November 19, 2025 • 20 mins
Ever wondered what it takes to break free from autopilot and truly connect with yourself and others? In this episode, Larry V. Dykstra shares the powerful, personal stories behind My Redemption from Pluto, revealing how life’s relationships can transform isolation into meaning. Discover the four types of relationships that shape us, and why your own story is worth telling. Don’t just listen—challenge yourself to put these lessons into practice.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hey is Benji col Son of Alcohol from CBS Radio
and host of the syndicated talk show People of Distinction.
The talk gives you an in depth view of some
of the most dynamic, intelligent, and successful people on the planet.
Run to our website Alcohol Enterprises dot com for more info.
Email me through Benji at Alcohol Enterprises dot com if
you'd like to get involved with what we have going,
(00:30):
and as always, please continue to like and follow our broadcasts.
People of Distinction is internationally syndicated solely due to the
love and support that you all continue to give. We're
available across all major distributors and as long as you
keep following, we're going to continue to put out the content.
Now sit back and strap in because on the line
with us today we have the impressive Larry V. Daikestra
(00:53):
that we're going to be discussing his incredible book, My
Redemption from Pluto Lessons Learned from Life's Relationships. It's Amazon,
it's a lot of other places. Just listen, man. The
best thing you all can do is type it into
a search bar and be greeted with all of the locations. Also,
remember to check out his personal site. Author Larryvdikestra dot com.
(01:17):
There gather more information on him on his books. Hyperlinks
set up to take it to the purchasing pages. And
I know you all just caught me a second ago
when I said books. Because My Redemption from Pluto it's
the anchor for today's discussion. But it's not all all right.
Larry has three other books that you're gonna want to
check out. Is well. Remember that's author Larryvdikstra dot com
(01:42):
And listen. It is an absolute pleasure. It's ev Larry
here on the line. People, how often do you feel
like how often do you feel like you're just going
through the motions and your relationships with your partner, your job,
even sometimes yourself? If you can relate, and I know
you can because it's so universal, we've all been there.
(02:05):
Our guest today, Larry argues that this autopilot mode is
a one way ticket to a life of quiet disconnection.
His book, My Redemption from Pluto, he shares the hard
won lessons that pulled him out of his own isolation.
(02:25):
And we're gonna talk about it, man, We're gonna talk
about how to recognize it, how to manage your mindset,
show up more fully for others and where to even
begin finding wonder again, sit back, strap and have your
notebooks ready. Trust and believe we're just gonna scratch the surface,
but this is gonna be a fantastic addition to your shelf.
(02:46):
Here we go, Larry, first and foremost welcome to people
of distinction, and thank you for being a guest.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Man.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
How you doing today?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Thank you, Benji, Thank you so much for that wonderful introduction, man,
for being here with me. For an honor to be
able to speak to you today. I'm doing great. How
about you?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I'm fantastic, Larry. Listen, man, the honor is all ours, man.
I passed it right back to you. I think what
you've done and what you've comprised here is special. Man.
It's interesting. It's something that is so personal to you,
but it offers a lot of wisdom for your readers.
This is its nuanced man. It carries a lot of
benefit and we're looking forward to this discussion, as I
know my listening audiences as well. Let's start off at
(03:24):
a foundation, man, before we even go into the book.
What is to be gained? What inspired you to even
write it?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I think there's a couple clues there and to tie
it all the words redemption Man Pudo. And let me
start by saying I had a wonderful career in business
twenty five thirty years working on great brands like Jada
Ad and Pizza Hutt and helping guide this growth and
strategy for both of those brands. But at the toward
the end of my career, I was given an assignment
(03:54):
that made me feel a bit devalued. At the time,
it wasn't about in the big decisions that the companies
are going to be made. It was more training on
processes and approaches for some of the younger members of
the marketing organization. And I felt devalued and got into
a funk about it. And interestingly, it was about the
same time that Pluto was being designated a dwarf planet,
(04:16):
and so I started to identify with Pluto in fact too,
as I think the word of the year around that
time being Plutoed. And then a couple of years later
I realized that I had missed a great opportunity to
share things I had learned and maybe be more proactive
about doing that, and so writing this book was really
my way to make amends for the missed opportunity or
(04:37):
to be redeemed from not taking advantage of the teaching
opportunity I was given. So that's where it all began.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, Lari, thank you very much for that. Man. I
want to dive into the nitty gritty of the book, man,
because listen, it consists of thirty two short stories or essays.
