The Raymundo Show

Tap Into your Greatness

• Raymundo • Season 3 • Episode 20

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You have greatness inside of you. It's time to TAP IN! In this episode Raymundo discusses the greatness within you along with special guest, award winning artist, actor and author, Aaron Ableman. Listen to how you too can do great things by putting your mind and heart into.


Special Guest: Aaron Ableman - aaronableman.com IG: @aaron.ableman - An award­-winning United Nations “artivist”, A​aron Ableman has dedicated his life to serving children and the planet.

Growing up under the guidance of a farmer/author and public health care nurse, Aaron has studied with indigenous elders and notable spiritual leaders including the 14th Dalai Lama. His life and work have been heralded in publications such as HBO, LA Times, CNN, NY Times, and MTV.

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Raymundo

Year year was going on. Ladies and gentlemen, it's your host. Raimundo and we got another one for you.

This is episode 20.

Raymundo

tapping into your greatness. had to make this one. Cause I'm still in the mix of reaching for mine and I will never stop. So I figured why not talk about it, got to hit you with that quota today. Let's go.

It's Ben moon does quote of the day

Raymundo

today's quote of the day, which I have many options when it comes to greatness, but this is the one that hit home. And this is Bob Dorothy height. greatness is not measured by what a man or a woman accomplishes, but by the opposition, he has, she has to overcome to reach his goals, like almost what, everything, some of us just worry about if it's good or bad, me included. And it keeps us away from our greatness from really locking in. So, when you think about it from a different perspective to judge yourself off all the adversities, that shit that you've overcame and about to overcome, I feel like that's where the, to the true champion is. and we just defined by., how good we are at a particular something, lot of people are great and don't do nothing with the greatness. It's the ones that, those of us who see a challenge face ahead on and just never quit. It doesn't matter the time just that we never quit. So I feel like that, yo, that one of the that's probably gotta be one of my favorite quotes ever on this show. I know when you hear greatness, it's that word, man? That you either impressed by it or intimidated? I know sometimes, you know, I remember

