SSP 064: Alex Waters - Surrendering to Psychedelics

Hello, guys. Welcome back to the Stage Shifters Podcast. My name is Jordan Kanlish and this podcast is really for anyone who's looking to level up, to shift their state, to move into an elevated state of being, so you can start to have the impact you want to have in the world and really discover your truest and fullest expression. And on this episode, I have a good chat with my friend Alex Waters. And if anyone has been following my journey on social media and I've been sharing what I've been putting out this week or the last 10 days, the you'll know that I've had a pretty big week. I've moved house and moving in general is a pretty big step. But I've moved around a lot over the last three years, living in Toronto and flying back and forth from here in Australia. And I've moved house quite a few times. So what I've noticed when it comes to moving houses, it kind of signifies a big new chapter, it signifies a blank canvas, new beginnings. But I really put the stamp on this new beginning and with combining my first ever 5 Meo DMT journey on the same weekend that I moved house. And Alex is actually the man who I shared this experience with. He was the one who was able to make the connection for me and really set up and create this opportunity for us to go out and explore and participate in this plant medicine, this powerful plant medicine. So Alex and I wanted to discuss some of our insights and some of our, I guess, experience from the weekend that was. And Alex is such an amazing human, he's from Perth as well. We really dive deep into really like plant medicines and really how to start to discover who you really are underneath the surface of things. Obviously, plant medicines being one of the tools in which we've used for that, but this was really interesting conversation and I wanted to invite you guys to reach out to me if there's anything in what we shared or discussed today, like if you're interested in learning more, more about plant medicine, or if you're interested in learning about really taking your inner process the next level, send me an email jordanstateshifters.com and we can have a conversation. But without further ado, enjoy today's episode, guys.

Welcome to the State Shifters Podcast, a show dedicated to helping you discover your true potential through connecting the mind, body and soul.

Okay, Alex Waters, brother. Welcome to the State Shifters podcast, my man. How you doing?

Good to be here, bro. Sitting in my car. Yeah.

You've locked yourself out of the house, so you've. You've had to make makeshift studios in the car, but that's okay. We're still gonna have a good conversation, man. And maybe, mate, it's a real honor to have you on here, bro, because at the time of this recording, we're about a week and a half past our plant medicine journey with the toad medicine. And for people who've been following along with the stuff I've been sharing on social media, they'll know that I embarked on my first 5 Meo DMT journey. And you were the person who kind of made that happen, allowed that to happen through the way we connected on Instagram. We caught up and all of a sudden the conversation turned. Turned into talking about psychedelics and you opened up the opportunity for that to happen here in Perth. So I'm really grateful for you, man. And I wanted to bring you onto the podcast and really maybe we could discuss some of the insights we had on that day. And obviously we went out there together, shared the experience together, and it was really special. And as we were just saying before we jumped on here, we're really still feeling this afterglow from that whole experience. So, man, maybe before we dive into that, would. Would you want to just give people a little bit of a background, I guess, as to how you arrived at the point in your journey where you were ready to embark on the. On the most potent psychedelic there is. At what point? How did you get to this place?

Yeah, well, yeah, was that. And thanks for having me, by the way. I mean, it was a really profound experience for me on Sunday as well. And we did just over a week ago now. But it wasn't actually the first time that I had done toad. So it was, you know, I'd sat before back in late 2018. And yeah, I suppose I'm an entrepreneur. I've owned several businesses. I've been, you know, kind of on a spiritual journey or journey of self discovery as I kind of like to call it since, well, probably forever really, but, you know, probably accelerated since late 2017 really was when I discovered personal development on a whole different level and started discovering psychedelics and plant medicine and yeah, inquiring deeper within. And, you know, when we caught up a couple weeks ago, it was the toad was something I'd felt was calling me for a while and I probably just hadn't had the prod to go myself. And because it is having done it before, it's, you know, so something you kind of just jump into lightly, I suppose. So, yeah, when we caught up and we talked about it, Just that prod was enough for me to go, yeah, all right, it's the time and let's get it locked in. And we did. And a week later we were. We were going.

So, yeah, love a good prod.

Exactly. Yeah.

And it was the same. Same thing for you. For me, with you, which was like, I came across the Toad while I was in Toronto, but the time wasn't right. I didn't feel ready. And then when you mentioned it, I was like, you know what? I feel ready. This seems right to me. So, yeah, the whole experience was really profound. And maybe, like, I'd be curious to get your perspective, first of all, on what unfolded for you, because we sat with the medicine three times on the day. You know, we drove out to Jaredale about 30 minutes, sort of south and inland from Perth, and we had the beautiful. The most beautiful setting for it. Man, I just really loved the location, you know, some of the birds and just the nature that were around. We couldn't have asked for a better, better place. But maybe if you're open to sharing, like, what were your intentions going into the journey and what do you feel like you experience what you get out of it.

