May 22, 2025 • 34 mins
In this episode of Deeply Well, Devi Brown reflects on the transformative power of surrender, divine timing, and the grace found in letting go. She shares personal insights from her recent healing journey following surgery, offering a transparent look at what it means to recover not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually. Devi also opens up about the deeply personal experience of releasing her new book and the unexpected joys and revelations she encountered while connecting with readers on her book tour. Through stories of stillness, alignment, and the wisdom gained from being fully present, she encourages listeners to trust the process, embrace the unknown, and find peace in the unfolding journey.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:27):
Take a deep breath in through your nose. Holds it.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Now, release slowly again, deep in, helle hold release, repeating
(01:02):
internally to yourself as you connect to my voice. I
am deeply well. I I am deeply well. I am
(01:24):
deeply I'm Debbie Brown and this is the Deeply Well Podcast.
Welcome to Deeply Well, a soft place to land on
your journey. A podcast for those that are curious, creative,
(01:45):
and ready to expand in higher consciousness and self care.
This is where we heal, this is where we transcend.
Welcome back to this show.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I am your host, Debbie Brown, and I'm excited for
this episode because I have some things I have been
thinking about as it relates to surrender and as it
relates to divine timing and the beautiful synchronicities of God
and the universe. So yeah, and you know, just all
(02:19):
the big questions of life. That's what we're going to
explore in this episode. Big themes, big themes. I have
no idea and no concept of time right now. I
have to say my book came out, Living in Wisdom.
It is here. It came out exactly about two weeks
(02:39):
and a couple days ago. So it is a brand
new baby out in the world, and I just want
to say thank you so much to everyone who has
reached out that is reading the book, that has got
the book, that has tagged me in your screenshots, that
has you know, let me know what parts of the book.
I've been getting a lot of messages from people letting
me know what chapter they're on when they're on it,
(03:01):
so like, Okay, I'm at chapter three at this point,
or I'm on page sixty seven, or I'm you know,
I'm I'm two chapters away from finishing. So it's been
really special because I think when you first drop a book,
you know, definitely. I think the flow of it is
the focus on like first week sales and you're out,
you're talking about it, but no one's actually really read
(03:22):
it yet people are buying it. And something that's been
just really meaningful as an author and thrilling as an
author is getting the response for how people are reacting
to reading it. And it's been really special and it's
been interesting. I know when I first when I first
like turned in the manuscript and I was just talking
(03:43):
to a couple friends about the book, and I kept
everything pretty close to the chest, like I'm really good
at that. I'm a very patient person with like the
unfolding of things. I don't have to share everything right away.
But I was talking to some friends about the book
and they're just like, oh, you know, this is going
(04:05):
to be so great, and you know, they were kind
of holding the book in this very like feel good
kind of way, which it is a very feel good book,
I think when you really get on the other side
of some things. But I remember what I shared with them,
as I said, you know, I think people's path to
this book is going to be a little bit different
(04:27):
because actually, I'm sure the book is going to be
quite confronting when you first start reading it. It's even
confronting for me when I reread. It's provoking on purpose,
you know, It's yeah, it's and maybe provoking isn't the word.
It's confronting on purpose, you know. My deepest desire with
(04:49):
this book was to hopefully bringing anyone that reads it
to a deeper layer, to a place they haven't gone before,
place they haven't spent maybe significant time before. So it's
just been really special. So far, I've done a lot.
I have been on the road baby, which is so
(05:09):
also funny for me based on my personality. It's like
I spent many years out five six nights a week
because of what I used to do in the industry
I was in, and you know, just used to travel
a ton and be here, be there. And since the pandemic,
I have just fallen in love with my natural, simple, ordinary,
(05:34):
slow movements in the day. So I'm a homebody. I
can get out there. I can you know, work a
room with the best of them. I can you know, yeah,
take up space. But my preference in this season of
life is to like be with my garden and be
with my child and think and ponder and just be
really spend a lot of time with my closest relationships
(05:56):
and go deeper there and have cookouts with each other
and regular hangs at each other's houses and you know,
things like that. And so because of that, I have
traveled quite a bit for work, but I'm always like
bam bam, and life has been like really regimented the
past few years in that way, and so it's been
really cool to kind of turn on those social muscles
(06:18):
that I haven't really used in a while, to be
out in the world talking about something that I love
and that I worked really hard on and that I'm
excited about. So yeah, it's been interesting. I've been turning
on my social battery, which also is a sensitive person.
(06:39):
You got to build in like a lot of recovery time.
So it's been it's been cool understanding that component of
my life right now, right like how to bring more
harmony to a life that is usually intentionally very reclusive,
and then being out there and you know, feeling all
the energy and moving through this city and moving through
(07:01):
groups and you know, just having a lot of experiences
in one day. That was my life for most of
my life, of course, so it's nothing new. But when
you take a step back to do deep healing, when
you take a step back to work on you know,
what we're calling soft life or cultivating a slowness, it
does feel a little jarring when you have to keep
(07:24):
one foot in the other world too. It takes a
little bit of practice and it takes a little bit
of harmonizing. So I'm having fun doing that right now
because I am loving both. I'm loving being in the
world again. I'm loving having big conversations again and using
all my skills and you know, using things that were
kind of dormant the last few years because my work
(07:44):
was focused on different things. So it's just been really
fun activating those kind of highly trained muscles again and
using them. And I'm having a lot of fun with
that and springing back a lot of memories of different
eras of my life and different moments of like who
I've been, and now from this vantage point, I'm able
to also not just look at who I've been in
(08:07):
other times, right, Like, when you get to a certain age,
you really start to see how defined your life is
by very specific eras and what those clusters of time
mean to your bigger story. And I think I'm just
really in a season right now where synchronistically a lot
ist coming up for review that is completing cycles and
(08:27):
completing circles in certain thought processes I've had or ways
I've looked at situations, and so lately I've been talking
more than ever with people about actually like my very
very old school radio career, like not even the career
I gave up ten years ago, but the career I
got into when I was like nineteen. So I've been
thinking about those ages and who I knew and what
(08:50):
I was doing and how I saw the world and
it's just fun. It's fun and it's interesting. I'm realizing
also how wrong I was about so many things in
my life. I've run into a few people lately, people
I've known for honestly, like truly twenty years, and we
are resolving misperceptions like we've had about one another, had
(09:13):
about how each other felt about the other, or how
each other like approached a career move or you know,
just like so many things now from like this like
twenty year rear view mirror, and it's just it's beautiful.
