Latest / The Karen Kenney Show / BEWARE THE TEMPTATION

Transcript

BEWARE THE TEMPTATION · The Karen Kenney Show

0:01
Hey you guys, welcome to the Karen Kenney show. I'm so happy
0:04
to have you here. I have no idea what I'm going to call this
0:08
sucker. I have no idea what I'm going to call this episode, but
0:13
I do know that I want to talk to you about an experience that I
0:15
had this past weekend, and how he got me thinking about certain
0:19
things, and maybe some of these things you will find helpful,
0:22
and that's always like, one of the hot beats of this is that I
0:25
always say, I'm not here to tell you like, you know, people will
0:28
often say about me like you tell it how it is, like you tell it
0:32
like it is. You tell it how it is, right? They like that about
0:35
my personality or whatever. But really, I tell it like I see it.
0:39
It doesn't mean I tell it like it is, I just kind of tell it
0:43
like I see it. And I think that's one of the gifts of any
0:46
kind of coach or mentor or teacher or artist or writer or
0:51
whatever. Is that we are sharing our particular point of view,
0:55
maybe something that we saw in a particular way from our
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perspective might help you to shift your own might, you know,
1:04
cause you to laugh, or make you go, Oh, my God, I never thought
1:06
of it that way, or that's interesting, or whatever, right?
1:09
I always say, I'm not here to tell you what to think. I'm
1:12
inviting you to think for yourself, but I'm just kind of
1:15
sharing some thoughts that I had, some perspectives that I
1:19
had over this past weekend. So some of you may know that my
1:22
sweetie, Chris Lester, my husband, Chris Lester, is a
1:28
professional musician, and he play he's a multi
1:32
instrumentalist. He plays like bass, and he's mostly a guitar
1:36
player, but he's guitar he plays bass, he can play keyboards, he
1:39
can play mandolin, you can play a little bit of drums, all this
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stuff, right? He's also a singer, and he's a songwriter,
1:44
and he's a producer, he's, he's, I mean, he's just, he's wicked
1:47
nice and he's wicked talented. That's my sweetie in a nutshell,
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right? So he, um, had a gig this past weekend, and some of you
1:57
local New England people like and beyond, you may have heard
2:00
of a band called, I mean, they're they've sold millions
2:02
and millions of records. So you may have heard of a band called
2:06
God smack, and the lead singer of God smack is a guy named
2:09
Sully Erna. And Sally Erna is from my hometown, my city,
2:13
little city, Lawrence, Massachusetts. So I knew Sully
2:15
is kids. But when my sweetie, when Sully was asked to do a
2:21
solo project with with Sully. Like Sully didn't know that he
2:24
and I were married this whole thing, right? Okay, so Sully had
2:28
a gig at Mohegan Sun, the Casino in Connecticut this past
2:32
weekend, and he asked my sweetie, they're friends, right?
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He My sweetie is played on his solo work, like Avalon and all
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this stuff. And, you know, he's written songs together, blah
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blah, so he asked my sweetie to come and play bass at this gig.
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And I was like, Okay, I'm gonna go. Because I normally never go
2:49
anywhere when you go. I mean, now we're down to three furry
2:52
kids, but in the past, we've had up to seven furry kids, and it's
2:55
just like, impossible, unless you bring somebody in to kind of
2:59
like, house, sit and take care of everything. But this time,
3:01
I'm like, I'm going to go, this is going to be fun. I haven't
3:04
been away or done anything in a wicked long time, and I'm like,
3:07
let's do it. So off we go. My sister came and she watched, you
3:11
know, she watched the kids, and we left. Okay, but here's the
3:15
point, and this is probably going to be a short one, because
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it's just as a particular point or point of view that I want you
3:21
to just kind of think about. So we get to the casino now, I used
3:27
to live in LA. I lived in California, and I will never
3:29
forget that the first time for my birthday, my friends, I
3:32
worked at a magic dinner theater called wizards up at Universal
3:35
City Walk, and I had the best friends in the world. And my
3:38
friends basically, literally surprised me and kidnapped me,
3:44
like, after work one night. They're like, I'll drive you
3:47
home. And I was like, okay, whatever. And so I got a ride
3:49
with my friends, and when I got to the house, my other friends
3:53
followed them in their car, and they're like, go inside and pack
3:56
a bag. I'm like, What are you talking about? They're like,
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we're taking you to Vegas. It was like, my first time ever to
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Las Vegas, and what a trip. It was okay. So I've been to Vegas.
