Luke Storey:  I'm Luke Storey. For the past 22 years, I've been relentlessly committed to my deepest passion, designing the ultimate lifestyle based on the most powerful principles of spirituality, health, psychology. The Life Stylist podcast is a show dedicated to sharing my discoveries and the experts behind them with you.

[00:00:30] Listeners of this show want to take charge of their health and wellness. They are people who are seeking and striving to do all the right things for the body to give them more energy, better sleep, a healthy immune system, and to improve their personal performance, and gain the vitality needed to live longer, better, healthier lives. I don't know about you, but that fits me 100%. Here's the thing that gets confusing out there, right?

[00:00:51] There's a barrage of biased, misleading, and personal information that creates a lot of doubt and confusion, which obscures your way forward. There are just so many experts out there, including the ones on this show that are making universal recommendations without you really knowing what your body needs specifically based on thorough biomarker testing. So, as a result, people often lack three important things to help them get a clear picture of what their body looks like on the inside, a clear measure of whether their diet and exercise choices are helping or hurting, and a clear idea of who or what to trust when it comes to health, wellness, and performance guidance.

[00:01:26] This, my friends, is exactly what InsideTracker has been designed to solve. They offer folks like us a clearer picture than we've ever had before of what's going on inside your body. These guys provide an ultra personalized performance system that analyzes data from your blood, DNA, lifestyle, and fitness tracker to help you optimize your body, and reach your health and wellness goals. I just did the testing and it illuminated quite a few surprising facts about what's going on inside this body.

[00:01:53] It's pretty incredible when you really see in front of you in a concrete way what your body needs. InsideTracker was founded in 2009 by leading scientists in aging, genetics, and biometrics. Using their patented algorithm, they analyze your body's data to provide you with a clear picture of what's going on and to offer you science-backed recommendations that are ultra effective for your diet and lifestyle.

[00:02:15] So, once you've done your testing, InsideTracker tracks your progress and makes recommendations based on what they find. So, if you're ready to stop guessing about your micronutrient, mineral, hormone, and DNA status, InsideTracker has the solution. And for a limited time, you can get 25% off the entire InsideTracker store. Just go to insidetracker.com/luke and start your journey into quantifying your body's performance. Again, that's insidetracker.com/luke for 25% off.

[00:02:48] I've been working on improving my sleep for the past 20 years. Yes, that's true. That's how long it's taken me to figure this thing out. Now, there have been many solutions along the way that have assisted in improving not only the quality, but also duration of my sleep. And one of the problems that I came upon early on in my research and experience was the issue with too much light in the room.

[00:03:08] Now, you can get blackout curtains. Oftentimes, they don't work well enough. For someone like me who tends to travel a lot, it's difficult to block out the light on demand. So, I found this mask from a company called BLUblox. It's called the Remedy Sleep Mask, and it solves the problem of light leaks, which equals poor sleep, frequent awakenings, shifting around in your bed at night, because there's light slipping through.

[00:03:32] It's also great for napping and meditation. Now, of course, meditation has so many benefits, one of which being, helping you focus and remain calm during the day, but also helping you sleep the following night. So, it's really important to block out the light, especially that blue light, and the Remedy Sleep Mask has solved that problem. It's incredibly comfortable. It's super, super, 100% blackout.

[00:03:54] It's also made with an adjustable elastic strap that helps it fit all heads equally. It works for all sleeping styles, so you can sleep on your back belly, or like me, on your side. And it's very comfortable, doesn't get in the way. It's not bulky. It's got adjustable eye cups so you can position them for the perfect fit. You can also fully open your eyes when wearing the mask, which means that it's not smashing your eyeballs. One of the things I always had problems with was putting on a sleep mask, and then it's kind of smooshing my eyes.

[00:04:21] It's got to be interrupting to that REM sleep when your eyes need to move around. That's just my theory. I don't know if that's true, but in my case, it seems to be. And this mask is also super breathable, so you're not going to wake up with a sweaty, gross face. So, if you want to check out the Remedy Sleep Mask, go to blublox.com/lifestylist and use the code, LifeStylist to save 15%. That's B-L-U-B-L-O-X, blublox.com/lifestylist. The code again is LifeStylist for 15% off. And you're looking for the Remedy Sleep Mask, like R-E-M, get it? Remedy Sleep Mask from blublox.com.

[00:05:00] Welcome to Episode 354 of the Life Stylist podcast. On today's solo cast, we're going to flip the script a little bit. Rather than doing a Q&A from the Life Stylist Podcast Facebook group, I'm going to wax poetic on some of my favorite spiritual principles, because during this time of uncertainty, and change, and just relative insanity, no supplement or biohack is going to do the job. We are now presented with an opportunity to up-level our consciousness.

[00:05:29] And in my own experience, nothing has done so better than learning about, and then applying spiritual truths or principles. So, stay tuned to up-level your mind and spirit in this special episode of the show. Before we jump into the crux of this episode, I'd like to invite you to join me next week for Episode 355. It's called Spermidine: The Key to Longevity, Energy, and Cognitive Power with our guest, Leslie Kenny. Okay. Let's get into it. And if you enjoy today's episode, by all means, share it with the friend.