It's fascinating. It's like the gift of time passing, you know.
And I think something I'm really savoring too is like
(09:37):
I'm getting so many more confirming examples of how beautiful
and strategic divine timing is. And you know, when you're younger,
it's really so hard to connect to that patience for
your life. It's it's excruciating because you're becoming, you're learning,
(09:57):
you're discovering you want things and people, and you know,
you think you have to craft your life so quickly
and so fully. Like I remember when I was turning
twenty four, I thought I was so depressed because I
thought by twenty four, I should be deep in the
success of a massive career and I should already have
(10:19):
this and that and this and that. And it's like
you are an infant at twenty four, Like what you
should barely be trusted with anything at that age. No,
not really, but you know, it's like those are the
years that you're actually should be so free, just so
free and unencumbered by those bigger choices and decisions, you know,
(10:40):
so anywho' it's it's special being in a place where
there are certain areas of your life you have been
consistent and you have been in alignment, and you have
listened to God and you never saw like why you
were being so disciplined in those ways. And then all
(11:01):
of a sudden, twenty years past and it all falls
into place and you get it and you're like, wow,
So the listening can take a while, But why can't it,
you know, like, why can't it? Why does everything have
to be fast and more? And you know, yeah, And
that leads me actually to an update I want to
share with everyone about my surgery deeply. Well, thank you
(11:30):
so much everyone that has been hitting me up. There's
been just so much kindness floating in my orbit and ecosystem,
and so many of you listening and that have reached
out to share your own stories with chronic pain or surgeries,
and so I am. I think I'm almost eight weeks Monday,
I think will be eight weeks out from surgery. And
(11:53):
the first episode I recorded was I think within the
first week where I had my full sling. So I'm
out of my sling. I can't really raise my arm
past here. This is where she stays. If you're on YouTube,
you see what I'm doing right now, but right around
my waist is like how high you can lift my arm?
But oh, God is healing me so beautifully, Like it's
(12:15):
blowing my mind. And I was actually having this conversation
with my friend, Pastor John Gray, because he had prayed
for me right after my surgery, and I remember his
message was like, you know, God said, no, it's going
to take as long as it takes, the healing won't
be accelerated, like you need to slow down. And as
(12:37):
soon as he said that, I just thought it was
one of the fairest things I've ever heard. Of course,
how fair and how generous to be allowed to heal
in the amount of time you're supposed to heal, to
heal it, all right, And so it really shifted things
for me, and that of this belief that I had
to heal fast because now I'm a healer and I'm
(12:57):
in my healing and that everything has to be done
with acceleration and you know, just like full abundance and manifestation.
And so the last eight weeks, I've been so present
with my healing, and that's what I have been mulling over.
I've been thinking about that and how fair it is
and how special my body is to even have the
(13:19):
ability to heal, and the fact that I still even
get to have use of this arm and you know,
like and that I'm even able to maneuver well while
on a book tour while healing from this experience, and
I just I just can't even describe it. I can't
even describe the gratitude that I'm washed over with in
my life, for my life, for my body, for my work,
(13:41):
for all the opportunities of being alive and being in
the moment. Like I'm I'm truly in awe and just
so overcome. But here's what happened that I notice, right
like as soon as I accepted, which gratefully was instantaneously
and I didn't even think about it. That was my
natural response. As soon as I surrendered, I could just
(14:05):
be with the miraculous nature of my body. I didn't
have this expectant energy. I didn't have this like you know,
this kind of this like disappointment that comes out far
too soon for something that is still in process. Right Like,
(14:27):
I wasn't encumbered with disappointment. I wasn't encumbered with alonging
or yeah, in expectation. I was just present with the
miraculous feeling nature of my body. And what I found is,
oh my god, I am healing so much faster than
I could have expected. My doctor is like, what, like wow,
(14:50):
Like you're doing so great and you're not in pain,
and you don't have a lot of inflammation, and your
body is responding so well. And I've just enjoyed the
tenderness and the slowness that I'm allowed to move with,
you know, like I used to be like the first
one to pick something up or to be like I
can do what I got it. I'm doing it by myself.
(15:11):
To carry you know, every single grocery bag in alone
and not even take extra trips and now it's like,
I physically can't do that, so I don't. And I'm
also not overgiving or over exerting with other people. I'm
just like, I'm so sorry. I actually this arm doesn't
work yet. So and it's just been Yeah, it's been
so special and eye opening in so many ways to
(15:34):
be present with this healing and just being yet another
lesson of how beauty the duality of grief and joy is,
or of challenge and ease happening at once. Because there
is so much ease happening around my book. There is
so much ease and grace and power happening in the
(15:54):
just amazing conversations that I'm having out in the world
right now and the beautiful hearts that I'm connecting with,
and so I'm just grateful for the both of it
all and the grounded nature of it all. So that's
an update on my arm and my physical healing, and
the book tour is going amazing, y'all. I again, if
(16:16):
you haven't got it yet, Living in Wisdom is officially out.
This is about doing the work. This book is about
getting into your crevices, getting into the spots where things
have been hiding in a really kind of sophisticated and
stealth way, and being with them and looking at them
and having the guidance of how to process some of
(16:38):
those things in some of those places with additional tools
and additional practices to really allow you to take full
agency over yourself and over your life and over the
desires of your heart. So far, I've hit two places
my book tour stops have been. The first one was
(16:59):
in Atlanta. God, I love Atlanta, Oh I love Atlanta.
It was in Atlanta for the Black Effect Podcast Network tour,
the amazing podcast network that I am on, and it
was so incredible. There were just so many amazing people
that hit the stage. I have to shout out my
girls Erica and Mila of the Good Mom's Bad Choices podcast.