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I've been to multiple casinos, you know, I worked like at my
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work at wizards. I used to date a magician, and so he loved
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going to, you know, he loved going to Vegas and going to see
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the magic shows and Cirque du Soleil. And, of course, he, you
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know, he dealt in up close magic, though, he was like a
4:28
wizard with cards and stuff. So like, playing blackjack, all
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that stuff. So I got schooled on Vegas, right? I like, saw the
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devil's playground, Sin City, you know, up close and personal.
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Okay, so here we are. We're at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.
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Okay, so this past weekend. So fast forward. So I'm not a
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strange I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm not a stranger to
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casinos, but it's been a wicked long time since I've been in
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one. So we walk into the place, and immediately I'm just like,
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holy shit. First of. Like the mass scale. The mass scale of
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like casinos is like, unbelievable. And these are
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things we all already know. It's not like I'm going to be unless
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you've never, ever, ever been to a casino before. This is
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probably not going to be like new information, in a way, but
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something I want us to consider. So I walk into the place and the
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first thing I just see is just like, it is sensory overload,
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and it is designed to be that way. So you basically have,
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like, all the sights, like you're taking in so much color
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you're seeing flashing lights, right then it's all the sounds.
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It's like the chirping of the, you know, the slot machines,
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like the dinging and the pinging and the noise of the people and
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like music coming out of like the restaurant, like it is, just
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like sensory overload of sights, smells, sounds, like there's
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different textures. Some surfaces are shiny, some are
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really tall, some are really big, and they're designed in
6:02
such a way where there's no windows, like the outside world
6:05
does not exist. You have now entered a new zone. It's like
6:09
that Hotel California song. You can check out anytime you like,
6:12
but you can never leave. It's kind of like this surreal
6:15
experience. There's no clocks on the walls because they don't
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want you to know the time, like they're pumping in smells.
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They're like, you know, everything olfactory terrorists,
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like they're doing all of these things to keep you in this
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stream of incessant consumption. And I was just like, blown away.
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And I'm looking around and I'm like, everything is just like, a
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lot. There's like, a lot of sights, a lot of sounds, a lot
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of bodies, lot of humans, a lot of noise, a lot of traffic. And
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the way this particular casino is set up, it's like all the
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shops, like, line the outer rim of the buildings, and then right
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down the middle of the spaces you have, like the casino, like
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you have the blackjack is being played, where the slots are
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being played, or whatever. So you have, like, all this
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opportunity for consumption, food, restaurants, overpriced
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shops, like, you know, get a little we got little vegan ice
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creams from Ben and Jerry's, like smalls, and it was like,
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$20 right? It's like, oh my God, everything is big, overpriced in
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your face sensory, like, holy shit, right? And you're just
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looking at all these different kinds of people, and you're
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walking by a bar, and you look over and there's like,
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literally, women, like, scantily clad, like, dancing on top of
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the bar, and then you just, it's just like, so insane. It's so
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insane. And you know, it's also like, hyper electric. So even
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though, like, I was thinking about this, I was thinking about
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this. So my sweetie played this show, right? And just stay with
