March 14, 2023 • 10 mins
Today's inspiration comes from J. Cole's "Let Go My Hand", and gives us perspective on living life consciously, letting go of yesterday, and living in the present.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Yes, Yes, I and dramas and this is the Street
Stoic Podcast, bringing you your daily dose of timeless stolk
philosophy remix for the hip hop generation. Now, with that
(00:26):
in mind, let's get things started with your daily shot
of inspiration. Not today, we are going to be focusing
around the idea of presents, right, and the Stoics talk
a lot about presence. They view it as an essential
(00:47):
part to enjoying life, to avoiding anxiety, you know, not
having fear of the future, and being able to do
all that you do with efficiency. And a song that
came to mind for me was was J Cole with
the record let Go My Hand and the outro it's
a prayer to God. But the part that I pulled
was keep us forever in the present, for presence makes
(01:11):
the strongest fathers, teach us how to lead, show us
how to love. And I love that acknowledgement right there,
of the idea of presence making the strongest fathers, right,
And I think you can interpret that a number of ways, right,
be it literally as someone who has a child and
being in the present moment allows you to tend to
(01:32):
your kids needs right and into what they're they're asking
for in that moment. You know, by you focusing on
what they're telling you and being right there and hyper
focus on the little signs that they're giving you, especially
before they can speak. You know that that is the
essential part of being a good parent, right, being able
to be hyper focused on what is happening with your
(01:54):
children in the moment and what they may or may
not need. And then I think beyond, just like parenthood
and being a father as it speaks about in the song,
I think it's also a way to view us as
human beings or what we should be striving for, I
should say, as human beings. Right, to be present in
the moment is to become stronger because you are aware
of what needs to happen. You are aware of what
(02:16):
parts of yourself need to be tapped into in order
to make the best of a particular situation. Right. And
this leads perfectly to a quote from one of the stokes,
Marcus Aurelius, and he says, the present is all we
have to live in or to lose. I found this
to be so profound because when you are not embracing
the present moment right, you are inevitably losing it. Right,
(02:39):
When you're not enjoying what's going on in front of you,
when you are not observing the signs or the lessons
that aren't in front of you, they are passing you by,
they are fleeting right. You are losing touch with what
is actually happening. And again, when something crazy is happening
in your life, when you need to be there for someone,
when you need to step up to the plate in
problem solved, If you're not being present to the information
(03:00):
that is coming outwardly in front of you and you're
just freaking out, you're losing your mind. You're losing your head,
You're getting anxious, You're you're worrying about what this means
for your future. You're not going to be able to
problem solve because you're focusing on too many other random
things rather than what is right in front of you,
the thing that you can control right the present moment,
the signs that are that are popping up in front
of you, the the problems that are in front of
(03:21):
you that need to be solved. If you're losing your
head and focusing on anything other than the present moment,
you're not going to be effective in that moment. And
like J Cole is talking about when you're talking about
someone who's a father or or what is a father
represent a caregiver? You know, you know, historically the leader
of something, right, the leader of a of a family.
And of course I'm not going to get too caught
(03:41):
up in in gender roles and things like that. Let's
just kind of talk, you know, in a sort of
broad sense, just for the sake of clarity. But you're
not going to be able to lead, You're not going
to be able to problem solve, You're not going to
be able to provide for those who are depending on
you if you are losing your shit and not focusing
on what is in front of you and what you
can do right. And and this like literally makes me
(04:03):
think about something that happened to me recently. You know,
I have been in a bit of a battle with
the town that I have my studio in. Right, I
had purchased this commercial building and it's a place that
has historically always had businesses here, and for whatever reason,
when I decided to now open up my studio here,
a neighbor complained to you know, the powers that be,
(04:24):
And now the town is giving me a hard time
about operating here, right, and there's all kinds of expenses, associate,
I have to get a lawyer, I do all these
different things. And I had gotten a quote back from
one lawyer that was recommended to me, and it was
this crazy ten thousand dollars this is going to cost me.
