Vishen: I am Vishen Lakhiani, founder of Mindvalley, the school for human transformation. You’re listening to the Mindvalley Podcast where we’ll be bringing you the greatest teachers and thought leaders on the planet to discuss the world’s most powerful ideas in personal growth of mind, body, spirit, and work. In this episode of the Mindvalley Podcast, you’re gonna learn from a woman who is no stranger to our Mindvalley community. Her presence on and offstage is one that is so electrifying, it’s hard not to be impacted by her beautiful energy and inspiring words. So a little bit about Lisa Nichols if you’ve yet to hear of this woman, odds are you will.
So Lisa Nichols 20 years ago was so broke she barely could afford to buy diapers for her child. She was a single mom, and her story is so amazing because now 20 years later, she’s one of two African-American woman CEOs who have taken a company public. She has written multiple best-selling books, her company motivating the masses serves 30 million people worldwide. Her latest book is called “Abundance Now” and you would have seen Lisa on everything from “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” she’s a regular on “Steve Harvey,” she is a remarkable inspirational woman but one of the things that makes her so unique is her unique way of telling a story.
Nobody I’ve ever seen comes close to Lisa in terms of taking a speech on stage and making it an art form and through that, she moves you, she shifts you, she implants in you new ways of dealing in the world and inspires you like no other. So what you’re gonna be learning about in this particular podcast is basically Lisa’s model for how to live a life with purpose and turn your life into an inspiration for everyone you touch. Get ready for goosebumps, here’s Lisa Nichols.
Vishen: I’m Vishen Lakhiani and this is the Mindvalley Podcast.
Lisa: I’m so happy to be here, I’m so happy to be with you, I’m so happy to be a part of this conversation and in this moment leading the conversation because I have so many breakthroughs in rooms like this and this is where I explored Lisa, forgave Lisa, reinvented Lisa, discovered the best parts of Lisa, gave Lisa permission to play big play, huge play, ginormous. Here is where I found some of my best friends on the planet, my new friends. And so I love rooms like this. I’m super committed as long as I can to be in this space with you. You know, when we talk about live your quest, that’s a really big statement, it could be exciting and scary.
Anybody have that mutual feeling at times? You like, “Live my quest? I’m just trying to figure out my GPS, I’m trying to figure out what is next year look like, you know?” And then there’s that opportunity that comes with living your quest to go, “Wait a minute, what happens if I decided and design my next best season? What would that look like?” And so I thought that I’d just slide by to stir your soul a bit, it’s kind of what I do. I have to leave tomorrow mid-day, I have a dinner engagement and then a keynote speech in Jamaica tomorrow night, but for today I thought we just turn things up a bit, so may I do that with you guys?
Audience: Yeah.
Lisa: Now, I’ve been known to make things a little mildly to moderately to significantly uncomfortable in any form of mediocracy, I’ve been known to do that. I wake up in the morning to find out, “How can I disrupt anything that’s not in alignment with my future today?” And so since I’m on the stage today, I thought I just do that with you guys as well, is that all right?
Audience: Yes.
Lisa: When we talk about living our quest, I think that living my quest, really, if I look at on a daily basis, it’s finding my own voice. It’s finding your voice, it’s finding the song that only you can sing, off-key or not. It’s finding your rhythm. It’s discovering what it feels like to walk in your shoes today, it won’t look like it looked 10 years ago. Living your quest is, “What can I do with my life so that my life becomes infectious to someone else?” Living my quest looks like, “How do I make my fingerprint matter so big that it lives beyond my transition day?” Living your quest is, “How can I forgive the perceivingly unforgivable so I can love the absolute loveable?” Living your quest is, “How do I give myself 1000 second chances and every time I get to 999, press reset.”
Woman: Yeah.
Lisa: Yeah? Yeah. Living my quest is not some ambiguous untouchable experience. Living my quest means going back and healing the little girl in me so that’s a woman can be free. It’s going back at embracing the little boy in you so that the man can show up and give himself permission to cry when necessary. Living your quest is not something that you can’t touch, it’s not something that requires a stage or lights or cameras, living your quest is being complete and content with who you are in the dark of the night so who you are in the middle of the day is all right. Living your quest is as simple as it is complex, living your quest is about giving yourself permission…say “permission.”
Audience: Permission.
Lisa: On a daily basis to become the next best version of yourself. Living your quest is not holding yourself hostage to old decisions, not holding yourself hostage to shame, blame, guilt, regret, and anger, living your quest is about recognizing it every day, “I can be reborn to my possibility.” See, living your quest is as internal and personal as it is public. Living your quest is about recognizing that you have brilliance in you and not being willing to dim your light one more day.
Living your quest means not being afraid of the genius in you even though you have doubt, living your quest is recognizing that you get to sing your song off-tune that you can get to live imperfection while you master in perfection. Living your quest, it could be complex and it could be simple. And I’m only telling you the things that I’ve had to do because in so many ways, I didn’t know I would be standing here with you in Cancun, my path didn’t make sense that it would land me here. When I look at my life as a young woman in South Central, LA, living between the Harlem Crips 30s and the Rollin’ 60s, those are not cheerleading squad y’all.
