May 30, 2024 • 39 mins
What if the ancient wisdom of shamanism could transform your modern life? Join me, Jeffrey Brunk, in this inaugural episode of the Everyday Shaman podcast, where we explore the profound intersections between shamanic practices and contemporary medicine, religious traditions, and even cutting-edge science. Through the rhythmic beats of drumming and the vibrational power of sound frequencies, discover how these age-old techniques can promote balance and well-being. This episode is your gateway to a series filled with insightful discussions featuring experts from psychology, science, and religion, alongside my own personal stories and shamanic journeys.
Imagine listening to the whispers of your inner voice, truly understanding your soul's needs. This episode delves into the limitations of conventional psychiatric practices and the profound importance of setting intentions in your spiritual journey. We'll compare routine religious rituals with heart-centered shamanic practices, highlighting how embracing all aspects of oneself, including the shadow, is essential for personal growth and healing. By recognizing and integrating every part of ourselves, we can elevate our vibrations and uncover deeper meaning and control in our lives.
Feeling trapped in unfulfilling work? Battling societal pressures and the weight of expectations? We tackle these issues head-on, discussing the importance of self-awareness, forgiveness, and the courage to defy conformity. Through personal anecdotes and insights, learn the significance of creating safe spaces and practicing "good selfishness" to protect your well-being amid negative energies. As we prepare for future episodes, get ready to meet diverse guests who challenge traditional notions and embrace their true selves, revealing the interconnectedness of the seen and unseen worlds in our quest for holistic healing.
Imagine listening to the whispers of your inner voice, truly understanding your soul's needs. This episode delves into the limitations of conventional psychiatric practices and the profound importance of setting intentions in your spiritual journey. We'll compare routine religious rituals with heart-centered shamanic practices, highlighting how embracing all aspects of oneself, including the shadow, is essential for personal growth and healing. By recognizing and integrating every part of ourselves, we can elevate our vibrations and uncover deeper meaning and control in our lives.
Feeling trapped in unfulfilling work? Battling societal pressures and the weight of expectations? We tackle these issues head-on, discussing the importance of self-awareness, forgiveness, and the courage to defy conformity. Through personal anecdotes and insights, learn the significance of creating safe spaces and practicing "good selfishness" to protect your well-being amid negative energies. As we prepare for future episodes, get ready to meet diverse guests who challenge traditional notions and embrace their true selves, revealing the interconnectedness of the seen and unseen worlds in our quest for holistic healing.
Learn more, schedule a Q&A by phone or video, or book a shamanic session at www.everydayshaman.net
Visit my Facebook page - https://m.facebook.com/jeffreybrunktheeverydayshaman?mibextid=LQQJ4d
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jeffrey Brunk (00:00):
Welcome everyone.
Welcome to the debut episode ofthe Everyday Shaman.
I'm your host, jeffrey Brunk,which you might have already
surmised from the intro, and, bythe way, I changed that so I
don't sound like I'm talkingabout myself in the third person
, but I will have someone elsereading it at some point, so it
won't just be my voice.
You hear the whole time.
I appreciate you joining mehere and this is not going to be
(00:24):
your typical podcast that dealswith shamanism.
You know the history, thepractices, the religious,
quasi-religious aspects of it,although we'll touch on some of
those things because they areimportant but we're really going
to be looking at more of how itis practiced.
We're really going to belooking at more of how it is
(00:44):
practiced.
It's a practice of gaining aconnection to the earth, to
others around us, to theuniverse, to everything.
Shamanism, in the way that Ipractice it, is a way of seeing
modern and traditional medicine,modern and traditional or even
ancient healing techniques,religion, religions of all sorts
(01:06):
, be it Christian, islamic,judaism, you name it.
There's a collision of all ofthese things religion, medicine,
healing, the modern type versusthe traditional type.
But it also includes science,so we will look at ways that
science figures into this andthings that have been proven,
(01:27):
such as vibrations, frequencies,quantum mechanics, quantum
physics, because everything thatis done within shamanic work or
energy healing work, be itthrough the modalities that I
practice and even thetraditional ways, the drumming
of native cultures that usedrumming as a way to get into
(01:49):
trance, the tones andfrequencies of sound, and the
differences between earthfrequencies, lower frequencies
and higher, which I call divinefrequencies, the ones that bring
(02:10):
healing.
The higher frequencies bringhealing.
The lower frequencies tend tobe ones in our world that are
more prominent, yet they bringon more dis-ease hyphen in
between the dis and the ease,which then can snowball into
disease, and I compare that asthe stress-causing ulcers
scenario.
(02:30):
So we're going to delve into alot of these things over the
course of the next several weeksand onwards.
I hope I have some very specialguests lined up already Everyday
, people like ourselves as wellas people that are professionals
in their fields of psychologyand science and religion that
(02:51):
we'll talk to.
And it's not a place forcontention, or this podcast is
not meant to breed contention orto be in place of argument.
It's a place of understandingand understanding oneness and
our oneness with each other,because we are all from the same
place.
And from the same place.
I mean, whether you want tocall it God, or the creator, or
(03:14):
the source or whatever it may beto you, we're all part of that
same energy.
It's within us all.
It cannot be destroyed, it canbe altered, it can be focused,
which is your intention, whichis extremely important but it
can also be something that is,the word is transmuted and it
(03:35):
lives within us as part of ashadow.
There's a balance in thisenergy of dark and light.
It's the shadow and it's beenexplored in psychology through
those such as Carl Jung, sigmundFreud to some extent, amongst
others.
We will look at those and we'lltalk in depth about those
things.
I will also read from shamanicjourneys that I have taken for
(03:58):
others, especially over the lastfive years, and read some of
the summaries that I do, becausewhen I do a shamanic journey
for someone, I write a summarywith every single detail that's
within it.
Those summaries and thosejourneys are meant specifically
for those people, but there arethings within there that would
resonate with a lot of people.
I do them without adding any ofmy own interpretations.
(04:21):
It's specifically for theperson, but there's always
something to be learned fromthose journeys, from those
summaries.
I'll tell more about myself aswell.
I've got quite a story and I dohave a guest lined up that has
lived with me throughout theworst times of what is called I
have recently learned or shamansickness.
(04:42):
Some people have referred to itas the dark night of the soul,
which is not a night, believe me.
It lasts weeks, months, years,however long you resist.
We'll tell about her ownsearching and her struggles of
finding this balance withinherself, as she's found it
within me.
In addition, we're going to getinto some of the more obvious
(05:04):
topics that people always havequestions about.
What is my purpose?
Why am I here?
Why can't I be happy like therest of these?
People are happy when you're atchurch and you see them
throwing their hands in the airand coming out and shaking hands
.
Why can't I have the thingsthat other people have as far as
happiness and joy in my life?
We'll also look at what happensafter you die.
(05:25):
What about spirit?
What about soul?
What about soul loss?
Is there a heaven?
Is there a hell?
There's so, so many questions.
One of the ones that sticks inmy mind the most here recently,
mostly because it seems soprominent on television with all
of these doggone ghost huntershows.
We'll get into ghosts I am notgoing to be getting into.
(05:49):
I am not going to be one that'sgoing to be talking about all
of the paranormal things ingreat detail, because I am not a
ghost hunter.
I would be a ghost clearer,sending energies back to a light
, because there are energiesthat are all around us all the
time we don't see them.
It could be energies of peoplethat once lived near us or we
(06:11):
knew.
It could be the energies ofplants.
It could be the energies ofanimals.
There are so many.
Everything is composed ofenergy and traumas often leave
imprints.
