Episode 1,000 Celebration! Special Guests, BTS, Q&As, & More!

26:45And my mission had just kind of unlocked for me

26:48Shawn Stevenson:to focus on family, to focus on empowerment of our communities and our families, the things that we evolved having has been so fractured in our culture recently. And this came along with that mission, all these different puzzle pieces changing with my family, right? And so life was qualifying me to speak about this and also the pain that we go through as these pieces are moving and evolving. And right now, as we sit here today, this is the first time I'm ever experiencing mourning for not having a baby anymore. Because I've always kind of perpetually, you know what I mean? Like as soon as my youngest son was like, you know, starting to stop playing with his toys or whatever, then Ann was pregnant with Brayden.

27:28Shawn Stevenson:And so I was back at it again with the baby. And so being able to navigate these things and knowing that, you know, and this is something I might have heard this from you back in the day. Some people in your life for a reason, for a season or for a lifetime. Right. And our relationships can evolve and change. And it's us. This is where we have to do the work. Absolutely. This is where we have to continue to evolve. Right. And to remember how powerful we are to create our life in a way that makes us feel joy and to feel that sense of purpose, regardless of what's going on in the outside world. Absolutely.

28:06Shawn Stevenson:Your field becomes a field of joy and gratitude and through meditation and introspection, you tap into that field and it has nothing to do with an external condition. You know, when we're first growing and maturing, we're happy if this happens. We're happy if the ducks are in a row. We're happy, you know. But as we mature, we realize that happiness is, we've been given happiness. We've been given joy straight from the creator presence. And then that which moves around, we may not like it. We may not prefer certain things to happen, but we don't let it steal our joy. So within that field, then wisdom and guidance comes through because you're not putting static on the line by making sure that your happiness is based on that thing.

28:52Shawn Stevenson:Your happiness is based on you. Yeah. You see? So now you can hear the wisdom, the guidance, and then you know how to navigate through those things that you don't like, you know, because you're not blocking, you're not putting static on the line. This makes so much sense. You've been so helpful to me over the years, in more ways than I could count. I'm so grateful for you. Now, since this is episode 1000, I'm gonna do something I don't typically do. I'm gonna turn this around a little bit. And the one and only Anne Stevenson is here as well. And she helped to get Take Back Your Mind podcast, your show started in the very beginning.

29:26Shawn Stevenson:Yeah, she was very helpful. So baby, you're the best, first of all. But having that incredible platform that you have, I've been on the show a couple of times. I might've been your first guest. You might have been. I think I did one solo show. Yeah, you did a solo. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But. So we did the same thing to each other. Yes, exactly. And this is what tends to happen, you know. But, you know, I'm saying all that to say that, you know, number one, make sure everybody check out Take Back Your Mind. It is one of the greatest gifts to humanity. Let me put it like that. This isn't even a great podcast or a great show.

30:00Shawn Stevenson:It's a gift to humanity. And just push play and your life will be transformed. Period. Point blank. now, but I'm going to turn this around a little bit since this is episode 1000 and a lot of people are sharing their heart and sharing what they feel about this show and about me and his mission. So when you think about the Model Health Show, when you think about me, what comes to mind? Excellence and an individual that knows what he's talking about. I check with you about things. If I see something going on, I say, hey, is this true or not? Whether it's a supplement or whatever's going on. So your, your excellence and your, your research prowess is top notch.

30:41Shawn Stevenson:And so when I think about you, I think about excellence. I think about a family man, you know, I think about a man who loves his family so deeply that, uh, as you just described, when things happen in your family, it moves you very deeply. You're not, you're not, um, uh, stoic, even though you might appear that way as an athlete, you know what I'm saying? But inside you're, you're, you're, you're a puff cake, you know, you, you, you love your family, you love your wife, you love your kids, you know, you want everything to be just right. And so, you know, Lee and I talk about you all the time, and I'm always telling people about you, you know, he said, oh, you need to check out Sean Stevenson, you know, he's gonna, you, you, you will discover the truth about whatever it is you're trying to, you're trying to know about.

31:26Shawn Stevenson:So, you know, you're, you're, you're, you're a love guy, you know, but the word that comes up all the time for me is, is excellence and an individual that puts his word into practice. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Rev. Thank you, Rev. Well, you know, this is a very special day. This only happens once, episode 1000. And to have you here to be our first special guest. Also, again, you're the first guest here at the studio, period. Blessing this space and us continuing to evolve and to grow and to make an impact. And we need it now more than ever that part and we're more powerful than ever yes we are so it's like it's it's scary good right now if we're tuned into it so i want to affirm again for everybody listening to really lock in do your best to immerse yourself in those things that remind you of who you are and how powerful you are subscribe to take back your mind and also agape spiritual center here in LA, there are services every Sunday, meditation, but also you live stream.

32:30Shawn Stevenson:It's live streamed all over the world. Yeah. Yeah. So it's on YouTube. It's on live stream from our website and Facebook. Yeah. Is there any, anywhere else you want people to connect with you to check out? Well, they could go to my Instagram page because there's something inspirational that's placed there every day. Yes. And then as you just said, they go, they can go to agapelive.com and watch the services on the website, see what classes I'm teaching, or they can go to our YouTube channel, Michael Beckwith or Agape, and watch it live or watch it after, depending on what time zone they're in.

33:04Shawn Stevenson:Because by the end of the week, there are thousands of people who have watched it. But many people are around the world, so they were asleep when I was doing the deal. But yeah. It's there for you. It's right there. I appreciate you so much for coming to hang out with us. Hey, man, thank you for the invitation. Of course. As soon as we heard that you want to be on your thousandth, episode. We just looked at the schedule and just maneuvered and said, yeah, we're going to do this. Yes. And by the way, Michael Beckwith is on the Mount Rushmore or what should we call this? Mount Crushmore of the Model Health Show.

33:38Shawn Stevenson:All right. One of our most frequent guests, one of our most in demand and respected and loved guests here on the show. I appreciate you so much. Thank you for coming to have this. Thank you. Thank, thank Sister Ann for her assistance. And thank you all, you know, because you guys are family. I mean, we hang out. We're going to the jazz festival tomorrow. We're going to the jazz festival tomorrow together. And, you know, so it's really, ever since I met you in Portugal, you know, and then there was a connection and then it's just evolved. And, you know, your kids, my kids, I love them. You know, they're like God kids, you know, even though they're growing into adulthood.

34:18Shawn Stevenson:Yeah. Thank you so much. I better play your younger one basketball quick. Oh man, like, hey, hey. Just a little bit of horses if I have any chance. Yeah, well, again, I appreciate you so much. And everybody, we've got so much more in store for you. So stay tuned. Let's go. I have something very special to share with you for episode 1000 of the Model Health Show. It's important for us to understand that beauty is truly from the inside out, but also the outside in is important as well. And today, skincare is getting a lot of attention. A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial published in the Journal of Phytochemistry and Photobiology took 76 patients with notable wrinkles and treated half of their face with red light therapy, near-infrared, or both, while other patients received a fake light treatment that was used as a placebo.

35:12Shawn Stevenson:Participants received two light therapy treatments each week for four weeks, and here's what happened. With just four weeks of treatment, participants had up to a 36 % reduction in wrinkles and up to a 20 % increase in skin elasticity. Phenomenal in such a short amount of time. Red light therapy truly, if done consistently, is more transformative than any glamorous, glorified, super complicated skincare routine with 25 products. And you've probably noticed that a lot of people are now utilizing the red light therapy masks. But the number one red light therapy mask in the world for you today is 15 % off.

36:03Shawn Stevenson:It's FDA registered. It's science backed red and near infrared light therapy for smoother radiant skin. This is the award winning red light mask where 98 % of people reported a more even skin tone. 96 % of people reported glowing skin and 84 % of people saw results in just four weeks. Go to bondcharge.com forward slash model right now for an exclusive 15 % off. That's B-O-N-C-H-A-R-G-E dot com forward slash model right now to take advantage. And of course, you can check out their other award-winning science-backed red light therapy devices. They've got a best-selling red light therapy ball cap.