Yeah. You know, for me, I just kind of had this feeling I needed a reset. And some of the words. Having experienced Toby before, some of the words I used were things like, you know, I'm really. I really just need to dissolve. And that's kind of what it is. You just dissolve. So, yeah, that was really my intention. And then when I got there, I realized, you know, I had a lot of fear around it. I had a lot of fear sitting there on a number of things, and it was actually about letting go of the fear of letting go. So, like, I had this fear of completely letting go of everything and my attachments and the ego and everything. Like, as in what. What will happen? I'm afraid of who I'll become and, you know, I'll afraid I'll be crazy. Even, you know, that just feels like that, right? Yeah. Yeah. And so, yeah, I mean, my experience was. I describe it as, you know, one of the most profound experiences of my life. I've had two other profound experiences where in the moment I was like, this is actually physically changed who I am, you know, I feel different as a person. I. The first one was, you know, in 2018, when I took about 8 grams of mushrooms and had an insane experience with psilocybin mushrooms. And then the Next was in 2019 when my son was born, and just witnessing him being born and holding him in my arms and him looking into my eyes for the very first time. Me being like, wow, you know, this just changed everything. And, and the third one, you know, was the recent tow journey. I just, yeah, I experienced. It's so hard to put into words, but I experienced myself as everything. For the first time ever, I completely let myself go and I completely like go into it, into the experience of it. I let everything go and like I let go of all my fear. I let go of doubt, you know, everything just in that experience because you can, you can fight it, you know, you can resist it, you can feel that I just completely let go of everything. And it was so powerful and I had a huge release, you know, kind of coming out of it where I was crying a lot. And it was like I was crying because there was, it was like the realization of, oh my God, I can't believe I've held on to so much for so long. And to be relieved of that burden and to sort of access this new place of freedom that I felt in that moment and liberation was overwhelming. It was so overwhelming. And you know, it brings it straight back as I'm talking about it now, like just. It was such a powerful experience, man. Like the most. Yeah, like mind blowing, life changing experience.

Yeah, I feel you brother. I feel you on that. So you're bringing me back and helping me put the pieces together around my experience as well. Because felt something really similar like the second time I sat with it, man, I had it. I don't know if you remember seeing what happened, but for me it was like really scary but really liberating at the same time. And I remember the second time I took it, you mentioned that fear of holding on, yet the mind trying to grab on to like the last like fabric of reality. And it showed me some of my darkest fears that were down there and, and like being thrown into that, that, that fear and facing it, almost like. It's almost like I had to come face to face with my own death. And on the other end of it was this like resurrection and rebirth like you just said. It brings this feeling of overwhelming joy and liberation because you realize you're carrying around, carrying around some of this burden, this fear that was down there all along that's cutting us off from experiencing the true bliss and lightness and joy and love that, that life has to offer. Right. We don't even realize it's down there. And I felt the same thing. Just like for me it was like laughter and tears in a way that I hadn't experienced before. I don't have a word to describe that emotional experience, which is why this journey was so impactful. I don't have a word to describe that. Laughing at life and then crying at how much we dramatize life in our heads. And I still think I resisted a lot of it, but I did have a. A big breakthrough that allowed me to experience that. So how would you compare this to your first time doing it? Because this is my first time. So I'm obviously curious to know, like, what were you able to let go the second time? Was the second time a more impactful experience because you had that awareness to know that I just need to let go and surrender here?

Yeah. You know, I think the first time I sat a couple of years ago, or 18 months ago, let's say it was. It was a profound experience, but it in ways felt more of the same as in. It was a reminder of kind of unconditional love and, you know, oneness. That was kind of the experience I had. But it didn't feel new to me. It didn't feel. Certainly the experience was new, but the realization or the feeling I got after and, you know, wasn't necessarily new new. And. Yeah, I think this time was just so profound because of who I am now versus who I was then and everything I'd been through after and new awareness and, you know, all of those things. So I think that's why, you know, plant medicines are so powerful and it's reminded me that they can be used and, you know, over time and you get different things from them. It'll bring out things when you're ready and when it's your time, you know, that's. That's all there is to it, I think. Yeah. Yeah.

