 Welcome to Dare to Dream Debbie Dashinger here today's guest and a little bit that I'll be having on is Michael Benner And we'll be talking about fearless Intelligence the best of you is actually hit hidden where you're afraid to look So if you dare to look stay with us for today's show This show has been nominated for two people's joys podcast awards and a webby award It's available on over 40 syndicated podcast sites as well as radio stations and I would ask you to please leave us a five-star review and thanks to all of you who post really encouraging remarks. It's It's Wonderful to read how you receive the conversation This is the number one weekly transformation conversation, and it's the reason why after 13 years I'm still doing this. I still show up and I'm still learning I am still so humbled by how much there is yet to know and how much I grow I'm very excited. I have to tell you that I've been paying particular attention recently a friend of mine has been turning me on to some extra-dimensional Conversations interviews that are outside of my platform, and I'm pretty blown away by some of the things I'm hearing so much so that One of them who I really resonated with I had to reach out to right away They're in the Netherlands her name is Arjun. If you know this woman in Amsterdam who channels Arjun of the Yahya universe people and They've agreed to come on the show, and I cannot wait to have that conversation Wow, so yeah, there's a lot of energy for me right now into that I've always called myself the most open-minded skeptic and I am indeed I believe in everything I believe in nothing and most things have to pass through my filter which is can feel pretty much truth for me anyway Or not so I felt a lot of truth listening to Arjun or Arjuna, and I'm very excited to have this Channeled beings from another Universe on the show so look for that I'm actually reappropriating all the shows to get them on earlier and We are number 100 in self-improvement on Apple podcasts in all the USA 67 in Canada we are 32 in Turkey really cool some of these countries that show up and top 10 in many other Countries so just know every time you post every time you listen it actually makes a difference other people who need this Conversation want this conversation can find it with great ease I'm a certified coach, and I help people write a page Turner book I've also got a company that takes an author's book to a guaranteed International bestseller and the third piece of the visibility hub that I offer is the ultimate visibility formula How you can get booked and interviewed on radio and podcasts and get results So these are all the pieces that light workers need because it's our time It's our time to get our story and our message out there And if it is for you, too, you can join go to Debbie dashinger.com and you'll see everything laid out quite nicely for you there I would like to thank Dr. Dane here and Access Consciousness for sponsoring this show and if you'd like to learn more about the beautiful energy work They do globally got a Dr. Dane D. A. I n here H. E. R. Dot com as well as access consciousness.com Would you like to know How to embody fearless intelligence and see how the best of you is hidden where you're afraid to look My guest today is Michael Benner. Who's the author of fearless intelligence the extraordinary wisdom of awareness and the self-awareness training Internal vigilance. He's been commissioned by the Orange County, California Sheriff's Academy He's also well known throughout southern california for his popular human potential talk radio programs on k abc kls klsx kcbs k rla and most recently on k pfk Michael has been a regularly scheduled speaker at the whole life expo the philosophical research society the live and learn center the mind skills center the helix center at The national whole health symposium To find out more about michael, please visit michael benner b e n n e r dot com And it's with great pleasure. I welcome michael to the dear to dream show. It's so great to have you here Thank you. Tell me it's so wonderful to see you again. Thanks for having me It is wonderful to see you again. And as I explained to the audience when I was Promoting you in advance last week. I was reflecting on the many decade journey if you will You and I have had these reference points And it's been Michael it's been for 40 years. It's good Yeah, because I I used to listen to you on the radio in los angeles and then I found out you were doing these Seminars some place out in the valley I don't even remember where it was and I would go hear you and a couple other people weekly On stage and just I remember even at that age so hungry For what you are speaking about and so feeling the truth And like having my mind blown all at once at that age going what like this stuff exists like this is amazing And that's what it was. It was Like an oasis for awakening souls And there is a generation of us I mean there have always been those who Saw beyond the veil so to speak We knew that they were as has been said Not humans with the soul but souls incarnate And who have been guided by their conscience and by a calling to be ethical and and moral and kind and loving And so that hunger or that thirst That you're talking about I think a lot of us began to feel for me. It was college In the 60s. I'm really dating myself, right? and From beatle music forward all you need is love Love is shining all around you And it's all too much and you know Jimmy Hendrix uh Kiss the sky And colored rain by traffic. I mean it was a great awakening in the 60s and 70s and I think By the time you and I met we were into the 80s And it's just continued on you're right As things have gotten worse In society darker More threatening more frightening There is also this awareness that we're birthing a new age People ask me for political answers and I always have to explain I have no