(17:22):
They are officially now on the Black Effect Network and
they hit the main stage to do a live podcast.
They killed it. They just looked so amazing and the
energy they bring is just so special. Like I just
love them, love them, love them. My girl Carrie hit
(17:42):
the stage and did like a full sheet My girl
Carrie Champion brought Naked Sports, which is on the network,
to the stage and had an amazing conversation with Iman Schumbert,
and it was just like there were so many people
and it was just so special. Shout out my girl Weezy,
shout out Mandy, Like they're just incredible women putting their
(18:03):
work in the world and really leading and creating a
whole new vision for themselves and their lives and their audiences.
And I'm just inspired by it all. I'm just so
inspired by especially all the women that create through their
unique vision and calling and it's just dope. It's just dope.
So I was there for that. I was on a panel.
(18:24):
I was on a mental health panel that was really special.
My brother Charlemagne was on that panel. Ambergrimes, doctor j
was on that panel. The hood Dock was on that panel.
And it was just so much wisdom, so much wisdom, wisdom,
wisdom and service and dope to connect with everybody there.
And then I did my book tour stop which was
(18:47):
at forty fourth and Third, which is a phenomenal bookstore
which is located in Atlanta. I've just never seen like
anything quite like it. It was so special in the
collection of books from all over and black authors, and
so my dear friend and sister Carrie Champion did my
(19:08):
book conversation for that stop, and it was amazing. I
got to see so many people in person. I mean
there are people. There were faces I was recognizing from
Instagram and dms from like twenty and sixteen when I
was doing some early stuff with Karma Blizz and some
(19:28):
different challenges and people that I connected with through the
app for Meditation and the pandemic, and it was just amazing.
And people were showing up wearing like their deeply well shirts,
like right now I got my surprise me God shirt
on and that was amazing, so good, just so good.
(19:50):
And after that, where else was I? So? I was
in New York. I did the Breakfast Club, which was
incredible and if you haven't seen that episode yet, highly
recommend you check out my Breakfast Club interview on the book.
It was so special being with my brother Charlemagne, being
with Envy. I have known both of them for at
least eighteen years. And then my girl Jess Hilarious was
(20:14):
there and it was just it was amazing. It was
such a deep, expansive conversation and it was just fun
to get put in the hot seat, which rarely, if ever,
happens to me. Especially with two people that have known
me over a length of time. So we shared and
swapped some crazy stories from a long time ago and
all the things, but it was it was just beautiful
(20:35):
being with them and what they do. And then I did.
I'm also right now on my girl Carrie's podcast on
Naked Sports. I had a chance to join her in
New York and do her podcast, and that episode is
so different than any episode I have ever done. She
is a master and so special at what she does.
(20:57):
But we talk about a lot. We talk about Daity,
and we talk about God. We talk about my super
early radio career in La and my God, all the places,
all the crevices of my past. So check out that
episode too. It has been so great. All right, there's
(21:18):
so much to say, y'all, I just don't even know. Okay,
So I talk to you about my surrender experience. So
I had some very special, very special surprise me God
experiences too that are just feeling so invigorating. Like you
have heard me say this on the show so many times.
I'm wearing a T shirt that actually says it. But
sometimes in certain moments of your life, the prayer is
(21:41):
simply surprise me God, I don't have any specific thing
to ask for right now. I'm not gonna you know,
just yeah, I don't need really more. Everything feels like
more than enough.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
I am.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
I'm open to the awe, you know, like I'm open
to the awe. I'm open to the work of my
life right now, and I'm open to the things that
I just can't even fathom. And so I think when
we make the prayer surprise me God, and we say
that when we wake up, we say that, when we
go to sleep, we say that as we're walking into
a new experience. It's another form of surrendering to the
(22:20):
things that can surpass any possible desire, expectation that we
could ever have. And so I am firmly in my
surprise me God's season. And I do have to say,
I notice that spring and summer are really special to
use this prayer. There's just this natural blooming taking place
(22:41):
in nature and people in the world, and projects this
natural kind of ease and joy because of the amount
of sunlight that we're getting, because the birds are all
out now for most of the day, chirping and singing.
It's an effortless joy that gets us gets to surround
us without us working for it. That really starts to
(23:02):
come forward. So it's the perfect time to lean into
surprise me. God and I had two experiences recently that
were that they were just the sweetest, most special little surprises.
So the first was that I've shared this on the
show and if you follow me on Instagram you've seen.
But my friend Maria Shriver, the legendary national treasure icon
(23:25):
that she is, has an incredible book out called I
Am Maria. It's profound, it's special, it's yeah, deeply, deeply inspiring.
It's a mix of memoir and reflection and also like
just beautiful poetry and creativity. And so she asked me
to join her on some stops of her book tour.
(23:48):
So I joined her to kick it off in New York.
We did the La Book Tour, and then I joined
her this past week in Summerland, which is right near
Santa Barbara for those that are FROMI in southern California,
at this beautiful bookstore that is, you know, this kind
of iconic literary space called Godmother's a beautifully really special bookseller.
(24:13):
And she had her conversation there in a very intimate
way and brought out her best friend forty nine years
to guide her in the conversation. And her best friend
is Oprah Winfrey. And so I got to share some
special time with Maria and Oprah and just witness their
(24:34):
greatness and the beauty of them as women, the beauty
of them as friends, the beauty of them as living, breathing,
world changing icons, and it just special. And I led
a meditation there for everyone. I got to see my friend,
doctor Jennifer Freed, who has been on the show, she
(24:54):
was there. I got to see Gwyneth Paltrow, she was there,
just such an admirer of her work and all the
things that that group does. And it was a beautiful day.