36:53Shawn Stevenson:They've got a red light therapy toothbrush and their large red light therapy panels. That's what I personally use on a regular basis. Again, it's not just about the skin health. It's also about healing. It's about recovery. It's about reducing pain. It's about accelerating healing. It's about reducing the rate of aging. These are all the things that are seen with red light therapy, but make sure that you get it from a trusted FDA registered source. Go to bondcharge.com forward slash model right now for 15 % off. And now back to the show. Next up in this very special 1000th episode of the model health show, we have a very, very special guest.

37:36Shawn Stevenson:And again, part of my healing was multifaceted. It was the nutrition, right nutrition, right movement, right sleep, right mindset, right mindset. but the linchpin of it all was relationships. And so we've got a special guest who's going to direct us to some value and some insights on a couple of these very powerful linchpins and our ultimate success. We got our next guest coming in here, world famous, best-selling author, award-winning poet. Have you heard of Deaf Poetry Jam? Yeah, he did that back in the day. But this guy is somebody who is transformative as a performer, lights up the stage, every single time I've seen him, but also he's just a great human being with a heart as big as the world.

38:25Shawn Stevenson:I wanna welcome the one and only NQ to episode 1000. What's up, brother? Hey, thanks so much for having me. Of course. Oh, wow, I love this. And did it, man. I love this. And did it. You already know, you already know. First of all, congratulations. Thank you, bro. Huge congratulations. It's an incredible accomplishment. a thousand episodes of inspiration information it's crazy passion conversations um and it's it's really a big deal man and i'm i'm honored to be here today thank you man i'm just letting it pour over me well how do you feel can i ask you of course yeah i mean i feel it's kind of surreal because i don't have a temperament typically of celebration i'm just kind of like what's next what's next how can i get better yeah and so thankfully and and my team and my family were just like this is a big deal yeah you know let's pump the brakes a little bit enjoy this process because i tend to be very regimented even when i come in for the show it's very structured but i flow within that structure and so for us to for for me to allow myself to just enjoy this process have a good time today and to talk to my friends is pretty dope well you deserve the celebration.

39:40You deserve the positive attention. I mean, you've definitely changed people's lives and you never really know how something you say in a conversation or obviously a podcast enters into people's psyches and plant seeds in their minds or their hearts that grow later. And I guarantee those seeds have grown into reality for people and made their lives better,

40:04Shawn Stevenson:man yeah thank you bro yeah i received that you know something really special uh happened the first time that i heard you speak and you know share your gift and you know you're one of those people that like something could just like click you know and what i saw and this might not be true for everybody that sees you but what i saw was something that i saw something that i felt was in me and you were articulating it and the way that you were articulating it i felt like it was me if that makes sense like it just felt very close to me and again maybe it's just our kind of shared background you know what i mean but it just felt so familiar and it felt like such a blessing and it was just like oh that's his superpower to express this and to heal and to help others to heal you know so there what i what i'm saying is when you share your gift it's much bigger than the performance thank you man you know and so i appreciate you for that and what i want to do first and foremost is, you know, having everybody here with us and also get episode 1000 for people to also still be able to walk away with something to add to their life and a new insight, a new tip, a new tool and your inroads into healing, you know, into transformation has been through creativity.

41:26It's been one of the main vehicles of that.

41:29Shawn Stevenson:And so can you talk a little bit about that first and foremost, why is creativity so valuable in helping us to heal and to grow as a person? Yeah. First of all, thank you for saying all that, man. I really genuinely appreciate it. I would answer that energy has to move through us. Otherwise it gets trapped. And even the word emotion is supposed to be energy in motion. And unfortunately, we don't let it move. And so that winds up becoming disease or actual disease. And we take it out on somebody sitting in traffic. We're angry at them for something that hasn't moved inside of us. And there are plenty of ways you can move the energy.

42:17You can do it through yoga, meditation, martial arts. You can take a hike. You can just sit in silence. You can be in nature. You can do breath work. You can spend time with a great friend, but you can also do it through creativity. And every single genre of creativity works. All you have to do is attach it to something that is moving and meaningful to you, which gives you the framework and then the permission to tell the truth. And I think to your earlier point, the reason that a lot of people will resonate with the things that I'm saying is because I'm starting from the inside out. I mean, when I write things, I don't necessarily consider the audience.

42:56I don't even really consider whether or not I'm ever going to share it. The writing is always for me first. And so that's the message that I try to share with anybody that's listening to me or participants that come to workshops. perhaps it's tell your truth. And if you tell your personal truth, you will also be telling a universal truth.

43:18Shawn Stevenson:Yeah. Yes. That part, that part. Can you, if you could, you know, you mentioned that there's many paths to the goal when it comes to this, you know, with you is spoken word. So what are some other means? So of course there's like painting, there's, you know, there's a freestyle sure they're singing yeah you know what are some ways that we can kind of use art to express ourselves well you said it right now i mean let's take singing for example other than karaoke or people like sitting alone in their house or being in the shower when you're an adult you don't really sing because we leave it to the people that are professionals and leaving it to the professionals is the problem.

44:03Because as adults, we just calcify, we just get caught in our own routines over and over again. And when you're not growing, you're dying. So you have to find ways to get out of your own comfort zone. And like I said, there's so many paths to that. There's so many paths to presence. There's so many paths to power. But you have to take one of them. And then you have to find kind of like the strength and the time to take the next one. uh so don't leave art to the professionals just attach it to something that actually charges you and sparks you and then you might be surprised by what happens on the other side that's so powerful

44:42Shawn Stevenson:i'm just thinking about how quickly something like music and singing can change your disposition yeah man yeah 100 yeah and then we leave it to the people that are on stage to do it for us I think that's why we idolize them a lot of times. It's because they have the courage to do what we don't have the courage to do. And we say, oh, they're better than us. We either put people higher than us or we put people lower than us, but we never actually look at people. That's a societal issue. So I would say you don't have to be a poet to make a poem. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for that, man. And also the same thing holds true with any form of art.

45:23Shawn Stevenson:But sometimes, of course, we can pick up a message from somewhere or somewheres that we're not good at a thing. If a thing makes you feel good, we have to abandon that false belief that you can't do a thing. When it comes to singing, for example, it's like you can't sing or you don't have a good voice or whatever the case might be. So what? Right, so what? This is your gift. This is your gift to yourself to be able to express yourself. The same thing holds true with writing. You know, I'm not a good writer. I've heard that so many times from people over the years, but you have the capacity to write.

45:58Shawn Stevenson:And if you enjoy it, give yourself permission to do it. And, you know, there's many different forms of this. This is something that you've advocated with your recent work as well. And being able to like, to journal certain things that have certain prompts is so healing to get stuff out of your head and out on the paper. A hundred percent. I would actually like build on that too, because journaling's an amazing tool for this, but I want to differentiate journaling from poetry because when you're journaling, you're using the same voice that you use in your own mind or that you use when you're talking to other people.

46:32And that's great because it's like stream of consciousness, get shit out of your system. You know, that's definitely a process for healing and for just self-awareness. But when you're making poetry, you're creating a piece of art. And when you create any piece of art, you actually separate the art from the story. So you have more space in between you and that narrative. And that space provides alchemy for you to then look and go, oh, this story is different than me. I exist beyond this story. And there's something really powerful that can happen from that space.

47:14Shawn Stevenson:Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Something that I've seen with you because I've known you for a couple of years now, maybe it was like five years ago when you came to my career during the vid times. Yes. I got to say, because I was telling Anne right now, I have such a vivid memory. She opened the door and I was like, hey, how you doing? And I had a mask on, you know? And she goes, you're good. Took it right off. And I felt immediately at home and our friendship just grew from there. Yeah, and I appreciate you for that, man. Like just coming through and sharing your gift, man, that superhero poem that you did still resonates with me.

47:50Shawn Stevenson:I can see it. I can see it. And I want to ask you about something because knowing you for a few years, I've seen this evolution and more investment for you personally in relationships. Yeah. You know, and you growing your family and the changes and the dynamics that have happened there and creating a person as well, which is like, I mean, have you ever made a person? You know, like that's just, that's crazy if you just think about that in and of itself. But also, you know, how I know you and how I get to stay in touch with you, even if we're not in touch, is through our relationships and the people that we know and having incredible experiences together.

