Enjoy The Process - Life, Lessons, & Laughter

In this episode, we explore a reality where we have the ability to enjoy traveling on the path to our goals. Often times we unconsciously move through the process of our journey, missing out on joy in the present moment. We discuss the tools needed to stay present and to enjoy your life NOW, not just in the promise of what the future may hold.

Transcript

Welcome to Life Lessons and Laughter with your host,

Glenn Ambrose.

Hello everybody,

Welcome to the show.

I'm here and now Aubrey's here.

Hi.

Hi.

Long time no see.

Long time.

I was just noticing how short my hair was in that video.

Oh yeah.

Yeah,

It's like I haven't gotten my hair cut in over two years.

So now it's like,

Woo.

What's your secret?

My secret to what?

Yeah,

Like some,

You know,

My hair,

It just doesn't grow.

It just stays the same no matter what I do.

I just want to know your secret.

Yeah,

They're like these luscious locks.

Luscious locks.

Yeah.

It's been two years and my hair grew two feet.

Like that's not.

Yeah,

But that's like,

Actually,

You know,

I get curious about stupid things.

So but my curiosity is satisfied very quickly.

I've noticed compared to a lot of other people,

Like I just think in general terms a lot.

Yeah.

So like I get curious.

I'm like,

Geez,

I wonder how long my hair is going to grow.

Like so I googled it and I guess people's hair grows to a certain length and it's different for different people.

So basically,

Like once you hit your max length,

You're done.

Like there's pretty much nothing you can do.

There might be something you can do,

You know,

Maybe Rogaine or something.

I don't know.

I don't know.

But yeah,

That's it.

All right.

But it does get curly and wavy like when it gets long in the back.

The top has never really been like that.

But like once it yeah,

Just once it gets down into the back,

It starts curling all up and getting all like luscious locks.

I thought it was like the coconut water out in the DR or something.

Maybe.

Yeah,

Maybe.

I am actually doing I am.

We'll get off the hair in a minute.

I am actually putting some like conditioning like leaving conditioner though,

Because it's so humid.

Yeah,

Like it was it was it was embarrassing at some point.

But yeah,

I'm going to have to like cave and and like,

You know,

Just do this.

Yeah,

Do this.

To me,

This is,

You know,

I'm like a guy,

Man.

So like,

To me,

This is like caving and getting into the girl stuff.

You know,

Unconsciously,

That's how my brain looks at it.

But but yeah,

So today,

We'll actually start talking about the topic,

Which is enjoying the process,

Enjoying the process of letting your hair grow.

Well,

The process of anything.

Yep.

So we've been we're talking and we've both been kind of doing this in our lives.

So how did you say you were doing it in your life recently?

So I,

You know,

I feel like we constantly just move from one thing to the next.

We were kind of chatting about that before,

Just how it's hard to enjoy the moment when you're in it,

Because you're constantly looking for the next thing.

So just something I've been doing,

I've just really been practicing being present,

And enjoying the ride to getting to where I'm going instead of just trying to get there.

Yeah,

And that's,

It's,

It's,

I've been doing it a lot lately,

Too.

It's it's,

And what sparked it,

You know,

It's funny,

Like different things spark things in our consciousness.

And I had somebody locally come up and help me with some computer work last week.

And he came up and of course,

Doing some of the reason I need some help is because I have some problems,

We'll label them.

So he's sitting there and,

And he's trying to figure out how to get this thing going.

And he's going at it for a little while.

And I look at him and I go and I remembered something when I was emailing him beforehand about the work.

And he said that he liked to problem solve.

So he's in it,

Man.

And I can see the wheels turning and him trying to figure stuff out and trying different things.

And I'm like,

So you like to problem solve?

And he stops and looks at me.

He's like,

Yeah.

And I'm like,

Good,

Because you're in it.

So we started talking about that.

And and it's,

You know,

He,

He's,

You know,

His perspective was really a healthy one.

You know,

He said,

He was Yeah,

He's like,

You have to like with computer work,

You have to enjoy the process.

Otherwise,

You drive yourself crazy.

Because if you're just trying to accomplish something,

If you're just trying to get something done,

And you're not enjoying trying to figure out how to get it done,

You're going to get so frustrated.

And I'm like,

Right,

That's why I'm having you do my computer work.

Because when I was younger,

When I started my business,

I used to enjoy that I used to enjoy trying to figure out how to do things,

Figure them out,

I'd feel good about myself,

You know,

And I was doing everything myself.

And it was all cool.

Now,

I'm just not in that space with the computer work anymore.

So I'm having somebody else come in because I don't like it.

I don't like the process anymore.

And that's so important is this.

There's this book that gave a good example to that I read years ago.

Well,

I think I read like half of it.

It was I always forget the title,

But it has the F word and the in the title.

Huh?

Yeah.

Yeah,

It's a book.

And it's got the F word.

Is it the subtle art?

Yeah,

I think so.

The subtle art of not giving an F.

Yeah,

I think that's it.

I have that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I like I,

I started reading it because somebody brought it up.

And I grew up in the Northeast.

So you know,

The F word is part of my regular vocabulary.

And so I started reading it and I'm like,

Wow,

This this is like,

Better than I thought this book.

I was like,

You know,

He really there's really some good points in here.

And then I got about halfway through and it's kind of like anything if if,

Like,

If you pick one thing,

You can only go so far with it.