I'm really curious about that particular format. Talk to us
about this journey constructing the book and why you chose
to utilize that particular breakdown.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It's interesting. First of all, it's my reading preference is
nonfiction and short stories. Maybe that's just something about my
attention span. And each of these chapters are maybe a
thousand to two thousand at the longest. But the lessons
I am sharing here, if I just read you the
list and you started referring to them things like slowing
down or practicing hospitality, they seem like there's such universal
(05:31):
truths that people would go, well, yeah, that's obvious. But
through storytelling, it was a way for me to engage
readers in situations that I experienced and from different parts
of my life, whether that be work or school, or
church or vacation or just chance encounters with people, but
(05:53):
take them into those situations and walk with me into
a journey of what I might on aha moment where
some inciting action happened or event happened that made me
to go, oh wait, I have to think about my
relationship with myself on this topic in a different way.
And so it's really to bring the readers along on
(06:16):
my own personal learning journey and the process, share what
I learned with them.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Listen. One thing that I'm sure you learned, and it's
just segueing right off of the previous answer, is you
talk about the four different types of relationships that we
all have in life, and like you were saying, certain
aspects that seem universal, but when you really go into it,
are very intricate. Right, You're talking about these four relationships,
one with ourselves, with others, with the world around us,
(06:45):
and then lastly with the divine. Let's go a little
bit further in depth with that. Tell our listening audience
about this framework, please.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah. Shortly after I retired, I started trying out different experiences,
music and children's hospitals. When I felt that wasn't enough,
I took on I would call it a chaplain intern
but it didn't shape say that on the badge. I
was a chaplain for nine months and at the same
children's hospital. As part of that learning experience, I read
(07:16):
a book called The Spirit of the Child by person
David High and Rebecca and I, and they conducted in
depth interviews with children, and they learned that they have
an innate sense of spirituality and connection with those four
types of relationships. So they used different language than I did.
But as I thought about thirty two chapters, that's quite
(07:39):
a bit of reading there, and I wanted to organize
it in some way, and chronologically didn't seem to make sense.
So I started to organize it around those four types
of relationship with myself, with others, with the world around me,
and with the divine. Honestly, you could argue some of
the chapters might fit better or touch on some of
the one of the other relationships, but I'm comfortable with
(08:03):
where they are, and so that was really the inspiration,
was just needing to have some frinmework that helped, and
then to build on that. Then the four relationships are
what builds us into being what I call the one
and only me, and I'm unique in the world and
it's when I put all those relationships together, maybe they
create me and who I am Larry.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Now that we know about the four different relationship types,
I know, towards the end of your book, you write
about practices that you yourself use to be mindful of
them and listen. Can you share this with our listeners
on how you use them so we can see it
in practice.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yeah, that's a good question. I'm glad you asked it, because,
as you said in the start, we tend to just
move through life at life space and don't always pause.
And I mean, you think about it. Each life is
just a series of moments, and so I developed this
affirmation that I use a couple times a day that
allows me to focus on each of the types of
relationships in the present moment. And it goes like this.
(09:05):
The first question I ask is or say to myself,
is there's nothing I'd rather be doing right now, And
in this case, I'm on the phone with you talking
about some of my own work. There's no one I'd
rather be with, and you're such a kind and generous host, Benji,
It's a pleasure to be with you. There's no place
I'd rather be. I'm sitting in my cozy little office
(09:27):
and with a lot of wonderful little reminders of my
life around here. And the fourth is I will look
for the divine And I don't know what that answer
is to that in the immediate moment, but it's trying
to think about some higher purpose or something I touch with.
