April 23, 2025 • 48 mins
Ever wondered how a childhood pie-selling gig could spark a lifelong entrepreneurial journey? Or how a near-death experience might redefine your perspective on life? Join as we dive into the riveting life of Michael B. Harris. From selling blackberry pies to surviving a life-threatening water skiing accident, Michael's story is one of resilience and transformation.
Michael, a best-selling author and seasoned entrepreneur, chats with us about his book "Falling Down, Getting Up," the art of storytelling, and the "law of Goya"—a humorous take on manifesting dreams. We explore the calming power of breath, the karma of money, and the wisdom he gained from his travels in India. Plus, don't miss his generous offer of a free book to our listeners!
Tune in for this inspiring conversation and discover how everything you need for growth is already within you. Subscribe now for more uplifting stories!
Michael's Bio
Meet Michael Harris, a multi-talented master of empowering others to succeed. He's a four-time #1 bestselling author, literary scout, yoga teacher, and business coach who has helped thousands of people share their message with the world and achieve their goals.
With his expertise and guidance, you can take care of your health, tell your story, and build a thriving business without ever getting twisted. Michael believes that nature holds the key to living our best lives, and he's here to help you unlock your full potential.
Connect with Michael
Linktree
Michael has offered his new book "Within" for free to our Late Boomers audience. If you would like to read it, go HERE
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Merry Elkins (00:01):
This is the EWN Podcast Network.
Cathy Worthington (00:14):
Welcome to late boomers, our podcast guide
to creating your third act withstyle, power, and impact. Hi.
I'm Kathy Worthington.
Merry Elkins (00:24):
And I'm Mary Elkins. Join us as we bring you
conversations withentrepreneurs, entertainers, and
people with vision who aremaking a difference in the
world.
Cathy Worthington (00:34):
Everyone has a story, and we'll take you
along for the ride on eachinterview, recounting the
journey our guests have taken toget where they are, inspiring
you to create your own path tosuccess. Let's get started.
Hi there. I'm Kathy Worthington welcoming you
(00:54):
to our latest late boomersepisode with my cohost, Mary
Elkins. Today, we have anexciting guest to visit with,
Michael Harris. He has greatstories on how to really turn
the dark moments of life intocatalyst for personal growth and
serving others.
Merry Elkins (01:12):
And I'm Mary Elkins. Michael is a number one
best selling author, trainer,coach, yoga teacher, and
lifelong entrepreneur. We willhear about his book, Falling
Down, Getting Up, and his manylife adventures. Welcome,
Michael.
Michael B. Harris (01:28):
It's great to be here. Thank you for inviting
me. I looked through your show,and you have some wonderful
guests, and I listened to someof them too. And, like, Rhonda
Britton, which was just onrecently. She's wonderful.
I've known her for a number ofyears. Oh. Doctor Christina
Anderson in her book,Resilience, I actually helped
(01:50):
her launch her book.
Merry Elkins (01:52):
Really?
Michael B. Harris (01:52):
Beate, Gillette. So you've had some
great guests. And the fun thingthat I liked about what you're
doing is Santa's Secrets thatyou do at Christmas. I couldn't
believe that you got Santa Clauscoming out there talking about
Medicare.
Merry Elkins (02:08):
Yeah. Yeah.
Cathy Worthington (02:09):
Yeah. Every year. Every year, we talk to
Santa. Thank you
Merry Elkins (02:12):
for taking
Cathy Worthington (02:12):
this out. It was inevitable that inevitable
that we talked to you now thenbecause you know all our other
people that
Michael B. Harris (02:19):
we were talking to. Well, some of them.
Yeah.
Merry Elkins (02:21):
Absolutely. And we we feel so fortunate to have
Santa actually come and talk tous.
Michael B. Harris (02:27):
Yeah. Well, if I grew a beard and my hair
out a little bit, maybe nextyear I could get there. I don't
know. Yeah. Because I think I'dhave a white beard.
Merry Elkins (02:35):
Well, maybe we should have a casting call,
Kathy.
Michael B. Harris (02:38):
There you go.
Cathy Worthington (02:40):
I don't think Santa would appreciate a casting
call right now. He's kind ofentrenched.
Michael B. Harris (02:47):
Well, I'd have to use a fake belly,
though, because I don't havemuch of a belly.
Cathy Worthington (02:50):
Oh, yeah. No. That's good. Okay. I'm glad you
don't have a belly.
So, god, talk about yourbackground a little bit,
Michael, and what BlackBerry'shad to do with being an
entrepreneur?
Michael B. Harris (03:03):
Where do you want me to start? Anywhere.
Like, BlackBerry. Blackberries.Anywhere.
Yeah. You know, blackberries,now they're calling them
boysenberries a lot. You know?They kind of changed the the
name a little bit. But back inthe sixties when when I was a
kid and my dad was anentrepreneur.
(03:24):
He owned a number of gasstations around Oregon, and he
always talked about, you know,providing something that other
people want to buy. You know?And I thought, great. So, you
know, I was a kid and outpicking blackberries, and mom
always made the best blackberrypies in the neighborhood. I
(03:45):
mean, they were the greatest,and all my friends would come
over and have missus Harris'sblackberry pie.
Then one day, I startedthinking, and I said, you know,
mom, why don't we sell thesepies? And we came up with a
deal. I went out and pickedthem, and she baked them. I went
around the neighborhood and soldthem for a dollar. She got 50¢.
(04:06):
I got 50¢. We later raised it toa buck and a half, but I'm kinda
convinced that the Girl Scoutsstole my sales line. You know
what the Girl Scouts sales lineis? It's not do you wanna buy a
box of cookies? It's how manyboxes do you want to buy?
(04:27):
Right? So I go around theneighborhood, and I'd say, don't
you need an extra pie forThanksgiving? It's coming up.
You can freeze it. You know?
So I would I would always sayhow many do you want to buy
rather than do you want to buy.
Merry Elkins (04:41):
That is really an entrepreneur story.
Cathy Worthington (04:44):
Yeah. And, Michael, I have to tell you my
little I'll just insert mylittle entrepreneur story
because I was about Yeah. Sevenor eight years old, and I
started making potholders on aloom that somebody gave me. And
I would go to the dime store andbuy all the little loops and
make these beautiful potholders,and I sold them around my
(05:04):
neighborhood door to door.
Michael B. Harris (05:06):
Wow.
Cathy Worthington (05:06):
And I I everybody bought every single
potholder I could make. And I'mYeah.
Merry Elkins (05:11):
They can do that again.
Michael B. Harris (05:12):
I was thinking the same thing, Mary.
Cathy Worthington (05:14):
I called them for 20¢. Yeah.
Merry Elkins (05:18):
You you can raise the price, you know, inflation.
Cathy Worthington (05:20):
It took a long time to raise $5, but
anyway
Michael B. Harris (05:24):
Well, see, if you make it on your own and sell
it here, there won't be a tariffon it. So you keep the price
low. Right?
Cathy Worthington (05:32):
Mhmm. Yeah. No tariff.
Merry Elkins (05:33):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Cathy Worthington (05:35):
Depending on where the supplies come from.
Michael B. Harris (05:37):
That's right. Yeah.
Merry Elkins (05:39):
Yeah. Tell us a little more about your
background, though. You know,what led you to where you are
today?
Michael B. Harris (05:45):
Well, the
Merry Elkins (05:47):
Besides blackberries.
Michael B. Harris (05:48):
Besides blackberries. Yeah. I I grew up
as, you know, pretty much anormal kid. I, you know, I loved
my life, and we go to Hawaii. Ilearned how to surf on Waikiki
Beach as a kid.
You know? You know, I'd be 10years old chasing the 12 year
old girls up and down the beachand, you know, just having, you
know, a blast, you know, back inthe, you know, mid sixties and
(06:11):
just loving it. Dad had businessover there, so we're over there
quite a bit. And I was a bit ofa hotshot water skier as well,
and we skied around some lakesaround Oregon. And I loved,
water skiing, and one day, I hitthe beach.
And when I say hit the beach, Imean, I smacked the beach too
(06:34):
hard. And, initially, we we wentto it was actually on the Oregon
Coast, the lake down there, andwe went to the local hospital.
And they said I was basicallybruised up, and I would be okay.
Well, the next day, we went backto Portland because I had been
throwing up blood and went backto Portland and went to the
(07:00):
doctor at the children's clinicat at the time. And he said, go
to the hospital.
Went to the hospital, and all asI know is I woke up about two
weeks later. And they had takenout sixty percent of my liver,
my gallbladder. I had sixcracked ribs, a collapsed lung.
Cathy Worthington (07:18):
Oh.
Michael B. Harris (07:19):
And I woke up from the back end of a coma.
That's where I regained myconsciousness, so to speak.
Cathy Worthington (07:28):
Wow.
Michael B. Harris (07:29):
And so that was quite a an event. It took me
a year to recover, you know,over a year, really, Several
years. But the main healinghappened in about a year. I was
really lucky. I had 21 bloodtransfusions, and, you know, it
was one of those twenty hoursurgeries.
(07:51):
I had a near death experience. Iwhen I left my body the best I
could relate this that it was atthe end of my coma, and that's
where I woke up when when I cameback because when I left and
there's what I call a garden ofspirits or spirits around. And
(08:15):
Mhmm. And as I was talking tothem, and I don't remember
everything that was said, but Ido remember as I started coming
back and I knew I was comingback, I said, I don't wanna go
back. And they said, you're notdone yet.
You have to go back. And theysaid, don't worry. Everything is
gonna be okay. That's fifty fouryears ago, and I'm still here.
Cathy Worthington (08:42):
Yeah. That's that's amazing.
Michael B. Harris (08:45):
That is Somehow they still want me here.
Cathy Worthington (08:48):
Yeah. Yeah. Underneath.
Merry Elkins (08:51):
Yeah. So that's really quite a story. Why do you
think everybody's story is soimportant?
Michael B. Harris (08:59):
Well, it's interesting because even in your
intro that you have on yourshows, you talk about everyone
has a story. Do. It's it's sotrue. You know, even Robert
Lane, which is the audiobookguy, he talks about that too.
You know?
Your book, your voice. Mhmm. Andone of the things that didn't
(09:23):
end up in the intro is I'm alsoa literary scout for Morgan
James Publishing. And so I talkto people every day all around
the world about books that theyhave submitted in their
manuscripts and such and gettingit written in. I get to do that.
I'm so lucky that I get to dothat.
Cathy Worthington (09:43):
Uh-huh. One
Michael B. Harris (09:45):
of the things that I found so coming back
around to your question, why doI think story matters? You know,
there's a lot of swirling energyas I call it in the world right
now. We we've got our planet.We've got this atmosphere. It
goes about 30 miles up, andwithin that atmosphere, there's
(10:07):
a lot of, like I said, swirlingenergy.