You know,

Like,

Every the entire globe wouldn't be better if they figured out the subtle art of not giving an F,

You know,

So so like the first half of the book was explaining it and giving examples and all that stuff.

And I really liked it.

And I thought it was good.

And then after a while,

This started veering a little too far.

And it's like,

Okay,

It's not going to solve everything.

I mean,

Let's be realistic,

You know,

But but I really did like the book.

So and in that book,

He gives the example like he wanted to be a he wanted to be in a band and he practiced some and he tried getting a band together like he wanted to be a rock star,

You know.

So and then he put it off to go to college,

I think,

And all this stuff.

And later on,

He realized he was in love with the dream of the goal of being a rock star.

But he didn't love the process.

He didn't love all the practice,

All the crappy gigs,

All the you know,

Everything it takes to become one.

He didn't like that.

And I thought that that was such a good example of what we're talking about.

It's every this this is why it's so important to love what you do,

Especially well,

Kind of especially I think it's getting more and more important in the in the world,

Like for every generation.

But you know,

I guess,

Maybe even a little bit more specifically to younger generations,

Because like,

You're just starting out,

Man.

And like,

If you believe the dream of the planet,

That like,

You just,

You're not going to like your job.

And you have to do it anyway.

Because that's how life is.

You're not going to last that long anymore.

You know,

Like,

Like for generate older generations,

They live their entire life lifetimes,

Not necessarily liking their jobs.

And it was okay back then.

But the dynamics are changing now,

And it's just unacceptable at this point.

You know,

Even more like older generations,

Some of them might be able to kick out another 1015 years and a job that they don't like,

After they've already suffered through 35 of them.

Maybe you can last you know,

If you really want,

Some people will,

Some people won't.

I mean,

Really,

If you look at the last two generations,

It's more people have changed their careers,

You know,

At 4050 years old than ever before in human history,

Because we just can't stand doing things that we don't like on a daily basis.

It's just intolerable,

The way the world is going,

You know,

So you might as and like I saw it,

You know,

I'm seeing it with younger generations,

Because you you have to pursue what you want.

And it's not most of the time,

It's not going to be easy,

Like because society doesn't support people chasing what they want.

Society chases people like teaches people to stay in a box.

A lot of people at work don't like their jobs or are kind of just trying to get to the next thing.

So they're not focused on the process of their job.

So like,

You know,

I see it with guidance counselors and career advisors and all this stuff.

It's like,

I have kids go in there and I'm that I'm working with and go,

Hey,

Go go talk to your counselor,

Go talk to your advisor.

And these advisors are like,

No,

That's not really feasible.

It's like,

Everything's feasible.

Like you're talking about a child's life.

Right,

Like and you're gonna say no,

It's not worth chasing what you want.

You should just stay in the major that you're in,

Even though that you don't,

You know that you don't want it like that,

See that they're conditioned to behave like that.

So we have to be our own advocate.

And we have to push so it's going to be hard.

And if you don't,

If you don't love what you're trying to do,

You're never going to follow through with it,

Because as soon as you start hitting speed bumps,

And things start getting difficult,

You're gonna go,

Yeah,

The heck with I didn't really want to do that in any way,

You know,

And then you won't.

Right,

Right,

Because you have to value the goal to a certain level where it's worth going through that to get there.

Right.

So it's like you like you have to Yeah,

I mean,

You do,

You know,

That is a little bit goal oriented kind of mentality.

But like,

If you understand that,

You know,

To do what you want for the rest of your life,

It requires you to go over your advisor's head,

Even though it pisses them off.

Find other ways of gathering information.

You know,

Don't let these roadblocks stop you.

Because it stops a lot of people.

And you know,

Just but if you're,

If you found something that you're passionate about,

And that makes you feel alive,

That's part of the process.

You know,

Part of the process is just not taking no for an answer.

No,

You can't.

No,

You can't really do that.

Yeah,

Yeah,

I can just have to find a way.

You can do anything you want.

You just have to find out.

You're gonna figure it out.

Right?

If you want it bad enough.

And that's the thing.

So it's like that.

That's why it's so important.

It's,

It's even more important now than ever to,

To find out what you enjoy doing,

Then pursuing it.

You know?

Yeah,

Yeah.

And yeah,

And I mean,

Finding something you enjoy,

How,

How do you I mean,

I guess you just enjoy it,

Right?

But how do you know if something is aligned with you?

Or not?

Yeah,

It's well,

It's basically what you just said,

But we can expand on it.

You know,

Like,

It's,

It's,

Like,

It's really simple.

We overcomplicate it.

You know,

Everybody's running around going,

You know,

Like,

They say,

Well,

I don't know what my purpose is.

And they use that as an excuse not to follow that purpose.

It's like,

Well,

What do you enjoy doing?

Like,

I don't,

I love,

I loved being a father.

It's like,

Probably the highlight of my life.

But I don't like working with kids.

Yeah,

You know,

And so I like I shouldn't work with kids.

I know other people that love working with children.

They should work with kids.

It's really that simple.

It's our gate.

Like,

I'm not interested in so many things.

It's close to endless how much stuff that I don't care about.

It's funny,

Because like,

The older I get,

The more I fine tune what I do enjoy,

And the more I'm willing to let go of what I don't,

Hence the computer guy coming over here.

You know,

So,

So it's like,

There's so much stuff,

And that I don't care about.

And to me,

It's just obvious that I'm not supposed to be doing that.

Because and I understand,

Like,

When I don't care about something,

Like I try not to make other people feel bad.