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me. I'm going to make a point. I'm going to buckle up, buckle
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up, take the ride with me. So my sweetie was playing at this kind
8:03
of outside venue, and it was a sold out show, like, 3000 plus
8:07
people, whatever. And out there it was like, okay, like, I
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literally walked outside and I could literally feel my nervous
8:15
system just like, do a different thing. I'm like, I could see the
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sky. I could, like, you know, fresh air. There was sunshine,
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it was a little humid, but I'm like, okay, like, now, at least,
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even though, I mean, like, this concrete parking garages next to
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us and all this stuff, like, at least I'm outside and I have
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glimpses of nature, and I could feel like, my nervous system
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just kind of, like, calm down a little bit. And then we just
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went backstage to, like, with, like, the the green room, I
8:41
wasn't back behind the stage, but consider it like a backstage
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area where, like, the green room, where the artists go, and
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you walk in and it's like, quiet, right? Because it's
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private. And like, I so I had these moments where I could have
8:52
major comparison between the over stimulation and then, like,
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okay, these pockets of peace, this momentary pause where I
9:02
could, kind of like, gather myself and come back to myself,
9:06
and you just realize that I was thinking about I'm like, this is
9:09
like a dopamine carnival. Like, like, everything is about
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getting that immediate fix, that immediate hit, that little
9:17
reward center, like the reward center in your brain is like
9:20
being sucked into like temptation. And there's a line
9:25
in A Course in Miracles, and it's not related to this, but
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I'm going to say there's a line in A Course in Miracles that
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says, Beware the temptation to perceive yourself unfairly
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treated.
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And it's basically talking about how the ego loves to take its
9:39
own guilt and, like, throw it on other people, because then if
9:43
the guilt is out there and the other person wronged you and did
9:46
something to you, then you get to be the innocent one. And it's
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this really interesting concept, right? But the whole time I'm
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like, walking through this joint and like, the streams of
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traffic, like, there's people everywhere, all shapes, sizes,
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colors. Races, whatever. I'm pretty sure I saw a few working
10:03
girls, you know, I'm pretty sure I saw a few, like, escorts, male
10:07
escort. I'm like, I'm looking around. I'm just like, Oh my
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God, it is so over the fucking top. And it's like, you know,
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Ben and Jerry's is open to, like, 3am it's like, this, like,
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this mini city that doesn't sleep. And we the show was
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fantastic. PS, Sully, and my sweetie and the other musicians
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did an amazing job. It was such a blast. The crowd was amazing.
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But even in the crowd, right? Like, even in the crowd, the
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show hadn't even started yet, and, like, because we had
10:36
friends in the audience, and it was all standing room only,
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right? So everybody's like, packed in. So it's just like
10:43
this pulsing energy of humans. And then it's like somebody had
10:47
already, like, puked and made a mess, and then the middle of the
10:50
show, somebody else started a fight. And I'm like, people are
10:53
out of their minds, right now, right? And it's like, you know?
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But then, like, the pulse of the music starts, and I'm like, Oh,
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here's the human element making music, right? And again, we're
11:06
outside, at least, like it was raining. So I'm like, Okay,
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there's natural elements, right? So I'm like, Okay, this was the
11:12
reprieve. But as soon as we, like, the show was over, like,
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great success, and then we had to cut back through right the
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casino to get up to our rooms, and as soon as you walk in,
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you're hit with like, this wall of sound and smell and sensory
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like, blah, blah, blah, blah. And we also got a free pass,
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right? So you get, like, the All Access Pass, so like, we went
11:36
downstairs, we could have eaten anywhere. What we were like, Oh,
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we're gonna go check this out. So I used to be in the hotel
11:43
business. A long time ago. I was a concierge at the Hyatt Regency
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in Cambridge. If you've ever been to Boston or at I went to
