Steve Klein on Men’s Mindfulness, Leadership, and Growth

Steve Klein joins Chloe Brown for a grounded conversation on men’s mindfulness, leadership, and growth in everyday life.

A master electrician for more than thirty-five years, Steve shares how a lifetime of teaching, leading by example, and learning to trust his intuition led him to create Build a Better Human and the Saturday Social, a group for men centered on honest conversation, self-awareness, and real connection.

This episode explores mindful leadership, emotional availability, community, masculinity, and the courage it takes to ask better questions. Steve speaks candidly about building confidence without perfectionism, learning through discomfort, and why growth begins when we get quiet enough to hear what is true.

Connect with Steve Klein on Instagram @thebeardhasspoken.

If you’re tuning in from the Mystical Mermaid Lounge Podcast, we’ve got something extraordinary for you. Be sure to catch Amy Wild’s powerful conversation about animal past lives on the 3/24/26 episode of the Past Lives Café—and then take your connection even further.

For a limited time, podcast listeners get 22% off Amy Wild’s self‑paced course, Connecting With Your Animal in Spirit. Just visit www.spectralcommunications.com and us

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Setup

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Your first co-host is Chloe Brown. A gifted intuitive empath and shadow work life coach. Your second co-host is Keoni Star. An intuitive energy worker, an acclaimed past life regression. The Mystical Mermaid Lounge Podcast starts now.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

So welcome everybody to the Mystical Mermaid Lounge Podcast. Today, Keoni sadly is not here with us, so it is myself, Chloe. And today I have Steve Klein with us. Very excited. Welcome.

SPEAKER_03 2:14

Thank you very much.

Early Intuition And Quiet Listening

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Yes. He is a master electrician with over 35 years of experience who has spent his life bringing light into buildings and now helps illuminate others' inner lives. Steve continues to work in this electrical trade while also guiding others as a mentor, a mindfulness facilitator, and a leadership guide. He's the founder of Build a Better Human, a vision rooted in intentional living, self-awareness, and authentic connection. He's also the creator and facilitator of the Saturday Social, a sacred men's round table where truth is shared, spirit is strengthened, and growth happens through honest conversation and brotherhood. Steve's journey blends practical wisdom and spiritual awakening and leaning to trust, learning to trust his intuition, leaning into his spiritual gifts, and live with grounded intention. Through his work and his presence, he continues to do what he's always done best: create connection, share light, and help others find clarity in their own lives. As I said before, welcome to the Mystical Mermaid Lounge. I'm so excited to have you here. I've heard a lot about you.

SPEAKER_03 3:48

Thank you very much. That sounds like a lot. It kind of sounds like I don't really have too much time to sleep when I'm doing all that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Relatable, relatable. So I think what we'd like to do, we like Keoni's here, what we normally do is if you're open to it, we'll pop in with your original origin story and we'll kind of go from there. So it said that you spent decades illuminating buildings as an electrician. When do you feel like you recognized your call or your ability to illuminate people from within? And we'll talk about how you do that soon as well.

SPEAKER_03 4:28

When did I recognize it? I would say is probably fairly recently in the grand scheme of things. I've always been very intuitive. Even as a young child, I've been interested in my horoscope and astrology and really just interested in kind of dipping my toe in. I'm a Pisces, so I'm very connected to emotion and you know, nature and things like that. I've always enjoyed being outdoors. I've always enjoyed going fishing with my father and things like that. And I've I've had a passing interest in a lot of things. So I brush across Toroscope and things like that, but never really paid much attention to it as a young adult and then growing up and having children of my own. It's one of those things where you're sitting around and and hey, I feel like something's going to happen and then it happens. Now, it never works for me in the lottery because I can't predict the lottery numbers, because as soon as it comes out ahead of time, it never happens. And I don't know if that's just the universe telling me, you know, hey, settle down a little bit. But more recently, I've been to a couple of serendipity fairs and had some Reiki readings. And I was basically told, you know, have you, or actually asked, have you ever thought about doing something like this in the spirit world? Have you ever thought about, you know, hosting or doing public speaking and things of that nature? And never went to college, never had any formal training. But what I started to realize between the Air Force, I play a lot of baseball still in my adult life, I was always thrust into the forefront of being a leader. I tried to stay in the background. I tried to not bring attention to myself because I don't like that self-illuminating kind of thing that people do. It's like pounding their chest and looking at me.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:34

I'm more of a lead by example. What I've started learning through my job and working with apprentices and teaching unintentionally is a lot of that what I do as a leader and as a presenter and as a teacher is just natural. And people tend to start looking at me because I'm detail-oriented, things of that nature. So it kind of seemed like an easy fit. And then I had somebody tell me right off the cuff at this recent serendipity fair I did a few months ago, you should start a men's group. And I had been thinking about it. So all these things kind of in the universe had been pulling me, and I never really recognized at an early age. So realistically, my my origin story has been my entire life, but my really digging in and putting my toes in the sand has been maybe in the last nine months or so, nine, 10 months.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Yeah, I think that's a beautiful and perfect, obviously, because it's honest, but I think it's a perfect example of why, you know, Keone and I like to ask those questions because I think a lot of people think it's just a moment of, you know, instant clarity. And it's it's not. And it, you know, some people may have that amazing origin story where bam, it just happened. But most of us, when looking back on it, are like, oh, this was here for this. They were all building blocks. So thank you for sharing that. That is beautiful and lovely. And I think a lot of our listeners will be able to relate to that because we often, I think a lot of our audience, or at least I tend to dummy myself down. So hearing it in others is very empowering. So thank you for sharing that.

