Interview: Diego ~ The Miracle In The Words

How many of us listen to what we say to ourselves every single day? The kindness we show ourselves? How harsh we can be to ourselves? I think of me as a young girl and think to myself...I would NEVER say such hurtful things to any other person, or child...YET...I say horrible things to myself on the regular.
And that is at the crux this week-the intersection if you will...of my guest Diego's Miracle Story! He's a Qigong Medicine Practitioner and his story is of a patient of his...and how a simple twist of language, of thought, changed this man's outcome!

Transcript

I can be changed by what happens to me,

But I refuse to be reduced by it.

And these powerful words are beginning this episode,

And were uttered by the formidable and delicious Maya Angelou,

Who did know something of struggle herself.

Her parents divorced when she was very,

Very young.

She was the recipient of racism and hatred based on her skin color.

And then after suffering a sexual assault when she was young,

Her uncles attacked and killed the man who sexually assaulted her because in her mind that her telling of the sexual assault had ended in this gentleman's death,

She became mute.

She was so horrified and stricken by the fact that her words caused someone else's death.

She was mute for a good portion of her childhood.

Maya also said,

I'm convinced that the negative has power,

And if you allow it to perch in your house,

In your mind,

In your life,

It can take you over.

Those negative words climb into the woodwork,

Into the furniture,

And the next thing you know,

They're on your skin.

A negative statement is poison.

And this really gorgeously ties in to what Diego San Miguel,

My guest this week,

Talks about when he shares his miracle story,

When he talks about what happened with a gentleman that he was treating one day,

And how those negative words,

Those negative ideas,

How just a shift in perception,

A shift in verbiage,

It changed everything.

Now my guest this week is actually quite an astonishing human being,

Besides for being a Taoist abbot,

He's also a thought leader in the fields of spirituality,

Meditation,

And Chinese medicine.

He holds a President's and Key Executives MBA.

He's an entrepreneur,

Coach,

And teacher as well,

And he and I actually have a great discussion about what it looks like to find a teacher who's ethical,

And actually has something important to teach.

It all goes back to humility,

And ethics,

And skill,

And all sorts of other things,

But finding true teachers in this world is really a struggle.

At any rate,

It's time for the episode,

And my delightful conversation with Diego San Miguel.

So he shows up,

So I talk into her,

And she goes,

Well come in and tell me the story,

And then she goes,

He has only seven days.

And I'm like,

Does he know that?

And he said,

No,

He doesn't,

I don't have the,

Okay.

So I bring it in,

And I say,

Oh Diego,

Don't tell him,

And I'm like,

But technically,

Yeah,

Somebody has to tell him,

And I'm like,

Okay,

Let me talk to him.

So I'm sitting with him,

And I'm like,

Do you know why you're here?

I'm like,

No,

They told me that I need to see you,

And I'm like,

Oh,

Yeah.

So you have seven days to live.

If you were to go to a party or a conference,

And you had to introduce yourself,

How would you do that?

That's an excellent question.

So the way that I see it,

Yeah,

So,

Is I'm always Diego,

Yeah,

So I'm always me.

But because I walk in different parts of life,

It's like,

What hat am I wearing when I'm meeting these people?

I always do the clarification that the hats are different,

The mask,

Yeah?

A mask is like,

I put this just to fit with this clip,

Yeah?

The hat,

I talk more about the hats in terms of being like,

Well,

I have to use the terminology,

That will help and understand what I try to talk to them.

So it all depends,

It's always me.

Yeah,

It's always who show up is Diego.

Now,

The terminology that I use is to be able to have a communication with who I'm talking to.

So I guess my second question would be,

What's your favorite hat to wear?

I'm always wearing my priest hat,

Yeah?

So underneath it all is being the person in service.

How can I help people or individuals moving from point A to point B?

Either I'm here to help you or get out of your way.

But I think the underlying current is always the priest and being in service to humanity.

And when you were a kid,

Did you have this sense that you'd be called into the priesthood?

I also ask everybody,

Did you grow up in a religious household?

And I guess that might have affected where you are now in your life.

But as a kid,

Did you get a sense that this was where you were going to be?

I did not.

My parents were spiritual junkies.

Let me explain.

I know it sounds kind of weird,

But,

You know,

I grew up in a dictatorship.

So Argentina at the time,

It was a dictatorship.

So they have problems with,

I guess a lot of people,

They have problems with authority.

