Basecamp for Men E284: Recovery and the Hero’s Journey

E284: Recovery and the Hero’s Journey with Special Guest Kristy Stevens

 

E284 Introduction

One of my favorite sayings is that each chapter of your Hero‘s Journey will require a slightly different version of yourself. It is a saying with many layers, isn‘t it?

I was talking with my 18 y.o. son Lucas, who has taken a fairly cynical view of his future prospects. He doesn‘t think that there is any way he will ever be able to buy a house or get ahead. The hamster wheel perspective (totally justified btw, if not the most creative way to look at the future. ) But…..he’s really young, right?

And I was telling him that he is on Lucas Rezac version two or three right now. I am his father and I am on Tony Rezac 9.0 or 10.0. Getting ready for another version soon.

I went on to say that the way you see yourself and the world changes with each version. Sometimes subtly and sometimes quite drastically.

You can always tell when you are outgrowing the previous version of yourself. How? You may start to get tired of the same ole same ole routine you do. You find yourself annoyed at how you see and do things. You notice that shit ain’t working but you don’t yet have the next moves.

Oftentime, what is required is a LIGHTER version of yourself. And when I say lighter, I mean lighter in ego, lighter in the emotional/spiritual things that are weighing you down. Things like a lingering addiction or a victim mentality that no longer serves you or a habit that is completely running you around or maybe you keep telling yourself the same 2 or 3 disempowering stories about yourself and the world. You know, where the people around you know you are sort of lying to yourself and don’t know how to alert you, are you following me?

In many ways, you may not be fully aware that you have started a new version of yourself. It might feel like your just working through another mini-crisis, or you finally turned the corner on some part of life that you had been struggling with. Or maybe your friend circle looks a lot different like it does for me now. The friendship circle of Tony version 10.0 looks a lot different than the friend group of Tony in earlier version. This doesn’t mean you have to create new close friends, just that it may be required to successfully grow into what is needed from you.

Today’s guest is a wonderful example of growing into newer versions of yourself and travelling lighter on the road less travelled. I found her to be inspiring and charming. Enjoy the interview.

 Kristy Stevens Bio

My guest today is Kristy Stevens. Kristy is a mother, a former addict, and now a champion of recovery and helping young people find a better life path through her work with the Eastside Academy. Here is my interview with Kristy Stevens.

E284 Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did. To find and support the great work that Eastside Academy is doing right here in Seattle, go to www.eastsideacamemy.org. Thank you Basecampers!

 

The American Pulse E18: The Education Conversation

E18: The Education Conversation w Special Guest Chinmay Nagarkar

 

E18 Introduction

Hello listeners and thank you for tuning into the American Pulse. My guest today is a first-generation immigrant with a passion for education excellence for all of our children.

There is much debate these days (with all the corruption being exposed on the national level), of CAN we save the Dept of Education? Is it worth it? How do you correct course for a corrupt organization massive bureaucracy not to mention all the far left ideology that have replaced any real scholarship or deep learning for the kids. The Dept of Education has, to use political jargon, been captured.

Should the Dept of Ed be abolished? I have my thoughts on the matter as I watch countless homeschooled kids do miles better in their intellectual development than the public school kids. But we can‘t just abandon all of the kids that are in the system. It doesn’t seem right, does it? My guest today doesn‘t feel right about it either which is one of the reasons he is running for a local school board. Even though his kids are not in the system, he has still raised his hand to be a leader. I love this and it exemplifies the grassroots approach that we celebrate here on the Pulse.

I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation with this wise American. He has some great ideas about how can we can improve education in our great nation. Enjoy the interview.

Chinmay Nagarkar Bio

Chinmay, a first-generation immigrant, earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in India and pursued graduate studies at Stanford University on a research scholarship. With over two decades of experience as an Engineering and Program Manager at companies like Amazon and Google, Chinmay has been a dedicated advocate for education reform and excellence.

E18 Final Thoughts-

If you want to research and support Chinmay in his run for Issaquah school district, go to www.votechinmay.org. I certainly will be following and supporting him in any way that I can. Thank you for tuning in and we‘ll see you next week on The American Pulse.

 

 

Basecamp for Men E283: The Good, the True, and the Beautiful

E283: The Good, the True, and the Beautiful

 

E283 Introduction

Today is a bit of an odd little short-format Firestarter episode, under 10 minutes. With that Terrance McKenna audio clip and then a song at the end. I came across the idea for this mini-EP for this as I was on my run around the lake that I do. I had a playlist on and the song “Feels So Good” by Chuck Mangione, which was one of the popular songs of the day when I was a little kid. It made me think back to my childhood when this song would come on the FM radio in my Mom’s car.

A simple little jazz and trumpet song that conveyed its central theme…..Feels So Good. And I realized that this thread of joy and God and Divine Guidance and love and family is absolutely essential for our ascension and redemption. The Globalists, the Luciferians, call them what you will, can’t stand this about us. Our Divine Spark, the life-force and emotions that gives meaning to this whole mythic storyline.

