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#12 Nacho: Trust, Miracles, and Being Present

• John Gillman • Season 1 • Episode 12

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Meet Nacho, a firm believer in miracles and faith. For the past few years, he’s embraced a pilgrim lifestyle, traveling minimally while relying on the kindness of others or wild camping for shelter.

Nacho has documented his journey on YouTube, sharing his insights on finding higher purpose, confronting fear, and discovering your true calling in life.

In this episode, Nacho opens up about his incredible transformation — from struggling with depression to finding inner peace, thanks to a homeless mentor who taught him the profound power of forgiveness and living fully in the present moment.

If you're looking to overcome adversity, deepen your spirituality, or live more mindfully, this conversation is for you. Whether you're navigating personal challenges or seeking growth, Nacho's story offers hope, inspiration, and practical wisdom.

have to die tomorrow, I'm going to die tomorrow. don't think a lot of people would say that their life flows too easily. Fear is the biggest thing that it's between you and all your dreams. Yeah, expectation is a way of controlling. Most of our thoughts are because we want to control the future. That's what I think we lose ourselves. Having a laugh every day is like the most important thing. The miracles are only now. They are not in the past, they are not in the future. I found something inside myself that I never expected to find, which was some kind of piece. You travel very minimally and you document it on YouTube? I'm not going to document anymore on YouTube because it keeps me so much from the present moment that I realize that it's not my thing. And do you think social media keeps you from the present moment? yeah, absolutely. I'm not using right now social media and also not YouTube or consuming almost any app on the phone. It drives you crazy? Yeah, a little bit. takes me a little bit from the truly essential important things. What do you think it means to be present? For me it's something like to be connected. To be connected with yourself, with your feelings, with what you want, what you love in life. To be connected with this part of you, then connected to other people, the people around you. So feeling other people. Realizing that life is passing next to you and to be present is for example to go through a park and see in a bench a poor man drinking and realizing of it. Like my god, this man is there, poor thing for example. Or you could think that or something else, right? But realizing of what's happening around you. And the third thing, to be connected with everything, right? The nature, everything. Do you believe... Like a higher purpose. Being present is kind of ties in with that. Yeah, think we can also be connected to God or how you want to call it. You can be connected to a higher intelligence. How I feel it is intelligence that is loving intelligence. So it's something that can love us and can have a relationship with us somehow. So we can have a relationship with everything, right? For me the higher purpose is love. think that's the meaning of life for me. Love others. To love others. Do you believe in vibrations? They say the highest vibration is love. We all attract more beautiful people when we are beautiful with ourselves. When our heart is loving and kind, we can attract people like that. You know, like these people are just naturally attracted to this beautiful vibration of that you unconsciously give away even if you don't want to. But I don't think it's always like that. It can be also that it is just like a present from life, a present from God that even though you are in a very bad moment and like with such a bad energy and such a low vibration, but however there is something for you that you need to receive. So it's not like you deserve it, but it's something that is like coming from the free love of the source or the free love from God or something that is not necessarily that you attracted it because of how you're feeling, because maybe you're feeling awful. You still get something like a miracle. Your YouTube page is called A Road to Miracles. So what's your philosophy then? Because you kind of seem like you have a philosophy. I follow a calling in my heart. I don't know how to explain it very short. I follow a calling to the unknown and to help others in the way I was meant to do it. for example, there's a story. Once when I arrived here to the Canaries, like four years ago, I was just six months in the Canaries. And then I started traveling the world. But that was my very beginning. And I had this calling to climb a volcano and I had to get there by hitchhiking because I couldn't do this road. It was like a very dangerous road, like through the mountains without any space for pedestrians to walk. And then I decided to still do it. Then the first miracle happened, like one man stopped after one minute walking on this very dangerous road. So I got into his car and he took me all the way to the volcano. and then I climbed the volcano, was like a very short climb, half an hour or something like that. And then I had like one hour left of light, so there was not much light left, and it was very dangerous and I was like two hours away by walking off the place where I was sleeping. So I had to trust somehow that it's somehow going to work. So I just like followed this calling into the unknown. I don't understand the reason but it's a powerful calling that is happening inside me and I know I have to do it. So then I started walking, started hitchhiking