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BU so, you know the Charles River and right across the
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Riverview. Look, it's like this, like, kind of like, step pyramid
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shaped building, that's the Hyatt Regency. And I worked in
12:00
the hotel business, so I know back a house stuff, like, I kind
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of know how these things work, but going, like, behind closed
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doors and having access to the employee cafeteria, like, even
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the cafeteria, it was like, holy shit. Like you go through those
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doors and down into like, this sub world, right? And it's like
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there were, like, employees playing ping pong and like
12:23
games, like, over there, and you go through this maze of like,
12:27
going under the casino, and one of the employees told us that
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you can take where we were and walk a half a mile, like, that's
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how big this place is, a half a mile to go down to The other
12:40
casino, because there's two casinos there. But we walk into
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the we walked into the employee, you know, cafeteria. And even
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that was overwhelming. They were like, all these machines you can
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get, like, eight kinds of milk and seven kinds of juice and
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like, 15 kinds of soda, and then it was like a pizza station in a
13:00
substation, and, you know, a lot of dead animal products right
13:04
over here, and five kinds of cake and cookies. And I was just
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like, Oh my God. And I could see my sweetie. He get, like, get a
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little it's not disoriented, but he, like, it takes him a moment,
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like, his processing system is, like, standing there just trying
13:19
to, like, take it all in, you know, and I was like, Holy shit,
13:22
like even underground is like big and overwhelming and so much
13:27
stimulus. Okay, why am I telling you all of this? Because even
13:35
though it seems like this is a very isolated and special kind
13:42
of circumstance. Well, of course. KK, you've gone you've
13:45
gone to a casino. What do you expect? We all know that people
13:50
are going to stay up late, people are going to spend money,
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people are going to over indulge, people are going to
13:55
whatever, right? It is a relentless den of temptation. We
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know this. But what occurred to me while I was there, and it was
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so interesting, because at one point, Sully said over the mic,
14:08
like, I hope you all have a blast this weekend. You know we
14:11
are here because this show in particular is a celebration of
14:14
music, and you know how meaningful music is to all of
14:17
us? And he said, have fun this weekend. And then he literally
14:20
said, but please don't lose your kids college money while you're
14:25
here. And he's like, don't do it. People don't do it. And, you
14:29
know, everybody laughed, but it's like, that kind of shit
14:34
happens because people go, if you have any kind of, like,
14:38
addictive tendency, they like casinos is like your spot if
14:43
you're going to overeat, if you're going to overspend, if
14:46
you're going to over indulge, if you're going to get hooked on
14:48
the machines, get that dopamine hit. That dopamine hit that
14:52
chance of like, pulling, it's like, it's like pulling, pulling
14:56
the lever for possibility, right? And it like, keeps you in
14:59
that. Loop, and I started thinking about it, here's
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finally my point, and if you're still here, thank you for
15:05
hanging in here. I just started thinking. I was like, this is
15:10
exactly what like the world kind of is right now. It is a mass of
15:16
over consumption. We are being bombarded from so many different
15:21
angles, because of technology, because of AI, because of social
15:26
media, it is so easy to move away from the natural world,
15:32
nature, humans, humanity, literally, your own heart beat,
15:37
your own breath, your own body, your own experience, it's so
15:42
easy to get distracted by 18,000 other things, buying shit
15:49
online, getting lost on your phone. Like, if you really
15:53
realize how much time you spent on your phone, like, really
15:57
clocked it and tracked it. I'm not saying everybody, but most
16:01
average people are so lost in their phones. They are so
16:05
addicted to the technology. And in fairness, they designed this
16:10
shit this way. The people who are doing these things and
16:14
creating the programs and creating Instagram and creating
16:17
Facebook and creating Tiktok and creating like reels and all the
16:21
stuff. They did it from a gaming perspective. They basically took
16:27
Vegas and they took casinos, and they took that experience, and
16:31
they put it on your phone and they put it in your pocket, and
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we are a highly, highly, highly distracted society, and it's
16:42
only getting worse. And when you go to a place where it is
16:47
literally, I said, Oh my god, I said to my sweetie, this is
16:49
like, social media, social media and the phone and consumerism,
16:55
that capitalistic kind of over consumption, made into a place.
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I'm like, Yes, Vegas came first, like before the phones and the
17:06
phones became like, you know, the phones, I should say Vegas
17:11
informed the identity and the creation of these technologies.
