Focus On The Solution

In this episode of Life, Lessons, & Laughter, Glenn talks about focusing on the solution, not the problem. Wherever our attention goes, our energy flows. So if we're constantly focusing on the problem, the problem expands. We must focus on the solution to enter into it.

Transcript

Welcome to Life,

Lessons and Laughter with your host,

Glenn Ambrose.

Hello everyone.

Welcome to the show.

Welcome to Life,

Lessons and Laughter with Glenn Ambrose and Ben Barber.

Hey everybody.

So here we are.

For those of you watching on video,

There was a dramatic pause that had a funny pose.

Yeah,

So we're bringing the Glenn Ambrose pause back.

Yes.

Yes,

Rhode Island is on pause for two weeks and I thought it's called like the Rhode Island pause and I was like,

They stole it.

They stole your gimmick.

Oh wow.

Yeah,

We're gonna have to.

I'm gonna need a little kickback from that.

Speaking of video only,

Well I mean you can't because everybody's losing money from it.

Speaking of video only people,

You're still in an empty room because we record two sessions in the day and you are moving.

I am moving to the Dominican Republic and by the time you are listening to this I will be located there in different energy because that's part of my solution.

You said starting about a year ago that you were planning on moving to another country.

No,

I did not.

I was planning on traveling to different countries.

You said I might leave,

I might go somewhere,

I might go to another country.

Well,

Yeah.

Crystal and I immediately were like,

He's moving.

He's moving.

Actually,

We were like,

He thinks he's moving to another country.

He's not moving to another country.

He's not moving to another country.

No?

Who said that?

You and who?

Crystal.

Oh,

You're on Crystal's?

Yeah.

You're like,

He's not moving to another country,

Huh?

I was like,

No.

I was like,

No.

I was like,

No.

He might do it.

I've seen him move before.

So anyway,

Yeah,

You're moving to the Dominican Republic this weekend?

Yeah.

Which is exciting.

And that kind of brings us to our topic today.

It does.

Focusing on the solution.

Yeah.

So,

I mean,

That's what it is,

Man.

It's solution.

I mean,

It's not that everybody has to move to the Dominican Republic.

It's only an island.

We can't fit you all.

So please do not.

It's already we.

He's not even there yet,

Ladies and gentlemen.

And it's already we.

Oh,

Yeah.

That's my home.

It's already,

I'm emotionally and spiritually there.

So yeah,

The,

I mean,

We have to stay focused on solution.

I mean,

It's always been the foundation of pretty much everything.

You know,

I came into spirituality through recovery.

And that was one of the first things I was taught.

Don't focus on the problem.

Focus on the solution.

You know,

The problem is overwhelming.

And that's generally what we do in this world,

Whether you're an addict or not,

You know,

Is we focus on the problems and,

You know,

Focusing on the problems,

Which,

You know,

Another word is worrying and stressing out and all stuff like that.

It's all creating a future that we don't want because,

You know,

What we're doing is we're dreaming.

We're dreaming up our future.

So like what we think about comes about.

So if we're constantly thinking about things that we don't like,

We're just going to be experiencing more things that we don't like in the future.

So it's,

You know,

We're always manifesting all the time.

So it's,

You're either manifesting something you want,

You're manifesting something you don't want,

You know.

I've never heard like,

I've never heard a professional athlete or an actor or a singer that made it big go,

Yeah,

I was just,

You know.

I used to sit around and just think about how I'd never make it and how nothing was ever going to come to fruition and how this was all a waste of time and then all of a sudden I made it.

You know,

That's not how it happens.

They're like sitting there going,

Yeah,

You know,

I had interviews in front of the bathroom mirror with a hairbrush and I used to sing into my toothbrush and like,

You know,

All kinds of stuff like that.

It's like,

You know,

So what we think about comes about and I think that that is a huge thing that,

I think that that's kind of our big shift right now.

You know,

I'm always talking about a big spiritual shift and,

You know,

Usually we're talking about what it looks like,

What it consists of and all that stuff,

Which is cool.

But I think today is more about like,

Well,

How do we bring about this shift?

You know,

What's the,

Give me the how to,

Give me the DIY about it.

