Transcript of What If Success Isn’t Enough? Conscious Living Practices with Steve Farrell

Welcome to Notes from the Edge, where we have the conversations we should have been having all along. We talk about the things that we're not talking about. I'm your host, Lisa Lacey, writer, trauma educator, executive advisor, and author of the upcoming memoir Notes from a Certified Madwoman. Welcome to the edge. Hey, hey, my friends! Welcome back to another episode of Notes from the Edge. I am your host, Lisa Lacey, and this is the place we have the conversations we should have been having all along. Guess what? You ain't talking about it. So today we're gonna with special guest Steve Farrell, and today we're gonna be talking about

going from. Silicon Valley success to spiritual awakening. We're going to be exploring discovering your higher self, moving beyond fear, redefining what truly fulfills you, and living with conscious purpose, love, and authentic leadership. Before we dig into all that juiciness, let me tell you a little bit about Steve. Steve is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur turned conscious living visionary, bestselling author, and co-founder of Worldwide and executive director of Humanity's Team, a global nonprofit dedicated to advancing conscious living. Before shifting his life's direction, Steve co-founded 2 tech companies featured in the 500 list, each generating more than $75 million in revenue. Guys, you would think that would have been really fulfilling despite achieving extraordinary financial success. He discovered that these conventional definitions of achievement were not bringing him what he sought. So in 2003, he co-founded Humanity's Team alongside Neale Donald Walsch, bestselling author of Conversations with God series. And today the organization reaches more than 150 countries promoting interconnectedness, conscious leadership, spiritual growth, And us being of service to each other. Steve's latest book, The Inner Way: Reclaim the Truth of Who You Are and Why You Are Here— that's such an important question, friends— explores awakening to our higher selves, choosing love over fear, and creating meaningful lives through conscious daily practices.

Steve, so Notes from the Edgy, welcome to the show, my friend. How are you today?

Lisa, thanks so much for having me. I'm great and looking forward to just jumping right in here with you. Lots of, lots of good stuff we're going to get to. I know.

I know. I know. Well, I'm so excited to have you here, and it's from the edge, so we're just going to dive right in. I want to know the moment or moments when you realized, I have all the things, all the checks in the boxes. And I'm still missing something. What happened?

Yeah, so what happened is, uh, as you mentioned, and, uh, of course in your bio you can't get to, I grew up in a little home, divorced mom, uh, she's working full-time, 6 brothers and sisters and a dog. So, and then I did land, as you mentioned, in Silicon Valley. I was one of the lucky ones, right place, right time. So 2 companies said go to $75 million and that whole lifestyle. But it's a— so, so what happened? It's a sugar high, Lisa. That's a sugar high, that material success. And when I say sugar high, so everybody's had the Slurpee, right? Where you probably as a kid and you just drank too much and your head is tingling and it feels kind of frozen and it's, and, uh, it's, it's really cool. There's a lot of sugar, you know, and you're like, woo, you know, on a cloud, but then boom, you kind of crash down right from that. Mm-hmm. So it was a sugar high. And in that time frame— this is the 1990s— I, uh, for me it was a book, but for, for many actually it might be this conversation, you know, where I just was, uh, there was something I was really, uh, fixated on, the notion of obedience and do we need to be obedient and so on.

Mm-hmm. And, uh, I read, uh, Conversations with God, book 1, and it, uh, it, it was the thing that opened me up to something that was much bigger, better, more fulfilling than the sugar high of the private jet world and Yellowstone Club and all of that kind of stuff that I was living in the '90s.

Yeah. Amazing. It's amazing what one book or what conversation we find often can, uh, revolutionize what we do with ourselves. So you read the book. Where was your journey next? Because you've been at this nonprofit for a while now, and it couldn't be more timely because it seems like we are so divided right now. So you, you knew there was more. You felt it when you read the book. How did you know a nonprofit was coming your way?

