Episode 92 | Greta Rose Pharr | Exhilarating Comfort in the Unknown

Episode 92 | Greta Rose Pharr | Exhilarating Comfort in the Unknown - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usoNzzOQQcE

Transcript:
(00:05) so Greta I'm pretty pumped to have this conversation with you it's amazing to know you and to share about you and what you're doing with uh with our audience I want to start by asking oh if you could share about what lights you up what are you really passionate about um that's such a great question recently I think until recently I've been a little self-conscious about being an optimist and actually believing in the best in the world sometimes I feel like I'll be at a in an environment with other people and
(00:57) and there's a level of cynicism that I think is kind of cool sort of edgy like people should be cynical and the truth is is that what really lights me up in this world is believing in like actual pure goodness optimism is possible the great big powerful waves of positivity can flood over all of us and we can do we can be in that space that lights me up yeah I'm super interested in the in this topic um around it kind of it seems that it's very socially acceptable and cool to be cynical right I'm wondering do you have any
(01:47) insights into why that is like like how did we get to this point where it feels very safe to be critical it's so interesting so when I was about 10 years old I started riding horses and oh you're taught to have really straight posture yeah and I went to school and um I was so proud of like being like having this posture and people my friends made fun of me for having such straight posture and so I actually started intentionally sort of slouching to make other people comfortable and I think that people there is
(02:46) safety in cynicism it is extremely vulnerable to believe in good to stand out on this plateau of this this like open space where you believe in goodness and so I think that's very scary I think that it's easy to get burned it's easy to get hurt you know if something does happen where pain all that pain is is intense because you are so open you are so vulnerable you do believe and then it's like crushing so I think to avoid all of that people are cynical and do you think that like whether we choose to be cynical or
(03:43) hopeful it has an effect on where we go collectively into the future like there's a manifestation aspect happening here if we have the Viewpoint that you know things are are going in the wrong direction and our our ship is you know falling apart then does that create in a way that future and if we are really hopeful and feel that things are getting better does that create a better future uh wondering where where your stance on that or is that all just totally irrelevant and our Viewpoint doesn't really have an
(04:22) effect on on what's going to happen in the future oh my gosh I love your questions Avi um so I think I I told you this morning I had this someone gifted me this this guided prayer session and I had no idea what to expect and um it's interesting we actually we spoke about this very thing that [Music] um it doesn't actually matter what we think it doesn't actually matter what we believe because um it's happening anyway our job is to actually just be present in the moment and to actually hold this space
(05:23) um to be able to be present to the the bounty of like what is actually here right now before us I think the vulnerability and the hope is in being able to feel the goodness of that like and and that's that's it takes a lot of Brave courage to be able to be just sort of open to the goodness that is happening right now this is not to say that I think I think the cynicism comes from like oh well that's naive because there's all this horrific stuff happening in the world and I myself have mistaken being open
(06:29) with denying seeing the truth of some very difficult things that I absolutely needed to address and to change in my life and to I mean we're talking about like serious serious serious um but being like present in the moment to what is means that we don't have to worry about the future we do have to it it's like freeing and it gives us the space to be able to um have empathy and love and gratitude and compassion for ourselves and for the people around us and I have to believe that that in itself will result in
(07:31) something profoundly wonderful Beyond beyond our wildest dreams and not to say that it's like you can't even Define that you can't Define what that will look like I spent a year living on my mother's property and she has very humble humble means dirt floor thatch roof strawberry walls compost toilet solar energy beehives an old horse named star a dog named happiness and in this space um like just being very very present I felt more peace and serenity then any manifestation of what I might think is going to happen in the future
(08:32) I hope that that makes sense [Laughter] because yeah it does it does to me ah I noticed that Within Myself there's a part of my mind that you know has anxiety a lot of anxiety about the future and what is going to happen and there's this story that's been on repeat for a while that if I if I don't worry about the future then it's not going to be okay what you're talking about of like being in the present like what what prevents me and maybe others as well from doing what you're saying just fully
(09:23) embracing what is here is a fear that if I do that I'm somehow being complacent yeah and yeah it's not good enough and like what I hear you saying is like that is good enough and that's where the trust element comes in um and that I can rely on that practice like um but there's there's there's fear there for sure you know but yeah yeah so I I want to share this extraordinary thing that um I can't believe I'm going to share with you but um okay so so uh I hold my stress in my hands
