September 11, 2025 • 34 mins
KKEP331 – BEWARE THE TEMPTATION
On this episode of The Karen Kenney Show podcast, I talk about a recent trip to a casino (for my sweetie's gig with Sully Erna of Godsmack) that really got me thinking about the world we live in today.
Walking into that place was like stepping into a full-on sensory overload - bombarded by flashing lights, nonstop sounds, and a vibe that just pulls you and your brain in from every direction.
It was wild to notice how everything is designed to keep you distracted and consuming, and it made me realize how easy it is to get swept up in all that noise.
As I moved through the casino, I couldn’t help but compare it to the way our phones and social media work.
Just like the casino, our electronic devices are built to keep us hooked, and chasing that next little dopamine hit.
It’s so easy to lose track of time and get pulled away from what really matters, whether it’s connecting with people, being present, or just enjoying the world around us.
This experience was a wake-up call for me to check in with myself and ask some honest questions:
Where am I getting distracted? What am I letting pull my attention away from the things and people that truly matter?
I realized that it’s not about judging ourselves, but about getting real and making sure we’re living on purpose, not just on autopilot.
So, if you’re feeling a little lost in all the noise out there or like you’ve been “dopamined into oblivion,” - you’re not alone.
I hope this episode inspires you to pause, take a fearless look at where your time and energy are really going, and remember what you’re here to do.
Let’s get back to what matters most and leave a little more love behind wherever we go. ❤️
KK’S KEY TAKEAWAYS:
• Casinos are designed to create sensory overload and to keep people distracted and consuming – food, booze, gambling, shopping, etc
• Modern technology and social media run the same sort of racket and use similar tactics to capture our attention and keep us hooked.
• It’s wicked easy to lose sight of what really matters - when we’re constantly bombarded by all kinds of distractions.
• Taking time to reflect on where our attention habitually goes can help us live more intentionally.
• Being self-aware allows us to focus on meaningful relationships, intentional activities, and our true purpose.
• It’s important to pause, ask ourselves honest questions, and make sure we’re not living life on autopilot.
• Choosing to use our time, gifts, and energy for love and service - can help us make a difference and leave a positive impact!
BIO:
Spiritual Mentor and writer Karen Kenney uses humor and dynamic storytelling to bring a down-to-earth, no-BS perspective to self-development.
Bringing together tools that coach the conscious and unconscious mind, Karen helps clients deepen their connections with Self, and discover their unique understandings of spirituality.
Her practice combines neuroscience, subconscious reprogramming, Integrative Hypnosis, somatic work, spiritual mentoring, and other holistic modalities to help regulate the nervous system, examine internal narratives, remove blocks, and reimagine what’s possible.
A passionate yoga teacher, long-time student of A Course in Miracles, and Gateless Writing instructor, Karen is a frequent speaker and retreat leader. Via her programs The Quest and The Nest, she coaches both individuals and groups.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hey you guys, welcome to theKaren Kenney show. I'm so happy
to have you here. I have no ideawhat I'm going to call this
sucker. I have no idea what I'mgoing to call this episode, but
I do know that I want to talk toyou about an experience that I
had this past weekend, and howhe got me thinking about certain
things, and maybe some of thesethings you will find helpful,
(00:22):
and that's always like, one ofthe hot beats of this is that I
always say, I'm not here to tellyou like, you know, people will
often say about me like you tellit how it is, like you tell it
like it is. You tell it how itis, right? They like that about
my personality or whatever. Butreally, I tell it like I see it.
It doesn't mean I tell it likeit is, I just kind of tell it
(00:43):
like I see it. And I thinkthat's one of the gifts of any
kind of coach or mentor orteacher or artist or writer or
whatever. Is that we are sharingour particular point of view,
maybe something that we saw in aparticular way from our
perspective might help you toshift your own might, you know,
(01:04):
cause you to laugh, or make yougo, Oh, my God, I never thought
of it that way, or that'sinteresting, or whatever, right?
I always say, I'm not here totell you what to think. I'm
inviting you to think foryourself, but I'm just kind of
sharing some thoughts that Ihad, some perspectives that I
had over this past weekend. Sosome of you may know that my
sweetie, Chris Lester, myhusband, Chris Lester, is a
(01:28):
professional musician, and heplay he's a multi
instrumentalist. He plays likebass, and he's mostly a guitar
player, but he's guitar he playsbass, he can play keyboards, he
can play mandolin, you can playa little bit of drums, all this
stuff, right? He's also asinger, and he's a songwriter,
and he's a producer, he's, he's,I mean, he's just, he's wicked
nice and he's wicked talented.That's my sweetie in a nutshell,
(01:50):
right? So he, um, had a gig thispast weekend, and some of you
local New England people likeand beyond, you may have heard
of a band called, I mean,they're they've sold millions
and millions of records. So youmay have heard of a band called
God smack, and the lead singerof God smack is a guy named
Sully Erna. And Sally Erna isfrom my hometown, my city,
(02:13):
little city, Lawrence,Massachusetts. So I knew Sully
is kids. But when my sweetie,when Sully was asked to do a
solo project with with Sully.Like Sully didn't know that he
and I were married this wholething, right? Okay, so Sully had
a gig at Mohegan Sun, the Casinoin Connecticut this past
weekend, and he asked mysweetie, they're friends, right?
(02:35):
He My sweetie is played on hissolo work, like Avalon and all
this stuff. And, you know, he'swritten songs together, blah
blah, so he asked my sweetie tocome and play bass at this gig.
And I was like, Okay, I'm gonnago. Because I normally never go
anywhere when you go. I mean,now we're down to three furry
kids, but in the past, we've hadup to seven furry kids, and it's
just like, impossible, unlessyou bring somebody in to kind of
(02:59):
like, house, sit and take careof everything. But this time,
I'm like, I'm going to go, thisis going to be fun. I haven't
been away or done anything in awicked long time, and I'm like,
let's do it. So off we go. Mysister came and she watched, you
know, she watched the kids, andwe left. Okay, but here's the
point, and this is probablygoing to be a short one, because
it's just as a particular pointor point of view that I want you
(03:21):
to just kind of think about. Sowe get to the casino now, I used
to live in LA. I lived inCalifornia, and I will never
forget that the first time formy birthday, my friends, I
worked at a magic dinner theatercalled wizards up at Universal
City Walk, and I had the bestfriends in the world. And my
friends basically, literallysurprised me and kidnapped me,
(03:44):
like, after work one night.They're like, I'll drive you
home. And I was like, okay,whatever. And so I got a ride
with my friends, and when I gotto the house, my other friends
followed them in their car, andthey're like, go inside and pack
a bag. I'm like, What are youtalking about? They're like,
we're taking you to Vegas. Itwas like, my first time ever to
Las Vegas, and what a trip. Itwas okay. So I've been to Vegas.
(04:08):
I've been to multiple casinos,you know, I worked like at my
work at wizards. I used to datea magician, and so he loved
going to, you know, he lovedgoing to Vegas and going to see
the magic shows and Cirque duSoleil. And, of course, he, you
know, he dealt in up closemagic, though, he was like a
wizard with cards and stuff. Solike, playing blackjack, all
(04:32):
that stuff. So I got schooled onVegas, right? I like, saw the
devil's playground, Sin City,you know, up close and personal.
Okay, so here we are. We're atthe Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.