17:17
But what's interesting is you can keep that on your phone in
17:21
your pocket, but these places are like the personification,
17:25
like the in person experience of what is actually happening. And
17:30
we look at this little phone and we don't take it that seriously.
17:32
Sometimes you're like, Oh yeah, I know I should put it down,
17:34
like, I know, I know, I know. No, you don't know. You
17:37
understand, but you have not embodied the knowing. Or you
17:40
would be horrified by like, what's going on? So my message
17:44
today is about really taking a moment to get really fucking
17:52
honest with yourself about just how distracted you might be in
17:57
your day to day life, all the different ways you are getting
18:01
pulled out of your humanity, like your desire to connect with
18:06
others face to face, to relate to other people, to build
18:10
relationships and collaborations, to get outside
18:13
in nature, to appreciate the wonders of this world, the
18:17
natural world, the animals and the rivers And the sun and the
18:21
stars and the trees and the grass and, you know, all that
18:24
stuff, how easily distracted we are by trying to be more. Do
18:29
more? Get more. Have more. Consume, consume, consume. I'm
18:33
like, No, how about, like, we slow down and create some shit,
18:38
right? How about we get in touch with that, and I'm not shaking
18:42
my finger at like you guys, like you need to do this. This was a
18:47
wake up call for me too. This was a another chance for me to,
18:50
like, check in and say, like, hey, where have you been
18:54
distracted lately? What has been maybe consuming your attention
19:00
or your time that no longer deserves it. Maybe it never
19:04
deserved it, right? Because the casino, for me, is just a
19:09
metaphor of what's happening all the time right in front of our
19:12
face, but it's so much more sophisticated and it's so much
19:18
more sneaky, and it's so much more like disguised as something
19:24
else, and we can totally convince ourselves, oh yeah, no,
19:28
no, just one more video or just one more email or just one more
19:31
text or just one more thing, and then I'll do this thing,
19:35
you know? And I just was really, I was really struck by the the
19:44
in your face relentless temptation to be distracted from
19:49
what really matters. And I guess that's the hot beat of what I'm
19:53
kind of trying to get at, like what in who in your life really
19:58
matters. And. How much time and attention and energy and effort
20:03
and intention like, Are you being intentional with what
20:08
you're doing? Do you know who you are? Do you know what you're
20:12
doing and do you know why you're doing it? Or have you been
20:15
numbed and lulled by this dopamine overload, this hit of
20:21
like, reward that these like, I'm holding up my phone and
20:24
shaking it, that these things do, that the world does, that
20:29
social media does, and technology does, and AI does,
20:32
like, all these things that is kind of pulling us out of
20:35
ourselves, because the world is moving at such a fast clip. And
20:39
there is so much there's so much information coming at us, and we
20:46
don't need more information. We do not need more information.
20:52
What we need to do is take some of the things that we already
20:55
know and go deep on them and start living them and applying
20:59
them. And I can tell you, as a coach and a mentor, I can
21:02
deliver all the tools to somebody. I can point out I can
21:06
I can say, like, Hey, here's some things that I'm seeing.
21:09
Hey, here's some patterns. Hey, you told me this. Here are some
21:13
things to help. You know, my sweetie said to me today, it was
21:16
so funny. We were talking about this, and it's like, you know,
21:20
and we all know you can't make people do anything. You can't
21:23
make people you know, people will say they want change. They
21:26
say they want change, but they don't want to do the change
21:30
right. They don't want people want change, but they don't want
21:33
to change right, to actually do it. And he was talking, and he
21:37
just said, you know, the hammer is sitting right there at Home
21:41
Depot. But like, you gotta go in and buy the hammer, and then you
21:44
gotta bring it home, and then you gotta use it. It doesn't do
21:47
any good to buy the hammer and then to set it down on the
21:50
workbench, but never pick it up and start hammering things. You
21:52
know, not building things. And we do this a lot. We think like,
21:57
oh, it's like, we get tricked into thinking that, Oh, I bought
22:00
the book, and then I read the book, and I'm like, but what did
22:04
you do with the information in the book? What was the intimacy
22:07
level? Did you did you think about it? Did you talk about it?