There's a lot of things going onon every part of the planet
right now within our country,other countries, all around the
world. And part of it is createsa lot of division and, you know,
you know, separation. And it'smy experience that when we sit
(10:32):
around and tell stories youknow, think back to the the
caveman days. They used to sitaround around the fire and talk
about, oh, I went and got this,you know, saber tooth tiger and
you couldn't believe whathappened, and I got him down,
and now we got food, and da dada. And they would sit around
(10:52):
and tell stories, and they wouldcreate connection with their
tribe.
Right? Mhmm. Even though many ofus have different ideas and
different thoughts and opinions,when we tend to sit down, you
know, with each other, we tendto start to connect with each
other. And I think that's whatStories does. It helps us
(11:12):
connect.
And, like, these your podcasts,you know, like, all these guests
that you have on the diversityof guests. I mean, like, again,
going back to Rhonda Burton, shehas an Britain, I mean, she has
an incredible story.
Merry Elkins (11:26):
Ah.
Michael B. Harris (11:26):
You know, her whole life story and, you know,
what happened when she was achild. I won't get into it. But
if you're listening to this andyou haven't listened to Rod
Rhonda's story, go back andlisten to it. You'll be amazed.
But you know?
And she's taken her lifeexperience and made something
good out of something that wasbeyond swirling energy.
(11:50):
Absolutely. At best, difficult,I think, damps it down even too
much. You know? It'sunbelievable.
Mhmm. You know, it's unfamiliar.Unbelievable. Yeah. But so many
of us have stories of thatswirling energy, those
difficulties, those challenges.
(12:11):
And as we survive those things,we can help tell those things.
So telling our story helps otherpeople realize that they may not
be alone. They may havesomething similar, may not be
exactly, but it's just like, oh,I couldn't believe it. I was
listening to Kathy and and Maryone day and their stories and
(12:32):
the people that are on there,and it's just like, I feel so
much better now because I heardthat. I heard what that person
said.
Merry Elkins (12:40):
Thank you. That's what we aim to do. That's our
mission.
Michael B. Harris (12:44):
Yeah. Absolutely. I can I can tell
from moment one? Right?
Cathy Worthington (12:49):
Oh, good. Yeah. Well, you talked something
about the law of attraction.
Michael B. Harris (12:53):
Ah.
Cathy Worthington (12:54):
I know you know about that. And how does
the law of attraction getactivated by the law of Goya?
And I don't know what the law ofGoya is.
Michael B. Harris (13:03):
Yes. Most people don't. But, you you know,
the law of attraction, andthere's the book, the secret. A
lot of people have heard of it.Most people have.
Mhmm. My late brother, Bill,actually helped put that book
together, and he's one of theauthors in the book as well. And
he was ten years older than me,so he was started studying, you
(13:26):
know, the law of attraction waybefore I even thought about the
law of attraction. Wow. Youknow, the secret a lot of people
throw rocks at it.
You know? It's just you know,you can sit around and get
anything you want. Well, that'snot the law of attraction. The
law of attraction doesn't say ifyou sit on your couch for five
years, you know, and Joan isgonna give you $10,000,000 and
(13:52):
life is gonna be great. No.
No. It says, yes, you have toconsider what you want in your
life, and I'll talk about that alittle bit more in a moment
about everyday law ofattraction, but it only works if
you do one thing. And, Kathy,that's the love Goya. Get off
(14:12):
your ass.
Cathy Worthington (14:14):
Get off your ass.
Michael B. Harris (14:15):
Right. Right.
Cathy Worthington (14:16):
I was wondering what that was.
Michael B. Harris (14:18):
Yeah. So you actually gotta get up and take
action. You have
Merry Elkins (14:21):
to do
Michael B. Harris (14:21):
something to get what you want. You just
can't sit there and wait for itto fall from the sky.
Merry Elkins (14:28):
Oh, I've been waiting. Well,
Michael B. Harris (14:32):
I I related to this. Yeah.
Merry Elkins (14:36):
I've been looking up at the sky waiting.
Michael B. Harris (14:38):
Looking up at the sky. But, you know, I I
Cathy Worthington (14:42):
used question is how does it get activated by
Michael B. Harris (14:45):
that? Well yes. Yeah. How does it get
activated? I'll give an example.
Imagine you want an orange. Andeverybody as soon as you think
that you think of an orange inyour head, there's that picture
of the orange in our head.Right?
Cathy Worthington (15:01):
Mhmm.
Michael B. Harris (15:02):
Well, you don't have one at home, but you
wanna attract one into yourlife. So you get off your ass,
get into your car, drive down tothe grocery store, pick out an
orange, go through the line,exchange some some money, some
karma for that, go back home andeat your orange. So you just
(15:26):
attracted an orange, and you gotit by taking action. Mhmm. And
we do that all the time.
I think some people look at thelaw of attraction as something
difficult and complicated. It'snot. We do it all the time. You
you wanna get a a nice newsweater. You want a pink sweater
(15:47):
or whatever color it is, and youthink I'm gonna go down to the
store and get it.
And, lo and behold, there it isright there. Right? And you
exchange that money, that karmaenergy again, and you've got
your new sweater. So we're doingthis all the time. So why can't
we do it in everything that wedo?
(16:07):
We kinda do, but we don't reallyrealize we're doing it.
Merry Elkins (16:11):
That's true. And you you I love the way you
express money as karma. Yeah.Talk about that a little bit.
Michael B. Harris (16:19):
Well, you know, the root meaning of karma
is action. Right? And for themost part, we have to take
action. We have to do some work.We have to do some type of
activity to get paid for,whatever it might be, whether
it's working in a gas station,whether it's being an actor,
whether it's being a podcaster,being an author, whatever it
(16:45):
might be, you actually have totake action, that karma, to
receive this money.
You know, I I worked at one timein the nineties raising money in
capital and investment banking,and I worked with some people. I
learned a lot about money thatI'd never thought about before.
(17:05):
And if you think about it, youknow, money is nothing more than
symbols on this inside inside ofa cell on a spreadsheet. Right?
Think about, you know, if you goto the bank, you use your
QuickBooks or Quicken orwhatever you're using, and
there's these symbols.
And there's, like, you know, 7246 1. Right? So that gives, you
(17:33):
know, 7 what was that? $721. Wehad a certain amount of energy
around that.
Now you add a zero to that, andnow you've got $7,271. You add
another zero, just a zero. Yougot 72,000. Add another zero,
(17:54):
720,000. Another zero, you know,7,200,000.0.
So money is nothing but a bunchof symbols on a cell in a cell
on a spreadsheet that we givepower and meaning to.
Merry Elkins (18:09):
Wow. That is Yeah. That's interesting and very
powerful. Pivoting a bit Sure.Back back to when you had that
terrible accident, you didn'treally go into how you learned
to walk again.
Would you talk a little bitabout that, what you went
through?
Michael B. Harris (18:29):
Yeah. Well, the walking part really happened
with something else that wehaven't talked about that
happened in my twenties. So, youknow, I started healing from my
water skiing accident as a kid.I didn't start school until
January. I had a tube in theside of me for a drain tube, and
(18:49):
I went from the captain of theteams to the last person being
picked because I couldn't domuch.
Right? So I had a lot of selfesteem issues. I really
struggled at that point withconnecting with other people.
And within a couple of years, Iwas a teenager that had all the
parties and drank too much anddid all these things that I
(19:11):
shouldn't do and getting in abunch of trouble. Well, by my
late twenties, my my dad diedwhen I was 26 years old.
He he died of a heart attack,you know, in his fourth heart
attack. He was 58. And then at28 years old, I ended up at
OHSU, which is Oregon HealthSciences University in Portland,
(19:34):
and they said the artery in myright leg was a % blocked, and
the artery in my left leg was65% blocked. Oh. I was 28 years
old, had vascular disease,atherosclerosis.
You know, I had a lack of abetter term, an old man's
disease at 28 years old.
Cathy Worthington (19:54):
Woah. And
Michael B. Harris (19:57):
they did bypass surgery on both my legs.
It's called a fem pop, and, youknow, I won't get into all the
detail, but it helped restore myblood for a couple of months.
And then it had re blockedagain, and they wanted to do
more surgery. And I had been ona cane. I mean, literally
(20:18):
walking on a cane at 20 yearsold, I could walk maybe 10 feet.
Merry Elkins (20:23):
You know?
Michael B. Harris (20:24):
I could hold somebody's arm and maybe walk 20
feet.
Cathy Worthington (20:28):
Right? Yeah.
Michael B. Harris (20:29):
So when they wanted to do more surgery, I
said, well, why has thishappened? They said, we don't
know. And at the time, I didn'treally know much about anything,
so to speak, and about otheropportunities to heal. And so I
left the hospital AMA. Theypushed me in the wheelchair, you
(20:49):
know, out to the door.
I got up. I had my cane, nothaving any idea what I was gonna
do. I ended up at a place inSouthern California at the end
of Pico And Ocean, and it wascalled the Prudicum Longevity
Center.
Merry Elkins (21:05):
Oh, yeah.
Michael B. Harris (21:05):
Not there anymore. I think it's a boutique
hotel now. Yeah. It was calledthe Puritan Longevity Center.
Cathy Worthington (21:13):
Mhmm.
Michael B. Harris (21:14):
And, you know, I could barely get into
the place from the car just toget inside. Inside of it was a
huge struggle with my cane and,holding my mom's arm and trying
to get into this place. And, Igo downstairs. It was like the
second day. I go downstairs andtalk to the doctor, and we start
(21:36):
talking.
And he said, why don't you justget up and walk? I said, well,
what do you mean? I says, ithurts. I can't. He says, oh,
yeah.
I know. He says, don't worryabout it. Just get up and walk.
So what did I do? I said, okay.
And he said, when you do that,you build collateral blood
vessels in your legs and restoreyour the blood to your legs.
(21:58):
Where the surgeons in Portland,best surgeons in the world,
technically, they know how touse the knife, yet, you know,
they told me when it hurts,let's just stop and come in and
get bypass surgery again. Youknow? This guy said, oh, no.
Just go and walk on theboardwalk.
And I think you guys know wherewhere that is. You know, Santa
Monica Pier, you know, down toall the way down to Marina Del
(22:21):
Rey. And he said, just go outthere and walk and then sit
down. You know, there's thelittle wall between the sidewalk
and the beach right there, and Istarted walking. And I'd walk 10
feet, sit down.
