Healing The Boy Within with Author George Stoimenov

A tough exterior can be a cover for a terrified inner child, and George Stoimenov is honest about what that costs. We talk about growing up in Bulgaria with a father he admired but couldn’t fully connect with, the moment shame “shattered” his inner world as a teenager, and how self-hatred can quietly turn into performance masculinity. Muscles, fights, alcohol, drugs, and image can look like confidence, but George explains how it’s often fear in disguise, especially when you never learned safe male intimacy or how to be held in your pain.

The story deepens when George meets Maria and moves to the UK, where a real relationship exposes what the persona hides: addiction, pornography, anger, self-harm, and a growing desire to die. A mission trip to Zambia becomes an unexpected turning point. George shares how prayer and repentance felt like a U-turn back toward the boy he buried, and how Christian healing isn’t just behavior change, it’s letting God restore what trauma stole. We also unpack why focusing only on “stopping the habit” can miss the deeper wound driving it.

To make it practical, George lays out his four-step framework from Rise From the Ashes: let historic emotions out, find the child within, shift your mindset through gratitude, and act as your future self with one small brave step. 

If you’re searching for purpose, clarity, and freedom, especially around men’s mental health, trauma recovery, and faith-based transformation, this conversation offers both hope and handles. 

To connect with and purchase his books head to George's website at:https://www.menscorner.co.uk/ or go to his YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh5uzZCCjgyF0Pg6VPl8xEA

Subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find the path back home.

Transcript

Welcome And The Big Promise

SPEAKER_00 0:02

If you've ever struggled with fear, doubt, or worry, and wondering what your true purpose was all about, then this podcast is for you. In this show, your host, Sylvia Warsham, will interview elite experts and ordinary people that have created extraordinary lives. So here's your host, Sylvia Warsham.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

I've still got a lot of fun left in me. Hey Lightbringers, it's Sylvia Warsham. Welcome to Released Out Reveal Purpose. And today is George Stoyminoff. And I know he was like, wow, she can pronounce my last name. Well, I can speak several languages, so maybe that's why. He comes from Bulgaria. Growing up, he was someone that did not feel manly. Lots of self-hatred. It's personal to me when I read his biography because I've known people in my life who have expressed that self-hatred. And it's hard to watch someone you love see themselves that way. But you know, I can relate because for years I felt that self-hatred myself. And God was kind enough, generous enough to prompt me to write my first manuscript. And he was very clear this is to heal you. To heal your inner child, your inner trauma in the way that only I can help you heal. And George's story is almost parallel to that, except from the man's perspective, like to not feel manly as a man, to be a bouncer in your 20s, and to feel like small on the inside. There's a lot of conflict there. And the only person that can come in to that conflict and can help you see just who you are, how fearfully and wonderfully made you are, is God Himself. But it takes your willingness to go through that pain with Him, to reflect on your life, like only you can, because you have that experience that no one else has, right? This is how God redeems us. This is how He uses our pain, our painful past, so that we, as the body of Christ, can help others who find themselves in this same space, in this darkness, and don't know even know where to start. George is an author. He just published a book titled Rise from the Ashes, Recover Purpose, Gain Clarity, and Resurrect Your Life. So without further ado, George, thank you so much for joining us on Release Style Reveal Purpose.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

It's a wonderful pleasure to have you. And I'm curious, would you honor us by sharing that amazing story of transformation from that place of self-hatred to becoming the author of several books and helping men and women, but primarily men, it sounds like, move through this pain.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Yes, of course.

Growing Up Without Fatherly Warmth

SPEAKER_02 3:33

Well, it starts, as you said, in Bulgaria, where I come from a quote-unquote normal family. So it was very hard for me to know for a long time that I had any pain. But I remember very early in life, I was looking up to my dad, as boys tend to do, if the father is present and if he displays some characteristics that are worthy of imitation. I mean, boy wanting to be part of daddy's world. But the problem was, after a decade and a half of reverse engineering, more or less dismantling the inner trauma and who I had behind become. The problem was that my dad, um, even though in his mind he was trying to do his best, his body, his whole energy to use a popular phrase, was frozen. He was a very um, he wouldn't touch me. We never touched each other. It wasn't like we wrestled and he'd hugged me. Never, I don't remember. And um so from very early on, I remember looking up to him, but from a distance, thinking I can never be like him. Not knowing that I felt that way because um, in the words of Robert Bly, whom I I quote him in that other book that I've written about men, masculinity, he says something like that father and son spend time together, something like a substance, almost like food, is passing from the body, from the older body to the younger. So we don't need words, I love you, sir. You're gonna make me proud. We need to feel, we need to feel part of that is world. And I didn't. So something in me didn't grow up. Something in me later on, I started to overcompensate for that. But I think the break, you know, I started hating myself very early on, but the break, the what I can pinpoint to almost like some shattering, some, and that's a very biblical thing because when Jesus first walks under the uh spotlight, he said, I've come to heal the brokenhearted. But when you look into the original translation, um, I stole that from John Eldridge, by the way. So it's not my thing. I read that a book from John Eldridge, and he said that when you look at the original translation translation, he said something like the the shattered inner self, your inner self, the Shabbat, the the Shabar means like broken, and Leb means the heart, inner self. And I remember

