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Hey folks, welcome to episode 11 of a Pebble in a Pond podcast.

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We're going to talk about inspiration today.

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What is inspiration?

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Well, it's a kind of a nebulous idea for some, but for most people I think that it can be

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defined just like it is in the dictionary.

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It is the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do

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something creative.

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That is the dictionary definition of inspiration.

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Well, why are we having an episode about inspiration?

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Well, because I think that at the heart of what we want to do here with this channel

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and the TikTok and everything else that we're doing is we want to inspire people.

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We want to affect change in people and we want people to understand exactly where and

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how the energy that you are going to use to make these changes is coming from.

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A lot of it is being inspired towards change.

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I can say, oh, well, the world would be a better place if you do this or the world would be

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a better place if we do that.

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But if people aren't inspired to make that change, if you don't feel the drive inside

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of you to do that, if it's just something that you're doing rationally and there's no

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emotional stimulation, then it becomes difficult to maintain the effort and the focus that

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you need to continue to make the changes in your life.

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These changes aren't always going to be easy.

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Changing your mindset, changing your worldview, these aren't always going to be things that

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people can do easily.

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And so it's important to try to understand where our inspiration comes from, what it

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is we're trying to do and how we can continue to move forward when things get difficult.

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Inspiration is oftentimes the beginning of something, the middle of something when things

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start to get hard and the end of something.

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Because what will happen is you will start your journey with inspiration.

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You will be inspired to movement.

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Things will begin to be difficult and you will need to rely and lay back on that inspiration

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to keep going through the difficulties.

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And then once you have achieved what you want to achieve, you will be reinvigorated.

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You will be re-inspired by the fact that you have been able to accomplish whatever it is

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you set out to do.

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And now you feel stronger, you feel more capable, you feel better about your next challenge.

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And that alone will open up other inspiration for you and make you want to do more and see

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more and be more as you go.

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So what we're going to talk about today is we're going to talk about some very simple

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ideas that we can use to inspire ourselves when we're not feeling great, when we're feeling

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down, when we're feeling unmotivated.

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This motivation and inspiration aren't quite the same thing, but they are very close.

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So some of this will be self-motivation techniques, if you want to put it that way, but they're

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also more geared towards really affecting you on an emotional level and that's really

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key for this.

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Motivation can be a psychological thing.

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You can motivate yourself mentally, but you might not feel it.

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Like when you know you need to go to the gym, so you mentally, but it's not the same thing

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as inspiring yourself to go to the gym.

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I hope that people understand that difference.

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Before we start the episode and we get to the music, I want to make sure that everybody

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understands that this episode is releasing on the 15th, which is also Martin Luther King

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Jr's day.

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And in light of that, I'd like to start this episode with a quote that completely and totally

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summarizes everything that I'm trying to do with this podcast and with my TikTok channel

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and all my social media.

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Everything I am trying to do stems from this quote and honestly is inspired by this quote,

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which makes it just perfect for today.

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MLK once said, life's most persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for

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others?

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He said that in Montgomery, Alabama in 1957.

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And unfortunately, it's one of those quotes that you don't always see pop up when people

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talk about him or when people really start to focus on all the different things that

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he said and what he meant in his life to so many people.

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But the idea of living your life, understanding that your purpose is the betterment of yourself

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so that you can help others.

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What are you doing for others?

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How do you push the needle forward for others?

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How are you going to make an impact on this world?

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That is key to everything we're doing here.

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And one point I want to make with this before we start the music is that the reason this

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question is persistent and urgent is because if you're not looking for the answer, if you're

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not trying to figure out what you are doing for others, what you may fail to understand

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is that you are actively hurting people if you're not helping people.

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And to illustrate that, I'll use one more MLK quote.

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He said, our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

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So remember that if you're not actively trying to be a good and positive force and you're

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just remaining silent or even worse, being an actual negative drain on the people around

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you, you have to change that.

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We have to be better.

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We're trying to create the change that many years ago MLK thought about.

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We are all, no matter the color of your skin, no matter the religion that you follow, no

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matter who you are or where you come from, we are all trying to see his dream become

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a reality.

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And that doesn't start with a movement of millions of people.

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That starts with each one of us as individuals pushing forward and being aware, alert, and

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conscious of the decisions that we make and the effect that they have on the people around

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us.

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So please, no matter when you hear this, no matter when you listen to this, do yourself

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a favor and just take a few moments.

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You can Google quotes from MLK.

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You can look up a story of his life.

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You can do anything you want to do, but spend a few moments reflecting on who he was as

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a man and what he did to push the needle forward and how you can pick up the baton and run

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with it.

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This episode is about inspiration and I can't think of anyone better than MLK to start an

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episode about inspiration.

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And now let's cue the music.

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So, inspiration, huh?

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Well, I think that we're going to really get into this in really the best way I can think,

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which is to explain why you're listening.

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Because this all came from inspiration, this podcast and everything else that I'm doing

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right now to try to get this message out, these messages of love and light and positivity

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that I'm trying to bring into the world all came from inspiration really.

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For those of you that follow the TikTok channel, you'll know that I have spoken a few times

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about where this idea for the podcast came from.

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And I don't want to continue to tell the same story over and over again.

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So I think that it's just important to understand that at my absolute worst, at the absolute

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lowest point you can possibly get to where ending yourself is on the table and you're

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actively in discussions with yourself, that's where, the very bottom is where this idea

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came from.

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And the purpose of it, the inspiration behind it was to try to find a bridge between myself

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and my friend who we had grown so far apart that I just didn't know if we were ever going

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to ever be able to do anything together again.

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We worked very well together when we had worked together and our lives had just taken us in

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separate directions so much so that we had become different people.

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I had seen that this was a person that I wanted to have in my life for a long time.

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When you start to try to feel that loss and understand what the next chapter will bring

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if you suffer that loss, you start looking for ways to pull that person back, to bring

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that union back together and that's where this came from.

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But it wasn't just that.

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There has been a quote from one of the most important people in my entire life that has

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rung in my head since the moment I first heard it and I remember hearing it in a movie theater.

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And I'm going to say the quote and you'll know where it's from, I mean almost everybody

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knows what it's from, but I can't say it.

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I can't say it the way that he said it and I'm not going to do it justice.

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In the movie Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams' character says, no matter what people tell

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you, words and ideas can change the world.

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When I had this inspiration to start a podcast, which is kind of the silly thing to say when

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you think about it, it was really more about trying to find a way to truly help people.

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I had spent so many years lost in depression and really selfishness that I just couldn't

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understand what had happened to me.

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When I was younger, I had done so many things to try to help people.

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I had been a guardian angel.

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I had been a mentor to people.

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I was a leader among the people that knew me.

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I was always trying to push people forward and to try to be not necessarily an example

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because I've always been a bit of a brigand, a bit of a rogue if you will, but to try to

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serve examples, to try to give people inspiration, to try to push people into being good people.

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I'm not really talking necessarily about true morality here as much as I'm talking about

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just trying to inspire people to not hurt people, to not be negative, to not be the

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bad influence that so many people become in life.

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The reality was is that as I slipped further into this depression, which really did take

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place over the course of probably five years until I cemented it and that just became who

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I was, it took me some time to really descend.

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I lost the ability to inspire people.

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I lost the ability to...

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When I say inspire people, I mean in a positive way, to really move people.

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Now I could always...

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I have the ability to inspire fear and things like that.

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I've always had the ability to be influential among people, but to truly inspire people

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to greatness and to be the person that gives them the motivation and the direction that

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they need to accomplish their dreams.

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That's something that I lost in that period of depression.

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It's something that I'm going to regret because you will always wonder what could have happened,

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who could I have made a difference with, whose life could I have altered in that time when

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I was just lost?

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How much better could the world be if I hadn't lost myself in a mind numbing depression for

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so many years?

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I can't really think like that.

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I can't really pull myself back like that, but at the same time, it's always there.

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It always lingers.

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But I'm back now.

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That's the whole point of what I'm trying to say here now is that I'm not stuck.

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I'm not mired in that depression anymore.

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I still feel it.

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I'm still depressed.

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It's still part of me, but in the moment that I had this inspiration for this podcast and

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for the TikTok channel and everything, it really truly was a moment of inspiration.

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Just like you read about in the books, it was a eureka moment.

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It was one minute I was laying in my bed crying, contemplating suicide, and the next minute

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I was moved.

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I was shaken.

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I had to do something.

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I had to change.

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I had to make a difference.

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It really honestly was instantaneous.

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Now I can't really speak to where that inspiration came from.

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I don't know what energy transference happened there.

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I don't know exactly how it worked, but I can't deny the results.

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I can't deny that I could not be here sitting here recording this episode if I hadn't been

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inspired.

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Would I have done the unthinkable?

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I don't know.

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It was definitely on the table.

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So I don't know if I could have done it.

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I don't know if I would have done it, but it was there and I was facing it.

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In light of that, I happened upon something that inspired this.

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At the heart of that is that quote, no matter what people tell you, words and ideas can

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change the world.

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I've lived 48 years on this planet and I have been told over and over again how powerful

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one person can be.

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It's almost trite.

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It's almost like a meme at this point in time.

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You don't even believe it anymore, but I have to.

