Hey family, if you stay with me until the end
of this episode, I'm going to give you three
principles that have real impact on how you can
become your Aligned Self, not in 2026, but now.
Now to say motivation, it's not theory, but ways
of operating you can actually live from now.
And the third one is the principle that most
people miss. And it's the one that makes everything
else sustainable. And at the end, I'm going to
also give you something practical to support
this work. And this work is something that I'll
call separating the experience from meaning and
aligning with your future self when the old way
of operating no longer works for you. All right.
This is the season one final episode of The Thrivewell
Journey that I'm so proud and happy to host.
And this conversation is about how you choose
to move forward from here. And that choice doesn't
usually show up in dramatic moments. It shows
up in ordinary weeks when nothing looks broken.
But in that week, something kind of starts to
fill off, right? And that's where it showed up
for me. And I was not in a crisis, but in the
meaning, I was giving what I was experiencing
that week. Here's what I think. I know I'm not
the only one who does this. So let me just kind
of talk about it and say, you know, kind of show
you what's happening here. Okay. So I started
doing lives two weeks ago, Friday night lives,
and this podcast is still building. You know,
my business is still being built, you know, all
the things, right? So nothing dramatic happened.
But what showed up wasn't just an experience.
It was meaning. It was the meaning that I was
giving the experience. It was that familiar meaning
-making voice that says, you're behind, this
should look good by now, or it should look different
by now, or maybe what you're doing isn't working.
But here's what matters. That voice wasn't telling
the truth. It was assigning meaning that really
came from the past, not from who I'm becoming.
In that moment, when I stopped letting that experience
that I was having define my identity, I started
to get my footing better. So that's the first
principle. Experience is not identity. That's
where people kind of get tripped up, right? They
think feelings are telling them who they are.
Feelings are not instructions. What feelings
are, I come to find out, is information. So there's
reactive feelings. And reactive feelings don't
define who you are. They tell you what meaning
is being activated inside of you, like fear.
doubt, contraction. And those are signals that
an old identity is speaking. But the feelings
you choose to live from, the ones aligned with
who you're becoming, those are the ones that
matter. Those aren't reactions. Those are orientations.
And I just want to be clear, when I say orientation,
I'm talking about the internal direction I'm
facing when I interpret what's happening and
deciding what to do next. So those reactions
come from the past, orientations come from who
I'm becoming, right? And when I reoriented myself,
everything began to shift. And once I saw that
clearly, I realized something else. The next
question wasn't what I was feeling. It was how
I was going to operate myself through what I
was experiencing. So I like to... pride myself
on staying aware, you know, keeping my head on
the swivel, but I don't let what's happening
out there decide who I'm going to be on the inside.
And that's the second principle, reaction versus
choice. Now I can react to what's happening or
I can choose who I'm being while whatever. It's
happening. It's happening. And the work wasn't
to get rid of what I was feeling. It was to stop
letting meaning drive how I think, decide, and
create. Now, let me kind of go back for a moment.
I started this podcast without direction, without
clarity, without a real roadmap. It wasn't a
plan, but it was an idea. Almost like a thought
from outside of myself or maybe a hit of myself.
And I'll be honest, this has been one of the
hardest things I've ever done. You know, I've
conquered a lot in my life, but this whole journey
has asked something. different of me. And after
what I call disruption, the kidney loss, the
cancer, the health journey, all of it, I've talked
about this throughout the podcast from the beginning
on, and through, you know, different episodes,
I thought I had to put my life back together.
But that's not what was required. I did not need
to figure anything out. What I had to do, what
I created for myself was to reconnect with a
part of me that already knew I had to believe.
not intellectually, but existentially, that there
was purpose after my disruption. And once I did
that, things that had been dormant resurfaced.
