The Great I AM: Manifestation and Magic with Coach and Counselor Dennis Carlson
Reese Brown (00:00.288)
Dennis, thank you so very much for joining me today. we've been, I feel like planning this for so long. And so to be able to actually sit down and be able to chat with some mics, I'm really excited. So thank you for being here.
Dennis (00:21.639)
Thank you for having me. Yeah, this is long deferred, I think, in terms of, but timing, you know, there's no rush, there's no emergency, so the timing is always perfect. So it's lovely to be here, lovely to have an opportunity to try this.
Reese Brown (00:29.442)
Yes.
Reese Brown (00:35.426)
Yeah, absolutely. My very first question, just to hopefully put us in the right mindset for our conversation, is what is one thing you're grateful for right now?
Dennis (00:49.041)
I am incredibly grateful for this world, honestly. I'm in such a place right now of peace and just calmness. And it's a beautiful feeling. it's something that I haven't experienced necessarily all that much in my life. So to have that happen, I'm grateful for it. Just to walk in and live more and more in the present.
Reese Brown (01:05.112)
Mm.
Reese Brown (01:15.383)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:18.845)
is something that's such a gift and I know it sounds trite or it sounds like world peace or something as an answer but it's true though and that's the funny part about it.
Reese Brown (01:33.026)
Yeah, no, absolutely. And I think that there are a lot of things like that, that, know, sacred simplicity, these things that sound trite or off-handed, it's oftentimes are the things that feel the most powerful when we actually say them, when you sit down and really think about it. Why do you think that you've been, or why, how?
would you kind of characterize this feeling of peace and calmness that you've been able to cultivate recently? I think that's always been a challenge for people, but especially in our current era where it feels like there are so many things being thrown at us on a daily basis, whether it be the media, the news cycle, our phones, right? Like I feel like we're constantly inundated with information that can be really scary.
And then on top of that, we're trying to manage it and we're being told how bad that is for our minds and brains. How have you been able to develop this sense of peace in this stage, in this context of our world?
Dennis (02:43.901)
A lot of self-work is really the short answer and that's never satisfying to people. But I think it stems... No, there is no magic wand. It really stems from a wholesale change in sort of my entire worldview or...
Reese Brown (02:46.509)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (02:54.254)
Right. There's no magic wand.
Reese Brown (03:10.093)
Hmm.
Dennis (03:10.453)
And that's something we can certainly talk about more, but for me, I firmly believe that what we imagine is, or what we think is true, what we believe is true, eventually becomes our reality. So in that sense, we create our own reality. And it's been a long journey to get to this point, but it's been life-changing for me, truly. to the point where...
I've completely changed my career. I've completely changed what I want to do. It's upended my life. I can't help but talk about it. It's probably my favorite thing in the world to talk about because it's the most consequential thing I can imagine. And it's the thing that everybody's seeking, even if they don't know that they're seeking. And I was for the longest time. And I don't want to pretend that I've found it by any stretch.
Reese Brown (03:55.395)
Yeah.
Dennis (04:06.583)
There's always more to learn, there's always more to grow. But you reach these, to use a video game metaphor because it's something I love and I think a lot of people get it, is you continue to level up. And it's not a linear path. Everyone thinks there's a linear path to growth. They want to see this nice arrow that points straight up to the sky. the fact is, that's wishful thinking.
Reese Brown (04:20.376)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (04:33.635)
Yeah.
Dennis (04:34.117)
You know, nobody, that's not real life. And so you go through and you're twisting and you're turning and you're wondering, you know, why did this happen? But as you continue to just persist, you see more and more things become revealed. And I think that would be, if there was a word I wanted to capture sort of the gratefulness you mentioned earlier, it's just this gratefulness for the unfolding that is occurring in my life.
Reese Brown (05:03.982)
Hmmmm
Dennis (05:04.329)
And to me the word unfolding is so important because my whole life, I don't know about other listeners and other people, but my whole life I have been a control freak in terms of, and I pretend I wasn't, and that's the really cool part about our brain. It's so good at making us not really realize what we're actually thinking. The deep processes, know, it's like those...
Reese Brown (05:07.928)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (05:27.96)
Yeah.
Dennis (05:32.637)
memes on the internet, like the iceberg, you know, like, like really, we think we have a thought, it's really the thought that's driving that thought is way down below. And yeah, so I'm just so grateful for this new way of looking at things, for being able to, but it comes with challenges as well. It's not an easy path, you know, it reminds me and
Reese Brown (05:52.525)
Hmm.
Dennis (06:02.045)
It just reminds me of something Phil Mickelson, who's a famous golfer and I used to play golf and still like golf. he said that, know, everyone wants to hit shots like me, but no one wants to do the work to actually play like I do. Like you don't, yeah, you see me hit this nice shot, but you didn't see the eight hours I spent from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. hitting golf balls and practicing.
Reese Brown (06:14.222)
Hmm.
Reese Brown (06:23.18)
Yeah. Well, and I think that it's so much easier for people to understand that concept when it is applied to something physical like a sport or that just feels so much more tangible, right? When you see direct results like your golf swing improving or going to the gym and you're seeing results and that your clothes start to fit differently, you feel a little bit different. But when it comes to the thing of self work and it's
Well, everyone wants to, perhaps some of us have this idea of like, well, everyone wants to feel the way I do. Or there is this, how are you so happy? How do you achieve this? Like even in the question that I asked, right? And it's, well, we all kind of want that, but the work of that isn't as obvious or as tangible as the work of these other things. But it is in that work. It is in the day in day out choice of
exactly what you're talking about, changing your worldview, doing that self work and the energy of that. And I think that this actually takes us perfectly into my next question that I always like to ask because I think everyone has a story to tell and it gets at the heart of so much that this podcast is really about, but what is your story? How have you gotten to this point in your life? What was it like when that worldview changed?
whatever you feel called to speak to within your story, I would love to hear it.
Dennis (07:57.019)
Yeah, absolutely, Reese. And I do want to highlight a word you said that is something that I love and probably will touch upon later. And that is this idea of choice. My belief is that we may not be able to choose the exact circumstances we find ourselves, but we can choose the meaning that we attach to these circumstances. And in fact,
Reese Brown (08:09.07)
Hmm.
Reese Brown (08:25.752)
Yes.
Dennis (08:27.677)
And I know we'll get more into that, let me, to answer your question and really give the listeners maybe some background, I'll be honest, I'm a weirdo. I freely say that. And it's like that Billy Joel song, it just may be a lunatic you're looking for. Because I may be crazy, I freely admit that. And I'm not for everybody, that's great. And that's one of the benefits of the work.
that I've done, the self-work that I've done is that you no longer seek for things as much outside yourself because you realize you are whole and complete. And if I had one message, it's you're perfect the way you are. You're beautiful the way you are. You are everything just the way you are. You don't need to change. You might need to reveal certain things. for me, I'm nearly a half century old, which I hate to say, but...
I am to be starting to age like, or I am aging like Benjamin Button in my own mind at least. So, we're counting backwards starting soon. And I grew up in a single, my mom was a single mom. I grew up in a...
Dennis (09:52.699)
in a home that was loving but also in some senses emotionally neglectful. I, well, actually let me take a step back. I think it's, the number one thing that people, or that I'd like to say is I'm actually neurodivergent. I have both ADHD and am on the
autism spectrum and very high functioning and people might say, you don't seem autistic. I get that a I don't know, I have trouble believing that. And so that kind of, that realization was a huge turning point for me. But I grew up in a very religious, very Christian, evangelical Christian household. And...
That really sort of formed a lot, I mean really formed everything about me in truth. And you talk about identity and I think that for the vast majority of my life, if you asked my number one identity marker, would have been my Christianity, would have been this almost cult-like, we believed very deep things. They were very...
cult-like in some senses. was very much, know, leadership knows everything. They're essentially the mouth of God. This idea of the Bible is the literal word of God. That yes, maybe people wrote it, but you know, every word in there is God's word. And I will say, it's something I didn't realize, but being neurodivergent, I didn't feel things the way other people felt them in the church. So I would go...
to these long church services, which number one is a nightmare for any kid. Now put a kid who has ADHD and doesn't really understand what's going on, but who's also very, very bright. And I mean, that's the other thing. I was considered highly gifted, which frankly I think is a damaging label. I think all labels are damaging, but that in and of itself was a thing. And you kind of combine this perfect storm and...
Reese Brown (11:47.662)
You
Dennis (12:12.477)
It left me as somebody who wanted to seek things, questioning anything around God or Christianity or Jesus or any of that just wasn't allowed in my life. There were certain bright lines that I had in my childhood and it was like everything was fine until you touch that landmine.
Reese Brown (12:25.794)
Hmm.
Dennis (12:36.605)
And you think about that, that just trains you not to feel comfortable asking questions. And so for 40 plus years, I didn't question anything, even the things that cognitively I knew didn't make sense to me. so growing up as someone who was neurodivergent, before that was really considered a thing, I was diagnosed with ADHD at a very young age, which my mother wanted to, just felt it was better to pray.
to pray the ADHD away and not give me red dye number five was her two conclusions as to how to treat my problems or the issues, the symptoms I had. And yeah, and so that was kind of a fact of my life. I never really thought much of it. I didn't realize how big of an impact this neurodivergence had on my life.
Reese Brown (13:13.806)
Ahem.
Reese Brown (13:20.621)
Right.
Reese Brown (13:34.158)
Mm.
Dennis (13:34.589)
spent 20 plus years in corporate America without, and just always was successful, which is kind of, and as I've come to find out, and after I got diagnosed, and started to lean more into others like me and their experiences, and just opening up to that and allowing those experiences. And I realized I was very blessed in my career. I continued to rise.
Reese Brown (14:02.414)
Great.
