Intentionally Curious

56. Creating Mental Wealth with Jason Goldberg

February 19, 2022 Jason Ramsden / Jason Goldberg Episode 56
Intentionally Curious
56. Creating Mental Wealth with Jason Goldberg
Show Notes Transcript

Jason “JG” Goldberg is a Mindset Mentor and Leadership Coach for Celebrities, Change Makers and CEOs. He is also the host of The Jason Goldberg is Ruining Podcasting Podcast, author of the #1 International Best-Seller on Self-Leadership entitled “Prison Break” and creator of the Playful Prosperity AND Competition-Proof Business Immersion programs. 

JG has been a featured expert on media outlets including ABC, CBS, and FOX as well as teaching on the MindValley and SoulPancake platforms and has founded multiple start-ups including one in partnership with NASA and the space shuttle program. He now focuses on blending his signature mix of simple and transformational wisdom, captivating storytelling, practical business mentorship, and belly-busting humor to make personal growth less “personal growth-y”.

In this episode we chat about men's mental health, meditation, the similarity in our life journeys and how to create mental wealth in our lives.


For links to everything mentioned in this episode and more visit:

https://www.jasonramsden.com/episode56

Jason Goldberg:

If they have a very serious relationship with their thinking, that's where I want to start, and I want to help them have a more casual relationship with their thinking this is a very this is a core part of the work that I do is helping people to have a more casual relationship with the thoughts that are in their head. Hi,

Jason Ramsden:

I'm Jay, a certified life coach and former educator who believes that rediscovering ourselves takes just a little bit of courage. This show is focused on helping you develop the mindset and the courage to regain your confidence to redefine yourself and to reimagine your life one episode at a time. Jason Goldberg up aka JG I guess we're gonna fare what we call each other since our both names are Jason, but welcome to positivity on fire.

Jason Goldberg:

You know, we got the coolest name to ever be given to anybody in the world. So I think we should just celebrate that we are amazing. And so supposedly, and you know, it's funny. I've heard this for so many years. I've never looked it up. Supposedly Jason means healer in some kind of language. Have you seen

Jason Ramsden:

this? Absolutely. And that's where my mind was going to go. It's like, yeah, we're both coaches. And Jason means healer. So there's got to be something in that.

Jason Goldberg:

So it wasn't just my Jewish mother trying to pump me up. That's like an actual thing.

Jason Ramsden:

Well, it probably was a both and it was it was about actually makes more sense. Yeah. It was a both and it gets you pumped up and to say, hey, you've got a life filled of going to, you know, heal people.

Jason Goldberg:

I love that. I think that's I think that's so awesome. Good. Well, I'm glad I got it validated. I don't think I've maybe I've never been interviewed by another Jason, where I get asked that question. But I've already gotten all the value I need out of this conversation. So

Jason Ramsden:

what's great, and hopefully the listeners have as well. And we'll just you know, we'll end it here and get on. Get on with their days. So it's everyone as right. That's right. Well, it's interesting, too, right. Like your book, you have a book and we'll talk a little bit about it because I have some questions about it. Prison Break. vanquish the victim on your own. It's gonna lead your life. And but here's my biggest takeaway from that whole book. These These have been sitting on my desk for an entire week. And the people can't see it at home. But Jason and Jason apparently not only did we share the same name, but we have a love for like funky socks.

Jason Goldberg:

Oh, that's awesome. I didn't realize you had the same the same proclivity, the same obsession.

Jason Ramsden:

Exactly. So last week, we were supposed to demean you lost power, we can make it happen. These socks have been sitting on my desk for like an entire week. And I don't know, people are probably wondering why they're sitting here. But

Jason Goldberg:

I think that's awesome. I love that you did. Yeah, literally, the power went out one minute. Before we were meant to start, like literally I was logging in. It was one minute before the top of the hour. And the entire entire building went out for eight hours.

Jason Ramsden:

Well, it's interesting, too, right? We talked about we talked about our names being the same, the love for the socks, and then your story. Like in the book itself, the story. Like I felt like I was reading a parallel story to my own life, like you and I were both in it. So that there's another similarity. You and I both have struggled with weight. Both struggled with like pivoting. I felt like I was reading my own story. So thank you for sharing it with me. It was a great read.