Okay, so this past weekend. Sofast forward. So I'm not a
strange I guess what I'm tryingto say is, I'm not a stranger to
casinos, but it's been a wickedlong time since I've been in
(04:54):
one. So we walk into the place,and immediately I'm just like,
holy shit. First of. Like themass scale. The mass scale of
like casinos is like,unbelievable. And these are
things we all already know. It'snot like I'm going to be unless
you've never, ever, ever been toa casino before. This is
probably not going to be likenew information, in a way, but
(05:16):
something I want us to consider.So I walk into the place and the
first thing I just see is justlike, it is sensory overload,
and it is designed to be thatway. So you basically have,
like, all the sights, likeyou're taking in so much color
you're seeing flashing lights,right then it's all the sounds.
(05:39):
It's like the chirping of the,you know, the slot machines,
like the dinging and the pingingand the noise of the people and
like music coming out of likethe restaurant, like it is, just
like sensory overload of sights,smells, sounds, like there's
different textures. Somesurfaces are shiny, some are
really tall, some are reallybig, and they're designed in
(06:02):
such a way where there's nowindows, like the outside world
does not exist. You have nowentered a new zone. It's like
that Hotel California song. Youcan check out anytime you like,
but you can never leave. It'skind of like this surreal
experience. There's no clocks onthe walls because they don't
want you to know the time, likethey're pumping in smells.
(06:22):
They're like, you know,everything olfactory terrorists,
like they're doing all of thesethings to keep you in this
stream of incessant consumption.And I was just like, blown away.
And I'm looking around and I'mlike, everything is just like, a
lot. There's like, a lot ofsights, a lot of sounds, a lot
(06:43):
of bodies, lot of humans, a lotof noise, a lot of traffic. And
the way this particular casinois set up, it's like all the
shops, like, line the outer rimof the buildings, and then right
down the middle of the spacesyou have, like the casino, like
you have the blackjack is beingplayed, where the slots are
being played, or whatever. Soyou have, like, all this
(07:05):
opportunity for consumption,food, restaurants, overpriced
shops, like, you know, get alittle we got little vegan ice
creams from Ben and Jerry's,like smalls, and it was like,
$20 right? It's like, oh my God,everything is big, overpriced in
your face sensory, like, holyshit, right? And you're just
(07:29):
looking at all these differentkinds of people, and you're
walking by a bar, and you lookover and there's like,
literally, women, like, scantilyclad, like, dancing on top of
the bar, and then you just, it'sjust like, so insane. It's so
insane. And you know, it's alsolike, hyper electric. So even
(07:50):
though, like, I was thinkingabout this, I was thinking about
this. So my sweetie played thisshow, right? And just stay with
me. I'm going to make a point.I'm going to buckle up, buckle
up, take the ride with me. So mysweetie was playing at this kind
of outside venue, and it was asold out show, like, 3000 plus
people, whatever. And out thereit was like, okay, like, I
(08:12):
literally walked outside and Icould literally feel my nervous
system just like, do a differentthing. I'm like, I could see the
sky. I could, like, you know,fresh air. There was sunshine,
it was a little humid, but I'mlike, okay, like, now, at least,
even though, I mean, like, thisconcrete parking garages next to
us and all this stuff, like, atleast I'm outside and I have
glimpses of nature, and I couldfeel like, my nervous system
(08:35):
just kind of, like, calm down alittle bit. And then we just
went backstage to, like, with,like, the the green room, I
wasn't back behind the stage,but consider it like a backstage
area where, like, the greenroom, where the artists go, and
you walk in and it's like,quiet, right? Because it's
private. And like, I so I hadthese moments where I could have
major comparison between theover stimulation and then, like,
(08:58):
okay, these pockets of peace,this momentary pause where I
could, kind of like, gathermyself and come back to myself,
and you just realize that I wasthinking about I'm like, this is
like a dopamine carnival. Like,like, everything is about
getting that immediate fix, thatimmediate hit, that little
reward center, like the rewardcenter in your brain is like
(09:20):
being sucked into liketemptation. And there's a line
in A Course in Miracles, andit's not related to this, but
I'm going to say there's a linein A Course in Miracles that
says, Beware the temptation toperceive yourself unfairly
treated.
And it's basically talking abouthow the ego loves to take its
own guilt and, like, throw it onother people, because then if
(09:43):
the guilt is out there and theother person wronged you and did
something to you, then you getto be the innocent one. And it's
this really interesting concept,right? But the whole time I'm
like, walking through this jointand like, the streams of
traffic, like, there's peopleeverywhere, all shapes, sizes,
colors. Races, whatever. I'mpretty sure I saw a few working
(10:03):
girls, you know, I'm pretty sureI saw a few, like, escorts, male
escort. I'm like, I'm lookingaround. I'm just like, Oh my
God, it is so over the fuckingtop. And it's like, you know,
Ben and Jerry's is open to,like, 3am it's like, this, like,
this mini city that doesn'tsleep. And we the show was
fantastic. PS, Sully, and mysweetie and the other musicians
(10:25):
did an amazing job. It was sucha blast. The crowd was amazing.
But even in the crowd, right?Like, even in the crowd, the
show hadn't even started yet,and, like, because we had
friends in the audience, and itwas all standing room only,
right? So everybody's like,packed in. So it's just like
this pulsing energy of humans.And then it's like somebody had
(10:47):
already, like, puked and made amess, and then the middle of the
show, somebody else started afight. And I'm like, people are
out of their minds, right now,right? And it's like, you know?
But then, like, the pulse of themusic starts, and I'm like, Oh,
here's the human element makingmusic, right? And again, we're
outside, at least, like it wasraining. So I'm like, Okay,
(11:09):
there's natural elements, right?So I'm like, Okay, this was the
reprieve. But as soon as we,like, the show was over, like,
great success, and then we hadto cut back through right the
casino to get up to our rooms,and as soon as you walk in,
you're hit with like, this wallof sound and smell and sensory
(11:30):
like, blah, blah, blah, blah.And we also got a free pass,
right? So you get, like, the AllAccess Pass, so like, we went
downstairs, we could have eatenanywhere. What we were like, Oh,
we're gonna go check this out.So I used to be in the hotel
business. A long time ago. I wasa concierge at the Hyatt Regency
in Cambridge. If you've everbeen to Boston or at I went to
(11:50):
BU so, you know the CharlesRiver and right across the
Riverview. Look, it's like this,like, kind of like, step pyramid
shaped building, that's theHyatt Regency. And I worked in
the hotel business, so I knowback a house stuff, like, I kind
of know how these things work,but going, like, behind closed
doors and having access to theemployee cafeteria, like, even
(12:11):
the cafeteria, it was like, holyshit. Like you go through those
doors and down into like, thissub world, right? And it's like
there were, like, employeesplaying ping pong and like
games, like, over there, and yougo through this maze of like,
going under the casino, and oneof the employees told us that
(12:31):
you can take where we were andwalk a half a mile, like, that's
how big this place is, a half amile to go down to The other
casino, because there's twocasinos there. But we walk into
the we walked into the employee,you know, cafeteria. And even
that was overwhelming. They werelike, all these machines you can
(12:52):
get, like, eight kinds of milkand seven kinds of juice and
like, 15 kinds of soda, and thenit was like a pizza station in a
substation, and, you know, a lotof dead animal products right
over here, and five kinds ofcake and cookies. And I was just
like, Oh my God. And I could seemy sweetie. He get, like, get a
(13:13):
little it's not disoriented, buthe, like, it takes him a moment,
like, his processing system is,like, standing there just trying
to, like, take it all in, youknow, and I was like, Holy shit,
like even underground is likebig and overwhelming and so much
stimulus. Okay, why am I tellingyou all of this? Because even
(13:35):
though it seems like this is avery isolated and special kind
of circumstance. Well, ofcourse. KK, you've gone you've
