Unlock Limitless Wisdom and Creativity

[00:00:00] So we really must ask ourselves very honest. As best we can.

What do I really want in this life? Do I really want to be happy? Do I really want to be healthy? Do I really want to be secure in every situation, regardless of the circumstances? And if the answer is yes, and I’m honest with myself, then it begs the question. How am I going to get to point B from point a?

Welcome to onward. Live a live stream, focused on encouraging you to create a life you love living. Now let’s go beyond success to significance in clear on our, why is crucial. It requires doing the inner work, finding ourselves, getting to know ourselves, embracing our inner child.

Shedding [00:01:00] social conditioning and letting go of perfect. We know obstacles make us stronger. We can dream big and take action. Believe you can. And you’re halfway there. I invite you to tune in every week and engage with me and my inspiring guests. Invite your friends. Let’s make time for what matters most in our lives.

Let’s move onward together.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the, of onward live. And later it will be published as a podcast. And so right now I don’t see anybody here, but if you’re here I’d love to know that you’re here and please put a comment in the chat. And I hope that some people join us live, but if not, I know that people listen to this show as a podcast because.

So far, like on the fifth day of April, I had, we had more downloads than we had in the whole month of March. So people are starting [00:02:00] to find the show and starting to listen to it. And so that just goes to show that consistency is so important because I started publishing this podcast in, met in may of 2019 at the very end of may.

So coming up at the end of may of 2022, this coming up may, it’s going to be three years. And it’s so interesting that I’m going to have a three-year celebration on, on May 25th. And it’s also going to be the 200th episode. So I’ve been doing this for awhile and consistency is really the key in attracting an audience and you know, just getting a good, good followers and.

It’s good for yourself too, to just show yourself that you can be consistent, that you can keep your word to yourself and you can keep going. So this is the first time that I’ve been using this microphone. I just got a new microphone and a new camera. So I’m excited to try that out too. So tonight my guest is Leonard [00:03:00] Perlmutter, and I’m really excited to talk with him.

We’re going to be talking about unlock your limits. Limitless wisdom and creativity. And this is the kind of stuff that I’ve been looking into for myself and studying for the past three years is what I told Leonard, because I feel like I was kind of asleep most of my life and I’m just pushing and then push energy and working so hard.

And there is actually another way of being that I wasn’t even aware of. And I’m looking forward to learning even more from Leonard. 

Leonard. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you for the invitation. It’s a pleasure. So tell, tell us a little bit about yourself, your history, you know, how you got to where you are with the meditation Institute. I’d love to know more. Well, it, it was nothing that I had planned. If in fact, the life that I’m living was just about opposite to where [00:04:00] the life that I thought I was about to live.

But I think that I had very strong influences as a young child. My maternal grandfather was my first spiritual teacher and I’ve always been very practical and I’ve always I’ve been very philosophically oriented. Those tests seem to be the two pillars and principles that have molded my path.

When I was a child, I joined the Scouts. I was in the Cub Scouts. I was in the boy Scouts and I really enjoyed that because in scouting we learned. Practical tools to get along in life survival. I once asked my Scoutmaster, reminding him not that he needed reminder [00:05:00] that the motto was be prepared for scouting.

And so I asked him, what should we be prepared for? And he looked at me with a strange look in his eye and he said, Leonard, how would I know that’s why we teach these tools because life is not what we had planned for. And we need tools to be able to deal with everything in a creative way. So what was your plan?

Oh, my plan was to become a an attorney and to become. I I an international lawyer. So I went to college. I, I studied international relations and politics. I went to law school and my father died and that was the [00:06:00] beginning and the end of quite a bit. Wow. He was a larger than life, character as so many parents are, and he was gone all of a sudden he was gone and he was young.

He was only 59. And so that was kind of shocking. And I began in earnest my journey inward to find something that I could count on that I could rely on. In my life as some kind of a, a pillar, some kind of support for me to make decisions in the world. And that led to, as I mentioned, a philosophical curiosity, I studied religions, spiritual traditions, and what was so [00:07:00] interesting to me, not that I was really surprised because I had an intuitive feeling about this, but that all the traditions were, were based on the same principles.

If you peel away all of the different humanity away from the actual philosophy of, of religions and spiritual Paths it’s all the same. It’s all. And, and that was very comforting. That was very comforting. And that led me to the perennial philosophy and the science of yoga, which I didn’t even realize there was a science, unlike most Americans.