SPEAKER_03 8:23

You're welcome. I've also got to add to that, I I put a lot of quotes up on my board at work for the for the apprentices. And, you know, I get a lot of 17, 18, 19-year-olds and some 23, 24-year-olds that have either never had a job, you know, this is their first career, things like that. And in and in this generation, they need guidance. And so I tend to put quotes up, you know, be intentional, talking about being empowered and empowered, asking empowering questions. And one of the things that resonated with me is in talking just now is we hear things when we get silent, you know, and not listening to myself or not listening to what's always been around. I've been learning to teach myself to be quiet. And I've I've always been an observer, an observer of detail, but I've always been feeling like I have to respond every single time. So I'm learning and teaching myself to get quiet, and then I'm really hearing things, and then that's the first step, and then starting to listen is really the second step.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Hmm. Yeah, I'll give that a moment of silence because that's powerful and very real. I can't help but wonder. I mean, obviously, this is part of the human experience, but the other part of me wonders very selfishly how much of that is military and Pisces related, because I'm also a Pisces. And uh, everybody knows I'm a at this point in my life, which is funny because for 20 years, nobody knew I was a veteran at all. But this year I've made it important to share. One of the things I think was important while you're speaking, I kind of jotted down some notes. The things that spoke up to me while you were saying, I just wrote it down, lead by example, which was the first thing that gave me ghost freckles. The second thing was structured, well thought out, and a men's group. And I think those are so powerful because when I was reading the information you sent over, I thought all of those things, all of those things. There's ex So you embody that. I just wanted to share that because not everybody gets to see you. And that's what I picked up even from your email before I saw your face. So glad you see that because we do too.

Leadership By Example In Real Life

SPEAKER_03 10:44

Being who I am, structured comes across because I'm very, and I always have been, intentional with my presentation as far as what I try and say and trying to be prepared. I'm very much a last-minute reactionary kind of person. And maybe because it's for a lot of reasons, but I think the biggest reason is I work well under pressure. And I'm kind of an enigma wrapped in a question mark, is like I turn tongue in cheek like to say, I am structured because I like that day-to-day, I know what I'm doing, I know what I'm wearing. I wear the same kinds of clothes to work because it eliminates a decision for me. And it it makes my time. So I always did that even before the military. But I'm also fly by the seat of my pants. So just when I get to a point where I'm so structured before I get bored, and I I just go, okay, I think I mentioned before we started the interview that I did a breath work, and it's not something that I would normally consider, but it's like, yeah, why not? Let's let's see what happens. So I'm willing to take the ride anywhere at any time with anybody, and sometimes that's gotten me in trouble. But but the reality is I am structured and well thought out, but I will grab myself by the seat of my pants and just kind of go as well. And I think that's important, really.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Yeah. Not only is it important for you to be able to live, in my opinion, for you to be able to live your authenticity, but I think in that truth and that honesty and that vulnerability, I think that's where not only do we grow, but we this is my belief. But I believe when we're in those moments, we deeply affect the others around us, directly or indirectly. It is like a seed being planted. And it doesn't mean that it's what our will is on them. It's just like I have a very visual thought process, and it just comes across like a like a happy, positive seed, like, and here's some love for you, here's some love for you, and here's some love for you. So that's really awesome. And I think this is a great way, a great opportunity to ask about building a better human, what this is, what it means to you. Could you just share all of it with us, please?

SPEAKER_03 13:15

I used to explain it as a selfish act. And I was uh I'm I'm really leaning into words matter. So I've tried to change selfish into self-love, self-care, things of that nature, because we we tend to do some things that to other people seem like we're doing them being selfish. Um we're only doing them for ourselves. And I think that the people that are going to give us the most love are ourselves. And I think self-care and self-recognition and self-understanding is really the first step in being able to love someone else equally. So the build a better human, I got to a point where it really struck me one day. I held a door open for somebody and they just walked in. And I was a little angry, a little annoyed. There was no thank you. There was no, and then I started noticing that was everywhere. You know, everybody's got their face down in their phones. Everybody is distracted by one thing or another. I mean, the things we have in society right now are intended to make our lives easier. But for some reason, if if if you listen to the stories in the 50s, we had more time to sit around as a family and have dinner. Now we have less time, but we have more things to to to help our life. Fill the void. Correct. So the build a better human for me was I I kept looking around and I kept looking at people, and I wish you were better. I wish you were better. I wish you were better. And then I started thinking that that doesn't serve me. I'm going to build myself as a better human. I'm going to be more empathetic and more understanding and more giving of my time. Being in the same industry as an electrician, I've I've built a really great career. And I have a lot to give back to that career. I have a lot to give back to the military that that was part of building me who I am today. So a lot of it is giving back, but I have to build myself better as a human in the world, interacting with other people. And what I'm finding is when I started talking about it, oh, that's underserved. That's, you know, we need to, that's that's an underserved area of our humanity and of our society. So that's great. We we need to lean into that. So I found more people getting on board. So simply put, build a better human was about me. And what I'm seeing is I'm bringing other people along with that. And I'm leaning more and more into it. I got quiet and I heard what was needed. And the best inventions throughout history is somebody looking back and saying, what do we need? And then creating it instead of waiting for somebody else to create something for them that they can utilize.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Absolutely. What's interesting is right before you started sharing what this was, I saw that little meme that goes around all the time. It's be the change.

SPEAKER_03 16:33

And it sounds like Be the change you expect in others.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Yes. And it sounds like that's what it started as, and it's just become this most beautiful. I love that. We all can embody that in some way or another. Is this something you do you provide outreach? Do you reach out to others? Do is I think that's where the Saturday social comes in, actually, right? Okay.

