January 30, 2024 • 48 mins
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
The thirteenth Amendment to the United StatesConstitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude except as
a punishment for a crime. Everwondered how we ended up with the largest
prison population of any country. Haveyou noticed that those whose jobs it is
to protect and serve seem to bedemanding more and more blind obedience. You
didn't think it just happened by chance, did you. It's time to call
(00:23):
attention to the fact our government asthe most prolific slave owner on the planet.
This is surviving the system. We'lljust put it all out there,
and this this is also a storyabout my journey back from from hell and
my story of I guess redemption youcould call it, but overcoming, I
(00:48):
guess maybe a better word. Butit's not just me, you know,
there are so many other people outthere. That's why I bring them on
here as much as I can.But I talk about these things just so
that, just so that as youlisten you can understand that despite our differences,
we're all going through the same thingsone way or the other, regardless
(01:14):
of my past, regardless of yourpast. Even if you listen to this
show and you have never once beeninside or you've never had a horrific encounter
with the system like some of thepeople that I've talked to, or like
I have. Maybe it's at leastinteresting to you, but you've never gone
through it. But that's okay.We still share commonality in some level,
(01:38):
and that's what I think we've allforgotten so much at this point in time.
We all have been we've all beenunconsciously programmed to focus on the differences
between all of us and how differentall of us are, that we've forgotten
that we're all similar in just asmany ways. So we'll talk about that
(02:01):
tonight and a couple quick housekeeping itemsbefore we get started. If you are
joining us live on Fringe dot fm, thank you so much for tuning in.
Phone lines are open at one eighthundred five eight eight zero three three
five eight hundred five eight eight zerothree three five. Feel free to call
in, ask a question, comment, interact in whatever way you see fit.
(02:24):
Love to hear from you. Youcan check out the website Surviving Thesystem
dot org or catch me on socialmedia at Facebook dot com slash Surviving the
System or on Twitter at sts Thepodcast. And if you haven't already, please
do take some time to interact withthe show. If you listen on any
(02:46):
podcast platforms, We're available anywhere youlisten to podcasts. Please take some time
to like the show, rate it, leave a comment, whatever it might
be, and most importantly, ifyou so feel led, please do share
it with your community. You knowI am believe me, I am.
I am not getting any any helpfrom the algorithms. I'm not I'm not
(03:08):
getting pushed by anybody out there.I am. I am a very i
am a very fringe show in myown right, so I'm on the right
network. And before we get started, as always, I do want to
take that quick moment and start theshow with gratitude, you know, as
we can talk about topics that canget frustrating and can really drag you down
(03:31):
if you let them. Starting withthat, starting with that gratitude just helps
us to keep that frequency high,keep that vibration high, and allow us
to tackle these topics in a constructiveand productive manner and come out on the
other end better for having gone throughit in the first place. So with
(03:52):
that said, I want to thankyou so much for being here today.
I am so grateful to have youhere, allowing me to live out my
purpose, to help to remind youof who you really are and what you're
truly capable of. And I usedto say, otherwise I'd just be some
dude in the basement talking to thecat. I've graduated to upstairs in the
(04:15):
bedroom, sitting at the desk talkingto the cat. So thank you so
much. So, you know,if you've listened at all over the last
year, it's coming up on ayear, and this year has flown by,
you know, this last few years. I came home June twenty third
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of two thousand and sixteen, soseven years in three days. It's June
twentieth, twenty twenty three. Sevenyears I've been home. And in that
seven years I have been able toprogressively do better each year. And it's
been it's been challenging, difficult,and it's okay. You know. Every
(05:05):
time every time I catch myself sayingsomething like, wow, this is difficult,
or oh man, this is sohard, there's there's a great saying
that I love and it's so true. And it's if if it was easy,
everybody would do it. So don'tdon't. Don't do something because it's
(05:27):
easy. Do it because it's hard. Do it because it's difficult and challenging.
So in this last year, Ihave, you know, come back
from from being inside. I gota job, reconnected with my family,
(05:47):
reconnected with friends that I hadn't talkedto in a while, and just reconnected
with with society. Got a goodjob, and that job led me to
the next opportunity, which led meto the next opportunity, which led me
to the next opportunity. And youknow, here I am seven years down
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the road. I have started myown business side business. I have founded
a nonprofit organization. I have workedto become a life and business coach.
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I worked for about three and ahalf years on That's that's part of why
I do this here, you know, and overall really just did everything I
could to use that year and ahalf that I was inside. It's kind
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of a reset. That's the bestway that I can put it. That
time is whatever you make of it. And I decided I was going to
use that to become a different person, not even necessarily a different person,
but to become more of the personthat I really am. And as I
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said, it's been challenging, andI see I just I watch other people,
my friend's family, I see allof them, even people who haven't
been through the system. But man, I watch so many people that have.
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I'm watching somebody right now who's beenout for maybe six months, maybe
six and I mean spent the lastfifteen years in and out, I mean
essentially in definitely in more than out. And it it's interesting to me because
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to me, and this is justmy perspective, I look at it and
I go, why are you?Why are you choosing to make things so
difficult for yourself? And I remember, back before I had my lovely transformation,
that I used to just focus onall of the terrible things that life
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was doing to me, Like Ialmost reveled in being like, oh my
gosh, life is so terrible.Oh my go look at how horrible this
thing is. It happened to meagain, almost like it was an excuse
for not having to go do somethingor to try harder, and not that
not that bad things don't happen,but you don't have to let it beat
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you, you know. So asyou watch someone whereas me, I have
taken each opportunity and done my bestto milk it for everything that I possibly
can, give it, everything I'vegot, leave nothing left, put it
all on the table. However,many other sayings I can come up with
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cliches, and at the end ofthat opportunity, it's always led me to
the next one. So there's thatpart of me that I don't understand when
I watch people who get these opportunitiesand just don't do anything, and you
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know, it really gets me tofocus on really just gets me focusing going
back to the work, do thework, and I just remember, you
know, what was it like whenI was like that? What was I
thinking in that moment? Where didthat come from? And what I've learned
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now is that everything, everything inyour life is based on your unconscious mind.
Your unconscious mind runs ninety five percentof who you are and what you
do, and what you think andwhat you say, and how you act
and how you react, your motions, everything on a day to day basis,
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it's all unconscious. And when youcan begin to understand that, then
you can begin to learn to reprogramyour unconscious mind with more empowering thoughts as
opposed to disempowering. You can beginto direct and steer the ship, so
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to speak. If you think aboutit. The best analogy that I can
think of is, or the onethat was given to me. If you
imagine your mind as a cruise shipand how massive those things are, Well,
the cruise ship itself, the shipitself is your unconscious mind. That
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is the vehicle moving from point Ato point B to get you to whatever
your destination is. Now, here'sthe thing. Your conscious mind is the
captain of that ship and has theability to steer the ship wherever he wants
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it to go. And I likethat analogy because imagine if you're trying to
go from point eight point B,and halfway through that journey, point B
is not a viable option anymore.So what are you gonna do? Are
you gonna just stop the ship andsit in the middle of the ocean and
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talk about how horrible things are andoh no, we're never gonna get there.