48:31Shawn Stevenson:So can you speak to how much value it holds or how important it is for us to be intentional about cultivating our relationships for overall wellbeing? Yeah, I mean, it's a great question. One thing that I try to do that I would recommend to other people, even though I have no credentials here, is I try to check in and see how I feel after I leave a hang. You know, because it's an interesting thing. You know, usually we'll leave the thing and then an hour later we're feeling something and we attribute it to something else. But it's good to actually connect it to the thing that you just came from.

49:15And then you get to kind of understand when you leave somebody, do you feel bad? Do you feel neutral? Do you feel good? Do you feel great? Do you feel inspired? Every time I leave hanging with you, I feel inspired and I feel connected and I feel grounded. So we don't have to talk every day. I'm always in your corner. I always have your back. And I know that the same is true on the other side. And I try to like think about that on a regular basis. Sometimes, by the way, I'll have relationships that felt really great for a season. And they felt good for a season. And then they start to feel bad.

49:55And it's not like, oh, if I have a bad feeling after I hang with somebody, I cut them off. No, I'm a very loyal and committed person. But if there's consistency there, I pay attention to it and I might start to make some different decisions around it.

50:10Shawn Stevenson:Man, there's a thread going in this special event as well, just with Michael Beckwith. And we share the sentiment that, you know, because in our way of being in our world today, obviously humans, we have a natural attachment tendency and we want things to work out. obviously. And there's a sentiment that some people in your life for a reason, for a season, or for a lifetime, and being able to distinguish, being able to, and it's not that you're not going to hurt when things change in certain relationships, but the overall, the most important part, and also this speaks back to the importance of going inward and creativity and self-expression so you know yourself well enough to be able to tune in.

50:59Shawn Stevenson:Cause that's the thing, like when you said, I tune into how I'm feeling, that can be a foreign aspiration for some people. And this is why it's important to do the work so that you have kind of your antenna is, there's not a lot of static on the line so that you could pick up that data and being able to navigate that because today more than ever, it is, there's a lot of moving pieces. There's a lot of obstacles. There's a lot of flashy things. But being able to remember who you are, being able to remember your standards is super important for me, something that I really value, but that's not always easy, but it becomes more graceful when you really know yourself.

51:39Shawn Stevenson:Yeah. I couldn't agree more. And I think it's relationships. It's also chapters of your life. Like you even have to let go of old parts of yourself, which sucks i mean it really does and you know we were just chatting about that as well you see a lot of people who are not willing to let go of old parts of themselves and it just creates an enormous amount of suffering you see them holding on to either who they thought they were or who other people thought they were their successes even their failures and you have to just be willing to move with life. You have to change the world, but you have to be also changed by the world.

52:27Both are incredibly important. So it's external and it's internal. And it's interesting when you reimagine your truth or you move into this like new chapter and you recognize, wow the things that i wanted i actually don't want anymore can i be okay with that you know i mean a lot of people's ideas become their uh ideologies or or identities and then in order for them to change literally a part of them has to die and they're just not willing to do it but um you know we're all uh the caterpillar into the butterfly over and over again come on

53:09Shawn Stevenson:come on that part you know i i think that as a society we could do a better job of informing our children that this evolution this metamorphosis is a part of life and that's okay that's so true talk more about that yeah yeah i mean obviously again we are kind of programmed with this idea this aspiration you pick this thing and then you you know it's the american dream you after this thing to whatever end to make it happen and having the wherewithal especially when you're when we're young that it's okay to change how you feel about something it's okay to decide that you want something different it's okay to listen to your heart to listen to your gut yeah like we don't value those things in our because we're very head focused that's right you know and this is like a a thinking man's game, a thinking man's world, but look what that gets us, you know what I mean?

54:05Shawn Stevenson:And so it's just, and it's not to negate the value of that, but it's giving our kids the awareness that, you know, your gut and your heart are also giving you valuable feedback. Now we got the science, we got the science to affirm that these are very real phenomenons. And even our ancestors, you know, there's ancient scripture on this alignment of the head, the heart and the gut, you know? and um so yeah i mean but by the way the chat is popping off right now what's up chat and somebody mentioned

54:41Shawn Stevenson:they mentioned the vampires they mentioned the vampires that suck the energy out of you oh yeah that'll happen talk a little bit about about those vampires because they they're out here it's twilight sometimes and they you know that's all right but you know talk about the energy vampires how do you how do you deal with that you know sometimes through uh annoyance sometimes through anger sometimes through compassion i'm not always great at dealing with people that are trying to feed off of my life force energy um but i try to once again just like be present so that i know what's happening because if you don't know what's happening then you're not going to have the ability to navigate the situation if you know what's happening you can kind of like acknowledge your feelings but then hopefully still make the best choices for you and the situation the environment the people around you a lot of times they're doing it unconsciously right most people i think are just doing the absolute best that they can yeah And they're just like weighed down by their past or their desires or their own blind spots.

55:52So the earlier conversation, I mean, the older that you get, the more commitments you have and the more responsibilities you have and the more that you fully realize whatever time you're giving to one thing is not going to another thing that you care about. and so like i mean i remember thinking oh when we have a kid i'm just gonna be so split in my life everywhere i go i'm gonna be halfway there you know and and that's actually not what happened i i feel more anchored to wherever i am because i know what i'm sacrificing so it's like being here with you i want to be fully with you i want to fully be a value to whoever's listening i want to fully connect with everyone around me and myself and God, if I can.

56:43Because otherwise, I'm actually doing a disservice to my son and my wife. And I think that when it goes back to that vampire statement, at a certain point, you just go, I don't have time for that. I don't have energy for that. I don't know how long I'm going to be here. I had four people pass last year that were close to me, including the first rap partner that I had. Somebody that I wrote the Disney songs with, Johnny Vela, and then Tony Medrano, you know, freestyling in the alley, drinking 40s. I mean, you know, that was family to me when I was 15 years old. I still love him. You know, he passed, man.

57:29It was a therapist that I was working with that passed, Zoya. and Johnny, by the way, was walking with his girlfriend. He's in his 40s. He was in really good shape. Seemingly, you know, he had a heart attack out of nowhere. We don't know how long we have, you know? So I just want to make sure I'm giving it to things that I want to be giving it to. And I'm as grateful as I can be for the moments that we get to have together.

57:58Shawn Stevenson:Well, man, this has been amazing so far. And just talking about impact, it's your superpower, man. And we've got something very special for everybody. And, you know, this is also very special for me because I know that you don't do this for just anybody, for any situation. And you're going to bless us with your gift. And so this is a very special exclusive alert in queue here at the Model Health Show Studio. performance, sit back, relax, and enjoy. I used to prepare for the worst. Now I prepare for the best. I used to prepare to be cursed. Now I prepare to be blessed. I used to prepare to hear no.

58:47Now I prepare to hear yes. I used to prepare for disasters. Now I prepare for success. I never believed in happy endings. Where the good guy got the girl and the hero wound up winning. I would watch a movie and think all these people are pretending for the sake of storytelling in an industry that thrives on manipulating feelings, bending truth or weaving lies for the sake of story selling. Compartmentalizing lives into perfect little endings when we all know perfect little endings are beginnings Plus I knew where they were heading with the characters and settings But I often wondered what would happen right after the wedding Or like after someone hits the big shot or wins the big race or big case Or stands up to the bully punching him right in his big face What happens then?

59:45Because 10 times out of 10, they got to wake up and be human once again. That's why I'd rather leave a theater unresolved. Show me too complex to solve. Show me how the world revolves and evolves. Show me lonely on the edge when there's no one left to call. Show me real above it all until the credits start to roll. But now I'm 47 I just want my happy ending Pessimism is for purists Or for circular offending Plus I don't want to wait Until the moment I'm transcending To separate my spirit From the image it's defending Plot twist I'm too old to reinvent the wheel My second act was satire so I'll skip the big reveal.

1:00:42They say success is measured by my willingness to fail. That's why every day I have to fight for my fairy tale. I have to scratch tooth and nail to reach the light that no one sees. I have to build a kingdom in my mind, then give away the keys. I have to feel into reality beyond what I believe and be grateful for my goals before they've even been received. Hell, it hurts to be in heaven.

1:01:16We deserve our happy endings, but I'm not sure we would notice if we're focused on ascending. Me, I have a son. So suddenly the boundaries have been blending. The blessings are astounding, but the pace is unrelenting. I have no time or space, and space and time for wasting time or space, yet I still find both tempting. I fantasize that somewhere there's a fence that needs my mending or a garden worth attending. I've been falling off on purpose like a forest floor of neon leaves, but underneath the surface I've been having dreams of having dreams. I'm having hopes of having hopes. I'm having prayers of having prayers.

