Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Welcome to the Life Refresh podcast. My name is Ryan Robinson, and if you are looking for a podcast that is designed to uplift, encourage and revive your heart, mind, and spirit. You're in the right place. Welcome to the journey of Becoming the version of You God designed from the foundation of the Earth. Now, let's begin.
Speaker 1 00:00:30 Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to the Life Refresh Podcast. Uh, you know who it is. It's Ryan Robinson. Glad that you're here with me today. Uh, we are going to continue discussing the power of exposure and uh, we're gonna talk about part two here, but one of the things I feel like we're gonna, it might turn into a part three or part four, cuz I think it's such an important topic to discuss. Many of us are going through many challenging circumstances, maybe positive circumstances, and maybe they're making us feel uncomfortable. Maybe they're making us feel as if we are not worthy of something, or maybe we think that it's just a fluke. I I really think, um, personally, I feel like God is really doing some incredible things in individual's lives to let them know that one, you are worthy of something like that. Two, that it's not as bad as you think it is, or it's not as good as you think it is.
Speaker 1 00:01:31 Or, and three, that is something that you could obtain, you can obtain. Um, I, I want to kind of talk about a story. I read a, I'm a book reader. I'm a much of a book worm in many cases, and as well as an audio book listener to, and one of the books that I had, uh, read that I have read over, um, a period of time. Uh, I usually have a goal of, uh, I try to read at least 26 books a year. Um, and, uh, it's quite the lofty goal. I mean, I, I get close, I maybe miss it by maybe a book or two at least over the last three years. But one of the books that I have read that I really, you know, many people like this guy, but it's Steve Harvey. Um, I grew up listening and watching Steve, the Steve Harvey show <laugh> back in the day.
Speaker 1 00:02:23 And, uh, those are for those who used to watch the wb. Um, and I'm really dating myself now, but the episode of, of, uh, Steve Harvey, uh, followed him for a long time. Original Kings of Comedy or Kings, if you want to really get, um, <laugh>, if you really want to get into it, I, I really like Steve Harvey and just being a person who's followed his career for a long time, I, I got one of his books, not, uh, it's, it's called Act Like a Success, think Like a Success. What's been really interesting is that Steve Harvey really didn't reach the pinnacle of his career, that as we now know him as until his late forties, uh, mid to late forties in his fifties, um, his life story is an incredible one. From book author to, um, to TV host to major event, mc, all the comedian, all the things.
Speaker 1 00:03:26 Now he, he's, he is a household name these days, and one of the things that he wrote in this book act like a success, think Like a success is that he discussed what it was like to be in first class. Something happened where he ended up getting on a flight and, um, he ended up getting upgraded. He had been traveling quite a bit and one of the things that he said was like, man, I didn't even realize how nice it is up here, <laugh>. He, he didn't, he felt very uncomfortable about it initially because he's like, well, what did I do? Did I do something wrong? Did I, you know, it was there a, you know, it was there a fluke around it. And he got into the first class seat, he got exposed to what it was like to get, um, certain services, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 1 00:04:20 And, um, he said, you know what? It is now going to be difficult for me to go back to coach in a, an economy. I, I have to do what I need to do in order to get what I just experienced over again, because now my time, I was able to rest. I was in uncomfortable. I was in a position where I had peace, and that to me was worth the work ethic for me to stay. So once you've experienced it, it's not just the power to get there. It is the meanings and the ability to stay there that we really have to understand. And, and, and, and I think it's a mindset for us to understand that just because we've got exposed to something doesn't mean that we can't find means to stay in. That our level of exposure has now been so ingrained that this is the kind of expectation that we have in our life.
Speaker 1 00:05:20 But the problem is we feel that we don't deserve certain experiences, certain amenities in our lives. Um, and you know what? By the grace of God, we really don't. But by God's grace, excuse me, let me say that again by ourselves. We don't, but by God's grace we can, and we can, I wanna make sure we say that we can Is that is, it is an option. It is an option you can choose this day, as Joshua said. You can choose what, what you're gonna serve, you can do. You have the choice. And I think many people these days don't understand the power of choice that they have. Okay? You can literally choose the way you feel today. You can choose to no longer be in debt. You can choose to no longer be a victim and, but decide based on the circumstances that you will choose to be a victor.
Speaker 1 00:06:23 You can choose these things even though there might be truth that says, you know what? These things did happen. Yes, these things can happen. Yes, but I'm going to choose for myself a better outcome. I think there's so much power in doing that, but this is the thing, it is actually a very uncomfortable conversation to have with oneself. This is where we ended, uh, in, in, in, in the last podcast, is, how comfortable are you willing to be? Or maybe the question is, how uncomfortable are you willing to be? Um, I've, uh, I, one of my favorite preachers of all time amongst many is, uh, bishop, uh, TD Jakes. I hope and pray one day I get to meet him and, and be able to learn from him. Um, one day in my lifetime, I, I really, or you know, in his lifetime, really <laugh>, um, I, I just really believe in what he's been doing.