I'd walk 12 feet, I would sitdown. I'd walk 15 feet and sit
down. And there was you know, Iwas a young man in the twenties,
(22:42):
and there was lots of incentivearound the beach area down there
and lots of women in bikinisMhmm. Rollerblading up and down
the board walk there. So Ididn't want to look like the
ninety eight pound weakling.
I wanted to stand tall. Right?So within two weeks, I ended up
(23:04):
walking two miles. You know, Icould walk from the pier to
Marina Del Rey and back, and,you know, I would just do that
all day long. And then I go intoPrudhicken Center, and their
food was all plant based food.
You know? At the time, you know,this is the eighties, the late
eighties. Nobody called it plantbased, you know, so much. They
(23:25):
called it more vegan, and it waskind of really woo woo at the
time. Now there's a it's prettymainstream now.
Mhmm. Mhmm. But through thecombination of changing my diet
as well as walking up and down,the boardwalk really started to
change that. Then there was onemore thing. And this is a road
(23:47):
we can go down, a long road onthis one too is I'd never done
yoga before, but they had kindof a little gentle yoga
stretching class in the basementthere.
And so I'd go to these classesand, you know, I'm in my
twenties. Most of the peoplethat were there were 70 or 80 or
something. Something. You know?I was the the young kid.
(24:08):
Right? And I started doing thestretching, and I ended up
falling in love with yoga. So Istarted yoga really in 1987.
I've owned a couple of yogastudios. I trained thousands of
teachers.
I don't own any studios now, butI still teach about eight or 10
times a month. And here I amthirty eight years later still
(24:33):
alive when they told me I'd bedead in six months.
Cathy Worthington (24:36):
Wow. Right. Wow. What a great story about
walking. Yeah.
Because I think walking, keepingmoving is so important.
Michael B. Harris (24:48):
Yeah.
Cathy Worthington (24:48):
Because I I have people that have friends
that have had knee replacements,and it hurts like hell to walk
on a new knee like that, but youhave to. You have to move
Michael B. Harris (24:59):
to make it
Cathy Worthington (25:00):
to make it heal. And what would you say
just switch subjects a littlebit. What's the real secret to
calming the mind? You'reobviously good at this.
Michael B. Harris (25:13):
I'm gonna go back to myself as a kid. I I
remember, you know, one of theneighborhood bullies when we
were growing up was, you know,hitting me and, you know, all
this stuff. And I don't knowexactly how old I was. I'm gonna
say I was seven or eight yearsold. And I ran back home, and I
(25:36):
was huffing, and I was puffing.
You know, it's just, right, andall scared. And, you know, mom
opens up the door and says,what's wrong? And I said, Todd's
chasing me. He's beating me up.And so what does mom do
intuitively?
Says, oh, why don't you justtake a breath?
Cathy Worthington (25:56):
Oh.
Michael B. Harris (25:57):
Just calm down. Take another breath. And
so mother's intuition, whetherthey know about the science of
breathing or not, is to helptheir kids just breathe, calm
down. Right? Mhmm.
So the breath is magical,really. I mean, even one breath.
(26:18):
I mean, we all know it and, youknow, for struggling, if
something's happened, ifsomebody cuts us off in traffic
and we just go, oh, we justpause. One breath can change
everything. Changes the oxygenin our lungs.
It changes our central nervoussystem, our autonomic nervous
system, our vagus nerve. I mean,it just instantly, it happens.
(26:41):
So to me, again, it's kinda likethe law of attraction. It's
always there. We always use it,and the breath is always there.
And if we just learn that whenwe get in these situations which
agitate us or trouble us, if wetake a breath or two, you know,
(27:03):
it's just like, wow. I feelbetter already.
Merry Elkins (27:06):
We're breathing. Yeah.
Michael B. Harris (27:08):
Yeah.
Merry Elkins (27:09):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Cathy Worthington (27:11):
So that's how you teach people to calm the
mind?
Michael B. Harris (27:14):
Absolutely. So, like, when I'm teaching
yoga, it's more about the breaththan it is about the posture.
You know? And you can feel
Merry Elkins (27:23):
the breath going through all your your muscles
and body parts Absolutely.
Michael B. Harris (27:27):
With yoga. Yeah. But it's like regardless
of whether it's an easierposture or a more challenging
posture, you know, can wemaintain our breath, you know,
through the nose, not throughthe mouth? Because once you
start breathing through themouth, it changes the central
nervous system. And, again,that's we can another pathway we
(27:50):
could go down.
But it it changes this. So,like, we're getting all this
different stimulation. You know,we might be bending right. We
might be bending left. We mightbe in triangle.
We might be in cobra, andthere's different sensations.
Can we just breathe?
Merry Elkins (28:08):
Interesting.
Michael B. Harris (28:09):
So in many ways, it's like a breathing
class while you move your body.
Merry Elkins (28:13):
Yeah. I think dancers do that too where they
Yeah. When they dance, they haveto if they stretch their arms or
legs or their back or do acertain dance position Yeah.
They need to breathe into it.
Michael B. Harris (28:28):
Yes. Absolutely.
Merry Elkins (28:31):
I'd love to hear more about your being an
entrepreneur and talk a littlebit about that. I know you
already did at the young age ofdelivering pies, but do you
think everybody can be anentrepreneur?
Michael B. Harris (28:49):
I think everybody is an entrepreneur.
Merry Elkins (28:51):
What do say?
Michael B. Harris (28:52):
I think even if you have a job, you're an
entrepreneur. So part of anentrepreneur is, you know,
learning to take care ofyourself, learning to help
others, learning to, you know,build your own business,
learning to put marketingmaterials together, what
(29:12):
whatever it might be forwhatever particular company or
job that you're doing. But ifyou go to work for oh, what's
coming to me right now is b ofa, Bank of America, and say you
want a position there, you haveto market yourself to them. You
(29:34):
have to say this is the job thatI can do for you that's going to
help you and your business. Sothose entrepreneur skills are
always there.
You know, it's like law ofattraction is always there. Calm
of the mind. Who taught us? Mom.Who taught us to be an
(29:54):
entrepreneur?
By going getting a job. So Ithink that we do all these
things, yet we don't alwaysrecognize what it is that we're
doing.
Merry Elkins (30:03):
You make
Michael B. Harris (30:03):
it sound easy. Pardon me?
Merry Elkins (30:07):
You make it sound so easy.
Michael B. Harris (30:09):
What if it is?
Cathy Worthington (30:12):
But, yeah, it's all about the recognition
of it and knowing we're doingit. Mhmm. And we and that's what
most people don't really feelthat. They don't people that
say, oh, I could never be anentrepreneur. I gotta work for
somebody.
They just don't feel it. Theydon't Right. Understand the
stuff that they're doing.
Michael B. Harris (30:32):
Yeah. Yeah. You know, doctor Christina
Anderson, which was on yourshow, She's a great example. You
know? And I don't know.
I didn't listen to the wholeshow, and I know her story
pretty well. But and, again, ifyou're listening, go back and
listen to her story. And shewent through all these
Cathy Worthington (30:52):
her story.
Michael B. Harris (30:54):
Yeah. This is just just so much difficulty,
and, you know, she ends upselling an airline at one point.
Merry Elkins (31:01):
Yeah.
Michael B. Harris (31:01):
You know? And, you know, she's a true
entrepreneur.
Cathy Worthington (31:05):
Tell us how writing a nonfiction book
changes everything.
Michael B. Harris (31:11):
Well, it's I was talking to an individual
yesterday. He's a marinecolonel, and he had submitted
his manuscript to get published.He's retiring this year. And he
said, you know, how did the bookcreation come about? He said,
(31:32):
you know, I started writing justreally for myself.
I had these concepts in my mind,a number of different concepts
that I just needed to get out onpaper because I just felt like I
needed to do that. And he saysand here's this marine colonel,
(31:52):
you know, attack helicopterpilot squadron lead leader
talking about needing to writethese things this information
down and these concepts andthese ideas and feelings and
emotions to help him. And thenhe realized that it was a book.
And he says, I realized that Icould take this and make this a
(32:15):
book. And he started writing it,you know, in a way and starting
to get editing done to it tomake it into a book.
So that experience that thisperson had and has continues to
have really was therapeutic forhim to to write it out, and now
(32:35):
it's becoming a book. Or it willbe a book in about a year. It
will be out of the market.
Cathy Worthington (32:41):
And do you coach people sometimes how to
tell their own story?
Michael B. Harris (32:44):
Absolutely. Yes. Mhmm. You know, we tell our
story I'm gonna keep comingback, Mary, to how simple this
is. We tell our story all thetime.
You know, we go out to dinnerwith friends and we're sitting
around and, you know, you know,hey, Kathy. What did you do
today? Tell me a story. Hey,Mary. Tell me your story.
(33:06):
So, like, we're telling storiesall the time. You know, another
friend of mine, who's done afair amount of acting over the
years, who's a child actor,who's done some Hallmark stuff
lately and some stage work. Andhe says, you know, stage fright
is really a misnomer. It doesn'treally exist. He says, we know
(33:28):
how to talk to people.
We do it all the time. It's justrecognizing again, coming back
to that recognition that we'redoing it all the time.
Cathy Worthington (33:37):
Mhmm.
Michael B. Harris (33:37):
And, like, when when I've done I've done a
lot of work with peoplespeaking, you know, and they
talk about feeling that nervousenergy within themselves. And I
said, well, what if that samenervous energy gave you the
power you needed on stage toreally, you know, stand there
and deliver what you want totalk about? And it's just like,
(33:59):
oh, yeah. So instead of, youknow, shaking in the nervous
part, it's just like, wow. Thisis power, and it is.
It's just shifting that energy.
Merry Elkins (34:08):
Talk about power a little bit and and the
difference. I believe you saythat there's a difference
between power and force. Talkabout that.
Michael B. Harris (34:17):
Power versus force. David Hawkins doctor
Hawkins wrote the book, I don'tremember, in the eighties, a
long, long time ago. It's a it'sa classic book. And if you're
listening to this and youhaven't got that book, I invite
you to go get this book. Mhmm.
(34:37):
But, you know, the idea of powerversus force, you know, I like
to tell these little stories.Right? So, you know, I help
parent a eight year old girl.And those of us that know about
kids, you know, sometimes ittakes a a while to get them
(34:58):
steered in a certain direction,so to speak. Right?
Get them to do something that'simportant to
Merry Elkins (35:04):
do. Right.
Michael B. Harris (35:05):
So do we use power or do we use force?
Merry Elkins (35:08):
Ah.
Michael B. Harris (35:10):
You know, we can force that the kid or
anybody for that matter, youknow, to do something like, you
better do this or else, youknow, da da da da. Get over here
right now. You know, that's moreof a force type thing. A power
thing is, hey. What if you cameover and help me?
