September 27, 2025 • 33 mins
Its been a tough couple weeks, heck year. We here at Radical Joy think this episode rings more true than ever. So take a trip down memory lane with us.
Let's all take a minute to find those movie moments while were living; things that make you over-the-moon happy, the place you want to be when the world seems darker than you love.
Freeze a snapshot from your life in a perfect cup of coffee, laughter with your favorite person, that stunning sunrise to instill those permanent moments that will shine a light when shade comes to call.
These are what help us through those darker days; and remember you are important and there is no one like you! Thank you for being here. Love y'all!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/radical-joy-with-james-bullard--5644728/support.
🌹🧡🟡🌳🔷🟪🤎🖤❔ ❤️🍊🟨💚💙💜🟤🖤❕❕
Take care of yourself, take care of each other, and breathe!
❤️🍊🟨💚💙💜🟤🖤❕❕ 🌹🧡🟡🌳🔷🟪🤎🖤❔
Got something on your mind? James never runs out of things to say, so tell us what you want to discuss!
Remember there is no shame in joy or for asking for what you need.
Leave a review, send us a screenshot, and we’ll mail you a sticker! See you next FRIDAY for another dose of Radical Joy.
James is not a therapist, but you’re not alone. If you're in crisis, call 988 for professional help.
For non-emergencies, Psychology Today can connect you with support and therapists who fit your needs.
This podcast and CLW Studios content are not therapy or a substitute for it. Guest opinions are their own.
We're here for insight and encouragement but always seek professional support when needed.
This episode was Produced and edited by Kerri J of CLW Studios
Let's all take a minute to find those movie moments while were living; things that make you over-the-moon happy, the place you want to be when the world seems darker than you love.
Freeze a snapshot from your life in a perfect cup of coffee, laughter with your favorite person, that stunning sunrise to instill those permanent moments that will shine a light when shade comes to call.
These are what help us through those darker days; and remember you are important and there is no one like you! Thank you for being here. Love y'all!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/radical-joy-with-james-bullard--5644728/support.
🌹🧡🟡🌳🔷🟪🤎🖤❔ ❤️🍊🟨💚💙💜🟤🖤❕❕
Take care of yourself, take care of each other, and breathe!
❤️🍊🟨💚💙💜🟤🖤❕❕ 🌹🧡🟡🌳🔷🟪🤎🖤❔
Got something on your mind? James never runs out of things to say, so tell us what you want to discuss!
Remember there is no shame in joy or for asking for what you need.
Leave a review, send us a screenshot, and we’ll mail you a sticker! See you next FRIDAY for another dose of Radical Joy.
James is not a therapist, but you’re not alone. If you're in crisis, call 988 for professional help.
For non-emergencies, Psychology Today can connect you with support and therapists who fit your needs.
This podcast and CLW Studios content are not therapy or a substitute for it. Guest opinions are their own.
We're here for insight and encouragement but always seek professional support when needed.
This episode was Produced and edited by Kerri J of CLW Studios
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
The more people I meet in the more places that
I go, the more I realize how important it is
to let people aware of the fact that there is
no shame in enjoying the parts of your life. They're incredible.
It almost feels as though there is a stigma to
enjoying the very full life, living by example and praising
when other people choose to live fully because their lives
are still on a good path. Getting to do that
(00:36):
with people is what makes me feel incredible. I have
an unlimited supply of resource and energy for someone who
is truly on a path to find their own joy
and to become as much as they can be in
the time they've been given. Follow me to radical joy,
moments of wisdom, wonder and hope with James Buller. Do
(01:00):
I have any movie lovers out there? I know I'm one,
and that's sort of where we're starting off today. The
theme of today is called a movie moments. It's times
in my life whenever I feel as though what I'd
love to do is close to my eyes and just
hit the screenshot button. This is a moment in time
that I just I want to remember forever, this part
right here, this feeling right here, this location, these people
(01:24):
with whom I am sharing this instant, this tiny granule
of time. I want to raise it forever and be
able to recall literally every single item about this moment.
That's what I'm talking about today. If I've got any
moviegoers movie lovers out there, I'm certain there are plenty
out there. We love going to the cinema, We love
the popcorn, we love the ceremony behind it. Sitting in
(01:46):
the dark room with fifty to one hundred others, strangers
doing only God knows what in the darkness, whether you're
enjoying the film or you know, coming of age, or
any other number of amazing things that happen inside that
air conditioned cavern of entertainment and awesome. I love to
think about my life and movie moments. Now, every single
moment can't be one of those things that needs to
(02:07):
be immortalized in celluloid. I know this, and you know this,
and I'm moving forward. There are moments in my life
where what I love is that instance, that absolute, delicious
second that just needs to be frozen. I want to
just stop. And there are times when I've been with
friends of mine that I felt close enough I could
(02:29):
just wait, let me just sit in this for a moment.
Could I just experience this for just another moment longer?
And I hope you'll forgive me whenever I get emotional,
because because that is absolutely some of the fullest living
I have ever been able to feel. A wedding in
Argentina where there are sixteen disco balls out on the
(02:50):
dance floor and instead of throwing a garter or a bouquet,
they throw an entire bottle of J and B. And
you could bet you're behind. I'm the one who got
that box and brought it to the floor, and instead
of taking the whole bottle home, we split it into
shots among everybody who took their turn and trying to
bring it down. Amazing. Click now back to the movie.
(03:13):
Or You're walking down the street in Sydney, Australia, and
it's probably two in the morning, but you've got nowhere
to be the next day. So you are living your
best life and you're eating the most incredible food and
enjoying the most perfectly mixed cocktails, and all of a sudden,
you hear, James, is that you and You've been recognized
halfway across the planet by someone you really enjoy and
got to perform with on a cruise ship, say Top
(03:35):
fifteen years ago. Click, there's that. Let me just sit
in this for another minute. And that's what I love
to think about now that I've actually started this little habit,
this little talent, if you could even call it. That
is wherever something like this happens. Where I just prayed,
(03:56):
is that chunky, little fat kid in Alabama that's something
like this. But someday I will be able to live
a life like this. And whenever that happens, I just
I like to close my eyes and pause and give
that the weight and the honor and the love that
it deserves, because you just you never know when the
(04:17):
next one's going to come, but when it does, you're
more prepared to stop and take it in. I think
that's what a lot of us are needing right now,
you know, pardon me for my assumption. I know this
is what I need more of right now, as a human,
as an artist, as a creative spirit, to be able
to see, live in and appreciate these moments as they come,
because sometimes they cluster and sometimes there's some distance between
(04:41):
each instance, and so I just want to make sure
that whenever those come by that I take the moment.
And the reason I can do that is because I
ask myself regularly, what does that look like? What does
this movie moment look like to you? James Bullard? Well,
you know, being recogniz and not even as a celebrity,
(05:01):
but just someone that has traveled through to have friends
and people who remember him in different countries all over
the world. And that's huge. And please pardon me if
that comes across his conceit, that's not what this is
at all. It's I was able to share some moments
with people and other parts of my life and other
times in my life, and we get to revisit them together.