I'm hip with that term,

Huh?

You are loose for this second show.

I am loose and I am hip with the terminology.

I'm going to give you the DIY for this.

Oh man.

So yeah,

So what we have to do is stay focused on the solution and stop focusing on the problem,

Which I think now is the perfect time for that because,

You know,

Like right now we're recording this,

The end of November and it's,

You know,

The,

We went through the election.

I mean,

You know,

I believe some people I'm not following.

I believe some people think it's over and some people don't,

Whatever.

The point is,

Is that we as citizens have done whatever we could to control whatever outcome we think we wanted,

Blah,

Blah,

Blah.

So whatever happens at this point,

Unless you're one of the lawyers or,

Or Congress who probably aren't listening to this,

You're probably not going to be part of anything solution based in that particular area anymore.

So like we can just start focusing on what we can do.

And I,

You know,

The pandemic is still going.

It's like,

You know,

So,

And it's been going for a while and I haven't met any like citizens that have done anything in the last 10 months that have fixed it.

So apparently we as normal citizens are incapable of actually fixing a global pandemic all alone.

So you don't really have to put a ton of energy into solving the pandemic because you can't,

You can't solve it unless,

You know,

Unless you're a scientist or can figure something out then sure.

If that's your job,

Go for it.

But my point is,

Is like,

We've been,

All this stuff has been happening and all this trauma and all this fear and all this stuff has been,

You know,

Bubbling up to the surface and everybody's been caught up in it for almost a year.

And it's been a very difficult year and frustration levels are all over the place.

And hopefully we've gotten to the point now where we're clear that where we are not really in control of what is happening in this world right now.

You know,

So what we can do is start putting our energy,

Which is our attention and our thoughts to creating a future that we want because we're living in a reality that we don't want.

So we need to start putting our energy and our attention towards what we do want.

You know,

Like,

I mean,

It's,

It's like I said,

I think the election being over is helpful because people,

A lot of people think that we can change things through election.

So like,

Okay,

You know,

Some people think they can,

Some people think they can't.

Okay,

Well,

Whatever,

It doesn't matter.

It's over now.

So like,

Like,

Whether it,

Whether it does change things or whether it doesn't change things is a mute point at the right now.

You know,

We don't have to discuss it because there isn't an election going on anymore.

It's over.

Now we can try something else in the meantime until the next election,

You know,

And if you think,

You know,

This isn't an either or like conversation,

You know,

And which is as soon as people start generalizing,

That's the ego kicking in.

So whatever I'm asking you to do,

You know,

I've hinted to this in a few different ways already.

You do not have to abandon any belief system.

You do not have to abandon anything that you think is going to help.

Please,

If you think sun's going to help,

God bless you.

Please keep doing it.

I don't care what I'm talking about.

What I'm talking about is a spiritual shift and how we can make that happen.

And what's,

You know,

I always say anything spiritual is a win-win.

Well,

This is a win-win because like,

I believe it's going to create a different future.

So that would be a win.

If it doesn't,

Well,

What have we lost?

Nothing.

We haven't lost anything because our,

You know,

The world is already in a state that we don't like.

So we're not risking anything trying this.

So if we just try it,

Then it could actually get better.

And the other win is that you're going to feel better.

If you're sitting around worrying and stressing and consumed by what's on the news and all these things that you can't control,

Please take a look at the last year and see what that's gotten you.

How has your,

Has the last year been joyful?

Have you enjoyed your life?

Have you expanded?

Well,

You know,

I mean,

I have.

I know you have,

Ben.

A lot of my clients have,

You know,

But that's because we're leaning into the spirituality of it.

We're leaning into our what's true for us and what benefits us.

And we're taking advantage of this situation as an opportunity instead of as a problem,

Which is what I'm talking about.

You know,

Lean into what feels good.

Let go of what doesn't feel good.

You've been,

Most people have been playing around with what doesn't feel good for almost a year now.

And you know,

And then everybody's like,

Oh my God,

I'm so frustrated.

I'm so tired of walking around in fear and scared and,

And yeah,

We'll stop it.

How about that?

You know,

Like try something different.

