Living a rich and purposeful life - EP 2

In episode two of Beaming Green, we learn about the next chapter in Stephen Armytage's journey towards Living a Rich and Purposeful Life (LARPL). Stephen shares what brought on his self-described 'spectacular midlife crisis', which was a growing discomfort about the direction in which the world was heading, particularly around how humans were treating the earth.

While working in high-level government consulting, Stephen talks about his need to explore further, or dig deeper into himself to feel his own authenticity. This led him to embark on his own version of the hero's journey to become a sustainable man, father, husband, and community member, which involved spending six months traveling around Australia with his wife and two kids, living in a small camper trailer. On this trip he connected more deeply with his family and learned how to live an abundant, enriched life with minimal impact on the environment.

This prompted his decision to move to Northern NSW and some of the challenges and choices he and his family needed to make to be more sustainably authentic.

Stephen reveals how from that space he and his family manifested the perfect place to live and work at Gymea Eco Retreat where they were able to further develop and explore their connectivity with the land, themselves and their wonderful community.

We also delve a little deeper into his passion for LARPL and what to expect at his upcoming retreat starting on the 31st of May 2023.

Transcript

Jeremy Melder: 0:00

Hello, my name is Jeremy melder, and I'm the presenter from Beaming Green. Before we start, I would like to acknowledge that this podcast is being held on the traditional lands of the Bundjalung people and paying our respects to elders both past, present and emerging. Welcome to Season Two of beaming green. Now available on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform. We offer an array of inspiring guests speaking about their life experiences, on topics including sustainable living, environmental issues, and human sustainability. So whether you're a seasoned eco warrior, or just starting your sustainability journey, Beaming Green has something for everyone. So join us for season two. And let been some green together well, Stephen, welcome back to Beaming Green. Now last episode we were talking about, you know what led to your midlife crisis? Or what do you call it? What's the word you use your big tech, spectacular midlife crisis? And your trip around Australia? And what happened there? But I guess we're interested in what happened next. You you kind of moved to another state. And things really moved from there, didn't they?

Stephen Armytage: 1:44

Yeah, they did. So yes, at the bottom of the midlife crisis, and the cause for the midlife crisis, the spectacular midlife crisis was a real sense of not knowing what was going on, and what was the cause of this discomfort that I was experiencing. And when I found out recognized became aware that it was about my concern around the direction in which species is going, and, you know, we talked about, we both campus, and we talk about going to a campsite. And it's, it's a bit of a downer when you get to the campsite. And it's, you know, this mess from other people that have been there. And even when it's pristine, you know, it's just such a joy to go to a pristine campsite. And what I like to do, and I know you do as well is that when we leave the campsite, that we leave the campsite, and even, you know, even an even better situation. And I guess what I see as us as a species is we're not leaving the campsite, being the metaphor, the world in in as good a shape as when you and I joined it 50 something years ago. And that really, really gets to me. So. So that was my aha. And as, as disconcerting as that is, it kind of brought me back into the driver's seat, I went, Okay, so I'm feeling deeply depressed. But now I know why I'm feeling deeply depressed. And it was actually about the fact there was two aspects, the first aspect was that that big in an overwhelming kind of a situation for those of us that are connecting to that. And that that puts us put me in a very uncomfortable states. So that is that was going on for me. The second thing was the realization that I wasn't doing as much as I could have possibly been doing. Even though I had a highly influential role, consulting to the highest levels of government on human sustainability issues. The Department of Human Human Services, the Department of Education, the Department of Family and Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, I mean, I was consulting at the highest levels to solve sustainable issues for individuals, the people in the environment. So that was great. But that wasn't enough for me to resolve this deep sense that we're not leaving the campsite in as good a shape as we arrived. So for me, what I became what became really aware is that I needed to become what I attend that I that I coined, which was sustainably authentic. But it put me back into the driver's seat. So yes, I still felt that, you know, that, that yearning and that depression associated with how bad the situation was. And I'm not overdramatizing there. But it also put me into a place of questioning how could I most effectively, positively contribute to that situation? So now I could act again. And I'm uncomfortable when I can act. I've spent a lifetime of acting in accordance to my guidance, I guess. Yeah. So that's what the next part of the journey was about.