So, you know, first let me just share. I mean, I love leadership and stuff, and I grew from this, again, young man with just a very ordinary life like probably most of your viewers, into then, wow, wonderland where my first company goes to 175, the second one over 700. I enjoy leadership. I love people. I love Being creative. I loved problem solving. I love visioning and creating missions and all of that. But what I love even more is understanding that our life is a really precious thing. It's a really, really precious thing. We've got this life that we're in. We're in this body. What are we going to do with this life? And this was the thing when I say sugar high is that I was what was deepening within me is that. I'm here to do something more. Just as you mentioned, you said, this is the time, right? We've got a world that's very upside down. Even in the 1990s, candidly, I could feel that. Climate change was going on then, and of course it's worsened now, and these other things that we've got here. I was feeling into that. I was feeling into this precious life and that that there was really more I was, I was to do than just be a serial entrepreneur creating financial success, living in a material world.

There was more that I was being called to. So it wasn't that I wanted to leave something because I did in fact enjoy leadership and growing things, but it was more that I got a precious life. I need to make sure that I'm paying full attention to that and that I'm growing in the direction that serves me and serves the world around me. And so this spiritual thing deepened within me. This science now is affirming, right? We're entangled. I could use the science words. We're entangled. There's no physical connection even right now, right? As people are looking at us, there's no physical connection. But science is affirming we're deeply affecting each other. We're not silos walking around in a zero-sum world. Zero-sum just means I'm going to win, but that means you're going to lose. Zero-sum, right? That's the transactional world. That's the world of Silicon Valley, the material success world where we're siloed. So I was living into the spirituality that's now affirmed by science, which says that we're not silos. That's— there's a preexisting reality. The preexisting reality is we're all deeply affecting each other. It's a deeply interconnected, interrelated, and interdependent world.

And that's not going to come as something new to anybody that's watching this program. What is perhaps new that we're getting to is, are we really deeply paying attention to that? And are we living into that? Have we created— we call it living consciously. Where we're living into that. And here's the really cool thing about living into it, and it gets to the fear that people have. Because as I talk about conscious living and they read this book, The Inner Way, they go, wow, this is exciting, you know. But Steve, but there's a big but. I'm not ready to lose my paycheck, you know, and just jump off a cliff, and I'm not ready to do that. Okay, so I want to go straight to something. It's very important, which is kind of paradoxical, is when you live into it, not only is it this beautiful way of living where you kind of walk through a door in a sense of connection and so on, and you feel this deepening with other people and with your divine source, because it is a spiritual door. Even scientists put spiritual words to it. But your productivity and your success, your true success goes even further.

Okay, that's like, wow, what, are you kidding me, Steve? You know, how can that happen? But it's true. And my life now, I live in one of the nicest homes, you know, in North Boulder, and Boulder's got a lot of nice homes, and my life is amazing. How does that happen? You're guided. So when you're living into this, you're guided to You're guided to everything, actually, including the prosperity that comes to your organization, to your home, and all of these things. So I know I'm going further than the question that you asked, but—

Oh, we love rabbit holes in here. What are you kidding me? Yes, it was beautiful, beautiful. And that leads us into my very next question for people. And I do love the fact that you pointed out that science has now caught up to what many of us have felt, what many of us have uncovered, what many of us have known, uh, for years. So, um, science does tell us that we are not alone. But for somebody who doesn't understand, can you put in layman's terms what you uncovered on your seeking journey about what conscious Really is. What is consciousness for you?

Yeah, let's do— Lisa, let's actually go right into it so people actually feel this, okay? And they don't just hear this. And it's a quick exercise, not going to take a lot of time, but you actually put a label on it that's perfect where we start, you know. So where you were saying where they feel alone, okay? So we're gonna do, uh, uh, 2 very brief exercises back to back. Let's start with the alone. Okay. Okay. And if it serves you, you can close your eyes, put your hands down on your thighs, you know, just good posture. Okay. And then 3 times, let's share, I am alone.

I am alone.

Okay. I am alone.

I am alone.

Start to feel, feel your jaw. Feel your posture, your back, your legs. I am alone.

I am alone.

Okay. Now just take a mental picture of this, of your body right now, where it's tense, where it feels stress. You're— it's not even a thinking thing. This is your nervous system. Got it. Your nervous system is simply living into the truth of today's world. I am alone. Okay. Now let's take 3 breaths where we inhale through our nose and exhale through our mouth. Turn your palms up as we're doing this from— instead of down on your thighs. Now turn your palms up. I belong to something larger, and that something larger belongs to me.

