March 13, 2025 • 24 mins
In this episode, Mike dives into the liberating truth behind the ego’s illusion of "arrival"—the seductive idea that peace and fulfillment lie just beyond the next milestone. He opens with a raw recounting of his own 52-year chase: from yearning for middle school to enduring Marine Corps boot camp, from corporate climbs to building a purpose-driven business, only to find the goalposts forever shifting. With a nod to a Buddhist maxim—that our struggles are so universal we’d laugh at their lack of originality—Mike blends personal stories with spiritual wisdom from Eckhart Tolle and his own awakening at 43. He challenges the ego’s carrot-on-a-stick game, showing how it traps us in unconscious living, and offers a soul-centered alternative: surrendering to the now. This isn’t about abandoning dreams, but about finding freedom by releasing the delusion that “someday” holds the key to joy.
Key Takeaways
- The Ego Drives a Never-Ending Chase
- The promise of “okayness” after the next goal is a lie that keeps you running—peace is already here.
- Arrival Is an Illusion
- Your last breath is the only finish line; the journey itself is where life unfolds.
- Surrender Unlocks True Freedom
- Embracing the present, not fighting it, floods your life with joy and ease.
- The Mind Craves, the Soul Rests
- The ego hungers for more, but the soul finds wholeness in what is, not what’s next.
- Conscious Living Is Soul-Led
- Step out of the ego’s chaos and into your soul’s calm by choosing the now over the “then.”
Notable Quotes
- “If we all sat around a campfire and told our deepest, darkest secrets, we’d laugh at each other out of lack of originality.”
- “The ego throws up a smokescreen to keep us chasing more… it’s the carrot you can never catch.”
- “There is no arrival… and if that deflates your ego, good.”
- “The mind wants to want more than it wants to have.” – Eckhart Tolle (shared by Mike)
- “Take back control from your ego and live as the soul. That’s who you really are.”
Music Credit: "What's Left of Me" by Wes Hoffman & Friends
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Mike Kitko is an executive self-mastery coach, speaker and author. He found external success through powerful titles, incomes, and material possessions. He ultimately fell into depression, toxic abuse of alcohol, and the near collapse of his family before he began a journey of internal happiness and success.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you ever wake up feeling like there's something
missing in your life?
Do you ever feel the need toescape your business?
Are you running your life or isyour life running you?
I'm Mike Kitko and I'll helpyou design and create a life so
authentic and aligned with whoyou really are you'll get
excited just to wake up.
I'll help you create realwealth, success and freedom from
(00:22):
the inside out.
Welcome to the Inner WealthPodcast, where we learn and
choose to live inspired each andevery day.
There's an old Buddhist maximthat says if we all sat around a
campfire and I'm talking aboutall 8 billion of us on this
(00:45):
planet if we all sat around acampfire and told our deepest,
darkest secrets, we would alllaugh at each other out of lack
of originality.
Now, I say this a lot when I'mteaching and when I'm coaching
and when I'm creating content.
I'm creating content.
(01:08):
I say this a lot because itkeeps making sure that people
feel normal in their beingness,in their humanity.
All right, there's none of uson this planet that have
everything figured out.
Now I know a lot of really,really wealthy people and a lot
of successful people.
I get to work with a lot ofwealthy and successful people,
and I know that nobody has itall figured out.
Everyone's, everybody'sovercoming a challenge, an
(01:33):
obstacle, their struggles inlife, everyone's dealing with
something, everyone's workingthrough something and no one, no
one gets there.
All right, and I think that'simportant, it's an important way
to start this episode.
No one gets there.
We're all working on somethingand I think the human dilemma,
(01:55):
the ego dilemma, let's say thatthe ego dilemma is that as soon
as we have this thing, as soonas we become this thing, as soon
as we experience this thing,then we'll feel this sense of
freedom and liberation andfulfillment for the rest of our
lives, like there's this magicaldestination, that as soon as we
(02:18):
cross this line, thateverything will be smooth
sailing for the rest of our life.
And that is a 100% ego delusion.
It's an illusion that the egothrows up as a smokescreen to
keep us chasing more, to keep usmoving forward, to keep us.
(02:39):
It's almost like the carrotright.
Like you know what I mean whenI say there's a stick and you
put.
You know, at the end of thestick, right.
Like you know what I mean whenI say there's a stick and you
put.
You know, at the end of thestick.
You put a string and from thestring you hang a carrot and
then you know that carrot ismaybe.
You tape that carrot to yourback and then you start running
and the carrot's always in frontof you and you can never catch
(03:00):
up to it.
That's what the ego does to usand this is what it's called to
live unconsciously.
