January 22, 2025 • 24 mins
Ready to break free from the rut that's been holding you back? Join us in the Living Room with Louis Jackson, where I'm thrilled to have my long-time mentee and dear friend, Eren Davis, by my side. This episode is all about getting to the next level of personal growth by focusing on the powerful biblical principle from Proverbs 4:23—guarding your heart. Together, Eren and I share our journey of reconnecting at a pivotal moment and delve into how wisdom from the scriptures can guide you through life's obstacles and propel you forward.
We explore the profound impact of guarding your heart not just spiritually but practically. How can protecting your mind and emotions help you navigate life's challenges effectively? We dive into the dangers of negative thoughts and how they can trap you in a rut, contrasting this with the power of a positive mindset, much like Kobe Bryant's famous "mamba mentality." By examining the Passion Translation of the Bible, we gain a richer understanding of how our affections influence our well-being and relationships, making self-awareness and emotional readiness crucial for personal and relational success.
Take a moment to slow down and reflect on your current state with us. Living in a fast-paced society, it's essential to be present and intentional in decision-making. We discuss the importance of leaning on trusted individuals for honest feedback and having a supportive circle that offers constructive criticism. Remember, being in a rut is a choice, and taking responsibility for it empowers you to make the necessary changes. Trust God completely and take control of your mindset to break free. Eren and I are just getting started, and we can't wait to continue this journey with you. Stay tuned, and know that we appreciate and love y'all!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
what's going down.
Family, it's your boy, lewis,and I want to welcome you to the
living room.
The living room is a placewhere we can get to our next
level.
It's a safe place to where wecan come and be able to just
have those hard conversations.
(00:26):
You know that if you have notliked or subscribed to this
podcast, hey yo, you need to godo it right now.
So go ahead and pause this realquick.
And I want you to go and likeand subscribe to the Living Room
with Louis Jackson.
And like and subscribe to theLiving Room with Louis Jackson,
(00:48):
but not only like and subscribe.
I need for you to write a review, because this is going to help
us rank up a lot quicker so thatwe can begin to help as many
people get to their next levelright.
So we about to jump in.
I got a great special guest.
It's going to be in.
I got a great special guest.
It's going to be awesome.
But y'all know that the livingroom is only going to be about
(01:09):
27 minutes, so I got to movequickly before we jump into our
main topic.
But I want to introduce ourguest man.
He's one of my dudes that I'vebeen rocking with and been
mentoring for a long time.
I really want y'all to hearfrom him.
He has a lot of life experienceand I believe that this life
(01:33):
experience will be able to helpyou get to your next level.
As we conversate on how to getout of the rut, which is part
two of last week If you have notlistened to last week, you need
to go back and listen to it.
So here's my boy brother, aaron.
Aaron.
What's going down, bro?
(01:53):
What's good love, that's goodman.
Man, I am excited that you heretoday.
Uh, why don't you tell ourlisteners a little bit about who
you are, how, how many you gotconnected?
The floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, so me and you go back to Southside Days Middle
School.
You know you ran a programthere and we actually got
disconnected for a while.
And then you know, life kind ofpushed us back together at a at
a crucial time in my life andreally you've been mentoring me
ever since then.
Yeah, so I'm excited to be heretoday because you told me
(02:31):
you're doing something and I'mjust happy to be a part of it,
happy to contribute, really.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, man, our listeners know that we're
looking to go to new levels.
It's all about helping peopleget to their next level, and so
what we've been dealing with is,I don't know, man, I've been in
a rut, right, and so I'velearned that, if I need to, I
(02:59):
need to talk about what I'mgoing through in order to get
through what I'm going through Athousand percent.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Does that make sense?
A thousand percent?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
And so I began to go into the scriptures because I
was like, okay, I really want to, how do I get out of this?
And as I'm beginning to digmyself out of our ruts, in my
rut, I wanted to help ourlisteners to begin to figure
this out too.
Listeners to begin to figurethis out too.
(03:29):
So last week, bro, we talkedabout Proverbs, chapter three,
verses five, uh, three throughfive, and we talked about uh, no
, five and six.
We talked about trusting theLord with all of your heart and
lean, not into your ownunderstanding, and we really
deep dove into that scriptureand how it relates to us getting
(03:50):
out of our rut, and I think itwas good.
I think our listeners was ableto get something out of it.
But I told them I'm going tosit here for a little while as
we deep dive into this, becauseI know getting out of a rut
takes time.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Would you say yeah, yeah, a thousand percent, a
thousand percent.
But that's, that's right,though you went back to the word
, because that's the truth youknow, and everybody you know,
everybody's trying to find theirform of truth, right, and so
the word is a great place tostart.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Form of truth, right, and so the Word is a great
place to start, no matter youknow what you might believe in.
Yeah, yeah, man, I seriouslybelieve that.
So today, though, we're goingto jump in to this next space.
So, if you are taking notes orif you're with me, we're going
to go to Proverbs 4, chapter 4,verses 23.
This is the next level of howto get out of this rut Break
(04:52):
free.
How do I break free out of this?
