If You Feel Like You're Drifting Through Life, Watch This - Cory Allen
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In this episode, host Cory Allen explores why many individuals feel like they are drifting through life rather than actively shaping their destiny. He argues that people often operate on autopilot, reacting to external stimuli and internal habits formed during childhood without conscious awareness. This reactive mode creates behavioral patterns that eventually define one's reality, leading them to mistake these automatic responses for who they truly are or what is possible. Allen emphasizes the critical importance of creating a space between stimulus and response—a concept central to meditation—where individuals can pause, gain self-awareness, and make intentional choices rather than simply reacting out of fear or habit. By recognizing that life isn't happening *to* them but that they have agency over their responses, people can break free from limiting narratives and begin making meaningful changes in their lives. A significant portion of the discussion focuses on overcoming the biological and psychological barriers to taking action, particularly when facing vulnerability. Allen explains that fear often manifests as an animalistic fight-or-flight response triggered by the amygdala whenever we step into the unknown or risk ego injury. This internal alarm system tries to keep us safe in familiar territory but ultimately stifles growth and creativity. To counteract this, he suggests using physical sensations like tension or anxiety not as reasons to retreat, but as reminders to "zoom out" and examine one's thoughts objectively. By labeling negative self-talk—such as imposter syndrome or catastrophic thinking—as mere stories rather than facts, individuals can disarm these fears and proceed with curiosity instead of judgment. This process allows people to act despite discomfort, realizing that the perceived dangers are often projections based on past experiences rather than current realities. The conversation also delves into balancing intellect and intuition, a tension many high-functioning but emotionally closed-off individuals face. Allen notes that while intellectual processing is valuable for strategy and problem-solving, over-reliance on logic can isolate people from their own feelings and hinder deep connection with others. He advocates for cultivating vulnerability by slowing down to observe emotions without immediately rationalizing them away. Using the metaphor of treating unobserved feelings like a glass of wine or musical notes, he encourages listeners to sit with discomfort, identify underlying fears (such as childhood trauma related to money), and use their intellect to deconstruct these patterns rather than suppress them. This integration allows for what he calls becoming a "full spectrum human," capable of both strategic thinking and emotional depth, which fosters richer relationships and personal growth. Finally, Allen addresses practical strategies for building sustainable habits and finding new opportunities in life. He warns against creating overly complex routines filled with trendy wellness practices that lead to burnout or abandonment; instead, he promotes "model eclecticism," where individuals experiment with various techniques and cherry-pick those that genuinely resonate with them. Setting small, achievable goals builds self-trust and momentum, which can later be applied to larger aspirations. He introduces the concept of "portals"—moments when disparate skills or interests converge to create new possibilities—using his own journey from audio engineering to music production as an example. By staying open to these cosmic winks rather than chasing trends, people can unlock unique paths that leverage their existing strengths in novel ways. Ultimately, Allen concludes that true success comes not from forcing outcomes but from aligning with one's authentic voice and trusting the process of gradual evolution through mindful awareness and brave action.
Read the full video transcript
All the way from episode 12 to episode
something like 812 now.
Doesn't say do you feel all 800 episodes
in your body?
I do. Like a burden, like a lifetime a
lifetime fentanyl addict that's just
been accumulating all of this stuff.
Yeah, so 800 track marks. That's it.
That is it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 800
one-night stands essentially.
But I know I tell you this, you know,
every time we see each other and whoever
we podcast, but man, I'm just so proud
of you and like just seeing the the
trajectory and the growth from episode
12 to episode 812 is just man. It's one
of the few things that gets me fired up
more than seeing people, you know,
friends, people I care about succeed and
it's a beautiful man. So I love it. I'm
so happy for you. And this is just step
one. This is phase one, man.
God, don't say that. Oh, yes.
I very I very much appreciate that.
That's it's very very kind, dude. I've
been a huge fan of your stuff for a long
time. So I guess maybe a lot of the
audience might not be
familiar. I can give a little bit of a
background. I found the best guided
meditation that I've ever done was your
releasing to now, your original one with
binaural beats and then we came on and
we spoke about binaural beats and um
I've I'm always interested in the
trajectory of people that have got a
background in in meditation and then try
and apply it, you know, not the
asceticism, living a cave a cave
somewhere just aim for eternal peace.
But actually, okay, how do we use the
insights of mindfulness and having a
little bit of a space between stimulus
and response,
what goes into that space? What do we do
tactically? What are the strategies that
we can use with this little bit more
open perspective that we view the world
to make us a bit more effective. And I
think
one of the questions that comes up a lot
of the time when I look at your work is
why
do you think that so many people feel
like they're drifting through life? Like
life happens to them rather than the
other way around. Yeah, I mean that's
first off you pointed out like one of
the most important things in all of the
meditation journey, which a lot of
people never talk about. You know, it's
it's being aware of that space between
stimulus and response and then knowing
what to do and why you're doing
something in that moment and what the
changes are. I mean that's really the
name of the game, you know. Um you know,
speaking of to your question in terms of
you know, why people sort of end up and
the the
situation they're in in life is that
you know, whenever we're growing up,
we're becoming adults, we're completely
unaware. We're trying to figure out who
we are, like what we like,
how to live, how to be a human in the
world. And
ultimately what we're doing is we're
just caught in this momentum of
distraction of of a reaction. We're just
reacting to everything in life. We're
reacting to our parents. Then we go
insert ourselves into a social
situation. We start reacting to
everything in school. We react to our
teachers and then when we become young
adults, we start reacting to society.
Right? So we're we're not ever really
clear in the moment about what's going
on. We're just simply kind of reacting
to everything that's happening around
us.
And as that happens that the world
around us in which we're reacting to
because we are not self-aware, we're not
making intentional choices in the
present moment, rather we're in this
kind of autopilot fight or flight mode
to where we're just reacting,
the world kind of forms around us and
all of those behavioral patterns, all
those behavioral habits start to take
this shape and then we start relying on
those patterns because they are working
for us in terms in the sense that
they're just keeping us alive. They're
keeping us going, right? But what
happens is that those patterns form so
gradually
that we mistake those ways of thinking
and those ways of being for what's quote
unquote normal and for who we are. And
ultimately what happens is we mistake
that for what's possible. And so that's
where people get really stuck not being
able to make the changes in their life
that they want. It's because they
mistake what has happened to happen in
their life, the chance of everything
that they've experienced and then the
autopilot reactions that they've made
over those over the entire course of
their experience of life
with everything that is, of what is, of
how things can be. And it's not until
you increase that self-awareness and
begin to see yourself from the outside
in and the inside out that you begin to
realize that hold on a second, I
actually have a say in the matter. Like
life isn't happening to me, I can happen
to life. And it's that switch of
perspective that allows you to start
making these intentional choices in the
present moment, a lot of which are um
breaking the reactive behaviors that
have developed over a long period of
time. And that's really where meditation
can be incredibly useful and that space
that you were talking about at the
beginning comes into play.
Yeah, what what do you mean when you
talk about more being possible? How do
we change our definition of
what is possible given that
knowledge is largely
informed by the experiences that we've
had in life? Like
how do we step outside of ourselves?
What does it even mean to do that?
Yeah, what it means that the you have to
ultimately change the negative limiting
thinking habits that you're under.
Because you spend your whole life
thinking a certain way. You have a
certain mindset and ultimately you're
identifying yourself with a certain
language and with a certain story. And
that story is what holds you back.
Because, you know, most of the things
that we look at in life, you know, that
we one would want to achieve, they are
very possible. Like the reason we want
to do them a lot of times is because we
see a lot of other people doing them.