Having three fights a week to get home from school and that was the easy part, the hard part was the fact that my highest grade in school was a C+. See, when some of you brought home C’s, your parents were frustrated. When I brought home a C, my parents were excited because I was severely dyslexic in school so it took me a lot longer to learn. The last time I took an English class I got a Fail and my English teacher said, “Lisa, you have to be the weakest writer I’ve ever met in my entire life.” I said, “Does that come with an award? I am kind of collecting rewards.”
And the last time I took a speech class, my speech teacher gave me a D- and said, “Miss Nichols, I recommend that you never speak in public, that you get a desk job.” And what it showed me was that some of your best motivation might come wrapped in sandpaper. Some of your best inspiration comes with some pricks and some nails and some thorns around it, some of your best inspiration came in an experience that you didn’t ask for, you didn’t want, and you never want to have again. Some of your best inspiration, some of the very thing that’s fueled your soul to get you here came in an experience that you dare not wish on your enemy, you dare not wish on anyone but yet it still fueled you, so come and step inside your quest.
So when you ask the question, “Am I on the right path?” How can you not be? If you can still see the light, how can you not be? So I just stopped by to stir your soul a bit, I stopped by to disrupt any form of mediocracy in you, I stopped by to settle your doubt and put in place over the question mark a period or a comma because some of you will put a period where God put a comma, instead it ain’t over yet, it’s just beginning. Don’t put a period there yet, that deserves a comma. Yes, yes?
Woman: Yes, yes.
Lisa: So I just stopped by, I stopped by to wake up that imaginary baby in your belly that says, “Don’t you sit down on me, don’t you let me sit down, don’t you let me go without being shown to the world. Don’t you…I will not let you off the hook, I will keep you up tonight.” I stopped by to shake that imaginary baby in your belly. I stopped by to ask you, “What would your song sound like if you sung it out loud so that we all can hear?” Don’t just sing in the shower, sing so I can hear. What would your dance look like if you did it so that I could see?
What would your rhythm look like because when you let your rhythm out, when you just get inside your rhythm and when you are bold enough to share your rhythm with the world…y’all just bounce like this with me. When you just share your rhythm…come on, just like this, when you share your rhythm and all of a sudden, you become outrageous enough to show the world that you are willing to move inside of a imaginary sound that’s only in your belly, all of a sudden you look out and the rest of the world is moving with you.
I just stopped by, I just stopped by to have you fill your movement or at least feel the desire to fill your movement. As a matter of fact, become unapologetic and non-negotiable about your movement. As a matter of fact, become non-negotiable about the fact that the world has to fill your movement. As a matter of fact, be willing to lose some sleep, be willing to stay up late. If you’ll be willing to become unapologetic and non-negotiable, be willing piss some people off even.
I just stopped by to agitate that something to you because I believe sometimes we try to be too polite with our dream, sometimes we don’t want to disrupt the world while we’re dreaming big, sometimes we’re more committed to living in someone else’s perception of us than we are living in our truth of ourselves, I’m just saying. So I stopped by to agitate that. I don’t know, am I talking anybody in this room?
Audience: Yeah.
Lisa: I stopped by to ask are you willing to play so big that you scare yourself? Are you willing to sing so loudly that the next room stop? Are you willing to dance to such a rhythm that should become contagious? Are you willing to forgive the unforgivable, love the unlovable? Are you willing to do it all 1000 times until you get it right? Are you willing?
Woman: Yes.
Lisa: I just stopped by because that’s what it feels like on a daily basis to recommit to the divine assignment on your life because your life has less to do with you than it has to do with all of us who will cross your path, and because you let your light shine, you gave us permission to do the same. Because we saw you do it with knees knocking and teeth chattering but you did it anyway, we just become copycats of you, “Well, he did it, I might as well do it.” And all of a sudden, an entire nation is doing something bold and outrageous and radical. I want to play…I want to play a message for you, Jason is going to help me play a message for you, and in a moment, I just want you to sit silently, eyes open or eyes closed, and I want you…wait a minute, Jason, one moment.
I want you to… in the message that you hear, it will be familiar, you’ve heard it once or twice before but this time, I want it to sit in your soul, I want it to sit in your sails, I want it to pull you, I wanted you to not look at this message and this experience from over there, I want you to sit in and to say, “What if? What if I am to do my version of this? What if without any evidence, without any witnesses, I’m supposed to see something as big? My version of this, what if without any co-signers, without any agreers, still I’m supposed to do something like this or something very different? What if I need no evidence that it might be so because faith is operating without any physical evidence? What if?
Dr. King: Will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification,” one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”
Lisa: Thank God this little boy who grew into a mighty man would be bold enough and outrageous enough to have such an audacious dream, to be willing to be ridiculed, ostracized, threatened, to be so convicted that he’s willing to give his very life for a dream that he might not physically be here to realize. Oh, what a mighty mightiness. So I ask you because of him we’re sitting here, lying here, dancing, singing, rapping, playing together because he was bold enough to fight against what was the norm. So I ask you…can you help me down, Doc? What is your dream?
