Latest / Arroe Collins Like It's Live / A Spectacular Inheritance From Author Margaret Eastman Smith Was It The Birth Of AA

Transcript

A Spectacular Inheritance From Author Margaret Eastman Smith Was It The Birth Of AA · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I guess you could say it's a page out of
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: the old radio days, and can I really do that?
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Since I've been in radio since the age of fourteen,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: stretching all the way back to the disco era. The
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: one thing that's missing from today's music scene, it's history,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: which was the reason why we created the new podcast,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Music's Lost History. I'm going to totally set you up
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: on what song we're talking about, but the question is
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: can you guess it before I share it? Music's Lost
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: History only on Arrow dot net Arrie dot Net. Enjoy
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: your exploration. Hello Erro, Hello and good morning Margaret. How
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: are you doing today?
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: I'm very well, Thank you.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm very excited to share a conversation with you
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: because you kind of trapes into an area that really
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: does go into the mind, body, and soul. But it's
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: also an exploration that really gives it back to the
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: reader to where they can incorporate it and activate it
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: in their own personal lives. But as that author, what
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: were you feeling knowing what you were going to be
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: putting on that page?
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Well, it was sometimes it's pretty scary because I was
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: saying things that I wasn't sure all the people who
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: I knew from.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: The past were going to like, so I had to
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: get through that. I also had to reflect.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: On the impact of this on my parents and my
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: immediate family. And it certainly has been easier to publish
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: this book after my parents have passed away because it
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: was a complicated story for all of us.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: I totally understand that, because there are certain things that
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: we hold back on, but then it sits there inmance
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: and firmance. So how is your heart and how were
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: you able to make your way through a journey when
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: you could have been more open a lot lot earlier.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you for asking how my heart is. And
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: I'm learning things every day about this story, so there
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: is a way in which I keep getting new insights
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: about it. And there's nothing like publishing your memoir to
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: get other people's comments and that makes you think more.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: I feel mostly empowered, yes, by telling this story.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: So basically, it's like what Julia Cameron says with the
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: artist way, you've got to get in there and clean
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: out that closet so that we can get more life
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: back in there and start, you know, creating new memories
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: and new adventures.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: That's exactly right. Yeah, I love Julia Cameron's book, and
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: I've used it myself, and I've used it in teaching
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: memoir writing classes and so on.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Yes, well see, and that I can I can almost
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: feel that in the title itself, when you put what
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: I kept in what I left behind, I'm going, oh,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: wait a second, that sounds like a Julia cameronism right there.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: Okay, right, well, just the idea that it's not so simple,
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: So you have to find the things that were important
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: that you want to hang on to.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: And the things that weren't.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: And of course we all would prefer a.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Simple formula for all of this and just find out
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: a way to say it was all bad or it
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: was all good. That's not quite the way it goes
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: when you start exploring it more.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Well, and that's the thing about it. I mean, how
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: many people on this side of the book cover are
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: sitting there thinking that we understand what developed into AA.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, MRA was something that was very new to
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: me when I picked up the book, But my god,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: you make it so intriguing and making me want to
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: learn more about it without hitting a chat, GPT or
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: some other AI device.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: Well, well great, I think that the story of moral
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: rearmament is actually an undertold story, yes, and is pretty fascinating.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: And the way that people took it in other directions
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: is also a big part of the story. That not
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: everybody just stuck around in moral rearmament. They went and
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: founded up with people, or they founded alcoholics anonymous, and
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: in some ways they saw that it wasn't going to
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: be so useful to stick.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: Around with moral re armament.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: And then the ones who did stick around were very sincere,
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: very dedicated when to all parts of the world, gave
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: up a lot of personal popes and ambitions to serve
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: the world in different ways, and so there was a
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: very honorable core to this in spite of the fact
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: that some weird things happened, which is what happens when
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: you're a human being.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Please do not move. We're back with Margaret Eastman Smith.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Coming up next, the name of the book, A Spectacular Inheritance.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: We are back with author Margaret Eastman Smith. I gotta
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: tell you, Margaret that it really reads like a Hollywood movie,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: because I mean, I even put in my notes here
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: here there are so much turmoil, twisty turny Kirby things
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: going on that I think Tom Cruise would sit back
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: and say, I ain't starring in that movie. There's too much.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, you've got a lot of stuff. But see,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: that's what makes it intriguing and so so worth the
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: investment of experiencing what you put on paper.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: I'm glad you felt that way, and.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Because we can all learn from it. Margaret, that's the
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: thing about it is that the way that your writing
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: instrument put things in there, there's always something to be
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: picked up and taken forward with us. That's the way
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: you've presented this story.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: Well that's what I felt in that. I felt that
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: the best.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Way to sort of redeem the story or to.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: Recognize that it was all useful, even if some.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Of it was painful and weird and difficult, some of
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: it was glorious. But the best way to evaluate it
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: in the end is to recognize that there are truths
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: at the heart of this that take you forward in life. Yep, yeap.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: But but oh we got we got to speaking of
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Tom Cruise, we've got to be able to bring up
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: a line here, But can you handle the truth? And
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, how are you able to handle the truth?