It was just absolutely beautiful. And that's all I'm gonna
say about it. But that was a surprise me God
for the ages. It unfolded in just such an unexpected
(25:19):
special way, and it was more than enough, and it
was sacred and really recharge my battery of inspiration, recharge
my battery of service, recharge my battery of just excitement
about being a woman and aging and growing and creating
(25:40):
and being you know, all the things that we get
to be while we're here. So yeah, So that was
the first one which knocked my socks off. And then
just a few days after that, I had the really
beautiful opportunity of moderating a panel called the Wellness Revolution
(26:03):
at this phenomenal global conference that happened in Beverly Hills
called the Milken Institute Global Conference. I know some listening
probably are very familiar with that. It wasn't a part
of my world. It really is this epicenter of some
of the great financial minds in the world, some of
the great visionary thinkers and business of the world. Five
(26:28):
thousand people over three days, like two hundred different talks
and panels, like just so much information and when you're
in the middle of the lobby there, it literally feels
like you were standing in the center of Manhattan. The
way people are like whizzing by you in suits. It
was just it was wow energy, just wow and fascinating.
(26:50):
And so I was leading this panel and the panel
was just phenomenal. It was amazing people doing really meaningful,
truly good works in the world who are balancing like
what it is to scale multi million dollar global businesses
and how to hold onto your integrity in that in
wellness and how to make choices that are not just
(27:14):
about your bottom line and are not just about wealth accumulation,
but even as businesses making conscious choices for the greater good.
We need that now more than ever, and we need
those conversations and those kind of spaces now more than ever.
So on the panel was just amazing people. Jessica Alba,
of course we know her, we love her the Honest Company.
(27:37):
She's just been a visionary in the clean space. Doctor
Mark Hyman, who I am a massive fan of, Love
his podcast, love his books. I first saw him speak
probably ten years ago or so. I went to this
retreat called Journey into Healing and he was one of
(27:58):
the key speakers for one of the days, and yeah,
after that I was just kind of a lifelong big
fan of his curiosities and his brilliance. Also there was
Quentin Vinnie who has an incredible tea company and brewing
company and is creating in the wellness world in a
(28:20):
really special way with things that can really help nourish
and regulate us in our families with a lot of ease.
Moje Madhara, who is just such a visionary, And what
I loved most about working with Moje is she came
up to me, and the first thing that she said
was like, I want to talk about the problems. I
(28:41):
want to hit the stage and talk about the problems
that are happening and how we fix them. And that
was really the air of the entire experience. And also
the amazing Prictica Swarup, who has a wonderful beauty company
as well, shared a lot of insight on how you
scale in beauty with integrity, which is really interesting because
(29:04):
there are so many different facets that affect us in
the beauty industry in a truly kind of holistic way.
It can affect like every aspect of us, from physical
to mental health and emotional health. So yeah, it was
just fascinating. It was great to facilitate that conversation. I
had a blast. Audience was great. Made everyone do breath work,
(29:25):
of course, because that is always going to happen on
any stage I hit, even if it's a business stage.
So that was really special and interesting and I loved
everything I got to take in and learn in that space.
And my surprise, me god moment really happened when I
was walking into the speaker's lounge and I was getting
all my badges and stuff, and all of a sudden,
(29:48):
I look over and I see someone I admire like
standing there, and I was like what, And it was
TD Jakes. And it was just so special to walk
up and just say thank you, Bishop, you know, thank
you for who you are, thank you for your work,
thank you for all the sacrifices you've made in your
(30:10):
life to show up for the world and to create
what you've created, and to heal hearts and to bring
people to God. And you know, it's just like wow,
you know wow. And I know he recently made the
announcement that Pastor Sarah Jakes and Pastor Torrey we're going
to be taking over his work at Potter's House, and
(30:33):
so I was just happy. I got I got to
tell him to rest, to enjoy the rest, and to
enjoy some pleasure and some happiness and some joy. And
so it's a special conversation that I'll keep in my
heart and hold. But it was just wonderful. It was
just further confirmation from God about the goodness of the
(30:54):
world and the goodness of people and the inspiration that
surrounds us in all moments. And you know, it's not
lost on me what it is to also be kind
of confronted with two people in a special way that
I have been loving from Afar since I was a child,
you know, and like what the impact of the work
(31:17):
they said. They said yes to the impact of what
that did to my life to allow me to become
who I am in this moment. Infinite gratitude list end list.
All right, So couple things. My book tour is still
going on. Some of the dates are sold out, but
I think there are waitless. I will be in Washington,
(31:38):
d C. On May sixteenth, twenty twenty five. I will
be in Houston, Texas on May twenty first, twenty twenty five.
I will be in Detroit on May twenty eighth, twenty
twenty five. All the information is on my website Debbie
Brown dot com, Forward slash Book get all tickets there.
(31:59):
I am joined by credible conversation partners like Bunbe, Jessica
Nabongo a, Lindsia Johnson. It's gonna be amazing. My girlfriend
Layla Dalia join me on my La stop at Reparations
book Club, and my Motherland, which was so iconic. It
was just such an amazing night. Reparations is such an
(32:21):
incredible bookstore in La like blew me away, I will
be going all the time. Huge thank you to Jazzy
and yeah so we out here, we get in it.
If you have gotten the book, if you're reading the book,
I ask if you have the time, please leave a review.
Please leave a review. If you bought it on Amazon,
(32:43):
please leave a review and five stars if you got
it on Audible, if you got it on Barnes and
Noble Books a million again Amazon, please take a moment
and do that if you would, and uh yeah, pick
up the book. If you haven't, let me know what
you're thinking. Hit me in the comments on IG all
(33:04):
the places you know how to find me. All right,
I'll be back next week, no mistake. Hostaydayday. The content
presented on Deeply Well serves solely for educational and informational purposes.
It should not be considered a replacement for personalized medical
or mental health guidance and does not constitute a provider
(33:27):
patient relationship. As always, it is advisable to consult with
your healthcare provider or health team for any specific concerns
or questions that you may have. Connect with me on
social at Debbie Brown, That's Twitter and Instagram, or you
can go to my website Debbie Brown dot com. And
if you're listening to the show on Apple Podcasts, don't forget,
(33:50):
Please rate, review, and subscribe and send this episode to
a friend. Deeply Well is a production of iHeartRadio and
The Black Effect Network. It's produced by jack Qui Thomas,
Samantha Timmins, and me Debbie Brown. The Beautiful Soundbath You
heard That's by Jarrelen Glass from Crystal Cadence. For more
(34:10):
podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.
