In this weeks episode Chris Levens talks with Constantin Morun. From the resilience-forged streets of communist Romania to the high-stakes world of professional poker, Constantin Morun's journey is nothing short of extraordinary. He joins us on Glass Half Full to unravel the threads of personal transformation and growth that have shaped his life, and his mission to inspire others to reach their full potential. His riveting narrative is a masterclass in overcoming adversity, a reminder of the spiritual connections that bind us, and a call to action for anyone seeking to break free from the shackles of their past.
This episode isn't your average motivational pep talk; it's an arsenal of practical wisdom for holistic personal development, tailored to those yearning for a life of authenticity and joy. As your host, I take you through the complexities of emotional balance, the importance of nurturing your passions, and the often overlooked power of pattern interrupts. Together, we tackle the elephant in the room—why despite ticking off all the 'success' boxes, many still find themselves grappling with a sense of unfulfillment—offering strategies to realign with your true self and find happiness in the everyday.
Rounding off with a heartfelt thank you to you, our listeners, we solidify the notion that every story shared is another step toward collective enlightenment. With Constantin's expertise and our candid discussions—from the transformative nature of plant medicine to the ripple effects of personal growth—we've crafted an episode that doesn't just spark inspiration, but equips you with the means to channel it into action. Join us for an exploration that might just alter the way you perceive life's glass-half full, indeed, and ready for the infinite possibilities that come with each new pour.
In this weeks episode Chris Levens talks with Constantin Morun. From the resilience-forged streets of communist Romania to the high-stakes world of professional poker, Constantin Morun's journey is nothing short of extraordinary. He joins us on Glass Half Full to unravel the threads of personal transformation and growth that have shaped his life, and his mission to inspire others to reach their full potential. His riveting narrative is a masterclass in overcoming adversity, a reminder of the spiritual connections that bind us, and a call to action for anyone seeking to break free from the shackles of their past.
This episode isn't your average motivational pep talk; it's an arsenal of practical wisdom for holistic personal development, tailored to those yearning for a life of authenticity and joy. As your host, I take you through the complexities of emotional balance, the importance of nurturing your passions, and the often overlooked power of pattern interrupts. Together, we tackle the elephant in the room—why despite ticking off all the 'success' boxes, many still find themselves grappling with a sense of unfulfillment—offering strategies to realign with your true self and find happiness in the everyday.
Rounding off with a heartfelt thank you to you, our listeners, we solidify the notion that every story shared is another step toward collective enlightenment. With Constantin's expertise and our candid discussions—from the transformative nature of plant medicine to the ripple effects of personal growth—we've crafted an episode that doesn't just spark inspiration, but equips you with the means to channel it into action. Join us for an exploration that might just alter the way you perceive life's glass-half full, indeed, and ready for the infinite possibilities that come with each new pour.
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, and welcome to another episode of Glass Half Full, a podcast and a safe platform where we talk with a variety of teachers, entrepreneurs, spiritualists, uplifters, givers, shakers and serenaders. Everyone has a lesson to learn and a lesson to share. Let's use our life experiences to enrich someone's heart, mind, spirit and soul. Through sharing our experiences, we can be a learning inspiration for one another. I'm your host, chris Levens. Let's welcome today's guest. Today's guest is Konstantin Moran.
Chris:Constantin Morun is a neuro encoding and transformital growth specialist. In his journey, he has overcome lifelong battles with depression, anxiety and the 10 thieves of our dreams. Procrastination, hesitation, fear of failure, success rejection, imposter syndrome, self loathing, self doubt, stress and overwhelm Forms the cornerstone of his two plus decades in personal and professional development. His mission is to empower and guide you in discovering your why, rewiring your brain and overcoming limiting beliefs to unlock your full potential. As someone who is still on his transformative journey, he warmly invites you to join him in his process of growth and self discovery. Let's give a warm welcome to Constantin Morun.
Constantin:Thank you so much, Chris.
Chris:Good morning. Good morning, oh, you're very welcome. How are you today?
Constantin:Oh, I'm excellent. I'm excellent. I mean, it's Friday in Canada, here, Friday morning. I have a beautiful day ahead of me. So you know, I'm excited. I'm excited to just have the pleasure to talk to you today, to your audience, and also just enjoy life. Every day has been a blessing, especially now that I know a lot more about myself, about my why, my purpose, and I get to live it every day.
Chris:All right now. All right, well, we welcome you. We welcome you and we welcome you to being a guest here. On Glass half full, we're happy to have you and let's jump right on in. Yes, oh. First of all, how's the weather today, where you are? Tell us where you are and what time it is, please.
Constantin:Yeah, I mean Canada. I'm on the east coast of Canada. It's 18 in the morning or 8 30, I should say.
Chris:And what's the east coast? Help me, what city are we near?
Constantin:Oh, east coast. I'm talking about Halifax, nova Scotia. So, wow, okay, one of the further provinces out east in Canada. It's a fairly small population, large in size, and it would be, you know, for those that are from North America it would be east of Boston, got it. So not far from that area, but it's cold, I mean, it's winter Canada, harsh winters at times, right.
Chris:I believe you. I believe you, excellent. Well, we're going to jump right on in. I like to ask all my guests this first question I believe that our lives are in spiritual design. Can you share your life layout or blueprint with everyone how you grew up, where your family lifestyle?
Constantin:Oh, I love that. The same thing just made that. I agree with you. There is definitely a spiritual connection there that we don't all fully understand yet.
Constantin:I grew up in Eastern Europe. I was born in Romania during a time of crisis, let's say a fear scarcity, because the country was still run by the communists back then, and for the most part I was shielded from all the negative stuff. However, I mean, when you grow up in an environment like that, it takes its toll on you, and that's what I grew up in. Then, at 17, my parents decided to move to Canada to give my brother and I a chance at a better life. So we've been spending our lives since then in Canada, and that was back in 2000.
Constantin:And I went to school here. I have a mathematics degree with an engineering and computer science background, and I followed the traditional path, so to speak right Go to school, get a job in corporate, climb the corporate ladder and leave the American, slash Canadian dream. And while I was doing it, of course, there's a lot of other things on my own, such as always being passionate about psychology. And on the more fun side, let's say that someone can call a hobby gaming, and at one point. I was a professional poker player and coach.
Chris:Oh, wow.
Constantin:Yes, I know, every time I say that people are like Okay, I didn't think that there was a thing, but yeah, no, you're right.
Chris:I just surprised that you know to hear you say a lot of people don't know about it or, to be it, my sister was in this industry so I'm aware of it, but I was shocked to hear like, oh, wow, Okay, you know about this?
Constantin:Yeah, exactly. So I was fortunate enough to get lucky on, let's say, I got really good really fast, and then I was able to coach and mentor people for a decade, creating content for all of the big websites out there, for poker specifically, and that that really ignite the passion in helping others within me, because there was always that. I always mentored people and two or three people in high school and university years, and then soccer and other aspects of life. So poker kind of brought it all back and I realized you know why there's something to look for in there.
Chris:Wow, I love that. You never know how it's going to be right or what you're learning, and that's that spiritual design. Some. You know we're in preparation for things we didn't even know we're preparing for, you know, and so I love that I love that, absolutely. Wow, nice. How has the experience of growing up in the Eastern Europe during that communist era, how has that shaped your perspective on personal growth and resilience?
Constantin:I love the question, Chris, and if we had a conversation a year and a half ago, three years ago one idea you understand the trauma that came with that and all the learned behaviors and limiting beliefs it would be very, very different. The way I see it now is that, because of the time period and the place I was born in and the way society was back then, there were definitely a lot of limiting beliefs that were essentially existing within the environment. So my caretakers, my grandparents, my parents, my teachers that were imprinting on us as the children without necessarily that pathology yeah.
