Time To Awaken

0:01 This program is designed to provide general information with regards to the subject matters covered. This information is given with the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors, or station are engaged in rendering any specific and personal medical, financial, legal counseling, professional service, or any advice. You should seek the services of competent professionals before applying or trying any suggested ideas. At the end of the day, it's not about what you have or even what you've accomplished. It's about what you've done with those accomplishments. It's about who you've lifted up, who you've made better. It's about what you've given back. Denzel Washington, Welcome to Inspire Vision. Our sole purpose is to elevate the lives of others and to inspire you to do the same. Or Nate Rich, Welcome to the show. Hi Douc, thank you for having me. Hey, thanks for being on the show. You know, I love what you're doing, and I think with what's going on in the world today and so forth, that this is going to be a very timely discussion, and what I'd love for you to do for the audience is kind of explain who you are and kind of your story, your journey to where you were at this point, some of the books that you've written, and then we'll talk specifically about the most recent book that you've written. I'm a mindfulness author. I

1:33 am a mindfulness practitioner. And for those that are listening and don't know what mindfulness is, mindfulness is the practice of being in the present moment with total awareness. It's an inherent quality that each and every one of us has, but we might not know how to use it. And I teach people how to use this inherent quality, the ability to be mindfully aware of themselves, their environment, to other and the world. Basically, it's a heightened sense of awareness and it's good to be very aware because of the times that we're in. There's a lot going on in the world, as you know, and I think that the more aware people are, the better they can navigate the difficult and shoppy waters of life today. It has a lot of challenges.

2:22 So I've written my last book, Time to Awaken. It's really my fifth book if you include my journal, my Live True Journal. Lived True was a book that I wrote on mindfulness and the authentic self, and it was voted as one of the top one hundred mindfulness books by book authority. And I've been practicing mindfulness for many, many years. I was a life coach for over ten years. I created a new niche of coaching called thought coaching because I felt that coaching life coaching was rather broad, and as a life coach myself, I realized that I was helping people come to understand their thinking mind better and to be able to use thoughts that were serving their well being and know how to let go of thoughts that were not. And that was based on my first book called says Who, and I created a method, a cognitive method called the says Who Method, which is a method for transforming negative and fear based thoughts. So I've been practicing, teaching and writing about mindfulness for a very long time. I've done many workshops on mindfulness.

3:34 I've been a keynote speaker around mindfulness. I've written for so many of the top magazines and journals on mindfulness. So I've really been doing it for a very long time. I started with the Huffington Post. I was one of their mindfulness experts. So it's been a long journey and I'm still doing it. And I love it because it really helps me help people come to understand how to become much more aware, as I said, about themselves, about the thoughts that they have to understand, you know, the difference between negative and supportive and productive thoughts, how to really cultivate a healthy thinking mind, and how to let go of thoughts that really are no longer serving your well being. And I think that's pretty much, you know, to keep you up to up to now about what I've been doing. All right, So I'm curious what was what was that moment or was it a gradual thing that brought you to really focus on mindfulness? What happened? Was there an experience you had or whatever that brought you to this area of mindfulness and wanting to help people really experience that. Yes, I was very much on a psycho spiritual journey myself for a very long time, you know. I embarked on

5:04 that journey, you know, well over thirty years ago, and I was an actress for ten years and a screenwriter, and I wanted to learn different modalities of how to you know, things like meditate and work with different modalities and therapies that could help me understand myself better. It was something that I was very drawn to, and so I learned, I studied, I got certified many different areas of in the psycho spiritual world, if you will. I was a meditator while I was an actress. I did transcendental meditation, which is also called TM meditation, and it was incredibly helpful for me while I was an actress, and I so benefited from being a meditator, But I wanted to learn different ways to meditate, not just transcendental meditation, and I went into the area of mindfulness. I started to read a lot of books about mindfulness, and I decided to become certified as a mindfulness meditation teacher, and I just loved it. I thought it was incredibly helpful and useful and so abundant in how it can really change your life when you become a much more conscious, aware, away human being. So I became a life coach. As I said, I did that for almost ten years, and

