April 3, 2025 • 61 mins
Do you know that your greatest pain could actually be the gold that makes you shine? Well, in this soul-stirring episode, Sifu Rafael shares how childhood polio, being an immigrant in a new country at a young age, and deep personal loss became the very foundation of his power. From learning to walk again to becoming a sought-after speaker, podcaster, and renowned martial arts guru, Sifu shows us that resilience isn’t about avoiding the cracks - it’s about honoring them. You’ll hear how forgiveness, perspective, and identity shaped his healing and how you, too, can turn your broken pieces into brilliance.
Connect with Sifu Rafael:
Episode 135's Affirmation:
I am a confident and capable communicator, using my words to create understanding and inspiration.
I invite you to leave a positive message with your insights, feedback, or uplifting message.
🔗 Connect with Alethea:
Ready to go deeper in your growth journey? Visit https://www.aletheafelton.com to book Alethea for your next conference or workshop, explore one-on-one consulting, join the Resilient Leaders Alliance, and more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Alethea Felton (00:07):
it's always extra fun when you can actually
interview somebody that you cansay that you know.
And my guest today is someonethat I am honored to know and
respect and value, and that isnone other than Sifu Rafael.
Oh, my goodness, if you don'tknow his name, you will after
(00:29):
today.
He is a masterful communicator,he works with people in
(00:50):
communication and leadership andy'all.
He has a ton of podcasts.
You hear me?
I think Sifu has seven podcasts, if I'm not mistaken.
I think Sifu has seven podcasts, if I'm not mistaken.
But he is a truly incrediblehuman being and I'm just not
(01:11):
saying that and he lives withsuch humility and a reverence
and a quiet strength about him.
Now, although he has thesmoothest speaking voice that
you will ever find, don't forgety'all.
I said that he is a martialarts expert, so Sifu can fight,
so don't take his mild, eventemper and tone as weakness.
(01:37):
But, all jokes aside, sifu isextraordinary and it is so fun
having him as a guest today.
And, with that being said,welcome to the Power
Transformation Podcast.
I am your host, Alethea Felton,and it is truly a privilege to
be here with you today and weare going to learn about Sifu's
(02:01):
journey and what led him downthis road of helping people
communicate.
What a story he has from hischildhood all the way until now.
This is an episode you do notwant to miss, and so we want to
jump right into this.
Thank you again.
Go ahead and subscribe to thePower Transformation Podcast.
(02:25):
We are on all audio platformsand our YouTube channel is now
launched.
I am still gradually uploadingvideos onto YouTube, and so
thank you so much for yoursupport in keeping this show
going and thriving.
We're going to go ahead andstart with our affirmation.
(02:45):
I'm going to say an affirmationhere.
On all of the audio shows, wedo an affirmation, speaking
those things into existence andspeaking them with confidence.
So I'm going to say theaffirmation once and then you
repeat it I am a confident andcapable communicator, using my
(03:13):
words to create understandingand inspiration.
I am so excited today to havethis guest on the Power
Transformation Podcast and, asyou heard from my intro, he is a
podcasting genius, a podcastguru, a speaking expert, but,
more importantly, he is someonethat I am getting to know as
(03:33):
friend, and that is none otherthan the legendary Sifu Rafael.
Welcome, Sifu, to the PowerTransformation Podcast.
Sifu Rafael (03:43):
Alethea, it is such a pleasure.
And, by the way, where do Isend the check for that
beautiful introduction?
Alethea Felton (03:50):
Oh, wow, thank you so much.
The pleasure is all mine.
You have truly, in just theseseveral months that I've known
you.
I've met you about June, andwhen we're recording this it's
November, and I just have totell you what an impression that
you made on me when I firstheard you speak, and it took a
(04:13):
while for us to have aone-on-one, but I'm so glad that
I scheduled that.
So this is going to be such adelightful, insightful
conversation, and I always liketo start with a fun,
lighthearted question in termsof just asking something about
guests as an icebreaker, so wecan get to know you more as a
(04:36):
person.
And so, sifu, this is myquestion for you If you could
have one hero's superpower, sosay, you were a hero and you had
a superpower.
Which superpower would you notwant to have, and why?
Sifu Rafael (04:58):
Not want to have Death touch.
Alethea Felton (05:03):
Really.
Sifu Rafael (05:04):
Yes.
Alethea Felton (05:06):
Tell us more.
Sifu Rafael (05:07):
I believe that there's a lot of people out
there who already use that power.
I want to use mine for good,not evil, so we all have that
ability to take someone else'slife.
Alethea Felton (05:24):
Mm-hmm.
Sifu Rafael (05:24):
But we also have an ability to empower someone to
live a better life.
So that's the superpower I wantto have to help other people in
need and we're going to learnmore about it.
Alethea Felton (05:45):
But I appreciate that thoughtful response and I
intentionally switched it upbecause of the fact I wanted to
see which way you were going togo with that, and your answer is
perfect.
So now I want to dig a littledeeper into this human that we
know as Sifu Raphael.
If I didn't know anything aboutthat person, how would you
(06:08):
describe him?
Sifu Rafael (06:12):
He's someone who is God-faith.
When I say God and faith theydon't sound correctly, but in
order for me to believe in God Ihave to have the faith, and
(06:33):
he's given me the faith tobelieve in me, that he is on a
mission to help as many peopleunderstand the beauty that God
has put in every one of us.
And when I say God, faith, Iknow it doesn't sound right, and
(06:57):
somebody who teachescommunication, I know that
really doesn't sound right, butthose two words truly would
describe me to someone whodidn't know me.
I believe in God and I believeGod has given me the faith to
help others believe inthemselves.
Alethea Felton (07:19):
Oh wow, sifu, take us back to some of your
early beginnings.
And when you talk about thisconcept of a God faith, take us
back to some of your earlyorigins and describe a moment
when you first recognized thatGod as well as faith, and how
(07:44):
the two combined in your life ata young age.
Sifu Rafael (07:51):
My parents raised me Roman Catholic, but it wasn't
my choice, just like many kidsdon't have a choice whether
they're born Muslim, jewish,whatever religion and I think
it's up to each one of us tofigure out what we truly believe
(08:15):
.
Where is the faith?
And for me, I followed thefaith that my parents brought
forth, and there were so manyunanswered questions and I kept
asking and kept asking and couldnot find.
And then later on, I realizedthat, no matter how far I looked
(08:42):
under what rock I looked, howfar I looked under what rock I
looked, it was up to me to findmy faith.
And I realized I've alwaysbelieved in God, and it didn't
matter what faith, the name ofthe faith was so, whether it was
(09:02):
Jewish, muslim, catholic,whatever it wasn't.
That it was the belief thatthere is a higher power that has
put me here, and what is themission that I've been given?
Think of a soldier.
A soldier is not a soldierwithout a mission.
(09:26):
Otherwise they're just sittingsomewhere waiting for orders.
So my whole life I've been thatsoldier, waiting for the orders
to come in.
Alethea Felton (09:40):
And when the?
Sifu Rafael (09:40):
order fully came in and said take care of you first
and then help as many people asyou can.
So early on, the question offaith truly, truly came to me
when I lost the ability to walk.
No one had answers for me.
(10:04):
No one had answers for me, theamount of pain I went through
and into.
No one can tell me why I wasfeeling that no one spoke to me.
They took me to doctors.
Alethea Felton (10:24):
The doctors didn't even talk to me.
Sifu Rafael (10:33):
They talked to my parents, so I was left out of
the equation of my own pain,which is a little baffling yeah
because if someone is goingthrough something, it it's worth
their while to know what it isright, exactly when we go
through any pain.
Why is it happening?
If I put my hand on a flame, Iam aware that I'm getting burnt
(10:56):
because of the flame.
Alethea Felton (10:58):
Mm-hmm.
Sifu Rafael (11:00):
But when my legs turned backwards and I
contracted polio and lost theability overnight to walk, the
question is we all say why me?
I don't ever remember askingthat question.
I was too young.
(11:21):
I never asked that question.
I still don't today and I thinknow, I know the answer, even
though I didn't ask it because Ihad to go through it, because I
had evolution of me tounderstand that pain.
(11:47):
To me now it means I'm alive.
Alethea Felton (11:53):
Hmm, wow, let me pause you here.
When you said that you caughtit young, and I'm going to touch
on certain points that you made, how old exactly were you when
you contracted polio?
Sifu Rafael (12:07):
About three.
Alethea Felton (12:09):
Wow, wow.
So in those early days, whatI'd like to also bring up is the
fact you were, from myrecollection, the 10th of 12
children, correct?
Very good memory?
Yeah, right, 10.
Right, okay, so you were the10th of 12 children.
(12:30):
So, although you, you know,describe yourself as becoming
this soldier, what I alreadyenvisioned is that you were
already brought up with a smallarmy around you when it came to
your siblings and your supportsystem.
So, when you are at that youngage, as three, while the full
(12:53):
and total awareness may not havebeen there, sifu, can you
recall any type of feelings,emotions, thoughts that you had
at a young age when you couldn'twalk?
Or did those revelations cometo you later?
Some of us can think back towhen we were really, really
(13:13):
young and you knew about thepain, but even at that young age
, did you ever feel that youwere different or that something
was wrong, or did you simplyjust accept the fate as how it
was?
Sifu Rafael (13:35):
we can talk about acceptance, but not wanting to
stay in it.
So for for me, it was this ishappening.
How do I get out of it?
So if I was thrown in a hole,how do I climb out of it?
That's all I knew.
So I did not blame anyone, Ijust said okay, I need to get
(14:01):
back to what I recall.
Don't get me wrong.
At three years old, I justbasically learned how to walk.