Why Build A Better Human Exists

SPEAKER_03 16:58

It is. It is. And I've I've been again, going back to me being structured, I've always looked at things from the standpoint of an engineer's brain. I know what I want to have, I know what I want to create, whether it's physical at work, whether it's it's a project at home. I always have to see it complete, deconstruct it, and then I know what steps to take to build it. So I'm an overthinker in that. So when I had the idea of build a better human, and I had the idea and the push, like I talked about earlier, of a men's group. How do I do that? What do I do? Everything's got to be in place. And I was told take an uncomfortable step, take an imperfect step. And I'm like, all right. And I just so happened to meet with a friend of mine who we we were just discussing life. He's a baseball friend of mine. We were discussing life in general. We weren't sitting around complaining about, oh, this happened, that happened, what am I going to do? We were coming at things from a solution-based conversation. And we challenged each other in different avenues. And he challenged me, being in my early to mid-50s, not having social media, not knowing how to get on Facebook, because I really didn't care about that. I told people, I don't, some days I don't have time for my regular in-person life. I sure as heck don't have time for an internet life on Facebook. And I don't need to know what you had for dinner. If I'm friends with you, I'll call you and then we can discuss dinner. But I don't need to know that you took your dog outside and it barked four times and scared a bird away. So anyway, that was uh I a little deviation there. Little deviation there. But he challenged me. He said, make a video, make a post. So I did. And I just hit record and I talked. And then I didn't know about editing and I didn't know about any of that. So I kind of made it my thing and I leaned into it. It's it's the natural things to lean into that sometimes are the best. So I just I when I said, look, this video is gonna come out, it's not gonna be edited mainly because I don't know how to. This is me, this is what you're getting. And then I just made a decision that I was gonna hold a meeting. I'm gonna call it the Saturday Social. It's gonna be a group for men. It's not a men's group. It is a group for men. And my wife makes fun of me because she says it's the same thing. I said, no, it's not. Words matter. It is all people are welcome. Matter of fact, our last meeting, uh December few weeks ago, we did a co-ed. So the sixth meeting that I ever had was a co-ed, because 50% of the population is coming to these on the regular. And the wives of people that I run across, or my wife runs across in her business, are like, I wish I could get my husband to go. Well, you can't make him go. But if I open it up to co-ed and they wanted to come and they brought their husbands, albeit reluctantly, you know, it gets that going. But also we can have interconnected conversations. So the men's, the, the, the Saturday social was kind of like, hey, let's do it. I had two people, I had one person. The last one we had 12. And I'm I'm opening it up to Zoom. So it's getting legs, but I felt like I felt like that's where I could come from a power of strength because I am a man and I've had experiences. Words matter. So we discuss the things. We come from a positive, a positive mindset. We challenge the labels of standardized society, and we also examine our own beliefs and actions and how we react to those labels that are put upon us, we put upon ourselves that we're only providers, we're only protectors. We're much more than that. And it goes so much deeper into me being a Pisces, I've always been connected to my own emotion. But what most men today, what we're taught as little kids, suck it up, just do better. What we think emotion is, is sitting around and crying. And there are a whole lot more emotions than just being sad or just being crying. And I've cried because I've been happy before. There's so many things out there. And one of the things I want to point out, you had said a little bit ago about being vulnerable. I'm trying to change that word within my group and expand it. Because to me, being vulnerable, other I understand what that means. Other people hear the word vulnerable and it's like, especially men, that's not me. Let's change that word to available. Because if you can be available to your partner, not vulnerable, because again, as men, we challenge the the labels that are put on us. But we are looked at by our partners as being providers and protectors. We're not only that, but we are that. And if your partner can't have confidence that you're going to be there for them when they need you, and you're too vulnerable or too emotional in the wrong senses, then they're not going to have faith in you either. And it's kind of goes hand in hand. So I hope that answers your question.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Yes, actually, that is beautiful. I that's blowing my mind because I love how you're taking a word that can not not only can be very triggering, obviously, but I think outside of that, the average person sees vulnerable as. You know, an honorable thing, but there's more scary or dark than light in that duality, I guess I think is a good way of saying it. And so by owning it, making it your own own and embracing that, but also understanding, you know, my role here, this is part of what I do, is be this foundation. How can I provide both? It actually reminds me of a Dax song, To Be a Man, like everything goes back to music for me. So I love that. I think that's a phenomenal approach. And it kind of ties with conversations I've had with my husband pretty regularly. You know, he's very science-driven and El deGrasse Tyson's his hero. So we hear a lot about his opinions and facts. But where I think we're constantly meeting in the middle is very similar to what you're saying is how, from a male standpoint, he he doesn't understand how to provide that vulnerability, but still provide that structure of we will be okay. So that resonated deeply. And I I love I love this message. One thing that resonated a little bit for me when you spoke about it earlier, also was being better, but without perfectionism. That's a fine line. Do you want to talk about that a little bit? I think it's not fine line, a slippery slope is what I meant to say for myself.

SPEAKER_03 24:24

No, no, it it's it very much is. And we can see, tend to see things as as humans as we're not, we we we can't afford to mess up. One of the things I told my children, and and to today's actually my daughter's, my youngest daughter's birthday, and she's 30.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

But happy birthday, youngest daughter.

