Change Your Words, Change Your Life: Decoding the Ancestral Power of Language | Michael Bernoff

Welcome back to Everyday Ancestral. Now, before we dive in, I want you to imagine something for a moment. Picture yourself at the end of this episode feeling clear, grounded, and a little more awake. You've started noticing the words you use, the thoughts you allow in, and how they shape the way you show up in the world. Maybe you've realized that some of the stories you've been telling yourself aren't even yours. They were programmed in. By the end of this conversation, my hope is that you feel empowered to reclaim your mind, to think speak, and live in a way that's aligned with who you truly are. Today, I am talking with Michael Bernoff, a master of human transformation, about how our modern world has rewired our minds and how to reprogram your brain to think, speak, and live more in tune with your ancestral design. This isn't about motivation. It's about remembering what it truly means to be human. Michael, what a pleasure.

James, that It's beyond a pleasure. And I will tell you, that is the greatest, most real, honest introduction that I've ever received in the history of any doing any interview or any podcast ever. So thank you for setting the frame right. That was beyond special and beyond accurate.

But you also know what I was doing, which was I was practicing what you taught.

Yes, I saw that. So it was all like, it was like, it was like, uh, Yoda and Obi-Wan. It was like we were doing this thing. You pick whichever one you want. And you were using how to access the unconscious mind and language patterns that induce the ability to transform and make people better.

So let's just go right in. You often talk about change starts with awareness, but how do we see that our modern environment has actually rewired our instincts?

Well, it's really interesting. One test I would tell everybody to do right off the bat is if you ever get a minute, Grab your phone and take a pic, look at your pictures of you from 10 years ago and take a look at the pictures now and just ask yourself, did things seem a little bit different and did you feel a little bit different back then? And most people go, I never did that before, especially even pre-2020. You'll look at your pictures and go, wow, that seems like a different person. And even though that it's your face, I will tell you, our levels of anxiousness, our levels of Frustration. And I'm just telling you, you will see 100%, like, why does that guy look easy-go-lucky 9 years ago in a picture on my phone, right? He works for Samsung too, right? Even my iPhone or Samsung. And you're going to realize that, like, we live in a world right now where everything's flying at us 1,000 miles an hour. We have access to things that we never thought we'd access before, and the world is grabbing our attention in so many ways. But Deeper than that, it's the language of what's going on, the way we're being trained to communicate with ourselves and others that is changing the way we emote and the way that we do things. So I can go— we could take this a lot of different ways. I'm just challenging everyone to do that test. Have you ever done that, James? Have you looked at like a 2018 picture of you and you go, God, man, it was different back then?

I haven't done it with that lens, but I've definitely looked back at photos and said, why was I so hard on myself then? I look really healthy and clean, better than I felt. So I have done that. But honestly, you know, I, I was working with you during that time.

Yep.

And we were all very aware of not taking on the narrative.

Yep.

Of the world and not letting it affect our personal narrative.

Yep.

So you actually helped me not, you know, not shift as much as I think the world was, to your point.

It, it, it's, it's fa— it's fascinating. So I would say the biggest thing that we're dealing with right now is the— there right now, as we're doing this podcast, there is trillions of dollars being spent right now on doing 3 things that I do personally, teach people how to do for themselves that you don't realize are happening to you and with you is how do we get people's attention? This is happening in Silicon Valley right now. They are spending billions of dollars how to get our attention just for little things, to get you to buy toothpaste, to get you to buy gum, to get you to— this isn't some big conspiracy. We're going to get you fall off the earth. I'm just saying it could be the littlest thing in the world. They want your attention and they know how to do it, lowering your resistance to their messaging and then making you receptive to what you have. And then you walk around saying things, recoding words that used to be like, I love my wife, I love my husband. I love my dog, I love my church, I love my temple, to I love Nestlé Quik. Does that make sense? And they're working to hijack the chemicals in our brain to do this. So unless you learn how to control a lot of that yourself, you're going to— that wasn't in the caves back in the day. You weren't worried about a marketing message. So I'm just telling you, we have to learn how to market to ourselves as much as we're getting marketed to.

It's such a great point. You know, if you think about ancestrally, our brains, they were designed for community purpose survival, right? So, so what is the cost then? You know, where you're highlighting that there is a cost, but what is it in living in a world that's constantly overstimulating and isolating us?

You don't have to run from it. You don't have to hide from it. You don't have to like pretend it's not there and not use a phone. I'm not that guy. Do you know what I'm saying? I'm not the guy that says you can't go to a room that has Wi-Fi going off. I mean, if you choose to do that, God bless you. That, that's— you have strengths that I, I'm choosing not to have, right? Yet the cost is we've got to recognize what it is that we're doing, and we have to have more desire to understand what are our thoughts and what are their thoughts. Meaning, is that something I'm actually thinking? Is that something I'm actually feeling? Is that mine? Is that what I want? And a lot of it comes down to this very, very simple phrase, James, is for years I've said these words, and you may not have heard me say this. It's been the last couple of years I say this at a few events. And I said very, very simply, the way that we talk to ourselves. About ourselves is how we respond to ourselves. And I'll repeat that again. The way that I talk to me about me is how I respond to me. And the way that I see me is the way I'm going to respond to me. And the way I respond to me is how you're going to respond to me. So we are training people in our lives to validate whatever feelings we have that are real or manufactured. So if I'm going to talk to myself in a way that I'm anxious based on something that happened here, I'm going to tell myself that I'll respond to me as an anxious person, then I will train you. to remind me that I'm an anxious person. Now my community is being used to validate something created by whether it's tech or some random thought that I got from a neighbor. So the connection of this is a lot to do with how we communicate with ourselves, and everything comes down to language and to words.

Amen. A very smart person was talking to me And made a connection to the 1984 George Orwell book. In that book, Orwell warns that when words lose meaning, people lose the ability to think clearly. Are we seeing that play out today?

