The Energy Fix Episode 130 - FINAL.mp3
2025-07-28
Transcript
0:00:13 Tansy Rodgers: Welcome back to the Energy Fix, a podcast dedicated to help you balance your energetic body by diving deep into the sweet world of all things health and spirituality. My name’s Tansy and and I’m an intuitive crystal Reiki energy healer, energetic nutrition and holistic health practitioner, and a crystal jewelry designer. It’s time to talk all things energy. Let’s dive in. Today we’re going to be talking all about that space between knowing and becoming where you feel kind of stuck.
0:00:48 Tansy Rodgers: It’s that stuckness. Or maybe you have this whisper, this little whisper that just comes in. It’s the call to change that keeps coming back until we finally listen. And sometimes we listen and sometimes we don’t. But it is always this little thing underneath the surface that is whispering to us. Now, before we dive into today’s guest and letting you get to hear all about who is going to be on the show today, I want to give you a little bit of a reminder of where I’m going to be in the real world.
0:01:21 Tansy Rodgers: So if you’re local and you want to come say hi, browse some crystal jewelry, just soak in some aligned energy. I’m gonna be at two upcoming events. First, on Sunday, August 3rd, I’m gonna be in Hershey, Pennsylvania at the Hershey Gem Jewelry and Rock Show. This one is always such a fun show. There is so much to explore, especially if you’re into gemstones, crystals, any tools that go along with that, and of course, jewelry.
0:01:51 Tansy Rodgers: So come see me at the Hershey Gem Jewelry and Rock show this coming Sunday in Hershey, pa. The other one that I’m going to be at coming up real soon is the New Visions Holistic Expo in York, Pennsylvania, and that is on Saturday and Sunday, August 9th and 10th. This is a huge show.
0:02:12 B: It’s huge.
0:02:13 Tansy Rodgers: They have so much stuff going on, great speakers, incredible vendors, and it’s one of the longest, oldest running holistic expos in our area. So this is a great one to check out if it’s something that you’ve been kicking around. If you want a really good event.
0:02:31 B: Going on that weekend.
0:02:33 Tansy Rodgers: So come see me New Visions Holistic Expo in York, Pennsylvania on August 9th and 10th. At both of these places, I will have my crystal healing jewelry, energy tools and all of the grounding conversations. So make sure you come on out and say hi. Now let’s talk about climbing. I couldn’t think of a better guide for this conversation than today’s guest, James Robbins. James is a leadership coach, a change specialist, a motivational speaker, and the author of the brand new book, the Call to Climb is a transformational fable that officially launches on August 5th.
0:03:16 Tansy Rodgers: I can’t wait to get my hands on this. I love reading books, self help books, inspirational books that are in a novel or a fable form because for me I find myself so much easier to wrap my brain around it and to also let my nervous system calm while I’m reading it instead of feeling like I have all of these to do’s that I need to do that typically come out of a typical self help book. So this one is coming out August 5th and I know I’m going to.
0:03:48 B: Get my hands on it for sure.
0:03:50 Tansy Rodgers: One thing I really love about James, and especially in this conversation, is that he’s not afraid to get real. You’re going to really hear that in this conversation about how open and honest he is. He was raised on a cattle ranch in the Rocky Mountains and he’s now a dad of three who has spent the last 20 plus years helping people raise their performance by stepping into their potential. But his work goes so much deeper than just leadership strategies. It’s really about alignment for him.
0:04:20 Tansy Rodgers: You’re going to hear that in this whole episode about how alignment is so dang important for him. It’s about living intentionally. It’s about facing the dragons that keep us small and making the climb anyway while you’re in the midst of it. In this conversation we’re going to explore topics like what it actually means to be out of alignment and how to recognize the signs that it’s time to make a change.
0:04:49 Tansy Rodgers: We’re going to be talking about why fear is usually the dragon that’s guarding your next level and how to step into your purpose without having to wait for permission. James has a way of speaking to the part of you that knows there’s more and is ready to stop circling and to start climbing. If this podcast episode lands in your heart, if this podcast has ever landed in your heart, made you feel seen, helped you shift something deep within, I would be so, so grateful if you would take a moment to subscribe, leave a review or share this episode with someone who needs it.
0:05:30 Tansy Rodgers: This space grows through your ripple and if you head down into the show notes, you’re gonna see that just for leaving a review, there is a way that you can earn that. You can get 15% off any crystal products or any services with me. So head on down there and check that out. I would appreciate it so, so much. Okay, let’s connect in with James. Let’s connect in with his message, his call to Climb. Let’s dive in.
0:06:07 B: Welcome to the Energy Fix, James, thanks so much for being here today.
0:06:12 James Robbins: Tansy, thank you for having me on the show.
0:06:16 B: Before we really dive into this conversation, into your book, I can’t wait to hear all about your book that’s coming out. Before we dive into all of that, I want you to really get to connect with the listener and for them to understand where you’re at at this season of your life. Is there a word or a phrase that you’re really connecting to right now?
0:06:42 James Robbins: There is a word, and it’s the word climb. And not just a say that, because that’s in the title of my book, but it’s the ultimate metaphor for me, I think, at this stage of my life. And it helps me filter everything through that. The hard times, the good times, the setbacks and the victories. And it’s the word for me that I just come back to when I’m tired and I just need to take one more step. I just go, hey, let’s climb, James. And up we go.
0:07:15 B: So I love that because especially right now, I think times can really challenge our climb, our own internal climb. And so when you’re feeling tired, when you’re feeling unmotivated, uninspired, when you’re having a hard day, what do you do to connect a little bit deeper to that climb?
0:07:37 James Robbins: It really depends on what’s causing the tough day. But sometimes I just go and resort back to some of my mantras, which is just, hey, let’s climb. Or if I’m struggling with feeling insecure about something, I’ll just come back to, hey, I believe in me. But a lot of times I come back to my five reasons. So I think everyone needs to have compelling reasons for what they’re doing and why they’re here. Like, in other words, you know, I’d be five. But you want to think about what are the. What are the compelling reasons that are going to get you back up again? And back to the metaphor of the climb.
0:08:16 James Robbins: When you get out on the mountain, there’s going to be winds, there’s going to be setbacks, you’re going to have frostbite, it’s going to be freezing. There’s going to be times where you’re like, this totally sucks. Just like, let me get back into my tent. And what are your reasons in those moments for you to get back up and climb? And for me, those reasons are. Three of my reasons are my kids. And one of those reasons is actually myself.
0:08:40 James Robbins: And that’s what helps me get back Up.
0:08:44 B: Well, since the word climb is directly connected to the title of your book, let’s just kick it off there. We’re just going to dive right into the book. One of my favorite questions that I always ask authors when they come onto this show is what? Why now? You know, your book is called the Call to Climb and it’s got this really deep spiritual meets primal kind of energy to it. I want to know what the call means to you personally and also, why now, James? Why are you wanting this book out now into the hands of people?
0:09:24 James Robbins: Well, the question about timing is interesting because the idea for this book has been sitting around for about 13 years. And in fact, maybe six, seven years ago, I pitched this to McGraw Hill. They said no, which I had. That was my first publisher. I pitched it to Wiley and they said no. And now Wiley is the. Wiley is the one that’s published this. But the book seven years ago was so different. It was so prescriptive. It was like the seven this and the five this. And it was definitely less spiritual.
