Getting Real: Living From The Heart Rather Than The Head With Alan Cohen

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 feel very honored and blessed to be here with you again today. What a beautiful day. It's actually nearing evening time where I am at the moment. The sun will be setting soon on another beautiful day. And it has been a beautiful day. And I don't mean because it was perfect day. I don't mean because everything went according to plan or the weather was perfect, or, you know, every business meeting or email that I was involved in was, was perfectly executed far, far, far from the case. But I do mean it was a perfect day because we are here now. And for me, I am here now in this. And that is an absolute blessing that I do not take for granted. And so, as I take this, this breath, and I receive this breath, I feel so cared for, so loved, so, so perfectly on point in this moment that I get to spend this time with all of you, wherever you are and whatever you're doing, you might be doing any number of things, and that's your private affair, but we are here together. And I can't think of anything that's more affirming or reaffirming of the fact that we are one. And there's just no limit to the ways in which we can feel connected. And yet, at the same time, there's one thing more than anything else that I feel connected to everything, and that is through the breath. So as we're breathing right now, whatever you're up to, whatever you're doing, I wish you peace and I wish you love. And I also know that what I'm about to share with you is going to be just wonderful. It's going to be a great journey in the next little while as I have a conversation with a new friend, somebody that I met recently at a TLC meeting that we were having in Oahu. And this gentleman is no stranger to most of you, I'm sure, no stranger to me, but somebody that had never met before. And I've already developed a great admiration for him as a very authentic and wonderful human being. His name is Alan Cohn. And Alan is the author of 24. I mean, I say that and it's just. I'll have to share a little bit later about my dad, who's also also an author, but of fiction works. And Alan is The author of 24 popular inspirational books, including the best selling the Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore, the award winning A Deep Breath of Life, and the classic Are youe As Happy as yous Dog? That's a good question. We have two dogs. I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to answer that one in the affirmative, but we'll see. He is a contributing writer for the New York Times number one best selling series Chicken Soup for the Soul. And his books have been translated into 24 foreign languages. His work has been featured on Oprah.com and in USA Today, the Washington Post, and 100 Top Experts. Alan's radio program Get Real, is broadcast weekly on Hay House Radio. And his monthly column from the Heart is featured in magazines internationally. What a beautiful blessing it is to spend some time together. Alan, welcome to the show.

I am honored and delighted to be with you. Adam. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. And the bio that I've just read, obviously there's a lot that's not, not in that bio. I love that it is actually so succinct. But is there anything you want to add to that? Is there something missing there that's important that people know about you at the moment?

Simply that I prefer to live from my heart rather than my head. And that like all of us, I'm on the journey to ever deeper authenticity. So the more real I become, the happier I become and the more successful I become. And I'm doing my best to keep the journey light. I like to play and laugh and not take things too seriously. I think we could all use a dose of that. So that's what I'm up to.

Yeah, there's. There's a lot of serious things in the world for sure. Some. Well, a book that I read some time ago that I absolutely love. I'm not sure if you've heard of Michael Brown or his book the Presence Process, but it's a magnificent book about the journey from Presence, or I should say from Pretense to Presence and the distinction between those two things. And it's, it's a, it's a, it's a wonderful concept. In fact, I'd love for us if, if our talk leads in that direction. I'd love to talk about what presence means to you and how you practice presence. But I would love to know a little bit about and have you share, I guess, not so much with me, but with our listeners and our viewers on little bit about what has inspired this body of work. 24 books. My dad's a fiction writer, has been doing it for, well, from before the time that I was born and has written all my life and has been tenacious and voracious in both writing and reading. And I take it that this has been a calling of yours for some time. Would you share a little bit about how it was that you got started in this?

