November 2, 2023 • 58 mins
As we journey through the forest of life, we often forget the power that lies within us. We become entangled in a web of fears, worries, and stressors that hinder our growth and progress. But what if we were to tell you that within you lies an untapped reservoir of strength and resilience? Yes, profound strength and resilience that can help us navigate change and find healing, even amid the most testing of times. Just like a tree standing tall in the face of a raging storm - that's the power within you!
Join us on a transformative journey with the inspiring Kawhon Glover, a beacon of hope who has weathered the storm of stroke, brain surgeries, opioid addiction and more. With his captivating insights, we will explore how we can harness our adversities and use them as stepping stones to growth and purpose. We'll dive into how faith in a higher power can liberate us from the shackles of anxiety and how practices like prayer, creativity and hugging a tree can be powerful tools for inner healing.
Set sail with us on a voyage to the core of our being, as we understand the importance of mental health and how we can use depression as a tool for growth instead of a trap of despair. We learn to separate ourselves from our emotions and find our true selves, creating a sanctuary of empathy and support. As we end our journey, we find ourselves bathed in the warm glow of gratitude, inner strength and the power to control the controllable. So come, let's turn on our flashlights and navigate our way together through the challenges of life, finding light in the darkest corners, and living our authentic life in peace.
Please visit us at: http://retreattopeace.com to find out more about the shows you love to listen to, the upcoming retreats we have planned and your favorite merchandise to help support those in need. Also, send us your testimonial of how the show or Catherine has helped you. We would love to share your story on the air.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hi everyone.
This is Catherine Daniels, withRetreat to Peace.
Thank you so much for beinghere with me today.
I had an extraordinaryconversation with a very dear
friend and, as we were talkingabout the energies and what was
happening in the last couple ofdays, especially in the United
(00:41):
States, we were discussing thedrain the drain of energy that
not only we were feeling, butother people that were
experiencing this drain werealso feeling, and one of the
things that we definitely haddiscussions around was just
(01:02):
taking back our sense of control.
We know that there's a lot ofexcitement around a new year,
2021, things are supposed to beuplifting and changing and
purposeful as far as navigatinginto a new space.
And as we go into this newspace, we also have to be
(01:23):
mindful that we are in a spaceof transition.
We are in a time where thingsare changing and the only thing
that is ever constant is change.
So, as we go day to day inthrough our changes, it's
important that we remain mindfulthat this is a process and
(01:45):
things don't just quickly andswiftly move into the space that
we would like them to be.
As I reflect on 2020, theblessings that came from 2020
were so abundant.
It's just amazing to me how,when we release and let go, how
(02:06):
much fuller and brighter comesinto our space.
A lot of release happened in2020.
And as we move into 2021, whatwe need to do is remain mindful
and present of living in ourauthentic spaces, but also in
our truth.
We need to remain vigilant thatwe stand in our truth and our
(02:30):
authenticity.
If we're living in a state offear, we're going to be brought
down to a lower vibration.
We're going to be brought downinto a darkness that we don't
want to live in.
If you're living in a state offear, recognize your fear, but
then make a conscientiousdecision not to remain in that
(02:54):
fear-based state.
That is a lower vibration andis not going to serve you.
Look for ways to help yourselfget out of that fear-based state
.
Call a friend, connect, getconnected with other people to
help rise above that.
Look at the things that you cando, that you can control.
(03:18):
Don't focus on the things thatyou cannot control.
There are a lot of things thatwe do not have control over, so
we need to be mindful of thethings that we actually can
control.
The other day, I woke up andafter just prayerfully doing my
gratitude that I do everymorning.
I was feeling so stressed and Ijust literally got myself
(03:44):
dressed, went for a walk and asI was walking I had a friend
reach out and say don't forgetto hug a tree.
When I saw her text I actuallylaughed because I was like, wow,
this is something that I say toother people but I forget
myself.
So I found a tree, I found theperfect tree, and I laid my body
(04:10):
next to the tree, I closed myeyes, I breathed into the space.
In that moment it wasincredible to feel my body
physically changing andreleasing all of the toxins and
stress that I was feeling.
(04:32):
If you've never laid your bodynext to a tree, I encourage you
go put your back next to a tree,go put your arms around a tree.
You will be amazed how healinghugging a tree actually can be
for your spirit, your physicalbeing, your soul.
(04:54):
There's so many healingproperties that Mother Earth
provides us.
I walked on after hugging thattree and just feeling that there
was so much healing property toit that I need to find another.
And I did.
(05:14):
I found another.
I laid my back against the tree, my whole body, and I just
closed my eyes and absorbed thesun shining on me and just felt
everything that was happening.
If you've never done this, likeI said, take a moment and make
it happen for yourself.
Experience it for yourself.
(05:35):
It's wonderful.
I invite you to look at waysthat you can take your sense of
control in the littlest things,like hugging a tree, like
getting a walk, getting sunshine, detoxing your body.
Make sure you're drinking a lotof water, make sure you're
(05:56):
eating healthy foods.
Make sure that, when you'refeeling a sense of fear, that
you pull out your flashlight.
Look for the light.
Look for other people that youcan talk to, but also help
yourself, because when you'rehelping other people, you're
helping yourself.
Look for ways to get grounded.
(06:18):
Right now we're in a period oftransition.
We're going to experience arebirth of sorts.
What was a year ago is not evergoing to be again.
So we do need to go throughthis process of rebirthing, this
process of rejuvenating andmoving through a space that, yes
(06:43):
, at times is very uncomfortable.
But are we going to stay there?
No, we're going to keep walkingthrough it.
And when you're walking yourpath and you're feeling like
you're stumbling, find the tree.
Lean up against your support,lean up against the healing
powers of Mother Earth.
(07:04):
Allow her to ground.
You do what you need to do tokeep your sacred space authentic
and true.
I invite you to be part of avery special workshop January
15th with Retreat to Peace.
I will be sending emails out toeveryone who's reached out to
(07:24):
me this far and inviting theminto this healing platform on
January 15th.
If you would like to be part ofthis, please email me at
retreattopiecellccom.
Again, that'sretreattopiecellccom, and I look
(07:49):
forward to seeing you there Formy next guest.
This is an amazing, amazingyoung man who's been through so
much in his life and his wordsof wisdom are divinely brought
to him from God.
You're not going to want tomiss this very special interview
.
I look forward to seeing youall next week.
(08:12):
And here's my interview withKawhon Glover.
Hey you, wherever you are inthe world right now.
(08:39):
Thank you so much for beinghere with me.
We know that we're living insome crazy times and we know
that the world is changing.
So let's create a bridge as wetravel through one another's
countries, removing all thelabels, coming together as one
people, finding our home in oneworld, and as we do this.
(09:01):
This is why our signature talktoday is so important, and today
I am so privileged to welcomemy guest, kawhon Glover.
Hi Kawhon.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Hey Catherine, how you doing.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I'm doing great and I'm so grateful that you're here
with us today.
You have an amazing andpowerful story, one that I think
most people in the audience aregoing to step back and really
say, wow, you know, because youjust have so much to offer the
world, especially in the placethat we're in right now.
(09:33):
But I do want to do your bio.
I know that you're a survivorthat has lived through a stroke.
You've had three brainsurgeries, you've dealt with
suicidal ideations you actuallyhad one attempt You've gone
through opioid addiction,depression and you have a $1.2
(09:55):
million medical debt from all ofthis.
And, despite all of yourhardships, you've started this
company called OvercomeAdversity, which leverages to
help other people, as it says,overcome their adversity, no
matter what it is that they'regoing through.
And you're also a writer, apublic speaker, and you're a
(10:17):
self-published author with amemoir entitled Favor how Stroke
, struggle and Surgery Help Meto Find my Life Purpose.
I mean, this is just amazing inso many facets of how amazing
can be, how you totally took allof these things in your life
(10:39):
and just turned it inside outand made it beautiful.
And I just wanted to go back alittle bit because it's really
interesting in the way of theworld right now.
We're dealing with a lot ofdarkness, there's a lot of heavy
energy, there's a lot ofuncertainty.
Everybody dubs at this crazytime, which, yeah, it feels
(11:02):
crazy because it's not somethingwe're used to.
We're uncomfortable in it,which is why we're calling it
this crazy time because we'reuncomfortable.
So, my goodness, can you I meanyou probably could talk all day
long around being uncomfortableand living in uncomfortable
times.
So I'm going to throw the floorover to you and just allow you
(11:24):
to speak a little bit to that.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah, at that age when all that began to happen,
as a young man, in the prime ofyour life, I was 20 years old.
So I had a pretty easy life, Iwould say.
At that point in my life I hadgraduated with a full point off
from high school.
I had the girl I hadn't gottento the college I wanted to get
(11:49):
into, I played three differentsports and I was riding high.
But I knew, at the end of theback of my mind there was I
didn't know what I wanted to dowith my life.
I didn't know really who I wasor what my purpose was.
And then God has a way ofcoming into your life and kind
of shaking things up, if youwill.
(12:11):
So I had once at the hospital,my mentors at the hospital.
They'd have the CAT scan andsay you have something in your
brain.
That's what not supposed to bethere.
They sent me to anotherhospital and they said it was,
from the chronic evidence,malformation.
Come to find out last year.
The thing that they found in mybrain had probably been there
(12:31):
since birth and I just createdthe right conditions to allow it
to burst.
So they did an operation to fixit.
October, august 15, 2014.
Because I was 20, a young man.
I went back to school a weekafter surgery and within a month
, I had my stroke and that putme in rehabilitation for months
(12:55):
and I went back to school.
The following, so this is thesurgery and stroke happened in
2014.
I'm at a school spring 15 andthat summer of 2015 fell into a
major, major depression ordidn't move.
I was isolating myself and Ijust didn't understand why I had
to live this way or what it wasgoing to do for me.
(13:17):
And that's the problem peopleoften find themselves in when
things happen what about me?
Why does it affect me sogreatly?
And there's a chapter actuallymy next book, called as Bigger
Than you, is one of the finalchapters, and that's where it
took me so long took me sixyears, even after it was all
over, to realize that all thethings that happened, you know I
(13:40):
would go on to have the opioidaddiction, pergocet, fentanyl,
you name it.
I would go on to have anotherbrain surgery, another brain
surgery, and I would go on tohave balsam, depression and self
isolation and then, after allthe surgeries, the 1.2 million
dollar medical debt.
