Conquer Self-Doubt and Become Your Best Self

KATHLEEN: Hello everyone and welcome to the journey of an awakening spirit. This is Kathleen Flanagan, your host and we are streaming on the bold Brave TV Network. The purpose of the show is to help you realize that you are not alone. You are in control of your life. It does not matter what your light in light, your lot in life is or where you came from.

KATHLEEN: We have all felt pain, suffering, hurt, abandonment, loneliness, hopelessness, et cetera. The show helps to take you though, take those dark moments and turn them around to create a whole new you. We were taught to be a certain way, act a certain way and conform to society, being socialized.

KATHLEEN: Is not bad but it can put constraints on us. The guests I bring on the show are telling you their story of where they came from, the obstacles they overcame and where they are today. They are sharing the tools they use to recreate themselves and their life.

KATHLEEN: Some of the guests are still in their process, beginning a new process, comfortable in their process or even reinventing themselves. Their tool, they are giving you tools that they use to gain insight into themselves to take control of their life and become the person they are today on podcast dot Kathleen and flanagan.com is a list of the guests that have been on the show with their contact information.

KATHLEEN: I am aware that you may resonate with one or several of them. My desire is that this becomes a community where you have access to the people you wish to align with and utilize the tools they have as well as the tools being offered on Kathleen and flanagan.com.

KATHLEEN: I am a certified coach who can help you reach your dreams. I help you learn how to rely on and believe in your unlimited potential and power. I already know that you've had experience flashes of intuitive knowledge and big thinking that has wondering just how far could I fly?

KATHLEEN: If only I'm here to tell, help you stir up that innate knowing and trust, self trust already instilled deep in your soul. I help you to forge forward when the old you would rather give up and turn back awakening spirit, an aromatherapy based body care line that offers alternative healing remedies that use natural and organic ingredients.

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KATHLEEN: Every product is tested and the lab results are on the website. We are offering a 20% discount by entering Brave TV into the coupon code. I start every show with sound from the tuning forks. I bring in love, happiness and balance this sets the tone for the show and brings out the best of both my guest and myself. Let's begin.

KATHLEEN: Kevin Palmieri is the CSO founder and co-host of Next Level University, a global top 100 Self-Improvement con podcast with more than 1700 episodes and 1 million plus listeners in over 100 and 70 countries. Some people find rock bottom.

KATHLEEN: Kevin found the rock bottom had a basement in his mid twenties. He had it all. He had a beautiful girlfriend, high paying job, sports car, his dream body, but he still ended up sitting on the edge of a bed debating suicide after his rock bottom moment.

KATHLEEN: He went all in, in a all in on holistic Self-Improvement years later. Now he now hosts a podcast that impacts hundreds of thousands of people in countries all over the world. At this stage. He's helped grow the podcast into a multi six figure business and has recorded well over 2000 episodes.

KATHLEEN: He also has given hundreds of speeches, trainings and coaching calls with people all over the world. The main thing that changed. Kevin was himself. He focused on learning what he didn't know, unlearning a lot too. And his life started to shift.

KATHLEEN: He loves ta talking about consistency, commitment, habits, mindset, confidence, fear, relationships, unlimited belief or limiting beliefs and everything in between. He believes in a heart driven, but no BS approach to holistic Self-Improvement. And I look forward and he looks forward to teaching even more people about what it really takes to get to the next level level. Welcome. Kevin.

KEVIN: Hello, Kathleen. Thank you so very much for having me. I appreciate it.

KATHLEEN: Yeah, you're welcome. So why don't you tell our audience a little bit about your journey of becoming an awakening spirit?

KEVIN: Yes, I definitely would not consider myself that at the beginning of this journey. So I was, I was raised by my mom and my grandmother. I didn't know my dad. I didn't meet my dad until I was 27 and I definitely had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I think we all have those thoughts of.

KEVIN: At one point I wanted to be a police officer and a firefighter and a professional baseball player and all these things. But the one thing I knew pretty early in life, Kathleen was, I don't want to go to college. I don't really like school. I don't like learning that much. I don't really, yeah, I don't think that's the, the next step for me.

KEVIN: So, as my friends went off to college, I got my first big boy job at a local gas station pumping gas. And then from there, I was a personal trainer. I was a truck driver, forklift operator. I clean the bathrooms and toilets at a hospital. I did many, many, many things cause I didn't really know what I wanted to do.