I'm like,

You know,

No,

I get that you like it.

I get that you care about it.

I get that it's important to you.

So therefore,

You should be doing it.

And you should be talking about it,

Preferably with other people who give a shit.

Because I don't.

There's people for that.

It's not me.

Yeah,

It ain't me,

But like,

I'll support you in finding them.

Yeah,

It's,

Um,

Yeah,

It reminds me like,

Just enjoying the process.

Like,

I see that a lot with work,

Whether you,

You know,

Whether you're passionate about what you do for work or not,

It's about your why,

You know,

And if you're doing it just for paycheck to pay your bills,

And that's the mentality,

Then,

Or regardless,

You know,

Like,

I do think that just stopping,

You know,

Just stopping and being able to just enjoy where you're at.

I think it really is mostly just being present,

Just being able to get present.

Right?

Yeah,

Yeah.

And it's,

You know,

When you when you're looking for what you want to do,

It's like,

It's just the first thing you have to do is kind of stop looking,

Quite honestly,

Because that like,

You know,

What were the whole idea I got to,

I have to find what I want to do.

I have that that that's already implies that it's outside of you.

You know,

So we don't like we don't pay attention to the subtleties of the energies and the meanings of what we're doing.

We just do it because it's socially acceptable.

And everybody agrees that that's what you're supposed to do.

And we don't question it.

But if you pay attention,

And question everything,

Then it's like,

Oh,

You know,

I don't know what I want to do.

Like,

I have to figure out what I want to do.

Well,

That sounds stressful.

Yeah,

You know,

And and you're gonna put a bunch of effort into it.

And you're gonna,

You're gonna figure it out,

Like it's some sort of mysterious problem,

Like in an all and then just thinking that you don't know what you want to do causes stress which constricts and then then putting effort towards finding something outside of yourself constricts.

So basically,

All that that energy that we're doing is we're tightening and we're constricting and what are we constricting the flow of information.

So now we're like,

What am I supposed to do?

Yeah,

Now you can't even get there if you wanted to.

No,

It could be right in front of you.

And you wouldn't you wouldn't see it,

You wouldn't notice it because you're so tight,

Nothing can come in.

You know,

So the first thing we need to do is relax and open up and just be like,

Just pay attention,

Just write a list of things that you enjoy.

And if you feel stressed out when you're writing that list,

You're doing it wrong.

Like you're literally writing a list of what you enjoy.

Why should that be stressful?

You know,

So it's like play that usually when I'm coaching,

I use words like play,

Just go play with it.

Go play with the ideas of what you want to do.

You know,

What play play around with it,

You know,

Make it like a scavenger hunt,

A fun scavenger hunt.

Like,

Oh,

What do what do I like to do?

What what brings me joy?

Oh,

I like listening to Jason Mraz.

Oh,

Okay.

So what about Jason Mraz?

Do I like?

Well,

I like that he has a positive message.

I like that.

He brings in reggae tunes sometimes.

I don't care what you write down,

Man.

Just like whatever brings you joy.

Write it down.

Whatever you whatever you lose time doing.

Like or if you get into a conversation with your friend about something,

And all of a sudden you go,

Oh,

My God,

Look at the time.

We've been talking about this for two hours.

I didn't I got to go write that down.

That's a thing because you lost time doing it.

Whatever energizes you,

Whatever you gain energy doing as opposed to depletes your energy.

You know,

These we have the signs within us.

It's to I guess oversimplify it.

It's like I was saying earlier,

There's a bunch of stuff I don't like.

And that doesn't mean that those things aren't good or worthy.

It means that Glenn Ambrose is not supposed to be doing them.

That's all it means.

Yeah,

It's totally that's it.

That's the whole meaning of it.

The fact that I don't like them means that I shouldn't be doing them.

That's it.

And the people that do like it,

They should be doing it.

It's really not that complicated.

Yep.

Yourself and see what feels right and what doesn't.

Yeah.

It's like,

You know,

Some people like sports,

But they don't expand their mind to,

You know,

Other careers other than being a professional athlete.

The levels of coaching that you can get into the physical therapy aspects,

The the the like I saw some I saw some spotlight show a couple of years ago on some equipment manager.

I forgot who was what team it was,

But there were an equipment manager that they like started,

I think,

Volunteering or something.

When they were a kid,

They ended up working their way up and running the equipment for this particular team,

Which I think the guy was making over six figures.

You know,

It's like,

So,

You know,

Expand your mind into like,

You can be around if you like a particular atmosphere,

You can be around that atmosphere.

You can be a cameraman filming them.

You can be,

You know,

A reporter reporting on them.

Like there's all kinds of different avenues that you can come at your particular joy from.

Yeah,

I am.

I didn't think I thought of it that way.

Because I think that myself included,

You know,

Just everyone as a whole,

Because we're all more like the different,

You'll attach yourself to a specific role.

But I like what you said,

Because it's very close minded,

You know,

Sticking to one individual outcome,

Where you get that same type of fulfillment and maybe having a different role in the same vicinity.

Right,

And that and that's,

You know,

That's a spiritual law,

Non attachment to an outcome.

Yeah.

So this is why I love spiritual laws,

Because like,

It doesn't matter the situation,

If you stumble into it,

It works.

You know,

Because so,

Oh,

I was attached to an outcome,

I didn't even realize it.

Oh,

Well,

We know that that's not healthy.

Because attachment to anything,

Any outcome in any situation ever,

In the history of the world,

In the future of the world throughout eternity is not good.

