May 15, 2025 • 26 mins
Hi, my name is Dan and I’m an alcoholic
At 45 years of age my alcoholism and addictions came crashing down on me, I was facing 6-20 years in prison, I had given away a 17 year marriage and was on the verge of losing everything.
Even with those consequences hovering, I was unable to stop consuming the very chemicals that put me in this position.
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear, and mine came in the form of an Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, and the twelve steps. My sponsor guided me through the Steps and the trajectory of my life was forever altered.
Since taking this path, many miracles have occurred in my life, first and foremost, release from the grip of addiction. It has aligned my compass to my own personal “True North”, and has given purpose to an almost lost life.
Along the way, I launched a podcast, “Spiritual Underground Podcast”, where I carry this message of recovery through the age old tradition of story telling, specifically the 12 Step method of “What it was like, what happened, and what it’s like now”.
I define “Recovery” as “to reclaim that which was lost or stolen”; and what was lost and/or stolen, was my true self, my true voice, my connection to the universal power, I had lost touch of my very soul.
That is my mission today, to create a world of healing recovery by guiding others toward their true purpose through the magic of the twelve steps.
*If you were from the future and coming to help humanity what message would you leave them with in less than 3 sentences?
Clean house, trust god, help others - take care of your health. Do those things and you’ll be way ahead of most people.
Contact Dan;
https://spiritualunderground.org/index.html#/
https://www.facebook.com/SpiritualUnderground?mibextid=wwXIfr&mibextid=wwXIfr, https://www.instagram.com/spiritualunderground/profilecard/?igsh=MTBuYzVsaDRoYWNneA==
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi, dan.
Welcome to Quantum AlchemistMaster Podcast.
It's a pleasure to have youhere, I know I'm personally
looking forward to thisconversation with you and
hearing more about your journey.
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Thank you.
I'm honored to be asked to doanything where I get to carry
this message that has been sofreely given to me.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Thank you so much.
Would you care to tell us aboutyour beautiful journey?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah, and it's always funny to keep it in a compact
space, but I think I can do that.
I grew up as just a regular old, middle-aged kid in the middle
of America, midwestern America.
I had, as far as I'm concerned,great parents, although they
did put stuff into me that didnot serve me, which I found
(00:52):
later on by using the tools thatwere given to me, got married,
had a 17-year marriage, had twochildren and drank and drugged
the whole time and didn't thinkit was a problem.
It didn't and to some extent itreally wasn't.
You know I see where it wastoday, but it really wasn't.
(01:14):
But when I was 41, I entered AA,thinking I had a problem, and I
tried to manage my own recoverymy way, which over the next
four years I found out didn'twork, and I crashed and burned.
When I was 45, my alcoholismaddiction crashed completely
down on me and I was facing sixto 20 years in the Indiana
(01:35):
Department of Corrections andthat marriage was over.
I had given away that.
I won't say I lost that 17 yearmarriage.
I gave it away.
That was me.
I gave it away and I was on theverge of losing everything.
I was on the verge of losing myemployment, my home, everything
, you know.
(01:55):
You go to prison.
This makes it awful tough tomake house payments and car
payments and things like thatand things like that.
And you know I had that momentthat you hear.
Well, even though, with thoseconsequences hovering above me,
I could not stop using thechemicals that were killing me,
(02:16):
that were causing this entireproblem, I still couldn't quit.
And that's where we get intothis concept of powerlessness.
I was completely powerless andI had to get some power that I
could live on, that couldsupport me.
And you know I did the typicaljailhouse prayer, the hospital
bed prayer, the help me somebody.
(02:39):
If you are out there, I needyour help, out there, I need
your help.
And that's when I entered intorecovery.
And we have a definition forrecovery where we say and you
can look it up in the dictionary, you'll find the same one it
says to reclaim that which waslost or stolen.
And it's like your car rightwhen they come and get your car
(03:01):
and take it back to their placebecause you haven't made your
payments or you go recoversomething you lost on a trail
someplace.
And what I had lost was my verysoul myself, my being, who Dan
is, I'd lost my voice.
I'd lost my connection to mycompass needle that allows to
(03:21):
guide me to where I'm supposedto be going, and that had all
disappeared.
And I love that definition ofrecovery coming from that angle.
And then here's another famoussaying when the student is ready
, the teacher appears.
And that happened to me in a12-step meeting one night where
I've been listening to agentleman for four to six to
(03:43):
eight weeks talk and I reallywanted that guy to help me and I
knew it in my heart.
I could feel it.
You know, and I'm in touch withthat a lot better now and I can
act on that.
But back then I couldn't reallyact on that and I was scared to
ask him, just like so many ofus.
I was afraid to ask for helpand I certainly was afraid to
(04:07):
ask this other man for help.
And one night in that meeting Iwalked in and I was really
hurting.
I'd been to court that day.
