Oh my God,
It is happening.
We are back,
The Energy Matters podcast.
We're both still here and alive.
I'm with Cody Edger,
My co-host.
Cody,
It is good to be back with you,
Buddy.
It is good to be back,
David.
And by now,
I'm sure many people were wondering,
Like,
Are they alive?
Did they fall off the planet?
Did they escape this mess?
I've been waiting to get abducted,
But it hasn't happened yet.
So here I am.
We haven't done an episode in just about two years,
And we have been teaching this whole
Time.
We've had classes through the Energy Matters Academy,
And we did a retreat this past year
In Boulder.
We're going to do another one in 2024.
We've had a lot going on,
But I think it was six years,
Maybe,
Straight of us doing the
Podcast and interviewing some really interesting people.
And we decided to take a break,
And we are back.
So we have no idea how many episodes we're going to do,
But we just decided we wanted
To record some more.
So here we are.
And in this one,
We're going to do the 2024 Energy Update.
And what I mean by that is I want to start with a little bit of what's been going on
With me and Cody,
And then we can get into what's happening on the planet.
We've got wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East.
AI has come out since our last episode,
And there's a lot of change happening on the planet.
COVID ended.
And I think a lot of people are feeling uneasy,
You know,
A sense of anxiety around the direction
Of the planet.
I hear a lot of World War III jokes.
That's no joke.
That's no joke.
It hasn't been six years,
I guess,
Since we really started.
It has been a while,
But we did lots of episodes,
And we started teaching and have taught numerous
Year-long courses and the retreats and different things that we've done.
It's been an exciting,
Really,
Six years.
In our last episode,
We were talking about the launch of your book.
So that was kind of where everything,
We decided maybe to take a break,
And you were busy with
That and with all of your creating and things that you're doing,
And yeah,
It's been quite
A ride.
That's right.
I put my book out,
And so I put a lot of energy and time into that,
And I've done a ton of
Traveling.
Last year,
I spent three months in Nepal,
India,
Bhutan,
Thailand,
Australia.
What else did I go?
Spain and Italy,
Teaching.
That was pretty special.
The Nepal-Bhutan retreats were pretty darn cool,
Hiking the Himalayas and doing some
Philanthropy.
That was special.
Maybe by the time this comes out,
I'll already be there,
But I'm teaching retreat in Mexico
And then later in the year,
Bali.
So I've done a ton of traveling,
And it's been great,
But I'm also happy to be home
In my log cabin-looking house.
Yeah,
I'm a bit more of a homebody with the family.
My daughter graduated from college and has moved off,
And we did a little traveling.
I went to Norway and Sweden,
And that was really fun,
Beautiful country to see.
But I've just been continuing with,
I work with mediums,
And that's mainly my passion
Is to teach people how to access their mediumship and how to use that for healing.
And certainly,
The state of the world today,
Everywhere I look,
People are in need of healing
And a sense of grounding and connectedness is so important.
It feels like the energy feels so unhinged and ungrounded and unpredictable.
It seems like things used to be a little bit more steady and not predictable in a bad way,
But just predictable in a way that it was kind of safe and grounded and moving forward.
And now it just feels like everything's going in a million different directions.
And AI in the mix just ups that question mark in my mind.
Yeah.
And also on a personal level,
Our friend Michael Tomura passed away,
Who was a really special
Teacher.
He was teaching the intuitive work for well over 40 years,
And you grew up with him,
Teaching
With him in California.
And so that just happened in the intuitive development world.
So he.
.
.
That was kind of big in our world.
You know,
I grew up learning from him and being around him and learned a lot over the
Years from him.
And yeah,
He was teaching this energy awareness and energy healing work for over probably
Since 1973.
So a long,
Long time running.
We should.
.
.
That was a big thing.
He was.
.
.
Well,
We interviewed him.
He was one of our early interviews.
I was going to say,
Yeah,
We can.
.
.
Maybe we'll reintroduce that episode and share it again so everyone can hear us talking with
Michael towards the end of his life.