There's an uncertainty, becauseconsciousness is another whole
thing, but it's a part of thatwhole argument of ghosts, so
we'll talk about that as well.
(06:33):
What I'd really like to focus onin this initial episode is the
fact that so many people seem tobe searching and they don't
know what they're searching for.
In particular, it seems likemore young people, people in
their 20s.
I've even had people, childrenas young as 10, some even a
(06:54):
little bit younger, but childrenas young as 10, that are old
souls, but they aremisunderstood and they're
searching and it's almost as ifthere's a hole, there's a void
in their life.
Personally, for me, I grew upand in my generation and I'm not
an old old guy, but I'm oldenough that in my generation it
(07:18):
there was a, there was a strict,it seemed to be a strict code
that you followed as you grew up.
You know, you went to school,you graduated from high school,
you got into a good college, yougraduated from college,
hopefully with good grades, andthen you found a great job.
This is ideal world now.
You found a great job, madesome money, then you met the
(07:41):
right person, you know, whilemaybe you were in that job or
prior.
So you get married and thenthere is a house.
You buy a house first, start athome and then you have children
, then you move to another house, which is probably in a
cul-de-sac, and then eventuallyyou die.
That was the plan.
That was the plan for at leastme and for a lot of men, and I
(08:06):
had been searching my entirelife.
I'd been searching since I was achild, not sure you know why
don't I fit in.
I knew something was different.
I had a lot of acquaintances, Ihad untold number of jobs and
careers throughout my life andnone of them seemed to fill that
void.
My first marriage of 19 yearsdid not fill that void.
(08:29):
Children did not fill that void.
There was something Ipersonally was missing and
needed.
I see that in so many others,especially younger people, that
there's a fear associated withwanting to find out what's
missing.
Because finding out what is notthere, even though you want it,
(08:50):
even though you know that it'ssomething that you need, it's an
internal voice and you knowthat you need it that's
whispering to you.
You know there's somethingthere, but there's a fear
associated with listening tothat voice and finding what is
missing.
Because, especially as ayounger person, in your 20s, 30s
, you have friends, you havefamily, and what happens when
(09:13):
you find it and you change?
What if you change your way ofthinking about things?
What if, all of a sudden, yougrew up in the South or wherever
, and church had always been thething Going to church on Sunday
, going to Mass, going out,however many times, going
through the rituals and yousuddenly realize this is not
what it's about, I've been told.
(09:33):
You find Jesus and you're happy.
Your problems, you confess yoursins and then everything's gone
away, everything's fine, you'reforgiven.
Well, no, you know, it didn'tfill that void for me and I had
gone through, believe me, everylevel, to the point of almost
(09:53):
starting Divinity School at DukeDivinity, trying to find that
feeling, to find that joy thatpeople seem to come out of those
doors with on Sunday morningaround noon, before they went
home and sat in their chairs andput on the game and popped open
a beer or whatever they didAnother episode, you know I was
looking for that and I would say, forgive me, I would do all
(10:16):
that.
But I never felt it, not untilI went through my shaman
sickness, where I fought thecalling of listening to that
little voice inside that void.
And that call came in a lot ofways and it was through song
lyrics.
One of the first ways that itcame through.
(10:38):
It was through just signs,signs that I knew were different
and you know you pay attentionto, but then you let them go.
And so many people strugglewith those.
Because when I changed my, it'snot that I became pious, lord,
no, it's that I suddenly lookedat everything differently.
It's like, why am I doing whatI'm doing?
(11:00):
What does making this moneymatter?
Does having this job matter?
What's the point of this I meanmoney, of course we all need.
But what is the reasoning?
Am I just following what I'mtaught instead of listening?
And so much of our world doesthat.
And so those people that do gothrough these changes, there is
(11:21):
a fear of being judged andexcommunicated from the family
or from a group or from a churchor whatever, because all of a
sudden you're not like them.
You know, and it's difficult,it's very difficult to deal with
.
I have run into so many ofthese people, so I wanted to
talk about searching.
People who are searching willlook for ways to fill that void.
(11:44):
Searching People who aresearching will look for ways to
fill that void, be it throughalcohol or drugs or sex or all
of the above, or looking intochurch, or looking into God
forbid cults, which, I'm goingto say it, yeah, a lot of
churches are, a lot of religionsare.
A lot of organized religionsare, but not everyone within
church.
Is that there are spiritualpeople within churches, or
(12:15):
immersing yourself in thenegativity of the day, be it
news, or whether you're just soinvolved with sports or whatever
and mired in your job.
It's a way of escaping thatvoice, that void.
You know, you're trying to fillit.
You're wanting to do things foryour family, for yourself, for
your community, your friends,your co-workers, but it's not
fulfilling for you, and that iswhat people are struggling with
(12:38):
when they search.
Now.
This can go on for days, weeks,months, years.
Really, it's not days, it maybe weeks, but many weeks.
Most times the searching goeson for years.
I was 44 when my shaman sicknesskicked in and I call it the
size 12 universal boot in thekeister.
(13:01):
That's not the words I'm using,but this is a clean broadcast
in the keister.
That's not the words I'm using,but this is a clean broadcast.
So it's a way of saying hey,you're going to listen, there's
a plan for you.
Your purpose is not to be given.
It's not given to you.
The divine never gives straightyes, no answers, but it leads
you on the path to discovery ofwho you are and how to navigate.
(13:24):
And it requires a lot insearching that people aren't
used to.
We live in a world of constantchaos and static.
There is no off switch on lifeanymore.
There is no off switch withsocial media, with television,
with everything in our faces allof the time, and it takes so
(13:47):
much patience and reallyintestinal fortitude to pull
ourselves away from thesedistractions.
But the only way to really moveforward in the search is to lay
down those distractions, avoidthose distractions, even for a
few moments a day, a couple oftimes a day, whenever you can,
(14:09):
to go outside and appreciatenature and just listen.
You know you can never quietyour mind to a point where
there's no thoughts coming in.
It's just totally impossible.
But you can let the ones gothat are plaguing you, that are
worrisome, that are thoughtsthat really have no merit If
(14:30):
they're not thoughts, actions orideas that benefit you or
others in a positive way.
If they cause fear and anxietyand worry, then you need to let
them go, just to let them go.
And it sounds easy.
It's much easier said than doneand it often takes many, many,
(14:52):
many years to do that.
And I don't want to discourageanyone listening from that
practice, because for me Iquieted my mind quote unquote in
the most unexpected way, and itwas over the course of three
months, working for a job Ihated, away from home in Florida
, and living on the floor,sleeping on the floor in the
(15:14):
house of a Jehovah's Witness whowas a family member that I am
not Jehovah's Witness, neverbeen associated with them and
oddly enough, he never tried toconvert me or take me to a
kingdom hall.
But I was at Cocoa Beach andwas able to go out on the beach.
My job allowed me in sales of aproduct that I will not recount
the name of the company, but itwas a crap job.
(15:37):
It was a pyramid scheme typejob.
I look back now on the reasonfor me taking that was in order
for me to spend those months toquiet my mind, and I would spend
days on the beach at my lunchhour just watching and listening
to the waves in silence.
Had no television at the house,being a Jehovah's Witness.
There was no television.
(15:58):
Did have music, because I lovemusic.
Music plays a huge role in mylife and music has been a great
part of becoming who I am andcarried many messages for me
during my upheaval, let's say itwas so when I did return to
Virginia three months later, itwas like listening to
(16:18):
fingernails on a chalkboard, tohave the television on when a
commercial would come on, oreven having the television on.
It was horrible.
