1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,480 Speaker 1: Creativity is an addiction, unplugged because we will always say 2 00:00:03,520 --> 00:00:07,200 yes to creativity, totally uncut because we all make mistakes. 3 00:00:07,599 --> 00:00:11,480 So let's turn it into a tool. This is arrow unplugged. 4 00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:13,160 Speaker 2: Hey zero, And this is vocal d frag. This is 5 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:16,120 where you ask the questions and you question the answers. 6 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:18,600 We do this while on a transition walk through this 7 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:21,839 beautiful forest in South Charlotte, North Carolina. So many times 8 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:24,320 we complain about the moods that we're in. We do 9 00:00:24,359 --> 00:00:26,320 everything we can to get out of the bad moods 10 00:00:26,359 --> 00:00:28,960 or depressed moods, but we don't understand why we even 11 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,119 got there. And I believe deep inside that the reason 12 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:37,159 why people don't study their transitions is because they feel uneducated. 13 00:00:37,359 --> 00:00:40,039 Speaker 3: Well who am I to say? Well, you're right? Who 14 00:00:40,079 --> 00:00:40,759 are you to say? 15 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,520 Speaker 2: But you're you, and that inner you needs to be 16 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:48,280 heard listening to it, taking notes, writing them down. I 17 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:51,479 know what a pain in the ass, right, but it works. 18 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:55,320 It gives you an opportunity to vent, to find a 19 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:59,159 place of freedom, to step through whatever is blocking you. 20 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,719 I said, Vocal defragging is all about I defrag in 21 00:01:02,759 --> 00:01:05,480 a journal every day. Been doing this since November of 22 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:09,599 twenty seventeen. I've been a daily writer since July of 23 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:12,599 nineteen ninety four. They're two completely, one hundred percent different 24 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:16,840 forms of writing and journaling, but it works. It's just 25 00:01:16,879 --> 00:01:21,560 an opportunity to be heard. This is vocal defraging something 26 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:23,319 very heavy on my heart. This has been going on 27 00:01:23,359 --> 00:01:26,200 now for three days. A quote came to me in 28 00:01:26,239 --> 00:01:30,040 a prayer and it says, we can only see what 29 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:36,159 is before. Everything else is assumption. We can only see 30 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:39,319 what's before everything else is assumption. 31 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:40,319 Speaker 3: Now. 32 00:01:40,359 --> 00:01:43,519 Speaker 2: I brought it up on a podcast episode yesterday. But 33 00:01:43,599 --> 00:01:47,120 the angle that the writer and the performer took the 34 00:01:47,159 --> 00:01:51,840 word before was before this moment. It wasn't before us, 35 00:01:51,879 --> 00:01:54,159 in like, what is going on right now? You know 36 00:01:54,239 --> 00:01:56,719 something that is visible to you right now? What is 37 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:02,079 before you? So the writer yesterday the angle of before 38 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:05,879 I got to this moment, there was already a story 39 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:10,000 in play. We can only see what is before us. 40 00:02:10,479 --> 00:02:16,520 Everything else is assumption. That word before is what's haunting 41 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:20,039 me because I'm not somebody who lives in the past. 42 00:02:20,199 --> 00:02:23,639 And I wonder if the quote came into the prayer 43 00:02:24,439 --> 00:02:26,680 because the higher energy of the universe was trying to 44 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:31,199 say you're spending too much time in the present, forgetting 45 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:37,919 about where you are and how you came into being now. 46 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:40,520 I want to put that in your heart, in your ears, 47 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:45,360 in your sights. What is before you? Do you live 48 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:48,879 in the past? Do you openly admit that? Yeah, man, 49 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:50,479 I'll tell you what. I had some good times in 50 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:53,240 high school and I wish I was still there. See 51 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:54,840 thoughts like that don't come to me. But I want 52 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:57,840 to know how you feel when someone says we can 53 00:02:57,879 --> 00:03:01,800 only see what is before us, what was the direct 54 00:03:01,879 --> 00:03:06,439 expression that you felt was your word before meaning the 55 00:03:06,479 --> 00:03:10,400 family before you, or what you see in your present 56 00:03:10,439 --> 00:03:12,879 place of now. And that's where my. 57 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:16,199 Speaker 3: Struggle is because if we put focus. 