Jason Goldberg:

Yeah, my pleasure, man, I'm so happy you saw yourself in it. And that's that's the beauty of storytelling is it you know, when we when we share our stories, it actually has nothing to do with us, it's a chance for other people to have their experience validated, sometimes for the very first time. And, and especially in the in the world of, of, you know, the mental health conversation or personal growth or whatever it is you want to call it. There are so many people even though that conversation has been brought so much to the forefront, there's still so many people that think they are alone in their experience of what they've experienced in the past and what they're experiencing now. And so I think it's it's a responsibility, all of us had to tell our stories, you don't have to be a professional speaker or coach to do so that everybody should be sharing your stories, if nothing else, just so people know they're not alone in their experience.

Jason Ramsden:

Now, I agree with that. 100%. And because we're two men talking about it, like men even more so right, we we don't have a proclivity for sharing our stories or being transparent on how we got from point A to point B. And so I think it's even more important that there's two guys talking about mental health and like, what are we supposed to do? And how do we move forward? And how do we find our passion? So I appreciate you raising that. One of the things in your book, and we'll talk about the book the entire time, but what I found interesting was you said the Bing comes before the doing. Right. Can you say more about that? Yeah,

Jason Goldberg:

I mean, it's it's just the thing is is you know, I remember there was a time when united and American Airlines both were taking a look at what Southwest was doing. And Southwest is, you know, the no frills airline. They don't have any any classes. You can't think there's no first class, there's no like, there's no lounge to go into any of that stuff. They're that they're the cheapest, one of the cheapest. And they and they were one of the only airlines if not the only airline that was profitable for like 20 or 25 years straight. What were a lot of the other airlines were faltering and having a lot of issues. And so American and united looked at that and said, Oh, just we give our people less stuff and we charge less money like we can do that. And so they bid it they'd created like Ted it was Like the United Airlines version, that American had some version of their own little thing, and it failed miserably. Because the strategy of simply lowering your price and giving less to your customers was not what makes southwest successful. It's a Southwest have this, this energy, this perspective, this lens of, we're going to do everything we can to show the people that are our passengers, that we care about them that we love them, I mean, their stocks and most literally love, right, they started in love air, you know, Love Field, love, Dallas, Love Field, airport, whatever it was. And so love is is the core of who they are to their being when they carry out the strategies. So if we if we only focus on the doing if we only focus on the strategy, or the thing we're doing in the outer world of form, but we're not focusing on who we are being when we are doing it, then at best, we can maybe be successful with somebody else's ideas and perspective. And at worst, it doesn't work for us like it didn't work for United and American.

Jason Ramsden:

You used a word in there that resonated with me, you said love AI and one of the things that I love about getting to have conversations with people like you is learning what their life motto is. So what is what is Jason Goldberg life motto?

Jason Goldberg:

Yeah, mine's really simple. Man, I have a one line, life plan slash one line Business Plan A, luckily for me overlap. And I think for a lot of people, it actually can overlap if they want to give themselves permission to see this. But my one line life slash business plan is to leave everybody I meet with at least 5% more joy than I found them. And I don't care how I'm doing that. I don't have to be a coach to do that. Again, I could it could be with a stranger, it could be with a Starbucks barista can be with a TSA agent at the airport. Like, wherever I'm in the world. The goal here is, Can I do something to contribute at least 5% more joy to this person's life. And when I do that life just seems to work pretty well. And so I try to do that as much as possible. And that

Jason Ramsden:

that kicks right back to where we are kicking off the show was talking about healing. Like how do you see yourself as, as the 5% more joy as someone who's healing others? Where did that come from? For you?

Jason Goldberg:

I think it mainly came from suffering for me, which is where I think it comes from, for most people, it was my desire to so it's interesting that the whole, the front facing message of leaving everybody I meet with 5%, at least 5% more joy than I found them. There's a flipside of that. And that is that I want to leave everybody I meet with at least 5% less suffering than I found. Because I had such a level of of just chronic suffering, growing up because of my own experience because of not knowing how to navigate my thinking, because of you know, getting caught up in the circumstances of life that I thought were creating the these feelings and emotions for me. And so as somebody who didn't feel growing up, that he was lovable, or that he was really seen or heard or accepted by most people in his life, I decided that I was going to do everything I could to not have the people around me feel that way. That if there was any way that I could contribute to them feeling the opposite of that, then it was my it was my my duty, my responsibility. My Dharma, my mission, whatever you want to call it was was to do that for as many people as possible. So it came from me not having the thing that I'm trying to get to as many people as possible.

Jason Ramsden:

So what brings you joy, like on an ordinary day? Who does that for you? Who gives you the extra 5%?