Take a deep breath in through your nose. Holds it.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Now, release slowly again, deep in, helle hold release, repeating
(01:02):
internally to yourself as you connect to my voice. I
am deeply well. I I am deeply well. I am
(01:24):
deeply I'm Debbie Brown and this is the Deeply Well Podcast.
Welcome to Deeply Well, a soft place to land on
your journey. A podcast for those that are curious, creative,
(01:45):
and ready to expand in higher consciousness and self care.
This is where we heal, this is where we transcend.
Welcome back to this show.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I am your host, Debbie Brown, and I'm excited for
this episode because I have some things I have been
thinking about as it relates to surrender and as it
relates to divine timing and the beautiful synchronicities of God
and the universe. So yeah, and you know, just all
(02:19):
the big questions of life. That's what we're going to
explore in this episode. Big themes, big themes. I have
no idea and no concept of time right now. I
have to say my book came out, Living in Wisdom.
It is here. It came out exactly about two weeks
(02:39):
and a couple days ago. So it is a brand
new baby out in the world, and I just want
to say thank you so much to everyone who has
reached out that is reading the book, that has got
the book, that has tagged me in your screenshots, that
has you know, let me know what parts of the book.
I've been getting a lot of messages from people letting
me know what chapter they're on when they're on it,
(03:01):
so like, Okay, I'm at chapter three at this point,
or I'm on page sixty seven, or I'm you know,
I'm I'm two chapters away from finishing. So it's been
really special because I think when you first drop a book,
you know, definitely. I think the flow of it is
the focus on like first week sales and you're out,
you're talking about it, but no one's actually really read
(03:22):
it yet people are buying it. And something that's been
just really meaningful as an author and thrilling as an
author is getting the response for how people are reacting
to reading it. And it's been really special and it's
been interesting. I know when I first when I first
like turned in the manuscript and I was just talking
(03:43):
to a couple friends about the book, and I kept
everything pretty close to the chest, like I'm really good
at that. I'm a very patient person with like the
unfolding of things. I don't have to share everything right away.
But I was talking to some friends about the book
and they're just like, oh, you know, this is going
(04:05):
to be so great, and you know, they were kind
of holding the book in this very like feel good
kind of way, which it is a very feel good book,
I think when you really get on the other side
of some things. But I remember what I shared with them,
as I said, you know, I think people's path to
this book is going to be a little bit different
(04:27):
because actually, I'm sure the book is going to be
quite confronting when you first start reading it. It's even
confronting for me when I reread. It's provoking on purpose,
you know, It's yeah, it's and maybe provoking isn't the word.
It's confronting on purpose, you know. My deepest desire with
(04:49):
this book was to hopefully bringing anyone that reads it
to a deeper layer, to a place they haven't gone before,
place they haven't spent maybe significant time before. So it's
just been really special. So far, I've done a lot.
I have been on the road baby, which is so
(05:09):
also funny for me based on my personality. It's like
I spent many years out five six nights a week
because of what I used to do in the industry
I was in, and you know, just used to travel
a ton and be here, be there. And since the pandemic,
I have just fallen in love with my natural, simple, ordinary,
(05:34):
slow movements in the day. So I'm a homebody. I
can get out there. I can you know, work a
room with the best of them. I can you know, yeah,
take up space. But my preference in this season of
life is to like be with my garden and be
with my child and think and ponder and just be
really spend a lot of time with my closest relationships
(05:56):
and go deeper there and have cookouts with each other
and regular hangs at each other's houses and you know,
things like that. And so because of that, I have
traveled quite a bit for work, but I'm always like
bam bam, and life has been like really regimented the
past few years in that way, and so it's been
really cool to kind of turn on those social muscles
(06:18):
that I haven't really used in a while, to be
out in the world talking about something that I love
and that I worked really hard on and that I'm
excited about. So yeah, it's been interesting. I've been turning
on my social battery, which also is a sensitive person.
(06:39):
You got to build in like a lot of recovery time.
So it's been it's been cool understanding that component of
my life right now, right like how to bring more
harmony to a life that is usually intentionally very reclusive,
and then being out there and you know, feeling all
the energy and moving through this city and moving through
(07:01):
groups and you know, just having a lot of experiences
in one day. That was my life for most of
my life, of course, so it's nothing new. But when
you take a step back to do deep healing, when
you take a step back to work on you know,
what we're calling soft life or cultivating a slowness, it
does feel a little jarring when you have to keep
(07:24):
one foot in the other world too. It takes a
little bit of practice and it takes a little bit
of harmonizing. So I'm having fun doing that right now
because I am loving both. I'm loving being in the
world again. I'm loving having big conversations again and using
all my skills and you know, using things that were
kind of dormant the last few years because my work
(07:44):
was focused on different things. So it's just been really
fun activating those kind of highly trained muscles again and
using them. And I'm having a lot of fun with
that and springing back a lot of memories of different
eras of my life and different moments of like who
I've been, and now from this vantage point, I'm able
to also not just look at who I've been in
(08:07):
other times, right, Like, when you get to a certain age,
you really start to see how defined your life is
by very specific eras and what those clusters of time
mean to your bigger story. And I think I'm just
really in a season right now where synchronistically a lot
ist coming up for review that is completing cycles and
(08:27):
completing circles in certain thought processes I've had or ways
I've looked at situations, and so lately I've been talking
more than ever with people about actually like my very
very old school radio career, like not even the career
I gave up ten years ago, but the career I
got into when I was like nineteen. So I've been
thinking about those ages and who I knew and what
(08:50):
I was doing and how I saw the world and
it's just fun. It's fun and it's interesting. I'm realizing
also how wrong I was about so many things in
my life. I've run into a few people lately, people
I've known for honestly, like truly twenty years, and we
are resolving misperceptions like we've had about one another, had
(09:13):
about how each other felt about the other, or how
each other like approached a career move or you know,
just like so many things now from like this like
twenty year rear view mirror, and it's just it's beautiful.