[00:06:06] Now, before we dive into some of my favorite principles, let's define what they are and why they are so critical to a life of purpose. The purpose of a human's life on Earth is to consciously evolve and grow as an expression of the all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving force, which created the universe and all it contains. This is to say that the purpose of one's life is to build character. 

[00:06:29] Character is the totality and essence of one's entire spirit and being. A person's character is their utmost authentic core identity. So, there is no task as urgent or important in one's life as the building or changing of character. One's character determines one's destiny in life, and it's the single most influential factor in one's relationship to people and the realities of life in general. 

[00:06:56] Character is the only permanent part of who you are. It's all there really is to a person and all that you can take with you when you depart this world. Character is changed and built through the practical application of spiritual principles. Principles are truths from which all other truths are derived. Principles were all that was present at the beginning of time and all that would be left at the end of time.

[00:07:18] Spiritual principles, in my experience, are a form of energy which possess unlimited power. You can say, they are aspects of the unseen hand that some of us refer to as God. They're ways in which God manifest in our world. Principles can first be accessed through a basic understanding and mental comprehension, which is what we're going to do in this episode. However, until a principle is put directly into application in one's life, it remains nothing more than a theory or an intellectual possession.

[00:07:51] In order to harness the unlimited power of a principle or the power of universal truth, that principle must be practiced as a way of life until that principle becomes a foundational component of one's character. So, principles aren't something that we need to go out and find, but rather something that we must identify, uncover, and cultivate within our own inward being, and thus express outwardly in our everyday life.

[00:08:17] True power principles are inherent to all people, and will be revealed the moment a false principle is identified and removed through a surrendered willingness on the part of the possessing person or by divine providence on the part of a greater intelligent force as a gift of grace. Just as the sun is revealed as a cloud dissipates, true principles are thus revealed when false principles are discarded.

[00:08:43] An illustration I might offer here could be demonstrated through the principle of honesty. The instant dishonesty is removed from one's character and practice, actual honesty is left to replace it. When we're talking about character, one's character is determined by one's level of integrity. And integrity, a principle in and of itself is defined as strength, stability, reliability, wholeness, and completeness.

[00:09:08] One's obedience and dedication to his or her values determines their level of integrity. Likewise, the degree of integrity that one possesses is equivalent to the degree by which he or she values and utilizes principles or truth in their own lives. One's values are the principles that are most cherished and most readily applied in everyday life. The more integrity one possesses, the more mental and emotional balance he or she will have. 

[00:09:35] And the more balanced one possesses, the more able one will be to uncover and utilize even more principles in their lives as a result. And the more balanced one possesses, the more one will be able to uncover and utilize even more principles in their lives. And as a result, will strongly attract both persons and circumstances which support those principles. With the application of integrity and a lifestyle of spirituality to support it, one will likely not only achieve and maintain mental health and balance, but also a life of fulfillment and joy.

[00:10:10] And that's why these principles are so important and so integral to my life, and something I felt compelled to share today. And in fact, I feel compelled to start sharing on a more ongoing basis. As I review my life and the progress I've made in the past two decades of inner work, these are the things that have really moved the needle, finding truth and applying them. Some of the most profound and immediate character-changing and character-building principles are as follows.

[00:10:39] Let's begin with application. Because without this principle, nothing we're going to cover today matters. The definition of application is the act of putting to a special use or purpose close attention, persistent effort, utilization, anything applied, a remedy, continued mental or physical effort, close attention, diligence. So, that means when we're finding something that we find to be valuable and we use it in our lives, we are in the process of application. 

[00:11:09] Because someone can learn all of the truth in the known universe, but until that truth is applied and tested, it will remain dormant and be relatively useless data without much utilitarian value other than building the intellectual ego, which will eventually prevent one from obtaining the fulfillment they sought out to begin with. Applied truth is wisdom, and wisdom shapes one's every decision, and thus their fate.

[00:11:33] So, don't be fooled by the mind's propensity to gather more information just for the sake of intellectual pride and vanity. Take what truth moves your heart and apply it practically as you live your life. The next principle we'll cover is acceptance. Acceptance and spirituality mindfulness in human psychology usually refers to the experience of a situation without an intention to change that situation.

[00:11:58] Indeed, acceptance is often suggested when a situation is both disliked and unchangeable, or when change may be possible only at great cost or risk. Acceptance may imply only a lack of outward behavioral attempts at possible change, but the word is also used more specifically for a felt or hypothesized cognitive or emotional state. Thus, someone may decide to take no action against the situation, yet be said to have not accepted it.

[00:12:28] Acceptance is contracted with resistance, but that term has strong political and psychoanalytic connotations not applicable in many contexts. By groups and by individuals, acceptance can be of various events and conditions in the world. Individuals may also accept elements of their own thoughts, feelings, or personal histories. For example, psychotherapeutic treatment of a person with depression or anxiety could involve fostering acceptance, either for whatever personal circumstances may give rise to those feelings or for the feelings themselves. 