Exactly so it wasn't thatfar-fetched from I'm crawling to
oh, I'm crawling again.
It was not too much later thanthat that I was given braces,
(14:21):
full-leg braces Imagine ForrestGump.
And that was me.
And for me to walk 10 feetwould have taken me probably an
hour, which would take meseconds now.
So it was a matter of if I hadgiven up, if I would have said I
(14:43):
accept and stayed there.
Who knows how my recovery, ifyou will, would have come about.
But I didn't see it as a stop.
Alethea Felton (14:56):
Yeah.
Sifu Rafael (14:57):
I saw it as a pause .
Okay, I'm down.
I got to get back up.
Okay, I can't get back up as Iused to.
Well, I got to get back up.
Okay, I can't get back up as asI used to.
Well, I got to find a way, andevery day was a challenge to get
better, and I knew that.
The funny thing is when I wasactually.
(15:19):
I guess here's the crazy thingEven though I was in it for a
while, to me it was such shortlived, because all I can recall
is afterwards running and I wasone of the fastest kids around.
Alethea Felton (15:38):
Oh my goodness, Look at the irony of that.
How amazing is that.
Again, it goes back to that Godfaith.
That's it.
Wow, oh my goodness, One of thefastest kids around.
And just the fact that at thatyoung age, your resilience
journey started in more waysthan one no-transcript.
(16:55):
How did you not get in your ownway of staying stuck in the
fact that wait a minute, I don'tlook like everyone?
How did you reconcile thatwithin you?
Sifu Rafael (17:07):
Well, it's very interesting A lot of babies are
born with different color hairblonde, black, whatever I was,
yeah.
Right, and then the eyes usuallyturn around the age of one
right Mine, actually.
My mom told me that theychanged around the age of five.
So I had platinum blonde hair.
(17:29):
Now I am colombian, so myfamily's darker skin, I'm
lighter skin.
So yes, I am.
Uh, I was called the milkman'sbaby, right, so people made fun
of it that way, um, but but itkind of served me in a in an
(17:49):
incredible way, because a lot ofpeople did not take me for
spanish, especially when I cameto this country, and if you look
at me now I have brownishishhair.
It may look like I have browneyes.
I actually have hazel eyes,depending on how closely you
(18:11):
look.
If I'm ever tired, which israre my eyes actually turn
grayish, which is interesting.
I don't know that but peoplehave told me that Wow.
Like I've done, stints whereI've been up for 36, I mean
three days in a row, rightwithout going to sleep, and
somebody goes you need a nap.
But the interesting part of itis that allowed me.
(18:38):
Um, let me put it to you thisway Okay.
You and I are both minorities,but I did not look like one, so
it gave me certain freedoms thatother minorities who had I look
like my brothers.
I may not have had certainprivileges just because of the
(19:01):
way I look.
I got you yeah, just because ofthe way I look, I got you, yeah
, and but when I spoke it wasdifferent, because they're like
oh that kid's.
Spanish, and for me, I've neverseen myself as a minority, ever
(19:31):
I've never seen myself as awhite person.
I've seen myself as God's child, and that's where I was very
fortunate.
As a kid, when we came to thiscountry, we lived in a
neighborhood that I used tofrequent a lot of my friends'
homes, and they were PuertoRican, dominican, haitian,
jamaican, irish, american, youknow.
(19:53):
So for me it was prettyincredible, because I almost
felt like I grew up in theUnited Nations.
Alethea Felton (20:00):
You know what it's so interesting.
You would say that because ofthe fact you grew up in New York
and my mom grew up over inJersey, east Orange and Newark,
with her being multi-ethnic, youknow she loved the fact that
she thrived with so many peopleItalian, polish, puerto Rican so
(20:31):
you know this melting pot ofpeople.
And I'd also like to say youbrought up the fact that you
came to this country as a child,but also, sifu, you didn't
speak English.
So when you came here, how didyou find your inner voice in the
midst of that multiculturalcommunity that you were a?
Sifu Rafael (20:54):
part of things about children is that we adapt
really fast and I noticed Idon't know if you noticed- but I
(21:14):
said we, because I still feellike a kid you know, I do too,
and I still act like onesometimes.
Oh yeah, I do too.
Alethea Felton (21:19):
That's what keeps us young Look look, ask my
parents, ask my sister.
They'll say yeah, she's a bigkid.
Anyway, go ahead.
Sifu Rafael (21:27):
But that's, that's what keeps us young Right, the
way we act, sometimes the way wefeel.
So for me, when I first camehere, it was a big shocker.
I was super excited.
I was super excited.
I was 10 of 12, but we weredivided because when my parents
came to this country the US theycould not bring us all.
(21:54):
They actually didn't.
So it was my mom who came first,then my dad, and then they took
all of us kids and they spreadus out who can take so-and so
until we can bring them.
So they would bring two orthree at a time, right, and so
my parents were working allthese.
So I'm thinking my parents,they're in america, I'm going to
(22:19):
america one day and it was veryfunny because I had a little
somebody had, I, I think Iborrowed a transistor radio,
right, one of those littleradios, and you could put it
yeah, and I would only put onein, not two, because I thought I
(22:42):
was going to be learningEnglish.
So I put on Spanish stations.
I didn't know.
So I think I'm learning Englishright Because I'm listening to
you know what's out there.
And the other one I didn't putit on because I wanted to know
what's going on around.
So sometimes I would lay in bedor late at night and listen,
(23:05):
and just listen to radiostations or whatnot.
And when I got here it was abig shock because, yeah, no one
spoke Spanish.
The only people that spokeSpanish were my family.
So my parents brought me into aneighborhood not the one I was
(23:26):
talking about earlier, but adifferent neighborhood and no
one in our neighborhood spokeSpanish.
No one in my school spokeSpanish Not my teachers, not the
other students.
So not only did I not knowanything, I was left back
(23:46):
because I didn't know thelanguage.
So they put me in first gradeinstead of third, and so you can
only imagine the ridicule, thebullying, the laughing at all
that stuff that happened.
But I just I sucked, I soakedit in, if you will, and I sucked
(24:11):
at speaking English, right, butI would try, I would try and
try and try, just like when Icouldn't walk anymore, and I
tried and tried and tried andeventually I would say, by
second grade, I, I can speak andI was able to speak pretty well
(24:32):
oh my goodness, in one schoolyear, yeah, and the whole thing
is uh, I would come home andwatch cartoons in english, right
, my mom would put on the spchannel, right, canal 41.
(24:54):
So for.
Univision, if you will.
I obviously thank God forcartoons, even though the
cartoons I would not recommendthem now because the cartoons
when I was watching them werevery violent.
They were teaching Even Tom andJerry.
I used to love that.
I love Tom and Jerry Gorilla,right, catch that pigeon.
(25:15):
Now you know all that kind ofstuff, right, but they were very
violent.
They would hit each other onthe head, they would do all
these things.
And then we wonder why are kidsviolent with one another?
Because they're watching itconstantly.
Kids violent with one anotherbecause they're watching it
constantly.
I just I, I had a client whotold me his um four-year-old is,
(25:36):
uh, was getting hit by aseven-year-old, oh, and he's
like oh, that's not happening tomy guy, my child and um, but
because kids don't know betterand parents don't always say
don't watch that.
Nowadays, unfortunately,parents say here's my phone,
(26:02):
occupy yourself.
Here's a tablet, occupyyourself.
Here's YouTube, occupy it.
Even though you may put on alittle cartoon thing for YouTube
, the kids are going to becurious, they're going to go
what's next or what comes upnext?
So communication has becomesuch an important vehicle in my
life.
Alethea Felton (26:24):
And so, in terms of that communication, since
you learned English by the timeyou were in second grade and, of
course, by now you had immersedyourself you started soaking
everything in.
The amazing part to me, Sifu,about your life is the fact that
(26:44):
your entrepreneurial platformin this day and time is that you
are a renowned speaker.
You are a podcaster of multiplepodcasts but everything you do
centers around using your voice.
Did that epiphany or aha momentthat you wanted to be
(27:05):
intentional about having sometype of life or career centered
around speaking?
Did that start to come to youeven before you turned 18?
Or did that happen after yougraduated?
Sifu Rafael (27:25):
I've been a performer I would say my whole
life, and when I mean performer,uh, I would, uh, I would get up
and do little skits in front ofpeople and all kinds of stuff.
I try to be funny, try to doall these different things.
But during that time I realizedthat guiding someone meant more
(27:48):
than being a clown, if you will, because sometimes when you
were clowning around, you get alot of attention, but when you
were helping someone else, youmade a difference in their life
compared to just making themlaugh.
And when you can changesomebody or help someone don't
get me wrong, wrong, makingsomeone laugh is amazing.
(28:09):
I love doing it still, um, Ilaugh every day and I have to,
uh, I have to laugh.
I'm the, I'm the corniest guyyou'll meet, but it's.
It puts a smile on my face.
Yes, and for me, helping otherpeople became my skill in
(28:32):
helping people understandlanguage.
Sometimes, even if you did notcommunicate verbally, there's
that body language.
So I would go into.
When I was in high school, Iused to go and teach gymnastics
at a different high school andin the high school I was at, I
(28:52):
used to go and teach swimming toanyone who didn't know how to
swim.
So, through the body language,explaining to them what it was
that they needed to do.
Sometimes and I do this nowwith a lot of people that I
train I say, okay, show me whatI just taught you, without any
(29:16):
words.
Alethea Felton (29:18):
And they're like .
Sifu Rafael (29:21):
I'm like, if I couldn't hear you, can you still
teach me?