gone to a casino. What do youexpect? We all know that people
are going to stay up late,people are going to spend money,
people are going to overindulge, people are going to
whatever, right? It is arelentless den of temptation. We
(13:59):
know this. But what occurred tome while I was there, and it was
so interesting, because at onepoint, Sully said over the mic,
like, I hope you all have ablast this weekend. You know we
are here because this show inparticular is a celebration of
music, and you know howmeaningful music is to all of
us? And he said, have fun thisweekend. And then he literally
(14:20):
said, but please don't lose yourkids college money while you're
here. And he's like, don't doit. People don't do it. And, you
know, everybody laughed, butit's like, that kind of shit
happens because people go, ifyou have any kind of, like,
addictive tendency, they likecasinos is like your spot if
(14:43):
you're going to overeat, ifyou're going to overspend, if
you're going to over indulge, ifyou're going to get hooked on
the machines, get that dopaminehit. That dopamine hit that
chance of like, pulling, it'slike, it's like pulling, pulling
the lever for possibility,right? And it like, keeps you in
that. Loop, and I startedthinking about it, here's
(15:03):
finally my point, and if you'restill here, thank you for
hanging in here. I just startedthinking. I was like, this is
exactly what like the world kindof is right now. It is a mass of
over consumption. We are beingbombarded from so many different
angles, because of technology,because of AI, because of social
(15:26):
media, it is so easy to moveaway from the natural world,
nature, humans, humanity,literally, your own heart beat,
your own breath, your own body,your own experience, it's so
easy to get distracted by 18,000other things, buying shit
(15:49):
online, getting lost on yourphone. Like, if you really
realize how much time you spenton your phone, like, really
clocked it and tracked it. I'mnot saying everybody, but most
average people are so lost intheir phones. They are so
addicted to the technology. Andin fairness, they designed this
(16:10):
shit this way. The people whoare doing these things and
creating the programs andcreating Instagram and creating
Facebook and creating Tiktok andcreating like reels and all the
stuff. They did it from a gamingperspective. They basically took
Vegas and they took casinos, andthey took that experience, and
(16:31):
they put it on your phone andthey put it in your pocket, and
we are a highly, highly, highlydistracted society, and it's
only getting worse. And when yougo to a place where it is
literally, I said, Oh my god, Isaid to my sweetie, this is
like, social media, social mediaand the phone and consumerism,
(16:55):
that capitalistic kind of overconsumption, made into a place.
I'm like, Yes, Vegas came first,like before the phones and the
phones became like, you know,the phones, I should say Vegas
informed the identity and thecreation of these technologies.
(17:17):
But what's interesting is youcan keep that on your phone in
your pocket, but these placesare like the personification,
like the in person experience ofwhat is actually happening. And
we look at this little phone andwe don't take it that seriously.
Sometimes you're like, Oh yeah,I know I should put it down,
like, I know, I know, I know.No, you don't know. You
understand, but you have notembodied the knowing. Or you
(17:40):
would be horrified by like,what's going on? So my message
today is about really taking amoment to get really fucking
honest with yourself about justhow distracted you might be in
your day to day life, all thedifferent ways you are getting
(18:01):
pulled out of your humanity,like your desire to connect with
others face to face, to relateto other people, to build
relationships andcollaborations, to get outside
in nature, to appreciate thewonders of this world, the
natural world, the animals andthe rivers And the sun and the
stars and the trees and thegrass and, you know, all that
(18:24):
stuff, how easily distracted weare by trying to be more. Do
more? Get more. Have more.Consume, consume, consume. I'm
like, No, how about, like, weslow down and create some shit,
right? How about we get in touchwith that, and I'm not shaking
my finger at like you guys, likeyou need to do this. This was a
(18:47):
wake up call for me too. Thiswas a another chance for me to,
like, check in and say, like,hey, where have you been
distracted lately? What has beenmaybe consuming your attention
or your time that no longerdeserves it. Maybe it never
deserved it, right? Because thecasino, for me, is just a
(19:09):
metaphor of what's happening allthe time right in front of our
face, but it's so much moresophisticated and it's so much
more sneaky, and it's so muchmore like disguised as something
else, and we can totallyconvince ourselves, oh yeah, no,
no, just one more video or justone more email or just one more
(19:31):
text or just one more thing, andthen I'll do this thing,
you know? And I just was really,I was really struck by the the
in your face relentlesstemptation to be distracted from
what really matters. And I guessthat's the hot beat of what I'm
(19:53):
kind of trying to get at, likewhat in who in your life really
matters. And. How much time andattention and energy and effort
and intention like, Are youbeing intentional with what
you're doing? Do you know whoyou are? Do you know what you're
doing and do you know why you'redoing it? Or have you been
(20:15):
numbed and lulled by thisdopamine overload, this hit of
like, reward that these like,I'm holding up my phone and
shaking it, that these thingsdo, that the world does, that
social media does, andtechnology does, and AI does,
like, all these things that iskind of pulling us out of
ourselves, because the world ismoving at such a fast clip. And
(20:39):
there is so much there's so muchinformation coming at us, and we
don't need more information. Wedo not need more information.
What we need to do is take someof the things that we already
know and go deep on them andstart living them and applying
them. And I can tell you, as acoach and a mentor, I can
(21:02):
deliver all the tools tosomebody. I can point out I can
I can say, like, Hey, here'ssome things that I'm seeing.
Hey, here's some patterns. Hey,you told me this. Here are some
things to help. You know, mysweetie said to me today, it was
so funny. We were talking aboutthis, and it's like, you know,
and we all know you can't makepeople do anything. You can't
(21:23):
make people you know, peoplewill say they want change. They
say they want change, but theydon't want to do the change
right. They don't want peoplewant change, but they don't want
to change right, to actually doit. And he was talking, and he
just said, you know, the hammeris sitting right there at Home
Depot. But like, you gotta go inand buy the hammer, and then you
(21:44):
gotta bring it home, and thenyou gotta use it. It doesn't do
any good to buy the hammer andthen to set it down on the
workbench, but never pick it upand start hammering things. You
know, not building things. Andwe do this a lot. We think like,
oh, it's like, we get trickedinto thinking that, Oh, I bought
the book, and then I read thebook, and I'm like, but what did
you do with the information inthe book? What was the intimacy
(22:07):
level? Did you did you thinkabout it? Did you talk about it?
Did you write some notes? Didyou change your behavior?
Because otherwise, what's thepoint in just gathering,
consuming, consuming, consuming.And that's the thing that I
often wonder, you know, when Ihave gone to Vegas in the past.
I mean, I grew up playing cods,playing 45 Merrimack Valley, you
(22:31):
know, Lawrence Methuen Andovernorth end of the kids. We all,
we all grew up Lowell, Hey, Rob,we all played 45 like growing
up, right? It's a cod game forthose of you who don't know. So
I grew up around cards, and Ilearned to play blackjack. I
could play blackjack, but thatwasn't the thing for me. When I
would go to these places, andI'm very, very, very lucky that
I can go into a place like aVegas or a casino or whatever,
(22:54):
and I can play slots, right? ButI'll give myself a limit, like,
I'll say, Okay, I'm not willingto lose more than $200 I'm not
two $20 or $40 or 60, whateverthe amount would be, right? So
back in the day, so when I wouldgo to Vegas, I'd say, Okay, I'm
not willing to lose more than$100 but I knew how to walk
away. And I knew how to walkaway when I was up and wasn't
(23:15):
chasing, that feeling wasn'tchasing, because that's the
thing. They hook you. They'renot stupid. And again, they're
pumping, in the sense, they'redistracting you with a sense of
time, so you lose sense of time,right? They're using certain
lights and stimulants. They'renot stupid. It's a whole racket.