[00:13:03] Next, I'll quote one of my favorites, a man by the name of Dr. Harry Tiebout, a long-deceased psychiatrist and an early supporter of the AA movement. Tiebout wrote, acceptance appears to be a state of mind in which the individual accepts rather than rejects or resists. He's able to take things in, go along with, and to cooperate to be receptive. Contrariwise, he is not argumentative, quarrelsome, irritable, or contentious. 

[00:13:30] For the time being, at any rate, the hostile, negative, aggressive elements are in abeyance, and we have a much pleasanter human being to deal with. Acceptance as a state of mind has many highly admirable qualities as well as useful ones. Some measure of it is greatly to be desired. Its attainment as an inner state of mind is never easy. And it's worth noting here that Dr. Tiebout is referring to the treatment of alcoholics, but I would go so far as to say that in most human, mental, and emotional dysfunction, many of the same principles for identification and recovery from those issues also apply.

[00:14:12] He goes on to say, it is necessary to point out that no one can tell himself or force himself wholeheartedly to accept anything. One must have a feeling, a conviction, otherwise the acceptance is not wholehearted but half-hearted with a large element of lip service. There is a string of words which describe half-hearted acceptance, submission, resignation, yielding, compliance, acknowledgement, succession, and so forth.

[00:14:38] With each of these words, there is a feeling of reservation, a tug in the direction of non-acceptance. Unless the unconscious has within it the capacity to accept, the conscious mind can only tell itself that it should accept. But by doing so, it cannot bring about acceptance in the unconscious, which continues with its own non-accepting and resenting attitudes. The result is a house divided against itself.

[00:15:04] The conscious mind sees all the reasons for acceptance, while the unconscious mind says, but I won't accept, wholehearted acceptance under such circumstances is impossible. Experiences proved that in the alcoholic, a half-hearted reaction does not maintain sobriety for very long. The inner doubts all too soon take over. The alcoholic who stays sober must be wholehearted. As indicated in the Alcoholics Anonymous literature, half measures availed us nothing. 

[00:15:33] Meaning, surrender and acceptance must be complete, conscious and subconscious, otherwise they just don't stick. To further quote Dr. Tiebout, what does produce wholehearted acceptance? My answer is, as before, surrender. But surrender is a step not easily taken by human beings. In recent years, because of my special interest in the phenomenon of surrender, I've become aware of other conscious and unconscious phenomenon, namely compliance, which is basically the partial acceptance or partial surrender, and which often serves as a block to true surrender.

[00:16:09] So, incredible wisdom from Dr. Harry Tiebout there, and someone that is going to be relatively unknown and obscure to most listeners, but I think most people that have gone down the path of recovery and done some research will be familiar with some of his work. So, having created a frame around the principle of acceptance, let's now explore the principle of surrender and the nuanced relationship it has to acceptance. 

[00:16:35] To define surrender, surrender in spirituality and religion means that a believer completely gives up his own will and subjects his thoughts, ideas, and deeds to the will and teachings of a higher power. Now, the term is also used in a similar manner in some schools and approaches to psychology, in which sense, it is an antonym of a hostility, signifying something akin to acceptance of one's own nature and that of the world.

[00:17:01] In my subjective experience, acceptance is more minute. It pertains to situations that arise in day-to-day life. By accepting the micro-reality of any given situation in your day-to-day life, one can build up to a surrendered life or at least one's attitude about life. What I refer to as these micro-acceptance practices or instances are like the gateway drug of calm that can lead to a more comprehensive, surrendered mental and spiritual state, wherein one cease fighting things they no longer have power to change. 

[00:17:34] You could say that once you accept the things you cannot change, as indicated in the famous Serenity Prayer, that that leads the way to surrendering to what is in each passing moment. And I think it's really important to further dive into the definitions and application of surrender due to the fact that many people have an aversion to it, because it feels like giving up or that it's going to put them in a position to be a pushover and to just blindly accept things that go against their own well-being.

[00:18:03] So, let's not confuse surrender with complacency or giving up. One can stand up for what they believe in and take action to produce positive change on a small or grand scale, yet do so without any residue of resentment or anger, which lessens one's power and effectiveness. One of the most important experiences I've had in my understanding of surrender was presented by the author, Eckhart Tolle, in the book, The Power of Now.

[00:18:31] To quote Eckhart, to some people, surrender may have negative connotations, implying defeat, giving up, failing to rise to the challenges of life, becoming lethargic, and so on. True surrender, however, is something entirely different. It does not mean to passively put up with whatever situation you find yourself in and to do nothing about it, nor does it mean to cease making plans or initiating positive action.

[00:18:56] Surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to, rather than opposing the flow of life. The only place where you can experience the flow of life is in the now. So, to surrender is to accept the present moment unconditionally and without reservation. It is to relinquish in a resistance to what is. In a resistance is to say no to what is through mental judgment and emotional negativity.

[00:19:21] It becomes particularly pronounced when things go wrong, which means that there is a gap between the demands or rigid expectations of your mind and what is. That is the pain gap. If you have lived long enough, you will know that things go wrong quite often. It is precisely at those times that surrender needs to be practiced if you want to eliminate pain and sorrow from your life. Acceptance of what is immediately frees you from mind identification, and thus reconnects you from being. 