But all those things are behindme, but the emotional trauma.
(14:04):
I have to make a consciouschoice to address that every day
and it is a part of me, butit's not who I am.
It doesn't represent the personI'm going to become.
And when you look at thissituation, we're in the world
now like we were talking aboutbefore we start.
(14:24):
You turned on the cameras.
I'm now better equipped tohandle certain things, but I
never, until I talk to you today, I didn't realize.
You know, not everybody hasexperienced this level of trauma
or doesn't really faceadversity the same way.
So I really feel for thosepeople who don't have a basis of
(14:48):
gratitude or story to lean on,people or community to embrace
them in this time of need.
And I you know I said thisbefore.
I said again, I can menu,catherine, on your efforts to
really bring together peoplethat do have stories like we
rise, strength and inspirationto the masses and help them
understand that you know thereis light and there's always hope
(15:13):
.
There's always a similarlanguage.
We just have to search or bewho we're meant to be and it'll
show up in our lives, and Ithink you know this.
Creating this platform allowingothers like myself and you to
share your stories with youraudience, it'll start to crack
that door open just a little bitmore, and then just start to
see the light shine through.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Thank you, I'm very humbled by that and I appreciate
that.
And thank you, I mean, thatmeans a lot.
I you know your story.
With all of what you've beenthrough, I mean I just can't
even imagine what it would belike to go through a stroke or
have the surgeries that you'vegone through.
(15:58):
I know, you know, for a lot ofpeople, they, when they go
through adversity, they, they doask that question why is this
happening to me?
And I know for myself, given myown journey.
You know, I've been through alot of traumas.
People know, and for me, I'vealways turned it inside out as
(16:18):
well, where I always felt like,okay, I'm going through this
experience for a reason and I'mgoing to take it, and when, I'm
on the other side of it and I'mgoing to gift it back to the
world, so that you know it'sturned into good, right.
But unfortunately, when, whenwe're in the midst of it, when,
when we're in the moment, thatdiscomfort and you know,
(16:41):
everything just feels like it'sso big, it's so much bigger than
us and we just don't even knowhow to go within ourselves to
undo these heavy feelings thatwe have.
And one of these heavy feelingsthat we have is depression
right and depression can lead toother things, and you know you
(17:02):
had, you had touched a littlebit on the depression and I know
right now around the worldthere's a lot of people that are
struggling with depression.
So what, what was it thathelped you?
I mean, like, tell us a littlebit about that time of life for
you and what that looked likeand how did you get out of it.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
And then when you look at depression from over,
for overview not let us downit's hard to see the picture
when you're living in the frameand I think a lot of people are
living in their depression andnot understanding you have to
adjust it objectively.
So when you look at depressionobjectively, it's because you're
(17:41):
thinking about the past and theway things used to be and the
way you wanted to be in a theywere before all of this happened
and you're constantly findingyourself faced with your.
Your expectations based on yourpast are meeting with the now,
your reality and that flashingand that can you know, when you
crash a warm front and a hotfront together, that creates a
(18:02):
tornado and that can create awork perception in your mind of
yourself and your environment.
So the question is not justsadness, it's an overall feeling
that extends from within andcan permeate your body, and
sometimes it's like misery lovescompany, that darkness can feel
(18:23):
warm to embrace and invite youwhen you can build a house there
.
I like to call that housevictimhood.
That's where all the victimslives and build houses.
But when you look at depression,it is because you're letting
your thoughts, feelings andemotions drift into the past,
but your mind has no concept oftime.
(18:43):
So those feelings of longing,of sadness that you're feeling
about things that have alreadygone on, you're feeling that
right now, and instead ofembracing, was what you desire.
What you can touch, feel, smell, taste and hear is right in
front of you.
But you're missing that becauseyou're always focused on what
(19:07):
was instead of what is.
So, rooting yourself in thepresent moment and giving
yourself this face the time andenergy to feel those emotions,
process them and then understand.
Okay, what is this showing me?
Because it's another thing formy next book.
Your pupils dilate in thedarkness and that's because
(19:30):
you're searching for the sourcesof light.
So in that time of darkness, inthat time of despair, under the
time of uncertainty, there arelessons that you, your spirit,
is looking for, that God issending you, that you may not
even know, that are there.
You just have to find a way tograb onto them and then, once
you do that, the light willshine through and it'll be so
(19:52):
bright it's almost blindingbecause your eyes have been so
dilated and open to thatdarkness.
But depression is not inevitable.
It does not have to be, but itis a choice you have to make to
live in the now instead ofletting your mind, your thoughts
, your actions dictate or drifttowards the things that happened
(20:13):
before.
Even this moment is in the past.
There is no such thing as now,because now is already in the
past.
You think about what'simmediately right in front of
you.
So keep your mind, yourthoughts, your emotions, your
feelings, your actions right infront of you, and then things
will start to get a lot moreclear.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
And the whole tool that you just threw in there
about keeping present withunderstanding the five senses,
what it is that is here and now,what can you name?
Five things that you can see?
Can you name five things youcan hear?
Can you name five things youcan smell, touch, taste.
(20:56):
I mean, that's so powerfulbecause I know for a lot of
people, there's people right nowthat are feeling a lot of
anxiety and they're wonderinghow do I get out of this state
of feeling anxious?
And some people don't even knowthat that's what they're
experiencing.
They just feel their body is onthis overload of not kind of
(21:18):
like you said, the hat and thecold front and this tornado
effect, right.
So I would just remind everyoneif you need a quick tool to
help you, that's a great tool,but if you need a deeper level
of support, please reach out toyour community, reach out to
(21:38):
medical teams and resources thatcan help you, especially if
you're suicidal and I know partof your story.
As we said in your intro, youwere in a place where you had
these suicidal ideations and ifyou're comfortable enough to
share with us a little bit aboutthat and how you pulled through
(22:02):
that or what allowed you topull through that.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, I think as a man, especially being a black
man, it's oftentimes frownedupon in our community to talk
about your emotions or talkingabout your feelings, so there's
a lot of repression, and thatrepression will then.
It's not present thought, butit's seeps into your
subconscious and yoursubconscious controls a lot of
(22:27):
the actions that you're not evenaware of.
And when you have a can of sodaor bottle of soda, you shake it
up enough.
The pressure has to gosomewhere.
So when I had my first attempt,it was just a leak of that
pressure that was building thatI wasn't allowing to air out, to
what would carbonate,decarbonate.
(22:50):
And you have to give yourselfroom, space and a community to
express yourself in.
You've got to get in placeswhere you can let that stuff out
.
I think depression also leads tosuicidal adhesion.
For me I came intounderstanding what term called
(23:12):
passively suicidal.
And in that space you're notactively always trying to do
harm to yourself or take yourown life, but at the same time
you're constantly thinking aboutif I die today, it'll be all
right.
If I die today, I don't thinkanybody would care, it wouldn't
be a big deal.
And that constant it's like aslow struggle down to the deep,
(23:34):
dark jet, because you'rediminishing yourself little by
little, by little by little, andagain with anxiety.
That's the cousin of depression.
That's when your thoughts arefuture based or fear based of
something that may neveractually happen and you think
about what if this and what ifthat?
(23:55):
What if you took your nextbreath?
What if you were able to get upin the morning?
What if you were able tobreathe?
What if you were able to have ameal?
What if you were able to getsomeone to hug?
What if you were able to have aconversation?
What if you were able to remainhuman?
What if you were alive?
I think those are betterquestions, because when you ask
your mind questions, badquestions, your mind has no
(24:19):
choice but to give you badanswers.
So I constantly ask myselfbetter questions Instead of why
me?
What did I just learn?
Instead of why did that hurt somuch?
What did I paint teaching?
Things like that are called aperspective shift, just shifting
a little to the left, a littleto the right to see a different
(24:41):
vantage point of what you'reexperiencing.
I don't know if that answersyour question, but I want to
touch on those couple of points.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Yeah, well, you are answering the question, and if
we could just go back to part ofthe question about how you got
out of that?
So you had these suicidalthoughts and what shifted for
you to get you out of that spacethat you were in.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
I think they did an experiment where they had two
rats and in one case it was arat with nothing really.
In this case it says twobottles of water and in those
bottles of water was just wateron one side and heroin and
cocaine in the other bottle.
When the rat was alone, hedrove to heroin and cocaine
water.
When the rat's case was filledwith other rats and other little
(25:33):
things rats like to do like arat a music part, like a rat in
the Disney world they chose aregular water.
So in that you can see thatwhat you're doing, catherine, is
creating a community, creatinga space where people have other
people to support them.
So in my case I had people thatwere around me, that were
constantly dragging me out andtrying to get me to see the
(25:55):
outside world and allowing me toisolate myself.
And then, in those momentswhere I was alone, I had to make
a decision to give myselfpositive reinforcement, telling
me that my life was worthsomething.
I had to build self-confidence,because self-confidence is your
trust in yourself.
I had to build self-esteem inmyself and understand that I was
(26:19):
worth more than I was givingmyself credit for.
So it took a lot of that mentalexercise.
It took a lot of that communityengagement.
It took a lot of that therapy.
It took a lot of that self-talk.
It took a lot of building myown self up from the darkest
points.
Something you know I talk aboutin my business is the bottom of
(26:39):
the V.
I mean, look at the letter V,that's the first letter in
victory, but it's also arepresentation of vows and peaks
and a lot of times, even timeslike this, where it seems like
you're going down that and todeep into that valley, whether
at the bottom it's not yourfaults or you didn't cause the
(27:00):
things that happen to you, butit is your responsibility to
choose, to make a decision, toclimb back up the sea outside of
victory.
So what's the combination of mycommunity, my mental exercises,
therapy and just understandingthat I was worth more than these
thoughts were trying to tell meI was worth, and a little bit
(27:21):
of faith, a lot of faith on theback end.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Yeah, thoughts are really interesting because the
mind is our central computersystem for everything in our
body and they do control a lotof what we're doing with our
bodies.
And I really value andappreciate the message that
you're giving around making adecision, because one of the
(27:48):
things that I think is reallyimpactful is when people are
feeling triggered or they'refeeling that electrocuting
feeling within themselves.
That is your body's response toallow you to ask those
questions that you were talkingabout.
That is your body's response tobe aware that the thoughts that
(28:12):
you're having, you can releasethose kind of like balloons.
Just put them in a bubble andlet them go and re-center
yourself with why you're here.
