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Profit With Purpose by Anna Goldstein

Anna Goldstein is an NYU certified coach, entrepreneur, Huffington Post contributor, former nationally ranked tennis player and author. The Profit With Purpose show is an informative and uplifting podcast where Anna dives into lives of entrepreneurs, healers, and change-makers who are making money through living their purpose. The goal is to provide practical tips to inspire you to be profitable living your life’s purpose. As a student of psychology, new age thinking, meditation, mindfulness techniques and yoga, Anna weaves these spiritual principles into her show. Guests on the podcast have been Mastin Kipp, Kate Northrup, Jairek Robbins, and more. Find out more at: annagoldstein.com
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Now displaying: August, 2019
Aug 29, 2019

Jezzibell Gilmore is SVP Business Development and Co-Founder for packet fabric. Jezzible’s career path hasn’t been a straight line — starting in her 20’s she had many different jobs and then she put the pieces together and realized that technology start-ups is where her skills, passion, and purpose come together. PacketFabric is building a next-generation networking platform to redefine network connectivity. PacketFabric is the ideal combination of carrier network and software as a service, offering a wide range of connectivity solutions between colocation, cloud, and to business partners. On Tuesday, August 27th, PacketFabric Secured a $75m Joint Venture Funding with Digital Alpha Advisors Supporting Connectivity Advances for Next-Generation Networking Platforms. 

In this episode we talk about:

* How your career path doesn’t have to be a straight line

* How everything you do contributes to the end goal and no time is ever wasted

* Bouncing back from failure

* Throwing yourself into the fire as an entrepreneur and more

Aug 22, 2019

Ani Manian is widely known as "The Entrepreneur Whisperer" and he helps entrepreneurs & high impact leaders like you exponentially accelerate your business & personal growth and finally experience 7 & 8 figure freedom, wild success, real impact, true alignment with your purpose, and live an exceptional & meaningful life with a profound sense of calm, clarity & joy.

On paper, he had it all. He was making hundreds of thousands of dollars, driving strategy for billion-dollar companies working with the most influential people on the planet. He had a fancy title, he was speaking at conferences, he had traveled to over 60 countries before he turned 30 years old.

His family was impressed, and his friends were envious.

Everything seemed perfect about his job and his life — except for one important thing: he was miserable.

He felt disconnected and alone. he felt empty, unfulfilled, and he knew I was capable of making 100x the impact but he felt trapped in the same comfort zone he had worked hard to create.

ALL THAT CHANGED WITH A SINGLE PHONE CALL

After two years of battling liver cirrhosis, and waiting for a liver transplant, his father passed away suddenly.

Ani always believed he would pull through and never entertained the idea of actually losing him.

What followed was the darkest period of his life, but one that completely changed the course of his life.

His father taught Ani many things, but in his passing, he taught him how short life is.

How the most precious thing in the world is time, and no amount of money or success can bring that back.

THAT WAS THE MOMENT HE DECIDED TO DEDICATE MY LIFE TO HELPING PEOPLE REALIZE THAT THEIR PRISON WAS OF THEIR OWN MAKING.

He has combined the best of what he has learned over countless hours of trial and error, blood, sweat, pain, heartache and hope into a unique method which he now shares with you.

It has helped people around the world harness the vast power of the mind, permanently overcome their limiting thoughts and self-sabotage, and connect directly to the infinite source of creativity, vitality, energy, and intelligence that each and every one of us has inside.

In this episode, we talk about the power to realize your limitless potential but it requires a certain combination of mindset, behaviors, and practices - such as meditation, visualization — letting go of the past & familiarizing yourself with who you want to become.

The subconscious mind is a tricky one because it is subconscious. A lot of the time we don’t know what our subconscious mind is guiding us towards. How do we unlock it?

Every single thing in our life, our business, our work, our relationships, and our health is a direct reflection of our subconscious identity. There is a quote: As above so below, as within so without. The inside world we live in creates our external reality. If our relationships are full of love, support, and understanding that is because in our unconscious minds that is who we are.

So subconscious identity. A lot of decisions we make are made very early on. Is that what you find? 

Between the ages of 0 and 7, our brains are in a theta brainwave state where we are absorbing everything that is happening around us in a state of hypnosis. Hypnosis is just a brainwave state where we are able to bypass our conscious mind and our unconscious is recording information. When we watch TV we are actually in hypnosis. That’s why advertising is so enticing, they are using tricks to program us at the unconscious level. We can actually do the same and reprogram ourselves to get the things we want.

