Helping Souls Shine

The secret that people don't realize with the children's book is that you can reach every age because you reach the youngest people the parents reading the books, the grandparents reading the books, and even like teenagers pick up the books when no 1 looking.

Alrighty, folks.

Welcome back to transacting value, where we're encouraging dialogue from different perspectives to unite over shared value. Our theme for 20 22 is the character of your character, so who you see when you look your values in the mirror.

Now today, We're talking our September core values of forgiveness, humility, and sacrifice with the inspiration behind the GET's bookshop, miss Braca Gets. Now, Before we get to her though, if you're new to the podcast, welcome.

And if you're a continuing listener, welcome back. Without further ado, folks, I'm Porter. I'm your host. And this is transacting value. Alright, Braca. Welcome to the show.

How are you? Wonderful. Happy to be here. Thank you. You're welcome. You're welcome. Thank you for giving us some time to talk for a little bit. There's I think I saw on your website 40, almost 50 different books that you've authored.

Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. 41 books are out now. More coming up. Yeah. Man, how do you have any free time? Oh, the books are really short. Yeah. I mean, most of them are picture books.

They don't have a lot of words. They can get written really quickly, and then the the books are illustrated so that takes time. But it doesn't take long for me to write a picture book. No. It's inspiration.

I see. Yeah. I see. Yeah. I I was wondering about that. I went on to your website, and I was looking at I think your September book of the month was what finding God in the garbage? Yeah. That's the only book that's for adults.

That's the only book that is not a picture book. It's but I yeah. But I didn't really write it. I I compiled it from, like, the highlights from my diary in my journals and letters, I put it together.

So it's kind of a documentary. Interesting. Yeah. What a cool idea. I've never even heard of that before. As a concept, How'd you come up with it? Oh my gosh. I don't know. I just I want this to be real.

You know, I want people to be able to look inside me and see the changes happening it's 20 years time, ages 12 to 32. So you see me growing up and you see me also developing food addictions and then healing from the food addictions.

And it's kind of like a psychological mystery because putting the book together is how I came to understand the whole thread going through those years.

Yeah. You're saying for you as a person. Yeah. By put by putting the book together, I got to see oh, now I get it. Now I under stand why I was able to heal from the food addiction when I was finally able to nourish myself spiritually.

Then there was no longer a need for the addiction. Because the whole that causes addiction, it's an inner emptiness, we try to fill it with things that bring us temporary comfort, but the whole gets deeper and deeper.

So when I finally found out how to fill it up, genuinely, then there's no longer a need for the addiction. Sure. No. I I totally get that.

There's a obvious importance to a growth mindset and and appreciating the journey, so to speak, in being able to think about, okay, what have I accomplished, what have I done, and be more introspective, I think that counts for a little piece, but when you can put it on paper like what you did, or when you can digitize it like what we're doing right now.

And actually talk through it. It's cathartic. It's it's healing. Right? Yes. Exactly. And everybody could do it. All the time, it's like recognizing. It's recognizing the pain. I just was listening to a a workshop about this.

She calls it rain. What her name is Tara Brock. I'm recognizing, then allowing it, then investigating it, investigating it with curiosity and then nurturing, nurturing that part that's hurting.

So That's how you nourish your hungry soul. You know, when I first heard you talking about helping souls shine and nurturing souls, I've gotta be honest.

I haven't I had no idea what you were talking about. It was beyond my usual vocabulary for conversation, so I didn't have a foundation to tie to.

Interesting. It it just sounded more spiritual than I think I was prepared to listen to and and and comprehend. But now that you're explaining it, It it is fulfilling. It is satisfying.

It is nurturing to be able to reconcile whatever deficiencies, issues, strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, emotions, beliefs that you have, and actually be able to interpret and actively use them for a a benefit for somebody or or even just yourself.

Exactly. So this is very interesting to me.

You have a focus on values, but you don't really think about yourself as a soul. I wouldn't say that I don't think about myself as a soul. I just don't think about it on any sort of regular basis, spiritual -- Yeah.

-- reliance? Just -- Yes. It just wasn't something I thought about. To me, that's so interesting because that to me, it's all intrinsically tied up, value, and being spiritual.

I'm fascinated how you can focus on 1 and not the other. Do do you know what I'm saying? I do. I do. And in my case, I don't know if it was 1 and not the other by, like, a conscious focus of effort between the 2.

It's kinda like, Well, it's kinda like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You can either see there's peanut butter on it, see there's jelly on it, or just look at it as a sandwich.

Yes. You know? Yes. And I think I really just thought of it as a sandwich and never really thought about it as well, actually, peanut butter and jelly.

You know what I mean? Okay. I see. So when I was growing up, I had a really sweet life, but something was missing.

I didn't know what was missing. And that's because I felt there was no discussion of spirituality. There was no concept that we need our spiritual essence filled as much as we need our physical self filled every day in order to thrive.

Mhmm. It really does make a big difference. Even and I'll tell you this, Barack, even in the Department of Defense, which is my current employer. We talk about spiritual fitness.

Wow. And so there's over the last, I don't know, 5, 6 years, more predominantly, but maybe, overall the last almost 2 decades, there's been this push throughout the DOD to better reconstruct this concept of a holistic warrior.

