy. And in the middle of the fight, I had this like crazy realization that this is all he knew. That this was a sad kid who probably was told by his grandfather and his father that black people are a certain thing. And he perceived me to be black. Therefore, I was a threat and bad and all of these things. And I felt empathy and compassion for him while he's being beat up by my friends in the middle of it. So I go, guys, guys, stop, stop, stop. And I start grabbing all of them and pulling them off of him and they don't want

to stop. So I jump on him and just hold him while they're trying to punch him. And then they stop and they're like, what the, are you doing? He just, you know, called you a nigger and all this stuff. And I was like, it's okay. So we get up and we walk back to the car and like what man i don't get it man and everybody's upset and i'm like guys i'll explain to you later but really like there's more here than what is that meets the eye and and you know that was my first introduction to something um which i later now i talk about all the time which on einstein says that no problem can be solved at the level of consciousness in which it was created. Right, right.

And that was one of those moments where, you know, this dude came at me with fire and I met him with fire and the problem remained. And then my friends met him and everybody in fire. And we stayed in fire until I decided to be wind or water or ice or anything other than more fire. And that, that scenario I watched throughout my life. I watched with, with my girlfriend when, when I want to be right about something and I go, okay, this can't be solved with me upset and her upset. It can't. So where do I need to go? You know, which is a huge thing. And, and, you know, I'm not saying I'm perfect, but that's a part of like what I'm up to. Right. Right. Did you ever run into that guy again?

I did. I did. He just put his head down and kept walking. Interesting. He knew I saved him. Yeah. He knew I saved him. So I want to get to how you ended up at, at LSU. Cause, uh, it's sort of an unlikely path that you've taken. I mean, you, uh, you know, your, your sort of upbringing is unique and interesting and I think is really informed kind of who you are now. So let's, let's take it back, man. Yeah. Yeah. I grew up in a Dennis the Menace neighborhood. I grew up in one of those like middle-class, like every house looks the same neighborhoods in Harbor City, California, which nobody knows where that is, but it's, it's like by San Pedro and the South Bay. Um, but it's inland and it's by a bunch of oil refineries and it's like, has the worst air

quality in all of LA. And it's, you know, it's a Dennis the Menace neighborhood. And, you know, I'm the last year of millennials, um, which is 1980. So, uh, I grew up in a time right when gangster rap and super violent movies and the reporting of the media on how and who black men were went to an all-time high. So I had so many forces and so many elements telling me, I had an identity crisis, telling me that either I needed to be tough and mean and aggressive and dumb or i wouldn't fit in because everything else that i saw that was supposedly good like right now it stitched etched in my head is in 1492 columbus sailed the ocean blue. Like these little, little things that were like dropped in our heads was heroism. So everything that I thought of that was good, Santa Claus, Jesus, Christopher Columbus, the Jetsons, anything, anything and everything that was amazing was white.

And everything that was aggressive and mean and stupid and bad was black. So here in my seven year old consciousness, I couldn't cognize that. I didn't understand it. So by the time I was 13, I was in a gang. We created a gang in our neighborhood and joined forces with Harbor City Crip. And we're running around beating people up, busting windows, fighting, spray painting, doing all you can think about. And I always knew there was more. I always knew there was more, but I didn't understand how to access it because I was a child. And when I was 15 years old, I got a call from one of my best friends,

Scott, and went a little something like this. What up, P-Dog? What up, Skizzle? What's the dizzle? Chill it, my dude. Look, we about to go out. You coming out? No, man, I'm in chill today. Oh, you going to be up? Yeah, man, I'm going to be up today. All right, we'll get up tomorrow.

All right, one. We hung up the phone, and within an hour, every single person in that car was shot. And Scott was shot in the head and died. Yeah, they were out on like a beer run or something, right? Exactly. Or they were in a heist shot in the head and died. Yeah. They were out on like a beer run or something, right? Exactly. Or they're going to heist a liquor store or something. Yeah. So what do you think it was that held you back from joining those guys that night? Intuition, intuition, something said no. Um, but this is what changed the game for me. So within a month,

my family and I, my dad in particular, and I decided that it was time for me to go. I needed to change scenes. So he made a few calls and I ended up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I got off a plane and there was a sign that had my name on it. And it was a woman named Shirley Russell, who was going to be my new caretaker. She's my new mom. So were your parents like, we can't deal with this kid or like they're just trying to find a better place for you that they couldn't provide for you? They could, but it was, it was really me pressuring them to let me go because the school that I was at, and I'm going to explain this throughout the story was not conducive to me. Actually,

I was in a matrix. I was caught up in what you know what i was supposed to be versus who i actually was so i get off the plane i meet shirley and within two days i'm checked into north allegheny high school which at the time was one of the richest high schools in america so literally i get in the parking lot and there's bmw mercedes bmw mercedes and i'm like what is happening they have a turf football field a state a state of the art broadcast system, like all of this stuff. And to top it all off. It's like a suburb of Pittsburgh. Yes. It's a super rich neighborhood. To top it all off, I'm the single only black male in the entire school. Wow. It was so cool. I was like an alien. So you were like, you're 15? Yes. 15 years old. It was your

school in California, mostly black? Yes. Yeah. So here I am in this super rich, beautiful, like amazing school with all these kids who want to invite me to every party. They want me to do everything with them because I'm this new, you know, awesome black kid from California. And he's, you know, he's all this stuff. And I had this moment and this is, this is what changed my life forever. This is why, why I still operate from the same thing. I had this moment where I realized, wait a minute, at my old school, I was a class clown. I would spit, I would curse, I would fight, I would do stupid stuff. curse. I would fight. I would do stupid stuff. My grades were okay. As soon as you, as soon as I'm in this new school, somehow I wouldn't dare do those things. I wouldn't dare spit on the ground.

I wouldn't dare curse. I wouldn't dare do any of this. And then my grades went up. So what I noticed was, was that the kids at my old school were drinking, smoking, listening to Outkast and Tupac. So the kids at North Allegheny High were drinking, smoking, and listening to Outkast and Tupac. They were doing the same things but getting different results based on the environment that was set up. That was when I realized that I wasn't a bad kid. That based on the environment that was set up for me, I responded to it. I did what was, what was done. It was trading places, man. Exactly. Yeah. Eddie Murphy. Well, what's interesting is that the kids, it could have easily been a different scenario where they would have

looked at you and said, you know, we don't know what, we don't know what to do with this black kid. You would have been socially marginalized, but it's interesting. They embraced you and said, you know, we don't know what, we don't know what to do with this black kid. You would have been socially marginalized, but it's interesting. They embraced you and that changed everything. Yep. Totally. Cause I stopped seeing color. They were doing that. We were all doing the same things. There was no difference. Partying, drinking, smoking, dancing, playing basketball, like all of it, that everything was exactly the same. And, um, Everything was exactly the same. And what I've come to understand is that we are more alike than we are not. And, you know, we've been taught through all of this stuff, all of the commercials and everything else, that things are separate, but they're really not.