my,,

Raymundo

my godfather was telling me, yo, you're going to be a great man. You're going to lead others. You're going to have a God kids, you're going to be a godfather like me. And to be there right now while I'm working on it,, is beautiful. And when I was younger, I couldn't see my greatness and it was dope is that I see it now, like without even being close to fully reaching it, The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of greatness is adversity. And that's the shit that builds character. That's the shit that makes that they make movies after books. No book of somebody who's had an easy ass life. I'm pretty sure he's on the New York times, worst seller. but every time you fail, you grow every time something doesn't work out, you know what way not to do it. And honestly, yo man rejection is, it's gotta be one of the toughest things you can tell somebody. Aaliyah can tell somebody on first, you don't succeed, dust yourself off and try and get yo butt, but then you'll be slipping. Like the DMX that you be, you don't know what to do, man. You, you all have point. You don't feel like that. You don't feel like you want to just get back to us. Sometimes. Sometimes you want to feel like you want to heal, let your wounds heal. Easier said than done, man, but the champions, the great ones. That's what they do. I feel like we all born with greatness, but not everybody taps into it. Hearing, it gives me some sense of power, some type of like, yeah, I'm there. What's up. I'm getting there. I'm there. I see you. I see you greatness. Well, somewhat intimidated by it because, when you see someone that's living their true potential, enjoying their greatness. When you're willing to accept, what scares you? What holds you back? What you're strong at? What? You're not, I feel like that's when you. Open the door for growth. That's what you make room for growth. one of the first steps to gain into your great witness is accepting who you are accepting. What you're great at, which is what you suck at. It's okay. You can't work on everything all the time. Accepting what you can do. I feel like it's a great strength to have, cause that therefore you don't have to keep comparing yourself or giving yourself an excuse of why you can't keep going. And yo and shout out to my boy, Rob man, he's waking up at six o'clock in the morning, tapping in. He just made a year that he bought his first crib. I see a lot of my friends, which on my support squad episode gave them a shout out. seeing people face their fears and accept what they can, what they can't do and just. make it happen with all that said, It's dope to hear. It's dope to listen to. It's great to see. It's great to live it. And it's also great to see other people doing the same thing. Now everybody got different recipes for greatness or tapping into their best selves. But I feel like without these main ones that I kind of put together in the list that I kind of live by every day and don't get me wrong. Sometimes you're going to have days that you're not going to live by the shit that you want to do. but, as long as you do it more than you don't, then I feel like you got something to work with. What's my greatest recipe. I would say a belief is definitely at the top, having a vision, getting your hustle on, applying action, having guts. Let me tell you something, man. Having heart, having guts. and using your mind as the guide you on your way, baby patience at the same time, persevering and trusting yourself that you have the strength with you already. Whatever you believe in, Prince at a higher power that. They give you the strength or let you see that you already have the strength that you've had the strength of the whole time. And it was just waiting for you to get yo ass up. If you want to be somebody and you want to go somewhere, you better wake up and pay attention. Yeah. Remember all these factors. I feel like. Rely on each other. they like Dorothy companions on the way on the yellow brick road on their way to see the fucking wizard. But the only thing on your yellow brick road you find out that you've been the wizard the whole time and you got what it takes sit to tab to lock in. To dive into greatness, man. Why not? It's more than fucking awards in recognition, man. It's, it's proving it to yourself for you to be able to look at yourself, look around you and know that all the work you put in all the belief, all the vision is a product of you tapping in. To the source, man. no matter what you believe in, man, there's something higher than us that we can understand that we're we're children of, like powerful statement we were created in the creators image. We get to create art we start with greatness from the jump, you know, how fast a baby's mind learns It's crazy. You can teach kids all types of languages on a certain age. You know, if you have the research on how to do it, I ain't going to say it's easy, where YouTube has really nice excuse to not be able to know how to do shit or even get a head start. Yeah, man. It's important for you to trust the process and enjoy it as well, because that's the best part about it that you don't know when you know, it's going to happen, but you don't know when it's going to happen, but in your mind, it's already happened. But you're going to keep working. Like it's never happened, you know what I'm saying? Like that's fire man. and because you never know, once you get to that, once you tap into greatness, you might want to be great at something else. I guess the main goal is to, Trust, everything that happens to you is. To put you in a position that you want to be in to test how bad you want something and also you're able to share your experiences with others which is always great for conversation. And the more you trust the process, the more you will continue to trust yourself for trusting the process. The journey there. This is great as a destination, unless you, you have to take two flights to get to one place that might be a bitch, if you want to own the Island one day you're going to complain that you own a couple of matches on the way there, or a couple houses before that, I think the dope thing about trusting the process that you're that no matter what good or bad, you know, as part of the journey and it, but it does, it doesn't change the final destination, not like the movies, Me I've determined mine bed by how hard I fight every day. what I could do with the skills I've acquired with my free time my integrity is important. And like I just, whatever it is that I do, I just make sure that I give it my best. And that's great to me. I had a trust that it's not always going to be sunshine Life is a lot of adjusting leaps forward, leaps back. Whether we like it or not deaths we lose friends. We gained friends, all this man and all these things that are inevitable that you really can't stop. Or that you could do is what you can control and being you loving yourself, doing what you love, helping people, whatever your definition of the word, greatness, great. Whatever means to you. You define what that is by what you do and how you live your life. It's great when other people hold you up to that sometimes people see the greatness before you, and it's dope, but if you don't see it and move on it that should just go and be idle. Just going to be one of those books, sitting on the shelf that can make you a million dollars. You don't want to be that book, man. sometimes you gotta be willing You gotta be a demolition man, which is shit. Sometimes. You gotta break yourself down to build yourself back up and I don't mean torches yourself, but getting out your comfort zone can be torture doing things you're not used to. Facing your fears staying consistent if you don't listen to anything or take anything else from this podcast, consistency, I used to feel really over the top grade, but I stopped doing the things that got me to that point. So make sure that you. Keep up with the maintenance. It's just like your maintenance, just like your body needs maintenance your mind needs maintenance your morals, your values, everything, everything that you believe in everything. Cause I feel like naturally your body just wants to survive. That thriving part comes from your well from your press of Everence from your willingness to do better. And again, sometimes. Things are out of control my break, you down. Achieve a goal and make better decisions, we gotta put ourselves through that struggle sometimes an example would be like the gym, you love your body, but you got to punish your body in order for it to grow and be able to be healthy or look good, but at the end of the day, you want a burger instead of a brussel sprout, let's keep it a buck. But yeah, sometimes you to, again, you gotta break it down take that job, but doesn't pay you as much as your other job or the job that you had take that internship do was necessary to tap into your greatness man. And like, again, you already have it. I just think actions let you see it more action. Make it visible. It's like you remember you had that, we just had Christmas. The globe, the globe is trash until you shake that shit. Once you shake the glow, it looks like it's fucking snowing in a ball dog. That shit is fire and it's visible. Right? So. Shake your motherfucking show, the world what you got. Yeah. and the demolition man reference comes from Sylvester, Stallone, and Wesley Snipes is a classic movie., he's the blow up a lot of shit. So, I guess, you know, to, to get his his criminal. So, I guess that's where it comes from. I just thought it was a dope. They might do a part two and I just don't for that talking point, it would be dope, man. Cause I've had to break myself down and build myself up a couple of times and I'm not scared to do it again. Now I'm hoping with a blueprint that I have now I have to do a lesson or start from a higher floor instead of starting from. Rock bottom. And now now moving along from being able to build yourself up and building yourself up you can reinvent yourself, right? Our subconscious is very powerful. It never turns off. So whatever you feed it whatever, listens to whatever you have it around. It would not forget. So you gotta make sure that in your reinvention process, you're doing everything to not be a different, not be a totally different you, but Senhance your strengths and minimize your weaknesses or what you see as weak. And, but, but at the same time, if you a person that didn't do shit and now you're a person that does something, yo, that's a reinvention. If you're a person that never worked out and you make it your business to make it to the gym three days, that's part of the reinvention man. Like, anything that's not the you that you don't want to be every event. So I'm not saying you got to change yourself to those who. I feel like they don't have to change. But doing the same thing and expecting different results is insanity. So there's things about your character that you definitely should change. So you can get a different result and yourself to see how dope you are, how great you are, man. Like that's just what he that's really what it is, man. Doing something that even you, you have a hard time believing you can do, but you made an attempt. It's like, when you go out to eat and that person pump fakes for the check, like, yo, they knew they wasn't going to pay for that trip, but they try sometimes it's all about the effort, man. And that's a horrible example, but showing yourself that you didn't quit. After you got knocked down, you got back up. And the, and the reason you mentioned the view, it's a way for you to work on things that you really, you don't like about yourself, that you only think about working on when shit gets fucked up example. Yeah, you hate the fact that you can't dance salsa and every time there's a family party. It reminded you that you haven't took the fucking South, the classes that you've been promising to take for the last 15 fucking years. He is Ray, You want to be able to be ready. So part of my via mentioned South of Ray, shout out to my mom. It's definitely in the, making a wife, you know how to do a little move, she know how to do her little move move. So she gonna show me how to do a little move, move to, but like I said, any way, no limits, man, like. We put our own limits on ourselves. it depends on the society. We live in our society. Every chance they get lets us know that we're limited. And only the true awoken ones know that that's bullshit. Being asleep as a gift and a curse being awake as a gift and a curse. It's all how you see it in which one is true to you, man, because you mind being lied to all day and then it, you still happy, Hey, by any means. But if you want, if you love living in truth, because what I noticed, man, the more I'm in my truth. Even if I lose people the better the quality of my life is because I don't ever have to the B well, I'm not. And I refuse to be. Anybody I'm not. And I refuse to let any situation with anybody or anything change that only the one with myself. I have my own shit that I deal with and I continue to deal with it. And, some days I'm hurting these some days I'm fucking Pooky from fucking new Jack city, but no drugs, of course. But I just, just, just as far as my strength is concerned or pop by before the spinach. Yo cause pop up before the spinach no good to nobody, not even the olive oil or that that's the name? Olive oil. Oh man. I hope that this episode lets you see that tapping into your greatness is defined by you. And I think the only way you get to see that is by showing yourself that you fire. So fire man naked fucking, they can make scrambled eggs on your palms. Dope. We'll be back after this quick ass transition. Tapping into your greatness felt like I needed help with this topic So I figured I'd get a special guests So what winning actor author activist in his own words artivist which I think is unique We'll get into it But uh ladies and gentlemen Let's welcome Erin Ableman to the Raimundo show.