Like people could see you and like
here's the successful podcaster, how did
he do that? Well, you know, you're doing
an amazing job, but there are a lot of
successful podcasters out there. You
know what I mean? So it means that it's
like it's available, it's out there. So
what is preventing an individual that
would want to do that from being able to
go and do that? And that would be the
their mindset and the way that they
think about themselves, right? So
ultimately how that plays out and if you
break that out into real life, a person
would let's use you as the example. They
say I want to do what Chris is doing.
Like I have the burning passion, I have
the feeling.
And then they feel the feeling rising
that's pushing them forward, that makes
them want to make an action. And then
what happens is that they go right up to
the precipice of going to make that
action and now they're on the edge of
change. They're on the edge of where
something is becoming possible. And this
is where we're getting into your
question, really. Is like so now what
happens at that precipice? They have a
negative thought that arises and it's
generally like, what are you doing? Like
you can't do this. This is too
complicated. Like not you, someone else.
You know, this isn't for you. You can't
do this. Or they'll come up with the the
you know, the negative thoughts will go,
"Well, you know, it's the market's too
populated now." Whatever [ __ ] that
it needs to come up with, they'll come
up with. And then the person goes, "Oh,
well, there's my quote unquote proof
that I can't do that and so I'll stop
working and I won't try." Now, what's
really interesting about that
is I spend a lot of time thinking about
what that moment is. Like what's
actually happening there? And I wanted
to drill down into that on a animalistic
level. You know, like a biological and
like a evolutionary psychology. Let's
look feel that, right? So in myself,
even though I'm very good at bypassing
that and I've worked with that a lot
just over my entire life of
creating creative projects because
whenever you're making creative
projects, the first thing, you know, the
second you go to release something or
put something out in the world, that
goes up times 10, right? So um I started
like really sitting with that and I'm
like, what's going on here? What is this
process? Let's break this down so I can
explain it to myself and to other people
and we can really figure out what's
going on and hijack that, move that out
of the way so we can actually take the
action and do what we want to do in
life.
So I started thinking about it and as I
sat with that feeling anytime it arose
in me, I realized that it is the same
type of animal fear that you feel as in
like a fight or flight response.
So if you go and you stand next to a
river, you feel this feeling coming off
this raging river. It's like a magnet
pushing against you. And it actually you
feel the the scariness, the the the
there's something kind of bigger than,
you know, than you
coming off of it. And generally people
will take a few steps back without even
thinking about it, right? They'll
realize after the fact that oh, I I
backed up from the edge of that river.
It felt dangerous. Same thing if you're
looking up at the edge of a building.
You get this feeling that you can't
explain that is like this magnetic force
pushing against you. You take a few
steps back cuz you're like, oh, scary,
you know. So ultimately what that is is
that is your amygdala, that's your
animal brain sending signals to you
going, "Hey, this isn't safe. You're
going to be vulnerable. Back up, right?"
Because it obviously it wants your body
to survive. Now, you know, if you get
into a raging river, you're going to be
very vulnerable. If you fall off the
edge of a building, you're going to be
very vulnerable. The the there's no more
vulnerable state than falling off of the
edge of a building, right?
So if we look at that, we can see that
that's basically our body trying to
protect us from being vulnerable and
dying.
Now if we look map that over to a
creative space or a space of personal
growth, whenever we go to
move into the unknown
in within the map of ourselves, the way
we think about ourselves, the way that
we think about what's possible in our
world,
we go to move into the unknown, that
same thing triggers.
But the vulnerability is not the
vulnerability of the physical world,
it's the vulnerability of the ego and of
our emotional world. So, basically,
if we were to go and this gets a little
complicated, but if we were to move into
the space where we're like, "You know
what? I'm going to try. I'm going to you
know, get the the account and start
doing the podcast. I'm going to reach
out to people." What happens is that we
become vulnerable to the world. And our
body wants to protect us from that
because if we feel vulnerable, then we
start to not feel capable and we feel
like we might you know, injured or
become inoperative in some way. A really
interesting element to it, too, is that
our ego becomes vulnerable not even
through other people, but how we think
about ourselves. Because we have this
often inflated and distorted version of
like our sense of self in the world and
what we're capable of and a lot of us
spend a lot of time going around going,
"Sure, I could do that shit." without
ever trying, but we like to tell
ourselves a story of like, "Sure, I
could do that. I mean, I'm me. Come on.
I can do that, you know?" Um
but if that were to be challenged or put
into question, we could verify or or you
know, whether or not we were actually
capable. So, the point is is that this
process is basically our animal brain
trying to keep us safe and keep us in a
quote-unquote known space because the
unknown is where the possibility lives
and where vulnerability lives. But,
the second we recognize and begin to
learn that that's the process that's
unfolding.
Whenever we find ourselves in those
spaces, we slow down and instead of just
reacting to that feeling of fear, that
feeling of resistance, whatever it is,
we understand the process, we see the
arising thoughts of like, "Hey,
my mind is starting to tell me a story.
It's starting to
fill my head with all of these different
reasons and all this proof of why I need
to not try this. But, all this is is not
real. All this is is my body trying to
keep me from being vulnerable.
And so, as you recognize that, you can
then set that aside and start taking
action in the moment. It's about
identifying the negative behavior or the
negative thought habits that's arising,
the story that your mind and body is
trying to tell yourself to keep you from
being vulnerable, and then breaking that
pattern, breaking the momentum of that
by it basically exposing it with the
truth. You know,
Let's use
uh a more acute example than something
that's a protracted project like
launching a blog or or or a YouTube
channel or a podcast or something.
Something that almost everybody is going
to have to do at some point is uh talk
to someone that they're nervous to talk
to. Maybe this is a guy going up to a
girl that he likes in a bar or at work
ahead of being me too. Uh or it's a
a woman maybe needing to say no to a
friend or a family member that's
particularly pushy or maybe she's really
ballsy and she's going to go up and talk
to a guy and she's worried about being
rejected and breaking all of the sex
stereotypes. Um let's just use that as a
maybe like a
a petri dish for you to explain these
steps. Um so, you know, you are here,
there is the person over there, you
notice them, this arises, what are you
doing there? What is the way that we can
reframe? Could you use something like
that as a an example to take us through
this cuz I really I love the idea of the
the philosophy behind this, but I know
that you're very strategic and tactical.
What I want is to be able to give people
some real concrete steps that they can
go to so that when that feeling arises
and their neck gets hot and their
shoulders get tight and their hearing
starts to ring, that they can ah, that's
where I go to. Yes, great. Absolutely.
So, first off, let's not even start in
the bar. Let's start at home. Let's
really start where the journey starts
because a lot of people will be sitting
at home and they'll go,
"Ah, man, I really like to meet
somebody. I think I'll go out." And then
that's whenever the negative start thing
starts turning up, right? So, this is
actually something I talk about in the
book is, you know, I start with
some mental housecleaning, you know, all
of these negative thinking habits that
prevent us from making the the growth
and the changes that we want in our
lives.
Um ultimately like things like
overthinking, you know, self-fulfilling
pros- prophecies, imposter syndrome, you
know, making assumptions about reality,
all the all these things. Once we can
recognize those programs that are
running, then we have some, you know,
offense against them once we can define
them and label them. So, this is one of
the ones I talk about is self-fulfilling
prophecies. So, first off, before we go
to the bar, we're going to or or
wherever it is that we're going. Um
we're going to start telling ourselves
the story then.