Even for the briefest moment I got to meet at
(05:24):
the in Sydney, I got to meet his girlfriend who
is now his girlfriend. I think it's moving to fiance
item if that's even a territory in the whole thing,
but it was just it was really special. And then
my buddy Josh and I we went on to the
next stop on our tour of Sydney's watering holes, and
he he looked at me because I wasn't saying much,
which you know is uncommon. He said, you're you're living
(05:47):
in it right now. He knows, you know, I you know,
I'm just I'm living right in the middle of it.
And the thing that makes these moments so special and
actually makes them more freak visited or experienced is the
fact that I go through my own life and I
ask that question, what is it that I want more
than anything else in the world. And just like Okay,
(06:10):
our tiny winds that we talk about all the time,
very similar situation. A movie moment does not have to
be something that is like Independence Day with Will Smith
movie moment. It can absolutely be a Stuart Little movie moment,
if you'll pardon the comparison. Sorry, that was the first
thing that came to mind. It can be something very sincere,
very sweet, very true, something that doesn't appeal doesn't appeal
(06:31):
to everyone, but can can really put you in a
great place. And I know a lot of people that
love Independence Day. And you know, if I mentioned Stuart Little,
you'll have a few. You know, OG's in the room,
but it won't reach everyone. And that's what your movie
moment is. It's incredibly personal. It touches you to the core,
and it's one of those things where you can think
(06:54):
about that at any moment in your life in the
future and immediately bring back that sensation, whether it's the smell,
the taste, the touch, the hug, the laughter, the intimacy
of whatever that moment is to you, and it is
a gift. That movie moment is the part that makes
all these other commercials worthwhile, commercials being of course, you know,
(07:17):
daily responsibilities, work, stressors, and he does have the kind
of things, you know, difficulty with your relationships, whatever that
may be, or just the mundaneness of it all. Because
quite frankly, life is those little connective tissues that happen
between each one of these special movie moments. It's the
part you know, okay, getting a little bit older, or
(07:38):
watching your children grow up, or seeing people progress in
their lives, whether it's professional, personal, spiritual. I don't want
to discount those. That's never it, because that's where so
much of the magic gets its strength and gets its
nourishment from these moments in between. That's the life you're living.
And then there's those little moments, those little instances, those
tiny fractals have fan I'm sorry, I live in alliteration.
(08:01):
I absolutely love it when your consonants match. Those are
the things that you just can't do without, if you'll
pardon me, you can absolutely make it all the way
through your life without having a single one of these,
or at least not acknowledging that's exactly what it was.
But I'm here to tell you friends, as a guy
who is a movie moment connoisseur, I'm a big fan,
(08:24):
and I think that once you have a few of
those under your belt, you probably will be too. You
get to choose your genre. You know. It could be
a romantic comedy. It'd be that thing where you just
want and want for a bouquet of white tulips that
your date shows up with those for you and just
click fantastic. It could be an adventure movie where you
(08:47):
land in Africa and your rented card gives out in
the middle of a national park and you have to
spend the night at the ranger station. In the morning,
when you wake up, there are seventeen elephants walking across
the savannah. Click. That's the thing. You get to choose
your genre, You get to choose your costar. You get
to choose exactly what it is you're hoping to have
(09:09):
or find or see. Now now, it may not be
delivered exactly the way that you're expecting, And honestly, that's
part of the fun, because you get this notion, you
get this idea in your head and in your heart,
in your mind's eye about what this movie looks like
to you, and you start constructing it. But if you're
anything like me, and in this case, I really really
(09:31):
hope you are, you leave the borders open a little
and just a little fuzzy around the edges to make
sure that you've got just a little bit more space
than whenever things like this that evoke these kinds of
emotions in you, you can latch onto that. No, no, wait,
I remember this feeling. This is what I had in
my head when I thought why click? And that's it,
(09:57):
and it's glorious. It's so a amazing to be able
to live in those moments from time to time. Again.
Life is not going to get in the way. Life
is going to fill the spaces between. However, I hope
with every cell in my entire being that you put
yourself in a position where you can think of these
things so that whenever they happen to you and your life,
(10:18):
the corners of your mouth will start to curl up
the corners of your eyes will start to crinkle, and
you might just get that little prickle right around the
eyes like I do whenever I get just so full
that something has to leave my body in the form
of tears of joy or however it is that you
want to manifest that in a physical response to this
(10:39):
incredible experience that you are not just living through but
living larger because of. And that is such a joy.
That is a delicious moment that you can just roll
around in again and again. Is it a comedy, is
it drama? Is it a documentary? You know, I don't know.
(11:03):
There could be things in your life that you want
to accomplish that would fit more in an episodic than
it would in a two hour feature, right, Yeah, of course,
nobody's here to say that you have to keep it
on a silver screen or one that you can't fit
on your laptop. Just here to ask for a little
bit of structure or that just because it's made my
life so much richer, and I know how very simple
(11:24):
that is. And I say that, and then I'm gonna
come back around and contradict myself at the exact same time,
finding out what it is you truly want from your
life can be pretty tricky. There's a lot of things
that go on inside our heads that really make us
question what it is that we really want out of
our life. Do you want a million dollars in the bank?
Do you want that perfect partner that you've already constructed
(11:45):
in your head, and then sometimes reject because mister or
miss Wright whenever they come to see you, because they're
not exactly what you had envisioned. I don't know, or
what if your right person doesn't necessarily get to have
those stickers on it. It is amazing the sort of
fullness you can put into your own life when you
put fewer restrictions and stickers and labels and tags and
(12:05):
tickets all over everything that you simply must have in
order to be happy. There's a lot of tough going
on in the world right now. Okay, I'm not going
to try to say, oh, you'll be fine. Could not
be farther from the truth. My eyes are wide open
to as much as I'm allowed to see, and moving forward,
I think it is so incredibly important that we learn
to cultivate our own joy, whether it's in teaspoons or
(12:30):
our time. We need to make sure that we have
an idea of what we can do on the day today,
to make sure that we don't get lost in the anger,
the frustration that is spare of it all. Life seems
to offer an abundance supply of that. You know, sometimes
you kind of have to make your own. Now here's
a phrase. I hate hate this. It's fake it till
you make it. I am not a fan. I don't
(12:52):
think it's enjoyable. I think authentic living and sincere living
are by far and enlarge, the easier and more effective
ways of getting out there to do something. If if
you're not a person that just doesn't feel like that, Okay,
I'm just I'm gonna say it, fake it till you
make it kids, because I tell you what, it comes
down to that thing between action motivation. I'm not motivated
to act, but if I am acting, I will be
(13:14):
motivated to continue. Same thing. I don't feel joy in
my heart, James, I don't know where to start. Great
then as an exercise and hopefully not a habit. To
fake it till you make it. Try to find something
that is going on, something simple, something close, something very
small but still dense in your life. Try to up
(13:35):
your JQ, your joy quotient, and try to figure out
how you can cultivate that into something in your own
life where you can continue to lower and find and
live in these incredible movie moments. Click because for whatever reason,
if you're not a movie person, great book that there,
(13:56):
got it? Sure, I'm sorry. Somebody out there has to
have some kind of way connect with some sort of
media or literature in order to glean this beautiful moment
that they have in their mind that they would love
to accomplish, experience, live through. It can't be that difficult
for someone to read something like Wow, I wish that
would happen to me. Perfect, That's a great start. I
(14:20):
wish something like this could happen to me when I
was some you know, dirty footed redneck back into Alabama.
