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Nurturing Minds: Cultivating Mindfulness From Early Childhood
Episode 96th June 2023 • Mindful You • Alan Carroll
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In the 9th episode of Mindful You, Alan interviews Sam Beard. Beard has worked for eight Presidents of The United States. Through working with the Presidents he has helped in the creation of more than 10 million jobs in impoverished communities across America. This podcast focuses on Beard’s journey into mindfulness and how he got involved. Babies contain spiritual energy and and Beard believe we need to bring the resource of mindfulness into the age 0-3.  Sam believes that mindfulness should be accessible to children from grade 1 to grade 3 as well – it is a vital resource. We must remember that there is a vibrational connection in everything around us. We all must remember how powerful we are.

About The Guest:

Sam Beard is a social entrepreneur and public servant who has made significant contributions to the field of public service and youth leadership. Born in 1939, he was raised in New York City and went on to earn a BA from Yale University in 1961 and an MA from Columbia University in 1965. He also attended Stanford Law School from 1962 to 1963.

Beard’s career began with his work alongside U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a low-income community in Brooklyn, New York. He focused on social justice and poverty elimination, reflecting his commitment to making a positive impact on society.

After Senator Kennedy’s assassination on 1968, Beard founded the National Development Council, which has played a crucial role in providing revitalization financing worth billions of dollars.

Throughout his career, Beard has initiated and chaired programs for eight U.S. Presidents , including Nixon, Ford, Carter, Raegan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Bush Jr. His works with these presidents has resulted in the creation of over 10 million jobs in impoverished communities across America.

In addition to his work in public service, Beard also ventured into politics himself. He ran in the Democratic primary for the 1988 U.S. Senate election in Delaware. He was also involved in various revitalization efforts, collaborating with former Delaware Governor Pete du Pont and Wilmington Mayor Bill McLaughlin to revitalize the Wilmington riverfront.

Beard’s dedication to making a positive impact led him to found the non-profit organization GIFT (Global Investment Foundation for Tomorrow). GIFT aims to harness the transformative power of mindfulness and meditation movements to address urgent global challenges. Inspired by his own experience of using these techniques to manage his stress, Beard envisions GIFT as the most significant outcome of his lifelong commitment to service.

Sam Beard’s most notable contribution to public service and youth leadership is his role in co-creating the Jefferson Awards, now rebranded as Multiplying Good. This prestigious award recognizes individuals for their outstanding achievements in public service and has had a substantial impact, inspiring and empowering millions of students every year.

About Alan:

Alan Carroll is an Educational Psychologist who specializes in Transpersonal Psychology. He founded Alan Carroll & Associates 30 years ago and before that, he was a Senior Sales Training Consultant for 10 years at Digital Equipment Corporation. He has dedicated his life in search of mindfulness tools that can be used by everyone (young and old) to transform their ability to speak at a professional level, as well as, to reduce the psychological suffering caused by the misidentification with our ego and reconnect to the vast transcendent dimension of consciousness that lies just on the other side of the thoughts we think and in between the words we speak.

Personal: https://www.facebook.com/alan.carroll.7359

Business: https://www.facebook.com/AlanCarrolltrains

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aca-mindful-you/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulnesseminar/

Web Site: https://acamindfulyou.com/

Transcripts

Alan Carroll:

Welcome to the mindful U podcast. Today's guest

Alan Carroll:

is Sam beard. Sam is a social entrepreneur has been involved

Alan Carroll:

in public service his entire career. He worked with

Alan Carroll:

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Robert Kennedy. And the war on

Alan Carroll:

poverty, worked with eight presidents of the United States,

Alan Carroll:

and developed over 10 million jobs for the young,

Alan Carroll:

underemployed. He recently founded the nonprofit

Alan Carroll:

organization called gift gi f t, which stands for the global

Alan Carroll:

investment foundation for tomorrow. Which is designed to

Alan Carroll:

harness the full impact of mindfulness and meditation in

Alan Carroll:

order to solve the urgent challenges and problems that we

Alan Carroll:

as humans face today, in this world of ups and downs and

Alan Carroll:

agitation and chaos, he is the founder of the Jefferson Awards,

Alan Carroll:

which is like the Nobel Prize for service. And I'm also want

Alan Carroll:

you to know that in the show notes, there is a three minute

Alan Carroll:

video, which goes over Sam's entire life, of service and

Alan Carroll:

contribution. So please watch that beautiful video in the show

Alan Carroll:

notes, and is with a great enthusiasm and excitement to

Alan Carroll:

introduce you to Sam beard. Sam, welcome to the mindful you

Alan Carroll:

podcast. And I want to thank you very much for you taking the

Alan Carroll:

time to share with our audience, your your journey, and the parts

Alan Carroll:

of the journey, which about 10 years ago, you said really you

Alan Carroll:

went through a a stressful time situation in life that really

Alan Carroll:

ignited a flame in you that was a spark. But it was a flame of

Alan Carroll:

mindfulness. And so I'm excited to have you share a little bit

Alan Carroll:

about that, that journey into mindfulness, and how you've

Alan Carroll:

taken your resources available to you, and how you're bringing

Alan Carroll:

mindfulness out into the world specially with that with the

Alan Carroll:

GIFT program. That sounds like a very exciting thing. And I

Alan Carroll:

really would like our audience to hear it. So the first

Alan Carroll:

question would be, how did you get involved with mindfulness?