1:01:59You'd swear I'm in the same place, but I've been climbing spiral stairs.

1:02:10Unconsciousness is fertile ground for planting seeds. But the greatest art I'll ever make can barely reach my knees. When he gets old enough, I'll drop him in a field and watch him leave. When it gets cold enough, he'll build a fire off what I've achieved. Eventually, he'll wave goodbye to me like wind against the trees. but he'll have made a better sequel than his father could conceive. I'd rather turn our backs as equals than be spiritually deceived. What's the point of people pleasing when the people can't be pleased?

1:02:50I never believed in happy endings, so I won't wait around till then. I have my happy ending because I'm happy that it's not the end. I used to prepare for the worst. Now I prepare for the best. I used to prepare to be cursed. Now I prepare to be blessed. I used to prepare to hear no. Now I prepare to hear yes. I used to prepare for disasters. Now I prepare for success.

1:03:26Shawn Stevenson:Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Everybody, we got snaps What's going on? Oh my God. Yes, bro. Thank you so much. I'm happy that it's not ending. Yes, sir. My man. Thank you so much, man. My pleasure. My cheeks hurt. I'm over there just like, oh, this is so amazing. Thank you, bro. We're happy that this is not ending. We've got the one and only NQ here with us for the celebration. Where can people follow you, get more information, check out your fire album? Thank you, man. Yeah. So just go to in-q.com. NQ is short for in question. So it's in-q.com. And they have the album on there. They have a book called Inquire Within.

1:04:06They have a journal called The Neverending Now Poetry Journal. And then also we're doing a retreat. It's like a poetry workshop slash adventure retreat in Ireland in the end of August. And we just sold out the first one. And we have a couple of rooms left for the second one. And it's going to be a fantastic time. I've done them in the past in Bali, in Morocco, in Mexico, in Hawaii. but I've never been to Ireland. I asked my wife, I was like, is there anywhere you would want to go? And she said, yeah, for some reason, I want to go to Ireland. And I said, okay, that's where we're going to do the next retreat.

1:04:40So now Arthur will get to run around the rainforest for a couple of weeks. And I would love for people to join me. And then just Instagram, NQ Life, I NQ Life without the dash.

1:04:52Shawn Stevenson:My bro, I appreciate you so much. Thank you for sharing that. The one and only NQ, everybody. Thank you, everybody. We're celebrating episode 1000 of the Model Health Show. And I wanted to invite on some of the most frequent, most impactful and most in demand guests of the Model Health Show. And we already designated, we're going to call it the Mount Crushmore of the Model Health Show. And I wanted to bring on somebody. And this is an individual who, even if we are not constantly talking to each other, I talk about you a lot. I encourage people to follow him to check out his work because he is walking the talk he is demonstrating true longevity when I talk about him I talk about the energy that this individual has that we had to put us a metaphoric seat belt on this chair to keep him strapped in because he's bouncing around so full of energy and just to be an inspiration for me personally he's somebody that is a mentor of mine when I'm thinking about longevity and when I'm thinking about energy and when I'm thinking about showing up.

1:06:02Shawn Stevenson:And so our next special guest is the one and only Dr. Johnny Bowden. Come on in here. Come on in here. I love you. Thank you for coming. I love you more. Here you go. Have a seat. Have a seat. Thank you for joining us. Listening to that intro. I'm looking around. Who is he talking about? I'm talking about you, man. That's very kind, man. Of course. Of course. So good to be here. congratulations yeah thank you 1 000 thank you can you pull that look closer to you because you're probably gonna hit it that's the thing too when johnny's here i'm a new yorker we talk with our hands we move things around we bang the microphone and low-key what people don't know about you and i'm glad that i got a gift and i think it's gonna match your vibe by the way for you after we're done okay they don't know how swaggy you are okay they don't know that i get it from you i get new shoes every time i come i go what is he wearing i'm getting them see it's like you know you you have you have a timeless fashion sense where does that come from i that's very sweet of you to say i really appreciate that where does that come from i have your dna it must be in my dna i really don't know but thank you of course saying that of course well just to have you here again is a blessing there are a select few people that i absolutely want to have on the show.

1:07:19Shawn Stevenson:And I wanted to bring on somebody for this 1 ,000th episode. 1 ,000th episode. I can't believe that. 1 ,000. You haven't been in this studio for 1 ,000, have you? Because you started in your house. Four years. We started iHeartRadio back in St. Louis. And then we went to a place called Shock City. And then we went to Santa Monica once we came here. But I did one of my first episodes in your house. That's when the world was shut down. Yeah. And so that was the catalyst. Like, we got to get the studio open. right that's trying to record at home we live very close i know right trying to record at home with kids with the leaf blowers i've got an idea for everybody if anybody's out there as an inventor and they want to create something to be a multi-millionaire potentially billionaire get rid of the weed blowers the make it make unpleasant sounds well can i tell you something that is the number one source of pollution in la is is those machines really yeah people who don't if you don't know that, but we all have gardeners and they come and they blow with it.

1:08:19Shawn Stevenson:That is the number one source of pollution. Who knew? Of course you knew. Of course you knew. Very bad for you. One of the things that I love about you, you're one of the people that sends me stuff. You send me research. Hey, did you see this? And, you know, a big part of the mission for today and why I wanted to have you here was to provide people with some inspiration around their nutrition. and you know today obviously we have a very very strong pull happening with our food environment oh yeah ultra processed foods oh yeah but there's also an emerging uh medium and and and community around eating real foods and so for you from your experience how important it is how important is it for us to really be able to lock in on our nutrition right now i think it's foundational I think it's impossible to overstate how important it is.

1:09:17Shawn Stevenson:And I don't think it's as important as the stuff we're probably going to talk about. I think that as important as it is, and you know, I've spent a lot of time talking about cholesterol and heart disease and lab tests. I think those things are really important. They can't be denied. They can't be ignored. They need to be handled. But they pale. in terms of predicting longevity, predicting happiness, and predicting health, they are absolutely crushed by community, social relationships, and family. Yes. Yes. That's the lesson I've learned in 35 years of doing this. That every great nutritionist that I grew up with and came up with doesn't look at food diaries anymore.

1:10:03Shawn Stevenson:We just don't. because we know that the glass ceiling that we all carry around in our head, the thing that keeps us from putting this information into use, is way more important than getting. We don't need more information. There's a thing in high fidelity, they talk about signal-to-noise ratio. We've got a lot of noise and very little signal. So we all have tons of information. Where the action is, is how do you become the person who can use that information and actually take action? because we get we get stuck at the action part not at the knowledge part i think i've said this on the show there is not a person in the world who ever stopped smoking like wait i didn't know they caused lung cancer wait let me throw my marlboros out no it doesn't work that way right same with ultra processed food they're killing me they're jamming my arteries they're giving me diabetes and and pre-diabetes and everything else i'll stop just stop like that they don't And that's where the action is.

1:11:01Shawn Stevenson:Yes. It's not just what you're eating, it's who you're eating with. That's right. And how you're eating. And how you're eating. And how you're eating. Yeah. Thank you for illuminating this. Before we switch gears and talk more about this, because you know better than most that this is really where to focus. Because guess what? The people that you're eating with, the character, the habits of those people are greatly going to determine what you're eating. When you and I went out to eat together, there's a certain quality. There's a certain standard. It's just automatic once we're around each other.

1:11:31Shawn Stevenson:And we ate at a burger place. I mean, we ate at a place. It's not like it was a magical food with everything was organic. It was good stuff. But there's nothing. Best example, my wife and I spend a lot of time in French-speaking countries. Let's put it that way. And we go to Paris frequently. For years, we were taught as nutritionists about the French paradox. And what is the French paradox? Well, they eat all the saturated fat. They eat all this stuff. They don't have any heart disease. Yeah, go there and you'll see why. You don't see anybody walking on the street eating. You do not. You see some Americans with big Starbucks cups.

