Latest / Reclaiming Consciousness / From Gangster to Guru with The Mindful Wizard, Steven Rivera

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From Gangster to Guru with The Mindful Wizard, Steven Rivera · Reclaiming Consciousness

0:03
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Reclaiming Consciousness.
0:05
SPEAKER_00: My name is Elise Bassine, spiritual mentor, breathwork practitioner, and owner and CEO of Elise Breeds.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: For many years, our consciousness has been hijacked by societal and cultural programming, religion, the media, and familial and ancestral trauma.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: Right now, during this epic time in history, people are waking up, realizing who they really are, and reclaiming the pieces of their consciousness that they unknowingly gave away.
0:33
SPEAKER_00: This podcast is an exploration of how so many spectacular humans are leading the way in exiting the matrix and reclaiming who they really are and what they're capable of.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: In this show, you'll meet exceptional people who are paving the way in raising consciousness and creating a new way of living on this earth.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: Get ready to go deep.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: Now let's dive in.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: Hi everyone, welcome back to the show.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: So I am super excited for today's guest.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: I was connected with him last year when I was on his podcast, and I started following him on Instagram.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: His name is Steven Rivera, and his Instagram is The Mindful Wizard, and he just shares the best content.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: So you guys all need to go follow him right now because he's just hilarious and just really tuned in, really awake, and I just love his perspective.
1:29
SPEAKER_00: So you're really gonna love this conversation today.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: And he gives such a different take on spirituality.
1:36
SPEAKER_00: And we really connected also because he's the dean of students at a school in New York City.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: And as you guys all know, I worked at schools in Philadelphia in the inner city for over 10 years.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: So we just had that really strong connection about coming from that same background.
1:56
SPEAKER_00: And he's doing really amazing work and also really inspiring work.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: So I know you guys are gonna love this conversation with Steven Rivera, the mindful wizard.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: So just a few quick announcements.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: I just launched my program, Quantum Magnetism, which is a 30-day power portal to quantum leap your magnetism and exponentialize your client attraction.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: So I'm super excited about this because I've never taught about client attraction before.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: And it actually was something that I didn't think I was good at until within two years, you know, I built this huge business and I realized that I actually had something to teach people about this because there are specific energetic codes that I was able to carry and implement in my own business that I am gonna help you implement in yours.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: So this program is invite only.
2:51
SPEAKER_00: And the reason why is because I just want to make sure that you feel aligned and I know that I can really help move the needle for you in your business.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: So if you are interested in being invited into the program, just reach out to me.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be taking 10 women.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: There are already a few women that I'm talking to about it.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: And if you sign up before August 1st, there's a very special no-brainer pricing, as I like to call it.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: So if you are interested in being considered for this program, please reach out to me.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: Just email me info at elisebreeds.com.
3:26
SPEAKER_00: Let me know if that you're interested, and we'll chat a little bit and see if you're a fit for the program.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: It's 30 days, four live calls, group boxer coaching, plus breath work and energy work.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: As always, it is calibrated to get you to your next level and raise your frequency.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: So super excited about that.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: Also, just another quick reminder that if you rate and review the podcast and send me a screenshot of your review, we will send you a code for 50% off the Ascension toolkit, which everybody loves.
3:59
SPEAKER_00: Everybody gets so much out of these tools.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: It is four breathwork sessions, three meditations, and journaling prompts that hit the big stuff: fear, money, relationships, and connecting with your intuition.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: All stuff that challenge all of us.
4:15
SPEAKER_00: And I gave you the tools to help move through it.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: So that's what the Ascension Toolkit is.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: And you will get 50% off if you send us a screenshot of your review.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much to all of you who have sent in really amazing reviews so far.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: They literally bring me to tears when I see them.
4:32
SPEAKER_00: So I appreciate you so much.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to say thank you to everyone who's been reaching out to me about how much you love the podcast.
4:40
SPEAKER_00: Your support means everything to me.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: And I just wanted to say I really appreciate you.
4:45
SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much and enjoy the episode.
4:50
SPEAKER_00: Hi, everyone.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to the show.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: So you guys are gonna totally love today's guest.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: So today I have with us the mindful wizard.
5:01
SPEAKER_00: And he is a 32-year-old dean of students at a New York City special education high school, which is close to my heart, you guys all know.
5:09
SPEAKER_00: He's earned two Masters of Science in Kinesiology and school-based leadership, and he is the CEO and founder of Mindful Wizard LLC, a company devoted to teaching people the power of mindfulness.
5:22
SPEAKER_00: He's a social emotional coach who focuses on meditation, breathing techniques, relaxation exercises, and Tai Chi.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: And he has an international podcast, Search for Consciousness, which I was on, and that's how I met him.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: And we just like instantly clicked.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: So I'm so excited to have you on the show.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: Welcome, the mindful wizard.
5:44
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for that uh amazing introduction.
5:46
SPEAKER_01: I may say that you and I had a great conversation.
5:50
SPEAKER_01: You left me wanting more, and uh I learned I learned a lot from you.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: So it was a really great conversation.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: So I was on your podcast and we just instantly connected.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: I feel like we had known each other for years, and also just like the school.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: I was a school counselor and you're a dean of students, and I just feel like we instantly connected over that too.
6:13
SPEAKER_00: So I just want to dive right in.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: Can you just share like a little bit about your story and kind of how you came to being the mindful wizard?
6:23
SPEAKER_01: So I I totally agree that we connected at the heart of students wanting to just help.
6:30
SPEAKER_01: So before I get into my story, I have to say that you inspired me because you were teaching me that you're able to leave the nine of five and move on to other things.
6:42
SPEAKER_01: So thank you for being just a presence and motivation.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: But for my story, the short version is if you guys were able to see my face, you would see that it's slightly deformed.
6:52
SPEAKER_01: My left eye is not working.
6:55
SPEAKER_00: So oh wow, I didn't even notice that.
6:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I'm I'm basically blind in my left eye, and that's what started the process of losing Steven Rivera and meeting the person who is now the mindful wizard.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: One night I was out, I shouldn't have been out, I should have been working on school, and uh I got involved with a rough group.
7:17
SPEAKER_01: They attacked us, they hit me in the face, and eventually blind me.
7:20
SPEAKER_01: I had eight surgeries, and this was all happening between the ages of 18 and 22, where I'm just trying to discover myself as a young adult.
7:30
SPEAKER_01: But it was perfect because I started to shed false relationships.
7:34
SPEAKER_01: I needed to reinvent myself because a lot of it was ego.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: And it was funny because the universe knows us, knows that I'm hardheaded, and knows that I need a physical reminder.
7:45
SPEAKER_01: So what ends up happening is I get attacked, I go through depression, which is I'm assuming is normal if you lose a body part.
7:52
SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, the people, the person that you see today is basically me giving myself everything that I needed when I was going through my own stuff.
8:01
SPEAKER_01: And that's the short version of how I became Steven, the evolved version, mindful wizard.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: So, can you go more into like what did you have to kind of shed?
8:11
SPEAKER_00: Because what I'm kind of hearing in what you're saying is maybe these old programs, which we love to talk about on this podcast, or ideas or belief systems that you had about yourself based on your upbringing, your family, whatever, and then based on your surroundings that you then were kind of like forced to let go of.
8:30
SPEAKER_01: It's a wonderful question.
8:32
SPEAKER_01: I would say that I believed that I would get by on just like looks, charm.
8:38
SPEAKER_01: I didn't really work hard.
8:39
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't humble, I'll be very honest.
8:42
SPEAKER_01: I I things were handed to me in high school.
8:44
SPEAKER_01: I was kind of funny, I was charming.
8:47
SPEAKER_01: So teachers would uh would just kind of pass me along.
8:50
SPEAKER_01: But then, you know, life started getting more serious, and I was hanging out with people that weren't going down the best paths.
8:59
SPEAKER_01: So I think I needed a physical reminder to show myself every single day that I made some poor decisions.
9:07
SPEAKER_01: To answer the question about shedding old beliefs, at that moment, I didn't believe that I was good enough to achieve anything other than a high school diploma.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: And it just so happens to be that this day I lost my eye, um, that specific day was a Friday.
9:23
SPEAKER_01: The next day was supposed to be my first SAT.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow! Oh my God.