[00:19:51] Resistance is the mind. It continues by saying surrender is a purely inner phenomenon. It does not mean that on the outer level, you cannot take action or change a situation. In fact, it is not the overall situation that you need to accept when you surrender, but just the tiny segment called the now. For example, and I love this example, and I've used this for so long, if you were stuck in the mud somewhere, you wouldn't say, okay, I resign myself to being stuck in the mud. 

[00:20:20] Resignation is not surrender. You don't need to accept an undesirable or unpleasant life situation, nor do you need to deceive yourself and say that there is nothing wrong with being stuck in the mud. No. You recognize fully that you want to get out of it, then you narrow your attention down to the present moment without mentally labeling it in any way. This means that there is no judgment of the now.

[00:20:44] Therefore, there is no resistance, no emotional negativity. You accept the easeness of this moment, then you take action, and do all you can do to get out of the mud. Such action, I call positive action. It is far more effective than negative action, which arises out of anger, despair, or frustration. Until you achieve the desired result, you continue to practice surrender by refraining from labeling the now. 

[00:21:10] In the state of surrender, you see very clearly what needs to be done, and you take action doing one thing at a time, focusing on one thing at a time. And I think that is just such a beautiful and potent explanation of this principle, and how it can be applied. And I think of so many times in my life, I mean, it's ongoing, really, every day. There are big situations and smaller situations of less significance in which I find myself at the turning point of giving in to the juice and the temptation of negativity, and complaining, and victimhood or an empowered approach to what I call active surrender, empowered surrender, wherein I can make those decisions to change the things in my life in that moment that I'm finding unpleasurable or disturbing without finding fault with that situation. 

[00:22:05] In other words, without the inner complainer, the inner whiner, the inner victim bitching about the situation I find myself in. Case in point, I have a great example that just came to mind. A couple of nights ago, our dog, Cookie, polished off her little bully stick. And I've noticed in the past when she eats these bully sticks, which are quite disgusting, if you know what they are, actually, but dogs tend to love them, and you like to keep the dog entertained, and give them something to chew on. 

[00:22:31] Most of the time, Cookie, who's laying here next to me at the moment, having a nice nap, ignores these bully sticks. And they sit around and collect in the house. Well, the other day, she decided to eat one in its entirety. And when she did so, as has happened before, she developed projectile diarrhea. I mean, not really projectile, but let's just say, it made her tummy super sick. So, the night before last, she kept me up half the night, kind of panting and giving me signals that she needed to go outside again and again. 

[00:23:04] And I found it much more difficult to apply this level of acceptance and surrender to action. I did it, but I was a little resentful, because I was tired and grumpy, but it was a great lesson. Then, yesterday, Alyson and I went to an acro yoga class at my friend, Cal's, house, and it was beautiful. We were gone for about four hours and we couldn't take the dog with us. So, when we came home, we had a bet on whether or not the dog would have shat on the floor due to her aforementioned diarrhea.

[00:23:36] I bet that she was fine. I thought she was over it. Alyson said, no way, we're going to find some piles when we get in. We walk in the door, and of course, right in the middle of the floor, there is a big pile of doggy poop. And it's in that moment that I was given the opportunity to complain, find fault, be pissed off, be annoyed. And I think because I wasn't as tired as I was in the middle of the night, the night before, with the similar circumstance, I was easily able to just find compassion for the dog.

[00:24:06] First off, she was, I'm sure, not having any more fun than we were in that situation, because she gets very stressed out when she's forced to go inside. She's very well-trained and loves doing her thing outside. But I just very calmly went over, and grabbed some tufts of toilet paper, and proceeded to clean it up. And sorry for the graphic description here. It was just the most recent thing that I found resistance to that I was able to work through very clearly.

[00:24:35] And that might seem insignificant to some people listening, because you think, what's the big deal? Just some dog poop, you pick it up. But see, as I was describing earlier in the building of character, through the application of acceptance and surrender in my life, subjectively, I've become, over the years, much more able to surrender to the big things. And I mean big things, conflicts in business, selling of businesses, partnerships that go awry, relationships that dissolve, the house that we're currently renovating, for which I am eternally grateful.

[00:25:11] And I know this is a high-quality problem, but it's a lot of work and it's months behind at this point, as everyone warned me it would be. Taxes, 2020, I got a horrific tax bill from the slave owners of our country, and that was troubling. And things like that are, of course, much harder to just roll with, but how we learn to do that is through the micro-acceptance of the little things that annoy us, the little things throughout our day that don't go our way.

[00:25:43] And we can actually reprogram the subconscious mind by using the will of our conscious mind to react to things in life differently. And over time, we can begin to build the surrendered state of being where there's a flow. And even if something comes up, as Eckhart Tolle just described, that is not of our liking and preference, rather than becoming disempowered, we can actually empower ourselves by accepting that in this present moment in the now, that's how things are.

[00:26:17] And in observation of that and acknowledgement of that, we can be honest with ourselves and really determine more quickly what things we have the power to change. And this brings to mind, of course, the whole COVID fiasco that we've been facing for the past year-and-a-half or so, something that from the very beginning, I was not in agreement with in any way, whatsoever. And I've grown only more firm in my resolve that this is an inauthentic agenda, and that many people are being harmed, some, beyond repair, as a result of this.

