0:01

If. You own a vehicle with less than

0:03

two hundred thousand miles and have an

0:05

auto war about to expire or no

0:07

warranty coverage at all. Listen up! Car

0:09

Shield has a low cost month to

0:11

month vehicle protection plan that covers more

0:13

parts than ever. This Car shield.com/audio to

0:15

find out how you can pay almost

0:17

nothing recovered auto repairs driver to activate

0:19

this vehicle protection today will also receive

0:21

free roadside assistance for towing and car

0:23

rental options at no additional cost. Get

0:25

your free quote today! I Car shield.com.

0:27

Slash Audio. that's Car

0:29

shield.com/ And

0:55

here's the best part. Your insurance may

0:57

cover 100% of the cost of your

0:59

medication, so go to

1:01

trilifemd.com to have your eligibility checked right

1:04

now. Get some free information

1:06

about your health and health insurance. I'm

1:09

sure you'll be able to get a free trial

1:11

of your own. I'm sure you'll be able to

1:13

get a free trial of your own. And

1:16

here's the best part. Your insurance may cover 100%

1:18

of the cost of your medication. So go to

1:20

trilifemd.com to have your eligibility checked right now. Get

1:25

started today at

1:27

trilifemd.com. That's t-r-y-l-i-f-e-m-d.com.

1:34

Welcome to the Next Level Soul podcast where

1:36

we ask the big questions about life. Why

1:39

are we here? Is this all there is? What

1:42

is my soul's mission? We

1:44

attempt to answer those questions and more

1:46

by bringing you raw and inspiring conversations

1:49

with some of the most fascinating and thought-provoking

1:51

guests on the planet today. I

1:54

am your host, Alex Ferrari. wanted

2:00

to help the audience take their soul to the

2:02

next level. So I've partnered with

2:04

Mindvalley and other amazing

2:07

free courses on spirituality,

2:09

mind, body, soul, longevity,

2:11

wealth, and so much

2:13

more. All you need

2:15

to do is go

2:17

to nextlevelsoul.com/free. Disclaimer,

2:20

the views and opinions expressed in

2:22

this podcast are those of the

2:24

guest and do not necessarily reflect

2:27

the views or positions of the

2:29

show, its host, or any of

2:31

the companies they represent. Now

2:33

I know many of us, if not all

2:36

of us, have stress in our lives and

2:38

deal with anxiety as well. Well,

2:40

today's guest is here to show you

2:42

how you can release

2:44

and relieve some of that

2:46

anxiety and stress in your life.

2:48

We have returning to the show, Dr. Rao. Dr.

2:51

Rao is a world renowned lecturer and

2:57

author among other things. So

3:00

get ready to have some tools to help

3:02

you with your stress and anxiety.

3:05

Let's dive in. I'd

3:08

like to welcome back to the show returning champion,

3:10

Dr. Rao. How are you doing, Dr. Rao? I

3:14

am fine. Thank you. Thank you

3:16

so much for coming back on the show. I had

3:18

you on early in the show when we first launched

3:21

a while ago and I had such a wonderful time

3:23

talking to you that I wanted to bring you back

3:25

on to talk deep thoughts

3:27

that go deep into these

3:30

deep conversations about the mysteries of life that

3:32

you happen to have a really depth into

3:35

with all the work that you've done over

3:37

the years. But can you tell everybody

3:39

a little bit about yourself and the work that you

3:41

do? Certainly. I

3:44

am an executive coach and

3:47

I have a unique niche

3:49

in that. I

3:51

coach very successful people,

3:54

typically entrepreneurs and senior

3:56

executives who want to have

3:58

an extraordinary impact on the world. They're

4:00

already successful, but they want to make a dent

4:02

in the universe. But they

4:04

also have an explicit spiritual path.

4:07

So they know that life isn't all about getting

4:09

the biggest toys and the most toys. In

4:12

the back of their minds, they probably have a notion,

4:14

I can sit down and meditate eight hours a day

4:16

and grow spiritually, or I can become

4:18

a business titan. And

4:21

my job is to show them it's not or,

4:23

it's and. That

4:26

becoming a business titan is

4:28

their spiritual path. So

4:30

that's my coaching niche to the best of

4:32

my knowledge and the only person playing in that

4:35

sandbox. That doesn't mean there aren't others. It simply

4:37

means that I'm not aware of them. Well,

4:40

yeah. And what I found

4:43

interesting about your work is that you've, you know,

4:45

you've studied a lot of the ancient, you

4:48

know, text and spiritual masters and

4:51

brought them down and kind of like taken

4:53

away all of the religious and

4:56

dogmatic aspects of it and really what,

4:58

you know, really kind of put

5:00

it down, grind it down to the

5:02

bare bones of the amazing,

5:05

profound lessons in those. Is that

5:07

an accurate description? That's

5:09

fair enough. Yep. So

5:12

great. So my first question then is, based

5:14

on your studies, what do

5:16

the ancients, a masters that you've studied

5:19

have to say about the

5:21

reality, our reality or the real world as

5:23

we see it? That

5:27

is an easy one, but it's also a

5:30

very difficult one for most people to comprehend

5:32

unless they've already spent a fair amount of

5:34

time thinking about it. They

5:37

all say in every wisdom tradition

5:39

that the world we think we

5:41

live in is not real. If

5:45

we repeat that, the world that

5:47

we think we live in is

5:49

not real. It is a construct.

5:52

We made it up with our mental

5:54

chatter and our mental models. It's

5:57

very much as if each one of us was living in the middle

5:59

of the world. only

6:01

this is not a matrix created by

6:04

an alien civilization out to enslave us.

6:06

It is something that

6:08

we created with our mental chatter and

6:10

our mental models. Now,

6:13

Alex, I've got to stress that

6:15

this is a hugely liberating concept

6:19

because if

6:22

the world you lived in was

6:24

real and you didn't like it,

6:26

you're screwed. You're screwed! But

6:30

if the world you live in is not real,

6:32

it's a construct, and you don't like it,

6:35

then you can deconstruct the parts of it

6:37

that are not working for you and build

6:39

it up again. And you

6:41

can do this over and over as you

6:43

go through the journey of life. And

6:46

that's what my teaching and my coaching is all

6:48

about. So

6:51

this idea of this construct, which is

6:54

from back in the Hindu traditions

6:57

of Maya, the illusion, the

6:59

great dream of the aborigines, this is

7:01

a concept that goes back thousands of

7:03

years. And now we're talking,

7:05

now quantum physicists are starting to throw

7:07

their hat in the ring. Exactly

7:10

the same thing. It's

7:12

the same thing, but simulation theory

7:14

and that the math actually starts to make

7:17

sense of like, no, this could be a

7:19

giant computer program, quote unquote, of

7:22

an illusion, which then again goes back into the

7:24

matrix, going to this illusion that

7:26

we can – so in your

7:28

opinion, can we create our own

7:30

reality? We do all the time. So

7:33

can you explain a bit? Sure.