Dennis (14:04.477)
I always made the right moves at the right time. And even in this though, there was always been an unfolding in that it was never, I never once had to look for a job. The jobs always just came to me and literally jobs in different areas. I started as a wonderful autist who loved numbers and loved data. I was a data scientist, went to grad school at Cornell for...
for statistics, only to find out that I really hated higher level mathematical proofs and I couldn't pretend otherwise. ended up leaving that going to corporate America and played the game and again, I didn't really understand how things work in corporate America because I truly was, from a social perspective, had no real understanding of how things work. It was very, very naive, you know. And it's a very common thing. But...
Reese Brown (14:49.485)
Hmm.
Reese Brown (14:57.474)
Right.
Dennis (15:01.533)
For whatever reason, I was able to mask, what I call mask, very, very well. And no one would know because I was generally able to hide it. My brain, I'm one of these people who's fortunate enough to have a very strong ability to mask and be other than, make people, be what people are supposed to be, whatever that means. And that was always confusing. And about five years ago,
Reese Brown (15:23.468)
Right, right.
Dennis (15:31.055)
I would say is when everything sort of changed for me when I hit a wall. And I'd hit this wall a few other times in my life that's probably not worth detailing, but college, happened. It happened a couple of other times after the birth of my daughter. But it's this idea of autistic burnout. And you reach a point where you just can't do it anymore. And I can't, it's almost like if you've ever...
Reese Brown (15:50.808)
Hmm.
Dennis (15:58.747)
If you've ever fallen asleep in bed with your arm underneath you, right? Your arm pinned underneath you, you wake up and for that brief 20 seconds, right? Your arm is completely numb. You're like, move and it won't move. And then eventually you get the pins and needles and it comes back on. Well, that's what it kind of felt like mentally. Like move and it just, I couldn't get it to move. couldn't do things anymore. And I started to go to therapy at that point for really the...
Reese Brown (16:11.096)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (16:18.167)
Hmm.
Dennis (16:28.753)
first real time in my life. just the very act of talking, talking really helped. I decided literally kind of on a dime to become, to change my entire life. I was so sick of corporate America. And I think a lot of people out there can, and I don't want to get off on a rant because I absolutely could with all of it, but you know,
I just decided this wasn't for me anymore. I needed a change and went back to school to get my master's degree in professional counseling with the idea that I wanted to spend the rest of my life being a helper and really letting out what was inside of me to help other people. And I really had no idea what that entailed. I no idea what that looked like. And so just decided to enroll and went through the graduate program.
Reese Brown (17:03.118)
Hmm.
Dennis (17:28.273)
graduate fully in May, which is exciting. It's been a five-year journey, so I'm on the slow boat there. But again, everything unfolds the way it should. And I could tell you so many stories about how perfect it was. And then one of the things is I've had a lot of training. Again, I'm in the position where particularly what maybe a typical new mental health worker or advocate
Reese Brown (17:31.64)
Very exciting.
Reese Brown (17:39.042)
Yes.
Dennis (17:56.157)
might not have the opportunity to is to take some training that costs money. Somebody who's starting out, I mean, most of my cohorts are in their late 20s, probably. Many are fresh out of, they went directly from undergrad to graduate. And so I'm kind of the old guy at the club as far as my class goes. there's just this...
Reese Brown (18:01.454)
Mm-hmm.
Dennis (18:26.109)
know, desire to just give back, you know, in whatever way I can. And so, you know, I sort of dove into this and I love what I do and really want to, but what, and what I found is that I find it very difficult, while I can separate out sort of the therapeutic, if you will, you know, from a scientific perspective, what I really enjoy and what I really love is,
Reese Brown (18:29.55)
Hmm.
Reese Brown (18:49.145)
Mm-hmm.
Dennis (18:55.567)
more of an integrated view because my spirituality, my practice, how I view things is so important to what I really feel the truth is. And so there is this inner conflict sometimes of how does that play out? And that's still candidly something I'm figuring out. I think...
Reese Brown (18:57.526)
Mmm.
Reese Brown (19:04.706)
Right.
Reese Brown (19:13.368)
Yeah.
Dennis (19:20.891)
that we'll see where I don't worry about exactly what that's going to look like because it is about unfolding and it's about growth and understanding who I'm meant to be. But in the course of this, I took this training for something called internal family systems, which if you're listening, it's a beautiful, beautiful way of exploring yourself and it's a very gentle way. And it's a very...
Reese Brown (19:25.102)
Sure.
Dennis (19:48.125)
It's a very lovely way to look at who you are and love and appreciate every single part of you. The good parts, and I put good in quotation marks, because first of all, there's no good parts and there's no bad parts. All parts of us are valid. All parts of us are lovely. And all parts of us love us so desperately. And they do everything they can to take care of us.
Reese Brown (19:51.523)
Mm-hmm.
Reese Brown (19:55.299)
Yes.
Right?
Reese Brown (20:08.142)
Mm-hmm.
Dennis (20:11.911)
So internal family systems, you can very easily look for it online. It's quite kind of popular now, but I was blessed to take a training with the Institute. And so I love to use that in my work with people. And it's just a modality, but it's just such a beautiful way to get to know yourself and love yourself more. And it's really helped me in my walk as well. But in the course of this training and going through this, which was very experiential in addition to didactical.
Reese Brown (20:33.038)
Yeah.
Dennis (20:41.661)
It's not just about book knowledge, it really is experiential. But they had these affinity groups where the training had three dozen people, but you could break out into different groups based on your interests and things like trauma therapists or there were some for various religions, if you were for religious practitioners and things like that. And one of them was for...
Reese Brown (20:42.242)
Right.
Dennis (21:10.397)
neurodivergent individuals. And I had never considered myself at that point neurodivergent. I never even thought about what that meant. And none of the other sort of affinity groups spoke to me. There was no affinity, if you will. So I decided to try that. And I have to tell you, and I'm hoping I don't get emotional here, but it really is genuine. For the first time in my life, I can say I felt accepted and seen.
on a level that I'd never experienced before in 40 plus years of my life. And it was just this idea of I'm valid. That the way I am is I'm not broken. I don't need to change. don't need to, this is who I am and it's beautiful and it's okay. And even more importantly is to thank those parts of me that have done such a good job in masking. So, know.
Reese Brown (21:37.102)
Hmm.
Reese Brown (21:47.34)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (21:56.632)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (22:04.428)
Yeah, yeah.
Dennis (22:05.213)
And, that's something that's interesting too. Like we, all of these parts are, they're a part of us. And you can say, what are they? Are they real? Do they exist? How many angels dance on the head of a pin? You can always go there. To me, they are real in the sense that they're energy, they're thought patterns, they're neurons firing in a certain pattern and they exist. What does it mean to exist anyway? We could go on and on, but then the biggest thing is, so I recognize this neurodivergence in myself.
Reese Brown (22:15.971)
Right.
Reese Brown (22:29.346)
Right.
Dennis (22:35.373)
this particularly ADHD. And one day my daughter was like, hey dad, you should take this quiz. And not quite a BuzzFeed quiz, but this sort of a quick little 20 question, might you be on the spectrum, essentially. And so I took it. And we were kind of joking about it and I took it. basically the answer was to paraphrase was like, yeah, you're pretty likely to be autistic. You should probably get that checked out.
Reese Brown (22:49.229)
Right.
Dennis (23:02.619)
I mean, I'm a little blind there, but that was the take home. at first it was a joke and you go through a lot in processing that in some senses, particularly because when I was growing up autistic was Rain Man, right? I mean, it was non-functional. And furthermore, my mother used to work with autistic kids. That was part of her career trajectory. And I think she would have never allowed me to be diagnosed anyway because of the connotation in her.
Reese Brown (23:02.894)
Yeah
Yeah.
Reese Brown (23:12.387)
Right.
Reese Brown (23:29.751)
Right.
Dennis (23:30.289)
her mind, you know, and it's not even clear, I mean, things have changed so much in terms of how folks can be helpful to those of us on the spectrum and what works and for the longest time it was as well, you know, learn to be normal and, you know, whatever that means.
Reese Brown (23:43.756)
Yes, right.
Reese Brown (23:51.222)
Yeah, whatever that is or looks like or yeah.
Dennis (23:55.809)
And that was the lesson I got for 45 years, was learned, and I did it really well. I mean, I can pass for normal. I'm great at it. But there's a real psychological cost, as I found out. And so that's sort of the last leg of my journey, which I was officially diagnosed last year, first quarter of 2024. And really in that time, I've learned so much about myself. It's opened so many doors for me personally. And it's also opened my eyes to the struggles
Reese Brown (24:05.507)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (24:19.63)
Mmm.
Dennis (24:25.121)
of my community or who I view as in some way my tribe. And I very strongly identify as neurodivergent. And I'm still exploring what that means, but part of my passion is really to help other folks like me on this journey. so that's one of my passions. Not my only passion, and I know we'll talk more about other things, but.
Reese Brown (24:28.269)
right?
Reese Brown (24:44.43)
Mm-hmm.
Dennis (24:53.975)
I kind of view them all sort of under an umbrella of learning who you are and learning your power. Whether it's leaning into and accepting who you are because you're neurodivergent or who you are because of hurts that you've had, the baggage you had from childhood, shadow parts. I'm a big believer in the exploration of the shadow side.
Reese Brown (25:02.498)
Yes.
Reese Brown (25:22.594)
Hmm.
Dennis (25:23.405)
and sort of from a Jungian perspective, philosophically, I love exploring, because again, I come at it from the, it's so important to just exalt in who we are and just be. And what would it be like to take all of you, every part of you, the parts that you've never told anybody because you judge yourself for? What would it be like?
Reese Brown (25:37.486)
Hmm.
Yeah.
Dennis (25:53.309)
to just accept it. Not love it, not hate it, not judge it, just acknowledge it and say, there's a part of me that feels this way, let's explore it, what does it mean?
Reese Brown (25:55.97)
Right.