And then the fifth piece, which is any way to
integrate is just declare that this will become a part
(09:50):
of the one and only me and I think we
are all unique, and it's those experiences and those relationships
in singularity and in collectively is what make up six
the sweats what we are. So this affirmation leads me
to pause and think about all of that. I can
say that it works pretty well most of the time,
almost all the time. Root canals may not fit most
(10:12):
of other things, but is a helpful way to reconnect
with myself and what those other four types relationships we have.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Larry, thank you very much for that, man. And yeah, people,
listen again. You got to purchase your copies. Okay, there
is so much left to be discussed, and we're not
done yet. Okay, we're still pushing through, but remember just
to check back in. It's Amazon it's author Larry Vdeikstra
dot com. Head on over there purchase your copies of
my Redemption from Pluto Lessons Learned from Life's Relationships. This
(10:44):
is one that you can't pass up, and it's filled
with so much wisdom, and I just want to quickly
point out a connection that I see and something that
resonates tremendously with me. Like you were talking about in
the previous answer, these affirmations that you say, and it's
it's a daily check in almost as I interpret it,
not your words, but as I was listening to you.
(11:05):
That's how it landed. And I've mentioned a number of
times throughout our years here with people of distinction in
the platforms that we're on about perception creating reality. And
I'm a firm believer in that, Larry, like I'm I'm
big on affirmations as well. Right, and listen, sometimes life
hands you enough lemons and if you focus on the negative,
(11:27):
you get overwhelmed sometimes, so trying to stay positive, trying
to recognize silver linings every which way. And it makes
a great point to what I believe you're making is
intentional connection. It isn't just a nice idea. It's a
daily practice, and I think that is so important to
(11:48):
all of this. Like people, this is not just great
information that's meant to just be heard, right, It's not
meant to just be read. It's meant for you to
start applying them and manifesting it and manipulating it in
your own way, and that is key to all of it.
And I love the fact that you went there, so
I just wanted to quickly double down on that and
(12:09):
add my two cents my follow up. Now, Yeah, I'm
almost gonna play Devil's advocate here because as an artist myself,
it's usually difficult for me whenever a project that I'm
working on, any type of art that I've developed and created,
it's hard to pick one that I would say is
my favorite. But I'm gonna throw it out there, Larry.
I'm gonna see how you handle it. What are your
(12:32):
one or maybe two favorite stories or lessons that you've
comprised in this book.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I'll try and make these quick. One is about the world,
and the situation was the my wife and iron vacation
in the Netherlands, and we grew up in a Dutch
farming community and so that was familiar, and church was
central to that. And on a Sunday morning, we saw
a church across the canal from where we're sitting and
(12:57):
or we're staying, and so we decided to go over there,
and the locals welcomed us nicely, and we sat down
to the service. And I can say this because I
grew up in a Dutch community. The Dutch can be
fairly stoic and non emotional, and so during the announcements
and the reading of the scripture and the hymns, it
was there was just a lack of affect or emotion.
(13:19):
And so I started to settle in for what I
thought might be a kind of a boring sermon, particularly
because it was going to be a different language I
didn't understand. And after one announcement, suddenly about ten or
twelve i'd say, six to eight year old jumped up
out of their few seats and headed to the aisle
on the side and danced and skipped and laughed their
(13:42):
way out of the sanctuary. And I thought to myself, Wow,
where do we lose that sense of joy and wonder
that comes so naturally in children? And so I could
say more about that, I will say that they returned
the same way went toward the end of the service.
But what it did for me was to dedicate myself
(14:02):
to hanging out more with children when I had the
opportunity and let them take the lead. Obviously you concerned
about safety, but it's just letting their sense of wonder
and exploration bring you along because as is adults, we
think we've seen it all, we've learned it all. And
if you doubt my wisdom here, I would just challenge
(14:23):
your readers to go to a mall or some public
place and watch parents and children walking through. The children
are checking out all sorts of things in wanting to
explore them, and the parents are trying to drag them
along the way. They have some place destination. In a way,
it's a destination versus journey lessons. But that was one
that hit me and it's a kind of again example
(14:44):
of my writing is that I bring you into that
situation and what I'm thinking, and then just go, oh wow,
why does it have to be this way? Why can't
we be more childlike and express our wonder?