Are you willing, are you willing to disrupt any form of what you normally… Come down and sit in the moment. Are you willing, are you willing to reinvent yourself? Are you willing, are you willing to become someone you’ve never seen before? Are you willing to run, leap, and soar even at the possibility that you might fall? Are you willing, are you willing to do something you’ve never done before, say something you never said before, do the things you don’t want to do, say the things you don’t want to say so that you can be the man, the woman you’ve always known yourself to be. Are you willing?
See, I didn’t come here to give you a lot of answers, I came here to disrupt your soul with a lot of right questions because I wasn’t supposed to be here. I was that kid that was always struggling with self-esteem, “Am I good enough? Am I smart enough?” No one looks like me makes it anywhere, I’m chocolate, mocha skin, full of lips, round hips, and kinky hair, you just don’t see me on TV, you don’t see me glorified, you don’t see me representing beauty, you don’t see me, so the world didn’t give me permission to be here but I didn’t ask for it either. So some of you are still asking for permission and sometimes you have to stop asking for permission and it’s just time to give the world notice.
So I just showed up to invite you to give the world notice that you’re coming, give the world notice that you’ve been here, give the world notice that you’ve played polite long enough, now it’s time to play for loud, give the world notice that unapologetic just showed up, give the world notice that non-negotiable just showed up, give the world notice that if they can’t handle your light that you’re tired, you’re no longer gonna dim your light, if they can’t handle your light, put on some shades. I’m just saying, I’m just saying, I’m just saying, “Are you willing?”
Because when you become that bold, when you become that audacious, when you become that unapologetic, all of a sudden you become infectious, all of a sudden just a mere glimmer of you, when I can catch a glimpse of you, when I can get in your hemisphere and your atmosphere and your zip code, something happens to me because I’m in proximity, and then you become absolutely aware of the true assignment on your life that you were here to save us. You were here to inspire us by the way you walk with assistance, by the way you rise above your own uncertainty, by the way you push past your religious conversation, your cultural conversation, your economic conversation, your gender conversation, by the way you show up and say, “How can I serve humanity?”
By the way you recognize that your human spirit is unbreakable, your human spirit is unshakable, your human spirit is unstoppable, your human spirit is unavailable to the relationship that’s not going right, to the finances that don’t look right, your human spirit is unavailable, your human spirit is simply asking for you to give it a command, “Who will we serve next? What will we do and what mountain will we require to bow down?” And when you get that and you operate with that knowing, all of a sudden, you become contagious and people just want to be in your space and share your oxygen because you make them believe again. So what is your quest? It might just be to go home and be 1,000% present with your children.
Your quest might be to love an unlovable sibling, your quest might be to forgive an ex so you can truly be present with your next. I’m just saying, I’m just saying. Like it might be that. I’m a girl who as a mom in 1995, I was broke and broken and all I was committed to do was not spend the next 25 years in that brokenness, so I didn’t decide my quest out of a pursuit of serving the world in the big way, I stepped into my quest becoming committed that I won’t have it that way anymore. So however you step, just step. However you step, just step. Sometimes you got to step out of something before you’re stepping into something, just step.
Don’t get paralysis of the analysis trying to make sure the step is right, I’d rather you take 10 steps wrong than analyze and trying to make one step right one more day while someone’s waiting to be inspired by you. I’m still figuring out how to get it right but I’ve done some good work trying to figure out how to get it right, right sis? One day I’m gonna master this thing. One day. So I just stopped by to stir your soul, I stopped by to not let you off the hook of your brilliance, of your genius, of your humanity, of the willingness to live in a constant duality allowing your brilliance and your confusion to coexist and you embrace them both.
Not waiting for another thing, not waiting for another person, not waiting for any permission, not waiting for someone to validate you, not waiting for your mother, your father to say you’re okay, not waiting for the man, the woman in your life to say, “Go, be free,” not waiting. What are you waiting for? I need your oxygen today. I need your oxygen today, so I didn’t come here to keep you comfortable. It’s working, huh? She’s like, “Why is she so close to me right now?” So I just wanted to ask you are you willing? I want to take you on a guided visualization.
I went on this visualization about 17 years ago and every time I did the visualization, it would disrupt my soul and I didn’t understand why I was so disrupted but when the facilitator would take me on it, it would play so big and at the time I couldn’t see myself that big and he kept pushing my buttons and telling me to see this big part of me and it was making me so afraid every single time. And so I made sure my friend wouldn’t let me leave the room because I said, “Instead of running from my bigness, I just want to sit here and grow in it just one breath at a time.” One breath at a time, so this might not be your last time here, it might not be the last time we see each other because you’ll keep breathing one breath at a time into the woman and the man that you’re becoming, the divine assignment that’s been placed on your life that you’re perfectly prepared for, that with all your imperfections, you’re perfect for the job, with all your imperfections, you’re perfect.