So, really what's going to happen and
it's going to affect how we feel
whenever we get there. So, we're going
to be sitting there, we're going to go,
"I want to go out. I want to meet
somebody." Like, "But, I'm not that good
looking. Look, I'm a bald 40-year-old,
you know? Let's I don't know.
Um
And they're like, "Well, you know, but I
maybe I'll maybe I'll try, right?" And
so, you know, you start you start
chewing this thing over in your mind.
So, this right here is where we can
start intervening. We can start
disrupting the flow of um our thinking
habits and our patterns right now.
Uh because what's going to happen is
that if we start thinking like, "Well,
no one's going to like me. It's going to
be awkward. It's going to be weird."
That is what's going to happen.
Because you're thinking about this and
so, you know, what you're what you're
thinking influences how you feel and how
you feel influences how you act and how
you act influences who you are in the
world.
So, if you go into the situation, say
then you go to the bar and you're
thinking like, "Yeah, well, I'm glad I
made it, but you know, no one's going to
talk to me. I don't know. I'm ugly. I
suck. This sucks." Then you're going to
be as you mentioned earlier, like you're
going to be closed off, you're going to
be tense, you're going to be awkward,
you're not going to look at anyone in
the eye, you're not going to be
yourself. And so, by
allowing yourself to believe that story
and not recognizing it as a lie, then
you're going to manifest and I don't
mean that in a metaphysical way. I mean,
just in a in a literal way, you're going
to create that outcome because you're
under the influence of that story,
right? Well, the precise thing that
you're fearing will happen is happening
and you're making it happen.
Exactly. Exactly. Just cuz you're not
being yourself, right? So, let's say
that we we start there and we go, "All
right. So,
all right.
Where's the proof of this, right? So, I
feel a little awkward. I feel like no
one's going to like me, but I have no
proof of this. I haven't been there yet.
I don't know what the what the energy is
like or what the vibe like or who's
there. So, let's just go and be present
and open-minded and lean into curiosity
about the moment as opposed to a story
about something negative that's going to
happen, some catastrophizing.
So,
continuing to go into curiosity with
openness is really valuable because it
allows you to one, be more of yourself
and see the world and what you
experience in a very clear and fresh way
as opposed to one that is like it had
been shaved down by your own fear,
right? So, whenever you get in there,
now we're at the bar, right? And you're
like, "Okay, cool. I made it. I'm
looking around." And now you see someone
that you want to go talk to.
But, then that fear comes up again. So,
you start getting awkward, you start,
you know, thinking negatively about
yourself and that whole script starts
running again. Basically, it's a matter
of repeating the same process. So, you
stop, zoom out and look at the situation
from outside of you. Like, what's really
happening? What's actually happening?
You're just a guy standing in a bar.
That's what's happening.
Nothing like those are some low stakes.
You're a guy standing in a bar, one of
millions of people that are doing that
in the very moment that you are doing it
as well. Now, you think, "Well, that
person I don't know. I'll go talk to
them. Maybe they don't like me." Stop,
zoom out, look at it from the outside.
Where is the proof of that?
Well,
uh
there isn't any. That's exactly right.
There's no proof. You have no idea what
the outcome is going to be.
All of the idea of this person's going
to like me, all that's all projection.
It's all you creating you know,
manipulating your own perception and
creating a story and then believing,
deciding to believe that it's true and
then having it influence your actions.
So, by taking those moments whenever you
feel the fear in the body, whenever you
feel the tension, when you feel the
stress, it's using those alarms as
reminders. And this is one of the things
that I like doing is like the
quote-unquote bad habits of the negative
things, use them as positive reminders.
So, whenever you feel the tension in the
shoulders, they Oh, yeah, that's my
reminder to zoom out a little bit,
relax, take some deep breaths, and look
at the situation from the outside. Let's
look at reality, objectivity as opposed
to this weird little festering story
that I have going on in my brain. So,
now
now you can look at the situation and
you're like, "I want to go talk to that
person." And then you go, "No, I'm I'm
not
can't do that. Not good looking enough."
Then you go, "Stop. There's no proof of
that. Let's relax, calm down, take some
breaths, relax the body again." Now, you
start to approach and now you're like,
"Well, hold on a second. Now I'm feeling
anxious again because what if what if
they turn me down? I'll feel like a
[ __ ] and I'll feel embarrassed and
I'll want to run out the fire escape,
right?"
Um
again, you stop and you go, "Look, let's
zoom out. Let's look at this. There are
no stakes here."
Like, there's no You're just a guy
that's going to go say maybe 10 dumb
words to somebody.
And either what's going to happen?
Either that person's going to go, "It's
great to meet you. Let's talk a little
bit more." Or they're going to go, "I'm
actually here just with some friends. I
I don't really want to meet anyone right
now."
Like, that's what you're worried about?
It's not a big deal.
It's You know what I mean? If you really
look at it from the big picture and you
catch all of those little
the the story compounding over time as
you're approaching that situation, you
see it just doesn't matter, right? And
the beautiful part about doing that is
that in you know, in a person may go
through that process of watching their
body, noticing the tension, relaxing,
recognizing the story for a story,
breaking that down, and working that in
gradual steps so that that becomes
easier for them each time that they
would say go up and you know, talk to
someone in a bar.
But the beautiful part about doing that
once is that once you've done it once,
then you see you you expose the illusion
of it being a big deal. You know, what
you do it once and if if they say they
want to talk to you or they do, either
way it's you know, fine.
But after you've done it once, now you
have a receipt. And this is where we can
get into some beautiful
um
self-trust and and self-confidence
building stuff.
Cuz after you do that one thing once you
go, you know what?
I actually I did that and it wasn't a
big deal. I'm still alive, you know I
mean, I wasn't like strung up by my feet
in the town square and put put on the
internet and ridiculed. It was totally
like nothing. It's all good. So then the
next time comes around, you can do it
again.
And you go, "Hey, I was already able
already do that once. Well, check this
out. I'll just do it one more time. It's
no big deal." I wonder how many people
go through life
obsessing over a thing that they never
do once.
Exactly. Exactly. Everyone, man.
That's what people It's because they get
in
the the story that they start believing
turns into this huge complicated like
cosmically weighted thing that
um you know, it become it becomes
scarier than reality. And this is why
you're saying that the sort of thought
patterns and your previous experiences
or not even your previous experiences,
your previous
imagined experiences
begin to form reality. They become more
real than your reality. They define
these new boundaries despite the fact
that these boundaries have never even
been defined, set, or tested. Exactly.
Exactly. Yeah. And so another good
mantra to think about in terms of this
is this is something else I touch in the
book is like
we are so self-conscious. We always
think the camera's on us, but really we
are not that special to be honest with
you.
You know, like we all people have this
this idea of this kind of main character
syndrome. They're like, "I'm the one.
Everyone's paying attention to me.
Everyone's looking at me in this bar. If
I do something stupid, everyone's going
to look at me. If I do something cool,
everyone's going to look at me and
celebrate you know, whatever." We just
feel like the attention is on us all the
time. And it makes sense. It's not to go
too deep into like a philosophical idea
again, but it makes sense is because
from our point of view
our consciousness is like this
flashlight moving out of the front of
our head and everywhere we look in the
world, it seems as though the world is
looking back at us.