The Night Shame Took Over

SPEAKER_02 5:35

when the first shattering occurred, that was conscious. I was 15 years old. I already just started to go out in the evening, and I was very happy. I was I was a proper teenager, I was like, wow, we're going out, and and then of course, you know, when you have a weakness somewhere, when you have a wound, sharks would smell the wound. And I don't call human beings the enemy, but there are things, there are forces that work through human beings to to make division, just like now in look in the wood, divide. We all divide it, just like we're divided inside. And so um that night some some guy just picked on me and said, Come here, bam, he gave me a black eye. But I wasn't, it wasn't a fight, I didn't, it wasn't a physical thing. It was my spirit was already almost broken, and and then that thing was like, Oh my goodness, now I've got this mark here. Walk home, the walk of shame. I remember just feeling all that I knew, all that I had feared about myself, that I'm not really a man, that if something happens, I would not be able to handle myself the way my dad would. My dad was, you know, he played football, he was a man's man, he was respected. Even in his 50s, he would he had a loud voice, he would speak up and people would listen. He wasn't a bully, he wasn't a gangster, he didn't go out drinking, but but he was he had a dangerous edge, which I believe every person every man and every person has. Um and I wanted that because I knew that I knew somehow I felt I didn't have it. And that conflict proved that to me. I went home and my dad saw it. And he said, Who did that? And I told him who did it. And and he said, Listen, you need to go out and get them, right? Otherwise, they will keep doing that to you. You'll be a pushover. So instead of saying, Come here, son, first I'll hold you. I don't mean I'm not saying it's wrong to stand up for yourself. I think as men, we're built to be strong to protect the good. But if we can't protect ourselves, we can't uh later on there are consequences. And so I think today there's so much, I would say, I don't want to use that word, but almost like weakness, just just keeping that blade soft and and um dull. It's like no no no no, just you men just be be kind and be no. There is an aggressive side that is good because sometimes you need to say no, you need to draw those boundaries. And that aggressive side was completely destroyed that day because my dad just I just looked down and I was only I was 15. I remember it like today. I was I'm 41 now. He said he saw that I was not going to do anything. That was not I was not pumped up, I was completely broken. And he said, Oh, don't worry, I'll I'll sort that out. You're not made for this. Now, as soon as he said you're not made for this, the words of the father, because remember, I was hoping to be made for this. I was hoping that I'll be um heroic, I would be someone who who if there is evil, or or if there is, for example, if if my dad saw some someone else's child being bullied at the playground, he just chased the bully away. He said, get up. And I didn't have that ability, but I wanted to have it. But so as soon as he pronounced those words over me, it wasn't the words so much as what they did to me, so so much as how I took them and what I did to myself. I remember almost like dissociation that moment, almost like a bomb had gone off in the room, and I could see the lips of my dad moving, but I was I was no longer there. Half of me was talking to myself, saying, You little worm, I hate you, I hate you so much. I wish you were never born. See how serious this is. I you'll never be a man. You're just a twisted, misshapen little child. I wish I could take you out of my body, destroy you, put the bullet to your head, and then move on without you. And in a way, that's