It's a whole racket, right? Andbut here's my point. I was able
(23:36):
to get up and, like, walk awayfrom things. You've got to be
super duper aware, in this dayand age, the things you cannot
walk away from, your addictivetendencies. All of this to say
is you have got to knowyourself. And I think one of the
biggest things that I find inthe work that I do with humans
(23:58):
is that a lot of people have notspent as much time I'm like if
you spend as much time thinkingabout yourself, getting curious
about why you do what you do,think, what you think, say, what
you say, believe, what youbelieve. Tell the stories that
you tell, why you insist onholding on to that old
grievance, why you want to keepthat person guilty so that you
can in your own mind again,beware the temptation to
(24:20):
perceive yourself as, you know,as unfairly treated or right. So
it's like if we spent as muchtime as we do on our phones,
right, being distracted, andthat's the other thing. What are
you distracting yourself from?These are all really good
questions to be asking. What'spulling my attention away. Why
(24:42):
am I being allowing myself to bedistracted? Where's the fear
coming from? Because it allcomes down to the basics of love
and fear. You're either run Ialways say you're either running
away from something or you'rerunning towards something. And
it's so easy to get distractedfrom your life's work and your
life's purpose and the people.People that really matter, and
the things that really matter bythese little blips and beeps and
(25:04):
games and like, you know, socialmedia and the likes and the in
the comments and the whatever,and it's all such a racket. It
is all such a racket. And I justthink to myself, how many people
are going to end up on theirdeathbed and be like shit? I
never lived my life because Iwas hypnotized by these fucking
phones and I was distracted fromwhat really matters in my life.
(25:29):
So this is just and listeneverything I say is for my ears
to all the ways that we aredistracted by the unimportant
bullshit, glittery flashingthings, the things that we think
make us special. Well, if I justbuy this car, have this house or
have you know, that's why allthe coaches are like, I can
teach you to have 10k months. Ican teach you to fill your
(25:53):
program to whatever with justblah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
I'm like, Oh, we're just outsidethe Carnival Hawkin wares. Now
we just got the person with thehat and the stick spinning it
around, selling me your shit. Somuch, so much in this world, you
guys. And I'm a positive person.I can see good and beautiful and
holy just about anywhere. ButI'm also I'm not I'm not asleep
(26:18):
at the wheel. I see how muchshit is just a racket and a
distraction. And here's what Iknow, you are put on this planet
for a reason, because you havesomething to offer the world.
You have something that theworld needs. You have a gift,
you have a talent, you have aninsight, you have a point of
view. You have a tender hat, youhave a big hot you have a
servant's hat. There's a reasonwhy you are here, and I would
(26:42):
love for us to stop the overconsumption, the over consuming,
the like distractions. And let'sget to work. Let's get down to
business. Let's remember who weare and why we're here. And
under the under the under theunder our identity is who we are
(27:03):
is simply love. And why are wehere to extend that love, to get
better at giving and receivingthat stuff? That's the gig, no
matter the title. And if morepeople made love the bottom line
instead of money, we would livein a totally different world. If
more people made people andtheir well being the bottom
(27:27):
line, rather than selling theirproducts, we would have a
totally different world. Soagain, I still don't even know
what I'm going to call thisthing. This is Episode. Is a
little stream of consciousness.But I was just like, I want to
talk about this, because thiswas such an in your face
reminder of, like, howdistracted we've become as a
(27:48):
society, and how numb we havebecome, and why we're willing to
tolerate such bullshit andhorror, like when we look at so
much of what's happening in Theworld, right? The way that the
again, you don't have to like mewhen I say these things, right?
You don't have to agree with me.But where the current
administration is taking things,this is really, you guys, we've
(28:11):
got to fucking, like, wake up.And this is what I'm saying. We
all have gifts. We all haveways. And I always say, like, I
can't make the President or, youknow, the government do
anything. I get to use my voicewhen I vote, but I get to ask
myself, in my day to day life,am I being purposeful in the
direction of why I think I'mhere, right? Am I using my gifts
(28:34):
in service to love, or am I toodistracted by my phone to get
out there and do anything aboutanything? Am I too distracted
by, you know, social media andby, you know, all, all the
stuff, and so I don't know. Ijust, I, I'm just really feeling
the call to get back to the hotbeat of things. And so here are
the questions, have you beendistracted? If you've been
(28:58):
distracted by what or who
what really matters, and are yougiving your time, your energy
and your resources to the peopleand the things that actually
really matter to you, and whereyou may be overdoing it,
spending too much time, right?Or like, eating too much,
drinking too much, whatever? Thething is, I'm not judging
(29:20):
anybody, but these are questionsfor you to ask yourself and to
get really, really, really realwith yourself. Have a little
come to Jesus moment, as wesometimes say, look in the soul
mirror. You know what I'm sayingthat in in 12 step programs,
they say, take a fearless moralinventory, and don't do it from
a place of attack and judgmentand making yourself wrong, or to
(29:42):
go into shame and blame andguilt, that's not what this is
about. This isn't about feelingguilty. And if you love going to
casinos and you have extra moneyto blow and that's your thing,
great, I'm not judging you. I'mlike, just know what you're
doing and why you're doing it.Be self aware enough to
understand when your spirit.Self is in charge and making
good decisions, and when yourego, self has grabbed the wheel
(30:05):
and is driving you towards allof the shit that's not going to
be helpful for you or any Oh,and, you know, it's going to
help. It's going to help thecasino make a shit ton of money
off you it's good. It's going tohelp Zuckerberg, and it's going
to help, you know, Bezos, andit's going to help musk and all
those guys make a shit ton, youknow, let the billionaires just
keep making more money off ofus. It's just insane, right? So
(30:26):
it's like, let's just gethonest. Let's take a good Gander
around. It's a good opportunity,right? We're in September. Like
the end of the year is coming up2026. Is going to be here before
we know it. And so just like,you know, just notice, notice
the ways that we get distracted,get clear about what matters.
(30:47):
And let's move back in thedirection of focusing on those
things and those people, maybethose projects, whatever it is,
because the world needs you. Weneed your insights. It's like me
on this this podcast, likesharing my perspective, my point
of you, what's on my hat? What'son my mind? I do this in case
it's it's helpful to somebodyelse, right? And sharing, like,
spiritual concepts and sharingstories, because this is part of
(31:10):
what I I'm called to do. Ialways say, like, even though
I'm introverted, people oftendon't believe me, but like, I'm,
like, I got the gift of gab fora reason. I'm a communicator.
I'm a storyteller, right? Imean, that's why I love to write
and to speak. I love to sharewhat's on my heart in hopes, in
hopes that it might land insomebody else or inspire
(31:30):
somebody else. Not that I'm theinspiration, but it might
literally like breathe life intoan idea or a concept or a new
way of being or thinking forsomebody else that they get
curious, that they really takethe time they don't just listen
and then go. And that's theother thing with this show. You
know, if I say, if I say, like,hey, stop, hit pause, ask
(31:50):
yourself these questions. I hopeyou really do them. I hope you
give yourself the opportunity toget to know yourself better, and
to and to ask yourself thesethings, because it's important.
Because guys, you know, I sawone of my mentors the other day.