Here's what the wisdom ofProverbs, chapter 4, 23, says
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows
from it.
I want to say it again.
I want to say it again Aboveall else, guard your heart for
(05:18):
everything you do flows from it.
When you first hear that, aaron, tell me what does that speak
into you?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
First thing is, I hear, is guard your heart, and
that's not easy.
You know we are dealing in aflesh world, that is, you know,
it's so many different thingsthat we're interested in, so
many different things that we'retrying to do.
So the first thing I hear isyou know, it's so many different
things that we're interested in, so many different things that
(05:49):
we're trying to do.
So the first thing I hear isyou know, guard your heart.
And so many people tell youthat in so many different ways,
but they're not exactly tellingyou how exactly.
So this is another reason whyI'm excited with you, because
you have a way of explainingthings and I know we're going to
get to breaking this down, soI'm really excited, but that's
the first thing that perks myears up right there Guard your
(06:10):
heart, because it's so essential.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
See, when I think about guard your heart, man your
heart, in the Bible talks aboutyour emotions, your mind, your
soulish man, right, that's whatit means by your heart.
So, essentially, as I begin tothink about it, and he said,
guard your heart, he's sayingyou got to guard your thinking,
(06:37):
you got to guard against yourown emotions, just like if you
have negative emotions andnegative thoughts and you're in
a rut, more than likely what gotyou to that rut was those
negative thinking, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Was that negative thinking?
A thousand percent.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Was those negative emotions?
Yep, right.
And you will end up approachingthe situation if you come at it
from a negative standpoint.
You will look at this rutrather than seeing it as
something that you can get outof.
This rut will actually keep youdeeper because you will feel
like I can't get out of this.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, a hundred thousand percent.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
And one of the things that I've learned, bro, is how
you think is how your life goingto go.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
So many, so many.
Like as a man thinketh, so ishe.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I think that's a scripture man.
You know what?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
I'm saying, and it's been in a couple books too, you
know mine, paige Turner, likeyou know we are, we like to lock
in.
So you know, as a man thinketh,so is he.
You know, you see a lot, evenKobe Bryant.
You know mama mentality youknow, everybody wants mama
mentality right and um, it'sobviously a flesh way of saying
(07:50):
it, but you know it's.
It's guarding your heart becauseyou're guarding your mind you
know, you gotta it, like yousaid, because it gets to a
certain point where everybody'sat a certain level, right, right
, so what's separating them?
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Okay, what separates you.
You know what I'm saying.
Your mindset is what's going toseparate you More times than
not.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Ooh, ooh.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
More times than not.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
So if I'm in a rut, let's say, for example, I'm in a
relationship rut.
Okay, right, you know I likedealing with relationships with
Aaron, and the more he comes on,y'all will understand why I
like to deal with relationshipswith Aaron.
So you're in this relationshiprut.
Some of our listeners arepeople that's been married for a
(08:36):
few years and some of them areyoung, aspiring to get into
marriage or into a deeperrelationship with another human
being.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
How does guarding your heart apply to the
relationship rut in your mind.
Well, one you got to come inknowing who you are Like.
I think a lot of people go intorelationships not really
knowing who they are, so theyreally don't have a goal outside
of you look good, or you got itgoing on.
You know what I'm saying?
These fleshly things, and theydon't know where they want to go
(09:16):
.
So it's hard to try to balancethese things.
Um, when you're going throughso many things personally.
You know we all going throughso many things personally.
And so, um to answer yourquestion, um, I think, first and
foremost, you know you got tomake sure you're in the right
(09:36):
mindset to be in a relationship,me and one of my best friends.
We talk about that a lot causeyou know he's married, you know
he just had a child and, um, youknow a lot of.
We talk about people not beingconditioned a lot of people
aren't conditioned really forthe emotional side of a
relationship and so, uh, youknow you can.
(09:58):
That can be the first blockageright there.
So it's like, as you're tryingto climb about that rut right,
it's like you slip and you fallback down.
So it's like some people reactdifferently to falling versus
others.
You know, some people aren'tconditioned to really handle a
fall.
You know, based on you know howthey were raised, or maybe even
(10:22):
how they deal with adversity,you know, and in a relationship
early on, especially in earlystages.
Everybody loves the honeymoonphase, right yeah but after the
honeymoon, now you're gonnastart slipping a little bit.
Now she, now she must.
She got this little one thingthat she does and you don't
really know how to really handleit.
You know you ain't really usedto dealing with that attitude.
So first things first.
(10:45):
You know guarding your heartand it's telling you right here.
One thing I love about God is Isay he's the greatest teacher.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Because he does a great way of explaining it and
now, with so many different waysto translate it, you know it's
almost everybody can understand.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
See, I'm glad that led me into what I wanted to do.
Uh, last last week.
Uh, I actually talked about uh.
I read it from a newtranslation called the passion
translation, and so I'm going toread it from the passion,
translation.
Okay, and it says so.
Above all, guard youraffections, the affections of
(11:27):
your heart, for they affect allthat you are.
And then it goes a littledeeper pay attention to the
welfare of your innermost being.
