One Thousand Gurus Podcast

#39: Hazier Rios - Improving Relationships, the Influence of Media & Government, and Cultivating More Peace

• J.R. Yonocruz • Season 4 • Episode 9

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Educator and psychology student Hazier Rios returns for a deeper conversation about how our education system fails to teach critical life skills while exploring ways to find peace in an increasingly chaotic world.

• Critical gaps in education, particularly around relationship-building and communication skills
• The financial struggles teachers face with absurdly low departmental budgets
• How modern media has become less original as arts education gets deprioritized
• The challenge of finding authentic leadership in modern social movements
• Redefining love as something that requires effort rather than Hollywood perfection
• Finding peace by disconnecting from technology and practicing presence
• The distinction between fleeting joy and lasting fulfillment
• How grounding yourself physically can lead to mental clarity and peace

Guest bio:
Hazier Rios holds a BA in Psychology from UCI, where he served as President of Active Minds, a student-led organization promoting mental health awareness. He’s delivered a TED Talk on improving your life, traveled to four continents, and continues to inspire students as a dedicated educator. Outside the classroom, Hazier makes music and rock climbs—balancing creativity and challenge in all areas of life. His ultimate goal is to earn a PhD in Clinical Psychology to help people around the world navigate their lives with clarity, compassion, and resilience.

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One Thousand Gurus Podcast:
Everyone has a compelling story to tell with insights we can all be inspired by. J.R. Yonocruz is a self-improvement blogger, relationship coach, and serial hobbyist with a passion for learning. He interviews unique guests from various fields to distill the strategies, habits, and mindsets we can use in our own lives. Each “guru” has a chance to give the audience a peek into a new world.

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Instagram: @OneThousandGurus
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YouTube: One Thousand Gurus Podcast
Email: onethousandgurus@gmail.com

J.R.:

Hello everyone and welcome back to another fun episode of 1000 Gurus with me, your host, jr Yonacruz. Today's episode is a repeat guest, javier Rios. Javier Rios holds a BA in Psychology from UCI, where he served as president of Active Minds, a student-led organization promoting mental health awareness. He's delivered a TED Talk on improving your life, traveled to four continents and continues to inspire students as a dedicated educator. Outside of the classroom, hazir makes music, rock climbs, balancing creativity and challenge in all areas of life. His ultimate goal is to earn a PhD in clinical psychology and to help people around the world navigate their lives with clarity, compassion and resilience.

J.R.:

So this was another fantastic part two conversation with the energetic and insightful Hazir. This episode was recorded back to back with Vanessa's episode number 40, so it comes out right after this one, but it was nice to reconnect and get some updates on what he's been up to the last month or so since the first recording. This episode was mostly a deeper dive into some of the topics that we missed or didn't go all the way into the first time. We also talk about talent management, flaws in the educational system, how to improve our social relationships, the state of modern media, the government, what love is and how to cultivate more peace in our lives. So, without further ado, hope you enjoy this episode with Hazir Rios. Hello everyone and welcome back to 1000 Gurus. Please welcome back my guest, Hazir Rios.

Hazi:

Hello hello, good to be back.

J.R.:

Hello everyone. How's everyone doing today? Yeah, so I heard your drive from SD was pretty gnarly today.

Hazi:

Oh, my gosh, yeah, it was terrible. 405, is it? Yeah, it was 405, so it's 805 to the 5 to the 405 and, oh my god, there was literally a lot of accidents today, unfortunately.

J.R.:

Yeah, yeah, what? Yeah, I don't know if you normally drive up this way, but what is the normal time? And then, what was today? Just to give some anxiety to our audience.

Hazi:

So, yeah, the normal time we were projected to only be like two hours and 20 minutes, but then it ended up being like three hours, yeah, maybe a little bit more like three hours and 15. Yeah, and you're going to vegas at that point yeah, exactly yeah, and we're almost there, we're almost there it's probably because it's just like it's a friday.

J.R.:

I don't know where people are going. They're going so fast and getting into accidents yeah, and when school's ending too.

Hazi:

So everyone, I guess, is way too excited. I don't know. We had a lot of people cut us off today too. Oh yeah crazy, crazy day but we but we're good, we made it and we're here right now. Yeah, good to be here.

J.R.:

Yeah Well, I'm excited to have you back. So, yeah, your episode came out recently, episode number 33, your lucky number as well. It was one of my favorite episodes. I probably say that about all my episodes, but I really enjoyed it. I think I was talking to a friend of mine. I told him some of my favorite guests are teachers, or some teachers in a capacity, because I feel like teachers are my ideal guests, at least historically, because they're more thoughtful, they transfer their own ideas and reflections to students or in whatever capacity they're doing dance teachers, like educational field, whatever and so I think you are no exception to that. I think your answers are really insightful and it made me think about things and hopefully the audience feels the same way.

J.R.:

Appreciate, that that makes sense though yeah, and so this episode for part two. Like you said, it's gonna be a lot easier. We also don't have rapid fire questions, but what have you been up to since then? Any updates, life updates.

Hazi:

Let's see well, I officially. Well, we're gonna go out of, we're going to mexico and like over the summer yeah, it's gonna really fun, me and Vanessa, but I start my master's program for psychology in the fall, so that's going to be really fun. September, october, october, yeah, or I guess very last day of September.

J.R.:

Yeah.

Hazi:

I think on the 29th. Yeah, but let's see what else, man, it's this. And then I just finished the school year, like literally today was my last day, and then I zoomed over here right after yeah, it was.