When somebody says that you'reliving with your eyes wide open,
or if you're awake, it meansyou see through the ego illusion
, the ego delusion, that at somepoint in this fictitious
(03:22):
narrative, in this future statestate that some point you will
arrive and it'll all be okay.
Now, this has been a recurringtheme in my life and this has
been our theme this week andit's something that I've had to.
I got to actually teach andreflect on and I got to
reconnect with in variouscoaching calls and teaching
(03:44):
containers and even in myworkshop a couple weeks ago,
that there is no arrival, thereis none.
And if that kind of deflatesyour ego, good, as far back as I
can remember when I was livingunconsciously.
And look, when you're in youryoung, formative years and you
(04:06):
don't have awakened, enlightenedparents, when you don't have
parents on a spiritual path thatthat have the.
You know that see the worldthrough a different lens of
truth and hear a different lensof truth or hear different
sounds of truth.
When you don't have thoseawakened people in your life,
(04:27):
then you often live through yourego and your ego dominates you
until maybe there's enough painfor your ego to start to
relinquish control and authorityand power and influence in your
life.
But as far back as I canremember, I'll start at
elementary school.
(04:48):
As soon as I was finishedelementary school and the school
that I went to, elementaryschool was grades one through
six, and seventh and eighth weremiddle school, but it was at a
different school, all right, andgrades one through six.
You went to elementary school,then you went to middle school
(05:09):
and then from there you went tohigh school.
But it was like man, I justremember being in fifth and
sixth grades, thinking, shit, Ican't wait till this is over and
I can just go to middle schooland everything will be okay.
And then I remember getting tomiddle school and I remember
thinking, man, as soon as I getto high school, everything will
(05:33):
be okay.
And then I remember going tohigh school and it was even more
brutal than I could everimagine for me, my experience,
and it was as soon as I graduate, everything will be okay.
And then I got a first jobright out of high school and I
was making $5 an hour as a, as adraftsman.
(05:54):
And as soon as I as soon as Igot that job, you know, as soon
as I graduated high school and Igot that job, everything would
be okay.
And then, as soon as I got thatjob and that wasn't enough
money then as soon as I got thenext job, everything would be
okay.
And then I enlisted in theMarine Corps and, man, as soon
as I ship off for boot camp,everything will be okay.
And then, soon after that, I'mat Parasol in South Carolina and
(06:16):
, man, as soon as I graduateboot camp, everything will be
okay.
And then, when I graduated bootcamp, then I went into the fleet
Marine forces and I was afull-fledged Marine in training
for combat.
Then, man, when I realized thatI wasn't going to be a Marine
(06:36):
for the rest of my life, as soonas I got out of the Marine
Corps, then, as soon as I wasgoing to get transferred, me,
angie, my wife Angie and ourolder daughter, we were going to
get transferred to PortlandOregon.
As soon as we got to Oregon,everything was going to be okay.
Then, after that, as soon as Ispent 13 years at that company,
(06:59):
and as soon as I went to thenext company, everything would
be okay.
I went to the next company,everything would be okay.
And then, after, after I spent acouple years with that company
and and did a transformation inin the plant manager seat and I
knew that we were going to moveout, move from the West coast,
and as soon as, as soon as I Igot out of Portland Oregon,
(07:19):
everything would be okay.
And then we got to St Louis andwe've been here for 12 years,
but I had a job, a position thatI couldn't stand, and then
eventually, I lost that job.
And as soon as I found anotherjob, everything would be okay.
And then, when I found anotherjob and that one was miserable
too I got fired from that.
And as soon as I start makingsome money, everything will be
(07:42):
okay.
And this okayness as soon as Igot my first client in my
business, everything would beokay.
And then, as soon as I got myfirst client in my business,
everything would be okay.
And then, as soon as I got my10th client, everything would be
okay.
And then, as soon as I had myfirst mastermind, everything
would be okay.
And then after that, as soon asI and I hope you see that
(08:02):
everything has never just allbeen okay.
Now this isn't a pity party onmy life.
My life is okay, but mycircumstances are never exactly
where I would prefer them to beall at the same time.
(08:23):
And the ego keeps moving theneedle.
If I allow the ego to rule mylife, to dominate my life, the
ego keeps moving the needle.
Maybe the ego says, hey, thissales number in our business
will be great.
And then as soon as you hitthis, the target moves Maybe the
(08:44):
number of students in ourmastermind.
As soon as we have that, thenthe ego moves the goal and as
soon as we have this new number,then everything will be okay.
And as soon as we have onespeaking engagement a month,
everything will be okay.
And then, when we have that, assoon as we have two speaking
engagements, everything will beokay.
And this shows up everywhere inmy life and when I wake up and
(09:12):
open my eyes I can see that ifthe ego is running the show, I
live a pretty miserable life.