And at first they struggledeeply, but then I start
teaching them how and then I say, okay, now I want you to only
teach me with no body languageand only with your words, and
(29:44):
that's a struggle as well.
So for me it's always beenputting those two things
together.
That's what allows me to be abetter teacher, instructor,
mentor to other people, Becauseif I can associate body language
, movement with the words, thespoken word, then I know I'm
(30:09):
going to get through them.
And a lot of times if somebodydoesn't understand, challenge,
challenge, let's go.
How else can I make youunderstand it?
Is it visually?
Is it?
Do I have to put my hand onyour elbow, your shoulder?
Do I have to move your arm?
Do I have to walk you over here?
Do I have to actually point tosomething?
(30:31):
So I am actually doing thekinesthetic aspect of it and
then obviously the auditory andalso the most important one, I
think, when we communicate is wehave to ask for clarity.
Do you understand what I justtold you?
And we forget that part.
We assume and you know whathappens when that happens.
Alethea Felton (31:04):
Everything that you're saying is so thought
provoking and loaded, but I'mthinking of you as a practical
baby with polio.
Then you have this totallydifferent look than even that of
your own family.
(31:24):
Then the fact that your parentscome to America, you and your
siblings are spread about.
You come, don't speak Englishall of these challenges at such
a young age.
And yet you still had the nerveand the audacity to say I want
(31:46):
to help other people find theirvoice and to be clearer in their
messaging, speaking, et cetera.
And I'll have you to explainall of that.
But when did you see the needfor a person who was trapped in
(32:08):
themselves and not knowing howto either move past their
challenges or be clear in theirmessaging?
When did you see that need?
But then how did you first goabout saying I want to coach
people and teach people how todo that.
Take us on that journey, people, and teach people how to do
(32:31):
that.
Sifu Rafael (32:31):
Take us on that journey that really started very
early on, For some reason.
A lot of people used to come tome with issues that they had.
They didn't know how to handlethem.
Alethea Felton (32:42):
Almost like a counselor almost.
Sifu Rafael (32:46):
Yeah, or a mentor yeah, okay, yeah, or a mentor
yeah, okay Okay.
And so for me it was.
I can tell you what to do butyou're not going to do it Right?
(33:07):
Why don't we talk it out and weboth figure out your best action
?
Because if it was onlyone-sided me giving them the
advice which I already knew, alot of times I was like oh my
God, I cannot believe you don'tsee it in front of you.
But if I said that to them andI said do this, this, this, this
and the other, trust me, I'mvery aware of people who say
(33:35):
trust me and then I usually runthe other way.
When people tell me trust me.
I've had too many people saythat and I see what they.
The trust is not mutual, if youwill.
So, instead of having them betold by me what to do.
It was important for me to helpthem see their options, and I
(33:59):
did that from very, very earlyon, all the way from kids trying
to cheat on me.
I guess I was a goody two-shoesin school.
Okay, I was, and at one point Iused to, you know, like I used
to hide, you know, put myshoulders over my test when I
(34:22):
was taking a test, so thatnobody can see or anything.
Nobody can see or anything.
And one day I said you know, ifsomebody wants to see what my
answers are, that's on them,it's not on me.
So I let it happen.
So I got caught not cheating.
(34:52):
But there was a kid next to meand we were taking a test and he
asked me to move my arm so hecan see the answers.
And when I said something tohim like what you can't see it,
I was a little annoyed.
Guess what the teacher calledme out.
I got an F.
The teacher thought I wascheating and I was like okay,
(35:13):
from now on my, my arms are offthe table.
I'm just putting it out there.
If anybody wants to cheat, it'son them.
And sometimes it's very funny,because when somebody wanted to
cheat off, I would like leanback and say okay when I'm, I'm
done with my test.
it's done.
So it's up to you and thatdoesn't mean that all my answers
(35:38):
were correct.
But if somebody needed to lookat my answers that day, that's
on them.
So we have to understand thatwhen we are willing to cheat,
it's on us, because we'recheating ourselves 100%, even if
(35:59):
the answer is right, because wedid not do the work to get the
answer, so we will never havethat knowledge.
It's like reading a book andputting it down.
Reading a book and putting itdown.
How many people have youpersonally known who said oh, I
read so many books.
Okay, tell me about one of them.
Uh well, too many to remember.
(36:22):
Okay, I get that it's importantfor all of us to take into
account.
Our actions reflect ourtomorrows.
What I do today will make me abetter person tomorrow or I'll
stay the same or I'll be lessthan, but it's up to me.
Alethea Felton (36:47):
Wow.
You often talk about having aninner communication and my
question to you, when you werespeaking about people who would
come to you for mentorship orthey often sought you out
because they were seekinganswers about something they
(37:10):
often sought you out becausethey were seeking answers about
something.
What would you say to either aclient or even maybe a listener
or viewer who is feeling as ifthey are trapped in a cycle of
negative self-talk?
How did you manage to not getin that type of trap?
Did you manage to not get inthat type of trap and what could
(37:31):
you say to someone else thatmaybe they are communicating
within themselves?
Sifu Rafael (37:39):
but their communication isn't healthy.
When we have that negative talk, when we self-sabotage, it
doesn't start with us, itstarted with someone else.
Someone else told us we're nogood, we stink at that, we're
(37:59):
too tall, we're too short, we'retoo this, we're too whatever,
and we allow those words topenetrate our core.
Those are hard words to get outI.
The way I lead my life is basedbecause I was badly abused as a
(38:24):
child.
Badly as a child back then andwhen we can say it's not my
fault.
It's not about me, it's aboutthem.
(38:47):
They're broken and they don'twant to stay broken alone.
I found out that there's Ibelieve it's in japan where when
something is broken, they don'tthrow it out, they actually put
it together and they put golddust on it as well, so that you
can see the beauty of the break.
(39:10):
And every time I was broken, Iput my own gold dust on my
breaks because nobody else wasdoing it for me.
I had to look in the mirror andsay man, you're beautiful
(39:30):
you're incredible.
You're this, you're that, butnone of it was.
You're ugly.
You're no good.
You'll never succeed none ofthese things, no matter how many
people said it to me, no matterhow many people?
Made fun of me.
To me, no matter how manypeople made fun of me, it was me
(40:02):
seeing that if I am created inGod's image and God is beautiful
, then if I am made in his image.
Alethea Felton (40:10):
I too am beautiful Because you are
fearfully and wonderfully madeand with you being made in God's
image, wow, wow.
I envisioned when you talkedabout the gold dust being put on
the brakes oh, my goodness andthe cracks.
(40:30):
That is absolutely a captivatingview, because I've experienced
or have seen so many people whothink that their brokenness is
where they have to belong andnot realizing that they can rise
from the ashes, that they haveso much more to offer and give.
(40:56):
And so, with that being said,when you this theme of
empowerment, resilience,transformation, all of that,
(41:16):
when you face new challenges,even today, sifu, in your life
as a grown man, how do you drawfrom your past experiences, own
man, how do you draw from yourpast experiences?
But what else do you do to staygrounded and focused and
forward moving?
And I ask this because you havedone and continue to do
(41:41):
incredible things, where I seethe successes that you've had,
but all of those don't comewithout a cost, don't come
without a price.
There's a cliche and it saysoftentimes people will see
someone's glory without knowingtheir story.
(42:02):
And behind all of that successis still someone who has to
every day keep that God faithand be intentional, and so how
have the experiences of yourpast, how have they helped to
form that resilience, power andtransformation?
Sifu Rafael (42:27):
Great question.
No-transcript a scale.
(42:48):
How do I weigh this?
How do I weigh that?
What's important what's notimportant.
If I lost literally everythingand I had to live in a cardboard
box, I would be the happiestguy in a cardboard box.
Alethea Felton (43:11):
Oh, wow.
Sifu Rafael (43:13):
Because every morning I wake up in gratitude,
I start in prayer, then I gointo thanking God for the gifts
I have that he's given me.
I go through I mean, I'd haveto spend days if I had to go
through every little thing thatI actually have.
My hands, my skin, my heart, mylungs, every little aspect of
(43:39):
who.
I am as a person, if I wasdropped off in the middle of
nowhere and no one knew me andall I had was the clothes on my
back.
Would I survive?
I would first start withhelping, because I know that if
I help someone, they would wantto help me back.
(44:02):
I would never look to beg,because begging does not show,
because begging does not showhelping.
So for me to get the help I mayneed at that point it would
(44:23):
mean I have to give first to get, and all my life experiences
have taught me that, that I needto give and I've given, and
people have taken advantage ofit and I say more power to them.
They may flourish in what.
(44:43):
I've done for them and they maypush me aside from being on a
board of trustees to all ofthese different things and I did
so much for a certain companyand they didn't see it, and
that's okay.
It only made me stronger, wiser, and would I do it again?
(45:08):
Would I help someone else?
You better believe it.
Why would I help it again?
Would I help someone else?
You better believe it.
Alethea Felton (45:12):
Why would I help ?
Sifu Rafael (45:13):
them, because that's my mission.
That is why I'm here when wedon't know why we're here we
need to take some time away fromour busy life and find out why
we're doing what we're doing.
Alethea Felton (45:30):
Are we wasting our time?
Sifu Rafael (45:32):
on our phone, on Netflix, on social media, and
then we go yeah, I don't knowwhat I want to do with my life.
Well, maybe you should stop,sit, turn off the light so you
have nothing bless you coming in.
Alethea Felton (45:50):
I know you're muted, but I had to say bless
you, thank you.
Yes, you all.
I sneezed but I muted.
But anyway, go ahead, thank you.
Sifu Rafael (46:02):
But see that right, there is body language right
when we can acknowledge anotherhuman being.
That's why we're here.