I think that's the beautiful part about it. It's like whatever experience we had was just the experience we needed to have to take us to that next step in our journey. I truly believe that was the case. Like, I. It was just what I needed. And we probably each had our own very unique individualized experiences based on where we're at in our evolution, you know, and I feel the after effects, like we were discussing before we started recording this, the after effects have kind of like followed on now into our everyday life. But I don't know about you, but for me, it's still been about, like, trying to integrate, okay, what. What did that experience show me and then how do I now want to maintain or carry that. That lesson forward into my life in the way that I show up? Around people my business. So I'm curious to know, like, that integration process for you, how has that looked and yeah, like, what has been those. Those main shifts that you've now noticed afterwards? Like a week and a half after.

Yeah, I mean, I feel like taking the kind of spiritual interpretation out of the experience. It's just. It just feels like a real reset button. Has been impressed. And for me, I have come away with what feels like no fear. And I've been kind of taking my time to ensure that now the actions I'm taking in reality match my desire and my vision for my life and that I'm actually really, truly aligned. It's almost given me even more clarity. Like, it's like you can't lie to yourself and even if you, like, don't consider yourself someone who lies to themselves, we all, like, sometimes do it on different levels. Right. Even our unconscious is lying to us about things. And I say that because, like, we all creating stories and meanings about everything. Our unconscious creates stories and meanings about things. Like, it's just how we work as human beings. So it just feels like it's completely obliterated all of that. And it's. It's virtually impossible to lie to myself at the moment, which makes it so much easier to like, move forward and take action in the right things. Because I can clearly see why I'm not taking action. So, yeah, for me, that's been a big thing. You know, I've had many big journeys in the past where I've kind of been stuck in this or not stuck, but I've really been in the haze of the journey for some time afterwards and haven't actually taken any action in reality towards changing. And sometimes that's necessary too. But I think the magic is when we can integrate this into. Into reality so that we experience our reality changing and shifting and experience what we truly desire out of life. So for me, that's been focusing on, you know, really on my health and fitness. And I just had an operation on my leg recently, so healing through that and doing what I can as opposed to doing nothing. And yeah, like, in terms of my businesses, just really nailing in on. On that. On the things that I say I want out of them. And I'm taking action towards creating all of that now.

So, yeah, phenomenal, man. Phenomenal.

And just doubling, like, doubling down on the action, you know? Yeah, even. Even more committed.

Yeah, it's like the action is now coming from. From more inspired, clear, and like. Yeah, the quality of our action, I think in the Sense is now being raised dramatically because the energy behind our action is a lot more pure.

And like I.

You nailed it with like the reset, this reset button that it hit, I feel like it blast open all my energy centers and I feel like my crown chakra has just been blasted open because now every time I go into my meditations I feel I'm able to tap into this higher frequency and I feel inside of me. I feel like I really want to just nurture this, nurture this opening, this energy that's now coming through. You know what I mean? The last thing I feel like doing is going out and drinking alcohol or eating bad food or closing off that channel that's been open that portal. So if anything it's helped me maintain so much more discipline and diligence and commitment to my practices because I just want to like support this energy and keep it there, you know, and really allow it to keep moving through me. And for me that's like been breath work has been a great way of just like keeping that energy active. And I'm just really fascinated by all of that. How, you know the pineal gland, you know, it's where the DMT gets secreted from. When you go on an experience like this, it's sort of like you're just exploding the pineal gland open. And once you get a taste for like how readily available DMT is and how to start to tap into it yourself, it's sort of like it brings so much more for me like information, information in the form of the way you can tap into emotions. Like for people who listen to this and they into like manifesting and creating the life they want. Manifesting. The simple way to manifest is just feel good all the time. And the way I feel after taking this medicine is I feel lighter and I'm able to tap into emotions like gratitude, appreciation, joy, excitement, acceptance, just very. In a lot more effective way. I don't know if you're feeling that as well, but I just feel like I'm not holding on to as much stuff and we're not holding onto as much stuff. We're lighter, we're. We just like feel like. I don't know, I just feel like I have more energy. Would you agree? Do you feel the same?

Yeah, yeah, definitely, yeah. I mean I think the terminology I would use is probably at peace as opposed to feeling good because I think feeling, you know, a lot of people get stuck on that. We're supposed to feel happy and light all the time. But actually my perspective is that that's not natural to feel that. So it's, like, at peace and just things come up, but I'm just at peace with it. Like, it just is what it is. And you just breathe and move on. There's definitely. It's like, I've got a heightened sense of awareness around any conflict that my mind is creating. Yeah. Which I think therefore means, you know, I get triggered or an emotion comes up or whatever. And you've got. I've got a heightened sense of awareness about that and why it is. And it's so much. It's been much easier for me to not get caught in any story and just see it for what it is and kind of just like, move on. Yeah. Yeah.