A little bit, actually a lot a bit. I would say that words are being interchanged and we're making up words. We're doing things. There is— it's just interesting where your belief systems are. Like, I will tell you that I was listening to this thing recently and put this wherever you want to put it in your brain. They said, like, I curse from time to time. I'm from New Jersey. I curse. I'm not against it. I let my kids curse. You can't say the C word in my house. Like, you can't say complacent. And I make that joke with that because I don't want anyone ever to be complacent. But I would say some of the biggest words people have, they say don't mean anything. And I'm going to start with the doesn't mean anything is Things like, it doesn't matter. Things like, what's the big deal? Like, that has become socially acceptable. Someone says like, what does it matter? What's the big deal? Well, it really does matter actually. And it is a big deal. Now, certain things, and especially if you say to someone like, well, you know, I'm having a hard time at school. Oh, don't worry about that. Well, we do. I got to worry. We don't have to worry about it, but what's the big deal? It doesn't matter. What's the point? These slangs that have gone in society have weakened us as people. So we don't progress and grow. So that's one side, the words that are being perpetually pushed into society. The other thing is where, where meaning goes, the meaning of love and health and different things are getting extracted. So you could go to the health food aisle at most grocery stores. It's the shit aisle. Do you know what I'm saying? Especially at most places, like you would go to the natural health, like where I'm from, natural meant natural soil, no GMO. There wasn't even a GMO back in the day. I'm from New Jersey. There was a farm in Pennsylvania. Most people don't realize Jersey's the Garden State. We have farms, right? And we would go get beautiful fruit, beautiful vegetables that did not look, um, genetically modified, right? And we'd get them, and that was natural. Now the word natural has been hijacked, and people are like, well, what's the big deal? It's natural. Well, so is poison ivy, you know? It doesn't mean you're gonna smoke it, right? So, so the reason is words are being hijacked and used— like, do you know how often people say, James, I love Netflix? Last time I checked, that's for your wife, I love, or your children. It's not for Some $9 episode in a show, but they want you to say that so they get your $12 a month.

I, you know, I, you, I remember when we had this conversation in one of the sessions a few years ago, and since then I've really been bringing that to the table of like, you know, we talk about, I love to eat this, you know, and that, and it, and in a sense how I would explain it was I would say, well, when we use that language that we would normally use for, like you said, our wife or someone we love, literally, that we're putting so much emphasis on that thing. And then in a sense, that thing may have control over us. Is that like when you say we should be conscious and aware of using the word love? What is it you mean by that?

Well, what I mean by that is make certain you really mean what you say and say what you mean and mean what you say. So I do a lot of language correction. And I'm not annoying. I'm very, I'm a stickler on language. I mean, language is everything. I mean, people like, oh, AI, AI, like, listen, I got something more powerful than AI. It's called words, right? There's nothing— AI is words, right? So when you say to yourself something like this, James, like, let's play a little game here real quick. So let's just say for an example, has anyone ever told you something was hard to do? Like, give me an example. Like, in your world, you train, you coach, you help, you run a company, you do great things, you lead people. You parent people. Who has told you something was hard?

Oh, well, you hear it all the time around diet. It's so hard not to drink that wine every night, or it's so hard not to— Great. I love it. I love it.

I love it.

Hard.

It's hard. And you hear people say that, right? And I'm taking that as an example. It's hard to drink, hard to not drink wine. What we do as people, we will typically say to people, you know what? You're right. And then we reinforce that it's hard. The word hard is designed to avoid. I'm just going to tell you, it's not designed to make you want to do it. We're not all David Goggins, right? Even David Goggins doesn't want to do hard things. What we have to learn as people— I learned this a long time ago— the way language works, the difference between nouns and verbs is not a grammatical thing. It's where our mind goes. So when somebody tells me it's hard to drink wine, I would— hard to not drink wine, I would say, actually, it's not. That'll piss them off for a minute. I will take them from a strong belief to angry because a strong belief to angry is a change in emotion. And right in the middle, I'd say, actually, it's not. It's harder than you'd like it to be. So when you add the -er in, harder than you'd like it to be, say, you know, I never thought of it that way. Harder than I'd like it to be is solvable. Hard is impossible. So I always am working to change language and how I label things because I look at the mind as a filing cabinet. This stuff is hard. This stuff is harder than I'd like it to be. Which do you think you'd pick up in the morning if you were like super motivated to get something done today, would you look for something that's harder than you'd like it to be or something that's super hard?

Yeah, absolutely. Something that's harder than you like it to be. Yeah.

So we've got to label things. And the only reason it's harder than I'd like it to be is I've never made it a priority up till now. Now I'm relabeling it. I've never actually made it a priority to quit drinking. I never made it a priority to cut back on wine. You know what? You're right. And what's amazing is it's not about being right. It's about the reprioritization of the words that we use. And it's not complicated. It's really taking a second and really caring about our language and respecting our language because that changes our reality. And I think of it this way. Have you ever seen that movie or even Liam Neeson in Taken? You know the movie?

Yeah.

He's got that one line. He's like, I've got a unique set of skills. You know what I'm saying? When I find you, I will kill you. Well, let's just rearrange that script. If he would have said, hey, I know things that you don't know. And if I find you, it'll be bad. I don't think it's the same guy, is it? When you say it with that tone, that way, It is now scary. And the other way is, well, whatever, putts, right? So most of us have to decide how do we want to be seen by ourselves? So I went on a tangent, but back to you, James.

I love it though. But actually, I love that you're bringing up a movie because you've said before that the brain doesn't know the difference between what's real and what's imagined, that what we see, hear, and even think becomes our programming. So in a world saturated, saturated with violence, movies, social media outrage, fear-based news, How do we protect our minds from absorbing that energy without completely disconnecting from reality?

Yeah. First thing is you don't have to watch that stuff. That'll be up to you if you've got the courage to do that. I went for years, like when I got into direct sales at a young age, first thing they told us to do was like, turn off the TV, turn off the media. Like there was nothing. And maybe I watched the History Channel back in the day and still somebody woke me up and told me about September 11th. So, so people are going to tell you. So if you've got the ability to like avoid completely, You can. It's probably going to be a challenge. And number one is we need to walk into what we're going to do as we're going to do it. So let's just say you're going to be watching something. You could flip on, you know what I'm going to do right now? I am going to spend a few minutes, um, taking a watch at this. And you can decide like how you're going to position that to yourself. But my, my take is, I guess the best way I would put this is if we were to put this in a very, very simple category and we were to put this in a In a concept of like, I want to be able to live in a world, still be able to watch this thing and not get bothered by it. You have to realize it's, it's all a game. And the game is, what are you going to allow into your mind and what are you going to allow to be them and you? And, and the interesting thing is that's one of the things we need to recognize is the difference between you and them. They are not the same thing. So as you hear the words, they are designed to get into your mind and have no separation. Give me an example of a modality that you're talking about. Are we talking about— Social media? Are we talking about the media, the news? Let's pick one so I can explain a little better.

Well, let's, let's pick the movies because I remember that stood out a lot to me when, when you talked about that, just how you're literally, you could be watching a horror movie or a suspense thriller and your brain doesn't know the difference that it's a movie. And so you leave with having been impacted in the same way that the characters in the movie potentially have been impacted, right?