You know, so like we look at people and
like they look at us. We look at a tree
like, "Oh, there's a tree. I'm looking
at We feel like the world is
looking at us because we are looking at
the world, but we forget that it's just
from the fact that our point of view is
where it's at makes it seem like we are
the center of all things. Like our head,
our our consciousness feels like the sun
radiating light. Well, one thing that I
always think about is the asymmetry
between what you see of your own
thoughts and what you observe of other
people's thoughts and the actions that
they take. And it's
10 billion to one. Even the twin that
you were born with that's your best
friend, even the wife that you met when
you were 16 you've remained even the
mother that you've been so close to your
entire life. No matter how well you know
a person, the best you can ever hope for
is some low-grade 1960s
internet bandwidth like crackly CRT TV
[ __ ] Like that's the best if you
see them every single second of the day
because the amount of information that
you see of your own the texture of your
own mind as you vacillate back and forth
between this thing and that thing all
that you get to see everyone else looks
like a rational slick agent that's got
their life together because you don't
see the permanent sort of ping-pong game
that they had to go through in order to
pick that cup up off the table or put
the cup down, right? That was it.
Whereas you saw yourself like argue, "Am
I going to pick it up? Am I not pick it
up? They're going to think what if I
pick it up by the handle?" Like all of
that happened. And I think that it it
can cause a kind of like sort of
narcissistic solipsism
uh that that
that we're not only we special, but
we're specially flawed. Yes.
Yes. Anything to keep us enamored with
ourselves ultimately. You know,
and that's just another evolutionary
tool I believe. It's like as long as
we're always focusing on ourselves,
we'll continue to shove food into the
lowest hole in our head and try and
procreate. That's really what we're
doing here, you know.
Um but yeah, no you're totally right. I
think about that all the time. And
what's even crazier is that not only do
we know, you know, less than 1% of
what's actually going on inside of
someone else's universe like in their
body and their mind, but we know less
than 1% about what's going on within
ourselves.
Like you think you have a bunch of
brilliant ideas and that you're this
person. Here and again, this is nothing
I I offer in the book is like write all
that [ __ ] down. Like write it all on a
piece of paper, tuck it away. Like your
most incredible theories, all the big
ideas that you walk around thinking, all
the things that you think about
yourself, like write it all down, stick
it in an envelope, and come back and
read it in a week.
It will
be very enlightening.
One you go you'll go, "What the [ __ ] was
I talking about?" Yeah. Well, we like
it's sort of
short-term psychosis is what like an
emotional state feels like. Dude, a
couple of my friends have journaled more
aggressively than me and um
they say that they go back and read some
of the stuff that they that used to
bother them. There's one in particular
where I have a journal that I use for
like big [ __ ] It's makeups and breakups
and I'm about to leave country or change
career or do whatever. So there's not
there's maybe like a hundred entries
across my entire life. And
one day I decided that the MC that
wrapped over the music in the second R&B
room of the Saturday club night that we
ran, he told me he was leaving to go to
another night in a different city, but I
was adamant that this was going to be
the end of the business and because the
Asian society they only went because he
was rapping upstairs and then if if
Asian sock doesn't go, then that's going
to be the beginning of the cascade and
I'm going to be homeless on the street
and I'm going to have a gluten
intolerance and live under a bridge.
Like you know, this this huge [ __ ]
snowball and it was to me salient enough
to put in my [ __ ] day one journal.
Like the most important stuff that's
been in there. And
back and I go like
"What the [ __ ] are you thinking? Like
why how why was that of all of the
things that you could have had in your
mind?" But for that period it was
it's a big big big big deal. Yeah, it's
wild how you know we confuse our
emotional response with the intellectual
material moving across the stage of our
mind many times. So we have a feeling
about something and our nervous system
is reacting to it and whatever, you
know, mental formations, whatever
thoughts may be pinging around our brain
at the time get wrapped up in the
emotional reaction and then those get
supercharged with whatever it is that
we're feeling and then what happens to
you happens. You know, um
I think to wrap up the the notion I was
talking about in terms of like feeling
self-conscious,
um
you know, if you consider the fact that
we all feel like we are the center of
the universe and there's this saying
that goes, you know, no one's ever
thinking about you, they're always
thinking about themselves. Now I like to
add on to that that and even if they are
thinking about you, they're thinking
about how you relate to them, you know,
so they're still thinking about
themselves. They're just using you as
this kind of interpersonal
like U-turn. Um
so if we think about that for a moment,
it's like hold on a second. We're all
background players.
Like there is no main character. We're
all background characters.
And that's a really freeing thing to
consider.
It's cuz if everyone's going around
thinking about themselves, that means
that we are even the most famous person
you can think of
like you're still thinking about how
they relate to you.
You know what I mean? It's not about
them. It's about you, you know, it's
like
so, I think. Even the more attention
that is on somebody, the more it is
about how does that person relate to me?
Absolutely. And so that's a very freeing
concept because it means that whichever
you're in that bar and you're like, "Oh
my god, everyone in here is looking at
me." You go, "Look, we're all No one is
looking at me. No one cares. No one
gives a [ __ ] that there's some dude in
here, you know
trying to chat with someone for 30
seconds. It doesn't matter. It's all
good." And just remembering that is a
great way to And someone might hear that
and go like, "Oh, well then now okay,
now nothing matters. Everything falls
apart. I'm going to turn into a
nihilist." But that's that's not what
we're talking about here. What we're
talking about is just turning the volume
down a little bit and just easing up the
pressure on yourself, relaxing,
remembering that like you have some
space in life. You can move around. You
can do your thing and like you're not
under the microscope and you know,
you're not you don't have the spotlight
syndrome on you all the time like it
feels, you know. And the more that you
start moving like that in life, the more
that you can start to trust that because
whenever you're just like, "You know I'm
going to just like stop giving a [ __ ]
about all this this like fear that
people are judging me all the time." And
you just start kind of relaxing your
skin a little bit and start doing what
you want to do, paying attention to
what, you know, what you want to focus
on, not what I you know, other people
are focused on. And you'll realize that
like not not only does that feel good
and it's true that people don't really
care what you're doing, which allows you
to do more of what you want to do. Um
but then ironically, whenever you start
moving in that way, then other people do
become interested in you. But from a
positive person
It's a self-fulfilling prophecy in the
other direction. Exactly. Exactly.
What role does bravery have here?
So I think that a lot of people think
about bravery in terms of
the world outside of them.
You know, we think about it like, I need
to face this thing, right? I there's a
challenge on the landscape and I'm going
to meet that challenge and overcome it.
I think about bravery
in terms of the the other direction.
I think about bravery is being able to
hear
what is arising inside of you. What is
the thought that's coming out? What is
the feeling and the intuition that's
coming up
that you know in your gut is going to
make you happy, is going to be something
that's going to become meaningful to
you, that is the thing that is pulling
you forward in life, not the thing that
you're trying to force in life.
The more you can start listening to that
voice and trusting that voice as opposed
to
this big complicated script that we're
told we should care what other people
are doing, care what other people think,
care how other people are operating,
care what other people find important,
hit all of the beats of life that
everyone says you're supposed to do this
and you're supposed to do that and na na
na na na na
all of that stuff is total noise.
It's what may will make a person feel
alive, what will make a person build
meaning is listening to that thing
inside of them and being brave enough to
trust it in the face of what's going on
outside of them.