Alan Carroll:

And

Sam Beard:

I will answer that. But I just want to start off

Sam Beard:

Alan by saying, the privilege of being here with you, with many,

Sam Beard:

many years, decades of commitment to reducing stress

Sam Beard:

and take mindfulness around the world, you are a treasure of the

Sam Beard:

globe. And I absolutely want to start by just saying that and

Sam Beard:

underlining. So it's an honor for me to be here. And thank

Sam Beard:

you. Now it is true that the My whole life has been service. And

Sam Beard:

I'll explain it more later. But basically, I've my whole life, I

Sam Beard:

followed my intuition, or my DNA or my whatever you want to call

Sam Beard:

it, which was always service. From day one, as a young kid, my

Sam Beard:

whole DNA was serve others. And so I did that. Follow my

Sam Beard:

intuition, and it led to many things. And then in 2014, I was

Sam Beard:

now 75 years old. And it was a personal crisis of great

Sam Beard:

tension, lawsuits and mud stuff. I'm a creative, let's build

Sam Beard:

something guide. And I built up a nonprofit which had $30

Sam Beard:

million. And we, as the introduction says, I had created

Sam Beard:

and then run a program for eight presidents of the United States.

Sam Beard:

And I've just very simple. And then the press, I put in charge

Sam Beard:

of the foundation to do economic development because I was doing

Sam Beard:

other stuff now. I went to a board meeting and the answer was

Sam Beard:

I was fired. So at age 75, that I didn't have a pension, and I

Sam Beard:

was unemployed. So I supposed to start my economics over at zero.

Sam Beard:

And that was not a great day. No, not at all. So tremendous

Sam Beard:

tension and I don't like pills and stuff. And I went to the

Sam Beard:

doctor and he gave me depression pills and I took two of them and

Sam Beard:

threw them away. I've been familiar with mindfulness and

Sam Beard:

brought had Weiss I'd ever heard of him. But he 20 to 30 years

Sam Beard:

ago, I sort of got into it. And I knew it was powerful. And I

Sam Beard:

tried to do it, let's say in my early 30s. And the funny part is

Sam Beard:

the exercise to reduce stress and go to sleep, as you lie down

Sam Beard:

and close your eyes and visualize and boom, you go to

Sam Beard:

sleep, the exercise to reach your higher peak is to close

Sam Beard:

your eyes and visualize stuff. And then you get connected to

Sam Beard:

mindfulness, and be really alert, and at the highest level.

Sam Beard:

And all I did was go to sick, so it wasn't quite what was

Sam Beard:

supposed to happen. But anyway, the Then, with this crisis, I

Sam Beard:

got back into it, and I got the Brian Weiss tapes, and I

Sam Beard:

listened to them every night. And with beautiful music and a

Sam Beard:

different voice that I never went to sleep, and I totally

Sam Beard:

went inside myself. And it, I could totally manage the

Sam Beard:

pressure and the tension and the tremendous stress. And that

Sam Beard:

opened the field to me. And once I did that, and understood the

Sam Beard:

power of going inside, and the heart of this, the thing I

Sam Beard:

learned was, return to your true nature of serenity, return to

Sam Beard:

your true nature of spiritual energy, return to your true

Sam Beard:

nature of service to others. And that was what it was all about.

Sam Beard:

And it was, it was like a whole new awakening of joy. And then I

Sam Beard:

am rambunctious. So I said, let's I live in Delaware. So

Sam Beard:

let's make it a product of Delaware. And let's take it all

Sam Beard:

around the world. And in 19 in 2014 2015 gift really started 20

Sam Beard:

started in 2015. And then 2016, it was our very first beginning

Sam Beard:

in Delaware. And this is interesting because I didn't

Sam Beard:

know for the most part, no one would talk about mindfulness and

Sam Beard:

meditation in Delaware. It was like woowoo. And watch out. And

Sam Beard:

so that didn't bother me because I always been a pioneer. So I

Sam Beard:

researched I start meeting people. And then I'd find out

Sam Beard:

these extraordinary people. They said, I've been meditating for

Sam Beard:

30 years, but 30 years ago, I told someone I was doing it. And

Sam Beard:

they thought it was crazy. So I haven't told anybody since then.

Sam Beard:

And so we had an original meeting, or we had 25 People

Sam Beard:

come in the morning and try to find people in the afternoon 50

Sam Beard:

people. And out of that we started and it really was

Sam Beard:

groundbreaking because I was going to take it statewide and

Sam Beard:

Delaware. And I found that really key leaders had been

Sam Beard:

doing this for some number of years and would wouldn't tell

Sam Beard:

anybody. So it was really the coming out party of meditation

Sam Beard:

in Delaware. And we ended up training 25,000 people in

Sam Beard:

schools, veterans mental health, and then we also were taking

Sam Beard:

around the world. So that's how it all got started.