0:10:00 James Robbins: So this brings up a bigger conversation about, you know, timing in your life. And I really do believe there’s a time for things. And this book would not be what it is now had it not been for that extra time where it just percolated and got deeper. But the book came out of my own journey. It really did my time what I would call in midlife, like in my mid-30s, where I was doing a very purpose filled job.
0:10:27 James Robbins: And at the same time I started feeling like I just wasn’t happy and started struggling with things like depression. And I just didn’t understand what was going on, you know, and everybody was, you know, back then I was actually working in ministry, which I hadn’t expected to ever do, but I was in ministry because I liked helping people. But over time, it wasn’t so much that the helping people changed, it was the organization I was with sort of changed its culture. And it, I started to feel like I was in sales.
0:10:56 James Robbins: But it was during that time I started thinking like, I’m not happy doing this. But I felt so conflicted, like, well, I can’t quit. And you know, everyone’s always telling me like, wow, you have the best job. And I would just kind of have a forced smile like, yeah, I have the best job. But then in my mind I’m like, but why are you so depressed, right? And it was. And those were those, those were those nudges of the soul that were trying to wake me up, trying to get my attention, to say hey, like to quote Dr. James Hollis, when the path is right, the energy is there.
0:11:29 James Robbins: And so when the path isn’t right, there’s a problem with the energy. And that’s really what it was for me. And I’d love to say that, you know, back in my mid-30s, I. I heeded the voice of my soul and made a change, but I didn’t. I just ignored it and just plowed on. And so it would take me a lot more years before I finally stopped and listened and then honestly had the courage to say, you know what? I’m going to do something else.
0:11:56 James Robbins: And that’s really where this book came from, is that journey of not avoiding the appointment with your soul when it’s nudging you that something’s not quite right.
0:12:09 B: Yeah. And so as you were talking, that immediately made me think. You said one of your compelling reasons is you and your journey. And so would you say that everything you just talked about is why you are one of your compelling reasons because of that forward movement and how far you’ve come?
0:12:31 James Robbins: I think it’s all of that, but for me, on my iPad, so I have these pictures that I will look at each morning. And when it comes to the reason, like, that’s me. I have this picture of myself. I was probably three years old. I’m just, like, out in the garden. I got, like, my foot on a shovel, and I just look at that little guy, and I just think, you know, that little guy had so much potential. He didn’t know it at the time.
0:12:56 James Robbins: In so many places along the way, I don’t want to say I let him down, but in so many places along the way, I took. I took a safe path. I didn’t want to, you know, I didn’t want to go against the tribe, against the herd. And I feel like now looking back, not in a guilty way, but looking back, thinking, nah, for that guy, right? Like, for that guy, I. He deserves for me to show up. And, you know, I’m just about to turn 56 now, so it’s not like I’m young and in my 20s, but I think doing things for ourselves is a big reason. In fact, one of the.
0:13:35 James Robbins: One of the things. One of the emotions that I use to evaluate my life is whether or not I’m proud of how I’m living. In fact, to me, that’s more important than happiness. Right. From an emotion perspective, it’s, am I living in alignment and being committed to the things I want to be committed to and stepping into that beautiful state and when I am, or even like this morning, I ran with a bunch of guys that are all in their 30s and 40s and I was, I was trailing behind for sure.
0:14:10 James Robbins: But I, I still stayed with the group. I was proud of myself. So I, I now, I take a lot more moments to just be proud of myself. And I didn’t do that when I was younger.
0:14:21 B: Alignment. Yes. And you know, that is. Oh, I love that you talk about seeing that picture of your three year old self. And really it is about coming back into alignment with why you were put on this earth and your pur. This and what you’re here and meant to do. You know, I think so many people feel like something is off, but they just can’t quite name what that is. And so that phrase of living out of alignment, that word alignment, gets tossed around.
0:14:54 B: But I would love to know what does it actually look like in real life? You know, like what, what could somebody say, oh, that’s me out of alignment. And what are the signs that someone might be climbing the wrong mountain?
0:15:13 James Robbins: So I might see this differently than some people, but a lot of times when we have that moment where we feel like something’s not right, we could be stuck in traffic or maybe we go on vacation or it’s on the weekend and we just think something isn’t adding up and sometimes we can’t put our finger on it. And often what we’ll jump to is, well, this job I’m doing, is this what I’m supposed to be doing?
0:15:34 James Robbins: And we, we very much go to the to dos, right? Like maybe I have to do something different. And you know, for a lot of years I would think, well, what’s my purpose in life? Like what am I supposed to be doing? And I would, I even went to workshops and did exercises and you’d fill out these things. And some people online can tell you like, oh, I can help you find your purpose in like five minutes. And what I’ve come to see is that I believe your purpose in life is to bring the most authentic and honest version of you to the world.
0:16:06 James Robbins: In fact, that’s your gift to humanity. And I see it a little bit like the soul seeks expression through us, right? It seeks expansion, it seeks healing, of course. But the soul is a little bit like an oak seed, right? It just desires to become the oak tree that’s its fullest expression. Now as an oak tree, it’s going to do things right, provide shade, you know, stop erosion, give homes for animals.
0:16:33 James Robbins: But that’s not really the goal Right. The goal is just to become the oak tree. And I think for so many years I was always looking for what career should I be doing? Like, what should I be doing instead of who am I becoming? And when you begin to take that shift and think, okay, when I’m out of alignment, it may not be that I’m in the wrong job, but it may be that something, a part of me is not being able to come to the world, right, like that my soul is desiring to express part of itself, but I’m shutting it down.
0:17:07 James Robbins: Whether it’s because I’m afraid to do that or I have doubts about myself or whatever it might be. And I think when you start to get clear on becoming the person that you’re destined to become now, you can start making a better decision about, well, what do you want to do now with your life? And Honestly, there’s probably 500 different things you could do that are in alignment. But the real alignment is not so much what should you do, but it’s who are you becoming?
0:17:38 B: What was a moment in your life where you almost didn’t climb into that becoming, but you did anyway. Like you pushed yourself past because you knew that alignment was just not right.
0:17:52 James Robbins: I think for me was when I left ministry, like for so long I kept thinking, I can’t leave ministry. And for several reasons. Like one was I thought, you know, when you’re in any kind of, I think even any high purpose job, to be honest, but especially when you’re in a religious setting and there’s God involved, then quitting, you just feel like you’re quitting on the Almighty and that’s not a good feeling.
0:18:20 James Robbins: And not only that is that I even had bosses tell me like, you can’t quit, like you are called into this, you can’t quit. And that for me felt like a prison sentence. And that would sound so bad and I would feel so guilty even thinking about that. So I had started on the side a leadership development company and that began growing and that’s how I wrote my first book, nine Minutes on Monday. It’s very corporate leadership book.
0:18:47 James Robbins: And that ended up getting me on stage with John Maxwell down in South America. And so it’s just him and I for a whole day, like training people. So this was like a huge deal for me, right? And later I went and had lunch with him because he used to be a preacher. And then he started his training company and I said, how did you know when it was time to go to leave ministry? And he said, I went out and spoke to a group, and I got back on the plane. I had to fly back to where my church was. And he said, I just had this feeling like, I don’t want to go back.
