BEWARE THE TEMPTATION

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Hey you guys, welcome to the Karen Kenney show. I'm so happy

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to have you here. I have no idea what I'm going to call this

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sucker. I have no idea what I'm going to call this episode, but

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I do know that I want to talk to you about an experience that I

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had this past weekend, and how he got me thinking about certain

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things, and maybe some of these things you will find helpful,

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and that's always like, one of the hot beats of this is that I

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always say, I'm not here to tell you like, you know, people will

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often say about me like you tell it how it is, like you tell it

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like it is. You tell it how it is, right? They like that about

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my personality or whatever. But really, I tell it like I see it.

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It doesn't mean I tell it like it is, I just kind of tell it

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like I see it. And I think that's one of the gifts of any

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kind of coach or mentor or teacher or artist or writer or

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whatever. Is that we are sharing our particular point of view,

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maybe something that we saw in a particular way from our

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perspective might help you to shift your own might, you know,

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cause you to laugh, or make you go, Oh, my God, I never thought

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of it that way, or that's interesting, or whatever, right?

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I always say, I'm not here to tell you what to think. I'm

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inviting you to think for yourself, but I'm just kind of

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sharing some thoughts that I had, some perspectives that I

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had over this past weekend. So some of you may know that my

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sweetie, Chris Lester, my husband, Chris Lester, is a

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professional musician, and he play he's a multi

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instrumentalist. He plays like bass, and he's mostly a guitar

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player, but he's guitar he plays bass, he can play keyboards, he

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can play mandolin, you can play a little bit of drums, all this

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stuff, right? He's also a singer, and he's a songwriter,

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and he's a producer, he's, he's, I mean, he's just, he's wicked

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nice and he's wicked talented. That's my sweetie in a nutshell,

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right? So he, um, had a gig this past weekend, and some of you

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local New England people like and beyond, you may have heard

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of a band called, I mean, they're they've sold millions

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and millions of records. So you may have heard of a band called

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God smack, and the lead singer of God smack is a guy named

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Sully Erna. And Sally Erna is from my hometown, my city,

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little city, Lawrence, Massachusetts. So I knew Sully

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is kids. But when my sweetie, when Sully was asked to do a

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solo project with with Sully. Like Sully didn't know that he

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and I were married this whole thing, right? Okay, so Sully had

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a gig at Mohegan Sun, the Casino in Connecticut this past

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weekend, and he asked my sweetie, they're friends, right?

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He My sweetie is played on his solo work, like Avalon and all

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this stuff. And, you know, he's written songs together, blah

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blah, so he asked my sweetie to come and play bass at this gig.

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And I was like, Okay, I'm gonna go. Because I normally never go

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anywhere when you go. I mean, now we're down to three furry

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kids, but in the past, we've had up to seven furry kids, and it's

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just like, impossible, unless you bring somebody in to kind of

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like, house, sit and take care of everything. But this time,

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I'm like, I'm going to go, this is going to be fun. I haven't

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been away or done anything in a wicked long time, and I'm like,

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let's do it. So off we go. My sister came and she watched, you

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know, she watched the kids, and we left. Okay, but here's the

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point, and this is probably going to be a short one, because

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it's just as a particular point or point of view that I want you

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to just kind of think about. So we get to the casino now, I used

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to live in LA. I lived in California, and I will never

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forget that the first time for my birthday, my friends, I

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worked at a magic dinner theater called wizards up at Universal

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City Walk, and I had the best friends in the world. And my

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friends basically, literally surprised me and kidnapped me,

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like, after work one night. They're like, I'll drive you

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home. And I was like, okay, whatever. And so I got a ride

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with my friends, and when I got to the house, my other friends

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followed them in their car, and they're like, go inside and pack

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a bag. I'm like, What are you talking about? They're like,

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we're taking you to Vegas. It was like, my first time ever to

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Las Vegas, and what a trip. It was okay. So I've been to Vegas.

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I've been to multiple casinos, you know, I worked like at my

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work at wizards. I used to date a magician, and so he loved

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going to, you know, he loved going to Vegas and going to see

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the magic shows and Cirque du Soleil. And, of course, he, you

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know, he dealt in up close magic, though, he was like a

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wizard with cards and stuff. So like, playing blackjack, all

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that stuff. So I got schooled on Vegas, right? I like, saw the

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devil's playground, Sin City, you know, up close and personal.

