How to Experience Joy NOW in Uncertain Times | Hope, Healing & Your Inner Sound

What do you do when life feels uncertain, overwhelming, or emotionally heavy? 

In this special episode of Diversity Conversations, what began as a leadership dialogue evolved into a deeply personal and inspiring conversation on hope, joy, healing, feedback, faith, and the power of finding your own sound. 

Co-host Eric Ellis takes the audience on a heartfelt journey through: 

•  Why joy must be chosen in the present moment 
•  The healing power of community, gratitude, and faith 
•  How feedback becomes feed-forward for better leadership 
•  Why small wins matter in difficult seasons 
•  The importance of staying connected instead of isolated 
•  Music, creativity, and the courage to express your authentic sound 
•  How to protect your peace in a world designed to steal your attention 

🎵 Music featured in this episode from Eric Ellis’ project My Sound: 

• Dreamer
• Our Time
• Miracles
• My Sound
• Ready to Love

Listen to Eric Ellis’ music here: Eric Ellis Music Channel

Full My Sound playlist: My Sound Playlist


This episode becomes more than a conversation, it becomes an experience of joy in real time.
 
If you’ve been carrying stress, uncertainty, or simply need a reminder to reconnect with your purpose, this replay is for you.

leadership, joy, hope, healing, mindset, personal growth, emotional resilience, faith, authentic leadership, feedback, leadership development, community, gratitude, purpose, self-awareness, psychological safety, diversity conversations, Eric Ellis, Tommie Lewis, music, creativity, finding your sound, inspiration, encouragement, resilience, live podcast, business leadership, culture, wellbeing, emotional intelligence 

 📅 New conversations every Saturday 9:30 AM EST
📩 Subscribe, share, and join us in moving diversity forward—one conversation at a time.

🌐 Watch more episodes on YouTube 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Diversity Conversations, where we engage in thought-provoking dialogue to identify leadership solutions to today's most challenging conflict. Stream live each week, Saturday, 9 30 a.m. to 11 a.m., hosted by Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategists and CEOs Eric Ellis and Tommy Lewis. Join us and add your voice to this engaging diversity conversation.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Good morning, greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, the United States, and the world. My name is Eric Ellis, and I'm the president and CEO of Integrity Development Corporation, and I'm joined this morning by my good friend and brother, Tommy Lewis, president and CEO of Make It Plane Consulting.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Good morning, Eric. Good morning, T. What's going on, man? Hey, as you can see, Eric community, uh, I am in my mobile office, my mobile studio, right? Uh, for some of you, you see it as a car, right? So I'm in my car. I have a great opportunity this morning uh to speak for the Chatfield Edge. And the Chatfield Edge would like to invite anyone and everyone to visit the website, phenomenal organization, chatfieldedge.org, uh, where we are we provide wraparound services in the tune of uh scholarships, mentorship, etc., to college students. These could be first generation uh uh college students or folks who are returning to school after being out of high school for 30, maybe 40 years. And so I had the opportunity this morning be to be on site here, but didn't want to miss the show.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

Excellent, Tommy man. Well, the people are uh in for a treat this morning. Our prayers will be with you, our thoughts will be with you, uh excited about uh what you're gonna deliver. Uh, what's your what's your topic today?

SPEAKER_01 2:00

It's around hope. Eric, hope. Uh, you know, the the uh you know stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod, felt in days when hope, unborn, had died. So that's part of the black national anthem. And I believe, and many other people believe, that hope has not died. In fact, we're we're sending uh four people around the moon, returning back safely. We have folks who are uh been downtrodden for a period of time, but I believe that those times are simply seasons. And so I'll be talking about the season of hope that whatever our uh our energy is right now, be it bad or okay, that there are better times and better days coming. Just keep the faith, as the sisters of Ursuline uh have often said over the last 200 plus years, uh, and so hope is still alive.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

Well, I tell you, this is uh powerful uh uh convergence of things this morning that are seeking to send the same message. Uh, Tommy and I, our topic today will be uh experiencing joy now. And uh Tommy I say, I wanted to uh open up with a song that uh I hope will encourage our community, and uh you know it's in line with what you're gonna be speaking about today. This is a song by uh uh Zucardi Cortez called Work It Out for Me.

SPEAKER_04 3:44

Work it out for me. Oh, I will try to work it up. Open up the door, please speak a word of the door. I need to work alone, working out for me, working out for me all the things I can't see what I need to know working now working out for me. That's my point right there. Right.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

All right, all right, all right. Uh that song has been powerful inspiration for me. Uh, I've listened to it sometimes 10, 15 times in a row, uh, in tears because of my confidence. No, number one, because of uh our need for God to work things out for us. But secondly, Tommy, uh, you know, uh my confidence that that will happen, that is happening. And so uh, you know, I'm grateful for our partnership. How was your week this week, Tommy?

