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Speaker 1: It's been one of the greatest times I've had in

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my many years of podcasting, sitting down and sharing conversations

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with those that have appeared on NBC's The Voice. But

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to find them, where are they? Well, they're now all

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in one location Arrow dot net, Roe dot net. Look

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for the podcast that Voice. My boy boy, Ernie. He

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is a Blue Crown conyer. He and I, for the

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past thirty two years, have overlooked this forest right here

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in South Charlotte, North Carolina. I mean, every day we

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sit inside this beautiful home and look at the trees,

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the nearby lake, and every bit the wildlife that is

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strolling so freely on the forest floor. And it's all

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provided by Mother Earth. Ernie and I share the same vision.

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It's this forest. We both look into the trees and

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study the earth below. I mean, there is something so

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incredibly spiritual going on here. The lyrics to Ernie's Forest,

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we both receive an amazing amount of energy. I put

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all of my trust and skills as a student into

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what he is willing to share with me. These aren't

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my words, these are the lyrics from Ernie's Forest. And

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before we jump into chapter number four, twenty nine, I'm

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sure in the moments ahead, you're going to hear Ernie

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in the background. He's only a few feet away from me,

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and he does love to talk. So when you hear

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those loud screeching marks, that's my boy, boy, that's Ernie.

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He's looking in the forest and he's going, who's here.

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He's a grumpy old man who's playing around with my trees.

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That's just the way Ernie is. June first, twenty twenty four.

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Sometimes the greatest songs that we listen to are the

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natural forms and waves of energy that are moving through

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each and every one of our personal spaces. Now in

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this forest, it's the tiny unseen crickets to lime green frogs,

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the quick chirps of a cardinal, while gentle cooing inside

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my kitchen comes from the doves. They're just sitting so freely,

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just enjoying their piece. This is the most quiet that

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this forest has been in six to seven weeks. The

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reason why the cicada have come and they have gone.

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I don't remember it ever being as loud as it

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was this season, and as predicted. Yet I still feared

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the cicadas didn't bring any type of damage to this

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amazing natural painting. I wish this page was like a seashell,

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you know, something you could lift up to your ear

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so that you could hear what I'm seeing. As I

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look from side to side, the path unveils not just

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the present, but all that's been listened to for the

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past one hundred and twenty eight seasons, which is the

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thirty two years that Ernie and I have been in

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this forest. The most quiet times have always been while

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it's snowing. The innocence of a fresh blanket of white

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snow then comes my footprint. This is my relationship with

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a forest. What about you in your own personal life?

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Where is that one area or zone that you're constantly

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thinking about and you pull from it even though you

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may not be there, but you pull from its energy

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and you allow it to seep inside your mind, body,

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and soul, and you feel it throughout your entire body.

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Mine happens to be this forest to which I am

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a part of, in the way of receiving, never taking,

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whatever it's willing to share with me. Today, I know

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that Ernie and I will both sit here and we're

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going WHOA Did you feel that? Did you hear that?

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Which is the reason why that as I inch closer

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and closer to what we all go through, which is

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a transition in life, I often wonder that, with thirty

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two or thirty three years of daily writing, does it

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even belong to me? And should I? And should you

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give it all back to the soil? I mean, seriously

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think about that. In all the things that you have

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had success with, where does that energy come from? And

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do you give it back? How do you push it

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forward or share it forward? In the way of saying, well,

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it only belonged to me for a moment. Because if

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you sit down with a songwriter, a writer of movies, directors, producers,

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even the actors, what they are bringing to life in

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that moment of now, it's not for them, it's for

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us giving it forward, sharing it forward. What are you

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doing in your personal life to do the same thing,

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whether you're at a bank, a grocery store, whether you're

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the mailman or a firefighter, whatever you're doing on your

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present place of right now that path, will you give

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it back to the universe or they always say you

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can't take it with you when you pass or when

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you transition. I'm not sure that's actually true, because what

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happens is is that if we pass or transition and

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we didn't share it or grow it forward, you took it.

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I'm errow. These are not my word birds. These are

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the lyrics from Ernie's Forest,