That would be cool.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So last.
.
.
A few months ago.
.
.
No,
Last month,
Time of this recording,
I was at Cornell University in upstate New York
Teaching world peace meditations.
And that was pretty wild because they were in the news constantly for protests and somebody
Saying something anti-Semitic.
And then a student saying some pretty dark stuff and they had to close the campus down.
Someone got arrested for hate crimes.
And all this time I'm teaching weekly global peace meditations there.
And so that was quite a trip just to watch all that happen and be a part of it.
And it's kind of,
I would say on the campus side,
It's died down.
And then we saw in the news the heads of Harvard and UPenn,
MIT had to go in front of Congress
And they got in some hot water.
So there's been a lot of intense energy,
The energy of hate,
Violence,
War,
All of that's
Been permeating on the planet and in our consciousness recently.
And then on the other side of it,
We have this incredible new invention called AI that
Is speeding everything up,
Making things easier.
People probably losing their jobs,
Making people anxious.
And the ground feels a bit uneasy,
Definitely.
And so if you're feeling that way,
You're probably not alone and even more important
To start meditating or get deeper into your practice if you aren't or haven't yet.
I think it's a huge help.
And in historical context,
I think it's probably still the best time to be alive and one of
The best times to ever be alive in terms of the kinds of food we can eat,
Access to
Medical care,
Travel,
Technology,
Human rights.
If you go back in history,
It's been worse and worse and worse the further you go back.
So as messy as the world is today,
I think the main thing is we're more plugged in.
And so the problems hit us within seconds when they happen.
We're taking 8 billion people's issues,
We take the five worst things that happen every
Day,
And then we intravenously just put them into our consciousness through the news every
Moment we check our phone.
So I don't know if things have gotten worse,
Maybe a little bit recently,
But I think it's
More of the exposure to the information that is kind of relentless and our inability to
Deal with it.
And I think even today I was watching the heads of all the social media
Companies were in front of Congress defending themselves and getting yelled at for the
Effects of social media on kids.
And so we've got new problems to deal with.
Too much information,
Too much speed,
Right?
All of it.
Maybe maybe we just feel like we don't have enough space physically and
Energetically.
And I think we're all feeling a bit that way.
But I'm very positive and optimistic about the world and the future.
Maybe I'm alone in that.
You might be.
I don't know.
I'm actually optimistic as well.
I think that's a really great point that we have so much exposure to everything that's
Happening and we have it so quick,
Like it's almost immediate in real time that we can
Get information about things that are unfolding in the world where it used to be that news
Would be a little bit older.
So it had a little time for maybe some of the charge and energy to dissipate,
A little
Time to make more sense of it,
Not to just be constantly hit with something with really
No filters and everything's just coming right into us.
And we get easily overwhelmed with the energy when we're open and exposed to just the
Charge and the frequency of all the kind of chaos that's happening.
You know,
From an energetic or spiritual side,
Anytime we're taking a step where we're
Kind of breaking down an old level of stuckness or an old system,
It gets a little
Chaotic,
A little ungrounded.
So a lot of what we're seeing in many cases is a step that's kind of being taken or
Kind of a growing pains of trying to move things forward.
Not that war is necessarily that,
That's kind of a breakdown of the ability,
I think,
To
Grow and progress.
And then so now we're regressing when we're caught in a war and so much destruction is
Happening.
But just growth in general and moving forward to a new way of doing things,
A new way of seeing things,
A new way of interpreting our experiences,
That causes a
Little bit of an unsettled feeling.
And when we can build forward and go to that next better step,
Then everything is better
Off.
But I do think that there is this place where when things start to become too
Destructive,
Then growth can't really happen.
And now we're kind of regressing.
So we see that happening in a few places in the world,
But we also see tremendous things
That are shifting in the direction of growth.
And so I'm optimistic in that regard.
Yeah.
And a lot of people that I work with and students,
I'm noticing certain trends.
A lot of folks are really looking for either healing and or finding their life purpose
And path.