What are some tricks that can actually help us reprogram the identities that are no longer serving us and how can we actually program what we want?

Step 1. The first thing is getting clear about what we actually want. Most people have a vague idea about what they want but aren’t actually specific about it. We must work from our vision and not to our vision. When we work to our vision, we’re working from our current identity and circumstances. Working from that place causes us to repeat our current vision.

Step 2. The subconscious mind speaks in an emotional language. This is why TV ads are so visual and full of imagery. The logical mind is only 5% of our mind. The unconscious mind speaks with emotions and imagery. Once we get clear on the vision we must really understand how it would make us feel. What we would be seeing and what we would be hearing. Engage all of our senses.

Step 3. We have to reinforce and condition that feeling from step 2. We have to really sink into that place where you have all the things that you want so you can manifest the behavior that will get you what you want.

I grew up playing tennis. I had been playing competitive tennis for 9 years and was playing in the Maryland State Tennis championship. I knew I could win the tournament and saw a sports psychologist. For weeks in advance, I prepared and I visualized winning the tournament over and over again. I won the first couple of matches and made it into the finals. Went down the first 3 games and then won 6-3, 6-2. It was the first tournament I had ever won and it was so clear to me the role that the mind plays. The mind doesn’t know the difference between what is real and what is not. How can we use visualization on a practical, day to day basis?

It is about rehearsing our ideal situation. Say you are about to speak on stage and you are really scared, afraid of what people are going to think and are worried you will stutter or stumble over words. A great practical way is to visualize walking up the stairs and getting on stage. Visualize looking at the audience and the audience looking back at you in the way you want them to. Smiling and waiting for you to speak. You have to really go through the details. Rehearse the entire arc and then repeat it. We should always think about things the way we want them to play out rather than the way we fear they will play out. The energy will bring to a situation will really inform what will happen. Our primal brain wants to keep us safe. But in today's society, the only threats we have is to our identity and self-esteem. That is the fear that keeps us staying small. 

How did you get into this type of work?

Ani spent 15 years as a corporate executive in the technology startup world. Entrepreneurship was something he always wanted to try. When his father passed away, he had a wake-up call. He realized he was becoming a lot like him and he didn’t want that. He started studying neuroscience, psychology, meditation, and spirituality. He wanted to really understand himself. He realized that the more he understood himself, the more he understood other people. The more he loved himself, the more he could help other people love themselves. Initially, he started answering ‘calls for help’ on forums online. People who had hit rock bottom were feeling suicidal, had lost jobs or marriages. He would talk to them and help them turn their life around.

Did you have training for that? 

He spent years studying psychology and ways to make changes in the brain. At the time he was working on a nutrition/ mental health company. The people who he helped started telling him that this is what he should be doing. He decided that he would find nothing more fulfilling than to help people uncover their blocks and help them create success.

What do you do as your spiritual practice? And the subconscious practice that has enabled you to finally start your own business?

Ani starts every morning with what he calls ‘The Power Hour’. It starts with 20mins of meditation, 20 minutes of gratitude work and 20 minutes of visualization. When he meditates he clears the vessel and comes to a place of stillness. Gratitude is one of the most powerful things to develop a sense of well being. Visualization allows him to put out the right energy and to really see how he wants his life to be.

What do you say to somebody who has visualized something but still doesn’t have what they want?

Visualization is only one part. The other part is taking a lot of action. We need to uncover the unconscious blocks which stop us from getting the things we want. When who you are matched what you want then the results appear like magic. For the people who are struggling there’s probably a part of their subconscious which is telling them they can’t have it. Most people think that seeing is believing but in fact, you have to believe first then you can see it. 

I think it is a universal belief that we all feel not good enough on some level and if we are not good enough we won’t be loved. It’s part of the human condition. When we feel wounded, when we feel our wounded inner child, what kind of work can we do to get into that aligned action?

A really powerful technique is connecting to our inner child. Lie on your bed, close your eyes and think back to the time when you experienced the wounding and talk to that person, that version of you. Tell them all the things they need to hear. Give them the love and reassurance that they need. Often just visualizing this is a powerful cathartic release. Another way you can achieve this is by writing a letter. Forgiveness is a powerful tool.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

Don’t compare your insides with someone else’s outsides.

You are just one thought away from the life that you want.