9:28
SPEAKER_01: So it was kind of like meant to be, and and I didn't go.
9:32
SPEAKER_01: I guess if I had to sum it up, the theme of my life at that time was transitions and letting go of the past.
9:39
SPEAKER_01: And I think that was the beginning of that process.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: So, what did I lose?
9:44
SPEAKER_01: I lost uh fake friends, I lost this perception of who I thought I needed to be.
9:49
SPEAKER_01: And it's funny because I didn't I didn't really have anything of substance.
9:53
SPEAKER_01: All I had was this fake, confident persona that was removed in one second by one mistake, and that led me to rediscover myself.
10:02
SPEAKER_00: And then what did you discover within that void?
10:06
SPEAKER_01: So I discovered that a lot of my programming was fake.
10:11
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't authentic, I was fear-based, I was jealous, I was over possessed of women.
10:19
SPEAKER_01: So I thought that control was how you get affection.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: And I had to learn the opposite was true.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: You had to let go and be willing to be honest.
10:28
SPEAKER_01: You know, at that moment, I didn't know which path I would take.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to be like a gangster.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: I thought that was cool and that was calling me.
10:36
SPEAKER_01: But truthfully, I was just a scared little boy that was scared to admit that he wanted a better relationship with his father and that um he wanted to be respected as an intellectual.
10:47
SPEAKER_01: So the old me was very playful and I would downplay my intelligence because I wanted to be accepted.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: And then fast forward, I'm 33.
10:56
SPEAKER_01: I don't give a fuck about opinions anymore.
10:58
SPEAKER_01: So, so you know, I grew my beard out, I started to do things that made me happy.
11:02
SPEAKER_01: And I lost a lot of uh quote unquote friends along the way, but I've gained, you know, truer relationships like you and I.
11:09
SPEAKER_01: We stay in contact and we ask pretty good questions.
11:11
SPEAKER_01: Like, this is more sustaining than the fake life that I was entertaining.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: Totally.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: And what about your relationship with your father?
11:18
SPEAKER_01: So, if I may, things have gotten better.
11:21
SPEAKER_01: I've slowed down.
11:23
SPEAKER_01: The surgeries forced me to love myself and not this self that we give the world.
11:29
SPEAKER_01: I was very, I'll go back to an egotistical, angry, ungrateful.
11:35
SPEAKER_01: And then I I expected so much out of my family, but I wasn't pouring into them.
11:39
SPEAKER_01: So how would they ever pour into me?
11:41
SPEAKER_01: And you know, through the surgeries, I I realized that I was extremely anxious and I was just unhappy.
11:47
SPEAKER_01: So I started filling myself up with self-help books, the only thing that could fill that void.
11:53
SPEAKER_01: And it's funny because as a man growing up, it was very difficult for us to speak on emotion.
11:59
SPEAKER_01: You know, the world has changed and it's becoming more open.
12:01
SPEAKER_01: But 15 years ago, I'm talking about emotions, and they would curse at me.
12:05
SPEAKER_01: They would say, Oh, you're soft, or but therapies for for babies, or or you're you're not going through something.
12:11
SPEAKER_01: Why would you get therapy?
12:12
SPEAKER_01: So I think I I basically filled the void.
12:15
SPEAKER_01: Uh, my parents, I love them to death, but they don't they don't know anything about mental health enough to help somebody struggling.
12:21
SPEAKER_01: And lucky for me, I worked at Barnes and Noble, right?
12:23
SPEAKER_01: So I couldn't afford the therapy, but I could afford books.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: And those were like, you know, my therapists, they listen to me and they they they give me information, and and that's what helped me get out of that.
12:33
SPEAKER_01: And then I became the person that I needed.
12:35
SPEAKER_01: I I became more emotional, more accepting, more truthful.
12:39
SPEAKER_01: And that, you know, slowly helped the relationship with my father as well.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting too, because we like I'm always talking about because one of the biggest the things that I do with people is I help them heal from their relationships with their parents, right?
12:51
SPEAKER_00: I mean, because basically all we're doing is living out our relationships with our parents and projecting them on everybody until we heal it.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: And it's nothing to do with your parent, right?
13:01
SPEAKER_00: It's just within you.
13:03
SPEAKER_00: So I mean, I think that's it's such a huge thing and it's such a huge awareness to have.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: So I'm curious, you're working at Barnes and Noble.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: What books are you reading?
13:12
SPEAKER_00: What did you dive into and what did you discover?
13:14
SPEAKER_01: You got a gift of questions, my sister.
13:17
SPEAKER_00: Everyone tells me that.
13:19
SPEAKER_01: You're good.
13:19
SPEAKER_01: No, you're good because you you're a great listener and you know how to keep it chronological.
13:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
13:25
SPEAKER_01: Because you know, us thinkers, we get lost in the emotion.
13:29
SPEAKER_01: So it's actually interesting.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: And um, I wasn't very spiritual ever.
13:34
SPEAKER_01: So I used to play games with God, and I would say something like, If you want me to read this, or if you want me to learn about this, present it.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: So one day it started with The Secret by Ron DeBryan, the law of attraction book.
13:47
SPEAKER_01: And it was big back then.
13:48
SPEAKER_01: I remember saying, like, I'm depressed, like, I need something different.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: And I remember saying to God, whatever you want to call it, I said, if you're out there, uh, make three people buy this book from me directly.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: So two people bought the book, and I'm like, I guess you don't want me to read it.
14:04
SPEAKER_01: And then the last customer came and said, I need a book, and I think you have it.
14:09
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Let me guess.
14:10
SPEAKER_01: Jokingly, I'm like, what, the secret?
14:12
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Yeah, how'd you know?
14:14
SPEAKER_00: Oh my God, that just brought tears to my eyes.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: So I it's it's it's real.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: Everything I say is real.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: And um, I started reading it, and then I found$11 on the floor.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: I was born on the 11th.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: So I got into angel numbers, and I'm like, wait, this shit works.
14:29
SPEAKER_01: Like, you're telling me if I'm more positive, my life will get better.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: And I started to be, you know, a little bit more positive.
14:35
SPEAKER_01: I met the right people.
14:36
SPEAKER_01: I actually got my first teaching job from Barnes and Noble.
14:39
SPEAKER_01: I met a principal there, and she liked the way I spoke to her, and she hired me on the spot.
14:44
SPEAKER_01: So, so my life did change rather quickly by implementing the law of attraction.
14:48
SPEAKER_01: So, Rhonda, if you're out there, you you helped me a lot.
14:52
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
14:52
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
14:53
SPEAKER_00: So then you got your first teaching job, and then, but you still obviously continued on this path.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: So, what did that look like?
15:01
SPEAKER_01: I love how you're asking, because it's just building up to exactly what happened.
15:05
SPEAKER_01: I would say like I had multiple epiphanies, right?
15:07
SPEAKER_01: And I don't like when people get online and they say one moment changed and then they stayed there, because that to me doesn't make sense.
15:14
SPEAKER_01: So basically, what happened with me is I started the path.
15:17
SPEAKER_01: I went to my first teacher interview, and it was in a jail.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
15:22
SPEAKER_01: So I'm surrounded by teenagers in a jail, and my whole life is like shattered.
15:27
SPEAKER_01: I went from being a criminal to now helping people that are incarcerated.
15:31
SPEAKER_01: And the real moment that I would say snapped me out of my immaturity was when the minute I got there for the interview, there was a group of young men.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: And I remember one of the faces was very familiar.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: So I looked at the kid and I'm like, what are you doing here?
15:45
SPEAKER_01: And he said, No, what are you doing here?
15:47
SPEAKER_01: I said, I'm here to teach.
15:49
SPEAKER_01: He said, Oh, I live here, I'm arrested.
15:51
SPEAKER_01: And it made me really sad.
15:52
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yo, I think I know you.
15:54
SPEAKER_01: He said, No, I know you.
15:55
SPEAKER_01: You're you're friends with my older brother.
15:57
SPEAKER_01: And when I realized that, I realized that I was making a connection between the choices that I made and the repercussions.
16:04
SPEAKER_01: They were right in front of me.
16:05
SPEAKER_01: I was leading generations.
16:07
SPEAKER_01: And because I was kind of cool and I knew a few people, they would, they would follow me.