And in particular,

If you look back into Argentina,

It's a Catholic-based country.

So it's a lot of that politics,

Yeah?

So because of that,

They were trying to find their way.

And they got me when I was young,

When they were young.

So they were trying to find their way.

So I got introduced to a lot of practices very young.

I always had self-awareness about energy and things of those natures.

So being introduced to so many traditions and based on their search,

It was wonderful.

But you ask me,

FBI,

Would I ever think being a priest?

No,

No.

But now it's like in everything you look back and I'm like,

Oh,

Yeah,

That makes sense that that happened.

Oh,

That makes sense that that happened.

Yeah.

And you ended up where you ended up.

And I'm going to guess that you no longer live in Argentina.

Is that right?

That's correct.

I live in Southern California.

OK.

And do you miss Argentina very much?

Not really.

The way that I see it,

A lot of times when you decide to be in service,

It's like you sort of be put in the position that you need to be.

So technically,

We always say,

Oh,

It's all the students.

It's like right now I'm in Southern California.

Correct.

But I don't know what I'm going to be in a year for two years.

I love Southern California.

It's beautiful.

Yeah.

But it's not about what I want.

It's about to be in service.

And it might take me to another place.

I think when you decide to live a life to help others to be in service,

It's like you've been put in places that you'll be able to do that.

Now,

I'm actually just going to go to the Internet because I cannot pronounce these things,

And I'm going to butcher it.

OK.

But I have a question.

OK.

So you have,

I would just love some clarification here.

So you're a doctor of medical qigong.

Correct.

Sifu in Yiquan Negong.

Yeah.

OK.

And the seven stage Taji ruler system.

So I guess,

You know,

I would love for you to explain what a Sifu is and what is the seven stage Taji ruler system.

Right.

So Sifu means teacher,

A father figure.

Yeah.

So if you look back on the monasteries,

They bring the kids to the monastery and then the teacher becomes the spiritual figure and the father figure.

So I see all my students as my children.

Yeah.

So that is like a very small summary of what a Sifu is.

So in another tradition,

They call them Sensei,

Like in the Japanese tradition.

Yeah.

So that's the Sifu.

So it's like a master that now is able to pass the information through someone else.

It's like a candle lighting a candle.

And being responsible for that person's energetic and spiritual well-being.

Medical Qigong,

Let me backtrack a little bit.

So you have eight schools of Chinese medicine.

Traditional Chinese medicine as is today is not one of them.

Traditional Chinese medicine was created in 1949 and is considered Mao medicine.

So what they did,

They strip a lot of the energetic and spiritual components of the medicine.

And because they were competing with the West.

Yeah.

So medical Qigong trickles down.

If you go trace it back,

Yeah,

For some place in Siberia trickles down to Mongolia,

China.

And then they go to India and it spreads out.

But imagine it's the blueprint for what Chinese medicine is.

Through observing the world,

Yeah,

Observing the environment around it,

They make these correlations with the elements inside your body,

Outside your body.

And the meridians,

How they flow,

So the energy channels.

And medical Qigong,

What it does is bring balance to it.

And it has a lot of spiritual energetic components.

Then today's Chinese medicine world maybe don't utilize as much,

But they still have it.

So it still works.

But we go a level deeper,

Yeah.

We work to bring balance back where it's not in the body.

And there usually is no balance in certain parts of the body.

It's because every time that we go through a trauma per se,

Yeah,

We get into shock.

And we generate these,

Let's call it energetic pockets in our body.

And every time we go to a similar trauma,

We start stuffing that energy in there.

And eventually the cells,

They stop vibrating and they stop generating light and heat.

And they become stagnant.

And that's how we see some chronic conditions,

Yeah.

So Qigong is like,

Okay,

We need to bring light and vibration to these areas one more time to bring it back into balance.

And that is sort of the work that we do.

But like everything else,

A lot of time,

People are spending a lot of time,

Energy,

And effort to suppress their emotions because they're very traumatic,

Yeah.

And when they're ready to reverse that,

It's going to be some pain.

And I always tell people,

If you get into a car accident,

Go to Western Medicine,

Yeah.

Go to the ER.

They fix you up.

They put you together.

And then come to us,

And we can work with the long-term trauma while you're getting into that car accident,

Yeah.

One of the amazing things that we have is we have the best of both worlds.