and then a woman stopped her car. She was 33 years old. She told me that she never picked up a hitchhiker but she had nothing to lose because she was about to suicide this same day. And she told me that she was going to the volcano because she wanted to meditate about that. Then she told me a story about her life that she couldn't go, how do you say, hiking for one year. And that was the only thing, that was her passion, right? And then she realized how poor was her life when she realized that in the last whole year she was just like working three jobs and never being happy with them. However, she had to maintain things that also didn't make her happy. So she was working on some things that didn't make her happy. to maintain other things who also didn't make her happy. So she was in a trap, so she didn't see any purpose in her life. She was not a very, a woman of spiritual woman or something, she said, because I was in my last moments, I just asked to God or to some something, like I asked, please give me, give me a sign if I don't have to suicide, put me an angel on the way, give me something. And then that was the reason why she stopped the car, because she thought I might be this angel. The thing is like I told her just a story of my life, of my own suffering, of how I went through a depression, how I went through different things, also took me to traveling. And she saw, let's say, some kind of light, some kind of answer from God. That was what made her... take the decision to not suicide and instead of that she said okay I don't have fear anymore because I was about to die. She lost this fear that she had to live the life that maybe she she wanted to live then she stopped doing two of her jobs and then everything started flowing. After six months she changed her status on whatsapp and she wrote love is the purpose of life. I asked her because I saw it and I asked her how are you doing how is everything and she said already acquitted two of my jobs but now I found a purpose in life. And her mother, that was sick and was like a huge problem for her and like a huge pressure in her heart to maintain her and everything, was her reason to live. And everything changed just because she lost this fear to live, like this fear to follow this calling. And her calling was saying like, just stop doing this. two jobs that you are not loving at all and just the remaining job she started loving it even though she hated it at the beginning and then everything started flowing she followed this calling and I followed my calling and then you follow this calling something that comes from the very deep of your heart then this kind of miracles happen and this is has been happening in my life for the last four years I'm hitchhiking, I'm couchsurfing knocking door by door to find accommodation. Every day a miracle happens, right? I find a way to survive and to connect with beautiful people. People listening then, you travel very minimally, you don't pay for accommodation. Do you spend money at all? I spend very little money. Normally I only spend money on food, sharing and helping. It's like kind of a spiritual rule to... to trust, to keep trusting, right? Because the money is what makes you live more in your head, right? Controlling everything. So the more money you have, the more you want to control and the less you can trust. So to travel this way is a way to say, helping, if I can help, I'm gonna give my help to someone. If I can share with someone, like I meet someone who is hosting me and then this person is going for dinner. Well then I will spend money on this dinner even though it's not... it's maybe luxury but okay because in this case it's sharing and in the other case it's just for food so just eating. So yeah I spent sometimes 150 euros in one whole month. Yeah. So very very little while traveling. And you've been doing that for four years? Yeah. Would you call yourself a pilgrim? We are all pilgrims, maybe, I don't know, like I see, like we are all searching for something, right? Like a pilgrim, it's a... Well, not necessarily searching for something, but like... He's walking... Yeah, he's walking a spiritual path, right? Trying to find himself, trying to find God. Trying to find the purpose of life. So I think like we are all kind of pilgrims, but I'm also walking, right? A lot of people... I don't think a lot of people would say that their life flows too easily. Do you think life is a lot of flow now? My life? Is there a sense of ease? For me I think the more life flows when you give up. When you give up everything. please understand what I'm saying. I'm not saying to give up your dreams, to give up what you're doing. I mean to give up control. Because we're always... We want to get to something, right? We are in point A and we want to arrive to point B. And we try to control everything around us in order to get to point A. When the only thing that we can truly control is ourselves. And all the rest is just a consequence. I think we sometimes try to control other people to change things accordingly to what we think is the best. But first of all, we don't know what's the best. And second, we cannot control people. And we cannot control the environment. It's too wild, it's too unpredictable, it's too complex. So we just spend so much time stressing, worrying, because we are trying to control things and therefore when something doesn't go as we planned, we just get stressed and we want to control more, right? It's a never Control outcomes and... Yeah, it's a never -ending... So the more you give up, that's why I go with little money, that's why I just do a go-away hitchhiking, that's why I... Trust on