I'm still dirty footed because I walk around my shoes
off all the time, and I'm still very much a redneck,
especially if you get me angry. But there were things
in my life that I always wanted and I'll never
forget the first time that I felt it. I got
on a plane to go somewhere, and I can't help
(14:42):
you in life, it was it was right off for
the pandemic and I'm holding on holding something in my hand.
And it was that moment that I walked onto the
plane and the foreign language started coming in. I understood
it wasn't English, and I think maybe Spanish, French. I'm sorry,
I apologize my chronology gets a little wonky, but I
remember getting on that plane and thinking, Wow, from where
(15:02):
I started, which was a wonderful place. Don't get me wrong,
I'm not harsh in Alabama. I'm saying it was very humble,
and it was simple, and it was wonderful. It provided
a very fertile soil to grow a very strong tree.
It was quite the distance cover to get from where
I started to where I stood, and just, oh, you're
almost overcome because every single one of your senses comes
(15:25):
together to make this amazing moment that you just you
couldn't exist anywhere except in your mind, because you are
the only person who's walked that walk, who's had that journey,
who has lived through the experiences that has made this
culmination of all those things, this perfect movie moment click.
(15:50):
It could be something as simple as a really nice
cup of coffee. It could be though a dinner at
a Michelin Star restaurant. I would absolutely love that, and
I keep my eyes peeled for something like that. I
have those goals on my card. It excuse me. It
could be that, Oh gosh, it could be the way
her hair falls over her shoulder and she looks at
(16:11):
you and you know something really great and somewhat unexpected
is about to happen. Click that. It could be again,
something tiny. It could be something enormous. It could be
something like somebody ever's. It could be getting your tax
return in the mail, something that literally just unlocks a
new achievement for my video game folks out there, Yeah, fantastic.
(16:32):
Find that work on that. Put that in your mind,
hold that in your heart, Put that somewhere in a
very emotionally safe place, not locked away, but someplace where
it's it's difficult to take, but it's very easy to
influence and cultivate. I keep using that word cultivate because
I just I love it. It's got so many wonderful,
delicious syllables, and it means to continue the work, to nourish,
(16:56):
to put it in a place where that has the
opportunity for growth and development, optimal opportunity. See. I love
that idea and these movie moments, these movie moments can
sustain you because a lot of times, routine and mundane
and things like that will wear, and they will wear hard,
and before you know what, your shoulders start to round
(17:17):
and your lower back starts to ache, and your knees
start to stiffen. Okay, so how do we get out
of that? Well, we change our position, We change how
we look at the world, We change perspectives, and we
change our posture, and instead of sitting, you stand. And
it gonna be something as simple as that. It could
be that literal, it could be metaphorical, it could be
(17:38):
any number of things. And that's the best part of
literally all of these things that I am talking about.
It's up to you how literally you take it, because
sometimes that's that's not the most successful or helpful course
of action. Sometimes the metaphor is the one that helps.
How do I get over this hump? How do I
climb this mountain? How do I hurdle this? Okay? What
(18:02):
does that mean? Is it is hurtling or overcoming any
of these kinds of things in a literal sense, meaning,
if I could just get past the border of this country,
if I could go over to the next county, or
if I could just jump over this fence, if I
could leave my home for a little while to see
what else is out there and then come back with
a whole other viewpoint that helps sustain me whenever I
(18:23):
need that so badly. It's just a movement, a moment,
is it. It can be anything. And that's the part
I love so much. Because you know, a lot of
people are very structured with their resources. They're very disciplined,
and I admire that very much. I am not. Whenever
I get a paycheck, a chunk of it has to
go into savings. I am easy, Okay, I'm wildly irresponsible
(18:46):
to some and really really fun to others. And both
of these things are great. I got nothing to say
about it. I've got an amazing passport. I've got memories
and photographs and stamps and friends from every corner of
the lobe, and it thrills me. And those are my
movie moments. It's being able to go to Carnival in
(19:07):
Brazil and being able to track Everest. It's being able
to sweat your boop off in Cambodia while that beautiful
elephant picks up a paintbrush and smears a krylic all
over your white T shirt. It's those kinds of things
where it may have been hoped for but not expected.
The anticipation is pure. Whenever it comes at you from
(19:29):
the side it if it comes at you straight on,
sometimes you're like, okay, here it comes, and you can
almost brace yourself against the wonderful and I I wonder
if that's the most powerful course of action. It is hard,
meaning a dream, it's difficult. Accomplishing a goal can be
very disheartening, and the reason being, whenever you attain something
(19:52):
that you've worked so long to achieve, or maybe not
very long at all, and it happens, sometimes there's a
little bit of a disappointment extend with that. I mean,
that's just the way it goes. Friends of mine that
have been on Broadway and I am in awe of
their massive talents, tell me that, you know, when I
got here, I am well. I said, was it everything
(20:12):
you'd hoped it to be? And this person looked me
dead in the face and said, is it ever? And
that's something you need to carry with you as well.
You know, we need to make sure that we always
dream big, shoot for the moon, aim for the stars,
and even if you miss, you'll still land among this way. Okay,
shoot for the moon, and even if you miss, you'll
(20:33):
land among the stars. Yes, fantastic, And be prepared that
whenever you achieve these incredible goals, whenever, not if you
achieved these incredible goals, it may just be a little
bit of a moment where you're like, well, I expected
more of this, I expected this to be fancier. I
(20:54):
expected to be this more superlative moment than it was.
What you are expecting may not be exactly what the
outcome becomes. It may not exactly bring that desired outcome.
So be prepared to make a new dream. And that's
something somebody never told me. Whenever your movie moment comes
(21:14):
to fruition to see, that's the best part about a
movie moment. You can use it over and over and
over again, just like you can go watch your favorite
movie over and over again. There are certain films that
will come on television or on streaming services or whatever,
and I will watch that sucker seventeen times, and that's
the best part. It's the same thing with a movie moment,
things like that where you are recognized, where you're all
(21:36):
I don't know why this comes to mind. You take
a really cool pair of genes that you find on
the clearan track up to the cashier and they ring
it up and it's even less money than you thought
you were willing to spend, and you were thrilled about
the bargain you were already getting, and it's even cheaper. Click.
Absolutely a movie moment for it. For some, I'm not
here to judge it. I'm here to make sure that
you know that they can be anything even infinitesimally small,
(21:59):
to something so so infinitely large. It is completely and
totally up to you. I'm just sharing with you the
things that I continue to find in my life, the
things that seem like movie moments. So it's walking down
the Vega Strip and I'm thinking, I'm looking so fly.
If we even use the word fly anymore, I don't know.
I'm old. It's cool. I'm decked out, my pants pit perfectly,
my shirt fixed perfectly, my shoes are decked, I got
(22:21):
a sweet pair of shades, and my hair ain't doing
nothing but cooperating. Okay, now that is a movie moment.
While I'm walking down the Vegas Strip feeling myself and
even if nobody else feels what I'm putting out. I
don't need it because I know I got it and
it's just incredible. Click. And that's another thing too. You
gotta give yourself for permission. You gotta give yourself some
(22:42):
grace because the first thing these things in our head
want to say us is like, well, don't you have
a high opinion of yourself? And that's not what they're saying,
but it's the tone to say, like, yeah, I sure do.