Taking Imperfect Steps Into Service

SPEAKER_03 24:48

Yes. Not so young anymore, but but bittersweet. But what I've told both of them is if you decide to go down a path and you're unhappy, back up and take another path. It's not about being perfect in your decisions, it's about understanding where you really want to be, even if it's just in the moment. We all have a lot of times where we we think we want something and then we get it. And maybe that's not where we wanted to be. We all have a lot of times where we get to a place where we wanted to be, and after a year it changes. And it's, you know, you have an in you have an interest in being um of going to school and earning an education and going to college. I have two apprentices right now that one's got a bachelor's degree and one's got a master's degree, and they decided they didn't want to do that. They wanted to work with their hands. They wanted the the engineering part of it. So they're they're starting over now. They're in their 20s. They're able to do that. Or should I say, it it seems to be societally that they're able to do that. Exactly. I don't know the exact age, but think of when Colonel Sanders started Kentucky Fried Chicken and the story for that. And I know enough about the story to get the point across is he was, I think he was in his late 60s, early 70s, and he had this recipe that he wanted to create, and he put a pressure cooker in his car, and he traveled to these independent restaurants to try to sell his recipe.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 26:30

In his 70s. It's never too late. The only time it's too late is when you're in the ground.

SPEAKER_02 26:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:39

There's there's nothing you can't come back from, there's nothing you can't make a diff different decision on. So I I think that's very important to remember as people is it's okay to mess up. When we mess up is is when you do something right, what do you learn? If you're making a new recipe and you're making rice and it's too wet, what do you learn? Put less water in it. These these little little tidbits that I've gotten through my life. When I when I first met my wife, and and she's Greek and she is an amazing cook. I've always loved to cook. But again, I'm very structured, I'm very science-driven. I follow a recipe. To her, a recipe is just a suggestion. I'm gonna add this and gonna add that. I made biscuits one morning, and I've made biscuits 20 times, and they were too wet, and I was upset, and I was visibly upset, and she's like, What's wrong? And she said, just add more mix. And it resonated so much that she got me a money clip and it says, for for our wedding, and it says, just add more mix, and that's life. If if the mixture that you create is too much of this or too much of that, change the recipe. Come at it from a scientific standpoint. You you have something that's not working, change one thing and see if it's different. And if that doesn't work, change one more thing. Don't change everything. Don't say, you know what, I'm I'm gonna go live on the grid now. I'm used to being in a house and and ordering Uber Eats and all this other stuff, and now all of a sudden I'm just gonna have one pair of clothes and go live in the woods. That's probably not gonna work out too well for you. But there's nothing that says you can't do that. Be afraid, don't be afraid to make mistakes.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

Yeah. Actually, one of my veterans groups, one of the gals was talking about, I'll edit that part out. One of the girls I know was talking about how her father is starting his new business and he's 82, and she was having a really hard time supporting him. And I thought this very topic actually came up. And and I I just always play devil's advocate, regardless of how I feel, just to kind of try to spur some motivational thought, because it's not about who's right or wrong, it's about understanding another person and giving that compassion that I would want if I were in their shoes. And so we were just talking about this. How ironic is that? Because like society does even at 41, it's like, oh, you can't start all over again. I'm like, well, I might be. So thanks for speaking to that. That's important. And again, it just goes back to following really what feels right for that person and making sure they're doing the legwork because your example was great, I almost spit my coffee out. It was so funny because you're right. Like, we can't go from one extreme to the other and expect it to be a slow transition or convenient translation. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:57

Right.

SPEAKER_03 29:58

The the I think it must be a Pisces trait playing devil's advocate, because I've always done that all my life. I don't pose questions to be a contrarian. I pose questions for deeper thought. Yes. My big thing is why. Or my big thing now is why. Tell me why at work. Well, this went wrong. And I can always come in and I can tell them exactly what's wrong and tell them how to fix it. That doesn't create those, what do you call it? Uh the it's the stuff that we learn when we you talk about Neil deGrasse Tyson and talk about critical thinking. And he said, where we are failing and is they changed the way that they taught math from when I was in school to when even when my kids were in school, the first you're in fifth grade, you get a calculator. Why do you need a calculator? Because in fifth, fourth, fifth, sixth grade, we learned our multiplication tables. We learned this, we learned how to do percentages. I had to teach my kids how to do 10% off when they were shopping for clothes. It's it's very easy. And I told them these little tricks, and it's like, so what we're doing in when we're when we're in school and we're being indoctrinated into what everybody else wants us to think or how we they want us to think, we're not being, we're not giving our generations the critical thinking and the understanding of how things work. And the example that Neil deGrasse Tyson used was math. There was always a process, there was always a step. If you do the same process with different numbers, you'll eventually understand what that process is. It's the process of, okay, this didn't work out well. Pick whatever it is, the conversation, the relationship, the build. It didn't work out. Well, why didn't it work out? Well, because I put this here instead of here. And again, it goes back to changing one thing and not being afraid to fail. You do something right, you don't learn. You just know you did it right. If you do something wrong, it makes you uncomfortable because you have to admit that you did something wrong. But when you're uncomfortable is when you grow. When you make mistakes is when you understand what not to do. I can tell you the stove is hot, don't put your hand on it. The stove is hot and you put your hand on it. Now, which one's not gonna get you to put your hand on it? The fact that you put your hand on it and you burned yourself. That one's gonna really get you not to do it. Don't push the button. You really want to push the button. So those things that make us uncomfortable and those conversations that get us to ask why, why are things the way they are? I I didn't go to college. I'm not a psychiatrist, not a psychologist. But hosting this men's group is let's have a conversation. And I always write down, we've had, I've had seven Saturday socials. I always write down topics. I've never gotten to a topic because the organic conversation that happens is I'll go around, okay, tell me what brought you here today. And I've had some people say, my friend called me and said he wanted me to show up and I'm here to support you. And that's that's a fair, honest assessment of why you're there. But it's always them asking the questions, and then we expound on it. And then somebody else says, I've had the that exact same experience. Until and there's everybody from all walks of life and all levels of society, but we we all struggle with the same stuff. We have fear that we're not good enough, that we're not providing enough. We didn't react well in a situation. We all deal with the same thing. So start asking why. When you start asking why, you start looking internal, which is uncomfortable, but you have to understand why you are the way you are and what got you to where you are.

