Latest / Besties In Your Back Pocket / 5. Finding your place in the world with Ace Anderson

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5. Finding your place in the world with Ace Anderson · Besties In Your Back Pocket

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_05: Welcome to Besties in Your Back Pocket.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_05: This is Angela.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_05: I am a trauma-informed comedian.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_05: And Amy's about it.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_05: Take it away.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_04: If you ever felt like you were playing small, shrinking yourself, or just going through the motions, waiting for your real life to begin.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_04: You just try to people.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_04: Welcome to the show where we don't go surface level, we go deep.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_04: Conversations that make you laugh, cry, think a little, and maybe make one tiny brave decision that changes everything.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_04: I'm Amy.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_04: I'm Angela.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_04: We're best using your back pocket.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_04: Always honest, always in your corner, and always ready to help you unlock that version of you that creates more.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_04: Because here's what we know when you learn to express yourself authentically, fully, joyfully, confidently, everything else starts to shift.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_04: We're really glad you're freaking here.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_04: You ready, baby?
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_04: Lego.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_04: Alright, everyone, welcome to Besties in Your Back Pocket.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_04: I'm Amy, and we have my lovely co-host here, Angela.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_04: Actual angel.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_04: And uh, she's gonna introduce our guest here today.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, well, thank you for that.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, so I'm an angel, and this is Ace, who is an ace of all trades.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_05: I yeah, I just learned more about him because he casually showed me his intro to say a few points before we hop on.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_05: And I'm like, you've worked with CBS, Sony, Peacock, NBC.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_05: He was on Law and Order.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_05: Like, this is not a casual intro to show me right before this, okay?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_05: This man's is a successful actor.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_05: I just met him last weekend, and he let me MC his show that he headlined and self-produced as well.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_05: And then um, yeah, how we met in general is that our mutual friend, her husband, performs at a festival that he performs at too.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_05: They're both hip hop and rappers, right?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_05: And so they made a group chat with us, and they said we had to meet, and we are open to learning why.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_05: And however, I feel that I know why, and I hope you see it too.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_06: This is a long for a ride.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_04: Dude, I'm so stoked to have this conversation here with you.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_04: We got an absolute legend here, just right next to me.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_04: So just casually.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_07: Angela's like starstruck, I feel like right now.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_07: This is not a wing woman, dude.
• 2:40
  unknown: God damn.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_07: No, I'm always this, always this pink, dude.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_04: Been going to the beach.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_04: I feel like actually, this is Angela's superpower, not to undermine you ace, but I feel like she's really freaking good at being like, oh my god, like we have three podcast listeners.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: Nice, bro.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: You need a high.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_05: It's incredible.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, so Amy um has been bringing up the topic of creating the life that you actually want to live in.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_05: So I feel like we have three stellar people here who can get deep into this topic because what I see from all of us is that we seem to be happy because we wake up knowing that the day we've created is enjoyable for us.
• 3:29
  unknown: Yeah.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_04: And then we like get to choose to create it.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_04: I think a lot of people play victim or like I am just like a victim of my circumstances, and I don't get to be necessarily in the driver's seat of creating the life that I want.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_04: And like, uh no, I'm never gonna, and like it's uncomfortable sometimes to create the life you want to.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_04: So I get that.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but yeah, Ace, I'm really excited to hear your two cents on all this.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_04: And if you have like a pivotal moment when you were like, Holy shit, I actually get to create my own life.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, I actually have a uh spoken word piece that I do and I often perform that I wrote about this.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the the exact moment.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'll share I'll share the beginning of it.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: So um it starts off like I'm gonna tell you a little story about your major self.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: We'll also explore how to avoid the gates of hell.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: We'll find heaven in seven minutes, so please stay compelled because I think this is the story I was made to tell.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: Boom.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: I just saw it.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: Everything I am from exactly where you're sitting, I saw the master plan.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: Though I was only 10 years old, I knew soon I'd be the man who could articulate life's purpose in a way you'll understand.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: Now, if a 10-year-old tried to come and tell me how to be a man, I just laugh and roll my eyes and probably tell the kid to scram.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: So I kept the secret canned because I knew that I'd be damned if I tried to hatch a plan.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: I was too young to command.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: Man.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm sort of in a jam.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_02: I'm supposed to change the world, but I don't have a single fan.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: And they tried to reprimand my prophecy first hand, like a 10-year-old prophet.