16:11
SPEAKER_01: So I realized that I was leading people to stupidity instead of to growth.
16:16
SPEAKER_01: And that's another moment where I was like, that's me right there.
16:19
SPEAKER_01: That could have been me in those chairs, or it can be me.
16:22
SPEAKER_01: So I need to change.
16:23
SPEAKER_01: And I started making more um positive choices.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's crazy.
16:27
SPEAKER_00: Because also I think in that moment, too, you probably realize your ability to affect other people, right?
16:35
SPEAKER_00: And your ability to lead other people, which you have a tremendous ability to do, by the way.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: Everybody should check out his Instagram, which I'm sure we'll talk about that in a little bit.
16:45
SPEAKER_00: And I know your your TikTok now is blowing up too.
16:48
SPEAKER_01: That is good.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: That is good.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: So, did you actually teach in a jail?
16:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: So the funny thing is the timeline is important, right?
16:56
SPEAKER_01: Because the surgeries were happening.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I needed something to get out of that like uh painful state of mind because this was a serious surgery.
17:03
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't move for like two months.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: So I needed something.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: I remember like reading the books, going to the jail.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: It all happened so fast.
17:12
SPEAKER_01: I was a cashier, maybe a month later, I was a teacher.
17:16
SPEAKER_01: And and yeah, I taught there for about a year and a half, and they were closing, but they liked me, thank God, and they pulled me to a bigger jail.
17:23
SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: So I went from like a small jail with 12 students to a jail that had uh 60 students coming in every two weeks.
17:32
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: And what was that like?
17:34
SPEAKER_00: You know, and just to say, like, I've worked in the worst of the worst schools in Philly.
17:40
SPEAKER_00: Like, so I can imagine it from that level where it almost feels like a jail.
17:45
SPEAKER_00: And I've been in that environment, but I've never been in an actual jail.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: So can you like tell us what that was like?
17:53
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
17:53
SPEAKER_01: So there's a lot of different things going on, and I thank God that I was younger and less aware socially, because I think now going in as an older male, I know what I feel.
18:05
SPEAKER_01: I think it would have been a lot harder for me because I would have set stronger boundaries now.
18:09
SPEAKER_01: But as a 20-year-old with not too much experience in life, I was just kind of, you know, just studying.
18:16
SPEAKER_01: And um, because I was relatively young and I still dressed, you know, kind of cool, the kids took a liking to me.
18:22
SPEAKER_01: I was still close enough to speak about their music and their cultures.
18:27
SPEAKER_01: So it wasn't too hard for me.
18:29
SPEAKER_01: But the difficult part was asserting myself with older staff members who didn't think I was intelligent enough.
18:36
SPEAKER_01: And at times they would try to set me up where if I didn't handle myself appropriately, I could have been injured.
18:43
SPEAKER_01: Like these are big students, like these are not your typical 12-year-olds.
18:47
SPEAKER_01: These are, you know, 16-year-olds who've been in and out of prison.
18:51
SPEAKER_01: They have masks on them, they look like grown men, they can rip clocks down the wall.
18:55
SPEAKER_01: This is not like so.
18:57
SPEAKER_01: What I will say, you know, to answer your question and kind of put you in there, every decision that you make is being watched.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: You can't lie to students because they will remember everything.
19:07
SPEAKER_01: To you, it's an eight-hour shift.
19:09
SPEAKER_01: To them, it's their entire life, right?
19:11
SPEAKER_01: So you have to be very careful, you have to be truthful.
19:15
SPEAKER_01: And if I may, there's one staff member that will always live in my mind, rent-free.
19:21
SPEAKER_01: His name is Mr.
19:22
SPEAKER_01: Smalls.
19:23
SPEAKER_01: And one day I said to him, Mr.
19:24
SPEAKER_01: Smalls, you work on the most dangerous floor and you've never been hurt in your 30 years.
19:31
SPEAKER_01: You're not particularly big, you're like my height, you're very skinny.
19:36
SPEAKER_01: How?
19:36
SPEAKER_01: And his response to me was, uh, I'm real.
19:39
SPEAKER_01: He said, I never fake it with the kids because one day it's gonna be a kid that's tougher than you, and you're gonna find out who's faking it.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: He said, if you speak your truth and you're respectful, they'll respect you.
19:50
SPEAKER_01: If you pretend to be somebody else, they will read right through that.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: I a hundred percent agree with that, you know, and I even feel that way from being a school counselor too.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: I feel like I was always so real with the kids.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: You know, I never was like, oh, you need to do this or whatever, like bullshit that there was.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: Like I was just always real with them, and I think that's why I was so successful at it and why I had such great relationships with them, because that's a hundred percent true.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: And no, and you know, and I even think back to myself as a kid, and you can probably relate to this too.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: All the teachers that were trying to like act like, oh, like whatever, like I'm a teacher, you know, like they they always were so annoying, and you were like, uh, because they feel like they have to be a certain way in order to be respect or whatever.
20:37
SPEAKER_00: So I completely understand that.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: So, what do you feel like you took away or learned from that whole situation?
20:44
SPEAKER_01: I would say, and I agree with everything that you're saying, authenticity can be felt.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: And I think like that's another reason you and I talk.
20:51
SPEAKER_01: Like, we're there's no ulterior motives here.
20:54
SPEAKER_01: I want to help you, you want to help me, and and we're on the same path.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: So it's just enlightening, it's not really negativity.
21:00
SPEAKER_01: So I appreciate you for that.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: Um, I would say I learned a lot about myself.
21:04
SPEAKER_01: I'll go back to Mr.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: Smalls.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: He said to me one time, You're one of the smartest young men I've ever spoken to, but you speak too fast.
21:12
SPEAKER_01: So he said, slow the fuck down and you'll get better results.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: That sounds like it had like multi-layers of meaning.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: He was a deep man.
21:23
SPEAKER_01: He's still he's still around, and uh, and I appreciate him a lot.
21:27
SPEAKER_01: But that's one of the things, right?
21:29
SPEAKER_01: Just not trying so hard, not trying to prove, kind of sitting back, observing.
21:35
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I needed to use mindfulness every single day.
21:37
SPEAKER_01: I just didn't know that that's what I was using.
21:40
SPEAKER_01: Because, you know, these students they'll they'll test your ego.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: They'll try to get you on a bad day.
21:45
SPEAKER_01: They'll sit there and wait until you look frustrated, and that's when they'll ask for something because you're more likely to cave in.
21:51
SPEAKER_01: So I would say boundary setting, I would say knowing your surroundings.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: I I'll tell you a funny story if if I have a second.
21:59
SPEAKER_01: We're at The jails.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: And uh, this is like my first year.
22:02
SPEAKER_01: I know nothing.
22:03
SPEAKER_01: I'm like a baby, and um, no beard, okay.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: Before the beard, and I sit at a chair, right?
22:10
SPEAKER_01: It's this beautiful little couch, and I sit right in the front, and a kid taps me and says, You can't sit there.
22:15
SPEAKER_01: So I start laughing.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, Yeah, okay, like who are you to get me off this chair?
22:19
SPEAKER_01: And then he's like, No, I'm trying to protect you.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: He said, When the big homie comes and he sees you in that chair, it's gonna be a problem.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: So I look at the staff for confirmation and he nods at me like you shouldn't sit there.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, What is going on?
22:32
SPEAKER_01: So at the end of the day, I pull Mr.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: Young to the side and I said, Brother, can you enlighten me?
22:37
SPEAKER_01: Why can't I sit there?
22:39
SPEAKER_01: And he says, I want you to understand that there's a structure in jail.
22:44
SPEAKER_01: He says, the student has the big homie, the big homie tells the students what to do.
22:50
SPEAKER_01: I tell the big homie what to do.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: My supervisor tells me what to do.
22:54
SPEAKER_01: So as long as the big homie keeps the younger students in check, the building functions.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: So I started to observe more and say less because I was realizing that I'm going into their home, into their culture, into their jungle, if you will.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: And that's something that I learned.
23:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh tread carefully, walk quietly, observe.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: Don't try to make yourself uh bigger than you are, and be respectful.
23:23
SPEAKER_01: If you listen, you'll you'll find a way in and out.