Take a deep breath. Hello, Vishen. I want you to…we’re going to play just a little…Jason, would you help me with just a little bit of guided meditation music, guided visualization? So many of you know me through some of the guided visualizations that I’ve done with Mindvalley, thank you. So I want to take you on this journey and then tell you a story on the other side, it might blow your mind. Get yourself comfortable whatever way you’re comfortable. You may want to do this with your eyes closed or your eyes open, whatever you’re comfortable with. I want you to visualize yourself driving down the highway.
There’s a little traffic, it’s a sunny day, summertime, beautiful, and you’re just taking a nice breath, driving to an event that you’re to speak at. And as you get about 15 minutes out from the event, you check your watch… look down at your watch in your mind, and you notice it’s 15 minutes away and all of a sudden you begin to notice that traffic is slowing down. You get a phone call and say that you don’t have to be there for another hour, so you’re excited so you do the off-ramp, you get on the off-ramp and you stop by your home. And imagine it’s five years out from today, on this day five years out, and every single one of your dreams have come true. Five years out.
As a matter of fact, you’ve surpassed all of your dreams. So I want you to think of whatever that car is that you loved, the car you’re driving is better than that. Whatever that community that you wanted to live in, you surpassed that one. Whatever that thing is that life experience you want to have that you call success, oh, you’re way past that. Just keep seeing yourself. For some of you, you may see a bank account balance, I want you to take that bank account balance, visualize whatever it is, money is just energy, money is just energy, visualize that balance in your bank. Now I want you to double it in your head, double it.
Now I want you to drive your car to the front gate of your home and I want you to push in the code and the front gate automatically opens and then you drive another mile up to your house. I told you it’s better than you imagined, guys. You drive a mile on your property ’till you get to your front door and your big double door opens, you walk into the home and whatever your home looks like in this most beautiful pristine place, travertine floors, a spiral staircase, a beautiful chandelier, you smell lavender, you smell chamomile, you smell the beautiful aromas of beautiful flowers, you hear the music, your house is your sanctuary.
You hear the waterfall that’s running in the indoor pool over in the back corner. You hear the laughter of your family, I want you to hear the laughter of your family, the robust laughter of your family. You go into the dining room where there’s a 20-person table and everyone standing around the table and enjoying each other and the person who cooks the best in your family, they cook today, it’s a good day. And your family gathers around the table, visualize your family sitting down at the table and one by one they raise their glass and to your surprise, they all begin to toast you.
They begin to celebrate you for what you’ve done, what you started five years ago, the person that you stepped into five years ago in Cancun. The person that came home wasn’t the same person you see, and that person began to do some really amazing things inward and outward and life just began to change and they are witnessing it and they just want to celebrate you. They finish the toast and everyone begins to eat and talk and you look down at your watch, look down at your watch again, and you realize that, “Oh my God, I’m running late, I got to get back on the road and get to this speaking event.”So you hop out of the room, you run out to the car, you jump in your car, you choose the convertible today again and you get on the highway.
And as you’re on the highway, you’re driving up the highway, and you run into traffic again. Now, you’re really 15 minutes out and you need to get there. You hear that they’re going to be quite a few people, you’re not sure the number but quite a few and you’re getting frustrated. Fill yourself, get frustrated, right now I want you to feel that energy of being stuck in traffic, of being, “Oh man, Oh man.” And then you stop and you think, “Wait a minute. This just might be my traffic jam, they might be all going to the same place that I’m going to.” So you make your way through traffic, it takes you 20 minutes, you get there 5 minutes late but no one cares, they’re so excited to see you.
You walk into a stadium, picture yourself walking onto this big platform, you walk onto the stadium. The room is silent. You come to the podium. You look around, there are 10,000 people there to see you, to hear you, to touch you because of what you’ve done, who you’ve become, the example you’ve been. See yourself, guys, see yourself right there, see yourself right in the center of the stage, see yourself. And you look out, you can feel the energy of every single person, all 10,000 people, you open up your paper, you get ready to say your speech, but you start with two words, “Thank you.”
And then before you can start your speech and say another word, person number 6,782 way in the back, they yell out, “No, thank you.” And then person number 460, they yell out, “Thank you.” Person number 56 in the front yell, “Thank you,” person number 7,950 yells, “Thank you,” and then each person just begins to yell, “Thank you, thank you, thank you for believing in yourself again,” “Thank you, thank you for getting over your fear of being brilliant,” “Thank you for showing up in Cancun even scared, thank you for picking up the pieces again and again.” Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Ten thousand people all say thank you to you.
Just breathe it in, just breathe it in. Breathe it in, breathe it in. You stand on stage and you commit to that room that you’re going to lock every single door in that stadium and you’re going to leave one door open and you’re going to hug every single person that came to see you and you warned them, “We are going to be here for a while,” and they are okay with that because they came just to get close to you, just to share your oxygen. And you stand by that door, the one to the side, and that 68-year-old man comes to you and he bends down and he hugs you and he says, “Thank you for letting me know I’m not too old to dream again.”