ABleman

Peace peace It's great

Raymundo

Thank you for being on the show sometimes scheduling can be a little challenging but we made it habit

ABleman

I'm really honored to be here and actually love what you're doing And I think that we're going to have uh an exciting storytelling

Raymundo

Oh yeah definitely Definitely I heard about the storyteller ciphers I heard a couple of your episodes He's Fellow podcaster Oh and you get a chance welcome to earth Great podcasts this is a research so some videos and I'm like man I need this guy's energy on the show You have great energy And like I feel like The reason why I'll have you on the show is You feel like you're locked into your greatness and you're just adding to it So before we get into the mix of that definitely start with a little bit of the origin story just sort kind of wanting you to just other people my audience a little bit of by yourself where are you from

ABleman

Yeah So it's it's is an important conversation to start at the origins for sure And um don't worry I won't get too metaphysical on you You know I'm not going to start with my origins in the stars or anything Now with that intro I feel like I have to get all extra terrestrial now but I I grew up in I grew up in central coast California Santa Barbara county primarily Raised what I always like to acknowledge the original territory is the original peoples of the lands both where I'm speaking from and also where I grew up So the two mash people of that region of central coast California really special beautiful beautiful lands We're talking about just Mediterranean climate you know where a lot of Hollywood comes to just get away from the city You know my family's working upper working class but just endless devotional working people My uh sorry you probably just heard my my daughter she's actually she's home from preschool today And so we're yeah so I hope you all forgive us If you hear

Raymundo

all good All good We let her kids kids

ABleman

There it is there it is there That's why we're doing it but they just want to give Chaya shot up there So essentially the yeah the experience I had growing up was bizarre because my parents worked in class activists and yet we were in this idyllic California paradise really you know the beaches the mountains I was born bizarrely enough in Michael Douglas his basement the actor