7:37

What happens is we don't live in the

7:39

real world, we live in our mind. Now,

7:43

let's assume that you're young

7:46

and you are deeply in love and

7:48

your girlfriend dumps you. And

7:52

you go out to a beautiful vacation

7:54

resort, a seaside resort, you're walking on

7:56

the beach and it's gorgeous and there's

7:59

the blue ocean. and there's a

8:01

wonderful sun, you don't enjoy all of

8:03

that. You're stuck in

8:05

a deep, dark, gloomy

8:07

miasma and you can't get

8:10

out of it. That's

8:13

the world that you created inside

8:15

your head. And having created

8:17

it, you experience it as you've created

8:19

it. And

8:23

if you go through life, you

8:25

will find that you are never

8:27

where you are. You're always in

8:30

your head, always. And

8:32

you think, oh, that's a beautiful sunset and you look

8:34

at it for 10 seconds and then you're back. It

8:37

do what you created. And we

8:40

do that so constantly and

8:42

we do that all the time and we don't even

8:44

recognize that this is what we're doing. So

8:49

this is a hard concept for people to

8:52

understand. Of course. I told you,

8:54

it's not easy to grasp unless you already

8:56

spent some time thinking about it. And

8:59

you say, darn it, that idiot, he's

9:01

right. And that's what I'm doing. We're

9:03

dropping seeds in this conversation. We're hopefully

9:06

dropping seeds that will flourish later because

9:08

when I first heard this idea, I

9:10

was just like, this

9:12

is difficult to concept. But as you start to

9:14

grind down on it and start to kind of

9:16

like marinate on it for years,

9:20

you start to understand. And then you

9:22

start analyzing the reality you are. You

9:24

start playing little games of like, well,

9:27

instead of looking at the milk that just spilled

9:29

and get angry at it, just

9:32

understand that the milk that spilled

9:34

is. And

9:36

my perception of it is the

9:39

charge that I give that

9:41

situation, positive or negative, correct?

9:43

Exactly, exactly correct. Things are,

9:45

they're not good, they're not

9:47

bad, they are. But

9:49

you graft meaning

9:52

onto them and

9:54

having grafted meaning onto them,

9:56

you experience the meaning that

9:59

you have. confirmed on them.

10:02

But isn't that meaning or

10:04

the concept of good and bad is

10:06

cultural essentially that we're

10:08

programmed with it? More than cultural I

10:10

would say it's what we've been programmed

10:13

into. Some part of it is cultural.

10:15

But societal then? Oh absolutely yes. So

10:17

societal so either cultural or societal you

10:19

know because in some parts of the

10:22

world you know things that we

10:24

consider good are

10:26

not considered you know positive in other parts

10:28

of the world and vice versa you know.

10:31

You know freedoms for women, freedoms for speech,

10:33

freedoms all these kind of things that we

10:36

might have here in the West and other

10:38

parts of the world we like look down

10:40

upon. So this is cultural so if you

10:42

understand that your idea of

10:44

good and bad is based purely

10:46

on where you were born at

10:48

the time you were born and your parents

10:50

and the community that you were born in

10:53

kind of starts to shift your idea

10:55

of the whole concept of quote-unquote good and

10:57

bad correct? Absolutely yes it

10:59

does. So what

11:01

can people do about

11:04

it's so hard when the

11:06

milk spills man you want to get angry.

11:10

What can we do to stop

11:13

ourselves for a second and go wait a minute

11:16

either get either feel the anger quickly and get

11:18

out of it quickly or that's

11:21

the thing I've noticed in my life. Before when

11:23

the milk spilled that would ruin my day

11:26

if the milk really spilled it could ruin my day for

11:28

two or three days. Now when the milk

11:30

spills I get angry for

11:32

about a second or two then I pop back out and

11:35

it kind of lessons as time goes on at

11:37

least in my life is that what you found

11:39

as well? That's wonderful yes and that is exactly

11:41

the way it should be the milk spilled the

11:43

milk spilled and what you now have

11:45

to figure out is what is the

11:47

quickest most efficient way I can clean this

11:50

dance bill up and

11:52

move on. Would you like to have a

11:54

terrific day every day Alex? Yes we'll

11:57

be right back after a word from our sponsor

12:03

And now back to the show. Well,

12:08

would your listeners like to have that too? I'm

12:11

assuming if they're listening to the show, yes. All

12:14

right. So let me tell you how you can have a terrific

12:16

day every day. And

12:18

it's really very simple. It's

12:21

so simple that

12:23

when I tell you how to do it, you might

12:25

be tempted to laugh at me. Don't. It's

12:29

what I'm about to share with you is very profound. Okay.

12:32

The way to have a terrific day every day is

12:34

to get up in the morning and decide you're going

12:36

to have a terrific day. Most

12:40

of us make a mistake and they think that

12:43

two things have to happen before we can have

12:45

a terrific day. And

12:47

those two things are one,

12:50

stuff should happen that I want to have happen.

12:54

And two, stuff should not

12:56

happen that I don't want to

12:58

have happen. And

13:00

you don't have any control over either one of those.

13:05

So if you're smart, you'll get up and

13:07

say, I'm going

13:09

to have a terrific day today. But

13:12

being smart, you'll recognize that feces is going

13:14

to fall from the sky. That's the

13:16

nature of feces. It falls from the sky.

13:20

So in my terrific day, there is some

13:22

shit going to be landing on my head

13:26

and on the floor. And I'm going

13:28

to spend a couple of hours of my terrific

13:30

day cleaning up the shit that's inevitably going to

13:32

fall. And I'm going to have a terrific time

13:34

doing it. That's

13:38

all you need to do to have

13:40

a terrific day every day. It's really

13:42

that simple. And

13:46

it sounds simple, and I agree with you

13:48

that that is a possibility. But for people

13:50

who have – we're

13:53

going to talk about your mental models in a second, which I think is

13:55

really important to what I'm about to say. But when you have programming or

13:57

you're working with a lot of people, you have to have a great day.

14:00

holding on to anger, you're

14:02

holding on to discontent, it's

14:05

difficult to break through that barrier to have

14:08

what you just said. If you're in

14:10

a different place emotionally, mentally, spiritually, what

14:12

you said makes all the sense in

14:14

the world. But

14:16

how do you break through those

14:20

mental models, if you will? And if you can explain

14:22

what a mental model is to everybody, maybe that'll help.

14:25

Mental is a notion that we have that this is

14:27

the way the world works. And

14:30

we have dozens of models.

14:32

We've got a model for how do I find

14:34

a person to marry? How

14:36

do I evaluate an employee

14:38

I'm planning to hire? How

14:41

do I

14:43

decide where I'm going

14:45

to have dinner? We've got dozens of

14:48

models. Some of them may be in conflict with each

14:50

other and we may or may not be aware of

14:52

those conflicts. The problem,

14:54

Alex, is not that we have mental

14:56

models. Mental models are wonderful things that

14:58

help us make sense of unstructured situation.

15:00

They save us time. The

15:03

problem is not that we have mental

15:05

models. The problem is that we don't

15:07

recognize that we have mental models. We

15:10

think this is the way the world works, but

15:13

this is not the way the world works. This

15:16

is the way we think the world works. And

15:19

the more we invest in

15:21

this, the more it

15:23

seems to us as if this is in

15:25

fact the way the world works. And very

15:27

soon we've built a silo around ourselves that's

15:29

so thick we can't break out of it.

15:32

So to answer your earlier question, how does

15:35

one get out of this when we have

15:37

been so strongly indoctrinated is

15:39

to think about what I have just

15:42

shared with you and determine for yourself

15:44

whether it's true or not. You

15:47

know, I believe X, whatever X

15:49

is, is that

15:51

true? Is there

15:53

data which refutes that? Is

15:56

it possible that I'm mistaken or is

15:58

it possible time what

16:00

I think is true but other times

16:02

it's not so therefore I cannot generalize.

16:06

And you have to keep going

16:08

back to it in your mind

16:10

thinking over and over again until

16:12

you have deprogrammed yourself. Look,

16:15

where were you born

16:17

and where did you grow up? I

16:20

was born in Miami. Okay,

16:22

fair enough. And basically grew up between

16:24

that and New York. Right. So you

16:27

have never worn a lunji, right? Do

16:29

you know what a lunji is? I

16:31

do not. A lunji is a traditional

16:33

dress in many parts of South Asia,

16:35

particularly in Burma. It's basically a strip

16:38

of cloth tied into

16:40

a circle. So

16:42

you step into that and you tie it around

16:44

your waist and you know that's a lunji. And

16:48

for informal dress you have a plain

16:50

lunji, you can be very formal and

16:52

have elaborate and intricately

16:54

designed lunjis with

16:56

all kinds of formal decorations. So it

16:58

can be a formal dress, it can

17:00

be informal, but that's what people in

17:03

Burma, now Myanmar, wear all the time.