23:25
SPEAKER_01: And I've thank God to this day, I've never been physically attacked by a student.
23:30
SPEAKER_01: Um, a few students like pushed me, but nothing too insane.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: But what I will say is I learned I learned a lot.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: One more, now that you got me back in my PTS, PTST, uh T S, you know what I'm saying.
23:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:45
SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you another one, right?
23:46
SPEAKER_01: Like I learned about gratitude, and I'll show you how.
23:48
SPEAKER_01: One day I go back to the fourth floor, which is the worst floor, right?
23:51
SPEAKER_01: They say the worst kids, and there's one kid staring out the window by himself.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: And I go up to him and I'm like, yo, what's up, brother?
23:58
SPEAKER_01: Like, what are you looking at?
23:58
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, I'm looking at outside.
24:00
SPEAKER_01: And I said, What's wrong?
24:01
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Well, he's like, those kids get to play, you know, and I'll be in here for two years, and I miss that.
24:07
SPEAKER_01: He's like, I missed the sun, you know?
24:09
SPEAKER_01: And I and it like it broke my heart because this kid was 15.
24:12
SPEAKER_01: His life's gonna go from 15 to 17, and then 17, he's gonna go to jail for five more years when he's an adult.
24:17
SPEAKER_01: So it was a lot.
24:19
SPEAKER_01: You you know, you start to appreciate life every single day.
24:21
SPEAKER_01: And and another thing, when you leave those jails, you can physically feel the weight lifted off your shoulders.
24:27
SPEAKER_01: Like the longer I stayed, the more effect it had on me.
24:31
SPEAKER_01: And that's when I wasn't spiritually enlightened to this point.
24:34
SPEAKER_01: So I could imagine how receptive I would be to negative energy going into it now as a 30-year-old male, 33-year-old male.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: Oh my God, I'm sure, because it's probably such a low vibe place that you can feel the energy in there and it physically affects you.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's just keep going chronologically.
24:56
SPEAKER_00: So then after you were done doing that, and I really want to understand too, like how this all kind of has affected like your spiritual awakening as well.
25:05
SPEAKER_00: So you kind of like take us through that.
25:08
SPEAKER_01: Sure, for sure.
25:09
SPEAKER_01: So once I saw a first hand model of what I was doing to society by just being the worst version of myself, like, for example, allowing my friends to drink on a Tuesday when we don't have jobs and like just doing dumb shit.
25:25
SPEAKER_01: Like, why are you outside at three in the morning when you can be, you know, getting ready for work the next day?
25:30
SPEAKER_01: And um, what I would say is that it made me more responsible and more accountable for what I put out, especially because I would see the outcome of what I was doing in real time.
25:42
SPEAKER_01: And once I learned, you know, books like The Secret and The Power of Now, I realized that a lot of the thoughts that I thought I was having weren't even my own.
25:51
SPEAKER_01: They were put into me.
25:53
SPEAKER_01: And I accepted them.
25:54
SPEAKER_01: So I became, I would say, more socially aware, more self-aware, more responsible.
25:59
SPEAKER_01: And I became the best version of myself to then motivate young brothers and sisters.
26:05
SPEAKER_01: That's what I would say I took away from that personal responsibility.
26:09
SPEAKER_01: I built a legacy, I wanted to give back.
26:11
SPEAKER_01: And mindfulness took the lead because that was the only tool that I had, right?
26:17
SPEAKER_01: Like I was young, I couldn't tell them what to do.
26:20
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't scare them because I'm five, seven.
26:23
SPEAKER_01: Um, right.
26:24
SPEAKER_01: And I don't want to physically hurt anybody, but even if I could, that's not the best technique.
26:28
SPEAKER_01: So I had to learn something more effective, which was like working with the person one-on-one.
26:34
SPEAKER_01: So I would say I took away a lot.
26:36
SPEAKER_01: I developed more mindfulness.
26:38
SPEAKER_01: Even being able to detach from that became a struggle.
26:43
SPEAKER_01: So now looking back, I realized why I was reading these books.
26:47
SPEAKER_01: I didn't know.
26:48
SPEAKER_01: I just, hey, I like spirituality, but it was deeper.
26:50
SPEAKER_01: It was feeling something that I didn't know was empty at the time.
26:53
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: So then how did you start to like implement mindfulness?
26:58
SPEAKER_00: And then, like, how did you start to go on like down your spiritual paths?
27:02
SPEAKER_00: I know then you started to discover like the Akashic records and like go really deep into stuff.
27:07
SPEAKER_00: So, like, how did that all unfold for you?
27:10
SPEAKER_01: So basically, I had the surgeries.
27:13
SPEAKER_01: So there's like so many dimensions of my life, right?
27:16
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm telling you from the work level, but at the social level, I was still shedding these uh false friendships, but I was still an active participant in these friendships as well, right?
27:27
SPEAKER_01: Because when we're, you know, I don't want to talk about age, but when we were our 20s, we want to drink, we want to have sex, whatever it is that young people want to do.
27:35
SPEAKER_01: But then we also, right, we put ourselves in certain circles that aren't beneficial.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: So at the social level, I was finding myself unhappy with my friendship, expecting more out of them, and they weren't feeding me the way I was feeding the children at the centers.
27:51
SPEAKER_01: So I think I realized that it's both incoming and outgoing.
27:56
SPEAKER_01: I need people that are gonna feel me because I'm just giving so much of myself out, out, out.
28:01
SPEAKER_01: So I think what started to happen was I would meditate more.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I remember one argument, which is funny.
28:07
SPEAKER_01: I had uh a boyfriend and a girlfriend were driving a car, and I'm sitting in the back and they're arguing for hours.
28:13
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just like, yo, kill me, please.
28:15
SPEAKER_01: Like, I have a headache.
28:16
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, God, if you can do some type of like get me out of my body.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: So I remember meditating while they're arguing and driving for hours, and my like I got a little tingle with my brain for the first time.
28:27
SPEAKER_01: And then I'm like, wait, wait, you're telling me if I just focus on my breathing, these people don't exist after a while.
28:33
SPEAKER_01: And that started to happen.
28:34
SPEAKER_01: That started to happen, that started to happen.
28:36
SPEAKER_01: And then one day I was meditating on the D-train, because I know you're local, so you probably know the MTA, right?
28:43
SPEAKER_01: And I'm on the D train, and my mind's eye takes me away from the D train, and I'm able to enter this all-white room, right?
28:52
SPEAKER_01: I call it the loading program of the Matrix.
28:55
SPEAKER_01: So I'm in there, and it was it was literally one second, but it was the most profound second I've had up to date.
29:03
SPEAKER_01: So I remember looking, I'm like, shit, am I here, but not here?
29:07
SPEAKER_01: And then I felt a little fear.
29:09
SPEAKER_01: I came back into my body, and ever since then, I've been chasing that initial high, if you will.
29:14
SPEAKER_01: Because I got to see the loading program.
29:18
SPEAKER_01: Like, there has to be more.
29:19
SPEAKER_01: And like I said, God knows me, or whatever you want to call it, knows me.
29:22
SPEAKER_01: I'm hard headed, but I'm curious.
29:24
SPEAKER_01: So once you give me a taste, I want more.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: Well, first of all, I guess I have a couple of questions about that.
29:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, have you found more?
29:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so then maybe this question will kind of expand on that.
29:40
SPEAKER_00: So then how did you go from like being Steven Rivera to the mindful wizard?
29:44
SPEAKER_00: And then also, what is the message of the mindful wizard?
29:47
SPEAKER_00: Who is the mindful wizard?
29:49
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
29:49
SPEAKER_01: I love it, I love it.
29:50
SPEAKER_01: I guess it goes back to Mr.
29:52
SPEAKER_01: Smalls.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I want you to understand who I was prior to, right?
29:57
SPEAKER_01: So, like I said, I I think I was a good looking kid.
30:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm pretty good with you know, social relationships, I'm pretty charming.
30:04
SPEAKER_01: So I would get any person that I wanted to be with, but I was empty and it felt fake, right?
30:10
SPEAKER_01: Like after the sex was over or the initial high of the chase, I was left feeling like shit, right?
30:16
SPEAKER_01: So it's funny because my Instagram name, please don't judge me, my friend, was at the time robots fucking.