1:12:09Shawn Stevenson:Generally, you don't. People sit down. Their whole culture is based around the cafe, where people sit, you won't get a check. You can't get a check when you're in a French restaurant. They expect you to sit there three hours because the talking is the purpose. And people sit in cafes and they talk and they chat and they have so many more social connections than we do. And you can just feel it in the atmosphere. They talk softer. You don't hear people screaming. And, you know, these entitled people, well, I didn't get my Starbucks with the right amount of cream. They don't, that doesn't happen in Paris.

1:12:45Shawn Stevenson:and that's one of the reasons they don't have heart disease like we do. It isn't just the food. Right, yeah. It's the way they eat, the manner they eat, slowness that they eat with. You know, all these things count. Not just what's on your plate. It's the whole system, you know. Please hear this, everybody. This is the truth. This is, again, we could search for decades, and you and I know a lot about nutrition. These are the foundational principles. that really make it all work. And if you could, for everybody here, and I've got you here, you're the guy when it comes to nutrition. Can you give us three important principles when it comes to choosing which foods we're eating?

1:13:28Shawn Stevenson:I can give you one. And everything else follows from that. I've said it before, eat real food. But before you dismiss that and say, oh yeah, we won't. No, it's not as easy as it sounds. It's simple, but it's not necessarily easy. and people don't even know what real food is. They go, well, are kale chips real food? No, kale's real food and kale chips are processed from kale. They may not be as bad as potato chips, but the real food is food. I used to say the Johnny Bowden four food groups, food you could hunt, fish, gather, or pluck. If you could have, in another time, hunted for it, even if it's showing up at the supermarket, but if it could have been hunted, it could have been fished for, it could have been plucked off a tree or gathered off the ground, it's probably good for you.

1:14:15Shawn Stevenson:And if you can only do that, that trumps macros, it trumps calories, it trumps all the other things that we look at. Is it real? Come on, Johnny. Yeah. Johnny, be good. I mean, but is that not true? I mean, come on. I mean, this is, if we can just follow that principle, we're going to transform the health of our culture. Not even in doubt. And it doesn't mean that we don't need more protein, because we do more than we were ever told in the past. That's a big new piece of information, certainly in the last decade, probably the last five years, that we realize how low the protein requirements are, and especially in a GLP-1 world.

1:14:57Shawn Stevenson:But that's a separate subject. So it's not that we don't care about the macros, it doesn't. But the quality of the food, the fact that it's actually real, that it would spoil if you left it outdoors, that your great, great, great, great grandmother would know that it's actually food. Because in the Blue Zones, they actually took some supermarket food to these elders, like, you know, juice boxes. And they literally, you know what they did? What is this? So if they knew. Mamma Mia. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's, that's the, to me, that's the number one piece of nutrition advice that I've ever gotten and that I've ever given.

1:15:31Eat real food. And if you're not sure if it's real, make air on the side of throwing it out.

1:15:38Shawn Stevenson:It's probably not. If you have to wonder. Come on. Nobody wonders about a steak or broccoli. Simple. Johnny, why, and I'm going to ask you this because usually when I'm asking questions, I have my community in mind. Okay. I want to ask you this for myself. Sure. Why did you say yes to being here with me today? Oh, are you kidding? Number one, I adore you. I respect you. I love what you're doing. and we have the best time when I come in. Why would I not? It's the question. Not why would I say yes, but why would I ever say no? Yeah, I appreciate that so much, man. It's 100 % true. Yeah, I feel it, man.

1:16:21Shawn Stevenson:I feel it. Thank you so much, Johnny. You don't know how much you mean to me and how much I speak about you. Again, you don't know how much I speak about you. I mean, I talk about you and it's like, you know, this guy's the real deal. Thank you, Johnny. That means everything. Again, you've been, since I was in diapers, you know what I'm saying? I'm not me, I'm in real talk. I knew that was coming. I knew that was coming. I grew up listening to you. It's like a double-edged sword. You grew up listening to me and you're 35. On vinyl. I put on the vinyl. Listen to Dr. Johnny Bowden. Okay. So, you know, again, real talk, you know, you just, you've been here with your life experience and figuring things out and putting together a unique formula for yourself, but you found principles that tend to work for everybody.

1:17:08Shawn Stevenson:And you are such a blessing. You've got so many incredible books as well. Can you share with everybody really quickly, where can people connect with you, find your books, all that good stuff? Well, I'm on Instagram. I make about five videos a week. I don't really follow the, I'm now I'm beginning to liberate myself from the formula that it has to be 20 seconds. I decided my audience is smarter than that. And I'm not going I don't want to get the TikTok people with the seven second attention. I'm just not. So I make videos that run a minute and a half to two minutes an hour. You're the French of this.

1:17:40Shawn Stevenson:Huh? You're the French version of it. Sit down. Listen, learn something. So what's your handle on IG? It's at Johnny Bowden. Okay. J-O-N-N-Y, no H in Johnny. And then I have a website and I have private coaching practice and do a lot of consulting and speaking and all the things I love to do, man. And play tennis every day with great people. Yeah. Yeah. I just talked about you on stage in Chicago two weeks ago. Yes, I did. When I was talking about the importance of finding your tennis group. That is great. That's a great way to put it. Find your tennis group. Because I've been asked on podcasts all the time, you know, I'm going to be the big 8-0 this year.

1:18:22Shawn Stevenson:And they go, I'm eight years old and you got this energy and you do all this stuff. I said, the secret is my tennis group. Find your tennis group. We've got 20 people, 30 people. We have two big group texts. I'm not tight friends with every one of them, but we go out to dinner. We see each other. There are a lot of performers in our group. We go see their concerts. We see their things. We have lunch together. We do all kinds of stuff together, and we talk every day. And that plus the exercise of tennis, the best thing you could possibly do. Amazing. I was speaking about you in that context of real longevity.

1:18:56Shawn Stevenson:This is one of those ingredients. Find your tennis group. you know having that community is so important and so again i appreciate you so much johnny we're coming up on the close of our time all right and again what a wonderful way to spend an afternoon man come on man i'm totally serious are you kidding me yeah i i appreciate totally serious yeah all right and i got to see ann again i know and we got a gift for you as well so don't leave without that but again instagram handle one more time johnny boden at johnny boden y b-o-w-d-e-n And the website. J-O-N-N-Y-B-O-W-D-E and johnnybowden.com. That's right.

1:19:30Shawn Stevenson:I'm on Facebook as Dr. Johnny Bowden. Like that. Johnny, be good. All right, buddy. The one and only. I appreciate you so much. Thank you. The one and only Dr. Johnny Bowden, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. All right. This special episode 1000 of the Model Health Show is brought to you by the power of a real vitamin C. Most people have no idea that the majority of vitamin C supplements out there on the grocery store shelves, the checkout aisle online are made from synthetic, genetically modified cornstarch and corn syrup. Very low quality sources of vitamin C. Now, if it's structurally vitamin C in some form or fashion, isn't it going to be all right, Sean?

1:20:18Shawn Stevenson:The answer is a no and a punch in the kidneys. A 2013 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association of Internal Medicine found that participants taking synthetic vitamin C supplements had twice the risk of developing kidney stones. While another study from researchers at USC found that a daily dose of synthetic vitamin C thickened the walls of participants' arteries two and a half times faster than those not taking the synthetic supplement. This is absolutely insane because this is one of the most popular supplements in the world. It's not the fact that vitamin C is the problem.

1:21:00Shawn Stevenson:Vitamin C is essential. Vitamin C is responsible for, yes, helping to regulate the performance of our immune system, but also it's critical for the health of our skin, for our cognitive function, for our cardiovascular performance, for our sleep quality. Vitamin C plays a role in that as well. There's so many different things that we need vitamin C for, but it's those crappy synthetic versions of vitamin C that are the problem. Yes, we want to get vitamin C from vitamin C rich foods. And if we're going to supplement, we need to do it right with a superfood, whole food concentrate of some of the most vitamin C dense foods ever discovered.

1:21:40Shawn Stevenson:And that's what I utilize on a regular basis with the essential C complex from Paleo Valley. Go to paleovalley.com forward slash model right now, and you're going to receive 15 % off their incredible essential C complex. This complex has three powerhouse vitamin C dense superfoods, camu camu berry, amla berry, and acerola cherry. Did these superfoods stand up to the test of being a real vitamin C superfood powerhouse? Well, a randomized placebo-controlled study published in the Journal of Cardiology had people doing a very oxidating activity, smoking. They had them to consume either a superfood concentrate of camu camu berry over the course of the one-week study, or utilize a run-of-the-mill synthetic vitamin C supplement.