And it's not that I was livingin a cave or living in a
monastery where there was totalquiet.
It was actually louder where Iwas living in Florida, around
Coco, than it was where I livedin Virginia at the time, but my
(16:39):
mind was quieter and I listenedto more, which brings me to
another topic.
We will get into thepsychological aspects of
shamanism and how they conflictwith the modern medical
psychiatry practice orpsychiatric practices of here.
Take this pill.
This will make you feel better.
(17:00):
This will make you better.
It doesn't.
I only say this to say when youare searching and you have that
void, you have the answerswithin you and what's important
to remember is that it is notwhat you hear with your ears,
it's not the constant barrage offriends, family, television
(17:21):
news host, blah, blah, blah,blah.
And what you hear and listenthat you believe.
It's what that whisper is thatscreams at you from the heart,
from inside that we all have.
There is where the connectionlies, within all of us, and it's
listening to that, and there isa huge difference between
hearing and listening.
(17:42):
You can do this and find thatyou don't find all of the
answers in that quest ofsearching for meaning, of
searching for why am I here?
What is my purpose?
What happens after I die?
Am I doing the right thing.
You know, there's so manyquestions that go through your
head that have unknown answers,and some of them are meant to be
(18:05):
unknown.
But you learn as you go and itis possible to get those answers
, but it's in stages.
There is no one answer.
There is no one right way offinding any answers.
There's no one right way ofpracticing meditation or a
healing technique or a shamanictechnique.
(18:26):
There are so many, but if it'sdone with intention, it makes
the search easier.
I will use the example of goingto church again.
I'm sorry if I'm railing onchurch or focusing on church too
much, but if you sit in mostchurches be it Baptist,
methodist, catholic, no matterwhich one there's a program that
(18:49):
they hand you and you'reexpected to sit, stand, sing,
say a prayer and you watch thepeople in the church and watch
how they say the prayers andlisten to them and it's more of
a routine than it is a heartfelt, intentionally based thing.
The greatest prayer I knowgrowing up I was ever told there
(19:11):
was was the Lord's Prayer, andat one point I saw that people,
they just sort of went.
It's almost mumbling through itand that is not a prayer with
intention.
That is a prayer meant to behere.
I'm just saying the words.
What's next?
Pass the plate, sing a song,whatever it may be, and
intention is the greatestenergetic force that we
(19:33):
ourselves can control.
With shamanism, with doingshamanic journeys the way I do
with drumming tracks and settingmy intention for a person or
for an event or whatever it maybe, I'm able to shed my ego, to
set it aside, become a vesselfor that person's betterment or
(19:54):
for that situation's problemsbeing resolved, whatever it may
be.
But it's the intention and it'sbasically prayer on steroids.
When you're able to focus yourintention on that search, you
may not always like what youcome across and find, especially
about yourself, and that's ahard thing to do.
(20:15):
But when you do and you embracethose things about yourself,
you own them.
Then this is a part of theshadow that we have as humans.
Our flesh is shadow or we havea divine within us.
We have the shadow within us,dark and light.
Consider the yin-yang symbollight and dark.
But in that center curved linethere is shadow.
(20:36):
That's us, that's where we are,and there must be a balance
there.
And to maintain that balance, orto regain that balance, you
have to accept those thingsabout yourself that aren't
necessarily pleasant Doesn'tmean that you accept them and go
whoa, it's me, I'm this, thenthis and I did this and that
(20:56):
Because what's past is past,it's what is now is who you are.
And when you embrace thoseshadow portions of yourself, you
recognize them.
So from then on it becomes apractice where you're
recognizing things aboutyourself, things about others,
and you're choosing how youallow those things to affect you
.
And when you do that, you raiseyour vibration from being woe
(21:21):
is me to being I can handle this, to being I'm in control of
this and ultimately, I'm goingto get through this, I'm going
to find this answer, and it'snot an ego-driven thought
process.
It is a heart-centered processand using that shadow as a
weapon against the darker thingswithin the world, because you
(21:42):
have now grasped and understandit, and allows you to understand
better yourself and the way theworld works and the way that
you're able to play a partwithin it.
And it snowballs from there ina way that finding those answers
about who you are, what thepurpose of your life is.
(22:02):
Am I doing the right thing?
Especially when you know you'renot.
You're not happy.
If you're not happy getting outof bed and going to work.
Why are you doing it when youspend so much of your life going
to work?
Why go to work every day foryears, not happy or fulfilled
and having that void?
It's out of fear.
(22:24):
It's out of fear of change, ofthe unknown, and the unknown can
be intimidating, but it doesn'thave to be frightening so much.
In this world now, as far as themedia and social media goes, is
based upon really intimidationand instilling fear.
A lot of propaganda, a lot ofhatred.
(22:44):
There is so much divisivenessthat you, you know it's tough to
make these choices for yourself, about yourself, without being
ridiculed, without being mocked,without being pushed away from
and I know people pushed awayfrom family and friends and
losing family and friendsbecause you're not the same
(23:05):
person that you once were iswhat they think.
You know who are you.
You're different.
So that is not my problem thatthe other people have.
It sounds crass and it soundsharsh, but it really is a truth.
Truths, when you feel them,resonate with you.
For me, they reverberatethrough my body when I feel a
(23:27):
truth, when I have a truth andknow a truth about myself or
about something else, and onething that I've learned is that
when people think poorly of youor they mock you or belittle you
or are angry with you, can'tforgive you.
Forgive yourself, acceptyourself and if these feelings
(23:48):
that they have, if they linger,it's really doing them more harm
than good, that is theirproblem, not yours.
That will hamper your searchfor all of these other things
that are missing within yourself.
If you try to make the otherperson either make them happy,
fit into the molds that theyexpect you to fit into for them
(24:10):
in their lives, that's not yourpurpose for being.
I cannot tell anyone what theirpurpose for being here is,
because it purpose changes.
You get to one point in yourlife and it's one thing, and
then the divine takes youanother way.
But what has happened prior tothat point helps you along the
(24:30):
way in the next step, in thenext phase, and that continues
throughout life.
And you have to remain vigilantin recognizing these changes
about yourself or recognizingwhen feelings of despair or
anger or frustration come up.
We all have those, but when werecognize them, we own them, and
(24:52):
it's easier over time to shedthose things, to recognize them
for what they are and just letthem go, because most of the
time there are things that makeno sense.
As far as holding on to whyhold on to anger over someone at
a stoplight, who is sitting atthe light while it's green and
(25:13):
you have to honk the horn?
Does that solve any purpose?
Then?
That's a very minor example,but it is a good example because
that's everyday life and evenwhen you start to gain awareness
of yourself and you start tofind answers in your search for
meaning and for what is missingin your life, life goes on and
you still deal with the thingsdaily that can cause a lot of
(25:36):
frustration, can cause anger,uncertainty.
In order to move forwardthrough that, you have to let
those things go.
You parse them.
This is something that I need toaddress and this is something
that is just a bunch of crapthat I can let go because it's
doing me no good.
What can I do about this?
(25:56):
Sure, the person at the lightsat there for five seconds while
it was green.
What's the big deal, you know?
Am I going to be five secondslate for work?
So what?
Five seconds late for work,five seconds late for an
appointment, five seconds lateto church, whatever?
Probably make that time upanyway on the way, because
(26:16):
you'll speed, because you'd beangry, but then you realize that
was a stupid thing.
Why am I angry about this?
Why am I frustrated oversomething someone else is doing
when it has nothing to do withme?
What can I do about this?
This situation that's happeningwhere it really doesn't involve
me sort of does, but it reallydoesn't involve me.