58 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 2: On how we got here, it's the same old story 59 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:23,800 over and over again. Bob Crawford from The Avid Brothers 60 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:28,560 said that history doesn't repeat itself. People don't change. Well, 61 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:32,120 I believe that we don't change. We bitch about change. 62 00:03:32,199 --> 00:03:35,159 We will do everything we can to stop change. So 63 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:38,080 therefore that's why I chose to live a mindful life, 64 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:43,039 because in this moment of now, we can create change, 65 00:03:43,039 --> 00:03:45,639 we can embrace it. We can be in a place 66 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:48,639 where we can find inner peace. And if there is 67 00:03:48,719 --> 00:03:53,520 no peace, find it, look for new directions. But if 68 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:57,479 you're studying everything that came before you, the family traditions, 69 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:01,120 the recipes, the toys that are in your toy box, 70 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:04,840 all those different knick knacks that your grandparents had at 71 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:08,960 one time. If all you do is live in the 72 00:04:09,039 --> 00:04:12,520 story before your present place of now, how does that 73 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:17,399 affect you? Is their peace? One thing that I don't 74 00:04:17,439 --> 00:04:21,040 do is I don't go to funerals. I didn't go 75 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:23,720 to my father's funeral. I didn't go to my brother's 76 00:04:23,759 --> 00:04:26,519 funeral or my sister's funeral, and I wasn't there for 77 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:30,399 my mother's funeral. The reason why because I live in 78 00:04:30,439 --> 00:04:34,079 the present and I believe in the spirit of the universe. 79 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:38,000 They are more with me today than what they were 80 00:04:38,439 --> 00:04:42,120 when we were living two thousand miles apart. I'm in Carolina, 81 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:44,319 they were in Montana. We didn't see each other that much. 82 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:49,360 But in this moment of now, mindfully, I feel them 83 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:55,079 more than any other time. So the word before, so 84 00:04:55,199 --> 00:04:59,079 the word before to me is what am I visualizing 85 00:04:59,759 --> 00:05:04,279 in my right now, not before I got to this 86 00:05:04,399 --> 00:05:07,720 moment of now. I don't go back and read my journals. 87 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:12,040 There's no reason to it's already out. I've already lived it. 88 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:15,519 It's like people will say, what's the greatest thing about 89 00:05:15,519 --> 00:05:18,240 talking with the performers that you do? Like I've got 90 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:21,000 a Jennifer Hudson interview coming up, and people go, are 91 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:23,120 you excited about the interview with Jennifer Hudson. 92 00:05:23,879 --> 00:05:25,759 Speaker 3: Well, the child inside that was at. 93 00:05:25,639 --> 00:05:27,240 Speaker 2: That betroom at the age of fourteen dreaming to be 94 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:31,800 a radio disc jockey is very excited. But the realist, 95 00:05:32,079 --> 00:05:36,759 the mindful person, is thinking about what is before him. 96 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:40,040 What do I see right now? That interview isn't until 97 00:05:40,079 --> 00:05:43,199 way later on, So therefore I can't think about it. 98 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:45,439 I can't get excited about it because if you knew 99 00:05:45,439 --> 00:05:48,639 how many times I have been let down, Most creative 100 00:05:48,639 --> 00:05:53,319 people are let down more than they find victory. We 101 00:05:53,399 --> 00:05:57,079 are told the word no so often. We don't become 102 00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:59,319 numb to it because we have so many feelings inside 103 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:03,160 of us. We just become grateful and mindful when there 104 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:07,360 is that one one split second in time where you 105 00:06:07,439 --> 00:06:10,639 find yourself in a moment of victory and how long 106 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:13,879 do those moments last? But getting back to the interviews, 107 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:16,959 when I do get the opportunity to talk with creative 108 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:21,079 people who have found enormous amounts of success. The greatest 109 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:27,000 part of that journey isn't landing the conversation. It's show 110 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:32,160 prepping for the conversation. It's having the physical conversation, being 111 00:06:32,439 --> 00:06:37,279 in that moment of now, and then you share it, 112 00:06:38,319 --> 00:06:41,639 and once it's been shared, it doesn't belong to me anymore. 