Welcome to the Builder of All Things Podcast—where we go beyond the pages of the book and explore into the Author’s Cut! 🔥 Join Richie Breaux and Ray Bisnar as they break down each chapter in micro-episodes, giving you the behind-the-scenes insights, deeper wisdom, and real-life applications—just like a Director’s Cut for a book.
Facing the Mirror | Chapter 8
Before we can change the world around us, we have to face the truth within. In Chapter 8 of the book, Facing the Mirror, we dig into the power—and challenge—of self-reflection. From personal stories to spiritual insights, we explore why honesty is the foundation for growth, and how motives, ego, and emotional residue can cloud our vision.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
* Why self-reflection reveals the truth (and why it’s hard to face)
* The difference between performing for affirmation vs. serving with purpose
* Three “smoke” pillars—misaligned effort, ego, and emotional residue—and how they sabotage progress
* Practical ways to wipe away the residue and see clearly again
If you’re feeling stuck, chasing the wrong goals, or wrestling with inner battles, this conversation will help you start where it matters most—facing the mirror.
📖 From Chapter 8: Facing the Mirror in the book.🙏 Let’s grow deeper, together.
#FacingTheMirror #Chapter8 #SelfReflection #Faith #Leadership #Honesty #PersonalGrowth
Follow "Builder of All Things" on YOUTUBE@richiebreaux
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
It's your moon.
And I think the starting pointis within the chapter called
(00:21):
Facing the Mirror.
Right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I think as you're dissectingand trying to go deeper and
deeper, it comes to this pointwhere it's like, okay, I have to
look at myself first.
Yeah.
So, you know, why is it?
Can you tell me why is it goodto look in the mirror?
SPEAKER_00 (00:35):
I mean, just logically, like before you go to
work, you don't want to just gostraight to work and then you
got like food still chilling onyour cheek, right?
I remember I used to just wakeup and you know, I'm a
carpenter.
So you just kind of wake up, getready and go, right?
Brush your teeth and go.
And so I remember my wife's momone day was like, you know,
you're supposed to brush yourbeard.
(00:57):
You know, like, like, not andbut it was like I didn't even
look at it.
And then when I looked in themirror, I mean, it was nuts,
man.
It was crazy.
And and you know, growing up, Inever knew I'd brush the beard.
I just thought it was just doits thing.
But yeah, I'm like, Yeah, you'reright, I gotta brush my beard.
But if I would have looked inthe mirror, I would have
recognized that, right?
SPEAKER_01 (01:13):
You know what?
On a side note, I want to pauseyou there.
In other words, in my mind, I'mthinking when you look in the
mirror, you're also seeingwhat's true.
And so as you're talking aboutthis, because this is the
beginning portion of how weshould how you in your in the in
the book it says how we proceedon things is facing the mirror.
When you see your reflection,you see what's true of you.
And so I I can see why it's itwas difficult to write this
(01:36):
portion because yes, you gottaface the truth, and that's the
hard part, man.
SPEAKER_00 (01:40):
And like I I threw out these three H's just to
start, right?
You have to be honest, wasnumber one.
Like when you look in themirror, you you could still lie
to yourself, man.
Yes, you know what I'm saying?
I look good, you know what I'msaying?
But in order to break throughthe smoke, and we're gonna get
to and unpack what it is, but Ihon you're right, man.
Honesty is number one.
(02:01):
Honesty is number one.
You have to be honest, you'renever gonna figure it out.
If you're alone, just be honestwith yourself.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, what is it gonna hurt?
SPEAKER_01 (02:08):
Yeah, exactly.
You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00 (02:09):
Like if you're in a room looking in the mirror, if
you're sitting there by yourselfand you're really trying to
figure some stuff out aboutyourself, just be honest with
yourself.
Start there.
Yeah, you know, honesty is thekey to kind of break into this,
right?
SPEAKER_01 (02:19):
Yeah, and I think one of those as we're con as the
book continues on, you know,that even that first step is
already difficult for peoplebecause you mentioned here that
there's a lot of things thatpeople want to want to be known
for, or in here it says, youknow, it's keeping up your
image.
Yeah, you know, as a businessowner, you want to look good,
you know, you wanna you want tobe perfect for other people
(02:41):
because there's uh that thatinsecurity of if I'm not then
that that will break my businessdown or that will cause my you
know, or whatnot.
So even honesty is just a supertough thing for people, right?
SPEAKER_00 (02:54):
It really is.