Hazi:

I mean a lot of students, but I had 10 students total today, so that was wow. That that's way less than what I'm used to. Yeah, it was nice seeing all the staff again and some of the students that were there saying farewell, and yeah, no, it was. It's been a really nice past few months since we last spoke yeah, I had a question.

J.R.:

Didn't has anyone family students listened to the episode and said anything about that?

Hazi:

Yeah. So I got a few DMs actually that they listened to it, people that I didn't even know they would listen to it, like some of my homies. They're my friends and I would never expect them to go out of their way and listen to a podcast, but they would send me a text randomly or DM me on Instagram like dude, the podcast was fire man. I'm like wait what? You listen to it. I had no idea, because I like to share stuff out there and I would assume probably my students would see it first and then maybe my family too, and they did. But the fact that my own friends saw it, they supported me on it, I thought that was really amazing to see Because, yeah, that doesn't really happen too often, at least in, I guess, in all fields, it's family first that supports you on something, and then friends maybe if that's the case. But yeah, no, I was pleasantly surprised.

J.R.:

Were there any parts that anyone called out oh, this part in particular, I thought that was really cool or any sections or any parts that you were surprised on or you're like oh wow. I said that that was kind of cool, or that were surprised on, or you're like, oh wow. I said that.

Hazi:

That was kind of cool. That was a fun topic, yeah. So one of them was the clip of being a younger teacher that they didn't really consider the fact that, oh yeah, people would perceive you differently that you're younger and they would take advantage of that. So they were interested to see, like, how I even navigated that to begin with. And then the other one what was it?

Hazi:

Oh, it was when I briefly mentioned about communication and social relationships, how you should approach it as if you're writing an essay. Have an intro, just preface what you're going to talk about. I almost forgot that. I said that because when it came out I didn't watch the whole thing yet. It was like the day after I watched it. But one of my friends watched it the first day and he texted me that I'm like I loved how you talk about that communication. I'm like, oh yeah, I did talk about that. That was really fun. Yeah, that was, and it's really important to me. So I'm glad that I got the message across effectively, because I remember I was fast on that one too. No, it was a great experience.

J.R.:

Again, thank you for having. Of course it's an honor honestly, yeah, I had the same experience. While I mean I do consistently where it's, I'll listen to it again and I'm like, oh, wait, that was kind of cool. I like that idea. I don't even know. I said that sometimes you're in the moment and then in retrospect, when you listen to it again, you're like, oh, that was a really good. Or even my guests especially. I'm locked in and listening and responding, but when I can listen to it as a third party, I'm like, wait, that was a really good point, right. So I was just curious if you had similar experiences.

Hazi:

Yeah, I did, and there's some parts where I'm like man. I could have said so much more on this, you know like I was yeah. I can be a little tough on myself, I mean, like all of us are, but yeah, but that's why I'm back.

J.R.:

I just have more to say, of course, and that's why we're Try to do with the time that we have Now that we got out of the way, so we'll jump into the topics. The first one we'll see where we go with this. These are half freestyle, but talent management, and then also education. So, just really quickly, would you like to clarify what you mean by like talent management?

Hazi:

Oh yeah, something I started getting into more officially recently, I think, just doing it more freelance as of late or before. But now recently I started getting involved in like professional talent agencies where I go out and find influencers to collaborate with, find brand deals with them and how to expand their brand. For instance, let's say you're an influencer with like 10,000 followers and let's say you're a dance influencer and so I would look at your content and you're really curious. That's like how can I make this content? I would love to do this for the rest of my life. How can we expand on this? Okay, then I would strategize with the creator being like okay, do you want to go into the industry? Do you want to mostly do your own thing on social media? Do you want to be a teacher? Do you want to? We strategize together and we create a plan as to what it means to grow and how to effectively grow.

Hazi:

And it's been such a wonderful journey because I've been doing it, I guess without knowing it, but with my girlfriend on her social media and her influencing journey or creator journey, and we've been working together incredibly well. I never thought we'd enter a business together. We talked about it would be cool if we started a business together. And the more we started a business together and the more we started or she started making content, the more I started getting involved, and especially on the backend of things like looking over contracts, negotiating with brands, branching out to other platforms and then strategizing the content there.

Hazi:

Like, oh wait, I'm doing the whole talent management thing. That made me realize, oh, I would love to absolutely do this with all kinds of people. In the past few months I've also been in talks with a few influencers already and helping them on their content and it's been such a wonderful journey because it's like I get to grow with all of these wonderful creators. And as much as I like talking and being on camera sometimes, I love to just to grow on the back end. I want to be a part of all of these different works of art and expressions. Or if I believe in a person's content and I like it, I would love to just be a part of the process, to watch them grow on their journey and help them grow on their journey.

J.R.:

Yeah, that's cool. So it feels like you. It seems you realize you have that skill, set and desire to do that. You're like oh, this is fun, actually like helping to organize and the administrative side of a business, like a talent agent does for the creator.

Hazi:

That's cool, yeah, and I have my girlfriend, I think.

J.R.:

Yeah, and then you have a good leeway to work with your girlfriend and do more stuff with her. Okay, so, in terms of education. So now this is the big, opener question. But what do you think that we've missed, that you feel like we could talk about and elaborate further on?