Now, luckily, I feel like I amsomewhat awake and I see through
this delusion.
But there's times that I stillfall back in the patterns of the
ego taking control and the egoguiding the ship and the ego
(09:36):
kind of taking control of the uh, of the steering wheel for a
little bit, until I realized,whoa, wait, am I?
What am I doing?
When, when I realize in in'sinstance, in maybe a bout of
frustration, wow, I'm takingthis whole thing way too
(09:57):
seriously again and I haveeverything I need.
But I'm living through my wantsand I have oxygen, water,
nutrition, exercise, rest, I'vegot a beautiful home that's safe
and it's more than I everthought I'd have when I was a
kid.
But the ego takes over and saysthat there's going to be a new
(10:17):
destination as soon as we getthere, we'll be okay and that
there keeps moving.
Even I fall back into thesetraps and I've been on this
spiritual journey for eightyears and I still, I still fall
into the ego trap of the egosubtly slips in to control and
(10:39):
authority starts guiding theship.
Then I I feel my body rackedwith frustration.
My body racked with frustration, racked with anxiety, racked
with, sometimes, anger, and Iget to wake up again and say
(11:01):
well, that pesky ego slipped inand took control and took
authority.
And now I'm going to loosen thegrip that the ego has on my
life.
The soul, my soul, this soul,the soul that I am, the am that
I am, is going to assumeresponsibility and control and
authority over this life Ego.
I've got the steering wheelfrom here.
And then when I let go of theseriosity of life and I loosen
(11:24):
the grip and the attachment thatthe ego has on my life and I
start to approach life from alittle more joy and a little
more peace and a little moreharmony, and things start to
flow in my life again.
Joy starts to flow, love startsto flow, peace starts to flow,
because the ego is theanti-peace, it's the anti-joy,
(11:50):
it's the anti-love, it's thedesire, the deep desire, the
deep attachment, the deep drawto higher level material
circumstances at the expense ofpeace, joy and love.
And this is repeated over andover for 52 years, actually 43
(12:12):
years that I was blind to it.
And then, at age 43, when Istarted this spiritual journey,
I got to open my eyes and seethe chaos and the havoc and the
struggle that the ego createdcompletely unnecessarily that
(12:33):
even when I had everything Icould possibly need, there was
still this doubling down ofaction and obsession and desire
and craving and longing tomultiply my circumstances at the
expense of my peace, my joy andmy love.
(12:55):
I hope this is making sense andI'm trying to use my life as an
example.
That if we all sat around acampfire and we told our deepest
, darkest secrets, we'd alllaugh at each other.
For lack of originality Becausethis is what's been showing up
in my life is that some of mystudents some discovery calls
(13:17):
that I've had some people inworkshops.
They get lost from time to timein the fact that they have this
vision of arriving somewhereand everything being okay and we
never, ever arrive Becausethere is no arrival.
There's only one arrival,there's only one destination in
(13:39):
this human lifetime and that'syour last exhale.
That's the only arrival.
Now there's a couple things, acouple spiritual things and a
couple mystical things that wecan recognize.
To help us understand this, andone of my favorite quotes by a
fellow named Eckhart Tolle andif you've never read the Power
(14:01):
of Now, a New Earth, stillnessSpeaks is a great book of his.
If you've never read these,explore some Eckhart Tolle,
because one of the most profoundquotes that he says in the
Power of Now is the mind wantsto want more than it wants to
(14:21):
have, and in this context, themind is the ego, the mind is the
ego, the mind is the ego.
When the mind assumes controland authority over the direction
of your life, then you live asthe ego, and the ego will always
create this gap in yourokayness.
(14:43):
The ego will always createdissatisfaction.
The ego will always createinsecurity.
The ego will always createinadequacy or insignificance.
The ego mind creates a problemand then it assigns material
possession or a circumstanceoutside of you or someone else's
(15:07):
behavior.
It assigns the solution to theproblem that it created inside
of you to some circumstanceoutside of you and says as soon
as we can get this externalcircumstance to look the way we
want or to be the way we want,then this problem that we've
created inside will go away.
Even though there is no problem,now here's a Mike Kikko quote.
(15:31):
You have no problems.
The only problem that you'veever had is you think that you
have a problem.
The problem that you have isthat your mind created the
problem and then your mindwanted to solve the problem as
well.
(15:51):
The same thing that created theproblem wants to solve the
problem.
You can look at this in terms ofhow people relate financially
when they're broke.
I know real life examples ofthis.
When they're broke, they thinkthey need $10,000 to be okay.
And then when they have $10,000in their bank account, it needs
(16:13):
to be $100,000.
And when there's $100,000 inthe bank account, it needs to be
a million.