And for people that strugglewith what is my purpose everyone
is here for a purpose and areason and people that feel like
they're different you'resupposed to be different.
(28:34):
That is part of what makes thisentire world beautiful is your
uniqueness and what you bring tothe world.
So there is a reason for you tobe here and I look at someone
like you and all of the thingsthat you've been through and how
you've turned it into thisbeautiful space for people to be
(28:57):
accepted, no matter what shapeor form they show up in, because
it's okay, like you have thatsame mindset, without judgment,
and I love that.
Your analogy of the V I lovethat because a lot of times you
hear people say that they're inthe deepest, darkest valley, but
(29:17):
, to your point, you're on yourway up to victory, so it's just
a matter of making that decision.
The thing that I want to talk toyou, too, about is the
spirituality, the sense of youknow what the higher power shows
up in your life and how it does, because this is something that
(29:39):
people challenge and I know formyself personally.
I've actually been part of aspiritual worship center where
I'm in the audience and I havepersonally witnessed recovered
addicts going up to tell theirtestimony.
(30:01):
And it's astounding to me thisexperience, because there's
never a dry eye in the house,because there's always, always,
this presence of a higher powerthat shows up when someone's in
their rock bottom place.
That starts them on thetrajectory of climbing the
mountain to victory, right.
So I wonder, do you have astory like that, or how does
(30:26):
this higher power show up foryou?
Speaker 2 (30:29):
It's funny that you say that.
I do have a very, very, veryspecific story.
When I had my second surgery,they had to go through my nose
and so they put me under, wokeup in this dreamscape and
everything was working.
My millions were working, Ifill everything and I was, you
(30:51):
know, I used to box, so I wasthrowing punches and I was like,
wow, everything's working.
I can't believe it.
And then I'm, I was wearing ahoodie and a jeans jacket and
I'm just walking around in thiswhite void and Then it starts to
rain with the rain is like it'sblack as my keyboard and I
stick my hand out and the rainis not touching me.
And then I start to float upand as I'm floating, I'm losing
(31:15):
my human visage, my human form,and I'm watching this happen.
But I'm also seeing it happenfrom point of view, and as I get
to, I'm looking at it like apainter's canvas, and as I get
to that canvas I was to get tothe top.
There's like a hand when you'reright here and it just pushes
everything back down in reverse,and right before I woke up,
(31:37):
you're not done yet, and that,for me, was at the time.
I didn't understand it becauseI was still going through
recovery.
But I I've told us, or so manytimes and it's never changed.
The order hasn't changed, thedetails haven't changed.
Actually, they become moreclear.
I can still see that image andI believe that as evidence
(32:00):
enough for me to let you knowthat is a.
There's a higher power and Ithink that open my eyes and I
think about you know, even ontitle my book, favor, like
that's not a word you can reallyput into Words, you can't
describe this meaning or worse,it just shows up in.
(32:20):
My grandma said that favorain't fair, it's just favor.
And sometimes your giving giftsthat you didn't necessarily
work for earn.
But that's when my God, givinggift to give back to, wrote my
favorite my story is allowed meto have this In credible story
and then often feels weird mesaying that, like when you read
(32:42):
in my bio I'm just like I thinkthat's pretty cool, but then I'm
like, oh, stop me, it's weirdagain.
But I think God has had anopportunity to show up in my
life and you know, if I wroteour chapter on coincidences, it
would have three, three words.
They don't exist and and Dr RueWest said that Coincidence is
(33:09):
just God's way of remaininganonymous, and I think that
that's the divine order of theworld, also believing in the
high power.
The world's Issues anxiety,stresses.
They can be crushing for anindividual to handle.
So having belief in and aperson upstairs, if you will, or
(33:30):
higher power, allows you toalleviate the focus on issues
that you can handle and let thecreator control the
uncontrollable.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Absolutely, absolutely, and it's.
It's interesting to me how manypeople are Literally trying to
wrap their arms aroundcontrolling and and not
releasing and surrendering towhat they can't control and they
think that's really part ofthis process is just Recognizing
(34:03):
what it is that you havecontrol of and letting go of
what you don't.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Yeah, I think when people have anxiety, they often
wish like say stuff like I wasto control everything about my
day or my environment and like Imean you couldn't go outside
and trip and break your name.
That that's something that youdidn't plan for, you can't
control, that's just somethingto have it.
But then again back to thethoughts.
(34:32):
Like there's often a lot ofstories when people do things
like that I forgot somebody homeand going back, like I know you
probably heard about the guythat forgot something at work
and he worked at the Twin towersand he went back to get it and
he wasn't there when thebuilders went down and that
saved his life.
You know, those are things youcannot Plan or control.
(34:55):
That's just the way.
Like we can't control theweather, we can't control how
many hours in a day.
We can control what we do, thinthose hours, what we wear
inspired that weather.
But I think there's a proximaldistance of things you can
control and beyond that, it youunderstand, you prepare for, but
(35:17):
it's not your concern and youmean you try to grab hold of
everything.
You're gonna explode, becausetrying to control everything is
trying like trying to drink theocean every day and it's just
not possible.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Yeah, and that's a great analogy and that's so on
point that you just can't dothat.
I want it.
I want to talk a little bit,too, about your ability to Take
all of what you've had on yourplate and turn it into, you know
, something that is as beautifulas helping other people.
(35:53):
And how do you, how do you findthat within yourself to do that
, like, where does that comefrom and why do you do that
instead of just living with it?
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Ah, you know, for a while, after everything was over
, you know, I just didn't wantto talk about it, I didn't want
to relive it, I didn't think itwas important, you know, because
I always said, well, there arepeople that are going through
worst things to me constantly Beliving myself and taking them
the validity out of it andtaking a power from the story.
(36:26):
But you know, again, it wasabout the community of people
that ran on me and my family andfriends and like, hey, you have
, so you should tell it.
And then it was something Iheard less browns at one time.
The most wealthy place in theworld is the graveyard and
that's because people take theirtalents, ideas, thoughts and
With them when they die.
(36:47):
And I, just, I Believe inbuilding a legacy.
And when you start doing that,you share the gifts, you.
I want to live full and dieempty, so I want to give
everything I got to everyone Imeet and I think that gets me a
sense of Fulfillment.
That is my purpose.
And when I understood, when Istarted to understand that this
(37:09):
happened to me, to show it thatpeople, when I start to
Understand this is my purpose,and when I really started
accepting who I had become andLetting vulnerability be my
superpower, empty my bread andthe source of my storage, my
fuel source and gratitude of myfoundation.
Those four things combinedallowed me to be like you know
(37:30):
what.
This is what I'm supposed to do.
This is why I'm here and I'mgonna do something with it, and
I'm gonna change the world Somekind of one person at a time.
So it was a long process ofthings that had to connect to
the right time and start to makesense, and then I just ran
after it.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
It's astounding that you have this ability to
Recognize that and then take itand turn it into something, and
it's it's really intriguing tome because I I know for a lot of
people I have conversation withwhen they ask me, how can you
be who you are and how can youdo what you're doing, I have a
(38:09):
very similar mindset that you dothat.
My experience was somethingthat was given to me and I need
to use that to help the worldright, and I see you doing the
same thing.
But there's a lot of peoplethat think, well, I'm angry.
I'm angry that I have to gothrough and fill in the blank,
(38:32):
whether it's, you know, chronicillness, depression, whatever it
may be like.
Fill in that blank and people,people are angry and can't see
that this is something that ispart of their life for a reason.
What would you say to thosepeople?
Speaker 2 (38:52):
You know you can feel anger, but you don't have to be
anger.
You know I'm saying you absorb.
People get too absorbed andlocked onto that feeling because
they feel it gives them sometype of control or some type of
power.
But it doesn't change thesituation.
Feelings are there.
You can't control them.
(39:12):
They just pop up.
They're like thoughts, theyjust are.
But you do not have to becomethem.
They are Extensions of yourthoughts and feelings and ideas.
But when you become anger, whenyou become sadness, when you
become jealousy, when you becomerage, when you become Missable
(39:32):
you know I'm saying that's whenyou be.
It becomes who you are, itrepresents who you become, it,
it permeates your, your being,your thoughts, your beliefs.
You believe in anger is all youknow.
And that's when you have tostart to separate yourself.
Because being anger and being,you know, experience anger,
(39:55):
angers of feeling, and thosedon't last that long.
But becoming anger, you can beanger for the rest of your life.
And that shoes if that's howyou choose identify a lot of
people Don't even realizethey're doing it and it shows in
the way they interact withpeople, it shows in the way they
handle.
And Then you're not doing adeep work because anger is an
(40:17):
external thing.
When you Blame and go, when youbecome angry, you're just often
stepping outside of yourself tolive somewhere when you're true
self doesn't even exist,doesn't even acknowledge.
I Think you have to go deep, youhave to look within and a lot
of people are, like you saidbefore you start taping I,
struggling with looking insideand seeing who they really are,
(40:40):
because they've been living thislife where they present an
image that's suitable for theenvironment they're living in, a
suitable for their peers,that's suitable for their family
.
I love people's expression.
You know, there they saythere's a face you show the
world, there's a faith that showyou, you show your friends and
there's a place you showednobody.
My one of my goals in life isto show the face that I showed
(41:01):
nobody.
Does many people as possible toget to be authentic self?
And Again, it's.
It's hard to see the picturewhen you're living in the frame
and a lot of people Choose toframe themselves and pictures
that are filled with anger,resentment, sadness and misery.
When I have a new step outsidethe frame and there's so many
(41:24):
other pictures fade to choose,why choose that one?
And something you said beforethat really jumped out of me is
that you know, when people askwhy me?
What will people like us is nowlike how could it not be me to
do this?
How could it not be me to sharethis story?
How can it not be me for thisto happen to?
(41:44):
How could I not have this power?
And that's the way of you now?
It could only be me, so I'mgonna use it and do it.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
Yeah, and I I wonder too, as far as you know, with
the way of the world and people,you know, being in lockdown and
that is, as you were saying,this lack of control and just
kind of turning it into adifferent mindset, you know,
controlling the things that youcan within your space, that you
have, but keeping mindful ofwhen your direction is and where
(42:19):
your thoughts are going, andthose kinds of things.
There's a lot of people in theaudience right now that may be
dealing with some really, reallyheavy, heavy things.
I know right now suicide ratesaround the world are around 30%
and there's, you know, apopulation of people that are
(42:41):
really affected by this.