(10:08) my my hands are like and so when I was 25 I developed this um this tremor and um it's just something I live with it's annoying but a year ago uh I also was diagnosed with this thing called I don't even know how to say it dupagems DuPage DuPage it's spelled with way too many consonants and it is this thing where you get these nodules in they attach themselves to your uh tendons in your hand and it creates this contracture like this actual constricted if if not addressed it's horrible do not Google it because
(10:59) it's just you get these disgusting pictures and so I I got it about a year ago and uh I'm lucky to have some incredible access to hand specialists and I found myself in the living room of one here in Maryland and they said that there's this really intense therapy at Johns Hopkins that you can um do radiation therapy uh and so for the past so yesterday I ended my seventh day of radiation therapy you do seven days in a row so it's really really scary because you go to the building that says Radiology
(11:49) radiation and oncology and everyone has cancer everyone is cancer I don't have cancer this is not life-threatening but it's it's still you go into the building where um everyone has hazmat suits on and they're at the like doors that are like this thick and they've got the scary sign that says like massive radiation Beyond this point and I lay on the table and they created a mold just for my hand and I had to put it up there and like the lasers go crisscross on your hand you don't feel a
(12:26) thing but um still emotionally like really really really scary and so um last yesterday was my final treatment and I went uh I just was filled with fear filled with fear last night going to bed thinking like oh my God what if I what if what if it comes back what if I didn't do enough what if it comes into my other hand like and then I was thinking okay worry is how I got into this mess I go into this weird cycle where it's like if I if I worry I'm actually gonna cause myself more damage and then so I am not immune to this sense of
(13:13) tremendous deep profound worry um so this morning I I did this little dance class here in my house on a video and I'm like dancing and like shaking it out like trying to get the energy out all of this is gonna make sense in a second where I used to live in Hood River a year ago I would go for a walk on this path every single morning and there was a Bald Eagles Nest and I I think I shared with you before like I am obsessed with these bald eagles and we would watch this progression every year they would migrate they would have these
(13:56) babies you'd see the babies like learning how to fly and it was I was just obsessed with this like process our house was built on a very Steep Hill and so you'd see the parent Eagles would fly past our window they'd go to the Columbia River and they would dive down into the water and you'd see them come up with the salmon and their talons and they would fly past my window like this incredibly dramatic site and so um I'm dancing this morning and one thought I've had since I moved here is that
(14:39) I feel like the salmon yeah I feel like the freaking salmon where the eagle just comes down and I was living this one life and then I just was ripped out of the water and I'm just like I don't know what's going on this morning I was looking at my hands and I was like oh my God they look like Talons to me and then I thought I'm the eagle I'm the eagle I am definitely out of my depth I don't know what I'm doing I don't know where I'm going but it's just like it's like been there all
(15:31) along watching this example of these stoic creatures who just are so they don't know what's going on tomorrow they just they just do their thing they have these babies and babies like figure out how to fly somehow and the next thing you know they're just like flying and maybe the salmon is like like maybe the salmon is just life and so um there's this I think I think what I'm trying to express is the the sudden exhilarating comfort in the unknown it does not make me any less scared but it's so exciting to be like oh my
(16:24) God we could just fly hmm the excitement in the unknown this is fascinating like what a what a shift instead of having fear around what might happen in the future being excited about it or being excited about the unknown in itself that exists in this present moment and to be okay with that you know yeah I I I feel that there's a connection here too with gratitude practice because when I'm practicing gratitude I don't need to be thinking about the future the future is not important at all it's this feeling of being
(17:25) grateful for what I've experienced and what's here like you said in in the moment huh well have you ever been able to actually predict the future I mean have you been able to have your plans worked out no I mean it's this is the most fascinating thing I think and really the proof of um of what we're what we're talking about the effectiveness right like if I if I need to see proof of how much I am not in control all I need to do is reflect back on my life and connect the dots and see how unpredictable
(18:10) everything is and I've asked people this question a lot right like could you have and everyone across no way could I have predicted you know what has happened in in my life so why am I caught or why do I you know delude myself into thinking that it might be possible to predict what's going to happen in the future you know yeah yeah I mean so you know for me it's about finding a home being home being I I want to feel home and I've been on this journey of like you know thinking that I knew exactly what that
(18:50) was and then being in a whole new place and um and realizing of course that home is is here and one of the biggest moments for me was so here I have just purchased a home and in a new space and I ordered some furniture and I ordered a couch and you know shipping right now with the pandemic it's really crazy so I got the couch the couch was delivered and it it I had so much wrapped up like oh when I get this couch I'm gonna be home I'm gonna sit on this couch and it's gonna make me feel so good and