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Yeah, Eric, it was a uh a blessed week, as all weeks are blessed. Uh, but I have uh well this week, I really relinquished a lot of my worry, a lot of my uh discomfort, a lot of my uncertainty. I relinquished this to the most high. And I obeyed when I was instructed what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. So this week had a number of conversations with folks that were unexpected that I simply listened. I did not pass judgment on the comments, I did not pass judgment on the person, I didn't even pass judgment on how I should think and respond. I was just present with the person. And that wasn't at the beginning of the week and near the end of the week last week, Eric, uh had two, maybe three conversations with former clients who reached out to say, Hey, we would like to continue the partnership that we had from five and six and seven years ago. Uh and some of the work that you did then, we were moving in the right direction. New leadership came on board that kind of stopped the progress, and we've learned that uh the work that you were doing and making it plain was of benefit and value. And we want to revisit this to move on, not revisit what was done in the past, but implement the recommendations moving forward. And I thought and felt so empowered because me personally, I like to see things come into fruition and even close things out at times. And so when we were separated from the relationship then, I was like, dang it, right? It the work is still not complete.

SPEAKER_03 7:39

Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Thank goodness that God says, Well, I'm gonna speak to the new people in place, allow them to see that it's not complete, and have other people recommend make it plain consulting and Tommy Lewis. I want to repeat that. Other people that I had worked with had met with the folks that I'm talking with now, say, hey, you may want to consider them. I am very humble, Eric, this past week, that when we do good work, good people recognize it. Right. So it was it was a week of hope, it was a week of relinquishing worry and concern and leaning into uh the true essence of what God has planned for all of us uh on this earth.

SPEAKER_02 8:33

Right, Tommy, I love that. Uh I love that because it speaks so powerfully uh to the fact that we're not in this on our own. We don't have to make it by ourselves, that there are some things that when we turn over worry uh and uh we no longer embrace that, we embrace our faith, our confidence in the Almighty, uh, and in uh the the work that we've done in the record that we've established. You know, you you have a record uh in this world. And when you've established a good name and a good record, uh sometimes it's finding you without you even recognizing that people are out there having conversations about you. Uh sometimes we don't have to be the chasers. Uh, we can actually be chased down or discovered. And so that's a powerful thing. This week I had a chance to do some uh uh coaching and feedback sessions with uh people with a client that uh we had them go through some 360s. A lot of people were super nervous about that, Tommy. Not everybody loves feedback, uh, but certainly everybody needs feedback. And uh it was so powerful to see so many of these leaders get really positive feedback from people rating uh their behaviors. And it was almost like they had never, uh some of them they had never heard things like that, and they were just uh looked like almost embarrassed uh but thrilled at the same time. Uh, you know, people are used to just criticism. And sometimes when people do good work and it's recognized, that's a powerful thing. And I was glad to be the one there delivering that because I think that we have to get people rehearsed Tommy and not just seeing feedback as a negative experience. Uh, it's it's a beautiful thing when feedback can be powerfully encouraging and then sprinkled in some constructive things that we can work on. I think if people receive that, then maybe it will increase their willingness to be open to that.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

I agree, Eric. I agree. Could you explain a little bit more about what a 360 is?

SPEAKER_02 10:52

Thanks. Thanks for the question. So a 360 is a tool that is used in organizations where they really are especially looking at leadership development. What we know is that people don't leave bad companies, they leave bad managers. Uh, Gallup just came out with uh a study that said that for the first time in the history of our country, more people are struggling, Tommy, than thriving. So 49% of employees are struggling, and 46% are thriving, see themselves as thriving. So if we have people that are struggling because of the things that they're dealing with in the world, uh the pressures, economic pressures, family pressures, uh, then we hope that we have leaders that are uh prepared to signal something positive and not add on to the mountain of things that cause people struggle. So some of our clients have decided to engage in 360 feedback processes so leaders can get feedback from their peers. 360 means all around you. So your peers, your boss or supervisor, and your direct reports. Uh and then we chose to ask 11 questions. Nine of them, five of them are the five essential skills. Uh, these were uh gaps that employees had uh identified through uh morale surveys uh and inclusion surveys. They said, number one, that our uh uh supervisors don't listen to us very well. Uh number two, they don't seek out our perspective when they are making changes that impact us. Number three, we don't feel a sense of psychological safety and ability to push back against the status quo. Number four, employees were saying that we lack that sense of belonging. Ten years ago, we used to go to King's Island to different places, and now we don't do the family picnics and company, you know, cookouts and things like that. And then finally, the fifth thing that they said was that there was a lack of inclusion, that there was too much favoritism that was leading the way. So for the last seven years, we have been working on training, coaching, working on leaders and employees around those five essential skills. And so we evaluated those and we had people weigh in on what am I seeing in terms of the behaviors of this leader? Uh, are they demonstrating those behaviors rarely? One, uh sometimes two, uh uh consistently three. And so uh, although we want everybody to get threes on everything, um sometimes it's not a bad score. Uh if we're doing it sometimes, then it's like, okay, uh, am I when am I doing it? When am I not doing it? If I'm not doing it in situations that are that I need to be delivering that uh skill or competency, then that's the thing that I'm concerned about. And then we added a sort of four traits, behaviors that the most effective leaders are demonstrating. So that made five plus four, nine. And then we asked them to identify their greatest strengths and their greatest opportunities. And so it was really uh, Tommy, a powerful process that people were going through. Uh, some of them uh were in tears because they were hearing some things that they didn't see in themselves. And uh so when you see yourself as a three and everybody else sees you as a one or one, man, that's a big gap. And what that often means, Tommy, is that it may be difficult for you to even receive that feedback because you there's such a blind spot around what you see in yourself. Uh my concern in organizations, uh, Tommy, is that we don't create enough opportunities where managers have to get feedback from the people they supervise. It's almost like feedback only goes one way. We give it to those that are below us or those that we manage and supervise. And we are exempt uh from having to hear their authentic voice. And I think that's a problem. And then secondly, uh, that sometimes if they are given a microphone to speak, then there sometimes can be retaliation. And so we have to do everything we can to protect the employees and make sure that they in telling the truth that that doesn't cost them.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Yeah, Eric, I I think that the 360 feedback process is a phenomenal process uh for a couple, maybe three reasons. One, that as you mentioned before, it is asking for feedback from a manager or supervisor, uh, several peers, and maybe direct reports. So that's a full circle. In some instances, a 360 also includes feedback from those who are not in the organization.