And when there's a milliondollars in the bank account, it
needs to be 5 million.
And when there's 5 million,there needs to be 10 million.
And it's a never-ending quest.
Because the problem is thatthey think there's a problem
when you have nothing and nowyou have $10,000, but the same
(16:37):
problem exists inside of you.
The problem is the perceptionof a problem.
The problem is not the number.
The problem is the gap, thelonging, the disconnect, the
story, the belief, theinsecurity, the inadequacy, the
insignificance that's inside ofyou.
And the ego creates that andsays, as soon as dot, dot, dot
(17:03):
will be OK.
And when you get close tohaving that, it just moves the
needle.
The mind wants to want morethan it wants to have.
In this context, the mind isthe ego and the ego is the mind.
You can create and I wouldencourage you you can create a
vision for your life.
(17:24):
I want you to create a visionfor your life.
I would encourage you.
You can create a vision foryour life.
I want you to create a visionfor your life and if you've
never done so, go onwwwinnerwealthglobalcom.
Connect with my free Chooseyour Destiny course.
There's 12 videos and aworkbook and there's all kind of
great work in there and I willteach you the creation process
(17:46):
and I will teach you how.
In that course, I will teachyou the creation process and I
will teach you how.
In that course, I will teachyou how to create a vision for
your life and that will be thedestination, the temporary
destination, that you can shootfor.
I encourage you to have adestination in mind that you
would love to get to, a destinythat you would love to
(18:06):
experience, because that'sprobably your soul calling you
to some higher levelcircumstances that your soul
came here to experience.
But please understand that thatexperience of those higher
level circumstances will notsolve problems.
(18:26):
They will just help youexperience a higher level way of
being and a higher levelexperience of this world and of
this worldly plane.
And if you're like all theother 8 billion people on the
planet and you create thisvision and you start walking
your life towards that vision.
(18:47):
When you get about 90% of theway there, even if you wait that
long, you'll recreate thatvision and that vision will get
bigger and you'll just continueto march towards that.
And as you get closer to thatone, then you'll just create a
higher level vision and thatvision will move and that
destination will constantly move, because the mind wants to want
(19:11):
more than it wants to have.
The mind doesn't want topossess, it just wants to crave,
it just longs for something new.
So it keeps moving the target,it keeps moving the needle.
It's okay to march towardshigher level circumstances.
Just be awakened that gettingsomewhere is not going to bring
(19:35):
any relief that you can't haveright now.
Create a vision for your future, but take action and be in the
now.
Don't live as the future is theonly place you can be okay.
Be okay now, because all beingokay is is falling in love and
(20:01):
surrendering to the presentmoment.
That doesn't mean you can'ttake action towards a new future
in the present moment.
It means don't reject thepresent moment and don't delay
your peace and love and joy ofthe present moment until you get
to some fictitious place.
That won't be okay either,because you'll move to target.
(20:24):
You've only ever lived in oneplace and you've only ever lived
in one time.
You've only ever been here,wherever that is, and you've
only ever lived now.
You've never lived in the past,you've never lived in the
future.
You've only ever lived now.
And all time is now turninginto the next now.
(20:45):
Turning into the next now.
And if you've never allowedyourself to be okay now, what
makes you think that you'll giveyourself permission to be okay
in a future now?
So the goal isn't to settle foryour existing circumstances.
(21:05):
Your goal is to fully commit tosurrendering to the present
moment, knowing that by livingin the present moment, by taking
action in the present moment,by upgrading your level of
choices and decisions in thepresent moment, you can upgrade
the future.
But it doesn't take rejectingor resisting the now.
(21:28):
It takes surrendering to thenow and doubling down in the now
, being more powerful in the now, being joyful in the now so
that the next now is joyful aswell.
And the next now is joyful,then the next now is joyful All
the way up until your lastexhale.
The destination is an illusion.
(21:54):
The journey this is cliche, butthe journey is the destination.
And if you ever feel thatdisconnect inside of you that
today is incomplete, today isyou're in a state of lack, that
today your circumstances aren'tokay, that today and right now
(22:15):
that you need something that youdon't have, I want you to sit
down, encourage you to sit down,close your eyes, breathe deeply
in your nose and out throughyour mouth and ask yourself a
couple simple questions Do Ihave the oxygen that I need?
Do I have the water that I need?
Do I have the nutrition that Ineed?
Can I, can I attain theexercise that I need and can I
(22:39):
attain the proper rest that Ineed Oxygen, water, nutrition,
exercise and rest and if theanswer to all five of those is a
yes, that you have access toall five of those, you need
nothing.
You need nothing, but youdeserve everything.
But that doesn't mean that youreject and resist the present
(23:01):
moment.
