31. TRU Awakening pt4

Crises can be the unexpected catalysts for life's most extraordinary transformations. Join me as I explore how embracing these challenging moments can unlock unparalleled growth and brilliance within us all. Drawing comparisons to the thrill of sports championships, I discuss how conflict fuels compelling narratives and why overcoming obstacles can lead to the most memorable triumphs. By reframing crises as opportunities rather than setbacks, I believe you'll find the motivation to persevere and take meaningful steps forward, no matter the circumstances. Together, we'll redefine crisis as a powerful, transformative journey toward personal growth and fulfillment.

Chapters

• 0:09 The True Awakening Podcast
• 9:26 Embracing Crisis for Personal Growth
• 23:43 Navigating School Responsibilities With Love

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

Jason Pizzi-Frer. I'm a speaker, I'm a podcaster and my life's work is centered around allowing the world to meet the true you, by helping you think, speak and eventually live better than yesterday. We do this, first, by establishing a good reason why, a strong and powerful motivation to keep going when the going gets rough. Second, we need awareness and acknowledgement of what's holding us back. And third, we need scalable steps forward as a reliable bridge between who we are right now and who we need to be tomorrow and the day after that, and the day after that and the day after that. This, my friends, is how you go from stuck to thinking as, speaking as and living as, the true you. Greetings, hi and hello everyone. My name is Jason and I'd like to thank you so very much for joining me for another episode of the True you Podcast. Thank you for coming back. This is part four, guys the finale, ideally of the True Awakening miniseries. So if you made it to part four, you listened to part one, two and three. You know the deal.

Speaker 1: 1:30

Let's jump right into the quote and not waste a second. Life always waits for some crisis to occur before revealing itself as its most brilliant. This quote is by Paolo Coelho Last name is spelled C-O-E-L-H-O, so take a crack at pronouncing that. And if you know the actual pronunciation based off of the culture, feel free to post the phonetics to me because I do not know. But either way, I picked this quote because I think it is a great reminder of how we need to temper our expectations of storms, as well as tempering our fears of them, our concerns over them and what they mean for our lives. Let me read it again and then I'll get into my own personal insight. Lives Let me read it again and then I'll get into my own personal insight. Life always waits for some crisis before revealing itself as its most brilliant. Here's what I wrote down in my notes. I said don't be too scared of the storms or hard times. When they come upon you in all their inevitability, don't lose hope in that it will all be bad for you. It's in such lows that we often experience the highest highs when the rubber meets the road.

Speaker 1: 2:55

Here is what I mean by that, if it isn't already too obvious. What is a super bowl, guys? What is you know? The NBA finals? Or the World Series? Or the FIFA World Cup? If? If you're a sports fan, I don't know what the NHL thing is. I'm sorry hockey fans, but any sort of major sport, the storm, the biggest storm, the biggest crisis is that final game. Is that last those last few seconds on the shot clock. Guess what you remember the most out of a team's career? It's those final games, it's those shot clock moments, it's those highlight reels. The highlight reels aren't really highlight reels.

Speaker 1: 3:47

When everything is going their way and there's no conflict whatsoever, it's just easy peasy no competition. No competition means no attention either. It's just not entertaining to watch. So what's the most entertaining?

Speaker 1: 4:01

Conflict, and not just conflict for the sake of conflict. Some people like conflict for the sake of conflict. I'm not that type of person, nor do I want to hang out with those types of people. Either way, conflict for the sake of conflict? That's a joke, by the way.

Speaker 1: 4:15

Conflict for the sake of conflict isn't what I'm talking about. It's conflict for the sake or it is the overcoming of conflict that is so captivating, that is so enthralling, that is so motivating and inspiring. It's when we see people like Kobe Bryant, or name your favorite sports person, achieve what they achieved. It's in those moments and realizing oh man, there's no way I could do that, or it would be extremely difficult, very difficult for me to achieve that, even if I had all their levels of talent or their genetics. It is the overcoming of that crisis that reveals the beauty of triumph. There is no brilliance to be seen if there's no dirt and muck around.