Speaker 1 (14:54):
So that's one Larry two part question here for this
next one, man first and foremost, who would you say
is your intended reader for the book, and then secondly,
after they've completed it, how do you want them to
respond to the stories you share.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Well, it's interesting because initially I had thought about my
intended audience being younger professionals, active learners. Maybe professionals too
strong a word, but younger, because that was the I
think audience or population, and I felt I failed in
my last job, and so that was my initial thought.
I wrote with them in mind. What's been interesting is
(15:32):
the feedback I've gotten from primarily a little bit older
adults is that resonates pretty strongly powerfully with them because
they are probably at a stage in life where they're
not rushing through things and they have its time to pause,
and so I'll get a lot of comments like you
wrote about this and I had a similar experience like that.
(15:52):
And then to segue to the second part of your question,
my wish is that to get that kind of response
that exact time, a response where people say, yeah, I
had experiences like that, and then I need to consider
those and reflect on those, and I encourage them to
write those because I do think that's an important part
of it, is to share your own experience, because I
(16:15):
think there's something I wrote in the book about there's
really two contradictory thoughts when you think about our roles
in the world. We're each unique human beings, but we
also have so much in common and really share our stories.
We're able to express both of those thoughts, and my
goal is that people will connect with their past and
hopefully share those with others.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
People. Remember, my Redemption from Pluto is just one of
four all right, I mentioned it before this three other
books that you're going to be able to pick up
when you head on over to his personal website. As
we close out of here, Larry Dealer's Choice Man, we
don't have an opportunity to go into all three of
the books given the time restraint that we're under, but
(16:57):
please choose another one of the titles. Give us that's
a brief synopsis of what to expect when we had
on over and pick it up.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
The one book I am very proud of beyond this
one is my father's memoir, which I helped edit. It's
called In the Service of My Country. I never regretted today.
He was a proud World War II veteran through fifty
missions in the B twenty four Liberator bomber out of
Italy and it tells his story of going from a
(17:26):
farm boy to fighting one of the great wars, and
it's really a it's in his voice, first person. The
process of working on it with him was a gift
for me. There are humorous stories, there's tragedy, there's love
and hope and fear, and all those things come through.
(17:47):
And it's one of my proudest moments because I was
able to get it into his hands at about age
ninety three. And as I may have mentioned before, I
grew up in a farming area in the nearest town.
The vocals didn't know about that, and so he was
actually invited to speak at the elementary school honors class
(18:07):
who had read his book and talked to them about
his experiences. And so I was able to give him
and hopefully by example others of that greatest generation who
fought a great war and came back and really didn't
talk much about it because their silence was kind of
part of their service. And so I just thought it
(18:27):
was great to tell his story. There's some pretty powerful
pieces to it. And the cool thing is, toward the
end of his life he was able to connect with
former crew members and write about his own experiences and
talk more about them. It was a wonderful six months
working with them on that.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Larry, what a beautiful gift, man, What a great way
to pay homage to, of course a great man and
impact on your life, but also a great message that
I think is able to be received from that is
well for everybody out there listening in is listen, let's
call a spade a spade. Not everyone's life gets to
be written about in the history books. But just because
(19:05):
it doesn't get written about doesn't mean your story isn't
one worth being told in writing that. Again, a wonderful
gift for your father, I'm sure, a beautiful way to
pay homage, but again an inspirational message for everyone else
out there, suggests to make sure that you have the
opportunity like that, you have it within yourself to do that,
(19:25):
and I think that's a great gift people. As we
close out, man, listen, I mentioned it before. There's a
lot of information still left, so quickly I'm gonna say
it once again. It's Amazon. It's author Larry Vdeikstra dot com.
Head on over there and purchase your copies. But one
thing that I'm taking from this interview. Amongst the plethora
of things is a challenge, right, a challenge for myself,
(19:50):
but also for each and every one of you listening
in right now. I mentioned it before. Let's not just
be consumers of this wisdom. Let's be prac practitioners of it. Right,
Let's put it into practice. And when you pick up
your copies of my Redemption from Pluto, I want you
to discover which of the thirty two lessons is waiting
(20:11):
there specifically for you, because I promise you at least
one of them is going to be You know, it's
filled with wisdom that I believe we can all better
ourselves because of you. Got Larry to thank for all
of it, But it starts with purchasing. Head on over there,
get your copies today, Larry, this has been a wonderful
(20:33):
honor man. I really do mean that. Thank you once
again for being a guest on People of Distinction.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Thank you. I appreciate it. Take care,
Hey is Benji col Son of Alcohol from CBS Radio
and host of the syndicated talk show People of Distinction.