Jason Goldberg:

Yeah, man, so many things. I mean, comedy, comedy is such a huge part of my life that I'm just I'm such a big fan of anything that is comedic. So that can be like TV shows, stand up comedy, movies, anything like that podcast, like funny podcasts, things like that, and anything that's funny, even funny, just social media videos, I get a lot of those. And then being around the people that I love, like being around with my really close, close group of friends, the ones that you you could sit on the couch, and everybody could be on their phone and not talk to each other and yet you still feel super connected to them. That's that's the kind of people the ones that you don't have to be on for the ones you can just show up as you are on your good days on your not so good days, and they love and accept you and, and being able to do that kind of stuff with my friends and going off and venturing and doing things together, which is always really fun. And, and also seeing, seeing the impact of the things that I'm putting out in the world on people and when when it does seem to land for them. That brings me a ton of joy. It just validates why I'm doing what I'm doing and inspires me and encouraged me to keep doing

Jason Ramsden:

it. In your book, you had mentioned the phrase, the universal boarding pass. I really love that. I love that. So can you let my audience know a little bit more about what you meant by the universal boarding pass?

Jason Goldberg:

I'd love to tell you brother I've no idea. I don't you don't recall. It was a breaking road. Yeah, yeah, I've I've I've literally created 10s of 1000s of hours of content, both written and in video and audio form. And it sounds awesome. I'd love to know what I meant by that. But I can't I couldn't tell

Jason Ramsden:

you that. That's great. It resonated with me. So I'm going to rip off of the universal boarding pass a little bit. I what I took away from the universal boarding pass was that being open I think to experiencing different things, right being open to go anywhere and do anything and kind of Like the world at your feet. And I think that all like people are afraid to do that. Because of fear. Right? And so I see fear is just a belief and a belief in yourself where you the contraction can't, comes into play. And so, for me, like the universal boarding pass is like if you remove the contractions from your life, that's when things open up. Right? So we put in the context of like COVID and travel, everything was shut down for a long time people said you can't but as soon as they said you can people were ready to go, so why wouldn't we do that in our own lives? So what what's one thing that you've always wanted to do in your life? That you haven't done yet? Oh,

Jason Goldberg:

good question. Maybe I mean, I can't there's nothing like really sticking out to me I you know, I love to travel and I've been to a ton of places I there, there are still some countries I haven't been to that I'm looking forward to going to. So I'm really really looking forward to going to Turkey, which I'm planning on going this summer. But Turkey is just a place it's really been calling to me especially over the last year. And probably it's probably Instagrams fault with everybody posting from like Cappadocia with all the hot air balloons flying. Like oh my god, it's so beautiful. I want to be there. So that I think that will be one of them. But you know, for the most part, I feel like there's this really interesting thing I remember there was this show Did you ever watch show oranges? New Black?

Jason Ramsden:

Oh, absolutely. Yep. But my wife a great show. Yeah, yeah, it's

Jason Goldberg:

such a great show. And the the theme song is a song called you've got time, which is a double entendre you know, you've got time and it's a J It's about being in prison and all that stuff. And, and it's the woman who sings that his name Regina Spektor. mazing, amazing, amazing artists. And there's a line in the song that I remember when I first was listening to the theme song when I would watch the show. I really truly thought because I'm so arrogant. I truly thought that she messed up a line in her own song every time I'm here, this time, I'm like, God, how did nobody catch this and tell her that she's saying something backwards. And the line was taking steps is easy. Standing still is hard. And I remember back in the day watching it like now you got it, it's super easy to just stand still, it's hard to take steps. But the more it sat with me and the more I looked at it, and when you look at it from like a soul perspective, it is much harder to stay. And still, when you know there is something calling you that you want to do that's great. Or taking those steps is way, way easier than the atrophy that your soul experiences by standing still for too long, right. And so that always plays in my head. And it doesn't mean I don't get afraid. And you know, I'm launching a new thing right now. And it's an entirely different space I've never been in before. And there's all these unknowns. And what I know is that from my life and from everybody's life, is that success leaves clues. And this is not the first thing that I've ever done that I didn't know how to do. There's plenty of things, everything that we know how to do now there was a time we didn't know how to do it. There's nobody that came out of the womb, and was ready for a corporate career or ready for marriage or ready for anything else, right? You have to learn these things, you have to cultivate, you have to navigate. And so for me, it's just this understanding of noticing what it has been about my past successes. And knowing that that success leaves clues. And anything that I did before is portable and transferable into what I'm doing now. So it doesn't again, doesn't take away the fear. But it does tell me that if if anxiety for me, which is my core belief here, if anxiety comes from the belief that there is some future where I won't be okay, right? That's to me the entire root of anxiety. If I knew for a fact that in the future, I'd be fine than what's going on now wouldn't matter to me at all. Because I know that in the future, I'm gonna be fine. So the only problem the only reason I experience anxiety ever, I'm just speaking for me, this is universal teachers, but for me is because I have some fear that in the future, I'm not going to be okay. And so anything that I do now, when I when I feel fear of something, it's reminding myself, I've always been okay, even in the times I thought I wasn't okay. Because if I wasn't truly okay, then I wouldn't be here to have the conversation I'm having with you. Now. There's there's been nothing I've ever been through that I hadn't gotten through because the evidence is showing that because I'm here talking to you right now. So remembering that is helpful for me when I'm when I'm fearful about taking steps.

