Podcasts about MMM

Achieving true cross-channel attribution remains an uphill battle as walled gardens restrict access to critical log-level data. Georgia Pacific's Vice President of Integrated Media and Brand Analytics, Javier Bustillos, reveals how his team combats these fragmentation challenges by accelerating in-house Marketing Mix Modeling and adopting a disciplined, test-and-learn approach to automation. Key Highlights

There are two ways to get your student loans forgiven — and the one nobody talks about could leave you with a six-figure tax bill. Most physicians know PSLF. Far fewer understand taxable forgiveness — the IDR path that hands you a massive tax bill 20 years down the road. Jimmy and Justin break down a real listener question (anesthesiologist + dentist, $400K in loans at 7%) to show why "married filing separately" math isn't as clean as it looks, and why your repayment plan now hinges on a looming July 2026 deadline. Resources mentioned: Looking for a CPA that does more than just file taxes each year? Check out Gelt, the proactive tax strategy partner that Jimmy personally uses, and receive 10% off the first year through the MMM link. Get $100 off a Student Loan Consult with Student Loan Planner: moneymeetsmedicine.com/loans Looking to refinance your private student loans? Click here to learn how to find the lowest interest rates out there. Every physician must get disability insurance before leaving training! Get a disability insurance quote from Money Meets Medicine Disability. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Much like planning a wedding, the MM+M Agency 100 is an exercise in “hurry up and wait.”  This project is the result of a long, time-consuming process that requires steadfast dedication and commitment from everyone here at MM+M in order to see it through to the end.  Then, that special day arrives.  After months and months of tireless work on all things big and small, everything comes together into a blur of frenzied celebration and, equally as important, pure elation.  The 2026 MM+M Agency 100 is here and we're going to dig into the medical marketing firms we've been interviewing, writing and reporting on over the past five months.  In lieu of Trends, you'll hear some takeouts from our Women of Distinction ceremony that took place last week in New York.  Check us out at: mmm-online.com Follow us: YouTube: @MMM-onlineTikTok: @MMMnewsInstagram: @MMMnewsonlineTwitter/X: @MMMnewsLinkedIn: MM+M To read more of the most timely, balanced and original reporting in medical marketing, subscribe here.Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Most healthcare digital experiences are designed for a patient who doesn't exist and a promise they can't deliver. Lauren DeGeorge, chief client officer at Huge, joins MM+M reporter Bella Czajkowski to discuss what patients actually expect from digital health — and why the gap between expectation and reality keeps growing. From AI-powered patient journey simulation to the lessons consumer digital experience holds for health systems, DeGeorge makes the case that the industry's next leap is building for the patients in front of you, not the ones in your personas deck. Check us out at: mmm-online.com   Follow us:  YouTube: @MMM-online TikTok: @MMMnews Instagram: @MMMnewsonline Twitter/X: @MMMnews LinkedIn: MM+M   To read more of the most timely, balanced and original reporting in medical marketing, subscribe here. Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this conversation, Stephanie Trunzo, CEO, Merge, and Pat McGloin, managing director of health, Merge, talk with MM+M about the future of AI, healthcare marketing and delivering Whole Human experiences. The discussion explores how Merge is embedding AI into its foundation to create more contextual, emotionally intelligent and consumer-centered brand experiences. From the Humanity Suite and AIgency model to the evolving role of empathy, creativity and systems of intelligence, the discussion highlights how Merge is helping health and wellness brands navigate an AI-driven paradigm shift while staying deeply human. Check us out at: mmm-online.com   Follow us:  YouTube: @MMM-online TikTok: @MMMnews Instagram: @MMMnewsonline Twitter/X: @MMMnews LinkedIn: MM+M   To read more of the most timely, balanced and original reporting in medical marketing, subscribe here. Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

[Expertpanelen] Avsnitt 160 med Johan Strand, senior digital analyst och partner på Ctrl Digital, om hur vi som marknadsförare kan börja prata med vår data och få svar med hjälp av AI, agenter och nya funktioner. Från Googles Ask Advisor, Conversational Analytics och dataagenter i Data Studio. Till möjligheterna med att koppla Claude eller ChatGPT mot olika plattformar via MCP. Samt varför svaren och analyserna du får bara är så bra som din setup och kontext. Du får dessutom höra om: Var han anser att marknadsförare ska börja Hur AI låser upp nya typer kvalitativ analys Nackdelarna med plattformsspecifika agenter Teknisk skuld är största hindret för AI-analys Skapa agenter med Conversational Analytics Varför analys behöver en human-in-the-loop Tips på analyser som AI kan köra schemalagt Du får också höra en lightning round om nyheter kring Meridian Studio, Google Tag Manager, Google Ads Data Manager och Microsoft Clarity. Om gästen Johan Strand är senior digital analyst och partner på Ctrl Digital, en av Sveriges ledande analytics-byråer. Han är otroligt vass på Google Analytics, BigQuery och att bygga datastrukturer som skapar affärsnytta. Som återkommande expert i poddens nyhetspanel delar Johan regelbundet sina analyser av de viktigaste förändringarna inom digital analys, spårning och datainsamling. Johan är också en av arrangörerna av MeasureCamp Malmö. Tidsstämplar [00:02:25] Plattformsagenter från Google och Meta. Googles Ask Advisor och Metas AI Business Assistant, plattformarnas inbyggda agenter, vad de är bra på och var de brister. [00:04:20] Data Studio och Conversational Analytics. Data Studio är tillbaka och Conversational Analytics har blivit gratis. Johan förklarar hur du bygger en dataagent med egen kontext och guardrails. [00:10:15] MCP:er och jämförelsen med agenterna. Rollen som MCP:er spelar när de kopplas in i AI-verktyg som Claude och ChatGPT, och hur det skiljer sig från de inbyggda agenterna. [00:17:35] Rapportering vs analys och AI:s styrkor. Varför rapportering är en tryggare startpunkt än analys, och var AI briljerar: från snabba kvantitativa svar till kvalitativ data och verifiering. [00:27:10] För- och nackdelar samt användningsområden. Plattformsagenter, dataagenter och MCP-kopplingar ställs mot varandra, plus Johans bästa användningsområden och varför teknisk skuld bromsar. [00:33:33] Komma igång med AI inom analysarbetet. Hur långt de flesta marknadsteam har kommit, schemalagd anomaly detection, och Johans bästa tips och råd. [00:38:37] Lightning round: Meridian Studio och MMM. Googles Meridian Studio och varför marketing mix modeling gör comeback nu när last click-attributionen blir allt mer opålitlig. [00:44:02] Google Tag Managers största uppdatering. Nytt UI, containrar som blir Google-taggar och en ny visuell eventbyggare. Och vad det här innebär för användare. [00:47:40] Google Ads Data Manager och Microsoft Clarity. Google gör det enklare att skicka data mellan sina plattformar, och Microsoft Clarity tar en allt större plats i analys-stacken. Länkar Johan Strand på LinkedInCtrl Digital (webbsida) Meet Ask Advisor, your new AI-powered collaborator – Google (artikel)Want to improve ad results? Ask Meta AI business assistant – Meta (artikel)Conversational Analytics in Data Studio overview – Google (dokumentation)Data Studio returns as new home for Data Cloud assets – Google (artikel) Introducing Meta Ads AI Connectors: Manage Your Meta Ads From the AI Tools You Already Use – Meta (artikel)Use AI-powered skills to run ads on TikTok – TikTok (webbsida) Lightning round:Meridian StudioGoogle Ads Data ManagerGoogle Tag Manager-uppdateringarMicrosoft Clarity Veckans partners Huvudpartner: DigitalentaPartnernätverket: Paloma, Check och Klingit Se alla partners här tonyhammarlund.io/partners

PODCAST LAS NOTICIAS CON CALLE DE 1 DE JUNIO - AccuWeather marca al Caribe noreste con riesgo sobre el promedio mientras comienza temporada Temperatures extremas en PR Junta autoriza paguen a Educación Especial, pero advierten que no pueden seguir pagando con fondos no recurrentesMientras, plantea cambios en Ley 60, créditos de cine, y créditos de manufactura.Gobierno no consigue casi ingenieros para poder contratar en obras públicas - El Nuevo Día JGo logra fiesta playera y recauda 500 mil con Jorge Navarrio y otra legisladora - El Nuevo Día Horrible escena de hit and run deja persona decapitada - Noticentro Trump plantea que FEMA no puede hacerse cargo y le toca a los gobiernos locales meter mano en caso de desastre - El Nuevo Día China especializa estudiantes y universidades en “tierras raras” - Reuters Comienza hoy temporada de huracanes, se esperan pocos, pero mucho polvo del Zahara - Primera Hora Gobierno federal te paga la luz si tienes atrasaos en cerca de 4000 familias - Primera Hora Bukele 2 v. Trotsky Comunista en Colombia para la segunda vuelta No hay doctores para atender endometriosis - Metro Paso mega importante contra cáncer de páncreas, PR presente en Chicago - Jay Fonseca PRIrán acusa a Estados Unidos de violar cese al fuego tras nuevo bombardeo y ataques en Líbano - DW  No saben a dónde van a llevar a Juana Matos y sus casi 200 familias con casi 100 millones en fondos federales - El Nuevo Día Advierten demasiado poder dado a Recursos Naturales para mitigar daños en erosión costera - El Nuevo Día Otro error en caso de Anthonieska, cogieron la ropa que no era - Jay Fonseca PR Mansión se vende en 39.5 millones en Río GrandeLa Cámara exige que se entregue informe de supuestos malos manejos en OGPe realizado por ahora ex secretario de DDEC - El Nuevo Día 205 asesinatos en PR al 31 de mayo — 26 más que el año pasado (+17.5%); MMM hoy voy pa Martins BBQEl mejor y más sabroso pollo asado a la varita de Puerto Rico. Cocinando diariamente comida fresca saludable y sabrosa con un montón de complementos para escoger, arroces, habichuelas, verduras, mofongo,tostones,....MMMM....Esto si es criolloMartins BBQ, TOMANDO todas las medidas de salud y sabor para mantener la mesa boricua al dia con opciones para llamar, recoger o delivery por UBER Eats, y DoorDash.MMM Hoy como en Martin's BBQAsado...Jugoso...Sabroso#martinsbbq#incluyeauspicio Berkshire compra constructora de casas - BusinessWire Junta autoriza cerrar créditos contributivos en PR - El Vocero Nvidia lanza nuevo microchip y nueva computadora que va a ayudar a robots y a carros autónomos - Axios Demócratas progresistas van contra Ai - Axios PPD dice Miguel Romero hace campaña con crisis de agua para ser el candidato del PNP - El Vocero 20% de retirados tiene que buscar otros ingresos porque no dan las pensiones - El Vocero La gente está pagando más la casa que antes - El Vocero Dicen que van a abrir las cavernas de Camuy - El Vocero Auditoría pide a Autoridad de Tierras que pidan devolución de dinero - El Vocero No van a eliminar la erudita y punto - El Vocero LOS DATOS DEL DÍABrent crudo$92.05 / barril (−1.77%)Diésel retail EE.UU.~$5.60 / galónS&P 5007,580 (+0.2%) · 9 semanas al alzaDow Jones~50,000 (+0.7%) · récordBono 10Y Tesoro4.45%Euro / USD1.165Gas natural Henry Hub$3.29 / MMBtuHipoteca 30Y EE.UU.6.53% (Freddie Mac)

The institution of marriage has changed a lot over the last few centuries. As Eli Finkel explains in ‘The All of Nothing Marriage' – truly one of my favourite social science books – Americans of the early nineteenth century would look with confusion on our modern attitudes towards what a spouse ought to be. An economic partner, sure. A co-parent, obviously. But a best friend, even a soul mate?Today, Eli and I track these changes across American history, and we ask whether our modern attitudes towards marriage have some significant downsides. It seems that the best marriages are now better than ever. But it also seems that the institution as a whole has become more fragile.Eli is a social psychologist at Northwestern University and also the co-host – along with Paul Eastwick, another MMM guest – of the podcast ‘Love Factually', which analyses movies through the lens of relationship science. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host: Nadia Cameron, Publisher | Editor – Marketing The Iconic CMO, Joanna Robinson, describes commercial marketers as “customer obsessed, commercially disciplined, always data-informed and strategically curious”. Former Naked Wines CEO and Unilever marketing leader, Paul Connell, says it’s about being highly accountable, “and also being someone who’s in for the business outside of their lane”. And TPG CMO, Bec Darley adds another all-important word to the list: Profit. “This is we know how much of the net cash that’s falling to the bottom line. Is it a term you’d expect a commercial marketer to have? Absolutely. Is it one we see a lot of? No … If marketing is truly to be seriously among our c-suite and board, understanding profit has to be part of the language of the commercial marketer,” Darley argues. There’s absolutely no doubt marketing leaders are being asked to be more accountable for commercial outcomes. Yet they continue to carry a ball and chain around their ankles: Marketing as discretionary spend on the P&L, and the first thing to be cut when times are tight. So how do you successfully reframe marketing as revenue, not cost, and ensure you’re fiscally responsible while pursuing the growth game? These three marketing luminaries joined us on the mics for an exploration of the strategies – formal and informal – they’ve pursued to embed an expansive mentality around marketing that beats those tired perceptions of marketing and brand investment as a lag on the balance sheet. From getting to the heart of unit economics, and truly understanding what creates value inside a business, to balancing the logic of brand – increasingly possible through tools like MMM and tech – with the magic and behavioural psychology informing why marketers do what they do, through to inviting CFOs and CEO into the pitch to see the power of creativity, these three provide a wealth of insight into how marketers win over stakeholders. We also explore key tenets of meeting the leadership team and board on their terms, from the language required to connect, to problem solving, plus tactics for structuring teams and capability to make the most of cross-functional ways of working.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ASCO is the preeminent cancer conference, bringing every oncology stakeholder to Chicago for a weekend of breakthrough presentations, pertinent health discussions and a bevy of brand activations. Additionally, MM+M will be on the ground there, represented by pharma editor Lecia Bushak. Ahead of ASCO, Lecia chatted with Illinois CancerCare's Kimberly Ku, MD. A triple board-certified physician, Ku recently partnered with Cancer Therapy Advisor, a fellow Haymarket Media brand, to distribute her podcast, Val-You Based Care.  Now, she's joining our podcast for a preview of ASCO as well as to offer insights on how pharma brands can better message to HCPs and patients about cancer care. After that, I'm shipping up to Boston for the Veeva Commercial Summit, so you'll hear from the rest of the team during Trends, where they'll discuss some of the most interesting trends they've observed through their reporting for Agency 100.   Check us out at: mmm-online.com Follow us: YouTube: @MMM-onlineTikTok: @MMMnewsInstagram: @MMMnewsonlineTwitter/X: @MMMnewsLinkedIn: MM+M To read more of the most timely, balanced and original reporting in medical marketing, subscribe here.Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

40% of doctors have a side gig — and most are one contract clause away from handing it to their employer. Forty percent of physicians now run a side gig — chart reviews, expert witness work, SaaS tools, real estate, content, consulting. But here's what nobody covered in residency: most are leaving money on the table at tax time, mixing business and personal finances into an unfixable mess, or unknowingly signing away their intellectual property in an employment contract they barely skimmed. In this episode of Money Meets Medicine, Dr. Jimmy Turner and CFP Justin Harvey unpack what physicians actually need to know before they earn their first non-clinical dollar — and what to do once they're already five figures a month in. If you've ever wondered whether you should be an S Corp, whether your hospital can claim your nights-and-weekends project, or whether business ownership is even worth the headache, this one is for you. Resources: Need a new CPA? Work with Gelt, the proactive tax strategy partner that Jimmy uses, and receive 10% off the first year through the MMM link — https://moneymeetsmedicine.com/CPA Disability Insurance — Where physicians (especially trainees) can request a GSI quote and learn whether one is available at their program — moneymeetsmedicine.com/disability Medscape 2025 Physician Side Gig Survey - https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/doctors-side-gigs-2025-6018502   Episode Summary An orthopedic surgeon writes in: he's pulling $550K at an academic center and has quietly built an AI-powered prior authorization SaaS now generating five figures a month. What should he be thinking about? Jimmy and Justin use that question as a launchpad into the financial reality of physician non-clinical income — the ups, the downs, and the surprisingly counterintuitive parts. Jimmy, recently transitioned from 15 years as a W-2 academic anesthesiologist to a 1099 private practice gig, shares why business ownership has been more stressful than running codes — and why he's still glad he did it. He explains why a $30,000 surprise tax bill finally pushed him to bring in a real tax strategy team (not the February-only compliance CPA most physicians settle for), and the difference between the two. The conversation digs into the Medscape 2025 numbers: 40% of physicians have a side gig, 50% between ages 40 and 50, and 60% say they're doing it for extra income. Most physicians aren't actually trying to leave medicine — they're trying to build enough financial freedom to practice on their own terms. Sometimes a $60,000 side income buys back a day of the week. Justin pushes on the harder questions: What's your goal? What's the actual ROI once you factor in CPA fees, self-employment tax, and the brain space business ownership demands? Why some physicians thrive in 1099-land and others should sprint back to W-2. They also walk through the practical setup — the deceptively simple three-step LLC-EIN-bank-account process most physicians overcomplicate or skip entirely — and the contract landmine almost no academic physician thinks about: who actually owns the work you do on nights and weekends. Plus the tax-strategy doors most W-2 doctors don't realize are closed to them: S Corp elections, QBI, solo 401(k)s, cash balance plans, and pass-through entity tax. If you're already running a side gig or seriously thinking about one, this is the cheat sheet you wish someone had handed you before you started. What You'll Learn Why 40% of physicians now run a side gig — and the real reason most start one (it's not what you think) The three-step business setup most physicians overcomplicate: LLC, EIN, separate bank account How an employment contract clause can quietly hand your side gig over to your hospital — and how to negotiate it before you sign When a tax strategy team actually pays for itself versus when basic compliance is enough The ROI math on 1099 income: what your side gig really needs to clear after self-employment tax, professional fees, and added complexity Side gigs with lower ceilings but much higher odds of success — and why 90% of online businesses fail Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tom Rathbone joins Tye DeGrange to break down the real challenges of measuring CTV — from probabilistic Nielsen-era methods to where the industry stands today. Tom shares how TVScientific approaches measurement, why holdout testing is still underutilized by most brands, and how to build a test media plan that actually generates signal. Plus: why single-touch attribution fails in a multi-channel world and what it takes to move from vanity metrics to a long-term growth strategy.

PODCAST LAS NOTICIAS CON CALLE DE 18 DE MAYO -  Jenniffer González ahora dice que va a arreglar las finanzas de PR - El Nuevo Día Muere Sammy Marrero el cantante de La Selecta - Primera HoraProyecto para la eutanasia de PR ¿lo apoyarías?- Primera Hora Jefe de OGPe fue botado, pero ahora dicen que renunció - El Nuevo Día Miguel Romero busca demandar en la federal a la AAA por falta de agua - El Nuevo DíaEmergencia por ébola en Congo y Uganda, no hay vacuna - El Nuevo Día MMM hoy voy pa Martins BBQEl mejor y más sabroso pollo asado a la varita de Puerto Rico. Cocinando diariamente comida fresca saludable y sabrosa con un montón de complementos para escoger, arroces, habichuelas, verduras, mofongo,tostones,....MMMM....Esto si es criolloMartins BBQ, TOMANDO todas las medidas de salud y sabor para mantener la mesa boricua al dia con opciones para llamar, recoger o delivery por UBER Eats, y DoorDash.MMM Hoy como en Martin's BBQAsado...Jugoso...SabrosoAlcaldes no tienen cementerios - El Nuevo Día Ataque de drones en planta nuclear de Emiratos Árabes - Reuters Le recortan chavos a 17 agencias del gobierno - El Nuevo Día Cuba supuestamente planifica atacar a USA, y Trump tiene plan de intervención - El Nuevo Día Servicio forestal recomendado cobrar 4 dólares por persona que entre al Yunque - El Nuevo Día Venezuela deporta a Alex Saab el colombiano poderoso y mega aliado de Maduro - Miami Herald NextEra compra Dominion Energy por 67 billones creando una de las empresas más grandes del mundo energético - WSJArrestan 23 incluyendo por masacre del os torturados desnudos - Jay Fonseca PR 51 investigaciones fueron archivadas en Justicia sin encomendarse a nadie incluyendo la de la secretaria de Familia - El Nuevo Día  Apagones son cosa del pasado dice jefe de gobierno - El Vocero 58 mil adultos en ASUME esperan por pagos de deudores - El Vocero Asamblea de estudiantes hoy en UPRRP - El Vocero Mercado de bonos se desploma — Treasury 30 años toca 5.12%, máximo desde 2007. La hipoteca a 30 años en EU está en 6.49%.Petróleo vuelve a dispararse a 106 y 110 - Oil Price Putin va a China a reunión mañana y miércoles - Reuters LOS DATOS DEL DÍABrent:$111.15/barril (+1.73%)WTI:$103.13/barril (+2.09%)Diésel retail EU:$5.64/galón (semana del 11 de mayo)S&P 500:7,408.50 (-1.24% el viernes)Dow Jones:49,526.17 (-1.07%)Bono 10Y EU:~4.63% (máximo desde enero 2025)Bono 30Y EU:5.12% (máximo desde 2007)Euro/USD:~1.17Gas natural (Henry Hub):~$2.83/MMBtuHipoteca 30Y EU:6.49%#martinsbbq#incluyeauspicio 