113 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:46,319 Trying to learn that lifestyle has been one heck of 114 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:49,199 a journey because I'm a radio guy. Look, man, I 115 00:06:49,319 --> 00:06:53,279 was interrestrial radio when podcasting with radio people started to happen, 116 00:06:53,759 --> 00:06:55,920 and radio people are going, no way, man, that's mine. 117 00:06:55,959 --> 00:06:58,079 I've got ownership on that. There's no way that I 118 00:06:58,120 --> 00:06:59,959 would want to put it out there because this is 119 00:07:00,079 --> 00:07:02,560 where I need to be. I'm only loyal to one thing. 120 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:05,439 I get it, I get it. That's the way radio 121 00:07:05,439 --> 00:07:11,160 people think. But in this day of streaming, song sharing, 122 00:07:12,319 --> 00:07:16,720 movie watching, it's about being in that moment of now, 123 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:21,439 thinking about the receiver. How are you going to receive 124 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:25,399 what is before you in this moment before you, meaning, 125 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:28,160 what do you see in your right now, not the 126 00:07:28,199 --> 00:07:30,399 story that you had to have before you got here. 127 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:33,680 Being transparent, I do get a little loose in the 128 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:37,560 heart when I see people with their parents and with 129 00:07:37,639 --> 00:07:41,720 other family members who are having a great relationship, having 130 00:07:41,759 --> 00:07:45,839 a closeness. I didn't have that with my family, and 131 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:47,800 I think this sometimes. I wish I would have had 132 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:50,519 those moments where we could have been, you know, like 133 00:07:50,839 --> 00:07:55,439 the Brady Bunch, working together as one, creating solutions as 134 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:59,240 a happy family, having a music soundtrack like the Partridge Family. 135 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:00,959 Speaker 3: But I didn't have that. 136 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:05,639 Speaker 2: I learned how to be an individual by choice because 137 00:08:05,839 --> 00:08:09,360 I came from a family of eight. I wasn't interested 138 00:08:09,399 --> 00:08:13,519 in traditions. I wasn't interested in oh, well, your great 139 00:08:13,519 --> 00:08:16,600 grandmother did this. It just wasn't me as a kid. 140 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:20,480 But being here in this present place of now, what 141 00:08:20,639 --> 00:08:25,160 is before me? Is that struggle At sixty one years 142 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:28,680 in age, I sit here and I often wonder what 143 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:31,800 would life be like today if I had studied the 144 00:08:31,839 --> 00:08:32,519 family path. 145 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:36,000 Speaker 3: I lived it, but I didn't study it. Let's talk 146 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:36,480 about you. 147 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:39,720 Speaker 2: What would happen if you would have spent less time 148 00:08:40,159 --> 00:08:43,799 worried about other members of your family and more time 149 00:08:44,399 --> 00:08:48,159 figuring out where your true piece really does work? Where 150 00:08:48,159 --> 00:08:52,399 would you be today? We can only see what is 151 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:57,159 before us. Everything else is assumption. Now here's the twist 152 00:08:57,159 --> 00:09:00,519 in the story. We did talk about what came before 153 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:01,679 your moment of right now. 154 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:02,759 Speaker 3: I get it. 155 00:09:03,519 --> 00:09:06,320 Speaker 2: But when we say we can only see what's before us, 156 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:08,399 everything else is assumption. 157 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:12,000 Speaker 3: I think your past is the same exact. 158 00:09:11,799 --> 00:09:15,919 Speaker 2: Way you have bent your past in a way of 159 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:17,279 personal acceptance. 