It's fascinating. It's like the gift of time passing, you know.
And I think something I'm really savoring too is like
(09:37):
I'm getting so many more confirming examples of how beautiful
and strategic divine timing is. And you know, when you're younger,
it's really so hard to connect to that patience for
your life. It's it's excruciating because you're becoming, you're learning,
(09:57):
you're discovering you want things and people, and you know,
you think you have to craft your life so quickly
and so fully. Like I remember when I was turning
twenty four, I thought I was so depressed because I
thought by twenty four, I should be deep in the
success of a massive career and I should already have
(10:19):
this and that and this and that. And it's like
you are an infant at twenty four, Like what you
should barely be trusted with anything at that age. No,
not really, but you know, it's like those are the
years that you're actually should be so free, just so
free and unencumbered by those bigger choices and decisions, you know,
(10:40):
so anywho' it's it's special being in a place where
there are certain areas of your life you have been
consistent and you have been in alignment, and you have
listened to God and you never saw like why you
were being so disciplined in those ways. And then all
(11:01):
of a sudden, twenty years past and it all falls
into place and you get it and you're like, wow,
So the listening can take a while, But why can't it,
you know, like, why can't it? Why does everything have
to be fast and more? And you know, yeah, And
that leads me actually to an update I want to
share with everyone about my surgery deeply. Well, thank you
(11:30):
so much everyone that has been hitting me up. There's
been just so much kindness floating in my orbit and ecosystem,
and so many of you listening and that have reached
out to share your own stories with chronic pain or surgeries,
and so I am. I think I'm almost eight weeks Monday,
I think will be eight weeks out from surgery. And
(11:53):
the first episode I recorded was I think within the
first week where I had my full sling. So I'm
out of my sling. I can't really raise my arm
past here. This is where she stays. If you're on YouTube,
you see what I'm doing right now, but right around
my waist is like how high you can lift my arm?
But oh, God is healing me so beautifully, Like it's
(12:15):
blowing my mind. And I was actually having this conversation
with my friend, Pastor John Gray, because he had prayed
for me right after my surgery, and I remember his
message was like, you know, God said, no, it's going
to take as long as it takes, the healing won't
be accelerated, like you need to slow down. And as
(12:37):
soon as he said that, I just thought it was
one of the fairest things I've ever heard. Of course,
how fair and how generous to be allowed to heal
in the amount of time you're supposed to heal, to
heal it, all right, And so it really shifted things
for me, and that of this belief that I had
to heal fast because now I'm a healer and I'm
(12:57):
in my healing and that everything has to be done
with acceleration and you know, just like full abundance and manifestation.
And so the last eight weeks, I've been so present
with my healing, and that's what I have been mulling over.
I've been thinking about that and how fair it is
and how special my body is to even have the
(13:19):
ability to heal, and the fact that I still even
get to have use of this arm and you know,
like and that I'm even able to maneuver well while
on a book tour while healing from this experience, and
I just I just can't even describe it. I can't
even describe the gratitude that I'm washed over with in
my life, for my life, for my body, for my work,
(13:41):
for all the opportunities of being alive and being in
the moment. Like I'm I'm truly in awe and just
so overcome. But here's what happened that I notice, right
like as soon as I accepted, which gratefully was instantaneously
and I didn't even think about it. That was my
natural response. As soon as I surrendered, I could just
(14:05):
be with the miraculous nature of my body. I didn't
have this expectant energy. I didn't have this like you know,
this kind of this like disappointment that comes out far
too soon for something that is still in process. Right Like,
(14:27):
I wasn't encumbered with disappointment. I wasn't encumbered with alonging
or yeah, in expectation. I was just present with the
miraculous feeling nature of my body. And what I found is,
oh my god, I am healing so much faster than
I could have expected. My doctor is like, what, like wow,
(14:50):
Like you're doing so great and you're not in pain,
and you don't have a lot of inflammation, and your
body is responding so well. And I've just enjoyed the
tenderness and the slowness that I'm allowed to move with,
you know, like I used to be like the first
one to pick something up or to be like I
can do what I got it. I'm doing it by myself.
(15:11):
To carry you know, every single grocery bag in alone
and not even take extra trips and now it's like,
I physically can't do that, so I don't. And I'm
also not overgiving or over exerting with other people. I'm
just like, I'm so sorry. I actually this arm doesn't
work yet. So and it's just been Yeah, it's been
so special and eye opening in so many ways to
(15:34):
be present with this healing and just being yet another
lesson of how beauty the duality of grief and joy is,
or of challenge and ease happening at once. Because there
is so much ease happening around my book. There is
so much ease and grace and power happening in the
(15:54):
just amazing conversations that I'm having out in the world
right now and the beautiful hearts that I'm connecting with,
and so I'm just grateful for the both of it
all and the grounded nature of it all. So that's
an update on my arm and my physical healing, and
the book tour is going amazing, y'all. I again, if
(16:16):
you haven't got it yet, Living in Wisdom is officially out.
This is about doing the work. This book is about
getting into your crevices, getting into the spots where things
have been hiding in a really kind of sophisticated and
stealth way, and being with them and looking at them
and having the guidance of how to process some of
(16:38):
those things in some of those places with additional tools
and additional practices to really allow you to take full
agency over yourself and over your life and over the
desires of your heart. So far, I've hit two places
my book tour stops have been. The first one was
(16:59):
in Atlanta. God, I love Atlanta, Oh I love Atlanta.
It was in Atlanta for the Black Effect Podcast Network tour,
the amazing podcast network that I am on, and it
was so incredible. There were just so many amazing people
that hit the stage. I have to shout out my
girls Erica and Mila of the Good Mom's Bad Choices podcast.
(17:22):
They are officially now on the Black Effect Network and
they hit the main stage to do a live podcast.