political answers My interest has always been in raising awareness Extended awareness or higher consciousness And then solutions seem obvious when you find leadership in your conscience And consensus and basic morality We're pretty much all on the same team that tribalism falls away I'm so excited to read that you're on kpfk What are you doing there? Where can we hear you? Are you a show that's ongoing or are you a periodic? Neither any longer. I was on kpfk as a volunteer broadcaster once a week for 14 years And In 2007 when my wife and I moved to Maui I gave that up So I'm retired. I still have my podcast The age school of swiss to mystery school. We have about 420 some episodes And I've been doing that since 2007 to that early 2008 That's hard to believe 12 years. I've been doing that podcast And that's gone through a lot of different iterations I continue to do that. I'm doing a mini series right now called quarantine meditations Really? What is that? Quarantine meditations are as you might expect meditations that are directed and those of us who Are stressed and feeling anxiety as a result of social isolation Um We try to reframe it as a retreat, you know people often Pay a lot of money to go away and not talk to anybody But they come back You know the retreat ends after a few days or a week or two at most And the rest of us since there's no coming back anytime soon We suffer as someone in solitary confinement or if we're fortunate enough to Have a family That we get along with and that we love there's still our stresses where we rub each other the wrong way And we just begin to feel some cabin fever because as human beings we are social creatures We need to get out touch deprivation is a real thing We miss handshakes. We need hugs We need to hold each other and crush each other And like after a bad dream tell each other everything's going to be okay And that's one of the hardest parts of what we're going through So in meditation we can do all of that We can do mindfulness vipassana where we watch our breath Practice watching our thoughts while identifying as the witness not the thinker We can Explore our emotional feelings as they rise and fall Without being the feeling we came from a detached point of view discern the significance and the meaning of our emotional feelings We can use guided imagery and visualization to boost our immune system to stay strong and healthy and to This is really what the book fearless intelligence is about to use relaxation and stress management to understand Our Let me say it this way to better understand how to solve problems and that includes better communication skills how to talk to people that In this case you may be shut up with 24 hours a day You know, what do you do after a week or two of that? How do you talk to each other? How do you share? I'm scared I'm lonely I'm frustrated For some reason you're irritating me and I don't know why because I'd love you dearly And yet I'm feeling so irritable and I think I'm putting that on you when You don't really have anything to do with it. It's just me So responsibility for owning our feelings all of these things we explore in these guided meditation narratives Where can people get these meditations? You're speaking of Well, the full 30 minute audio podcast is available wherever they get through podcasts So that could be apple podcasts, right tunes google play It could be Stitcher or Spotify or tune in iHeart radio any podcast player app Or podcast directory where they normally get their podcasts and then I do an edited version That is about half that long just the exercise That I post on youtube And in both cases if you just search for the ageless wisdom mystery school That's all you need to remember ageless Wisdom mystery school. That's a beautiful title. Okay. What a gift. Okay for people You started speaking about the time we're in And I've experienced all of that. I've also experienced the collective grieving the private grieving. I've had it's been amazing the loss Three of my best friends moving away, you know, like And two other major things with people complete, you know endings of things and and in the midst of feeling I've also had the experience this very source Like download Of look at all that is leaving And what must that mean for what will be invited in? And what does that mean for me to be with right now? And I'm really willing. I've been willing to feel and deal. I've been willing to be one with I am really aware of the divine irony and cosmic joke that they've been asking me for so long to slow down and to live a different life and They win Now I'm doing it and I'm making all new choices and I rather I don't like the aloneness. I'm an extreme extrovert an extreme connector So that's been challenging and at the same time I get it like it's going to take what it takes till I'm fully in this And maybe this is the new life going forward. So that's that leads me to what I'd like to ask you next Do you feel that there is a normal because people are saying I can't wait till I get back to normal It's my perception. There is no such thing And that there is something collectively Galactively that needed to happen a real reset a real new choice for the planet for the people for the animals for our beings humanity I would like you to weigh in on that and and what is your point of view about What's happening and what's possible going forward? Well, I've never liked the word normal myself and to me brings up images of Doing sea work in school and If I ever brought home a report card to my parents with a bunch of seas on it and called it normal There'd be hell to pay Normal to me means average and common When in fact each and every one of us Without exception Is remarkable in many ways We have areas where we're not as talented But we also have wonderful gifts and abilities that we can discover and develop for ourselves and To better serve other