They were still talking abouthow long they were going to put
me in prison.
I was scared to death and Iwalked in there and did what we
call a burning desire and Ipoured out my bucket and told
the group because I've beenlying to them the whole time.
You know I'm good, I'm fine,I'm okay and uh, meanwhile I'm
(04:30):
very not okay.
But that night I came in thereand I poured out my soul to that
group of men and, uh, the veryguy who I so much wanted to work
with me made a beeline to meafter the meeting and said I
want to work with you, I think Ican help you.
And when I walked out of thebuilding that night, the stars
(04:56):
were brighter.
I knew something had shifted.
And you know I say this overand over again too that I really
didn't.
I did recognize it that night,but most of the things I
recognize are in their rearviewmirror, you know.
And I, when I turn around, lookback at it, I go, hey, that was
pretty cool.
And uh, and this guy took meunder his wings, man, and and he
had standards and he had, uh,uh, suggestions he expected me
(05:18):
to follow.
And I just jumped into his hippocket and and because, frankly,
there was nobody else offeringto help me, nobody.
I feel like I was inside of acardboard box that was painted
black and there was a littlepinhole in the corner and it was
these men offering to help me.
(05:39):
And when I got into thatimmediately and I see this over
and over again I've had theopportunity to help a lot of
guys under this program.
Immediately, when I see a guymove his heart because he's got
to move his heart that directionyou know he has to mean it.
He can't just kind of halfwaywant to.
Immediately, when I see a guyturn his heart into accepting
(06:00):
this help, we have to offer goodthings start happening to them.
Some stuff starts falling off,some legal problems fall off,
the wife isn't so mad, the kidsare starting to be more loving
towards them and just thingslike that.
Work gets better.
And that's exactly whathappened to me.
(06:22):
My sentence went from 6 to 20 toa year of home incarceration,
which was dropped down to ninemonths.
That gave, that, protected me,that put me in a safe and
protected window.
Now you know I could havescrewed it up easy.
Right, we can mess it up, but Iwas.
I was devoted and I had thatsix to nine months where I
didn't go to the bachelorparties or the Super Bowl
(06:44):
parties or the different thingsthat would have possibly led me
astray, and I walked the pathand I will credit the
corrections community here withgiving me the leeway to do the
things I needed to do to achievethis state of recovery state of
(07:10):
recovery and so many, I like tosay, as I started walking this
path.
You know I was doubtful atfirst, you know, and I thought
some things were fluke.
And you know and maybe I wasjust lucky this evidence started
piling up behind me that atsome point I could no longer
deny that something washappening to me, for me, as a
result of turning my compassneedle in this direction.
And it continues to do thathere to this day.
(07:35):
I call them miracles.
I have a list in my phone.
I started out on paper.
A mentor told me when thesecool things were happening, like
these great things werehappening in my life, to start
taking note of them becauselater on you will forget.
And he's right, because I goback and look in that list, man,
and there's stuff that you knowsomething will prompt me to
remember it.
(07:55):
But just a general.
It's kind of like a long-termgratitude list and the stuff
like not having to go to prisonand then let me off early.
My mom had a fatal, what turnedinto being a terminal disease
while I was on homeincarceration and they didn't
give me any grief to do my bestto help them.
(08:16):
You know, mom would fall in themiddle of the night and and I
would leave the house and callthem and leave the house and go
do what I need to do, come back,call them back at them back
home again and I never receivedany.
You know grief over that andthat's.
I don't know that.
That's common in thecorrections community, that they
, that they give you that muchleeway.
(08:37):
An angel walked into my lifedown there, a social worker who
really was on my side.
You know again, when yourstudent's ready teachers appear
and Janelle really did a lot forme to help me get where I am
today I can follow my compassneedle today and know what I'm
(09:02):
supposed to be doing and whatI'm not supposed to be doing and
be pretty confident of that.
And it's all a result of thisthing called the 12 steps.
I launched a podcast called theSpiritual Underground Podcast
where people tell the samestories as I'm talking.
But, more importantly, my mentor, my sponsor and I are convinced
(09:24):
that the 12 steps are a way oflife that people need.
It's an avenue, you know, andit's a lot of different
modalities for healing, andwe're all.
I love that.
We're all a bunch of peopledoing good for the world, a
force for good in the world, andhave their things.
But we've started up a dealwhere we are offering the 12
(09:44):
steps to anybody that wants it.
And then we questioned that backa while back, like, would this
help people who don't haveaddiction, gambling, overeating?
Would this help just like ournormal people?
I don't know if anybody'sreally normal, but would this
help them too?
So we actually took it uponourselves to start some groups
(10:05):
here in Louisville, kentucky,and start offering these 12
steps to people who, just, youknow, life wasn't what they
thought it should be.