Well, we're all teaching what we need to learn, aren't we? So all those books are depictions of the cutting edge of my own spiritual growth. I started back way back in 1980 or so, and I woke up one morning, this voice said, sit down and write. It wasn't a voice and word, but it was just urge. And I was suddenly wanting. I was laying in bed, I didn't really want to get up. And I said to the voice, I don't want to get up. And the voice said, well, it's not really one of the questions. So I got up and I just started with some ideas about what was going in me around my heart and my challenges and my joys and my sorrows. And the writing just kind of took over. Adam, as a writer, I'm sure you understand this process where when you really tap into a stream of truth or wisdom or heart, it kind of takes you over. I think Wayne Dyer said that motivation is when you take hold of an idea, and inspiration is when the idea takes hold of you. That's exactly what happened to me. And I wrote almost constantly for about nine months or so. And then I had this book in my hand, and I told my mother about it. She said, you're crazy. Why would you write a book? And the next day she called me back and said, would you like the money to publish it? And I took it. And one thing led to the next, and it became a popular book. So ever since that day, I have striven to write as my own therapy. Everything I write about is stuff that I'm working on. Everything I write about is stuff that I need to learn. I One book was on sufficiency, another one was on grace. Another one was on relationships, Another one was on business. So these are all my cutting edge of growth, where my challenge lives. And as I have mastered pieces of those challenges, I have broken through into a certain degree of clarity. So in my books, I include my challenges and the clarity I've gained through passing through those challenges. And it seems to be a good combination. People seem to like it. So, you know, James Mitcher said, I'll be writing for another 20 years. And then he died, but he had 20 more books in him for sure, so I could write for the rest of my life and many more lifetimes. Because this urge, this passion to just share what's real to me is really compelling. It's more fun than just about anything else I do.

And what a blessing that your mom was willing to both question at the same time and support in one breath. Question and support. That's pretty incredible.

Well, you know, in those days, she was not wealthy one by any means. And all she had to her name was $5,000. That was her whole life savings. And she said, just take it. She says, you'll have it when I die. You might as well have something positive now. So I invested that in self publishing, which was a big deal at the time. It's easy now. And then the book took off, and I remember vibrantly the day when I went back to her safe deposit box with her and I showed her the $5,000 back there and doubled and tripled. And she said, that's right, you keep it. Anyway, I don't really care about it. But that was a poignant moment for me to acknowledge that her investment and belief in me had come back. In many ways, yes.

Paid dividends and then some. What book was that? The first one?

That was the first one. The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore.

Beautiful. Beautiful. And I haven't read that book, but would you share a little bit about what that book, what was the essence of the book?

There it was, beginnings of my realization that fear was the liar and love is the truth. So I wrote it when I was 30 years old. I'd been on spiritual path for many years by that time. And I talked about the monsters that I'd faced in my own psyche and how I confronted them and challenged them and loved my way through them and recognized that as A Course in Miracles says, only the creations of light are real. Everything else is your own nightmare. So basically, the story of me confronting my fears, moving past them.

I love the. I think it's chapter 30 in a course in Miracles, the new beginning, where there's this beautiful exposition on decision making. And that section's really changed my life as well, because it's. It talks about us, each of us making decisions consciously or unconsciously but continuously. And we either make them with love or fear.

It's all between, you know, I open up my new book, A Course in Miracles made easy with this story about a friend of mine living in Brooklyn. And he heard a guy, he was sitting alone in his living room, he heard a guy breaking into his bedroom window. And he went in. There was a crook. And the guy started to run. I actually had this happen in my house too, but I'll tell you a story. And he said to the guy, wait, you don't need to be afraid. What's going on in your life. What would make you want to break into somebody's house and steal? And the guy said, well, I lost my job, my girlfriend left me, and just my life was in pits. And the guy said, let's sit down and talk about this. And he kind of walked him through a coaching session. He gave him some cash and said, come back if I can help you. Story. Adam, quintessential model. That every moment is a choice between fear and love. If I go into that moment, the whole game more explored, conscious enough to fall through on it.

Yeah. So I'm going to ask you a kind of an odd question. I suppose I'm just thinking to myself, is it really that odd? But we all have fears, obviously. I've never met anybody that doesn't have fear. In fact, one gentleman recently that I met, and he says, nah, I'm not afraid of anything. And I thought to myself, this guy is so full of shit. And he was an older guy, very successful, and I got to know him later, and his obstreperousness was more of an act than anything else. And he's actually a gentle, gentle, kind man. But it's also his defense mechanism that he doesn't wish to acknowledge any fear. Alan, has there been one fear more than any other that has been the dragon for you?