SPEAKER_03 15:40

Yeah, excellent.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

And that's critical because it speaks to certain uh human integrity characteristics. So some people act and behave one way at work, but then in their personal lives, they may act and behave a different way. So when as part of the 360 feedback, when there is that external non-work-related viewpoint, it really creates a even more 360. So that's value. Second, that the 360 instrument, when we're asking people to share input or evaluate the person that's being evaluated, it is subjective. However, because because it's more than one person subjectively evaluating the person, then you get a more rounded, full rounded perspective. So if it was one person, I could say, well, I just simply don't like Eric Ellis, right? Right, and then mark one, one, one, one down to the poll. But when there are five, seven, nine people evaluating, then you can come to a consensus of okay, you're kind of below average or average or above average. You're one across the board, two, or three, right? For example. The third is that the 360 feedback can, and if you if it's used well, it can inform the feed forward, right? So feedback is past experiences, et cetera. Right. Is what are the expectations going forward? Expectations of leadership, expectations of speech, expectations of behavior, and more importantly, the expectations of mindset. What am I thinking? Because oftentimes you know this, Eric, that those who are going through the 360 process, they have a thought in their mind already about the process.

unknown 17:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

And they either think thumbs up, I like the process, or thumbs down, I don't like the process.

SPEAKER_03 17:44

Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

And it's thumbs down in the process, in their mindset that they may attach the process to some other thought that they have. Absolutely. That's what they'll do. So I would like to encourage everyone uh in the range of our voices to consider internal to your organization, internal to your own personal or professional development, to consider a 360 feedback process. And something that Eric Ellis and Integrity Development does very, very well.

SPEAKER_02 18:24

Yeah, thank you, Tommy. I appreciate that. And the other thing that I believe, Tommy, is I study uh the criticisms of organizations around assessments. And honestly, Tommy, uh the track record's not good. Too often, organizations, if they're not careful, they can use these tools that are established for development and use them almost in a witch hunt kind of fashion. Uh I know that because we know that people don't leave bad companies, they leave bad managers, that sometimes companies are trying to get evidence so that they can let people go. And they may mistakenly use a 360 tool to do that. Uh, I I don't uh subscribe to that. I think that the 360 has to be a developmental tool. Therefore, I believe that the data in some ways has to be owned by the person, and that uh you should not be necessarily giving that to everybody else in the organization on them. I believe that if you use it in the proper way, it can be seen as helpful feedback to uh inform them for feed forward actions. I love your your word there. Uh but uh if it's used uh in a sort of punitive way, then you have a situation where both people don't want to participate in the process, both the leaders, but also the raiders, because they don't want to be subject to saying something negative that may have a uh a negative impact on that leader and then sort of the retaliation that may occur for them.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

So I think this is great, Eric. Uh, I use the 360 for myself as well. I truly do. So I do get input on myself as a leader, as our company, as a consultancy. We get that input from our clients and our partners. I also ask, because I'm the CEO of the of the organization, I ask my managers, uh, folks that are reporting to me, folks that have their own respective roles, I ask from them their input on me. I do. I've always done that. And and and oftentimes it's not as formal as, hey, we're starting this one month, 360 feedback process. It's not that. It may be a conversation and then a second or third conversation that I ask, you know, how am I doing, or uh how how better might I have been to help you or to support you, et cetera. I do that all the time. And I say that, Eric, because with entrepreneurs, with small and medium-sized companies, those who have 10 employees, less than 50, maybe even less than 100 employees, one might think that no, the 360 uh feedback is for those large companies. Right. If my company only has five employees or 10 employees, I don't need to ask anyone else about feedback on me.