1:22:33Shawn Stevenson:Here's what happened over the course of the one-week study. The participants who utilized the camu camu berry concentrate had significantly lowered oxidative stress and lowered inflammatory biomarkers. It worked. And what's more is that there were no changes in those who are utilizing the ordinary run-of-the-mill synthetic vitamin C supplements. So again, to supercharge your body, your immune system, your health, this is one of the things that I do on a regular basis, especially during times of stress. I look to the Essential C Complex from Paleo Valley. Again, go to paleovalley.com forward slash model.

1:23:13Shawn Stevenson:That's P-A-L-E-O-V-A-L-L-E-Y.com forward slash model. 15 % off their Essential C Complex and store wide just for you. Head over there, check them out, take advantage. and now back to the show. This show would not be possible without our amazing team and my amazing partner in all of this, my best friend, the love of my life, Ann Stevenson. We've got a very, very exceptional time. You're one of the most in-demand guests of the Model Hell Show. People even know, like our more recent, you know, followers, listeners to the show, they don't know about the early days. No, they don't. You know? And those that do, they're like, when is Anne coming back?

1:24:00Shawn Stevenson:They're checking their watches. They're waking up. Like, when is Anne coming back? So thank you for gracing us with your presence. I truly do appreciate you, baby. Well, I appreciate you suggesting this. And I don't feel as nervous or anything. I just feel really good. I think all the love today, too. Just it's like, can I say hell yes? Yeah. Okay.

1:24:27this is like hell yes that you know um showing up and you know showing up for them so i'm here yeah thank you baby and also i talk about you every single day when we're in the studio

1:24:40Shawn Stevenson:yeah anybody comes in and they're celebrating the ambiance and the vibe here in the studio i'm always like this is this is ann's doing and made all this happen and even the balloons and vibe here which i this is this makes me so happy it makes me feel more of a celebration vibe right but you you know when you messaged me yesterday or you called me like asking about the balloons i'm like baby i don't know whatever like you you know but it's these type of things where you see you see my blind spots you see the things that uh that i might miss you also are like you are the greatest inspiration that I've ever had in my life to continue to be better because you are so good, you know?

1:25:23And I want to ask you, what has it been like

1:25:31Shawn Stevenson:for those that, you know, that have been a part of this community for a long time, you know, you know me better than anybody. So what is it like working with me and, and, in the way that I go about doing this show, what have you seen as far as the preparation and what we put into creating this? I would say, number one, it's very intense. You know, I think that you're so meticulous. I love what Michael Beckwith said. It's just excellence. I think since day one, you know, first episode, like you've been taking this so serious and from spending hours upon hours like every episode you know and honestly makes me want to do more on being around you like it makes you want to do more all the time and and I fight I fight you sometimes because I'm like when are we having fun I want to have fun and you're like no we need to do this we need to go to sleep at this time we gotta I'm like okay you know I'm recording on Friday and the days he's recording just whatever it is unless if the house is not burning down like just gotta live alone and and it's it's crazy how you transform into this and I was listening to the team the other day like into this different person like not different it's like you just turn the switch on and all these amazing things and information I'm I've been with you for soul I'm still fascinated like how do you know all these things like and and so I it's it's very inspiring for sure and um challenging I think people always want to have a partner who is who's gonna challenge you who's gonna up level but do you really want to do the work you know I'm saying like some some some people I don't know if you you have to dig deep in there and be like okay, I could do this.

1:27:36And, and, you know, you're not gonna, you're not going to, you're gonna push me even even like, if I don't want to push myself, like, are you gonna make sure that I'm okay? So long story short, it's intense, amazing, and very inspired. I'm very proud of you for just showing up every week, even when none of us really want to do it, including myself um you just your level of excellence is unmatched thank you baby you know

1:28:08Shawn Stevenson:that means more to me than anything like thank you for seeing me yeah i'm just so grateful and i literally tell you this like i'm grateful i even get to talk to you you know what i'm saying you're just so awesome you're so fun you're so insightful you're also you could you're a baddie you're a baddie no doubt but also of course you could be a bowl of trouble and you know that um everybody needs spice in their life a little bit like a little spice now that's what she said you know but it's you know you keep me you keep me from getting complacent and you know you give me all of the the fuel to know number one that i matter but also that i need to be better you know because we're growing together yeah you know and back in those early days of not having a real template of what a marriage looks like and us figuring it out yeah a big part of that like we talked about we we united on growth but we were growing like in a parallel way and it was creating this friction you know and once we decided first of all we learned about each other learned like actually took bought some cds because this is the cd days to learn about oh and i shared this at the conference recently that it hit me like a ton of bricks something might be so obvious for everybody, I realize that you think differently than me.

1:29:26Shawn Stevenson:You think differently than me. And it's not right or wrong, but a lot of us walk around here thinking that people think the same way that they do. Oh, it's just like this. It's just like that. Oh, you're just forgetting. Let me remind you. But it's just, this is the value of having a partner and a relationship and our friends and our family and our community, because there's so many different perspectives and we can all see things differently. And how cool is that? Versus we are trying to convert the world into thinking like we do. And then we just have AI. So, you know, thank you, baby. Thank you for, for being who you are.

1:30:02And, um, again, we're here to do a Q and a portion right now.

1:30:08Shawn Stevenson:So at Beth star dust within says, how do you start your morning spiritually? That's a great question. Yeah. It's so interesting. We talk with Michael Beckwith about this and how my routine changed when the trouble season hit, you know, because I was so locked in. You've been with me this whole time. I was meditating every day for years. You know, I wake up in the morning to this day and I always do this first. I drink water. I drink about 25 to 30 ounces of water. And recently for the past maybe a year since Katie Bowman, who special shout out to Katie Bowman, one of the Mount Crushmore guests of the model health show.

1:30:52Shawn Stevenson:And she was, of course, we were in talks about getting her here today because she's a cloud hopper. She's a world traveler, but also she's very grounded in her home as well. And she brought me as a gift when she came into the studio most recently, this incredible salt. And so people are, I think, are aware salt can be these different salt brands, the microplastics and contaminants, but it was some exquisite, beautiful salt she brought me. So I put a little bit of that in my water, a little lemon. So that's how I start my day every day with my inner bath. You know, you wake up, you're dehydrated.

1:31:27Shawn Stevenson:It's one of the longest times we go without hydration. It's going to help to eliminate, flush out a lot of metabolic waste products, also get a little boost for our metabolic rate as well. And so that's number one. Number two, and my wife knows this, I go and do some reading and I'm usually doing a little stretch, like a, like a hip flexor stretch while I read. Why are you shaking your head? It's because the amount of books on by our couch, it's wild. I don't think you guys understand. Like he reads every book, like the guests, I think sometimes some of the model health show guests don't know that they don't expect him to have read the books, but he reads every single one.

1:32:08And then they are usually, I just gave up. I just gave up with them being on there.

1:32:14Shawn Stevenson:So after I do some reading, so I'll probably read at least like 15 to 20 minutes. And then normally I'd go into my meditation after that. But I took some time off. It was very here or there with my meditation for those two rough and tumble years of close family members passing transitioning with kids and things like that and just all manner of craziness was going on and um I kind of my anchor you know and um but gratefully because of all the work I put in I was still living it you know but it definitely now even today I took that time you know before everybody got up and I'm back into my practice It's so, it's so wonderful.

1:33:01Shawn Stevenson:So wonderful. And then I'll go for a quick walk outside, get some real sunlight. And then I'll start the day. Usually come in from there and make coffee for us, help with my son's breakfast. And that's what I do pretty much every day. I love it. And honestly, it just goes back to what I said earlier. I think all of those years of having such a robust, you know, morning routine, even in the trenches, in the trenches season, like you were still able to just show up as your best version, even when I didn't want to. Like you were holding us all together, you know. So shout out to you. So someone's just a simple question, actually, is how old were you when you got married?