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I have to believe that one person can make a difference.

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I have to believe in what I'm doing because when I tell you that this is true inspiration,

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that this is coming from something outside of me, I know I sound like a crazy person

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and maybe I am.

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Maybe I am completely and totally bat shit crazy, but if I'm doing it to help people

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and I'm doing it in a positive way and I'm doing it in a way that I know is having a

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positive effect on people's lives, I can't second guess it.

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I can't sit here and tell you that it's not a good inspiration.

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I wanted to make sure that I talked about that as briefly as I could, which obviously

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was not that brief, but I wanted to talk about it because inspiration, the concept of inspiration,

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the idea of inspiration is quite literally the reason that you're hearing my voice right

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now and it means a lot to me.

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It means a lot.

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It changed the course of my life.

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It changed the fact that I have a life possibly.

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In doing that, it changes the course of my family's life.

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It changes the course of the people that I come in contact with, all of the people that

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I've been able to talk with and help and make a difference in their lives with these short

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videos I'm making and stuff.

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They're all tied to this one moment of inspiration.

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So remember this.

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You don't have to remember anything else, but remember this.

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I know for a fact that the actions that I have taken since my one moment of inspiration

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have changed multiple people's lives for the better.

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You can do that.

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You can take this moment right now that you're hearing my voice as your inspiration because

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I can prove to you that it works.

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I have helped multiple people.

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I have talked people down from their own suicide attempts.

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I have talked people into better relationships with their parents.

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I have talked with those parents to try to reach an understanding with their children.

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I have helped people on TikTok that were dealing with severe depression and regret and pain

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and people that were, they just needed a friend.

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They just needed somebody to talk to.

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They were alone.

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There are actually multiple people that are living in really bad situations that I've

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talked to that even though it was just really quick words, I know that I've helped them.

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I know that they feel as if I've helped them.

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And none of that happens if I don't sink as low as I possibly can and find that one moment

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of inspiration that changes me and creates this platform literally in one single moment.

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So if you're hearing this and you're looking for something to inspire you, understand it

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is there.

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The inspiration is there.

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It is inside of you.

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I may not be the voice that sparks it.

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My actions may not be enough to move you, but I promise you it is there and it will

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awaken.

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You will find it.

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And when you do, what I want to do here in this next segment we're going to get into

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is make sure that you understand it and that you're able to act on it as quickly as you

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possibly can.

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I saw a TED talk once.

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I don't remember who was giving the TED talk, but I remember this one point.

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She said, almost every single idea that we ever have is gone in five seconds.

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Every moment that you have this moment where you're, you know, you have a great idea and

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you don't do anything about it.

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You don't write it down.

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So many of the world's greatest ideas have gone to the wayside because somebody couldn't

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find a piece of paper in a pen because somebody couldn't type it in as a note on their phone

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because they had this great idea and they just kind of let it evaporate.

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So when you find your inspiration, no matter how crazy it may seem, write it down, tell

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it to somebody, you know, workshop it right away.

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Don't wait.

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Don't wait.

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Just get up and do something about it.

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Make sure that you have a concrete piece of reminder of what your inspiration was.

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It is so important because you don't want to lose these things as they come to you.

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I have taken to just always having something near me.

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And if I don't have something near me that I can literally write with, then I have my

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phone.

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I will always, and I will just pick up my phone.

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I actually downloaded a voice recorder specifically so that I could just pick it up.

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The problem is, and this is kind of funny, I found out that the voice recorder that I

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downloaded has a limit in time.

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So I actually had been out driving and I had this great idea and I start talking into the

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voice recorder and I'm just talking and talking and talking.

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I had to have been 15, 20 minutes in and I come and I look and the thing stopped at five

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minutes.

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I lost everything.

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So things like that you want to be careful of because you can easily lose a lot of progress

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in your inspiration if you're not careful about the technology that you're using.

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Another really important aspect of trying to keep a way of keeping notes or write something

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down or record something is that a lot of times your inspiration or your, I guess, vision

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that you're going to have is not going to come in one whole piece.

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A lot of times you're not going to experience these things as a full fleshed out everything

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is in it kind of moment.

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It's just going to be little flashes of this and that as you're moving through your life

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and you're doing other things.

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And if you are able to capture those little things and write them down, then you can go

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back and piece them together later.

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And I can't impress upon you how important that is.

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Some of the greatest writers, some of the greatest orators, some of the greatest, just

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when you think about screenwriters and directors and things like that, these people, they just

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keep little notepads with them and they jot down ideas as they come to them.

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This is how many, many, many authors work.

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I think Roald Dahl, the author, children book author, he actually, people would talk about

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all the time how he had one of those little handheld notepads and he would just, they

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were just ideas that he had and then he would take them and as he would write a book, he

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would go through his notepads and he would scratch off the ones that he had used and

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then he would have more ideas.

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So just remember that your inspiration and the things that you are imagining and kind

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of going through, they're not always going to be complete ideas.

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You're not always going to have to write down your PowerPoint presentation for why you want

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to open up this business or whatever.

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Sometimes it's just a simple matter of, you know, I want to help people.

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I want to tell the story of this.

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I want to, you know, and it doesn't even have to be that fleshed out.

302
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You can literally be like a big, big monster guy with horns that's really nice.

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You know, just something simple like that.

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It doesn't have to be a fully fleshed out idea.

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Just write down or record or whatever.

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Keep your notes of what's going through your head.

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Here's an important part of this.

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You're the only one doing this.

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Now we can all go and do exactly what I'm saying here.

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Everybody on the planet can go do exactly what they're saying.

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And yeah, you're going to end up having a few people that have the same idea, probably

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a couple hundred thousand people, maybe even a million people that all have the same general

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idea, which is fine because we all have influences and backgrounds and things like that that

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will contribute to the creation of those things in our heads.

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But at the end of the day, there's going to be differences.

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You're the only one that has your thoughts and your voice.

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And that's what makes you important.

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What is the true tragedy of all of our lives is think about how many people you know, think

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about how many people have come through your life.

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Think about how many people that you have, you have seen come and go through this their

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entire life and they had so much beauty, so much grace, so much wonderful things, so many

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wonderful things about them.

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And yet it's all gone now.

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It's all gone.

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They had they had, and I'm not trying to be, you know, self-important here, but had they

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had this advice, had they been able to take these moments, then some of the things that

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you know about them, the things that you often will think about when you remember them, the

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beautiful, wonderful moments that you had with them, they could have lived on in a real

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tangible way.

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They could have brought their beauty into the world had they been truly inspired and

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had they understood how to capture that moment and how to make it theirs and how to make

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it special.

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That's the problem.

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We're not taught at any point how to really, truly capitalize on our inspiration.

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No one tells us that.

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Like from the time we're born until the time we leave high school, it's very rare that

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you have a teacher or, you know, some sort of administrator or even parents, honestly,

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at some point that will tell you, capture this.

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Don't don't let this slip.

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You know, stay right, ride whatever you're you're on here.

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Write it down.

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Do something with it.

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Like very rarely does anybody actually, you know, say follow your inspiration.

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Now people will put it on postcards and they'll, you know, they have t-shirts and things like

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that.

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But that means a lot less when you see it out in the wild like that than it does when

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somebody is literally telling you, you know what, you have this moment, you have this

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thing that's coming out of you.

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You have this, you're the only one that has it.

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So make sure that you're getting it and just capture it as it comes.

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And then you'll be able to put it all together later.

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You see what I mean?

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And it really is a tragedy because the amount of beauty and amazing things that we've all

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missed out on because we just, nobody knew, nobody understood.

355
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So let's not let that happen anymore.

356
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Right?

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Like let's do what we can to try to encourage people and to try to make people understand

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just how beautiful and wonderful and powerful they can be.

359
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Let them help them bring their beauty and their magic into the world.

360
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That's all I'm asking.

361
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And I don't think it's asking too much.

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Give people the support and the encouragement they deserve and that they need to feel like

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they can actually push the needle forward, that they can make a difference, that they

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can inspire others.

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00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:07,060
That is the greatest gift you can give someone is believing in them and standing by them

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as they accomplish their dreams.

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No one ever forgets that and they shouldn't.

368
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So we have notes and things like that.

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Some people even go so far as to call it vision boards.

370
00:28:19,980 --> 00:28:22,620
I mean, that's a good way of looking at it.

371
00:28:22,620 --> 00:28:26,500
If you know anything about making vision boards, I don't know much about vision boards because

372
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I've never really done one.

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00:28:29,220 --> 00:28:32,860
My vision board is like the inside of my forehead.

374
00:28:32,860 --> 00:28:38,180
I kind of just, and that's where I imagine I put all my ideas.

375
00:28:38,180 --> 00:28:43,100
But it's definitely something that I should probably do, especially considering this episode.

376
00:28:43,100 --> 00:28:44,300
So maybe I'll look into it.

377
00:28:44,300 --> 00:28:47,300
I don't really know what goes into it, so I can't speak to it.

378
00:28:47,300 --> 00:28:49,580
But my understanding is that this is kind of the same idea.

379
00:28:49,580 --> 00:28:53,460
You know, you take quotes and images and things like that, which we're going to get into that

380
00:28:53,460 --> 00:28:55,600
in just a minute.

