Take the Elevator
This podcast is purely about elevating people through individual life stories and experiences in the Elevator. In the Elevator, what's key is maybe changing your perspective; having self-actualization; embracing your purpose; and acting on it as we grow from one another. There is a whole different point of view when you look up to elevate.
Take the Elevator
364th Floor: Into the Forest of Simple Joys
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Ever find yourself chasing the next big thing, only to realize the most profound satisfaction comes from what's already around you? That's exactly where our conversation takes us as we unpack the beauty of finding contentment in life's uncomplicated offerings.
What does it mean to truly enjoy simplicity?
The secret, we've discovered, lies in intentionality—consciously pausing to notice what actually matters. Whether you're feeling overwhelmed by life's complexities or simply seeking more authentic joy, this conversation invites you to reconnect with your senses and rediscover the satisfaction that lies in life's simplest pleasures. What simple joy will you pause to appreciate today?
hey, it's jen the builder, and cory and welcome everyone, whovator. We are a day late or so releasing this, and that's because we had the most amazing weekend.
Speaker 2Oh my gosh, you went there, okay.
Speaker 1I went straight there because, we're recording this after work and I've just had such a great day and I'm still excited over the weekend. Honestly, I think that has been my energy giver.
Speaker 2Indeed For a.
Speaker 1Monday all day.
Speaker 2It was that that powerful if I can imagine being a surfer. So for a what a surfer.
Speaker 1I don't know where the weird, that's a fancy way of saying surfer, surf for a sephora.
Speaker 2No, if I can imagine being a surfer, I would say we rode the biggest wave the longest time ever this weekend. Just incredible. And thanks to the family, the kids, jen, both of my mothers for an amazing Father's Day Like never before. Dude, dude, I wouldn't trade that for the world yeah, pretty special.
Speaker 1So when I asked you, cory, so what are we recording on? Because you know, over 360 episodes, there's a tendency to double back yeah, double back, run out of topics, um.
Speaker 1So of course I asked cory, what are we going to talk about? And you said enjoying the simple things in life. So I told cory, I said I'm gonna be real, because I think people who know us wouldn't say that cory and jen enjoy the simple. Corey and Jen enjoy the simple. So I just want to bring that forward to you. Is this a message that we're hoping we get, or are you going to present it in such a way that we do enjoy the simple?
Speaker 2I honestly believe that we have the ability to enjoy the simple. I can point out a few things that we are currently to enjoy the simple. I can point out a few things that we are currently enjoying in the simple. However, we tend to complicate things a little bit from time to time on our own and it's by choice. But that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the simple things in life and I can't wait to point out some of those things. But, jen, can you just mention the book?
Speaker 1launch the book oh, okay, you're taking me on a dance yeah, just a little one yeah.
Speaker 1So, simply put, the book launch was actually supposed to be easy and it was easy, but what I mean by that is like 30 people intimate. We had our itinerary plan literally the day of, because that's typically how I function, right, my most creative moments is in the moment. So that happened and we had it at my aunt mila's office in glendora and it was just a kind of funny weekend, right. Some people wanted to stay home, um, with different events that were happening in the local area, and then people were celebrating all weekend for father's day right, so we're like okay, we're just getting prepared for a small amount of people.
Speaker 1We understand that the room's capacity is about 30. Yeah, so we're the. Uh, you know, let's go half of that and prepare for 15, maybe 25 yeah.
Speaker 1So what ended up happening is we went well, way over 30. It was standing room. Only friends and family were so gracious in standing in the parking lot and just waiting to come in. The kids all of them were so great like it was, so engaging. They were bouncing off of us, we were bouncing off of them. We danced, we blew bubbles, we got to read the story, we got to play games with them, had some snacks, signed the books, had open questions and answers and, honestly, corey, I think one of the best moments for me is I really think the adults enjoyed the blowing of the bubbles as much as the kids maybe even more.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, and just to give you a little context, you know, and so I'm back up because you covered a lot of ground. Let me just start off my portion by saying the book was a hit. It was a smash, and that's the best part of it. You know, what you do is the main thing. If that goes over well, everything else is just, you know, icing on the cake. But everything went very well, including the reading of the book, and all the kids enjoyed it. And so Jim came up with this brilliant idea to have the kids blow bubbles every time they heard the word kangaroo or kenga and those words are in there probably 20 times, and so you can just imagine the room filling up with bubbles, and we managed to stuff almost 50 people into this room. And again, kelly Kanga came off like it was mainstream and people were waiting for the release. So I just felt so good about that, had to tell you guys.