6:34 my mindfulness work has really helped so many people over the course of me working with it, and I just find it to be incredibly beneficial and helpful for people. Well, and you know, it was interesting. I was reading an ratcle let me see if I can pull it up here. It just came out yesterday and it was saying that in a recent survey, sixty one percent of Americans say that their stress levels are higher than ever, and fifty five claim that the level of stress prevents them from enjoying life. And then it goes in and this cost of living eighty percent, inflation, seventy three percent, personal finances, mental health debt, physical health, home relationships, jobs, and so forth. So, you know, I found that fascinating to see where, you know, there are so many things that are going on right now, and then we talk about the wars that are going on, the conflicts and politically the anger that's existing throughout the US and other places.

7:42 It's creating such a situation for people. And you know, as you said, this great the world is changing. How how do you feel that people can start to deal with these issues in a way that's going to be mentally, emotionally as and it also becomes physically healthy for them. You know, Doug, You're absolutely right, and the world has changed, and it changed three years ago when we had to deal with COVID and people went into their homes and they went into lockdowns and they had to really change their lives radically, do you know, which was highly unnatural. So people were already very stressed out about that. They went into a heightened state of fear, which is a fight or flight state, and decisions were made in that state, and it affected everything from people's work, their home life, children, and education, you know, it just across the board. This was unprecedented.

8:46 So we had a very very heightened sense of fear and concern and worry. And this type of emotional state that people found themselves in created just unnatural spike levels of stress. So we've already had that for the last three years, and just as we're trying to come out of that, now there's a war in Israel and that's got people really worked up about that. And you have a lot of political descent people who are very polarized. This has been going on, as I said, for the last three years, and now we are seeing it carry over into the political mainstream where people are, you know, differing in their opinions about you know, not only what they felt about COVID, but now it's about a war. And even before the Israel war, it was the Ukraine War. So we've had just one thing after the next, you know, and people can barely come up for air and they're being bombarded and blitzcreed daily. By watching this on the news and seeing one horrific story after the next, it can make people feel not only stressed and anxious and depressed, but rather hopeless. Do you know? So this is a time where we really do need to bump up our self care, which is why I think having an awareness of what to do is very important and I try and teach that with my mindfulness work, things like be very mindfully aware of how much news are you watching, and be very mindfully aware

10:18 of how much time you're spending on your phone and your gadgets, and how much of this negativity are you allowing to come in on a daily basis, and are you balancing that with other things that are about self care and nurturing and calming down the nervous system. Do you know? So people really need to understand that they are inundated with negativity, and you know, all of these news stories that are frightening and their negative and it's very fear agitating. It's a lot, it's a lot for people to connect with. And yeah, it is, and as you said, you know, started with COVID and then it's just gone on and on and on. And you mentioned one thing about this awareness, you know, and you're saying time to awaken and you know, be aware. How how do you suggest so many people experience all of the stress in their lives, they're experiencing the fear, they're experiencing all of these dynamics, and I think a lot of them feel really lost.

11:28 And you mentioned one thing that really struck me was when you're actually experiencing life, it's time to actually look at that and go is this positive or is this negative? And how how do you how do you help them to become aware and to be willing to actually look at their life and go, you know what, this isn't right, This isn't the way I want to be able to live exactly. Well, first of all, a lot of people are feeling things and they don't know why. Well, what I just mentioned, all the things that we've been through over the last three years is a lot. So when people are feeling different emotions and different feelings and feeling a sense of you know, even depression or anxiety, they might not know it's because they've been inundated for the last three years with so many things that are jarring to the nervous system. Do you know? So, how I really try and encourage people to be more aware is to understand, first of all, you're not the only one that's going through this. This is something that I would venture to say, millions of people are feeling. I mean, we've had a lot of very heavy stuff happen over the last three years, which is why I really encourage the balance of to make sure you don't just allow yourself to be consumed by all of these negative news stories. Do