(19:33) and it was the most empty meaningless I looked at this thing and it was like it it felt so cold and completely unsatisfying and um I've broken the tears and I was like oh my God I will never feel home and um this incredible just thread started happening where it was like I could sit on the floor and just feel like just like for me what it's about going Inward and being like loving myself and knowing what do I need in this moment how can I actually feel what was the feeling I was trying to get at what was it about the idea of the
(20:30) couch that I can actually manifest and and happen and for me it's about um it's it's more about like having this conversation with you connecting with people that I love giving myself really like making myself comfortable drinking enough water having a cup of tea and so slowly like getting a like cozy blanket I don't know I don't know it's about like nesting into the space of it's not about the stuff it's not about this stuff and it's easy you know it's like I who yeah it it really I could go to my my
(21:18) mom's house right now and go hang out and star the horses stall and feed him some oats and feel more at home in that moment in a second than anything else what is that about what is that about yeah like I've had the thought of like you know wanting to make a a simple life sexy you know just whatever what I mean by that is like this is just not working you know the constant striving for and I think so many of us are discovering that you know that it's not about the couch it's not about the thing well whatever
(22:05) whatever it is it's like you know another thing that really helps me um see proof of this and have perspectives when we look at the amount of luxuries that even someone in today's world who is um not considered financially well off right is his poor lower class compared to what our grandparents had so far beyond you know like the amount of luxury um at least in our country and there's all different levels and and all of this and this is definitely a huge uh generalization but the point here to me is really that it's more about what do I
(22:50) have compared to my neighbor often and when I realized that I was like I don't want to play that game I have no interest because it's never ending yeah there's no way to ever get where you want to go but also it's about desire I think and looking forward to something you know when this happens the vacation the meal that I have the time with the friend whatever whatever it is it's like looking forward to it and I've been thinking about this and I think it's a both end maybe because one I want to feel content I love
(23:30) feeling content in the moment of what we're talking about where I don't desire anything you know I have all that I need in this moment practicing that it's like oh the best at the same time at least where I am I can't be in that place all the time and so I I do have this habit of thinking about looking for look I'm looking forward to something and I think I've come to a place now where that's okay it's okay to look forward to things for me as long as I'm not completely invested in that and I'm also conscious
(24:08) I'm aware that I am playing this game of like okay I'm looking forward to lunch now I'm eating the food and I'm looking forward to what I'm doing after lunch you know it's like yeah yeah that makes so much sense to me it's I mean playing the game I think you said it is knowing you're playing the game right I mean I'd be lying if I I didn't say that um when I was sleeping so my mom's place there were a lot of mice and I got really really comfortable we call them Fred we just named them all
(24:54) Fred and we wake up in the morning and I'd be like called another Fred last night or you'd um my mom would she had this this waste basket in the the in the back and so you put a mouse we would catch him in the live traps or a glue trap which is and you put on a little bit of olive oil to loosen them and then you dump them in the basket and you'd cover it real quick so that the cat wouldn't get it uh and in those moments I was like I really wanted something I don't want to be here you know so we say that again you really want what
(25:41) I didn't I didn't love that I I wasn't appreciative of the whole like [Music] I wanted to be in a place that didn't have mice I wanted to be I sort of a dreamt of being more comfortable being in a place where I could like be Fred free [Music] um and yet now I I long for that the like Simplicity of just like being real it's like the The Grass Is Always Greener for me is such a big thing to be aware of you know um I think about it with with my daughter a lot if I'm being honest you know with when
(26:39) when I'm I notice myself have the tendency you know when I'm not with her I want to be with her and then sometimes when we're together you know I'm like feeling tired and I just want alone time for myself I mean there's just so many different levels of of this um and and it's just incredible the way that the the the mind works but I want to come back to gratitude because you're you're heavily involved with with gratitude and uh a lot of people might not even know about all the amazing
(27:11) projects that you've been involved with it's really incredible um I don't know if we have time to go into all that or if you feel like going into all of that um but check out what Greta has done because it's is is really something um but if you want we could talk in particular about gratitude revealed and working with Louis schwartzberg and and and this project so if you want to talk about the project and also maybe how it's changed your relationship with gratitude and what you've learned from
(27:41) from it yeah I mean it all ties so nicely into this because um I I I I struggle with with believing in uh sort of God or you know Powers greater than myself um but uh there are these incredible um I have had the opportunity of being able to be a part of these like extraordinary projects and they kind of just like come into my life and I'm very very very very very grateful for them um I had the privilege of meeting Louis schwartzberg back in 2014 and he had two projects that he was working on um he had just done this little video