KEVIN: So as you spoke about in my early to mid twenties, I got a very unique opportunity in an industry called weatherization. So essentially we would go into buildings and make them more energy efficient. And that was my job in a nutshell.

KEVIN: Since I was working on state-owned buildings. I went from making $15 an hour in construction to $60 an hour doing this job. So in my mind, everything I've done to get here was exactly what I was supposed to do and here I am and I'm gonna be fine. The rest of life should be a cakewalk.

KEVIN: So if you fast forward a couple of years as you as you suggested in my mid twenties, I was 25 or 26. I had this job. That was my dream job, quote unquote. My girlfriend was a model. I had just competed in and won a bodybuilding show. So I was quite literally in the best shape I will ever be in. I had a sports car.

KEVIN: I had a new apartment from the outside looking in. I was super successful and I put that in quotes because I think success is very personal. But internally I had no idea who I was. I didn't know what fulfillment was. I wasn't happy. I didn't feel successful. I was depressed. I was anxious.

KEVIN: So my girlfriend ended up leaving me. She left me because I was the shell of the man that she knew when she first met me and that right there. That's rock bottom part one who's gonna love this version of Kev, I'm broken, I'm damaged. What are we gonna do about this now?

KEVIN: As much as I wish Kathleen to say that's when I went all in on me and I worked on myself and I figured out my stuff, I thought to myself, if I go make more money, that'll eliminate more problems. So the next year I spent 10 months living on the road in hotels because a lot of our contracts were out of state in different states.

KEVIN: And we got to the end of the year I made $100,000 at 26 with no college degree, which genuinely was a dream come true for me. But I had a moment when I opened up my pay stub that I realized that for most of my life and especially that year, I had lived unconsciously, I don't know why I'm doing what I'm doing.

KEVIN: I'm just doing things, getting results and then not seeming happy. What's the deal with that? I thought to myself, well, the opposite of unconscious is Hyper Conscious. So I started a podcast in 2017 called the Hyper Conscious podcast.

KEVIN: I wanna have deep conversations with deep people. Let me do this. This is my new dream. But in the beginning, there aren't exactly people lining up to give you dollar bills or money.

KEVIN: So I had to keep doing my job and it got harder and harder to get in the van and drive six hours to another state because I found the thing that I was supposed to do. I found the thing that I was actually passionate about. I finally felt like I found a purpose in life and I had never, I had never had that before. So I start calling out of work.

KEVIN: I start leaving the job sites early. I'm showing up late and eventually it got to the place where I woke up in a hotel room in New Jersey, which is like six hours from where I lived at the time my alarm clock went off at 515, 530 sat up, slid to the edge of the bed lacing up my work boots as I had done 1000 times before.

KEVIN: But that morning it was like there was 10 televisions on in my head at the same time and every single one was on a different station and one is saying you're stuck here forever. I know you'd like to do this podcast thing. But people like you do not get job opportunities.

KEVIN: Like the one you have do not mess this up, do not mess this up. You don't even deserve what you have. You're gonna leave it behind and go chase something else. If you did work up the courage or stupidity, depending on what hand we're looking at to leave this job.

KEVIN: What would your friends think? You have a lot of significance in your friend group because you make a lot of money. What would your family think? I, at this point, I am the most successful person in my family and I want to keep it that way. I'm proud of that. My family is proud of me.

KEVIN: And the biggest thing that I was really hearing was, do you really think you're gonna be a successful podcaster? That's the, that's the path we're gonna take a successful entrepreneur with no entrepreneurial background. That's the path we're gonna take.

KEVIN: And that was my rock bottom basement moment where I thought to myself, well, if I just take my life, I'll take my problems with me and I won't have to worry about any of this. I won't have to get any better. I won't have to work on myself. I won't have to look at any of these mirrors. I don't have to worry about any of this.

KEVIN: Luckily, I'm very blessed to have amazing people in my life and I reached out to one of them and he's my business partner now and I explained what was going on. And he said, Kev, over the last couple of years, your awareness, Hyper Conscious, your awareness has changed a ton, but your environments have remained the same. I think it's time for you to change your environment.

KEVIN: So I ended up leaving my job three or four months after that. And then I became a full time entrepreneur trying to figure out this podcast business thing. And here we are six years later in thousands of episodes. And now I get to do this every day, which I'm, I'm super grateful for. I'm blessed and I always try to, to keep that energy when I show up somewhere.

KATHLEEN: That's the story. That's the story. And yet it's a very similar story of, well, myself and other guests. You know, because we think that we're here to strive for the American dream and God only knows what that actually means.