people But I know what people are asking for they want balance They want centeredness And they want what's predictable and reliable And I'm afraid that has never been the case and never will be the case One of the basic principles in eastern philosophy Is the awareness that all things are impermanent All physical things fade away They rust they corrode They rot they decay no matter Uh, how much you take care of your brand new car Eventually it's going to the jump carry And the beautiful skyscrapers and luxurious homes Will all in time be raised to the ground And make way for the new And even our thoughts and feelings debbie as I'm sure you're aware pass away Our thoughts very quickly Our emotional feelings a little more slowly but um It's probably Good news for the pessimists and bad news for the optimists That whatever is happening it's going to change You know the beetle said it's got to get better when it can't get any worse so, um Impermanence means we need to find Equanimity in uncertainty We need to be even tempered and level-headed In recognizing that all things are changing that The world is forever in flux One of the ancient Greeks said I'm not sure Which of them gets credit for this but there's an old axiom from Thousands of years ago that no person ever steps in the same river twice You see for A day or even an hour later. It's a different river And we're a different person You see And so we need to get on that pony and ride And understand that if we ask for normal We can ask for that and work for that in moderation And to some appropriate degree So that Things aren't quite as chaotic as they have been And seem to be in this period But I think we can also find comfort in Recognizing that adversity is growthful It certainly offers the opportunity. I suppose we could all resist it But in hermetic alchemy, there's a wonderful allegory for this It's really where the idea of hellfire comes from Or what the old mystics called purgation The ancient alchemists would Find a piece of gold ore And look at it and say, how do I get the gold out of this? This big rock And not having laboratories or the kind of science we have today. They would just put it in a big oven Called an athenore And they would stoke the fire turn up the heat let it sit in there for days and days and days And everything that was not gold The impurities they called dross Would burn away And In time the only thing that was left Was the gold And so they were wise enough To see the allegory in that Perhaps adversity or problems or challenges Our heartache our suffering and misery most of which is self-imposed It's not what's done to us. It's the way we manage it Or refuse to manage it But maybe that adversity maybe those problems And our grief and our loss and our heartache Grows us And perhaps we can find comfort in recognizing As others have said That the only thing that burns in hell Is not real It's all of the ego And like the gold what remains Is true and spiritual So there's a little addendum to that eastern philosophy of impermanence. There is one thing That is eternal and infinite And that's called love And it's awareness It's consciousness. It's not an emotion Emotional love can bring up joy and happiness, but it can also bring up anger and hatred And jealousy And all kinds of inappropriate behavior So love is an emotion Is not what's meant by Love and spiritual sense In the spiritual sense especially if we capitalize The word love it means awareness. It's consciousness And that stands above all things and that alone Is permanent everything else passes Wow well said and I love the example you gave of the gold Being cooked so to speak for three days Falling the dross falling away, you know in light of what you're saying I want to reference your new book fearless intelligence and I want to talk about Taking this another step forward. How can we create the life that we desire or require? as opposed to a life Where we're reactive or we're living out of some paradigm of victimhood How can we instead choose ah the bigness the fullness the desire really of who we wish to become What a great question that really uh goes to the heart of it, doesn't it? The way to substitute even tempered well-reasoned deliberate responses For reflexive reactions For regrettable behavior. Oh my god. I can't believe I said that Right the minute it came out of my mouth I knew I was making things worse Um why are my thoughts so confusing? Why does my heart it persists? No The way to to get to a place Where we can deliberately and purposefully Think before we act understand the meaning of our feelings And recognize which thoughts to embrace and wish to reject is nonsense To be at choice about what we think There's a crazy idea the way to do all of that Is to calm down To relax To practice meditation contemplation And prayer But by prayer, I don't mean petitioning god To do something for you That's Santa Claus When I talk about prayer Like meditation or contemplation, I'm talking about moving yourself into alignment Reducing the resistance that we have To our higher self to our conscience, which is the voice of the soul You know Um When we listen to those voices We need to be I'll say it this way in order to hear those Voices that's still small voice Of our intuition our conscience We need to relax otherwise the egoic voices are so loud so frenetic And chaotic that we don't hear the wisdom Of the higher self in the background. It's always there You know, it's like asking how do I find peace or how do I find love as if we should search out here When in fact, there's always peace and love Waiting at the core of your being Whenever we let go of everything that is not peace and love Right, so breathing Relaxing that is letting go of physical tension Being affirmative in your thoughts and your speech Studying the great masters the women and men who've come before us in all cultures and all traditions