And follow behind him is that 16-year-old girl who comes and she hugs you and she says, “Thank you for letting me know that I count.” And behind her is that 44-year-old woman who says, “Thank you for letting me know that I need to put myself first now.” And behind her is that 35-year-old man saying, “Thank you for letting me know that I could feel out loud, I can let my joy out, I can let my tears out, thank you for showing me what freedom looks like. And one by one, 10,000 people, hug you and thank you. And on your way home at 3:30 in the morning, you realize that you never came to deliver a speech, you came to hear the people acknowledge you for being courageous, audacious, non-negotiable, and unapologetic.
Take a deep breath, breathe in your five-year future however you want it to look. Feel your feet back on the ground, feel your back against the chair or on the pillows, wiggle your toes a bit, wiggle your hands a bit, and join me back in Cancun as you open your eyes. I did that exercise, that guided visualization about nine times with this same instructor and I was very uncomfortable every time because something in my belly knew something that my mind wasn’t ready to hold on to. Did you guys get that? And something in my belly was disrupted. And I kid you not, I kid you not, true story, and my friends from California know this, my brother, Reverend Beckwith, knows this, my sister knows this.
I was driving on the 405 Freeway headed to San Diego and I was in my convertible with my best friend and this is the girlfriend that we don’t remember back in 1992 which one of us had $10 but the other one was broke and by the end of the day, we both have $5. That was that friend, you know your ride-or-die friend? I was with my ride-or-die friend. And life had changed, the secret had come out, I’ve been on Oprah, I’ve been on Larry King, my brother and I done great work together, my sister and I, Jenna, had done great work together, and so my life had changed for my son Jelani and I.
And we’re riding down the highway in my convertible, got my shades on, rocking my ‘fro, playing some India Arie, just kind of…just chatting with my girl and I look down at my clock, I said, “Oh my God, Sherita,” I kid you not, “we need to get there.” I can’t remember exactly what we’re doing but I know I’m speaking and I know that we got about 30 minutes to get there and traffic is getting kind of tight and traffic slowed down a little more, it slowed down a little more. I said, “Sherita, I can’t be late, we got to get there.” She’s like, “It’s okay, relax,” and she had been to this conference with me where I’d done that guided visualization years before and she’s like, “Relax,” I’m like, “Honey, I need you to dodge the traffic, I need us to make this happen.”
She said, “Relax,” and then she went, “Lisa, what if this is your traffic jam?” I was like, “That’s nice, that would be beautiful, but it’s not, let’s go.” I’m like, “It’s not,” and she’s like, “Lisa, but what if? But what if it’s yours?” I was like, “That would be really cool, hon,” and tears start streaming down my face, and right at that moment, she asked the car, she goes, “Excuse me, could we get in front of you?” She’s, like, waving to this guy and he just kind of nonchalantly waves me, he goes, “Yeah, okay, go ahead.” So we get in front of him, he sticks his head out the car, he said, “Go ahead because I’m coming to see you anyway,” and I just start bawling, like, now I’m like…I’m doing the ugly cry now, like [inaudible].
But wait, so as we’re driving, we’re kind of dodging through traffic and this woman drives up with this, like, beautiful Escalade, it was like this, like, 2020 Escalade and she was regal, like the window went down regal, like [inaudible]. And she had this beautiful blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes and she said, “What time do you go on? I said, “I think as soon as I get there.” She says, “Well, I’m going to stay right behind you because I came to see you.” Now I’m just sobbing and we’re at a standstill and I realize I’m not going to get there in time and one by one, cars begin to look at us and bump their horns and people begin to wave and I’m like, “What are they’re waving at?” and people are waving at us, I’m like…and I’m thinking they don’t recognize me because I got my shades on and she’s like, “Lisa, they’re waving at you.”
And so we’re on the off-ramp and there’s no way, we’re gridlocked, and I kid you not, one by one, each car drove up on the embankment and parted like the Red Sea and as we drove my car through slowly, they yelled out their window, “Thank you, thank you for the secret, thank you for what you said on Oprah, thank you for your work.” So if you don’t think that your future that you just declared is on its way to you, think again. I arrived at the stadium and there wasn’t 10,000 people there, there were 11,200 people there waiting on me and what I realized was that the power of the tongue will speak life into your future and I just want to know what are you willing to speak life into?
What are you willing to declare? What are you willing to become non-negotiable about? What are you willing to stop teetering about? See, some of your still wondering, “Can I do it? Am I good enough? No, I’m not good enough. Am I good enough? No, I’m not.” It’s like you’ve been about to jump into a Double Dutch game for the last five years, wondering if you can do it and you’re just going, “Can I do it? Should I do it?” Come on, how many of us are there? Come on you guys, let’s just be honest. “Can I do it? Should I do it? Would I do it?” and the world is going, “Hurry up, just jump in already. We need you, figure it out when you’re in there, jump in,” and you just stand so I just got to stop by to say, “Are you willing to just jump?”