They killed it. They just looked so amazing and the
energy they bring is just so special. Like I just
love them, love them, love them. My girl Carrie hit
(17:42):
the stage and did like a full sheet My girl
Carrie Champion brought Naked Sports, which is on the network,
to the stage and had an amazing conversation with Iman Schumbert,
and it was just like there were so many people
and it was just so special. Shout out my girl Weezy,
shout out Mandy, Like they're just incredible women putting their
(18:03):
work in the world and really leading and creating a
whole new vision for themselves and their lives and their audiences.
And I'm just inspired by it all. I'm just so
inspired by especially all the women that create through their
unique vision and calling and it's just dope. It's just dope.
So I was there for that. I was on a panel.
(18:24):
I was on a mental health panel that was really special.
My brother Charlemagne was on that panel. Ambergrimes, doctor j
was on that panel. The hood Dock was on that panel.
And it was just so much wisdom, so much wisdom, wisdom,
wisdom and service and dope to connect with everybody there.
And then I did my book tour stop which was
(18:47):
at forty fourth and Third, which is a phenomenal bookstore
which is located in Atlanta. I've just never seen like
anything quite like it. It was so special in the
collection of books from all over and black authors, and
so my dear friend and sister Carrie Champion did my
(19:08):
book conversation for that stop, and it was amazing. I
got to see so many people in person. I mean
there are people. There were faces I was recognizing from
Instagram and dms from like twenty and sixteen when I
was doing some early stuff with Karma Blizz and some
(19:28):
different challenges and people that I connected with through the
app for Meditation and the pandemic, and it was just amazing.
And people were showing up wearing like their deeply well shirts,
like right now I got my surprise me God shirt
on and that was amazing, so good, just so good.
(19:50):
And after that, where else was I? So? I was
in New York. I did the Breakfast Club, which was
incredible and if you haven't seen that episode yet, highly
recommend you check out my Breakfast Club interview on the book.
It was so special being with my brother Charlemagne, being
with Envy. I have known both of them for at
least eighteen years. And then my girl Jess Hilarious was
(20:14):
there and it was just it was amazing. It was
such a deep, expansive conversation and it was just fun
to get put in the hot seat, which rarely, if ever,
happens to me. Especially with two people that have known
me over a length of time. So we shared and
swapped some crazy stories from a long time ago and
all the things, but it was it was just beautiful
(20:35):
being with them and what they do. And then I did.
I'm also right now on my girl Carrie's podcast on
Naked Sports. I had a chance to join her in
New York and do her podcast, and that episode is
so different than any episode I have ever done. She
is a master and so special at what she does.
(20:57):
But we talk about a lot. We talk about Daity,
and we talk about God. We talk about my super
early radio career in La and my God, all the places,
all the crevices of my past. So check out that
episode too. It has been so great. All right, there's
(21:18):
so much to say, y'all, I just don't even know. Okay,
So I talk to you about my surrender experience. So
I had some very special, very special surprise me God
experiences too that are just feeling so invigorating. Like you
have heard me say this on the show so many times.
I'm wearing a T shirt that actually says it. But
sometimes in certain moments of your life, the prayer is
(21:41):
simply surprise me God, I don't have any specific thing
to ask for right now. I'm not gonna you know,
just yeah, I don't need really more. Everything feels like
more than enough.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
I am.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
I'm open to the awe, you know, like I'm open
to the awe. I'm open to the work of my
life right now, and I'm open to the things that
I just can't even fathom. And so I think when
we make the prayer surprise me God, and we say
that when we wake up, we say that, when we
go to sleep, we say that as we're walking into
a new experience. It's another form of surrendering to the
(22:20):
things that can surpass any possible desire, expectation that we
could ever have. And so I am firmly in my
surprise me God's season. And I do have to say,
I notice that spring and summer are really special to
use this prayer. There's just this natural blooming taking place
(22:41):
in nature and people in the world, and projects this
natural kind of ease and joy because of the amount
of sunlight that we're getting, because the birds are all
out now for most of the day, chirping and singing.
It's an effortless joy that gets us gets to surround
us without us working for it. That really starts to
(23:02):
come forward. So it's the perfect time to lean into
surprise me. God and I had two experiences recently that
were that they were just the sweetest, most special little surprises.
So the first was that I've shared this on the
show and if you follow me on Instagram you've seen.
But my friend Maria Shriver, the legendary national treasure icon
(23:25):
that she is, has an incredible book out called I
Am Maria. It's profound, it's special, it's yeah, deeply, deeply inspiring.
It's a mix of memoir and reflection and also like
just beautiful poetry and creativity. And so she asked me
to join her on some stops of her book tour.
(23:48):
So I joined her to kick it off in New York.
We did the La Book Tour, and then I joined
her this past week in Summerland, which is right near
Santa Barbara for those that are FROMI in southern California,
at this beautiful bookstore that is, you know, this kind
of iconic literary space called Godmother's a beautifully really special bookseller.
(24:13):
And she had her conversation there in a very intimate
way and brought out her best friend forty nine years
to guide her in the conversation. And her best friend
is Oprah Winfrey. And so I got to share some
special time with Maria and Oprah and just witness their
(24:34):
greatness and the beauty of them as women, the beauty
of them as friends, the beauty of them as living, breathing,
world changing icons, and it just special. And I led
a meditation there for everyone. I got to see my friend,
doctor Jennifer Freed, who has been on the show, she
(24:54):
was there. I got to see Gwyneth Paltrow, she was there,
just such an admirer of her work and all the
things that that group does. And it was a beautiful day.
It was just absolutely beautiful. And that's all I'm gonna
say about it. But that was a surprise me God
for the ages. It unfolded in just such an unexpected
(25:19):
special way, and it was more than enough, and it
was sacred and really recharge my battery of inspiration, recharge
my battery of service, recharge my battery of just excitement
about being a woman and aging and growing and creating
(25:40):
and being you know, all the things that we get
to be while we're here. So yeah, So that was
the first one which knocked my socks off. And then
just a few days after that, I had the really
beautiful opportunity of moderating a panel called the Wellness Revolution
(26:03):
at this phenomenal global conference that happened in Beverly Hills
called the Milken Institute Global Conference. I know some listening
probably are very familiar with that. It wasn't a part
of my world. It really is this epicenter of some
of the great financial minds in the world, some of
the great visionary thinkers and business of the world. Five
(26:28):
thousand people over three days, like two hundred different talks
and panels, like just so much information and when you're
in the middle of the lobby there, it literally feels
like you were standing in the center of Manhattan. The
way people are like whizzing by you in suits. It
was just it was wow energy, just wow and fascinating.