Speaker 1Yeah, so I actually want to honor enjoying the simple things I had to tell you guys. Yeah, so I actually want to honor enjoying the simple things. To me, although our books are special and the Fuzzy Furry Forest series is going to be something so important, I really feel that I think it's going to be big, I think it's going to have crazy impact and right now we're just in the beginnings of the journey absolutely right so kelly kinga.
Speaker 1I have enjoyed the simplicity in writing with you, c Corey, working with our illustrator, vanessa, getting through the challenges. We recently added someone temporarily to the team who really helped us out. So for me, that's enjoying the simple things, because when it becomes bigger, of course, it's probably going to get a little more complicated because there's other things we want to do. So in the meantime, I am very much enjoying the simple things like writing a book, getting it illustrated, having a small setting, intimate setting for the book launch.
Speaker 1This, by the way, was our first official book launch because I thinklly kinga is the book where we've heard feedback from adults, where they're like, oh my gosh, I get it. Like everything has come into play, like now that there's four books and they're able to see the connections between all four books right, all the characters and stuff. Like that. They get the forest and now they understand what we mean by into the forest. We go and these books and they're telling me they're like Jen, this isn't just for kids, this is for adults. Like I'm learning so much and Kelly Kanga is a parent in this book and if you can't hear my excitement, I don't know how else to do this over this podcast because I have never felt this much energy over a project that we've worked on and we've had many oh yeah and so it, what I've done has worked.
Speaker 2I wanted to get jen engaged and talk about the the book got me and I got.
Speaker 1It got me and I got her, you got me.
Speaker 2So you can thank me for all this.
Speaker 1Me or the other elevators. I thank you.
Speaker 2No, the audience can thank me for inciting all your excitement. So, jen, tell me about a few of the simple things in your life.
Speaker 1Well, I definitely will, but I want to emphasize that this episode is about satisfaction, oh yeah, and the simple things in my life. So can we unpack satisfaction and what we mean by that?
Speaker 2Sure.
Speaker 1Okay, so you brought up the wonderful topic.
Speaker 2I'd love to hear from you so me being satisfied is just having that relief, that comfort, that ah moment where you just relax, that. That there's satisfaction in that, there's soothing in that. And so when you find something that's simple, um you, you would take a everything bagel and just have a regular plain bagel and then find satisfaction in the plain bagel. Um, that's my analogy for right now.
Speaker 1That that would bring simple satisfaction I like that and that lands with me very well. For me, when I think of this and I'll try to do it here right now it's when you take that deep inhale and it just hits and you hold for a moment and you're like ah yeah, it's that Even right now it's like oh, this is good. I'm fulfilled, I'm content Like, wow, okay, so what was the question?
Speaker 2again, now that we've defined satisfaction, I'm just looking to hear maybe two of your simple satisfactions. What, what? Uh, two simple things are actively taking place in your life.
Speaker 1One of them for sure. Aside, I know I talked about Kelly King and that project, so I don't want to include this in this list, although that is very much that.
Speaker 2Right.
Speaker 1I am extremely satisfied in our marriage. You know that kind of way Because I remember we've been together for quite a good amount of years and I just remember when there'd be so much conflict or like almost confusion because we were trying to figure things out. And it is satisfying to be at peace, it's satisfying to mature together and know that when a conflict does come up we will work on resolving it, that we don't put it off, you know. So that to me is satisfying. I am very satisfied too in my home, like just looking around and just knowing that we built this together. It's safety zone, it's where I get to grow and just be and not have to be all the other things, but just in my home.