We are not,

I said this at the beginning,

We are not meant to hold on through this.

This is going to last a long time because holding on,

It doesn't,

Holding on doesn't change anything.

Holding on just,

You know,

We just hold on.

And then when it's over,

We're like,

Oh,

Okay,

Now I can catch my breath.

And we haven't changed anything.

If that worked,

Then this shift would not,

This whole pandemic would be for nothing.

You know,

So what it's so,

You know,

It's going to last until people stop holding on and start trying something different.

You know,

It's pushing us towards creating a better reality.

It's pushing us to believe in,

In solution and trying something,

You know,

Trying to create a reality that's better.

And if we look,

Look around this,

You know,

There's been signs pointing to this forever,

The kids coming in,

Into this world and how they think,

You know,

The big problem with millennials is that they want,

They want to start,

They want to,

After they go to college and get,

You know,

16 years of an education that society says they need,

They would like to step into a job that has benefits and a vacation and a good 401k so they can be well taken care of when they're retired and weekends off.

And they want to work for a company that like,

Like they,

They believe in what the company's doing,

A company that actually has integrity and that's bettering the world.

These are the things that the millennials want.

And we've been sitting around for the last 30 years going,

Oh,

These kids,

What's wrong with them?

Yeah.

What's wrong with them?

They want a reasonable society.

They want to enjoy their lives and work at a job that they don't hate.

These kids are out of their minds.

You know,

This is our opportunity to bring this type of life in for all of us to create a different world.

You know?

So right now we have nothing better to do.

We've focused on a solution for about 2000,

On the problem for 2000 years.

That hasn't gotten us anything.

So and we've really hyper-focused on it for the last year and that hasn't gotten us anything.

So let's focus on the solution.

And research it and,

You know,

Use that frustration to turn you towards something else.

Realize that what we are,

It is so clear to me that what we are doing isn't working.

Globally,

You know,

On every level,

What we are doing is not working.

Please,

Please see that and start looking for other ways.

Stop,

You know,

Just go hoping things get back to normal because normal sucked.

So we deserve better than normal.

So if we start looking on towards a solution about,

You know,

Sustainable living is gigantic right now and it is going to get bigger.

Why?

Because we need it.

It's necessary.

It feels good.

You know,

It's like this is the younger generations coming in are going to be pushing this stuff.

Like if we don't change,

Our way of living is going to be dramatically changed in 30 years.

That's like before I die.

So like we have to do this stuff.

It's not like maybe we should,

Maybe we shouldn't.

Like no,

We have to do this.

And the people,

You know,

The generations coming in,

The younger they are,

The more they know that.

So they're going to be pushing this and we should all be putting energy into that direction.

You know,

When I was,

I started looking into all this stuff,

You know,

Start looking into solutions for the world's problems.

You know,

And when I start seeing things like compostable toilets on Amazon for $40,

Where we could make them out of wood for probably $7,

You know,

Like and have one everywhere around the world and actually save our soil and be able to grow food.

And there's solutions out there.

Building houses from sustainable materials for cheaper than we build the other houses,

You know,

Bringing in solar,

Like the wind,

The water,

All the energy around us,

Using that more often.

These are all solutions.

And they sounded,

You know,

I knew we were implementing them to some degree,

But when I started looking into it,

I realized that we have,

You know,

These eco villages all around the world.

We have people who have studied this stuff for decades that aren't in the government that know how to do things and they've been doing it and living it for decades.

And that's what I really find exciting is that,

You know,

Will we need new solutions?

Yes,

We will.

We'll need new solutions.

But the kids that are coming in,

Their brains think so much differently than ours.

It's going to be like a piece of cake for these kids to figure out solutions.

Plus the technology that we already have,

If we put energy towards solving a problem,

We can solve it like that.

So easy.

So easy.

And most of the problem,

And we don't even have to wait for that stuff.

We already have so many solutions already.

You know,

Gardens that hang on your wall,

Like inside or outside,

You know,

Like you don't even need room anymore.

We figured out ways to grow things and to do things that just little things like that.

You know,

I used to,

You know,

Some of this stuff I haven't really done because of the way I was raised.