Jeremy Melder: 5:14

I just got a question for you. So you, as you said, you're working in the highest levels of, of government. Right? Consulting to you in consulting to, and I'm just wondering whether even our listeners are thinking this, you know, it's like, okay, so that's kind of a pretty pointed and influential part that you could be coming from right. But you've chosen to do it differently, why?

Stephen Armytage: 5:39

It just didn't. So I didn't feel. And it's a valid question. I didn't feel that I was sustainably authentic. At that time. Yeah. And up until that time, I felt like I was really congruent with that requirement to leave the campsite and in a better condition as when I arrived. But with this new awareness about this thing that had been creeping up on me, I needed to do more. And because I see myself as a good man, I'm like, well, if I'm a good man, then I need to do something about that. And I can't expect anybody else to do that. So I went through a very, very personal journey around what it was to be sustainable man, a sustainable father, a sustainable husband, a sustainable community member. And what I had to do was pull a bunch of stuff that wasn't congruent with that. That way that I was defining it. And you know, the context is, we spent six months on the road going around Australia, in you know, pretty, we pretty much had nothing, right? We had a, we had a pretty dodgy camper trailer that was 25 years old, we cooked our meals on a gas stove, we had a tiny little solar panel that provided all of our electricity requirements. And we were living an abundant enriched kind of experience. There was no compromise in that for me, except maybe we're burning a bit more diesel than I would have liked. At my footprint in Canberra, where we lived, we had this huge house that was very energy inefficient in summer to call and be comfortable and very energy efficient, inefficient, and winter to heat. And I went, Oh, that's just not congruent with this man I want to be. And I could probably build a mud brick house or something in Canberra, that Canberra also didn't seem to be the place anymore. Now, because my work there. Obviously, when I was consulting to federal government, it was appropriate for me to be there, then sure. But I had a bigger job to do, which involved all aspects of myself, but started, you know, with me, all change begins within and then to us personally and then. And then my experiences, it ripples out from there into our primary relationship, my my wife, my kids, my family members, parents, if they're still alive, a mum was still like, my dad wasn't alive at that point. And it was about becoming authentic in that manifestation of myself without sounding too woowoo. So I kind of unpeel the onion until I got to a point where I felt Yes, this is absolutely right. And what are this? How am I going to rebuild this stack? And and I went back to kind of root causes. So the question was, okay, so I need to live in a sustainably authentic way. And that means I need to have minimal carbon footprint, basically. So an efficient house that is comfortable, but not necessarily as big as the one we had in Canberra, being more connected to our environment, so finding a climate that was more kind of connected to us, because we lived on the canvas for 12 months, was kind of like liking the outdoors things. And the thing about being outdoors is that when I'm in the forest, when I'm in nature, when I'm in the water, I am more connected to my higher self than when I'm sitting in an office or when I'm punching away at a computer or whatever. So yeah, it was like a it was a gradual kind of recalibration process for me to find this thing called Sustainable authenticity. And I read a bunch of books. Some of those were about, you know, kind of taking a step back a bit like Steiner, the Steiner education process, where it's all about kind of connecting the child connecting with themselves, connecting with their value set, connecting with their environment, and then connecting with stories To kind of ground them to, you know, history and and building kind of a context to to be a good human being, you know, thriving in their environment. So I kind of had to do that for myself. And in fact, I've been read, I'm doing that to talk today. You know, I've got a really strong mission now. And I'm playing to that strong mission. And it's a constant process of calibration. Going, am I where I thought I was going to be? Where am I truly? Where would I love to be? What's my highest self say I need to be? And therefore, what's the course correction that I need to make? And it's, you know, it's constantly refining it's constant refining process for refinement process. So I did that. And there was many helpers in the way. But basically, what that did was at first, there was a question as if we're not going to live in Canberra, where are we going to live? And we found five really energetic, alive places. And this area near Mount warning was one of the ones one of those five, and it of all, the fire that felt the most, most practical, and the most beautiful environment for us to grow our kids up, right. So then, that 10 or 11, right? Yeah. The weather was great. It felt like New Zealand, but it was a bit warmer, it felt really energetic alive, I had a community of people that I knew pretty well, good spiritual practice. And I was connected with my environment. So we spent a year serendipity kind of opened up again, a dear friend decided to go to Scotland. And he said, you know, would you like to rent our house, you know, pay for the, for the mortgage for three months? While we're away? I don't know if we'll be away for three months, or it might be more. So we said yes. OB Yes. And we spent that time that didn't come back for 11 months. That's nice. We spent that time looking at all the potential properties in that area that could serve what I what I thought I could possibly do, because when I look back, I went well, okay. So if I flogged the house in Canberra, then we could buy a place that could be for expanded consciousness or, or for people who have been through my experience, to connect them in a practical and pragmatic way to how they might be sustainably authentic. So I got interested in earth building, I got interested in community building, I got interested in, you know, sustainable living practices. And those aren't all about, you know, the environment and all that kind of stuff. You know, sustainability for me is about how do we live in a peaceful, harmonious, fun and sustainable way. And to look after everything, and everybody, including Mother Nature. So this is the place we decided to, to come to. And I thought, given that I'm a I'm a trained educator and a reasonably good communicator, that maybe I could build some curriculum, some practice and provide a place for kids in the first instance, to come and have a camp have a sustainable school experience. And because now my colleagues from my teaching past and our headmaster's and staff, I said, Look, you know, is this something that that could ride? Could it work? And because I was worried about, I wasn't worried, but I'm like curious about. Okay, so how am I going to put food on the table? Yeah. And live and make a contribution? And it's like, that's a pretty big question, right? And it's a big question that everybody has when they're going through these moments of transition. And the propensity for me is to go back to what I already knew. But I knew that going back to being a management consultant, as influential as it was, at the highest levels of government, and I'm not saying that, I don't want to overblow that, but I didn't, I was carrying, you know, independent influence around particular issues. But it wasn't about that. For me, it was actually about finding what was that about? What was about that, that notion of sustainable authenticity that landed for me personally, and then my wife, my primary relationship, and then my kids, and then, you know, and so on, and so forth. So I dreamed up this idea of, basically an eco camp for kids to do to have sustainable experience that's connected to to the bush. Yeah. So yeah.