I think that I just believe that yoga was a form of exercise. Right. But that is true that a yoga does contain exercise. But [00:08:00] that’s because we have a body and that we need to support that body and exercise that body and take care of that body. But it’s really about the mind because as I came to know, all the body is in the mind, the body is a projection of the mind.

And so that’s what I began to practice. And a few months before my meditation, master Swami, Rama of the homologous past, he sent me a note from India and he was a man of very few words, at least with me. And the note only contained three words and the three words were start teaching now. Wow. And the first hint that I knew, what he was talking [00:09:00] about was the word now, because I had taken many of his philosophical courses and he would always remind us that in the ancient yoga sutras by put tangibly, which codified this oral tradition.

Which is over 6,000 years old. The first phrase that is used is now, then, and therefore, and what that indicates now at this auspicious moment, you are prepared in this case from Swami Rama’s instruction. What he was saying, Leonard. Now at this auspicious moment, you are prepared to teach. Did you feel like you were prepared?

You know Leonard has always had a [00:10:00] very shy personality. So the, my first reaction was, no, it was my second reaction. I was very honored. I was very humble. But then I was aware of a tremendous amount. Yeah. I think a lot of us face that. Right. When, what, what do I know? Yeah. I was not raised in this lineage.

I don’t know, Sanskrit I’m an American I’m a scout, right? I was going to be an attorney. Right. So, but I had a practice at that point. I had a practice. And so I knew that the only thing that I could legitimately teach was what I practiced, because it’s the only thing that I really knew for sure.

That was true. Let me ask you a question. I’m curious, you know, so your father died before you finished law school or right after you finished. As I was as I was debating whether to [00:11:00] leave law school, he died. And that finalize the decision for me that I would go back home to upstate New York to start my life.

And I did I went back and I began this spiritual journey. I actually, the first thing that I did when I got there was I, I started a newspaper and it was a community newspaper. This was in the seventies and there was a resurgence of, of people coming back into the center cities that had lost a lot of their population during the sixties and the early seventies as suburbia grew and grew.

And people would leave the central cities, but there were, there was a young, adventurous group of people that came back in and they would renovate old [00:12:00] brownstones in the core city. And it was thrilling and the newspaper which was called the spirit was a way of allowing people to see themselves as a community so that they can work together to grow together and to live together.

Oh, awesome. And then you started taking a look at spirituality and yourself and your life. It’s interesting because it was in December of 20. 19 when my children’s father died and he was 64, he was too young too. And I’ve just kinda been watching how that’s impacted my children and how it’s, you know led them to make some decisions that maybe they wouldn’t have made.

Had he still been alive. Cause it really is a time when you look at your, you take a look at your life and when you, and also when you see somebody pass away, it’s [00:13:00] life changing. Yeah. Yeah. And it was at that time that this was 1971 a singer by the name of George Harrison, who had been a member of the Beatles.

I came out with his first spiritual album. And entitled all things must pass. And I felt that he was singing to me so comforting and so instructive that this is okay. This is okay. You’re okay. You’re going to be okay. All you have to do is to base your outer actions on your own intuitive, inner wisdom, and things will work out just fine.

Yeah. That’s intuitive. Inner wisdom. How do people find that? Oh, that’s, that’s the beauty of being a human being. That’s the beauty of being a human, because part of our hardware, like a television or [00:14:00] a radio, a part of our mental hardware is always tuned to that intuitive channel. And that that would be one of the four functions of the mind.

That would be our conscience. And so it’s interesting because the conscience is the only function of the mind that can make a decision. The other functions are really just advisors, namely the ego, the senses, the unconscious mind. So they’re like lobbyists and, but they’re very, very certain that their limited perspective is always correct.

I love that. So many times we just go with the ego, right? Oh, oh yes. My gosh. We’re addicted to what? To those limited perspective. And, and the ego and the senses and the unconscious [00:15:00] mind, therefore are so loud and so insistent and pushy, they create a tremendous amount of noise in the mind. And when there’s a lot of noise, that’s unresolved in the mind, the conscience, which is the only function of the mind that can make a decision is left with only one way to make that decision.

In that case, the conscience can only rubber stamp the loudest voice that can hear. I love that analogy like their lobbyists and then the conscience. It’ll just like rubber stamp that. Oh, my gosh. I just realized I’d never really heard it put that way. And this is why I wanted to have you on the show because it’s like, you know, it’s all about create a life you love living now.

And you just talked about now and part of really loving your life is listening to that conscience, getting in touch with that. Yeah. So that brings up [00:16:00] how will we going to listen to the conscience? And the answer is the same answer that engineers sound engineers have developed sound engineers, always deal with this basic dilemma between the signal and the noise.

