Hi, I'm Laura Pallatin. Welcome to the Practically Spiritual Show, where we break with cultural and religious indoctrination and support one another as we create our own personal spiritual path. If you're new to the podcast, just to let you know, this one is a little bit different because I am creating a video component.
So if you want to watch it on YouTube. And see my face if that's something that you'd like. It's there. Um, if you're listening to it audio only, just know that not very much is going to change. If I think it's helpful to have a visual aid, I will go ahead and make the video version just a little bit different than the audio.
But most of the time, it'll be pretty much the same. So, I'm excited about this new experiment. We'll see how it goes.
In this episode of the podcast, I'm going to be sharing a story with you about a wonderful man in my life, my stepdad, Larrel and how his role modeling for me influenced me in many, many ways.
And, uh, some positive and, and some more what not to. But I think it could be really helpful. So. Stick around and I'll see you on the other side of the theme song.
Welcome to the Practically Spiritual Show. Together we will learn, laugh, and grow. Break indoctrination. Rise above our nation. And so, oh, oh, oh.
Welcome to the Practically Spiritual Show.
For the video watching people, I had to come up with something for you to see. I hope you enjoyed that montage. It was fun to do. So back to my topic. My stepdad, Leryl, was a wonderful man. Somebody who I loved with my whole heart and I know he felt the same way about me.
Um, he was hilarious and lived by that man code. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but he would do just anything for the people in his life. One thing that really Shadowed over his life, in my opinion, is the fact that he ended up raising his siblings. His mom just really So, you know, embodying that man code, he stepped up and he raised his siblings and they all deferred to him his entire life.
And I think being pushed into that role early in life influenced him in a lot of ways. And one way is that. He had this philosophy that was, um, always hope for the best, but plan for the worst. But in his case, he really leaned into that plan for the worst. He was always looking for it, like, That was at the front of his mind.
How could this go wrong? He leaned into it so hard that when Fox News came around, he got addicted. Like, he couldn't walk away. He was just sure that they were going to tell him some piece of information that he was going to need to survive. And, you know, this is something that we come by very naturally. Um, we were hunter gatherers, we were nomads for millennia before we became agrarian farmers and then evolved into what we are now.
So when people were out walking around and they stopped by your campsite and they were telling you bad news about what was going on a couple of towns over, a couple villages over, or just at another camp in another direction, You really had to pay attention to that, right? Because this is the difference between life and death.
If there's a plague or there's a war, you need to know that. And yeah, it might be nice to hear a nice story every now and then. And even people played music for each other and told fun stories, right? But the stories you needed to pay attention to were the stories that would save your life. So, we are pre wired to lean into bad news, to lean into threat.
And my stepdad, he got so swept up in that, that it really colored his whole life. And, um, and I noticed the same thing with his siblings. and just to remind you that we do see what we're looking for. Anybody that's ever been pregnant can tell you that the minute you find out you're pregnant, you see pregnant people everywhere.
I remember when I was getting married, it felt like everyone I knew was getting married. But the very best, like ubiquitous, common experience I think of this is that when you get a car and you think, Oh, I've never seen a magenta. Ford or whatever. And then you're driving out of the parking lot of the dealership and whatever you just got is everywhere.
And it's, it's a pretty funny experience, especially, you know, if you have a white Camry anyway. Um, but if you have ever had the experience of getting interested in something, and then people just show up in your life and. And you're like, just finding all these other people that share your interest. It's the same kind of thing.
So what you're looking for is what you see. So when you are looking for good, and you're looking for optimism, and you're looking for beauty, you will see it. You can drive through a town sitting right next to somebody that's looking for graffiti and they're going to find it. And if you're looking for interesting architecture, you're going to find that too.
Taking our lives and making the choice to see what we want to see is huge. Now, I know for me, the last, um, few years have definitely caused me to go down that news rabbit hole more than I ever have in my life.
The fear of something terrible happening is, uh, It feels closer at hand than it did before. And I went through my life believing that we were, that we were moving forward in a direction that had more equality for women, people of color, LGBTQ, and certain things have happened in the United States that definitely let us know that that's not a given and it's something that we, We have to pay attention to. So it is a challenge to pay attention to what's going on politically and not fall into that trap of just being terrified and looking for what's going to happen next in a negative way.
And that's when it becomes important to have your life's mission, right? So. I've said before, mine is to help people feel comfortable breaking with the indoctrination that's hurting them and find their own personal life path. That's my mission. That's what everything I do is about. But there's other people that have completely different missions, like, like monks.
You know, I went most of my life thinking, uh, we all go back to heaven. Like, why would you spend your life trying to connect with spirit when You can't help but connect with spirit when your life is over. That's like what happens. And I realized that because we're all an organism, humanity, that monks that are spending their lives in meditation and solitude, well, they're grounding all the rest of us.
They're allowing the rest of us to live in this world and interact with one another and I kind of float about because we have that grounding going on and there's people who are called to do all kinds of things and it may not seem like a calling, uh, makes sense to you. I never understood runners who will leave their family first thing in the morning and tear up their bodies and their feet, but they feel absolutely called to do it.
And you know what? I don't have to understand it because it's not my calling. And I guarantee you there are people that look at what I do and roll their eyes. And that's okay, too. So my message to you today is I want you to know that finding your calling and what brings you joy and makes you feel like you're contributing, that's What's important.
And, don't let yourself get down in that spiral of fear and despair because things are happening that are out of our control and that are scary. Because we have the option of looking for one another, the other helpers, as Mr. Rogers said, and we can support one another in breaking with this awful indoctrination that we've been given, these shoulds.
Right? And supporting one another in embracing what means. something for us individually, what we are drawn to. I hope that that helps. I hope you feel motivated to continue on your path, whatever that is, and to look for the other sparkly people in the world, because, because they're looking for you and we need each other.
So that brings us to the end of another episode of The Practically Spiritual Show. I hope you enjoyed it. If you know somebody that you think would enjoy the podcast, I would be so honored if you'd send them over here.
I have a website for the podcast, The Practically Spiritual Show. I'm on Facebook, TikTok, um, And Instagram, or you can just send me an email at laura@thepracticallyspiritualshow. com. And remember, take good care of yourself. And there is no them. There really is only us.
Thanks for listening to The Practically Spiritual Show. Thank you so much for sticking around to the end. It means so much to me. I love you. See you next time. Bye bye.