From there flows the wellspringof life.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
So when I read, that particular translation, and it
talked about pay attention tothe welfare of your innermost
being.
It began to bring up to me thisidea that has been such a big
thing since COVID mental health.
Yes, sir, right, it is.
If I'm in a rut or whatever itis, the first thing that we try
(12:06):
to do is to go do something.
Yeah, right, a thousand percent, I got to go do something,
exactly, versus.
No, I need to actually sit init and begin to see what's going
on on the inside of me, right,Because you know, you know this,
this I'm a big believer thatbehavior is something that is
(12:27):
only symptomatic of what's goingon on the inside.
Actually, yeah, right.
So, like you know, I've beenmentoring young people and I
told y'all last week that me andmy wife has started a movement
called the village andersonwhere we mentor youth and
families, and one of the thingsthat I've learned over the years
is a lot of parents will cometo me talking about hey, johnny
(12:52):
did this, sally do this inschool, and da, da, da, da, da.
But they, they want us to dobehavioral modification, right,
without actually deep divinginto I want to know why is
johnny doing this?
What is going on in his thoughtprocess that is producing it.
What's going on in hisenvironment that is producing
(13:13):
these behaviors?
See, I believe that if I'm in arut I can't just get caught up
in.
I'm in this run.
I gotta get out without mehaving to sit down, sit my butt
down and really contemplate.
Okay, father, help me to know.
Why am I here?
What's going on on the insideof me?
(13:34):
And the scripture clearly saysyou got to pay attention to the
welfare of your innermost being.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
You know, to me it sounds like he's saying keep
your emotions in check.
Because this is it's warfare.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
You know, it's warfare.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
You know the devil is after you.
You know you got to be strong,you know so you talk about, like
what's going on the inside of aperson.
A lot of that is mindset.
But if they're not conditionedto have the right mindset, then
they're going to lean on oldbehaviors.
Yeah.
Yeah, okay, prime example,you're trying to get out the rut
right.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
So you're getting out of the rut, you're doing all
the right things right, soyou're starting to climb.
What happens when those oldhabits come up?
You slip yeah but if you're notconditioned, you won't dust
your knee off and start climbingagain.
You might actually stay in therut yeah you know I've I've been
out of high school, uh, for 10years.
(14:34):
We just had a 10-year classreunion, right I'm getting there
, but uh, it's like it's one ofthose things where it's like so
many people we lost.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
And some people we lost to you know, taking
themselves out of the game.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
That's a mental thing , because they may have fallen
right, they may have madecertain mistakes that they just
couldn't recover from.
You know, sometimes, you know,I've been fortunate to have the
mindset that I have to be ableto pick myself up out of these
ruts, and I've also had, youknow, great mentors and teachers
too.
So, but you know, not everybodyhas this, this access.
(15:12):
So I think that one of thefirst things that God is saying
in that translation is keep youremotions in check.
One Second Translation iskeeping emotions in check One
second.
What I would suggest is makingsure that you're conditioning
your mind to get out of the rut.
That's why I think it's so keywhat you said sitting in it.
Initially, nobody wants to sitin the rain, but when you do sit
(15:37):
in the rain, you start to seelike okay, man, it's, it's
coming down, but I can, I canget out of this.
You know, once I get in the,once I get inside, I can change
my clothes into some dry clothesyou know what I'm saying, so
it's just.
It's just one of those thingswhere it's like you got to
believe that you'll get to theinside.
You got to believe that you canmake it inside.
(15:58):
You got to believe that you canget out of the rut.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Wow see, I just was looking up something because
something came to my mind.
There is something, um astrategy in psychology called
mindfulness, right?
So mindfulness meansmaintaining a moment by moment
awareness of our thoughts,feelings, bodily sensations and
(16:21):
surrounding environment througha gentle nurturing lens.
I'm going to say that again forall my listeners Mindfulness
means maintaining a moment bymoment awareness of our thoughts
, feelings, bodily sensationsand surrounding environment
(16:43):
through a gentle nurturing lens.
In other words, you have toslow down.
Let me give you this antidoteof how to get out of this rut
from this scripture.
What we're talking about is, ifI'm going to get out of it, I
have to slow down and begin tosee and sense and become aware
(17:05):
of where I am and why I'm there.
What am I feeling right now?
And we don't like to do that.
The reason why this is so hardin our society is because
everything is so fast pacedright, yeah everything is always
social media.
It is you got to make sure thatyou got to stay current so you
(17:27):
got to, you don't even get achance to enjoy a a success,
because as soon as you get thatsuccess, every the society says
what's the next one?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
yeah, where you going , how you're going get there,
what are you going to do?
Speaker 1 (17:40):
So now, if I'm in this rut, a lot of times we
can't get out of it becausewe're so busy trying to get out
of it.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Exactly, exactly and, like you said, slowing down,
and one thing that I think, thatand you can correct me if you
think that I'm wrong- I thinkyou know more than anything, god
wants us to be present.
Labor right there.
What does that mean?
Okay, you're trying to.
Instead of trying to just getup and get out of the rut,
(18:07):
you're sitting and you'redealing in reality, right?