Because when you do and you’re willing to spread your wings, and you’re willing to do something and be something different and you’re willing to get to the edge, knowing you might fall but also knowing you might fly, are you willing to leap? With butterflies in your belly, maybe even a little doubt in your mind, but unwavering, non-negotiable faith in your heart, are you willing to spread your wings?
Woman: Yes, yes.
Lisa: And I just stopped by to stir your soul, I stopped by to disrupt any form of mediocracy in you, I stopped by to be the midwife to your imaginary baby of possibility, I stopped by so that you and I together can co-create the next best version because if a man like Dr. King in a time like that can do a thing like he did, then what can we do? What’s available to us? What is the universe waiting on us to make a command for? What is the human spirit ready…what order is it ready to deliver?
I’m just saying that I don’t want to be off the hook and I ain’t letting you off the hook because you don’t want to be off the hook either because my grandmother says, “Baby, when you get to my age…” And some of y’all met my grandma before, she is spicy, she is coming to A-Fest, she was more popular than me. She says, “Baby, when you get to my age, I’m 87 years old, you supposed to sit in your favorite rocking chair and tell the story of your life but when you’re your age, baby, you supposed to make sure the story is gonna be good to tell.” Yes, yes? Yes, yes? Yes, yes? Yes, yes? And so I want to take you on one more journey, may I?
Audience: Yes.
Lisa: Before I take you on the journey, I just want to…you know, we talked about some of your best plans get disrupted and so often when our plans get disrupted, we stop and sometimes we check out and we begin to ask that ever so powerless question, “Why me?” I always say the quality of your answer lives in the quality of your question, ask a better question next time, you might get a better answer next time, right?
And so I just want to celebrate my brothers, I met them here, we’ve become fast friends, I want to celebrate Ricardo and I want to celebrate Josh, they’re here to give us some coffee, Bulletproof coffee and for a thousand reasons, transportation, the coffee is on…like, Juan who lost a truck somewhere and it never quite came. And I just want to celebrate the two of you for staying resilient in the face of discomfort…stand up, staying resilience in the face of discomfort. And yesterday I didn’t understand what the coffee was until you explained it to me and the best way I can describe it is I’ve never heard a coffee that’s actually a fuel for your body and fuel for your future and fuel for your dream.
And so let’s make a point to make sure they know that they haven’t lost any time, that the human spirit is unbreakable and unshakable and we are a tribe, so I know like I know that everyone will still visit your booth and still get great value from the things that you’ve created already, so I celebrate you two. Today I’ll be out on wherever we’re going, doing whatever we’re doing, I’m gonna be front and center doing it with y’all, whatever it is. And I know many of you have asked how are the ways that you can play with me and learn from me and you can…there are ways that you can do that, if you’d like to have those conversations, Norrell is with me and Matt is in the back and just have those conversations with us, our goal is to say, “Yes, yes,” to you, you just got to figure out the question and we want to serve you.
But just watch out because I’m only going to speak to the woman or the man you’re becoming, I won’t get stuck in who you’ve been, I’m committed to you. I believe that we’re in the day where we don’t get acknowledged enough and we don’t get acknowledged enough because we haven’t set the example enough of what self-acknowledgement looks like. When Reverend Michael Beckwith and I were on “The Oprah Show” years ago, I said something, I said, “It’s my job, the world is looking at me and using me as an example of how they get to treat me and it’s my job to give the world the best example of how they get to treat me and I wasn’t always there, I didn’t always know that, I didn’t always do that.” And so I want to take this moment as we close and I want to go into a space of acknowledgement because many of you came here and you came here to have your tanks filled back up again, yes?
Audience: Yes.
Lisa: And so, I want to intentionally, with intention and focus I want to do that and Mindvalley has asked me for many years to to hold sacred spaces for you and to push the envelope and to create experiences and facilitate connection and to disrupt things like we did on Day 0 and replant them with you and I’m honored to do that as a transformational coach, that’s the space that I live.
And so for the last time that I’ll be in front of you for this A-Fest, I want to leave you with the gift of being full, being full by your own words but being full by someone else’s words as well. So on the count of three, I’m going to ask you to stand and find a partner, you can have the partner next to you, you can find a stranger, it’s always beautiful when that occurs, and just silently if you can, silently face them. One, two, three.
Man: Do we need to stand?
Lisa: Yes. If you’re sitting down in the front, you can stay there as long as you’re fully face each other. I want you to fully face each other. And a good friend of ours…Janet will recognize this song, a good friend of ours did this amazing project with some of the teachers from The Secret and I love his work and I want you to listen to this song and I want you to hear it in a whole new way, I want you to feel it in a way that feels so cellular. I want you to dedicate this song to your partner through your eyes without talking and I want you to hear the song as if they were written for you. You might hear a familiar voice on the song, you may recognize the voice, but just take a deep breath…Jason, you can start that piece, and take in every word.