It all got me thinking about something the ancient Greeks referred to as The Good, the True, and the Beautiful. This ancient Platonic ideal contains three qualities or principles that are transcendent. These principles transcend nationalities, transcend Democrat vs. Republican, woke vs. Patriot, Trump as King vs. Trump as Hitler. The Good the True and the Beautiful is a wonderful lens and mirror and a barometer to see and feel how we are doing at each stage.

And you can see the attack on all of this in the mainstream culture and the mainstream media. The education system is dumbing down the kids (which is not True or Good or Beautiful). Our once-proud cities look ravaged by crime and addiction and filth. Again, nothing True or Good or Beautiful going on down the street.

The media landscape is a vipers den of lies and deception. Again, not Good or True or Beautiful. So much so that you could, as a practice, completely invert EVERYTHING that the media says and have a more accurate portrait of what is going on.

And yet….and yet we still have laughter, we still have beautiful children being born and raised, we still have joy in one another. Even as we all see the absurdity of it all like Terrance McKennan said in the beginning.

If Terrance McKenna is correct and moving into a higher dimension is like a “fire in the madhouse” then the game becomes how do we hold onto the Good and the True and the Beautiful while inside the “fire in the madhouse”. That is what we are all attempting to do. No wonder people are freaking out about every little thing and bracing for God knows what.

It’s important for us to keep one another close in these times. Even if it is just 2 or 3 trusted friends and family members. Large numbers in your tribe does not matter. This is not a popularity contest. The fire in the madhouse moment has us reach only for those most important to us. To keep alive the Good, the True, and the Beautiful as we watch this insanity reveal itself to this beautiful planet and all of the confused, traumatized and loving humans who call this place home.

I was going to conclude with a classical musical piece but God was whispering about this song so this song it is. And remember Basecampers, you and I , we belong to the Light. We’ll see you next week.

 

 

Basecamp for Men E282: We the Parents

E282: We the Parents with Special Guest David Spring

 

E282 Introduction

Today’s episode is an interview I did on my other show The American Pulse. Since each show has its distinct listenership, I thought this interview and the subject matter was quite relevant for you here at Basecamp.

Sometimes you meet everyday heroes just going about your day. Such is the story of my guest today who came to speak to my LD meeting (Legislative District) last year to talk about the state of education and the transgender ideology that has exploded in our public schools here in WA. This combination of dropping test scores along with the meteoric rise of the transgender ideology and more and more mental illness has, from my vantage point, overrun our public schools.

Let’s be clear here before we proceed.. I am not against some poor child who is being encouraged to question his or her biological reality. My beef is with the adults who have created and foisted these terrible ideas upon unsuspecting children and their parents who (I would imagine) must watch thunderstruck as their beautiful son or daughter start to walk a treacherous path of drugs and hormone replacement and (possibly) life altering surgery. Who created this? We’re going to talk about that today.

My heart goes out to the trans community. Truly it does and I think this is true for most of the conservative, independent, and libertarian minded Americans. We see what is being done and just because we won’t celebrate all things transgender, does not mean we are against you. Quite the contrary. We fight on your behalf. So future parents feel supported by schools and structures around them. Not threatened if they don’t go along with every crazy idea and legislative action put forth by people who personally benefit from widespread adoption of the transgender cult. Enjoy the episode.

David Spring Bio

My guest today is David Spring. David is a retired professor, an author, a prolific writer, and a man who puts truth over ideology. Here is my interview with David Spring.

 

 

The American Pulse E17: We The Parents

E17: We The Parents with Special Guest David Spring

 

E17 Introduction

Hello listeners and thank you for tuning into The American Pulse. Sometimes you meet everyday heroes just going about your day. Such is the story of my guest today who came to speak to my LD last year to talk about the state of education and the transgender ideology that has exploded in our public schools here in WA. This combination of dropping test scores along with the meteoric rise of the transgender ideology and more and more mental illness has, from my vantage point, overrun our public schools.

Let’s be clear here before we proceed.. I am not against some poor child who is being encouraged to question his or her very biological reality. My beef is with the adults who have created and foisted these terrible ideas upon unsuspecting children and their parents who (I would imagine) must watch thunderstruck as their beautiful son or daughter start to walk a treacherous path of drugs and hormone replacement and (possibly) life altering surgery. Who created this? We’re going to talk about that today.

My heart goes out to the trans community. Truly it does and I think this is true for most of the conservative, independent, and libertarian minded Americans. We see what is being done and just because we won’t celebrate all things transgender, does not mean we are against you. Quite the contrary. We fight on your behalf. So future parents feel supported by schools and structures around them. Not threatened if they don’t go along with every crazy idea and legislative action put forth by people who benefit from widespread adoption of the transgender cult.

Ask yourself this: Do you really think Bill Gates and Bob Ferguson and Chris Reykdal care about the health and education of your children? If they did, why do their actions say otherwise? Don’t get mad, I’m just asking a question.

I had the great pleasure to meet my guest and we talked all about the state of education here in WA state. This is a bit longer of an episode but I think it is more than worth the listen. Enjoy!

David Spring Bio-

My guest today is David Spring. David is a retired professor, an author, a prolific writer, and a man who puts truth over ideology. Here is my interview with David Spring.