How Neuroscience Works With Mental Health - Dr. Chris Lee

SPEAKER_01 0:04

This is the Beyond the Story Podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story. And now, Sebastian Frost. Dr. Chris Lee, what's up, dude? What up, brother? Happy to be here. Man, the power of Clubhouse. Let me tell you, I just literally just met you, found it, literally just learned about you yesterday.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

So and then here we are. Quick turnarounds. That's what I like.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Good times, good times. Joy um brought our worlds together here via Clubhouse and spoke extremely high of you and said she was really excited about the segment that she was doing with you yesterday. Yeah, man. And I heard the very beginning of it. I was extremely intrigued. I had to break away, like I had told you before we started this for a client shoot, real quick. So I'm very, very uh eager and excited to dig back into that story on this on this show. I like to go back to the beginning of the story, and that's really what you did yesterday. And you did such a great job of illustrating that story on here. So I'm excited for our listeners uh to be able to hear um what you know what your story has been and what's brought you to present day to do what you're currently doing right now. So let's let's back on up to the beginning of the story. I'll let you talk.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Yeah, let's let's go. So those famous last words. Let me talk. Um, so the life that I have now is the most beautiful accident that I've ever kind of like fallen into. Get to have my dream life in the dream house. I'm a single dad to my extraordinary daughter Phoenix. We get to go paddleboarding before school every morning, and I get to do cool things like this. Like, I can't I can't believe some days that like this is me working, like I'm like working right now. And it's it's just so amazing, but it definitely work right. Yeah, and it definitely always wasn't like this. So if we rewind the clock about five years, I was a year into my doctorate program and into this doctorate program, very competitive, very like, whoo, wow, that's a lot a lot of information. And I had finished up this neurophysiology midterm, which was like written in another language, had just kind of like destroyed my sense of like, oh, life is okay. So, like in a good 23-year-old, I was like, you know what we're gonna do? Gonna go treat ourselves. So got on my 21-speed bike that I got from Goodwill. I went to the Walmart, got me a really delightful 99 cent chocolate bar, and I was like, ooh, $3 bottle of wine. And I started my adventure back home. And on the adventure back home, life began to unravel in mysterious ways. And before we go down that pathway, I just want to say this with the caveat of I'm a firm believer that there's something bigger than ourselves. Whether you're empowered to call that God, the universe, flying spaghetti monster, whatever that is, I tend to call it the universe. And I'm just gonna say that for the context. But I believe that the universe puts these specific gifts inside of all of us. And it's something that only we can understand, and it's something that we're inspired to take action on. And most of us have had this thing come up before, the white ceiling syndrome. We're laying down at bed, and there's that voice that only you can kind of comprehend, only you can kind of understand. And I'd had that voice for a good period of time of like, yeah, dude, it's like, is the nine to five practice really the life that you want? And I was starting to get like, yeah, no, like swallow that back down, like deep inside of there. And that voice had begun to get louder and louder, and I was getting better at like suppressing it more and more. So I think the universe, like, you know, creates this pathway for us, and it's definitely not easy. And it first gives you, you know, the whispers, hey Chris, this way, buddy, like this, this way. And I was like, nah. And then you start to get the conversation, like, hey, this is a really cool path. I got this for you. Really lovely gift, go enjoy. And I was still like, no, no, no. Appreciate that. Super, super nice pathway. Looks really delightful, but I think I got this figured out over here, buddy. Um, and then after that, it gets to like the yo, homes, this way. Look at illuminated, success, happy, fulfillment. The things you really want. And I was like, nah, like I appreciate that. Super great. I don't really like free food. Um, so go go live your life, universe. Then the universe goes, like, hey, two by four to the back of the head, you big stupid monkey. This is the way to fulfillment, happiness, success. The things that you're good at are not the things that you're doing. It's like, yeah, that didn't feel really good. Like, I'm mad at you now, universe. How dare you try to put me back on the path? How dare you? And after that, there's another phase. And that brings us back to me carrying my uh $4.50 of Friday night back to my house to watch friends and have a good cry. So on my way back, the universe