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Okay, so here we are. We're at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.

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Okay, so this past weekend. So fast forward. So I'm not a

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strange I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm not a stranger to

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casinos, but it's been a wicked long time since I've been in

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one. So we walk into the place, and immediately I'm just like,

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holy shit. First of. Like the mass scale. The mass scale of

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like casinos is like, unbelievable. And these are

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things we all already know. It's not like I'm going to be unless

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you've never, ever, ever been to a casino before. This is

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probably not going to be like new information, in a way, but

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something I want us to consider. So I walk into the place and the

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first thing I just see is just like, it is sensory overload,

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and it is designed to be that way. So you basically have,

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like, all the sights, like you're taking in so much color

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you're seeing flashing lights, right then it's all the sounds.

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It's like the chirping of the, you know, the slot machines,

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like the dinging and the pinging and the noise of the people and

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like music coming out of like the restaurant, like it is, just

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like sensory overload of sights, smells, sounds, like there's

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different textures. Some surfaces are shiny, some are

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really tall, some are really big, and they're designed in

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such a way where there's no windows, like the outside world

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does not exist. You have now entered a new zone. It's like

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that Hotel California song. You can check out anytime you like,

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but you can never leave. It's kind of like this surreal

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experience. There's no clocks on the walls because they don't

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want you to know the time, like they're pumping in smells.

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They're like, you know, everything olfactory terrorists,

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like they're doing all of these things to keep you in this

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stream of incessant consumption. And I was just like, blown away.

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And I'm looking around and I'm like, everything is just like, a

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lot. There's like, a lot of sights, a lot of sounds, a lot

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of bodies, lot of humans, a lot of noise, a lot of traffic. And

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the way this particular casino is set up, it's like all the

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shops, like, line the outer rim of the buildings, and then right

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down the middle of the spaces you have, like the casino, like

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you have the blackjack is being played, where the slots are

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being played, or whatever. So you have, like, all this

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opportunity for consumption, food, restaurants, overpriced

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shops, like, you know, get a little we got little vegan ice

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creams from Ben and Jerry's, like smalls, and it was like,

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$20 right? It's like, oh my God, everything is big, overpriced in

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your face sensory, like, holy shit, right? And you're just

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looking at all these different kinds of people, and you're

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walking by a bar, and you look over and there's like,

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literally, women, like, scantily clad, like, dancing on top of

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the bar, and then you just, it's just like, so insane. It's so

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insane. And you know, it's also like, hyper electric. So even

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though, like, I was thinking about this, I was thinking about

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this. So my sweetie played this show, right? And just stay with

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me. I'm going to make a point. I'm going to buckle up, buckle

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up, take the ride with me. So my sweetie was playing at this kind

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of outside venue, and it was a sold out show, like, 3000 plus

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people, whatever. And out there it was like, okay, like, I

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literally walked outside and I could literally feel my nervous

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system just like, do a different thing. I'm like, I could see the

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sky. I could, like, you know, fresh air. There was sunshine,

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it was a little humid, but I'm like, okay, like, now, at least,

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even though, I mean, like, this concrete parking garages next to

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us and all this stuff, like, at least I'm outside and I have

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glimpses of nature, and I could feel like, my nervous system

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just kind of, like, calm down a little bit. And then we just

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went backstage to, like, with, like, the the green room, I

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wasn't back behind the stage, but consider it like a backstage

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area where, like, the green room, where the artists go, and

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you walk in and it's like, quiet, right? Because it's

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private. And like, I so I had these moments where I could have

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major comparison between the over stimulation and then, like,

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okay, these pockets of peace, this momentary pause where I

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could, kind of like, gather myself and come back to myself,

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and you just realize that I was thinking about I'm like, this is

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like a dopamine carnival. Like, like, everything is about

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getting that immediate fix, that immediate hit, that little

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reward center, like the reward center in your brain is like

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being sucked into like temptation. And there's a line

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in A Course in Miracles, and it's not related to this, but

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I'm going to say there's a line in A Course in Miracles that

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says, Beware the temptation to perceive yourself unfairly

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treated.