Photobiomodulation Stroke Recovery: How Laser Therapy Is Restarting Damaged Brains After Stroke For seven years, a woman lived unable to remember faces. She had developed prosopagnosia, a condition that turned every person she met into a stranger, no matter how many times they had been introduced. She kept notes. She took photographs. She built systems to compensate for what her brain could no longer do on its own. Then she sat down for a single laser therapy session with Dr. Robert Hedaya. One session later, the problem was gone. “I can remember the face of the person I worked with this morning and his wife and the dimple on his face,” she told him, describing something she hadn’t been able to do in nearly a decade. What Dr. Hedaya witnessed that day and what he now works to replicate for stroke survivors, people living with aphasia, early dementia, and Parkinson’s, is the result of a therapy called photobiomodulation. And the principle behind it may fundamentally change how you understand your own recovery ceiling. Your Neurons May Not Be Dead. They May Just Be Stuck When a stroke occurs, conventional medicine draws a clear line. Tissue that is destroyed is gone. Deficits that persist beyond the early recovery window are considered permanent. Survivors are told, sometimes gently, sometimes bluntly, that they have plateaued. Dr. Hedaya challenges that directly. In his clinical experience, there is often a population of neurons that survived the stroke intact but are no longer functioning. They are alive. Their cellular architecture is preserved. But they have lost their energy supply, specifically, the ability to produce ATP, the molecule that powers every cellular process in the body. Without energy, these neurons go quiet. They stop firing. From the outside, this looks like permanent damage. But it isn’t. It is dormancy. This mirrors the concept of the chronic penumbra explored in hyperbaric oxygen therapy research, where viable tissue sits in a suspended state, waiting for conditions to change. Dr. Hedaya’s approach is different in method but identical in premise: the brain has not finished recovering. It is waiting for the right signal. Photobiomodulation provides that signal. What Photobiomodulation Actually Does “After the first laser treatment, the problem was gone. Gone. She told me — I can remember the face of the person I worked with this morning.” — Dr. Robert Hedaya Photobiomodulation, also called transcranial laser therapy, delivers precise wavelengths of near-infrared light to targeted areas of the scalp. The photons penetrate through the skull, meninges, and tissue to reach dormant neurons, where they act on the fourth complex of the mitochondrial electron transport chain, the site where nitric oxide accumulates and blocks ATP production. The photons dislodge that nitric oxide. The mitochondria resume normal energy output. The neuron now has what it needs to resume its function. The downstream effects are significant: new synapses form through a process called synaptogenesis, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is produced, inflammation decreases, and misfolded proteins associated with cognitive decline begin to clear. Given energy, the brain begins repairing itself, not because the laser forces it to, but because the cells already know what to do. They were just waiting for the fuel. How QEEG Makes It Precise Not every stroke survivor responds to the same laser parameters or needs treatment in the same regions. This is where Dr. Hedaya’s approach clearly separates from consumer LED helmets or generic light therapy devices. Before any laser is applied, he conducts a quantitative EEG, a brain mapping process that measures electrical activity at 19 points across the scalp. Unlike a standard EEG, which relies on a clinician reading scrolling waveforms visually, QEEG uses AI to analyse thousands of data points and reverse-engineer the source. The result is a functional map: which networks are underperforming, which are overactive, and where pathways between regions have broken down. This is paired with a neuroquant MRI that measures 30 to 40 distinct brain structures volumetrically. Together, they function as a GPS triangulating exactly where the laser should be directed, at what wavelength, power, pulse frequency, and joule delivery for each individual patient. These parameters are adjusted as the patient responds, session by session. This level of precision is what distinguishes clinical photobiomodulation from anything available over the counter. A half-watt LED helmet delivering diffuse light through hair and scalp is not the same intervention. Depression After Stroke – And the Whole-Body Connection Roughly 30% of stroke survivors experience depression in the aftermath. This is not simply an emotional response to a difficult event – it is a physiological outcome with identifiable drivers that conventional psychiatry often does not investigate. Dr. Hedaya’s model, which he calls whole psychiatry, treats post-stroke depression as a downstream expression of broader disruption: hypothyroidism, hormonal imbalance, B12 deficiency, elevated mercury from dietary sources, gut dysbiosis, chronic inflammation, and unresolved neurological stress all play measurable roles. In one of his current stroke cases, treating low thyroid function triggered seizure sensitivity because post-stroke tissue is more vulnerable to excitatory input. That kind of complexity is precisely why a comprehensive functional evaluation must precede treatment. For survivors too depleted to engage with lifestyle changes, Dr. Hedaya will now often begin with laser therapy directly. Once cellular energy is restored, the motivation and capacity to make further changes typically follow. The jump-start, he has found, enables everything else. Is Recovery Still Possible After a Plateau? If you have been told you have reached your ceiling, the core message of this episode is worth sitting with: the plateau is often not a biological fact. It is frequently the consequence of underlying conditions that haven’t been identified, and dormant tissue that hasn’t been activated. “The brain is incredibly plastic,” Dr. Hedaya says. “When you challenge it and give it everything it needs, nutrients, light, hormones, and remove the toxins, great things can happen. There is hope. There is so much hope.” His practice, the Whole Psychiatry and Brain Recovery Center, offers initial consultations via Zoom for those who cannot travel to New Jersey. For survivors with a local physician willing to collaborate, educational consultation is also available. Reach Dr. Hedaya at wholepsychiatry.com. If this episode opened something up for you, Bill’s book – The Unexpected Way That A Stroke Became The Best Thing That Happened follows the full arc of what recovery can become when you stop accepting the ceiling and start questioning it. Find it at recoveryafterstroke.com/book. If the Recovery After Stroke podcast has supported your journey, you can support the show at patreon.com/recoveryafterstroke. This blog is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult your doctor before making any changes to your health or recovery plan. The Laser That Restarts Brains – Dr. Robert Hedaya on Photobiomodulation, QEEG, and Whole Psychiatry After Stroke A laser pointed at the right spot in your brain can restart neurons that stopped working. Dr. Robert Hedaya explains how and who it can help. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy – Dr. Amir Hadanny Highlights: 00:00 Introduction – Photobiomodulation Stroke Recovery 01:09 Dr. Hedaya’s Medical Journey 07:55 Transition to Functional Medicine 10:31 Photobiomodulation Stroke Recovery Applications 19:21 Understanding Laser Mechanisms 24:36 Jumpstarting Healing with Laser Therapy 29:48 Understanding EEG vs. QEEG 34:10 Addressing Depression Post-Stroke 39:38 Holistic Approaches to Recovery 46:20 Patient-Centered Care and Follow-Up 51:38 The Role of Spirituality in Healing Transcript: Introduction – Photobiomodulation Stroke Recovery Dr Bob Hedaya (00:00) After the first laser treatment, the problem was gone. Gone. She told me, she said, my God, I can remember the face of the person I worked with this morning and his wife and the dimple on the face. And I said, what are you talking about? She says, have prosopagnosia. I said, says, can’t remember faces. I have to write down everything that I do and take pictures of everything and every person. I said, my God, it’s gone, gone. that’s when I went home that night and I was like, this doesn’t make any sense. How could this be? There’s nothing about a neurological condition being turned around in one minute. It makes no sense. Dr. Hedaya’s Medical Journey Bill Gasiamis (00:41) Welcome everyone to the Recovery After Stroke podcast. I’m Bill Gasiamis and my guest today is Dr. Robert Hedaya, a board-certified psychiatrist, functional medicine practitioner, and the founder of the Hull Psychiatry and Brain Recovery Center in New Jersey. Dr. Hedaya trained at Georgetown and the National Institute of Mental Health. And over the course of his career, he moved from conventional psychopharmacology into functional medicine after discovering of what was driving his patient’s symptoms had nothing to do with their medications and everything to do with their biology. In more recent years, Dr. Hedaya has added a tool that very few practitioners anywhere in the world are using, QEEG, guided transcranial photobiomodulation. That’s laser therapy, precisely using a functional brain map to reactivate neurons that survived the stroke but stopped working. In this conversation, we get into the science behind photobiomodulation and what it actually does inside the cell. How QEEG brain mapping removes the guesswork from treatment, why post-stroke depression is so often mismanaged, the role of nutrition, hormones, and toxin load in recovery. and why Dr. Hedaya believes the plateau most survivors are told about is not the biological sealing they’ve been led to believe it is. Now, before we get into this episode, if you found this podcast helpful in your recovery, my book, The Unexpected Way That a Stroke Became the Best Thing That Happened goes deeper into the tools and mindset shifts that support long-term recovery and personal transformation. You can find it at recoveryafterstroke.com/book. And if this show has supported you, you can support it at patreon.com/recoveryafterstroke. Now let’s get into it. Bill Gasiamis (02:38) Dr. Hedaya. Welcome to the podcast. Dr Bob Hedaya (02:41) Thank you. Pleasure to be here. Bill Gasiamis (02:43) It is a very good pleasure to have you here as well. The reason being is because I, what we’re going to discuss, but B the way that you came to be on my podcast was through somebody who listens to my podcast, reaching out and saying, need to have this gentleman on your podcast. And I get that a lot. And sometimes it’s like, thank you for the referral, but maybe that’s not for me, but this is definitely for me. Can you give me a little bit of. Dr Bob Hedaya (03:01) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Bill Gasiamis (03:13) background for people who are listening to understand how it is that you and I came to be on the podcast today, but more importantly, like your medical journey to today. Dr Bob Hedaya (03:26) Well, so first of all, I ⁓ was treating a woman who was, let’s say, about 50 years old. She had several strokes. And her husband looked me up, and they came here for treatment. in New Jersey. And ⁓ she had significant improvement in her ability to speak over a short period of time. That’s a little. kind of summary of the situation, but it was ⁓ profound. She still has work to do, a lot of work to do, but she’s doing it and she’s progressing nicely. So that’s, he basically, I guess, decided this needs to get out. And so he contacted you, et cetera, et cetera. In terms of my journey, ⁓ that could take a few hours. So let me try and summarize it. I will say I basically went to medical school, took off six months to study medicine on my own after two years because I really, lot of reasons, but one of them was I just was memorizing things and I didn’t really understand what I was doing. And so I took off six months and I really learned about the human body. I studied, I had a schedule, a very fixed schedule, about 10 hours a day of studying and exercise and eat. was very, you know, I was young and regimented. And I had six books, six subjects that I wanted to get through and I did. And I learned all about the body and different parts of the body, how they interact with each other. And also I was able to understand and predict even certain kinds of processes and problems in the body. So that was an integrative experience, which ⁓ later really served as the foundation for what I do. Fast forward, I was going to be a surgeon, decided to be a psychiatrist instead, because I was fascinated by by the human mind. And what happened was I was trained at Georgetown National Institute of Mental Health in Washington, DC. And then I was in practice for about a year. And I was treating a woman who had panic attacks. And they weren’t getting better after a year. And panic attacks are pretty easy to treat. And so I was like, what’s going on here? She paged me one night after a year, Saturday night. And I remember I had a little beeper, you know, and I went to find a phone booth and, hey, Joanne, what’s going on? It’s midnight, right? She’s talking to me, I’m having a panic attack. And I mean, I still remember the anguish in her voice. You know, it was really, really, really rough to listen to. So Monday morning, I went into the office very early and I’m like, I’m missing something. What am I missing? So I found I had one piece of blood work. had a blood count and the size of her red blood cells was large. and I had seen that and didn’t know what it meant and ignored it. Very little. It wasn’t very large. It was just a little bit out of the norm. And I was trained in hospitals. know, in hospitals, you don’t worry about the little things. You worry about the train wrecks, right? So you never really learn what the little things mean. So here was a so-called little thing and it was ruining her life. Meanwhile, I did some research. It was a B12 deficiency. I gave her B12 injection. And with the first injection, her panic was gone. Transition to Functional Medicine I mean, gone, gone, gone. And I was like, whoa, what else am I missing? Because psychiatry, neuropsychiatry, it’s a revolving door. You go to this doctor, you take these meds, you do this therapy. That works for a while, then you go somewhere else. I figured I’m missing a lot of stuff. And basically, ended up learning. I didn’t know it was called functional medicine, but I ended up learning functional medicine on my own. Wrote a book, got introduced. to Jeff Bland at IFM. contacted me and took formal training and then, you know, that was what I was doing. And I did that, ⁓ put out a second book ⁓ and that was a best seller. And ⁓ the book was called the Anti-Depressant Survival Program. But really it was functional medicine psychiatry or whole psychiatry, which I like to call it. But it’s functional medicine psychiatry, but the publisher wanted… you know, a nice fancy title that would, know, so they decided to call it the Anti-Depressant Program, you know, survival program. Anyway, the best seller and we had thousands of phone calls, we had a lot of publicity and I couldn’t obviously see everybody. So I picked people who had treatment resistant depression and people who had the resources and the motivation or the support to be able to do what they needed to do. And I just treated them with functional medicine. And at this time, you’ve got to realize I was a psychopharmacologist. I was also trained as a psychopharmacologist. So I was doing a lot of psychopharmacology. I mean, a lot. And now I’m doing functional medicine on everybody. And after about three years, I’m noticing that I’m not actually doing that much psychopharmacology anymore. And everybody’s getting better. And the diabetes is going away. and osteoporosis is going away and one woman’s MS lesion in her brain went away and I’m like, what’s going on here? You know what? I might be lying to myself. So maybe I’m paying attention to the positive cases and I’m ignoring the negative. So I hired a statistician to go over all my cases over the course of this period of time, it two or three years. Ended up in 23 cases of treatment resistant depression. ⁓ I wasn’t lying to myself. Every single person went into recovery, not partial remission, not 50 % better, fully recovered by 10 months, every single one. And I was just blown away that, you know, I mean, I was blown away before, but then it was like, well, you’re not really lying to yourself. So that’s what I was doing until 2014 when I retired. I had actually an inaccurate diagnosis. I retired and… turned out it was incorrect. So it was actually really good to be retired, although I missed it terribly, really missed medicine terribly. But it gave me some time. And this is where this kind of starts to relate more to your audience. ⁓ I’m sitting on a hammock for six hours reading a book. Well, you can’t do that when you’re in practice. Bill Gasiamis (10:07) Good thing to do. Yeah. Photobiomodulation Stroke Recovery Applications Dr Bob Hedaya (10:13) That doesn’t happen. So but I was you know in retirement, so I’m reading this book and put two and two together over the course of time and I learned about laser which which they were using in Russia in 1980s and learned how the laser worked and And I was like whoa this could really help the brain and Then I was thinking now. I’m not in practice right, but I’m then I’m thinking but how would I know where to? point the laser in the brain for a patient. And then I keep reading in the book, and then they start talking about in the next chapter about quantitative EEG. And I’m like, oh, that’s how I would know. So I spent the next three years or so actually studying these methodologies. And then in 2017, I want to say, or 2018, I treated my first patient who had early dementia. published this case actually. I was treating her for early dementia. And I had treated her for six months with functional medicine, know, hormones and treating infections, et cetera, et cetera. And she really was much better. And then I was ready to do my first quantitative EEG. And she’s doing much better. She still has some symptoms. And I do the QEG. And actually, if I could share my I don’t know if I can, Okay, so basically what I just sent you is ⁓ how her brain looked after six months of functional medicine, right? So I was shocked because I thought her brain would look much better. And then I said, okay, let’s do the laser. So I knew where to point it because the QEG and this was the shocker. With the first laser, she had a problem. before the laser treatment of facial blindness. I don’t know if you know what that is. It’s people who can’t remember faces. They just met someone, they can’t remember the face. It’s called prosopagnosia. She had acquired it seven years earlier. Bill Gasiamis (12:11) I do. Yeah. Dr Bob Hedaya (12:21) After the first laser treatment, the problem was gone. Gone. She told me, she said, my God, I can remember the face of the person I worked with this morning and his wife and the dimple on the face. And I said, what are you talking about? She says, have prosopagnosia. I said, what? What is proto-diagnosia? I don’t know what that is. She says, can’t remember faces. I have to write down everything that I do and take pictures of everything and every person. I said, my God, it’s gone, gone. that’s when I went home that night and I was like, this doesn’t make any sense. How could this be? There’s nothing about a neurological condition being turned around in one minute. It makes no sense. But then I realized, I reasoned it out, realized, well, she had a population of neurons that were kind of alive, but they were not really functioning. And then I kind of jump started them with the laser and they went about their business and did their job. Bill Gasiamis (13:19) I love it. So, that’s a contrast on what you’re doing as in psychiatry, because psychiatry from, you know, my understanding is, you know, if you, if you speak to somebody who’s been through psychiatry and you ask them, how’s your condition or how is your situation or what has improved, very few people can say, ⁓ well, I’m, I’m better. I’ve overcome it. We’ve moved beyond the resolve that Dr Bob Hedaya (13:27) Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (13:47) Nobody really does that. They kind of just continue to go through the motions of another appointment, another medication, another adjustment in the amount of medication, et cetera. And what you said also seems a little bit ridiculous and kind of too quick. How do you get that kind of a solution that’s meant to take ages? You’re supposed to go through the typical times and it’s supposed to be costly and Dr Bob Hedaya (14:06) Too quick. Bill Gasiamis (14:16) unattainable and all these things. And it makes people feel sometimes I know stroke survivors who come across promises like that from other ⁓ people who talk about ⁓ perhaps ⁓ non-studied, ⁓ no scientific background kind of solutions to stroke and then kind of give everyone a blanket. If we do this, we’ll fix your stroke deficits, which is not true. ⁓ And then And then it leaves people feeling like they got ripped off. If they paid money, it leaves people lost for hope that there is no hope, cetera. And we kind of find ourselves in a, okay, desperate, what do we do now situation, right? And that’s kind of why I got excited when your patient’s husband reached out and said that we should chat. And I had a bit of a look into the kind of work that you do. ⁓ Functional medicine, I’ve heard about heaps. Dr Bob Hedaya (15:00) Hmm. Bill Gasiamis (15:14) And I love that it’s merged with psychiatry because when I started my journey in 2012, overcoming the first brain bladed and the second brain blade six weeks later, I went into functional medicine study to find out not formally, but I started doing what I didn’t know at the time was studying functional medicine and understanding like how I can decrease the inflammation in my brain. and provide the right environment for healing. And the first thing I came across was a book by somebody that you’re gonna know, Mark Hyman. And the book was, ⁓ the book was, ⁓ Eight Fat Get Thin. I read it, not wanting to get thin, I read it ⁓ because it ticked the boxes for the diet that I was gonna use to reduce inflammation in my brain. Dr Bob Hedaya (15:54) Okay. Bill Gasiamis (16:12) And the side effect was I thin. I wasn’t going for that because I was taking medication. was taking ⁓ dexamethasone, which made me put on weight and made these like all these types of ⁓ terrible side effects, but it was helping reduce the inflammation in my brain. So I, I was happy to have it, but I needed to achieve the same outcome as dexamethasone. Dr Bob Hedaya (16:13) I’m kidding. Bill Gasiamis (16:41) or a similar outcome as dexamethasone on a permanent basis without taking dexamethasone to improve the situation in my brain. And then I started to realize that I had a lot of power and I was ⁓ only not guided properly because my physicians, my doctors weren’t able to offer advice in that space. And had I not been the curious kind of guy that I was, I never would have come across Dr. Hyman and some other amazing guys who wrote books at around about that time that were similar in nature. so you’re, and then, and then a little while later, I found there was a Tasmanian, ⁓ psychiatrist, forget her name, but I have her book on my shelf upstairs who wrote a book about, ⁓ psychiatry and food and, the link between food and a good psychiatric outcome. Dr Bob Hedaya (17:15) huh. Bill Gasiamis (17:39) in the brain. And I just thought, okay, there’s much, much more that needs to happen here. Now, this the connections, there’s a lot of connections here. So recently on my YouTube channel, somebody left a comment I wanted to know about red light therapy, and will it help their brain? And I’m like, I have no idea. But let me do some research. I went on to PubMed, I found some articles and wouldn’t you believe it, there is a whole bunch of ⁓ proper data that Dr Bob Hedaya (17:40) You know what? Come on. Bill Gasiamis (18:08) suggests that there is a benefit. The only challenge that I always have with all of these potentially beneficial interventions is there’s no diagnosis done in the first place to determine whether somebody actually is eligible for a particular intervention. And what it sounds like you’re able to do is the diagnostics part and determine their eligibility. Tell me a little bit about why that is important. Dr Bob Hedaya (18:35) Right. Okay, so let me back, I wanna back up, because you said something very important, then I wanna reiterate it. I just gave you before a case of a woman who in five minutes, her problem was gone, right? Not, people should not think that’s the norm, okay? Not the norm. Occasionally it happens, I have a guy who had a head injury and had light sensitivity and confusion in certain situations with light, and one treatment, boom, gone. Understanding Laser Mechanisms People, you know, I have cases like that, but most of the time this is a gradual process. So people should not think it’s a cure-all for everybody. We do have to know who it’s good for. So what we do diagnostically before we do this is I will look at their brain, you know, obviously take some history and all of that business, but we do a quantitative neuroquant MRI. So we look at the different structures inside the brain. You know, we look at… Bill Gasiamis (19:32) Lovely. Dr Bob Hedaya (19:32) 30, 40 different structures. And then we also do a quantitative EEG, which is an electroencephalogram. We measure the electricity in the brain in 19 different places. And then there’s this really AI that takes all this data and it reverse engineers it. It’s called the inverse solution. And you can actually see the pathways, all of the pathways in the brain and the surface areas of the brain. And you can look at that, correlate that with the person’s symptoms. with the neuroquant MRI, it’s like a GPS, right? A triangulation of information and then assuming there’s not a mass or an aneurysm or some reason not to do the laser like an overactive brain or something like that, then we could consider using the laser. And then we also know where we want to do it based on the symptoms, based on the QEG, based on the neuroquant. We will decide what we’re going to target. And then we combine that, sometimes, not always. Bill Gasiamis (20:05) Hmm. Dr Bob Hedaya (20:31) with neurofeedback so we can exercise the areas that we want to exercise or calm down the areas that we want to calm down. And sometimes with hyperbaric oxygen, things like that. And hormones, using hormones or things like that. Bill Gasiamis (20:42) Yep. Hyperbaric oxygen has been a topic that I’ve discussed as well on the podcast and the people that I spoke to about hyperbaric oxygen and guys, I can’t remember right now, but I’ll put a link in the show notes for anyone listening so that you can go and find that episode and have a listen to it. Basically, what I loved about their approach was that they did a massive amount of diagnosis beforehand to determine where the penumbras were and then target those penumbras while the person was in the chamber. by getting them to do certain exercises that would activate those areas and therefore be targeted. So it sounds like the laser therapy is similar. Tell me about the laser. What kind of a laser is it? How does it get targeted to a specific spot? And what does it do when it goes there? I mean, I imagine it just doesn’t point there and go, I’ll illuminate that and it’ll be better. How does it actually work? Dr Bob Hedaya (21:18) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay, so the laser, there are a bunch of different parameters that we have to adjust for each person. So it’s the frequency, how fast is the wavelength? What’s the wavelength? How many times per second is it pulsed? 10 times per second, 40 times per second, 50 times per second. Is it a 8, 10 nanometer wavelength or is it a 1064 wavelength? How many joules are we delivering? you know, where are we delivering it? So there are lots and lots of parameters to adjust, right? ⁓ What does it do? So simple, the first thing that it does, it does many, many things, right? But the very, very first thing it does is it actually releases ATP, the energy molecule, from your mitochondria. So it basically, the photon goes to the fourth channel, the fourth complex in the mitochondria, bumps off the nitric oxide, and that opens the flow of ATP. Well, if your brain, if your neurons have energy, they say, ⁓ energy, ⁓ well, we know what to do with energy. Let’s fix the puddles. Let’s build the roads. Let’s make the connections. Let’s do whatever we got to do. So now you’re getting energy flow. You also get synaptogenesis. You build new synapses. You get production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Bill Gasiamis (23:01) Wow. Dr Bob Hedaya (23:05) You get reduction of inflammation, get reduction of tau proteins and misfolded proteins. ⁓ You get, subjectively, get cognitive enhancement. aphasia, you know, people can start to speak. I mean, I can tell you one story. We used to shave people before doing the laser because I wanted to… Remember, you got a skull, you got the skin, you got all this stuff, right? How are you going to get the light into the brain, right? So we know that only about Bill Gasiamis (23:31) Mmm. Dr Bob Hedaya (23:35) 2.6 % of the light goes through the skull and the meninges and all the layers, right? So we used to shave people because I want to get the hair out of the way, right? At least get rid of some of it. So I had this woman who came to me, this is probably seven years ago, I guess. And at that time, I would not use the laser until I had done functional medicine on the patient. Because I figured, you know, let’s get the terrain straight. the nutrients, the hormones, get rid of the infections, get rid of the toxins, then we’ll apply the sunlight to the brain, to the plant, right? That was my logic. I thought that made perfect sense. So this woman came to me. She was 70 years old, obese. The husband wanted me to give her the laser. She wouldn’t change her diet, not an iota. High blood pressure, obesity. She could not speak. She would not take a medicine. She would not… Bill Gasiamis (24:04) Mm-hmm. Mm. Jumpstarting Healing with Laser Therapy Dr Bob Hedaya (24:33) Like, you name it, non-compliant all the way. Maybe you could say a word or two, that was it. Her husband begged me. I said, listen, it’s a waste, okay? It’s just a waste. I can’t ask her to shave her head. It’s not gonna work. I’m not doing it. He did not stop. So finally, I said, okay, fine, I’ll do it. So I was in my office and I’m making the laser plan. And I’m just writing, and something pops out of my mouth, God, I need a miracle. So I go into the laser room, and I start doing the laser. She starts talking. I have tears. He has tears. She starts talking. So by the end of like 20 sessions, I’m sitting with her having a 45-minute therapy session, because it turns out she was really severely abused when she was young. ⁓ She’s having a whole conversation with me. Turns out she’s psychotic also now. She’s also a psychotic and we didn’t know. So she needs to take some medicine for the psychosis because in the middle of the night, she’s going around with a baseball bat and she wants to like do, and she wouldn’t take medicines, I had to stop the laser. But that was an amazing thing because that was one, but with aphasia, typically it’s more gradual, much more gradual. But I have had a couple of patients where, and a woman came from Chicago and she just started talking also. So everyone’s different. You can’t necessarily come into this expecting that kind of thing is wonderful when it happens, but you Bill Gasiamis (26:14) Yeah. I love the fact that you can intervene with a laser, but also people can intervene with all the things that you said that that patient wasn’t doing beforehand. And that you that’s the top of the hierarchy of how you approach healing the brain is you do all those things. And then you supplement with ⁓ with a therapy like laser or whatever. And you kind of combine that and you make Dr Bob Hedaya (26:25) Yeah, yeah, you got it. Bill Gasiamis (26:42) like the, you make a soup of amazing things that all come together at the same time to support you together. And laser is just one of those things, but all the hierarchy like is so important because Dr Bob Hedaya (26:48) Yeah. It’s all important, all important. But I will tell you this. I have come to the point now where I believe that like people come to me and they don’t want to do anything and I’m like, okay, because I can jumpstart you, assuming you’re a good candidate. I can jumpstart you with the laser. I could just jumpstart you and then once I’ve jumpstarted you, say, ⁓ yeah, okay, I’ll do this. ⁓ okay, I’ll do a little of this. I’ll do a little. Because I’m bypassing everything and I’m giving you energy. Right? And so if you have energy, then, you know, there’s a lot that you can do that you couldn’t do before. So I kind of switched my model, really, only because of the accident of this guy who insisted I give his wife the laser, you know. Bill Gasiamis (27:30) Yeah. That’s not a way to go. mean, ⁓ there isn’t one way to solve a problem. there’s probably many iterations of, know, like how you can put that particular, like intervention together for a person that could specify for that individual, we’re going to go down this approach for you. You were going to go down this approach to get you going. Since you have all these, ⁓ challenges and energy is difficult. Maybe we’ll go directly with the laser and then Dr Bob Hedaya (27:46) Bye. Mm-hmm. Bill Gasiamis (28:09) We give you the skills, the energy, Dr Bob Hedaya (28:09) That’s right. That’s right. Bill Gasiamis (28:12) the training, the coaching, the support to implement the rest of the stuff that you need to implement to continue providing the right ⁓ space for your brain to heal in ongoing so you’re not just relying on laser. Dr Bob Hedaya (28:14) Yeah. ⁓ Yeah, yeah Yeah, if someone comes to me post stroke for example and the laser is appropriate I’m not gonna say well, we’ll get around to laser in six months. I’m not gonna do that They need relief they need help if it can help them Let’s do that. Let’s jump on that and you know, and then is the other stuff we need to do will do it And there’s usually stuff to do ⁓ But I want to get the healing remember the laser is healing It’s clearing out proteins, reducing inflammation, increasing blood flow, synaptogenesis, doing all these good things over the course of time. So you really want to get that process going, I feel, as soon as you can. then, okay, now you can work on the diet that’s going to take some time, check the hormones, make sure there’s no infections, toxic element, you know, all that functional medicine stuff. Maybe you need some medication for depression, you know, it’s having a… a phaser or a stroke or a head injury or some of things like this, they turn your life upside down better than I know. It’s ⁓ incomprehensible, really. Bill Gasiamis (29:26) Yeah, really. Yeah, really challenging. With a laser, how much laser for how long, how often? Understanding EEG vs. QEEG Dr Bob Hedaya (29:37) Great question. So let me say a couple of things. First of all, we have laser and then we have the LED helmets, right? You’ve read about and read the helmets, right? So there are a lot of studies on the helmets. There’s a question of whether they’re really having a direct effect because for a few reasons. Number one, it’s LED, it’s not a laser. Number two, the voltage is so low, if you’re only getting 2.6 % through and it’s so low to begin with, what do you think you’re actually delivering into the tissue? know, it’s hard to imagine that you’re delivering much. there, know, Henderson, I think, wrote an article where he showed there’s no penetration into the brain. But the studies do show cognitive benefit. So it could be an indirect effect or, you know, all the studies are done by the companies that make the… the helmet, there could be some bias. I don’t know the answer there. The laser ⁓ itself is more potent, so we’re doing, say, 30 watts. So the equivalent of a 30-watt light bulb, right? They might be doing half a watt, a very, very, very dim light bulb. We’re doing 30 watts. Now, we’re targeting the area or areas that we want to hit. Now, it goes through 2.6. Bill Gasiamis (30:34) devices. Dr Bob Hedaya (31:03) 5 % of it goes through. And then of course it’s going to be diffused, right? And it’s going to hit the surface tissues more. 1064 will penetrate deeper into the brain, but you don’t really have to go that deep because there’s downstream effects that happen, right? So we really, and then we adjust the parameters depending on how someone does. for example, you know, I had a woman who I was treating And actually it was the patient who her husband contacted you. I was treating her with a certain amount of energy and then after about five sessions I went up, I doubled the energy and boom, she had a response. But we have no way of knowing that’s what she needed. It’s all a calculation. But she, you know… Bill Gasiamis (31:39) Yes. Dr Bob Hedaya (32:00) Whatever it is, the thickness of the skull or the membranes or whatever it is, that’s what you needed and that’s what worked. Bill Gasiamis (32:06) Yeah. Tell me about ⁓ QEEG. So let’s dive deeper into it a little bit because we kind of glossed over it. I think it’s important to discuss how it’s different from EEG, ⁓ what EEG is and then what the Q adds to EEG. Dr Bob Hedaya (32:24) OK, so the EEG, imagine somebody, you put a cap on, and it has all these electrical wires that are measuring the electricity that comes, that’s on your scalp. It’s coming from your brain, but it’s measured at the scalp. And each one is measuring the energy from that spot, comparing it to other spots. And then you might, your viewers might remember. all those squiggly lines, you’ll see like 19 or 20 squiggly lines and you’re like, what is this spaghetti? I don’t know what this is. And I mean, even in medical school, we looked at it and our eyes would glaze over because who knows what it is. So the neurologists look at it and they’ll scroll through it and look for certain patterns to see is there a seizure or is there area of damage where there’s a lot of slowing like the frequency of the electricity slows down if there’s tissue damage, right? And they look visually to see what they can find. But we know with AI, you can get the patterns that you can determine. There’s no way the human mind, the human eye, a trained eye, I don’t care how long you’ve been looking at EEGs, there’s no way you can extract this data that we now extract. So the quantitative is actually looking at the quantity of this, what’s going on here versus the quantity of electricity that’s here versus what’s here versus what’s here. And then all of that is calculated and they say, ⁓ well, if this is high and this is here and this is low here and this is this, well, that means they’re coming from this deeper place here and that’s under functioning. And, you know, that’s done over thousands, thousands of points in a very short order, very short order. It’s amazing. I can’t imagine practicing without this. So now I can look at the thalamus. I can look at the putamen. Addressing Depression Post-Stroke Bill Gasiamis (34:07) Mm-hmm. Dr Bob Hedaya (34:17) In my office, I can do these tests in my office. If a patient is my patient, I can send the QEG to their home and do it in their home. And I get this imagery that’s immensely better than a spec scan. It’s not an MRI, an MRI structure. This is function. Okay, this is function. It tells us how different parts are functioning. Bill Gasiamis (34:40) What’s lighting up? What’s not lighting up? What could be lighting up better? What’s not going to light up anymore? Dr Bob Hedaya (34:45) What’s the information flow? How is the flow going from here to here? How about this network? Is this network working? Is this network overworking? Is it underworking? How about the neuron populations that are firing when I’m relaxed? How are they doing? How about the ones when I’m thinking? How about the ones when I’m thinking fast? How about the populations when I’m emotional? We can look at all those populations and see what’s going on with those populations. And then we can actually target them. train them, et cetera. And then we have that data that we treat, and then we measure and see is it getting better? Do we need to change the protocol? It’s not helping, it is helping, et cetera. Bill Gasiamis (35:29) Yeah. with stroke, so many things come from stroke that people are not equipped to handle. You know, firstly, all of the, ⁓ the parts relating to, ⁓ simply the person discovering them, they’re, they’re immortal after all, you know, you become a mere mortal immediately and you kind of work out the most terrible thing that could have happened to me happened. My brain is injured and all these things go away. Right. And then. Unfortunately, like I think it’s 30 % the studies of people who experienced stroke will then also experience depression. Like as if recovering from stroke isn’t enough and all the deficits that you also have to recover from depression. What’s it like? How can that be supported with this particular method, this approach that we’re discussing here today? Dr Bob Hedaya (36:28) So ⁓ kind of separate from stroke, ⁓ treat treatment resistant depression with laser all the time. With stroke, we use the laser, but you have to watch the QEG to make sure you’re not getting overstimulation, number one. Number two, I learned this with the patient that referred me to you, ⁓ that after, put us in touch, there was actually a central Bill Gasiamis (36:44) huh. for us in touch. Dr Bob Hedaya (36:58) hypothyroidism, meaning the low thyroid function, right? And we had to treat that, but the problem was as we treated that, there was a supersensitivity and because the tissues after stroke are more vulnerable to seizures, the patient actually had a seizure. She was actually having seizures we didn’t know, mild seizures. And then when we treated the thyroid, then we actually ended up having seizures. now we have to support, you need thyroid function to be good in order to not be depressed, right? If you have low thyroid, you’re much more likely to be depressed in the face of a stroke or other stresses. So we were kind of a little bit of a bind there because we went and treated, but it’s too sensitive. So anyway, we’re actually threading that needle nicely and we’re moving slowly and carefully and keeping, there’s no seizure activity now. But you have to treat the depression because of the depression itself. Bill Gasiamis (37:29) Yep. Dr Bob Hedaya (37:55) is a big problem because you know to recover from stroke, man, you gotta work hard. You gotta keep a good attitude. gotta have your eye on the ball. There’s no room for like… I’m going to give up. There’s no room for that. I mean, of course you feel it and I mean, it’s all natural feelings, but you have to really be determined and that’s essential. so with depression that is ⁓ really can get in the way. So we treat it. The laser can treat it. Sometimes pharmacology, sometimes therapy, sometimes yoga, know, hyperbaric, all these things that we do with the nutrition, making sure the hormones are right. All these things work together, you know. Bill Gasiamis (38:14) Yeah. I love all of those things that you mentioned. And then all of a sudden you just throw in yoga. mean, it just, it’s so counterintuitive, isn’t it? When you have a conversation about all these acronyms and all these tests and lasers and all that kind of stuff, and then you just throw in yoga casually like that. It’s, and we underplay it, but it’s such a massive thing in the picture of what creates the environment for a good recovery, but also I love that you mentioned the thyroid in that conversation as well about depression and what can also be a trigger to depression and people may have depression, never check their thyroid and not know that it’s a thing. Now I’ve had thyroid surgery, have ⁓ half of my thyroid removed because I had a massive ⁓ goiter on one side and that was such a difficult thing to discover and have to go through 16 months after brain surgery. but they only discovered it after my brain surgery when they did a chest x-ray, because I wasn’t recovering properly and they found that I had this goitre which would have been there for a long, long time impacting my health and all sorts of things. And I make that point because often people who have had a stroke and can’t speak, for example, have aphasia, ⁓ or their arm doesn’t work or the leg doesn’t work properly, will say, I just wanna fix this thing. If I could speak, Dr Bob Hedaya (39:40) No. Holistic Approaches to Recovery Bill Gasiamis (40:09) everything’s better, but they’ve never looked at the other things that may be contributing to keeping the speech at a level which is not good enough for them, for example, to be comfortable with. And it’s like this one track mind, I’ll just get my speech back, I’ll get my speech back, you what do I need to do? Or make it go, get back for me. There’s often no looking into the other things that might be causing depression, for example. Dr Bob Hedaya (40:31) Thank you. Bill Gasiamis (40:38) After stroke, know for a fact that the gut gets impacted ⁓ very dramatically from a stroke and the gut is highly linked to ⁓ mood and how you feel. And nutrition is what supports the gut to feel better and taking out things from the diet that are ⁓ making the gut sluggish and not work appropriately will ⁓ improve your mood and how you feel. It’ll make a difference and Dr Bob Hedaya (40:59) Okay. Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (41:08) and it’ll add to one of those little tools that supports depression and makes depression less impactful and you have less swings, et cetera. And that’s kind of the point that you’re making is that you don’t just turn up and do psychiatry. We’re gonna do psychiatry, treat you pharmacologically and then send you on your way and then see you in six, 12, eight months again or whatever and then just repeat the process again. It’s a whole, know, holistic is the word that you hear, but it is a broader conversation that people need to be having. And that sounds like what you guys do. It sounds like the conversation doesn’t encompass, it encompasses everything. It doesn’t just focus on one intervention. Dr Bob Hedaya (41:56) That’s why I call it whole psychiatry. But it really should be whole neuropsychiatry or whole brain or, you know, but it’s whole body, whatever you want to call it. It’s really more than the body because obviously the social connections play a big role as well, you know. So yeah, everything you’re saying is 100 % true and it’s all real. Everything you’re saying is real. Everything you do. mean, simple things going back to the B12. You you need B12 to… Bill Gasiamis (41:58) Yeah. Dr Bob Hedaya (42:26) remyelinate your neurons. need to keep the mercury, by the way, got to keep the mercury levels low. know, the mercury, if you’re eating tuna fish or swordfish and you have high mercury levels, know, the mercury will actually prevent you from making new branches. The mercury actually will bind on tubulin, which is like a brick that you need to build new roads. And it will prevent the tubulin from building new roads in your brain. So here you are working hard trying to… Bill Gasiamis (42:28) Mmm. Dr Bob Hedaya (42:54) do things and you’re a can of ⁓ whatever tuna fish with loads of mercury two, three, four times a week. Well, that’s not working, you know. So that’s why you really want to look at the whole thing. It’s a lot. It’s really a lot. You know, it’s a big program, but you you take, take steps. Everybody has different needs or not everybody has to do everything. Bill Gasiamis (43:04) Yeah. Yeah. Not everybody needs to do everything to achieve significant results, but it’d be amazing to be able to find the things and target those, the ones that you’re to get the most bang for buck on. So you’re to putting time and effort into things that are not getting results. For example, an led hat from, uh, Amazon for $9 that you put on your head. And it’s basically just a red light hat. It’s not really doing the thing, right? Dr Bob Hedaya (43:32) Hmm. Ha ha ha. Bill Gasiamis (43:49) And that’s kind of why I started to have that conversation and do a little bit of research in what they, know, what’s medically known as or scientifically known as photo bio modulation, you know, the idea is great, but then it came to me from somebody who I imagine was looking at a seven or eight or $9, $10 cap with red lights that put on the head and they Dr Bob Hedaya (44:00) Right. Bill Gasiamis (44:15) paid money for a cap and hoping for an outcome and they didn’t get an outcome and then they’re wondering why. I suggest when people are looking into those topics, is gonna go and have a look at the science, what it says about the nanometers of the type of light that you need to be experiencing, how, where, who, and always do these things with medical supervision. It really challenges me when I find out people do things like, know, methylene blue was a thing. Dr Bob Hedaya (44:44) Right. Bill Gasiamis (44:45) uh, very recently and people will just go get a bottle of Methylene blue from somewhere and just start taking it and have no idea what they’re doing and, and, and, know, what they could hope for. They could be making things worse than for themselves and actually making themselves, um, like make things a lot harder for themselves. So, uh, my point is this all needs to be done under medical supervision. Typically when you, somebody reaches out to you, how do you begin the conversation and then how does that person engage with you? And then what happens after they’re treated? Because often I know from my experience with all my neurologists, et cetera, very rarely do I see anybody a second time, six months, 12 months, 18 months, five years down the track. You usually go in, they patch you up, they send you home, you get back to your life and then maybe you do one MRI. Dr Bob Hedaya (45:36) Really? Bill Gasiamis (45:44) ⁓ for a few years after brain surgery just to make sure that everything’s stable. But that’s about it. Nobody follows up with you. Dr Bob Hedaya (45:52) No, it’s a whole different ball game with us. No. So what we do first is ⁓ if someone will contact us through the website, which is wholepsychiatry.com, they will actually fill out a form. And if we feel that it looks like we might be able to be helpful to them, then we will send them a welcome letter. And then they will have the opportunity to meet with our new patient coordinator at no charge. Patient-Centered Care and Follow-Up and she’ll talk with them for 15 to 30 minutes and kind of tell them what’s going on and see if they, you know, the fit is good, et cetera. And then they have an opportunity if they want to meet with me on Zoom for 15 to 30 minutes and ⁓ I’ll figure out, can I help them? Can I not help them? Is it a good fit, et cetera? And then if it looks like, you know, green light and they decide they want to move forward and it makes sense, then we’ll schedule an evaluation. The time duration of the evaluation depends on what kind of patient. It could be a couple of hours, could be four and a half hours. But usually for neurological patients, straightforward, it’s a shorter evaluation. And before the evaluation, we’ll collect the neuro-quant and the QEG and the old records, et cetera. And then I will go through all of that data plus lab data that we collect. And I will then have an idea. Okay, what’s going on here? Now there’s all these things. There’s digestion, there’s nutrition, there’s immune function, inflammation, toxins, hormones, all the hormones, structural issues, chiropractic issues, traumatic brain injury, cardiovascular issues, et cetera. We look at all of that and then to see what are the players here and spiritual, social resources, connectivity. We look at all of this. And then we have a whole picture of what’s going on. And then we can figure out, okay, how do we want to approach this? And sometimes we approach it very lightly. Say we just start with the laser, that’s it. Or sometimes somebody says, no, I want to really get in there and fix everything that’s wrong. Okay, well, we identified these five or six things that need correction. So let’s stage this in order. And that’s what we’ll do. And everyone’s different. And then we have follow-up depending on what we need in two weeks, in a month, six weeks, not usually six weeks. Once things are stable, it could be every two, three months or four months. But in the meantime, I’m in the boat rowing, paddling with them. That’s the way I do it. I treat people, really, I try to treat people just like I would want to be treated myself, like I would want my family to be treated. I do the very best. I love what I do, you know what I mean? I just love what I do and I try to do the best, highest quality. And it’s not that I’m perfect, not that I don’t make mistakes, ⁓ not that I know everything because that’s for sure that I don’t, but that’s my approach. So I try to be in the boat with the patient. As long as the patient’s paddling, I’m paddling just as hard, if not. Bill Gasiamis (49:02) Yeah, it sounds like at least if things, if you don’t make the right approach initially, there’s a whole bunch of tools and resources and things that you can kind of focus on. And one of the things you mentioned, again, you glossed over it, but I love that you do this is spiritual. Like it might be a spiritual journey that the person needs to take. And it’s so overlooked because people, you know, do have… Dr Bob Hedaya (49:22) yeah. yeah, yeah. Bill Gasiamis (49:30) existential crisis after a stroke. it’s like a spirituality helps somehow for a lot of people ease, heal that, ⁓ help people move through, you know, the weeds and come out into the opening and then kind of see the opportunities and where they need to go next. And people don’t need to engage with somebody like you to go on a spiritual journey. That might just be something they’ve ever looked and they can just go, you know what, I’m going to pick up the Bible or ⁓ I’m going to learn about this particular ⁓ spiritual journey or whatever and go through it and do whatever it is that they need to do to kind of start beginning the healing journey in their own special unique way. It’s really important that spirituality gets addressed and it’s not glossed over. And I’m not saying that you did or I did or we do, but in the back of the minds, stroke survivors may not consider that being important. The Role of Spirituality in Healing Dr Bob Hedaya (50:31) Yeah, first of all, I’m passionate about spirituality. I mean, passionate because the truth, in my opinion, is that consciousness, your level of awareness is really consciousness is the foundation, the substrate of everything that exists. The material is an outflow from consciousness. So I could talk about this forever. Not everyone is oriented this way. So, you know, I just saw a businessman, very successful businessman ⁓ last week. He doesn’t want to just, you know, get me back online. OK, I don’t want to hear this mumbo jumbo and I just can’t. I don’t want to delve into it. Just get me better. know. But other people are like, I want to find the meaning, you know, and it’s very important. to find the when I think generally for most people finding the meaning in it is critical. And I’ll say one thing, my mother, may she rest in peace, was in the emergency room, probably 25, 30 years ago, I don’t know, something was wrong, she was in the emergency room for seven, eight hours or whatever, and some guy comes by and says, ma’am, can I get you a sandwich? And she says, oh yeah, please, please get me a sandwich. He gets her a tuna fish sandwich, whatever it is, right? He leaves. She’s so grateful. She’s so grateful that she volunteers in the hospital for 20 years. Okay? This guy has no idea what he did and all the people that he helped through her, right? So you’re, you you and you’re not just you, but we, each of us in our small minds, we have no idea. the impact we have on other people. So if it’s important to a person to have a meaningful life, understand that you don’t have to be running a company. You can smile at a stranger, change their day. There are things that you can do and you have an impact. Now, that’s a small consolation when you’re dealing with a stroke, obviously, but that’s when you kind of want to work to a meaningful ⁓ attitude and a good attitude. So yes, the spirituality is… many people very important. Bill Gasiamis (52:54) David who brought us together ⁓ wanted me to meet you so I could interview you. that part of the role that he played in what happened to his wife ended becoming something that helped other people. Isn’t it interesting? The whole journey started on. Dr Bob Hedaya (53:15) Exactly. Bill Gasiamis (53:20) He contacted me because he wanted to make something good come of what happened to his wife, which I’m sure his wife was also interested in. And he said, you need to get Dr. Hedaya on because we need to share more information, make this stuff aware. so, and I’m like, well, that’s perfect. Of course I do. Whoever comes to me with that kind of information because they want to help other stroke survivors because he’s hoping that other caregivers that are in his shoes have a better outcome. They have more support. They have more information. They have more tools. Dr Bob Hedaya (53:27) Mm-hmm. Bill Gasiamis (53:50) That’s the spiritual journey. You don’t have to call it ⁓ Christianity, Judaism. You don’t have to call it something. You don’t have to label it, but that is what spirituality looks like in practice. Dr Bob Hedaya (53:56) Right. Right. That’s exactly it. That’s exactly it. And it gives me chills because, you know, I know his wife is suffering, you know, and ⁓ but she’s making really great headway, but it’s hard, you know. But look at look that he’s reaching out and he cares enough about other people and to and make her journey and what she’s gone through and what she’s learned be useful to other people. That’s it. That’s just beautiful. I mean, that that speaks volumes about him and her. Bill Gasiamis (54:32) It does absolutely and her and your work because your work is not unique. You’re not the only one doing this kind of work. I think there’s only kind of a small percentage of ⁓ medical professionals in the field that are practicing in this way. And hopefully that continues to grow. ⁓ If somebody wanted to, well, somebody lots of people are listening to this today. If anyone wanted to reach out ⁓ who thinks, you know, that they might be able to ⁓ benefit from or go down this kind of approach. How should they go about that? What questions should they be asking of you, et cetera? Like how do they begin? Because this is a different conversation than I have ⁓ neurological injury, have aphasia. It needs to be positioned differently, this conversation. Dr Bob Hedaya (55:29) Tell me what you mean. I’m not really clear what you’re saying. Bill Gasiamis (55:33) If somebody wants to find a clinician who practices the way that you practice, you guys, for example, you know, you know, who thinks about the brain in a different way. What, what should they be looking for and what. Dr Bob Hedaya (55:38) Aha, I see, I see. I would say that they should go to the website for the Institute for Functional Medicine. And there’s a tab. This is find the practitioner. And make sure you look for a practitioner that is certified, fully certified. And then investigate the practitioners who are in your area and see if they experience. in this area. there are not I’m not aware of, there’s a guy somewhere in the Midwest here who’s using a laser, I believe. And then maybe other people that I don’t know about using lasers, but I’m not aware of anybody that I could say, go see this person for this quantitative EEG guided transcranial photobiomodulation. I’m not saying that that is readily available. It’s not. But the whole functional medicine thing, there are a lot of practitioners. And I think that’s the way to go there. Just do your homework. Bill Gasiamis (56:48) Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Your organization is whole psychiatry and the brain recovery center. Is that right? Okay. So the psychiatry part of it, ⁓ people might be listening and going, well, that doesn’t apply to me, the specific word specifically doesn’t need to apply to an individual to engage with you because, we’re not just dealing with the psychiatry part of somebody’s recovery. Dr Bob Hedaya (56:56) Yeah. Right. Thank you. No, no, we’re dealing, we treat psychiatric, but we treat neurological. You know, I started as a psychiatrist. was, you know, certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, but I was doing psychiatry. then, you know, just following, you know, learning and whatever, I ended up, you know, doing some neurology here. And so, but we didn’t change the name to the whole neuropsychiatry and brain recovery. Maybe we should, or maybe the whole brain recovery center or something like that. So, you we do both, no, and if, and if, I can’t be helpful, of course, I’m going to tell people this, we really don’t want to waste people’s time, energy, money, et cetera. ⁓ But it’s, it’s been, you know, I have to say an amazing journey. And I would say when you follow for me, this is me, my life, following my passion of learning about the brain and understanding the brain and Bill Gasiamis (57:45) Yeah. Dr Bob Hedaya (58:14) looking for the fundamentals of how do things work and just there’s a common sense in medicine. I looked at the laser when I was reading that book and I was like, wow, ATP in the brain, that could really help the brain. How would I

KI macht technisches Wissen für alle Nutzer zugänglich. Der wahre Erfolg hängt nun von deiner Taktik ab. Validiere KI-Ergebnisse immer kritisch mit deinen eigenen Daten. Willst du tiefer in diese Themen eintauchen? Dann komm am 21. September zum Ads Camp nach Köln. Dort trifft sich die Elite zum echten Wissensaustausch. Sichere dir jetzt dein Early-Bird-Ticket bis zum 21. Juni unter [www.adscamp.de](https://adscamp.de/). Wenn Du über alles aktuelle im Social Ads Kosmos Bescheid wissen möchtest, abonniere gerne unseren Podcast. Hier kriegst Du deinen wöchentlichen Nerds-Input. 🤓 Hier geht es zum [Blog](https://www.dienerds.com/blog), zu unseren [offenen Stellenanzeigen](https://www.dienerds.com/jobs-bei-den-nerds) und zu unserem [Kontaktformular](https://www.dienerds.com/kampagnensteuerung).