Constantin:Exactly. It's what they knew, they wanted the best. And what I mean by that, by limiting beliefs. I mean I'm talking things such as you know, I'm a man right. So boys don't cry, boys don't do art. Boys, you know, do the hard things in life and then go off.
Chris:It's traditional, yes.
Constantin:Exactly Now. What does it do to you? That's something that I've come to realize more in the last year or so. So when that's what you hear, growing up, right, you start to internalize that and you start to put your own boxes around yourself. And it's not that you just have boxes put by society and everyone else that we thought, but it's also what you do to yourself.
Constantin:And I became very good at essentially having a limited or I would say, a fixed mindset, meaning that if there was a mistake I'll beat myself up, right. If there was a mistake, I wouldn't say, look at the lesson, I would try to just move on and get the next thing. Because that was the type of culture you grow up in, because if you made mistakes you were punished, right. If you made mistakes you're made to feel less than If you made mistakes you were admonished, right. So all those things pile up pretty fast. So I would say that that was part of the influence. I mean there's a lot more, because there's also positive stuff, right. We're talking about, let's say, the negative aspects, lots of positive, lots of love, lots of compassion, lots of that stuff that, of course, had a played a huge role in my life as well.
Chris:Wow, I love that. That's deep, that's deep and you know, these things help make us who we are today. And you know those hard times. In the time you feel like this is the worst ever. But in today's times I'm happy for the hard moments that I've had in my life because they have helped shaped, they have given me those corner pieces, like in the puzzle. You know it's that foundation. You need this and without this the rest of it's not going to work. And that's what I mean by the corner piece. But you know, wow, wow, I can only imagine so moving us up now. So, as a holistic life empowerment mentor and coach, I love that title. That's a lot Sounds good. So first, breakdown what is this? People can have an idea, but tell us exactly what is the breakdown of this title.
Constantin:Yeah, for sure. I love the question because, of course, all of us have different definitions for what some of those words mean. Yes, holistic, it's one of those words, and for me, holistic is this idea that when we look at our life and we look at wanting to improve ourselves, there are various facets of life that most people navigate towards. You might want to improve your physical health, and that may mean you need to improve your sleep, your activity level, the way you eat, and there's not, you know, the way you supplement, the way you take medication. All the stuff falls under the physical bucket.
Constantin:And what tends to happen and I'm speaking from personal experience here, because I've been doing this quite a bit and I see it in people I work with we tend to have seasons in our life, so this is maybe. I have a wedding coming up in the summer. I'm going to focus a lot on my physical aspect, right, I want to lose the weight, I want to be able to enjoy the summer, and what tends to happen is that we focus so much in one area to the detriment of other areas of our life, and that's what I used to do in my life, right, when I was climbing the corporate ladder or wanting to be the top of the top performers in my, in my jobs. I would focus on the next pillar, which would be your mindset or anything to do with your mental side, right, and then I would do that and I would do what else? Well, I would not really care as much about how I ate, how I slept, because I'll sacrifice those things to focus a lot more on the mental side of things. And then there's the emotional side of things, which is something as a man I struggled all my life up to recently to actually get a hold of, because, again, I was shown and thought not to show emotions, not to let them overtake you, not to cry, not to do any of those things.
Constantin:And the fourth pillar so those four pillars I talk about when it comes to holistic approach is the spiritual side of it you mentioned a couple of times, and spiritual to me means your connection to your God, your divine, the universe, whatever you believe in, if you believe in anything, and your connection to nature and we are part of nature, which means that it's your connection to yourself, to those around you and to the world at large, and, of course, everything in it, right To animals, trees, everything like that.
Constantin:So when I say holistic, if we go back to the first pillar, the physical one, it's about realizing that, yes, there will be seasons of your life you will focus more maybe you know these three months on the emotional side, but don't ignore the other sides of you. So when someone comes to work with me, we don't just look in isolation oh, you know, you have an emotional blockage, so we're going to go unlock that and then ignore the rest. We look at your life holistically from all aspects, because otherwise what I have found is that as you fix one thing, something else will break.
Chris:Right. Well, this is it right. And if you're not getting that foundation worked on, that house is going to collapse or whatever it is that you're going to put on. So you need to get the pieces in and get them in the right order of what needs to be done. So that makes complete sense.
Constantin:Well, here's a funny thing though right, for most of us, it's not like if you don't take a look at your life holistically and start to approach every aspect of it and try to have a bit of a balance, your life is not going to be great. I mean, I look at my life, right? I had a great career, I had a great family life when I uncovered all of this, but I was feeling unfulfilled. I was feeling little joy, despite having shiny toys and everything that you would want, despite many other beautiful things happening in my life, and I was depressed, so excited to live on at times. And you would wonder why? Right, and that was my big question, I think, why. This doesn't make any sense. I did everything that everyone else told me to do. I acquired and achieved everything that everyone else wants to achieve and acquire. Why am I feeling this way? And it was through the time packing and realizing that by focusing so much on one area, I ignored that I so much that they are pulling me down.
Chris:They're starved yeah.
Constantin:Exactly right. And there's another piece, that around doing things you truly love versus just doing things that everyone else told you that you will love, right? So it's like leaving someone else's life rather than leaving the life you want to live, following your heart. So that's a deeper conversation we can go into. But essentially going back to your question, like with the title, right? So I thought about it okay, what am I helping people achieve? What's the outcomes that people will have from working with me? And the outcomes have to do for me with them being in power to make any changes they want in life without me by their side, because I'm here.
Constantin:My mission in life, as I said, is to inspire and empower, guide and support individuals on their life journey so they, too, can find joy, fulfillment, happiness, success, abundance in life, and then their world becomes a better place. Now, if that's the case, if someone comes to work with me as many do, it's not a life sentence, so to speak. Right, we come in with a problem. I empower you, the right tools and the right mindset and the right foundation, as you mentioned, I call the psychologist or foundation, and then off you go when you're empowered to do life, and that's what the life empowerment piece comes in, because it's all about realizing that, no matter what comes up your way, you have the knowledge and the tools to do something about it. Now it's your choice if you want to do something about it, but at least you know that no matter what shows up in your life, you have the knowledge and the tools to deal with it.
Chris:And you know that's key, I think you know. I love that because that's my huge thing is that we need tools for our toolbox. You know, when Chris is not there, or Constantine is not there, or other people are not there, what can you do? You know the bracelets back in the day. Do you remember the bracelets around the hand? They'd be like what would Jesus do is like the W? Yeah, those bracelets everybody was wearing. You know, and this is it. You know, and I've had lots of friends say to me.
Chris:You know, sometimes when I'm in a fix, I think like what would Chris do? You know, and I love that, and I was like, well, I'm glad that I would give you that step of power to do something maybe that you wouldn't do yourself in a moment that you really need that extra push, you know, because we have to be able to push ourselves. So, like you mentioned, having tools to be able to have is key, is key when you're not there and they're in a pickle. They can go into that toolbox and pull out something to help and that's awesome. I love that. I love that.
Constantin:I mean one of my, one of my mentors. He always says knowledge is power, and then you hear other people challenge them and be like no, knowledge is not power, action is power. I saw one in the middle, meaning that knowledge is part of our hears. Where we fall short, I would say as human beings and I'm included in that section as well. Most of my life I was Just because you have knowledge doesn't mean you're actually going to do anything with it.
Constantin:This is true, right, you have free will, right, Chris? So what happens is that, again, as human beings, we have the knowledge. Perhaps we don't necessarily have yet the belief in ourselves, perhaps the circumstances, the environment, we're not the best and the knowledge is not enough. We need more than just the knowledge, but at least the knowledge gives you the power to say, you know what. I'm aware that whatever I'm doing is not good for my long term, even my short term. And I now have a choice Do I continue doing it and suffer the consequences or the outcomes, or do I make a change? And I always talk about this and I say awareness is half the battle. So that's actually very important.
Chris:I agree too. We can't fix something if we don't know that it's broken.
