February 12, 2024 • 22 mins
Have you ever clasped the reins so tightly, only to realize that control is nothing but a well-crafted illusion? That's the catalyst for our latest heart-to-heart, where I unwrap the liberating truth that flexibility and openness to life's whims can lead to unexpected joy and profound fulfillment. As we navigate through personal stories of altered plans and perceived missteps, we celebrate how these detours often blossom into the most grateful segments of our journey.
In the dance between discipline and release, we find life's richest lessons. Reflect with me on the potent parallels between the demanding practice of Bikram Yoga and the discipline required to traverse life's hurdles, all the while cultivating gratitude and perception as our allies. Through tales and personal reflections, I’ll illustrate how life’s seemingly insurmountable obstacles serve as stepping stones, leading us towards growth and the art of appreciating the present.
As we close this chapter, I invite you to stride boldly along the path of self-discovery, where each stumbling block is a hidden stepping stone. We delve into the essence of transformation, finding purpose amidst the thorns, and emerging with a renewed sense of self. Together, let's acknowledge our collective journey, embrace our unique stories, and remember, through every trial and triumph, to extend love and appreciation. This is more than just talk; it's a shared experience of healing and growth. Join me, and let us continue this voyage, hand in hand. Namaste.
#BGIR #Motivation #MentalHealth #Discovery #Mindfulness #intentionalliving #Meditation #Yoga #Selfhelp #themotionalhealer #growth #journey #explore #wonder #manifestation #intention #sayyes #yougotthis #choice #yesyoucan #poetry #poeticjourney #poetryinlife #thebrokestguyintheroom
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome back to the Broke's Guy in the Room.
This episode is about theillusion of control.
So often we set out and youknow, there's an old phrase that
God laughs when man plans.
And if there's one thing I'velearned to be absolutely true,
(00:30):
it's that there you can't berigid in your plans.
You definitely can't be rigidin your plans Because our
expectations, when ourexpectations, meet our
experience you know you couldcall that being happy or finding
happiness Even our expectationsare let down or not would occur
(00:56):
.
That can lead to disappointment, that can lead to feelings of
anger, that can lead to so manydifferent things that are not
what we intend.
My life has been so filled withchanges, so filled with
surprises, with unexpectedcircumstances, that if, at any
(01:25):
point looking back down the road, if at any point down the road,
I had been rigid in my plans ordead set on the destination
that I had chosen, I mostcertainly would not be the
(01:47):
person that I am today.
I most certainly would not behere, and of course, by here I
mean chasing my dreams on theother side of the world, while
still being so fortunate to havea loving wife at home and in a
home base filled with people wholove and support me, and an
(02:08):
opportunity to you know, buildsomething here that serves back
home in vice versa.
In essence, a beautiful cycleof perpetual growth.
And what's incredible about thewhole thing is not only did I
not think that a life like thiswas for me, I didn't think I
(02:31):
deserved it, I wouldn't haveeven dared to dream about it,
let alone say that I wantedadmit it to myself, but it's
always been what I dreamed of.
I was dreamed of finding a wayto be able to see the world, to
travel, to meet people all overthe world, to experience
(02:54):
different cultures, to fall inlove with the different cultures
and the different places, toknow what it all feels, smells,
tastes and sounds like.
And I'm so grateful for all ofthe times that I've been proven
(03:15):
wrong by the universe.
I'm so grateful for every scaron this body.
I'm so grateful for everycircumstance, for every
circumstance that at the time, Iwould have defined as a tragedy
(03:35):
.
I'm so grateful for all thepain, I'm so grateful for all
the tears.
I'm so grateful for everysingle part of it.
And the reason that I amchoosing to share this with you
(03:59):
is because I think it's criticalfor all of us.
I think it's that point ofprecipice, it's that awakening
right, the moment that werealize that life is not
happening to us but happeningfor us, we can be free to begin
living the life that we weremeant to.