the hospitality of people just knocking door by door and trusting that destiny or God will bring me the right person. Even though it might be scary of course because you never know right? You could find a crazy person who wants to kill you. You trust. You forget about these things and you say okay just put myself in the hands of God and I trust that however I have to die I'm gonna die. So if I have to die tomorrow I'm going to die tomorrow. So you just give up. You give up the... wanting to do everything your way, just give it away and then is when I feel the more miracles happen. The more miracles happen, the more you trust and the less you try to control. Definitely the less I try to control, the happier I am. I was backpacking for like four months last year. I wasn't working, so, but like I did notice like I was able to reflect on my normal existence when I was just working. normal job etc. And I just realized how much you do try to control everything. It's hard. I find it very hard not to control. Even I listen back to some podcast episodes that I did. I'm like, yeah, I was making such good points. I forget all of this. When you start, as you said, being... Well, this is just a consequence of stop controlling, stop thinking, right? Because it's an ever -ending thing because you can always control more. So you will always have the feeling that you're not controlling enough. And whenever something goes wrong, you will make yourself guilty because you were not controlling enough. Your conclusion will be that you want to control more. Because you feel you're not controlling enough. Exactly, because you always feel like, I should have done it better. should have done it better. should have done it better. So you have to break this cycle and say, Okay, just has to be if something goes wrong, it's not because I was not controlling enough. It's just because sometimes things go wrong. Of course, if you are... It's not like when you see a lion, you're going to run away, right? It's not that you're controlling or that you're worrying, no, it's just something that is in front of you. So that's also part of being present. You must have changed lot because you've been doing what you've been doing for... four years. It's very much, I suppose, spiritual endeavor and you travel, you're just knocking people's doors and you're doing a lot of trusting and you're very minimalistic and you're not materialistic. So how have you changed? You must be quite different to the guy you were. Well, yeah, I used to be a very materialistic person. You were materialistic. I tried this kind of life and I realized that it didn't fulfill me at all. Well, first I went through a depression. And that's through this depression I went through very very hard moments and after that I left this miracle where I was meditating in some kind of monastery and I found something inside myself that I never expected to find which was some kind of peace, like deep peace which made me feel, not think, but feel, like feel in all of my being that everything was okay. That every single mistake that I was making myself guilty because of my past, because of my previous relationship with a girl that I was two years and I became very toxic with her and we had this emotional attachment. So after going through all this and being in the most, the deepest emptiness, I realized first of all, nothing before had ever fulfilled me. And second, well, I met this man, 71 year old. homeless man on the street that I went to visit for three months every single day and this homeless man gave me something that I needed which was faith. I wasn't a man of faith, right? Ever since I met this man who was living there and who was happy and who was so faithful, I started believing in God that for me God is a being that loves. loves me and loves all of us. So that's my definition of God. It's something that loves to the very, very, very maximum and infinite that we cannot imagine. And I felt this love and this meditation thing. I was in total silence and in this silence I felt total peace. Like I felt a peace that made me feel like I don't need to eat, I don't need to drink, I don't need anything. I just need to be. I just need to be there. And I was happier than ever before. And that was the end of my depression. I don't know anyone whose depression finished this way. Normally it's a very... My depression seemed to never... to have end. However, I started believing what this homeless man was telling me. He was like very old man. He didn't know how to write, how to read. But he knew other stuff about life. So I became... not a materialistic person but more like a spiritual person and I started this spiritual journey. He made me also start traveling and inspired me to lose my fear. So I started following the callings because when you have fear you cannot follow the callings. it is fear really. Fear is the biggest thing that it's between you and all your dreams, between you and love, between you and freedom, between you and peace, between you and everything. Fear is the reason why we are not totally free. So you need to stop thinking and follow a little bit this calling, little by little, and then feel that there is something taking you. So it's not just you and everything is hanging on your shoulders, but there is something bigger than us that we might not understand, but it is there. And I felt this presence for four years. Every day when I didn't have work to sleep, I didn't have food, I didn't have money, when I didn't have whatever, I just found what I needed in the right moment. So I learned to trust, but still you always have crisis. For everyone. For the most saint, for