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And it's basically talking about how the ego loves to take its

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own guilt and, like, throw it on other people, because then if

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the guilt is out there and the other person wronged you and did

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something to you, then you get to be the innocent one. And it's

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this really interesting concept, right? But the whole time I'm

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like, walking through this joint and like, the streams of

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traffic, like, there's people everywhere, all shapes, sizes,

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colors. Races, whatever. I'm pretty sure I saw a few working

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girls, you know, I'm pretty sure I saw a few, like, escorts, male

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escort. I'm like, I'm looking around. I'm just like, Oh my

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God, it is so over the fucking top. And it's like, you know,

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Ben and Jerry's is open to, like, 3am it's like, this, like,

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this mini city that doesn't sleep. And we the show was

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fantastic. PS, Sully, and my sweetie and the other musicians

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did an amazing job. It was such a blast. The crowd was amazing.

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But even in the crowd, right? Like, even in the crowd, the

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show hadn't even started yet, and, like, because we had

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friends in the audience, and it was all standing room only,

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right? So everybody's like, packed in. So it's just like

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this pulsing energy of humans. And then it's like somebody had

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already, like, puked and made a mess, and then the middle of the

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show, somebody else started a fight. And I'm like, people are

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out of their minds, right now, right? And it's like, you know?

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But then, like, the pulse of the music starts, and I'm like, Oh,

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here's the human element making music, right? And again, we're

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outside, at least, like it was raining. So I'm like, Okay,

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there's natural elements, right? So I'm like, Okay, this was the

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reprieve. But as soon as we, like, the show was over, like,

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great success, and then we had to cut back through right the

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casino to get up to our rooms, and as soon as you walk in,

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you're hit with like, this wall of sound and smell and sensory

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like, blah, blah, blah, blah. And we also got a free pass,

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right? So you get, like, the All Access Pass, so like, we went

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downstairs, we could have eaten anywhere. What we were like, Oh,

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we're gonna go check this out. So I used to be in the hotel

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business. A long time ago. I was a concierge at the Hyatt Regency

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in Cambridge. If you've ever been to Boston or at I went to

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BU so, you know the Charles River and right across the

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Riverview. Look, it's like this, like, kind of like, step pyramid

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shaped building, that's the Hyatt Regency. And I worked in

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the hotel business, so I know back a house stuff, like, I kind

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of know how these things work, but going, like, behind closed

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doors and having access to the employee cafeteria, like, even

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the cafeteria, it was like, holy shit. Like you go through those

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doors and down into like, this sub world, right? And it's like

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there were, like, employees playing ping pong and like

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games, like, over there, and you go through this maze of like,

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going under the casino, and one of the employees told us that

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you can take where we were and walk a half a mile, like, that's

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how big this place is, a half a mile to go down to The other

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casino, because there's two casinos there. But we walk into

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the we walked into the employee, you know, cafeteria. And even

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that was overwhelming. They were like, all these machines you can

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get, like, eight kinds of milk and seven kinds of juice and

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like, 15 kinds of soda, and then it was like a pizza station in a

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substation, and, you know, a lot of dead animal products right

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over here, and five kinds of cake and cookies. And I was just

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like, Oh my God. And I could see my sweetie. He get, like, get a

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little it's not disoriented, but he, like, it takes him a moment,

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like, his processing system is, like, standing there just trying

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to, like, take it all in, you know, and I was like, Holy shit,

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like even underground is like big and overwhelming and so much

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stimulus. Okay, why am I telling you all of this? Because even

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though it seems like this is a very isolated and special kind

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of circumstance. Well, of course. KK, you've gone you've

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gone to a casino. What do you expect? We all know that people

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are going to stay up late, people are going to spend money,

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people are going to over indulge, people are going to

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whatever, right? It is a relentless den of temptation. We

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know this. But what occurred to me while I was there, and it was

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so interesting, because at one point, Sully said over the mic,

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like, I hope you all have a blast this weekend. You know we

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are here because this show in particular is a celebration of

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music, and you know how meaningful music is to all of

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us? And he said, have fun this weekend. And then he literally

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said, but please don't lose your kids college money while you're

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here. And he's like, don't do it. People don't do it. And, you

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know, everybody laughed, but it's like, that kind of shit