Now, what are we gonna do? This is terrible. I booked
this trip months in advance. I'venever not completed a route. What are
we gonna do now? Or isit much simpler? And you just say,
hey, why don't we just goto a different destination? You know,
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I really don't want to just sitout here and not go anywhere.
Let's just pick a different destination andthat right there. I love that analogy.
I love thinking of that in mymind because that it's just a perfect
analogy for life. So if yousit down and you set a goal and
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you say, you know what forthis year twenty twenty three, I'll use
mine, I'll use mine. Cominginto this year after I was let go
from a job at a business thatI helped to build from literally the ground
up. We started in the basementof the owner's home and built it to
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a huge office space on the mainroad through town. Everybody saw big sign.
We were starting to get all kindsof recognition in the industry, and
I was part of building it tothat. And then for those efforts,
I was rewarded with a thanks foryour time, there's the door see you.
(13:54):
Essentially, there was more to itthan that. Obviously, I decided,
you know what, I'm going tostart my own business. I just
built this business from the ground up. I watched how we did it.
I don't know everything, but I'llfigure it out. And what I don't
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know, and what I don't knowhow to figure out, I know the
people that do and I'll just goto them. So it did. I
rolled into getting ready into the holidayof twenty twenty two. Coming into twenty
twenty three, I had my businessincorporated. I had my contracts ready.
I'd already, I had hired anattorney, they had incorporated for me.
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We've got my contracts ready to go. I had all of my suppliers ready.
I had even had my first twohires ready. I had financing setting
ready to go. Just you knowwhat, the partner that was helping me
just disappeared, dispared right at thefinish line, just up and disappeared.
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So I had a choice. Andam I gonna let that derail me?
My destination was no longer viable.Am I just gonna sit in the middle
of the ocean and not do anythingand complain and wallow about how I'm never
going to get there now? OrI just pick a different destination. So
(15:26):
I did, and I rolled intothis year back at another job with a
startup organization looking to build. Andthat's right where I'm at. And you
know what, I'm happy, I'mI'm enjoying it, love it. It's
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a great challenge, great challenge.So when you when you counter these obstacles
in life, you have to decideone of two things is going to happen.
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One of two things is going tohappen if you are working towards a
goal, if you are heading towardsa destination, whatever it may be.
This could relate to business, Thiscould relate to personal life. This could
relate to a relationship, financial,spiritual, whatever it is. If you're
heading in a destination. If you'reheading in a direction, something gets in
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the way. That's not the universetelling you immediately to stop. That's not
call it God, call it theuniverse, call it your higher power,
you can call it whatever you wouldlike. It is not the universe coming
to you saying, whoa, hey, don't go this direction. Stop.
(17:00):
It's a challenge that is meant tohelp you grow and to push you further
along, to prepare you for whenyou reach that destination. Because, believe
me, looking at you know,starting up a business in the medical staffing
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industry, especially right now, man, hindsight, believe me, there are
times when I'm like, oh,man, I really wish that, really
wish that I would have had myown business, and man, that would
have been so awesome. This industryis an upheaval right now after COVID,
Like there's a big backlash happening fromCOVID, and it's difficult. A lot
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of these larger agencies, I don'tknow if they're going to survive because it's
difficult. So there's a part ofme that's like, man, I'm kind
of glad that that didn't start.This would have been really difficult, and
I don't know if I would havemade it, And that's okay. So
but if I would have stopped completely, I wouldn't have realized that. And
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where I'm at right now is preparingme even more because I'm still preparing myself
for eventually having my own business.I just had to change the destination a
little bit. I had to changethe timeline, that's all. I didn't
give up on it. I couldhave, but I didn't. And now
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I'm learning even more now than Ihad before. I thought I was ready
before. Now it's like, ohman, this is a really, really
tough time. I'm having to thinkfast on my feet every day all day,
being like, all right, howare we going to handle this?
Where are we going to go withthis one now? And I know that's
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vague, but I can't get intospecifics because of privacy reasons, but it's
true. Nonetheless, I have afriend of mine who always wanted to start
his own business. I think I'vetalked about this before. I'm pretty sure
I have good friend of mine,smart, funny, loyal, I'll always
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think highly of him, always andalways wanted to start his own business.
And he would get going and instantly, and I mean instantly, the minute
that any kind of resistance popped up. The first thing he would do is
be like, Oh, why isGod doing this to me? Why you
gave me all these signs to startthis business and now you're telling me not
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to. I don't understand. I'mso confused. What's going on? No,
that's not what God was telling you. Imagine this way. Imagine if
you said I want to run amarathon and you're not there yet, that's
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okay. You need to get yourselfin shape. You need to do some
training. Everybody does, even seasonedathletes. If they decide I'm gonna run,
I'm gonna run a marathon or triathlon, whatever it might be, they
need to get in shape. Theyneed to do specific training for it.
So imagine imagine if you went andsigned up and said, I'm gonna do
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this marathon, and then the nextday, you went to the gym and
you started working out, got onthe treadmill, started going and man,
it sucks. Like exercising is amental struggle. Man, it's it.
You've got to focus, you've gotto push through it. You've got to
keep going. So what if youwent there and you're like, oh my
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gosh, this is so hard.I'm having trouble breathing. I'm in so
much pain. Oh God, whyare you doing this to me? I
I gotta quit. I can't dothis. Would you ever get to the
marathon? Like? Would you ever? Would you ever get there? Would
you ever even start? No?That is part of the journey. It's
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part of the progress that you haveto make. It is the universe helping
you to grow, and sometimes growthis painful. Again, if it was
easy, everybody would do it.So, when you have these obstacles or
challenges, call them whatever you wantto call them, put in front of
you, is it really that bad? Or is it just preparing you for
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when you arrive at your destination.You might not understand every thing that you're
going to need to be prepared for, but the universe, your higher power,
God, whatever you want to callit, does so when you set
(22:15):
your mind and set that intention,it immediately starts to say, Okay,
we're going to need to prepare youfor this. Let's go. So when
we come back, I want totalk a little bit more about that that
preparation. I want to talk aboutrearranging the legos in your life, talk
(22:37):
about a little quantum physics, talkabout a little spirituality, eye it all
together. So stick with us again. Phone lines are open, so if
you'd like to call in as weget ready to take a break and jump
on on the other end, thenumbers one eight hundred five eight eight zero
three three five, eight hundred fiveeight eight zero three three five the stick
(23:04):
with me. We will talk onthe other end and we will be right
back. If you are just joiningus on Fringe dot FM, thank you
so much for tuning in. Thenumber is one eight hundred five eight eight
zero three three five, eight hundredfive eight eight zero three three five.