SPEAKER_03 21:33

Right.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

I would I would push back and say, how might you benefit by knowing something better about yourself or your business? Right. And that's where uh, in fact, uh the the talk that I'm giving this morning in the next few minutes, um, it's around the hope. And the hope is what might we consider to be better, and what might we Do so wherever you are right now, it could be woe is me, or things are not going the way I planned, or you know, I did get some earlier feedback that I'm still working through. Maybe the feedback is formal or even informal from loved ones, significant others, right? That okay, did you receive? Thank you, Lydia. Did you receive that feedback? And are you then implementing that feed forward action step? We we absolutely want to look to how do we better our best?

SPEAKER_02 22:40

I love that, Tommy. And uh I would say to people that are in small organizations, uh, you can't establish feedback processes and then sit back, it's like, okay, give it to me. I mean, you know, you've got you've got to actually do some things to encourage people that you in fact are interested. And Tommy, what I recommend is you start by identifying shortcomings, flaws, areas that you know that you've made mistakes in. Because as you demonstrate that you are aware of some of your own shortfalls and then invite people to build on that in terms of not just weaknesses and gaps, but also strengths uh, you know, that you have as well. Uh, but people are never going to give you uh the gaps if you don't demonstrate that you're open to that. I've even said it, Tommy, myself, as a CEO, that I make a judgment around whether I believe people are genuinely interested in honest uh feedback. Uh and if they're not, then I don't uh really lean into that uh because that's not gonna be to my advantage and it's not gonna be helpful to them if they can't, if they don't have any ability at all to see themselves.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

So yeah, yeah, Eric.

SPEAKER_02 24:01

I think are you uh bowing out on us here shortly?

SPEAKER_01 24:05

Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna have the transition here now. Uh, I'll just leave us with two things. I do want to invite our community to like and subscribe. That that's very helpful for us to stay on your radar uh and for us to stay with you. So it's not just you're saying like and subscribe. There's a there's an algorithm that these platforms really lean to to bring value. Now, with that being said, we're always here. Eric and I are always here. We're gonna always have this conversation. Uh, regretfully, I do have the transition to speak to uh a beautiful crowd of about 1,500 people. Okay, where I'll I'll be speaking with them around hope, uh, and that hope unborn has not died. Right. Let's keep hope alive, in the words of our late Reverend Jesse Jackson. Uh keep hope alive, and continue to pray. Pray for those who need prayer and say, I need it. Pray for those who need prayer and haven't haven't raised their hand and pray for humanity. That's good. We are and we will be better than how we're showing up today.

SPEAKER_03 25:23

I love you.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

Tomorrow will bring our better and best versions of us. So I wanted to just encourage our community, Eric, you, me, our producer, Lydia, and our community to say, you know, continue to pray for for everyone, including ourselves. So thank you. Sorry have to leave, Eric. Enjoy the show and community.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

I've got a 4:30 uh tea time just in case anything opens up for you.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