(28:40) he had filmed a conversation with himself and Paul stamets out in the woods talking about mushrooms and he thought you know could we make a whole movie about mushrooms do you think people would be into that and of course we started down this journey of creating fantastic fungi and then at the same time he was doing he believed in the power of gratitude himself and he felt this is what's so cool so he studies nature um and he has been on this quest for trying to convey the Wonder and awe that he sees himself
(29:19) trying to actually bring that and share that with the world and so he has traveled the the Earth to places that we will never see and he has brought back these extraordinary visual stories for us to um to feel as though we have actually like witnessed the world and and he thought that the place where nature and Humanity intersect is the space of gratitude that we are able to witness with our eyes this information comes in and it's visually healing and it comes into our hearts and we have this expression of like
(30:04) being being in awe and wanting to share that with someone that we love it's sort of like you see a beautiful sunset and you just really want someone there with you to see it with you and like that what is that what is that expression of like your witnessing Nature's Beauty and it comes in your heart and so Louis says it's gratitude and there are all sorts of like ways that we cross into this conversation through curiosity through Wonder through awe um generosity and so he started down this road of creating gratitude revealed
(30:48) um and we had a full length feature film that we released back in September so the exciting news the thing I want to share with you is that John Templeton Foundation actually gave us a grant and as of January 1st we are able to um we no longer are going to monetize it at all we're going to actually make this accessible to people so that everyone in the world can see this film but we're taking it one step further we believes that the um this experience is best had in community and so he really wants the
(31:27) film to be witnessed with others so we're not just going to put it online or anything like that we actually are going to be holding these gratitude Gatherings we're going to do one a month and these gratitude Gatherings some of them will be virtual some will be in person some will be hybrid we've got really beautiful ideas about like having this immersive gratitude experience um where all of the senses would be stimulated and of course you know like bringing the film to life one of the favorite parts of the film for example
(32:03) is um an animation called 85 that is narrated by mq doing like a slam poetry reading is really moving and touching about love and so for example a gratitude Gathering might have the 85 this this clip on this like large immersive screen and then in queue would do a poetry reading in person with that with music so we've got really cool ideas about what these gratitude Gatherings will be like and so we're hoping that people can attend these but if you're not able to then we're inviting like the true
(32:45) meaning of give the gift of gratitude we will encourage people to host their own gratitude Gatherings and we'll provide you with absolutely everything you need to be able to scream this um again we're encouraging people to do in-person screenings but also virtual screenings and so it now becomes possible for uh for organizations non-profits can use this as a catalyst for fundraising for their mission we're not able to monetize but non-profits can use it to as a fundraising vehicle for their organization
(33:26) faith-based faith-based groups um communities parents teachers universities we're doing this really cool nurse nurse initiative where we're going to some of the best hospital organizations in the in our country uh and the hospitals are giving the screening of gratitude revealed as a gift to their nurses where just solidifying like Johns Hopkins for example um at the beginning of Nurse Appreciation Week in May will host this across all of their campuses we'll do a simulcast and Louis will be there in
(34:08) person so this idea of like giving the gift of gratitude all of this is funded it costs nothing but um really creating this sense of like wave of gratitude and so we're encouraging people we're launching the website hopefully today to articulate everything that I've said um oh and there's one last part of it which is an educational curriculum so you can watch the film and you can also have this really beautiful guided a piece of of copy this document which will provide to you so that you can actually know what to do after you
(34:54) watch the film all of that is happening that is gratitude revealed the New Evolution we're calling it Catch the Wave um okay so that's what I would like to ask you about is like what it what is this wave gratitude you know and what you've what you've noticed both within yourself how you're changing maybe with gratitude becoming more uh a part of your life and also like the process that people are going through right like like catching this wave like what have you learned about like how this works maybe for
(35:36) someone who you know they you know they know the word obviously gratitude but gratitude is not really a part part of their lives in terms of having a practice at all and then moving in the direction uh where someone starts to open up to the sensation of being grateful what have you learned about like the human process of moving in that direction the nurses have taught me the most because um we the first screening we did was up at Mount Sinai up in New York and they have uh eight campuses and so we did a simulcast with all of