Not good.

Negative.

So so it's,

You know,

Or detrimental,

Maybe is a better word.

Yeah,

Yeah.

So it's,

You know,

This is why,

Like,

When I'm talking to people about finding what they do,

Like,

To me,

I usually use the medical field as an example,

Because it's like somebody can be like,

Oh,

I want to be a doctor.

And so they start going to college.

And then they're like,

Oh,

My God,

I'm not going through all this schooling,

I'm not going to be a doctor,

What's what's still in the medical field with less schooling?

Well,

Oh,

I could be a nurse.

Okay,

I'm gonna be a nurse.

Okay,

Then then they start going,

Then they take a,

You know,

Then they take an x ray class.

And they're like,

Oh,

My God,

I love x ray.

And then they start heading in that direction.

And then they have to take a MRI class,

Because that's part of their degree.

And they're like,

This is way better than x rays.

I want to be an MRI tech or an ultrasound,

You know,

Like,

But if you're walking towards your goal,

Because that's the way the universe works,

It's breadcrumbs.

So sometimes we're not capable of,

Of just getting the answer,

Maybe what,

You know,

Most of the time,

It's probably because we're too constricted.

We won't recognize it,

We're not listening to the soft whisper,

You know,

In the,

In the future,

As we get better at that,

Then we'll get better at that.

But in the meantime,

You know,

It doesn't mean that the universe has stopped trying to lead us to our highest good,

It's always trying to lead us to our highest good.

So like,

When we lean into something that we like,

We should have our head on a swivel looking left and right going,

Is there a version of this that I like better?

Is this you know,

Just keep just keep that playful curiosity.

Yeah,

Stay open,

Right,

Stay open.

And then if something captures your attention,

Look into it.

You know,

There's a reason it captures your attention.

It's because you're supposed to be looking into it.

And sometimes it's that,

And sometimes it's not that sometimes it's the thing that that leads you to,

You know,

So it's just about not being attached to an outcome,

Keeping your head on a swivel going,

Oh,

That,

That captured my attention,

I'm going to look into that.

You look into it further and you go,

No,

No,

I still like this better.

Okay,

So you go back to that and you continue on.

It's kind of like,

You know,

Like I have contacts,

You know,

So it's kind of like an eye test.

Is this better or is this better?

Exactly.

That was the one before the one after the one before the one after.

So it's kind of like that,

You know,

Looking put if something grabs your attention,

Put your attention on it and lean in.

Like,

Okay,

Is what you know,

Is this something is something that I should follow?

And if it's something that you're supposed to follow,

When you put your attention on it and lean in,

Another piece is going to like another breadcrumb comes out.

Yeah.

And goes,

Yes,

Yes,

Follow me.

I want you to come in this way.

Yes,

Yes,

Yes.

No.

Yeah.

And if not,

It's like,

Oh,

Well,

You know,

Maybe I was bored.

And something grabbed my attention for a moment.

I looked into it.

There's nothing there.

Okay,

I'm gonna stay my course,

You know?

Yeah.

So,

You know,

That's and so so kind of what we're talking about now,

You know,

Enjoying the process applies to everything.

So what does it look like?

And exactly what we're talking about now,

It looks like enjoying the process.

You know,

Like,

As you're going through this,

Understand,

Consciously know that you're going through a process and enjoy it,

Because that keeps your flow open.

It keeps you relaxed,

And it keeps you from constricting,

And therefore missing breadcrumbs.

You know,

Towards possibility,

Right?

When you stay open,

Everything's flowing.

And you're not,

You know,

You're not taking it too seriously,

But you're not ignoring it.

And it's fun.

Yeah.

You know,

It's like,

Oh,

What's it?

It's like,

You know,

Being a kid in a candy store,

Man.

It's like,

Oh,

What's this?

You know,

Like,

We should enjoy the process,

Like,

You know,

Think about what we're doing.

You're creating a life of your dreams.

Why is that stressful?

Right?

Instead,

You're Yeah,

It's perspective,

We suck the joy out of everything,

Because we're so focused on accomplishing something and not about enjoying the process.

It's like,

You're,

You're enjoying the like,

You're creating the life of your dreams.

It should be fun.

You know,

It should be.

Well,

We just know it's really important.

And squeeze the life out of it.

Like,

No,

Nothing's that important.

You know?

No,

Yeah,

It's,

It's tough.

It can be tough being present.

You know,

It's a now do you think it just takes practice like anything else,

You know,

To just rewire your brain like this to check because it is such a habit.

And I feel like it's so common in our society.

It's almost fuel.

It's almost not absolutely and get where you're going.

And it's just especially where I'm at.

I'm in Philadelphia area.

And it's just I mean,

On the East Coast,

Like it's,

It's fast paced.

And there's no everyone's in a rush.

And no one's enjoying,

You know,

Where they're at,

If you're thinking about traffic,

As an example,

I just had this yesterday,

You know,

Everyone's trying to get to where they're going.

And they don't care,

You know,

About the ride on the way there.

And it's hard to present when you're just trying to get to the next spot.

Yeah,

Yeah,

It's it.

You know,

There are gigantic social pressures to be like this.

So it's,

You know,

I mean,

I don't think we can really expect ourselves to be like this all the time,

You know,

So but what it is,

Is this is why we need,

You know,

Spiritual disciplines,

You know,

I've said it before,

I don't like telling people what they have to do,

But like,

But but meditation,

I can't see a way around it.