Jeremy Melder: 14:52

How did that work for you? Like, I guess, you know, you would had a couple of challenges in it. You know, how did your family react to that? In terms of what you wanted to do? Because this is something that you've, you've got on a mission that you'd like to follow, but like, was your partner and your kids happy about this?

Stephen Armytage: 15:12

Yeah, look, the kids were pretty happy. I mean, the kids, the kids trusted us right? In their 9 and 11. My mum and dad go, they kind of go, you know, the, the male variety of the children, he was really comfortable with this, and the female variety, she was like, Well, I want to go back to Canberra, I want to go back to Steiner School, and I want to be with my friends. But when when I we looked at that, objectively, it's like, we really understood that, you know, we were her safe harbor. And we can still provide her with a safe harbor and access to her friends. And nothing's ever the same when you go back to where you were. It's got glimpses of it, but we're in a timeline, a time continuum, it's always changing. So I felt comfortable about the most important thing was to provide a safe harbor for her. And an environment. We're all where we were all congruent with, I've only set with my wife. That was that was like a eight month journey, I guess. And there was, you know, people that knew us both. I'd be like, people to how things are going for you. Um, that's amazing, you know? Oh, my God. That's incredible dream and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right. And I think I enhance how Sonya? And I go, yeah, she's great. She's totally on board. And they kind of go,

Jeremy Melder: 16:42

are you sure?