Good question. Let me think. I have always been the kind of guy who wanted everybody to like me. And I've been pretty good at getting most people to like me. And so I guess there was some underlying fear was that I would not be accepted or liked who I am, and I have to do some kind of dance to make sure everybody's happy. Like, if I'm in a room with 30 people and somebody's unhappy, I feel like it's my job to make them happy. Which, of course is kind of dysfunctional. So a lot of it for me, Adam has been taking back the power that I have attributed to other people to determine my happiness. And I just have to. I've learned that just have to Free people to make their own decisions, including maybe not liking me. And so that's one. That's a good question. I think I'll ponder on it for a few years and get back to you.

Yeah, I'm not sure, you know, turning the, turning the question on myself how I would answer that, but I will, I'll say I've probably been more, more afraid that I'd be punished. That's what's coming up for me. I don't know that I've made any greater number of mistakes. I probably made more mistakes than most people just because I know that my success as a result of having made enough mistakes to learn on some level what not to do. And I think that's one of those, those crazy things we work with. We work with people who are changing aspects of their business life and people who are making career transitions and changes and are, are, are striking out on new, new exciting adventures. Like writing a book. Some. So many people I've spoken to and, and been around when I've asked them. Do you feel like there's a book inside of you? Almost every hand always kind of gets raised and. But why haven't you written it? And you know, all the usual stuff comes up, but you know, whatever those things are that people are striking out on that. Oh, that's interesting. I said striking out. Like to strike out and yet is really an interesting play on words.

Yeah, interesting playing words, right? Huh.

So in any event, I've struck out quite a lot. My life, which I know is, is part and parcel for, for learning and, and yet I think at the, at the root, I'm most afraid that any, any of my harder lessons in life were really there because I was, you know, deserved that or been punished or somehow. It's a karmic thing. So interesting that that's what just came up.

Well, let's look at that. It's a really good point. Did you grow up Jewish like I did, by any chance?

I did, yes.

You know, they say the Jews invented guilt and Catholics perfected it.

I've heard that, yes.

So I, you know, I have, you know, really all religions who are good at it, you know, being Jewish and feeling a great deal of guilt myself for no good reason has really sent me to the Course in miracles. And what I love about the course is that it just affirms over and over again in a thousand ways that guilt is always a fictitious story we made up. What we believe are our guilts are just errors and God is not a punishing God. It Says over and over and over and over again that there's not one thing that you or I deserve to be punished for. That whole idea of punishment is just a projection of human wrath onto a loving God. And so that's a really good item to tinker with us now or, you know, whenever that. What is it, what is it about us that thinks we deserve to be punished? Who made up that story and why does it continue? I mean, that's a really, really fruitful path of inquiry.

It is. And I was reading this morning, I love Emmett Fox. I don't know if you've ever gotten. Yeah, just love his work. And there's a beautiful book called around the Year with Emmet Fox and then several others that I've really enjoyed. But he dives into a number of sections of the Bible and explains them from a metaphysical standpoint, but also from a real common sense standpoint. And even the Lord's Prayer as it begins, our Father. And it's not my Father, it's ours. That there's a brotherhood of man and women, of all of us, and a brotherhood and a fatherhood that we would. To think of any God that we believe in as not loving and forgiving is really flies in the face of everything that I know about being a father. And I'm fortunate to be a father. So that doesn't. Yeah, it doesn't make sense that it would be otherwise. And yet you're right. We sort of arrive on this place.

Of.

Fear and guilt for things that. I wonder how much of that is passed through DNA. You know, the thing that Eckhart Tolle called the collective pain body that gets passed generation to generation is that Voltaire.

Said that God created us in his image and likeness. And we returned the compliment. So, you know, we made up God. And the story of a flawed, flawed person when really God sees flawed people in his own image. Perfection. And someone once said we're doing time for imaginary crimes. And my definition of guilt is punishing yourself before God doesn't. In other words, a part of all my beliefs. Well, I'm going to be punished. I'm going to beat myself up and then maybe I can avoid God punishing me. But we never waited around long enough to find out if God would really punish us. If we did, we'd find out that punishment never comes. All punishment, self inflicted. That's a big one, isn't it? But as far as I can see, that's the hurdle we need to get over to really break out into the clear field.