And I have to hire an engineer to look at
the parking lot, and I have to hire this expert
and this expert. Then I have to go and do
(04:46):
all this paperwork and go in front of some border
or whatever it might be. And in that moment, I
got mad, I got frustrated, I got upset, I started
getting down on myself. I started telling myself, Oh, this
is just my luck. You know that I would go
ahead and make my first investment, and then of course
I'm about to lose it all. After I just finished
my studio, I just like put the finishing touches on it,
and I'm getting ready to open it to the public,
and then this happens. Now I'm losing my life savings essentially, right,
(05:09):
And I lost my shit a bit the night that
I got this quote back from that lawyer and heard
what his argument was, right, and he wasn't too confident
about the case, and in general just seemed like he
was trying to push me away. Right. He didn't want
to take it. It It wasn't worth his time. When I
woke up that next morning, I immediately got present to
what am I in control of? Right? And that was
the flip side. The night before. I felt helpless. I
(05:31):
felt like my life was ending. When I got up
that next morning, I recalibrated, and I knew that I
was in control. I went to the town I demanded
all paperwork, all records that they had. I went and
spoke to other business owners who had a similar problem.
I spoke to everybody who's ever been to my property
and getting all the historical facts and documents, and now
I have a solid case, right. And all of that
(05:52):
was just from me saying, no, I'm going to get
hyper present to what is in my control. What can
I do right now. I'm not going to lose my
shit anymore. I'm not gonna lose my head. I'm not gonna,
you know, just bow out gracefully and allow these people
to take everything that I've worked so hard for because
it seems like an uphill battle. No, I'm getting present
what can I do? And that's what is saving me,
(06:15):
and that is what is keeping me sane as well.
So I think that's just for me. What immediately comes
to mine when we talk about this idea of presence
and all that Jake Coole is talking about and all
that Marcus Aurelius is talking about. Now, with that in mind,
let's talk about you and how you can make this
your mantra for today. We'll first take a quick break
and then we'll be right back. All right, So we've
(06:45):
heard the words of Jake Cole, we have heard the
words of Marcus Aurelius. We have a man heard a
very personal example of something I am going through and
how I am applying the idea of presence as a
problem solver, how I'm applying that to my life. Now,
let's talk about how you can make it your manstra
for today. And I think first and foremost, you have
(07:06):
to recognize that problem solving takes presence. Right when we
agonize over what could be or how unfair it is.
You know that I'm going through this particular situation, we
lose sight of the action that is needed to take right.
We are then essentially relinquishing our power to someone else,
to some outside force because we are choosing to believe
(07:30):
that we already lost, we are looking to the future
for a reassurance of how terrible things are going to
be because of this terrible moment, or we're looking to
the past and creating a case about how we have
the worst luck in the world. When again, focusing on
the present moment, it's not going to solve everything right now,
but at least it gets the ball rolling towards putting
you in a better position to fight against whatever it
(07:53):
is that you are going through. Right and again to recap.
Like Jacole said, presence makes the strongest father, and you
can replace fathers with the strongest people. Right when you
are present, when you're tackling the problem head on and
you are not avoiding it, you are not feeling bad
for yourself. You are inevitably going to learn something new
and put yourself in a better position to defeat whatever
(08:15):
issue it is that is at hand. Right and, like
Marcus Aurelius says, right present is all you have to
live in or to lose. When you relinquish that control
of focusing on what's directly in front of you, you
are inevitably losing out on the current present moment and
again the current opportunity to correct whatever it is that
you are going through, and when it comes to to
(08:36):
me and my story in this battle that I'm in
right now with my town. Had I have kept up
the same attitude of woe is me and life sucks
and I'm just screwed right now, I would be screwed. Right,
that actually would be the result. But instead, when I
woke up with a better attitude and got present to
all the things that I could do, you know, without
having to hire a lawyer, without having to go in
(08:56):
front of the town. What are the things that I
can take into my own hands. And once I did that,
I was able to put myself at an advantage where
I have all of this proof that combats what the
town is trying to tell me and what they're trying
to implement against me. Right. But again, had I have
just kept that negative mindset, I would just be sitting
here waiting for the day that the town potentially shuts
(09:18):
me down and I lose out on my life savings. Right, presence,
that is how you fight against whatever is happening in
your life. That is how you build strength, and that
is how you can push past, whatever hardships are going
on currently, remember focus on what is directly in front
of you. And while we're on the topic of presence,
(09:38):
I did write an entire book called just B that
is about trying to cultivate presence. You can check that
out www. Dot just B dot NYC, hu stbe dot nyc.
You can pick up the book submerge all that kind
of stuff, because presence is something that I am trying
to cultivate more of because I've recognized it's importance. It's
not just empty words. I literally wrote a book on it.
(10:01):
And with that said, thank you so much for checking
out The Street Stoke Podcast. Do your best to apply
these concepts that we discussed today into your everyday life,
and I'll catch you all next time. The Street Stoke
Podcast is a production of Ihearts Michael Tura Podcast Network.