There's got to be more to thisthan what I'm receiving, got to
(10:25):
be more to this than what I'mreceiving, and we found out that
these 12 steps that savedmillions of other alcoholics,
addicts, gamblers there's like ahundred other 12 steps,
fellowships, but to my knowledgenobody has ever said everybody,
you're welcome, let's, let'shere.
Let me offer this to you.
I don't know anybody, anyprogram out there, that's
anybody anonymous, justeverybody.
(10:46):
And so we started having peoplecome.
They were drawn to it and wesaw that this work does the same
thing for them as what it didfor us.
And over my shoulder there isthe.
I Am One Too, and we havestarted a podcast to start a.
I don't like the word, you know,12-step principles are
(11:09):
attraction rather than promotion, but I'm going to use the word
promote anyway because I'm readyto get up on the hill and say,
hey, you want help.
Maybe our way is the way youneed.
And we started.
We're going to rename it, butright now there's currently a
number of meetings here in theLouisville area and some of them
are Zoom, so you could jointhem from any place in the world
(11:31):
called 12-Step SpiritualRecovery, and that gets back to
that spirit.
Like I said earlier, I had lostmy very soul, the spirit, and
then that recovery to reclaimthat which was lost or stolen,
and it's doing great.
People are getting help andgolly, there's just nothing
(11:54):
that's helped me.
There's nothing more fulfillingto my heart than when I get the
opportunity to help somebodyelse, whether if it's carry
their garbage cans in or,frankly, resurrect their entire
life.
I'll take either.
That whole life thing issomething else.
(12:15):
After 28 years of corporate inAmerica, I am now self-employed
and kind of have a handle on myown destiny.
It's just another thing thatcame out of recovery that I
would have had no idea I wouldhave been.
I thought I was stuck in thatjob for the rest of my life and
I'm not.
I'm out, having time to dothings like this and running
around.
It's interesting that I runaround handyman a lot and I see
(12:40):
how.
That is another serviceopportunity.
Even though some energy getsexchanged for my service, it's
still when I walk out the doorthese people are happy because
the things that were broken intheir house a little bit ago are
past and I get to help them dothat.
And this higher power, theuniverse, whatever keeps on
(13:01):
putting me in a position to helppeople as long as I land myself
there to be able to do that.
It's my mission today.
It is my mission.
I joined a program for a littlebit.
It's offered me so many thingsto break free of that that was
(13:23):
holding me back.
I'm a registered yoga teachertoday.
I never thought that would havebeen the case.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Very cool.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah, I get to do so many cool things.
We made a mission statement ina group of men's group Basically
it's called the Mankind Project, but ultimately it's just men
helping men be better men and itwas really good and I would
still be in it today, except forI had a wonderful mentor in
(13:53):
that department that sat downand talked to me about where I
was sharing my energy and maybeI was splitting it and really
wasn't.
I could get more of it hereinstead of splitting it apart.
You know, if I have 100% energyand I split it apart, probably
each half is getting 30% and therest of the 40 is getting
(14:14):
wasted.
And he said I think you need tocontinue to focus your time in
recovery and maybe back out ofhere.
But the one thing I still carrywith me today is that mission
statement.
They helped us create,encouraged us to create, and
that's to create a world ofhealing, recovery by guiding
(14:34):
others towards their truepurpose through the magic of the
12 steps.
And it really is.
I don't know how it works.
That's why I call it magic.
I didn't see it work.
You know it's the scientificapproach, right?
Do it Give that result?
Do it Give that result?
Do it, give that result, andafter a while you just go yeah,
hey, that's what this thing isdoing.
(14:56):
It's giving me, I got a prop,it's given me a crystal ball,
and that is a real lead crystalball.
I love it too.
What it?
You know, it's symbolic to methat I see my path.
Today I'm no longer wanderingaround wondering what Dan is
(15:17):
supposed to be doing.
I have purpose.
And you know, at the the sametime, the men I work with I can
see them today too, and I canprompt them to pick up their,
their, uh commitment, what we'redoing here, because I've done
the half measures thing in thepast and half measures didn't
(15:39):
get me anything.
And when I poured myself intothis, then I get to live this
life that I have today.
And they see that in me andhear me say that last night.
There's another little thing.
I don't know how well it can beseen, but I make wooden tokens
for all the guys in my group fortheir years of recovery, and I
(16:01):
gave away seven of those lastnight, and I made me one too.
Let's see, I think I had itbackwards.
I made me one too because I'mworth it too.
For a while I would make itfrom them and not make me one,
and there's power in makingthose for me too.
(16:22):
You know, I just we say the IAm One Too.
Movement is recovery for all,for everybody.
And again, nobody has amonopoly on how to do this.
You know you have your tools.
I've met other people that havetheir tools and I really think
that's what the world's supposedto be, because some people will
resonate with your tools, somepeople will resonate with mine,
(16:44):
some will resonate with theirs.
No-transcript in recovery, wecall it happy, joyous and free,
and I can honestly testify thatthat's what it's done for me and
(17:05):
there's nothing I will notwithdraw.