Stephen Armytage: 16:43

Exactly. Are you sure. And during that eight months, there was, you know, that was, that was a time where my passion and my realization kind of hadn't caught up with her. And she's, you know, questioning, you know, how do I fit with this? M? And there was no question that she agree that that was the right thing for us to do. It was the how we were going to do that. And even the question of whether or not we're going to land here was a question of contention. She's Italian, lots of culture around family, big drawback to Melbourne, aging parents. That we were able to take it off step by step, and kind of to move down that continuum. And then we ended up in, you know, before we, you know, right, there was there was this kind of crucible moment where there was so much heat and pressure on us. And I remember one day where I was literally in tears. And I said, Look, I just give this whole dream away, if that's what you want me to do, because I'm more committed to you than I am to anything else, other than my own kind of personal development. And in that moment, I think she's, she then believed me probably for the for the first time again in eight months. And she's like, okay. And I kind of something snapped. I mean, what she wanted was she wanted everything that I was choosing. And she wanted, for my dream to have infrastructure rather than a bare piece of land, because I was looking into 1000 acres. That's right. And now infrastructure, so she wanted a house. Not so unreasonable for a wife and a mother. She wanted to a sealed driveway. She wanted a reliable water source and electrical source. And she wanted to be 15 minutes to the kids school. Not so unreasonable, right? Not really. And I'm like, Okay, well, that's great. But we've only got we've sold the house in Canberra and done pretty well and got a little bit more money than we, we bought it for. But I'm like, that's a really finite resource. And you're getting what you want, and me getting what I want. It's like, or I want what you want, but it's like, I just don't see how that goes together. And we've been I've been doing a lot of study around manifestation. And I learned and I have learned as cuckoo is this ounce that the how is not actually necessarily our responsibility if we're going to manifest on a large scale. What's important is actually to be congruent with what you're looking to manifest your vision what you would love. So, you know, she said, But wouldn't you like that as well? Wouldn't you like some infrastructure for your for your sustainable? When you like a house, and I go, Yeah, yeah, but it's not fucking possible. You know, I don't see it being possible. Yeah. Jesus. Yeah, but but do you want that and I go, Yeah, of course I do. In hindsight, the thing I would have wished for is a creek that ran through the place and I kind of said, but I said the I want that as well. And Jeremy, believe it or not, she found the property, we ended up buying that nine on the internet.

Jeremy Melder: 20:12

I remember that moment. It was crazy.

Stephen Armytage: 20:16

And there's there's a whole nother story about how that process thing played out. But it was about a pivotal moment was to because I have, I had an unwavering commitment to her and our relationship. And I had this dream. And I hadn't acknowledged her part of that dream, which was the house and stuff because I for practical reasons, I didn't feel like we had the right amount of money to be able to afford that. I kind of felt like if I went to a real estate agent and said, Hey, I'd like all these things. And I've only got this much money, the real estate agent would be going, that's great. Let me refer you to my competitors, because you're an idiot.

Jeremy Melder: 20:56

Call a psychologist.

Stephen Armytage: 21:01

Exactly. Right. So the proposition was ridiculous, right? So I'm going this doesn't compute. But what was important is that I just needed to choose that. That choice was congruent with both of us. So I choose her primarily. And I choose the secondary thing with her together. And as soon as that happened, the miracle occurred. The miracle, which is now called climate, eco retreat and spa, which people now think is like a real thing. But it was, it wasn't a real thing, then it was just, it was just a dream. And that's the power of manifestation. And it's illogical. And it's like magic. Because we don't have anything in our context to explain how that can happen. You know, when we go to school, they don't teach us about manifestation. And that's why part of the second part of my life or course, living a rich and purposeful life is about manifestation. The first part of it is, what do you want? Because that's the hardest thing. Yeah. What do you truly want? And what is in alignment with you, your soul and all the other decisions you're making? Like your partner? The thing was, I'd made a decision about something, but it wasn't in alignment with my partner's decision. And we needed to get common ground. And when we got there, ridiculous as it sounds this thing manifested.