KI macht technisches Wissen für alle Nutzer zugänglich. Der wahre Erfolg hängt nun von deiner Taktik ab. Validiere KI-Ergebnisse immer kritisch mit deinen eigenen Daten. Willst du tiefer in diese Themen eintauchen? Dann komm am 21. September zum Ads Camp nach Köln. Dort trifft sich die Elite zum echten Wissensaustausch. Sichere dir jetzt dein Early-Bird-Ticket bis zum 21. Juni unter [www.adscamp.de](https://adscamp.de/). Wenn Du über alles aktuelle im Social Ads Kosmos Bescheid wissen möchtest, abonniere gerne unseren Podcast. Hier kriegst Du deinen wöchentlichen Nerds-Input.

KI macht technisches Wissen für alle Nutzer zugänglich. Der wahre Erfolg hängt nun von deiner Taktik ab. Validiere KI-Ergebnisse immer kritisch mit deinen eigenen Daten. Willst du tiefer in diese Themen eintauchen? Dann komm am 21. September zum Ads Camp nach Köln. Dort trifft sich die Elite zum echten Wissensaustausch. Sichere dir jetzt dein Early-Bird-Ticket bis zum 21. Juni unter [www.adscamp.de](https://adscamp.de/). Wenn Du über alles aktuelle im Social Ads Kosmos Bescheid wissen möchtest, abonniere gerne unseren Podcast. Hier kriegst Du deinen wöchentlichen Nerds-Input. 🤓 Hier geht es zum [Blog](https://www.dienerds.com/blog), zu unseren [offenen Stellenanzeigen](https://www.dienerds.com/jobs-bei-den-nerds) und zu unserem [Kontaktformular](https://www.dienerds.com/kampagnensteuerung).

Parenting kids with big, baffling behaviors is hard enough. THEN someone has opinions about it. This episode breaks down why people say the things they say, what's actually happening in you when judgment lands, and how to respond- or not respond- in a way that protects your own regulation.In this episode:Why unsolicited advice and criticism are almost always a projection from the other person's protection brain How to recognize when explaining yourself won't actually help Practical ways to respond to judgmentScripts"Thank you. I'm comfortable with our parenting decisions.""I hear you. I need to tend to my child right now."Neutral / Redirect"We've got it covered, thanks.""We have a lot of support around this.""I have people I go to for that.""That's not something I'm looking for input on.""We're working with someone on it."Warmer with a Clear Boundary"I appreciate that you care. We're good.""Thanks for thinking of us — we've got support."Confident / Firmer"I'm not looking for advice, but thank you.""That's not actually something I'm open to feedback on.""We're pretty settled on how we're handling it.""I'm not going to take that in, but I hear you."For the chronic offender"We've talked about this- we're not changing course.""I've let you know this isn't something I want input on."The subject-change version"Mmm. Anyway…" (and move on)"Noted." (full stop)Read the full transcript at: RobynGobbel.com/judgementThe Club is welcoming new members starting next Tuesday! Set yourself a calendar reminder and then head to RobynGobbel.com/TheClub on Tuesday so you can get instant access to a community, resources, and the change to pick Robyn's brain! Let's hang out this summer at two different trainings for professionals!Therapy with Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors- June 1 & 2 in Syracuse, NY RobynGobbel.com/NYPresence in Practice- July 15, 16, & 17 in Rockford, MI (outside Grand Rapids) RobynGobbel.com/Michigan2026 :::Grab a copy of USA Today Best Selling book Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors robyngobbel.com/bookJoin us in The Club for more support! robyngobbel.com/TheClubSign up on the waiting list for the 2027 Cohorts of the Baffling Behavior Training Institute's Immersion Program for Professionals robyngobbel.com/ImmersionFollow Me On:FacebookInstagramOver on my website you can find:Webinar and eBook on Focus on the Nervous System to Change Behavior (FREE)eBook on The Brilliance of Attachment (FREE)LOTS & LOTS of FREE ResourcesOngoing support, connection, and co-regulation for struggling parents: The ClubYear-Long Immersive & Holistic Training Program for Parenting Professionals: The Baffling Behavior Training Institute's (BBTI) Professional Immersion Program (formerly Being With)

And we're back... Iggy's wardrobe is the early entry point for the texters & YouTube commentors. MMM vs. MMF vs. MMF. What percentage of the US population have had a threesome? Forbes somehow did a story on this. Iggy's perspective on the matter. The in's and out's of the Lifestyle. Iggy's career as a bull. Scramble golf talk. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

“Giving up is not failure; it’s a strategic move.” In this episode, Nick speaks with Cleous Young about his journey of self-discovery, the importance of interests in life, and how giving up redundant pursuits can lead to greater fulfillment. They explore mindset shifts, the power of curiosity, and the role of legacy in personal growth. What to listen for: The role of interests in personal growth The concept of giving up and making space for new opportunities The importance of self-awareness and curiosity Legacy and the impact of life stories “Your life can be a legacy that inspires others.” Our lives are our own, yet we can serve as an example to others Legacy isn't just what we leave behind, but HOW we leave things behind The way you lead your life may just be the reason why someone makes a change in their own life “I’ve been giving up things because in the back of my mind it’s like, hey, if you let it go, if it comes back, then it’s meant for you.” Most people think “giving up” is failure, but that's not always the case When we let things go from our lives, they make way for new beginnings Changing our perspective on giving up can change the way we maneuver our lives About Cleous “GloWry” Young CleousYoung is an author, speaker, and advocate for personal growth, resilience, and ethical living. Through his unique philosophy and storytelling, he helps both adults and children navigate adversity, discover purpose, and cultivate values such as kindness, integrity, and nobility. Cleous shares practical life lessons and inspiring perspectives to empower people to live intentionally and make a positive impact in their communities. https://cleousyoung.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/cleous-glowry-young-a1856218b/ https://www.instagram.com/cleousyoung/ Resources: Interested in starting your own podcast or need help with one you already have? Learn how I can help! Learn more about our host, Nick McGowan. Thank you for listening! Please subscribe on iTunes and give us a 5-Star review! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mindset-and-self-mastery-show/id1604262089 Listen to other episodes here: Click Here To View The Episode Transcript Watch Clips and highlights: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk1tCM7KTe3hrq_-UAa6GHA Guest Inquiries right here: podcasts@themindsetandselfmasteryshow.com Your Friends at “The Mindset & Self-Mastery Show” Click Here To View The Episode Transcript Nick McGowan (00:02.126)Hello and welcome to the Mindset Self Mastery Show. I’m your host, Nick McGowan. Today on the show we have Cleus Young. Cleus, how are you doing today? Cleous GloWry Young (00:12.487)Hey, I’m doing good, good, good. Very good today. Yeah. And you? Nick McGowan (00:17.198)Awesome. My man, I’m excited that you’re here. I’m good. I’m really good. You know, I maybe I can add a few more goods like you did. I appreciate when somebody gives a real answer or when they like, actually when they’re like, I’m good. I’m good. Yeah, I’m good. I’m good. Instead of somebody be like, how are you? I’m shit. This is awful. Fuck. Why did I wake up this morning? That’s a totally different feeling. So Cleous GloWry Young (00:21.957)Okay. Cleous GloWry Young (00:38.447)Yeah. No, I had an event yesterday and it’s a little unique event and it went tremendously well. So it’s like the residual from yesterday is still hanging on today. So it’s like, yeah, woke up feeling good. But then I thought about the event and the outcome and it was like, hey, add some more goods to that. Yeah. Nick McGowan (00:52.632)Yeah. Nick McGowan (01:02.924)Yeah, cool. I love that riding on a high in a sense. That’s also part of what this show is about. We talk about mindset, self mastery and transformation and being able to understand that some days are gonna be great because you’re riding a high. Some days you might be grieving because of the thing that happened the day before. And there’s stuff to get into all of that. So why don’t you kick us off? Why don’t you tell us what you do for a living and what’s one thing most people don’t know about you that’s maybe a little odd or bizarre. Cleous GloWry Young (01:06.194)Yeah. Cleous GloWry Young (01:19.379)yeah. Cleous GloWry Young (01:29.371)So I work in the community. I have a nonprofit and one of the things that we actually particularly specialize in is helping people figuring out things. For me, that’s what I had to do for my own life. So even now I have this context, it’s called transfiguration, where it’s like saying trans, right? Moving from one place to another. And then figuration is that comp. concept of what you would say figure things out, right? So for me for the last say past eight years, I’ve been figuring out things for my own self, not what I’ve been taught, what I’ve been given. And for me, it’s like, hey, this is what I now find applicable that whatever I did for myself, I can also do for somebody else. Perfect example, I hosted an event around trauma and this Three generations of women came to that event, grandma, mom, and daughter, and it’s like they were treating themselves a certain way growing up, right? And it was until they came to the event and they started to figure out that, you know what? This has been a trauma pattern in our life, generation after generation. And it just allowed them to now systematically put different things in place and started to actually move forward. So for me, this is what I do on a day-to-day basis. The one weird thing about me that most people would never understand, like yesterday at the event, people will see me out here doing all these things, but they would never understand that there’s a saying that says never give up, right? I’m somebody who have given up so many times. And it’s interesting, and I didn’t give up because it’s hard. I gave up because it’s redundant. Like I get up every day, I’m seeing the same old thing over and over again. And it’s like, even when you look at self-master, right? So I used to teach. And when I was teaching, it’s like, hey, the students are doing well. And it’s like, when I look at my life, I’m like, whoa, I’m not doing well. They’re doing well. And what I end up doing, I just give up teaching. Like. Cleous GloWry Young (03:52.923)It wasn’t hard. The students are doing well. Like even one of those set of students that I taught, they got the highest score in the entire school in the math. The entire score on what is called the PSSA. Right? That means they’re doing well. Was teaching hard? No. But it just became redundant that I went to school every day doing the same thing over and over again. And I just got up and I just gave up. So continually, I keep giving up. Nick McGowan (04:18.99)Hmph. Cleous GloWry Young (04:23.141)I know the saying that says, don’t give up on your dreams. But for me, I just give things up. And know, you know what’s so funny? I’ve given up so many times and then something else just comes in my way to start a whole new journey. And it’s like, I guess you’re not supposed to finish right here because I’m thinking that, hey, I’m done. Nick McGowan (04:41.44)Yeah. Cleous GloWry Young (04:44.123)And I’m telling you, it’s not because it’s hard. None of the things that I’ve ever done has been hard. It’s just becomes redundant. It’s like you get up every day, you’re doing the same thing. And it’s like you’re looking at the results of the community and it’s like it’s not getting better. And people are putting on this facade that, things are better. No, look at the numbers, look at the killing, look at the violence. It’s like, so at one point I just gave up. And I remember the last time I gave up. Nick McGowan (04:58.318)Mm. Cleous GloWry Young (05:13.105)July 28, 2016. Like this time I just called my mom, Like I just finished school. Two months ago I graduated. Magna cum laude, right? And then two months after I was like, I called my mom and said to my mom, mom, I can’t do this anymore, man. And it was because of the stuff that I learned in school. Like when I tell you it was so redundant, we’re sitting out here trying to do these things, right? Nick McGowan (05:30.894)you Cleous GloWry Young (05:39.092)And it’s like somebody sitting in the background making it hard for us. So when I started to learn certain things about psychology, I was like, wow, I’m just out here wasting my time. So July 28, 2016, I called my mom and I said to my mom, hey, I’m done with this community work. And then I went into behavioral therapist. Funny enough, right? Nick McGowan (05:49.262)You Cleous GloWry Young (06:03.431)So I’m working with students now in the classroom, right? Helping them with their behavior problem. I’m like, hey, I’m done with the community. Let me just find a population that I know that I’m gonna work with on a day-to-day basis. So I’m in the school now and day by day I’m working with the students, right? And then I look around, I’m like, why is everything academic here? Like, don’t they have anything social context around here? And I kid you not, I sat down and I designed this. Look how funny it is. This is what I actually designed. You see that? It says, be the ant. And I was like, something like this need to be in a classroom where they come and they can see that life is more than just academic. Again, I was coming from a teacher, right? And when you told me as a student, you got an A, I’m not impressed. Because I know the ins and outs of getting an A. It’s nothing difficult. You come to school, pay attention, do your work, participate, you get the A. Nick McGowan (06:35.192)Mm-hmm. Nick McGowan (06:46.669)Yeah. Cleous GloWry Young (07:02.129)So when I looked at it, I was like, wow, I’m in here as behavioral therapist helping someone with their behavior. I’m now looking at it from an academic standpoint. Now, like not from teaching, but from a behavior standpoint. And I’m like, why everything in the classroom is so academic? And I sat down and this was the poster that I actually designed. And that literally led me to start looking to go back into community where I just gave up. Nick McGowan (07:24.558)Thanks. Cleous GloWry Young (07:30.011)So that is something that most people don’t know about me. It’s like, Clay C Oatley, you’re doing all these great things. But they would never realize that I’ve given up so many times, not because it’s actually saying hard, because of the redundancy that I keep seeing in the… Nick McGowan (07:46.99)Even just the fact that you consider it giving up and the things are redundant and really the story that you’re telling and how that all worked. You’re making these little shifts and pivots, et cetera. One of the things that I love to nerd out about in my life and obviously here on the show is to take those moments. Like this is sort of a safe space in a sense. We can talk about the craziness and the stuff that’s happened, but this is like a lab where we get to go, well, what actually happened there? Like, what did you do? How does that work? How do we implement it? What changes did we make? Or just watch the damn movie in a sense and go, wow, that was really cool. So I think that’s some of the fun part of living because that’s where we actually get to do the work. Like when you’re in those moments, when that thing comes up and you go, wait a minute, everything’s redundant. This is not what I want to do anymore. You’re kind of still reacting or responding to the situation. And then from there, you really have to rely on the fucking work you’ve done in the past. Cleous GloWry Young (08:20.435)Mmm. Nick McGowan (08:44.846)like these little moments to go, all right, what do we do now? I think of it almost like you’ll have an issue or something that happens and you go, all right, well, that didn’t work out the way I wanted it to. What do I do? Some people will kind of watch their game tape in a sense. Other people will go, I don’t want to go anywhere near it. Like that wasn’t a thing I wanted to do or whatever. And then they run past. So when you talk about giving up, I want us to dive into that a bit because really there are people that have their own businesses. Cleous GloWry Young (09:08.605)Mm-hmm. Nick McGowan (09:14.646)or there are people that are working for a company or they’ve been in a marriage or a relationship or a system for so long, be it a family system, the whole fucking systems that we’re part of, capitalism and everything else. And they’re starting to look at that and go, and well, shit, I wanna give up, but it’s not really giving up like from the interpretation that you could have right off the bat. I can almost guarantee somebody listened to you say, I give up a bunch. Cleous GloWry Young (09:20.211)don’t wanna. Cleous GloWry Young (09:33.139)I need to give up. Nick McGowan (09:43.266)And then what you say where they’re like, well, that’s not really giving up. That’s like giving into where you should be going. And when I think of giving up, could mean this or that or whatever. When people give things up from a negative perspective, because it was like, it was a hard thing to do or didn’t work for them. I think there are some times where we can look at that and go, fuck man, I gave up. Or yeah, you’re damn right. I gave up on this thing. Instead of saying, I moved that out of the way so I can go do these other things. So breaking down that moment, even 2016 or something that happened as of late of like, all right, well, if you give something up, that’s a big choice that you’re making to say, I’m actually removing this because of all the work that happened underneath. So let’s break that apart a little bit. When you give something up, what’s sort of the, I don’t know. Cleous GloWry Young (10:31.61)much. Nick McGowan (10:40.502)not like the framework or like what the fuck process do you do? But if you really think about it, what are you doing in those moments? Because you feel something, you see something, and then you’re making an actual decision to go, moving you because I’m expecting something else to come along. Or am I off from that? Cleous GloWry Young (10:58.895)So a part of it is going to my interest, which is something that I started to pay attention to. Like, what is it that I’m really interested in? And I think you also hit a nail on the head. It’s like, hey, it has come to a point where it’s it stopped. So I remember going into teaching, it’s like, hey, I was promised all these things. And when I looked at it, it was like, hey, these things are not being fulfilled of what I was promised. So it’s like, hey, you know what? I’m going away. So a part of it was looking at it and saying, hey, these are the things that I’m interested in, but those interests are not being met. So it’s like, hey, I’m going to give this up. Why? Because it’s like, I don’t know, for me, my mindset is set on this. So I grew up in a culture where they say if you love somebody, right, let them go. If they come back, then they were meant for you. So that’s my mindset that, when I give up things, it’s like I have this program in me that says, hey, if it comes back, then it was meant for me. If it doesn’t, then let me look for the next thing. Funny enough, even with my, I’m an author. The first book that I wrote, this was 26 years ago. Even that, I let that go and moved on and actually wrote on different books. I’m up to my 10th book now, right? But what came back actually now was my first book, which I just republished and launched last week. So 26 years later, it came back to me and it’s like, lately I’ve been sitting down and I’ve been paying attention and it’s like, okay, this must have been meant for me because it’s no way that I let it go 26 years ago. And then now it’s now back in my life, like showing me the reality of what I needed to do. to the point now I started to concentrate just on this concept for the last couple of months where I’m like, hey, I got this published now, right? So a part of me is like having your mindset where it’s like, hey, yeah, I’m giving this up, but it’s not giving it up because it’s hard. It’s like, where’s the interest in it for me? Yes, I’m doing these things. I’m doing a great job as a teacher. But again, even when you look at the poster that I created, right? I was in the classroom. Nick McGowan (12:54.062)Hmm. Nick McGowan (13:03.246)Yeah. Cleous GloWry Young (13:23.183)I’m doing a behavioral therapist work, but then I looked at it as like, where’s my interest? So my interest is not being fulfilled here. And it’s almost like when I started to understand these things now, it’s like, hey, you got a bigger calling on your life. And it’s based on the things that you’re interested in. And then here’s a key component that I never understood until now, right? The reason, so I’m Jamaican. Nick McGowan (13:29.016)Mm-hmm. Nick McGowan (13:40.896)Yeah. Cleous GloWry Young (13:52.678)I came here to live in America, say 31 years ago, right? When I came here, my interest was playing soccer, which is called football. Very, very good at playing soccer, right? In high school, very, very good. I wanted to be the next Pelley. At one point, I sat down and I looked at it and I said to myself, what would life be like? to become the next Pele. And when I looked at that, I was like, wow, that’s not something that I’m interested in. And what I did that moment, I gave it up. So when you ask that question, now what I’ve been doing over the years is paying attention to the things that I’m giving up and realizing that it’s not that, it’s not hard. It’s just that my interest is no longer in these things. And it’s like I’m searching for something greater Nick McGowan (14:32.878)Yeah. Cleous GloWry Young (14:50.683)And the greater can’t come until I give those little things up. And as a soccer player in high school, where it’s like, I even started to sign autograph because people thought that I was going to be this big time player. So there’s this big future waiting for me. And I looked at it and I’m like, hey, I’m not interested in that. Like the lifestyle of being a celebrity, kicking a ball in a goal. And it’s like, at that moment, I was like, no, I don’t want that. I want something more meaningful. I never knew what meaningful meant to me at that particular moment, but I know that being a soccer player, a celebrity, that wasn’t meaningful for me. So I gave it up and I started to look for something more meaningful that has interest in it for me. And the more I kept on going. when I look at my path, I became a teacher, was very good. But it’s like, hey, this is not meaningful. This is not interesting to me. I gave it up. I became a behavioral therapist. Same thing. Nick McGowan (15:31.822)you Nick McGowan (15:50.104)Thank Cleous GloWry Young (15:51.676)So all these years what I’ve been doing, I’ve been giving up things because in the back of my mind it’s like, hey, if you let it go, if it comes back, then it’s meant for you. If it’s not coming back, then the next step now is to search for something greater. And that’s what I’ve been doing, just searching, searching for something greater, right? And it was eight years ago. that I found what I’ve been looking for for the last 26 years. And it has piqued my interest in such a way that it it drives me on a day-to-day basis to say that, hey, this is what I was looking for. I never knew it 26 years ago when I said, hey, I don’t want soccer, right? But I knew that I was looking for something that was meaningful, that intrigues my interest. And it’s like, hey, this is what actually led to now. Nick McGowan (16:23.053)Hmm. Nick McGowan (16:37.934)Sure. Cleous GloWry Young (16:49.267)Eight years ago, I had this breakdown, which they would call depression. And something just came in my spirit and said, hey, look at what is called the black box of an airplane. And while it came in my spirit to look at that, it gave me the instructions of what to do. When I did that, I moved from what is called mental depression to mental aviation. And that alone piqued my interest to say that, wow, I was depressed a few weeks ago, right? And then now I followed this methodology around this blockbusters thing that just virtually came to me, right? As a revelation. And then here’s it that I’m on a whole nother level of thinking now. And that piqued my interest. from eight years ago, I’ve been into this concept of understanding what is called the aviation industry. And I’ve never. Nick McGowan (17:22.509)Mm-hmm. Cleous GloWry Young (17:45.936)never had an interest in saying, hey, let me give up. Because there’s always something that’s making me look at it and say, wow, I need to learn this. This is gonna make me greater. And the more I learned it now, now, going back to the first question that you asked, it’s like looking at it and saying that, hey, this is how I now make a difference in someone else’s life. I use the aviation platform to help them to understand and figure things out now. Nick McGowan (17:56.536)Yeah. Cleous GloWry Young (18:14.491)so they can get to their destination. Nick McGowan (18:17.998)I think the fact that you talk about interests and asking yourself the like, what’s actually interesting to me and being able to see the self awareness of, well, this is redundant or I don’t want to do these things anymore. The thing that I like to be able to take from whatever we talk about on the show myself or with other people is for somebody to be able to go, right, well, what’s actually going on in my life? What do I get from this? Like, what do I do in my business or my relationships or what have you? And I think the interest is a big thing that a lot of us are really pushed away from because of the systems that we have to deal with. Society here in the States tells us you need to go to school, you need to get a job, you need to have a family, you need to do these things and blah, blah. That’s changing. That actually changed back in like the 90s, but it’s taken now our generation to be able to understand like time out, we need to do things differently. And the context of where things are with technology and just Cleous GloWry Young (19:00.403)Butch. Cleous GloWry Young (19:06.323)Mm-hmm. Nick McGowan (19:16.448)life in general and all of that. But the interest, it’s a through line for all of our lives that if we look back at what are the things that are interesting to us or what are the things that drive me, I think sometimes we get lost when people ask like, what gives you passion to wake up in the morning and people are like, well, I hate my job, but I really like the money it pays me. So fucking I guess that thing. And I think the big thing that we’re looking at here is like going deeper to that to go, wait a minute, if I pause for a second. and I understand what actually moves me a bit, we can then actually take steps from there. You pointed out with being a soccer player, I had a similar, not similar in a sense, or I wasn’t signing autographs and stuff like that, but I wanted to be a rock star when I was in high school. And I remember thinking like, I’m not gonna do anything else, fuck you guys, fuck your school, I’m gonna go be a rock star, blah, blah, blah. And I remember being probably 18 and registering, I don’t know if I wanna be on tour constantly. Cleous GloWry Young (20:02.099)Hmm Nick McGowan (20:16.334)but I didn’t talk to anybody about it. And I was into all types of drugs. And honestly, if I went on tour, I probably would have been dead within six months. But I remember thinking, I don’t know if I really want to do that. And a couple of years later, actually really diving into that and going, I like traveling, but I don’t want to sleep on a fucking amp. I don’t want to sleep on a bus. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to do that. And I think the point that I’m making with that is no matter what situation we’re in right now, Cleous GloWry Young (20:23.235)Thank Cleous GloWry Young (20:34.717)playing. Nick McGowan (20:44.866)business, relationship, whatever it is. To take sort of a pros and cons list as one thing, but to understand what actually fuels you, then actually helps us to understand what’s pulling us from the situation. Like you still wanted to teach, but you were being called to do something else, where it wasn’t a major detriment to what you were doing, but it just wasn’t the right vehicle. Like get out of that and jump into something else. And I don’t want people to take from this to go, yeah, all right, well, fuck it, I’m telling that woman tonight, we’re getting a divorce, or I’m telling my boss, he can eat shit right now. Like, that’s not it at all, but being able to understand why do we feel movement inside of us? So when you feel that movement, when you start to feel like there’s something else there, what sort of advice do you give somebody that’s like, I feel there’s something in there, at least like starting to percolate a bit? what advice would you give them to be able to actually move that onto the next path in a healthy way and not just like, I’m gonna burn the whole place down. Cleous GloWry Young (21:44.924)So it starts paying attention to your, and it’s funny that you mentioned these things earlier, that society says, hey, go to school, go get this job. So it’s like, what you look at is like, hey, these are not the things that I’m really interested in. It’s what society has given to me. So what society has given to us, it’s like, hey, my goodness, this is what I’m gonna formulate into. And I’m gonna formulate into somebody that I’m not interested in. So when you look at it now and it’s like, hey, these little things begin to peek inside of you, it’s like, stop and pay attention. Like, pay attention to these little feelings that you’re having inside because this is where everything starts. Yes, you have the money, but if you feel like, wow, I don’t feel like myself, then pay attention to that because it’s like, how do you have all this money but you don’t feel like yourself? Nick McGowan (22:16.526)Mm-hmm. Cleous GloWry Young (22:44.175)Again, going back to what society has given to us, society has given, and I learned this from psychology, that they have given us what they wanted us to formulate into. So society, if you go to the library, what’s the norm that you have to do? You have to be quiet. Why? Because that’s the norm. If you go to the bar, then you start to rile up. What happened is that society has given us all these norms that they want us to participate in, right? And at that moment, it may not be the things that we’re interested in. People are interested in, no matter who you are, you’re interested in getting love. No matter who you are, you’re interested in getting support. No matter who you are, you need some type of interest in someone attending to what is it that you want to do in life. So when we look at it, it’s like society just says, hey, go do this and get this, right? And you get it. And when you look at it, it’s like you’re not fulfilled. Why? Because your interest is never there. They just told you, go do this and you did it. Just like me, I never understood this, but I grew up in Jamaica and soccer was the predominant thing for our culture. So it’s not like I had any other choice to be interested in something else. It’s like, hey, soccer was always around me. So that’s what I became interested in. When I came to America now, when I sat down, it’s like, yeah, I’m playing soccer. I’m doing well, right? But it’s like something inside of me is like, hey, this is it. So when it started to come now, I started to sit down and I’m like, all right. Nick McGowan (24:21.816)Yeah. Cleous GloWry Young (24:24.883)what’s going on? Then I’m like, all right, what is it gonna be for me to be like the famous soccer player like Pelley? And when I envisioned that and I saw it and I’m like, hey, you have this wealth, you’re popular, you’re famous, all of this. It’s like, hey, that’s not me, that’s not what I want, that’s not what I’m interested in. And I sat down and I was like, hey, I want to do something more meaningful out of life. And that little thing that just came about, I just started to pay attention to it now. What is more meaningful? What is more meaningful? That’s when you started now writing more. Because I started to look at that’s more meaningful than just playing football. It’s like a master now writing. And he’s like, but that’s not it. Let me go into teaching. And I now went into that and it’s like, hey. Nick McGowan (24:51.566)Hmm. Nick McGowan (25:06.402)Yeah. Nick McGowan (25:14.872)Yeah. Cleous GloWry Young (25:17.883)It’s not it. So it’s like when you have these little things and it took me 26 years to find my interest, but it’s like, hey, when you have this little thing inside of you, it’s like start to pay attention to it. And that’s what I could give anyone as good advice. Pay attention to those little things because it will lead to something greater later on. Nick McGowan (25:39.554)Yeah, I mean, the fact that we all notice things. Obviously I only know my own reality and you only know your own reality and whatever we spew to each other. But all the conversations I have with people, the mentoring or the coaching I get or coaching I give or any of that stuff, or even people here on the show, it’s like, we hear different things and we feel different things. And there are times where Cleous GloWry Young (25:49.779)Mm-hmm. Nick McGowan (26:07.598)If we had to put an action to it, we basically go, fuck you, I see you, and just turn the other way and run, like, because we don’t want to deal with it. And I always like to ask again, and like the times when I do think of it, I’m aware of it, I’ll grab it like it’s an intruder in my house. Like you’re not going anywhere. I’m not going to let you leave. Let’s figure out why you’re here and what do we do with it. And I don’t think people need to be that intense with it. And I’ve actually calmed down a little bit because the first… Little while I did that, it was too much where I’d be fucked up for like a day or so, because I’m like working on this thing. But if we are aware of those things and it keeps coming back, do something with it. If you have to have a conversation with somebody and it’s tough, sometimes it’s just a matter of saying, I don’t know how to talk about this, but I feel I need to because it keeps coming back. I think that’s a big thing that you’re pointing out of like, I saw that I was interested in these things. I did these things and then I realized like that’s a step onto the next path and not in like a cheesy leadershipy sort of way like this is a step to success but like you do a thing and go, cool, this is in the end all be all. I feel like this is a part to what happens next but because of that, you’ve made those other decisions that have led to that sort of stuff and I think sometimes like the mindset portion of this is that people will get stuck and like today sucks, sure. Cleous GloWry Young (27:09.01)Mm-hmm. Nick McGowan (27:33.282)Today may suck and like this week or this season or whatever. But for those people that are saying, look, I’m struggling. I can understand that I need to be aware of these things and work through it specifically for the people that are trying to figure out their own version of self mastery. What advice do you give to them? Cleous GloWry Young (27:51.316)So, you know, as I said, 26 years ago, I had this inclination inside of me, right? That I want to do something more meaningful out of life. And I look at that now and I can see it, that has been my, what you would say, compass. So even though I gave up teaching, even though I gave up being a behavioral therapist, even though I gave up soccer and stuff like that, The context was that hey, I had something in the background that was my compass. So no matter what I gave up, it’s like something was still guiding me on that path until I found it now 26 years later. So when you’re on this self-mastery, now I look back, right? And everything that I’ve done, I’ve said thank you because I needed to do it. I needed to give up that teaching otherwise I wouldn’t have been here and I don’t look at it and say that was a bad experience. No. Even when I went through the depression I was blaming some friends. When I sat back and started to look now and it’s like hey this is beyond my friends right? This goes back to my childhood. And when I started to look at that now before I was blaming my friends and like hey they did these things behind my back and Now that I found out I was so old, like I went into a state of now I was high. And then now I went into a low state because I found out that like one of my business partners did this thing behind my back, right? And that’s what led me to this depressional state. But when I looked at it now and started to peel back certain things and go back, it was like, wow, you know what? Thank you. Because if you never did that, then what happened, this black box revelation wouldn’t even come in my journey. Now I’m having this interest in this black box theory, right? So when I look back at it now, I just go back and I’m like, wow, you know, it was bad. Yeah, the depression was bad. But guess what? It was needed. You know, I gave up teaching, but guess what? It was needed. You know, I gave up being a behavioral. All of these steps that I’ve done in the last 26 years, they were needed. Nick McGowan (29:42.478)Yeah. Cleous GloWry Young (30:00.948)Even though at that time they were painful and whatever. But going back to 26 years ago, I had this one little thing inside of me that says, hey, this is the compass. You need something more meaningful out of life. And that became a mindset and it just guided me to where I’m at right now. So anyone that’s looking for like a self mastery stuff like even for me now, yeah. I found my interest but it’s like now I’m working on how do I master it. But I set a vision from 26 years ago that says, this is what I want. I want something more meaningful. And all these things for me was just a trial and error. that’s why I said it wasn’t hard for me to give it up because it was like, hey, this is not what I want. Why am I saying that? Because I know that Nick McGowan (30:30.702)Yeah Cleous GloWry Young (30:51.635)A couple years ago, I said I wanted something more meaningful and when I look at the equation of what I was getting, I was like, this is not meaningful. All right, let me let that go and get to somewhere else. And all of that now I started to know what is called, so I learned about this and going back to this, you remember I said about interest. Now talking to someone from a financial standpoint, right? We talk about what is called compounding interest. And compounding interest is when you make an investment and that starts to compound. The interest starts to compound and it gives you more. So for me, it’s like I started to look at it. I’m like, wow, 26 years ago, everything that I did, it was like a compounding result to get me to this what is called a compound interest. It’s like I made an investment 26 years ago and now I’m seeing the results of all the things. And yes, I didn’t get the results when I was a teacher. Nick McGowan (31:40.172)Hmm. Cleous GloWry Young (31:49.01)I didn’t get the results when I was a soccer All these things I didn’t get the results, right? But it was what is called a compounding effect So the things that I did here, the things that I did there Everything was needed to the point of where am I today? And I know people don’t say this like, my life is perfect And that’s to them For me I could say my life is perfect Why? Because even with the downs, the ups, the left, the right Nick McGowan (31:49.07)you Nick McGowan (31:58.038)Yeah. Nick McGowan (32:08.782)the Cleous GloWry Young (32:17.957)I set out 26 years ago to accumulate something in my life and that’s where I’m at now. Like, perfectly. I’m not one mile off or one decision off. I’m perfect to where I said, hey, this is what I wanted 26 years ago. So it’s like life is perfect. Do I have everything that I need? No. Do I always get everything that I need? No. But guess what? 26 years ago when I said I wanted my life to be meaningful, Nick McGowan (32:33.741)Hmm. Cleous GloWry Young (32:46.771)My life is meaningful today and not only can I figure things out for myself, I help others to figure things out for themselves. And to me, that is what my meaningfulness is all about. How could I make my life better for somebody else? When I look back at soccer, I was like, hey, when I become a celebrity, that’s me. When I make all this money, that’s me. That’s not meaningful to me. I want my life to be relevant to somebody else. Nick McGowan (33:03.49)Yeah. Nick McGowan (33:08.332)Hmm. Cleous GloWry Young (33:15.793)and that’s what I’ve done in the last 26 years. So anyone that’s out there that’s looking for self-mastery, it’s a journey of up, it’s a journey of down, it’s a journey of left. You’re going to cry, you’re going to feel like giving up all of that, but it’s all a part of the process. And I wish I had someone there that could actually give me these advice. Akhiles, when you’re going through that hard times, right? Nick McGowan (33:29.508)Thank Cleous GloWry Young (33:42.844)is not to think about, this is the end of your story. But that’s what’s needed for you to go to the next chapter. And chapter by chapter, your life is like a book in this world. Chapter one, you start out with this. Chapter two, and by the time you finish your life in this, you’re supposed to complete a book. Why? Because that book is gonna be given to somebody else now. So your life is gone. Nick McGowan (33:50.929)Yeah. Cleous GloWry Young (34:09.341)but that book can now be given to somebody else and said, hey, this is what Cleos did. And it made a significant difference for him. You can read this book now about his life. And then now you have some type of path that you can actually go on to discover your path and begin to figure things out. And for me, that’s what I could tell anyone. Nick McGowan (34:32.617)Yeah, what a great way to put that too, especially to think of the legacy component of that. Even if it’s not an actual physical book or digital book or what have you, there’s still lessons and things that I think people that are within our circles see and take from us, even if we’re not freely giving it out, we’re just being who we are. And for us to be able to be aware of that to go, this thing feels off to me, or it feels right to me, or I’ve noticed this, like, I hope that somebody listens to this and goes, damn, I keep hearing these things and now I’m hearing a podcast episode about it. Like there’s something to it, you know, like great, go do something with it. Like here’s your chance, you know? So Cletus, man, I really appreciate you being here today. Before I let you go, where can people find you and where can they connect with you? Cleous GloWry Young (35:04.733)So, Cleous GloWry Young (35:18.353)So I’m on the different social medias. They can go on either say LinkedIn or what is called Facebook or Instagram or TikTok. And you can find me there under my name, Cleus Young or the Airport Adventure or the Mountain of Miracles. Those are things that are used to actually identify me. I’m currently in Philadelphia, but I travel with different. go to different places and stuff like that. So if people are interested in me coming out, I could come to the different locations as well. But Philadelphia is my base and it’s been a journey here. Even that, it’s like learning about who I am in this city called Philadelphia. Like learning how to master yourself in Philadelphia. So anyone that’s interested, if they’re in the Philadelphia area, I do monthly events here. They can reach out to me. through any one of the social medias. You want to contact information as well, like phone number. Cleous GloWry Young (36:26.383)Okay. Yeah. So, and then just to what you just said about the book, right? You know, the Bible is a book. The Bhagavad Gita is a book. The Quran is a book. These are all stories that are put together to show that, this is what others have done. You can learn from it. And it’s like for me, that’s all my life is. It’s like… Yeah, I write books, but I also want my life to be that book that somebody can open up afterwards when I’m gone. And it’s like, hey, this is what I could learn from this person who was here once ago. So that’s life. And to me, that’s what meaning is. Not only when you’re on here on Earth, but when you leave and you go, you can still have meaning here to somebody who is gonna take a new path to life. Nick McGowan (37:20.28)Yeah. Awesome, man. I appreciate you being on today. Thank you so much for your time today. Cleous GloWry Young (37:24.973)And thank you for having me.

