Latest / The Purpose and Progress Podcast Show / From Wrestling Rings to Children's Books: John Masiulionis on Serving from Overflow

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From Wrestling Rings to Children's Books: John Masiulionis on Serving from Overflow · The Purpose and Progress Podcast Show

0:00
John Masiulionis:: When you place the importance and the
0:02
focus on the WE, the ME somehow gets taken care of. We're really
0:08
programmed in society for us to be I, I, I, me, me, me. What's
0:13
in it for me? You have to take care of the ME. You absolutely
0:17
have to. Because then, if you're not doing that, it's like
0:21
serving from an empty cup. But when you focus on the WE, the ME
0:26
suddenly becomes taken care of. And then you're serving from the
0:29
overflow instead serving through depletion.
0:35
Jim Price:: Hello, I'm Dr. Jim Price, and welcome to The
0:39
Purpose and Progress Podcast. This is the place where we
0:43
explore how purpose can guide our actions, and how growth can
0:47
become a part of our everyday lives. On the show, I talk with
0:51
amazing guests, from educators and creators to everyday people
0:56
with extraordinary stories about the challenges they face, the
1:00
lessons they've learned, and how to keep moving forward. My goal
1:03
is to share conversations that inspire you to live
1:06
intentionally, embrace growth, and take meaningful steps to
1:10
your own purpose. Let's get started.
1:17
Welcome to the Purpose and Progress Podcast Show where we
1:21
introduce and connect with inspiring guests who are
1:24
industry leaders who are inspiring others for positive
1:28
change, and just making an impact in people's lives and
1:31
stuff like that. Today, I have a guest who's inspired me in so
1:35
many ways and has been an instrumental part of me and
1:39
myself doing the things I do in terms of the children's book
1:43
stuff and all that material stuff, that's definitely been an
1:46
instrument of that. And he's a friend of mine too. It's just
1:49
such a pleasure and a blessing to have my friend, he's manager
1:54
of PR From The Heart, he's award-winning author of the book
1:58
Walking Each Other Home—Zachary's Mission: A
2:01
Hospice for Children, and he is also award-winning author,
2:05
manager of PR From The Heart, and my friend John Masiulionis.
2:09
Welcome John Masiulionis to the show. Such a blessing to have
2:12
you here.
2:13
John Masiulionis:: We go so far back that before it was Dr. Jim
2:16
Price, it was just Jim Price. But Jim, I'm grateful to be
2:19
here. I'm grateful to call you not only a friend, a colleague,
2:22
a dear client, a fellow neighbor. You may hear some Mr.
2:25
Rogers neighborhood language, some Fred Rogers verbiage
2:29
through the course of our conversation. But right off the
2:32
bat, I want to congratulate you because this is a new venture
2:35
that you are launching with your podcast in different iterations.
2:39
I've been very fortunate to do radio and podcasting for 23 plus
2:42
years, going back to my time as the host of the award-winning
2:46
wrestling radio show, Monday Night Mayhem, to the present day
2:49
through PR From The Heart, the Children's Book Spotlight
2:53
Series, which will now be celebrating its 8 year
2:55
anniversary this fall. One of the leading, most popular
2:58
podcasts in the world of children's literature. Of
3:01
course, David Newell, the beloved Mr. McFeely and Mr.
3:04
Rogers' Neighborhood, the sister program of the Children's Book
3:08
Spotlight Series, which is the Neighborly Reviews Bookcast.
3:11
Hard to believe that David and I just celebrated the five year
3:15
anniversary of the program. I share this because it's always
3:18
important for me to help the next generation, those who are
3:21
getting into radio, those who are getting into podcasting. And
3:25
most importantly, sharing their story. And you've had an
3:28
incredible journey. I'm very fortunate, and very blessed.
3:31
That's one of our favorite words that we have together to just
3:35
play a small part in your journey, and just be a
3:37
reflection of the wonderful work that you're doing for children,
3:41
parents and families. And as we like to say together, for those
3:45
who love great children's books.
