Dec. 10, 2024

From Popcorn Stands to Courtrooms Bob Martin's Unconventional Journey

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In this enlightening episode of "Living the Dream with Curveball," host Curveball welcomes Bob Martin, an esteemed author, professor, and former criminal trial lawyer. Bob shares his fascinating journey from a carnival upbringing to becoming a successful lawyer, and how an unexpected turn led him to mindfulness and writing. Discover how Bob's unique perspective on spirituality, influenced by both Taoism and Christianity, has shaped his life and work. He also delves into his books, including a spiritual thriller "Children of Abraham," and a Christian devotional inspired by the Tao Te Ching. Tune in for an inspiring conversation about mindfulness, justice, and the pursuit of a wise and happy life.
Want to be a guest on Living the Dream with Curveball? Send Curtis Jackson a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1628631536976x919760049303001600

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29:48 - (Cont.) From Popcorn Stands to Courtrooms Bob Martin's Unconventional Journey

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00:00:00.719 --> 00:00:09.205
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome, um, to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. If you believe you can achieve, cheat.

00:00:19.024 --> 00:00:58.734
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate, and inspire. Today I am joined by, uh, author, professor, successful criminal trial lawyer, and mindfulness coordinator, Bob Martin. Bob has lived an, uh, interesting life. He's got his book where he teaches people about Jesus in a broader light. So we're going to be talking to him about his life and his story and everything that he's up to. So, Bob, thank you so much for joining me today.

00:01:00.234 --> 00:01:08.534
> Speaker B>Thank you for having me. I appreciate the work that you do in putting a podcast together and the platforms you produce. So thank you.

00:01:09.355 --> 00:01:13.174
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Thank you. And why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

00:01:14.754 --> 00:01:19.534
> Speaker B>Okay. Well, I'm 74 years old, uh, twice married. I have two kids.

00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:22.740
> Speaker B>Um, I've had a.

00:01:22.893 --> 00:01:30.144
> Speaker B>Interesting, I guess from the words of the Grateful Dead, oh, what a long, strange trip it's been.

00:01:31.709 --> 00:01:58.974
> Speaker B>Um, I, um, my folks were, uh, immigrants from Eastern Europe. My dad was Hungarian royalty and my mom was Roma gypsy. So you can figure right there you get this crazy combination. Um, and my father found his way to the American dream with popcorn and cotton candy.

00:01:59.635 --> 00:02:10.534
> Speaker B>So I grew up kind of in carnivals and amusement parks. Um, that life kind of settled down around 10, when I actually started going to a regular school.

00:02:11.354 --> 00:02:14.348
> Speaker B>And, um, I will.

00:02:14.516 --> 00:02:40.025
> Speaker B>You can imagine that with, uh, eating popcorn, cotton candy, and drinking orange and grape drink all the time. I got to be a chubby little boy, and I was picked on a lot by the girls. I remember that. And that was a difficult time. But anyway, fast forward. My folks, um, were not religious in any way. They weren't anti religious. It's just not a conversation that we had in our home.

00:02:40.680 --> 00:03:32.925
> Speaker B>Uh, they just felt, uh, they had a hard time thinking that there could be a merciful God with all of the ancestors, all of their family having been, uh, slaughtered. So I grew up without any kind of religious training or any kind of, uh, uh, schooling in that regard. But right around the age in the middle, you know, how teenagers were always questioning stuff, I started, you know, wondering about, you know, the universe and kind of noticing that it was pretty well organized and seemed, um, pretty intelligently organized. And I would ask my father about that and he would just murk and smile and say the silly questions. Um, so, uh, that was my early childhood. I mean, of course there's many details, but that's basically it.

00:03:33.504 --> 00:03:41.776
> Speaker B>So, um, to a very, very strange set of circumstances I had.

00:03:41.920 --> 00:03:53.284
> Speaker B>Well, it was my. It was my goal in life to sell enough hot dogs in the summer on the boardwalk in Queens, New York, to not have to work in the winter and just take the time off.

00:03:54.025 --> 00:04:16.894
> Speaker B>But somehow somebody came into my life and kept telling me that I should be a lawyer and actually went out and bought me the ticket to take the law school aptitude test. I couldn't say no. Uh, so, um, this angel, uh, caused, uh, me to go into law, and I became a lawyer.

