Working Towards Our Purpose

Welcome back to working towards our purpose. And today

I have episode 41. And

the topic of today's episode is going to be energy and

kind of a big topic, but I've kind of broken it down and

hopefully it will flow cohesively. But before we get

into that, I want to talk about a couple things that have been

happening. Two things.

One, my friend Michael Shawn, who was a

guest on this podcast back when it was an interview

show, has opened up his studio that we

talked about on that episode and kind of just wanted to talk about it

a little bit. I think it's

a really cool space. It's intended to be a

podcast studio, a place where lessons can

happen and people can go and take music lessons. And

it's also going to be music studio. And I just wanted

to talk about it a little bit because it has opened and it's in North

Haven. And I'll put a link in the show notes so you can get to

it if you're interested in recording a podcast or maybe doing some

music lessons. But I also want to talk about it because

I've also decided to, you know, give

it. Give a go at some guitar lessons, and

that's where I will be doing them. So I've never given guitar lessons before,

but talking to Michael Shawn, he kind of encouraged me.

And, yeah, I think it's something that

will align with my values and

I'd like to be able to help people in a way and help

teach something that I've been doing for a while. And I feel

pretty confident in my ability to play guitar. So,

you know, the next stage is. Is teaching them, teaching lessons, and,

yeah, looking forward to that. I think that's an exciting new thing for me.

So if you're interested, you can contact me.

But. But, yeah, I just wanted to also just give the studio a shout out

because it's officially opened and I'm really excited about

that. Um, and then the second thing that I wanted to

talk about was my business

Relished Roots, which I don't think I really have talked about on here very

much. So I did want to

discuss that a bit. And Relish

Roots is a business that I have started with

my friend and business partner, Sam

we, who is a

farmer. And the both of us kind of got into

pickling things and fermenting things, and he's been doing it far longer

than me. Um, but it was kind of this thing that we both

are. One of the things that we both kind of gravitated

towards and saw that we liked both doing It. So

at the end of last year we kind of had this idea to turn it

into a business. And we were part of a

food business entrepreneurship sort of cohort where

we went through like a three month program to

establish the roots, I guess, if you will,

of the business. And, and yeah, we,

we're still in the licensing phase of it and we're still

trying to, trying to be, you know, properly licensed so that

we could sell legally. But we've made a lot of progress

and we've been making stuff in our kitchens

and testing stuff and gotten good feedback on the products.

And our goal is to get to a farmer's market by the end of the

year. And yeah, it's another really

exciting like adventure and venture for me.

And it's my first business where I'm working with

somebody else, which has been super rewarding and

just like fun. Like it's been, it's been a really nice thing that we

can, we can do together and put our energies into

and create something that hopefully serves somebody else and

somebody else can enjoy. So more, more

on that maybe in the future. But I did just want to talk about it.

We, we got together the other night and,

and, and made some, some of our chummy tummy we

call it, which is like kind of a non spicy kimchi, like bok

choy and some other veggies. And yeah,

it was just a lot of fun. Sam actually

grew the bok choy, so we were able to harvest it from his

garden, which is kind of

a really cool thing to be able to take something from the ground that

he grew and then turn it into something that

is a product of ours that we can sell. Um, so yeah, we're,

we're really all about like local produce, local

agriculture. We want to support local farms. We want to

minimize food waste. That was kind of one of the ideas of

early on of this business is to take seconds from

farms that otherwise would just go to compost

to be able to use products or use produce that maybe doesn't look

as nice because we're processing it and you know, chopping it up anyways to ferment

to help turn that food that maybe wouldn't have went to

somebody now into a product that people can consume.

Um, so yeah, I just want to touch on those two

things. They've kind of been top of mind for me and I think they kind

of a little bit go with the topic of today. Um, and,

and yeah, the topic today that I want to discuss is energy.

And it is a really big topic And

I've tried to break it down in a way that makes it a

little bit more palatable. But I think for me,

like, the beginning of the energy

discussion came from a book that I read

probably, like, five years or so ago now.

I read this before I quit my corporate job, and it's called the Celestine

Prophecy. I'll also link that in the show notes. But

it's kind of a story that has just many different kind of

concepts in it. And one of the big takeaways for me was the

idea of energy and how everything is energy and

how you can see the world in terms of energy.

And, yeah, it kind of just shifted my perspective, I think,

on not only, like, myself,

but, like, also others around me and, like,

how I make decisions and, like. And, yeah,

so, you know, without. Without rambling too much. I think I want to

get into these. These three little topics that I have

that kind of show what I mean by energy, because it's

such a broad term. So. So first off, I think

people. People have energy, right? Like, I don't know if

you've ever had a conversation with somebody, and

maybe it was, like, a great conversation and you walked away and you just felt,

like, energized after it. You were, like, excited or,

you know, you felt better after talking to somebody.

That's happened to me, you know, multiple times. And

the opposite can also happen. Like, sometimes you have a conversation with somebody

and you can feel kind of drained or

lacking of energy after you have the conversation.