And the world can make it easily feel like there isn't one.
My purpose is to avoid chaos and death.
And that's a very survival consciousness kind of energy.
But in reality,
We have to really take a good,
Deep look at why we're on this planet
Beyond just surviving,
Because none of us will.
We all have an expiration date sooner or later.
And so the question is,
What do we do with this very,
Very little precious time we have
On this planet?
And so is it to open up to love?
Is it to be creative?
Is it to be an explorer and journey?
You know,
Why am I on this planet?
Am I really focusing my energy or am I allowing the world to push me around and set the
Agenda for me?
For a lot of my students,
I notice before they can fully even ask those questions,
Sometimes they need to do a lot of inner healing work,
The stuff that's made them feel
Confused and stuck,
Brought their self-worth down,
Made them feel like life wasn't worth
Living.
Whatever energies hit them earlier in life or hitting them now,
They have to
Learn how to deal with them,
Heal them and release them,
And then open up into that
Deeper level of purpose.
Part of the purpose can also just be the healing itself.
In my experience,
If you're able to do that and focus on that and really work on that
Energy and everything else starts to settle and you can have a sense of peace and
Stillness,
Even amongst,
You know,
In the midst of all the chaos that tends to be
Happening in the world.
And if you are somebody that's noticing a lot of chaos and you
Don't like it,
Then maybe part of your life purpose and path is to help ground the
Chaos,
Heal the chaos,
Bring in order,
You know,
Help people out of confusion.
I was with someone recently who was really profoundly committed to being vegan,
Really
Into human animal rights and from the tiniest creature to the biggest.
And I thought that was great.
I loved this person's just commitment to not hurting animals.
Does that mean everybody's life path should be just about not hurting animals?
No,
This was their path and their passion.
And it was wonderful to see it.
But yours is probably in whatever pulls on you,
You know,
Whatever is bothering,
Whatever keeps entering your consciousness over and over and over.
So when I hear somebody complain about the same thing over and over,
Usually I want to
Ask them,
Well,
Do you want to do something about it?
Is this part of your path?
Or are you just going to sit in a victim consciousness or in an armchair and be a
Broadcaster of problems?
Or are you actually interested in leaning in and making the world a better place,
You
Know,
Maybe ironing out some of the some of the parts of your character,
Some of the
Edges that are creating friction in the world for you and for others?
Or are you just kind of sitting back and commentating and complaining?
So there's a lot in the world we cannot control,
Enormous amounts.
But there are some things,
Especially on the inside of us,
That we can start to focus on
And control.
And so the things that make you anxious are the things you can't control,
Refocus your energy on what you can change and shift from the inside out.
And then I think you'll start to notice a difference in your anxiety and stress levels,
Your impact on the world and just your overall happiness.
And so maybe one of the things for me for 2024 is that kind of spiritual responsibility
And autonomy for your own energy and making a path for yourself,
Even in the midst of
Chaos.
Yeah,
That's great.
It's great.
I think that's that's why I've always gravitated towards this practice of
Not just meditation,
But meditation with this energy awareness or an awareness of our own
Sensitivity and then our relationship to the energetic world,
Because that's the place
Where we can start to get many of those answers that you were just alluding to answering
Our questions,
Not only about what is my purpose,
But where should my energy be put
Today?
What's important to focus on today?
Where am I going to move forward or get an answer in the immediate moment?
And where can I have the biggest impact with my energy?
It's very easy to get overwhelmed with so much coming in and then we're just kind of
Spinning or we get caught in the place where we've absorbed it all.
And now we're just in what you were just like talking about,
Where you're either feeling
Overwhelmed and like a victim to it,
Like there's nothing I can do or broadcasting it.
And the way out of that,
I think,
Is to come into this level of awareness that we talk
About in our intuitive training,
Not to be an intuitive reader necessarily,
But to be
In touch with that part of yourself so that you can ask these questions internally and
Get a guidance,
Get a level of an answer and a direction to start to put your energy
Toward.