Mary Gabrielyan, Chief Strategy Officer at AI Digital, joins Ari Paparo to learn about AI-driven supply path optimization, value-based bidding, media planning, and the future of ad tech. Insights on AI adoption, training gaps, and what skills will remain human. Takeaways AI Digital is an AI-native media consultancy built on machine learning and now evolving with generative AI and LLMs. The company offers managed services, smart supply curation, and AI Labs for client transformation and training. Elevate, their platform, provides end-to-end campaign management, including research, planning, reporting, and MMM insights. True AI-powered supply path optimization should be predictive and real-time, not just based on historical data. The industry is shifting from metric-based optimization (CPM, CTR) to value-based, outcome-driven AI bidding. AI-driven ad curation is evolving toward dynamic, real-time inventory optimization rather than static deal packaging. LLMs improve contextual targeting by understanding semantics, not just categories or keywords. Companies are underinvesting in AI training and tool adoption, limiting their ability to fully benefit from AI. Human skills like intuition, taste, empathy, and authenticity remain irreplaceable in an AI-driven world. Chapters 00:00 Introduction & Guest Overview 00:28 What is AI Digital? 01:21 Core Services: Managed Service, Smart Supply & AI Labs 02:07 Inside Elevate: AI-Powered Media Intelligence Platform 03:00 Target Customers & Market Positioning 03:41 How Elevate Works: Research, Planning & Reporting 05:26 AI in Supply Path Optimization (SPO) 06:40 Reactive vs Predictive AI in Programmatic Supply 08:25 AI Optimization: Metrics vs Outcomes 09:26 Value-Based AI Bidding Explained 10:14 AI in Ad Curation & Programmatic Future 11:20 Dynamic Curation & Real-Time Inventory Optimization 11:58 Contextual AI & Semantic Targeting with LLMs 13:31 Client Reactions to AI: Fear vs Adoption 13:58 AI Training & Talent Gaps in Organizations 14:27 Will AI Replace Jobs? Skills That Still Matter 15:09 Human Advantages: Intuition, Taste & Empathy 16:51 Lightning Round: Competitive Edge & Challenges 17:46 Fun Question: If AI Digital Were an Animal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MMM is sponsored by 321 - a new online introduction to Christianity, presented by former MMM guest Glen Scrivener. Check it out for free at 321course.com/MMM. Just enter your email, choose a password and you're in — there's no spam and no fees. Brianna Wu is a transwoman and a passionate Democrat who wants people with gender dysphoria to be protected from discrimination and given access to sex reassignment medical treatments. But only if this treatment has proper safeguards, and is never offered to children. To achieve this compromise – a centrist position, Brianna argues – trans activists must get their house in order by marginalising the misogynists and the fetishists who have taken over the movement. Today we discussed whether this is really possible. Is there a future in which trans activism is not at odds with feminism? Or is the backlash against this movement already too entrenched? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Practise speaking the dialogue from episode #106 Mmm or Hmm? Trying new and unusual food. - #106 хичээлийн ярианы дадлага хэсэг

Few people outside of the industry know about all of the major players – be they drugmakers, medical marketing agencies, health media companies or patient advocates – let alone the intricate dynamics between them. Unless you're raised in the industry, medical marketing doesn't come across your radar on a daily basis. Luckily, this week's guest is a leader who was born and raised in the industry and plays an integral role in the story of MM+M.Anne Gideon, the executive director of the Medical Advertising Hall of Fame, joins the show for a conversation with editor-in-chief Jameson Fleming to discuss her family's decadeslong legacy in medical marketing and how her late father, David, elevated the publication's profile in the 1980s and 90s. She also reflects on how his contributions will be further recognized at the MM+M Awards in October when we hand out the David Gideon Leadership Award. Then, during our Trends segment, we're talking about the 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer and why 70% of respondents indicated they hold at least one “divisive” health belief. Check us out at: mmm-online.com Follow us: YouTube: @MMM-onlineTikTok: @MMMnewsInstagram: @MMMnewsonlineTwitter/X: @MMMnewsLinkedIn: MM+M To read more of the most timely, balanced and original reporting in medical marketing, subscribe here.Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

PODCAST LAS NOTICIAS CON CALLE DE 27 DE ABRIL DE 2026 - Otro intento de matar a Trump Placa de places está destruyendo los ríos de PR - El Vocero Irán ofrece a Trump un negocio para reabrir estrecho de Hormuz, pero queda fuera el programa nuclear - CNBCTrump le mete sanciones a China por utilizar petróleo de Irán - Bloomberg LUMA y Genera pelean por fondos que no le dejaron subir en gastos - El Nuevo Día Gobernadora lleva equipo de trabajo y le quita celulares y equipos para reunión de todo el gabinete - Jay Fonseca PR A votación para eliminar la junta del salario mínimo - El Nuevo Día Guardia de seguridad mata a hombre de 68 con arma blanca tras supuestamente abalanzarse en su contra - El Nuevo Día LUMA dice que vienen serios cambios gerenciales y administrativos tras denuncias de que han paralizado obras - El Vocero Genera confirma que contrató a Palantir, una de las empresas más controversiales del Ejército de USA - El Vocero Traqueteos en la AMA, sacan a dos empleadas - El Vocero Extienden dos meses más eliminar la ley de cabotaje para petróleo y Gas Natural - El Vocero Disminuye la construcción en PR según el indice, bajó 1.2% - El Vocero Consumidores compran carros ahora financiando sobre 7 años - El Vocero Piden nueva carta de derechos de víctimas del crimen - El Vocero En problemas la secretaria de familia tras petición de info del Senado - El Vocero No saben lo que van a hacer para atajar costo de combustible dice portavoz de Fortaleza - El Vocero Familia promedio va a necesitar 250 dólares para el verano de 2026 versus los de 2025 - Primera Hora El mantengo de los millonarios en PR - El Nuevo Día Contralora quiere que todos los contratos se hagan a través de nueva plataforma - El Nuevo Día Exigen que se le entreguen documentos contributivos de Sagardía al Senado - El Nuevo Día Supremo de PR regaña a dos abogadas por usar AI sin revisar - El Nuevo Día PR ha tenido baños termales en otros sitios, pero solo quedan los de Coamo - El Nuevo Día MMM hoy voy pa Martins BBQEl mejor y más sabroso pollo asado a la varita de Puerto Rico. Cocinando diariamente comida fresca saludable y sabrosa con un montón de complementos para escoger, arroces, habichuelas, verduras, mofongo,tostones,....MMMM....Esto si es criolloMartins BBQ, TOMANDO todas las medidas de salud y sabor para mantener la mesa boricua al dia con opciones para llamar, recoger o delivery por UBER Eats, y DoorDash.MMM Hoy como en Martin's BBQAsado...Jugoso...Sabroso#martinsbbq #incluyeauspicio 