3:46
Jim Price:: Absolutely. Thank you so much, John. Sometimes,
3:49
people don't know behind the scenes what happens, how
3:51
everything just put together. I know we were talking extensively
3:54
about building the culture, reading the event that's coming
3:56
up soon for you, and how much behind the scenes. People don't
4:00
realize behind the scenes how much goes into a lot of the work
4:02
that happens. They see the finished product, but then
4:05
always see behind the work stuff, and they sometimes,
4:08
people need to have a general idea of how that happens and how
4:11
people progress to their journey to get to where they are and
4:14
stuff like that. So that kind of leads us into our first question
4:17
of, when do you feel that your journey began? Even when we were
4:23
at Building the Culture Reading in Los Angeles, we had a chance
4:26
to have dinner and talk a little bit and some interesting points
4:29
you brought up about how you were starting broadcasting with
4:32
WWE and things of that nature. Sometimes, people's paths start
4:36
one way, and then the path leads to something else, which lead to
4:39
a lot of stuff you do now. But talk about a little bit about
4:42
that process, and how your path started in that way.
4:47
John Masiulionis:: That's a great question, by the way, Jim.
4:49
It's interesting because there's times where life will take us in
4:53
a certain direction, and we mean not necessarily what it is that
4:57
we're experiencing moving through will help us in the
5:01
future. So it's interesting. Growing up, I wanted to be a
5:04
sportscaster. I wanted to be the next Chris Berman on ESPN, and I
5:08
went to school to be a broadcaster. I was a
5:11
broadcasting major at Buffalo State University, which is part
5:15
of the SUNY school system. SUNY stands for, I believe State
5:19
University of New York, if I'm not mistaken. I mean, to the
5:22
point, even when Buffalo State, it was Buffalo State College at
5:26
that point in time, and I put all my eggs in one basket. I did
5:30
an internship through the Empire Sports Network, which was the
5:34
now defunct television station that covered the Buffalo Sabres,
5:38
the Buffalo Bisons, which is the Triple-A (AAA) affiliate of the
5:42
Toronto Blue Jays that covered the Buffalo Bills. And it's
5:46
interesting because the company was actually owned by John
5:49
Regis, who used to own the Buffalo Sabres. He used to be
5:53
the owner of Adelphia Cable as well, to one of the former
5:56
larger cable companies that was in existence. And it turns out
6:00
that John Regis was doing some things that he shouldn't have
6:04
been doing with this company. Believe he was embezzling money.
6:08
His sons were a part of the process. Long story short,
6:11
Empire Sports Network goes under. I put all my eggs in one
6:15
basket going into broadcasting, and it kind of had a little bit
6:19
of a bitter taste in my mouth. But interestingly enough around
6:23
that same point of time, and even going back way, way, way,
6:27
way, way, we go way back to the year 1989, and that's when I
6:30
fell in love with the world of professional wrestling and
6:34
sports entertainment. Many people remember Vince McMahon's
6:38
WWE, that is now WWE owned by TKO, which is, of course, the
6:41
company that owns the UFC as well. I was a huge wrestling fan
6:45
in many respects. It was one of my first loves. I was very
6:49
fortunate while going to Buffalo State University, they had a
6:53
format called All Talk Monday on the campus radio station, 91.3
6:57
FM WBNY, and I started doing a wrestling radio show that was at
7:01
first titled Big Mosh's Monday Night Mayhem. At one point in
7:04
time, I was well north of 300 pounds, and my nickname in high
7:08
school was the Big Mosh. My high school gym teacher, Mark Resmek,
7:12
could not pronounce my last name so he called me instead of
7:16
Masiulionis, he called me Moshalionis. And then it was a
7:19
little bit more on the rotund side at that point in time,
7:23
hence Big Mosh. And that name stuck, but it's interesting
7:27
because we did the show at Buff State. We did it for two and a
7:30
half years. And if you were to ever create a wrestling radio
7:34
show, back in the day, 2002 was the year to do it. That was the
7:38
year where TNA Wrestling, which is still in existence 24 years
7:42
later, Ring of Honor which is now owned by, I should say, Tony
7:46
Khan, who owns AEW, and whose father owns the Jacksonville
7:50
Jaguars. So we kind of got it on the ground level with those
7:53
wrestling companies interviewing the wrestlers. This was before
7:57
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, I think it might even been around
8:01
even before Myspace, so it was just grassroots helping
8:05
wrestlers share their stories. Now, I didn't necessarily look
8:08
at that at that point in, it was more about promoting matches
8:12
pay-per-views, DVDs, specials, etcetera, etcetera and so forth.