And when you do that a little bit each day and you get an answer and you start
To put your energy toward that place where you're going to get healing or you're going
To get growth or you're going to open up an opportunity,
Things start to shift very
Quickly.
Actually,
It's kind of always amazing to me how quickly things can shift in
Someone's reality and universe when they start to use the awareness tools and take the
Time to meditate and really begin to work on themselves.
And it's,
You know,
We work on ourselves to become more aligned and internally healed
And kind of whole,
But ultimately it's to be in the world in a way that we really want
To show up where we're able to express our energy and creativity and ideas in the world
In a very positive way.
And then things come back to us in a very positive sense when that is happening.
So I think that's a great kind of theme that you just laid out for the year.
From my perspective and practice and the students that I work with,
That we really focus
On healing.
So that's always kind of a theme,
Whether it's healing oneself or healing the
Things around you,
Kind of bringing things into a better state and a better energy level,
As we might say,
Is such an important thing.
Yeah.
Thank you.
The last few years I've been doing a lot of men's work and I've noticed a lot of great
Healing also happening in the masculine and a lot of being around men who are starting
To take more responsibility for themselves and the work that they want to do in the world
And trying their best to catch up to the women.
Slowly but surely.
I also I taught a class at CU Boulder this past year on finding purpose.
And I remember one of the students asking me about what to do with feeling anxious.
And,
You know,
It seems like a very broad,
Common questions.
The most common thing,
Most common reason people come to meditation for,
They're feeling
Anxious.
And instead of answering it like some prescription of like step one,
Two and
Three,
You know,
Let's get the anxiety out of here.
I said,
Well,
What's we actually feel under the anxiety?
And she took a moment and said,
I can't exactly remember.
It was something along the lines of,
Well,
I feel invalidation,
Like I'm not good enough.
And I said,
Oh,
OK,
And where do you where do you sense that comes from?
And the whole class is watching.
Right.
And she she was like,
Oh,
Yeah,
I feel like I need to live up to my parents'
Expectations.
And I was like,
Oh,
Now we're really getting somewhere.
I don't even think anxiety is your problem.
It's the byproduct of not feeling good enough or like the sense of you're not enough.
And that's bubbling up into the feeling of anxiety,
Maybe just like general anxiety.
And a lot of people are functioning in that consciousness.
They think it's they have to be somewhere in an hour.
They have to pay bills,
Have to get more done.
But when they slow down enough and they really look inside,
It's almost always,
Always
Something much deeper.
And it's so easy to cover that up with all the information and movement happening in
The world.
The speed of the of the events can distract us from slowing down enough to
Realize that there's something under the hood that's causing the anxiety or the stress
Or the distraction.
And the reason people don't like to look is because it freaking hurts when you look,
You
Know,
You feel the pain,
You see it,
You experience it when you slow down.
And so it's easier to distract.
But when we slow down and we meditate on it,
That's the only time it really comes out.
And then when we heal ourselves,
That's when our path becomes more clear.
So that was an interesting experience.
I just wanted to relay that I and I had.
And then last one I want to mention is I was in Australia last year,
I got to teach,
I
Got to be on a panel at the Australian Museum in Sydney,
Really lovely group of people.
And we had a panel of scientists and artists,
My friend Lila and me,
And why they invited
Me,
I have no idea.
Yeah,
You talk about stuff with these two interesting people.
Cody,
Where are you?
I need someone to bounce off of.
I don't know what to say.
And but it was really great to hear some of their questions and be on the other side of
The planet and see the same exact issues in people that I see in the United States all
The time.
And just today I was on Insight Timer where I have courses.
I respond to the questions in the courses and I've responded to thousands of questions
Over the years.
And everyone from every country imaginable,
The human condition is the same every freaking
Where you go,
It doesn't matter.
And that was just a reminder going to Australia and some other places teaching this past
Year,
Seeing that and also the comments today,
Answering those questions.