Well, let's get really real, real. Um, they really stopped making movies. Let's just get clear, they don't make movies anymore. Have you noticed, James? Like, there's no— like, when's the last time you've been in the movie theater?

Oh yeah, I mean, no, I, I go, I go probably like probably 2 months ago or something like that. But I, but I think I know where you're going, like that it's, it's not really story-based anymore. It's just, it's, it's just action this, action that.

Well, no, what I'm saying is they really just stopped making movies. They're a lot of shows now.

Oh, yeah.

And the reason they use shows and not movies is shows have a bigger impact and you can get monthly bills on it. So they've learned how the psychological connection between a movie, which is 3 hours, then you go about your life and then it disappears, and a show are very different. So years ago, I would, before I go to bed, and one thing I'm just going to recommend to all of you is before you go to bed, I'm going to recommend everybody put this thing in airplane mode before you go to sleep. If you've got children or grandparents or people you need to take care of, Put it far away from you and leave it on. But I put everything in airplane mode before I go to bed. That's one thing I was going to say. And I put it away from me. I'm just going to tell you at a minimum, do that or turn it off. That would just say that's one thing. The other thing I was going to say is I woke up in the middle of the night. I was watching, this was probably 2008 or '09 when Sons of Anarchy was so big. And I loved that show. It was after Sopranos ended and I really loved Sons of Anarchy. And when I used to watch Sopranos, which I love, it reminds me of growing up in New Jersey. It was a great show. I said it's a great business show because you Learn about life, and there was connection and character development and all that stuff. It used to be on once a week. So once a week I would watch the show, I would take on the feeling, it would come and go. These shows wound up being something that you could watch and you could binge on. So then I would— when Sons of Anarchy came on, which was a show about a violent biker gang, this was before I knew what I knew now, and I would turn it on and I watched 2, 3 episodes before bed, and I would get not an hour, I would get 90 minutes, 2 hours. 2, 3 hours of this in my mind, way past the time where my mind is needing to slow down and I'm about to go into my sleep stage. So I'm stealing some of the powerful energy I have because anything you watch or listen before you go to bed lives in your mind while you're sleeping. This is very important to understand. So I'm going to say a lot of things very, very quickly. I want you to pay attention. It's all based on neuroscience. So what happens is I would go to bed and I'd wake up in the middle of the night and I'm like, I would grab my phone again and I want to know because there's characters in that show that are strategically and psychologically designed to align with my current thinking patterns. There's somebody in every show from back in Winnie the Pooh. There's the depressed person, there's the happy person, there's the violent person, there's the sexy person, there's the cool kid, there's the geek. All of these were designed to connect with your identity. So you go, man, I like that character. I like that character. So I found myself waking up in the night concerned, like, what's happening with Bill? What's happening with Jax on the show? What's happening with this person? And I got to turn it back on because I need to know. They pulled it in, and I started to have this, like, film, like, what was the difference between their reality and mine? That's how they suck us in to pay attention. So a really big psychological desire is, do you want to have a life that they're designing for you at your expense of $12 a month and all of your sanity? Or would you like to live out your own movie of what you want to do? And I know we're smart enough to go, yeah, it's what I want to do. So we've got to know the cost. And it doesn't mean you've got to give up your life, but you have to realize that there is a psyop going on at all given times. These shows are designed to have character development, Certain music, certain things. I mean, listen, James, you and I are from the same generation. I think I'm a little bit older, but, uh, but in the '80s, all of those horror movies, there was a sex scene always before the murder. Because if I can get you to go, hmm, like that, like, like high school, like we're young watching the Friday the 13th, and then there's like, they're about to make love, right? And then the killer comes. Look at the shock. How much more shocked are you when you were just in romance mode? So it's like, Do do do. It's a formula to scare the hell out of you. So they know what they're doing, and what it does—it takes us out of our own game.

I feel like we're seeing this play out with the easily easy access to porn with the younger you know boys, right? The oxytocin that comes from and the girls now, right? It it's it's a bit scary to me. I mean, you have two girls. Like how how how are you preparing them for this? world, you know, this, this very different world from what you and I grew up with, or at least it seems like it's different.

It's, it's similar and different. Instead of finding, uh, grandpa's VHS tape or, or dad's VHS tape and, and being able to watch it when you want, the difference is once in a while and all the time. And that's a big issue. Like when we were kids, I remember going to Chili's and I would go like, that would be a big night out. I mean, that was a, that was a night out.

Curly fries, baby. Curly fries.

Yeah. And then we'd get a little ice cream. That was every once in a while. Now it's like DoorDash. Something. I would never eat that shit, but you know what I'm saying? It was like DoorDash all the time. You can get it. So preparing for the world, Tara's 24 and Maya's 13. Maya doesn't have a phone. Um, what's funny is she actually doesn't, doesn't want one. I don't know if we've scared her, but, but she, she doesn't want one. We were even considering getting one. Do you know what I'm saying? 'Cause she's gonna be in high school next year and she doesn't have one. Uh, and she sees the way the kids are like mindless walking around and it doesn't make it easy to like The friendly thing, it's not as easy to connect because they do connect and talk about it. She knows enough. She's got an iPad and a watch and all that stuff, but she doesn't really want one. So we do our best to explain, like, that's not how our decisions are made. Like, watching that stuff just because Kim Kardashian has that, or just because that, uh, they said it's a good idea— really having your own thoughts. We've done our best with them. I mean, Tara's past that phase. She grew up in the height of it. And she would tell you point blank, it's dangerous. Do you know what I'm saying? She grew up in the height of it, especially being a girl. So there's the adult explicit stuff, and then there is somewhat as dangerous is people thinking for you and you thinking their life is better. And very few people really understand like what goes on afterwards. Like you can't smell what's, what's in there. You can't see anything other than the frame that they're showing you. So. Really educating our kids the difference between reality and thus. And, but we've got one rule in our house, like you do a sport and I am telling you, if you're doing a sport, you are secreting dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and oxytocin every single day. Even in a solo sport like Maya does of figure skating, she's using all 4 of those at any given day. So instead of giving those 4 chemicals to your screen, we do that. So you do a sport in our house and the best we can do, I don't think we should hide our children from it. I just definitely need— it needs to be a conversation because the greatest trick the devil ever pulled is convincing the world that he doesn't exist. And I'm not saying the phone is the devil, but it is an access point for that type of thinking.

Yeah, that's a really good point. Do you think mental pollution has the same effect as physical toxins like microplastics or processed foods just on a psychological level?