So just,

You know,

There's different and and like,

You know,

Getting consistent spiritual food.

And by spiritual food,

I mean,

Alternative ways of thinking,

Then society is portraying,

You know,

So I just don't like I don't see how we have a hope.

If we don't implement some spiritual disciplines,

If we don't meditate on a consistent basis,

And teach ourselves how to stop our mind,

How could we ever stop our mind?

If we don't know how to stop our mind?

You know,

Like,

As you of course,

You're going to get sucked in,

Of course,

You're going to get pulled off.

And you're,

Of course,

You're not going to recognize it.

Of course,

You're going to be asleep,

Just like the rest of society.

Because even if you do recognize it,

You can't tell your brain to cut it out.

You can't say,

Hey,

Wait a minute,

Come back to the present moment.

I mean,

You can say it,

But your brain's gonna be like,

Yeah,

Screw you.

And it's gonna just keep going,

You know,

Because you have no control over it.

Yeah,

So I think,

You know,

Meditation,

I think keeping some consistent food and to remind yourself to think other ways than society is teaching you this is why in recovery,

You know,

They teach 90 and 90,

Go to 90 meetings in 90 days when you first start.

Why?

Because and do you need to do that to get sober?

No.

But is it helpful?

Yeah.

Why?

It's because you go out in life.

And everybody's cray cray.

And so are you,

You're freaking alcoholic.

So then,

Then you got to go,

It's really helpful to go to a meeting every day.

And just sitting down and listening to a different way of thinking going,

Oh,

Yeah,

Yeah,

Yeah,

That's right.

Okay.

You know,

I don't have to feel hopeless.

I don't have to get sucked into the rat race.

There are other ways of handling things there are I don't have to go back to picking up my drug of choice.

You know?

Oh,

Yeah.

Oh,

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

And then you go out and into crazy ville for another day and you go to a meeting and then you Oh,

Yeah,

That's right.

That's right.

And you just,

You know,

That's what those that's what the consistent meetings do.

Yeah.

It just help it helps you from being carried away by by the the pull of of society and their unconscious ways,

You know,

So so so that steady spiritual food,

Meditation,

And and any other trick you can find,

Like,

You know,

I've done you name it,

I've done it,

Man.

I've had rubber bands that I used to snap to catch my attention.

I used to wear bracelets,

Because I'm not used to wearing bracelets.

So I would wear it as long as I wasn't used to it.

Because every time I move my arm,

I'm like,

What the hell is that?

So so it would snap my brain.

Like that was my red flag.

Hey,

Glenn,

Come back to the present moment.

Interesting.

I know.

So we Yeah,

Yeah,

That's a trick.

It's a I don't know if you're familiar with lucid dreaming.

But it's a trick that people use to bring them back to the present when they're dreaming.

So it makes complete sense.

It's just anything to snap your brain out of the unconscious.

Right?

You know,

And come back to the present moment.

And of course,

You have to do it.

You can't,

You can't move your arm and go and feel something and it grabs your attention and you go,

Oh,

I'm supposed to come back to the present moment,

But I'm too caught up in doing things right now.

I want to accomplish this next task.

So I'm not going to come back to the moment.

Maybe after I complete this next task,

Then maybe I'll come back to the moment.

Well,

You just missed the whole point,

You know.

And people do that a lot.

I mean,

I was dead serious about really trying to do this and I caught myself doing it.

I caught myself you know,

That's how I know.

Because I caught myself doing it.

You know?

Yeah.

I cut out like I have this,

I mean,

I made a book of them,

Like all my,

Like,

Quotes and stuff.

Yeah.

And they're like,

You can print them out.

Because I used to do it.

That's what gave me the idea to make one of mine.

And like I used to,

I used to copy and paste a bunch of positive memes on to an eight by 10 piece of paper and print it out at home and then cut them up and tape them all over my house,

In my car,

On my coffee maker,

On my computer,

On my bathroom mirror,

On my steering wheel.

Like I had them everywhere.

And as soon as I see one,

I'd be like,

Oh,

You know,

Like sometimes it'd be a gratitude thing.

So it's like,

Oh,

Okay,

Yeah.

Okay,

Come back and feel gratitude for something.

And it takes five seconds,

Especially when you get used to it.

But it disconnects your brain for a moment,

Brings you back to the present,

You know?

Yeah.

So anything like that,

It's,

You know,

I have my mind bell on my phone that goes off randomly.

It just reminds you to be mindful.

Yeah,

Like,

And a bell goes off.

And I love it because it's this bell is like the perfect tone.

It captures everybody's interest.

And it has,

I've been using that thing for probably 15 years.

And it's not steadily because I'll stop using it for a while.

Because my brain just starts tuning it out after a while.

So change your tool,

You know?

Move it around.

Yeah,

You can set a reminder on your phone every couple hours or every hour,

Whatever.

But my mind bell would go off.

And like,

When my son was younger,

We're always at soccer,

You know,

And we're sitting there,

All of a sudden you hear a bong.

And everybody is going,

Everybody within 10 feet,

15 feet of me is going.

Yeah,

We have no idea what it is or where it's coming from.

It's hilarious.

We're at real present though,

Real quick.

Just saying.

And I just sit there quietly and I watch them for a minute,

You know?

And then when they,

And they're looking at me and they're like,

Do you hear that?

And then I'm just laughing,

You know,

I give it a minute.

Because I can fully enjoy that response.