Speaker 1 00:07:26 And one of the things that he's, um, um, he's wrote, written several books, all of which I've read. Uh, but one of the, the most recent things that he, he brings up in his books and, and many times in his preaching is that, um, you have to break the mold many times when God is doing something unique and special in your life or in someone else's life. What he has to do is he has to get you uncomfortable because there is power, there is opportunity, there is gifting on the other side of being uncomfortable. And discomfort is actually mo in many cases, to our bodies, to our mentality, a threat to creating what we really want in our lives. Cuz as I spoke about before, if you haven't seen something in your life before, any kind of exposure to it is actually a threat. Because the first thing we're trying to figure out is determine what does this mean to me?
Speaker 1 00:08:32 When any kind of change happens in our life, whether it be financial, emotional, mentally you're losing weight, all the things, like there are so many transitions in our life that we take, that are happening in our lives that we forget sometimes to decide and determine what does this change mean to me? Okay, what does this change mean to me now? Uh, it, it, it it is such a powerful conversation to have, but is one that takes a lot of thought because many times we reject changes to keep things copacetic and keep the, the status quo in our lives because we have not figured out or understood what the change means to us. I, I'm, I'm much a, a person who, and I hate to say it, I'm a change person, uh, uh, a person who works in change management and I don't like change all the time, which is an oxymoron for many cases.
Speaker 1 00:09:35 But the problem is most of the time we have not done enough research, and I haven't done all the research for myself too as to why this change bothers us so much. Um, I recently have gone through, um, you know, much, much of a, uh, uh, um, metamorphosis, if you will, physically and, and lost some weight. And, uh, one of the things that I had battled back and forth is that, and again, I know it sounds so, so minuscule and dumb after you, after I say this out loud, but my challenge to losing weight was, it's gonna sound so silly with me talking about this, but I have literally never been lower than 210 pounds since high school. Like on the sophomore side of high school. Um, I played football, as we talked about before, as I've discussed, and I have the heart, the biggest I've been is like two 40.
Speaker 1 00:10:39 And, um, the lowest I've been is like in the, before I, when I started football, I was like, like a bug, 85 maybe. And, um, it was so difficult to see myself differently than I had seen myself 15, 20 plus years ago. I know it sounds so minuscule to be like, oh, you should really want to lose weight. But in some reason, in some way, shape and form, being muscular and having, you know, playing football was a badge of honor. To me, it mean it meant that I was, I couldn't call it invincible, but no one would mess with me, right? And then I actually w you know, was trying to do, uh, many of the exercises and things that I had done when I was in college to lose weight and come to find out through some counsel and some science based on some assistance I've been getting, I was told that the information that I was using was actually outdated.
Speaker 1 00:11:49 It was designed for performance and not design for aesthetics and physique. So I was actually utilizing an old method to create a new circumstance that was literally not meeting me where I needed to go. Now, once I've gotten this new information, I was exposed to this new knowledge. It actually took me <laugh>, it took me like three to four weeks to actually like process the fact that what I had been working out on from 2007 to 2009 might I add you to Now, I thought that that regiment of information was still applicable now, but between, uh, 2009 to 2023, there has been a lot of information. There has been a lot of new science that has revealed that certain things have not, that don't, that a lot of information now yields that there are other ways of weight loss, there's other ways of creating, uh, strength in your body.
Speaker 1 00:13:00 There's ways to create lean muscle mass without having to bulk up. And also the fact is, you don't necessarily need to bulk up to stay strong, especially when you get older. So I literally had processed this thing in my, and I had an idea that my identity was this. And it may, it took me a lot. It took me a moment of exposure to new information that now provided me insight on how I could do and become an individual that I wanted to be in the future. That's why many people read books, um, because it exposes us to different things. It exposes us to mindsets. That's why many people have to read books two or three times because that information that they receive initially doesn't get into our brains that, well, new information causes moments to pause. I've recently read a book or reread a book I usually read every year called Essentialism by Greg McEwen.
Speaker 1 00:14:08 I recommend this book to every single person listening to this podcast. Anyone who has a, I still recommend it. He has two books, one called Essentialism The Discipline Pursuit of Less But Better is the, is the tagline for that particular book. And the other book is called Effortless, um, by Greg McEwen. And, um, that book is make it Easier to Do What Matters Most. That is the tagline for that. And both books are New York Times bestselling books. Now, this guy, there are so many things in this book, I don't wanna, I, I'll probably talk about this on the next podcast. I feel like we're gonna have to go to two or three on these, um, cuz we got some extra ease <laugh> based on how I, um, talked about this. But there was information in this book that didn't make sense to me until I got exposed to something in my life about it.