Jeremy Melder: 22:22

Yeah. I mean, how many people do you think go through this really, right? There's so many couples, even, it's even a struggle doing it on your own, but you know, even with couples is quite a big negotiation, and actually coming on to the same level ground, it's like, how do you get to that point, you know, with, with someone, because we're all different, we really are, it's like, you might love each other to pieces, you know, but at the at the same time, you don't you want what you want, the other person wants what they want, and you got to marry that too. So I think that's, you know, a successful outcome that you and Sonya have achieved, because I can see how it's manifested now, years along, you know, down the track. And I guess I've got a question in terms of through that process, you know, over that period. So you've got, now you've got daimyo eco retreat, and you've been going through your own personal journey, or journeys together, because there's obviously journeys that you both would have gone through. And what the other influences that came into this in terms of influencing you in your mindset, that helped you?

Stephen Armytage: 23:38

Totally, absolutely, yeah, 1000s of them, right. Yeah. Yeah, and the thing, the thing that. So I just want to say a little something a little bit about what you were talking about with Sonya and me. I think everybody goes through it. The thing is that there doesn't seem to be culture in our contemporary Australian environment, to say, hey, firstly, these crisises are normal. And you got to do the work for yourself. First and foremost, if you get a realization and transformation, the next stage of that process is you need to make that harmonize that in your environment. And as part of that, your environment might change, like a relationship might break down, because it's no longer congruent with who you truly are. And I think that's to be celebrated. Yeah. But also, I don't think that's the default answer. Because you see, so I see so many marriages that finish when the kids are, you know, 10 or 11, or 12, or 1315 16. Because the parents finally go, Oh, great. The kids don't need me anymore. Now. Now I can go and be me. Because I know love will no longer love her or him. And I think that's firstly a bit dangerous. That notion because, for me that process that Sonia and I went through for eight months. That could be orchestra Do it in a much more efficient and effective way if there was somebody who was guiding us, but we had to do that on our own, or it felt like we had to do it on our own. So I'm like part of me is going where is our human culture to help us to navigate these very identifiable moments in our lives and our life's journeys. And we don't have to jettison relationships in order to evolve. But we do need to do something in the relationship to support the evolution of the relationship. So I just wanted to say that. So I think that in our future, Sonya, and I've got some work around relationships. Sure. To come back to your other question, I think everybody's going through, you know, significant moments of transition, I've mapped 60 of them. They are unavoidable. Some of them are good, some of them are bad. Some of them can smash you to the ground, and some of them can kill you. I've seen those things. You know, your people having heart attacks, without sounding woowoo, right. I don't think all this is just associated with, you know, physical conditions, I actually think there's some other things in play. It's kind of like manifesting, like miracles. It's like, if I don't listen to what my souls agenda is, I get smashed. It's like a big wave that smashes me to the ground and grazes my face, I have had that experience. I'm a science guy. And I go, if I'm not in alignment with my soul's agenda, I get the shit kicked out. And I totally

Jeremy Melder: 26:24

get that, you know, like, with my rheumatoid arthritis, my body is telling given me lots of signs, you know, that there's something going on? And I need to listen, you know, like it you other people listening might think it's, I agree, you know, but you do, it's about for me, I've now got this aha thing that I just have to slow down a bit. I'm going too fast. I'm overworking it, I'm not approaching it in the right way. All of these things are signs, I think,