30:25
SPEAKER_01: Because it's funny, but but that's true.
30:28
SPEAKER_01: That's how I felt.
30:29
SPEAKER_01: I was just I was programmed to have sex, and then I felt empty.
30:33
SPEAKER_01: I was robots fucking.
30:34
SPEAKER_01: That's just what I was doing.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: That's actually quite profound, even that you had that awareness.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: I want to say, just because I feel like for most guys at that age, they probably wouldn't even have the awareness that that was how they felt afterwards.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: They would just be like, oh, well, now I just need to like go find another girl or I want to go get high or whatever, or go drive really fast, or whatever the fuck.
30:59
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
31:00
SPEAKER_00: So even just having that awareness, I feel like is is incredibly powerful, especially at a young age.
31:06
SPEAKER_01: For sure.
31:07
SPEAKER_01: So, okay, that was happening multidimensional, right?
31:10
SPEAKER_01: Like work that was happening.
31:12
SPEAKER_01: I was starting to face struggles at work, uh, unhappiness, the depression was kicking in.
31:17
SPEAKER_01: Mr.
31:17
SPEAKER_01: Smalls pulls me to the side around the same time where he told me to shut the fuck up and slow down.
31:22
SPEAKER_01: And he said, What the hell is a robot's fucking?
31:25
SPEAKER_01: When I see you, I don't see robots fucking.
31:29
SPEAKER_01: I see a philosopher.
31:31
SPEAKER_01: So then I said, I like wizardry.
31:34
SPEAKER_01: Why don't I become the philosophical wizard?
31:36
SPEAKER_01: So that was the evolution of robots fucking.
31:39
SPEAKER_01: So then, for like, let's say the last uh seven years, I became, you know, philosophical.
31:46
SPEAKER_01: And then the last three years, probably when I was 29, give or take, I became the mindful wizard.
31:52
SPEAKER_01: And that was like the final evolution up to this point.
31:55
SPEAKER_01: So that's the progression from childhood, kind of stupid little hood, I want to have fun, to okay, I'm conscious that I'm making bad decisions to let me make better decisions to this is where I'm at today.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: Cool.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: So then what do you feel like is because you know, I follow you and I love the stuff that you share, but like what do you feel like is your main thing that you want to get across to people or like the the wisdom or light that you want to share?
32:23
SPEAKER_00: How do you encapsulate that or explain that?
32:26
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
32:26
SPEAKER_01: And it's funny because that's one of my struggles these days.
32:29
SPEAKER_01: I go, what is it that I want to focus on?
32:30
SPEAKER_01: I want to do so much, right?
32:32
SPEAKER_01: Like I want to write, I want to be on TV, I want to just anywhere that I can give positivity.
32:37
SPEAKER_01: But if I had to uh break it down into like a sentence or two, it's to teach people that they have the power to live the life that they want.
32:45
SPEAKER_01: Simple.
32:46
SPEAKER_01: You know, at the deeper levels, it's to inspire young men and women that feel like they have to be a specific role, right?
32:52
SPEAKER_01: So I felt like I had to be tough and and not sensitive and artistic.
32:58
SPEAKER_01: And like now I'm having the time of my life having an artistic conversation with you, like how things have changed, right?
33:04
SPEAKER_01: And and now that I'm more authentic, I get more opportunities that are aligned with myself.
33:10
SPEAKER_01: So if I had to sum it up, it would be to teach people that anything that they want is possible, as long as they start to remove similar to you, right?
33:18
SPEAKER_01: Removing false ideas.
33:20
SPEAKER_01: So that's my goal.
33:22
SPEAKER_01: And that's what I would like to leave behind.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:24
SPEAKER_00: And I think you do that, you know, with what you share and what your messaging is.
33:29
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I guess I want to know too.
33:31
SPEAKER_00: So you're a dean of students, right?
33:34
SPEAKER_00: And I'm guessing the dean of students is Steven Rivera, right?
33:38
SPEAKER_00: Like that's your other persona.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: So how does that differ from the mindful wizard?
33:43
SPEAKER_00: And how can we integrate those two?
33:45
SPEAKER_00: Because I think that's ultimately what you want, right?
33:48
SPEAKER_01: For sure.
33:48
SPEAKER_01: So you have a way with uh words, my sister.
33:52
SPEAKER_01: And I and I'll tell you why, right?
33:53
SPEAKER_01: When Mindful Wizard started picking up traction, it unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, was when COVID was at its height, right?
34:03
SPEAKER_01: So I started the page, uh, let's say six months before COVID really hit, and I was doing pretty good, right?
34:09
SPEAKER_01: I was at this school, this school, and then we we were forced to go virtual.
34:12
SPEAKER_01: And I remember telling my girlfriend that the real reason I don't want to start Mindful Wizard is because what if what if I'm successful?
34:19
SPEAKER_01: Then what?
34:20
SPEAKER_01: Like, what if I become a full-time person?
34:23
SPEAKER_01: I'm scared to leave that past, which is the Department of Education.
34:28
SPEAKER_01: So eventually I became more comfortable being both Stephen Rivera and the Mindful Wizard.
34:33
SPEAKER_01: But these days, I introduce myself as the mindful wizard.
34:37
SPEAKER_01: Like Steven Rivera is cool, but I still have to remember that in a professional setting, I can't teach the things that I teach openly.
34:47
SPEAKER_01: But as a dean of students, here's the funny part.
34:50
SPEAKER_01: I can implement social, emotional intelligence and mindfulness through restorative justice practices.
34:56
SPEAKER_01: So when students are arguing or potentially getting violent, that's when I kick in with the spirituality and the mindfulness.
35:02
SPEAKER_01: I just don't call it that, right?
35:03
SPEAKER_01: I teach the four agreements.
35:05
SPEAKER_01: So I'm finding creative ways to do both.
35:08
SPEAKER_01: But if you do want to know the negative side of this, I am, if I may, of course, I am getting a lot of pushback from the people that want me to spend more time with my career.
35:24
SPEAKER_01: So I'll share with you that when I first got into meditation, knowing the children that I work with, because I work for D-75, which is, you may know, the most difficult population of special education students.
35:36
SPEAKER_01: They either go to D-75, if that doesn't work, they usually go to privatized schools.
35:42
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like a step before prison or residential.
35:46
SPEAKER_01: So it's not easy.
35:47
SPEAKER_01: So I wanted to train the staff better.
35:49
SPEAKER_01: And my goal was to teach them meditation and they didn't take it serious.
35:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
35:54
SPEAKER_01: My professor at the time didn't take it serious.
35:56
SPEAKER_01: And I said to him, brother, listen, in the next five years, this is gonna be everywhere.
36:00
SPEAKER_01: Take advantage.
36:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm doing this for free.
36:02
SPEAKER_01: And he laughed.
36:03
SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, a few years later, now in the Department of Education, every single school counselor is being trained in social emotional intelligence.
36:10
SPEAKER_01: So there's clashing going on between who they want me to be and how fast I'm growing.
36:16
SPEAKER_01: So, like, I wasn't an author before.
36:19
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm an author with two masters.
36:20
SPEAKER_01: So you have to kind of treat me as if I'm responsible and as if I'm an asset.
36:25
SPEAKER_01: And I think I'm reteaching people how I need to be treated.
36:28
SPEAKER_01: It's not ego and it may seem like it, but it's more like let me protect my boundaries and myself because they will use me until I'm nothing.
36:36
SPEAKER_00: A hundred percent.
36:36
SPEAKER_00: And I can relate to so much of what you're saying.
36:38
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, this is part of the reason why I knew that I needed to leave the education system.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, and I mean, that's a whole other conversation about the education system, which maybe we can go into a little bit.
36:50
SPEAKER_00: Because I'd love to hear your take on that and the prison system.
36:54
SPEAKER_00: But for the for the purposes of this right here, I would get so frustrated because I would try to teach staff at both schools.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: I worked at two schools as a school counselor.
37:07
SPEAKER_00: The one school I worked at for seven years, a charter school, and it was mostly Puerto Rican and Dominican, basically all Puerto Rican and Dominican kids.