(35:31):
Oh, you want my help? And theycome running over and helping.
Cathy Worthington (35:36):
Mhmm.
Michael B. Harris (35:37):
You know? So that's just like one example,
but there's so many exampleslike that. You know? It's
Merry Elkins (35:46):
How to raise a child.
Michael B. Harris (35:48):
Well, yeah. And I don't know if I'm ready to
write that book. I've gotanother book in me, but it's
probably not gonna be aboutchild rearing.
Merry Elkins (35:58):
How to raise an adult.
Michael B. Harris (36:00):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I've got my
child right here, my innerchild.
Cathy Worthington (36:06):
Well, tell us how did real monkeys in India
inadvertently teach you aboutthe monkey mind? And please
explain what that is. Yeah.
Michael B. Harris (36:19):
The monkey mind. I don't I don't know if if
you can relate or if you're alistener here. I think that you
can is, you know, we go throughthese moments where our mind
starts spinning and, you know,we start feeling this internal
agitation. Again, that personcut me off for, I can't believe
(36:41):
so and so said that to me. I'mworried about my relationship.
What about my job? And, youknow, all this stuff is is
swirling.
Merry Elkins (36:50):
Especially when you're trying to sleep.
Michael B. Harris (36:52):
It's yeah. It happens sometimes when you're
trying to sleep or wakes us upin the middle of the night as
well.
Cathy Worthington (36:58):
Mhmm.
Michael B. Harris (36:59):
So I was traveling in India A Number Of
Years ago, and I was in Agra,and Agra is where the Taj Mahal
is. And we're staying at the TajPalace Hotel. And at the hotel,
it's I can't remember whetherit's two or three stories. It
(37:19):
was three stories, but there'sthese guys that walk around the
grounds with these long bamboosticks. They're like 12 feet
long.
And what they're doing isthey're chasing the monkeys away
because monkeys are out there.There's trees and there's grass.
But the other thing, and I thinkthis would probably stop monkeys
better than the sticks, is thehotel in your room next to the
(37:44):
sliding glass door at yourbalcony is a big bowl of fruit.
And the monkeys know that. Andthey come up, they climb up the
side of the hotel, and they tryto find the doors that are open
to get into the room.
Or they'll run up and jump upagainst the glass because the
bowl is right there. So allthose I need to do is put the
(38:09):
bowl in different part of theroom so they can't see it, and
they probably won't get as manymonkeys there. But, you know, if
they open up the door, it didn'thappen in my room. It happened
with the friend I was travelingin in their room. They came out
of the shower, and there wasmonkeys in the room eating the
fruit from that bowl.
Right? Mhmm.
Cathy Worthington (38:29):
Very. Right.
Michael B. Harris (38:30):
So I started realizing, and it was kind of a
yoga trip, and I was travelingaround. This is twenty some
years ago, twenty three yearsago, I guess. It was quite a
while ago. And I realized thatone of the things that I do with
my mind that I was doing is thatif those monkeys came along, I
(38:53):
would feed them bananas. Right?
In my head, I was, oh, okay.Let's be nice. Let's give these
monkeys some bananas, andeverything will be cool. Well,
then I realized that they keptcoming because they knew they
would get bananas.
Cathy Worthington (39:08):
Mhmm.
Michael B. Harris (39:08):
Right? So I stopped putting bananas out for
them, and then they stoppedcoming.
Merry Elkins (39:14):
Oh, I thought you were going to say just shut the
door. So, Michael, talk a littlebit about your book, Falling
Down, Getting Up, and also whydid Jay Conrad Levinson, who's
known as the father of guerrillamarketing, write the foreword?
Michael B. Harris (39:32):
Well, Falling Down, Getting Up came about
people kept asking me to writethe book. They said, oh, you're
a miracle and all this stuff.And I still don't like that
terminology very much, the theidea of miracles. I think it's
just nature doing its naturalthing in so many different ways.
(39:52):
But people would say, oh, youneed to write about this.
How'd you survive? I can'tbelieve you're still alive, all
this stuff. So I kept thinkingabout it and thinking about it.
And I I jokingly like to say Ithought about it for twelve
years and wrote it in seventynine days. So once I made a
(40:12):
commitment to write the book, Imade a ninety day commitment to
write the book, and I did it inseventy nine days.
I was one of those guys at thelocal coffee shop in the corner
with their cup of tea and theirlaptop for two hours every day.
I was that person.
Cathy Worthington (40:34):
That's great to have that discipline.
Merry Elkins (40:36):
Yeah.
Michael B. Harris (40:37):
And then I showed up and go ahead.
Cathy Worthington (40:40):
It's so great to make a commitment like that
starting in front because Yeah.Is that what you usually advise
people when they're writingtheir own story? Because let's
face it, If we we have a storyto tell, we should be able to
just keep telling it for twohours.
Michael B. Harris (40:56):
Yeah. Everybody's a little bit
different. I mean, certainly,that that way is for me, it
worked, and I know it's workedfor other people as well. Some
people need to speak it. Youknow, they'll speak it into
their phone and then have ittranscribed.
Merry Elkins (41:12):
Mhmm.
Michael B. Harris (41:13):
Oh. You know? Yeah. There's a lot of books
today that are ghosts for it.You know?
Merry Elkins (41:17):
Some people need to mullet in their mind too.
Michael B. Harris (41:20):
Yeah. Some people need to sit at home and
have a certain window open and,you know, have a bowl of
pistachios there. Somebody cango to a coffee shop and and do
it. Some people need to wear acertain hat or, you know, some
people will handwrite it, somepeople will do it on their
(41:42):
computers.
Merry Elkins (41:43):
Well, tell us a little bit more about the book
and about Sure. Why Jay ConradLovenson wrote the foreword.
Michael B. Harris (41:51):
Well, there's Falling Down, Getting Up. So
this is copy of the book. And Ihad written it, and then I met a
guy named Rick Frischman in NewYork City. I'd flown to New York
to try to get some publicity. Ihadn't submitted it for
publication yet.
And I met Rick Frischman. Ididn't know who he was at the
(42:12):
time. I had no idea. And westarted talking and he's, well,
why are you here with this? Thisis press event.
And I said, well, I'm herebecause I got this book I wrote.
Tell me about the book and yadayada yada. I said, oh, it's
falling down, getting up. And hesaid, I wanna publish the book.
(42:33):
And I said, well, who are you?
And he had published all sortsof different people. And I
thought this guy's out of myleague because, I mean, he was
publishing by Henry Kissingerand, I mean, all sorts of big
people. And he said and at thetime, he was one of the
publishers at Morgan James. Andhe said, why don't you we'll
(42:55):
take this to Morgan James. Andwithin a week, I had an
agreement written and signed.
So I never had it submitted to50 different publishers and get
all those rejection slips. Oh,no. Lucky. It's just like god
works in mysterious ways. Right?
Cathy Worthington (43:12):
Yeah.
Michael B. Harris (43:13):
So through, Morgan James, I met Jay Conrad
Levinson. Jay Conrad Levinson,which is the father of guerrilla
marketing, helped the founder ofMorgan James, David Hancock,
really start Morgan James. And,you know, we became friends and
sent him a manuscript to seewhether he would forward the
(43:34):
book. And, typically, he hadonly really forwarded more
marketing type books. This bookwasn't a marketing book.
Mhmm. But Jay told me later, hesays, I read your manuscript
twice in the same day as soon asI got it. He says, I couldn't
put it down. And he says, theway that I see yeah. It was huge
(43:54):
honor
Cathy Worthington (43:55):
for you
Michael B. Harris (43:55):
know, to hear this from Jay. And, you know, he
said, the way that you cameabout and you healed yourself
was sort of like guerrillamarketing. He says, you know,
guerrilla marketing is low cost,easy to implement, processes to
do your marketing. And he says,you did the same thing. You did
(44:16):
low cost, to implement processesto heal your life.
Cathy Worthington (44:21):
Yeah. Mhmm.
Michael B. Harris (44:22):
And one thing I I had to mention is I also got
sober at 30. So I've been sobernow for thirty six years for a
long time.
Merry Elkins (44:32):
Congratulations. Fabulous. Yeah.
Cathy Worthington (44:35):
And, Michael, I wanted to ask you for a
summation. What would you likeour listeners to have as a
takeaway today?
Michael B. Harris (44:43):
Oh, well, I can briefly mention my other
book, Within.
Cathy Worthington (44:48):
Okay. Okay.
Michael B. Harris (44:50):
So this this book here, anybody can get for
free. Oh, okay. They just needto go to my link, and I I think
I gave it to you, but it'sreally simple. It's
(45:12):
Sowithin.MichaelbHarris.com/book.
Oh. And you go there and you canget the book for free.
Merry Elkins (45:19):
Oh, I'm gonna order it for free.
Michael B. Harris (45:22):
Yeah. Yeah. And so, I mean, it it really
comes back to so much of what wetalked about that, really,
everything we need is alreadywithin us.
Cathy Worthington (45:33):
Mhmm.
Michael B. Harris (45:34):
It's just really recognizing that.
Cathy Worthington (45:37):
I love that. Title within.
Merry Elkins (45:39):
Do that. Everything we need is within us.
That's
Michael B. Harris (45:42):
It's it's in. It's right here.
Merry Elkins (45:44):
Thank you. Thank you so much, Michael. Our guest
today in late boomers has beenMichael Harris, entrepreneur and
inspiring author of FallingDown, Getting Up and Within. You
can reach out to him if you'dlike to learn more about Michael
and get his advice on writingyour non fiction book at
MichaelBHarris.com or go to hisLinktree,
(46:09):
linktr.ee/michaelbharris. Right?
Michael B. Harris (46:15):
That's correct.
Merry Elkins (46:16):
And also, go to within, I just wrote that
down,.Michaelb. Finish it forme.
Michael B. Harris: MichaelWithin.MichaelbHarris.com/book. (46:25):
undefined
Cathy Worthington (46:31):
That's great. And, also, listeners, please
tune in next week when we'll bemeeting another interesting
guest, Mariana Cooper, who's anintuitive life strategist.
She'll give us some greatinsights. Please subscribe to
our late boomers podcast onYouTube and take us along in the
car and on walk and on your andand subscribe, please. Let us
(46:52):
know what gets you inspired.
We're on Instagram at I am KathyWorthington and at I am Mary
Elkins and at late boomers.Please send a link to late
boomers podcast to your friendswho may not be yet listening to
podcast. Thanks again, Michael.
Michael B. Harris (47:09):
Thank you. It's wonderful to be here, and I
love what the both of you aredoing. So thank you.