Does it Start with love, with understanding at a better, deeper, a more truthful level. What unconditional love actually is, that's the place where the inquiry begins for me.

That's where it ends for me.

It's the whole story, I guess.

Yeah, it's like if I can, you know, when I drop into that place of self love, everything becomes clear. All of a sudden I get to forgive people I held grudges against because my grudges against them, which is my self hatred projected outward. And so who was it? The Jewish theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel said, when I was a young man, I respected people who were wise. And now that I'm old, I respect people who are kind. So the older I get, the more I appreciate the value of simple human kindness, beginning with kindness to ourselves. I mean, most of my coaching, I do a lot, a lot of coaching is based on bringing people to a place of loving and accepting themselves just as they are without any more quote, self improvement or fixing. That place is so simple and yet so profound that it's life changing when we hit on it. That's where all the cookies are. As far as I can.

Yes. We can't give anything we don't possess ourselves. It's, it's in that same piece, of course, in Miracles, where I think it says something along the lines of as we give, so shall we receive. So I mean, I obviously. Sorry, sorry, sorry, I've messed that up. I want to turn because it's so funny. I've shared that before. As we receive, I mean, it goes both ways. Of course, it's reciprocal, but as we, as we receive, so shall we give. We can't give anything that we've not been willing to receive ourselves. How can we forgive anyone else if we've not forgiven ourselves? How can we love anyone if we don't know and understand love for ourselves?

I mentioned at our conference, this is one of my favorite lines in my speech. I really hadn't thought about it before like this, but I enjoyed it when I heard it. I said I graduated from self improvement and now I'm into self acceptance. And it kind of sounds like a joke, but it's not. It means that, you know, who is it that thinks I have to improve? Who is it that thinks that I have faults I need to change before I can be worthy. And if you can just get that you're lovable and whole, acceptable, beautiful right now, who. That cuts through years or lifetimes of self improvement. I mean, then you're very close to home. So that's where a big piece of the work is, right.

This idea that we're seeking completion or that there's something broken, I mean, look, it screws up the work of a lot of psychologists and personal development. Industry would probably fall apart if everybody thought somehow they didn't require fixing. But we'll keep it just to ourselves in this community. Okay? That'll be our private. Our private affair. I would love to get a sense of where it is that you've transitioned many times in your life. I know that intuitively. Is there one particular transition pivot that strikes you as being important to share in this moment?

Yeah. You hear the thunder, like God is speaking out Hawaii.

Are you on Molokai? What?

No, I'm a big island.

You're on the big island. So there's some thunder.

Beautiful thunderstorm coming. I enjoy it. My dogs don't like it, but I enjoy it. There have been many transitions, Adam, but the one that always comes to mind is I was in graduate school and that was the beginning of this human potential movement. Accountant groups and Fitzpierls and Carl Rogers and lots of doors were opening them. And they had this retreat that was called the Human Relations Laboratory, where you take a bunch of college students, go with, we could just sit in a cabin, and you basically relate. You talk about what's in your heart, your challenges. You make yourself naked emotionally. You know, the kind of stuff we do now. But it was kind of in seminal form then. And I sat in this group for four days and it was, you know, many hours a day. And I just bullshitted my way through the group. I was in my head, I was playing games. I didn't know it, but I was posturing myself in a hundred ways that I was asleep about. And then it was the last night of the group and it was an all nighter marathon. And the group got around to me and somebody said, hey, Alan, tell us what you're really feeling. I said, oh, I feel pretty comfortable. And one by one, each person in the group said, well, you know, Alan, I gotta tell you, you don't seem real comfortable to me. I don't get that you're a comfortable guy at the moment. And after about the fourth person said this, Adam, something inside me clicked and said, you haven't fooled anybody, but your presentation has gotten you no mileage whatsoever. And then it was followed by a little voice. And once again, it wasn't a real voice, but it was sensing. It said, you can let go now. I remember this girl next to me was holding my hand Very sweetly. And I felt comforted. And it said, just be who you are. Quit trying to prove something. I said, well, you know, guys, you're really right, because I'm not really comfortable at this moment. Yay. He's finally told the truth. Yeah, we like you now. And it sounds like a very tiny little moment, Adam, but it was huge for me because the end of 21 years, or however, of hustling and bustling and manipulating to look cool and to be acceptable and to be attractive. And in that moment, I had the first inkling, like the first light, that I could live my life and be who I am and not have to worry that being who I am was going to get me a lot more mileage than posturing and image management. And my whole life shifted 180 degrees. I started going to gurus and seminars and trainers and teachers and newest. And that was the beginning of my true spiritual path. It was a noble and celebratory pivotal moment in my life. And, you know, it's funny, you know, 40 years later, still thinking about it, because, you know, journey of a thousand miles begins, going one step. And that was my one little step. Of course, there's been many since then, but that's one I remember.