22:11
Did you write some notes? Did you change your behavior?
22:13
Because otherwise, what's the point in just gathering,
22:15
consuming, consuming, consuming. And that's the thing that I
22:19
often wonder, you know, when I have gone to Vegas in the past.
22:27
I mean, I grew up playing cods, playing 45 Merrimack Valley, you
22:31
know, Lawrence Methuen Andover north end of the kids. We all,
22:33
we all grew up Lowell, Hey, Rob, we all played 45 like growing
22:36
up, right? It's a cod game for those of you who don't know. So
22:39
I grew up around cards, and I learned to play blackjack. I
22:41
could play blackjack, but that wasn't the thing for me. When I
22:44
would go to these places, and I'm very, very, very lucky that
22:49
I can go into a place like a Vegas or a casino or whatever,
22:54
and I can play slots, right? But I'll give myself a limit, like,
22:58
I'll say, Okay, I'm not willing to lose more than $200 I'm not
23:01
two $20 or $40 or 60, whatever the amount would be, right? So
23:06
back in the day, so when I would go to Vegas, I'd say, Okay, I'm
23:08
not willing to lose more than $100 but I knew how to walk
23:12
away. And I knew how to walk away when I was up and wasn't
23:15
chasing, that feeling wasn't chasing, because that's the
23:18
thing. They hook you. They're not stupid. And again, they're
23:21
pumping, in the sense, they're distracting you with a sense of
23:24
time, so you lose sense of time, right? They're using certain
23:28
lights and stimulants. They're not stupid. It's a whole racket.
23:32
It's a whole racket, right? And but here's my point. I was able
23:36
to get up and, like, walk away from things. You've got to be
23:40
super duper aware, in this day and age, the things you cannot
23:44
walk away from, your addictive tendencies. All of this to say
23:49
is you have got to know yourself. And I think one of the
23:53
biggest things that I find in the work that I do with humans
23:58
is that a lot of people have not spent as much time I'm like if
24:03
you spend as much time thinking about yourself, getting curious
24:07
about why you do what you do, think, what you think, say, what
24:09
you say, believe, what you believe. Tell the stories that
24:11
you tell, why you insist on holding on to that old
24:14
grievance, why you want to keep that person guilty so that you
24:17
can in your own mind again, beware the temptation to
24:20
perceive yourself as, you know, as unfairly treated or right. So
24:26
it's like if we spent as much time as we do on our phones,
24:31
right, being distracted, and that's the other thing. What are
24:34
you distracting yourself from? These are all really good
24:37
questions to be asking. What's pulling my attention away. Why
24:42
am I being allowing myself to be distracted? Where's the fear
24:45
coming from? Because it all comes down to the basics of love
24:49
and fear. You're either run I always say you're either running
24:51
away from something or you're running towards something. And
24:54
it's so easy to get distracted from your life's work and your
24:58
life's purpose and the people. People that really matter, and
25:01
the things that really matter by these little blips and beeps and
25:04
games and like, you know, social media and the likes and the in
25:08
the comments and the whatever, and it's all such a racket. It
25:12
is all such a racket. And I just think to myself, how many people
25:16
are going to end up on their deathbed and be like shit? I
25:19
never lived my life because I was hypnotized by these fucking
25:23
phones and I was distracted from what really matters in my life.