Yes, Yes, I and dramas and this is the Street
Stoic Podcast, bringing you your daily dose of timeless stolk
philosophy remix for the hip hop generation. Now, with that
(00:26):
in mind, let's get things started with your daily shot
of inspiration. Not today, we are going to be focusing
around the idea of presents, right, and the Stoics talk
a lot about presence. They view it as an essential
(00:47):
part to enjoying life, to avoiding anxiety, you know, not
having fear of the future, and being able to do
all that you do with efficiency. And a song that
came to mind for me was was J Cole with
the record let Go My Hand and the outro it's
a prayer to God. But the part that I pulled
was keep us forever in the present, for presence makes
(01:11):
the strongest fathers, teach us how to lead, show us
how to love. And I love that acknowledgement right there,
of the idea of presence making the strongest fathers, right,
And I think you can interpret that a number of ways, right,
be it literally as someone who has a child and
being in the present moment allows you to tend to
(01:32):
your kids needs right and into what they're they're asking
for in that moment. You know, by you focusing on
what they're telling you and being right there and hyper
focus on the little signs that they're giving you, especially
before they can speak. You know that that is the
essential part of being a good parent, right, being able
to be hyper focused on what is happening with your
(01:54):
children in the moment and what they may or may
not need. And then I think beyond, just like parenthood
and being a father as it speaks about in the song,
I think it's also a way to view us as
human beings or what we should be striving for, I
should say, as human beings. Right, to be present in
the moment is to become stronger because you are aware
of what needs to happen. You are aware of what
(02:16):
parts of yourself need to be tapped into in order
to make the best of a particular situation. Right. And
this leads perfectly to a quote from one of the stokes,
Marcus Aurelius, and he says, the present is all we
have to live in or to lose. I found this
to be so profound because when you are not embracing
the present moment right, you are inevitably losing it. Right,
(02:39):
When you're not enjoying what's going on in front of you,
when you are not observing the signs or the lessons
that aren't in front of you, they are passing you by,
they are fleeting right. You are losing touch with what
is actually happening. And again, when something crazy is happening
in your life, when you need to be there for someone,
when you need to step up to the plate in
problem solved, If you're not being present to the information
(03:00):
that is coming outwardly in front of you and you're
just freaking out, you're losing your mind. You're losing your head,
You're getting anxious, You're you're worrying about what this means
for your future. You're not going to be able to
problem solve because you're focusing on too many other random
things rather than what is right in front of you,
the thing that you can control right the present moment,
the signs that are that are popping up in front
of you, the the problems that are in front of
(03:21):
you that need to be solved. If you're losing your
head and focusing on anything other than the present moment,
you're not going to be effective in that moment. And
like J Cole is talking about when you're talking about
someone who's a father or or what is a father
represent a caregiver? You know, you know, historically the leader
of something, right, the leader of a of a family.
And of course I'm not going to get too caught
(03:41):
up in in gender roles and things like that. Let's
just kind of talk, you know, in a sort of
broad sense, just for the sake of clarity. But you're
not going to be able to lead, You're not going
to be able to problem solve, You're not going to
be able to provide for those who are depending on
you if you are losing your shit and not focusing
on what is in front of you and what you
can do right. And and this like literally makes me
(04:03):
think about something that happened to me recently. You know,
I have been in a bit of a battle with
the town that I have my studio in. Right, I
had purchased this commercial building and it's a place that
has historically always had businesses here, and for whatever reason,
when I decided to now open up my studio here,
a neighbor complained to you know, the powers that be,
(04:24):
And now the town is giving me a hard time
about operating here, right, and there's all kinds of expenses, associate,
I have to get a lawyer, I do all these
different things. And I had gotten a quote back from
one lawyer that was recommended to me, and it was
this crazy ten thousand dollars this is going to cost me.