Reese Brown (26:08.728)
Right, just breathe into that, into that truth. And I think one of the things that we, well, actually, I don't know, because there was a lot when we first started chatting that it was like, wow, we really share a very similar worldview and a lot of shared experiences. But one of the first things that I think really opened my mind to the way in which we were similar was this idea of the divine I am.
and that has long been something that I have held to be true, both of us being raised in evangelical Christianity and having deep intimate familiarity with the Bible and the language of it. One of the things that's been really healing for me, and I know you've shared a little bit about it too, is finding how these traditions and these practices in the Bible and in traditional Christianity can be
a way for me to actually identify and define what my own divine spiritual practice looks like for me and using that in a way to uplift my spirituality as opposed to how those previously in my life felt kind of maligned to not let me be this full divine version of myself but
I think that this divine I am is exactly what you're getting at in that in the beginning there was the word and the word was God and the word was I am. And if that is true, like capital T true, what does that mean for us when we say and understand I am? The verb to be am, and it is also me, it is I. Just the
power behind the language of that. like you're saying, the philosophy, the psychology of the integrating all pieces and parts of self into that is so, it's like, that's the journey. That's the work is continuing to let these pieces of self unfold exactly as you're saying. And so I just think your story is so emblematic of what that looks like and kind of
Reese Brown (28:31.726)
being given certain labels at a very young age that can be very harmful, but also helpful in some ways, depending on what the label is and how you engage with it. And being able to say, no, I don't identify with this label, or actually this label is extremely important and beneficial to how I conceptualize myself and the people that I can help. And...
letting that just be this journey of your I am-ness, right, throughout the whole thing. So thank you so much for sharing your beautiful and vast story. And I actually do quickly want to go back to the very beginning and this idea of questioning that you felt kind of suppressed.
And I think a lot of us experience this in many different church atmospheres, many different religious atmospheres, but our experience happens to be with Christianity. And I felt very similarly, and as a deeply curious person and someone who wants to understand why, it really causes you to hold the stress of this cognitive dissonance when things don't make sense and you're also not allowed to
question and I think that that can be really deeply harmful on the psyche. So I would just like to know what you think about
how that changed, like holding this cognitive dissonance, how that has changed the way you grew up and the way you think about understanding and questioning now. And also why you think you were drawn to being a questioner, a curious person, even as a young person.
Dennis (30:31.357)
Wow, yeah, that's, we could go all day on all of that. I do, you I wanna first just acknowledge sort of the, I hope we can talk more about the I am, and, cause we do share that. And to me, that's the thing I wanna talk about. That's the most important thing, because once you know that, it's the master, you I hate the word secret. Like there's some, know,
Reese Brown (30:44.236)
Yes.
Reese Brown (30:57.219)
Right.
Dennis (30:57.573)
occult, esoteric, all of these things, unveiling, apocalypse, all of these words is this idea of unveiling. And it's all there. It's just, you, it's already there. We say it every day, I am Dennis, I am Reese, I am whomever. But we don't really think about what it means. And so that's really the crux of everything I wanna do. But yeah, I don't know how I was so blessed to become a curious person.
Reese Brown (31:05.986)
We already know it. Yeah.
Reese Brown (31:17.314)
Great.
Dennis (31:27.397)
I always, always was curious. And this not asking questions, you don't want people to ask questions when you're scared what the answers are. mean, that's really the, if you're scared of the questions, it means you don't have an answer. And that's what I've come to realize about my mother. And it's true today, I think for sadly a lot of Christianity. It's okay to say,
Reese Brown (31:37.164)
Hmm.
Reese Brown (31:43.308)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (31:52.888)
Hmm.
Dennis (31:56.689)
You know what? don't believe any of this is a historical fact. I don't believe Moses existed. I don't believe that the events chronicled in Exodus ever happened. I don't believe that there was a Garden of Eden and that there was cherubim and seraphim guarding it and that there was Adam and Eve and I reject the concept of her. You can do all of that and still love the Bible.
Reese Brown (32:04.108)
Right.
Dennis (32:23.325)
and still believe that it holds wisdom and explore it. And that is one thing I do love about the Jewish tradition and is this idea of let's spend a lifetime exploring five verses and really just trying to, that to me is deep understanding. And no, my ADHD would never let that happen, nor would I want that, but I love it. I mean, to me, that is so lovely. And I think talking about these things is the most interesting thing we can be doing.
Reese Brown (32:23.885)
Right?
Reese Brown (32:35.778)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (32:45.442)
Right.
Dennis (32:52.285)
You know, we talk about the weather like that. it's cold out here today. did you get snow? Like, that's uninteresting. I want to know how are you? What are you? What are you today? You know, what are you being? Who are you being?
Reese Brown (32:52.451)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (32:59.992)
Well, and when you ask someone, when you ask someone, this was my nearest resolution a few years ago, and it's one that actually has stuck with me. Not that I think every year resolutions and tensions, manifestations that I develop for the year, you whatever language we want to couch it in. They tend to kind of grow and evolve as I grow and evolve throughout the years, but this is one that has.
consistently been really important. When I ask someone, how are you? To mean it and say it with the intention of how are you? And to kind of settle into that and bring that energy to it. So I completely agree. I love that.
Dennis (33:48.103)
Yeah, and I mean, you're right. It's funny, as someone who is neurodivergent, just being asked, how are you, is such a strange question. And I think that what I'll call neurotypical individuals, and again, we can argue, is anybody neurotypical, what does that even mean, blah, blah, blah. And listen, I don't ever mean to give offense to anyone. Sometimes we can get hung up on language and things, but.
Reese Brown (33:57.644)
Right.
Reese Brown (34:06.798)
True.
Dennis (34:17.501)
And sometimes it is important, but my view is that when you ask, I don't know how to answer the question, how are you? know, well, what answer do you, no, of course my masking part, my brain tells me how to answer that question, depending on the person. Could be, oh, you know, this life, still upright and breathe. I mean, there's a hundred different answers, but no one ever really, there's very few people who actually ask that question and genuinely mean it. And that's okay, you don't need many people to, because frankly, it's exhausting to answer it.
Reese Brown (34:24.909)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (34:40.568)
Right.
Reese Brown (34:45.61)
Yeah. If you're really doing it, yeah.
Dennis (34:46.875)
Much easier to say, if you're really doing it, it takes some courage to answer that question. Maybe we should ask ourselves that question.
Reese Brown (34:52.014)
Well, and time, yeah, yeah. Well, and like how much time do you actually have to answer when we say it so flippantly, right? And I think that that, I mean, it even goes back to what we were saying about the I am and that these are phrases that we say so flippantly. And at the very beginning, when even you said, you know, I'm grateful for just this world, like these things that we can say that just roll off the tongue that.
We don't even realize the magic that is imbued in our daily living that it's, in my mind, I'm like, we're casting spells constantly. We are saying prayers to the divine constantly. And when we bring our awareness to that reality, it completely changes the way you engage with it. It makes me think of the Buddhist proverb.
Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. I still say, how are you to the grocery store clerk, to the person at the phone store that I went to today. And you you still have to do these mundane things, but being able to approach that with how are you? And even if it doesn't necessarily hit the other person in the way that I am trying to show up in the world in this space.
It still changes my engagement with those around me, with the world around me. And I think that I was also having a conversation last night about how in the Buddhist Eightfold Path, there's a lot of discussion around attachment, how most of our suffering comes from attachment. And we tend to think of attachment to these worldly materialist things.
Dennis (36:24.573)
Yeah, yeah, totally.
Reese Brown (36:45.55)
But I think there's also lot of attachment to identity and to the things that we want to be or that we say we are. And when you let go of that, who is there? Who is that I am?
Dennis (37:01.499)
Yeah, I think that's so well said. this idea of, one of the things I tell the folks at my clients is an exercise I love to do is you're not your thoughts. And so many times we have a thought and we assume that somehow that thought is true. But if you stop it and you ask yourself the question, a very simple question, is this thought useful?
Reese Brown (37:15.851)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (37:24.184)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (37:30.808)
Hmm.
Dennis (37:31.175)
Like, why, you can choose, you know, people say they can't choose what they think. And I disagree with that, gently. know, it may take time, it may be challenging, and it requires attention and focus and work. And, know, in the same way it requires, if you want to bench press 500 pounds, you better get cracking in the gym. You know, you're not just gonna go one day and do it. You know, but...
Reese Brown (37:42.093)
Right.
Reese Brown (37:45.964)
Yes.
Reese Brown (37:53.752)
Break!
Dennis (37:57.789)
you know, every day you're gonna get a little bit better at noticing it and noticing it and noticing it. What am I thinking? Because again, I believe your imagination, what you believe to be true, what you assume to be true becomes true. And it's a, I think it's a law. And I saw it in practice for, as a evangelical, know, spirit, you know, filled tongue talking.
Reese Brown (38:00.952)
Mm-hmm.
Reese Brown (38:14.712)
Right.
Dennis (38:27.591)
Christian who saw miracles? mean, I know they'll can I say have I ever seen something like a limb grow or you know somebody raised from the dead or anything like that and the answer is no I mean, you know, I I watch a lot of a lot of You know channels like you know apologetic kind of atheist, know debate channels and things like that and and at the end of the day, know, I I don't feel the need to I'm not trying to to proselytize I don't need to evangelize my
Reese Brown (38:31.042)
Right?
Reese Brown (38:54.2)
Right?
Dennis (38:56.421)
my worldview because my view is he that has ears to hear or she that has ears to hear will hear. And those are the people I want to work, I'm not trying to convince you of anything. I'd love for you to believe what I believe because I think it's life-changing and I think, you know, and I learned this from the Bible and that's why it was so hard for me when I was deconstructing my faith and deconstructing Christianity. I just couldn't let go of the Bible.
Reese Brown (39:03.768)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (39:10.04)
Right.
Dennis (39:25.437)
because it was such a big part of my life for so long. it's something I still love. I still refer to the Bible daily. I mean, it's a part of my life. It's a part of me. But I see it in a very different light. It's allegorical to me. And that makes it more powerful in some senses. And I also can hold space for the fact that...
Reese Brown (39:25.558)
Right?