And. And, yeah, I think people, you know,

sometimes you can notice that. Maybe sometimes you don't notice it and it's more subconscious,

but people definitely have energy and give off energy. It's like, you

know, if you walk past somebody on the street and they're smiling and,

like, you can tell they're just, like, in a great mood and they say good

morning or something to you, like, that is palpable, and you can. You

can feel that, and it can increase your energy. You know,

you can take that in and, you know, now you start smiling yourself because that

guy was so happy or that girl was so happy. But, yeah, I

think it also reminds me of this story that back when I was

working in my corporate job as an

engineer, I was at Pratt and Whitney, and we had this.

I guess it was like a warehouse where we kept, like, our

parts, or my group specifically had our parts in this

warehouse. And I. I used to have to go there sometimes, and it was

a very depressing place that I

think there was, like, a handful of people that work there. But it was basically

just like this, like, empty

warehouse with just things in it that, like, the government

owned. And like, they had a little office section that

was, like, really outdated. And I remember just going there.

It was like, kind of down this. This also made it worse. It was down

this, like, cul de sac that was, like, also abandoned. And

I remember, like, the. The cul de sac itself, like the turnaround in the.

In the road was just like, full of weeds and stuff. And the place

almost seemed abandoned. But then you go inside and there's like, a couple people,

you know, on computers and stuff. And I really did not like

going there because it was just so depressing, like I said.

But there was this one guy there that worked there. And

I found that, like, he ended up being the guy that would, like, help me

when I. When I needed to go there and get stuff done. And he just

always had such a positive attitude. And he was always, like,

excited to see me. And he was usually in a good

mood. But if he wasn't in a good mood, he was, like, really sort of

transparent and just like, I don't know, like a real person. And

I really, like, enjoyed seeing him and

visiting him when I was there. And it just. I remember thinking, like,

at the time, had this, like, one person

really changed the whole environment, the

energy of the office and the building itself. Because if he wasn't

there, like, everybody else was kind of just like bumming around and, you know,

didn't want to be there and stuff. And. Yeah, it just.

It's interesting how much you can affect a place. Like one

person can affect a place. And it just made me think about

how, like, if he wasn't there, the place would have been

terrible place to go to. But because he was there, I actually started

enjoying going to visit him and going to see him.

So people definitely have energies.

And it's interesting how that can affect other people. Cause we're all

kind of affecting each other each and every day when

we're interacting or just walking by somebody. And

then the second thing that I wanted to talk about in terms of energy is

getting energy through the things that you do. And, you know,

I said that you can perhaps get positive energy from somebody.

But, you know, in my experience, I've also been able to get energy from

things that I do, specifically music. Like, music has always been something

that has been beneficial for me.

It's. It's given me so many things

that, you know, I always talk about music. But I think as I

looked at like, what music was for me, like, growing

up and, you know, in my young, 20, younger

20s and stuff like that, when I didn't really have words to

express my emotions and, you know, I wasn't really in tune with my emotions

as much. I always know that, like, when I wasn't feeling good, I

would go pick up my guitar, and if I came up with something or created

something or even I just played it for a while, I would feel

better. And I didn't really have, like, language to describe

that, but really, I think what

music was doing for me was it was helping me increase my energy.

It was helping me increase my positive energy. Maybe I was, like,

worrying about something or stressing about something or, you know,

just sad. And picking up a guitar could help make me

feel better, could help increase my energy levels.

So, I mean, I think that the things that we do can also

affect our energy. Like, I'm thinking about, like,

how the things that I'm investing into myself, you

know, me and. And Sam's business relish roots, like,

doing that. We were, you know, up pretty late the other night doing it,

and we were both tired. But doing something that we

enjoy was giving us energy. Like, it was giving me energy. I guess I can

only speak for myself, but, you know, I. I'm

doing something that is giving something to me back.

And in that regard, I

think choosing the things that you do can help

give you energy and can help you go further in the things that you

are doing. So

I'm really trying to find those specific

things that give me energy back so that way I can keep doing

those things and make them sustainable and make them something that I

not only enjoy to do, but also it's like a reciprocating sort of thing.

And this podcast is another thing. Like, you know, it's work.

It's. It's. I'm planning it out, thinking in these concepts, really trying to

articulate my thoughts, and it's work. But it also makes me

feel good that I'm creating something that I think is a positive

thing. And it. Yeah, it makes. It makes me feel good. It

makes me feel like I'm getting energy from doing this thing.

And I think creation in general

can kind of do that thing. I don't know if that's like a sweeping statement,

but I think anytime you kind of create something, whether it's art or

poetry, whatever, whatever you're creating, I think

when you do create something, it kind of does have that

reciprocation of you're getting something back from it. Also,

so, yeah, and then the kind of third thing to kind of wrap

all these together is noticing your own energy. And

I think after I read that book, the Celestine Prophecy, I really started to pay

attention to my own energy levels and

just kind of noticing, like, that we as humans go through

different stages of energy levels. Like, sometimes you have a lower

energy level, sometimes you have a higher energy level. And that could just mean, like,

maybe you're tired or maybe you're not feeling good, or, you know, I

notice, like, the term hangry. Like, if you're. If

you're hungry and you're not feeding yourself, you

can get annoyed at things. You can, like, have a short temper and,

you know, energy gives you food, or, sorry, food gives you energy.