Raymundo

Awesome Because if I was born on his block I would have told everybody I've uh you know I grew up Michael Douglas is black or even the zip code

ABleman

You know the Drake song is we started at the bottom Now we're here You know I I I started at the top and I've been going since but for me yeah it was it was interesting because my my dad was was the head gardener there so working for the Kings of Hollywood in a very working class way and my mother was was cooking for him and they'd always vowed to have a home birth because they just felt like that's what they wanted to do They were you know salt of the earth type parents just wanting to do things differently That was a lot of my parents' ethic And when it was about a year old we moved from the Douglas House to To which yeah it was right down the street from now where Oprah has her place So it's super super AF like one of the affluent neighborhoods in in north America But we moved to a small farm just north of Santa Barbara in a place called Galena We moved up there to a 12 acre farm My dad was became the head farmer there And I was literally raised between you know milking the and harvesting peaches and you know waking up in the middle of the night if there was a freeze if the temperatures drop below a certain temperature our avocados would go and we might not eat that next month So it was that it was that serious I at that point I remember as a child always worried about the weather and about the water and soil

Raymundo

on your survival at

ABleman

yeah I mean it was like like a lot of traditional peoples all over the world in in in many ways Um my friends were far more workers and domestic workers and just folks that were kind of just everyday people but we had this unique connection to the land growing up And that was always something that I just I always like to start with that because that was

Raymundo

Yeah I mean which is awesome I mean I'm from the city So you know when I hear off the land I get like a little nervous it's something I will learn I would love to learn like you know something to have on your on your belt Like I can grow things

ABleman

That's it

Raymundo

I know you had like a different childhood being on the farm You were born at 81 Okay So I know anyone who's born close to me I was like the Axe When you watching cartoons around that time did you get to or do you have a little bit of both

ABleman

Let's get I it cause you know I'm I'm a media maker entertainer artists I love stories And I was obsessed with I mean pop culture despite having had such a strange and I was just the same as every other kid I love I love cartoons Like every I was you know speedy Gonzalez I love Tom and Jerry yeah just classics

Track 2

A there's a lot about pop culture that I think really it's really important for how it it shapes And especially for young minds for they they've done these studies that show that the human brain neurologically our connect more cohesively through storytelling So actually that's how our brains are formed is through storytelling It's not even just oh storytelling is amazing and we've all been doing it forever but scientific consensus and study of it is that the neurology of our brains are

Raymundo

Wow So you know I'm gonna I'm going to read so many books to my kids is

Track 2

No I'm serious That's so important Books are critical And you know we talked just about the cartoon landscape and some but I think that was the other thing I really appreciated about my parents is just they always have more than I could imagine lying around the there was one landline cell phone in the whole house And that was the only technology really that we had We didn't have 1988 and that early

Raymundo

Those were the earliest one They probably took up a whole room to put a computer in there But um I wanted to ask you who else like who were your influences growing up

Track 2

Well for said the modeling that my parents provided that archetype was huge yeah I mean I loved a lot of the pop culture icons we're putting out a message In the world a lot of sports players and you know athletes and and music artists I had a pretty big obsession with Bob Marley for awhile as as a like his music hit me and then his life life was just so remarkable He was just such a true visionary And he's been called a prophet but more so he just had so much love for

Raymundo

so much

Track 2

and that to me was just like yo that's what else is there I don't know that that cat really just the the pinnacle but I you know I've been fascinated by a lot you know folks with different generations too I'm not I dunno I never really been one that was like stuck in one kind of genre I always just appreciated everything You know I was A lot of like classical music artists

Raymundo

So far so far Great influences I mean when she when she started Bob Marley everything's like a

Track 2

me and 7 billion other humans I'm sure were inspired by him

Raymundo

So I got that kind of leads me into my next question would be like how did you get into Music like the arts

Track 2

Oh wow the arts for me were not For me personally but they also just connected me to other people in a whole different way than I'd ever imagined Just when I um well you know sports did that too in some regard but with the artists I just felt like people to me And it was just a different kind of thing when I you know if I you know if I I remember studying Shakespeare and I would perform Shakespeare monologues and it just it not only did it open mind and I was just tripping like this this dude lived 400 years ago and I'm sharing his words and they feel like they're entirely now

Raymundo

What's your favorite Shakespeare

Track 2

well I love I love his sonnets Yo probably some of the greatest love poems for sure in the English language But his plays are just Every single one is masterful Every single one it was just

Raymundo

was ahead of his time and mastered

Track 2

don't even know It's so deep Shakespeare blew me away but just that you we get acts in the artistic You get to go back in time or you get to relate to others in the contemporary times and just whole it's like a whole different kind of conversation going on You know if I was spit a spoken word piece I would like Girls that never would have looked at me You know when I was a teenager I was like wow this is really actually persuading the ladies that I'm trying to talk to