17:06

Now the first time I

17:08

wore a lunji I was very uncomfortable and it

17:10

was all I could do to prevent it from

17:12

falling. And for a long time I used to

17:14

keep the lunji up by basically tying a belt

17:16

around my middle and folding it over. But

17:19

eventually I started feeling comfortable with

17:21

the lunji. The more I wore the lunji the

17:24

more I felt comfortable and a day came when

17:26

I could simply wear it. I could never wear

17:28

it with a not so long of a day

17:30

too, but I could wear it keep it on

17:32

and feel okay, I'm comfortable with it. That's

17:36

how you do it. These notions seem

17:38

uncomfortable. Try them

17:40

on for size, keep thinking about them

17:42

and one day they will stop being

17:44

uncomfortable and one day they'll say but

17:46

of course that's how it always is.

17:50

That's how you make the transition,

17:53

you deprogram yourself.

17:57

Now the mind is your best

17:59

friend. and your worst enemy all at

18:01

the same time. It can be. And

18:03

with this conversation, I'm already playing devil's

18:05

advocate if you will and

18:08

going, okay, well, what Dr.

18:10

Rao is saying is great, but that's for

18:12

other people. That's like, you know, like, oh,

18:14

if I'm not doing financially well, and

18:16

then you just said, is there any evidence

18:18

to refute why you're not doing financially well?

18:21

Then you're like, well, look at the

18:23

five or ten other examples of people

18:26

doing financially well. And

18:28

then you're like, well, obviously it's possible. Or

18:31

if you're not in a loving relationship, you see other people

18:33

in loving relationship, it's possible. But then

18:35

the mind goes, but that's for other people,

18:37

not for me. How do

18:39

you break free from that kind of that

18:41

chatter that that that inner critic that is

18:44

so brutal to us? By

18:46

awareness. Awareness is the only solution

18:49

to that, Alex, you have to

18:51

constantly be thinking and seeing how

18:53

you're digging the pit into which

18:56

you are falling. You

18:58

fall into a pit and you're making things worse

19:00

by digging. There was a joke

19:02

somewhere. I forget where you said when you realize

19:04

in a hole, the first thing you have to

19:07

do is stop digging. So

19:11

for the person who wants to get out, the first

19:13

thing you have to do is stop digging. And

19:16

if you were in a really deep hole, it would take

19:18

a while before you could clamber out. But

19:20

the way that I show persons to

19:23

do it, and it's described in my

19:25

book, Are You Ready to Succeed? And

19:27

in my courses and coaching programs, it

19:29

will work. You just

19:31

have to apply it assiduously. And

19:33

of course, there are people who say, you know,

19:36

this is a crock of, you know, walled and

19:38

it's not good work. God bless them. Continue

19:41

as you are until you figure out

19:43

that what you're doing is not working

19:45

for you. And when you truly recognize

19:48

it's not working for you, come back.

20:00

And I

20:02

think that I've heard you say before that control is

20:04

an illusion. So

20:07

can you discuss that a little bit as far as

20:09

why we believe that? Because a lot of people think

20:11

that I have to drive the wheel. I have to

20:13

drive the car. I have to drive everything. That's one

20:15

of the biggest myths we have in our society. And

20:17

the myth we have in our society is, you know,

20:20

I've got to do it. I'll go over there and

20:22

I'll work really hard and I'll make it. And if

20:24

I want to go from one place to one place

20:26

A to place B, I have to come up with

20:28

a plan for going from place A to place B.

20:31

And I have to execute well on that plan.

20:33

I'll get from place A to place B. Right.

20:36

Maybe not. How

20:40

many times? Here's what happens. Many times in our life

20:42

we wanted to go from place A to place B

20:44

and we came with a plan and executed. And

20:47

we did, in fact, get from place A to place B. And

20:49

we said, Eureka, it doesn't. I have control. I

20:51

did it. And I can do it again. In

20:55

reality, any of a million

20:57

things that could have gone wrong did not

20:59

go wrong. So be eternally

21:02

grateful. But

21:04

don't think that you did it and

21:07

you have control because the notion that

21:09

you have control is what I call

21:11

the illusion of control. And

21:14

all of us have it. The

21:16

pandemic was wonderful

21:19

in this way because it

21:22

viscerally brought home to many people that

21:24

you do not have control. We'll

21:28

be right back after a word from our sponsor.

21:34

And now back to the show. My

21:38

wife and I have booked tennis ricks. We've

21:40

been to the U.S. Open practically every year.

21:42

We've been to the French Open a number

21:44

of times. We went to the Australian Open

21:46

three years ago. And 2020

21:48

is when we were going to Wimbledon. So

21:51

we bought good tickets for the men's

21:53

semifinals and finals. Now, if

21:56

you know anything about Wimbledon, getting good seats for

21:58

the later rounds, it's not a joke. expenditures

22:00

in capital investment. At

22:03

that time if somebody had said Srikumar, you're not going

22:05

to go say you're built, and I'd have said yeah

22:07

it's possible, but in my head would

22:09

have been something like perhaps somebody close to me

22:12

fell ill so I had to cancel my trip.

22:14

I would never have imagined that the tournament

22:17

itself would be cancelled and there would be

22:19

no planes flying between London and New York.

22:23

So the pandemic in a

22:25

very visceral sense brought home to

22:27

many people that you really do

22:29

not have control. Now

22:33

is control a part, control

22:35

is ego essentially. Absolutely

22:38

yes I can do it. This

22:41

is why actually there's a wonderful social

22:44

practice in the Islamic tradition

22:46

among Muslims, you know whenever

22:48

they say something they always

22:51

say inshAllah if that be the will

22:53

of Allah. Let's meet for dinner on

22:55

Sunday. Yeah let's meet for dinner on

22:57

Sunday. Inshallah. Now

22:59

what happens is this will become mechanical.

23:02

So some of my Muslim students tell

23:04

me that it's become not only has

23:06

it become mechanical but it's now used

23:08

as in a very derogatory, derisive way.

23:11

So inshAllah means of course it's not

23:13

going to happen so they use it

23:15

derisively. That's

23:18

really a shame because if you go

23:20

down to the spirit of the tradition,

23:22

inshAllah means nothing is within our control

23:24

and if it be the will of

23:26

the universe, the will of Allah, then

23:28

we will meet and you

23:30

acknowledge that upfront and that

23:32

acknowledgement is wonderful. So

23:35

if it's not mechanical but you say yeah

23:37

nothing is under my control we will meet

23:39

for dinner on Sunday you know if all

23:41

things go well. So

23:43

let me ask you this then because I was

23:45

raised in the west and I

23:48

was raised in working hard or could work

23:50

ethic all of that stuff and I have

23:52

achieved many things in my life by

23:55

working hard but I also

23:57

have not achieved many things in my life by

23:59

working hard. some of the biggest things

24:01

I've ever wanted in my life to happen. I

24:05

like my wife says, it's not for

24:07

lack of trying. You

24:10

haven't achieved those goals. So

24:12

where do we balance with

24:15

letting go of control but

24:17

yet still working towards the

24:19

goals that we have? Because you can't sit around waiting for

24:21

someone to knock on the door to give you what you

24:23

want. Oh, you know. For participation.

24:27

Not only should you work hard, but you should

24:29

work definitely hard. Right now our model is I

24:31

worked very hard and I didn't get what I

24:33

wanted. So obviously I did something wrong because

24:35

if I had done it right then, you

24:37

know, I would have been Jeff Bezos or

24:39

whatever. Yeah,

24:44

that's not so. See what

24:46

happens is the mistake we make Alex

24:48

is we think that the benefit of

24:50

setting a goal for ourselves and working

24:52

hard to achieve it is achieving the

24:54

goal. Achieving the goal

24:58

is an outcome. It is beyond our control. We

25:01

may get there. We may not get there.