Alan Carroll:

Who imagined that that seed that was planted and

Alan Carroll:

how it grew and how it flourished and how we are

Alan Carroll:

experiencing the fruits of your vision and the network that you

Alan Carroll:

have in order to manifest that vision out into the world. Oh,

Alan Carroll:

that's wonderful. The gifts I just want to make sure that my

Alan Carroll:

audience knows is a global investment foundation for

Alan Carroll:

tomorrow is the is the is the name of of the organization.

Unknown:

If and if they want to go to the website, it's WW gift

Unknown:

hyphen connect.org. And gift is the global investment. The IRS

Unknown:

990 is a global investment foundation for tomorrow. That's

Unknown:

the official name of the website is WW gift hyphen connect.org.

Alan Carroll:

Perfect. Thank you.

Unknown:

Now thank you. One of

Alan Carroll:

the in our previous conversation you had

Alan Carroll:

introduced me to a doctor named Jim Walsh a different doctor.

Alan Carroll:

This was Lisa Lisa Miller. Oh, yes. Okay. And she wrote the

Alan Carroll:

book The Awakening brain. Yes. And so I read the book, and it's

Alan Carroll:

rich with valuable mindfulness information. And what she was

Alan Carroll:

talking about. And you mentioned that also is that mindfulness

Alan Carroll:

spirituality is a resource. Yes, that can be tapped into and

Alan Carroll:

brought out into the world in order to Reduce the call it the

Alan Carroll:

psychological suffering that that people have. And so I, so

Alan Carroll:

one of the the areas of your interest is the zero through

Alan Carroll:

three, age range and how how we can bring the resource of

Alan Carroll:

mindfulness into the zero to three year old and why that is

Alan Carroll:

important. So I'd like to ask you to sort of expand more on

Alan Carroll:

that, zero through three and the importance of mindfulness in

Alan Carroll:

your, in your view.

Unknown:

I will and thank you very much for these are

Unknown:

wonderful questions. And thank you for having looked all that

Unknown:

stuff up. But let me just start a little bit with mindfulness.

Unknown:

Because when we were taking it around the world, 1000s of

Unknown:

people would say to me, I've heard about it, but I don't have

Unknown:

the time. I've heard about it. But I don't have the time. It's

Unknown:

not really for me. And they've all very stressed. So So I would

Unknown:

address that issue, which is, don't worry about mindfulness or

Unknown:

meditation, don't think of a course you have to sit all you

Unknown:

have to do your legs and all that sort of stuff and, and sit

Unknown:

in a yoga position. Don't worry about any of that. The point is

Unknown:

mindfulness and meditation is stress reduction. Who is you

Unknown:

have plenty. So I don't care how you do it. The answer is you

Unknown:

don't have the time not to do it. 15 To 20 minutes a day, you

Unknown:

don't have the time not to do it. It's completely life

Unknown:

changing. So do whatever you want to do. Take your dog and go

Unknown:

for a walk in nature. Yeah, just enjoy the flowers enjoy your

Unknown:

dog. Look at a bird fly by the hiccups a butterfly. And how

Unknown:

joyous is that and look at the colors of the butterfly. And you

Unknown:

pick up a stone as a little orange Salamandre to their

Unknown:

knees, he scoots off to two foot for protection and you just the

Unknown:

beauty of nature and just the relaxation of walking, you can

Unknown:

do that. The in the middle of winter, you say oh my gosh, it's

Unknown:

snow. 12 inches. If you go out and shovel that snow, you are

Unknown:

getting centered you're getting into it's a form of meditation,

Unknown:

because you're just you're stopping your energy. And so

Unknown:

anything you do, play with your children, here's your little

Unknown:

grandchildren, your children roll around on the floor and

Unknown:

play with them. That is meditation. It's it's

Unknown:

mindfulness. And it's centering yourself, you visualize tension,

Unknown:

you're out of the body, and you're all hyper, hyper, hyper,

Unknown:

hyper hyper. And that's bad for you stress that all that. Let me

Unknown:

try this. All the doctors and scientists know that stress is

Unknown:

the cause of every major disease. Stress is the cause of

Unknown:

cancer. Stress is the cause of diabetes. Stress is the cause of

Unknown:

mental health disasters. So heart heart heart attacks. And I

Unknown:

understand that so to SAS, I don't have the time is not the

Unknown:

right answer. And I just having talked to 1000s of people all

Unknown:

around the world, I think it's worth just saying that people

Unknown:

say what is mindfulness? What should I do and I don't have

Unknown:

time for the answer is just a way of relaxing and then easy

Unknown:

breath a few. I appreciate this podcast and just beforehand, I

Unknown:

was very, very busy, very, very busy. And I just went into

Unknown:

another room sat on a chair. And breathe in. Breathe, enjoy

Unknown:

bringing in positive thinking, breathe out tension, breathe in

Unknown:

joy and positive things. I'm looking forward to Alan, and

Unknown:

then breathe out touch him. Do that for a minute or two minutes

Unknown:

just in and out in and out. It it's anybody can do that at any

Unknown:

time. And then I tell people, if they're, if they're going to go

Unknown:

make a speech, if they have a presentation event, go into the

Unknown:

mesurer go to the ladies room and just sit down and just

Unknown:

breathe just for a few minutes, it completely changes your whole

Unknown:

makeup and turns you down and get you back centered. And so

Unknown:

I'd say return to your true nature of serenity. That's what

Unknown:

you're doing with your breath. The essence of it is your

Unknown:

breath. So just I just want to say that which is not answer to

Unknown:

your question, but I wanted to underline what you've done all

Unknown:

your life and when it's so important, and anybody listening

Unknown:

to this it's vital to get get this different perspective about

Unknown:

it. What I want to do now let's talk to Lisa about Lisa Miller

Unknown:

Now Lisa Miller. She is one of the top professors and signs A

Unknown:

test in the psychology department at Columbia

Unknown:

University Teachers College. And her book is the spiritual child

Unknown:

that offers a whole new world, the spiritual child. And her

Unknown:

point is, every baby is born with a spiritual gene. Now what

Unknown:

does that means? What that means is if you get into a mindfulness

Unknown:

state, the other part of true nature is spiritual energy. Now,

Unknown:

that allows me to open up when I was saying before, which was my

Unknown:

whole life, I followed my intuition. And I didn't know

Unknown:

what I was doing. That's just what I was doing. Now, once you

Unknown:

get into mindfulness and meditation, it does open up your

Unknown:

whole spiritual side. And what I realized was that my intuition,

Unknown:

and also when you get into the field of mindfulness and

Unknown:

meditation, the word intuition comes out everybody, serendipity

Unknown:

comes out as a word all the time, intuition all the time.

Unknown:

And what that means each of us with our intuition is connected

Unknown:

vibrationally to a higher power. And for whatever religion you're

Unknown:

talking about, that is God. And if you're spiritual, that is the

Unknown:

magic of a higher power, which governs all the universes in the

Unknown:

galaxies, and as a power well past, our understanding. And

Unknown:

it's a wonderful thing to understand how powerful we are.

Unknown:

So Lisa Miller, the spiritual child. The point is, it's, as a

Unknown:

psychologist and scientist, she's proven that everybody has

Unknown:

a gene, that capacity is in everyone. And that opens up a

Unknown:

whole new world of empowerment. Like, how great Am I I'm

Unknown:

connected to a higher power, I've connected to spiritual

Unknown:

energy. And then let's tie that into NASA, with a space program

Unknown:

is completely changed the understanding of how the

Unknown:

universe works. Because the point there is, all of energy is

Unknown:

vibrations. And we're just part of the universe of the galaxies.

Unknown:

Everything is vibrations. And so our intuition is a vibration.

Unknown:

And I then I apologize, because I take a simple question. I have

Unknown:

long answers.

Alan Carroll:

I love it. I love it. Sam, you're you're a

Alan Carroll:

fountain of wisdom. So you go right ahead and, and sing the

Alan Carroll:

songs.

Unknown:

I walked down the street, and people I've never

Unknown:

met. And I ask them three questions. I say Excuse me, do

Unknown:

you have a few minutes? And, and also come at them. I say you

Unknown:

look very energetic and very professional. You look like you

Unknown:

have a big heart. You look like you're an extraordinary Mother,

Unknown:

you look like an extraordinary father, you look like your

Unknown:

amazing family person. So just to start off, because they've

Unknown:

never met me. And looking at them, I can always find

Unknown:

something to compliment them about. And then I say, Do you

Unknown:

have a little time just for me to ask you three questions. They

Unknown:

never say no. And I'm not frightening looking and whole

Unknown:

approach is not frightening. So I then say, when you think of

Unknown:

somebody, do they ever call you? Or when you think of somebody?

Unknown:

Do they round the bend? And there they are? And I would say

Unknown:

eight out of 10? Say yes, that's a high percentage. And then I

Unknown:

say now, do you think that shows potentially, that human beings

Unknown:

have more than five senses? Is there some vibrational

Unknown:

connection between human beings more than sight and hearing and

Unknown:

taste? That's a vibrational connection. And for the most

Unknown:

part, people have not thought about that. And then an example,

Unknown:

I went into my wife and I go down into a hole with beach in

Unknown:

Delaware for take two or three days off. And we we stayed at

Unknown:

this hotel, we had a parent, so we go back to the hotel. And

Unknown:

there's the parent, I go to the lady behind the desk and I ask

Unknown:

these three questions. And I say, Do you have a few minutes?

Unknown:

Yes, I do. Okay, now. B. Do you ever think of anybody that call

Unknown:

you? And she said, Well, I'll tell you what happens with me.