And and um, you know, if if ifanything, man, that that's the
cloth that could start wipingoff that windshield, though.
Come on, you know what I mean?
Like you just have to be honest,and it's it's hard.
You gotta really look at yourmotives.
That's like where y'all wouldstart.
It's like, what is my motivehere?
What's my why?
And then you'll you'll reallystart to unpack this.
And so going back to likeleaders, pastors, and and
(03:15):
different people that areleading in this, let's call it
that that light that's actuallydarkness, right?
And they don't even know it.
It it's it starts from a heartof are we performing or are we
serving?
Come on, you know what I mean?
And performance is looking foraffirmation, yes, where servant
servanthood is an assignment,right?
(03:37):
And there's a total that twodifferent lanes, man.
And what happens is, and I talkabout three different E's that
break down like what I'veidentified as these three
pillars that are the firestarters of the smoke.
SPEAKER_01 (03:50):
These are the practical tools as well.
SPEAKER_00 (03:52):
Yeah, these are the fire starters, and so and and
really, honestly, like we'rebeing honest, I think one of
them is the the the pillar ofall pillars.
I think the other two are likethe outliers that that catch to
make sure I covered all areas ofthis arena of talking about like
what causes the smoke.
Yeah, I believe we'll talk aboutthe two outliers, which are uh
(04:14):
misaligned effort.
That that's an E, where you'reputting all your energy and
efforts into a performance or alane that was never an
assignment.
Yeah, yeah.
So that can really cause aresidue because you're you're
wasting energy, you're wastingresources when God's assignment
for your life is over here, butit's more of like you're chasing
(04:35):
a fantasy versus a fulfillmentof what God has for you, right?
And so, and and how do youidentify that?
That's really hard, man.
You gotta go look in the mirror,and there's some digging we got
to do, which we unpack in thebook.
But to find out, am I going?
Like, am I chasing a fantasy?
Like is yeah, I'm I'm I feelback in like 2008 to 2010,
(04:55):
Richie.
I felt led to to rap hip-hop andrap for Jesus and this Christian
hip-hop.
But am I chasing an assignmentor fantasy?
You know, yeah, Christians allover it, Jesus is all over it.
The heart was there, but it'sgood to check myself just in
case.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, don't waste all yourenergy, time, and effort into
this misaligned course that Godhas when it's over here.
(05:17):
So, misaligned effort isdefinitely an outlier pillar
that that we I've was able todiscover and God led me to.
The other one is your ego, whichis everyone is.
I think that one is the one thatpeople can easily fall into and
identify.
SPEAKER_01 (05:34):
100%.
SPEAKER_00 (05:35):
You know, like, okay, yeah, yeah, that's my ego.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, yeah, yeah, I want to bethe best.
Yeah, I want things, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (05:42):
I want the first idea, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (05:44):
And you're just driven by that ego, and that's a
scary place to be too, becauseyou're building a business off
it, you're running your youryour family off of it, you're
running your your relationshipwith your husband and wife,
whatever side, you could berunning that off, ego, you know,
entitlement or any kind ofspirit of just pride, right?
Just kicking in, or and so thatone there is the same thing,
(06:05):
man.
Both of those, we got to behonest.
We have to dig for the honesty,like, where's the motive in
these, right?
Like, where where are thesethings?
And so those are the outliers,but there's the one, man, that I
felt like it just kept unpackingand it got deeper and deeper and
deeper and deeper and deeper.
This fire is so deep and itresonates with everybody on the
(06:27):
planet.
Like, this is the pillar thatcan cause this, and there is an
answer to it, and it and that'sa very simple answer, but the
fact to find it is key, and thisis called emotional residue.
Emotional residue is is the isthe blunt is the smoke of all
(06:47):
smokes.
Smoke of all smokes.
It is so there's differentcolors.
I learned this when I was in themilitary, right?
So being in the Navy, we'retreated as firefighters.
We have to go throughfirefighter training.
We have to literally getcertified as firefighters in
boot camp.
And the reason is is when you'reon a ship and it gets hit by a
missile or whatever, a firekicks off, we got to be able to
(07:09):
put that fire out.
Yeah, and so we're all trainedfirefighters, you know, in the
Navy.
And so during that process, youlearn physically how to fight a
fire, but you also learn thebook side of things, being
educated on the fire, right?
So you get into a class andlearn about different smokes.
And so I remember being in bootcamp, and this was really
intriguing to me.
It was like the color of smokeidentifies the substrate, right?