I'm going to be standing up onthat mountaintop beating this
drum for as long as I'm able,and I believe higher power wants
me around for a while, so Iprobably just keep on doing it.
So we have that.
My podcast is called thespiritual underground podcast.
(17:26):
You can find it everywhere.
It's on youtube, but most ofit's audio only out on the
podcast channels.
Uh, this one, we've beenstarted up earlier this year and
you can see it.
It's the letter I, kind of likeipad.
There's I, the letter m, one,the number one, two, and it goes
for I am one, two, I am one ofyou also, I am connected with
(17:49):
you.
It brings the group togetherand uh, say I am one, two
podcast, and it's on, it's onyoutube and uh and it's on
YouTube and all the otheraudio-only platforms and we're
having a blast doing both ofthem.
I get high.
This is how.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
I get high today.
That's beautiful.
Thank you so much, dan, and Iknow you've tried to pack as
much as possible, and we'retrying to.
If you guys haven't noticed yet, we're trying to change a
little bit of the format that weuse for our podcast.
So if you do start to seeshorter episodes, that is why we
will be sending out kind of amore in-depth part two of this
(18:31):
conversation in our newsletter.
So, if you get a chance, signup to our newsletter and you'll
receive the second part of thisconversation, dan.
Um, for those that arelistening, how can they reach
you?
Is there anything else that youwant to share before we move to
that part too?
You?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
know, I don't know how I ended up with so many
email addresses.
I have a bunch of ways to get ahold of me, but, uh, probably
the one that's more closelyinvolved with this is that I am
one too also.
I am one too, also at gmailcom,and if you this sounds a little
(19:11):
arrogant, but if you wouldGoogle Dan Reeves, I got a
feeling you'd find me.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
All right, that's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
I've got a little bit of a presence around, but that
would be probably thelow-hanging fruit on how to get
a hold of me.
All right, that's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I've got a little bit of a presence around, so, but
that'd be the probably the lowhanging fruit on how to get
ahold of me.
Perfect, and if you guys arenot sure, we're still going to
put everything on thedescription below so that you
can actually go to all his linksanyways.
Okay, dan, it has been anabsolute pleasure.
I am definitely looking forwardto part two of this
conversation.
Before we move to part two, Iwant to end up with something
and I'm going to look it up realquick which I found super
(19:46):
interesting out to my guests tofill out in the questionnaire,
and because this serves for meas guidance, as advice, as
(20:07):
mirrors, and I hope that it canserve as well for other people.
And the question that I sendthem here is if you were from
the future and coming to helphumanity, what message would you
leave them with in less thanthree sentences?
And I have here clean house,trust God, help others, take
(20:29):
care of your health, do thosethings and you'll be way ahead
of most people, ahead of mostpeople.
So that, to me, has beenextremely powerful too.
That's heavy, I mean.
It encompasses quite a lot insuch short, and it's so
(20:51):
interesting to see that, to seethose powerful messages, because
we are all connected.
In my opinion, we're all oneecosystem.
You know the veil or theillusion of separation.
It's one thing we get toexperience here.
But once we're able totranscend that and see a little
(21:15):
bit beyond that and just look atthe one unified field, how
we're all learning and growingand serving as those mirrors,
okay, oh, dan did this and hewas able to.
Man, look at all the, you'rethe example, right, maybe I'm in
your shoes where you were 10years ago and now I'm looking
(21:35):
forward to seeing you as likeokay, if he did it, there's got
to be a way.
There's that little light atthe end of the tunnel.
You're like okay, dan did it,there's a way out.
Let me follow Dan, let me talkto Dan, let me reach out to Dan,
let me see how he did it, letme see how maybe he could help
or how he could direct me sothat we're walking this path
(22:02):
back home to ourselves together.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
We're doing it together Because I can't do this
alone.
No way that illusion ofseparateness gives me this idea
that somehow, if I just managethings well, I can somehow get
there.
I've not found that to be true.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Yeah, the power of community.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
I need you.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
The power of community.
In my personal opinion and Irespect everyone's personal path
, but putting that faith on ahigher power to me it has
shifted everything for me.
I do witness miracles everysingle day.
It's almost like God's source.
(22:43):
Universe does not have to giveme any proof, yet I see it in
front of me without a doubt,proof, over and over and over,
every single day.
Like you, I have another job Iguess you could call right Aside
from my private practice, andjust today I called my wife and
(23:05):
I told her I just witnessed twobeautiful miracles with my last
two patients and I could see whyGod has me where he has me at
the moment and why I have notmoved to maybe my timeline or
what I consider to be right, myown dreams or goals and my own
(23:30):
wanting to do it my way right,without trusting this divine
higher purpose, higher plan kindof thing.
So just seeing myself as aninstrument and getting my ego
enough out of the way where Ican be the vessel for that
(23:51):
miracle to happen right.