KATHLEEN: We think it's the 3.2 kids, the white picket fence the car, the station wagon at one point in the driveway and it's not, it doesn't bring that fulfillment. You know, money doesn't bring fulfillment either.

KATHLEEN: I mean, yeah, it's really nice to have money and it's like, wow, I could do whatever, but that's all it is. It's a convenience, in my opinion, it's just a convenience that makes your life a little easier.

KATHLEEN: But it doesn't bring that fulfilling happiness And that you hear that from Oprah all the way down and all the way up because there's rumors out there that Elon Musk tells people you don't want to be me, the richest man in the world and you don't wanna be him. Ok? Why?

KATHLEEN: So I really admire that. You followed that dream at a young age because a lot of people would just stay where they were stuck in, you know, where they were. But yeah, I'm making $100,000 mom and dad's proud of me. I'm successful. Why would I leave my job?

KATHLEEN: And then they remain there and then they eventually either commit suicide or their life totally falls apart to where they're in a critical state because they got into drugs, alcohol or whatever. So kudos to you, Kevin, I appreciate it.

KEVIN: I appreciate it. I think there's a difference between thinking, there's more knowing, there's more and then experiencing what the more is and I experienced it. That was it.

KATHLEEN: Well, and I think that's the truth of it because I think as long as we, for me, OK, we're just gonna dial this in for me.

KATHLEEN: I always had a burning desire to accomplish something big in my life. I didn't know what that was. I wondered is, is what the best I could say. I felt like I wandered in my journey.

KATHLEEN: But what I learned in the process is you go back and you reflect and when you go back and you reflect on your life, that's what you see that you're being guided towards your future self. And so as you were doing all the things that you were doing in your life, you're sitting here going, there's more because you felt something driving you.

KATHLEEN: And I think that's what people forget is there is this spiritual side about us that's driving us to that next level. And we can take that little scaredy cat ego that's sitting here trying to keep us nice and safe and protected.

KATHLEEN: When we don't need to be safe and protected, we don't live. You know, we're not out there foraging in the caveman days where we're fighting Saber tooth tigers and all of that, and I think people forget that that is an innate part of our consciousness that we need to let go of and trust because we are spiritual beings and we are designed to come down here and see what can we truly create within our life.

KATHLEEN: Well, we're going to go ahead and take a quick commercial break and we'll see you in a minute.

KATHLEEN: Welcome back everyone to the journey of an awakening spirit. This is Kathleen Flanagan, your host and we have Kevin Palmieri in the room with us today. So, Kevin, what were the steps that you took to get to where you are today?

KEVIN: They were many and most of them were extremely challenging in the very beginning. The first thing I ever did was I admitted that I was afraid of most of the things that I was doing. And then I admitted that I was afraid of most of the things that I would have to do in order to get to where I wanted to be. And that's hard. That is really, really, really hard.

KEVIN: I'm convinced based on coaching hundreds of people and talking to thousands of people. One of the reasons and maybe the biggest reason we don't get to where we want to get to is because we don't ultimately believe we're capable of getting there. And if you don't believe something is possible, you don't try. And if you don't try, you don't get any feedback.

KEVIN: And if you don't get any feedback, you can't change the approach. And if you don't change the approach, you never ultimately end up getting where you want to get to. So the first thing was I told the people around me that I feel like I have very low self belief. I don't know if I'm actually capable of getting to where I want to get to.

KEVIN: I need to be extremely humble and not self-deprecating, which I probably was at times. But that the first step for me was let me be a humble curious person and let me try to learn from people around me. And let me be very honest about my big insecurities. Let me be really honest about the parts of my identity that I don't feel are serving me.

KEVIN: It was really the self-awareness thing that started all this for me. Why do I feel comfortable around certain people? Why do I feel triggered around other people? Why do I feel 10 out of 10 confident in the gym? But why do I feel two out of 10 confident at the coffee shop? Why? Why is all of this happening the way it's happening?

KEVIN: So the simplest answer without going all the way off the rails is I started asking myself, why, why did I end up where I am today? And let me really sit with that. Not say well, I don't know, I probably know more than I'm giving myself credit for. I just have to sit down whether it's meditation, whether it's visualization, whatever it is and connect to myself and figure out, ok, what's the actual answer to this?

KATHLEEN: Yeah.

KATHLEEN: Yeah. That's the truth of it. That bottom line. If we don't go in and ask those questions, how do we know?