You know, I'd really be curiousto see if anybody out there is going
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through stuff like this, or hasgone through something like this and noticed that,
you know, what they thought wasreally difficult situation that they were going
through at the time turned out tobe the best thing that ever happened to
them, because it prepared them forwhat was next. You know, there's
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a story that's been circulating lately,and I it's been sticking in my head
a lot lately, and I thinkit's it's very pertinent for this topic today.
But it's the story of the ChineseFarmer, And if you haven't heard
it, this is a fantastic story. It's a great parable and what it's
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really designed to teach you is tojust understand that you don't truly know if
what you're going through right now isgood or bad until you let it play
out, like being able to lookat it in hindsight from years down the
road. Then you can look backand go and I'm glad I went through
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That might suck going through it atthe time, but that doesn't mean that
it's bad. So the story,and obviously I'm not quoting this verbatim,
but please feel free to look itup yourself. There's probably some different versions
of this, so i'll just hitthe high points. But there was a
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Chinese farmer who had a horse andthe horse ran away, and all of
his neighbors came over and said,oh, we're so sorry to hear about
your horse. I'm so sorry yourhorse ran away. Oh this is so
terrible. This is so unfortunate.And the farmer simply said maybe. And
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the next day the horse came backand he had found seven other wild horses
that were following him. And allhis neighbors came back again and said,
oh, my gosh, this isso awesome, isn't that. You're so
lucky. Look at that. Nowyou've got eight horses. This is the
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greatest thing ever. And he saysmaybe. And then the next day,
his son, helping out his father, goes to try to break in one
of the new horses, and whilehe's riding it trying to break it in,
he was thrown and when he lands, it breaks his leg. And
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the neighbors came out and said,oh, my gosh, that's so horrible.
That's too bad. We're so sorryto hear. This is such a
terrible event. And the farmer simplysays maybe. And the next day recruitment
officers from the army come around andthey're drafting people from the village into the
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army to go fight a war,and they're trying to take the strong and
healthy, the men in this particularstory, and they didn't take his son
because he's hobbled, he had abroken leg. He's not going to be
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any good in a war. Soafter these officers leave again, the neighbors
come around and say, oh,isn't that great Your son doesn't have to
go off to war. This isso awesome, You're so lucky, And
he says, maybe. Now.The moral of the story I think gets
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a little bit up to interpretation.It's just like art. It may say
something different to you than it doesto me, may speak in a different
language, but ultimately what it saysto me is we focus too much on
whether something is good or bad,especially right in the moment, the minute
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that something happens. We are soquick to label it as either something good
or something bad, but we don'tknow. You have to give it time
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to play out. Is it somethingthat's really good? I don't know.
Maybe it seems good in the moment, but down the road it might not
be. Is this situation that you'rein right now is it bad? I
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don't know. It might feel likeit right now, but that doesn't mean
that it is bad. You've gotto give it time to play out,
not to mention. We're so quickto label things good or bad to other
points to make on this that Iimmediately see. First of all, we
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get so caught up in this linearthinking of it can only be one of
two things. It can only begood or bad. And this is I
mean, all through life. Justjust think about it. A TV show
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is I don't know, is itgood or bad? Hey? Did you
try that new restaurant? Was itgood or bad? We just think about
think all the way up to thepeople that run the system. How many
parties do we have? How manypolitical parties do we have in this country?
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With two Democrat or Republican. Ifyou're a Democrat, you're good and
Republicans are bad. And if you'rea Republican, you're good and the Democrats
are bad. Why why why can'tit be a both or b neither?
(30:18):
You know? I remember years agowhen I finally started coming around to understanding
the system and understanding especially when we'retalking about politics and voting, and as
you get up the higher levels we'retalking more like at federal like Congress and
the presidential elections, those are predecidedand it may not be that they're predecided
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as to who wins. But they'rerigged, and this is my opinion,
they're rigged in the fact that youhave two choices that are exactly the same.
They're just a different color tie onone as a blue tie and one
as a one as a red tie. Otherwise they're the same person. There
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are two sides of the same coin, you know. And I just stopped
participating in that part of the system. And I haven't voted since like two
thousand. I think I got caughtup in the hype at that time,
and oh, I need to vote, I need to vote, and I
(31:30):
think I think I voted for GeorgeW. Bush and then you know,
nine to eleven happened, and thenall of the it just all started coming
out. And that's when I waslike, wait a minute, it doesn't
matter who is in office, thesame things are gonna happen one way or
(31:55):
the other. Like it's corruption,there's conspiracy. It's all over the place.
And I remember I remember specifically talkingto somebody about this. You hold
you who'd you vote for in thelast election. I said, I don't.
I don't vote. She said,what why not? I said,
because I don't. I don't believein it. I don't neither of those
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two choices reflect my thoughts or myvalues whatsoever. And just you know the
look of shock on her face.How can you not vote? I don't
understand, I said, Okay,I'll tell you what. Let me put
it to you this way. Here'swhat's gonna happen. I'm gonna punch you
in the face as hard as Ican. Do you want me to punch
(32:38):
you with my left hand or doyou want me to punch you with my
right hand? Take your pick?And of course she's like, I don't
want you to punch me in theface at all. No, no,
no, no, no, that'snot an option right hand or left hand.
And then like you could slowly kindof see it sinking down the layers.
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But then the programming kicked in andoh, well, you know,
if you don't vote, you don'tget to have a say and you can't
complain and blah blah, but no, don't, don't, don't buy into
that bs crap. Good and bad. The other point that I would make,
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with everything being good or bad,good and bad are relative terms.
What might seem good to you mightseem really bad to me, and what
might seem bad to you might seemreally good to me, and what might
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seem really good to you right now, a year from now, you might
think probably a pretty bad situation.How many times do you hear stories of,
like, let's even say, somebodywho won the lottery? Have you
(34:14):
have you looked at any of thestories of people who have won the lottery
and then like lost it all?And if you listen to their stories,
like there's a running theme they weren'tprepared for it. And you hear this
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running theme of yeah, man,I thought I thought having all that money
would would solve all my problems,and it's just more problems. I just
didn't know how to deal with thoseproblems. I blew it. It's all
gone now. I didn't know howto handle it. More money, more
problems. Now. As time goeson, this saying that my coach,
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my mentor James would say to meover and over again has just become more
and more true and more and moreprofound. You know, I think back
to when I was a kid andI got my first job making minimum wage
seven to seventy five an hour washingdishes at a restaurant, And at that
(35:38):
time, man, I thought thatwas a lot of money. Man,
that was freedom. I could putgas in my car, I could buy
concert tickets, I could go outto eat, I'd go see a movie
and do whatever the hell I wantedto do. And then, you know,
I had to start paying the bills. Then I had the car repairs,
(36:01):
and then I had the car insurance, and you know, little by
little there were problems that came withthat. Seventy seven seventy five an hour.