37:16
SPEAKER_00: There was a few kids from Mexico, but and most of them were first generation, and it was like a very close-knit community or whatever.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: And which I tried to teach mindfulness and meditation so many times.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: But the problem is that the teachers wouldn't buy into it.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: So it's like you're on an island by yourself trying to teach something, and you can try to teach it to the teachers, but if they're not buying into it, which most of them won't, because in order for them to really buy into it, they have to actually change their lifestyle.
37:51
SPEAKER_00: And no one really wants to do that.
37:54
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, you come up against that.
37:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
37:57
SPEAKER_00: And that's just the reality of the situation.
37:59
SPEAKER_00: And that's why these practices don't really fully get implemented in schools, is because you would have to get the entire staff to be on board with changing their whole fucking life.
38:11
SPEAKER_00: And let's be real, most of the teachers just like want to get their paycheck and do whatever they're doing in their lives.
38:20
SPEAKER_00: That's like surviving or whatever the fuck they're doing, right?
38:23
SPEAKER_00: So that was the thing that I came up against.
38:26
SPEAKER_00: And then I just continuously came up against this feeling of like, I know that I can do so much more for people than what I'm doing here.
38:36
SPEAKER_00: And also the other thing, too, is you never will feel like people are actually treating you the way you deserve to be treated within the confines of that system.
38:50
SPEAKER_00: And believe me, the other school I worked at was very progressive and I did implement a meditation program, and the principal was very supportive.
38:59
SPEAKER_00: He actually bought me all of this stuff, like yoga mats, and I got him to buy me all these weighted blankets because I made the kids lay down to meditate or else they couldn't fucking sit there.
39:09
SPEAKER_00: So I had to do that.
39:10
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I did all this stuff, but at the end of the day, I still couldn't get the teachers on board.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: And it was a little bit better than the other school.
39:18
SPEAKER_00: But I share that to say I feel like trying to work within the confines of that broken system is just not, for me at least, wasn't something that I was willing to do.
39:31
SPEAKER_00: But I do love the idea of helping kids and teaching kids this skill because I do feel like the little that I was able to do with the kids was life-changing for them.
39:44
SPEAKER_00: So it is a very important thing to do.
39:48
SPEAKER_00: And I still have like on my bucket list of things that I want to be a part of is I want to kind of be at like a consultant level of creating a meditation curriculum to be implemented district-wide or like you know, in Philly or or whatever it is.
40:08
SPEAKER_00: I would love to do something like that, but that's the block.
40:11
SPEAKER_00: And I also feel like then I would get to this place where I'm like, it's the system.
40:16
SPEAKER_00: This system is broken, and it's by design, by the way.
40:21
SPEAKER_00: Like they do not want these fucking kids to be thinking, they don't want them to have these tools, they want them going either straight to jail or straight into a job.
40:32
SPEAKER_00: So, how can we create this within a system that wants the exact opposite?
40:37
SPEAKER_01: Oof, you you hit so many important no, because it's as an educator, this is what I go through.
40:44
SPEAKER_01: And it's it's depressing, but I remember at the end of the day, the kids come first.
40:49
SPEAKER_01: So, for those that are not aware of what's going on, I would like to go on the record and just not only agree with you, add some more uh clear numbers.
41:00
SPEAKER_01: Because numbers don't lie.
41:01
SPEAKER_01: Check it out.
41:02
SPEAKER_01: And and before I get into this field, I can most likely help you because I'm certified in school-based leadership.
41:09
SPEAKER_01: So I do have a license to be a school principal.
41:12
SPEAKER_01: So before I get into this whole other stuff, it's very possible that you and I can come together to do something like that.
41:19
SPEAKER_01: And also, it's funny because when you asked about Steven Rivera versus Mindful Wizard, Mindful Wizard doesn't see himself in a building for eight hours, but we still need to pay the bills, right?
41:30
SPEAKER_01: So I confidently know that one day I will be plucked.
41:34
SPEAKER_01: The question is when and where and how.
41:36
SPEAKER_01: So what I'm doing is just, you know, collecting money, learning resources, learning about organization until that time comes where I can fully be the mindful wizard and then not rely on the job.
41:47
SPEAKER_01: But the beautiful thing is that it is happening, right?
41:49
SPEAKER_01: I got a new book on the deal.
41:50
SPEAKER_01: It's it's the highest I've ever been paid.
41:52
SPEAKER_01: So there's like a lot of good.
41:55
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
41:57
SPEAKER_01: So there is good out there, but okay, let's get to the numbers though.
42:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
42:02
SPEAKER_01: So and this is specific to New York City.
42:05
SPEAKER_01: A general education student in New York City, by the budget, is worth not me, this is the budget, worth roughly$4,000.
42:15
SPEAKER_01: A special education student in D75 is worth$8,000.
42:20
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is where shit's about to get crazy.
42:23
SPEAKER_01: At the jails, a student in that same bubble just going to a state-run facility, which sometimes are privatized, is worth$60,000.
42:34
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I a hundred percent, I don't want to like cut you off, but I just have to say the school that I worked at, the charter school, the one that I was telling you about, we were basically incentivized to make special education students.
42:49
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
42:50
SPEAKER_00: I think we got 20 grand for every special education student.
42:56
SPEAKER_00: So we were basically incentivized at the district level to create special education students.
43:04
SPEAKER_00: And I remember, and I was very close with our special education director.
43:08
SPEAKER_00: She was like, her and I were like really close friends.
43:10
SPEAKER_00: And she would say to me, she would sometimes come to me and tell me what they told her to do.
43:16
SPEAKER_00: And she would be like, Elise, this is not okay.
43:19
SPEAKER_00: Like, I can't do this.
43:20
SPEAKER_00: And they ended up firing her or asking her to leave because she had a conscience and she was good at her job and she wasn't gonna do some of the things they wanted to do because it wasn't morally right.
43:34
SPEAKER_00: And then also you have to remember once that kid is identified as special education, that follows with them for the rest of their life.
43:43
SPEAKER_00: And she's like, Elise, I can't call this kid special ed.
43:47
SPEAKER_00: Like, I can't do that.
43:49
SPEAKER_00: So, yes, I'm really glad you're bringing this up because this is so fucked up.
43:53
SPEAKER_00: And it's part of how broken our system is and how it's all about money and.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: We know where that all leads because I think you're pretty awake to what's going on in the world.
44:04
SPEAKER_00: But we all know how fucked up this is.
44:07
SPEAKER_00: So go on.
44:08
SPEAKER_01: For sure, for sure.
44:09
SPEAKER_01: And no, you're 100% right.
44:10
SPEAKER_01: And I appreciate those firsthand testimonies because, you know, lucky for you, you're outside of the system now.
44:15
SPEAKER_01: So you can make change.
44:17
SPEAKER_01: So as long as I'm in the system, I'm going to be an agent of, you know, mindfulness and helping and authenticity.
44:24
SPEAKER_01: But you're 100% right that there's systems in place.
44:28
SPEAKER_01: So as long as you're graduating, you know, a specific amount of numbers, the district will not bother you.
44:33
SPEAKER_01: They don't ask you how those numbers come up.
44:35
SPEAKER_01: As long as you can prove.
44:37
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not saying that my school isn't doing anything illegal, but what I am saying is that they are working in a system that is not, uh, like you said, created for free thought or the originality of content or entrepreneurship.
44:52
SPEAKER_01: So I do agree.
44:54
SPEAKER_01: But what I do do, thankfully, and what I'm able to do is work with some teachers that are at least waking up to this idea of if we teach them financial literacy, they may not need college.
45:06
SPEAKER_01: Or it could be a choice instead of a set out path.
45:10
SPEAKER_01: And like, look, I'll go back to God because I just I'm a spiritual dude.
45:14
SPEAKER_01: It's just what it is.
45:15
SPEAKER_01: I think that God is very purposeful in keeping me there because I do represent positivity even in the darkest of times.
45:24
SPEAKER_01: And I think even though I'm young, I have older people coming to me for a consultation.
45:29
SPEAKER_01: How should I handle this?
45:30
SPEAKER_01: How should I speak to this kid?
45:31
SPEAKER_01: I have youth coming to me.
45:32
SPEAKER_01: How should I talk to my boyfriend?
45:34
SPEAKER_01: How should I tell my parents I'm, you know, gay or lesbian or transgender.