Because they spent time putting this whole thing together. These
pants are tailored. I gotta bring that waste in and
make sure that all this junken trunkeet and thighs got
(23:04):
some room. But you don't get a gap in the
waist with this shirt. Yeah, I probably spend a little
more on it that I needed to, but buttons don't
gap at the chest. Those sleeves fit right around those biceps,
and I just wail on them probably twice a week,
and there may be a little pattern around the middle.
But I still got swagger, got swagger to beat the band.
And it's all because I permitted it. It all comes
(23:27):
down to what it is you're willing to put into
your movie moment. To bring yourself to that level, because
there's folks out there now I know that, you know,
they have a different set of skills, they have a
similar set of skills, and they're even more refined and
developed than mine are, and that is amazing. Yeah, I
deal with they because I'm absolutely human and I know
that being around people that do have those kind of
elevated gifts that they have worked to cultivate. There's that
(23:48):
word again, these gifts that if I spend time with them,
I will also find a way to raise my own
bar so that I can meet them and maybe exceed
my own expectations to meet them where they are. You
just be good to you, that's the thing. It really
just comes down to letting yourself just have a moment.
Because some people are in a really tough spot. You know,
(24:09):
we're dealing with financial woes, we're dealing with keeping food
on the table, keeping everybody under the roof happy with
everybody else. Then that that cannot be easy, and so
this idea of a moving moment that can seem pretty lofty.
You know, if I don't in the same breath say hey,
it doesn't have to be a blockbuster. It can be
an art house film just as easily if it's a
homemade charcootery board and a really bold red that you
(24:30):
get to enjoy on the front porch of your double white. Hey,
get after it. Click. This is not a socioeconomic boundary.
What this is is permission for anybody anywhere to set
that bar wherever they want it, to make sure they
can still feel that joy and they can still set
that goal. It's not about money, it's not about gay keeping,
(24:51):
it's not about exclusivity. It's about just inviting yourself in
a circle, taking that moment because everybody else in the
world world may be giving you a tough time. And
what that means that you've got to be extra kind
yourself because sometimes that's the only one you can see. Now.
I am incredibly lucky. Wow. I have people in my
(25:15):
life who keep an eyeball on me just to make
sure that I'm okay, And whenever the color of my
words starts to change, they know me immediately and they
start to ask really pointy questions that can be very
annoying but very loving, And I know that's a very
fortunate place to be held. It is to ask that
you give yourself that kindness until you can see the
(25:36):
people in your life who are willing to step up
to do that for you like they have for me.
Take your moment, and in all of these things, just
know that you are the one holding the remote. You
are the one holding the ticket. If you don't love
the moment you're in, you do not have to love
the moment you reside as in your movie, moment or
(25:57):
set of moments, you can literally change it at any time.
We continue to grow and evolve and become new and
better and different literally every second of every day. If
you're not moving forward, you're standing still, or you're moving
backwards and kids, because there's there is very very little
time in your life that you're going to be completely
and totally static. I truly believe that. So if your
(26:21):
moment isn't serving you, please mold it, squish it, heat
it up, dip it in water, put it on a
pottery wheel, spin that sucker around, tweak it, pinch it,
slap it, smack it up, flip it, rub it down.
Oh no, just do whatever it is you need to
do to that thing to make sure that you set
yourself a landmine of joy that you're almost surprised yourself
(26:42):
as someday, because you will find yourself in a situation
that will trigger it, that will set it off, and
it will almost overcome you. It will almost overwhelm you
with the feeling that you planted and you watered and
nourished and you cultivated it, so that whenever you you
cross through it, it'll be right there waiting to feed you.
(27:04):
So that you can just close your eyes and you
just take that moment and you live in it for
a minute. And I pray that you are as lucky
as I am, so that whenever that happens to you,
you can reach out to somebody who's with you that
you love, admire and treasure and you grab them by
the hand and you just say if you're lucky like mine,
(27:26):
or they'll know they'll know exactly what it is because
you'll be on a cloud. That's the best part. Yeah,
it is fun to have people in my life that
know me as well as they do that so that
when we all go through that together because their points
my life, it's so funny. Whenever you don't know what
to do with it, it can be a little bit. Yeah,
it can be overwhelming, And I've got friends that do that.
(27:48):
They came out to Vegas to see me and they
went we all went climbing, and we were out in
the woods, in the wilderness. Not the woods, we were
out in the dirt because the desert, out of red rocks,
and on the way to the mountain, my buddy's just
got so excited about going that they did like a
little back and forth sort of situation, like they'd run
towards the mountain, they'd stop and turn back and they'd
see that I wasn't running, so they'd run back at
(28:09):
me and then run back towards the mountain. It was
really fun. It was enjoyable because eventually that run back
turned into a hug that was like grab, squeeze, oh
my god, and release it and be better prepared for
your movie moments will make you. Will set you in
a position to have longer sustained movie moments, which are wonderful.
(28:29):
You want to sure you stretch that sensation out just
as long as you possibly can, So being prepared for
it is only going to serve you in the future.
Trust me, coming from a guy who knows, who loves
to live in them, who loves to tell his close
friends about them when they happen, because they're the people
who know. That's how I want to live my life.
(28:49):
It is always so enjoyable to do something, and facing
the world today, you need as many tools in your
belt as you can fit. Friend, it can get really
sticky out there. Hey, I'm being incredibly kind by using
that adjective. Adjective, excuse me. There's a lot of dangerous
business out there. There's a lot of stuff to be
(29:10):
concerned about, worried about, and to work to make better.
Worry by itself, nothing, prayer by itself, absolutely nothing, thoughts. No,
these kinds of things are wonderful gestures. But what we
need is action, and that is what changes the world.
And the way we can act is by making sure
that we have tools and weapons in place to fight
(29:30):
the depression, the despair, anger, the frustration, the incredulity of
the way some of the world works in order to
improve it. And I put that burden on me, and
I offer that burden to you to share, because that's
what we have to do. Where we find ourselves right
now is not a place any of us necessarily wants
to stay for long. I'm hoping it's a growth period
(29:52):
I'm hoping it's a time where we can look and
see and learn and move forward. And in order to
do that, we have to protect our joy. And one
way to do that is to make sure that we
feed it enough so that it remains strong enough that
we can overcome all the other mess that we have
to sort of endure before we reach the rest of it.
And this is one way that I do it. So
(30:15):
I would love to give you just a little bit
of homework. Okay, think about that. Think about what a
movie moment looks like to you. Is it romantic outing,
is it a special meal? Is it coming across an
old friend? Is it an unexpected meeting in a shop?
I mean, it can literally be anything. We call it
a meet cute in movie talk, and it's kind of enjoyable.
(30:35):
I remember hearing the term a while back. I think
it was the holiday maybe. Yeah, whatever that movie moment
is for, you make sure that you hold it in
your heart and you make sure that you leave a
little room for growth and evolution there. Okay, because it'll
it'll need to change, it'll continue to grow, And the
best part is just not to be that guy. But
(30:59):
also so when you experience it when you go through that,
when you are full because of whatever just happened, happened.