00:04:16.975 --> 00:04:25.514
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>And why don't you tell us about the inspiration behind your two books and you know, about them. M. And how you got into writing.

00:04:26.245 --> 00:04:31.579
> Speaker B>Okay, well, that's. That's pretty farther on down the line, but, yeah. So, um.

00:04:32.925 --> 00:05:03.516
> Speaker B>So I became a lawyer. And of course, you know what? The wordsmith, the. The skill that lawyers work with is words. And so you write a lot and you read a lot. And so writing became a passion of mine, and I started writing poetry and short stories and the like. Uh, when 2001 came along at 9, 11 happened. And in the few years after that, everybody was running around, uh, killing in the name of God, you know, on all sides.

00:05:03.661 --> 00:05:20.735
> Speaker B>Everybody felt God was on their side. And, like. And I. I thought if God was looking down from above at this craziness that was going on, he might be thinking, well, that's not exactly what I intended for you guys.

00:05:21.754 --> 00:06:49.305
> Speaker B>So the question came up in my mind, what would happen if God made himself known and made his intention known? And his intention was that, uh, he was good and that he wanted us to live together, you know, in harmony and peace. And what if he was able to communicate that to us? Would anybody really listen? Would it make a difference? Would the world change? Or are we so already set in our ways that even a, uh, direction from the great commander would not command us? So I started thinking about that more and more. And then I. I said, well, let me see if I can write a little short story about that. And so I. I conceived of God communicating with us through the ticker tape in, uh, Central park and in Times Square and all around the world, and also on the little ticker that goes along the bottom of your TV screen. And messages started appearing like, uh, you're all my children, God. And the question of the book is, uh, which of my characters and which of their faults was capable of redeeming? And so, um, it's called Children of Abraham.

00:06:49.805 --> 00:06:55.824
> Speaker B>And that's because I have Islam, uh, Judaism and Christianity.

00:06:56.290 --> 00:07:13.745
> Speaker B>Ah, all intertwined among the characters. And I try to look at how this revelation from the divine might affect those three different cultures. So it's a fun book. It's kind of, you know, it's kind of a spiritual thriller, I guess you might say.

00:07:14.125 --> 00:07:19.345
> Speaker B>And that was the, that was the inspiration for that book. Uh, and that was some time ago.

00:07:20.125 --> 00:07:40.875
> Speaker B>The inspiration for my other book is quite different because it's not a novel, it's, uh, it's a nonfiction book. And so, um, I guess what you need to know about me is that not having grown up in a religion, um, by the time I was in my mid-30s, my life was spiraling downwards.

00:07:41.139 --> 00:07:58.235
> Speaker B>Um, I guess I said I was a lawyer, I worked in the DA's office. But then when I left the DA's office, the mob came because we had prosecuted, we had go. Went against the mob, and we hit him up for 70 million bucks.

00:07:59.045 --> 00:08:32.745
> Speaker B>And, uh, they came to see me after I went out in private practice. And, uh, basically they said that, uh, you got to be pretty good to get us because we got good lawyers and you beat us, and so we want to send you some clients. And so I kind of started going down that road. I was a mob lawyer and I started hanging out with them socially, Going to those chrome and glass discotheques of the seventies, and it was the cocaine cowboy days, and there was a lot of that powder around, and I can't say I didn't partake.

00:08:33.445 --> 00:08:44.184
> Speaker B>And, um, I was able to maintain my professional life, but my private and my personal life was going down the tube. So I was seeing a, ah, therapist.

00:08:45.725 --> 00:08:51.664
> Speaker B>And I came to a crossroads in my life. And I asked the therapist, what should I do?

00:08:52.095 --> 00:09:17.534
> Speaker B>And he pulled out some coins and he started throwing the coins and making mathematical calculations and doing all kinds of crazy writing lines down and making a bunch of different lines on a piece of paper. And finally he came up with a calculation to a number. And he opened the book up to that number and he showed me the name of the chapter. And the name of the chapter was Retreated.

00:09:18.784 --> 00:09:57.384
> Speaker B>And, um, you know, I was paying him to be a therapist, not a fortune teller. So I got kind of mad, stomped out, called him a few choice names, uh, but that word stuck in my, in my mind. And I knew that that was what I needed to do was pull back. And I did. And that saved me from going down the rabbit hole. And I went back to George and I said, what was that that you showed me? And he said, well, that was the I Ching. The I Ching is means, uh, the classical book of, uh, changes.