And I go,

Yeah,

That's my mindfulness bell.

It helps me come back to the present moment.

And they're like,

Oh,

Okay.

That's one of Glenn's,

Like,

I think that's one of Glenn's spiritual things or something.

It's cool because there's actually a lot of different mindfulness tools that are available now,

Which is cool.

I actually,

I have,

I mean,

I don't know if they have this on other smart devices,

But so I have an Apple watch.

And there's a breathe app on it.

And you can set it to remind you every certain X amount of times throughout the day or whatever.

And it will actually tell you to breathe and you hit start.

And when you hit start,

There's this little thing.

And as you breathe,

It vibrates as it expands.

And then it vibrates as it contracts.

And it takes you through a cycle of like five breaths,

Which is really cool.

So they have that.

And they also have a mindfulness app.

It comes with the watch.

You don't have to download it.

It's already in the software.

And it does the same thing only with mindfulness.

It'll just be like a reminder,

You know,

Take a moment to think about things that you're grateful for and it will send you little things like that.

So I think it's cool that,

You know,

Cause we're all so fast paced with our technology and everything.

It's it does remind me often.

And I think the breathing one actually measures your heart rate.

So when your heart rate goes up and then it'll be like,

Hey,

Take a breath.

Yeah,

It really is amazing.

Like I didn't know about it on the Apple watch,

But I have seen devices that do that,

That have been marketed over the last 10,

15 years.

And I've and I've read about them and some of the research on them.

And it's,

You know,

It's all scientifically backed.

I mean,

This stuff works.

And it's,

You know,

Like sometimes we think that we have to be too specific,

You know,

Oh,

I have to make sure I don't get caught up in accomplishing things.

Yes,

That yes,

It's a good thing to work on.

But like,

You know,

It's just practicing being present coming back,

You know,

Whatever the hell you can use to be more conscious in your daily life.

In any particular way is going to help you accomplish that goal.

You know,

It's this is why everybody in the world is teaching mindfulness,

Consciousness,

The present moment being in the now it's all the same thing.

You know,

Like,

You know,

Eckhart Tolle teaching the power of now is no different than any than Deepak Chopra teaching consciousness.

You know,

It's the same thing.

It's like,

And that's the foundation for everything.

So if you can be more conscious,

You're going to be more in control of what you do.

And if you're more in control of what you do,

You can consciously choose what you want to do.

So you can consciously choose to enjoy the process.

And it is,

You know,

It is a muscle.

When you start enjoying the process more and more,

You're happier more and more,

Because most things are a process.

So,

So if you practice being in enjoying the process,

Then you're going to be happy longer,

You know,

Because accomplishments are a goal.

We do not achieve happiness at goals.

I mean,

Well,

You know,

A fleeting moment,

You know,

And then you get there and you're like,

I'm here like,

You know,

It's to be accomplished,

But it is all about the journey getting there.

That's the whole you watch any movie,

Right?

Just take any superhero movie,

Any anything.

And you just see at the end is when they get to the goal.

But the whole movie,

The whole movie,

It's the middle.

Yeah.

The exciting part is the is the storyline.

And pay attention.

If you pay attention to old people talking,

You'll notice this.

I noticed that's how I noticed it.

Like I noticed that old people like even in the movies,

They don't sit there and and talk about accomplishing anything.

Like when they're looking back on their life,

I mean,

Then they're sitting there,

You know,

Like with with iced tea with a husband and wife that are 90 years old sitting on their porch thinking back over their life or or any other situation when people are looking back over their life.

They don't sit there and say,

Oh,

Remember when like our business was fully established and,

You know,

We we had our first million dollars in the bank and we just everything was perfect.

Nobody talks about that.

What they do is they go,

Oh,

Remember,

You know,

When we first got together and we were thinking about starting this business and we didn't know what the heck we were going to do.

Oh,

My God.

And but we did it anyway.

That was so amazing of us.

And we were like,

Oh,

My God,

You know,

And then we went through all those struggles and it was difficult and we didn't know what was going to happen.

And it was all up in the air.

And but,

Man,

We kept pushing through and we did it like you look back on the journey as enjoyable.

And too often when we're in it,

We just squeeze the joy right out of it.

Yeah.

It's like this is your life.

You're missing it.

Life is what happens when you're busy doing other things.

So it's like your whole life is the process.

You know,

This is why I think it's kind of good that,

Of course,

Not everybody's doing it,

But we are seeing more and more really rich people turn to philanthropy because we got to the point 20 years ago where you like,

You know,

If you have one hundred,

Two hundred million dollars,

You're good.

Like you don't need 14 trillion.

You know,

I mean,

You really don't.

Like,

You know,

So so like when you get a couple hundred mil,

You're good.

And when you know,

If you're a celebrity and you can't go anywhere on the planet without somebody recognizing you,

Except to like a little lake hidden in Zimbabwe,

You're good.

Like you succeeded at whatever the hell you were trying to accomplish.

Congratulations.

Move on.

Or what they're doing is people are hitting these levels of success that we never even could conceive were possible before.

And they're looking and they're miserable.

They're empty.

They're finding out that these accomplishments are empty.

You know,

Jim Carrey is a good example of that.

You know,

He said that he's like,

I wish everybody could be highly successful so they could find out that that ain't it.

You know,

It's not it's not going to fulfill fulfill you.

It's not going to fulfill your soul.

Nothing will.

No amount of fame,

No amount of money.