0:19:19 James Robbins: And he said that to me was the moment I knew, like, I need to leave. And then I thought, well, I’ve been having that feeling for, like, five years, but I didn’t move on it. And that was really the difference between him and I. He was able to have that strength to go, this no longer works for me, and so I’m going to go down this road. But I was like, this no longer works for me, but I’m too afraid to go down this road.
0:19:48 James Robbins: Eventually I got to the point where I had a similar moment, but stronger after I’d taken some time off. And I came back one Monday to work, and I rounded the corner and I saw my office, and I just thought, I don’t want to be here. And that’s when I said, okay, get the plan in place. You’re. You’re getting out of here. And I did. So, though it took me a lot longer and it wasn’t as clean as, let’s say, John Maxwell did it, I finally did it. And in the end, that’s what’s important.
0:20:18 B: And it is, in the end, that’s exactly what’s important, because there are so many people out there that continue to walk the grand groove of unhappiness, walk the groove of being out of alignment with where they really want to go, maybe even know to go because of other people’s opinions, just like you said, because of other people’s opinions, maybe fearing of people, pleasing many, many, many things, I’m sure. But you stepped out of that, which is amazing.
0:20:50 B: Yeah.
0:20:50 James Robbins: Thank you. Yeah. It was not easy. And of course, you look back and you think, oh, I wish I had done that faster. But at the same time, that was just my road. And so I’m not going to feel bad about it, but I hope that actually in the book, as I write about some of those themes, that other people will not take as long as I did to follow your path.
0:21:09 B: Yeah. Well, okay. So then that. That leads me to ask this next part to that. You talk about getting unstuck. Right. You know, and getting out of that place. But I feel that there’s many people who don’t know that they’re actually stuck. So what kind of advice or what would you say to those who maybe don’t know that they’re stuck and they think that maybe they’re just scared to take the next step. Or maybe there’s another reason of what’s holding them back.
0:21:45 James Robbins: I think for the person, well, it’s challenging, right? If someone doesn’t know they’re stuck, then sort of that ignorance is bliss, then they’re just going to continue on. But the soul, right, And I don’t use that even in a religious sense, but in a spiritual sense, right? Whether you want to use psyche or your inner life, intuition, the soul is that deep, deep part of us that knows us better than we know ourselves and it knows what’s best for you.
0:22:10 James Robbins: And I think when people get spiritual space, right, to not be so busy and not be running around all the place and not be just coping mechanism after coping mechanism, so they’ve numbed out. But when they can create that space and listen, that’s when the soul has an opportunity to nudge you, right, to ask that question. And until you, until you do that or until you have those, those feelings inside, then it’s really difficult, honestly, to wake someone up, so to speak. If they don’t know they’re dreaming, they’re just going to continue on.
0:22:46 James Robbins: So I do think, I do think for most people, that’s got to be instigated from within. I mean, they might sign up to a conference one time and, and maybe they’ll have an experience there that helps them see. But this is the, this is the, the, the challenge, Tansy, is we all get into these routines and these patterns and we get hanging out with the same people and it’s a very comfortable environment and it’s like, it’s like everyone’s on the Titanic and no one knows it’s sinking. And so when you don’t know it’s sinking, we can continue to party.
0:23:15 James Robbins: And that’s how it goes.
0:23:17 Tansy Rodgers: What if the next step in your healing wasn’t something that you had to think your way into? What if you could wear your intention, carry it, feel it, let it anchor you when things start to feel unclear, that’s what my crystal jewelry is designed for. Not just beauty, even though it is beautiful, it’s not just beauty, it’s energetic medicine. Whether you’re stepping into a new identity, you’re setting fresh boundaries, maybe you’re calling in clarity.
0:23:46 Tansy Rodgers: I handcrafted each piece with therapeutic crystals, sacred geometry and Reiki infused energy to support exactly where you are. You can head down into the show notes and click on the link for beocrystals.com or you can head over to Instagram at beucompletecrystals to find different pieces like my self confidence bracelet, my Gut and Intuition, or my Boundaries and bravery bracelets. All of these pieces are intentionally designed to help support support you on your journey and meet you where you’re at.
0:24:26 Tansy Rodgers: You can also DM me for a custom SOL aligned creation of your own. Come browse in person at the next expo that I be at or hop online and check out what I got going on. Let your energy speak before you even say a word. Be you. Crystals can help with that.
0:24:48 B: Yeah, yeah. And so then if somebody has a little bit of that aha moment, what’s that difference between that, that phase, maybe between stagnation and resistance? You know what I mean? Like, I’ve been there myself. That’s why I’m asking this question. I’ve been there, I have known where I needed to go, but I just felt so stagnant, like I couldn’t move when I’m not sure if it was just where I was supposed to be for the moment or if it was just me resisting where I needed to go.
0:25:26 James Robbins: What helped me was when I started to get really honest without judgment. Like when I could say, hey, don’t judge yourself right now, but what’s the real reason why you’re not making this change? Oh, I’m scared. I’m scared of what people are going to think. I’m scared of what my parents are going to say. Even though I’m a grown adult. I’m scared that I’m going to lose. I’m going to lose my importance in life. I’m scared that I, I’m not going to succeed in the new venture, like, whatever it is. And for me, it was like many different things, but it was all, it was all fears about the unknown.
0:25:59 James Robbins: And if you get honest but judge those things, that’s not going to help you. But if you get honest and just don’t judge it, like, okay, that’s the reality. I’m scared. So at least let’s get all this on the table. And so of course there’s a price to go against your fears, right? But then there’s also a price if I continue to stay in the lane that I am, or let’s use the mountain metaphor, let me continue to climb the mountain that I’m on and magnify this.
0:26:30 James Robbins: Like, am I happy right now? Am I fulfilled right now? Am I living this one life I have in a way that I’m just so excited and alive? And if I’m not, then what’s going to change for you in the next 10 years if nothing changes. Right. So if you don’t make a shift, then you’re going to be in the same place five years from now, and then it will be even more difficult to make that change. And I can speak from experience on that. Like, when I think about.
0:27:00 James Robbins: When I think about when I finally had to make some of those decisions, they were bigger than they would have been 10 years earlier.
0:27:10 B: Yeah. And so. So that feels like one of your big themes in your book, which is sculpting your identity. I mean, you just allowing yourself to expand into where you need to, to be who you want to be with that authenticity. Does that. Does that sound about right?
0:27:31 James Robbins: Yeah, 100%. I mean, if you think about it like, how we experience the world is really through two filters. It’s a filter of how we see ourselves and a filter of how we actually see the world. Right. So whatever worldviews that we have, like almost all of our beliefs, whether they’re limiting or empowering, are going to fall into one of those two buckets. And when it comes to your personal identity, I sort of think of it like, you know, those photo mosaics where you.
0:28:01 James Robbins: You see, like, the picture of a married couple or a woman, but then when you look closer, it’s made up, like a thousand individual photos of different parts of their life, but they’re colored in a way, so that creates the. Well, that’s our identity is like that. Like, it’s just made up of this mosaic of stories that we have told about ourselves. And the stories. The stories themselves are not bad, but it’s the meaning we give it. And so someone might say, you know, how would we describe ourselves? You know, I’ll say, like, well, I grew up on a cattle ranch, or I had red hair, or I’m an introvert. Like, these are all just data points. Someone might say, I grew up in a poor family.