goes, All right, phase five it is. And phase five is black SUV. So I'm on my 21-speed bike about a half mile from my apartment, and boom, out of nowhere, this black SUV blows the stop sign, going about 35. I'm going about 35 and crushes me into the ditch. And I don't really remember a lot. I remember waking up and I was like, gotta get home, gotta get home, gotta get home. And I get home, my brother, who's also a physician, goes like, yo, like what uh whatcha, what you doing over there bleeding all over the place and stuff like that. You're like messing up the carpet. And I was like, Yeah, it's got hit by a car. And he's like, Oh, cool. So we start doing this internal like look and like, hey, yeah, it looks like we're gonna have to get you to the hospital. Go to the hospital, internal lacerations, thought I had a bucket handle fracture, which is not a good thing to have in your pelvis. And I was like, pretty messed up. Body is like broken. I got hit by a car and a bike. By the way, the driver didn't stop. Fun fact of the day, never found him. So I begin the healing process, and these doctors are kind of telling me, you know, hopefully six to nine months we'll get you up and walking and running around and stuff like that, like you used to. And I was like, it's a long time to be like sit sitting there doing stuff and things, like, wow. So the first week was okay. You kind of start to like go through, you know, Game of Thrones and you know, finish up six seasons in a week, and you're like, wow, I hate myself for this. And what I started to get more and more of was there was an inner chatter, this inner anxiety, this inner voice that I think a lot of us have probably experienced in the silence of our own, of our own lives. And I couldn't escape it. I used to be able to escape it with some school or um, you know, going for walks or exercise, but now it was just me and I was being forced into meditation, which is never a really great way to like learn how to meditate. And I was meditating on how bad life was, which just layers that pathway. I didn't have any like, oh, be the observer of your thoughts. But that app was not available in the app store. And two weeks into it, the universe kind of like presented me with my next opportunity. And I get this call on the phone from a family friend, and I haven't talked to this person in six months. And they just go, Hey, hey, hey, I'm coming over to your apartment. Do you still live here? And I said, Yeah. They say, Okay, come to your place. And I'm like, Okay. And I call my brother, and I'm like, hey, this person's coming over, like, uh, something's like kind of going on. Kind of got to get this like sifted and sorted and figured out. Can you like kind of help me out here? And in the process of all that, I was like, ah, this is like something is like really going on here. Um my brother gets home and I get myself out of bed, and it's the first time I got myself out of bed. And I'm standing in the doorframe of my apartment and my brother opens the door, and my brother's been my role model for full for like the longest time. You know, he's my older brother. My parents got divorced when I was like a little bit young, so I've always like looked up to him. And the one thing I had never seen him do was cry. And he opens the door with this gentleman, and he's sobbing, truly sobbing. And he sees me standing up, like holding the door, because I'm just weak. And he runs over to me, and my brother is just as strong as an ox. Like, you know, he's he's shorter than I am, and I'm always gonna hold that over his head, but he's just strong, like just a super strong guy, like the benches like almost 400 pounds, like just crazy. And he comes over and he just like scoops me up so so strong but gentle. And he looks at me and he says, Dad's gone. And we later found out my dad had committed suicide, and it was out of nowhere. I'd seen my dad three weeks ago, and it it was just like this crushing force of like, what do you mean he's gone? Like, we're supposed to go get dinner in a couple weeks. Like, what do you mean? And he suicide, what? Like he he lived like about 20 minutes away from us, and I was like, oh my gosh. So start to go through the grieving process, which I missed that day in school, and you just try to figure it out as you go, and I wasn't figuring it out in a good way, like so many of us do with these really heavy emotions, and just tried to continue to go on with life. And you know, a couple of months passed, and you know, I'd kind of swallowed down some of the anger and the frustration and all the emotions that come with that. And that was when the next hat kind of fell. And the woman that I was dating at the time calls me and says, Hey, good news, you're gonna be a dad. And I was like, Do what now? Like, sorry, what? She said, Yeah, um, you know, about a month pregnant. So we got about, you know, eight and a half months to go get this thing figured out. And I was like, huh, okay. I'm like, you know, three and a half years from graduating from having any job whatsoever. I'm broke, like I'm I'm rubbing nickels together to get like, you know, some food here and