(26:38):
So why am I so frustrated aboutit?
Why am I so passionate aboutwhatever it may be?
That is just really tearing youapart inside.
It hampers your search, and weall search, and that never stops
, just like we never stoplearning.
I don't know if anything withinthis has resonated with anyone.
(26:58):
Like I said, this is aninaugural debut episode solo,
and I have so many talkingpoints that I really want to
talk about and it's hard for meto just focus on one because
they are all so tied together.
When we start talking moreabout shamanism, the light and
darkness within us, embracingthose things, the traumas that
(27:20):
come from both ancestral andtoday's traumas we all have
things that are minor and majortraumas that we go through To
creating safe spaces withinourselves and within our homes
and places that we can go intimes of what I call good
selfishness, when we're inamongst groups of people or
(27:42):
around others, that these peopleare in a place that is low.
They are angry, they are sad,they are woeful, they are just
energy vampires.
Good selfishness you takeyourself out of the situation
and if the people or the persondoesn't like that or they
question that, that is notreally a problem of ours, it is
(28:05):
a problem of theirs.
Because in order to helpyourself and to help others and
to continue on your journey toself-awareness, gaining those
answers and filling those voids,you have to take care of
yourself in order to get to theplace where you can help the
person that is unknowinglytrying to bring you down to
their level.
In this world we live in,everyone wants and I say
(28:28):
everyone broadly and I don'tmean that literally, but it
seems most want to bring you totheir level.
If your understanding of thingsdoesn't match theirs, then
you're thought of differently.
If your political views do notmatch someone else's political
views, even though you may knowthe person in a friendly way as
a neighbor, all of a sudden,boom, there's a divide, and
(28:51):
that's ridiculous way.
As a neighbor, all of a sudden,boom, there's a divide, and
that's ridiculous.
And so to take yourself out ofthose situations, just see the
people for who they are, becausethey're also on the journey of
their own in their search forself-awareness.
They're in search of somethingand to belong to a political
movement or a churchorganization or to whatever it
may be.
If it helps them to find whatthey're looking for, great.
(29:14):
But in most cases there couldbe something to be gleaned from
it, but it's not going to getthem to where they want to be,
at least not long term.
So I don't want to go down anyrabbit holes in this podcast.
This is going to be an open andhonest podcast and I'm going to
explain how I do what I do.
So we're going to talk about alittle bit of the differences
(29:36):
between doing things theshamanic way, as well as
comparing that to Reiki.
There are good Reiki masters,I'm sure, and there are those
that just want to do it as abusiness, as a fad.
It's sort of like a spatreatment and I consider and I'm
sure I'm going to probablymaybe see a little bit of a look
(29:57):
of disgust invisibly here onsome of the listeners' faces.
But I look at Reiki as being aband-aid in a way, and don't get
me wrong, because I havestudied and am certified in Usui
Reiki as a Reiki master.
It took me four years to dothat, not because I failed tests
, but because I took time inbetween the stages to learn and
(30:18):
to grow.
I've seen so much Facebookbecome a Reiki master in eight
weeks.
It's like, yeah, give me abreak.
You can't become a Reikipractitioner online.
It takes effort and it takesfocus and it takes like
shamanism, like prayer.
It takes great intention.
So we'll talk about thedifferences with that the
(30:39):
differences between needs,feelings, emotions, deceptions,
wants and the signs that we get,because there are always signs
coming at us that we sometimesrealize and sometimes don't.
One of the earliest for me,when my Shaman Cygnus started to
kick in, was a lyric from aJimmy Buffett song.
I've always been a big JimmyBuffett fan.
(31:00):
I've heard all of his music formany, many years, not
necessarily all because it'sbeach and party music, but
because I believe the man was agreat philosopher if you listen
to a lot of his lyrics.
But the lyric that hit me mostwas from the song Growing Older
Not, but Not Up, and it was thelyric that stuck with me first
and foremost was I'd rather diewhile I'm living than live while
(31:22):
I'm dead, something as simpleas that.
And it made me start to think.
Songs have done that and songsthat I have heard throughout my
lifetime and I thought I knewall the lyrics.
And I did know all the lyrics,but hearing a certain one at a
certain time and a lyric that Iwould go, I don't remember that
lyric being in that songspeaking to me to something
(31:42):
deeper than just my ears.
For me, music is great in thatway.
Being in nature is amazing andjust watching and feeling the
unseen in the wind, hearing therustling of the trees and
watching every small movement onthe ground, knowing that
there's some sort of life thereand that all of that is
(32:06):
interconnected, and you start toget a sense of that connection,
especially outdoors.
I will be talking about thingsthat people will think I'm crazy
for, and I thought about thiswhen I was writing my book.
I thought when I wrote that andpeople read it that people
would think I was crazy becauseit involved what most people
call angels.
(32:26):
I do not call them that.
I call them divine essences,because they are all from a
constant stream of light and Ican only describe it as being
like light going through a prismhow they separate.
They're not winged creatures.
It's much more than that thedarkness, elements of darkness.
They're all around us.
We can connect to these thingsbecause everyone can be an
(32:49):
everyday shaman to some degree.
With intention, a change of self, and with even just filling the
void, poor or tank, it beginsand you understand more.
It takes effort on one's behalf, on everyone's behalf, to grow,
to see that growth continue.
Whether it be physical healthimprovements or emotional health
(33:09):
improvements or a change in thespiritual aspect of your life,
there is a requirement for oneto do things for themselves.
It is not a one-way street.
It's a give and take, and themore you're in balance, the more
it does for your betterment.
If that makes sense, I hope itdoes.
If it doesn't, we'll discussthat more.
(33:29):
But I want to thank you forjoining me on this initial
episode.
I look forward to a lot of theguests that I have scheduled
coming up, especially the menguests that I have, the male
guests that I have, because ofout of all the ones that I've
worked for across the world, Ican probably count on two hands
the number of men that havewillingly come to me for
(33:50):
assistance, and I will say thisbecause I'm a guy.
So I'm allowed.
Men have that thing about being.
There's this image of I've gotto be strong.
I can't show emotion, I'm notgoing to, you know, I can't cry,
I can't go for help becauseI'll show weakness or what are
my friends going to think of me?
You know, blah, blah, blah,blah, blah.
Excuses, excuses, excuses.
(34:11):
Give it up, guys.
These guys that are coming onare not wimpy guys and actually
anyone that admits to themselveswho they really are and accepts
themselves, whether othersappreciate it or like it or not.
They're tough guys.
They could be BarneyFife-looking guys and they are
the baddest mofos in townbecause they have control of
(34:34):
something even a ArnoldSchwarzenegger type guy does not
have, and that's themselves andthe shadow within them.
So I look forward to theseguests.
I look forward to all of theguests that I have scheduled
coming up, because everyone hadsomething different to their
stories how they got to wherethey were, their practices and
modalities, how thingsinterconnect.
(34:56):
There are no coincidences.
So the synchronicities ofhaving these people on the show
and the ways of finding them,then the professionals that
really will add insight, andyou'll be surprised at the ones
that see the correlation and theunderstanding between the
unseen realms, as is inshamanism, as being crucial to
(35:17):
the healing emotional,psychological and physical
healing of individuals.
Modern medical doctors,psychologists I will not throw
psychiatrists in there, becausethat is just a pill game there
is a great amount of people,even within science, that
understand that what is unseen,the realms of shamanism, the
(35:38):
upper realms, the lower realms,this middle realm we live upon,
where everything is seen,everything we see we believe.
Don't believe it, because thereis much more that you can't see
with your eyes.