Acknowledge another human being, yes, that's why we're here.
This is why sitting in darknessis so powerful, powerful I'm
going to say it again powerfulthing we need to do regularly so
(46:28):
that we can be with us.
So many people have hundreds offriends all over the place and
everywhere they go, they have tohave somebody around because
they're afraid of their ownshadow.
They're afraid of them.
To become the person you needto become, you need to become
you.
(46:48):
You need to be you wherever yougo, because, no matter what,
you're there.
So we need to take the time toreflect on, yes, our lives, but
we can't stay there.
I can't reflect on all thebeatings I took as a kid.
I can't reflect on all the badand negative things that
(47:13):
happened in my life, becausethen I would still be there At
the age of 18, I forgaveeveryone who's ever hurt me
Everyone, and I mean in a badway.
And I never said to them Iforgive you, because that would
(47:35):
have been not deep enough for me.
It would have been meaning thatI'm holding something over them
and for me to hold somethingover them I'm basically doing
what they did to me.
So I never said to them I'mbasically doing what they did to
me.
So I never said to them Iforgive you for what you've done
(47:55):
.
I just forgave them and I never,mentioned it to them and
whether they know it or not,that's not for me to decide.
I know that I created a cleanslate for me, so, moving forward
, when you ask me, why do I dothe things I do today as a man?
(48:17):
It's very funny because I stillsee myself as a boy, right, and
the innocence of a young boy oryoung lady is that we trust and
we're gonna get burnt when wetrust I still can't help it.
(48:39):
I still trust.
I still get burnt.
Even this year I've been burnt.
That does not take away from mytrust in humans.
And because if I stop trusting,I'm going to not trust the
person who needs to be trustedthe most, and then they're not
(49:04):
going to have an opportunity toshine because I didn't give it
to them.
So therefore, I also have totrust me right?
Alethea Felton (49:13):
Yeah, yes, of course, and I want to touch on,
as we start to come to a close,of you saying about how you see
yourself as a boy.
And I understand that, how yousee yourself as a boy, and I
understand that, and it's notanything emasculating in any
(49:36):
sense of the term.
I think that that childhoodinnocence and that that
childhood, I think as childrenwe're, we're more in tune and
much more sensitive, and thenlife can have a tendency of
tainting people, but we all havethat choice to tap into that
(49:59):
inner child that we are and thatpurity and that innocence and
something I think is just withyour childlike creativity,
imagination, but also in yourrisk-taking.
And it leads me to a transitionin.
I have one podcast that Istarted off as just something
(50:20):
fun to do.
That is totally exceeding me.
But when I met you and I foundout the amount of podcasts you
have, I said hold up, I got tolearn more from him about this.
But just the fact of podcastsyou have.
I said hold up, I got to learnmore from him about this, but
just the fact of that.
So I want to take a shift now,because I can dare not end this
(50:40):
podcast episode without givingyou the opportunity to share,
first of all, what inspired youto getting get into this field
of podcasting, and then alsoshare with us your podcasts and
how listeners and viewers canactually go about watching them,
(51:03):
subscribing, etc I appreciatethat.
Sifu Rafael (51:09):
one of the things that that made me decide to
start is COVID.
So many coaches approached usthrough email and phone calls,
but there were coaches who werenot coaches.
They had not been doing it foryears.
Alethea Felton (51:30):
And I get it.
Sifu Rafael (51:31):
A lot of people had a shift, people lost their jobs
.
I understand that.
But to tell someone, do whatI'm doing, yet they're just
literally.
They only started three hoursbefore you.
They, they reached out to youthat and it was constant.
I said I have to do somethingabout this and that's why I
(51:58):
started coaching call to talk toreal coaches, coaches who've
been doing it for a while, whoeven I've spoken to, people who
have podcast 2015 2000,.
You know and so forth beforethe pandemic.
But I started mine at the endor the end of 2020.
(52:19):
Right, and I was going to do amartial arts podcast and I love
martial arts.
Alethea Felton (52:24):
I've been doing it for 49 years, right.
Sifu Rafael (52:28):
But the more I listen to martial arts podcasts,
the more I realized they havenothing else to talk about.
How many times can you talkabout blocking a punch to the
face or getting choked out ordoing a kick?
And so I said, ah, that's notwhat I want, being that I've
coached people in all aspects oflife, that's who I want to talk
(52:51):
to Different types of coaches,somebody who's taught dance?
Somebody who's taught swimming?
Somebody who's taughtgymnastics?
Somebody who's taught iceskating?
Somebody who's taught somebodyhow to become an actor.
So then, all of a sudden, I'mlike, oh wait a minute, I know a
lot of these people.
I said those are the people Ineed to talk to.
So that's how my first showstarted, and it was.
(53:13):
It was easy enough to moveforward.
Once I stopped recording them.
I all my shows now live.
Alethea Felton (53:23):
Yes.
Sifu Rafael (53:24):
And the reason they're live is because I don't
have to make excuses for others.
Just like I didn't have to makean excuse for the person that
cheated off me on a test, Idon't have to make an excuse for
somebody who comes on and theydon't present themselves well or
properly or have badbackgrounds or whatever, bad
(53:46):
microphones and so forth.
So I let them know this is live.
If you went on a TV show rightnow, if you put on channel seven
, two, whatever, how would youshow up?
That's right.
How would you show up, right?
And so, considering that, onceI did that, I went live.
(54:08):
Once I did that, I went live,I've changed.
I was able to now create moreshows, which I'm about to do, a
seventh show.
Alethea Felton (54:19):
Wow, I love it.
Yes and yes you all heard himright.
He said he's about to do aseventh show.
I intentionally did not say howmany podcasts he had because I
knew he would say them, but yes,currently he has six.
As of when we are doing this,this is november.
(54:40):
By the time this airs, thatseventh one will probably be
ready, so I will give an update.
Sifu Rafael (54:47):
But anyway, go ahead, yeah it's either coming
out in December 24 or January25th.
Alethea Felton (54:54):
Yeah, ok.
Sifu Rafael (54:56):
When, when we, and the reason I do the shows is
because I realize that my voiceIs my voice.
But if I can resonate A message, but if I can resonate a
(55:26):
message for anyone to do better,to feel better, to become more,
and I can bring other expertson board, wow, that's what
excites me the most about theshows I do.
A lot of people say well, why doyou do so many?
Because every one of them isunique.
I've created every singleepisode.
I've created every single showmyself, and the reason for that
is because the message that wehave to put out there to help
(55:54):
one another, to create acommunity of people who say I
need to do better.
No matter how good you thinkyou are, you could do better.
Alethea Felton (56:09):
Wow.
Sifu Rafael (56:10):
Don't ever compare yourself to anyone else.
No matter, you can't compare,you'll be living looking up to
the Joneses, and the Joneses arelooking up to the Johns and the
Johns are looking up to theSmiths and so forth.
Alethea Felton (56:24):
Ongoing cycle.
Sifu Rafael (56:26):
And no one knows the struggles that each other
have.
But when we focus on us, thenwe can focus on helping others.
So prosperity is not selfish.
Prosperity, if done well, is tohelp others.
Help those who are in need.
(56:47):
Right now, through my church,they're doing a shoebox giveaway
.
Everybody takes home a shoebox,they put stuff in it and
they're giving it to othercountries.
Now the other thing that I'mdoing is I'm having people
bringing me gifts and stuff likethat Toys, brand new toys,
(57:08):
books, things of that nature andwe're going to be donating
those as well.
So it's always how can Iencourage someone to do a little
better?
And the ones that we need toencourage are our future kids.
They need the mostencouragement.
Alethea Felton (57:26):
They need to get off those darn tablets.
Yeah, and show up for theirlives and to be.
I totally get that and so, interms of your podcast being live
, how can a person connect withyou, say, if they wanted to
(57:46):
inquire about your coachingservices, about your shows?
What's the best way for peopleto connect with you, sifu?
Sifu Rafael (57:55):
Sure, I'm going to actually give you my email, but
anybody who comes and tries tosell me something, I'll delete
them, right.
Alethea Felton (58:02):
It's easy.
Sifu Rafael (58:03):
So it's Sifu S-I-F-U at speakingprowesscom.
That simple at speakingprowesscom.
That's simple.
If you want to see all theshows and everything that's
going on, you can find me, uh,either coaching call on YouTube
or, uh, I, just, I, just, I'm,I'm putting it out there today
so you guys can all know it'sgoing to be seafood TV, uh,
(58:25):
seafood Raphael TV on YouTube,and, because it's going to
showcase all my shows, it's gotall kinds of fun stuff on it.
Alethea Felton (58:35):
And then you can always find me on Facebook
C4RafaelG that's right and,please, I encourage all of you
to learn so much more about him.
We didn't even scrape the tipof the iceberg when it comes to
(58:58):
Sifu's life, but as thisinterview comes to a close, I do
have one question for you as weleave.
That question for you, sifu,today is with you, saying how
you still inside, you know, feellike a boy and you still have a
lot of that childhood energyand excitement.
I'd like us to go back briefly.
(59:23):
Imagine that that young boy whocame from your country,
colombia, and didn't speakEnglish, was experiencing
(59:44):
certain things behind the scenesthat maybe a lot of people
didn't know.
And suppose that, although, yes, you've had this God faith.
Suppose it was just a tough dayfor that young boy, but he
wasn't hopeless.
It was just a tough day.
What would you say to thatyoung boy as a word of
encouragement for him tocontinue being a shining light,
(01:00:09):
no matter the obstacles that hefaced?
Sifu Rafael (01:00:17):
what would you tell him?