Yes. Sort of like your ancient samurai bushido type construct. Right? But in doing that, physical fitness obviously plays a role.

Mental -- Yeah. -- fitness, you've gotta be able to comprehend what you're doing and think and respect to whatever you're trying to accomplish, but understanding spiritually that there is some sort of reliance.

That doesn't mean religion. Right? Right. And so how do you when you're writing these books or in your process of writing any specific book, how do you balance that out?

Talking about spiritual fulfillment without diving too much into religious bias or only writing for a certain audience, or how do you balance that out? Yes. A great question My newest book is let's stay healthy.

I wrote it during the pandemic. Basically, a mother asked me She said, you know, my children are just eating junk. They're not going to sleep. They're not exercising. They wanna know why. So I'm all about that.

Like, my background is in public health. If our bodies are not healthy, our souls can't shine. We are both we are both. That's the holistic approach. Keeping our bodies healthy is part of letting our souls be able to shine.

So, you know, my let's say healthy book is about how, like, junk food actually withdraws the nutrients from our bodies. While the natural food the natural food is designed to be delicious and nutritious.

And the junk food is designed to be delicious and addictive. It's totally different. It has concentrated amounts of fat and sugar and salt that are not found in nature.

Nature like an orange, it's designed with infinite wisdom and infinite kindness. It comes individually packaged and orange keeps the juiciness in for months.

It becomes the most beautiful when it's ripe and it's I'm ready. Then it's right orange. And before that, it's green, it's camouflaged in with the leaves to protect it till it's ready.

And then inside are the seeds of infinity. They become infinite amount of trees, infinite amount of oranges, and you compare that to an orange flavored tangy taffy.

It does nothing good for you except it tastes good for, like, a few seconds while it's on your tongue. And then it harms your body. And even the wrapper even the wrapper harms the environment.

It's like as opposite as can be. So this is what I'm teaching children because we need so much more that we have a lot of manipulation to get us to eat junk food, really, at a nothing but greed.

There's no there's no loving kindness behind it. We need so much more education to get us back to appreciating the abundance of gifts in our natural garden that we've been placed in.

Oh, so you asked me about so so the other books too, like, I have books about prevention of abuse, That too, protecting our bodies so that our souls can shine. Alrighty.

Folks, sit tight, and we'll be right back on transacting value. I'm Brock Gets, isn't your typical Harvard grad. She's the author of 40 picture books that help children grow spiritually, inspiring each uniquely beautiful soul to shine.

Her books make life's deepest concepts clear, in a delightfully simple way, as children find big ideas in little words.

Now you can find her 40 delightful children's books and 1 candid memoir for adults, at the new website created by her children WWW dot G0ETZ bookshop dot com. That's gets bookshop dot com.

And if you want any of Braca gets his books, she wants you to know, you don't even have to buy them. You can ask your public library to buy them instead. Check out WWW dot gets bookshop dot com and let your soul shine too.

I have books about teaching about disabilities. Very rare to provide guidelines because children with disabilities are usually the loneliest children. They don't get invited to play days to parties.

When you see a child with a disability, usually a child will stare. Which is totally understandable because they're curious, but there's another word that also begins with s also 5 letters and that smile.

You could stare but add your smile and that creates a connection and Like, I just teach basic things if if you meet someone in a wheelchair, sit down next to them so you're on the same level.

You meet someone that blind, introduce yourself, say your name, tell them when you're going away, this basic guidelines that make a child feel comfortable interacting.

And especially there's so many children with social disabilities that are invisible. You you can't see their disability.

So invite them if you see someone sitting on the side to participate and they may not want to, but they'll still feel good that you ask them just teaching children basic guidelines so they feel more comfortable interacting.

And I have books also just about basic spiritual concepts like the invisible book, it's about all the things we believe in that are invisible.

Like, we believe in electromagnetic how could how does a magnet pick up a paper clip? We believe in gravity. Like, why does this pen drop when I let go of it?

We believe in thoughts and feelings. They're all invisible and time. We believe in all these things that it's not that far fetched. To believe that we too have invisible spirits within us.

We don't actually see the spirit of things, but we see they're powerful effects in our world. So these are different ways that I explain spirituality in a in a concrete way to very young children.

You know, we have a saying in throughout throughout the DOD, especially, the ground guys though, not people who fly, not people relying on the vehicles, but like the guys carrying packs walking, the ground guys.

We have a saying throughout the DOD that ounces make pounds.

Depending on the application, it can go a little bit deeper than that, but generically, anyways. Ounces make pounds, the translation here being little changes can lead to bigger outcomes.

But it's gotta start small. You know, I'm not gonna be able to take out a pair of boots, a shovel, 1 heavier item, 1 heavier item pounds and pounds and pounds.

But I may be able to take out some of the condiments or a heater for my food or a smaller cup or something.

And over the course of 16 1 ounce items, I've now dropped a pound, and I've saved space, and I feel better, and my back doesn't hurt as much.

Yes. Since McDonald's? Inches, make miles. Right? It's all gotta be a fluid integration of the same concept, I think, and to the point you brought up where A smile is a small change.