Raymundo

That was my thing I used to do like let this do with hands do in high school I think it works sometimes shout out to Shakespeare

Track 2

And yeah I love I loved learning the guitar I I don't play as much these days My my daughter is very musical Um and I try to just surround her with instruments and books

Raymundo

while they're young they soak up that stuff quick

Track 2

you just put it around them and it's just toys And then they start to think that it's just a part of themselves which it is It's all my music is a universal language too So it's a way that we as humans also kind of like storytelling same kind of vibe that it's just that's part of who we are and how I think most effectively

Raymundo

Like with music you don't even need a time machine Like it takes us to a place that takes it to a time It takes you it takes you all over the place music has something for everybody I don't care who you are I don't care if you the toughest person in the world I don't care if you the biggest punk in the world there's a music you know you hit either tiger you a punk you ready to go You ready to get

Track 2

That's right Yeah It's it's deep because yeah I mean the the universe is vibration And so we have physics that says that and music is just expressing vibration and in very beautiful and complex ways And it's also at the end of the day it's just emotions and humans are emotional We're emotional creatures So yeah it's all I'm excited about it I also get to make music for the rest of my life too It's like whether or not I have legs or arms or even is like I can take that with me for the rest of

Raymundo

as long as I I used to rap back in the day Uh my my rap name was precise so I always come correct That's what I used to run with

Track 2

I love that you got you got a good voice for it too And that's the thing I mean now hip hop is going on to what it's third generation So it's gonna continue on and they're going to be folks that were nozzles in his fifties fifties I mean He keeps getting better any and there's no way he could have gotten better from

Raymundo

He kinda started off really high like you did in the basement

Track 2

to Well I'm on the trajectory Uh I do think what I love about music is the more life experience I get the more stories I get the more ideas I have for more enjoyment and depth I from this craft You know what I mean And it's just it's it's infinite There's so much to learn It's just keeps going I don't care if you're dang Beethoven Um you still going to be learning your

Raymundo

And you got the chance to work with some some greats

Track 2

Yeah I've been fortunate I've worked with a lot of artists Hundreds of artists of four or five generations yeah elders

Raymundo

Well what what stood out for me was U2 most Deb and Tyler

Track 2

oh yeah yeah yeah for sure but yeah with most Def or it Yasiin Bey and Talib Kweli I was very honored to work with them for for years we were in in a dynamic We're in a connection for years through a hip hop musical that I created for for children that um was based on my last book that I I wrote and most deaf actually performed the story for um for audio And then we did a whole album double volume album And

Raymundo

absolutely butterfly

Track 2

oh butterfly life quality

Raymundo

the butterfly reverse that he had like it was crazy And then when you come on the hook with the singing I was like why I'm like why am I just hearing this song now I thought it was like

Track 2

Thank

Raymundo

like its own like you guys did something totally different and their work and it all man it was amazing Like I caught myself singing the song

Track 2

That project that project won a lot of awards I was able to bring it all over the world I worked with um so many amazing people I'm still helping that that project grows and that it gets adapted to a TV show it's called patches pajamas

Raymundo

the whole album actually I heard the album I heard some of

Track 2

yeah the album was fired Its Mo you know most Def is is performing the narration and then there's epic songs and all these different voice actors and it's got a great message for kids I uh yeah I was able to bring that I mean jeez reach probably over a million a million

Raymundo

one hip hop and children those are two amazing entities by themselves Like

Track 2

That that together is is unstoppable And I hope that I hope that everybody out there can do stuff like that That was my whole point of it was like yo we needed a whole kids hop with storytelling especially about what's going on in the world All these different things that we're struggling with I think kids would be much more attracted to'em and they are they're already I mean they're kind of leading there They're just looking for opportunities to to see in the media what they're experiencing in their community So that's what we tried

Raymundo

Seen that myself like I was I don't know I wanted to do something when it comes to kids I mean so far I did an episode just I interviewed two kids One was six one was 12 but like in the future I want to do some type of cartoon or get into children's books as far as like I've been writing for years I guess I don't give myself the credit but I'm a poet I still write I write poems on a regular basis sometimes I'll I'll try to write like a little children's story I'm just I got the perfectionist thing that does it Let me see it all the way through

Track 2

Sometimes that gets the best of us What I'm learning now is I'm just starting to release stuff more and just you know what it might not even be it's something is better than the perfect nothing You know what I mean

Raymundo

Yeah exactly I like that

Track 2

When other people hear this stuff that I think is oh is so Often what I'll get back is yeah that was actually pretty fire I would bump that or I would listen to that or you know I would share that basically a lot of people would tell me things that surprised me with work that I think is not ready And it's not to say that we don't want to do the best job possible and to refine and perfect our craft and to make sure that it is masterful what we're releasing But if it's the not releasing something in a in a closet versus getting it out there I would