Speaker 1: 5:09

To compare it to, it's kind of like the difference between light and darkness If there is no darkness and this is kind of a mind-bending question. But is there any real need for appreciating light if everything? Yeah, let me not go there. That'd be more confusing because I just confused myself. But let me say it again if darkness wasn't a thing, would you really appreciate being able to turn on a light switch? If everything was just bright all the time, what would be the purpose of the light bulb? There wouldn't be any. There wouldn't be any use to it. There wouldn't be any value in it. So let's, let's bring it back to sports, because that's a lot easier for my brain to put out at a moment's notice. But if there is no other team vying for the Vince Lombardi trophy or award or whatever for football, is it really entertaining to just watch your favorite football team just walk onto a field and then directly onto a stadium just to get a trophy. Why would that be televised? It wouldn't. It wouldn't sell. But when there's another team opposing them, wanting it just as bad as they do, that makes for entertainment.

Speaker 1: 6:43

It's a crisis, and you and I, as humans, we eat crisis for breakfast when it's somebody else's. That's why gossip and drama is so alluring to some people, because it's a way for them to indulge in crisis either being overcome or being wrought in someone else's life, without them being personally involved or without their resources or assets being at stake. It's, unfortunately, a twisted way to enjoy that, but it is something principle-wise that we you and I enjoy. We love seeing something difficult, conquered. It's cathartic, it's relieving to us, it is fulfilling to us. Let me put it in another way that you can understand Relation-wise, relationally as stressful as it can be to approach a girl that you like, if she was the type I'm talking to my guys here If she was a type to just automatically say yes to every, absolutely everything, anything somebody else asked her, she said yes, let me borrow your pencil.

Speaker 1: 8:05

Yeah, you want to go out on a date? Yeah, you want to go get coffee? Yeah, can I get ten dollars? Yeah, like if that was the type of person she was, would you be so nervous about going to ask her out to prom? No, because there's no challenge, there's no difficulty to it and therefore, automatically, because of the absence of difficulty, because of the absence of crisis guess what? You also automatically subconsciously reduce, as it relates to that person, value worth.

Speaker 1: 8:44

Why do you think people are so worried about the money they spend sometimes? Is it not because it took them hours and energy to earn? That's another huge part about the working class mindset that I personally have to still break is breaking the need to attach time to money, to attach time to money, and I have to get to the place where I'm now leveraging time for money, not trading time for money. Hopefully that makes sense. But either way, let me get back to the main point.

Speaker 1: 9:26

Life always awaits for some crisis to occur before revealing itself at its most brilliant. I want it as its most brilliant, sorry. I want this to be an encouragement to you, even if you forget everything else I've said in this particular episode. I hope it's been grateful, great to you in that it's a reassurance that difficulty is not something you need to run away from all the time, but I also want it to be an encouragement to you that if you are going through something right now, through a storm that you can't escape, that you can't run from say, for example, there's drama in your family or you live in an abusive home, or that you can't get away from like legitimately, if you, depending on you, know the nature of the abuse, you definitely should. But if you can't, and it's something that isn't life-threatening and it's more just relational disconnect, that's something that you have to work out. You know, unfortunately for your comfort level and you can't leave, then guess what? What? That is a crisis, and it is a fact that life waits for a crisis to occur before revealing itself as its most brilliant. It's a fact, it's a principle, it's a formula.

Speaker 1: 10:43

The craziest moments in movies or shows are the moments that take your breath away because, oh man, you thought it was over, you thought it was the crisis, was going to be the end of all. That's why it's now a a tropey cliche. But when you see that, that that plane ski skiing across the water and heading towards a waterfall and they're trying to pick up speed but they can't get it up, they can't get it up in time and the plane just falls down the waterfall and the camera's just viewing that, that, that that waterfall edge, and you just hear silence. But then you hear and the plane is just back up in the air all of a sudden, almost like a jump scare moment, and you're like, and the pilot's like, yeah, we got it.