There is much more of thataround you than you can see with
your eyes.
There is much more of thataround you than you can see with
your eyes.
That I guarantee you.
And a lot of things are thingsthat will be difficult to grasp
(35:59):
or to understand, but they'rethere and must be acknowledged,
because it's not a flat Earth,but it's not a flat
one-dimensional,three-dimensional, even
four-dimensional world.
It is far beyond that andscience has proven that,
scientists and physicists andit'll be interesting, and I look
forward very much so toinvolving you, the listener, and
(36:21):
having some of you who arehearing this, tell me your story
, what has happened, bring youto a state of awareness, what
has helped you to start fillingthat void, or if you filled it
to fill that void, because thereis no one way again to do
things, to do any of thesethings, and I still learn.
Every practitioner learns.
We would be happy to hear that.
(36:42):
So thank you for joining me.
I hope this all made a littlebit of sense to you.
So just remember, everything isenergy.
Nothing is impossible.
There is far more out therethan you're able to physically
see and hear, and so much lieswithin you.
And to recognize that andembrace it is the first step.
Taking that first step meansthat you are searching.
(37:04):
Keep on searching.
You will take on a newperspective about life yourself,
those around you, the worldaround you, both seen and unseen
.
Just remember, the road goes onforever, but the searching
never ends.
You just have to listen andtrust.
Until next time.
I'm Jeffrey Brunk.
Welcome everyone.
Welcome to the debut episode ofthe Everyday Shaman.
I'm your host, jeffrey Brunk,which you might have already
surmised from the intro, and, bythe way, I changed that so I
don't sound like I'm talkingabout myself in the third person
, but I will have someone elsereading it at some point, so it
won't just be my voice.
You hear the whole time.
I appreciate you joining mehere and this is not going to be
(00:24):
your typical podcast that dealswith shamanism.
You know the history, thepractices, the religious,
quasi-religious aspects of it,although we'll touch on some of
those things because they areimportant but we're really going
to be looking at more of how itis practiced.
We're really going to belooking at more of how it is
(00:44):
practiced.
It's a practice of gaining aconnection to the earth, to
others around us, to theuniverse, to everything.
Shamanism, in the way that Ipractice it, is a way of seeing
modern and traditional medicine,modern and traditional or even
ancient healing techniques,religion, religions of all sorts
(01:06):
, be it Christian, islamic,judaism, you name it.
There's a collision of all ofthese things religion, medicine,
healing, the modern type versusthe traditional type.
But it also includes science,so we will look at ways that
science figures into this andthings that have been proven,
(01:27):
such as vibrations, frequencies,quantum mechanics, quantum
physics, because everything thatis done within shamanic work or
energy healing work, be itthrough the modalities that I
practice and even thetraditional ways, the drumming
of native cultures that usedrumming as a way to get into
(01:49):
trance, the tones andfrequencies of sound, and the
differences between earthfrequencies, lower frequencies
and higher, which I call divinefrequencies, the ones that bring
(02:10):
healing.
The higher frequencies bringhealing.
The lower frequencies tend tobe ones in our world that are
more prominent, yet they bringon more dis-ease hyphen in
between the dis and the ease,which then can snowball into
disease, and I compare that asthe stress-causing ulcers
scenario.
(02:30):
So we're going to delve into alot of these things over the
course of the next several weeksand onwards.
I hope I have some very specialguests lined up already Everyday
, people like ourselves as wellas people that are professionals
in their fields of psychologyand science and religion that
(02:51):
we'll talk to.
And it's not a place forcontention, or this podcast is
not meant to breed contention orto be in place of argument.
It's a place of understandingand understanding oneness and
our oneness with each other,because we are all from the same
place.
And from the same place.
I mean, whether you want tocall it God, or the creator, or
(03:14):
the source or whatever it may beto you, we're all part of that
same energy.
It's within us all.
It cannot be destroyed, it canbe altered, it can be focused,
which is your intention, whichis extremely important but it
can also be something that is,the word is transmuted and it
(03:35):
lives within us as part of ashadow.
There's a balance in thisenergy of dark and light.
It's the shadow and it's beenexplored in psychology through
those such as Carl Jung, sigmundFreud to some extent, amongst
others.
We will look at those and we'lltalk in depth about those
things.
I will also read from shamanicjourneys that I have taken for
(03:58):
others, especially over the lastfive years, and read some of
the summaries that I do, becausewhen I do a shamanic journey
for someone, I write a summarywith every single detail that's
within it.
Those summaries and thosejourneys are meant specifically
for those people, but there arethings within there that would
resonate with a lot of people.
I do them without adding any ofmy own interpretations.
(04:21):
It's specifically for theperson, but there's always
something to be learned fromthose journeys, from those
summaries.
I'll tell more about myself aswell.
I've got quite a story and I dohave a guest lined up that has
lived with me throughout theworst times of what is called I
have recently learned or shamansickness.
(04:42):
Some people have referred to itas the dark night of the soul,
which is not a night, believe me.
It lasts weeks, months, years,however long you resist.
We'll tell about her ownsearching and her struggles of
finding this balance withinherself, as she's found it
within me.
In addition, we're going to getinto some of the more obvious
(05:04):
topics that people always havequestions about.
What is my purpose?
Why am I here?
Why can't I be happy like therest of these?
People are happy when you're atchurch and you see them
throwing their hands in the airand coming out and shaking hands
.
Why can't I have the thingsthat other people have as far as
happiness and joy in my life?
We'll also look at what happensafter you die.
(05:25):
What about spirit?
What about soul?
What about soul loss?
Is there a heaven?
Is there a hell?
There's so, so many questions.
One of the ones that sticks inmy mind the most here recently,
mostly because it seems soprominent on television with all
of these doggone ghost huntershows.
We'll get into ghosts I am notgoing to be getting into.
(05:49):
I am not going to be one that'sgoing to be talking about all
of the paranormal things ingreat detail, because I am not a
ghost hunter.
I would be a ghost clearer,sending energies back to a light
, because there are energiesthat are all around us all the
time we don't see them.
It could be energies of peoplethat once lived near us or we
(06:11):
knew.
It could be the energies ofplants.
It could be the energies ofanimals.
There are so many.
Everything is composed ofenergy and traumas often leave
imprints.
There's an uncertainty, becauseconsciousness is another whole
thing, but it's a part of thatwhole argument of ghosts, so
we'll talk about that as well.
(06:33):
What I'd really like to focus onin this initial episode is the
fact that so many people seem tobe searching and they don't
know what they're searching for.
In particular, it seems likemore young people, people in
their 20s.
I've even had people, childrenas young as 10, some even a
(06:54):
little bit younger, but childrenas young as 10, that are old
souls, but they aremisunderstood and they're
searching and it's almost as ifthere's a hole, there's a void
in their life.
Personally, for me, I grew upand in my generation and I'm not
an old old guy, but I'm oldenough that in my generation it
(07:18):
there was a, there was a strict,it seemed to be a strict code
that you followed as you grew up.
You know, you went to school,you graduated from high school,
you got into a good college, yougraduated from college,
hopefully with good grades, andthen you found a great job.
This is ideal world now.
You found a great job, madesome money, then you met the
(07:41):
right person, you know, whilemaybe you were in that job or
prior.
So you get married and thenthere is a house.
You buy a house first, start athome and then you have children
, then you move to another house, which is probably in a
cul-de-sac, and then eventuallyyou die.
That was the plan.
That was the plan for at leastme and for a lot of men, and I
(08:06):
had been searching my entirelife.
I'd been searching since I was achild, not sure you know why
don't I fit in.