So you're leaning on peoplethat know you.
You know you're leaning onpeople that know your habits,
your tendencies, and you'resaying, hey, I need you to be
brutally honest with me and Ineed you to tell me, hey, where
can I get better at?
Can I get better here?
Can I get better in this area?
And you got to be intentional.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Intentional, because if you're not intentional,
nothing changes.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
So that goes back to a mindset.
That's a decision.
That goes back to a mindsetthat's a that's a decision.
So now, so it's going to fallback on being present is is
making better decisions, butbeing conscious about making
those better decisions.
So now you're present, like yousaid, moment by moment.
Uh, I'm a documentary guy,right?
(18:56):
So I like kobe bryan is a biginspiration to me, right, right.
So, Kobe said in the Spain goldmedal game.
He has a clip that they likeshut the game off and they to
get him talking.
He says well, you know, I'vebeen through this situation a
multitude of times, so if I'mnervous and I put work in, then
I know they're really feeling it.
That's somebody who's present,he understands okay, I got to
(19:22):
get feeling it.
That's somebody who's present,he understands, okay, I gotta
get myself out of this.
But how am I gonna get myselfout of this?
How am I gonna overcome thischallenge?
That's in front of me and onehe has the mindset, but his
emotions are under control, sohe's able to say and get back
present to say oh yeah, I haveput the work in.
Oh yeah, these are my strengths.
To get out of the rut.
This, these, oh yeah, I am goodat this.
(19:44):
Sometimes you need those.
That's why it's important.
People always talk about acircle, right yeah but if your
circle consists of yes men, theymight tell you all the things
that you are doing great.
So then you never look at yourdeficiencies yeah but the ones
that challenge you, tell youwhat you're not good at.
So now you're building thatcallous up, and so, by the time
(20:09):
they remind you of yourstrengths, oh, you're 2.0, and
then you're able to to rise whatmight seem a lot quicker just
because you know you're able topick yourself up the mindset
you're going to hear me say thata thousand times because your
mindset.
You have to be intentionalabout this.
(20:29):
This is a choice to get out ofthe rut.
It's a choice.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
It's a choice, our listeners.
I only got a few more minutes,man, but I want you to hear that
, hear that.
You know, in our conversation Itold y'all, man, this is just a
living room conversation of ofjust just sitting down very
informally and hopefully yougain some nuggets.
And one of the nuggets that Iwant you to gain from this
conversation is that it is achoice and that sometimes is
(20:59):
hard to realize.
Yeah, if I'm in this rut, Ichose to be in this rut, a
thousand percent.
But here's the deal, here's theempowering part of that.
If I chose to be in the rut andI take responsibility for it, I
can get out of this A thousandpercent.
Right, because, okay, mychoices put me here.
(21:20):
It's going to be your choicesthat get you out, and one of
those choices we I'm going toallude to again in our first
podcast on this series, I toldyou one of the choices you have
to do is what the scripture saidyou got to learn to trust God.
Completely, right In order.
That's one of the choices thatyou have to do.
(21:42):
Can't, nobody do it for you.
You're going to have to say youknow what.
I'm not going to lean to my ownunderstanding on this.
I'm going to trust Godcompletely.
That's one of the choices thatyou're going to have to make,
and so, oh man, we are out oftime, bro, I want to keep going.
Oh man, we are out of time, bro, I want to keep going.
But I promise that this isgoing to be.
One of the things that I toldhim with the living room is that
(22:07):
, hey, while you're working out,you can listen to this, and by
the time it's over, you shouldbe almost done.
Oh yeah, you feel me, because Idon't want to go deeper, because
I want some time.
We go too fast and we getinformation overload.
Yes sir, and we don't take thetime to just sit in it.
And so what I want to be ableto do in these short increments
(22:33):
of podcasts, I want you to beable to just take some
information and then sit there,sit in it for a minute.
You know what I mean.
Don't just go to the next thingLike, let me, let me, maybe,
let me listen to this again yeah, yeah, you know some meat on
the bone yeah, you know, you maysay you know what, man?
hopefully it was an engagingconversation that it made you
think and then you're able tosay you know what.
I'm coming back next week so Ican get a little bit more of
(22:54):
this conversation of how do Iget out of this rut.
And this week I want you toknow that you got to guard your
heart, your emotions, yourmindset.
You kept hearing Aaron talkabout it's your mind, mind and
we're going to deep dive intothat because I know, if you are
a Christian, listen to this whatcomes to your mind is Romans 12
(23:15):
2, that you got to be notconformed to this world but be
transformed by the renewing ofyour mind.
But I can't deep dive into that,just yet, but we may dig into
that at another later episode,because you got to transform
your mind.
If you're in this rut, or youmay get out of it and go back in
(23:36):
it, because your mind wasn'tchanged.
Exactly right, but Right, butwe're getting to that.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
We're getting to that .
Speaker 1 (23:42):
That's dope, that's dope, and so hey y'all, I want
you to please go like andsubscribe to the Living Room
podcast.
I want you to go hit me up onmynextcoachingcom.
If you need anything, you canhit me up there.
Look at some of the resourcesthat we have.
