Breaking Through Walls By Tapping Into Listening and A Higher Energy

Welcome to the Conscious Pivot Podcast with international speaker, business mentor, best selling author of Pivot, and your host, Adam Markell. The Conscious Pivot shares the stories and wisdom of people who have successfully reinvented some area of their business and personal life. You'll gain powerful insights into how you can fully embrace new opportunities, increase your performance, and master the art and science of innovation and resilience. So please join Adam as he guides you on your Conscious Pivot.

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Conscious Pivot podcast. I'm your host, Adam Markell, and I'm just sitting here with a. With a cheesy grin on my face, partly because it's a brand new day and I feel very lucky just to be here. I was lying in bed this morning and I found my mind was wandering into sort of cobwebby places of the past, just thinking about things, people even, that I no longer am connected with and trying to make a little heads, heads or tails of that little sense of it. And ultimately, as I was lying in bed, I really came to the conclusion that the most important thing I can do right now in this moment is just to be here. To be in the moment. Well, which really filled me with a lot of gratitude. I didn't have to sort of go, oh yeah, move to gratitude, right? Dude, that's the secret elixir. It's always right. The thing. You can just go right to gratitude. Which is true. It is, by the way, a tremendous shortcut to everything you. Everything I'm looking for, I can find in gratitude. But I didn't even have to sort of push that little button that I know is always kind of there in an emergency. It was just sitting in the present and realizing that that was where I had actual freedom. I don't want to go too far afield with this. I wrote some notes and then going to kind of tease this out for myself a little bit more today. But our freedom of choice is really our great. It's our one true freedom. We choose what we think, we choose where we put our focus. I choose where I put my attention. Nobody can do that for me. President can't do it for me. Other friends, family can't do it for me. I'm the only one. I get that I have that responsibility, but I have the freedom to choose that. And in that moment, I made that choice to just be there, lying in bed without having to fix anything or, or rehearse or redo or any of that stuff, that just the mind can go there. I don't know if that's the same for all of you, but I know that's, that's. I find that happen. And getting myself right back into that moment and experiencing that moment was just joyful. I felt joy. I felt freedom. Real, true, true freedom of choice. So I started in that way and then it's just the day has just gotten better and better. And now I am sitting here with a new friend and I say friend and I use that word. I don't use that word loosely or lightly. I think any, anybody who's been around long enough and maybe has enough experience knows that true friends or friends at all are hard to come by, I find. And you think maybe you have friends sometimes you think you got a friend and then maybe you can't help them the way you used to be able to help them, or something changes in your life or you know, you got an illness or you're not at your best, or you get divorced or your business goes bust. And then all of a sudden some of those people you thought were friends, like the cliche goes, they find the exit. So this gentleman I think is somebody that I'm just going to enjoy his company for many years to come. I hope he feels the same way that he enjoys my company. I'm going to say a little bit about him, read a bit of his bio and then just dig in. Because every time we're with this guy, the conversation is just rich fun. I giggle a lot. I like to giggle, I like to laugh. And it's just one of those guys where maybe, maybe in some past iteration of existence, we were just like schoolyard buddies. I don't know. His name is Ken Walls. Before we turn on the thing, I think he said to me that he had to ask his wife, his business partner to send over a bit of words about him because he doesn't know how to describe himself. And I thought that's so rich because he's like this very, very well regarded business mind and influencer. And I think the prevailing thought was maybe his wife would say over. Ken's a stud. He's my husband. That's his whole bio. But his lovely wife did send something over, so I'll just read this. Ken is number one best selling author and CEO of a web development company and social media firm and the creator of Grow Live Academy, a comprehensive course on how to successfully livestream to build your personal or business brand and generate revenue. Ken's passion is helping people succeed. Ken has a podcast called Breakthrough Walls. Absolutely love the name of that where he interviews celebrities and successful entrepreneurs who share their stories to help people to get past the influences that may be keeping them stuck. Ken, it is a pleasure, brother. Welcome. Welcome to the Pivot Show.

I am so honored to be here, man. I really am. Like, I get interviewed a lot. This is going to be fun.