He had a book signing and a bookreading his new book that came
(32:11):
out, and I was looking at him inwonder. And he's like, in his
80s now, and I'm thinking tomyself, How much more time does
he have on the planet? And Ithink back to like, how many
people he's helped, and what alegacy. And I don't think legacy
of just like your kids and yourbusiness like, like what he has
left in his trail, like what hehas left in his wake is so many
(32:35):
incredible stories that, like,have touched people's hats and
move people. And I think, man,what a life to have left so much
love, so much love behind. Like,that's what I'm going for. You
know what I mean? Like, I'llnever have buildings named after
me. I don't have children tocarry on my name and my legacy
and whatever. Maybe I'll leavesome books behind, you know? But
(32:58):
my hope is that I've left alegacy of love. You know that
that that I don't know, I don'tknow what people are going to
say about me when I'm gone. Youknow, some people might be happy
when I drop dead, a few peoplewill be sad, but hopefully, you
know, that's the thing, with thetime I have left, I really want
to be helpful and be of service.So All right, thank you so much
(33:20):
for tuning in. I love you, and Iappreciate you, and I hope this
has landed in some way and gotyou thinking and and then maybe
it will help some of us tocourse correct if we've been, if
we've lost our way a little bit,if we've been kind of dopamine
into oblivion, you know, anddistracting, distracting,
distracting. So beware thetemptations. Beware the
(33:43):
temptations, because they're outthere and they are not trying to
help you. They're they're tryingto keep you from remembering
yourself and keep you from doingwhat you came here to do. So
maybe that's what I'll call thissucker. Beware the temptation.
Okay, I appreciate you. I loveyou. Thanks for being here,
wherever you go. May you leaveyourself in the animals and the
(34:04):
people and the place and theenvironment, right, the whole
planet. May it be better for youhaving been here, may you leave
it better than how you found itand wherever you go, may you and
your energy and your presenceand your love be a blessing.
Bye. You.
Hey you guys, welcome to theKaren Kenney show. I'm so happy
to have you here. I have no ideawhat I'm going to call this
sucker. I have no idea what I'mgoing to call this episode, but
I do know that I want to talk toyou about an experience that I
had this past weekend, and howhe got me thinking about certain
things, and maybe some of thesethings you will find helpful,
(00:22):
and that's always like, one ofthe hot beats of this is that I
always say, I'm not here to tellyou like, you know, people will
often say about me like you tellit how it is, like you tell it
like it is. You tell it how itis, right? They like that about
my personality or whatever. Butreally, I tell it like I see it.
It doesn't mean I tell it likeit is, I just kind of tell it
(00:43):
like I see it. And I thinkthat's one of the gifts of any
kind of coach or mentor orteacher or artist or writer or
whatever. Is that we are sharingour particular point of view,
maybe something that we saw in aparticular way from our
perspective might help you toshift your own might, you know,
(01:04):
cause you to laugh, or make yougo, Oh, my God, I never thought
of it that way, or that'sinteresting, or whatever, right?
I always say, I'm not here totell you what to think. I'm
inviting you to think foryourself, but I'm just kind of
sharing some thoughts that Ihad, some perspectives that I
had over this past weekend. Sosome of you may know that my
sweetie, Chris Lester, myhusband, Chris Lester, is a
(01:28):
professional musician, and heplay he's a multi
instrumentalist. He plays likebass, and he's mostly a guitar
player, but he's guitar he playsbass, he can play keyboards, he
can play mandolin, you can playa little bit of drums, all this
stuff, right? He's also asinger, and he's a songwriter,
and he's a producer, he's, he's,I mean, he's just, he's wicked
nice and he's wicked talented.That's my sweetie in a nutshell,
(01:50):
right? So he, um, had a gig thispast weekend, and some of you
local New England people likeand beyond, you may have heard
of a band called, I mean,they're they've sold millions
and millions of records. So youmay have heard of a band called
God smack, and the lead singerof God smack is a guy named
Sully Erna. And Sally Erna isfrom my hometown, my city,
(02:13):
little city, Lawrence,Massachusetts. So I knew Sully
is kids. But when my sweetie,when Sully was asked to do a
solo project with with Sully.Like Sully didn't know that he
and I were married this wholething, right? Okay, so Sully had
a gig at Mohegan Sun, the Casinoin Connecticut this past
weekend, and he asked mysweetie, they're friends, right?
(02:35):
He My sweetie is played on hissolo work, like Avalon and all
this stuff. And, you know, he'swritten songs together, blah
blah, so he asked my sweetie tocome and play bass at this gig.
And I was like, Okay, I'm gonnago. Because I normally never go
anywhere when you go. I mean,now we're down to three furry
kids, but in the past, we've hadup to seven furry kids, and it's
just like, impossible, unlessyou bring somebody in to kind of
(02:59):
like, house, sit and take careof everything. But this time,
I'm like, I'm going to go, thisis going to be fun. I haven't
been away or done anything in awicked long time, and I'm like,
let's do it. So off we go. Mysister came and she watched, you
know, she watched the kids, andwe left. Okay, but here's the
point, and this is probablygoing to be a short one, because
it's just as a particular pointor point of view that I want you
(03:21):
to just kind of think about. Sowe get to the casino now, I used
to live in LA. I lived inCalifornia, and I will never
forget that the first time formy birthday, my friends, I
worked at a magic dinner theatercalled wizards up at Universal
City Walk, and I had the bestfriends in the world. And my
friends basically, literallysurprised me and kidnapped me,
(03:44):
like, after work one night.They're like, I'll drive you
home. And I was like, okay,whatever. And so I got a ride
with my friends, and when I gotto the house, my other friends
followed them in their car, andthey're like, go inside and pack
a bag. I'm like, What are youtalking about? They're like,
we're taking you to Vegas. Itwas like, my first time ever to
Las Vegas, and what a trip. Itwas okay. So I've been to Vegas.
(04:08):
I've been to multiple casinos,you know, I worked like at my
work at wizards. I used to datea magician, and so he loved
going to, you know, he lovedgoing to Vegas and going to see
the magic shows and Cirque duSoleil. And, of course, he, you
know, he dealt in up closemagic, though, he was like a
wizard with cards and stuff. Solike, playing blackjack, all
(04:32):
that stuff. So I got schooled onVegas, right? I like, saw the
devil's playground, Sin City,you know, up close and personal.
Okay, so here we are. We're atthe Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.
Okay, so this past weekend. Sofast forward. So I'm not a
strange I guess what I'm tryingto say is, I'm not a stranger to
casinos, but it's been a wickedlong time since I've been in
(04:54):
one. So we walk into the place,and immediately I'm just like,
holy shit. First of. Like themass scale. The mass scale of
like casinos is like,unbelievable. And these are
things we all already know. It'snot like I'm going to be unless
you've never, ever, ever been toa casino before. This is
probably not going to be likenew information, in a way, but
(05:16):
something I want us to consider.So I walk into the place and the
first thing I just see is justlike, it is sensory overload,
and it is designed to be thatway. So you basically have,
like, all the sights, likeyou're taking in so much color
you're seeing flashing lights,right then it's all the sounds.
(05:39):
It's like the chirping of the,you know, the slot machines,
like the dinging and the pingingand the noise of the people and
like music coming out of likethe restaurant, like it is, just
like sensory overload of sights,smells, sounds, like there's
different textures. Somesurfaces are shiny, some are
really tall, some are reallybig, and they're designed in
(06:02):
such a way where there's nowindows, like the outside world
does not exist. You have nowentered a new zone. It's like
that Hotel California song. Youcan check out anytime you like,
but you can never leave. It'skind of like this surreal
experience. There's no clocks onthe walls because they don't
want you to know the time, likethey're pumping in smells.
(06:22):
They're like, you know,everything olfactory terrorists,
like they're doing all of thesethings to keep you in this
stream of incessant consumption.And I was just like, blown away.