And, you know, I'm not a religious person, but Jesus says that what you do to the least of my brothers, you also do to me. And, and, you know, in our society right now, we, we, it's, we have throw away people. We go, Oh, Africa. Yeah. That's them. India. Yeah. That's them. They don't have any oil. Screw them. You know? And, and I know that the pain that they feel there, I feel and that you feel, whether you're conscious of it or not. Right. And it's going on in Gaza right now in a big way, in a big way. And it's polarizing people rather than uniting them, you know, whatever side of it you come down on in that whole thing. But, you know, your whole mission is really you can it's cool. You can let it go down like that. your whole mission is really, you can, it's cool. You can let it go down like that. Um, your whole mission is really an extrapolation out of that one idea, that one experience of

high school of, of realizing how impactful environment is and, and being able to sort of see through the differences. Yep. Interesting. It's everything. It's absolutely everything. I see it happen every day. Just, just pay attention. Even anybody who's listening, pay attention to how many people don't look you in the eyes and pay attention to what happens when you do, what happens when you go to your local Starbucks and instead of just, you know, talking on the phone or not paying attention and throwing the money at the person, you look at their name tag, you say it and you say, thank you. And you look them in the eyes. Watch how that changes. I guarantee the next time you come in there, they'll remember you. Because you've made an impact.

You know, we're all just exchanging energy, but it's just one energy. It's just one energy. Right. And this idea that, you know, we're energy and we put out a vibration, I think is difficult for people to really rationalize in their own minds, but it's so true. And you hear it, like, I think an extreme example of that would be someone like Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, like politics aside, anybody who's ever met those gentlemen in real life will tell you that it's an extraordinary experience because when they're in a conversation

with them, they're exceptional at making you feel like you're the only person in the world. And, and, and it's a skill, but it's an energy, you know what I mean? It's something that they're exuding on a very core level that has allowed them to become, you know, the people that they are, but it's a vibration, it's an energy and it's something that maybe some people are born with, but I think it's a vibration. It's an energy. And it's something that maybe some people are born with, but I think it's also something that you can change in yourself. Big time. Big time. See, the thing is, and I'm going to explain it in sports for those, you know, because some of my friends got it this way. We had these conversations. They're like, wait, I don't get

it. And I'm like, okay, here it goes. So you know how, um, let's say, uh, a basketball team. like, okay, here it goes. So you know how, let's say a basketball team will, you know, LeBron James will dunk the ball and then the crowd will go wild. And based on the crowd, the energy of the crowd, the team gets on fire and they can't miss. It's what Michael Jordan does. He feeds off the energy of the crowd and then he can't miss. Football games, Same thing. Whenever the crowd goes crazy and everybody sends their one intention, score, score, score. What happens? They score that thing that happens. We can, we can manufacture that. It can happen inside of us. It doesn't have to be outside. And, and that's, that's where I'm playing in with the mental alchemy of like energetically firing myself up through my physiology and sending that energy everywhere

and getting myself on fire. Right. And, and fundamentally it really boils down to being focused on what you can change in yourself, which is a very kind of Zen Buddhist idea, right? Like you can't change all these crazy things that are happening in the world. You can control yourself. And when you focus on trying to, you know, eliminate your bad habits and, you know, sort of wrestle and, and overcome your demons and, you know, become for lack of a better phrase, you know, the best version of yourself. In many ways, that's in whatever shape or form that may come, that's really your greatest gift to humanity. Big time.

Because that's the only way you're ever going to really change anything. It starts and it ends with focusing on yourself. And it comes off as selfish. It sounds selfish. And I remember reading about Buddhism in college and just thinking, like, these monks, all they do is, you know, try to become great meditation. Like, how is that serving humanity? Like, I couldn't, like, do the math on that. But now I really get that and I understand that. Because once you do that, you change your behavior.

The behavior and the energy that you put out into the world then impacts other people. And then it has an energy and a momentum of its own. Big time. All the, all the, the, the true masters, they're saying the same thing in different ways. So that same thing, mother Teresa said that when everybody cleans up the doorstep, the whole world is clean. Um, when you, when you clean up your consciousness, when everybody, if everybody goes in the attic and cleans up their own consciousness, then what do we have left? Um, and that's how I view that. It's, it always comes back

to me. I don't, I don't make anything. Well, is that your phone or is that mine? Oh, sorry. Sorry about that, man. We're having a lot of interruptions here. Yeah. The headphones are screwed up too. Yeah, yeah. The genius of homegrown audio. You know what? Let's just bag these headphones. Oh, yeah. It's all good without them. Cool. So then, you know, where do you, how do you end up at LSU after being in Pittsburgh? Like that seems an unlikely choice. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I went through a, I went back because it was too cold in Pittsburgh, period. Um, California, California skin was like, I can't deal. I did one winter, uh, out there and

I was like, I'm done. And that, um, landed me in at San Pedro high school, which I ended up getting kicked out of. But also. You got kicked out of a bunch of high schools, right? I did. I did. What were you doing? I was just a hothead. I didn't know how to use the energy.

Like this energy that you were getting from me, this, and which is tame. Yeah. Imagine it times 10 and it only coming out as fire. Right. Like nothing else other than fire. So when something went wrong or something wasn't working, I didn't know how to say you hurt my feelings. I didn't know how to say I'm sad when I knew how to say, which is what most men do. And where do you, where was the

anger coming from? Like what was, what's beneath the anger? All the repressed feelings. What's always under anger is sadness, is hurt. Anger is not anger. Anger is hurt. Or fear. Yeah, or fear. That's really what it is. It's my way of trying to control the situation and releasing all of the stuff that happened as a child when, like I say in my YouTube video, all of the times where I lashed out when inside all I wanted was for my dad to come and hug me. Like that's what I really wanted.

But instead it came out a whole different way. Right. So, all right. So you're back in California. I'm back in California. I go to San Pedro High School for a semester. I get kicked out of there. I end up back at Carson High School, and I barely graduate.

And because I was dyslexic, which they didn't know, they just labeled me special. Right, so you're in a special needs class, not knowing what's wrong with you. Exactly. And that has, of course, its own stigma. Oh, my gosh. Like, I've, you know, we all have things to overcome. I've had quite a few. And that was huge for me because I felt stupid my whole life.

I felt less than. I didn't want to, I never read out loud in class until I was 25. Period. Like, I just wouldn't do it because it would come out backwards and then everybody would laugh. Right. So instead of having them laugh at me, I controlled the situation by being Mr. Cool and being funnier or faster or more strong or, like, more aggressive than them. So they wouldn't dare make fun of me. But I also wouldn't put myself out there.

So they pushed me through. I take an exit test for high school. And within that time, I had applied for a couple of schools, one of which was Southern University, which was an all black college in Louisiana. My sister went there. So I was like, ah, college. My mom's trying to make me go to college. I guess I'll go. I go to Southern University. I get in barely and also have all of these deep realizations of like, why am I in school? I don't like this. I shouldn't be here. And on my last semester, my mom calls me, I'll never forget it. And she says, baby. And I'm like, yeah. And she's like, what would you do if money wasn't an object and you could just live your life and you do what you want to do. So I'd be an actor.

At the time, I was a business major and for her. I mean, had you been doing drama in school at all? Like where did that suddenly bubble up from? I did it when I was 11. I was super good at it. And then my parents couldn't take me anymore. And that was done. Right.

And then fast forward to now 21. And my mom asked me that question and I hadn't done anything. She says, well, baby, listen, if you want to change your major right now, you can, I'll support you no matter what you do. So she had one of those mother moments where she was like, wait a minute, he's doing all of this for me, none of it for him. And I said, well, I'm not going to change my major because I graduate next semester. But what I will do is I'm going to walk into the theater department right now. Hung up the phone, walked in there, met this guy named Dr. Berger. He immediately auditioned me and had me do some stuff. And I auditioned for the school play. I beat all the

kids out who were theater majors, got the lead in it, was this superstar on campus. And he took it upon himself to sign me up for this thing that happens in Chicago where all the grad schools go to one place and they audition actors. Yale, Harvard, LSU, and a bunch of other schools go there. And I went there and I auditioned for 10 schools and I got nine yeses. And LSU was one of those. All the other ones were partial scholarship. LSU was literally free scholarship plus a thousand dollars a month. Oh, wow. So for the graduate program. Yes. So I was like, ah, I don't want to be in Louisiana, but to go to school 100% for free and to be paid for it, I'm going to have to take this.