AVM Burst in the Brain: A Recovery Story of Patience, Aphasia, and Finding Your Way Back Jennifer Tomscha was 39, driving her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter home from preschool, when an AVM burst in her brain. She felt a wash of dizziness first. Then her vision started collapsing on the right side. She pulled onto a narrow verge on the highway between Greytown and Carterton in New Zealand, tried to reach her husband, got no answer, and dialled 111 instead. When the dispatcher asked what was wrong, she said something she still can’t fully explain: “I think I’m having a stroke.” She didn’t know yet that she had two arteriovenous malformations in her left frontal lobe — one discrete, one diffuse. She didn’t know that within hours she’d be helicoptered to Wellington Hospital for an emergency craniotomy, or that the following Monday a neurosurgeon named Dr. Woon would spend thirty hours trying to remove both malformations from her brain. She just knew something was wrong, and that her daughter was in the back seat, and that she couldn’t keep driving. That moment — pulling over, self-diagnosing, refusing the urge to simply lie down and rest — may be the reason she’s alive. What happens when an AVM bursts in the brain An arteriovenous malformation is a tangle of abnormal blood vessels that connects arteries directly to veins, bypassing the capillary network that normally regulates blood flow. Most people with an AVM never know they have one. But when an AVM bursts in the brain, blood floods into surrounding tissue at high pressure, and the consequences are almost always severe: haemorrhagic stroke, seizures, sudden neurological deficits, and in many cases, death. Jennifer’s first surgery controlled the bleeding. The second, five days later, was supposed to remove both malformations. It didn’t go as planned. The surgical team discovered that blood flow to the first AVM was feeding the second one, causing the brain around it to swell. Dr. Woon had to make an impossible decision in the middle of the operation: let her die, or remove a portion of healthy brain tissue along with the malformation. He chose to keep her alive. The surgery took thirty hours. When it was finally over, he called her husband and said, “Well, you’ll be lucky if she talks.” The six weeks she can’t remember Jennifer has no memories of the first six weeks after her AVM burst. She was in a medically induced coma for the surgery, then in intensive care, then transferred to rehabilitation. Everything she knows about that period has been told to her by other people. When her memory started returning, she found herself in a rehabilitation ward in Masterton, using adult nappies, unable to sit up in bed. The front of her skull had been removed and wouldn’t be replaced for months. She wore a protective helmet whenever she walked. And yet — she insists — she felt fine. [Quote block — mid-article] “I kept saying, ‘I’m okay, I’m fine. You guys should just take it easy around me.’ But of course, I wasn’t really fine.” — Jennifer Tomscha The honest recognition of what had happened to her didn’t come for almost two years. It took that long for her brain to have enough capacity to think about her brain. The myth of the one-year recovery window Most stroke survivors are told, either directly or by implication, that the first year matters most. That after twelve months, improvements slow. That after two years, you’ve plateaued. Jennifer’s experience — and the experience of nearly every long-term survivor interviewed on this podcast — contradicts that narrative. Four years after her AVM burst, she is still discovering what recovery means. Her academic writing, once her profession as the Director of the Writing Program at NYU Shanghai, doesn’t flow the way it used to. She can’t recall songs from memory anymore, or sing the ones she used to sing. Her aphasia shows up most at night, when she’s tired. She still takes an afternoon nap most days. But she’s also finishing a PhD. She can read as well as she ever could. She’s speaking, articulately, in a podcast interview eighty minutes long. And the parts of recovery she thought had stopped improving are, quietly, still improving. What Jennifer wants other survivors to know Her advice, offered near the end of the conversation, is short and unsparing: “You can rest, and that’s okay. You can be as slow as you want to be, and that’s also okay. But don’t give up. Just keep going — at whatever pace feels right.” It’s a rejection of both the productivity culture that tells survivors to push harder and the clinical culture that tells them to accept their limits. Recovery, for Jennifer, isn’t a race against a deadline. It’s a long, patient process of finding out what comes back and learning to live fully with whatever doesn’t. Bill’s book and community If Jennifer’s story resonates with you, Bill Gasiamis’s book — The Unexpected Way That A Stroke Became The Best Thing That Happened To — explores the same territory: the slow, unexpected, sometimes beautiful work of rebuilding a life after a brain event. Get the book here Readers who want to support the podcast and connect with the community of survivors it serves can do so at Patreon. Support on Patreon This blog is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult your doctor before making any changes to your health or recovery plan. Jennifer Tomscha: An AVM Burst in Her Brain at 39, and the Four-Year Climb Back to Herself She self-diagnosed her own stroke while driving with her daughter. Four years on, she’s still discovering what recovery really means. Highlights: 00:00 Introduction and Background 10:00 Reflections on the Experience 18:00 Long-term Effects and Adaptations 26:45 Identity and Self-Perception Post-Stroke 38:48 The Long Game of Recovery 51:07 The Journey of Recovery 01:03:42 The Evolution of the Podcast Transcript: Introduction and Background: AVM Burst in the Brain Jennifer Tomscha (00:00) Dr. Woon was my neurosurgeon. And he just said, I’ll never do another surgery like that ever again. it was really long. And I think he definitely had made me worse. Like they had taken out. too much of my normal brain. when he called my husband after the surgery was over, Dr. Woon said like, well, you’ll be lucky if she talks. he was just so discouraged from how the AVM surgery went. when I finally talked to him on Zoom. was so you And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course I can. He was like, will you show me? and I walked up and down the room and he was like laughing so hard at my being able to walk. He was like so enthusiastic about it. Bill Gasiamis (00:44) Welcome back everybody. I am Bill Gassiomas and my guest today is Jennifer Tomche. In March, 2022, Jennifer was 39 years old living in New Zealand, finishing the first year of a PhD program when something happened to her brain that changed everything. What followed was a medical emergency unlike anything I’ve heard described on this podcast and a recovery story that quietly dismantles one of the most damaging myths in stroke survivor community. That after a certain point, the window for improvement closes. Jennifer is four years out from what happened to her. She still takes an afternoon nap every day. She still notices the edges of what her brain can and can’t do. And she is also finishing a PhD, raising two children and speaking with a clarity and warmth that will stop you in your tracks. This is a conversation about what it actually means to play the long game and why might be the most important thing any survivor can do. Before we get into it, if this podcast has been part of your recovery journey, I’d love for you to check out my book, The Unexpected Way That a Stroke Became the Best Thing That Happened, at recoveryafterstroke.com/book. And a genuine thank you to everyone supporting this work on Patreon. If you wanted to support the show, you can go to patreon.com/recoveryafterstroke. really helps me keep the conversation going. Let’s get into it. Bill Gasiamis (02:12) Jennifer Tomscha welcome to the podcast. Jennifer Tomscha (02:14) Thank you. I’m glad to be here. Bill Gasiamis (02:17) It’s lovely to have a local with me. Usually all my guests are from the United States or Canada or the United Kingdom. You’re just a hop, skip and a jump away in New Zealand. Jennifer Tomscha (02:20) Yeah. Mm hmm. Yep. Yep. I’m American originally, but we moved here in 2020. So ⁓ we I’m grew up in Iowa. And then and then I after but we were living in Shanghai for us for almost seven years, my husband and I were living in Shanghai and I was teaching at New York University, Shanghai and then when COVID happened in China. Bill Gasiamis (02:35) Where are we from in America? Jennifer Tomscha (02:54) they told us to leave the country because it was where it started. So, and we had two kids, so my husband didn’t want to go back to the United States. And so my sister lives in New Zealand. So we moved here and then we just stayed here. mm-hmm. So, yeah. Bill Gasiamis (03:11) So in China, was it just a request? Was it a directive? What was the situation? Jennifer Tomscha (03:18) From New York University, they said if you weren’t a Chinese national citizen, they strongly urged us to leave because they just didn’t know how they were gonna manage it. everyone, mean, in China, they had had SARS in the early 2000s, so they had already had it. And so right away, everyone had their masks on. They were ready to… go and I was like, I want to get out of here. So we went to New Zealand and they also had a lockdown, but it was just for a month and then everyone could wander around because the virus was not here. we just stayed and I got into this PhD program. So that’s why we’re still in New Zealand. Bill Gasiamis (04:00) Wow. That kind of brings us to the first question I ask most people these days is what was life like before stroke? So there was a little bit of stuff going on. was, work in China. There was a bit of, ⁓ travel from the United States to China. was children, but daily life. What, what was that like before the stroke? Jennifer Tomscha (04:21) When I saw my stroke happened in March of 2022 and at that time I had been in my PhD program for about a year. And I was just finishing up my research proposal. And so I was doing that during the day and my kids were both at, I have an older son who was in second grade year two. And then I have a daughter who was in preschool. And so my days were I dropped them off at their schools and then I would work for a little while. And then I would. go and get them. So, and then they would come home and we would do all the other stuff in parenting. And my husband at that time was working at the library. So he had, he was at the libraries from nine to five every day. So he was at work. And that’s what, that’s what we were doing. Yeah. When I had my stroke. I was busy trying to finish up this research proposal. And then, yeah. Bill Gasiamis (05:14) 39 years old at the time as well. Jennifer Tomscha (05:16) Yes, was 39. Bill Gasiamis (05:18) any signs, any kind of inkling that something was not right. Jennifer Tomscha (05:23) I didn’t, weirdly, so I’m trying to think about, my whole life I’ve had this thing where if, especially at just certain points if I hit my, this is maybe nothing to do with anything, but if I hit my elbow or my wrist, then I would pass out. And sometimes I would have like a little seizure while I was passing out. So wasn’t just like a regular fainting, it was like a seizure. And I had some of those in high school and I actually went to the, hospital for those at one point and I think they didn’t know what that was and they just did an EEG. I don’t even think we had an MRI where I lived. So I didn’t really know and then that sort of passed. But I was feeling when I have a daily journal that I was writing and when I go back and read that daily journal, the whole, for a couple months ahead of time, I was like, I just feel kind of weird. I don’t feel great. I feel like a little bit sick and I don’t know what’s wrong with me. And at that time they were allowing COVID to enter New Zealand. They were putting it in. So I was like, I think I might have COVID, but I took a bunch of tests. They were all negative. And then my stroke happened on Tuesday, but the Friday before I was so sick. And then that weekend I was really sick too. And then I got, like, I kind of felt like I woke up, I felt really nauseous. And then I felt better on Monday and Tuesday. And Tuesday was when my stroke happened. So I think that was all, it was all, think, my body reacting to, I was probably bleeding in my head at that time or something. mm-hmm. Bill Gasiamis (06:57) I got it. And we’re to have to go back and talk about how it was that when you got hit on your, on your wrist and your elbow, how hard was the hit? Jennifer Tomscha (07:05) I don’t know. Not super hard, I just, I don’t know what, I actually don’t know, and maybe it’s nothing to do with it. You know, maybe it’s something else in my body that I am prone to fainting. But I don’t know, I don’t really know why that, and maybe it wasn’t anything like that. But I had one day when I was 16 and I passed out three times and that did seem kind of funny. And I went to the doctor and I passed out while I was at the doctor’s office. So they were like, there’s nothing wrong with you. So they put me to the hospital. They did the EG. stayed the night. And then they were like, there’s nothing wrong with you. So that was it. But I think if nowadays they probably would have done an MRI, maybe, and they would have seen that I had my AVM and my whole life would have been different because I wouldn’t have done all the stuff that I’ve done now. Like my mom was like, if we had known you had had an AVM, you would have gone to school. in Sioux City, you know, or we would have done something to keep you nearby because we would be worried about you. Instead, I was just like, doing whatever I wanted to, which is good. Bill Gasiamis (08:14) Laze, but that’s kind of good. But also I get the preventative thing. One of the, my former guests had a daughter who had an AVM and I think she was five when she passed away from a bleed in the brain because of an AVM. That’s horrific. And one of the, it’s actually worth listening to that episode and it’s worth me interrupting this right now to jump on and find that episode so that I can share it with people. And this particular lady has made it her life’s mission to raise money, get an MRI machine and do preventative scans for people in case they have an AVM or some other undiagnosed neurological condition. I think it’s Gina. Gina Keely. OK, it’s. And her ⁓ foundation is now called the Paige Keeley Foundation, it’s the most heartbreaking story. It’s episode 141 and I’ll have the link in the show notes and I’ll have it in the YouTube description. So for anyone listening, jump back and have a look at that. And also maybe even consider supporting the foundation because the story is heartbreaking and the efforts that this lady is going to ensure that this doesn’t happen to other people is just amazing. So. I wanted to, I raised that because I had a, in 2011, no, no, in 2010, about 18 months before my actual AVM bled, I had a really terrible negative episode, nauseous, room spinning, like all the signs of stroke, but completely missed the, completely missed Jennifer Tomscha (09:47) Mm. Bill Gasiamis (09:55) the AVM when I went and actually had an MRI. So yeah, I went to the hospital, gave them my, rundown of what was happening to me and they were so switched on and they got me in and they did all the tests, but they didn’t find anything because they didn’t know what they were looking for. And there was no obvious sign of bleeding. So they didn’t dig deeper. And I have a friend of mine who is a radiographer who actually did my MRIs Jennifer Tomscha (09:58) ⁓ really? Mm. Reflections on the Experience Bill Gasiamis (10:22) when I was in hospital being treated after my AVM burst in 2012. And he said to me, the preventative stuff is very difficult because if you don’t specifically know what you’re testing for, you don’t know how to set up the machine and how many slices that it needs to take and at what resolution. So that when you deliver that to the radiologist and they’re looking at it, can they see an AVM and then pass that on? Jennifer Tomscha (10:37) Mmm Bill Gasiamis (10:49) that information onto the neurologist. They might even miss it, even though they’re doing MRI. But what Jena is doing, it sounds like they’re specifically going after aneurysms, AVMs, other malformations, and therefore they have kind of this better opportunity to find it. So if somebody is considering getting a preventative scan of their brain, you have to be very specific. Jennifer Tomscha (10:53) Bye. Bill Gasiamis (11:14) with the team of doctors, radiographers, neurologists, as to what you want them to look for and make sure that they adjust the scan so that it’s fit for purpose. Jennifer Tomscha (11:25) That’s interesting. That’s really interesting. Bill Gasiamis (11:26) Yeah. So what was the day of the stroke like? Was it, you said you’re feeling better on that Tuesday. Jennifer Tomscha (11:34) Mm-hmm. I had a good day. I have like lots of notes from my research proposal and I went to pick up. I don’t know why I did it this way actually. I went, my daughter’s preschool is in our town, Greytown, and I went and picked up her first and then I went to get my son. His school is a Montessori school. It’s in one town north. And so I went and got her and we were driving in the car and when I turned onto the highway that connects Greytown and Carterton, I just felt like a wash of dizziness and I started losing sight, I think, in my right eye. And it’s seven kilometers from Graytown to Carterton. And right before we got into Carterton, I pulled over onto the side of the highway. I tried, so by that time I think I had lost most of the sight in my one, my right eye. And so it wasn’t very long actually. And so I tried to call my husband, he didn’t answer. And then I just called 111 and I was like, I don’t know why I was like, I think I’m having a stroke, but I don’t know why I even thought that actually. Do know what I mean? I just, was like, something is wrong with me. And so my daughter was fussing in the back and, I don’t really remember anything after that. I don’t remember the paramedics coming. I don’t remember talking to anyone. but so when they, I think the police came first and then Then the paramedics came and they said I was nauseous, but talking a little bit. But then they moved me into the ambulance and, I started, choking and, or something, and they had to intubate me in the ambulance. And then they took me in. I was helicoptered off to Wellington hospital. So. Bill Gasiamis (13:12) How did you feel about it? I know you did the right things. You nailed it. But how did you feel? What were you thinking? I was completely oblivious to the risk I was at or in. Jennifer Tomscha (13:14) Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I don’t know. just, let’s see, I think… I think when I was losing my vision, that was hard. I mean, I’m really lucky. There was a little ⁓ path on the side of the road right before you enter Carterton. So I pulled over there so I could still control the car. You know what I mean? I wasn’t so bad. And I could dial 111 on my phone. I could still think about those things. But it wasn’t very long after I dialed 111 and talked to those people that I’d that my memory is gone. So I think, I mean, I have spent a lot of time trying to like go back and figure out like, what was it? What could I have done early? know, like I was really lucky I was in the car, because honestly, because if I was at home, I might’ve like laid down and taken a nap and not called anybody actually, or called Dan and half have not answered. So then I could just see myself. Bill Gasiamis (14:14) you Jennifer Tomscha (14:22) It was actually really lucky that I was in the car with my daughter because it made me, I mean, I couldn’t keep driving very well. And so it made me pull over and it made me, I’d have to do something because I wasn’t in town. So I had to like figure out how I was going to manage the situation. And so I was really lucky actually that I was in the car and that I was in a public space where I was easy to find and like I could, so I felt like really lucky that all that happened. in that time period, but also that soul that my daughter was with me because it made me, I had this like parental responsibility that I had to, I couldn’t keep driving with her in the car. Like I just, I knew I had to do something and quickly. I feel like, I feel really lucky that that was the situation that I was in because I could see a different day where I didn’t go get the kids at that time. And I maybe would have tried to take a nap and it would have been totally different. So you know what I mean. Bill Gasiamis (15:19) It’s such a common thing for people to go, oh, I’m not feeling well. I think I’ll just go lay down and have a rest and see if I can just get over it, sleep through it or whatever. yeah. And then it just leads to even more and more trouble or problems. The fact that you said, I think I’m having a stroke, right? That is so cool and bizarre and amazing. Jennifer Tomscha (15:29) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. The guy was like, why? And I was like, well, I’m losing my sight. I was like, I mean, I don’t know how it was. I was like, why do you think you’re having a stroke? I was like, I don’t know. But there was something wrong. You know what I mean. Bill Gasiamis (15:52) Yeah, that’s such a good question for me. Why do you think I’m going to strike? I don’t know, but I just came up with it. What? That was enough though. Like that was such a response from you to say, I think I’m having a stroke. It’s very, very rare that people get there, but the fact that you got there kind of gave, gave them also like an understanding of how to attend the site and what to do. Jennifer Tomscha (16:01) Mm. Bill Gasiamis (16:18) And that saves time as well. That saves a ton of time. Jennifer Tomscha (16:21) Right. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Bill Gasiamis (16:23) and gets them, even though you may have been wrong, right? Gets them looking in the direction because they’re already got that in their mind. And then, well, let’s look at that first and then let’s suss it out. She might be completely wrong. But I walked into the hospital after my, while I was having the third blade and said, I’m having a brain hemorrhage or something like that. And I was in the hospital upright, standing, looking normal and Jennifer Tomscha (16:27) Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s true. That’s ⁓ Mm-hmm. Bill Gasiamis (16:51) They were looking at me like, okay, what are you on? This guy, this guy must be on something because it doesn’t look like he’s having a stroke. And then I had to try and convince them, but I wasn’t giving them my contact details. So they weren’t able to bring up my record. And all they were saying was just give us your name, give us your name. We’ll put it in the system. We’ll have a look. And eventually they got it out of me and, ⁓ and I was right. But yeah, such a good thing. Jennifer Tomscha (16:54) Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, uh-huh. no. Hmm. you Bill Gasiamis (17:21) I love those little bits and pieces that go well together because you often hear I often hear the bits and pieces that didn’t go well and and it turned out differently and how old was your daughter at the time? Yeah, wow. Jennifer Tomscha (17:30) Mm-hmm. She was three and a half. And so she was still in the backseat, know, backwards in her car seat. And then we stopped and she was like, why are we stopping or whatever in her three and a half year old voice? And I was like, I just had to make a couple of phone, you know, I don’t know what I said to her. And then I think when the police came, she was asleep. Like she fell asleep back in the car. then, and then. It’s just, I, I’ll, so then for the next six weeks I don’t have any memories of anything. So all, all of the information has been given to me by other people. But, so, yeah. Long-term Effects and Adaptations Bill Gasiamis (18:04) So was quite a large blade after all of that. Jennifer Tomscha (18:06) Yeah, it was large. They took me, so I flew in the helicopter from Masterton to Wellington and I think they, by then my sister had gotten to the hospital and they, yeah, I think they said, yeah, they did an emergency, is it craniac? Or what’s the? Bill Gasiamis (18:25) Craniotomy, Jennifer Tomscha (18:26) Yeah, they did an emergency cradionomy and they saw that I was bleeding. And then they saw that I had this large left frontal or frontal lobe AVM. So, and then they said that at that moment they couldn’t tackle that AVM. So they, controlled the bleeding and then they, and they left my skull out and then, yeah. And then, then they, they talked to the neurosurgeon and He, that was a Tuesday and he said, why don’t you, I was in a coma, just keep her in a medical coma. And then Monday they would do the, the, the surgery to get rid of the AVM. Bill Gasiamis (19:05) And then that surgery happened. Jennifer Tomscha (19:07) That happened and it was, had my, actually had two AVMs. One was really discreet and they could see all the endings of it. And the other one was diffuse. I don’t really understand it, but, the neurosurgeon said there was like parts of regular brain in and around the AVM. I don’t really understand how that happens, but, ⁓ so they started in the morning and they did, they got rid of the one AVM. They were taking it out. And then something about the blood vessels that had some of they had been putting blood into that AVM. They then started feeding into the other AVM. So then that AVM made my brain sort of swell where that AVM was. And so the neurosurgeons had to decide if, mean, basically it was like, let me die. because they couldn’t do anything about it, or they would get rid of that AVM and they would just take out the brain that was, the normal brain that was in the regular AVM. So they took, they decided not to let me die, thank goodness, and they decided to do that. so, but it was really long surgery, it was 30 hours, I think they just didn’t, yeah, it was really long. And… And I think Dr. Woon was my neurosurgeon. And he just said, when he went and sewed my head back together, he didn’t think I was listening, but I was in the other room and I could hear him after I had my skull put back in. And he was like, I’ll never do another surgery like that ever again. it was too, it was really long. And I think he definitely thought that he had made me worse. Like they had taken out. too much of my normal brain. when he called my husband after the surgery was over, like they didn’t call him. Dan, my husband was waiting for the whole 30 hours and they only called him one time at like 11 o’clock that night. And they were like, we’re finishing up. But then they had all this other stuff happen. So they didn’t actually call him again until noon the next day. And Dr. Woon said like, well, you’ll be lucky if she talks. Because we had to take out. he was just so discouraged from how the AVM surgery went. And so, yeah. Bill Gasiamis (21:24) Dr. Woon needs to give himself way more credit. Jennifer Tomscha (21:27) I know, I know, I also think that. I also think that, I mean, it’s, I mean, neurosurgeons, they’re, it’s amazing that you could, I’ve just, it’d be so weird if your job was to cut people up and go into their brains and try and fix something in that organ, which is so mysterious, do you know? Like, yeah, so. Bill Gasiamis (21:48) Wow. 30 hours. So he also is thinking in his career, he’s probably never going to come across another 30 hour surgery. Yeah. Well, only if it’s necessary to make somebody better, but yeah, we definitely want to avoid that if we can for every human on the planet and for Dr. Woon, but I just, I’m just completely in awe of these people. I bumped into my surgeon last year. Jennifer Tomscha (21:57) I hope not. mean, I hope, you know, yeah, I don’t think, yeah. Right. Mm-hmm. Bill Gasiamis (22:15) because I had another MRI, because I had another bout of headaches and all that kind of stuff. still, you know, it hasn’t ended. I still go through all these things. And I mean, I mean kind of, I get emotional when I’m around her and when I’m in the room with her. If she told me to jump off a cliff because there is something positive down there and I would do it. If she said, if she said punch a hole through that wall, I would do it. Like I would do whatever she said because Jennifer Tomscha (22:20) no. Yes. Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (22:44) I just cannot get over the, know, when, you know, when you make a decision, some people, my phone is weird. I’ve never done this before, but you have a piece of fabric and it’s got some lines on it. And you know, if you cut it wrong, that you can’t use that piece of fabric for that pair of trousers anymore. You’ve got to use it for something else. Like that’s a pretty mild problem to happen. Like you cut wrong, you go in the wrong place. You pop that aside and. You’re useful. If you do that to a human, there’s no going back. And you’ve got to make that decision every single time you walk into the operating theater. And imagine his family. Like, I feel like we need to reach out to his family and say, is there anything we need to make up for? I know we had your husband for 30 hours, but like, how can we support your family now that he’s done that for my family? Jennifer Tomscha (23:40) Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bill Gasiamis (23:40) Do you know, like it’s so interesting that these people have been able to get to that level of capability. Jennifer Tomscha (23:49) Yes. Bill Gasiamis (23:50) with humans and helping people stay alive and be here with their family, be a mom, be a wife, be a daughter, be a member of the community. Jennifer Tomscha (23:51) Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep, exactly. It’s just, it’s amazing. It’s just so, and I’m so grateful to him and he had another neurosurgeon working with him and yeah, it did, I mean, yeah, it’s amazing. I always think though, I’m trying to think about like, did, why, if he cut out those parts of my brain, why weren’t they, why? I mean, I have some things I can’t do that I could do before. Like I can’t, this is so weird. I can’t recall songs very well and I can’t sing songs from memory, like at all. Like that part of my brain is done, which is fine, but I used to sing a lot. but I think because if the AVM is there when you’re in your, if it’s there when you’re in your mom’s womb, like if you’re, when you’re developing. It’s probable that my brain was like, there’s a little issue here in this brain. We’ll move some of the stuff away from, don’t you think that would be, yeah, because I just think like, I think where my AVMs were, my brain was like, we’re gonna move, we’re not gonna put stuff by those AVMs because yeah, because your brain is really adaptable. Like that’s one of the things that I’ve been reading since I had my stroke. Bill Gasiamis (24:59) Wow. Yeah, I’ve never thought about that. Why not? That makes sense, Jennifer. Because it’s… Yeah. Jennifer Tomscha (25:18) My mom’s like, your brain is so adaptable and flexible and it can do different things. You just have to try doing things, you know, and failing. Bill Gasiamis (25:26) And the blood flow is not right. So you imagine with blood flow not being right, then the brain’s not developing correctly in that spot anyway. And it’s just developing where there is blood flow. Jennifer Tomscha (25:37) Yes, exactly. Exactly. I just I feel like that makes sense to me. And that’s why if you’re the neurosurgeon, I mean, you really don’t know. Like Dr. Woon didn’t know what was there. But I just feel like maybe my brain when it was developing was like, well, this isn’t a good spot and this other spot isn’t a good spot. So we’ll just do everything in a different place. And the brain is really you can really do that. I think your brains are really plastic in the way that they can order themselves. And so I So it’s still all Dr. Woon. I’m just so grateful to him and everything that he did. Because honestly, I feel like I come from the States. I don’t know that a neurosurgeon, I just don’t know how long a neurosurgeon would have, they might be like, I’m done, I can’t do this anymore. I just don’t really know. It just all depends on the doctor and who sees you and everything. So I just felt so lucky to have been here. Bill Gasiamis (26:30) Imagine doing a 30 hour shift on any day for anything. Jennifer Tomscha (26:34) No. And the thing about neurosurgery is like you’re in, I mean you’re doing like, you’re in a microscope or whatever doing that little and you’re tying off a little blood vein and I don’t know, it’s nuts, it’s so nuts. mm-hmm. Bill Gasiamis (26:39) them. Identity and Self-Perception Post-Stroke Yeah. And they talk about, you know, how dangerous it is to drive when you’re off a take when you haven’t slept, when all those things. And these guys are going for 30 hours and they’re doing the most intricate, life altering surgery and it all goes perfectly well. So how wrapped was he when he realized how well it went. Jennifer Tomscha (27:09) I didn’t talk to him until June, so that was at the end of March. And then I was in the ICU for a while. then they moved me to Masterton and I did rehab. And then I went to this last clinic, this ABI, this brain clinic for people who had brain injuries. And that’s when I finally talked to him on Zoom. And he was like, so can you walk? And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course I can. He was like, will you show me? and I walked up and down the room and he was like laughing so hard at my being able to walk. He was like so enthusiastic about it. I was, you know, I mean, we can talk about this too. was, everyone was like, when I finally have my memory back, I was in Masterton and I was using a diaper. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t step in bed, but I remember being, actually, ⁓ I remember being like, I’m fine. I’m fine. Everyone is just fussing over me. But of course, they were right too. Do you know what I mean? But I was like, I’m okay. Everyone needs to just like, let me just relax around me. And everyone was like, everything I did, they would be like, you know, I couldn’t feed myself. And then, you know, there’s all this stuff. And I was like, I’m really okay. You guys should just. take, like, I’m fine. I kept saying that, like, I’m okay, I’m fine. You guys are all. But of course, I wasn’t really fine, but I felt like, Bill Gasiamis (28:36) It sounds like you weren’t physically there yet, but you were emotionally and mentally fine. Like it sounds like you were on the, you kind of knew that things were going to turn out or. Jennifer Tomscha (28:48) I think so. I think, or maybe, I always think like maybe you can only manage so much. like at that time I had my front part of my skull was gone because it had been taken out when they did both my surgeries. And so I had to wear like a rugby helmet or whatever when I walked. But otherwise I would sit in my room and it looked terrible. It’s just so terrible. but I just didn’t really recognize that. Like I didn’t, wasn’t, I couldn’t do all the things at once. So I think I was just thinking about like, and finally at the middle of May, my mom and sister, I still had my like long hair in the back and short in the front. So my sister was gonna cut the long hair in the back. And I saw myself in a mirror and I was like, that doesn’t look very good. You know, like I wasn’t, I don’t feel like I was totally aware. I wasn’t, my brain wasn’t. totally back in it. It’s a long time to recover and I feel like my brain only gave me, I don’t know, I felt like I couldn’t think about my own brain, maybe for like a year or something, really think about it in a second order way. Bill Gasiamis (29:59) allow yourself to kind of observe your state, your brain condition. Jennifer Tomscha (30:02) Yes. Yes, I think I was like, it was like that my it was like maybe in October of the next year, October of 2023, where I was like, Oh, I can think about my brain and what it is in a way that I couldn’t. Because I don’t know, you have to go through, you just have to relearn a lot of stuff. But I didn’t like I’m lucky, like, it didn’t affect my reading, so I could read right away. I’m not a very good writer, like, I don’t have good handwriting anyway, and my handwriting still maybe isn’t as good as it was before I had my stroke, but, yeah. I feel like, felt like, the actual healing was a longer process than I thought it was going to be, especially right when I first woke up, because I was like, I’m fine, but I wasn’t really fine, actually. Do you know what I mean? Bill Gasiamis (30:55) 100%, they can make doctors and neurosurgeons do a 30 hour surgery, find that part, fix it, ta-da-da-da-da, do all those things, but they can’t make a helmet for God’s sake look half decent after they’ve taken your skull out. Like as if it’s bad enough, have skull missing and then they put this terrible looking thing over your head. Jennifer Tomscha (31:11) No. It’s true. It’s true. It’s true. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. Bill Gasiamis (31:22) And I know for women like hair is a big deal and become. Jennifer Tomscha (31:27) It was really, I have always liked my hair and it was, I had short hair for about a year and a half maybe, you know, and I started growing out more and that was a little bit hard. I felt like that’s really vain, but I was like, man, I just did not like that short hair. Cause it’s not very, I don’t know. I just, wanted my old hair back. So I was lucky that it came back though. You know, everything, it’s not cancer. It’s a different thing. So you have a different, you know. Bill Gasiamis (31:51) I never would have told you that your hair didn’t look good, but my favorite hair is brunette curly hair. Yeah. My wife is a brunette naturally and she has curls in her hair and she straightens it all the time. I haven’t seen her brunette curly hair for 30 years. Jennifer Tomscha (31:57) Thank you. ⁓ yeah. no. Bill Gasiamis (32:13) I’m like, woman, that’s what I like. Like that’s my thing. you stop straightening your hair, but I can’t get it to stop. ⁓ Jennifer Tomscha (32:20) Yeah, that’s fine. Everyone has to do what they want with their hair and everything. you know, that’s something that one thing I think about my stroke is you just got to go live your life. Like you can’t and you’ve done that beautifully. You know what I mean? Like this podcast is amazing. it’s just like, you just got to go do what feels good for you at the time and what you want to do and just do it. and stop saying no, or you know what I mean. Bill Gasiamis (32:49) I’m trying. am. know exactly what you mean. One of the biggest things is identity is a big, big thing. And I don’t talk about me so much. I’ll talk about what happened to me, my stroke journey, but I don’t really give people a look behind the curtain. You know, sort of really understand what’s going on. This is just all a facade. And one of the challenges that I have is this painting company that I started 20 years ago was the main source of income. And it stopped abruptly seven years in when I became. Jennifer Tomscha (33:02) Hmm. Mm-hmm. Great. Bill Gasiamis (33:17) and it sort of still kept bubbling along. And then I got back to it in 2019 because my clients were still calling me and I was well enough after seven years of going through stroke and all the stuff of surgery, learning to walk again and all that. I was good enough to sort of get back into it. And of course in 2019, I only had six months and then we were in lockdown. And then in lockdown, we had two years of lockdown in Melbourne, and then I’m trying to keep that thing going again. And then there was this massive influx of work after lockdown because everyone’s going, I’ve been looking at these walls for two years. They look terrible. Let’s get them painted. They had spare money because they hadn’t spent anything for two years. And that was like, let’s do this and let’s do that. And there was this massive amount of work for about 18 months. And then that was done. It was gone. And it’s been a steady decline since as soon as Trump opened his mouth and did something in Iran and said what he said, and he plummeted like we’ve got no work. And I’m okay to have no work because I’ve been there before and we’ve managed our affairs so that we’re okay. But I can’t employ people right now at all. That’s gone. And getting people back and starting that again is going to be extremely difficult because the curve Jennifer Tomscha (34:27) Yeah. Mmm. Hmm. Bill Gasiamis (34:36) is not it’s not going to be a sharp dip and then it’s going to be a big spike of work and demand and all that kind of stuff. this podcast has been my saving grace every time I’ve needed to occupy myself with a project and make it so that I’m not thinking about me. The podcast was there. I did. I did an interview. It got me over the line. But now the biggest void that’s going to occur is not that I’m going to Jennifer Tomscha (34:47) Mm-hmm. Bill Gasiamis (35:05) potentially not have work in this field and after shut it down, which is gonna be fine if I do that, I’m okay with that. I’ll kind of pass it on to my younger son who’s looking to do some work in a similar space. I’ll give him the phone number and he’ll be able to take those types of inquiries and then he’ll do it on his own, like very small, the way I started at the beginning. And is that I’m gonna have all the time in the world. Jennifer Tomscha (35:23) Mm. Bill Gasiamis (35:29) on my hands to do the thing that I’ve been avoiding doing because I had this business that relied on me and the thing was to do public speaking. Right. And to actually do it the way that I’ve wanted to do it for more than a decade, which was to talk about the topics that I want to talk about, which no one’s talking about post-traumatic growth, overcoming trauma, how that’s applicable in organizations. Jennifer Tomscha (35:38) yeah, yeah, Mmm. Bill Gasiamis (35:56) how to treat people better in an organization so they have less mental health issues, so they have less physical issues, so they’re sick less, so they enjoy their work, so they’re not hating their life. And now I’m going to have all the time in the world to do it. And I’m shitting myself. That’s the biggest issue, right? So that’s a little bit of a look behind the curtain. I am loving this. This is an amazing thing. And I do remember when I first started it, I was concerned about what people would say about me. You’re going to sound dumb, Bill. You you’re not going to, you know, what authority do you have? All those kinds of things, they were coming up in my head. And then when I wrote the book, the same thing, I wrote my first book, The Unexpected Way That a Strike Became the Best Thing That Happened to Me. Everyone has said, don’t write that book. Don’t write that. Jennifer Tomscha (36:27) Mm. Bill Gasiamis (36:39) Don’t let that be your title. It’s bizarre, it’s weird, like it’s strange, it’s too long and all these things. So I did it. And of course, the first time I spoke about it on YouTube, one of the first comments was a negative comment on my YouTube channel. It’s like, ⁓ okay. My God, that’s a kick in the guts. Jennifer Tomscha (36:44) really? ⁓ yeah. Bill Gasiamis (37:03) So those little kicks in the guts that I’ve had along the way have been few and far between, but they’re the ones that seem to persist the most. And they stay in that part of your head, which says, you know, that public speaking gig, you’re probably going to do the first one and they’re going to say you were terrible. And then you’re to feel all sad at 52 about, you know, yourself and all these things. Jennifer Tomscha (37:15) Yeah. you Bill Gasiamis (37:29) how you’re going to overcome that emotionally and mentally and all this kind of stuff. It’s like, Bill, relax. You’re gonna have time to build your new career at 52. You’re gonna have time to do it. So that’s like, all right. I find myself getting pushed into a corner and only then responding with, all right, all right, I better step up again. I better do this again. Jennifer Tomscha (37:33) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (37:58) Very strange, re-imagining yourself and recreating yourself after stroke is a huge thing because you’re also doing it with a stroke brain. Whereas before I had no excuses, I was doing it still. Like the pattern is the same. The stroke brain part of it is an obstacle that I wish I didn’t have, but somehow this stroke brain part has made me do things I’ve never done before. Jennifer Tomscha (38:14) You The Long Game of Recovery Bill Gasiamis (38:27) a podcast, a book. You know, I was a tradie. I was like, I didn’t study. didn’t read. In my, by the time I got to the age of 37, honestly, Jennifer, I reckon I’d read maybe seven books. And they were about this criminal underworld figure in Melbourne who had this, who had this career and of being like really terrible and somehow. He was the thing that I was interested in reading about. Like that’s the only thing that captured my imagination. Everything else, everything else I picked up from listening to podcasts or watching shows on TV and that kind of stuff. So I wanna just, I wanna make people understand that the battles that you’re fighting, I’m fighting, it’s real. Like you’re not doing it alone. Everyone’s fighting this. How do I reimagine myself? Jennifer Tomscha (38:56) Bye! Bill Gasiamis (39:20) after stroke, you know, I don’t tell people I’m an author. Still, this book has been out for three years. I’ve had amazing reviews. I’ve had a couple of, you know, negative reviews and that’s okay. I’m not, I’m not an intellectual. I haven’t, I’ve never studied how to write literature, any of that stuff. And it’s sold about seven or 800 copies just through the podcast. Jennifer Tomscha (39:21) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That’s pretty good. That’s actually quite a bit, I feel like. It’s quite a bit, actually. Mm-hmm. Bill Gasiamis (39:47) I feel like to like I don’t promote it. I don’t tell anyone about it just in the podcast. And it’s like, I still don’t say I’ve authored a book. Nobody knows. Jennifer Tomscha (39:56) You should say it. mean, I do think the what are you going to do after you have a stroke? How are you going to do it? It’s all very strange and scary, I think. And like, yeah, I, I totally get your feeling about it. And it’s just really tricky to know what is the You know, for me, I feel like I was in middle of my PhD, so I took 22 months or 20 months off of doing the PhD just to rest. And then I went back in and it was, it is still, it was really hard. I like, wasn’t very good at figuring out how to write in the academic way. Which was my position. I was director of the writing program at NYU Shanghai. So I was like, that was my thing. And it was very hard to figure out how to return to do the critical work of my thesis. was just, it’s just, I don’t know, my brain just couldn’t figure out how to do it right. It was really interesting. was like, the sentences I was writing weren’t as good. They probably still aren’t as good. You know, like when I look at what I was writing before I had my stroke, which is part of my thesis, and then the stuff I wrote after my stroke, I feel like I can tell a little bit of a difference in the fluency of my writing, for sure. So, yeah. And I just, so… Yeah, I don’t know. It’s tricky. It’s tricky to figure out. But I was really lucky, actually. I think the PhD was helpful because… I could just go at it on my own time and I could just take however much time I needed. And I, I had a deadline. but it was good to just, it was actually like a really good place to start to work my brain again, to be like, okay, I have to, I’m going to write on this author and what she thinks about character. And I’m just going to, and I have these other texts that I’m interested in and I have to figure out how I’m going to. Represent them in my own work. And so it was really good to do all that. It was a good stepping stone for me I think actually to get back into it and to see What I could and couldn’t do very well, like I feel like I’m a really good reader. I’m a really good Critic and I’m not so good at ⁓ writing down what I think anymore as well So I’m just I really have to work on and I don’t know how you get it back like Bill Gasiamis (42:26) articulating Jennifer Tomscha (42:28) Yeah, articulating what I mean and yeah, I feel like I can’t, I can’t say things as artfully or as proficiently as I used to. So I don’t know, this woman who is getting her PhD at Vic too, she’s like, she studies how people learn to read. And she was like, if you’re having problems with academic writing, you should get a, and I still haven’t done this, you should get an academic book and you should listen to it because a lot of learning to read is listening to how sentences sound. She was like, so you should listen to an academic book and that will help you think about how those sentences work and how they’re maybe different from like, I write fiction. So fiction is one thing and then this is a different way of writing. So she said that was one thing that she thought I should do to help. develop my proficiency in academic writing, which was really interesting. So. Bill Gasiamis (43:25) Yeah, it’s a different approach. You know, it’s coming from the auditory, you know, system and therefore the auditory digital system. Therefore you go in and you you, you pick up nuances that you wouldn’t have known were there if you’ve never heard an academic speak or if you’ve never read an academic document in that way. So you might read it. Jennifer Tomscha (43:28) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (43:51) to get something out of it. Like, okay, what is this academic saying about this topic? But that’s not paying attention to the structure of how it’s written. That’s a different filter. Jennifer Tomscha (43:55) Mm-hmm. No, exactly. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Exactly. So I thought that was an interesting way to think about, like, how I could get better at that thing. That was, like, a really important thing for me. That, for some reason, it did just get a little bit, I don’t know, stunted? Or I don’t know what happened, you know? Or I just haven’t been in academia as much. So you know what I mean? So, yeah. Bill Gasiamis (44:17) Yeah. Yeah, 100%. The skill is not as refined or, or practiced as your other skills. So it’s not the thing that you’re the best at. and you’re getting better at it. The thing about it is also, may I add you’re only four years out from all the drama that you had with your brain. So there’s a lot of healing to happen that is going to improve. That’s going to get better and better. And in four or five years from now, you will have Jennifer Tomscha (44:29) Mm-hmm. Bill Gasiamis (44:49) turn the corner again, you’ll see that there’s more and more improvement. It’s really important for people to hear this, who are three, two, one, five, six years in, there’s still heaps of healing and recovery to come. So it’ll happen. Jennifer Tomscha (45:07) Yeah, that was something that my husband and I, in my first year after my stroke, he would be like, go to the gym. And he did. He, I went to the gym and I, had me lift weights and he wanted me to like exercise. And he was like, what are you doing to improve your mind and your body over this first year? And I was like, I’m, I’m again, I was like, I’m fine. I’m really fine. And, and, ⁓ he thought I wasn’t doing enough. Like he wanted me to just go at it with this intensity. I don’t know. was an, cause I was like, I am going at it with my own sort of intensity, but he wanted me to be more aggressive than I wanted to or something. You know what I mean? He wanted me to be like, he wanted to see me really working at it and like sweating or doing, you know what I mean? And I was like, I don’t wanna, I don’t know. Bill Gasiamis (45:59) He wanted it to be more masculine. Jennifer Tomscha (46:01) Yeah, I guess. And he’s not very masculine guy. I mean, he’s a masculine guy, but he’s like, he was just he just wanted to see me sweating it out or doing the really see my focus. And I just yeah. And that has been an issue because he’s like, yeah, he’s just like, are you going to work again? I was like, yes, I’ll work. I just don’t know what I’ll do. And I don’t know if I could do a full eight hour day right now. I still take a nap every day in the afternoon. So But yeah, it’s just, don’t, yeah, so. Bill Gasiamis (46:34) It’s easy for a caregiver to say that because they haven’t had a stroke. Thank God. Thank God. ⁓ Jennifer Tomscha (46:40) No, I know. Thank goodness. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, I mean, I feel really bad for Dan and my mom and my sister. Like, it’s actually worse to be the caregiver in some ways because you just, you don’t go through it. So you, you don’t really know what it’s like. Bill Gasiamis (46:55) I and you, and if you’ve got an imagination, a wild imagination, you could turn it into something completely way worse than what it is. And if you’re ignorant, which most family members and caregivers are, let’s face it. And that’s okay. Then you do the other thing. You play it down and you assume she should be going harder than that or Jennifer Tomscha (47:11) Yeah. Mm-hmm. Bill Gasiamis (47:19) If I was, if it was me, I’d be doing that. But your brain has actually been injured and in that space, perhaps where motivation is for some people. And there is no way that you can make that person more motivated by willing them on or telling them to go to the gym or whatever. That could actually be missing the motivation part. So there’s a whole bunch of things that caregivers and family members miss. And it’s for me, it’s when I’m surrounded, when, when the people that are around me are Jennifer Tomscha (47:33) Mm-hmm. Bill Gasiamis (47:46) ⁓ people who don’t want to engage deeply in those types of troubles, life and all that kind of stuff. they’re great people. They’re just like, emotionally they don’t go deep, right? They love it that there’s ambiguity around like what’s wrong with me. Cause they look at me, I look right. And then they just go, everything’s fine. He looks amazing. I feel better now. And when I’m around him, I can just talk about dumb stuff. Jennifer Tomscha (48:07) Mmm, yeah, yeah. Bill Gasiamis (48:14) And we can talk about things that are not important and everything’s fine. And it’s kind of like head in the sand. It’s a, you know, one step, one emotional step removed from the actual goings on. And it kind of also helps me strangely enough, because then I don’t have to deal with their inability to handle actual life and the real things that are going on. Jennifer Tomscha (48:39) Mm. Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (48:43) that can just be living in La La Land and I don’t have to deal with that level of complexity. So it’s kind of, they’re both situations are helping me in a way. Whereas at the beginning I was taking that negatively. The thing I do, the thing I would like to do is challenge caregivers to listen to the podcast, especially of the spouse who I’ve interviewed. Jennifer Tomscha (48:50) Yeah. Yeah, that’s true. Bill Gasiamis (49:09) You know, and then a couple more after that to get an insight so that they’re not guessing or second guessing or think they know better, et cetera. No doubt about it. they, know, they know some things about us that they can see that we’re not doing a pattern in behavior that we’re avoiding. Perhaps they know that part and all that type of thing. But we’ll say, we’re also dealing with a messed up brain. So have a bit of a kind of a Q Jennifer Tomscha (49:13) Hmm. Right, right. Bill Gasiamis (49:36) be curious about where that person’s coming from, not how you’re feeling about where they’re coming from. And that’s what family members and caregivers do. They make it about them. And I had to say a few times to people in my circles, like, it’s not about you. Jennifer Tomscha (49:43) Right. Ha Tomscha Tomscha! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Bill Gasiamis (49:56) It’s actually really about me. cannot walk and I can’t use my left hand. It’s not about you. Like I know you woke up with a numb leg one day because you slept on it wrong, but it’s not the same. Jennifer Tomscha (50:05) Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s funny. Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (50:14) My wife was dragging my foot in the wheelchair. It had fallen off the, you know, the rest where your leg, your feet sit. It had fallen off and I hadn’t noticed. This is like day three or day four after brain surgery. And it was dragging underneath the footrest. And she noticed that the wheelchair wasn’t moving and she was shoving it until we realized. Jennifer Tomscha (50:22) higher. Bill Gasiamis (50:40) My foot was stuck underneath the rest and we had a laugh. that kind of like, that’s one of those, if those people were there and they saw that, they would realize like, it’s not about your numb leg when you slept on it weird one night. take your stuff and just, you know, park it for now. So it’s interesting. That’s kind of why I think I do this podcast. I think it’s for those Jennifer Tomscha (50:44) Yeah, yeah, Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. The Journey of Recovery Bill Gasiamis (51:08) people if they, I’ve never told them that they should jump on, but if they, for example, get curious one day and they want to know what it’s like to be in Bill’s head, pick one of the 400 episodes. Just have a listen. Jennifer Tomscha (51:09) Mmm. I have a question for you. you, this is something that, so you think you could just, you can keep improving from your stroke. There’s not like a deadline. There’s not like a couple of years or any. Bill Gasiamis (51:36) One of the things I learned from my wife and my brother, my brother is my biggest nemesis. You he’s older and he’s the most loving guy. He’s the most supportive guy, but he has a weird way of doing it. Just, you know, we’re different characters, right? So he just is a bit different in the way. one, one of the things my brother said was that I picked up, I reckon it was five, six years ago is he’s in it for the long game. Jennifer Tomscha (52:03) Hmm. Bill Gasiamis (52:04) When I was young, I had 20 jobs in 10 years. He said two jobs in 40 years or 30 in 30 years. So he just chips away, works away, works away, works away. This is an analogy, right? But also a true story. My wife started her, her, her master’s in psychology. She only started that a few years ago, but the whole. Jennifer Tomscha (52:08) Hmm. Hmm. Bill Gasiamis (52:28) journey to get to the Masters of Psych started in I think late 2011 or early 2011, about a year before I ended up in hospital. She is just now finishing the last part of her Masters degree and she found a job literally a week ago in her field two days a week. Jennifer Tomscha (52:35) Mm. Mmm. ⁓ Bill Gasiamis (52:56) to work as a provisional psychologist so that she can get the 1500 hours of work in the field before she actually gets her actual full psychology license. And I’m like, dude, I get it. So what you’re telling me is that if you just start and never stop, you’re gonna see some kind of progress. And I apply that to… Jennifer Tomscha (53:08) Right. That’s amazing. Mmm. Mm-hmm. Bill Gasiamis (53:27) stroke recovery. I know that people are dealing with far more deficits that perhaps you and I show visibly and that their hand may not specifically work the way that it always that they wanted it to work or that the way that it worked before. But that doesn’t mean the brain’s not continuously continuously healing that part of the brain might be gone. But as far as healing the parts around the brain that are still there, that’s continuing. Jennifer Tomscha (53:28) Uh-huh. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Bill Gasiamis (53:58) And if, and, and one of the questions that I have for people is like, is what I’m doing supporting my recovery or is it hindering my recovery? Because I’ve met stroke survivors who have gone back to the smokes, who have gone back to alcohol. And if you’re doing things that are getting in the way of recovery, then you’re not allowing the brain to continuously do what it does best, which is overcome challenges, rewire. Jennifer Tomscha (54:05) Mmm. Bill Gasiamis (54:25) find new ways around, know, develop new neural pathways and adapt. And that’s kind of where I think it’s at adaption, right? And the great thing about understanding these days about neurodiversity and understanding what somebody with ADHD goes through is the one skill they’re really, really good at is adaption. Jennifer Tomscha (54:31) Mm-hmm. Mm, that’s interesting. Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. Bill Gasiamis (54:49) because and people with dyslexia. my God, like some of the biggest, most wealthy billionaires on the planet had dyslexia. Richard Branson is a classic example of that. Yeah. And they adapt. They find a way to somehow overcome the normal world and be weird in the way that they see letters and what letters do and how they move on a page and all that kind of stuff because their brain adapts and they can just continuously improve their adaption strategy. Jennifer Tomscha (54:57) really? didn’t know that. Mm-hmm. Bill Gasiamis (55:17) to get to a point where no one knows that they have this condition. So that’s what I’m really passionate about. That’s why the podcast exists. I’ve interviewed in my 400 episodes, I’ve certainly interviewed stroke survivors who I’ve had improvement 10, 11, 12, 13 years post stroke, got a finger movement back. Yeah, got sensation back, something rewired. So yeah. Jennifer Tomscha (55:19) Right. Mm-hmm. really? That’s amazing. Yeah, becau

Practise speaking the dialogue from episode #106 Mmm or Hmm? Trying new and unusual food. - Cawnnak #106 nak ah an hman mi biafang le biatlang pawl kan rak zoh hna lai.

Rocky is Senior Manager Director and Co-Head of Investment Banking at Mesirow, the Chicago-based employee-owned, diversified financial services firm.  A Chicagoland native who survived Eastern stops for college at Penn and a first job at Merrill Lynch, Rocky has been at Mesirow since 2001. He has charted and contributed to the firm's emergence as a significant force in middle market M&A.  On the personal side, Rocky talks about his youthful athletic prowess, something he shares with one or none of the MMM hosts, depending on who you ask.  Interesting discussion about the near extinction of publicly traded middle market companies outside of growth sectors like health care and tech.  Also of note – the correct plural form of Pontikes, which is apparently “Pontiki.” 