And I just wonder if you, ifyou, had any kind of words or
Insight as far as Something thatyou could offer to help people
that may be in this, in thisplace, what would it be?
Speaker 2 (42:59):
you know, I was sister.
She's 13 and what I would sayto her, a she's have that.
Even.
First of all, you want to askthem hey, how's things going?
Hey.
So one of the things the worldlikes today and what the advent
(43:21):
of social media has been turnedup a notch is Empathy, sympathy.
If you're walking in the woodsand your friend falls down home
like, oh, I feel bad that youfound on the whole that sympathy
.
But if you're empathetic,you're like, wow, I can really
feel the pain you're feeling.
I'm really sorry.
What can I do to help?
Feeling for someone is empathy.
(43:42):
Feeling no sympathy, feelingwith someone is Empathy.
So I will say practice yourempathy.
Try to Imagine what you feellike at that age or what you
would feel like if you weredealing with those thoughts.
What would you be doing?
What would you want to happen?
So who would you want to talkto and think about?
Your community, or building acommunity around that person of
(44:04):
support or, say, space, a Placewhere they can express how they
really feel, without judgment ora prejudice.
A lot of people Don't express ordon't share or keep everything
they're feeling bothered inbecause I don't trust the people
around me, I don't feel safe.
Well, people like Katherine andmyself are resources.
People like you know theirtherapeutic resources.
(44:26):
Out there, there's peoplearound you that are.
Your thoughts are not original,these are recycled things that
many people have thought andoftentimes you feel alone so you
choose a self.
I stay even further and I'mgonna say you are not an
accident, you are not alone andyou are meant.
(44:47):
You are worth more to me thanyou will ever know.
There are people that see thisdarkness that's never ending and
something I always say is thedarkest night guns with her the
brightest morning and yourmorning is coming.
Just have to choose, make adecision to understand that this
too shall pass.
Just have to keep pushing.
(45:09):
Keep pushing and understandthat you are a Conqueror.
You're more than a conqueror.
You're more than enough.
You're more than adequate.
You were built for the fightyou're facing and, knowing us
wise and whatever issues youfeel or permitting your being,
step back out of a little bitperspective.
Look at the things you do haveand are able to control and able
(45:31):
to celebrate and able to do.
You know people often think well, I don't have a TV or somebody
I know doesn't have a house.
I don't have shoes for somebodyI know doesn't have feet, or if
people you know on the oppositespectrum that work really hard
and you know killing themselvesto make a difference or killing
(45:53):
yourself to make you know, endsme and they don't give
themselves enough time for restor relaxation or they don't give
themselves enough time toreally step away from it and
take a breather.
I think the breath is veryimportant.
I think believing in high powerand prayer is very important.
I think being In injectingpositive material and so your
(46:17):
your everyday.
You know a lot of people watchthe news and media presents the
image of the News and mediapresents the image to keep you
watching because your brain isset up to be attracted to their
negative.
You got to see their negative,but they are a YouTube channel.
Some good news, look up emaillists or report good news
stories.
Don't always turn TV off.
(46:38):
Go, step outside, get somesunshine, some vitamin D.
They can really help with yourmood and understand that you are
put on this earth or somethinggreater than you, and realize
and the things that you aregonna do and decide will dictate
how long it takes you to getthere.
So Choose yourself andunderstand that your purpose is
(47:01):
greater than you understand andthen lean into that and it'll
find its way to you.
Speaker 1 (47:07):
I Love what you just said, how it will leave.
You know, if you lean into it,it will find its way to you,
because I think that's one ofthe overarching struggles that
human beings have they're justnot really sure what they're
designed to do and how tonavigate it, and that's
something that I personally workwith people with as well.
(47:29):
It's just tapping into that,that inner strength that you
have and, you know, leaning intoit to help you move forward
through it.
But I love how power packed itis that you that you share with
your thoughts and your answers,because you know the analogies
(47:50):
you use.
I mean, there's so many likegreat tools and nuggets that
people can take away and reallyReally use them, in a sense that
you know we're in a place andtime because we're supposed to
be here and it is okay.
Like, as you said, this tooshall pass.
And I know, as a little girl,you know just some of the
(48:10):
adversity that I had gonethrough.
I know it was always abundantlyclear to me that, even though my
, my life was in thisUncontrolled state because I was
a child and I didn't feel likeI had control I think I really
needed to recognize as well overthe things that I could control
(48:31):
right.
So one of the things that I knowa lot of kids like to do is
just be creative and a lot oftime just being in that creative
state, you know, whether it'sDoing artwork or drawing or
journaling or any of thosethings, it's a.
It's a really good way to getyour mind out of that place that
(48:52):
you're in and kind of detox thebody as well.
So I think that's important forpeople to remember.
Like that is kind of a form ofmeditation and just going into a
Zen state and you can find yourhigher power in that Zen state.
Like you can get connected andInto these places where you can
(49:13):
ask these questions that youstruggle with and turn it into
something else.
But I mean, besides the kids,is you know, I don't know, is
there any other tools oranything else that you'd like to
offer up to our audience, ouradults?
Speaker 2 (49:30):
Yeah, I think for an adult it Feels like you already
had a firm grasp of the way theworld is supposed to work and
then it doesn't work like thatanymore.
So it's like how is thispossible?
Like your reality is not whatit does not meet your
expectations.
The quickest way todisappointment again another I
(49:54):
don't know why we're hitting allthe chapters expectations.
When you go into a relationship, when you go into a
conversation, when you go into aconnection with another human
being, and you have thoseexpectations that can really
(50:16):
throw you for a loop, and Ithink a lot of adults just keep
expecting for this to be over orkeep expecting for things to
change overnight and keepexpecting for the results to
change, and I think thoseexpectations are deepening the
despair you've fallen into.
When you see the world andaccept it for what it is, you
(50:40):
can start to regain somestrength and power to control
over things that you can control.
You are not built or meant tocontrol everything about
everything in your life.
Some things are out of yourcontrol and again this is
leading more to the anxiety.
When you're an adult, you havechildren and you're like, oh, I
(51:01):
want them to go over in theworld like this.
Every generation has theirexperience growing up.
Every generation has theirstruggle, but that's theirs.
Yours is living your life rightnow and I think it remains the
same.
You know those groundingexercises, those what you decide
and what you need is right infront of you at that moment.
(51:21):
It doesn't have to be thinkingtoo far ahead or taking too far
in the past.
Just understand what's going onand accept it and act on what's
happening right now in yourbest interest and my, like I
said, my foundation is gratitude, understanding the learned
thing.
I'm grateful to be a human, I'mgrateful to have breath, I'm
(51:44):
grateful to be able to live,just jotting three things down
at the end of the day or wakingup to those three things.
I do like a journal almostevery day, you know, and I have
like a stack of journal likethis, tall, when I'm like 50,
understanding that gratitude notonly boost dopamine, which is a
(52:04):
pleasure sensor in the brain,but it also boosts our toning,
which is like the happy, happyhormone, whatever, and most of
it, you know.
If you go into a more scientificlevel, I think 90% of their
total is created in the stomach.
So might be mindful of whatyou're putting into your body,
what you're eating, how you'reeating it, how much of it and
(52:27):
when you're eating.
I think that'll help you be alittle more happy each day, and
as an adult, you have tounderstand that, just like
children.
You know, at some point thisone would be a thing for my
sister.
This will have passed and she'sin the next phase of her life.
The same in the rest of thecommunity said to you like it
(52:48):
seems like your time clock isnot as long as theirs, but this
too shall pass, as long asyou're keeping yourself happy,
you're practicing, practicingmindfulness, prayer, gratitude.
Those things can really do alot more for you than you think.
You know.
Happiness is fleeting, but inthose moments, grab hold of it,
(53:12):
learn from it and then use it ineach, every moment going
forward.
Speaker 1 (53:18):
Yeah, so the rate, so this routine.
It sounds like you have thisdaily routine to really keep
yourself grounded, keep yourselfcentered, and I think that's so
key as far as when we're goingthrough difficult times, is just
getting yourself on a routineand, like you said, make sure
(53:39):
that you're detoxing the bodyand having feeding the body what
it really needs, like drinkinga lot of water, eating the good
foods.
It's really important to rest.
Make sure you're letting yourbody rest, like you had
mentioned earlier, and you know,the spirituality piece is
really important.
I love all of it because it'ssomething that is so necessary
(54:02):
and I know other speakers havetalked to those points as well,
but it is so worth remindingeveryone to find ways to do this
, and including any children oryoung adults that are listening
to this show as well.
It's really important to dothis and just be mindful of it.
(54:22):
So go through a routine everysingle day.
I live in gratitude, I live in astate of gratitude, and one of
my little secrets is, before Ieven open my eyes in the morning
, I just say thank you.
I just say thank you.
It's as simple as that.
It just gets my day started onthe right foot and I start my
(54:46):
day with gratitude.
So everything after that it's.
You know, it's like I'm justthankful to be alive, I'm
thankful to have the breath Itake and have everything about
me, because there's so manypeople in this world that live
in a different state thatliterally some people can't do
(55:06):
the things that I'm able to do.
Like right now, somewhere inthe world, somebody's having
surgery or someone ischronically ill or, you know,
living in a space where theycan't move their body because
they're paralyzed or something.
But even then, just beingthankful for life because
there's something you're meantto do, there's a reason you're
(55:29):
meant to be here, would youagree?
Speaker 2 (55:32):
Absolutely.
After my foot touches theground in the morning and I say
I'm grateful to be alive,everything after that is a gift.
Speaker 1 (55:40):
Yes, yes, absolutely a gift.
Oh, my goodness, I could justcontinue to talk to you all day
long.
I mean, you're just a beautifulhuman and you have such a
beautiful way of expressing yourmessage and, honestly, I'm just
so filled with gratitude, youknow, to have you on and have
(56:02):
you, as part of this platform,with me.
So I do thank you so much,ka-won.
Speaker 2 (56:08):
Thank you for having me.
It's been an honor and apleasure.
Speaker 1 (56:11):
So I always ask my guests at the end of the show if
I were to pick up your earthangel feather off of the ground
and you had a message to theworld, what would your message
to the world be?
Speaker 2 (56:25):
Every morning is part of my routine.
You know, I go through somescriptures and one of the ones
I've been going through recentlyis John 1, and it talks about
the light.