Alethea Felton (01:00:24):
You have so much more to give Today's just an
obstacle that's been putting youaway, go around it, jump over
it, break through it, whateverit takes.
Sifu Rafael (01:00:30):
Don't let today define you.
Alethea Felton (01:00:33):
Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the
Power Transformation Podcast.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to follow or subscribe,
leave a five-star rating andwrite a review.
It helps us inspire even morelisteners.
And don't keep it to yourself.
Share it with someone who coulduse a little power in their
(01:00:55):
transformation.
Until next time, keep bouncingback, keep rising and be good to
yourself and to others.
it's always extra fun when you can actually
interview somebody that you cansay that you know.
And my guest today is someonethat I am honored to know and
respect and value, and that isnone other than Sifu Rafael.
Oh, my goodness, if you don'tknow his name, you will after
(00:29):
today.
He is a masterful communicator,he works with people in
(00:50):
communication and leadership andy'all.
He has a ton of podcasts.
You hear me?
I think Sifu has seven podcasts, if I'm not mistaken.
I think Sifu has seven podcasts, if I'm not mistaken.
But he is a truly incrediblehuman being and I'm just not
(01:11):
saying that and he lives withsuch humility and a reverence
and a quiet strength about him.
Now, although he has thesmoothest speaking voice that
you will ever find, don't forgety'all.
I said that he is a martialarts expert, so Sifu can fight,
so don't take his mild, eventemper and tone as weakness.
(01:37):
But, all jokes aside, sifu isextraordinary and it is so fun
having him as a guest today.
And, with that being said,welcome to the Power
Transformation Podcast.
I am your host, Alethea Felton,and it is truly a privilege to
be here with you today and weare going to learn about Sifu's
(02:01):
journey and what led him downthis road of helping people
communicate.
What a story he has from hischildhood all the way until now.
This is an episode you do notwant to miss, and so we want to
jump right into this.
Thank you again.
Go ahead and subscribe to thePower Transformation Podcast.
(02:25):
We are on all audio platformsand our YouTube channel is now
launched.
I am still gradually uploadingvideos onto YouTube, and so
thank you so much for yoursupport in keeping this show
going and thriving.
We're going to go ahead andstart with our affirmation.
(02:45):
I'm going to say an affirmationhere.
On all of the audio shows, wedo an affirmation, speaking
those things into existence andspeaking them with confidence.
So I'm going to say theaffirmation once and then you
repeat it I am a confident andcapable communicator, using my
(03:13):
words to create understandingand inspiration.
I am so excited today to havethis guest on the Power
Transformation Podcast and, asyou heard from my intro, he is a
podcasting genius, a podcastguru, a speaking expert, but,
more importantly, he is someonethat I am getting to know as
(03:33):
friend, and that is none otherthan the legendary Sifu Rafael.
Welcome, Sifu, to the PowerTransformation Podcast.
Sifu Rafael (03:43):
Alethea, it is such a pleasure.
And, by the way, where do Isend the check for that
beautiful introduction?
Alethea Felton (03:50):
Oh, wow, thank you so much.
The pleasure is all mine.
You have truly, in just theseseveral months that I've known
you.
I've met you about June, andwhen we're recording this it's
November, and I just have totell you what an impression that
you made on me when I firstheard you speak, and it took a
(04:13):
while for us to have aone-on-one, but I'm so glad that
I scheduled that.
So this is going to be such adelightful, insightful
conversation, and I always liketo start with a fun,
lighthearted question in termsof just asking something about
guests as an icebreaker, so wecan get to know you more as a
(04:36):
person.
And so, sifu, this is myquestion for you If you could
have one hero's superpower, sosay, you were a hero and you had
a superpower.
Which superpower would you notwant to have, and why?
Sifu Rafael (04:58):
Not want to have Death touch.
Alethea Felton (05:03):
Really.
Sifu Rafael (05:04):
Yes.
Alethea Felton (05:06):
Tell us more.
Sifu Rafael (05:07):
I believe that there's a lot of people out
there who already use that power.
I want to use mine for good,not evil, so we all have that
ability to take someone else'slife.
Alethea Felton (05:24):
Mm-hmm.
Sifu Rafael (05:24):
But we also have an ability to empower someone to
live a better life.
So that's the superpower I wantto have to help other people in
need and we're going to learnmore about it.
Alethea Felton (05:45):
But I appreciate that thoughtful response and I
intentionally switched it upbecause of the fact I wanted to
see which way you were going togo with that, and your answer is
perfect.
So now I want to dig a littledeeper into this human that we
know as Sifu Raphael.
If I didn't know anything aboutthat person, how would you
(06:08):
describe him?
Sifu Rafael (06:12):
He's someone who is God-faith.
When I say God and faith theydon't sound correctly, but in
order for me to believe in God Ihave to have the faith, and
(06:33):
he's given me the faith tobelieve in me, that he is on a
mission to help as many peopleunderstand the beauty that God
has put in every one of us.
And when I say God, faith, Iknow it doesn't sound right, and
(06:57):
somebody who teachescommunication, I know that
really doesn't sound right, butthose two words truly would
describe me to someone whodidn't know me.
I believe in God and I believeGod has given me the faith to
help others believe inthemselves.
Alethea Felton (07:19):
Oh wow, sifu, take us back to some of your
early beginnings.
And when you talk about thisconcept of a God faith, take us
back to some of your earlyorigins and describe a moment
when you first recognized thatGod as well as faith, and how
(07:44):
the two combined in your life ata young age.
Sifu Rafael (07:51):
My parents raised me Roman Catholic, but it wasn't
my choice, just like many kidsdon't have a choice whether
they're born Muslim, jewish,whatever religion and I think
it's up to each one of us tofigure out what we truly believe
(08:15):
.
Where is the faith?
And for me, I followed thefaith that my parents brought
forth, and there were so manyunanswered questions and I kept
asking and kept asking and couldnot find.
And then later on, I realizedthat, no matter how far I looked
(08:42):
under what rock I looked, howfar I looked under what rock I
looked, it was up to me to findmy faith.
And I realized I've alwaysbelieved in God, and it didn't
matter what faith, the name ofthe faith was so, whether it was
(09:02):
Jewish, muslim, catholic,whatever it wasn't.
That it was the belief thatthere is a higher power that has
put me here, and what is themission that I've been given?
Think of a soldier.
A soldier is not a soldierwithout a mission.
(09:26):
Otherwise they're just sittingsomewhere waiting for orders.
So my whole life I've been thatsoldier, waiting for the orders
to come in.
Alethea Felton (09:40):
And when the?
Sifu Rafael (09:40):
order fully came in and said take care of you first
and then help as many people asyou can.
So early on, the question offaith truly, truly came to me
when I lost the ability to walk.
No one had answers for me.
(10:04):
No one had answers for me, theamount of pain I went through
and into.
No one can tell me why I wasfeeling that no one spoke to me.
They took me to doctors.
Alethea Felton (10:24):
The doctors didn't even talk to me.
Sifu Rafael (10:33):
They talked to my parents, so I was left out of
the equation of my own pain,which is a little baffling yeah
because if someone is goingthrough something, it it's worth
their while to know what it isright, exactly when we go
through any pain.
Why is it happening?
If I put my hand on a flame, Iam aware that I'm getting burnt
(10:56):
because of the flame.
Alethea Felton (10:58):
Mm-hmm.
Sifu Rafael (11:00):
But when my legs turned backwards and I
contracted polio and lost theability overnight to walk, the
question is we all say why me?
I don't ever remember askingthat question.
I was too young.
(11:21):
I never asked that question.
I still don't today and I thinknow, I know the answer, even
though I didn't ask it because Ihad to go through it, because I
had evolution of me tounderstand that pain.
(11:47):
To me now it means I'm alive.
Alethea Felton (11:53):
Hmm, wow, let me pause you here.
When you said that you caughtit young, and I'm going to touch
on certain points that you made, how old exactly were you when
you contracted polio?
Sifu Rafael (12:07):
About three.
Alethea Felton (12:09):
Wow, wow.
So in those early days, whatI'd like to also bring up is the
fact you were, from myrecollection, the 10th of 12
children, correct?
Very good memory?
Yeah, right, 10.
Right, okay, so you were the10th of 12 children.
(12:30):
So, although you, you know,describe yourself as becoming
this soldier, what I alreadyenvisioned is that you were
already brought up with a smallarmy around you when it came to
your siblings and your supportsystem.
So, when you are at that youngage, as three, while the full
(12:53):
and total awareness may not havebeen there, sifu, can you
recall any type of feelings,emotions, thoughts that you had
at a young age when you couldn'twalk?
Or did those revelations cometo you later?
Some of us can think back towhen we were really, really
(13:13):
young and you knew about thepain, but even at that young age
, did you ever feel that youwere different or that something
was wrong, or did you simplyjust accept the fate as how it
was?
Sifu Rafael (13:35):
we can talk about acceptance, but not wanting to
stay in it.
So for for me, it was this ishappening.
How do I get out of it?
So if I was thrown in a hole,how do I climb out of it?
That's all I knew.
So I did not blame anyone, Ijust said okay, I need to get
(14:01):
back to what I recall.
Don't get me wrong.
At three years old, I justbasically learned how to walk.
Exactly so it wasn't thatfar-fetched from I'm crawling to
oh, I'm crawling again.
It was not too much later thanthat that I was given braces,
(14:21):
full-leg braces Imagine ForrestGump.
And that was me.
And for me to walk 10 feetwould have taken me probably an
hour, which would take meseconds now.
So it was a matter of if I hadgiven up, if I would have said I
(14:43):
accept and stayed there.
Who knows how my recovery, ifyou will, would have come about.
But I didn't see it as a stop.