Woman: The opportunity daily to turn my valleys into my mountaintop.
So I choose to give the world
My best possible.
Lisa: It’s time to play big.
And give it all I can
To be embraceable.
Lisa: You’re perfect for this assignment. You’re perfect for this assignment. We’re waiting for your song.
Embraceable to all.
So I choose to give the world
My best possible,
To turn my valleys
Into my mountaintops.
Lisa: Your hardest times were preparing you for now.
So I choose
To give the world,
Lisa: Make a choice. Give us the best of you in this next season.
As possible,
The best of me.
Woman: No one can sing my song like me, no one can dance my dance like me, no one can speak with my rhythm, smile with my shine, no one can do me better than I can do me, so I choose to give the world the best me possible.
Lisa: You are perfect as is.No one can sing my song…nobody can sing your song.
No one can dance
My dance like me,
Lisa: Nobody.
No one can speak
With my rhythm,
Lisa: Nobody.
Smile with my shine,
Oh, smile with my shine.
Lisa: We’ve been waiting on you. We’ve been waiting on you. As is. You are enough. You’ve always been enough. Come on, come on, give us that joy inside of you. That’s deep in you, give it to us, we’re ready for it, we’ve been waiting on you.
No one can sing
My song like me.
Lisa: My song like me, no one can sing your song.
No one can dance
My dance like me,
Lisa: My dance like me, only one of you.
No one can speak
With my rhythm,
Lisa: No one, no one, no one can smile with your shine, no one has your smile, no one can do you better than you.
No one can do
Me better than me,
Lisa: You are an unrepeatable miracle. You are an unrepeatable miracle. Share yourself. Give me what’s in you. Feel it, feel it, step into your yes, step into your yes, surrender inside your yes. Listen. Come on y’all, feel it.
No one can dance,
No one can dance,
No one can dance like me.
Lisa: No one can dance my dance. Come on, y’all, sing the words with us, come on. Come on, no one can smile with my shine, come on, sing it. Come on, come on, sing it with us. No one can do me better than me, come on. Come on.
No one stand tall,
No one standing tall,
I’m so proud to be
Spreading the joy
Lisa: Spreading your joy, spread your joy. Spreading your joy that’s deep inside of you.
That’s deep inside me,
Oh, that’s deep inside,
That’s deep inside of me
No one can sing
My song like me,
Lisa: You came to A-Fest to meet you. You came to A-Fest to come back to you.
No one can speak
With my rhythm,
Smile with my shine,
Oh, smile with my shine
Lisa: Come on, you guys, no one can do me better than me, sing it, sing it. Say it, say it. No one can do me better than me. Spreading the joy that’s deep inside of me.
Spreading the joy
That’s deep inside me.
Lisa: Spreading the joy, spreading the joy that’s deep, that’s deep…you woke it up here, you woke it up at A-Fest. You woke it up at A-Fest, you woke it up at A-Fest and it ain’t ever going back to sleep again, you woke it up at A-Fest. Now. Now. Oh, oh, but it ain’t quite over yet, like the late-night infomercials goes, “And then, there’s more.” Shhh, turn and face your partner silently. Now that your souls have talked, now I want you to hear your words. Repeat after me, looking at your partner, repeat after me, looking at your partner and say the words. And partner, I want you to hear the words as if they were scripted especially for you. If you happen to be by yourself, then this is a time for you to arrive back at you for you, there’s a reason why. So looking at your partner, not at me, repeat after me. You are beautiful.
Audience: You are beautiful.
Lisa: Everything about you is beautiful.
Audience: Everything about you is beautiful.
Lisa: Your soul.
Audience: You soul.
Lisa: Your spirit.
Audience: Your spirit.
Lisa: Your heart.
Audience: Your heart.
Lisa: Your mind.
Audience: Your mind.
Lisa: You’re beautiful.
Audience: You’re beautiful.
Lisa: You’re perfect.
Audience: You’re perfect.
Lisa: In every way.
Audience: In every way.
Lisa: Even with your imperfection you’re perfect.
Audience: Even with your imperfection you’re perfect.
Lisa: Your eyes.
Audience: Your eyes.
Lisa: Your hair.
Audience: Your hair.
Lisa: Your hips.
Audience: Your hips.
Lisa: Your legs.
Audience: Your legs.
Lisa: Your voice.
Audience: Your voice.
Lisa: Your thoughts.
Audience: Your thoughts.
Lisa: And every past decision.
Audience: And every past decision.
Lisa: Are exactly as they should be.
Audience: Are exactly as they should be.
Lisa: You are amazing.
Audience: You are amazing.
Lisa: You’re phenomenal.
Audience: You’re phenomenal.
Lisa: And I know.
Audience: And I know.
Lisa: At times.
Audience: At times.
Lisa: You forget that.
Audience: You forget that.
Lisa: So I need to tell you.
Audience: So I need to tell you.
Lisa: Right here, right now.
Audience: Right here, right now.