And then, at a time now wherethings seem dark, uncertain and
we don't know where things areheaded, we seem shrouded by a
cloud that doesn't want to goaway.
(56:45):
And you know when you're in ourdark space, jesus is the light,
or God is the light, or Creatoris the light.
But we do have flashlights andwe can turn one on and we're so
ever there is dark, we're soever there's light.
Darkness can not have a place.
(57:07):
So turn on your flashlights,bring the light home and shine
your power forward.
Speaker 1 (57:14):
That is really a beautiful way to put that
message and I just yeah, it'samazing.
Thank you so, so much, so soappreciative.
And that's all we have time fortoday.
This is Catherine Daniels,reminding you to live your
authentic life in peace and, asalways, retreat to peace.
(57:36):
We'll see you next time.
Hi everyone.
This is Catherine Daniels, withRetreat to Peace.
Thank you so much for beinghere with me today.
I had an extraordinaryconversation with a very dear
friend and, as we were talkingabout the energies and what was
happening in the last couple ofdays, especially in the United
(00:41):
States, we were discussing thedrain the drain of energy that
not only we were feeling, butother people that were
experiencing this drain werealso feeling, and one of the
things that we definitely haddiscussions around was just
(01:02):
taking back our sense of control.
We know that there's a lot ofexcitement around a new year,
2021, things are supposed to beuplifting and changing and
purposeful as far as navigatinginto a new space.
And as we go into this newspace, we also have to be
(01:23):
mindful that we are in a spaceof transition.
We are in a time where thingsare changing and the only thing
that is ever constant is change.
So, as we go day to day inthrough our changes, it's
important that we remain mindfulthat this is a process and
(01:45):
things don't just quickly andswiftly move into the space that
we would like them to be.
As I reflect on 2020, theblessings that came from 2020
were so abundant.
It's just amazing to me how,when we release and let go, how
(02:06):
much fuller and brighter comesinto our space.
A lot of release happened in2020.
And as we move into 2021, whatwe need to do is remain mindful
and present of living in ourauthentic spaces, but also in
our truth.
We need to remain vigilant thatwe stand in our truth and our
(02:30):
authenticity.
If we're living in a state offear, we're going to be brought
down to a lower vibration.
We're going to be brought downinto a darkness that we don't
want to live in.
If you're living in a state offear, recognize your fear, but
then make a conscientiousdecision not to remain in that
(02:54):
fear-based state.
That is a lower vibration andis not going to serve you.
Look for ways to help yourselfget out of that fear-based state
.
Call a friend, connect, getconnected with other people to
help rise above that.
Look at the things that you cando, that you can control.
(03:18):
Don't focus on the things thatyou cannot control.
There are a lot of things thatwe do not have control over, so
we need to be mindful of thethings that we actually can
control.
The other day, I woke up andafter just prayerfully doing my
gratitude that I do everymorning.
I was feeling so stressed and Ijust literally got myself
(03:44):
dressed, went for a walk and asI was walking I had a friend
reach out and say don't forgetto hug a tree.
When I saw her text I actuallylaughed because I was like, wow,
this is something that I say toother people but I forget
myself.
So I found a tree, I found theperfect tree, and I laid my body
(04:10):
next to the tree, I closed myeyes, I breathed into the space.
In that moment it wasincredible to feel my body
physically changing andreleasing all of the toxins and
stress that I was feeling.
(04:32):
If you've never laid your bodynext to a tree, I encourage you
go put your back next to a tree,go put your arms around a tree.
You will be amazed how healinghugging a tree actually can be
for your spirit, your physicalbeing, your soul.
(04:54):
There's so many healingproperties that Mother Earth
provides us.
I walked on after hugging thattree and just feeling that there
was so much healing property toit that I need to find another.
And I did.
(05:14):
I found another.
I laid my back against the tree, my whole body, and I just
closed my eyes and absorbed thesun shining on me and just felt
everything that was happening.
If you've never done this, likeI said, take a moment and make
it happen for yourself.
Experience it for yourself.
(05:35):
It's wonderful.
I invite you to look at waysthat you can take your sense of
control in the littlest things,like hugging a tree, like
getting a walk, getting sunshine, detoxing your body.
Make sure you're drinking a lotof water, make sure you're
(05:56):
eating healthy foods.
Make sure that, when you'refeeling a sense of fear, that
you pull out your flashlight.
Look for the light.
Look for other people that youcan talk to, but also help
yourself, because when you'rehelping other people, you're
helping yourself.
Look for ways to get grounded.
(06:18):
Right now we're in a period oftransition.
We're going to experience arebirth of sorts.
What was a year ago is not evergoing to be again.
So we do need to go throughthis process of rebirthing, this
process of rejuvenating andmoving through a space that, yes
(06:43):
, at times is very uncomfortable.
But are we going to stay there?
No, we're going to keep walkingthrough it.
And when you're walking yourpath and you're feeling like
you're stumbling, find the tree.
Lean up against your support,lean up against the healing
powers of Mother Earth.
(07:04):
Allow her to ground.
You do what you need to do tokeep your sacred space authentic
and true.
I invite you to be part of avery special workshop January
15th with Retreat to Peace.
I will be sending emails out toeveryone who's reached out to
(07:24):
me this far and inviting theminto this healing platform on
January 15th.
If you would like to be part ofthis, please email me at
retreattopiecellccom.
Again, that'sretreattopiecellccom, and I look
(07:49):
forward to seeing you there Formy next guest.
This is an amazing, amazingyoung man who's been through so
much in his life and his wordsof wisdom are divinely brought
to him from God.
You're not going to want tomiss this very special interview
.
I look forward to seeing youall next week.
(08:12):
And here's my interview withKawhon Glover.
Hey you, wherever you are inthe world right now.
(08:39):
Thank you so much for beinghere with me.
We know that we're living insome crazy times and we know
that the world is changing.
So let's create a bridge as wetravel through one another's
countries, removing all thelabels, coming together as one
people, finding our home in oneworld, and as we do this.
(09:01):
This is why our signature talktoday is so important, and today
I am so privileged to welcomemy guest, kawhon Glover.
Hi Kawhon.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Hey Catherine, how you doing.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I'm doing great and I'm so grateful that you're here
with us today.
You have an amazing andpowerful story, one that I think
most people in the audience aregoing to step back and really
say, wow, you know, because youjust have so much to offer the
world, especially in the placethat we're in right now.
(09:33):
But I do want to do your bio.
I know that you're a survivorthat has lived through a stroke.
You've had three brainsurgeries, you've dealt with
suicidal ideations you actuallyhad one attempt You've gone
through opioid addiction,depression and you have a $1.2
(09:55):
million medical debt from all ofthis.
And, despite all of yourhardships, you've started this
company called OvercomeAdversity, which leverages to
help other people, as it says,overcome their adversity, no
matter what it is that they'regoing through.
And you're also a writer, apublic speaker, and you're a
(10:17):
self-published author with amemoir entitled Favor how Stroke
, struggle and Surgery Help Meto Find my Life Purpose.
I mean, this is just amazing inso many facets of how amazing
can be, how you totally took allof these things in your life
(10:39):
and just turned it inside outand made it beautiful.
And I just wanted to go back alittle bit because it's really
interesting in the way of theworld right now.
We're dealing with a lot ofdarkness, there's a lot of heavy
energy, there's a lot ofuncertainty.
Everybody dubs at this crazytime, which, yeah, it feels
(11:02):
crazy because it's not somethingwe're used to.
We're uncomfortable in it,which is why we're calling it
this crazy time because we'reuncomfortable.
So, my goodness, can you I meanyou probably could talk all day
long around being uncomfortableand living in uncomfortable
times.
So I'm going to throw the floorover to you and just allow you
(11:24):
to speak a little bit to that.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah, at that age when all that began to happen,
as a young man, in the prime ofyour life, I was 20 years old.
So I had a pretty easy life, Iwould say.
At that point in my life I hadgraduated with a full point off
from high school.
I had the girl I hadn't gottento the college I wanted to get
(11:49):
into, I played three differentsports and I was riding high.
But I knew, at the end of theback of my mind there was I
didn't know what I wanted to dowith my life.
I didn't know really who I wasor what my purpose was.
And then God has a way ofcoming into your life and kind
of shaking things up, if youwill.
(12:11):
So I had once at the hospital,my mentors at the hospital.
They'd have the CAT scan andsay you have something in your
brain.
That's what not supposed to bethere.
They sent me to anotherhospital and they said it was,
from the chronic evidence,malformation.
Come to find out last year.
The thing that they found in mybrain had probably been there
(12:31):
since birth and I just createdthe right conditions to allow it
to burst.
So they did an operation to fixit.
October, august 15, 2014.
Because I was 20, a young man.
I went back to school a weekafter surgery and within a month
, I had my stroke and that putme in rehabilitation for months
(12:55):
and I went back to school.
The following, so this is thesurgery and stroke happened in
2014.
I'm at a school spring 15 andthat summer of 2015 fell into a
major, major depression ordidn't move.
I was isolating myself and Ijust didn't understand why I had
to live this way or what it wasgoing to do for me.
(13:17):
And that's the problem peopleoften find themselves in when
things happen what about me?
Why does it affect me sogreatly?
And there's a chapter actuallymy next book, called as Bigger
Than you, is one of the finalchapters, and that's where it
took me so long took me sixyears, even after it was all
over, to realize that all thethings that happened, you know I
(13:40):
would go on to have the opioidaddiction, pergocet, fentanyl,
you name it.
I would go on to have anotherbrain surgery, another brain
surgery, and I would go on tohave balsam, depression and self
isolation and then, after allthe surgeries, the 1.2 million
dollar medical debt.
But all those things are behindme, but the emotional trauma.
(14:04):
I have to make a consciouschoice to address that every day
and it is a part of me, butit's not who I am.
It doesn't represent the personI'm going to become.
And when you look at thissituation, we're in the world
now like we were talking aboutbefore we start.
(14:24):
You turned on the cameras.
I'm now better equipped tohandle certain things, but I
never, until I talk to you today, I didn't realize.
You know, not everybody hasexperienced this level of trauma
or doesn't really faceadversity the same way.
So I really feel for thosepeople who don't have a basis of
(14:48):
gratitude or story to lean on,people or community to embrace
them in this time of need.
And I you know I said thisbefore.