So if, if I can not increase the audibility of the signal, that’s sort of a constant, and that would be the whisper, the whisper from the superconscious mind, the superconscious wisdom. That exists as an intuitive library of wisdom at the core of our being, which most of us refer to as our soul part of the soul contains an intuitive library of wisdom.

But this wisdom speaks in whispers, in whispers, and there’s so much noise from the ego senses and unconscious mind, the conscience [00:17:00] cannot hear it unless you went. I recognize that dilemma and let, just like with the engineers and begin to turn the noise down. And for that, we have to become good friends of the ego senses and unconscious mind.

They are not our enemies. They are our children. And so the key is to create little projects for. We call them experiments, experiments in truth, where we ask them to defer to the wisdom, the superconscious wisdom that the conscience can reflect once there is quietude in the mind. So we [00:18:00] become parents of our ego senses and unconscious mind.

We welcome them. We honor their limited perspectives because let’s face it. We all need an ego. Let’s face it. We have a body life is to be enjoyed. We all like a good meal, a delicious dessert, and we all have habits that serve us well, but not always. And if we can listen to the ego senses and unconscious mind, hear their limited perspective, and then.

Quiet everybody down. Then the conscience can reflect, it. Can hear that whisper from the superconscious portion of the mind, suggesting the thought to think the word, just speak and the action to take that will enable us to fulfill the purpose of our lives without pain, [00:19:00] without misery and without bondage.

Yes. And like, I, I just love everything that you just said and I’ve actually lived it because, like I said before, we came on live working for the Navy and I was under a lot of stress. I had a lot of stress in my life and you know, you said that’s the human experience. It is. I wasn’t really religious. I didn’t relate to church.

I didn’t understand it when somebody said, God talked to them, I’m like, God never talks to me. He never talks to me who is this? God. And I don’t understand it. And I, I understand it now from a more spiritual perspective. And I, and I learned how so when I retired, I thought now my life’s going to be perfect.

You know, stress free. I’m retired. I’m going to be able to go to the gym all the time. And you know, I won’t, I won’t be stressed. And I actually was even more stressed because [00:20:00] I was creating more work for myself and I, and you know, my, my kid’s dad was dying. We weren’t married, but it was, it was a stressful time there.

And then I was trying to start a coaching business. I was doing my podcasting and When you start a business, everyone’s telling you, oh, you should do this, this, this. And so getting all like so many things to do, and I get kinda restless with all these possibilities and excited, and then I get stressed.

And so I didn’t know how to hear my conscience. And I’ve since learned and it’s been life-changing that’s right. Yeah. It’s lovely. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a real exhalation and you know, it’s interesting, interesting to me that in, in ancient India in, they didn’t have the word stress in their vocabulary. The word that they used for stress was known as a Vigia.

A vigil means ignorance. I, I agree. I get that. [00:21:00] And, and what they meant by that was when you forget who you really are and you identify. With the mind body sense complex, which is subject to change death, decay, and decomposition. When you, when we identify with that mind, body sense complex as me, then we experienced something that equates with stress, because what it means is our outer actions in the world, thought word and deed become conflicted with that superconscious wisdom that is at the core of our being and that inner conflict always becomes the mother of all problems.

Love it. I think that’s why one of the reasons why I retired, I noticed myself getting frustrated. And I also knew that I wasn’t feeling my feelings. And I also [00:22:00] wanted to be able to have deep conversations with people and to really, instead of just like, hi, bye. You know, so stressed and busy. So I think that that was like my inner con some, there was a conflict there, like the way I was living, isn’t the way that felt good to me anymore.

It didn’t feel comfortable anymore. And I thought things, like I said would change when I retired. So what would you recommend to somebody like that was like me, you know, that is trying to hear that. And our conscience and has, you know, cause some people might say, well, Emily, that’s easy for you say you’re retired, but I’m telling you, it’s not because I’m retired.

It’s because I, because I was still just as busy. So, but what would you say to somebody who’s like really busy, really swamped, you know, all these circumstances that they, they, they can’t do what you’re saying. How do you get to that limit to limitless wisdom and creativity? It’s all about desire. It’s all about desire.

It’s all about [00:23:00] desire. There’s a, a saying in the ancient Oop punishments, you are your deepest driving desire as your deepest driving desire is so is your will as your willingness. So is your deed as your deed is so becomes your destiny. So we really must ask ourselves very honest. As best we can.