25:29
So this is just and listen everything I say is for my ears
25:33
to all the ways that we are distracted by the unimportant
25:37
bullshit, glittery flashing things, the things that we think
25:41
make us special. Well, if I just buy this car, have this house or
25:45
have you know, that's why all the coaches are like, I can
25:48
teach you to have 10k months. I can teach you to fill your
25:53
program to whatever with just blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
25:55
I'm like, Oh, we're just outside the Carnival Hawkin wares. Now
25:59
we just got the person with the hat and the stick spinning it
26:02
around, selling me your shit. So much, so much in this world, you
26:07
guys. And I'm a positive person. I can see good and beautiful and
26:12
holy just about anywhere. But I'm also I'm not I'm not asleep
26:18
at the wheel. I see how much shit is just a racket and a
26:22
distraction. And here's what I know, you are put on this planet
26:27
for a reason, because you have something to offer the world.
26:30
You have something that the world needs. You have a gift,
26:33
you have a talent, you have an insight, you have a point of
26:35
view. You have a tender hat, you have a big hot you have a
26:38
servant's hat. There's a reason why you are here, and I would
26:42
love for us to stop the over consumption, the over consuming,
26:47
the like distractions. And let's get to work. Let's get down to
26:51
business. Let's remember who we are and why we're here. And
26:57
under the under the under the under our identity is who we are
27:03
is simply love. And why are we here to extend that love, to get
27:08
better at giving and receiving that stuff? That's the gig, no
27:13
matter the title. And if more people made love the bottom line
27:18
instead of money, we would live in a totally different world. If
27:21
more people made people and their well being the bottom
27:27
line, rather than selling their products, we would have a
27:32
totally different world. So again, I still don't even know
27:36
what I'm going to call this thing. This is Episode. Is a
27:38
little stream of consciousness. But I was just like, I want to
27:42
talk about this, because this was such an in your face
27:44
reminder of, like, how distracted we've become as a
27:48
society, and how numb we have become, and why we're willing to
27:53
tolerate such bullshit and horror, like when we look at so
27:58
much of what's happening in The world, right? The way that the
28:02
again, you don't have to like me when I say these things, right?
28:05
You don't have to agree with me. But where the current
28:07
administration is taking things, this is really, you guys, we've
28:11
got to fucking, like, wake up. And this is what I'm saying. We
28:14
all have gifts. We all have ways. And I always say, like, I
28:17
can't make the President or, you know, the government do
28:21
anything. I get to use my voice when I vote, but I get to ask
28:26
myself, in my day to day life, am I being purposeful in the
28:30
direction of why I think I'm here, right? Am I using my gifts
28:34
in service to love, or am I too distracted by my phone to get
28:37
out there and do anything about anything? Am I too distracted
28:41
by, you know, social media and by, you know, all, all the
28:46
stuff, and so I don't know. I just, I, I'm just really feeling
28:50
the call to get back to the hot beat of things. And so here are
28:53
the questions, have you been distracted? If you've been
28:58
distracted by what or who
29:02
what really matters, and are you giving your time, your energy
29:06
and your resources to the people and the things that actually
29:09
really matter to you, and where you may be overdoing it,
29:13
spending too much time, right? Or like, eating too much,
29:16
drinking too much, whatever? The thing is, I'm not judging
29:20
anybody, but these are questions for you to ask yourself and to
29:23
get really, really, really real with yourself. Have a little
29:27
come to Jesus moment, as we sometimes say, look in the soul
29:30
mirror. You know what I'm saying that in in 12 step programs,
29:33
they say, take a fearless moral inventory, and don't do it from
29:38
a place of attack and judgment and making yourself wrong, or to
29:42
go into shame and blame and guilt, that's not what this is
29:44
about. This isn't about feeling guilty. And if you love going to
29:47
casinos and you have extra money to blow and that's your thing,
29:50
great, I'm not judging you. I'm like, just know what you're
29:53
doing and why you're doing it. Be self aware enough to
29:57
understand when your spirit. Self is in charge and making
30:01
good decisions, and when your ego, self has grabbed the wheel
30:05
and is driving you towards all of the shit that's not going to
30:08
be helpful for you or any Oh, and, you know, it's going to
30:10
help. It's going to help the casino make a shit ton of money
30:13
off you it's good. It's going to help Zuckerberg, and it's going
30:16
to help, you know, Bezos, and it's going to help musk and all
30:20
those guys make a shit ton, you know, let the billionaires just
30:22
keep making more money off of us. It's just insane, right? So
30:26
it's like, let's just get honest. Let's take a good Gander
30:30
around. It's a good opportunity, right? We're in September. Like
30:35
the end of the year is coming up 2026. Is going to be here before
30:39
we know it. And so just like, you know, just notice, notice
30:43
the ways that we get distracted, get clear about what matters.