Speaker 2Yeah, I like that and as much as I agree with you on the marriage thing and I want to make this clear because I know a lot of times couples have conversations and one person says something and it's expected that the other one.
Speaker 1That they reciprocate Right.
Speaker 2And I do, I know 100%. However, I want to pinpoint a couple other things that are very satisfying. A couple other things that are very satisfying, I got to say the children, and not for the reasons that most people would think. We didn't have to have a doctor or a lawyer or a professional athlete or a famous musician for children. That was never our goal. That was never our goal, that was never our push. We wanted them to be healthy, balanced human beings that found their way through life without getting themselves into too much trouble, without too many dramatic issues before they got out of, uh, young adulthood.
Speaker 2All of our children are now in full fledged adulthood, uh, almost, uh ready to. You know, kayla's married, um xavier is in a solid relationship and nate is happily working a full-time job doing his own thing. So that gives me such satisfaction to know we got to that point in life where our kids are now adults and they're adulting. That that's number one for me, and I'm sorry to dramatize that so much, but you just have no idea that that weighs on you as a young parent, like I can't raise another me.
Speaker 2You know I struggled with life hard enough. I don't want to raise another me, so that was important. And then another really simple satisfaction is I'm content with who we are. I'm not looking for us to be the next uh, and there's a bunch of couples out there that do some phenomenal things and I think we do some phenomenal things and I think we do some phenomenal things, but we are never in competition or challenged by or feel like we have to set a bar higher than, and that just really makes me take a sigh of relief to know that we're content with who we are and what we're doing. This podcast has no point of height or some place that we're trying to take it to to prove a point about what we can do or how far we can go. It's just we're having fun, we're talking it out and figuring it out as we go. So those things give me that relief and satisfaction yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1You know, I was thinking about a moment that we just had over the weekend and cory just kills me when you do this, so I will start laughing okay because I think something's funny and then cory mimics my laugh super loud so I'm genuinely laughing and Corey's copying me, laughing with me, and so I just keep laughing harder and that, for me, is a simple thing in life. Where I belly laugh so much that it hurts, I mean that is a great moment to have, and I don't take that for granted, and so I just think of those things.
Speaker 1That's what I call the simple things that I enjoy yes um, and I think one of those things that we do is just intentionally stopping everything else and being in that moment yeah, you know, that's what it's about yeah and even when we're both laughing and it's a real laugh, and we laugh so much and so hard that we feel drunk, it's just and I tell grace, stop it.
Speaker 2You're making me feel drunk you're just delirious because you've laughed so hard and for so long, and we do that amongst each other and with with each other. We had a moment with gloria, coming from disneyland, where we stopped by del taco. I think we all were just laughing so hard that we couldn't breathe or even order the food and they were so nice about it.
Speaker 1So, yes, I think too is being intentional about slowing it down and then noticing the things that bring you joy. Yeah, um, in fact, today I was talking to gloria. I said how was your weekend? And she said it was soulful, oh, and I love that. I've never heard anyone respond that way, but where her soul is full and she was able to notice and identify. When I'm with my family, when I get a chance to not worry about anything else and just talk to them, and not rush through that moment.
Speaker 2Yeah, and just a heads up, gloria is one of our mutual friends. Just a heads up. Gloria is one of our mutual friends and we do spend a little bit of time together and find laughter when we can.
Speaker 1Yeah, absolutely. Here's another one, guys, and I love taking this moment. For Father's Day, we went to one of our favorite restaurants. It's that like the meal that you love and it's the first bite for me, that satisfaction in the simple.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1It's that first bite, oh my gosh, I have to share with you guys. How am I forgetting this? Okay, so most of you may know that Dubai chocolate is viral and guys and ladies, I've gone to World Market. Every time they get a shipment it's like gone right. So I'm like, okay, I guess I'm never going to try that and I see how people have learned to make it. But to me that's not the same thing. I want the experience, I want the satisfaction of opening like a Willy Wonka chocolate bar right, but it's Dubai style chocolate. Corey and I go to the gas station because he had to pick some stuff up. I'm like you know what I need to get protein. So let me run in here and see what they've got. So I'm going to pay for my things. And, sure enough, on the counter counter, there is a box of dubai style chocolate and my eyes caught it because it's gold.