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: Nah, that's gotta be a scare.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: Nah, man, your mind has to expand.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_02: Past, present, future.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: See the whole time span.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: See, life is just a cycle of stories retold again, so the way it's gonna finish is the way that it began.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: For instance, let's take the genesis of man and even Adam's paradise, God only gave them plans.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: But the modern man eats meat because he's so advanced.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: But when his slaughterhouse is spread disease, you think it's happenstance.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: Now, see, listen, little man, you're smarter than Uncle Sam, but he will ruin every chance for your premature demands.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: But if you play the long game, you only have to withstand the test of time, so survive and you will inherit the land.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: So I spent my adolescence learning everything I can.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: Vin gave me art lessons, Deontay knew how to dance.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: Blam, they became our best friends.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: We made the sick brothers and formed a little clan prototype for the stripe part, made us all a fan.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: Everything I wanted may be everything I am.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: See, now you see the plan that I saw back then that I'd be Ace Anderson, the modern Renaissance man.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_07: Did this thing I have a short snippet to share that which blew our minds?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_06: Are you kidding me?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_06: That was incredible.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, thank you.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: That piece is actually seven minutes long, so it's it's that's just the first um memorized seven minutes of that.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_05: Holy crap, you're smart.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_05: I asked him what question he often gets because we were talking about potential courses to make, and he was like, Oh, a lot of people ask me like how how I can memorize these things that are so long that I create.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_05: It's just something his brain does, yeah.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: So I think I might do something around that.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_04: I think that I mean, that was like I was like the content itself was great, and then I'm just side thought was like a little tangent of how the hell has he memorized all this?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_04: And I know there's more.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_04: And this isn't probably the only one.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my no, he had an entire like over an hour show last weekend.
• 7:34
  unknown: It's crazy.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_04: Like, I get it with music.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_04: There's something with music that it's like it just seers it into my brain when I'm like, oh, I know it forever, and now I just will never be able to forget it.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_04: But with just like no nothing, I'm like, damn, that's impressive.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, if you could take the whole of that and you summarize it into the nugget.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_04: What's the nugget of that in you now?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: I would say that like I I operate on the belief that we all have a spark of divinity, um and it's it is our purpose to shine light in the world, right?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like, so um there is no source of darkness, there's only light.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: So I I aim to be a source of light and shine my light as bright as I can, and with the hope that I can light someone else's flame and allow them to shine as bright as possible.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that's the beauty of light, like more light doesn't take away from other people's light, um, which oftentimes people will feel like they get scared because light oftentimes reveals the shadows, but the way to remove the shadows is to add more light.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, I want to add to that.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_05: Um, because I think there's a a Buddhist quote where a flame won't go out if it starts um lighting other candles.
• 9:04
  unknown: Yeah.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and I feel that in our society, at least speaking for like Western United States, um, individualism has become what I would call a disease, but it's the trend right now, and it's like, oh, when you step over this part of the grass, like I own all of it, and people have a hard time sharing because we're all just trying to fiend for ourselves.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_05: So I like what you bring up about light and how it can't be taken when you continue sharing and circulating it.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: I think I I see that as like more separatism because like the the beauty of life is that we all are individuals and we get to be these unique creatures that have our unique perspective that no one else shares.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like no one else has your perspective on life, and like I believe your unique purpose is to share that with as many people as possible, and oftentimes we get the first part right that we are individuals, but the second part is that we get to share that, like we are the I, and all of all of us are the collective conscious, right?
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: We are all the collective of what makes up the God and the universe.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's our perspective together, so yeah.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_04: Mic drop moment, yeah.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_04: Like we're all like a little piece of the puzzle or the tapestry and just kind of shining our own little light of the collective light, but it's all like a different angle that we kind of each express that same flavor.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, I love that, and there's no scarcity of it, it's just abundance of it.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's interesting because like in your life, like if you imagine that we're all at point A and we're going to point B, which is a really beautiful image because our purpose is to be, like that is like so B to B, right?
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_02: Like going from going from point A to B.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, I just got she just got it.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and like and and B is like is improvement, right?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_02: B is is making yourself better and better and better, and the culmination of that, of the collective, everyone doing that, is no different than the definition of God, right?
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: Like perfection, omnipresent, omniscient, to know all, to be all.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's like all of us doing that, and then if you imagine that, like we're all on these lines, right?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: Going from point A to point B.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: And that center is the light.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like this sun, right?