Muscles Fights And A False Self

SPEAKER_02 9:03

what I did. Because the next morning, the next day, I started, I found some weights and I started lifting the weights. Now, did I do that because I wanted to be strong and healthy? No, because I hated myself. And I said, I'll project that image to the world that they will never come close to this little child. What happened is five years later, I was a different person. I was a lot sadder, a lot more sad, a lot more unhappy. I had started to drink alcohol, and I had a shaved head, I had a big body, and I was getting in fights, but not fights with men like one-to-one. I was putting myself in a place of danger so that people could see I was crazy. I would I would get into fights like with 10 men because I knew I would lose, but I would have a reputation. And then my dad would be like, wow. And he was like that. He was like, Yeah, okay. See how twisted things are? It's like when when your masculinity is kind of fear-based, and that's the only thing, um, people have to survive and they use, they hide behind things. Some people hide behind their intellectual capacity and they put that on their children. And if if they don't live up, they're disappointed. My dad was more like that danger capacity, and if I didn't have it, he was disappointed. And later on, every time when I got in trouble, I mean I was hit with a baseball bat in the face. I haven't, yeah, bottles, tables, almost like uh that that little nightclub in the village was like uh the wild west sometimes. And and I could see my dad was proud, and almost like every time I got in trouble like that, I wanted to prove to him, see, I can be dangerous. But inside, I was so scared. Inside, I was so um insecure, I was so fearful of other men. And so later on, a few more years, I was maybe 19 years old when I went to university, and that's when completely the next stage of my brokenness, completely I because it was a different city. I reinvented myself completely. I already had muscles, I had friends who were clubbing, and I started taking drugs, cocaine and amphetamine, anything really that would make me uh but alcohol all the time, even when I was working as a bouncer because I couldn't talk to people otherwise. And I really feared male camaraderie, intimacy. I remember being a bouncer, and and sometimes one of my colleagues would show me something on their phone and just lean on me, like put their hands on me, and I would freeze. That little boy inside me would freeze. Why? He was not a bigger, strong, he was not intimidating me, he was just a friend. But I froze because I didn't know how to be, I didn't have that from my father, that skin to skin, that that male intimacy. And so I never felt like a man until years later. Now, do you want me to continue?

SPEAKER_01 11:40

Yes, because I'm leaning in, wanting to know what happened years later, before I'll ask you a follow-up question.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Okay, okay.

Meeting Maria And Moving To England

SPEAKER_02 11:53

What happened is um I had a saving, saving angel, saving Grace. Um, I met this girl called Maria, by the way. Um, and uh she was my age, and at that time I need to mention that I was quite addicted to women, I was chasing women, and the more, the deeper I got into my charad, into trying to, I wasn't doing anything bad consciously, but the deeper I got into that pretense, that false self, the younger women I started to date because it was easier. It's like, oh, they saw I was driving a nice car, had muscles. But Maria was my age, she was from my um same what's the word generation in university, not same class, but a different same year in university. And um, and she saw right through that pretense, but she saw something deeper in me and and said, no, you're you're better than that. I know you are. And so uh, long story short, I just followed my heart. I mean, we've been dating for like a month, and then I decided to leave everything behind and follow her and just go traveling. And we ended up in the UK, in England, and that's where we are right now. But it was because of her. I would never have come out of my comfort zone. And this in the UK, this is where the worst, worst things started to

Addictions Anger And Self Harm

SPEAKER_02 13:03

happen to me. I say worse with air quotes because um those were the things that broke me open, so that then the work would start, God would start doing the work. Um being a gentleman, being a um a bon vivant, if you will, was one thing. I thought I was very good with women, I was nice, I was a nice guy, I had this facade of the nice guy. But when you actually lived with a real person who wants truth, it was very challenging because all my addictions were exposed. And Wonder of Wonders, that's when I found that anger. That wait a minute, I thought I couldn't get angry. I thought I thought I didn't have that anger. And now, when she challenges something like, because I had stopped pursuing other women, but I still had a pornography addiction. And I didn't even know, I'm talking about like early 20s. I didn't even know that it was wrong. Because for me, giving up all other women was a big deal. And so I said, Well, that should be enough, right? But no, and and so that's why I started to get angry. I started to hate myself. Um, I started to cut myself, burn myself. I burned my left hand with hot glue one time. I was working in a factory. That again, another hit from life because I'd come from these nightclubs, I'd come, I never had to do a real job in Bulgaria, really. Just partying and getting paid to party. And now suddenly I'm working on building sites. Nobody knows who you are. You don't drive a nice car, nobody cares. You just see it, just another laborer, another foreigner. And and I remember in one of those factories, I just put this hot glue on my wrist and I left it there. And later the the doctors were saying, George, why? And normally with something hot falls on someone's skin, they just I couldn't explain to them that I wanted it to be there. Um and it's still got that scar. Um, but it was self-hatred. So the self-hatred deepened because the more you the more a man hates that little boy, the more, uh the further apart from that little boy, which is part of uni inner inner self, we live and we do things that are completely in the in in conflict with what that little boy wants. He wants nature, he wants beauty, he wants to be gallant, beautiful, um, noble. And what I did drugs, alcohol, pleasure, and then just basically the opposite of who I was. And and so self-hatred then turns back and saying, Yeah, I am worthy of self-hatred. But speaking of I, who is that I? Who did I become? I'm punishing that little boy, but he was never, it was never his choice to become that bouncer and that womanizer and all of that. And so another thing to mention is that I remember after this happened at the age of 15, the first thing, the same time as left in the weights, I stopped going fishing. I used to go fishing every day in the summer in the local river. I stopped completely and suddenly. And I didn't make the connection at the time. I just know that my love for nature, because where I come from in Southeast Bulgaria is very beautiful, very wild. My love for nature just just started starting to diminish almost straight away from that summer. And um, long story short, in my early 30s, mid-30s, actually, pretty recently, I'm back. I'm back, the little boy is back alive and well, but it took years of pain. And so, especially two very intense years after from the moment we arrived in England, started living together until the moment in 2011 when we went on a um sort of like a mission trip in Zambia.