Raymundo

That's good advice right there Let's hope you're listening ladies and gentlemen good facts Good facts on the topic of music what's your dream collaboration Who's like

Track 2

I

Raymundo

like immediately

Track 2

Yeah immediately I mean there's so many there's a lot but the first one you know about that Okay So Jacob yeah you're going to you're going to go on a hole a rabbit hole down that one but but Jacob is a modern Mozart for real for real this cat is he's at I think he's only he's but

Raymundo

what's his

Track 2

up his he's become super famous I've been following that dude since he was 15 So it's

Raymundo

Well yeah he looks like a young guy I just had I had to look him up real fast

Track 2

yeah pretty much like the first stuff that he started releasing somehow it caught the attention because I was actually wanting to get young artists involved with the projects I was working on he popped up Jacob Kylie or Quincy Jones I would love to work That's one of my big dreams

Raymundo

You have the energy to I could see you up there like

Track 2

I just want to do some I want to do some epic musical storytelling with the most mathematical musicians on like want to go I

Raymundo

Rachel's in Georgia Right Just have

Track 2

oh I stand at the footsteps of those giants but but I think for me it's it's about with artists and love to tell stories and that do something with their craft that really changes lives and impacts the world So that could be you know any number that that are on that trajectory and they don't necessarily only have to be famous You know I'm not not always interested in a lot of you know a lot of the thing mean respect to all all those artists but becomes this obsession with um dunno it's just different motivation It's not motivated to positively impact communities or to the oceans for example or to restore our forests You know there's not any of that nearly enough I should say I think there is a lot of that happening but it feels few and far between for how

Raymundo

Thanks to Netflix I wouldn't even know that the oceans were that bad Like I saw those two documentaries Jessica Mirasee and I saw black fish Those have me like I was so I was I never felt hurt like that I mean I felt hurt but like I didn't know I was an animal lover like that I didn't know It made such a difference on our earth Like it's crazy

This first half is flowing so great. But let's get back after this break. Welcome. Come back

Raymundo

But speaking um you dedicate your life to children in the earth I guess we would love to know more about that Like How did that become something that you we're all in for Cause I feel like a lot of us have a thoughts How can we help How can we but like you actually do it So how did you get into it

Track 2

every day is still a don't I don't say it's a star I think it's a beautiful struggle in a way because systems and the way this society is built is actually just structured around making money and Products for a capital engine that just never seems to satisfied so it's like it's this endless endless thing that comes from a lot of you know a lot of the people created this system were not healthy and happy in themselves so they had to go out and create things that that to other people they say hurt people hurt people so if I'm Frank if I'm like 100 with you that it's really it every day is a struggle to be be an activist to be an artist bring those two worlds together is even more because what we call artivism the use of art for activism or for helping to stand up behalf of those that whether they're you know they don't have a platform they don't have the The privilege or the time or the capacity to even more So my focus has been around environmental justice and bringing attention to things like the the you know the crisis in our oceans or the crisis in our forests or the crisis in our climate the biodiversity crisis all of these things that lot of people just like you said if know these platforms these cultural platforms like Netflix we probably wouldn't know that we are in a serious situation but it's also about targeting the system to pointing fingers at other individuals

Raymundo

Yeah Like the system's going to just reproduce the same kind of situations

Track 2

so we have to we have to figure out more ethical compassionate ways of doing if we are gonna even keep with any form of capitalism

Raymundo

you're more on the spiritual side as opposed to religious or Yeah

Track 2

Yeah mean there's another great saying that I hope I don't butcher but um they say that the religious people are trying to prevent themselves from going to hell and spiritual people have already been there and I think you know spirituality for me is just that I yeah that I have my own unique expression of of what I considered to be a higher power I personally believe that that all things are made of of spirit of energy of God whatever you want to call it actually doesn't really matter what you call it for me End of the day it's all semantics right It's just it's just what language you speak and what your orientation is And and I honor each of those because we all have a different way of expressing ourselves So there's to me there's nothing wrong with however you want to translate your experience of of God and yeah and I am I'm very I'm a very spiritual person to me It's it's the way that I make it through hard times It's also the way that I stay grounded I just you know keep my ego in check I keep my I keep myself focused on on the mission as opposed to my little ups and downs because think that obviously we all go through a lot and I think we are we need something like

Raymundo

Yeah Uh in having the belief like that lets you see pass how you feel and what's in front of you That's the I feel like that's my connection with right now I'm in Massachusetts but my mind is in Bora Bora where I have my house you know I can take care of my family on vacation I always try to make sure I speak or at least visualize myself situations I want and of course doing it with art like what I like to create which is great that you that word artivist like I didn't hear about it until I did research on you