25:04

Any of a number of things could happen

25:07

to prevent you from achieving it. OK,

25:12

how many movies have you seen with, you

25:14

know, there's a criminal and he's gloating and,

25:16

you know, it's a done deal. And

25:19

all of a sudden something

25:22

comes unstuck and their entire

25:26

facade falls apart. Many.

25:29

He is great for that in a series. You

25:31

know, he is a criminal. He's done the perfect

25:33

thing. And Colombo always finds that one little hole

25:36

which you forgot to plug. Right.

25:39

It happens all the time. So

25:41

here's what you have to understand. The benefit

25:43

of setting a goal and trying your level

25:45

best to achieve the goal is

25:47

not achieving the goal. The

25:50

benefit is the learning and

25:52

growth that happen in you and to you

25:55

as you try your level best to achieve

25:57

the goal. achieve

26:00

the goal that is a bonus.

26:02

Be immensely grateful. If

26:05

you don't achieve the goal, the learning

26:07

and growth have already happened so you're

26:09

ahead of the game. It's a no-lose

26:11

proposition and that's why

26:13

you go off, you set a goal and

26:15

you work very hard to achieve it because

26:17

regardless of whether you achieve it or not,

26:20

the learning and growth have happened to you

26:22

and in you. So

26:25

on coming from a spiritual point

26:27

of view then, from my

26:30

understanding of my spiritual studies and speaking

26:32

to a lot of spiritual masters around

26:34

the world, we come

26:36

down here to learn lessons. We come

26:38

down here to walk a path. Many

26:40

say that we create this experience

26:42

for ourselves to learn certain lessons

26:45

in the evolution of our soul.

26:47

That is a model by the way. Right,

26:50

it's a model. So that's exactly, that's a mental

26:52

model, correct. So if we look at

26:54

life that way then, you know,

26:56

if you keep going towards a goal and

26:59

it keeps you keep bumping into walls and bumping into

27:01

walls and bumping into walls, that

27:03

is the universe or

27:05

whatever you want to call it pushing

27:07

you in the direction of where

27:09

benefits you most in the evolution of

27:11

your soul. It might not be

27:14

what you want but it's what

27:16

you need and I always tell people

27:18

if you got everything you wanted in life,

27:21

your life would be a disaster. Would

27:24

you agree? That

27:26

actually is something that Einstein

27:28

said. We review Einstein because

27:30

he was a great scientist.

27:32

He formulated the theory of

27:34

relativity. He discovered the photoelectric

27:36

effect but Einstein was

27:39

also a philosopher who had a very

27:41

intimate understanding of the universe and

27:43

he said the most important question you

27:45

are ever going to ask yourself is,

27:47

is the universe

27:49

friendly? Yeah. Let

27:52

me repeat that. Einstein said the

27:54

most important question you are ever

27:56

going to ask is,

27:58

is the universe friendly.

28:02

The vast majority of us believe the universe

28:04

is either friendly nor unfriendly. It doesn't

28:06

know I exist and couldn't care less.

28:09

Here I am going around doing my thing.

28:11

There's the universe going around doing its thing.

28:14

Sometimes it seems to help me. Sometimes it

28:16

seems to work against me. But essentially it's

28:18

a random process. Not

28:21

true. What

28:24

if the universe was aware of your

28:26

existence and the universe was well-disposed towards

28:28

you? Well, the

28:30

universe was your friend. Friends

28:32

don't shaft friends, right? If

28:36

the universe was your friend, why does it give you

28:38

stuff you don't want? Well,

28:41

what if it gave you stuff that you

28:43

don't want, but which was exactly right for

28:45

your learning and growth? It's like a small

28:47

child. You're a small child and you want

28:49

a tub of ice cream and your parents

28:51

give you fruits and vegetables. Then you don't

28:53

want fruits and vegetables. You want a tub

28:55

of ice cream. But the

28:58

universe through your parents gives you fruits and

29:00

vegetables. It isn't until

29:02

you have a much greater level of wisdom

29:04

and maturity that you can say, thank God

29:06

I got fruits and vegetables. So

29:10

what if the universe was like that? It doesn't

29:12

give you what you need, but it gives you

29:14

exactly what you want. But it gives you exactly

29:17

what you need for

29:20

your learning and growth.

29:22

That's difficult for a lot of people

29:24

to understand. Because again, the whole story.

29:26

You have to cultivate the knowledge that

29:29

this is a friendly universe. That's why

29:31

I answered the most important question you

29:33

will ever ask is, is the universe

29:35

friendly? Because my friend,

29:37

if you live in a friendly universe,

29:39

your experience of life will be ever

29:42

so much better. Right.

29:45

Because we've all met those kinds of people

29:48

who walk around the like, everything is horrible.

29:50

We're all going to die. This is bad.

29:52

Bad things happen all the time. If you

29:54

just look at the news that's been spewed

29:57

out to us on just a constant 24

29:59

hour basis. basis. So

30:01

it's difficult for people looking at someone like

30:03

the news saying, Oh, we're

30:05

in a friendly place when you just

30:07

see the negative, negative, negative, negative, negative.

30:09

Remember that the news channels

30:12

have a vested interest in making you feel bad.

30:16

And fearful. When you feel bad, then

30:19

you spend more time there and you feel

30:21

down and that that's a great time to

30:23

say, you know, you can feel better if

30:25

you buy X. So whatever it

30:27

is. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

30:30

So they have a vested interest in making

30:32

you feel not odd. Right.

30:34

Exactly. And same thing goes for social media, for

30:36

that matter. Those

30:40

algorithms are built to get

30:42

you to that place. It's disheartening to

30:44

say the least. Now,

30:46

which brings me to my next question. So

30:50

many of us live in a stressful

30:53

state all the time, especially

30:56

in the West. And if it, you

30:58

know, before it was the tiger, they used to scare us,

31:00

but now it could be our boss. It could be our

31:02

spouse. It could be not paying the bills. It could be,

31:04

but we're in a constant fight or flight, you

31:07

know, the place in our lives and that

31:09

stress is killing us. What

31:11

do we do to relieve some of that stress

31:13

out of our lives? Dr. Rau. Understand why you

31:15

have stress in your life. I

31:17

was this question of thousands of people on

31:19

six continents. Do you have stress in your

31:21

life? And most people say they have more

31:24

stress in their life now than ever before.

31:27

So of course I asked them, why do you have

31:29

stress in your life? And they come up

31:31

with dozens of

31:33

answers and I brought them down into

31:35

a few major categories. They

31:37

have stress in their life

31:40

because of financial problems, relationship

31:42

issues, health reverses, scarier setbacks,

31:44

problems with children and other

31:47

relationships, et cetera, et cetera,

31:49

et cetera. Wrong.

31:54

We'll be right back after a word from our

31:56

sponsor. And

32:00

now back to the show. There's

32:04

only one reason you have stress in your

32:06

life, Alex. Let me repeat that. There's

32:09

only one reason you

32:11

have stress in your life. And

32:15

the reason you have stress in your life is

32:17

because you have a rigid

32:21

demand that the world unfold

32:24

in a particular manner. And

32:26

the world is paying no attention to what

32:28

you want in going its merry ways. And

32:31

you resist it, and you resent it,

32:34

and in that resistance and resentment, you

32:36

create the stress in your life. And

32:39

that's the only reason you have stress in

32:41

your life. Again,

32:44

it goes back to trying to control and

32:47

wanting things to be... You're basically a child. I

32:49

want it, I want it, I want the tub

32:51

of ice cream. Now, exactly.

32:53

I just want

32:55

that tub of ice cream. It's just not working for me.

32:58

Which then leads me to my next question in

33:00

regards to stress because I love

33:03

your example of the traffic jam. Can you

33:06

tell that story of the traffic jam to everybody?