there to pay rent. And I was like, oh my gosh, like I was just starting to crash at that at that because I had I had no future. Like I'm still processing this. My body shattered, spirit, I'm broke. And then the school calls me the next day and they go, yo, we uh we got all your things, like the the uh people that like you know, those uh college people, the advisors that are always like, yo, bro, like I hope you're doing super well and having like the most phenomenal day. They call me up and say, We just got off the phone with like your financial advisors and it's looking like $200,000 when you graduate. Have a great day, brother. And I'm like, sick. Like, oh my gosh, like what is going on? And this is where I got just the heavy dose of like depression and anxiety and just like these ruminating thoughts. And I'm like, how do I get out of here? Like, and and that's kind of what I went into. And I was like, I just I don't know what to do, where to go, and this crushing anxiety mixed with depression, I couldn't sleep, couldn't do this, couldn't do that. And all of these things started to just attack me. I tried therapy, I tried this, I tried that, tried all these different things, and none of them were really working for me. And that was when I started to go more into like the neuroscience and try to understand the brain. And it was because somebody told me this quote is that the mind flows through the brain. And that was it. That was the one like piece of that quote. I don't even know who said that. And I say that so frequently now the mind flows through the brain. Cool. Well, I understood enough at that time that when the brain gets stressed, the frontal cortex, the parietal lobes, the areas where creativity and kind of like understanding, they go offline. So the only place that my brain was allowing my mind to flow was through the centers that had depression. And where your attention goes, it wires those pathways, right? It's kind of like Hebb's law in the brain. So I was wiring very deep pathways for anxiety and depression. So I started to look deeper into the neuroscience, and then I started more in the neuroscience, and I fell in love with the brain. Then I was like, great, I need to get frontal cortex online and start to do these different practices. And over time, I started to get better. I started to get better, and I started to get better, and then people started to get curious. Like, you look healthy, you had a smile today, like with all these things, because like I would walk around school at that point, and people would just like, hey dude, I hope you're doing okay, because they had heard this like stack of shit that happened, and they were just like, I was just like, yeah, I'm doing okay. I was like, you know, pale before. And then I started to heal, you know, and I started to teach because people started to get curious, and I found that I had this gift um for sharing this extraordinarily complex neurophysiology and neuropsychology. I could take these research studies that were written by you know four or five X PhDs and the MDs and all these very complex ideas, and I could put it into fun stories and understanding and simple practices. And over time, it developed me to where I am today, where this is my job. I take neuroscience and I make it applicable for mental health and high performance. And it's it's the greatest accident of my entire life. And uh, it's just always a pleasure to be able to do the thing that it feels like I was born to do.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Yeah, it's fine, it feels fantastic to finally land in in that space. And sometimes that that space finds us even after all of the resistance on where it's at. But and correct me if I'm wrong, none of this would have happened. Accident, black SUV, none of that would have happened as far as getting to where you are right now if you would have not made a conscious decision, pun intended, to really start digging into this neuroscience stuff and seeing how it related back to what your current experiences were. It all starts with a decision. And without that decision, there's nowhere else to go. But my goodness, you've seen. Wait a second, I just had this, and in fact, I just had this conversation with my daughter that when we make a commitment to show up for ourselves, those around us are motivated to show up for themselves too. And if that isn't powerful, well, then I just don't think that you have a pulse. So it's not always about us, it's not always about waking up at five o'clock in the morning when we don't want to, but who else is willing to show up because we make that decision for ourselves? So I I th I find that's that's an incredible story. And I I commend you on leaning in to what was possible with you being able to to to to beg to start doing uh well first of all, heal. I mean, let's just start there. If we're not healing, you're not doing anything. Um, I don't care who you are. If you refuse to heal, what what is it? What what's the quote? When you refuse to heal, you you continue to bleed over people that that that did nothing.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