I knew something was different.
I had a lot of acquaintances, Ihad untold number of jobs and
careers throughout my life andnone of them seemed to fill that
void.
My first marriage of 19 yearsdid not fill that void.
(08:29):
Children did not fill that void.
There was something Ipersonally was missing and
needed.
I see that in so many others,especially younger people, that
there's a fear associated withwanting to find out what's
missing.
Because finding out what is notthere, even though you want it,
(08:50):
even though you know that it'ssomething that you need, it's an
internal voice and you knowthat you need it that's
whispering to you.
You know there's somethingthere, but there's a fear
associated with listening tothat voice and finding what is
missing.
Because, especially as ayounger person, in your 20s, 30s
, you have friends, you havefamily, and what happens when
(09:13):
you find it and you change?
What if you change your way ofthinking about things?
What if, all of a sudden, yougrew up in the South or wherever
, and church had always been thething Going to church on Sunday
, going to Mass, going out,however many times, going
through the rituals and yousuddenly realize this is not
what it's about, I've been told.
(09:33):
You find Jesus and you're happy.
Your problems, you confess yoursins and then everything's gone
away, everything's fine, you'reforgiven.
Well, no, you know, it didn'tfill that void for me and I had
gone through, believe me, everylevel, to the point of almost
(09:53):
starting Divinity School at DukeDivinity, trying to find that
feeling, to find that joy thatpeople seem to come out of those
doors with on Sunday morningaround noon, before they went
home and sat in their chairs andput on the game and popped open
a beer or whatever they didAnother episode, you know I was
looking for that and I would say, forgive me, I would do all
(10:16):
that.
But I never felt it, not untilI went through my shaman
sickness, where I fought thecalling of listening to that
little voice inside that void.
And that call came in a lot ofways and it was through song
lyrics.
One of the first ways that itcame through.
(10:38):
It was through just signs,signs that I knew were different
and you know you pay attentionto, but then you let them go.
And so many people strugglewith those.
Because when I changed my, it'snot that I became pious, lord,
no, it's that I suddenly lookedat everything differently.
It's like, why am I doing whatI'm doing?
(11:00):
What does making this moneymatter?
Does having this job matter?
What's the point of this I meanmoney, of course we all need.
But what is the reasoning?
Am I just following what I'mtaught instead of listening?
And so much of our world doesthat.
And so those people that do gothrough these changes, there is
(11:21):
a fear of being judged andexcommunicated from the family
or from a group or from a churchor whatever, because all of a
sudden you're not like them.
You know, and it's difficult,it's very difficult to deal with
.
I have run into so many ofthese people, so I wanted to
talk about searching.
People who are searching willlook for ways to fill that void.
(11:44):
Searching People who aresearching will look for ways to
fill that void, be it throughalcohol or drugs or sex or all
of the above, or looking intochurch, or looking into God
forbid cults, which, I'm goingto say it, yeah, a lot of
churches are, a lot of religionsare.
A lot of organized religionsare, but not everyone within
church.
Is that there are spiritualpeople within churches, or
(12:15):
immersing yourself in thenegativity of the day, be it
news, or whether you're just soinvolved with sports or whatever
and mired in your job.
It's a way of escaping thatvoice, that void.
You know, you're trying to fillit.
You're wanting to do things foryour family, for yourself, for
your community, your friends,your co-workers, but it's not
fulfilling for you, and that iswhat people are struggling with
(12:38):
when they search.
Now.
This can go on for days, weeks,months, years.
Really, it's not days, it maybe weeks, but many weeks.
Most times the searching goeson for years.
I was 44 when my shaman sicknesskicked in and I call it the
size 12 universal boot in thekeister.
(13:01):
That's not the words I'm using,but this is a clean broadcast
in the keister.
That's not the words I'm using,but this is a clean broadcast.
So it's a way of saying hey,you're going to listen, there's
a plan for you.
Your purpose is not to be given.
It's not given to you.
The divine never gives straightyes, no answers, but it leads
you on the path to discovery ofwho you are and how to navigate.
(13:24):
And it requires a lot insearching that people aren't
used to.
We live in a world of constantchaos and static.
There is no off switch on lifeanymore.
There is no off switch withsocial media, with television,
with everything in our faces allof the time, and it takes so
(13:47):
much patience and reallyintestinal fortitude to pull
ourselves away from thesedistractions.
But the only way to really moveforward in the search is to lay
down those distractions, avoidthose distractions, even for a
few moments a day, a couple oftimes a day, whenever you can,
(14:09):
to go outside and appreciatenature and just listen.
You know you can never quietyour mind to a point where
there's no thoughts coming in.
It's just totally impossible.
But you can let the ones gothat are plaguing you, that are
worrisome, that are thoughtsthat really have no merit If
(14:30):
they're not thoughts, actions orideas that benefit you or
others in a positive way.
If they cause fear and anxietyand worry, then you need to let
them go, just to let them go.
And it sounds easy.
It's much easier said than doneand it often takes many, many,
(14:52):
many years to do that.
And I don't want to discourageanyone listening from that
practice, because for me Iquieted my mind quote unquote in
the most unexpected way, and itwas over the course of three
months, working for a job Ihated, away from home in Florida
, and living on the floor,sleeping on the floor in the
(15:14):
house of a Jehovah's Witness whowas a family member that I am
not Jehovah's Witness, neverbeen associated with them and
oddly enough, he never tried toconvert me or take me to a
kingdom hall.
But I was at Cocoa Beach andwas able to go out on the beach.
My job allowed me in sales of aproduct that I will not recount
the name of the company, but itwas a crap job.
(15:37):
It was a pyramid scheme typejob.
I look back now on the reasonfor me taking that was in order
for me to spend those months toquiet my mind, and I would spend
days on the beach at my lunchhour just watching and listening
to the waves in silence.
Had no television at the house,being a Jehovah's Witness.
There was no television.
(15:58):
Did have music, because I lovemusic.
Music plays a huge role in mylife and music has been a great
part of becoming who I am andcarried many messages for me
during my upheaval, let's say itwas so when I did return to
Virginia three months later, itwas like listening to
(16:18):
fingernails on a chalkboard, tohave the television on when a
commercial would come on, oreven having the television on.
It was horrible.
And it's not that I was livingin a cave or living in a
monastery where there was totalquiet.
It was actually louder where Iwas living in Florida, around
Coco, than it was where I livedin Virginia at the time, but my
(16:39):
mind was quieter and I listenedto more, which brings me to
another topic.
We will get into thepsychological aspects of
shamanism and how they conflictwith the modern medical
psychiatry practice orpsychiatric practices of here.
Take this pill.
This will make you feel better.
(17:00):
This will make you better.
It doesn't.
I only say this to say when youare searching and you have that
void, you have the answerswithin you and what's important
to remember is that it is notwhat you hear with your ears,
it's not the constant barrage offriends, family, television
(17:21):
news host, blah, blah, blah,blah.
And what you hear and listenthat you believe.
It's what that whisper is thatscreams at you from the heart,
from inside that we all have.
There is where the connectionlies, within all of us, and it's
listening to that, and there isa huge difference between
hearing and listening.
(17:42):
You can do this and find thatyou don't find all of the
answers in that quest ofsearching for meaning, of
searching for why am I here?
What is my purpose?
What happens after I die?
Am I doing the right thing.
You know, there's so manyquestions that go through your
head that have unknown answers,and some of them are meant to be
(18:05):
unknown.
But you learn as you go and itis possible to get those answers
, but it's in stages.
There is no one answer.
There is no one right way offinding any answers.