To guide us and inspire us And They sort of create the guardrails to keep us on the path When we do that and practice a daily Uh meditation or as I say a contemplation or prayer introspection Reflection whatever term you want to call it Heck you could just stare out the window and space out But instead of believing you are that logical mind that constantly like a drum beat Shurns up this monkey mind nonsense. That is not you And so a basic mindfulness practice called the pasana or insight meditation Teaches you to take one step back Or to rise above it slightly to detach And say I'm not those thoughts. I'm the guy watching my mind do that And that's a ridiculous idea And this is a beautiful one And I'm going to embrace this beautiful thought And drop this ridiculous thought even though it's familiar and I've been thinking that my entire life That I'm not good enough. I don't deserve it. I can't handle it. I'm not smart enough People don't love me. I don't know why I'm lovable All of that nonsense Let the ego turns up From a detached point of view We can say that's not true that's just Not true And if somebody else insults you instead of being hurt you can look at them with compassion and say I'm sorry. Do you feel a need to bring me down? To get some sort of power over me But that's just not true. That's mean and insulting But I forgive you You know, I have compassion for your suffering. You may not say that out loud, but to be aware of it allows you to smile and nod And you're bulletproof. Nobody can hurt you without your consent Nobody can shame you or insult you Without your buy-in without your confusion And the beauty of this is as we come to know ourselves better We don't become ecotistical quite the contrary The better we know the truth of who we are as spiritual beings the more humble we become The people with the big ego like why don't they think they're all You know, they're all that They must think they're really cool. No, they don't they're terrified that you're going to discover what a fraud they are Because they don't have any idea What's magnificent and beautiful about them? And so they act out of fear They become antisocial and paranoid and resistant There's a lot of people Right now in this pandemic who's saying We'll get through this together. We're all in this together. Well, I'm sorry. There's a lot of people that say no I'm not in this with you I'm just in it for me And will I be better off? As a result of this behavior, how does this benefit me? What's in it for me? And that's the old dinosaur mentality That the ego is always promoting The part of us that believes we're separate and alone And that Perhaps life has no meaning at all so we just earn and spend and produce and consume Watch TV and drink beer You know, it's it's tragic But there is meaning and purpose in life and and those who find it know revolves around Developing ourselves so that we can help other people and devote ourselves to This harmony That we're all in it together. Nothing feels better than helping somebody and giving without a deed for anything in return And that's what I love about what you and I do which is basically teaching I don't mean to speak for you. You can do it perfectly well, but to me it's teaching consciousness raising Teaching the full meaning of love and understanding Teaching people how to develop their insight and their wisdom So as to be a better service to other people It's like the oxygen mask on the airplane You have to Put the mask on you before you help somebody else And so suffrage people put themselves first and then behave in the selfish way But enlightened people Put themselves first so they can be Better at serving others Oh, I love how you put that that's so important Distinction Because that whole idea of selfishness can be very confusing to people and they love the you know We've heard it so many times about the oxygen mask and if you can't be breathing yourself How can you help those next to you? Of course, but but the distinction you just made about We are here to be of service and yet if we're not completely full inside There's no way we can go forth from there and really show up how we were meant to show up In the field of emotional intelligence One of the principle concepts is that empathy is dependent upon in the function of self-awareness That I can't know how you feel I cannot empathize with you in spite of my best intentions Beyond my ability To understand my own feelings Some of my biggest heart openers have come from my greatest pain And I know at the crossroads of grief and loss and heartbreak There are many roads one can choose I don't know why I've chosen what I have god bless, but For whatever reason once I'm on the other side. I have found this huge your capacity huge your capacity to love To understand to soften To have that empathy you're talking about. I'm sure many people listening can relate to this And it is actually helped me with my human condition to be a better human At those crossroads to continually choose to love better See more appreciate more Understand more and empathy really is the great leveler, isn't it? And sometimes we don't have to understand we don't have to have walked in somebody's moccasins so to speak but we can still Just holding space for another human understand that what they are going through is Of significance is a moment for them that they just need maybe a witness or you know a loving energy To nest in so they can go through it And it's really an important part of life to have that to give that to receive that I think the secret to empathy Debbie is compassion compassion is One of the highest frequencies of love It's awareness of unawareness And yourself and others. What do you mean that? What do you mean by that an awareness of unawareness? Yes To recognize that the world is not made up of good people and bad people Oh, yes, that's good. Uh-huh, but everybody