You know, I could have went to Cal arts. I could have went to NTC and Denver. I could have went all over the place, but I went back to Louisiana to take this. Yeah. You know, I could have went to CalArts. I could have went to NTC and Denver. I could have went all over the place. Right. But I went back to Louisiana, to Louisiana State University. Funny story. You know, people always ask me, is my real name smiles you know preston smiles awesome name is that your real name and i say yes and no because technically i was born preston davis um junior and but i had a moment at lsu where i would go to the theater department all

the time because that's where i was getting my master's from. And these kids would throw trash and cigarettes butts in front of this particular janitor. Like she wasn't even alive. Like she wasn't a person. And it pissed me off so much. But I was turning a new leaf. So instead of yelling at them and being the guy who I used to be, I had a new opportunity to be a new person. So instead, I knew I would see her every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at a certain time. And it was super hot in Louisiana. So I would bring an extra cold bottle of water and a granola bar and we'd have breakfast every morning, me and this janitor, Mrs. Evans. And by halfway through the semester, I'm running through the semester and through the class, um, through the hallway. And she goes, boy, you always run around here smiling. I'm going to call you Preston Smiles with your happy self.

And it was this moment where I was like, oh, wow. I've had an effect on her. She feels seen. She feels like she's a human. And I wasn't necessarily consciously trying to make her feel that way. I just was trying to combat the other side of nobody seeing her at all. And in that moment, I realized, she said it enough, that I realized that it was my name. That that's my job, no matter where I am.

And it's a reminder that no matter how big I get, how small, whatever I am, that my only job and my most important job is to be love, is to show up as love. And is that coming, did this just sort of happen to you as a result of experiences? Or are you at the same time starting to read books or starting to, you know, kind of, you know, the meditation and things that I know you do now, this is just all self-generated. This is just all, I didn't know any of that stuff. I wasn't reading anything. What happened was, was I went to that three-year program. And at the end of it, I started reading the autobiography of Malcolm X.

And in that book, he says something to the effect of, you didn't choose your language. You didn't choose your name. You didn't choose your religion. You didn't choose anything. And it's time for you guys, speaking to black people, to start choosing what you actually want. And I had this like awakening moment where I was like, that's right. I'm a Christian, but why? And I started asking questions. I went back to my mom. Mom, why are you a Christian? Well, because your granny was a Christian. Okay. Well, why was granny a Christian? Because her granny was a Christian. Okay. Well, why was her granny a Christian? Because the slave master was a, oh,

perfect. Gotcha. Right. So I'm done with that. And you know, it turned into this huge thing in my family. Um, and during that time I walked past my neighbor's garage and I saw a surfboard and I went, oh, wow, I've lived within 10 minutes of the beach most of my life and have never gotten the water, let alone surf. Oh, black people don't surf. Exactly. Boom, boom. Right. And then the book replayed in my head. You didn't choose it. It's time for you to choose a new. Yeah. It's really powerful and self-empowering. Oh, my God. I knocked on my neighbor's door and I said, hey, I think her name is Sally. Sally, do you mind if I use this?

Oh, yeah, that's her daughter's surfboard and she's off at school. Right. Awesome. I took that board to Manhattan Beach and I got pulverized. And it was the most awakening, beautiful moment of one of my, of like, it was top five in my life. Just being rolled by these waves and like having this experience at 25. No, I was 24, 24. That was right in my backyard my whole life. The irony of it being there the whole time. The whole time. So then I go, okay okay what am i really missing if surfing is awesome i get to choose my spirituality and not have it handed to me based on some slave mentality

what else can i do and within that time and this is when it gets real tricky rich and this is you this is your your expertise within that time I started feeling these heart palpitations. And I ignored them. And then it got stronger. And it would slow down and speed up. It would slow down and speed up. I said, okay, I should ask my mom about this. She set up a doctor's appointment.

I go to the doctor. She says, you need to go to a cardiologist right now. Right now. So I go. And he goes, checks my blood, gives me a machine. I walk around with the machine for a couple of days and check my heart. They come back and he goes, young man, I don't know what to tell you because you're a child, but I do know. And he handed me some pills and he said, you're going to take these for the rest of your life. They'll even out your heart

rate. You'll come back to me in six months. We'll figure this out. You're not in super danger, you'll come back to me in six months. We'll figure this out. You're not in super danger, but let me ask you this. Two powerful questions changed my whole life. Never even thought about it. He said, what are your eating habits like? And I went, what do you mean? He said, what do you eat every day? I said, oh, I eat McDonald's. I eat Burger King. I eat chicken. I eat steak. I eat, you know, I drink beer every once in a while i i just named off all of this stuff that americans drink all the time i eat all the time all the time and he said well how long have you been doing that so my whole life he's like what do you mean by your whole life i mean my mom didn't really cook i ate mcdonald's every day every day since you were a child i said

yes he was like young man that is one of the reasons why your heart is happening. What was the diagnosis that he was giving you? He couldn't. He couldn't. He couldn't figure it out. Because basically, my heart would just go super fast, go super slow. Go super fast, go super slow. Then it'd be calm for a few days.

And then it'd come back. Second question he asked me was, how are your stress levels? I had no clue what that meant. I was a kid. What is a stress level? What is stress? Yeah. What does that mean? So I had him explain it. And I was like, well, I mean, I worry about my dad all the time. I'm always thinking about, you know, how I need, I need to make money and make it as an actor quick so I can save my family. And, you know, I've been pretty upset and angry my whole life. And he's like, what do you mean?

And I was like, well, you know, I don't really, I haven't cried. I don't, I've cried like two times in my life. And he's like, you're 24? I'm like, yeah. He's like, yeah, you might want to check in on those things. So I go off immediately, done, done with McDonald's, in on those things. So I go off immediately. Done. Done with McDonald's.

Done with fast food. Done with all of it. Within a month, Rich, my skin changed. My energy levels changed. My eyes got whiter. Everything changed. That's amazing. So I'm like, wait a minute.

I've been lied to again. Right. Again. There's a pattern afoot here. What the heck is happening? Dude. How is it that somebody can get all the way to 24, 25 years old and not know about any of that? How is that?

So I go down the rabbit hole. My ex-girlfriend's mom hands me Jerry and Esther Hicks, asking it is given. The secret comes out like a month later. Oh, the Hicks. That's deep. That's deep shit. Immediately. me jerry and esther hicks asking it is given the secret comes out like a month later yeah oh the hicks that's that's deep that's deep shit immediately channeling and all kinds of crazy stuff i'm right in the rabbit hole right right in the rabbit hole immediately uh-huh and then i'm on zeitgeist and i'm checking out conspiracy i'm like it's on well you have this pattern of like all these things that you thought were true were not so then of course you're gonna think well

what else is what else have i been lied about? I mean, you could, you could chase some, you know, you could chase some crazy threads with that. Man, which has all been a beautiful lesson in itself, right? Because back to no problem can be solved at the level of consciousness in which it was created. So I can chase the thread. I can chase the rabbit hole and I can be upset and angry at the government, which is the same energy that they're at. Or, or I could create such a beautiful lane. I can steep myself in peace and joy and love and happiness. And I can be so powerful in that thing that it is infectious. And people want to be around me. They want to interview me for their podcast. They want to have me all over the place and I can get a crew of people and we can do it together. We can get bigger and bigger and bigger until that thing is no longer valid. That is what I'm up to. I've never said that on camera.