[00:26:52] And God, it pisses me off, right? Because I just believe in the human spirit. I believe in human individuality, freedom, autonomy, sovereignty. I just believe in our God-given rights. I believe that the creator created us to live our lives in freedom. And with the exception of the point when our freedom, of course, harms others and infringes on others' freedoms, well, then that takes it to another level of examination. 

[00:27:24] But when it comes to the big things that I can't change, all I can do is change my attitude about those things in how I'm going to react and respond. So, it might start with some dog shit and it might go all the way up to the elite powers of the world that are pulling the strings for the rest of humanity, doing things that, in my opinion, experience, estimation, observation, are extremely evil and harmful. But see, I have to surrender that point of view. It doesn't mean that I can't do anything to change it, that I can't claim my own sovereignty, and that I can't help spread the message that I spread on my podcast and elsewhere, but it's the inner resistance.

[00:28:07] It's the anger that's going to weaken me and make me less effective. So, if I sit around hating the oppressors for their oppression, I am now not only being oppressed by them potentially, but I'm also oppressing myself due to the nature of those lower emotional states and the fact that they suppress one's own innate resources. And so, if I want to effect change in the world, the first change I must work on, of course, is within myself. And the very starting point for me is in surrender. It's in acceptance. So, I thought I might add that.

[00:28:48] We'll be right back at you after this brief but important announcement. If you're enjoying this episode of the podcast, you should know that it would not be possible without support from our friends over at Beekeeper's Naturals. Now, when I sat down to cut this run of 2021 ads, I thought, which one do I want to start with? And it immediately came to mind that I used the propolis throat spray more often than any of their other amazing products, as delicious and useful as they are.

[00:29:17] I always travel with the throat spray. I use it on airplanes, anywhere I'm going to be around other people's funk, when the air's dirty and germy, and I also keep it by my bedside to use first thing in the morning when I wake up, especially in dry climates, where I get a little bit of sore throat, or if I'm just feeling like a twinge of a cold, or something like that, possibly coming on. 

[00:29:38] The propolis throat spray is not only a powerful natural medicine, but it also tastes delicious. It's kind of like a mild honey flavor. In fact, it's so delicious that my fiancee, Alyson, saw me using this stuff so often that eventually, she jacked bottle of it for herself, because there's a few around the house. She's free to do so, of course. And now, she's on board with it and she travels with it as well.

[00:29:58] So, it is a family favorite. These little bee creatures make some incredible stuff and bee propolis is one of my favorites. It delivers natural germ-fighting properties and antioxidants to help protect our body. It's also sustainably sourced and the spray is made with just three simple ingredients. So, you're never going to find any refined sugars, dyes, dirty chemical, none of that schwag ever.

[00:30:20] So, if you're ready to check out the Beekeeper's Naturals propolis throat spray, here's what you do. Go to beekeepersnaturals.com/lukestorey. That's beekeepersnaturals.com/lukestorey. The spelling is B-E-E-K-E-E-P-E-R-S-N-A-T-U-R-A-L-S, beekeepersnaturals.com/lukestorey. And if you use that link, which of course is also easily clickable in the show notes for this episode, you're going to save yourself 15% off.

[00:30:55] And now, back to the interview. Now, when we're talking about wanting to have more practice of surrender and acceptance in our lives, we might want to take a look at some of the things that would make that less possible and more difficult. So, let's take that a step further and look at another principle called compliance. And going back to Dr. Harry Tiebout, his analysis of the principle of compliance as it manifests as a block to surrender is a really powerful lesson and a great tool to self-assess whether one has indeed truly surrendered without reservation.

[00:31:35] Goes like this, compliance needs careful definition. It means agreeing, going along, but in no way implies enthusiastic, wholehearted assent and approval. There is a willingness not to argue or resist, but the cooperation is a bit grudging, a little forced, one is not entirely happy about agreeing. Compliance is therefore a word which portrays mixed feelings and divided sentiments.

[00:32:01] There is a willingness to go along, but at the same time, there are some inner reservations, which make that willingness somewhat thin and watery. It does not take much to overthrow this kind of willingness. The existence of this attitude will probably appear as neither strange nor new, nor is it until one begins to see how it operates in the unconscious. So this speaks to that inner resistance that Eckhart Tolle was writing about in The Power of Now.

[00:32:29] And this inner resistance is one of the main blocks to our ability to surrender. And I have observed in my own experience at times, I've tried to accept something that's difficult, and I've pushed against it, and pushed against it, and I've done everything I can to accept it, and accept the present moment, and I found that I just can't. And in those moments, sometimes, I've had to just pause, and say, you know what?

[00:32:55] I have to accept that I don't have the capacity to accept this now, because there's something within me that is blocking that acceptance, that's blocking the surrender. So, an example of this in very fundamental practical terms might look like this. A friend of yours asked you to drive them to the airport and you really don't want to. Just in your heart, you'd love to help them out, but you just don't want to. 

[00:33:22] You're busy. You hate traffic. You don't have time. You have things going on in your life. And so, you're like pissed at them and resentful of the fact that you've been put in this situation, where a friend of yours has created this expectation around your willingness to participate in the relationship in that way. Compliance would look like this, yeah, yeah, oh, sure, I'd love to. Yeah, I'll drive you to the airport. 