Okay, all right, all right.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

All right, bye now. There goes Tommy Lewis, our co-host. Uh, he's uh uh out on location, uh speaking to uh an audience of 1,500 people about hope. And so today, for the balance of our time, you have me uh as your host. And the topic again is experience joy now. And so the reason why I think that's so important is because I believe that we are overwhelmed with pessimism and pessimistic statements. Uh, I believe that uh uh in many ways you're seeing right now many of the social media companies are being sued and they are losing those battles with families that have seen the negative impact that Twitter, uh, that uh you know, TikTok, that uh Facebook, uh, that all these sites have had on their children uh because these algorithms are constantly sort of keeping people trapped in these systems that they can't break away from. And they're uh being victimized with negativity, negative comments. Uh, they're looking at AI-built lives, they're looking at people doing their best life. Uh, and uh, in many ways, they're seeing themselves, they're receiving criticism from friends and strangers alike. Uh, and I would say to you that uh in many ways, it's almost like if there isn't a law to uh ban it, then people will do whatever they can to keep our attention. And one of the best ways, one of the easiest ways to keep our attention is by showing us negativity. And the house, the city, the world's gotta be on fire all the time if you're trying to keep an audience. So, in many ways, I would say to you that we're being stressed out every day, almost just on repeat, just on a loop. And what we have to do is we have to find our own way to experience joy now. I would even say to you that in many ways, I believe that our president may be masking a hole that exists in his heart. And well, you know, when you believe that you are the most powerful man on earth, uh, you are able to get all the wealth that uh one individual can get, houses everywhere, your name on everything. And yet there may be a hole that's a reflection of things that have happened in your life in the past that you're not happy about. And so sometimes all of us can find ourselves trying to fill the holes that exist in our lives with things. Uh and so I can tell you that our desires uh are insatiable. In other words, we can never feel the hole that we have in our lives with things, uh, whatever, whatever our uh bad habit might be uh shopping, gambling, uh smoking, drinking, getting high, uh none of those things uh can uh take away that uneasiness and unhappiness that may exist in our minds, in our lives, because of all the messaging that we're up against. And so I believe that this simple message of experience joy now is one that you should lean into. And community, I'm gonna ask you to weigh in. I'm gonna try to provide for you some tips for things that you can do to try to experience joy now. For me, I know that this is a tough economy that we're in. Uh, just a week ago, uh, there was a gentleman down the street that has a car repair shop that was doing cold calls. I was kind of blown away that an owner of a repair shop would have to be on the phone calling up old customers trying to drum up business, but that's where we are. For me, what I realize is that you cannot fixate on things that you can't do much about right now. I believe that in all of our lives, if you're not careful, so it's like you're walking down the street, and there are Goliaths that are standing up and looking over us. Each of us has a Goliath in our life, whether that's finances, whether that's uh family challenges, whether that's bill collectors, whether that's too much uh work to do that you can't keep up with. There are goliaths that exist in our lives. I wouldn't suggest just simply ignoring them, but sometimes we cannot just sort of have direct eye contact and stare at each one of the Goliaths in our life. Uh sometimes we have to sit back and say, you know, I'm not just gonna look at the things that are hard and difficult. Uh sometimes I have to focus on the things that are that give me joy, uh, the things that I love about life. Uh, you have to be, and so I'm gonna give you seven things that I think that you can specifically do. Number one, be fully present. Uh, joy often gets missed when our mind is trapped in yesterday or worried about tomorrow. Slow down and notice what is good, meaningful, and beautiful right now. And so uh I was uh I'm just doing a lot of things around the house. And so yesterday I was just uh uh power washing the back porch and the side porch, and I was putting down uh topsoil and then putting grass seed down on that, and I was really feeling good about just being able to clean things up. And uh I was uh putting down some marble rock on the side of the house, and uh I stepped over something that would look fuzzy in the ground. I didn't know it was uh a nest. And so a little bunny rabbit sort of jumped out of it and just was hopping around all over the place. And that was something that just gave me joy out of nowhere. Uh, number two, uh, I would say to you that healing happens when we stop living everywhere except now. Uh, we cannot change yesterday, we cannot control everything about tomorrow, but we can choose peace, purpose, and the joy that exists in this moment. Uh, I'm reading uh the devotional, the Jesus Calling. And in this book, the author helps us to recognize the scripture that talks about we can't, why worry about tomorrow when you can't change one thing about tomorrow? Uh, the past has already occurred, and so there's nothing that we can do about that. Healing happens when we stop living everywhere but now. When you start living in the now, I think that you can then just enjoy the fact that the sun is up, as I see it shining in over here. That's a beautiful thing. Uh, as I am here with you all, our uh beautiful community, I'm excited about that. I'm grateful about that. Uh, I just met with a young person this week, and uh, we were just sitting here talking about the now. And it's just uh there's so much powerful and precious about the moments that we're living in. And I would say to you, as you begin to experience the now, you almost can feel the healing that happens in your body because you you've freed up some brain space that was being occupied by worry about tomorrow or what happened yesterday or things that I'm up against. And you've got to know that if you just ignore those things for the moment, just let them go and enjoy where you are right now and the things that you can be grateful for, then even physical healing can happen within your body. Um, because the need to control everything, uh, because we have uh a need to feel like we're controlling everything, uh, sometimes uh you know, we we try to manage what's beyond us. Joy increases for us when we begin to trust, when we begin to breathe and let go of the things that we can't change. I love that. You know, uh when you embrace joy, you release the things that you can't change. Uh joy often multiplies when we are in community. So this last week, honestly, I've joined the church, Christ Emanuel Christian Fellowship. I love the pastor, uh Pastor uh David Goins. I call him Lil David. I've known him since he was a kid. He's a powerful preacher, powerful pastor. His wife, Lady Angel, they're working at this ministry that Bishop Dantley and his wife started uh, you know, some 50 years ago or so. Uh and uh I'm watching David Goins be a phenomenal leader. And so he has a men's fellowship that meets the first Monday of each month. And honestly, I'm just gonna tell you all the truth that I'm not really trying to just uh attend a lot of things at this point. I'm enjoying the ride. Sometimes I'm just chilling, I'm just at home watching ball games. But I've been so inspired by him that I decided to go again uh last Monday. And the power of being in fellowship with other men was really amazing. Uh, there were men there that were sharing things like uh one brother said that uh his son and his uh daughter-in-law had called them and said that their little child was at the point of maybe uh dying. And that the uh doctors said there was nothing much that they could do. And so literally he said that he and his wife jumped in the car and they drove for 12 hours uh to Alabama. They didn't stop to get anything to eat. Uh, they may have stopped one time to get gas, but they just drove the entire way nonstop praying. When they got there to the hospital, the first person that was trying to greet them was the chaplain. They said, No, no, get out of the way, chaplain. We got business