You gotta be aware that maybe your face looks like an ochre, so you gotta smile. Right? You gotta be aware of it. How you come across to people, so maybe you've gotta consciously fix that.

But it doesn't take much effort to smile, generally speaking. And that's a small change. Yeah. Maybe it's holding the door open, shaking somebody's hand, maybe it's just manners and saying thank you.

Yeah. But I think in interpreting what values you want to embody in your character or how you want other people to feel, It's the same concept where a small change can go a long way in somebody's day and somebody's life even.

I think that's such a powerful aspect you just brought up. Yep. I 1 of my books is called, it only takes a minute. Exactly what you're saying. You can do so many good things in this world. Very quickly holding a door for someone.

Like you said, looking if there's somebody behind you, you could open the door for and it it just keeps spreading, you know, like a ripple in a in a pond. You do 1 good thing and it just keeps going.

Sure. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And then, obviously, understanding that potential is only half of the equation. The other half is, well, so what? What are you gonna do about it? How do you implement it?

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You can do so many good things in this world very quickly. Holding a door for someone, like you said, looking at there's somebody behind you, you could open the door for and it it just keeps spreading.

You know, like a ripple in a in a pond. You do 1 good thing and it just keeps going. Sure. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And then Obviously, understanding that potential is only half of the equation. The other half is, well, so what?

What are you gonna do about it? How do you implement it? In what situations and what circumstances. And so I've got a question for you because obviously you run a business, this this bookshop, It's family owned and operated.

And I've heard over the decades that I've been alive, you don't mix family in business because that can cause problems. Right? Yeah. You guys have had to learn and grow together to make this as successful as it's been.

Right? How has that been for you? Okay. Well, truthfully, it's not my business. It's my children's business, and they are just into spreading my mess messages further.

Oh, interesting. So they yeah, they love my books and they wanna get them out even more into the world. So with the last book, let's stay healthy. They asked me not to publish the book with traditional publishers anymore.

Like, whenever I write a book, I send it to publishers. They publish my book So they said we're gonna become a publishing company now, where we are gonna be working on your books all the time.

This is what they love to do. Well, it's not actually all the time. Like my son is a first grade teacher.

Like, they they have other and they're doing this on the side just because they want to be doing this. You know what I mean? So I'm just doing the creative stuff and they do all the work, which is also creative.

Don't call it promotion. I call it sharing and revealing because then you never get tired of doing it. You know, it's just such a joy to be sharing and revealing these messages in the world, and it's just so real.

So like promotion feels like you're promoting something. It's not but it's like the big joy. So it it makes me feel totally wonderful to have my children wanting to be spreading this.

This is actually my youngest son and his wife, and they're the ones doing this now. Yeah. So and it hasn't been that long. It's really only been a year since they've been in existence making this get bookshop.

Yeah. That's gotta be such a fulfilling feeling. Yeah. Exactly. Right. For example, so we had an interview last week So she's an author, philanthropist, impact investor named Sharon Schneider.

But she talked about this concept of shared prosperity, where Essentially, you take what makes you feel fulfilled and what makes you feel in alignment with your values and project that.

And help other people in whatever ways are applicable to whatever extent they're willing to entertain.

But it sounds like that's exactly what your kids are doing. Through Yes. Right. Yeah. I'm just a part of it. It's a wonderful feeling.

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But now all of these, well, 41 books are like these orange seeds, and they're just -- Yes. -- they're just gonna travel. It it it's crazy the amount of inspiration that you can have from 1 children's book.

You know? You sent a a diary when you're 12. Did you think it would turn into this? No way. No way. Yeah. I mean, if you even thought anybody would read your diaries, but you let alone grow into this.

Exactly. Yeah. It's such a huge impact that you can have and you're never really gonna know until it happens. I know. I love that. And when you meet people that have read your book, 1 time, gosh.

This this guy came over to our house 1 night for sabbath dinner, and he he was in his twenties. He saw 1 of my books on the shelf. He goes, you are the author. Oh my gosh. That book changed my life. You know?

It was like such an amazing feeling. He said, like, I was being bullied for years, and I I read your book, and then I was a different person. I was able to come back and face the world in a happy way and look at everything differently.

It was like the most amazing thing I don't know. Like, I love it. And people call me or they email me and stuff, and it just tell me how, like, the books have saved lives. You know what I mean, especially the abuse book.

I mean, teaching children how to be proactive, teaching parents The secret that people don't realize with the children's book is that you can reach every age because you reach the youngest people the parents reading the books, the grandparents reading the books, and even, like, teenagers pick up the books when no one's looking, you know.

And and they also absorb the messages. You know? Like some teens, let me know that the let's stay healthy book affected them because they understand now teens never wanna go to sleep.

It explained to them, tells you to experiment. See how much better you feel the next day when you get enough sleep, you know? Like the energy, the happiness level goes way high.

They actually tried it. You know what I mean? It's so it's so wonderful. Once I was giving a talk, like, I I give presentations at schools. And 1 of the students asked me, it was in middle school.

They asked What's your favorite part of writing books? And I told them this is my favorite part. When I'm right here and you're asking me questions like this, Like, the interaction is so great.