Unknown:

I'm very close with my sisters or with my family. And my sister

Unknown:

lives three miles away. And just last week, I was here and I had

Unknown:

a whole visual picture of my sister carrying her new baby and

Unknown:

she fell down stairs. I got a movie in my head. I ran out. I

Unknown:

call the ambulance I ran over and we brought her to the

Unknown:

hospital. That's a that's a pretty dramatic example. You've

Unknown:

interconnection of people. And the next question is When you

Unknown:

are your most creative, does time fly by, locks disappear and

Unknown:

Time flies by, and ideas pour into your head? Definitely 80 To

Unknown:

70 to 80%. Say yes to that. And then it happens all the time

Unknown:

when you are your most creative. You get into a zone.

Unknown:

Professional use the word flow in psychology, the word flow

Unknown:

comes in. And ideas pour down to you and it's your most creative,

Unknown:

almost everybody says yes. Then the next question is, do you

Unknown:

ever think that those ideas are vibrations from the universe and

Unknown:

they're channeling into you? And you're absorbing information

Unknown:

from outside? Now a very few people say yes to that. But a

Unknown:

lot of important people do say yes to that. Paul McCartney has

Unknown:

always said that when he gets into this flow zone, all the

Unknown:

lyrics and music that he wrote, was channeled to him and he was

Unknown:

basically a secretary writing it down. Now, a lot of people don't

Unknown:

believe that. Even if he said it, no one believes it. The the

Unknown:

Harold Robbins is a major author. You're my friend. Father

Unknown:

was a big doctor and how Robbins was the patient of the of that

Unknown:

doctor? And my friend was going into movies. And he said, Could

Unknown:

I have lunch with Howard Robins? A Howard Robbins, if you go

Unknown:

online? How Robbins is one of the top 10 people in the whole

Unknown:

history of the world. He's sold more books in the top 10. In the

Unknown:

history of books out Robbins. Yep. So I had lunch with him and

Unknown:

said, Mr. Robbins, every year you turn out an amazing book,

Unknown:

different cultures, different language, different dresses,

Unknown:

different everything. And just amazing characters. How do you

Unknown:

do it? And how Robin said, it's very easy. This goes back to the

Unknown:

early 1980s. He said go back to my typewriter. That's that's a

Unknown:

data. That's a data type typewriter. And I write one

Unknown:

sentence and all the rest is channeled to me. So I'm a

Unknown:

secretary writing this down. So I just most artists, most

Unknown:

athletic now in sports, every major sport, if you're not

Unknown:

connected to the universe, you're not going to win the

Unknown:

championship. And every team is practicing mindfulness and

Unknown:

meditation. So I just throw that out, because it's, it's

Unknown:

connected to what Lisa Miller is talking about, which is

Unknown:

connected to the universe. So on the one hand, mindfulness and

Unknown:

meditation, you go inside, and you return to Serenity, or

Unknown:

return to calm. And when you do that, you're now connected to

Unknown:

vibrations at a higher level. And that gets you into flow and

Unknown:

connectivity and creativity. That's pretty interesting.

Alan Carroll:

Oh, you bet.

Unknown:

And then I'll tell you, Steven Kotler is one of the

Unknown:

major experts. And he's a genius, and he has a whole

Unknown:

operation to try to prove that being in flow. Work with all the

Unknown:

top neuroscientists, the top neuroscientists of the world,

Unknown:

but into numbers. If I'm using five senses, and if you make a

Unknown:

speech, or if I'm making a speech, I know if I talk too

Unknown:

fast, which I probably am now, or bring in too much

Unknown:

information, which I probably have now. The the audience can't

Unknown:

follow you. Because they're listening in five senses. What

Unknown:

if and when you're using your five senses, mostly the front

Unknown:

part of your brain and you can properly process information at

Unknown:

40 to 50 bits of information a second 40 to 50. So if you do

Unknown:

too fast, you're gonna lose your audience. Yep. Now you're in the

Unknown:

more middle part of your brain, you're in flow and you're

Unknown:

connected to the universe and his normal neurologic scientists

Unknown:

know when you're in flow connect to the universe, you are

Unknown:

processing information at the low end, 9 million bits of

Unknown:

information a second, and on the high end 40 million bits of

Unknown:

information per second. And so when Lisa Miller, the top

Unknown:

scientists at Columbia says each child is born with a spiritual

Unknown:

in connected to the vibrations of the universe, which NASA

Unknown:

proves is all that you can go for 40 to 40 million And it's

Unknown:

brain size. Everybody has that capacity. So that's pretty

Unknown:

interesting. And then Lisa's point is, with your children, if

Unknown:

you understand they have that capacity, the different things

Unknown:

you can do to encourage it, and on just to talk to them about

Unknown:

their creativity talks about their intuition, talks about

Unknown:

following their instincts. And then the third question is once

Unknown:

you go from more than five senses, and then creativity now

Unknown:

the next question is, are you spiritual or religious? And now,

Unknown:

many people say they're religious, and many people say

Unknown:

they're spiritual. And then I say with that, do you have a

Unknown:

sense that there is a higher power? And so to add, people

Unknown:

say, yes, they believe there is higher power. And then I say, so

Unknown:

do get guidance from that higher power. If you're spiritual, you

Unknown:

get guidance from that guy, or if you're religious, you're

Unknown:

getting guidance through prayer. With God, and then it's most, at

Unknown:

least half say, yes. That, that goes back to what I'm saying

Unknown:

about all my life, I followed my intuition, I had no idea what

Unknown:

that was. You bet. Basically, my DNA or my karma in mindfulness

Unknown:

language, was a higher power and I was following it. And then

Unknown:

serendipity. With the, the way you introduced me about the

Unknown:

eight presidents to this, that sounds like a lot of stuff that

Unknown:

I have done a lot of stuff by very simple. And I view that

Unknown:

with huge humility, because it was just a privilege, that with

Unknown:

what I call, joyous persistence, I like people. And if you do

Unknown:

that, and you trust them, and you have ideas, you can do a lot

Unknown:

of things. And it really is following a higher power, which

Unknown:

is the leverage of what happened. And again, everybody

Unknown:

has that. So now the last part of your thing was gift now is

Unknown:

all about early childhood and the brain science of early

Unknown:

childhood. And in 2017, I was out in San Francisco. And so I

Unknown:

said, go see George Halverson and I'm curious one thing I

Unknown:

would tell anybody listen to this. Follow your curiosity. If

Unknown:

anybody suggest something, try it. If it's too dangerous, don't

Unknown:

do it. I'm a scaredy cat. If someone said jump out of an

Unknown:

airplane. I don't have enough guts for that. I wouldn't do

Unknown:

that. If I'm on top of that looked down, I get scared. You

Unknown:

bet. And the things if someone says why don't you drive 100

Unknown:

miles an hour and go around a fast curve? I'm not into that.

Unknown:

And so Edie right? But read my life is not my strength. But

Unknown:

curiosity, the opens up so many wonderful things, and people shy

Unknown:

away from it. But get over that. Right around the corner is

Unknown:

something amazing. Always be open to going around the next

Unknown:

corner. And so suppose they say George happens to go over there.

Unknown:

What do I find George Halverson is one of the top scientists and

Unknown:

mental health professionals in the world. And in the United

Unknown:

States, there's a health organization called Kaiser

Unknown:

Permanente, which is one of the largest. It's nonprofit, but

Unknown:

it's one of the largest organizations with three to

Unknown:

400,000 employees all about health care. And here's what the

Unknown:

top scientists told me. The baby is born, every baby is born. And

Unknown:

the brain, billions of synapses are connecting a million a

Unknown:

second. And by a third birthday by third 123, third birthday,

Unknown:

the the neurological passages of your brain are largely being

Unknown:

set, which defined 70 to 80% your capacity to succeed in

Unknown:

school. So the baby needs to be spoken to sung to or read to

Unknown:

some number of millions of words by the third birthday. Now

Unknown:

people hear that and they don't want to hear it. They hear that

Unknown:

it's too much, right? But fundamentally, the reality is

Unknown:

that the first three years of your life the neurological

Unknown:

passages are set. And then so to 80%. that defies your ability in

Unknown:

school. So now in the United States If you take the idea of

Unknown:

zero to three, and you go to underserved communities, whether

Unknown:

it be black or Hispanic or white, low income, poverty

Unknown:

schools, underserved communities, when the children

Unknown:

from underserved communities come to kindergarten in which

Unknown:

about age 670 to 80% of those children are not education

Unknown:

ready, and they're not reading ready. And then I say, Well,

Unknown:

look, kindergarten is the first year of school. Now, the whole

Unknown:

actual point is, the first year of school is when you're born.

Unknown:

And actually this starts at conception. Let's make a little

Unknown:

more confusing. As soon as the woman is pregnant, you should,

Unknown:

she should talk to her baby, the father should talk to the baby,

Unknown:

the relatives are talking about, I love you. And I'll talk to all

Unknown:

the time and saying to them and read to them right in the womb,

Unknown:

you bet. And if their vibrations, when that baby is

Unknown:

born, the baby was already ahead of me would not talk to him.

Unknown:

From conception to birth. Now the baby is born specters thing

Unknown:

to read two millions of words by the third birthday. Now. And the

Unknown:

word neurological passages are too complicated. So I look at it

Unknown:

this way. They are new and I build something. And we have a

Unknown:

we just build a new mindful, mindful you stature and Nepal or

Unknown:

something like that. And we want to put pour cement at the front

Unknown:

door, just a and then we're gonna put our initials in it to

Unknown:

commemorate the amazing thing that we did. And I say, Look,

Unknown:

I'm a little older than you, Alan, I'm tired. Let's go have a

Unknown:

drink. And I can sleep tomorrow morning, we're gonna come back,

Unknown:

we'll put our initials in this event. Now what happens with

Unknown:

that? You pour the cement the afternoon, and you come back the

Unknown:

next morning? How good are you putting initials into the

Unknown:

cement?