Like that. The heightened present moment awareness, like, for me, is the most powerful tool we can cultivate or develop. Because when we're not, like, present, we miss out on noticing where all these stories are coming from. One of the things I've noticed recently, dude, that. Which is why I chose to embark on that this journey with the toad was a lot of our emotional imprints. Meaning, like, our emotional wounds get formed before the age of seven, before we can mentally construct a story around what these emotions mean, what these, like, people call them. Traumas. I don't really like his note work. It sounds a bit intense. But, like, just like growing up, maybe we didn't get love at certain points in time. Our parents, you know, didn't, like, like, weren't there for us when we were little babies. And we. Little insignificant moments, but leave emotional imprints on our subconscious. And a lot of the times, if these imprints aren't integrated into the present moment and processed life will just replay out the same patterns emotionally until we reintegrate our past. And I see plant medicines being such a powerful tool in revealing where these emotional imprints are, because we can't even see them. We don't even know that down there. So someone's like the toad for me. Because in my first journey, my first sitting with it was a lot of anger. Like, you can see in the video. A lot of anger comes out, out of me. Like, I was a Holy shit, where that come from? Didn't know I was down there. We have these suppressed energies and emotions that are stuck inside of us that sometimes we can't access because our conceptual mind is closed off from being able to tune into it. So I think that what we're experiencing is, like, this level of purity, the reset button, meaning emotions have been liberated from our body and now we're accessing depth throughout being that we haven't had before. So for me it's like the maintenance of that is can we maintain awareness in this moment, in the present moment. So just like notice if there's any other remnants of or any other things that we need to let go of throughout our process, throughout our journey. And it seems like because you've engaged so much in like your own development that you're like sharpening that awareness. Like is it, is there any other, anything else that has helped you become more self aware or just notice when you're holding onto something and if you don't have access to plant medicines, what do you, what will you do? What do you do?

Yeah, that's a good question. You know, I think there's been a couple of different parts to my journey that I'll talk through that. You know, I started off getting coaching with Preston Smiles and did the bridge experience and extreme leadership and then did one on one coaching. If you don't know Preston highly recommend you look him up. And yeah, I did six months one on one coaching with him and then you know, got involved in being a coach and kind of in that community. And for me that was a big part of my growth. And then actually I feel like the next stage was when I sort of stepped away from all of that. You know, I think my experience of kind of that coaching community was that there's a lot of people actually in many ways trying to feel good all the time and so, and I was trying to do this and so almost like trying to avoid negative events in life and like there's so much focus on who you want to become and you know, that sort of stuff you get caught up in overanalyzing everything and then life just doesn't, it's just not happening then because you're just so like caught up in things. At least that was my experience. And so the magic really started to happen for me when I went through some pretty hard stuff in life and it just like life kicked, kicked my ass basically. You know, I had a, had a child and then three months later his mum and I split up. And going through that and not being able to see him at certain points, points and having to face myself in all of that. I broke my femur at the same time, my right femur. So you know, it was just. Everything got ripped away from me. It felt like life was crushing me and you know, I kind of pushed away everyone, all my self help, like all the coaches and everything. I pushed everyone away. And it was from that period which was like mid-2019, basically the last 12 months that I feel like I've been able to cultivate a real level of self trust, which is just unshakable now. I really feel that. And that's been incredibly potent for me and psychedelics have helped me on my journey with that. But, you know, if I don't have access to plant medicine, just things like good healthy eating practices, meditation, good sleep. I think we actually underestimate how much sleep plays into our emotional states and our reactivity. And there are actually also studies that talk about certain foods over consumption of certain foods, putting your body into more of your sympathetic or parasympathetic nervous system, either way, which is your fight or flight response, your stress response. So, yeah, those things for me, I've just actually got a new device called a whoop. You can see on my wrist.

Yeah, yeah.

And. And that connects to my phone and it's tracking my sleep and telling me basically I'm not recovering enough.

Sort of like the Oura ring. You heard of the Oura ring?

Yeah, similar. Similar things. So, yeah, basically that's been my big focus at the moment. Like, I am meditating roughly 15 minutes a day at the moment. You know, I go to a sauna once a week and do some breath work as well. And when I can fit those things in, I will. But I think good nutrition, lots of water and good recovery and sleep is like prime right now. Because I haven't had that nailed probably ever like all at once. The trifecta, nutrition, water and sleep. So, yeah, that's kind of where I'm at right now.

Yeah, you're onto that, brother. Like, I feel sleep. You nailed it. Sleep is so underestimated in terms of the impact that it has on just the quality of the way we feel. So, yeah, second, for sure, the biggest.