I think a lot of people that listen to
podcasts like this one that are
unreasonably reasonable and they're not
crazy and they're not angry. You know,
they're thoughtful, they ruminate, they
consider how to do things well. They
want to do things well. And I think that
there is a big battle between intellect
and intuition. And you know, most people
I think need tightening up, not
loosening off. Most people need to be
more thoughtful. They probably need to
pay a little bit more attention to
things. They probably need to not react
quite so quickly. But there is a
specific cohort, maybe quite a large
cohort of people
all of whom are listening to this
podcast that uh
could do with actually allowing that
intuition to come through a little bit
more, to give a little bit more faith to
the voice that's inside of them and to
not rationalize away, to not come up
with good justification. And if you're
smart
then your rationalizations and your
justifications are
pretty well walled off. They're very
well very well fortressed and buttressed
and they're strong and sturdy because
you use your intellect to disregard
you know, that that little voice, it's
just a little voice. Look at how
powerful my intellect is. Look at the
you know, all of this cognitive
horsepower that I can apply to this
thing. Look at how well it served me
when I was in university. Look at how
well it served me when I'm at work. Look
at how well it served me when mom got
ill and I did that thing and it really
really I didn't from intuition that
but there's a time I think when that
needs to learn to be turned off. And the
problem is you have evidence that in the
past using your intellect made your life
better. And you now need to give a
different a whole other wing of thinking
faith. You need to have kind of have
faith in that, a degree of faith and
bravery. So how do you think about this
sort of tension and this balance between
intellect and and and intuition, between
the rationalization and and the little
voice inside of you?
Yeah, no, that's a great question. I
mean, you know,
and you're talking to someone who spent
their entire life in the camp that you
just described, you know, or most of
their life.
Um
really, whenever I drill down into it,
what I see is first off, the intellect
is just a beautiful processing machine.
You know, that's really what it is. It
just processes data so wonderfully.
And it is very useful, as you said. But
um
it's not very magical. You know, it's
not very there's not a lot of whimsy in
the intellect a lot of times. And people
could hear that and they could come up
with criticism that, but you know, I
would say to them, you know, you know
what I'm talking about. Um
I would hope. Uh you know,
and so
like
ultimately, seeking balance I think is
really valuable. We want to be a full
spectrum human.
You want to be able to have all the
intellectual power to be able to
understand a larger size and strategize
and all these things. But you also want
to be able to feel yourself. You want to
feel your life. You want to be able to
feel what's coming through in your
experience. And generally, people that
are so high in logic and low emotion,
they're very closed off to what they're
feeling, right? Because like any system,
these two things are um sort of a
shifting balance. Like you're either
moving into a more uh intellectual and
logical frame of mind or you're moving
into a more emotional mind. These two
things generally overlap in in intensity
because they really can't. It's sort of
like being if you were like laughing
with
hysterically at something while being
super sad at the same time, it you would
just look psychotic, right? Um
same type of thing. And so finding some
balance in these two things is really
important. And the you know, the main
reason to me I think that it's important
is because and I just speak from
experience on this is that whenever you
are in this intellectualizing state all
the time
ultimately what happens is you isolate
yourself.
You isolate yourself from being able to
really connect with other people, being
able to connect and and feel yourself
and and deeper things in the world
because you come up with this um a a
self-proving
system of thinking which as you said
doesn't have a lot of flexibility, it
doesn't have a lot of growth and
ultimately it makes it to where you
don't
you know, one of the keys is it you
don't allow yourself to be vulnerable to
the world, to feelings, to other people.
And in that vulnerability of our
emotions comes connection.
And connection is a huge part of the
human experience. And it took me about
40 years to really understand this and
feel this.
But only until we stop relying
completely on hyper-intellectualization
can we open up and expand and allow
ourselves to connect with other people
because it's that like
um it creates the space for us to you
know, have new information flow in, to
have even new new thoughts about
ourselves and other people arise, to
have new feelings arise, and you know,
someone who is
always relying on intellectualization
um is probably trying to protect
themselves from feeling those things
because of some negative past
experience. And generally I find that
people that are hyper-intellectual have
had some you know, sense of trauma uh
from a pretty young age. And so they had
to become hyper-interdependent or in I'm
sorry, hyper-independent
and create a a system in which they
could not only defend themselves, but
also teach themselves the world because
they didn't have a a parent, a father
figure, something like that to teach
them what they needed to to learn. And
so then you become reliant on that. And
ironically, you then make your own
intellect the father figure or the god
figure, whatever symbol it needs to
represent to you. And then it makes it
to where you're fearful of disrespecting
it and actually not minding it because
you'll get in trouble by the god, you
know, by this thing. And so create so
the ultimate to sum that up is
um
being able to take the the foot off the
gas pedal a little bit and let a little
space in there will allow you to be
gently vulnerable to feeling, to new
ways of thinking, to to new ways of
being in the world. And that being will
create a a new type of connection in
your life. And that connection will
broaden your human experience and make
you uh what I like to refer to as a more
full spectrum human.
Have you got any
practices or mantras or places that you
go to when you notice that happening,
when you notice you pulling yourself
away from feeling and intuition? Yes. Um
what I do is uh and this is just me is I
like to to slow down and to sit with
whatever it is that I notice I'm
feeling. And I start treating it like a
glass of wine or something.
Um I just go like, what Okay, what notes
are these? What what am I I'm smelling
this, I'm tasting this, I'm doing this.
And it's just gently kind of labeling
what's arising without trying to judge
it or shape it anything and just
listening to it, you know, because like
those the the feelings that arise
that's information. Like we have that
and and if you need to process this
through your logic filter, here here's
something for you to run through there
real quick. Like
our bodies are designed with that
functionality for a reason, right?
Everything that's inside of us uh in our
mind and our bodies, it's all evolved
for a reason.
And that's because our feeling and then
ultimately our intuition is trying to
tell us something if not about us, about
the world. The fact is is that it just
speaks a different language than the
intellect. But whenever you can hear the
information and the wisdom in your
feeling
outside of the languages you're used to
you if you're using for your intellect,
you can learn this whole other dimension
of life that exists. And it broadens
your understanding and your and your
awareness uh and ultimately it makes you
a stronger and more rich and deep human
being.
But really, the practice and and
stepping into that experience is
recognizing whenever you ultimately it
depends on where you're at.
I would say um starting at kind of the
peak level like recognizing whenever
you're blocking something off.
Like we can feel it's like that saying
like the soul knows, you know, but the
mind doesn't. You can feel that kind of
dull weird sense of feeling in yourself
and your body. Maybe it's manifesting in
like tension in your stomach or
something like that, but you can feel
that in the body. And whenever you
recognize that, that's whenever you use
your mindful awareness to slow down and
just start listening. And just go like,
okay, what is this? I feel tension in
the stomach. What is this? It's like,
oh, it's um it feels like fear. It feels
like um
insufficiency. It feels like uh like
unlovableness or something like that.
You feel like, what am I feeling? And
then the more that you start just noting
and like quickly labeling without
overthinking, just intuitively labeling
uh these notes of feelings that are
arising, then they'll start to expand
and that's where your really strong
intellect comes into play. That's where
you can use that thing that a person's
cultivated over their entire life. Cuz
now that's the superpower and you can
use that to work into this other place
in yourself. So if you are in a
conversation with someone like a partner
or something like that, and for example,
this is a classic, you know, move. It's
like, let's say you start talking about
finances or something like that and you
like, oh, you get closed off. You feel
tension. Maybe you feel a little like
anxious or weird or or it might, you
know,
might um present as frustration, you
know, but really that's there's a lot
more than going on. So you notice that,
okay, why do I feel that way every time
we talk about this? We talk from this
topic. You go into it and you just go,
okay, what is that? What is this
feeling? It's like I feel I actually
feel anxious. I feel a little
frustrated. I feel scared. I feel
uh
like I'm in trouble. Like what what are
all these? And the more that you kind of
sit with that
and
allow it to unfold and use that strong
intellect processing center to sift
through and be able to I you know, label
and identify and track back those
feelings, ultimately what will happen is
you'll go, oh, I feel this way because
my family struggled with money and my
parents were like uh emotionally abusive
every time that the concept of money
came up. And so now I'm scared that this
is going to manifest in my relationship
and I'm going to have the same problems
and basically have a re-enactment with
my partner that I had whenever I was a
child.