I belong to something larger, and that something larger belongs to me.

Another inhale through your nose and exhale through Through your mouth. I belong to something larger, and that something larger belongs to me.

I belong to something larger, and that something larger belongs to me.

Okay, now feel your jaw, feel your feet and your posture. Your back. Notice what your nervous system is like now where we put these side by side. Okay, and you can open your eyes. Hmm. Okay.

I'll tell you. Oh, go ahead.

This is the— this is that first exercise when you look out your window and you say, why is the world the way it is? It's because it's living into that first exercise. We, that it's a fictional reality. Even science is saying we're entangled and there's a deep connection, but we are not living into that. And so we have the world today that is, it's, that's a fear-based world where there's a stress and a tension, right? And there's—

Oh, and the stress, you can feel it. I felt it really tight in my jaw when I was saying I am alone. It's not something I say to myself very often unless I'm enjoying my alone time thoroughly to, to do deeper level work. But yeah, and in the second Yeah,

yeah,

it's beautiful.

So that, that is, that's conscious living, okay? And our mind doesn't even have to kick in, right? It's— this is our nervous system that's just, ah, it's relaxed, you know, it's connected. There's even a reverence. I belong to something larger, it belongs to me. And the first one is, that's how I grew up, you know, Catholic altar boy and that whole thing. Yeah. And I was just like, And entrepreneur boy Steve, you better head out the door. You better hit the gas, go, push, drive all day long with your task list and so on. I am alone, right? So there's your comparison. And when we— I mean, again, the irony is, is as we exit that world of just I'm alone and we come into this deeply connected world with reverence and so on. First of all, our life is beautiful. That's conscious living. And secondly, and this again, it's very interesting that it works this way, but our productivity, our true success, all of it takes off. Let me just give you something because that sounds a little pie in the sky, but here's the thing. Okay. I actually threw out my day planner in the '90s as I was going through my own exercise.

I didn't have the words of conscious living then. I just was kind of feeling into what I was to do. And so I, and I realized I was so transactional with my stick-ums on people's displays and do this and that. Did you get that done? That I looked in the mirror and I said, Steve, you, you got to throw out your day plan. OK, I'm not telling everybody here to throw out your day planner. I was so transactional, ENTJ on the Myers-Briggs, so transactional as a CEO. I had to throw out my day planner or I couldn't look at myself in the mirror. Because I couldn't say I wanted to live consciously and keep doing what I was doing. So I threw it out. I was deathly afraid I would crash my company. The company then really took off. Why? Okay, here's the— you can get this just like in a minute. If I'm here with my taskbook pushing and driving, right, I'm going to have one level of reception. Now, if I'm really present, we're really talking and I'm not thinking of the next thing or what just happened, but I'm really here with you now.

And you can feel that. And whether you're an employee or a vendor or a customer or whatever, where I'm really here, you know, and I'm really listening and I'm really taking it in. And then it's contagious. So what happens is, is the other person, they start really listening and really paying attention and sharing more from something deep within them. Okay, of course, what is going to happen? You know, what is going to happen? Your business is going to thrive. Right? Your life is going to thrive. You're with your partner and your kids and your dog and your neighbor and so on. Your neighbor can even yell at you. And this is getting ahead of myself because this has actually happened. But instead of wanting to go to the yelling back, you're more like, oh my God, I wonder earlier this day what happened. Or maybe there was trauma earlier in the person's life. You're more kind of coming from that place, right? You're not trying to yell back. You're like, okay, hey. You know, it's okay. Right? I mean, again, it's contagious and people start feeling into that. So of course everything's gonna become more successful.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah. You know, it's interesting in, uh, I'm belted in 3 different disciplines in martial arts. And in one of them, our fighting stance is just, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And the whole goal is to dissipate aggression and treat everyone like a little baby bird or perhaps our grandmother. So it was beautiful energy work at a time when I was time when I needed some good energy work. Yeah. But yeah, that whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa approach can really go a long way. And then you're not upset because they got upset, and vice versa. And anger and aggression builds on itself and feeds on itself and creates that division. So that's just a beautiful way to look at the person who Just cut you off in traffic, maybe they didn't even see you. Maybe they're hurrying to get somewhere, or maybe they've had a really bad day or a bad experience up until this point. So I love that. But Steve, you said something I want to circle back to because I don't want to miss it in these daily practices. Because that was a nervous system exercise you just gave us that took us less than 2 minutes to do.