The talk gives you an in depth view of some
of the most dynamic, intelligent, and successful people on the planet.
Run to our website Alcohol Enterprises dot com for more info.
Email me through Benji at Alcohol Enterprises dot com if
you'd like to get involved with what we have going,
(00:30):
and as always, please continue to like and follow our broadcasts.
People of Distinction is internationally syndicated solely due to the
love and support that you all continue to give. We're
available across all major distributors and as long as you
keep following, we're going to continue to put out the content.
Now sit back and strap in because on the line
with us today we have the impressive Larry V. Daikestra
(00:53):
that we're going to be discussing his incredible book, My
Redemption from Pluto Lessons Learned from Life's Relationships. It's Amazon,
it's a lot of other places. Just listen, man. The
best thing you all can do is type it into
a search bar and be greeted with all of the locations. Also,
remember to check out his personal site. Author Larryvdikestra dot com.
(01:17):
There gather more information on him on his books. Hyperlinks
set up to take it to the purchasing pages. And
I know you all just caught me a second ago
when I said books. Because My Redemption from Pluto it's
the anchor for today's discussion. But it's not all all right.
Larry has three other books that you're gonna want to
check out. Is well. Remember that's author Larryvdikstra dot com
(01:42):
And listen. It is an absolute pleasure. It's ev Larry
here on the line. People, how often do you feel
like how often do you feel like you're just going
through the motions and your relationships with your partner, your job,
even sometimes yourself? If you can relate, and I know
you can because it's so universal, we've all been there.
(02:05):
Our guest today, Larry argues that this autopilot mode is
a one way ticket to a life of quiet disconnection.
His book, My Redemption from Pluto, he shares the hard
won lessons that pulled him out of his own isolation.
(02:25):
And we're gonna talk about it, man, We're gonna talk
about how to recognize it, how to manage your mindset,
show up more fully for others and where to even
begin finding wonder again, sit back, strap and have your
notebooks ready. Trust and believe we're just gonna scratch the surface,
but this is gonna be a fantastic addition to your shelf.
(02:46):
Here we go, Larry, first and foremost welcome to people
of distinction, and thank you for being a guest.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Man.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
How you doing today?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Thank you, Benji, Thank you so much for that wonderful introduction, man,
for being here with me. For an honor to be
able to speak to you today. I'm doing great. How
about you?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I'm fantastic, Larry. Listen, man, the honor is all ours, man.
I passed it right back to you. I think what
you've done and what you've comprised here is special. Man.
It's interesting. It's something that is so personal to you,
but it offers a lot of wisdom for your readers.
This is its nuanced man. It carries a lot of
benefit and we're looking forward to this discussion, as I
know my listening audiences as well. Let's start off at
(03:24):
a foundation, man, before we even go into the book.
What is to be gained? What inspired you to even
write it?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I think there's a couple clues there and to tie
it all the words redemption Man Pudo. And let me
start by saying I had a wonderful career in business
twenty five thirty years working on great brands like Jada
Ad and Pizza Hutt and helping guide this growth and
strategy for both of those brands. But at the toward
the end of my career, I was given an assignment
(03:54):
that made me feel a bit devalued. At the time,
it wasn't about in the big decisions that the companies
are going to be made. It was more training on
processes and approaches for some of the younger members of
the marketing organization. And I felt devalued and got into
a funk about it. And interestingly, it was about the
same time that Pluto was being designated a dwarf planet,
(04:16):
and so I started to identify with Pluto in fact too,
as I think the word of the year around that
time being Plutoed. And then a couple of years later
I realized that I had missed a great opportunity to
share things I had learned and maybe be more proactive
about doing that, and so writing this book was really
my way to make amends for the missed opportunity or
(04:37):
to be redeemed from not taking advantage of the teaching
opportunity I was given. So that's where it all began.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, Lari, thank you very much for that. Man. I
want to dive into the nitty gritty of the book, man,
because listen, it consists of thirty two short stories or essays.