Tell us how we can get in touch with you

Quantum Leap Course: quantumleapcourse.com

Ani Manian: https://animanian.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ani.manian/

 

Aug 15, 2019

Shana Yadid is the Founder, CEO & Lead Trainer at Yadid’it! Dog Training. The most pivotal moment in Shana’s life began shortly after her 21st birthday when she started reading Temple Grandin’s "Animals in Translation, Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior." It was then that her understanding of her relationship with animals began to unfold. 

One of the things that fascinates me about dog training is the use of practical psychology. So if you don’t have a dog, this episode isn’t just about dogs, it’s about behavior training. In many ways, we can be very similar to dogs in the sense where we make associations — especially when a situation was painful and we can reassociate.

In this episode, we talk about neural associations, classical conditioning, redirecting attention and more. 

Shana Yadid is the Founder, CEO & Lead Trainer at Yadid’it! Dog Training. The most pivotal moment in Shana’s life began shortly after her 21st birthday when she started reading Temple Grandin’s "Animals in Translation, Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior." It was then that her understanding of her relationship with animals began to unfold. 

One of the things that fascinates me about dog training is the use of practical psychology. So if you don’t have a dog, this episode isn’t just about dogs, it’s about behavior training. In many ways, we can be very similar to dogs in the sense where we make associations — especially when a situation was painful and we can reassociate.

In this episode, we talk about neural associations, classical conditioning, redirecting attention and more. 

So you grew up in New York? And you didn’t have a dog growing up?

Shana grew up in New York. She didn’t have her own dog, but she had everybody else’s dog. There were over 700 apartments in the building she lived in.

You now have how many dogs?

She has six dogs. They are all rescues.

Did you know that you wanted to be a dog trainer because of your love of dogs?

She came to dog training in her early twenties after being a pet sitter. She read a book by Temple Grandin about using the mysteries of autism to translate animal behavior. Even though Shana isn’t on the spectrum, it taught her a lot about how she thought and how she learned.

There is so much psychology in dog training.

Shana thinks of herself as a novice behavioral scientist. She doesn’t have a degree in it but has read widely on the subject of both humans and dogs. She finds the brain fascinating.

I have a dog, and I love dogs. I have a 4lbs teacup Yorkie. Her name is Brook Lyn. Let’s get into psychology. I find it fascinating how behavior can be facilitated. I know you also have experience with traumatized dogs. How can you tell that a dog has been traumatized?

It’s not just about if a dog has suffered trauma or not. Some dogs just have anxious genetics. When you have a rescue dog that came from a shelter, certain assumptions can be made when you have no information, and you see certain behavior. If a dog runs across the room and hides under a table because you touched a broom that is likely to be a PTSD response. You shouldn’t feel bad about touching the broom. We have to train the dog to reassociate the broom by changing their neural pathways and how they view the broom.

Neural Association. Can you explain what that is and how it works?

With a dog that is afraid of a broomstick, Shana would first lay the bro0m on the floor and take the dog over to it, as close as it will come without panic. Then she will get excited, tell them they did a "good job" and give them a treat. For Shana, when she sees all of the current legislation that is questioning women’s bodily autonomy, that is a trigger for her. That puts her into a headspace, which makes it hard to remember she is worth anything. Then she puts on a song like Brave by Sarah Brellis or another motivational girl power song. She sings it to her inner child. That reawakens her spark. Although it might feel like she doesn’t want to push forward, that’s her brain taking all these traumas and telling her something which is not the truth. If she can figure out what the trigger is she can reassociate it. With the dog, she is trying to teach them that broomstick means treat rather than broomstick means beat.

You literally associate a new meaning with the trigger. From a coaching perspective, we go back to an event and identify the meanings which were created during that time. Then we create a new meaning which is essentially a new association.

Let’s get into some practical dog stuff. Stating simply, how would you get a dog to sit?

You move your hand in a certain direction so that the dog ends up in the position you want. For a sit, she would bring her hand over the dog’s head until their butt hit the ground. Sometimes you have to change certain things to set them up for their best success, so you can give them the reward. Once they have earned the reward they are much more likely to repeat the behavior. You start with food law. Then that turns into a hand signal which gets overlaid with a verbal command. That’s how a dog learns verbal clues. Shana thinks that non-verbal commands are often more effective and more helpful. One of the first things she teaches is a focus command – Watch me - and requires eye contact.

How do you get a dog to stop barking at the door?

There are a few different ways. With terriers, they are often just alerting. Shana has taught one of her dogs ‘thank you, that’s enough’.

How did you train that?