Nothing is going to do that for you.

It's falling in love with what you're doing on a day to day basis,

Enjoying your life as you experience it.

That's what we're looking for.

And if you and it's not either or you can you can get famous doing it.

You can make the money to you can you get all that.

And you're more likely to get it if you're doing something that you enjoy because you're going to be 10 times better than everybody else that's doing it that doesn't enjoy it.

So it's just falling in love.

That's that's the biggest thing that people overlook is it's just the day to day.

It's that you know,

It's everybody.

It's every cook opening a restaurant.

And never being able to cook again.

Yep.

Enjoying the process of getting to where you are going.

And not right of getting there not being there.

Right.

So you don't have to look back and think about that.

Yeah,

Because you're right.

Like a lot of people really get caught up in the stress of that.

And it's not enjoyable.

It's like threat level midnight.

Exactly.

And then after it's all over,

They're like,

It's like,

You've accomplished the goal,

You can look back and be like,

Wow,

We got here.

I wish I could have enjoyed that.

Yeah,

Like you're going to go from point A to point B.

You know,

Like you're going.

So let's say it takes you five years to get to a goal.

You're going to walk from where you are to where you're going in five years.

Like period,

Because that's what you're going to do.

So you're going to do that.

It's just a matter of how would you like to spend that five years?

Stressed out,

Or joyful?

That's the question.

And you have control over that,

You know,

It's,

I always,

My friend Nancy was somebody that could kick me upside the head really well,

Like spiritually.

And I remember one time I was I was getting a I was car shopping,

And I was really stressed out.

And I was talking to her about it.

And after,

You know,

Half an hour of me explaining what I'm going through with this car shopping extravaganza,

She goes,

She goes,

Wait,

Wait,

Did you say you're you're buying a new car?

Like I just been talking about getting a new car for the last half hour,

You know,

Right?

So I'm like,

I don't even know how to answer this question,

You get upset.

Like haven't you been listening?

Yeah,

You know,

But I but she's very spiritual.

So usually,

Most of the time I would,

I would my brain would trigger and I'd question her before I reacted.

Yeah.

So I says,

Yeah,

Yeah,

I said I was buying a new car.

That's kind of what I've been talking about for the last half hour.

Yeah,

Yeah,

Yeah.

Okay.

And I just had to I just had to double check because at the beginning of the conversation,

You told me you were buying a new car and I got all excited.

I was like,

Oh my god,

Glenn's buying a new car.

Isn't that awesome?

He's going to be able to pick out the color he wants the kind of car he wants.

He's going to be able to cook around his new car.

Isn't this wonderful?

What an exciting adventure for Glenn.

Yay,

Glenn,

I got all excited.

And then you were talking for the last half hour and little by little you sucked all the joy out of it.

And it turned into this difficult,

Stressful,

Horrible scenario.

And I just had to double check and remind myself that we're still talking about the same thing.

And it brought and I was like,

Oh,

It brought me right back.

What got me was that you just suck all the joy out of it.

That's what did it for me.

Yeah.

And that's what we do.

We literally take what is enjoyable in life,

Like doing things that we enjoy working towards goals.

These are all things that like,

They express our independence and our freedom of being an adult.

And the joy of life,

You know,

It's an ongoing joy.

It's experiential.

We're in an experiential reality.

This is all where we're supposed to be experiencing joy is in the journey.

That's where the joy is.

And instead of that,

We squeeze all the joy out of it.

You know,

We pretend somebody's got a gun to our head,

Making us go to work or something.

And that we have to,

I have to go grocery shopping.

I have to go to work.

Right.

No,

You don't have to,

You don't have to do crap.

You can sit in a corner and drool until you die if you want.

Somebody's got a gun to your head.

This is how I talk to myself.

Like whenever I get caught,

Whenever I catch myself going,

Oh,

I have to.

I'm like,

No,

You don't,

Glenn.

No,

You don't go,

Go sit in that corner and drool until you die.

You have that right.

So if that's what you want to do,

Go do it.

I'm like,

Well,

I don't think I want to do that.

Okay,

Then quit your whining and choose what you want to do.

You know,

So yeah,

We suck all the joy out of it.

And then we wonder why,

You know,

I mean,

Really,

I mean,

I think 75% is like kind of the percentage rate for just about everything dysfunctional on the planet.

That's my theory.

So and it's really it's,

It's because everybody sucks the joy out of what they're supposed to be deriving joy from,

Then we end up with 75% of the people that are unhappy in the world and stressed out all the time because they're not enjoying what they're supposed to be enjoying.

And then then everybody's walking around going,

You know,

They on antidepressants because they have a hormone imbalance.

Well,

I have to,

You know,

I have to take a pill because my body doesn't create the serotonin that it's supposed to or the dopamine.

It's like,

Really,

When was the last time you enjoyed your life?

You know,

Like the thing that generates serotonin and dopamine?

Yeah.

The reason that the thing that makes it be created in your body,

Like when you do something you enjoy,

It shoots through your system.

When was the last time you did something that you enjoyed,

And you actually took enjoyment in it?

And they go,

What do you mean?

That's the problem.

Your body didn't just magically stop creating happy hormones,

For no apparent reason.

It's because you don't derive any joy in your life.

You don't like your life.

You don't do anything that creates the serotonin and dopamine to shoot through your system.

So eventually,

You stop shooting it through the system.

And then instead of fixing the problem,

Like going,

Hey,

Maybe I should bring more joy into my life.