KATHLEEN: I know that people get stuck in the grind, they are in the hustle and bustle of life, but you've got to stop and you've got to reflect, if you want something to change, you have to change yourself first.

KATHLEEN: If you don't like the people you're around, then you need to change you again first because you're drawing those people into you and, it takes a lifetime and it's, that's something you don't want to own that believe me, you don't want to own any of that because you got this glorified opinion of who you think you are.

KATHLEEN: But how you operate and show up in the world is something totally different. And if you and I always saw that I was, I'm like right here in how I showed up in the world and where I wanted to be was right over here. And it was like, well, how do I bridge these two pieces together because they were so far apart in my mind because here's this loving, gentle, kind, sweet, compassionate person.

KATHLEEN: And then here's this nasty little witch some days who's angry and bitter and upset because I didn't understand everything that was going on in my head.

KATHLEEN: And I didn't understand what happened to me as a child and all those things that I had to uncover and own and then get back down to the true essence of me. And we do that hard work. It is hard work and go in and deep down because I got my meditation was what helped me to start. Like, I'm not such a bad person after all, I'm not really this ugly person.

KATHLEEN: I'm not mean, I'm not hateful. I'm worthy, and those are the things that started that path. And it sounds like you went through a very similar path with meditation because, you're getting out of your way, you're allowing something to come in other than you.

KEVIN: Yeah. It is it's just rewriting the script for most of my life. I had convinced myself that I was unworthy that I was unintelligent and every piece of any level of success that has ever come into my life was pure luck and I had nothing to do with it. Imagine the inner dialogue playing on my head on repeat. It's not a very good place to live.

KEVIN: So a lot of it, one of the best understandings I ever had was the reason I am where I am today is not what I did yesterday. It's not what I did last week, last month. Oh, so much of this is childhood stuff that I just, I never ever, ever faced. I'm a tattooed bodybuilder who loves fighting and mixed martial arts. And I will be the first person ever to tell you that therapy was a game changer.

KEVIN: For me, it was a game changer because I was able to look into my past and say, oh, that's not normal again. What is normal? I don't think normal really exists. It's all perspective. But that was another key for me is just understanding that the results I have today are not what I did yesterday. The fears and insecurities I have today are not because of something that happened yesterday.

KEVIN: It's become a self fulfilling prophecy since childhood. And if you are convinced, you're shy, you act shy and then you get shy results. If you're convinced, you're confident, you act confident and then you get confident results. So it was really just bringing awareness of the pattern first and then breaking the pattern second.

KATHLEEN: Exactly.

KATHLEEN: I had this huge realization today and I think this is really, for me, this is really huge is I'm a go getter. I go after whatever I want. I'm successful at what I attempt to do and then I get it and then it's on to the next.

KATHLEEN: Well, I became a number one best seller on Thursday and I am so thrilled that my book is the number one best seller on Amazon. Ok. And I have been reeling that in and like really bringing that in because I never acknowledge my successes or how much I do or how much I know I take all of that for granted, which I know a lot of people do and I've just been sitting with that.

KATHLEEN: So I got recognized a little bit today on a call I was on earlier and I almost broke down in hysterical tears because like not 10 minutes before I sat there and thought I am so freaking proud of myself for doing this because it was a long time coming.

KATHLEEN: But it was like, wow, this is what it feels like to like, say, wow, you did it. You give yourself an atta girl because you know, we're taught in society, we're not supposed to give ourselves atta of girls or atta boys. Like we're just supposed to go on to the next.

KATHLEEN: And it's like, no, this is huge and it was like there was this whole new game changing event I think in my psyche, I don't know what that is yet, but I could feel a shift and when you say when you break that because what I was afraid of yesterday is not what I'm afraid of today.

KATHLEEN: What I couldn't do yesterday, I can do today like I, I went out and said, I need some help on this and I put outline what I need help on and then she was like, you really got that dialed in. I said, thank you. I've worked hard on it, and I could, and for the longest time I'm like, I don't know how to do this.

KATHLEEN: And then it was like, but you can dial in, go into your heart, go into your heart center. And what are you trying? What is the mission you're trying to create? What is the purpose of your vision of being here?

KATHLEEN: And it's like you did the same thing because when you go into the heart and you start looking at, well, this is who I am. This is what I stand for. This is what I believe in. It's like everything starts to open up like all those obstacles start going away. That doesn't mean life's not gonna happen.

KATHLEEN: But most of the obstacles like it's easier. It's not so downtrodden when life happens because there's a new mindset and I'm sure that's what you found too when you started going. Ok. Well, I'm breaking this childhood pattern and then look at what else is happening now.

