"Your Brain Wants Safety, Your Soul Wants Spain." (w/Brendan Fitzgibbons)

It's time for a little soul vacation. Brendan takes the mic solo to share go big on powerful insights about fear, action, and how to transcend your brain’s default setting of same old, same old. Inspired by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez's appearance on Tim Ferris' podcast and backed by wisdom from last week’s guest, 

Brendan explores:

🧠 Finding that sweet spot between the familiar past and predictable future,

✈️ The magic of acting on your intuition—even when it makes no logical sense,

🔥 Why fear doesn’t mean stop (it means GO!),

🚀 How taking action creates actually jumps you into a new reality,

🌍 Why your brain says “no” to Spain but “yes” to staying stuck—and how to DO IT anyway, 

💡 And why exploring why Indiana Jones is obsessed with things belonging in a museum. 

RESOURCES
🎬 Watch the video of the Episode Here.
🎬 Support Brendan’s show Death is Normal on Seed & Spark
📖 Invincible: The 10 Lies You Must Unlearn to Unlock Your Infinite Power by Howard Falco
📲 Follow Brendan on Instagram: @the_brendanfitzgibbons

Transcript

00:00:00] I was recently out at a country western bar and I saw the lead singer was dressed like Indiana Jones, and it got me thinking that all we ever actually really knew about Indiana Jones. Was that he hated snakes and all he cared about was things belonging in a museum. And all of us were like, yeah, it kind of does belong in a museum, you know?

And all of us just went with it. We didn't have a lot of questions like, Hey, what was your childhood like? Or like, do you have any dreams or goals? Why have you never had a successful relationship? I don't know. Because you're always saying that things belong in a museum. I feel like Indiana Jones would be the shittiest gift giver ever.

You know, he's dating a girl and he's like, Hey, I got you an engagement ring. And she's like, oh my God, yes, of course I'm, it belongs In a museum. Give it back.

Can you imagine his hinge profile, Indiana Jones leather hat. Leather suit, whip it [00:01:00] says Hate snakes has whip. It belongs in a museum.

Welcome everybody to a brand new episode of Spiritual Asshole. I am your host, Brendan Fitzgibbons, coming to you live from my living room kitchen as you normally do. And I'm so excited to have you guys here today. Today's guest is me. I will be breaking down talking to you guys about something that's been really striking me lately that I think is really, really cool.

I watch a lot of things guys on YouTube and some people out there don't watch YouTube and we call those people employed and. I came across this amazing Robert Rodriguez interview with Tim Ferriss and it's just something I've been thinking about so much. Before we do that though, I wanted to thank everybody for coming and to follow me on Instagram.

It is at the underscore, Brendan Fitzgibbons on Instagram. Check me out also on YouTube, making videos, doing things so.

First of all, how are you guys, first of all, how is everything going with everybody here? and I hope [00:02:00] you're doing fantastic out there. I you know what I'd really like from this crowd? I really wanna do an episode where I take questions from people, please send me questions at the Under Bread Fit Gibbons on Instagram, and I would love to answer your questions as best as I can and have some fun with it.

And we'll have a great time. Robert Rodriguez is a famous filmmaker. He has done Spy Kids. He's worked with Quentin Tarantino a lot. I believe they did Grindhouse Together. Anyway, so he was recently on Tim Ferriss's podcast and he had something really interesting to say about fear and taking a chance.

So here he is.

[00:03:00] [00:04:00] 

Here's what I, here's what I know guys for sure.

I'm having kind of a hard time focusing on this video because I just see my tea kettle in the background.

And I've talked about this a lot, and this is kind of what Robert Rodriguez said, right? So you have a. Amazing soul that wants to expand forever, and a human brain that's trying to keep you safe. And it tries to keep you safe by oscillating in between two places really of thought, right?

Which is familiar, past, predictable future. So then you're either thinking about the things that have happened to you in the past, or you're using that template right, to then [00:05:00] predict and create your future so you can quote, be safe and you don't have to experience any pain. Now it's objective in the sense that it doesn't actually really care whether or not that familiar past or predictable future is even gonna be beneficial to you, right?