And I think that is a magical thing.

Did that make sense?

Oh,

Absolutely.

Yeah,

Absolutely.

I was just going to tell you that when I lived in Portland,

Oregon,

I saw a gentleman who was a teacher,

And he did Tui Na.

I didn't know much about it when I first went,

But it was a combination of acupuncture,

Chinese bone setting,

Cranial sacral,

And then there was a fourth thing.

I can't remember,

But a few things happened that were totally exciting for me.

Seeing him regularly completely changed my body.

One time,

He bled me.

I'd never been bled before,

But I tore three ligaments when I was in high school.

And this was so long ago that basically they just patted me on my head,

And they said,

Okay,

Just wear this air cast.

And I never got physical therapy.

It was the 80s.

They're like,

Just go away,

And you're all good.

So it's caused me problems through my life,

And that ankle's very swollen.

And so this guy,

He said,

Oh,

Gosh,

There's all this stagnation here.

And he said,

I'm going to bleed you.

And I thought,

Okay,

I like learning about things.

Now,

You have to know that now I'm way stronger about bleeding because I'm a beekeeper,

And I've gotten stung so many times that it's not as bad as being stung by a bee.

But he basically took this needle and poked me about,

I don't know,

Seven times in this area and then cupped it.

And it made this incredible thing called a blood slug.

And I thought to myself,

This is the most magnificent thing I've ever seen in my life.

It's unbelievable.

Yeah,

So what happened,

If you have to guess,

And we never talk about this before,

But if you have to guess,

That blood slug,

It was very dark and almost black,

Yeah?

Yeah,

So that is a stagnation.

That is the cells stopped working,

So it wasn't bright red.

It was black,

Yeah?

Yes.

And that is what we are good at.

Yeah.

Well,

You know,

Then I saw him the next time,

And he said he made me wait,

Like,

Again,

Another time.

And then he did it again because I just was so enthralled with the process.

I thought it was so fascinating and cool,

This mysterious thing inside my body.

And then when I asked him to do it a third time,

He's like,

All right,

This is getting too crazy.

Are you addicted to this?

And I was like,

It's just so cool.

I like it.

He's like,

Okay,

No more.

We're done for a while.

I'm like,

Okay.

But it is fascinating.

My acupuncturist just bled my bladder channel,

One of them,

The other day.

And,

You know,

She's warned me in the past.

She bled my palm once where my thumb is.

And she said,

Now,

Don't be surprised.

Do not be surprised.

This might make you cry later.

And you'll think to yourself,

Why am I crying?

Why am I crying?

And then I remembered that she'd warned me.

And,

My God,

If every time I'm bled now,

I,

Like,

Weep either later that night or the next day.

And it's so cathartic.

It's so powerful.

Yeah.

Yeah,

That makes sense.

Because what happened,

Imagine the Meridians,

When they put the needle,

So they bleed you.

Yeah,

So they're like pipes running to your body.

But it's the same as a house,

Yeah?

So you have sewer systems,

You have hot water,

You have cold water,

You have all these things running,

Yeah?

And if one is not running correctly,

It will create some sort of,

Like,

You know,

The pipes to back up in your house.

So what happened is,

Like,

When you release and you create those space to clean up,

When that happens,

It's like the emotions,

They're being stopped by not the right flow,

It rise up into the heart.

I tell people,

Yeah,

When that happens,

Or when they start,

I don't know,

They say,

I gotta stop crying,

This,

This,

Like,

Yeah.

Or they go,

Like,

I was watching this commercial,

And I'm like,

And I'm like,

That's okay.

And I think one of the healthiest things,

If you don't know,

Yeah,

If you don't know why you're weeping and crying,

That's okay,

But you can ask,

Instead of asking and say,

Why this is happening,

Instead of it's like,

It's anything more that I can let go.

Because now the door is open,

Take as much as possible,

You don't need to know.

I think the biggest mistakes that we make is like,

No,

I need to know,

I need to know.

And then we hold back the process of healing,

Yeah?

So I think one of the things is to ask for more.

Is there anything else in there?

I do have to say,

The worst thing,

Usually it was very relaxing going to see him,

But at the time I was racing mountain bikes,

Basically,

Which involves a lot of falling and thus bruising.

So I would show up and he'd look at my leg and say,

Oh,

You,

This is not,

We gotta get rid of this.

I'm sorry,

This is gonna hurt.