Anything, you can hit me upthere.
Look at some of the resourcesthat we have.
And until next week, I maybring Aaron back on next week,
(24:03):
y'all, because this is my boyand I feel like we kind of vibe.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
For sure Did we vibe a little bit today.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Definitely vibe, I know it was your first time man,
but I felt like this was a goodvibe.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
It was great.
It was great.
I'm looking forward to it and,like you said, leaving that meat
on the bone was veryappropriate because this is
something that, literally, weonly broke down the first four
words.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying and this is something
that you know we're both reallypassionate about, and I'm I'm
grateful to do this man, I'mgrateful to do this.
So y'all, we love y'all, hit meup and I'll holler at y'all
next week.
Bye.
what's going down.
Family, it's your boy, lewis,and I want to welcome you to the
living room.
The living room is a placewhere we can get to our next
level.
It's a safe place to where wecan come and be able to just
have those hard conversations.
(00:26):
You know that if you have notliked or subscribed to this
podcast, hey yo, you need to godo it right now.
So go ahead and pause this realquick.
And I want you to go and likeand subscribe to the Living Room
with Louis Jackson.
And like and subscribe to theLiving Room with Louis Jackson,
(00:48):
but not only like and subscribe.
I need for you to write a review, because this is going to help
us rank up a lot quicker so thatwe can begin to help as many
people get to their next levelright.
So we about to jump in.
I got a great special guest.
It's going to be in.
I got a great special guest.
It's going to be awesome.
But y'all know that the livingroom is only going to be about
(01:09):
27 minutes, so I got to movequickly before we jump into our
main topic.
But I want to introduce ourguest man.
He's one of my dudes that I'vebeen rocking with and been
mentoring for a long time.
I really want y'all to hearfrom him.
He has a lot of life experienceand I believe that this life
(01:33):
experience will be able to helpyou get to your next level.
As we conversate on how to getout of the rut, which is part
two of last week If you have notlistened to last week, you need
to go back and listen to it.
So here's my boy brother, aaron.
Aaron.
What's going down, bro?
(01:53):
What's good love, that's goodman.
Man, I am excited that you heretoday.
Uh, why don't you tell ourlisteners a little bit about who
you are, how, how many you gotconnected?
The floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, so me and you go back to Southside Days Middle
School.
You know you ran a programthere and we actually got
disconnected for a while.
And then you know, life kind ofpushed us back together at a at
a crucial time in my life andreally you've been mentoring me
ever since then.
Yeah, so I'm excited to be heretoday because you told me
(02:31):
you're doing something and I'mjust happy to be a part of it,
happy to contribute, really.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, man, our listeners know that we're
looking to go to new levels.
It's all about helping peopleget to their next level, and so
what we've been dealing with is,I don't know, man, I've been in
a rut, right, and so I'velearned that, if I need to, I
(02:59):
need to talk about what I'mgoing through in order to get
through what I'm going through Athousand percent.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Does that make sense?
A thousand percent?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
And so I began to go into the scriptures because I
was like, okay, I really want to, how do I get out of this?
And as I'm beginning to digmyself out of our ruts, in my
rut, I wanted to help ourlisteners to begin to figure
this out too.
Listeners to begin to figurethis out too.
(03:29):
So last week, bro, we talkedabout Proverbs, chapter three,
verses five, uh, three throughfive, and we talked about uh, no
, five and six.
We talked about trusting theLord with all of your heart and
lean, not into your ownunderstanding, and we really
deep dove into that scriptureand how it relates to us getting
(03:50):
out of our rut, and I think itwas good.
I think our listeners was ableto get something out of it.
But I told them I'm going tosit here for a little while as
we deep dive into this, becauseI know getting out of a rut
takes time.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Would you say yeah, yeah, a thousand percent, a
thousand percent.
But that's, that's right,though you went back to the word
, because that's the truth youknow, and everybody you know,
everybody's trying to find theirform of truth, right, and so
the word is a great place tostart.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Form of truth, right, and so the Word is a great
place to start, no matter youknow what you might believe in.
Yeah, yeah, man, I seriouslybelieve that.
So today, though, we're goingto jump in to this next space.
So, if you are taking notes orif you're with me, we're going
to go to Proverbs 4, chapter 4,verses 23.
This is the next level of howto get out of this rut Break
(04:52):
free.
How do I break free out of this?
Here's what the wisdom ofProverbs, chapter 4, 23, says
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows
from it.
I want to say it again.
I want to say it again Aboveall else, guard your heart for
(05:18):
everything you do flows from it.
When you first hear that, aaron, tell me what does that speak
into you?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
First thing is, I hear, is guard your heart, and
that's not easy.
You know we are dealing in aflesh world, that is, you know,
it's so many different thingsthat we're interested in, so
many different things that we'retrying to do.
So the first thing I hear isyou know, it's so many different
things that we're interested in, so many different things that
(05:49):
we're trying to do.
So the first thing I hear isyou know, guard your heart.
And so many people tell youthat in so many different ways,
but they're not exactly tellingyou how exactly.