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happens because people go, if you have any kind of, like,

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addictive tendency, they like casinos is like your spot if

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you're going to overeat, if you're going to overspend, if

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you're going to over indulge, if you're going to get hooked on

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the machines, get that dopamine hit. That dopamine hit that

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chance of like, pulling, it's like, it's like pulling, pulling

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the lever for possibility, right? And it like, keeps you in

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that. Loop, and I started thinking about it, here's

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finally my point, and if you're still here, thank you for

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hanging in here. I just started thinking. I was like, this is

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exactly what like the world kind of is right now. It is a mass of

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over consumption. We are being bombarded from so many different

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angles, because of technology, because of AI, because of social

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media, it is so easy to move away from the natural world,

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nature, humans, humanity, literally, your own heart beat,

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your own breath, your own body, your own experience, it's so

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easy to get distracted by 18,000 other things, buying shit

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online, getting lost on your phone. Like, if you really

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realize how much time you spent on your phone, like, really

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clocked it and tracked it. I'm not saying everybody, but most

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average people are so lost in their phones. They are so

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addicted to the technology. And in fairness, they designed this

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shit this way. The people who are doing these things and

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creating the programs and creating Instagram and creating

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Facebook and creating Tiktok and creating like reels and all the

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stuff. They did it from a gaming perspective. They basically took

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Vegas and they took casinos, and they took that experience, and

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they put it on your phone and they put it in your pocket, and

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we are a highly, highly, highly distracted society, and it's

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only getting worse. And when you go to a place where it is

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literally, I said, Oh my god, I said to my sweetie, this is

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like, social media, social media and the phone and consumerism,

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that capitalistic kind of over consumption, made into a place.

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I'm like, Yes, Vegas came first, like before the phones and the

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phones became like, you know, the phones, I should say Vegas

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informed the identity and the creation of these technologies.

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But what's interesting is you can keep that on your phone in

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your pocket, but these places are like the personification,

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like the in person experience of what is actually happening. And

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we look at this little phone and we don't take it that seriously.

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Sometimes you're like, Oh yeah, I know I should put it down,

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like, I know, I know, I know. No, you don't know. You

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understand, but you have not embodied the knowing. Or you

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would be horrified by like, what's going on? So my message

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today is about really taking a moment to get really fucking

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honest with yourself about just how distracted you might be in

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your day to day life, all the different ways you are getting

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pulled out of your humanity, like your desire to connect with

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others face to face, to relate to other people, to build

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relationships and collaborations, to get outside

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in nature, to appreciate the wonders of this world, the

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natural world, the animals and the rivers And the sun and the

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stars and the trees and the grass and, you know, all that

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stuff, how easily distracted we are by trying to be more. Do

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more? Get more. Have more. Consume, consume, consume. I'm

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like, No, how about, like, we slow down and create some shit,

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right? How about we get in touch with that, and I'm not shaking

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my finger at like you guys, like you need to do this. This was a

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wake up call for me too. This was a another chance for me to,

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like, check in and say, like, hey, where have you been

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distracted lately? What has been maybe consuming your attention

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or your time that no longer deserves it. Maybe it never

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deserved it, right? Because the casino, for me, is just a

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metaphor of what's happening all the time right in front of our

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face, but it's so much more sophisticated and it's so much

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more sneaky, and it's so much more like disguised as something

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else, and we can totally convince ourselves, oh yeah, no,

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no, just one more video or just one more email or just one more

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text or just one more thing, and then I'll do this thing,

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you know? And I just was really, I was really struck by the the

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in your face relentless temptation to be distracted from

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what really matters. And I guess that's the hot beat of what I'm

Speaker: 00:19:53

kind of trying to get at, like what in who in your life really

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matters. And. How much time and attention and energy and effort

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and intention like, Are you being intentional with what

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you're doing? Do you know who you are? Do you know what you're

Speaker: 00:20:12

doing and do you know why you're doing it? Or have you been

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numbed and lulled by this dopamine overload, this hit of

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like, reward that these like, I'm holding up my phone and

Speaker: 00:20:24

shaking it, that these things do, that the world does, that

Speaker: 00:20:29

social media does, and technology does, and AI does,

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like, all these things that is kind of pulling us out of

Speaker: 00:20:35

ourselves, because the world is moving at such a fast clip. And

Speaker: 00:20:39

there is so much there's so much information coming at us, and we

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don't need more information. We do not need more information.