They start barking. You acknowledge what it is they're barking at. Say they are barking at the window. You go over to the window and lookout. You’re giving them the impression that you recognize what they are alerting you to. Then you give them a thank you and something else to do. Shana will give her dog a treat and then put him on the couch or take him with her to another room.

So classical conditioning.

Classical conditioning is the use of positive and negative reinforcement and positive and negative punishment. All 4 facets come into play when you are training a dog. In positive based training, you give them a treat whenever they get it right. Every other time they still get the treat and you rest after.

What do you mean by positive punishment?

Negative punishment is the removal of something such as a treat and positive punishment is giving something such as a leash correction. Positive reinforcement is you get the treat. Negative reinforcement is you get a correction. For Shana balanced training is about explaining to a dog why they are wrong with a verbal or physical cue. They try again and if they get it right they get a treat. It’s clear balanced communication of both yes and no.

Do you think dogs can read energy?

Absolutely. Her dog Amber went with her to her level 1 Reiki attunement and now does reiki on people all the time. Shana catches her doing it and thinks it’s adorably hilarious.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

You don’t have to be the richest, smartest or prettiest person in the room. But if you want to succeed in business the one thing you should always be is the most adaptable person in the room. That is the key to success.

Tell us how we can get in touch with you?

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shanayadid

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shananigan.yadid

Sustainable Dog Rescue: https://www.sustainablerescue.org/

Yadid’t Dog Training: https://www.yadiditdog.training 

 

Aug 8, 2019

Ross Everett is an award-winning actor, comedian, Internet personality, and writer. His YouTube videos have been viewed over 45 million times, landing him on the front page of HuffPost, Buzzfeed, and Reddit. His comedy has been featured on NBC, Hulu, Fox, and Sirius XM. He can be seen touring with his critically acclaimed comedy show Stop Stopping The Unstoppable a personal development seminar parody, where he plays a motivational speaker, Dale Thorhammer.

How did you get into comedy?

There wasn't a time when Ross wasn't into comedy. He loved things that made him laugh from a very young age. If people are funny, then everything else was forgivable.

Were your parents funny?

Not intentionally. Ross' Dad has good comedy thoughts but poor delivery. His mum is adorable in her own way. When she runs, she looks like a duck running away from a car. They aren't people who can engage a crowd in a comedic way.

Delivery is key.

Delivery is all of it. The most important thing in comedy is timing. But this can also apply to life. How are you delivering anything you want to be delivered? It is a real shame to say something that is meant to be heard in a way it can not be.

Personal development plus comedy. That's awesome.

Ross wants to create joy and help other people find their joy and go after it. A lot of comedians come from this negative place and then find this desire to make people laugh. A sense of humor is often a defense mechanism. Ross didn't want to be a comedian who was depressed. He loves personal development and wanted to find a way to combine the two. As a comedian, you get to deliver joy and happiness. As a kid, he wanted to be famous so that he could have friends all over the world. He admits that a lot of this comes from feeling uncool and unpopular at school. He wanted people to like him. Sometimes we become good at something because of a trauma or as a defense mechanism. We can heal the underlying wound and still maintain the benefits that that wound gave us.

How did you get started? Comedy is not an easy path.

As a kid, Ross loved watching scrubs and Family Guy. He and his friends would reference those TV shows and make jokes that could've been in the TV shows. It was their joy. He started writing his own scripts and ideas for TV shows. In college, he began making things with a video camera. They started putting their videos on YouTube and gained a following. After graduation Ross worked at the Colbert Report as an intern. He got a joke on the show and it was a lightbulb moment to know that his joke was going out to the country.

Ross learned a lot from Colbert about how to approach comedy. He considers Colbert and Conan to be big inspirations to him. Colbert told him one of his humor philosophies. You never make the victim of a situation the punchline of a joke. People will laugh, but it will sound like they have blood in their mouths. He made a joke about Lindsey Lohan and felt bad about it because she's just a human being going through her own thing. He won't punch down on people.

There's a lot of risks that you take in comedy. Not only in content but in how it's received.

You can't control how something is received. Ross makes sure that he feels good about what he's putting out there. He has his own guidelines for his comedy.

What are they?

Never punch down.

The guidelines shifts as society shifts in the way it perceives people. Ross gives himself permission to elevate his standards with the times while forgiving himself for the stuff in the past before he knew better.

Tell us about your failures.

He took his show to Adelaide, Australia for the Fringe Festival. When he was flyering, he would pitch the show by saying, "Do you want to come see a feel-good comedy show?"