8:16
Fast forward, and it's interesting because I look back
8:20
on my time at Monday Night Mayhem, and the show ran for
8:23
over a decade. I believe it was close to 12 years, if I'm not mistaken.
8:28
And during that time, I was fortunate to have relationships
8:31
not only with TNA and Ring of Honor, but the WWE, VH1, CMT,
8:35
the Buffalo Bills. I was very fortunate to travel across the
8:39
country, go to five WrestleManias, and really have
8:42
some childhood dreams come true in many respects. But the show
8:46
is a labor of love. I was not getting paid for it. I moved
8:50
through some health challenges, which in many respects really
8:54
served as a spiritual awakening for me to release Monday Night
8:58
Mayhem back into the universe. This also synergizes with the
9:02
passing of my grandmother. Being part Polish, we refer to our
9:06
grandmothers as Babcia. And my grandmother was my rock. In
9:09
fact, it's interesting, I actually carry a picture of my
9:13
grandmother. It's always here in my office. This is me graduating
9:17
from 8th grade, and you have my grandmother, Jane, Jackie to the
9:21
far right, you have my aunt Nellie to the far left. If I'm
9:25
not mistaken, technically, the right side is Aunt Nelly, the
9:29
left side here is Jane, so Jackie. But I share this because
9:33
in many respects, that's really when my life began to change. I
9:37
realized that there had to be more than Monday Night Mayhem,
9:41
that there had to be more than working in collections. I also
9:45
worked in the world of collections. I was the gentleman
9:48
way back in the day that if someone had a past due credit
9:52
card bill, I would call up and say, you owe money. Now, even
9:56
during that experience, it's interesting because I learned
10:00
the importance of kindness, empathy and compassion, because
10:03
you never know what someone's going through, right? You never
10:07
know what someone's going through unless you walk a mile
10:11
in their shoes. So I knew that there was more to life beyond
10:15
the scope of that, and this all kind of ties into a diagnosis
10:19
that I was given 11 years ago of testicular cancer, and I feel
10:23
that that was God's way of saying, John, you can finally
10:26
learn to love yourself. And that's a process that takes time
10:30
for all of us to really understand. I had a very, very
10:34
interesting journey, but it's interesting because maybe this
10:38
kind of ties in a little bit to when I used to work at
10:41
Blockbuster Video back in the day for two years, when we used
10:45
to write in movies, Jim. People would ask me, can you give me
10:49
some movie recommendations? And one of the things that really
10:53
helped me through my healing was children's books. I was already
10:57
doing PR publicity work, even more so for inspirational
11:01
authors and for spiritual authors. And around 2016, 2017,
11:04
coming off the heels of healing from testicular cancer, I said,
11:08
you know what? I think it really makes more sense to place even
11:12
more of my time, more of my energy, more of my focus on
11:16
children's authors. I had already worked with a few
11:19
children's authors prior to that. But we fast forward to the
11:23
present moment, PR From The Heart has become one of the
11:27
longest running, most successful PR publicity firms for
11:30
children's authors. Not only in the United States, but around
11:34
the world. And having the fortune and the blessing of
11:38
working with celebrities ranging from Sharon, Lois & Bram, the
11:42
co-creators of the iconic kids anthem Skinnamarinky dinky dink,
11:46
Skinnamarinky do, I love you, to Cari Hitchcock, the creator of
11:50
the Adventures of Baby Brown Berry series. Of course, many
11:54
people know her husband as well. The angelic voice of the lead
11:58
singer of Air Supply, just recently celebrated their 50th
12:01
anniversary to well-known traditional published authors,
12:05
John Parra. Catherine Roy who I feel that they will both be
12:09
winning at Caldecott at some point in time in the future. And
12:13
then those authors whose journeys are really just
12:16
beginning to take flight, self-published authors, hybrid
12:19
published authors, and all this in a roundabout way is reminding
12:24
me, and this is one of things that I love about you and your
12:27
podcast. What you're doing right now is the importance of helping
12:32
people share their stories. I did not know growing up that I
12:35
was helping wrestlers share their stories and their
12:39
journeys. In many respects, I was still trying to feel loved,
12:43
and appreciated, and admired, and accepted. But now, I look at
12:47
this as the fact that when someone says, John, I feel that
12:50
you can help me share my scripture. That is a gift. That
12:54
is not even just a blessing, but that is a gift. And through the
12:58
course of my journey, I've learned the fact that nothing in
13:02
life is guaranteed. Everything really in life is really a
13:06
blessing in many respects, and this ties into the last thing
13:10
that I want to mention. This question, I remember after my
13:13
grandmother had passed, there was a time, 2016, 2017 is where
13:17
it may have looked like on the surface, I lost everything.