13:03 you know so when you say they feel lost, yes, they may feel very lost. But I want people also to know that they're not alone because a lot of people also feel alone. They feel like they're in a vacuum, they feel like they're in this bubble, they feel like they're in this surreal you know movie that they want to wake up the next day and go what happened to happier days? What happened to the times when we weren't so stressed out with all of the things that are happening in the world. And again, you know, these things are happening, we have to acknowledge them. We have to understand that this is happening in real time. But what I want to encourage people to do is make a concerted effort to balance so that you are doing things that are about encouraging being a more more aware of human being, aware of your health, aware of your stress levels, aware of are you in polarized dynamics with people because you may not agree. So there's tension with friends and family members and loved ones because we've become very polarized.

14:05 You know, there's a lot of political polarization. There's a lot of polarization about what people felt about the pandemic. Do you know people should honor their own feelings. They should trust that what they feel in their own hearts and in their own souls needs to be paid attention to. That. You have a right to feel how you feel, and you have a right to honor how you feel and be able to ask questions. You know, share your feelings and your insights with the people that you feel comfortable with and that you can trust. And we need to have civil discourse. We need to be able to have conversations where we're not arguing, where we don't feel like we're politically pulled apart from one another. I think it's more important now than ever before that we have to cultivate healthy dynamics with people around us. When times are challenging, that's the time when we need to really support one another.

15:01 We need to nurture one another, we need to understand one another. What you know, it's interesting, as you said, you know COVID and probably just a little bit before that too, But what would you say the foundation of this polarization has been. Is it a generational situation? Because you know, in our generation you didn't see quite this much polarization going on, and then as time has gone on, all of a sudden, we're seeing greater and greater polarization. And as you say, it isn't just a matter of polarization, but it's a matter of anger you see people now, you know, as you said, it's one thing, you know, you and I may disagree on politics, we may disagree on religion, we may disagree on all sorts of things. But to be able to have a conversation and smile about that and being able to understand the other person and give them the right to you know, feel and think the way that they do, that's a different attitude than what we're experiencing. Now, what do you think broad about Is this a generational thing or why all of a sudden is there such greater polarization going on. I don't think it's a generational thing, per se, Doug, because I have the same observation you have, and I was just talking about this recently. Why is there so much anger? Why is there's such an expression of hatred? Do you know? It's some I've never

16:33 seen anything like it, do you know? Now, let's just take I mean I saw it with I would say I saw it during COVID. I saw a lot of people who had different opinions about what was happening with COVID. You know, there were people that were pro vaccine, people that were felt very connected to bodily autonomy and natural immunity, and people were polarizing each other whether they were vaccinated or they weren't vaccinated. And there was a lot of dissent and a lot of fighting and arguing amongst family members and loved ones. So we already started seeing that come about because again, we were in a very unnatural, unprecedented situation. There was a declared pandemic globally and Not everybody had the same opinions about it. Not everybody had the same opinions about being locked down and about not being able to go to work, or your children that were doing virtual learning and you were still paying you know, school tuitions and their learning was cut in half. You know, people felt resentful that they couldn't go back to work, or they were being vilified if they held certain personal health and or religious beliefs about their health. So that already stirred up tremendous polarization. Now think about how we start to pile things on.

17:51 We've got that as this unprecedented situation that polarized us. Then we had you know, we had the bl riots that came right after that. Then I mean, I'm trying to do the proper timeline here. Then we had the the you know, we pulled out of Afghanistan, and then we had the Ukrainian the Ukraine War. Now we're having the Israel War. It's like one thing being piled up on top of the other. And what it's doing is it's getting people that much more worked up. It's getting people that much more stuck in their position of beliefs, or their political beliefs or their you know, biases, because some people feel that this is this way or the highway. So we're not we're talking past each other, we're not even listening to each other. And I think it's really important right now. This is what I subscribe to, and I really did subscribe to this over the last couple of years. I didn't want to just listen to people that agreed with me. I didn't want to just listen to people that had the exact same opinions and beliefs, because I like to grow and I like to learn about what someone else thinks and what someone else feels. We can't live in these little bubbles, these little, you know, vacuums that we only relate to people that think exactly like we think. You know, I think it's important to have civil discourse and be able to hear why someone has a different opinion than you, whether you're on the right of politics or the left of politics,