Hmm. It's interesting the. That that one step, did it change. Did it change the direction, your professional direction as well? Yeah, it informed what you wanted to write about. I mean, it. So many things occurred in a moment where somebody just said to you, honestly, you know, well, they didn't call you.

Fake, but basically, basically not. Well, you know, they could. You know, they saw me and loved me enough beyond my fakeness that they were willing to speak to the higher part of me that knew I would get it. I got it. Well, you know, I was teaching psychology and assistant training, those kind of groups, and I was nervous and reticent about bringing my spiritual values that were growing at that time into my groups. I was teaching and doing straight psychology at the moment. And then I began to find the courage to bring spirituality into my work. Meditation, prayer, and yoga and metaphysical stuff. And at first I was afraid that I would bomb doing it, but my work really took off because I was being authentic, and I was meeting people where they lived in that place, and the whole chemistry of what I was doing exploded because I was incorporating higher power and I was being real and passionate about it. So that was a big course correction for me in my career.

Yeah, I feel like I'm in a bit of that stage, or we're going to call it A stage. But I'm in a place similar to that, where I've been sharing things that have been on my heart when I've spoken and trained, and I've had the blessing to do that. A lot of the years speak to a lot of people and my spiritual path, if I call it that, but just the things I've been interested in and following have been things I've shared with people. And that's been some of the greatest. It's caused the greatest inspiration in myself in those moments to go deeper and to be more real and to connect, mostly connected at a real. At a level that has been the most profound. It's been the most profound integration or resolution for myself. So my challenges, my problems, all my shit has had an opportunity to be air resolved in those, in those environments where I've let spirit in, where I've invited spirit to join. And I would say God, and, and today I look at my work and people have said to me, you know, Adam, I really. I would love to. To that more of your spiritual things show up in what, what it is you're doing. And yet I still have that little voice that, that says, is it, Is it, You know, is this the. Is this my path and is it my place to impose my views? And I still have this. I'll say a little voice inside of my head says just don't be this, you know, like, don't be a manipulative preacher. Don't preach for the sake of, you know. And I know that's, of course, that's just in my head, but it does come up from time to time, and I've been thinking about it more seriously.

Yeah, well, thank you for your honesty. I want to ask you a question because I want to make a short point in my mind. There's a big difference between imposing your views and sharing what you're passionate about. To me, sharing passion is the most enlivening gift you can give to a student because you're sharing what's happy for you without needing them to follow along. And I have been most impressed and transformed with people who just put it out there because they believed in it and could care less about whether I agreed with them or not. So I guess if I could give you some support and encouragement, just put it out there without defining it as important, opposing your views, because you're not really. You're just showing up with what lights you. Which leads to my question I want to ask you. So if I may be so bold, so what would you be doing Next or differently, if you were willing to step into that broader consciousness and pull in that spiritual vantage point that you would like to share, how would that show up in your life, if I may ask?

