Protect Your Feelings

Welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am Thomas Anglero, upset but mostly disappointed in the behavior of human beings, how people take advantage of other people when they're down, when they need love. Other people see opportunity. Let me share with you my story. My father-in-law, a great man, a man who lifted my spirits when I was down, who always believed in me. He passed away a year ago, and we all miss him dearly every moment of every day. He left behind a car that I told the family I would help to sell because no one's in the mood to sell this car. No one wants to sell his baby. He loved that car. In the process of selling that car, I told the buyer, or the prospective buyer, the story of how much my father-in-law loved the car. I told him how much he cherished it, told him the story of how he bought it. The buyer used all of this against me. At the end result, he value— he tried to abuse me and gave me a sale of when I did the math of the numbers, he valued the car as zero and basically said, I'm taking off your hands as a favor and I get to have a duplicate because he already has the same car in white. Now he gets to get the same car in red. And I realized, my God, not at that time when we're negotiating, I told him I'll get back to you, because something did not feel right. And as the hours passed after the phone call ended, it hit me. Here is a 57-year-old man, this person I'm negotiating with. He has a lover who only he sees on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. And Monday through Thursday, he says, she could go do whatever she wants, but Friday and Saturday and Sunday, she's mine. He's 57, and his goal in life, his reflection of having a full life, is to just consume and get and take advantage of people and go for his. It's okay to share someone. He can't have someone in his life full-time, but they're willing to give him a piece of them on weekends. He's willing to take advantage of some family who's going through a crisis. To get another car. Who are these people? The answer is, they're everywhere. The reflection I have is that these people are the people who are to our left and to our right and all around us. It is not that they are bad, it's that they have never lived. They don't know what sorrow is. They haven't even reflected. People of no reflection, people who don't realize that life is not about accumulating things. Life is not about how many people you can sleep with. Life is not about being so happy that you're saying, yes, I can sleep with somebody Friday, Saturday, Sunday, then Monday, Thursday, somebody. What the hell is that? How shallow is that? How can you at 57 years old, after a full life, still be in high school in your mind. His voice is bassy. His stories are eloquent. His mind is a child. You have to protect yourself from people who are looking to abuse you. I opened my heart to him and shared the stories of my father-in-law. And in return, he saw opportunity to just consume and collect another car for nothing. Another mantle story to brag to his buddies and friends when he's at the bar, of how he got a car for nothing, of how he abused a family who was hurting. The moral of this story is that during these negotiations, my gut was telling me something was off, but my heart was in negotiations. I understood, and I know, I've negotiated many times, never have your heart in a negotiation. But I was talking about my father-in-law, and it's very difficult to not be emotional. But afterwards, my mind cleared, my heart settled, and my anger Thomas Anglero began, "Protect yourself from people who do not return the love directly back to you." If you open your heart to someone, if you share a story with someone that means so much to you, and they do not immediately reciprocate by changing their frequency, by dropping their eyebrows, By dropping their shoulders, by consoling you with a look, with a glance, by putting a hand on your shoulder, with a hug, by stopping what they're doing, then that person is a vampire and they just want to suck the life, the energy, the opportunity out of you. You must protect yourself. I know life is difficult. I know when you're down you are extremely vulnerable, but when you are vulnerable, this is when when these people are coming after you like never before. And this just happened to me yesterday. And today I'm pissed. I'm pissed because I'm so disappointed that I've met yet again another person who in the waning years of their life— and I know being 57 is not late in your life, but when you're living a life like this idiot, It is in his waning years. He doesn't have much left. He's going to go out and his last moment, in his last breath, he's going to say, I was able to cheat him for a free car. Wow, that's the way you want to die? Is that your last breath? No person wanted to live with you, only for moments, minutes and minutes, only for moments and minutes on weekends. No one wanted to be with you, and the best you could do was swindle people out of a car. Great. Good on you. Don't be that guy. If what I say makes you feel uncomfortable, then you need to check yourself. And this is a moment. Collect love, collect stories, of other people's love, because that means you spent your time listening to them, understanding them. And as you listen to people's stories and their stories of love and their stories of brokenheartedness, their stories of being alive, you grow. That's what you reflect on in your final moments. I lived a life where I heard so many wonderful things, I experienced so many wonderful moments, I have made so many 'Wonderful friends.' Not, 'I swindled people out of their possessions.' 'I took advantage of people when they were down.' Go forth and spread beauty and light. Spread your beauty and light, but also listen to people and give them beauty and light by not taking advantage of them when they're down, but by giving them love when they're down to lift them up. With all the crises in the world and all the stress that we have day to day, you want to be immortalized? You want to be remembered? Give someone a smile. Give someone a moment. Just give someone a moment that they could hold on to. That knocks them out of wherever they are and you realize, yes, life is about love and this person's wonderful smile has made me feel good and has made me— made this wonderful day. I will cherish this moment. It might be embarrassing and I cannot tell that person that, but that's how I feel. Then you are living a wonderful life. I love you. Spread your love with as many people as you can, as often as you can. And when the vampires come to you and when people try to take advantage of you, take a moment and stop and realize they don't belong in your life. They could be friends, they could be family, they could be colleagues. They're vampires. They're not you. You are a great being. You understand that a hug, that love, a belief, a glance, A smile, a memory can change you and can change the world. Don't forget that. I'm Thomas Anglero. Until next time.

Thank you for listening to that episode. If you want to contact me, you can contact me on my website at anglero.com. And you can also subscribe to the newsletter, or you can find me anywhere on social media with Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Thank you so much, and I hope to hear from you very soon.