Jason Ramsden:

I love that success leaves clues. I was having a conversation with somebody the other day who wanted to know, like, how did you pivot from a tech director to a life coach? And I said, Well, you know, after I did all of the work, and I looked through it all my very first gig was doing admissions work. And you know, high school admissions and college admissions, what was I doing, like at my core, helping people find a better way to move forward? Then I got into tech, what was I doing? Helping people find a better way to move forward, whether that was organizing files or learning tool or whatever, helping people move forward? And what does the life coach do? Helping people move forward? I think success leaves clues is spot on. So what does failure do for us then? Is it the same?

Jason Goldberg:

Yeah, well, I think I think a lot of people will say you learn more from your failures and you do from your successes. Right? I think that that's I think that's always a good thing to look at. Yeah, I mean failure when I can look at failure objectively than failure as information, right. So so in the same way that I if I walk outside today, I don't check the weather. It starts pouring down rain and I don't have an umbrella. The fact of the matter is that I got wet. And the fact of the matter is that I now have information to say, hey, if I don't like the experience of getting wet, what are things that I can do to try to mitigate that risk? Oh, well, I could check the weather report in the morning, or I could just start carrying around an umbrella everywhere I go, or I can get really weird and be like, I'm only going outside, if I know that I'm near a place that I can go inside, if it rains, like, once I start seeing this is just information as historical data points, not emotional data points, but historical data points, then the failure, it doesn't have to be as heavy on me, if things don't work out the way I want them to.

Jason Ramsden:

It's interesting that you said, the forecast and the weather as your example from failure and then learning. I say to myself all the time, I see people it's raining, and they don't have a rain jacket, or they don't have an umbrella and like why somebody tells you every day what the weather's gonna be. How's that possible. But when you do like when you do learn from your mistakes, when you do learn from your failures, right? You take all of that into, I guess your value bank of life, right? A lot of people I think get stuck there, they get they don't learn from it. And so what's one thing when you are talking to people, what's one thing that you do to help them learn from their fear or learn from their failures?

Jason Goldberg:

Well, and this, this goes back to the whole being before doing thing, right? So there's a very popular thing in personal growth, there's nothing wrong with it, it can be really helpful is reframing things right? Like, you know, this is this, this didn't happen to you, it happened for you. And things along that deadline, those lines, which can be great, they could really just kind of shift the narrative and shift the story that we have, the challenge becomes is that they're to me, they're kind of three, three layers to how we experience the world around us. Number one, level one, you could say, is, is kind of being a prisoner of circumstance, the entire kind of topic of my book, right? Like, you know, if something good happens, then you feel good, or something bad happens, then you feel bad. And that's kind of how we all experienced life, for the most part, unless you have a really incredible role models as a child that teach you differently. I did not most people I've spoken to did not, and nothing wrong with them. They didn't know any better they learned from their parents. And so of course, the lineage of this misunderstanding is pervasive. And so that's kind of layer one. layer two, or Level two is where you start looking at the content of your thinking, which is exactly this, the reframing and kind of saying like, well, what, what could this possibly mean, that's more empowering, and all those kinds of things really, really helpful. And actually, I'd say the vast majority of Prison Break, which I wrote in 2016 2015 2016, was, it's a lot of working in layer two or level two. Level three is where we really take it to an entirely different perspective, and not shifting from looking at the content of your thoughts to the context of the fact that you are thinking and taking your thoughts seriously. In other words, it doesn't matter what you are thinking, it matters that you are thinking and that you are taking that thinking seriously. And so instead of me sitting down with somebody and trying to reframe their failures, what instead I want to look at is what is their relationship to their thinking in general, whatever the thought is, regardless of what the thought is. And if they have a very serious relationship with their thinking, that's where I want to start. And I want to help them have a more casual relationship with their thinking this is a very this is a core part of the work that I do is helping people to have a more casual relationship with the thoughts that are in