Track 2

It's all important the smaller acts are just as big as the big ones in my humble opinion because actually those ones the ones when no one is looking or that aren't necessarily a some big charity are actually those are real ones those are coming from you know an honest place my activism Who I am when the cameras are off or when the when the door is closed and I'm with with my daughter like that's part of my activism how I raised my my children So I just like activism as an act that is bigger than myself in a way you know maybe that's a different deck whole different definition of activism

Raymundo

If there was a somebody listening right now and they wanted to know how can you even get started in that What would you tell them

Track 2

I think you know it's it's similar to what other folks smart people have said is just that find something that you love about that might not be getting the love and care that that you know And just just go for it you try to find a way and start in your community I would say start offline if you can there's many great things happening online starting your community you know just really like focusing on wherever you're at because obviously that's where you're going to

Raymundo

you know this is a story about greatness and I feel like one thing great thing you've done was you've prayed with spiritual leaders and you know I'm going to ask you the Dalai Lama question how was that experience with the Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama to be exact

Track 2

Yeah Yeah The 14th Yeah I'm I just feel fortunate that I've been In his presence And also even more importantly of his teachings

Raymundo

Yeah not so many people get to meet the Dalai Lama So

Track 2

I was in India and I was living in India actually as a young spiritual just exhausted of the west and exhausted of the whole system that we've talked about today and felt like I want to just put a society at large I went I went to India to create art projects and arts education and at three different orphanages but doing the obligatory study of yoga and meditation And and I grew up you know my parents they were meditators and had different movement practices which were connected to yoga as well So for me it was it made sense but then I started to realize wow there's all these great spiritual teachers just they live here in India and I'm talking about AMAA Moudji all the these incredible teachers Dalai Lama of course being one of the most famous Ravi Shankar is another one that are Sort of yeah just like major humanitarian and spiritual Yeah Yeah Like incredible people And but the thing I love most about the Dalai Lama is just a sense of humor He was just so funny and and he just he just like doesn't I don't know It's just there's something really special about that dude

Raymundo

Got to meditate with him

Track 2

well we were meditating for 12 days meditating and chanting and him giving what's called the you know these uh spiritual teachings where he would just talk about different texts from the Buddha And yeah it was a whole

Raymundo

That sounds awesome I'm a I'm a fellow meditator So things

Track 2

Oh yeah That's that's amazing Meditation If you can just do five minutes in the morning and five minutes in the evening and then start to build that up to the point where you're meditating one to two to three hours a day

Raymundo

And if you mix it with yoga and working out forget about it You when I did that

Track 2

That's great That's

Raymundo

That's great And as I was looking at th at this point I just moved back I w I moved to Miami Didn't work out I'm on my brother's couch I'm working a job I hate no dating like nothing was really and I just I started running I started meditating I started doing yoga and you would've thought that I won the lotto the way my energy was when people would ask me how I'm doing It was like a fantastic and if you're in New York I know you've been through New York people Don't like people that are that happy They're like fuck What But would you be fantastic Nobody Who's fantastic What are you

Track 2

Get the fuck here Yeah What is it The uh fuck you I love you Yeah

Raymundo

Yeah

Track 2

Yeah It's like even to say I love

Raymundo

Yeah I fucking love you man Yeah Everything

Track 2

Yeah It's impossible to have Yeah That's that's amazing So you actually transcended

Raymundo

Yes And I won I got a promotion I met the love of my life no Yeah I met actually me being so full of energy She just it's like oh I gotta be with this guy this guy is this guy's the man right here I'm becoming a father not being where I want to be in life So all I thought about how can I shortcut my way to being where I want to be in life So it kind of stopped but I still try to make sure I meditate Uh as much as I could work out as much as I could the yoga kind of stopped completely I noticed the difference which that kind of leads me to one of my questions were like what advice would you give a first-time dad Because I look I'm not gonna lie the way you explain it Becoming a father was one of the most amazingly explanations I'm not even saying this because you're my show is just I'm listening to you explain the birth of your daughter And I'm like wow Like if I could if I could write down how I thought it was how how I think is going to feel your words were that makes any sense

Track 2

you brother That's uh that I've I feel humbled by that and I appreciate that I think fathers and parents obviously mothers the the carriers of the biological carrier of the child and in the most profound way deserve all the love and all of the adoration and all of the of it me this is the relationship I will ever have Probably even more for sure more than my parents which is wild to say that And even more so than my my balloon My my my partner my my baby mama what I mean All the things that I'm doing in the world now she's my center point which is crazy crazy powerful And I don't know That was my experience was just that it really it clarified my love it gift It literally gave me another heart

Raymundo

awesome

Track 2

like my heart exploded so much It created a whole other heart and now it has a body running around called my kid mean Like It's wild Like it does the love that that exists between a parent and a child is really special it's also the hardest thing I always say it's the best hardest thing is being a parent you know I'll speak for myself that there have been days when I wanted to jump off a cliff know like oh my God this is the hardest