Zambia Prayer And The U Turn

SPEAKER_02 16:23

Those two years were hell. They were hell. I don't know what kept us together. I just I was feeling suicidal, it was horrible because I was just becoming aware of how twisted, how addicted, how hopeless, how depressed, how I just didn't, I was 26 and I didn't want to live. And then in Zambia, um, just it was everything was divinely orchestrated. But I ended up talking to this preacher and I just poured my heart out. And it I said to him, look, I'm 26 years old, I don't want to live. I'm I'm not a I don't do anything that in the world's eyes. I almost was hoping that I would be some sort of a criminal or some sort of a more radical person that people would help. Because if you go to prison, maybe you get a psychiatrist. But my story was too ordinary, I thought at the time. I'm just a worker in this factory, I'm just trying to get married, and I just can't. But I'm not like nobody sees me. I just don't know what to do, and I want to die. I can't get married like that. We go to the beach and and and I just my eyes were just I just follow all these women, and it's like, but I don't want to be like that. But here I am, I'm doing my best, and yet it's not enough. And so I want to die. And then, long story short, he prayed for me. And I remember when um when we prayed, it was it wasn't like I was searching for God. I always knew that someone was out there, but but that's nothing to do with my, it wasn't relevant to my journey. I needed help. And I've been to church and I said, listen, I struggle, I have a good problem. And the message I got was more like, well, just pray the prayer, believe in God, and just do your best. So are you saying that I should stay the way I am? Because it's not good. I don't want to live like that. I'm 26, I want to die. That's not normal. Ah, anyway, but when I prayed that prayer, I felt almost like I wasn't seeking, reaching for God out of the sky. It was more like I finally was willing to turn back to that little boy. You know, the word repent means a U-turn, change your mind about. So not just say sorry, it's I changed my mind about that little boy. I say, could it be that the God that I'm looking for, the salvation I'm looking for, has always been with me, he's waiting for me, but I left that that I locked that door, left it behind because that little boy, that's that who I who I hated and I turned my back on. Could it be that that's the repentance that's harder for me than just to say sorry to God? I have no problem with God. But that little boy, I hated him for not being a man. In fact, that's what kept me from Christianity for a long time because I looked to those guys. I mean, we live in the south in the UK, if they're in the UK, they're all it's full of older people. It's a bit like Florida is um for you guys. And and I just looked at those frail old people, most of the women anyway, but even the men in churches. I said, I don't want to be like that. I want to be strong in a life, I want to be a man. And that's why I'm saying maybe Christianity is not for me. But when I turned back to God and I turned back to my to that little boy inside, that's when the miracle started to happen. That's what I felt. I just started to cry, cry, cry. And I hugged that that big um bishop. He was a big guy. I hugged him and I just held on to him for a long, long time. And then when I let go, he just looked at me and said, Look, look at you, your eyes are different. Literally, that that afternoon I took the plane back for England, and that and my honeymoon with God, my honeymoon with spirituality didn't last too long because then I ran into more issues. But every time when I came to the end of myself,

Therapy Retreats And Real Change

SPEAKER_02 19:45

there was salvation and release on the other side. And so I started to invest in therapy, men's group, believing, not believing, spiritual, not spiritual. Many things came together, mentors came together, friends gathered around me, and and everything, almost like too many mid, what's the word, midwives, just to just to help bring that baby out. And I was the baby. So I went on healing retreats, I did a Wild at Heart Boot Camp by John Eldridge, I read books, many books, like Healing the Masculine Soul by Gordon Dowby, most of them Christian books for men, and and everything had its place in my story. And long story short, I left many things behind, like forget about the addictions. That's addiction is just scratching the surface. People are so obsessed these days with with the symptoms, with mental health symptoms and addictions. How do I stop watching porn? And all you think about is porn. It's not about that, that's a symptom of something. And so those things were long left behind. But what's better, I started to become someone that's I'm not afraid to make eye contact now. Now I don't need alcohol or cocaine. I'm lighter, even physically, I'm lighter. I don't need to pump this weight and to and to to really artificially build up this big body in order to prove something to the world. I released that little boy. I learned how to swim because I couldn't. I when I'm going out fishing and shooting and things like that, that have more connection to nature, connection. And uh, long story short, yes, at the age of 41, I feel far more myself than I ever did before. And hopefully that will continue. So um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Wow, I'm I'm just blown away at your story because I imagine that that moment with that bishop was wow, explosive for you. Like you saw things that that God intended for you to see. What did you see in those moments? Did you re what did he reveal to you about that little boy?