Recorded on the heels of SXSW 2026, this MM+M x GSW podcast explores the cultural, technological and creative signals shaping the future of health marketing. Jennifer Batey, EVP of integrated strategy, and Bryan Roman, EVP and experience director at GSW, powered by Syneos Health, unpack the biggest themes emerging from Austin, from the evolving role of AI and immersive brand experiences to the growing importance of trust, community and creator-driven influence.  Moving beyond the buzzwords, the conversation focuses on what SXSW truly means for pharma marketers today. What cultural shifts should health brands be paying attention to? How are audience expectations changing? And how can regulated industries embrace innovation without losing authenticity? With a practical lens, Batey and Roman translate inspiration into action, offering clear takeaways for CMOs and brand leaders looking to stay ahead of where culture, technology and healthcare intersect.  Check us out at: mmm-online.com Follow us: YouTube: @MMM-onlineTikTok: @MMMnewsInstagram: @MMMnewsonlineTwitter/X: @MMMnewsLinkedIn: MM+M To read more of the most timely, balanced and original reporting in medical marketing, subscribe here.Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

MMM is sponsored by 321 - a new online introduction to Christianity, presented by former MMM guest Glen Scrivener. Check it out for free at 321course.com/MMM. Just enter your email, choose a password and you're in — there's no spam and no fees. Nigel Biggar has personal experience of the cultural revolution that has come to the universities of the Anglosphere. In 2017, he found himself in the middle of a heated controversy over a project he was leading on the morality of empire, and he quickly discovered that there are some questions that you are not supposed to ask in universities today.In a new book, he warns us not to dismiss the culture wars as trivial, or as something that will blow over without any special effort. Nigel sees this, not only as a political conflict, but also as a spiritual one. What is the university actually for? How does one identify what is true and what is not?Nigel Biggar is Emeritus Regius Professor of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford, and last year he entered the House of Lords as a Conservative peer. His new book is titled ‘The New Dark Age: Why Liberals Must Win the Culture Wars.' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join us as we talk about the first season of My Status as an Assassin Obviously exceeds the Hero's. Adult Drinks of Choice: Benchmark Hand picked Single Barrel, Erie Brewing Derailed. Lantz's Lessons @(00:04:25) Matt's Manga Mentions @(00:05:13) We talk about the first volume of the light novel after MMM. Pokemon Quiz @(01:12:29)

Lock-ins... is there a more polarizing youth ministry topic? Should you do them? Are they valuable? Or are they the worst idea ever? In this episode, two youth pastors go head to head, and you get to decide! Take Advantage of Andrew's FREE Lock-in Planning Session: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/contact [FREE] HYBRID STRATEGY GUIDE https://www.patreon.com/posts/complete-guide-142500019?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

When building a business, have you ever felt like working harder should be the answer, but the more you push, the more exhausted, misaligned, or stuck you become?  In this episode of the #DoorGrowShow, Jason Hull sits down with Sean Patton, former U.S. Army Special Forces Commander, executive coach, and leadership speaker, to unpack what entrepreneurs can learn from military leadership, self-leadership, and mission-driven culture.  They discuss the dangers of hustle without recovery, why so many business owners never learn to lead themselves, and how clarity of mission, roles, and outcomes can transform the way a team operates.  Jason and Sean also explore why the military is far more collaborative than most people assume, how strong leaders facilitate input without losing ownership, and why mission dictates culture in both combat and business. Along the way, they dive into personal purpose, team alignment, trust in sales, and the mindset shifts required to build a business that creates both impact and freedom instead of burnout. You'll Learn (00:00) Introduction and Guest Background  (01:15) Sean Patton's Military and Entrepreneurial Journey  (04:16) Leadership in Difficult Situations: Military vs. Business  (08:29) Dispelling Myths About Military Leadership  (10:35) Collaborative Decision-Making in Special Forces  (12:56) The Role of Extreme Ownership in Leadership  (16:08) Culture as a Mission-Driven Concept  (19:16) Aligning Mission, Culture, and Outcomes  (20:51) The Power of Mission and Vision in Business  (25:41) The Why Behind Business Success  (29:24) The Entrepreneurial Hierarchy of Needs  (35:19) Applying Military Clarity to Business Operations  (37:31) The Importance of Clear Roles and Responsibilities  (41:37) Closing Remarks and Contact Information Quotables "Leadership isn't a title, it's a person you become." "Sometimes the loudest voice in the room isn't the smartest voice in the room." "Mission dictates culture." Resources DoorGrow and Scale Mastermind DoorGrow Academy DoorGrow on YouTube DoorGrowClub DoorGrowLive Transcript Jason Hull (00:01) Five, four, three, two, one. All right. Welcome everybody to the DoorGro show. I'm Jason Hull, the founder and CEO of DoorGro, the world's leading and most comprehensive coaching and consulting firm for long-term residential property management entrepreneurs. For over a decade and a half, we've brought innovative strategies and optimization to the property management industry.   At DoorGrow, we are on a mission to transform property management business owners and their businesses. We want to transform the industry, eliminate the BS, build awareness, change perception, expand the market, and help the best property management entrepreneurs win. Now, let's get into the show. All right, so I have an awesome guest today. I'm hanging out here with Sean Patton. Welcome, Sean. I'm going to brag about you a little bit. Thanks for being here.   Sean Patton (00:53) Yeah, alright, you go for it. Thanks for having me, man.   Jason Hull (00:54) All right. All   right. So Sean is a former U.S. Army Special Forces Commander, Meta Performance Executive Coach at Novus Global and a leadership keynote speaker. Sean helps leaders accomplish seemingly impossible and thrilling visions through transformation. This is your bio. As a former U.S. Army Special Forces Commander, Sean brings a rare combination of battlefield tested leadership, real world business ownership.   and success back to human performance principles to every stage and coaching session. His work is grounded in one belief, leadership isn't a title, it's a person you become. As an ICF certified executive coach, host of the No Limit Leadership Podcast and author of A Warrior's Mindset, The Six Keys to Greatness. Awesome. Sean, so glad to have you here. Welcome to the show.   Sean Patton (01:48) Thanks, man. I'm excited to be here.   Jason Hull (01:50) Cool. So Sean, for those listening, I'd love for them to get a little bit of background on you. I gave a little bio, but tell them a little bit about how did you get into entrepreneurism? When did you wake up and go, hey, you know what? I'm an entrepreneur.   Sean Patton (02:04) Well, it took a little bit. was maybe a little late to the game. I originally went from a small town in Kansas. I went to the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduated and then spent 10 years as an active duty officer in the army. So I was an infantry officer and then a special forces officer in the special forces group commanding two different Green Beret attachments. So it was a busy time. I feel like I crammed a lifetime of   leadership lessons into those 14 years, right? Like West Point is most intense leadership training that our nation has. And then, you know, was a rifle platoon leader and sniper platoon leader in Iraq. Then I was an Afghanistan with my team. So I was doing really difficult things and complex things with elite performing teams. And, you know, despite all of that and 22 months in combat and 30 months to point overseas,   I was never really the gun guy or the gear guy. Uh, it was all, it always about the people and the problems that we were solving. And so in 2015, a little before that, I decided that I was going to get out of the military in transition. And I just had this entrepreneurship itch that I wanted to scratch. Plus, you know, I want to check out with this freedom thing that I had been hearing about all these years was all about. And so I decided to try it and.   Jason Hull (03:04) Yeah.   Yeah.   Sean Patton (03:31) It was a rocky start. I had a lot of, I think I had some strengths coming out of the military and those experiences, but also some real gaps. And one of them was a, I think my risk tolerance was so high from things I had been doing. then also   Jason Hull (03:33) Yeah.   Yeah.   Sean Patton (03:59) The answer in the military so often, at least in the units I was in was when things got hard, right? When the, when the darkness came, when it seemed like the weight was unmanageable, the answer was just go harder. Like, you know, like the mission is going to end, you're going to redeploy, like you, know, the sun's going to come up, just keep going, keep going, keep going. And what I didn't appreciate was when you get into the entrepreneurship space is that in the military, even in those units, there was this like,   Jason Hull (04:11) Okay, yeah.   Yeah.   Sean Patton (04:28) mechanism around us almost protecting us. Like they had honed us into this machine that could push ourselves to these extreme limits. But they told us when it was time to turn it off and when it was time to refit and when it was time to recover. And then I got in entrepreneur space and when things got difficult and you know, I made some really bad financial decisions which we can get into and all of that. I found myself with all of that weight with the only answer I had was just go harder.   Jason Hull (04:52) Yeah.   Yeah.   Sean Patton (04:59) And so   three years later, I was in the hospital ⁓ and I had stress hives and my appendix almost burst and all these health issues and going through my first bankruptcy or my only bankruptcy, but bankruptcy after three years. And so it was a rough start to the whole thing. I had to learn a lot of lessons about myself in that.   Jason Hull (05:07) Wow.   Yeah, yeah. And I think, you know, early stage entrepreneurism, there's some similar patterns I've noticed because, you know, I've talked to thousands of entrepreneurs. I've gone through this sort of journey. in the beginning, yeah, we do a lot of stupid stuff. Like we make mistakes and that's part of learning. You know, we believe weird things like I just like your first hire should be a clone of yourself. If I could just clone myself, I call it the clone myth. Like we believe like   You know, we think we can do everything ourselves. it'd be cheaper if I just figure out how to do it myself. If I just read the right book, watch the right YouTube video. And so we do dumb stuff like we don't get support. We don't get help. We don't get mentors. like it. had to things had to get really hard before I started getting mentors, getting help, getting coaches, getting support. And I had to be humble, you know, before I was willing to do that. And.   And yeah, and so I see, I see this, you know, a lot of people play out this journey and then early stage as an entrepreneur. Yeah. We're, we're, it's almost like the hustle's glamorized. And so we go through this process of like, I got a hustle. I got to work harder. That's what you do if you own a company, if you're a CEO, if you're a boss. And so you just burn yourself out. I remember I was at end of a sales call trying to wrap it up.   I was in so much pain because I like I think I'd slipped some sort of disc or was bulging in my back. And I was like by the end of the call and doing this call, I was laying on the floor and I ended the call and I was like, and I was in so much pain. I wasn't able to work and had to lay down for like two weeks. Yeah. And then I realized because I hadn't been eating, I'd been just working. hadn't been sleeping.   Sean Patton (07:04) my gosh.   Jason Hull (07:11) very well, I'd been just working. I thought I just need to work harder, work faster. And I didn't realize that probably I was like probably operating at like 10 % of my effectiveness mentally. I was being stupid. And I thought, I just need to work harder, I gotta hustle. And I wasn't taking care of myself. And then that's when I realized, if I don't take care of my body, I don't have a vehicle to achieve stuff or to get results. And I'm not even really present.   Sean Patton (07:23) Thank   Jason Hull (07:40) when I'm there with people because I'm hungry and I'm tired and I'm I'm everywhere else and I haven't even produced the, or my brain hasn't had a chance to clean itself like it does every night. And I haven't gotten food to fuel my brain. I don't have all the chemicals my brain needs. I'm lacking dopamine and serotonin and GABA and like, I'm just, I'm an absolute mess, right? And I see people do this all the time, all the time.   Sean Patton (08:05) It's so true. I, in my lens, how I look through that is through a leadership lens. And I learned in the military so many great things about leading others. And as I look back at it, what I had to learn in entrepreneurship, what you're kind of talking about is like, I never really had to master leading myself.   Jason Hull (08:31) Yeah.   Sean Patton (08:32) I never had to look at myself as like, how am going to lead myself? Cause the way you mentioned there, like I would never treat one of my soldiers or one of my employees or have an expectation of them the way I was, I was treating myself. And so it's like, how would you.   Jason Hull (08:41) Yeah.   Yeah, I wouldn't do I wouldn't I wouldn't push my spouse to be like this. I'd be like, hey, come on, clean more. Work harder.   Do this. Right. Yeah. Then marriage would be over real fast. I wouldn't like I wouldn't do that to my kids. Come on, go. Yeah. But to ourselves, we can sometimes be a cruel leader. Right. Can you dispel a myth? Because, you know, I got I kind of got a sense of this. I've never been in the military. And God bless you. Thank you for your service. I appreciate that.   Sean Patton (08:55) Yeah.   Jason Hull (09:15) ⁓ but I've realized I've been listening to, ⁓ Chaka Willa, Willick and Leaf, whatever their, their book, ⁓ the dichotomy of leadership. And I had this belief that in the military, I think a lot of people maybe that haven't been involved in it have this perception. Military, just, you either give orders or you take orders. It's rigid. There's no thinking. You just were told what to do. And, ⁓ you know, I've kind of gotten a very different picture of that.   that there's a lot of decisions and there's planning and know, this is lives are on the line and it's painted a very different picture. Can you just touch on that? Cause I think some people here, you've got this background in the military and to you, it's just, you know this stuff cause you had lived it. But for those that have never been in the military, what advantage did that give you in business and how is that different that maybe people perceive it?   Sean Patton (10:09) It's a great question. I do think that there is this idea from either whether it's like movies about basic training or, you know, the, or, know, about like submarines. Yeah. You just shut up and go. Right. And, know, there is in basic training or when you're, I would say when you're being transformed from a free citizen to a soldier, there is a bit of a breaking down of   Jason Hull (10:16) in movies. Yeah. You blindly follow and you're told what to do. Yeah.   Mm-hmm.   Sean Patton (10:39) some of that, that needs to come back. But then as you build that foundation of like, when it's time to go, I go ⁓ and I have some discipline and I can, can integrate with the unit, let's say. ⁓ Then you start getting more and more responsibility. And especially as you move up in the military, you become, I mean, it's not that long, like two or three years later, even the regular military, regular army, you're going to be a team leader. So you're going to be a leader.   And a of those kids are like 20, 19, and they're in charge of three people. And so they're no longer just like, it would make no sense to have someone to stand here and like, what do I need to do? This is what need to do. ⁓ That's not, not, that wouldn't like, that doesn't work in a company and that wouldn't work in a unit. And so there needs to be input on each side. And then especially when you get into like the Navy SEALs, like Jaco was talking about, or in a special forces team. mean, the planning, I was a facilitator of mission plan.   Jason Hull (11:11) Yeah.   Yeah.   Sean Patton (11:38) but I was by no means the smartest person in the room and it was a very collaborative experience. And so my job as the commander of a 12 man special forces ODA was to receive the mission that we had been given. And that mission doesn't come down and tell us this is how you're going to do it. It says, here's the effect we need to have in the area. Here's the questions we have. And then it was up for us to sit down and I had, you know, I have a warrant officer who's   Jason Hull (11:43) Hmm.   Sean Patton (12:08) trained in human intelligence to a level of a CIA operative. I have an intelligence officer or an intelligence sergeant who does the same work the NSA does. My average age on my team is 30 years old, people with multiple combat experiences. I remember one time I was in Lebanon and one of my younger soldiers, Greenbright, we were talking about why there was this conflict going on and how we were trying to influence it.   And I said, well, you know, it's probably because of this rift between this Hezbollah and the Shia sect and the Sunni sect of Muslims in the area. And, you my 26 year old soldier is like, actually, sir, that's incorrect. This conflict in the Becca Valley actually goes back hundreds of years. It's actually over like water rights. mean, like that's the level of conversation we're having in the planning session. And it is very much a collaborative   Jason Hull (13:00) Yeah.   Sean Patton (13:07) ⁓ discussion and we come up with multiple courses of action, but here's, I will say where it kind of converges to, ⁓ the lesson that comes from the military and maybe an issue, this is where the people maybe have this misconception, but I think it's an important one for when it comes to the, company is that at the end of the day, kind of go back to Jaco's first bunk on book, honestly, extreme ownership, has to be someone in charge as the commander is my dis   Jason Hull (13:11) Yeah.   Sean Patton (13:35) was my decision. was like, okay, I've heard everyone's input. We're going with, this is how we're going to do that. And immediately, because everyone had given their input, even if we didn't pick what their choice was, it was, okay, Roger that. Now we're going to execute that as if it was our own. And so that level of ownership when it comes to planning and execution is where we turn and say, okay, now we're on the same page.   the rich discussion and input that happens before that is an important job. And that's why I think whether it's in the military or in the civilian world, as a leader of an organization like that, you need to be a master facilitator. It's not your ideas. It's how can we be the composer of the group in front of us? And if someone is taking over, how do we calm them down? How do we...   Jason Hull (14:20) Yes, yeah.   Sean Patton (14:31) recognize when someone's voice is being stomped out and their valuable input isn't being contributed. You know, like how do you handle that and get the idea so that the best concept comes to the top and then get buy-in to execute.   Jason Hull (14:37) Bye.   I mean, what I'm hearing is like, you know, this picture you're painting is you've got this team of specialists. They each bring some value and some wisdom and some knowledge to the table. They're experts at this one particular craft. They see everything through a different lens and you're getting feedback from all these different lenses. And then as a leader, you have to decide which things are valid, which things do we incorporate? And, know, and it's up to each individual that's a specialist to really   put some pressure on the leader to say, this is significant, this is important. And it's up to the leader to make sure that, you know, maybe that quieter voice, but to recognize what is significant if they're not making it present, because sometimes the loudest voice in the room isn't the smartest voice in the room. And so, yeah, so that's fascinating. And, business is a lot like that, but a lot of business owners, they don't even run their teams like that. They think it's a dictatorship.   They mistakenly think that's how the military works. They're like, I'm the dictator and I have all the best ideas and I'm smarter than all of you. And they do, they end up as the emperor with no clothes. Cause everybody in the team were like, yes boss, we don't want to get fired.   Sean Patton (15:56) Absolutely. And that's why I think that the, main job of, let's say that entrepreneur, that business owner, that even commander, right. Is your job is to craft the vision of what you're trying to create. And yes, the outcome and clarity of outcome, clarity of vision of why does this company, why do we exist and what impact are we trying to have in the world? And once people are bought into that and aligned on that.   Jason Hull (16:09) The outcome, clarity of outcome.   Okay.   Sean Patton (16:26) then we can have a great and rich discussion on the how, the strategy.   Jason Hull (16:30) Got it. that,   you know, that's, so now we're talking about culture, right? Which is the foundation before we get into tactics, we have to have culture and the military, you have all kind of chosen into a particular culture. There's a set of beliefs and that's a foundation. It's kind of like, you might maybe even take it for granted, but the military has that and a lot of businesses don't. They don't have that set culture where it's defined.   Sean Patton (16:57) So can I, what I will say is that this is true in the military and I'll give you some military examples just because they're maybe interesting to your audience and then we can talk business is that mission dictates culture. So, know, for example, you might have, you know, especially a lot of the movies, right? You see like the Marines, That's stereotypical. We'll be super stereotypical right now. Marines mission, their core mission is secure the beach to land ships.   Jason Hull (17:04) Yeah, I love this. Yeah.   Yeah, OK.   Mm-hmm.   Okay.   Sean Patton (17:27) So if   you notice, are a bit like, just go get in line, full frontal assault, you're getting off ships on an uncovered area and you're just massive violence of action. That's how you win that battle, okay? So they need to have a certain kind of mentality and I'm generous. Okay. A special forces team will operate by, with and through an indigenous force. So we're a US sponsored insurgent. we've got, I will go on target with.   Jason Hull (17:42) Yes.   Sean Patton (17:54) 10 Americans and 300 Afghani commandos. Like that dictates a certain mission, right? And so ⁓ the difference between the Marines and then maybe the Navy SEALs who are operating and their job is to take over a ship underway with 30 SEALs that all live together, work together. They know each other in their ear, like synchronize their precise, you know, cause you've got to be right. You're, you're firing weapons inside of a ship corridor. Like   Jason Hull (17:57) Okay. Yeah.   Sean Patton (18:23) You have to be so precise. I can't do that on the ground with 300 Afghanis running around. I'm just like guns pointed this way. You know, like we've got to you've to be much more flexible and and how you plan that and how you think about success and all that is a different animal than the Marines who are on you're trying to storm a beach together. A SEAL team is operating with 30 people who've worked closely together and then.   where you've got 12 of us trying to work by with and through a different unit to do a different thing. Like the culture inside each one of those units would be completely different. In the Marines, you might have a bit more like go here, do that. Yes, sir. How, how jump high, jump faster. You know, you might need that because that's you need to storm a beach. You made, you need very precise, very black and white, right? And wrong, like precision to take down a ship with 30 people.   you need to be very clear about larger intent and what is the big thing we're trying to operate here and how do we control sort of an uncontrollable mass and chaos to operate a Green Break team. If you took the culture of each one of those, if you gave that mission to a bunch of Marines who are just like, where do I go? Where do need to blow up? And you're trying to like do a sensitive political operation with 300 indigenous, it would be a disaster.   Jason Hull (19:29) Yeah.   Sean Patton (19:46) And if you tried to set the precision of, cause we tried to do this sometimes, like you would work with an indigenous force. If you tried to set the precision and standard of a US special operator, whether it's a SEAL or a Green Beret on this indigenous force, you drive yourself crazy. Like it's not going to happen. All right. And so all of those different units have different missions. And so they all have different cultures. And to your point on your company, if you're not clear on missions,   If you're not clear on the vision and like why you exist and what you're trying to do, you will end up chasing your tail on culture because you'll just start grabbing like every other leadership book and culture. just like, what about this works here? This works here. This works here. Instead of saying, what are we trying to accomplish and what is the optimal culture for our mission set?   Jason Hull (20:36) I love that. Yeah, one of our guiding documents at DoorGrow is our, we call it our client-centric mission statement. And it talks about who we want to serve in detail, how we will help them, what our goal is, our plan, and then what kind of the long-term sort of vision that maybe we'll never achieve, but it's the goal we're striving for. And this is what we coach our clients on getting defined because it creates culture.   Then we have our how we do things. That's the company core values. And then we get into personal why statements for the business owner, business why statements. Creating all of this is, we call this the culture materials. There's like six key elements that I coach them on getting in place that help kind of make the culture visible to everybody on the team. And you're right, mission dictates culture. I love this idea because the mission of the business   which most people mistakenly think is just to make money, is actually to provide some sort of value and to solve a real problem in the marketplace. And that mission, whether you're good at it or not, and the team are conscious of it or not, and you're focused on it or not, dictates whether or not you have good culture that actually achieves outcomes. That makes a lot of sense.   Sean Patton (21:53) Yeah, absolutely. Cause   yeah, I love that you have that structure and I love how you also tied that down to personal why statements because this is another leadership issue that I see with a lot of entrepreneurs. We're big companies, honestly too, is that there is this assumption that you've accepted this job description and here's what matters to the company and therefore   what matters to maybe me as your leader or boss or the division or the company is also the most important thing to you as an individual or like the reason you're here is not really explored. So I think one of the most critical conversations you can have, and it sounds like you have a structured format for that, which is fantastic, is just sitting down with each member of your team, like, why are you here? What matters to you? Because often, right, I'm sure you've had this, I've had employees where you assume   a salesperson, the most important thing is compensation, right? It's how much money you can make. And that's great. Maybe it is, but then it's actually like, well, yeah, that's important. And also, you know, my, my youngest is a senior in high school and this is the last baseball season we have with, and man, the games start at four and it's so hard for me to get to games at four because you have me work till five. And it's like, if I could just make those baseball games, that would be amazing. And then all of sudden,   Once you know like what matters to them and why they're doing this, then you can adjust and say, cool, how do we align what matters to you? What your personal why statement as you mentioned it and the company why statement. And now you've got alignment. And when you align those two things where what matters most to them contributes to what matters most to the company, you just, create transformative effects.   Jason Hull (23:36) Thank   Yeah, the big challenge I've noticed, the biggest transformation I can get is to help the business owner get clear on their why. Because when the business owner isn't clear on why they do what they do, they end up doing the wrong things in the business. Because you're the business owner, you can do anything in the business. And so some business owners are like, well, I have to do the accounting. I'm the business owner. Do you really? If you hate accounting, you probably shouldn't be doing the accounting.   You're not the right personality fit for that, which means you're actually probably not the best person to do that. So some business owners love sales. Some love accounting. Some hate it. Some love operations. Some are really bad at that. And so if we can get clear on their personal why, and then we can look at their role and see if their role is helping align with that, we can then reorganize the entire business. But most business owners, the first team they build is they transition from solopreneur to having a team.   I find is a mess. The first team they have is built around the wrong person. And it's kind of like they're like, I'm this shape puzzle piece, but it's not really them. They're like, I'm doing accounting. I'm doing this and a little bit this. And then they're like, now I'm going to get team members. I'm going to puzzle pieces around this misshapen puzzle piece. And they fit that puzzle piece, but that's not even me. So I hate being in it. I'm uncomfortable in my own business.   In property management, this is where they get to two to 400 doors. call it the second sand trap or the team sand trap. They've made it through that transition of finally having a team from being a solopreneur and they're the most miserable they've ever been in their business. And adding more doors makes their life personally worse, not better. Because adding more doors just means they're working harder. They're doing more work instead of getting the right support and the right team, because they didn't build the right team around the right person from the beginning. So if I get them clear on their why,   They're like, my gosh, I'm a circle. I'm not a square. I need to build this whole different team around me. And then like when I got clarity on this many years ago, I think within a month I had fired like half my team. I changed everything. I changed the type of clients I was willing to work with. I changed my business model. Like I didn't want to tolerate certain things anymore because you know, I woke up one morning and I was like, I would rather stream Netflix and avoid growing my business.   even though I need money, then deal with the clients I'm dealing with at that time. I'm like, why is this so, why am I so out of alignment? Then I saw Simon's the next start with why, like presentation on the golden circle, why, how, what? And I was like, what? And I'm like, ⁓ what's my why? And so I went to, I've like, I need to figure this out. And my personal why is to inspire others to love true principles. What that means is I love finding the better way to do things. I love learning what works.   and sharing it with other people, I would do that for free for fun. If you're listening to this podcast, I'm doing it for free for fun right now. Like I love this. I love learning what's working for other people. And then I get to turn around and share that with clients and I get paid to do that. That's crazy. And that's the role I get to live in my business. And so my business, it feeds me my why.   Sean Patton (26:47) Yeah, it's all true.   Jason Hull (26:55) And so our why statement of door goes to transform property management, business owners and their businesses. So we get to create transformation. Everybody on my team buys into this vision. We all celebrate when our clients are winning. And so that's the culture we've created in the business. That's our mission, transformation. And we know if we transform the business owner, we transform the business. We transform the business, we transform the team. We transform the business and the team. We transform hundreds, maybe thousands of tenants and rental property owners lives.   There's this ripple effect and that's exciting to me. We're having impact, right? And so the thing I can get on a sales call and confidently say to a property management business owner, here's why you should trust me because if I'm selfish in getting what I want out of life, my why, my business is going to give you what you need and you are going to win. And we can always trust motives. And so I call that the golden bridge. The golden bridge is find out the prospects why.   Sean Patton (27:31) Yeah.   Jason Hull (27:54) and you build a bridge to it, the bridge is the business. It's what gives you both what you want. That's where the deal happens. And there's my why, there's the prospect's why, the business why is what connects us. And that's the golden bridge. And if I can relate that formula verbally, all the objections drop by the wayside, because the only real objection is, I don't trust you. If they're like, what about these features? And what do you do with my property? And what do you do? How do you handle evictions? All they're saying is blah, blah, blah, I don't trust you yet.   And so that's, I just teach my clients the golden bridge formula and that we have, and then they become great at selling because sales is about trust. That's it.   Sean Patton (28:35) Yeah, I love that, ⁓ that framework. And also I want to call out an important mindset shift that I know I struggled with. And I think a lot of other owners struggle with it. You mentioned there, which is this belief that if we're not suffering,   Jason Hull (28:57) ⁓ yeah. It's like suffering's a badge of honor in entrepreneurism.   Sean Patton (29:02) Yeah, like if we had, if we're actually enjoying what we're doing, if we're having time off, if we're like, you mentioned, we're taking care of ourselves and we're like inspired and energetic and it doesn't feel that hard, we must be doing something wrong or being lazy or we're not doing enough. And so then we're like constantly pushing ourselves to this point of, uh, I need to be overwhelmed. I need to be, and when things are going well, we'll crash the plane.   Jason Hull (29:11) ⁓ yeah.   Yeah, yeah.   Sean Patton (29:30) just so we can feel the pain again, so we feel like we're being productive. And so I love the fact that you, sounds like you sort of, we're running into that or identified that. And now the shift that it sounds like you've made around your mindset is like, what if this could be fun?   Jason Hull (29:32) Yeah.   Yeah. What if you actually love doing what you were doing in your business? I'll tell you what happens because I hope a lot of people do this. You make way more money when you focus on the money instead of the mission and you're not focused on your why you make way less money. But it's money is easy when you are focused on helping people get what they want. You're outward focus and it's you're being selfish enough to focus on your actual purpose. Money is not your purpose.   If I say, do you want money? There's a whole level of depth beneath that. Right. And so, yeah, but you're right. Like we're struggling, we're suffering, and it's like a badge of honor. Look at my hustle culture. And I'm like, it's so hard. And then we start succeeding and we get, the world gives us feedback because the world isn't supportive of entrepreneurs. The world cares about safety and certainty more than freedom. Entrepreneurs care about freedom and fulfillment more.   Sean Patton (30:24) Yes.   Jason Hull (30:48) than safety and security. And that's why we start businesses. That's a risk. But as soon as we start winning, what do we hear from people? ⁓ it must be nice.   Sean Patton (31:00) Yeah.   Jason Hull (31:01) it must be nice that you have this. Jason got his cyber truck or he's in his million dollar house. It must be nice. ⁓ know, and so you hear things like this and you're like, did I do something wrong? maybe I need to be small because I'm making some people feel uncomfortable because, know, it's to be a struggle. I can't show that I'm having success because it's got to be hard. I didn't I didn't work hard enough to earn this. Maybe it's that feeling or, know, it has to   Sean Patton (31:20) Yeah.   Or enjoyment, yeah, it's gotta be.   Yeah, I think there's a lot   of that. I know my relationship as I've reflected back with, with money, um, with success is, know, I grew up with a, with a single mom and she was phenomenal. I mean, raised me, worked full time as a waitress and bar center to put herself through undergrad and grad school to be a school psychologist, to work with special needs kids so that she could impact the world and take care of me. But in that, yeah. Yeah.   Jason Hull (31:31) Hard.   Yeah.   And love was working hard. That's what you saw. Like she was hustling.   You knew she loved you. She was serving. Yeah.   Sean Patton (32:02) Absolutely.   And so I would say there's two sides of that coin. One, what I tell people all the time is like, when you see your mom do that or that's your leader, like mediocrity is no longer acceptable. That's one thing I took away from it. then the, but there was this idea when we say we drove through nice neighborhoods or we saw big houses or we saw people with money. was like, ⁓ those it's like those people. Like it was very much put into, I feel like subconsciously that   Jason Hull (32:10) Yeah.   Yes. Yeah.   Sean Patton (32:31) I think that it was just a matter of like, ⁓ there's this idea of that good people or hardworking, working class folks like us, we're doing sort of this noble thing and these other people either just got lucky or they're just different or they were born into it or, it's this idea of like, we're not those people.   Jason Hull (32:49) Or even worse,   were unethical or hurt people to get there. Those rich people, those evil billionaires and those evil millionaires, and nobody should have that kind of money. They must have hurt people to get there and yeah, yeah, yeah.   Sean Patton (32:54) 100 exactly.   And so that   was like a story, even a money story and success story that over the last 10 years as an entrepreneur with different businesses, and I was, and I was as a coach of leaders inside companies, ⁓ and, business owners that I've had to overcome. And I have found myself to your point, sort of sabotaging or questioning when I do have certain levels of success or impact and downplaying it almost because I have this.   Jason Hull (33:17) Yeah.   Sean Patton (33:34) subconscious belief that like, wait a if I make this amount of money or if I get to do these things is like, am I, as you said, am I deserving of that? Or is that even like an ethical thing to be able to do? I need to suffer more and drive myself back to the suffering conversation.   Jason Hull (33:40) Yeah.   Yeah, I mean,   the feedback we get from the world as entrepreneurs. So one of my frameworks is the four, I call it the four reasons for starting a business. The first reason is fulfillment in life. That should be primary. We should be getting fulfillment in life, living our why, living our purpose. Number two, it should be more and more freedom. The business should give us more and more freedom. Now, we initially as entrepreneurs, when we start our journey, we make more and more money.   And the reason we want more money is we think it will give us more fulfillment and more freedom. But the default is, I've seen this over and over again, I live this, is we make more and more money and we have less fulfillment and freedom in our business initially. Until we get clear on this, because we're aiming for the wrong goal, we're aiming for money, not the four reasons. Once we have fulfillment and freedom though, once we figure that out, we're like, why am I doing this? I need to shift things. And we get alignment there, then we want to benefit others.   That's contribution. And that's actually why businesses exist. Businesses exist to contribute to the marketplace something of value, solve real problems. Otherwise, they're just snake oil and they're stealing people's money. And so true entrepreneurs, like they might start with just the motive of money, which maybe isn't the highest motive. But if they're going to be successful, eventually they graduate usually to contribution.   because that's the only thing that actually works in the marketplace. The marketplace is brutal to anything else. So it's almost like God tricks us into becoming good people by getting us to start businesses, you know? And so the fourth reason, once we have contribution, we have fulfillment, freedom, we get to, we're living a life where we feel like we're benefiting others, making a difference. And we love, we can't have those first three without the fourth, which is support. There's no,   Sean Patton (35:22) Yeah, yeah.   Jason Hull (35:41) business owner that I know of that enjoys doing every hat, wearing every hat in their own business. And so we have to have a good team. We have to have a good support. Just like you were talking about in the, in the military, like if you're going on a mission, you need some specialists that have expertise in different areas to make this work. Not everybody has the same personality, the same skills, the same intellectual abilities. And so we need other people if we want to stay in those first three.   We can't have fulfillment, freedom and contribution if we're doing stuff we don't enjoy. That's the opposite. And so we have to have team members. And that's why we build the vehicle of a business instead of just be a freelancer and do it all on our own. And that's the, so those are my four reasons. Now there is the fifth reason. The fifth reason is what everybody else wants. And we want this too as entrepreneurs, but the fifth reason is safety and security.   This is what makes us different. Everybody else on the planet wants all five of these things. But most people on the planet play safety and security first. They're like, forget your freedom. We saw this during the pandemic. It's like, fuck your freedom. Like, we don't care about your freedom. I want to feel safe. Make everyone feel safe. Force it on everybody. Make everybody feel safe first. And then freedom would be a really nice afterthought. And then entrepreneurial people were like, this what crazy planet am I on?   Sean Patton (37:04) Mm-hmm.   Jason Hull (37:08) Am I hanging out with aliens? Like, I don't understand. I thought we were in the land of the free home of the brave here in the US and like, what's going on? And we have all these different basic hierarchy of needs, but the hierarchy is different for entrepreneurs versus everybody else. And there's nothing wrong with that. Like I need people on my team that don't want to be the business owner.   Sean Patton (37:21) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.   Yeah, yeah   Jason Hull (37:32) You know, I need them to be with me and enjoy it, right? And they need somebody that like me, that's crazy, that's willing to take some of the risks. They just don't realize they're working for a crazy person, right? So that values freedom more than safety. So yeah, but look, I love safety and security too. That's why I process documentation. I have systems that makes me feel safe. If I lose somebody, right? So we need all of these things. So I love, I love that you were pointing that out. ⁓ Where should we go from here?   Sean Patton (37:42) Hahaha   Yeah.   Jason Hull (38:01) Like we're almost at the time and I love hearing the ⁓ how the military works because the military works its life or death. It's it's ⁓ and there's clear objectives and I feel like in business things get so fuzzy and there's so much BS. And when we hear it in terms of military, we're like, ⁓ duh, this would translate. I should do my business this way.   Sean Patton (38:04) Yeah.   Yeah, I think it's a good way to wrap in last couple of minutes is like, what are some key points there? think that what the military does, because not everything in the military is from personal experience translates perfectly over, right? But that there's certain things. Yeah, it's all the same. There are some similarities. I think that if there's an overarching word of why, and it's just true,   Jason Hull (38:43) Sure, it's not all exactly the same, yeah.   Sean Patton (38:58) military, good military units are able to accomplish the seemingly impossible tasks ⁓ is clarity, like extreme clarity and no nonsense around no clarity. And so whether that's clarity of mission, clarity of roles and responsibilities, who's doing what when and what are they committing to? There's so much... ⁓   Jason Hull (39:05) Yeah.   Hmm.   Sean Patton (39:26) sort of expectation or unsaid agreements that happen inside business, where we make assumptions about what we think other people understand or what they think success is or roles is. Instead of saying here's our clear mission, here's our outcomes, here's my role and responsibility, here's what I'm gonna own. I mean, the amount of times I work with a company or entrepreneur and we go in and they say, yeah, here are like the 12 things that are important before the next meeting, but there's no one's name next to it with a date.   Jason Hull (39:28) Hmm.   Yeah.   Yeah. Right.   Like who? Who's responsible? Who's accountable? Yeah.   Sean Patton (39:55) It's like, Hey, what'd we talk about last meeting? Who's doing that? Yeah. Who's taking,   who's accountable. So I think they're very clear about like what role and responsibility do you have so that you can lean into that. So clarity around roles, responsibilities, clarity around mission, then clarity around, you know, end state. Like what does success look like for this? Those are.   Jason Hull (40:14) What's the definition   of done on this? How do we know this is accomplished? I love it.   Sean Patton (40:19) Mm-hmm. And so I think   if companies could really take that approach of clarity in those three areas, it could be transformative.   Jason Hull (40:29) Totally agree. One of my mentors that really taught me operational stuff was a mentor named Alex Sharpen. And Alex would talk about outcome transparency and accountability. He was like a three-legged stool. And he said, there has to be a clear outcome. Like, who's responsible ⁓ is also, right? that's like outcome transparency, accountability. Accountability is who? What are we trying to accomplish is the outcome.   And then what's the scoreboard? How do we measure success? How do we know if it's done? And he said he would watch billionaires and follow them around and they go into a meeting. They didn't know what was going on, what was being discussed, but there was a problem. He would just walk in and he would ask three questions and the problems were solved. Cool. What are we trying to accomplish? Okay. Who's responsible for this? Awesome. How do we know if it's done or not?   And it was that simple. And then you walk out of the room, everyone's like, man, he's magic. So glad we have him. What a great leader. And I love it. Clarity is massive. one of the things, like a lot of businesses don't even have the clear role or job descriptions defined for their existing team members. If I went to, anyone listen to this, I went to your team member, ask yourself this question. And I asked them, what are you responsible to achieve on a weekly, monthly basis? What is your job?   Sean Patton (41:27) Yeah.   Jason Hull (41:52) What are your roles? What are you supposed to do? And then I went to the business owner. I went to you listening and said, what is their responsibility? What are these? I usually get two very different set of directions. But if you come to my team or hopefully some of my clients that I'm coaching and you ask that question, they would say, cool, let me pull up my document that is super clear that we review regularly. This is it. We've agreed on this. We're literally on the same page.   And it's that simple. And so they know what outcomes they're responsible for. And the outcomes are more important than the responsibilities. So on our job descriptions, we have results. What results or expected accomplishments are there? so little things like that. One of the things I love saying lately is, this is one of my little phrases, is any action we take without clarity is a little bit wrong. Sometimes a lot, a lot wrong.   Sean Patton (42:21) Yes.   Mmm, I love that.   I love that.   Jason Hull (42:51) Yeah, and so that's dangerous. like the last thing you want to do in on the battlefield is just rush out with a lot of gusto guns a blazing with no plan and a lack of clarity. But in business, sometimes that's how we operate for shooting from the hip. We're like, Woo, yeah.   Sean Patton (43:08) Yeah,   it is. That's the thing is because of the mission that the military has, the culture demands extreme clarity. And because of the mission of businesses, people can get away with leakage and mistakes because, you know, it's not life or death. But if you treat your business like that, that's how you get to the next level of performance.   Jason Hull (43:18) you   Love it. Cool. Sean, awesome having you on. Always fun to chat with you. We have some good conversations. ⁓ This is really interesting to me. I love hearing how ⁓ this all works and the contrast with military and whatnot. You brought up some really great points that really made me think. How can people get in touch with you? Tell them what you do real quick and all that.   Sean Patton (43:40) Yeah, absolutely.   Yeah,   absolutely. So you wanna, my personal site is SeanPatton.me. Super easy to find. I'm very active on LinkedIn. And I am a part of a larger firm called Novus Global, where we focus on creating meta performance leaders. A lot of the transformation we're talking about today. So yeah, LinkedIn and my website, easiest ways to get me. also the host of the No Limit Leadership Podcast. Please check that out and.   Jason, you have a scheduled day. I'm excited to have you on that podcast in the future.   Jason Hull (44:29) Yeah, I'm excited to be on that. That'll be great. It's been great having you. Cool. Thanks for being here. All right. Yeah, absolutely. So for those of you that are property management business owners and you felt maybe stuck, stagnant, you want to take your property management business to the next level, reach out to us at doorgrow.com for free training on how to get unlimited free leads. Text the word leads to 512-648-4608.   Sean Patton (44:35) Thanks, Jason. Appreciate the opportunity.   Jason Hull (44:57) Also join our free Facebook community just for property management business owners at doorgrowclub.com. And if you want tips, tricks, ideas, and to learn about our offers, subscribe to our newsletter by going to doorgrow.com slash subscribe. And if you found this even a little bit helpful, don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review on wherever you saw this. We'd really appreciate it. And until next time, remember the slowest path to growth is to do it alone. So let's grow together. Bye everyone.   All right, and we are out in five, four, three, two, one.   Sean Patton (45:33) Thanks brother.