Alan Carroll:

Cement is hard, you can't do it. Can't do it.

Unknown:

So that fundamentally for the most part is the brain,

Unknown:

your neurological passages are set in the first three years and

Unknown:

then the brain goes and does something else. So I don't want

Unknown:

to say it's impossible to catch up. But it's that harder to

Unknown:

catch up. And that's the point. And so, once I heard that I

Unknown:

can't get out of my mind. And that now is the one thing that

Unknown:

we're doing at gift Connect is talking about the power of the

Unknown:

brain science of zero to three. And because it's completely

Unknown:

transformational. And now let's go back to the underserved

Unknown:

communities. If you don't start a deception, and if you don't

Unknown:

start zero to three, which is what education really starts,

Unknown:

education capacity starts. Now you say, Okay, you're in

Unknown:

kindergarten. And it starts by the third grade, you need to be

Unknown:

really good at education, writing and reading ready, in

Unknown:

underserved communities, children and start, so to 80% in

Unknown:

the United States, not there. Now they get to the third or

Unknown:

fourth grade as a third or fourth grade, if you're not a

Unknown:

good reader, and if you're not education ready by the third

Unknown:

grade, now you're in real trouble. Because the first few

Unknown:

years they've set the foundation, and then you're able

Unknown:

to learn. But the answer is the 70 80% never changes. So in the

Unknown:

third grade, obviously, as you go along, your capacity is

Unknown:

increasing. But the third graders set a percent said 8%

Unknown:

are not when they're supposed to be eighth grade seven 80% are

Unknown:

not where they're supposed to be. They graduate so to 80%, not

Unknown:

where they're supposed to be. So in the United States in our

Unknown:

schools, 1/3 of all the students are graduating with no skills

Unknown:

capable of having a 21st century job. That's appalling.

Alan Carroll:

Yep. That's appalling.

Unknown:

The United States by the way, among developing

Unknown:

countries, the United States and the 36. Top developing

Unknown:

countries, we are the 34th worst. That early childhood

Unknown:

development. Zero to Three, that's a disaster. Now let's

Unknown:

look at a global x we talked about globally. I've never done

Unknown:

a global project. But this is what mindfulness is global is

Unknown:

the first one but now with this, it'd be global. And if you look

Unknown:

at developing nations first developed countries they want to

Unknown:

close the gap. And we all want to but for the most part,

Unknown:

developing countries that spend less than 2% of their education

Unknown:

budget, zero to three And then they gotta catch up at school.

Unknown:

But if you miss three, you can't catch up for the most part,

Unknown:

foreign aid to developing countries less than 1% focuses

Unknown:

on zero to three. So this is really significant around the

Unknown:

world. And my team has said, Sam, you think of too many

Unknown:

things, and you get involved in too many things. And so to be

Unknown:

really successful, we're going to get focused on that one

Unknown:

thing. So I apologize. But that's a long sort of answer to

Unknown:

what you said. So I did flow from mindfulness to Lisa Miller,

Unknown:

with opening up your spiritual side to George Halverson, zero

Unknown:

to three.

Alan Carroll:

Wow. Absolutely, I find that the going back to

Alan Carroll:

mindfulness for me is like a pool of energy. Yep. And the

Alan Carroll:

quicker you can access that, the quicker you will develop the

Alan Carroll:

muscles that allow you to look at whatever issue that you're

Alan Carroll:

facing in the 21st century, which is a lot of issues,

Alan Carroll:

environmental issues, mental health issues, drug issues, and

Alan Carroll:

lots of issues, which cause agitation. And if you can't have

Alan Carroll:

a calm view, to deal with the agitation, then you're agitated,

Alan Carroll:

trying to deal with the agitation, which is not going to

Alan Carroll:

resolve the agitation. But if you have that mindfulness

Alan Carroll:

training at an early age, that allows you to wait a minute, let

Alan Carroll:

me take a breath. Let let me get this physical body relaxed

Alan Carroll:

before I stick my hands in the machinery and try to try to pull

Alan Carroll:

the levers. And I think that is absolutely the You said it

Alan Carroll:

yourself. The most significant challenge of your service of

Alan Carroll:

life is happening now. Because he's because you recognize that,

Alan Carroll:

that unless we get mental stability, we're going to be

Alan Carroll:

unstable, dealing with unstable things. It's it's got this, it's

Alan Carroll:

going to cause major, more major issues. And so I'm a I'm a

Alan Carroll:

believer, Sam, and what you're saying,

Unknown:

Are they you're more than a believer, you're one of

Unknown:

the major world leaders who have pioneered this and been at it

Unknown:

with such persistence and power for some number of decades. So

Unknown:

the again, I start off by congratulating, I just want to

Unknown:

congratulate you again, and really underline the privilege

Unknown:

of me to be here. Now then, once I, literally two weeks ago, a

Unknown:

bell went off that all these three things were late, the

Unknown:

mindfulness of meditation. And then here's Lisa Miller with a

Unknown:

spiritual child, and that his his new thing that we're doing,

Unknown:

which is the brain science of Birth to Three. And so I call an

Unknown:

expert, a fella called Jim Walsh, and he has a he's trained

Unknown:

in everything. And he's such a heart. His specialty is

Unknown:

mindfulness and meditation and Jon Kabat Zinn. But anytime you

Unknown:

have a question, you call Jim, watch, ask Jim, and you get an

Unknown:

amazing answer. And he's the one that led us through the whole

Unknown:

thing with with a mindfulness of meditation. So I call Jim, and

Unknown:

he never lets me down. So he said, Sam, of course, all the

Unknown:

three are connected. And then he used a fancy word, when he said,

Unknown:

it's all about default mode. Network isn't a technical thing,

Unknown:

Default Mode Network. And he explained it this way, the baby

Unknown:

is born, and the baby is pure. And the baby has no idea the

Unknown:

baby's born now. If bad things happen, the baby is looking for

Unknown:

safety. So if bad stuff happened, the brain does stuff.

Unknown:

Like watch out for that. Don't do that again. And if something

Unknown:

bad happens over here, watch that. And then from a different

Unknown:

angle, if if the baby is not loved and taken care of if the

Unknown:

baby is sort of abused, if it's not food, the the first four

Unknown:

years of your life, you start with a clean slate, and many

Unknown:

things happen, which are upsetting to the conscious mind

Unknown:

and programmed in the subconscious mind. And that

Unknown:

leads to lack of self esteem. I don't believe in myself. All of

Unknown:

that is in the first three to four years of life. So now,

Unknown:

mindfulness and meditation is the first three or four years of

Unknown:

life and you taught how to do that from the big getting, you

Unknown:

know how to stress the spiritual child that's a gene, it's like

Unknown:

your ability to see or ability to hear your ability to connect

Unknown:

to the universe is a genetic, physical connection. And if you

Unknown:

are encouraged that you have that power, you have the

Unknown:

opportunity to go from 40 to 50 bits of information per second,

Unknown:

up to 9 million to 40 million. Everybody has that. And, and

Unknown:

that's also happening the first few years. And then the brain

Unknown:

science of the neurological passages, which really lead to

Unknown:

literacy and abilities. School are the same thing. So the

Unknown:

answer is all of that fits into the idea of default mode

Unknown:

network. And that's pretty interesting. I know. Usually,

Unknown:

people operate, operate in silos. And I think for the most

Unknown:

part, very few people have ever put that together in that same

Unknown:

way.

Alan Carroll:

And that's creativity. And that's, that's

Alan Carroll:

one of the benefits of mindfulness. Mindfulness to me

Alan Carroll:

has flexibility to it, that allows you to comfortably move

Alan Carroll:

around the circle to see the different points of view that

Alan Carroll:

people are sharing versus my ego just wants one point of view,

Alan Carroll:

it's my point of view. So I spend my life defending and

Alan Carroll:

attacking my people who, who are opposed to my point of view,

Alan Carroll:

versus flexibility. listening, listening allows you to circle

Alan Carroll:

all over and have that flow that that you talked about. I love

Alan Carroll:

it. Well, Sam, where we are, we are getting close to the end of

Alan Carroll:

our first podcast, I sense we have, we have a realm of

Alan Carroll:

information to bring forth you're, you're like a fountain

Alan Carroll:

of knowledge. And I really appreciate you sharing all the

Alan Carroll:

golden nuggets of your journey and the things that you've

Alan Carroll:

discovered and the people that you've talked to what a what a

Alan Carroll:

gift you are, to, to, to to the world, and but especially to the

Alan Carroll:

audience of the mind for your podcast. And to conclude, I want

Alan Carroll:

to thank you for being on the podcast. And we're going to have

Alan Carroll:

show notes that are going to have your biography, it's good

Alan Carroll:

to have your contact information so that people can reach out to

Alan Carroll:

you and connect with you and find out all the things that

Alan Carroll:

you're doing in the world. And I just want to I just want to

Alan Carroll:

thank you for for what you do. The that Curiosity has led you

Alan Carroll:

on a path that inspires millions and millions of people. So it's

Alan Carroll:

been an honor, and a privilege to be able to have time to talk

Alan Carroll:

to you and have you share your wisdom. So thank you very, very

Alan Carroll:

much, Sam. And in conclusion, what would you like to say to

Alan Carroll:

the audience

Unknown:

there I want to say to the audience is Alan Thank you

Unknown:

know, I guess what I want to say to the audience is I've talked

Unknown:

about is the capacity of empowerment that each human

Unknown:

being has. And if you think you if you think you can, you can't,

Unknown:

if you think big, you can do it. If you get started, there's

Unknown:

nothing you can't do and trust yourself. Your power is amazing.

Unknown:

Trust yourself and it changes your life. You have amazing

Unknown:

capacity, coming from a divinity that Allah Thank you.

Alan Carroll:

Thank you, Sam. You bye for now.

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