That's beautiful. That's what I'm up to. Yeah, that's beautiful. So is this, this is sort of developing hand in hand with your acting career, but at some point, like you're, you're diverging away from that. I'm done. That's done. I saw you on a commercial the other day though. Yeah. Yeah. Before a movie or something. I can't remember what it was. I still do commercials and I still do modeling, but as far as theatrical acting and all of that stuff and just the pursuit of it, modeling, but as far as theatrical acting and all of that stuff and just the pursuit of it, it's not, and I'm, I'm on my way out of all of that. Right. And into what I'm doing now and in a more major way. Right. Which is really the blossoming of your true mission,

your true authentic self. You have evolved into this, but you know, and you telling the story, you could see the seeds getting planted all along the way. It's like this perfect, you know, it couldn't have happened any other way. It had to happen the way that it did. Yep. Right. So I would imagine that you can look back on all of it with gratitude. Oh, I'm thankful. Super thankful.

You know, I spoke at a prison rehabilitation program the other day called Amity, Amity Foundation. the other day called Amity, Amity Foundation. And, you know, what's so magical about something like that is, is that I wasn't speaking from the outside in. I knew their mentality. I knew what they were dealing with from drugs to alcohol, to broken families, to what it feels like to be, feel like you're in a cage, what it feels like to only know how to express yourself through anger and through fighting. I know what that feels like. So I'm super grateful for all of this because I don't speak from the inside out. I don't, I don't project or like guess what that feels like to be them. I know. And I also know what it feels like to be free, to be free. And that is so amazing. There is nothing more important than our freedom. And what's interesting too, is that, is that you didn't have, I mean, you had obstacles, sort of persistent obstacles along the way, and you had wake up calls like your heart and things

like that, but you didn't have this crazy bottom where suddenly, you know, you're in jail and you've got a guy, you know, who's saying, dude, you got to change your life. Like you really kind of evolved into this before you hit the low that inevitably would have come had you not course corrected. Right. So I think that's powerful because people think, well, I'll just keep, you know, I'll just keep banging my head against the wall until everything fucking falls apart and then I'll change. But you don't, you know, I say this all the time, but you know, if the elevator is going down or it's not going in the direction you want it to go in, you can get off anytime. You don't have to wait until it's super bad, you know, and you had enough awareness, enough cognizance of your environment to recognize that before it got, you know, as bad as it would have gotten.

For sure, right? Yeah, that's awesome. You can get off the elevator at any time. That's right. I'm still in that, Rich. Yeah. At some point, do you so at some point, though, you when did you move back to LA after LSU? Um, the next year? Yeah, it was a three year program. And that's when a lot of all of that went down. I was still pursuing acting, but I was in the rabbit hole. And, you know, it was just two years ago that somebody was sitting in my living room and they said, you know, Preston, it's interesting. You know, like I see that you're booking all this stuff and you're an entourage and you're

all on these shows and these commercials and all this stuff. But like looking around your house, all your books are like the Tao Te Ching and like, you know, everything you study, everything you talk about is transformation. You don't find that odd. And then I was like, wait a minute, he's right. Like, what am I doing? He's the mirror that you needed to kind of really flip that switch completely. Mm-hmm. Right? One of the things we talk about on the show all the time, I mean, obviously, major theme of the show is transformation, but it's how to bridge that gap between knowledge and action, right?

Because so many people are walking around. They know how to eat right. They know they're not happy in their job. They know this or that. And maybe they're even happy in their job. They know this or that. And, and, and maybe they're even clear about what they want, but they're just paralyzed, you know? So I'm really interested in the, what those barriers are all about and how they can be overcome. Like, what is it that holds certain people back, whereas someone like yourself can see it clearly and make the switch.

Yeah. You know, I coach as well. And I always start with my clients. I say, you know, look at that door over there. Okay. So you see, small hinges swing big doors. So what we're going to do for the next three months are we're going to be small hinges. And eventually we're going to look up and there's going to be a big doors. So what we're going to do for the next three months are we're going to be small hinges. And eventually we're going to look up and there's going to be a big door. And that door is going to

be called your life. We're going to take little bites every day. You're not going to try to stop smoking in one fell swoop. You're not going to try to stop 25, 30 years worth of negative thoughts in one fell swoop. What we're going to do is we're going to work on it. We're going to do little things. And we're going to celebrate every single time you do. So you're going to call me. We're going to have little things. Today, all I want you to do is notice something that you don't usually notice. And then tell me about it. And then we're going to celebrate it. Because what we celebrate in others gets repeated. What we focus on expands. What we appreciate appreciates. So, you know, in my method, it's all about celebration. It's all about acknowledging all that we're doing

right. Because when you do, when you in right and wrong, that's a relative term, but when you feel in alignment with who you are, you do more of it. And then you turn around and you go whoa who's this new person they're pretty awesome and you don't realize that it happened because it's it's gradual you know i think most people get so caught up in like oh i need to stop this thing well i i didn't quit drinking and smoking two years ago i just don't choose it anymore, which makes it completely different because what you resist persist. So two years ago I decided not to choose it anymore instead of stopping. So if I stopped, then there was resistance there.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I like that. I think that, you know,

baby steps do move mountains and, and this idea of focusing on the minutia is really the key to the kingdom. You know, you can't, you know, baby steps do move mountains. And this idea of focusing on the minutiae is really the key to the kingdom. You know, you can't, you know, you can't overthrow Rome in a day. And you have to take these small little bite, you know, these little bites of the apple. It's all about consistency and creating momentum around consistency and creating new pathways and new habits. And I think one of the things that I see a lot is that people want to, they want to know where it's going before they take the first step. And when you're in this process of trying to like, you know, sort of, it's, it sounds cheesy, but like self-actualize, like to become this better version of yourself, we're so locked down

and we're so caught up in this identity that we've created about ourselves. That's, that's, you know, all about the stories we tell about ourselves and who we are, most of which are projections and fabrications and aren't rooted in reality, but we don't know who that actualized person is. We have to take that leap of faith and sort of step into the abyss and start doing that kind of self-exploration to then realize like, oh, I never thought that I actually wanted to do this, but now that's what I'm feeling. And then that's the behavior that you encourage and, and, and repeat, you know, to use your methodology. Right. But, but I would imagine

that, you know, when you were studying acting at LSU, you didn't know that you wanted to do and be what you're doing now, right? You know, and I certainly didn't know that I was going to be sitting here doing podcasts and being this sort of, you know, like I was an entertainment lawyer, you know, like I, I had no idea that this would be something I could possibly be passionate about. And it only happened because, because I, I was able to sort of take that leap of faith and, you know, walk in the dark for a while and try different things. And, you know, it's only through, through welcoming that into your life that I think you can, you can get to that place. But, but I think the point that I'm trying to make really is that you need to begin before you know where it's going.