KEVIN: It's almost, yeah. And first of all, congrats, that's awesome. And I'm super happy you got the opportunity to celebrate yourself because I'm sure you own all the not so good things that happen. You got to own the good things too. Right? And I think we're all a little bit a little bit guilty of that.

KEVIN: It's very hard to explain now. But in retrospect, I think one of the things I was learning is I have to work when I work on me, everything else gets better.

KEVIN: The reason I don't have certain results yet is not because I'm incapable or incapable, whatever the right word is, it's because I am not knowing of how to do it yet. I just don't know how to do it yet and that was super important for me to understand. So when I look back now, I feel really confident as a speaker, why I could be a speaker the whole time, not until I believed I could.

KEVIN: And then I said, oh, ok, the reason I'm afraid of speaking is because I've convinced myself, I'm shy. Let me get out there and do something. Let me just try something. Let me try to speak in front of two people and see what happens and then eventually, right?

KEVIN: This is the thing that has really, really helped me more, maybe more than anything. And it sounds counterintuitive. I am not someone who naturally believes in themselves a ton. I might come off that way. I'm just very comfortable speaking to a microphone because I've done it for thousands of hours.

KEVIN: Don't be afraid to take your goals and make them smaller because I also think society convinces us if your goals, Kathleen, if your goals don't scare you, they're not big enough. I disagree. I think life is scary as heck. And the last thing you want is goals you're afraid of because you're not gonna run towards them, you're gonna run away from them.

KEVIN: So that was another thing that really helped me build belief is instead of saying I'm gonna go speak in front of 5000 people, let me speak in front of five first and see how that feels. And then maybe it's 15 and then you can kind of move the goalposts a little further away.

KATHLEEN: I love that. Because I'm getting ready to go into the speaking circuit and I've got my speech and everything done. I have all this stuff.

KATHLEEN: And so I went to this event in April and one of the things that the speaker had everyone was a small group, like 25 people attended very intimate group and she had every single one of us get on the stage for three minutes and for like a month, I think it was a month or two weeks. I was like, what am I going to say?

KATHLEEN: What am I going to say? What am I going to say? And I didn't want to stage it. I didn't want to memorize because I knew I would forget. And there was a gentleman who got up there who tried to memorize and he couldn't remember.

KATHLEEN: I mean, it was so funny, not for him, but he got so much support I mean, everybody was so supportive. But the only thing that I knew that I was going to open with is do you believe you can fly?

KATHLEEN: And there were probably two or three hands went up.

KATHLEEN: That's it.

KATHLEEN: And then I proceeded to tell the speech. Now, I just got this speech today and I was blown away by what I said because I let Spirit, you gotta tell me what my message is. You gotta tell me where I'm going because right now, I don't know. And I, and I'm really good at winging it and it was 25 people and I was fine.

KATHLEEN: I sat down everything inside of me and I'm not afraid to speak in front of people, but every bit of me was shaking from the inside because I was speaking from my heart in a way that I never spoke before to where oh I am so doing this now, it was like, it gave me that, that rambunctious, that energy to say, I have something to say and it's powerful and it's dynamic and it was like, but I can do this and I can fly because I did the hard work and everybody in that group is looking at doing the hard work.

KATHLEEN: So yeah, they're not, oh I don't think I can fly. But those who have done the work, they were the ones that raised their hand. So I thought I'm going to incorporate this one a little bit more because this was so powerful instead of how I was going to open the speech, I'm going to open it differently because that's part of the evolution that we go through as well. Well, we're gonna take a quick commercial break.

KATHLEEN: Welcome back, everyone to the journey of an awakening spirit. This is Kathleen Flanagan, your host. And we're streaming on the bold Brave TV Network and I have Kevin Palmieri in the room with us today. So, what are you doing today, Kevin? I know that you've got a podcast and you've got Seven Figure business. But what else are you doing? Because I'm sure that's not all you're doing today.

KEVIN: Oh, man, that is the majority of what I'm doing. We do an episode every single day and I have another podcast about podcasts. But behind the scenes, I'm doing a lot of, I'm still doing a lot of work on me. We were just talking about that behind the scenes. Behind the scenes. That's really what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to learn, I'm trying to grow. I'm trying to evolve.