(36:19) um was like 8 000 nurses and you know what they have been through and with New York being the epicenter of the pandemic they use gratitude as the number one survival tool for their mental health to be able to come to work each day and so I think you know whatever I think I've been through they've been through they describe it as War like if they're if if you have either been in war but it they feel as though they have been at War so the stories that they share are horrific horrific beyond anything that
(37:06) you could comprehend of what it was like in particularly Brooklyn At the beginning of the pandemic that first period of time and now there's this expectation people want to get on with their lives get back to normal and it's kind of like when you're in an accident you kind of hold it together until after the accident then you lose your like all the emotions hit you and the nurses right now the mental health of the nurses they are they have not had a chance to breathe they've not had a chance to recover from the pandemic it
(37:45) was um life and death they saw a lot of death they had to deal with a lot of death and they truly believed that they themselves could die many of them did and so um how do they survive well you know the hospitals can't pay them for more money the hospitals can't provide them vacation days or time off what they can do is find a place like what are the tools what are the resources they can use to heal to show up to pick themselves up and come to work it's a perfect example because it's not like their day gets any easier
(38:35) it's not like everything falls into place and now they're gonna have like you know days are still hard gratitude it's a way of healing the heart and what they do is they are grateful for the lives they have saved they are grateful for each other and having a support of each other it it's like oh my gosh the bond that they share with each other haven't gone through this experience it's a deep profound love and like a fierce protection and they're grateful for uh being able to share these stories with each other in
(39:31) the world and there's this thing that happens this physical manifestation of like the practice of gratitude where that lightens up it creates this this field this force field where it brings them out of fear and pain doesn't deny the pain it actually makes space to actually feel to breathe and to like live into the grief it like creates this cradle where they're gonna going to be able to nurture those dark feelings but it's um it's healing and so for me like witnessing that that practice of gratitude in real time
(40:33) it's helped me to see that this is this is the real deal like this is there is something to this and frankly I'm not sure what alternative we have because of all the hard stuff that we actually do see and witness and experience in our lives um we are either going like it's sort of a matter of life and death we can make and descend into the depths of Despair and worry and fear or we can use tools to pull ourselves into a sense of lightness and so gratitude is to me the the most be easily accessible tool to pull myself
(41:27) into a space of like getting through the day and not just getting through the day because I think what is so beautiful is that when you sort of like you sit and you think about the things that you're grateful for it actually lightens you up and there's this profound appreciation for the great gift that is this day it's pretty amazing to me that it's as simple as a choice that's made you know again and again and again it's like things just exist you know like reality is here and it's true that
(42:17) things are really hard I mean the example that you just gave with the nurses is a beautiful one I think and the fact that they've gone through such challenges and have now come to a place of gratitude to a certain degree I mean like like you're saying I think that that shows so so much I mean what can we do you know and there's so much outside of our control but that choice whether or not to look at look at my life look at my situation and feel sorry for myself or to feel grateful I think it is it is a choice I can go in
(43:06) either either direction um yeah and and both both are okay but I'll say for myself man the Gratitude feels a whole lot better yeah yeah I think also so you know like I shared with you about last night really going to a place of fear great great fear and um and making that really okay too I think that it's it comes back to this idea of being very present oh it's not like I can force myself to feel grateful it's not like I have to acknowledge if I feel afraid or but you know there's this beautiful nurturing of
(43:52) just gently allowing myself permission just giving it like room to breathe and saying um I imagine um I mean it sounds cheesy I want to say it like sounds cheesy but this idea of like loving myself really really loving myself and I've been trying to treat myself really really well and saying like what what do I need in this moment and if I need to feel afraid or if I need to feel fear um I guess I guess I'm I'm I think it's important to make it okay to have those deep profound feelings of grief it's just
(44:52) the agency that we allow ourselves to also take actions to use the tools and to have the courage to change the things we can you know there's that I love God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference Yeah you mentioned that to me before your relationship with the Serenity Prayer why is that so powerful for you what about it like causes something to to click or you want to remember that right what is it about it because in the moment of Despair when
(45:50) you don't know what to do it's easy to um there is always something that you can do and so we're all trying to feel good right like that's we all want to be comfortable that's our human most humans want to feel good you want to be happy and be comfortable um and so when we are not and we're uncomfortable and we're we're feeling worried [Music] there's this I think that idea of being able to latch on to um a tool of some sort like something some rope that's gonna pull you out of