And you have to have that willingness to get uncomfortable and try those different kinds of things, whether they're behaviors or attitudes or what have you, right? Yeah, man. Like hit the nail on the head. Right. I dig it. So you do like one-on-one with people where they come to you? I do workshops and one-on-one. That's pretty cool. And one of the things we work on is falling in love with failure. Yeah. That's important too. Very, very important. Really understanding

that we've all done something. Most of us, a huge percentage of the, of the population that can be repeated over and over again. And that is a child, we were all a kid and we all had a vision to walk, period. And no matter how many times we fail, we were clear that we were going to walk. There was no going around it. I'm going to walk. If I have to hold people's pant legs, if I have to run really fast and then knock myself against the thing, like whatever I got to do, I'm going to walk. And that, if we just repeat that, we just repeat that just vision and walk vision. The vision doesn't have to be absolutely clear. It just has to be something, an awakened version of me, the best version of me. Cool. Now step out

on the ledge and dare to fall. When I'm teaching surf lessons, cause I own a surf school as well. That's one of the first things we talked about. I don't let them get in the water until they understand that we're only going to do two things here. We're going to have a bunch of fun and we're going to tap into our inner five-year-old and dare to fall. Because every time you fall, and I explained that, every time you fall in surfing, your body, your computer, your mechanism goes, oh, I don't know about that. I'm going to try to figure this thing out. And every single fall creates a new way in which not to. I think you need to remove the word failure from it completely because it's the wrong word. It's

just process. It's the process of learning. And I think when we attach that idea of failure to the process, then we're judging ourselves negatively. I agree. Right. So if you just say failure is, failure is part of success. You have to fail to succeed. You know, let's just call it what it is, which is, you know, this forward motion that involves backwards steps along the way. Totally. And here's the, here's the deal, Rich, like really, this is the bread and butter of everything for me. that involves backwards steps along the way. Totally. And here's the deal, Rich. Like, really, this is the bread and butter of everything for me. At the end of the day, when it's all said and done,

when you're 142 somewhere on an island biking or whatever, and you know it's coming, you're not going to care about the cars or the anything. The only thing you care about is whether you actually loved and been loved. So one of the things I always remind my coaching clients is like, yes, yes, you can get to the mountaintop and you can get the million dollars and all of that stuff, but that stuff isn't going to really matter. What's going to matter is the journey, who you were being throughout the journey. That's what I'm here for to support you, not help because victims need help. I'm here to support you

in being you while on the journey to your million dollars while on the journey to biking around France while on the journey, whatever that is, because that's what it's about. That's what it's about. I've seen it so many times in my young years where people literally get to the end of their life and they don't call their accountant. Right. All those calls at 9-11 on every single plane was to a family member to say, I love you and I will always love you. That's all there is. And we all know that, you know, it's like we, you know, but it's so rare that that actually impacts our behavior. Yes. You know, it's like, you know, but it's so rare that that actually impacts our behavior. Yes.

You know, when it should, it's elementary. We've all read the stories. We all know this intuitively to be true. Why can't we translate that and save ourselves from a lot of pain and misery? We have a million commercials and a million things telling us the exact opposite. Yeah, that's true. Which is where Rich Roll and Preston Smiles and everybody else who understands that comes in. That's why this podcast is so important. And what about somebody who comes to you who is suffering terribly from low self-esteem

and kind of this idea that they're worthless? Like how do you transition somebody from that sort of state of despair into somebody who, because in order to give love, you have to love yourself. Exactly. Right. You can't share anything. You can't transmit something you haven't got. Right. Period. So, so it has to begin there. Yep. So how do you begin to unlock that? Um, I am also in practitioner training. Uh, I do a lot of stuff. How many businesses do you have dude? I'm in practitioner training, um, through lot of stuff how many businesses do you have dude i'm in practitioner training um through science of mind um which is earnest homes teachings and we do spirit um um spiritual mind treatments which um a treatment is about knowing the truth

past the facts so the fact is somebody may come to me and they'll say, I lost my dad. I'm hurt. I'm sad. I'm ugly. My girlfriend left me. They can say a million things, say anything. As long as they're breath in their body, I know the truth about them. And I do treatments for myself about them, whether they're in the room or not about them, knowing the truth of who they are past the facts. So that's one way. That's one element of how we get there. The other is I say, okay, cool. Give me a date. When are you done with that? What, what do you mean? When am I done? Well, how I work is we schedule things. You get to be sad about, you know, your boyfriend breaking up with you for another what? Give me the

date. Cause after that you get to choose what the hell you want to be or what the heaven you want to be. Because it's still going to be a choice. All of it is. And some people find that to be very resistant because they want to hold their stories. They've been carrying their stories for years. Right. You don't understand my pain. Their identity is wrapped up in that that so to unravel that yes to threaten who they are at their core so one of the things rich and i i i'm i could even see it when your daughter came in here i do a thing that parents do to their kids which is i see them in their greatness you know like no matter what your daughter does you see her in her greatness

no matter how many temper tantrums or whatever it is, you get it. Yeah, yeah. Yes, baby, cry. I know. I know. But you still love her. You still see her in her greatness because you know who she is. You know she is past the situation that she's in.

That's where I hold my clients. I see them past it. And I say, go ahead, fill it. Fill it all. Tell me. Tell me the whole story. Now, I want you for the rest of the week to introduce yourself to everybody with that story. Hi, I'm Susie and I was raped when I was seven and my dad left me.

They don't want to do that. But that's what they're doing. Everywhere you go, you're carrying the story. People aren't meeting you. They're meeting the story. So when are you going to be done with it? I'm not claiming this is an easy thing. No, it's not.

But it goes back to choice and choices about choices and the power to reframe that or altogether tell yourself a new story about who you are. a new story about who you are. And I heard a, this enlightened master speak, and he was sort of explaining it like branches on a tree and every little kind of knob on the tree is, is something that happened to you in your life. Right. And if you look at, if you look at the entirety of your life experience, there's good, there's bad, there's highs, there are lows, but we have this predisposition to isolate out of that entire experience, which is very gray, like certain negative things that happen. And then we tie those together and then we attach meaning to them. And this becomes our story, right? And then we repeat that story. You were talking about repetition. And then that becomes ingrained into who we are in our identity. And whether you explicitly go into a conversation and spew it out and tell them or you just exude that energy into every situation and into which you find yourself, you are then also sort of like you're getting a certain result from that.

Right. Like when you fax that person's fax for them, that had an effect on the people around you. But similarly, you walk into a social situation and you're carrying that like dark victimhood kind of vibe about you. People pick up on that and they're like, they move away. You know what I mean? That has an impact whether something's coming out of your mouth or not. So it becomes about understanding that the entirety of your life experience is so

much more than these isolated incidents that you choose to create this story around and choosing different ones, you know, because there's good in there that you could focus on and create a new story about yourself and then repeat that, affirm that and carry that into your next social situation. Big time. Right? Big time. That's it. That's it.

I love that. So with the Science of Mind stuff, you got hooked up with Michael Beckwith, right, at some point? Did you start going to Agape? Yeah. Yeah, that place is amazing. It's pretty awesome. Tell people what Agape is all about for those most people who probably don't know. Agape is a spiritual center out here in L.A.

It's pretty huge. They have, I believe, 8,000 members, which is quite big. And it is ran by Reverend Michael Bernard Beckwith, who is one of the people who was on The Secret. And he's been on Oprah quite a bit. He's pretty powerful. He's an incredibly dynamic, powerful, amazing dude. He almost married my wife and I. Really?

Yeah, yeah. We ended up not, he couldn't do it on the date that we were, whatever, it's a long story. But like, you know, we, there was a period in our lives where we were very much, you know, into going to Agape. Yeah. Yeah. I love it there. He's a special cat and he's been, um, you know, taking care of me. We don't talk a bunch, but we do talk. And I was just there on Sunday and you know, we even on,

from the stage, Preston, you know, and it's like, right. Awesome. Like, so it's like, it's, it's not a church and it's not denomination. It's not completely non-denominational, but they have, denomination it's not it's completely non-denominational no but they have uh you know he ministers right and he's an incredibly powerful speaker and it's quite an experience like if you're in la you know people that are listening yeah and are looking for like a way to raise your vibration you should go check out wednesday or sunday and even if you're not in LA, they have live streamers from all over the world on agapelive.com. It is absolutely amazing. And you can go back in the archives and watch anything, which I do quite a bit. Right.