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: Like we're all each in an individual sun ray, sunbeam, moving towards B to this collective, like unity.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I believe that's the purpose of life.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_02: And what often happens is like when people get afraid of that and they move away from the light, right?
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like into the darkness, and try to like dim their own light, and then and tell people to dim theirs as well.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: That creates darkness.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: So um, it's like this beautiful collective of all of us moving to the center of this, like I don't know, like perfectionism is the right word, but like this something that is perfect, whole, and complete.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, absolutely, and like the more that we're like moths to light, just coming to that, and then we can shine out brighter and then create a ripple of change out in the world.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like all of us bring yeah, imagine like everybody bringing their candles like to the center and just like all this light emanating.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_05: They bring their Olympic torches, yeah, exactly.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_05: All right, so who wants to go first in sharing?
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_05: Like, what was that moment, if you're willing to share, of when you decided to just burn your light bright and how that shows in your work and your life now?
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_04: Wow, I mean, I feel like there's many moments, but it was interesting because when you said burn your light bright, the first words that came to my mind was burn your life down was kind of what I had to do.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_04: Was this like, oh, the way we've been living life.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_04: This is not Amy shining her light, and this is not gonna work.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_04: So we just gotta burn it all to the ground, baby.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, literally, I was like so depressed that I couldn't get out of bed, and I was like, all right, all of a sudden became Hulk and like your mattress and threw it out.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't actually throw it out the window, I threw it down the dumpster, and my partner helped me, which is actually crazy because my ex-frick also threw his mattress out, like it was our mattress, and he's like, Yeah, sure, babe.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_04: I'll help you out.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_04: Let's throw the bed waves having a hard time uh not being in bed all day.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_04: Great, thank you.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_04: Homie, shout out.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um, yeah, I feel like there was multiple pivotal moments.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_04: I think one of the first big moments for me, um, COVID hit, and I was just not liking my job, my life, all of the things.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_04: I was feeling like I was getting a lot of sicknesses and illnesses and just not feeling great.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_04: And then everything shuts down, right?
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_04: So you're just like, oh, what the hell?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_04: Like the whole world goes on pause.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_04: And rather than continue my job virtually, which was even worse than what my job was, which I was not enjoying, I was like, I'm gonna follow this dream and move into a van and just start traveling around in it and like sell all of my shit and just go.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_04: And that I feel like I created this cocoon of transformation where for the next year and a half, me and my ex and our cat were just traveling around to different communities and learn, like kind of gathering all of these different perspectives of what it can look like to live a life that you create and be like, ooh, kind of Frankenstein.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_04: I like that.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_04: I like this piece.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_04: Ooh, I like how I can show up here.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_04: It's fun to share my gifts here, and then slowly, I think from that, I've over the past, you know, six, seven years, whatever.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_08: Six, seven.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_04: Interrupting myself, have been able to be like, oh, this is who I am, because I've always been a very purpose-driven person.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_04: And like for the 10 years before this moment, was like, what's my purpose?
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_04: Purpose, purpose, purpose.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my god, do I not have one?
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know what I'm here to do.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know who I'm here to be.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_04: I can't find it.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_04: Like, and finally, through this journey, have found, oh, I am here to ignite and activate joy in people, to use my voice to help people be like, oh my god, I do have a light inside that I can shine so bright and you know, help them remind that in so many different ways.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but yeah, I think that was the like the pivotal moment that led to other pivotal moments.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_04: But if I had to say one, sure, that's it.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I I thought your purpose was to change your accent every 30 seconds.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: That seems more aligned.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_05: You do, it seems more aligned.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_04: It's funny because I literally don't realize it like 90% of the time until someone either starts speaking it back to me or like says that I'm doing it.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_05: It is your total flow state, but thanks for sharing that.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_05: Um yeah, I mean, as just my channel.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_05: I have such an open channel.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, okay.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_05: So you went from um burning down everything that once was in your job, in what routine and environment looks like, finding new communities, living in a van, and and then fast forward to now what that has uh fruited is these joy parades that you lead.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_05: You go downtown and gather as many strangers into celebration.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and now you're also leading retreats around these practices, like very intentionally.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_04: Speaking on stages, we're doing the thing, we're getting people to remind who they really are, you know?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_04: Remember who they are.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_07: Great.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_07: You're doing so good, sweetie.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_07: Thank you.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you so much.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_05: Of course.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I was just at her first retreat ever, and I was helping her with it, and it was really difficult because the weeks leading up, I'd be like, hey, let's mastermind.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_05: Then she would start tearing up, and she's like, I don't want to work on this.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_05: And then 30 people signed up and she profited her first fucking retreat.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_07: We had a great time, and I enjoyed the yeah, and other than all the the capitalist things I just mentioned, we also have to other than the six months leading up to it, the month before, and the actual thing, I enjoyed it.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, just ignore all the meltdowns along the way.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_05: No, they they make the uh celebration of it even more better.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sounds kind of toxic.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, for this time around, like looking back at it, yeah.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, gratitude for it.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_06: Now, yeah, not calling it yeah now.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: For the next time, you could say I could just enjoy these six months because I know it's gonna work out exactly.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_02: I don't gotta freak the heck out.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_04: I don't gotta I don't gotta face all these fears because I already faced those ones, you know.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_04: I'm like, oh, it's not so scary no more.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's all gonna work out.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_03: What about you guys?