I said again, I can menu,catherine, on your efforts to
really bring together peoplethat do have stories like we
rise, strength and inspirationto the masses and help them
understand that you know thereis light and there's always hope
(15:13):
.
There's always a similarlanguage.
We just have to search or bewho we're meant to be and it'll
show up in our lives, and Ithink you know this.
Creating this platform allowingothers like myself and you to
share your stories with youraudience, it'll start to crack
that door open just a little bitmore, and then just start to
see the light shine through.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Thank you, I'm very humbled by that and I appreciate
that.
And thank you, I mean, thatmeans a lot.
I you know your story.
With all of what you've beenthrough, I mean I just can't
even imagine what it would belike to go through a stroke or
have the surgeries that you'vegone through.
(15:58):
I know, you know, for a lot ofpeople, they, when they go
through adversity, they, they doask that question why is this
happening to me?
And I know for myself, given myown journey.
You know, I've been through alot of traumas.
People know, and for me, I'vealways turned it inside out as
(16:18):
well, where I always felt like,okay, I'm going through this
experience for a reason and I'mgoing to take it, and when, I'm
on the other side of it and I'mgoing to gift it back to the
world, so that you know it'sturned into good, right.
But unfortunately, when, whenwe're in the midst of it, when,
when we're in the moment, thatdiscomfort and you know,
(16:41):
everything just feels like it'sso big, it's so much bigger than
us and we just don't even knowhow to go within ourselves to
undo these heavy feelings thatwe have.
And one of these heavy feelingsthat we have is depression
right and depression can lead toother things, and you know you
(17:02):
had, you had touched a littlebit on the depression and I know
right now around the worldthere's a lot of people that are
struggling with depression.
So what, what was it thathelped you?
I mean, like, tell us a littlebit about that time of life for
you and what that looked likeand how did you get out of it.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
And then when you look at depression from over,
for overview not let us downit's hard to see the picture
when you're living in the frameand I think a lot of people are
living in their depression andnot understanding you have to
adjust it objectively.
So when you look at depressionobjectively, it's because you're
(17:41):
thinking about the past and theway things used to be and the
way you wanted to be in a theywere before all of this happened
and you're constantly findingyourself faced with your.
Your expectations based on yourpast are meeting with the now,
your reality and that flashingand that can you know, when you
crash a warm front and a hotfront together, that creates a
(18:02):
tornado and that can create awork perception in your mind of
yourself and your environment.
So the question is not justsadness, it's an overall feeling
that extends from within andcan permeate your body, and
sometimes it's like misery lovescompany, that darkness can feel
(18:23):
warm to embrace and invite youwhen you can build a house there
.
I like to call that housevictimhood.
That's where all the victimslives and build houses.
But when you look at depression,it is because you're letting
your thoughts, feelings andemotions drift into the past,
but your mind has no concept oftime.
(18:43):
So those feelings of longing,of sadness that you're feeling
about things that have alreadygone on, you're feeling that
right now, and instead ofembracing, was what you desire.
What you can touch, feel, smell, taste and hear is right in
front of you.
But you're missing that becauseyou're always focused on what
(19:07):
was instead of what is.
So, rooting yourself in thepresent moment and giving
yourself this face the time andenergy to feel those emotions,
process them and then understand.
Okay, what is this showing me?
Because it's another thing formy next book.
Your pupils dilate in thedarkness and that's because
(19:30):
you're searching for the sourcesof light.
So in that time of darkness, inthat time of despair, under the
time of uncertainty, there arelessons that you, your spirit,
is looking for, that God issending you, that you may not
even know, that are there.
You just have to find a way tograb onto them and then, once
you do that, the light willshine through and it'll be so
(19:52):
bright it's almost blindingbecause your eyes have been so
dilated and open to thatdarkness.
But depression is not inevitable.
It does not have to be, but itis a choice you have to make to
live in the now instead ofletting your mind, your thoughts
, your actions dictate or drifttowards the things that happened
(20:13):
before.
Even this moment is in the past.
There is no such thing as now,because now is already in the
past.
You think about what'simmediately right in front of
you.
So keep your mind, yourthoughts, your emotions, your
feelings, your actions right infront of you, and then things
will start to get a lot moreclear.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
And the whole tool that you just threw in there
about keeping present withunderstanding the five senses,
what it is that is here and now,what can you name?
Five things that you can see?
Can you name five things youcan hear?
Can you name five things youcan smell, touch, taste.
(20:56):
I mean, that's so powerfulbecause I know for a lot of
people, there's people right nowthat are feeling a lot of
anxiety and they're wonderinghow do I get out of this state
of feeling anxious?
And some people don't even knowthat that's what they're
experiencing.
They just feel their body is onthis overload of not kind of
(21:18):
like you said, the hat and thecold front and this tornado
effect, right.
So I would just remind everyoneif you need a quick tool to
help you, that's a great tool,but if you need a deeper level
of support, please reach out toyour community, reach out to
(21:38):
medical teams and resources thatcan help you, especially if
you're suicidal and I know partof your story.
As we said in your intro, youwere in a place where you had
these suicidal ideations and ifyou're comfortable enough to
share with us a little bit aboutthat and how you pulled through
(22:02):
that or what allowed you topull through that.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, I think as a man, especially being a black
man, it's oftentimes frownedupon in our community to talk
about your emotions or talkingabout your feelings, so there's
a lot of repression, and thatrepression will then.
It's not present thought, butit's seeps into your
subconscious and yoursubconscious controls a lot of
(22:27):
the actions that you're not evenaware of.
And when you have a can of sodaor bottle of soda, you shake it
up enough.
The pressure has to gosomewhere.
So when I had my first attempt,it was just a leak of that
pressure that was building thatI wasn't allowing to air out, to
what would carbonate,decarbonate.
(22:50):
And you have to give yourselfroom, space and a community to
express yourself in.
You've got to get in placeswhere you can let that stuff out
.
I think depression also leads tosuicidal adhesion.
For me I came intounderstanding what term called
(23:12):
passively suicidal.
And in that space you're notactively always trying to do
harm to yourself or take yourown life, but at the same time
you're constantly thinking aboutif I die today, it'll be all
right.
If I die today, I don't thinkanybody would care, it wouldn't
be a big deal.
And that constant it's like aslow struggle down to the deep,
(23:34):
dark jet, because you'rediminishing yourself little by
little, by little by little, andagain with anxiety.
That's the cousin of depression.
That's when your thoughts arefuture based or fear based of
something that may neveractually happen and you think
about what if this and what ifthat?
(23:55):
What if you took your nextbreath?
What if you were able to get upin the morning?
What if you were able tobreathe?
What if you were able to have ameal?
What if you were able to getsomeone to hug?
What if you were able to have aconversation?
What if you were able to remainhuman?
What if you were alive?
I think those are betterquestions, because when you ask
your mind questions, badquestions, your mind has no
(24:19):
choice but to give you badanswers.
So I constantly ask myselfbetter questions Instead of why
me?
What did I just learn?
Instead of why did that hurt somuch?
What did I paint teaching?
Things like that are called aperspective shift, just shifting
a little to the left, a littleto the right to see a different
(24:41):
vantage point of what you'reexperiencing.
I don't know if that answersyour question, but I want to
touch on those couple of points.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Yeah, well, you are answering the question, and if
we could just go back to part ofthe question about how you got
out of that?
So you had these suicidalthoughts and what shifted for
you to get you out of that spacethat you were in.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
I think they did an experiment where they had two
rats and in one case it was arat with nothing really.
In this case it says twobottles of water and in those
bottles of water was just wateron one side and heroin and
cocaine in the other bottle.
When the rat was alone, hedrove to heroin and cocaine
water.
When the rat's case was filledwith other rats and other little
(25:33):
things rats like to do like arat a music part, like a rat in
the Disney world they chose aregular water.
So in that you can see thatwhat you're doing, catherine, is
creating a community, creatinga space where people have other
people to support them.
So in my case I had people thatwere around me, that were
constantly dragging me out andtrying to get me to see the
(25:55):
outside world and allowing me toisolate myself.
And then, in those momentswhere I was alone, I had to make
a decision to give myselfpositive reinforcement, telling
me that my life was worthsomething.
I had to build self-confidence,because self-confidence is your
trust in yourself.
I had to build self-esteem inmyself and understand that I was
(26:19):
worth more than I was givingmyself credit for.
So it took a lot of that mentalexercise.
It took a lot of that communityengagement.
It took a lot of that therapy.
It took a lot of that self-talk.
It took a lot of building myown self up from the darkest
points.
Something you know I talk aboutin my business is the bottom of
(26:39):
the V.
I mean, look at the letter V,that's the first letter in
victory, but it's also arepresentation of vows and peaks
and a lot of times, even timeslike this, where it seems like
you're going down that and todeep into that valley, whether
at the bottom it's not yourfaults or you didn't cause the
(27:00):
things that happen to you, butit is your responsibility to
choose, to make a decision, toclimb back up the sea outside of
victory.
So what's the combination of mycommunity, my mental exercises,
therapy and just understandingthat I was worth more than these
thoughts were trying to tell meI was worth, and a little bit
(27:21):
of faith, a lot of faith on theback end.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Yeah, thoughts are really interesting because the
mind is our central computersystem for everything in our
body and they do control a lotof what we're doing with our
bodies.
And I really value andappreciate the message that
you're giving around making adecision, because one of the
(27:48):
things that I think is reallyimpactful is when people are
feeling triggered or they'refeeling that electrocuting
feeling within themselves.
That is your body's response toallow you to ask those
questions that you were talkingabout.
That is your body's response tobe aware that the thoughts that
(28:12):
you're having, you can releasethose kind of like balloons.
Just put them in a bubble andlet them go and re-center
yourself with why you're here.
And for people that strugglewith what is my purpose everyone
is here for a purpose and areason and people that feel like
they're different you'resupposed to be different.
(28:34):
That is part of what makes thisentire world beautiful is your
uniqueness and what you bring tothe world.
So there is a reason for you tobe here and I look at someone
like you and all of the thingsthat you've been through and how
you've turned it into thisbeautiful space for people to be
(28:57):
accepted, no matter what shapeor form they show up in, because
it's okay, like you have thatsame mindset, without judgment,
and I love that.
Your analogy of the V I lovethat because a lot of times you
hear people say that they're inthe deepest, darkest valley, but
(29:17):
, to your point, you're on yourway up to victory, so it's just
a matter of making that decision.