I would say worse. And the reason worse is you don't see it coming. You don't know. It's like 2 alcoholics living in a house. If mom's an alcoholic and dad is, child doesn't realize the difference and neither of them think anyone's drunk because they're all drinking together. So I think the slow erosion of our psychology through the social pollution and the thinking, and then it doesn't matter. I mean, I'll prove it to you. Just go to a soup kitchen. Go to a soup kitchen for 3 hours. Go, or some really well-organized, help other people with no phone and leave it in your car. And you just tell me how you feel. Go for a bike ride for an hour. I don't mean, no, no, I don't mean a workout. I mean, not a 10-speed. I'm talking a beach cruiser.

Cruiser. Yeah.

Go get on that thing and go through on a nice day without a bunch of honking horns. Go out and do it. Go in your backyard. Like my and I, the other day, we went in the backyard and we just Sat in the hot tub for a little bit. It's nice out in Arizona here. And then we colored in the backyard. And it sounds weird, like a kid, but the freeness of it is absolutely amazing. So I challenge anyone to know, why do you enjoy that stuff so much? And then call it for what it is. I mean, I would say if I'm teaching somebody, if they're going to go to happy hour tonight, I would say the best thing you should say to yourself is, it's not a negative. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to put some stuff in my body that really isn't good for me. I'm going to feel worse tomorrow, but I'm choosing to do this. And you're better off saying that. You'll probably eat less and drink less if you say it versus, oh my God, I love this. Same as picking up one of these. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to waste about 3 hours of my life right now, and I'm going to watch this show. Just say it. Just freaking say it to yourself. You'd be amazed how you don't enjoy the show as much.

It's interesting because you're almost saying, like, by reclaiming language, that helps us reclaim our humanity.

Our language is shaped by our humanity. I mean, if you go back again, I've studied a lot of religious texts. And again, I don't want to get into that part. Actually, I don't care about getting into it. I'll get into it. I don't care if you study Buddha, Allah, Jesus, Hashem, whatever it is, I will tell you point blank, the word is the way. And the word is everything is the word. Because the first thing we had as human beings that brought connection, that really brought humans, is the word. And there's never been any act in this world that has never been produced without a word. If you want to go shoot somebody, you have to say certain things to yourself or even tell yourself you'll pick up that gun. If you want to make a baby, it's either going to be, hey, you want to? Or tequila. I mean, it's going to be— words are going to happen. So words are the predecessor to everything, and very few people would actually look at words. When we clean up our words, that's when we become superhumans. That's when we become powerful. Because what most people don't realize about Navy SEALs, they are a master of their language. If you watch them negotiate— what was that movie years ago with, I think it was Tom Hanks, where they— there's the, um, the oil freighter they stole. Do you remember this? And he was a captain. Did you see this one? And the Navy SEALs had to come on, and they were so precise. They were like— Hey, terrorist, this is the Navy SEALs and the U.S. Department of this. You will stand exactly where you are. You will not move one inch. And they use their language so precisely, it was scary language. Okay, so when you learn, a really good police officer is really great at language. That's how they get you out of the car. They get a DUI out of you and they just talk you into it. I wonder why I was taking the breathalyzer. Man, they're good at language, right? So, so is a marketing company and so is A powerful person. And so is unfortunately a really bad, bad man or bad woman is really good with language to lower your resistance. So we need to increase our resistance and lower it to other things.

So our ancestors, they learned by watching and doing, not by scrolling and consuming, to your point of what we've been talking about today. So how, how do we recreate that kind of learning and community today? You mentioned, you know, putting the phone down, leaving it in your car, going to a soup kitchen, but are there, are there ways that maybe the listener or someone watching this video can just immediately apply Yeah.

So, one of the things, again, I've studied a lot of texts and I've learned a few things. Like, any group of people that has very— this is very simple, very, very powerful. Like, just go do your homework on this. Any group that has any restriction at all, meaning the dietary restriction or some sort of emotional restriction from basic human desires are typically the most successful financial and socially in the world. Just go look at the groups of people that restrict certain diet things, and you look at that class of people, how well they do financially, and you will be amazed the direct connection. You'll also realize how much they— how connected they are to family. I'm not saying they're perfect. I just want to tell you. So one of the things we say in our household is other people don't do that, but this is something that we do. And the reason is you should have one thing. Like in our house, we eat greens and vegetables. And some people don't do that. We eat greens and vegetables. It is important to us at each meal. You can eat what you want. We do that. This is one of the things we do in our house. In our house, we exercise. So we have to make declarations of things that we do. In our house, social media is not a dominant force, and we've got to make a declaration. It's something we might do, but it's not a force. In our house, we do not watch the media. We create an us versus them type scenario. It's not a battle. In our house, we do not allow the news. It's just something we don't do. Do you know what I'm saying? And when people make those declarations, I mean, this has been going on since the beginning of time. whether it's restricting certain meats or restricting alcohol. I mean, look at even just a group like, I mean, the Amish. They're very good business people. I don't know if you know that. They have a lot of restrictions.

They do.

They're very, like, people can tease them. I bought my dog before Christmas for Maya from a nice man from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I thought I felt bad for him. And then he called me a couple weeks later. He goes, don't tell the elders that I'm calling, but I bought a $900,000 piece of machinery. You seem like a smart businessman, Michael. Will you help me? And I'm like, Dude, these guys are good. Do you know what I'm saying? But they have restrictions and things. So I believe we don't have to restrict everything, but we do need to decide what our limitations are, what we are going to allow. Because in the old days, you couldn't— like, how often, James, when we were kids, could you watch The Wizard of Oz when we were little, when we were 8?

Really? Never. I mean, unless—

When was it on?

Yeah, like TNT or whatever would have that run sometimes, right?

During the holiday. It was on once a year.

Yeah, once a year.

There was no TNT when you were 8 years old. There was no TNT, was there? That's true.

It was, yeah, it was the other one, right? Uh, yes, when we were younger, but then at one point it was that old, uh, I'm forgetting the name of it. The Turner, Turner Network.

Yeah, it was Turner Network, but I'm saying that wasn't until like we were like teenagers, right?

Yeah, you're right. You're right. So you couldn't, you couldn't really watch it except for that once a year. Yeah.

So there was already built-in limitations based on limitation because everything comes out now. We need to choose what we're going to allow. So the thing is you can watch it, but you've got to accept your choices that you're making. So I don't know if I'm giving exact answers, but I am telling you from a language standpoint, We need to decide what level of limitation we're going to put on the things we do, because who are you going to let have your power? And our drug chemistry set is for sale every day of the week to, again, Silicon Valley and Madison Avenue. Every single day of the week, they're looking for it. So in a cave, you got to create your own excitement. You got to create your own joy. And part of it is tapping into our mind. And one of the addictions that I've learned before I go to bed, I use a book and a yellow light. And the reason I use a yellow— I was with Cameron Herold the other day. Do you know Cameron?