1:33:50Shawn Stevenson:oh damn uh i just no this was so this is 2007 so it was right before my 27th birthday and so you were 25 i was 27 right yeah that's crazy we don't know that yeah but i know it's 2007 right right you know so yeah i'm pretty sure it was before my 20s wait okay so were you 25 no no no no no I don't know what You said easy question We done messed this whole thing up I know we've been together For 22 years And we've been married for 18 I know that but to think about how old we were Because the date it was like a couple weeks before my birthday I think I just know I was 22 You were 24 when we met So the math is in there It is a difficult question Because it's like now we need to do math I guess we're just going to go to the next one since it's about relationship um what is the most valuable quality you think you bring to the table in the relationship i think that your drive your um no no no what what do you oh what do i bring oh what i bring to the table i'm i'm fine i am come on come on come on that's first and foremost okay no i'm kidding uh what i bring to the table i bring um i bring it i bring a sense of i guess do i bring peace

1:35:26Shawn Stevenson:if you gotta ask if you bring peace you're not bringing peace until you want to bring peace okay okay okay okay uh i don't know what do i bring i mean i guess creativity what do you bring for me to you i mean i i think i i'm your safe space and i you know that you can be completely 100 with me like and i'm i i i feel like i see you i saw you before i knew we wouldn't be together and I think because I brought that to the table you were able to bring it you know I'm saying you were able to gravitate to towards that and you were attracted to that knowing like okay she sees this in me when I didn't even see this within myself and and and somehow along the way encouraged it and became a part of it but I didn't know that at the time but i just i think that's the main thing it's just like i brought i saw you i i saw the real you and which now the world gets to see and makes me really really happy that you know you recognize and you stepped into your greatness i'm i feel like i'm melting over here thank you baby i did have a little tear um for for me what i think i bring to this relationship i think um i mean just what comes to me is that I'm just very dedicated you know I'm very dedicated to you to our family to our relationship you know I'm just very loyal to that and you mentioned drive like I'm very driven to like make sure that we're connected and that we are communicating and that we're loving each other and that we're figuring things out together and that you know I'm the accountability in this relationship and you are too in a different way but I'm the accountability on those aspirations of like you this is what you say you want this is what we want to do this is what we want to accomplish you know and just make it sure because that's the thing like you do that like this experience for everybody today would not have happened without you and your accountability like real talk you know and so the even the idea of today oh my gosh came from you and your and your yappy hour voice texting thread.

1:37:57Shawn Stevenson:You know what I mean? But, you know, I think that that's what I bring to the table. I'm just very, I'm very dedicated. I have that quality. You just don't, you just don't settle and you, your boundaries are so strong, like, you know, and you just, you, you're not going to settle at all ever. So I liked, I love that about you. And somebody asked, are you writing a book on movement? Move smarter? come on now so i mean we're here with family right now so i could i could spill the tea a little bit you know i have several books that are outlined that i've been just working out putting files together ideas you know um over the past couple of years but you know we i was perpetually writing books for a minute there you know and especially like eat smarter took a huge undertaking.

1:38:45Shawn Stevenson:And that book, and I want to stress this again, because it's crazy. I don't really get it either sometimes. But when it came out, it was the number one new release book in the United States. It was the number one new release book in the United States. A book on food, a book on health and nutrition. And this was during when the world was in complete chaos. You know, this was the last week of 2020, 2021, the first week. And to see something that just was like a lightning rod, you know, just shooting up to the top of the charts. And it was on the list there with like Matthew McConaughey and, you know, Michelle Obama and like all these, you know, I think it was a Harry Potter book on the list too, but just to see that people really, this is something that we want.

1:39:34Shawn Stevenson:We want to feel good. We want to be empowered and educated about what we're putting into our bodies and you know so but it was a big undertaking and you were over it let's just be a thousand because of what it takes behind the scenes yeah with that I think what it is is and if there are any like uh top top authors watching or listening you know what it takes to like not only write a book a good book but having a good marketing plan behind it, it takes a lot. It just will consume your entire life. And not in a good way sometimes because it's not healthy. But, you know, again, excellence. Like, you know, if you're going to do it, you want to do it right.

1:40:23So yeah.

1:40:23Shawn Stevenson:Consuming your life, Galactus style, you know, Galactus pulling up. But now it's like took a life of its own. So yeah, I love it. That part. So really quickly, but as far as the books that are outlined, there is an exercise book that I've been working on for quite some time you know the outline is there my my literary agent agents have been on me for years you know but we were just like during our turbulent season which I was just like going to take time off little did I know the the the tornado of events you know of changes and dynamics with you know our with our with our father's passing and just all the other life stuff that happened at one time, it just kind of fit in.

1:41:07Shawn Stevenson:That being said, I've shared this before and I'm going to share this here, maybe for the first time. If it was left up to me and my own devices, I would be in my office researching and writing a book pretty much every day. Come do the Model Hell Show, of course, and chop it up with my friends. But I would be researching and writing. I love it so much. And I'm grateful, especially in this age, obviously AI is out here heavy and AI, no disrespect. I know you're listening right now. Okay. No disrespect. But to have somebody, to have that within you that I love the experience of writing and to articulate ideas.

1:41:44Shawn Stevenson:I just, I love to do that. And a lot of, a lot of writers, a lot of authors are bestselling books. They're not, they don't like to write or they, you know, they feel like they can't as well. And so they don't write their books. You know, they have ghostwriters i love to do it which i'm always fascinated when you say that or i see i'm so fascinated like i don't you know i mean either you got it or you don't you know i love that okay yes so someone um on instagram i'm hope i'm sorry if i mess up the names and i'm sorry if i didn't mention the names earlier my bad you know i'm new to this uh so sarah and matcha a band matcha asked this on ig saying um what's one thing you taught each other health related that changed your lives forever oh this is so good you want to go first um i think being together over two decades it's always consistent there's always going to be something especially like i said you know he's so you're so driven and like you're always on to the next and you have new gadgets of working out outside and all kinds of cool stuff but I would say health wise is um like lately what I mean it's the sled so that that was a game changer I have a love hate relationship with it And I honestly would not do it if you were not there, but I did it the one time, but I've grown to love it.

1:43:20And it's challenged me. And just working out with you, period, you know, this like no one else pushes me as hard as you do. I don't push myself as hard and like, and I do love that. So that to me, I know I'm, I'm gonna, I'm like better off every time when I, you know, know if I stay consistent we're gonna go to the gym start next week right so you just said I push

1:43:47Shawn Stevenson:you hard but you want me to right so yeah there is consent I guess I don't know but anyway so with that being said it's again it's an evolution of my own thinking and understanding our temperaments in these in these conditions because it's not just easy I can't just come in and just be like Like, you know, having you do everything like that, you know, it's finding the rhythm with things and the personality and knowing where I can push and how I can push. And so, yeah. And another one, too, is just like you made me love to lift heavy weights. Like that was never a thing for me. And that was a game changer for sure.

1:44:31Shawn Stevenson:I love that, baby. Well, for you, I mean, you changed my whole life multiple ways when it comes to health, because I was eating clean when I met you, but I wasn't eating a lot of diversity. I never eaten a salad in my life. Literally, this is not a joke. For those that don't know, I didn't eat a salad until I was 25. And this is, again, just because of the conditions that I come from. I ate like one vegetable, one and a half, maybe. I ate broccoli, thanks to my grandma, and then like canned green beans. And that's the end of the story. so but when i met you and also your mom and just the food preparation the love that you put into it and the kenyan food i'd never eaten beans i remember like i like you know the beans and franks kind of thing but i wouldn't even mess with that i'd dig out the frank y 'all like he was so scared of eating african food like he was bro coming to america no that's uh that's my reference point i'm sorry i was ignorant i don't know what you thought i thought we was gonna have some crazy stuff like i'm not even gonna say but i had some stereotypes that were just messed up but the you know the the incredible food the the dango mcele skumawiki chapati chapati though chapati oh my god but just the the the flavor experiences and also the trust as well just helped me to open up my power now i eat everything like i very very like open and um obviously you know it changed my life and this was long before any you know aspirations you know model health show and all that kind of stuff it just opened up my entire world of food and also meditation you know this was a part of your background yeah growing up and if it wasn't for you and your kind nudge and also your mom facilitating, I wouldn't be who I am, period, point blank.