I had seven dollars and seventy fivecents an hour problems. You know,
fast forward a few years and Iget a decent job making you know,
(36:23):
fifty sixty thousand a year. It'sa base salary of forty plus commissions
on the sales. And you know, I'm decent in sales. So I
was working my way up. Youknow. My first year was fifty,
next year was sixty. And withthat, man, that's seven seventy five
(36:45):
an hour, which I was ajoke. If I would make that,
I'd go broke. I'd go bankruptcy. Kidding me, that would be the
worst thing ever. If I wasback to making seventy seventy seven to seventy
five an hour, I'm making twentythirty eight an hour. Now, come
on, man, Now I canbuy a house, I can buy a
new car, I can take avacation and buy some new clothes. I'll
(37:09):
go buy a new TV, andI'll buy a PlayStation. I had the
money to do all that stuff,and then came the house repairs and the
car repairs, and the insurance andthe warranties to replace all of that,
(37:30):
and all of the upkeep on everything. Now I had forty to sixty thousand
dollars a year problems, and thoseseven seventy five an hour problems. That
was laughable, man, that wasa joke. At least seven to seventy
(37:52):
five an hour. Come on.Then, a couple of years ago,
I cleared one hundred and fifty,bought a nicer house, bought a nicer
car, bought some new clothes.Again, But by now, I'd kind
(38:20):
of learned the lesson, so Ididn't get too extravagant with it. I
bought a used car because I knewit was going to have issues one way
or the other. Even a newcar is going to have issues. Shoot,
I bought a new car a coupleof years ago, and that,
oh my god, that was ahorrible experience, and this time, you
(38:47):
know, I knew there was goingto be upkeep on the house, so
I got a home warranty program thathelps to take care of that stuff.
The clothes clothes is kind of cool, but I just need practical clothes.
Like realistically, I just wear likeshorts when it's warm, or I'll wear
(39:08):
pants, you know, like sweatpantsor jeans during the fall and winter when
it's cooler, wear t shirts mostof the time. I've got a couple
button up shirts for a special occasionthings like that. But you know,
I don't I don't go down toGoodwill, Salvation Army and get some clothes.
(39:28):
I don't. I don't mind doingthat. So now I had one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars a yearproblems. However, now I'm prepared for
them because I went through the sevento seventy five an hour problems and then
(39:49):
the forty to fifty or forty tosixty thousand dollars a year problems and gradually
worked my way up. Now I'mprepared for that. But believe me still
to this day, like if Iwas making seven to seventy five an hour,
no that I do not know howI would maintain, Hey, my
(40:12):
standard of living as it is rightnow. My mindset is different. Now
I would find a way. I'mnot going to make seven to seventy five
an hour. My time is morevaluable than that. I am more valuable
than that. But the lesson hereis understanding that these events in life are
(40:37):
not good or bad. Oftentimes they'reboth, and oftentimes they're neither. And
if you really want to rack yourbrain for the rest of the night,
I want you to think about thisand think hard about this, because it's
(40:58):
going to eat at you good orbad. Sometimes it's both, sometimes it's
neither, and sometimes it's both andneither at the same time. Just let
(41:19):
that one sit for a while.I want you to think about that one.
That's a takeaway for you. That'shomework. We'll call that homework.
So you now, as you progressin life and as you move forward,
understand that you are going to faceobstacles and challenges and they are not there.
(41:45):
They are not there as some signfrom God telling you that you're on
the wrong path. It's not thatyou did anything wrong and souddenly now it's
all falling apart. It's just preparingyou for what's to come. Oh my
(42:12):
gosh, I lost my job.This is the worst thing ever. Maybe.
Yes, Now I got a brandnew job of making one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars a year. Thisis the greatest thing ever. Maybe.
So as you apply this, Iapply this especially like to my time from
(42:37):
inside. The unconscious knee jerk reactionfor the majority of the population population out
there is when you say, ifyou sit down in just a casual conversation
and someone says, oh, tellme about yourself. Yeah, so well,
I did a year and a halfof prison. I like flowers,
(43:00):
like long walks on the beach.That person immediately has shut down and you
can watch their mind begin to workand as soon as they hear prison,
they immediately start thinking bad, immediatelystart thinking prison equates to bad. And
I had that mindset. I hadthat mindset. That was why, mentally,
(43:22):
like, I struggled with it somuch when I went in, because
if I was there, that meantI was bad. That's not true,
that's not true at all. IfI had led it, it could have
been. But I decided I didn'twant to let it. And now I
(43:47):
can sit down and I can say, you know what. At the time,
if you would have asked me,and you know people did, that
was a bad experience. That wasbad. But like the farmer, maybe
now fast forward seven years later andI look back and go, you know
(44:12):
what, maybe it wasn't so bad. I learned a lot from it.
It prepared me for where I'm atright now, as strange as that may
be. It prepared me for what'sto come to. How are you being
prepared? What are some challenges inlife that you're facing right now that you're
(44:37):
going through, that you're seeing infront of you that you might think are
bad because that's how you've been unconsciouslyprogrammed to think, Oh, this is
terrible, it's bad. Is itthough? Is it really that bad?
(44:58):
Not to take away that it mightbe difficult and challenging, but is it
bad? Maybe is it good?I don't know. Maybe give it some
time to play out. It's agood exercise. Other than the brain teaser,
(45:30):
A good exercise is to sit down, grab a pen and paper,
or you can even do this ina conversation with a friend or family member,
loved one, spouse, partner,whatever you would like to call them,
and pick an event from your pastin a significant event, one that
(45:55):
there's a lot of emotion charged aroundit, and look at it from the
other perspective. So take something thatyou once considered to be a bad event
and challenge yourself, push yourself,and it may be difficult, challenge yourself
(46:16):
to say, well, this eventthat I normally would consider bad, this
is one of the worst things thatever happened to me. How is it
good? What's the good that camefrom it? And it may be challenging
at first, but once you putthat pen or pencil to paper and that
(46:44):
first one comes out and you go, well, you know, this could
be one good thing that came fromit, the rest just start to flow
from there. And my hope thenis that that open your mind to begin
(47:05):
to look at the rest of yourlife through different lens. From this point
forward, I hope you have foundvalue in tonight's show. Thank you so
much for staying with me and fortuning in. Don't forget the website Surviving
Thesystem dot org, Facebook dot com, slash Surviving the System, and on
(47:27):
Twitter at ststpodcast. And if youhave a story, if you have a
story of yours or family, friend, loved one, I'd love to hear
it, reach out, let meknow what I can do to help.
As always, remember keep your headup, don't let them get you.
It may be easy to look atall the corruption and manipulation in the system
(47:50):
and feel hopeless here at surviving thesystem. We hold to the belief that
great and this is born in themidst of extraordinary struggles. You were created
with a purpose within the net potential, and many have lost sight of that
back We're here to remind you ofwho you are. The best revenge is success.
The thirteenth Amendment to the United StatesConstitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude except as
a punishment for a crime. Everwondered how we ended up with the largest
prison population of any country. Haveyou noticed that those whose jobs it is
to protect and serve seem to bedemanding more and more blind obedience. You
didn't think it just happened by chance, did you. It's time to call
(00:23):
attention to the fact our government asthe most prolific slave owner on the planet.