So it makes sense that because you're lacking the energy, you then

don't have enough energy to, like, have patience with somebody.

So. So, yeah, I mean, I think it affects kind of everything that we do.

But noticing, for me, noticing energy levels have been really

helpful because it helps me kind of

define, like, where I'm at. And

if I'm at a place where I'm, like, not feeling good, I can

check in with myself and be like, okay, I'm at a lower energy level right

now. And then that helps me

get. Helps me give. It helps

me make a decision about what to do with that. So

I can either continue on at a lower energy level and I'm probably going

to get annoyed at things. I'm probably going to not be able to be as

efficient or, you know, not work as well. And sometimes

you have to do that. But if you have the opportunity to, you can

try to change your energy level and try to increase your energy level. And I

think I try to do that when I notice it at a lower

state. Um, so, you know, like I said before,

things like going and playing my guitar, that. That can help me if I'm

hungry, you know, go eat. Maybe you need to take a nap. Maybe

you're starting to get sick and you need some rest or

a big one for me is just going out in nature, like, going for a

walk. Going for a walk and looking at the beauty

that's outside can help me increase my energy level.

And. And yeah, I think that having that

sort of context to

describe myself or how I'm feeling or moving through the world,

I think has been really helpful in

maybe making it not so, like, personalized. Like, instead

of being at a lower energy level and being like, oh, why can't I

get anything done right now? I can't seem to focus, you know, I can't get

this thing done. What's wrong with me? Instead of going to that

thought, which I used to do, I could now be like, well,

okay, maybe I'm at a lower energy state right

now, so I need to get myself to a higher energy state if

I want to get this thing done. And it gives

you some ownership back. It doesn't just feel like, oh,

I'm in a bad mood. There's nothing that I can do about it. It's like,

I'm in a bad mood. I'm in a lower energy state. I can do something

to increase that before I try to finish this thing that I'm working on. Um,

so it's been really helpful for me to be able to look at myself

like that and then to also, you know, like

I said, if there's people around me, like, to.

To. To notice just how my energy is being affected. Um,

and then. And then, yeah, just another story that kind of comes to mind quickly

is when I was quitting my

job a couple weeks ago, there was a. A frustrating

conversation, I think that I. That I was. Had. That I had. And

I noticed, like, I was getting. I would.

So I had this call, and then I was, like, going to do something with.

With someone, and I wanted to be in a good mood for that thing.

And I noticed I was in a bad mood, and

I could kind of, like, feel all this, like, negative energy built up inside of

me. And I was driving in while

I was in the passenger in a car, and I was realizing. Realizing that, like,

all this energy, negative. Negative energy was coming off of me, and I was like,

I think I need to just, like, shake it off. Like, literally. And

I literally did that and like, shook myself a little bit.

And. And then I kind of felt better after that.

So that's even like, maybe another level of, like, how energy affects us. But

it was interesting that, like, I kind of had that intuition to

do that, and then I did it, and then I was able to let that

go, let that negative conversation go. And I

felt like I released some of that negative energy.

So, yeah, that was kind of another way

to talk about sensing our own energy

levels and trying to get them to a better place

so that we can, you

know, be good to the people around us and good to ourselves.

So, yeah, I think, you know, the talk of

energy is. It's very kind of abstract and hopefully

breaking it down in these three different topics. The people around you,

the things that you do, and then noticing your own Energy. Hopefully that makes

sense. Hopefully, maybe it resonates.

But yeah, I guess I would challenge you to maybe

notice your energy today and see if you can

see in terms of energy today and see if it does anything, see if it

helps, you know, see what you notice.

And yeah, I think the last thing that I want to say in

conclusion for this episode is that what you put in,

what you put your energy into grows. And, and I

think I really try to remember that

as I'm going through my day to day and, you know, life

that what you put your energy into expands. So,

you know, these things that I'm talking about that I'm excited about starting guitar lessons

and, and relish roots. Like, I'm putting my energy into those things and they're

expanding, they're becoming real. They're becoming things that

I can do and create for other people

and benefit and serve people. But

you can also put your energy into negative things. And we

definitely don't have a shortage of negative things that are happening

to us all the time. And

focusing on negative things, in my experience,

has been not helpful. And

you can't always avoid negative things. But I think that thinking

about, like, where you want to put your energy has also been something

that's been really helpful for me. Like, where do I want to put this energy

that I have? And just thinking of it in terms

of that when I'm going to make decisions or to think about what I'm going

to do. And, and yeah, I just, I just want to say that

what you put your energy into expands. And

yeah, that's, that's my episode today about energy.

Hopefully it made sense, as always. Hopefully

I'm getting a little bit better at these. But yeah,

I'll put all the links for the things that I discussed today in the show

notes and I will see you on another episode real soon. Take care.

I hope you have a great day.

Sam.