Stephen Armytage: 26:56

exactly. And I don't know about you. But when I, when I get back into a pattern, that's not supporting my highest good, my symptoms turn up. You're you rheumatoid arthritis is my depression. And I that comes up and down, it goes up and down in waves, and my behavior, my intention, my focus can change that. Yeah. And I'm getting reasonably good at responding to that, as you probably are around diet and exercise and mindset, and all that sort of stuff, you fix your rheumatoid arthritis, and the doctors will go, No, you've got it all. And you've just got to put up with it. And yeah, and that degree, if you feel like, if you feel like a victim in your life, then then we can accept that, right? And it's like, there's lots of statistics that say that if you've got depression, you're more likely to get depression. And it's gonna get worse and worse and worse. But actually, my experience is that I've had depression. And if I bring awareness from these various teachers, which is the third part of your question, then I can learn you know, neuroplasticity is a thing. And our minds are not the center of the universe. For me, I think the soul is setting the agenda. So intuition agenda, absolutely. My mind should be a tool of my of my soul. If I look at the hierarchy, soul is what souls orientation is like, key for me.

Jeremy Melder: 28:14

I agree with that statement. Because I think that a lot of us, including myself, over time, have recognized this, you know, that you can get so caught up in what's going on up in your head. But really, ultimately, there is a soul agenda within yourself. And you might not be aware of it, but you have to surrender a little bit towards that and say, Okay, I don't have the answer, because you're trying to run this from your head. But if you're quiet, if I quiet and myself, plug myself in nature, I might get a little bit of an answer for it. You know what I mean? I always find in nature, there's an answer

Stephen Armytage: 28:49

comes through in nature, there's an answer, and that's profound. Exactly. And that was my realization as well, because my antidote to my, my lack of understanding during the spectacular midlife crisis, my antidote was to just to sink into my family, and to sink into nature, and to be in a war. And as part of that process, you know, the answers kind of flowed. But I had so much going on up there. I talked about it being, you know, clearing my internal mailbox. Yeah. I wasn't able to hear it, but definitely the antidotes were family, doing stuff that I love the things that enrich me and immersing in a natural environment. And then from there when I was starting to do the rebuild, so I was reading a bunch of books I was, you know, going back. So almost nobody helped me to understand how to navigate to the aha moment of what was the root cause of my spectacular midlife crisis. Psychologists had a crack at it, but maybe I'm slow or whatever, but nobody really helped me with that. But after I had a realization that I needed to become sustainably authentic, I could then start to dialogue with people and I was just dialoguing everywhere, attending, you know, kind of Melbourne sustainability conferences and traveling to New Zealand and, you know, getting deep in some of my spiritual practices and, you know, just go into workshops and all that kind of stuff. And I guess what I was doing then was going, Okay, so I'm an optimizer, I class myself as an optimizer. And that meets and complex problem solver. And that made me a pretty good management consultant, because I'd look at the entire frame maybe greater than the frame, and then diagnose what the issues were, then look for pragmatic and an implementable solutions. So I did that to this situation, right? Because what my hypothesis is, okay, so this is my hypothesis. So if we're not leaving the metaphorical campsite, in the right shape, so how do we get to a place where we do that? For me, we need to first part of it is that we need to get everybody connected to source not connected to what they think they should be doing. But getting them connected to what's important. That's the first thing. And then the second thing is then to provide them with a mechanism by which to then start to move towards their own version of functionality. So as part of that process, I realized that I needed to model for myself and then potentially others, what's the standard, my version of sustainable authenticity was about. So having an eco retreat, a place of consciousness that's connected to the beautiful environment, allowing trends of supporting transformational growth and change, that's like a great thing to do, right. So that's where we were tracking towards, and, you know, I had Murieta teachers there. And also myriads of opportunities to waste time, and to go down rabbit holes, and all that kind of stuff. And I guess, as part of my journey, I've just learned the power of my mind, but also the power of just listening to my gut feel listening to my intuition, and saying yes to that, even if it doesn't always logically line up. Because that allowed me and it allows me still to make quicker and better decisions. So, you know, so for me, it was about getting a feeling of a person or, or a book or whatever, and going, you know, is there value there, even though it may not seem logical, then, if I feel it, just do it, and even if it felt logical, and it didn't feel right, they're not doing it, you know, just just following that path. And getting better at that, and, and taking a personal diary of, you know, where I feel like I'm making progress towards my mission, coke, creating peaceful, harmonious, fun and sustainable world. And when I'm not, I did a whole bunch of men's work, actually, yeah, you know, we came together around mankind project, and mankind project, I got almost complete mission came down to me in one of the processes, and I will be forever grateful for that process, right. And so, you know, there's lots of opportunity for growth and getting out of ourselves. But, you know, for me, it's about I feel like, my role is to help make some of these kinds of wisdom of the ages, things more accessible for people. And I don't care how to do that. I just, that's my mission. And if so that gets people into their hearts and knowing what's important to them, then there's a good chance that we're all going to start, you know, behaving in a more functional way. And if we do that, then hey, we might leave the campsite in the shade. And then our kids kids won't have to live in compromise. You know, they could have it easily have a way better life. And you know, AI could easily play an important role as part of that. I mean, I'm completely open to that. And I'm also aware that, you know, AI might present some risks for us as humans as well, sure. It's kind of all good. It's all complex. Yeah. And dumbing it down to simple, simple things is not necessarily the best way to go forward.