Speaker 2You know, it's wrapped in tinfoil gold, and I mean it's legitimate dubai chocolate and it's in the strangest place, like who would have thought at a gas, at a gas station and not like.
Speaker 1I mean it's like at a, at an arco and no shade, you know, but it's not like at a chevron, let's not give that to uh arco, because it was a speedy way.
Speaker 2So you know. Oh, it's not arco.
Speaker 1No, okay, speedy way. Does anyone? Has anyone even heard of speedy way? Either way, I have. So I asked her, the cashier, I said, is that the real thing? And she goes, yeah. And I was like, let me test this out, how much is it? $20. So you know me, if it costs a lot, it's got to be the good stuff.
Speaker 1So I went and bought one and we took it back to my office and the team and I seriously had everyone gather in a circle and it was a whole ritual, guys, the whole ritual. I was like we about to eat this go viral and someone recorded it and I don't know what happened, but it didn't record. Well, so, mind you and, by the way, I recommend this chocolate as room temperature. So cory's such a sweetheart because he knew I was bummed out that we hadn't recorded it, he went ahead and bought me two more, like two for just in case the first one again fails. So we had it again. Anyhow, that first bite was me enjoying the simple things of life, the fact that we found Dubai chocolate and that I was eating it with my team.
Speaker 2And I was about to say no, because you said a ritual, but it was like a complete setup where everyone could enjoy.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, when I had the chocolate in my hand I was like I've got the golden ticket. I mean I was will-o-wonking out.
Speaker 2Yeah, man, it was so fun. But the video was awful.
Speaker 1Right, but the second one was not.
Speaker 2Nice.
Speaker 1I just got to edit because now it's five minutes worth of shenanigans.
Speaker 2My, oh, my yeah.
Speaker 1So I think we translated what you wanted to talk about absolutely no.
Speaker 2I mean the simple things family, uh, children, marriage, um, there's a lot of other simple things and satisfaction you can find. You know, um, and that's up for you to decide. Yeah, whoever's listening and really wants to find the simple thing, just take the moment. That's all I'm really pointing out.
Speaker 2Yeah reconnect with your senses, yeah, and that's what it is reconnecting with your senses and taking the moment, taking the time to say you know what, I'm satisfied. Yeah, I was able to do that multiple times this weekend. You know, being at disneyland, that was something I really wanted to do. We have passes, so can we go? Yeah, all right, we went Going to dinner and having my favorite meal. I was satisfied. Yep, spending time with both moms.
Speaker 1Yeah, I think, ultimately, how you asked me in the beginning, like what is it that? What is it in your life that's simple, that you enjoy the most? I think it's being able to, to have what really matters, because when I hear you talking about our moms time together, connecting, having fun right, friends, friends, and it doesn't have to be a lot of friends.
Speaker 1No If you've got a handful of friends. That's beauty in the simple that you have that. And I know I mentioned to buy chocolate, but it doesn't always have to be about what's trending.
Speaker 2No.
Speaker 1And I love what you said. It doesn't have to be about competition either.
Speaker 2Not at all. As a matter of fact, I found some more simple satisfaction in our printer being present at our book launch. And she came in, she sat down she's a very business-minded, smart woman and she just enjoyed herself. Everybody had a great time. But I was looking at the, the different people that didn't have to necessarily be there. They didn't have children yeah um, but they wanted to be a part of it, wanted to be there and in support and it was, again, amazing yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1So I'm gonna be a little Corey.
Speaker 2Do you?
Speaker 1feel like we've presented this topic.
Speaker 2I feel like we've presented it properly, but I know how you like to get your cheese in, so feel free.
Speaker 1Well, we are on the elevator, so I think, as we take it, that we pause on the floor where joy lives, and hopefully that's in the simple things absolutely well, you know us that take the elevator.
Speaker 2We say, look up and let's elevate if you haven't got ke Kinga, go check it out.
Speaker 1On Amazon. Do we say it was Kelly Kinga?
Speaker 2Amazon.