And then he would basically massage the bruise,

Which already,

I mean,

The pain was so,

But he's like,

You cannot have these stagnant,

All this stuff is so stuck,

We need to get it moving.

So that was probably the most painful thing that I went through with him.

I learned a lot because he was always willing to talk with me about it and talk about the process.

And I found that fascinating.

But I wanted you to,

What is the seven stage Taji ruler system?

When you talk about Kung Fu stuff,

Yeah,

Martial arts stuff,

There's a lot of secrecy on that.

Okay.

Our school is an open school,

Yeah?

So it's like,

Normal secrecy is hard work.

So the information is given to you,

Can you put the training,

Yeah?

Someone did the Taiji ruler,

A guy got a hold of it and create his own thing,

Yeah,

It's like a dance.

But it's,

If you talk to people,

They know about the system,

It's an Asian system.

And like everything,

And when it comes to martial art,

Medicine,

Or even mysticism,

Yeah,

The secret is always in the foundation.

What is the cornerstone in which you're gonna build the edifice?

I have seen through the years,

The student make the mistake,

It's like,

Oh,

That's beginner's training.

And I'm like,

No,

No,

It's essential training.

The beginning training is essential training because if you don't have that,

You won't be able to take advantage of more advanced trainings,

Yeah?

When the Taiji ruler is a system that is very gentle,

We usually teach,

And it's very methodical the way that you teach,

And you can teach someone this combo lesson in a bit,

Yeah?

Or you can teach a fighter.

And it's a great system because it works the energy in your body,

And the different channels,

And the different meridians.

The issue was,

Back in the day,

When they got a hold of this,

They were doing the movements,

But without the internal.

So it's not just the movement.

It's like,

Well,

What are the energies doing?

Why are you moving this way?

What is the energy it's doing in your body to get that?

And I really wanted to ask,

Because I just find this so intriguing and so interesting,

Because I find people's journeys to be really fascinating,

And I love learning people's stories,

But you're a Taoist abbot.

Yeah.

And when you started practicing,

Or when you even were introduced to this,

Did you have any idea that you would arrive where you are today?

I did not.

If you were to ask me,

And I say,

Hey,

This is what it's going to take for you to do it,

I would be like,

I don't want to play anymore.

So let me tell you a little bit of my story.

So remember I told you my parents went through their life and tried to find different traditions.

I got introduced to things.

And then when I have all this training,

Because one of my,

I guess you can call it a gift in life,

Is to be able to assimilate energetic practices quick,

Fast.

It's sort of like what people call a natural.

But being a natural,

It doesn't quite work for me,

Because I'm a kind of nerd when it comes to these things.

So I need to figure it out how things work.

Well,

It works because it works.

And I'm like,

Yeah,

Yeah,

That's not good enough,

Because I won't be able to pass the information forward.

Yeah.

So if I can do it just because I'm a natural,

I need to figure it out how things work.

So I can,

When someone comes to me and I say,

Oh,

They do these things and it's a process.

Yeah.

So I have all this training,

And then I got into high school,

And it was like,

Oh,

My God,

I cannot have all this.

High school is rough.

And it was an interesting time to have all this spiritual training when you're in high school.

No one cares.

And then I had to shut a lot of things down just to be able to fit.

And one of the things that was happening at the time in Argentina,

And I think in a lot of countries happened the same way during the 70s,

80s,

And beginnings of the 90s,

Yeah?

So they used to say the faster way to get in alignment,

It was Pan Am Airlines,

Because you will take a trip to India,

China,

Anywhere in the East,

And what will happen is like,

You're taking one weekend course,

Come back to your country,

And then you call yourself a guru.

It's nothing that proves that you're not,

Yeah?

I used to,

Because my ability or my gift to have some sort of like quick manifestations of training plus my nerveness to learn,

I got in touch with a lot of teachers,

But I got frustrated because I say,

Well,

Okay,

You told me about this practice.

I've been doing all of this.

This happened next.

What is the next set of the training?

Because in any tradition,

It's like you get a set of teachings and a set of meditations,

Set of exercises that will create a manifestation in your body,

Either physiological,

Energetically,

And then you go back and ask for more.

And through my years over there,

I would get frustrated because I was like,

Hey,

What is the next set of training?

So I never had the manifestation.

Why are you teaching Chinese martial art we call keeping the rice full?