13:21
I remember talking to my grandmother and say, Babcia,
13:25
show me whom to serve, how to serve, when to serve, where to
13:29
serve, and in what capacity to serve. I'm there, and I was
13:33
reminded through the work of the late Dr. Wayne Dyer, beloved
13:37
spiritual teacher, New York Times best-selling author, many
13:40
people refer to him as either the father, the godfather,
13:42
motivation. I was reminded through his work of when you
13:46
place the importance and the focus on the WE, the ME somehow
13:52
gets taken care of. We're really programmed in society for us to
13:57
be I, I, I, me, me, me. What's in it for me? You have to take
14:02
care of the ME. You absolutely have to. Because then, if you're
14:04
not doing that, it's like serving from an empty cup. But
14:09
when you focus on the WE, the ME suddenly becomes taken care of.
14:14
And then you're serving from the overflow instead serving through
14:17
depletion. I'm turning 45 in August, which is hard to
14:23
believe. There's days where I do feel a little older. But going
14:27
back to showing that photo of Aunt Nelly, when I think of Aunt
14:30
Nellie, my visual and remembrance of her is not as an
14:34
older Polish woman in the kitchen making pierogies for
14:37
everyone. She was playing tackle football with me and my cousins.
14:41
She reminded me that age really is just a number. That it's
14:44
really our spirit that is youthful and eternal if we allow
14:48
it to be. But again, just being at this particular point in
14:52
time, and this all really bridges not only when my work
14:55
with PR From The Heart, not only through the release of Walking
14:58
Each Other Home — Zachary’s Mission: A Hospice for Children,
15:01
but I started getting visions before I moved out to San Diego.
15:06
This was probably a little over 10 years ago, almost after my
15:09
grandmother's passing, about initiating a children's hospice
15:14
for terminally ill children. And this goes a little bit more
15:18
through the course of my children's book, the inspiration
15:21
for that because I had envisioned, what if there could
15:23
be a place where children could be in heaven? Could experience
15:27
the feeling of being in heaven before going to heaven where
15:31
they could meet their favorite athletes, and professional
15:33
wrestlers, and authors, and musicians, and have that be a
15:38
wonderful experience before they transition, so to speak. So step
15:42
one was moving out to San Diego. Step two is getting myself
15:46
settled. Step three was writing the book. Step four was
15:51
promoting the book. Step five now is becoming more immersed
15:55
within the hospice community and getting hospice volunteer work
15:58
shortly on mind of things. And one of the things that if
16:02
there's anything that I really want to impart on your listeners
16:05
and viewers is the fact that everything happens in its
16:08
perfect and divine timing. If God gave us everything that we
16:13
were meant to receive on a silver platter at one time, we'd
16:18
spontaneously combust. We wouldn't know what to do with
16:21
it, so just to take the time to celebrate where you are right
16:25
now, how far that you've come, and knowing the fact that you do
16:29
have a purpose. And oftentimes, that purpose is connected with
16:34
your passion as well, too.
16:36
Jim Price:: Absolutely. John, I appreciate you being so candid,
16:38
honest and open about your experiences. And even in terms
16:42
of just the self love, a lot of people in the world are missing
16:45
that aspect. They have a lot of work to do with self love, self
16:48
care, self awareness and things of that nature that gravitate
16:51
toward the purpose, opening up the ideas of purpose, where you
16:55
go on the path of life and stuff like that. Like myself, I always
16:59
incorporate prayer and everything I do. Everybody has
17:03
their own path and journey, and everything definitely does
17:05
happen within this divine timing. I thank you for sharing
17:09
that aspect of yourself. Because a lot of times, people don't
17:11
always understand behind the scenes, what it takes to get
17:15
certain places and stuff like that. And that's so
17:17
inspirational that you share that. I also wanted to ask, you
17:22
talked about a little bit of it, as far as obstacles and maybe
17:26
things that you faced that maybe challenged you in certain ways
17:31
to be able to get to where you are today, in that aspect.