Reese Brown (39:36.024)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (39:41.304)
Yeah.
Dennis (39:50.813)
you know what, I'm making my interpretation, this may not be the interpretation that was originally intended. And I hold space for that, and that's true, but it's always what it means to me. What meaning do I take from this? So for me, I saw this principle in action, and really it's based on...
Reese Brown (39:58.755)
Yeah.
Great.
Dennis (40:14.299)
a very simple premise in the Gospel of Mark and it's in a few other Gospels and it's something that, I mean literally is probably my favorite verse in the Bible, it's in Mark chapter 11 and verses 22 through 25. to paraphrase, Jesus and his disciples are walking into Jerusalem and they're walking, he sees a fig tree.
and the fig tree doesn't have any fruit on it. And so he curses the fig tree. He says, you know, no man die tree, no one's ever gonna eat fruit from you again, right? And then he walks away and ostensibly, presumably he walks away, the tree's still standing there and they go into Jerusalem, you know, hang out there, come back the next day, you know, same road going out as they came in and now the tree's dead. It's all withered away and desiccated. And of course, you know,
Peter, I think it is, but one of the disciples points out, Lord, know, the tree you cursed, it's withered, look. And Jesus says, yeah, know, have faith in God. Or another way to read that is have faith, have the faith of God, actually. It's not clear what that, you can choose to interpret that in multiple ways. But then he says, basically says without quoting everything, feel free to go look it up, but he says that, know, whatever you want, believe that you have it.
Reese Brown (41:27.246)
Mm.
Dennis (41:39.357)
and you will. That to me is powerful and has nothing to do with being a Christian. It has nothing to do with religion or anything else. basically, Jesus says, believe that whatever you want, doesn't judge what you want, that it's good or bad. It doesn't say whatever you want, if it's really nice and it's gonna help other people and it's gonna make other people feel good and you know.
Reese Brown (41:40.557)
Hmm.
Reese Brown (41:45.39)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (42:04.494)
Right.
Dennis (42:07.759)
I approve, you get me to check off and sign in triplicate that I approve this message. I'm Jesus Christ and I approve this message. No, that's not what it is. And so I'm weird. I believe that that is true.
Reese Brown (42:15.053)
Right?
Reese Brown (42:23.926)
And so to me, I'm like, not weird, actually, like you said, extremely powerful, life-changing when we, and I think the faith piece of that is so important. And as any Christian will tell you, faith is small as a mustard seed, it's still so powerful and it does come in belief. And what is faith? Faith is believing without seeing. And I think,
believing in these patterns before you can start to recognize them is extremely daunting and it feels impossible. But actually I think a lot of Christianity has turned away from, I think our probably shared engagement with the Bible that is this maybe secondary layer of allegory and metaphor and manifestation and.
that is actually embedded within the text, if we dare to look there for it. Why do you think it is that we have, that the religion based in this text actually vilifies and villainizes a lot of people who believe this? even, go so far as to, in my own practice, I...
identify as a witch. I think that that is an extremely powerful label, identity that I have an attachment to for me. And that is something along with like witchcraft and magic. I had friends growing up who couldn't watch Harry Potter because it was of the devil, right? How has this been miss, not misinterpreted, but kind of just like missed, right? And not in a...
they're not reading it, in a, there's a different appreciation for what those verses mean. How have we gotten, I'm having trouble framing this question, but I think you understand what I'm saying. I'd love to hear more about what you think.
Dennis (44:38.129)
Yeah, I think...
It's all defense mechanisms really, in some senses. And let me explain what I mean. Let me unravel that a little bit because I'm kind of thinking about it as we go here. So, fine and building the plane here to some degree. But the thing is, if you accept the premise that that verse is true, and by the way, it's not cherry picking one verse of the Bible.
Reese Brown (44:44.622)
Mmm.
Reese Brown (44:54.243)
Right.
Yeah.
Dennis (45:11.293)
I could give you 20 right now, and all say the same thing in different ways about faith and have the God kind of faith and who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things that are not as though they are. mean, what did Abraham do? He did exactly that same thing. It's littered. that's number one. I think there's a fear of failure somehow. And if this is true,
Reese Brown (45:36.418)
Hmm.
Dennis (45:41.661)
then I have a responsibility. Like I can no longer blame. And that's something that I, until you are willing to stop blaming yourself or other people and remove the blame label and just accept things as they are and accept, see what can I do to change this if this is true? So if my imagination creates reality, if my intention, you know, another way of thinking is what I intend.
Reese Brown (45:44.235)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (46:04.344)
Right.
Dennis (46:11.491)
if that in fact, in some fashion that I can't explain and I have no scientific basis for it, and as somebody who was a hard data scientist, you know, I love data, but that takes a lot of responsibility because now all of a sudden, and it can swing in the opposite direction too because, I did something wrong. And you know, I think we saw that a lot in the early 2000s and with the secret and this idea of
Reese Brown (46:27.309)
Hmm.
Reese Brown (46:31.404)
Right.
Reese Brown (46:39.171)
Mm-hmm.
Dennis (46:40.533)
the law of attraction and I need to be in high vibes all the time and this, that and the other thing. And there's definitely some, there's truth in that. In the same way there's truth in a lot of things in terms of how I see the world working. But it's not the full truth. It's what you believe in your heart. It's not what you do outwardly. It's what you, you can't fool yourself. Like that's the thing because you are God and we've talked about
Reese Brown (46:42.136)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (47:04.803)
Hmm.
Right.
Dennis (47:10.211)
You know, really, that's how I view things, that we are literally, each and every one of us. it's just, you know, we're here on this lovely podcast and talking, but it's really just God talking with himself. It's just, you and I are just talking with ourselves, you know, and we're all, and when you can start to see people that way, it changes how you see, it changes how you react because that is the only thing you can change. But I think people are scared. I mean, my experience is people...
Reese Brown (47:22.776)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (47:34.786)
Right.
Dennis (47:38.873)
are afraid to truly believe. Because what if it doesn't work? And then does that change? Then you have to examine, well, what about God? And that was one thing that always bothered me as a Christian and somebody who really was trying to understand how this worked because I don't love the idea of, well, this magical thing happens and I wanna know more. I'm curious, I wanna understand it. And I don't need to know like.
Reese Brown (47:41.474)
Hmm. Yeah.
Reese Brown (48:01.378)
Yeah, yeah.
Dennis (48:04.861)
Okay, how does it happen? Like literally, okay, I pull this lever. This is how I, you know, the schematic, the blueprint, but there has to be, there's something, there's a causal thing. Something causes something to happen. And I've seen it work too many times. I had seen it work too many times in my life as a, as a, prayer and believing, you know, and faith in God that I couldn't just dismiss it as, that was my, you know, and sort of, you know, imagine it away and say, no, that didn't happen because it was a real part of my experience.
Reese Brown (48:08.814)
Right.
Reese Brown (48:23.885)
Right.
Reese Brown (48:34.818)
Yeah.
Dennis (48:35.085)
but the thing is, is when it didn't work, I was always confused as to why not. I prayed for something, I didn't get it. And then people would put this idea, well, maybe it wasn't God's will. Like it's like the ultimate defense mechanism. Well, I didn't get it. Well, why didn't you get it? Well, God didn't want me to have it. It wasn't meant to be mine. You know, clearly. And, honestly, and I, I, I abhor that, that kind of language. I, I abhor that kind of thinking because I fundamentally believe
Reese Brown (48:45.635)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (48:49.602)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (49:00.462)
Yeah.
Dennis (49:05.085)
that if you have a desire, and I'm talking a real, not, know, oh, it would be nice to have a new BMW, although that's fine, and if you want a new BMW, you should have a new BMW. mean, I think you're allowed, you should. I mean, good, take it, it's yours. I mean, it's yours. It's already allotted to you, but just the very fact that you have something that's a longing of your heart, that's a burning desire, that thing that keeps you up at night, that no matter what, you try to live your life, you try to move on.
Reese Brown (49:16.494)
You're allowed. Yeah. Yeah.
Dennis (49:34.819)
and you pretend you move on. And maybe you do kind of move on, but it's still there. It's this grain of sand that you've put a coating over and it's become a pearl and that's beautiful. the good news I have to tell people who are listening is, it's meant to be yours. If you desire it, if it's that level where it consumes you, it's a burning passion, desire, whatever it is, you are meant to have it.
Reese Brown (49:39.468)
Yeah. Yeah.
Reese Brown (49:54.307)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (50:04.482)
Mm-hmm.
Dennis (50:04.487)
Because I almost reverse cause and effect. I love these mental ideas of it. We think time is linear. if you, and I'm by no means a quantum physicist to really understand that. I'm smart enough to pretend like, so I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night. But the fact is, is time doesn't really exist in any appreciative, to the brain.
Reese Brown (50:08.236)
Right? Yes.
Reese Brown (50:17.836)
Right.
Dennis (50:32.903)
To us, really, time doesn't exist. All we have is now. What is the difference between a past memory and something you imagine? It's the same substance. It's the same substance.
Reese Brown (50:37.442)
Yes.
Reese Brown (50:43.446)
Absolutely nothing. We actually know for a fact that the same, psychologically, neurologically, the same section of the brain that fires when we are like remembering something is the same section of the brain of imagination and creativity. And when we remember something, we are only remembering the last time we remembered it, not the event itself. There is no way to prove that anything has actually happened to us.
except our current experience of a past thing, which is wild to think about. And I think that I am just so in alignment with everything you've said and this idea of it is already yours because why else would you have this embedded so deep within you if it was not your nature? If it was not already encoded in your DNA, in your soul?
in your chi, you know, there's all of these different words for that. But what is that? And I think that, you know, there is this idea within the religious communities that to me, having been raised with that language, it is God to me, right? That it is the peace of God that I am and that I am. And when I step into that presence, it is stepping into my God self.