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_03: What are your pivotal moments?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_03: Bruh, all right.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_05: I just got like my pivotal moments, uh essentially, um, I feel like it started when I began entrepreneurship.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I I really didn't know it was entrepreneurship, but I knew at a young age that I wanted to lead my life, name my prices, dictate who comes in and what my schedule looks like.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_05: And how that started was with underage prostitution.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, wow.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_05: When I was 16.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_08: Okay.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_05: And even to this day, when I bring it up, my heart pounds because it was quite the experience, and it taught me a lot about karma and about like when you show up and what you're doing for the world, how that's gonna feed yourself back over and over again.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_05: And it's brought me to this place in adult life where I really made most of my life around healing and trying to understand like how to leave an impact, how I want to interact with people and leave those interactions, how I want to feel about myself and where I'm headed.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_05: And yeah, now I like share about my story, I do it in forms of speaking and also comedy, and we'll see what keeps going of that.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_05: But that seems to be working, and this year was the first time that I got a check of 1400 bucks to tell 150 people that I was a prostitute.
• 20:44
  unknown: Wow.
• 20:45
  unknown: What the fuck?
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_06: What kind of when you put it like that?
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_06: That's literally what like the negotiation was.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_06: I'm like, this is insane.
• 20:54
  unknown: Wow.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, shit.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: The truth shall set you free.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_03: Dude, you're doing so great.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_03: You're rocking it, Angela Hutchinson.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you so much.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: I would have appreciated that.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_04: Wait, I have a question for you, Angela.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_04: What's the question, Amy?
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_04: Um like what version of yourself had to die to become who you are now, you know?
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_04: Like, who did you have to unbecome?
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_05: Wow, that's crazy.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_05: That my brain just did that.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_05: I literally looked at my fucking vision board to get the answer.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_05: I didn't mean to, I was just like, oh, I'm a legend.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_05: That's what says on it.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, the version of me that had to die.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my god, the version of me, it was like a victim.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_05: I was like, I don't even want to be living like this, but like, this is all I know.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_05: It's like, cool.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_05: Well, teach yourself something else.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_05: That's how you grow.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_05: That's how everyone that you wanna aspire to be like, they had to grow too.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_05: Like, you Just like you're no different.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_05: You just gotta like feel it to heal it.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_03: Choose a new way, yeah.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_03: You're like, I'm going in this new way today.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know where I'm going, but I'm gonna go in a new way, and it's gonna be pretty fucking hard some days, but other days we're gonna not have a great old time.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_03: Let's go.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Something like that.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I kind of shared it in my poem, but I'm not sure.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_05: Dude, I don't know what that fucking means, bro.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_05: Like the poem, I was just my mouth was open the whole time.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_04: So Did you hear our jaws like smack?