Jeremy Melder: 34:26

So we're coming to winding up now because we we said we're going to commit to 20 minutes of doing this second part of the journey, but just a little bit of insight for people about last apple if they choose to jump off now and not listen to the next episode, which I would hope they would want to listen to the next episode. But what what would you expect people that attend a course or a weekend? Maybe not this time, but next time I Living a rich and purposeful life, what would you expect they would? Or would or could get from this? It's their own individual journey, just like you just shared, you know, we're all on different journeys. What would you hope is you've learned a lot, obviously, that you'd love to share.

Stephen Armytage: 35:17

Yeah, so so we have lots of transformational retreats that go through our place. And they're all, you know, they're all valuable. So, for me, the ideal person who wants to go on lap or living a rich and purposeful life is somebody who aspires to do that. And when they look at current reality, they go, Well, that's not, I'm not experiencing that. And there's something in them that says, I was built for more, I've got more potential than this, I expected that life wasn't gonna end up quite like this. And they have got that little voice in the back of the head to say, this isn't quite right, but I'm not sure where the answers are. So if you're experiencing that, and some of those situations are often precipitated by a significant moment of transition, you know, it could be may be made redundant, could be finding out that your job just doesn't float your boat anymore. Now, because you're feeling a little compromised. You could be feeling you know, shitty in a relationship, maybe you're your partner have just, you know, committed adultery. You know, there's a death and illness, you know, something that's kind of bumped you into your skin where you've gone. Wow, okay, I can kind of all that noise of living, has just stepped back because of this moment. And I don't like what I feel or see right now. And this doesn't feel right. Yeah. So if you're in those, if you're in that situation, and you got a clear path forward, then take that clear path forward, take that purposeful action, take that uncomfortable action, if you don't know, what is at the bottom of that what's gnawing at your spinal cord, or whatever. And you need feel like you need some support group support to do that, then Apple's going to help you find what root cause. And, but that's not the only part of this. And I often see people finding what the issue is, and then they leave the retreat, or they leave the course, or they leave the counseling and the difference between where they are in current reality. And this vision plays so far, that didn't have the pragmatic tools to be able to move towards it. That's why the 50% of the course 50% of the retreat, is how do we now manifest and take purposeful action towards what this place of enrichment looks like, so that we can make pragmatic steps that gives us the confidence to continue. Because you know, the stats around people joining the gym at the beginning of the year to New Year, I'm gonna get a