And I really love the language of God because it feels so powerful. I also think a lot about how this, and like you said, not to proselytize or want to convince people of the truth, but I do think it's interesting to think about because I do hold it to be true that this can be true for people whether or not they believe in a God, whether or not they are religious, and the way in which...
our language may shift if we're thinking about this from an atheistic perspective in that very much it's like, okay, let's call it your DNA. Let's call it your genetics. Let's talk about string theory. Let's talk about the energy that we know thoughts have. Let's talk about the actual wavelength of these things because that's there too. And we know that we are no more solid than
Reese Brown (53:07.852)
the air is than the tables are and yet we're having these thoughts. like even from that scientific perspective, I still think there is something so magical that from, think I'm going down a slightly different rabbit hole because I've been thinking about this a lot lately that I'm like, I think it's true. Like atheism and theism are kind of the same thing at the end of the day because it's a belief in something you cannot see.
And what is it but energetics? It's energetics and faith. And Arthur C. Clarke has this, he has three principles, I want to say, of science. And one that I just think is so beautiful is...
Reese Brown (53:56.488)
my goodness, it is leaving my mind, but it is something about how, any sufficient science will be indistinguishable from magic. And it's, it's like, it's, it's exactly that, right? That it is, these are one in the same. And to say I am God feels deeply, self-centered and conceited and, also.
Dennis (54:04.707)
from Magic. Yeah, I thought that's where you might be going.
Reese Brown (54:26.26)
The word is, for this is escaping me too, my brain is not firing on all cylinders, but antithetical to the idea of believing in a God, right? If you say that to a Christian, they're like, you're crazy pants. Who do you think you are? You are not God. But to me, is deeply, deeply spiritual to say, no, I believe that I am God and so are you and so are we all. Yeah.
Dennis (54:52.349)
Well, we're taught that. mean, in Christianity in particular. you know, it's, mean, pride goes before a fall, you know, and a haughty spirit before destruction. I have that one, you know, memorized. You know, my mother would say it to me constantly. But, I mean, it's this idea, you know, again, that we're down here and God's up here. And, you know, the funny part is, if Christians actually read the works of Paul,
Reese Brown (54:59.821)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (55:03.598)
body's fear foot. Yeah.
Dennis (55:22.497)
He makes like a hundred references to the idea that Christ is in you. And what does, if somebody's in me, like, what does that mean? Then, you know, they'll take everything else. I mean, they'll go crazy over, you know, a man lying with a man is an abomination, you know, which is a very literal reading of something that was written thousands of years ago that has changed dramatically because of culture and context and all of this other stuff. They'll die on that hill, but...
Reese Brown (55:26.946)
Yeah. Yeah.
Reese Brown (55:50.968)
Yeah.
Dennis (55:51.835)
when and use it as a sword to bludgeon others. But you say something like, hey, Jesus is in me. If Jesus is in me, then I'm in Jesus. You can't have it one way, you can't have it both ways. Or you can't have it one way and not the other. And so, I just find it funny. And again, I don't ever want to be, I don't wanna be looked at or thought of as like dunking on Christianity or anything because I have a reverence for it.
Reese Brown (55:56.675)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (56:09.709)
Right.
Reese Brown (56:20.63)
Right, right. Same.
Dennis (56:22.041)
It's just though, I think for 98 % of the Christians that I have grown up with and know and love and think are incredible, wonderful, lovely people would have a real difficult time, if not more. Just even to say it, even for them to say it, I think, I'm curious, but a lot of people are, what comes up for you when you say, am God, I am God and really mean it, I am God.
Reese Brown (56:48.227)
Yeah.
Dennis (56:50.909)
Like I am the invisible, formless, faceless substance of all things. Not me, not the flesh suit. I mean, that's, you know, I really like to view myself as a player. I'm just a player on this stage. This, you know, but the thing is, is I'm the writer, the director, the author, and the producer all in one. And that's a beautiful thing. And it's a responsible thing.
Reese Brown (56:58.157)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (57:03.0)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (57:13.998)
It's deeply, it is so responsible. It's deeply poetic. It's deeply Shakespearean. And I mean, all the world's a stage and men and women merely players, right? And I love that it says men and women merely player, not in we are merely players, right? Because it actually separates your earthly identity that like, I am a woman. And even though like I identify very strongly with being a woman and that's a part of my identity that
has given me great community and strength. But even that, the idea of gender and name and selfhood is something that is flesh suit, right? These things as opposed to what is the thing that exists that is not the player, that is not the actor. And I think that even is so interesting to think about this in context of...
neurodiversity and in the idea of masking. And I think that masking is something even for people who maybe aren't neurodivergent can really relate to. We all know what it feels like to be in a place and not be fully ourselves, be the version of ourselves that we know this space calls for. And that is deeply masking. And I think it's so interesting to think of it within this idea of
stage and that the like ancient acting was mask work and I could go on a rant about mask work for years because it's beautiful and gets you so in touch with what's behind the mask and it's really really interesting but just the ways that we see these crossovers culturally in this thing it's it's like the truth is there within everything like everything holds that
And I actually, there's a quote that I have sitting right here. The truth is in all things and all things are the truth. And it's that, right? So within all of this.
Reese Brown (59:31.906)
What now? How do we, cause I think one thing that your story also touches on that for me is kind of the work is bridging the gap between flesh suit existence and knowing this reality and also wanting to make a difference and wanting to make an impact and believing in the purpose of this work and of being here. How do we bridge that gap? How do we?
embody our I am every day while still knowing that we are puppeting something that is so impermanent and that yes, much of this life feels, it's almost like a deeply nihilistic thing that it's like, it means nothing, but that actually, in the existentialist way, makes it mean everything. So.
How do you reckon with that, with this bridging of the gap between the kind of forever truth, the capital T truth and the lower T truth, that there is this deeper reality and then there is the reality of our lived day-to-day existence? How do you bridge that?
Dennis (01:00:46.275)
Yeah, mean, the true answer, the answer that immediately pops into my head, which I'll talk a little bit more about because I like to talk, but is just persistence. To me, most critical, faith is persistence. mean, persistence is really what it is. And what do I mean by that? Well, I mean, I guess I'll...
Reese Brown (01:00:58.478)
Hmm.
Dennis (01:01:14.365)
get biblical again because that's just what I do. we're here and we're sowing the Word, right? mean, we're talking about this. The information is being put out there. The Word, if you will, and you actually started, I think, our conversation with this idea of, in the beginning was the Word of the Logos, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This idea of the Word.
And what is the word? What is the logos? Well, I can almost think of it as our truth, as a way of truth. But once you take hold of this idea and you make the decision that, know, I'm going to believe this, what do you do? Well, to me, it's a day, Paul said that I die daily. To me, it is about this idea of dying. You have to...
Reese Brown (01:01:44.919)
Right.
Reese Brown (01:02:04.238)
Hmm.
Dennis (01:02:08.541)
You have to die to your old self. You have to die to all of the isms that you subscribe to. And that's a tough, that's lonely. That's lonely. It's a hard, and you know, but again, Jesus called it the pearl of great price. Like a man found a pearl of great price buried in a field. He went and sold everything that he had so that he could buy.
Reese Brown (01:02:11.864)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:02:22.254)
Yeah, it's a hard sell.
Reese Brown (01:02:30.35)
Hmm.
Dennis (01:02:38.449)
property to get that pearl. Well, you know, the message I would say is you're the pearl, Reese. I'm the pearl. You're listeners. Every single one of you is the pearl, but you have to buy it and it takes everything. There is no... That's just the truth of it. And those are the folks that I have dedicated. That's my mission to work with, folks who are literally like Cortez when he reached the new world. He burned his ships.
Reese Brown (01:02:44.376)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:02:51.918)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:03:07.121)
If you're gonna believe this, there's no, you're never a little bit pregnant. You're either pregnant or you're not pregnant. There is no, there's a lot of gray in the world, but there's no gray in being pregnant and there's really no gray in this. Either you believe it or you don't. And it's okay not to. But once you do, it's a marvelous way of living.
Reese Brown (01:03:13.761)
Right.
Dennis (01:03:37.117)
My, you know, and the thing I would say is test it. Like that, and I mean, that's really the second thing, this persistence. It's try it. Like if something's true, it should be testable in the sense of try it and see. So what do I mean? Well, you know, take something you want, you know, whatever it is, and see yourself.
Reese Brown (01:03:37.442)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:03:52.898)
Mm-hmm.
Dennis (01:04:04.585)
as if, watch yourself, figure out something that allows you to feel as if you already had that thing that you wanted in your life. for instance, it was a, getting a good grade on a final, let's say, you're, and I intern at a college, I like to, things that are relevant to some of the folks that I've worked with, but see yourself ahead of time.
Reese Brown (01:04:15.032)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:04:34.769)
know, getting whatever that would look like, construct a scene or imagine something in your head that implies you've gotten whatever it is that you were looking to get. how would you, what would the person who got a 96 on the final look like? What would that feel like? What would you do? And would your friends congratulate you? Maybe that's how you do it. Maybe you script out a scene, you know, but imagine you're writing the episode.
Like I love doing that and this, and different, know, there's a whole lot of stuff out there on what we're talking about here. I mean, you can go to YouTube and there's a ton of things. I mean, I'm interested in sharing what I know because it is so life-changing. But there's not a dearth of information. I mean, there's a hundred different ways. But what there is is the connection's missing. This is a really hard thing to do.
Reese Brown (01:05:04.675)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:05:13.165)
Yes.
Reese Brown (01:05:32.162)
Mm-hmm.
Dennis (01:05:34.205)
It's not impo- I mean you don't need anyone else because you're everything there is anyway, but having other Other selves if you will you know is is I mean mean that's the whole reason we're here if you believe all of this that that source God the universe whatever awareness wanted to experience things and so you know and and what happened you know to me that's just a beautiful way of looking looking at things and and
Reese Brown (01:05:37.047)
Right.
Reese Brown (01:05:44.344)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:05:55.448)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:06:02.243)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:06:03.343)
But I encourage people to try it. Just, just, you know, try it.