KEVIN: I wanna be the best husband. I can be. Ultimately, I wanna be the best man. I can be the accolades and the accomplishments are all good. It's cool. But at the end of the day, if I can put my head down at the pillow on the pillow at the end of the night and say I'm really proud of the way I showed up today. That's ultimately what I'm after. I think that's what fulfillment really is.

KEVIN: Fulfillment is so hard to recognize in other people because we only see external, we can't really see the internal. So I would say the majority of what I do is this, I sit in this office and I talk to people on this microphone because that is what I love doing. Other than that, I snuggle with my cats and I spend time with my wife. But I'm doing this for many hours a week and I'm grateful that I get to.

KATHLEEN: Well, that's really awesome. I know I got my cats too and they, well, you saw Felix show up because he has to be on stage because he's my, movie star.

KATHLEEN: It's always the tale, it's always the tale, of course. And then when I get off and all of them are like, ok, open the door, we're going outside now because you did your thing now, it's time to go play. But I agree with you on the fulfillment because I had this woman, I was at a tea book sales last week and she said Yes, I'm an overnight, I'm an overnight success after 20 years of working it.

KATHLEEN: And I thought that was like, yeah, because how many people think you're a success, you launch a book and all of a sudden you're successful or whatever, but they don't realize all the work that went into writing the book. And, it's the marketing, it's the publications, and I was going through trying to clean out my computer today and because I just launched the book.

KATHLEEN: So I had all these graphics that I created for the book launch and now I can use them in social media to keep promoting the book. Right? And I'm like, oh, I forgot I had this, I forgot I had this. Why didn't I move this? And you know what? It's just because it's when you dialed in on a focus that much, it's amazing how everything else kind of falls by the wayside.

KATHLEEN: And then when you come back into breathing again and get back into the stream of your life. You go, oh, well, look what else I did. And you don't realize first of all how much work I did for the launch and then how much I have that I can use now because it didn't make it in the launch, so to speak. But I think that's the main thing is finding that own fulfilling place.

KATHLEEN: Am I where I want to be? Oh, no. But am I moving in that direction? Oh, by leaps and bounds. Because I remember years ago I had this dream and, we see that life is this. It's not a straight up to the top of the summit and then come straight down. And I remember I had this dream and I was at the top of the mountain and I was like, oh my God, I finally made it. Yes.

KATHLEEN: And then I looked down and it was even worse, going down with the curvatures because it was said to me in my head, in the dream where you start on this descent and where you end up will be two totally different things.

KATHLEEN: And even though I'm not all the way down on the descent of the mountain, I'm already so far removed from where I was when I was, when I hit that summit. I mean, I don't even recognize who I am when I hit that summit. And that's the joy of doing work on ourselves is we're constantly reinventing ourselves.

KATHLEEN: And I believe that intuition comes in as well because this conversation on this call this morning was we don't even know what we're capable of doing. Because regardless of how much we try to blow up the box, so to speak, there's more boxes to blow up and, and how she said it.

KATHLEEN: And I love it because that's how I believe, and I think that's what you're doing is what is our full capability and how much can we achieve in this lifetime of that capability? Because whatever you do in this lifetime, you come back, you're going to be even more of a success or whatever it is, your whole life is different because you're on this evolutionary path of enlightenment.

KEVIN: Yeah, I can't, sorry, I was gonna say I can't claim to know what the purpose of all this is. But I do think one of the things is how close can you get to really understanding you? I think that's one of the ultimate purposes, but this is the hard thing.

KEVIN: Usually you need something bigger than just that to accomplish it because you're never really gonna get to like I know myself 100%. You get closer and closer and closer and closer. And I think that's the journey of fulfillment is growth and contribution beyond yourself. Beyond just you.

KEVIN: It's beyond what you and I talk about no matter how many people listen to this, no matter how many downloads, it doesn't really matter. Because at the end of the day, I have to understand myself more so I can speak better, speak more eloquently understand my story. Share my story. It's all about, I think it's all about self-awareness. I do, I'm biased though, but I do.

KATHLEEN: Well, what I heard years ago and I think there's this truth that we have these goals and dreams and accomplishments that we have in our own head. And when we achieve them all of a sudden, the road gets further, far down the road.

KATHLEEN: Like, we had that moment of, oh my God, I did it and then it's like, but there's so much more and I think that's part of this journey of becoming an awakening spirit is because we are spiritual beings and we are infinite and no matter what we do, we're always going to be learning. It doesn't matter who you are, even God, in my opinion, is still learning.

KATHLEEN: He's not a finite being. I mean, he's infinite. He's constantly growing and learning and my perspective is that God is learning who He is through each and every single one of us. So how good can I play Kathleen Flanagan?