Cathy Worthington (47:15):
Thank you. We'd love to pray. We're eating
it up. We love it. Thank you somuch.
Merry Elkins (47:22):
That's great. Thank you.
Cathy Worthington (47:33):
Thank you for joining us on Late Boomers, the
podcast that is your guide tocreating a third act with style,
power, and impact. Please visitour website and get in touch
with us at late boomers dot biz.If you would like to listen to
or download other episodes oflate boomers, go to
ewnpodcastnetwork.com.
Merry Elkins (47:55):
This podcast is also available on Spotify, Apple
Podcast, and most other majorpodcast sites. We hope you make
use of the wisdom you've gainedhere and that you enjoy a
successful third act with yourown style, power, and impact.
This is the EWN Podcast Network.
Cathy Worthington (00:14):
Welcome to late boomers, our podcast guide
to creating your third act withstyle, power, and impact. Hi.
I'm Kathy Worthington.
Merry Elkins (00:24):
And I'm Mary Elkins. Join us as we bring you
conversations withentrepreneurs, entertainers, and
people with vision who aremaking a difference in the
world.
Cathy Worthington (00:34):
Everyone has a story, and we'll take you
along for the ride on eachinterview, recounting the
journey our guests have taken toget where they are, inspiring
you to create your own path tosuccess. Let's get started.
Hi there. I'm Kathy Worthington welcoming you
(00:54):
to our latest late boomersepisode with my cohost, Mary
Elkins. Today, we have anexciting guest to visit with,
Michael Harris. He has greatstories on how to really turn
the dark moments of life intocatalyst for personal growth and
serving others.
Merry Elkins (01:12):
And I'm Mary Elkins. Michael is a number one
best selling author, trainer,coach, yoga teacher, and
lifelong entrepreneur. We willhear about his book, Falling
Down, Getting Up, and his manylife adventures. Welcome,
Michael.
Michael B. Harris (01:28):
It's great to be here. Thank you for inviting
me. I looked through your show,and you have some wonderful
guests, and I listened to someof them too. And, like, Rhonda
Britton, which was just onrecently. She's wonderful.
I've known her for a number ofyears. Oh. Doctor Christina
Anderson in her book,Resilience, I actually helped
(01:50):
her launch her book.
Merry Elkins (01:52):
Really?
Michael B. Harris (01:52):
Beate, Gillette. So you've had some
great guests. And the fun thingthat I liked about what you're
doing is Santa's Secrets thatyou do at Christmas. I couldn't
believe that you got Santa Clauscoming out there talking about
Medicare.
Merry Elkins (02:08):
Yeah. Yeah.
Cathy Worthington (02:09):
Yeah. Every year. Every year, we talk to
Santa. Thank you
Merry Elkins (02:12):
for taking
Cathy Worthington (02:12):
this out. It was inevitable that inevitable
that we talked to you now thenbecause you know all our other
people that
Michael B. Harris (02:19):
we were talking to. Well, some of them.
Yeah.
Merry Elkins (02:21):
Absolutely. And we we feel so fortunate to have
Santa actually come and talk tous.
Michael B. Harris (02:27):
Yeah. Well, if I grew a beard and my hair
out a little bit, maybe nextyear I could get there. I don't
know. Yeah. Because I think I'dhave a white beard.
Merry Elkins (02:35):
Well, maybe we should have a casting call,
Kathy.
Michael B. Harris (02:38):
There you go.
Cathy Worthington (02:40):
I don't think Santa would appreciate a casting
call right now. He's kind ofentrenched.
Michael B. Harris (02:47):
Well, I'd have to use a fake belly,
though, because I don't havemuch of a belly.
Cathy Worthington (02:50):
Oh, yeah. No. That's good. Okay. I'm glad you
don't have a belly.
So, god, talk about yourbackground a little bit,
Michael, and what BlackBerry'shad to do with being an
entrepreneur?
Michael B. Harris (03:03):
Where do you want me to start? Anywhere.
Like, BlackBerry. Blackberries.Anywhere.
Yeah. You know, blackberries,now they're calling them
boysenberries a lot. You know?They kind of changed the the
name a little bit. But back inthe sixties when when I was a
kid and my dad was anentrepreneur.
(03:24):
He owned a number of gasstations around Oregon, and he
always talked about, you know,providing something that other
people want to buy. You know?And I thought, great. So, you
know, I was a kid and outpicking blackberries, and mom
always made the best blackberrypies in the neighborhood. I
(03:45):
mean, they were the greatest,and all my friends would come
over and have missus Harris'sblackberry pie.
Then one day, I startedthinking, and I said, you know,
mom, why don't we sell thesepies? And we came up with a
deal. I went out and pickedthem, and she baked them. I went
around the neighborhood and soldthem for a dollar. She got 50¢.
(04:06):
I got 50¢. We later raised it toa buck and a half, but I'm kinda
convinced that the Girl Scoutsstole my sales line. You know
what the Girl Scouts sales lineis? It's not do you wanna buy a
box of cookies? It's how manyboxes do you want to buy?
(04:27):
Right? So I go around theneighborhood, and I'd say, don't
you need an extra pie forThanksgiving? It's coming up.
You can freeze it. You know?
So I would I would always sayhow many do you want to buy
rather than do you want to buy.
Merry Elkins (04:41):
That is really an entrepreneur story.
Cathy Worthington (04:44):
Yeah. And, Michael, I have to tell you my
little I'll just insert mylittle entrepreneur story
because I was about Yeah. Sevenor eight years old, and I
started making potholders on aloom that somebody gave me. And
I would go to the dime store andbuy all the little loops and
make these beautiful potholders,and I sold them around my
(05:04):
neighborhood door to door.
Michael B. Harris (05:06):
Wow.
Cathy Worthington (05:06):
And I I everybody bought every single
potholder I could make. And I'mYeah.
Merry Elkins (05:11):
They can do that again.
Michael B. Harris (05:12):
I was thinking the same thing, Mary.
Cathy Worthington (05:14):
I called them for 20¢. Yeah.
Merry Elkins (05:18):
You you can raise the price, you know, inflation.
Cathy Worthington (05:20):
It took a long time to raise $5, but
anyway
Michael B. Harris (05:24):
Well, see, if you make it on your own and sell
it here, there won't be a tariffon it. So you keep the price
low. Right?
Cathy Worthington (05:32):
Mhmm. Yeah. No tariff.
Merry Elkins (05:33):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Cathy Worthington (05:35):
Depending on where the supplies come from.
Michael B. Harris (05:37):
That's right. Yeah.
Merry Elkins (05:39):
Yeah. Tell us a little more about your
background, though. You know,what led you to where you are
today?
Michael B. Harris (05:45):
Well, the
Merry Elkins (05:47):
Besides blackberries.
Michael B. Harris (05:48):
Besides blackberries. Yeah. I I grew up
as, you know, pretty much anormal kid. I, you know, I loved
my life, and we go to Hawaii. Ilearned how to surf on Waikiki
Beach as a kid.
You know? You know, I'd be 10years old chasing the 12 year
old girls up and down the beachand, you know, just having, you
know, a blast, you know, back inthe, you know, mid sixties and
(06:11):
just loving it. Dad had businessover there, so we're over there
quite a bit. And I was a bit ofa hotshot water skier as well,
and we skied around some lakesaround Oregon. And I loved,
water skiing, and one day, I hitthe beach.
And when I say hit the beach, Imean, I smacked the beach too
(06:34):
hard. And, initially, we we wentto it was actually on the Oregon
Coast, the lake down there, andwe went to the local hospital.
And they said I was basicallybruised up, and I would be okay.
Well, the next day, we went backto Portland because I had been
throwing up blood and went backto Portland and went to the
(07:00):
doctor at the children's clinicat at the time. And he said, go
to the hospital.
Went to the hospital, and all asI know is I woke up about two
weeks later. And they had takenout sixty percent of my liver,
my gallbladder. I had sixcracked ribs, a collapsed lung.
Cathy Worthington (07:18):
Oh.
Michael B. Harris (07:19):
And I woke up from the back end of a coma.
That's where I regained myconsciousness, so to speak.
Cathy Worthington (07:28):
Wow.
Michael B. Harris (07:29):
And so that was quite a an event. It took me
a year to recover, you know,over a year, really, Several
years. But the main healinghappened in about a year. I was
really lucky. I had 21 bloodtransfusions, and, you know, it
was one of those twenty hoursurgeries.
(07:51):
I had a near death experience. Iwhen I left my body the best I
could relate this that it was atthe end of my coma, and that's
where I woke up when when I cameback because when I left and
there's what I call a garden ofspirits or spirits around. And
(08:15):
Mhmm. And as I was talking tothem, and I don't remember
everything that was said, but Ido remember as I started coming
back and I knew I was comingback, I said, I don't wanna go
back. And they said, you're notdone yet.
You have to go back. And theysaid, don't worry. Everything is
gonna be okay. That's fifty fouryears ago, and I'm still here.
Cathy Worthington (08:42):
Yeah. That's that's amazing.
Michael B. Harris (08:45):
That is Somehow they still want me here.
Cathy Worthington (08:48):
Yeah. Yeah. Underneath.
Merry Elkins (08:51):
Yeah. So that's really quite a story. Why do you
think everybody's story is soimportant?
Michael B. Harris (08:59):
Well, it's interesting because even in your
intro that you have on yourshows, you talk about everyone
has a story. Do. It's it's sotrue. You know, even Robert
Lane, which is the audiobookguy, he talks about that too.
You know?
Your book, your voice. Mhmm. Andone of the things that didn't
(09:23):
end up in the intro is I'm alsoa literary scout for Morgan
James Publishing. And so I talkto people every day all around
the world about books that theyhave submitted in their
manuscripts and such and gettingit written in. I get to do that.
I'm so lucky that I get to dothat.
Cathy Worthington (09:43):
Uh-huh. One
Michael B. Harris (09:45):
of the things that I found so coming back
around to your question, why doI think story matters? You know,
there's a lot of swirling energyas I call it in the world right
now. We we've got our planet.We've got this atmosphere. It
goes about 30 miles up, andwithin that atmosphere, there's
(10:07):
a lot of, like I said, swirlingenergy.
There's a lot of things going onon every part of the planet
right now within our country,other countries, all around the
world. And part of it is createsa lot of division and, you know,
you know, separation. And it'smy experience that when we sit
(10:32):
around and tell stories youknow, think back to the the
caveman days. They used to sitaround around the fire and talk
about, oh, I went and got this,you know, saber tooth tiger and
you couldn't believe whathappened, and I got him down,
and now we got food, and da dada. And they would sit around
(10:52):
and tell stories, and they wouldcreate connection with their
tribe.