I want you to think of me, and I just
want you to say click love y'all. I hope you
have an absolutely fantastic week. There is no shame and
(31:23):
joy if things are going well in your life and
your relationships and your job, in your fitness journey. No
matter what it is, no matter how believed the world
tells us our outlook may be, there is always a
reason to celebrate and to adjust perspectives. You may include
others so that they can share in your good fortunes.
That is something we need to remind ourselves as we
(31:43):
pursue our own joy and accomplishment. Providing life for others
is part of our own journey. The path is lit
by others. We cannot make enough light on our own
to see exactly where we're going at every moment and
every step. Celebrating your victories does not negate someone he's struggling.
If you're experiencing a mental health emergency, please call nine
(32:04):
one one. This content and other content produced by the
If You Could See Me Project and affiliated partners is
not therapy, not intended to be therapy. Or to be
a replacement for therapy. Nothing in this content creates or
indicates a therapeutic relationship. Please consult with your therapist or
seek one in your area if you are experiencing mental
health symptoms. Nothing in this episode should be construed to
(32:27):
be specific life advice. It is for educational and entertainment purposes. Only.
Join us next time for more of Radical Joy, Moments
of Wisdom, Wonder and Hope with James Bullard, and Hey,
if you liked what you heard today, follow and like us,
give us a five star review and let us know
what you think. Learn more and join our mailing list
at www dot If you could see me dot com
(32:48):
for updates, Like and follow us on Facebook at iy CSM,
on Instagram, at the if you could See Me project,
and on TikTok at if you could See Me. Also,
if you like what you heard today, you can follow
me James Bullard on my personal website www dot James E.
Bullard dot com
The more people I meet in the more places that
I go, the more I realize how important it is
to let people aware of the fact that there is
no shame in enjoying the parts of your life. They're incredible.
It almost feels as though there is a stigma to
enjoying the very full life, living by example and praising
when other people choose to live fully because their lives
are still on a good path. Getting to do that
(00:36):
with people is what makes me feel incredible. I have
an unlimited supply of resource and energy for someone who
is truly on a path to find their own joy
and to become as much as they can be in
the time they've been given. Follow me to radical joy,
moments of wisdom, wonder and hope with James Buller. Do
(01:00):
I have any movie lovers out there? I know I'm one,
and that's sort of where we're starting off today. The
theme of today is called a movie moments. It's times
in my life whenever I feel as though what I'd
love to do is close to my eyes and just
hit the screenshot button. This is a moment in time
that I just I want to remember forever, this part
right here, this feeling right here, this location, these people
(01:24):
with whom I am sharing this instant, this tiny granule
of time. I want to raise it forever and be
able to recall literally every single item about this moment.
That's what I'm talking about today. If I've got any
moviegoers movie lovers out there, I'm certain there are plenty
out there. We love going to the cinema, We love
the popcorn, we love the ceremony behind it. Sitting in
(01:46):
the dark room with fifty to one hundred others, strangers
doing only God knows what in the darkness, whether you're
enjoying the film or you know, coming of age, or
any other number of amazing things that happen inside that
air conditioned cavern of entertainment and awesome. I love to
think about my life and movie moments. Now, every single
moment can't be one of those things that needs to
(02:07):
be immortalized in celluloid. I know this, and you know this,
and I'm moving forward. There are moments in my life
where what I love is that instance, that absolute, delicious
second that just needs to be frozen. I want to
just stop. And there are times when I've been with
friends of mine that I felt close enough I could
(02:29):
just wait, let me just sit in this for a moment.
Could I just experience this for just another moment longer?
And I hope you'll forgive me whenever I get emotional,
because because that is absolutely some of the fullest living
I have ever been able to feel. A wedding in
Argentina where there are sixteen disco balls out on the
(02:50):
dance floor and instead of throwing a garter or a bouquet,
they throw an entire bottle of J and B. And
you could bet you're behind. I'm the one who got
that box and brought it to the floor, and instead
of taking the whole bottle home, we split it into
shots among everybody who took their turn and trying to
bring it down. Amazing. Click now back to the movie.
(03:13):
Or You're walking down the street in Sydney, Australia, and
it's probably two in the morning, but you've got nowhere
to be the next day. So you are living your
best life and you're eating the most incredible food and
enjoying the most perfectly mixed cocktails, and all of a sudden,
you hear, James, is that you and You've been recognized
halfway across the planet by someone you really enjoy and
got to perform with on a cruise ship, say Top
(03:35):
fifteen years ago. Click, there's that. Let me just sit
in this for another minute. And that's what I love
to think about now that I've actually started this little habit,
this little talent, if you could even call it. That
is wherever something like this happens. Where I just prayed,
(03:56):
is that chunky, little fat kid in Alabama that's something
like this. But someday I will be able to live
a life like this. And whenever that happens, I just
I like to close my eyes and pause and give
that the weight and the honor and the love that
it deserves, because you just you never know when the
(04:17):
next one's going to come, but when it does, you're
more prepared to stop and take it in. I think
that's what a lot of us are needing right now,
you know, pardon me for my assumption. I know this
is what I need more of right now, as a human,
as an artist, as a creative spirit, to be able
to see, live in and appreciate these moments as they come,
because sometimes they cluster and sometimes there's some distance between
(04:41):
each instance, and so I just want to make sure
that whenever those come by that I take the moment.
And the reason I can do that is because I
ask myself regularly, what does that look like? What does
this movie moment look like to you? James Bullard? Well,
you know, being recogniz and not even as a celebrity,
(05:01):
but just someone that has traveled through to have friends
and people who remember him in different countries all over
the world. And that's huge. And please pardon me if
that comes across his conceit, that's not what this is
at all. It's I was able to share some moments
with people and other parts of my life and other
times in my life, and we get to revisit them together.
Even for the briefest moment I got to meet at
(05:24):
the in Sydney, I got to meet his girlfriend who
is now his girlfriend. I think it's moving to fiance
item if that's even a territory in the whole thing,
but it was just it was really special. And then
my buddy Josh and I we went on to the
next stop on our tour of Sydney's watering holes, and
he he looked at me because I wasn't saying much,
which you know is uncommon. He said, you're you're living
(05:47):
in it right now. He knows, you know, I you know,
I'm just I'm living right in the middle of it.
And the thing that makes these moments so special and
actually makes them more freak visited or experienced is the
fact that I go through my own life and I
ask that question, what is it that I want more
than anything else in the world. And just like Okay,
(06:10):
our tiny winds that we talk about all the time,
very similar situation. A movie moment does not have to
be something that is like Independence Day with Will Smith
movie moment. It can absolutely be a Stuart Little movie moment,
if you'll pardon the comparison. Sorry, that was the first
thing that came to mind. It can be something very sincere,
very sweet, very true, something that doesn't appeal doesn't appeal
(06:31):
to everyone, but can can really put you in a
great place. And I know a lot of people that
love Independence Day. And you know, if I mentioned Stuart Little,
you'll have a few. You know, OG's in the room,
but it won't reach everyone. And that's what your movie
moment is. It's incredibly personal. It touches you to the core,
and it's one of those things where you can think
(06:54):
about that at any moment in your life in the
future and immediately bring back that sensation, whether it's the smell,
the taste, the touch, the hug, the laughter, the intimacy
of whatever that moment is to you, and it is
a gift. That movie moment is the part that makes
all these other commercials worthwhile, commercials being of course, you know,
(07:17):
daily responsibilities, work, stressors, and he does have the kind
of things, you know, difficulty with your relationships, whatever that
may be, or just the mundaneness of it all. Because
quite frankly, life is those little connective tissues that happen
between each one of these special movie moments. It's the
part you know, okay, getting a little bit older, or
(07:38):
watching your children grow up, or seeing people progress in
their lives, whether it's professional, personal, spiritual. I don't want
to discount those. That's never it, because that's where so
much of the magic gets its strength and gets its
nourishment from these moments in between. That's the life you're living.