Tell me or share with our folks. One thing, just one thing. It's not a part of your bio there. The bio that we got just a little bit ago that you'd love for people to know about you, and I already took up the stud. My husband's a stud thing.

Wow. I guess the number one most important thing to me in my life is the fact that I meditate every single morning of my life. And I have for. I've meditated every day for more than 17 years, and I will not miss a day. I will be late for a meeting before I miss meditation. So I don't know if that's an important fact about me, but it's the most important fact about me, to me. So, you know, that's how I roll.

I'm really curious about that, actually, Ken, because meditation is. It's not negotiable for you. So why is that the case?

I blame it on Dr. Wayne Dyer more than anyone, who's one of my. He's one of my favorite authors. You know, look, I'm very transparent about myself. I'm. I'm a recovered alcoholic with over 18 years of sobriety now. And 19 years ago, I was not a good person. I mean, I was. I mean, deep down in. I think my moral compass always pointed north. Doesn't mean I followed it, but it was pointed in the right direction internally. But I. Life was not fun for me back then when I was drinking. And although I masked it well, I had two Mercedes, the big house. I had, from the outside what appeared to be. Had my crap together. But on the inside, I was. Man, I was hurting. I was a wreck. And so I got into recovery August 10th of 2002, and lost everything. 60 days sober. I called the police on myself, actually, because I like. I hear my car start up in the middle of the night, and it's really, really cold. There's snow on the ground, in fact, so I hear it pulling away on the snow, and I'm like, somebody's stealing my Mercedes. It was parked outside and come to find out that, no, they were, in fact, not happy that I hadn't made all the payments or something, and so they took it. But, you know, I learned about a year into Sobriety. I learned about meditation. I had never. I mean, I think I'd probably heard of it, but I had never done it and didn't know how to do it. And so I started reading books by Dr. Wayne Dyer, and then I was watching videos. There's this woman, she's a Buddhist monk. Her name's Pema Chedron. And I start, you know, just looking into this, going, what is this? What? Why? You know, and most incredibly successful and happy people that I know meditate, if not daily. They do it a lot. And, you know, there's a variety of forms of it, I guess, but I wanted. Man, I wanted peace. I wanted peace in my life. And, you know, in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous, there's a saying, and it goes like this. We're all here because we're not all there. And it's just like, you know, I'm like, that makes sense. And I know, dude, there are some major, major, major rock star celebrities that are in recovery. And so. And I've actually been in meetings with some of them. And it's like, wow. Like that, dude, I didn't know, you know. And so for the longest time, Adam, I did not feel like I fit in anywhere. And I could be in a room of 100 people and feel like everybody in that room hated me or didn't want me there or. And so, man, I just started digging into this meditation. And, dude, it gave me. It just gave me peace. You know, if you ask a group of a hundred people, hey, everybody, close your eyes and point to yourself. 99 of them are going to go like this. They're going to point right to the center of their chest. They're not going to point to their head. They're going to point to their chest. Well, what's that tell us? That tells us that there's something there in the middle of your chest that some form of energy that you're drawn to. And so if you're drawn to that energy with your eyes closed upon questioning, what is that? What is that energy? And so that's what I'm curious about, is what is that energy? So I. I literally close my eyes, I meditate, I go into a. I attempt to quiet my thoughts. I don't know that I ever have. But, you know, Dr. Wayne Dyer says that, you know, the beauty in music is the silence between the notes. And so. And he talks about the magic of life is in the gap. It's that. That space between our thoughts. And so I'm looking for that. I'm looking for it. I haven't found it. I mean, I have moments where I'm like, wow, that was freaking cool. But I still haven't. I'm still looking.

So do you think, Ken, is it right thinking that we're after, or is it just not thinking that we're after?

Wow, that's a good question.

I know. Can we pause there for a second? I was going, shit, that's really a good question.

That's a good question.

I'm like, I'm waiting for somebody to ask me that question is like, what, dude?