No.

Cameron, super sharp guy. We're at his dinner for his birthday. He just turned 60. And I go, dude, he goes, I can't get off my Kindle at night. I said, you need to. I said, get a physical book, which is tactile. This is one of my favorite books, As a Man Thinketh. And I will read a book like this with a yellow book light at night. physically touching, I'll fall asleep in 15 minutes. I break this thing out, I'll be up for 3 hours. So, whatever you read or listen to before you go to bed will live in your mind while you're sleeping and it'll become part of your reality.

I love that you brought up boundaries though, because I identify that that's a lot of why kids sometimes are ruling the household. That we are technically coming from a generation where And maybe it's people that are a little younger than us, I don't know. But we're coming from generations where there was such trauma that a lot of these young parents just, they, it's almost like they can't even make the decision to just make a decision, right? And so you're seeing these kids that are running the household, they're always on their phones and all that stuff. So is there, I know you, you know, trauma is something you actually inadvertently help people with at your conference. So is there, can we kind of touch on that of like, how can the person at home who maybe doesn't even know what their trauma is, but just notices that they're struggling to make these boundaries and they're for themselves and within their home, like how can you support them in overcoming that?

Well, the first thing I would tell you as a parent, if you're a parent out there and you're listening to this, I mean, one of the things we said as kids, we don't realize how detrimental this language is. We'd say, when I'm a parent, I'm going to be different. There's a reason our parents did the things they did. I'm not. And listen, and I am posting so much content on my Instagram right now. We got like 7.5 million views on one video recently that's up there twice on parent and a child relationship. And I'm getting comments like therapy from parents. Like they're asking me questions and it's fascinating. So check this stuff out when you get a minute. I would definitely tell you find me. The reason I'm bringing this up is as parents, We make declarations when we're younger and we say, I'm going to be different when I get older. So when I say something like, maybe your parents didn't mean it, I'm not talking about if you had an abusive emotional, psychological, sexually assaulted childhood. If that occurred, that is for you. I feel awful. I am sorry. We'll work on that. We can figure that. I'm just talking about the rules, the regulations, the things that we did, and also the freedoms that our parents gave us. So 2 things are happening right now as parents. Number one is we're giving no freedom and we're giving too much freedom, and it's in the wrong place. What I mean by that is I'm a Gen Xer. I came home and my parents trusted me. Very strict rules. I could do whatever I wanted. I could manipulate and lie and do everything in between my hours that they didn't know that I was doing as long as I was home by a certain time. They trusted me and I created my own rules and boundaries and I was able to learn for myself. Most parents have stripped Their children from the ability to make decisions because we don't want them to screw up because we know what we did. We know we were out drinking. We know we were out partying. We know we were kissing someone underage. We were doing like like a twelve, a thirteen. Like we were doing shit we shouldn't have done. So we're worried our kids are going to do that. So that's one. So we build wrong boundaries and we don't give them any freedom. Okay, any freedom. I'm telling you, I've done it. I it's not good. The other thing is we don't want to be our parents. So we're like, oh, you know, we could do ice cream every day. What's the big deal? Blah blah blah. Well, that made sense back then because everything wasn't available at every given moment. And our parents would say no to the ice cream truck every once in a while, but it only came around once a month, right? Nowadays, what happens is the ice cream truck is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So we're able to say yes to everything all the time. So we've got to realize their childhood and ours are very different. That's very important. So when you talk about the trauma aspect, which area of trauma are you talking about? So I really want to be clear what I just said a second ago. We have to add more freedoms and we have to take some freedoms away. And I'm telling you, we got to be strategic how we do that. We have to let them think and be able to solve things for themselves. But we also have to explain to them, no, and this is how the world works. Like letting children have any, oh, you know, whatever food you want. When I was a kid, you got whatever the hell was on the table. So I'm like, oh, what would you want for dinner? Dude, that's not good.

Yeah.

You can't. I've done that. I've screwed up everything. I'm telling you, learn from me. If you're a young parent, your kid's under 5 years old, Don't freaking ask them that. They get what they get and that's it. And if they don't like it, they still get what they get. And every once in a while, let them pick so they can learn that they can create that life. And James, you've screwed that one up too, right?

Of course. Well, and also I noticed when my kids were younger, I would ask a question at the end. I'd say, is that okay? You know, what's an example? Like, I'd be like, I need you to clean your room. Okay. Right. It was like almost like Looking for their approval or something instead of saying, no, we're not going to do this until this is done.

That's your own trauma, buddy. That's your own— God, I hate being told what to do. So because you get in hate, but especially entrepreneurial parents, which probably a lot of your list is, a lot of people watching this, you don't want to be told what to do. So you don't want your kid to feel like they're being told what to do. You got to tell your kid what to do. Do you know what I'm saying? So listen, you're going to clean your room and afterwards we're going to be able to do blank. Thank you. And that's it. So So this goes to— I'll get to the trauma in a second. I want to put a thought out there. I do want to teach everyone how to build empowered children. And I have a couple of things that I want to share with that that are very, very important. And this may be a good cut-in to promote this episode. I'm going to tell you, having empowered people in our lives is so simple to do. And I'm going to encourage everybody to understand what I'm going to share. Let's do the trauma thing first. And then I want to tell you how to build very, very empowered people. So talk to me about what you mean by Trauma. I know the word trauma, but what you mean by our traumas, because immediately when someone hears it, they're like, oh, rape, abuse, being left on the side of a subway. And trauma could be as simple as neglect or manufactured trauma by us thinking our parents didn't love us and they were just busy.

I think it's the latter that I'm thinking of. I mean, of course, it's all happening to different people, but I see the latter more play out where it's like my parents didn't see me. I didn't feel heard. So now I'm almost hyper-aware at making sure that I'm acknowledging every emotion that my child has. And thus now they think that they matter more than the world, you know, than what's going on in the world.