The thing that I want to talk toyou, too, about is the
spirituality, the sense of youknow what the higher power shows
up in your life and how it does, because this is something that
(29:39):
people challenge and I know formyself personally.
I've actually been part of aspiritual worship center where
I'm in the audience and I havepersonally witnessed recovered
addicts going up to tell theirtestimony.
(30:01):
And it's astounding to me thisexperience, because there's
never a dry eye in the house,because there's always, always,
this presence of a higher powerthat shows up when someone's in
their rock bottom place.
That starts them on thetrajectory of climbing the
mountain to victory, right.
So I wonder, do you have astory like that, or how does
(30:26):
this higher power show up foryou?
Speaker 2 (30:29):
It's funny that you say that.
I do have a very, very, veryspecific story.
When I had my second surgery,they had to go through my nose
and so they put me under, wokeup in this dreamscape and
everything was working.
My millions were working, Ifill everything and I was, you
(30:51):
know, I used to box, so I wasthrowing punches and I was like,
wow, everything's working.
I can't believe it.
And then I'm, I was wearing ahoodie and a jeans jacket and
I'm just walking around in thiswhite void and Then it starts to
rain with the rain is like it'sblack as my keyboard and I
stick my hand out and the rainis not touching me.
And then I start to float upand as I'm floating, I'm losing
(31:15):
my human visage, my human form,and I'm watching this happen.
But I'm also seeing it happenfrom point of view, and as I get
to, I'm looking at it like apainter's canvas, and as I get
to that canvas I was to get tothe top.
There's like a hand when you'reright here and it just pushes
everything back down in reverse,and right before I woke up,
(31:37):
you're not done yet, and that,for me, was at the time.
I didn't understand it becauseI was still going through
recovery.
But I I've told us, or so manytimes and it's never changed.
The order hasn't changed, thedetails haven't changed.
Actually, they become moreclear.
I can still see that image andI believe that as evidence
(32:00):
enough for me to let you knowthat is a.
There's a higher power and Ithink that open my eyes and I
think about you know, even ontitle my book, favor, like
that's not a word you can reallyput into Words, you can't
describe this meaning or worse,it just shows up in.
(32:20):
My grandma said that favorain't fair, it's just favor.
And sometimes your giving giftsthat you didn't necessarily
work for earn.
But that's when my God, givinggift to give back to, wrote my
favorite my story is allowed meto have this In credible story
and then often feels weird mesaying that, like when you read
(32:42):
in my bio I'm just like I thinkthat's pretty cool, but then I'm
like, oh, stop me, it's weirdagain.
But I think God has had anopportunity to show up in my
life and you know, if I wroteour chapter on coincidences, it
would have three, three words.
They don't exist and and Dr RueWest said that Coincidence is
(33:09):
just God's way of remaininganonymous, and I think that
that's the divine order of theworld, also believing in the
high power.
The world's Issues anxiety,stresses.
They can be crushing for anindividual to handle.
So having belief in and aperson upstairs, if you will, or
(33:30):
higher power, allows you toalleviate the focus on issues
that you can handle and let thecreator control the
uncontrollable.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Absolutely, absolutely, and it's.
It's interesting to me how manypeople are Literally trying to
wrap their arms aroundcontrolling and and not
releasing and surrendering towhat they can't control and they
think that's really part ofthis process is just Recognizing
(34:03):
what it is that you havecontrol of and letting go of
what you don't.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Yeah, I think when people have anxiety, they often
wish like say stuff like I wasto control everything about my
day or my environment and like Imean you couldn't go outside
and trip and break your name.
That that's something that youdidn't plan for, you can't
control, that's just somethingto have it.
But then again back to thethoughts.
(34:32):
Like there's often a lot ofstories when people do things
like that I forgot somebody homeand going back, like I know you
probably heard about the guythat forgot something at work
and he worked at the Twin towersand he went back to get it and
he wasn't there when thebuilders went down and that
saved his life.
You know, those are things youcannot Plan or control.
(34:55):
That's just the way.
Like we can't control theweather, we can't control how
many hours in a day.
We can control what we do, thinthose hours, what we wear
inspired that weather.
But I think there's a proximaldistance of things you can
control and beyond that, it youunderstand, you prepare for, but
(35:17):
it's not your concern and youmean you try to grab hold of
everything.
You're gonna explode, becausetrying to control everything is
trying like trying to drink theocean every day and it's just
not possible.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Yeah, and that's a great analogy and that's so on
point that you just can't dothat.
I want it.
I want to talk a little bit,too, about your ability to Take
all of what you've had on yourplate and turn it into, you know
, something that is as beautifulas helping other people.
(35:53):
And how do you, how do you findthat within yourself to do that
, like, where does that comefrom and why do you do that
instead of just living with it?
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Ah, you know, for a while, after everything was over
, you know, I just didn't wantto talk about it, I didn't want
to relive it, I didn't think itwas important, you know, because
I always said, well, there arepeople that are going through
worst things to me constantly Beliving myself and taking them
the validity out of it andtaking a power from the story.
(36:26):
But you know, again, it wasabout the community of people
that ran on me and my family andfriends and like, hey, you have
, so you should tell it.
And then it was something Iheard less browns at one time.
The most wealthy place in theworld is the graveyard and
that's because people take theirtalents, ideas, thoughts and
With them when they die.
(36:47):
And I, just, I Believe inbuilding a legacy.
And when you start doing that,you share the gifts, you.
I want to live full and dieempty, so I want to give
everything I got to everyone Imeet and I think that gets me a
sense of Fulfillment.
That is my purpose.
And when I understood, when Istarted to understand that this
(37:09):
happened to me, to show it thatpeople, when I start to
Understand this is my purpose,and when I really started
accepting who I had become andLetting vulnerability be my
superpower, empty my bread andthe source of my storage, my
fuel source and gratitude of myfoundation.
Those four things combinedallowed me to be like you know
(37:30):
what.
This is what I'm supposed to do.
This is why I'm here and I'mgonna do something with it, and
I'm gonna change the world Somekind of one person at a time.
So it was a long process ofthings that had to connect to
the right time and start to makesense, and then I just ran
after it.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
It's astounding that you have this ability to
Recognize that and then take itand turn it into something, and
it's it's really intriguing tome because I I know for a lot of
people I have conversation withwhen they ask me, how can you
be who you are and how can youdo what you're doing, I have a
(38:09):
very similar mindset that you dothat.
My experience was somethingthat was given to me and I need
to use that to help the worldright, and I see you doing the
same thing.
But there's a lot of peoplethat think, well, I'm angry.
I'm angry that I have to gothrough and fill in the blank,
(38:32):
whether it's, you know, chronicillness, depression, whatever it
may be like.
Fill in that blank and people,people are angry and can't see
that this is something that ispart of their life for a reason.
What would you say to thosepeople?
Speaker 2 (38:52):
You know you can feel anger, but you don't have to be
anger.
You know I'm saying you absorb.
People get too absorbed andlocked onto that feeling because
they feel it gives them sometype of control or some type of
power.
But it doesn't change thesituation.
Feelings are there.
You can't control them.
(39:12):
They just pop up.
They're like thoughts, theyjust are.
But you do not have to becomethem.
They are Extensions of yourthoughts and feelings and ideas.
But when you become anger, whenyou become sadness, when you
become jealousy, when you becomerage, when you become Missable
(39:32):
you know I'm saying that's whenyou be.
It becomes who you are, itrepresents who you become, it,
it permeates your, your being,your thoughts, your beliefs.
You believe in anger is all youknow.
And that's when you have tostart to separate yourself.
Because being anger and being,you know, experience anger,
(39:55):
angers of feeling, and thosedon't last that long.
But becoming anger, you can beanger for the rest of your life.
And that shoes if that's howyou choose identify a lot of
people Don't even realizethey're doing it and it shows in
the way they interact withpeople, it shows in the way they
handle.
And Then you're not doing adeep work because anger is an
(40:17):
external thing.
When you Blame and go, when youbecome angry, you're just often
stepping outside of yourself tolive somewhere when you're true
self doesn't even exist,doesn't even acknowledge.
I Think you have to go deep, youhave to look within and a lot
of people are, like you saidbefore you start taping I,
struggling with looking insideand seeing who they really are,
(40:40):
because they've been living thislife where they present an
image that's suitable for theenvironment they're living in, a
suitable for their peers,that's suitable for their family
.
I love people's expression.
You know, there they saythere's a face you show the
world, there's a faith that showyou, you show your friends and
there's a place you showednobody.
My one of my goals in life isto show the face that I showed
(41:01):
nobody.
Does many people as possible toget to be authentic self?
And Again, it's.
It's hard to see the picturewhen you're living in the frame
and a lot of people Choose toframe themselves and pictures
that are filled with anger,resentment, sadness and misery.
When I have a new step outsidethe frame and there's so many
(41:24):
other pictures fade to choose,why choose that one?
And something you said beforethat really jumped out of me is
that you know, when people askwhy me?
What will people like us is nowlike how could it not be me to
do this?
How could it not be me to sharethis story?
How can it not be me for thisto happen to?
(41:44):
How could I not have this power?
And that's the way of you now?
It could only be me, so I'mgonna use it and do it.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
Yeah, and I I wonder too, as far as you know, with
the way of the world and people,you know, being in lockdown and
that is, as you were saying,this lack of control and just
kind of turning it into adifferent mindset, you know,
controlling the things that youcan within your space, that you
have, but keeping mindful ofwhen your direction is and where
(42:19):
your thoughts are going, andthose kinds of things.
There's a lot of people in theaudience right now that may be
dealing with some really, reallyheavy, heavy things.
I know right now suicide ratesaround the world are around 30%
and there's, you know, apopulation of people that are
(42:41):
really affected by this.
And I just wonder if you, ifyou, had any kind of words or
Insight as far as Something thatyou could offer to help people
that may be in this, in thisplace, what would it be?
Speaker 2 (42:59):
you know, I was sister.
She's 13 and what I would sayto her, a she's have that.
Even.
First of all, you want to askthem hey, how's things going?
Hey.
So one of the things the worldlikes today and what the advent
(43:21):
of social media has been turnedup a notch is Empathy, sympathy.
If you're walking in the woodsand your friend falls down home
like, oh, I feel bad that youfound on the whole that sympathy
.
But if you're empathetic,you're like, wow, I can really
feel the pain you're feeling.
I'm really sorry.
What can I do to help?
Feeling for someone is empathy.