So I experience more happiness.

No,

We go take a pill.

Yeah,

You know,

And that's,

And that's just the,

You know,

That's probably the clearest.

Now don't get me wrong,

There are occasionally a very small percentage of people that have some sort of hormone imbalance,

But 90% of people on it do not.

So you know,

And that's just the the easiest thing to draw a line to.

It's the same thing with every other addiction,

You know,

Alcohol,

Illegal drugs,

Other illegal drugs,

Sex,

Relationships,

Television,

Technology,

Whatever you're doing to distract yourself from your life.

It's because you're not enjoying your life.

If you enjoyed your life,

You wouldn't need to be distracted from it.

You'd be enjoying it.

This is what we're getting back to,

You know,

This is this is the simplicity of community nature.

This is how we're supposed to be living.

And this is what we are getting back to.

We have to enjoy what we we can't go another 14 generations not enjoying our lives.

Yeah,

Our bodies,

Our systems aren't created to because you know,

We're being pushed to change.

This is a spiritual shift.

It's like you say spiritual shift and people think it's so ethereal.

Oh,

That that's kind of out there,

Man.

Like,

What does that look like?

Ooh,

You know,

It's like,

No,

It's really fricking tangible.

We are not made to live discontent lives anymore.

Lives that are not fulfilling and not joyful.

Our systems literally can't handle it.

What do they do?

They start shutting down serotonin and dopamine.

That's what they do that they're like,

No,

We're not going to function like this any longer.

We're much more sensitive beings than and people not is not sensitive in a bad way.

You know,

Sensitive,

Sensitive isn't bad.

Sensitive is good.

You know,

It means we're functioning at higher vibrations.

It means we need to actually live fulfilling lives now.

So get on with it.

Yeah.

Enjoy now.

Enjoy.

Enjoy the process.

Now don't race to the finish line.

Yeah,

Because there's nothing happy there.

Yeah,

No,

It's like speeding to a red light,

You know?

Yeah,

Hurry up and wait.

Worming in and out of lanes,

They cut someone off and they almost caused an accident and then you're just like at the red light with them.

Yeah.

It was all that worth it.

And they're sitting there.

They get to their place.

You know,

They're avoiding eye contact.

Let's be honest.

Let's be real.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And you're like this,

You know,

You gotta,

You gotta look and see who it was.

But yeah,

We're all just racing to,

You know,

Get to that same spot.

And I used to,

I was so,

I was so lost in a dream when I was younger.

I was the guy that drove like that,

You know,

That would cut that,

That would do whatever it took to get in front of the car in front of me.

And then at the red light,

I'd sit there and if they had the audacity to look at me,

Like,

Was it worth it?

I'd look right at him.

I'd be like,

Yeah,

I can write.

You're like,

What?

What?

What are you going to do about it?

Yeah.

I'm a car length ahead of you.

Yes,

I am.

And yes,

It was worth it.

You're welcome.

I'll do it again.

I'll do it again.

I'll pull over and let you pass me just to do it to you again.

Oh man,

This is going to go sideways in a minute.

This is why I needed to awaken.

Yes,

I hear.

Yeah.

You know,

And this is why I have no ability.

Well,

No,

I can't say that I don't have the ability.

I have no right to judge anybody else.

Yeah,

Because I was asleep as they come.

You know,

I had to like,

This is why I had to almost die,

Like literally almost die.

Because I would know was the message I got when I finally woke up.

It was like,

Dude,

We had to do that to you.

We had to literally almost kill you to get you to wake up because you just refused.

You know,

You're just so damn hard headed.

We just,

You know,

I mean,

We,

We destroyed your entire life and you were just picking yourself up moving forward.

Like,

What's wrong with you?

Like,

Yeah,

We just had to put you down like until you couldn't get up anymore,

Because like you just kept getting back up.

It was ridiculous.

So yeah,

I get it,

Man.

It's not easy,

But it's worth it.

It is.

You know,

Yeah.

So enjoy the process.

Damn it.

Enjoy your process.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's,

You know,

I'll close with this because we got to wrap it up.

But it's the in the day to day activities,

You know,

Just bring yourself back.

You can you can do with anything.

You know,

You can grab a cup of water.

Somebody did an exercise like that on a video.

It's like that.

No,

Everything.

I'm not going to be satisfied when this is at my mouth.

I'm happy.

Everything's fine right now.

This is good.

This is good,

Too.

This is good,

Too.

It's like,

You know,

So,

You know,

Practice doing that with your day to day to day activities.

You know,

Whatever you're doing,

Understand that there is we're so fast paced right now that what we do is we enjoy something like what we think unconsciously.

We have 20 tasks and we're so addicted to accomplishment that we go like,

Oh,

I have to get this done.

So then I'll have that sense of accomplishment.

And then when we get that,

When we finish it,

We don't even allow ourselves to feel joy for accomplishing it.

We just go,

OK,

Now I need to do the next task and now I need to do another one and another one and another one.

And we'll go through years like that.

You know,

And so even we're so messed up that even if we're unconsciously thinking we'll be happy when we accomplish something,

We don't even allow ourselves to enjoy the accomplishment.

We just it's just accomplished so we can do the next thing.

Yeah,

Yeah,

All right.

Let me play the music so we can cut this down under an hour.

It's getting close.

I know just in time.

Brand.

All right.

Thanks,

Everybody.

Thanks,

Everyone.

Thanks,

Aubrey.

Say bye again.

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