And as a teacher,
Being able to find a sense of neutrality and compassion at the same
Time,
Not let it overwhelm me and be able to still show up and be present.
I found the men's work has actually been really,
Really helpful for that.
You know,
Over the years in doing this work,
I just realized it's 2024.
So when I first started in this work,
It was it was 1984.
So it's been 40 years that I've been both a practitioner and a student of this work
And then a teacher of intuitive awareness and energy work.
And it's always been more women coming to do this kind of work than men,
Although I've
Seen that shift over the years and now it does seem to be more open to men and we're
Getting more of a balance of men and women working together,
Which is so important
Because if we are talking about raising the awareness,
Say,
In ourselves,
But also on
The planet,
It can't just happen with one side doing the work.
You know,
Everybody has to be taking these steps of learning to get centered and
Meditate and become more sensitive and aware of one's own energy and other people's
And relating to other energies with that awareness and that sensitivity.
So it is so important that that everybody kind of learn their whatever aspect of this
Kind of work that they might be interested in.
So I want to just I want to finish by maybe acknowledging the difficulty for a lot of
People over the last couple of years,
Whether it was COVID,
War,
You know,
Just
Internal strife that you've been going through psychologically,
Emotionally.
If you lost somebody,
If you lost a job,
Had a relationship,
Had a hard time in some
Way,
You know,
This is part of the experience of being a human and the human
Condition.
I don't know if it gets easier or harder from here,
But you can use certain
Tools to make it smoother and enjoy the ride.
You know,
I love the saying,
If you want to find your purpose,
Find what breaks your
Heart.
So what you really care about,
What pulls on you,
What takes your attention,
What
You wake up thinking about,
What you go to sleep thinking about,
What you seem to not be
Able to get an answer around.
That's probably what you should lean into and what's going to open up into something
Meaningful.
So if there's a ton of confusion around one topic or a lot of pain around a
Certain area of your life,
Probably where your attention should be and where your path
Is.
And,
You know,
If you're focusing a lot on some external conflict in the Middle East
Or somewhere else and that's good for you and you're contributing in some way,
Great.
If it's just a distraction and a place for you to channel anger while you ignore what's
Going on inside you,
Maybe not so great.
So you have to be honest about that with yourself.
And I'm putting a blessing on everybody listening to this episode that you have an
Amazing 2024 and that you really step into whatever you're here to do on this planet,
Even if it is kind of dicey.
And maybe you need to learn some ninja skills like Cody's got his karate skills.
Maybe there's a set of skills you need to learn,
Like in Napoleon Dynamite.
You know,
You need skills.
David's got his hockey skills,
So he knows how to pull his way through something.
That's right.
And I've lost a couple of teeth because of it.
Right.
Yeah,
That is so important to highlight,
Though,
Is things happen in this human experience
That are very difficult and we're all subject to them.
And having a few tools on how to kind of get into a little bit different space,
A little
Bit different level of awareness relative to what we're going through to get a perspective
Where we can get an answer or see a solution or recognize the growth potential within that
Experience can be very helpful.
That's kind of one of the things that we really practice when I work with people in
Mediumship.
There is always the kind of core notion of helping someone get grounded and
Centered in their authentic self and in kind of their true sense of what they're here to
Be doing so that they can move forward on their path.
And we're all actually practicing that.
We're all subject to that question.
So I think this 2024,
I'm actually looking up relative to this year.
It has been a rough few years,
Actually.
It seems like since 2020,
Everything's just been in disruption,
But how to kind of stay
Grounded and centered in the middle of massive change and disruption is a practice.
And it is certainly something that we we all can gain,
You know,
A lot from learning that
Practice.
And if you're looking for the ultimate answer to life,
The universe and everything,
Then
It's 42.
Just run with it.
It's well known.
Yeah.
Well documented answer.
Cody,
Thanks for hanging again.
Good to see you.
Let's make some more episodes.
It's the Energy Matters podcast.
High five,
Everyone.
Love you.
See you soon.
Great to see you all.
See you soon.
Bye.