Speaker 1 00:15:10 Literally, if you haven't, if you read a case study and you don't have a way to understand how the information applies to you, you will just see it as a case study to observe, but not want to apply. Okay? I'm gonna say that again. If you look at a case study and you don't have any connection to that information, you will just think of it as something that you can observe versus what you can apply. So with the things that have gone in my life with my, with my son and my family expanding and goals and, and systems and career stuff, like all the things that are happening in my life, there was a moment that this book was just a great book to aspire to, but I didn't have the circumstances that made it real in my life. Then I started reading it. I felt a prompting by the Holy Spirit while I was taking a walk one day to listen to this podcast or this book.
Speaker 1 00:16:08 And I'm listening to the book and I'm like, the book came alive for me. Um, a good friend or good coach of mine, um, uh, who who who will be on the podcast, I don't want to give out the name yet, but, uh, he, his, one of his biggest sayings is to live by design and not by default. And the author said, Greg McEwen said that in the book. And I'm like, oh my God. Now I understand what that means because I've heard it in my life. Now I can hear it. Now, this is the thing is all this information, all this information I'm giving you is actually biblical, okay? It is super important for us to understand that even though we're getting new information, the information has a spiritual rooting into it, okay? And I'm gonna speak to it because, uh, I, I'm gonna, we'll just talk about it briefly here and then we'll, we'll get moving.
Speaker 1 00:17:04 But, um, Jose, chapter four, verse six is, um, a book that most people hear and most people say, and again, it, it, it has context in the sense of what we are going through right now, but in our discussion of exposure. But, uh, it says this, Isaiah chapter four, verse six says this, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because thou reject knowledge. I will also reject thee that thou shall be no priest to me, and thou shall haste forgotten the law of thy God. And I will also forget the children. Let me give you <laugh>, I just realized that was the King James version. And the King James version is, as you heard it, very difficult to transcribe. So let me give it to you in the, uh, we'll do the, the, um, modern English version, m e v my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because you have a, because you have rejected knowledge.
Speaker 1 00:18:07 I will also reject you from being priest from me because you have forgotten the law of your God. I will also forget your children. Most people just hit the top part there of my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Um, this is the key. Ignorance for many people is bliss. And because of that lack of information, you are literally unable to perceive and understand what's possible for you. Okay? It is, uh, an uncovering. It is think of your life as being veiled. And you hear things, you see things, you're experiencing things, but you cannot see them and think that they're for you. That is what lack of knowledge does. Now, this is the word, this is the thing ledge in mi in in this case is revelation. Okay? Revelation to reveal to oneself. Revel. It's the, if we can put an image to it, it's like turning the light on in the room, okay?
Speaker 1 00:19:19 Now, if you have a big, big, big room, um, think about your family room or your living room and uh, it's at nighttime, one lamp will only illuminate a portion of that room, but it own, but it will, it'll reach as far as it can, but it won't reveal everything. Therefore, you need more revelation or more light in the room to uncover things that might be hidden in the shadows. Okay? This is the key vision and visual around what Christ is saying. What God is saying to his people is the fact is because you don't know, you are unable to go. And just because you don't believe that information doesn't make it also apply to you. Cuz you may be hearing it, but because you haven't applied it in wisdom, you're losing out. Okay? So, um, I, I wanna, and this is again, I wanna go back to the bishop because there's a quote there that he says that I feel is prompting for many of us.
Speaker 1 00:20:27 And I, and I want to quote this and I wanna quote it correctly here. This is how God does and brings information. So he said, we pared for a lack of knowledge. God is the only one that gives us revelation. Therefore, when we get the knowledge, it is for us to apply. So it becomes revelation that it lights up our ability and our space so that we can see differently, right? So this is his quote. The fact that God exposes you to something is always a sign that it can be yours. God is exposing you so you can absorb destiny in the deepest parts of your soul. Breathe in, breathe in and believe and let God open the doors to des through exposure. And there's another piece here that he also brings up that I feel like we just, I got to make sure we talk about this. Excellence requires discomfort. Same thing with exposure. It requires discomfort. If you want anything good, anything great, anything excellent, you will have to forget what was behind you, what you have to reach something new. I'm gonna leave with this quote. Um, I keep saying I'm gonna leave with this quote, but there is, uh, and, and we'll probably reference a couple of these books in the show notes. But, uh, the next book I'm gonna reference here as we close is, uh, it's called The Mountain Is You, the Mountain Is You by Brianna West. And let me get the tagline. This is something off my notes actually for this. But um,
Speaker 1 00:22:14 I just recently completed her book and it's such a powerful conversation around, um, how do we see ourselves? So Brianna West the mountain is you, here's a tagline. Transforming self-sabotage into self-mastery. Here's the quote, and then we'll, we'll close with this. Your life is going to cost you your old one. It's going to cost you your comfort zone and your sense of direction. It's going to cost you relationships and friends. It's going to cost you being light and understood. It doesn't matter. The people who are meant for you are going to meet you on the other side. You're going to build a new comfort zone around the things that actually move you forward. Instead of being liked, you're going to be loved. Instead of being understood, you're going to be seen. All you're going to lose is what was built for the person you no longer are. We'll catch you in the next podcast.