Yeah. Understanding that you have like you specifically have something to offer and then using your books. As outreach, to generate marketing, sure, maybe, to sell the book, sure, maybe.

But ultimately, like you brought up ripples in a pond, just to get the message out, to generate the conversation, to build dialogue, build understanding, build this unified front of positivity is Yes.

Huge. Yeah. And what I feel about children's book, people don't realize the potential.

If you reach children when they're young, and you teach them the skills to enjoy life, how to find true success in life from the inside out then they don't have to play catch up the rest of their lives.

They've got the skills and the wisdom early on. That's why I find it so valuable to be able to speak right to children. Yeah. But using values, using a positive influence as a foundation for kids takes a conscious effort.

You know what I mean? Like, sure, don't get me wrong. Kids are going to do, embody, reenact whatever they see, whatever they hear, so do you need to bring up these values consciously, overtly explicitly all the time?

No. Like we talked about earlier, just be courteous with people. Be compassionate towards people. Exhibit some sort of creativity to fulfill your purpose, and that's naturally gonna inspire people.

But you do have to have bigger talk conversations. So kids understand, and I think that's 1 Neach that your books are directly filling. Like, if if I don't know how to explain these things, you do.

So I can rely on you to help me raise my kids. Oh my gosh. You explain that so beautifully because I bring up complex sometimes controversial topics, it's difficult for parents to talk about or even bring up.

So the book brings it up. Yeah. And then while they're in this cozy setting, reading the book, it leads to more and more openness between the person reading the book and the child exactly.

Yeah. It it create it creates the opening for more discussion. Right. And to clarify that, I'm pretty sure we're on the same train of thought here.

Those more discussions you just brought up may be a decade down the road. Maybe when they're older as adults or maybe when they're not 5, but now they're 7 or 8.

Right. So, like, the other aspect of giving of yourself for the the betterment of other people is you also have to be realistic to yourself and say, well, there may be some delayed gratification here.

There may be some delay to what I'm trying to get across. But you've gotta have the hope and faith that what you're doing is going to have positive outcomes. No matter how long it takes.

Yes. For for, like, 20 years, I was directing a big brother, big sister program coordinating it, and that's what I would tell the volunteers. Again and again, you're planting seeds. You never know when it's gonna it's gonna blossom.

Your job is just to plant the seed to focus on the strength of the child, and build on those strengths. We never get the volunteers to focus on the problems, focus on the child's strength, and build from there.

And and you might not see the results for quite a while -- Mhmm. -- in that investment of spending time with the child week after week.

But you're planting those seeds and you have no idea when it's gonna finally break through the cement, you know, that little green sprouts same with the children's books, but sure.

When I help souls to shine, it helps my own soul to shine. For sure. It just gives me so much joy doing this kind of work. Yeah.

And then having that reciprocated positive emotion. Only creates more of it. That's the only logical byproduct, that's the only spiritual byproduct, that's the only any sort of whatever adverb adjective byproduct that applies. Right?

You can't have a positive feeling and then a negative impact. It's just not a thing. Yeah, good good deeds create more good deeds and negative vibes create more negative vibes. They're both contagious. You know? Well -- So -- they are.

But that's that's where I'll disagree with you a little bit. I think if you've got if you've got negative vibes you're putting out into the world, there can be some positive outcomes to that because lessons get learned.

People interpret things -- Yeah. -- out of that. Right? It's not all So true. All bad. But if you've got positive vibes you're putting into the word very rarely, are you going to have negative impacts period?

That's true. It's it's a win win. That's absolutely right. And like you said, all the challenges we go through, it's for an ultimate benefit just like lifting weights.

Their muscles that were pushing against their challenges to get us stronger. Absolutely. Yeah. I agree. Already folks sit tight and we'll be right back on transacting value.

Folks, I'm Porter, host of the transacting value podcast. You're being personally invited to increase empathy worldwide through shared values. Why do you say it like that? That's not what we talked about.

No. It's not Why do you call it an invitation? Look, guys, there are people around the world who have listened to our conversations with guests, and they've trusted us to build perspective over different topics through shared values.

The least we can do is invite them out to hear more of the content that they enjoy while still reminding them that season 1 and season 2 of the podcast are still listed under the old name as DYT the podcast.

Right. That makes sense, Porter. But just tell them that if they go to YouTube and search survival dead y t, they can find all the old videos in playlists.

Along with season 1 and season 2. Right? Or if they want to hear some of the other interviews from those seasons that they can still find them everywhere their favorite podcasts are streamed.

Just do it. No. I got it. I'll let them know to stay in touch through the Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or Twitter pages by searching at the transacting Value Podcast. For comments, critiques, topic ideas, or to become guests themselves.

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If you've got negative vibes you're putting out into the world, there can be some positive outcomes to that because lessons get learned.

PEOPLE INTERPERATE THINGS OUT OF THAT. RIGHT? IT'S NOT ALL ALL BED. BUT YOU'VE GOT POSITIVE VIVES YOU'RE PUTTING INTO THE WORLD VERY VERY RARLY, ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE NEGATIVE IMPACT period. That's true.

It's it's a win win. That's absolutely right. And like you said, all the challenges we go through it's for an ultimate benefit. Just like lifting weight, they're muscles that were pushing against their challenges to get us stronger.