What do I really want in this life? Do I really want to be happy? Do I really want to be healthy? Do I really want to be secure in every situation, regardless of the circumstances? And if the answer is yes, and I’m honest with myself, then it begs the question. How am I going to get to point B from point a?

And the answer is pretty simple. We need a [00:24:00] business plan. We need a philosophy of life. Yeah. And so when, when the student is ready, the saying goes at that point, when there is desire to know the truth, the teacher appears. Yeah. And my teacher had been, I’ve had several teachers, one that I’ve really been learning a lot from, I don’t know if you know of her as Mary Morrissey.

And she, she teaches, you know, she talks a lot about how we can find that joy inside and create a life. We love living despite the circumstances around us, you know, that’s the human condition to give into those circumstances and let them drive us. And I think that’s what I was doing a lot of my life, where a lot of times we’re asleep and we’re letting the circumstances drive us instead of getting in touch with that deeper intuition.

And she talks about listening to your noticing your longings and discontent. [00:25:00] And I just mentioned a couple of mine, you know, having conversations with people. I noticed that when I went to a coffee shop, I saw people in jeans kind of typing on their computer and like, that’s where I want to work. And so just note, but sometimes we’re so busy with.

Throw that aside, notice those things that are coming up, your longings and discontent, that’s telling you something. Yes. But you know, we’re running at a hundred miles an hour in the passing lane at life. We, when we start to pass through that intersection to decide what’s to be done and what’s not to be done, we don’t stop to listen to the whisper.

Yeah. So you’ve written a book. Let me put, put it up here because I, and I saw your video. You have a video about it, about like, I’ve always wondered why isn’t this touch stuff taught in school? Why don’t we ever learn it? And so you were talking about the need for that in the video. I’d like to hear a little bit about your book and about what you think about this being taught in schools.[00:26:00] 

Well, I went to school, I had a lot of schooling and most of it was about memorization, memorizing other people’s. Words theories studies and, and making it my own. But that’s not the highest knowledge. The highest knowledge is through personal experience and experimentation. And so that’s the key is to turn every single relationship.

And let’s, let’s remember that every relationship means that I have to take an action. I have to think a thought, I have to speak a word. I have to take an action. And all of those actions, whether it’s thought word or deed, always lead to consequences that can leave me closer to that fulfillment that I deeply desire or will delay the process.[00:27:00] 

And so I I’ve just followed my nose. I have had no overriding desire to do this or to do that, just to practice, to do the practice, stay in the present moment as much as I can. I always say, bring yesterday and tomorrow into today and bring today into now, now at this auspicious moment what’s to be done and what’s not to be done.

What’s to be said, and what’s not to be said, what’s to be thought. And what’s not to be thought, but wait a second, you said that it’s your thoughts that lead to feelings and consequences, but isn’t it the situation driving. No, it’s what we think about it thinking makes it so right. There’s nothing good.

There’s nothing bad strikes. Bear [00:28:00] says only thinking makes itself. Yeah. Yeah. So B one other way of, you know, like listen to your longing and longing and discontent, and then. Listen to our thoughts we have, what, what is it like 60, 70,000 thoughts a day, but you know, like, all right. So when, when you’re going, this is I’m speaking from experience.

When you’re going, going, going, going, and you’re not stopping at the stop signs, you’re not listening to anything. Your, your inner self, you’re not listening to like how your body feels. You just pushing, pushing, pushing. Then what you’re doing too, more than likely is not feeling your feelings. And like I, I say this a lot, one of my past podcast guests said, when you don’t feel your feelings, they go to the basement when you shove them down and they lift weights.

And when Bruce, my former husband passed away three years ago, all of the feelings from the divorce from 20 years ago and stuff all started coming back. So, and I have been working for the past three years on being able to say my feelings [00:29:00] to know what they are to get more in touch with them because I’ve lived most of my life in my thinking head, not my feeling.

Well and the, our most powerful resources are our thoughts. Thoughts give birth to words and actions which bring about consequences. So it’s critically important that we monitor our thoughts because we can benefit from every thought that comes, but we have to learn different dance steps for different thoughts.

And that’s where the conscience comes in. The conscience will tell us if a thought is to be served through speech and action now for our highest good. And if the thought that comes is actually a negative contractive, debilitating thought like fear or anger or selfish [00:30:00] desire, I can still benefit from it.

Because the fear, the anger and the selfish desire is just energy and what it was it, fourth or fifth grade, we learned that energy can’t be created nor destroyed, but it can be transformed. And so when thoughts come these negative contractive, debilitating thoughts, and we could get lots of them. If we, instead of serving them and giving them more and more of our attention, if we sacrifice them back to the origin from which they have come, that act of sacrifice and sacrifice comes from the Latin and the Italian sacrifice, she had to make it sacred by offering it back to the origin from which it came so that it can be transformed.