There's no one right way ofpracticing meditation or a
healing technique or a shamanictechnique.
(18:26):
There are so many, but if it'sdone with intention, it makes
the search easier.
I will use the example of goingto church again.
I'm sorry if I'm railing onchurch or focusing on church too
much, but if you sit in mostchurches be it Baptist,
methodist, catholic, no matterwhich one there's a program that
(18:49):
they hand you and you'reexpected to sit, stand, sing,
say a prayer and you watch thepeople in the church and watch
how they say the prayers andlisten to them and it's more of
a routine than it is a heartfelt, intentionally based thing.
The greatest prayer I knowgrowing up I was ever told there
(19:11):
was was the Lord's Prayer, andat one point I saw that people,
they just sort of went.
It's almost mumbling through itand that is not a prayer with
intention.
That is a prayer meant to behere.
I'm just saying the words.
What's next?
Pass the plate, sing a song,whatever it may be, and
intention is the greatestenergetic force that we
(19:33):
ourselves can control.
With shamanism, with doingshamanic journeys the way I do
with drumming tracks and settingmy intention for a person or
for an event or whatever it maybe, I'm able to shed my ego, to
set it aside, become a vesselfor that person's betterment or
(19:54):
for that situation's problemsbeing resolved, whatever it may
be.
But it's the intention and it'sbasically prayer on steroids.
When you're able to focus yourintention on that search, you
may not always like what youcome across and find, especially
about yourself, and that's ahard thing to do.
(20:15):
But when you do and you embracethose things about yourself,
you own them.
Then this is a part of theshadow that we have as humans.
Our flesh is shadow or we havea divine within us.
We have the shadow within us,dark and light.
Consider the yin-yang symbollight and dark.
But in that center curved linethere is shadow.
(20:36):
That's us, that's where we are,and there must be a balance
there.
And to maintain that balance, orto regain that balance, you
have to accept those thingsabout yourself that aren't
necessarily pleasant Doesn'tmean that you accept them and go
whoa, it's me, I'm this, thenthis and I did this and that
(20:56):
Because what's past is past,it's what is now is who you are.
And when you embrace thoseshadow portions of yourself, you
recognize them.
So from then on it becomes apractice where you're
recognizing things aboutyourself, things about others,
and you're choosing how youallow those things to affect you
.
And when you do that, you raiseyour vibration from being woe
(21:21):
is me to being I can handle this, to being I'm in control of
this and ultimately, I'm goingto get through this, I'm going
to find this answer, and it'snot an ego-driven thought
process.
It is a heart-centered processand using that shadow as a
weapon against the darker thingswithin the world, because you
(21:42):
have now grasped and understandit, and allows you to understand
better yourself and the way theworld works and the way that
you're able to play a partwithin it.
And it snowballs from there ina way that finding those answers
about who you are, what thepurpose of your life is.
(22:02):
Am I doing the right thing?
Especially when you know you'renot.
You're not happy.
If you're not happy getting outof bed and going to work.
Why are you doing it when youspend so much of your life going
to work?
Why go to work every day foryears, not happy or fulfilled
and having that void?
It's out of fear.
(22:24):
It's out of fear of change, ofthe unknown, and the unknown can
be intimidating, but it doesn'thave to be frightening so much.
In this world now, as far as themedia and social media goes, is
based upon really intimidationand instilling fear.
A lot of propaganda, a lot ofhatred.
(22:44):
There is so much divisivenessthat you, you know it's tough to
make these choices for yourself, about yourself, without being
ridiculed, without being mocked,without being pushed away from
and I know people pushed awayfrom family and friends and
losing family and friendsbecause you're not the same
(23:05):
person that you once were iswhat they think.
You know who are you.
You're different.
So that is not my problem thatthe other people have.
It sounds crass and it soundsharsh, but it really is a truth.
Truths, when you feel them,resonate with you.
For me, they reverberatethrough my body when I feel a
(23:27):
truth, when I have a truth andknow a truth about myself or
about something else, and onething that I've learned is that
when people think poorly of youor they mock you or belittle you
or are angry with you, can'tforgive you.
Forgive yourself, acceptyourself and if these feelings
(23:48):
that they have, if they linger,it's really doing them more harm
than good, that is theirproblem, not yours.
That will hamper your searchfor all of these other things
that are missing within yourself.
If you try to make the otherperson either make them happy,
fit into the molds that theyexpect you to fit into for them
(24:10):
in their lives, that's not yourpurpose for being.
I cannot tell anyone what theirpurpose for being here is,
because it purpose changes.
You get to one point in yourlife and it's one thing, and
then the divine takes youanother way.
But what has happened prior tothat point helps you along the
(24:30):
way in the next step, in thenext phase, and that continues
throughout life.
And you have to remain vigilantin recognizing these changes
about yourself or recognizingwhen feelings of despair or
anger or frustration come up.
We all have those, but when werecognize them, we own them, and
(24:52):
it's easier over time to shedthose things, to recognize them
for what they are and just letthem go, because most of the
time there are things that makeno sense.
As far as holding on to whyhold on to anger over someone at
a stoplight, who is sitting atthe light while it's green and
(25:13):
you have to honk the horn?
Does that solve any purpose?
Then?
That's a very minor example,but it is a good example because
that's everyday life and evenwhen you start to gain awareness
of yourself and you start tofind answers in your search for
meaning and for what is missingin your life, life goes on and
you still deal with the thingsdaily that can cause a lot of
(25:36):
frustration, can cause anger,uncertainty.
In order to move forwardthrough that, you have to let
those things go.
You parse them.
This is something that I need toaddress and this is something
that is just a bunch of crapthat I can let go because it's
doing me no good.
What can I do about this?
(25:56):
Sure, the person at the lightsat there for five seconds while
it was green.
What's the big deal, you know?
Am I going to be five secondslate for work?
So what?
Five seconds late for work,five seconds late for an
appointment, five seconds lateto church, whatever?
Probably make that time upanyway on the way, because
(26:16):
you'll speed, because you'd beangry, but then you realize that
was a stupid thing.
Why am I angry about this?
Why am I frustrated oversomething someone else is doing
when it has nothing to do withme?
What can I do about this?
This situation that's happeningwhere it really doesn't involve
me sort of does, but it reallydoesn't involve me.
(26:38):
So why am I so frustrated aboutit?
Why am I so passionate aboutwhatever it may be?
That is just really tearing youapart inside.
It hampers your search, and weall search, and that never stops
, just like we never stoplearning.
I don't know if anything withinthis has resonated with anyone.
(26:58):
Like I said, this is aninaugural debut episode solo,
and I have so many talkingpoints that I really want to
talk about and it's hard for meto just focus on one because
they are all so tied together.
When we start talking moreabout shamanism, the light and
darkness within us, embracingthose things, the traumas that
(27:20):
come from both ancestral andtoday's traumas we all have
things that are minor and majortraumas that we go through To
creating safe spaces withinourselves and within our homes
and places that we can go intimes of what I call good
selfishness, when we're inamongst groups of people or
(27:42):
around others, that these peopleare in a place that is low.
They are angry, they are sad,they are woeful, they are just
energy vampires.
Good selfishness you takeyourself out of the situation
and if the people or the persondoesn't like that or they
question that, that is notreally a problem of ours, it is
(28:05):
a problem of theirs.
Because in order to helpyourself and to help others and
to continue on your journey toself-awareness, gaining those
answers and filling those voids,you have to take care of
yourself in order to get to theplace where you can help the
person that is unknowinglytrying to bring you down to
their level.