33:08

Oh, absolutely. Sure. And I

33:10

would invite you as well as everybody who's

33:12

listening not just to listen to me, but

33:15

to put yourself in the situation that I

33:17

am outlining. So

33:20

you're going to a meeting, and it's

33:22

a very important meeting, a really

33:24

important meeting. You're

33:27

driving. You

33:30

are running late. You're

33:33

stuck in a massive traffic jam.

33:36

It's a beastly hot day, and

33:38

the air conditioner in your car

33:40

has broken down. So

33:43

get all of this. You're going to a really important

33:45

meeting. You're driving. You're running late.

33:47

You're stuck in a massive traffic jam.

33:50

It's a beastly hot day, and

33:52

the air conditioning in your car has broken down. Now,

33:55

all of a sudden, someone cuts it in front

33:57

of you and almost... causes

34:00

an accident. Then he cuts

34:02

in front of another car in front of you and

34:04

almost causes a second accident. What

34:07

are your feelings towards the driver of that

34:10

car? What's so

34:12

pretty good that your feelings towards

34:14

the driver of that car are

34:16

not those of loving kindness? So.

34:23

You think on printable thoughts. You might give him

34:25

a finger. If you were, if

34:27

you did carry firearms in the car,

34:30

you might be tempted to go lethal.

34:34

But now I share with you the information that the

34:36

guy who cut you off was

34:38

a father who'd been informed that his son

34:40

had been involved in an accident and had

34:42

to be operated on. And he was desperately

34:44

trying to get to the hospital with no

34:46

knowledge of whether or not he'd ever see

34:48

his son alive again. So

34:50

when I share that information with you,

34:52

you can feel your rage drain out

34:55

of you to be replaced with compassion

34:57

for a fellow human being in an

34:59

unfortunate predicament, right? You

35:01

don't really know whether the guy who cut

35:03

you off was a distraught father or an

35:06

inconsiderate jerk. So Alex, here's

35:08

what you're going to do. You're going to go hire

35:10

a private investigator to look into the matter and report

35:12

back. And if the private

35:14

investigator reports back to you that the guy was

35:16

a distraught father, you will feel great compassion. But

35:19

if the private investigator reports back to you

35:21

that the guy was an inconsiderate jerk, you'll

35:23

be really pissed off. But

35:25

until you know for sure you're going to

35:28

remain neutral. Is

35:30

that what's going to happen? Very unlikely. You're not

35:32

going to hire a private investigator, nor will any

35:34

of the good people listening to this podcast. But

35:37

this means that you'll never know whether the

35:39

guy who cut you off was an inconsiderate

35:41

jerk or a distraught father. The

35:44

more important point is it really doesn't

35:46

matter. You

35:48

have the choice of determining what is

35:51

the emotional domain you occupy. And

35:55

you made a decision. Here's what

35:57

you need to understand. You had a choice.

36:00

and you made a decision. Normally

36:03

it happens so fast that people don't

36:05

even recognize that. But now

36:07

that I peeled it back, can you see that

36:09

you had a choice and you made a decision?

36:14

And the reason that's important is because you

36:17

have such a choice dozens

36:19

of times every day. Let me repeat

36:21

that. You have, you come to such

36:23

a juncture dozens of times every day.

36:27

And the vast majority

36:29

of those junctures, you

36:32

choose to occupy an emotional domain

36:36

where you feel angry,

36:38

hurt, fearful, anxious, nervous.

36:42

And you never recognize that

36:44

this was a choice

36:46

you had and the decision you made.

36:52

And the reason you make

36:54

the particular decisions you do

36:56

is because of the mental chatter

36:58

that you entertain and the mental

37:00

model that you hold. That's

37:03

how important these things are. They

37:05

run your life. They

37:08

construct the matrix in

37:11

which you live. So

37:14

if you're in a position of loving,

37:17

gratitude and a good space in your own model

37:20

and that people are generally good and all that,

37:22

your first instinct when that happens to you is like,

37:24

oh, I wonder what's going on in their life. That

37:28

they felt I had to do that. But if you feel like

37:30

everyone's out to get you in the second someone does that, like

37:32

that son of a SOB, he must have and

37:36

your ego gets bruised and then when you honk the

37:38

horn he flips you off and then

37:41

it starts to escalate. Exactly.

37:43

You put it on right there. That's

37:45

exactly how it happened. The

37:48

catch is you've got to recognize it, the

37:51

instant it is happening. And

37:53

the only way you're going to do that is to live

37:55

a life of awareness. And

37:57

that's the core principle in my coaching. core

38:00

principle in the work that

38:02

I do. You have to live a life

38:05

of awareness. But like

38:07

I said earlier though, I've noticed that, you

38:10

know, it's something that used to take you, you know,

38:12

months of your day

38:14

that worried you, let's say, went

38:16

down to weeks, went down to days, went down to

38:18

hours, went down to seconds. So

38:20

something like that, someone cutting you off literally

38:22

could knock you off for a full day

38:24

and then affect your family, affect your relationship,

38:27

affects your job. But as you, I've

38:29

noticed that at least in my world, I'm not sure in

38:31

yours, but when something like that happens, look,

38:33

we all get someone cutting us off. And

38:37

now it upsets

38:39

me for literally a few seconds and

38:41

then I completely let it go. But

38:43

I'm still here, I'm still dealing with

38:46

being human, I'm still dealing with my ego, I'm

38:48

still dealing with everything that we have

38:50

to deal with in this reality. But

38:53

it's getting shorter and shorter and shorter

38:55

and shorter until it hopefully becomes non-existent.

38:57

But that's when you start getting to

38:59

a much higher place than I am

39:01

at this moment. I

39:07

still get angry, I still get angry, but it

39:09

gets, but it's so much quicker than it used

39:11

to be. And that's, you found that as well

39:13

as like even, I have to be, I

39:16

used to get really steamed up about it,

39:19

just go stuff, you know, that's it. I

39:22

have to imagine that one point or

39:25

another, you know, Jesus or Buddha, they

39:27

had to have gotten angry, they had

39:29

to go through these kind of experiences

39:31

because they're human, they were human, and

39:34

they were evolving on a path to become a

39:36

spiritual master or an ascended master eventually. And

39:40

they had to go through this. And so many times

39:42

we look at these spiritual masters that we look up

39:44

to and study

39:47

And pay tribute to as perfection walking the

39:49

earth. And They might have gone to that

39:51

place, but at a certain point, they all

39:54

had to go through a journey. Buddha Went

39:56

very historically through his journey, and he made

39:58

mistakes along the way. He was. That know

40:00

be six or not the way I'm gonna go.

40:02

I gotta find this other way and things

40:04

like that so a kind of liberate us all

40:07

the like oh yes. We. All have

40:09

the ability to get to that which is what someone

40:11

that I knew of. Beauty.

40:14

Of these great figures.

40:17

This. Show you the pinnacle

40:19

if you will. Oh.

40:22

What a human being is.

40:24

And. Can be. Exactly.

40:28

With or without question, I'm

40:30

now. A lot of the

40:32

things that we've been talking about and I think this

40:34

goes back and little bit to the mental models is

40:37

the inner critic. For. Monkey Brains.

40:39

On that that constant constant constant why

40:42

is that who's who's the voice? Who

40:44

who is Tell it's like it. I

40:46

enlisted the some items for but like

40:48

if you had a person who talk

40:50

to you like you talk to yourself

40:52

you would never want that human being

40:54

in your life who were get you

40:56

out and shoot of course and serb

40:58

know the Arab general that voices brutal

41:01

to assault. Why do we do that

41:03

to ourselves? What is the purpose of

41:05

that. And I mean we break

41:07

free, recognize that we're doing it to

41:09

ourselves. One.