And I personally felt the difference in saying I am alone. My jaw was getting tighter, tighter, tighter. And then saying that I belong and everything above and below and around us belongs to me. It relaxed all the way down to the bottom of my feet. But you said mind. What happens if we let our mind get in the way too much of our nervous systems?

Yeah, so that's such a great question, Lisa. And people— I'm doing coaching too, and And I'll tell people about myself in the '90s with my day planner and so on. And one guy recently said, Steve, okay, the only problem with what you're telling me is it sounds like you were saying you were mean and I don't see a mean person. So what was going on when you were so transactional? If you're not mean, what was going on that wasn't working? And it goes right to the question you asked, Lisa, which is— And I think this is true maybe for a lot of people that are viewing. Okay. Is there's so much noise in the world around us. Yeah. And in that transactional of getting this done and that done and this done, because we're driving, we're trying to get to particular objectives during the day. It's not that we're mean. It's just that our mind is— logic center mind is driving and pushing. And that gets in the way then of this whole, I belong to something larger where I'm now going, a still small voice I can hear. I've cleared the noise away. I've thrown out the transactional list that is causing me to push and drive.

I'm creating now an environment where I can really be present and I can feel into other people. I can feel into nature. I can feel into, you know, I'm going to use a spiritual term, divine source or God. And science, even by the quantum physicists that we work with, Nassim Haramein, who's a quantum physicist, and he's using his science language to say really what we're talking about here. He says everything is a part of one thing. This is the entanglement. Everything is a part of that. And he says, so, you know, if you understand that, you— what that— this means to you is that the universe cannot be without you. There is no universe if the— if you take the puzzle piece of Lisa and you try and throw it out, there's no universe anymore. See, because the universe isn't whole, can only be whole where Lisa is here. That's getting into the spiritual of it. In fact, he would say, you ought to be walking around with a straight posture, with confidence, knowing how key you are, fundamental you are to life itself. It's going in the very same direction as the spiritual of we're a part of— we do belong to something larger.

If we just— getting back to your question here, if we just quiet the world around us a little bit, create stillness, and people— mindfulness can walk us in. Except that mindfulness is just stay in the stillness, don't let your mind go to anything. This is going further than mindfulness because we're allowing then to be ourselves, to be connected with each other, to be connected with nature, and to be connected with Divine source where there is that still small voice is coming in. It's coming in with the next thing to do, the next how to plan the day, how to— and then the next day, how to plan that day. We don't need a day planner anymore. Everything's kind of put right in front of us as we need it.

I love it. I love it. Well, talk to us about fear, because I think fear is a big driver for a lot of us right now. How can we work with fear when we first start these practices that may be brand new for some of us that are just learning them?

Yeah. So let me start out by saying something that may sound startling, but this is my honest truth, is if there was something to fear here, it's that we continue. on that more material lifestyle path, if that's the thing to fear, truthfully. When I left— let me give you an example. When I left IBM, I was in the '80s in mainframe sales and so on. And I was on their executive resources list and so on. And I went out and started my first company. I had a great fear. I was guided to go into that, do that. But I was like, oh my— and all my friends and family were like, Steve, Steve, you know, This book, In Search of Excellence, had come out in the '80s. Boy, IBM was the place to live. Let me tell you. And then I had the golden handcuffs of, yep, we're going to be promoting you and all this stuff.

Golden handcuffs.

And I go out and I'm in a little, the teeniest, most least expensive executive suite with loose used furniture. And people are like, Steve, you know. But, and I thought myself, you know, I wonder if they're right. Right. So, but if I hadn't done that and gone into and followed my guidance and just grown into the bigger person that I could be, and instead I was— this is because what we're talking about here, Lisa, is playing it safe. As, you know, viewers are saying, well, no, but I've been on this path. It was recommended to me by parents and friends. There's a material success in it. I like the doctor or JD in front of it and so on. But they're watching and listening because there are parts of them that are just saying, this is not really what I am to do. There's more for me in life than this. And so what we, you know, I don't wanna, I don't really, not encouraging fear here, but what I'm saying is, boy, if there's something that we wanna really not do, in my opinion, It's to consider to keep going on that path for me, create a third company, a fourth company, stay in the material wealth.