So the first thing we can do, as hard as it is to do, we need to free our parents and free ourselves and basically be able to say they were doing the best they had with what they had. And yes, they could have possibly done better, but it already happened. That's the first thing we all need to do as people. And that is maybe not easy, but it's going to be necessary. And the faster you can say what I just said, the better it's going to be. And you can look at them and go, they didn't get a manual. They were working hard. They had their own crap to deal with that you will never know, and they're probably never going to tell you that they shielded you from. And again, I'm not talking about the worst cases. I'm talking about the ones that are Gen X trauma, where, like, mommy and daddy were a little bit mean or something, or didn't let us have a car or a puppy or whatever it is. The second thing about it is we as parents have to realize our role. Our role is not to be friends with these humans. Our goal is to build incredibly empowered human beings to have a great quality of life. If our goal is to be liked, you're going to be miserable for your entire life with every human being. And it comes to relationships. I just want to tell everyone, if you need to be liked, you just fell into Mark Zuckerberg's plan. You are weak and you will have a pathetic life. And I'm just going to be very, very direct when I say this. And the reason they got rid of the dislike button on most of these channels is because you couldn't handle it. And I've learned that I don't need to be liked. I like to be likable. If I'm likable, you may or may not like me. That'll be your choice whether you like me or not. So our goal is to really not care what people think. If you see an 85-year-old grandma that'll like pass gas and not care, well, you know, I just did that, whatever. It's just what she was. Does that make sense? She'll say whatever she needs to get said. She'll say it in a way that may be appropriate or not. I've had a grandma say this to me, oh, you know, forgive me, it just came out. And she's like, doesn't mean to make an inappropriate joke. But the point is they'll do this because they finally got to a point where they don't care at all. And if you care so much that you don't care, you have freedom. I'm not I'm not saying being rude to people. I'm not saying be obnoxious. You need to be kind and as loving as possible to people. But how we are controlled as a society is through what I'm going to share in a bit about the empowerment, is this desire to be liked and the desire to fit in. And that is what the culture has created. So if you need to be liked or you need to fit in, you are easily to be controlled. And the people that cannot be controlled by media, people, friend groups, and everything is You just don't need to be liked. Maya's a very high-performance figure skater, one of the, one of the best in the country. And, and you don't make friends by being good. I'm just gonna tell you, you don't make friends. You decide you're not gonna be on social media. You decide you're gonna get a 12-pack abs. You decide— I know this to you and your wife— you decide you're gonna eat well. You decide you're gonna get into NAD and you're gonna take IV and do ozone and all that stuff. You don't get liked by the general public. You get blasted. Okay, so I'm just going to tell you, being great, if you choose to do it, the punishment you will get is being liked doesn't go. They don't, they don't live in the same box. So I'm just going to tell you, we got to prepare our children for that. So we need to not build a world of people that need to be liked because that is how we are being manipulated and that is how blackmail is done. Because the men and women who don't care, you just think of the 5 or 6 most powerful people in the world. I'm not going to get into politics right now. They don't care what anybody thinks. On both sides, on both sides, on any country. They don't care at all. And it's not that they're just a narcissist. They don't care. And what's funny is then you have power. And I'm gonna tell you, we need to raise our children to care so much they don't care at all, but love people and be kind. Hmm. I could teach the empowerment thing in a bit, but that, that was—

Yeah, no, that, that's, you know, you, you have a unique perspective, uh, that I'd love for you to impart to people that might be in this situation. So you came into a marriage where, where your wife already had a child.

Yep.

How many people come into that? And I think a lot of times they don't know how to connect, how to be, who, who, how to show up. So how did you show up?

Well, first thing is don't do this. Don't take the little one to the store and give her a ginseng water with a bunch of stuff and give them a bunch of energy because I messed up real bad. I give a little 7-year-old a— I'm just joking around, but we joked about that the other day. Um, I was learning because I was having fun. I forgot she was 7 years old.

You gave her a Jolt or something?

No, no, no. Like, there was like this health food store, like, add ginseng, add that. And I brought her back and Deborah said, okay, you know, don't do that again. I make that joke. Um, it's wonderful when it's wonderful, but it's got to be set up correctly. So, uh, Tara is absolutely amazing. I— we're like It is super, super incredible. She's 24, works with NatWest now, has an incredible, incredible boyfriend. They're like peas in a pod. They're, they're great together. They're going to be amazing. And so it isn't an easy thing, but it's also not complicated. It's how it's brought in. So like Deborah did everything really correctly. At first I was, hey, Michael's going to come over to the lemonade stand, he's going to bring over his dog. And it was like, I was a guy, there was a friend, and they came over and we We did everything correctly. I didn't spend the night. I didn't do any of that stuff. You know what I'm saying? I literally— I just didn't. You know what I'm saying? I mean, we built it in, and we built her into our lives. Like, we never— I never treated her any different than I would as my own child. I didn't know how to do that or not. Like, I just never— I just assumed that she's, like, she's my child now. You know, I'm gonna take care of her. And it's a very important thing is to get on the same page. So expectations minus reality will equal disappointment every single time. So Deborah and I had expectations. Uh, she had an expectation of, you know, Um, if I'm going to bring you into my life, um, this is now we're going to help raise this child. Do you know what I'm saying? And that's what we, we did. So it turned out, it's turning out incredibly well. Like we are super close. And one of Deborah's beliefs is she wanted to have a different relationship than she had with her mom. She wanted to be close. Our kids like hanging out with us. Like we're with each other all the time. Like we, we really enjoy each other and we decided to make that work. So I don't know if that answers your question. And I'd like to go deeper on that if you need. But I wanted to teach her some of the things we knew. So I based this on— I wanted to help build a very strong kid. So I'll just jump into the thing that I was going to say earlier about empowerment and also help with this right now is—

Yeah.

I wanted my kids to feel great about themselves. So a lot of parents walk around the world telling their kids like they can be better. You can do better. And I believe in you and you're great. And we don't realize that we're messing our children up. Because anytime you tell somebody not only they can do better, I know something you don't know, it's our form of dominating and feeling important. And so what I learned is a very simple phrase that I would say is, hey, listen, if you ever want to get better at cheerleading, let me know. I might have a couple answers. And then I let them come to me. And the reason I do that is when you let them come to you and you can have the courage, mom and dad, to like to let them not come to you. Like if they don't come to you, they don't want it. Maybe throw it out there again. They're not you, they're them. But when you throw and they come to you and they're like, yeah, you know, I really want to get better, now they're coming from serotonin, they're excited. And I never tell my kids I'm proud of them. I tell them when they do something great, they should be proud of themselves. And the reason is I let them have all the power. So my, my kids walk around going, I'm really proud of my work. I'm proud. I let them keep the pride. I don't want to be proud of them because if I'm proud of them, they need me. I need to train them to leave and move on their own. If not, I'll be broke my whole life, right? So I need them to go do their own thing. So my kids walk around saying they're proud of themselves. So when they say like, James, they'll be like, hey, I, I just threw a double axel today. I don't say good job. I say, of course you did. That's what you do. Because I want the shit-eating grin. You know the quarterback grin that Tom Brady has? I know nothing about football, but all the women like the quarterback because the quarterback, you know what's hot about the quarterback? Not just he looked good and he threw the ball, the shit-eating grin. I want my kid to have that grin like, yeah, of course I can do that. That grin comes from you saying when your kid does something, gets an A on a test, go, of course you did. You deserve that. Not only do you study hard, be proud of yourself. You want to give all the praise, all the power that your kid did it and take no credit. And most of us won't take credit of our own insecurity.