I don't, you know, I think that, that I don't know, that we, you know, it's scientifically proven that we. We have 60 to 80,000 thoughts a day. So I'm not sure that, that it's possible to not think. And, you know, again, Pemet should. Should. I can't say her name. Chadrone talks about the. Watching the tiger run. And she says, you know, if you're meditating and in your mind, shit is hitting the fan in your life, like, all this crap's happening. That's the tiger. The tiger is going to run. Like, if you ever try to close your eyes and just, okay, I'm not going to think. I'm not going to think. I'm not going to. You're thinking, like, just saying that you're thinking, right? So it's, it's literally for me, I just stop and I focus everything. I have this beingness on the breath entering and leaving my nostrils. And I mean, I focus everything I have on that point of my body thinking, okay, just breathe and let it go. I don't know if it's right. Thinking. I know this. I know that there is incredible magic. I. You know, the woo woo foo foo stuff is, oh, you can manifest and you actually can. Like, there is this power. I mean, if I, if we get all religious, I mean, Jesus said, you'll do even greater things than me once you tap into this power. I really think he was talking about learn how to shut your mind off. Like, learn how to chill without that. You don't need marijuana and all that stuff. Just like, I mean, I'm not. No judgment. If you do it, you do it. But, like, it's not a necessity in life. Like, you can just, you can go inside and find these gifts. And I, again, like I said, I'm still looking. I found some magic. But I think there's so much more, man, that we're just not even aware of.

Yes, it's. So this is the place in this show where we're going to pause and bring in the. The hookah or. Or a big bong or something, and then you and I are gonna do like a Joe Rogan re. You know, like redo. You know, I want you to have like a giant Rastafarian spleef. Like, I mean, right? Bar of a joint.

Yeah. But like.

Oh, Ken, what happened, man? Like, just like, hey, you know, that was amazing, though. Like, now it seems like a good idea. I'm staying present in this present moment. This seems like a good idea.

Yeah, yeah. It's.

I don't think there's. For me, I just can only come from what I know of myself, and that is that I can't really stop my thoughts. I can quiet my mind. And I think quieting the mind is a really wonderful thing. Very into peace. Peace in my mind, peace in my body, peace in my heart, my soul. And peace is not a thing. That tranquility, like stillness, serenity isn't. It's abundant. It's everywhere, all at once accessible in any second. And yet it is so far. It is so far from us. At times it is so distant, you might think it didn't exist at all.

You know, there's a story that I wrote about it in my book, and the chapter. In my book, I think it's chapter six. It's called Look Inside. There's this story. It's an old Hindu story about the gods all got together one day and they were, you know, ticked off that they had given the humans this free gift from. For forever. And it was the gift that they had given them was the ability to know the answer to any question they could ever have instantly. And they saw that the humans were abusing the gift and not using it and all of these other things. So they decided that, you know, the best thing to do would be to take it away from the humans and hide it. So they have to do some work to find it. So one God said, hey, let's put it on the highest mountain on the planet. And they all thought, they'll learn how to climb. They'll find it. That's too easy. Another one says, let's bury it in the deepest part of the ocean. And now they'll learn how to swim. They'll find it too. It's too easy. The wisest God of all of them said, why don't we hide it deep within the humans themselves? They'll never think to look there. And so it continues. So you know the answers to everything that troubles us. Everything that we have answers or questions about. Rather, it's there. We are this man, this is going out there. But we are God and God is us. We are the cells that make up the body of God. That energy of the creator, whatever is, whatever you call it. I choose to call it God, but you can call it, you know, whatever, it doesn't matter. But that energy is part of all of us and we deny it. I think that we live entire lifetimes denying it until the moment we're taking our last breath and we go, it's beautiful. You hear so many people say in their last breath, he said, or she said, wow, it's beautiful. That's there, man. You don't have to die to experience that. You can, you need to die to maybe some of the beliefs you have, but you don't have to physically die to experience that. So that's what I'm looking for, man.