This poisonous [00:31:00] debilitating form of fear, anger and greed can be transformed into strategic positive forms of energy, creative energy, willpower, and an expansion of our creative capacity. Yeah. Willpower is isn’t that like, we’re the only species that has that power and we can use it to our advantage.

Well, all right. So is this all about like meditation and yoga? I’m just asking, like, how often do you meditate? How often do you do yoga? Well, I guess the answer is 24 7 as much as I can remember, because. There are different forms of practice. So, you know, if you say a yoga, you might think about the physical postures.

Well, at a certain point that that’s to be done and a seated silent meditation. Well, at a certain point, that’s to be done, but meditation in [00:32:00] action, where you base your outer actions on your inner wisdom, that’s the meat and potatoes of, of life. That’s where the relationships really are plentiful and the consequences can lead us closer and closer and closer to that deep driving desire and the fulfillment of it.

I’m talking about happiness. I’m talking about security and health or we’ll delay the prospect. So can happiness. I mean, you’re talking you’re, I don’t think you’re talking about happiness that comes from material things or. Well, we, we, as, as human beings, we do have the aesthetic pleasures certain certain things and respect and, and, and an affinity for certain things.

And so if I if I needed an automobile maybe I’ll buy a red car because I like, I like that. That makes me feel good. It [00:33:00] makes you feel there’s no problem there in the matter of the issue that creates problems is attachment. Gotta have it, gotta have it, because actually all the objects of the world are here for us to use and to enjoy as means for our liberation, but not to possess them nor to be possessed by them.

Yeah. Oh, got it. So. All right. So here, here’s a question. Why, because sometimes guests submit questions and I’ve got this one. I really like does relying on your conscious to make conscience, to make all of your decisions mean that you can’t let loose and have fun? Absolutely not that that’s part of the equation.

And in fact that’s something that we need to learn to be flexible about. Isn’t it. If, if I’m inflexible and I can’t [00:34:00] enjoy this moment and just as they say in modern parlance, go with the flow and enjoy this situation spontaneously then, then we’re repressing an important part of, of being a human being.

So, yes, yes. The conscience will say yes. Superconscious wisdom says, yes, go ahead. Enjoy it. What would you say to someone who’s like, I want, wanna sit still and meditate, or even like, be more aware of my thoughts throughout the day, but it’s life is just so busy. I just, I don’t know how to do that. What would you say?

Well, because we’ve never been trained, we’ve never been trained. We’ve never been trained. And so actually we have been trained. We’ve been trained to be multi pointed. In fact, that’s one of the most important aspects of our modern culture is this [00:35:00] multitasking, which first and foremost is impossible. And it only creates depression in the mind and depression of our immune cells.

But the culture wants us to do that because we’ll assume so seemingly act quicker, but it’s really a faulty economy of time because we’re less skillful. We’re less reliable, we’re less healthy. So one point attention, that’s the, that’s the key to genius and creativity. One point at attention. And if we’re one point in our attention, we become much more creative and we get much more energy.

We’re constantly filled up with energy because our outer actions conform to our inner wisdom rather than conflict with them. Yeah, I see that. So why is it so hard to follow our conscious advice [00:36:00] and how can we make it easier? Like she depends on his heart to follow that habit, creating a habit. That’s right.

The, and, and, and human beings are great at that. We are habit makers where we’re really good at making a career in creating habits. So we just have to have the desire for creating new habits that are healthy. So one of the most plentiful fields of action that we have before us to experiment with is food choice.

So I tell people I no longer eat food that this personality loves. No. Now, after years of experimentation, I only eat food. That loves me. That loves my brain. That loves my heart. That loves my spleen. That loves my pancreas, my joints, my muscles, my heart. [00:37:00] And when I do that, Number one, I lose all affinity for these old choices that I used to make.

And I begin to love the food that loves me. Yep. And I love that, that idea. And I, and I remember listening to or interviewing a guy a very about three years ago about yoga. And this is in the very beginning of my journey. And he said about like, what you said that yoga is more than an exercise and stuff, and that how it practicing yoga can help you with your eating habits.

And I’m like, how’s that he goes because you’re more mindful. And the, and the, and the poses in yoga The practice is actually holding the pose and you see it’s all men, it’s all mental. And then when you go to the refrigerator to get something you’re more conscious and [00:38:00] you can say, you can stop yourself is what he said.

Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. So T so tell us a little bit about your book. What do you talk about in your, in your book write about, well first of all, I have to be honest, I, I didn’t intend to write a book. It was March of 2020 COVID became our constant companion and my wife and I Jenise and I were sequestered in quarantine.

And I, Hey, I’m a teacher and nobody’s coming for classes because we’re not having a live classes. What, what am I to do? How am I to be of service? And I, I would be watching the news and reading the reports about the Corona virus and, and, and all the anxiety that people and, and, and the anger that people were dealing with in the fear and, and all the changes.

[00:39:00] Oh my gosh. So many changes so quickly. It was very disconcerting. And so I started asking myself, how may I be of service? What’s the best thing that I can do. And I thought the best thing that I could do for people is to share my understanding of the conscience. How the mind works, how the mind needs to be coordinated in service to that superconscious wisdom.

And those that would be able to hear it will hear it. And so I just sat down and I created this gift for people and I called it your conscience.

Awesome. I love it. And I’ve got posted up there where people can get it. The website and you’ve also created national conscience month [00:40:00] that’s in January. So tell us about that. Well, it’s an idea that had been percolating for about 15 years and this was our third annual, this, this past January. And I just said, well, the way things are headed.

We need to do this. This was just before COVID entered our consciousness in March. And it it was something that I felt just a way of starting a conversation with people just to start a conversation and see how we can introduce it into our lives, into our parenting, into our teaching, into our work, into our recreation, into our sexual lives, into the food that we eat and the rest and the exercise that we give the body.

So I thought it was a good idea [00:41:00] worth my energy. Yeah, it sounds like it. So do you have different teachings that you do during that month? Or what are the kinds of things you do different things. We have webinars. We bring some of our students who are yoga scientists to share their personal experiences because that’s, that’s the most powerful to share a personal experience.

Something that’s true for them. Not that you’re necessarily gonna believe it, but if it inspires people to use their own life, their own mind, body sense complex as their personal laboratory for experimenting, that’s the most powerful. And so we do things like that. We’ve, we’ve had speakers who, who came prior to, to COVID.

And we have sponsored a national [00:42:00] essay contest for one high school senior to receive. A 2000 actually it’s close to $3,000 scholarship for higher education by writing an essay about how I use the conscience for my benefit or how I avoided using my conscience. And what did I learn from not using it?

I’m not using it. That’s awesome. That’s great. And so what kinds of problems can be solved by relying on your conscience? Well, I have to be honest, Emily, when you asked that question, the first answer that I have is the, I have no problems. I have no problems. Why don’t I have problems because I realized several years ago, that words can be very tricky.[00:43:00] 

And problem is one of those words for me that is very triggering. When, when Leonard says to him himself, oh my gosh, I have a problem. I have a problem. I have a problem. It’s heavy. It’s onerous, it’s dark. It dampens my creative energy and interest. So I use synonyms a lot. So I looked up synonyms in the Saurus and I finally realized that I don’t have any problems, but I do have situations, words matter, right?

Yeah. Boards matter. They’re very powerful because situation is much less. And it invites creativity. [00:44:00] Yes. Is there going to have to be work involved? Sure. It’s, it’s a major, perhaps it’s a major situation that you’re dealing with, but I’m up for it. I say so. Oh, how does somebody take what you’re talking about and apply it to the stress we feel overseeing what’s going on in Ukraine?

Well, we just had a a a special webinar that people can see online now through YouTube. And it was, it was called how to turn a war into peace, how to turn war into peace and we invite people to participate. And in that adventure of turning war, Into peace. And I explained, as I explained in the webinar, first thing we have to recognize and acknowledge and go to school [00:45:00] on is the law of karma, the law of karma, very simply states that thoughts lead to words and actions, which in turn bring about consequences.

So what is the consequence we want to experience? Well, the consequence we want is peace. Okay. So we recognize that our thoughts, our words, and our actions are critically important to bring about the experience of that deep driving desire.

And so the second thing we have to realize is that all reality, all reality flows from the subtle to the gross. What does that mean? All reality [00:46:00] flows from the subtle to the gross. Well, if the truth be known, I can’t even raise my hand without first entertaining. A thought thoughts are subtle they’re are mental.

So all reality flows from the subtle to the gross. So thoughts are embryos they’re embryos that can bring forth more complex forms of life in the form of speech and action. And so if all reality. If all reality flows from the subtle to the gross. And I work on, I experiment with basing my thoughts, my words, and my actions on the superconscious wisdom reflected by the [00:47:00] conscience.