Yeah,

The rice bowl full.

So it's like you just gave a grain of rice and people keep coming for information.

So from 16 to like 20-some years old,

I was like,

I was meeting all these people,

But it was like I'm not training because I know that you don't have it.

So I didn't want to keep wasting my time.

So that's when I meet my teacher,

Dr.

Jerry Allen Johnson.

And at the time,

I was like building smart houses in the Pebble Beach area,

So in the Monterey area.

So I go to his house because I think he loves music because I understand why later on in life he loves music.

So him and I,

It's like this guy is kind of strange,

Yeah?

And I'm like,

For the next couple years,

I will say for the next four years,

Him and I,

We were like testing each other per se,

Testing each other.

I will ask a question and say,

Oh,

He knows that.

He will ask me a question,

Oh,

He knows.

So we were like playing like that,

Playing dumb for a couple years.

He knows to me,

He was teaching me,

Yeah?

Because he will throw me a piece of bone and I say,

I'm going to test it out.

So I will go and train without telling him that I was training.

And then he will go and look at me and I'm like,

Oh,

No,

No.

It's like I didn't train nothing,

Yeah?

I was like playing like hard to catch.

Four years into it,

He started asking me,

So it's like,

When are you going to start training?

And I'm like,

You're crazy.

I like to talk to you because you're weird.

But that's it.

I'm not training anymore.

I'm done with that chapter of my life,

Yeah?

And he said,

Okay.

And then we were like a couple,

We went back and forth until one day,

I said,

Okay,

Let's do it.

And so I started training with him.

It's been 20-some years.

And,

You know,

I stay with him just because he will have answers,

You know?

It's like,

Hey,

This happened next.

What I need to do?

Okay,

Now you do this.

Hey,

This happened next,

Now you do this.

And our training goes martial art,

Yeah?

So you start training and basically you work your issues and demand.

Our motto is that you break it,

You fix it.

So you start learning medicine after you break someone's nose.

So,

Like,

You have to put the bones back,

You know?

And then that comes next.

So you start learning medicine.

You start learning some herbal recipes just to help people heal,

Yeah?

So you break it,

You fix it.

And then I'm like,

This is cool.

What else is in there?

And then you start learning.

You go full on from martial art to medicine and you spend a lot of time in there.

And then from medicine you go to scholar because it's like,

Oh,

My God.

It's not just the medicine.

It's not what happened on the ____.

It's all this philosophy behind it.

And,

You know,

They keep reeling you in.

And I'm like,

Now I need to learn our philosophy.

And then you become a nerd with that.

And then you become a priest.

And after you become a priest,

It's like you have all these things to do.

And the next level is a novice.

It will be like comparison to a bishop,

Yeah?

So you become the priest's priest.

And you are in charge to make sure the priests are good and you're training priests.

And you become an overseer of the overseers.

I always tell people,

Hey,

If you cannot trust your teacher,

But if they come to train with me,

Yeah,

And I tell you you have to do X,

Y,

And Z to get where you want to be,

And they're going to be,

Well,

I'm not going to do it.

And I'm like,

Great.

Find someone you trust.

Because that will accelerate your progress.

Well,

My,

You know,

The main question of the podcast is,

Have you ever witnessed or experienced an event in your life where you feel like you witnessed something magical or miraculous?

I've had every kind of story that you can imagine.

So I loved it.

Have you shared one?

First,

It's like,

To me,

At this point in my life,

Yeah,

Is be able to be grateful in a magical situation is open my eyes every morning and have the bless and the gratitude to be able to have an extra day with my loved ones and help people and be in service.

That is one of my things.

I have,

Thanks to this medicine,

Thanks to my training,

I have seen miraculous transformation in people.

They were terminal in terms of,

Like,

That's it.

The doctors say,

Hey,

You have three days to live.

Let me just give you one.

One of the stories is,

You know,

But the main one,

It was I got this person where they called me,

And at the time I have a clinic in Monterey.

So they call me and they go like,

Hey,

Diego,

Can I see you?

I'm like,

Yeah,

Yeah,

Of course.

And,

You know,

There are no accidents.

So I have my afternoon,

All of a sudden,

Every person cancel.

And I'm like,

Mm-mm,

That's odd.

You know,

It's like I wonder,

Yeah.

So this person shows up,

And it looks unrecognizable.

I met with them three months previous,

Yeah.