In this world we live in,everyone wants and I say
(28:28):
everyone broadly and I don'tmean that literally, but it
seems most want to bring you totheir level.
If your understanding of thingsdoesn't match theirs, then
you're thought of differently.
If your political views do notmatch someone else's political
views, even though you may knowthe person in a friendly way as
a neighbor, all of a sudden,boom, there's a divide, and
(28:51):
that's ridiculous way.
As a neighbor, all of a sudden,boom, there's a divide, and
that's ridiculous.
And so to take yourself out ofthose situations, just see the
people for who they are, becausethey're also on the journey of
their own in their search forself-awareness.
They're in search of somethingand to belong to a political
movement or a churchorganization or to whatever it
may be.
If it helps them to find whatthey're looking for, great.
(29:14):
But in most cases there couldbe something to be gleaned from
it, but it's not going to getthem to where they want to be,
at least not long term.
So I don't want to go down anyrabbit holes in this podcast.
This is going to be an open andhonest podcast and I'm going to
explain how I do what I do.
So we're going to talk about alittle bit of the differences
(29:36):
between doing things theshamanic way, as well as
comparing that to Reiki.
There are good Reiki masters,I'm sure, and there are those
that just want to do it as abusiness, as a fad.
It's sort of like a spatreatment and I consider and I'm
sure I'm going to probablymaybe see a little bit of a look
(29:57):
of disgust invisibly here onsome of the listeners' faces.
But I look at Reiki as being aband-aid in a way, and don't get
me wrong, because I havestudied and am certified in Usui
Reiki as a Reiki master.
It took me four years to dothat, not because I failed tests
, but because I took time inbetween the stages to learn and
(30:18):
to grow.
I've seen so much Facebookbecome a Reiki master in eight
weeks.
It's like, yeah, give me abreak.
You can't become a Reikipractitioner online.
It takes effort and it takesfocus and it takes like
shamanism, like prayer.
It takes great intention.
So we'll talk about thedifferences with that the
(30:39):
differences between needs,feelings, emotions, deceptions,
wants and the signs that we get,because there are always signs
coming at us that we sometimesrealize and sometimes don't.
One of the earliest for me,when my Shaman Cygnus started to
kick in, was a lyric from aJimmy Buffett song.
I've always been a big JimmyBuffett fan.
(31:00):
I've heard all of his music formany, many years, not
necessarily all because it'sbeach and party music, but
because I believe the man was agreat philosopher if you listen
to a lot of his lyrics.
But the lyric that hit me mostwas from the song Growing Older
Not, but Not Up, and it was thelyric that stuck with me first
and foremost was I'd rather diewhile I'm living than live while
(31:22):
I'm dead, something as simpleas that.
And it made me start to think.
Songs have done that and songsthat I have heard throughout my
lifetime and I thought I knewall the lyrics.
And I did know all the lyrics,but hearing a certain one at a
certain time and a lyric that Iwould go, I don't remember that
lyric being in that songspeaking to me to something
(31:42):
deeper than just my ears.
For me, music is great in thatway.
Being in nature is amazing andjust watching and feeling the
unseen in the wind, hearing therustling of the trees and
watching every small movement onthe ground, knowing that
there's some sort of life thereand that all of that is
(32:06):
interconnected, and you start toget a sense of that connection,
especially outdoors.
I will be talking about thingsthat people will think I'm crazy
for, and I thought about thiswhen I was writing my book.
I thought when I wrote that andpeople read it that people
would think I was crazy becauseit involved what most people
call angels.
(32:26):
I do not call them that.
I call them divine essences,because they are all from a
constant stream of light and Ican only describe it as being
like light going through a prismhow they separate.
They're not winged creatures.
It's much more than that thedarkness, elements of darkness.
They're all around us.
We can connect to these thingsbecause everyone can be an
(32:49):
everyday shaman to some degree.
With intention, a change of self, and with even just filling the
void, poor or tank, it beginsand you understand more.
It takes effort on one's behalf, on everyone's behalf, to grow,
to see that growth continue.
Whether it be physical healthimprovements or emotional health
(33:09):
improvements or a change in thespiritual aspect of your life,
there is a requirement for oneto do things for themselves.
It is not a one-way street.
It's a give and take, and themore you're in balance, the more
it does for your betterment.
If that makes sense, I hope itdoes.
If it doesn't, we'll discussthat more.
(33:29):
But I want to thank you forjoining me on this initial
episode.
I look forward to a lot of theguests that I have scheduled
coming up, especially the menguests that I have, the male
guests that I have, because ofout of all the ones that I've
worked for across the world, Ican probably count on two hands
the number of men that havewillingly come to me for
(33:50):
assistance, and I will say thisbecause I'm a guy.
So I'm allowed.
Men have that thing about being.
There's this image of I've gotto be strong.
I can't show emotion, I'm notgoing to, you know, I can't cry,
I can't go for help becauseI'll show weakness or what are
my friends going to think of me?
You know, blah, blah, blah,blah, blah.
Excuses, excuses, excuses.
(34:11):
Give it up, guys.
These guys that are coming onare not wimpy guys and actually
anyone that admits to themselveswho they really are and accepts
themselves, whether othersappreciate it or like it or not.
They're tough guys.
They could be BarneyFife-looking guys and they are
the baddest mofos in townbecause they have control of
(34:34):
something even a ArnoldSchwarzenegger type guy does not
have, and that's themselves andthe shadow within them.
So I look forward to theseguests.
I look forward to all of theguests that I have scheduled
coming up, because everyone hadsomething different to their
stories how they got to wherethey were, their practices and
modalities, how thingsinterconnect.
(34:56):
There are no coincidences.
So the synchronicities ofhaving these people on the show
and the ways of finding them,then the professionals that
really will add insight, andyou'll be surprised at the ones
that see the correlation and theunderstanding between the
unseen realms, as is inshamanism, as being crucial to
(35:17):
the healing emotional,psychological and physical
healing of individuals.
Modern medical doctors,psychologists I will not throw
psychiatrists in there, becausethat is just a pill game there
is a great amount of people,even within science, that
understand that what is unseen,the realms of shamanism, the
(35:38):
upper realms, the lower realms,this middle realm we live upon,
where everything is seen,everything we see we believe.
Don't believe it, because thereis much more that you can't see
with your eyes.
There is much more of thataround you than you can see with
your eyes.
There is much more of thataround you than you can see with
your eyes.
That I guarantee you.
And a lot of things are thingsthat will be difficult to grasp
(35:59):
or to understand, but they'rethere and must be acknowledged,
because it's not a flat Earth,but it's not a flat
one-dimensional,three-dimensional, even
four-dimensional world.
It is far beyond that andscience has proven that,
scientists and physicists andit'll be interesting, and I look
forward very much so toinvolving you, the listener, and
(36:21):
having some of you who arehearing this, tell me your story
, what has happened, bring youto a state of awareness, what
has helped you to start fillingthat void, or if you filled it
to fill that void, because thereis no one way again to do
things, to do any of thesethings, and I still learn.
Every practitioner learns.
We would be happy to hear that.
(36:42):
So thank you for joining me.
I hope this all made a littlebit of sense to you.
So just remember, everything isenergy.
Nothing is impossible.
There is far more out therethan you're able to physically
see and hear, and so much lieswithin you.
And to recognize that andembrace it is the first step.
Taking that first step meansthat you are searching.
(37:04):
Keep on searching.
You will take on a newperspective about life yourself,
those around you, the worldaround you, both seen and unseen
.
Just remember, the road goes onforever, but the searching
never ends.
You just have to listen andtrust.
Until next time.
I'm Jeffrey Brunk.
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