381
00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:58,820
So what other things can you do to really help you with inspiration?

382
00:28:58,820 --> 00:29:04,620
Now, keep in mind that for a lot of people, inspiration will take on the form of a creative

383
00:29:04,620 --> 00:29:05,620
approach, right?

384
00:29:05,620 --> 00:29:10,580
Like people want to draw or they want to write or they want to, you know, whatever it may

385
00:29:10,580 --> 00:29:11,580
be.

386
00:29:11,580 --> 00:29:14,420
They want to sing, whatever it is.

387
00:29:14,420 --> 00:29:19,820
So one of the kind of low tech and relatively easy things you can do if you're trying to

388
00:29:19,820 --> 00:29:23,940
be creative and you're trying to inspire yourself is quite literally just do that thing.

389
00:29:23,940 --> 00:29:27,580
And that doesn't mean that, you know, you're not sitting down and like searching for perfection

390
00:29:27,580 --> 00:29:28,860
every time.

391
00:29:28,860 --> 00:29:34,460
It means that, you know, you keep a pad and a pencil or pen or whatever.

392
00:29:34,460 --> 00:29:40,380
And you know, if you want to do art, you want to be an artist, start doodling, start drawing.

393
00:29:40,380 --> 00:29:45,060
It doesn't have to be a Rembrandt every time you do it, but you just sit down and you,

394
00:29:45,060 --> 00:29:48,020
you know, draw some lines, doodle.

395
00:29:48,020 --> 00:29:52,780
Just let the creative juices flow.

396
00:29:52,780 --> 00:29:58,820
And oftentimes, you know, people do that and they get discouraged by what comes out.

397
00:29:58,820 --> 00:30:02,260
But the whole point is that, that is missed on most of those people is that something's

398
00:30:02,260 --> 00:30:04,260
coming out, right?

399
00:30:04,260 --> 00:30:07,180
Like not everybody can do that.

400
00:30:07,180 --> 00:30:09,820
That is not something that everybody can do.

401
00:30:09,820 --> 00:30:15,540
And so most of the time, many of us will, you know, we'll put our efforts into a creative

402
00:30:15,540 --> 00:30:21,780
moment, or, you know, we'll have these small little, you know, desires or inclinations

403
00:30:21,780 --> 00:30:24,420
to doodle or write something quickly.

404
00:30:24,420 --> 00:30:28,500
And then we immediately discard it because, you know, we're worried about how other people

405
00:30:28,500 --> 00:30:31,420
will see it or it's not up to our own standards.

406
00:30:31,420 --> 00:30:35,180
But what you don't understand and what most of us just fail to understand, I know I do

407
00:30:35,180 --> 00:30:40,660
all the time, is that not everybody can do that.

408
00:30:40,660 --> 00:30:42,620
You're looking past the fact that not everybody can do it.

409
00:30:42,620 --> 00:30:47,820
And while it may not be up to your standards, for some of those people, it may be one of

410
00:30:47,820 --> 00:30:51,020
the greatest things they've ever seen in their entire life.

411
00:30:51,020 --> 00:30:55,980
When you did it without, you know, sight unseen, without even really paying attention to it,

412
00:30:55,980 --> 00:31:00,780
it was quite literally a doodle or just an idea that you jotted down really fast.

413
00:31:00,780 --> 00:31:04,660
And it's, you know, you think of it, you're like, who would ever want this?

414
00:31:04,660 --> 00:31:08,380
And one of them will see it and be like, this is the greatest piece of literature I've ever

415
00:31:08,380 --> 00:31:10,620
read in my entire life.

416
00:31:10,620 --> 00:31:15,820
So just keep in mind that, you know, we are always our harshest critics.

417
00:31:15,820 --> 00:31:19,500
So when you have those doodles or you have those ideas that you're jotting down or you

418
00:31:19,500 --> 00:31:25,420
have these little things that you just kind of are, you know, free flowing with, don't

419
00:31:25,420 --> 00:31:28,340
judge yourself in those moments.

420
00:31:28,340 --> 00:31:30,220
There's not time for that.

421
00:31:30,220 --> 00:31:32,060
You don't need that in your life.

422
00:31:32,060 --> 00:31:35,540
We will always be our harshest critic.

423
00:31:35,540 --> 00:31:38,980
Don't let yourself judge yourself in that moment.

424
00:31:38,980 --> 00:31:41,180
Like you have to stop it.

425
00:31:41,180 --> 00:31:43,060
And I know that's difficult.

426
00:31:43,060 --> 00:31:44,500
It's difficult for all of us.

427
00:31:44,500 --> 00:31:50,220
We're always afraid of rejection, so we oftentimes will reject ourselves first so that no one

428
00:31:50,220 --> 00:31:52,380
else can do it for us.

429
00:31:52,380 --> 00:31:55,580
Well, stop that.

430
00:31:55,580 --> 00:31:56,700
It's just that simple.

431
00:31:56,700 --> 00:31:59,420
You just have to start saying, no, no, I'm not going to do that.

432
00:31:59,420 --> 00:32:00,500
I'm not going to do this.

433
00:32:00,500 --> 00:32:02,100
I'm not going to throw away my work.

434
00:32:02,100 --> 00:32:04,700
I'm not going to look past what I've done.

435
00:32:04,700 --> 00:32:08,940
Even if it's just something very simple, even if it's literally just a squirrely line, a

436
00:32:08,940 --> 00:32:12,940
swirly, not a squirrely line, a swirly line on a piece of paper.

437
00:32:12,940 --> 00:32:16,100
Something that you did while you were sitting there being creative.

438
00:32:16,100 --> 00:32:17,100
Save it.

439
00:32:17,100 --> 00:32:18,100
Keep it.

440
00:32:18,100 --> 00:32:19,100
Look at it later.

441
00:32:19,100 --> 00:32:22,260
There might be something there that you don't understand yet.

442
00:32:22,260 --> 00:32:26,300
There might be something there that will inspire something else later.

443
00:32:26,300 --> 00:32:28,100
There might be an emotion that you're capturing.

444
00:32:28,100 --> 00:32:33,820
There might be a thought that you had that you can attribute to that little swirly line.

445
00:32:33,820 --> 00:32:39,360
And then when you look at it later, you'll be like, oh, hey, that was a good idea.

446
00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:47,040
Don't look past how you express yourself and don't second guess what's coming out of you.

447
00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:51,140
Even in moments when you're not like consciously aware of it.

448
00:32:51,140 --> 00:32:56,780
Always, always, always give yourself the credit to understand that there is a reason why you

449
00:32:56,780 --> 00:33:02,540
do that, why you're a creative, why you have that outlet because not everybody does.

450
00:33:02,540 --> 00:33:07,380
So just keep that in mind as you, you know, you're, you're trying to continue to find

451
00:33:07,380 --> 00:33:08,720
inspiration.

452
00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:12,260
Sometimes that inspiration is happening and you just don't see it because you're judging

453
00:33:12,260 --> 00:33:14,100
yourself.

454
00:33:14,100 --> 00:33:20,500
Something else that I know for me has helped a lot is, especially with the podcast and

455
00:33:20,500 --> 00:33:26,680
things like that is try to learn something you don't know.

456
00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:31,620
Try to, try to think of things in a different way.

457
00:33:31,620 --> 00:33:34,100
This really does help with inspiration quite a bit.

458
00:33:34,100 --> 00:33:40,460
Actually, I can speak to this because every episode of the podcast, I spend a day or two,

459
00:33:40,460 --> 00:33:44,820
at least researching the topic of that podcast.

460
00:33:44,820 --> 00:33:49,880
And while not every, every episode requires a lot of research, there is a lot that goes

461
00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:55,980
into it as far as just sitting and reading and trying to understand different takes on

462
00:33:55,980 --> 00:33:58,540
different subjects and things like that.

463
00:33:58,540 --> 00:34:02,480
And so you have to read, there's all sorts of, it's crazy how many scientific papers

464
00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:05,480
have been written and all of these things about all the different things that go on

465
00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:06,860
inside of our heads.

466
00:34:06,860 --> 00:34:10,700
And so once we start to read about those and we start to understand those things, it becomes

467
00:34:10,700 --> 00:34:17,100
a little bit clearer exactly how important some of these topics are and how, you know,

468
00:34:17,100 --> 00:34:21,580
actual legitimate scientists have gone and spent millions of dollars researching these

469
00:34:21,580 --> 00:34:22,580
things.

470
00:34:22,580 --> 00:34:26,020
And I'm just sitting here talking about it on a podcast, right?

471
00:34:26,020 --> 00:34:34,340
But more to the point, if you spend your time learning, whether it be like an actual skill

472
00:34:34,340 --> 00:34:39,980
or just learning about something, there's all sorts of inspiration that can be found

473
00:34:39,980 --> 00:34:40,980
in that.

474
00:34:40,980 --> 00:34:47,140
If you're actually going out and you're learning like a new language or reading about a different

475
00:34:47,140 --> 00:34:54,780
culture or reading about history or things like that, that's a double whammy there.

476
00:34:54,780 --> 00:34:59,820
You're getting, you're not just acquiring knowledge, but you're going to find inspiration

477
00:34:59,820 --> 00:35:03,700
in the process of acquiring that knowledge.