Then I personally will engage in the process of reducing mental conflicts that exist in my mind as I reduce the mental conflict in my mind. I, in fact, change not only my consciousness, but the consciousness of the planet, because there’s only one consciousness. So if there is no conflict in the mind, it is impossible.

For outer conflict to spontaneously appear like war, there would be no war or let’s put it this way. There’s only outer at there’s only the outer appearance of conflict and war because you manatees [00:48:00] minds are in conflict and nobody has taught us on any level of education, how to resolve that inner conflict.

Yeah, I agree. I mean, you know, I went to the Naval academy, worked for the, for the military, my whole life. And I’ve talked about this with some of my classmates. We, we learned a lot about leading others, but not a lot about leading ourselves about inner mastery. And it’s interesting because. All military science, all military science is based on yoga science.

Why? Because the real battle that humanity faces the really big mother of all battles is in the mind and the mind. So [00:49:00] yoga science is a manual for military engagement for spiritual warriors. Yeah. And maybe I learned some of it, but I just don’t remember. I didn’t my ego overrode it, but it was a lot about leading, leading other people and then a lot about studying how other people lead.

And then you go and experience things when you, when you actually get in. I’m talking about what I remember learning at the Naval academy. Oh, I, I, I, I gave a lecture. At west point and the Colonel who invited me, I was talking at that time about a contemplation, contemplation being sometime during the day, everybody must sit down and review the thoughts.

I’ve been thinking, the words I’ve been speaking, the actions I’ve been taking and how many of them have [00:50:00] been in harmony with my inner wisdom and which ones are in conflict with my inner wisdom and then pledge to yourself that over the next 24 hours, I’m going to be on guard for those kinds of habits that have triggered me in the past.

And the Colonel looked at me and he said, you know we have something called a are. I said, well, what, what does that mean? It says after action review. I said, of course, because all military science comes from yoga science. Yeah. Of course you have after action review because yeah. You have a situation, you have an engagement and then it’s over.

Yeah. We have to, we have to replay that and we have to, well, you know, look at the video tape and what went right. And where can we Polish our, our our actions. I definitely did that in the, in the Navy, you know, after action reports and I’ve been looking at that, but then, you know, [00:51:00] I think for us on an individual level, I’m just speaking for myself.

Sometimes I’ve, you know, too busy and I, might’ve also reflected in my mind, but I think there’s a difference between reflecting in your mind and writing things down. If it’s concrete, it’s real. Yeah. I can’t get away from it because if it’s just in my mind, the ego and the unconscious mind, they’re going to play tricks with us.

And they’re going to present something that’s so attractive. I’m going to get all about this after action review. Yeah. That’s the way it is with you. We’ve regressed. Yeah. Wow. Well, as we wrap this up, I wanted to show your Instagram and American meditation Institute. And that’s the same as your Facebook page American meditation Institute.

And then your YouTube channel is the same. And then your it’s pretty easy to remember, but also put this in the show notes, but [00:52:00] American meditation.org is your website. And I saw that there was something kind of coming up on 30 April. You have some events coming up. So yeah, yeah, we have the foundation course coming up I think it’s.

3rd of May the foundation course, which contains all of yoga, psychology and yoga science it’s a six week course that contains everything that I’ve been talking about here in a coherent way so that people can create their own philosophy of life and game plan for experimentation. Yeah, I think that’s, I, I love what you said about create your own because you can learn from other people’s experiences, you can learn from what other people say.

And then the real meat of learning is applying it in your own life and experiencing it. And then, and it’s, you know, Emily, it’s, it’s so important to realize that people teach us both what to do and what not to do. Yeah. That’s why I tell people that one of my most [00:53:00] important teachers has been Elvis. Well, when I was 10 years old, I fell in love with Elvis Presley.

I was captured by his charisma and his voice. I gave him a tremendous amount of attention as a young child. And I loved him then I love, I loved him every single day of my life. I love him today. And because I gave so much attention to Elvis Presley, I observed many of the choices that he made, many of which were in conflict with my own inner wisdom.

So on a very practical level, in many ways, Elvis Presley was important to me because he taught me how not to live my life. And I’m eternally grateful for that teaching. Yeah, that’s awesome. I can relate that a little bit to something that I’m going through now with my, with my business, you know, I got a lot of people messaging me on LinkedIn.

Oh, you’re a coach. I can help you make a million dollars in a day. [00:54:00] You know, things like that. Or, you know, your website, I can, I can improve your website. I can help you with your social media. And then I’ve experienced where you talk to different people and they all have different opinions on you know what I should do, like what the graphic should look like or whatever.