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: How am I able to handle the truth?
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean, that's the boy. That's something you can't
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: pick up an Amazon or Walmart. You got to handle
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: that on your own.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Yes, well, I mean, of course, each of us is
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: willing to handle as much truth as we can handle,
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: and then the question is are we willing to dig deeper?
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: And so there may be further truths to to merge
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: for me through this, But you know, I think that
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: that's what the excitement of life is about, actually, is
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: pushing on the truth, and I think those who are
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: not doing that are missing out on a big dimension. Well,
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: I just think that leading lives that are unexamined, which
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: is kind of easy to do in a world where
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: we are so bombarded with so much stuffs coming in
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: from outside, doesn't give us the chance to reflect on
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: what's really happened to us and what's happening on the
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: inside of us. And so I'm trying to fly the
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: flag for that. I think it's been enormously enriching that
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: I decided to take the plunge and tried telling the story.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Your book is coming out at such an important time,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: and here's one of the reasons why I just did
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: this big article and story for iHeartRadio in the way
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: of is life moving faster or is it our memories?
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: And so when we talk about a memoir such as this,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: did it slow down for you at all while you
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: were putting the book together? And now that it's out,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: do you have a better grip on the speed of
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: life as it's moving through each and every one of us.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: Oh that's so interesting. But I mean, I think that
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: the sense of the speed of life, of course increases
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: as you get older. So there's that, you know.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, I want to break that rule. I
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: want to break that rule though. I want to say no,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: I wanted to slow down, just like it did when
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: I was a six year old kid waiting for school
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: to get out. I mean, I want to. I mean,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: we got to break this rule somehow, some way. And
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: you know what, everything that I researched, Marko was it says,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: go right, right, right right, It'll slow down time. That's
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: why I'm so excited to hear from you.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: Well, that's true.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: And of course then you're speaking to the whole endeavor
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: of writing, yes, And of course to write, you have
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: to screen out the other stuff that's going on, make
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: time for it, focus on it, and live with it.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: So that you write the first time, and then when
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: you come back to it the next day, you realize
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: there's actually a whole other layer underneath there. Yes, and
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: then maybe you show it to some other people and
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: then you realize that it triggers some other stuff for them. Wow,
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: it's an adventure to do that. It really is.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more about everything
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: that you're doing because you're on the right path of
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: helping people grow forward with their own stories on the
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: inside as well as outside.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: Well, I do believe in that. I have a website,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Margaret Eastmansmith dot com, and you can you can find
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: out more about this book on that website, including family
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: photos and that kind of stuff.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: I've also got a blog that I publish.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: A column on we are One Humanity dot org, and
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: so you can see what I've written both on my
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: website and on that site. I'm still figuring out what
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: to spend most of my time with, but I've certainly
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: launched in in the direction of creating memoir writing gatherings
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: and discovering when you do that, just what each person's
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: need is and their reason for being there and how
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: we can help them. And I have trained as a psychotherapist,
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: So although I'm not a practicing therapist, I recognize that
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: writing a memoir is a kind of therapy, is a
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: healing process.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Yep, you got to come back to this show anytime
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: in the future, Margaret. The door is always going to
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: be open for you.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: I love that arrow. I love that you've taken the
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: book into your heart so much, and it's great to
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: talk to you.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: You'd be brilliant today.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: Okay, okay,