And I don't mean by my parents,

I mean in society,

You know,

And just kind of old school and stuff like that.

And you know,

I'm one person and all this stuff.

And like when I really look into the solutions and really listened to the people who were living this way and really started wrapping my brain around how easy it was to live in this way and how accessible this information is.

And I was like,

Glenn,

You have no excuse.

You're just being a part of the problem instead of part of the solution.

And I truly believe in being the change we wish to see.

You know,

And I've implemented that in my spiritual life in as many ways as I can.

And now I see myself implementing it into the way I live,

The way I eat,

You know,

Really just making my impact on earth smaller and learning how to give back to the earth.

Just me,

Just me.

And I don't care.

I don't care if I die 50 years from now and nobody else,

They go,

Oh my God,

It's November 23rd,

2020.

And for some strange reason,

When Glenn Ambrose started living this way,

The rest of the world stopped and everybody was dead 50 years later.

We don't know why this happened.

It's an anomaly.

But even if that were the case,

I would still do it.

I would still do it because I'm living the life that I,

That is in alignment with my moral values.

I am living the life that I think is appropriate because I think it's appropriate.

And that's the only reason I'm doing it,

You know,

And that is in alignment with me and who I want to be as a person.

And that,

You know,

I think we have to stop looking at the global thing and stop thinking like that.

I mean,

That helped me.

Like I said,

That's what was clicking when I started listening to these people talking so matter of faculty about how they live and what's going on out there.

I'm like,

Oh my God,

I have not exposed myself.

It's my fault.

I haven't exposed myself to these people.

They've been living like this for decades and we have it.

And I could be too,

And I'm not,

And I should be.

And you know,

And it's like,

Oh,

Okay,

I'm going to do it because I think it's right.

And that is,

That's when we're in alignment.

We have to be unattached to the outcome.

You know,

I was too attached to the outcome to take my eyes off of what was frustrating me.

I was too attached to the outcome to take my eyes off the size of the problem.

And that's how we stay stuck.

So we need to take our eyes off that and put it onto how you want to live for your own personal reasons.

What do you think is right?

You know,

And don't hide from it.

Go watch a documentary about,

You know,

What they do to animals.

Don't not watch it because you don't want to see because you like your Thursday night hamburger.

Like,

Go look at it and then make your own decision.

You know,

So it's,

We have to,

We have to go within.

We have to,

If we want to live spiritually,

We have to do it in as many ways possible.

And if we want to,

And part of,

Spiritually is natural.

You know,

It's living with nature.

It's just not,

And we don't have to,

We don't have to give up.

We found ways to live,

You know,

This is why I was talking about the garden hanging on the walls and stuff.

We found ways to live like this without spending $300 instead of 100 on groceries.

You don't have to do that.

That's an excuse,

You know,

About without like,

Oh,

Well,

You have to dig out your porcelain toilet block off the pipes and use a compostable one.

No,

You don't.

Like there's other,

You know,

There are things that you can do that really don't impact your life that much.

You just have to seek them out.

You know,

And this is one of the reasons why I am moving to Dominican Republic because it's like,

I just saw this stuff.

It was that much easier for me because there was more of this type of stuff around.

You know,

So it's,

You know,

Yeah,

Just,

It's just making it,

It's just one of the reasons why I like it over there.

But,

But like I said,

We don't have to move.

There's ways of implementing this stuff into our everyday life and it's not,

It's,

It's not about,

It's,

It's not about abandoning a civilized or convenient lifestyle.

It's,

You know,

It's not about that.

We,

It's,

It's not about flushing business down the toilet.

It's this documentary I just watched,

It's this guy that is a business man.

He's a philanthropist and he goes to his businesses and goes,

Hey,

This is,

You know,

This is how you do it.

This is how you make money with a product.

And the way he describes it,

He was talking about this one thing and he goes,

Well,

I develop is and teach people how to do is to have a product that,

That is not,

That you don't have to push on people.

Cause if you have a push product,

Then you need to constantly keep track of quarter one and what it's doing and how to make it a push into quarter two.

So you make your,

You know,

Your income.