1:46:23Shawn Stevenson:I was not aware that I was aware. I was just living life. I was living life through this, you know, kind of blind observer. You know, I just thought that life was just happening this way. I never realized I can look at my thoughts. I was just living them. And so it changed everything. I was able to start to remove certain thoughts that were not affirmative for me and start to replace them intentionally, you know, and also just being able to calm down to heal, you know, probably what I would see as my quality that has evolved the most is my patience from when you met me, you know, just coming from a very volatile environment to now, you know, and that's all thanks to you.

1:47:05Shawn Stevenson:So the food and the meditation. Yes. I love that. How do you balance family life with business and public work? That's a great question. That's a great question. It's, it's, it's very simple. Actually, I'm going to, I'm going to share a story that I haven't shared before. So there was a time at early days of the model health show when sleep smarter came out, I was traveling a lot. You know, I was speaking at all these different events. I was doing media around the country and I would leave on like these sprints. Like I'd be gone for 10 days. I did, I was chunking strategically. So I wouldn't be bouncing around.

1:47:44Shawn Stevenson:Like if I'm going to New York, then I could also go to, you know, someplace close by. I could do the TV. I could do, you know, the talk, I could do the news, whatever it is. And then I can come back. Right. And, but I was doing that and I was, I would come back and every time I traveled though I was bringing back a gift for my youngest son for Brayden and like you nine times out of ten it was Legos and so I would bring him a gift but over time of doing this when I would come back it seemed like he had gotten older you know like if I'm gone for 10 days or two weeks and it starts to really weigh on me like I didn't want to miss this you know and also I became the Lego guy so I pick him up you know they pick come to the airport and get me and then he'd be like looking past me trying to see what's in that bag you know where's that lego at my guy you know but that was cool you know as a kid you know what i'm saying it's not you know it was showing me love it's not like that but you know it's just like there was this association and but it was a season and it was necessary and it was beautiful but i decided at one of those points like nope you guys are coming with me if i'm gonna go on these sprints where I'm gone for these chunks of days, everybody's gone.

1:48:56Shawn Stevenson:It was hard. It was expensive. Like this is where, what do I want to invest in? Rather than this, whatever stuff out here, superficial stuff, I invested in our travel as like where the, you know, where we was putting our money into and the experiences. Because then our kids got to be in the environment of all of these great experiences and all these great people. These events that they've been at, is it's priceless the exposure that they have eric thomas michael beckwith all the conferences you know bedros the list goes on and on and on just the impact you know and um for them to have that kind of exposure and that proximity yeah you know it's just really helped to activate their dna you know and qualities that they have and so um to answer the question bottom line it is being intentional about your investment i'm very strategic you know this like even i planned out this weekend coming up because of course i'm a control guy i don't like surprises but tomorrow morning we're going to see a movie because my son's been asking to see this movie you've been asking it's mother's day weekend you asked specifically like i want to go see i want to go see it and so we're going to the movie early it's early 10 a.m yeah and then we're going to go you and i because we're going to go with our youngest son who asked to see the movie which i i figured out the timing then we're going to go to a jazz festival with michael beckwith i ain't ever been no jazz festival i don't know what that's like only he would get you out to do something my guy you know something like that like honestly but i'm open for the experience and also get to hang out with my with my people you know i'm saying and also it's just a beautiful experience a new experience but jazz is one of our first dates it was my birthday you took me to see some jazz yes yes never seen nothing like that um and then mother's day we're going to agape and then i found this fantastic mother's day brunch like i schedule but this is what i do regardless of mother's day you know that's how i roll because that is those are the things that fuel me refuel me as well which i didn't know early on and also add to our connection and our time together and our experiences, you know?

1:51:18Shawn Stevenson:And so it's just being intentional and scheduling it. If it's not scheduled today, it's probably not going to happen or it's going to be left up in the air for something to intercept. Put it on your calendar, your family time, you know, make it sacred. And yeah. And I can add to that too. Like we've always found ways to blend in family stuff with business. Um, and like you said, like with schedules. So it's like, like this one weekend would be family weekend. And then the following would be date night. But if it's family and let's say we're going on a hike, then we might post some content, you know, and, or might share that in a particular way.

1:52:01Or if it's a workout, then we're filming that, which is for a program or whatever it is that we're doing. So we've found ways where we are blending the two to make it and makes it easier. Yeah.

1:52:16Shawn Stevenson:Cause it doesn't need to be either or. And that speaks to this whole work-life balance, whatever phenomenon. That's what we just did. We went to Chicago. We had all these cool experiences, but we also spoke at a conference. Yes. You know what I mean? Which was a undertaking. Like I had to be prepared and I, you know, all the things, you know, same as you, you spent a lot of time thinking about, you know, your communication. And so, but we've done that countless times at this point where we have this work thing, but then we'll go to Legoland like back in the day when, you know, um, or whatever the case might be.

1:52:46Shawn Stevenson:So you can do both. Yes. Okay. Last question. Melanie Walter, eight, zero five, nine ask what magnesium do you recommend? What magnesium do I recommend? Oh, that's such a tough question. You're going to end with a toughie. like that? Oh my gosh. There's so many different types of magnesium. You remember like we even, again, this has been like 20 years. I've been like testing and different magnesium supplements. There isn't a specific type that's best for everybody. You know, it's just, it's one of those things where you got to, you have to experiment, you know, the citrate might give you the runs, but maybe you need to flush your system out.

1:53:28Shawn Stevenson:Maybe, you know, you're, your fullest whatever you know um but what across the board i think is helpful for people is topical magnesium a good old-fashioned magnesium bath our skin absorbs the magnesium and it can only absorb as much as it can use so you're not going to have like after effects um and also you know i have my magnesium spray that i utilize that i've been having for years is right there in our bathroom. I use most nights. But what I would say and encourage people to do is to prioritize magnesium-rich foods. That would be my biggest advocation as far as magnesium, because there's going to be a variety of types.

1:54:10Shawn Stevenson:Nature has figured out some things we have not. We keep on isolating things. And food is food. Food isn't parts. Food isn't just isolated nutrients. and so now obviously we can get some value from the isolated nutrients obviously obviously but overall for our day-to-day magnesium rich foods so anything green is going to have a nice whack of magnesium chocolate is pretty high in magnesium um i mean it's just a variety of eating a variety of plants you're going to find different types of magnesium from different foods so awesome there you have it. Awesome. All right, baby. Thank you so much. I mean, obviously we could do this all day.

1:54:54Shawn Stevenson:I know. Shout out to Captain America. And I cannot wait for our upcoming dates and funds and stuff like that, you know, to celebrate you and to celebrate Mother's Day as well. At the same time, as of this recording, you know, you are a phenomenal mother, phenomenal woman, phenomenal life partner. And, you know, again, none of this would exist without you, but also none of this would exist without our incredible team. With this being said, as you mentioned, like it was just a step at a time. Yeah. Because this is why it feels like for me personally, I feel like maybe it's been like maybe 300 episodes, maybe four, maybe five, but it's just because of taking steps every day moving towards the direction of of our goal you know and every day is not going to be the same someday might be 10 steps someday might be a half a step you know someday we might get veered to another direction and you're sidestepping you know what i mean but just doing our best to not go backwards and even remember because that's a lie you're not going backwards really we can have our stuck story shout out to our friend cynthia garcia cynthia hopefully you're still here as well.

1:56:06Shawn Stevenson:But, you know, truly, even when it seems like we're struggling or we're going backwards or we're stuck, it's just, we are, we are being planted. We're being planted and we have the opportunity to grow something new and something beautiful. Should we, should we allow it? Yeah. Should we invest in it? Should we do the work that's necessary when it seems like we're going backwards? And so that is such a great way to end this, to share that, again, this is the power of an idea. And here we are together a thousand episodes later. And also what keeps the joy and the grace and the gratitude going in it is just knowing that this doesn't happen overnight.

1:56:46Shawn Stevenson:It's just those small steps over time, the value of that, everybody listening to remember how powerful it is just to take a small step in the direction of your dreams every single day. I'm so grateful for you being on this journey with me. Episode 1000 is just the beginning. and truly people don't know. I was just showing you yesterday and I know you had a thousand things going on, but just what we have in store was coming up on this schedule. You have no idea. We're not playing with nobody, no more. We're taking things to another level. We are going to transform the health and connection of our families and our communities in our lifetime.

1:57:26Shawn Stevenson:I appreciate you so much for being a part of it and much more to come. take care have an amazing day and i'll talk with you soon