And I'm looking around and I'mlike, everything is just like, a
lot. There's like, a lot ofsights, a lot of sounds, a lot
(06:43):
of bodies, lot of humans, a lotof noise, a lot of traffic. And
the way this particular casinois set up, it's like all the
shops, like, line the outer rimof the buildings, and then right
down the middle of the spacesyou have, like the casino, like
you have the blackjack is beingplayed, where the slots are
being played, or whatever. Soyou have, like, all this
(07:05):
opportunity for consumption,food, restaurants, overpriced
shops, like, you know, get alittle we got little vegan ice
creams from Ben and Jerry's,like smalls, and it was like,
$20 right? It's like, oh my God,everything is big, overpriced in
your face sensory, like, holyshit, right? And you're just
(07:29):
looking at all these differentkinds of people, and you're
walking by a bar, and you lookover and there's like,
literally, women, like, scantilyclad, like, dancing on top of
the bar, and then you just, it'sjust like, so insane. It's so
insane. And you know, it's alsolike, hyper electric. So even
(07:50):
though, like, I was thinkingabout this, I was thinking about
this. So my sweetie played thisshow, right? And just stay with
me. I'm going to make a point.I'm going to buckle up, buckle
up, take the ride with me. So mysweetie was playing at this kind
of outside venue, and it was asold out show, like, 3000 plus
people, whatever. And out thereit was like, okay, like, I
(08:12):
literally walked outside and Icould literally feel my nervous
system just like, do a differentthing. I'm like, I could see the
sky. I could, like, you know,fresh air. There was sunshine,
it was a little humid, but I'mlike, okay, like, now, at least,
even though, I mean, like, thisconcrete parking garages next to
us and all this stuff, like, atleast I'm outside and I have
glimpses of nature, and I couldfeel like, my nervous system
(08:35):
just kind of, like, calm down alittle bit. And then we just
went backstage to, like, with,like, the the green room, I
wasn't back behind the stage,but consider it like a backstage
area where, like, the greenroom, where the artists go, and
you walk in and it's like,quiet, right? Because it's
private. And like, I so I hadthese moments where I could have
major comparison between theover stimulation and then, like,
(08:58):
okay, these pockets of peace,this momentary pause where I
could, kind of like, gathermyself and come back to myself,
and you just realize that I wasthinking about I'm like, this is
like a dopamine carnival. Like,like, everything is about
getting that immediate fix, thatimmediate hit, that little
reward center, like the rewardcenter in your brain is like
(09:20):
being sucked into liketemptation. And there's a line
in A Course in Miracles, andit's not related to this, but
I'm going to say there's a linein A Course in Miracles that
says, Beware the temptation toperceive yourself unfairly
treated.
And it's basically talking abouthow the ego loves to take its
own guilt and, like, throw it onother people, because then if
(09:43):
the guilt is out there and theother person wronged you and did
something to you, then you getto be the innocent one. And it's
this really interesting concept,right? But the whole time I'm
like, walking through this jointand like, the streams of
traffic, like, there's peopleeverywhere, all shapes, sizes,
colors. Races, whatever. I'mpretty sure I saw a few working
(10:03):
girls, you know, I'm pretty sureI saw a few, like, escorts, male
escort. I'm like, I'm lookingaround. I'm just like, Oh my
God, it is so over the fuckingtop. And it's like, you know,
Ben and Jerry's is open to,like, 3am it's like, this, like,
this mini city that doesn'tsleep. And we the show was
fantastic. PS, Sully, and mysweetie and the other musicians
(10:25):
did an amazing job. It was sucha blast. The crowd was amazing.
But even in the crowd, right?Like, even in the crowd, the
show hadn't even started yet,and, like, because we had
friends in the audience, and itwas all standing room only,
right? So everybody's like,packed in. So it's just like
this pulsing energy of humans.And then it's like somebody had
(10:47):
already, like, puked and made amess, and then the middle of the
show, somebody else started afight. And I'm like, people are
out of their minds, right now,right? And it's like, you know?
But then, like, the pulse of themusic starts, and I'm like, Oh,
here's the human element makingmusic, right? And again, we're
outside, at least, like it wasraining. So I'm like, Okay,
(11:09):
there's natural elements, right?So I'm like, Okay, this was the
reprieve. But as soon as we,like, the show was over, like,
great success, and then we hadto cut back through right the
casino to get up to our rooms,and as soon as you walk in,
you're hit with like, this wallof sound and smell and sensory
(11:30):
like, blah, blah, blah, blah.And we also got a free pass,
right? So you get, like, the AllAccess Pass, so like, we went
downstairs, we could have eatenanywhere. What we were like, Oh,
we're gonna go check this out.So I used to be in the hotel
business. A long time ago. I wasa concierge at the Hyatt Regency
in Cambridge. If you've everbeen to Boston or at I went to
(11:50):
BU so, you know the CharlesRiver and right across the
Riverview. Look, it's like this,like, kind of like, step pyramid
shaped building, that's theHyatt Regency. And I worked in
the hotel business, so I knowback a house stuff, like, I kind
of know how these things work,but going, like, behind closed
doors and having access to theemployee cafeteria, like, even
(12:11):
the cafeteria, it was like, holyshit. Like you go through those
doors and down into like, thissub world, right? And it's like
there were, like, employeesplaying ping pong and like
games, like, over there, and yougo through this maze of like,
going under the casino, and oneof the employees told us that
(12:31):
you can take where we were andwalk a half a mile, like, that's
how big this place is, a half amile to go down to The other
casino, because there's twocasinos there. But we walk into
the we walked into the employee,you know, cafeteria. And even
that was overwhelming. They werelike, all these machines you can
(12:52):
get, like, eight kinds of milkand seven kinds of juice and
like, 15 kinds of soda, and thenit was like a pizza station in a
substation, and, you know, a lotof dead animal products right
over here, and five kinds ofcake and cookies. And I was just
like, Oh my God. And I could seemy sweetie. He get, like, get a
(13:13):
little it's not disoriented, buthe, like, it takes him a moment,
like, his processing system is,like, standing there just trying
to, like, take it all in, youknow, and I was like, Holy shit,
like even underground is likebig and overwhelming and so much
stimulus. Okay, why am I tellingyou all of this? Because even
(13:35):
though it seems like this is avery isolated and special kind
of circumstance. Well, ofcourse. KK, you've gone you've
gone to a casino. What do youexpect? We all know that people
are going to stay up late,people are going to spend money,
people are going to overindulge, people are going to
whatever, right? It is arelentless den of temptation. We
(13:59):
know this. But what occurred tome while I was there, and it was
so interesting, because at onepoint, Sully said over the mic,
like, I hope you all have ablast this weekend. You know we
are here because this show inparticular is a celebration of
music, and you know howmeaningful music is to all of
us? And he said, have fun thisweekend. And then he literally
(14:20):
said, but please don't lose yourkids college money while you're
here. And he's like, don't doit. People don't do it. And, you
know, everybody laughed, butit's like, that kind of shit
happens because people go, ifyou have any kind of, like,
addictive tendency, they likecasinos is like your spot if
(14:43):
you're going to overeat, ifyou're going to overspend, if
you're going to over indulge, ifyou're going to get hooked on
the machines, get that dopaminehit. That dopamine hit that
chance of like, pulling, it'slike, it's like pulling, pulling
the lever for possibility,right? And it like, keeps you in
that. Loop, and I startedthinking about it, here's
(15:03):
finally my point, and if you'restill here, thank you for
hanging in here. I just startedthinking. I was like, this is
exactly what like the world kindof is right now. It is a mass of
over consumption. We are beingbombarded from so many different
angles, because of technology,because of AI, because of social
(15:26):
media, it is so easy to moveaway from the natural world,
nature, humans, humanity,literally, your own heart beat,
your own breath, your own body,your own experience, it's so
easy to get distracted by 18,000other things, buying shit
(15:49):
online, getting lost on yourphone. Like, if you really
realize how much time you spenton your phone, like, really
clocked it and tracked it. I'mnot saying everybody, but most
average people are so lost intheir phones. They are so
addicted to the technology. Andin fairness, they designed this
(16:10):
shit this way. The people whoare doing these things and
creating the programs andcreating Instagram and creating
Facebook and creating Tiktok andcreating like reels and all the
stuff. They did it from a gamingperspective. They basically took
Vegas and they took casinos, andthey took that experience, and
(16:31):
they put it on your phone andthey put it in your pocket, and
we are a highly, highly, highlydistracted society, and it's
only getting worse. And when yougo to a place where it is
literally, I said, Oh my god, Isaid to my sweetie, this is
like, social media, social mediaand the phone and consumerism,
(16:55):
that capitalistic kind of overconsumption, made into a place.