Just pure gold, Michael. Pure gold. Like, I hope every parent listening replays what you just said because it really does make a difference. I learned so much of what you're saying through your courses, and it, and it works, and it's real, and you see it play out in the kids, and it's freaking amazing. It takes time.

It's not gonna happen overnight. But after the same way that social media gets in your little bump, dude, you got a message, you got a message, Just drop things off to you. Just say to your kids, hey, listen, if you ever want to get better at basketball, let me know. I might have a couple ideas. Then shut up, mom and dad. If they come to you, go, you know what? I want to get better. Say, hey, if you ever want to get better at throwing the ball, if you ever want to get better at tennis, you just let me know. I might have a couple ideas. And you put your hands up like you're in jiu-jitsu because you don't want to fight. You don't like this. You're just like, I might have something. You back out of it and let them come to you. When they come to you on their own accord, they're coming to you from power. And you want your kids to feel freaking powerful. Yeah.

Now you're okay. So you have a bunch of programs, but there's one in particular called CORE. Yep. And you let, so it's, it's for adults all the way down to 13, right? 13, 14.

And that's like, if they're 13 and 3 quarters and they're mature and they're not being babysat, it's really 14. But yes.

Yes, we are. So our daughter, our, our daughter, our youngest daughters are each similar, or my oldest daughter, but your youngest daughter are similar ages. And, uh, we are so excited to bring her to Core when she turns 14 in 2026. Ritual is missing in kids' lives and, and in, in adults as well. And I know that Core is so much more than a ritual. Uh, there's so much that happens. I won't share any of it because it needs to be revealed in the moment. But can you talk about that so that parents of 14-year-olds and/or themselves can come to this program. It's, it's a life-changing program.

Yeah. Everybody needs to do it. It is not a success program. It's really about understanding the limits that we create in our lives and the things we do through our language, how we talk about the things we do. And it's really about resetting our minds. And, and it's not weird at all. It's like, it's the most human conversation ever. So in 2000, I've been running the program since 2008. It's 2 and a half days. That's the logistics. It's in Scottsdale. I have you come see me. It's beautiful here. It's a great little benefit to come here. The interesting thing about the event is in 2022, I stood up and I said to everyone in the room, there's about 400 people there. And I said, I want to make this for families because I truly believe we will change the world by the dinner table. We'll change the world. Because when Tara came the first time to CORE, she was going through the typical 14-year-old things, bullying, kids, pressures, all that stuff. And I was already running the event. I'm like, you know what, let's bring young adults in so they can hear about it. Number one is they can see the things we screwed up on so they don't, but we can get a set, set of language. So what happened was when it was over, Deborah kicked me under the table because we were at dinner with her and her friends afterwards. She goes, we can actually have a conversation at dinner now because we're on the same page. So it builds a set of language amongst parents and children to understand our psychology of what makes us do the things that we do. It gets us in at at peace with the things that happened, are happening, and the things we want in our lives and how to talk about them in a way to make them real and make them possible. It also explains human nature, what makes us do the things that we do. Because whether it's something really bad that happened or something really good that happened, learning how to frame that correctly to ourselves and others and talk about it changes everything. And the biggest result that I've seen is because the young adults and the teens in the room, and it's great for— it's not a kids' course.

No.

It's a human course.

Yeah, they're doing this with the adults in the room, but they are in their own little enclave, right?

They're in there together. And what's so cool about it is they're learning as much as we are. And we take their phones. Don't tell them. And they don't need them back. And they connect, they get together, they open up, they share, they care, and they'll talk about things that are absolutely amazing. So when you change the communication in the house, you create possibilities. When we change the communication around the dinner table, it stops being about either nothing or something. And one of the biggest wins people walk out of Like, I actually know what my kids want. I know what my mom wants, and we've now talked about it. And now that we've talked about it, we're free to go get it versus keeping a lot of stuff inside. So it is such a simple program, but it comes in on a Thursday. By the time you leave on Sunday, you are more effective what's going on. So I don't think I've ever talked about that live on a podcast exactly before. It's more like, yeah, I got an event, you should go see it. Why it's important is It's what they did in the old times. It's Aristotle. It's the caveman. It's ancestral, but it's also like, it's biblical. Like you, without the Bible, do you know what I'm saying? You could bring your, I don't care what you study. You're going to be like, oh my God, that reminds me of the Bible. Oh my God, that reminds me of the Torah. Oh my God, that reminds me of the Quran. You will say that when we're there because it's human beings getting away from tech for 2 and a half days to figure out who they are and where they want to go in their life and getting really clear and removing all the clutter so they can go get it. And they come back to their life, they're stronger, more powerful, and better. And the byproduct is people will say to me, Michael, You didn't even talk about not drinking. And thousands of people every year quit drinking and their family does. People will say to me, Michael, you didn't tell me about losing weight at once. And I literally came back and ate differently. Michael, I met a lady while I was there. She literally showed me 2 things, nothing to do with you. And now I'm on this product and I feel healthier and better. I had no idea about mitochondria. Do you know what I'm saying? It is freaking awesome. And I'm glad you're on board, James. I'd love to get as many people and their families as possible to share it. And my guarantee is simple. You will never be the same again after you leave. And what it is you feel in your heart will start living in reality.

And everything Michael just said about it is true. I have done it.

I undersold it right there, didn't I?

Yeah, I've done it. It really is phenomenal. And why I'm pushing it to every 14-year-old and beyond, but every 14-year-old is because I believe this will change the world. If every 14-year-old went to Core, Not only would they change, but as you said, the family would change. And it— I, I wish it for everyone. I really do. I, I will continue to speak from the mountaintop about it and encourage people to do it because I really do believe it is that important.

It's interesting you say this because I believe what the event does is if you don't let your child decide who they are from their heart, of who they really are versus from the internet, Someone else is going to decide for them.

Yes.