I love the idea of treating a sort of
wall of
unobserved
feelings like a glass of wine.
Uh and uh you know, like a um like a
musical sound. You're an audio engineer.
Um and you go, that's that's sound. You
go, well, yeah, it's sound, but what it
like let's pick this apart. Oh, well,
there's sort of that sort of low rumble,
there's sort of this sub base and then
oh, there's like some sort of high notes
up there as well. Um yet
this idea of using
just giving yourself the mindfulness gap
again and
allowing your intellect to be the
superpower that you can deconstruct this
thing with. Um
What's the trigger, you know, for the
non-meditationally
inducted that are listening?
This thing arises and I think that this
is the point that so it's that zero to
one. It's the never talking to the girl
in the bar. It's the never noticing when
you actually get carried away.
How can people just be a little bit more
deft and adapt at uh at doing that?
Yeah. I would say you just start paying
attention.
Start paying attention more to and you
have to do anything and there's no real
skill to learn. It's just notice where
your focus is. Start paying attention to
that. And if you're in a social
situation or whatever and you're hanging
out and normally maybe you start talking
[ __ ] or something like that and you
realize like, I don't that doesn't
really feel good. I don't want to do
that. Then you just kind of note it and
you're like, all right. Well, next time
you'll just pay attention and the more
that you start doing that, it's kind of
like your tongue going to a sore tooth
in your mouth. Like it can't resist it.
Your tension will start doing the same
thing. So then you'll notice again the
next time that you start doing that
behavior
and you'll be like, hmm, there it is
again. You just notice while it's
happening, right? So it's just
you know, labeling the thing that you
want to change and then start watching
for it. And then as you start watching
for it, then you will slowly over time
notice that there's some space around
those things. And that space is where
you can start to take action. So it's
really just paying attention more to
what you're saying in the present
moment, how you're acting in the present
moment, noticing your reactions.
And as you focus more on those things,
that awareness will start to expand more
and more and more and you'll see that
you can actually apply intentional
choice making in those moments as
opposed to just repeating the autopilot
behaviors again and again. What have you
come to believe about imposter syndrome?
I think a lot of people want to live
boldly. That's a desire that they want
in their life to take control, to do
things.
What where does imposter syndrome play a
role here?
I think that imposter syndrome if you
are in a situation where you start
feeling it,
um it's pretty simple.
It's like you wouldn't be there if you
weren't good enough.
People don't invite you to go, you know,
to be like, hey, let's um I'm going to
give you a raise and give you a
promotion. And then you're like, oh god,
I don't uh I don't know if I can go, you
know, hang with all these executives.
It's like they didn't invite you by
accident.
Like they invite they brought you there
because you belong there, because you
are capable, because ultimately you
probably were more impressive than the
people that they have. That's why they
want to get you in there to try and add
value.
And you can just map that on to any
other area in life. It's like when
you're sitting around thinking like, oh,
I'm here, but I'm not good enough to
hang. It's like you were invited because
you were good enough, right?
Um but if it's in a situation where you
um are you you have yet to enter that
space,
again, I would go back to
recognizing that imposter syndrome as
just a narrative that's in your mind and
looking for the proof.
Where is the proof of this?
Because, you know, our negative thoughts
hate facts. They really hate facts.
Because facts shatter and you know,
delusion ultimately. So that's what
imposter syndrome is. It's just a
delusion because it's something that
hasn't happened yet.
You're thinking like, oh, I don't belong
here. Well, you belong where? You're not
there yet.
You know? So whenever you apply this
notion of like
this is again just this narrative that's
arising for you, you can help you you
can you can start releasing that and
then actually taking the action to
uh move into where it is that you want
to go.
One of the strategies that a lot of
people rely on I think in an effort to
keep moving life forward, to feel like
they're happening to life is setting
goals.
Long-term goals, medium goals, 90-day
sprints broken down to daily actions and
where do you stand on goal setting and
habits?
Yeah, I think that both of those are
huge. I mean,
um especially goal setting is really
good for people because
um
you know, and I would see say setting
attainable goals is really valuable
because um
you know,
one of the negative thinking habits that
really haunts people is
not being able to thinking that they
can't achieve something. So they start
like, I'm going to try meditating, you
know, and they try for 5 minutes and
then they never try it again. And they
tell themselves a story like, oh, well,
I I guess I I'm not someone that can
meditate now. Or they say, I want to try
and, you know, go to the gym, start
working out, get in better shape. And
they go one time and then they're like,
well, that you know, I that didn't work
out um or whatever. I didn't have a good
time, so I'm not going to go back to the
gym.
Um but really setting these attainable
goals is a great way to to evolve in in
any direction. So
um
one, it helps you clearly define what it
is that you want to achieve. And I think
that that's really important because a
lot of people have, as you said, they
have a feeling that they want to live
boldly. But I would say to that like,
well, what does that mean to you?
Like what does that look like? What what
does that look like in 6 months? What's
that look like in a year? Like how are
you going to live boldly? What will that
feel like? What will you need to achieve
to then reach that definition of your
own success?
And so setting goals is really valuable
because it clarifies what you're doing
in life. It clarifies the direction that
you're going and the path that you're
making. But I think it's really
important to make those goals easily
attainable
um because you need consistency. Because
everything that you want to, you know,
if you want anything that you want to
achieve comes through compound interest.
Everything is consistency plus time
equals lasting change and results.
And so for example,
if you're like, I want to learn how to
meditate, you don't go and this is what
most people do is they go they get
really excited because again the emotion
influences the the thinking. And so they
go, all right, I'm going to go and be
I'm going to become the best meditator.
I'm going to meditate 2 hours a day and
I'm going to be levitating before
Thursday, you know. And it's like, so
what happens is they go, you know, for
maybe 3 days in a row and then they
basically spend all their energy and
don't get the results that they're
looking for because they never really
defined the results they thought they
were looking for in the first place and
then they go, ah, well, I guess that's I
don't know. I'll get distracted and do
something else now. That didn't work.
That didn't give me the shortcut to
whatever success I thought that I
wanted.
The real the right way to do it would be
like, I'm going to start for 5 minutes a
day
for
you know, let's say 2 weeks. And let's
look at like, what is it that I want to
achieve with this?
I want to feel less anxiety. I want to
have a clearer mind, like be able to
think more clearly.
And um I want to have, let's see, let's
pick a good meditation benefits. I want
to um be able to sleep better.
So you could say let's put put things
down. those are the goals, that's what
I'm moving towards, and now I'll
meditate for 5 minutes a day for 2
weeks, and then you revisit that. You
go, first off, it's easy cuz it's only 5
minutes a day. So you achieve the goal,
which is really important. And then you
can look and see if the action that
you're taking is actually getting you to
where you want because you know,
the
life is so such a moving target that we
typically we can have, you know, a
outcome that we're looking for, and then
a week will go by, and we'll completely
forget what that outcome was, and things
will change, and then we'll go like,
okay, what was I trying to do here, you
know? So defining that's really good.
But, um
being able to
uh get there, you'll you'll see uh that
you've accomplished a thing and and see
if what you've done uh has actually met
your the outcome that you desired. And
the really important thing about setting
the tenor goals is that like we like
feeling good. And so if you can do
something simple for yourself that is is
easy to do, but do it consistently,
you'll keep doing it.