And then there's those little moments, those little instances, those
tiny fractals have fan I'm sorry, I live in alliteration.
(08:01):
I absolutely love it when your consonants match. Those are
the things that you just can't do without, if you'll
pardon me, you can absolutely make it all the way
through your life without having a single one of these,
or at least not acknowledging that's exactly what it was.
But I'm here to tell you friends, as a guy
who is a movie moment connoisseur, I'm a big fan,
(08:24):
and I think that once you have a few of
those under your belt, you probably will be too. You
get to choose your genre. You know. It could be
a romantic comedy. It'd be that thing where you just
want and want for a bouquet of white tulips that
your date shows up with those for you and just
click fantastic. It could be an adventure movie where you
(08:47):
land in Africa and your rented card gives out in
the middle of a national park and you have to
spend the night at the ranger station. In the morning,
when you wake up, there are seventeen elephants walking across
the savannah. Click. That's the thing. You get to choose
your genre, You get to choose your costar. You get
to choose exactly what it is you're hoping to have
(09:09):
or find or see. Now now, it may not be
delivered exactly the way that you're expecting, And honestly, that's
part of the fun, because you get this notion, you
get this idea in your head and in your heart,
in your mind's eye about what this movie looks like
to you, and you start constructing it. But if you're
anything like me, and in this case, I really really
(09:31):
hope you are, you leave the borders open a little
and just a little fuzzy around the edges to make
sure that you've got just a little bit more space
than whenever things like this that evoke these kinds of
emotions in you, you can latch onto that. No, no, wait,
I remember this feeling. This is what I had in
my head when I thought why click? And that's it,
(09:57):
and it's glorious. It's so a amazing to be able
to live in those moments from time to time. Again.
Life is not going to get in the way. Life
is going to fill the spaces between. However, I hope
with every cell in my entire being that you put
yourself in a position where you can think of these
things so that whenever they happen to you and your life,
(10:18):
the corners of your mouth will start to curl up
the corners of your eyes will start to crinkle, and
you might just get that little prickle right around the
eyes like I do whenever I get just so full
that something has to leave my body in the form
of tears of joy or however it is that you
want to manifest that in a physical response to this
(10:39):
incredible experience that you are not just living through but
living larger because of. And that is such a joy.
That is a delicious moment that you can just roll
around in again and again. Is it a comedy, is
it drama? Is it a documentary? You know, I don't know.
(11:03):
There could be things in your life that you want
to accomplish that would fit more in an episodic than
it would in a two hour feature, right, Yeah, of course,
nobody's here to say that you have to keep it
on a silver screen or one that you can't fit
on your laptop. Just here to ask for a little
bit of structure or that just because it's made my
life so much richer, and I know how very simple
(11:24):
that is. And I say that, and then I'm gonna
come back around and contradict myself at the exact same time,
finding out what it is you truly want from your
life can be pretty tricky. There's a lot of things
that go on inside our heads that really make us
question what it is that we really want out of
our life. Do you want a million dollars in the bank?
Do you want that perfect partner that you've already constructed
(11:45):
in your head, and then sometimes reject because mister or
miss Wright whenever they come to see you, because they're
not exactly what you had envisioned. I don't know, or
what if your right person doesn't necessarily get to have
those stickers on it. It is amazing the sort of
fullness you can put into your own life when you
put fewer restrictions and stickers and labels and tags and
(12:05):
tickets all over everything that you simply must have in
order to be happy. There's a lot of tough going
on in the world right now. Okay, I'm not going
to try to say, oh, you'll be fine. Could not
be farther from the truth. My eyes are wide open
to as much as I'm allowed to see, and moving forward,
I think it is so incredibly important that we learn
to cultivate our own joy, whether it's in teaspoons or
(12:30):
our time. We need to make sure that we have
an idea of what we can do on the day today,
to make sure that we don't get lost in the anger,
the frustration that is spare of it all. Life seems
to offer an abundance supply of that. You know, sometimes
you kind of have to make your own. Now here's
a phrase. I hate hate this. It's fake it till
you make it. I am not a fan. I don't
(12:52):
think it's enjoyable. I think authentic living and sincere living
are by far and enlarge, the easier and more effective
ways of getting out there to do something. If if
you're not a person that just doesn't feel like that, Okay,
I'm just I'm gonna say it, fake it till you
make it kids, because I tell you what, it comes
down to that thing between action motivation. I'm not motivated
to act, but if I am acting, I will be
(13:14):
motivated to continue. Same thing. I don't feel joy in
my heart, James, I don't know where to start. Great
then as an exercise and hopefully not a habit. To
fake it till you make it. Try to find something
that is going on, something simple, something close, something very
small but still dense in your life. Try to up
(13:35):
your JQ, your joy quotient, and try to figure out
how you can cultivate that into something in your own
life where you can continue to lower and find and
live in these incredible movie moments. Click because for whatever reason,
if you're not a movie person, great book that there,
(13:56):
got it? Sure, I'm sorry. Somebody out there has to
have some kind of way connect with some sort of
media or literature in order to glean this beautiful moment
that they have in their mind that they would love
to accomplish, experience, live through. It can't be that difficult
for someone to read something like Wow, I wish that
would happen to me. Perfect, That's a great start. I
(14:20):
wish something like this could happen to me when I
was some you know, dirty footed redneck back into Alabama.
I'm still dirty footed because I walk around my shoes
off all the time, and I'm still very much a redneck,
especially if you get me angry. But there were things
in my life that I always wanted and I'll never
forget the first time that I felt it. I got
on a plane to go somewhere, and I can't help
(14:42):
you in life, it was it was right off for
the pandemic and I'm holding on holding something in my hand.
And it was that moment that I walked onto the
plane and the foreign language started coming in. I understood
it wasn't English, and I think maybe Spanish, French. I'm sorry,
I apologize my chronology gets a little wonky, but I
remember getting on that plane and thinking, Wow, from where
(15:02):
I started, which was a wonderful place. Don't get me wrong,
I'm not harsh in Alabama. I'm saying it was very humble,
and it was simple, and it was wonderful. It provided
a very fertile soil to grow a very strong tree.
It was quite the distance cover to get from where
I started to where I stood, and just, oh, you're
almost overcome because every single one of your senses comes
(15:25):
together to make this amazing moment that you just you
couldn't exist anywhere except in your mind, because you are
the only person who's walked that walk, who's had that journey,
who has lived through the experiences that has made this
culmination of all those things, this perfect movie moment click.