I have this great friend I'm going to introduce you to that you're going to love. His name is Martin Root and he has a. Has a book out about experiencing heaven on earth. And I think that's what you're. You're really explaining. You're giving. Giving expression to that concept of how it is that you can. You can experience heaven right here. Tell us about your book. So I love the story you told. That story so great, man. And it's what. And I've heard it before, but it doesn't matter how many times I've heard something like that. The punchline is so. It's so poignant. It just goes right to. Right to the heart. Because how often it is that what. What we're really looking for, the answers we're really seeking are within us all along the miracle. You know, often people say, some people believe in miracles. I'm a God guy, as I don't mind saying that out. I used to kind of temper that some way, you know, have to explain. Yeah, I was not religious, but I'm spiritual. I wasn't spiritual till a long time later and you know, like making excuses for the fact that I believe in God. And I'm not making those excuses anymore. And that wasn't about anybody else. That was totally about me. But you know, in this, in this moment, the idea that, that answers are within, that miracles are within and things, things that you would love to see different in your life, you just, you just, you could create. Create the, I will say, the right environment for yourself to thrive the same way as if you were planting a rose bush. You probably wouldn't throw those seeds on concrete. You'd create a different environment for that thing to grow and nurture it and look after it. And. And that's why, you know, to me, what we're talking about isn't a. Isn't. It's not a discovery. It's not like finding America or finding gold in your. You know, or discovering that Airbnb can save your life, you know, your financial life or whatever, or cryptocurrency or something. It's more the daily work. And you've been sober for how many years now?

Eighteen. I just celebrated 18 in August. Yeah.

And that I can only say because I haven't had that experience. I have my own shit to deal with.

That.

That's. It's daily work. Right?

Not anymore. I mean, yes, it is. I mean, I have to maintain a strong spiritual program. I haven't been to a meeting in years and years. But it's. In the beginning, you have to peel away the layers of the onion and get rid of. And go through these steps that they have, the 12 steps. Go through those steps and really dig into what's going on with you and why? Because a normal person doesn't go out and drink an entire bottle of Crown royal plus a 12 pack of Bud Light in one day.

Well, that would be ridiculous. To combine. Seriously. To combine Crown Royale and. Or Royal and Bud Light. Those two things just don't seem to match up.

Yeah, you only do it when you run out of one, so.

Run out of one.

I'm not in a blackout yet. I'm gonna need some more. But, you know, again, that's. That's. Yeah, but see, a normal person doesn't do that.

So. So this is really interesting because you're. On the one hand, you're kind of messing with my theory, which. Thank you for that. My theory is that. Or it's not even a theory. It's more of. It is a practice. I feel like I must practice the things that are most important to me. I must put. Give my attention and my focus to. And create a form of practice to be better at it. And so I meditate a little bit. I'm not that great at meditating, but I practice it, and I practice it in different forms without even calling it meditation, so that I can get to a kind of a still place. So are you saying that at a certain point into. Into the practice of. And it's not a practice of not drinking.

Right.

It's a practice of replacing a habit or leaning towards something for solace and Support and whatever else we get out of that and replacing it with something else. And so at a certain point, did it get replaced and then the tipping point happened, and then you don't have to be so focused and sort of mindful of it. Or is your practice a little bit different than maybe the way I frame the question?

I mean, my practice is I sit in a somewhat darkish room and I put in AirPods. The. And they have the noise cancellation the new AirPods do. And I play really, really soft music. Really soft. Just like massage parlor music. Like, just, you know, nature sounds, whatever. And I quiet my mind and does not mean that I stop the thoughts. It means I have moments. You know, you said something a little bit ago that you can't quiet your mind or something to that effect. And my challenge for anybody that thinks they can't quiet their mind because I trust. And this isn't a judgment. I've been there. But my challenge would be, imagine if I took you on a rocket into deep space and. And said, okay, dude, here's your oxygen. Get out and just float around out there for a little bit. I'll be back in an hour. Yes, you're gonna have thoughts, but you're gonna find a level of magic that you didn't even know existed in your mind. So. So, like, when you. And in your beingness. So when I. When I meditate, I'm trying to reach that. I'm trying to reach, like, that place where I feel like I'm just floating in existence. And that's it. And. And here's the thing. People. People, like, when, man, when shit's hitting the fan, we're all famous for, like, calling on God. God. Yo, dude, listen, man, if. If you could help me get out of this situation, I promise to never do it again. I just need your Right. Come on, man.

All heard those stories.