Constantin:Exactly right. Right, so when you're aware, it doesn't matter if it's half the battle like yeah, Sorry, go ahead. Yeah, yeah, please no no, no, that's it, that's it, continue, continue.
Chris:Yeah, I know it's. You know awareness is key, you're right, and it's a step by step process, you know everybody on their own time, but there are some steps that need to be taken. You know there are some. There are some steps that need to happen in that. So, yes, so these are those. These are the five. These are the principles or strategies that you believe that can help the unlock people's full potential. Correct, it was.
Constantin:Well, that's, that's part of it. You mentioned foundation, which I think is key for us to talk about, and for me, foundation I call it our psychology. I hinted at this a bit earlier and here's what I believe our foundation is and I'll explain why in a second Now, but before I do that, one thing I'll ask you, chris, and the audience. People say that the mindset a mindset you have is key to success. Okay, but have you tried to employ someone else's mindset or someone else's advisor on mindset and failed?
Chris:Of course. Most of us have right yeah of course Some because you don't have any other choice, you know. But yeah, definitely, I think everybody could say we've experienced that at some point, or like Exactly.
Constantin:And people say the mindset is everything that I asked them the question. I say, okay, so if mindset is everything, why have you not been able to take any mindset? You see out there and say you know what? I want to replicate that and, trust me, I've been the same way in many aspects of my life, including especially on my weight loss journey and other aspects. Because what happens is you take a mindset, you apply it on your foundation whatever your foundation is and unfortunately, if the foundation is not rock solid, a bit of wind comes through, and that bit of wind can be from the environment. Someone says something mean to you, have something happen at work, someone breaks up with you, someone close to you perhaps gets ill or something else. That's not ideal. And then you start to self sabotage, you start to fall apart, right, so that wind knocks down your new mindset because the foundation was weak. And you're right.
Chris:I agree as well to say that it's about the mind. The mindset is one thing, but it's really about the mind that we're dealing with. Right, depending about, because you can set all you want, but if you're not, if it's not that type of mind or you're not, that you know it's not going to happen and, like you say, it will just be blown over at the first chance that something happens and then we're back to it. Kind of reminds me of the, like the New Year's resolutions. You know, I personally don't make it for myself because I don't want to feel like I'm starting the year off with a lie. You know what I mean. I'm not going to say anything because I have been on the side of being like oh yeah, I'm going to do this, and then you don't do it and that's it. Or, like you say, something comes along, knocks you right off, and then the second month into the year you're not even into it. So this whole thing about it, it's just like choose your battles.
Constantin:I love to look at the science and statistics and research and whatnot, and especially I've made a video for my podcast on this topic and the new year resolution. Right, the numbers are staggering. By the end of the year, like maybe a few percent of people are right by halfway through, more than half of them. And you're absolutely right, it's because of that foundation and what's the foundation? Here's where it gets really interesting, and this is based on my background in neuroscience. You know psychology psychology I mentioned that's been a passion of mine. It's starting for a while. Recently I got myself certified in something called neuro encoding, which is the language of nervous system and subconscious mind so anyway, we ready, give it to us, constantly Give it to us.
Constantin:Yes Foundation is psychology your thoughts about yourself, your beliefs about yourself, your thoughts and beliefs about others, your thoughts and beliefs about the world. And let me explain. If let's say you are me and grew up in Eastern Europe, many people told you cannot do this because you're a boy, or people don't do this. What not? You start to internalize that people, let's say physically and emotionally and mentally, beat you up because you make a mistake. I remember still being in school and you know they use the ruler, and sometimes even more you know their hand to, for not doing something. Right, and that happened right. And some people unfortunately have parents that hit them as well, right? So those things happen to many people, actually more than we think, and what happens we take it in as children. Right, Because for the first seven years were sponges, we're just. Our conscious mind is not fully developed, so we absorb everything and then that becomes our programming, that becomes essentially our belief system, the fuels our thoughts as well.
Constantin:And most of my life I had a lot of these beliefs and thoughts that either you're not worthy of something, you're a procrastinator, you're a hesitator, whatever the case may be, you're stupid, you're ugly people. People fill in a lot of these boxes themselves. So if those are the beliefs and thoughts that are at the foundation level, that's just about you, right. But how about other people? What if you feel like you can't trust anyone? Everyone is untrustworthy.
Constantin:What if you feel that you have thoughts and beliefs about the world, that the world is in such a terrible shape that there is no future, that the world is going to end in 10 years, that you focus so much on the negativity? What does that do to the rest of the things you are doing in life? So let's say this scenario I'm someone that has a lot of these negative, limiting beliefs and thoughts and then I try to apply a mindset of someone that doesn't have those, like the person that created the mindset or said hey, you know, I figured it out, copy this. They don't have my upbringing, they didn't have any of these limiting beliefs and thoughts, so it worked for them, but very unlikely that it works for me.
Constantin:So that's, why you feel exactly Chris right. So you come back to this. First you fix those and it's actually a lot easier to fix than people think. Then you can apply any mindset you want on top and your foundation is rock solid, that you have a much higher chance of success.
Chris:That makes sense. That makes sense completely. And being that I want to back up to. About the emotional you spoke about. Feeling that you weren't able to basically feel emotionally free was one of the things that was holding you back, meaning you know about how you had grown up. How did you break the or how are you working through this area? And when you say that, do you mean that? Are you a person who cries today? Do you shed tears, naturally? Is it something you've learned to develop to do that you break down? How are you working in that area?
Constantin:I love the question, Chris. So I always knew growing up I am adult here, so that was an emotional person. Whatever emotional means to everyone, for me emotional means that I would cry during certain movies and scenes and if I see something beautiful or something less than beautiful, right, but I would always stifle it. I would always try my best to hide it because the way I was thought growing up, right, the boys don't cry, you cannot show emotion as a man in Eastern Europe and all that stuff that came up with it.
Chris:There was nothing that you really saw in front of you. There was no example of display of that, was it?
Constantin:Not from men.
Chris:Okay, not from men.
Constantin:This is it? Okay, that's a great point, chris, absolutely 100 percent. That kind of solidified the idea that, hey, you cannot do this. And then, of course, I didn't see, with my frenzy, the right, I mean some funerals perhaps, but that's about it. But then I mean personally, I knew that, I mean, every single one of us is different and I knew that I was different as well, meaning that we are all unique, we have similarities, but we're also different. And I felt that you know what I felt emotions, and what I mentioned is really important. It's not just crying for the sad stuff, for the terrible things that happened, but also for beauty.
Chris:I think that's the most touching is the fact of yeah, like to shed a tear during a movie, like, oh my gosh, the certain movies they're like I just can't even watch. I'll be a wreck. You know what I mean. I'm like, you know. So, yeah, I hear you, I hear you, wow. And so what about? How old do you? Would you say that you felt that you were able to start to release or feel free to express?
Constantin:I love the question. I'm smiling here because it wasn't too long ago. So I'm 40 now. Oh, bless your heart, it's maybe when I it really first started, when I went to my let's call it a spiritual awakening journey a few years back now, so back when I was 38, early 2022, so a couple of years ago now when I finally understood more. And then since then, I've been working with a couple of mentors. One that helped me tremendously and I'm still working with her. She's a hypnotherapist, so I go in hypnosis over zoom, like you and I are talking right now.
Chris:And you really like hypnotized.
Constantin:But not like the stage hypnotism right, like essentially what you're doing is I'll simplify it to how I understand that your brain, your conscious mind, I call it the monkey brain. We quiet it down so then you can go have a conversation with your subconscious mind, got it, and your subconscious mind is essentially everything that you've ever done in your life. Everything is stored within that. It's almost like your file cabinet with everything that happens. So literally we are able to go in and pull a memory from when I was two years old or two years old traumatic memory and I didn't think I had trauma in my life and oh boy, I had plenty. And we're still unpacking a lot of it.