(46:42) this darkness and the Serenity Prayer it's easy to remember it's so profound the courage which acknowledges How brave you are because this stuff is hard to change the things you can because it's also making you acknowledge that there are some things that you cannot do anything about and having the wisdom to know the difference it's this freedom and letting go and so coming back to gratitude you know like oftentimes this practice of gratitude you know we we with the film we struggle because oftentimes the word gratitude I
(47:34) think it's used either so frequently that people they forget what it actually means or it's sort of seen as this lofty kind of like Elite snobby thing that uh isn't like grounded in like for the people and so I almost think that the word gratitude I wish that there were a simpler a simpler more more humble word to use give thanks you know yeah I know what you mean what's really important for me around it is to move it into the body and I know there's a big difference between like thinking about what I'm
(48:25) grateful for and feeling it you know and both both are fine but I'm really into actually feeling the sensation of it in my body that's the thing that uh feels very healthy to me yeah yeah yeah I really um getting out of our heads and into our body I mean that has been like incredibly important to be able to just um to be able to move but I also so I also think that this idea of of writing things down you know having a gratitude Journal again super I I kind of think like oh gosh if one more person tells me to
(49:08) write down three things that I'm grateful for I'm gonna be so good but there is this interesting exercise oh there are tons of deer in my backyard whole herd um there is this exercise of of starting just to say something that you're grateful for and do this stream of Consciousness and um okay so you know told you about my hands it has made me so grateful for the fact that I can stretch my hand out because that may not be the case if this thing actually continues in my hand I might actually lose that and so I am
(50:04) so grateful for the ability to stretch out my finger and I can just start there it doesn't have to be like big lofty things it can be like I am so grateful that right now I don't have covid so grateful for the ability to breathe in my lungs and I'm not coughing I'm so grateful for the ability to be talking to you right now to be connected through technology to use technology for good you know and and oftentimes when I think of one thing that I'm grateful for there's this natural sort of like
(50:44) yes and like oh and I'm also grateful for and so I don't know that we need to analyze why that's so profoundly helpful it's just the fact that in this day and age with so many difficult things going on if that is helpful I think that we should have more and more people participate in this practice of gratitude and so the reason why we are doing gratitude revealed and trying to get people to watch the film and experience it not just to watch the film but to actually spark ignite this idea this ripple effect this wave of
(51:32) like use this tool think that it comes back to that agency of like we can do something and we have a choice of doing something positive or negative so if we actively and responsibly and consciously choose to do something good and and positive it's going to create this ripple effect the same way if I think of one thing that I'm grateful for and that Sparks the second thing that I'm grateful for and that Sparks the third thing and then suddenly I'm feeling better couldn't that also be like the
(52:19) collective whole of humanity could we also sort of like what could we do with that energy wow I just had like a visualization kind of of like the planet I think maturing that's that's that's the word evolving that's the word I use you know from for myself yeah a lot as I'm just interested what does it mean to be more mature and I think it's very much related to perspective yeah like what you're talking about like just to have a healthy hand that you can use right or the the lessons that we've
(52:59) all used learned from the pandemic right like just how grateful to not be sick or to not have to wear a mask or to be able to go out and have freedom right like yeah it's very it's fascinating to me perspective and how much of a discipline it is you know in a good way I feel for myself to to be able to do that so like on a planetary level right like to have perspective about what the actual situation is to me is is fascinating right like to see that we are living on this planet hurling through space which has all of
(53:42) this variety of life like just the variety like yeah astounds me like like wait a second what like how many different kinds of flowers are there like on and on and on um that is is so interesting and what I feel like holds us back the most is like this cultural energy like how we started the conversation about um you know it's very cool and safe to be uh skeptical about things and to be negative about things like what happens if that shifts and all of a sudden the culture is more about like oh my gosh how amazing is it to have this body that
(54:22) I can move about where I want and I have these eyes that can see these things and investigate right and I have this mind that can imagine all these different things like what if our conversations changed to be focused on on that and it wasn't cheesy to do that it was useful and productive yeah yeah and and we I I do think this is where our elders can assist us and we can start establishing this this culture where yeah like I said you know at the beginning of our conversation um what excites me is this idea of being
(55:08) positive and I I if I accept the responsibility of saying I'm going to I'm going to hold this space of being a positive person cultivating gratitude articulating it to other people sharing it not just recording it but like sharing my experience with as many people as possible um I've got to believe I mean if if even a small shift happened in humanity where we we respected gratitude like that um oh God I think it would just be profound and so we look at like why don't we appreciate gratitude why don't why do we