Yeah. Hey, your word says you got my six. So what's up, man? I'm feeling way uncomfortable right now. But, you know, and so we're really, really good at talking to God, right? Very few of us actually listen to God. So prayer is talking to God. Meditation is listening to God. And so, as you already know, if you're the one doing all the talking, it's impossible to find the answers. You have to shut up and listen, right? So maybe God's trying to give you the answers, and you're so busy with your mind running, your mouth running and everything else, and not you, but anyone, but including me, we're so busy trying to manipulate the situation, we're trying to figure out the solution to the. I'm a chess champion, damn it. I know this stuff. And, like, you know what I mean? Like, I know how to solve problems. You ever. I. I can beat anybody in four moves on a chat. But, like, dude, okay, that's awesome. But have you ever just shut up and listened to God?

You know, it's such a great. It's such a great question you're asking, and it's for me. I don't. Again, I find it with practice, my mind will still. What helps me the most is actually asking questions. And I think this dovetails to what you're saying, because even the listening. So whether you're listening to God or you're listening to whatever you would call it in this instance, doesn't have to be anything that is spiritual or religious. But if you're listening for guidance, like, we have our own internal guidance system where there's a guidance system all around us. It comes from nature. When the wind blows, you know, at 100 miles an hour, you might want to get out of your house and go somewhere else, right? There's a guidance system that's all around us. When fires are burning uncontrollably and millions of acres are burning in California, it means something. We're not going to get into politics here about that, but there's something to take, like, notice of. And we got to ask questions to be able to get answers. And so I think a lot of times what I find for myself and for other people that I have had the privilege to spend time around and work with is that we don't ask a lot of questions. I think from the time we're little man, you tell me what you think about this. When we're kids, when we're in, like, grade school, starting in kindergarten, stuff like, you ask questions people would, like, make fun of you or get made fun of if I ask the silly question, stupid question. You know, asking questions was annoying. People didn't have patience for you. You kind of get that. That whole vibe that you shouldn't be doing that. And when, you know, like, you're in a job and you're new in your job, you ask questions. It makes it seem like you shouldn't be there, you don't deserve to be there, like, they shouldn't have hired you. You're a pain in the ass. You know, we stop. We get kind of programmed to stop asking questions. And what you're saying, I think, is that when you ask again, that's coming from the Bible, right? You ask, it's given. It's always given. Question and answer is cause and effect. You can't ask a question, in my estimation, without at some point receiving an answer. So if you want to hear the voice of God or you want to hear the voice of your soul or of the guidance system that's around you, you might want to stop and just ask. Am I tracking what you're saying?

Ask and then shut up for whatever period of time that's, that's required. Like, you know, I can remember in the beginning, I would begin, I was meditating and you know, I had all these questions and I had all these desires. I lived in a. I was single. I lived in a. It was a luxury apartment complex, but it was an apartment complex. It was a one bedroom apartment on the third floor. The people on the first floor were from India and they, they cooked a lot with curry and it would come up through the chimney and into my apartment through the fireplace. And I love Indian food, but you don't want your whole little tiny apartment smelling like curry all the time. And so, you know, I was asking, like, where's my, where's my mansion? I mean, my God, God, I'm, you know, 36 at the time, I think, and 35. And I'm like, I shouldn't be. I mean, I'm. I had a Mercedes, little C coupe, and I'm like, I drive a Mercedes. I'm somebody important. And you know that. God. So why am I living in this little one bedroom, curry smelling apartment right now? Like, why am I not in a mansion? Why am I not in a 10,000 square foot home by myself? Which is odd, but, you know, like, who needs 10,000 square feet by themselves? But, but anyway, you know, so we're all looking for these, these answers. And sometimes, and I've learned this, and I'm sure you have, sometimes, you know, we want these things that are not necessarily good for us in that moment. In that moment. So the answer sometimes is yes, sometimes the answer is no. And sometimes more times probably than anything is not yet. Not yet.

Because at 36 years old, I mean, Ken, we. A patient society.

Do you think, oh my God, we're a microwave society, dude. Ever since they came out with the microwave, everybody's like, oh my gosh, you mean I can have it now? Cool. You know, and it's like, no. And I'm again, this isn't a judgment. I'm just as guilty as anyone else. Very, very guilty of it. I want what I want and I want it now. And I will throw a tantrum if I don't get it.

Oh, my God. Almost feel like we're gonna. Gonna see that right now.

We're gonna.