And I say,

Well,

I want to go.

I want to do medical Qigong and stuff like that.

And I say,

Well,

This is what it's going to take.

Yeah,

It's like you do the work.

I'm here just to support you when you do your work,

Yeah.

And the way sort of like going back to medical Qigong is like whatever is manifesting in your body,

Call it any illness,

Yeah.

So especially if it's like it's chronic.

What is manifesting is the fruit,

Yeah.

So the main issue is the root.

Because you can pluck the fruit out and then it sticks on it.

Within nine months,

It will grow again,

Yeah.

So you need to trace it back into the root.

When you have the root system,

You had a better picture of why the fruit is there.

So I had this conversation with this couple.

And they called me a couple of days later and said,

Hey,

We're going to do Oolong Western.

I'm like,

Great.

I support you.

And if anything happens,

Just let me know.

I'm here for you guys.

I don't believe the,

Well,

Western is bad,

Eastern is better,

I better.

It's like anybody have the right to choose whatever they feel is the best path.

I don't think it's it.

Nothing is good or bad.

It's like if you take this road,

You have all these set of lessons.

If you take this road,

You have all these set of lessons.

You're always learning something.

So they call me and say,

Can we see you this afternoon?

And I'm like,

Yeah,

Yeah.

And I'm like,

I look at my calendar and I have all cancellations.

And I'm like,

This is odd.

So I go,

They come out and he was unrecognizable.

And so the wife put me aside and I'm like,

Hey,

We just come for a very famous institution.

I'm going to say the name.

They come for a very famous institution,

Yeah.

And they go,

The radiologist at the time whispered on her ear.

And I'm like,

Hey,

We are killing him.

You need to find someone who does medical Qigong.

And then he goes and tell her,

It's like,

If you ever share this with anyone,

I will deny it.

And she's like,

We talked to a guy who does medical Qigong.

And I'm like,

Take him to him.

So he show up.

So I talk into her and she goes,

Well,

Come in and tell me the story.

And then she goes,

He has only seven days.

And I'm like,

Does he knows that?

And he said,

No,

He doesn't.

I don't have the,

Okay.

So I bring it in and say,

Oh,

Diego,

Don't tell him.

But technically,

Yeah,

Somebody have to tell him.

And I'm like,

Okay,

Let me talk to him.

So I'm sitting with him.

And I'm like,

Do you know why you're here?

I'm like,

No,

They told me that I need to see you.

And I'm like,

Oh,

Yeah.

So you have seven days to live.

And he goes,

That's BS.

And he started yelling and screaming and said,

Oh,

At least it's fighting.

It's like something is there.

It's like you haven't give up yet.

And I'm like,

I'm not giving up.

And I'm like,

Great.

That's the attitude that we need.

And he goes,

What do you mean?

And I said,

Well,

We all going to die.

That's part of the tour.

So from here,

From today,

For this moment and to the day you die,

How you want to live the rest of your life?

He said,

What do you mean?

I said,

Well,

You're in a plane.

The plane is about to crash.

Yeah,

So you have two minutes to live.

You want to go,

I don't want to die.

Or you want to say,

Oh,

Finally,

I get to go home.

Which one is it?

The end result won't change.

You die.

He said,

Well,

I don't want to die.

That's not an option.

Yeah,

That's not the option.

So he goes,

Well,

I don't want to die.

I said,

OK,

Let's do this.

I want you to come back tomorrow.

And I'm out.

And your homework is like,

Tell me why you want to live,

Not why you don't want to die.

I need to find out why is the reason that you want to continue doing.

And he goes,

OK.

So he leaves,

Come back the next morning.

And he goes,

I want to live.

And he gave me a few.

I said,

That's wonderful.

OK.

And we start working with him.

He was doing all these exercises and like G1 exercises to break stagnation and everything.

And he was with us for seven months.

He was teaching Bible studies.

And the test results,

The doctors didn't know.

I said,

I don't know what these guys are doing.

Continue with them,

Yeah?

He goes,

Don't come back.

I don't know what he's doing,

But just keep going,

Yeah?

And he was around for,

He got another seven months.

And,

You know,

It was time for him to go.

And he did.

And he thank us,

You know.

And he's like,

We're giving an extra seven months to start with his family.

So that was one of the miracles that I have experienced with this training,

Yeah,

With this medicine.

That's beautiful.