And at that event, a 65-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl will decide who they are from a deep place. And I don't mean weird. Like, I mean, literally just decide. Like, I've had people, my child's introverted. Stop telling them that. They will go to the event and they will stand on a fricking chair and they will have a ton of energy and they'll scream. My parent will go, how did you get him to do that? Why did you stop him from doing that? Don't ask yourself that. But whatever you did up till now, would you not communicate? You will stop calling your kid an introvert. You will stop saying your kid has ADD. You will stop saying that and let your kid have half a chance. So I believe it's a place where we can decide and declare who the hell we are and, and learn how to do it publicly. And when you publicly— this is ancestral— when we amongst people share what we want and who we are, it becomes possible. When we keep it in ourselves like this, shit never happens.

Ah, yes. All right, final question. If you could wave a magic wand, bring back one ancestral practice, what would it be?

That's really, really good. I like what I was saying a minute ago. If we were to go back to really, really long ancestors a long time ago, I would bring back the retreat. I would bring back the going and being in nature and being away from stuff and really talking and being together. So why the Sabbath is there, why the technology, why the Amish culture does this, it works. So I would say one of the things I'd bring back is dedicating a certain amount of time. And I know it's there because some of you're going to listen and go, we already do that every Saturday, or we do that every Sunday or family night. I would say culturally as a society, having a time like we had when we were kids almost where at the end of the night the TV turns off and there's nothing else on. I would love it people would take the time to just go and retreat from the society, turn it all off and spend time together getting to know each other and really being themselves and spending time with themselves, but with themselves together. And that's what I, my biggest desire is to bring to the world.

Well, and as I said at the beginning of this, you work in magician ways, wizard ways, And you already are co-creating this. And I've witnessed, I've experienced it. And you do beyond Core. Like, Core is just a taste, everyone. Michael is much more than just Core. He's got book. He's got a book, Average Sucks. He's got a podcast. He's got so much going on. So where can people go to find your universe, Michael Bernoff?

Yeah. So here's what I would do. Number one is at a minimum, I'm just going to make this real simple, is a minimum, go on Instagram or Facebook and just watch some of the videos we have. If you're going to be online anyways, you might as well watch stuff that empowers you. And the more you click on the right things, I would ask you all to reset your algorithm, which means you'll know what you're watching based on what YouTube and Instagram tell you to watch. So go watch 5, 7 of our videos, connect with them, and then it'll start giving you more videos like that and other things. So number 1, reset your algorithm over the next 2 weeks, which means you should 2 weeks from now only see in your search bar positive, incredible stuff, and it should be feeding you more of that. So that's number Number 2, you can always get my book, but like Miyagi says, you can't learn karate from a book. I'd love you to come to Core Live whether you have a child or not. We have, at this point, there's some discount tickets. A couple ways to do that. You can go to michaelburnoff.com/corelive. That's great. michaelburnoff.com, you can put in the show notes, Core Live. This is something I've thrown out there, James, for a while now. I'd love to chat with you and our team would. So we're a little different than other people. We're human and we like to talk to people. And so if you're serious and you're like, I want to take one of these classes and you need a little bit of intel, send, send the words, let's figure this out, ancestral or the word influence. You could pick either one. I'd say ancestral or the word influence to 480-800-8051. Just send the word. You could start talking. It's a real phone number. It's a real text box. 480-800-8051. And a human being from our company will say, hey, what's going on? How'd you find us? You're like, I love James. He's the best. And you should listen to all James's podcasts. He's incredible. He's an incredible human being in so many different ways. So 480-800-8051, send that word and, or just let us know how you met and we'll send you some texts back if you're very serious. I'm not looking to talk to someone about their cat. You know what I'm saying? So if you're serious, talk to us and we can lead you in the right direction, help you out. So that's what I would do. And James, this was very special today.

Um, really was.

Um, just seeing you and knowing what you've created and what you're doing for the world and, and how much your business is making a difference and how you run your life and your marriage and your family. It's very special to be here. You're, you're one of my favorite human beings on this planet.

It's very mutual. And I, and I, I really do mean this. You're, you, your family, your programs, the community you create changed our lives. And—

I love that.

And it, and it's, and it's doing exactly what you shared that you want in the world. You are doing it. You are co-creating it. When disaster happened in the world, you helped us through that by reminding us that we did not have to take on the narrative. that everyone else was telling, that we could, we could still be in control and be, be present to our narrative. And I, and I carry that with me to this day. Even during the LA fires, for example, I was very aware that I'm on the East Coast and it was cold outside and I was, and I was feeling emotionally pulled towards all those, you know, historical buildings, you know, burning down and all those friends of mine that were losing their homes. And I was trying to, constantly remind myself of like, I don't need, even though I love them and that is part of my past, I can still be present to what's outside my window and not be pulled into a drama that was maybe negatively affecting my sleep or things like that, that I could support those people in different ways, but not have it tax my own health.

Wow. Because you can love and care about somebody, but you don't have to take it on yourself. And that is a gift that all of us need to learn how to do. I teach that at HIT. I know, and at CORE a little bit. It's like, Like, just because it's happening doesn't mean you have to make it happen to you. And you don't have to take on someone's depression just because they're depressed. That's not how we connect with somebody, and they don't need you to be that way. So, yeah, that's a big thing. I remember because I believe I met Margaret first.

Yep. Yep.

And right around 2019, 2020, and we met right in the middle of— I don't call it the C-word. I call it the year that showed up the way that we didn't want it to. And the group of us that went through the programs, the thousands of people over that course of 2 years, I would put data and I would put money on are stronger mentally and emotionally than 95% of the planet because we learned how to make this mind give us the things we wanted in reality.

Absolutely. Yes, absolutely.

Very cool. So, this is great. I love being here. I can't wait to watch the episode. Send me a copy. I want first dibs to watch it.

Hey, put it on your site. This is Michael. Yeah. Hey, thank you, Michael. I really do appreciate your time. I appreciate what you're doing in the world, and I cannot wait to see the response to this episode. Please check out Michael's work, everyone. I implore you. It's phenomenal. It's life-changing, and I give him credit But so much of what I share when I'm on stages, so much of who I am to this day was supported and influenced by Michael and his team. So thank you.

Thank you.

And if you're watching this and you feel inclined, share it, talk about it, leave a comment. Let us know how you like this episode or didn't like, or just give us some communication because without communication, we do not know if what we're doing is resonating with you. Leave a comment, share it with a friend, whatever you do, stomp on it, throw, throw yourselves on it, whatever you want to do, but just communicate what you're doing. Thank you so much. Stay curious, my friends. Michael, be well, and we'll see you next time.

Absolutely. Thank you.

Thank you so much for joining me on Everyday Ancestral. If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe so you don't miss the next one. You can find the show notes, links, and resources mentioned at eatpluck.com. That's eatpluck.com. And hey, if you know someone who'd get something out of this, share it with them too. Stay curious, live well, and keep it ancestral.