0:28:41 James Robbins: I grew up with a single mom. I’m an immigrant. But it’s the meaning that’s attached to that. I’m an immigrant. That’s why the world’s against me versus I’m an immigrant, which is why I’m so resilient and work so hard. I’m an introvert. That’s why I’m terrible at sales. Or I’m an introvert, which is why I’m so brilliant, one on one. So it all. It all depends what sort of label that you’re going to put on on the little picture tile.
0:29:12 James Robbins: But the label will either think of it in this way, it’s going to make it color, which is empowering, or it’s going to make it black and white, which is disempowering. And the more black and white tiles you have in that mosaic, the more you’re going to be held back by your fears because of the beliefs you have about yourself. But the good news is, we can flip those tiles. Right? So, again, someone could say, well, I grew up in a poor family, which is why, you know, I didn’t have the advantages of so and so.
0:29:39 James Robbins: Okay, that’s a black and white tile versus, well, I grew up in a poor family, which is why I am so motivated to not repeat that cycle for my own children. Well, that’s an empowering. That would be a colorful tile. But we get to. We get to flip those tiles, and the more you flip to be empowering, the stronger and stronger you become. And then when we truly believe in ourselves, then we’re going to take more risks, take more chances. Those fears of, what if this doesn’t work out? Become irrelevant, because if it doesn’t work out, I’ll be fine anyways, because I’ll figure it out.
0:30:15 James Robbins: Does that make sense?
0:30:16 B: Oh, yeah. I love that visual. I love the visual of the flipping the tiles to literally shift. Shift the color of your perception. Yeah. And so as you were talking, I was thinking to myself, well, what is this connection, then, between the identity that we’re sculpting versus fulfillment? Because there’s definitely that. There’s that connection, but there’s definitely levels or a dialogue in which you could maybe look at that with.
0:30:53 James Robbins: Yeah, it’s a little bit like when people are asking the question, you know, who am I? Like, this big existential question. But really the question is, who do I want to be? It really comes down to that. Who do I want to be? Yes. I’ve got all these experiences, some formative, Some programs and beliefs that were instilled in me before I even knew what was happening. Right. We all have those that maybe we have to overcome or they’re going to be with us for our whole life.
0:31:17 James Robbins: So I view our identity not as the ultimate goal. Right. But more, my ultimate goal is, hey, I want to live in alignment with my soul. Now, what’s the greatest asset I have? Well, it’s me. Right. But there’s an empowered version of James, and there’s a disempowered version of James. Right. I’ve lived both. So when. When I live in a more empowered state, I’m able to get, in a sense, up the mountain that I’m supposed to climb. And that is what brings me meaning, fulfillment.
0:31:53 James Robbins: Right. That gives me fulfillment when I’m making progress on the things that I’m destined for, which is to really bring my full self, gifts, strengths, talents, essence. Right. To, to the community.
0:32:07 B: Yeah. Well, okay, so what if you’ve been in survival mode for years? How do you even begin the reshaping process of your identity? Number one, to figure out who you are, but then also going up that mountain so that it feels fulfilling.
0:32:24 James Robbins: Yeah, let’s talk about survival mode because I, I’m an expert at survival mode living, you know, for years, especially when it, it came to money. Right. So for years, like here’s the thing, I came out of high school and I was just so confident I would be a millionaire by the time I was 25. It was just like, it’s a no brainer. Like if, if you want to talk about manifestation, that was just. No one talked about it back then, but I had all the traits of that. Yeah, of course, of course I’ll be really rich. I don’t know how, but of course I really will.
0:32:56 James Robbins: Then I went into ministry and it really changed my priorities, right? Where it’s like, oh, money’s not everything. But I ended up going into a career that in a sense there’s a cap. You know, for most people that go into not for profit work, you know, there’s the odd person that seems to find a way to fly in private jets, but that’s another discussion. But so for me, it created a real, it created a real tension in my life because, you know, my father was successful and I measured a lot of that by the financial life. And then here I was taking a more purposeful path, more spiritual path. Not that finances is not spiritual.
0:33:40 James Robbins: But then at the same time, I remember I used to compare where I was at to where my father was at at that age. Like my age. And you know, my father was broke when he was 28 because he was just coming out of law school. And so I’m like, well, I’m broke as well, so that’s okay. And then he’s 30, he was just getting started. I’m like, okay, well he’s, he’s, I’m just getting started. But eventually it, there came the point where my dad was doing really well and I was still just breaking even. Breaking even, breaking even.
0:34:11 James Robbins: And so that created for me honestly a lot of frustration, a lot of shame around money and just scrambling with like, how am I pay the bills, how do I. That’s actually the Reason I started my company on the side, it wasn’t because I had this, you know, holistic, oh, let me. Let me go help corporate America have better workplaces. I was like, let me find some more money. Like, what can I do to create some more money?
0:34:36 James Robbins: And so I would do that. And I remember for a long time, in fact, this is in the book. For those of you who read the book, you’ll note, you’ll pick up on this, but you’ll know now. You’ll know the secret, the story behind it. The main character, Riley, is carrying this stone in their pocket, and it’s a gold stone, and written on it is $1 million. Because that’s their goal. They want to make a million dollars.
0:35:00 James Robbins: But that’s a true story in that. That I had that stone and I carried it around for years. And over time, as I got no closer to that goal, it sort of mocked me. It was like a joke in my pocket. But one day I had to ask a question. Why do you want to make $1 million? Let’s be really honest and not judge the answer. And it was because I want to feel like I finally am a success, which means I don’t feel like I am a success, which means I feel shame about that.
0:35:35 James Robbins: And I realized in that moment that this goal, not that the goal is wrong in itself, but the reason for. Actually, the real goal for me was I want to remove the shame from my life. And that’s. That’s an example of being stuck in survival mode, right? It’s like, let me just remove this shame, remove this fear, remove whatever it is. And when I realized that, I. I stopped carrying the stone because I realized that’s the wrong goal.
0:36:08 James Robbins: I don’t need to remove shame from my life with a million dollars. I can drop that now. So kind of back to your question about how do we get out of survival mode? Survival mode is typically. Is typically dominated by fear and worry and stress. And I know for any of you who, you know, you. You feel stuck in survival mode, let’s say it might be in a relationship, or let’s just go back to money, because that’s such a common one.
0:36:38 James Robbins: And maybe you watch all these videos online of people manifesting you and manifesting and telling you, you know, here’s the real reason why your manifestation doesn’t work. You got to do it this way. And it seems confusing, but at the end of the day, it can be really difficult to drop that worry and stress and fear and step into this belief that I’m Going to be okay when. Let’s go to a brain science thing for a moment. Your amygdala is just firing and dumping cortisol into your system and you’re trying to look at a vision board of some big ranch in the mountains that you want to manifest and step into. And it’s just like this disconnect.
0:37:18 James Robbins: And to me, the key to getting out of survival mode is actually going back to, wait a minute, who do I want to be? And let me live in alignment with that and begin to override the programs that are making me scared all the time and let me trust now. Trust in what? That’s for you to figure out. But if you’re going to trust in a higher power or honestly, part of that is just trust yourself. And that’s why one of my mantras is, I believe in me.
0:37:53 James Robbins: And sometimes I say it because I’m not. And I just say, hey, I believe in me. So if I look at, you know, oh, how are we going to make payroll this month? Or it’s been a really tough few months, how am I going to make payroll? How am I going to pay the staff? I don’t know. But I believe in me and I’ll figure it out. And that takes me out of survival mode to get back into. I’ve got to be intentional, I’ve got to act.