Right? Mhmm. Even though many ofus have different ideas and
different thoughts and opinions,when we tend to sit down, you
know, with each other, we tendto start to connect with each
other. And I think that's whatStories does. It helps us
(11:12):
connect.
And, like, these your podcasts,you know, like, all these guests
that you have on the diversityof guests. I mean, like, again,
going back to Rhonda Burton, shehas an Britain, I mean, she has
an incredible story.
Merry Elkins (11:26):
Ah.
Michael B. Harris (11:26):
You know, her whole life story and, you know,
what happened when she was achild. I won't get into it. But
if you're listening to this andyou haven't listened to Rod
Rhonda's story, go back andlisten to it. You'll be amazed.
But you know?
And she's taken her lifeexperience and made something
good out of something that wasbeyond swirling energy.
(11:50):
Absolutely. At best, difficult,I think, damps it down even too
much. You know? It'sunbelievable.
Mhmm. You know, it's unfamiliar.Unbelievable. Yeah. But so many
of us have stories of thatswirling energy, those
difficulties, those challenges.
(12:11):
And as we survive those things,we can help tell those things.
So telling our story helps otherpeople realize that they may not
be alone. They may havesomething similar, may not be
exactly, but it's just like, oh,I couldn't believe it. I was
listening to Kathy and and Maryone day and their stories and
(12:32):
the people that are on there,and it's just like, I feel so
much better now because I heardthat. I heard what that person
said.
Merry Elkins (12:40):
Thank you. That's what we aim to do. That's our
mission.
Michael B. Harris (12:44):
Yeah. Absolutely. I can I can tell
from moment one? Right?
Cathy Worthington (12:49):
Oh, good. Yeah. Well, you talked something
about the law of attraction.
Michael B. Harris (12:53):
Ah.
Cathy Worthington (12:54):
I know you know about that. And how does
the law of attraction getactivated by the law of Goya?
And I don't know what the law ofGoya is.
Michael B. Harris (13:03):
Yes. Most people don't. But, you you know,
the law of attraction, andthere's the book, the secret. A
lot of people have heard of it.Most people have.
Mhmm. My late brother, Bill,actually helped put that book
together, and he's one of theauthors in the book as well. And
he was ten years older than me,so he was started studying, you
(13:26):
know, the law of attraction waybefore I even thought about the
law of attraction. Wow. Youknow, the secret a lot of people
throw rocks at it.
You know? It's just you know,you can sit around and get
anything you want. Well, that'snot the law of attraction. The
law of attraction doesn't say ifyou sit on your couch for five
years, you know, and Joan isgonna give you $10,000,000 and
(13:52):
life is gonna be great. No.
No. It says, yes, you have toconsider what you want in your
life, and I'll talk about that alittle bit more in a moment
about everyday law ofattraction, but it only works if
you do one thing. And, Kathy,that's the love Goya. Get off
(14:12):
your ass.
Cathy Worthington (14:14):
Get off your ass.
Michael B. Harris (14:15):
Right. Right.
Cathy Worthington (14:16):
I was wondering what that was.
Michael B. Harris (14:18):
Yeah. So you actually gotta get up and take
action. You have
Merry Elkins (14:21):
to do
Michael B. Harris (14:21):
something to get what you want. You just
can't sit there and wait for itto fall from the sky.
Merry Elkins (14:28):
Oh, I've been waiting. Well,
Michael B. Harris (14:32):
I I related to this. Yeah.
Merry Elkins (14:36):
I've been looking up at the sky waiting.
Michael B. Harris (14:38):
Looking up at the sky. But, you know, I I
Cathy Worthington (14:42):
used question is how does it get activated by
Michael B. Harris (14:45):
that? Well yes. Yeah. How does it get
activated? I'll give an example.
Imagine you want an orange. Andeverybody as soon as you think
that you think of an orange inyour head, there's that picture
of the orange in our head.Right?
Cathy Worthington (15:01):
Mhmm.
Michael B. Harris (15:02):
Well, you don't have one at home, but you
wanna attract one into yourlife. So you get off your ass,
get into your car, drive down tothe grocery store, pick out an
orange, go through the line,exchange some some money, some
karma for that, go back home andeat your orange. So you just
(15:26):
attracted an orange, and you gotit by taking action. Mhmm. And
we do that all the time.
I think some people look at thelaw of attraction as something
difficult and complicated. It'snot. We do it all the time. You
you wanna get a a nice newsweater. You want a pink sweater
(15:47):
or whatever color it is, and youthink I'm gonna go down to the
store and get it.
And, lo and behold, there it isright there. Right? And you
exchange that money, that karmaenergy again, and you've got
your new sweater. So we're doingthis all the time. So why can't
we do it in everything that wedo?
(16:07):
We kinda do, but we don't reallyrealize we're doing it.
Merry Elkins (16:11):
That's true. And you you I love the way you
express money as karma. Yeah.Talk about that a little bit.
Michael B. Harris (16:19):
Well, you know, the root meaning of karma
is action. Right? And for themost part, we have to take
action. We have to do some work.We have to do some type of
activity to get paid for,whatever it might be, whether
it's working in a gas station,whether it's being an actor,
whether it's being a podcaster,being an author, whatever it
(16:45):
might be, you actually have totake action, that karma, to
receive this money.
You know, I I worked at one timein the nineties raising money in
capital and investment banking,and I worked with some people. I
learned a lot about money thatI'd never thought about before.
(17:05):
And if you think about it, youknow, money is nothing more than
symbols on this inside inside ofa cell on a spreadsheet. Right?
Think about, you know, if you goto the bank, you use your
QuickBooks or Quicken orwhatever you're using, and
there's these symbols.
And there's, like, you know, 7246 1. Right? So that gives, you
(17:33):
know, 7 what was that? $721. Wehad a certain amount of energy
around that.
Now you add a zero to that, andnow you've got $7,271. You add
another zero, just a zero. Yougot 72,000. Add another zero,
(17:54):
720,000. Another zero, you know,7,200,000.0.
So money is nothing but a bunchof symbols on a cell in a cell
on a spreadsheet that we givepower and meaning to.
Merry Elkins (18:09):
Wow. That is Yeah. That's interesting and very
powerful. Pivoting a bit Sure.Back back to when you had that
terrible accident, you didn'treally go into how you learned
to walk again.
Would you talk a little bitabout that, what you went
through?
Michael B. Harris (18:29):
Yeah. Well, the walking part really happened
with something else that wehaven't talked about that
happened in my twenties. So, youknow, I started healing from my
water skiing accident as a kid.I didn't start school until
January. I had a tube in theside of me for a drain tube, and
(18:49):
I went from the captain of theteams to the last person being
picked because I couldn't domuch.
Right? So I had a lot of selfesteem issues. I really
struggled at that point withconnecting with other people.
And within a couple of years, Iwas a teenager that had all the
parties and drank too much anddid all these things that I
(19:11):
shouldn't do and getting in abunch of trouble. Well, by my
late twenties, my my dad diedwhen I was 26 years old.
He he died of a heart attack,you know, in his fourth heart
attack. He was 58. And then at28 years old, I ended up at
OHSU, which is Oregon HealthSciences University in Portland,
(19:34):
and they said the artery in myright leg was a % blocked, and
the artery in my left leg was65% blocked. Oh. I was 28 years
old, had vascular disease,atherosclerosis.
You know, I had a lack of abetter term, an old man's
disease at 28 years old.
Cathy Worthington (19:54):
Woah. And
Michael B. Harris (19:57):
they did bypass surgery on both my legs.
It's called a fem pop, and, youknow, I won't get into all the
detail, but it helped restore myblood for a couple of months.
And then it had re blockedagain, and they wanted to do
more surgery. And I had been ona cane. I mean, literally
(20:18):
walking on a cane at 20 yearsold, I could walk maybe 10 feet.
Merry Elkins (20:23):
You know?
Michael B. Harris (20:24):
I could hold somebody's arm and maybe walk 20
feet.
Cathy Worthington (20:28):
Right? Yeah.
Michael B. Harris (20:29):
So when they wanted to do more surgery, I
said, well, why has thishappened? They said, we don't
know. And at the time, I didn'treally know much about anything,
so to speak, and about otheropportunities to heal. And so I
left the hospital AMA. Theypushed me in the wheelchair, you
(20:49):
know, out to the door.
I got up. I had my cane, nothaving any idea what I was gonna
do. I ended up at a place inSouthern California at the end
of Pico And Ocean, and it wascalled the Prudicum Longevity
Center.
Merry Elkins (21:05):
Oh, yeah.
Michael B. Harris (21:05):
Not there anymore. I think it's a boutique
hotel now. Yeah. It was calledthe Puritan Longevity Center.
Cathy Worthington (21:13):
Mhmm.
Michael B. Harris (21:14):
And, you know, I could barely get into
the place from the car just toget inside. Inside of it was a
huge struggle with my cane and,holding my mom's arm and trying
to get into this place. And, Igo downstairs. It was like the
second day. I go downstairs andtalk to the doctor, and we start
(21:36):
talking.
And he said, why don't you justget up and walk? I said, well,
what do you mean? I says, ithurts. I can't. He says, oh,
yeah.
I know. He says, don't worryabout it. Just get up and walk.
So what did I do? I said, okay.
And he said, when you do that,you build collateral blood
vessels in your legs and restoreyour the blood to your legs.
(21:58):
Where the surgeons in Portland,best surgeons in the world,
technically, they know how touse the knife, yet, you know,
they told me when it hurts,let's just stop and come in and
get bypass surgery again. Youknow? This guy said, oh, no.
Just go and walk on theboardwalk.
And I think you guys know wherewhere that is. You know, Santa
Monica Pier, you know, down toall the way down to Marina Del
(22:21):
Rey. And he said, just go outthere and walk and then sit
down. You know, there's thelittle wall between the sidewalk
and the beach right there, and Istarted walking. And I'd walk 10
feet, sit down.
I'd walk 12 feet, I would sitdown. I'd walk 15 feet and sit
down. And there was you know, Iwas a young man in the twenties,
(22:42):
and there was lots of incentivearound the beach area down there
and lots of women in bikinisMhmm. Rollerblading up and down
the board walk there. So Ididn't want to look like the
ninety eight pound weakling.
I wanted to stand tall. Right?So within two weeks, I ended up
(23:04):
walking two miles. You know, Icould walk from the pier to
Marina Del Rey and back, and,you know, I would just do that
all day long. And then I go intoPrudhicken Center, and their
food was all plant based food.
You know? At the time, you know,this is the eighties, the late
eighties. Nobody called it plantbased, you know, so much. They
(23:25):
called it more vegan, and it waskind of really woo woo at the
time. Now there's a it's prettymainstream now.