00:09:58.205 --> 00:10:12.284
> Speaker B>And I said, where does that come from? He says, that's Taoist. And I said, what's Taoist? And then he explained to me that that was one of the legs of Chinese thinking and similar to Buddhism, but not quite the same and the like.

00:10:12.325 --> 00:11:25.740
> Speaker B>And I asked him more and more about it. And then I found out that he was the English language editor for a 72nd generation priest from the Shaolin temple named Watching Ne. Imagine that, 72 generations. I mean, our country doesn't even go back 72 generations. Um, and um, so I became really interested in this philosophy. I, ah, can't really call it a religion because it's not, it doesn't really have a God in it. Uh, but it is a philosophy. It's a way of living life, um, effortlessly yet effectively and efficiently. And it doesn't, you know, uh, some people say, well, you know, now I've been baptized recently. And you know, people say, well, have you given up your Taoism? And I said, well, there's no conflict. I mean, one is, you know, a belief in a particular, um, system of, of religion. The other is a, uh, psychology and philosophy.

00:11:25.740 --> 00:12:32.589
> Speaker B>Ah. So, um, anyway, I, uh, I, uh, ran into a little trouble with my mobile clients. Uh, and we all decided that it would probably best for me to leave Miami. So I moved to North Carolina. And by the time I came to North Carolina, because of the eight years of study with Master Ne, um, I was a very different human being. I no longer had to prove my success to anyone or make riches and make oodles of money. Although the money came, but it wasn't my goal anymore. And so I had a chance to start my life all over. Um, I went through a pretty upsetting divorce because I was a different person. And I met my current wife. Well, lo and behold, Connie, my wife is a Southern Baptist Bible literalist. She believes in the Bible?

00:12:32.716 --> 00:12:44.260
> Speaker B>Absolutely. Literally. And um, so you might think like, well, how did you two get together? But she's a saint. She's um, a good person.

00:12:44.373 --> 00:13:23.115
> Speaker B>And we connected because if she wanted to reach out and help somebody or make a difference in somebody's life, I was always there to support her and she was always there to support me in that. And then we worked together and I could come up with an idea. And then somehow, you know, by the evening, she would have already made it happen. She would have made it real in the world. And so we fell in love and got married. Um, and there was a lot of things that we had in common, but we certainly didn't have our belief systems. In common.

00:13:23.845 --> 00:13:26.225
> Speaker B>She thought my stuff was just weird.

00:13:26.524 --> 00:13:41.784
> Speaker B>I thought her stuff didn't jive with my understanding of science. And so we both thought each other, you know, thinking. We both thought that each other was kind of strange in their beliefs.

00:13:42.924 --> 00:14:29.095
> Speaker B>But I started looking at some of the stuff that she brought home from church. And I realized that the values and the teachings of Jesus were almost identical to the teachings of uh, Taoism. You know, teachings of love and forgiveness and humility and compassion. You know, matter of fact, the uh, when Jesus uh, was asked if he, if. If uh, Paul had to forgive seven times, and he said not seven times, but seven times 70, those exact same numbers show up in the Taoist writings. So I uh, it kind of blew me away.

00:14:29.634 --> 00:14:57.754
> Speaker B>So I started looking at the uh, Taoist writings and then looking in the Bible and studying the Bible to find out where in the Bible those same lessons were taught. And I always found them, they were always there. So I started to take the writings of, you know, my background, my Taoist background, and then saying, well, let me see if I can reimagine them in Christian terms.

00:14:58.894 --> 00:15:07.195
> Speaker B>So eventually I rewrote all 81 chapters of the Tao Te Ching, uh, into a Christian devotional.

00:15:07.825 --> 00:15:31.284
> Speaker B>And when Connie read it, she looked at me and she goes, bob, I am amazed because my pastors have always told me what to do and what not to do, what's a sin and what's not a sin, what's an abomination. And they've told me all these judgments, but they never really helped me to understand the nature of Jesus the way this book has.

00:15:32.264 --> 00:16:07.934
> Speaker B>And um, I was very excited to hear that. And um, somehow word got out and a traditional publisher, uh, reached out to me and said, we'd like to publish your book. So now it's out there in the world and um, uh, I'm getting letters from people all over the country, uh, telling me how they have reignited and re, uh, um, visited their relationship with the divine outside, uh, of the church. Because reading uh, my book and that, that just does my heart good.