Hazi:

this episode. I believe we missed more talking about what education is missing. So I remember I did touch on we need to connect it more to like real life issues or just real life connection for a lot of the students, and then that way it can click for them, for a lot of the students, and then that way it can click for them. But it's also where I believe we're missing a lot of. I say this I want to talk about this a little bit later too, but it makes sense now like social relationship building, like classes on actual how to not for lack of better words like behave in a relationship, whether it's friendship, family, family or even romantic, but just the idea of what is effective communication between one another, like from you to another human being, especially if that human being like matters to you.

Hazi:

What does that communication look like? What is it supposed to look like? And also being able to tell yourself like hey, you know, you can look at yourself and work on yourself as well. It doesn't have to be this way forever. And I've just been seeing a very strong rise of what we like to call toxic relationship. Right, and it's always just like where do they even come from? Like how does it even happen? No, no one really, or I don't want to say no one knows why but, no one stops and thinks what is causing this relationship to absolutely fall apart?

Hazi:

Is it you, is it me, or is it just us? Together, we can actually go deep into that and teach that, because there's layers that go into this. It can be I'm sure you've probably heard like it could be like family trauma, or it can be just the way you were taught what love is supposed to be as a young child, whether that's and this is why I want to touch on it later but whether it's through your parents or through the media nowadays as well. And it's so bizarre to me that relationships is arguably like the most important aspect of life, but we never talk about it, like we never teach it.

Hazi:

Ah, your parents will teach you that. That's all your parents. They got you. But what if our parents work like two jobs and like they're busy, or like they're so busy trying to make sure we eat, make sure we get to our practice, make sure we're getting good grades, and it's hard for them to. Okay, now let me also teach you everything I know about relationships, because wait, but who taught them? And it's like what if they were taught incredibly wrong? And same thing with parenting and like parenting is so hard man like I can only a guidebook.

Hazi:

Exactly. There's no guidebook and like you have to go out of your way and buy it and read it, but then it's ah, who wants to do that? I'll just wing it right. But imagine if our parents and me as that's your future parent, like I would love to be a parent were actually had guidance sooner rather than later. Imagine how much more effective in communicating my emotions and teaching a young child how to navigate the world more effectively and with love and with kindness Not because when we're frustrated and we don't know what to do, we might make mistakes, and really bad mistakes that might affect the child when they grow up.

Hazi:

So imagine a world in which we actually took the time and put resources into educating the masses on. Here's how you can effectively talk to each other. Here's how you can effectively guide each other towards a better future. That's like the very broad way of putting it. But it's just yeah, my parents weren't taught how to be good parents, so yeah, they're going to make mistakes. I wasn't taught how to be a good person in a friendship or relationship, so I'm going to make some pretty bad mistakes too, and we're going to learn the hard way. And something I've been talking about with my friends recently. It's like I realized education is just one of the biggest ways we can learn things, not the hard way.

J.R.:

Anymore we don't have to do trial and error, trial and error, messing up and hurting people.

Hazi:

Exactly Because we have the knowledge, we just haven't been able to share it effectively at an early enough stage. Because I learned so much about relationship building and what it means to be like a better person in relationships and parenting, because I took child development in college I'm already 20 years old at this point 19. And this is because I went out of my way and I'm in debt just to learn this information.

Hazi:

Most people wouldn't do that and I don't blame them either. That's something I truly want to be one of my missions in life to change in that curriculum and whatever that may look like, because right now I'm just this is more of the brainstorm event realizing this is an issue I think I could help solve it's like looking forward, like okay, I'm gonna get my, my master's program and then see what we do from there.

J.R.:

but this is like the long-term goal or vision, exactly.

Hazi:

Especially because I've been in the education. I talk to the students. They tell me all kinds of wild things and I'm like it shouldn't have to be this way. There should be more resources and guidance to help you all, both you and your families.

J.R.:

So I agree with you. Now let me push back, because the resources are out there, like you said, and maybe if it were more in the curriculum, it might be easier for these students to have a little bit more let's say not easier lives, like they can tackle those challenges a little bit better if they have the resources and the guidance in our education system. Right, but the one of the things that I feel like is difficult is like I have friends as well who are younger and they could hear the advice, but then they don't apply it or they're not in the right mindset to learn it until they make the mistakes. So sometimes it's okay I could give you all the advice you want, but if you're not, I have this conversation with my friends. I'm like I know you might not understand it or you might not implement it, or you understand it but you can't put into practice because you haven't touched the hot stove yet and they inherently know that. And it's like you're going to do whatever you want in terms of relationships or dating or whatever.

J.R.:

Here's my two cents. But you need to make your own, so you need to do it, and so that's a micro level, but on a macro level. I can imagine there's maybe similar people who are like yes, mom, yes, dad, I know that, yes, teacher, I know this, but they still touch the hot stove and then it's well okay, I guess you did need to learn it the hard way. So I guess that's. My question is, maybe our education system gets better, but there will still be people who won't really internalize it until they make it no mistakes.

Hazi:

Correct, you're absolutely right. And my and well, education, education, at least in school too, because it's not. Let's say, you learn math and then you're gonna forget about it and not apply until oh wait, actually you should know this. Let me brush up on that. It's well, at least the opportunity is there for you to learn. So I'd rather know about I don't know. Let's say, oh, here's a really good personal example, and then we could apply this on as to any other issue that might happen to someone. But let's say, oh, here's a really good personal example, and then we could apply this on as to any other issue that might happen to someone. But let's say, oh, why did I stop wanting to practice Spanish? Like, why, why did I do that? I'm like, I guess I just won't think about it.