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_04: So I don't please explain what the poem's telling us.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: No, so uh I was very fortunate when my parents were getting divorced around the age of nine and ten that my mom had decided to have me audition for an art school.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: Oh and uh it really changed my life.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like I was I I was in a normal school, I was uh go like my my circle was very small, um, and my church that we went to was really small, and uh everybody knew everybody, everybody knew what everybody else was doing, and there was a lot of drama around my parents getting divorced.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I had always carried around a sketchbook.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: And so when I was I was fortunate in that transition period from fifth grade to sixth grade, that my mom was like, Oh, let's have him audition for the school of the arts.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_02: There's this school, it's a magnet school, it'll take him out of the community that I was in, and like put me in this whole other community where everybody is an artist.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I remember I auditioned and I was like, Yeah, I'm an artist, I'm a visual artist, I'm doing my thing, I'm a visual artist, like with my sketchbook and everything, and I didn't get in.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't get in, I failed the audition.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: And uh luckily, luckily, I had put a backup major, which was for theater, and I didn't know anything about theater.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: I have nobody in my family that's an actor or whatever, like it's never been even in my mind.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: It just I was able to sign up for two different options, and so for my theater audition, I had transcribed Eddie Murphy's Saturday night live sketch of George Washington Carver, and I memorized it and I said it like because I was always doing like at Thanksgiving or family gatherings, I was always reciting poetry or like saying stuff, like just rant.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: I was reciting things for movies and everything.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_02: So for this audition, they said I have to do a monologue.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_02: So I took something from Saturday Night Live, and I got in for theater.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I tell you, I never never looked at I never looked back at I was like, I'm an actor, I'm an actor.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like I used to every day before that, yeah.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: I was like sketching, I was like, I'm an artist.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like, it's like, nope, I'm an actor, I'm gonna be in drama now.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_02: Like it so that that really changed, and so um that's really what my poem, like, my poem starts with boom, I just saw it, everything I am from exactly where you're sitting, I saw the master plan.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: And like it like I knew what I was supposed to do.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I knew that that the there was a difference in the the way that I was and who I was, just being accepted into a theater program, right, for my for my talent, for my gift, um, changed something in me.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like, and I I saw myself different than my friends saw themselves.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, my friends from church, right?
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_02: Like they were still kind of in the humdrum of like I don't know, like the commonality, like everybody's just like we do this, and this is how we operate, kind of like operating like a drone, and for for whatever reason, like this awakened me, and I was like, this is what I'm supposed to do.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna be an actor, I'm gonna be on TV, I'm gonna be in movies, and like I just knew that.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like and um and then it wasn't until it wasn't until um my ninth grade year where it really was solidified.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_02: So um I went through the middle school of the arts from sixth to eighth grade, and I didn't turn in my papers to go into the arts school, the high school of the arts.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_02: So all of my friends went to the high school of the arts, and I didn't because I just simply didn't turn in my papers.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like it was like everybody went, and like all my friends, oh yeah, you going?
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, oh snap, I forgot.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_02: So I ended up going to a regular school again for my ninth grade.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_02: And when I saw the difference in who I was versus who everybody else was, it was like, I was like, I don't know, where the hell I feel like I'm like living in a world of zombies, you know.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_02: I remember I'll never forget the first day of school, uh, my English class.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_02: This guy comes up and he's like, Yo, my name Amron.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I play football, I love football, I eat football, breathe football, sleep football, and that's why I'm gonna be a football player.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_02: Like that was his whole thing, and I was like, oh my god, like everybody is just about that.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_02: And it was like high school drama and high school, and everything is about high school, and I realized that I and my friends from the art school were the only ones like thinking about our future beyond high school, you know, um, and I knew that art would play a significant role in my life, right?
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_02: Like creativity.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_02: I knew I was meant to be an artist and inspire other people to find their spark, find their unique purpose, right?
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: Like in the in the beginning, God created.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's the fifth word in the in the Bible, create, right?
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's a foundational, it's what makes you a God is your ability to create, and each of us are divine and have that ability to create.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_02: So you're an artist, as far as I'm concerned, and art is the only language understood by every person that has ever lived, right?
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: We all have the ability to interpret art and creativity, and so like it really just all happened from I just went to this art school and I was like, oh, somebody sees my light, and I decided to shine that as bright as possible.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_04: I'm obsessed.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_04: I I love this because I'm always talking about what would the world look like where instead of I don't feel like most people like they're in their adulthood, and then some of us at some point go like, what am I actually gonna?
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_04: And what am I actually here to do?
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_04: Like, what does that look like if as a child somebody sees that in you and says, Hey, like, here's this opportunity to actually nourish the parts of you that shine the brightest and the the puzzle piece that you're here to play?
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_04: Like, let's just nourish the heck out of that rather than be like and learn uh some calculus and you know how to learn US history for the 9,000th time and never think about it again.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_04: Like, what is this is what it looks like is you're like rocking it and you're so connected to your heart and your soul, and not just like how do I like become the best actor, but how do I make the world a better place and spread this spark?