Constantin:It's kind of like a non-linear right, like you take a layer off and there's another one. You take another layer off and there's more. And that's how this journey has been for me and I would say I mean hypnotherapy was one mindfulness practices. So I do meditation now, I do breath work, I do other type of spiritual practices that have helped immensely. And then I just allow myself to feel the emotions Because again before the instinct would be to literally stifle and cut out the feeling side, which meant you can't truly feel your emotions, because the idea with emotions, the way I see it now, is that if something comes up, it's about you feeling it and then letting it go.
Chris:Yes, you have to let it go, that release it. Yeah.
Constantin:Yeah, because if you start feeling it, you're like, ah, this doesn't feel good, you push it down, you're not feeling it and you're not releasing it, and then it boils up like a volcano.
Chris:Yeah, it's gonna come back again With a vengeance In the wrong time at the wrong place.
Constantin:Exactly.
Chris:Wow, wow. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for sharing that for sure. And in this current moment, now do you feel that? Let me ask you are you close with your family?
Constantin:I am much closer now, especially as I embark on this journey. Oh, that's great. I've always been close with them. No, not physically, as my brother is in Europe. I only have one sibling Understandable. My parents are across the country, in Canada, but we are. When we get together, we're very close and we talk often, and I also say, this journey that I'm on put me much, much closer with everyone in my family, but also my friends as well.
Chris:Has it changed their view of things from seeing how you are, Because the family knows you right and so to see a change in a positive way has it affected them at all, have they?
Constantin:Yeah, so I love the question. I wanna expand slightly on it. Sure, I'll say in part on my journey. Actually, let me add one thing, because the answer is yes, so I'll answer your question right here. But I want to explain something because I don't believe when I talk to people about this they don't realize the impact they could have by just working on themselves.
Constantin:So I've been someone that in the past. If, let's say, chris, you and I are friends, right, and I see something that I don't like about you, I'll try to change that in you, not in me. And that was the same with partners or relationships. So I would be playing the victim as like, ah, that's a Chris thing, right, or that's my mom's thing, or something else. Later on in life I realized wait a second, everything that I'm seeing in others that I don't like, it's usually a reflection of how I feel inside myself. So there's something to unpack there. And what I've realized is that as I put all the energy into working on myself and letting everyone else work on themselves, not trying to control anything, everything changed. Like you asked my relationship with my parents, partner, brother, everything improved, friends. Why? Because as I change myself, as I elevate my vibration, my frequency, as I become a different person, a better person, I would say. Then people will see that, people will feel that.
Constantin:Yeah, it's a ripple effect, You're right, I'd be inspired, I'd be empowered to go. Not all of them, right. Some will be scared, some will fall off, and that has happened. I had friends that kind of fell off because it is scary, it is a bit while you're going to know it.
Chris:Everybody's not meant to be on the journey, and that's a real reality too, that everybody is not supposed to be in every season. You know that there are some seasonal friends and there are some people who are lifetime friends, and so I think that it's important that when it happens that way, then you realize that it wasn't meant to be for a longer period, and that's okay. We keep on moving, We've learned something from that relationship, but, yeah, no big deal. Everyone's not meant to be for the long haul.
Constantin:Absolutely 100% right and yeah, that was a big, scary part for me, but anyway, yeah that there's a big change. And, for example, my mother she listens to every episode of my podcast. She's one of my biggest friends and I've seen the biggest changes within her because, keep in mind, my parents grew up in Eastern Europe.
Chris:Yeah, they're the real deal, yeah.
Constantin:Right and through some really difficult times and they were about 40-ish, mid-40s when we moved to Canada. So there was a lot of ingrained mentality and beliefs within the system and I said to Brad at the bar now in the mid-60s, that's difficult, that's not easy to do and I have a lot of respect for them for even attempting to do that, because most people at that age they just say you know what, that's who?
Chris:I am Kind of stuck in their ways. True, I'm sorry, go ahead.
Constantin:No, no, I was gonna say that's it.
Chris:Okay, I didn't want to step on you.
Constantin:If the audience wants to take anything from that is that by working on yourself, you're actually gonna have a massive impact on your entire environment anything in it. This is so true, yeah you're right, the workers manager anything.
Chris:And they will see that a change in you because they know it to be so real that it would have to be something that has made this change. And the consistency of anything gives the real truth, you know, when people see that, oh, it's just not on Monday, you know he's this way. Yeah, for sure. I want to change a little bit and I want to talk about you in a different way. I want to ask you what five words come to mind when you think of yourself.
Constantin:Funny two of them. I guess there's three words there, but one is love, meaning that I lead my life now with the idea that, regardless of the situation I find myself in, I want to lead with love first. And love is not just a romantic side compassion, empathy, everything that comes with that, as opposed to choosing the fear side, what I'm always looking at negativity. So that's the number one. Then I guess there's three other words coming up together. It's follow your heart, because that's what I'm doing right now and I'm seeing that it brought me more joy, more fulfillment, more success, more abundance in all aspects of life than I ever thought possible. And I'm a few years into this idea of following my heart, even though I was doing parts of it throughout my life. But when I honed in on what my why, my purpose is, that was it. And kindness, I would say, is the last one if you want to go for five words meaning that we can do more.
Chris:Oh, okay, wait, you can give me two more. I was like follow your heart. You broke them up into actual words. Okay, we'll take that as a phrase no worries. We could put that as one. Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. Kindness number three. We'll put the kindness as the third one.
Constantin:And this is number three, tomorrow. Okay, now you got me thinking.
Chris:Yes, we want you to think. We want you to think for yourself.
Constantin:Well, inspiring that's something that people tell me all the time and then empowering as well.
Chris:Empowering. We love that. Yes, oh, these are great love. Follow your heart. Kindness, inspiring and empowering. I love it. I love it. All that wrapped up in a love bubble right.
Constantin:Absolutely.
Chris:That's a Care Bear stare, for sure, for the people who know what the Care Bears are like. Yes, showing my age, but awesome, I love that. I love that, you know. I think it's important that we're able to share and talk about the good things of what we are. You know, I always my students always go to a negative. They throw themselves under the bus and I'm like okay, now that you've said three negative things, can I at least get one positive? You know what I mean. Like, can we like even it out a bit? So I think it's nice when we take a moment to think for ourselves. What qualities do I put forth when you have things like hmm, when I think of who I am and what I represent, it's a refreshing in the mind of what it is that we're doing and who we are and just what our mission is. So it's nice when someone else asks it, because we're never asking it to ourselves, right? So thank you for that answer.
Constantin:We gotta make this hard. So it sounds like you know you're teaching people the right thing to do. Yes, ask those questions because it has to come from a point where you ask yourself those questions.
Chris:It's true, because it's true, if you're not leading with love, then what are you leading with Right? We know fear or anger, or aggression. You know and this is it, a lot of people don't. You know that light bulb hasn't clicked on yet. They haven't had that aha or that you know spiritual awakening or any awakening. And so I just tell people that sense of awareness, like we spoke about earlier, just having that chance of just listening in and just taking a look at self Hmm, what am I doing with myself? How am I viewed? You know, what am I looking like to the world? And soon as you start to ask some of these questions, the rabbit hole begins and you are just taking on a journey. But I always say, when people are ready to take the journey, you know everybody's not ready, they don't want to do it, and I say, hey, in everyone's time. But once we start to unravel, you can't go back, you can't unknot, know, yeah.
Constantin:It's not how I said as well. It's almost like, if you think about it, you're inside of an egg shell and the sun and everything is out outside of it, but you don't see anything inside. But then a crack comes through. Well, once the crack comes through and the sun picks through and all the beauty, you won't forget that. You can't hide anymore and you're going to be like okay, I need to dig myself out of this.
Chris:Mm-hmm, it's true. It's true. I wanted to ask you who's around you that keeps you motivated.