It means you be present andpowerful in this moment so that
the next moment has a chance tobe even more fruitful and
beneficial.
But you can't make tomorrowmore powerful and more
pleasurable by rejecting andresisting now, because when you
(23:24):
get to that moment, you'll justreject and resist that moment
too.
Guys, I hope this makes sense.
There is no destination that'sgoing to make you feel complete
and satisfied.
The journey is the destination.
That is where freedom andfulfillment is the journey, not
the destination.
Enjoy every breath, not justthat, the anticipation of the
(23:48):
breath that you're going to haveafter your circumstances have
upgraded.
Enjoy each and every breath.
Be fulfilled and free now.
Live free and fulfilled now,and that'll allow you to truly
experience everything that lifehas to offer.
But reject no present moment.
(24:10):
If so, you're living as the ego, and by living as the ego,
you'll only invite more pain,more chaos and more suffering
into your life.
Take back control and authorityfrom your ego and live as the
soul.
The soul in control.
That's who you really are.
If you enjoyed what you heardand you want to learn more, go
(24:35):
to wwwinnerwealthglobalcom formore tools and resources.
Do you ever wake up feeling like there's something
missing in your life?
Do you ever feel the need toescape your business?
Are you running your life or isyour life running you?
I'm Mike Kitko and I'll helpyou design and create a life so
authentic and aligned with whoyou really are you'll get
excited just to wake up.
I'll help you create realwealth, success and freedom from
(00:22):
the inside out.
Welcome to the Inner WealthPodcast, where we learn and
choose to live inspired each andevery day.
There's an old Buddhist maximthat says if we all sat around a
campfire and I'm talking aboutall 8 billion of us on this
(00:45):
planet if we all sat around acampfire and told our deepest,
darkest secrets, we would alllaugh at each other out of lack
of originality.
Now, I say this a lot when I'mteaching and when I'm coaching
and when I'm creating content.
I'm creating content.
(01:08):
I say this a lot because itkeeps making sure that people
feel normal in their beingness,in their humanity.
All right, there's none of uson this planet that have
everything figured out.
Now I know a lot of really,really wealthy people and a lot
of successful people.
I get to work with a lot ofwealthy and successful people,
and I know that nobody has itall figured out.
Everyone's, everybody'sovercoming a challenge, an
(01:33):
obstacle, their struggles inlife, everyone's dealing with
something, everyone's workingthrough something and no one, no
one gets there.
All right, and I think that'simportant, it's an important way
to start this episode.
No one gets there.
We're all working on somethingand I think the human dilemma,
(01:55):
the ego dilemma, let's say thatthe ego dilemma is that as soon
as we have this thing, as soonas we become this thing, as soon
as we experience this thing,then we'll feel this sense of
freedom and liberation andfulfillment for the rest of our
lives, like there's this magicaldestination, that as soon as we
(02:18):
cross this line, thateverything will be smooth
sailing for the rest of our life.
And that is a 100% ego delusion.
It's an illusion that the egothrows up as a smokescreen to
keep us chasing more, to keep usmoving forward, to keep us.
(02:39):
It's almost like the carrotright.
Like you know what I mean whenI say there's a stick and you
put.
You know, at the end of thestick, right.
Like you know what I mean whenI say there's a stick and you
put.
You know, at the end of thestick.
You put a string and from thestring you hang a carrot and
then you know that carrot ismaybe.
You tape that carrot to yourback and then you start running
and the carrot's always in frontof you and you can never catch
(03:00):
up to it.
That's what the ego does to usand this is what it's called to
live unconsciously.
When somebody says that you'reliving with your eyes wide open,
or if you're awake, it meansyou see through the ego illusion
, the ego delusion, that at somepoint in this fictitious
(03:22):
narrative, in this future statestate that some point you will
arrive and it'll all be okay.
Now, this has been a recurringtheme in my life and this has
been our theme this week andit's something that I've had to.
I got to actually teach andreflect on and I got to
reconnect with in variouscoaching calls and teaching
(03:44):
containers and even in myworkshop a couple weeks ago,
that there is no arrival, thereis none.
And if that kind of deflatesyour ego, good, as far back as I
can remember when I was livingunconsciously.
And look, when you're in youryoung, formative years and you
(04:06):
don't have awakened, enlightenedparents, when you don't have
parents on a spiritual path thatthat have the.
You know that see the worldthrough a different lens of
truth and hear a different lensof truth or hear different
sounds of truth.
When you don't have thoseawakened people in your life,
(04:27):
then you often live through yourego and your ego dominates you
until maybe there's enough painfor your ego to start to
relinquish control and authorityand power and influence in your
life.
But as far back as I canremember, I'll start at
elementary school.