Thing was I was just like. I was like, I'm getting eight hours sleep. Like I'm going to bed at 9pm and I'm waking up at 6 or whatever. And that's nine hours, you know, and this device. And I was waking up feeling tired still. And so this device is telling me actually my sleep is like. Yeah, no, no, no, not that it said, like it's taking me 20 minutes to fall asleep. Yeah. Then I've got so many disruptions during the night and then, you know, this and that. And so really I'm in bed for nine hours, but I'm only getting, you know, two hours of REM sleep, two hours of deep sleep, and, you know, a little bit of light sleep. And so of course I'm waking up tired because I'm only recovering it between 60 to 70% of 100% recovery. So yeah, it's been, you know, facts don't lie and it's been awesome to have that information and data available to me. I've only had this four days now, so it's already been a game changer.

Yeah, I've been tracking my sleep and all those little like diet little tweaks for probably the last like three years. That was from my first entry point into like personal development was through like biohacking and health and diet. And you're right in saying the minute you start tracking and measuring stuff, that's when things start improving. Like you check every single day, okay, what was my sleep today?

Cool.

What did I eat last night? What time did I go to bed? What resulted in me having really good sleep or really shit sleep? And you start to just tweak things and you notice. So yeah, taking care of the mind and body is essential. But I wanted to mention something that you just said, man around, like self trust. I really, really like that word. Because it can be very easy right now to not have like trust and faith right like around what's going on globally. It can be easy to lose faith in that things are going to work out, that things are going to be going to be good. Or it can be easy to not have faith and trust in the direction that life is trying to pull us. A lot of people will cling on to old jobs, old relationships or old scenarios out of like fear, like safety. Life's trying to pull them in one direction, but they'll say, oh no, I just want to keep things safe and comfortable. And I really feel like now is the time that when people were getting called to go in a certain direction, whether it be leave a job or start that business or whatever it is, like now is the time to do it because systems are collapsing. Things, things have been shaken up in a really like really big way. At the time of this recording we're still, you know, coronavirus Melbourne and lots of different cities are still heavily locked down. Like this is pretty intense, right? Like what is your suggestion to someone if they want to start to cultivate more self trust? Like, like you've just described to me Because I can feel it in you. Like does everyone go out and do some toad medicine to find this level of self trust or like hat where can someone start to look at how to trust themselves more? You feel me?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean it is an incredibly powerful thing to cultivate. You know, yesterday was the best time to start anything, so today is the second best time to start it. They say, yeah, I think it's just about like letting yourself think outside of the box, letting yourself think about what your vision is and what you want for your life and then actually taking action steps towards that. It doesn't have to be perfect. You don't have to know everything. Just the process of getting started. I've gotten started so many different times. Like, you know, I've now I just sold out of one business. I've, you know, you know, I wrote an email to my email list like probably a year and a half ago. It was like my 15 biggest failures in life. And I ended the email by saying, I actually don't consider any of these things failures. It's just like things that I've done that I imagine if, I imagine most people in their head, if it was their experience would transpose to, oh, this is a failure. I failed. I need to stop. You know, life is just a process. It's just, it's just a journey. You can't fail. You know, like the end destination is death. We'll get there, so what have we got to lose? You know, so cultivating self trust is really that process of going through, you know, making mistakes, you know, just taking action on things and believing in yourself and following through and being your word to yourself first and foremost. I was able to cultivate it where, you know, for so long in my life I kind of been really, if I look back at my life up until probably a year ago, I was deemed very successful by people and, you know, I have been very successful in business and I had good things happen in my life, but really there's been all these different phases and I recognized myself. I was just trying to be someone else. I was copying someone else's methodology of doing things. I was, you know, this coach over here, this real estate coach, I'm going to follow his methodology and I'm going to do this and, oh, this is someone else's plan and this is what's worked for them. I'm going to do that. So self trust for me was cultivated. The moment I pushed everything away and was like, you know what? Fuck off. I literally unfollowed. I unfollowed everyone on Instagram and followed like 12 people, my family and like a couple of close friends. I just had to delete everyone. It wasn't about deleting people, it was about removing external influences completely. So That I could cultivate myself and who I was and what I wanted and what I thought was right for me. I had to block out the noise. So it was such a powerful, powerful thing to do for myself, to give myself that space to go. You know what? I've tried doing everything that everyone else has told me to do. I've even followed this, this coach has said, and I've followed these practices and it still fucking blew up in my face. So why don't I. Why don't I. I just need to start listening to me and. Yeah, man, it's really fucking powerful.