SPEAKER_02 21:52

I finally allowed him to come back almost as if I'm turning back, almost like there was this old body. Door to my childhood with nature, and I decided to open it. I repented, I turned back, and almost as if when I was hugging this person, and I was I hugged myself almost like back from the dead, and as if I could see those creatures, the animals from my childhood, like the eagles I used to look at um the the green nature, I could hear the sounds, so almost like some lost world within me was coming back. And that was the first step. That was only the first step. I had many experiences since many, and I probably would always do.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

So the first step was to really see that boy for who he was and not the boy that you created out of that trauma. I would marry. Yeah. It you know, suicide is something that is a very real thing, especially in young people today. Speak to us a little bit more about that journey and how God turned that darkness, that that that desire to to die, to end it, into now going out and speaking to the world about your pain and writing all these books.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

Yes, um, in my case at least, because everyone is different, but in my case, the desire to die came much later, much later. So the spiritual death had had happened first. Something in me had died already, and later on life became hard. Because when you don't have um, like the tin man in that story, was it um the wizard of oz? When you when you don't have your heart with you, you can keep going for a while, but eventually, eventually you will stop because part of you is not alive. So, like the car runs out of fuel eventually. And in my case, that part of me had died, or at least near nearly died, because I wanted it to die. I hated that little boy. You're not good enough, you're miserable, you're weak, you're you're ugly. I don't want you. I'll move on and I'll become a real man. And so I buried that little boy, I put him in the tomb. Thankfully, I'm a big believer in the resurrection. Thankfully, that story was reversed. And I said, okay, could it be so just to answer your question? The first thing was to step in faith. Could it be that I was wrong about the little boy? Could it be that everything that was bad about him, because there were things that were ugly about him. I was I was attracted to to sexual things way too early in life, and I started to believe I'm twisted, something is wrong about me, right? Six years old being obsessed with with um sexuality, and sometimes catching glimpses of things on television and and in like papers and things, and and later on started to believe, wait a minute, I'm not pure like other children. I'm I'm I'm dirty, I'm I'm I'm ugly. So, yes, there were things that were wrong, but could it be? I started to believe that maybe there's a deeper part to me. Maybe that little boy is not bad, maybe he's been, maybe things happened to him, maybe he's been darkened or he's been dirty, or you know, even the word twisted, we use the word twisted, but that indicated that something has been straight before it was twisted, and so you have to step in faith. I took the step in faith. I didn't, I was not comfortable with thinking, okay, I'm gonna embrace my little child and I'm gonna invite God. No, I for a long time did not want. I said, but I'm weak. I am no, no, but I choose to believe, okay. I say yes, maybe I was wrong about myself. So maybe I was wrong about hating myself. And I choose, please, God, come and work. I choose to step in faith and I I repent. That's that's bad, that's bad. And people very often talk about sin as something you do to another person or our outside, but it all comes from the inner condition. And very often, people who are perfectionists, for example, they I mean, I couldn't miss a workout. I had to look at my body. Oh, look at me, I'm soft. And of course, if you're like that and see someone who is not as fit as you, how are you gonna treat them? What about your own children? I've seen that work itself out in such an ugly way because, like, well, you're not good enough. Because I treat myself like that. So if I if I hate myself, I also hate people who are entrusted to me to love and nourish. And so um it was very hard to turn around, but I did it by faith. And take a step in faith. If you don't believe me, try it out, do it in faith. That that's my advice. Embrace yourself and and choose to believe that maybe there is something deeper. Maybe I am more than my mental health issues, maybe I'm more than this clingy, needy, or or weak, or whatever labels you put on yourself. Maybe I'm more than that. Let me try it out. Maybe I've shunned that little boy inside or little girl, and now I'm experiencing all these things. But could it be that maybe I can go back and learn to play again? That's my whole one of my the steps in that little book, Rise from the Ashes, the four steps. And I say it takes 15 minutes, each each of these steps. Just try it out. Allow that little child to come forward, and then we'll talk. Then we'll see.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Can you speak to the other steps that you outline in your book? Um, aside from getting connected to that inner child, that can bring some practical steps to those that find themselves in this space currently.

SPEAKER_02 27:30

Absolutely, yes.