Speaker: 00:20:52

What we need to do is take some of the things that we already

Speaker: 00:20:55

know and go deep on them and start living them and applying

Speaker: 00:20:59

them. And I can tell you, as a coach and a mentor, I can

Speaker: 00:21:02

deliver all the tools to somebody. I can point out I can

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I can say, like, Hey, here's some things that I'm seeing.

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Hey, here's some patterns. Hey, you told me this. Here are some

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things to help. You know, my sweetie said to me today, it was

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so funny. We were talking about this, and it's like, you know,

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and we all know you can't make people do anything. You can't

Speaker: 00:21:23

make people you know, people will say they want change. They

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say they want change, but they don't want to do the change

Speaker: 00:21:30

right. They don't want people want change, but they don't want

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to change right, to actually do it. And he was talking, and he

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just said, you know, the hammer is sitting right there at Home

Speaker: 00:21:41

Depot. But like, you gotta go in and buy the hammer, and then you

Speaker: 00:21:44

gotta bring it home, and then you gotta use it. It doesn't do

Speaker: 00:21:47

any good to buy the hammer and then to set it down on the

Speaker: 00:21:50

workbench, but never pick it up and start hammering things. You

Speaker: 00:21:52

know, not building things. And we do this a lot. We think like,

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oh, it's like, we get tricked into thinking that, Oh, I bought

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the book, and then I read the book, and I'm like, but what did

Speaker: 00:22:04

you do with the information in the book? What was the intimacy

Speaker: 00:22:07

level? Did you did you think about it? Did you talk about it?

Speaker: 00:22:11

Did you write some notes? Did you change your behavior?

Speaker: 00:22:13

Because otherwise, what's the point in just gathering,

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consuming, consuming, consuming. And that's the thing that I

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often wonder, you know, when I have gone to Vegas in the past.

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I mean, I grew up playing cods, playing 45 Merrimack Valley, you

Speaker: 00:22:31

know, Lawrence Methuen Andover north end of the kids. We all,

Speaker: 00:22:33

we all grew up Lowell, Hey, Rob, we all played 45 like growing

Speaker: 00:22:36

up, right? It's a cod game for those of you who don't know. So

Speaker: 00:22:39

I grew up around cards, and I learned to play blackjack. I

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could play blackjack, but that wasn't the thing for me. When I

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would go to these places, and I'm very, very, very lucky that

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I can go into a place like a Vegas or a casino or whatever,

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and I can play slots, right? But I'll give myself a limit, like,

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I'll say, Okay, I'm not willing to lose more than $200 I'm not

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two $20 or $40 or 60, whatever the amount would be, right? So

Speaker: 00:23:06

back in the day, so when I would go to Vegas, I'd say, Okay, I'm

Speaker: 00:23:08

not willing to lose more than $100 but I knew how to walk

Speaker: 00:23:12

away. And I knew how to walk away when I was up and wasn't

Speaker: 00:23:15

chasing, that feeling wasn't chasing, because that's the

Speaker: 00:23:18

thing. They hook you. They're not stupid. And again, they're

Speaker: 00:23:21

pumping, in the sense, they're distracting you with a sense of

Speaker: 00:23:24

time, so you lose sense of time, right? They're using certain

Speaker: 00:23:28

lights and stimulants. They're not stupid. It's a whole racket.

Speaker: 00:23:32

It's a whole racket, right? And but here's my point. I was able

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to get up and, like, walk away from things. You've got to be

Speaker: 00:23:40

super duper aware, in this day and age, the things you cannot

Speaker: 00:23:44

walk away from, your addictive tendencies. All of this to say

Speaker: 00:23:49

is you have got to know yourself. And I think one of the

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biggest things that I find in the work that I do with humans