(26:50):
And so I was leading this panel and the panel
was just phenomenal. It was amazing people doing really meaningful,
truly good works in the world who are balancing like
what it is to scale multi million dollar global businesses
and how to hold onto your integrity in that in
wellness and how to make choices that are not just
(27:14):
about your bottom line and are not just about wealth accumulation,
but even as businesses making conscious choices for the greater good.
We need that now more than ever, and we need
those conversations and those kind of spaces now more than ever.
So on the panel was just amazing people. Jessica Alba,
of course we know her, we love her the Honest Company.
(27:37):
She's just been a visionary in the clean space. Doctor
Mark Hyman, who I am a massive fan of, Love
his podcast, love his books. I first saw him speak
probably ten years ago or so. I went to this
retreat called Journey into Healing and he was one of
(27:58):
the key speakers for one of the days, and yeah,
after that I was just kind of a lifelong big
fan of his curiosities and his brilliance. Also there was
Quentin Vinnie who has an incredible tea company and brewing
company and is creating in the wellness world in a
(28:20):
really special way with things that can really help nourish
and regulate us in our families with a lot of ease.
Moje Madhara, who is just such a visionary, And what
I loved most about working with Moje is she came
up to me, and the first thing that she said
was like, I want to talk about the problems. I
(28:41):
want to hit the stage and talk about the problems
that are happening and how we fix them. And that
was really the air of the entire experience. And also
the amazing Prictica Swarup, who has a wonderful beauty company
as well, shared a lot of insight on how you
scale in beauty with integrity, which is really interesting because
(29:04):
there are so many different facets that affect us in
the beauty industry in a truly kind of holistic way.
It can affect like every aspect of us, from physical
to mental health and emotional health. So yeah, it was
just fascinating. It was great to facilitate that conversation. I
had a blast. Audience was great. Made everyone do breath work,
(29:25):
of course, because that is always going to happen on
any stage I hit, even if it's a business stage.
So that was really special and interesting and I loved
everything I got to take in and learn in that space.
And my surprise, me god moment really happened when I
was walking into the speaker's lounge and I was getting
all my badges and stuff, and all of a sudden,
(29:48):
I look over and I see someone I admire like
standing there, and I was like what, And it was
TD Jakes. And it was just so special to walk
up and just say thank you, Bishop, you know, thank
you for who you are, thank you for your work,
thank you for all the sacrifices you've made in your
(30:10):
life to show up for the world and to create
what you've created, and to heal hearts and to bring
people to God. And you know, it's just like wow,
you know wow. And I know he recently made the
announcement that Pastor Sarah Jakes and Pastor Torrey we're going
to be taking over his work at Potter's House, and
(30:33):
so I was just happy. I got I got to
tell him to rest, to enjoy the rest, and to
enjoy some pleasure and some happiness and some joy. And
so it's a special conversation that I'll keep in my
heart and hold. But it was just wonderful. It was
just further confirmation from God about the goodness of the
(30:54):
world and the goodness of people and the inspiration that
surrounds us in all moments. And you know, it's not
lost on me what it is to also be kind
of confronted with two people in a special way that
I have been loving from Afar since I was a child,
you know, and like what the impact of the work
(31:17):
they said. They said yes to the impact of what
that did to my life to allow me to become
who I am in this moment. Infinite gratitude list end list.
All right, So couple things. My book tour is still
going on. Some of the dates are sold out, but
I think there are waitless. I will be in Washington,
(31:38):
d C. On May sixteenth, twenty twenty five. I will
be in Houston, Texas on May twenty first, twenty twenty five.
I will be in Detroit on May twenty eighth, twenty
twenty five. All the information is on my website Debbie
Brown dot com, Forward slash Book get all tickets there.
(31:59):
I am joined by credible conversation partners like Bunbe, Jessica
Nabongo a, Lindsia Johnson. It's gonna be amazing. My girlfriend
Layla Dalia join me on my La stop at Reparations
book Club, and my Motherland, which was so iconic. It
was just such an amazing night. Reparations is such an
(32:21):
incredible bookstore in La like blew me away, I will
be going all the time. Huge thank you to Jazzy
and yeah so we out here, we get in it.
If you have gotten the book, if you're reading the book,
I ask if you have the time, please leave a review.
Please leave a review. If you bought it on Amazon,
(32:43):
please leave a review and five stars if you got
it on Audible, if you got it on Barnes and
Noble Books a million again Amazon, please take a moment
and do that if you would, and uh yeah, pick
up the book. If you haven't, let me know what
you're thinking. Hit me in the comments on IG all
(33:04):
the places you know how to find me. All right,
I'll be back next week, no mistake. Hostaydayday. The content
presented on Deeply Well serves solely for educational and informational purposes.
It should not be considered a replacement for personalized medical
or mental health guidance and does not constitute a provider
(33:27):
patient relationship. As always, it is advisable to consult with
your healthcare provider or health team for any specific concerns
or questions that you may have. Connect with me on
social at Debbie Brown, That's Twitter and Instagram, or you
can go to my website Debbie Brown dot com. And
if you're listening to the show on Apple Podcasts, don't forget,
(33:50):
Please rate, review, and subscribe and send this episode to
a friend. Deeply Well is a production of iHeartRadio and
The Black Effect Network. It's produced by jack Qui Thomas,
Samantha Timmins, and me Debbie Brown. The Beautiful Soundbath You
heard That's by Jarrelen Glass from Crystal Cadence. For more
(34:10):
podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.
Host
Devi Brown
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