Constantin:It's going to be a selfish answer, but it starts with me. If I can motivate myself, if I can't.
Chris:Self-motivation.
Constantin:That's exactly then. I've seen it in the past Not a lot does for the long term because I'll see someone on YouTube that's done amazing things but motivate me for a week. I have my mentors and coaches who motivate me and inspire me. I see the people in my life my friends and family and partner but what I've learned is that unless I have my own sources somehow like within, then it's not very long-lasting.
Chris:You know, that's true, I'm a self-motivator as well and sometimes, you know, I don't need anybody to motivate me, but I do have friends that need that motivation and I get it. Sometimes we need to jumpstart ourselves, but I'm like I'm my biggest cheerleader, I will take the best care of myself, and so and I do, and all my friends know I treat myself this way, so I'm not going to let anybody not treat me. If I treat myself this way, how dare that you're going to treat me any different, Like mm-mm? We're not going to deal with that. But having standards and having you know ideals about what we want for ourselves is huge. It's important, you know. So I like your answer and you didn't have to say this is a selfish. No, it's your truth. It's your truth.
Constantin:I said this makes self-selfish. But you're absolutely right, because I said that, because I know people hear that it's like and maybe that's a topic we can discuss, if you want, chris the idea of being selfish, because if you look at self-care, if you look at self-love, you have to be. You have to be. Yeah, it appears selfish on the outside, and I use selfish here and it's funny because it has such a negative connotation. It does, but selfish is not negative.
Chris:I agree it's like prioritizing yourself.
Constantin:Because if your health is not a priority and I'm saying health across mental, physical, emotional, spiritual areas if that's not health, then how can you care for anyone else, how can you help other people, how can you be the best person for your loved ones? I haven't seen a way. I haven't found a way Because it's not so that's why it's not selfish at all. It's selfless even.
Chris:And that's it, selfless. Maybe we will put that into it, because you have to be, otherwise people will starve you, society will starve you, social media will starve you, and it's at the end. How do you replenish yourself? How do you refill your energy and your plate so that you can be ready to handle what the world is going to put on you? So spiritually Fed people are starving spiritually. Their soul is in need of nourishment and their heart is in need of nourishment the mind, there's food that needs to be given on different levels, and so I agree with that. Definitely, definitely Nice. Thank you for that answer. I want to change a little bit and talk about your podcast. What inspired you to start a podcast and why is it called Unleash Thyself?
Constantin:Love those questions. Thank you for asking, chris, so I will start with what inspired me. So 2022. Beginning of 2022, is when I was. We were all coming out of the pandemic right and Canada was opening up and I decided to go on this mental health retreat in the jungles of Ecuador, in the mountains, beautiful, 10,000 feet up in the air, gorgeous place. And while I was there for a few weeks, I also had a chance to sit with native sacred plant medicine that was being passed on generation by generation, and I can open my mind up to all other things.
Chris:Did you say medicine?
Constantin:Yeah, plant medicine, so like Is it?
Chris:like oh my gosh, I'm gonna pronounce it wrong. What's the name of it? Ayahuasca? Thank you, I was about to destroy that name. Okay, ayahuasca. Yes, so yes, we know, I know what that is okay. Oh, how was it?
Constantin:It was a life transformation. I keep in mind, chris, I'm someone that has never been drunk. I mean, I'll drink occasionally, but I've never been drunk.
Chris:Oh, wow.
Constantin:I've never done drugs. I've never done drugs or anything like that, like not even pot, like you know.
Chris:Hey, this system is clean, baby, it's clean.
Constantin:Yeah, so I went to this with an open mind because there was a calling within me. I was struggling mentally, as I mentioned. I was very depressed, anxious, burnt out. At the point coming out of the pandemic, like most people were, I was very stressed out and I wanted something else and I wanted to experience this and that's. I mentioned my spiritual awakening. That's pretty much when it happened.
Constantin:Right, the plant medicine what people need to understand first of all is about the medicine, which is ideal. The sun is set is how sacred it is and how this has been passed down for thousands of years, not just by one tribe. This is pretty much Many, many tribes in the Amazonian jungles using the same type of medicine to connect to God, universe, to whatever yeah, exactly whatever person believes in, and then there's many other plant medicines across the globe to do the same thing, anyway. So these, these planets are very sacred and I was fortunate enough to be able to to see with them and made some immense bonds with the people that are, including people I just met that I can call friends. Two years later, still ten plus of them.
Constantin:Anyway, it was transformation. I mean what I experienced, from emotions to spiritually, to even physical transformations in others that I've witnessed with my own eyes over a short period of time. It really messed up with my analytical brain, right, because, I mentioned, I have a mathematics degree, so for me, if I can see it, I be like, well, it's not true. Well, I got to see, and then it's like, how well, how does this work and how does that work? So those are start of it, right. That kind of brought me up to like, okay, so this is more to life than I realized, and perhaps there's a reason why I wasn't happy, I wasn't fulfilled, despite having the American dream.
Constantin:So then, fast forward to the summer of that year. I'm sitting with a dear friend of mine, were having a conversation, a deep spiritual conversation, and she mentions one of her mentors, someone that for the last twenty five years, has been essentially healing people by looking at the spirituality side of it but also the medicine side of it, and he's been healing them of things such as cancers and fibromyalgia and the beatings, ailments that you don't necessarily have a cure for, and especially not one that involves All of surgery or medication, and we got into the conversation. I was skeptical, of course, but then an idea came up and I was like huh, so someone like that has been able to have such massive impact, but on a small scale. Right, we're talking about A few thousand people, which is still in.
Chris:Yes, that's huge, that's still huge.
Constantin:No, no, it's his. But my judgmental mind and time was like that's nothing right. There's like eight billion people like what's a thousand right. But you're right, it's huge, it's beyond huge because of the time myself, I have no one right.
Constantin:So, of course, the inside, I was like, oh my, I was so judgmental, but here's the beauty of it, even though I was, that it pretty much led to where we are today because I thought, came up and it's like, would he be interested, this person to have then his story and his voice shared with more people so they can find out and he can have an even bigger impact? And that's how the idea started. And she's like you know what? I'll ask him took a few months. He came back and he said, yes, he would love to share his story.
Constantin:And then in that in the time Because I was still fighting my own demons and those, the darkest period of my life really because I had to see with my emotions now that I came back from a spiritual awakening, I have to see it with everything I also uncovered my why or my purpose, what I thought it was at least the first version of it and for me I mentioned it earlier but it's about being in service to others. So I thought I know what I'll do a podcast. I'll bring people like this person, richard, on, because he has an amazing gift, an amazing story and share with others and see what happens. And then that's pretty much how it started.
Chris:In general, he's episode one.
Constantin:I should know his episode probably like 50 plus, because it took a while for us to book.
Chris:Okay, okay.
Constantin:So he's someone that's not on social media. He's someone that doesn't.
Chris:What's his name?
Constantin:Richard leech. I have three episodes with him and it's Richard L, e, a, c, h, okay, and he's going to essentially something called healing with purpose. So he used that and I actually agree with him in this because I'm actually being mentored by him right now, but it's a different story. He believes that everything that happens in life has a reason and a purpose behind that, and even more so when it's something wrong with you physically or emotionally or any any type of illness or element you have. That's spirit communicating through your body with you, because there's no other way spirit can communicate.
Chris:I agree with that, makes it.
Constantin:Right. So if there's something wrong with you let's say you have An issue with your liver then he can help you pinpoint. Okay, so what does that like? What's stress in your life is causing that, then? By adjusting your life accordingly. So let's say you took a left turn and you're supposed to take a right turn. Spiritually, you go back, you made a right turn, left turn, and now things get better.
Chris:It's basically like having a knot in the energy and it's being untied and now the flow is back to where it's supposed to be.
Constantin:No for analogy, chris. Absolutely. That's one way to look at it and he devised that. He, his story is beautiful, if anyone has time to listen to that episode.