17:35
John Masiulionis:: It's interesting, sometimes, people
17:37
will hear the term divine storm. Or on the surface, it could look
17:40
like anything and everything that could go wrong did go
17:44
wrong. And in many respects, it could look like on the surface
17:52
like I did. There were different losses that I had experienced.
17:54
Some were more prominent than others, but the primary one was
17:57
losing my grandmother. There was the loss of my old identity. I
18:03
did not know who John Masiulionis was. I knew who the
18:07
Big Mosh was. The Big Mosh was someone who was just really
18:12
searching and seeking for attention and for love> Who
18:17
really had a good heart at the same point, but that part of me
18:23
felt that I needed to do a Fred Astaire tap dance impersonation
18:27
to get people to like me and to love me. Because I had an old
18:30
belief system that said, I can only be accepted, appreciated,
18:34
loved and cared for if I do X, Y and Z for something else. And we
18:38
don't need to prove or validate our worth and our value. This is
18:43
one of the things that the work of Fred Rogers and Mr. Rogers'
18:46
Neighborhood> And watching those episodes again as an adult in my
18:51
early to mid to late 30s really helped me to heal, because Fred
18:56
Rogers reminds us still to this day of our intrinsic worth and
19:00
value, that you're loved and you're special just the way that
19:03
you are, obviously. Again, on the surface, it may have looked
19:06
like I had lost everything financially. And in many
19:10
respects when you have a journey, it's not to say that on
19:13
the surface, it looks like that things are taken away from you.
19:16
But basically, it's a matter of, you are building a life anew,
19:21
you are reconstructing a life based on faith, service and a
19:28
pure heart. And it's not to say that that that wasn't the case
19:32
before him. But again, normally, when you hear of people who have
19:35
gone through awakenings, they've gone through a combination of
19:38
the health stuff, the financial stuff, job losses, different
19:44
kinds of experiences that happen along the way. Again, the loss
19:48
of Monday Night Mayhem. But in many respects, I left everything
19:53
behind when I moved to San Diego. People said, well, how
19:56
many friends do you have up there? You must have dozens and
19:58
dozens, or hundreds and hundreds of people that you know.
20:01
I could count the number of people on one hand that I knew
20:05
was literally starting a completely new life. I moved
20:10
during the pandemic, the fall of 2020, so it's literally in the
20:14
heat of the pandemic. And so at that point in time, I would have
20:18
been, it was 2020, so I would have been 39 if I'm not
20:29
mistaken? Just had to do the quick math in the process being
20:32
an educator, but I knew that this was connected to my mission
20:37
and my purpose. I knew that if I trusted in myself, in my
20:42
journey, in everything that God was asking me to do even when
20:46
things necessarily didn't look or sound or feel, I had all the
20:51
answers. I always remind people who come into my life, many of
20:54
us were familiar with the analogy of the spiritual
20:57
staircase.