It's very interesting how now Ihave a conversation and I bring
a lot of awareness Like, okay,let me see what word, what
suggestion, what thing I see,how these synchronicities are
flowing through me when before,of course, I was just engulfed
(24:13):
in myself.
I couldn't see any of thatstuff.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Bondage to self.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Absolutely, absolutely, and I am ready to
dive into part two.
I hope you guys have enjoyedpart one.
I don't know about you, but I'mintrigued about what's going to
come up in part two.
So, if you are, sign up.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Yeah, sign up to the newsletter and then you guys
will get part two.
Thank you, dan, for being here.
I appreciate you very much.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Appreciate you too.
Thank you for allowing me to behere.
I always say thank you forallowing me to participate in my
laboratory, amen.
Hi, dan.
Welcome to Quantum AlchemistMaster Podcast.
It's a pleasure to have youhere, I know I'm personally
looking forward to thisconversation with you and
hearing more about your journey.
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Thank you.
I'm honored to be asked to doanything where I get to carry
this message that has been sofreely given to me.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Thank you so much.
Would you care to tell us aboutyour beautiful journey?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah, and it's always funny to keep it in a compact
space, but I think I can do that.
I grew up as just a regular old, middle-aged kid in the middle
of America, midwestern America.
I had, as far as I'm concerned,great parents, although they
did put stuff into me that didnot serve me, which I found
(00:52):
later on by using the tools thatwere given to me, got married,
had a 17-year marriage, had twochildren and drank and drugged
the whole time and didn't thinkit was a problem.
It didn't and to some extent itreally wasn't.
You know I see where it wastoday, but it really wasn't.
(01:14):
But when I was 41, I entered AA,thinking I had a problem, and I
tried to manage my own recoverymy way, which over the next
four years I found out didn'twork, and I crashed and burned.
When I was 45, my alcoholismaddiction crashed completely
down on me and I was facing sixto 20 years in the Indiana
(01:35):
Department of Corrections andthat marriage was over.
I had given away that.
I won't say I lost that 17 yearmarriage.
I gave it away.
That was me.
I gave it away and I was on theverge of losing everything.
I was on the verge of losing myemployment, my home, everything
, you know.
(01:55):
You go to prison.
This makes it awful tough tomake house payments and car
payments and things like thatand things like that.
And you know I had that momentthat you hear.
Well, even though, with thoseconsequences hovering above me,
I could not stop using thechemicals that were killing me,
(02:16):
that were causing this entireproblem, I still couldn't quit.
And that's where we get intothis concept of powerlessness.
I was completely powerless andI had to get some power that I
could live on, that couldsupport me.
And you know I did the typicaljailhouse prayer, the hospital
bed prayer, the help me somebody.
(02:39):
If you are out there, I needyour help, out there, I need
your help.
And that's when I entered intorecovery.
And we have a definition forrecovery where we say and you
can look it up in the dictionary, you'll find the same one it
says to reclaim that which waslost or stolen.
And it's like your car rightwhen they come and get your car
(03:01):
and take it back to their placebecause you haven't made your
payments or you go recoversomething you lost on a trail
someplace.
And what I had lost was my verysoul myself, my being, who Dan
is, I'd lost my voice.
I'd lost my connection to mycompass needle that allows to
(03:21):
guide me to where I'm supposedto be going, and that had all
disappeared.
And I love that definition ofrecovery coming from that angle.
And then here's another famoussaying when the student is ready
, the teacher appears.
And that happened to me in a12-step meeting one night where
I've been listening to agentleman for four to six to
(03:43):
eight weeks talk and I reallywanted that guy to help me and I
knew it in my heart.
I could feel it.
You know, and I'm in touch withthat a lot better now and I can
act on that.
But back then I couldn't reallyact on that and I was scared to
ask him, just like so many ofus.
I was afraid to ask for helpand I certainly was afraid to
(04:07):
ask this other man for help.
And one night in that meeting Iwalked in and I was really
hurting.
I'd been to court that day.
They were still talking abouthow long they were going to put
me in prison.
I was scared to death and Iwalked in there and did what we
call a burning desire and Ipoured out my bucket and told
the group because I've beenlying to them the whole time.
You know I'm good, I'm fine,I'm okay and uh, meanwhile I'm
(04:30):
very not okay.
But that night I came in thereand I poured out my soul to that
group of men and, uh, the veryguy who I so much wanted to work
with me made a beeline to meafter the meeting and said I
want to work with you, I think Ican help you.
And when I walked out of thebuilding that night, the stars
(04:56):
were brighter.
I knew something had shifted.
And you know I say this overand over again too that I really
didn't.
I did recognize it that night,but most of the things I
recognize are in their rearviewmirror, you know.
And I, when I turn around, lookback at it, I go, hey, that was
pretty cool.