And as a man who is living thatlife now, I can tell you it's
(04:25):
fucking incredible and it's soworth doing.
I wish I could have opened myeyes sooner.
I wish I could have gotten outof my own way years ago, but
that was not how it was intendedto be.
Oh yeah, I had a plan.
I had a plan for everything.
I had it all planned out fromwhen I was just a kid the number
(04:51):
of dreams that I grasped ontoand I thought so surely were
mine and that I felt them dieand I mourned the loss of them
and I thought never again.
So many times I even toldmyself how dare you dream like
that?
How dare you make us want that?
I think the first time when Iwas younger, I got real big.
(05:17):
Well, obviously, I startedwriting poetry when I was 13,
thanks to my sixth grade teacher, ms Planochek.
I'll never forget it.
She gave us a poetry assignment.
It's the first time I ever evenheard a poetry or thought about
it.
But what I saw?
And it was an opportunity foran easy A.
So she gave us an assignment.
(05:38):
I sat down and, about 10minutes, busted out a few
stanzas, handed it to her andshe handed it right back to me
and told me it wasn't done.
And I was furious because whatI had put out was better than
what anybody else had.
But that wasn't the point.
It didn't matter what anyoneelse did.
(06:01):
The expectations of others werenot the expectation placed upon
me and at the moment I thoughtthis was unfair.
I thought it was so damn unfair.
But had she not pushed me towrite more on that, that very
piece of poetry would not end upbeing published and would not
(06:22):
end up be what provided thegateway for me to read my poetry
at Disneyland and read in frontof thousands of people and meet
thousands of people from allover the world.
It was the first time in my lifeand I got to taste it so young
what it feels like to be special.
I mean, I know you could saywe're all special, but you know
(06:46):
what I mean.
It's different when you tellyourself it's your special.
It's different when you knowthe people you love.
You tell you.
You're special.
It's different when thousandsand thousands and thousands of
strangers come flocking to youto tell you just how special you
are.
You know, sometimes, eventhough what they see is the same
(07:08):
as the people closest to you,you're not going to hear it the
same way you would from thepeople closest to you, right?
That's kind of a universaltruth.
Sometimes the other phraseyou'll never be famous in your
own hometown.
And so at that point I thoughtthat's what I was going to do
(07:31):
with the rest of my life.
I thought I was going to be.
I even had opportunities openup to be in movies.
I had opportunities to writefor people like McDonough, and
at that point my father actuallystepped in and had me turn it
down.
He told me no because he wantedto protect and preserve my
childhood and my growth that way.
(07:51):
And so I bitterly swallowedthat pill and I put down my pen.
For years I stopped writing.
I mean, I figured what the fuckwas the point, but that's a
story for another day.
The point that I the takeawayfrom all that is that every door
(08:17):
that closes leads to anotherone opening, and just because
it's not what you thought youwanted at the time doesn't mean
it's not something you want morethan you could have ever
dreamed, or you will want morethan you could have ever dreamed
.
I always say to me this was thegreat epiphany that changed my
(08:40):
life was realizing that it isever so critical that you
receive every gift and I willcall them gifts whether it be
massed, in the form of tragedyor great success.
You treat it all with equalgratitude, because it is a gift,
along with every breath that wetake, even though some breaths
(09:03):
can be painful still a gift.
I happen to be a teacher ofVikram Yoga and a daily
practitioner of Vikram Yoga, andI can tell you that Vikram's
practiced in a room that'sroughly 105 degrees Fahrenheit
with about 85% humidity.
(09:24):
It is brutal and the posturesthat you get into are brutal.
I mean, it's hard to explain,and at the end of these classes,
every breath that you take ispainful and all you can think
about is getting to the cold airor getting refreshed, but
(09:45):
nonetheless, that air wouldnever feel so good if it weren't
for the torture you wentthrough to get there, and that's
why, during the class, that'snot what you go for.
You go to survive the class sothat you can celebrate the end,
(10:08):
and it feels incredible.
When we are given these gifts.