Damn, I love that, bro. Fucking love that. Just like. Yeah, because I will admit I've. I have a tendency, and I have in the past to, you know, when I began this journey, like, trying to leave. Leave the accounting world, right, and try to find my. Find my own voice and find my own direction. Like, I realized how much I'd listen to other people. Nothing, nothing wrong with that. Like, I'm a great listener. Put my hand up. But there comes a point where, you know, no book, no one else's opinion, no. No YouTube series, no online course is gonna show you what the right thing is for you to do. Only, Only you know that. And to get access to that, you, like you said, you got to just switch off, switch off, like, unfollow people, silence all the, all the opinions and noise coming in, and really, for the first time, start to hear and listen to what your intuition, your heart is trying to tell you. Really, for me, that has been like a focus.

It's.

It's a priority for me at times now, and to not read a book, not listen to a podcast, not like, not want to call someone up, just like, just. Just be with myself, not have any inputs, you know, because there's. In a world where there's so many inputs, man, there's so many podcasts and opinions we can get about, like, how we should live our life. But ultimately I know when I silence my mind and connect with myself, what comes through is always something unique, pure, and like, just for me. Like, it's something life will give me. Like whispers. Like, I go this way, go and do toe medicine with Alex. Like, it was just like, okay, this is it. I just know this feels right. And the self trust that you talk about is about just following, learning to follow that without doubting it, you know? And I can sense you're really good at that, man, based on the life experience you've had. And if anything, I really would invite people to start to Lean into that a little bit more. Like too many people playing safe, man. And I'm, I want to start calling people out on it. Like if you're playing safe, it's not the time. And sometimes that first step someone takes doesn't have to be a big step. It could be something like quite small. Doesn't have to go out and do a plant medicine ceremony. It could be something like start that Instagram page you've been, you've been wanting to do or share that piece of content or have that conversation or whatever that little thing is that's gonna start them off into following that feeling, emphasizing now is the time to do it.

So let me, let me, let me share you a part of that, that email that I sent out, if I could remember some of it and even some of the things that I've just, that have just transpired this year. I own half of a real estate agency now that I founded and I sold half last year. I own an outsourcing agency in the Philippines. Did own another real estate agency that just sold out of. But you know, I remember talking about this email. It was like I started an Isagenix business and like did it for two months and then was like, nah, fuck this, not what I want to do. Move on, right? I tried to structure a deal buying another real estate business. Thought it was going to be easy. It was like 100, you know, sort of like a $200,000 deal. Basically by doing it and bringing on that new business and not putting the right things in place, one of my businesses lost like 200 grands worth of business going, going out. That business lost it. So it was just like wasted money, right? There's that. You know, this year alone, coming into this year, me and one of my good friends were like going to go into business together and we had all these big plans and we had several meetings with. We were going to start an investment group and we were going to go on build like between three to five different businesses, some around property, a couple around other things. And we'd had like three or four lunch meetings with someone who was, we were basically priming to be a GM of one of these companies. And you know, we're talking numbers and ideas and planning and then you know, like things didn't work out there. And him and I had a conversation. Something kind of happened with another deal we were involved in. We both decided it wasn't best for us to work together and we moved on. But we'd created an Instagram page that thing like we you know what I mean? Like, do I. Do I care? Does it look like a failure? Maybe? I don't know. I don't know, you know, but I learned so much from that interaction, and I just think, like, the only end goal is debt. Like, the only destination is death, right? So everything else you do, you're just gonna learn from. And that's. That's all there is to it, I think. Just really. I really wanted to reiterate that because, you know, you talk about people playing safe. I've been playing safe in my own way, in my own areas, and I think that's something that Toad has really helped me just, like, blast out of my mind that it's all based on. Playing safe is all based on false fear or story that you tell yourself, because it's based on what ifs? And what if someone judges me? What if I'm not good enough? What if it doesn't work out? What if it fails? What if this? What if that, you know, it's all made up in your head? And even if. What if happens? What if. So what. What if, like, you learn from it? You know, I think there's. There's a powerful. You know, there's just power. This power in just choosing to experience more of life. Um, and you do that by jumping in the deep end and trying to swim.

So, yeah, I feel one of the things that Toad helped me kind of embody was the notion that, like, nothing actually matters. Yeah, nothing actually matters that much. You know, like. And, like, one of my favorite quotes is, there's nowhere to go, and there's nothing to do. And realizing this, we can go anywhere and do anything. And that, to me is, like, it frees you from this notion that you have to do anything.

You're not.