41:11

Of the more powerful teach teaching through the

41:13

boot, both the Parable of the Second Barrel

41:15

do know the bearable. I know it. I

41:17

don't think. So. The

41:19

Book: The Asylum Days as I belong. They

41:22

have an arrow would hate to the arm

41:24

Would it not be very painful? On

41:27

the been audited say the Us lauded for

41:29

be very painful. And is a

41:31

second arrow would a hit you exactly where

41:34

the first aerojet you would it or be

41:36

even more painful. He. A stark

41:38

them for him and more. And

41:41

then the blue. The Us. Is

41:43

simple question: why then do you

41:45

shoot the second battle. Will

41:49

be right back after a word from our

41:51

sponsor. And

41:55

now back to the show. And

41:59

the some probably. Black schools people. so

42:01

let me explain that. a story.

42:03

I got this from actually one

42:05

of the wonderful tech stocks that

42:08

are up on the web. Ah,

42:10

those a woman beautiful, accomplished and

42:12

or she had a very messy

42:14

divorce and a broker up. At

42:17

over a long long long time for

42:19

who to recover but in bits and

42:21

pieces you put a life back to

42:24

the they decided she was ready to

42:26

explore so she went to the internet

42:28

sites and for dinner profile and-she met

42:30

this guy who was funny and witty

42:32

and an entrepreneur and well off. but

42:34

most of all he seemed really into

42:37

her. Softer. A

42:39

few weeks of messaging and talking the phone

42:41

they decided to be to an upscale Manhattan

42:43

cafe and she was all excited and for

42:45

been out and got a new dress and

42:47

a myth. And

42:50

fifteen minutes into that, media gets up.

42:53

It was is not going on the table

42:55

and says i'm not interested and walks out.

42:59

And. See was crushed.

43:02

she was so dispirited to the only thing

43:04

she's the do was stop to all her

43:06

friend. And a frenzy is

43:08

why Are you surprised? You have

43:10

fat hip see of nothing interesting

43:12

to say? Why would a handsome

43:14

intelligent man pay any attention to

43:17

you? You're shocked that I friend

43:19

would say something like that, right?

43:22

Would. You be less shock if I said

43:24

it wasn't The friend said that, it's

43:26

what she told herself. That.

43:32

Is the second arrow. And

43:35

the second arrow is always daily.

43:37

would buy mean for men kitab

43:39

at let me repeat that the

43:41

second. Their role is always that

43:44

they would plan beans with mental

43:46

chatter. Is bad

43:48

enough being rejected? Does. It

43:51

make my does better to tell

43:53

yourself that you are physically unattractive

43:55

and socially maladroit. Obviously.

43:58

Not. We.

44:00

Do it all the time. For.

44:03

Most so my clients. If I could get them

44:05

of the second arrow, they'd be way better than

44:07

they are. By the time I get to them,

44:09

they're on their fifth sixth, the two hundred and

44:11

ninety seven Barrows. And.

44:16

So true we are. So.

44:18

We can stop that second. that because the first our

44:20

oh. Was. Something that we had no

44:22

control over. But the second to the two hundred

44:24

and fiftieth arrow is within our control. No

44:27

matter what situation you're concerned

44:29

about our legs, the matter

44:31

what situation any of the

44:33

listeners this podcast said concerned

44:35

about. Your. Mental, sad

44:38

or about that situation makes

44:40

it a key least an

44:42

order of magnitude and probably

44:44

many orders of magnitude worse.

44:48

Now. We've discussed in this in this

44:51

conversation a lot about mental models and

44:53

of about programming and a in a

44:55

we aren't likely said when we are

44:57

the product of our own. Upbringing,

45:00

culturally, societal, all that.

45:03

Let's say that that is not serving

45:05

us anymore. Didn't that the

45:08

idea that we were raised with

45:10

that money is hard to find

45:12

on loves doesn't exist? These models

45:14

that we might have seen in

45:16

our own parents are on our

45:18

family or and own society, societal

45:21

environment, Or not working

45:23

for us anymore and were aware of

45:25

this? How Do We rewire. Our.

45:27

Brain to have a more successful

45:29

and happier life. That's.

45:31

What my course of my coaching is

45:33

all about of exile. Give you the

45:35

short version. The short version is come

45:37

up with different plenty more to use

45:40

which you better. And. Implement

45:42

them in your life. It's

45:44

easy to see, it's not quite as easy

45:46

to do the how to you go about

45:49

doing it actually give a step by step

45:51

process of my first book Are you Ready

45:53

To Succeed said a few readers are interested.

45:55

they can get a copy of that from

45:58

Amazon. Are you Ready To Succeed? But

46:00

essentially what happens is okay. Let me

46:03

back up. Every. Time you

46:05

have a situation, a life that you

46:07

find unpleasant and it persists. Not

46:10

some of the time. Not most of the

46:12

time. Every time you have

46:15

a situation in your life

46:17

that you find unpleasant and

46:19

it persists. You.

46:21

Are using one or more mental

46:24

models that last movie you? well.

46:27

And a woman to make a

46:29

pre appropriate changes in those mental

46:31

models? Poof the situation. Would he

46:34

leave just like that? It.

46:37

Works everytime. How

46:40

you go about doing that? That's what I discuss

46:42

in my book. Are you ready to succeed? And

46:47

makes a lot of censor not you Also

46:49

talk about i saw you a video of

46:51

yours or mine. This had thought about Quantum

46:53

Leap. And gonna attack a

46:55

quantum with can you explain what that

46:58

means and whatnot and what can we

47:00

do to get the quantum leap sir

47:02

are a simple stuff. systematically looking at

47:04

the mentally models you have that you

47:07

are holding back and one of the

47:09

biggest battle models we have is you

47:11

know if I have to be successful,

47:13

I have to work hard and eight

47:15

is going to take time. I have

47:18

to climb the ladder of success. One

47:20

run got a time. Perhaps.

47:22

You don't have to brass. You can leap frog

47:25

several Bronx and do it again. And do it

47:27

again. One. Of

47:29

the great things about the. A

47:31

into that and the technological usually

47:34

they is. We have also many

47:36

young people who become so wildly

47:38

successful. Something financial material town but

47:40

some another me as well. So

47:44

so suspect this does not have to

47:46

be run by wrong. It can happen

47:49

much much much faster. It?

47:52

What do you have to get rid off

47:54

his the mental model that this is the

47:56

way to go. And. also

47:58

remember what i said earlier.

48:02

Just because you think that you can get

48:04

rid of it, doesn't

48:07

mean you can. Because,

48:09

you know, we run into the old control

48:11

paradigm again. You know, I have to get

48:13

rid of my mental models and I'm going

48:15

to adopt that person's mental model because he

48:17

became a zillionaire when he was 30. So

48:20

maybe I won't become a zillionaire, but

48:22

I will become a half zillionaire. Maybe

48:26

you will, maybe you won't. But

48:28

if you set that as a goal and go,

48:30

what will happen is the learning and growth that

48:33

will happen in you will

48:35

happen. And ultimately

48:37

you recognize that whatever it is

48:40

that you need to be happy

48:43

and fulfilled is right with you

48:45

right now. You do not have

48:47

to have external markers of any

48:49

kind. And

48:52

that is the biggest learning

48:54

that you can have in

48:56

life. You are full and complete

48:58

as you are right now. You don't

49:01

need anything to make you happy. Now,

49:07

and you were saying the younger

49:10

generation coming up, I

49:12

always found that when

49:15

you're young, you don't know what you

49:17

don't know. And

49:19

that is your greatest strength and your

49:21

greatest weakness all at the same time.