That's not their fault, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Right. And that I just find that go no go right ahead.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Yeah, the what you said like really hit home is like I was in a waffle house. I remember this. It was, you know, kind of getting towards the end of February. It's always the waffle house, it's just always there. And I couldn't sleep. So at the time I had a mentor that had told me, you know, knowledge is power. So it's consuming as many books as possible. And heck, if the anxiety is gonna give me insomnia, I'm just gonna sit in a waffle house. And I had to deal with the waitress that worked the midnight shift. I'll give you two bucks if I get infinite coffee. And she said, Yeah, nobody's here anyways, except for, you know, people that are on drugs. And it was at that period of time I finally had this realization and I wrote it on a napkin, and it's still on my wall in my bedroom that no matter what, I'm gonna be better tomorrow than I am today. And it first started off, it was a declaration to my unborn child, right? Because I wanted to show up for them. I didn't know that I was having a little girl at the time, but I was like, you know what? Like I'm gonna be there. Like, I'm gonna be this dad, I'm gonna be these things that I know I can be. Like, I can't describe it, but like it's something that you feel inside of you, right? It's like this unwavering, like certain thing that even in the depths of like all of the dog crap that was getting piled on top of me, I could still feel it in there. Like it will, it couldn't have been extinguished, right? And if it didn't go out at that, cool. That must be my thing. That must be a purpose, that must be something grander than myself. And I just made the choice to say, I'll listen to you. I know there's gonna be days where the fear gets loud, but I'm still gonna tune into that frequency.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Yeah. It's power there. It's a very, very powerful space to be in. And, you know, like you, I had a kid young too. I think I was a year younger than than you were. I was 22 and and mom checked out. So not only was I 22, but I was a full-time single dad, and I later became an entrepreneur two years later. And I it was very selfish, I know it was, but it worked out great. I knew that my life was going absolutely nowhere. I didn't go to college, I had nothing but the gift of gab that would later bring me into the space of becoming my life's work, a podcaster. Imagine that. So um, but but it was that momentum. I'll never forget her call and be like, I'm pregnant. And I'm like, game on. I called my sister who was living in Germany at the time, and I'm like, this chick's pregnant. And she said, I'll never forget it. She goes, We'll do whatever it takes to get this kid raised. And sure enough, we have. I mean, she lives, I'm on the fifth floor, she lives on the third floor of our building here. My daughter comes back from college and uh she she and she goes to school in Phoenix. I know your daughter's name is Phoenix. So that's that that's uh that that's kind of right. And she's studying psychology, so she's able to understand why her parents are so crazy and just understand why the world is still so crazy and thoroughly. She said that to me last week. She goes, Dad, I am she initially set out to do nursing, and nursing is just if you're not ready, and it can it's a lot. So she uh she said, I just want to serve people, dad. And I think I could do that with psychology. And she told me last week, she goes, Dad, I am thoroughly enjoying the the world of psychology. There are so many different avenues that I can take with it. And I think I'm gonna run all the way to the, you know, to getting my PhD. And I'm like, you know, you'll be the first doctor that I know of in the family. And so in number one, number two, you know, it's only money. I mean, you're almost that's your guarantee, is that with that degree, you are guaranteed to make more money than the average person that just goes through four years of college on on what on on on what they what they're pursuing. So um I'm extremely grateful that I took that risk, if you will. The risk was, you know, everyone, you know, you're you're you're you're gonna ruin your life, you're crazy, what are you doing? You know, this is people don't have kids at 22, and I'm like, well, I am. And uh I tell you what, she is, she still is to my drive. I mean, they don't stop needing money, like that. They just get older. So uh, and plus the life coaching and that ability to to to fill. I don't know what your experience was, and I know you talked a little bit about what your relationship was, you know, with your dad, but there was a tremendous amount of void in my life after my parents split when I was nine, where my dad got remarried and that became his priority. His kids were secondary. We reminded him, I think, of my mom and the whole process. And he continued to live with that whole process over and over again. So it it it it there was a a huge void there, which in turn I look back on my teenage years and my middle, and then when I was such a lunatic, I was just screaming and begging for attention. I just wanted to be heard because I was that wild kid that was always just told in that generation was, you know, do what I say, not as I not as I do, and and speak when spoken to. It was still the tail end of that generation. So to silence a kid like me, a hyperactive kid that never shuts up, um, there there just wasn't, and I don't, I think that generation didn't have the the bandwidth to be able to feed into. I think that things have changed drastically since then. But my point is I I I was able to take all of the deficits that were not there and parlay them into being an impeccable father, in my opinion. That's how I feel. I fucked up more times than I'd like to admit, and she knows that. But there's a lot of power in showing your kids that you make mistakes, and I'll never forget one of you know, one of one of my mentors, uh guy by the name of Gary John Bishop, um, incredible communicator and and and coach. And he was my he was my uh instructor at the landmark forum uh about seven years ago, and oddly enough, went on to start uh writing books and speaking. He he's got a Scottish accent, he always had that brash, like, you know, whenever you're ready, life's ready type type deal. And and and I I knew there was something special about him. And then all of a sudden I see him his personal brand had launched. He sold like three million copies um of his book. He's written three now, but his main brand, his first book was Unfuck Yourself. And um, and then his podcast um is now Unfuck Nation, which is my favorite podcast you know on the planet. And I know you've got a colorful name for your podcast too, so you'll appreciate that. But my sister and I both she she was like, Do you know Gary had a podcast? I said, No, I had no idea. She's like, dude, it's like sitting in that room on that Sunday night at your graduation and hearing him sit there in that director's chair and just communicate. So it's been incredible to see what incredible things that he's done. But um he he he's he said something that that really resonated with me. And and he talks a lot about, you know, he's very brash and up front, which is what I want. I want the the absolute truth. And I forgot my initial thought on what I was saying regarding Gary and and in his podcast, but I'm glad I brought it up because I wanted to introduce him to you. I'm sure the thought will come back to me. Um, but it had something to do with landmark and the stuff the way that the way that he communicates on here.