Speaker: 00:23:58

is that a lot of people have not spent as much time I'm like if

Speaker: 00:24:03

you spend as much time thinking about yourself, getting curious

Speaker: 00:24:07

about why you do what you do, think, what you think, say, what

Speaker: 00:24:09

you say, believe, what you believe. Tell the stories that

Speaker: 00:24:11

you tell, why you insist on holding on to that old

Speaker: 00:24:14

grievance, why you want to keep that person guilty so that you

Speaker: 00:24:17

can in your own mind again, beware the temptation to

Speaker: 00:24:20

perceive yourself as, you know, as unfairly treated or right. So

Speaker: 00:24:26

it's like if we spent as much time as we do on our phones,

Speaker: 00:24:31

right, being distracted, and that's the other thing. What are

Speaker: 00:24:34

you distracting yourself from? These are all really good

Speaker: 00:24:37

questions to be asking. What's pulling my attention away. Why

Speaker: 00:24:42

am I being allowing myself to be distracted? Where's the fear

Speaker: 00:24:45

coming from? Because it all comes down to the basics of love

Speaker: 00:24:49

and fear. You're either run I always say you're either running

Speaker: 00:24:51

away from something or you're running towards something. And

Speaker: 00:24:54

it's so easy to get distracted from your life's work and your

Speaker: 00:24:58

life's purpose and the people. People that really matter, and

Speaker: 00:25:01

the things that really matter by these little blips and beeps and

Speaker: 00:25:04

games and like, you know, social media and the likes and the in

Speaker: 00:25:08

the comments and the whatever, and it's all such a racket. It

Speaker: 00:25:12

is all such a racket. And I just think to myself, how many people

Speaker: 00:25:16

are going to end up on their deathbed and be like shit? I

Speaker: 00:25:19

never lived my life because I was hypnotized by these fucking

Speaker: 00:25:23

phones and I was distracted from what really matters in my life.

Speaker: 00:25:29

So this is just and listen everything I say is for my ears

Speaker: 00:25:33

to all the ways that we are distracted by the unimportant

Speaker: 00:25:37

bullshit, glittery flashing things, the things that we think

Speaker: 00:25:41

make us special. Well, if I just buy this car, have this house or

Speaker: 00:25:45

have you know, that's why all the coaches are like, I can

Speaker: 00:25:48

teach you to have 10k months. I can teach you to fill your

Speaker: 00:25:53

program to whatever with just blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker: 00:25:55

I'm like, Oh, we're just outside the Carnival Hawkin wares. Now

Speaker: 00:25:59

we just got the person with the hat and the stick spinning it

Speaker: 00:26:02

around, selling me your shit. So much, so much in this world, you

Speaker: 00:26:07

guys. And I'm a positive person. I can see good and beautiful and

Speaker: 00:26:12

holy just about anywhere. But I'm also I'm not I'm not asleep

Speaker: 00:26:18

at the wheel. I see how much shit is just a racket and a

Speaker: 00:26:22

distraction. And here's what I know, you are put on this planet

Speaker: 00:26:27

for a reason, because you have something to offer the world.

Speaker: 00:26:30

You have something that the world needs. You have a gift,

Speaker: 00:26:33

you have a talent, you have an insight, you have a point of

Speaker: 00:26:35

view. You have a tender hat, you have a big hot you have a

Speaker: 00:26:38

servant's hat. There's a reason why you are here, and I would

Speaker: 00:26:42

love for us to stop the over consumption, the over consuming,

Speaker: 00:26:47

the like distractions. And let's get to work. Let's get down to

Speaker: 00:26:51

business. Let's remember who we are and why we're here. And

Speaker: 00:26:57

under the under the under the under our identity is who we are

Speaker: 00:27:03

is simply love. And why are we here to extend that love, to get

Speaker: 00:27:08

better at giving and receiving that stuff? That's the gig, no

Speaker: 00:27:13

matter the title. And if more people made love the bottom line

Speaker: 00:27:18

instead of money, we would live in a totally different world. If

Speaker: 00:27:21

more people made people and their well being the bottom

Speaker: 00:27:27

line, rather than selling their products, we would have a

Speaker: 00:27:32

totally different world. So again, I still don't even know

Speaker: 00:27:36

what I'm going to call this thing. This is Episode. Is a

Speaker: 00:27:38

little stream of consciousness. But I was just like, I want to

Speaker: 00:27:42

talk about this, because this was such an in your face

Speaker: 00:27:44

reminder of, like, how distracted we've become as a

Speaker: 00:27:48

society, and how numb we have become, and why we're willing to

Speaker: 00:27:53

tolerate such bullshit and horror, like when we look at so

Speaker: 00:27:58

much of what's happening in The world, right? The way that the

Speaker: 00:28:02

again, you don't have to like me when I say these things, right?