Jason Ramsden:

their head. So when you say a casual relationship with a thought, yeah,

Jason Goldberg:

so so. So when I was six or seven years old, I was raised by this single mother, single Jewish mother so she can hear everything we're saying right now. And so so she and I was only the two of us only child, single mother. And when we would go shopping, go to stores, I was a pretty good kid, like I would just stay by her. She didn't have to like, put one of those weird baby leashes on me or anything like I would just stick next door. But at one point we were in, we were actually in Alamo springs. And if you remember back in the day, they had a it was gay furs, then it became a Dillards. But it was a department store. And we go in there. I'm like, again, six, seven years old. We're walking through the department store walking in the women's section, my mom was looking at something. And I guess I kind of veered off and kind of went on my own little path. And she didn't notice because she's used to me just kind of being next door. And so I just little boy walking through them, you know, walking through the women's department, and I happen to see a mannequin, a female mannequin with a dress on. Now I'm a curious little boy, I'm just I'm not sure what the world is all about yet. So I just walk right up to the mannequin, and lift up the skirt and just look up look up the dress of the mannequin. Now, my mom happens to notice at some point that I'm not near her and so it's darting around trying to figure out where I'm at and notices sees me in the ACT looking up the mannequin skirt, and she darts at like Usain Bolt across the department store. Grabbing by the hand as quickly as possible assures me away as quickly as she can. She's so embarrassed, right? She has a very serious relationship with what I just did because she believes it's some kind of indictment against her parents. Right? I'm going to look like such a bad mom. People are gonna think my child's a deviant all these different things right. She had a very serious relationship. Now contrast that with the other people who are in the department store Of whom I have no recollection. Of course, I was six or seven years old. But if you think about the other people in the department store that saw this happen, what do you think their reaction probably was something like, oh my gosh, what a cute little kid or he's so curious, or oh my god, look at that, Mom, it's gonna be so difficult raising a little boy by yourself and maybe have compassion for her. So it's interesting. Mom is embarrassed and mortified. These other people feel love, joy, compassion, curiosity, what's the difference? Well, they have a very casual relationship with what I did. They don't feel like it means anything about who they are, what they've done, or what they should be doing. So that same thing can happen with our thinking, when I take my thinking seriously, that I need to assure it away, and I need to make sure nobody sees it. And I'm afraid if somebody sees it, that it means something bad about me. But if I have a casual relationship with a thinking, it's like, Oh, there's one of those thoughts. Again, there's one of those things I'm taking seriously. Does that serve me to take that thought? Seriously, can I really notice in this moment, that everything around me is perfectly fine? If not for the attachment that I have to these thoughts that happen to be residing in my head, and not even necessarily my thoughts? So that shift into a more casual relationship with thinking in that way? That's what I'm going to do?

Jason Ramsden:

Got it. It's a for me what what I hear right, in my language is that serious thoughts tend to be negative thoughts. Yes. Right. And casual thoughts could very well tend to be positive thoughts. And so when we have a circumstance in our lives, we have two choices, right? We can have positive thoughts about them, or we can have negative thoughts about them. And when we do they generate feelings in this instance, right? Your mom had a feeling of being embarrassed or, or maybe even ashamed, right, that you were doing that where other people might have been like, oh, it was funny. And then they just went on with their day. That's, that's helpful for me to kind of say, oh, for my folks, that's the term that I use. And so I love the casual relationship with your thoughts. Like that's brilliant. I just it just takes

Jason Goldberg:

it right. It's how do we how do we make the experience of life feel less heavy, like it has less pressure? You nailed it? I mean, that this is this is it, I always say you have to lighten up to level up right. And it's so I really believe that like the light bringing lightness, bringing some form of levity to life is just such an important thing to do. And it takes away so much of the need to fix life or change life or reframe life, just to be lighter around life makes such a big difference.

Jason Ramsden:

Like that. I agree to like, for me humor, like just fits in, it just feels good, right? And people, people gravitate to it, something that resonates with them. Because, you know, I don't take myself too seriously. I hope others don't take me too seriously either. Right? Other than what I'm providing to them is like a value. It's my own journey. But it's an important point, like, yes, let's, if we step back, if we step back and do it from like, a 30,000 points, or foot view to say, Alright, look down on the scenario, you have two different choices, which which one you're gonna make, which one's gonna make you feel better? And so I think that's, I think that's a great point. That's a great point. I'm curious. Is there something in your life that you would do if no one would judge you for it? You seem like pretty much like an open book to me, but I'm just curious.