We have a choice to make.
Perhaps you're given a giftthat at the time, you think is
something you don't want.
You might even be upset by it.
Now you have a choice to make.
(10:30):
If you chose to disregard thatgift, the donor of said gift may
never want to give you anotherone again, and that gift they
gave you might have beensomething so beautiful you
couldn't have possibly imaginedit.
I've told this story before onthis podcast, but there's an old
(10:54):
tale about a king who had threedaughters and he asked of these
three daughters tribute in theform of a gift, and each one
gave him a beautiful statue andthe other had a symphony created
for him.
And the youngest daughter, whohe happened to love the most,
(11:17):
gave him salt, and he was sooutraged by the salt that he
cast her out and told he neverwanted to see her again.
Now what happens to her was shewould go out through slavery,
rise up and become a great chef,and years later the father
would be having a like ceremonyto celebrate his birthday and,
(11:39):
unknowingly, would hire thisgreat chef.
And she still knew, of course,this is her father, and so, to
teach the ultimate lesson, sheprepared all the meat without
you guessed it salt, and on thefirst bite, the father wept,
(12:00):
realizing the significance ofthe gift that he had disregarded
.
And that, to me, is a tale thattook me years to properly
comprehend, and I'm so gratefulthat I was able to do so,
(12:20):
because it's another one ofthose things that taught me a
lesson that continues to teachme every day.
No question, life is truly acelebration when you are
gracious to receive it, or itcan be a painful experience.
(12:46):
What's remarkable is the onlydifference between the two.
Circumstances is really amatter of perception, and
enduring the journey becomes amatter of one's will.
I can tell you, just like anyhuman being, my will is not
(13:07):
always there.
There are times when I havebeen at dark places, and not
only did I not have the will, Ididn't want it anymore.
In the darkness, it's ofteneasy to not see everything as it
is.
You start to think things thatyou think you know but you don't
(13:34):
, and if you choose to let thosethoughts define your reality,
then that will absolutely beyour reality.
See, we are such powerfulbeings that what we think will
(13:54):
become real, whether we want itto or not.
Now, there's only one thing inthere that we have control over,
and that's what we choose tothink, and that that is the
greatest lesson that this lifehas given me, and it has been
(14:17):
the guiding light, the beaconthat has changed me as a human
being from somebody whobasically hated every fiber of
his own being to somebody whoabsolutely loves every fiber of
his own being and who wakes upevery day looking forward to the
(14:38):
opportunity to share it withother people and help other
people find that light.
I'm not sure that I would haveever found it on my own, but the
universe as well is strongerthan mine, and it's another
thing I'm so grateful for.
(14:59):
I'm so grateful for all of thepunishing lessons that it's
offered me.
I've had more near-deathexperiences than any person
should, but in surviving everyone of those experiences, I was
given a gift of a story to telland a lesson to learn from and
(15:19):
one to impart, to share withother people, and then I get the
opportunity to watch them growand to heal, and that gives back
more to me than I could haveever dreamed, more than I would
ever dare to ask anything oranyone for.
(15:43):
Be not rigid in yourexpectations.
Be willing to embrace change,because change is a beautiful
thing, albeit equally painful atalmost every turn.
There's a phrase that I live by.
It's that all good things areborn of discomfort, and in light
(16:05):
of that realization, I seek outthe discomfort and I encourage
you to do the same, becausethat's where you will find
growth and that's where you willfind your path to becoming your
greatest self.
And whatever hardship stands inthe way, you don't let it be an
(16:29):
end pass.
You just treat it as anobstacle.
And as you overcome thatobstacle, you will find the
reward in every step.
Life can be really intimidatingif you try and look at the whole
picture, but it becomes a wholelot simpler when you focus
(16:50):
simply on the step in front ofyou and you take that step, and
then you do it again, and you doit again, and then it's not
long that you turn around andlook back and find yourself in
absolute awe of what youaccomplished and how far you'd
(17:11):
come.