This woman walked by, heard him say this, and went to see the show. She sat in the front row. The show is a parody of a self-development seminar, and he plays a guru. It's a very interactive show with a lot of audience participation. There's a moment where he takes the audience through a funny guided mediation. He tells them to go back to their childhood when everything was okay and feel that now. He noticed that the woman had moved into the fetal position. He though great I can help her. He had a part of the show where he bought someone up on stage and made them dance. So he got her up and she meekly came on stage. He noticed this look of fear in her eyes.

She said, "Please don't make me do this."

He quickly reversed and put her back in her seat and told her to stay after the show because he wanted to make sure she was okay.

The show ends with people saying, "I love myself!" He noticed the woman was not feeling it. At the end of the show, she bolts out of the theatre. He runs after her. She shouts that "she's fine'." He can't get to her and thinks that his show just ruined someone's life. He feels he pushed on someone he shouldn't have pushed on. He goes back to the artist area, devastated. He thinks that he can't do this anymore and that the show is dangerous. He believed that a lot of people call themselves life coaches after reading a book or going to a seminar. If you unearth someone's deep traumatic stuff and can't bring them back up again, you've done damage. Ross's number 1 rule is don't do damage. Even though the show was about doing it in a silly way, he still did damage.

He checks his email, and there was an email from the crying woman apologizing for running out after the show. After crying in the bathroom for 15 minutes, she was fine. She thought the show was brilliant and thanked him for doing it. He met up with her to talk about what happened. She said she was in a down mood anyway and her childhood wasn't great. He asked her what he could say instead, and she said - 'go back to a time when everything was great.' Everybody has a time when everything was great. So he changed that part of the show. He made a new rule that if somebody is resisting him, instead of trying to get them out of their funk, he will play towards the people who are already loving it.

You do some coaching in the show.

There is some real personal development in the show. But the comedy comes first. He takes real personal development concepts and wraps them in idiocy and comedy. He wants to make it fun and palatable. But he realized that he has to be careful with his words. Although that failure was a nightmare, he learned from it, and it made the show better.

Do you go to self-development seminars?

All the time. He used to be resistant to personal development seminars. He would wonder what they were trying to sell him. He wouldn't trust them. That's why he wanted to create this show. Because he doesn't ask his audience to trust him, he asks them to play with him.

Comedy is funny because there is truth in it. Do you think people are more likely to go to a personal development seminar after seeing your show?

Ross hopes that his show arms them to go to a seminar and not have to take it too seriously. He wants people to be able to go to these seminars and have fun with them.

What's your favorite seminar?

Ross loved Tony Robbins, Date With Destiny. That was fun and impactful. Watching Tony Robbins do his stuff is amazing. He is a master and a showman.

I'm a huge Tony Robbins fan, but there's all this stuff in the media right now. I'm curious about your authentic take on him. Do you think he's the real deal?

Ross thinks Tony Robbins show's up as Tony Robbins when that is who he needs to be. And that he's human like the rest of us. Ross thinks Tony Robbins does good work and he provides a tremendous amount of value to people.

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

Never leave the site of a decision without taking massive action that forces you to commit.

How can we learn about you?

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therosseverett/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dalethorhammer/

Show: https://www.stopstoppingtheunstoppable.com/

Aug 1, 2019

JV Bharathan reached darkness and found his way out again. He credits this to his autistic son and his undying optimism. JV is a coach, an author, and an entrepreneur. He wants people to find hope within their suffering. Hear him talk about his story, the power of helping others and what he has learned from his son.

I know that you had a moment in time where you had a couple of events all happening at once. What were those events?

JV grew up in India, moved to the US when he was 21 and found a good corporate job. Following the Indian tradition, JV’s parent arranged for him to marry a woman from Sri Lanka when he was 25. He didn’t like her but married her in order to please his Dad. The marriage didn’t work out so they divorced. There was a custody battle over their son.

How old was your son when you divorced?

He was 4 or 5 years old and it was about 6 years after the marriage.

What happened with the custody battle?

JV felt like he was treated as a 2nd class citizen by the courts and police and automatically seen as guilty. It was a challenge to prove that he was a good dad. They now share custody of their son.

How did you get through it?

JV lost everything. He was homeless, jobless and bankrupt. He only had two things left. His son and his undying optimism.

Where were you living?

He sometimes stayed with friends and sometimes slept on the street. This period didn’t last too long as he found his light pretty quickly.

What was it like sleeping on the street?

It was not easy but JV recognizes that went you go through situations like this, you become stronger. Now he can sleep anywhere.