Absolutely. Yeah. I agree. But if you put positive vibes out into the world, almost all the time, you're gonna only get positive returns.

It's a win win. So we're only focusing on other people. We're only focusing on, you know, this this universal concept of not you.

What does that do for you? These positive vibes? How does that help you overcome these dark times or maybe depression, maybe anxiety, maybe it's behavioral? Maybe it's physical, like, talked earlier about eating disorders.

It could be anything. So how does it, like, a positive mental attitude or POSITIVE VIVES. HOW DOES THAT HELP YOU AS A PERSON? WHAT'S YOUR OPINION? A LOT SIMPS FROM A PERSON'S CHILDHOOD LIKE THAT THEY FEEL unworthy.

They have self critical messages all day long going on. If that's when it's important to recognize these voices, become aware of them, and then the thing to do is to try to figure out how to nourish that hungry part of you.

You could do it in so many different ways. Like, I was talking to you about the pleasure ladder. This is something that I learned from ancient mystical wisdom, but it's really timeless wisdom -- Mhmm.

-- that that there's 5 levels to the pleasure ladder which I feel correspond to the 5 fingers. In other words, it's empowering. It's within our hands. And it also corresponds to the 5 levels of the human soul.

The lowest level are all the physical natural physical pleasures. That the natural food being in nature, movement, dance, our bodies are designed to move all these things that bring us pleasure they nourish our body and our soul.

And above that is love love, again, being totally empowering and not dependent.

I anybody else, it's us focusing on the virtues of somebody that once did something good for us someone that we appreciate, which fills us with a warm emotional feeling of love.

Even even in prison, a person can Think about a grandmother that once did something kind and they feel uplifted and encouraged. Love is an even more lasting pleasure higher than that is doing something meaningful.

I I was talking to another podcast host, and he said he was he had 2 slices of pizza, and then he was about to just plow through the rest of the pie, you know. And someone knocked on door. His neighbor needed help with something.

He helped him. He came back. 2 minutes later, he didn't want the pie anymore. I put the rest in the fridge because he was filled up. You know, he was filled up doing something meaningful, helping his neighbor.

That's really brings more lasting pleasure. He didn't need to eat the pie anymore. The pie we we overeat, and we do other addictions because we feel disconnected, lonely, anxious, depressed, bored.

All these levels of pleasure bring us connections to a thing, a a natural thing, or another person, or the world, the community, doing something meaningful and even higher than that is creativity.

When we put a unique part of ourselves into the world, doing something uniquely us that's an even more lasting pleasure. Like, when we're involved in something like that, we don't feel like eating or sleeping.

We're on such a high. And The highest level of awe is called transcendence. It's it's that feeling of awe and wonder, like, under a starry starry sky.

We feel a part of the universe. And when we feel connection, when we transcend our own limitations, doing something new, breaking a habit, making a crack in a bad habit that we've never made before.

We transcend and we feel vastly more connected. We feel the connectedness. And I was reading, like, in psychology today, it explains that recently discovered the state of awe and wonder.

It creates like the most disease fighting chemicals in the body. In other words, it uplifts our body and our soul in this highest state. In all these states of pleasure. So this is really what ignites our soul so we could thrive.

These are the levels which I I love telling about because it's a way to recognize the abundance of pleasures available to us every minute that we just using our own imagination can create pleasure in our lives.

And and the most important thing is the price that we have to pay to climb, the pleasure ladder is just 1 thing and that's gratitude. It's being grateful for the natural pleasures in our life, other people that we can give to the world.

This is what brings us joy in life gratitude. Already folks sit tight and we'll be right back on transacting value. If you're looking for high quality locally sourced groceries, keystone farmers market is the place to be.

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Tarpen Springs Road in Odessa, Florida. The place with the boiled peanuts. And the most important thing is the price that we have to pay to climb the pleasure ladder is just 1 thing and that's gratitude.

It's being grateful for the natural pleasures in our life, other people that we can give to the world. This is what brings us joy in life gratitude. You've got to be able to appreciate the blessings you've got.

I I definitely agree. And then, obviously, be thankful for them, not just appreciate the fact that you have them. And I think ultimately, that's what gratitude really comes down to.

Right? Maybe there's some aspect of humility where you start to understand that let's just say for the sake of a common baseline, I don't deserve these things for whatever reason.

Right? It's a little bit defeatist, but let's just say that you don't deserve those things. Maybe because you're a teenager, and your parents worked for that, and now you're enjoying what they gave you.

But that level of gratitude is positive positivity that you're putting out into the world, and that's going to help you as a person in the long run.

Another important distinction you brought up in talking about the pleasure ladder, it's not, I guess, the common attribution to pleasure is sex or physical gratification, or that's sort of where it goes.

But there's so much that's the 5 percent. Then the 95 percent, there's so much more to what can make you feel good or what can make you feel fulfilled.

Exactly what she brought up. In fact, there's a couple points I wanna unpack real quick. 1, I guess I'll start at the top of the ladder and work my way back down.

But So you talked about transcendence, and I saw that on the pleasure ladder on the chart, which for everybody listening, it's it's noted in some of the post or Braca's interview online, but but when I see transcendence, I think bald guy, cross legs, top of a mountain, cloud sunrise kind of moment.