Chris:Yeah, I'm going to check it out. I'm going to check it out.
Constantin:John Madison and part one talks about his junk is he was my age when he gained those powers over years, like he was a regular corporate employee as a designer and what not. He was never spiritual and then he had these experiences that he goes through in his story and long story short is just phenomenal because he was able to download as I call it right, like channel or connect to spirit and bring all this information in and devise the full Practice that has multiple parts to it and he's able to heal people. And I'm fortunate enough to be able to work with him. We work every week, he mentors me, I get a better understanding of myself because there's many different parts and not I say that I have anything wrong with me physically, but there's a lot of things that I'm unpacking and understanding about myself that I haven't found anywhere else.
Constantin:So, that's why you know even though it's not a science proven part of it. Part of it is because there's a science called the P genetics now, which looks at how your genes like, for example. In the past you were thought that what's in your genes, that's your, essentially your fate, like, if it's in there, yeah, if it's not, you don't. But what they've proven now is that it's not true. You can actually turn on, turn off different genes. You can actually change your gene makeup, and that's science, right like that's. And now it's catching up with what people in the spiritual world have known forever.
Chris:Yes. So now let me ask you, since you do you feel that you have the power to be able to heal, that the power is within you as well, within all of us, or do you think that he is just a special case?
Constantin:No, so I mean he's definitely as I mean he's been doing it for 25 years, so the very least he's got quite a bit of experience.
Chris:OK, yes, of course outside of that, but do you think that we all have this power within us?
Constantin:Yes, 100%. And here's what I think I mentioned at the beginning. Maybe I haven't, but it's OK. We have the power to change anything and everything about our situation. Yes, it means in health, that means emotionally, that means physically, that means financially, in relationships. Honestly, I do not believe there's anything that we cannot change.
Chris:Good yeah, good good.
Constantin:Well then, you're then in your practical answer.
Chris:So now, if you would answer differently, I would have been like OK, we need to. You know, we need a little more time with the, with him working, but this is it and you've got the answer. And because you have the answer, then that means that you, it's learning how to use our abilities, how to use the power, how to be able to. You know that's, that's a lot of people don't even realize they have it. So that's still that awareness isn't there yet.
Chris:But when you start to wake up, like they say in that matrix. You wake up and you realize, hey, there's a whole nother world here. There's things going on, principalities and powers that are going down, that are, that are a sheath away of in the spiritual world that is that close to us, that's going down, and so when you, your eyes, are revealed to this or open to this, it's a whole new day. It's a whole new day. And so I love when I feel that people have this awakening and they are realizing like oh snap, you know that light comes on and that moment happens and you realize like whoa? So I love that.
Chris:Yes.
Constantin:I've always said this thing for myself. When I was doing poker, when I was diving deep into psychology, you at least I had an idea of like, oh, you know, I know a lot, right. So then I started researching and do my studies. And then the more I studied, the less I knew, in the sense that the more I dived into something, the bigger the thing became, and that's why I felt like I knew nothing, because I'm like, oh, so it's actually like you know. You look behind the curtain and you realize the room is actually you can even end of it. That's kind of how it feels and that's how, like you said, like once you come out of the matrix, so to speak, you realize that what you knew was an illusion all along. Yes, and we, nothing, at least that's my, that's my view.
Chris:Now you become a baby again and understanding about it and it's like, oh my gosh, this is really and that's it, and it's just learning, and we're learning in a different way and you're using things in a different way. And so I always feel like when people are and you know, you can't have this kind of conversation with everyone and I heard you mentioned this earlier because some people feel like, oh, you're crazy.
Constantin:You know what I mean.
Chris:So I always had to pick to fill people like are you awake, do you know what's really going on before we get into it, because otherwise folks are looking at you and it's too much to try to explain. I was like that's not, that's not part of my calling, so I at least I don't think it is at this point, but still, I just feel like yes, there's just something earlier which I think is key.
Constantin:That is, some people are just not ready yet because they're on the wrong path. They have their own thing. This, this goes in the same vein. Right like you may not be ready for the conversation because your path is different and there are some missing steps that you haven't taken yet. So, even if you have the conversation, you think I'm crazy.
Chris:Yeah.
Constantin:If you don't think I'm crazy, it probably doesn't have much value for that person.
Chris:You're right. You're right. I wanted to ask can you share some practical tips or exercises for individuals looking to cultivate a more holistic approach to personal development or encompassing career relationships well being?
Constantin:Absolutely Chris.
Chris:Absolutely, thank you.
Constantin:And that's one of my favorites now when I and I, one of the first things I teach any of my clients and you're my friends that want to listen and they have to do again with our psychology. Going back to the thoughts and beliefs and I want to preference with something really quick here but look at your thoughts and beliefs. They're influenced usually by something right and that's usually your environment. So you have something going on at work that's going to influence your thoughts and beliefs, meaning that if, let's say, you have a bad meeting with your manager and some things are said, you say some things, you come out of the meeting will probably some feelings are ready, but also some thoughts. You might feel Less than ideal about yourself. You might feel less than ideal about them right, about the job itself and what not. And that creates a cycle thoughts and beliefs and turn into feelings and emotions. Then that could feed more thoughts and beliefs and this vicious cycle where, if it's more of the negative side, it goes in a spiral and you essentially Build yourself up with a lot of negative emotions and feelings.
Constantin:And what? What happens after the emotions and feelings? There's usually actions that come in or doesn't have to be just after. It could be the same time, because you're going to take an action of that now. It could be that you take no action and inaction, which is also technically an action. So let's take the scenario I am into work, having a meeting with my manager, meeting doesn't go well, there's this negative thoughts and negative beliefs, and I actually have another presentation to do in one hour from now. Well, that presentation I have to do is another action I have to take. But because my mental state is emotional state is the way it is now, how is that presentation going to go? I mean, there's a chance I'm still going to do fine because, let's say, I know the content, I know my material, I know what I'm doing, but can it be the best I could ever be? Not even close. Right, it's going to have an impact.
Chris:Yeah, I will.
Constantin:And after every action there's an outcome. Right, there's a result, and if my action was not the best it can be, that means that my outcome is cannot be the best it can be. So if we want better outcomes, we want, we need better actions, and if I want better actions, that means I need to feel better within. I need to have better feelings and emotions. Now, most people that have been, like myself, depressed at any stage, or anxious or burnt out or stressed out, we know that you cannot just feel better at a flip of a switch. It doesn't work the way. As much as I try to feel better in the moment, I couldn't, and you take it a step up. So what triggers those feelings and emotions? It's your thoughts and beliefs, and that's where I believe we have 100% control over and we can change all of them.
Constantin:Now some are really deep-seated, some are really big beliefs that, of course, while you have control over them, it's going to take a lot of work to fix, but some are going to take a lot less. And then this is a snowball effect as you start overcoming certain limiting beliefs, as you start fighting certain negative thoughts, you start to get better and better at it. And I'll give you an example of how it showed up in my life and, chris, I'm sure you'll appreciate this example. It happened this weekend.
Chris:This is so, oh, so we got a fresh example.
Constantin:Exactly and here's the funny thing, where we'll talk about different parts, if you'd like, but also the idea of everything happens for a reason. Everything happens to you, sorry, not to you. Everything happens for you, not to you. So, like, what's the lesson in it? So I have a fairly new vehicle, a 2023 GMC Yukon, I'm really happy with.
Chris:Nice.
Constantin:And Saturday evening it's been raining all day. After it's freezing rain in the morning and I jump in my new vehicle to drive to my friends. And the new piece is important in a second you'll see why. I jump to drive to my friends and as I drive to my friends I hear some water leaking in the back, but I can't see anything and I'm like, huh, maybe the window is broken or something Right. So I put the windows up, make sure everything is good I mean, they were up anyway. And then as I get to a stop sign a couple of minutes later and I slow down, water starts pouring from the main console, from the ceiling, from the sides, from all the vents, everywhere else. And that's why I mentioned that the new part of the car is important, because I'm like, wow, this is a new car. What's going on?