It feels like self-trust
is a big part of this. This uh sort of
need and
uh to build momentum and and to uh start
off small. I think it's so true. People
want to have the best outcomes that they
can. They may be even a little bit
embarrassed or ashamed about the fact,
God, I I knew that I should have started
meditating. It was in my It was in my
New Year's resolutions in 2019 that I
was going to start meditating. I said I
was going to do it during COVID and like
I didn't do it. Uh and now I'm going to
start, and oh my god, I I I need to
catch up. And and what how pitiful of me
to have not only not started, but now to
set such a low goal. I'm going to set a
big goal. But there's so many places
that high achievers find to castigate
themselves for falling short. I think
purposefully programming in something
which is so difficult that the chance of
you not doing it is quite high is you
basically just racking up another L
before you've even stepped out onto the
field of play. Right. Right, totally.
Yeah, and a lot in in that like the the
setting the crazy high goal, that that's
kind of like a different problem. You
know, that's more of a motivation issue.
That's like um
and you can use that to your advantage,
I would say. So like you know, but these
are
um macro and micro. So the micro is
setting these small goals right over a
long period of time. That's basically,
you know, my view to get you into action
because a lot of people are so sedentary
or don't ever try at all. And so what
you want to start doing is getting into
a repetitive behavioral habit, moving
towards something. And so that's where
the self-belief and self-trust comes in
because you're okay, I can do a thing
consistently. I can get there. And then
you start to believe in in in yourself.
So that way whenever you go to do
something else, you can go, yeah, cool,
I can I can change my diet as well.
Because now, you know, I did I started
going to the gym three times a week.
That feels good. And that's possible, so
I can change my diet. And then you do
that, and you're like, great, wait a
second, I actually have some say in my
life. Now I want to go do this thing, I
can do that, too. And you follow the
same process. Um but if we want to talk
about like reaching wild and crazy
heights in life, I think that, you know,
that's the groundwork that these small
consistent goals that we can use to
build up the strength, to build up the
dedication, to build up the clarity and
the self-trust to then go for something
really big, but we just follow the same
process. But that setting that giant
goal is basically like once you clearly
define a big thing that you want in your
life,
a some, you know, some huge aspiration,
you then I I always say like think even
bigger. So it's like dream as big as you
can, and then dream even bigger, and
then try and dream even bigger. Like,
okay, now what's that look like? And
really clearly define it for yourself.
And then go, okay, let's go towards
that. Let's try and do that. And what's
going to happen is of course that you're
probably not going to actually reach
that, but by looking that high, it's
going to change your mindset so that the
way that you approach all the steps in
trying to get there will be a lot more
aggressive and ambitious and serious
than you would have if you were looking
at something that seemed really small.
Why do you think it is that uh
anxiety is the pervasive emotion? It's
the most in vogue of all of the emotions
uh for the modern world. It's super hip,
man. It's uh I mean It's the hot new
girl in school, yeah. Yeah, it is.
Um I think our nervous systems are just
frazzled, man. We're fried, you know,
it's like we have and not only do we
have all of this technological inputs
that we're always done with all the
time. It's like, you know, we're
basically like air traffic controllers.
We're just dealing with these
notifications like a million of them a
day. Um and we've got our notifications.
We have the the bits of information that
our mind is like hopping in and out of
constantly. So we're looking at our
phone, we're looking at our email, we're
looking at like the texture of the
internet. It's basically our mind just
like playing chess all day, like getting
in this, getting out of that, getting in
this, getting out of that. And so that's
just bad, you know, that's a bad diet
for our brains and our nervous system.
Um but also I think that, you know, a
philosophical part of it is that like
humans aren't designed to have this
level of like cultural and social and
self-awareness like in terms of like
everything that's going on all the time.
I think that it's sort of existentially
overwhelming for people. You know, it's
like if whenever people if we look back
like someone is they have a farm or
something. Of course there's problems,
there's things to think about, you know,
life is never without suffering. But um
they were sort of just aware of their
little, you know, 5-mile radius, and
that was all they really had to worry
about. But now, you know, you wake up
and you you you look at the internet for
2 minutes, and you're like, okay, well,
in the Philippines there was an
earthquake, and you know, in Round Rock
there was a a mass shooting yesterday,
which unfortunately was real. Um if you
there's a tsunami coming, there's this
political [ __ ] going on, there's this
happening. Oh, cool, there's a new
bacteria a flesh-eating bacteria in
Japan that's claimed three lives
already. You know, better cancel my trip
to Japan, you know. There it's just like
so much [ __ ] And then you look at like
you know, the tension of social change
and difference is always happening, too.
It's like everyone's like a lot of
people struggle, I think, with like,
well, like who are we? What's happening
in the world, you know? Like how how do
I fit into this because everything is
changing, and then of course it's being
manipulated by, you know, a lot of
different forces out there in the world
as well. So I think it's just it's
really overwhelming for people on an
existential level, and it makes it
difficult for them to understand sort of
how they fit into the world. There's
this weird blend between short-term
predictability and long-term
unpredictability. I think, you know, we
know what the weather's going to be
tomorrow, but we have no idea what the
economy's going to be like in a year's
time. And the reverse was true
ancestrally. We knew that really over
sort of years stuff was largely going to
stay the same. We had no idea what was
going to happen tomorrow. Maybe a tribe
was going to come over. So you have this
flipping. And I think the problem with
that is we we are given uh
a sense of control, an illusion of
control, because even if all hell broke
loose tomorrow, I bet that Starbucks
would still be open.
I bet that you could still get, you
know, some nightmare happens,
Washington, D.C. gets hit with some like
freak airplane accident or or or there's
a
attack of some kind, I bet that the
Starbucks on South First Street is still
doing whatever spiced latte is available
right now. So you go, okay, so I have
short-term predictability, but long-term
turmoil. And this um gives us the
illusion, well, I should be able to I
don't think we ever had that previously.
I think that people were a lot more open
to the vicissitudes of life coming and
smashing them in the face. And a lot of
it is expectations versus reality. And
if your expectation is that things are
going to be, well, you know, why if my
Amazon Prime delivery can be done by to
the hour, I know
when the toilet paper's going to arrive
here,
why is it that I can't X or Y or Z?
Yeah, totally. And on that only you're
so right about Starbucks, and not only
would it be, you know, open and
operating, but they would have branded
the disaster somehow. It'd be like the
post-apocalyptic pumpkin latte.
Yeah, come get it here. Um just uh three
packs of cigarettes or one, you know,
1-lb hunk of random meat, uh whatever
you want to barter with, come on in, you
know.
Yeah, it's an interesting one. So you've
spent a lot of time doing
all manner of rejuvenation practices.
What do you think that most people get
wrong when it comes to
designing a routine for physical and
mental relaxation and and rejuvenation?
Yeah, I think that really um getting too
precious about it, man. I think that's
the the big thing that messes people up.
It's like because I we're again we're
living in this ecosystem where there's
like, okay, okay, what do I have to do?