And I challenge you at thatmoment to have the audacity to
express regret anddisappointment.
It truly is all a gift, but itwill only be that if you allow
(17:32):
yourself to perceive it.
Be willing to be wrong, becausewhen it comes between us and
the universe, yeah, yeah, we'regoing to be wrong most of the
time, but I've never been soglad to be so wrong at every
turn, because every time that Iwas proven wrong I learned a
(17:57):
lesson that changed me, thathelped me grow Like the sunshine
and the water on a seed plantedin the ground it starts to come
to life.
As I look back on this journey,the past couple years, the
(18:21):
amount of pain endured wastremendous and had any of it
shown me mercy, the outcomewould most certainly be
something completely different.
And, speaking as a man who isin love with his circumstances
(18:45):
and I'm so grateful that didn'thappen what a wonderful thing it
is to realize just how luckyand fortunate you are and that
reality should be and can be thereality for all of us, no
matter how painful thecircumstances.
That is what it is to be inlove with life, and you realize
(19:11):
it when you encounter people whoare in circumstances that are
unimaginably painful for you andyet you see them handle it with
such grace and find beauty andlove in those circumstances.
In closing, I'm going to sharesomething I wrote just moments
(19:33):
ago.
It's called the illusion ofcontrol.
Incredible how the universenever ceases to surprise.
We make our plans and do ourdance so that we can feel alive,
until a sudden change removesall the illusions of control,
(19:54):
sending our plans andexpectations tumbling down the
rabbit hole.
For some, the fall is lethal,while others find in it a thrill
, the difference being made bythe strength of a victim's will.
Though it isn't what's expected, it is exactly what we need A
chance for some to heal and grow.
(20:15):
A choice for some to simplybleed In pain.
I found a purpose.
I didn't think I could reveal.
My own fears of perseverance,made every effort to conceal an
outcome that laid beautifullyjust outside my comfort zone,
the place that I was destined toone day call my home, but first
(20:40):
I would be stripped of all thecomforts that I knew, be shown
the fallacy in everything that Ithought was true, to accept
that I was not then who I wassurely meant to be, to let that
version die so I could set theother free.
(21:00):
I don't think that I can call itlost, for never will I mourn,
for if not for that sacrificeI'd not have been reborn.
If not for all the painsurvived, I might be paralyzed
by fear.
Had I not traveled through thathaze then I could never see
this clear.
Though it's hard expressinggratitude for the hardships in
(21:22):
this life, I know there's alwayswrongs that play a part in
every right.
The road is not as I'd havewished it, but nonetheless it is
my own.
I thought I knew where I wasgoing before I found my way back
home, until the next time.
My friends, with love andgratitude to you all, this is
(21:45):
Chris Kushner, the Broke's Guyin the Room, namaste.
Welcome back to the Broke's Guy in the Room.
This episode is about theillusion of control.
So often we set out and youknow, there's an old phrase that
God laughs when man plans.
And if there's one thing I'velearned to be absolutely true,
(00:30):
it's that there you can't berigid in your plans.
You definitely can't be rigidin your plans Because our
expectations, when ourexpectations, meet our
experience you know you couldcall that being happy or finding
happiness Even our expectationsare let down or not would occur
(00:56):
.
That can lead to disappointment, that can lead to feelings of
anger, that can lead to so manydifferent things that are not
what we intend.
My life has been so filled withchanges, so filled with
surprises, with unexpectedcircumstances, that if, at any
(01:25):
point looking back down the road, if at any point down the road,
I had been rigid in my plans ordead set on the destination
that I had chosen, I mostcertainly would not be the
(01:47):
person that I am today.
I most certainly would not behere, and of course, by here I
mean chasing my dreams on theother side of the world, while
still being so fortunate to havea loving wife at home and in a
home base filled with people wholove and support me, and an
(02:08):
opportunity to you know, buildsomething here that serves back
home in vice versa.
In essence, a beautiful cycleof perpetual growth.