So how did you become part of that? I, you know, along this journey, like I said about the rabbit hole, I've read a bunch. I've read a bunch of stuff, a bunch of different, you know, theories. And the one that really rings true for me is Science of Mind. Ernest Holmes is, he calls himself a synthesizer. and all of these different philosophers and different religions and made them all make sense from the metaphysical standpoint, from a consciousness standpoint, and created something called a spiritual mind treatment.

And during the Depression, science of mind was booming. It was everywhere. Right. And there were churches all over the place. And he didn't even want to call it a church because it's everything. They acknowledge that everybody's right. That's one of the first things that we talk about in Science of Mind is like, never take away somebody's God unless you're going to give them a better one.

So if you believe in Jesus, a Christian Jesus, perfect. You're right. And there's no part of it where we go, well, we have the flag. We're the only ones. It doesn't work that way. Right. So it really rings true for me and my studies.

And it just helps me with discipline, which has become discipline for me. Right, right, right. So where's, where is all this going for you? Like where are you heading with the love mob and like, you know, the Preston smiles message. Yeah. Um, the world stage period. So my, my mission is to get Justin Beaveraver status like for love for consciousness for peace for unity and that's my personal mission for the love mob our mission is to reconnect 3.6 billion people to the power of community um with practitioner training and all the other stuff i'm doing i have no clue people certain people see me they go hey deacon, Deacon Preston. And I'm like, Oh,

don't call me that. I don't know what that means. I'm just a dude who's like loving people. Um, cause I don't know. I don't know. I'm in the flow, man. I'm, I'm, I'm a channel. I'm use me. Right. That's my, that's my prayer. Use me. Where do I need to be? What do I need to say? me? Where do I need to be? What do I need to say? I'll go there. I'll do that. And I'm constantly, continuously checking in with who I'm being and what I'm thinking. Because I know that nothing is outside of me. One of the main stipulations when I assign a client and we decide that we're going to work together is that they come from everything that they're experiencing. They caused, are they allowed? So everything in my entire life I caused or I allowed, and that's a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people.

Right. Cause if you, you extrapolate that to, you know, Oh, somebody, you know, ran over me when I was riding my bike. Like, how did I cause that? I didn't cause it, but just to actually say, well, on some kind of cosmic level, you know, and that's a leap of faith. Like explain that a little bit. So there's conscious thought and then there's unconscious thought. So a lot of people have unconscious thought, which is a slow suicide. So the body catches everything and the universe just says, yes, there's high thought and there's low thought within the thing, the thing people call Buddha. They call Jesus. They call Allah. They call Christian. They call God. The thing itself for me cannot divide itself. God cannot divide itself.

If it could, that would mean it was two. That means you can count to two and there's only one. So within the one, the thing that can't divide itself, there's high thought and there's low thought. So as a collective consciousness, we are in a low thought zone right now. And the results are Israel and Palestine, the Congo, Nigeria, bring our girls back. All of these things, these are the results of low thought. High thought is always available. So what did you ask me, by the way? It doesn't matter. To explain what this idea of being personally responsible for everything that happens to you. There we go. So a lot of people who I meet, and I know because I was one of these people are committing slow suicide.

And, you know, right now, almost everybody has cancer. It's just absolutely nuts. Every time I look up, somebody has cancer again. And I'm like, really? But I get it because the body is catching everything. And, um, Shakespeare, a coward lives a thousand deaths. Meaning no matter if you have it happen or not, you've replayed it in your head, which means it is actually happening because the brain doesn't know the difference between you being raped when you were seven or you being raped when you were seven when you're 29. Just reliving that memory.

It's reliving it over and over again in the cells in your body. The neuropeptides send a message from the brain to the body, reliving that. And eventually, if you do that enough, the body is going to start breaking down. It's going to say, oh, you don't want to be here. You don't want to live. So I'm going to give you things to match what you are calling in. And that's on an unconscious level, which is why it's so important that we are conscious of our thoughts because then somebody will turn around and they'll have something happen. They'll go, well, I don't get how, you know, I was, you know, pushed in front of a train when I was 15. Like, how did I call that in?

15, like, how did I call that in? Well, you know, and this is, I get it. This is a tough thing to take, but somewhere in their agreement, in their life, because when we come, when we come in, here's, get this as well. I don't believe anybody dies. These skin suits, they'll come, they'll go, but I'll still be, I'll still remain because I'm, I'm made in the image and likeness of God, which is spirit. And when we, our science at this point has enough backing to where we take a microscope and keep breaking rich down over and over again, rich is not there. So what the heck is rich? If rich is not there. The elusive consciousness. Exactly. So that can't die. That just transmutes itself and turns into something else.

So when we come into this world, we already have a contract. Everybody has a due date with these skin suits. And a lot of people recognize what we call a tragedy or a thing. And we go, well, that's so terrible. So when Joey got leukemia when he was seven years old and that's really messed up, but we don't understand Joey's contract. We don't understand what Joey has called in. And that's, I know it just is so elusive for people to hold on to. That's where you can get into trouble with people because they'll start to freak out. Exactly. No, totally. That kind of stuff.

Totally. But I can go there. We can go there. I mean, I get what you're saying. You know, I understand that intuitively. And I think that it really, you know, and that contract is that contract, right? But we still have free will and we still have, you know,

whether we want to exude that low vibrating thought pattern and behavior pattern or that high vibrating thought pattern. And really, it boils down to this choice that we kick this whole podcast off with, which is choosing love or choosing fear. Because when you really look at the emotional landscape, whether it's resentment or anger or victimhood or whatever it is, almost all of those negative things can be boiled down to fear. Because fear is what's behind it. If you keep like a what's behind that and what's behind that, you will always arrive at fear behind at the very baseline of all of it and i think the work really is about getting to that place where you're able to recognize you know that your brain and your consciousness doesn't have to be on this autopilot and and learning how to operate flex and strengthen those muscles that can even allow you to be conscious enough to make that choice,

you know, negative or positive in that moment. Right. Big time. Yeah. It's, it's the difference. Yeah. I mean, you know, are you Jewish? No. Okay. It's one of the things that I spoke with some of my Jewish friends about this. And, you know, it's initially, and same thing with the slaves, you know, there was more slaves than there were slave masters, right? But mentally, mentally, the slaves didn't believe they were worthy. They didn't believe that they could actually, that they were actually men. They started believing what the masters told them. And the same thing with the Holocaust. told them. And the same thing with the Holocaust. It's a collective consciousness. It's a collective conscious, unconscious thought that we agree to. And the whole point of all of this is to create

a new agreement. There was a time when collectively we said, the world is flat. I don't care what you say. And then somebody decided, I'm going to check it out. I may fall off the edge, but I'm going to check it out. And it's the age old story about Roger Bannister and the four minute mile. You know, everybody's clear. Nobody can run a four minute mile. And he was like, okay, well, I'm going to check it out. So we are that. Rich Roll is Christopher Columbus, is Roger Bannister. That's what you are to me. That's what I am. I'm walking out to the edge and trying something else. Because I understand something that shows up all over the world,

which is that our thoughts become things, period. And those who are willing to risk it all also gain it all. Mm-hmm. And it's not just for me to hoard and hold over here and hide. I'm willing to die for this. That's how powerful it is for me. That's how important it is for me. When you look around and you turn the television on or you go to the movies and it's just a barrage. I mean, I'm sure now that you're, you see the world with a certain level of clarity that you didn't used

to. So now these sort of images of fear are probably immediately apparent to you, right? Like it's sort of like you took the red pill and the matrix and now you can identify these signals wherever you go, it's pretty apparent that 99.99% of what's coming at us and the world in which we're operating, the cultural paradigm, is fear-based in every way. So when you stand up as Christopher Columbus in this movement, promoting love and raising your flag, you know, one against however many, however many billion, how are we going to, how are we going to do this? Yeah. How's this going to happen?