has light and shadow within them so while we're according to all religions made in the image of the creator The absolute whatever that is We are incarnated beings that have a shadow side And that's the ego That's the part of us that believes we're separate And we spend our whole lives reaching out for connection You know in junior high school Just to hold somebody's hand Is about as exciting as it gets You know And at my advanced years My wife and I hold hands all the time and As I said before we need that connection But the truth is we're only disconnected or separate in appearance As physical objects in a world Where everything seems separate But we understand from empirical science that All of this mass or matter is really energy Einstein put the equal sign between the two So All material forms Though they appear separate Are actually manifestations Of an energy field And energy electromagnetism Is not separate It's one thing the universe is a great cloud Of energy Many frequencies some areas more dense Some areas less dense Less energy But it's all energy so Though we appear to be separate we're actually all part of one thing and that's a paradox that every student Of the ancient wisdom or ageless wisdom as I call it that paradox needs to be Faced and embraced That both things are true It's not Are we all separate and diversity is wonderful and each of us has special talents or We're all part of one thing It's like No, it's a candy mint and a breath mint Both things are true. We are all as energy Manifestations of one thing a universe That word means one thing you know spinning around verse universe we're all extensions or fragments Of one absolute thing one life And yes in form as mortal beings temporarily living on this planet Separate in form as material beings both of those things are true And that's difficult for people because the more stressed and anxious nervous and fearful we become The more likely we are to think only in binary terms this way or that Good or bad right or wrong Are you a good person or a bad person? And it's just really difficult For the average person in the world To get their heads around this idea that We have light and shadow in us. We have male and female in us We have good and bad in us You know, we're we're willing to risk our lives to save a kitten And yet Maybe we're selfish When it comes to giving a dollar to Somebody on the street who obviously is hungry So We have to work that out and it's not in either or Or our rainbows between that black and white and I'm telling you this is Not commonly discussed but real important. Oh my I love that What an illusion rainbows between the black and white. I just want to reflect on When I when I first met you I was an actress for many many years into my adulthood and as a child I was an actress and a singer and in my classes. There are still pieces Both from improv that influenced my life today and how I coach actually how I lead groups As well as how I view life and what you're talking about this duality No good. No bad. No right. No wrong is one of the tenets that we learned I recall very strongly because it made such an impression And what I was taught by some of the greatest acting teachers was When you are playing a character who is angry do not play them angry It is way more interesting and probably way more accurate that they may speak very softly Or seductively, you know, you think about anthony hopkins and silence of the lambs He didn't play a blood killing psychopath He played someone brilliant and articulate and seductive and connecting and intriguing and very A little bit weird, but you know very soft in the way he spoke And to Clarice Yeah, I have such a visceral experience of that because it was such an amazing reference point example You know insane thing Any time you think of something acting teachers would always say play the opposite That's where it's probably most accurate for the being and as well as for the audience to receive them So this duality is something that I also started to see in life that there is good in the bad There's bad in the best of us. There's good in the worst of us. You know, it's an amalgam We're all a soup to varying degrees Of who we are and who we be and I I had this revelation Many many years ago because I I used to get so frustrated with friendships and They would cause some kind of separation Not like we wouldn't be friends but that I would start to separate because of things I would see in them And I got to a place in my own Best internal guidance where I would think You know, that is true about them. They actually have those very interesting behaviors I don't love them and they're probably not helping their life very much either but you know, they show up when I need them And they're the first person with a kind word and they have invited me places that have actually changed my life And I would make a gratitude list Of all the many ways they showed up because I understood when I focused on all the contribution they brought to my life Ah, you were talking about balance earlier like the balance completely changed Now those, you know, niggly little things I have been paying attention to were not as important They really paled in comparison with the bigger picture Of who this being was in my life And so, um, I started to do that with a lot of my relationships because I became really clear That judgment was a way that I kept myself Apart from and I didn't want that. I wanted more inclusivity. I wanted more even more connection And to create safer space for myself and others So even seeing duality in people Understanding what was I choosing to focus on within that duality? And I want to just do a caveat here clearly If there's, you know, somebody who's really at a balance and negative and you know toxic I am not talking about that but clearly, you know, that's not somebody I need in my life or choose in my life