160 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:20,639 Speaker 3: Was it really the way that you. 161 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:24,679 Speaker 2: Share the story or did you turn it and twist 162 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:26,919 it and let it fall to the side just a 163 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:28,919 little bit and then perk it back up on the 164 00:09:28,919 --> 00:09:32,600 other side just so that it would fit perfectly into 165 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:36,919 the years of a passer by. We can only see 166 00:09:37,519 --> 00:09:43,000 what's before us. Everything else is assumption. I do know 167 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:46,720 for a fact that people, when they share their family stories, 168 00:09:47,399 --> 00:09:50,320 it really didn't go that way, which is the very 169 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:52,399 reason why I became a daily writer back in nineteen 170 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:56,320 ninety four, because my mother wouldn't share her stories with me. 171 00:09:56,480 --> 00:09:59,879 She would just say, I don't remember. I never want 172 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:03,240 to plant my feet on that path. I don't remember 173 00:10:03,279 --> 00:10:05,879 what happened back in July nineteen ninety four. But if 174 00:10:05,919 --> 00:10:09,360 you go to my daily writing, it's right there. I'll 175 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:13,919 go back and basically go, whoa damn, yeah. 176 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:14,360 Speaker 3: That happened. 177 00:10:14,519 --> 00:10:17,039 Speaker 2: I do remember it now, but I can't call it 178 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:18,200 up immediately. 179 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:22,159 Speaker 3: It's a place of personal growth. 180 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:26,039 Speaker 2: But in that personal growth, you've got to really figure 181 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:30,480 out where you are on your path of change. When 182 00:10:30,519 --> 00:10:34,639 we say before, is it before you got here? Or 183 00:10:34,679 --> 00:10:37,720 what is before you in this present place of now? 184 00:10:38,759 --> 00:10:41,240 That's why I dfrag and I invite you to dfrag 185 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:45,480 as well. Ask yourself that question and then question the answers. 186 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,720 Build up a relationship with that inner self that you 187 00:10:49,799 --> 00:10:52,159 are that's been hidden away for so long. Well because 188 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:54,480 everybody's been judging you, Oh, because your boss says you 189 00:10:54,519 --> 00:10:56,200 have to do this. If you want to work here, 190 00:10:56,240 --> 00:10:58,320 you've got to be this way. But yet you've got 191 00:10:58,399 --> 00:11:02,279 so many creative thoughts that have been sitting there and 192 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:07,360 waiting for your inner artist to bring them forward. What's 193 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:10,000 before you a big decision? You got a big decision 194 00:11:10,039 --> 00:11:13,639 on the way. What's before you? What are your plans 195 00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:16,480 that term? What's your five year plan, what's your ten 196 00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:20,320 year plan? I recently read an article that basically stated, 197 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:24,960 that's a bunch of it's worthless that most businesses today 198 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:28,600 want to know what's before you, what's in your right 199 00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:31,120 now that you would like to work on. I recently 200 00:11:31,159 --> 00:11:33,480 had somebody ask me they were trying to hire me 201 00:11:33,519 --> 00:11:36,320 for a broadcast company. If they asked me, how do 202 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:39,440 you fit in? Well, you can't ask me that question 203 00:11:40,159 --> 00:11:42,080 because I'm not that same guy that would say I'll 204 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:44,360 be whoever you want me to be at any given time. 205 00:11:44,559 --> 00:11:45,799 Speaker 3: I just want the employment. 206 00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:49,399 Speaker 2: I couldn't answer the question, so I put myself in 207 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:50,679 research mode. 208 00:11:50,799 --> 00:11:52,279 Speaker 3: I went and researched the company. 209 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:56,000 Speaker 2: I did everything humanly possible to create my own questions, 210 00:11:56,480 --> 00:11:59,279 and after seeing what they have to offer, my answer 211 00:11:59,440 --> 00:12:02,360 was what I have been through over the past week 212 00:12:03,519 --> 00:12:08,320 is an opportunity to view what is before me, and 213 00:12:08,399 --> 00:12:12,799 what you are presenting before me isn't something that I 214 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:16,679 fit into. This is who I am. Boom boom boom 215 00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:21,519 boom boom boom boom. How do you want me to 216 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:26,279 fit in? We can only see what is before us. 217 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:33,919 Everything else is assumption. Ask yourself that question, question the answers. 218 00:12:34,759 --> 00:12:37,639 I think it's time that you begin a journey of 219 00:12:37,679 --> 00:12:39,759 deep writing him. 220 00:12:39,879 --> 00:12:40,080 Speaker 3: Eryl