Speaker: 00:28:05

You don't have to agree with me. But where the current

Speaker: 00:28:07

administration is taking things, this is really, you guys, we've

Speaker: 00:28:11

got to fucking, like, wake up. And this is what I'm saying. We

Speaker: 00:28:14

all have gifts. We all have ways. And I always say, like, I

Speaker: 00:28:17

can't make the President or, you know, the government do

Speaker: 00:28:21

anything. I get to use my voice when I vote, but I get to ask

Speaker: 00:28:26

myself, in my day to day life, am I being purposeful in the

Speaker: 00:28:30

direction of why I think I'm here, right? Am I using my gifts

Speaker: 00:28:34

in service to love, or am I too distracted by my phone to get

Speaker: 00:28:37

out there and do anything about anything? Am I too distracted

Speaker: 00:28:41

by, you know, social media and by, you know, all, all the

Speaker: 00:28:46

stuff, and so I don't know. I just, I, I'm just really feeling

Speaker: 00:28:50

the call to get back to the hot beat of things. And so here are

Speaker: 00:28:53

the questions, have you been distracted? If you've been

Speaker: 00:28:58

distracted by what or who

Speaker: 00:29:02

what really matters, and are you giving your time, your energy

Speaker: 00:29:06

and your resources to the people and the things that actually

Speaker: 00:29:09

really matter to you, and where you may be overdoing it,

Speaker: 00:29:13

spending too much time, right? Or like, eating too much,

Speaker: 00:29:16

drinking too much, whatever? The thing is, I'm not judging

Speaker: 00:29:20

anybody, but these are questions for you to ask yourself and to

Speaker: 00:29:23

get really, really, really real with yourself. Have a little

Speaker: 00:29:27

come to Jesus moment, as we sometimes say, look in the soul

Speaker: 00:29:30

mirror. You know what I'm saying that in in 12 step programs,

Speaker: 00:29:33

they say, take a fearless moral inventory, and don't do it from

Speaker: 00:29:38

a place of attack and judgment and making yourself wrong, or to

Speaker: 00:29:42

go into shame and blame and guilt, that's not what this is

Speaker: 00:29:44

about. This isn't about feeling guilty. And if you love going to

Speaker: 00:29:47

casinos and you have extra money to blow and that's your thing,

Speaker: 00:29:50

great, I'm not judging you. I'm like, just know what you're

Speaker: 00:29:53

doing and why you're doing it. Be self aware enough to

Speaker: 00:29:57

understand when your spirit. Self is in charge and making

Speaker: 00:30:01

good decisions, and when your ego, self has grabbed the wheel

Speaker: 00:30:05

and is driving you towards all of the shit that's not going to

Speaker: 00:30:08

be helpful for you or any Oh, and, you know, it's going to

Speaker: 00:30:10

help. It's going to help the casino make a shit ton of money

Speaker: 00:30:13

off you it's good. It's going to help Zuckerberg, and it's going

Speaker: 00:30:16

to help, you know, Bezos, and it's going to help musk and all

Speaker: 00:30:20

those guys make a shit ton, you know, let the billionaires just

Speaker: 00:30:22

keep making more money off of us. It's just insane, right? So

Speaker: 00:30:26

it's like, let's just get honest. Let's take a good Gander

Speaker: 00:30:30

around. It's a good opportunity, right? We're in September. Like

Speaker: 00:30:35

the end of the year is coming up 2026. Is going to be here before

Speaker: 00:30:39

we know it. And so just like, you know, just notice, notice

Speaker: 00:30:43

the ways that we get distracted, get clear about what matters.

Speaker: 00:30:47

And let's move back in the direction of focusing on those

Speaker: 00:30:50

things and those people, maybe those projects, whatever it is,

Speaker: 00:30:54

because the world needs you. We need your insights. It's like me

Speaker: 00:30:57

on this this podcast, like sharing my perspective, my point

Speaker: 00:31:00

of you, what's on my hat? What's on my mind? I do this in case

Speaker: 00:31:03

it's it's helpful to somebody else, right? And sharing, like,

Speaker: 00:31:06

spiritual concepts and sharing stories, because this is part of

Speaker: 00:31:10

what I I'm called to do. I always say, like, even though

Speaker: 00:31:14

I'm introverted, people often don't believe me, but like, I'm,

Speaker: 00:31:18

like, I got the gift of gab for a reason. I'm a communicator.