Alethea Felton (14:56):
Yeah.
Sifu Rafael (14:57):
I saw it as a pause .
Okay, I'm down.
I got to get back up.
Okay, I can't get back up as Iused to.
Well, I got to get back up.
Okay, I can't get back up as asI used to.
Well, I got to find a way, andevery day was a challenge to get
better, and I knew that.
The funny thing is when I wasactually.
(15:19):
I guess here's the crazy thingEven though I was in it for a
while, to me it was such shortlived, because all I can recall
is afterwards running and I wasone of the fastest kids around.
Alethea Felton (15:38):
Oh my goodness, Look at the irony of that.
How amazing is that.
Again, it goes back to that Godfaith.
That's it.
Wow, oh my goodness, One of thefastest kids around.
And just the fact that at thatyoung age, your resilience
journey started in more waysthan one no-transcript.
(16:55):
How did you not get in your ownway of staying stuck in the
fact that wait a minute, I don'tlook like everyone?
How did you reconcile thatwithin you?
Sifu Rafael (17:07):
Well, it's very interesting A lot of babies are
born with different color hairblonde, black, whatever I was,
yeah.
Right, and then the eyes usuallyturn around the age of one
right Mine, actually.
My mom told me that theychanged around the age of five.
So I had platinum blonde hair.
(17:29):
Now I am colombian, so myfamily's darker skin, I'm
lighter skin.
So yes, I am.
Uh, I was called the milkman'sbaby, right, so people made fun
of it that way, um, but but itkind of served me in a in an
(17:49):
incredible way, because a lot ofpeople did not take me for
spanish, especially when I cameto this country, and if you look
at me now I have brownishishhair.
It may look like I have browneyes.
I actually have hazel eyes,depending on how closely you
(18:11):
look.
If I'm ever tired, which israre my eyes actually turn
grayish, which is interesting.
I don't know that but peoplehave told me that Wow.
Like I've done, stints whereI've been up for 36, I mean
three days in a row, rightwithout going to sleep, and
somebody goes you need a nap.
But the interesting part of itis that allowed me.
(18:38):
Um, let me put it to you thisway Okay.
You and I are both minorities,but I did not look like one, so
it gave me certain freedoms thatother minorities who had I look
like my brothers.
I may not have had certainprivileges just because of the
(19:01):
way I look.
I got you yeah, just because ofthe way I look, I got you, yeah
, and but when I spoke it wasdifferent, because they're like
oh that kid's.
Spanish, and for me, I've neverseen myself as a minority, ever
(19:31):
I've never seen myself as awhite person.
I've seen myself as God's child, and that's where I was very
fortunate.
As a kid, when we came to thiscountry, we lived in a
neighborhood that I used tofrequent a lot of my friends'
homes, and they were PuertoRican, dominican, haitian,
jamaican, irish, american, youknow.
(19:53):
So for me it was prettyincredible, because I almost
felt like I grew up in theUnited Nations.
Alethea Felton (20:00):
You know what it's so interesting.
You would say that because ofthe fact you grew up in New York
and my mom grew up over inJersey, east Orange and Newark,
with her being multi-ethnic, youknow she loved the fact that
she thrived with so many peopleItalian, polish, puerto Rican so
(20:31):
you know this melting pot ofpeople.
And I'd also like to say youbrought up the fact that you
came to this country as a child,but also, sifu, you didn't
speak English.
So when you came here, how didyou find your inner voice in the
midst of that multiculturalcommunity that you were a?
Sifu Rafael (20:54):
part of things about children is that we adapt
really fast and I noticed Idon't know if you noticed- but I
(21:14):
said we, because I still feellike a kid you know, I do too,
and I still act like onesometimes.
Oh yeah, I do too.
Alethea Felton (21:19):
That's what keeps us young Look look, ask my
parents, ask my sister.
They'll say yeah, she's a bigkid.
Anyway, go ahead.
Sifu Rafael (21:27):
But that's, that's what keeps us young Right, the
way we act, sometimes the way wefeel.
So for me, when I first camehere, it was a big shocker.
I was super excited.
I was super excited.
I was 10 of 12, but we weredivided because when my parents
came to this country the US theycould not bring us all.
(21:54):
They actually didn't.
So it was my mom who came first,then my dad, and then they took
all of us kids and they spreadus out who can take so-and so
until we can bring them.
So they would bring two orthree at a time, right, and so
my parents were working allthese.
So I'm thinking my parents,they're in america, I'm going to
(22:19):
america one day and it was veryfunny because I had a little
somebody had, I, I think Iborrowed a transistor radio,
right, one of those littleradios, and you could put it
yeah, and I would only put onein, not two, because I thought I
(22:42):
was going to be learningEnglish.
So I put on Spanish stations.
I didn't know.
So I think I'm learning Englishright Because I'm listening to
you know what's out there.
And the other one I didn't putit on because I wanted to know
what's going on around.
So sometimes I would lay in bedor late at night and listen,
(23:05):
and just listen to radiostations or whatnot.
And when I got here it was abig shock because, yeah, no one
spoke Spanish.
The only people that spokeSpanish were my family.
So my parents brought me into aneighborhood not the one I was
(23:26):
talking about earlier, but adifferent neighborhood and no
one in our neighborhood spokeSpanish.
No one in my school spokeSpanish Not my teachers, not the
other students.
So not only did I not knowanything, I was left back
(23:46):
because I didn't know thelanguage.
So they put me in first gradeinstead of third, and so you can
only imagine the ridicule, thebullying, the laughing at all
that stuff that happened.
But I just I sucked, I soakedit in, if you will, and I sucked
(24:11):
at speaking English, right, butI would try, I would try and
try and try, just like when Icouldn't walk anymore, and I
tried and tried and tried andeventually I would say, by
second grade, I, I can speak andI was able to speak pretty well
(24:32):
oh my goodness, in one schoolyear, yeah, and the whole thing
is uh, I would come home andwatch cartoons in english, right
, my mom would put on the spchannel, right, canal 41.
(24:54):
So for.
Univision, if you will.
I obviously thank God forcartoons, even though the
cartoons I would not recommendthem now because the cartoons
when I was watching them werevery violent.
They were teaching Even Tom andJerry.
I used to love that.
I love Tom and Jerry Gorilla,right, catch that pigeon.
(25:15):
Now you know all that kind ofstuff, right, but they were very
violent.
They would hit each other onthe head, they would do all
these things.
And then we wonder why are kidsviolent with one another?
Because they're watching itconstantly.
Kids violent with one anotherbecause they're watching it
constantly.
I just I, I had a client whotold me his um four-year-old is,
(25:36):
uh, was getting hit by aseven-year-old, oh, and he's
like oh, that's not happening tomy guy, my child and um, but
because kids don't know betterand parents don't always say
don't watch that.
Nowadays, unfortunately,parents say here's my phone,
(26:02):
occupy yourself.
Here's a tablet, occupyyourself.
Here's YouTube, occupy it.
Even though you may put on alittle cartoon thing for YouTube
, the kids are going to becurious, they're going to go
what's next or what comes upnext?
So communication has becomesuch an important vehicle in my
life.
Alethea Felton (26:24):
And so, in terms of that communication, since
you learned English by the timeyou were in second grade and, of
course, by now you had immersedyourself you started soaking
everything in.
The amazing part to me, Sifu,about your life is the fact that
(26:44):
your entrepreneurial platformin this day and time is that you
are a renowned speaker.
You are a podcaster of multiplepodcasts but everything you do
centers around using your voice.
Did that epiphany or aha momentthat you wanted to be
(27:05):
intentional about having sometype of life or career centered
around speaking?
Did that start to come to youeven before you turned 18?
Or did that happen after yougraduated?
Sifu Rafael (27:25):
I've been a performer I would say my whole
life, and when I mean performer,uh, I would, uh, I would get up
and do little skits in front ofpeople and all kinds of stuff.
I try to be funny, try to doall these different things.
But during that time I realizedthat guiding someone meant more
(27:48):
than being a clown, if you will, because sometimes when you
were clowning around, you get alot of attention, but when you
were helping someone else, youmade a difference in their life
compared to just making themlaugh.
And when you can changesomebody or help someone don't
get me wrong, wrong, makingsomeone laugh is amazing.
(28:09):
I love doing it still, um, Ilaugh every day and I have to,
uh, I have to laugh.
I'm the, I'm the corniest guyyou'll meet, but it's.
It puts a smile on my face.
Yes, and for me, helping otherpeople became my skill in
(28:32):
helping people understandlanguage.
Sometimes, even if you did notcommunicate verbally, there's
that body language.
So I would go into.
When I was in high school, Iused to go and teach gymnastics
at a different high school andin the high school I was at, I
(28:52):
used to go and teach swimming toanyone who didn't know how to
swim.
So, through the body language,explaining to them what it was
that they needed to do.
Sometimes and I do this nowwith a lot of people that I
train I say, okay, show me whatI just taught you, without any
(29:16):
words.
Alethea Felton (29:18):
And they're like .
Sifu Rafael (29:21):
I'm like, if I couldn't hear you, can you still
teach me?
And at first they struggledeeply, but then I start
teaching them how and then I say, okay, now I want you to only
teach me with no body languageand only with your words, and
(29:44):
that's a struggle as well.
So for me it's always beenputting those two things
together.
That's what allows me to be abetter teacher, instructor,
mentor to other people, Becauseif I can associate body language
, movement with the words, thespoken word, then I know I'm
(30:09):
going to get through them.
And a lot of times if somebodydoesn't understand, challenge,
challenge, let's go.
How else can I make youunderstand it?
Is it visually?
Is it?
Do I have to put my hand onyour elbow, your shoulder?