here. And they went in the room. And I think they may have even said that the child had passed. And he said that they literally laid hands, he said, My wife even pushed me out the way, and she started praying over that baby and started praying over that baby, and then he stopped and he went on, and we were all like, uh, hey, bruh, hey, hey, what happened? And uh, and and uh we didn't even ask the question, but that's what was in our minds, and then he said, Yeah, he said yesterday I got uh a call from my uh son, and in the background I heard my three-month-old grandchild, huh? The baby lived. Wow. And so just because we were in community and it was one person after another after another that was being transparent, that was telling stories about uh how God is impacting their lives, uh, or they were talking about the struggles that they have gone through and asked for advice. Uh, and so it was really a powerful thing to find ourselves in community with others who have common beliefs, uh, or they're in different places. And so the the message that I'm sharing with you today is experience joy now. Choose connections over isolation. That's a similar point here. A conversation, a kind word, a shared laugh, uh, or simply being with people who matter can awaken joy quickly. Joy often multiplies again in community. Celebrate small blessings and small wins, uh, because sometimes we may not get the big win, but a small win is something that we can celebrate. Uh, not every joyful moment has to be big. Some of them can be small. Uh, a quiet morning, a breakthrough, a smile, a prayer answered, uh, a moment of peace uh can all be reasons to rejoice. And so uh I take that literally. Uh sometimes I get up like I did this morning, and I was just vacuuming and I was cleaning off the mirrors because we're trying to sell our house, and I was uh cleaning off the uh shower uh glass with Windex and uh, you know, just putting that cloth against that glass and seeing all the little smudges go away. It's uh little wind. Uh, but something that I'm grateful for. Uh, like I said, being out in the yard, I was taking pictures that we are adding to uh the website of our home that we built 33 years ago that looks beautiful today. Just small moments of joy. And I want to say to you all, I was uh playing some music that I've uh I've got a music project out uh called uh My Sound. And uh I was playing some of that music for uh someone yesterday. And as I was playing it for them, I was just grateful that God had allowed me to do something that I love, and that's to make music that I can share with the world. And honestly, uh I don't really think about the what all can we do with the music. Uh sometimes I'm just and I tell my children that that when God is giving you a gift, uh sometimes you have to become your own fan. You have to be your own first fan. And so uh I'll just be in the studio, I'll write a song, and then I'll just listen to it over and over and over again. And I don't really think if I mean, I've had songs that nobody in the world will maybe ever hear, but I'm just grateful that God gave me a gift that I can express and it can bring joy to me. Just me, God, and the gift is something that I can be grateful for. And I would say to you, community, that you have to take inventory on the things in your life, the gifts, uh, the talents, uh, the things that make you who you are. And you have to celebrate that. You cannot allow any messaging out here to not allow you to be grateful for what uh God has created inside of you. I was talking to my friend Terry Cooley out in uh California. Uh my kids call him Uncle T. Uh uh Tommy and I call him T Cooley. Uh, but I was talking to him yesterday. And that conversation, man, we're just sitting there and we're going down memory lane and talking about things that he's done and things that have happened in his life. And I just realized what a blessing it was just to be there with my friend who I've loved for almost all my life, and we're just telling stories and having a good time. You see, that's free. Telling stories and laughing, that's that's free. That doesn't cost us anything. And I would say that if we're not careful, we're living in a world today where we're just isolated. We're in our homes, we're uh on our social media sites, and that's not uh, you know, that's not really the kind of engagement and interactions that uh have the greatest impact on us. And so I want to encourage you to get out there and make sure that you're connecting with others. Let's look at this. Uh serve or encourage someone else. Uh I've said to you all here that I felt like uh God was saying to me, Eric, your answers aren't in Washington. Uh, they're not with Democrats uh or Republicans, they're not with conservatives or liberals, they're with your network. And so I have really uh tapped my network to help me grow our business. But what I've discovered is something that was unanticipated, that I would find people that were isolated, that were lonely, that were in battles sometimes with the government, uh, where they were fighting uh battles that they may not be able to win. And I was able to encourage them to walk away from that. And uh, you know, and and so being able to encourage others uh is a blessing. And it gives something back to you to be able to encourage others. And so that's what I want to share with you is to make sure that you're thinking about people that may need to hear from you and that you sometimes call some of them up out of the blue just to say, I wanted to check in and see how you're doing. I I I finally caught up with a friend of mine uh a few days ago. And that friend had uh I called him a couple of times, they hadn't gotten back, and they were so embarrassed. That they hadn't gotten back to me. I said, Hey, don't even think about that at all. See, I'm not one of those people that thinks badly of you if somehow I called you a couple times and I haven't heard back from you. I here's what I've done. Sometimes people have called me, left a message, and I've said to myself, Oh, I'm so glad that they called me. I love them. And then I forget to call them back. And it's not that I'm uh too good to call them back or they're not important to me. It's just that my ADH brain doesn't always recall those things in the next moment because my mind, uh like a squirrel, has been distracted and I may forget that. But I told them and was grateful to say to them that no, nothing ever, I don't change our status unless you do. In other words, if you tell me that we aren't friends, then uh, you know, then maybe we aren't friends. But until then, I'm going to assume that everything that we've ever had, everything we've ever thought about each other is still intact. And so I'd say uh give people grace and also reach out to others and encourage someone. Remember that this moment is a gift and that tomorrow is not promised, and yesterday uh cannot be revived. Uh, joy becomes possible when we treat today, this hour, and this breath as something sacred. And so that's what I want to share with you as well, community, is that uh here we are, you and me, in this moment. And I'm so glad that you're on the other side of this conversation. You see, sometimes uh pain and frustration and anxiety uh feel like they're the only things that are real. But I'm here to tell you that I am ascending to another level of understanding. And that level means that I can be, I can truly take a look at where my life is right now and all the blessings that exist inside of my life that I simply take for granted. Each day that I'm in a house with a roof over my head, uh, each day I get to walk through my house and sometimes see my son and my nephew, you know, who enjoy being around me. I'm grateful for that. And so I want to encourage you to make sure that you're not missing the power of each moment that we're in right now. That when I leave here after this podcast is over, I get a chance to go out uh in my car and maybe pull back the sunroof and uh experience the joy of today. It's probably gonna be 75 degrees out or 80 degrees maybe today. And I get a chance to just simply drive around. Uh, and if I make a good decision, I may even just throw on some jazz music and just uh enjoy the ride because life is filled with uh special gifts. What I'm gonna do right now is uh since it's just me and you all, I am going to uh play some music for you uh because uh I love music and I might be able to talk to you about some of the uh songs that I've written that have that have meaningful messages that may be a blessing uh to you because it is, you know, a blessing to me. Let me see if I can pull this up.