And what's incredible about thewhole thing is not only did I
not think that a life like thiswas for me, I didn't think I
(02:31):
deserved it, I wouldn't haveeven dared to dream about it,
let alone say that I wantedadmit it to myself, but it's
always been what I dreamed of.
I was dreamed of finding a wayto be able to see the world, to
travel, to meet people all overthe world, to experience
(02:54):
different cultures, to fall inlove with the different cultures
and the different places, toknow what it all feels, smells,
tastes and sounds like.
And I'm so grateful for all ofthe times that I've been proven
(03:15):
wrong by the universe.
I'm so grateful for every scaron this body.
I'm so grateful for everycircumstance, for every
circumstance that at the time, Iwould have defined as a tragedy
(03:35):
.
I'm so grateful for all thepain, I'm so grateful for all
the tears.
I'm so grateful for everysingle part of it.
And the reason that I amchoosing to share this with you
(03:59):
is because I think it's criticalfor all of us.
I think it's that point ofprecipice, it's that awakening
right, the moment that werealize that life is not
happening to us but happeningfor us, we can be free to begin
living the life that we weremeant to.
And as a man who is living thatlife now, I can tell you it's
(04:25):
fucking incredible and it's soworth doing.
I wish I could have opened myeyes sooner.
I wish I could have gotten outof my own way years ago, but
that was not how it was intendedto be.
Oh yeah, I had a plan.
I had a plan for everything.
I had it all planned out fromwhen I was just a kid the number
(04:51):
of dreams that I grasped ontoand I thought so surely were
mine and that I felt them dieand I mourned the loss of them
and I thought never again.
So many times I even toldmyself how dare you dream like
that?
How dare you make us want that?
I think the first time when Iwas younger, I got real big.
(05:17):
Well, obviously, I startedwriting poetry when I was 13,
thanks to my sixth grade teacher, ms Planochek.
I'll never forget it.
She gave us a poetry assignment.
It's the first time I ever evenheard a poetry or thought about
it.
But what I saw?
And it was an opportunity foran easy A.
So she gave us an assignment.
(05:38):
I sat down and, about 10minutes, busted out a few
stanzas, handed it to her andshe handed it right back to me
and told me it wasn't done.
And I was furious because whatI had put out was better than
what anybody else had.
But that wasn't the point.
It didn't matter what anyoneelse did.
(06:01):
The expectations of others werenot the expectation placed upon
me and at the moment I thoughtthis was unfair.
I thought it was so damn unfair.
But had she not pushed me towrite more on that, that very
piece of poetry would not end upbeing published and would not
(06:22):
end up be what provided thegateway for me to read my poetry
at Disneyland and read in frontof thousands of people and meet
thousands of people from allover the world.
It was the first time in my lifeand I got to taste it so young
what it feels like to be special.
I mean, I know you could saywe're all special, but you know
(06:46):
what I mean.
It's different when you tellyourself it's your special.
It's different when you knowthe people you love.
You tell you.
You're special.
It's different when thousandsand thousands and thousands of
strangers come flocking to youto tell you just how special you
are.
You know, sometimes, eventhough what they see is the same
(07:08):
as the people closest to you,you're not going to hear it the
same way you would from thepeople closest to you, right?
That's kind of a universaltruth.
Sometimes the other phraseyou'll never be famous in your
own hometown.
And so at that point I thoughtthat's what I was going to do
(07:31):
with the rest of my life.
I thought I was going to be.
I even had opportunities openup to be in movies.
I had opportunities to writefor people like McDonough, and
at that point my father actuallystepped in and had me turn it
down.
He told me no because he wantedto protect and preserve my
childhood and my growth that way.
(07:51):
And so I bitterly swallowedthat pill and I put down my pen.
For years I stopped writing.
I mean, I figured what the fuckwas the point, but that's a
story for another day.