Constantin:Now, all of me in this moment would freak out. Of course I'll fill the victim. I'll be like why is this happening to me? All those things. I'll turn around the car, get home, try to deal with it. Even though it's Saturday night, like no shops are open, nothing is open. Ruin the rest of the weekend for myself, probably call a bunch of people up to complain, have a PT party for myself. Pretty much, continue down the path, right, that's honestly. That's the other thing that I've been to a few years ago. Now I over the years, of course, I've developed methods and I want to share with your audience as well.
Constantin:Now to how we can literally become aware of the thoughts, interrupt the thoughts and patterns, replace them with something better and be able to move on with your life without them turning into much bigger issues, like I mentioned right, where it like snowballs and how it ruins a week for your weekend or a big part of your life. So what I did? So some of those negative emotions came up not emotions, but negative thoughts came up. It's like I don't have time for this one. Why is this happening? This is a new car, blah, blah, blah.
Constantin:And I caught myself. That's the awareness piece that we talked about. Right, I became aware. Okay, this is what I'm thinking and I had the choice to make because I don't have awareness. Do I use my knowledge to stop this if I don't agree with the thoughts, or do I let them get big and impact the rest of my day? So I decided to. Those thoughts obviously create some feelings and emotions I allowed myself to, to fill those and then let them go. You and I talked about it already, and then I was able to go through my interrupt pattern, replace them with positive thoughts and long story short. I got to my friends, cleaned the car up, went upstairs for the gathering, the party. I was there for four hours. This incident, despite the severity of it and how inconvenient it was, has not come up once in that four hours.
Chris:I was like oh wow. That's pretty impressive Right Like. That's why that's pretty impressive.
Constantin:Yeah, I didn't realize it until after, when I was doing some retrospections and again like if we're talking about the reasons behind why that happened, why reason could be to reinforce how far I've come to myself right Cause not anyone else to myself. Oh, we've actually made a lot of progress constantly.
Chris:Yeah, that's huge. That is huge. I agree too. That is yeah, that's. That's a pat yourself on the back, that's to give yourself a rub, Like, yeah, we're doing things.
Constantin:I know that you said the pat on the back, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll come into the tool that we'll talk about in a second and the second piece of that. Look at this. I get to tell this story to you now and your audience. I've told the story to a few people this week and everyone has the same reaction as you. It's like, wow, I would have reacted differently in that moment.
Chris:Yeah, I would have been the same and I would have complained there at the party. Though that's the twist that I would have taken, that's the only little difference. I would have been like, okay, somebody would have known about it. I'd have been like, oh my gosh. So that is impressive, wow.
Constantin:Wow. But here's the thing it doesn't happen overnight, and that's what I'm saying. You have the power to change everything. Now let me ask you this, chris, right, if you wanted, if you felt that talking to others complaining let's say, calling it or sharing what happened is what you wanted to do, then that's fine.
Chris:Yes.
Constantin:No judgment there, right Like it's. It's a choice. That's why I said we always have a choice, which means that we can change anything we want or don't want in our life.
Chris:So but it wouldn't have fixed the car and it wouldn't have fixed the water that was pouring in at that moment. You know what I mean. It wouldn't have made any difference with the situation, you know. So this is it. It's like, do I want to embark on this waste, the energy to put out for it and have? And then, soon as you start talking about it, you bring those feelings right back. The anger, the all of it comes right back and I tell friends, I'm like let's not talk about it right now. Like this, we don't, we don't need to hear it, because you're still in that moment. And it feels like now you're yelling at me and I know you're not but like let's just, let's just let it be, we don't have to talk about it right now.
Constantin:You know what happens to right, as you essentially start sharing something like that, and I mean there is a place and a purpose for everything, meaning that if you needed advice and you needed someone to listen to you, that's yes, then there's a different time.
Chris:Yes, exactly, there is a time and place for all of that. You're right. You're right.
Constantin:If you're complaining, like you said. If you're doing that, then other people get permission and it's going to turn into a negativity fest, as I like to call it, which is essentially pretty much. You just share negativity with each other and that's how you find the bond, but that's going to leave everyone feeling meh at the end of the night, right, and it's not going to have a good impact on the rest of the week. But other than focusing more on the positivity as much as you can, I mean not ignoring the negative stuff, because you're still there. You still have to deal with that.
Chris:But yeah, you're just not feeling like it's a pity party. There's definitely more. It's less energy wasted and being enjoying the moment, you know, or just trying to let it pass compared to wow.
Constantin:And there was a second part of that which was a bigger realization for me as well, because for me I was a different part of my journey. But I left that party four hours or five hours later and the first thought that came up literally just for a brief second as well, before I interrupted it was like, oh, I should call my parents and I should text this and this friend and tell them what happened, again from a person like a pity party, because I'm like, oh, look at what happened to me. Not because I'm like I need advice what to do, because I oh, okay, okay, I'm not going to take that intention with different.
Constantin:Exactly, I'm going to take the cut of the dealership. I knew what I need to do. It's not like I had to. You know, five options and I had to wait them.
Constantin:I got myself and I said I'm not going to call anyone, I'm not going to tell anyone anything because the state I'm in right now, if I allow that, I know what path is going to take me on. It's going to take me from a thought of again victim to feelings of being a victim, to then actions of being a victim. So they make it.
Chris:Then you, the victim.
Constantin:I'm not going to have outcomes which are not going to be favorable for me. So now I talked about what happened. So how did I interrupt all of this? So this is based in neuroscience, your psychology as well. So first I'll start with this question for you and the audience. Let's say, chris, you're sitting on the computer, you're working away and you remember that you need to go to the kitchen to pick up a piece of paper and a pen to write something down for your partner that's coming home later. So you get up from your chair. You now make the track all the way to the kitchen. You get to the kitchen and now you're like, oh wow what is that for?
Chris:Does that happen to you? Of course, of course.
Constantin:It happens to everyone, right? And in psychology, what they talk about is essentially that's your body's automatic response to interrupting patterns. So, because it is something physically got up what happened in your brain? Essentially, a scatoma got created, which is just offensive of saying a vacuum got created because you did something physical to remove yourself from the situation. And then another thought, another belief went in, because anything like, if you look at nature, if there's a vacuum, it gets filled up really quick. And that's why you forgot by the time you got to the kitchen. Wow, or actually you forgot in the moment, right, you realized only when you got to the kitchen.
Constantin:Now, keep in mind, this is automatic, right? This is our body's response to be able to do that. Now, if you can do it automatic, there must be a way to harness the power to do it on command, and this is what this tool will teach people. So let's say, if you're in your home, in your office, somewhere, you can physically remove yourself from the situation, right? So let's say, I'm sitting down right now to have this beautiful conversation with you.
Constantin:Let's say, after we're done, I'm going to go through my routine, which is to look at what went well, and then I'm going to look at myself and what could have been done better, and perhaps a negative thought comes up. It's like, ah, you should have said this and you should have said that, and I know what pattern that goes on. I then physically remove myself from the chair, I stand up and maybe go to the washroom and as I stand up, as I interrupt myself there, I take a deep breath in and I put a big smile on my face. Now, this is critical and I explain why. And after I do that you mentioned this already it's like the path on the back. I celebrate, and the way I do it is I don't pat my back, I, you know, I pump my chest and I say yes, konstantin, we caught ourselves and this is the key. I'm not celebrating anything crazy.