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_08: And I'm like, Yes.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_06: You really see him.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's cool.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_06: I know, I'm like, you're freaking right, dude.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, he's so nice.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_06: That that was what I was saying earlier.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_06: I was like, you're being so nice.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, jeez.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, so what what should we say to our younger selves like right before we we chose to be creating the life that we want to live?
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, what do they need to hear?
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, um, do it scared.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_07: Shut the fuck off.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_07: He literally said that to me.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_07: Wait, what I just shared where I said that he was being so nice, he said to me, do it scared.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_05: I'm scared now.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: Freaking out, dude.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Nice, nice alignment.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_06: What would you say?
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, wait, repeat the question because I want to make sure.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_06: Amy, can you can you bread rum in the question?
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_06: Can I what?
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_06: Uh what is it called red robin?
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_06: Round round robin.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_06: It's like that meat with the red robin, and I don't know.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: Red robin is a friendly.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_04: I'm thinking like red rum from that like scary movie.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_04: I don't want that.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_04: I don't want that as a part of what we're doing here, Angela.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_04: Um what was the question?
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_04: What would you say to your younger self?
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_02: What I would say to my younger self is um if you if you have a vision, God makes you unstoppable.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_06: Jesus Christ.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_06: I can't go after that.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_06: God makes you unstoppable.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_05: Um yeah.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_05: I feel like mine is a little similar to his, where it would be what you focus on is going to happen.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_05: Like the faith is there.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_05: It might take a while, but just what you're focusing on grows.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_05: So, like, what do you want to be focusing on?
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_04: Dude, that's a good one because I feel like in the journey of becoming a human, when you're like just you know, you're like little bambi legs in this like spirit having a human experience, you're like, you don't know that what you focus on is really what you're like growing in your life until you kind of get enough uh data points of oh, when I focus on this, this grows, and when I focus on this, this grows.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_04: Uh-oh.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, exactly.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that's really what's beautiful about this uh little cohort that we have right here.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um is that I think each of us is is committed to inspiring joy, and and that is something to be focused on.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_02: Like there's so much in the world like focused on the negativity that that's what grows.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_02: And when we see that and we look at that and like, look, but this is happening, this is happening, this is happening.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, okay, well, like add light.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_02: You don't just look and say darkness, darkness, darkness, death, destruction, sadness.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, look at it, look at it, look at it.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_02: That just grows that.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_02: It just end up seeing more of it.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_05: Wait, so the news is doing that on purpose?
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_05: On purpose.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_05: I'm kidding.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_05: No way! What then?
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_05: Wait, are they like teaming up with other big names then?
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_06: They wouldn't dare.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that's crazy.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_04: No, no, yes, it's so true.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_04: No, it's so true though.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_04: Because I feel like people feel the like they care, and that's why they're doing it, and I think that's why it's like kind of sad.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_04: Like, oh, you care so much, and maybe can't see that by feeding, just I'm just consuming this and I'm worrying and I'm stressed, and I'm telling other people, and this is how a lot of people just communicate with each other, is just listing out all of the shitty things happening in the world, and just like, oh my god, and this dumpster fire and that, and it's just circling all of that negativity and growing it and growing it and growing it, and they don't see that it's not maybe creating the world that we wish to live in.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_04: Like, we're here to create it's if we're keep focusing, and like you know, if you're doing something about it, that's great.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_04: Like, we need people like that, are also like, hey, I'm here to create solutions in those areas, but we also need people like hey, I'm just here to create more joy.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_02: I think exactly, I think it comes down to what you can control.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like, like people oftentimes focus on things that they have no control over, and that's the issue.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's different to say, like, I see this problem in the world, and I am going to do something about it.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_02: That's so much different than saying I see this problem in the world, and somebody should do something about it so that I can feel better.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like, that's a really good way of putting that.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, those are truly do you what do you guys think of this?
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_05: When I learned very recently, like that women in Afghanistan they get like in trouble or kidnapped, um, and they're just very unsafe because they're women, and for some reason that's like the the law that's going on right now.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_04: Just laughing because you said in trouble or kidnapped, and those are such like such a scary scary thing.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: The spectrum of things that could happen.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_05: And I I looked up all these different programs that were connected to either journalism or some kind of like volunteering for um Afghan women, and then I emailed 20 of them, being like, hey, I would love to help somehow.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_05: And literally all of them came back saying this email address is no longer found or available.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_05: And I felt worried, and my friend grabbed my shoulders and he was like, Hey, that's cool that you want to save people.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_05: Start with St.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_05: Petersburg.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_05: Grassroots.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, so you guys like that?