Reese Brown (01:06:05.87)
Well, and I think even going back to what you said at the very beginning with like the sports metaphor and how...
Practicing a sport can feel really tangible. One of my favorite ways that we know that this principle works on a really small scale is positive visualization. And that was something when I was younger and I was a highly competitive athlete and my volleyball serve was off for whatever reason or I was like, I was swinging or something was weird or this was a really important game and I really needed to perform well. Car ride on the way over there.
eyes closed, visualizing what does my perfect serve look like? What does the Reese who serves perfectly every time feel like? The Reese who performs her best game, the Reese who is setting perfectly every single game. And this is what the best sports psychologists in the world will tell you to do. And obviously that feels very minimal. And there's a lot of different ways that I think you could come back at this and say,
Well, that's telling your brain these things and you're practicing it in your brain and that allows your brain to fire the different neurons down. Like it's not a spiritual thing. It's not a God thing. Well, let's extend the metaphor out further, right? To these other things of, what does the you that you want to be feel like living the life that you want to live? And when you, you you play the way you practice, right? When you do those things mentally,
going back again, that is both remembering it happened as well as imagining it happen in the future. And it is happening to you in that moment, the same way things in the past happened to you. That is how your brain experiences it. And it just, it does feel like a God thing in...
Reese Brown (01:08:06.862)
taking control of the ownership that you do have of your life. And I think one thing that's important to me within this conversation is to return back to what you said about choice, that you don't have control over the cards you are dealt. Because I think it's really easy to look at this conversation and it come across as very trite and even, you know,
Privileged in a lot of ways and it is a privilege. It is a privilege to be able to be having this conversation to believe this and to Walk in this truth for us. It is absolutely a privilege but I think Acknowledging that this isn't any sort of Like you said removing blame from things. I would just hate for this to come across as
placing blame on people who get into horrible situations that it's like, you did that to yourself. No, absolutely not, right? And there are all sorts of things that we can do to understand why spiritually and energetically and within the context of this framework that we're talking about, really hard, bad things happen to people all the time. But I think the most powerful and empowering piece of this is that
no matter what that context looks like, you always have the choice to...
Reese Brown (01:09:40.322)
have faith, to believe. Yeah.
Dennis (01:09:44.687)
You do, and that's, and you're right, I appreciate you saying that, Reese. I think it's important because I experienced this a lot growing up, you know, from a Christian prayer or faith perspective, but I think it applies here just the same. It's this idea that I wasn't good enough or somehow I failed or, you my faith wasn't strong enough or, and I get where that comes from. That's a critic.
Reese Brown (01:09:57.646)
Mm-hmm.
Reese Brown (01:10:08.578)
Right.
Dennis (01:10:13.223)
That's this idea of, but again, can you ask is this useful? Who is asking this question? Because people put, they do this, they'll look up some technique, right? And again, it's just like the so or so is the word, right? So that parable, which was such an important parable, Jesus actually explained it. He didn't really explain many parables, but that was one he actually explained.
Reese Brown (01:10:30.05)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:10:36.718)
Right.
Dennis (01:10:38.013)
And it is fundamental to how the world works. But what does he say? Well, a farmer goes out and scatters seeds, and some of it falls on hard ground. And the birds come and quickly eat it. So another more falls on thorny ground, it calls, where it tries to grow but gets choked out. there are the ideas, is the world comes and chokes things out. And so there's all these different ways that things can land with people.
You know, it's very easy for us to sit here and I can imagine somebody saying, no, you don't understand. I've tried this, I've done this and it doesn't work for me. And first of all, my genuinely, my heart, I get it. I want, there is, your hurt is real and deserves, it deserves acknowledgement and not hiding. And that's what can happen sometimes. We push this down. Like that is a real hurt and that is a very real thing. And.
Reese Brown (01:11:12.387)
Right.
Reese Brown (01:11:29.272)
Great.
Yeah.
Dennis (01:11:34.469)
I still choose to believe that I'm going to get what it is that I want. And I acknowledge that and I talk to that part of me and I comfort that part of me and I sit with that part of me and I let that part of me know that they're loved. But at the end of the day, it's about saying, it's about what are you going to choose to continue to believe? And the other problem is this is a very lonely journey often for people, I find.
Reese Brown (01:11:36.748)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:11:50.733)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:12:04.317)
It's very hard to find people to talk with about this. I think you know this. People will think you've lost it. You're woo woo, you're into crystals. Listen, I think everything is permitted, frankly. You had mentioned earlier, I identify as a witch, and I love that. I think that's incredible. I'd love to do episodes with you on...
Reese Brown (01:12:07.8)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:12:23.02)
Right. Right.
Reese Brown (01:12:31.149)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:12:31.357)
That specifically, like we can go all over there and particularly from someone who came from a very Judeo-Christian perspective and very Abrahamic religion perspective, it's really interesting sort of the perception of this concept of daemons or demons that literally get demonized. And again, I like to ask questions like, well, what if, history is always written by the winner. if everything, question everything.
Reese Brown (01:12:35.233)
yeah.
Reese Brown (01:12:47.596)
Yes, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Reese Brown (01:12:56.141)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:13:00.253)
question everything, for those, whatever your situation is, whatever, even if you're about to be evicted tomorrow, and that's a terrible, terrible situation to be in, and I don't make any light of it, how do you, what meaning do you put on that? Do you make it mean that you're a failure and you can't do anything? Or do you believe, what do you want for your life? Get that, I mean, number one, know what you want. So many people don't know what they want. I mean, they want some nebulous, vague idea.
Reese Brown (01:13:27.266)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:13:29.423)
of happiness and again there's nothing wrong with that but they think all of these things outside of them are going to make them happy. if I get this job, things will be better. If I make this much money, things will be better. If I get this person, my life will be different. will be changed if I just have this person. And frankly that's an awful lot of pressure to put on anybody, number one. I wouldn't want anyone to put that on me.
Reese Brown (01:13:35.758)
Hmm.
Reese Brown (01:13:54.178)
Yeah.
No.
Dennis (01:13:57.787)
I know what I want, know, so, but wherever you are, you can always choose to believe that something good is going to happen and see it happen and embed yourself in it to the point where you are diluting yourself. know, people throw around the term gaslighting all the time. And I don't love that for a lot of reasons. I do think there are, it certainly happens. But in a sense, the way it's used that you're almost gaslighting yourself into, and again, this is biblical, you know.
Reese Brown (01:14:11.338)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:14:16.942)
Great.
Reese Brown (01:14:23.725)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:14:26.469)
You could look at the analogy, mean, look at the story of Esau and Jacob. Esau was the firstborn, he came out first. Jacob came out second. The name Jacob means supplanter or trickster. And the whole story, Esau was supposed to get the blessing and get blessed by his father, Isaac. His father says, bring me a meal, go kill a game and bring me a beautiful stew and I'm gonna bless you.
Rebecca, the mother of the twins, heard this, tells her younger son who she loved, Jacob, to go, I'm gonna make you food, go bring it to your dad and get the blessing, and he does. And Isaac gives him this lovely blessing, all of these great things are gonna happen. Esau comes back and is like, hey dad, here's your food. It's like, who are you? I already gave the blessing, I can't give it back. Well, that's biblical, this idea of being the supplanter, of deceiving. We're deceiving ourselves, it's all within us.
Reese Brown (01:15:22.168)
Mmm.
Dennis (01:15:22.919)
This is all a play within us. We're, I'm not asking, again, let's say you want the love of your life, somebody who, this is the person who makes your heart beat, and you're convinced of this, and there's a lot of people who say, you shouldn't want that. You shouldn't want a specific person, or you shouldn't want a specific job, but no, instead, I just wanna find my soulmate, a true, and both are right, by the way, I don't, but I think,
I think you, I believe you're allowed to choose what you want. Like, this is your reality, essentially. And so the question is, it's not just to fool yourself into saying that, I'm in a relationship with so and so. Because your brain is gonna fight against that, right? But it's this idea that, I'm not asking you to believe that you're in a relationship with so and so. I'm not asking you to believe that you have this job.
Reese Brown (01:15:58.146)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:16:09.548)
Right. Yeah.
Dennis (01:16:19.164)
or I'm not asking you to believe whatever the situation is. What I'm asking you to believe is can you believe that your belief in this is enough? That just by believing that it's almost extracting it to my mind level because your brain is gonna fight, for many people, like, and this is why, like, okay, you'll read online or hear online of, you'll grow taller.
Reese Brown (01:16:29.378)
rate.
Reese Brown (01:16:33.922)
Yeah, yes.
Dennis (01:16:45.787)
You know, like that's a big one. I want to grow two inches. And again, I'm not going to put a limit on that. That's something that you want. That's a true heart's desire. I believe you can have it. But the question is, can you believe it? I mean, can you believe it?
Reese Brown (01:16:46.966)
Right, the, yeah.
Reese Brown (01:16:59.97)
Yeah. Well, and I think, I think also not being married, this is something that I think is really interesting too, is this almost be careful what you wish for. Because I think oftentimes we get married to the way that we expect something to happen. And if you are putting energy into growing taller and like that is truly the thing that you want. All of us hear that and we think,
Okay, so what? Like I'm gonna wake up one day with this belief and like I just barefoot on the ground, I'm gonna be two inches magically taller? Like how would that happen? I don't know if at a certain point, like how you could make that happen. What I do believe is that there are lots of shoes out there and sole inserts and things that you can do to give yourself this feeling of being taller.
energetically, how can you feel like you are two inches taller? Like you don't know what the world might put in that pathway that is giving you the thing that you have been working for, that you have been putting your energy into, that you have been manifesting. It just may not be the way that you imagined it. And I think so often, so many of us are actively living our dreams, but we don't realize it because it is not.
the dream that you thought you were dreaming. And it's very much.