And I have to hire an engineer to look at
the parking lot, and I have to hire this expert
and this expert. Then I have to go and do
(04:46):
all this paperwork and go in front of some border
or whatever it might be. And in that moment, I
got mad, I got frustrated, I got upset, I started
getting down on myself. I started telling myself, Oh, this
is just my luck. You know that I would go
ahead and make my first investment, and then of course
I'm about to lose it all. After I just finished
my studio, I just like put the finishing touches on it,
and I'm getting ready to open it to the public,
and then this happens. Now I'm losing my life savings essentially, right,
(05:09):
And I lost my shit a bit the night that
I got this quote back from that lawyer and heard
what his argument was, right, and he wasn't too confident
about the case, and in general just seemed like he
was trying to push me away. Right. He didn't want
to take it. It It wasn't worth his time. When I
woke up that next morning, I immediately got present to
what am I in control of? Right? And that was
the flip side. The night before. I felt helpless. I
(05:31):
felt like my life was ending. When I got up
that next morning, I recalibrated, and I knew that I
was in control. I went to the town I demanded
all paperwork, all records that they had. I went and
spoke to other business owners who had a similar problem.
I spoke to everybody who's ever been to my property
and getting all the historical facts and documents, and now
I have a solid case, right. And all of that
(05:52):
was just from me saying, no, I'm going to get
hyper present to what is in my control. What can
I do right now. I'm not going to lose my
shit anymore. I'm not gonna lose my head. I'm not gonna,
you know, just bow out gracefully and allow these people
to take everything that I've worked so hard for because
it seems like an uphill battle. No, I'm getting present
what can I do? And that's what is saving me,
(06:15):
and that is what is keeping me sane as well.
So I think that's just for me. What immediately comes
to mine when we talk about this idea of presence
and all that Jake Coole is talking about and all
that Marcus Aurelius is talking about. Now, with that in mind,
let's talk about you and how you can make this
your mantra for today. We'll first take a quick break
and then we'll be right back. All right, So we've
(06:45):
heard the words of Jake Cole, we have heard the
words of Marcus Aurelius. We have a man heard a
very personal example of something I am going through and
how I am applying the idea of presence as a
problem solver, how I'm applying that to my life. Now,
let's talk about how you can make it your manstra
for today. And I think first and foremost, you have
(07:06):
to recognize that problem solving takes presence. Right when we
agonize over what could be or how unfair it is.
You know that I'm going through this particular situation, we
lose sight of the action that is needed to take right.
We are then essentially relinquishing our power to someone else,
to some outside force because we are choosing to believe
(07:30):
that we already lost, we are looking to the future
for a reassurance of how terrible things are going to
be because of this terrible moment, or we're looking to
the past and creating a case about how we have
the worst luck in the world. When again, focusing on
the present moment, it's not going to solve everything right now,
but at least it gets the ball rolling towards putting
you in a better position to fight against whatever it
(07:53):
is that you are going through. Right and again to recap.
Like Jacole said, presence makes the strongest father, and you
can replace fathers with the strongest people. Right when you
are present, when you're tackling the problem head on and
you are not avoiding it, you are not feeling bad
for yourself. You are inevitably going to learn something new
and put yourself in a better position to defeat whatever
(08:15):
issue it is that is at hand. Right and, like
Marcus Aurelius says, right present is all you have to
live in or to lose. When you relinquish that control
of focusing on what's directly in front of you, you
are inevitably losing out on the current present moment and
again the current opportunity to correct whatever it is that
you are going through, and when it comes to to
(08:36):
me and my story in this battle that I'm in
right now with my town. Had I have kept up
the same attitude of woe is me and life sucks
and I'm just screwed right now, I would be screwed. Right,
that actually would be the result. But instead, when I
woke up with a better attitude and got present to
all the things that I could do, you know, without
having to hire a lawyer, without having to go in
(08:56):
front of the town. What are the things that I
can take into my own hands. And once I did that,
I was able to put myself at an advantage where
I have all of this proof that combats what the
town is trying to tell me and what they're trying
to implement against me. Right. But again, had I have
just kept that negative mindset, I would just be sitting
here waiting for the day that the town potentially shuts
(09:18):
me down and I lose out on my life savings. Right, presence,
that is how you fight against whatever is happening in
your life. That is how you build strength, and that
is how you can push past, whatever hardships are going
on currently, remember focus on what is directly in front
of you. And while we're on the topic of presence,
(09:38):
I did write an entire book called just B that
is about trying to cultivate presence. You can check that
out www. Dot just B dot NYC, hu stbe dot nyc.
You can pick up the book submerge all that kind
of stuff, because presence is something that I am trying
to cultivate more of because I've recognized it's importance. It's
not just empty words. I literally wrote a book on it.
(10:01):
And with that said, thank you so much for checking
out The Street Stoke Podcast. Do your best to apply
these concepts that we discussed today into your everyday life,
and I'll catch you all next time. The Street Stoke
Podcast is a production of Ihearts Michael Tura Podcast Network.
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