0:38:15 James Robbins: Because in survival mode, what happens is you end up making all these short term decisions. You’re not thinking in the long term. So let’s say you’re in a business. You’ll be like, I just need money desperately quick. So let me just start selling and let me blast my email list again. And taking the short route because you’re scared. Survival mode’s all about fear. And of course, there’s lots of good stuff. I know, Tansy, you will teach some of this about, you know, meditation and, you know, calming yourself down. But it still comes back down to who are you going to bet on?
0:38:51 James Robbins: Right? You’ve got to go all in on you. And nobody told me this when I was younger, but so much of life, especially for us who run businesses, it’s like, are you ready to go all in on you? And people think, oh, yeah, for sure, I’ll burn the boats. I’m going to quit my job and start my business. No, that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about once you’ve started your business or whatever it is you’re doing, or maybe you’re wrestling with, should I leave this relationship that I’m in or not, it’s, can you go all in on you? Like, all the chips that you have, can you just push them into the center? And like, I am all in on me.
0:39:24 James Robbins: And the more confidence I’m going to have, the more chips I have to play with. But that’s what it comes down to. I’m just. I’ve got to believe. I’ve got to believe in me.
0:39:34 B: And so when you talk about dragons, it feels like you are slaying the dragons in what you just talked about.
0:39:43 James Robbins: I. I have a. I have this on my desk. This is. You probably can’t see it. It’s this little crystal ball. There’s a dragon inside, right? Because I keep it there. Because we all have these dragons, right? They. They represent our deepest fears. So for mine, some of my dragons are the fear of rejection. So my nature, you know, in my corporate business, right, we work with big companies, big manufacturing companies, Fortune 100s.
0:40:13 James Robbins: Well, some of the times I. I’ve just got to get on the phone, I got to call the CEO, and some days I’m really good with that. Other days I’m like, I don’t want to call because I’m. I’m just afraid. I’m just scared or I don’t want to ask this question in case they say no. And that’s why I keep this, this on my desk, is because all of us have these fears, just always crouching, you know, waiting to find a gap and they’ll come. And in the book, we personify that as dragons.
0:40:43 James Robbins: But the way to slay a dragon is with courage and truth, right? Courage to face it and walk into its lair. Because everybody wants to avoid their dragon, right? But then the truth, to be able to fight the dragon’s lies with truth. So let me give you an example. Someone. Let’s say you’ve struggled in your finances, you’re behind, you got creditors calling you. You don’t open your mail because you think, I can’t pay these bills.
0:41:19 James Robbins: And so all these bills begin to plot, you know, to pile up, and then every time you see it, it just creates this energy inside of you. And so you avoid it. Well, that’s an example of just avoiding the dragons. But the truth is. Or the courage is, no, I’m going to go towards it. I’m going to open this piece of mail, and then as that dragon breathes shame or embarrassment or whatever it is in my life, I’m going to counter that with truth.
0:41:44 James Robbins: No, I’m not a bad person. No, I’m not A failure I am behind. That is true. And maybe there’s good or bad reasons for that, but this is what I’m going to do. And that comes around to the intention, or what I call your spiritual compass, of how you’re choosing to live. Right? So much about living a successful life is really getting clear on the intention of who am I? I’m the kind of person that tries to make right the things that I messed up in the past. I’m the kind of person that I’m not going to let fear hold me back from opening a piece of mail, even though it does feel anxiety provoking.
0:42:28 James Robbins: I’m the kind of person that doesn’t run from this anymore. So our intentions give us that path up the, up the mountain, and with that direction and the courage to face the dragon and the truth, you’re going to be able to make some great progress. Does that make sense?
0:42:46 B: Yeah, it does. I’m curious, what is one of your own personal dragons that challenged you or surprised you in ways that you didn’t expect that it would?
0:42:57 James Robbins: Definitely not even rejection. It is the, well, we could just put it down as people pleasing. And I think, you know, what’s interesting is I’ve been in situations where, you know, I’ve had to lead organizations and lead hundreds of people, or I get on stage, 500 people, thousand people in the audience. But that’s very different than hanging out with a bunch of friends, right? Maybe six, seven, eight friends.
0:43:28 James Robbins: And still to this day, I can be with a group of friends and maybe somebody says something and then I, I crack a joke and then I, there’s that question like, oh, maybe you shouldn’t have said that. I wonder if that bothered them, right? And so cue the anxiety. And that’s rooted in some of my earlier programs, earlier experiences. You know, getting bullied in, in grade school, in the sixth grade. Like, some of that goes back there and it’s still there.
0:43:58 James Robbins: Which is why when I go into those situations, I need to be aware enough to catch those moments and deal with that anxiety. And this goes back to mantras which I’ve brought up before. So when you know where some of your dragons lie, one great tool is you create these mantras that are just going to help you win in the moment, right? Like, okay, so you go and you’re hanging out at the, at your yoga class and everybody’s, you know, talking and you say something and somebody doesn’t laugh, and then you have this insecurity like, oh, maybe I shouldn’t have said that, right? Then that’s where you need your mantra, which is, you know, for me, my mantra is I’m not here to make friends.
0:44:38 James Robbins: Which, you know, can sound really harsh, but it’s. I’m not. I’m actually there to work out now. I’m a nice guy. I’m a good guy. I want to encourage and inspire people. So I could. I could probably add that to my mantra. But I just come back with, I’m not here to make friends. So as soon as I start to feel that insecurity of, like, oh, I wonder if their feelings are hurt by that, I just come back to, I’m not here to make friends, and I need to trust them. If there’s a problem, they’ll bring it up, and I can just quickly kind of put that back down.
0:45:07 James Robbins: So to your question, that would be an area that I’m still, you know, that still goes with me. And I wish that wasn’t the case. I think some of these things can stick with us a long time, even though we push back against it. It’s just so habitual. Right. The brain is. Is so protective, so protective of us, and it’s hard to override that sometimes.
0:45:33 B: Yeah. And I think some of those dragons will be with us individually potentially our entire life, you know, and just maybe show up in different forms, different ways, different intensities. And so thinking about that, I was, you know, as you were talking about your dragon, I was thought, I wonder, have you named your dragon? Do you have a visual for it? Do you use an identification in order to maybe see it ahead of time so that you can offset it potentially, and. Or that you can tame it a little bit more so that it’s not running so wild and breathing its fire.
0:46:13 James Robbins: I don’t have a name, but I like the concept. I think that’s a great idea, Tansy. And I’ve named certain parts of me before. I think early on, maybe if I go back 10, 15 years, I would more name that as part of me. I don’t do that anymore. I put it even more outside of me. That’s why I use the term dragons. But, you know, obviously they are these protective programs from our past, but I think that would be a good exercise to name it in terms of going into situations, for sure. So, you know, I, I said earlier about being an introvert, and that’s true. I am an introvert. And one of the, one of, like, the worst things for me is when I, I get invited to go in and speak at a company. Right? Let’s Say it’s a, they’re like, hey, we’re having a leadership summit and they’re doing it off site. So they’re doing it at a hotel and I’m speaking the next morning. So I fly in and then they’ll say, hey, we’re having a hospitality lounge. You know, why don’t you come and like meet everyone?