(07:33):
And I thought that was reallycool.
Like if it's an electrical fire,it's blue, you know.
And if it's like just wood or,you know, just natural woods
being burnt, it's like a whitesmoke.
Yeah.
But if there's a mixture of likechemicals and wood and
everything, it's a black smoke.
So I would call I I use thesethree colors of smoke for the
three pillars, right?
And the emotional residue is theblack one, man.
(07:55):
It's it's it's the black one,man.
The misaligned effort, yeah,that's that's the white smoke.
The ego, ego, that's that's theblue smoke.
But the emotional residue, thatis the the black smoke, man.
That's the one that just it'sthe one, it's the killer.
It's your moon.
And I think the starting pointis within the chapter called
(00:21):
Facing the Mirror.
Right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I think as you're dissectingand trying to go deeper and
deeper, it comes to this pointwhere it's like, okay, I have to
look at myself first.
Yeah.
So, you know, why is it?
Can you tell me why is it goodto look in the mirror?
SPEAKER_00 (00:35):
I mean, just logically, like before you go to
work, you don't want to just gostraight to work and then you
got like food still chilling onyour cheek, right?
I remember I used to just wakeup and you know, I'm a
carpenter.
So you just kind of wake up, getready and go, right?
Brush your teeth and go.
And so I remember my wife's momone day was like, you know,
you're supposed to brush yourbeard.
(00:57):
You know, like, like, not andbut it was like I didn't even
look at it.
And then when I looked in themirror, I mean, it was nuts,
man.
It was crazy.
And and you know, growing up, Inever knew I'd brush the beard.
I just thought it was just doits thing.
But yeah, I'm like, Yeah, you'reright, I gotta brush my beard.
But if I would have looked inthe mirror, I would have
recognized that, right?
SPEAKER_01 (01:13):
You know what?
On a side note, I want to pauseyou there.
In other words, in my mind, I'mthinking when you look in the
mirror, you're also seeingwhat's true.
And so as you're talking aboutthis, because this is the
beginning portion of how weshould how you in your in the in
the book it says how we proceedon things is facing the mirror.
When you see your reflection,you see what's true of you.
And so I I can see why it's itwas difficult to write this
(01:36):
portion because yes, you gottaface the truth, and that's the
hard part, man.
SPEAKER_00 (01:40):
And like I I threw out these three H's just to
start, right?
You have to be honest, wasnumber one.
Like when you look in themirror, you you could still lie
to yourself, man.
Yes, you know what I'm saying?
I look good, you know what I'msaying?
But in order to break throughthe smoke, and we're gonna get
to and unpack what it is, but Ihon you're right, man.
Honesty is number one.
(02:01):
Honesty is number one.
You have to be honest, you'renever gonna figure it out.
If you're alone, just be honestwith yourself.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, what is it gonna hurt?
SPEAKER_01 (02:08):
Yeah, exactly.
You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00 (02:09):
Like if you're in a room looking in the mirror, if
you're sitting there by yourselfand you're really trying to
figure some stuff out aboutyourself, just be honest with
yourself.
Start there.
Yeah, you know, honesty is thekey to kind of break into this,
right?
SPEAKER_01 (02:19):
Yeah, and I think one of those as we're con as the
book continues on, you know,that even that first step is
already difficult for peoplebecause you mentioned here that
there's a lot of things thatpeople want to want to be known
for, or in here it says, youknow, it's keeping up your
image.
Yeah, you know, as a businessowner, you want to look good,
you know, you wanna you want tobe perfect for other people
(02:41):
because there's uh that thatinsecurity of if I'm not then
that that will break my businessdown or that will cause my you
know, or whatnot.
So even honesty is just a supertough thing for people, right?
SPEAKER_00 (02:54):
It really is.
And and um, you know, if if ifanything, man, that that's the
cloth that could start wipingoff that windshield, though.
Come on, you know what I mean?
Like you just have to be honest,and it's it's hard.
You gotta really look at yourmotives.
That's like where y'all wouldstart.
It's like, what is my motivehere?
What's my why?
And then you'll you'll reallystart to unpack this.
And so going back to likeleaders, pastors, and and
(03:15):
different people that areleading in this, let's call it
that that light that's actuallydarkness, right?
And they don't even know it.
It it's it starts from a heartof are we performing or are we
serving?
Come on, you know what I mean?
And performance is looking foraffirmation, yes, where servant
servanthood is an assignment,right?