(43:42):
Feeling no sympathy, feelingwith someone is Empathy.
So I will say practice yourempathy.
Try to Imagine what you feellike at that age or what you
would feel like if you weredealing with those thoughts.
What would you be doing?
What would you want to happen?
So who would you want to talkto and think about?
Your community, or building acommunity around that person of
(44:04):
support or, say, space, a Placewhere they can express how they
really feel, without judgment ora prejudice.
A lot of people Don't express ordon't share or keep everything
they're feeling bothered inbecause I don't trust the people
around me, I don't feel safe.
Well, people like Katherine andmyself are resources.
People like you know theirtherapeutic resources.
(44:26):
Out there, there's peoplearound you that are.
Your thoughts are not original,these are recycled things that
many people have thought andoftentimes you feel alone so you
choose a self.
I stay even further and I'mgonna say you are not an
accident, you are not alone andyou are meant.
(44:47):
You are worth more to me thanyou will ever know.
There are people that see thisdarkness that's never ending and
something I always say is thedarkest night guns with her the
brightest morning and yourmorning is coming.
Just have to choose, make adecision to understand that this
too shall pass.
Just have to keep pushing.
(45:09):
Keep pushing and understandthat you are a Conqueror.
You're more than a conqueror.
You're more than enough.
You're more than adequate.
You were built for the fightyou're facing and, knowing us
wise and whatever issues youfeel or permitting your being,
step back out of a little bitperspective.
Look at the things you do haveand are able to control and able
(45:31):
to celebrate and able to do.
You know people often think well, I don't have a TV or somebody
I know doesn't have a house.
I don't have shoes for somebodyI know doesn't have feet, or if
people you know on the oppositespectrum that work really hard
and you know killing themselvesto make a difference or killing
(45:53):
yourself to make you know, endsme and they don't give
themselves enough time for restor relaxation or they don't give
themselves enough time toreally step away from it and
take a breather.
I think the breath is veryimportant.
I think believing in high powerand prayer is very important.
I think being In injectingpositive material and so your
(46:17):
your everyday.
You know a lot of people watchthe news and media presents the
image of the News and mediapresents the image to keep you
watching because your brain isset up to be attracted to their
negative.
You got to see their negative,but they are a YouTube channel.
Some good news, look up emaillists or report good news
stories.
Don't always turn TV off.
(46:38):
Go, step outside, get somesunshine, some vitamin D.
They can really help with yourmood and understand that you are
put on this earth or somethinggreater than you, and realize
and the things that you aregonna do and decide will dictate
how long it takes you to getthere.
So Choose yourself andunderstand that your purpose is
(47:01):
greater than you understand andthen lean into that and it'll
find its way to you.
Speaker 1 (47:07):
I Love what you just said, how it will leave.
You know, if you lean into it,it will find its way to you,
because I think that's one ofthe overarching struggles that
human beings have they're justnot really sure what they're
designed to do and how tonavigate it, and that's
something that I personally workwith people with as well.
(47:29):
It's just tapping into that,that inner strength that you
have and, you know, leaning intoit to help you move forward
through it.
But I love how power packed itis that you that you share with
your thoughts and your answers,because you know the analogies
(47:50):
you use.
I mean, there's so many likegreat tools and nuggets that
people can take away and reallyReally use them, in a sense that
you know we're in a place andtime because we're supposed to
be here and it is okay.
Like, as you said, this tooshall pass.
And I know, as a little girl,you know just some of the
(48:10):
adversity that I had gonethrough.
I know it was always abundantlyclear to me that, even though my
, my life was in thisUncontrolled state because I was
a child and I didn't feel likeI had control I think I really
needed to recognize as well overthe things that I could control
(48:31):
right.
So one of the things that I knowa lot of kids like to do is
just be creative and a lot oftime just being in that creative
state, you know, whether it'sDoing artwork or drawing or
journaling or any of thosethings, it's a.
It's a really good way to getyour mind out of that place that
(48:52):
you're in and kind of detox thebody as well.
So I think that's important forpeople to remember.
Like that is kind of a form ofmeditation and just going into a
Zen state and you can find yourhigher power in that Zen state.
Like you can get connected andInto these places where you can
(49:13):
ask these questions that youstruggle with and turn it into
something else.
But I mean, besides the kids,is you know, I don't know, is
there any other tools oranything else that you'd like to
offer up to our audience, ouradults?
Speaker 2 (49:30):
Yeah, I think for an adult it Feels like you already
had a firm grasp of the way theworld is supposed to work and
then it doesn't work like thatanymore.
So it's like how is thispossible?
Like your reality is not whatit does not meet your
expectations.
The quickest way todisappointment again another I
(49:54):
don't know why we're hitting allthe chapters expectations.
When you go into a relationship, when you go into a
conversation, when you go into aconnection with another human
being, and you have thoseexpectations that can really
(50:16):
throw you for a loop, and Ithink a lot of adults just keep
expecting for this to be over orkeep expecting for things to
change overnight and keepexpecting for the results to
change, and I think thoseexpectations are deepening the
despair you've fallen into.
When you see the world andaccept it for what it is, you
(50:40):
can start to regain somestrength and power to control
over things that you can control.
You are not built or meant tocontrol everything about
everything in your life.
Some things are out of yourcontrol and again this is
leading more to the anxiety.
When you're an adult, you havechildren and you're like, oh, I
(51:01):
want them to go over in theworld like this.
Every generation has theirexperience growing up.
Every generation has theirstruggle, but that's theirs.
Yours is living your life rightnow and I think it remains the
same.
You know those groundingexercises, those what you decide
and what you need is right infront of you at that moment.
(51:21):
It doesn't have to be thinkingtoo far ahead or taking too far
in the past.
Just understand what's going onand accept it and act on what's
happening right now in yourbest interest and my, like I
said, my foundation is gratitude, understanding the learned
thing.
I'm grateful to be a human, I'mgrateful to have breath, I'm
(51:44):
grateful to be able to live,just jotting three things down
at the end of the day or wakingup to those three things.
I do like a journal almostevery day, you know, and I have
like a stack of journal likethis, tall, when I'm like 50,
understanding that gratitude notonly boost dopamine, which is a
(52:04):
pleasure sensor in the brain,but it also boosts our toning,
which is like the happy, happyhormone, whatever, and most of
it, you know.
If you go into a more scientificlevel, I think 90% of their
total is created in the stomach.
So might be mindful of whatyou're putting into your body,
what you're eating, how you'reeating it, how much of it and
(52:27):
when you're eating.
I think that'll help you be alittle more happy each day, and
as an adult, you have tounderstand that, just like
children.
You know, at some point thisone would be a thing for my
sister.
This will have passed and she'sin the next phase of her life.
The same in the rest of thecommunity said to you like it
(52:48):
seems like your time clock isnot as long as theirs, but this
too shall pass, as long asyou're keeping yourself happy,
you're practicing, practicingmindfulness, prayer, gratitude.
Those things can really do alot more for you than you think.
You know.
Happiness is fleeting, but inthose moments, grab hold of it,
(53:12):
learn from it and then use it ineach, every moment going
forward.
Speaker 1 (53:18):
Yeah, so the rate, so this routine.
It sounds like you have thisdaily routine to really keep
yourself grounded, keep yourselfcentered, and I think that's so
key as far as when we're goingthrough difficult times, is just
getting yourself on a routineand, like you said, make sure
(53:39):
that you're detoxing the bodyand having feeding the body what
it really needs, like drinkinga lot of water, eating the good
foods.
It's really important to rest.
Make sure you're letting yourbody rest, like you had
mentioned earlier, and you know,the spirituality piece is
really important.
I love all of it because it'ssomething that is so necessary
(54:02):
and I know other speakers havetalked to those points as well,
but it is so worth remindingeveryone to find ways to do this
, and including any children oryoung adults that are listening
to this show as well.
It's really important to dothis and just be mindful of it.
(54:22):
So go through a routine everysingle day.
I live in gratitude, I live in astate of gratitude, and one of
my little secrets is, before Ieven open my eyes in the morning
, I just say thank you.
I just say thank you.
It's as simple as that.
It just gets my day started onthe right foot and I start my
(54:46):
day with gratitude.
So everything after that it's.
You know, it's like I'm justthankful to be alive, I'm
thankful to have the breath Itake and have everything about
me, because there's so manypeople in this world that live
in a different state thatliterally some people can't do
(55:06):
the things that I'm able to do.
Like right now, somewhere inthe world, somebody's having
surgery or someone ischronically ill or, you know,
living in a space where theycan't move their body because
they're paralyzed or something.
But even then, just beingthankful for life because
there's something you're meantto do, there's a reason you're
(55:29):
meant to be here, would youagree?
Speaker 2 (55:32):
Absolutely.
After my foot touches theground in the morning and I say
I'm grateful to be alive,everything after that is a gift.
Speaker 1 (55:40):
Yes, yes, absolutely a gift.
Oh, my goodness, I could justcontinue to talk to you all day
long.
I mean, you're just a beautifulhuman and you have such a
beautiful way of expressing yourmessage and, honestly, I'm just
so filled with gratitude, youknow, to have you on and have
(56:02):
you, as part of this platform,with me.
So I do thank you so much,ka-won.
Speaker 2 (56:08):
Thank you for having me.
It's been an honor and apleasure.
Speaker 1 (56:11):
So I always ask my guests at the end of the show if
I were to pick up your earthangel feather off of the ground
and you had a message to theworld, what would your message
to the world be?
Speaker 2 (56:25):
Every morning is part of my routine.
You know, I go through somescriptures and one of the ones
I've been going through recentlyis John 1, and it talks about
the light.
And then, at a time now wherethings seem dark, uncertain and
we don't know where things areheaded, we seem shrouded by a
cloud that doesn't want to goaway.
(56:45):
And you know when you're in ourdark space, jesus is the light,
or God is the light, or Creatoris the light.
But we do have flashlights andwe can turn one on and we're so
ever there is dark, we're soever there's light.
Darkness can not have a place.
(57:07):
So turn on your flashlights,bring the light home and shine
your power forward.
Speaker 1 (57:14):
That is really a beautiful way to put that
message and I just yeah, it'samazing.
Thank you so, so much, so soappreciative.
And that's all we have time fortoday.
This is Catherine Daniels,reminding you to live your
authentic life in peace and, asalways, retreat to peace.
(57:36):
We'll see you next time.
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