(56:09) think it's cheesy and that gets into a whole other thing of like as Humanity we have always not there's our ability to communicate with each other has been Limited by if you look at the history of the world we have not been able to communicate with each other as openly as we can now and so we have this thing called technology which sorry for the sunlight sorry for the sunlight I'm not sorry for this I'm like um sorry for my lighting um we have this thing for technology now I I believe that technology can be used for
(57:00) for evil and it can be used for good and so I think that if we use technology for good then it's it's kind of like um you know the kingdom can be like toppled and like the people can be actually empowered and so this idea of it's It's how fantastic fungi we we didn't go through the traditional distribution route we went through very Grassroots we believed because we knew that if we just sold it to Netflix that they would put it on a shelf and they'd make it accessible and some people would see it whatever and we knew
(57:44) that like if the people could actually see this in theaters pre-pandemic and experience it and talk about it that they would get it and they would be able to tell other people about and that is how a movement is made so I believe that is exactly what we can do with gratitude if there is some Trend happening right now it is I mean you feel it right out of necessity out of the state of the world um I mean we desperately need to connect with each other in a way that we have not been able to before [Music] yeah I think the example of of the
(58:31) nurses is just sitting with me now thank you for sharing that because it's such a powerful one to go through that and to find gratitude to super profound but there are so many stories of people who've been through such horrific horrific things in their life and yet you know they'll speak to you with this the serenity this peace this joyfulness and you think like how could that possibly be or you know I think about how I have not endured that level of of trauma I've had my own trauma but not I haven't been in a war I haven't
(59:09) fought on the front lines I haven't been surrounded by Death that way and um you think like how could they possibly get to a place of of of peace and I don't think it comes easy I think there's great cost I'm thinking of a dear friend of mine who is not with us any longer uh Jim McLaren do you know who Jim McLaren is no may I tell you the story of Jim McLaren sure Jim McLaren he was a young student in New York City um he was an incredible athlete and he was on his I think motorcycle or bike and he was hit by a New York City bus
(1:00:08) pronounced dead on the scene rushed to the hospital and they brought him back to life um and he was uh he had a below the knee amputation of his left leg he then uh became a triathlete and he was the first triathlete to do the Hawaii Iron Man this is way before they had the beautiful Prosthetics that they do now for these athletes he finished that race with a bloody stump and went on to set world records for [Music] um disabled athletes he was in a triathlon um forget which one and he was on his bike in the bike segment
(1:01:05) and they block off the streets a police officer did not see him and opened up the street and let a car through and the car hit him and mocked him into this cement piling and he became a quadriplegic um so he was a quadriplegic with an amputated leg and went into deep despair profoundly deep despair the city was able to provide him I think he like sued the city or something and so the the city actually provided him with money to um he was able to take care of himself quite well that way but he spent all of it on drugs
(1:02:03) and disappeared and his friends found him in Hawaii in a wheelchair going down the highway in the middle like on the dotted on the double lines just like wanting to die and so um the challenge athletes Foundation was founded because they wanted to get Jim McLaren a van and so that he could drive and they basically like his friends saved his life and he became this speaker and he used to he went back to get his PhD in heroism heroism and he believed like studying Heroes Arc and if you look at the heroes in our world
(1:02:55) they typically are tragic characters they have lived extraordinary lonely horrible lives because people kept calling him a hero and they would call him and like pour their souls out to him he became like this Beacon for people to just like they were coming to him for help and so Jim he was such a beautiful man um he would rally and he would like pour out his his soul to help people a great personal cost and share this because somehow like he as long as he was alive and he he died because of an infection and you know unfortunately
(1:03:49) because of his condition he wasn't able to sense that condition that until it was too late so he died of a medical thing um he would say to me what choice do I have I can either descend into hell or I can see that somehow this was a gift where I could actually help people and stuff like it felt like it felt good but it still was like this place where he was able to come to peace with his life and he actually tells the story where the morning that he got into the accident he woke up and and he said to his girlfriend at the time
(1:04:38) something incredible is going to happen to me today and he had the sense that like that was gonna all happen oh one other thing I wanted to ask you about Greta is storytelling so I think you know you just told such a beautiful story you've told a few and this is a lot of what you do is tell stories right yeah um so I'm curious if you can share any insights into the just the art of of Storytelling um and uh what you feel makes a powerful story oh I think that storytelling is the best way to communicate I think that people are