Mhmm. Mhmm. But through thecombination of changing my diet
as well as walking up and down,the boardwalk really started to
change that. Then there was onemore thing. And this is a road
(23:47):
we can go down, a long road onthis one too is I'd never done
yoga before, but they had kindof a little gentle yoga
stretching class in the basementthere.
And so I'd go to these classesand, you know, I'm in my
twenties. Most of the peoplethat were there were 70 or 80 or
something. Something. You know?I was the the young kid.
(24:08):
Right? And I started doing thestretching, and I ended up
falling in love with yoga. So Istarted yoga really in 1987.
I've owned a couple of yogastudios. I trained thousands of
teachers.
I don't own any studios now, butI still teach about eight or 10
times a month. And here I amthirty eight years later still
(24:33):
alive when they told me I'd bedead in six months.
Cathy Worthington (24:36):
Wow. Right. Wow. What a great story about
walking. Yeah.
Because I think walking, keepingmoving is so important.
Michael B. Harris (24:48):
Yeah.
Cathy Worthington (24:48):
Because I I have people that have friends
that have had knee replacements,and it hurts like hell to walk
on a new knee like that, but youhave to. You have to move
Michael B. Harris (24:59):
to make it
Cathy Worthington (25:00):
to make it heal. And what would you say
just switch subjects a littlebit. What's the real secret to
calming the mind? You'reobviously good at this.
Michael B. Harris (25:13):
I'm gonna go back to myself as a kid. I I
remember, you know, one of theneighborhood bullies when we
were growing up was, you know,hitting me and, you know, all
this stuff. And I don't knowexactly how old I was. I'm gonna
say I was seven or eight yearsold. And I ran back home, and I
(25:36):
was huffing, and I was puffing.
You know, it's just, right, andall scared. And, you know, mom
opens up the door and says,what's wrong? And I said, Todd's
chasing me. He's beating me up.And so what does mom do
intuitively?
Says, oh, why don't you justtake a breath?
Cathy Worthington (25:56):
Oh.
Michael B. Harris (25:57):
Just calm down. Take another breath. And
so mother's intuition, whetherthey know about the science of
breathing or not, is to helptheir kids just breathe, calm
down. Right? Mhmm.
So the breath is magical,really. I mean, even one breath.
(26:18):
I mean, we all know it and, youknow, for struggling, if
something's happened, ifsomebody cuts us off in traffic
and we just go, oh, we justpause. One breath can change
everything. Changes the oxygenin our lungs.
It changes our central nervoussystem, our autonomic nervous
system, our vagus nerve. I mean,it just instantly, it happens.
(26:41):
So to me, again, it's kinda likethe law of attraction. It's
always there. We always use it,and the breath is always there.
And if we just learn that whenwe get in these situations which
agitate us or trouble us, if wetake a breath or two, you know,
(27:03):
it's just like, wow. I feelbetter already.
Merry Elkins (27:06):
We're breathing. Yeah.
Michael B. Harris (27:08):
Yeah.
Merry Elkins (27:09):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Cathy Worthington (27:11):
So that's how you teach people to calm the
mind?
Michael B. Harris (27:14):
Absolutely. So, like, when I'm teaching
yoga, it's more about the breaththan it is about the posture.
You know? And you can feel
Merry Elkins (27:23):
the breath going through all your your muscles
and body parts Absolutely.
Michael B. Harris (27:27):
With yoga. Yeah. But it's like regardless
of whether it's an easierposture or a more challenging
posture, you know, can wemaintain our breath, you know,
through the nose, not throughthe mouth? Because once you
start breathing through themouth, it changes the central
nervous system. And, again,that's we can another pathway we
(27:50):
could go down.
But it it changes this. So,like, we're getting all this
different stimulation. You know,we might be bending right. We
might be bending left. We mightbe in triangle.
We might be in cobra, andthere's different sensations.
Can we just breathe?
Merry Elkins (28:08):
Interesting.
Michael B. Harris (28:09):
So in many ways, it's like a breathing
class while you move your body.
Merry Elkins (28:13):
Yeah. I think dancers do that too where they
Yeah. When they dance, they haveto if they stretch their arms or
legs or their back or do acertain dance position Yeah.
They need to breathe into it.
Michael B. Harris (28:28):
Yes. Absolutely.
Merry Elkins (28:31):
I'd love to hear more about your being an
entrepreneur and talk a littlebit about that. I know you
already did at the young age ofdelivering pies, but do you
think everybody can be anentrepreneur?
Michael B. Harris (28:49):
I think everybody is an entrepreneur.
Merry Elkins (28:51):
What do say?
Michael B. Harris (28:52):
I think even if you have a job, you're an
entrepreneur. So part of anentrepreneur is, you know,
learning to take care ofyourself, learning to help
others, learning to, you know,build your own business,
learning to put marketingmaterials together, what
(29:12):
whatever it might be forwhatever particular company or
job that you're doing. But ifyou go to work for oh, what's
coming to me right now is b ofa, Bank of America, and say you
want a position there, you haveto market yourself to them. You
(29:34):
have to say this is the job thatI can do for you that's going to
help you and your business. Sothose entrepreneur skills are
always there.
You know, it's like law ofattraction is always there. Calm
of the mind. Who taught us? Mom.Who taught us to be an
(29:54):
entrepreneur?
By going getting a job. So Ithink that we do all these
things, yet we don't alwaysrecognize what it is that we're
doing.
Merry Elkins (30:03):
You make
Michael B. Harris (30:03):
it sound easy. Pardon me?
Merry Elkins (30:07):
You make it sound so easy.
Michael B. Harris (30:09):
What if it is?
Cathy Worthington (30:12):
But, yeah, it's all about the recognition
of it and knowing we're doingit. Mhmm. And we and that's what
most people don't really feelthat. They don't people that
say, oh, I could never be anentrepreneur. I gotta work for
somebody.
They just don't feel it. Theydon't Right. Understand the
stuff that they're doing.
Michael B. Harris (30:32):
Yeah. Yeah. You know, doctor Christina
Anderson, which was on yourshow, She's a great example. You
know? And I don't know.
I didn't listen to the wholeshow, and I know her story
pretty well. But and, again, ifyou're listening, go back and
listen to her story. And shewent through all these
Cathy Worthington (30:52):
her story.
Michael B. Harris (30:54):
Yeah. This is just just so much difficulty,
and, you know, she ends upselling an airline at one point.
Merry Elkins (31:01):
Yeah.
Michael B. Harris (31:01):
You know? And, you know, she's a true
entrepreneur.
Cathy Worthington (31:05):
Tell us how writing a nonfiction book
changes everything.
Michael B. Harris (31:11):
Well, it's I was talking to an individual
yesterday. He's a marinecolonel, and he had submitted
his manuscript to get published.He's retiring this year. And he
said, you know, how did the bookcreation come about? He said,
(31:32):
you know, I started writing justreally for myself.
I had these concepts in my mind,a number of different concepts
that I just needed to get out onpaper because I just felt like I
needed to do that. And he saysand here's this marine colonel,
(31:52):
you know, attack helicopterpilot squadron lead leader
talking about needing to writethese things this information
down and these concepts andthese ideas and feelings and
emotions to help him. And thenhe realized that it was a book.
And he says, I realized that Icould take this and make this a
(32:15):
book. And he started writing it,you know, in a way and starting
to get editing done to it tomake it into a book.
So that experience that thisperson had and has continues to
have really was therapeutic forhim to to write it out, and now
(32:35):
it's becoming a book. Or it willbe a book in about a year. It
will be out of the market.
Cathy Worthington (32:41):
And do you coach people sometimes how to
tell their own story?
Michael B. Harris (32:44):
Absolutely. Yes. Mhmm. You know, we tell our
story I'm gonna keep comingback, Mary, to how simple this
is. We tell our story all thetime.
You know, we go out to dinnerwith friends and we're sitting
around and, you know, you know,hey, Kathy. What did you do
today? Tell me a story. Hey,Mary. Tell me your story.
(33:06):
So, like, we're telling storiesall the time. You know, another
friend of mine, who's done afair amount of acting over the
years, who's a child actor,who's done some Hallmark stuff
lately and some stage work. Andhe says, you know, stage fright
is really a misnomer. It doesn'treally exist. He says, we know
(33:28):
how to talk to people.
We do it all the time. It's justrecognizing again, coming back
to that recognition that we'redoing it all the time.
Cathy Worthington (33:37):
Mhmm.
Michael B. Harris (33:37):
And, like, when when I've done I've done a
lot of work with peoplespeaking, you know, and they
talk about feeling that nervousenergy within themselves. And I
said, well, what if that samenervous energy gave you the
power you needed on stage toreally, you know, stand there
and deliver what you want totalk about? And it's just like,
(33:59):
oh, yeah. So instead of, youknow, shaking in the nervous
part, it's just like, wow. Thisis power, and it is.
It's just shifting that energy.
Merry Elkins (34:08):
Talk about power a little bit and and the
difference. I believe you saythat there's a difference
between power and force. Talkabout that.
Michael B. Harris (34:17):
Power versus force. David Hawkins doctor
Hawkins wrote the book, I don'tremember, in the eighties, a
long, long time ago. It's a it'sa classic book. And if you're
listening to this and youhaven't got that book, I invite
you to go get this book. Mhmm.
(34:37):
But, you know, the idea of powerversus force, you know, I like
to tell these little stories.Right? So, you know, I help
parent a eight year old girl.And those of us that know about
kids, you know, sometimes ittakes a a while to get them
(34:58):
steered in a certain direction,so to speak. Right?
Get them to do something that'simportant to
Merry Elkins (35:04):
do. Right.
Michael B. Harris (35:05):
So do we use power or do we use force?
Merry Elkins (35:08):
Ah.
Michael B. Harris (35:10):
You know, we can force that the kid or
anybody for that matter, youknow, to do something like, you
better do this or else, youknow, da da da da. Get over here
right now. You know, that's moreof a force type thing. A power
thing is, hey. What if you cameover and help me?
(35:31):
Oh, you want my help? And theycome running over and helping.
Cathy Worthington (35:36):
Mhmm.
Michael B. Harris (35:37):
You know? So that's just like one example,
but there's so many exampleslike that. You know? It's
Merry Elkins (35:46):
How to raise a child.
Michael B. Harris (35:48):
Well, yeah. And I don't know if I'm ready to
write that book. I've gotanother book in me, but it's
probably not gonna be aboutchild rearing.
Merry Elkins (35:58):
How to raise an adult.
Michael B. Harris (36:00):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I've got my
child right here, my innerchild.