Over the past week, everyone has had launches on the brain – thanks largely to the Artemis II rocket and its ongoing lunar flyby mission. However, there are a couple of health-related launches that are the focus of this week's episode. First up is the launch of HayloARC, a health-focused demand-side platform – better known as a DSP. HayloARC is available for use by advertisers and medical marketing agencies seeking to better interface with HCPs and patients. To accomplish this, HayloARC utilizes first-party HCP data derived from 30-plus medical publications owned by Haymarket Media, the parent company of MM+M. For the feature conversation, editor-at-large Steve Madden sits down with Louis Naimoli, VP of programmatic business development and strategy at Haymarket, about what HayloARC is, how it's differentiated from other DSPs and what it offers programmatic buyers in medical marketing. Then, during our Trends segment, we're talking about how the fight for GLP-1 supremacy between Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly has shifted to the oral obesity pill battlefield. We discuss Novo rolling out a multimonth subscription program for Wegovy and the FDA's approval of Lilly's daily oral weight loss drug Foundayo. Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music. Check us out at: mmm-online.com Follow us: YouTube: @MMM-onlineTikTok: @MMMnewsInstagram: @MMMnewsonlineTwitter/X: @MMMnewsLinkedIn: MM+M To read more of the most timely, balanced and original reporting in medical marketing, subscribe here.Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this bonus episode, Rob Henderson and I discussed Louis Theroux's manosphere documentary for Netflix.Discussed in the episode:MMM episode on ‘Adolescence'Peep Show, “I'm Louis Theroux, I'm Louis Theroux”‘When Louis met... Jimmy'Louis Theroux on Modern Wisdom Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My mom, Sarah Galambos—former Buckhead party girl turned retreat-leading energy healer—returns to the pod to talk about her chaotic southern Catholic upbringing being, being a 90s Buckhead party girl, and now an energy healer leading retreats for people who feel lost. Mmm sound familiar?!We talk about what it means to carry shame and how it can ruin you, but no worries because she also tells us how to overcome it! Whew! We OBVIOUSLY talk about my wedding planning and her POV on my surprise engagement. We talk about our favorite parties we've hosted and how to throw a good party. (06:36) - Leading retreats and healing journey(19:53) - My mom's upbringing (23:07) - Energy healing(29:32) - Buckhead party days(34:58) - Party planning and wedding!!(01:12:48) - Advice to women about marriage(01:16:41) - Chic or freak

Practise speaking the dialogue from episode #106 Mmm or Hmm? Trying new and unusual food. - 讓我們一同練習上星期在第 106 集學會的詞彙。

PODCAST LAS NOTICIAS CON CALLE DE 30 DE MARZO DE 2026 - WTI y Brent rompen y se van por encima de 100 el barril, hasta 115 Trump dice al Financial Times que quiere "tomar el petróleo" de Irán y considera tomar la isla KhargEsta semana se debate en la Corte Suprema si hay o no ciudadanía americana por nacimiento - Washington Post 50 mil soldados de USA en la zona de Medio Oriente - NYTJGo envía al Senado supuestos recortes de 900 millones del año anterior - El Nuevo Día ¿Son o no responsables de volverte adictivo las redes sociales? Jurado en California entiende que sí - Los Ángeles TimesNegociado de Energía finalmente arranca con posible protocolo para que alcaldes ayuden a LUMA con alumbrado público - El Nuevo Día Gobierno va en contra de viuda de Roberto Viqueira diciendo que no puede llevar el caso al Apelativo - El Nuevo Día No viene otro proyecto de fourtracks de la Fortaleza - El Vocero Buscan garantizar zonas que sean agrícolas - El Nuevo Día Republicanos plantean aprobar los 200 billones para la Guerra de Irán cortando fondos de Medicaid/Medicare alegando fraude - Axios Lo que implica que los hutíes entraron a la guerra de Irán - Economist Aprueban aumento de la luz por un centavo por guerra de Irán - Primera Hora Proponen pasar Palo Seco de Toa Baja a Cataño, alcaldes dicen que no - Primera Hora Viene récord de sargazo según científicos - El Nuevo Día Sigue la pelea por las planillas de Sagardía - El Nuevo Día Quién paga por los problemas de conflicto de interés, Genera o el gobierno en las negociaciones de la generación temporera - El Nuevo Día Nuevo jefe de FEMA subirá a 25 millones lo que antes estaba en 100 mil para aprobar directamente por el jefe de DSH - El Nuevo Día Jefa de LUMA pide un break para ver si funciona ahora el consorcio - El Nuevo Día Falso que le iban a quitar las licencias a los viejitos - El Nuevo Día Investigan nuevas fallas susceptibles de terremotos en PR - El Vocero Volleyball de PR en luto con la muerte de atleta y otra que está gravemente herida tras regresar a su casa a Loíza  MMM hoy voy pa Martins BBQEl mejor y más sabroso pollo asado a la varita de Puerto Rico. Cocinando diariamente comida fresca saludable y sabrosa con un montón de complementos para escoger, arroces, habichuelas, verduras, mofongo, tostones,....MMMM....Esto si es criolloMartins BBQ, TOMANDO todas las medidas de salud y sabor para mantener la mesa boricua al dia con opciones para llamar, recoger o delivery por UBER Eats, y DoorDash.MMM Hoy como en Martin's BBQAsado...Jugoso...SabrosoIncluye auspicio 

We're getting organized. We're getting our messaging down. We're taking ALL THE ACTION-- and you're gonna book your next 10 clients.In this episode, Jenna breaks down the three barriers she sees blocking business owners from getting their next 10 clients.We cover:#1 — Journey Clarity. Do you actually know what you want your leads to click, and in what order? From your Instagram link in bio to your sales page, Jenna walks through why a confusing or overloaded client journey is quietly repelling people who are ready to buy.#2 — Messaging. Who are you? Who do you serve? What makes you different? Your messaging needs to live everywhere — and you need to be so tired of saying it that you think you've said it too much. (You haven't.)#3 — You're whispering. You are not promoting your offers enough, not selling with conviction, and perfect people who need you are missing out because of it. It's time to scream it.If you're ready to get booked out and spend your summer actually enjoying it, this one's for you.If you're an MMM alumni and youre interested in Booked Out Offers - reach out to us!

The guys give a couple thoughts on MLB Opening Night on Netflix and other headlines that happened on Opening Day. Patrick gives an update on how they are doing in MMM. The guys give their MLB division winners and decide who they want to keep in the NBA expansion draft from the Bulls and Warriors. Follow & SubscribeNew Episodes every Week!

Give the gift of everyday luxury by going to cozyearth.com and using my code COZYMMM for 20% off site wide. And if you get a post-purchase survey do please mention that you heard about Cozy Earth from the Maiden Mother Matriarch podcast. Whether you're buying for yourself, or for somebody else, Cozy Earth creates the comfort that makes a house feel like home. MMM is sponsored by 321 - a new online introduction to Christianity, presented by former MMM guest Glen Scrivener. Check it out for free at 321course.com/MMM. Just enter your email, choose a password and you're in — there's no spam and no fees. The queen of reactionary feminism, Mary Harrington, is now hosting a monthly YouTube show with Socrates in the City. I was one of her first guests and the Socrates team were kind enough to let me share our conversation with you here. We discussed the disappointments of postliberalism, arguments over the feminisation of public life, the loss of male status in the modern world, conflict within the gender critical movement, and the debate over ethno-nationalism in Britain. To watch more of Mary's interviews head over to Socrates in the City on YouTube. She's also recently spoken to Jonathan Pageau, Nina Power, and Justin Brierley, all conversations that I'm sure will be of interest to MMM listeners. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The approach to AI so far can be best described as a using brute force to make things happen. It's been effective so far, but the approach starts to run into problems when the numbers get really big. Thankfully, some new developments in AI could help alleviate that challenge. Matt, Jon, and Tyler discuss how Google and ARM are advancing AI efficiency. Plus, social media's bad week in court and the mailbag. Tyler Crowe, Jon, Quast, and Matt Frankel discuss: Meta and Alphabet losing watershed social media cases Is a “tobacco moment” as bad as it sounds? Advancements in AI efficiency Mailbag: Auto invest or buy the dip? Companies discussed:  GOOG, META, BP, DD, DOW, MMM, ARM, AAPL, MU, SNDK, INTC, NVDA, AMD Got investing questions for the podcast? Email us at podcasts@fool.com Host: Tyler CroweGuests: Matt Frankel, Jon QuastEngineer: Bart Shannon Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. The Motley Fool and its affiliates (collectively, "TMF") do not endorse, recommend, or verify the accuracy or completeness of the statements made within advertisements. TMF is not involved in the offer, sale, or solicitation of any securities advertised herein and makes no representations regarding the suitability, or risks associated with any investment opportunity presented. Investors should conduct their own due diligence and consult with legal, tax, and financial advisors before making any investment decisions. TMF assumes no responsibility for any losses or damages arising from this advertisement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“If you heal yourself, you have the ability to heal generations before and after you.” In this episode, Nick speaks with Amber Richbook about her journey through identity, subconscious beliefs, and the impact of generational trauma. They explore the importance of awareness and the role of cultural identity in shaping our experiences and ultimately who we believe we are and what our “identity” means to us. What to listen for: We all have gifts and abilities that can be realized Coincidences are often signs that require investigation Generational trauma impacts our identities and experiences Healing is a personal journey that affects generations Self-mastery requires the willingness to change our identity as we grow Awareness is crucial for personal growth and healing Our identity is fluid “We all have different generational things running through our veins. What are we going to do with them? How are we going to reconcile? How are we going to bring the healing?” Healing is our responsibility, no matter what our parents passed to us genetically Understanding what our family history is can sometimes shed light on our current struggles Epigenetics research is increasingly validating that generational trauma not only exists but has real repercussions on future generations “You must be willing to change identities as many times and as often as you feel led to” What we believe our “identity” is, isn't always accurate or remotely current The hesitance for change is normal, but being willing to adapt and evolve is critical for personal growth Changing identities isn't about becoming someone else; it's about uncovering more of who you are at your core About Amber Richbook Amber Richbook is a transformational speaker and identity-shift coach who helps people move from simply existing to fully living. Through keynotes, coaching, and her podcast Meaningful Conversations, she teaches individuals to break self-limiting beliefs and take practical steps toward authentic, purpose-driven lives. She is a TEDx speaker and has appeared on PBS and corporate leadership platforms. Her mission is to become the go-to voice for mindset and identity transformation for a new generation. https://www.arichbook.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/arichbook/ https://www.instagram.com/a.richbook/ Resources: Check out other episodes about identity: Processing Our Childhood Traumas With Jeremy Stegall Exploring The Role Of DEI In Healing And Growth With Corey Williams How To Embrace Your Identity And Inner Strength With Rich Vysion Love and Faith Beyond Identity and Labels With Carl King Exploring Human Design For Self-Mastery With Akary Busto Interested in starting your own podcast or need help with one you already have? https://themindsetandselfmasteryshow.com/podcasting-services/ Learn more about our host, Nick McGowan: https://nickmcgowan.com Thank you for listening! Please subscribe on iTunes and give us a 5-Star review! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mindset-and-self-mastery-show/id1604262089 Listen to other episodes here: https://themindsetandselfmasteryshow.com/ Watch Clips and highlights: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk1tCM7KTe3hrq_-UAa6GHA Guest Inquiries right here: podcasts@themindsetandselfmasteryshow.com Your Friends at “The Mindset & Self-Mastery Show” Click Here To View The Episode Transcript Nick McGowan (00:00.495)Hello and welcome to the Mindset and Self Mastery Show. I’m your host, Nick McGowan. Today on the show we have Amber Richbook. Amber, how are doing today? Amber RichBook (00:22.403)Well, how are you Nick? Thank you for having me. Nick McGowan (00:25.679)Yeah, absolutely. We were just shooting the shit for like a solid half hour. And again, one of those situations like let’s just record. So I’m stoked for you to be here. I think this is gonna be cool. We’re gonna get into a lot to talk about identity, subconscious limiting beliefs and your story. And even talking about regional and generational trauma and some of the things I’ve talked about on different episodes. But I think identity is a big part of that. I always like to start episodes off with something that’s a little Amber RichBook (00:29.846)I know. Nick McGowan (00:54.319)odd or bizarre about you that most people don’t know. So what do you got for me? Amber RichBook (00:58.19)Okay, so one of my bizarre weird things that people don’t know about me is that I wrote about my life as a single mother of three daughters when I was in the first grade and my mom She kept like this big bag, like everywhere we moved to, this was like this big bag of childhood memorabilia from myself and my siblings of things we drew and wrote in kindergarten, pre-K, first grade, second grade, like the little macaroni art that’s like happy Mother’s Day. Here’s a flower with glue and there’s missing pieces on it. And so, you know, in first grade when they have the writing pads with the story and you draw the little ugly picture and you think like, Nick McGowan (01:32.655)Yeah, of course. Amber RichBook (01:44.014)And it’s like Miss A takes her three daughters and the names were like J, E, A, like they were all like names with those initials. And my daughter’s names now have the initials J, A, and E. To get ice cream and they love driving in their really big truck. and they love doing all these fun things together. They like dancing. like, there was no, was just this Miss A. and her three daughters. And I remember years ago when I, well, my mom was like, kind of like, all right, you guys are grown, take your shit. Like I saved all of it. Let me show you guys that I actually cared about you as children. Like do with it what you want. I’m like, okay, so let me go through my stuff. And I’m just sitting there and I’m reading it. And I was like, can I curse? I was like, okay. Nick McGowan (02:27.96)Yeah. Nick McGowan (02:40.958)yeah. Amber RichBook (02:42.86)I was like, Amber, what the fuck were you writing about in the fucking first grade? Like you’re writing about being a mom. Now, fun fact, I was the child, the friend, even in high school that used to call kids creatures. I was like, ill, be a mom. That’s so disgusting. Motherhood. So now there’s a running joke. Like every mother’s day, my friends from high school and college are like, dude, how did you become a mom? Nick McGowan (02:45.443)Yeah. Amber RichBook (03:09.836)Like that’s the joke. Like you’re a mom, bro. None of them are mothers, but I’m a mom. Dude, how did that happen? So I think that’s interesting because one of my favorite books is The Alchemist. I talk about it in my, started my Ted talk with it and it was like, we really go on this journey of life and all you’re doing is getting back to the core of who you are. Nick McGowan (03:10.179)You Nick McGowan (03:14.423)Ugh. Nick McGowan (03:36.569)Yeah. Amber RichBook (03:36.992)and your inner child, like those youthful experience where your imagination is purely untamed, not realizing that many of us have these gifts. We all have these gifts and abilities, but where were they most active? How were they most active? and I’ll just layer it with this before I give it back to you. There was a thread that I saw recently that said, healers, spiritual people, did you have a near death experience that confirmed your abilities, et cetera, et cetera? And when I was born, Nick McGowan (04:10.863)Mm-hmm. Amber RichBook (04:13.942)I only had eight minutes to live. Eight is my favorite number. Eight is when I was eight years old. That was like my favorite age. Schoolhouse rock was like a thing when I was growing up. So it was like the figure eight song. I loved eight. When I was in school, I was always drawing eight. I was always like just fascinated with eight. And my birthday is on a 26. So two plus six equals eight. And so. Nick McGowan (04:26.704)yeah. Amber RichBook (04:43.118)start reflecting on these things and you’re like oh here are how all the dots connect in my life in my reality in my experience so yeah i’m a little woo woo Nick McGowan (04:56.431)I don’t think it’s as much woo woo as it’s looking for patterns of things. I’m similar in the sense where I look, like we were talking about even signs before we hit record, looking for signs. I think there’s a level of awareness. And if you’re aware of something, you can at least say, well, that’s something. I don’t particularly agree that there are like coincidences in the world. I think there are things that line up, but then there are also things that just don’t make sense. Like I remember saying, Amber RichBook (05:07.148)Yeah. Amber RichBook (05:19.534)Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Nick McGowan (05:25.679)People saying to me like years and years and years ago like you might read something in a book or like the Bible or whatever and it doesn’t make any sense at all and then years later it punches you right in the mouth like there are times literally within the Bible or God’s like this thing today means the most thing to you and you’re like, whoa What what does that mean and you’ve read it 400 billion times? Or you’ve seen a situation or whatever. I think there’s a power of being aware to be able to see those things but then Amber RichBook (05:36.183)Yep. Nick McGowan (05:53.229)like you had even said before we hit record, and we probably should have just hit record way early, was that it’s our responsibility to do something with that. And it’s what we get to do with it from there that actually shapes the way that future generations and all of those sort of things. It’s interesting to me, like right off the bat when you said, I wrote that out in first grade and now I’m living it, because I remember people in grade school thinking or writing out like a five year, 10 year plan. Amber RichBook (05:56.942)you Amber RichBook (06:01.569)Yep. Amber RichBook (06:09.336)Yeah. Nick McGowan (06:21.967)There were a couple of the smart kids in school that I can think back to, like fifth or sixth grade that did that. And there was one in particular, I forget what her name was, but she was like dead set. Like this is exactly how my life’s gonna be. And I’ve thought about that girl every once in a while of like, did life work out? Because my life was totally different than what anything I could have ever created. But what a cool thing for you to see, because it sounds like you didn’t say, well, my intention is to have three kids. Amber RichBook (06:39.5)Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nick McGowan (06:51.381)and nobody around and I wanna do this and we’re gonna go get ice cream and all this like this is the fucking life I’m gonna live and like you pushed for it but what a wild thing for it to create, yeah. Amber RichBook (06:53.089)Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you just lived. Yes. And, and, and then I want to say like older years, like in my teen years, I remember being a freshman and we had the opportunity to sign up for vocational school. prior to us hitting record because Nick and I, were chopping it up. we were talking, I said, you know, even as I navigate my own gifts, I had to process, okay, am I speaking things into existence or am I speaking something that’s already into existence and it’s already the same. So even when you say coincidences aren’t real, coincidence gets a freaking rap because if we break down coincidence, it is coincide. It is all these things that are coming together, but it’s easier to write it off like, it’s just a coincidence. It’s nothing. But if it’s really a coincidence, you should want to do the investigation of. Nick McGowan (07:37.081)Yeah. Amber RichBook (07:52.246)where is this coexistence happening in my reality? Okay, so Amber, what are you getting to? When I was in the eighth or the ninth grade, they said we could sign up for a vocational school. So school, high school, halftime, then go to a technical school. So I’m like, all right, I wanna do cosmetology because I don’t wanna flip burgers while I’m in college. Like that was what I convinced my mother. I’m like, mom. Nick McGowan (08:05.377)Yeah. Amber RichBook (08:16.898)And it was $300 and I’m like, it comes with a whole kit. And I’m like, you want me to go to college, right? Like I’m not saying I’m not going to college. So I don’t want to flip burgers. Not that anything is wrong with that. Cause I did end up working at a fast food restaurant, right? Because you’re like, I don’t want to do that. And then you end up where you said you don’t want to be because the universe source wherever it doesn’t here don’t, it just hears focus and attention. And I went through that. that cosmetology program, graduated high school, graduated with my cosmetology license. I’m still licensed to this day. And I remember when I was in college, I had a car accident where I lost all my cognitive abilities and I had to medically withdraw. Now, once I started to heal up, I didn’t have the cognitive ability to return back to college. Nick McGowan (08:58.361)Hmm. Amber RichBook (09:09.024)Why? Because prior to my accident, had a brain contusion afterwards, but I could study with the lights on, the music on, the TV on, all these stimulators. But then after my accident, when I say I had to write things word for word, I had to have pure silence, I had to take breaks. I’m like, this is not going to work for me. So I had this cosmetology license to lean back on to create a living for myself and to work prior to returning back to school. Nick McGowan (09:29.006)Hmm. Amber RichBook (09:38.88)And so that’s where that interconnectedness of the universal law of cause and effect, right? So if you ensure, like get insurance on all these things, you’re also calling in accidents, breaks. You’re also calling in all the things that benefit from having this insurance. So that’s how interesting and coincidental life is, is when you’re preparing and creating these incidents Nick McGowan (09:53.709)you Nick McGowan (10:04.836)Mm. Amber RichBook (10:08.784)that get to coincide with each other. That was so crazy. Yes. Yes. Nick McGowan (10:13.871)I think the awareness is the glue of that though. Like if you’re aware of that stuff, you can then do something or not. Like there are certain things I think that happen. Like even with you saying, all right, mom, I’m gonna go to college, but I wanna go this route. You’re really just thinking from a perspective of the system of the world tells me that I need to make money. I need to do this on my own. So I guess I’ll go do this thing. Yes. Amber RichBook (10:35.692)and I need to have something to fall back on, right? So going with that intention of I need something to fall back on because something can go wrong. Yup. Nick McGowan (10:43.833)Just in case. Yeah. Which is such a fucked thing. So our parents went through the bullshit like that with their parents and maybe they went to college or they did something and they had something they could fall back on because their parents said, based on the current system that we’re in, in the 60s and 70s, this is what it’s gonna be like. And by the time the 80s and 90s came around, now we’re experiencing what that’s like where you motherfuckers were able to afford a house. Amber RichBook (10:49.262)You Amber RichBook (10:53.975)Yep. Nick McGowan (11:13.359)for $13,000 back in the day. We can’t afford that for a porch on a house, let alone, you know what I mean? But those though are stories and it’s up to us to be able to change. And I think that’s where part of the awakening is happening, where we then look back and go, well, motherfucker, some of this shit really fucked us up. And this was straight up abuse in that time or. Amber RichBook (11:13.826)Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, okay, wait. Amber RichBook (11:26.711)Yeah. Yes. Yes. Nick McGowan (11:40.751)You told me I needed to do this and therefore I went down a different path because I wasn’t able to just be my authentic self. Now it’s not like we live in some reality where we just like unicorns and rainbows constantly and we just create whatever we want. Like the Jetsons, you go, I’m hungry, here’s a button and like whatever. I actually don’t want that anyway. Like by the time AI does that shit, I hope to be long gone. But we are not in that space where we can just play constantly. Amber RichBook (11:47.971)Yeah. Amber RichBook (11:57.359)Yeah. Amber RichBook (12:00.876)Yeah. Nick McGowan (12:09.721)but how do we be ourselves with our identity to be able to play? Amber RichBook (12:13.486)Let’s see, Nick, but that’s the theme. I play all the time. Play is a part of it. I think also, so there’s so many different things I would jump through my head as you were talking. And I’m trying to get there. I’m going to get there. My matrilineal line, my grandmother was brought here by a white family in 1961 from Antigua to be there up here. And my mother was a first-generational. college graduate and then I was a second generational college graduate and each my grandmother worked to get her GED coming to America. She got her GED. She worked as a maid in upstate New York. And then once she had my mom and my aunt’s and uncle, she went to school to be a nurse because that’s what she needed to or she felt she needed to do. than my mom or CNA, right? Cause my mom went to college. then there’s me. And so it’s kind of like you mentioned the Bible earlier. I like to tell people like I am an Abrahamic prophecy fulfilled for my grandmother who came to America. for this opportunity from her little island. And in that rate, she worked for white people. And growing up cultured, I didn’t grow up knowing that I was Caribbean because no one wanted to be, everybody wanted to be American. So I was having Caribbean experiences in the household. And I think by the time I got, cause I grew up, where I was growing up, people were like, you’re mixed, you’re not. you’re not just black. And my dad’s family, they’re from the Virginia that’s there, we could trace back to there. And I’m like, yo. And so I was in college, I’m like, I’m not just black. I’m not just African American. I’m not just this. But also it was in high school. So why is all of this relevant? Because it leads to my life. In high school, as a ninth grader, the same year that I was like, okay, I don’t wanna be a whatever I wanna be. Amber RichBook (14:29.528)do here and this is the first time that I’m telling this story and I’m telling this story because of our pre-show conversation and you said I the real, I want the ball, I want all this stuff. So this is the first time I’m sharing this publicly. When I was in the ninth grade, I went to a predominantly white high school where less than 10 % of the high school population were students of color. And I had just moved, this was in the Poconos, and I had just moved from New Jersey because my mom was like, I want you to have a better opportunity, et cetera, et cetera. And at this time, these innate things, I have to share my cultural experience, right? Because people don’t, it’s going to make sense. Nick McGowan (15:11.865)Context. Amber RichBook (15:12.022)you proximity to whiteness will help me be better. That’s why my name is Amber. How many times in high school, right? I remember where there was a substitute teacher and there was another black girl in my class, but she did. She wasn’t there for the day and her name was Shaniqua. Like that was for real her name, but she wasn’t there. So when the substitute got to her name, she’s like, Shaniqua, like whatever. And so she’s looking at me and I’m like, I’m not Shaniqua. Nick McGowan (15:16.473)Hmm. Mmm. Nick McGowan (15:40.078)Man. Amber RichBook (15:41.888)My name was at the end of the thing. So she’s like, Amber Walters. And I’m like, that’s me. man, what? She was going to write me up, me to the principal’s office because she thought I was being funny. And like my classmates were like, no, she’s Amber. I had to get up and show my ID. So having that experience as a ninth grader, then being voted freshman class president, the first black president at a high school, like that was the thing. Nick McGowan (15:42.959)You don’t live here no more. Amber RichBook (16:11.958)at 14 and you got all this pressure. And so now you’re on the softball field and you’re in gym playing softball and you beat the popular girl. You beat the girl who’s been in this district since she was in kindergarten and all her friends and surrounding around. And for the first time in my life, I was called the N word and it was swing and N swing, swing and N swing. And that was my first time. So the culture shock of going from the urban Jersey experience to this predominantly white experience, not harming anyone, just like, yeah, we’re people, we’re ninth graders. Like, it’s cool. Like, I’m just, I’m Amber. Like, we’re gonna be class president. It’s gonna be cool, like class or whatever. And I had never had that experience. And I’m like, all I could feel was like, don’t call me that. Nick McGowan (16:44.867)Yeah. Amber RichBook (17:05.942)And I remember, swing and then swing. You think you won and you think you won. You cheated, you did. And I’m like, what the fuck? And all I went in is to warrior. And it was like my mother, my grandmother, my grandmother before them. My grandmother is a product of Portuguese colonization in Antigua, taking advantage of an indigenous woman on the island, right? So she had no home from either side. And I defended myself, but I was punished for that incident. And I was the first, and I tell my kids, joke about it now, right? I’m like, I was the first black president in my high school, the first one to be voted in, and the first one to be impeached. And that followed me through my whole high school career. And it was in my 20s that this particular woman reached out to me via LinkedIn. And she’s like, I just want to apologize for what happened in the ninth grade. And I’m like, girl, you fucked up my high school career. I graduated in the top 10 % of my class, but that still followed me. And that followed me. And we talked about the Alchemist early on before we came on the show. And I’m sharing this depth of, because you want the real world, I’m going tell you. It shared that depth because that depth. Nick McGowan (17:54.403)Hahaha. Nick McGowan (18:07.715)Ha ha ha. Amber RichBook (18:23.916)because it then took me on that journey when I did go back to college and I finished in accounting as a non-traditional student and I went to the big four as a public accountant. the only one who looked like me. And so it was now my 14 year old self back in this swing and end swing. Go get this thing and go get this coffee and go get this thing. And you’re like, what is happening? But that’s where the world is like, where you talked about where our parents, you got to go to college, you got to graduate, you got to get the good job, you got to do what you got to do, you got to keep your head down. For me and my reality, it’s you got to work twice as hard, you got to be twice as this, don’t show your emotion, don’t show You don’t have these things. So even as I built my career in corporate, right? I built myself to be the corporate mermaid where I tell people don’t ask me shit about corporate because I do what I want when I want how I want whenever I want but I had to heal that 14 year old girl who thought that she wasn’t enough and that thought and and and took the emotional responsibility so me as the adult going to her like we don’t Like what Michelle Obama say, when they go low, we go higher, whatever she said, right? Like, no, that has nothing to do with you. That has nothing to do with you. And so me moving in the frequency of love. giving people back their pain. You mentioned trauma early, giving them back their trauma. Because just like people of color have generational trauma innate in our DNA, so do Europeans, so do Caucasians, so do white Americans. We all have these different generational things running through our veins and it’s what are we going to do with them? How are we going to reconcile? How are we going to bring the healing? And it looks like that accountability, it looks like no. And so what ended up happening and then I’ll wrap it up because I know I just gave you so much at one time. They tried to, I don’t want to say they tried to set me up, but I live near UNC, like the museum, and they were like, we need you to go audit the museum. I’m a little baby associate. You want me to audit a museum’s millions of dollars painting and do an inventory count? I said, okay. I said, okay. And I used to have my, my Bob, my professional white girl looking black hair. so I could be palatable. And I remember the museum couldn’t find a painting, Nick. It was $7 million. And they were like, you can leave. And when we find it, we’ll let you know. I was like, I am not leaving here until y’all find this painting. I am not leaving here. But seeing the pressure that was on me in that now moment. Nick McGowan (21:12.921)No, my God. Amber RichBook (21:19.982)think is the same pressure that I felt in being voted class president as a ninth grade girl. And I sat there and I sat there and they found it because I was like, God, they got to find this. And it was in between some other paintings. But just seeing how my inner child, the intensity that I had and so to bring it home, how Spirit, source, universe, your life path is gonna keep putting you in positions until you get comfortable. And so I remember my mom, she was in seminary school when I was a kid. And I remember going with her and this was in Madison, New Jersey at Drew University. And we pulled up to Burger King. Again, these are things I’ve never told anyone, right? You want the depth, the raw. And she’s like, Amber, you didn’t want to get out the car. And I’m like, what? She’s like, I don’t want to get out the car because all those white people are going to look at me. Now, my family, my mom had white friends. Like, we had a very diverse. friend experience. was not isolated from things. My grandfather, was friends with Italians. I was in school, so it was very diverse, but there was a different energy. It was a different sense. It was a different experience. So now as an adult woman, it was like, right. When we were talking about self mastery and mindset, in my TED talk, I talked about the Oro Burrows, the loop of life, the beginning and the end being one, the death and and the birth and the rebirth and the death and the birth, that cycle. And it wasn’t until I finally, in my adult years, got into the same space as my white peers, my white colleagues, and I stopped shrinking myself to inferiority. And that looked like my grand living and becoming my grandmother’s deferred dream that she wasn’t able to witness in her living life. Amber RichBook (23:22.99)Everything in life connects in that capacity. I had to learn to be confident as an eight year old. I had to learn to be confident as a 14 year old, as a 20 something year old. Now in my thirties to be like, I stand in my power. Now we know that we create our reality. And I was creating my reality at all of those ages. All of those experiences were my own personal lessons to learn. I’m sorry, y’all. Thank you for your patience. I was just running my mouth. Nick McGowan (23:26.669)Yeah. Nick McGowan (23:40.665)Yeah. Nick McGowan (23:51.801)Yeah, thank you for the Ted talk. mean, well, truthfully that’s some of the best magic that happens within podcasting. Even if we just had a few minute conversation, we probably wouldn’t get to this. And I think it’s on me as the host to be able to facilitate this and allow you to have those conversations. Amber RichBook (23:52.944)I know I was like Nick McGowan (24:16.695)and allow in the sense of like, let’s move in a direction that makes it open for you to be able to do that. There’s a lot that you put out there, obviously, and those that are gonna listen to this, they’re like, yeah, there’s a whole lot. But there’s a lot of great things and it’s all also woven together and there’s patterns to that. There’s system problem to start off with. Those white kids in the fucking Poconos, I know, yeah, it’s much different than East Orange. Amber RichBook (24:40.782)because you know the polka-dos, you’re from up there. Nick McGowan (24:46.243)and vastly different. I grew up in the burbs, but in a more diverse section of the burbs, not the higher end burbs. Like if anybody’s from Springfield, Pennsylvania, you know, you’re different than Prospect Park and Glen Olden. And there’s versions to that, but then also living in the city at times. And my mom grew up in the city in Philly as a tiny little goofy looking redhead kid. She got picked on because she looked like Pippi Longstocking basically. And she had problems with Italians and other Irish people as well as African-American people and Latin people and like all these different groups. But all of that comes from a fucking system problem and generational trauma because everybody’s pitted against themselves. And ultimately what I’m learning is that it gets further back to the white people. Amber RichBook (25:34.796)Yep. Yep. Yep. Nick McGowan (25:41.753)that said, think we’re better than you. So we’re just gonna do this the way that we think. And even with like a male and female sort of thing, like men think they’re better than women and I don’t understand it. Like I thank God daily for my partner because she’s so much smarter than I am and so much more grounded and there are things that we learn. And that’s the way that even when you think of men and women being together, let’s just use that as an example where Men should be the leaders. That’s not correct. Women actually lead us. She leads me a lot and will lead me into a direction that then I can do my part and go from there. I think there’s awareness to this and understanding what some of those systems are. Like why are there poor sections of a city or a town? probably because they’re all pushed that direction and everything’s fucking concrete. They can’t even grow their own vegetables. They can’t even… try to get out of the system that they’re stuck within. And even what you’re saying with your mom saying, well, we’re gonna go closer to a white direction because proximity, that makes me think of from the Irish people that were brought over here that were like, well, you’re a slave, but you’re white. And why don’t we just make you a cop? Because, know, fuck it, you’ve got a little bit of authority, but you’re not gonna have all the authority. I’m not saying that I understand what you went through at all because really I don’t. But I can see how some of that is even within my cells that needs to be processed out. I think of the shit that I went through as a kid being a token white kid. kids would make fun of me because I was a chunky little kid and I think I’ve sized appropriately as I got older. But there are things that I remember going, well, this doesn’t feel right. But I do often think back to there was literally just a handful of different people, a handful of Asian kids that were in the school or some black kids, but it was primarily a bunch of douchebag white kids that thought they had privilege over anybody that was slightly different than them. And again, I think that’s a system problem and it’s a generational trauma thing. So we, as the people, get to do something with it. I think it’s cool that that person came back to you and said, Amber RichBook (27:54.594)Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. Nick McGowan (28:00.599)I’m sorry, I’ve thought about this. Clearly they’ve thought about it for a long time. Does not make it right for what they said. However, I do think there is a little bit of, I don’t want to say grace, but understanding context of how we grew up. Because look, I’ve said some fucked up shit growing up that I didn’t understand was as fucked up. But then when I understood what it was, and that it was, I don’t know, entrenched in racism or whatever. Amber RichBook (28:14.915)yeah. Yeah. Nick McGowan (28:29.537)I could tie back to where that came from. There was an example. My mom was about to buy a house. She grew up pretty poor and had me at 22. And I don’t know, maybe like 10, 12 years old, something like that. She bought her first house. And I remember her driving, we’re driving down the street and she pointed at somebody doing lawn work. And she was like, we’re going to get one of them. I was like, a lot? I would hope we’re gonna buy a house. And she was like, no, somebody that can basically be our slave and do our lawn work. And I remember, I don’t know, being 12 or whatever and be like, that sounds kind of fucked up. But all the rest of these assholes that I’m around kind of say similar things. And nobody’s really breaking out of that. Their responsibility was to change that so that we, as our kids, you know, like us, were able to do things differently. But it’s not on anybody else, it’s on us to do something with it. I think really the failure would be if you and I are having this conversation and then we get off here and we’re both fucking assholes and douchebags of people and we don’t do anything from it. Because I know that I still have problems at times like I’m really impatient, especially driving. And if somebody is driving in the fast lane, going 10 miles an hour under the speed limit, I question how they even fucking put shoes on, let alone do anything else in the world. But I understand that there’s pieces of that that Once we’re aware of something, we can do something with it. So we started this by talking about identity. Your identity was shifted at that point. Yeah, that girl kind of fucked up your high school. Also, the story that you told by yourself in your own head based on unprocessed trauma that was literally in your genetic code was pitted against you. Like any work that was done prior to you hadn’t been fully accomplished and completed. Amber RichBook (29:58.018)Yeah. Nick McGowan (30:23.981)and then something came up and you needed to do something with it. It took you time. The fact that you’re doing something with it, your girls are gonna be better off. At the same time, it’s on them to do whatever happens to them. Like I had a conversation with a friend maybe about a year or so ago where they’re like, I’m gonna do everything different from what my parents did. And his parents were, they fucked him up. Amber RichBook (30:27.714)Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nick McGowan (30:46.859)And he’s doing everything he can. And at one point he had a realization. He was like, and still, bet these kids are going to be in therapy at some point saying something about me because everybody’s going to interpret it the way that they want and how they do it from there. So the systems of this is fucked up, but it is what we work within. The generational trauma is fucked as well, but here we are. Amber RichBook (30:54.54)Yeah. Yes. Yes. Amber RichBook (31:03.328)Yeah, and so, yeah, yeah. And so even in your response, I appreciate it. And it is multifaceted because we have our own experiences. While your mom had her experiences, you had your own. And while my mom and my grandmother had their experiences, I had my own. So I think that… I can’t necessarily just leave it to my generational DNA pass down trauma without acknowledging the impact of my own personal life experience and those that the things that could be traumatic had I not chose to heal and navigate through them. Right. And so there are some people who don’t have the higher mind or the discipline or the wherewithal. Nick McGowan (31:36.461)Of Amber RichBook (31:58.134)to heal themselves so they may not have been able to receive an apology from someone who has caused them harm, right? So when we think about… the Holocaust experience, people are still apologizing for that experience. Because just because we apologize doesn’t mean it takes away the pain of that experience. And that’s the empathy that… We have to extend to all persons who have been impacted. It does not take away. We can apologize and extend grace and those groups of people who did what they did to that particular community, they may have learned their lesson, but it does not take away the pain. It does not absolve it. I may, and that’s no different than parents, right? There’s a book called Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents. As a parent, you do have the responsibility to Nick McGowan (32:35.14)Yeah. Nick McGowan (32:57.902)Yeah. Amber RichBook (33:01.8)listen to your child and be accountable, but your apology is not gonna fix their fucked upness. It’s not gonna fix the pain. They themselves have to do the work to absolve that. And sometimes even when they do, the relationship may not go back to being the same because of how impactful the trauma is. And that’s just psychological in itself. Nick McGowan (33:21.945)Yeah. Amber RichBook (33:27.328)And so it’s just so multifaceted and I, and I can’t speak for a collective of people, but I can speak for myself and like anyone listening. One of the things that I teach my collective specifically persons of indigenous or persons of color, but anybody, right? If you heal yourself, you have the ability to heal generations before you and generations after you, which is able to have a healthy, loving, thriving relationship with my mom. Nick McGowan (33:29.807)For real. Nick McGowan (33:50.319)Mm-hmm. Amber RichBook (33:57.42)and healthy, loving, thriving relationship with my children while still having, and I think the other thing is too, sometimes people think that these healed relationships mean perfection and no mistakes and no disagreements and we are all holding hands and singing the Munchkin song. No, it’s how we navigate through conflict. It’s how we resolve the conflict. Nick McGowan (34:09.251)Yeah. Amber RichBook (34:21.312)Is my mom accountable for herself? Am I accountable for myself? Are my children accountable for themselves? So, this is good. You’re good. Nick McGowan (34:33.167)I mean, I think the big thing here is to really understand that no matter what we go through and how we look at things, there may be an interpretation, there may be things that are kind of blocking us or propelling us in one direction, but it is ultimately up to us to do. And something that has come up as you were talking about, like, I can’t speak for an entire type of people or race of people, et cetera. I think there are things where some people can say, yeah, well, the Holocaust was different than this, or we should look at what happened with this and we should feel a certain way. Any of these things don’t take away from somebody else. The Holocaust is really not as different as what the fucking people did when they got to this country and they’re like, look at this land, who the fuck are you? you grow things here, cool. Amber RichBook (35:17.666)Nick, I wasn’t ready. But they do, right? But they do. And that’s the systemic issue that you started with earlier in the conversation. And it’s no right or wrong. It’s just we have to, for those of us that see, see. Nick McGowan (35:20.857)But I mean, it doesn’t take away from that. Amber RichBook (35:39.934)understand. And then you mentioned something earlier too that I wanted to reflect on where you were like, this stuff is fucked up. But those that know the yin and yang, the dark and the light, the ugliness, the fucked upness is here for a reason. Because there’s, there’s the balance. And that’s the fairness. Nick McGowan (35:56.879)Yep. And there’s a balance to it as well. Amber RichBook (36:05.386)of life that is a universal principle and a universal law. And then when we understand like on this mindset mastery journey of life, we have these fucked up experience based on what our soul needs to learn and understand for its own development. Who do, who did I come here to be? Well, Obviously, I tell people, I’m like, I’m pretty sure in a past life, I was a man and I was an asshole. And then I got sent here to be a woman and specifically a black woman to have certain life experiences to humble me and give me my soul more evolutionary experiences. That’s my own self theory, y’all. That’s just my own self theory. But. Nick McGowan (36:45.785)Damn. Nick McGowan (36:50.127)I love that. I understand, you know, I get that. think there’s like there’s shit that I’ve learned over the past few years that has propelled me in a different direction where even with that sort of stuff, I’m like, I wonder what will happen next. And how faith and religion and stuff like that ties in. Now full transparency, I’m a big fan of the OG Jesus, not the Republican Jesus, because that’s strange. Amber RichBook (37:18.23)tables at the synagogue because he’s like what y’all doing selling stuff in my father’s house I’m throwing all this shit over okay the one who Russia released that the oldest Bible was found in Ethiopia and the oldest form of Christianity was found in northern eastern Africa that Jesus the one with the woolen hair why are you starting problems why are you starting why are you starting problems on your podcast Nick McGowan (37:19.395)Yeah! Ugh… Man… Yeah! shit, even with that. Nick McGowan (37:35.695)Well, that’s where we all started from so even if you think of like race That’s what I’m fucking here for This is what I’m here for disrupt things I actually I talk about that a little bit at different times with that specific story about Jesus. So I read a book Maybe mid-2000s called the beautiful outlaw and a little bit context. I’d played in church bands for the better part of a decade so I was in churches, like in Green Room style in, know, and somebody told me about that book. I read it. It was basically like, well, Jesus will show up to people in the way that they expect to see him. And let’s look at his stories that actually break down context. Like even when they say don’t eat pork, it’s because it was dirty and they couldn’t actually get the viruses out of the pork so people would die. We eat pork now and it’s different. but people will look at things and like, Bible said this. It’s like lot of it was metaphors and parables and just trying to get you to understand the fucking story in your stupid little brain. Amber RichBook (38:38.222)And the Bible was rewritten, one that the Americas, okay, so since you brought this up, there is called the Council of Nicaea. And there once was a king who was upset and scared of witches because witches ruled the world. He also was abhorred by his sexuality and wrote a lot of things against himself as if it would help him. So. Nick McGowan (38:48.306)15th century. Nick McGowan (38:53.039)Ugh. Amber RichBook (39:05.934)What you say? Homophobic and then that. Yes. And then there are missing books because people don’t know that you have the Vatican that has all the books that were written. So. Nick McGowan (39:06.093)And then that became literally gospel. What the fuck? Nick McGowan (39:18.073)yeah. Well, they changed things in the 15th century because they were like, this is what we want this to be. This is when King James came out. Context people, context is important. And we’re not just spewing this shit to just spew the shit. If there are systems in place, yeah, but there are systems, there are things that happen. There are biases of people that say, I am afraid to be me. So I’m going to do these things. We’re fucking seeing it now. Amber RichBook (39:22.998)Yes. Yeah, you can go to a library. Yeah. Nick McGowan (39:44.525)We’re seeing it with everything that’s happening right now. all right, so, I mean, what the fuck? We’re seeing a lot of it now, but so that story specifically, context is important. Jesus actually spent time braiding a whip and then turned it on. The man probably sat there for a while, like an hour, maybe even longer. He might’ve even braided some of the whip at home, because he knew what was going on. He didn’t just walk in and go, what in the fuck? Amber RichBook (39:50.382)Nick you are funny Amber RichBook (39:57.848)Yeah. Nick McGowan (40:13.615)boom, and blow everything up. That’s not how it worked. That’s not what context is about. And the reason why he did that was because these people were doing something against everybody and the actual premise of being community driven. That was selfish. wasn’t just that they were doing something in God’s house and God said, no. A lot of people will just eat the shit that they’re fed and just keep consuming. Reason why it keeps going back to that is again, it’s systems. Amber RichBook (40:25.046)Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Nick McGowan (40:41.455)And I think there are biases that people look at, which then infect or affect whichever way you wanna look at it, our identity. I appreciate that we’ve gone on this tangent in certain ways with this sort of stuff. And I think it’s important for us all to understand that the identity that we have right now is evolving and it may not actually be the identity that we want it to be. And that trauma might be a part of that, the subconscious winning strategy, which we didn’t really touch about. Amber RichBook (40:53.698)We did. Amber RichBook (41:02.092)Yes. Amber RichBook (41:05.537)Yes. Nick McGowan (41:10.903)is a part of that, these strategies that develop us. But what’s your advice for somebody who’s listening that’s on their path towards self-mastery? Amber RichBook (41:19.818)that there is no end to the path of self-mastery. You must be willing to change as many times, change identities as many times as often of times as you feel led to in your residence. And sometimes in this identity self mastery journey, some people do choose to stop and land at a destination. And that’s where they want to cap their beingness on this identity. And there’s no right or wrong to any of it. Amber RichBook (41:59.918)That’s the biggest thing that I would say. There’s no right or wrong to this path of self mastery at all. you get to decide this is your world, this is your reality. If you want to be a single woman today or a single man today and then say tomorrow you want to be partnered and that’s your reality and that’s the identity you want to shift into, do that. And I think the biggest thing is us being willing to look at our lives objectively, understanding that each individual is just filled with opinions and that. is what forms the facts of their life and to respect the opinions and facts of one life as a way of you respecting and honoring the facts and opinions of your life, which is much like the namaste, right? The God in me sees the God in you. Nick McGowan (42:48.567)Yeah, beautiful way to put that. And I think this has been great. I really appreciate you being on. We could probably sit here and just shoot the shit for like hours and just keep recording. But before I let you go, where can people find you and where can they connect with you? Amber RichBook (43:03.638)People can find me on social media everywhere at a.richbook on LinkedIn, Amber Rich Book, arichbook.com. Put my name in Google, I’ll pop up. But thank you, Nick, for having me and allowing me to share these things with your community. Thank you all for having me. Nick McGowan (43:23.779)Absolutely, it’s been a pleasure. appreciate your time. Amber RichBook (43:26.392)Thank you. https://youtu.be/zO7xasV4WUg