And I do think it's really fascinating with some of the books I've read around just healing and alternative ways of healing.

And I'm sure you would agree the stories we tell ourselves are so important as far as how much power we give death or loss or sorrow or hope or whatever.

The stories we tell ourselves are so important.

And I loved how you kind of redirected him and said,

Why do you want to live?

Give me a list.

Because then he is reminded of what's precious to him in this life and why he wants to live.

And that alone is an incredibly powerful practice,

I think.

So if you think about what you said,

Yeah.

So if you look at a mom,

They lose a child in a car accident.

That happened once.

And the mom's brain,

It happens every single minute of the day.

That accumulation of energy,

It will crystallize.

And it will make the energy stagnant in some part of the body.

It usually manifests in different parts of the body.

So it's important that story is how you talk to it.

Like my wife and I,

We have this thing when I go like,

I'm such a dork.

Yeah,

Or I did something like I yelled something about myself.

And she goes,

Hey,

Don't talk about my husband that way.

Yeah.

And I'm like,

OK,

Thanks.

Or she says something,

You know,

Like I screwed up.

And I'm like,

Hey,

Don't talk about my wife that way.

Yeah.

And it's a quick reminder.

And you need that in your life.

Because I usually tell students,

Like,

Why you always say the negative?

Why you always say this piece?

And I'm like,

Why?

What do you mean?

I say,

Well,

Tell you a story what happened.

I got kicked out of a panel of like this column,

Like gurus,

Sifus.

And it was a bunch of different traditions.

Yeah.

And I'm the last one.

And they were talking about the last question of the panel was,

What will happen?

What is the magical place where people can get?

And everybody was given this.

I was in the Tibet.

And I was in the Himalayas.

I was in India.

I was in the jungle or somewhere.

And everybody's telling the stories about if you want to get real enlightenment,

You have to go there.

And then there goes me.

And I'm like,

That sucks.

And that's how it started.

That sucks.

Because you telling all these people in the audience,

They most likely cannot afford.

Yeah.

I don't think anybody will be able to spend two months meditating in the river.

Yeah.

Right next to a river.

No,

Like no one.

Like in our way to living.

Yeah.

That's another thing that I tell people is,

Hey,

Make sure if you train with a teacher,

Make sure that he eat McDonald's.

At some point of their life.

Yeah.

McDonald's went to a dentist at two o'clock in the morning.

You know,

And that's your teacher.

Not the one that has been raising cattle in the valley of the Himalayas.

You won't be able to relate to your training.

To your life.

And at the beginning,

Yeah,

Eventually after that,

Well,

It will.

But in the beginning,

It's like you need someone that you can relate to.

And I was like,

Well,

What about the tremendous beauty of a piece of weed growing between the cracks of the concrete on the street?

That's beautiful.

How about going to a park and seeing a squirrel,

You know,

Playing?

That's a beauty thing.

So,

Like,

It doesn't have to be this magical thing.

It's like you can find beauty anywhere.

All right,

Everyone,

That's it.

Another episode in the books.

And I need to thank my guest,

Diego,

For being such a gracious and amazing guest.

And I think this is a really,

Really good reminder.

Once again,

That the words we use,

They can either help us or they can hurt us.

And the words we use with others can either help them or hurt them.

Just like Maya Angelou said earlier in this episode,

Negative thoughts,

Negative feelings,

Negative sayings,

They can become toxic.

And so it might urge us all a little bit to just be kinder to ourselves,

Be kinder to others and be kinder to this world.

I know I need reminders because I am far from perfect.

And so interviews like these and reminders like Diego's story,

I need them.

And I hope they resonate with you as well.

So thanks to Diego for telling his story.

And I'm grateful to each and every one of you who listen.

And thanks for being patient because I did drive across the U.

S.

Last week.

And so I took a weekend off.

I hope you won't hold it against me,

But I did need some time to just decompress.

And that being said,

I'd like to thank each and every one of you for your ratings and your reviews.

And please do consider sharing the podcast with those you love.

Thank you for listening.

And here's my one request.

Be like Diego.

Use shiny words,

Beautiful words,

Gorgeous words to describe yourself,

To talk about your friends,

To talk about those people in your life,

To talk about this world.

Use positive words and positive language to change the state of your health as well as the state of your mind.

And I guarantee that so very soon,

Your world,

Both inside and out,

Will become a shinier and more beautiful place.