[00:33:48] And on the way to their home to pick them up, you're self-talking in your mind about what a pain in the ass this is and how dare they ask you for this kind of favor and put you in that position, or perhaps, it's more self-incriminating. You're going, God, I'm such an idiot, why did I agree to this? God, I'm such a pushover, I'm such a people pleaser. Shit, how did I get myself into this, et cetera?

[00:34:12] Look at this traffic. I mean, you could go on and on with the inner resistance, right? So, one could say that you've accepted that your friend needs some help, and that you're willing to help them, and that you've surrendered to the fact that you've made the decision to drive your friend to the airport. But it's not a true subconscious surrender, because there's still that element of resistance.

[00:34:35] And you could draw the same sort of analogy around the COVID thing or around the dog doing its thing on the floor. All of this can be applied universally from the micro to the macro, from totally insignificant events in one's day-to-day life to hugely significant events that not only affect an individual's lives, but the lives of humankind at large. So, I really wanted to take some time, and dive into this, and explore some of the different blocks so that we can learn to identify when we're in true surrender or compliance.

[00:35:12] Now, there are so many principles that I wanted to cover in this episode that I started writing some notes and creating a manuscript, and I thought, I'm just going to write a book about this, which I probably will. The book that I'm writing is not, per se, such a detailed breakdown of principles, although it is infused with a lot of principles. And so, it's actually difficult for me to pick my favorites without us being here for four hours.

[00:35:36] So, as I said in the intro, I will intend to do more of these episodes, because I just find so much value in them for myself. And I find that when I sit down at the computer to record a solo cast, I want to do what excites me. And nothing excites me more, frankly, than discovering truth and sharing it with you. Now, in choosing my playlist of principles, it was really difficult, because there are so many that I love and I have notes on. 

[00:36:02] I don't know, probably 100 principles that I've studied and learned how to apply, however imperfectly. So, on the heels of talking about surrender and the various blocks to surrender, I thought I might go a bit further and talk about the principle of humility. One of the inherent qualities needed in order to surrender is, of course, humility. And paradoxically, when one has some degree of surrender capacity and is able to apply it in their lives, it brings yet still greater humility to one's character.

[00:36:35] So, they really go hand in hand. When you're talking about surrender, I think the mechanism of action in surrender is humility. It's going like, hey, there's not a lot I can do about this moment, so I'm going to find a way to work through it without devolving into a negative state of being. And likewise, when one practices acceptance and surrender, it brings about more humility in your character.

[00:37:00] You just become, in general, throughout all interactions in your life, more humble. So, I think it would be a great service to us to explore this principle further. Humility is defined as the quality or condition of being humble, a modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance and rank, lack of vanity or self-importance. And as we jump into humility here, as I was doing some research on these principles and going over some of my notes, I found some great quotes by a man named Bill Wilson, who co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935. 

[00:37:36] And he brilliantly identified humility as an indispensable character quality in those who sought to achieve lasting freedom from alcohol. Now, I would go so far as to say recovery from addictions of any kind is impossible without some degree of humility on behalf of the sufferer, myself included. Without the self-honesty of humility, the pridefulness of ego and all of its attachments is too formidable of a foe to defeat with sheer will. 

[00:38:03] The sincere invitation of a higher power into one's life experience and attitude is blocked by the arrogant positionality that comes with intellectual ego dominance. Bill Wilson explored humility like this in a number of his writings over the years. "Humility is a clear recognition of what and who we are, followed by a sincere attempt to become what we could be. In my view, humility is the fundamental principle underlying honesty, openmindedness, and willingness.

[00:38:32] It is also the foundation principle of each of AA's 12 steps. Perfect humility would be a state of complete freedom from myself, freedom from all the claims that my defects of character now lay so heavily on me. Perfect humility would be a full willingness in all times and places to find and do the will of God." In another quote, he says, we first reach for a little humility, knowing that we shall perish of alcoholism if we do not.

[00:39:00] After a time that we still rebel somewhat, we commenced to practice humility, because it is the right thing to do. Then, comes the day when finally freed in large degree from rebellion, we practice humility, because we deeply want it as a way of life. And again, I'm referring here in a couple of my quotes to Alcoholics Anonymous and this disease of alcoholism. However, if you're not someone who suffered from addictions, I would challenge you with the question of, have you ever tried to stop thinking?

[00:39:31] Especially, have you ever tried to stop thinking negative thoughts? And what I'm getting at here is that it's part of the human condition that we have a propensity toward addictions to different feeling states, emotional states, mentations, thoughts, many of which are not only destructive to ourselves, but as they manifest in our behavior through the expression of our character, that they also harm other people. 

[00:39:59] So, I don't need to be dissuaded by the references to alcoholism, even though that's where some of this content came from. I think that this is hugely important for all people that seek to strive for more mental and emotional balance and fulfillment in their lives. I'll continue to quote Bill here in one of my favorite pieces on humility. He says, I may attain humility for today only to the extent that I am able to avoid the bog of guilt and rebellion on one hand, and on the other hand, that fair but deceiving land, which is strewn with the fool's gold coins of pride.