00:16:09.315 --> 00:16:20.294
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, tell us about, you know, you also a social worker. So, so kind of tell us about your teaching and counseling practices and the things that you implement.

00:16:21.090 --> 00:16:58.154
> Speaker B>Mhm. So sometimes some things kind of like flowed along at the same time. So I'll tell you that Taoism is very contemplative. Um, you all probably have heard of Kung fu, Tai chi, um, those kinds of physical practices. That's all daoism. And Daoism is very contemplative. We think about Our thinking a lot. When I came up to North Carolina, there was very, um, few Taoists here. So I started going to Buddhist, um, services.

00:16:58.774 --> 00:17:01.034
> Speaker B>And Buddhism is much more meditative.

00:17:01.934 --> 00:17:16.159
> Speaker B>So I started meditating, um, and I found out right away that it was nothing like I thought it was like. Most of us think that meditation is about quieting the mind or emptying the mind.

00:17:16.326 --> 00:18:22.904
> Speaker B>And it's, it's absolutely not that. It's very active, engaged practice. Um, so it took me a while to get that. And uh, finally I got a coach. And at about the same time, um, I, uh, wanted to do more than just solve the legal problems of my clients. I wanted to make a difference in their lives. And I just didn't think that I had the knowledge to do that. So in 1999, I went back to school to uh, get a master's in social work, studying in particular, um, addiction therapy. And um, positive psychology. And the positive psychology, it just folded in with the meditation and the happiness, uh, work that I was doing. So all of that, uh, moved me forward. I was an addiction counselor for a few years. But the mental health world changed.

00:18:23.365 --> 00:18:26.105
> Speaker B>It was something called mental health reform.

00:18:26.565 --> 00:18:51.634
> Speaker B>And we went from a client centered practice to a billable hours centered practice. And that just wasn't for me. So I left that and I went back and I opened up my law office again with the idea that when my clients came to me, I was going to be more than just a lawyer to them.

00:18:52.134 --> 00:19:12.884
> Speaker B>I was going to be an agent of change. And I'm happy to say that even today, sometimes people come up to me and they say, bob, the case that you handled for me, and I don't remember them and the case that you handled for me, I never, I never offended again, never got in trouble after that. And that, uh, that makes me happy.

00:19:15.345 --> 00:19:22.484
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Speaking of happy, what, what are some of the most rewarding moments of your mindfulness journey and teaching?

00:19:23.704 --> 00:19:52.105
> Speaker B>Well, now I teach, um, a course using, uh, a method that was developed at Duke University where you can really be, um, effective in teaching mindfulness inside of four or five weeks rather than four or five months or four or five years. And um, now, uh, like right now, just a couple of weeks ago, I started a new class at Elon University.

00:19:53.089 --> 00:20:21.134
> Speaker B>Uh, so I've got 1720 somethings in my class. And the way the class works is, um, I give them instructions on how to do 10 minutes of meditation and I give them a recording of a guided meditation to listen to during the week. They open up their app and listen to their meditation and then they tell me what it was like, what that 10 minutes was like.

00:20:21.295 --> 00:20:29.914
> Speaker B>Well, their log comes to my, comes to my dashboard, and then I get to coach them every single day.

00:20:30.855 --> 00:21:50.994
> Speaker B>I mean, and all of us who have gone to see a therapist, we know we go once a week or once a month. And by the time you go back, you've almost forgotten everything you did before. But in this method, you get to get feedback every single day. It's like having your coach by your side all week. And to answer your question, what some of the happiest things that happen to me is when I start to see the mindset changing after the first week or two. They're struggling in the first week to try to get what, um, I'm trying to tell them, but you can't tell it to somebody. They have to do it. And then they understand what you were saying. So, uh, but after a week or two, I get these really, really cool logs where, you know, they say things like, oh, I've been at this school for two years and I just noticed that there are crickets outside my window. Or, um, oh, I came back from a really hard day and I just, you know, didn't want to do anything and I couldn't do my homework and I was really anxious, so I figured, well, I'll just do my 10 minutes. And then I did my 10 minutes and then after that I could do my homework.

00:21:52.015 --> 00:21:55.115
> Speaker B>And it just makes me happy.

00:21:57.454 --> 00:22:07.474
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Yeah. Well, given your experience as a criminal defense lawyer, how do you approach justice and equity in today's society?