45:38
SPEAKER_01: Like there's so many things that I'm able to do and I'm very grateful for.
45:43
SPEAKER_01: But a word of, I guess, caution to the people going into these circles, protect your energy and protect your dream.
45:51
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm telling you, the salary is actually imprisoning you at the same time.
45:56
SPEAKER_01: So make sure it's worth it.
45:57
SPEAKER_00: Oh, a hundred percent.
45:59
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the money that you make in the education system is a fucking joke.
46:04
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know who can live on that amount of money.
46:08
SPEAKER_00: I don't even understand it.
46:10
SPEAKER_00: And it took me, you know, I was there for uh 10 plus years.
46:14
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, both my parents were teachers too, right?
46:17
SPEAKER_00: So this is like all I knew.
46:18
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, okay, I'm working my way up here, right?
46:22
SPEAKER_00: And then like after seven years, I got a different job.
46:25
SPEAKER_00: I was at a charter school for seven years, and then I got a different job at the school district of Philadelphia, which once you get up to the higher levels is like higher paying.
46:34
SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, okay, I'm getting a pretty significant raise now.
46:38
SPEAKER_00: And I'm working now I'm in my eighth year.
46:40
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, okay, I should be making significantly more money.
46:43
SPEAKER_00: I think I went up to like making$72,000, which at the time for me it sounded like a lot.
46:50
SPEAKER_00: But then when I got my paycheck, I'm like, oh, I'm making like$200 more than I was before.
46:55
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just like, and then I think I got to this point where I was just like, I'm never gonna make the kind of money that I want to make in order to have the life that I want to have.
47:05
SPEAKER_00: And like I said before, I know that I can help people in a wildly more profound way than I'm able to do within the confines of the system.
47:15
SPEAKER_00: And it does sadden me when I think back to the relationships I had with some of the kids because I know that it profoundly impacted their life.
47:25
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I loved having that impact.
47:29
SPEAKER_00: But now I have like an even greater impact, obviously.
47:32
SPEAKER_00: But the other thing I just want to say to you, I do actually really agree with you about being there for a reason.
47:39
SPEAKER_00: Cause I feel that way about myself too.
47:41
SPEAKER_00: And I even feel that way about even living in Philly right now because there's so much of me that just wants to like live in the middle of nowhere and like disconnect, but I'm right in the middle of fucking Philly, you know?
47:53
SPEAKER_00: And I constantly get the message that I'm supposed to hold a certain frequency here.
47:58
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm supposed to hold a certain amount of light here.
48:02
SPEAKER_00: And I feel that way about you too.
48:04
SPEAKER_00: Think about how the frequency at your school would lower when you left.
48:10
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
48:11
SPEAKER_00: Like, and not to say you have to stay there forever or anything, but you're holding a certain frequency there that obviously like needs to be held.
48:20
SPEAKER_01: I agree.
48:20
SPEAKER_01: And I would add to it, it's funny that you said frequency because when I'm in better spirits, building runs differently.
48:28
SPEAKER_01: And I know it sounds like you got to see it.
48:30
SPEAKER_00: Like I believe you know, I believe you 100%.
48:34
SPEAKER_01: I know you do because we're we're we're similar in the way that we project and speak, and we're very, you know, animated.
48:40
SPEAKER_01: And I guarantee you that you in the school would be a good time.
48:42
SPEAKER_01: Like you and I would be able to manage problems effectively.
48:45
SPEAKER_00: But oh yeah, totally.
48:47
SPEAKER_01: At the spiritual level, it's it's almost weird.
48:50
SPEAKER_01: Like, like I'll tell you one time we had a pretty big fight, and everyone froze.
48:55
SPEAKER_01: Every single person.
48:58
SPEAKER_01: And I was like mindful enough to see what was happening, and I like sensed aggressive energy, and I knew what to expect.
49:05
SPEAKER_01: And when I got there, it was like somebody hit the action, and then everything started.
49:09
SPEAKER_01: So I was seeing things like unfold, and I was able to give directions and you grab her and you do this and you do that.
49:16
SPEAKER_01: So that leadership in me, there's a benefit to it because I'm still developing the ability to manage my time.
49:23
SPEAKER_01: Like, for example, you and I had agreed at 5:30.
49:27
SPEAKER_01: The universe is funny and likes to test me, right?
49:29
SPEAKER_01: Today I left half an hour later, and I was still able to mentally not freak out because the old me would have said, cancel, because you may be late.
49:38
SPEAKER_01: But I knew and I trusted in my ability to manage my time and my task.
49:43
SPEAKER_01: So that's something I'm learning.
49:45
SPEAKER_01: These are the intangibles.
49:46
SPEAKER_01: And I see the benefits of being in that building, but I do agree, and I'll say this for the record, that very soon, or at least within my liking, would be five years, I'm gonna be pulled to something greater.
49:57
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I think it's gonna be before five years.
50:00
SPEAKER_01: Speak it.
50:01
SPEAKER_01: Speak it, sister.
50:02
SPEAKER_01: Speak it.
50:03
SPEAKER_00: Wait, tell us about your book.
50:05
SPEAKER_01: Oh, for sure, for sure.
50:06
SPEAKER_01: So I go back in time, right?
50:09
SPEAKER_01: So I wrote a book.
50:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the first one I ever wrote was about the law of attraction because it did so much for me.
50:15
SPEAKER_01: And I was thinking about my students in mind.
50:17
SPEAKER_01: Like, they're not gonna read a book about philosophy, right?
50:20
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, okay, I like rap music.
50:22
SPEAKER_01: They like rap music.
50:23
SPEAKER_01: So I found a hundred examples in current rap that use the law of attraction or other spiritual texts.
50:30
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, that's so cool.
50:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's pretty dope.
50:33
SPEAKER_01: So that's available now, Lincoln's bio.
50:35
SPEAKER_01: It's 1111.
50:36
SPEAKER_01: It's an e-book.
50:37
SPEAKER_01: You can download it today.
50:38
SPEAKER_00: Oh my God, I love that.
50:39
SPEAKER_00: I have to get that.
50:40
SPEAKER_00: And we'll link that.
50:41
SPEAKER_00: You send us the link and we'll link that on that link.
50:44
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, too.
50:44
SPEAKER_01: That'd be really cool.
50:45
SPEAKER_01: But this is the interesting part.
50:47
SPEAKER_01: That was the book I published without any help.
50:50
SPEAKER_01: Ebook.
50:51
SPEAKER_01: I did it on my own.
50:52
SPEAKER_01: Shout out to Lulu.com.
50:54
SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, I want to say like three months ago, this young lady reached out to me.
50:59
SPEAKER_01: She was like, I love what you're posting.
51:01
SPEAKER_01: We can tell that you have a lot of information when it comes to Zen, mindfulness, and everything in that arena.
51:06
SPEAKER_01: And they invited me to write a journal about it, and and here we are.
51:10
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
51:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's gonna be like a teachable, practicable, pragmatic book that you can just use every day to get better in mindfulness.
51:18
SPEAKER_01: So I can't legally say more because I'm under contract.
51:21
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
51:22
SPEAKER_00: No problem.
51:22
SPEAKER_01: But what I will say is that it's gonna be awesome.
51:25
SPEAKER_01: And uh and the editor just emailed me today to say that my part is done.
51:30
SPEAKER_01: So it's actually really good timing.
51:31
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, that's so exciting! So when does it come out?
51:34
SPEAKER_01: So now, because there's like multiple rounds of editing, we're still working on, you know, they did the sensitivity editing to make sure it's accessible and that everybody can understand it, not get offended.
51:45
SPEAKER_01: Then we just today we literally just got past uh the developmental editing piece.
51:52
SPEAKER_01: It looks like uh we're aiming for September because we still have to put the covers together and pictures and all that cute stuff.
51:59
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, we're we're God willing, we will have our books in retail spots by the end of September.
52:06
SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's so exciting! Congratulations.
52:09
SPEAKER_00: That's so awesome.
52:10
SPEAKER_00: And I know your TikTok has recently blown up too, which I think is really fun.
52:15
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, and I'm not really on TikTok, although I see some stuff that you share on Instagram, like from TikTok, but is that different from your Instagram?
52:23
SPEAKER_00: Like, what's the vibe over there?