Do I have to move your arm?
Do I have to walk you over here?
Do I have to actually point tosomething?
(30:31):
So I am actually doing thekinesthetic aspect of it and
then obviously the auditory andalso the most important one, I
think, when we communicate is wehave to ask for clarity.
Do you understand what I justtold you?
And we forget that part.
We assume and you know whathappens when that happens.
Alethea Felton (31:04):
Everything that you're saying is so thought
provoking and loaded, but I'mthinking of you as a practical
baby with polio.
Then you have this totallydifferent look than even that of
your own family.
(31:24):
Then the fact that your parentscome to America, you and your
siblings are spread about.
You come, don't speak Englishall of these challenges at such
a young age.
And yet you still had the nerveand the audacity to say I want
(31:46):
to help other people find theirvoice and to be clearer in their
messaging, speaking, et cetera.
And I'll have you to explainall of that.
But when did you see the needfor a person who was trapped in
(32:08):
themselves and not knowing howto either move past their
challenges or be clear in theirmessaging?
When did you see that need?
But then how did you first goabout saying I want to coach
people and teach people how todo that.
Take us on that journey, people, and teach people how to do
(32:31):
that.
Sifu Rafael (32:31):
Take us on that journey that really started very
early on, For some reason.
A lot of people used to come tome with issues that they had.
They didn't know how to handlethem.
Alethea Felton (32:42):
Almost like a counselor almost.
Sifu Rafael (32:46):
Yeah, or a mentor yeah, okay, yeah, or a mentor
yeah, okay Okay.
And so for me it was.
I can tell you what to do butyou're not going to do it Right?
(33:07):
Why don't we talk it out and weboth figure out your best action
?
Because if it was onlyone-sided me giving them the
advice which I already knew, alot of times I was like oh my
God, I cannot believe you don'tsee it in front of you.
But if I said that to them andI said do this, this, this, this
and the other, trust me, I'mvery aware of people who say
(33:35):
trust me and then I usually runthe other way.
When people tell me trust me.
I've had too many people saythat and I see what they.
The trust is not mutual, if youwill.
So, instead of having them betold by me what to do.
It was important for me to helpthem see their options, and I
(33:59):
did that from very, very earlyon, all the way from kids trying
to cheat on me.
I guess I was a goody two-shoesin school.
Okay, I was, and at one point Iused to, you know, like I used
to hide, you know, put myshoulders over my test when I
(34:22):
was taking a test, so thatnobody can see or anything.
Nobody can see or anything.
And one day I said you know, ifsomebody wants to see what my
answers are, that's on them,it's not on me.
So I let it happen.
So I got caught not cheating.
(34:52):
But there was a kid next to meand we were taking a test and he
asked me to move my arm so hecan see the answers.
And when I said something tohim like what you can't see it,
I was a little annoyed.
Guess what the teacher calledme out.
I got an F.
The teacher thought I wascheating and I was like okay,
(35:13):
from now on my, my arms are offthe table.
I'm just putting it out there.
If anybody wants to cheat, it'son them.
And sometimes it's very funny,because when somebody wanted to
cheat off, I would like leanback and say okay when I'm, I'm
done with my test.
it's done.
So it's up to you and thatdoesn't mean that all my answers
(35:38):
were correct.
But if somebody needed to lookat my answers that day, that's
on them.
So we have to understand thatwhen we are willing to cheat,
it's on us, because we'recheating ourselves 100%, even if
(35:59):
the answer is right, because wedid not do the work to get the
answer, so we will never havethat knowledge.
It's like reading a book andputting it down.
Reading a book and putting itdown.
How many people have youpersonally known who said oh, I
read so many books.
Okay, tell me about one of them.
Uh well, too many to remember.
(36:22):
Okay, I get that it's importantfor all of us to take into
account.
Our actions reflect ourtomorrows.
What I do today will make me abetter person tomorrow or I'll
stay the same or I'll be lessthan, but it's up to me.
Alethea Felton (36:47):
Wow.
You often talk about having aninner communication and my
question to you, when you werespeaking about people who would
come to you for mentorship orthey often sought you out
because they were seekinganswers about something they
(37:10):
often sought you out becausethey were seeking answers about
something.
What would you say to either aclient or even maybe a listener
or viewer who is feeling as ifthey are trapped in a cycle of
negative self-talk?
How did you manage to not getin that type of trap?
Did you manage to not get inthat type of trap and what could
(37:31):
you say to someone else thatmaybe they are communicating
within themselves?
Sifu Rafael (37:39):
but their communication isn't healthy.
When we have that negative talk, when we self-sabotage, it
doesn't start with us, itstarted with someone else.
Someone else told us we're nogood, we stink at that, we're
(37:59):
too tall, we're too short, we'retoo this, we're too whatever,
and we allow those words topenetrate our core.
Those are hard words to get outI.
The way I lead my life is basedbecause I was badly abused as a
(38:24):
child.
Badly as a child back then andwhen we can say it's not my
fault.
It's not about me, it's aboutthem.
(38:47):
They're broken and they don'twant to stay broken alone.
I found out that there's Ibelieve it's in japan where when
something is broken, they don'tthrow it out, they actually put
it together and they put golddust on it as well, so that you
can see the beauty of the break.
(39:10):
And every time I was broken, Iput my own gold dust on my
breaks because nobody else wasdoing it for me.
I had to look in the mirror andsay man, you're beautiful
(39:30):
you're incredible.
You're this, you're that, butnone of it was.
You're ugly.
You're no good.
You'll never succeed none ofthese things, no matter how many
people said it to me, no matterhow many people?
Made fun of me.
To me, no matter how manypeople made fun of me, it was me
(40:02):
seeing that if I am created inGod's image and God is beautiful
, then if I am made in his image.
Alethea Felton (40:10):
I too am beautiful Because you are
fearfully and wonderfully madeand with you being made in God's
image, wow, wow.
I envisioned when you talkedabout the gold dust being put on
the brakes oh, my goodness andthe cracks.
(40:30):
That is absolutely a captivatingview, because I've experienced
or have seen so many people whothink that their brokenness is
where they have to belong andnot realizing that they can rise
from the ashes, that they haveso much more to offer and give.
(40:56):
And so, with that being said,when you this theme of
empowerment, resilience,transformation, all of that,
(41:16):
when you face new challenges,even today, sifu, in your life
as a grown man, how do you drawfrom your past experiences, own
man, how do you draw from yourpast experiences?
But what else do you do to staygrounded and focused and
forward moving?
And I ask this because you havedone and continue to do
(41:41):
incredible things, where I seethe successes that you've had,
but all of those don't comewithout a cost, don't come
without a price.
There's a cliche and it saysoftentimes people will see
someone's glory without knowingtheir story.
(42:02):
And behind all of that successis still someone who has to
every day keep that God faithand be intentional, and so how
have the experiences of yourpast, how have they helped to
form that resilience, power andtransformation?
Sifu Rafael (42:27):
Great question.
No-transcript a scale.
(42:48):
How do I weigh this?
How do I weigh that?
What's important what's notimportant.
If I lost literally everythingand I had to live in a cardboard
box, I would be the happiestguy in a cardboard box.
Alethea Felton (43:11):
Oh, wow.
Sifu Rafael (43:13):
Because every morning I wake up in gratitude,
I start in prayer, then I gointo thanking God for the gifts
I have that he's given me.
I go through I mean, I'd haveto spend days if I had to go
through every little thing thatI actually have.
My hands, my skin, my heart, mylungs, every little aspect of
(43:39):
who.
I am as a person, if I wasdropped off in the middle of
nowhere and no one knew me andall I had was the clothes on my
back.
Would I survive?
I would first start withhelping, because I know that if
I help someone, they would wantto help me back.
(44:02):
I would never look to beg,because begging does not show,
because begging does not showhelping.
So for me to get the help I mayneed at that point it would
(44:23):
mean I have to give first to get, and all my life experiences
have taught me that, that I needto give and I've given, and
people have taken advantage ofit and I say more power to them.
They may flourish in what.
(44:43):
I've done for them and they maypush me aside from being on a
board of trustees to all ofthese different things and I did
so much for a certain companyand they didn't see it, and
that's okay.
It only made me stronger, wiser, and would I do it again?
(45:08):
Would I help someone else?
You better believe it.
Why would I help it again?
Would I help someone else?
You better believe it.
Alethea Felton (45:12):
Why would I help ?
Sifu Rafael (45:13):
them, because that's my mission.
That is why I'm here when wedon't know why we're here we
need to take some time away fromour busy life and find out why
we're doing what we're doing.
Alethea Felton (45:30):
Are we wasting our time?
Sifu Rafael (45:32):
on our phone, on Netflix, on social media, and
then we go yeah, I don't knowwhat I want to do with my life.
Well, maybe you should stop,sit, turn off the light so you
have nothing bless you coming in.
Alethea Felton (45:50):
I know you're muted, but I had to say bless
you, thank you.
Yes, you all.
I sneezed but I muted.
But anyway, go ahead, thank you.
Sifu Rafael (46:02):
But see that right, there is body language right
when we can acknowledge anotherhuman being.
That's why we're here.
Acknowledge another human being, yes, that's why we're here.
This is why sitting in darknessis so powerful, powerful I'm
going to say it again powerfulthing we need to do regularly so
(46:28):
that we can be with us.
So many people have hundreds offriends all over the place and
everywhere they go, they have tohave somebody around because
they're afraid of their ownshadow.
They're afraid of them.
To become the person you needto become, you need to become
you.
(46:48):
You need to be you wherever yougo, because, no matter what,
you're there.
So we need to take the time toreflect on, yes, our lives, but
we can't stay there.