SPEAKER_00 20:40

So um those forms are amazing too. Like the the land, like all those things are like so, so and there's such a it's an environment, right? To be vulnerable and to be honest. And I don't think we have enough of that in our society. And it's becoming normal, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:54

So, like it forces it too in that environment. Normally that's where it is. It's almost like a yoga. Yep, we're going to this. We're here, let's do the work. Right. It is. Exactly. It is. I was so resistant to all of that. So, so resistant to all of it. But, you know, speaking of not being ready and ignoring all the signs, just because you walk through the door and you take the course doesn't mean usually we're not ready for these courses. I got blindsided by another one in 2016 that finally clicked. After walking on fire with Tony, after going to landmark form, walking out the first time, who wants a refund? I do. I was that guy.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

I finally went back and went through it. And then I met a girl on Tinder, and she, when Tinder was a dating app, and uh she introduced me to a personal development course. She insisted, in fact, she signed me up. Her and I didn't work out, but that course was like a combination of landmark, which is very conversation. And then Tony is more of, you know, let's let's get in and feel all these different emotions. This was more of a combination. And I was able to get in and I was able to take complete ownership of my life and go back to the beginning on in all personal development, as you know, is you know, what happened in our story of what happened, which are two. Completely different things. One thing actually happened, and the other thing is just what we've made up. So when I was able to make that distinction, that was it. That was those were the keys to the castle. That was called dad up and go, hey dad, I just wanted to let you know that you didn't do anything wrong.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

You did the best you could. Um, and and and you're my dad, and I love you. And you know, I compartmentalize you and I love you from a distance because that's where that's the healthiest way for me to be able to love you. But I tell you what, I and I wasn't ready for that. I was resistant. She signed me up for that course, and I was like, Well, I'll just do it because you know, she's a new girlfriend, right? You know, and uh it it forever changed my life and and and what I was doing. But that um you you gotta be open and willing to go do the work. It it's become my life's work now to enroll people into these these experiences. I can't I I got I started doing breath work a couple years ago, Effiji breath work hyperventilating for 45 minutes. For those of you that are not familiar, this is not a okay, everybody take a deep breath. No, this is full-blown. Yeah, yeah. So I met a girl at the gym uh who became an incredibly dear friend. She was doing these on the side as a hobby. She had a big girl job and did really well and worked out at Equinox here in in Coral Gables. And she, you know, girls don't smile at guys in gyms in Miami or gyms in general. Like if they do, you're really lucky, you're really, really good looking, or whatever it might be. But there was something special about her, and I continued to ask her about these breathwork classes. She's like, you know, you should check it out. And I'm like, I'm a devout Christian, this whole Reiki, this New World crystals, all this woo-woo shit. I'm not into it. Jesus is my ultimate healer. And then it started to resonate with me that maybe, just maybe, Jesus sent these people to facilitate on his behalf. Right. And I and I became open to that process. And even though our belief systems are completely polar opposite, she's one of the most powerful human beings that I've ever experienced. And breath work literally brought me to a space where I can now meditate for 20 minutes. And also, you know, you have that ability to tap in, and it's in it's in it in its daily process and it's a daily devotion of saying, I tell the story that I turn my shower on cold at the end, and it's the worst part of my day as of the end of the cold shower, but it reminds me, and I say out loud, I'm committed to the work for the rest of my life. And some days I have to say, what is that work, Sebastian? And it's that clarity, you know, whatever it whatever it takes, but that enrollment process. Anytime someone comes to me and they're up against something, breakup, marriage falling apart, life is sideways. I don't know why it all is. And I'd say, are you open to having a conversation with my friend Gina? She does breath work and she will change your life as she has mine. I rarely do people go, nah, I'm out. So, you know, when I say like it's become my life's work, I can't, I'm already a connector by default. Now I can connect people to heal.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