478
00:35:03,700 --> 00:35:10,180
And that is, not only are you making yourself better in terms of just worldly knowledge,

479
00:35:10,180 --> 00:35:18,020
but you're also going to push yourself further and find more ways and more things to inspire

480
00:35:18,020 --> 00:35:21,100
you.

481
00:35:21,100 --> 00:35:25,580
And a good example of that is my actually in my own life.

482
00:35:25,580 --> 00:35:30,700
It was some time ago when I had spent my whole life.

483
00:35:30,700 --> 00:35:37,100
Basically, the only thing that I could prepare was the occasional box of rice-aroni and some

484
00:35:37,100 --> 00:35:38,100
cereal.

485
00:35:38,100 --> 00:35:40,740
Like when I was cooking, that's all I could do.

486
00:35:40,740 --> 00:35:46,340
And when my store closed and I went out of business, I was now all of a sudden thrust

487
00:35:46,340 --> 00:35:51,460
into this life of kind of just sitting around and looking for the next thing.

488
00:35:51,460 --> 00:35:53,980
I was looking for inspiration.

489
00:35:53,980 --> 00:35:57,720
And while I don't think I really found it, and that's one of the reasons why I slipped

490
00:35:57,720 --> 00:36:05,520
further into depression, one thing I did do, one thing that helped me a lot was I started

491
00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:08,340
to learn how to cook.

492
00:36:08,340 --> 00:36:13,940
And I'm not a world-class chef or anything, but I can cook.

493
00:36:13,940 --> 00:36:21,420
I can now cook, and I can cook with pretty good results.

494
00:36:21,420 --> 00:36:25,060
I had never done anything with smoked meat.

495
00:36:25,060 --> 00:36:26,420
It started actually for me.

496
00:36:26,420 --> 00:36:29,460
It started with wanting to make my own jerky.

497
00:36:29,460 --> 00:36:34,940
And we got a dehydrator, and I was like, okay, I'm going to start learning how to do this.

498
00:36:34,940 --> 00:36:40,140
And I'm not joking with you when I tell you I could barely heat up a can of soup.

499
00:36:40,140 --> 00:36:42,780
I would have a hard time turning the stove on.

500
00:36:42,780 --> 00:36:45,580
I was really, really helpless.

501
00:36:45,580 --> 00:36:48,860
And then I started to figure out how to make jerky, and then I was like, oh, well, maybe

502
00:36:48,860 --> 00:36:51,220
I can make steaks or I'll do this.

503
00:36:51,220 --> 00:36:54,060
I started to learn how to cook all these different meats and things like that.

504
00:36:54,060 --> 00:36:56,820
And then I started to use the smoker.

505
00:36:56,820 --> 00:36:58,900
And there was all these different steps that I took.

506
00:36:58,900 --> 00:37:02,540
Without really thinking of them as steps, I was just on my journey towards learning

507
00:37:02,540 --> 00:37:03,540
how to cook.

508
00:37:03,540 --> 00:37:05,700
And then I was like, oh, well, I need to be able to make this sauce.

509
00:37:05,700 --> 00:37:09,420
So I had to learn how to make this sauce, and I need to be able to do this.

510
00:37:09,420 --> 00:37:12,580
And all of these things are really, really simple to me now.

511
00:37:12,580 --> 00:37:15,540
And I think about it, and I'm like, why didn't I know how to do that?

512
00:37:15,540 --> 00:37:19,580
But I know there was a point in time when I could not have done it.

513
00:37:19,580 --> 00:37:23,140
And so I took inspiration from all around me.

514
00:37:23,140 --> 00:37:25,660
I would talk to my friend who was a chef.

515
00:37:25,660 --> 00:37:26,660
I would read.

516
00:37:26,660 --> 00:37:31,700
I had never really been big on recipes, but I would read recipe books and see the techniques

517
00:37:31,700 --> 00:37:33,740
that they used in their cooking and things like that.

518
00:37:33,740 --> 00:37:37,860
So I even started watching Top Chef and things like that.

519
00:37:37,860 --> 00:37:42,960
All of these things helped me, helped move me through part of my depression.

520
00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:47,540
Those were the inspirations that I needed as I was learning these new skills.

521
00:37:47,540 --> 00:37:51,140
It really did become something that I completely threw myself into.

522
00:37:51,140 --> 00:37:58,820
And it's kind of weird because I wasn't making any money at it, but I know now that the appreciation

523
00:37:58,820 --> 00:38:05,380
that I garnered from my family and even from my friends that would come over and eat, it

524
00:38:05,380 --> 00:38:09,020
really did, it really moves the needle for me personally.

525
00:38:09,020 --> 00:38:13,780
Like I now, when my friend comes in from out of town, I know I can just, you know, I can

526
00:38:13,780 --> 00:38:18,220
make whatever I can, I can make a dish and I can, I can serve it.

527
00:38:18,220 --> 00:38:24,480
And it brings me so much joy to know that I have learned a skill that can bring happiness

528
00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:29,620
and joy to other people in a way that I definitely could not have done before.

529
00:38:29,620 --> 00:38:36,420
And that in and of itself is inspirational, but the process of learning all of these things,

530
00:38:36,420 --> 00:38:39,580
I felt inspiration throughout that process.

531
00:38:39,580 --> 00:38:45,620
And so something like that, where you really do kind of plunge into a new topic, a new,

532
00:38:45,620 --> 00:38:51,980
a whole new way of thinking, a whole new, you know, it really, you want to, not to get

533
00:38:51,980 --> 00:38:56,080
too sciency on you, but you really want to prompt your neuroplasticity.

534
00:38:56,080 --> 00:39:01,860
You want to start to form, you know, grow new neurons and create new connections inside

535
00:39:01,860 --> 00:39:03,100
of your brain.

536
00:39:03,100 --> 00:39:08,940
And all of those things will lead to greater and greater points and moments of inspiration

537
00:39:08,940 --> 00:39:10,360
for you.

538
00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:14,700
I know for a lot of people, this next part will be, you know, something that is kind

539
00:39:14,700 --> 00:39:20,140
of a no brainer, but a lot of people find their inspiration in traveling.

540
00:39:20,140 --> 00:39:24,620
You know, a lot of people will say, Oh, I want to go here or I want to go there.

541
00:39:24,620 --> 00:39:28,700
And while I don't really have that travel bug, because when I was younger, I traveled

542
00:39:28,700 --> 00:39:29,860
all over the country.

543
00:39:29,860 --> 00:39:33,940
So I would, you know, I have seen my fair share of traveling.

544
00:39:33,940 --> 00:39:37,220
Now I would, at some point I'm going to end up going to Europe and all that stuff.

545
00:39:37,220 --> 00:39:41,100
But for now, I'm pretty good.

546
00:39:41,100 --> 00:39:42,100
I'm good.

547
00:39:42,100 --> 00:39:45,180
But I understand that people have the travel bug and I know that they want to get out and

548
00:39:45,180 --> 00:39:47,140
they want to see the world and they want to do these things.

549
00:39:47,140 --> 00:39:53,220
And those are all, all of them are amazing when it comes to finding inspiration and finding

550
00:39:53,220 --> 00:39:58,940
ways to be inspired, I guess is the best way of putting that.

551
00:39:58,940 --> 00:40:03,820
Because the reality is, is that we spend, most people spend every day just kind of going

552
00:40:03,820 --> 00:40:05,140
through the same routine.

553
00:40:05,140 --> 00:40:10,420
They, you know, you go to work, you come home, you make dinner, you watch whatever, you go

554
00:40:10,420 --> 00:40:13,080
to bed, you get up, you go to work.

555
00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:16,380
And that's just kind of the cycle that everybody kind of lives on.

556
00:40:16,380 --> 00:40:19,460
And you know, you're okay, it's Friday or Saturday, you go out and your friends, you

557
00:40:19,460 --> 00:40:22,940
do this, you do whatever, you know, you, you, you go and you have this time.

558
00:40:22,940 --> 00:40:26,740
You play a video game, you do whatever you do, but it's all kind of repetitive and it's

559
00:40:26,740 --> 00:40:28,340
all kind of the same.

560
00:40:28,340 --> 00:40:34,220
And so when you are like, okay, I'm going on vacation in two months, what you find is

561
00:40:34,220 --> 00:40:39,540
that every day as you move towards that vacation builds that anticipation, builds that excitement.

562
00:40:39,540 --> 00:40:42,140
And then you get to go on vacation.

563
00:40:42,140 --> 00:40:46,940
And when you're on vacation, you see new things, you experience new things, you eat new things,

564
00:40:46,940 --> 00:40:49,800
you hear new things, you smell new things.

565
00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:53,780
It's a sensory overload of all new things.

566
00:40:53,780 --> 00:40:57,020
And that always leads to some sort of inspiration.

567
00:40:57,020 --> 00:41:02,580
The problem with vacations is that you're so caught up in the vacation that oftentimes

568
00:41:02,580 --> 00:41:05,460
that inspiration falls on deaf ears.

569
00:41:05,460 --> 00:41:09,700
You're so caught up in, you know, going on safari or sitting by the pool or doing all

570
00:41:09,700 --> 00:41:10,700
these things.