No, let's see. Let's see. Can. Yeah, no, Have a tantrum.

I think that God. I. Here's. I picture God sitting back with his arms crossed, just going, knucklehead. Look at this. Laughing, not ready.

Not ready.

Yeah, you're not. Like. It's. It's. It's the same thing with. You know, there's the. One of my favorite quotes is the predecessor of all wisdom is pain. And so at 35 years old, one year sober, had God said, okay, dude, here's your hundred and twenty five million dollars. You just won the lottery. Congratulations, Adam. I would be dead right now, because there is absolutely no way I was wise enough, strong enough, or anything else enough to handle that kind of a windfall of cash. There's no way I would have been like, holy mother of God, I'm David Lee Roth now, and it's time to party. And I'd like, dude, I'd have spent 50 million of it on a jet, and, I mean, I would have just done stupid things, and I'd be broke, dead. So, you know, God knows what God is doing, and I don't need to play God. I just need to listen to God and ask for that guidance. I don't know how we turn this into a whole big spiritual thing, man, but I love it.

Well, I mean, it's listening. And listening is one of those skills that most. Most people, if they're being honest, and I think people actually are honest about this, you say, are you a good listener? I think a lot of people say, no, I'm not. And. And. But if you ask them, is. Are the people. Like, is your boss a good listener? Definitely not. I mean, we've seen statistics that sort of 98% of people that are in a work environment where somebody is, you know, where they have a supervisor of some kind, and you ask them, does that person listen to you? They're like, no, they don't listen to me. So listening. Listening is a tough thing. And that's its own sort of separate topic. But I think the metaphor is really important and the idea that we're listening. So again, whether you're listening to something you call God or you're listening to something that's outside your door, we're all kind of. It's. It's a sense. It's one of. It's one of our senses. And to be Able to actively listen for answers and then. And then to be able to hear those answers. And I think. I think that also has a lot to do with why meditation is important with a world that it is noisy, crowded, and there's so many things that are vying for our attention all the time. Literally, just pick up your phone and there's a thousand things that are vying for your attention right this very second. You go, is it possible, even if I am listening, even if I am asking questions, is it possible that I won't hear the answer that I'm looking for? I think so.

I mean, if. Yeah, if you're running. If not you, but anyone, me included, if we're constantly running our mouths, you know, I had. Dr. Bernie Siegel is now a friend of mine. He's a legend. I mean, the guy is a legend. He's written 19 books, and he's an MD. He was a. He was an. Or a. He was a surgeon for a pediatric surgeon for years. And I interviewed him, and he talked about the importance of listening. Right? And I think I'm a fairly good interviewer because I do ask questions, and then I just let people run, man. They run, too. But. So Bernie says. He says this. Yeah, this one. And he's 80. I forget how old he is. 89, maybe. Or he's. He's an older dude. And. And he says, I had this talk with this woman one day, and I said, so tell me where you're from. That's how the conversation started. Something like this. And he said, she goes on for the next 30 minutes. I didn't say another word in the entire conversation. And at the end, I said, well, time is up. I have to go. And she said, Dr. Bernie, this has been the most fantastic conversation I have ever had with anyone in my life. He said, I thought. I didn't say a goddamn word to her. That's literally what he said. I didn't say a blank, blank word to her. Not a word. She loved the sound of her own voice. And that's how all of us are. And people are like, oh, no, I'm not like that. Yes, you are. And denial is not a river in Egypt. It's okay. We're all the same, right? Like, it's okay.

I shouldn't applaud for the way you stuck the landing on them.

That's really great. Stuck the landing. I love you little. Your little, Little one liners. I love that dude. Oh, man. All right, you wrote a book.

I want you to talk about your book.

A little bit. Give us the title. Let's start there. Well, I actually yesterday, I'm co authored in another book with Dr. Bernie Siegel and James Redfield that wrote the Celestine Prophecy.

Yeah, love that, dude.

I'm in a book. I'm co authoring this book with them and it's called Crappy to Happy. The thing hit number one on Amazon yesterday and hasn't even been released yet, man. Released until October 6th. So that. Talk about an honor, man. Oh, my gosh. Okay.

October 6th is the release date.

Yeah. And it's.