In the— I even went to Yellowstone Club, you know, where Taylor Swift and, you know, where they went on their honeymoon because it's so secure and it's so unreal. I mean, I was even in that environment, but there was some part of me that knew that. Okay, and again, just people can really kind of come in on this. That this is a sugar high. It's like Steve, you know, at Yellowstone Club. This is not, you know, at the end of your life, are you going to be happy with who you were growing into, Steve? Right? So what I'm encouraging here is just listen to that sugar high voice. Let it in. Create some space. If you're so crazy transactional that you have to throw out your day planner, even do that. But do, please do for yourself, not for me, continue to give yourself the space to start if you're starting or continue if you've already started this conscious journey where you're listening to the still small voice, where you've made that room, where you're feeling a sense of connection and reverence. Service is something that comes in. And what we find is, you know, I went— I was just like everybody else, by the way, you know, in the '90s, man, I knew where I wanted to go on vacation.

I knew the car that we were to buy, right? I knew what my preferences— I knew those things. Okay, what happens here though is as I'm going into this conscious direction, it's like my wife says, I'd like something different. Well, let's go get that. And she says, on vacation, how about we go here instead? And I said, okay, let's go try that. You know, I just, just turn it all upside down to where it's— I'm realizing, you know, what, what's most beautiful and fulfilling is quality time with your partner, with your dog, with your coworkers. That's what's really fulfilling, you know, not pushing and driving and the vertical. This is a horizontal world. It's not vertical anymore. You know, we're living into that deeper connection. And then we come into service and these things. And now, you know, that still small voice is saying, yep, we got her. Let's, in fact, let's even like right now, Let's go out and just talk about this story because other people maybe weren't so lucky and didn't, you know, they weren't on the private jets and so on and tell people, you know, create the contrast of what that was and what this was and just encourage people, you know, invite them to take that risk because if there's anything to fear, it's not taking the risk and just kind of standing there at cliff's edge with a life that's just not bringing it in.

I love it. And Roland is joining us today. Hello, Roland, welcome in. Roland says living with a dreamer's heart will make you reach outside of your safety zone. Yes, agreed, agreed, my friend, and welcome in today. Thanks for joining us. Um, Steve, I had, uh, another question. Uh, we had circled around the fear, we circled around mind, we circled around what consciousness is. I want to know what you lead us through in your book for people to begin the, the seeker's journey? Maybe they're listening today and they know that something's off, but they don't quite know what it is, and they've landed here. And I don't believe anything's accidental. They've landed on this conversation for a reason, for a meaning. What are we going to uncover in your book?

Yeah, boy, this is— thank you for walking this in because this book really puts— a lot of times people are saying, I'm really— I resonate with this conscious living thing, but what are the steps? How do we walk through it so it's a little easier journey? And that was why I wrote the book, The Inner Way: Reclaim the Truth of Who You Are and Why You're Here. Okay, let me start with— that's a big statement. Reclaim the truth of who you are. And why you're here. It's like, what? What are we getting to here? So, and, you know, I'll use the term higher self, though if people can't relate to that, then that's still small voice. Most people can relate to that, or our soul's language. Okay, this is— these are all the same things once we're, we're creating a little space. So let me read just a couple paragraphs here right toward the beginning of the book that, that starts this journey. So I say We've all been taught to chase success. I chased it too. From modest beginnings to Silicon Valley boardrooms, I climbed the ladder, hit the milestones, led multimillion-dollar companies, and stood at the pinnacle of what most would call the dream.

But as I stood in my corner office looking out over the kingdom I'd built, a whisper stirred within me and wisely declared, this isn't it. I had reached the summit, But it wasn't my mountain. I had achieved the dream I was handed, but it wasn't the one I had come here to live. It was that quiet, potent, undeniable moment that became the beginning of everything new. I didn't walk away because I failed. I walked away because I woke up. I had realized something essential: that success without soul Will never satisfy you. Okay, and then in this book, boy, it really does. You know, you can even look at it in a non-spiritual way where we talk about discovering you know truth of who you are and reclaiming it. That indeed there's a part of us that has just been kind of hibernating. It's just sort of there, but we haven't really. listened to it. We haven't opened ourselves and we haven't begun that journey. Okay. This book is about really getting in touch with that part of yourself where, you know, for most of my life, I just hadn't opened myself. We're given free will.