This is surviving the system. We'lljust put it all out there,
and this this is also a storyabout my journey back from from hell and
my story of I guess redemption youcould call it, but overcoming, I
(00:48):
guess maybe a better word. Butit's not just me, you know,
there are so many other people outthere. That's why I bring them on
here as much as I can.But I talk about these things just so
that, just so that as youlisten you can understand that despite our differences,
we're all going through the same thingsone way or the other, regardless
(01:14):
of my past, regardless of yourpast. Even if you listen to this
show and you have never once beeninside or you've never had a horrific encounter
with the system like some of thepeople that I've talked to, or like
I have. Maybe it's at leastinteresting to you, but you've never gone
through it. But that's okay.We still share commonality in some level,
(01:38):
and that's what I think we've allforgotten so much at this point in time.
We all have been we've all beenunconsciously programmed to focus on the differences
between all of us and how differentall of us are, that we've forgotten
that we're all similar in just asmany ways. So we'll talk about that
(02:01):
tonight and a couple quick housekeeping itemsbefore we get started. If you are
joining us live on Fringe dot fm, thank you so much for tuning in.
Phone lines are open at one eighthundred five eight eight zero three three
five eight hundred five eight eight zerothree three five. Feel free to call
in, ask a question, comment, interact in whatever way you see fit.
(02:24):
Love to hear from you. Youcan check out the website Surviving Thesystem
dot org or catch me on socialmedia at Facebook dot com slash Surviving the
System or on Twitter at sts Thepodcast. And if you haven't already, please
do take some time to interact withthe show. If you listen on any
(02:46):
podcast platforms, We're available anywhere youlisten to podcasts. Please take some time
to like the show, rate it, leave a comment, whatever it might
be, and most importantly, ifyou so feel led, please do share
it with your community. You knowI am believe me, I am.
I am not getting any any helpfrom the algorithms. I'm not I'm not
(03:08):
getting pushed by anybody out there.I am. I am a very i
am a very fringe show in myown right, so I'm on the right
network. And before we get started, as always, I do want to
take that quick moment and start theshow with gratitude, you know, as
we can talk about topics that canget frustrating and can really drag you down
(03:31):
if you let them. Starting withthat, starting with that gratitude just helps
us to keep that frequency high,keep that vibration high, and allow us
to tackle these topics in a constructiveand productive manner and come out on the
other end better for having gone throughit in the first place. So with
(03:52):
that said, I want to thankyou so much for being here today.
I am so grateful to have youhere, allowing me to live out my
purpose, to help to remind youof who you really are and what you're
truly capable of. And I usedto say, otherwise I'd just be some
dude in the basement talking to thecat. I've graduated to upstairs in the
(04:15):
bedroom, sitting at the desk talkingto the cat. So thank you so
much. So, you know,if you've listened at all over the last
year, it's coming up on ayear, and this year has flown by,
you know, this last few years. I came home June twenty third
(04:39):
of two thousand and sixteen, soseven years in three days. It's June
twentieth, twenty twenty three. Sevenyears I've been home. And in that
seven years I have been able toprogressively do better each year. And it's
been it's been challenging, difficult,and it's okay. You know. Every
(05:05):
time every time I catch myself sayingsomething like, wow, this is difficult,
or oh man, this is sohard, there's there's a great saying
that I love and it's so true. And it's if if it was easy,
everybody would do it. So don'tdon't. Don't do something because it's
(05:27):
easy. Do it because it's hard. Do it because it's difficult and challenging.
So in this last year, Ihave, you know, come back
from from being inside. I gota job, reconnected with my family,
(05:47):
reconnected with friends that I hadn't talkedto in a while, and just reconnected
with with society. Got a goodjob, and that job led me to
the next opportunity, which led meto the next opportunity, which led me
to the next opportunity. And youknow, here I am seven years down
(06:12):
the road. I have started myown business side business. I have founded
a nonprofit organization. I have workedto become a life and business coach.
(06:34):
I worked for about three and ahalf years on That's that's part of why
I do this here, you know, and overall really just did everything I
could to use that year and ahalf that I was inside. It's kind
(06:56):
of a reset. That's the bestway that I can put it. That
time is whatever you make of it. And I decided I was going to
use that to become a different person, not even necessarily a different person,
but to become more of the personthat I really am. And as I
(07:27):
said, it's been challenging, andI see I just I watch other people,
my friend's family, I see allof them, even people who haven't
been through the system. But man, I watch so many people that have.
(07:49):
I'm watching somebody right now who's beenout for maybe six months, maybe
six and I mean spent the lastfifteen years in and out, I mean
essentially in definitely in more than out. And it it's interesting to me because
(08:13):
to me, and this is justmy perspective, I look at it and
I go, why are you?Why are you choosing to make things so
difficult for yourself? And I remember, back before I had my lovely transformation,
that I used to just focus onall of the terrible things that life
(08:37):
was doing to me, Like Ialmost reveled in being like, oh my
gosh, life is so terrible.Oh my go look at how horrible this
thing is. It happened to meagain, almost like it was an excuse
for not having to go do somethingor to try harder, and not that
not that bad things don't happen,but you don't have to let it beat
(09:00):
you, you know. So asyou watch someone whereas me, I have
taken each opportunity and done my bestto milk it for everything that I possibly
can, give it, everything I'vegot, leave nothing left, put it
all on the table. However,many other sayings I can come up with
(09:20):
cliches, and at the end ofthat opportunity, it's always led me to
the next one. So there's thatpart of me that I don't understand when
I watch people who get these opportunitiesand just don't do anything, and you
(09:41):
know, it really gets me tofocus on really just gets me focusing going
back to the work, do thework, and I just remember, you
know, what was it like whenI was like that? What was I
thinking in that moment? Where didthat come from? And what I've learned
(10:13):
now is that everything, everything inyour life is based on your unconscious mind.
Your unconscious mind runs ninety five percentof who you are and what you
do, and what you think andwhat you say, and how you act
and how you react, your motions, everything on a day to day basis,
(10:35):
it's all unconscious. And when youcan begin to understand that, then
you can begin to learn to reprogramyour unconscious mind with more empowering thoughts as
opposed to disempowering. You can beginto direct and steer the ship, so
(11:00):
to speak. If you think aboutit. The best analogy that I can
think of is, or the onethat was given to me. If you
imagine your mind as a cruise shipand how massive those things are, Well,
the cruise ship itself, the shipitself is your unconscious mind. That
(11:26):
is the vehicle moving from point Ato point B to get you to whatever
your destination is. Now, here'sthe thing. Your conscious mind is the
captain of that ship and has theability to steer the ship wherever he wants
(11:50):
it to go. And I likethat analogy because imagine if you're trying to
go from point eight point B,and halfway through that journey, point B
is not a viable option anymore.So what are you gonna do? Are
you gonna just stop the ship andsit in the middle of the ocean and
(12:16):
talk about how horrible things are andoh no, we're never gonna get there.