JV found deep meaning through his son who has autism. He mostly communicates non-verbally. At 13 years old he can speak a few words but is unable to form sentences. JV realized that his life was bigger than him and that he needed to take care of his son. He needed to be a voice for his son. That is when everything changed for him.

You say everything changed, what do you mean?

He had been feeling like a victim and blaming his wife for his circumstances. But that didn’t give him any power. He knew he had to take radical responsibility. So even if something is not your fault, you take responsibility for it. That gives you the power and allows you to take actions you didn’t think were possible.

Were you reading a lot?

He was reading frequently and went on a journey to the Himalayas to stay with monks. They taught him that your life is not about you. It is all about the people in your life. Your family, friends and local community. That’s when he started to take himself less seriously and focus on what others need.

I studied Buddhist psychology. There are two parts to the root of our suffering self-grasping and self-cherishing. Cherishing yourself as the most important person on earth is one of the roots of our sufferings. It sounds like you had that insight. When we ere suffering who are we thinking about? We are thinking about ourselves. That causes a lot of suffering. That shift to thinking about others is huge and with it brings happiness. So you went and hung out with the monks. What else did you learn?

They taught JV about money. Money is a form of energy. Many people tell themselves stories about money – I can’t afford it, I don’t deserve it. JV thinks this is silly. Money is just energy exchanged for services. If you focus on how much value you give to people, the money will come. Money is a tool and doesn’t bring happiness.

So you went to the Himalayas and you meditated?

He meditated and did a lot of yoga. He lived a very simple humble life.

When you came back, how did you integrate?

He did a lot of coaching and leadership classes. He started to focus on other people starting with his son. He wanted to look beyond his sons ‘problems’ and look at how he could add value to his son’s life. He started a non-profit for autistic children.

You created a non-profit. What else?

JV wrote a book despite not learning English until he was in college. When he was in his period of darkness he started writing as a way of venting his frustration. One day a friend of his accidentally found his journal and started reading it. He told JV that he should turn it into a book. Now he is writing a second one.

What is your book about?

Undying Optimism is about JV’s journey into his darkness and how he got out of it. He wants his book to give people hope. We are all suffering in our own ways. He wants people who read his book to ask themselves questions about their own lives and find meaning in it. The book gives people hope in a world which doesn't always seem to have a lot of hope in it.

You do coaching?

JV does coaching for people going through transition and change. He went through a lot of transformation and change and wants to bring that experience to help other people.

Do you want to get married again?

It’s hard to find the right partner especially when you’re entrepreneurial. His son is a massive part of his life. He is open to the possibility of someone but isn’t focused on it.

Do you still talk to your son’s mom?

He used to call her his ex-wife and then realized he needed to give her respect. He now calls her his former wife. They don’t talk a lot and when they do it is focused on their son. But he has forgiven her.

How did you arrive at forgiveness?

It was not easy to forgive her. She put him in jail. Forgiving is one of the most selfish things you can do. When you forgive you allow a space for new things in your life.

How long did it take you? Forgiveness is a process.

It took him 3 years.

I have a question for you about sadness. I’ve had my bouts of depression. The happier I’ve become, the more I focus on others, the more I serve the more sadness I see. But when I’m sad, I don’t notice the sadness. I was curious about your viewpoint.

If you don’t experience sadness you are not going to experience happiness. If you don’t experience darkness you are not going to experience light. If you don’t experience sunset you won’t experience the sunrise. But when you realize you are sad, you need to see how you can shift that. Be with it. Ask yourself why you are sad. Try to change the situation if you can. Help someone else. Be grateful for the things in your life.

What is a question you can ask?

What can I do? Why am I suffering? What is causing me suffering today?

What is a question you ask yourself which keeps you focused?

What can I do today that’s going to make someone else’s life better?

What is next for you?

JV does have a plan but does not put timelines on things anymore. He likes to follow his intuition. He is writing his second book and has just joined a venture firm in Boston that will focus on organizations that want to solve humanitarian issues.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

Be in the moment.

So you meditate?

Every day for at least 15 minutes. He does it as soon as he wakes up and has been doing that for the past 5 years. He finds meditation keeps him calm, makes him grounded and allows him to focus on the things he wants to focus on.

How do you feel that having a child with autism has shaped your view of the world?

His son is JV’s biggest teacher. He has taught him patience, to focus on the process and empathy.

How can we get in touch with you?

Website: www.undyingoptimism.com

 

 

 

 

 

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