Four Steps To Rise From Ashes

SPEAKER_02 27:31

So, step one is let it all out. So empty the historic emotions. And what that looked like very often, I wrote this when I was working in a young people's um homeless young people's uh service project where they lived. And it was like they come home and they slam the door, and it's like it's my girlfriend, it's all her fault. It's like I hate this life, blah, blah, blah. And that's an invitation. You can blame your girlfriend, you can blame the world, but are you gonna change? No. Can you change them? No. So you're stuck, and most people stay stuck. But what if you see that as wait a minute, I'm feeling stronger feelings than just about my girlfriend, just about the world. There's historic trauma there. Well, let it out. We're very afraid in this clinical safeguarded age, we're very afraid of messiness. You say, oh well, that's clinical and therapeutic settings. Forget it. We all humans go and punch a pillow. Is it could it be unsafe? Could you go unhinged and do something crazy? Yeah, but my advice is just don't. I can't I can't supervise everyone that I'm speaking to right now, but I can only share what works for me and for some clients that I have worked with. Let it all out, keep letting it out. It's not about you, your girlfriend. It's not about the person you're seeing in front of you. It's about your mom and dad who abandoned you or didn't allow you to whatever. So, step one, empty that historic pain. Step two, find the child within. So after you've emptied that pain, you find yourself a bit lighter, a bit more, because that inner child is buried under so much pain. But but when you empty some of that, that inner child maybe hopefully will lift his or her head. And it's like, maybe, could it be that I can live? Maybe you let me play. Okay, pick up something that you left behind. For example, my fishing. I remember exactly when I stopped fishing. I remember. The invitation was, well, go and check it out. Uh something was divinely orchestrated for me. A friend of mine said, Look, I got this. My wife actually bought me this little fishing rod. And and a friend of mine at the same week said to me, I've got this um access to the local river, this place near near his land that he's been given permission to go. And I'm like, I must say yes now. It was not comfortable, it's never comfortable because when you're set in your ways, you schedule your days. This is the call out of your comfort zone. But when you step out, my goodness, I go fishing now, I can't hold my soul is full. Because that's what fed me as a child, and that's what continues to feed me. So that's step two, find the child within it. It could be painting, dancing, poetry, doesn't matter what it is, as long as it's something that you used to do and left behind, or always wanted to try. I've tried other things as well, and I'm um, and it's it's all had its purpose in my um journey. Step three is also very challenging, but in a different way. Shift your mindset. Now, I come from a village in the Balkans back in the 80s and 90s, and tragedy and um superstition and fatalism was everywhere. It's like everything you hear about, it's literally people, old people in my village would say, That's how it is. That's how it is when something bad happened. So you have this cemented in your head. The rich people stay rich, the poor people stay poor, that's how it is. The tragedies happen, it's pretty bad. Life is bad. So no wonder they age before their time. It's nothing to do with health or nutrition, it's to do with the mindset, is the stuff we gravitate towards, even when we eat, because of what stuff we're suppressing. So we die long before our time, shall we say? And so shift your mindset is look for one thing, two things, three things just that you can be grateful about. And it's very hard when you wake up in the morning overwhelmed, feeling, oh my god, my life is bad. I mean, sometimes I wake up and I've got pain, and because of the ways I've abused my body, I'm still suffering the consequences in many ways. But my goodness, when you sow is alive, I look at I open the curtains, I look at the sky, I see the sea sometimes when the weather is nice, and it's like, thank you, God. That doesn't matter what pain I've got or what stuff I've got to do in this day, I start with gratitude. I start with a smile. And that's changed everything. Now, when I see people who who are in better places where I am, I'm genuinely curious and I'm genuinely inspired, and I wish them, I wish them well. Well, normally many people just envious, they're just jealous, or they don't even allow themselves to dream. Could I could that maybe be me? No, no, no, no way. Because of the pain, we don't want to feel the pain. And step four, after assuming you've taken these steps, 15 minutes each time, try it out. That's why I say one hour a week, give it that. Step four is act as your future self, take one step into the desired future. So if you're really trying to rediscover yourself going on on this journey, you actually don't know who you are. You're just trying to catch glimpses, but you don't know. So, who do you want to be? What jobs do you want to apply for? What um people you want to talk to? Take one step, apply for that job. Like for me, when I started doing podcasts and things, even to this day is scary because part of time is like, oh, we don't belong here. But the other part is like, I've done it long enough now to know that this is a good place to be. But it was very uncomfortable in the beginning. I started to dress differently. I remember in the old uh apartment that we had, not that long ago, it was like six, seven years ago, the neighbors literally saw me transform. They said, George, what happened to you? Used to go around with these gym clothes and and used to look like one of the guys, and now you look like the manager. Because for the first time I bought myself a jacket, a nice jacket. And for a while I felt like a fraud. But then I said, Wait a minute, George, do you want to wear clothes? Do you like the feel of it? Yes, so wear it. This is you. And um, it's not easy, but it's worth it. Take one practical step into that future, and this is it. And then at the end, I share a story, which, if we have some time, maybe I can even read it to you because it's like just two pages, three pages. But um, this and there's just some final words, words of advice, a bit of mentoring. Um, but this is just four simple steps.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