571
00:41:10,700 --> 00:41:15,880
And you're just, you're, you're trying to escape the moment, the moments of your life

572
00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:18,360
that you are normally in.

573
00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:24,160
And so for you, inspiration doesn't necessarily hit the same way that it would if you were

574
00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:26,780
in the doldrums of your normal life.

575
00:41:26,780 --> 00:41:27,780
You know what I mean?

576
00:41:27,780 --> 00:41:34,100
So a lot of times when we go on vacation and things like that, the best way to do or to

577
00:41:34,100 --> 00:41:39,500
think about the vacation is you go and you have your vacation with the same intent of

578
00:41:39,500 --> 00:41:41,560
I'm going to find inspiration in this.

579
00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:47,140
You take your notepad, you take your phone to record ideas and you do it.

580
00:41:47,140 --> 00:41:50,220
You break up your vacation with your inspiration if you need to.

581
00:41:50,220 --> 00:41:55,020
And if you can't do that, then when you get back, you literally debrief yourself.

582
00:41:55,020 --> 00:41:57,560
You get back and you think about all of the moments of the vacation.

583
00:41:57,560 --> 00:41:59,420
You look at all the pictures you go through.

584
00:41:59,420 --> 00:42:01,220
How many times do you go on?

585
00:42:01,220 --> 00:42:04,620
Have you seen people or have you yourself gone on vacation?

586
00:42:04,620 --> 00:42:07,340
Gone to whatever park, gone to wherever.

587
00:42:07,340 --> 00:42:15,340
And you took 153,000 photos and those photos sit on your phone for 89 years and you never

588
00:42:15,340 --> 00:42:17,180
once look at them.

589
00:42:17,180 --> 00:42:20,220
And then one day you're just like, oh, I got to clean my phone out because I'm running

590
00:42:20,220 --> 00:42:21,220
out of room.

591
00:42:21,220 --> 00:42:26,860
So you take an entire file of all of these pictures that are basically the same exact

592
00:42:26,860 --> 00:42:35,260
thing that you just took 853,000 pictures of that one thing from two different angles

593
00:42:35,260 --> 00:42:37,580
and then you just have it now.

594
00:42:37,580 --> 00:42:41,540
You just have that picture and you never look at it.

595
00:42:41,540 --> 00:42:43,200
What I'm asking you to do is look at it.

596
00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:47,100
What I'm asking you to do is actually think about it, put some thought into it and try

597
00:42:47,100 --> 00:42:48,980
to remember what it was like to sit there.

598
00:42:48,980 --> 00:42:50,660
Try to remember what it was like to take that picture.

599
00:42:50,660 --> 00:42:55,480
Try to remember the voices that you heard, the smells that you had.

600
00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:57,440
Try to put yourself back into that moment.

601
00:42:57,440 --> 00:43:02,600
Try to imagine it again and then try to bring back any of the inspiration that you may have

602
00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:03,600
felt in those moments.

603
00:43:03,600 --> 00:43:04,600
It's going to be different.

604
00:43:04,600 --> 00:43:05,600
It's going to be changed.

605
00:43:05,600 --> 00:43:10,400
It's going to not be as strong, but if you can bring back some of it, you might be able

606
00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:12,300
to capture some of it.

607
00:43:12,300 --> 00:43:14,580
And that's really important.

608
00:43:14,580 --> 00:43:21,180
Something else that I think is extremely important when you're trying to find inspiration is

609
00:43:21,180 --> 00:43:25,460
and this is going to take a couple of different forms, I guess, depending upon the things

610
00:43:25,460 --> 00:43:29,220
that you do in your daily life.

611
00:43:29,220 --> 00:43:33,880
And I can't, I really can't put enough emphasis on this.

612
00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:35,620
Sometimes you just need to quiet your mind.

613
00:43:35,620 --> 00:43:36,620
Now what does that mean?

614
00:43:36,620 --> 00:43:38,420
Does it mean meditation?

615
00:43:38,420 --> 00:43:41,020
Well, sure.

616
00:43:41,020 --> 00:43:46,700
Meditation for those of you that don't actually practice meditation, oftentimes will be seen

617
00:43:46,700 --> 00:43:49,420
as you'll always see in the movies and things like that.

618
00:43:49,420 --> 00:43:51,380
Well, they'll say, clear your mind.

619
00:43:51,380 --> 00:43:53,900
Well, that's not really what meditation is.

620
00:43:53,900 --> 00:43:58,100
You're not really clearing your mind and you really shouldn't try to.

621
00:43:58,100 --> 00:44:04,600
You can try to not actively think of things, but you're never, the whole point of meditation

622
00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:10,380
is to limit active thinking, conscious thought.

623
00:44:10,380 --> 00:44:15,700
But you're still going to have things come into your head and those things oftentimes

624
00:44:15,700 --> 00:44:19,820
are inspiration, those thoughts, those moments, those feelings.

625
00:44:19,820 --> 00:44:25,180
Now meditation is kind of a tricky one because you don't want to break your meditation, right?

626
00:44:25,180 --> 00:44:26,940
Like you want to try to stay in that moment.

627
00:44:26,940 --> 00:44:31,780
But if you're having moments of inspiration while you're meditating, then you need to

628
00:44:31,780 --> 00:44:32,780
do that.

629
00:44:32,780 --> 00:44:39,480
You need to get up and or whatever, have your notepad, have your thing there with you and

630
00:44:39,480 --> 00:44:41,500
meditate with intention.

631
00:44:41,500 --> 00:44:42,500
There's nothing wrong with that.

632
00:44:42,500 --> 00:44:45,540
There's not that you're not like breaking any sort of rule.

633
00:44:45,540 --> 00:44:49,300
Meditation can take on many different forms, but the whole point is if even if you don't

634
00:44:49,300 --> 00:44:58,340
meditate, take a moment, take, you know, give yourself the five minutes of your day to sit,

635
00:44:58,340 --> 00:45:04,300
close your eyes and just, just, you know, not, not focus on anything.

636
00:45:04,300 --> 00:45:06,600
Just kind of let your mind wander.

637
00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:08,780
Just go wherever it goes.

638
00:45:08,780 --> 00:45:11,900
Don't try to control where your mind goes.

639
00:45:11,900 --> 00:45:16,420
And what you're going to find is I snuck up on you and gave you meditation anyway, because

640
00:45:16,420 --> 00:45:17,980
that's really what meditation is.

641
00:45:17,980 --> 00:45:23,420
So even if you have a problem with meditation, the word for whatever reason, understand that

642
00:45:23,420 --> 00:45:25,980
the concept is pretty, pretty simple.

643
00:45:25,980 --> 00:45:28,860
You're just going to sit and be quiet.

644
00:45:28,860 --> 00:45:30,720
Try to quiet your mind a little bit.

645
00:45:30,720 --> 00:45:32,260
Try to not think of anything.

646
00:45:32,260 --> 00:45:33,260
Don't think about work.

647
00:45:33,260 --> 00:45:35,460
Don't think about your girlfriend, your boyfriend.

648
00:45:35,460 --> 00:45:38,240
Don't think about the wrongs that have been done to you.

649
00:45:38,240 --> 00:45:40,020
Don't think about the pain that you're in.

650
00:45:40,020 --> 00:45:42,500
Just let yourself go.

651
00:45:42,500 --> 00:45:44,220
Let your mind wander.

652
00:45:44,220 --> 00:45:50,420
And you know, if you start to think of purple elephants flying in rainbows and clouds, then

653
00:45:50,420 --> 00:45:51,760
that's what you think of.

654
00:45:51,760 --> 00:45:55,900
But that's, you know, and then you can kind of allow yourself to feel it, allow yourself

655
00:45:55,900 --> 00:45:56,900
to think it.

656
00:45:56,900 --> 00:46:01,700
And if you find that that's inspiring to you, write that down, like do it.

657
00:46:01,700 --> 00:46:03,460
It's not going to hurt anybody.

658
00:46:03,460 --> 00:46:06,540
You're not, you're not doing anything by making these notes.

659
00:46:06,540 --> 00:46:11,540
You're not, you're not taking away from the meditation experience by capitalizing on what

660
00:46:11,540 --> 00:46:14,620
your mind is trying to tell you.

661
00:46:14,620 --> 00:46:17,580
Because like I said before, you're the only one that's going to have this.

662
00:46:17,580 --> 00:46:20,520
You're the only one that's going to be able to create this.

663
00:46:20,520 --> 00:46:22,980
So give yourself that moment.

664
00:46:22,980 --> 00:46:27,140
Give yourself that grace to say, okay, well, if I have to stop my meditation for a minute

665
00:46:27,140 --> 00:46:29,060
and to write this down, then that's what I'm going to do.

666
00:46:29,060 --> 00:46:32,780
And then I'll go back into it and we'll, we'll figure it out.

667
00:46:32,780 --> 00:46:35,500
If you got to give yourself 10 minutes, give yourself 10 minutes.

668
00:46:35,500 --> 00:46:39,100
You got to give yourself 20 minutes, give yourself 20 minutes.