So this is another reason whyI'm excited with you, because
you have a way of explainingthings and I know we're going to
get to breaking this down, soI'm really excited, but that's
the first thing that perks myears up right there Guard your
(06:10):
heart, because it's so essential.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
See, when I think about guard your heart, man your
heart, in the Bible talks aboutyour emotions, your mind, your
soulish man, right, that's whatit means by your heart.
So, essentially, as I begin tothink about it, and he said,
guard your heart, he's sayingyou got to guard your thinking,
(06:37):
you got to guard against yourown emotions, just like if you
have negative emotions andnegative thoughts and you're in
a rut, more than likely what gotyou to that rut was those
negative thinking, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Was that negative thinking?
A thousand percent.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Was those negative emotions?
Yep, right.
And you will end up approachingthe situation if you come at it
from a negative standpoint.
You will look at this rutrather than seeing it as
something that you can get outof.
This rut will actually keep youdeeper because you will feel
like I can't get out of this.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, a hundred thousand percent.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
And one of the things that I've learned, bro, is how
you think is how your life goingto go.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
So many, so many.
Like as a man thinketh, so ishe.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I think that's a scripture man.
You know what?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
I'm saying, and it's been in a couple books too, you
know mine, paige Turner, likeyou know we are, we like to lock
in.
So you know, as a man thinketh,so is he.
You know, you see a lot, evenKobe Bryant.
You know mama mentality youknow, everybody wants mama
mentality right and um, it'sobviously a flesh way of saying
(07:50):
it, but you know it's.
It's guarding your heart becauseyou're guarding your mind you
know, you gotta it, like yousaid, because it gets to a
certain point where everybody'sat a certain level, right, right
, so what's separating them?
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Okay, what separates you.
You know what I'm saying.
Your mindset is what's going toseparate you More times than
not.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Ooh, ooh.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
More times than not.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
So if I'm in a rut, let's say, for example, I'm in a
relationship rut.
Okay, right, you know I likedealing with relationships with
Aaron, and the more he comes on,y'all will understand why I
like to deal with relationshipswith Aaron.
So you're in this relationshiprut.
Some of our listeners arepeople that's been married for a
(08:36):
few years and some of them areyoung, aspiring to get into
marriage or into a deeperrelationship with another human
being.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
How does guarding your heart apply to the
relationship rut in your mind.
Well, one you got to come inknowing who you are Like.
I think a lot of people go intorelationships not really
knowing who they are, so theyreally don't have a goal outside
of you look good, or you got itgoing on.
You know what I'm saying?
These fleshly things, and theydon't know where they want to go
(09:16):
.
So it's hard to try to balancethese things.
Um, when you're going throughso many things personally.
You know we all going throughso many things personally.
And so, um to answer yourquestion, um, I think, first and
foremost, you know you got tomake sure you're in the right
(09:36):
mindset to be in a relationship,me and one of my best friends.
We talk about that a lot causeyou know he's married, you know
he just had a child and, um, youknow a lot of.
We talk about people not beingconditioned a lot of people
aren't conditioned really forthe emotional side of a
relationship and so, uh, youknow you can.
(09:58):
That can be the first blockageright there.
So it's like, as you're tryingto climb about that rut right,
it's like you slip and you fallback down.
So it's like some people reactdifferently to falling versus
others.
You know, some people aren'tconditioned to really handle a
fall.
You know, based on you know howthey were raised, or maybe even
(10:22):
how they deal with adversity,you know, and in a relationship
early on, especially in earlystages.
Everybody loves the honeymoonphase, right yeah but after the
honeymoon, now you're gonnastart slipping a little bit.
Now she, now she must.
She got this little one thingthat she does and you don't
really know how to really handleit.
You know you ain't really usedto dealing with that attitude.
So first things first.
(10:45):
You know guarding your heartand it's telling you right here.
One thing I love about God is Isay he's the greatest teacher.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Because he does a great way of explaining it and
now, with so many different waysto translate it, you know it's
almost everybody can understand.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
See, I'm glad that led me into what I wanted to do.
Uh, last last week.
Uh, I actually talked about uh.
I read it from a newtranslation called the passion
translation, and so I'm going toread it from the passion,
translation.
Okay, and it says so.
Above all, guard youraffections, the affections of
(11:27):
your heart, for they affect allthat you are.
And then it goes a littledeeper pay attention to the
welfare of your innermost being.
From there flows the wellspringof life.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
So when I read, that particular translation, and it
talked about pay attention tothe welfare of your innermost
being.
It began to bring up to me thisidea that has been such a big
thing since COVID mental health.
Yes, sir, right, it is.
If I'm in a rut or whatever itis, the first thing that we try
(12:06):
to do is to go do something.
Yeah, right, a thousand percent, I got to go do something,
exactly, versus.
No, I need to actually sit init and begin to see what's going
on on the inside of me, right,Because you know, you know this,
this I'm a big believer thatbehavior is something that is
(12:27):
only symptomatic of what's goingon on the inside.
Actually, yeah, right.