Jason Goldberg:

Yeah, I'm pretty. I'm pretty open. I love performing. So there isn't. I don't think there's a whole lot there. Yeah, maybe like one day like, I don't know, open a coffee shop or something. And people be like, What the hell is he doing with a coffee shop? What does he know about coffee? But even that I would just be like, the answer is nothing. I know nothing about coffee shops. I'm but I'm here to learn. And so yeah, I feel like I'm pretty. I'm pretty open when it comes to that stuff.

Jason Ramsden:

You mentioned coffee and on your hat. I think it says coffee, hip,

Jason Goldberg:

coffee, hip hop and mental health. Yeah, yeah. It's that that's it. This is just a brand. I just have a brand that I actually somebody turned me on to it. And they're just three of my favorite things. Coffee, hip hop and mental health. So I'm like, Well, I guess I'm gonna wear the hat.

Jason Ramsden:

Okay, I was like, maybe that was your thing. You were like venturing on coffee. I was like, maybe this is a promo I am doing

Jason Goldberg:

I am doing I am doing I am doing a clothing brand actually, that's, that is in the realm of mental health. It's kind of a it's a, it's a mental check, trying to change the narrative here from strictly mental health to mental health, right? That there's so much more than than just like getting to a baseline, there's so much more that can be done with your mental health. And so it's what I'm creating now is a mental wealth, focus movements that is disguised as a clothing brand. Right so the the easy low hanging fruit will be really fun, stylish, inspiring clothing. But on the back end of that is all this education and all the things that we talked about here and having a mental health conversation or mental health conversation, be much more front of mind for people and have it much more accessible to people that maybe wouldn't normally seek out that kind of information.

Jason Ramsden:

Mental wealth, like that spot on, really spot on. I was listening to somebody recently they were talking about working with a client they were asking them, where are they done a scale of one to 10 pick a subject relationships, career finance, whatever it may be. And they and and they said, alright, well, you say seven, what is it going to take you to get to a 10 and the person really struggle with that because I thought going from seven to 10 was pretty perfection. When we talk about mental health, if you pivot talking about mental Well, no, you go from one to 10 today, and then it's a point, like there's a whole nother line of numbers to get to 1000 or infinity. So our journeys are always in this moment, what is what is it going to take us to get to a 10? So the mental wealth part I think resonates for me in that regard. So what what led you to say mental wealth instead of mental health?

Jason Goldberg:

Yeah, I mean, I just, there's just such a there's, there's such a focus from people on like, financial wealth, right? They they want to build their financial wealth, and what's the what's the impetus to build financial wealth, there's maybe safety, there's maybe a for some people, they want to be able to get back at it at a bigger level. For some people, maybe there's some greed involved, which is fine, too, like, no, no judgment, there's all kinds of different reasons that people focus on their financial wealth, but and that and that's something that people really focus on, and they want, they want things to appreciate me invest in and they do all these things. But with mental health, it almost seems like it's it's it's always are very frequently looked at as a rehabilitative thing. And so we're not talking about, you know, it would be like, if we're having a wealth conversation, about bouncing back from bankruptcy is different than having a wealth conversation about investing in real estate or investing in the stock market, or opening a business or whatever, there are two different conversation entirely. So I love that we need to have the conversation as well, about mental health in general. But this is this is really about taking this to the next level. And it's it's not even about like, it's not even about needing to get to some super high level where you're like, you know, you keep up loving, keep up leveling, keep up leveling, because I think that's a very, that can be a really egoic kind of path as well. And, and if we're doing that, we're always kind of seeking what's next and resisting what's now. And that's kind of the definition of suffering, right? If you're always seeking what's next and resisting what's now you're never going to be happy. So I want people to figure out whatever their definition of mental wealth is where they feel, they feel a connection to life, they feel a connection to being alive, that is independent of any of the people or things that they have, like just their own being in this world, is enough their own reverence for life is enough to make them happy.