(04:48):
As soon as I was finishedelementary school and the school
that I went to, elementaryschool was grades one through
six, and seventh and eighth weremiddle school, but it was at a
different school, all right, andgrades one through six.
You went to elementary school,then you went to middle school
(05:09):
and then from there you went tohigh school.
But it was like man, I justremember being in fifth and
sixth grades, thinking, shit, Ican't wait till this is over and
I can just go to middle schooland everything will be okay.
And then I remember getting tomiddle school and I remember
thinking, man, as soon as I getto high school, everything will
(05:33):
be okay.
And then I remember going tohigh school and it was even more
brutal than I could everimagine for me, my experience,
and it was as soon as I graduate, everything will be okay.
And then I got a first jobright out of high school and I
was making $5 an hour as a, as adraftsman.
(05:54):
And as soon as I as soon as Igot that job, you know, as soon
as I graduated high school and Igot that job, everything would
be okay.
And then, as soon as I got thatjob and that wasn't enough
money then as soon as I got thenext job, everything would be
okay.
And then I enlisted in theMarine Corps and, man, as soon
as I ship off for boot camp,everything will be okay.
And then, soon after that, I'mat Parasol in South Carolina and
(06:16):
, man, as soon as I graduateboot camp, everything will be
okay.
And then, when I graduated bootcamp, then I went into the fleet
Marine forces and I was afull-fledged Marine in training
for combat.
Then, man, when I realized thatI wasn't going to be a Marine
(06:36):
for the rest of my life, as soonas I got out of the Marine
Corps, then, as soon as I wasgoing to get transferred, me,
angie, my wife Angie and ourolder daughter, we were going to
get transferred to PortlandOregon.
As soon as we got to Oregon,everything was going to be okay.
Then, after that, as soon as Ispent 13 years at that company,
(06:59):
and as soon as I went to thenext company, everything would
be okay.
I went to the next company,everything would be okay.
And then, after, after I spent acouple years with that company
and and did a transformation inin the plant manager seat and I
knew that we were going to moveout, move from the West coast,
and as soon as, as soon as I Igot out of Portland Oregon,
(07:19):
everything would be okay.
And then we got to St Louis andwe've been here for 12 years,
but I had a job, a position thatI couldn't stand, and then
eventually, I lost that job.
And as soon as I found anotherjob, everything would be okay.
And then, when I found anotherjob and that one was miserable
too I got fired from that.
And as soon as I start makingsome money, everything will be
(07:42):
okay.
And this okayness as soon as Igot my first client in my
business, everything would beokay.
And then, as soon as I got myfirst client in my business,
everything would be okay.
And then, as soon as I got my10th client, everything would be
okay.
And then, as soon as I had myfirst mastermind, everything
would be okay.
And then after that, as soon asI and I hope you see that
(08:02):
everything has never just allbeen okay.
Now this isn't a pity party onmy life.
My life is okay, but mycircumstances are never exactly
where I would prefer them to beall at the same time.
(08:23):
And the ego keeps moving theneedle.
If I allow the ego to rule mylife, to dominate my life, the
ego keeps moving the needle.
Maybe the ego says, hey, thissales number in our business
will be great.
And then as soon as you hitthis, the target moves Maybe the
(08:44):
number of students in ourmastermind.
As soon as we have that, thenthe ego moves the goal and as
soon as we have this new number,then everything will be okay.
And as soon as we have onespeaking engagement a month,
everything will be okay.
And then, when we have that, assoon as we have two speaking
engagements, everything will beokay.
And this shows up everywhere inmy life and when I wake up and
(09:12):
open my eyes I can see that ifthe ego is running the show, I
live a pretty miserable life.
Now, luckily, I feel like I amsomewhat awake and I see through
this delusion.
But there's times that I stillfall back in the patterns of the
ego taking control and the egoguiding the ship and the ego
(09:36):
kind of taking control of the uh, of the steering wheel for a
little bit, until I realized,whoa, wait, am I?
What am I doing?
When, when I realize in in'sinstance, in maybe a bout of
frustration, wow, I'm takingthis whole thing way too
(09:57):
seriously again and I haveeverything I need.
But I'm living through my wantsand I have oxygen, water,
nutrition, exercise, rest, I'vegot a beautiful home that's safe
and it's more than I everthought I'd have when I was a
kid.
But the ego takes over and saysthat there's going to be a new
(10:17):
destination as soon as we getthere, we'll be okay and that
there keeps moving.
Even I fall back into thesetraps and I've been on this
spiritual journey for eightyears and I still, I still fall
into the ego trap of the egosubtly slips in to control and
(10:39):
authority starts guiding theship.
Then I I feel my body rackedwith frustration.