It's happening. And the thing, the thing is is that one thing I would change about that statement is against. It's not one against. There is no against. Right. There is no opposition to truth. There's facts that are happening. The facts are there is a bunch of negative fear-based stuff flying everywhere. But the truth is, is that we live within a system that is absolutely perfect.

The world is perfect. Absolutely perfect. world is perfect, absolutely perfect. But we must mentally and spiritually see it in order for it to show up in our experience. So yes, I go a lot of places. I do a lot of stuff, but a lot of the work just happens here in the head. I got to keep seeing the perfection. I got to keep seeing God's face everywhere I look. You know how hard it is to argue I got to keep seeing God's face everywhere I look. You know how hard it is to argue with somebody when you see God's face? It's ridiculous. You know how hard it is to hate somebody who just cut you off when you know that is you?

That's a big deal. That's where I'm operating from. And how do you stay grounded in that place? Like what's your daily practice? Meditation. Meditation is a part of my daily 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes at night. Exactly. Um, and is that like a TM? Yeah. Transcendental meditation. But I do like a hybrid version because it wouldn't be me if I didn't be the Preston remix it. Yeah. It wouldn't be me if i didn't with a yellow mohawk exactly i find a way to make it my own um i also do this thing in the morning uh which is really awesome the moment i wake up

literally the moment i am conscious that i am awake i go into the craziest gratitude like stream of consciousness like thank you for my balls my face my fingers my mom my cousin like anything that comes out it comes out and i just go into just gratefulness just thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you i'm breathing thank you thank you thank you like i just go crazy but really not i go into what is my truth and and that thing charges me up. And then I reach over and I write in a journal and then I reach over and I grab something because here's the deal. We're living within laws, period. Gravity is one of them. Cause and effect is another. What you put in is what you get out every time. And that is on every single level. I know you know that. So I'm operating understanding that there are laws.

The law is, is if I put in greatness, the only thing that can come out is greatness. If I choose to put in live foods, if I choose to go into stillness, into silence and go into the gap and allow whatever created us, because nobody still has that answer. Whatever created us to speak through me, as me. When I play those games, oh man, it is on. Like you can't, like what? Right, that transcends the logical mind. Big time. Completely. Big time. And I'm charged up. like imagine going into your day the way that like you know sports teams do right before they go on the field like whose game is it again you know like that's a lot of energy you know and yeah stuff comes up stuff comes up you know i'm still

dealing with family members who are on drugs i'm still dealing with you know um being in a conscious relationship i'm still dealing with like my vulnerability and intimacy stuff, especially when it comes to men. I'm still breaking all that down, but I don't let it rule me. So when that comes up, what do you, what is a strategy for? I ask questions. I ask questions. Is this real? Is that really me? Is that real? What would love do now? What is my site not allowing me to see? what would love do now what is my sight not allowing me to see big questions change the game every question has an answer most people ask disempowering questions why am i so fat why am i so ugly why am i so broke the universe goes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

over and over again that's the game i'm changing the So changing the question is a big part of it. Big time. I ask questions. Is this real? Can I be sure that this is real? I think in order to be able to answer that question properly, you have to have already acquainted yourself with yourself enough to be able to trust your intuition and your instinct. with yourself enough to be able to trust your intuition and your instincts because when you're fucked up your instinct is going to tell you a falsehood most likely it'll be like yeah this is real this is totally real right um yeah so here's the the another nugget so every thought isn't So every thought isn't our thoughts. So I'll give you a quick crazy story.

I'm driving down the street one day. I see a family on the side of the road. The thought comes up to turn my car towards them and run them over. Now that's a morbid, sick, crazy effing thought. But do you pay attention to what I said? I said the thought, not my thought, because I realized that that was Grand Theft Auto. That was Terminator 2. That was all of the violent movies and commercials and all the stuff I've seen over the years. That was the collective consciousness coming in. I didn't choose that or claim that as my thought, because if it was,

I would be a crazy person. You see what I'm saying, Rich? Right, right. So my understanding is that everything isn't mine. You know, I've listened to a lot of bad, not so positive music. I know lyrics to stuff that would put, you know, people to shame. You'd be like, really? You know, I've punched people really hard. I've defaced stuff. I've like, I've, I've been there, you know, I've went there in many ways. So when remnants of that come up or remnants of anything that I've seen throughout, even when I wasn't conscious as a baby, you know, like the stuff that I'm cognizing when that comes up,

I don't claim it all as mine. I go, OK, whose is that? Because that's not me. Right. It's it's tricky. Consciousness is really tricky that way. You know, it's sort of like I've said this before, but when you're having a dream and in your dream, you're having a conversation with somebody and you don't know what that person is going to say to you. And then they say something to you and you react to that. and then they say something to you and you react to that. Well, who came up with what that person is telling you that you weren't aware of in the context of that dream? Or if you're an artist and you're in that flow state

and suddenly this painting comes out and you've made this canvas and you couldn't explain where that idea came from, that you are acting as a channel for it through some higher state of consciousness. So lower states and higher states. And understanding that the relationship between identity and consciousness is not elementary. That just because you're having a thought doesn't mean that you have to identify with that thought. With the thought. Or that you have to own that and work that into the

matrix of who you are as a person indeed right and and really i think in the most basic terms it's the idea that you're not your thinking mind right and that you have a choice about which thoughts you want to reinforce and which thoughts you want to dismiss and the process of becoming the observer as opposed to what most of us do, which is walk around and not understand that there's a distinction between our thinking mind and our higher consciousness, right? That's the only way to manifest, good or bad, is to hold on to a thought, good or bad, period. People, you know, a thought can be measured, 0.001. From that point on, at that first thought, you have a choice.

You either hold on to it, which makes it expand. I'm ugly. Yeah, I'm ugly because Josh didn't want to date me. And, you know, Kevin didn't ask me out when I was in high school. And boom, we've now expanded it. Now the universe just says, yes, it doesn care that's i really want people to understand god whatever like you would like to call it just says yes it's like cool perfect you want that cool you want to war and over some over a wall cool do that you want to kill a bunch of people in the congo over some minerals to put in

the iphone and some stuff like that do it perfect or Perfect. Or you're Elon Musk and you say, I'm going to make cars with that run completely on electricity that are badass. Done. Done. There is. We have not even seen the greatest inventions yet. Oh, no way. I mean, it's accelerating so fast right now.

Big time. So it's just how you use the energy, period. It's how you use the law. The law is whatever that is, the name you want to put on it, the law just says yes. If you focus on it, it will expand in either direction. And just like what you're saying, people think that they are their mind, but there's not a person on the planet that can stop their mind. I don't care what monk there is on what mountain he cannot stop the mind

He can redirect the mind we can all redirect it and that's where the magic happens. That's what I'm doing when I ask the question I'm redirecting The thought comes up run them over whose thought is that? What am I not thinking about if I ask whose thought is that? I'm not thinking about running them over. Right. Now I'm in the question. Oh, I used to play Grand Theft Auto a lot. Now I'm somewhere else.