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_05: Like, you feel like a resonance.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, like, I think it starts.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_02: This kind of goes back to the individualist mindset, right?
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_02: Like, it starts with yourself because like when you get on an airplane, what did I say?
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_02: Put your own oxygen mask on before you can help others.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_02: Because if you're there trying to breathe, Oh, it won't even help that.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_02: You won't help them.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_02: You're actually doing them a disservice if you're not helping yourself.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_02: So there's like we tend to look at the arrogance of selfishness, but it's like it it's uh I can't pour from an empty cup.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_02: And so I get to I get to fill up my own cup, do whatever I can to fill up my own cup, and not to not to express gluttony, right, where I'm going overboard or greed, but to say, like, I need to fill my I need to get to a sufficient place.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_02: I have the energy to now support other people, right?
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_02: Get myself to a place of stasis, and then so what happens is then that if once you get yourself to a good um space, then it resonates.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: You can support your family, right?
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_02: Which uh that's the next immediate circle, then your friends, right?
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_02: Now your friends are all vibrating on this higher frequency because you've helped yourself, you've helped your family, and now your family can help your friends, and then your friend your friend group can help your community, right?
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_02: Now your community is big enough and large enough to help the state, and now the state is large enough to help the country, and the country is large enough to help the polity, right?
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_02: So, like you want to be able to move from from this, like you're the source of everything.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like you don't start by like, I need to fix everything out there so I can feel better in here.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like you're the per you're the only person in control of what's inside of you and what's going on inside of you.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_02: So get your space like when I came here, you're like listening to high frequency, you know, sounds like listening to singing bowls.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like all the time.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_02: And that like that is a part of getting yourself right, filling filling your own cup.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I need this for myself so that I can be present with other people when they show up in my life.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_02: Because if I'm all scattered and every it just adds more of that negativity.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that's the that's the method, that's how you heal the world, is starting with yourself.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_04: Dude, ace, you get it.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_04: You really freaking get it.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, Angela knows this.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_04: I'm always talking about the ripple effect and how we are creating a ripple, as you were saying, so beautifully, those like different tears every single day, and we can do it from anger or fear or hatred, and then like that starts to infiltrate our family, our friends, yeah, community and all that, or we could be the spark and the bright light, and we've filled our own cup, and then from there you talk to your friends, you start supporting your family, they start feeling inspired to community, and then from there, it's like we we each get to like actively choose each day, which ripple we're deciding to cultivate as we you know about our lives.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, I feel like this call was so like such a good ripple.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_03: I want to talk forever.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_03: I wanna talk forever.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, Amy, what am I gonna go to?
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you do, girl.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_05: What ripple will you be at the airport?
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, we're gonna be a vibe.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna I really want to make a music video, I think, at the airport.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_04: I decided um Evan doesn't know this yet, but hopefully he's down.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_06: He will be down, dude.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_06: You you gotta teach them in those ways.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_06: Bring a mother gun.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_04: He was yesterday.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_04: He was like, I can get into pretty much anything.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_04: Like, I'm pretty down for whatever.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_04: I'm like, all right, careful what you're like flash mob then.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_02: Down for whatever is a lot of things.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_03: You flash mobile said the joy break yesterday, so flashmob's in.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god, thanks, dude.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_03: Ace, thank you so much for your time and energy and your heart.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_04: You are such a beautiful, bright light in this world.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_04: And I just freaking pray that there are even more people that are inspired by you and that wake up to their own light and groundedness in that to, I don't know, just exist in that kind of way.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_04: It's such a beautiful thing.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_04: A rare thing.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you for that, Amy.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and thank you, Angela, for being my bestie in my back box.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_05: Only 900 miles away.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_05: How old?
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_05: Is that how many?
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my gosh.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you for the same.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_04: And thank you to the listeners.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, thanks for being here.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_07: Fuck, I feel like this is a competition now.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, well, thank you both.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_07: Well, thank you.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_07: No, thank you.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_07: I want to thank you.
• 42:22
  unknown: Thank me.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_07: I want to thank you guys in Cameron.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, for making you guys I'm making your ancestors seven generations back.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_06: But for real, thank you to our goddamn first fucking sponsor.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, you're the best man.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_06: You know who you are.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_06: All right.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_06: See y'all.