The point that I the takeawayfrom all that is that every door
(08:17):
that closes leads to anotherone opening, and just because
it's not what you thought youwanted at the time doesn't mean
it's not something you want morethan you could have ever
dreamed, or you will want morethan you could have ever dreamed
.
I always say to me this was thegreat epiphany that changed my
(08:40):
life was realizing that it isever so critical that you
receive every gift and I willcall them gifts whether it be
massed, in the form of tragedyor great success.
You treat it all with equalgratitude, because it is a gift,
along with every breath that wetake, even though some breaths
(09:03):
can be painful still a gift.
I happen to be a teacher ofVikram Yoga and a daily
practitioner of Vikram Yoga, andI can tell you that Vikram's
practiced in a room that'sroughly 105 degrees Fahrenheit
with about 85% humidity.
(09:24):
It is brutal and the posturesthat you get into are brutal.
I mean, it's hard to explain,and at the end of these classes,
every breath that you take ispainful and all you can think
about is getting to the cold airor getting refreshed, but
(09:45):
nonetheless, that air wouldnever feel so good if it weren't
for the torture you wentthrough to get there, and that's
why, during the class, that'snot what you go for.
You go to survive the class sothat you can celebrate the end,
(10:08):
and it feels incredible.
When we are given these gifts.
We have a choice to make.
Perhaps you're given a giftthat at the time, you think is
something you don't want.
You might even be upset by it.
Now you have a choice to make.
(10:30):
If you chose to disregard thatgift, the donor of said gift may
never want to give you anotherone again, and that gift they
gave you might have beensomething so beautiful you
couldn't have possibly imaginedit.
I've told this story before onthis podcast, but there's an old
(10:54):
tale about a king who had threedaughters and he asked of these
three daughters tribute in theform of a gift, and each one
gave him a beautiful statue andthe other had a symphony created
for him.
And the youngest daughter, whohe happened to love the most,
(11:17):
gave him salt, and he was sooutraged by the salt that he
cast her out and told he neverwanted to see her again.
Now what happens to her was shewould go out through slavery,
rise up and become a great chef,and years later the father
would be having a like ceremonyto celebrate his birthday and,
(11:39):
unknowingly, would hire thisgreat chef.
And she still knew, of course,this is her father, and so, to
teach the ultimate lesson, sheprepared all the meat without
you guessed it salt, and on thefirst bite, the father wept,
(12:00):
realizing the significance ofthe gift that he had disregarded
.
And that, to me, is a tale thattook me years to properly
comprehend, and I'm so gratefulthat I was able to do so,
(12:20):
because it's another one ofthose things that taught me a
lesson that continues to teachme every day.
No question, life is truly acelebration when you are
gracious to receive it, or itcan be a painful experience.
(12:46):
What's remarkable is the onlydifference between the two.
Circumstances is really amatter of perception, and
enduring the journey becomes amatter of one's will.
I can tell you, just like anyhuman being, my will is not
(13:07):
always there.
There are times when I havebeen at dark places, and not
only did I not have the will, Ididn't want it anymore.
In the darkness, it's ofteneasy to not see everything as it
is.
You start to think things thatyou think you know but you don't
(13:34):
, and if you choose to let thosethoughts define your reality,
then that will absolutely beyour reality.
See, we are such powerfulbeings that what we think will
(13:54):
become real, whether we want itto or not.
Now, there's only one thing inthere that we have control over,
and that's what we choose tothink, and that that is the
greatest lesson that this lifehas given me, and it has been
(14:17):
the guiding light, the beaconthat has changed me as a human
being from somebody whobasically hated every fiber of
his own being to somebody whoabsolutely loves every fiber of
his own being and who wakes upevery day looking forward to the
(14:38):
opportunity to share it withother people and help other
people find that light.
I'm not sure that I would haveever found it on my own, but the
universe as well is strongerthan mine, and it's another
thing I'm so grateful for.
(14:59):
I'm so grateful for all of thepunishing lessons that it's
offered me.