It never occurred to me until you just brought it up. A sense of awe and wonder could be considered transcending.

And -- Yeah. -- so July fourth, as a matter of fact, we had an interview with a guy named Rob Baloux, and he told a story about when he was in I think it was Colorado. And, Rob, if you hear this and I'm wrong, sorry.

But but I think it was Colorado. And he was talking about a place called Cheesecake Canyon. And you walked down this trail from the trailhead where you park your car, about a mile, I think you said, a mile and a half into the canyon.

And then you round a corner where basically your feet are touching because the trails only that wide. And on the right side is the rock wall and on the left side is the cliff face.

Oh, gosh. But what you can see across the canyon are Bighorn sheep. What you can see flying are hawks and eagles, what you can see are mountains, clouds -- Wow.

-- just untouched grandeur that in 15, 20 years is still going to look that way. Those are the moments that when you were describing that, that's where I went to.

Yes. And it was such a powerful connection that you just now made for me that it added clarity to my perspective -- Yeah. -- just in the couple minutes that we were talking. Yep. And so, I guess, first off, thank you for that.

But the second piece that I wanna bring up, which is more personally important to me, is long distance relationships, you had mentioned addictions earlier you had mentioned eating and nutrient dense nutrient deficient products in our lives.

I think it was when you were talking about this physical wrong of the pleasure ladder. But where my head went, wasn't specifically food.

So fitness is kind of my thing. I enjoy working out. I enjoy coaching people. I enjoy being physically active. And that includes nutrition and diet. I also have a long distance relationship with my son.

So we live a few states apart and I see him in person once twice a year. If what you're talking about in terms of a relationship between people, being pleasurable. It makes you feel good.

You can teach. You can contribute. Other people can benefit. I think you were talking about love at that point. But for other people's benefit to see other people's virtues and being grateful you have that opportunity.

Yeah. You can't do that when you're long distance Because the human factor is gone, it's almost all mechanical, digital now. Right? Because of that, the nutrient dense relationship you could have is now nutrient deficient.

And a lot of times, in a long distance relationship, especially parents to children, even in the military, Well, like you said earlier, what do you fill that void with?

Addictions creep in, depression -- Right. -- alcohol, drugs, Maybe it's parties, maybe it's missed, a misprioritization of whatever's important.

Who knows? Right. Right. Like the same vein when you're talking about nutrition and physical fitness, that's what supplements are for.

Supplement aren't meant to overuse, and they're not meant to just be filler and waste your money. They're meant to replace the nutrients that you aren't naturally getting in your diet.

Right. So similar concept, if you're not naturally getting that level of connection from, let's say, your kids because you live far away, how do you recommend supplementing that deficiency?

Right. Well, I'm just curious, like, what how do you supplement it?

What do you do? Try to stay engaged. Try to stay involved. Right? Like, I can't pretend to be familiar with everything he talks about because I don't see it every day. I don't know everything about you tell me about kids in your class.

Okay. Cool. But I'm I've never seen these kids. I may never see these kids. Right. So they're they're just names. But I'll write them down on paper. Yeah. Which case he tells me you're in which classes? Which classes he has which days?

And I take notes. And that way when we talk in the future, I have something to contribute. Or we'll we'll talk on a video most nights and we'll or we'll play video games while we're doing it. And he'll be in his house.

I'll be at my house. But while we're doing that, we'll talk about teamwork and we'll talk about how did that end up with kids at school on the playground? But really, what we're doing is playing a 2 player game online.

Beautiful. You know, so you you you find ways to stay involved there's a, I think, important point to your question that really just comes down to increased distance does not have to decrease influence.

No. But it can. What are some other options that you have?

It could because you're putting in so much wonderful energy. Mhmm. The the the energy crosses miles, which sure. We know that. You know? It's and thank God now for tech technology that we can -- Yeah. -- we can totally connect.

Every day even a a dad that's together with their son, how much time do they spend with their son every day? Believe me they're running around. It's not but you, it seems like it's much more quality time you're focused on it.

Because you know you only have this limited amount of time in a sense that it's so so it may be even way more valuable. Than being in physical contact everyday when you just take that for granted.

This is much more valuable to you so you use the time much more effectively. Maybe. I mean, it's it's sort of the law of economics. You know, scarcity generally increases demand. So It Exactly.

The more somebody wants though, the more that demand increases, the lower the supply generally gets. And so it's difficult. But in that cycle, Yeah. Is it quantity of time or quality of time that's more important? I don't know.

And not to trivialize people that are with their kids all the time. No. For sure not. But but it's very easy to take it for granted. It's so easy to, and then they don't spend such focused time really being with each other.

As you are doing. You are so building this relationship. Phenomenal to hear about it. I appreciate that. And it's it's not perfect. Right? It's it's a No. For sure. Now what relationship is perfect now? That's why we're here, you know.

Yeah. IIII have a line. It says, Here's a test to find out if your mission and life is complete. Already folks sit tight and we'll be right back on transacting value. Alrighty, folks. This is Porter with the Transacting Value Podcast.