669
00:46:39,100 --> 00:46:43,780
And a lot of people do this when they like get up in the morning and they go make their

670
00:46:43,780 --> 00:46:48,500
coffee and you know, for a lot of people they'll sit and they'll, you know, look at their phone

671
00:46:48,500 --> 00:46:53,060
or whatever, but there are plenty of people out there that will just sit and drink their

672
00:46:53,060 --> 00:46:56,500
coffee and just let their mind wander.

673
00:46:56,500 --> 00:47:02,420
And that is perhaps one of the healthiest things that you can do with your life.

674
00:47:02,420 --> 00:47:08,700
Let go of your phone, let go of the TV, just sit and let your mind do what your mind does

675
00:47:08,700 --> 00:47:12,220
and be okay with whatever comes out of it.

676
00:47:12,220 --> 00:47:13,620
That's really, really important.

677
00:47:13,620 --> 00:47:18,740
And honestly, one of the greatest sources of inspiration that you could possibly find.

678
00:47:18,740 --> 00:47:25,860
Another another great source of inspiration that I personally know is extremely powerful

679
00:47:25,860 --> 00:47:30,940
and unfortunately I can never really truly capitalize on is sleep.

680
00:47:30,940 --> 00:47:33,860
Now I don't sleep much.

681
00:47:33,860 --> 00:47:35,700
Anybody that knows me knows that it is a challenge.

682
00:47:35,700 --> 00:47:37,100
It always has been a challenge.

683
00:47:37,100 --> 00:47:40,220
I can't remember a time when I've ever slept well.

684
00:47:40,220 --> 00:47:47,020
That being said, I do know that I have had ground shaking dreams.

685
00:47:47,020 --> 00:47:53,940
I have had moments of understanding and inspiration in my dreams that have literally changed my

686
00:47:53,940 --> 00:47:54,940
life.

687
00:47:54,940 --> 00:48:02,820
As a matter of fact, the inspiration for this podcast that I spoke of earlier may have been

688
00:48:02,820 --> 00:48:04,100
me nodding off.

689
00:48:04,100 --> 00:48:09,940
I was laying in bed crying and like I said, contemplating.

690
00:48:09,940 --> 00:48:15,620
And I can't really say for sure that I didn't nod off for a few minutes and then had this

691
00:48:15,620 --> 00:48:18,980
dream and that's where it all came from.

692
00:48:18,980 --> 00:48:20,700
That's very, very possible.

693
00:48:20,700 --> 00:48:27,820
So it is one of those things where oftentimes, think about it like this.

694
00:48:27,820 --> 00:48:34,820
How many times have you had that dream where whatever may happen in the dream but you wake

695
00:48:34,820 --> 00:48:37,620
up like you're falling?

696
00:48:37,620 --> 00:48:39,220
Think about that.

697
00:48:39,220 --> 00:48:40,460
Everybody has had that happen.

698
00:48:40,460 --> 00:48:41,860
It is universal.

699
00:48:41,860 --> 00:48:48,060
Now you don't know, like some people is, your foot falls off the pedal of the bike and some

700
00:48:48,060 --> 00:48:55,060
people is you're falling off a stage or you're falling off of a curb or whatever it is but

701
00:48:55,060 --> 00:48:58,020
there's always that moment where you catch yourself.

702
00:48:58,020 --> 00:48:59,460
And think about that.

703
00:48:59,460 --> 00:49:01,180
You know it's not real.

704
00:49:01,180 --> 00:49:02,700
You know that it didn't happen.

705
00:49:02,700 --> 00:49:07,220
At the moment you wake up, there's not even a moment where you think you're falling.

706
00:49:07,220 --> 00:49:09,940
Most people go, oh, why did I do that?

707
00:49:09,940 --> 00:49:13,460
Because they're upset that they woke themselves up for that.

708
00:49:13,460 --> 00:49:19,460
But that's a limited form of the kind of power that your mind has and the amount of inspiration

709
00:49:19,460 --> 00:49:25,940
and movement that you can get out of a dream.

710
00:49:25,940 --> 00:49:30,820
That's literally just like a split second thing that happens and it moves your entire

711
00:49:30,820 --> 00:49:33,600
body in that moment.

712
00:49:33,600 --> 00:49:39,740
So what do you think is going to happen to your spirit, your emotions, your mind if you

713
00:49:39,740 --> 00:49:44,340
can really start to harness that, if you can really start to, you know, like there's a

714
00:49:44,340 --> 00:49:46,340
lot of people out there that keep dream journals.

715
00:49:46,340 --> 00:49:49,820
There's a lot of people out there that keep something right by their bed because they

716
00:49:49,820 --> 00:49:58,660
know that when they wake up, whatever dream they had is powerful.

717
00:49:58,660 --> 00:50:03,580
For me, and this is, I know that I'm going to run a little bit over because of this but

718
00:50:03,580 --> 00:50:09,340
I want to, I still have a recurring dream.

719
00:50:09,340 --> 00:50:11,300
And this is, maybe this is going to be upsetting for some folks.

720
00:50:11,300 --> 00:50:12,300
I don't know.

721
00:50:12,300 --> 00:50:21,300
But when I was younger, I started to have dreams of myself being a werewolf.

722
00:50:21,300 --> 00:50:30,420
And what I found is that when I have these dreams, it's at points where I am feeling

723
00:50:30,420 --> 00:50:40,940
the most lost, the most angry, the most fearful, the most, like all of these really negative

724
00:50:40,940 --> 00:50:41,940
emotions.

725
00:50:41,940 --> 00:50:46,340
When I'm feeling, when I'm in those moments and I fall asleep, I have these dreams of

726
00:50:46,340 --> 00:50:49,020
myself becoming a werewolf.

727
00:50:49,020 --> 00:50:51,660
And in my dreams, it's never good.

728
00:50:51,660 --> 00:50:52,660
It's never a good thing.

729
00:50:52,660 --> 00:50:59,020
I destroy, I rip, I claw, I bite, I shred.

730
00:50:59,020 --> 00:51:02,020
And there's always like an underlying thing.

731
00:51:02,020 --> 00:51:05,380
Like there's always a person that drives it or there's always a moment.

732
00:51:05,380 --> 00:51:11,540
And in my dream, I'll always wake up and I'll be drenched in sweat and I'll be, I'll, you

733
00:51:11,540 --> 00:51:14,180
know, I'll have this like, it's weird.

734
00:51:14,180 --> 00:51:19,660
I'll even feel like I've got, you know, stuff under my nails or I'll have a weird taste

735
00:51:19,660 --> 00:51:21,340
in my mouth.

736
00:51:21,340 --> 00:51:25,260
And these are all remnants of those dreams.

737
00:51:25,260 --> 00:51:33,120
And to this day, I can tell you that every single time I have that dream, it scares the

738
00:51:33,120 --> 00:51:38,420
living hell out of me because I realized that it's kind of the incarnation of what would

739
00:51:38,420 --> 00:51:41,320
happen if I let myself lose control.

740
00:51:41,320 --> 00:51:47,820
If I let myself really go into those emotions, if I gave in to those darker emotions and

741
00:51:47,820 --> 00:51:54,100
really let myself be what they are driving me to be, then I would turn in.

742
00:51:54,100 --> 00:51:59,260
I'm obviously not going to be a real werewolf, but I would turn into that kind of monster

743
00:51:59,260 --> 00:52:02,300
where I would just indiscriminately destroy.

744
00:52:02,300 --> 00:52:06,660
And I, you know, it's kind of serves as a warning to me because I know that at some

745
00:52:06,660 --> 00:52:12,140
level that that's really honestly how I would be.

746
00:52:12,140 --> 00:52:14,060
And that's a reminder.

747
00:52:14,060 --> 00:52:19,140
And that's that, that is an inspiration for me to try to control myself and try to keep

748
00:52:19,140 --> 00:52:24,020
those things, you know, try to only let out enough anger to, so I don't explode, try to

749
00:52:24,020 --> 00:52:30,260
only let out enough, you know, fear or rage so that I don't, you know, have to have to

750
00:52:30,260 --> 00:52:31,900
break like that.

751
00:52:31,900 --> 00:52:36,500
So that's a, that's a, one of those things that, you know, your dreams can be exceedingly

752
00:52:36,500 --> 00:52:46,100
powerful and sometimes inspiration isn't always to, you know, create the next Star Wars.

753
00:52:46,100 --> 00:52:50,580
Sometimes it's literally inspiration to keep yourself sane.

754
00:52:50,580 --> 00:52:55,660
And that's, I think that's what those dreams are for me is, is they allow me to kind of

755
00:52:55,660 --> 00:53:02,900
ground myself and keep myself level headed and not lose complete control at all times.

756
00:53:02,900 --> 00:53:05,740
We're going to, we're going to hit two more things here that I think are really, really

757
00:53:05,740 --> 00:53:09,060
important ways of inspiring yourself.

758
00:53:09,060 --> 00:53:13,660
And then I think we'll wrap it up right after that because I am running a little bit over

759
00:53:13,660 --> 00:53:14,660
time.

760
00:53:14,660 --> 00:53:22,540
I mean, for me, and I know many people that this is 100% the best way to inspire themselves.

761
00:53:22,540 --> 00:53:31,140
I unfortunately don't do this enough and I need to do it more.