Speaker 1: 11:34

That is just the building of tension and the perpetuation of crisis after crisis, because first it was the engine and then it was the electricity, or the battery or the starter or whatever, or the wing was what wasn't working great, or the propeller wasn't turning and somebody had to hang outside the plane to like for it's all just building conflict and crisis. It's getting worse and worse and worse, and what creates the biggest like oh my gosh so is how bad it gets. Up until that moment, we cannot escape from crisis, friends. So ultimately, when it comes to your own personal development, don't look at how bad things are getting in your life and get absolutely discouraged or depressed, thinking that it's going to stay that way. It doesn't have to, and I talk about how you break out of that, or you know, at the very least, some guides towards not staying the same in the previous parts, previous episodes, but in your journey towards it, towards it not staying that way, towards not perpetually being in a state of crisis.

Speaker 1: 12:51

Guess what you have on the other end of that Brilliance, an evolution, a transformation, an epiphany Relief. And when you get on that side even before you get on that side, by the way you're already stronger than you used to be, because you could have quit a long time ago. I know that and you should know that too. You could have thrown in the towel. If you're still in a fight right now, hear me, you could have quit a long time ago. That other person could have quit.

Speaker 1: 13:22

But if you're both in it, if you're in a relationship and you're having troubles, hear me, you both. If you're in a relationship and you're having troubles, hear me. If you're both still in it, you both also could have quit and walked away. But if you're both still in it, you're both still fighting. You're both getting stronger. You're both building up resiliency. You're both building up endurance, endurance and, irregardless of how it ends up, you already you that are listening right now you are already better for it. You are already stronger for it, which makes you a more valuable person at the end of it, not less, even if they take worldly possessions or they take what you feel is your own sense of value. You can get that back and you can make it even greater than it used to be.

Speaker 1: 14:17

Start with this first building stone, in that you are not your mistakes, you are not what they have taken. You are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God and you are a valuable human being, one that is capable of facing down the deepest, darkest things that you can ever imagine and still saying today is a good day. Good day, man. Imagine how like badass it is to just be defiant in the face of depression or anxiety or fear and to face those things down, even with tears in your eyes and your hands shaking, your knees, knocking and declaring with a loud voice. Sometimes you can't. I understand. Some days I ain't about being positive. I hear you. But if you'll make a stand to make it a habit of yours, to make it what you do most times, most times, to stand before all those instances and before crises and to declare today is a good, good day, that I am stronger, I am grateful, I am happy, I am fulfilled, I am complete, even if you don't feel like it right now, speak it out.

Speaker 1: 15:42

You already speak out a bunch of negative stuff about yourself. That isn't always true, so why not do it with the positive? Huh, because I I get tired of people telling me, like you know, whenever I suggest hey, just say I'm stronger or I'm more wealthy, like, speak that stuff over yourself and they're like but it's not true. Uh, it's also not true that you're a dumbass. I'm sorry if anybody's shocked by that terminology, but do we not think of ourselves in that way? Let's be real here. Are you actually a dumbass? No, you made a mistake. You were ignorant about something or you outright ignored advice that you should have taken. Was that a dumb mistake? Yes, are you a dumbass? No, it is not the same thing. It's not an. If this, then that sort of situation. Are you a coward because you run from confrontation with those closest to you? No, you may be acting cowardly or you may have moments where fear overtakes your actions, but until you decide to fully assimilate this whole fear mindset, you yourself are not to be labeled as a coward.

Speaker 1: 17:07

I don't care how the other person feels and I don't care how you feel about this particular thing. Stop labeling yourself as all these negative traits that you exhibit. They do not define you. Hopefully that wasn't too intense for some of y'all, and if it was, then maybe you need to check yourself, because I don't believe anything I've just said is incorrect. But if it is, hey, you are more than welcome to either write me or to post a comment, whatever it is, on whatever platform, to let me know what you actually think about it or or how you think I can. Um, I can be more correct, whichever, I don't know, but tell me. If you think I'm wrong, that's fine, I don't. I don't mind discourse, but at the very least, if you are going to say that I'm incorrect, tell me what the alternative is.