(03:37):
And there's a total that twodifferent lanes, man.
And what happens is, and I talkabout three different E's that
break down like what I'veidentified as these three
pillars that are the firestarters of the smoke.
SPEAKER_01 (03:50):
These are the practical tools as well.
SPEAKER_00 (03:52):
Yeah, these are the fire starters, and so and and
really, honestly, like we'rebeing honest, I think one of
them is the the the pillar ofall pillars.
I think the other two are likethe outliers that that catch to
make sure I covered all areas ofthis arena of talking about like
what causes the smoke.
Yeah, I believe we'll talk aboutthe two outliers, which are uh
(04:14):
misaligned effort.
That that's an E, where you'reputting all your energy and
efforts into a performance or alane that was never an
assignment.
Yeah, yeah.
So that can really cause aresidue because you're you're
wasting energy, you're wastingresources when God's assignment
for your life is over here, butit's more of like you're chasing
(04:35):
a fantasy versus a fulfillmentof what God has for you, right?
And so, and and how do youidentify that?
That's really hard, man.
You gotta go look in the mirror,and there's some digging we got
to do, which we unpack in thebook.
But to find out, am I going?
Like, am I chasing a fantasy?
Like is yeah, I'm I'm I feelback in like 2008 to 2010,
(04:55):
Richie.
I felt led to to rap hip-hop andrap for Jesus and this Christian
hip-hop.
But am I chasing an assignmentor fantasy?
You know, yeah, Christians allover it, Jesus is all over it.
The heart was there, but it'sgood to check myself just in
case.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, don't waste all yourenergy, time, and effort into
this misaligned course that Godhas when it's over here.
(05:17):
So, misaligned effort isdefinitely an outlier pillar
that that we I've was able todiscover and God led me to.
The other one is your ego, whichis everyone is.
I think that one is the one thatpeople can easily fall into and
identify.
SPEAKER_01 (05:34):
100%.
SPEAKER_00 (05:35):
You know, like, okay, yeah, yeah, that's my ego.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, yeah, yeah, I want to bethe best.
Yeah, I want things, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (05:42):
I want the first idea, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (05:44):
And you're just driven by that ego, and that's a
scary place to be too, becauseyou're building a business off
it, you're running your youryour family off of it, you're
running your your relationshipwith your husband and wife,
whatever side, you could berunning that off, ego, you know,
entitlement or any kind ofspirit of just pride, right?
Just kicking in, or and so thatone there is the same thing,
(06:05):
man.
Both of those, we got to behonest.
We have to dig for the honesty,like, where's the motive in
these, right?
Like, where where are thesethings?
And so those are the outliers,but there's the one, man, that I
felt like it just kept unpackingand it got deeper and deeper and
deeper and deeper and deeper.
This fire is so deep and itresonates with everybody on the
(06:27):
planet.
Like, this is the pillar thatcan cause this, and there is an
answer to it, and it and that'sa very simple answer, but the
fact to find it is key, and thisis called emotional residue.
Emotional residue is is the isthe blunt is the smoke of all
(06:47):
smokes.
Smoke of all smokes.
It is so there's differentcolors.
I learned this when I was in themilitary, right?
So being in the Navy, we'retreated as firefighters.
We have to go throughfirefighter training.
We have to literally getcertified as firefighters in
boot camp.
And the reason is is when you'reon a ship and it gets hit by a
missile or whatever, a firekicks off, we got to be able to
(07:09):
put that fire out.
Yeah, and so we're all trainedfirefighters, you know, in the
Navy.
And so during that process, youlearn physically how to fight a
fire, but you also learn thebook side of things, being
educated on the fire, right?
So you get into a class andlearn about different smokes.
And so I remember being in bootcamp, and this was really
intriguing to me.
It was like the color of smokeidentifies the substrate, right?
(07:33):
And I thought that was reallycool.
Like if it's an electrical fire,it's blue, you know.
And if it's like just wood or,you know, just natural woods
being burnt, it's like a whitesmoke.
Yeah.
But if there's a mixture of likechemicals and wood and
everything, it's a black smoke.
So I would call I I use thesethree colors of smoke for the
three pillars, right?
And the emotional residue is theblack one, man.
(07:55):
It's it's it's the black one,man.
The misaligned effort, yeah,that's that's the white smoke.
The ego, ego, that's that's theblue smoke.
But the emotional residue, thatis the the black smoke, man.
That's the one that just it'sthe one, it's the killer.
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