So, like you know, I've beenmentoring young people and I
told y'all last week that me andmy wife has started a movement
called the village andersonwhere we mentor youth and
families, and one of the thingsthat I've learned over the years
is a lot of parents will cometo me talking about hey, johnny
(12:52):
did this, sally do this inschool, and da, da, da, da, da.
But they, they want us to dobehavioral modification, right,
without actually deep divinginto I want to know why is
johnny doing this?
What is going on in his thoughtprocess that is producing it.
What's going on in hisenvironment that is producing
(13:13):
these behaviors?
See, I believe that if I'm in arut I can't just get caught up
in.
I'm in this run.
I gotta get out without mehaving to sit down, sit my butt
down and really contemplate.
Okay, father, help me to know.
Why am I here?
What's going on on the insideof me?
(13:34):
And the scripture clearly saysyou got to pay attention to the
welfare of your innermost being.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
You know, to me it sounds like he's saying keep
your emotions in check.
Because this is it's warfare.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
You know, it's warfare.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
You know the devil is after you.
You know you got to be strong,you know so you talk about, like
what's going on the inside of aperson.
A lot of that is mindset.
But if they're not conditionedto have the right mindset, then
they're going to lean on oldbehaviors.
Yeah.
Yeah, okay, prime example,you're trying to get out the rut
right.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
So you're getting out of the rut, you're doing all
the right things right, soyou're starting to climb.
What happens when those oldhabits come up?
You slip yeah but if you're notconditioned, you won't dust
your knee off and start climbingagain.
You might actually stay in therut yeah you know I've I've been
out of high school, uh, for 10years.
(14:34):
We just had a 10-year classreunion, right I'm getting there
, but uh, it's like it's one ofthose things where it's like so
many people we lost.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
And some people we lost to you know, taking
themselves out of the game.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
That's a mental thing , because they may have fallen
right, they may have madecertain mistakes that they just
couldn't recover from.
You know, sometimes, you know,I've been fortunate to have the
mindset that I have to be ableto pick myself up out of these
ruts, and I've also had, youknow, great mentors and teachers
too.
So, but you know, not everybodyhas this, this access.
(15:12):
So I think that one of thefirst things that God is saying
in that translation is keep youremotions in check.
One Second Translation iskeeping emotions in check One
second.
What I would suggest is makingsure that you're conditioning
your mind to get out of the rut.
That's why I think it's so keywhat you said sitting in it.
Initially, nobody wants to sitin the rain, but when you do sit
(15:37):
in the rain, you start to seelike okay, man, it's, it's
coming down, but I can, I canget out of this.
You know, once I get in the,once I get inside, I can change
my clothes into some dry clothesyou know what I'm saying, so
it's just.
It's just one of those thingswhere it's like you got to
believe that you'll get to theinside.
You got to believe that you canmake it inside.
(15:58):
You got to believe that you canget out of the rut.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Wow see, I just was looking up something because
something came to my mind.
There is something, um astrategy in psychology called
mindfulness, right?
So mindfulness meansmaintaining a moment by moment
awareness of our thoughts,feelings, bodily sensations and
(16:21):
surrounding environment througha gentle nurturing lens.
I'm going to say that again forall my listeners Mindfulness
means maintaining a moment bymoment awareness of our thoughts
, feelings, bodily sensationsand surrounding environment
(16:43):
through a gentle nurturing lens.
In other words, you have toslow down.
Let me give you this antidoteof how to get out of this rut
from this scripture.
What we're talking about is, ifI'm going to get out of it, I
have to slow down and begin tosee and sense and become aware
(17:05):
of where I am and why I'm there.
What am I feeling right now?
And we don't like to do that.
The reason why this is so hardin our society is because
everything is so fast pacedright, yeah everything is always
social media.
It is you got to make sure thatyou got to stay current so you
(17:27):
got to, you don't even get achance to enjoy a a success,
because as soon as you get thatsuccess, every the society says
what's the next one?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
yeah, where you going , how you're going get there,
what are you going to do?
Speaker 1 (17:40):
So now, if I'm in this rut, a lot of times we
can't get out of it becausewe're so busy trying to get out
of it.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Exactly, exactly and, like you said, slowing down,
and one thing that I think, thatand you can correct me if you
think that I'm wrong- I thinkyou know more than anything, god
wants us to be present.
Labor right there.
What does that mean?
Okay, you're trying to.
Instead of trying to just getup and get out of the rut,
(18:07):
you're sitting and you'redealing in reality, right?
So you're leaning on peoplethat know you.
You know you're leaning onpeople that know your habits,
your tendencies, and you'resaying, hey, I need you to be
brutally honest with me and Ineed you to tell me, hey, where
can I get better at?
Can I get better here?
Can I get better in this area?
And you got to be intentional.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Intentional, because if you're not intentional,
nothing changes.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
So that goes back to a mindset.
That's a decision.
That goes back to a mindsetthat's a that's a decision.
So now, so it's going to fallback on being present is is
making better decisions, butbeing conscious about making
those better decisions.
So now you're present, like yousaid, moment by moment.
Uh, I'm a documentary guy,right?
(18:56):
So I like kobe bryan is a biginspiration to me, right, right.