But I'm talking about really good people where there's a great relationship of love But they have certain behaviors and guess what as they say one finger pointing at you three three pointing back at me You know, I too, but for the grace of god, I've got also things. I'm sure people now and then go That deb, you know, I wish she xyz All right fair play, you know, if you love me anyway unconditionally we could have a great thing, you know, I'm working on it I'm working as fast as I can Yeah, that's why we have to be quick to forgive Confucius Is quoted as having said that anytime we're irritated by another person Turn within and examine yourself You see, uh, that's the problem with blame Or any projection is you give your power away when you need others to change If instead we change We grow we rise above We replace our anger and frustration with compassion For our awareness that they are unaware you wanted me to explain that For our understanding our awareness that they suffer too When people are mean and hostile and aggressive It may not occur to you that they're frightened And they're suffering but If you can remind yourself of that You can have compassion for their suffering and then as you say We don't need to expose ourselves to abusive or hostile people We don't have to go out and seek out the people whose character has been corrupted And you know, I'm going to fix you But our plate is full in our daily life and affairs just Just with the people that we love and do surround ourselves with And I can't tell you how many clients I've had over the years Who looked at me With such a strange expression on their face When I would begin to teach them make this about you And they always presumed I meant blame yourself And there's a big difference between Blaming yourself or blaming another person and taking responsibility To be responsible to take ownership Of how you feel and how you respond And what you learn from A situation and what other people Have to teach you if you see everyone is your teacher Good bad or otherwise There's There's wisdom in that there's peace and contentment in that There's love and harmony in that There's even justice in that that's why all these admonitions about not judging other people It's not that it's a morally bankrupt thing to do. It's just irrelevant They're not you You have fingerprint evidence and DNA proof that you're one of a kind At least that end of the bar magnet remember we agreed On one end of the bar magnet were one Or you know, if you think of the pendulum, that's even better The top end of the pendulum is unmoving and fixed But the bottom of the pendulum swings wildly So the top end is unity. That's we're all one That's the top of the pendulum the bottom of the pendulum Is male female And we're all diverse And we all swing this way one moment and that way another And besides back and forth we go around and around But above us Is unity And everything below that Is diversity And the path from diversity to unity is called harmony It's a nice trinity Unity harmony diversity And so our goal is to go home to go from diverse Redeeming our fear and ignorance with love and understanding To find harmony And eventually unity We're going to be taking a very quick break here and we come back. We'll be speaking Briefly before the show ends a little bit more with michael benner You can find him at michaelbenner.com and again the name of his new book is fearless intelligence And for folks out there who are bored out of their gourds right now Stand for your greatness. Have something to show for yourself in six months write and publish a book You can channel your creativity. Let me help you do this. You can join the visible visionaries book writing membership platform Well, I'm going to show you how to write a page turner book I've been offering free webinars leading up to this has been really amazing actually all the people It lets me know how many people are ripe and ready for this Seeing how many people have been signing up for the webinars and really excited to do the work So what you choose right now is what you're going to have to show for yourself in six months It's really time to harness the power inside of you. I know you have a message I know that you have a story to tell So I will show you how to write and publish your book And here's something That is very interesting to know there are more people Right now Buying and reading books than ever before Shouldn't they be reading yours? So join me and learn the entire system be coached take your book from idea to publish Go to debbie dashinger.com slash visible visionaries That's d e b b i d is and david a c h i n g e r dot com slash visible visionaries So michael In the last few minutes we have here, I think you know what the first question I want to say is this is dear to dream What are you next year to dream? What are your future dreams and goals? Mine personally Yes yours Well As I said, I'm essentially retired And so I don't do Much in the way of commerce I do continue to council private individuals by telephone or Skype resume or whatsapp or Whatever platform they want to use So I do offer that service But most of what I do is free In fact the initial counseling session I give away free Um This just gives me great pleasure to do that and we can get a lot accomplished in a single single session Um, I want to write a second book My working title is spirituality beyond faith And it is a look at Basically, what does it mean when people say they're spiritual but not religious? Mm-hmm What is that all about? I heard someone say something very funny the other day and they said I'm very spiritual and I'm atheist That's a great way to describe it It's true. You can be I even the pope Said a few months ago that atheists can go to heaven And agnostics certainly as well Um But heaven is not a place And this is a problem with all organized religion. I'm not going