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If you're alive, it isn't. We are all working working working. That's what we're here for. Absolutely. So that that is just beautiful what you're doing and Another great line we have is who is rich?

Those who are happy with what they have. That's that's real well. Being grateful for what we have, being grateful for the long distance relationship that you have, which seems to be a very powerful 1.

Yeah. From both sides. Well, I don't know about both sides. He he may not feel any particular way about it Tillies, an adult. But, you know Oh, I think he enjoys it. Oh my gosh. It sounds like growl. Yeah. You know? Yeah.

You know, you had mentioned, though speaking of children, helping children find their passions early in life. But as a sentence, purely in text. What that translates to me is, well, I gotta get him on the tee ball or baseball team.

Gotta get gymnastics, make sure they try out dance, and let's not forget drums, to expose them to all these different influences, to help them find their passion.

Is that what you're referring to, or does that mean something else? Yes and no. I mean, children tend to spend time doing what they really enjoy, and they will going on these paths.

What I find really interesting is probably if you look back, what how you spent your free time as a child, is similar to the kind of interest you have now as an adult.

I I you see this with so many people. It's fascinating to see that what they were doing then is what what it's transformed into something somewhat similar as an adult.

So you don't have to expose them to everything. I mean, they'll They'll naturally go toward what they love to do. But sharing in their love is great. What I was talking about is giving them that wisdom in life.

The wisdom, the guidelines to how to find lasting pleasure like being grateful. The these are things which so many children It's never explained to them how to build your gratitude muscles early on in life so you have them throughout.

It's it's kind of a wiring that you do in your brain, the more that the neurons fire together, the more that they wire together, So the more that you practice gratitude, the easier it becomes to to spend your life being a grateful person.

Alright. Well, let me ask you this then. How do you recommend practicing gratitude? And how to instill in in children Sure. 1 of the main ways is to practice it yourself and and let them see you being grateful.

Being a role model for that is 1 of the app absolute main ways to instill it in children using opportunities to just express your gratitude. I'm I am so grateful to be spending time with you.

You know, even though we're a few states apart, these minutes that we're together means so much to me, actually coming out and saying it. Oh, no. No. It's like It's powerful by talking about what you're grateful doing with your time.

How much you enjoy doing this, or how much you enjoy or the physical fitness things that you do expressing all that. It's savoring the flavor. Mhmm. It's lingering longer in all those things that bring us joy.

Well, you I mean, made it sound really simple. You know, it's it's almost like with concepts like that, especially when you're working kids, it's easy to overthink. Yeah. Like, sorry, you you ask me what makes me happy.

How do I teach gratitude? I'm sorry. What do you mean by and you just you pick it apart because it's it's not that it's a foreign concept. It's just not talked about. So it seems strange. But you asked somebody sorry.

What would you like on your pizza? You got an answer. Yes. You know, because it's more common in conversation. Or, sir, would you like paper or plastic? Like, you don't have to think hard about your choices at that point.

Yeah. But when you're trying to describe something and think of words on topics maybe you're unfamiliar with, or in conversations maybe you normally don't have, it seems strange.

It seems foreign, and it makes it more difficult, but really they're simple concepts. I'm kind of vulnerable the first time you say these things, you feel vulnerable. You're really opening your heart.

And and a great thing to ask a child like, once a day, once a night. I would ask my before they go to bed, what was the highlight of your day? Just pick 1 thing. It helps them to review the day. And they come up with something.

Some people like to say what was a rose in your day and what was a thorn in your day and teach them to express also what was, like, something painful they experienced that day and just be there with them, experiencing that pain.

It's not even important what you say about it. Just being there and listening to it, and they're sharing it, and it's less painful just because they're sharing it. I think that's got its own hurdles too though.

You know, you've got people that don't think about as critically, those concepts answers to those questions, even as adults, this isn't just kids. Adults of any age, mind you. But with kids, hey, how was your day? It's alright. Yeah.

Okay. Well, what what did you learn today? I don't remember. Yeah. Okay. But you learned something. No. Whatever. You know, and then well, how do you get through that wall? You know, all of those deflections, it really doesn't matter.

But I think it's our role as parents and specifically as adults in any society to try to encourage that level of thought and that level of criticality because that's ultimately what's gonna make a successful human in life, not respective to a society commodities, money, any of that stuff, but as a person, as a human.

And I think that's ultimately the direction we need to go Alrighty, folks. Sit tight, and we'll be right back on transacting value. International Podcast Day is September thirtieth, and you can help spread the word.

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To try to encourage that level thought and that level of criticality because that's ultimately what's gonna make a successful human in life, not respective to a society, commodities, money, any of that stuff, but as a person, as a human.

And I think that's ultimately the direction we need to go, Braca, that actually brings us to the last segment of our show.

So it's called developing character. Developing character. Ready to play? Yes, you are. Alright. So here's how it works. I'm gonna explain it to you real quick because I don't wanna catch off guard.

It's 3 questions, and you answer to whatever extent you feel willing and able to explain. But if you don't have an answer or you're not sure and you haven't thought about it, no big deal, just let me know.

We'll move to the next question. Alright. So first question, what were some of your values as a kid growing up? Not too much as a kid, but maybe starting from age 12.