Jason Ramsden:

I appreciate that so much. Because we do we do get so focused, like, as human beings, we spent a lot of time looking at what was and what will come. But very rarely do we live in like what is now and what's good now. And I think the more that people can get to a point to say, if I can find one thing that made me happy today, I could have had a crap day from like, top to bottom. But somewhere in there, there could have been just the slightest tiniest thing that gave you joy. And so one of the things I like to tell people is like, take that, put it on a post it note, put it in a mason jar, and do that every single day. And then on your birthday, open it up. And that's the greatest gift you can ever give yourself is all these snippets of things. And I think that for me is what equates to mental wealth, you're basically putting a penny in the bank every single day for an entire year. And when you're done, you're much better off than you were before. Because you can look back and say, oh my gosh, look at what my life has been like, I have found joy. It's huge

Jason Goldberg:

man. It's huge. Being able to document those little things. It's, you know, it's one of the reasons I changed up the way I was doing my gratitude practice, even my gratitude practice, for a while just felt like a checkbox, then it was just like you're supposed to do and you're supposed to meditate, you're supposed to do this, you're supposed to that. And I hear this all the time from clients, especially around meditation, that they just they can't do it. It's just you know, they can't do it. They can't sit still their mind racing and all these other things. And I have an entirely different view on meditation, we could talk about it if it'd be valuable. But but it's it's just really this understanding that my gratitude practice wasn't actually evoking the emotions that it was supposed to evoke. And then I came across this thing, this quote, I don't even know who was from I don't even know if it's actually attributed anybody, but it was a quote I found that said, Imagine you could only take with you tomorrow, what you are grateful for today. Right? Imagine you can only take with you tomorrow, what you're grateful for today. And when I had that perspective, I was like, Oh, my God, like I started looking at everything I started looking at, like, the dexterity I have in my fingers like, well, I don't want that to go away when I wake up tomorrow morning. And like my legs happen to work. And I can go from point A to point B by walking or jogging or running or whatever is like I don't want that to go away. Like my life would be so much different if I didn't have access to working legs, and you start just looking at all the different things, you know, even the ability for my mouth to create words that come out, just like all these things. And you start going like oh my God, there's so many things that I am I just take for granted every single day. So that had to be a shift for me because the whole like, I'm grateful for my house. I'm grateful for my car like it didn't it didn't resonate. So whatever works for you to get into this place of feeling joy of seeing perspective of being in the now that's such a valuable path to go down.

Jason Ramsden:

I love that. And I do want to get into the meditation beat because I talked about a year on the show from time to time my own journey with it. So I'm interested what is your take on it? And yeah,

Jason Goldberg:

I love meditation. Now that I have reworked what I think it's for I again was also in the camp before just like with the the gratitude stuff that it was just like a checkbox, right. And one of the things I realized that was a challenge for me and I've done every kind of meditation, I was trained in transcendental meditation, and I've done I've done just every kind, you could think of guided and quiet and silent and all the different kinds. And, and they all have varying levels of effectiveness for me. But what shifted for me was that, and this is what I hear from my clients all the time, especially people that are very type A and ambitious and work really hard. And they they just say, I can't get my mind to quiet down, I sit there to meditate, in my mind, just keep tracing. And the interesting thing is that I, if the goal of meditation is to completely quiet the mind, then in a way we're demonizing the mind for doing what it does, the mind is supposed to run if our minds ever actually stopped running, it means we're comatose, or means we're dead. And so I don't I don't need my mind to quiet down as a part of my meditation for it to be successful. So the way I started explaining this was, um, you'll hopefully appreciate this being in schools, although I don't know how, how young of a school school age were you ever in? Like, from a work capacity? Pre K? 12. Okay. Okay. Cool. So you so you, actually you Yeah, so you would get this? Okay, so. So think about this. There's a difference between naptime and recess, when it comes to schools right. Nap time, the kids take naps, recess, they go outside and play. Now, what I think most people think is that is that meditation is supposed to be naptime, right? Everything quiets down, everything gets silent. But if you were to look at what a teacher has to do for nap time in a classroom, right, they have to make sure the lights are at the right level, the temperatures have the right level that all the like sleeping bags, or whatever laid out properly. And you don't want Timmy next to Johnny, because he has a tendency to like pinch him while he's sleeping. And, and then when you wake them up, you have to wake them up really slowly, because you don't want them to be irritated, you got to have the snack ready to go. Like there's so much that the teacher has to manage in order for naptime to be successful. But you look at recess on the flip side teacher takes the kids out, there's a boundary around the playground teacher can sit there and pretty much read his or her book and let the kids do what they do until they're done running around, they get tired, and they come back inside. And there's nothing else that teacher has to do. And so for me that became my shift in meditation is I'm going to have recess time meditation. I'm going to sit here and my thoughts decide they want to run around like crazy banshees out in the playground, then I just sit back and watch them. And I don't tell them they can't I would never the teacher would never take kids out to recess and and say now all of you be quiet and sit down. Kids. What are you talking about? We're there's a there's a playground, why would I not play with all this stuff. So that was a big shift for me is not trying to get it to be about quieting my mind, my mind still quiet sometimes. But I'm not saying that. That's the only way my meditation is successful. If my mind needs to run and do what it needs to do, I don't want to engage with it. I want to let it do its thing. I don't want to go in and say oh, you're saying I suck? Or you're saying all these things are not working out? Let's talk about that. No, no, we're not talking about things in meditation, just like the teacher doesn't go and talk to the kids during recess, we just want to witness it, we just want to be aware of it and let it do what it needs to do.