30:47
And let's move back in the direction of focusing on those
30:50
things and those people, maybe those projects, whatever it is,
30:54
because the world needs you. We need your insights. It's like me
30:57
on this this podcast, like sharing my perspective, my point
31:00
of you, what's on my hat? What's on my mind? I do this in case
31:03
it's it's helpful to somebody else, right? And sharing, like,
31:06
spiritual concepts and sharing stories, because this is part of
31:10
what I I'm called to do. I always say, like, even though
31:14
I'm introverted, people often don't believe me, but like, I'm,
31:18
like, I got the gift of gab for a reason. I'm a communicator.
31:21
I'm a storyteller, right? I mean, that's why I love to write
31:23
and to speak. I love to share what's on my heart in hopes, in
31:27
hopes that it might land in somebody else or inspire
31:30
somebody else. Not that I'm the inspiration, but it might
31:34
literally like breathe life into an idea or a concept or a new
31:38
way of being or thinking for somebody else that they get
31:40
curious, that they really take the time they don't just listen
31:43
and then go. And that's the other thing with this show. You
31:46
know, if I say, if I say, like, hey, stop, hit pause, ask
31:50
yourself these questions. I hope you really do them. I hope you
31:55
give yourself the opportunity to get to know yourself better, and
31:58
to and to ask yourself these things, because it's important.
32:03
Because guys, you know, I saw one of my mentors the other day.
32:08
He had a book signing and a book reading his new book that came
32:11
out, and I was looking at him in wonder. And he's like, in his
32:15
80s now, and I'm thinking to myself, How much more time does
32:19
he have on the planet? And I think back to like, how many
32:22
people he's helped, and what a legacy. And I don't think legacy
32:26
of just like your kids and your business like, like what he has
32:29
left in his trail, like what he has left in his wake is so many
32:35
incredible stories that, like, have touched people's hats and
32:38
move people. And I think, man, what a life to have left so much
32:44
love, so much love behind. Like, that's what I'm going for. You
32:48
know what I mean? Like, I'll never have buildings named after
32:51
me. I don't have children to carry on my name and my legacy
32:54
and whatever. Maybe I'll leave some books behind, you know? But
32:58
my hope is that I've left a legacy of love. You know that
33:01
that that I don't know, I don't know what people are going to
33:05
say about me when I'm gone. You know, some people might be happy
33:07
when I drop dead, a few people will be sad, but hopefully, you
33:13
know, that's the thing, with the time I have left, I really want
33:15
to be helpful and be of service. So All right, thank you so much
33:20
for tuning in. I love you, and I appreciate you, and I hope this
33:24
has landed in some way and got you thinking and and then maybe
33:29
it will help some of us to course correct if we've been, if
33:32
we've lost our way a little bit, if we've been kind of dopamine
33:35
into oblivion, you know, and distracting, distracting,
33:39
distracting. So beware the temptations. Beware the
33:43
temptations, because they're out there and they are not trying to
33:47
help you. They're they're trying to keep you from remembering
33:51
yourself and keep you from doing what you came here to do. So
33:54
maybe that's what I'll call this sucker. Beware the temptation.
33:57
Okay, I appreciate you. I love you. Thanks for being here,
34:01
wherever you go. May you leave yourself in the animals and the
34:04
people and the place and the environment, right, the whole
34:07
planet. May it be better for you having been here, may you leave
34:10
it better than how you found it and wherever you go, may you and
34:15
your energy and your presence and your love be a blessing.
34:20
Bye. You.