Hazi:

Or I learned in college and I learned in psychology oh, there's something called rejection trauma. So whatever it was that you were rejected for, you tend to avoid it. It's oh, because when I came to this country I didn't know English and I got bullied for it. So I want to avoid my association with Spanish speaking as much as I can. Oh, now, I knew that because I learned this and I can make that connection. But if I just never made that connection, then I would just never know.

J.R.:

And it's.

Hazi:

oh, that's just the way I am, but at least, and for those that you mentioned oh, but they have to touch the hot stove.

J.R.:

Okay, once you touch the hot stove, the education seeks in, even harder now Because there's context now with what they learn, not necessarily just learning it.

Hazi:

Yeah. So I feel like it just doubles down Exactly. If anything, all it can do is help you. You can take it. You cannot take it Once it happens to you. You'll really take it in now, especially like when you know your mom was right about something. You're like damn it. Sorry, excuse my language, but I was like damn it, she's right and that sinks even harder in your soul. Now I'm never going to forget that, because I hate when people tell me I told you right, especially mom. Yeah, she's right about everything you know, yeah.

Hazi:

So that's my argument for that as well. I believe we should have it available to everyone. And in terms of like when they should learn it, that's up for debate. Should it be middle school or high school? I don't think elementary, but like middle school or high school? I don't think elementary but like middle school or high school. Or should it be when in high school, junior? Like that's up for debate. Still, I'll learn in my doctoral program for sure.

J.R.:

But yeah, cool. What about social relationships? That's like the next topic. What do you think we missed about that? I know you're talking there, definitely was talking about education. I'm like yes, yeah another one could be like what type of other? I know you're big into relationships and communication. Do you think there are other things in the education system that we're missing?

Hazi:

I'd have read on recently and talk about finances and taxes, and obviously it's applicable to everyone, so it's oh yeah, if you want to speak education, it's just, I've seen the change with a lot of teachers and this is just a really strong observation. I've been in the past three years. It's just, I've seen over time, like in the beginning, even because there's teachers I know that are still teaching from when I was like middle school, high school, and I saw them again. It's great and I think they're absolutely wonderful. But I noticed with other teachers as well, not just the ones that I experienced with over time, they were like in the beginning they're like super passionate, they loved it, they have so much joy every day. They're my favorite teachers. And over time, and then I asked him, it's like oh, what do you think about this teacher? Oh no, I'm like what, what, what do you mean? Oh no, they're, aren't they amazing? Oh no, they're super strict, like they barely teach, like they're super, super strict. I'm like what are you talking about? No way, this is true, I can't believe it.

Hazi:

But I've come to realize when you're in a system, especially like public education, is always tough and I'm sure and I'm sure everyone has heard this like we need to raise teachers' salaries, we need to treat teachers better, and you hear that all the time. But what is actually happening? Are we raising teacher salaries? Not really, not as much as we should, especially like I'm just focused on, like southern california pay. I don't know how it is in the other states.

Hazi:

I'm sure maybe it's worse, but in terms of what teachers make, especially their first few years, it is heartbreaking like there's teachers that can't afford to live in a home by themselves. They still have to live with family for years and years until they can finally move out and they still have to pay for their own supplies. I can't believe that. Like they still have to take research. Oh my gosh, oh my god. I just clicked the memory. So I was at a teacher meeting and it was a department for the social science meeting, the entire department, and they're like all right, our budget this year for materials is $300. I'm like, okay, $300 each, that doesn't sound too bad. And they're like, no, that's the total.

J.R.:

I'm like what Everyone gets. One eraser Exactly.

Hazi:

I'm like what? And they make a joke. It was like all right guys, we get to splurge, like what? I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe. I was like no, this can't be reality, this can't be. There's at least like 12 of us in the room, 12 for 12 different teachers, and there's like around 130 to 140 students per teacher, like 300 total. I couldn't believe it.

Hazi:

So it's stuff like that where it makes you realize like it's so hard to get a good quality of education, super passionate teachers that stay passionate if they're constantly treated like I just keep pouring your own investment financials into this job and it should be just based on passion.

Hazi:

No, I should be financially stable because we also take it home. And it doesn't stop there. There's also parent teacher meetings you have to worry about, like administration, if there's any administration changes, and then they also force certain teachers to teach the subject because there's not enough teachers again this year and it's so much that teachers have to deal with all the time and keeping track of like 140 students per year, knowing why they're messing up and why they're excelling, what you could do better, and then gosh. I could go on and on, but at the end of the day. It's just our education system really needs help and every time a student tries to give like a teacher a hard time or they tell me like dang, they're just like always mad and like always this and I'm like try to give them grace, because you never know what a teacher's going through.

Hazi:

Especially when they talk about the teachers I loved.

J.R.:

I'm like I'm pretty sure it's not because they hate you, or anything they're probably going through just like beaten down over the years exactly, and it's just that shouldn't be the case.

Hazi:

I don't I need to do more research on this, but it's like, is this strongly like an american thing? Because I don't think I've heard like from other countries where it's oh yeah, teachers are pretty much broke. That's the, that's the idea. Like whenever I hear and like someone hears I'm a teacher, they're like oh, bless your soul. Like I don't want to feel that way how you are for non-profit yeah.

Hazi:

Oh, you must have such a good heart Now, impressive, Wow, you're teaching the next generation. You must have a lot of good skills. You know like I guess I can see where they're coming from, but at the end of the day. It's. No, this is. Being a teacher is difficult and it takes a lot of skills and patience and gosh, there's so much. And Gosh, there's so much. So to anyone hearing this, especially if you're a student, please give teachers a break. A little bit Slack, yeah.