I'm really curious about that particular format. Talk to us
about this journey constructing the book and why you chose
to utilize that particular breakdown.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It's interesting. First of all, it's my reading preference is
nonfiction and short stories. Maybe that's just something about my
attention span. And each of these chapters are maybe a
thousand to two thousand at the longest. But the lessons
I am sharing here, if I just read you the
list and you started referring to them things like slowing
down or practicing hospitality, they seem like there's such universal
(05:31):
truths that people would go, well, yeah, that's obvious. But
through storytelling, it was a way for me to engage
readers in situations that I experienced and from different parts
of my life, whether that be work or school, or
church or vacation or just chance encounters with people, but
(05:53):
take them into those situations and walk with me into
a journey of what I might on aha moment where
some inciting action happened or event happened that made me
to go, oh wait, I have to think about my
relationship with myself on this topic in a different way.
And so it's really to bring the readers along on
(06:16):
my own personal learning journey and the process, share what
I learned with them.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Listen. One thing that I'm sure you learned, and it's
just segueing right off of the previous answer, is you
talk about the four different types of relationships that we
all have in life, and like you were saying, certain
aspects that seem universal, but when you really go into it,
are very intricate. Right, You're talking about these four relationships,
one with ourselves, with others, with the world around us,
(06:45):
and then lastly with the divine. Let's go a little
bit further in depth with that. Tell our listening audience
about this framework, please.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah. Shortly after I retired, I started trying out different experiences,
music and children's hospitals. When I felt that wasn't enough,
I took on I would call it a chaplain intern
but it didn't shape say that on the badge. I
was a chaplain for nine months and at the same
children's hospital. As part of that learning experience, I read
(07:16):
a book called The Spirit of the Child by person
David High and Rebecca and I, and they conducted in
depth interviews with children, and they learned that they have
an innate sense of spirituality and connection with those four
types of relationships. So they used different language than I did.
But as I thought about thirty two chapters, that's quite
(07:39):
a bit of reading there, and I wanted to organize
it in some way, and chronologically didn't seem to make sense.
So I started to organize it around those four types
of relationship with myself, with others, with the world around me,
and with the divine. Honestly, you could argue some of
the chapters might fit better or touch on some of
the one of the other relationships, but I'm comfortable with
(08:03):
where they are, and so that was really the inspiration,
was just needing to have some frinmework that helped, and
then to build on that. Then the four relationships are
what builds us into being what I call the one
and only me, and I'm unique in the world and
it's when I put all those relationships together, maybe they
create me and who I am Larry.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Now that we know about the four different relationship types,
I know, towards the end of your book, you write
about practices that you yourself use to be mindful of
them and listen. Can you share this with our listeners
on how you use them so we can see it
in practice.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yeah, that's a good question. I'm glad you asked it, because,
as you said in the start, we tend to just
move through life at life space and don't always pause.
And I mean, you think about it. Each life is
just a series of moments, and so I developed this
affirmation that I use a couple times a day that
allows me to focus on each of the types of
relationships in the present moment. And it goes like this.
(09:05):
The first question I ask is or say to myself,
is there's nothing I'd rather be doing right now, And
in this case, I'm on the phone with you talking
about some of my own work. There's no one I'd
rather be with, and you're such a kind and generous host, Benji,
It's a pleasure to be with you. There's no place
I'd rather be. I'm sitting in my cozy little office
(09:27):
and with a lot of wonderful little reminders of my
life around here. And the fourth is I will look
for the divine And I don't know what that answer
is to that in the immediate moment, but it's trying
to think about some higher purpose or something I touch with.