Okay, at 6:00 a.m. I have to wake up, I
got to view sunlight, and then I got to
take a cold plunge, and then I have to
activate my heat shock proteins, and
then I have to do this and this and
this. Like there's so much of that [ __ ]
out there is I think it makes it really
uh overwhelming for people. And that
basically they get a bit of like um
there's this sort of signal-to-noise
thing that's lost, right? And so then
they go to try and create their own
routine, and they're like, it becomes
too complicated and too difficult, and
then they get frustrated, and then they
give up, you know. So I think really
just keeping it basic and um doing stuff
also like looking at it again, this goes
back to kind of what I was talking about
earlier that I touch on the book cuz
it's like stop worrying so much about
what all of these other people are
telling you that you need to do to feel
better. Like experiment. Like figure out
what works for you and what feels good
to you, and build your own routine out
of that stuff because not only does that
actually get it to where you're
interested in it, but then there's a
sense of ownership and meaning that is
built into your routine and that means
that you're actually going to be more
likely to to continue doing it, right?
So because if you look online and you're
like, "Okay, well, this influencer says
do these five things. This guy says
these two things this person says eat
these uh things every day. I'll do all
this stuff."
It's not really an intrinsic type of
motivation, you know? And I would say
you should try some of that stuff and
experiment with that with what's offered
because there's so much incredible
information out there, but if some of it
doesn't work for you, it doesn't matter.
Like just use the [ __ ] like don't worry
about it. Don't try and force it into
your routine because I know they say I
have to view sunlight at 6:00 a.m. I
haven't been up at 6:00 a.m. in 10
years. I'm fine, you know? It's like I'm
thriving,
it's all good. It pick the [ __ ] that
works for you and that speaks to you and
that actually that you feel results from
and start calling that and building your
own routine. I'm a huge fan of like of
model eclecticism. Like and that come I
would say spiritually,
uh health-wise, mentally and in by that
to define that is basically looking at
all of the information that's out there
and then playing with it, messing with
it, seeing how it feels for yourself and
then cherry-picking the pieces from all
the different schools of thought that
happen to speak to you, that feel good
to you, that mean something and then
create your own school, your own path,
your own version of the thing.
Parasympathetic non-monogamy.
Well, you know, it is the rest and
digest system, man. So, you know.
That's true. Uh new book is out now.
Where Oh, what what is something that
you think people are going to gloss over
in it
and from the people that have read it
already
that you wish that they didn't. Is there
something in that is a really big
element where
it's maybe not as flashy and sexy up
front, but you go, "You really need to
focus on this." Yeah, um I think that
one of my favorite things in there is I
talk about
this kind of magical thing that I
realized and started noticing throughout
my life.
I wonder if people will read that
section of the book and go like, "Oh,
that's interesting."
But they might not really embody it and
try it. And I'll I'll talk about it guys
so really quickly
is I talk about this thing called
portals and life. And these are these
moments that I've experienced and I've
noticed that have every step of the way
where there's been a big advancement for
me, whether it be personally or
professionally or whatever it is.
It's this weird
culmination of things comes together
and this opportunity starts to open and
arise
and you have to be watching for it and
it will seem weird. And if you're not
watching for it, you'll miss it. But
every time that I've been watching for
that and I've noticed it and I've walked
through it it has changed kind of my
universe as it were, not literally, but
you know, well, I suppose literally, but
but symbolically.
And so what those are is and I go I
share like kind of I actually use Miles
Davis, the jazz musician, as an example
for all of the portals that he walked
through in his life and I share some of
mine.
But really these big changes happen
every time and I look at other people
and it's the same thing for them. And I
love how we started this conversation. I
don't know if we were recording or not,
but you talked about how much you love
kind of Zen koans and things like that.
I love those too because what are they?
They are two often conflicting pieces of
information intentionally and it is by
putting both of those things in your
mind and reconciling them then in the
process of reconciling them it makes you
think of a third a third thought and
that third thought can only come through
the computation of those two conflicting
thoughts and that's how wisdom often
arises. That's why those work. That's
why I love them. This happens in the
same way.
It's whenever there's one part of
yourself that you understand to be
valuable and you feel some sense of
mastery in. Then there's another aspect
of yourself that is valuable and you
have some natural mastery in. Something
outside of you will arise that will
ask those two parts of self to join
together.
And you'd never considered joining those
two parts of your skill set or your
personality.
But in the opportunity that arises when
you you join those two things together,
it creates something new. It creates
this feature within yourself that didn't
exist before and it opens up this whole
different world of possibility for you.
Like it just happens again and again and
again and I think it's the same
principle as the koan. It's because for
things to like cut and culture and to
break through in life and in the world,
they have to be new. The problem is is
that people see the stuff that's out
there. They try and look at the edge of
the horizon and they go, "Well, I'll
copy that and then I'll try and kind of
embody that and and that will be the
thing. I'll get out there and I'll do
whatever's like trending." That doesn't
work because you're already late. So the
thing that the new quality that's being
asked to be born of these two elements
of self
it is new because it it there's not a a
template for it, not even within you yet
until these things connect. So like as a
few examples, I know this sounds rather
ephemeral. A few examples of this like
whenever I was um
like starting my one of I used to be
like a I had my own audio engineering
company for years.
Um before that I thought I was going to
be a composer. And problem is I like
really weird music. And that's not a
good way to make money. Actually, it
ended up being one, but at the time it
wasn't a good way to make money.
And I was like, "Huh, well, I don't
know." But then my friends that were
also making music, they started saying,
"Hey,
uh your music just sounds really good,
man. Can you I don't know what you're
doing, but can you do that to mine?" I'm
like, "Yeah, sure, cool."
Then, you know, their friends would hear
their thing and they'd go, "Man, that
sound really good. Do you think Corey,
if I paid him $100, you know, would
would he do that for mine?" And this is,
you know, I was in my early 20s.
And I and I was like, "$100 to do what I
like doing? Like hell yeah." And it kind
of dawned on me. This was one of those
early portals. It was like, "Oh, I want
to do music professionally."
But my skill my skill set of being able
to make like produce music really well
those two things connect I hadn't
thought of connecting those two things
and actually moving into a music career
as a producer as opposed to an artist.
Like holy [ __ ] And when I realized that
and I the opportunities that were sort
of arising around me, I started doing
them and then that turned into this big
chunk of my life. This has happened with
my podcast, too. Where it was like these
type of conversations that we're having
today, this is just what I sit around
and talk to my friends about all this
type of [ __ ] all the time.
And then I was on, you know, a mutual
friend of ours podcast back way back in
the day like over 10 years ago. His fans
started hitting me up and being like,
"Dude, you have to start a podcast." And
I was like, "Huh." I was like, "Well, I
guess I talk about all this all I talk
about with my friends anyway and I have
a studio full of audio equipment and I
know how to produce stuff.
Maybe I should put those two things
together." And then boom. And it just
keeps happening again and again again.
So that's one of the things that I it's
a
really interesting thing. I I hope
people will will read and enjoy that and
I hope they'll start looking for those
kind of cosmic winks in their own life.
It's like
lifestyle alchemy in a way. Taking
individual elements and sort of spinning
them up into something which is really
useful. Yeah. Yes, absolutely. Corey
Allen, ladies and gentlemen. Corey, I
really appreciate you, man. Let's bring
this one into land. Where should people
go they want to keep up to date with
everything that's going on? Yeah,
thanks, man. I really appreciate you
having me. People can go over to
heycoreyallen is my uh all my social
handles and if they go to
bravenewyoubook.com,
they can check out the book.
Um and also, of course,
uh they if you want to go to my website,
you want to take a look around, see
what's going on there. There's guided
meditations, there's the releasing to
now course that you mentioned. Um that's
just corey-allen.com. Hell yeah. Corey,
I appreciate you, man. Thank you.
Thank you, man. If you enjoyed that
episode, you will love a selection of
the best clips from the podcast over the
last couple of months and it's available
right here.
Go on.
Give me a watch.