20:59
Kind of like the the stairway to heaven, so to speak. Not the Led
21:03
Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven, kind of the other stairway to
21:07
heaven, right? Even though it's a really good song. But if you
21:12
don't know what the full staircase looks like, you take
21:16
that next step. This is one of the things I remind authors in
21:20
the work that I do as a publicist for childrens, for
21:23
inspirational, for spiritual authors through PR From The
21:27
Heart is that you can connect to the legendary quote of Wayne
21:32
Gretzky. He said something to the effect of, you miss 100% of
21:36
the chances that you don't take. And many of us, we don't even
21:40
realize. We will have fears of success. Many of us have fears
21:44
of failure, but we'll have the fears of success, or we're only
21:49
used to receiving a certain amount. This is one of the
21:52
reasons why I moved from Buffalo to San Diego because it felt for
21:57
me like there was an energetic cap in Buffalo, and I could only
22:01
do so much, achieve so much here. And in order for me to
22:05
truly expand and grow on a heart and soul level, I had to
22:09
literally go someplace completely different in the
22:12
process. Life is not rainbows and gumdrops. People might look
22:17
on the surface and say, John, you run a very successful PR
22:21
publicity company. You're an award-winning children's author,
22:25
you must have it made in the shade. You must know all of the
22:29
answers. No, I don't. One of the things that I consistently
22:33
remind myself, and this goes back to the late Wayne Dyer, he
22:37
says he always reminds us to, I think this was through his book,
22:42
Tao Te Ching. He talks about just flowing with the water, and
22:46
laying low. Not laying low like playing small kind of things,
22:50
but just to really stay connected, stay grounded, stay
22:54
focused in the process because life is a combination of really
22:58
letting go of the fact that we feel that we know everything.
23:02
I'm trying to find the paraphrase that Dr. Wayne Dyer
23:06
said, we know everything, we know nothing. It's kind of like
23:10
dancing between the two, so to speak. I always consistently
23:14
remind myself when I land up meeting someone that I don't
23:18
know the answers to everything. That we can learn something from
23:23
every single person that comes onto our path. Have an open
23:27
heart, have an open mind. Not feel that you know everything.
23:31
Because in this world, there is a lot of ego. And yes, in the
23:35
world of children's literature, I've seen there is ego, and
23:39
vanity as well too. So it's just the importance of taking the
23:44
time to nurture, to love yourself, to stay focused on
23:47
your mission and your purpose, but also to take those necessary
23:52
action steps> And oftentimes when we place ourselves through
23:56
service and helping other people, inspiring other people,
24:00
it's interesting how everything our hearts desires, and the
24:04
wishes that we want fulfilled can actually come onto our
24:08
doorstep and into our life.
24:10
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24:12
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24:40
blessed.
24:44
John, you've dropped so many gems in this interview. So many
24:48
helpful gems, so many inspiring gems, so many motivational ideas
24:53
and thoughts in terms of helping people progress and stuff. And
24:56
understanding that sometimes, things do happen in his own.
24:59
Divine timing and having a plan and idea of where you're trying
25:04
to go. And sometimes, the path is a little bit different from
25:07
where you would expect it to go. Sharing the gems that you shared
25:11
today has been such a delight, and I'm hoping my audience has
25:14
been definitely going to take a lot from our discussion that we
25:18
had today. And learning more about yourself, John, getting a
25:21
bit more backdrop and understand a view as a person, authors and
25:27
stuff, and managers in the industry, they don't always get
25:30
a chance to have the audience really understand more about
25:33
themselves on a personal level and gravitate in that way. I
25:36
appreciate you coming on, John, so much. I want to ask how do
25:41
viewers connect with PR From The Heart and to your books. How can
25:45
our viewers connect to your books and to the PR From The
25:48
Heart?
25:49
John Masiulionis:: Two things that I want to mention before we
25:50
begin to wind down our time in the process. That's what we call
25:53
a segue to the conclusion. For those who are learning about
25:56
podcasting for the first time, one of the things that really
25:59
comes to mind is the fact that eventually we can get to a point
26:03
in our lives where life, how we feel about ourselves internally
26:09
can reflect externally in our lives. It's interesting because
26:14
it took me some time to get to the point of ultimately how we
26:20
treat ourselves as how we treat other people. And noting the
26:23
fact that just envision that every single person that you
26:26
come into contact with, just imagine your face on their body.