And he's like,

What I'm doing is creating poll systems where it's pulling the customers in where you don't have to worry about,

You know,

Running a specific marketing campaign every quarter to try to push your profits up.

The profits automatically come in.

So this is the type of mentality that I'm finding when I'm exploring it.

And this is what's getting me so excited because if you think,

You know,

We're going to go out to society and say,

Hey,

You all have to go live in your,

In the woods and crap in a box and save it and then grow lettuce out of it and become vegetarian.

Like after world is three quarters of the world is not ready for that.

And it ain't going to happen anytime soon.

So we don't,

You know,

That's not what I'm talking about.

You have to quit your job and,

And,

You know,

Not have a car and like,

That's not what I'm talking about.

It's that all this stuff fits into society as society is.

It's just better.

It's more sustainable.

And most of the time it's cheaper,

You know,

And it actually helps us live with nature instead of against it.

You know,

I had to start understanding on a personal level.

I am like,

Literally like,

I'm no better than,

Than somebody going and cutting down a bunch of trees in the rainforest.

Like they're doing,

You know,

They're damaging the earth in one way and I'm damaging it in my own way.

And I don't want to live like that anymore,

You know,

Or at least I want to minimize it to the best of my ability,

To where I'm comfortable.

And maybe I'll make myself uncomfortable just because I feel ready.

But all I'm saying is like,

If,

If everybody did this,

If everybody found one way,

Like something that took an hour out of your week,

One hour a week to do something that would,

We would see a global impact probably within a year.

It adds up,

You know?

So I think we just have to look for the solution,

Watch documentaries,

Google it,

You know,

Like if you start opening up to this,

The information starts coming,

You know,

Whatever you look for,

You'll find.

So look into this stuff and start exposing yourself to different information and then see what works for you and start implementing it.

Okay.

All right,

Ben,

Will you just do it,

Dammit?

Hey man.

I know I haven't,

I haven't liked talking like an hour and a half.

That's true.

We will you promise me one thing?

Cause we're almost at 30 minutes on the set already.

Maybe will you promise me one thing?

When you go to the,

When you go to the DRL,

The DR for you,

When you move to the Dominican Republic in five days,

Six days,

Will you consider becoming a lifestyle vlogger?

Just occasionally I want to see like what Glenn eats in a day.

No,

I don't see myself doing that.

I want to see you be like,

All right guys,

I'm in the DR,

I got this new compostable toilet and I'm going to set it up and then I'm going to tell you how it works.

Probably not going to be using a compostable toilet for the first year anyway.

Because I rented a house.

But like,

Yeah,

So,

So,

But there,

I mean,

I ate differently when I was over there,

You know,

So.

Of course.

I mean,

That makes sense.

And yeah,

I would,

That's awesome.

And I think that just being conscious of all of those things,

You know,

Like,

Like the,

The differences of what you said about,

Like,

You know,

Watch the documentary and think about it,

Just think,

Like,

Think about what your morals are in the way that you're living in,

And,

And what solutions you could have to them on a,

On a big scale and like for your own,

For yourself.

Right.

You know,

Like and I,

And I think that that's,

That's wonderful.

You know,

Question it,

Question everything and be conscious of what,

Of the choices that you make,

I guess would be the big thing that you're talking about.

Yeah.

It's bringing consciousness into our everyday lives.

And you know,

Like,

Like what,

You know,

Go volunteer somewhere a couple hours,

A couple hours a month,

You know,

With your kids,

You know,

We're sitting here going like,

You know,

How many times I talk with parents about raising kids and in this world,

You know,

And how to like,

How to,

How,

How can I make them feel good about themselves?

How can I teach them good things?

How can I raise their self esteem?

How can I,

You know,

Everything's so messed up.

How can I like volunteer,

You know,

Volunteer somewhere,

Expose them to things that are part of the solution and have them donate their time.

You know,

Like I said,

A couple hours a month.

I mean,

When Mateo was little,

I did it like,

You know,

One day a month was this thing that we volunteered at,

You know,

And it,

You know,

And of course he didn't want to go at first.

And then he got there and I see him like really stepping up and feeling good because he was helping others,

You know,

So that really makes people feel good about themselves and gives them a taste.