(15:50):
It could be something as simple as a really nice
cup of coffee. It could be though a dinner at
a Michelin Star restaurant. I would absolutely love that, and
I keep my eyes peeled for something like that. I
have those goals on my card. It excuse me. It
could be that, Oh gosh, it could be the way
her hair falls over her shoulder and she looks at
(16:11):
you and you know something really great and somewhat unexpected
is about to happen. Click that. It could be again,
something tiny. It could be something enormous. It could be
something like somebody ever's. It could be getting your tax
return in the mail, something that literally just unlocks a
new achievement for my video game folks out there, Yeah, fantastic.
(16:32):
Find that work on that. Put that in your mind,
hold that in your heart, Put that somewhere in a
very emotionally safe place, not locked away, but someplace where
it's it's difficult to take, but it's very easy to
influence and cultivate. I keep using that word cultivate because
I just I love it. It's got so many wonderful,
delicious syllables, and it means to continue the work, to nourish,
(16:56):
to put it in a place where that has the
opportunity for growth and development, optimal opportunity. See. I love
that idea and these movie moments, these movie moments can
sustain you because a lot of times, routine and mundane
and things like that will wear, and they will wear hard,
and before you know what, your shoulders start to round
(17:17):
and your lower back starts to ache, and your knees
start to stiffen. Okay, so how do we get out
of that? Well, we change our position, We change how
we look at the world, We change perspectives, and we
change our posture, and instead of sitting, you stand. And
it gonna be something as simple as that. It could
be that literal, it could be metaphorical, it could be
(17:38):
any number of things. And that's the best part of
literally all of these things that I am talking about.
It's up to you how literally you take it, because
sometimes that's that's not the most successful or helpful course
of action. Sometimes the metaphor is the one that helps.
How do I get over this hump? How do I
climb this mountain? How do I hurdle this? Okay? What
(18:02):
does that mean? Is it is hurtling or overcoming any
of these kinds of things in a literal sense, meaning,
if I could just get past the border of this country,
if I could go over to the next county, or
if I could just jump over this fence, if I
could leave my home for a little while to see
what else is out there and then come back with
a whole other viewpoint that helps sustain me whenever I
(18:23):
need that so badly. It's just a movement, a moment,
is it. It can be anything. And that's the part
I love so much. Because you know, a lot of
people are very structured with their resources. They're very disciplined,
and I admire that very much. I am not. Whenever
I get a paycheck, a chunk of it has to
go into savings. I am easy, Okay, I'm wildly irresponsible
(18:46):
to some and really really fun to others. And both
of these things are great. I got nothing to say
about it. I've got an amazing passport. I've got memories
and photographs and stamps and friends from every corner of
the lobe, and it thrills me. And those are my
movie moments. It's being able to go to Carnival in
(19:07):
Brazil and being able to track Everest. It's being able
to sweat your boop off in Cambodia while that beautiful
elephant picks up a paintbrush and smears a krylic all
over your white T shirt. It's those kinds of things
where it may have been hoped for but not expected.
The anticipation is pure. Whenever it comes at you from
(19:29):
the side it if it comes at you straight on,
sometimes you're like, okay, here it comes, and you can
almost brace yourself against the wonderful and I I wonder
if that's the most powerful course of action. It is hard,
meaning a dream, it's difficult. Accomplishing a goal can be
very disheartening, and the reason being, whenever you attain something
(19:52):
that you've worked so long to achieve, or maybe not
very long at all, and it happens, sometimes there's a
little bit of a disappointment extend with that. I mean,
that's just the way it goes. Friends of mine that
have been on Broadway and I am in awe of
their massive talents, tell me that, you know, when I
got here, I am well. I said, was it everything
(20:12):
you'd hoped it to be? And this person looked me
dead in the face and said, is it ever? And
that's something you need to carry with you as well.
You know, we need to make sure that we always
dream big, shoot for the moon, aim for the stars,
and even if you miss, you'll still land among this way. Okay,
shoot for the moon, and even if you miss, you'll
(20:33):
land among the stars. Yes, fantastic, And be prepared that
whenever you achieve these incredible goals, whenever, not if you
achieved these incredible goals, it may just be a little
bit of a moment where you're like, well, I expected
more of this, I expected this to be fancier. I
(20:54):
expected to be this more superlative moment than it was.
What you are expecting may not be exactly what the
outcome becomes. It may not exactly bring that desired outcome.
So be prepared to make a new dream. And that's
something somebody never told me. Whenever your movie moment comes
(21:14):
to fruition to see, that's the best part about a
movie moment. You can use it over and over and
over again, just like you can go watch your favorite
movie over and over again. There are certain films that
will come on television or on streaming services or whatever,
and I will watch that sucker seventeen times, and that's
the best part. It's the same thing with a movie moment,
things like that where you are recognized, where you're all
(21:36):
I don't know why this comes to mind. You take
a really cool pair of genes that you find on
the clearan track up to the cashier and they ring
it up and it's even less money than you thought
you were willing to spend, and you were thrilled about
the bargain you were already getting, and it's even cheaper. Click.
Absolutely a movie moment for it. For some, I'm not
here to judge it. I'm here to make sure that
you know that they can be anything even infinitesimally small,
(21:59):
to something so so infinitely large. It is completely and
totally up to you. I'm just sharing with you the
things that I continue to find in my life, the
things that seem like movie moments. So it's walking down
the Vega Strip and I'm thinking, I'm looking so fly.
If we even use the word fly anymore, I don't know.
I'm old. It's cool. I'm decked out, my pants pit perfectly,
my shirt fixed perfectly, my shoes are decked, I got
(22:21):
a sweet pair of shades, and my hair ain't doing
nothing but cooperating. Okay, now that is a movie moment.
While I'm walking down the Vegas Strip feeling myself and
even if nobody else feels what I'm putting out. I
don't need it because I know I got it and
it's just incredible. Click. And that's another thing too. You
gotta give yourself for permission. You gotta give yourself some
(22:42):
grace because the first thing these things in our head
want to say us is like, well, don't you have
a high opinion of yourself? And that's not what they're saying,
but it's the tone to say, like, yeah, I sure do.
Because they spent time putting this whole thing together. These
pants are tailored. I gotta bring that waste in and
make sure that all this junken trunkeet and thighs got
(23:04):
some room. But you don't get a gap in the
waist with this shirt. Yeah, I probably spend a little
more on it that I needed to, but buttons don't
gap at the chest. Those sleeves fit right around those biceps,
and I just wail on them probably twice a week,
and there may be a little pattern around the middle.
But I still got swagger, got swagger to beat the band.
And it's all because I permitted it. It all comes
(23:27):
down to what it is you're willing to put into
your movie moment. To bring yourself to that level, because
there's folks out there now I know that, you know,
they have a different set of skills, they have a
similar set of skills, and they're even more refined and
developed than mine are, and that is amazing. Yeah, I
deal with they because I'm absolutely human and I know
that being around people that do have those kind of
elevated gifts that they have worked to cultivate. There's that
(23:48):
word again, these gifts that if I spend time with them,
I will also find a way to raise my own
bar so that I can meet them and maybe exceed
my own expectations to meet them where they are. You
just be good to you, that's the thing. It really
just comes down to letting yourself just have a moment.
Because some people are in a really tough spot. You know,
(24:09):
we're dealing with financial woes, we're dealing with keeping food
on the table, keeping everybody under the roof happy with
everybody else. Then that that cannot be easy, and so
this idea of a moving moment that can seem pretty lofty.