49:24

Because there is something to be said

49:26

about experience. Like we know,

49:28

like you go down that road, this is the door

49:30

you're going to run into. But

49:33

a lot of times being so young and not

49:35

understanding how the rules are laid out as models

49:37

that we've set for ourselves, you go,

49:39

well, I don't want to walk down that road. I'm

49:42

going to go down this road that

49:44

no one's ever walked down. And I

49:46

don't know how insanely dangerous it might

49:48

be or stupid or whatever. But that's

49:50

how all these great

49:52

people that you've spoken about

49:54

and studied from every great entrepreneur that's

49:56

ever walked the earth, they all went

49:59

down different paths. I know Jeff

50:01

Bezos selling books on the internet

50:03

in the 90s. It's

50:05

insane. I'm

50:07

going to create a spaceship that lands

50:10

on Musk. That's insane. I'm going

50:12

to create a social media platform.

50:15

What is that? The

50:17

way you have that, it's called MySpace. Why would we need

50:19

another one? All

50:21

these things, but these are people who think

50:23

differently. It's just like that old Apple commercial.

50:27

Those people who think they're crazy enough to

50:29

change the world are the ones that do. It's

50:33

about taking those big swings sometimes. That's

50:35

why we idolize a lot of these

50:37

people. Also in the spiritual

50:39

sense, also in many other aspects, not just money

50:42

or entrepreneurship, but they take risks.

50:44

They take these swings at the bat

50:47

that you're more likely going to

50:49

strike out, but every once in a while, they

50:52

hit that home run. Right? Here's

50:55

the point. Don't look at this

50:58

is what I'm going to accomplish and

51:00

especially don't look at somebody else who's

51:02

been wildly successful along the

51:04

dimensions that you think are important

51:06

and say, I want to be

51:08

like that. Because

51:10

the first thing we have to learn, Alex,

51:12

is to recognize that you are on your

51:14

own individual journey. You're not on anybody else's

51:17

journey. Every time

51:19

you look at somebody else and say, he did that

51:21

or she did that, I want to do that.

51:25

You're basically living yourself in for a

51:27

life of frustration and despair. I

51:31

did that for so many years in

51:34

my filmmaking world. I tried

51:36

to go down the path of so many successful

51:38

filmmakers and it just doesn't work. Then

51:40

I get to speak to some of these filmmakers

51:42

on my other shows and I go, oh, they

51:45

didn't know what they were doing. They were just

51:47

walking a path that made sense for them. It's

51:51

something that you can't replicate. It's something that's

51:53

very specific to them. You can

51:55

take inspiration. That

52:00

he spits want. Will

52:03

be right back after a word from our

52:05

sponsor. And

52:10

now back to the show. As.

52:15

Is so sure they are you. I could

52:17

never walk the path you walked. You can

52:19

never walk the path I walked. It's just

52:21

not the way the world but slaves. It's

52:23

one. Always better that it might be okay.

52:26

Know a lot of the things that we've been talking

52:28

about. It. I think that

52:31

if we had more gratitude in our

52:33

life, There's.

52:35

That place with you that's the basis

52:37

of like a someone cut you off

52:39

if you've got more gratitude in your

52:41

life. Ah, it becomes a lot easier

52:44

to navigate New give any advice on

52:46

how we can incorporate. Gratitude is almost

52:48

a default in our lives to Ipsa.

52:50

Can. Ah I want you

52:52

to consider this proposition like so I

52:54

wouldn't leave out to you. Your

52:57

awareness is like

52:59

a flashlight. What?

53:02

Does a flashlight do? It lights up

53:04

whatever you tried it on. It

53:07

illuminates wherever you directed.

53:10

Directed. To feeling it. Makes

53:12

receiving bright directed at the floor. It

53:15

lights up the floor right. And

53:18

pruitt to Right though I wanted

53:20

to take the flashlight of your

53:22

awareness and shy they it on

53:24

the chair in which you are

53:26

sitting. But.

53:29

What would you do that you become aware of the

53:31

pressure of your buttocks of the see to the chair.

53:34

You. Feel the fabric or the leather against

53:36

the back of your pipes, Correct? Thirty

53:40

seconds ago, you're not aware of any of this, but

53:42

now you are. Why?

53:45

Because. You shown the flashlight of

53:48

fear of air? This or that. Wouldn't.

53:51

Be typically do with a flashlight of

53:53

our awareness. We. Try these are

53:56

the two, three or four days that are wrong

53:58

about lives. Water. Safely

54:00

be signed it on. The two

54:02

three or four things that we

54:04

have arbitrarily decided is wrong in our

54:06

life. And

54:08

forty fifty two hundred think that

54:11

a pretty damn good about our

54:13

lives. We. Never signed the

54:15

flashlight or far away as sunbeds

54:17

of the past by unnoticed. Because.

54:23

That's who Offered a traffic jam almost

54:25

causes the last two you're driving. A

54:28

brand new Bmw could have got banned

54:30

after, could certainly have been disfigured. Several

54:32

thousand dollars will work on a body

54:34

shop and that didn't happen. About.

54:38

Feeling grateful for the fact that that didn't

54:41

happen. I would feeling grateful

54:43

for the fact that you have a car

54:45

to drive. Or be

54:47

grateful for the fact yeah my air conditioners down

54:49

but I know I can get all those Good

54:51

Job was a good friend of my that either

54:53

back at a guy I'm sorry to fix them

54:55

up and be grateful that you have do in

54:58

your life. Will you can go to contend that

55:00

Ryan. Or

55:03

how are feeling grateful for the fact you

55:06

know I'm getting into hung up on stuff

55:08

like air conditioning in his a great time

55:10

for me to wean myself out of it

55:12

and not feel that. There's.

55:15

So many things we can be

55:17

grateful about if we shine a

55:19

flashlight of awareness on it. To.

55:22

Have a bit to sleep and do have a roof

55:24

over your head. Do. Have to worry about

55:26

whether you're gonna have dinner to right? To

55:29

be one of these is a big deal in a

55:31

big part of the world outside, right? So.

55:35

When I pointed out, you say yes,

55:37

yes and you know you're incredibly privileged.

55:40

Would. You don't feel incredibly from did you feel

55:42

put up on. And. Stressed out,

55:45

And the reason for that is

55:48

entirely because of where you shrine.

55:50

The. Flashlight of your awareness on.

55:55

So. Start by signing the flashlight of

55:57

your awareness on the many many ways

55:59

and. The things when your life. For.

56:02

which you are truly grateful unfortunate.

56:06

Do. This constant be do it last thing before you go

56:09

to bed when you get up in the morning to go

56:11

to the space of oh, I bought this Too much to

56:13

do what I don't have enough time to do it on.

56:16

Constantly. Shy and a flashlight of

56:18

your awareness of the many ways in

56:20

which you truly blessed. And

56:24

it's my hope that you will

56:26

eventually occupy the default emotional domain

56:28

of appreciation, gratitude, Because.

56:30

When you're in the do for removal

56:32

of emotion, domain of appreciation, gratitude. You're.

56:35

Not angry. You're not nervous. You're not

56:37

fearful. You're not anxious. The to cannot

56:40

goods. This. Very

56:44

very well put my addition to this

56:46

for a living at around saying here

56:48

Printer: this. Podcast

56:51

and stares at higher Doctor all the

56:53

facts and get your. Now

56:58

you've studied so many spiritual masters

57:00

ah throughout your career in the

57:02

said influence your work. Who are

57:05

some of your favorites and why

57:07

are there are many and I

57:09

don't by sharing them for you,

57:11

probably preeminent about them is a

57:14

bug one. Ramona Mother She Ramona

57:16

Mercy was an Indian see to

57:18

lived in the ah, early twentieth

57:20

century. As. He lived

57:23

into the mid twentieth century is

57:25

very contemporary that lots and lots

57:27

of people who have person first

57:29

hand accounts of their interactions and

57:31

meetings with Rambler Mercy our contemporary

57:33

there was a Rom thus who

57:35

was initially Richard Alpert Harvard Psychologist

57:38

and it went to India bet

57:40

his teacher Deep Karoly bubble became

57:42

run does your? I was doing

57:44

my Phd at Columbia Business School

57:46

and Rumba used to be in

57:48

an apartment and riverside drive so

57:50

actually spend some time. With

57:52

him and one of my treasured

57:55

possessions is a book copy of

57:57

Be Here Now. Which. Is

57:59

personally inscribe. To me by rhombus

58:01

I'm very grateful to any that he

58:03

that a profound influence of my life.