Dennis (01:18:30.557)
I like that idea of living your dreams. think the, and I agree completely, because again, I believe we're manifesting everything at all times. this is, this world is, the problem is for most people they don't do it consciously. So they're just dreaming. they're, and I mean again, a lot of poets and a lot of everything said that, but you you're right. mean, and people can get literal.
Reese Brown (01:18:46.7)
Yes.
Dennis (01:18:56.957)
and you know, oh I wanna grow too. mean, so what would be the difference between, you know, me, I'm six foot tall, six one-ish. Six, you know. If everyone saw me as six four, even though I was only six foot tall, but literally everyone I came in contact, because I literally my whole life have I had people say, wow, how tall are you, six four? And it's like, no, I'm about six one, barely six one. And, but people saw me as six four. Now here's something really funny, know, or not even funny.
Reese Brown (01:18:57.389)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:19:26.587)
So my whole life I grew up, my grandmother prayed that I would be over six feet tall. Like literally my mother, every day this was her prayer because everyone in our family was short. My mother was five one, my grandmother was five foot, even my grandfather, my father was five eight, my grandfather was five 10. Like there's nobody in our family who was above five foot 10 really. And so she prayed, and I ended up at six foot one, six foot
and seven eighths inches if I want to be absolutely precise. But yet people see, and I don't know why I'm going off on this, but my point is that was intention. Now, again, can I prove that, there's no experimental design here. Like don't have access to the universe in which my grandmother did not pray for me to be six foot tall to see what happened. I, is this the hill I'm gonna die on? Yes, I wouldn't have been, no, I don't know that, but does it matter?
Reese Brown (01:20:08.536)
Great.
Reese Brown (01:20:12.792)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:20:21.237)
And furthermore, again, back to the question, if everyone says I'm six foot four, even though I'm six foot one, does that matter? And could I grow to six foot four? Sure. I'm not willing to put the energy or effort to do that. I'm not gonna, but I would never say no. That's the one thing I'll never say is, if you have a dream, don't, do it. Like I will support you. I don't care who you are. Like if that's your, don't care. No dream is wrong. Even if it's an unlovely dream, that's the thing. Like, and that's what people want. A lot of people don't get what they really want because they think they don't deserve it.
Reese Brown (01:20:22.179)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:20:30.444)
Maybe. Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:20:40.514)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:20:51.341)
Or maybe they're ashamed that they won it in the first place.
Reese Brown (01:20:51.374)
Hmm.
Yeah, yeah. Well, and I think this idea that we don't deserve it is so pervasive. It truly is, and it is this one thing that I've noticed for myself in like wanting the podcast to be really successful, wanting Coheer to be successful, wanting to be fully self-employed. The thing that keeps me from...
having the level of success that I would like to have so often, at least recently I've just really been thinking about this is why am I not holding myself to the schedule? Why am I not taking these certain risks? Why am I not being more invested? Why am I not spending more time? And in my mind, those are the things that it's like,
Well, I have to do these things. I have to pay my dues. I have to spend 20 hours a day. I have to be exhausted at the end of the day to deserve all of these things, right? And that's what I'm telling myself is that even though I believe I'm awesome, I'm a great person, I'm meant to do this work, I believe in this work, I believe in myself, I am still telling myself I am not doing a good enough job.
of what I am meant to do to be worthy of it. And that is wild when you sit and break it down, right? That it's like, why are you not your front row? Why are you not your number one fan? Because you do deserve it. You already do. And why should anyone have to burn themselves out? Have to...
Reese Brown (01:22:44.418)
do anything that is making you physically unhealthy or mentally unhealthy or emotionally unhealthy in order to get what you deserve. And I think that, especially in the West, we have this idea of like, pay your dues and then you'll rise to the top and, you know, do the whole thing. And it's like, and then what? You're happy? Like, because you've done these things? Like, no, like, why are you not already worthy of that?
Dennis (01:23:09.159)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:23:13.996)
because you are. You are.
Dennis (01:23:17.093)
Yeah, you can't become worthy of something that you can't earn what's already yours. That's just the fundamental idea of it. And I read a story once about this old pensioner woman in London or outside of London or whatever who lived this incredibly meager existence, tiny, small, tiny little house, barely getting by. And then she died one day and it was found out that she had had
Reese Brown (01:23:21.336)
Right.
Dennis (01:23:46.942)
a multi-million dollar estate bequeathed to her that she never found out about. So literally here she was suffering the whole time and living in poverty essentially when all of this wealth was hers. And I love that, and I hate that for her, but I love that analogy because I believe that that is true for all of us. It's not a zero sum game and that's what we've been taught to believe. it's not, I succeed.
Reese Brown (01:24:04.429)
Right.
Reese Brown (01:24:10.989)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:24:15.875)
And in order for me to succeed, this isn't squid game, where there can be only one. There's plenty of people who I can work with, there's plenty of people who you can work with, and you will touch people in ways that I never could, and vice versa. Because our energy is meant for certain people. Everything that went into us, that created us to who we are today, is really for other people. mean, we're not here for ourselves.
Reese Brown (01:24:20.011)
Yeah
Reese Brown (01:24:31.939)
Right.
Reese Brown (01:24:37.229)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:24:45.597)
And you know, I always heard that and you know, it was always like well, I mean, I mean, why do we react ugly? Unlovely in love and in unlovely ways or why do we act in ways we would because of scarcity because we're we're we're afraid Because we don't think we're have enough. I can't give that that homeless person $10 because I can barely make rent and They don't deserve it and see what the mind does all of these things and and my whole
Reese Brown (01:25:09.806)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:25:14.811)
My whole view is let's just throw that all out the window. Let's throw, let's create a, I want to create a space where there is no judgment, that we can just be real and naked and true and see what happens in a safe, safe, like play like kids in life. yeah, I just, I don't, to me the only sin.
Reese Brown (01:25:18.712)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:25:32.173)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:25:35.628)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:25:44.037)
in the world is to have a fervent desire, a heart's longing, the yearning of your soul that you do not satisfy. That to me is my definition of sin. Because if you think about it, if I'm hungry, if I'm starving, my salvation is food. If I'm thirsty, my salvation is water. If I'm poor, my salvation
Reese Brown (01:25:54.274)
Hmm.
Dennis (01:26:12.609)
That's Jesus, if you will. That's my savior is those things in that moment. again, I believe our belief is what creates those things in some way that I can't understand. In the same way I don't understand how a human takes nine months to become, come from a single cell to a fully formed human being. An elephant takes 11 months, a chicken takes 21 days, a chicken egg. Why?
Why doesn't it take 20 years? It takes as long as it takes and people grow weary. And the fact is, the world, this reality is really being written as we go along. You talk about building the plane and flying the plane. I believe that. Because if I believe anything, that it's all finished. Like there is no work to be done. And even, again, people think God has to, even Christians, they pray, they think God is going to do something. It says it is finished.
Reese Brown (01:26:56.227)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:27:07.916)
Right, right.
Dennis (01:27:09.937)
Like creation is finished. There's a verse that basically says Jesus put his feet up on the stool of the world. He made his enemies his footstool. Like, rested. know, exactly. it's this idea of peace when you are finally convinced. And this is what's so hard about it because there's no formula to get there.
Reese Brown (01:27:16.814)
Well, on the seventh day he rested, it's like, they've been resting.
Reese Brown (01:27:26.476)
Yes.
Reese Brown (01:27:35.949)
Right.
Dennis (01:27:35.961)
And it's not, and I watch a lot of other creators, if you will, who are similar to my view in terms of the way the world works, in terms of our intention. The most powerful thing we can do is set our intention and keep our focus on whatever it is that we want. And that attention as we continue to see it, and we believe it into existence, essentially. And again, though, it's already there because we couldn't dream about it.
Reese Brown (01:27:47.864)
Mm-hmm.
Reese Brown (01:28:01.891)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:28:05.967)
if it wasn't something that already existed in a part. And again, we walk from state to state. And that's why I have no issue when people want things that others, they're embarrassed of. Like, I want this, I'm embarrassed that I want it. And so I pretend I don't want it, but yet deep down I do. And so you're living in sin. Now, I would say, let's explore what it is that you think you want. But if we come to the, do the work to say, is this what I really want?
Reese Brown (01:28:29.731)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:28:35.293)
Do I want to want this? Is it okay that I want this? Do I allow myself to want this? But if you do those steps, then you're meant to have it. If you're willing to go through all of that and at the end of it still, hey, I want you to have it because you're meant to have it. And I don't care why, I don't care what it is. That's the beautiful part because it's the role you're meant to play. You wouldn't want to do it if it wasn't meant for you. And if you can...
Reese Brown (01:28:37.762)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:28:55.683)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:29:02.158)
Great.
Dennis (01:29:03.465)
So I love, I love, yeah, I love this stuff. Like I love, I want people to see how powerful they are.
Reese Brown (01:29:09.442)
Yeah, well, and yeah, yes, yes. And I love this, like everything is already perfect. You are already perfect. And then we get to choose what we make it mean. And I think that that's just a really beautiful, you know, kind of full circle moment to the podcast. It's making meaning. And that is why it is called what it is, is because conversations like this are both how I...
am creating the life that I want to live, which is having conversations like these. Like the thing that makes me excited and fills me up is when I end a podcast and it's like, that was good. You know, like that was good. That, that is what that looks like to me in so many ways, but also
Dennis (01:29:56.925)
Yeah, and what I love, is simply that everything we've talked about, we've literally just scratched the surface. We could pick any topic we've started and literally probably do a full podcast on it, which is super, super cool. And that, to me, is so super valuable. And it's so great to have the opportunity to talk with you because you're like-minded. honestly, feel like that's... You have to be aware...
Reese Brown (01:30:04.439)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:30:09.585)
yeah.
Reese Brown (01:30:14.573)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:30:25.443)
You have to believe what you surround yourself with people who... But here's the thing, again, we always put cause and effect. There's nothing we're doing. You have to trust that you will find the people who you need for this season in your life and be okay with the fact that they might not be forever people. But don't be surprised if... I encourage everyone to try this and it will change your life. I promise you.