SPEAKER_03 47:57

Okay, um I'll play a song Ready to Love.

SPEAKER_02 48:03

I love I like this song, and I just played it for ya. I'll be right back. You listen.

SPEAKER_04 48:25

Words have we say aren't enough high promises in this nonsense, we must be ready to love. Ready to love ready to love, ready to love We did it for us a feeling that's so Will you ready to love Ready to love Helping?

SPEAKER_02 49:52

It's just me and y'all and music, I'm gonna put my sunglasses back on. I feel like a real art.

SPEAKER_04 50:01

Ready to love I love this song. Ready to love Ready to Love Ready to Love is sleeping, to love the great Lord ready to love ready to love.

SPEAKER_02 50:46

And so I wrote that song when uh uh the war in the Middle East was really just uh uh uh raging between uh Israel and Hamas, and uh I just felt like we needed uh a message around love. Uh another song that I wrote was really a tribute almost to my father. My father was a dreamer, and I remember all my life what my father would say is that my ship is about to come in. And I believed him, and uh and uh he died before his ship fully came in. Uh, but I believe that we all should be uh dreamers, and so you can experience joy now if you have a dream about something that can and and and will potentially happen for you in the future. The the the dreams, it's the dreams themselves are powerful today, whether they are realized or not. I think that it's just a powerful thing to have a dream. So let's look at this. Fun song here.

SPEAKER_03 52:03

Now I'm about to have a party all by myself in here.

SPEAKER_05 52:06

Tommy's gone, he's on site, encouraging young people. Keep telling me for a change. Keep telling me wait for a change.

SPEAKER_04 52:21

I can open my shit so close. All I see is wait. All I see is the way we can feel the most we've been playing to the whole time.

SPEAKER_05 52:50

The name of Project Myself.

SPEAKER_04 53:06

So everybody's gonna have a dream.

SPEAKER_05 53:16

Here's my verse, and I like this one. When you think about my life, paint the future paint the future bright.

SPEAKER_03 53:25

If you go to bed, place it all on me.

SPEAKER_05 53:30

Because I don't stand alone. And I'm not afraid. I've got big dreams in my mind.

SPEAKER_04 54:09

Be a dreamer. Everybody's got to have a dream. Be a dreamer, be a dreamer, it's all about free, all about three.

SPEAKER_02 54:29

I love that song. And so uh I'm here playing music, uh, my original music for you. Most of my songs have never been heard by almost anybody, uh, but they were a part of uh what God has placed inside of me. And so I have a project out called My Sound by Eric Ellis. And so I'm gonna play a few songs that I hope encourage you uh to experience joy now. Music brings joy to me. Uh, when I hear music whether it's mine or anybody's, I get a huge smile on my face because I love music. This next song is called Miracles. Uh, I know that some of you out there may be in need of a miracle right now. I remember years ago when uh in the 90s when we lost a big contract, and uh and so we didn't have any money coming in, and I was a young family, uh young kids, and uh all of a sudden uh I needed a miracle, and I got uh a check from the U.S. Treasury for almost$4,000. And so I called him up because I had never gotten any money from the U.S. Treasury ever before. I'd never done any work with them. So I called him up to ask him, you know, hey, uh my name is Eric Ellis, I just got this check. Okay, Eric Ellis, what what was it for? Uh well, it's it's$3,800. And uh, yep, Eric Ellis, Westchester, yep, that's your check. Okay, thanks. And I didn't call back ever again. And I got three more checks like that in the mail. And I'll tell you that I considered that as a miracle. And so whatever's happening in your life right now, everything might not be able to line up. Sometimes you might not be able to do everything you need to make things better for yourself. Maybe you're in need of a miracle, maybe that miracle was tuning in to diversity conversations this morning. Uh, but I want to share this song with you, and I hope that it encourages you.