We all know that, right? The free will says there's an off switch of, I'm going to just logic center of mind, drive it and push it and get it. And there's an on switch of, okay, I'm going to now open myself, create some space. understand that I belong to something larger and become connected to that and live into that. That's the part that this book is talking about. It's a journey of really getting in touch with that part of ourselves. Even if you're not spiritual, just saying, okay, there's a part of me, Steve, that I just have kind of let sit idle and I'm going to get in touch with it. I may or may not want to stay in touch with it because it's going to be new to me, but let me get in touch with it and see what happens. Okay. This book unfolds that journey. It just walks you through that journey. I'm a companion where we're just walking kind of hand in hand here, getting in touch with that part of ourself, allowing ourself to open up exercises to deepen with the world around us. And wow, I mean, if somebody— and by the way, the book is free on— if you go to Amazon, The Inner Way, Steve Farrell, Go to Kindle and it's a free book on Kindle.

It's been number one in that space for over a year. And it'll walk you through this whole journey. I promise you, if this is something that you want to invest yourself in, that it will change everything about your life. And do not worry. Again, I'm going to come back to do not worry about this. Oh, I'm going to lose my paycheck. Steve's going to take me to a cave where I'm going to meditate and you know, everything will fall apart. I promise you that will not happen, that you're going to actually have— things will come into bloom around you in a bigger, beautiful way. Uh, and, and most importantly, you'll really come into your, into your true self. And I believe why you were born into this world. And, and getting to what you were saying, Lisa, as we opening the program, the world needs this now. Okay. Mm-hmm. We've mostly been keeping this on the level of personal development, but The world needs this now too, right? Yeah. Our kids need a sustainable and flourishing planet. And within Humanity's Team, you were talking about, we founded Humanity's Team, a nonprofit, 501, 23 years ago with Neale Donald Walsch, who wrote the Conversations with God books.

He and I co-founded this organization. It's grown into now where we have 70 country coordinators. They're actually all volunteers all over the world. And, uh, yes, what we're doing is promoting this conscious living thing. And we've set 2040 as a deadline to create a turning point, a tipping point. Like, wow, like the movie Project Hail Mary, you know. So imagine a real Project Hail Mary where the Project Hail Mary is all of us individually just living into our true self. And where I've been using the word contagious, it is contagious. Your neighbor notices, your family notices. Watch what happens in your house. Your workplace notices. Watch how people start working together. All of this thing, right? And our whole focus is a world that works that way so that our kids 50 years from now, 100 years from now, future generations can enjoy the planet that we grew up in. And as we know, we need to pay attention now. That's where you started with this program, and it's true. We need to pay attention to the world around us now.

We do. We do. And I love the invitation to start with making space, to use your wording, for what we'll call that still small voice.

I have a fascinating story I'll tell you maybe on a round 2 of, uh, uh, uh, deciding to stay in a conversation with my husband when every logical piece told me to run. But a little voice told me to lean in. Best decision I ever made. But if I wasn't listening to that voice, who knows if I would even be here today? That's how important making space for those voices in ourselves and within ourselves and around us are. And there is absolutely a ripple effect, Steve, and all you have to do is start. the practices for yourself. It is crazy cool to watch. Talk to us about that ripple effect. When you just start working on you, what happens?

Yeah, I love it. And it's true. It's, this is an inside-out thing. It's the book called The Inner Way, because it's starting going within, you know, and then getting connected and so on. But boy, what happens? The ripple effect big time. And so a lot of people have heard of the David R. Hawkins book, right? Power Versus Force. Okay, and he was one of the pioneers here with ripple effect where he said, oh, you thought that was just happening to you. You have no idea. Is it Christ and Buddha? So did they have like massive— even today, are they having massive ripple all over the world? Oh, you bet they are. So what's— he created a continuum, 0 to 1,000. Okay, and he's saying 0 to 200 is how I grew up, you know, where fear Pushing the gas pedal. I am alone, right? It's a fear-based existence, very challenging, where you're pushing and driving and not even sleeping well. That's it. And the material world lives in there. Okay, but once we start opening ourselves, then we come into these blessing and grace and connection and peace and love and these things. Okay, and in this 0 to 1,000, now we're climbing up above 200, 250, 300, 500.