And uh, and this guy took meunder his wings, man, and and he
had standards and he had, uh,uh, suggestions he expected me
(05:18):
to follow.
And I just jumped into his hippocket and and because, frankly,
there was nobody else offeringto help me, nobody.
I feel like I was inside of acardboard box that was painted
black and there was a littlepinhole in the corner and it was
these men offering to help me.
(05:39):
And when I got into thatimmediately and I see this over
and over again I've had theopportunity to help a lot of
guys under this program.
Immediately, when I see a guymove his heart because he's got
to move his heart that directionyou know he has to mean it.
He can't just kind of halfwaywant to.
Immediately, when I see a guyturn his heart into accepting
(06:00):
this help, we have to offer goodthings start happening to them.
Some stuff starts falling off,some legal problems fall off,
the wife isn't so mad, the kidsare starting to be more loving
towards them and just thingslike that.
Work gets better.
And that's exactly whathappened to me.
(06:22):
My sentence went from 6 to 20 toa year of home incarceration,
which was dropped down to ninemonths.
That gave, that, protected me,that put me in a safe and
protected window.
Now you know I could havescrewed it up easy.
Right, we can mess it up, but Iwas.
I was devoted and I had thatsix to nine months where I
didn't go to the bachelorparties or the Super Bowl
(06:44):
parties or the different thingsthat would have possibly led me
astray, and I walked the pathand I will credit the
corrections community here withgiving me the leeway to do the
things I needed to do to achievethis state of recovery state of
(07:10):
recovery and so many, I like tosay, as I started walking this
path.
You know I was doubtful atfirst, you know, and I thought
some things were fluke.
And you know and maybe I wasjust lucky this evidence started
piling up behind me that atsome point I could no longer
deny that something washappening to me, for me, as a
result of turning my compassneedle in this direction.
And it continues to do thathere to this day.
(07:35):
I call them miracles.
I have a list in my phone.
I started out on paper.
A mentor told me when thesecool things were happening, like
these great things werehappening in my life, to start
taking note of them becauselater on you will forget.
And he's right, because I goback and look in that list, man,
and there's stuff that you knowsomething will prompt me to
remember it.
(07:55):
But just a general.
It's kind of like a long-termgratitude list and the stuff
like not having to go to prisonand then let me off early.
My mom had a fatal, what turnedinto being a terminal disease
while I was on homeincarceration and they didn't
give me any grief to do my bestto help them.
(08:16):
You know, mom would fall in themiddle of the night and and I
would leave the house and callthem and leave the house and go
do what I need to do, come back,call them back at them back
home again and I never receivedany.
You know grief over that andthat's.
I don't know that.
That's common in thecorrections community, that they
, that they give you that muchleeway.
(08:37):
An angel walked into my lifedown there, a social worker who
really was on my side.
You know again, when yourstudent's ready teachers appear
and Janelle really did a lot forme to help me get where I am
today I can follow my compassneedle today and know what I'm
(09:02):
supposed to be doing and whatI'm not supposed to be doing and
be pretty confident of that.
And it's all a result of thisthing called the 12 steps.
I launched a podcast called theSpiritual Underground Podcast
where people tell the samestories as I'm talking.
But, more importantly, my mentor, my sponsor and I are convinced
(09:24):
that the 12 steps are a way oflife that people need.
It's an avenue, you know, andit's a lot of different
modalities for healing, andwe're all.
I love that.
We're all a bunch of peopledoing good for the world, a
force for good in the world, andhave their things.
But we've started up a dealwhere we are offering the 12
(09:44):
steps to anybody that wants it.
And then we questioned that backa while back, like, would this
help people who don't haveaddiction, gambling, overeating?
Would this help just like ournormal people?
I don't know if anybody'sreally normal, but would this
help them too?
So we actually took it uponourselves to start some groups
(10:05):
here in Louisville, kentucky,and start offering these 12
steps to people who, just, youknow, life wasn't what they
thought it should be.
There's got to be more to thisthan what I'm receiving, got to
(10:25):
be more to this than what I'mreceiving, and we found out that
these 12 steps that savedmillions of other alcoholics,
addicts, gamblers there's like ahundred other 12 steps,
fellowships, but to my knowledgenobody has ever said everybody,
you're welcome, let's, let'shere.
Let me offer this to you.
I don't know anybody, anyprogram out there, that's
anybody anonymous, justeverybody.
(10:46):
And so we started having peoplecome.
They were drawn to it and wesaw that this work does the same
thing for them as what it didfor us.
And over my shoulder there isthe.
I Am One Too, and we havestarted a podcast to start a.
I don't like the word, you know,12-step principles are
(11:09):
attraction rather than promotion, but I'm going to use the word
promote anyway because I'm readyto get up on the hill and say,
hey, you want help.
Maybe our way is the way youneed.
And we started.