And that's when I started searching for the wisdom to life. I couldn't believe that this was all there was to life. You get up, you go to work, you make money, to buy food, to go to work, to make money.

Like, what else? What's the purpose of all this? That's what I began searching for. That's what? I was searching for yeah. 12 it started. That's when my diary started. Truth. Searching for truth, kindness, looking for kindness, caring.

Those are my values. That I that started then. Yeah. Well, so then my second question, what about now? What are some of your values that you try to embody? I would say the same values except the added thing is gratitude.

That's what I didn't know about back then. This is it. Like now, I could say, we get up each day to go to work, to make money, to buy food, to like, it's like it's a blessing.

Waking up each day is a blessing. Being able to go to work, doing something you love is a blessing. Having the food is a blessing. I look at it. The whole thing with gratitude added, changes the whole picture.

So, yeah, that that's what I was able to find that change. It certainly does change quite a bit, but speaking of change, let me roll to question 3. How do you see your values changing in, let's call it the next 20 years?

I really, really I just wanna be infinitely more grateful. Honestly, right now, there's so much more room for gratitude the level of gratitude that I have now could be increased so much more, such a higher level.

And I just wanna keep spreading it out into the world because we all take so much for granted.

And I think the pandemic, I feel like it pushed us forward fear to it. We lost so much overnight. We all lost seeing with other people, hugs, gatherings, we we came to appreciate health, our breathing, so much more.

I feel like it's all a move toward increasing our level of gratitude for for things we didn't appreciate before. That's a powerful perspective. Everybody says the pandemic set us back.

That's the first thing I've heard in almost 3 years now where somebody said, no. There was a benefit here. Yeah. And it would it wasn't profit margin. Yeah. No. No. But I feel it was a major spiritual push forward globally.

And for everybody conceptually understanding the pandemic as the dark ages sliding everybody back in academia and kids couldn't go to school, maybe it'll end up being the Renaissance.

We'll see where it goes. That is an interesting thing, though. I I really wish you brought that up, like, 50 minutes ago, because now I've got all sorts of questions for you, but we're out of time.

Rake. That's alright. When we get another booking available, if you're interested, I'd love to have you back on because Thank you so much.

That was that was awesome. I just wanna add 1 thing rather than saying to you, Tom, like, how would you say, say, what was your favorite thing that happened today?

And then you say, what was your least favorite thing? Because it's like more free, and they could usually come up with something.

What was your favorite thing? What was your least favorite thing that happened? That gets kids sharing more readily because it's a specific thing they could try to focus on.

Give it a try. Let me know if it helps. And No. Sure. And you can tie that or they can tie that to a pleasurable experience, so they're more likely to wanna talk about it.

Yep. Yeah. No. That's huge. I was saying that for people that want to talk to you, reach out to you, purchase your books, get in touch with the bookshop, or maybe just talk to you as a person, anything.

How do people reach out to you and get in touch? Yeah. The best way is through my children's website.

Get bookshop dot com gets it spelled in a funny way with an o in there. It's a really great website. I love what they've done with it, and you could reach me there, presentations, books, anything.

Awesome. And -- Thank you. -- just for clarity, it's G0ETZ. That's it. Okay. That's books up. Yep. Thank you. Perfect. Perfect. Anything on social media where we could reach out?

Yeah. I'm Epicplace. Yeah. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, wherever. Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. Okay. Well, for everybody listening, we'll drop all of that information into the show notes for this interview as well.

So if you just click show more or Seymour or whatever it says on your respective podcast player, you'll be able to see all those links as well, and they'll be tied directly back to Brock website and Brock's social media.

Now, Brock, I've got 1 more question for you if we wanted to buy all these books as a box set.

Is that an option? I don't know if you could buy them all at once, but there are box that's a certain series. Yeah. And also, you don't have to buy the book.

You can get your library to order them. You know? And it's then it gets out into the public that way. Get the message out that way. You could call your library. They're happy to order my book. That's a great idea.

I didn't even consider that. Yeah. So for anybody who's interested, there you go. Go to your library, save some cash, spend your time reading the books instead. BUT BROCKA, I Appreciate it. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME. THANK YOU.

Reporter: OF COURSE, NO PROBLEM AT ALL AND FOCES, THANK YOU FOR TUNING IN AND LISTENING TO OUR September COR VALVALUES forgiveness, humility, and sacrifice, and, obviously, gratitude as well as we went through the conversation.

But I'd also like to thank obviously gets bookshop, but Tara Brock, Sharon Schneider, big brother, big sister, Rob Baloo, everybody we reference for your inspiration in this interview as well.

Now I have to also thank our show partners, Keystone Farmers Market. To be in the bear creations, and obviously buzzsprout for your distribution.

Guys, thank you very much, and everybody listening. If you're interested in joining our conversation or you wanna discover our other interviews, check out transacting value podcast dot com.

And remember, you can follow along on social media too or search either transacting value podcast or survival dad y t on Google, duck, duck, go, bing any search engine, and you'll be able to find all the podcast episodes there as well.

So we'll continue to stream new interviews every Monday at 9AM Eastern Standard Time on all your favorite podcasting platforms. But folks until then, that was transacting value.