Speaker 1: 18:08

I want to hear that. What's your plan or what's your better outcome for somebody that's constantly telling themselves that they're weak or that they're worthless? Should I not be telling such a person that they are lying to themselves? Irregardless of what anybody thinks, I am never going to be a proponent for agreeing to someone saying to themselves that they are worthless, because that is a lie from the pit of hell. Sometimes I feel that way about myself Heck, sometimes very few times, but sometimes genuinely. I've said that about myself out loud and I'm not proud of that. But guess what? For the most part, I am doing my utmost to override every single time that. I've said that by time and time again, reaffirming my own value in the eyes of God and in the eyes of man, because that is how you truly awaken yourself to who you are and, eventually, who you are meant to be. That is the true you. I went on a bit of a tirade there, but either way I felt that was for somebody.

Speaker 1: 19:26

So if that was for you, please take that to heart, take some notes, write, write it down. Freaking, remember this and practice it when you feel okay. Don't just whip this out when you're feeling sad or down, because your brain is already pre-programmed with those neural pathways to just jump into the negative. Don't fall prey to that and I'm not just speaking to you, I'm speaking to me as well, because I've been that and sometimes I am that you will play and perform how you practice. So don't just wait until you're under pressure to apply the positive thinking or positive mindset or the growth mindset. Apply it when you're not under pressure, make it a habit, make it a reflex. That is how you grow, that is how you plan, that is how you improve and that is how you truly awaken.

Speaker 1: 20:21

I'd like to wrap this up with James 1, verse 22 through 25. And this is the NIV version, new International Version. It says Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in the mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it they will be blessed in what they do. I would dare to add to that a personal Jason comment they will also be fulfilled in who they are. Those are the kinds of people walking around that you see, that aren't so easily swayed by other people's opinion, or at least they tend to be those kinds of people.

Speaker 1: 21:29

Anyway, my heart is full and my mind is empty. Empty because I put it all out there, or at least mostly empty. I could go on and on, but I don't want to, you know, overload you guys with information. Ultimately, if nothing else, hear my plea to you to value yourself more and to do the work that is incumbent upon you to do, and by that I mean do the work that you owe yourself to do in order to truly not just manifest but also be aware of, acknowledge and bask in the manifestation of your value, the realization of your value. Otherwise it goes to waste. Otherwise, other people are free to manipulate it to their own ends and with whatever their yeah, to their own ends, selfish or otherwise. You don't want that, trust me. Anyway, thank you for allowing me to speak with you, to speak to you, and I look forward to the day where I get to speak with you, converse with you guys, whoever you are.

Speaker 1: 22:48

I don't know, maybe we'll meet out in the wild someday when this becomes something, if it becomes something. I don't know if it will, but ultimately, god told me to do this, so I'm just doing it, I'm just doing my job. At this point, I'm just showing up crisis or not show up? Hey, that's a sermon. Anyway, I love you guys. Thanks for listening. Bye, bye-bye, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Speaker 1: 23:13

Before I end, this is the end of whatever season this is. This is season one. I think this is season one. So, yeah, this marks the end. Dang, I almost ended it just randomly with a random bye-bye. Yeah, this is the end of season one. I don't know quite yet when I will continue. I might just give myself a break for the audio and then, when I come back, it'll be video and audio. I don't know yet. Just give me some grace in figuring this out.

Speaker 1: 23:43

School starts up for me again and ramps up in difficulty or in busyness, I guess in amount of work. Next week, which is the 21st of October Monday, that's the second half of fall semester. So, yeah, just bear with me, and I'll try not to be gone for too, too long in some way, shape or form. So, yeah, I love you guys, and more than anything else. This isn't validation for me. I want you to be validated, I want you to feel heard, I want you to feel understood, loved, even if you're not fully agreed with, which is what one of my indirect mentors likes to say Fully seen, fully heard, fully known, fully loved, even if you're not fully agreed with. If you're not fully agreed with, okay, ah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm looking forward to one day meeting the true you. Thanks for listening.