Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, good morning. It's early.
I'm in Darmstadt in Germany and it's like 6:15, it's dark outside. I'm looking out into the woods at my friend Hermann's house and we're going to talk through the idea of now what.
Several years ago my son Liam was here and he was, I don't know, what, 12, nine, I don't know. And we had a really fun day. We're doing all kinds of activities and after each activity he would say, now what?
And it was very cute, but we also felt like, oh, oh, now what do we do? We have to figure out the next adventure. And it was just a little boy being impatient and up for the next adventure. So this is several years ago now. And at this point now what has become a bit of a question or a mantra or it just hasn't gone away. And as you know, if you follow me and listen to my stuff and read my work, you know that I have a new idea every single day. And it's the ones that stick around are the ones that I go for and I jump onto that rocket and fly up into the skies. So now what is taking new forms. And I'm sitting here together with my friend Herman and we were talking through the idea of now what? And here I'm going to give you a quick one minute idea of what I want to do. I've talked about this before. I want to do 365 page, not well, 365 quotes. So Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, whatever. And I want not Bradley to do 365 quotes, but I want 300, 365 different people to choose 365 different quotes. And then they're going to write a one page, maximum one page story or transformational journey or this is actually what. Herman had some good feedback about this, what this page is. And then so that's going to be a 700 plus page book. So I'm going to break that up into four books based on the seasons, winter, spring, summer and fall. So it's going to be four hard bound, gorgeous books. And then I want to add that each person records their quote and their story in their own voice. So if you're listening to this and you think, oh, I want to do that. Hold on to your hats there cowboy, because we've got. There are several requirements I want to require for this. One is the story, the quote, the audio. And then I also want to have a less than 10 minute conversation with you with each of the 365 people about their story. So those are the nuts and bolts Hermann here was talking about. We talked about who are the 365 people, how are we going to pruned them or choose them or who are they and what are the themes and what are the underlying themes and are there different themes? And I think some of the themes are the seasons. Winter, spring, summer, fall. That could be a nice way to break things up. Winter, it's okay. It's darker and shorter days and looking forward to spring. Spring is new life. And summer is. I don't know. And fall. Okay, so Hermann, you talked about honesty and integrity and also Hermann's German and he. One of his first thoughts here. I'm speaking for him. But he said, okay, it shouldn't be this All American Rah Rah365 I conquered the world. Hero's journey. Amazing story for each and every one of them. I think there should be some of those, but not just a rah rah, look at me, I did it, I succeeded type things. So what are the other.
What else then?
Because I'm not thinking. It's only that. But you were talking about not feeling alone, not being alone with.
To experience something and have this now what moment. Oh, by the way, the now what moment. I would like each of the stories to have gotten through the now what moment. So it's not the answer to now what is not? I don't know.
Unless it's helpful. So Herman was also talking about not being alone and feeling.
What did you say? Not being alone.
[00:04:52] Speaker B: But.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm not the only person who has ever experienced this thing. What else could you see, Hermann?
[00:05:01] Speaker B: And now what? Now what? First of all, the state of being in the now what is.
I'm not happy with the current situation. I'm not happy with this moment.
I want to get out of it. Now what?
There is discomfort, there's dissatisfaction, maybe even suffering. Now what? Now what? I mean, the way you say it. Now what?
[00:05:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: Oh my God.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:43] Speaker B: And realizing.
Realizing I'm lost.
I don't know, I can stand it.
And not running away.
That's it.
Because now what could be interpreted as I need to get the hell out of here. Running away.
But maybe there's a different now what? Which goes deeper, beyond the American hero construction, you know?
[00:06:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:21] Speaker B: Now what? Hey, you got to know you are the hero of your life. You have everything in control. You know exactly what to do. It's all based on my stupid old experiences. And I'm going to do the same stuff over and over again. No, it's something completely different that now what is open.
And it's not based on my past, it's not based on my experiences, it's not based on my history, it's not based on my fantasies.
It's based maybe on something completely different.
And I don't know.
However, if I'm in that mode, in this open mode, it may find me.
[00:07:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: It may find me. Yeah.
See, I had no idea I would say that, what I. What I just said.
[00:07:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: But while I was saying it, I found it myself. Interesting.
[00:07:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: And where did it come from? Where did it come from? It didn't come from memory.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: It came somewhere from right now.
[00:07:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:37] Speaker A: Yeah, right now.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: And it has something to do with the atmosphere we are having right now. It has something to do with my inner pain. Yeah. So I'm close to my.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: What? Yeah, yeah, very close.
[00:07:51] Speaker B: See, it's. If I can manage to get away from this personality, from this ego, from this body, from this constraint, from this air, then my now what becomes.
Becomes deeper, much deeper.
You understand me?
Yeah, yeah.
Bradley's taking advantage of my suffering.
What a chance, huh?
[00:08:36] Speaker A: But this is it.
[00:08:37] Speaker B: What a chance.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: Let me hit record.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: Yeah, what a chance.
[00:08:42] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:08:42] Speaker B: Yeah. But now it gets really interesting because we don't know.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: We don't know. And in which direction we are heading.
[00:08:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:50] Speaker B: And apparently we are. We are.
Yeah. We have such a profound understanding which is not based on knowledge or experiences. It is based on curiosity.
It is based on.
What is it based on?
[00:09:11] Speaker A: You talked about earlier. Jumping without the net or the unknown and serendipity adventure. Yeah. Because I think that's a lot of the now what? Like you had said earlier, something like, you know now what. Oh, but I actually really know. Well, it's not quite the same thing. It's not jumping without the net. That's jumping, I don't know, onto a different diving board or something.
Oh, crap. I talked earlier about creativity. Constraint breeds creativity. I'm over my 10 minutes. We gotta cut it. We're it. This is it. Signing out from Darmstadt. Herman and Bradley in the dark. It's early. Good morning. See you next week.
[00:09:53] Speaker B: Hey. There was something, huh? I'm surprised.