Well, you say it's four simple steps, it's the action piece that really gets some people like they they it paralyzes them. But once they start doing it slowly but surely, we push past the mind, it can be powerful in so many ways. The subconscious part of the mind wants to push and deceive us, and that's why we say there's there's a pause that is very powerful between what you're feeling and how you're responding to that feeling. And that's that space where God can come in and say, allow me to lead you into the spirit, like into your spirit, into who you truly are versus the version you created for yourself, you know. Yes, that's right. And um, so yeah, I'm in agreement with you. Gratitude has always been, uh in fact, this morning, as I was feeling low because of circumstances that I'm currently facing, I remembered one of the lessons God had taught me about gratitude back in 2021. And it just came brushing back. And I just had my notebook out and I wrote three. I am thankful, using you know, scripture wording, like with Thanksgiving, right? I am thankful for your providence with our family, and you know, and trying to seek to see the the positive in a negative situation. And and the more I did it, the more my soul kind of started to release some of the information, right? So I do agree with you on these steps. I think they're very powerful steps, small, basic, yes, one hour steps a day. And the more you do it, the more you start to identify with it. Yeah, right? Because believing in who you are. There's nothing that you lose really by just trying these things out. So, any last words of encouragement, George, that you wanted to leave the listeners have released that reveal purpose with? And and if we wanted to purchase your books, where do we find them? And do you have a website?

SPEAKER_02 35:44

Okay. And I do have a website called Men's Corner, men's corner.co.uk. I wonder, uh, have we got a minute? Maybe I can read you that last segment because it's just

The Boy Who Came From Heaven

SPEAKER_02 35:53

a story. It's a story. So uh it's called The Boy Who Came From Heaven. Once upon a time, there was a boy who had come from heaven. He was born into a family of two people who had themselves come from heaven once but had forgotten it. The two people, a man and a woman, did their best to raise the child, but since they had forgotten where they had come from, they were not able to see who he really was. The boy was too little to tell them. He needed them in so many ways, but could not express his needs. So little he was and so tender. But he knew he was from heaven because he felt heaven within him. He knew that he was very special and he knew that what he needed, yet he could not say it. Night after night the boy lay in his bed, waiting to be seen, longing to be understood. For even though his parents were good, they did not know his heart. They did not know his heart because they had forgotten their own. The nights and days turned into months and years, and in time the boy grew sad. He felt abandoned and alone, but since there was no apparent reason for his feelings, he hid them from the world at first and then from himself. As time passed, he hid his feelings more and more. He hid them so much that in the end his whole self was hidden from those around him and also from himself. By the time he was a grown man, he had completely forgotten who he was, just like his parents had. The man, who was once a boy who had come from heaven, spent many years trying to pretend that there was nothing wrong with him. He had not really come from anywhere, he reasoned with himself, and therefore had no reason to feel the misery that tormented his soul day and night. Eventually he succeeded and stopped feeling pain. He stopped feeling joy too. But he said to himself that so long as he still felt pleasure, he was fine. He was, after all, a normal man who had come from a normal family and was living a life that, although not particularly exciting or fulfilling, was well normal. The man who was once a boy who had come from heaven grew old and died. He knew about heaven. For even though he had long ago stopped feeling heaven within himself, he had heard about it from others. And since he believed in its existence, he thought he knew all there was to know about heaven. And so, armed with his knowledge, he went to heaven where he met God. God was great, simply great. There was great goodness in him, great power and great glory. Fear and amazement filled the man's soul, but he knew there was no danger. He was home. And as the man marveled at his creator from behind the throne and all the dazzling light and glory, there came a young man who looked like a prince. The fear and the amazement grew as the man watched him come closer, yet, for he realized that this must be a powerful angel. Yet he still knew there was no danger. He still knew he was home. As the prince walked toward him, the man's heart felt full of sorrow, shame, and most painful desire. He saw that this was a man with a face much like his own, but unlike him, he was full of life. He was strong, lean, supple. He was as beautiful as any man could be, yet regal and mighty like a king. Here before him was a man like the men of legends. Suddenly he remembered how much he loved those old legends once, and how quickly he had forgotten them once he had left his childhood years behind. The prince walked toward him slowly with a graceful ease. He had a smile on his face. The longing grew and the pain increased. The man who was once a boy who had come from heaven, fell to his knees and cried for the first time in years. And bitter were his tears, for he had finally recognized the person before him. He recognized him at the same moment as he heard the booming voice of God, full of sorrow, full of passion, and full of great mercy. You know who this is, son? This is you. This is the man I always wanted you to be. This is the man you could have been.