You don't have to do anything. Like, no one's forcing you to do anything. And ultimately, like, you said, like, there is no failing. There's just, like, more lessons you can take along the journey. And why not? Like, again, this is. Tony Robbins talks about references, right? References are what you can pull from in your past based on the vast, like, experiences you've had. And some people, like, oh, like, why would you want to go and do, you know, this drug or this medicine? Why would you want to go and do that? I was like, well, because for me, the way I want to live my life is I want to experience life in all the different ways. I want to have the highs, the lows, and everything in between. And when this opportunity presents itself, it's like, yeah, I want to experience that. It's another reference I can add to this library of what we call life. And I feel it can be a lot of people, especially here in Perth, man, I'm going to, I'm going to say that because I've been away from Perth for the last couple of years. Perth is like a breeding ground for comfort zone because we have a very comfortable life out here. We have a good living conditions, everyone gets great opportunities to live a good job. Not many people are like trying to like push the boundaries of what, what's what their true potential is. You know what I mean? As well. Like I'm really grateful to have crossed paths with you and some other really close friends out here in Perth who are doing that, trying to better themselves, trying to really like tap into their potential. But a lot of people in Perth, I see it just like they're quite comfortable just like living their life, going to their job 9 to 5, come home and do their thing. No judgment like nothing against that. But to me it's like, I don't know, they're in the cruise control. Cruise control. Like life is being confined to a narrow set of parameters where they'll never really experience the true heights because they're too afraid to experience the deep dark lows. You know what I mean?

Yeah, I don't know that it's isolated to Perth. I wouldn't, I wouldn't maybe paint it that way but. Cause the more like through my Hundred Coffees project for instance, which for the listeners, challenge yourself to have 100 coffees with a hundred strangers in Perth to build, you know, face to face connection. Just have interesting conversations with people. Just had number 90 just before we recorded this. I'm almost at 100. And you know, there's been some really unassuming sort of people in there that have surprised me and blown me away with, with their life experience as well. You know, I think that here's the thing, like you can do anything with what you want and there's nothing wrong with comfort. But it is nice for people to experience their limitlessness and how much is available to them and how you know that they can literally do and be whatever they want, whoever they want. And I think that's probably the place I more operate from when I converse or interact with other people. It's like do they realize or experience that of themselves and are they making a choice to be comfortable from a place of fear or from a place of limitlessness? Because you know. Yeah, I just thought about that just then. So you Know, that's.

You're dead, right.

Yeah, it's, it's really interesting looking at it that way. I think what you're saying is there are a lot of people stuck in fear. And I truly believe that those, you know, that's all around the world. We're just seeing that with coronavirus and how mainstream media is spinning things and how a big majority of people are listening to the mainstream media about a lot of that stuff. But, you know, it's. Everyone's on their own journey and the human collective is waking up and evolving as it is and as it will. And I just feel, I think, I feel really blessed that I am who I am. Like, I wouldn't want to be anyone else. Yeah.

I love that. Yeah. I guess what I was touching upon there was like, just, perhaps just through the lens in which I've seen the world so far. Given the fact that was heavily in fear for the large part of, like my coming out of high school, coming out of university, and going into a corporate job, I realized it was purely, it was purely fear based. I got to save money, I got to be able to afford this. I got to get a job that pays me really well so that I can prove to world that I am worthy of love. Like, a lot of it was coming from a fearful story that when I peel back the layers and I got to connect with a deeper part of myself, I realized that, you know, wow, there is a younger child in here that just wants to be told he is a good, he's good enough and he's worthy of love. And when that process was done, it kind of freed me from having to stay in my corporate job, my accounting job. So, yeah, yeah, you're right. A good distinction. I'm glad you made that, made that point. The difference between living from fear and knowing your limitlessness. So, yeah, man, dude, I've really appreciated you sharing some of these insights with us because like I said before, you've, you've, you've experienced a lot in your short time on earth. So what, what's happening for you right now? What are you creating for the rest of the year? What's your, what's your intentions moving forward?