Speaker: 00:31:21

I'm a storyteller, right? I mean, that's why I love to write

Speaker: 00:31:23

and to speak. I love to share what's on my heart in hopes, in

Speaker: 00:31:27

hopes that it might land in somebody else or inspire

Speaker: 00:31:30

somebody else. Not that I'm the inspiration, but it might

Speaker: 00:31:34

literally like breathe life into an idea or a concept or a new

Speaker: 00:31:38

way of being or thinking for somebody else that they get

Speaker: 00:31:40

curious, that they really take the time they don't just listen

Speaker: 00:31:43

and then go. And that's the other thing with this show. You

Speaker: 00:31:46

know, if I say, if I say, like, hey, stop, hit pause, ask

Speaker: 00:31:50

yourself these questions. I hope you really do them. I hope you

Speaker: 00:31:55

give yourself the opportunity to get to know yourself better, and

Speaker: 00:31:58

to and to ask yourself these things, because it's important.

Speaker: 00:32:03

Because guys, you know, I saw one of my mentors the other day.

Speaker: 00:32:08

He had a book signing and a book reading his new book that came

Speaker: 00:32:11

out, and I was looking at him in wonder. And he's like, in his

Speaker: 00:32:15

80s now, and I'm thinking to myself, How much more time does

Speaker: 00:32:19

he have on the planet? And I think back to like, how many

Speaker: 00:32:22

people he's helped, and what a legacy. And I don't think legacy

Speaker: 00:32:26

of just like your kids and your business like, like what he has

Speaker: 00:32:29

left in his trail, like what he has left in his wake is so many

Speaker: 00:32:35

incredible stories that, like, have touched people's hats and

Speaker: 00:32:38

move people. And I think, man, what a life to have left so much

Speaker: 00:32:44

love, so much love behind. Like, that's what I'm going for. You

Speaker: 00:32:48

know what I mean? Like, I'll never have buildings named after

Speaker: 00:32:51

me. I don't have children to carry on my name and my legacy

Speaker: 00:32:54

and whatever. Maybe I'll leave some books behind, you know? But

Speaker: 00:32:58

my hope is that I've left a legacy of love. You know that

Speaker: 00:33:01

that that I don't know, I don't know what people are going to

Speaker: 00:33:05

say about me when I'm gone. You know, some people might be happy

Speaker: 00:33:07

when I drop dead, a few people will be sad, but hopefully, you

Speaker: 00:33:13

know, that's the thing, with the time I have left, I really want

Speaker: 00:33:15

to be helpful and be of service. So All right, thank you so much

Speaker: 00:33:20

for tuning in. I love you, and I appreciate you, and I hope this

Speaker: 00:33:24

has landed in some way and got you thinking and and then maybe

Speaker: 00:33:29

it will help some of us to course correct if we've been, if

Speaker: 00:33:32

we've lost our way a little bit, if we've been kind of dopamine

Speaker: 00:33:35

into oblivion, you know, and distracting, distracting,

Speaker: 00:33:39

distracting. So beware the temptations. Beware the

Speaker: 00:33:43

temptations, because they're out there and they are not trying to

Speaker: 00:33:47

help you. They're they're trying to keep you from remembering

Speaker: 00:33:51

yourself and keep you from doing what you came here to do. So

Speaker: 00:33:54

maybe that's what I'll call this sucker. Beware the temptation.

Speaker: 00:33:57

Okay, I appreciate you. I love you. Thanks for being here,

Speaker: 00:34:01

wherever you go. May you leave yourself in the animals and the

Speaker: 00:34:04

people and the place and the environment, right, the whole

Speaker: 00:34:07

planet. May it be better for you having been here, may you leave

Speaker: 00:34:10

it better than how you found it and wherever you go, may you and

Speaker: 00:34:15

your energy and your presence and your love be a blessing.

Speaker: 00:34:20

Bye. You.