19:23 or you're in the middle, or you're one religion or another religion. I think the way a lot of things are set up in life is to polarize us is to look at each other like, well, you're the other, there's me, and then you're the other, and if I don't agree with the other, that I'm going to And now we live in a time where you can get you know, censored and canceled, and you know, it's just these are very different times. And I think either you or I can remember growing up in do you know, it's a real game changer. So back to what you said, and I have the same observation as you the level of disrespect, the type of anger that I'm seeing. I mean, I'm seeing specifically when you said generational thing to what I'm seeing, let's say, on college campuses, you know, as far as kids really expressing their feelings about the war in Israel. I'm seeing these young students at some of the most coveted colleges in the country, and they're talking to each other so disrespectfully, you know, just because they don't agree with one another, or they're viewing each other very judgmentally. Now you have to wonder like, is this something that is being taught. Is this something that is a type of indoctrination. Is it a type of brainwashing? Is this coming from their own personal beliefs? Is this coming from their own you know, biases or the way they grew up or what they heard in the household. But it's really come to full exposure now and I think that it makes us look at

20:59 how far we've gone away from being civil to one another. There's so much incivility today and I look at them and I think, wow, we've really come such a such a far distance from you know, a type of interaction and a type of you know, utification as a humanity that I think it's important for us to really look at and we each it's a comb that I believe for each and every one of us to look at that within ourselves and where mindfulness just to bring mindfulness into this point where mindfulness comes in so helpfully is that it's again it's awareness building. It means that if I'm going to say something to you and I don't agree with you, how do I want to convey that to you? Do I want to say it angrily? Do I want to be disrespectful? Or do I want to say, hey, Doug, you know what, I don't really agree with you about this point that you're making, and here's why, so that we can hear one another.

22:04 And I think that if I do that, if I make a concerted effort to be a more mindful communicator, and you make an effort to be a more mindful communicator. We're sending that message out wide and far, and we will no longer accept this type of interaction that seems so fueled with anger unnecessarily. Yeah, and it's interesting, I think, you know I, as I have researched and studied and so forth. One of the comments that has really hit me for a long time is people have this need to be right. It's just an eternal aspect that they need to be right. And you know, so often you get into these discussions and if you have two people that need to be right, you've got fighting going on, You've got anger, you've got arguments, and so forth. When you have two people that can you know, comfortably agree to disagree, you respect the other person.

23:03 You give them the right to have their thoughts and their processes whatever that happens to be. But you don't have this sense that you have to be right. So when we talk about your book, Time to Awaken, and of course you know that is so pertinent right now, what you talk about these college kids and what's going on in these colleges, whether it's you know, the top colleges and on top colleges. It's going on everywhere. You've got the people that are just so angry and so unkind and doing both you know, physical as well as verbal type of situations. How how do we address that in a way to help them to start to minimize that? I mean, how how do you take me if I'm just all angry and so forth? How do you help me to number one, be aware that you know that isn't healthy, number one? But number two, to start to make those changes. You know, It's interesting because I do think that you know, those those interactions are so heated and there's a lot of I don't know how much you've seen. I'm on social media, but specifically on Instagram is the one that I'm on the most. I really, you know, I don't go on x as much, and I don't really go on Facebook very much, but Instagram is the one that I'm on the most, and I've seen just horrific, Like it's it's verbal barbarism, is what I'm calling it. The way in which people are these these especially these young adults.