So, Kobe said in the Spain goldmedal game.
He has a clip that they likeshut the game off and they to
get him talking.
He says well, you know, I'vebeen through this situation a
multitude of times, so if I'mnervous and I put work in, then
I know they're really feeling it.
That's somebody who's present,he understands okay, I got to
(19:22):
get feeling it.
That's somebody who's present,he understands, okay, I gotta
get myself out of this.
But how am I gonna get myselfout of this?
How am I gonna overcome thischallenge?
That's in front of me and onehe has the mindset, but his
emotions are under control, sohe's able to say and get back
present to say oh yeah, I haveput the work in.
Oh yeah, these are my strengths.
To get out of the rut.
This, these, oh yeah, I am goodat this.
(19:44):
Sometimes you need those.
That's why it's important.
People always talk about acircle, right yeah but if your
circle consists of yes men, theymight tell you all the things
that you are doing great.
So then you never look at yourdeficiencies yeah but the ones
that challenge you, tell youwhat you're not good at.
So now you're building thatcallous up, and so, by the time
(20:09):
they remind you of yourstrengths, oh, you're 2.0, and
then you're able to to rise whatmight seem a lot quicker just
because you know you're able topick yourself up the mindset
you're going to hear me say thata thousand times because your
mindset.
You have to be intentionalabout this.
(20:29):
This is a choice to get out ofthe rut.
It's a choice.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
It's a choice, our listeners.
I only got a few more minutes,man, but I want you to hear that
, hear that.
You know, in our conversation Itold y'all, man, this is just a
living room conversation of ofjust just sitting down very
informally and hopefully yougain some nuggets.
And one of the nuggets that Iwant you to gain from this
conversation is that it is achoice and that sometimes is
(20:59):
hard to realize.
Yeah, if I'm in this rut, Ichose to be in this rut, a
thousand percent.
But here's the deal, here's theempowering part of that.
If I chose to be in the rut andI take responsibility for it, I
can get out of this A thousandpercent.
Right, because, okay, mychoices put me here.
(21:20):
It's going to be your choicesthat get you out, and one of
those choices we I'm going toallude to again in our first
podcast on this series, I toldyou one of the choices you have
to do is what the scripture saidyou got to learn to trust God.
Completely, right In order.
That's one of the choices thatyou have to do.
(21:42):
Can't, nobody do it for you.
You're going to have to say youknow what.
I'm not going to lean to my ownunderstanding on this.
I'm going to trust Godcompletely.
That's one of the choices thatyou're going to have to make,
and so, oh man, we are out oftime, bro, I want to keep going.
Oh man, we are out of time, bro, I want to keep going.
But I promise that this isgoing to be.
One of the things that I toldhim with the living room is that
(22:07):
, hey, while you're working out,you can listen to this, and by
the time it's over, you shouldbe almost done.
Oh yeah, you feel me, because Idon't want to go deeper, because
I want some time.
We go too fast and we getinformation overload.
Yes sir, and we don't take thetime to just sit in it.
And so what I want to be ableto do in these short increments
(22:33):
of podcasts, I want you to beable to just take some
information and then sit there,sit in it for a minute.
You know what I mean.
Don't just go to the next thingLike, let me, let me, maybe,
let me listen to this again yeah, yeah, you know some meat on
the bone yeah, you know, you maysay you know what, man?
hopefully it was an engagingconversation that it made you
think and then you're able tosay you know what.
I'm coming back next week so Ican get a little bit more of
(22:54):
this conversation of how do Iget out of this rut.
And this week I want you toknow that you got to guard your
heart, your emotions, yourmindset.
You kept hearing Aaron talkabout it's your mind, mind and
we're going to deep dive intothat because I know, if you are
a Christian, listen to this whatcomes to your mind is Romans 12
(23:15):
2, that you got to be notconformed to this world but be
transformed by the renewing ofyour mind.
But I can't deep dive into that,just yet, but we may dig into
that at another later episode,because you got to transform
your mind.
If you're in this rut, or youmay get out of it and go back in
(23:36):
it, because your mind wasn'tchanged.
Exactly right, but Right, butwe're getting to that.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
We're getting to that .
Speaker 1 (23:42):
That's dope, that's dope, and so hey y'all, I want
you to please go like andsubscribe to the Living Room
podcast.
I want you to go hit me up onmynextcoachingcom.
If you need anything, you canhit me up there.
Look at some of the resourcesthat we have.
Anything, you can hit me upthere.
Look at some of the resourcesthat we have.
And until next week, I maybring Aaron back on next week,
(24:03):
y'all, because this is my boyand I feel like we kind of vibe.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
For sure Did we vibe a little bit today.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Definitely vibe, I know it was your first time man,
but I felt like this was a goodvibe.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
It was great.
It was great.
I'm looking forward to it and,like you said, leaving that meat
on the bone was veryappropriate because this is
something that, literally, weonly broke down the first four
words.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying and this is something
that you know we're both reallypassionate about, and I'm I'm
grateful to do this man, I'mgrateful to do this.
So y'all, we love y'all, hit meup and I'll holler at y'all
next week.
Bye.
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