[00:40:36] This is how I can find and stay on the high road to humility, which lies between these extremes. Therefore, a constant inventory which can reveal when I'm off the road is always in order. And I love that. So much power in that statement. So, being humble isn't always about staying down to size and being modest. It's about being honest about one's abilities and gifts. This would also include not playing small or hiding one's brilliance or talent under the guise of false humility.

[00:41:06] Being humbled means that you can take a compliment without becoming prideful, but you don't deflect the compliment by shrinking into a lower perception of yourself. One can use the principle, for example, of gratitude and honesty to prevent the shadow side of self-appreciation from manifesting as an arrogant attitude. So, if one acknowledges that something other than you or your parents created you in your entirety, there's no need to take credit for your gifts or blame for your shortcomings.

[00:41:35] One simply works on expanding their gifts and steadily chipping away at their faults, or to state it more simply, I'll quote William Temple, humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself at all. And that one really speaks to me as it alludes to the crux of the evolutionary spirit's path to becoming less self-centered and increasingly other-centered.

[00:42:03] As we grow and evolve out of our lower base animal nature, where we're driven by our instincts, and we find more fulfillment and abundance in our lives as a result, we tend to think about what we can contribute and give to other people. And in so doing, one must eventually arrive at the truth that you do have a lot to give. All of us have a lot to give. We all have our own unique gifts and specialties.

[00:42:31] Some people are great at singing, some are great at math, some are very intuitive, et cetera. So, humility is not about shrinking into the corner, and denying the gifts, and skills, and talents that we've been bestowed with, or perhaps, even earned through practice. But humility to me is about celebrating those and being as big as I want to be, knowing that those parts of myself that made me big were not created wholly by me, but rather by the creator from which I emanate.

[00:43:04] And I'll add that when we're seeking to express more humility in our lives and become less self-centered, in order to become less self-centered, and indeed, more humbled and surrendered in our experience of life, we must develop an inner faith that someone or something has got our back, that there's enough abundance to go around. But if I surrender and truly let go of my vain efforts that control, who will catch me? 

[00:43:30] You know what I mean? So, when it comes to accepting or surrendering to this truth that all is well and the unseen hand of God is guiding our path, et cetera, that's very difficult to own if one doesn't have some degree of faith in their lives. I have to have a faith. Not a belief. A belief can be an idea. Do I believe in God? Yeah, makes sense. Do I have faith in God? Well, that's an entirely different thing, isn't it?

[00:43:58] Belief in doesn't necessarily mean faith in. If I have faith in God, whatever you want to call God, I know some find God triggering, but I'm not speaking of God, by the way, in the context of religiosity. Rather, God, the Creator, Spirit, et cetera. I might believe that it exists, but in order to get out of that self-centered survival mode, in order to learn how to surrender, in order to have some humility about my shortcomings, and about my talents and gifts, and to have some equilibrium of spirit and character, I have to develop a relationship with this unseen hand, with this God, so that I know that I'm held, that I'm taken care of, and that in the face of imminent demise that I know the life that I'm living now and what I'm able to perceive through my senses are a very limited purview of the greater reality.

[00:44:57] So, if I look at a situation like COVID, and all of the medical tyranny, and otherwise tyranny that has expressed throughout this period, I'll think on one hand, how could there be a God that's taking care of me and that will continue to take care of me with all of this evil around me? And that goes into a completely different episode around the existence of duality, and that God isn't only the things that I want to see in the world, but it's everything, and that there's a plan for our evolution that I'm but a small part, and that there's no way within the limited scope of my humanity that I could ever conceive of the big Master Plan.

[00:45:47] So, all I have to rely on really is my faith, that there is a loving, benevolent, intelligent force in the universe that is guiding all of us all the time. And this is where faith comes in and why it's so, so critical to build that faith. And like some of the things I've talked about here in today's solo cast, I mean, to explore the principle of faith could take forever, and that's not a bad idea.

[00:46:13] In fact, I think I might even give a bit more time on a future episode to faith and belief, and the relationship with God. But for now, as it pertains to the principles that we've covered here, that is the underlying foundation. And all of these principles that we've talked about today, the acceptance, the surrender, the humility baked within them is some degree of faith, right?

[00:46:39] Because if I'm surrendering to the now in whatever's happening, and if there's an action I need to take that I'm taking a surrendered action, well, I must have faith that the next moment is going to bring some resolution, right? Otherwise, there's just no way that I could surrender. There's no way that I could accept my current predicament if I didn't have at least a modicum of faith that there was a solution on the other side.

[00:47:05] And likewise, when it comes to having humility in my life, I have to believe that, well, I don't have to do anything, nor do you, but I have to understand or I would be benefited by understanding that I was put here for a reason and I was created the way I am for a reason. And if I can grow in my faith of that fact, it's going to lead to more of a holistic embrace of who and what I am into, dare I say, a life of self-love and self-acceptance, right?