My body racked with frustration, racked with anxiety, racked
with, sometimes, anger, and Iget to wake up again and say
(11:01):
well, that pesky ego slipped inand took control and took
authority.
And now I'm going to loosen thegrip that the ego has on my
life.
The soul, my soul, this soul,the soul that I am, the am that
I am, is going to assumeresponsibility and control and
authority over this life Ego.
I've got the steering wheelfrom here.
And then when I let go of theseriosity of life and I loosen
(11:24):
the grip and the attachment thatthe ego has on my life and I
start to approach life from alittle more joy and a little
more peace and a little moreharmony, and things start to
flow in my life again.
Joy starts to flow, love startsto flow, peace starts to flow,
because the ego is theanti-peace, it's the anti-joy,
(11:50):
it's the anti-love, it's thedesire, the deep desire, the
deep attachment, the deep drawto higher level material
circumstances at the expense ofpeace, joy and love.
And this is repeated over andover for 52 years, actually 43
(12:12):
years that I was blind to it.
And then, at age 43, when Istarted this spiritual journey,
I got to open my eyes and seethe chaos and the havoc and the
struggle that the ego createdcompletely unnecessarily that
(12:33):
even when I had everything Icould possibly need, there was
still this doubling down ofaction and obsession and desire
and craving and longing tomultiply my circumstances at the
expense of my peace, my joy andmy love.
(12:55):
I hope this is making sense andI'm trying to use my life as an
example.
That if we all sat around acampfire and we told our deepest
, darkest secrets, we'd alllaugh at each other.
For lack of originality Becausethis is what's been showing up
in my life is that some of mystudents some discovery calls
(13:17):
that I've had some people inworkshops.
They get lost from time to timein the fact that they have this
vision of arriving somewhereand everything being okay and we
never, ever arrive Becausethere is no arrival.
There's only one arrival,there's only one destination in
(13:39):
this human lifetime and that'syour last exhale.
That's the only arrival.
Now there's a couple things, acouple spiritual things and a
couple mystical things that wecan recognize.
To help us understand this, andone of my favorite quotes by a
fellow named Eckhart Tolle andif you've never read the Power
(14:01):
of Now, a New Earth, stillnessSpeaks is a great book of his.
If you've never read these,explore some Eckhart Tolle,
because one of the most profoundquotes that he says in the
Power of Now is the mind wantsto want more than it wants to
(14:21):
have, and in this context, themind is the ego, the mind is the
ego, the mind is the ego.
When the mind assumes controland authority over the direction
of your life, then you live asthe ego, and the ego will always
create this gap in yourokayness.
(14:43):
The ego will always createdissatisfaction.
The ego will always createinsecurity.
The ego will always createinadequacy or insignificance.
The ego mind creates a problemand then it assigns material
possession or a circumstanceoutside of you or someone else's
(15:07):
behavior.
It assigns the solution to theproblem that it created inside
of you to some circumstanceoutside of you and says as soon
as we can get this externalcircumstance to look the way we
want or to be the way we want,then this problem that we've
created inside will go away.
Even though there is no problem,now here's a Mike Kikko quote.
(15:31):
You have no problems.
The only problem that you'veever had is you think that you
have a problem.
The problem that you have isthat your mind created the
problem and then your mindwanted to solve the problem as
well.
(15:51):
The same thing that created theproblem wants to solve the
problem.
You can look at this in terms ofhow people relate financially
when they're broke.
I know real life examples ofthis.
When they're broke, they thinkthey need $10,000 to be okay.
And then when they have $10,000in their bank account, it needs
(16:13):
to be $100,000.
And when there's $100,000 inthe bank account, it needs to be
a million.
And when there's a milliondollars in the bank account, it
needs to be 5 million.
And when there's 5 million,there needs to be 10 million.
And it's a never-ending quest.
Because the problem is thatthey think there's a problem
when you have nothing and nowyou have $10,000, but the same
(16:37):
problem exists inside of you.
The problem is the perceptionof a problem.
The problem is not the number.
The problem is the gap, thelonging, the disconnect, the
story, the belief, theinsecurity, the inadequacy, the
insignificance that's inside ofyou.
And the ego creates that andsays, as soon as dot, dot, dot
(17:03):
will be OK.
And when you get close tohaving that, it just moves the
needle.
The mind wants to want morethan it wants to have.
In this context, the mind isthe ego and the ego is the mind.
You can create and I wouldencourage you you can create a
vision for your life.
(17:24):
I want you to create a visionfor your life.
I would encourage you.
You can create a vision foryour life.
I want you to create a visionfor your life and if you've
never done so, go onwwwinnerwealthglobalcom.
Connect with my free Chooseyour Destiny course.