I've had more near-deathexperiences than any person
should, but in surviving everyone of those experiences, I was
given a gift of a story to telland a lesson to learn from and
(15:19):
one to impart, to share withother people, and then I get the
opportunity to watch them growand to heal, and that gives back
more to me than I could haveever dreamed, more than I would
ever dare to ask anything oranyone for.
(15:43):
Be not rigid in yourexpectations.
Be willing to embrace change,because change is a beautiful
thing, albeit equally painful atalmost every turn.
There's a phrase that I live by.
It's that all good things areborn of discomfort, and in light
(16:05):
of that realization, I seek outthe discomfort and I encourage
you to do the same, becausethat's where you will find
growth and that's where you willfind your path to becoming your
greatest self.
And whatever hardship stands inthe way, you don't let it be an
(16:29):
end pass.
You just treat it as anobstacle.
And as you overcome thatobstacle, you will find the
reward in every step.
Life can be really intimidatingif you try and look at the whole
picture, but it becomes a wholelot simpler when you focus
(16:50):
simply on the step in front ofyou and you take that step, and
then you do it again, and you doit again, and then it's not
long that you turn around andlook back and find yourself in
absolute awe of what youaccomplished and how far you'd
(17:11):
come.
And I challenge you at thatmoment to have the audacity to
express regret anddisappointment.
It truly is all a gift, but itwill only be that if you allow
(17:32):
yourself to perceive it.
Be willing to be wrong, becausewhen it comes between us and
the universe, yeah, yeah, we'regoing to be wrong most of the
time, but I've never been soglad to be so wrong at every
turn, because every time that Iwas proven wrong I learned a
(17:57):
lesson that changed me, thathelped me grow Like the sunshine
and the water on a seed plantedin the ground it starts to come
to life.
As I look back on this journey,the past couple years, the
(18:21):
amount of pain endured wastremendous and had any of it
shown me mercy, the outcomewould most certainly be
something completely different.
And, speaking as a man who isin love with his circumstances
(18:45):
and I'm so grateful that didn'thappen what a wonderful thing it
is to realize just how luckyand fortunate you are and that
reality should be and can be thereality for all of us, no
matter how painful thecircumstances.
That is what it is to be inlove with life, and you realize
(19:11):
it when you encounter people whoare in circumstances that are
unimaginably painful for you andyet you see them handle it with
such grace and find beauty andlove in those circumstances.
In closing, I'm going to sharesomething I wrote just moments
(19:33):
ago.
It's called the illusion ofcontrol.
Incredible how the universenever ceases to surprise.
We make our plans and do ourdance so that we can feel alive,
until a sudden change removesall the illusions of control,
(19:54):
sending our plans andexpectations tumbling down the
rabbit hole.
For some, the fall is lethal,while others find in it a thrill
, the difference being made bythe strength of a victim's will.
Though it isn't what's expected, it is exactly what we need A
chance for some to heal and grow.
(20:15):
A choice for some to simplybleed In pain.
I found a purpose.
I didn't think I could reveal.
My own fears of perseverance,made every effort to conceal an
outcome that laid beautifullyjust outside my comfort zone,
the place that I was destined toone day call my home, but first
(20:40):
I would be stripped of all thecomforts that I knew, be shown
the fallacy in everything that Ithought was true, to accept
that I was not then who I wassurely meant to be, to let that
version die so I could set theother free.
(21:00):
I don't think that I can call itlost, for never will I mourn,
for if not for that sacrificeI'd not have been reborn.
If not for all the painsurvived, I might be paralyzed
by fear.
Had I not traveled through thathaze then I could never see
this clear.
Though it's hard expressinggratitude for the hardships in
(21:22):
this life, I know there's alwayswrongs that play a part in
every right.
The road is not as I'd havewished it, but nonetheless it is
my own.
I thought I knew where I wasgoing before I found my way back
home, until the next time.
My friends, with love andgratitude to you all, this is
(21:45):
Chris Kushner, the Broke's Guyin the Room, namaste.
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