Now, what are we gonna do? This is terrible. I booked
this trip months in advance. I'venever not completed a route. What are
we gonna do now? Or isit much simpler? And you just say,
hey, why don't we just goto a different destination? You know,
(12:43):
I really don't want to just sitout here and not go anywhere.
Let's just pick a different destination andthat right there. I love that analogy.
I love thinking of that in mymind because that it's just a perfect
analogy for life. So if yousit down and you set a goal and
(13:07):
you say, you know what forthis year twenty twenty three, I'll use
mine, I'll use mine. Cominginto this year after I was let go
from a job at a business thatI helped to build from literally the ground
up. We started in the basementof the owner's home and built it to
(13:28):
a huge office space on the mainroad through town. Everybody saw big sign.
We were starting to get all kindsof recognition in the industry, and
I was part of building it tothat. And then for those efforts,
I was rewarded with a thanks foryour time, there's the door see you.
(13:54):
Essentially, there was more to itthan that. Obviously, I decided,
you know what, I'm going tostart my own business. I just
built this business from the ground up. I watched how we did it.
I don't know everything, but I'llfigure it out. And what I don't
(14:15):
know, and what I don't knowhow to figure out, I know the
people that do and I'll just goto them. So it did. I
rolled into getting ready into the holidayof twenty twenty two. Coming into twenty
twenty three, I had my businessincorporated. I had my contracts ready.
I'd already, I had hired anattorney, they had incorporated for me.
(14:39):
We've got my contracts ready to go. I had all of my suppliers ready.
I had even had my first twohires ready. I had financing setting
ready to go. Just you knowwhat, the partner that was helping me
just disappeared, dispared right at thefinish line, just up and disappeared.
(15:01):
So I had a choice. Andam I gonna let that derail me?
My destination was no longer viable.Am I just gonna sit in the middle
of the ocean and not do anythingand complain and wallow about how I'm never
going to get there now? OrI just pick a different destination. So
(15:26):
I did, and I rolled intothis year back at another job with a
startup organization looking to build. Andthat's right where I'm at. And you
know what, I'm happy, I'mI'm enjoying it, love it. It's
(15:46):
a great challenge, great challenge.So when you when you counter these obstacles
in life, you have to decideone of two things is going to happen.
(16:07):
One of two things is going tohappen if you are working towards a
goal, if you are heading towardsa destination, whatever it may be.
This could relate to business, Thiscould relate to personal life. This could
relate to a relationship, financial,spiritual, whatever it is. If you're
heading in a destination. If you'reheading in a direction, something gets in
(16:33):
the way. That's not the universetelling you immediately to stop. That's not
call it God, call it theuniverse, call it your higher power,
you can call it whatever you wouldlike. It is not the universe coming
to you saying, whoa, hey, don't go this direction. Stop.
(17:00):
It's a challenge that is meant tohelp you grow and to push you further
along, to prepare you for whenyou reach that destination. Because, believe
me, looking at you know,starting up a business in the medical staffing
(17:23):
industry, especially right now, man, hindsight, believe me, there are
times when I'm like, oh,man, I really wish that, really
wish that I would have had myown business, and man, that would
have been so awesome. This industryis an upheaval right now after COVID,
Like there's a big backlash happening fromCOVID, and it's difficult. A lot
(17:48):
of these larger agencies, I don'tknow if they're going to survive because it's
difficult. So there's a part ofme that's like, man, I'm kind
of glad that that didn't start.This would have been really difficult, and
I don't know if I would havemade it, And that's okay. So
but if I would have stopped completely, I wouldn't have realized that. And
(18:15):
where I'm at right now is preparingme even more because I'm still preparing myself
for eventually having my own business.I just had to change the destination a
little bit. I had to changethe timeline, that's all. I didn't
give up on it. I couldhave, but I didn't. And now
(18:37):
I'm learning even more now than Ihad before. I thought I was ready
before. Now it's like, ohman, this is a really, really
tough time. I'm having to thinkfast on my feet every day all day,
being like, all right, howare we going to handle this?
Where are we going to go withthis one now? And I know that's
(18:59):
vague, but I can't get intospecifics because of privacy reasons, but it's
true. Nonetheless, I have afriend of mine who always wanted to start
his own business. I think I'vetalked about this before. I'm pretty sure
I have good friend of mine,smart, funny, loyal, I'll always
(19:27):
think highly of him, always andalways wanted to start his own business.
And he would get going and instantly, and I mean instantly, the minute
that any kind of resistance popped up. The first thing he would do is
be like, Oh, why isGod doing this to me? Why you
gave me all these signs to startthis business and now you're telling me not
(19:49):
to. I don't understand. I'mso confused. What's going on? No,
that's not what God was telling you. Imagine this way. Imagine if
you said I want to run amarathon and you're not there yet, that's
(20:11):
okay. You need to get yourselfin shape. You need to do some
training. Everybody does, even seasonedathletes. If they decide I'm gonna run,
I'm gonna run a marathon or triathlon, whatever it might be, they
need to get in shape. Theyneed to do specific training for it.
So imagine imagine if you went andsigned up and said, I'm gonna do
(20:33):
this marathon, and then the nextday, you went to the gym and
you started working out, got onthe treadmill, started going and man,
it sucks. Like exercising is amental struggle. Man, it's it.
You've got to focus, you've gotto push through it. You've got to
keep going. So what if youwent there and you're like, oh my
(20:55):
gosh, this is so hard.I'm having trouble breathing. I'm in so
much pain. Oh God, whyare you doing this to me? I
I gotta quit. I can't dothis. Would you ever get to the
marathon? Like? Would you ever? Would you ever get there? Would
you ever even start? No?That is part of the journey. It's
(21:25):
part of the progress that you haveto make. It is the universe helping
you to grow, and sometimes growthis painful. Again, if it was
easy, everybody would do it.So, when you have these obstacles or
challenges, call them whatever you wantto call them, put in front of
you, is it really that bad? Or is it just preparing you for
(21:51):
when you arrive at your destination.You might not understand every thing that you're
going to need to be prepared for, but the universe, your higher power,
God, whatever you want to callit, does so when you set
(22:15):
your mind and set that intention,it immediately starts to say, Okay,
we're going to need to prepare youfor this. Let's go. So when
we come back, I want totalk a little bit more about that that
preparation. I want to talk aboutrearranging the legos in your life, talk
(22:37):
about a little quantum physics, talkabout a little spirituality, eye it all
together. So stick with us again. Phone lines are open, so if
you'd like to call in as weget ready to take a break and jump
on on the other end, thenumbers one eight hundred five eight eight zero
three three five, eight hundred fiveeight eight zero three three five the stick
(23:04):
with me. We will talk onthe other end and we will be right
back. If you are just joiningus on Fringe dot FM, thank you
so much for tuning in. Thenumber is one eight hundred five eight eight
zero three three five, eight hundredfive eight eight zero three three five.