We're going to rename it, butright now there's currently a
number of meetings here in theLouisville area and some of them
are Zoom, so you could jointhem from any place in the world
(11:31):
called 12-Step SpiritualRecovery, and that gets back to
that spirit.
Like I said earlier, I had lostmy very soul, the spirit, and
then that recovery to reclaimthat which was lost or stolen,
and it's doing great.
People are getting help andgolly, there's just nothing
(11:54):
that's helped me.
There's nothing more fulfillingto my heart than when I get the
opportunity to help somebodyelse, whether if it's carry
their garbage cans in or,frankly, resurrect their entire
life.
I'll take either.
That whole life thing issomething else.
(12:15):
After 28 years of corporate inAmerica, I am now self-employed
and kind of have a handle on myown destiny.
It's just another thing thatcame out of recovery that I
would have had no idea I wouldhave been.
I thought I was stuck in thatjob for the rest of my life and
I'm not.
I'm out, having time to dothings like this and running
around.
It's interesting that I runaround handyman a lot and I see
(12:40):
how.
That is another serviceopportunity.
Even though some energy getsexchanged for my service, it's
still when I walk out the doorthese people are happy because
the things that were broken intheir house a little bit ago are
past and I get to help them dothat.
And this higher power, theuniverse, whatever keeps on
(13:01):
putting me in a position to helppeople as long as I land myself
there to be able to do that.
It's my mission today.
It is my mission.
I joined a program for a littlebit.
It's offered me so many thingsto break free of that that was
(13:23):
holding me back.
I'm a registered yoga teachertoday.
I never thought that would havebeen the case.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Very cool.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah, I get to do so many cool things.
We made a mission statement ina group of men's group Basically
it's called the Mankind Project, but ultimately it's just men
helping men be better men and itwas really good and I would
still be in it today, except forI had a wonderful mentor in
(13:53):
that department that sat downand talked to me about where I
was sharing my energy and maybeI was splitting it and really
wasn't.
I could get more of it hereinstead of splitting it apart.
You know, if I have 100% energyand I split it apart, probably
each half is getting 30% and therest of the 40 is getting
(14:14):
wasted.
And he said I think you need tocontinue to focus your time in
recovery and maybe back out ofhere.
But the one thing I still carrywith me today is that mission
statement.
They helped us create,encouraged us to create, and
that's to create a world ofhealing, recovery by guiding
(14:34):
others towards their truepurpose through the magic of the
12 steps.
And it really is.
I don't know how it works.
That's why I call it magic.
I didn't see it work.
You know it's the scientificapproach, right?
Do it Give that result?
Do it Give that result?
Do it, give that result, andafter a while you just go yeah,
hey, that's what this thing isdoing.
(14:56):
It's giving me, I got a prop,it's given me a crystal ball,
and that is a real lead crystalball.
I love it too.
What it?
You know, it's symbolic to methat I see my path.
Today I'm no longer wanderingaround wondering what Dan is
(15:17):
supposed to be doing.
I have purpose.
And you know, at the the sametime, the men I work with I can
see them today too, and I canprompt them to pick up their,
their, uh commitment, what we'redoing here, because I've done
the half measures thing in thepast and half measures didn't
(15:39):
get me anything.
And when I poured myself intothis, then I get to live this
life that I have today.
And they see that in me andhear me say that last night.
There's another little thing.
I don't know how well it can beseen, but I make wooden tokens
for all the guys in my group fortheir years of recovery, and I
(16:01):
gave away seven of those lastnight, and I made me one too.
Let's see, I think I had itbackwards.
I made me one too because I'mworth it too.
For a while I would make itfrom them and not make me one,
and there's power in makingthose for me too.
(16:22):
You know, I just we say the IAm One Too.
Movement is recovery for all,for everybody.
And again, nobody has amonopoly on how to do this.
You know you have your tools.
I've met other people that havetheir tools and I really think
that's what the world's supposedto be, because some people will
resonate with your tools, somepeople will resonate with mine,
(16:44):
some will resonate with theirs.
No-transcript in recovery, wecall it happy, joyous and free,
and I can honestly testify thatthat's what it's done for me and
(17:05):
there's nothing I will notwithdraw.
I'm going to be standing up onthat mountaintop beating this
drum for as long as I'm able,and I believe higher power wants
me around for a while, so Iprobably just keep on doing it.
So we have that.
My podcast is called thespiritual underground podcast.
(17:26):
You can find it everywhere.
It's on youtube, but most ofit's audio only out on the
podcast channels.
Uh, this one, we've beenstarted up earlier this year and
you can see it.
It's the letter I, kind of likeipad.
There's I, the letter m, one,the number one, two, and it goes
for I am one, two, I am one ofyou also, I am connected with
(17:49):
you.
It brings the group togetherand uh, say I am one, two
podcast, and it's on, it's onyoutube and uh and it's on
YouTube and all the otheraudio-only platforms and we're
having a blast doing both ofthem.