So, as for instance, my company, the Orients
Group, didn't come from out of nowhere. It came
back. It was always there, and now it's here,
in reality. And not because I forced it, but
because I'm in line with my future self and creation,
right? And I want to say this clearly. because
once people talk about alignment and aligning,
they think, oh, I'm aligned, I'm aligned. Well,
aligning with your future self, it doesn't mean
everything feels clear all the time, you know,
because, you know, there's plenty of moments
of clarity, right? But there are also moments
of... frustration there are moments where I'm
guiding myself forward clearly through stillness
and meditation and moments where I have to stop
and really and recalibrate right so all of it
shows up and I know many of you are living inside
some version of that right now you know for me
you know it was some kind of health loss you
know or health rather and you may be experiencing
a loss that you didn't expect a diagnosis a divorce
a job you thought would carry you to retirement
or you know a moment where life broke continuity
and now you're asking what do i do now you know
i've had plenty of those moments like this is
where i thought i was going this is where i was
headed but now not so much and that's what we
call disruption and it's not because it destroys
you but because it interrupts the patterns and
who you thought you were right so this week brought
up a familiar meaning for me the story that i'm
behind the story that i'm not worried that I
had destroyed that I'm not good enough. And what
I realized in the middle of all of that wasn't
something new. It was something that I already
knew. Something I had drifted away from and needed
to return to. It was returning to myself, choosing
who I'm becoming instead of letting old meaning
run the moment. And if you've ever experienced
yourself as a failure while creating something
meaningful in your life, this episode is for
you. Because this isn't about giving up. It's
not about... any of that right what it is about
is about separating experience from the meaning
that you're giving it and choosing who you're
being in the face of no agreement that distinction
right there changes how you operate so for me
the whispers came first but they weren't loud
enough i just wasn't listening so what ended
up happening was my life got interrupted life
interrupted me and it wasn't to punish me and
definitely not to break me just to put up put
me on pause right to interrupt what had become
so automatic so truly something could just take
shape something new could take shape because
sometimes just sometimes stopping is the only
way to rise again um throughout this work a couple
of icons i love is the phoenix right i love the
phoenix and so that you know that kind of that
that icon plays and are working also does the
lion so I love those I love those because you
know they're strong right so my disruption put
me down so I could rise differently or really
just be that lion in my life differently and
here's the third principle and this is the work
that makes everything sustainable insight versus
practice so what I've come to understand during
these kind of times there are three things happening
at all times what happened what you mean and
what you're creating either from an old identity
or who you're choosing to become. So facts are
neutral. Meaning is optional. Creation is a choice.
And most people I would assert collapse these
all into one thing and then wonder why they experience
themselves as stuck. Now people say, do you feel
stuck? Are you stuck? A truck can get stuck,
right? A truck can get stuck in mud. But we as
human beings, we can experience the feeling of
being stuck because we're repeating old patterns.
The past keeps showing itself as our future,
but we're never really stuck, okay? We're always
moving. And so that's why alignment is something
that we need to recalibrate or realign ourselves
with, okay? So alignment is not something you
achieve once and just keep. It's something you
return to again and again and again. right? So
everyone drifts. I drift, you drift. We're drifters
at points and times, right? The aligned person
isn't the one who never drifts. It's the one
who notices sooner and returns without judgment.
No self -attack, no story around it, no drama,
just choice. So again, alignment isn't a destination.
It's a practice of returning to self. This is
why we were moving from 2025. into 2026. With
the work that we're doing at The Thrillable Journey
and The Alignment Reset, I believe that our work
is deepening, right? The podcast is realigning
because I'm realigning. The conversations are
shifting because the orientation is now clear
for me. And here's what it's going to look like.
On Mondays, you'll hear, you know, the recorded
episodes that we always have, right? And you'll
see you know all that fun stuff right the recorded
episodes and things like that but on Fridays
we'll go live so we can work through things together
honestly in real time and this is not performative
this is not pretending this is practicing practicing
returning to alignment when we drift and because
alignment is a practice of return I'm going to
give you something to support that practice so
Here's a promise that I made to you at the beginning
of this episode. I'm giving you my new 10 session
course, the alignment reset from surviving to
creating. And it's free, free for a limited time.
And by the end of that course, you'll break free
from old patterns of survival -based identity.
I understand what alignment actually feels like
in your mind and body. And you'll step into a
more confident grounded version of yourself.
And there's much more that you'll get and you'll
discover that. as you enroll and move through
the course, okay? And this course is truly designed
to help you create the inner shift required to
rebuild your life with clarity, confidence, and
alignment. So you'll find the link. all down
there in the show notes. And I gotta say this,
even though it's free, don't treat it like you
receive something free, okay? Treat it like you
invested a thousand dollars in yourself. Treat
it like your future is calling you forward. Treat
it like you're done repeating patterns that no
longer match who you're becoming. And then bring
what you got into the room. Hey look, I'm inviting
you to come to the Friday Night Lives, share
what you're seeing, share what's shifting, share
where you're returning to alignment and where
you notice yourself drift. Now, this isn't about
me teaching at you, it's about us working out
together in real time, practicing, right? Practicing
returning to alignment when we drift, okay? So,
in all of what I was just saying, you know, look,
this has been a hell of a year for me, and maybe
for you too, you know? going left, right, up,
down, all of that. And I don't want to wait until
January 1st to create 2026. I want to begin right
now, right? And again, support that choice. I'm
inviting you into this work, fully, intentionally,
and honestly, okay? I love you. And to support
that choice, come on into the room, all right?
And just really create yourself to be who you're
becoming, not in 2026, but now. I invite you
to do that. And so... I'll see you in 2026, and
let's make thriving our new normal.