Come on, somebody. Let's go. Yeah, for sure. And that breath work, I mean, you can't read the label inside of the jar. That breath work allows you to get outside of it and like go, oh, here's some perspective on like everything that's going on. Like when we're super zoomed in, we kind of need that 10,000 foot view. And like breath work's been one of those things for me too.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Yeah, it it's it's it's absolutely you know incredible. And I encourage it, and then also I got into a little bit of energy work, get some needles stuck in me too, move some stuff around and realize that, you know, listen, faith-based, not faith-based, whatever it might be, energy is real. And the energy that we're carrying in that stuck stuff and that you know, those generational curses of of scarcity and things that have taken place, it's our responsibility and awareness flips the switch. Awareness just goes because I I I lost like 10 pounds, 15 pounds at the beginning of the year. And I asked my breathwork coach, I said, you know, we've done a ceremony, I've been doing breath work, this that and the other. I'm like, does healing like cause weight loss? And she said, awareness allows us to be clear about what we're putting into our body. And if you're putting the right things into your body, by default, you lose weight. So I was like, I never even saw that angle. So the benefits continue to uh, you know, to show up here. But yeah, man, we only got a lifetime to figure it out, right? That's right.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

Yeah, it's just a lifetime to go figure that out. So it we'll figure it out one day or the other.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

Yeah, you know, mental health. I mean, this is where that this is the intersection of all that. I mean, what you do and this neuroscience stuff and being able to help people navigate through all this. I've had six people commit suicide in the past five years. So my level of awareness of this shit is not going anywhere, and it's real. The last one was my stepbrother, unfortunately. And uh, you know, it it like my my my energy doctor and uh does Eastern Medicine says, you know, you get to a place that it becomes so dark they don't see a way out. And I thought to myself, I never fucking want to be there ever, and I will quit to the rest of my life making sure that doesn't take place. And there's been dark spots of life, and there's been dark places that I've gone, yeah, I understand why people do what they do, but all of that language went out the window when you start experiencing and seeing this actually happen and people that you love and care about, you know. I mean, again, I'm not telling you anything new from that at all. But speaking of that, what what what what awareness did that provide to your life when, you know, it was someone extremely close to your father when that actually happened? How did that contribute to the journey of you making that decision to start thinking differently and doing things differently?

SPEAKER_00 27:12

Yeah, I mean, you hear so much about things like that, right? And you kind of maybe hear the horror stories of it, but um it hits so close to home. Like you never think that you're gonna touch the fire of that. And then suddenly you're being burned, and it's like, oh my gosh, whoa, like what is going on here? And it's taken me to the path that I am today, and it's given me that clarity and direction to say, like, you know, there's so many people out there that, you know, the the therapy, like I have a therapist, don't get me wrong, like all these things are amazing, but sometimes it's just not the spot, it's not the tool that the people need. But if I can get them with biometrics or neurofeedback to just um make those areas of the brain available for therapy to access, amazing. Like I truly believe, and I've been extraordinarily blessed to have testimonials of people saying that this type of neurofeedback and biofeedback has quite literally like pulled them out of the hole so that they could see the light again. Like people that were suicidal and all these different things. So that's been the path for me. And the first time that somebody told me, you know, this is this information like helped save my life. I was like, you know, my I might have lost my dad, but maybe we can use this to help save some humanity. And that was like the ultimate sacrifice that he provided to me. And like, what a life lesson. Like my brother's doing similar work through addictionology up in uh Minneapolis, and he did they're just doing extraordinary things. Like that lesson that he just put onto us has rippled through our communities and it's it's made an impact.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