58:06

Then they're They're the just switch Priest

58:09

called and to the demand know. And

58:11

that he was a realize being

58:14

himself and his teachings are both

58:16

funny and t believe deeply deeply

58:19

profound. So. This

58:21

a some of them and are many

58:23

more. If you're interested in that, get

58:25

a copy of my syllabus for my

58:27

course creativity and Four Sigma Streets on

58:30

my website. And if you go to

58:32

that syllabus there's the Bugs bibliography The

58:34

end and they're one of them is

58:36

life changing books. And they're all

58:38

of the people who had an influence and

58:41

be. Prodded. Our. And

58:43

Tasigna I too have any. Be glad

58:45

for some of the biggest lessons you

58:47

picked up from the spiritual matters. Or

58:50

the negative effect app is that it. It's

58:52

all a game. You are not who you

58:54

think you are, you not this particular body

58:57

mind and to like com place that's doing

58:59

what you think it is. that's a soap

59:01

opera. That's the story that you tell yourself

59:03

who you really are as pure awareness. And.

59:07

You can identify with his body, mind

59:09

and five complacent vomits is going around

59:11

to podcasts and death so on are

59:14

he can identify with. That's.

59:16

A dream that's queen gone and

59:18

who you are is pure awareness

59:20

witnessing be soap opera that's bleeding

59:23

out of this beautiful screen. For.

59:25

Enjoy it my friend. And

59:28

you speak of awareness So much we spoken of

59:31

awareness and much in this conversation. Is. Awareness.

59:34

And another were for consciousness or

59:36

sir a different definition harness have

59:38

heard as you are conscious as

59:40

many people with this way would

59:42

start breaking down because ultimately this

59:44

is beyond or worse. So I

59:47

like and words to a like

59:49

a Ferrari so you got a

59:51

Ferrari. And you love your

59:53

Ferrari and their you wanna be

59:55

your friend a looser the other

59:58

the town and the Ferrari. Get

1:00:00

you do a friend's house it was even get you

1:00:02

to your friends dry way. But. then he

1:00:04

to get out of the Ferrari to beat your friend.

1:00:08

The. Mind is like that and take you a very

1:00:11

large part of the way. But. Eventually

1:00:13

you have to transcended to understand

1:00:15

because you cannot think. You.

1:00:17

Can only be. The.

1:00:20

Moment you think you create duality,

1:00:22

there is this. Whatever it is

1:00:24

and there is me and I

1:00:27

have to understand it and I'm

1:00:29

going to think about it. When.

1:00:32

You get to that stage woods,

1:00:34

but tumble problem because there is

1:00:37

no thinking thinking automatically implies do

1:00:39

out there is only. Not.

1:00:41

Think. now

1:00:43

i'm and ask you figure a questions ask on

1:00:46

my guess that amount. What

1:00:48

is your definition of living a good

1:00:50

life? By definition of

1:00:52

give any good lie good life is You

1:00:54

get up in a boarding, get your breathe

1:00:57

yet to be alive as you go to

1:00:59

the day you can faulty a nice in

1:01:01

in one tree gratitude of the immense good

1:01:03

fortune that has been bestowed on you know.

1:01:06

You know that you are okay. That

1:01:09

you have always been okay, that

1:01:11

you will always be. Or the

1:01:13

in fact you cannot Not be

1:01:15

okay. And you

1:01:17

just revel in that. Paper

1:01:20

That is who you are. And

1:01:23

when you get there. That's

1:01:25

a perfect life. What

1:01:28

is your definition of God? Will

1:01:32

be right back after a word from our

1:01:34

sponsor. And

1:01:38

now back to the shell. And

1:01:42

the funny thing I don't believe

1:01:44

there is he caught in the

1:01:47

sense the traditionally understand it as

1:01:49

someone apart from us who is

1:01:51

all powerful and give grant all

1:01:53

kinds of fire ah, fish wishes,

1:01:55

wishes and me. you

1:01:58

are god and only got to do is

1:02:00

get rid of your freaking

1:02:02

shivering intoxicated crazy

1:02:05

monkey mind. And

1:02:07

when your monkey mind is gone,

1:02:10

the only thing that's left is awareness.

1:02:13

And there's one awareness. There's

1:02:16

not Alex's awareness and Srikumar's

1:02:18

awareness. There's only one awareness.

1:02:21

And you are it. And it is you.

1:02:23

And I am it. And I am

1:02:25

you. And when you get

1:02:27

to that stage, you'll notice that there's nothing to

1:02:29

fight against because you're all one anyway. And

1:02:34

what is the ultimate purpose of life? The

1:02:37

ultimate purpose of life is

1:02:40

to recognize that that is who you are.

1:02:44

And where can people find out more about you, your work,

1:02:46

your books and so on? Our

1:02:49

website is a good place to start. It's

1:02:52

the Rao Institute, T H E

1:02:55

R A O Institute dot com.

1:02:59

They can also email me.

1:03:01

My email is Srikumar S R

1:03:03

I K U M A R

1:03:05

dot Rao R A O at

1:03:07

the Rao Institute dot com. I

1:03:10

would love them to purchase my latest

1:03:12

book. It was only published last month.

1:03:15

It's called Modern Wisdom Ancient

1:03:17

Roots. Oh,

1:03:19

nice. And I can go to YouTube and

1:03:21

put my name in the search engine and

1:03:24

dozens of videos of me will pop up.

1:03:27

And tell me, tell me about your

1:03:29

new book. What's your new book about?

1:03:31

It's all the concepts that we've

1:03:33

been talking about presented in very, very

1:03:35

short snippets due to three pages

1:03:37

each. So you read that it's

1:03:39

quick, you can dip into it and read whatever

1:03:41

you want. But if you

1:03:43

think about what you have read, it

1:03:45

will alter your life. Can

1:03:49

I show you the book? Please,

1:03:51

please. Yes. Oh, it

1:03:58

looks nice cover. I like that cover. Well,

1:04:01

I'm definitely getting that book and I hope everybody picks

1:04:03

up those books. I'm

1:04:06

a big fan of your prior work. And

1:04:11

do you have any final words for our audience, my friend?

1:04:14

Yes. It's a beautiful

1:04:16

life. Don't waste it feeling sad,

1:04:18

sorry, angry, irritated,

1:04:21

worried about the state of the world. Enjoy

1:04:24

each day. Each day is your life in miniature,

1:04:26

Alex. You're born when you get up in the

1:04:28

morning, you die when you go to bed. So

1:04:31

treat each day as your life in miniature

1:04:33

and enjoy this day because it's the only

1:04:35

one you've got. My

1:04:38

friend, thank you not only for coming on the show, but for

1:04:40

all the amazing work you've done to

1:04:42

help awaken humanity and help people along in

1:04:44

their journey. So I appreciate you, my friend.

1:04:46

Thank you again. Thank you,

1:04:48

Alex. I'd like to thank Dr. Rao

1:04:50

for coming on the show and sharing

1:04:53

his knowledge with all of us. Thank

1:04:56

you, Dr. Rao. And if you'd like

1:04:58

to give thanks to anything we spoke about in

1:05:00

this episode, please head over to the show notes

1:05:02

at nextlevelsoul.com/196. And

1:05:05

if you've only been listening

1:05:07

to this over podcast and

1:05:09

you want to watch these

1:05:12

amazing conversations, please subscribe to

1:05:14

our YouTube channel at nextlevelsoul.com/YouTube.

1:05:17

Thank you so much for listening. And remember,

1:05:19

trust the journey. It is here to teach you. I'll talk

1:05:21

to you soon.