I get high.
This is how.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
I get high today.
That's beautiful.
Thank you so much, dan, and Iknow you've tried to pack as
much as possible, and we'retrying to.
If you guys haven't noticed yet, we're trying to change a
little bit of the format that weuse for our podcast.
So if you do start to seeshorter episodes, that is why we
will be sending out kind of amore in-depth part two of this
(18:31):
conversation in our newsletter.
So, if you get a chance, signup to our newsletter and you'll
receive the second part of thisconversation, dan.
Um, for those that arelistening, how can they reach
you?
Is there anything else that youwant to share before we move to
that part too?
You?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
know, I don't know how I ended up with so many
email addresses.
I have a bunch of ways to get ahold of me, but, uh, probably
the one that's more closelyinvolved with this is that I am
one too also.
I am one too, also at gmailcom,and if you this sounds a little
(19:11):
arrogant, but if you wouldGoogle Dan Reeves, I got a
feeling you'd find me.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
All right, that's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
I've got a little bit of a presence around, but that
would be probably thelow-hanging fruit on how to get
a hold of me.
All right, that's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I've got a little bit of a presence around, so, but
that'd be the probably the lowhanging fruit on how to get
ahold of me.
Perfect, and if you guys arenot sure, we're still going to
put everything on thedescription below so that you
can actually go to all his linksanyways.
Okay, dan, it has been anabsolute pleasure.
I am definitely looking forwardto part two of this
conversation.
Before we move to part two, Iwant to end up with something
and I'm going to look it up realquick which I found super
(19:46):
interesting out to my guests tofill out in the questionnaire,
and because this serves for meas guidance, as advice, as
(20:07):
mirrors, and I hope that it canserve as well for other people.
And the question that I sendthem here is if you were from
the future and coming to helphumanity, what message would you
leave them with in less thanthree sentences?
And I have here clean house,trust God, help others, take
(20:29):
care of your health, do thosethings and you'll be way ahead
of most people, ahead of mostpeople.
So that, to me, has beenextremely powerful too.
That's heavy, I mean.
It encompasses quite a lot insuch short, and it's so
(20:51):
interesting to see that, to seethose powerful messages, because
we are all connected.
In my opinion, we're all oneecosystem.
You know the veil or theillusion of separation.
It's one thing we get toexperience here.
But once we're able totranscend that and see a little
(21:15):
bit beyond that and just look atthe one unified field, how
we're all learning and growingand serving as those mirrors,
okay, oh, dan did this and hewas able to.
Man, look at all the, you'rethe example, right, maybe I'm in
your shoes where you were 10years ago and now I'm looking
(21:35):
forward to seeing you as likeokay, if he did it, there's got
to be a way.
There's that little light atthe end of the tunnel.
You're like okay, dan did it,there's a way out.
Let me follow Dan, let me talkto Dan, let me reach out to Dan,
let me see how he did it, letme see how maybe he could help
or how he could direct me sothat we're walking this path
(22:02):
back home to ourselves together.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
We're doing it together Because I can't do this
alone.
No way that illusion ofseparateness gives me this idea
that somehow, if I just managethings well, I can somehow get
there.
I've not found that to be true.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Yeah, the power of community.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
I need you.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
The power of community.
In my personal opinion and Irespect everyone's personal path
, but putting that faith on ahigher power to me it has
shifted everything for me.
I do witness miracles everysingle day.
It's almost like God's source.
(22:43):
Universe does not have to giveme any proof, yet I see it in
front of me without a doubt,proof, over and over and over,
every single day.
Like you, I have another job Iguess you could call right Aside
from my private practice, andjust today I called my wife and
(23:05):
I told her I just witnessed twobeautiful miracles with my last
two patients and I could see whyGod has me where he has me at
the moment and why I have notmoved to maybe my timeline or
what I consider to be right, myown dreams or goals and my own
(23:30):
wanting to do it my way right,without trusting this divine
higher purpose, higher plan kindof thing.
So just seeing myself as aninstrument and getting my ego
enough out of the way where Ican be the vessel for that
(23:51):
miracle to happen right.
It's very interesting how now Ihave a conversation and I bring
a lot of awareness Like, okay,let me see what word, what
suggestion, what thing I see,how these synchronicities are
flowing through me when before,of course, I was just engulfed
(24:13):
in myself.
I couldn't see any of thatstuff.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Bondage to self.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Absolutely, absolutely, and I am ready to
dive into part two.
I hope you guys have enjoyedpart one.
I don't know about you, but I'mintrigued about what's going to
come up in part two.
So, if you are, sign up.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Yeah, sign up to the newsletter and then you guys
will get part two.
Thank you, dan, for being here.
I appreciate you very much.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Appreciate you too.
Thank you for allowing me to behere.
I always say thank you forallowing me to participate in my
laboratory, amen.
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