0:47:11 James Robbins: And for me, this is the most awkward moment because I walk into this room, nobody knows me except the meeting planner and I just gotta like mingle. And that’s like, I’d rather stab my eyes out. Right? Like I get in this mode. But you know, really what’s going on there is just all this, this, this insecurity. It’s not even really introversion. I can’t blame it on introversion. The reality is I don’t want to go in there and like, look stupid. That’s really what it’s about.
0:47:38 James Robbins: So it’s in moments like that that now I just go, you know what, I, I’m going to go in there first of all. I’m only going for 30 minutes, but I’m going to go in there and interview people so I can get some details for my presentation the next day. And that’s what I do. And I have a bunch of other things I do with the body from a somatic perspective to walk in with that energy and that confidence. But back to your point about things staying with us.
0:48:06 James Robbins: Yeah, I know some people would say, oh, I could heal you of that in one hour session. But yet I know some amazing psychotherapists who, they will tell you otherwise. Some of these things do stick with us for life. So that’s why, how do we dance with it? Right? How do we dance with it? Because here’s the thing. Behind every weakness is actually a superpower. Or behind every, let’s say limiting program is also superpower.
0:48:36 James Robbins: So let’s, let’s take people pleasing for a moment and please, never label yourself for those listening, never label yourself as a people pleaser. Right. That’s such an identity thing. It’s just like you struggle with the habit of people pleasing. I do too. Right. I struggle with the habit of people pleasing. But you know what that’s done for me? I can walk into a room and I can just read it. I can tell who’s not doing well.
0:49:00 James Robbins: Of course my people pleasing habits are going to think, oh, maybe they’re upset with me, right? But I can find who’s not in a great state and I feel drawn to try to win them over. Well, there’s actually a lot of good that comes from that. Right. So don’t beat yourself so much. Don’t beat yourself up so much about some of these things. Yeah. Use the superpower that it’s given you over the years and then don’t let it run the show.
0:49:29 James Robbins: So just another way to look at it.
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0:50:57 B: Oh, my gosh, James, I’m over here laughing because I literally was writing that when you just said that. I literally was writing down to remember to tell you that I 1000% agree with you. I feel that deep in my soul. When he talked about going into a room and just feeling so overwhelmed, for lack of better words, because of everything that’s going on and you feeling more of that introverted state. But what I literally was just writing down was that it gives me that moment to scan and connect into the energies around me so that I can have a moment of quiet and just say, okay, I want to connect with that person. I want to connect with that person.
0:51:43 B: I need to make sure I get over there and I can literally read the energy of the room and feel like it gives me direction. So I absolutely agree with you. I think it can be a great superpower when you use it in that more of an empowered state, 100%.
0:52:02 James Robbins: When you think of something like empathy, which we would say is, is a powerful thing and, and more people need to be more empathic. But a lot of people, not all, but a lot of people are empathic because that’s their coping mechanism from a, from a really turbulent childhood. And like reading mom’s mood and reading dad’s mood and just fine tuning, practicing that skill over and over. Like, how are they doing? How are they doing? And then you develop this, this, this thing called empathy. Obviously that’s not for everyone, but yeah, for sure. That’s, that’s another example. We would think, hey, we, we want more people to be empathetic and tuned into people’s emotions. Well, what’s the price of that?
0:52:44 James Robbins: How do you become that? Usually become that through your little life in being in an unstable environment. So that’s why it’s two sides to every coin, right?
0:52:54 B: Yeah, yeah, there definitely is. And by the way, you can use that exercise without naming your dragon. I give that to you. You can have that.
0:53:02 James Robbins: Fantastic. Thank you. I love it. I wish you’d have told me this before. I would have written this in the book.
0:53:07 B: But anyway, so speaking of your book, you taught that your book is a fable, which I love. Why did you decide to write it that way? And how do you think storytelling, by the way? I love storytelling. When it comes to self help, quote unquote, self help kind of books, I love storytelling process. How do you think storytelling is going to help to open people up in a way that traditional personal development may not quite get in there with?
0:53:42 James Robbins: So people have less and less, I think, patience for stuff these days. And I think even when it comes to books, I would love to see some research on how many people actually finish books now compared to maybe 30 years ago. I’m just guessing it would be less people actually finish a book. So I, I had a love for stories growing up. When I became, when I first went into ministry, excuse me, I was, I was just known as a storyteller, preacher, and people enjoyed how I use stories.
0:54:14 James Robbins: And that really was. And then that gave, that gave birth to my speaking career. And why that’s been so successful is I just, I just go on stage and tell stories. But. And you know, obviously there’s a lot of brain sciences stories. Stories are like the Trojan horse that we bring to the walls of the city of Troy. Right? Everyone’s brain is like the city of Troy with the walls, but the story is the Trojan horse and it’s new and novel and Interesting to the brain. And so the brain lets it in, and then once it’s in now, the little guys inside can come out. Right? That’s the point. That’s the real truth of the story.
0:54:50 James Robbins: So, you know, without getting into a workshop here on storytelling, but when I went through that time in midlife and just went through this crazy crash and burn, I went to see this therapist, and he gave me this book by Dr. James Hollis, who’s a Jungian psychoanalyst. And he’s written 20 books now, but amazing writer he wrote. But the book I read first was Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life.
0:55:21 James Robbins: And he was the one who first talked about this idea of the soul eventually seeks to have an appointment with you, but most people don’t honor the appointment. They ignore it. And that spoke to me so much back then, that metaphor. And out of that actually came the idea for the book. Well, what if the book was about a character who sort of stumbled into this climb where they realized that there was a mountain that called them to climb so that they might get away from their life, get away from all the busyness, so that they might actually sit down and listen to what their soul is trying to say.
0:55:58 James Robbins: And so that’s for the genesis of the book. And Dr. Hollis, he’s been great with me. Like, he’s come on my podcast, and I give him a ton of credit in the acknowledgments of the book because he really did inspire the story of that. And I think, you know, I’m not a licensed therapist, so I wouldn’t have felt as good, like, let me write this. Let me write this traditional book with here’s the chapters and here’s the points that you’ve got to do.
0:56:31 James Robbins: But the story. I can write a story. And so much of the story is my story. Sometimes it’s my kids stories, sometimes it’s my friend’s story. But I think it’s a story that a lot of people will resonate with because it does deal with those. Those existential questions of what I’m supposed to be doing. So, anyways, yeah, I know stories and fables are not for everyone, and that’s okay. But I’m happy about it. I’m really happy about the story.
0:56:59 B: Well, I have to tell you that when you talk about finishing books, first off, I love books. I read constantly. I’ve always loved books. The library is probably one of my favorite places to just literally go hang out. And so it’s so interesting because I would struggle and push to read Self development books and to really, because I love personal development, I wanted to do more of that. I want to read, I want to know, I want to devour all that. However, it was pretty rare that I would finish a self development book from start to finish, from COVID to cover.
0:57:38 B: Novels, storytelling, I devour those. I get so excited. I want to know. I fall in love with the characters and I want to know what happens. And so I think that it is beautiful. I think it is a beautiful way to change the narrative about what self development can look like. And plus, think about where our humanity has really gotten. So much of communication is gotten from storytelling, from sitting around the fires and telling ghost stories, telling family history, telling whatever the story is. Right. Like that’s just part of innately who we are.