Reframing Vulnerable As Available

SPEAKER_00 34:12

Totally agree with that. In fact, I will often say that the 10 years of intense one-on-one talk therapy I did was helpful. But the one year that I, the first year that I had started these group sessions actually were so much more beneficial than those 10 years of one-on-one for exactly that's exactly how the group is ran. What brought you here today? And then each person, and before you know it, we're so entrenched with understanding, connecting, relating, giving space, witnessing when they need to be witnessed. And there's sense that there's just such a sense of powerful, it's just huge when somebody can come in so withdrawn and sad and leave shining so bright inward, like coming from their in or going outward, so that you know it's not just a fleeting moment or an emotion that maybe, maybe somebody said something to help that person, and that is worth every bit of it. I I love that you do this. You said that you have opened it up to Zoom so that, you know, my husband on the other side of the country who is also seeking like-minded mentality folks. Is that you want to tell us a little bit about where it's located and if it is accessible to the non-local folks?

SPEAKER_03 35:46

Yes, it is. And I'm still trying to work through how to get that out there. Because again, you know, social media and all that kind of stuff. I do have an Instagram. I do have an Instagram. The Beard Has Spoken is my Instagram. And I post on there as well as my Facebook when the next meetings are. And all I all it, if anybody wants to reach out, if they just message me there, I'll give you the link and then you sign in, and that's it. It's it's simple enough. And it's it's new, so it's you know, it I'm still working through some kinks, but but that's that's where people can find me. And and and I feel it's important to try to get as many people involved as possible. It is the the Saturday Social is a donation-based event that I hold. I I obviously, being a 35-year electrician, I'm at a point now where I'm looking at seven, eight, nine years and I can take my retirement. I don't want to do that for the next seven, eight, nine years. Not that I I hate it or don't enjoy it. I do because I also get to teach. I have a new calling now. I have a new, but it's difficult to just walk away from. So event so what I'm gearing to do is build a better human, is make this a brand, make this a growing thing, a living, breathing, sustainable thing. The Saturday Social is the first link in that. I want, I'd love to do podcasts, I'd love to write a book, which my wife laughs at me because I don't read books. But I think it's possible, you know? So everything is possible given the chance. Absolutely. But it was but it was very important to me to not try and monetize everything. I kicked the idea around about doing the Saturday social and making it a$10 or$15 event, which grand scheme of things, once a month,$15,$20, not a lot. But I'm leaving it in a donation event. I will create different levels that will be memberships. And for those memberships, you get so I have other businesses that I'm partnering with about being able to do breath work and being able to do visualization and mentor and meditations and things like that. So I want to offer those things to the members, either at a discount or free of charge or whatever, as being a member. But I didn't want the reason people don't show up to be financial, albeit very small amount. The Zooms will have a small fee attached to it just because Zoom costs to be able to do more than a 40-minute thing. But it's very nominal, it's very minimal. But I but again, I I want to stress that is I don't want financial thought process to be I'm not coming to the Saturday social. I'm not going to invest in myself for because of this.

SPEAKER_02 38:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:50

You know, come, listen, talk. I uh one of my good friends is is an extreme introvert. And it's like, where did all these words come from, sir? Because what he's realized is he's not alone. And in these group conversations, no matter what group it is, a veterans group, a group for men, a group for women, we start realizing, and you talk about people starting to share that don't normally share, the reason they do is they're they're looking around going, I'm not alone. I I'm not as crazy as I thought I was. I'm not, yeah, I'm not as in left out of coming out of left field. Everybody feels this way.

SPEAKER_02 39:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:32

So so that empowers you to want to share your experiences. And one of the things that I say as one of my rules is we have four very simple rules. And one of those rules is you do not have to participate, but just understand that something you might have to share might affect somebody else.

SPEAKER_00 39:54

Yeah. Yeah, I think that is my favorite part. I know for me, whether it's through this podcast or in those groups, even if I have nothing to do with it, if I can just see one person light up and there's it just their view in of the world and maybe of themselves just shifts. And that's to me the magic and the beauty. And that is what makes what fuels me to come back and and try again and continue to put myself out there the way that I have.

Mistakes As Data Not Failure

SPEAKER_03 40:24

That so I have a I have a term for that. And I started equating that at work. And like I said, I work with 17, 18, 19-year-olds that never had a job, never used a tool or a drill or whatever. I call it the aha moment. It's the moment that I see that what I'm teaching them, that light bulb comes on and they go, oh my. And that fills me up with so much. I I that's why I do it. And I tell myself after the that's why I do it. And that's why I do the Saturday social, is because I'll get texts here and there. It was a great topic today. And I thought about it. I have a guy that, a friend of mine, that drives an hour and a half to come to these two-hour socials. And he says, I have a lot of time to think on the drive home. And what you said made sense to me. And what you said was this, and we have more ongoing conversations. I mean, two hours seems like a long time. I I literally have to look at the clock and go, we got to start wrapping this up because we could go all day. We really could.