00:22:09.335 --> 00:22:29.184
> Speaker B>Yeah. So, um, I always appreciate a, uh, comment made by Mother Teresa. I believe it was Mother Teresa. Uh, she said, um, you need to want to change the world or at least your little corner of it.

00:22:30.750 --> 00:22:37.944
> Speaker B>Um, you can't have. She also said, you can, you can't help everybody, but you can help the person that's next to you.

00:22:39.305 --> 00:22:56.164
> Speaker B>So, um, the justice system as a whole works probably 90% okay.

00:22:58.065 --> 00:23:34.154
> Speaker B>90% of the cases are just regular run of the mill cases. You know, somebody broke into a store and stole a couple of thousand dollars worth of stuff, doesn't have much of a record. He's going to come in, comes in to see me, he tells me what happened. Um, he looks like the kind of case where he's going to get probation. He takes responsibility for it, goes to court, the court treats him right because it's not a big controversial case, and he goes on his way.

00:23:36.924 --> 00:23:43.884
> Speaker B>10% of the cases, um, be problematic. Um, there may be.

00:23:43.924 --> 00:23:58.144
> Speaker B>There are innocent people who get Convicted even worse than that. There are people that are innocent that plead guilty because they don't want to risk harsher punishment if they were to go to trial and lose.

00:23:58.805 --> 00:24:19.194
> Speaker B>Yeah, uh, that's. That. That's one of the toughest ones. You know, when a client comes to you and says, I did not do this, and they tell you their story and you know it, I believe them. And I'm sure that it's truthful. It's just, you know, one that somebody else, a stranger, would find hard to believe.

00:24:19.654 --> 00:24:32.674
> Speaker B>And the evidence against them is strong enough to convict them. And you say to them, you know, uh, Joe, if you go to trial and you lose, you know, you'll probably do 18 months in jail.

00:24:33.535 --> 00:25:03.255
> Speaker B>If you plead guilty, you'll get six months probation. Then he'll say, well, what are my chances of winning or losing? That's when, you know, as a professional, I have to give him my opinion. And I say, well, I think that you have a 60% chance of winning, but that means that you have a 40% chance of losing. So the question is, do you want to take a 40% chance of doing 18 months in prison?

00:25:04.914 --> 00:25:24.394
> Speaker B>And a lot of times people will say, I can't do that. I'd lose my job. I'd lose my apartment. I'll lose this, I'll lose that. I can't do that. No, I'll take the plea. And that's just. That's just hard, and it's not fair and it's not right. Uh, I don't know that there's really a solution to that.

00:25:24.730 --> 00:26:53.125
> Speaker B>Um, so my approach is this. Um, I am a cog. I'm, um, a piece of the system, and my job is to do my piece the very best that I can. And I. With my training for master KNEE and my social work training, I resolved this, that when a client comes to me for criminal defense, whatever may happen to him, if he goes to prison or he gets probation or his case is dismissed, whatever may happen, I want to make sure that he felt that he was heard, that I listened to him. I want him to feel that he had somebody that stood up for him. And I want him to understand why whatever was happening to him was happening to him. And if I was devoted to those three things, regardless of whatever the outcome of the case might be, I, um. I learned that people left the criminal justice system at least understanding it and feeling that they were treated fairly.

00:26:53.744 --> 00:27:19.095
> Speaker B>And it is the. That what causes people to reoffend, I believe a lot, is that they feel like, um, they were taken advantage of. Nobody heard me, nobody listened. It was all unfair, uh, and the like. And so they feel victim, victimhood and, um, it gives them an excuse to go and get back.

00:27:19.555 --> 00:27:29.815
> Speaker B>But if they come out believing that somebody believed in them, uh, they may have the moral fortitude to resist the temptation in the future.

00:27:30.980 --> 00:27:36.457
> Speaker B>Um, but like I say, that's not to say that innocent people aren't accused.

00:27:36.641 --> 00:27:51.045
> Speaker B>And that's not to say that there's not a lot of racism and sexism and um, homophobia, uh, and um, all of that in the system. There certainly is.

00:27:51.849 --> 00:28:09.505
> Speaker B>Um, I think that a lot of people, most of the folks in the system are aware of that and consciously and intentionally try to not act on it. But there are some bad apples.

00:28:12.765 --> 00:28:18.625
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>What advice would you give a person who wanted to start a mindfulness practice?