Like right now, I'm not living in my dream apartment, but right now, according to my biology or my wiring, it's safe. Okay? And we can call this phenomenon kind of the program, right? So your brain is kind of always oscillating between familiar, past, predictable future, familiar past, predictable future, especially as you get older.

By the time you're 35, your beliefs are kind of hardwired in. So if you're younger than 35 and you're listening to this, . First of all, go register to vote. You know? Second of all, go rent a car.

Third of all, congratulations, you're ahead of the curve. You now have the ability to have [00:06:00] a little bit more of a plastic brain to rewire things. Now, if you're over 35, don't worry. There's still hope for you. . You still count as a person Okay, so Zoom just did fireworks. Don't worry, there's still hope for you. You can always rewire your brain and be in bed by a comfortable eight 30, which is what I know you really care about. Why I love this clip is, okay, so familiar past the predictable future, right? So what will happen to keep you in that state is when you have an inclination or an idea to do something that you want to do. So for those of you listening right now, I know that deep down you're listening to this because you know that there's something more to life, right?

You know, there's something more out there. Right. But in order to experience that something more, you're probably going to have to create something or experience something you've never experienced before. You've never actually done before, right? [00:07:00] So here, this is what I mean by the dichotomy of you're so wanting to expand, but your brain wanted to keep you safe.

So you get an inclination, right? And you're like, I really, really want to go to Spain. Who doesn't want to go there? We should all probably actually, fuck it. Let's just move there. If someone just said, my inclination is I really, really, really want to go to

want to go to Secaucus, New Jersey.

You have a deep down intuition that your life sucks.

, So you have a ping. I really wanna go to Spain. Okay, so what happens? You get excited.

It feels awesome. It feels free, like, fuck yeah, Spain, right? Now I really want to go to De Kembe Mutombo end of life ceremony in Atlanta. I'll give you a good example of my life and we'll play it out, right? I want to go do that thing. Why? Because I just love him. I think he's incredible, and something's telling me to go to this and I really wanna support him, right?

So what happens is I say this thing. Intuition expansion, here we go. Then your logical brain, what [00:08:00] happens? It starts coming in, right? And it's like, here's all the reasons why you can or cannot do this. Here's a logical breakdown of the possibilities, and here's the doubt and the fear as to why that's not going to happen.

now you get into this kind of, to use a term that I heard a shaman say to me once, mental masturbation place

of, well, I should, I shouldn't, I could, I couldn't. Maybe I am. Maybe I won't. Maybe I should. Maybe I did.

If we're being really honest, 90% of people who have an intuitive pull, a genuine intuitive pull. And I know that this is harder to discern, right? Because what's the difference between intuition and what's the difference between having a little too much confidence and one too many white claws?

But if you have an intuitive pull that's like a nice fulfilling tap, I think , a hundred percent of the time that it's always right. 90% of the [00:09:00] time it's your interpretation of it as to whether or not it is actually right. So I wanna go to Dikembe Mutombo. This fictional person wants to go to Spain. So then your mind will start working out based off of your previous life experiences. Why this thing, going to see Dikembe on Saturday or going to, Spain can or cannot happen, right? And what ends up happening for a lot of us.

We don't do it, or we say, we'll do it someday, or we say, we'll do it another time. Right? Or we say, yeah, that's just not for me, or that's just not possible. But why I love this clip so much is it's so easy when you want to do something and you want to achieve something, to shut it down, to let the fear around it, shut it down.

Or we think that on the flip side of this, we think that if there's fear attached to something, then I probably shouldn't do it, [00:10:00] right? So take some time right now. Well, I look at my tea kettle and ask yourself, what are some things in my life that I really want to do? And then ask yourself, why haven't I done them yet?

And really ask this, and some of your answers could be very legitimate. I'm not saying that there's not legitimate reasons not to go do something. For example, like I can't go to de MBE because on Saturday because I booked a job. that's a good reason. Sure.