SPEAKER_00 41:36

My group is an hour and a half, and we have to shut everybody down because you're right. It gets even if it's just super positive. I mean, sometimes we just bring food and chat about nothing, but it always ends up being something deeper and it's fellowship and community. Yeah. And I think to tie it back with what you said at the beginning, you know, I don't even remember the last time I had a moment to think for a second. I could possibly maybe be bored. Because, like you said, there's always more on the list, right? Especially as you as we continue to build these passion projects and start creating things. And so it's so powerful to know we're not alone. We can get so busy and so in our heads. I love that. I think the one thing I want to say is we absolutely have to have you back. I can't wait to hear how this progresses. We need updates. I want to know all of the information.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 42:31

But one of the questions I skipped over earlier that it just keeps coming up to me. How did or do did you learn to trust your intuition and your spiritual gifts? And it sounds like I can see where the connection happened, but how did the transition feel to you? Did it feel smooth? Did it feel quick? Did it feel rough and bumpy? And I asked this to give an example or context because I'm the type of person I joke around all the time. My spiritual team uses a two by four to teach me because I don't listen the first or the second time. So I do the pendulum thing, like we talked about, the off the grid, on the grid. Could you speak to how that worked for you? It feels really seamless. Obviously, we're just in conversation and admirable. And I'm hoping maybe your feedback can help all of us stop trying to be a perfectionist and just chill out a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 43:26

Think about that a little bit, because a lot of things came to mind when you were asking the question. A lot of things initially came up. I started so yes, it was very simple, also completely complicated.

SPEAKER_00 43:43

Duality?

The Saturday Social Format And Access

SPEAKER_03 43:44

No. Correct. And and I'm finding that it's the yin and the yang. It's the good and the bad. You can't have bad without having a good to reflect off of. You can't have success without having failure to reflect all off of. These people that are uber successful in society, that's not the first thing they did. That's not the first road they took. It's not the first car they bought. So when I started listening to my intuition, I started realizing it was what made me happy. Period. That's the simple answer of it. The commonalities that keep kick coming up. My father-in-law, who gets me to think extremely deeply into the why, even after I started thinking about what's the why, he started getting me to think more deeply about where my leadership comes from. I talked earlier about I've always been a natural leader, but I've never stopped to consider where did that come from. Was well before the military. That just solidified it. But I started understanding, and even as an adult, I played competitive baseball. And on my teams, I'm the leader. I'm the one everybody comes to do. I was on one team where the manager ran the league, and my teammates were coming to me about answers for the league because I knew. They knew I knew. They knew I'd always had the answer. My awakening, uh, I was thinking back about this last night. My awakening came this year, October 2nd, 2025. The initial Saturday socials, I had two people. I had one person, I had four people. And I think after the fourth, imposter syndrome kicked in. I feel like I have a great message. I'm working on the presentation. I'm doing videos once a week. I'm, and sometimes more when things and and I tend to ramble and I get all that. So the presentation I'm working on. But I feel like there's a lot of information that I have that I can share, or at the very least, pose a question and get somebody to think. So I'm thinking, I'm driving home one day from work and I'm sitting in the driveway and I'm just like, what am I doing? Like, you're an electrician. This is this is what society says that you are. You've worked all your life, you're very successful at it. I took all the lessons my father gave me, and and you put your nose to the grindstone, and you, you know, you get an education and you work for 40 years and you retire, and then you enjoy your retirement. I got a phone call from a friend, and it was before he started coming to the Saturday Social. And he said, I just, and he's all for he's also in the construction industry. And I know people can't see me, but you know, mohawk, big beard, tattoos all over. Not a guy you want to have a casual conversation with in public. And then I opened my mouth and they're like, Oh, you're just a big teddy bear. Like, okay. So he's he's very much the same. And he said, Look, I've been watching some of your videos and some of your posts. And it's just heartfelt stuff. It's just me talking about a subject or something that may have come up during the week, getting us to think a little deeper. And he said, I think it's great what you're doing. He goes, I want to come. He goes, How long are the meetings? I've got to take my son to football at a certain time, but I want to show up. Because obviously the time's not always going to resonate with everybody. But that 15, 20 minute conversation, I was like, yeah, this is what I'm supposed to do. My intuition told me this is what I'm supposed to do. And so I did, I did a post. And anybody that goes to my Instagram and looks at my posts, it's me by the fire. And there was a little transition that I did that I came up with, and I sat down and I was, because the podcast I want to do is Hear the Beard. And my sign-off is The Beard Has Spoken, which is what my Instagram is called, The Beard Has Spoken. I love that tie-in. So I started off as The Beard. And 10, 15 seconds in, it was like, nope, this is Steve Klein. This is my awakening, and here's my truth. And basically the bottom line is I fell victim to wanting instant gratification. And from that point on, it's this is what you're meant to do. In some form or another, I've always been a teacher. In some form or another, I've always been a leader. Now I need to start understanding what makes me a good teacher. I need to start understanding what I do naturally, the intangibles that I do that make me a leader. And by no means am I trying to force myself out there to do this. I'm just being me. I've come across enough people that look at me and they're like, eh, you're arrogant. I'm not arrogant, I'm confident. I'm I'm confident in who I am, and I always have been. Nervous a lot of times still, but that doesn't come, you know, my confidence takes care of that. And so the intuition part comes easy for me to listen to now because I'm recognizing if it makes me happy inside, internally, not like, oh, I got a gift and I'm happy. If I feel that warmth inside, in my core, in my soul, and it resonates, and it that's I know I'm on the right path. And seeing those people have that aha moment in group discussion, in the teaching path. They've learned something and they're like, oh, this is great. That's the satisfaction. That's listening to my intuition. That's understanding where that comes from.

SPEAKER_00 50:06

Yeah, I think that's a great reminder that our intuition, I wrote this down as you said it, shows us or tells us, and then life provided to us the answers and confirmation.

SPEAKER_02 50:18

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 50:20

That was so profound to me. I was like, holy crap. Also, nose to the grindstone, amazing song. Not my normal genre, but a great song, once again.

SPEAKER_03 50:30

There's a lot of life lessons in music and poetry. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 50:35

Yeah, I almost every day I'll wake up with a random lyric in my head. And sometimes I don't even know where the song came from. Sometimes I've never even heard of the song, but the messages that come from it are for me, that's my magic in the mundane every day. I absolutely am so grateful for it. So thank you for mentioning that. One of the questions I wanted to ask, I don't want to take too much of your time. I know this is a very important today for you.