26:29
Not saying that you have to do that every day kind of thing,
26:34
but just the importance. I cannot stress that enough
26:38
because life in many respects, there's a lot of us that we go
26:41
around and we want to try to impress and fit in. Aand going
26:45
back to the whole Monday Night Mayhem analogy that I mentioned
26:47
previously, and this is one of the things that I also want to
26:52
leave your listeners and viewers with is the fact, and again,
26:54
this is one of the reasons why your work and the Adventures of
26:57
Harold From The Hood series stands out for kids, your work
27:02
and your efforts, in addition to your worth and your value stand
27:06
out on their own accord. I feel that many of us just breathed
27:11
into that. Yes, maybe to a certain extent, there's times in
27:14
life where we have to chameleon or we have to try to impress if
27:18
we land up meeting this person today. I remember, for example,
27:23
when I met Craig Melvin from NBC Today Show, not that long ago
27:27
for the first time, that there was a part of me that's like,
27:29
Craig Melvin, I have to put on a good show. And then just
27:33
realizing like, everyone is just the same. Even though certain
27:36
people may have more stature or clout, or maybe more zeros in
27:41
the bank account, or the bigger house, or whatever the case
27:44
might be, just knowing the fact that we can get to a point where
27:49
how we feel about ourselves can reflect externally. So again, if
27:54
there's another thing that I can give to your listeners, because
27:57
I love giving from my heart, is the fact that, just try that on
28:02
for size. If you found yourself struggling with that, just try
28:07
that on for size. I tend to call these things spiritual science
28:10
experiments.
28:11
So that's the one thing that I want to make mention of, number
28:15
one. Number two is to continue to support Dr. Jim Price and the
28:18
podcast that you are watching right now. I've had the chance.
28:22
PR From The Heart is celebrating 12 years this summer. We're
28:25
entering into our 13th year of service to inspirational,
28:28
spiritual, and of course, children's authors across the
28:31
country and around the world. Dr. Jim Price, who, of course,
28:35
you're watching, you're listening to, you're on his
28:38
website, you're on his YouTube channel, he really cares about
28:41
children, and he cares about all of you. This is why he is
28:45
branching out and expanding in the process. Here's a man who
28:48
really commanded the stage last year at Mall of America as part
28:52
of PR From The Heart's annual flagship event. Building a
28:55
Culture of Reading In Your Classroom that is celebrating
28:58
its 4th anniversary this year. So for all the listeners and
29:02
viewers out in Portland, just a quick plug, Saturday, August the
29:05
8th, Building a Culture of Reading in Your Classroom,
29:08
Barnes & Noble's Clackamas in this town center in Portland,
29:12
Oregon, beginning at 11:00 am and then going all the way until
29:15
4:00 pm to immersive experiences, story times in the
29:18
mornings to the early afternoon, and then an interactive panel
29:22
discussion, Q and A meet and greet and book signing,
29:25
co-headlined by Tony Patino, the Emmy Award-winning co-creator of
29:29
Reading Rainbow, Aron Nels Steinke who is one of
29:31
Scholastic's top authors, he is one of the leading graphic
29:35
novelists in the world of children's literature. Of
29:38
course, the creator of the Mr. Wolf's Class graphic novel
29:41
series, again, published by Scholastic. The event will be
29:44
co-hosted and co-moderated by myself. And you remember him,
29:48
and you love him as the beloved Mr. McFeely and the popular
29:51
long-running children's television program Mr. Rogers'
29:54
Neighborhood. I mentioned David Newell previously. But again,
29:58
Building a Culture of Reading in Your Classroom, you can reserve
30:01
your tickets right now. Free event that we're offering to the
30:05
Portland community as well. And then as many authors and their
30:08
journeys are taking flight, especially for those authors who
30:12
are stepping into the world of children's literature, they're
30:15
writing their memoir, they're writing a spiritual book in the
30:19
process. It's important that I remind that your story needs to
30:22
be shared. If we believe, all of us, the billions of people that
30:26
are on this planet, if we all believe that we all have a story
30:30
that is worthy to share, I feel that the world would be a much
30:33
better place. The world would be a much more kinder, empathic,
30:37
compassionate, more loving place. You can head on over to
30:40
the official website of PR From The Heart, which is
30:43
prfromtheheart com. You can connect with me on social media
30:46
at PR From The Heart. We keep it simple, so Instagram, Facebook,
30:50
X, all at PR From The Heart. You can subscribe to PR From The
30:53
Heart's official YouTube channel. And of course, you can
30:57
watch current and past episodes of the Children's Book Spotlight
31:00
Series, which again is one of the leading, most popular
31:04
podcasts in the world of children's literature, along
31:07
with the Neighborly Reviews Bookcast, which is of course one
31:10
of the leading children's book podcasts and book review
31:13
programs for parents, educators and librarians in the United
31:17
States and Canada. We've been very fortunate to bring back one
31:20
of the crown jewels of PR From The Heart, which is Empowering
31:24
Reads For Kids where, of course, I'm very fortunate to team up
31:27
with Chelsea Lavelle, who is the host of News 4 Buffalo's Daytime
31:31
Buffalo, one of the only dedicated monthly children's
31:34
book review segments on television nationwide.