to single out any one. I don't need to Every religion has like politics an ultra orthodox very conservative A branch that takes things Real literally And then a more mystical liberal wing That encourages individuals to have their own experience through meditation contemplation and prayer with the spiritual morality ethics goodness truth beauty humor generosity kindness all these qualities of love that That don't come from small self-interest Meaning the separative self But a higher self-interest the higher self Which is not separate but wants harmony and unity and wants everybody to get along. We don't need to agree We can see the fact that we don't agree as enriching As long as we practice loving kindness and respect And are interested in empirical truth and facts And so this is what I want to continue to promote. It's what I will in my podcast and all of my counseling any trainings that I do continue to promote I'm thrilled to see you get your book out there and I'm thrilled to hear you say you're going to write another one. Yeah Yeah, because um, it's in me and it wants to come out and again Uh, I don't have access to radio um Nobody's going to do this on a major metropolitan big market radio station in fact Most of those stations have passed away. They don't You know When I was on k abc it was number one in the city It had a 10 share which is unheard of And now they don't even show up in the ratings college stations do better than the mighty k a b c Los angeles. I mean my god It was just like a dream to be at that station in k l o s on the other side of the hall Also a b c los angeles owned and operated It was such a big deal and now they're nothing They're just they've been sold three or four times They're bundled with other stations They're not even interested in ratings. They're interested in What can I sell this station for? Absolutely. I was shocked over the years at the extraordinary talent They had let go of the people I'd listened to for years. They were like solid reference points Just to get cheap young new talent. Yeah Well, they have to pay them and so if you can get people that are willing to work for nothing um, that's what they'll do it's It's a marvel that I struggled with my entire career. I saw it Starting in the early 1970s The corporatization the inevitability of profit degrading art in a rotting art. Imagine if art museums had to make a profit You know Uh, fortunately we have the internet. We have podcasts. We have internet radio We have syndication We have blogs and youtube and So many other outlets that mean That any of us who are willing to do the work and there is a lot of work involved in doing Just a podcast, right? You know what I'm talking about. It's a big deal Um People who don't do it have no idea how much work Is involved and you have to be a master of graphics And you have to understand how to write an xml file and how to post rss feeds and there's a lot to it um so I have great respect for people that are doing these podcasts and it's like we're all in pirate radio, you know That's a whole it's a wow wow west out there And it's wonderful. Thank you wonderful. Thank you so much. Um, I've loved this conversation I'm so excited to introduce you to people in my tribe who may not yet know you but now will know you And start that introduction and I just so appreciate you coming on dare to dream today and sharing your brilliance You're very kind to say that and I want to make sure to let your listeners know That before I published my book fearless intelligence. I called you And I wanted to make sure I had all my ducks in a row And I had a publisher I published your book, baby. They did a great job for me but Again, like we were just saying there's so much to publishing a book That to have someone like you that I could call somebody that I could Reach out to and say if I've forgotten everything that I do this, right How do I find this out? Where do I go to what about promotion once it's published? How do I promote this book? Do I just sit here and wait for people to stumble onto my website debbie help? What do I do? And so thank you for all of your assistance in that My pleasure my pleasure. It's an honor and thanks so much. I can't wait for book number two from you And I'll let you know Yeah, and folks check them out michael benner.com and he also shared with you his free resource for meditation and his new book Fearless intelligence. It's on amazon And I end today's show with this quote from joseph cambell The cave that you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned So as to have the life that is waiting for us I am so excited next week to have george bryant come on the show This number one weekly transformation conversation. He is the chief heart Marketing officer ensuring businesses understand relationships will always be algorithms So folks just you understand the level i'm talking about this individual because he is mind blowing This is the coach to people like jim quick like tony robbins like yeah And I had the grace not knowing he was in the audience recently when I was on stage Coming down two days later during a five-day event and being alone with this guy in a lobby and he had So many amazing things to say to me And then he blew my socks after he complimented the hell out of me and said all the beautiful things he saw He then blew my socks off and really pulled back the curtain. He has a gift I haven't seen in anybody in a business sense of what he can perceive In people and we're going to use that next week to blow your socks off too Remember if you love this podcast and you're curious to see me and the guest Subscribe to the youtube videos youtube.com slash debbie dashinger. Thanks for everything you write there too And for joining us and remember that the secret of success always is that you have the courage to begin in the first place Thanks for joining us today on dear to dream