I'm like, Yes, Vegas came first,like before the phones and the
phones became like, you know,the phones, I should say Vegas
informed the identity and thecreation of these technologies.
(17:17):
But what's interesting is youcan keep that on your phone in
your pocket, but these placesare like the personification,
like the in person experience ofwhat is actually happening. And
we look at this little phone andwe don't take it that seriously.
Sometimes you're like, Oh yeah,I know I should put it down,
like, I know, I know, I know.No, you don't know. You
understand, but you have notembodied the knowing. Or you
(17:40):
would be horrified by like,what's going on? So my message
today is about really taking amoment to get really fucking
honest with yourself about justhow distracted you might be in
your day to day life, all thedifferent ways you are getting
(18:01):
pulled out of your humanity,like your desire to connect with
others face to face, to relateto other people, to build
relationships andcollaborations, to get outside
in nature, to appreciate thewonders of this world, the
natural world, the animals andthe rivers And the sun and the
stars and the trees and thegrass and, you know, all that
(18:24):
stuff, how easily distracted weare by trying to be more. Do
more? Get more. Have more.Consume, consume, consume. I'm
like, No, how about, like, weslow down and create some shit,
right? How about we get in touchwith that, and I'm not shaking
my finger at like you guys, likeyou need to do this. This was a
(18:47):
wake up call for me too. Thiswas a another chance for me to,
like, check in and say, like,hey, where have you been
distracted lately? What has beenmaybe consuming your attention
or your time that no longerdeserves it. Maybe it never
deserved it, right? Because thecasino, for me, is just a
(19:09):
metaphor of what's happening allthe time right in front of our
face, but it's so much moresophisticated and it's so much
more sneaky, and it's so muchmore like disguised as something
else, and we can totallyconvince ourselves, oh yeah, no,
no, just one more video or justone more email or just one more
(19:31):
text or just one more thing, andthen I'll do this thing,
you know? And I just was really,I was really struck by the the
in your face relentlesstemptation to be distracted from
what really matters. And I guessthat's the hot beat of what I'm
(19:53):
kind of trying to get at, likewhat in who in your life really
matters. And. How much time andattention and energy and effort
and intention like, Are youbeing intentional with what
you're doing? Do you know whoyou are? Do you know what you're
doing and do you know why you'redoing it? Or have you been
(20:15):
numbed and lulled by thisdopamine overload, this hit of
like, reward that these like,I'm holding up my phone and
shaking it, that these thingsdo, that the world does, that
social media does, andtechnology does, and AI does,
like, all these things that iskind of pulling us out of
ourselves, because the world ismoving at such a fast clip. And
(20:39):
there is so much there's so muchinformation coming at us, and we
don't need more information. Wedo not need more information.
What we need to do is take someof the things that we already
know and go deep on them andstart living them and applying
them. And I can tell you, as acoach and a mentor, I can
(21:02):
deliver all the tools tosomebody. I can point out I can
I can say, like, Hey, here'ssome things that I'm seeing.
Hey, here's some patterns. Hey,you told me this. Here are some
things to help. You know, mysweetie said to me today, it was
so funny. We were talking aboutthis, and it's like, you know,
and we all know you can't makepeople do anything. You can't
(21:23):
make people you know, peoplewill say they want change. They
say they want change, but theydon't want to do the change
right. They don't want peoplewant change, but they don't want
to change right, to actually doit. And he was talking, and he
just said, you know, the hammeris sitting right there at Home
Depot. But like, you gotta go inand buy the hammer, and then you
(21:44):
gotta bring it home, and thenyou gotta use it. It doesn't do
any good to buy the hammer andthen to set it down on the
workbench, but never pick it upand start hammering things. You
know, not building things. Andwe do this a lot. We think like,
oh, it's like, we get trickedinto thinking that, Oh, I bought
the book, and then I read thebook, and I'm like, but what did
you do with the information inthe book? What was the intimacy
(22:07):
level? Did you did you thinkabout it? Did you talk about it?
Did you write some notes? Didyou change your behavior?
Because otherwise, what's thepoint in just gathering,
consuming, consuming, consuming.And that's the thing that I
often wonder, you know, when Ihave gone to Vegas in the past.
I mean, I grew up playing cods,playing 45 Merrimack Valley, you
(22:31):
know, Lawrence Methuen Andovernorth end of the kids. We all,
we all grew up Lowell, Hey, Rob,we all played 45 like growing
up, right? It's a cod game forthose of you who don't know. So
I grew up around cards, and Ilearned to play blackjack. I
could play blackjack, but thatwasn't the thing for me. When I
would go to these places, andI'm very, very, very lucky that
I can go into a place like aVegas or a casino or whatever,
(22:54):
and I can play slots, right? ButI'll give myself a limit, like,
I'll say, Okay, I'm not willingto lose more than $200 I'm not
two $20 or $40 or 60, whateverthe amount would be, right? So
back in the day, so when I wouldgo to Vegas, I'd say, Okay, I'm
not willing to lose more than$100 but I knew how to walk
away. And I knew how to walkaway when I was up and wasn't
(23:15):
chasing, that feeling wasn'tchasing, because that's the
thing. They hook you. They'renot stupid. And again, they're
pumping, in the sense, they'redistracting you with a sense of
time, so you lose sense of time,right? They're using certain
lights and stimulants. They'renot stupid. It's a whole racket.
It's a whole racket, right? Andbut here's my point. I was able
(23:36):
to get up and, like, walk awayfrom things. You've got to be
super duper aware, in this dayand age, the things you cannot
walk away from, your addictivetendencies. All of this to say
is you have got to knowyourself. And I think one of the
biggest things that I find inthe work that I do with humans
(23:58):
is that a lot of people have notspent as much time I'm like if
you spend as much time thinkingabout yourself, getting curious
about why you do what you do,think, what you think, say, what
you say, believe, what youbelieve. Tell the stories that
you tell, why you insist onholding on to that old
grievance, why you want to keepthat person guilty so that you
can in your own mind again,beware the temptation to
(24:20):
perceive yourself as, you know,as unfairly treated or right. So
it's like if we spent as muchtime as we do on our phones,
right, being distracted, andthat's the other thing. What are
you distracting yourself from?These are all really good
questions to be asking. What'spulling my attention away. Why
(24:42):
am I being allowing myself to bedistracted? Where's the fear
coming from? Because it allcomes down to the basics of love
and fear. You're either run Ialways say you're either running
away from something or you'rerunning towards something. And
it's so easy to get distractedfrom your life's work and your
life's purpose and the people.People that really matter, and
the things that really matter bythese little blips and beeps and
(25:04):
games and like, you know, socialmedia and the likes and the in
the comments and the whatever,and it's all such a racket. It
is all such a racket. And I justthink to myself, how many people
are going to end up on theirdeathbed and be like shit? I
never lived my life because Iwas hypnotized by these fucking
phones and I was distracted fromwhat really matters in my life.