Gosh, and it's crazy, and it takes a lot of growth to be able and a lot of healing to get to a place to say this had to happen, yeah, which is unfortunate for this to happen. So it's one life, one life that was very extremely valuable, all of us are valuable on there, but just something that you could never imagine, right? Like you said, never touch the fire on that, but the ripple effect of that happening and how many people that that has has prevented that from happening moving forward. I mean, this this whole cycle of life. And it takes a lot to get there because it's getting through and working through those things is extremely difficult. I see my stepfather to this day still struggle uh with everything, with birthdays and with Father's Day and with all, you know, and I try that I can't fill a void. I try to do whatever I can to at least, you know, be the son figure, you know, in his life as as much as I can. But and and he's older too. So, you know, the older we get, the more set we are, you know, in our ways. But I've even seen him soften up a little bit in specific areas, and I've seen you know, just a different way of showing up for a guy that's in his 70s that you know doesn't feel that he's really got anything going on in life and is retired and his son's gone. And he says that a lot. And he said, You know, I don't I don't I don't have anything. And I said, Well, you you do, because you you got us. You may not want us, but you got us.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

Here we are.

SPEAKER_01 30:04

Yeah, exactly. But um very powerful to see our actions impact other people's life, you know. I people say I tell people I'm a podcaster, but it's just so much more than helping people start a podcast because I'm like, Do you know what it you know what it takes to actually get people's head in the right space and to actually get to where they actually should be. So I just love the fact that I get to take the the work, if you will, uh and apply it to to my business and and life, just like you've been able to do. So I I love what you got going on, man. I'm stoked to to connect with you further here and and see what I can do to to to better support what you've got going on and learn more about uh this whole this whole technology in addition to what's already available. It's just like you, I love what you said about the therapy stuff. Therapy's great, but you know what's also great? Going in where all the answers are at, tapping into breath work and tapping into our own power, unlocking and figuring a few things out, and then going and boun and then bouncing, bouncing you know, they're that off a therapist and being able to maintenance, ongoing maintenance, if you will. Yeah. You know, it's almost like you know, everybody wants to go to you know, swing from the swing from the jungles in Brazil and do ayahuasca ceremonies for a month and try to figure their life out, but that's though those are only access points to be able to, you know, what do you do on a daily basis to be able to, you know, you know, I there's there's ceremony, you know, uh overload, I think, on here. I think what do you do Monday through Friday?

SPEAKER_00 31:31

Right, yeah, it's it's the whole like church effect, right? People go to church and then you know, cut people off and they scream get out of my way as they go to like breakfast on Sundays. It's like, yeah, did church stop outside of the church? Like, I'm I'm sure that's not the way that that Jesus was trying to pass those messages on. So sure. Yeah, what are your daily habits? How is that spreading humanity?

SPEAKER_01 31:50

Yeah, absolutely. I learned a long time ago, preach the gospel at all times, use words when necessary. Yep. And I try to live my life like that. I you know, I my famous coined the phrase of I I love Jesus, but I cuss a lot. And that's because my mission field is out here. Um, it's not people at church are at already at church, so I'm not looking to get people to church. I'm just looking to share my story and understand the power of what's possible. And that, like just like you said at the beginning of our conversation, there's way more out there than us. So, whatever you want to call it, whatever you want to believe in, that's entirely your your your prerogative on here. But I always like to say I've seen too much not to believe.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Well, great, great conversation, brother. I appreciate you uh you making some quick time. I'm glad that we took we met yesterday and you're like, let's go. I'm a pick timing.

SPEAKER_00 32:38

Like what the chances were very small. I was like, tomorrow, let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 32:42

Yeah, absolutely. The time is now. So um, you're listening to this, you're thinking, I need to connect with Dr. Chris. You're exactly right. You most definitely need to do that. All of his contact links and ways to be able to connect with him on socials are gonna be invited provided in the show notes. That's the description of this podcast episode if you're worried about wondering what a podcast note is. Well, uh, Dr. Chris, thanks again, brother. I'm gonna, I got uh Joy messaging me right now. I'm gonna reply as soon as we get done here and tell her this is all her fault. I sent her a little screenshot on here, and she was like, yes, yes, yes. So the the power of community, the power of breakfast with champions. Uh, you know, here we are. You got to come back sometime soon, will you? Definitely. Guaranteed. Thanks, Dr. Chris. Talk to you soon. Until next time, friends. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story podcast. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. We sure do appreciate it. Signing off from the podcast, launchlab.com studios. We'll talk to you next time.