Lisa: You’re on the perfect path.
Audience: You’re on the perfect path.
Lisa: You’re in the right time.
Audience: You’re in the right time.
Lisa: You’re enough.
Audience: You’re enough.
Lisa: You woke up enough.
Audience: You woke up enough.
Lisa: You’re smart enough.
Audience: You’re smart enough.
Lisa: You’re brilliant enough.
Audience: You’re brilliant enough.
Lisa: You’re young enough.
Audience: You’re young enough.
Lisa: You’re wise enough.
Audience: You’re wise enough.
Lisa: You’re giving enough.
Audience: You’re giving enough.
Lisa: You’re loving enough.
Audience: You’re loving enough.
Lisa: In case you haven’t figured it out.
Audience: In case you haven’t figured it out.
Lisa: You’re enough.
Audience: You’re enough.
Lisa: And I’m honored.
Audience: And I’m honored.
Lisa: To stand in front of you.
Audience: To stand in front of you.
Lisa: And witness.
Audience: And witness.
Lisa: Your greatness.
Audience: Your greatness.
Lisa: We are.
Audience: We are.
Lisa: Better off.
Audience: Better off.
Lisa: Because you’re on the planet.
Audience: Because you’re on the planet.
Lisa: There will be a time.
Audience: There will be a time.
Lisa: Take a deep breath, you guys, just take a deep breath. There will be a time.
Audience: There will be a time.
Lisa: After we leave A-Fest.
Audience: After we leave A-Fest.
Lisa: Where you might have a difficult moment.
Audience: Where you might have a difficult moment.
Lisa: And the things that I’ve just said to you.
Audience: And the things that I’ve just said to you.
Lisa: Might be hard to remember.
Audience: Might be hard to remember.
Lisa: I want you to remember this moment.
Audience: I want you to remember this moment.
Lisa: When I stood in front of you.
Audience: When I stood in front of you.
Lisa: I looked in your eyes.
Audience: I looked in your eyes.
Lisa: And I said in those moments.
Audience: And I said in those moments.
Lisa: When your faith wavers.
Audience: When your faith wavers.
Lisa: Borrow my faith in you.
Audience: Borrow my faith in you.
Lisa: I love you.
Audience: I love you.
Lisa: I honor you.
Audience: I honor you.
Lisa: And I appreciate you.
Audience: And I appreciate you.
Lisa: Hug time.
[Silence]
Lisa: So now, could I have…Jason, can you play…can you play something? Can I have Ricardo and Josh, Reverend Michael Beckwith, can you come up? Doc, can you come up? And, sis, can you come up? And can the two of you come up? Sam. Sam, can you come up? Do the Dr. King with the little music again and… Gene, can you come up? Will you come up for me, sweetie? Will you tell him to come on? Will you come up? Will you come up?
Dr. King: With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
Lisa: If you’re willing to dream big, one day your dream will become someone else’s reality, one day your dreams will open up a door so big that thousands of people from all across the world will walk through your dream. Your dream…Janet, will you come and join me? Your dream was never about you. Your quest is less about you. It’s about a little black girl and a little white boy and a little Asian boy and a little Latin girl being able to play together and create something new because you were so outrageous to dream. It’s being willing, it’s being willing. Your dream is so beautiful, it’s so beautiful. Grab your neighbor’s hand and hold the dream and feel the dream.
Dr. King: And molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let…
Lisa: So if you have to be scared to leap, be scared. If you have to walk by yourself, walk alone. If you have to pray the heaven downs, get on your knees or your face. If you have to kill the small part of your mind, then give it a burial, whatever you have to do.
Dr. King: Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.
Audience: Whoo.
Lisa: It’s been my honor to serve you. Wherever you go in life, remember that you have a sister friend with you, loving you in prosperity and possibility because I will be there with you. Thank you.
Audience: Thank you.
Vishen: And that was Lisa Nichols, everyone. If you were moved by the episode, we would love to hear your experience in our community group on Facebook. Join the conversation, find your tribe of like-minded game-changers, just visit facebook.com/mindvalley. We regularly post short videos by our amazing teachers including Lisa, so make sure to check them out to give your day the motivational boost you need.
Also this particular episode was brought to you by Lisa Nichols’ program on Mindvalley, it’s called “The Speak and Inspire Quest.” It is an incredible program, it takes place around four times a year, and thousands of students join together on our quests tab and go through a 30-day program with Lisa where they learn to basically become a masterful inspirational speaker. It is so cool because when you learn to really convey your ideas in the way Lisa does, you become more effective at work, you become more effective at life, everything from having a conversation with someone you just meet at a party to being able to pitch an idea to your boss becomes so much more easier.
And this quest is famous for not just teaching people how to speak but truly changing people’s lives because one of the things Lisa helps reveal to you is that the art of being a good speaker is not just about style, it’s about healing whatever wounds you have within you that prevent you from sharing your voice. So check it out, it’s called “The Speak and Inspire Quest” by Mindvalley, you can learn about it on mindvalley.com.