SPEAKER_03 51:03

Oh, she's she she's already celebrated. She lives in Scotland, actually. So she she doesn't live live with me, but yeah, it's it's and it's amazing over there, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 51:15

Wow, let me pick my job off the floor. I am just so envious. What I was curious about though, is do you find there's the common theme? I think you've kind of touched on this a little bit, but what do you find for those of us who have men in our lives that can relate to what you're talking about? It doesn't even have to be a man, a person in our life that can relate to what you're talking about. What do you find that they have trouble speaking out loud? And is there anything we can do, which I think I already know the answer because you said it, but to help support and uplift and just let them know that we value them and we see them?

SPEAKER_03 51:59

Um I I think I think from a man's point of view, we are misrepresenting the words that that are out there that describe us. Masculinity is has been marked as a negative. Masculinity is you're tough. You get hurt, just keep going. You're overwhelmed, it doesn't matter because that's what you're supposed to do. We we don't give our partners, we don't give our friends enough of ourselves and enough credit that we can speak about things and it won't be held against us. I think from a partner's point of view or a friend's point of view, if you're just be available, just be willing to listen. I equate it to myself. I I told somebody because they wanted to come, and they're like, but I don't do therapy. And I said, I'm not a therapist. I'm not here to tell you what's best for you. I'm all I'm doing is facilitating a meeting place and a meeting time. I'm getting the players together. You guys are playing. But on the other hand, I had somebody, this is the duality of it. I had somebody tell me that's what the best therapists do. They they just ask the questions. The therapist I spoke with years ago that helped me the most. How's your day? And I told her about or how's your week? Told her about my week. And she goes, Well, how do you feel today about that? Oh, I this, this, this. Well, what would you change? Before I was done, I had my own solution. What am I paying you for?

SPEAKER_00 53:50

Which is great then, because they're teaching us how to be what we need versus teaching us to be somebody who's on their books as consistently as they need to be to be able to pay their bills, right? They're teaching us to fish instead of giving us the fish. Sorry not to interrupt you.

Awakening Moment And Imposter Syndrome

SPEAKER_03 54:06

No, no, you're fine. And you're absolutely right. The getting the why behind it, I can tell you what, you have to understand why. Why are we doing things the way we're we're doing them? Because of this, this, and this. What do we do when those things don't go right because of this, this, and this? Again, pick the topic, dealing with a tool or doing a build or having a conversation or building a relationship. I did a presentation on the spiritual journey, what keeps us resisting from a man's point of view. And the research I did, I started with the the divine masculine, divine feminine, and understanding the differences between the two and and what some of those things are. And what kept resonating is eliminate the word divine, eliminate the spirituality part of it. This is this is social. Women are more emotional, men are more action-based. It's been ingrained or labeled in men that if we're emotional, we're weak. If we're available, vulnerable, we're weak. If we can't press on for some other some reason, we're weak. And that there's been a negative put to that. And I challenge people to have some understanding that you can be emotional. You can be happy, you can be sad. You that doesn't mean you have to, it doesn't give you the license to do less. It might give you the responsibility to do more, but figure out a healthy way on how to do that, how to manage that stress, how to manage that pressure, how to communicate effectively, make words matter. So I started getting down into that. I started understanding that. And again, it was from a spiritual journey, but this resonates just directly in life. Men have a fear of vulnerability, a fear of losing control, a fear of emotional, or we have emotional illiteracy. We don't understand what having emotions is. Having emotions, I can't be emotional. Why not? You're not allowed to be happy. Well, I'm happy, that's an emotion. We have the same, we we have shame or self-judgment of something we may have done in our past that doesn't make us feel good enough. And the biggest, strongest thing that that holds men back is our ego. You know, we have to be right. We have to be the one that does whatever. My wife was right most of the time.

SPEAKER_00 56:53

For those who couldn't see, he peeked around the corner to see if she could hear him.

SPEAKER_03 56:58

Funny story about that, and the way she's diffused it, and it was it was funny in the very beginning, 16 years ago when we met, as well as frustrating, we were having a disagreement. We we don't fight, we don't argue, we communicate, we have disagreements. You're allowed to disagree with somebody and have an educated conversation. We don't do that in society. But this one particular day long ago, we were having this disagreement and back and forth, and finally she looked at me and she said, You can be right if you want to be. What do you say to that? There's nothing. Because if you continue, you're just making yourself look foolish. Yeah. And up until recently, that was just like a tongue-in-cheek back and forth. But think about the words to that. Think about the emotion to that. Think about if you're having a disagreement with a stranger in public, think about thinking that. Maybe, maybe don't verbalize it, but thinking uh you're allowed to have your opinion. I'm also allowed to disagree with it. And we can do that within the constraints of a civilized society. So the ego, the fear of being wrong and losing control, that's what, that's why men resist a lot of the things that we do. Moving past that is trying to reframe, reframe vulnerability as a strength, reframing emotion as a strength. Somebody told me the other day that women are the best with intuition. And it was like I think to a percentage, a larger percentage, it is because you're in touch more with your emotions. And your emotions make you realize and see things from a different light. Men are action-based by nature. I go out and I chop down the tree and I create heat, I create life. I go and I get the food and I help with life. That's my action. You know, you take that, women take that food and prepare it. Now, I'm I'm not talking about specific gender roles or anything like that. Women take that food and prepare it. And when you see, when when women see people sitting around a table and enjoying that, what do they do? They're filled with emotion. Men are just like, yep, I did that. I gave that on the table. Good job. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:30

Um my husband says it's almost like we're different species entirely. Like he just said last night, it's like cats and dogs. Like we're of the same animal group, but men, he was saying the same thing. He's like, we're so action-based, and women, you're so emotional. I said, no, honey, you just married a Pisces.

