Speaker 1: It's been one of the greatest times I've had in
my many years of podcasting, sitting down and sharing conversations
with those that have appeared on NBC's The Voice. But
to find them, where are they? Well, they're now all
in one location Arrow dot net, Roe dot net. Look
for the podcast that Voice. My boy boy, Ernie. He
is a Blue Crown conyer. He and I, for the
past thirty two years, have overlooked this forest right here
in South Charlotte, North Carolina. I mean, every day we
sit inside this beautiful home and look at the trees,
the nearby lake, and every bit the wildlife that is
strolling so freely on the forest floor. And it's all
provided by Mother Earth. Ernie and I share the same vision.
It's this forest. We both look into the trees and
study the earth below. I mean, there is something so
incredibly spiritual going on here. The lyrics to Ernie's Forest,
we both receive an amazing amount of energy. I put
all of my trust and skills as a student into
what he is willing to share with me. These aren't
my words, these are the lyrics from Ernie's Forest. And
before we jump into chapter number four, twenty nine, I'm
sure in the moments ahead, you're going to hear Ernie
in the background. He's only a few feet away from me,
and he does love to talk. So when you hear
those loud screeching marks, that's my boy, boy, that's Ernie.
He's looking in the forest and he's going, who's here.
He's a grumpy old man who's playing around with my trees.
That's just the way Ernie is. June first, twenty twenty four.
Sometimes the greatest songs that we listen to are the
natural forms and waves of energy that are moving through
each and every one of our personal spaces. Now in
this forest, it's the tiny unseen crickets to lime green frogs,
the quick chirps of a cardinal, while gentle cooing inside
my kitchen comes from the doves. They're just sitting so freely,
just enjoying their piece. This is the most quiet that
this forest has been in six to seven weeks. The
reason why the cicada have come and they have gone.
I don't remember it ever being as loud as it
was this season, and as predicted. Yet I still feared
the cicadas didn't bring any type of damage to this
amazing natural painting. I wish this page was like a seashell,
you know, something you could lift up to your ear
so that you could hear what I'm seeing. As I
look from side to side, the path unveils not just
the present, but all that's been listened to for the
past one hundred and twenty eight seasons, which is the
thirty two years that Ernie and I have been in
this forest. The most quiet times have always been while
it's snowing. The innocence of a fresh blanket of white
snow then comes my footprint. This is my relationship with
a forest. What about you in your own personal life?
Where is that one area or zone that you're constantly
thinking about and you pull from it even though you
may not be there, but you pull from its energy
and you allow it to seep inside your mind, body,
and soul, and you feel it throughout your entire body.
Mine happens to be this forest to which I am
a part of, in the way of receiving, never taking,
whatever it's willing to share with me. Today, I know
that Ernie and I will both sit here and we're
going WHOA Did you feel that? Did you hear that?
Which is the reason why that as I inch closer
and closer to what we all go through, which is
a transition in life, I often wonder that, with thirty
two or thirty three years of daily writing, does it
even belong to me? And should I? And should you
give it all back to the soil? I mean, seriously
think about that. In all the things that you have
had success with, where does that energy come from? And
do you give it back? How do you push it
forward or share it forward? In the way of saying, well,
it only belonged to me for a moment. Because if
you sit down with a songwriter, a writer of movies, directors, producers,
even the actors, what they are bringing to life in
that moment of now, it's not for them, it's for
us giving it forward, sharing it forward. What are you
doing in your personal life to do the same thing,
whether you're at a bank, a grocery store, whether you're
the mailman or a firefighter, whatever you're doing on your
present place of right now that path, will you give
it back to the universe or they always say you
can't take it with you when you pass or when
you transition. I'm not sure that's actually true, because what
happens is is that if we pass or transition and
we didn't share it or grow it forward, you took it.
I'm errow. These are not my word birds. These are
the lyrics from Ernie's Forest,