762
00:53:31,140 --> 00:53:42,780
The pursuit of, I don't want to say pursuit, the power, the power that is inherent in nature

763
00:53:42,780 --> 00:53:46,620
when it comes to inspiration is unrivaled.

764
00:53:46,620 --> 00:53:48,840
It is, it is unmatched.

765
00:53:48,840 --> 00:53:59,460
If you ever need to feel inspired, go outside, walk in the woods, walk down a path, walk

766
00:53:59,460 --> 00:54:07,220
off wherever you need to go to feel inspired, to be surrounded by nature.

767
00:54:07,220 --> 00:54:09,420
That's that's what you should do.

768
00:54:09,420 --> 00:54:12,260
Go be in nature.

769
00:54:12,260 --> 00:54:14,340
Watch the grass as they say.

770
00:54:14,340 --> 00:54:22,680
But for me, it's always been about, for me, nature, the definition for me is always seeing

771
00:54:22,680 --> 00:54:25,060
animals in the wild.

772
00:54:25,060 --> 00:54:31,380
I am, I am always inspired when I can look up in the, and oftentimes, and this happens

773
00:54:31,380 --> 00:54:38,180
and this is literally happening today, I'll go make a TikTok video and I'll sit in the

774
00:54:38,180 --> 00:54:42,420
car to make the video and I just will sit and I'll just stare up at the birds that are

775
00:54:42,420 --> 00:54:48,820
flying and oftentimes I won't have any idea of what I'm going to talk about in those videos.

776
00:54:48,820 --> 00:54:54,180
I'll just be sitting there, I'll look at the birds and something will come to me and then

777
00:54:54,180 --> 00:54:55,700
I'll start recording.

778
00:54:55,700 --> 00:55:02,860
That is true inspiration because I have nothing, I look at the birds, I watch them and I smile

779
00:55:02,860 --> 00:55:04,580
and I record.

780
00:55:04,580 --> 00:55:05,940
It's quite simple.

781
00:55:05,940 --> 00:55:09,420
That's literally what happens and it happens over and over and over again.

782
00:55:09,420 --> 00:55:11,260
But it doesn't have to necessarily be a bird, right?

783
00:55:11,260 --> 00:55:17,260
Like it can be a flower, it can be a butterfly, it can be a spider, it can be whatever it

784
00:55:17,260 --> 00:55:19,340
is that you find inspiration in.

785
00:55:19,340 --> 00:55:26,260
Henry David Thoreau has an entire chapter of his book, Walden, you know, a very famous

786
00:55:26,260 --> 00:55:29,940
book called Brute Neighbors.

787
00:55:29,940 --> 00:55:39,460
The entire chapter is about him sitting on a stump watching a fight between black ants

788
00:55:39,460 --> 00:55:45,900
and red ants and it's easily one of my favorite moments in literary history.

789
00:55:45,900 --> 00:55:54,700
I have read that chapter word for word, like side to side, probably 300 times.

790
00:55:54,700 --> 00:56:02,540
I love the idea of this now acclaimed author and transcendentalist sitting on a stump watching

791
00:56:02,540 --> 00:56:11,060
these things and finding so much beauty and so much poetry and so many amazing deep thoughts

792
00:56:11,060 --> 00:56:14,300
that came out of this one moment.

793
00:56:14,300 --> 00:56:16,780
He describes all these different things in detail.

794
00:56:16,780 --> 00:56:22,120
He talks about how the black ants are not as big as the red ants and so there's multiples

795
00:56:22,120 --> 00:56:25,820
that need to team up and you wouldn't think that they had a chance of winning but they're

796
00:56:25,820 --> 00:56:29,180
able to do this and this and he goes through and he talks about so many different things

797
00:56:29,180 --> 00:56:31,020
in this chapter.

798
00:56:31,020 --> 00:56:36,520
When I was younger and I first read that it changed my connection to nature.

799
00:56:36,520 --> 00:56:40,420
You want to talk about a connection to nature and nature being inspirational?

800
00:56:40,420 --> 00:56:42,980
Go walk around Walden Pond.

801
00:56:42,980 --> 00:56:49,980
My mother and I did that when we were younger and to say that that trip changed my life

802
00:56:49,980 --> 00:56:56,500
would be doing a grand disservice to the idea of life changing events.

803
00:56:56,500 --> 00:56:58,300
It was everything to me.

804
00:56:58,300 --> 00:57:03,660
It changed everything about the direction of mine and my mother's relationship.

805
00:57:03,660 --> 00:57:11,100
It changed everything about the direction of my life.

806
00:57:11,100 --> 00:57:16,380
I immediately after that trip began to understand things in an entirely different way.

807
00:57:16,380 --> 00:57:21,820
Honestly it was almost as transformative as the moment of inspiration that created this

808
00:57:21,820 --> 00:57:24,420
podcast.

809
00:57:24,420 --> 00:57:30,940
I'm somebody who has been, I guess the word would be blessed, blessed enough to have multiple

810
00:57:30,940 --> 00:57:35,900
points like this and be able to recognize them, these moments of inspiration, these

811
00:57:35,900 --> 00:57:41,860
moments of emotional inflection that I was able to take and appreciate in the moment

812
00:57:41,860 --> 00:57:47,220
and then use them as the catalyst for change in my life.

813
00:57:47,220 --> 00:57:49,580
That's really what we're trying to do here.

814
00:57:49,580 --> 00:57:55,940
That's what I'm talking about is using these moments of inspiration to change your life

815
00:57:55,940 --> 00:58:02,180
and to make you more capable and ready to change the world.

816
00:58:02,180 --> 00:58:03,180
That's where we're at.

817
00:58:03,180 --> 00:58:09,220
The last thing is the last little moment, or not moment, the last movement that you

818
00:58:09,220 --> 00:58:13,420
can make, the last thing you can do that I really want to bring up to really help inspire

819
00:58:13,420 --> 00:58:14,420
yourself.

820
00:58:14,420 --> 00:58:20,060
It kind of goes with the nature thing if you think about it, is exercise.

821
00:58:20,060 --> 00:58:27,860
Now understand that I'm not somebody who historically speaking has been in the best shape.

822
00:58:27,860 --> 00:58:29,660
I am in pretty good shape now.

823
00:58:29,660 --> 00:58:35,540
I've lost a decent amount of weight and I'm near where I was in high school now.

824
00:58:35,540 --> 00:58:43,820
A lot of that was from anxiety and depression, but that's good.

825
00:58:43,820 --> 00:58:45,300
It's gone, right?

826
00:58:45,300 --> 00:58:50,660
I got it off and I've been able to keep it off, so I can't really be mad about it.

827
00:58:50,660 --> 00:58:55,580
But exercise itself is stunningly good for inspiration.

828
00:58:55,580 --> 00:58:58,420
We'll go back to the science of it.

829
00:58:58,420 --> 00:59:04,620
Exercise is proven to create brain cells.

830
00:59:04,620 --> 00:59:10,820
It's proven to promote neuroplasticity.

831
00:59:10,820 --> 00:59:15,060
It basically, exercise literally makes your brain bigger.

832
00:59:15,060 --> 00:59:22,940
It makes your brain more capable of handling inspiration and information that you can use

833
00:59:22,940 --> 00:59:24,820
in your life.

834
00:59:24,820 --> 00:59:28,900
Exercise is amazing as it, you know, the blood pumps and things like that.

835
00:59:28,900 --> 00:59:37,060
You really start to feel inspired even if you're not thinking of anything.

836
00:59:37,060 --> 00:59:40,540
Think of how many times, if you have a gym membership or you just go outside and you

837
00:59:40,540 --> 00:59:45,500
go for walks or whatever it is, think of how many times you'll be out doing those things

838
00:59:45,500 --> 00:59:48,260
and you'll have an epiphany moment.

839
00:59:48,260 --> 00:59:50,980
You'll be like, oh, you know, I'm just walking.

840
00:59:50,980 --> 00:59:54,580
It works a lot better if you're by yourself, but obviously it can happen with a friend

841
00:59:54,580 --> 00:59:57,860
or whatever, whoever you're walking with or whatever you're exercising.

842
00:59:57,860 --> 01:00:02,780
But a lot of times these are moments of introspection, of moments of, you know, you're on your own,

843
01:00:02,780 --> 01:00:05,620
you're just kind of thinking and then all of a sudden, boom, something hits you and

844
01:00:05,620 --> 01:00:11,660
you're like, oh, but a lot of times we don't stop exercising, right?

845
01:00:11,660 --> 01:00:16,580
A lot of times we just keep going because we're in the middle of our set or we got five

846
01:00:16,580 --> 01:00:21,740
minutes left on the treadmill or we're out in the middle of another neighborhood while

847
01:00:21,740 --> 01:00:23,700
we were going on a long walk.

848
01:00:23,700 --> 01:00:28,900
So a lot of times that inspiration, as great as it is, those epiphanies that hit us, as

849
01:00:28,900 --> 01:00:35,540
great as they are, those enterprises of great pith and moment with this regard, their currents

850
01:00:35,540 --> 01:00:37,820
turn awry and lose the name of action.

851
01:00:37,820 --> 01:00:42,380
Sorry, I had a himalayan moment there.