Jason Ramsden:

And I appreciate that, because that's where I come at it from meditation as well. Like, I'm a big fan of the calm app, and Tamara levert and her work. And that's what she talks about, is that you're never going to stop your mind. But what we try to do in meditation is say, okay, thought I see you, but just give me a give me a second, like, go over here for a second. And I'll be back to you. I'm just gonna, like, refocus on my breathing. It's okay to have it be there. And what it teaches us is that we don't get lost in our thoughts. We acknowledge that they exist. We acknowledge that there's something going on and we need to deal with, but when we when we're ready to do it. So I appreciate that you bring that point of view as well, because that's what it is. And I love the idea of recess, as opposed to nap time. That was brilliant. Yeah, it's good stuff.

Jason Goldberg:

Awesome. Glad it resonated. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Jason Ramsden:

I mean, you put it in the context of education. So I did that for a long time. So I'm like, Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Like you like yeah, this world. Yeah, exactly. The lower no offense to upper school teachers or, or middle school teacher, but I think Lower School teachers have the hardest time, like, being able to corral kids. Middle School, people are unique in their own way, because they have to deal with middle school children. Nobody wants to go back to that point in life and people live it everyday teaching those kids. Yeah, no, but I love I love the analogy between recess and, and and naptime. Yeah, it just it resonates. And hopefully it does for somebody on the show today who's looking to get into the meditation who's trying it and be like, Well, my mind doesn't stop running. You know, it's not supposed to. Yeah, you know, it's not supposed right? That's right. That's great. So you talked a little bit about your brand, right? This new thing that you're launching? Yep. When can people expect that to be out?

Jason Goldberg:

So we're, yeah, we're working diligently now. So it's called Hope dealer. And so it's this whole brand about it bringing more hope into the world. You know, you can't you can't choose what you're dealt, but you can choose what you do. And so while there's a lot of people dealing in fear and hate and scarcity and war, and all these other things, we can be people who deal and hope and enjoy and really impacted people's lives in a positive way. So right now we are in the design and manufacture Trying phase which is it takes longer than I thought it was gonna take. But we are we're working on that stuff I actually have a meeting with had a meeting with graphic designer this morning meeting with my merch team this afternoon. And so hopefully within the next two to three months we'll we'll start having some of the initial pieces come out as what I'm what I'm hoping for the hope.

Jason Ramsden:

I'm looking forward to that. Yeah, no, I love that hope dealer. I'm looking forward to that. I know my listeners are probably looking forward to it as well. And Jason Goldberg, author of Prison Break vanquish victim on your obstacles lead your life, also a comedian, a rapper, we didn't even get into that in today's show. He must be like excited for the Super Bowl halftime show like the rest of Gen X. And but I really appreciate you being here and having a conversation on positivity on fire and and it was it was a great conversation. So thank you.

Jason Goldberg:

My pleasure. Thanks for having me, man. And I'm so happy you're doing this work in the world. Please keep it up. We need it.

Jason Ramsden:

I definitely well, definitely well.

Jason Goldberg:

There's so much more that can be done with your mental health. And so it's what I'm creating now is a mental wealth, focus movements that is disguised as a collagen.

Jason Ramsden:

Hey, positivity posse. If you're ready to coach yourself, I invite you to download my free workbook. Seven Steps to regain redefined and reimagine your life. Head over to www dot Jason ramsden.com backslash my dash links and click on the download link at the top of the page. It's that simple. And hey, if you're interested in working with me as your own personal life coach, visit Jason ramsden.com and click Get Started in the upper right hand corner of the screen. I hope to talk to you soon until then have an amazing day. Positivity on fire is a production of impact one media LLC. All rights reserved.