the most wise. Yeah. Doesn't matter. Life is like that and there are periods of suffering, periods of confidence, periods of faith, periods of... lack of faith periods of it order vs chaos exactly yeah there is like both are both are necessary both teach you something a lot of people believe like to have good you must have evil and it's like energy opposing forces so how did the guy how did the old man what did he did you just have a conversation with him the first day I met him or you mean like in general did you meet him a few times or I met him one day Then I went to visit him for every single day. Really? three months. Every day he was telling me a different story. I was just sitting next to him and learning through his eyes, right? Like, his faith. Like, for example, there was once there was this very old lady. Well, not very old, but like, I don't know, maybe 50 or something or 60 something. And she was with a very long and expensive coat. She looked at him. with such bad eyes. And this hurt me. She was treating my friend as an animal. And I just wanted to go to her and tell her, who do you think you are to look like that to this poor man? Do think you are better than him? So I felt like going like that and telling her. And so I asked Vicente, that's his name. Vicente, why do you allow people to look at you like that? And he said, well... She doesn't know that she might be in this position or her son might be in this position. She just cannot imagine this. So that's why I forgive her. So that was his answer, you know, he was just forgiving everyone. And he later he told me he made this promise to forgive every single person, whatever they do to him. And some people stole from him too. Can you imagine? still from a poor man on the street just to buy drugs or whatever. He still could forgive these people. He forgave everyone and that also what made him so in peace every day. He didn't keep any hate to anyone. So he forgave all the time. That was another of his lessons. I learned lessons with him every single day. It was the only thing that was calming for me during my depression. Really? Yeah. It's an interesting story. Get him on the podcast. No, joke aside, no, it's very interesting. Have ever heard of Eckhart Tolle? I read the power Have you read the power Yes, of course. He said he was quite depressed. He said he was homeless on a park bench and then he had a spiritual awakening. Just like that, he transcended. So what do you think about... He's quite an interesting character. I can't tell you. Like his books. I don't know how to describe his book, The Power of Now, but... Definitely changed my perspective. Yeah, definitely, definitely. It's a book to read a lot of times, I think. Yeah, I think to live in the present moment is so important. The miracles are only now. They are not in the past, they are not in the future. And we spend most of our time in the past and in the future. Which are non -existing things. So everything you can do... It is just now. Otherwise you're not living, you're just... Taking things too seriously and controlling. I know it's maybe a bit deeper than that but you if you are always looking back, like if you... Whenever I find I'm living in the present, I'm not half as like serious. You just don't take life so intensely and you don't have too much expectations. You just laugh a bit more. Having a laugh every day is like the most important thing. I think expectations are quite the thing. Because when you are able to live without expectations, then you can take life as it comes. Yeah, it's it's controlled. an expectation is a way of controlling. Yeah, because... And the worst thing is that they will never make you happy. You will always just compare yourself or whatever is happening to you with how you expected it to be. Social media is just fuel for expectations and... Yeah. Yeah, it's so toxic really. Like a lot of my friends, a few of buddies that I meditate and they're like curious and I respond that you you become more present and you become less identified with thought. But they can't really grasp the concept of not being identified with thought. Like they don't understand what I'm saying but I think... How Christianity taught it was it's more like to not live in tomorrow. Like Jesus said like look at the birds. They don't worry. However, they find everything they need. All the food, the way they have to do. They have everything inside them. And so we do. So it's a way to say, not because you worry more, you're gonna earn one more second in your life. So it's like saying, lose the fear of death and lose the fear of suffering. Because you're not gonna live. So it's like being today. So I think at the end also other religions try to say the same. Like the only moment is now. Jesus would say you can only find God now. Not in the past, not in the future. But you can feel the presence of this infinite love in this moment if you just listen, try to feel more and just lose your fear. You can find the... love like it's a long path but it's beautiful path which is full of suffering as life what advice would you give to 18 year old natural wow my god 30 seconds huge responsibility to them hey hey natural lovely people well I would say don't be afraid to follow your heart even if Everyone tells you to not do it because they are afraid Just if you have a calling in your heart if you are listening to a calling that it just seems a little bit risky but somehow underneath there's like a promise of happiness of growth of Then just follow it and think what's the worst thing that can happen Thanks, not natural. Thanks for your time today. Welcome brother enjoyed chatting with you