And at the top, where it's just pure light and people are almost blinded. There you go. You know, you got Christ and Buddha who even to this day, right, you see the statues all over the place, right? People are still, oh my God, what's happening here, right? That's the ripple effect. So, uh, yes, as this is the beautiful thing, as we, we could call it personal development, as we begin this journey going within and these things, but as it grows into this then, and this is the contagious thing that Hawkins has made a science out of with his Power Versus Force book, is people are feeling it everywhere you go. Even now, Lisa, right now. So I promise you, there are viewers, it's recorded, it's live, but it's just, it's getting out there. People can feel this. We're way up above 200. Okay, I wouldn't, would never put myself up there at 1,000 with these 2 luminaries, right, that are But it's an ascending staircase. This journey is the beautiful thing. So see, every day we get up and we climb if we nurture it, right? We're out in nature, we walk. I bike ride, walk every morning, you know, to get to really stay in this place of connection.

As we do that, then we climb higher and higher into these other, these beautiful higher vibrations. People, we can relate to vibration, right? Lower vibration is the darkness. tense and, and, and, uh, where it's fear-based. And then as we come out of that, the vibration— ah, we're breathing and we're coming up. Vibration is coming up. We're feeling better. Our being state, you know, is coming into that, right? And the ripple is just that people are feeling the vibration of that higher and higher being state. And if we had, uh, Christ or Buddha here today, even Dalai Lama, right? Go watch the Dalai Lama. He doesn't travel so much anymore because he's up there in age, but boy, you know, he's very high. And people just are fascinated. They sit there and watch him and listen to him and go, what is going on with this person? Right? There's this very high vibration. Boom. He's just broadcasting it out. As you can tell, there's just nothing— he's up in this, in this, you could call it cloud vibration. It's so loving. It's so peaceful. It's so healing, you know. That people are just feeling. It's like a warm fire.

That's the ripple. Yeah, that's the ripple. And so here's the beautiful thing, and I'll invite people to it today. Okay, go into your coffee shop, or if you're not going to go to a coffee shop, the grocery store cashier. Just bring, as you're breathing and in your higher vibe, bring that with you. You know, that's going to cause you to smile. How are you doing? They'll say, then, how are you doing? I'm good. How are you? And it'll be genuine, right? Just bring that with you and let them— and watch what happens as people feel into that because it's a pretty flat world out there, mostly fear-based. Right. So just watch the ripple and nurture this fire within you that we're talking about that'll grow and then to this where you're really present with each other, these things we're talking about. Yeah, and then just watch that warm fire as you walk around your house and your workplace and coffee shop and grocery store.

Yes, do that. Well, Steve, if we've got listeners down in the valley right now and they're, uh, wanting to ascend beyond that, or maybe they're on a mountaintop and they realize it's not their mountaintop, to use your words, remind us again where they can find your book.

Yeah, so The Inner Way: Reclaim the Truth of Who You Are and Why You're Here I've got it right here. And bookstores or Amazon, my name is Steve Farrell, so The Inner Way, Steve Farrell. And again, the Kindle version is free. I did the audio version myself, which I loved, and people have come back to me and talked about that. That's fun. The audio version is really cool. And then the printed version, I think, is $10.99, so it's not much. And I still read, go through this book and read it because it is so— I mean, I really put my heart into it. And my idea, again, writing it was when I started my journey there in the '90s, I didn't— my legs had to be strong because I didn't have books and teachers and things. I just had to do it. And when my dad and my brother and everybody's saying, what are you doing? What are you doing? Right? I just had to keep going. So here I'm— walking hand in hand with you. They were laying out the whole thing, including I talk about the trapeze moment where we let go, you know, the one ring to go and embrace the other ring and we're in midair.