Right. But like even when I'm thinking about it now. My entire outlook as to whether or not I could go do this is based on my past and past experiences, traveling, past experiences, everything. Okay, ask yourself why, but what I think I love this clip so much is Robert Rodriguez is saying like, the fear is okay.

The fear is going to be there But what matters is now that you don't have any fear,

so many of us think the best approach [00:11:00] is I should only do things if I have no fear about it. Or I'm not scared at all, so, okay, cool. I'll do this thing, which does happen sometimes. I mean, if you've ever seen anybody on a Black Friday, Walmart Stampede, those motherfuckers seem pretty fearless to me.

Okay. Talk about, confidence, right? So what he's saying is though, feel the fear. Have the fear, but then do it anyway. And this is what I think is so, so, so chronically important in our lives is to step out into the unknown. And you know, you've heard me talk about this so much, but this coincides with these two baseball announcers I heard recently on, I think it was.

Instagram, but I think they were, um, Dodgers announcers. and they were talking basically got this like heavy existential discussion. It was like, well, you know, by the time that you're a certain age it's uh, you get less excited about things 'cause there's less new things that you've done, you haven't done yet.

So, um. Yeah, 'cause there's less things you haven't done yet, so you just kinda lose excitement. And the other [00:12:00] announcer's like, well then how can we really combat this? And the other guy's like, I don't know. I'm like, wow, this is a far cry from Harry Carey going, holy cow. Cubs win. There's a great video of Harry Carey, former Chicago Cubs announcer, my other podcast called Hammered Heroes, where he just rails against Cracker Jack for like.

Five minutes during an entire inning because the toys aren't big enough for kids. And he's like, can you imagine being a kid opening up your cracker jack box and seeing that how small your toy is? Imagine being a kid and Steve Stone, the other announcer is like Ball two, strike three. Imagine. Hey, cracker Jack, how could you do this to people?

It's so good. Okay. Okay, so while that might be true that yes, you've had a lot of life experiences, but what I think the real truth is, is that your brain is trying to get you to only have similar experiences. Like there's no way, no way that by the time you're a certain age, like I've [00:13:00] traveled a lot, I've been in a lot of places, I've done some stuff.

I've probably done, you know, like 0.0% of all that life has to offer. Okay? Never been in space. Alright?

I've never voted for a libertarian. I've never,

never dated a Latin girl. That's super messed up guys. the great irony of all of this is that once you decide to do the thing, once you decide to take the action, you're gonna feel such an overwhelming sense of accomplishment, a dopamine rush and serotonin high from what you did because by doing that thing, you are creating, and you are here to create.

And Howler Falco's book our our guest last week, he literally said, like you, the entire reason why you are here is to create. Let me read you the passage.

Life most effectively expresses itself through creative distinction. This is why creativity [00:14:00] drives life. That is why the human species finds a sense of fulfillment and self identity in traveling to a new place, learning new information or a new skill, developing a new relationship, being part of a larger group and trying different clothing styles, tattoos, social media expressions, jewelry, art, or any other manifestation that brings distinction, reflects growth and attracts attention by saying, I exist.

I matter. I am woo woo. Hello. That's such an important distinction, guys. That's such an important thing. Let's go back to what I said about the analogy of the oscillating your brain between familiar, past, predictable future. Okay? It's almost like it's this needle on a clock, right? Which way are you going? The way you combat that and the way you transcend your own brain wiring is by a [00:15:00] few things.

Meditating classic, being an intense gratitude. Being in the present moment, which is usually linked to the previous two things I just said, falling in love. That's really important with life, with someone with your vape, ideally not, but what that does is it anchors your brain here and now. Right? So. You can realize the intensity of how abundant now can be by doing that.

And the last thing, I think exercising too. Things that can snap you. Here, here, here, here. Stay in that elastic place if you can. Stay there. If you can Stay in the place of appreciating now, but it being super excited and grateful for the possibilities of the future. You will become a fucking superhero, I promise you.

And the last thing is taking that action, doing it right. [00:16:00] So this is actually perfect timing, you know, I love my boy Bruce Springsteen 75, killing it and starting fights with the president of the United States. But so he just, um, when he was 20, he was so poor. So he lived with a guy who owned a surf shop and his name was Tinker in Jersey on the ocean and Springsteen.