24:37 But you also see it at the protests and the rallies, you know, and I'm just observing like, which are the rallies that feel very that look very feeled with anger and even hate, And which are the rallies that are being conducted peacefully with civil you know, discourse, or you know the way in which people are are interacting. And I think it's pretty obvious. I think all you have to do is just watch. But if I'm to answer your question, if I'm interacting with somebody who's really coming from a place of anger and coming from a place of hey, I think what I would say is, why are you so angry? And why are you talking to me like I'm your enemy. I'm not your enemy. None of us are the enemy we're talking about. You know a lot of specifically what I'm bringing up is because of the war in Israel, you have a very divided narrative.

25:30 You have the pro Palestinian narrative and you have the pro Israel narrative. And I like to say I'm pro humanity, do you know what I mean? People feel very forced to take a side, and if you take a side, you're attack for taking that side because then you're opposing the other side. So it's like we're being set up already. It's like this perfect, you know, storm if you will to set yourself up to be adversarial with somebody, and I do think by you know, taking a breath, which is part of the mindfulness, you know technique of you know, taking a pause and saying, what can I say to this person who's really being radioactive and really coming from a place of anger and hatred? What I would say?

26:14 And it's really come up for me, just very spontaneously, for you asking me that question, I would ask them, why are you speaking to me with so much anger and hate? I'm not your enemy, do you know the we're not responsible for the war in Israel? You know, taking that hate and anger at at one another for a war that's happening in a country that we're not in. We can feel deep compassion for all of the innocent civilians, the non combatants that are have lost their life so tragically. It's heartbreaking. It's truly heartbreaking to see that. But when you take that which should really evoke not anger and hatred, it should voke like compassion and a genuine feeling of sadness. And then you're interacting with someone who's just fueled with anger and hate. They're missing the whole point. They're they're actually recreating the very problem that is in a country that's feuding, do you know what I mean? So it's like so the macro micro, it's people recreating the very problem that they seem to be trying to protest against, and they're doing the very thing with one another. It's it doesn't make any sense at all.

27:29 So I would try to reach that person as best I could to say, is there a way that you could express yourself that's not so full of anger and hate? Because really what you're doing is you're recreating the very problem that you're feeling that's happening in that in Israel. Do you know? Well? And you know what strikes me? As I mentioned before with some of my other interviews, I'm actually in Thailand right now. Oh wonderful. Oh yeah, And as fascinating as I'm getting to know the culture and watching people who you know, and I think ninety five percent of the people here are Buddhists, right, and yet they have just such total respect. It was fascinating.

28:19 I was visiting. I love to take pictures, so I was going to different temples and getting pictures and so forth. And I went to one and here was this beautiful Buddhist temple, and then off to the side was another beautiful building, and I asked the guy, I said, what is that, and they go, well, that's the Muslim temple. And literally they had built a separate temple for the Muslims so that they could worship very close to the Buddhist temple where people are worshiping. And I thought to myself, Wow, we don't see that here in the US, you know, No, You're so right, we don't. And that's the kind of embracing of oneness, which is really one, you know, one of the tenets of Buddhism, that we're not separate from each other, but that we're actually one and that we're unified. And yet look at all this feuding, look at all this polarization. You bringing up a Buddhist temple, which I'm you know, I've always loved the tenets of Buddhism, which really is about you know, being connected and not feeling separate from anyone or anything. So it would be lovely to be able to coexist and being in an environment where we could all respect each other's differences, each other's faiths, you know, whatever it is that that calls to us that we don't want to hurt one another because of our differences, but we want to embrace one another because we are

29:51 really not separate in so many ways. We're actually more alike than we are separate. Well, and it really, it really, in my mind gets to this point of this individual work, and we're going to get into meditative. I want to talk about meditation a bit here because what I'm finding is, you know, I tend to have very much left brain, strong personality and so forth. And as I've started to observe all of these people who are, for the most part, there's always exceptions, but for the most part are experiencing life calmly, happily, regardless of what their circumstances are.