And you probably grew up like me. Yep. There's no net below you. There's no net. Okay. And you're having to let go of that ring up high to grab the other ring. So I even use that language in the book. So yeah, I think you'll, I think people that are serious about this and are saying, okay, maybe there is a pre-existing reality. I don't want to live in a fictional reality any longer, in a siloed and zero-sum, um, boy, you know, we're going to go on a beautiful journey together here. Oh, that's true. As well, with a Y, humanitysteam.org is the 501 nonprofit that Neil Donald Walsh and I co-founded. And there are these beautiful people that I work with that are all living this. They're all in the ripple effect. out there doing all of their own programs. So yeah, go to humanitysteam.org. You'll see lots of free programs. There's something called Global Oneness Day that we do every year. It's actually a 3-day summit. It's beautiful. It's free. Lots of free programs. So go check that out too.

Well, guys, you can't beat free. So there's no reason to feel like you are stuck because you are not. But Steve, we are not done with you yet, my friend. Before we let any of our guests go, I always close out with 2 questions. Are you ready for the first one?

I'm ready.

All right. In your own life, what do you feel like you performed in order to survive or get by the most? And what did setting down that role, that mask or performance do for your life once you let it go?

Uh, performed in terms of like where I was more not conscious yet and I was just in a perform— or really performing in terms of true expression.

Uh, performed as in inauthentic.

Oh, inauthentic. Okay.

Yeah.

Oh boy. Uh, so, you know, as I mentioned, uh, before this journey really came on, uh, I was— I, I can tell you a story.

Yeah, please

do. Quickly. But my sister Maureen, uh, called me, and 7, you know, of us growing up with my mom called me, Steve, I'm getting married. Could you come to my wedding? And I'm like, oh, Maureen, it's so good to talk to you. You know, my life is crazy now, including my weekends and stuff. And I don't know, you know, whether I'm gonna have to know the date and let me get back to you on that. Right. And can you believe? So you're here, I am performing, right? I got, 'cause I'm driving and pushing and getting, 'cause I'm gonna build this successful life. Okay. That night, I had one of those dreams we've all had, like 5 or fewer of them, so real you're in a sweat. You wake up, you think, oh my God, did it happen? I dreamed Maureen died. Okay. I got up the next morning, called, she answered. Ha! Maureen, I wouldn't miss your wedding for anything in the world. You bet I'll be there. And of course, a wonderful wedding, took pictures, got the call 4 months later, that I never wanted to get, the Marine had died in a car accident.

Okay, so that took me, boy, you talk about getting hit, you know, over the head with something to really make you stop and stand still and pay attention. That was it. That performing thing was now going to come to an end. That was not going to serve me.

Yeah. Well, my friend, last question for you. What do you want us as human beings to be talking more about that we are not having conversations about?

Oh, boy. I mean, that's an easy one. I think just so people can relate, we come from the light. We can probably get with that, right? Born, we come from the light, and then we return to the light. You probably get with that too. A lot of near-death experience and mediumship stories and so on. Okay, so what are we doing here now? We came from the light, we're returning to the light. This is an easy one. It's to be our own expression of the light. We do belong to something larger and it does belong to us. That wasn't just a little exercise. That is real. That light is real. We are an expression of that light. And as I mentioned, even scientists walk around saying, like a preacher, do you know? You know, so I want you to leave, do you know you are it? That the universe doesn't exist without you. You are this unique, beautiful expression of the light, and the world can't get what you bring from anybody else, just you. And just walk in that knowing and that truth. Don't, don't let yourself slouch and, oh, you know, and this, that's just not true.

That's a fictional reality. Live into your true reality.

I love that. Well, Steve, thank you for the inspiration today. I've got some phone calls to make when we wrap up here. Um, thank you so much, friends. You don't have to write any of that information down. We will have clickable links in show notes. You can go directly there as always. As we close out, I want to ask you out there the same question. What might you be performing in order to survive or just get by? And what do you think dropping or letting go of that inauthenticity, that performance, that role, that mask might do to lighten your load just a little bit so you can, to Steve's point, walk in the light while you're here? When you find the answer to that, I am your host, Lisa Lacey. Here with our special guest, Steve Farrell. And, uh, we will see you at the edge. Thank you, Steve.

Thank you.