You know, I'd really be curiousto see if anybody out there is going
(23:25):
through stuff like this, or hasgone through something like this and noticed that,
you know, what they thought wasreally difficult situation that they were going
through at the time turned out tobe the best thing that ever happened to
them, because it prepared them forwhat was next. You know, there's
(23:47):
a story that's been circulating lately,and I it's been sticking in my head
a lot lately, and I thinkit's it's very pertinent for this topic today.
But it's the story of the ChineseFarmer, And if you haven't heard
it, this is a fantastic story. It's a great parable and what it's
(24:11):
really designed to teach you is tojust understand that you don't truly know if
what you're going through right now isgood or bad until you let it play
out, like being able to lookat it in hindsight from years down the
road. Then you can look backand go and I'm glad I went through
(24:34):
That might suck going through it atthe time, but that doesn't mean that
it's bad. So the story,and obviously I'm not quoting this verbatim,
but please feel free to look itup yourself. There's probably some different versions
of this, so i'll just hitthe high points. But there was a
(24:56):
Chinese farmer who had a horse andthe horse ran away, and all of
his neighbors came over and said,oh, we're so sorry to hear about
your horse. I'm so sorry yourhorse ran away. Oh this is so
terrible. This is so unfortunate.And the farmer simply said maybe. And
(25:18):
the next day the horse came backand he had found seven other wild horses
that were following him. And allhis neighbors came back again and said,
oh, my gosh, this isso awesome, isn't that. You're so
lucky. Look at that. Nowyou've got eight horses. This is the
(25:41):
greatest thing ever. And he saysmaybe. And then the next day,
his son, helping out his father, goes to try to break in one
of the new horses, and whilehe's riding it trying to break it in,
he was thrown and when he lands, it breaks his leg. And
(26:06):
the neighbors came out and said,oh, my gosh, that's so horrible.
That's too bad. We're so sorryto hear. This is such a
terrible event. And the farmer simplysays maybe. And the next day recruitment
officers from the army come around andthey're drafting people from the village into the
(26:30):
army to go fight a war,and they're trying to take the strong and
healthy, the men in this particularstory, and they didn't take his son
because he's hobbled, he had abroken leg. He's not going to be
(26:51):
any good in a war. Soafter these officers leave again, the neighbors
come around and say, oh,isn't that great Your son doesn't have to
go off to war. This isso awesome, You're so lucky, And
he says, maybe. Now.The moral of the story I think gets
(27:17):
a little bit up to interpretation.It's just like art. It may say
something different to you than it doesto me, may speak in a different
language, but ultimately what it saysto me is we focus too much on
whether something is good or bad,especially right in the moment, the minute
(27:49):
that something happens. We are soquick to label it as either something good
or something bad, but we don'tknow. You have to give it time
(28:11):
to play out. Is it somethingthat's really good? I don't know.
Maybe it seems good in the moment, but down the road it might not
be. Is this situation that you'rein right now is it bad? I
(28:41):
don't know. It might feel likeit right now, but that doesn't mean
that it is bad. You've gotto give it time to play out,
not to mention. We're so quickto label things good or bad to other
points to make on this that Iimmediately see. First of all, we
(29:07):
get so caught up in this linearthinking of it can only be one of
two things. It can only begood or bad. And this is I
mean, all through life. Justjust think about it. A TV show
(29:29):
is I don't know, is itgood or bad? Hey? Did you
try that new restaurant? Was itgood or bad? We just think about
think all the way up to thepeople that run the system. How many
parties do we have? How manypolitical parties do we have in this country?
(29:52):
With two Democrat or Republican. Ifyou're a Democrat, you're good and
Republicans are bad. And if you'rea Republican, you're good and the Democrats
are bad. Why why why can'tit be a both or b neither?
(30:18):
You know? I remember years agowhen I finally started coming around to understanding
the system and understanding especially when we'retalking about politics and voting, and as
you get up the higher levels we'retalking more like at federal like Congress and
the presidential elections, those are predecidedand it may not be that they're predecided
(30:44):
as to who wins. But they'rerigged, and this is my opinion,
they're rigged in the fact that youhave two choices that are exactly the same.
They're just a different color tie onone as a blue tie and one
as a one as a red tie. Otherwise they're the same person. There
(31:10):
are two sides of the same coin, you know. And I just stopped
participating in that part of the system. And I haven't voted since like two
thousand. I think I got caughtup in the hype at that time,
and oh, I need to vote, I need to vote, and I
(31:30):
think I think I voted for GeorgeW. Bush and then you know,
nine to eleven happened, and thenall of the it just all started coming
out. And that's when I waslike, wait a minute, it doesn't
matter who is in office, thesame things are gonna happen one way or
(31:55):
the other. Like it's corruption,there's conspiracy. It's all over the place.
And I remember I remember specifically talkingto somebody about this. You hold
you who'd you vote for in thelast election. I said, I don't.
I don't vote. She said,what why not? I said,
because I don't. I don't believein it. I don't neither of those
(32:16):
two choices reflect my thoughts or myvalues whatsoever. And just you know the
look of shock on her face.How can you not vote? I don't
understand, I said, Okay,I'll tell you what. Let me put
it to you this way. Here'swhat's gonna happen. I'm gonna punch you
in the face as hard as Ican. Do you want me to punch
(32:38):
you with my left hand or doyou want me to punch you with my
right hand? Take your pick?And of course she's like, I don't
want you to punch me in theface at all. No, no,
no, no, no, that'snot an option right hand or left hand.
And then like you could slowly kindof see it sinking down the layers.
(32:59):
But then the programming kicked in andoh, well, you know,
if you don't vote, you don'tget to have a say and you can't
complain and blah blah, but no, don't, don't, don't buy into
that bs crap. Good and bad. The other point that I would make,
(33:23):
with everything being good or bad,good and bad are relative terms.
What might seem good to you mightseem really bad to me, and what
might seem bad to you might seemreally good to me, and what might
(33:51):
seem really good to you right now, a year from now, you might
think probably a pretty bad situation.How many times do you hear stories of,
like, let's even say, somebodywho won the lottery? Have you
(34:14):
have you looked at any of thestories of people who have won the lottery
and then like lost it all?And if you listen to their stories,
like there's a running theme they weren'tprepared for it. And you hear this
(34:37):
running theme of yeah, man,I thought I thought having all that money
would would solve all my problems,and it's just more problems. I just
didn't know how to deal with thoseproblems. I blew it. It's all
gone now. I didn't know howto handle it. More money, more
problems. Now. As time goeson, this saying that my coach,
(35:13):
my mentor James would say to meover and over again has just become more
and more true and more and moreprofound. You know, I think back
to when I was a kid andI got my first job making minimum wage
seven to seventy five an hour washingdishes at a restaurant, And at that
(35:38):
time, man, I thought thatwas a lot of money. Man,
that was freedom. I could putgas in my car, I could buy
concert tickets, I could go outto eat, I'd go see a movie
and do whatever the hell I wantedto do. And then, you know,
I had to start paying the bills. Then I had the car repairs,
(36:01):
and then I had the car insurance, and you know, little by
little there were problems that came withthat. Seventy seven seventy five an hour.