KATHLEEN: Because you will never play me, you can never play me any more than I can play Kevin Palmieri. I can't play you. But we have similar experiences that's what's so cool is how we can interact and become cogs in the wheel of what brought us together, something brought us together and it was more than podmatch.

KEVIN: Well, it was the mission, it was the right ultimately at the end of the day, if you're mission driven, you do things that you wouldn't normally do. It's 76 degrees out right now. If I wasn't on the mission, I'd be outside, I'd be going for a run. I'd be playing sports. I don't know what I'd be doing.

KEVIN: I don't wanna do that. I wanna do this. I wanna do this. I don't wanna be outside. I wanna do this. This is what I wanna do. I hope for everyone that you get to tap into whatever your own personal mission is, whatever your own personal purpose is. Because I think that's really where fulfillment comes in. Fulfillment is your, oh, go ahead, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN: No, go ahead.

KEVIN: I think ultimately fulfillment is your soul's recognition of you in alignment with what you're supposed to be doing. And that's why certain things might seem easier to you. I have no interest in writing a book. I don't, I will do it.

KEVIN: I'm gonna write a podcast book. I don't want to. But if you give me the opportunity to do 14 episodes, record 14 episodes in a day. I'm in, I love this. This is what I'm supposed to be doing. I don't know if I'm supposed to be an author as much as I'm supposed to be a podcaster.

KATHLEEN: We just know that if you're supposed to write that book, you will be called to write that book. I promise you that I believe it.

KATHLEEN: Because I was told when I was a little kid by spirit, I was going to write a book and I'm like, ok, whatever you say.

KATHLEEN: And I really didn't think I was ever going to write a book and then I wrote three all at once. And then it was like, good. I'm done. I don't have to do that again. And you know what, I got a message of, there's a 4th book coming, because it was so hard to write those books. I mean, it's writing a book is hard. People think it's easy. I thought it was easy until I did it.

KATHLEEN: And it was no, not, especially the kind of book that I write, the kind of books that I'm writing are a lot different and they're more personal and gut wrenching and kind of really talking about things that most people don't want to talk about or share because I get into the depth of you.

KATHLEEN: I go into that pain and suffering. I know what that is because people, I mean, our suicide is so high on this planet right now because people are not connected because they're not opening their heart. They don't have that fulfillment.

KATHLEEN: They don't have somebody to talk to and 1000 or a million people as friends on Facebook is not cutting it for them because they don't understand that human connection. And that's what I hope for in this show is that I have, I create somewhat of a connection because I've had people say, boy, the connection between you and so and so on, your show is like unbelievable.

KATHLEEN: And I said, that's what I want on every show is that there is this heartfelt connection that we're connected at a different level than in our brains. Even though we're not in the same room or even in the same state, we're still connected through our heart.

KATHLEEN: And that's what's coming through on the podcast. And I think what you do is the same thing is that you're bringing your heart to the world because most people don't bring their heart into their lives because they are so scared and shattered and broken in their mind, battered and tortured or whatever it is because we've all had it as children and when we can break free of that bondage, that's when everything starts to change.

KATHLEEN: You're a demonstration of it. I'm a demonstration of it. And I think if you can keep doing that, that's what matters. So when you say your podcast is everything I get it. I love my show.

KATHLEEN: Do I have it where I want it? No, but I love doing my show. I love meeting people like you because it feels like I'm not alone and there's more of us and let's band together. Let's change this world.

KEVIN: You're my people. You're my people, Kathleen for sure, for sure. This is, this is an interesting perspective. I think we have like a minute or two before break, I'm guessing.

KEVIN: There are people right now who see where I am and that's their dream. But every day I have the opportunity to forget how far we've gotten and to appreciate where we really are. Same goes for you. There are people who look at where you are and that is their dream and then you're looking at the next dream.

KEVIN: But that I think that is the duality of grateful for where I am ambitious for where I desire to go. If you can live in that duality, I think that's a really, again, this is just my opinion, but I think it's a really healthy place to live.

KATHLEEN: I think so too. But we're gonna go ahead and take a quick commercial break.

KATHLEEN: Welcome back, everyone to the journey of an awakening spirit. This is Kathleen Flanagan, your host and we're streaming on the bold Brave TV Network and I have Kevin Palmieri in the room with us today and we are just having way too much fun, great connection, loving our conversation.