Hazi:

Cut us a slack and I promise you, if you get to know your teacher a little bit better, for the most part chances are they'll treat you with the same amount of respect. It goes both ways. I love it. Yeah, I'll touch on that for now. For education, I know we're short on time.

J.R.:

Yeah, shout I know we're, yeah, shout out to the teachers shout out to the teachers for real, yeah, definitely, all right. Well, this is kind of related, but now let's go to state of the media okay, so I know you mentioned like movies, music, social media and how that affects us. My general questions were like what is the state of the media? How does it affect you on an individual level, societal level, but did you have any thoughts on how you want to open it?

Hazi:

so actually, whoa, I'm so glad you asked that, because this kind of ties in a little bit more into education too. But it's just like with the state of media, what it is today, it's just. I remember I used to look back. Is it because I was younger and I was a kid and I just like, really liked everything? Is that why?

Hazi:

but genuinely it seems like art or originality has been slight, like, not slightly, like extremely like dwindling down, especially like on the like the big movie blockbuster level. We see a lot of sequels, a lot of prequels, a lot of spin-offs. No really new ips, no nostalgia too, exactly all nostalgia farming. Really. There's no new risk, except with exceptions like sinners, right, and there's other exceptions out there. But a majority of what we see nowadays and it's not just movies, it's music as well, like you'll hear some songs you're like why does this sound like songs I've heard before? You know, like all the time Because of money, exactly Because it's safe. And it's because of money and because everything's getting corporatized and bland and I'm like.

Hazi:

Is that the only reason? And I could argue that's a really major factor. But I've also started realizing in our schools there's no big emphasis on the arts, even going to college. It's like you're going to be an art major Waste, like. I hear that all the time and it breaks my heart. I'm like no, no, no, no, no. It's possible to be an art major and be successful. Maybe do art major in STEM to make your parents happy or something right. But there's always a way. And like I look at affluent schools in my district, they have the nicest football fields, the nicest gyms, the nicest laboratories, but their stage hasn't been renovated in 10, 15 years. I'm like what? What's happening there? They can't find an art teacher, they can't find the funds for anything art related. But when it comes to STEM and sports, it's like take my money. Right Question for you.

J.R.:

So you're talking about not a lot of emphasis or money or whatever in art, but you're also saying that current media is just more generic and not original. Correct? How do you connect? Oh sorry, People are doing art, but obviously it's not original art.

Hazi:

Exactly Because I think art in general we stop prioritizing it as much as I believe you might have used to, because now it's like a hyper fixation on STEM and it's even with the humanities too.

Hazi:

It's like, well, you're going to study humanities, anyway, but with art in particular, like it's almost a running gag. Oh, you're an art major, you're not going to be successful, you're going to be broke. But in that has just been all over, like young people's minds. Those young people are a bit older now and it's harder to break into the industry too than ever before and you have to be extremely dedicated to your craft. It's so much harder to be dedicated when you have the entire world saying, hey, this is a waste of time and that's again. I'm not saying this is the main fact, but I believe this also plays such a major role as to like why the state of the media today, when especially movies and music I'll touch on social media in a second but like movies and music in particular have been taking a dip, whether it's because of corporations or it's because we stop cheering on people aspiring to be artists, and especially at a young stage.

J.R.:

So there's a less pool of artists. That would be if we emphasize arts as something important to our society.

Hazi:

Correct, because that person that was so excited to be an artist probably had their dreams shattered more than once as they were going up and moving up in the world, growing up, and now they're in their 20s and they have to work a corporate job because that's the way you were supposed to do it. It's at that point how do you reignite that passion again? They have to go out of their way. They have to hopefully have some sort of encouragement from someone else or from themselves. But at that point it's so much harder and we're begging our society to have more computer science, more engineering. We're doing that and actually there's actually been a recent article published talking about like we actually have an oversaturation of computer science majors now, and that's newer because that's what we've been pushing in the last five or six years or so, because that's what we've been pushing in the last five or six years or so.

Hazi:

Both again, both corporations and us not really encouraging people to express themselves through art has caused this kind of generic and bland feel, at least for me. I just remember every two, three months there was just like an amazing film, to watch an amazing show, to talk about wonderful music, like all kinds of me. I'll never forget when I was younger too, back in my day, I know right, but it's I'll remember when everyone, we all listened to Lake and Park, we all listened to Taylor Swift, we all listened to Metallica, we all listened to Kendrick and Drake, everyone listened to all of these different genres across the board, who are the same people that are taking over the industry still. It's Drake, it's Kendrick, it's Taylor Swift, it's the same people we've seen for years and years and it's I strongly believe a big part of that is because we've been dwindling that pool of like potential breakout artists and just making it harder for people to become artists and, again, corporations, but that's yeah.

J.R.:

So how do you think that we change that? Because I guess my perspective and then I'll like your thoughts on that is america and slash, you know, the democratized capitalistic societies. We prioritize what makes money, that and then we remove ethics since, like the 60s, right it. It's like our form of capitalism is now capitalism without ethics, meaning whatever makes the most money. That's why we have mass layoffs, et cetera. If we had ethics we wouldn't do mass layoffs. So, with that in mind, I would say every industry that makes money, entertainment included and art, is fueled by that desire to have a return on investment, to make money, that desire to have a return on investment to make money. And, like you're saying, to the point which is the safe sort of non-original risk, less risky things are being put on this pedestal because it makes more money and it fuels that system. So then how do you de-incentivize money from a capitalist society so that they now prioritize original art?