Raymundo

but you wouldn't have it any other way

Track 2

No And So I wrote I book I wrote my daughter a letter and a meditation every every day of her first year which is the the subject of my new book right now that um I'm working to get out and yeah shout out to that which is called welcome to earth love letters to my child and practices for

Raymundo

getting me

Track 2

whole it's a whole self-care toolkit basically is like your mental health as a parent be Your health in general is going to transform your family But if you're exhausted all the time and you're angry and upset and shit's not things will and that's natural too Sometimes that just happens anyway But yeah so the point of this project is really to support parents in being as great as

Raymundo

Did you write this book purposely Or it was just like it was journaling something for her every day and it just kind of made sense to make it a book

Track 2

The first 30 days I journaled it and then I started sharing with my partner and then I started also sharing with some other dads in a in a parent group And folks were like crying and I didn't even know why I was like what I got in So when I saw their reaction to the words that I was just honestly speaking to my dad I said wow this I need to share this you know as opposed to just keep this in as a journal So that was the kind of thing Like it's better to share if you can even if it's rough Um because now it's it's

Raymundo

that's awesome Hey man Welcome Welcome to the earth If you haven't if you haven't got that yet is podcast

Track 2

PV PV definitely welcome to earth And and the the book by the same title is coming out I got a bunch of music coming to yeah there's an album adaption of the project so it's just it's coming out my

Raymundo

Okay cool Let's see That's why and this is so this is kind of why I wanted you to be on this episode because it shows greatness to me Not only like the you create you collaborate you give back and you're a great dad on top of that So it's you know the money you make It's not about places you've been it's like what you're willing to do and following through So in your case you have a book dropping you've got collaborations with great artists podcaster you have acting

Track 2

Um I'm doing my best And and like I said you know it's just day let me just get a little better at me as long as I can be better me tomorrow than I was today then then I'm happy you know And it's not even I'm trying to focus less on on all the uh yeah The the the fluff of life yeah like you said the greatness that's out there I'm really glad that that we're connected Ray and this cause exceeded my expectation I'm really I'm inspired I feel like we have yeah we have these digital platforms to share our messages and to share our stories and perspectives And hopefully we can continue to amplify yeah like you said the greatness that's out there

Raymundo

from from the east to the west coast

Track 2

A

Raymundo

more east coast west coast drama It's all love now

Track 2

That's the new way Hey if we're going to get we're going to get through this thing called life that like

Raymundo

Then as long as we don't do it alone it's all good what is greatness to you

Track 2

a progression a kind of growth that every day I'm getting me And every if to me is an everyday committing to excellence of committing to something remarkable within my own passion within my own particular

Raymundo

Amazing I couldn't have said it better myself I want to thank you for joining me on the Raimondo show It was great having you definitely on the same wave energy link whatever you want to call it expected but if people wanted more of our enablement what could they where can they go to find you

Track 2

Oh you can check it Just follow me Messaged me or link with me on all social media at Erin Ableman that's H a R O N a B L E M a N And then also Erin ableman.com And um info@airenablement.com hit me up because I always love building and I just think the more of us that are on this wavelength the better the more of us that can that can be each other's cheerleaders yeah the better I'll see you there

Raymundo

The more of us there is out there the more we don't have to feel alone And the more we can reach out to somebody that almost knows what we're thinking and Nothing better than that type of connection and chemistry Well thank you Thank

Track 2

it's been a blessing

Raymundo

all know probably Yeah It's been a blessing to have you on the show man

Track 2

All right Ray We'll we'll be in touch anytime bro

Raymundo

thank you Thank Now

That's all for action and final say, let's get it. Raymundo's final. Say We all have greatness within. But it's the shit that we do that makes that true. You got to dig deep within a coal miner. To reach that major level. We all capable of obtaining. Whether you work harder, smarter. As long as you get through the destination, it doesn't matter how long it takes you to get there. Shit. Even when you go through obstacles like Mario and the king Koopa castle. But when you have the power over your will, like Jada. They go think about you when they hit at the champions here. This happens when you embrace fear. Like a favorite cousin you wouldn't see in the minute, shout out. Don't wait for fate. Just make your own destiny. And all that trying to fill in. Gonna give you your own secret recipe. Only the strong survive, but it's going to take more than a week to increase your strength. But don't whine. It takes time. Greatness got to marinate before you're able to indulge. With your greatness, make sure you tap in on some Gregory hardship. And when you at the part of your story, Were you able to teach others? Still be happy regardless what you went through. And one of the, tell it on the Raimundo show. You're more than welcome. I want to thank everybody. For joining me on this episode. It was great to talk about being great. Or gain greater. Want to thank our enablement again. Don't forget, you already have what it takes to be the best you. all you got to do is step into your own light. But so next time. Mondo listeners peace love mundo out

Contributor

Raymundo

Host