00:28:19.125 --> 00:28:22.704
> Speaker B>Yeah. Have a practice?

00:28:26.244 --> 00:28:28.898
> Speaker B>Well, I mean, you wanted to start a mindfulness practice.

00:28:29.037 --> 00:28:34.646
> Speaker B>Yeah. So, um, there are a number of ways, uh, that you can get started.

00:28:34.830 --> 00:28:51.075
> Speaker B>I, uh, have written a 40 page ebook that I can offer to your audience free of charge. It's just freely downloadable and it answers all of the questions like, what is meditation? What is it not?

00:28:51.454 --> 00:29:05.355
> Speaker B>How do you get started? Um, is it right for me? All those kinds of questions. So it would be a good place, you know, to go first. It takes, you know, it's a quick half an hour read.

00:29:06.079 --> 00:29:14.194
> Speaker B>Um, and in it I also have a lot of links and resources, um, that people can go to to find out more.

00:29:14.615 --> 00:29:28.545
> Speaker B>There are apps, there are books. But I have to tell you, honestly, even in my own experience, I started in meditation and I really wanted to develop a practice.

00:29:28.625 --> 00:30:02.865
> Speaker B>I was sincere and, uh, even so I had a bunch of fits and starts. I'd meditate for a few weeks and then I'd let it go and forget about it. And then two months later, I think, oh, you know, I gotta start that again. And it was like that until I got a coach. And there's just nothing like a coach. You know, there's just, there's just nothing like a coach because the coach can give you those little tiny adjustments to keep you on track.

00:30:03.700 --> 00:30:27.684
> Speaker B>Uh, whereas you might read a book or hear an app and perceive it in a way that's not as helpful as it might otherwise be. But, you know, the get started is to acquaint yourself. And maybe one of the things, if we have time, let's talk a little bit about what meditation is and what it's not. Would that be okay?

00:30:28.505 --> 00:30:30.325
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Yeah, let's do that real quick.

00:30:30.825 --> 00:30:40.605
> Speaker B>Okay. So a Lot of people think that meditation. Um, and let me ask you this, Curtis. Is your audience mostly spiritual?

00:30:42.025 --> 00:30:44.045
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>I would imagine some of them are.

00:30:44.494 --> 00:30:51.194
> Speaker B>Okay. Um, because sometimes I can put this in secular terms or I can put it into spiritual terms.

00:30:53.450 --> 00:31:08.835
> Speaker B>Um, everybody. Most people think that it's about having peace and tranquility and calmness inside. And although those things will come, it's not the focus of where you're trying, what you're trying to do.

00:31:10.384 --> 00:31:41.644
> Speaker B>It seems a little weird, but it's like on a football field. You're not thinking about getting a touchdown. What you want to do is do the next play correctly. You want to do the next play right. And if you wind up getting a touchdown, great. Um, and that's kind of how meditation is. You just want to do the practice. Later on, you may find that there's a certain kind of calmness and tranquility that comes with it, but it's not the kind that you think comes with an empty mind.

00:31:42.724 --> 00:32:08.224
> Speaker B>I can tell you I can give you a vision of where you get. And I'm not talking. You don't need to be. It has. It doesn't have to be years. It doesn't have to be years. Within a few weeks, you can get to the place where you pry yourself loose from your thoughts. See, Curtis, most of us live in our thoughts.

00:32:08.795 --> 00:32:27.815
> Speaker B>We see something. We have a, uh, thought. It becomes our truth, all of our biases, our, uh, prejudices. Um, all of that is the truth that we have because we see something, and a thought comes into our head. But we all say this. We say, I had a thought.

00:32:29.035 --> 00:32:40.898
> Speaker B>And even in saying that, it tells us that we are not our thoughts, even though our thoughts seem to be so powerful that they direct our emotions. And they are.

00:32:41.027 --> 00:32:43.654
> Speaker B>We are, uh, completely inside of it.

00:32:44.315 --> 00:33:06.317
> Speaker B>We are not our thoughts. We have thoughts. And what meditation does, through some very, very simple practices, is it reacquaints you with the creator of your thoughts. When you say, I had a thought, who is the I that had the thought?