So,

You know,

Expose your children to this stuff,

Ask them what to do.

These kids,

Like ask them,

Be like,

Hey,

You know what,

You know,

You know the earth,

We've been really beating the crap out of it for,

I don't know,

About 10,

000 years or so.

So like,

It's really hurting and we need to do something about it.

And you know,

I'd like to get your help,

Get them invested in the solution.

You know,

Could you,

Could you look into something,

Maybe find some way that we could,

We could help,

You know,

And get them looking into it.

So it's,

You know,

It's the,

It's,

It's just the,

The simple everyday ways.

Oh,

It was,

Yeah,

There was something that popped up when you were talking.

One thing that I saw that was interesting,

I think it was this place in Costa Rica,

They had a mentality.

They said,

Why do we spend all this money,

Um,

Landscaping our homes and,

And,

And parks and areas with things that have no purpose?

You know,

Why don't we landscape them with food?

Like there are plants that are absolutely beautiful.

You want flowers,

They flower,

You know,

You want colors,

They have color,

Like,

You know,

Plant things that have a purpose,

You know,

Like the,

The,

Like food,

You know,

Primarily,

But I mean,

There are other purposes that you can use,

But if you start looking into this stuff,

Even if you plant,

You know,

One,

One thing,

You know,

One thing,

It's like,

Okay,

Cool.

And then you can have the rest of your regular shrubs and bushes or whatever you want.

But just,

You know,

If you take this,

If we all just take this mentality and just bring one little thing in,

It really could have a big impact.

It will have a big impact.

And we're heading in that direction anyway.

Like,

You know,

In a few years or I don't know how long it'll take,

But it's not going to be long where people are going to be listening to this podcast and they're going to go like,

Oh my God,

This is like,

This,

What's this dude talking about?

Everybody does that already.

So this shift is happening quick and people are hopping on board and there's plenty of opportunities.

So,

You know,

Look into it and implement it where you can just be,

It feels good to be part of the solution.

It feels good to put your attention on this stuff.

That's why,

You know,

I,

So this is how I want to recap.

I know I just spent a bunch of time throwing out why it's good for the earth and what I'm doing and all this stuff,

But like,

It just feels better.

It feels better than scrolling on Facebook.

You know,

If it just,

It feels better than discussing a global pandemic.

It feels better.

It's just,

You're happier if you're doing something positive for yourself and the earth than if you're worrying about something negative.

It just plain feels better.

So you're going to be walking around in your life,

Even if this did nothing else,

Even if the world doesn't change,

Even if everything that I said was a load of crap,

You would still walk around happier feeling better because your attention wouldn't be on the negative the whole time.

It would be on the positive and that is worth it in itself.

It is.

It is.

And you know,

You started this episode talking about,

Uh,

You know,

Millennials manifesting things.

Um,

I believe,

Or maybe that was the last episode,

But I'm going to end it with that because I'm going to manifest you doing a,

What I eat in a day video,

The Dominican Republic is going to happen.

Oh,

I,

I might do like a video or something like once,

But I'm not doing like a regular blog.

See,

Your manifesting is already working.

It's called a blog.

Check out,

Check out Glenn.

All right.

I'm excited for this.

I'm so excited,

Uh,

For the,

For the positive changes and for everybody,

Uh,

Moving towards the solution and,

Uh,

You know,

Good luck in the Dominican Republic,

My friend.

Absolutely looking forward to it.

All right,

Everybody.

Thank you for listening.

Go feel good as you walk through your everyday life,

Man.

Do something positive.

Um,

Just even a portion of your attention towards something positive.

So that's it.

Thank you for watching slash listening and we will talk with you soon.

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Reviews

Excellent poibts of you. Wish tou rhe best of life in Domebic Republic!

A lot of good points made! Gives me something to think about! Thank you!

Thanks Glenn. Points made here resonated with me. Good luck with your move.

Glen, you gave me lots of FOOD for thought. Looking at building a new home with sustainability in mind, but never looked at the landscape - berry shrubs, edible flowers and fruits and vegetables as basis. Wonderful