Yeah. No, I. Thank you. And I'd be speaking about this topic more. I would share more of the fact that the beginning, the end of the journey for me is about being connected to presence, to experiencing presence in every moment that I'm able to. And that means for me, receiving. Really receiving unconditional love and unconditional acceptance and attention and unconditional forgiveness in every moment. So it's. I'm also in this place where praying and the power of prayer and the miracles that I've seen from, the power of. From the prayers that I've. That I've been guided to, that. These are things that I would love to spend even more time doing, even more than I currently do. And so it's. It's this balancing between living in. In the world of things, the world of objects, and all the other machinations of the human. Of the human condition, and not wanting to retreat from that. I'm not looking to go to a cave. I got four kids and a wife I love and two dogs and all the rest and some. I'm not planning on a pilgrimage, but I am making my stand here now in this. And in the midst of all the chaos of just human endeavor and all my. All the fears and all the angers and everything else that shows up, I want to. I want to apply that prayer and that truth, what I know to be true in each moment. And that's. I want to. I want to share it, but I also sort of want to figure it out a bit more before. Before I have the audacity to share it at another level. So I don't. I don't know what to do with that other than I'm thrilled to be able to speak about it with you.

That's beautiful. Thank you for your honesty. In my experience, Adam, if I wait until I perfect something to share it, to me, that's one of the ego's ways of holding on to the small self. And I found that if I'm honest about what I've mastered and what I've not, and I shared what I've mastered or even what I'd like to master as an act of, people really get that, you know, like, the world is such a screwy place. There's a lot of weird stuff going down. And, you know, I'm always telling people that if you can offer healing or inspiration or prayer, vision in any form even there's just a smidgen. So I'm always encouraged. Yeah, did I break up for a minute there?

Just for a minute. But would you repeat the last, that, just that last sentence perhaps?

Yeah, that, you know, if you wait until you're perfect before you share, you may never get around to it. So even if you can, you know, even share a smidgen of wisdom or insight or humor, energy, that's going to go a long, long, long way in a world that is darkened by people in fear. So I'm always encouraging everybody to get out there and show up and share what you can, even if you're not a master yet. That's how you become a master, by sharing it.

Well, you said it at the beginning. We teach what we most need to learn or want to learn. And so it's so funny, it just so perfect to hear these words reflect it back to me. So, yes. And Alan, thank you for those very. That's. I think that's quite sage. I would love to ask you about the practices that you have because I really believe that the quality of our lives is in some way related, in a deep way related to the rituals that we keep, the things that we hold sacred. What are some of the things that you do to maintain presence or to be whatever the best version of you is on a day to day basis?

I meditate every morning. I've been meditating every morning for many, many years. Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. Sometimes I go shallow, sometimes I go deep. But I can't imagine not starting my day on a conscious tone. I'm a student, of course, in miracles. I still do lessons after many years. My dogs are my therapists. You know, if I'm balled up the computer with emails and spreadsheets, I grab my dogs and we go out in the field and I get sane again. So really I'm a big fan of dog therapy. And if you have two dogs, I'm sure you understand that totally. Those are my main practices and my writing is my therapy. You know, I write really for myself. I mean, when I write, I throw my consciousness into big ideas and I have to be in a broader spectrum in order to write. And what happens to me when I write is I'm lifted and I tap into ideas I often haven't even thought of before myself. So my writing is a practice that seems like I'm doing it for other people, but it's really for myself. And if other people get the benefit from it, then It's a happy overflow.

Yes. Do you write every day?

Yeah, yeah. I like to write every morning when I get up, like between six and eight or something like that. That's my favorite time to write. The world is quiet. There's no email. Just kind of focus. And, boy, good stuff comes through when I can really focus. I also have a special writing place. I built a little cabin out on my land. And just getting away from electricity and the computer and stuff, the phone, it really, really helps me just to detach and to tune in and focus. And I recommend to anybody if you can create something, even if you have an apartment. I just have a chair, a little area, an apartment. I think it's. You just develop a frequency, and when you get into that frequency, you get hooked up really easily.

Yeah. Creating sacred space, really, for activity. Do you write by hand because you say there's no electricity out there. Do you?

Well, I have my laptop. Oh, you have your laptop computer. But I don't have any because I'm just thinking my.

Yeah. You know, there's still people that are writing that way.

I like to do that. Yeah.

Yeah.

Amazing.

Alan. I've so enjoyed our conversation and look forward to the next opportunity that we have to converse about these things. I know that for you, right now you're working on the next thing, the next pivot, and what that looks like is exciting for you, I'm sure.