00:33:06.500 --> 00:34:13.681
> Speaker B>It is the creator of your thought. On a spiritual basis, you might say it's your soul. On a psychological basis, it might say it's your subconscious. You know, on a, uh, scientific basis, you might say it is the intelligence of your intuitive mind. Whatever it is, it's something that we have become disconnected from. And what meditation does, through very simple practices is reacquaint us with that incredibly powerful, intuitive intelligence that, when we tap into it, can make our lives so much easier, effective, and efficient. And you get there not through Some deep, profound, you know, enlightenment. You get there simply by following a simple direction of, uh, putting your attention on a candle, noticing that your mind wanders. And it will. When it wanders, you go, I intended to have my attention on my candle.

00:34:13.713 --> 00:34:19.528
> Speaker B>And you come back and begin again. Your mind wanders, and you begin again. Your mind wanders, and it begins again.

00:34:19.657 --> 00:34:24.684
> Speaker B>It's very simple practice, but when you do it, miracles happen.

00:34:27.675 --> 00:34:32.934
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Tell us about any upcoming projects that you're working on that the listeners need to be aware of.

00:34:34.554 --> 00:35:08.735
> Speaker B>Well, I mean, right now I'm working on, um. Uh, I'm teaching in class. I'm 74 years old. So to tell you the truth, Curtis, to tell you the truth, what I'm really working on is trying to move everything that I do to being online and not have any geographical commitments. Because I think that at 74, I, uh. I'm not going to say I deserve it, but I. I kind of feel like it's time for me to start doing some traveling, so I want to go see the world.

00:35:11.034 --> 00:35:16.255
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Oh, okay. Well, so everybody can keep up with everything that you're up to. Throw out your contact info.

00:35:16.724 --> 00:35:32.465
> Speaker B>Yes, sir. So you can find everything about me. You can get a free ebook. You can find out about my two published books, everything on my website, which is A wise and happy life.com.

00:35:35.164 --> 00:35:45.304
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>All, uh, right. A wise and happy life dot com. Close us out with some final thoughts. Maybe if that was something I forgot to touch on, that you would like to talk about. Any final thoughts you have for the listeners.

00:35:46.664 --> 00:35:58.005
> Speaker B>I. Yeah, Um, I would say there one is play with the idea that you're not. Your thoughts. Play with that idea.

00:35:58.505 --> 00:36:22.344
> Speaker B>And, you know, just notice that thoughts come from who knows where. And then they're here for a moment, and then they bubble off somewhere else and they're gone. And then another thought in places you can't sell it, you can't hold it in your hand, but yet it runs your life. Just be aware of that and start thinking about that.

00:36:22.965 --> 00:36:41.025
> Speaker B>The other thing that I would tell your listeners is you are a human being. And just by the very fact that you're a human being gives you a certain dignity. It gives you a right to a seat at the table of humanity.

00:36:42.775 --> 00:37:05.275
> Speaker B>And so you deserve to give yourself the grace of that dignity. And one of the ways you can do that is by finding a time during the day where you can take 2, 3, 5 minutes just for you, and you can think about what it is that you want to get out of the day ahead.

00:37:07.065 --> 00:37:11.965
> Speaker B>You know, we trade a day of our lives for every day that we live.

00:37:13.224 --> 00:37:17.445
> Speaker B>And after that day is gone, there's nothing left except what we leave in it.

00:37:18.545 --> 00:37:23.565
> Speaker B>So each day has value.

00:37:25.184 --> 00:37:55.045
> Speaker B>And take, uh, a few minutes, uh, to treat yourself to the gift of being with yourself and affirm or pledge that that day is going to have value in some way. And the other thing I would say is have a pet, Have a little animal that loves you unconditionally.

00:37:56.184 --> 00:38:24.655
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Absolutely. All right, ladies and gentlemen, a wise and happy life.com please be sure to check out Bob's work and everything that he's up to. Go download that free ebook Follow Rate Review Share this episode to as many people as possible. Jump on your favorite podcast app. Follow us Check out the show, leave a review share it Any guest or Suggestion Topics Curtis Jackson 1978 at att.net is the place to send them.

00:38:24.815 --> 00:38:27.679
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Thank you for listening and supporting the show, Bob.

00:38:27.726 --> 00:38:30.514
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Thank you for all that you do and thank you for joining us.

00:38:30.855 --> 00:38:31.755
> Speaker B>Thank you.

00:38:33.534 --> 00:38:41.543
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>For more information on the Living the Dream podcast, visit www.djcurveball.com.

00:38:41.719 --> 00:38:46.375
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>until next time, stay focused on Living the Dream Dream.