Reese Brown (01:30:29.688)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:30:43.469)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:30:53.464)
See how it magnetizes you. It turns you into a magnet where like the poles, you know, it will force away what is not meant to be and attract what does and it does include people. It really does. And I think that also within all of this, the idea that it can be really lonely, but it doesn't have to be. Not being afraid to do this work in community as well, I think.
That's why I wanted Coheer to be a collective, right? From the very beginning. It was always, this is not my story. This is not about me. This is not my journey. It is all of us. How do we make meaning? Yes, I am. But that means you are and we are. And what does that collective look like? I just think it's so important to keep that at the forefront. And like you were saying, we are here to be of service to other. And when we engage in that energy,
that that's why it's already perfect. And I think the thing that I don't, I don't think I've had one episode where helping others has not been at the heart of why someone does what they do. We are hardwired for that. There's a study that just came out recently about how babies, when they are like in rooms with each other, they laugh when they hear other babies laugh. They cry when they hear other babies cry. We are
hard-wired for empathy. And I just think that's so beautiful to think of the way that you recognizing your I am-ness, your God-like self, your truth, actually deeply helps other people do the same thing and step into their reality and their truth. And it's all reciprocal. It's all reciprocal.
Dennis (01:32:45.853)
It is, is, and you know, in the book of Job, as Job prayed for his friends, he was healed himself. It's a very powerful, powerful message. when, what you do unto others, you you re-put yourself. mean, again, these are laws. Like, these are laws. They work whether you want them to work or not. So, learn the rules. like, read the rule book.
Reese Brown (01:32:53.73)
Hmm.
Reese Brown (01:32:57.709)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:33:03.288)
Golden, golden rule. Yes.
Reese Brown (01:33:12.746)
Learn the rules. Yeah.
Dennis (01:33:14.941)
Figure it, test it, test it, see it, taste. A lot of people are like, trust me, trust me. I don't want anyone to trust me. I want you to do it on your own. if, right, trust you. Test it. mean, it either works or it doesn't. If it works, then go and do likewise. But try to just challenge yourself to do it. And there's tons of great resources out there. there's great...
Reese Brown (01:33:23.658)
No. Trust you.
Reese Brown (01:33:34.732)
Yes, yeah.
Dennis (01:33:44.541)
Great coaching available. great. I mean, there's so much free resources and I just I encourage people to try it and see how take take the meaning for themselves out of it because the meaning we make out of things is all based on our beliefs and and You can see you know, it's this it's this virtuous circle or it can be a vicious circle depending you you see what you believe By what you're feeling your feelings point
Reese Brown (01:33:47.554)
Yes.
Dennis (01:34:14.333)
to what your beliefs are. All of these things are a circle because we respond in a certain way because of what we believe. We believe that this is true, so we're defending ourselves because deep down inside, I think I am bad, so when you come at me, I have to defend myself. But again, when we stop and say, what do I believe, what does this tell me? I want my boss to respect me. That's what I really want. I don't feel respected at work, I feel...
Reese Brown (01:34:22.978)
Mm-hmm.
Dennis (01:34:43.997)
I feel like I'm on the edge. Okay, well, who do you want to be? Who do you see yourself as? Can you see yourself as the person who gets commended at work? Can you see and believe that I am the one who my boss, just the other day, my boss brought me into the office and said how great I was doing? Can you be bold enough and daring enough and courageous enough to believe that despite evidence to the contrary? I don't know. Not everybody can and that's okay.
Reese Brown (01:35:10.061)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:35:12.515)
There's no judgment, but we all have the ability. And it's a journey and we don't all get there. And that's okay in the sense of it doesn't lessen who you are. That woman who had the $2 million estate that she didn't know about, it didn't make her any less because she didn't know about it or use it. She was the same I am. It's a beautiful journey, Reese. I love the power of intention. I love...
Reese Brown (01:35:15.416)
Yes.
Reese Brown (01:35:18.904)
Yeah. And it's okay.
Reese Brown (01:35:30.125)
Right.
Reese Brown (01:35:42.016)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:35:42.621)
And I think especially one of my particular passions is really around empowering women to see their power. Because I feel like men often assume they're powerful because of society and all of these rules and the fact that they're bigger and stronger than most women. And it's just everything our society says and perpetuates.
Reese Brown (01:36:05.975)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:36:11.373)
And again, maybe it's because of my upbringing, the fact that I grew up with a single mom and in some senses was an encourager for her. But I see such a power in having both the, just so much power in having somebody encouraging you and seeing you for who you are. And that's really to me the power of getting a good coach or getting a good therapist, depending on, again, I think those
They're very different purposes, but ultimately it's about connection. It's about finding somebody to walk alongside of you, to encourage you. And for me, my passion, my true joy is to, in particular, empower women that have felt unempowered because of society and because of life and to get them to truly step into their power and not believe what...
the lies of society and to overcome and to live past their experiences. And I think it's desperately needed because, I mean, and I know there's a lot of different ways to feel empowered. I don't know, that's the world I want to imagine where nobody feels that they're not good enough, that nobody feels like they don't belong, that nobody feels...
Reese Brown (01:37:13.112)
Right.
Reese Brown (01:37:21.388)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:37:36.792)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:37:39.239)
that they're broken or that they even make mistakes. I tell myself that every day. I am the presence that never fails or makes a mistake, no matter what it is. Why is that so awful to believe? mean, know, you're so prideful. No, I don't think it's me anyway. Like I believe people will hear what they need to hear. I won't even remember what we said on this podcast other than it was absolutely lovely. Like there's no scripting here. There's no any of that.
Reese Brown (01:37:52.536)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:38:02.54)
Bright.
Dennis (01:38:09.329)
But people will hear what they need to hear out of this. the one thing is, and if it changes their lives, then we've fulfilled our mission. Like, that's the mission. But just know that there are people out there that can help you with this, that can help you walk alongside. Not gonna do the work for you, that's not possible. you can, just the energy of having somebody lift up your arms for you when your arms get tired, because the world is designed to make us exhausted.
Reese Brown (01:38:17.357)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:38:23.17)
Yes.
Reese Brown (01:38:38.978)
Yadis.
Dennis (01:38:39.081)
And, you know, again, there's so many different areas you can explore in life. And I don't know, that's my message, though, to everyone listening, is that you are a queen. You are a king. You are beautiful and you are perfect, just the way you are. Now let's reveal who you really are and who you're meant to be and the glory and the splendor that is found within you. And it's all there and it's beautiful and it's incredible.
Reese Brown (01:38:47.32)
Yeah.
Dennis (01:39:08.016)
I just want everyone to live their life that way. And it sounds so Pollyanna and it sounds so crazy. But you know what? I assume that it's possible for some people. I assume that this will help people and that it'll grow. And that's what we're all about here, period.
Reese Brown (01:39:10.796)
Yeah.
It's...
Reese Brown (01:39:17.23)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:39:22.606)
Period. Truly. I think that's it. I'm like that is the stuff. So as we head into the ending of our conversation, I have two final questions to wrap everything up. One, is there anything that we did not get to that we did not touch on? Of course, lots and lots, but that you would be remiss if you didn't add?
or something you wanna clarify or something you wanna go back to, re-emphasize, anything at all. This is just space for you.
Dennis (01:40:02.205)
Yeah, no, I think that people see my heart. the thing I would say is believe in your dreams. Allow, yield to the idea that you actually have what you want. It's a yielding, it's not a doing. It's an allowing, it's a yielding, it's an unfolding. And it's paradoxical.
That's the mystery. That's why it's so hard because the more you want something the more Because often we focus on lack and we focus on the fact that we don't have it But no we do and the more you tell yourself that just persist in it, you know And if you need help find somebody who is is but but find carefully because there's a lot of people who are cookie cutter You know, you it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. Everybody's different and different things are gonna resonate and You know try anything just try it
Reese Brown (01:40:35.939)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:40:39.277)
You do.
Dennis (01:40:59.303)
Try it, try it, and do it, you know?
Reese Brown (01:41:02.574)
Yeah, and on that, Dennis is a wonderful life coach as well as almost in May will be certified therapist. Are you currently accepting clients looking open all of those good things?
Dennis (01:41:18.429)
I am. And by the time this airs, I think I'll have my website up.
Reese Brown (01:41:19.886)
Yeah.
Reese Brown (01:41:24.59)
Beautiful. All of that will be linked in show notes wherever you are listening or watching. If you would like to be in community with Dennis, get in contact with him or work with him about this or any number of other things. Like you said, he also does a lot of work in the neurodiversity community. He's also extremely passionate about TTRPGs, which we didn't even touch on, which is something that we both love, which is so funny. But...
Dennis (01:41:48.987)
Yeah, we didn't even touch on that.
Reese Brown (01:41:54.05)
Yes, all of Dennis's information will be down below for anyone to find you. And my very last question, just to hopefully put a little bow on this vast and beautiful conversation is what is one word to describe how you are feeling right now?
Dennis (01:42:23.293)
Honored is the word I'll go with. In the sense of it's truly an honor just to be able to share what I love and the thing that I'm just so passionate about. And I'm honored to find community in the collective and hopefully we'll be doing a lot more together. hopefully your listeners like me because I hope to do more. If I can get my...
Reese Brown (01:42:49.635)
Yes.
Dennis (01:42:52.145)
as I graduate and figure out. But yeah, think that's for me is just an honor and a privilege to share my views of things with like-minded individuals and change lives. It takes one little thing. So thank you for what you're doing and I love being a part of it and can't wait to continue to grow with us.
Reese Brown (01:43:05.737)
on its...
It does. Yes.
Reese Brown (01:43:15.714)
Yeah, I mean, it is an honor and privilege to listen and hear and hold space for all of those things and to be able to be the platform where you are choosing to share this. So thank you so much. And I am, yes, similarly very excited for how this continues to grow. Thank you. Yeah. Yes.
Dennis (01:43:38.205)
Thank you. Be well. Be well, Reese.