31:37
So you can, of course, stay connected to the official PR
31:40
From The Heart YouTube channel. And of course, you can learn
31:43
more information on how PR From The Heart, my team and I can
31:46
help and support you in your next steps, whether it be a
31:49
citywide book media tour, whether it be a national book
31:52
media tour. Simply just learning more information about the
31:55
Children's Book Spotlight Series, the Neighborly Reviews
31:58
Bookcast, and Empowering Reads For Kids. And then for those who
32:01
wish to pledge their support and purchase their copies of Walking
32:04
Each Other Home—Zachary's Mission: A Hospice for Children,
32:07
published by our friends and neighbors at Trolley Stop
32:09
Publishing, you can head on over to my official website of my
32:14
first name and my last name .com, so johnmasiulionis.com.
32:17
You can also go to amazon.com, both Dr. Price and I know the
32:21
fact that those five star, we're not doing Beyonce's here on Dr.
32:25
Price's podcast. This is when you leave that five star review
32:28
that lets me know that this work is getting out more into the
32:32
community. And of course, a portion of the proceeds of all
32:35
sales will go towards the eventual creation of the
32:38
Children's Hospice and Palliative Care Facility in San
32:42
Diego, California.
32:43
But again, Jim, I want to thank you for this invitation. For me,
32:47
it's interesting. I'll leave you with this, the fact that life is
32:51
an opportunity, each day is an opportunity, and this just goes
32:55
back to what I told to my grandmother that on the surface,
32:59
when it looked like there was nothing working, when it looked
33:03
like I did not have anything in my life, and I promised her, I
33:07
said that, for each opportunity that would be given to me, that
33:11
I would be grateful for that. And as things continue to get
33:15
better in our lives, it's important to remember the fact
33:18
that if you have the blessings of the good health, that you're
33:22
doing very well financially, your family is doing well
33:26
financially, all of that can be gone in a glimmer. It can be
33:30
gone in a second. So the importance of just remaining
33:33
appreciative, grateful and blessed, because when you do all
33:37
of that and you take the necessary next steps, you can
33:40
very much stay connected and move forward with your mission
33:44
and your purpose. You can bring more passion into your life, and
33:48
then things can be that much more fun and magical. And in
33:52
many respects, life can almost be like a Disney movie where
33:56
your wishes can be fulfilled. I even brought props for our interview.
34:00
Jim Price:: I love it, John. I absolutely, once again, you've
34:05
been definitely intramural. A lot of things, I do too. I'm so
34:08
glad that we crossed paths in our lives. We've both continued
34:11
to be blessed in so many different ways and aspects, and
34:14
trying to inspire change and use in a positive way, not within
34:18
the US, but across the world as well. I appreciate having you
34:22
on, and being able to share your journey, and the things that
34:26
you're doing. I know you'll continue to be blessed in your
34:28
progress moving forward. I'm sure we're definitely going to
34:30
be working. We have a work relationship and a friend
34:33
relationship too, so we'll definitely be working together
34:35
at some point soon. To our viewers, we're hoping that you
34:39
enjoyed this conversation on The Purpose and Progress Podcast
34:43
show. Don't forget to subscribe to the channel. Remember that
34:47
when you're trying to do something positive, positive
34:49
things will come out in return. Hope you enjoyed this show here,
34:53
and stay tuned for next time.
34:56
Thank you for joining me on this episode of The Purpose in
35:00
Progress Podcast. I hope today's conversation gave you insight,
35:04
inspiration, or a fresh perspective to help you move
35:07
forward with purpose. If you enjoyed the episode, please
35:10
subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who could
35:13
use a little encouragement. You can also support the podcast
35:16
through the donation link in the show notes. Every contribution
35:20
helps us keep sharing stories that uplift and inspire.
35:23
Remember, your purpose is waiting, and progress never
35:26
stops. I'll see you next time.