Yeah, good question. Well, the real estate business that I own half of, so that's in Karratha in Western Australia. For those people listening, that business is, is just going crazy right now. And we're, we're really growing that really quickly. Right now is in a really good place. I'm just working on that. I do a lot of Work in special projects, working with developers, funders and to put sort of bigger development deals together, which is something I really enjoy. Sounds like all of this sounds like a lot of work. By the way, when I explain what I do, it's really not a lot of work. Like it's just, it's just meeting people and talking to them and got the expertise and kind of, you know, a lot of wisdom in that field. So it's not, not hard work. It's just fun for me. So that's probably like 20% of my time. The other 20 to 40% I'm working on Workspace Co, which is the outsourcing business. We're about to really expand our offering there. Something that we've realized is that we provide virtual assistants, remote staff to people around the world. But there's actually a real need for our clients like want community, you know, they want a community. So we're really focused next on building a community around our client base. And I'm really inspired to start building some online, like an online business course and probably business mindset, whatever it'll be. So we're just in the early stages of that and I'm really excited by that actually. It's the first time I've been incredibly excited by a project and John's actually coming on board into that business. John's a friend of ours who sat with us with the Toad. And you know, one thing for me, like being quite a big picture thinker and someone who like, I have a million ideas a day, honestly, like, I, like, my mind just can figure shit out quickly. Like I can see the path from A to Z instantly. That's just how my brain works. The disadvantage of that is that I have a thousand ideas a day. Like, you know, it's hard not to get constantly stuck on doing something new. That's just, I'm great at creating new things. So having someone like John in the business now who can actually bring a lot of awareness to me around the things that I know and have experienced that are tangible and lots of people will benefit from and helping me direct my energy into a product has been really, really great. So. So yeah, I'm just working on that and other than that, just spending time with my son and you know, that's, that's pretty, pretty much it. Just seeing what unfolds. My, my podcast obviously as well, the Alex Water show up to episode 10. And you know, I said to you before, very like, congratulations for getting up to 60 episodes. I think it's a real testament to Your commitment of the podcasts. And, yeah, really enjoying that journey for me as well, like, just the ability to have honest and expressive conversations and explore different topics like psychedelics and, you know, business and things that I'm interested in. It's been very, very fun. Really fun. Yeah.

Thank you, man. And, yeah, I definitely resonate with the journey you're on there with the podcasting and just being able to just meet. For me, man, one of my values is relationships. I just love meeting interesting people and having interesting conversations. Like, it's the reason I became a coach. That's sort of what coaching is about, just having fun, interesting, deep conversations. So I've really. I'm really grateful for this conversation and the fact that I got to meet you, and I'm really glad we get to jump on this podcast and record this. And this is something that I love so much about podcasting, is like, these conversations are like a moment in time that's been captured. And now we can look back on this conversation a few years from now or later on when we get older and be like, wow, that's what we're thinking. That's the lessons we're taking from life in that moment. And even now, looking back at my first 10 episodes and two years ago when I recorded them, and it's, like, interesting. I get to learn from myself back to where I was seeing the world back then compared to how I am now. So I'll put that out there to anyone who wants to just, like, capture or record what it is that they're learning. Podcasting is just a way of doing that and sharing it with the world. You don't have to share it with the world, but I would say definitely document it stuff.

Totally agree. I had someone ask me about my podcast, and it was like, do you think it's a good time to start a podcast? Is it too competitive now? And I was like, like, first and foremost, you know, one of my team asked me, like, what's. What's your measure of success to the podcast, Alex? Like, what are we aiming for? And I was like, measure. My measure of success is if I'm enjoying it, if I'm having fun, honestly. Otherwise, I'm not going to do it. Like, I'm not gonna fucking do this thing for any other reason other than that. But, you know, I was like, we'll definitely play the social media game and, like, put it out there and grow engagement. I definitely want to do that, of course. But, you know, to answer this guy's question more directly, that's What I told him, and then I said, but if you want to know the answer to that, no, podcasting isn't competitive because there's actually far less people podcasting than probably any other medium of kind of social media or expression right now still. And there's, you know, like 8 billion people in the world right now. So there's so many different markets that haven't opened up to podcasting yet. And the Internet's still spreading far and wide through the. Through the Internet. So, you know, I think it's easy to just get caught up in. In that. And that question indicates to me, like, is this the right thing to do? What do you think is the answer to that?

So, good one. I like that.

Yeah.

Whatever question you have for someone else, ask that question to yourself and allow the answer to come through. Beautiful. Yeah, mate, thanks again for coming on here. And where can people connect with you online? You mentioned the podcast and what else? Instagram, Facebook.

Yeah, just. Just look at me on Instagram. Don't really go on Facebook much, so my Instagram's at Alexander Waters W A T E R S. And that's it. Yeah, feel free to shoot me a message or connect, whatever.

Amazing man. Mate, I'm sure we'll stay in touch and we'll cross paths again very soon. But, yeah, appreciate your time today, brother. And yeah, enjoy the rest.

Thanks for having me. Thanks, bro.

Hey, there we have it, guys. Thanks so much for listening to this episode. And yeah, look, if you made it this far, cool. Here's my voice again in your ear. And I'm gonna make one more request for you is go ahead and subscribe and leave a comment on the podcast page because I'm really putting a lot of focus and attention on getting this podcast out to more people because I know when what I'm putting in here can serve and bring value to people. And it would mean a lot if you got value from this to leave some feedback and subscribe. So you stay up to date with what's coming up and as always, follow me on Instagram and love hearing from you. It's at State Shifters until the next episode. Guys, thank you so much and I appreciate you.