Jeremy Melder: 38:16

lot of weight,

Stephen Armytage: 38:18

going to eat good, I'm going to admit it drops off. Right. And it's because that's just an it's a notion doesn't have routine, it doesn't have support, it doesn't have awareness, it doesn't have the pragmatics of incremental progress towards because when we're happy, we're on purpose, making progress. So unhappy is like this state that that clears away pretty quickly. But we all know when we're happy, aye, aye. Aye, maybe move happy out of the limelight and put enriched in the limelight. Enrichment provides us with like this furnace of power to make progress and every time we enrich, and, you know, la Paul's got this circle of enrichment, 1212 areas of enrichment. Every time we make an investment in one of those little units. It powers the rest of the ring. And identifying where you're over investing potentially, and where you're often under investing in your circle Live in Richmond, because the underinvestment leaks energy. So if you're not taking care of, you know, your your you know, you're not playing to your talents and strength. You're kind of compromising yourself you're doing really hard and you've vocation because you've said no to being the artist or the musician, or the accountant or whatever it is, you know, being good with numbers, whatever it is, if you say Saying no to that. And you're playing your second fiddle, third fiddle that leaks energy out of your circle of enrichment. And if you say yes to that, and I'm not saying go out and become an accountant tomorrow, or you know, try to be steamed tomorrow or whatever, but just recognizing that, by investing in that you're saying yes to your innate enrichment circle, that then float the energy circle. Because often when people are going through these experiences, they lose energy and can't sleep, constantly tired, low energy. So for me the manifestation, the second second part of the retreat, that, you know, the the two plus days of the second half of the retreat is around how do we manifest? And how do we put in place the routines and the checkpoints to allow us to be supported to go forward? So the guys end up with a body who has got a vested interest in supporting them, because it's also reciprocated?

Jeremy Melder: 41:03

That's an important thing, isn't it in terms of getting support, because a lot of people feel very alone in their journeys. And providing support is an element that can help alleviate some of that

Stephen Armytage: 41:18

mass massively. I mean, you and I share share a men's group rally, we go to return up to men's group every week, why don't we do that? Because we're getting support from men. And we, you know, because knowing where we need to go is one part of the process. The second thing is then making tracking, you know, how are we tracking how we're doing? And what are the obstacles? Yeah, and who else has got some help that might be able to, and that's in, you know, that that's incredibly valuable. So if you're on an evolutionary journey, and your partner's not there with you, firstly, get your partner there, you know, have that conversation that I had with Sonya. But even without that, having, having a journey partner who's come from the retreat with the tools and the orientation, and wants to support you, and you want to support them, it's a beautiful unit, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think that, you know, that that, for me is going to be where a huge potential is going to come from this retreat. And I haven't seen it done very well before. Because it's, it's about having, you know, it's about, you know, the retreat person or the counselor or whatever, continuing to have to be paid in that process. There's constant energy that's being expended by you, the participant. And I'm going well, why don't we just put together the two participants, and they pay one another with an energetic exchange that helps both of them? Absolutely. And if they prove the model, that helps me as well. So why wouldn't we replicate that? Because it's like a free energy model?

Jeremy Melder: 42:54

Absolutely. Steven, look, I want to thank you, I think our listeners can see that you've got a lot of passion behind what you're, you're talking about here for sure. And so I want to leave now to have a bit of a break and go to the next part, which is we're going to be talking about a little bit more in depth about Laffel. And talking about your isn't the 12 areas of law, Apple and maybe go into that a bit more. So, as I said in my first episode, Stephens offering a great discount of price for beaming green listeners. So I would encourage you to go to law apple.com.au and register your interest and mentioned that you have listened to beaming grain, and that you'd love to come or register for the next one. And then he's actually going to keep you in, keep in touch with you and give you a hopefully another discount for the next one. If you can't make this one, but it is selling up fast. I hear. There's a lot of people showing interest. So stay tuned. You'll find out more in episode three. Thanks, Steven. Thanks. Thanks for tuning in to beaming green. Don't forget to check out our YouTube channel at beaming green.com And leave us a review on your preferred podcast platform or subscribe to us on YouTube. And a special thanks to Dave Weir, and to Roman Sanic from Pixabay for producing some amazing music. Keep living green, and we'll see you next time. Bye