KATHLEEN: So, Kevin, what is one piece of advice that you would offer our audience to help them to move into a different direction? To achieve their dreams or become a better person?

KEVIN: Oh, goodness, goodness goodness. I would say really be honest with yourself and take a look at the people that surround you and ask yourself are the people in my life the best from my past or the best for my future. That's one of the most challenging questions I've ever asked. But it has been one of the most powerful questions I've ever asked because I think we lose sight of just because someone is still in your life.

KEVIN: It does not mean they're in your life because they have similar core values, core beliefs or core aspirations. We might just have history and this is just what we do. We hang out on Saturday. So just being more intentional and more conscious of why are you giving or gifting the people your time, energy, effort and focus, I think that's always a really good place to start as much as it is challenging.

KATHLEEN: I agree with that. And because I'm sitting here going and evaluating a few things and friendships in my life right now. And not that it's a bad thing. It's just, I'm moving in a different direction and they're in their own direction and it's not, it's like, and sometimes we are, we're designed to come together for a reason, a season or a lifetime and it's up to us to determine what that is.

KATHLEEN: So I'm sitting here going well, I'm shifting so much. Is this still benefiting? Is this relationship still helping and benefiting me or am I starting to become a little angry or more frustrated because certain things aren't being met anymore?

KATHLEEN: You know, because we have expectations on our friendships to a degree, not that I control them or anything, but we came together because there was a connection and sometimes we start drifting apart and there's nothing wrong with that.

KEVIN: No. But why is this conversation going so well? Because you and I are on a, we value similar things. If we didn't, I would say something and you'd be like, you are a strange, strange man, that's not gonna happen here and vice versa. I, one of the most dangerous things about friendships is most of them start because of location.

KEVIN: If I could count on the amount of friends I have on one hand that I went to high school with, it makes sense. It makes sense. I didn't really have a process of choosing most of the people in my life, but don't make it about them from the negative of, well, I feel really guilty. What if I'm leaving them behind? It's not about them. I'm not saying they're bad people.

KEVIN: Most of the people that I've had to distance myself from weren't necessarily bad people. They just weren't what was best for me and it's not about them. It's not your job to slow down. It's your job to stay in alignment. And if the people around you are taking you out of alignment, you deserve, you owe it to yourself to figure out how to stay in better alignment. It's up to you and you deserve it. You deserve that.

KATHLEEN: I love that. That is so well said that is so well said because it is about you. You can still stay in touch with them, send them yearly Christmas cards saying I'm thinking about you or whatever. But if things are just starting to get a little edgy and a little something's not quite right. Pay attention to that. There's a reason it's being said.

KATHLEEN: So, Kevin, how can people get a hold of you?

KEVIN: The best place is just shoot me an email. I'll go old school, Kevin at next level. Universe.com questions. Comments concerns anything I can do. I am always an email away and I do my own email. So if you email me, I will see it.

KATHLEEN: Wow, that is so rare anymore. I know that I've got like Alex is another one. He's really good. And right now I answer so I don't know if I'm gonna ever really get away from that because if I'm trying to make that connection with people having a va answer my emails it's not the same.

KATHLEEN: No, it's not the same. So, I think that's absolutely wonderful. So, I want to thank you so much, Kevin for coming on the show today. I thoroughly enjoyed our time together. I've had a lot more fun then sometimes, you don't know, you never know how much fun you're gonna have on a show and how, of course, how it's gonna go and this was just fun. It's an hour is just not long enough anymore.

KEVIN: Well, thank you. I appreciate you having me. It was wonderful on my end too. Nothing but love for you. And I'm grateful, I'm grateful for our connection.

KATHLEEN: Yeah. Thank you so much, Kevin. So I want to thank everyone for joining us on the show today. If you enjoyed what you heard, feel free to share your link with your friends and family. If you got some value out of this, I would also love it if you would like and subscribe to the show.

KATHLEEN: My books, Dancing Souls, number one, Amazon, number one best seller. The Call and The Dark Night of the Soul and Awakened are all on Amazon and I would love it if you would download a copy right now. The call in Kindle is still free. So feel free to download the book.

KATHLEEN: Check out Kathleen M Flanagan for my services and products that are being offered there. And I do have a three minute destress meditation that is absolutely free and I am not even requesting your email for it. Be sure to visit awakening spirit and grandma's natural remedies and take advantage of the coupons by entering Brave TV.

KATHLEEN: And I will see all of you next week at 4 p. m. Eastern and from my heart to yours. I hope you have a fabulous week.