SPEAKER_03 59:51

That's very true. That's very fair. But as we all know that are have accepted like a spiritual calling and a spiritual journey, there's balance. There's divine feminine, divine masculine, there's a balance of both. And it in life, there's a balance. So I think for men, we need to be okay being available. We need to reteach ourselves what emotion means. And I think for women, it it's just the understanding that we have emotions and having those conversations and and communicating. And I thought of something when we've been throwing some of these words around communication and community. I need to do some research to see if they're if they're interlinked. They have to be some way or another. They're too, they're too similar. And I asked somebody a question when did when did specific gender roles flip? Because if you think about indigenous people in any society, the children stayed with the women until a certain age, and they learned to male and female. And then when they got to a certain age, they went with the men to go on the hunt. To learn all of the roles. Right. And at what point was it the daughters go with the women and the sons go with the men? At what point? And somebody brought it up, it's when we got away from community, when we started being landowners, and that landowner, always male, was I'm going to fight for what I want. And then if there's nothing left for everybody else, I don't care because I'm looking out for my own. We eliminated community, which is why these groups are more powerful than a one-on-one sometimes, or than being alone.

Masculinity Emotion And Community Loss

SPEAKER_00 1:01:53

I can't believe you just said that. I'm rereading Breeding Sweetgrass, and that chapter hit me so profoundly, actually, was exactly what you're talking about is you know, the community shifted and the the patterns changed, and we slightly transitioned, not slightly, we've lost sight of the the roles of which we learned. Not that they needed to be ours, but that we, you know, just like like in the modern world, I all equate it to a small business, right? Like in a small business, we wear lots of hats. It doesn't matter. You're not just this person, you may be cleaning the toilets, you may be answering the phones, you may be unlocking that door at the same time, maybe. But in the bigger you go up in these big corporations, you have one job and you have one job only. And let's hope they do it. But that's another joke. So bringing it back, it's when we lost what I took away from her book. This is my translation, I should say. Is I felt like that's what she was saying is as they pulled us out of our community, we lost the conversation that we had within the community. And so just this week, I was talking about how they feel like they have to be rooted together somehow. And I need to look that up, but not until I have this and this and this and this done on my list. So I think it's ironic that you just brought that up. Because that's the next thing on my list for this afternoon.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:17

Very nice. Good.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:20

Okay. So was there anything, first and foremost, actually, let me say, I do have your social media information that you've mentioned, which I show is the beard has spoken, as you said. We'll have all that in the show notes. I usually ask if you have any closing statements, mantra, words of wisdom. Before we get to that, was there anything else that you wanted to talk about?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:46

I think I think we've kind of come full circle a little bit. I think what what I what resonates with me is a few of the words that that we can change and we can rethink about is that we can go from being logic only to listening to our intuition and creating wisdom. Somebody asked me the other day, what's the difference between knowledge and wisdom? And immediately what came to mind is, and I think this is on the internet somewhere, I think, scholars and and and just as an aside, the the the satisfaction that I get by being a person that didn't necessarily go to college, that took a trade. A lot of these things that I feel like I'm coming up with, oh, that's brilliant. I just invented something. I'm hearing it's been out for 20 years. And that's fine. My initial reaction is really that's not new. But then if I think about it a second, it's like, ooh, I'm on the right track with these people that have that I view view as having much bigger brains.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:01

So so we we should get away from being isolated. We need to come back to brotherhood and community and sisterhood. We need to relinquish control and think more of a connection level. You know, there's just there's so many things out there that we misinterpret that we don't question. So I guess I guess the one thing that that that I would say to to finish up is I would rather have a question that I can't answer than have an answer that I can't question. So I'll say that again. I would rather have a question that I can't answer than have an answer that I can't question. So ask more questions.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:49

Yes, that's perfect. And on that note, folks, uh once again, Steve's Instagram and Facebook is The Beard Has Spoken, and that'll be in our show notes. And you promised you'll come back and update us.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:04

Absolutely. Anytime. I would love it.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:06

Yay. I know Keoni is so upset she wasn't here, so she'll be excited to hear that. Thank you so much. It was so wonderful meeting you. I'm so sorry I missed your workshop with that karma club. That's I was actually sick. I had to go to the hospital. I was very, very sick. So I was very sad I missed that. So I hope that we get to see you around a lot more on lots and more of these little workshops.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:30

I I hope so. And I do appreciate the opportunity to be on. This kind of stuff is is what really ignites it keeps my passion ignited. And I'm always nervous going into it. And then two minutes in, it's like, here we are, and now I won't shut up. So I do appreciate the opportunity, and it was a pleasure to meet you. I I really appreciate it. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:52

Ditto, and please do keep us posted because you know, as you're Creating all of these new things. I would love to launch and share that with the world on our socials. And as soon as you do get do get your podcast up and going, let us know and we will share it too. Because I am excited to listen to it.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:09

Thank you so much. I appreciate it again. Have a wonderful day.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:12

Thanks, YouTube. Bye-bye. All right. Bye. Thanks for diving into the depths with us today. If you enjoyed this episode, show your support at buymeacoffee.com forward slash mystical mermaid lounge, as every little ripple helps keep the magic flowing. Would you like some more deep soul-yearning conversations? Well then swim on over to our sister podcast, Past Life's Cafe, where Keoni deep dives into those past life experiences. Also, we'd love to hear from you. Please don't forget to rate and review and drop your feedback and comments at our website, Mystical MermaidLounge.buzzsprout.com. Thank you again so much, and don't forget to catch us at the next high tide. Bye bye.