Constantin:I'm celebrating the fact that, yes, and I caught myself, and I'll explain why these two parts are important in a second. So stage one is interrupting it, right, which is getting up. Stage two is the deep breath plus smiling plus celebration, and there's an interrupt piece in there as well, because if you think about taking a deep breath in, you're bringing new energy in and releasing old energy, right? So that's another interrupt and then you have a chance to replace it. So, let's say, the thought was like I can't believe I forgot to mention this in my conversation with Chris. Instead, I can reframe that and say you know what? We shared so much beautiful energy and we share such a beautiful space and so much information, and it doesn't matter that we forgot that. We can do another conversation later, right? So it's like it's reframing it and now you put in positive thoughts and beliefs, which what happens then? It leads to positive feelings and emotions and the change goes down.
Constantin:Now, why is the smiling and the celebration important? There's a few reasons. There's quite a few actually, but I'll tell you the big ones. One is that whenever you have a smile on your face and I encourage anyone in the audience to try to put a big smile on their face, like an honest big smile. Instantly, you're going to start feeling a tiny bit better. So you see, we talked about fear and love. Right, that's it. It's a spectrum. Fear is on the far end, on the left, and then love is on the right side all the way, and then that's a scale, right? So in the middle you have a bunch of different things, right, different empathy on the left side and the fear you have, being angry, and sadness and all the things that come on the side and what they have seen. This in psychology as well, but also in the spiritual world. Depending on which side you want to go with, you cannot be in two states at the same time. So if I'm happy, I cannot be sad.
Constantin:Now of course you can literally jump between states. I can be happy now and then two seconds later will be sad. But the goal is with the pattern interrupt is to essentially teach your brain that something good happened, so then it can become something that the brain wants to keep doing. So you interrupted the pattern, you put a smile and you celebrate that. That really stop me and other good fill hormones in your brain and the brain goes like huh, what happened? I feel good, I need more of that and then it's going to associate the file that you interrupted the pattern or a thought with feeling good.
Chris:It's a reprogramming Exactly.
Constantin:I call it rebooting the brain first and then reprogramming it.
Chris:I love that.
Constantin:This is what allowed me to do what I did on the weekend. It's not that. Here's a part where I made the mistake in the past in believing differently. And many people believe that just because you conquer the challenge, just because you know how to do something that's really hard, it doesn't mean it won't still show up in your life. I mean, those thoughts came to me while I was in the car. They were a result of my environment. Now here's where my power was right. I had the power to choose. Do I agree with these thoughts and allow them to stay in? And I didn't, because I knew what the story or what the story would lead, because I've been there all my life From the experience exactly.
Constantin:I saw I'm like no, I'm going to cut it. And I had the tools, and because my brain was already practicing this for a while now it's like oh, I know it went very into it.
Chris:Yes, exactly as an effect.
Constantin:Now the question to people. The only thing I would want to add really quick here is that people would ask well, I was driving, how could I physically remove myself to interrupt the pattern? And that's a fair question.
Constantin:I didn't think of that. I hinted towards the idea that there's something physical you need to do. Now some people like to yell. Literally that's what I did in the car essentially allow all the anger, all that, whatever was building up, to go out. And because it's something, that's a different state, right, it's almost like you started yourself. When you do that, it almost has the same purpose plus a deep breath. I still did a deep breath.
Chris:It's still an action, it's a physical action.
Constantin:It's something you do, so that's another. Obviously you can do that if you have people around and you're feeling better, right. But imagine people are asking me well, what happens if I'm in a heated conversation with my manager or my team and I need to remove myself? I said, well, excuse yourself.
Chris:Go to the bathroom.
Constantin:Exactly. It's like excuse myself, my stomach is not good. I'll just, I'll be right back. I'm going to the bathroom. Get in the bathroom, go into a stall, if you need to Take a deep breath, put a big smile on your face, celebrate. I have to be loud. I pump my chest and if I say to myself, yes, constantine, and I can say, it's soft enough, or I can say it in my mind, right Inside of me, and it has the same effect. I've done it. I've done it while grocery shopping, I've done it while driving, as I give it.
Chris:Everywhere it can be done, everywhere people, this is it Exactly. Because things are going to come up in your life throughout a different time. There's no set time that things are going to happen. Right, and it's a if you have the tools and being able to do it when you need them to happen, and that's not always going to be a scheduled time when we're prepared. So that's the honest thing. Give me the shot.
Constantin:For example, I have a friend of mine. She's a nurse. A couple of weeks ago we met for dinner. We haven't talked in a while, and this in person and she's going through a bit of a tough patch emotionally and mentally and she's like hey, I know you, you work with people in this area and you help them. Can you give me a couple of tools and a couple of tips? And I gave one of them was this exercise, this tool? And she was a bit skeptical. And the next day, not even 12 hours from when we met, she's like you know what I've tried, what you suggested, and it actually works. I have no idea how, but it works. I was able to interrupt A thought that came up and I felt much better after and he never came back.
Chris:I love that. See putting it to use right. She put it in action and see if it was able to do. I love that.
Constantin:So, start small, do it once or twice a day. If you can do it more, do it more.
Chris:And this is it we have to start small with, just with everything you know, with all of the things you said and tips and stuff, that, yeah, it's a step by step and it's not going to always work instantly and it's not always going to be something that suffices. That's why we have to keep continuing to nurture and learn ourselves. I wanted to ask you this final question Is your glass half empty or half full?
Constantin:Oh, the question, and I knew I was going to come to something.
Chris:You ready for it? You ready.
Constantin:Yes, well, I mean. I mean this is an easy one for me in the sense that now I always look at it as a glass half full, because we can't do anything and everything we want right, which means that if the car is half full, that means I have so much more opportunity to put things on top that I want and allow the universe to put things in there too, because it's like what my brain sometimes wants is not really what is in my best interest.
Chris:It is so true you hit that nail I did on the head. Yes, I wanted to ask do you have any final thoughts for our listeners?
Constantin:Final thoughts Follow your heart. That's the biggest one I've come to realize. Those are the biggest calories for me and I know most people might not know what's in their heart. We've got to start somewhere. Look at your passions. Your heart brings you joy every day. Look at what you would do if no one paid you to do it. See what they do Some exercises. I have some videos on the topic at my podcast on Lish Thaisalph and audio. I mean record this as well if you want to know how to do it. I help people with that. But find what it is in your heart and do more of it because, as I say, life is short. At least this life that you have right now. Make the most of it and enjoy it. Enjoy it.
Chris:I love that, nice. I would like to know how they can reach you if they'd like to find out more information about you.
Constantin:Thank you for the opportunity, chris. I would say unleashthaisalphcom. It's the website Best place. You can personally send me an email at Konstantin. There's no E at the end in my name At unleashthaisalphcom, so that's my email address or LinkedIn. For those professionals out there that are on LinkedIn, konstantin Bo Morun and all social media platforms, I post content daily. I always try to inspire and empower people, and that's what I'm all about.
Chris:Yes, we love it. We love it. Thank you so much, konstantin, for being a guest here. On Glass Half Full. We are so glad that we had you in today for a chat. Thank you so much.
Constantin:Yes thank you so much for the opportunity. It was a pleasure to see with you, have a beautiful conversation.
Chris:Yes, we wish you the best of luck on your journey and things that are going on. It's really so great. You are right where you're supposed to be Exactly. Let's just soak it in suck it in for sure.
Chris:Thank you for your time today. Hello listeners of Glass Half Full, thank you for tuning in to another inspiring episode of our podcast. I'm your host, chris Levens, and I want to express my gratitude to each and every one of you for being a part of our supportive community. Remember, glass Half Full is not just a podcast. It's a safe platform for everyone to share their life experiences. Your stories and voices matter and we appreciate you being here with us. If you enjoyed today's episode and want to stay updated with our future content, please subscribe, follow and rate our podcast on Apple Music, spotify and YouTube. Your support means the world to us and it helps us reach even more listeners who can benefit from these valuable life experiences. As we wrap up this episode, always keep in mind you are blessed, no matter the challenges you face. There's a reservoir of strength within you. Until next time, stay positive and remember the Glass is always half full, see ya.