0:58:24 James Robbins: Exactly. I think like to your point, when there’s a story, there has to be an ending and we want to know what happened. So in my leadership speaking, one of the, one of the themes that I, I tell this anchor story, right, where when I’m. I talk about us climbing this mountain in Bolivia and being stuck on the side and not sure if we’re going to keep going or not. And I begin the speech by telling this story and then I, I jump off the point and I start going into leadership. And so I do all this teaching about leadership and lots of stories in the middle.
0:58:59 James Robbins: But sometimes if I’m in a workshop setting, then we’ll take a break somewhere in the middle. And without a doubt, every time, like, we’re going to take a 15 minute break, everyone, someone comes up to me and says, are you going to finish the story? Did you make it to the top? Like, that’s what they want to know. They want to know, not like, how do I hold my staff accountable? Did you get to the top? Right. That’s what they want to know.
0:59:19 James Robbins: And so I learned that the hard way. Like, wait, don’t you want to know like all my great truths about leadership? No, I just want to know, did you make it to the top? Because when a story is told correctly, your story becomes their story. And what they really want to know is, do I make it to the top? Right? Do I make it? And that deals with the question that we all have inside of us. You know, can I do this? Will I make it?
0:59:45 B: Yeah, well, okay, so thinking about that whole concept, like, can I do this? Will I make it? In a world that really praises productivity and pushing through, you know, thinking about your book and the story behind it, what does intentional living really mean to you? Personally, what does it mean? What were you trying to bring through either in your book or just in your life? And how you influence other people and how, how do you stay aligned when the outside noise is just so darn loud and chaotic at times?
1:00:20 James Robbins: Yeah, these are great questions. So when you think about intentional living, and I talk about this in the book, this idea of finding your, your spiritual vision, which is like your compass for life, and your spiritual vision is think of like the, the, the things that are most important to you and it’s, it’s bigger than values. So sometimes it spills over into roles. But what’s most important to you?
1:00:43 James Robbins: And let’s just pick a, a lot of times it’s great when you can pick a role. So let’s say I’m a parent of adult children, right? So my kids are adults. Well, that’s a role that’s important to me as a father. But what do I believe about parenting adult children? Not, not what does my parents believe or what somebody in some church or mosque or synagogue believes. But like, what do I actually believe about parenting adult children?
1:01:10 James Robbins: Why do I believe that? And then what’s my commitment? What’s my commitment that I’m making? When I think about my health? What do I believe about health? Not what everyone’s trying to tell me, but what do I believe? Why do I believe that and what’s my commitment? What do I believe about my path? You know, for me, that’s to follow in the steps of the footsteps of the soul. Right? What do I believe about that?
1:01:39 James Robbins: Why do I believe that? Why do I believe someone should follow their soul? Why do I believe that and what’s my commitment? Well, my commitment is to honor my path and push through my fears. What’s my, what do I believe about, you know, my romantic partner? Why do I believe that and what’s my commitment? So I have these seven commitments that I’ve made in my life. Some of them are role based as a parent, as a partner, as a friend.
1:02:16 James Robbins: And some of them are about health, some of them about my soul, some of them about my spiritual life. What’s my commitment? And once I’m clear on my commitments, now I can just keep coming back and auditing my life. I don’t have to do it daily, but yeah, sometimes it’s good to do it daily. But when a week goes by, if I haven’t spoken to my children, who live all in different places, well, is that in alignment with my commitment?
1:02:50 James Robbins: And if it’s not, okay, why, what, what happened? What Do I need to what? Do I need to, you know, adjust? Because this is my commitment. So it’s not. It’s not goals per se. Right. It’s not a. It’s not a goal you never reach that you never reach. Like, what’s the end goal of that? You never reach it. Or health. What’s the end goal? You don’t reach it. As a friend, what’s my commitment to. To my. What I call my rope team? That. That close circle.
1:03:19 James Robbins: And if a week’s gone by and I. I’ve not even talked to any of my friends or checked in on someone, then is that consistent with my commitment? For me? No, it’s not. Okay, don’t judge myself for that, but let’s just make an adjustment. So that’s intentional living for me. My seven commitments, and they’re going to be different than yours commitments. Right. It doesn’t have to be seven, but whatever they are, keep your commitments.
1:03:46 James Robbins: And this is why you need those reasons. And like I said, I’ve got my reasons. You know, each of my kids is a reason. One of my commitments is to. Is to build wealth because I want to help my children, because I want to have the freedom to travel, which is a value of mine, and I want to be generous to others. When I’m not building wealth, I’m not keeping my commitment. So let me go back to one of my reasons.
1:04:13 James Robbins: Keep your commitment. So that’s an examined life, is whether it’s daily or just even weekly to circle back and go, am I keeping my commitments? But of course, you first have to be clear, what are those? Because there’s a thousand things you could be committed to, but what’s really important to you? This is, to me, work of the soul as well. Like what’s most important to you and what commitments come out of that. Create your spiritual vision and then just keep coming back to it again and again and again.
1:04:48 B: I have so many things I want to say first. That whole thing with commitments is brilliant. I love that. I’ve never really. Maybe people have talked about core values. I feel like that can feel very rigid and in a box because those words get thrown around. But talking about your commitments, that feels like it is soul deep. And so I love that coming back around and always just reevaluate, re. Reevaluating and realigning. Like when you’re flying the. The.
1:05:24 B: The plane and you’re just trying to stand course correct. Course correct. Right. Beautiful. You’ve said a few. You said a few things that stood out to Me, you said, the phrase is pushing through fear, you said. About auditing your life, you said, talked many times here about intentionality. And so I imagine the journey of writing the call to climb wasn’t just this professional milestone for you. It probably stirred up a lot of transformation in you as well.
1:05:55 B: What did this book, writing this book teach you about your own path?
1:06:02 James Robbins: This was a cathartic experience. First of all, let me just say to anyone out there who’s listening that maybe you want to write a book, but you don’t think that you’re a good writer. I. Let me encourage you with something. When I wrote my first book, in a sense, I wasn’t a good writer because I was a lazy writer and my poor old mother had to do so much editing. But just to give you some perspective, when I. When McGraw Hill phoned me and said, hey, we’re gonna. We’re gonna publish your book, my. The first question out of my mouth was, did you read it?
1:06:34 James Robbins: That’s what I asked the senior editor. I said, did you even read it? It’s like, no, James, we didn’t read it. We’re just gonna publish your book. But I mean, it just shows you, like, even with that self doubt, just write, like just. Just write your book. But. But with this one where. This was different, Tansy. There were so many times I was writing this book and this emotion came up and I’m like, in the cafe and my eyes get all watery and I’m literally, like, wiping tears from my eyes and like, looking around to see if anyone’s noticing me.
1:07:11 James Robbins: So many times. And even now, like, there’s still parts if I reread, they bring up emotion because the theme is something that is important to me or it touches on an old wound or touches on something I’ve overcome, but the memory takes me back there. So, yeah, so many times. So many times I felt emotional writing this. And I’m not sure if anyone will feel emotional reading it, but I definitely felt emotional writing it. I’ve never.
1:07:44 James Robbins: I’ve never actually written anything that. That created emotion like this, but you.
1:07:49 B: Never know what part of any story is going to trigger somebody else and. And literally knock down a wall to expand them and create that emotional level. You never know.