30:32 And some of them are in really tough circumstances. And as you say, as I've been looking at Buddhism as well as other approaches, what comes to my mind is it really boils down to me. It boils down to who am I and who am I becoming? And if I'm mindful enough to say you know what, you know, I get frustrated, Well how do I how do I start to that? And all of a sudden you get into this concept of meditation of how do we change ourselves? Because I don't believe that we can change the world in the environment of the world unless we're willing to change ourselves absolutely. And that's why the path of you know, the spiritual path, of the mindful path or being on the path of self realization if you will, is really about to know oneself, you know, and that you take that journey within so that you can understand yourself better. And again from the mindfulness perspective, is that you become aware of your actions, your words, your deeds, your behaviors, so that your participation in life is it a mindful approach to living? And are you being somebody who's coming from a place of kindness and compassion towards others? You know? Again talking about the awareness being an aware human being so that you take responsibility for how you are out in the world. Mindfulness is like the informal practice of meditation.

32:07 It's easy to sit in meditation for twenty minutes or forty five minutes and quiet the mind and try to connect and align yourself with something that holds greater meaning for you. But who are you when you get off a yoga mat or the meditation pillow. You still want to be a conscious human being. Well, that's right, and you know we're talking we haven't even gotten into your book, Time to Awaken, but probably we have conceptually. But what I mean, you wrote this book for this time because you know how important that is. What what are some of the points that you make in your book Time to Awaken that you feel are so pertinent to what's going on right now? I really, I really invite my reader to embark on the journey of awakening, which is another way of saying as we're talking about, you know, if you want to talk about Buddhism or mentioning that that it's the path of self awareness. And so to be self aware, you have to be an awake human being. You don't want to be in a semi conscious state. We're in a semi conscious state when we're sleeping, you know.

33:19 So we want to be in an awake state in our awakened moments, so that we can be a very conscious, aware human being. And I wrote my book, you know, wanting to understand what happened over the last three years, because so much a change, as we talked about earlier, the world has changed so radically. It feels like we're just in a very different world today, so that I feel that being awake is extremely important because of the changes that we've embarked on and that they're going to be even more changes in the days to come. So you don't want to be somebody who's like completely unaware and suddenly the world has changed in so many ways and you're like, well, what just happened, you know, because there's so many changes that we are seeing, and that there will be more changes. We've got such advanced technology, we've got people that are changing, and this polarization that you and I are talking about, that it's more important to be aware and awake than now, more than ever before, I believe, because of the fact that the world has changed so much and it's going to keep on changing because we've moved so fast into these advanced technologies that we're going to really see a lot of changes all around us. And I just want people to be prepared well. And you know, you talk about fear and unconsciousness, and you know it's interesting. Yeah, I've been you know you you you're into

34:52 Instagram and I like that, and you know, I look at some of the other ones. And I've been watching a little bit of TikTok because I've been fascinated by sitting as an outside observer seeing what's going on, and it fascinates me. Here's someone just talking about fact fact, fact, fact, fact, and I you know, I'll google and it's like, no, that's not true. You're saying something is fact and it's not true. Or someone gets on a bandwagon, you know, years ago, the vaccination, but even now, different things that are going on and just hitting hard and hitting hard, and then people join in. What's your thoughts about all of this going on? And you know, whether it's YouTube or whether it's you know, TikTok or Facebook or all these social media is what is the effect of social media having on our awareness and our mentality and our mindfulness. Well, you know, social media is a great tool to use for connecting, so we can say that that it's it's it allows us to connect with one another all over the world. So that's a good thing, okay, But it's also like the information highway, and it's also getting people a platform.

36:15 So suddenly everybody's an expert. Everybody can weigh in, everybody can say that they're an expert at this, and they're an expert at that, and they're getting their information what they call facts via TikTok or a YouTube, you know, and they can watch anything they want that resonates to their particular biases or narratives, and they're like, well, I'm right and you're wrong, and I can then go on my platform and I can espouse, you know, and pontificate all of these reasons why I know for a fact that I'm right and everybody else is wrong. So, you know, it's I think it's both a very helpful tool, but it can also be used as a weapon, and it's you know, it has it has its dangers because of that, because it gives people a right to just say whatever they want, and they wouldn't say that if they were really physically in front of each other.