(1:05:34) the difference between a story and a presentation is that a presentation is just like information just sort of thrown at you whereas a story has a hero maybe it has a villain it's got characters that you care about it has emotion and it has contrast there's a beginning a middle and an end it's really important to know when the end is um I don't know it's like for some reason you will go to um you'll go to the movies and you will I'm just gonna adjust this just a little bit um you'll go to the movies and you will
(1:06:26) sit at the edge of your seat and two and a half hours or whatever will just like fly by right but if someone just tries to sit and tell you about the his information you're yawning and you're bored within one minute so um I guess I I learned really early on that if I wanted to effectively communicate um it seemed to work if I delivered that in the form of a story and I enjoy hearing stories and I think when you hear a great story it's like you wanna you wanna share it with other people so yeah I love storytelling
(1:07:16) me too I'm still trying to understand what it is uh about stories that so compelling like it it feels so essential to what I am and what I'm interested in spending my time doing yeah uh hearing stories you know like what is that there's one very important component of a story is that there is a challenge there's a problem that has to be solved and so I think that resonates with people a lot where they recognize you know I mean there's this really funny comedian who was talking about like if
(1:08:01) those Liam Neeson movies you know if he just like always is saving his daughter right his daughter's always getting getting kidnapped in um and if he were to try to rescue her and it turned out that she was just shopping at the mall or just like looking for colleges or whatever it's like we wouldn't care we wouldn't care but but somehow um yeah I think gosh there was a a teacher who used to he was a theater teacher but he did a lot with like Rhythm and he did a lot with teaching us just that and this is
(1:08:44) like so beyond like our brain we just have to like scoop our brain out um the rhythm of our heart the rhythm of our actual like heartbeat we actually have this this pulse and so we recognize a lot of the way that that we encounter the world has a lot to do with things that have nothing to do with our thoughts in our head but have a lot to do with just like and there'll be these rhythms that you connect to in your soul um and so I think story has that contrast and that contrast is if you look like sort of what does it look like
(1:09:28) it's sort of like a heartbeat and that connects to here much more than here I think information is just up here but like stories in here it so is it's like like when I'm considering myself being engaged in in a story whether it's a book or a movie or whatever it is it's like my jaw is just I just imagine my jaw being open and just being like totally riveted like you said just like immersed yeah in what's happening and I love it so much it's like I uh I've given up a lot in my life and I'm
(1:10:07) sure I'll continue to give up up a lot more I don't think I'll ever give up stories and nor do I want to you know I love it yeah yeah I don't actually have that many books like anymore I've sort of like cleared out some of my books and the only books that I will always cherish I have all of my childhood books like all of them they're my library you know how people are all like oh I've got all this like this is incredible my library consists of free to be you and me and like Harry my
(1:10:42) little Peter Rabbit collection and Where the Sidewalk Ends do you tell your daughter's stories do you oh my you know what's really interesting about this actually ah you're glad you asked that because it just it sparked in me this is a really recent thing for her that she has begun asking me to tell her stories I mean we've been reading books for a long time but we'll just be hanging out in the car or wherever and she'll say Daddy can you tell me a story oh and it's been it's been a very interesting
(1:11:14) experience for me it's like what story can I tell her like I could just make something up but what I normally find myself doing is thinking about different experiences that I've had in my life that I could share with her that she would she would enjoy so it's like taking me back to all these different things that have happened to me um and and now she asked me to like repeat them she's like can you tell me again the story about uh when your sister you know Aunt Sarah did this or whatever it's it's great it's it's so
(1:11:41) it's so fun so yeah yeah storytelling hmm yeah I love that yeah I think stories so yeah um there's often times uh I think that's a good way for us to remember something important [Music] and the artist exactly like yeah yeah the oratory experience I think it also Sparks a different part of your creative your brain because you are I don't know about you but like um I will immediately start imagining like as you were telling me that story I'm picturing you and your daughter like I see it and so I think that's also an exciting
(1:12:34) part of it it's like sort of traveling through adventures and thoughts in terms of of learning too I don't know if if we always um you know associate stories with learning but I think that there is so much within them that you like when I I love to read fiction you know and a lot of people I think see that as maybe like you're not why are you doing that with your time to me I'm learning more than I can possibly realize through these stories you know I don't even understand it but I know that I'm learning so much
(1:13:09) and that's how I enjoy learning through stories um yeah Greta thank you so much I um I feel really honored to know you I hope you know that and appreciate our friendship and thank you for taking the time to have this conversation with me it's totally awesome I feel the same way I'll be I think that you are truly a light in this world and um your generosity your just it is a gift it's a real gift knowing you I definitely consider you a friend thank you