1:08:04 James Robbins: True. So true.
1:08:05 B: Yeah. What? Thinking about your book, what is your favorite part? Is there a certain part in the book or a certain part of the story that is your favorite and really stands out to you?
1:08:20 James Robbins: There’s a couple favorite parts. One I won’t mention because it would be a spoiler for people wanting to read it, but I’ll mention another one. So there’s this section on the mountain that ends up being about energy. And the main character is learning about the importance of energy and the beautiful state. In fact, when they first approach the mountain and this guide, his name Santiago, is leading them. But when they first approach the mountain, the mountain gets really stormy and Santiago says, this mountain is just mirroring back what’s inside of you. The turbulence that’s going on inside of you is represented in the weather.
1:08:58 James Robbins: And anyways, there’s this one section and they’re high on the mountain and Santiago is teaching the character Riley about the beautiful state versus the turbulent state and how you determine the weather. That every day when you get up, instead of checking your phone for what’s the forecast today? It’s like, no, you make the weather like you make the weather. By what state are you going to step into? You’re going to step into a place of joy, love, gratitude, peace.
1:09:25 James Robbins: Or is it frustration, stress, anger? Right? You determine the weather, you don’t let the outside determine the inside. So, but in the context of this conversation, they get into talking about relationships and Riley ends up discovering or realizing that they have this ex business partner that had cheated them and they have just never let it go. And so it. It goes into this. So what happens on the mountain is this blizzard comes in total whiteout, and it just won’t let up.
1:10:05 James Robbins: And Santiago eventually says, the mountain’s not going to let us climb until you let this go. And so Riley has to have this moment of dealing with, honestly, everyone who’s ever hurt them in their life. And I think it’s a powerful moment because all of us can relate with this idea of not wanting to forgive someone, not wanting to let them go. And the idea there is that the word forgiveness, if you get it down to the root, especially in the ancient Greek, it’s about pardoning someone, it’s letting them out of jail.
1:10:38 James Robbins: And Santiago is making the point that when we don’t forgive someone, it’s like we’ve locked them in these jail cells in our heart. But from time to time, the prisoners have uprisings and bang their cups against the wall and trigger us again. And the only cure is just to let them go. But it seems so unfair. And we all have our reasons for why we’re holding on. And so there’s this sort of titanic struggle on the mountain where Riley’s like, I’m not letting this go. But the mountain is also like, oh, I’m not letting you go.
1:11:10 James Robbins: And you cannot climb higher until you let this go and free up the energy that’s being lost in your heart. And so there’s a scene about that. And, you know, that’s. That was a deeply personal thing as well. That was one of my favorite parts, though.
1:11:26 B: Oh, I love that. I love that. Well, so speaking of letting go, for the person who’s really afraid to say yes to their next level because they’re afraid of letting go to what’s familiar, or maybe letting go feels very, very scary, what would you whisper to their heart?
1:11:46 James Robbins: What would I whisper to their heart? Is that what you said?
1:11:48 B: Yeah. What would you tell them?
1:11:52 James Robbins: I would say there’s more to you than you realize. Right. And there is divine signature in your life. I mean, all you have to do is. It’s at your fingertips. Like, you just look at your fingerprints. No two people, even identical twins, no two people on the planet have the same fingerprints. To me, that’s the. The divine signature that you have been created differently. And of course, add into that your experiences, your.
1:12:21 James Robbins: Your. Your formative years, your. The things you’ve learned that you really are. You really are one of a kind. And I think there’s times to. There’s times to borrow courage, right, with our friends when we need it. But at the end of the day, man, just trust yourself and know that life isn’t about getting through it without scrapes and bruises and failures. And when you can embrace that sort of the soul mindset, right? The ego mindset is let me protect myself, and the soul mindset is let me learn. Let me go for it. Let me grow. And if I fail, oh, that’s cool, too. But what did I learn from that?
1:13:06 James Robbins: And the more you can step into that side of you, the richer your life becomes. The soul’s path enlarges, right? But the ego’s path constricts. And that’s what I would say. Just trust yourself.
1:13:22 B: I love that. I love that. I can’t wait to read your book. Sounds amazing. Sounds absolutely amazing.
1:13:30 James Robbins: I can’t wait for you to read it. I love to hear your comments after.
1:13:33 B: Yes. So the big reveal. When is this book coming out? Where can people find it? And how can people get into your world?
1:13:46 James Robbins: Thanks for asking that. I’m not sure when you’re launching this episode, so that’s going to hinge on this answer. So. Because we sort of film these, you know, before the date that they ever come out. The book comes out August 5th, which is really fast. Or maybe if. If it’s already after August 5th. Then the book’s out. I just got these on the weekend. I. It was my first chance to see the book and Wiley did a really great job with it. I was really pleased with just the package and everything. I think is amazing.
1:14:15 James Robbins: But you can go to iwillclimb.com just go to the website iwillclimb.com and you can find all the information. You can connect with me there. But, yeah, I’d love to connect for sure.
1:14:27 B: And as always, those links will be down in the show notes, so make sure you jump on down there, get your hands onto this book and yeah, thank you so much for being here. This has been fantastic. Do you have any last words that you would like to lay on the hearts of the listeners for today?
1:14:45 James Robbins: It would be to consider this. You know, in my former career in ministry, I had a chance to. Well, part of my job was doing funerals and at first to do a funeral seemed like this terrifying thing, but actually it could be a very beautiful thing. But here’s the thing. At a funeral, there’s always a eulogy. And the eulogy is where someone gets up and they share what the person did in their life. And it takes about two minutes if the person was really successful.
1:15:19 James Robbins: And the rest of the hour is spent with people getting up and sharing about what the person meant to them. Just remember that in all your activity and striving to do something, it’s going to get two minutes of airtime at the end of your life. But what’s really going to get air time is who you were, right, who you became. And always prioritize who you’re becoming over who you’re doing. And when you do that, you’ll end up loving what you end up doing.
1:15:50 James Robbins: So, anyways, that’s what I would say. But, Tansy, thanks so much for having me on the show. It’s really. I really enjoyed this conversation. I love your energy and I look forward to talking more.
1:16:00 B: Thank you so much. James.
1:16:05 Tansy Rodgers: Take a breath with me. Because if you are like me, this conversation really stirred something within. Maybe it’s a quiet truth that you’ve been holding, or maybe a fear that you’ve been circling. Maybe it’s a part of you that’s been whispering that it’s time. But I know that James reminded me that being stuck isn’t failure, it’s feedback. And that living out of alignment isn’t a weakness, but rather a call.
1:16:33 Tansy Rodgers: Sometimes the dragons that we face are actually thresholds not to turn back, but to go deeper, to climb higher. So before you move on with your day, let these questions really sink in as they go in accompaniment with James’s words of wisdom. Where in your life are you settling for safe when your soul is asking for more? What dragon are you pretending isn’t there? And what would it mean to face it gently, honestly, without shame?
1:17:09 Tansy Rodgers: And if you gave yourself permission to answer your own Call to climb, what would your first step be? You don’t have to see the whole mountain, you just have to say yes to the next step, to remembering that it is okay to climb that mountain. And if you love James Insight and want more, his book, the Call to climb is out August 5th. You can find it over at iwillclimb.com until next time, keep spreading that beautiful energy you were born to share.