37:09 They can say it because they know they're in a safe zone and they can just say the most horrible, crazy things and they're not going to have somebody that's going to come after them physically, do you know. So a lot of people use it consciously and a lot of people use it unconsciously, and they abuse it and they misuse it. So we're seeing a lot of that. We're seeing a lot of everything at this point. Well, there's a couple of words that you use as I've done a little research here and I'd love for you to talk a little bit about it. One, obviously, is AI virtual reality, transhumanism? What are those concepts? Well, you know, Doug, when I was really researching my book, I really want into areas that I I was curious about because when I talk about advanced technology, we have so many things. I mean, the world has just changed.

38:08 It's like, whoa, what just happened? Do you know? So you better be awake or else you're going to miss the boat, is the way I look at it. And in my research I wanted to understand like even something now with let's take the film industry, there have been in negotiations because AI poses a threat for the industry in that. An example would be that what is it that AI tool chat GPT so GPT GP three that you can literally have chat have AI write an entire book for you. You know, kids can do their entire thesis written by AI. I mean, this is a huge game changer. So when I researched AI artificial intelligence, you know, I know that you can. You know, there are positives out some of this technology that's being used in the area in the medical field, it's being used in you know, the science, the sciences, and all the areas of learning. But the way in which it can really present a tremendous problem I think, you know, I quote even Elon Musk in my book, he says he feels that AI can be, you know, a very dangerous thing and one of the most dangerous things for our civilization in the next five years because it's advancing so quickly. So if people aren't conscious going back to a mindful awareness, and they're the ones that are building these virtual realities. You take someone like Zuckerberg, Mark Zuckerberg with Facebook and creating the

39:42 metaverse. You know, what is this rush to try and change the real world into a virtual reality? Why is that so appealing? Why is there such a disgusted with being a human being and being in human you know form. And when I researched things like transhumanism, I saw that it was you know, people that really are looking forward to moving our universe into a very advanced technological state where we become almost like supercomputers. And it sounds so science fiction. And the thing that I also saw about it that was, you know, kind of I want to say disturbing, is that a lot of people that are really subscribed to advancing our technologies and moving us really into the future, is that they're they really have no interest in anything spiritual. There A lot of them are atheists and they don't believe in God or whatever you know that means to you or to me, and they really feel that we need to advance ourselves so that we can live forever, like a computer will be connected to the cloud and will live forever. It's just this dystopian, science fiction esque vision of the future that a lot of people that are in power feel that we should all live like that. So when I said earlier

41:14 about people need to wake up things like with advanced technology, it can be that you go into a market and they no longer take cash, and they've got these digital devices that you just wave your hand over that there are theories that that could be about data mining, you know, that it's like surveillance, and these are not conspiracy theories anymore. The markets are changing. Public places. You're going into a concert, you're going into, you know, an aquarium, which I was in recently. You know, it's it's types of tools that are being used that look like you're in China. It's like cameras that have you know, serve a balance technology, digital technology. Some people might go, well, what's wrong with that? You know, and we're in the future, so so big deal. But how far do you take it? Do you know? Does that mean that we should all go be microchipped so that we could, you know, do all sorts of things that look like a science fiction movie, so that it's a level of convenience the way we get through life. I think we're in a very delicate balance in our humanity in that we are. You know, there's a great quote by I think it's Einstein. I believe where he said, I don't I don't worry too much about the future because it's already here. So yeah, we're already We're already in it. It's already arrived, and I think we

42:44 want to be very mindful about our participation in it. What resonates for us, what doesn't resonate for us? And I think that's why it's so important to be a good critical thinker and think for yourself. You know, if you want to participate in life in that way, or to make it just vision that you don't want to participate in life that way. How much how much of this do you think is people not really enjoying their life and wanting to create a better life in their own mind, whatever that reality is for them. I mean, as you're talking, I'm thinking, you know, what, life is so good and we can experience such happiness and joy in our existence as it is now, And why why this need to create this and to create that in as you say, the transhumanism and the virtual reality and the AI and all of those types of things. What's it going to create? It is we're going to lose, We're going to lose the ability of who we really are. I couldn't agree with you more. You know, do we want the convenience and the you know, the sort of advancement of our technology so that we have you know, that we live in this virtual reality that we don't have to do, we don't have to contend with things that are rather beautiful about our own evolution of the life and death cycle.