Hazi:

Yeah, that's extremely tough because, yeah, we are incredibly a for-profit country and if they can cut corners and they can guarantee results, no matter what, they will take that To incentivize that hmm, maybe that's a leading question, but I guess my question is like how do we get out of it?

J.R.:

Because the system is built this way. It's by design, this is where it's leading to and it's where it's led.

Hazi:

Well, a lot of it has to do with allowing monopolies to happen, right, because you have these big corporations. Like what is it? I forget, it's like a grocery store because of kroger's they own like almost all the grocery stores and same thing with like banks.

Hazi:

They're all on second verse, yeah it's the same thing with the music industry. It's three, three big music labels that own pretty much everyone. That's huge. It's because we kept allowing that to happen, which it makes it harder for artists to come in, which is how like corporations are ruining everything. Because the same thing in movies, same things in music, monopolies are pretty much illegal. They're technically illegal, but technically nothing's happening.

J.R.:

You know, if you have enough money, you can always change the system exactly, and so it really, and I'll.

Hazi:

This is I'm glad you bring this up, because it's something we should also try to learn education. But there's a strong reason why we don't learn any of this. But all of our problems are and when I say problems like when we talk about state of the media or if we talk about anything else that's going on most of it, 99% of the time, is a top down issue rather than the bottom up. So, for instance, like how you mentioned, it's well, our country's designed this way. That's why we're seeing all these corporations make it super hard for people to even break into the industries. True, that's a top-down issue. Meanwhile, a lot of people, and even I, put a little bit of blame on it too. It's like we think it's a bottom-up issue. It's because, as a culture, we're prioritizing the wrong things when, yeah, the end of the day, it is, majority of the time, a top down issue. It's more of a government issue. And, gosh, what do we have? Do we have time to talk about government right now? Is there? Is there enough?

J.R.:

time, yeah, so I'll put a little crossroads right now so we can either continue on education or the social media kind of media, state of the media. But the next topic is love, peace, peace and happiness, finding love and all the stuff. So where do you want to go? Oh, gosh stay on this topic, you want?

Hazi:

complete opposite. Yeah, exactly love and peace or chaos yes.

J.R.:

Government money yes government I or any other thoughts. To wrap it up, I'd say let's go government a little bit, okay maybe not.

Hazi:

I feel like there's not enough time to talk about okay, okay, so just the biggest thing.

Hazi:

My biggest issue is like how can you fix all these government issues? Well, number one do you know that what the term limit is for someone to be in congress for? Because, like a? Okay, so just the biggest thing. My biggest issue is like how can you fix all these government issues? Well, number one do you know what the term limit is for someone to be in Congress for? Because, like a president, it's two terms, right. Do you know what the term limit is for someone in Congress? Isn't it longer?

J.R.:

it is longer yes, is it wait eight?

Hazi:

eight years. There's no limit? Okay, never mind, there's no wait for what for house and senate?

J.R.:

I'm for house, for sure. I think it's for both. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm mistaking the.

Hazi:

What's it called the oh, to go for re-election re-election.

J.R.:

Yeah, so you can always get go for re-election, always get how long is the term two years, I believe okay, I think that's what I was thinking, that's.

Hazi:

That's what you think of. Yeah, and I love asking this to everyone because it's always oh, it's longer, it's probably four terms or six. No, there is none, and that blew my mind when I learned it. There's people that have been in Congress for 40 years. The incumbents like in Congress is like 62. The average I'm like wait hold on. How do these people know what our lives are like today if they've been in power for so long? And no, they did it, and that's part of the reason, not part of the reason, one of the main reasons why nothing really ever changes, because how, if you have the same people in power, all of a sudden they're just going to want different things. Not necessarily, and that's something that I would love to explore, but I don't know enough about what you can do in the government to make that change happen?

J.R.:

That was my question. So we know there's a lot of problems. Anyone who turns on the news sees there's problems. But what can we do on?

Hazi:

an individual level for the sake of this conversation. Yeah, and what I've just learned for myself at my level is just, if you don't have enough money, at least what you could do is spread information and be more aware, because then it's also a really interesting observation I've had over the years, especially ever since 2020. Because 2020 riots a lot of turmoil, really polarizing time. I mean, right now it's polarizing too. But what I've noticed is comparing, because a lot of people would compare it to like the civil rights movement, because yeah we are fighting for our rights again, and what's interesting, though, is there's no like direct leader, as there was before.

Hazi:

Direct leader for a progressive movement. Yeah, for a progressive movement. Like, yes, we have. Like, what I hear is like AOC and Bernie Sanders. However, there's no like common person leading the charge at every major protest, like in the front, like, for instance, I always think of Malcolm X or Martin Luther King. We don't have that and it's like wait, why don't we? Oh, it's really scary to do that nowadays.

J.R.:

It's really scary. I'm going to be, honest. You don't want to put your life on the line, exactly Because they all got assassinated.

Hazi:

So it's like, oh my God, people learned their lessons. It's no wonder, yeah, and it's no wonder we all can't be unified, because if you have a leader, we can actually organize and we can unify, and they just don't want to do that because it's scary. I remember I'm like when I was, when 2020 or 2021, what's happening? It's like when I'm a bit older, I'm gonna do it, but then I'm like, oh wait, no, that's really scary. Preservation is strong yeah exactly, or even like.