SPEAKER_04 56:47

You bring miracle, miracle, miracle, yeah, miracle, because of who you are, miracle, miracle, miracle, miracle, because of who you are. You are you are the one. Hold my hand and you break.

SPEAKER_03 57:20

Hold my hand and I won't break.

SPEAKER_04 57:23

Let's see myself. Everywhere and everywhere we go, nothing but locked doors.

SPEAKER_06 57:36

Sometimes it feels like you run into nothing but locked doors. When there's the I see a single footprint in the sand.

SPEAKER_04 58:42

That's what I'm waiting for.

SPEAKER_06 58:46

If you need a miracle, I'm telling you it's on its way to you today. Experience joy right now.

SPEAKER_02 59:04

The other thing I believe is that uh consistent with experience joy now is a recognition that this is our time. I would say to you, especially those of you that might work in the uh business uh that Tommy and I work in, the people business, uh, you've got to recognize that what you're seeing right now places a greater demand on your skill set. So don't sit around and worry that the skill that you have, that the vision that you have, that the mission that you have, that the purpose you believe exists for your life is not in great demand. It is. We need an army of people that are peace ambassadors in many ways. And so for those of you that might consider yourself a peace ambassador, I'm here to share a song with you that says now, right now, is our time.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:09

People think things go my way. Whatever I say, tell me what I want here. There's some who don't like me. From getting to what I'm gonna do.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:32

You gotta hold court each day. There's things that come my way.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:37

I use my pain to rise.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:40

Standing on the mountain, I see. Falk is a bowling, I'm free. It's our time. Don't be both peeps are just in your hand.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:54

Come on now, some body.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:58

It's our time, our time, our time. Today is our time.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:04

Today is our time. Listen.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:23

Show them what's wrong. Show them what's wrong. When the heart is focused, it's hard to do wrong. Gotta know the days of days. Truth will find only knowing that's our time. Just feeling me, putting it all on the line. Yeah, time. Show the people's dreams are just in your head.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:04

I got carried away, y'all. I got carried away. I'm experiencing joy right now. And that is the topic here. And I think it's so powerful sometimes not to just tell you points, but to give you a model for what it looks like and what it feels like to experience joy right now. And so I'm going to uh end with this song. The title song, it's called My Sound. And here's what I recognize all my life. I've been looking for somebody to help me to bring out my sound. I had met a lot of producers and engineers, and uh many of them were, you know, some were excited about my uh music, some were not. Some told me I was too old, some told me maybe I'm just a fan. And I didn't realize that the person who would be the best at helping me to bring out my sound was in my house. That person was my youngest son, Ethan. I've written over 300 songs, most of them mediocre. But every once in a while you'll write a song that inspires you, and you're at the beginning of something that might inspire others. What I've learned is that when I've written my best song, not everybody's gonna like every melody, not everybody's gonna like uh every lyric, but it's my sound, and everybody has a sound. And so I want to say to you as we close out that you've got a sound. And don't try to uh mimic somebody else's sound. Identify what your sound is and sing that to the highest mountain because your sound is what you were built to do. And so I want you to listen to this song. I hope that it is as meaningful to you as it has been to me.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:02

The title of my project, My Sound by Eric Ellis Looking for years, now I'm weary. That's how I felt. Trying to find myself, trying to find myself, listening to others, thought I can't make it. Maybe I'm no singer, just a fame, just a fame. Imitating others don't really work for me if that I'm found with myself.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:54

That's it. That's it, yeah. Right. Right. Inside me all my life. Everybody.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:25

It's not what you like. That's all right. There are days I can start again. Imitating all the other sea only father. It was my soul. It was myself.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:00

And that's what's there for you yourself. Don't try to do what others do. See like you like you. Be you. Experience joy right now, being you.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:15

I found myself, grandma. That's what my grandma told me. I told you about myself.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:23

She said I wouldn't be the bad spot.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:25

That's right. Son, find your son. That's what I'm saying to you forget.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:37

I love music. I do.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:40

My fingerprints, my hand. It was made for me.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:51

Listen to this part.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:53

So many choices. So many choices. What in the world will I be? Everything I need.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:59

To experience joy every moment. Don't allow any of this foolishness that's happening around us right now to steal your joy. And from Eric Ellis, Tommy Lewis, we're hoping you're going to have a great week and join us next week for another installment of Diversity Conversations. Take care. Love somebody. Experience joy right now.