For me, it's about peeling away, knotted to get to it. You know, Lao Tzu said in the Tao Te Ching that, you know, for the worldly person, advancement is attained by acquiring. And for the spiritual person, the sage, it's all about releasing. So my. What I'm seeking to do now is really peel away this stuff that I learned that doesn't apply light of me or truth, reality, and just get naked again about who I was when I was born. I believe I came in whole. And like Swami Satchananda said, we started out fine and we got defined. Now we're getting refined. So what I'm seeking to do, as we all are, is to return to my original innocence and to see that in everyone else. And the more I can do that.

The road to self acceptance. Yeah, that's a beautiful road. It. Well, we're. We're gonna bring this. This particular show to an end. But again, feel so.

Just.

I feel wonderful in this moment that we got to have this conversation. And I don't know who said this. I've said it for a number of years, but I have no designs or delusions that somehow these are my words. But the whole of life is a process of letting go. And it is an interesting thing when we start to think about the things that we are attached to and what we will not take with us. We just, on the most basic, logical level, we will not take very much with us at all. And so.

I don't know if we have time, but I'm gonna make time. Do you remember David Cassidy from the Partridge Family?

I did.

He passed away recently. His daughter was at his side. She said her father's last words were these four words. So much wasted time. So much wasted time. And she said when she heard that, she made it her absolute intention that she would not waste any more time in her life, that she would live true to her soul. So when she gets to her departure point, she won't be able. She won't have to say the same thing. I took that as sage advice to me.

Thank you. Alan. Alan, where can people find out more information? I know they can Google and all the rest of it. And we'll have show notes. So our show notes will have access to your website. It's Alan Cohen. C O H E n dot com. Is that right?

A L A N C O H E N. Yes.

And so for programs for coaching, for books that you've written, kind of all of that is housed at the. At the website.

Everything's right there. Have a life coach training program. I have new books, I have webinars, have online courses. It's all right there.

Beautiful. Beautiful. And for those of you that are enjoying this podcast, have enjoyed this and others, I love that often I hear people are binge listening and binge watching, and that's kind of cool. And so if you haven't yet subscribed, please go ahead and subscribe to the podcast. You can do that@adammarkel.com and please, on itunes, feel free to leave a review. We read them and they're really important as feedback for us as well. So love to get your thoughts there. And our Pivot community, this community of people who are reinventing themselves and are transitioning, maybe not even waiting for the transitions to occur, but actually getting out ahead of the curve and cultivating those transitions. What a beautiful community it is. You can get there by going to pivotfb.com which takes you right to the front door of the StartMyPivot community on Facebook. That's pivotfb.com and as we end this session, I will bookend it with how we began, which is to be in gratitude to Take a collective breath that we. We get to breathe together. We're all breathing together, whether we know it or not. And that's just a wonderful thing that gives me great comfort when I think about that. And I want to wish you something. I want to wish you everything that your heart desires and that all your dreams come true. And I have one wish in particular for you, which is that tomorrow morning that you wake up, that you get to wake up a little bit more conscious, a little bit more awake and aware, and that you wake up in ways that you might not even be able to imagine. Because in that waking breath, that first conscious breath that you take of the new day, realize as we must realize and remember, that there will be people at that moment taking their very last breath. And in addition to that, there will be babies born who are taking their very first breath. So it is certainly a sacred moment, a holy moment, if you will, and one that we can be grateful for. For nothing else, we can be grateful for that breath. So wake up is number one. Take that breath and be grateful for it. That's number two. And number three, if you're inclined to say these words out loud, they're pretty powerful. And I've shared them. I've been blessed to share them with a lot of folks, and I've been declaring them myself for almost 10 years. And the words are, I love my life. I love my life. I love my life. It's been a blessing to be with all of you. I look forward to seeing or to having you experience another one of our podcasts very, very soon. So wherever you are right now, blessings to you. Ciao for now, everyone.

Thanks for listening, everyone. We hope you now have the tools and greater insights to navigate your own pivot. Help us inspire others by sharing this episode and leaving your comments over@adammarkel.com podcasts for more tips, strategies, and support as you consciously pivot into a new business and lifestyle you love. Join our picture Pivot community on facebook@pivotfb.com.