44:13 You know, maybe people feel, oh, well, it's going to be better. It's you know, it's always this need to make something better. Let's make it better, Let's make it more perfect, Let's make it more this, and make it more that, and not really appreciating life for what it is. If we're so busy trying to change that which is good, why can't we improve things that we don't like. Let's improve pollution, Let's improve the way we're in which we're robbing this planet of its natural resources, and we're doing things by polluting the planet and hurting the planet. But instead what we want to like, forget that and just create some virtual reality so that all this other stuff will just magically go away. It seems very greedy to me. It seems very selfish that we want to constantly reach for something that's just going to make all the other stuff that we don't like go away, not take responsibility for it, and then create this advanced technology that is going to make us feel superhuman. It's very egoic for me. It's very much being in the ego. And I think of a lot of the people that are behind these movements, these futurist type of transhumanist movements. You know, a lot of them are extremely wealthy people. You know they can afford to I mean I know. I read in my research of my book that Mark Zuckerberg has a robot called Jarvis that he's you know, he can

45:43 afford to create a robot for himself, and he's called it his intellectual equal. It's like, oh, I guess you know, the robot is more your intellectual equal than a human being. So I can't get into the heads and minds of these people that, you know, as wealthy as they are, if that's their vision of the future. You know what, Doug, it's not my vision of the future. And I think that's why it's important to think for yourself. That's why it's important to be awake and to be aware and to be a good critical thinker and say, I don't resonate to that at all. That doesn't call to me at all. I don't want to live like that. You know, we have to say in the matter, Well, and so what is your message? What is your message to the audience that's listening to this podcast as we finish up today, What would be the message that you want to share with them. I think the message that I really want to share with people is to get in touch with who you are, you know, get in touch with your authentic self. You know, advocate for yourself. You know, come to know who you are and that you're a sovereign human being who has the right to live this life out the way you want to live it out. But you need to know what that means for you, and so it's important to be aware of what that means for you so that you can look at the things that you and

47:14 I talked about today and say, yes, I agree with that, or no, I don't want to live my life like that, And I have a right to live my life and have agency over myself and live my life in the way that it feels really authentic to me. It doesn't matter what other people are doing. You don't need to follow the herd. We're not cheap. We don't need to go along with what everybody else thinks is in vogue right now when it doesn't ring true for us. So have a mindful awareness of your true, authentic self and live that life and know that you deserve to live that life. But really listen to what is being said and listen to the changes that you're observing so that you can have a better sense of what they are and that you can decide for yourself whether you want to go along with these narratives or that you don't, and that you can live the life that you want to live for yourself, live the authentic life you deserve that in your lifetime. Well said, So, how do the folks find your books and how do they find you? They can go to my website or a nidrich dot com and if they want to order my books, Amazon is always the fastest way to get them. All right, or thank you so much. This has been a fascinating conversation. Oh my goodness, there's so much going on, and you know it's I'm not sure there's a solution, but I think you've hit on the point. The solution is the

48:47 self and starting to really become who you truly are and understanding who you really are. Absolutely, yes, that's exactly right. Thank you. I appreciate you being on the show. Thanks so much, folks, thanks for listening. I hope that you'll really get involved in this and start to really create that curiosity within yourself to think about how it is that you can get out of this sense of fear and really become and understand who you are and allow other people the same. Right. So thanks for listening. Hope you'll join with us soon. This is doctor Doug saying have a wonderful week.