And then the fifth piece, which is any way to
integrate is just declare that this will become a part
(09:50):
of the one and only me and I think we
are all unique, and it's those experiences and those relationships
in singularity and in collectively is what make up six
the sweats what we are. So this affirmation leads me
to pause and think about all of that. I can
say that it works pretty well most of the time,
almost all the time. Root canals may not fit most
(10:12):
of other things, but is a helpful way to reconnect
with myself and what those other four types relationships we have.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Larry, thank you very much for that, man. And yeah, people,
listen again. You got to purchase your copies. Okay, there
is so much left to be discussed, and we're not
done yet. Okay, we're still pushing through, but remember just
to check back in. It's Amazon it's author Larry Vdeikstra
dot com. Head on over there purchase your copies of
my Redemption from Pluto Lessons Learned from Life's Relationships. This
(10:44):
is one that you can't pass up, and it's filled
with so much wisdom, and I just want to quickly
point out a connection that I see and something that
resonates tremendously with me. Like you were talking about in
the previous answer, these affirmations that you say, and it's
it's a daily check in almost as I interpret it,
not your words, but as I was listening to you.
(11:05):
That's how it landed. And I've mentioned a number of
times throughout our years here with people of distinction in
the platforms that we're on about perception creating reality. And
I'm a firm believer in that, Larry, like I'm I'm
big on affirmations as well. Right, and listen, sometimes life
hands you enough lemons and if you focus on the negative,
(11:27):
you get overwhelmed sometimes, so trying to stay positive, trying
to recognize silver linings every which way. And it makes
a great point to what I believe you're making is
intentional connection. It isn't just a nice idea. It's a
daily practice, and I think that is so important to
(11:48):
all of this. Like people, this is not just great
information that's meant to just be heard, right, It's not
meant to just be read. It's meant for you to
start applying them and manifesting it and manipulating it in
your own way, and that is key to all of it.
And I love the fact that you went there, so
I just wanted to quickly double down on that and
(12:09):
add my two cents my follow up. Now, Yeah, I'm
almost gonna play Devil's advocate here because as an artist myself,
it's usually difficult for me whenever a project that I'm
working on, any type of art that I've developed and created,
it's hard to pick one that I would say is
my favorite. But I'm gonna throw it out there, Larry.
I'm gonna see how you handle it. What are your
(12:32):
one or maybe two favorite stories or lessons that you've
comprised in this book.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I'll try and make these quick. One is about the world,
and the situation was the my wife and iron vacation
in the Netherlands, and we grew up in a Dutch
farming community and so that was familiar, and church was
central to that. And on a Sunday morning, we saw
a church across the canal from where we're sitting and
(12:57):
or we're staying, and so we decided to go over there,
and the locals welcomed us nicely, and we sat down
to the service. And I can say this because I
grew up in a Dutch community. The Dutch can be
fairly stoic and non emotional, and so during the announcements
and the reading of the scripture and the hymns, it
was there was just a lack of affect or emotion.
(13:19):
And so I started to settle in for what I
thought might be a kind of a boring sermon, particularly
because it was going to be a different language I
didn't understand. And after one announcement, suddenly about ten or
twelve i'd say, six to eight year old jumped up
out of their few seats and headed to the aisle
on the side and danced and skipped and laughed their
(13:42):
way out of the sanctuary. And I thought to myself, Wow,
where do we lose that sense of joy and wonder
that comes so naturally in children? And so I could
say more about that, I will say that they returned
the same way went toward the end of the service.
But what it did for me was to dedicate myself
(14:02):
to hanging out more with children when I had the
opportunity and let them take the lead. Obviously you concerned
about safety, but it's just letting their sense of wonder
and exploration bring you along because as is adults, we
think we've seen it all, we've learned it all. And
if you doubt my wisdom here, I would just challenge
(14:23):
your readers to go to a mall or some public
place and watch parents and children walking through. The children
are checking out all sorts of things in wanting to
explore them, and the parents are trying to drag them
along the way. They have some place destination. In a way,
it's a destination versus journey lessons. But that was one
that hit me and it's a kind of again example
(14:44):
of my writing is that I bring you into that
situation and what I'm thinking, and then just go, oh wow,
why does it have to be this way? Why can't
we be more childlike and express our wonder?
Speaker 1 (14:54):
So that's one Larry two part question here for this
next one, man first and foremost, who would you say
is your intended reader for the book, and then secondly,
after they've completed it, how do you want them to
respond to the stories you share.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Well, it's interesting because initially I had thought about my
intended audience being younger professionals, active learners. Maybe professionals too
strong a word, but younger, because that was the I
think audience or population, and I felt I failed in
my last job, and so that was my initial thought.