Hazi:

There's stories of, like people's bank accounts getting frozen and then, obviously, illegal deportations happening against citizens, against students here on student visas, because they publish articles. It's getting really scary. So what I genuinely think we need is a leader. However, how do we actually get that? Because it's absolutely terrifying, especially with all the information that goes around nowadays. I would love to see a change in this country, and I do believe America always has a chance to change for the better, because we have not too long ago. I get where, I guess, depending on what you define long ago as ago. I get where, I guess, depending on what you define long ago as, but we have done progress and it's achievable and it's possible, but for me, where I am now, it's just I'm like you, I don't know exactly what we need to do, but I do believe we need a leader yeah, it's a good one.

J.R.:

All right, maybe we move forward and then we'll pick this up next time.

Hazi:

We'll be able to have a political politics government. Yeah, yeah, maybe.

J.R.:

All right, let's move on to love and peace.

Hazi:

Yeah, love and peace. That's another good note.

J.R.:

Here's my brainstorm questions, but we can always take it away. Some are different. So what has your journey been like in regards to love, finding it, lessons learned and I have some quotes. And what's the difference between peace and joy? How does one find it?

Hazi:

Like philosophical things.

J.R.:

I don't know if you had another spin you wanted to take on it, but those are my ideas. So what was the first part? It was basically like for love, right? So how has your journey been like in regards to love?

Hazi:

In regards to love.

J.R.:

I know love is like you can look at it 10 different ways.

Hazi:

Yeah, it was just something I had a long time wrapping my head around because I didn't know what love genuinely looked like. Yes, I have. What is love?

J.R.:

though, like how do you define? How do you define what love is? Because there's 10 different definitions of love 10 different.

Hazi:

Okay, I see what you mean. So at least for me it's just oh, man, because there's romantic love, there's familial love, right, but love, love in general, is just what? A? That's a great question because there's so many ways.

Hazi:

Like you said, there's 10 different definitions, but I would define for now it as like a bond in which you believe in and that you would almost do anything for. And then unconditional love is like you would do absolutely anything for it because you believe in that bond that you created with this person. And that's like the most general description, because that applies to family, romantic and friends as well. I believe so much in my friendship bond that, like, if they need me for anything, hey, I got you and I know if something happens with me, they'll be there for me too. And I know that I have faith in this bond, that when I'm with this person or when I'm with my mother or my father or whoever it is, I love them and I know we're going to have a good time together. And even if we have an argument of some sort and there's negativity, I believe in our bond so much that I'm willing to work through it with them. So that's, yeah, I guess, belief in that bond.

J.R.:

So then, what has changed for your perspective on love, or some lessons you learned, because I know again, love is a big topic, yeah, so before it was like toxic positivity almost.

Hazi:

So it was to me you love someone and it's only good if it's true love. To me, true love was like it's always just going to be great, you're always just going to figure it out, whatever that means. But if there was like a really big issue, and especially if, like, maybe that issue was my fault, I'm like, wow, I guess I don't love this person because I made a mistake with them and definitely not the right way to approach that with that mindset. So I learned the hard way too, because then it's man, why can't I maintain my relationships? What is going on? But it's because of you know, for lack of better words that toxic mindset I had towards love, and it was a very positive toxic mindset I had which is a perfectionist sort of love, yeah, like it needs to be amazing.

Hazi:

It needs to be like everything I've seen in the movies. It needs to be perfect because I don't want to end up like other couples I had seen. So that that's along the way I had to learn wait, let me navigate this with more effort and actually be okay if something goes wrong, if I make a mistake, give myself some grace and actually talk to myself like okay, let's actually figure out why this happened.

J.R.:

Yeah, like love isn't perfect, but it's something that requires effort and it's nuanced Absolutely. So what about peace? I don't know if that's similar or different, but what did you mean by peace? I'd say different.

Hazi:

So when I mean by peace, it's just I started realizing like I constantly had a lot of disorganization in my brain or like more chaotic energy in my brain, and I just felt like something's always going to go wrong, something's always going to go wrong time, and it's also just wanting to do as much as possible with my life because I felt like, oh no, I'm not good enough. I got to do more, more, more. Then I realized, okay, this is way too chaotic. How can I quiet down all this chaos? How do I choose peace? And I was like peace, what am I like a monk? What am I doing? Right, but it's genuinely. I started looking into what does peace actually mean? Well, has it ever been quiet in your head? Have you ever taken the time and just lived in the moment, like being present.

Hazi:

What does that even mean about? Oh, what am I going to do tomorrow, next week? Oh, I have to make all these plans. Or think about all the mistakes you did in the past, or trying to just focus on. Man, I just wish I could go back. No, what is happening in life?

Hazi:

right now Slow down, and I learned this technique from one of my really good friends from college, but he was just like dude whenever you feel like it's way too much, you're feeling it truly overwhelmed, just feel the area around you Like ground yourself. I was like, oh, ground myself. Okay, let me try that.

Hazi:

Physically ground myself first, and then eventually it led to mentally. I was like, oh, if I could physically connect with just like the present environment, eventually I could mentally do it as well. And then I started doing a lot of yoga, I started meditating, I started and, when I mentioned previously, I started doing a lot of walks. That, for me, helped me just to really recollect and organize my brain into a more peaceful brain, a more lack of better words like quiet brain, not so like fast, fast, all the time, overwhelmed.

Hazi:

Yeah and part of that, too, it has to do with like social media and like the fast pace of it all. Like yesterday, like a huge bombshell will drop and then the next day everyone forgets about it, we're on to the next thing, and it's so fast, there's no slowing down. So what helped me a lot was disconnecting completely from social media. I deleted all my apps. I didn't go to parties, I didn't drink, I didn't do anything that would potentially cause chaos in my and disturb my peace.