I can't reflect on all thebeatings I took as a kid.
I can't reflect on all the badand negative things that
(47:13):
happened in my life, becausethen I would still be there At
the age of 18, I forgaveeveryone who's ever hurt me
Everyone, and I mean in a badway.
And I never said to them Iforgive you, because that would
(47:35):
have been not deep enough for me.
It would have been meaning thatI'm holding something over them
and for me to hold somethingover them I'm basically doing
what they did to me.
So I never said to them I'mbasically doing what they did to
me.
So I never said to them Iforgive you for what you've done
(47:55):
.
I just forgave them and I never,mentioned it to them and
whether they know it or not,that's not for me to decide.
I know that I created a cleanslate for me, so, moving forward
, when you ask me, why do I dothe things I do today as a man?
(48:17):
It's very funny because I stillsee myself as a boy, right, and
the innocence of a young boy oryoung lady is that we trust and
we're gonna get burnt when wetrust I still can't help it.
(48:39):
I still trust.
I still get burnt.
Even this year I've been burnt.
That does not take away from mytrust in humans.
And because if I stop trusting,I'm going to not trust the
person who needs to be trustedthe most, and then they're not
(49:04):
going to have an opportunity toshine because I didn't give it
to them.
So therefore, I also have totrust me right?
Alethea Felton (49:13):
Yeah, yes, of course, and I want to touch on,
as we start to come to a close,of you saying about how you see
yourself as a boy.
And I understand that, how yousee yourself as a boy, and I
understand that, and it's notanything emasculating in any
(49:36):
sense of the term.
I think that that childhoodinnocence and that that
childhood, I think as childrenwe're, we're more in tune and
much more sensitive, and thenlife can have a tendency of
tainting people, but we all havethat choice to tap into that
(49:59):
inner child that we are and thatpurity and that innocence and
something I think is just withyour childlike creativity,
imagination, but also in yourrisk-taking.
And it leads me to a transitionin.
I have one podcast that Istarted off as just something
(50:20):
fun to do.
That is totally exceeding me.
But when I met you and I foundout the amount of podcasts you
have, I said hold up, I got tolearn more from him about this.
But just the fact of podcastsyou have.
I said hold up, I got to learnmore from him about this, but
just the fact of that.
So I want to take a shift now,because I can dare not end this
(50:40):
podcast episode without givingyou the opportunity to share,
first of all, what inspired youto getting get into this field
of podcasting, and then alsoshare with us your podcasts and
how listeners and viewers canactually go about watching them,
(51:03):
subscribing, etc I appreciatethat.
Sifu Rafael (51:09):
one of the things that that made me decide to
start is COVID.
So many coaches approached usthrough email and phone calls,
but there were coaches who werenot coaches.
They had not been doing it foryears.
Alethea Felton (51:30):
And I get it.
Sifu Rafael (51:31):
A lot of people had a shift, people lost their jobs
.
I understand that.
But to tell someone, do whatI'm doing, yet they're just
literally.
They only started three hoursbefore you.
They, they reached out to youthat and it was constant.
I said I have to do somethingabout this and that's why I
(51:58):
started coaching call to talk toreal coaches, coaches who've
been doing it for a while, whoeven I've spoken to, people who
have podcast 2015 2000,.
You know and so forth beforethe pandemic.
But I started mine at the endor the end of 2020.
(52:19):
Right, and I was going to do amartial arts podcast and I love
martial arts.
Alethea Felton (52:24):
I've been doing it for 49 years, right.
Sifu Rafael (52:28):
But the more I listen to martial arts podcasts,
the more I realized they havenothing else to talk about.
How many times can you talkabout blocking a punch to the
face or getting choked out ordoing a kick?
And so I said, ah, that's notwhat I want, being that I've
coached people in all aspects oflife, that's who I want to talk
(52:51):
to Different types of coaches,somebody who's taught dance?
Somebody who's taught swimming?
Somebody who's taughtgymnastics?
Somebody who's taught iceskating?
Somebody who's taught somebodyhow to become an actor.
So then, all of a sudden, I'mlike, oh wait a minute, I know a
lot of these people.
I said those are the people Ineed to talk to.
So that's how my first showstarted, and it was.
(53:13):
It was easy enough to moveforward.
Once I stopped recording them.
I all my shows now live.
Alethea Felton (53:23):
Yes.
Sifu Rafael (53:24):
And the reason they're live is because I don't
have to make excuses for others.
Just like I didn't have to makean excuse for the person that
cheated off me on a test, Idon't have to make an excuse for
somebody who comes on and theydon't present themselves well or
properly or have badbackgrounds or whatever, bad
(53:46):
microphones and so forth.
So I let them know this is live.
If you went on a TV show rightnow, if you put on channel seven
, two, whatever, how would youshow up?
That's right.
How would you show up, right?
And so, considering that, onceI did that, I went live.
(54:08):
Once I did that, I went live,I've changed.
I was able to now create moreshows, which I'm about to do, a
seventh show.
Alethea Felton (54:19):
Wow, I love it.
Yes and yes you all heard himright.
He said he's about to do aseventh show.
I intentionally did not say howmany podcasts he had because I
knew he would say them, but yes,currently he has six.
As of when we are doing this,this is november.
(54:40):
By the time this airs, thatseventh one will probably be
ready, so I will give an update.
Sifu Rafael (54:47):
But anyway, go ahead, yeah it's either coming
out in December 24 or January25th.
Alethea Felton (54:54):
Yeah, ok.
Sifu Rafael (54:56):
When, when we, and the reason I do the shows is
because I realize that my voiceIs my voice.
But if I can resonate A message, but if I can resonate a
(55:26):
message for anyone to do better,to feel better, to become more,
and I can bring other expertson board, wow, that's what
excites me the most about theshows I do.
A lot of people say well, why doyou do so many?
Because every one of them isunique.
I've created every singleepisode.
I've created every single showmyself, and the reason for that
is because the message that wehave to put out there to help
(55:54):
one another, to create acommunity of people who say I
need to do better.
No matter how good you thinkyou are, you could do better.
Alethea Felton (56:09):
Wow.
Sifu Rafael (56:10):
Don't ever compare yourself to anyone else.
No matter, you can't compare,you'll be living looking up to
the Joneses, and the Joneses arelooking up to the Johns and the
Johns are looking up to theSmiths and so forth.
Alethea Felton (56:24):
Ongoing cycle.
Sifu Rafael (56:26):
And no one knows the struggles that each other
have.
But when we focus on us, thenwe can focus on helping others.
So prosperity is not selfish.
Prosperity, if done well, is tohelp others.
Help those who are in need.
(56:47):
Right now, through my church,they're doing a shoebox giveaway
.
Everybody takes home a shoebox,they put stuff in it and
they're giving it to othercountries.
Now the other thing that I'mdoing is I'm having people
bringing me gifts and stuff likethat Toys, brand new toys,
(57:08):
books, things of that nature andwe're going to be donating
those as well.
So it's always how can Iencourage someone to do a little
better?
And the ones that we need toencourage are our future kids.
They need the mostencouragement.
Alethea Felton (57:26):
They need to get off those darn tablets.
Yeah, and show up for theirlives and to be.
I totally get that and so, interms of your podcast being live
, how can a person connect withyou, say, if they wanted to
(57:46):
inquire about your coachingservices, about your shows?
What's the best way for peopleto connect with you, sifu?
Sifu Rafael (57:55):
Sure, I'm going to actually give you my email, but
anybody who comes and tries tosell me something, I'll delete
them, right.
Alethea Felton (58:02):
It's easy.
Sifu Rafael (58:03):
So it's Sifu S-I-F-U at speakingprowesscom.
That simple at speakingprowesscom.
That's simple.
If you want to see all theshows and everything that's
going on, you can find me, uh,either coaching call on YouTube
or, uh, I, just, I, just, I'm,I'm putting it out there today
so you guys can all know it'sgoing to be seafood TV, uh,
(58:25):
seafood Raphael TV on YouTube,and, because it's going to
showcase all my shows, it's gotall kinds of fun stuff on it.
Alethea Felton (58:35):
And then you can always find me on Facebook
C4RafaelG that's right and,please, I encourage all of you
to learn so much more about him.
We didn't even scrape the tipof the iceberg when it comes to
(58:58):
Sifu's life, but as thisinterview comes to a close, I do
have one question for you as weleave.
That question for you, sifu,today is with you, saying how
you still inside, you know, feellike a boy and you still have a
lot of that childhood energyand excitement.
I'd like us to go back briefly.
(59:23):
Imagine that that young boy whocame from your country,
colombia, and didn't speakEnglish, was experiencing
(59:44):
certain things behind the scenesthat maybe a lot of people
didn't know.
And suppose that, although, yes, you've had this God faith.
Suppose it was just a tough dayfor that young boy, but he
wasn't hopeless.
It was just a tough day.
What would you say to thatyoung boy as a word of
encouragement for him tocontinue being a shining light,
(01:00:09):
no matter the obstacles that hefaced?
Sifu Rafael (01:00:17):
what would you tell him?
Alethea Felton (01:00:24):
You have so much more to give Today's just an
obstacle that's been putting youaway, go around it, jump over
it, break through it, whateverit takes.
Sifu Rafael (01:00:30):
Don't let today define you.
Alethea Felton (01:00:33):
Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the
Power Transformation Podcast.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to follow or subscribe,
leave a five-star rating andwrite a review.
It helps us inspire even morelisteners.
And don't keep it to yourself.
Share it with someone who coulduse a little power in their
(01:00:55):
transformation.
Until next time, keep bouncingback, keep rising and be good to
yourself and to others.
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