Soccer in America is no longer just "the sport of the future" — it is the business of the present. With the 2026 FIFA World Cup on the horizon, the landscape of fandom, brand partnerships and consumer behavior is shifting beneath our feet. In this special episode, recorded live at our annual Campaign Convene conference that took place on February 25, 2026, we step inside "The Business of Sports" featuring MLS CMO Radhika Duggal, BetMGM CMO Casey Hurbis and Havas Play North America SVP, sports marketing Jeff Gagne. Guest-hosted by MM+M managing editor Jack O'Brien, the group dissects how they are preparing for a "category-changing" moment in U.S. history. From the record-breaking opening weekends of the MLS to the strategic education of “newbie” sports bettors, the conversation provides a peek under the hood into how leagues are leveraging global hype to build local loyalty, and why the next two years will be the most critical window for sports marketers in a generation. The takeaways The growth of soccer in America is tied to historical milestones and current events. The 2026 World Cup is seen as a category-changing moment for soccer in America, especially for the MLS. A significant influx of new bettors is expected to enter the sports betting landscape during the World Cup. Education is key to navigating the betting landscape effectively. Influencer marketing is becoming increasingly important for sports brands to effectively reach wider audiences. Collaborative marketing strategies between brands and sports leagues can enhance consumer engagement. The future of sports betting in the U.S. looks promising, with continued growth expected. The sound bite "The World Cup is a category-changing moment." campaignlive.com Music - Take you Out by Lucid Tides, courtesy of Triple Scoop. What we know about advertising, you should know about advertising. Start your 1-month FREE trial to Campaign US. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Practise speaking the dialogue from episode #106 Mmm or Hmm? Trying new and unusual food. - تدرّب على التحدّث من خلال حوار الحلقة #106: التفاعل مع نكهات جديدة وغير معتادة. سيساعدك التدرّب بصوت عالٍ على تحسين طلاقتك في التحدّث، ويسهّل عليك تذكّر المفردات والتعابير الجديدة.

PODCAST LAS NOTICIAS CON CALLE DE 23 DE MARZO DE 2026 -  Trump detiene ataque contra Irán y su infraestructura - Bloomberg Hoy es feriado por ser el día de la abolición de la esclavitud que ocurrió en PR mucho dsps que casi en el mundo entero Gasolina por encima de un dólar el litro - Primera Hora Muere piloto y copiloto en La Guardia tras chocar con camión de bomberos Oficial cubano dijo a NBC que se preparan para toma militar - Reuters Sigue en el tribunal federal el caso de furgones y el escaneo - El Vocero Alegan hospital Pavía está en problemas y pidieron ayuda de Salud - El Vocero ICE llega a aeropuertos ante cierre de gobierno federal en TSA - Noticentro Asesores de Inglaterra piden ponerle un tope a las ganancias de las empresas de energía - FTTrump no tiene interés en la estadidad para PR - El Nuevo Día La interpelación de Domenech va mañana y apuesto a que va a ir - El Nuevo Día Pensionados piden ajustes para pago de pensiones y ajustes de inflación - El Nuevo Día Victoria Ciudadana podría hacer una nueva alianza - El Nuevo Día Miss Universe recomienda que no se metan a concursos de belleza - El Nuevo Día Gobernadora recibe un no para pagarle a empleados federales de TSA - El Nuevo DíaInvestigan a secretario de Corrección por supuesto acoso laboral y sexual, pero líder de la unión obrera defiende al Secretario - El Nuevo Día Aprueban cambiar dos unidades más a Gas Natural - El Nuevo Día Van a pedir posible aumento de la luz por situación de Irán - El Nuevo Día Estirilizan Los Gatos en San Juan - El Nuevo Día Se atrasa otra vez hospital de Vieques - El Nuevo Día PR ganó oro por el cacao luego de haber ganado antes un bronce - El Nuevo Día Mucho diploma poco sueldo en PR - El Nuevo Día Exportarán carne de serpientes de PR - El Nuevo Día Apelativo acoge recurso tras asesinato de Roberto Viqueira - El Nuevo Día Alcalde de Toa Baja busca trabajadores y contratistas para proyectos, promete pagar rápido - El Nuevo Día 670 mil boricuas son parte de Medicare Advantage, 10 billones de inversión en sistema - El Nuevo Día MMM hoy voy pa Martins BBQEl mejor y más sabroso pollo asado a la varita de Puerto Rico. Cocinando diariamente comida fresca saludable y sabrosa con un montón de complementos para escoger, arroces, habichuelas, verduras, mofongo, tostones,....MMMM....Esto si es criolloMartins BBQ, TOMANDO todas las medidas de salud y sabor para mantener la mesa boricua al dia con opciones para llamar, recoger o delivery por UBER Eats, y DoorDash.MMM Hoy como en Martin's BBQAsado...Jugoso...SabrosoIncluye auspicio 

John 16:16-24,“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” 17 So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me'; and, ‘because I am going to the Father'?” 18 So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while'? We do not know what he is talking about.” 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me'? 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.Our passage begins with something like a riddle. Jesus says,“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” We're reading The Hobbit at home, and so I couldn't help but think of Bilbo Baggins and Gollum in the cave trading riddles while Bilbo hides the ring. What has roots as nobody sees / Is taller than trees / Up, up it goes / And yet never grows? . . . (A Mountain). Voiceless it cries / Wingless flutters / Toothless bites / Mouthless mutters. . . (Wind). Jesus had a little Bilbo in him here. He says, “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” You can picture poor Andrew sitting there and thinking it over. . . . Mmm mountain! No, wind! The disciples are all turned around here.Some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me'; and, ‘because I am going to the Father'?” 18 So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while'? We do not know what he is talking about.”I don't think these guys would have made it out of the cave with Gollum's ring. “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” So what did he mean? He's talking about what's about to happen in the next few days. He's talking about the cross, the tomb, and the victory. In a matter of hours, you will not see me because I'm going to be killed. The good shepherd is about to lay down his life for the sheep. . . . And then, in a couple days, you're going to see me again. Oh you're going to see me.You Won't See MeFirst, he's preparing them for his death. “A little while, and you will not see me. . . .” Friends, I'm going to die. . . . You're going to have to watch me be betrayed, and slandered, and mocked, and then nailed to a tree and left to hang there until I can't breathe anymore. You're going to watch me bleed to death. And you're going to be sad. And it's right to be sad. It's going to be terrible, the worst nightmare any of you have ever seen. The crucifying of the Son of God is the greatest evil and heartache in history — and our history is filled, from Adam to Iran, with lots of evil and heartache. Whatever sorrow you're bringing in here — and there are serious sorrows in this room — whatever sorrow you're bringing in here, this is greater. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14) — and they murdered him. They met all of that grace and mercy face to face, and they spat on him. They drove nails through his glorious hands, his sinless feet. He came to die for their sins, and they saw him, and they went and sinned even harder against him. They tortured him, and they savored his pain and shame. Verse 20, Jesus says to his disciples, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.” I'm really going to die, and you're really going to weep. At the darkest hour, you're going to wish you couldn't see me anymore. That's how bad it'll be. And the world is going to watch you cry and they're going to cheer. In just a little while, it's going to be awful.You Will See meThat's not the whole riddle, though.“A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.”I'm going to die — but hear me, I ain't going to be dead long.“And again a little while, and you will see me.”I'm really going to die — my heart will stop, my eyes will empty, my lungs will collapse, my flesh will go cold — and then I'm really going to rise.“You will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.”I'm not going to be dead long, and so you won't have to be sad for long. I love the comma at the heart of that key sentence: “A little while, and you will not see me [comma, not a period] and again a little while, and you will see me.” The three days aren't even long enough for a period. Almost as quickly as he left and died, he's going to rise and return to them. He's going to walk with them, talk with them, even eat with them.He gives them a picture for what's about to happen in verse 21. “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come. . . .”Can he get an amen, Cities Church? I mean Jesus is speaking our language here. We love babies in this church. We max out nurseries in this church. Some of us buy passenger vans. This is a familiar picture for us. And pregnancy is hard. God says to the woman, Genesis 3:16: “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.” These nine months are nine months of multiplying pain. You have back pain from carrying that little bowling ball everywhere you go. Your blood pressure might spike, threatening you or the baby. Your hormones surge, making you more anxious and irritable and sometimes sad. You're tired because your body's constantly in overdrive — your heart, lungs, kidneys all straining to support another human being. You're tired, but you don't sleep well at all, which makes everything (even the smallest tasks) ten times harder. You have to go to the bathroom every 12 minutes. You feel sick and you probably throw up. Some women throw up a lot — for months. And then, at the end of all of that, you might be in the agony of labor for hours (or even longer).Listen to what Jesus says: “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come [comma] but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.” She doesn't remember?!If he wasn't Jesus, we could say he's just another naïve guy who doesn't get it. But he gets it. “He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him,” — the baby, the womb, the placenta, the epidural — “and without him was not anything made that was made.” He gets it. And you get it, if you've ever seen a mother after she's had her baby. She's not holding her baby and grumbling about how much her back hurt for the last nine months. She's not complaining about all the times she had to wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. She's not hung up on all the extra doctor visits and the poking and prodding and anxiety. No, if you watch her, it really seems like she just forgot all of that. She forgot months of pain and exhaustion and vomitting in minutes — in seconds even. In just 6 pounds and 8 ounces, all of that is behind her. Why? She has her baby!“When she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish,” Jesus says. Then verse 22: “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”You're going to have sorrow when I die, but you're going to see me again soon, and when you do, you're going to be absolutely overcome with joy. You'll be so overcome with joy that you just might forget the pain. The joy will be so full and so intense that you won't think about how sad you were. And he wasn't lying. In just a little while in the Gospel of John, we're going to see this happen. Here's John 20, after his death on the cross:On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.Their sorrow turned to joy, and no one and nothing took that joy from them. Remember, most (if not all) of these men will be killed for following Jesus, and none of that could touch their joy. Preparing You for Your SorrowsNo sorrow could touch their joy in him, and no sorrow in your life can touch the joy you have in the risen Jesus. In these verses, Jesus is clearly preparing his friends for his suffering on the cross, but he's also clearly preparing them for their own suffering to come. And we see this all over this final meal together. He told them, again and again, that they were going to suffer when he was gone.“If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:19)“The hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. . . . I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.” (John 16:1)“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)If you follow me, you're going to have tribulation. You're going to have tribulation. You're going to have tribulation. This is going to be hard. Do you know that, Cities Church? Do you remember that when tribulation comes to your door? . . . So many Christians in the world have been led to believe that life with Jesus should be only joy and never sorrow. And so they're devastated when sorrow comes, and sorrow comes to us all. Jesus told us that, he warned us — but they're not listening to Jesus.Jesus said, I'm going to rise from the dead and so you're going to have untouchable, unshakeable hope and joy, but you're going to suffer. You're going to have sorrows of various kinds — prayers that go unanswered year after year. And I want you to be ready. And so he prepares his disciples for those sorrows in at least three ways here in these verses.1. You can have joy, even in sorrow.First, when sorrow comes, Christian — and sorrows will come — know that you have a reason to rejoice, even now. Verse 20: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. . . . 23 You have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”This was true when Jesus died, and it's still true right now. He's still risen and living and reigning! He's as real and alive in heaven as you are in this room. Because he rose, we have joy, even now, even in the sorrows that come. We are sorrowful, yes, but always rejoicing (2 Corinthians 6:10), because Christ has conquered death, he's overcome the world, and he's preparing a place for us in glory where we will live with him forever. Our sorrows are real and heavy and painful, but they cannot touch that joy.He gives us another reason to think that we can have joy now, though, even in sorrow. Look down at verses 23–24:In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.While they live and wait and hurt in a world without Jesus — with sorrows everywhere they turn — he wants them to pray. Ask me anything, he says. And he's specifically encouraging them to pray (notice) that their joy may be full. Pray in my name, ask me anything, that your joy might be full. And not full one day in heaven, but full right now in sorrow.He's not talking about joy when he comes again and takes them home. That will be a joyful day — the fullest joy and pleasures forevermore. No, he's saying pray here and now so that your joy might be full here and now. That's how powerful my resurrection is. You have a reason to rejoice and a power to rejoice no matter what your circumstances are. So many Christians in the world have been led to believe that life with Jesus should be only joy and never sorrow (and so they're undone when sorrow comes). Other Christians (maybe this is you) have suffered so much that you've started to think that life with Jesus, at least in this life, is only sorrow and never joy. And so you've stopped expecting to experience any joy here on earth. If Jesus has risen, and I can assure you he is not dead anymore, you can have joy, even now — if you ask.2. Joy comes to those who ask.So, when sorrow comes, first, know that you can have joy, even now. You still have big, strong reasons to rejoice. Second lesson here: joy comes to those who ask. It comes to those who pray. And that's where Jesus goes in verse 22:I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.Whatever you ask. . . What does the whatever really mean here? Clearly, it doesn't mean that God will automatically give us whatever we ask. We know that from experience, if we've ever prayed for anything for long. No, God doesn't immediately give us whatever we ask for. That wouldn't be loving. Parents understand this. Our kids ask for all kinds of things all the time, and we want to give them all the best things — but often that means not giving them what they want in the moment. No, he says, “whatever you ask of the Father in my name” — whatever you ask in reliance on me and for my glory. He said that earlier in the night, John 14:13–14: “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” There you have it again, whatever you ask. No, he doesn't immediately give us whatever we ask (because he loves us). No, the whatever here means we can ask him anything in this name. There's no ask too small or big. We're invited to ask like children. Children don't worry about asks being too small or too big. They just ask. That's how your Father wants you to ask, so that your joy might be full. Joy comes to those who ask.And our sorrows keep us asking, don't they? They keep us praying. In fact, this is one great reason for sorrow in Christian life. What do you pray for most often and most passionately? You probably pray for the things in your life that hurt — the loved one who isn't saved, the relief or healing that won't come, the bill that won't go away, the temptation that won't relent, the person who won't talk to you. You pray for those things because you have to. Sorrows keep us asking, and that means they keep us closer to Jesus. And in his presence, close to him, is fullness of joy — “that your joy may be full.” This is why the saints in your life who have suffered most are often strangely the happiest in him.3. Your sorrows will have a baby.Lastly, your sorrows will have a baby. What do I mean by that? I mean your sorrows, all your sorrows, have a purpose. They're going somewhere. Your pain, in the hands of God, it's producing something. Soon and very soon, your sorrows are going to give birth to a new life, a new world with only joy and never sorrow. God wants you to know that, in a little while, the baby's coming.In these verses, the sorrow of losing Jesus gives birth to the eternal joy of his rising from the dead. His suffering, every inch and millisecond, was filled with divine and perfect purpose. And your suffering, all of your suffering, has that kind of purpose. It's part of your path to glory, and this pattern is all over the New Testament.2 Corinthians 4:15-17,[When sorrows come] “We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”Or Romans 8:16–18,“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him” — we're going to suffer, we're all going to have sorrows — “in order that we may also be glorified with him. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”John 16:21,“When she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.”Your sorrows are going to give birth to a joy so great that it'll make you forget the sorrows you're carrying right now. When Jesus returns, you won't have to carry them anymore. Your joy in Jesus is going to outlast your sorrow. No one can take away your joy, but someone can take away your sorrow. If you entrust your sorrows to Jesus, he's going to take them away.You Will Ask Me NothingI skipped over a line in verse 23, and I want to end there:“In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.”What did Jesus mean when he said, “In that day you will ask nothing of me”? It might mean, “You'll stop asking me for things, and you'll start asking the Father in my name.” It might mean that, but I don't think that's what's going on here, and that's because the words for ask here are two different words in the Greek: “you will ask nothing of me” and “whatever you ask of the Father in my name.” The second one (“whatever you ask of the Father in my name”) is typically used for supplication: asking someone for something or to do something. The first Greek word (“you will ask nothing of me”) is most often used when someone's asking for information — when they need someone to explain something. And Jesus says to his confused disciples, who have all kinds of questions: “In a little while, you're not going to ask those questions anymore.” Think about all of their questions just in the last couple chapters:“Lord, where are you going?” “Lord, why can I not follow you now?” “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”“What does he mean by ‘a little while'?”They actually say in our passage, verse 18: “We do not know what he is talking about.”And Jesus is saying to them: You're going to know really soon, and then you will ask me nothing. You won't ask me where I'm going, and when, and how you're going to find me. In that day, you will ask me nothing, because I will have already died and rose. You're going to know what you need to know. And that's what we remember right here at this Table. Each Sunday, we come with all kinds of questions, all kinds of sorrows we desperately want him to heal and take away. But we're not asking how Jesus is going to save the world anymore. We know. With all our hearts, we know.This Jesus, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried — “a little while, and you will see me no longer.” He descended into hades. “And again a little while, and you will see me.” The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead. And when he does, he will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore — only joy and never sorrow.

Practise speaking the dialogue from episode #106 Mmm or Hmm? Trying new and unusual food. - 通过本期播客，跟着第106集《“好吃”还是“犹豫”？挑战不一样的食物体验》一起开口练练对话吧！

Sound Healing with David Gibson Chakras and the Full Range of Chakras This session, led by David Gibson of the Globe Institute, provides a comprehensive overview of the sound healing landscape, ranging from institutional education and clinical research to the practical application of vocal toning. The discussion bridges the gap between traditional musical theory and intuitive frequency therapy, offering a roadmap for using sound to achieve emotional and physical balance. The Sound Healing Ecosystem and Institutional Resources The Globe Institute stands as a unique, state-approved college in the U.S. dedicated to sound healing, offering certificates both in-person and online. This educational pillar is supported by a broader ecosystem including a specialized store featuring over 400 instruments, a Research Foundation with a database of over 1,000 clinical papers, and the Medical Sound Association, where doctors collaborate on treatment protocols. Notable achievements include a $100,000 grant to integrate sound curriculum into Montessori schools and successful dementia protocols implemented in Northern California facilities. The Art and Intuition of Chakra Toning The core of the practice involves resonating the body's energy centers through specific vowels, Sanskrit syllables, and "Tibetan warrior" sounds. While various traditions assign specific sounds to each chakra—such as "Lam" for the Root or "Yum" for the Heart—the speaker emphasizes that intuition should supersede textbook rules. The goal of vocal toning is to find the specific resonance that feels "right" for the individual on a given day, using the voice as a diagnostic and healing tool to clear stagnation or over-activity in the chakras. The toning process moves from the Root (grounding/abundance) up to the Crown (spiritual connection). Techniques vary from the deep, low-frequency "Oo" for the Root chakra to the powerful, explosive "Wo" for the Solar Plexus—which the speaker notes has been used in extreme cases to support recovery from physical illness. The Heart is often accessed through the "Mmm" hum of love, while the Crown is uniquely associated with the resonance of silence. Frequency Theory vs. Musical Notes A critical distinction is made between traditional musical notes (the C to B scale) and pure frequency ranges. While many systems use a linear C-major scale for the chakras, the speaker argues that frequency (Hz) is a more accurate measure of resonance. For example, a large, bass-heavy gong might resonate the Root chakra regardless of its musical pitch. He proposes a "full-spectrum" approach where every frequency is viewed as a nutrient, leading to the development of meditations that use octaves of a single note to ensure harmonic alignment across all energy centers. Sound healing is presented as a bridge between physical science and spiritual intuition. By understanding the specific frequency ranges of the body and utilizing vocal toning, individuals can move toward a state of "bliss" and internal harmony. Whether through academic study at the Institute or personal meditative practice, the goal remains the same: to achieve a state of peace where the "song" of the body is in perfect alignment with the universe.

On this episode Fred and Gregg welcome Grace Terrell MD, MMM, Chief Medical Officer IKS Health, who discusses value based care (VBC) model transformation issues and opportunities to move beyond "box‑checking" to enabling better care (the triple aim, better care, better outcomes at lower per capita costs). To stream our Station live 24/7 visit www.HealthcareNOWRadio.com or ask your Smart Device to “….Play Healthcare NOW Radio”. Find all of our network podcasts on your favorite podcast platforms and be sure to subscribe and like us. Learn more at www.healthcarenowradio.com/listen