There's 12 videos and aworkbook and there's all kind of
great work in there and I willteach you the creation process
(17:46):
and I will teach you how.
In that course, I will teachyou the creation process and I
will teach you how.
In that course, I will teachyou how to create a vision for
your life and that will be thedestination, the temporary
destination, that you can shootfor.
I encourage you to have adestination in mind that you
would love to get to, a destinythat you would love to
(18:06):
experience, because that'sprobably your soul calling you
to some higher levelcircumstances that your soul
came here to experience.
But please understand that thatexperience of those higher
level circumstances will notsolve problems.
(18:26):
They will just help youexperience a higher level way of
being and a higher levelexperience of this world and of
this worldly plane.
And if you're like all theother 8 billion people on the
planet and you create thisvision and you start walking
your life towards that vision.
(18:47):
When you get about 90% of theway there, even if you wait that
long, you'll recreate thatvision and that vision will get
bigger and you'll just continueto march towards that.
And as you get closer to thatone, then you'll just create a
higher level vision and thatvision will move and that
destination will constantly move, because the mind wants to want
(19:11):
more than it wants to have.
The mind doesn't want topossess, it just wants to crave,
it just longs for something new.
So it keeps moving the target,it keeps moving the needle.
It's okay to march towardshigher level circumstances.
Just be awakened that gettingsomewhere is not going to bring
(19:35):
any relief that you can't haveright now.
Create a vision for your future, but take action and be in the
now.
Don't live as the future is theonly place you can be okay.
Be okay now, because all beingokay is is falling in love and
(20:01):
surrendering to the presentmoment.
That doesn't mean you can'ttake action towards a new future
in the present moment.
It means don't reject thepresent moment and don't delay
your peace and love and joy ofthe present moment until you get
to some fictitious place.
That won't be okay either,because you'll move to target.
(20:24):
You've only ever lived in oneplace and you've only ever lived
in one time.
You've only ever been here,wherever that is, and you've
only ever lived now.
You've never lived in the past,you've never lived in the
future.
You've only ever lived now.
And all time is now turninginto the next now.
(20:45):
Turning into the next now.
And if you've never allowedyourself to be okay now, what
makes you think that you'll giveyourself permission to be okay
in a future now?
So the goal isn't to settle foryour existing circumstances.
(21:05):
Your goal is to fully commit tosurrendering to the present
moment, knowing that by livingin the present moment, by taking
action in the present moment,by upgrading your level of
choices and decisions in thepresent moment, you can upgrade
the future.
But it doesn't take rejectingor resisting the now.
(21:28):
It takes surrendering to thenow and doubling down in the now
, being more powerful in the now, being joyful in the now so
that the next now is joyful aswell.
And the next now is joyful,then the next now is joyful All
the way up until your lastexhale.
The destination is an illusion.
(21:54):
The journey this is cliche, butthe journey is the destination.
And if you ever feel thatdisconnect inside of you that
today is incomplete, today isyou're in a state of lack, that
today your circumstances aren'tokay, that today and right now
(22:15):
that you need something that youdon't have, I want you to sit
down, encourage you to sit down,close your eyes, breathe deeply
in your nose and out throughyour mouth and ask yourself a
couple simple questions Do Ihave the oxygen that I need?
Do I have the water that I need?
Do I have the nutrition that Ineed?
Can I, can I attain theexercise that I need and can I
(22:39):
attain the proper rest that Ineed Oxygen, water, nutrition,
exercise and rest and if theanswer to all five of those is a
yes, that you have access toall five of those, you need
nothing.
You need nothing, but youdeserve everything.
But that doesn't mean that youreject and resist the present
(23:01):
moment.
It means you be present andpowerful in this moment so that
the next moment has a chance tobe even more fruitful and
beneficial.
But you can't make tomorrowmore powerful and more
pleasurable by rejecting andresisting now, because when you
(23:24):
get to that moment, you'll justreject and resist that moment
too.
Guys, I hope this makes sense.
There is no destination that'sgoing to make you feel complete
and satisfied.
The journey is the destination.
That is where freedom andfulfillment is the journey, not
the destination.
Enjoy every breath, not justthat, the anticipation of the
(23:48):
breath that you're going to haveafter your circumstances have
upgraded.
Enjoy each and every breath.
Be fulfilled and free now.
Live free and fulfilled now,and that'll allow you to truly
experience everything that lifehas to offer.
But reject no present moment.
(24:10):
If so, you're living as the ego, and by living as the ego,
you'll only invite more pain,more chaos and more suffering
into your life.
Take back control and authorityfrom your ego and live as the
soul.
The soul in control.
That's who you really are.
If you enjoyed what you heardand you want to learn more, go
(24:35):
to wwwinnerwealthglobalcom formore tools and resources.
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