(25:29):
So this is just and listeneverything I say is for my ears
to all the ways that we aredistracted by the unimportant
bullshit, glittery flashingthings, the things that we think
make us special. Well, if I justbuy this car, have this house or
have you know, that's why allthe coaches are like, I can
teach you to have 10k months. Ican teach you to fill your
(25:53):
program to whatever with justblah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
I'm like, Oh, we're just outsidethe Carnival Hawkin wares. Now
we just got the person with thehat and the stick spinning it
around, selling me your shit. Somuch, so much in this world, you
guys. And I'm a positive person.I can see good and beautiful and
holy just about anywhere. ButI'm also I'm not I'm not asleep
(26:18):
at the wheel. I see how muchshit is just a racket and a
distraction. And here's what Iknow, you are put on this planet
for a reason, because you havesomething to offer the world.
You have something that theworld needs. You have a gift,
you have a talent, you have aninsight, you have a point of
view. You have a tender hat, youhave a big hot you have a
servant's hat. There's a reasonwhy you are here, and I would
(26:42):
love for us to stop the overconsumption, the over consuming,
the like distractions. And let'sget to work. Let's get down to
business. Let's remember who weare and why we're here. And
under the under the under theunder our identity is who we are
(27:03):
is simply love. And why are wehere to extend that love, to get
better at giving and receivingthat stuff? That's the gig, no
matter the title. And if morepeople made love the bottom line
instead of money, we would livein a totally different world. If
more people made people andtheir well being the bottom
(27:27):
line, rather than selling theirproducts, we would have a
totally different world. Soagain, I still don't even know
what I'm going to call thisthing. This is Episode. Is a
little stream of consciousness.But I was just like, I want to
talk about this, because thiswas such an in your face
reminder of, like, howdistracted we've become as a
(27:48):
society, and how numb we havebecome, and why we're willing to
tolerate such bullshit andhorror, like when we look at so
much of what's happening in Theworld, right? The way that the
again, you don't have to like mewhen I say these things, right?
You don't have to agree with me.But where the current
administration is taking things,this is really, you guys, we've
(28:11):
got to fucking, like, wake up.And this is what I'm saying. We
all have gifts. We all haveways. And I always say, like, I
can't make the President or, youknow, the government do
anything. I get to use my voicewhen I vote, but I get to ask
myself, in my day to day life,am I being purposeful in the
direction of why I think I'mhere, right? Am I using my gifts
(28:34):
in service to love, or am I toodistracted by my phone to get
out there and do anything aboutanything? Am I too distracted
by, you know, social media andby, you know, all, all the
stuff, and so I don't know. Ijust, I, I'm just really feeling
the call to get back to the hotbeat of things. And so here are
the questions, have you beendistracted? If you've been
(28:58):
distracted by what or who
what really matters, and are yougiving your time, your energy
and your resources to the peopleand the things that actually
really matter to you, and whereyou may be overdoing it,
spending too much time, right?Or like, eating too much,
drinking too much, whatever? Thething is, I'm not judging
(29:20):
anybody, but these are questionsfor you to ask yourself and to
get really, really, really realwith yourself. Have a little
come to Jesus moment, as wesometimes say, look in the soul
mirror. You know what I'm sayingthat in in 12 step programs,
they say, take a fearless moralinventory, and don't do it from
a place of attack and judgmentand making yourself wrong, or to
(29:42):
go into shame and blame andguilt, that's not what this is
about. This isn't about feelingguilty. And if you love going to
casinos and you have extra moneyto blow and that's your thing,
great, I'm not judging you. I'mlike, just know what you're
doing and why you're doing it.Be self aware enough to
understand when your spirit.Self is in charge and making
good decisions, and when yourego, self has grabbed the wheel
(30:05):
and is driving you towards allof the shit that's not going to
be helpful for you or any Oh,and, you know, it's going to
help. It's going to help thecasino make a shit ton of money
off you it's good. It's going tohelp Zuckerberg, and it's going
to help, you know, Bezos, andit's going to help musk and all
those guys make a shit ton, youknow, let the billionaires just
keep making more money off ofus. It's just insane, right? So
(30:26):
it's like, let's just gethonest. Let's take a good Gander
around. It's a good opportunity,right? We're in September. Like
the end of the year is coming up2026. Is going to be here before
we know it. And so just like,you know, just notice, notice
the ways that we get distracted,get clear about what matters.
(30:47):
And let's move back in thedirection of focusing on those
things and those people, maybethose projects, whatever it is,
because the world needs you. Weneed your insights. It's like me
on this this podcast, likesharing my perspective, my point
of you, what's on my hat? What'son my mind? I do this in case
it's it's helpful to somebodyelse, right? And sharing, like,
spiritual concepts and sharingstories, because this is part of
(31:10):
what I I'm called to do. Ialways say, like, even though
I'm introverted, people oftendon't believe me, but like, I'm,
like, I got the gift of gab fora reason. I'm a communicator.
I'm a storyteller, right? Imean, that's why I love to write
and to speak. I love to sharewhat's on my heart in hopes, in
hopes that it might land insomebody else or inspire
(31:30):
somebody else. Not that I'm theinspiration, but it might
literally like breathe life intoan idea or a concept or a new
way of being or thinking forsomebody else that they get
curious, that they really takethe time they don't just listen
and then go. And that's theother thing with this show. You
know, if I say, if I say, like,hey, stop, hit pause, ask
(31:50):
yourself these questions. I hopeyou really do them. I hope you
give yourself the opportunity toget to know yourself better, and
to and to ask yourself thesethings, because it's important.
Because guys, you know, I sawone of my mentors the other day.
He had a book signing and a bookreading his new book that came
(32:11):
out, and I was looking at him inwonder. And he's like, in his
80s now, and I'm thinking tomyself, How much more time does
he have on the planet? And Ithink back to like, how many
people he's helped, and what alegacy. And I don't think legacy
of just like your kids and yourbusiness like, like what he has
left in his trail, like what hehas left in his wake is so many
(32:35):
incredible stories that, like,have touched people's hats and
move people. And I think, man,what a life to have left so much
love, so much love behind. Like,that's what I'm going for. You
know what I mean? Like, I'llnever have buildings named after
me. I don't have children tocarry on my name and my legacy
and whatever. Maybe I'll leavesome books behind, you know? But
(32:58):
my hope is that I've left alegacy of love. You know that
that that I don't know, I don'tknow what people are going to
say about me when I'm gone. Youknow, some people might be happy
when I drop dead, a few peoplewill be sad, but hopefully, you
know, that's the thing, with thetime I have left, I really want
to be helpful and be of service.So All right, thank you so much
(33:20):
for tuning in. I love you, and Iappreciate you, and I hope this
has landed in some way and gotyou thinking and and then maybe
it will help some of us tocourse correct if we've been, if
we've lost our way a little bit,if we've been kind of dopamine
into oblivion, you know, anddistracting, distracting,
distracting. So beware thetemptations. Beware the
(33:43):
temptations, because they're outthere and they are not trying to
help you. They're they're tryingto keep you from remembering
yourself and keep you from doingwhat you came here to do. So
maybe that's what I'll call thissucker. Beware the temptation.
Okay, I appreciate you. I loveyou. Thanks for being here,
wherever you go. May you leaveyourself in the animals and the
(34:04):
people and the place and theenvironment, right, the whole
planet. May it be better for youhaving been here, may you leave
it better than how you found itand wherever you go, may you and
your energy and your presenceand your love be a blessing.
Bye. You.
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