I had seven dollars and seventy fivecents an hour problems. You know,
fast forward a few years and Iget a decent job making you know,
(36:23):
fifty sixty thousand a year. It'sa base salary of forty plus commissions
on the sales. And you know, I'm decent in sales. So I
was working my way up. Youknow. My first year was fifty,
next year was sixty. And withthat, man, that's seven seventy five
(36:45):
an hour, which I was ajoke. If I would make that,
I'd go broke. I'd go bankruptcy. Kidding me, that would be the
worst thing ever. If I wasback to making seventy seventy seven to seventy
five an hour, I'm making twentythirty eight an hour. Now, come
on, man, Now I canbuy a house, I can buy a
new car, I can take avacation and buy some new clothes. I'll
(37:09):
go buy a new TV, andI'll buy a PlayStation. I had the
money to do all that stuff,and then came the house repairs and the
car repairs, and the insurance andthe warranties to replace all of that,
(37:30):
and all of the upkeep on everything. Now I had forty to sixty thousand
dollars a year problems, and thoseseven seventy five an hour problems. That
was laughable, man, that wasa joke. At least seven to seventy
(37:52):
five an hour. Come on.Then, a couple of years ago,
I cleared one hundred and fifty,bought a nicer house, bought a nicer
car, bought some new clothes.Again, But by now, I'd kind
(38:20):
of learned the lesson, so Ididn't get too extravagant with it. I
bought a used car because I knewit was going to have issues one way
or the other. Even a newcar is going to have issues. Shoot,
I bought a new car a coupleof years ago, and that,
oh my god, that was ahorrible experience, and this time, you
(38:47):
know, I knew there was goingto be upkeep on the house, so
I got a home warranty program thathelps to take care of that stuff.
The clothes clothes is kind of cool, but I just need practical clothes.
Like realistically, I just wear likeshorts when it's warm, or I'll wear
(39:08):
pants, you know, like sweatpantsor jeans during the fall and winter when
it's cooler, wear t shirts mostof the time. I've got a couple
button up shirts for a special occasionthings like that. But you know,
I don't I don't go down toGoodwill, Salvation Army and get some clothes.
(39:28):
I don't. I don't mind doingthat. So now I had one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars a yearproblems. However, now I'm prepared for
them because I went through the sevento seventy five an hour problems and then
(39:49):
the forty to fifty or forty tosixty thousand dollars a year problems and gradually
worked my way up. Now I'mprepared for that. But believe me still
to this day, like if Iwas making seven to seventy five an hour,
no that I do not know howI would maintain, Hey, my
(40:12):
standard of living as it is rightnow. My mindset is different. Now
I would find a way. I'mnot going to make seven to seventy five
an hour. My time is morevaluable than that. I am more valuable
than that. But the lesson hereis understanding that these events in life are
(40:37):
not good or bad. Oftentimes they'reboth, and oftentimes they're neither. And
if you really want to rack yourbrain for the rest of the night,
I want you to think about thisand think hard about this, because it's
(40:58):
going to eat at you good orbad. Sometimes it's both, sometimes it's
neither, and sometimes it's both andneither at the same time. Just let
(41:19):
that one sit for a while.I want you to think about that one.
That's a takeaway for you. That'shomework. We'll call that homework.
So you now, as you progressin life and as you move forward,
understand that you are going to faceobstacles and challenges and they are not there.
(41:45):
They are not there as some signfrom God telling you that you're on
the wrong path. It's not thatyou did anything wrong and souddenly now it's
all falling apart. It's just preparingyou for what's to come. Oh my
(42:12):
gosh, I lost my job.This is the worst thing ever. Maybe.
Yes, Now I got a brandnew job of making one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars a year. Thisis the greatest thing ever. Maybe.
So as you apply this, Iapply this especially like to my time from
(42:37):
inside. The unconscious knee jerk reactionfor the majority of the population population out
there is when you say, ifyou sit down in just a casual conversation
and someone says, oh, tellme about yourself. Yeah, so well,
I did a year and a halfof prison. I like flowers,
(43:00):
like long walks on the beach.That person immediately has shut down and you
can watch their mind begin to workand as soon as they hear prison,
they immediately start thinking bad, immediatelystart thinking prison equates to bad. And
I had that mindset. I hadthat mindset. That was why, mentally,
(43:22):
like, I struggled with it somuch when I went in, because
if I was there, that meantI was bad. That's not true,
that's not true at all. IfI had led it, it could have
been. But I decided I didn'twant to let it. And now I
(43:47):
can sit down and I can say, you know what. At the time,
if you would have asked me,and you know people did, that
was a bad experience. That wasbad. But like the farmer, maybe
now fast forward seven years later andI look back and go, you know
(44:12):
what, maybe it wasn't so bad. I learned a lot from it.
It prepared me for where I'm atright now, as strange as that may
be. It prepared me for what'sto come to. How are you being
prepared? What are some challenges inlife that you're facing right now that you're
(44:37):
going through, that you're seeing infront of you that you might think are
bad because that's how you've been unconsciouslyprogrammed to think, Oh, this is
terrible, it's bad. Is itthough? Is it really that bad?
(44:58):
Not to take away that it mightbe difficult and challenging, but is it
bad? Maybe is it good?I don't know. Maybe give it some
time to play out. It's agood exercise. Other than the brain teaser,
(45:30):
A good exercise is to sit down, grab a pen and paper,
or you can even do this ina conversation with a friend or family member,
loved one, spouse, partner,whatever you would like to call them,
and pick an event from your pastin a significant event, one that
(45:55):
there's a lot of emotion charged aroundit, and look at it from the
other perspective. So take something thatyou once considered to be a bad event
and challenge yourself, push yourself,and it may be difficult, challenge yourself
(46:16):
to say, well, this eventthat I normally would consider bad, this
is one of the worst things thatever happened to me. How is it
good? What's the good that camefrom it? And it may be challenging
at first, but once you putthat pen or pencil to paper and that
(46:44):
first one comes out and you go, well, you know, this could
be one good thing that came fromit, the rest just start to flow
from there. And my hope thenis that that open your mind to begin
(47:05):
to look at the rest of yourlife through different lens. From this point
forward, I hope you have foundvalue in tonight's show. Thank you so
much for staying with me and fortuning in. Don't forget the website Surviving
Thesystem dot org, Facebook dot com, slash Surviving the System, and on
(47:27):
Twitter at ststpodcast. And if youhave a story, if you have a
story of yours or family, friend, loved one, I'd love to hear
it, reach out, let meknow what I can do to help.
As always, remember keep your headup, don't let them get you.
It may be easy to look atall the corruption and manipulation in the system
(47:50):
and feel hopeless here at surviving thesystem. We hold to the belief that
great and this is born in themidst of extraordinary struggles. You were created
with a purpose within the net potential, and many have lost sight of that
back We're here to remind you ofwho you are. The best revenge is success.
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