Cathy Worthington (36:06):
Well, tell us how did real monkeys in India
inadvertently teach you aboutthe monkey mind? And please
explain what that is. Yeah.
Michael B. Harris (36:19):
The monkey mind. I don't I don't know if if
you can relate or if you're alistener here. I think that you
can is, you know, we go throughthese moments where our mind
starts spinning and, you know,we start feeling this internal
agitation. Again, that personcut me off for, I can't believe
(36:41):
so and so said that to me. I'mworried about my relationship.
What about my job? And, youknow, all this stuff is is
swirling.
Merry Elkins (36:50):
Especially when you're trying to sleep.
Michael B. Harris (36:52):
It's yeah. It happens sometimes when you're
trying to sleep or wakes us upin the middle of the night as
well.
Cathy Worthington (36:58):
Mhmm.
Michael B. Harris (36:59):
So I was traveling in India A Number Of
Years ago, and I was in Agra,and Agra is where the Taj Mahal
is. And we're staying at the TajPalace Hotel. And at the hotel,
it's I can't remember whetherit's two or three stories. It
(37:19):
was three stories, but there'sthese guys that walk around the
grounds with these long bamboosticks. They're like 12 feet
long.
And what they're doing isthey're chasing the monkeys away
because monkeys are out there.There's trees and there's grass.
But the other thing, and I thinkthis would probably stop monkeys
better than the sticks, is thehotel in your room next to the
(37:44):
sliding glass door at yourbalcony is a big bowl of fruit.
And the monkeys know that. Andthey come up, they climb up the
side of the hotel, and they tryto find the doors that are open
to get into the room.
Or they'll run up and jump upagainst the glass because the
bowl is right there. So allthose I need to do is put the
(38:09):
bowl in different part of theroom so they can't see it, and
they probably won't get as manymonkeys there. But, you know, if
they open up the door, it didn'thappen in my room. It happened
with the friend I was travelingin in their room. They came out
of the shower, and there wasmonkeys in the room eating the
fruit from that bowl.
Right? Mhmm.
Cathy Worthington (38:29):
Very. Right.
Michael B. Harris (38:30):
So I started realizing, and it was kind of a
yoga trip, and I was travelingaround. This is twenty some
years ago, twenty three yearsago, I guess. It was quite a
while ago. And I realized thatone of the things that I do with
my mind that I was doing is thatif those monkeys came along, I
(38:53):
would feed them bananas. Right?
In my head, I was, oh, okay.Let's be nice. Let's give these
monkeys some bananas, andeverything will be cool. Well,
then I realized that they keptcoming because they knew they
would get bananas.
Cathy Worthington (39:08):
Mhmm.
Michael B. Harris (39:08):
Right? So I stopped putting bananas out for
them, and then they stoppedcoming.
Merry Elkins (39:14):
Oh, I thought you were going to say just shut the
door. So, Michael, talk a littlebit about your book, Falling
Down, Getting Up, and also whydid Jay Conrad Levinson, who's
known as the father of guerrillamarketing, write the foreword?
Michael B. Harris (39:32):
Well, Falling Down, Getting Up came about
people kept asking me to writethe book. They said, oh, you're
a miracle and all this stuff.And I still don't like that
terminology very much, the theidea of miracles. I think it's
just nature doing its naturalthing in so many different ways.
(39:52):
But people would say, oh, youneed to write about this.
How'd you survive? I can'tbelieve you're still alive, all
this stuff. So I kept thinkingabout it and thinking about it.
And I I jokingly like to say Ithought about it for twelve
years and wrote it in seventynine days. So once I made a
(40:12):
commitment to write the book, Imade a ninety day commitment to
write the book, and I did it inseventy nine days.
I was one of those guys at thelocal coffee shop in the corner
with their cup of tea and theirlaptop for two hours every day.
I was that person.
Cathy Worthington (40:34):
That's great to have that discipline.
Merry Elkins (40:36):
Yeah.
Michael B. Harris (40:37):
And then I showed up and go ahead.
Cathy Worthington (40:40):
It's so great to make a commitment like that
starting in front because Yeah.Is that what you usually advise
people when they're writingtheir own story? Because let's
face it, If we we have a storyto tell, we should be able to
just keep telling it for twohours.
Michael B. Harris (40:56):
Yeah. Everybody's a little bit
different. I mean, certainly,that that way is for me, it
worked, and I know it's workedfor other people as well. Some
people need to speak it. Youknow, they'll speak it into
their phone and then have ittranscribed.
Merry Elkins (41:12):
Mhmm.
Michael B. Harris (41:13):
Oh. You know? Yeah. There's a lot of books
today that are ghosts for it.You know?
Merry Elkins (41:17):
Some people need to mullet in their mind too.
Michael B. Harris (41:20):
Yeah. Some people need to sit at home and
have a certain window open and,you know, have a bowl of
pistachios there. Somebody cango to a coffee shop and and do
it. Some people need to wear acertain hat or, you know, some
people will handwrite it, somepeople will do it on their
(41:42):
computers.
Merry Elkins (41:43):
Well, tell us a little bit more about the book
and about Sure. Why Jay ConradLovenson wrote the foreword.
Michael B. Harris (41:51):
Well, there's Falling Down, Getting Up. So
this is copy of the book. And Ihad written it, and then I met a
guy named Rick Frischman in NewYork City. I'd flown to New York
to try to get some publicity. Ihadn't submitted it for
publication yet.
And I met Rick Frischman. Ididn't know who he was at the
(42:12):
time. I had no idea. And westarted talking and he's, well,
why are you here with this? Thisis press event.
And I said, well, I'm herebecause I got this book I wrote.
Tell me about the book and yadayada yada. I said, oh, it's
falling down, getting up. And hesaid, I wanna publish the book.
(42:33):
And I said, well, who are you?
And he had published all sortsof different people. And I
thought this guy's out of myleague because, I mean, he was
publishing by Henry Kissingerand, I mean, all sorts of big
people. And he said and at thetime, he was one of the
publishers at Morgan James. Andhe said, why don't you we'll
(42:55):
take this to Morgan James. Andwithin a week, I had an
agreement written and signed.
So I never had it submitted to50 different publishers and get
all those rejection slips. Oh,no. Lucky. It's just like god
works in mysterious ways. Right?
Cathy Worthington (43:12):
Yeah.
Michael B. Harris (43:13):
So through, Morgan James, I met Jay Conrad
Levinson. Jay Conrad Levinson,which is the father of guerrilla
marketing, helped the founder ofMorgan James, David Hancock,
really start Morgan James. And,you know, we became friends and
sent him a manuscript to seewhether he would forward the
(43:34):
book. And, typically, he hadonly really forwarded more
marketing type books. This bookwasn't a marketing book.
Mhmm. But Jay told me later, hesays, I read your manuscript
twice in the same day as soon asI got it. He says, I couldn't
put it down. And he says, theway that I see yeah. It was huge
(43:54):
honor
Cathy Worthington (43:55):
for you
Michael B. Harris (43:55):
know, to hear this from Jay. And, you know, he
said, the way that you cameabout and you healed yourself
was sort of like guerrillamarketing. He says, you know,
guerrilla marketing is low cost,easy to implement, processes to
do your marketing. And he says,you did the same thing. You did
(44:16):
low cost, to implement processesto heal your life.
Cathy Worthington (44:21):
Yeah. Mhmm.
Michael B. Harris (44:22):
And one thing I I had to mention is I also got
sober at 30. So I've been sobernow for thirty six years for a
long time.
Merry Elkins (44:32):
Congratulations. Fabulous. Yeah.
Cathy Worthington (44:35):
And, Michael, I wanted to ask you for a
summation. What would you likeour listeners to have as a
takeaway today?
Michael B. Harris (44:43):
Oh, well, I can briefly mention my other
book, Within.
Cathy Worthington (44:48):
Okay. Okay.
Michael B. Harris (44:50):
So this this book here, anybody can get for
free. Oh, okay. They just needto go to my link, and I I think
I gave it to you, but it'sreally simple. It's
(45:12):
Sowithin.MichaelbHarris.com/book.
Oh. And you go there and you canget the book for free.
Merry Elkins (45:19):
Oh, I'm gonna order it for free.
Michael B. Harris (45:22):
Yeah. Yeah. And so, I mean, it it really
comes back to so much of what wetalked about that, really,
everything we need is alreadywithin us.
Cathy Worthington (45:33):
Mhmm.
Michael B. Harris (45:34):
It's just really recognizing that.
Cathy Worthington (45:37):
I love that. Title within.
Merry Elkins (45:39):
Do that. Everything we need is within us.
That's
Michael B. Harris (45:42):
It's it's in. It's right here.
Merry Elkins (45:44):
Thank you. Thank you so much, Michael. Our guest
today in late boomers has beenMichael Harris, entrepreneur and
inspiring author of FallingDown, Getting Up and Within. You
can reach out to him if you'dlike to learn more about Michael
and get his advice on writingyour non fiction book at
MichaelBHarris.com or go to hisLinktree,
(46:09):
linktr.ee/michaelbharris. Right?
Michael B. Harris (46:15):
That's correct.
Merry Elkins (46:16):
And also, go to within, I just wrote that
down,.Michaelb. Finish it forme.
Michael B. Harris: MichaelWithin.MichaelbHarris.com/book. (46:25):
undefined
Cathy Worthington (46:31):
That's great. And, also, listeners, please
tune in next week when we'll bemeeting another interesting
guest, Mariana Cooper, who's anintuitive life strategist.
She'll give us some greatinsights. Please subscribe to
our late boomers podcast onYouTube and take us along in the
car and on walk and on your andand subscribe, please. Let us
(46:52):
know what gets you inspired.
We're on Instagram at I am KathyWorthington and at I am Mary
Elkins and at late boomers.Please send a link to late
boomers podcast to your friendswho may not be yet listening to
podcast. Thanks again, Michael.
Michael B. Harris (47:09):
Thank you. It's wonderful to be here, and I
love what the both of you aredoing. So thank you.
Cathy Worthington (47:15):
Thank you. We'd love to pray. We're eating
it up. We love it. Thank you somuch.
Merry Elkins (47:22):
That's great. Thank you.
Cathy Worthington (47:33):
Thank you for joining us on Late Boomers, the
podcast that is your guide tocreating a third act with style,
power, and impact. Please visitour website and get in touch
with us at late boomers dot biz.If you would like to listen to
or download other episodes oflate boomers, go to
ewnpodcastnetwork.com.
Merry Elkins (47:55):
This podcast is also available on Spotify, Apple
Podcast, and most other majorpodcast sites. We hope you make
use of the wisdom you've gainedhere and that you enjoy a
successful third act with yourown style, power, and impact.
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