You used to travel across the country with this guy. He was basically like their manager for a while. They would drive in cars together. That's what you usually drive in a car. They would drive and tinker. Like one time Bruce didn't know how to drive and he is just like, all right Bruce, you're driving.

Start driving right now, and there was stick shift, so you had to just learn on the fly. They drove across the country to do gigs. Right. It's went on for a while. Tinker just died. Bruce said he went to go visit him in the hospital and right before he died and he pulled Bruce really close and he was like, we sure did have a lot of adventures, didn't we?

Springsteen [00:17:00] and Springsteen's like we did. . Now notice when he pulled Bruce really close. Notice what he didn't say. He didn't say, Hey, Springsteen. Remember all those times that we used our logical, rational brains to talk ourselves out of all those adventures, we were in bed by nine, so we can be comfortably asleep and awake for the next day of.

Mindless productivity.

You know, YOLO ing gets kind of a bad rap, and I understand why, and hey, I'm for whatever makes people happy, right? But I do know this, I know you will remember the actions you took. You will not remember all the ruminating, worrying and analyzing that talked you out of them.

I. Okay. I remember going to Vienna for six months. I remember going to Ireland. I remember going to Norway. I remember the first [00:18:00] time I did standup comedy. I remember all the auditions I had, all the jobs I booked, but I don't remember all the anxiety that came with that, and how even despite that, I still pushed through and I still did it.

Okay, so fear forward, baby. That's what this is about. So go out tomorrow, take a small step. These don't have to be big things guys. I was specifically focusing on like, you know, traveling or starting a project, but even talking to someone that you would normally not talk to. So when you do that, you jump reality.

Right, because your brain wiring is on default, and if you could see what I'm doing, it's wanting to keep you going one very specific, safe way. So when you don't do that, what happens is you jump it. Okay? Now this line is fucked. But it's a good fucked because now it doesn't know where to go, and now you [00:19:00] have an elastic brain.

You have elastic brain wiring that is opening itself up to more possibilities. Okay? How cool does that shit sound? So I'm talking about, all right, the last thing I wanna talk to you guys about and I love you, and I thank you so much for being here. As I mentioned in the last episode. I am currently fundraising for my television show.

It's called Death is Normal. It's incredible. It starts me, Christopher Fernandez Arterio Caster, Matthew Moy. People from CBS Tron, the movie menu Ted Lasso, Lauren Conlen Adams, Cassandra, Blair. Cody Kavitha. I'm thinking I'm forgetting someone. I feel not great about that, but I know that they exist. It tells a story of the world in which everyone knows when they're born and when they die.

I'm the main character, Kevin Peterson. And we shot it last year. We shot the pilot and we're currently finishing it and we're so excited for the next steps. And I have a seed spark fundraiser asking for some remaining funds to fundraise for it. We [00:20:00] are so very close. We have 16 days left for our deadline. So if you can contribute anything that would mean so much to me, I really appreciate it.

And as a treat, because you're here, I'm gonna give you guys. A behind the scenes look of our shoot last year with amazing. Melissa Bolton Klinger, Dave Gorn, our, our DP and our director. And I wanna show you guys how much fun this is and how how great this project is here is a look at. Death is normal last year.

[00:21:00] 

You alright? So I'm gonna link the scene spark down below. Anything you could contribute would mean so much to me. This show is, so good, guys. And the world needs to see it. And the world need, and I'm so excited about where it's going to go. Okay. 'cause it's, 'cause it has a life. All right. And it's, it's all the things that we talk about in this podcast with laughing with the funnies, with some depth.

So check it out. I'm so excited for you guys to see it. Thank you. Any amount of money is much, much appreciated. I really, really thank you. You're amazing. We've had great support so far. I believe all your dreams can come true. I believe [00:22:00] your best days are ahead of you, and I believe more than anything that you can transcend any of your limitations and any of the doubts that you say to yourself, I know you're bigger than that, I believe it.

You are the best. Have the best week. I love you. Let's go.