And it’s like, it can get overwhelming, especially if you have, like I do, if you’re kind of a people pleaser, which I’m aware of and I’m working on, you know, I I’m, I’m always aware of that and making decisions you know, less pleat, you know, to please people less, you know, and to please myself, you know, so now I’m like, well, what does my gut say?

What’s my inner intuition say, you know, someone’s saying I got her completely revamped my website, or you gotta do this, or you gotta do that. And yeah. I’m just going to get quiet. And one of my coaches taught me, which I love this visualization to visualize the soul of my business because my business isn’t fully created data and still creating.

Right. So get in touch with the soul of my business. [00:55:00] What would the soul of my business say to me right now, which is what would my intuition say? What would spirit say? And then I can calm down and, and feel like, and make an aligned decision. Whereas my ego is what’s like getting all confused with all these different recommendations.

So really what you’re saying is the best way to create a successful business. A successful life is simply to be in service to that inner wisdom. That is within me. That is me. It’s all about service. I have made a living my whole adult life as an art dealer, as an art dealer, that’s how I make a living.

It’s still today and it’s been a challenge. And I, and I spoke to a teacher once and I said to him, [00:56:00] I love this, this teaching that I’ve been studying yoga science and philosophy and yoga psychology. But I I’m I’m I’m self-employed and I have to deal with a lot of fear. I think that a yoga science is better designed for people who have say they work for the government.

They have a check coming in, they have health insurance, they have a retirement. I don’t have any of these I’m self-employed do you have any advice for me? And he looked at me and he said, well, okay, Your problem is you consider yourself self-employed I am employed by the self. Ah, that’s what I said. Ah, I can become a good employee of this superconscious wisdom that is within me.

That is me. And so I have built my businesses that [00:57:00] way. I have built this American meditation Institute or it has built itself. I have only been in service to those small decisions that I have made what’s in front of me, one after the other, after the other. I love that a few times tonight I’ve been like tearing up because this to, to, to finally discover this.

It’s so life-changing, I’m just filled with joy so much more often. And you know, I have plenty of work to do and, you know, I can be busy if I want, but I find when I let go and don’t try to control, and I just communicate with the soul, my business, that things fall into place and I’ve, and my whole life I’ve been like trying to control it and push and, and, and sometimes, you know, [00:58:00] in, in emergency situations, you have to do that.

And I feel like my whole life’s been almost an emergency situation, but, you know, with the things that I’ve been through with my kids and stuff, but when you discover this inner peace inside, it’s just life-changing. And so I’ve really enjoyed having you on the show. I feel like these shows are sometimes my own little coaching session where I learned so much and, and th that’s why I do them live because I like to.

Share them with as many people as possible. And it will resonate with some people and some people will think we’re weird, but it’s okay because I know we’re not, but you know, well, it’s been a delight for me and I have learned from you and it’s, it’s been extremely enjoyable. So I have to, again, express my, thanks for the invitation to join you in conversation.

Yes. Yes. And thank you for the few people that watched. I know not everybody put something in the chat, but, and thank you for the people [00:59:00] who are going to be listening to this in a few, in a few weeks. I appreciate everybody who listens to the onward podcast and supports the show. Thank you very much, Leonard.

I wanted to share here just in my captions I’ve shared everything that Leonard shared. And I wanted to share that I have a Facebook group it’s called the onward movement. It’s about 1400 people in there, and I do posts about creating a life that you love living.

Some of the things that Leonard and I talked about and, and some of the things that I’ve been going through in my life and that I’ve been experiencing. And I also wanted to share that I am a coach. I just became a certified coach. So I’m excited about that. That was at the end of March. And so you can learn more about my coaching programs on my website, Emily harman.com.

And you can also from that website, schedule a meeting with me. Thank you everybody for watching. Look forward to seeing you again next week. And if you can, I’d love for you to mark your calendar and show up on May 25th. When I go live [01:00:00] with the three year celebration and the 200th episode of the AMR podcast.

Thank you for watching onward live is sponsored by Emily Harmon, coaching and consulting. Visit my website, Emily harman.com to learn more about me and my coaching programs. I’d love to help you create a life you love living. Remember every adversity is our own personal university. Sometimes the lessons are different.

And we must learn from our experiences. Vulnerability is your super power. You are lovable and worthy, and we discuss these topics and more because professional is personal. Thank you for joining us and engaging with me and my guests. I look forward to seeing you next time.