52:25
SPEAKER_01: No, I appreciate you asking that.
52:26
SPEAKER_01: So, so look, this is I'll be brutally honest because I don't like to lie to anybody.
52:31
SPEAKER_01: I truthfully have no idea what I'm doing on TikTok.
52:34
SPEAKER_01: I I just uh and it look, it's funny though.
52:37
SPEAKER_01: It's funny though, because see, when I first started, I'm like, I have to be this way and I have to be this way.
52:42
SPEAKER_01: And and I've like let go.
52:44
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I don't know which way I have to be.
52:46
SPEAKER_01: I don't know who mindful wizard is gonna be next year.
52:48
SPEAKER_01: So it's allowed me to be more playful.
52:51
SPEAKER_01: And because no one really knows me, they get what they get, right?
52:54
SPEAKER_01: Whereas on on you know, on Instagram, um shit, you better write, you better make sure you don't forget that comma or you, you know, you don't post yourself with alcohol in your hands because you have to be, you know what I mean?
53:05
SPEAKER_01: So now I've like I've let that go and I've realized I can be myself and have fun.
53:09
SPEAKER_01: So TikTok is more of like, you'll get a little bit of conspiracies, you'll get a little motivation, but mostly there you're gonna get either motivation or conspiracy.
53:19
SPEAKER_01: And then if you want to like get into my mind, that's when you should probably be reading my Instagram posts because my captions are where I communicate my soul, right?
53:28
SPEAKER_01: So either through writing or through verbal expression.
53:32
SPEAKER_01: But I think those are my strong suits.
53:33
SPEAKER_01: So I get to play to both of them writing and then the video, which is fun.
53:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love that.
53:38
SPEAKER_00: And I love your take on stuff.
53:39
SPEAKER_00: And I usually I think we're on the same page a lot with everything that's going on in the world.
53:44
SPEAKER_00: So, like, I and I know we don't have that much time left, but I just love to get your take just on like right now, like currently, you know, with the the whole shit show going on, and like what would be like your hot take on what's happening right now and what you have to say about it?
53:59
SPEAKER_01: Perfect question.
54:00
SPEAKER_01: I would I would honestly say that this is all intentional.
54:04
SPEAKER_01: My belief is that this is a huge global attempt to get us more fear-based, uh, to put the control back into the hands of the elite and to keep us addicted to technology, gambling.
54:19
SPEAKER_01: I know you probably see it, but like the sports betting has gone crazy.
54:24
SPEAKER_01: So I think it's basically making us addicted to dopamine.
54:29
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
54:30
SPEAKER_01: You got me.
54:30
SPEAKER_01: We're on the same page, sister.
54:32
SPEAKER_01: So so that's really what I think it's supposed to make a brainless society, basically, of followers.
54:37
SPEAKER_01: That's what I think this agenda is all about.
54:39
SPEAKER_01: And I think if you study the timing, it's about us giving away our freedoms.
54:45
SPEAKER_01: So, like the guns, and I and I guarantee you some of the shootings are real, but I think a lot of them are are staged for an agenda.
54:52
SPEAKER_01: Oh, 100%.
54:54
SPEAKER_00: I agree with you.
54:55
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's either like monopolizing on what happens and creating fear around it, or creating it in general, right?
55:06
SPEAKER_00: And like it's so funny.
55:07
SPEAKER_00: My husband gets so mad at me because I'm like, he's like, not everything is fake.
55:11
SPEAKER_00: You think everything's fake, but I do actually think everything is fake, and I think that everything we see is for a very specific reason.
55:21
SPEAKER_00: Like, nothing is just like, oh, this happened, and we're just letting you know.
55:25
SPEAKER_00: Like, no.
55:27
SPEAKER_00: Like everything is to get us to feel a certain way.
55:32
SPEAKER_00: And the one one of the things that I have really just been focusing on so much is like, well, where am I putting my energy, my consciousness?
55:42
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm not gonna be putting my consciousness, my precious energy and intention into these things that are clearly just meant to divide us and take our energy.
55:56
SPEAKER_00: You know, and of course, like, especially with everything that happened over the last couple of years, I feel like I'm still kind of processing everything that happened on like a collective level and a personal level with everything I had to deal with within my own personal reality with everything that happened.
56:13
SPEAKER_00: But that's the thing that I've really come to is I am so conscious of where I'm putting my energy that like I really don't, and I notice like when things are pulling on my energy, like where I'm like, oh, am I like getting into fear or anger or whatever around this thing, where it's just like, no, I'm the one who's creating because I feel like a lot of what it is too is whoever it is, the controllers or whoever are like they they use us to create the reality because we're creators, right?
56:47
SPEAKER_00: So if they tell us what to create through the media and everything, then we actually create that with our consciousness.
56:55
SPEAKER_00: So I don't want to create what they're telling me to create.
56:58
SPEAKER_00: I want to create my reality.
57:00
SPEAKER_00: I want to create like a new way of living.
57:03
SPEAKER_00: So the more I can take my consciousness and put it on what I'm creating, the better.
57:08
SPEAKER_00: And it's not, I'm saying that like it's super easy, it's not fucking easy, but that's like the goal.
57:13
SPEAKER_01: I agree.
57:13
SPEAKER_01: No, it's true because we live in a collective, and as long as they control the collective, we're fighting against 90% of people who are most likely thinking in a negative way.
57:22
SPEAKER_01: So life will continue to carry out.
57:25
SPEAKER_01: And I've had to learn that starting, you know, going back full circle from the secret to where we're at today.
57:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a hundred percent.
57:31
SPEAKER_00: Well, I know we could probably talk for a whole another hour, but I know we're coming up on time here.
57:35
SPEAKER_00: So, first, can you just share with everyone where they can find you and where they can connect with you?
57:41
SPEAKER_01: For sure.
57:41
SPEAKER_01: I just want to thank you one more time.
57:42
SPEAKER_01: You've been incredible.
57:43
SPEAKER_01: You're so much fun.
57:44
SPEAKER_01: And uh, I would just say that if anyone wants to find me, I'm on both TikTok and Instagram at mindfulwizard.
57:51
SPEAKER_01: One word, find me, I'm everywhere.
57:53
SPEAKER_01: And I got a podcast, it's called Search for Consciousness Podcast on Anchor as well.
57:58
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
57:58
SPEAKER_00: And then for our last question for you what is a non-negotiable when it comes to fully reclaiming your consciousness?
58:07
SPEAKER_01: Oof, I love it.
58:09
SPEAKER_01: When I say no, I truthfully mean no.
58:12
SPEAKER_01: And I would like that to be respected.
58:14
SPEAKER_00: I fucking love that.
58:16
SPEAKER_00: That's something that's so important.
58:18
SPEAKER_00: Like, how is it that we learn that like we're not allowed to say no?
58:22
SPEAKER_00: Especially women.
58:24
SPEAKER_00: You really just learn that we can't say no.
58:27
SPEAKER_00: And you have to say no.
58:30
SPEAKER_01: I agree.
58:31
SPEAKER_01: No, I agree.
58:32
SPEAKER_01: And and then if I'll sneak in one quick lesson, be ready to learn the other side of humans when you tell them no.
58:40
SPEAKER_01: And you have to be strong because if not, you're gonna be regurgitating what they think you need to do.
58:46
SPEAKER_01: But remember, it's your life, not theirs.
58:48
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I love it.
58:49
SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
58:50
SPEAKER_00: Perfect place to stop.
58:51
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for being here.
58:53
SPEAKER_00: This was amazing.
58:54
SPEAKER_00: Everybody follow Mindful Wizard, and thank you so much.
58:59
SPEAKER_01: Sure, you're the greatest.
59:00
SPEAKER_01: God bless and good luck with everything.
59:02
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
59:05
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for being here.
59:07
SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to subscribe to the show, leave a review, and share the show with your friends who you know are yearning for this type of content.
59:15
SPEAKER_00: You can stay connected with me by following me on Instagram at Elise underscore breeds, and by joining my Facebook group, Breed to Succeed, where I share my weekly energy forecast.
59:26
SPEAKER_00: And subscribe to my list where you'll receive a free breath work session, meditation, and journaling prompts to deeply connect with your intuition at elisebreeds.com.
59:36
SPEAKER_00: See you next time.