I wrote with them in mind. What's been interesting is
(15:32):
the feedback I've gotten from primarily a little bit older
adults is that resonates pretty strongly powerfully with them because
they are probably at a stage in life where they're
not rushing through things and they have its time to pause,
and so I'll get a lot of comments like you
wrote about this and I had a similar experience like that.
(15:52):
And then to segue to the second part of your question,
my wish is that to get that kind of response
that exact time, a response where people say, yeah, I
had experiences like that, and then I need to consider
those and reflect on those, and I encourage them to
write those because I do think that's an important part
of it, is to share your own experience, because I
(16:15):
think there's something I wrote in the book about there's
really two contradictory thoughts when you think about our roles
in the world. We're each unique human beings, but we
also have so much in common and really share our stories.
We're able to express both of those thoughts, and my
goal is that people will connect with their past and
hopefully share those with others.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
People. Remember, my Redemption from Pluto is just one of
four all right, I mentioned it before this three other
books that you're going to be able to pick up
when you head on over to his personal website. As
we close out of here, Larry Dealer's Choice Man, we
don't have an opportunity to go into all three of
the books given the time restraint that we're under, but
(16:57):
please choose another one of the titles. Give us that's
a brief synopsis of what to expect when we had
on over and pick it up.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
The one book I am very proud of beyond this
one is my father's memoir, which I helped edit. It's
called In the Service of My Country. I never regretted today.
He was a proud World War II veteran through fifty
missions in the B twenty four Liberator bomber out of
Italy and it tells his story of going from a
(17:26):
farm boy to fighting one of the great wars, and
it's really a it's in his voice, first person. The
process of working on it with him was a gift
for me. There are humorous stories, there's tragedy, there's love
and hope and fear, and all those things come through.
(17:47):
And it's one of my proudest moments because I was
able to get it into his hands at about age
ninety three. And as I may have mentioned before, I
grew up in a farming area in the nearest town.
The vocals didn't know about that, and so he was
actually invited to speak at the elementary school honors class
(18:07):
who had read his book and talked to them about
his experiences. And so I was able to give him
and hopefully by example others of that greatest generation who
fought a great war and came back and really didn't
talk much about it because their silence was kind of
part of their service. And so I just thought it
(18:27):
was great to tell his story. There's some pretty powerful
pieces to it. And the cool thing is, toward the
end of his life he was able to connect with
former crew members and write about his own experiences and
talk more about them. It was a wonderful six months
working with them on that.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Larry, what a beautiful gift, man, What a great way
to pay homage to, of course a great man and
impact on your life, but also a great message that
I think is able to be received from that is
well for everybody out there listening in is listen, let's
call a spade a spade. Not everyone's life gets to
be written about in the history books. But just because
(19:05):
it doesn't get written about doesn't mean your story isn't
one worth being told in writing that. Again, a wonderful
gift for your father, I'm sure, a beautiful way to
pay homage, but again an inspirational message for everyone else
out there, suggests to make sure that you have the
opportunity like that, you have it within yourself to do that,
(19:25):
and I think that's a great gift people. As we
close out, man, listen, I mentioned it before. There's a
lot of information still left, so quickly I'm gonna say
it once again. It's Amazon. It's author Larry Vdeikstra dot com.
Head on over there and purchase your copies. But one
thing that I'm taking from this interview. Amongst the plethora
of things is a challenge, right, a challenge for myself,
(19:50):
but also for each and every one of you listening
in right now. I mentioned it before. Let's not just
be consumers of this wisdom. Let's be prac practitioners of it. Right,
Let's put it into practice. And when you pick up
your copies of my Redemption from Pluto, I want you
to discover which of the thirty two lessons is waiting
(20:11):
there specifically for you, because I promise you at least
one of them is going to be You know, it's
filled with wisdom that I believe we can all better
ourselves because of you. Got Larry to thank for all
of it, But it starts with purchasing. Head on over there,
get your copies today, Larry, this has been a wonderful
(20:33):
honor man. I really do mean that. Thank you once
again for being a guest on People of Distinction.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Thank you. I appreciate it. Take care,
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