[00:47:42] If I can accept myself for who and what I am, all of my faults, all of the shitty things about myself that I want to change. And there's a never ending list for all of us who practice shadow work, and apply self-honesty and inventory daily, those of us that meditate, and we're able to see some of those things in ourselves, which could use some evolution and refinement, that's going to help bring me into the faith that I am the way I am for a reason and that there is a power available to me should I choose to accept it in the form of grace that is going to move me through my journey of evolution into the next stage.

[00:48:23] And it's a micro-stage in the next moment, that fast, in the next moment, that fast, until I find that over the course of a period of linear Earth time that I have indeed changed. And as someone who used to be, for example, extremely resentful, and hateful, and hostile ,and just broding. Is that the word? Brooding, I think that's the word. I would just spend hours and hours just encircled in a ring of hate that I could not escape. 

[00:48:57] And a lot of that had to do with my inability to surrender and my lack of discernment about the circumstances of my life, which were capable of being surrendered or not. And as that's grown and the moment one claims to have some degree of humility, they've just lost it, right? It's kind of like the axiom that once you know you're enlightened, well, you're no longer enlightened. Some people would argue that and say that perhaps someone that's enlightened and humble would know it.

[00:49:27] But in making progress in humility, knowing that I have my limitations and I also have a lot of strengths in many ways, as we all do, my faith that the Creator made me like this has grown, and also, my faith that I can evolve if I attain more humility. As Bill Wilson said, it's acknowledging our current condition and striving to become better. And it's in that striving to become better where we develop more faith, because we put one foot in front of the other. 

[00:49:58] We apply some spiritual principles. We take on a new practice. We emanate more love. We receive more love. And in so doing, we find ourselves changed. And going back to the beginning of the episode where we spoke of character, all of these principles are units of energy that change and evolve one's soul or one's character. And the more I work on myself and the more I work with other people who have chosen to do so in their own lives, the more I'm led to simplicity.

[00:50:38] And I think that's why I gravitate toward these principles, and why they've been so instrumental in my own recovery from addictions and all of the things in my life that I've been able to work through. And it's difficult to see your own progress, right? Because subjectively, you just see yourself as the person you are today in this moment. But if I look back at who I was five years ago, 10 years ago, especially about 24 years ago, before I was gifted with the ultimate gift of really being born again. 

[00:51:05] Again, not in a religious sense, but in being freed from just horrific levels of addiction, and despair, and torture, frankly. And if I look back, I can see from this perspective, I've changed so much, and what really produced that change? There was an inner will of my higher self, of my soul. There was and is the grace of God, the forgiveness of God. And perhaps, what gave me access to all of that was the discovery, study, cultivation, and application of spiritual principles.

[00:51:41] Again, going back to them is this idea of units of energy that if I can harness a word like faith, surrender, acceptance, humility, they're just words, but behind those words, like music, behind notes is where the true power is. So, thank you so much for joining me on this journey today. And I want to take a moment to let you know how much I truly appreciate your listenership and your kind attention. And I, of course, hope something that I said in this episode helps to illuminate your path forward and growth. And if you feel so inspired, please share this episode with someone you love.

[00:52:23] And speaking of love, let's give our show sponsor some, as without them, I wouldn't be able to take the time today to share this message with you. Our first sponsor is InsideTracker and you can find them at insidetracker.com/luke. If you use that link, you'll get 25% off your entire InsideTracker store. InsideTracker is where you can do all of your lab work. They order your lab work for you, blood work, et cetera. You send that in, and you get your lab results and recommendations on how to improve what you found in the results. So, it's kind of like being your own doctor. It's pretty cool and definitely more affordable than working with a functional medicine doctor or otherwise.

[00:53:07] Our next sponsor is BLUblox and you can find them at blublox.com/lifestylist. You can get their Lumi Sleep bulbs. They're red and yellow flicker-free light bulbs. And the Remedy Sleep Mask over there, really incredible products. I've got those red lights all over the house, and man, it is so chill in here in the evening. When the sun goes down outside and that blue light in the sky goes down, well, the blue light in the house goes down, too. And you want to talk about upgrading your circadian rhythm, that is the way to do it.

[00:53:38] Last sponsor, but certainly not the least is beekeepersnaturals.com/lukestorey. Beekeepersnaturals.com/lukestorey. Enter the code, LukeStorey, there and save 15% off the world's most incredible bee products. And that actually reminds me as I sit here and stare at the kitchen in this temporary apartment from which I am recording that I am actually out of my Beekeeper's Naturals products. I got to hit them up and see if I can get some myself actually. I think mine are packed in my garage from the big move. 

[00:54:09] So, that, my friends, is it. We are done with this episode. We're right at 58 minutes. I've set a goal to make these solo cars one hour, and I'll be damned, we did it. Thanks again for listening and don't forget to tune in next Tuesday for our regular programming for the episode called, Spermidine, I know it's a funny name and it's an even funnier molecule. It's called The Key to Longevity, Energy ,and Cognitive Power with Leslie Kenny.

[00:54:35] And that is one of my latest discoveries, the spermidine. She has a company called Primeadine. And man, this stuff is freaking incredible and it takes a lot to impress me. I mean, Jesus, how many supplements are there out there? Right? Like do we really need another bottle of pills in the cabinet? After hearing next week's episode, you might just be convinced, as I have been. Thank you so much. See you next week.

[00:55:12]

‍