SPEAKER_01 39:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 39:41

Wow.

Identity Authority And Final Blessing

SPEAKER_02 39:43

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

It goes back to the initial thing that we said before we started recording the podcast as we were sharing stories. It reminds me of what you said once you saw yourself the way he sees you. It's it's hard to look away. You know, once you discover your heavenly father, it that's enough for you. I love that story. I really I I think it's the most powerful story there is right now to help others see themselves as God sees them. Full of light, full of life, full of purpose, and enormous capacity. Yes, and beauty, and beauty. And once you allow God to speak to you that way, you know, like you open your heart to and not be afraid to step into faith, which is what you were saying after the meeting with the bishop, is that's the strength that we all have within us. We look at his word, his word is very plain and clear. For I do not give you a spirit of timidness, he says, but of power, love, and self-control. You're filled with God's glory inside of you, his light, his image, his capacity. And you are a son of a king, and you're a daughter of a king for those listening. There's so much power in that identity.

SPEAKER_02 41:46

It's a big deal.

SPEAKER_01 41:47

And yet we never we we don't tap into it as much as we can. And like I told you, you know, the person that came before you that I was interviewing, towards the end, she said, You we all have a victory card that we can pull out at any moment in our journey. And that victory card is that Christ already died. And I mean, like our sins are forgiven. We are washed in his blood. Like there is we have such authority that, and we rarely use it. We rarely say, hey, victory. Like we've already, we're there, the gift is there, and and yet as human beings, we've we struggle, and our mind is the one that like just kind of blocks us for the longest time. And until you allow it, like until you say enough, and I've I don't want this anymore. I mean, that there's a breaking point. We all fall, you know, and that's that's the space I think it's the most powerful space because that is the moment that your life shifts completely. And once you see it, it's hard to unsee that. Very hard to unsee. I mean, life still comes into play.

SPEAKER_02 43:12

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 43:14

And there is deception everywhere because it's everywhere around us. But like she said in the previous interview, there's deliverance and it happens every single day because we can turn to God and say, sorry, Lord, like I I didn't realize that I made this mistake, and and forgiveness is right there, it's a gift. Absolutely. There's no work we have to do. You know, that was the whole point of Christ. I mean, that was the entire reason for him coming. It's aside from teaching us, like, okay, you want to learn what you know God's will is, and you want to learn, you know, how to follow God's will, then follow me. Let me. show you that's why he's perfect. He was the perfect sacrificial lamb and defeated evil. And like you said, you know, there there are people that that allow evil spirits to work through them without really understanding that that's what's happening, but it is happening in our world. And we all have that power within us that you spoke of and your your words are I mean they just filled my heart with hope. And so I wanted to say thank you for letting God's light shine through you today. Letting your story shine very brightly in such a dark spot right now in my life that I needed you to I needed to hear your story from the start to the finish and and just realize that there is hope there is there is light and that is why God put it in your heart to write all those books so that people that navigate especially men navigating because you know as women we are allowed to be emotional growing up but the men they don't let them express like our societies across cultures it's like no the man should be this way and there's no inner child and shut that down and squash that down and and look what it does to the men in our lives. It does not help them it it actually crushes their spirit to be that way you know and so thank you for for your ministry thank you for your work thank you for being uh the body of Christ and going out into the world and sharing your knowledge and your in your story of transformation I think it's a wonderful thing you're doing. So thank you George for being on my show I I've gained so much wisdom and for the listeners have released out reveal purpose remember Matthew 514 to be the light be the light like George has been the light in his in his journey be the light like I've been the light even when

Subscribe Review And Weekly Giveaway

SPEAKER_01 46:16

even when circumstances beat you down you know God is with us. It doesn't change who you are it does not change who you are not to him you you are still his son you are still his daughter and he will be with you in all of it in every single trial that you go through in life God is right there with you. And if you've ever doubted what he has to say about anything you can always go back to his word. It's all there it's not it's not hard and it's and it's an opportunity for you to get to know him better. And the more you get to know him the better you can work with him and him and you so that you can produce the most beautiful fruit together. So um for the rest of the listeners have a wonderful blessed rest of your week bye now.

SPEAKER_00 47:16

So that's it for today's episode of Release Doubt Reveal Purpose. Head on over to iTunes or wherever you listen and subscribe to the show. One lucky listener every single week who posts a review on iTunes will win a chance the grand prize drawing to win a $25,000 private VIP day with Sylvia Worship herself be sure to head on over to release out revealed purposepodcast dot com and pick up a free copy of Sylvia's gift and join us on the next episode