852
01:00:42,380 --> 01:00:47,460
But the whole point is that, you know, you can lose them just as quick as they come.

853
01:00:47,460 --> 01:00:54,620
So if we're out exercising while it is amazing for promoting inspiration and for promoting,

854
01:00:54,620 --> 01:00:58,860
you know, new thought and things like that, oftentimes you're not able to really capitalize

855
01:00:58,860 --> 01:01:02,420
on it and capture it because you're in the middle of running or you're in the middle

856
01:01:02,420 --> 01:01:03,420
of...

857
01:01:03,420 --> 01:01:08,680
So it's important that when you are doing any of these exercises or you're doing any

858
01:01:08,680 --> 01:01:13,060
of these things that I mentioned to always do them with the understanding that inspiration

859
01:01:13,060 --> 01:01:17,740
can strike you at any time and you need to have a way of recording it.

860
01:01:17,740 --> 01:01:22,000
You need to have a way of keeping it.

861
01:01:22,000 --> 01:01:27,980
It comes and it goes so quickly and it can be the smallest little nuggets of this and

862
01:01:27,980 --> 01:01:36,900
that that it is so important to get start to form the habit of recording it, marking

863
01:01:36,900 --> 01:01:42,180
it down, you know, doing whatever you need to do to remind yourself of this inspiration.

864
01:01:42,180 --> 01:01:44,420
Even if you...

865
01:01:44,420 --> 01:01:46,380
I know this has happened with me.

866
01:01:46,380 --> 01:01:50,580
I'll record things or I'll write them down and I'll go back like a day later or whatever

867
01:01:50,580 --> 01:01:52,700
and I'll be like, this is just nonsense.

868
01:01:52,700 --> 01:01:55,200
Why did I even do this?

869
01:01:55,200 --> 01:01:59,060
Even if that's your initial reaction, hold on to it.

870
01:01:59,060 --> 01:02:00,060
Hold on to it.

871
01:02:00,060 --> 01:02:03,540
I promise you it is not worthless.

872
01:02:03,540 --> 01:02:07,220
It is not pointless.

873
01:02:07,220 --> 01:02:13,660
It is what is coming out of you and maybe it's just one small piece of what you need

874
01:02:13,660 --> 01:02:19,700
to have the greater picture, but we've all put together puzzles before.

875
01:02:19,700 --> 01:02:24,740
It's not easy and a lot of times you don't know where that last piece goes until you

876
01:02:24,740 --> 01:02:30,460
know exactly, you know, until all the other pieces are put in place and then you can figure

877
01:02:30,460 --> 01:02:31,460
it out.

878
01:02:31,460 --> 01:02:36,340
I've literally put together a puzzle before, had one piece left and been like, okay, well,

879
01:02:36,340 --> 01:02:39,780
I know where it goes, but what direction does it go in?

880
01:02:39,780 --> 01:02:40,780
Right?

881
01:02:40,780 --> 01:02:42,660
Like you understand, like it is...

882
01:02:42,660 --> 01:02:46,340
Sometimes it can be that difficult and sometimes those little nuggets and those little points

883
01:02:46,340 --> 01:02:51,300
in time that you capture, they can be that cryptic.

884
01:02:51,300 --> 01:02:54,220
They can be that kind of odd.

885
01:02:54,220 --> 01:02:58,320
And so don't immediately discard something just because you went back a day or two later

886
01:02:58,320 --> 01:03:00,780
and said, oh, this is worthless.

887
01:03:00,780 --> 01:03:02,140
Don't judge things like that.

888
01:03:02,140 --> 01:03:04,400
They're coming out of you for a reason.

889
01:03:04,400 --> 01:03:10,400
These thoughts, these emotions, these moments, they are coming out of you for a reason.

890
01:03:10,400 --> 01:03:11,560
Hold on to them.

891
01:03:11,560 --> 01:03:12,660
Hold on to them.

892
01:03:12,660 --> 01:03:15,300
It's not going to hurt you to have an extra file on your phone.

893
01:03:15,300 --> 01:03:18,560
It's not going to hurt you to have an extra piece of paper sitting on your desk.

894
01:03:18,560 --> 01:03:20,940
It's not, I promise you it's not.

895
01:03:20,940 --> 01:03:27,740
It may be the difference between you experiencing a life of true inspiration and you continuing

896
01:03:27,740 --> 01:03:33,020
to live in a mundane doldrum that you're not happy with.

897
01:03:33,020 --> 01:03:34,900
So keep that in mind.

898
01:03:34,900 --> 01:03:40,420
You and what comes out of you are worth so much more than you understand.

899
01:03:40,420 --> 01:03:48,740
And the power of your mind and your spirit is immeasurable.

900
01:03:48,740 --> 01:03:52,860
I've said this before in other episodes and we're going to finish the podcast, this episode

901
01:03:52,860 --> 01:03:56,900
of the podcast on this point.

902
01:03:56,900 --> 01:04:04,940
It is scientifically proven that we are made up of the very essence of the universe.

903
01:04:04,940 --> 01:04:07,220
We are the same things.

904
01:04:07,220 --> 01:04:11,220
When you look up in the sky at night and you see all the stars and you imagine the black

905
01:04:11,220 --> 01:04:18,300
holes and you imagine the suns that exist hundreds and millions of light years away

906
01:04:18,300 --> 01:04:25,820
and you imagine all of these things, you are made of the same things as those.

907
01:04:25,820 --> 01:04:30,040
You are made literally of star stuff.

908
01:04:30,040 --> 01:04:36,140
What makes you think that you don't have the ability to conjure that?

909
01:04:36,140 --> 01:04:39,220
That you don't have the ability to draw upon that?

910
01:04:39,220 --> 01:04:44,580
You think just because your cells are in this particular orientation that they don't hold

911
01:04:44,580 --> 01:04:47,780
that same kind of power?

912
01:04:47,780 --> 01:04:50,140
What makes you think that?

913
01:04:50,140 --> 01:04:51,420
Because that's what you've been told.

914
01:04:51,420 --> 01:04:53,940
That's what you've been kind of beaten into believing.

915
01:04:53,940 --> 01:04:56,140
There's no reason to believe that.

916
01:04:56,140 --> 01:04:58,140
There's no proof of that.

917
01:04:58,140 --> 01:05:05,700
There is more reason to believe that each of us as individuals are capable of creating

918
01:05:05,700 --> 01:05:21,300
and bringing into this world moments and objects and ideas of beauty and consequence and importance.

919
01:05:21,300 --> 01:05:23,040
There's no reason to think otherwise.

920
01:05:23,040 --> 01:05:29,100
We have decades, hundreds of years of human history now.

921
01:05:29,100 --> 01:05:32,300
We've seen the beauty that has been created.

922
01:05:32,300 --> 01:05:34,780
Look up the seven wonders of the world.

923
01:05:34,780 --> 01:05:35,980
Look at the pyramids.

924
01:05:35,980 --> 01:05:41,060
Look at things that we don't have any idea, not really, how some of these things were

925
01:05:41,060 --> 01:05:45,420
created because we can't even imagine it now.

926
01:05:45,420 --> 01:05:49,620
But in ancient times, they knew how to do it.

927
01:05:49,620 --> 01:05:50,980
How did we lose that knowledge?

928
01:05:50,980 --> 01:05:58,140
Well, they were inspired and they created something using what they had access to.

929
01:05:58,140 --> 01:06:00,100
We can do that too.

930
01:06:00,100 --> 01:06:03,620
We are not less great than the ancient people.

931
01:06:03,620 --> 01:06:12,780
We have just been, our minds have been subjugated and we have been told that we are not special.

932
01:06:12,780 --> 01:06:14,380
We are.

933
01:06:14,380 --> 01:06:19,300
Every single one of us, every person listening to this, we are powerful and we are special.

934
01:06:19,300 --> 01:06:29,220
And if we focus on that and we are truly inspired by those concepts, we will, we will change

935
01:06:29,220 --> 01:06:31,980
the world.

936
01:06:31,980 --> 01:06:34,020
That's going to do it for this episode, folks.

937
01:06:34,020 --> 01:06:36,140
We have an episode coming out next week.

938
01:06:36,140 --> 01:06:42,740
We're going to continue to keep it kind of loosey goosey as I work towards deciding which

939
01:06:42,740 --> 01:06:44,820
topic I want to tackle.

940
01:06:44,820 --> 01:06:51,740
I have a few in mind and I need to make sure that I have the resources to study the ones

941
01:06:51,740 --> 01:06:52,740
that I want to do.

942
01:06:52,740 --> 01:06:59,300
So I will let people know on TikTok as soon as I finalize the schedule for the topics

943
01:06:59,300 --> 01:07:02,300
for the podcast.

944
01:07:02,300 --> 01:07:09,060
Going to leave you with a quote by somebody that we all know.

945
01:07:09,060 --> 01:07:14,820
The Buddha once said, thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle and the

946
01:07:14,820 --> 01:07:19,100
life of the candle will not be shortened.

947
01:07:19,100 --> 01:07:24,880
Happiness never decreases by being shared.

948
01:07:24,880 --> 01:07:28,060
Take care of yourselves and take care of each other.

949
01:07:28,060 --> 01:07:47,020
I will talk to you soon.