Hazi:

For six months straight Changed my life for the better and I believe if anyone like in, I believe for me, the chaos was a lot. It was really intense. So I needed to make a radical, intense decision to like let me let go of all of this. And, man, was that one of the best decisions I had ever made in my entire life? Yeah, yeah, and I spent more time with family, not on my phone. I went with friends and we didn't have to party to have like, actually connect with each other. We actually sat down and talked like this and it was wow and many more on that. But yes, that has been what my journey on seeking peace has been.

J.R.:

I've talked about some of the podcasts before, but I learned that the reason why peace, happiness is all grounded in the present, and it's like too much future thinking is anxiety and too much past is depression, and so all of the positive emotions, or at least most of them, are rooted in the present, and that's why being centered and grounding yourself physically, and metaphorically always gives you more happiness.

J.R.:

I had this other quote I don't know if you had thoughts on it, but it was from a book I read. It was like peace is happiness at rest and happiness is peace in motion, I think that was really cool.

J.R.:

That's really good and so it's a way to approach it, because some people want happiness, yeah, and this author was like well, I actually just want peace. But I also realized that peace and happiness are two sides of the same coin, meaning if you pursue peace, it can also turn into happiness, just emotion. But also I don't know if you had a definition for the difference between peace and joy. And then also, how does one find peace? But you probably already talked about that.

Hazi:

Yes, yeah. So with the happiness thing, I believe you can have happiness without peace, but you can't have peace, wait, you can have peace and happiness comes along, but you can have happiness without peace Because you can feel joy, like oh, look Like in the moment, doing stuff with a lot of exactly, yeah, yeah. So I do believe that, like peace or happiness can happen with or without peace. Yeah, peace will definitely bring happiness, man, it'll bring calmness, it'll bring, yeah, especially if you've had a very chaotic life. But wait, I'm sorry, what was the second part of that?

J.R.:

it was just my last real question was like the difference between peace and joy sometimes. Sometimes people grapple with that. Sometimes they're synonyms, but sometimes they're different.

Hazi:

I'd say joy is way more of a feeling, Something I've learned too. Like feelings and emotions, they're physiological for 90 seconds, Then after that it's not mental. So with peace, I believe that's just pure mental state.

J.R.:

So what about happiness and joy? I guess maybe not peace and joy, but happiness oh, happiness and joy. Right, so you're saying joy is an emotion, but what is happiness then?

Hazi:

well, I always substitute happiness because, you know, when people say I want to pursue apps like happiness for the rest of my life, I know that they genuinely mean fulfillment right or like meaningfulness. That's what you mean, even though you're saying happiness, exactly so, at least for me, whenever I hear happiness, I think fulfillment, because if you want to do happy and joy, that's synonymous with feeling. For me they're both just. They're synonymous and they're both just a feeling.

J.R.:

Yeah.

Hazi:

But if, like fulfilling a joy, I mean definitely that's long lasting, that's genuine taking, that's like deeper, yeah, that goes way, way deeper than joy. Joy, you can feel, oh look, I just, I mean, you can feel like gambling, I mean you can feel it. Yeah, you can feel that, whatever that's called euphoria yeah, oh yeah that's even better, yeah, yeah.

Hazi:

Or you feel like just having a fun joke or laughing at something. That's joy, but fulfillment it takes years and years of willing to put in effort to attain and working on yourself and working towards something, building towards something that's to me completely, and joy comes along with that too. I think it has to pretty much do with what your quote said.

Hazi:

I think your quote was pretty much spot on's in happiness yeah, I'm pretty sure that was really spot on, that happiness and joy will come along the ride of like peace and fulfillment, yeah, makes sense okay, ozzy, we have to wrap it up now, but I feel like we can go on for hours yeah, we can it's a good thing.

J.R.:

So maybe part three, if it's in the cards, all right, let let's wrap it up. Any questions Gratitude, Hazi. What are you grateful for? Grateful for? Oh my gosh, that's great.

Hazi:

Yeah, I'm grateful for life I have right now, the fact that I'm able to talk to you, especially again after all these years, and grateful for having this space and having a wonderful relationship with my friends, family and my girlfriend as well. I'm grateful for all the opportunities that I've been experiencing as of lately. So thank you so much I really appreciate it.

J.R.:

Yeah, and thank you for being here. Any final ask from the audience or takeaways you'd like them?

Hazi:

to have. Let's see, never, ever, stop educating yourself. Your brain loves to learn. When it stops learning, it gets sad. So, feed your brain some education. Maybe watch some more 1000 Gurus there's. Maybe watch some more 1000 Gurus. There's a lot to learn here, so much to learn wow, thank you, I totally agree with that.

J.R.:

Definitely like, subscribe, follow whatever you guys do. Yeah, comments. Well, any feedback. I appreciate it that would be awesome and then, yeah, feel free to shout out Hazi and leave him some love in the comments too yes, follow me as well, I guess. Yeah, yeah we'll link all your socials and everything so they can check out what you're up to and all that stuff. You have a lot of different channels.

Hazi:

All right.

J.R.:

If nothing else, Hazi, then I'll sign off. Thank you guys for being here. I really appreciate it. Again, like subscribe, follow, comment, everything. Let us know what you liked about it at all and reminder to always be kind to other people, especially yourself, and you can always learn something from someone if you take the time to listen so that you can hear facts.

People on this episode

Head Shot

J.R. Yonocruz

Host
Contributor

Hazier Rios

Guest