Or you could be, wow, I'm such a piece of shit that I would think that way. Boom, exactly. I hate myself. Two choices. I don't deserve to be here. Yep. Or you're a lunatic and you actually do run them over. Boom. In which case you decided to own that thought.

Mm-hmm. Right? Done. It's wild. It's wild. I know you get it. But once we just go down this rabbit hole, it's so much. We've probably talked for two hours and there's still another 40 hours to do this.

I know. We could go. Well, maybe you can come back and do the master class. Let's do it, man. The advanced version. But I think that's a good place to stop um that was amazing man that was really awesome appreciate you I really appreciate your wisdom and your energy your positivity I mean I think that one thing I'd like to ask you before we wrap it up is when you look around how do you you can't do what you do and not be an optimist right you have to be

optimistic because you're exuding a positive energy right so to be other than that would be to be the antithesis of what you're trying to be right but how do you avoid being pessimistic when you look around and you see just how pervasive our fear-based culture is. Yeah. I just know. I know that there's no possible way to heal that, to make it different, by being in it. Well, it's that idea that you raised earlier on, the Einstein quote, that you can't solve a problem with the same consciousness, right?

So you have to shift the consciousness to be in the solution. Yep. And that would be calling what I call God a liar, because God is perfect. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. The facts are those things, but God is perfect. The world is perfect. So it's my job to hold that. And when it gets ugly and it gets ugly, I'm going to Africa in October to build clean water wells. Oh, wow. In remote villages where people are starving to death, where people are dying every day from diarrhea and stuff. It's going to be, I'm not, I'm clear I'm going to be affected. I know that's going to happen.

But what I'm going there to do and who I'm going there to be, that is way bigger than me and my emotions. Right. You know, like real love is commitment. And I'm committed to building them well. I'm committed to seeing them and being with them and being a blessing in every way I can. What organization are you doing that with? I'm going with my girlfriend's organization, which is EPIC, Everyday People Initiating Change.

Oh, wow, cool. Cool, cool. That's awesome, man. Which country are you going to? Tanzania. Tanzania, wow. That'll be intense. Yep, first time ever in Africa.

Yeah. I think you touched on something else that I wanted to at least address, which is this idea that love doesn't just mean you're just going around hugging everybody at a love mob. Love can often mean creating healthy boundaries. And that was something that has been a process for me to learn and unlearn unhealthy habits around that of learning how to say no, learning how to love yourself enough to walk away from certain situations and people. So can you talk a little bit about that and kind of your experience dealing with yourself or clients with that? Yeah, big time. Well, I'll say this. One of my parents has had a drug issues most of my life. And there was times

when I would just empty my account. And in me, I knew that I knew there was the guilt of, well, I'm their son. I have to do this. And then there was like, well, what if I'm helping them die? And there was a point in between Southern and LSU where I realized that I was just enabling. And then if I really loved my parent, that I would walk away. Real love would hold them high and accept nothing other than greatness and that I was dying too. Every time I pulled some money out of my pocket and put it into theirs, I died too. A little of me died and real love is loving me and understanding what fills in alignment. It never felt right.

And I kept doing it anyway. And the feelings are an indicator. They're not always the truth, but they're an indicator of things. And that has been so freeing to know that that is actually real love. Real love is not always flowers in the park. Sometimes it is war, but not in the like, the like violent way. It's in the being willing to walk away way. It's in the, in the, in the, what's the word for it? Being so clear. Who did this?

Gandhi. Gandhi's version of love. Martin Luther King's version of love. You can beat me. You can hurt me. You can slap me. I'm going nowhere. That's love.

Because I know if I hit you back, that I'm just doing the same thing you're doing. And it worked. In both cases, it worked. It worked really well. Because the people that were, you know, attempting to keep segregation and all that stuff, they eventually were like, well, damn, maybe they are human. And like, wow, we just keep beating them up and setting them on fire and all. They just keep coming back. Well, you know what? Maybe we're wrong.

Maybe these Bible verses that we use to call them less than human aren't necessarily correct. So in a roundabout way, I believe I sort of answered your question yeah i think so i mean i think that that you know on top of that it's about uh you know when you if you if you're not creating a healthy boundary around yourself then that's an indication that you're not respecting yourself or that you feel unworthy and you feel like you have to open yourself up to everybody who comes your way because you're trying to people please or what have you but true self-respect a true sense of self um means that you have that inner compass you know that understands when something is okay and something is not okay exactly and walking away you know with grace

and with respect is just as loving as allowing somebody to come into is more loving than allowing somebody to come into your house that is not on the wavelength that you choose to participate in exactly because you always become them. Right. I just literally had a call two hours ago with a client who explained how she's with this guy and he's not really with her, but he's willing to have sex with her. And I gave her a scenario. I said, if you had a child and the child burned down the house, would you walk back and give the child more matches to burn down the house? And she's like, of course not. It's okay. Well, would you let somebody into your body who doesn't actually want to be there with you, be present with you? And she's like, well, no. And I was like, you have your answer.

with you? And she's like, well, no. And I was like, you have your answer. It's that simple. But behind that is a feeling of, well, if I say no, then he won't like me. And if I say no, then I'll never find somebody else and I'll be alone. And then you just spin it into its, you know, you just go down that rabbit hole that once again, what's behind that fear, fear of being alone, fear, fear of not being worthy of love or another human being's respect. All those things. Exactly. Right on, Rich. Right on.

Cool, dude. Well, you're an inspiration, man. I'm glad that you're doing what you're doing. And keep doing it. Thank you. What else is coming up other than Africa? Are you speaking anywhere around here? I've got a few things coming. If you would like to find me, go to Preston smiles.com, the love mob.com, or just

type in Preston smiles on any social media. It will show up. I'm the only one on Facebook. Your Preston smiles one on YouTube. It's youtube.com forward slash questions with Preston. Yeah. On Twitter and Instagram is it's just Preston Smiles. But check his Instagram out and his YouTube out. That's what I would suggest. Yeah, the YouTube is really fun. I would suggest going to my YouTube channel and checking out some of the videos. I really appreciate you, Deacon Rich Roll.

No, I'm going to call you that. No, this is awesome, man. Thank you for taking the time. And I feel good, man. You feel good? Oh, yeah. It's all good. All right, you guys, that's our show.

I hope you dug it. I hope you dug Preston. If you're in Los Angeles, don't forget to stop by Joy Cafe. That's where I'm going to be eating most of my meals from now on. So it's a safe bet that if you go there around the lunch hour or even many of the dinner hours that you might be able to find me there. And I hope to meet a lot of you guys soon. Also, we're now offering flat rate domestic shipping on all our plant power provision products. It's $4.99 no matter where you are in the U.S., no matter how big or heavy the box is, no matter how many things you order.

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more. I took a break, but now I'm back. I'm going to be posting more videos on Snapchat. And on Snapchat, my handle is IamRichRoll, I-A-M Rich Roll. This week's assignment to close it out, pay attention to your thoughts. Identify the negative thoughts that loop and don't serve you and make a choice to take one of those thoughts, just one, one recurring negative thought pattern that you have and invert it. It doesn't matter if you don't believe it, just act as if. Just turn it into a positive affirmation and repeat it until it becomes the new default thought replacing the old negative one. Once you've mastered that, tackle another negative thought

pattern. Repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. All right, and let me know how that goes in the comment section on the episode page for this. All right, you guys, see you next week. Peace. Plants. Thank you.