You know, if I don't in the same breath say hey,
it doesn't have to be a blockbuster. It can be
an art house film just as easily if it's a
homemade charcootery board and a really bold red that you
(24:30):
get to enjoy on the front porch of your double white. Hey,
get after it. Click. This is not a socioeconomic boundary.
What this is is permission for anybody anywhere to set
that bar wherever they want it, to make sure they
can still feel that joy and they can still set
that goal. It's not about money, it's not about gay keeping,
(24:51):
it's not about exclusivity. It's about just inviting yourself in
a circle, taking that moment because everybody else in the
world world may be giving you a tough time. And
what that means that you've got to be extra kind
yourself because sometimes that's the only one you can see. Now.
I am incredibly lucky. Wow. I have people in my
(25:15):
life who keep an eyeball on me just to make
sure that I'm okay, And whenever the color of my
words starts to change, they know me immediately and they
start to ask really pointy questions that can be very
annoying but very loving, And I know that's a very
fortunate place to be held. It is to ask that
you give yourself that kindness until you can see the
(25:36):
people in your life who are willing to step up
to do that for you like they have for me.
Take your moment, and in all of these things, just
know that you are the one holding the remote. You
are the one holding the ticket. If you don't love
the moment you're in, you do not have to love
the moment you reside as in your movie, moment or
(25:57):
set of moments, you can literally change it at any time.
We continue to grow and evolve and become new and
better and different literally every second of every day. If
you're not moving forward, you're standing still, or you're moving
backwards and kids, because there's there is very very little
time in your life that you're going to be completely
and totally static. I truly believe that. So if your
(26:21):
moment isn't serving you, please mold it, squish it, heat
it up, dip it in water, put it on a
pottery wheel, spin that sucker around, tweak it, pinch it,
slap it, smack it up, flip it, rub it down.
Oh no, just do whatever it is you need to
do to that thing to make sure that you set
yourself a landmine of joy that you're almost surprised yourself
(26:42):
as someday, because you will find yourself in a situation
that will trigger it, that will set it off, and
it will almost overcome you. It will almost overwhelm you
with the feeling that you planted and you watered and
nourished and you cultivated it, so that whenever you you
cross through it, it'll be right there waiting to feed you.
(27:04):
So that you can just close your eyes and you
just take that moment and you live in it for
a minute. And I pray that you are as lucky
as I am, so that whenever that happens to you,
you can reach out to somebody who's with you that
you love, admire and treasure and you grab them by
the hand and you just say if you're lucky like mine,
(27:26):
or they'll know they'll know exactly what it is because
you'll be on a cloud. That's the best part. Yeah,
it is fun to have people in my life that
know me as well as they do that so that
when we all go through that together because their points
my life, it's so funny. Whenever you don't know what
to do with it, it can be a little bit. Yeah,
it can be overwhelming, And I've got friends that do that.
(27:48):
They came out to Vegas to see me and they
went we all went climbing, and we were out in
the woods, in the wilderness. Not the woods, we were
out in the dirt because the desert, out of red rocks,
and on the way to the mountain, my buddy's just
got so excited about going that they did like a
little back and forth sort of situation, like they'd run
towards the mountain, they'd stop and turn back and they'd
see that I wasn't running, so they'd run back at
(28:09):
me and then run back towards the mountain. It was
really fun. It was enjoyable because eventually that run back
turned into a hug that was like grab, squeeze, oh
my god, and release it and be better prepared for
your movie moments will make you. Will set you in
a position to have longer sustained movie moments, which are wonderful.
(28:29):
You want to sure you stretch that sensation out just
as long as you possibly can, So being prepared for
it is only going to serve you in the future.
Trust me, coming from a guy who knows, who loves
to live in them, who loves to tell his close
friends about them when they happen, because they're the people
who know. That's how I want to live my life.
(28:49):
It is always so enjoyable to do something, and facing
the world today, you need as many tools in your
belt as you can fit. Friend, it can get really
sticky out there. Hey, I'm being incredibly kind by using
that adjective. Adjective, excuse me. There's a lot of dangerous
business out there. There's a lot of stuff to be
(29:10):
concerned about, worried about, and to work to make better.
Worry by itself, nothing, prayer by itself, absolutely nothing, thoughts. No,
these kinds of things are wonderful gestures. But what we
need is action, and that is what changes the world.
And the way we can act is by making sure
that we have tools and weapons in place to fight
(29:30):
the depression, the despair, anger, the frustration, the incredulity of
the way some of the world works in order to
improve it. And I put that burden on me, and
I offer that burden to you to share, because that's
what we have to do. Where we find ourselves right
now is not a place any of us necessarily wants
to stay for long. I'm hoping it's a growth period
(29:52):
I'm hoping it's a time where we can look and
see and learn and move forward. And in order to
do that, we have to protect our joy. And one
way to do that is to make sure that we
feed it enough so that it remains strong enough that
we can overcome all the other mess that we have
to sort of endure before we reach the rest of it.
And this is one way that I do it. So
(30:15):
I would love to give you just a little bit
of homework. Okay, think about that. Think about what a
movie moment looks like to you. Is it romantic outing,
is it a special meal? Is it coming across an
old friend? Is it an unexpected meeting in a shop?
I mean, it can literally be anything. We call it
a meet cute in movie talk, and it's kind of enjoyable.
(30:35):
I remember hearing the term a while back. I think
it was the holiday maybe. Yeah, whatever that movie moment
is for, you make sure that you hold it in
your heart and you make sure that you leave a
little room for growth and evolution there. Okay, because it'll
it'll need to change, it'll continue to grow, And the
best part is just not to be that guy. But
(30:59):
also so when you experience it when you go through that,
when you are full because of whatever just happened, happened.
I want you to think of me, and I just
want you to say click love y'all. I hope you
have an absolutely fantastic week. There is no shame and
(31:23):
joy if things are going well in your life and
your relationships and your job, in your fitness journey. No
matter what it is, no matter how believed the world
tells us our outlook may be, there is always a
reason to celebrate and to adjust perspectives. You may include
others so that they can share in your good fortunes.
That is something we need to remind ourselves as we
(31:43):
pursue our own joy and accomplishment. Providing life for others
is part of our own journey. The path is lit
by others. We cannot make enough light on our own
to see exactly where we're going at every moment and
every step. Celebrating your victories does not negate someone he's struggling.
If you're experiencing a mental health emergency, please call nine
(32:04):
one one. This content and other content produced by the
If You Could See Me Project and affiliated partners is
not therapy, not intended to be therapy. Or to be
a replacement for therapy. Nothing in this content creates or
indicates a therapeutic relationship. Please consult with your therapist or
seek one in your area if you are experiencing mental
health symptoms. Nothing in this episode should be construed to
(32:27):
be specific life advice. It is for educational and entertainment purposes. Only.
Join us next time for more of Radical Joy, Moments
of Wisdom, Wonder and Hope with James Bullard, and Hey,
if you liked what you heard today, follow and like us,
give us a five star review and let us know
what you think. Learn more and join our mailing list
at www dot If you could see me dot com
(32:48):
for updates, Like and follow us on Facebook at iy CSM,
on Instagram, at the if you could See Me project,
and on TikTok at if you could See Me. Also,
if you like what you heard today, you can follow
me James Bullard on my personal website www dot James E.
Bullard dot com
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